Reviews

My Mini Back-Story:

I saw a lot of recommendations, so I said why not? Besides, the casts seem solid, and I have a soft spot for Yoon Kye Sang.

Storyline:

Let me just bluntly lay it out, and get to the point.

a) Humor. I didn't like the comedy AT ALL, and not to mention, this drama is a rom-com. Perhaps, the sense of humor wasn't my cup of tea. Then again, the highly exaggerated comedic movements/expressions felt too slapstick. It was as if I was watching a childish cartoon/anime. Don't get me wrong, I love cartoons and animes, but I hate the ones that degrade the audience because they're narrowing it for the younger generation. In this case, The Greatest Love was really corny for me... I was hoping the humor would get better, since the first episode was already hard enough to digest. Though, it doesn't get much better. Sadly, not at all.

b) Too much predictable/boring tug-of-war. Our two leads' stories are uninteresting. Their unrealistic backgrounds are too generic that I had no connection with them. Their relationship is formed by mere bickerings. The love-hate story is handled too typically for me. Everything worked out too conveniently.

c) Unrealistic or rather not plausible. I know that most Korean dramas are unrealistic considering the characters and the environment set-up. Not to mention they're mostly all melodramas. Though, that isn't an excuse to make the characters' reactions and actions do illogical things. I seriously don't understand the way these characters' mindsets work, especially Dokko Jin.

d) Nothing happens. From beginning till end, it's about Gu Ae Jung getting shoved down and brought back up then shoved back down. The same thing over, and over again. I don't mind a simple plotline, but The Greatest Love doesn't give us any new ingredient. Honestly, I can't differentiate between any of the episodes because nothing big ever happens. There's nothing for us viewers to guess or wonder. Everything is laid in black and white, but in an uninteresting way/fashion.

e) Boring side characters. Ae Jung's brother was boring and unnecessary. That farting scene was just idiotic. If anyone thought that was funny, then I'm sorry. There's just no dynamic between any of the side characters, and our main characters.

I'll leave it at this...

Acting/Cast/Characters:

I didn't like any of the characters, nor was I rooting for any of them. The only character I felt sorry for was Yoon Pil Joo. Even then, his character was very 2-D. Heck, all of the characters are like cardboard cut-outs. They're all the typical Korean dramaland characters combined into one. Another reason why I didn't like the character Pil Joo was because he's the typical nice lad that always gets tossed aside. I'm starting to get sick of the pitiful supporting dudes. Even though, I love Yoon Kye Sang, I couldn't understand why he did what he did for the main lead girl, Ae Jung.

It's like these characters complain about their hardships when they surround themselves near people who give them a hard time.

The character formula here is very typical of any Korean drama. We have the main female lead who likes this egotistical dude. However, there's this really nice/proper lad who likes her, but she uses him or pays no mind to him. Wait, there must be more drama (for no reason) to add hardship for this pitiful lead girl. So what do they do? They throw in this evil (not so menacing) girl who's jealous of the leading female. Though, the female protagonist is so oblivious to all of this, and she tries to be a saint and save everyone's life, but never her own. Awww... this makes the boys love her even more. So preachy! It's as if the scriptwriters didn't know what to do with the evil girl, so they just dumb her down a notch. You'll know what I'm talking about if you give this drama a try.

Aside from my hatred of these poorly developed characters, I thought the performances from Cha Seung Won and Gong Hyo Jin were very solid. Though, I wouldn't recommend them doing another rom-com. They're not funny. It was a nice change for Seung Woo, but I prefer him sticking to his bada** roles. Anyway, I understand that it's harder for actors to excel in comedic roles because not everyone is a natural comedian/joker. Hence given this leniency, I'd say they did a good job. I can tell that they're really great actors because of their range of emotions. Though, no matter how good their acting are, if the characters fail... then most likely it's a fail overall. Good acting can't help cover/compensate for bad characters in the end.

Music:

Hmm... don't remember the songs much. There wasn't anything that captured my attention.

Bonus:

The only time I actually laughed was when Lee Seung Gi came on as a cameo. Now, that's a dude that knows how to act naturally in a comedy.

I like the way Dokko Jin says "Bingo". Don't know why though - haha.

