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tsuyoi_hikari
Secret Forest
This review may contain spoilers
I love this drama! Particularly since the concept is great – in and out of the 2 worlds and the readers of the manhwa actually see how the characters deal with the fact that they are in manhwa and how they come to term with it, how Yeon Joo’s dad gave his face to the killer and the consequences of it and how they tried to end it (you literally can read from the manhwa how Kang Cheol discussed the ending lol). Its pretty cool if you think about it. How exciting to read that kind of manhwa in real life. So I ended up really like it a lot. I want to be entertained while watching a drama so I ended up enjoying lots of the plot twists – it is enjoyable when you can’t predict it. And I understand all the rules and concepts of the manhwa world so I pretty much understand why this and that happened so I didn’t end up hating the plots.But it seemed many people didn’t understand the concept of the W world since many keep asking if the world keep spinning when Kang Cheol is no longer there. The writer pretty much explained everything in the drama. The W world is just another world that moves on its own. Yeon Joo’s dad only control the lives of the main characters of the manhwa through the tablet and his drawings. But despite that, these manhwa characters can control their own destiny as Kang Cheol managed to save himself many times despite the countless of times Yeon Joo’s dad tried to kill him. So with or without Kang Cheol in the W world, the world still exist and everyone is living there normally. The concept is that the W world is just another world in another dimension. It moves on its on with or without Kang Cheol.
Many were also confused on what happened to Yeon Joo’s dad. He died/disappear as Kang Cheol is the one who survive the end. It is the last chapter, so one of them needs to die for the manhwa to end. He supposed to kill Kang Cheol to survive (noticed how the Dad’s hands stop disappearing when Kang Cheol was shot) but since he killed the congressman and let Kang Cheol survive, he will cease to exist because of that. Why one of them need to die? It got to do with the fact that they keep disappearing when they are not doing anything – it indicates they need to end it properly for one of them to survive.
Its understandable why people lost interest in the second half of the drama especially when it got confusing. But this drama still score high on my list for its creativity and pace alone. Not many Kdramas as unpredictable as this so I enjoyed this one a looooot. And I finally see the fuss on Lee Jong Suk. He is an amazing actor without a doubt. The revelation scene between Yeon Joo’s dad and him is very memorable. How his expressions change from sad, disappointed to angry is just amazing.
I thought the scene when Kang Cheol was waiting at the Bus Stop was particularly heart wrenching – how he kept calling Yeon Joo since he knew he’s running out of time and when Yeon Joo come back to the real world before reaching him was brilliant as well.
As someone who have been watching Kdramas for more than a decade, I’m really tired of watching sad or plateau endings in Kdramas. I’m glad that it is not the case for this one. Its a happy ending and a deserved one at that considering the main character had suffered so much – being shot, stabbed, beaten, prisoned, family killed, realization that he is just a character and etc… He’s just very pitiful and I’m glad they give Kang Cheol a happy ending. :D
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One of the whole premises of the drama is to portray the everyday struggles of people living in this modern world. This is a drama with people who are flawed and struggled to live their lives. It can be depressing at times since the drama mirrored the real life so much. From how difficult it is to make a living, to how difficult to do the job that you dream of to how you might struggle to get into something, but other people with no passion at all got in and become successful instead. Due to this, it might not be popular with audiences but I actually enjoyed watching the struggles of the characters and how they come terms with it.
Another things that made this drama special are the characters. Zhao Zimo is indeed the most interesting character and also the one with the most character development in the drama as well. It’s the first time where Xing Zhaolin played a poor character (lol) and he excels so much in it. The desperation is shown on his face and the way he handled his struggles of identities between a misunderstood and scarred writer and a reluctant model is very believable. I thought they picked the right actor to play Zimo as Zhaolin portrays lonely and melancholy very well on pictures. And later the warmth and tender looks in one of the photoshoot with the foreign model was done really well! -- his eyes are very expressive! While Zimo is the most interesting character, I have to hand it to Xia Fan to be the most relatable character on the show. Her struggles and hard work despite being so good in her work is very relevant to the audiences and when Zimo being so unprofessional, I share her frustrations and irritations. She's wise and very likable so it’s nice to watch all of her scenes. While Wu Yu is without doubt the best character on the show. Age got to do a lot to his maturity so from the right on, he always makes the right decisions and always know what he wants. Watching him is actually a delight because he is someone who always seemed to know what he is doing and the one who live life with no regrets.
