Upbeat smooth romance drama here. Thank god there is not a cancerous female antagonist like most dramas. Park Min Young is an icon in romantic dramas to be honest. Easily digestible drama overall and no big conflicts or misunderstandings that make the drama draggy and annoying. Kudos to the writer(s). 9.5/10
As a commenter before me said if u fast forward the flashbacks it saves u about 2-3 hours of screentime. Apart from that it was an overall good drama. BUT if you are aiming to reach 40 episodes as a writer, why not make the happy-ever-after part longer? i mean there were about 2 draggy/plotfiller episodes every 10 episodes or so. It's still enjoyable to watch, second ML's pursue of FL doesn't become too antagonistic and pressing which is rare for these types of dramas. Big Brother Big Boss was nowhere to be seen even though for a lot of episodes we heard of him as a big threat and being above all. All in all 7.5/10. Not really rewatchable except if you are a hardcore fan of some actor in it. Most dramas that leave a mark and have a somewhat interesting plot are not rewatchable so i didn's list it as a disadvantage. Have fun.
honestly it could be condensed in 24 episodes. That being said, it never gets too draggy to the point of being boring. Second ML could have been handled a little bit better in the last episodes, in terms of his obsession over FL, and this weird sister - stepbrother onesided love between SML and Linda was really out of sync with the rest of drama. Also SML's stepfather suddenly vanished for no particular reason. As long as they cast someone to play FL's father maybe they could use him a bit more with some flashbacks taking screen time.( its 36 episodes after all, and they did have some really unimportant scenes so they could replace these ones). All in all a decent drama. 7/10 and if you are romance addict 8/10.
easy on the eye. no major misunderstandings and plot twists. a smooth office romance drama. Watch priority is around 6/10 but if u are a romance drama fan and dont want extremely annoying situations then it becomes 7.5/10
well... some sudden accidents/amnesias etc to drag the drama to reach 30 episodes. thats the first disadvantage. could have been easily condensed in 24 episodes. also FL's antagonist after ruining a lot of people's lives gets a pat in the back, typical Asian drama ending. For once i would like to see actual revenge , or for her to get severely punished. or even die :) Don't waste 30 hrs on this drama.
Short but good. Somin has such a unique face! The ahjummas were also sooo unlike any other Kdrama where they are just nagging and annoying everyone. This goes to show that you dont have to fill a drama with 100 cliches to make it romantic. And its not ur typical poor/village girl falls for rich guy. Well written, well executed, well casted, and just enough episodes to tell the story it needs to. Highly recommend, also since its so short it's not a hassle to watch and check where u left off or try to remember what happened 5 episodes ago etc.
One of the few dramas with no draggy parts, every episode left you wanting to watch the next instantly because the story was evenly split. Acting was very good from all cast members (keep in mind that ML's acting is not wooden , instead its a good portrayal of a person with Sauvant syndrome). Overall i'd say 9.5/10 Rewatchability is low but its to be expected with all non-romantic dramas that actually have an interesting plot to offer. The thrill of watching as the story unfolds is gone if you rewatch it (which is this drama's main hook). A must watch in medical/mystery/revenge genre. Also one general statement from me is: Koreans have a very good perception of when to say a story without getting greedy if it succeeds and force plot twists or cliffhangers to go on for more episodes or seasons. (thats the case for non romantic and non family dramas)
Kim Yeong Cheol acting is really good and accurate in emotion portrayal. Also his court speech/performance was one of the best acting bits i've seen in asian dramas so far!
a decent romantic drama. i wouldn't suggest 'wasting' 40 hrs on it (episodes are 40 in total and not 46 as said here) except if u have a lot of free time. there are tons of Korean and Chinese dramas that have more intense romantic plots and are way more compact (usually 16 or 24 episodes long) so if u just want to get your dose of romance Pretty Li Hui Zhen is not the ideal place. When u are done watching most of the high rated intense romantic Dramas then start the 'less thrilling' category of romance with this one.
Short romantic journey, no need of extreme plot twists or evil female/male antagonists ruining the lead couple's lives. Also no amnesia and sudden car crash mini stories to extend the episode count. I like how the writer/producers had a story to tell and executed it as compactly and without extra sprinkles of drama as possible. Easily digestible and watchable in a short period of time (like a weekend) even though i watched it in a day :D Maybe the son of FL could have more screen time and the instant bond of the son with the ML could be spread into smaller pieces along 3 episodes or so, to make it more organic but overall it was a good drama. Recommended.
finally a romantic drama that has no FL or ML antagonist who ruins their lives or lie to make things complicated and misunderstood. Basically if u watch this drama u won't have a character to be angry at, and you will just have a three-couple romantic story from start to finish. No big shocks, no plot twists just pure romance. Recommend to watch it when not sleepy because its smooth and won't 'hook' you with cliffhangers and shocking secrets.
