Linus
US/Poland
Story: the story seemed a bit weird to me at first, but it wasn't too weird after the first 2 episodes. However, it was so similar to other shows like that that I just couldn't find it appealing. The typical situation in which the guy is rich and dreamy and the girl is either cursed, poor, pathetic or just fell down on her luck. The arrogant guy thinks that there is no way he is ever going to fall for "someone like that", but then miraculously ends up madly in love to the point where he is willing to sacrifice his pride and life for her. I've seen it in Lie to Me, Marriage not Dating, BoF, The Master's Sun, You're Beautiful, Cinderella and 4 Knights... shall I keep going? We also have the ever present love triangle in which the second lead is so dreamy that you can't help but feel bad for him. No matter how bad you feel though, he is a very flat character. In a story like that there must also be a jealous mean girl and all sorts of people against the developing relationships. Even in this regard the story is very predictable. I generally am not all opposed to a good love triangle, but this one just didn't give me the feels.
The acting was ok, too. I am a fan of Gong Hyo Jin, but she always gets stuck in almost identical roles and most of her characters seem very similar to me. I could barely discern between her acting here, in Pasta and in Master's Sun. She showed her real potential in That's Okay, It's Love and I wish people gave her more complex roles. I really liked Cha Seung Won in You're All Surrounded, but here I kept comparing him to So Ji Sub and couldn't help but think that the latter would be a better fit for the role. Cha Seung Won's character also somewhat reminded me of Jang Hyuk from Fated to Love You. Maybe it was because of the weird laugh? No matter the reason, this left me with a feeling that the main male character could be any of the big name rom-com actors and the story would be unharmed.
I was not a huge fan of the music. I would describe it as very cheesy and anti-climactic most of the time.
All in all I can't help but think that The Greatest Love will be one of those dramas that I finished because I started it, but it won't stick with me for long. It gave me a very very similar vibe to "The Master's Sun", except that the latter had way better dialogues, a better story and chemistry between the leads.
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Story: the writing is tight. The first 2 episodes are super confusing, but then we slowly start getting an explanation of what is going on. Almost every episode gives us a bit more information about the cruel world of everyone involved. The vast majority of the events and details in the story are connected, though some of them might be a bit far-fetched. I have to say that I am impressed with how the story slowly comes together and even small details matter later on. I haven't seen many shows that did this well. Sometimes I would yell to myself: 'of course! That's why x happened!' However, it is a paranormal romance story, so of course some of the elements that move the story forward can be a bit ludicrous. Unless you are a fan of supernatural elements, you might not really like how the story unfolds. I thought it was done very well. I liked the nice mix of grotesque and somber scenes at the beginning of the show. I wish there was a bit more of that later on.
Acting: Omg, Song, Seung Heon... need I say more? If not for the story, the show is worth watching just for his acting. The two completely different personalities that he portrays plus the development of his character... his acting is perfect. He is a great mixture of cold, charming, funny, serious, narcissistic and deep. He completely and totally stole the show. SSH wasn't the only one who gave a phenomenal performance, though. Lee El (the doctor) was very believable in her role. I really felt for her throughout the show. Many people complained about Go Ara, and I agree with the criticism. I kind of wish Lee El was the the main actress instead. In general though, acting was pretty stellar in this show. The police officers, the hospital staff, the countless people the leads meet along the way... almost all of them felt very real.
Music: Nothing that special, to be honest.
Re-watch value: I think that watching it again would be equally enjoyable, especially since all the clues left by the writers in the opening scenes would start making sense from the very beginning.
I was really NOT A FAN of the ending. It seemed like written by a completely different writer and I doubt it satisfied anyone.
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There are so many things that could have gone wrong with this drama, considering how cliche the premise was, yet the writer and the director managed to turn it into something fresh, cute and thought - provoking. It made me question what I would do if I had a chance for a re-do in my life with all the things I know now. It will probably make you think about your life or appreciate your youth, too.
Once again, the premise of the story is very cliche, considering that it's a simple time-travel drama, but the execution of the drama is not. The part of the drama that show the leads as unhappy 40 year old that feel trapped in their life made me feel their pain. The friends and the school part of the drama will probably make you laugh and be happy for the them being able to avoid the 'mistakes' of their youth, just as it made me feel. I assume that the vast majority of the people will find themselves rooting for the secondary leads for at least a part of the drama. The friendships in this drama are adorable, too. I also appreciated the glimpse at Korea in the late 1999. This part was gold. There is a perfect balance of sweet, sad, cringe - worthy and hilarious moments in this drama that makes you go back for more.