The plot is also of the of reasons why this drama stands out as well. The whole plot of how writers have influence on the readers are so well done and portrayed. How a writer glamorises ‘alone and lonely life’ as something admirable can and will have influences to their readers whether they like it or not. And to influence someone's life is not a small thing thus they have social responsibilities and accountability in their profession. And the plot later involving Zimo and his father is the icing on the cake for me. His father's tender letters to him all over the years is like an awakening for him -- the one who made him finally understand his own soul and comes to terms with his identity and he is reborn as a new man. Those hatreds and resentment are resolved beautifully and he now, understood his father and his father’s past struggles.
However, the downside of this drama for me is unfortunately the main character Li Xiao. Li Xiao is portrayed as someone with bravery, determination, hardworking and most of all straightforward. But unfortunately, all these qualities are only on the surface level as when the character was developed by the writers, she becomes someone unlikable instead to my dismay. Her layers of characteristic is like peeling an onion, the more you peeled, the more you finds flaws in it. Despite the good qualities that I listed above, she actually ended up being self-righteous, insensitive, impulsive and most of all a hypocrite person. I don’t mind flaws in characters but when the flaws are never addressed or corrected but instead being glorified and glamorise instead, that's when I have a problem. Throughout the story, we've seen her in her high horse where she judge everyone with what she thinks is right. And this fact never got addressed till the end and she remains the same person as she is at the beginning of the drama -- with no character development at all.
I also personally feel the love relationship between the leads just doesn’t work. Li Xiao is too superficial to understand Zimo's artistic soul. Her insensitiveness towards his identity as Lei Yang the writer and Zhao Zimo the model is just really hard to watch and again, it never got addressed till the end. One thing not to be able to understand his writing due to the complexity of the language but to be brutal towards his writing is just wrong especially when you can see on his face how he valued his identity as a writer. I'm sure Zimo's 'A Footless Insect' is a pretentious book with many obscure and difficult words but everytime snippet of the book is shown to the audiences, I'm just amazed how poetic is the language and the use of metaphor are done excellently. So, to people who actually understand and appreciate literature, Li Xiao comes out as uneducated instead. I actually really liked them as a couple since they have this understanding with each other but the core problem of their relationship never being address which a huge red light to me. She seemed to only accept one part of him instead of both parts of him. First, ridicule his identity as Lei Yang and later, rejecting his model identity when it didn’t fit her narrative.
But despite all this, I actually enjoyed the drama. The ending is very satisfactory and I thought what Xia Fan did at the end is just very cool and admirable. I really like the second couple a lot and the whole Zimo's relationship with his father are resolved with such class and tenderness. Thus this drama as a whole deserved a 7/10 from me.
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The good:
- Xing Zhaolin as Xia Di. I can’t get over the fact that he's only like 21 years old when he did this but he acts very convincingly as someone who supposed to be in the late 20's. He is probably the 2nd youngest in the casts yet his character look and act the most mature. And that confident! Guys with confidence are really attractive! Enough said. He is an outstanding young man so many of his sayings are the reasons what drove Lin Feng in her life.
- Li Kaixin as Lin Feng. She may not be pretty like other Chinese actresses and she supposed to play a tomboy here but there's something about her that makes her interesting. She is indeed very different and we can clearly see why Xia Di falls for her. One thing is her attitude to always admit faults and apologize for it and another is her persistence attitude in everything. She knows what she wants and fight for it -- really hard.
- The relationship between the leads. It’s very minimal romance but they are very cute together. Particularly because Lin Feng, despite being a tomboy, acts cute when she’s in love. All her weirdness and quirkiness -- that most people didn’t find special are the very main reasons why Xia Di falls for her. He laughs the most watching her weird antics. And most of all, he always find something special about her everytime he met her. From her martial arts skills to her earning money to support him, she's a special girl without a doubt!
