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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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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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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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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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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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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My opinion is that the story is too flat. I love the cinematography however, the story is just so shallow for me. I'm happy that the two main leads fell in love with each other and got married in real life but, I never felt any chemistry between them in the show. I just don't understand why people love them or see them as a good pairing in the show.
The second male and female leads were more interesting for me. Jin Goo's character was so cute for me and I saw Kim Ji Won on a different role after watching the Heirs (another flat drama talked about by many people).
The ending was... disappointing. They were kidnapped, and then what? They just came back fine. Whatever.
Overall, I regret watching the drama. It was a lesson to me to never jump into bandwagon or never let the hype sway me.
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This show has no idea what it’s trying to be
Honestly this is one of the worst shows I’ve seen. Is this a romcom, serious romance, medical drama or war drama? Was honestly waiting for aliens to show up at one point. I have no idea what direction they’re trying to take. There will be a serious scene involving human trafficking, sexual violence, natural disasters, human loss etc and then 10 minutes later they’re walking through an active minefield and smiling with happy music in the background??Speaking first of the cinematography, it’s awful, every scene has the brightness cranked to 100. The entire show is so washed out because of it, each shooting location looks the same; lifeless, empty and bland. I have honestly never seen something this bad in my memory. The sets themselves don’t help the case because it just looks like a random hill where soldiers are stationed for fun with a couple generic broken ruins around. I’ll talk about my major issues with Uruk in general in a bit.
In terms of the writing it’s truly horrific and chock full of really cringe English dialogue that’s tough to listen to. The main leads have negative chemistry, the show spends 10 episodes going nowhere with their romance and then they slowly start heading….absolutely nowhere only to wrap it up in the last 1-2 episodes. Legitimately 80% of this show is just repeating the same “can I date a soldier” and “idk what my feelings are” for every episode sprinkled in with the stupid side plots. I also think that probably about 20 hours of this show was a gun standoff because that’s totally realistic.
The second love interests are equally as bad but Kim Jiwon was the stole charismatic actor in this show. The medical stuff let’s not get into because I don’t wanna roast this 11 year old looking supposed doctor whimpering away.
Moving onto Uruk, what in gods name was this racist caricature of a country? It’s supposed to be modeled after Iraq but looks nothing remotely like it. I don’t expect them to fly over there and film but zero effort in staging was put in, just change the setting if you can’t be bothered to make something believable. 35% of the city are Korean expats and the rest are a mix of every culture in existence. Let’s add some Russians, some people with dark skin, some white kids, some ladies with hijabs, alright let’s wrap it up! Not to mention the constant racist tropes of Arabs just scattered around like the casual oil barons pulling up and how these “Arabs” don’t want foreign doctors touching their leader and would rather him die as if that would ever happen.
In terms of acting I’m genuinely shocked at some of the high reviews. Not a massive Song Joon Ki fan anyway but this is one of his worst if not worst performance. He was horribly cast, he does not give off a strong special forces vibe at all and his acting is just so unbelievable I couldn’t help laughing at serious scenes when he’d start speaking English. Song Hye Kyo was equally as rough, her dialogue, body language and delivery were so off it looked like a complete rookie. There was zero chemistry between the two. Like I mentioned earlier Kim Jiwon is the only who put up a great performance.
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The first time I felt a need to fast forward a drama- bear with my long review
I know it’s too late to comment on this drama, however I felt a need to express my opinion seeing the overflow of positive reviews about the same. I apologise in advance if I’m offending any avid fan of the show reading this. I think it’s clear by what I said that I didn’t enjoy the show- why I kept going? I wanted to understand the hype around it and that’s the sole reason. I’ll note a few positive things about the show first:-Never dull: things keeps happening- doesn’t leave any space for the show to be dull.
-The Bromance: it is strong, it’s likeable, the ML and SML have fun moments together and great chemistry.
-Friendships: not just the bromance, but the army squad and hospital squad had loyal friendships and they brought light moments on the show while together.
-Second lead couple: classic will they-won’t they, though I’m guessing most knew the answer- the pair had good chemistry.
-Cinematography: they used grand sets to shoot and their beauty was captured well.
-OST: no surprises here- the drama is known for having a great soundtrack.
I don’t want to talk about the plot much since clearly they have not focused on it. The show is a mixture of Various genres; action, romance, comedy, thriller??- the issue here is that when a show is set in a backdrop where life threatening situations come back to back- and somehow each event is resolved relatively quick before another. There is tons of romance during a serious action sequence where survival is at stake- and I’m not one who is crazy about logic while watching a show like this but the leads are busy in being romantic in the midst of this. The medical ongoings seem completely unrealistic, I can’t even take our soldiers seriously. No moment which was shown as painful or heartbreaking brought any emotion on my face. The problem here is I think the show wants me to take its events seriously and that is the only reason I attempt to- but what goes on just leaves me questioning it or laughing at it.
Coming to the area of focus- The 2 leads fall in love by passing the corniest lines to one another, every time they would fight because our FL couldn’t accept the dangers the ML’s job brings and their fight would usually end with the ML calling her pretty. Honestly the FL annoyed me most of the time I watched the drama and I found her extremely dislikable. She kept whining, sulking and throwing mini tantrums. It was only towards the end when our lead couple is in a relationship did I find her bearable. Their chemistry- though talked about by many, it was a hit or miss for me. Once the 2 got into a relationship I felt their chemistry more naturally.
The second lead couple has much better chemistry- their characters are far more likeable and their reasons for constant ‘fights’ made somewhat more sense to me even though the reasons were very cliched.
Most people seem to have enjoyed the parts of the show shot in Uruk more- however those were the parts I was bothered by most and I enjoyed the parts in Seoul more. Maybe because there are less ‘Life threatening situations’ occurring here for me to be mad at.
I don’t know if my expectations were sky high or what was the reason- but as I finished the show I kept questioning its hype. If you’re not one for cheesy romance or fast paced stories where the leads fall crazily in love after one or two flirting sessions then this show is definitely not for you. Illogical sequences one after another is another major reason to avoid. If you’re curious and still decide to pick it up but don’t like it even after the first 3 episodes- it’s best to drop the show.
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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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I really liked the plot, even though there were times when you could see that the probability of what had happened in the drama happening in real life was 1:10000, but I think that's part of the drama's magic. The characters were great, Song Joong-Ki and Song Hye-Kyo had great chemistry as well as Jin Goo and Ji Won. I really liked Minseok's character as well as Onew's. I also wasn't expecting Onew's character to develop the way it did and to show a such an emotional, raw side. And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. Overall, I loved this drama and I definitely recommend it!
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