Noemi

For me? Seung-woo, but I'm a huge CSW fan. Honestly, though, I would have to say they are both equally good in this film.

Just saw this movie in Santa Clara, CA (just outside San Jose/San Francisco). Cho Seung Woo is just the greatest actor. Love him. I was pleasantly surprised with Yoo Jae Myung. I've only seen him in serious roles, so to see him this animated was pretty cool. I almost didn't recognize him.

Interesting. I've seen many relationships/marriages with large age gaps,, and no one really cares. Perhaps the region you're in may have a different perception. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and no one really bats an eye out here. In fact, it's pretty safe to say the whole state of California is that way. I know couples with at the very least 5 years to at most 18 years age gaps. It just seems natural; as natural as mixed raced couples and same sex couples. We're pretty much known for the phrase "Love is Love."
I guess from my perspective, it's odd to me that anyone could take issue with an age gap.

Why does everyone seem to have a problem with an age gap? Is it a cultural thing? I'm American and for us, it really isn't a big deal. But I also date Asian (Korean and Mongolian) men, and they never seemed to care that I'm older. Granted, I can easily pass for a 28 year old (I'm 42 with really good Latin genes), but I'm always up front about the age gap, and they really didn't care. By the way, these men are not Asian-American...they are from Korea or Mongolia.

Maybe it's only the women that take issue with it?

This was released in the States this weekend. Just saw it. Awesome film!

" I got chills every time they showed the Japanese flag (with the sun rays) used by the Japanese imperial navy. "

Same here. In fact, my immediate thought was how much they were like Nazi Germany and the chills I get seeing the Nazi swastika flag were exactly the same when I saw that Rising Sun flag in this drama.

I just finished watching Ep22...I'm like way too emotional to fully respond.

I was just making a side note that the scenery was gorgeous. It had nothing to do with the hospital.

Anyway, perhaps it's just a linguistic difference in how we define locations. In the States, we just say metropolitan/urban, suburban and rural. The "rural" location in Life I would classify as a suburb. To give an example where I'm from: San Francisco (metro/urban), San Mateo (suburban), Half Moon Bay (rural). These areas are within 24km of each other.

Was that Lee Joon Hyuk as the new president?
I'm not sure how to feel about this finale. Perhaps a bit underwhelming. I still feel there are some unanswered questions.
And I'm really confused about the term rural. Is it just a bad translation or is that Korea's perception of what a rural town is? (And that coast line is just so gorgeous!) I swear it reminded me of Santa Cruz, CA which is just your average beach town. Rural to me is farm town, agriculture in the middle of nowhere.

My thoughts exactly.

Director Oh...woman means business. She annoyed me in the beginning because she seemed so self-righteous. She seemed to have been set straight when Mr. Gu challenged her on the idea of being better status than a salesman. She definitely is on equal ground with Mr. Gu, and as Ms. Kang said, Gu met his match. What I like about her is that she doesn't beat around the bush. She just goes straight to the point.

You're right it is different; what we experienced was mass rape, extermination, loss of culture, segregation, etc.; the pain is still very much real for us considering that discrimination is alive and well in our own country. But this isn't a comparison of who had it worse. Pain is Pain.
Our differences doesn't mean we can't appreciate the drama as the original post suggested.

"I feel like non-Asians will not appreciate this drama in quite the same manner as those whose ancestors were affected to some extent by the actions of imperialist Japan "

Why not? I'm non-Asian, but I completely appreciate this drama and could even relate to the pain you described. I'm American of Puerto Rican and native Californian heritage. While my ancestors may not have been affected by imperialist Japan, they still were met with the same if not worse brutality from other imperialistic nations (under the guise of religion) like Spain.

Episodes 19-20 really struck me, and I was literally in tears and angered by what Imperial Japan did to Korea. This is a history that I was completely unaware of so it's sort of shock twice for me.

"...I have to thank this drama for allowing me glimpses of their history that I was absolutely ignorant in. My admiration definitely extends to the Korean nation for their national determination in the face of frequent invasion and wars."

My sentiments exactly.

I feel the same way. U.S. history books don't teach us this. The World History we were taught was always Euro-centric.
I had some knowledge of the Japanese Imperial Army, but mainly the U.S./Japan conflict during WWII. Only in recent years did I learn about what Japan did to Korea and other Asian countries. Absolutely horrifying.
Seeing this just made me incredibly angry and sad.

I must've played back Lee Wan Ik's face whipping scene about 10 times. You have no idea how big my smile was. That man is just pure evil. I have no doubt that he will lose his life to Ae-sin.

That would actually be the reason why he'd be perceived as a villain in the beginning. I think it's more a cultural perspective. Here in the States, especially here in California, we view big business and corporations as the bad guys. They're necessary but not really good people I mean, just look at our president. He's trying to run this country like a business and he's a horrible, horrible person when it comes to humanitarian issues. Actually, he's just a horrible man, period.
At least with Mr. Gu, he's open to other perspectives and he does have empathy for others.

I would say Mr. Gu is misunderstood. When I saw the previews, I thought Mr. Gu was a villain, which broke my heart because I'm a huge CSW fan. However, Mr. Gu is definitely a complex character. He started out a villain, then kinda snarky, then very empathetic. I actually think he's a good guy because he's not looking to hurt anyone. Even his firing is more for his protecting the doctors than to hurt them.

"weren't you the one who made that Michael Jackson comment on dramacool lol? "
Why yes. Yes that was me on dramacool. Where else am I to watch this series when it's not yet available on Netflix US?

"Judging by all your comments you just like to drag LDW where you see fit."
CORRECTION: My comments have been specifically about Dr. Ye where I see fit not the actor LDW. Learn to separate the two.

If you think my comments are "savage", then don't read them. Why do you even care? If you're going to take my comments personally, then scroll right past.

Yes, I still believe he's a selfish jerk. Episode 13-14 only made me feel even more strongly about it. I already explained my reasons a few posts ago.

As for the reporter, even though I don't like Dr. Ye, I don't like the way she treated him/had been using him the last episode. Dr. Ye may think he's using her, but it's actually the other way around.

And yes, the "both being bloodsuckers" comment was about vampires and zombies.