- The trust that the leads have towards each other. This is the part that I liked the best. You can throw many things to them, but one thing for sure, they have undeniably trust with each other so other people's evil ploy to destroy their relationship is only like a child's play.
- The friendship -- Xia Di & his friends and Lin Feng with her friends. It is portrayed beautifully especially Xia Di’s friendship with Fan Yang.
- Very fun earlier episodes and last episodes. They handled everything so well in the last couple of episodes. I really like it a lot. It could go wrong in so many ways but they handled all the mess really well.
- The plot twists! I love the plot twists! I didn’t expect it but I kinda sense it since they left many clues for us earlier on.
- An awesome theme song! I couldn’t get over how good and awesome is the melody and lyrics. I never skip the intro since it is that good. :D
The bad:
- Really evil, manipulative and crazy 2nd lead girl; Fan Ling. She's crazy, really obsessive and ruin a lot of fun stuffs in the drama. I think the only good thing about her evilness is the boundaries that Xia Di puts on her. He legit avoid her advances like he hates the very idea of it. And how Lin Feng said she is like a 'litmus test' for her relationship with Xia Di lol.
- A few dumb plotlines that we could go without. The mother plotline is the worst as she is no doubt abandoning her daughter for her career and didn’t contact her for a freaking 10++ years. The disease part is okay and I'm fine with it but why they didn’t tell her is just dumb. Or anything that happened on the mountain 5 years ago, it all could be solved by watching the GoPro isnt it? From Liming summit to Fan Yang falling. :P
- Too little mountaineering activities. For a 'sports' drama, I expect more action regarding this.
It’s still a fun drama at the end of the day. It makes you smile and fun all around. There are many good sayings in the drama but my favourite is: 'If you do something wrong, go correct it immediately. Moreover, work hard to do better. It’s not terrible when you do wrong, its only terrible if you continue doing it.'
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One of the Best Family Dramas
I have no words to describe how I’m in love with this drama. I started watching it hoping to see something nice and I was surprised since the drama gives me something that I didn’t expect to get. Every week people have been debating who is the ‘husband’ but let’s be honest that the drama is not really about that. The romance part only covers like 20% of the whole drama and that 20% includes other characters’ love stories as well. I’m sad that other aspects of the drama have been overlook by some people since they have been so obsessed with who is the husband since day one.I guess one of the reasons why I really love this drama is because it really hits home with many aspect of the plots. It’s a story about normal people with ordinary everyday lives but at the same time it is very engaging as well. All the characters are super lovely and likable and for young people like me, I truly enjoyed the bit which focuses on the older characters of the drama as well. The 3 mothers were hilarious together while Dukseon, Junghwan, Dongryong’s fathers are hilarious individually. Of course, my favorite scenes are mostly involving when the 5 friends are together but my point is that mostly every aspect of the plots have been very interesting and charming.
The acting is brilliant I must say. I was truly surprised with how well Hyeri acted here. The acting coach of the Reply series must be someone special since they always managed to bring the best out of the female leads of the series. No one can deny my admiration towards Park Bogum’s acting. His emotional scenes especially with his dad are the best since he executed it very well – his intonation were on point that I always ended up shedding a tear with the way his voice sounded. Ryu Junyeol is amazing as well – this is the first time I ever saw him act and I wondered why he didn’t start earlier. This is the first time I see Go Kyungpyo acting as someone obedient and kind and he did it so well. While Lee Dongwhi is super hilarious. I wished the writer wrote more plot for his character since he’s really one of the funniest among the casts. The older actors did so well as well. They are the reasons why the acting in this drama has been all time high since all of them have their own unique ways to capture the audiences’ attention.
This drama deserved nothing but 9 stars from me. Everything about it is so special and it is without doubt the very best family Kdramas I have ever watched. I’m looking forward to the writer’s next installment. She proved that she can be unpredictable with her writing so I wondered what else she has in store for us.