Overall:

Yeah, maybe it's just not my type of comedy. There were no witty lines nor cute banters. I strongly disliked the script (or more like the dialogue exchanges). In fact, I don't really like The Hong Sisters because their scripts/characters can be a great hit or a huge miss. It's like a 50/50 chance here. Most of the time, their characters are overly exaggerated, or try too hard to be cute, which sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. In this case, it didn't work for me, and it's a rather run-of-the-mill storyline/characters that have been rehashed far too many times already.

I fast-forwarded many scenes because they were redundant. I was about to give up halfway or near the end, but somewhere within me, I was still keen on seeing these characters on-screen. So I'll give them bonus for that.


Overall rating for review: 4/10

Purely for entertainment: 4/10

My Dramalist rating (avg): 4/10

Leia Mais

One very funny and amusing drama. The story is rather interesting and the chemistry between actors just amazing. It was dramatic but I think it's the first korean drama which haven't made me cry, even due to it's saddest scenes. It's rather funny than sad drama.
At the beginning I thought I won't like the ending because I knew Eun Chan will leave at the end for two years.(I knew it because of the episode review.) But they played it out well - and eventually it's rather good thing because two years is enough time to prove their love to each other.
An amusing drama and I recommend anyone to watch it, who likes loveable, cute and funny romantic comedies.
I gave this drama 9 points because - it really was good, but I prefer that feeling in the end,- when I cry my eyes out because everything is just too messy and I have no idea how they will reach the happy ending.
This time it was too anticipating, so it didn't give me the feeling of surprising solution for the end.
And some questions arose.
What happens to Eun Chan's mom and the butcher's shop man ? Will they marry?
The story about some side characters seemed to stay a bit half for me..
On the other hand, I don't feel that something big is missing due to that.
Anyway, I'd still watch it :P
:) :) :)

Leia Mais

I just finished watching this drama and WOW, could it be any better?! I almost cried when it ended and don't underestimate my "almost cried" because I don't cry but this drama touched me so deeply.
I waited until now to watch it, I mainly watched it because of its story which was a masterpiece of art. I couldn't think of a better cast than Min Ho as the lead actor; this is one of the dramas that made him snatch a spot in my favorite actors list.
The prosecutor Kim Young Joo, I totally fell in love with his role; I keep waiting for any scene he have with Yeon Sung! And let's not forget the rest of the cast who were awesome; their roles were done perfectly: I rarely give a 10's to the cast so if I do so, that means I am more than amazed.
The music: One of the fewest drama's music that I will never forget, I keep waiting for the OST and sing along with it (^___^).
I watched this drama with an average of four episodes per day, usually when I reach the middle of a drama I skip parts but in this drama I couldn't do so because each and every part is extremly important that i couldn't miss it.
Basically, if You're action lover (as myself) you need to watch this and even if you're rom-com lover (as I became lately) you won't regret watching this because it have a romantic side; the kind of a sweet romance not too innocent and not too straightforward.
The reasons I didn't give this drama a 10 overall even though I loved it so much are basically two : the 1st is the unsatisfying ending, don't get the wrong idea it's not sad or something but it didn't convince me, the 2nd is because I am pretty cheap when it comes to 10's I rarely do that.
Anyway, if you haven't watched this you need to start!

Leia Mais

Fated To Love You really has a great story about unexpected love, and family. I felt that the plot was good, and the message even better. This drama really made a stand for the importance of life, no matter how small, so small that's the life isn't even born yet. The cast did a great job. I loved every cast member, and thought that each and every played an important role in this drama, but my favorite had to be Anson ;). The music was cute, but when reading the subs for the lyrics, the song really made me think, "What the heck is this?" The lyrics were just plain weird. I would probably not watch this drama again. It's not that it is bad, and I did highly enjoy it, it's just that I think it was way too long. The drama could have been done in 16 episodes. The scenes were played out too long, and the drama between the characters was never ending. It seemed like there was never a moment of peace between the characters, and there was always misunderstanding. I understand how there really isn't a drama without drama, and usually the same sort of drama too, the ex girlfriend, the miscommunication, the "I'm not good enough for you, so I'm leaving you", and so on, but usually dramas don't implement every single one of those conflicts, but Fated To Love You did, and it was overused and overly drawn out to the point that kept looking at the time, waiting for the episode to be over. With that being said, overall I gave this drama a 7. It would have gotten a better rating based on the story and cast alone, but with the drama having too much drama, and being too long, I really couldn't give Fated To Love You a better overall score, even though I really wanted to. This is a great drama to watch if you have a few days of free time. I think it is definitely worth watching, it's just going to take some patience to get through.

