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An exploration of life lessons
I now find most Korean dramas offputting because 5 out of 10 dramas will be some melodrama that advances the plot by throwing grenades when a simple lighter would have sufficed. Most are vicious, violent, classist, and demeaning to those who aren't part of the super-rich, mostly though, I'm tired of how the characters are always so damn loud which makes me simultaneously cringe and sigh. Like, seriously, do Koreans not have an inside voice?All that aside, Woo-bin gave an excellent performance and I pray he's cancer free forever because the world needs more kind people like him.
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Cry me a river of tears
Reading some reviews, I knew there would be heartache but went ahead to watch the first episode and I was hooked. This drama toys with your feelings of melancholy and longing to the extreme so if you are in the mood for this, just make sure you have your tissues nearby.Lots of coincidences made this story overly dramatic but I overlooked this as I bought into the ML’s love, pain and suffering. It was an added bonus that he was handsome with a great physique - my preferred male lead unlike those who are too pretty-boy and skinny. The FL was a good match for him and while I enjoyed her acting most of the time, it was a bit annoying during some of her screaming scenes.
It was sweet during the brief moments when the leads were happy together and yet bittersweet when you know it could never be a happily ever after ending for them.
I appreciated that the ending was not rushed and even the side stories had satisfactory endings.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama was a bit hard for me to rate. The opening was great and drew my attention. Around the mid way point the story takes a hard turn in a direction I did not enjoy. In fact a few instances I had thoughts of dropping the show. I am glad I didn't though because after getting over that hump the show picks back up again. The ending was probably one of the most emotionally charged endings I have ever seen. Over all I would have rated this drama a 6 (3 stars), but the ending was so good that I am bumping it up to an 8 (4 stars).
The scene in the last episode between Shin Joon-Young played by Kim Woo-bin and Shin Young-Ok played by Jin Kyung was by far the best acted and emotional scene I have ever felt and it is thanks to that acting that the rating is being pushed up so high. While watching it I forgot for a moment I was watching a drama and felt like I was really sitting in the room with them. Even now a full day after watching that scene, I still have a pang in my heart thinking about it.
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Undeniably Good
This is a show that I had seen recommended on my Netflix list frequently so decided to finally give it a go. With Suzy in the show, I felt even if I didn't entirely enjoy it, she would always be a positive - and so she proved. Luckily, the show itself was more than good. This is an emotionally heavy show with an ending that you technically knew was coming but were still flattened by.The flashbacks are integral to this story and lay the scene for what the show is about. The events that led to the lead characters separating before finding their way back into each other's lives are something typical of a kdrama story in demonstrating how lead characters are sometimes connected prior to meeting on the show. There is a sense of loss and foreboding separation that accompanies the lead characters as they try to rebuild a damaged relationship while the lead male reckons with his guilt for his part in the events that cleaved them apart.
The story is a motif for what we do and suffer because of family. Each character's suffering is tied to what they experience due to their loved ones. Suzy's character is beautifully realistic in her pragmatism because all she wants now in life is the very best for her brother. We have to talk about Kim Woo-Bin's acting. He was the heart, soul, rage, pain and joy of this show. From the moment it became clear what was going on with him, and his part in Suzy's childhood, there was just this yearning to see him make peace with himself. His relationship with those closest to him shaped the sense of pain that drove the show and constantly brought you to sympathy for him even when he was doing his best to show he didn't deserve it.
Some of the other characters in the show were not well-written enough to stand out as support characters. The mother of Kim Woo-Bin's acting was both incredible and frustrating, and your viewpoint of characters like her and others might change with each rewatch. There was also one problem with the flashbacks in using the same actors for them which I won't spoil for anyone, but it made some of present-day scenes implausible.
The show's final episode and final scenes were very quiet and that worked better than a spectacular, grandstand finish. Sometimes, what love relationships deserve aren't these massive gestures and fireworks but the beautiful quietness and simplicity done well. The show ended in a way that will leave you close to tears, and some might object to how it was written, but I think it worked for the best.
Overall, it's a great show!