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This review may contain spoilers
One of the Best Dramas About Psychopath
I have mixed feeling about I Remember You ending. While I’m glad they didn’t kill Min, I was kinda disappointed with how the writer chose to write the ending. I actually get what the writer trying to do – they didn’t exactly show what is Min’s decision in the end. They just wanted to show to the audiences that he chose to live the rest of his life as his Hyung’s brother rather than hiding like Lee Joon Young. The writer decided to let us do our own interpretation about the ending.But I’m pissed with how they decided to write Cha Ji An in the end. She was actually likable throughout the whole drama until that last talking scene where she becomes manipulative and selfish. What make me mad the most is that she made the decision for Hyeon by asking Min to confess. She just come out from the room where Hyeon cried when he remembered that he is the reason why Min became a psychopath and she, after seeing how heartbroken Hyeon is regarding his brother made THAT DECISION for him to let Min spent the rest of his life in prison. I hate it when she hugs Min and told him ‘It hurts for me to say all these’ but after that use Hyeon to make Min feel guilty. Being manipulative towards the already broken and vulnerable child by using his brother is just dirty imo.
The writer should use Kdramas amnesia cliché for the ending lol. It would make a better ending for everyone. Min waking up not remembering anything and can start his life all over again is actually a much better ending to end a drama like this. :P
But still, this drama is the best drama of 2015. It made me discover the hidden gem that is Park Bo Gum. And I love the fact that how the drama is promoted (or even the posters) is totally different from the actual plot of the drama. I like it when Kdramas give you surprises like this. It’s like only people who actually give this drama a try could understand how truly awesome the drama really is.
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Lee Seo Jin has always been one of my favourite actors. And he reminds me again and again in this drama how good he is in emotional scenes. I always love his speaking voice and even when he’s jerk, I find myself rewinding his scenes just to hear his voice lol. And UEE really outdid herself in this role – I thought she is really amazing. It seemed like she truly become Hye Soo and completely transformed herself into the character by the time the drama reached the end. And the girl who played UEE’s daughter in the drama is so cute! I thought how that little body can cry so well? I’m very impressed.
And the chemistry between Lee Seo Jin & UEE is just magnificent. They really look like a couple and all their heartbreaking scenes are very good. I find myself keep watching the last 2 episodes over and over again since it is full of their scenes together. And the scene where UEE sit on the floor after she burnt her hand while cooking is just very well done.
I give this drama 9/10. The leads are beyond awesome and I love the story, acting, pacing, editing, directing, basically everything. The ratings were great and it really shows in the drama.
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Plus, Bo Gum & Yoo Jung have explosive chemistry which explain why the writer always make them have scenes together even during the conflicts parts in the later half of the drama. I think this is a first time that I feel like the leads spent almost all of their scenes together lol. I’m not complaining though since they are seriously very cute together. Bo Gum has a really awesome chemistry with anyone he worked with no matter whether it’s male/female or old/young. I didn’t realize it before but this drama really prove his range as an actor even more.
Both Bo Gum & Yoo Jung did a very excellent job at portraying all of the emotions required from them excellently. I thought they carried the drama with their acting abilities alone. Crown Prince’s various expressions still remains one of my fave things in this drama and not to mention all of Ra On’s emotional scenes. And surprisingly, Jin Young did very well as Yoon Sung. I thought he is very expressive for an idol actor. Kwak Dong Yeon also did well as Byeong Yeon and I love all his scenes with the Crown Prince especially the part where he is dying on his arms. Unfortunately, Chae Soo Bin as Ha Yeon is very underused here. Since the story heavily focused on the Crown Prince & Ra On alone, she has very little time to really show anything special though I like her bold personality in the drama.
Besides the amazing acting of the casts, the directing is pretty much flawless. The cinematography is among my very fave aspects of the drama as well. The lantern festival, sunset, garden, reflection, daisy field and everything are very beautiful. And the hanbok are very pretty. I’m bitter that Yoo Jung didnt have many scenes where she is dressed in hanbok but the Crown Prince’s colorful hanbok are a treat to the eyes. And the OSTs are very amazing as well. My fave remains Ben’s Misty Road but the other songs are equally good as well. I cant stop listening to 8 of 11 of the OSTs. And Bogum did surprisingly well in his first OST – I’m very impressed. I’m so happy Sung Si Kyung also did one for this drama, God knows how I yearn for another song from him and his soothing voice.