The last couple of episodes are indeed bad, but even if the ending is terrible and the way ML tortured FL could have been 'defused' if it happened earlier in like episode 22 so they could give us 2 final episodes of the final romance and getting back together after all scandals have been solved, and leave the audience in a happy note. Just 2 minutes of ML in the final 2 minutes of the series is really a bad way to end things after all the buildup.
Easily digestible drama overall and no big conflicts or misunderstandings that make the drama draggy and annoying. Kudos to the writer(s).
9.5/10
Apart from that it was an overall good drama. BUT if you are aiming to reach 40 episodes as a writer, why not make the happy-ever-after part longer? i mean there were about 2 draggy/plotfiller episodes every 10 episodes or so.
It's still enjoyable to watch, second ML's pursue of FL doesn't become too antagonistic and pressing which is rare for these types of dramas.
Big Brother Big Boss was nowhere to be seen even though for a lot of episodes we heard of him as a big threat and being above all.
All in all 7.5/10. Not really rewatchable except if you are a hardcore fan of some actor in it.
Most dramas that leave a mark and have a somewhat interesting plot are not rewatchable so i didn's list it as a disadvantage.
Have fun.
That being said, it never gets too draggy to the point of being boring.
Second ML could have been handled a little bit better in the last episodes, in terms of his obsession over FL, and this weird sister - stepbrother onesided love between SML and Linda was really out of sync with the rest of drama.
Also SML's stepfather suddenly vanished for no particular reason.
As long as they cast someone to play FL's father maybe they could use him a bit more with some flashbacks taking screen time.( its 36 episodes after all, and they did have some really unimportant scenes so they could replace these ones).
All in all a decent drama. 7/10 and if you are romance addict 8/10.
no major misunderstandings and plot twists. a smooth office romance drama.
Watch priority is around 6/10 but if u are a romance drama fan and dont want extremely annoying situations then it becomes 7.5/10
some sudden accidents/amnesias etc to drag the drama to reach 30 episodes. thats the first disadvantage.
could have been easily condensed in 24 episodes.
also FL's antagonist after ruining a lot of people's lives gets a pat in the back, typical Asian drama ending.
For once i would like to see actual revenge , or for her to get severely punished. or even die :)
Don't waste 30 hrs on this drama.
Somin has such a unique face! The ahjummas were also sooo unlike any other Kdrama where they are just nagging and annoying everyone.
This goes to show that you dont have to fill a drama with 100 cliches to make it romantic.
And its not ur typical poor/village girl falls for rich guy.
Well written, well executed, well casted, and just enough episodes to tell the story it needs to.
Highly recommend, also since its so short it's not a hassle to watch and check where u left off or try to remember what happened 5 episodes ago etc.
Overall i'd say 9.5/10
Rewatchability is low but its to be expected with all non-romantic dramas that actually have an interesting plot to offer. The thrill of watching as the story unfolds is gone if you rewatch it (which is this drama's main hook).
A must watch in medical/mystery/revenge genre.
Also one general statement from me is: Koreans have a very good perception of when to say a story without getting greedy if it succeeds and force plot twists or cliffhangers to go on for more episodes or seasons. (thats the case for non romantic and non family dramas)
Also his court speech/performance was one of the best acting bits i've seen in asian dramas so far!
there are tons of Korean and Chinese dramas that have more intense romantic plots and are way more compact (usually 16 or 24 episodes long) so if u just want to get your dose of romance Pretty Li Hui Zhen is not the ideal place. When u are done watching most of the high rated intense romantic Dramas then start the 'less thrilling' category of romance with this one.
Also no amnesia and sudden car crash mini stories to extend the episode count.
I like how the writer/producers had a story to tell and executed it as compactly and without extra sprinkles of drama as possible.
Easily digestible and watchable in a short period of time (like a weekend) even though i watched it in a day :D
Maybe the son of FL could have more screen time and the instant bond of the son with the ML could be spread into smaller pieces along 3 episodes or so, to make it more organic but overall it was a good drama.
Recommended.
Basically if u watch this drama u won't have a character to be angry at, and you will just have a three-couple romantic story from start to finish. No big shocks, no plot twists just pure romance.
Recommend to watch it when not sleepy because its smooth and won't 'hook' you with cliffhangers and shocking secrets.
especially in 2004. I hope the actress has a good life.