Reviews

SUMMARY
This drama started off very well with good background set-up and character introductions. The fragrance theme is used very creatively in this drama as both a competing product and weapon. Overall, this drama is worth a watch for anyone who enjoys an interesting use of fragrance in story telling and many plot-twists.

STORY
The story's first three-quarters is very good, playing with ideas of crime, family relationships and personal morals. The theme of betrayal and sacrifice is very strong and characters are constantly forced to be make difficult decisions, often between family versus personal morals. The film shows good moral messages throughout the story as characters succeeds and fails. The plot is excellent until the last quadrant... where the director tried to force melodrama in scenes where it doesn't belong - unfortunately, the ending turned out to be extremely bizarre and unimpressive, when it could have been a lot better.

CHARACTERS AND ACTING
Character development is huge in this drama. Throughout the plot, all significant characters would actively experience, learn and change their behavior, for both the better and the worst. At certain part, however, the difference in character behavior becomes unrealistic drastic, making the acting feel unnatural and the character hard to believe

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Ok, I usually kinda enjoy historical dramas, but this one took me by surprise and is now one of my favorites of all times. Maybe it IS my ultimate favorite.
I´m not kidding, it´s amazing.
The plot, the characters, the actors... it´s all incredible. I can't find anything to complain about.
I cried, I laughed and really enjoyed every minute of it.
The history behind the plot is also very rich, and I recommend you to look into it before and after you watch this drama.
Anyway, don´t miss it... the first 7 episodes can be a little slow (even though I like it a lot, is considered as kinde of a prelude), but don´t let this discourage you!
You will find romance, adventure, friendship, mistery, war and an amazing journey.

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Goblin... I fell in love hard in this drama. I was so captivated by Gong Yoo's(Goblin) pain and Kim Go Eun's(Ji Eun Tak as Goblin's Bride) emptiness and hardships.

The great thing about this drama is that even if you knew where the plot is going, you still enjoy the acting. I can feel Gong Yoo's(Goblin) anxiety on how to tell Kim Go Eun(Goblin's bride) that he liked her and that he wants to be with her constantly, that he worries every time for Kim Go Eun(Goblin's bride), when she's not anywhere near his sight and he's always there for her to save her and go anywhere with her.

The setting of this drama... I can never ever say anything bad about it. You're in the maple country, you can see the beautiful maple trees, the sign of autumn, how can I forget how beautiful that was? Add the beautiful OSTS this drama have, as well as the 2nd male lead(Lee Dong-wook as Grim Reapear) and 2nd female lead Yoo In-na(Sunny/Sun Hee). How can something go wrong?

I felt like I was watching this live, and I was there on the set with them especially when the episode 13 came up where in I cried so hard as Kim Go Eun(Goblin's bride) cried her heart out. I was really caught up with the scene and I salute Kim Go Eun's cries in there. It felt so real that you can really think she's crying for her real life love.

This will be one of the drama's I will never ever forget.
I don't expect less from Gong Yoo's acting since Coffee Prince.
He's one of the most sought after actor and I always look forward to his works.

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You won't be prepared for this movie and this might give you some anime-like (Hayao-Miyazaki) vibes.
The story is marvellously written, in the movie the topic that was handeled can be seen in the real life food industry and that makes the story utterly sad. It is an unique movie, because it is realistic in a certain way.
The story picks up fast and in the last hour it leaves out no time to proceed fast, I wished they stayed on some scenes longer to give more of an impact but that is just a minor flaw in my opinion.
The cast was amazing and I really appreciated the collab between Korean actors and American ones. It was difficult in the beginning because Jake's acting was too much, but that is the way Bong Joon-Ho produces its movies and I am happy he stayed true to himself.
The music was beautiful at certain scenes, not all of them.

Overall I really liked this movie, certainly ones that impact me (it left me crying) but also made me think about the food industry. In my opinion I don't see this as a propaganda but as a supernatural movie with a deep message, it makes a valid point.

Watch this and you won't be dissapointed, try to look over the over-reacting actions from some actors but see the message behind this movie.

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How can I describe this drama ? the story was unique , about the struggle of ones self to reach their dream . Conquering the obstacles , and how can the person start again from scratch even if he reached rock bottom . WHAT I liked the most that feeling , of friendship or partnership , the other half of your soul in life , the sincerity . It is one of the hidden gem min the world don't miss it .