Leia Mais

I rarely watch dramas longer than 16 episodes by myself. Although I have watched several longer dramas, this is usually with friends who help keep me interested and engaged. However, I watched all 30 episodes of ISWAK and 20 episodes of They Kiss Again on my own, and have since re-watched them several times. I really only have one favorite drama in the different drama genres, and this show (both season) is my absolutely favorite sweet romance. Having watched Playful Kiss first, I was curious to see how this version told the story. I immediately fell in love with the characters in the first season, but I was still worried that the second season would not live up to my expectations. All too often, second seasons falter behind the amazing quality of their predecessors and I am frequently left disappointed. However, I was delighted to discover that this was not true with They Kiss Again. If anything, this story was actually better than the first. It Started With a Kiss gets the main characters together, but They Kiss Again shows them developing their relationship. This isn't the normal story where everyone is more or less perfect and the amazing guy marries that perfectly sweet girl who finally got prince charming. The charm of They Kiss Again is the fact that Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin are more than half of their own problems. Zhi Shu is emotionally stunted, and has to learn that there is beauty in Xiang Qin's simplicity. On the other hand, Xiang Qin has to learn to stand on her own two feet. They learn that they both have weaknesses and that marriage is about learning to love and accept those weaknesses. I have rarely seen such excellent story and character development, particularly in a second season for a show. This is beautifully written, and I freely admit that I still go back to my favorite parts (which I have bookmarked) whenever I need a pick-me-up. This is sweet, charming, intelligent, and well worth the time to watch. It's romance, but it is thoughtful romance. I truly love this show and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first season

Leia Mais

Having watched "Playful Kiss" the original, I was a little uncertain how these shorter clips would pan out. Personally, I liked "It Started With a Kiss" better than PK because of the dynamics between the main characters. I felt like Seung Jo, while an amazing character, failed to get as much out of the relationship as Ha Ni in the original show. ISWK does a much better job at showing him falling in love as much as she did. However, this special edition more than made up for that weakness in the original show. I liked PK, but I loved this special edition. They are short enough that I've actually re-watched them several times when I want to see something sweet and romantic. They give Seung Jo a more loving character and he seems to have matured more than he did in the original show. I think this actually went a long way towards developing his character for me, and I feel much better about re-watching the original now that I have seen these specials. If you are watching or liked PK, I would HIGHLY recommend watching these.

Leia Mais

Wow...this is just such an amazing show. I stumbled across it after watching Satoh Takeru in Bloody Monday since I wanted to see him in something else. At first I was disappointed that he was only going to play a small part in the film. However, I was hooked on the show itself from the first 15-20 minutes in. It takes about that long to figure out what the heck is going on (the beginning doesn't seem at all connected to the plotline as given in the notes), but then it takes off from there and never stops. I had seen several of the cast in other shows (besides Takeru), and they have always played some of my favorite roles. The show just has such amazing acting. Bad guys, good guys, side-not-really-all-that-important guys--all of them do an excellent job. The crimes are all deliciously difficult to solve (or at least to prove), and I love the scientific facts that they keep throwing in. Mr. Brain's impact on everyone around him is so wonderfully done. The writer(s) so excellently show him drawing the people around him into his positive look at life and the possibilities of science. And in drawing in the characters around him, Mr. Brain attracts the interest of the show's viewers at the same time. This show is a little more dark/bloody in some areas than most crime dramas that I watch (definitely not for little kids), but they are so well designed. No crime is the same (which often happens in crime shows where there is more than one crime to solve) and neither are they the run of the mill crime (man kills mistress or some other cliche mystery). These are interesting and unique stories that drew my interest anew with each episode. I have already re-watched this show, and I really with a second season had been made. If I have one complaint, it is that the end seems unfinished. It was obviously designed with a sequel in mind and the end is a little bit of a let-down because of it. If they ever finish it, the show would be almost perfect.

Leia Mais

The story is really good and although some people say that the beginning dragged, I didn't think so. I enjoyed all of this kd. The romance between Min Sook and Ban is so cute!!! They are funny and lovable characters.

The actors were all good except Park Soo Jin. What is with her having one expresion for all emotions? No Min Woo was dark, mysterious and sexy as Park Dong Joo. I really enjoyed his part in this KD. I thought LSG and Min Ha had a great chemistry and their romance was "to die for".

