I don't get it? So, the plot is that dating a soldier is really hard because they could die? Maybe the writer wanted it to be a kind of slice of life thing. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of cute and romantic moments and not just with the lead couples. There are some nice supporting characters and I usually don't enjoy tons of extra characters. This drama is the exception. Without the extra dynamics of ridiculously good looking guys running shirtless, star cameos of Lee Jong Hyuk, Yoo Ah In, and Lee Kwang Soo, Song Sang Hyeon chasing Ha Ja Ae, the adorable kids they helped, and the earthquake emergency, etc., then this drama wouldn't have a story. I did like the story line of the "far away friend" the best. I'm not saying this drama is horrible or anything. I actually enjoyed watching it for the most part. I would have rated it higher if episode 15 had been cut from the drama.
Of course the acting is good. Everyone did a great job. My only complaint is David McInnis. Is he not like from the US? Why does he talk like a robot that can't speak English? He has got to be one of the worst actors. Hell, Song Hye Kyo did a better job of speaking English naturally than he did. I think she did great speaking with Ri Ye Hwa in English. I will stop my rant here.
The music is really good. I almost gave it a higher score for that alone.
I will never rewatch this.
If you want to watch a drama with no rhyme or reason, then this is perfect.
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Been waiting for this drama every since I heard that Song Joong Ki came back from the military last year and was accepted to do this drama. In August - September 2015 I didn't have much expectation for this drama since they just announced that its gonna be film soon. So the info about the plot was vague and unclear back then. So my expectation for it wasn't big. But in 2016 when the drama started to air in February and throughout March. Hearing that the rating was super high and the drama was a huge hit makes me happy cuz after all Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo is starting in the drama. Then I watch the trailer for it and it was super good.
I don't know if it's just me or maybe others out there are the same but I hate watching Korean Drama right after it come out cuz u have to wait every single week for new episodes and it's a pain. So for every single drama that I watch I always wait for all the episode to come out and finish the whole drama in like 2-3 days.
So it's the same for this drama too. The only different is that since that drama was so huge every since its was air it's hard to keep my expectation on the same level for 2 months. So it keep rising and rising.
One thing for sure is that this drama is not overrate. Since I think everyone have such high expectations for this drama and since the bar is too high. For me is the same, my expectation for this drama is SUPER high unlike others drama so when Descendants of The Sun meet my expectation I was super happy and this drama was amazing but I kinna loss the surprising element since I already expected to be good. Because in my opinion when people have low expectation for something and it turn out good they get surprise and like it. But since the super huge expectation for this drama is already there, most people enjoy it but doesn't not get surprise. And I think losing that surprise element make some people think that this drama was overrated. The bar was raise so high for this drama Worlwide and since it definitely meet and went over the bar people think it's overrated.
Over all the casting was SUPER. And the actors did an amazing jobs bring all the emotion of their character out. I really like their natural gesture forward one another. I like to watch drama that doesn't seem like the actors r trying too hard to act. And this one does a wonderful job!!! Song Joong Ki fighting!! Can't wait to see u in a new drama.
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This drama had a little Iris, a little City Hunter and a little ER all in one. Really good chemistry between the main couple. But the secondary couple also had a wonderful story line as well as great chemistry. Some really moving moments between both couples and some really funny light hearted moments as well. The supporting casts were also really awesome. Great acting from everyone.
Awesome OST, read that it hit the music charts hard in several Asian countries.
As much as I enjoyed the romance of this drama, it also made me think of the danger and sacrifice that our own real life service men and women face for our countries. I also appreciate the many doctors that volunteer all the time for Doctor's Without Borders.
A very well done drama, worthy of the buzz and the high ratings it received. I loved Song Joong Ki so much, I looking into more of his dramas. INNOCENT MAN is looking really good.
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Story: The story was amazing. If you're a fan of romance, especailly cheesy romance, this is the perfect drama for you. This drama is military love. If you like to see Song Joong Ki be the cheesy lover, you will fall for him immediately.
Acting: Oh my goodness, the acting in this drama is amazing. Song Joong Ki presented the character so well and made me fall in love with his character instantly. Song Hye Kyo was also amazing, like usual. I watched her in That the Winter Blows and honestly I wasn't a fan of her in that drama, but in this drama she is amazing. She played the character so well and became that worried military girlfriend which made me fall in love with the drama so much because it felt like I was actually there and feeling the emotions she felt too.
Song: The OST in this drama is so lit. Every kiss scene or sad scene, the music matched it to so well.
Overall, the drama was so well done and I highly recommend it to those who are a big fan of romance.
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Lets start with the story. This is a story that's filled with disaster and tragedy, and whether or not he saves her life, or she saves his life, she gets to yell at him afterwards, and he gets to crack jokes. Why these two like each other is beyond me, the writers didn't give me a chance to get to know either character in a normal situation. Every time they finally got some time together, they were separated for his work or her work or her mother and then the next time they saw each other was an emergency. I had no time with them, i don't know who they are and so I can't care about them.