I love everytime they show the late Queen. Seeing her views on life and the things she taught the Crown Prince, its no wonder the Crown Prince grew up to be such a fine young man. I love the bits where she asked the Crown Prince not to be deaf and he shouldn’t only hear the person that’s shouting in front of him. He has to treat each of his citizen like they are his one and only citizen. No wonder his view on his people is the same as Yi San or Se Jong. Lee Seo Jin as Yi San remains my favorite King but Park Bo Gum as Lee Young is definitely my fave Crown Prince. I love how the Crown Prince is very fierce in giving sharp and harsh comments to his enemies. And he is very straight and didn’t beat around the bush when he wanted to understand why the White Cloud Society needs to topple the dynasty when he also has the same view as them. It is very refreshing to see that.
I love the ending. They wrapped up nicely and it was a happy one at that. But surprisingly, the writer didn’t follow the history at all. It seemed that she only based the Crown Prince character on Crown Prince Lee Young and that fact alone. I’m sad since the drama is heavily focused on the love aspect of the Crown Prince that not many of his achievements are shown in the drama. According to history, despite his short reign as a regent (around 3 years), Crown Prince Lee Young accomplished many things to improve Joseon Court at that time. He also only have one Crown Princess (no concubine) and that is Ha Yeon and they had a son together which later become the King. In history, Lee Young never become a King since he died at 20 years of age but they shown him ascending his father as the King in the last episode (when he is wearing the red golden robe). They also show Ha Yeon leave her position as the Crown Princess. I guess since this drama is a hilarious, fluffy and light, they decided to end it with a happy note. Not gonna lie that I’m very thankful for that. :D
I watched surprisingly many Kdramas this year, this drama is my second favorite after Marriage Contract for year 2016. TBH, I give this drama 7/10 since I’m not really satisfied with the light plots but since the casts did very well on their respective roles, I give this drama 8/10 instead.
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This review may contain spoilers
Just finished watching the last 2 episodes and I’m in tears since both of the episodes are utterly sweet and beautiful. God, I don’t know why I’m crying like this but I’m just happy that the drama ended more awesome and beautiful than I ever imagine.I am afraid of what’s coming since we still got 2 episodes left and they already soooo happy in Episode 18 – and having watched lots of Kdramas over the years and know how they tend to messed up especially in the later episodes/ending, I’m so glad that it didn’t become like this with this drama.
The writer and director did everything right. EVERYTHING! Jang Hyuk & Jang Nara are soooo amazing – their chemistry are really mind-blowing (and painfully beautiful) and among the very best I have ever witness in Kdramas. You can even see the sparkles in the eyes when they look at each other which I find amazing. They both are great actors that I honestly think that anyone who want to learn acting should learn just by watching their performance in this drama. Since I have watched repeatedly the same episodes over and over again, I just keep being amazed by how they really immersed in their characters – every little movement, action, tears or the tone of their speaking voice are just magic. Their performance here are simply brilliant. *.*
It is a great, perfect & flawless drama without a doubt! And I know its gonna take a while for me to find an awesome drama that can touch me like this. I don’t know what magic did they put on me to be this invested but I’m certainly under their spell.
To anyone who is watching this amazing show, I just want to note that this drama has a lot of references to other dramas which made it even more hilarious & fun. I list them here for anyone who is interested:
REFERENCES USED IN FATED TO LOVE YOU
- Successful Story of a Bright Girl references: Some of the similar scenes in Fated to Love You are intended as a reference to the Jangs’ previous drama together.
- You Who Come from the Star reference: “Do Manager” reference during Clara’s opening scene when she throw a fuss and call her manager; “Where is Do Manager?” when she refused to do the shampoo commercial ad.
- ‘Change’ by Gloomy 30’s from Slave Hunter OST is used in the scene when Gun is trying to chase away the dog using his blazer. Jang Hyuk is associated a lot with this song since this is the drama that won him a Daesang in 2010 KBS Drama Award. Even in Real Men (a K-variety show about army life), this song is played constantly during his scenes. XD
- James Bond’s Bond girl reference: Gun transformed Miyoung to an attractive and kick-ass lady (Bond girl) at Macau and this reference is also used later in the drama.