The music is really good and appropriate for the scenes.

I would rewatch this in a heartbeat!!! Hope you enjoy!!!

Leia Mais

City Hunter was one of drama for me that I was particularly attracted.

The story is very gripping and full of action (I love drama and action films), the cast was spectacular, the actors were very great.
Especially Lee Min Ho is an amazing actor, I also followed Boys Over Flower but in this drama has surpassed himself.
Park Min Young that interprets Kim Na Na I only saw this drama and I must say that she is very good.

I almost want to see him again, I do not think easily forget this drama

I recommend everyone to view it. I'm not English so I apologize if I wrote something wrong ^^

Leia Mais

I'm cw this drama and so far it's satisfying already... What a magnificent job! How did they come up with such a genius masterpiece! I won't regret watching the first episode of it instead, I'll watch it til the very end.(hope it's not a tragic one):( wait, think positive! hehe...... What I love about it is that, this dram has it all, name it, romance, comedy, tragedy even history. haha... Outstanding because it's my first time to watch such drama, and it didn't disappoint me. Although the OST I know is that of Tiffany's IMYLC I still like it and you know, got LSS. Even if it was the only song I know about this drama, for me it's very remarkable. Great acting skills is also shown in this drama. I commend Lee Yoon's acting. It is superb and high-class! Very versatile. So far, it's doing great. Looking forward to the next 8 episodes.

Leia Mais

This drama is really cute. The love triangle can be a bit tiresome and frustrating, but isn't that the way love triangles are.

I really liked Lee Min Ki in this because he was so funny. The expressions on his face and the gestures, it's hilarious.

Plus, you do get the "who will she pick" tension, so the final outcome is much anticipated.

Also, the scenes with the cooking made me hungry too, so better bring some munchies.

It's 34 episodes and that can be an investment in time, but it's well worth it.

The only low score I've given is for rewatchablility; not because it's not worth a rewatch, but rather because I only rewatched certain episodes I found particularly cute and not all 34 in a row again.

Leia Mais

I watched Secret Garden about a year ago.. But sometimes I rewatch and still feel great..
Honestly, my consideration for watching Secret Garden was the two main characters Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin..
But after that I found the story was amazing..
I was hooked and finished this only in 2 days.. until my eyes being swollen at that time..
It makes me laughed and cried at the same time.. The storyline made me curios to watch this until the end..
Both Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin plays the role very well.. Especially when their bodies switched.. The chemistry between them looks so real..
The music also very good.. the placement for the ost at every scene can play our emotion..
For me, it’s one of the best K-drama.. Love it so much!!!

Leia Mais

I wasn’t initially drawn to this drama just because I’ve been disappointed in some way by most of the medical dramas I’ve watched. I decided to give it a chance though because I have a new found interest in Ji Sung=)

Story- typical medical storyline. You have your patient surgeries, although I was grateful they didn’t stuff them down our throats. Each of the patients featured had a significant arc and they were all memorable. You also got your hospital politics. Although, it wasn’t as intense as I would have liked. Finally you got your developing romance. Now this is where they got me hooked. To be honest for the first 1/3 of this drama I was kind of bored and the episodes felt long. But by ep 10 things started to get moving and the episodes went by at a good pace. By ep 16 I was really invested in the romance, although it really is more of a background story arc. Lets just say some scenes really frustrated me! Towards the last couple episodes I really got restless. I wanted it to end already. 23 episodes @ 60-80 min. really was just too much for this type of drama. I liked the ending cause we got to see how everyone was doing after a years time.

Acting/Cast- I really was surprised by how much I liked the cast. Ji Sung is great as always. But really I was impressed by Kim Min Jung who I’ve only seen in Thorn Birds (must see melodrama BTW). She played her character perfectly. In the beginning her character is cold and uncaring but she changes slowly and begins to warm up through her interactions with Ji Sung’s character. I just really thought her character development was really great! The acting by the supporting cast was perfect for what their roles called for. I ended up liking most of the characters.

Music- Didn’t really notice it in this one. I don’t think I disliked it though…

Rewatch- Although I came to love all the characters I don’t think I could sit through this drama again but for some it might be rewatchable.

Overall, the story isn’t all that but leads pull you in. It’s one of the more memorable medical dramas I’ve seen.

Leia Mais