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If your loooking for a light hearted romance keep moving. If your looking for drama, with tons of feels, you may like this.
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People who loves melodrama should really watch this even though there are certain parts that makes you feel like stopping. Do continue and endure because in my opinion, I think being able to persevere till the end of this show was worth the irritating feelings that you feel when things gets too draggy.
Story has the typical over melodramatic situations like someone dies, terminal diseases, whichever you can think of. But it is still quite an unpredictable storyline. Most supporting roles are kind of annoying especially Tae Jin and that killer because they are so fickle minded at what they want to do etc etc. Do not pity the father/mother. DO NOT!
Never let what happened to the previous generations(parents) affect your life because your life is your life.
Their failure/wrongdoings aren's exactly your fault.
I would say this drama shows how each one of us might make certain mistakes that causes lots of shit. So i don't think certain scenes are 'too much' because in real life it does happen! *inserts raising both hands emoji*
Kim Woo Bin's acting were great! The scenes where he broke down were just so sad and it breaks your heart somehow, somewhere. Poor boy.
Suzy is better than her previous roles, never really find her irritating as compared to some people. I don't know why but I think all artists are fine as long as they are not too BLANK as a main role?
Music wasn't really an main point to me, in fact! I don't really remember any of their OST now that you ask me because I finished this quite some time ago.
But there are still musics that makes you tears together with the cast so I guess it's not too bad?
I did rewatched a few scenes but maybe not the whole show? Probably the ending few episodes, you will know why..... ;)
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This drama is full of melodrama and love and a little bit of revenge.
The love scenes and the understanding scenes between male and female lead was good and they depicted lovely. All the supporting characters (female lead brother and his pair chemistry was good, second lead etc..) everyone did their part quite well.
The background music and were good.instead of dragging to 20 episodes ,they could have completed to 16 episodes. It’s an emotional ride.
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So, why I like this drama is that, I just like how it made me feel all the emotions that is given to this drama.
I laughed, I smiled, I cried, and I feel in love with this drama.
It's a bit disappointing because you have already the idea of how this will going to end.
The casting is good. The acting too is good. The music is good. The story is finely good.
Everything is good and i recommend you to watch this.
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This review may contain spoilers
I had very high expectations before watching this drama. Felt like it was appropriate to watch a tear-jerker drama due to the ongoing things and problems in my life. The love story of Noh Eul and Joon Yeong was a beautiful construct that just shows how romance is difficult to pursue due to some circumstances, even though you can love a person so much. First, the story was very unique, however, I spoiled so many things for myself before fully watching this drama. Of course, there were plenty of Kdrama cliches and cheesy moments, however, it fit in well with the whole storyline of this show. I just wish the ending was more impactful for me, as I did not shed a single tear and was confused about how certain characters dealt with his death. As for the acting, this show was a good mixture of either very talented, or inexperienced actors. However, I did like that the OST had both, Suzy's and Kim Woo Bin's songs, in addition to the beautiful English soundtrack. Would I rewatch this? Probably not, as the drama in itself is 20 episodes long, too long for me to dig up all of the scenes that are worthy to watch again and again. Nevertheless, this show is a Hallyu classic and has a fair share of its special moments. So if you are a loyal Kdrama fan, this is a must-watch. Was this review helpful to you?
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Have Tissue on standby for your tears.
Very good drama, worth a watch! Have a box of Kleenex for tears. You’ll also go back & forth loving and hating some of the main & second leads. Every episode was showed misery/pitiful scenes, followed by happiness but back to misery so quickly which kind of annoyed me. Like jeez let the girl be happy for longer.I wanted to watch 1 episode to see if I like the chemistry of the actors & ended up watching the whole thing in 2 days.
This drama gave me Kill Me, Heal Me and Just Between Lovers vibes.
P.S. I really wish the ML and his biological father had a different outcome when everything was revealed.
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Guilty pleasure, I guess...
