I'm on episode 38, and I want to strangle Hyun Soo's mom! What an incredibly selfish, whiny, mean, and petty woman!
OK, I made it to the beginning of episode 40, and I can't do this any more. I'm dropping it, even though this is by far the most episodes I've watched of any show before dropping it. But it's never too late to cut your losses. At least I've saved more than 5 hrs of my life, which would have been 5 hrs of frustration and aggravation. The only good thing about this show was Lee Min Jung.
I have yet to watch this and the first japanese version but I've seen the anime! I don't know what EXACTLY happened…
That’s too bad. I’ll still watch the anime just to complete the whole set, but I highly recommend the live action Japanese version, which I consider one of the greatest movies I’ve ever seen, probably top 50 for me.
Everybody, please do me a favor and watch the Japanese live action version from 2003 (Josee to Tora to Sakana Tachi). That movie not only felt fresher, quirkier, funnier, and more engaging, but it was also way more emotionally devastating. This Korean version was definitely competently made, with sound and photography on a higher level than the norm, but the development of the characters and relationships was skimpy, and the overall feel I think was misguided. The wall-to-wall slow, sentimental music was a particularly bad misstep. It made everything too ponderous and pretentious. Next, I'm going to watch the anime version, but I doubt it'll be able to compete with the original live action Japanese version.
Yoo Rin just drove me nuts in the last couple of episodes! She was so stupidly masochistic and self-destructive, I was seriously rooting for a sad ending where she loses Gong Chan forever. Gong Chan should have just told her, alright, if that's the way you want it, then goodbye forever, I'll just marry the person I should have picked from the beginning, my faithful secretary. The resolution was so sudden and made no sense, so the happy ending was totally unsatisfying because it wasn't earned. And don't get me started on the old fool of a grandfather, the shady grifter dad, or the boring older couple, whose only purpose was to save you time by providing lots of scenes you can just fast-forward through. My favorite thing about the whole drama was Yoo Rin's 2 friends and their cute sibling relationship.
Make sure you watch all the way through the end of the credits. The post-credits scene was very moving and made me dewy-eyed. If you enjoyed this, definitely watch Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (the original Japanese live action film).