THE acting was amazing , no flows , just great . The music is the bessssssssssssssst , full of power and hope .
I totally recommed it for everyone , don't hesitate ,you won't regret

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Hate on me all you want, but I stand by my opinion that this is a sub-par drama at best.
I enjoyed the serial-style crime show that composed the first half of this drama, but it the writing wasn't particularly clever or fluid as other crime dramas I've seen.
The story felt dragged out and not as cohesive as it could have been, and it overall lacked substance. Crime shows deal with heavy themes of humanity, but this show was just dark without social commentary and had too much cheesy romance. On that note, the chemistry was spicy, but the romance itself was rushed, unbelievable, and not well paced. Even without substance, shows can be saved by fun and action, but again, there wasn't enough feel-good vibes or humor for it to pull that off, so it was just straight-up dark and cheesy from there.
The acting here was pretty good, but acting can't save mediocre writing, and the acting did become sloppy at times. The best performance here was probably Wang Kai's; his character was the only likeable one in the end.
On another note, I understand Chinese patriarchal culture as someone who is indeed ethnically Chinese, but a viewer can't deny the awkwardly sexist writing here.
Overall, I can say that viewers can pass on this drama. It's very highly rated and well-reviewed, but I think reviewers may just have found a show to their tastes rather than a show that actually measures up to the other brilliant crime shows in the drama industry.

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I was very, very excited for this drama ever since it was announced because it is Joo Won's first sageuk. And when I watched the first episode, I just knew that it would definitely not reach my personal expectations.

Overall this one is a lightweight sageuk residing in the comedy genre with a slice of sketchy corruption. That pretty much describes it all.

Tastes usually differ, especially with rom-coms and it always depends on what the viewers expect of it. Since this one also belongs to that genre, the drama delivered that part well enough if you want to enjoy something lighthearted (even though I myself didn't feel that much emotion between the leads because it felt rushed to me).

My complains about the story are that the corruption plot staggered alot in the middle and the story didn't seem to move forward at all - while the finale seemed very rushed again. The villains were shallow and only loosely defined. And I really wish that they had given the (current) queen more depth - I don't mean some excursion into the past that justifies her actions but more sides to her character in the present. She was so lopsided. I would have liked to see if she indeed genuinely cared for the prince, for example.

Other than that I enjoyed the side characters quite alot. They were essential for the comedy part and did a really good job. I also loved the costumes, the colors and the music in this. And they even had some really pretty and artistic scenes, especially in the beginning.

Despite my own divided impression on this, I would still recommend it to people who look for a lighthearted romance with a side plot that doesn't put them into much agony. If you still can't decide whether to watch it or not then try to imagine putting historical costumes on modern day people and throw them onto a sageuk stage. You have fancy cafés, a manicure salon and all the values people nowadays cherish.

(btw, I can't compare this to its original since I haven't seen that one)

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What a nice surprise mini-drama (a KBS 4 ep special). I've had this on my to-do list for awhile as I was researching more works by Kwak Dong Yeon -- he's they actor who played the ninja-like body guard to the crown prince in Love In the Moonlight. He really caught my attention (and i am sure many other's) and hope to see him in lots more stuff. This drama is a great story where he plays the lead in a high school setting. It's a pleasure to watch all the other actors around him. It made all these scenes even stronger. I didn't even realize before I started that these folks were in it since it had been on my Plan to Watch list for so long.

Noteable other actors in it:
Choi Tae Joon - very hot and great acting in this - fr Suspicious Partner, Missing 9, etc.
Lee Se Young - b4 she went on a no-carb diet - female lead in The Best Hit
Yoon Park - 2nd male lead from Introverted Boss (aka Shy Boss)

Choi Tae Joon was so good in this, I would rewatch this just to see him play this particular role again.

You can watch it in HD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P98UaWPQrrM&index=1&list=PLx2UFNa9ToSC8Y-BpzdIjp7OgkSONAmCC

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My Sassy Girl is the remake of the super popular, early 2000's movie of the same name. In this version, though, the story doesn't take place in modern times, but in the Joseon period. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable drama for the most part. It's a light romantic- comedy sageuk with a dose of political intrigue mixed in. In all honesty, though, there was really nothing much that set it apart from countless other dramas of the same genre. It's pretty standard fare, but I really liked it nontheless. The cinematography is beautiful. The use of color and lighting make it stand out, as well as the costumes. Truly, out of all Joseon era sageuks, this one has the best visuals and costuming that I have seen.

As I mentioned above, the story itself isn't original and it actually doesn't follow the original My Sassy Girl that closely. In the first couple of episodes, you can recognize a couple of scenes and situations, and the main character's friends have a similar profession/hobby, but that's about it. There are also quite a few modern Korean culture and society refrences used, which had me chuckling. All in all I do recommend this drama, despite it being so similar to others. It's still a fun watch.

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School 2013 focused on the school drama and not on a romantic story, which is a refreshing idea and gave more space for the true drama to unfold without an unnecessary love story to interrupt it. The story was very interesting, as it was dealing with issues like bulling and youth problems, as well as teaching methods and bad school politics. The performances were really good and that helped a lot, as well as the way the issues were presented. In the end, however, it felt like this drama needed an extra episode or two to conclude the stories, as the final one was kind of rushed and left a lot of things with not an actual ending. So, 8 out of 10.

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