I swear I was open minded as I could be starting this series. From the start I knew that it’s a simple melodrama and I shouldn’t expect much from it, I should just sit down and enjoy. I wasn’t expecting elaborate plot or great action. Just good chemistry and a lot of emotions. And it started just as it should be. Right away we got interestingly composed characters. Shin Joon Yeong is an asshole of an actor who gets diagnosed with terminal illness. No Eul is poor reporter with loan sharks breathing down her neck who lost her job because she was so desperate for money that she took a bribe. She want to make a documentary about Joon Yeong but he’s clearly against it. Until it turns out that they’re actually long lost friends.So I have to admit, first episode was exactly what I wanted from it. We got some additional plot lines, additional exposition showing what exactly happened before that lead to this situation. And it was a pretty solid introduction to the characters. You know, two full episodes of flashbacks, thanks to which we exactly knew what for the next 18 episodes our main characters will be moping about. And there’s plenty of moping here. And watching longingly through the glass at laughing people. And lying and deceiving. Are you interested yet or should I continue?
So for first couple of episodes I have no objections to. Characters’ actions are pretty logical, even when they don’t seem like that. Like the way Joon Yeong acts. He just doesn’t care at one point. He knows that he’s going to die so he’s not looking at the consequences of his actions. He’s not bothered by the outcome so he just proposes to No Eul during his concert in from of thousand of fans. Does it make sense? Has No Eul showed her interest in him? No to both, but he couldn’t care less, really. And honestly, that totally makes sense, even if it doesn’t seem like it.
And it all was nice and breezy until I’ve noticed one worrying thing. I could swear that last episode that I’ve watched then, and it was something in the middle of the drama, consisted in 90% of two guys starring at a girl longingly from the distance, and honestly it was a bit much. But the notion of it being simple melodrama still persisted, so I hope for the better.
All things aside, Kim Woo Bin gave an amazing performance throughout the whole series. The problem was that characters were absolutely unlikable, doesn’t matter from what perspective to look at them.
Almost all characters in this drama are awful human beings. They lie, deceive, are insincere and get angry easily. They don’t talk to each other, and if they do, they either lie about their feelings or are absolutely awful to each other. Seems like their aim in life is to make their or somebody else lifes miserable.
No Eul is absolutely shameless, trying to get money left and right. Even after getting billion Won from Ji Tae it seems to not be enough from her and she want to get more from Joon Young. And she’s absolutely not hiding her motives here. And no, the argument, that she had financial problems and she tries to provide for her family is not an excuse to her behaviour. And Joon Yeong is honestly not better. Some of his actions can be excused, but most of the time he behaves as a grade one asshole. I’ve figured out that something is wrong with him when he made No Eul believe that he’s in critical state in hospital just to get her confession. And until somewhere half way into the drama, their love-hate relationship is what het this drama going, it’s the guilty pleasure in the purest of forms. But it gets tiring pretty fast to be honest.
Because I swear, 90% of this drama is just everyone suffering from the distance without telling anyone why they suffer. And as it traditionally goes with this type of drama, a bit of communication and honesty would solve most of those problems. Here everyone claim that their method of coping with the situation is the only true one so there’s zero talking and only sulking. BTW, the remaining 10% of the drama is just understatements that further complicate the plot.
The plot is pretty slow, and it’s not the issue of lack of development, it’s just that relationship of main characters is very stagnant. The issues that they’re having are not being resolved, they just get more and more complicated without actually moving forward.
Some events seem to not have any real influence here. We get some informations that are soon to be ignored, replaced by other events. No Eul discovers that Joon Young was the one who stole the usb with evidence in her father’s death, but apparently that’s not a problem for long. Everything seems back to normal pretty quickly especially that she also discovers that he’s dying. And while we’re at it, not much shows that he’s actually terminally ill. Some headaches, some blurry vision and some minor memory problems but for most of the time nothing really indication that he’s supposed to be dead in a month, since he’s living pretty normal life so far. And I know that showing his suffering probably was not an aim of this series, but it just looks hard to believe that he’s really in a bad state.
In the end, it started as a nice guilty pleasure and ended as a partially pleasurable torture. To each their own I guess.
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