One thing that I also have to applaud the writer for is the fact that nothing in this show dragged. Way too often I find myself yawning or skipping through the middle part of most of the dramas. I often also catch myself thinking: oh goodness, just talk and figure out what's going on already! Nothing like that happens here. The show is perfectly paced and things happen and flow very naturally. I assume that the reason for this exemplary pacing is the length of the show. Since it has only 12 episodes, there are no unnecessary fillers in the episodes.
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The story is somewhat new if you don't know the "Journey to the West" or the mythology behind it. It seems to me that some of the themes are based on folk tales and old stories, but it was all fairly new to me. I really enjoyed the fast pace of the show. While I absolutely loved the first 15 episodes, the last 5 were completely unnecessary to me. I understand what the writers were going for, I just would personally prefer if everything surrounding the priestess and the events leading to the end of the show were cut out. I think that 20 episodes were probably a bit too much.
I liked the acting, but one needs to keep in mind that the characters were supposed to overact. Lee See Young was amazing and her role was not an easy one. She made it possible for the people to love and hate her at the same time. Cha Seung Won was probably my favorite character, though. He was just the perfect amount of crazy, charming and mischievous. I liked the main couple, but the chemistry between them could be a bit better. I didn't mind the FL, but sometimes she seemed to be a bit stiff.
Some people drew parallels between the Goblin and The Korean Odyssey and there certainly were some. The bromance was kind of similar and the stories had similar elements such as the main girl having a way to call her guardian when she needed him. The major difference that I see between those two is that The Korean Odyssey did not try to take itself too seriously with it execution whereas Goblin intended to have a very serious, even solemn, feel to the story.
I was hesitating between 8.0 and 9.0 for this drama and I can't quite decide. I think the first 10 episodes would be a solid 9.0, even 9.5 for me, but since I ended up fast forwarding many scenes in the second half of the show, I settled on 8.5
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The main conflict between Kim Seon Ryong and Seo Yool reminded me of Falling for Innocence. It has a similar vibe. There is virtually zero romance in this show which was refreshing, but was also a missed opportunity. I thought that the initial scenes between Seo Yool and Ha Kyung were promising and I was waiting for more scenes between the two of them. I am not saying there had to be any serious romance, but this showed did a good job showing the progression of many cool relationships except for this one. I think the writers dropped the ball with those two characters.
Most of the actors did a good job in this. Personally, I am not a fan of Namgoong Min's acting, though. I didn't like his style of acting in Beautiful Gong Shim and I didn't quite like it here. I was totally flabbergasted about Ha Dong's performance after seeing him in Suspicious Partner. What a versatile actor!
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Let's start with the acting. Mooh Ga Young (Soo Ji) was spectacular. There was so much she could have messed up when acting, but she didn't. She was shallow and evil when she needed to be, yet fragile and broken when the role required it. She was also intelligent and had some redeeming qualities. I think that she was one of the best written and the best acted female roles I've watched up to date. I would also like to applaud Kim Min Jae (Se Joo). I don't think his role was easy, but he pulled it off beautifully. I felt his pain and isolation. No wonder he fought for the only things that mattered to him in life. He made a character who was easy to judge into a character that wasn't. Kim Seo Hyung (Soo Ji's mother) also did a great job. Then we have Joy and Woo Do Hwan. I am the last one to hate on the actors, but I do think that Joy destroyed the role. If there was another actress as brilliant as MGY in her role, maybe the show would have been saved. She wasn't the only one at fault, though. Let's talk about Woo Do Hwan, whom I heard so much about after his role in Save Me. I didn't see good acting on his part. Was it the writing's fault? Was his character just so flat? Shouldn't he make me feel similar emotions that Se Joo did? If he was supposed to, then he failed. Swap those two actors for Ga Young and Min Jae and I would be totally into the romance. However, Joy and Do Hwan didn't do it for me. I couldn't even picture them as being truly in love. Finally, Shin Sung Woo (Shi Hyun's father). I love the guy since I watched The Roommate, but I barely recognized him. He looked stiff and so unnatural in this. I felt like they could swap him with a mannequin and the show would have been totally intact. I wouldn't even notice the difference.