After 13 episodes I felt like I had disaster exhaustion and I wasn't sure if I had the stamina to complete a dramatic story with characters I didn't care about. I should have stopped. Without spoiling the ending I have never before felt like the writers thought I was an idiot and the whole production team was laughing at me for following them to the end. If you do decide to watch Descendants of the Sun, just stop watching after episode 14.
Song Joong Ki and Kim Ji Won were excellent. I believed their characters and their reactions to the world around them. Well done to both of them. Onew - this was the second worst case of overacting I've ever seen. he should never be allowed to act again.
If Lee Seung Jun hadn't been as funny as he was I might have stopped watching this drama after they returned to Seoul from their volunteering trip. So, a personal message to Lee Seung Jun: I will hate you forever for contribution to my watching this nonsense to the end.
The music was terrible.
Rewatch value, 0. I'm furious to have been treated like this by a writer and producers. I will never again watch anything for which they're responsible.
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story:
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A serious drawback to drama. no plot. i know there are many great dramas and great movies with no much plot but are entertaining. but this drama is directed in a way that reminds again and again that there is no plot. making it really really obvious. characters need to be really engaging to make some thing good out of practically nothing. i think this drama dealt that fairly ok. not really great.
but what bugged me is plot holes it had. cliff hangers are really cheap with a goal to garner higher TRP ratings. which makes us wonder if we are watching a reality tv show instead of drama. and also ridiculous story line. i would love to jot down plot holes it had, but i am afraid i will spoil it for already meagre story it had. also villain are not villains. they are just simple characters which sprang up now and then.
but yet this drama is worth your time because of
1. Onew's role
only character in drama which is developed really well. he surprised me with his acting. he is so adorable.
2. bromance between yoo si jin and seo dae young/kang mo yeon and lieutenant yoon.
these characters are well engaged. and they meant more sense than leads romance. when they four are together, hilarious stuff happened.
3. comedy between doctors/comrades
really good. there are certain fangirling moments and cheesy lines between them which i laughed out loud/ screamed to top of air.
4.second couple romance
their relationship is more meaningful than main leads had. they grew on me. although their kisses are subtle, it brought butterflies in my stomach. i just wish seo dae young is tough in the relationship. but he did fend some sense into him in middle of episodes.
5. acting.
acting totally saved this drama. almost all actors decently played their role. making me to root for them.
MUSIC.
music is brilliant. i enjoyed almost all songs. sometimes music had more feels than the romance leads have. so it did not sync well while watching drama. but songs are pretty amazing when you hear them , while not watching drama..
REWATCH:
i may rewatch parts of this drama which i enjoyed. but i wont do that anytime soon.
RECOMMEND:
if you are not mindful of plot, and dont mind to be nitpicking on plot holes and stupid cliff hangers it had. YOU CAN ENJOY IT.
i dont mean to say drama is bad. its actually good. but dont come with great expectation like i did.
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In my opinion some of the reasons it was hugely popular was because, first of all, it was mostly viewed by middle aged women/ajumma (who often have some extra time on their hands) and girlfriends who have their boyfriend enlisted in the army (especially here in Korea). Secondly, because there are many hopeless romantics out there who all have fallen for the charismatic and ideal boyfriend Yoo Shi-Jin. ;) I wonder if a lot of straight men have watched this?! Convinced my bf to watch it with us, but he said the male leads stare too much straight into the camera which make it all too cheesy. He called quits after one episode... ;)
Pros: beautiful filming locations, handsome main leads, great OSTs
Cons: lack of interesting plot, Song Hyae-Kyo's unconvincing acting skills, awkward English, overacting, too much...really wayyyy too much product placements, too much advertisement after the drama... so sick of seeing the actors faces everywhere in the streets and on TV here!
An overall score of 6.5, for the effort and entertainment value. ;)
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Definitely worth watching though.
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I'll start off with the positives first: the reason why I stayed throughout all the series was because of the unique concept with its marvelous props and costumes by the characters, the beautiful setting, the cgi. Other than that, I enjoyed the osts, the humor of the story and the realistic romance of the second couple.
Now this is where the main problem comes. This is where I'll write the negatives and why I didn't enjoy this show.
1) Lead couple - I never felt their love for each other. I can't point the issue out for now, but what I can say is that all I saw between the SongSong couple was flirting. Both of the characters felt so cliched to me as they were too perfect in a sense that they didn't have any weaknesses or flaws. Thus, they were the kinds of characters that didn't have much character development. Obviously, I just couldn't relate to them and their perfect love story.
2) Unrealistic - Okay, I know you'd say, "Well, it's just a drama, it's supposed to be unrealistic." I agree, but that's definitely not my point. My point is, it was interesting to watch the disasters here and there, but how they solved the conflicts were extremely unrealistic. It was too predictable for me who would die, who would get saved, how they would escape the situation, etc. They get solved so easily that throwing random death threatening disasters were getting pretty much useless. I mean if they were to add something big, they could have ended the situation in a way that we didn't see coming.