- Count of Monte Cristo reference: When both of them are locked by Miyoung’s mum, Gun sarcastically answer to Miyoung; “Then should I dig a tunnel with a spoon?” when he tried to escape from the room.
- 'Snail’ by Panic is played when Gun described Miyoung as a snail that slowly, little by little, piece by piece, get closer to its target.
- Behind the White Tower reference: “What’s with this “Behind the White Tower” situation?” comment by the baby instructor when Gun acted dramatically like he is operating a patient when he is stitching the baby clothes.
- ‘Why do you?’ by Chuli & Miae is sang by both Gun and Miyoung during the karaoke session. Gun rap while Miyoung sing and a live performance from Jang Hyuk’s days as TJ Project was briefly shown in the karaoke video.
- Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara’s past/current career reference: Gun praised Miyoung singing (reference to Jang Nara’s career as a pop singer) and Miyoung praised Gun’s rap (reference to Jang Hyuk’s short-lived career as a rapper) and Gun replied by saying; “I had to do something like that before. A project.” (Just for the lolz, TJ Project is his stage name which stand for ‘Team Jang Hyuk’).
- Pasta reference: Daniel said to Miyoung; “Eat here, I made pasta in my past.” which is a reference to his character in Pasta. Beside that, Daniel’s Korean name in the drama is Kim Taeho which is Choi Jinhyuk’s real name.
- ET reference: Gun said Miyoung’s sister baby looks like an ET (alien) when he is holding him at the hospital.
- Various famous people reference: Jung Joon Young radio show (JJY is a big Jang Nara’s fan and he is indirectly asking Miyoung to come to him), ‘Having an Affair’ by GG (G-Dragon and Park Myung Soo), Park Kyunglim radio show and ‘Sera Sera’ by Doris Day is played from the radio during the car scene when Gun is sending Miyoung back from the hospital.
- ‘The Princess Diaries Medley’ from Princess Diaries OST is played during the firework romantic scene by the lake side.
- Batman’s Joker reference: Gun seeing his shrink in the iconic Joker make-up when his sexual frustration is driving him nuts that he has to take a cold shower for it. :’D
- Volcano High & Successful Story of a Bright Girl reference: Both Gun and Miyoung dressed as students as their previous movie/drama (Volcano High for Jang Hyuk and Successful Story of a Bright Girl for Jang Nara). You can hear Yong called Jang Nara’s character in the drama; “Yang Soon” and ‘Love Song’ by Jo Jang Hyuk from SSoaBG OST can be heard in the background during that scene.
- A New Leaf reference: Gun wake up and having an amnesia and he asked Sera; “That thing that happens frequently in movies and dramas, memory loss, I’m in that state?” You can see Kim Myungmin amnesia scene at the side of Gun’s face.
- g.o.d. reference: Gun rapped to g.o.d.’s 'To My Mother’ – a song which he starred in a music video in 1999. He did this rap in front of John Park (a member of g.o.d. who made a cameo in this scene). Jang Hyuk and John Park is a long time friends as they once share a dorm during their rookie years.
- g.o.d.’s Baby Jaemin reference: Jaemin is the name of the baby that members of g.o.d. has to take care in their variety show. John Park is holding and recording an advertisement with 'Jaemin’ in this scene.
- 'I Can’t Forgive’ by Cha Soo Kyung from Cruel Temptation OST is played during Yong and Jiyeon restaurant scene. This song is associated with betrayal so it is purposely played during that scene. This song is also played during their meeting with Yong’s mother.
- Jang Hyuk reference: Gun speak in Chinese and pretend to be Jang Hyuk (himself) in order to stop the kiss conversation forced to Miyoung and Daniel by their friends.
- In Time With You reference: When Gun and Miyoung are conversing by messaging each other, the scenes where they sit side by side are inspired by this Taiwanese drama.
- Chinese zombie reference: Gun called Secretary Tak; 'Tak Gangshi’ when he keeps following him around.