The secondary big issue is the story. I totally and absolutely adored the first 4 episodes. I agree that they were dark and weird, but that was the charm of the show. Then suddenly, we get the puppy - eyed Shi Hyun and the weird turn in the story. It was like two completely different shows! The show somehow picked up during the last several episodes, but it wasn't enough to save the entire production. It seemed as if the writers just had an idea for the beginning and the ending, and then just randomly put several boring events in the middle. There were a lot of really weird things added to this show, too. The mother who used to be the model - what was the point of even having her there? The weird sheltered girl with a grotesque mother and the somewhat annoying friend of Joy were all fillers. That was totally changed from the original story, where the sheltered and pure girl's smeared reputation was a major plot point.
Still, I appreciate the little glimmer of hope that the change from the original ending gave us. I wasn't impressed with the ending, especially since it was so rushed and cliche, but I didn't totally hate it. Would I recommend watching it? I think I still would. There is a reason why so many people talk about this show. There is some spectacular acting and some interesting plot parts in it. Also, I thought that the depiction of the deterioration of the friendship between those 3 was done masterfully. The drama did show character and relationship development, too, even if it was more of a regression for some of the characters.
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The King's Woman has a beautiful cinematography. I enjoyed looking at every scene in this show. The costumes, fight scenes and the shots in between are magnificent and often very powerful. The atmosphere is sometimes conveyed by the amount of light and the color of clothes that the people are wearing. The more carefree the characters can be, the less make up and bright colors we see. I really liked it. I also liked the music that went with it.
I thought that the story was swift and quite engrossing. I typically lose interest in shows that are longer than 20 episodes, but this one is different. Not a single episode dragged for me. In a nutshell, it is a historical drama with a love triangle (square?) type of situation, except that all of the characters involved seemed well developed and multidimensional. People change their feelings in this show because their situation changes and their motivation is governed by internal logic. Both men and women can be righteous or manipulating. This show has a high level of betrayal, revenge, possession, love, devotion, assassinations and intrigue, but people are not vile without a reason. Their motivations might be convoluted, but not impossible to understand. The show did a good job showing that in politics and in the palace you really can't trust anyone. One thing that I really liked at the beginning of the show was the balance of sad and lighter moments. Unfortunately, the show got progressively darker in the course of time. After episode 30, it becomes really dark and the viewers get the ominous feeling that things can't go right for everyone.
I can't say whether I am a fan of the ending or not. All in all, I was not surprised by it given everything we knew about the world of the King's Woman and the people involved.
I gave it a very high re-watch value because of the beauty of the shots. I already re-watched some of the episodes because I simply enjoyed seeing them again.
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I tried to start the show 3 times and each time something annoyed me in the story. Despite that, I kept watching to get to the good parts because of the high rankings the show received. I had a really hard time with the first 3-4 episodes. I found No Ji Wook and Eun Bong Hee's encounters to be rather awkward; not pleasant to watch at all. On top of that. I felt that there were way too many unlikable characters (evil killers, mean girls, cheating boyfriends, uncompromising DAs) and I didn't like the twist in which a girl suddenly became a suspect and there is literally nothing anybody saw or heard because of some ridiculous blackout. It was too unbelievable for me. However, it did eventually get to the good part.
--This part of the review can spoil parts of the show, so don't read it if you didn't watch the show. --
The criminal part of this story that pertains to the serial killer is its best part. The plot twists are surprising and interesting and I can't believe how amazing Dong Ha was in his role. Hyun Soo was probably the most interesting villain I've seen so far. He was scary, creepy and intriguing at the same time. His interactions with the people around were always tense and made things more interesting. I mean, Dong Ha really stole the show here. I felt like I feared him but was also curious about him. Just when I felt like I knew everything there was to know about him, it turns out that I was wrong all along. This was one of the best stories like that out there. However, I can't get over how unrealistic the lawyers' jobs were portrayed. I mean, this show was more of a police drama than lawyer drama. This is not what lawyers do! This really annoyed me throughout the show.