My last thoughts about this drama: Well, it could've been better. This drama had so much potential. Not saying it was wasted or what, but it just lacked things. You know what I mean? Yeah, it was not a masterpiece to me, sorry.
Anyway, recommended for those who isn't obsessed with character developments and plot structures and just want to see SJK all throughout the way.
Well, if you're actually obsessed with those stuff, the storyline will be too predictable for you. I first watched this drama in KBS (2nd ep.), and I knew I would never like it. Still, I got the full copy of this series (because the people I know who don't really poke their noses into asian drama stuff suddenly started watching DOTS), I just had to hope that I would experience a rollercoaster ride. Guess what? It never got better.
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Je n'arrive pas à accrocher à ce drama. Il lui manque quelque chose qui me pousse à vouloir continuer de le regarder. Habituellement j'ai du mal à décrocher d'un drama, c'est d'ailleurs pour cela que j'attend qu'ils soient finis pour les regarder. Mais là, je peine vraiment. J'en suis à l'épisode 11 et depuis que je l'ai commencé, j'ai regardé 5 autres dramas (vu d'une traite ceux là) et quelques films. Je crois que je vais finir par l’abandonner.
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Their acting is good tho. It's just that, all their English were off. What I mean is, I cant appreciate their words . No emotions at all.
The musics are great. A nine for that...
Definitely, should not watch it again.
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this second time so it's time to write a review. I rarely rate any drama this high.If you are looking for a story that has action, humour, witty characters and of course, romance then you are going to love this. Now, I usually don't go for military themed dramas or in fact medical dramas either. I just hate to watch political scenes and "we have to explain this medical procedure with a 10-minute scene" kind of dramas so that's why I rarely start any drama with those themes even if it is highly recommended.
So why did I decided to start Descendants of the Sun? When it aired it popped up literally everywhere; in drama sites, discussions, forums etc. I was slowly getting interested because the hype was huge. What finally drew me to watch DotS was a scene where Kang Mo Yeon drives a car, gets into accident and makes calls babbling about how she feels towards everyone. I accidentally saw this scene when it was shown on a variety show and I was like well, that looked somewhat interesting. Next thing I knew, I was watching first episode of DotS.
Don't let first minutes fool you because this show is full of humour, funny moments and romance. Even if story deals with serious issues it takes a bit lighter approach to them than most of military/medical themed dramas. I was hooked after only one episode which happens veeeery rarely. It's difficult to get my attention in just one episode but DotS did it. It was mainly because main couple's chemistry was so good!
Characters are likeable and you can find at least one character you will cheer on. Our main leads are charismatic and shine like no other. There's instant attraction and I like that about drama instead of watching hours and hours of bickering before they slowly come to like each other.
Song Joong Ki does amazing job portraying Captain Yoo Si Jin; he is handsome but adorable at the same time and has pretty good sense of humour as well as he's responsible leader who does not fear to take action. Song Hye Kyo likewise does great job presenting Kang Mo Yeon, a headstrong doctor who is kind at heart.
I loved watching our main couple and their witty dialoque with each other. I have to say I didn't like Song Hye Kyo as an actor before and that was one of the main reasons I was relunctant to watch this drama. But man, I wish I had started this earlier. Now everytime I try to judge and skip a drama based on theme or actor/actress I tell myself "look what happened with Descendants of the sun. It ended up being your favorite drama ever."
Other side characters were important to story, there was no "extra" character filling up some plotline. This was propably one of the hardest dramas to pick which couple you like the best; main or secondary. I instantly took liking to Seo Dae Young and how he can make jokes with that poker face. He has cute serious personality (can I even say it like that :D ). Yoon Myung Ju shines beside Seo Dae Young, I think this is Kim Ji Won's best role so far portraying no nonsense, I get what I want kind of a woman.
From other actors, Onew did pretty amazing job too. Yet again I was surprised by an idol actor. Only thing I didn't like though that his character was too wimpy in one point :/
Ok, the bad guys. They were pointed out pretty much from the start and I think David McInnis was right choice to play the part of ex-soldier turned gangster. He had this dark moody look and when he smirked it just gives chills.
And minor bad guy Jin Yeong Soo played by Jo Jae Yun made me hate him so he did a good job.
Something I didn't like about this drama is hard to find. But if I specifically have to point something out then it's events in episode 15. Hard to explain without spoilers but let's say that writers did one pretty typical korean drama plot twist. Otherwise this drama was really unique, had equal amount of seriousness to it as funny moments and romance. I liked how whole drama was filmed in advance so no viewers or whatsoever could affect how story would progress.
Music was good, especially main theme song stays in your head after you watch episode or two :P
So overall I'd say that give this a chance even if you don't like military or medical dramas. If you for example loved City Hunter drama, I think DotS is kind of similar but even hundred times better. (just my opinion).
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