- The Classic reference: This happens during Gun and Miyoung running under the rain scene during their visit at the botanical garden. You can hear Jatanpung’s 'Me to You, You to Me’ from The Classic OST played in the background.
- Romeo & Juliet reference: Gunmeo & Julmiyoung according to Secretary Tak. 8D
- Notting Hill reference: Due to them confessing to each other in front of a press conference.
- 'Kiss Me’ by Blink is played during the drawing scene when Gun tried to kiss Miyoung. This song is very popular in k-variety shows since they always play it during any kiss-attempted scenes.
- Dragon Ball reference: Ice and fire exchange between Gun and Yong. And in one of the scene, Dragon Ball’s song (Korean version) can be heard from the background.
- Jun Jihyun reference (Jang Hyuk’s co-star in Windstruck and two of his MVs): A play on Jun Jihyun name is made by Gun when he asked Miyoung about Jiyeon’s name; “She’s Jun Jiyeon, right? Not, JIHYUN but Jiyeon.”
- Jang Nara reference: In Gun’s dream where he seemed to have forgotten Miyoung, he mistaken her with Jang Nara.
- Terminator reference: Gun said; “I’ll be back!!1” to Miyoung’s mum when he failed to convince her to be with Miyoung the first time.
- Tazza - The War of Flower reference: Reference to Jang Hyuk’s character in his drama Tazza; “Goni” by President Park when they play the Go-Stop (Hwatoo) game in which Jang Hyuk’s character in the drama is an expert. Also, Jang Nara love to play the game irl so they show how she is an expert in the game in the drama.
- Secret Garden reference: This happens during the exercise scene when Gun and Miyoung are doing sit-up trying to impress Miyoung’s mum that he is healthy.
- Emergency Couple reference: At the end of episode 19 when we see them running in public to their wedding ceremony.
- Men in Black reference: Both Yong and Secretary Tak acting as secret agents when they tried to recreate the Macau incident.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is great tbh. It has everything that a good show should have; good directing, good script and plot, excellent acting, attractive actors, great cinematography and not to mention a really awesome and amazing figting scenes.However, when the writer decided to go full head to make the main character as sad and tragic not to mention pathetic as it can be, the drama went downhill in my opinion -- it is no longer fun as the first 10 episodes. Not to mention when it start focusing on other sub-characters which we the viewers didnt really give a damn especially the political people slow conversations, I find that the drama lost its spark and I started fast forwording scenes that I never done in my 15++ years of watching kdramas. Come on, when you make the main character as engaging and full of depth as Dae Gil, would you like to watch how the drama spent half of its air time on other side characters that you don’t really care about?
By the time it reached the end, I actually wish Dae Gil to die since his fate is just too cruel or should I said ridiculous. It never happen to me before but this is a first time for me to wish the character that I like to just die and end everything.
I just don’t understand the writer insistence to make a tragic character more tragic than it already is. And for me to wish that kind of end for him, it says a lot about what I feel about the whole thing.
I just don’t cry anymore while watching the ending scenes. I'm just so pissed that I got no more tears to spill. I just hate Un Nyun and yeah I hate her and I feel like she is so selfish and unlikable. The fact that she actually leave him alone to fight while bringing her injured ‘husband’ or the fact she never address Dae Gil's devotion for her -- not even once and still expecting him to come and send her off says a lot about her personality. The writer really screw up big time in writing an admirable female characters. He was just too busy writing in depth the male characters in the drama that the only memorable female character in the whole series is the slave lady. >.>
Why would I root for Tae Ha when Dae Gil is the one who wanders around for 10 years searching for her? Why would I root for Tae Ha’s when it is Dae Gil who had a breakdown in the middle of the market after learning about the marriage? And why would I root for Tae Ha when he has problem with Un Nyun originally being a slave while Dae Gil never care about those status thing even from the very beginning? I just don’t understand the reasoning behind of wanting to make Tae Ha & Un Nyun happens. I JUST DON’T.
The drama is great but the insistence to make the main character to suffer THIS MUCH just leave a big distaste in my mouth. I just don’t understand the concept that Koreans have with their insistence of making their main characters suffers while never give them the justice that they deserve right until the end.
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