------ end of slight spoiler part -------
I think that the weakest part of the show was the romance. It started off kind of promising, but it quickly became bland and boring. They kept moving around in circles and almost no interaction between the two was interesting. I couldn't really see Ji Wook and Bong Hee as love interests and I don't think that I particularly liked Bong Hee's character. It's not that I disliked her; she was just very lukewarm to me and I don't want to feel this way about the main character. I also didn't feel much chemistry between the actors. I wonder if it was the writing or Nam Ji Hyun's acting. I mean, after watching Healer I can't get satisfied with the level of chemistry that I saw in Suspicious Partner.
I really liked how the relationships between the lawyers and other people developed and how natural the progression was. I regret that I didn't feel like that about the main couple.
All in all, I'm glad that I watched this show but it didn't make it into my all time favorites.
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I loved the fist half of the show. The story, although somewhat ridiculous, was engrossing. The characters had enough spunk and unique features that their encounters were interesting and the sparks kept flying. The main lead might be a bit standoffish, but his demeanor and the way he treated his people and the women in general, Jin Xiu in particular, was quite charming. The fight scenes were over the top, but that also could be seen as somewhat the part of the charm. I loved the reverse harem theme that kept resurfacing and I even could kind of understand why this supposedly simple girl was so popular with men. Being related to the most beautiful woman in the entire province makes for a compelling argument as to why everyone would be so captivated by her. Even the main bad guy was interesting because you kept disliking him and then rooting for him in some capacity. This part of the story convinced me that I actually can like a good damsel in distress story with some really hot rescue scenes if it's well done. I haven't seen many shows that did that type of romance well before.
Then somewhere around ep. 24 - 25 the story got messy and somewhat predictable. The bad guys became wicked, main female lead became super annoying and the secondary female lead became wretched. The story took a turn that I didn't particularly care for. It's not that it wasn't good at all; it just wasn't as good as it was before. I skipped tons of scenes during the second part of the show and I didn't feel like I missed so much. In the end, the show fell short for me. I believe that it would have been a really good drama had it been around 30 episodes. I did re-watch a couple of the first episodes and found it enjoyable, but I wouldn't re-watch the drama it it's entirety. That why I ended up giving it a 7.
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I would describe this movie as painfully beautiful. It was dark both metaphorically and literally since most of the movie was shot either during the night or in the small, poorly lit places. This was a great metaphor of the character's lives: the male lead's life was dark since he didn't have much to live for and the female lead's life was literally dark since she couldn't see.
The chemistry between the leads was off the charts. This was one of the best couples I've seen so far.
I really had no idea how amazing So Ji Sub and Han Hyo Joo's acting is. I saw them both in different Korean dramas, but I now realize that Always really let them shine as actors. I am in awe. The characters felt so real to me that I almost had a feeling that they'll jump out of the screen and appear in front of me.
The ending was very bittersweet. "Always" is ultimately a movie about sacrifice, redemption and finding hope where there seems to be none. There are some incredibly romantic moments, but even when the mood in the movie lightens up, I could feel something ominous in the air. It's a type of story that makes you hold your loved ones after you finish watching it. Some people seem to find the ending to be satisfying, but I had some mixed feelings about it. I understood the writer's message and intention; however, I'd prefer the ending to be a little more uplifting even if it wouldn't exactly match the general tone of the movie.
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The characters are adults that act like adults, talk like adults and struggle like adults. It's not another story of 30 year olds acting like 10 year olds. The writing touches on such issues as stigma, struggles surrounding intimacy, emotions, trauma, the necessity to choose between happy marriage and career and more.
I'd also like to say that Jang Jae Yeol is one the sexiest, most irresistibly crafted male characters I've seen. He has this aura of intellectual cockiness around him that is very alluring. I'm also happy to see Gong Hyo Jin in this production as she often plays characters that are not as sophisticated as this one is. I did find her character to be a bit weird at times, though.
Now I didn't give this show a 10 because even though I love the concept behind the story and I love how multidimensional the characters are, I felt that the middle of the show dragged despite the fact that the story unfolded in a kind of unpredictable way. The pacing just seems to be off.
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Now, here are the problems with the show. I already mentioned the weird TGS's role. To me, she acted clingy at the beginning and then irrational and aloof in the end. The change was a bit too much. I also thought that the story kind of fell apart towards the end and. Adding the really annoying plot cliche towards the end was probably unnecessary, although it was handled pretty well for what it was. TGS's choices were fun to watch, but were sometimes very illogical to me. Overall though, I am going to rewatch it just because I really had fun watching it.
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