Tale of the Nine Tailed

 Tale of the Nine Tailed

6.5/10

Tale of the Nine Tailed

Genre:                                      Episodes: 16                         Year: 2020

Fantasy 

Romance

Synopsis:

Lee Yeon was a nine tailed fox who sacrificed his position of Guardian of Baekdudaegan mountain to reincarnate his human lover. He has spent the last several hundred years waiting and searching for her reincarnation. As he waits, he meets Nam Ji Ah, a producer who searches for supernatural stories as she hopes to find her parents who mysteriously disappeared when she was a child. 

Cast:

Lee Dong Wook (Lee Yeon)

Jo Bo Ah (Nam Ji Ah)

Kim Bum (Lee Rang)

Hwang Hee (Goo Shin Joo)

Kim Yong Ji (Kim Yoo Ri)

Lee Tae Ri (Imoogi/Terry)

Eom Hyo Seop (Kwon Hae Ryong)

Kim Jung Nan (Samdo River Gatekeeper)

Ahn Kil Kang (Hyun Ui Ong)

Kim Soo Jin (Bok Hye Ja)

General Thoughts:

This show started out really well but unfortunately just wasn’t able to last the distance. At the start the show felt sparkly and new and unlike any other K-Drama that I had seen. But the further into the story I got, I realised that there wasn’t actually anything all that new or inventive going on. It was just a run of the mill drama dressed up in extravagant fox fur.

Not as mystical as I was hoping

The writer is pretty new which can be a bit of a warning sign (but hey, everyone has to start somewhere), but the cast are not exactly actors to sniff at- and when so many great actors sign onto a project, I kinda assume there has to be something special about it. But that just wasn’t really the case for ‘Nine Tailed’. The main characters felt very stock standard, the plot stalled at its climax, and the world-building was very incomplete. There were sprinkles of greatness here and there, but once the shine from a new fantasy show staring Lee Dong Wook as a mythical creature wore off, we weren’t left with all that much.

Long lost loves doomed by fate- what's new?

 The plot line was really the show’s biggest weakness, as it wasn’t able to create a tense race against time that I think the writer was aiming for. The only buildup we really had was that either Yeon or Ji Ah was going to die. And then there were a lot of episodes of everyone talking about how much that sucked and how badly they wanted to change fate. But not actually doing anything about it. Yeah, yawn. When your plot is driven solely by conversations it becomes a bit of a drag, particularly when so many of those conversations are rehashing information that the viewers already know. Yeon finds out about their Imoogi fate. Then Ji Ah. Then they discuss it. Then they tell the Gatekeeper. Then they discuss it some more. Like jeezus, can we have some actual action here please? I found it particularly difficult to continue liking Yeon and Ji Ah as characters the longer the death-fate plot was draaaaaagged out, as my boredom with the plot naturally shifted to boredom with the main characters, who at time were moping about their sad destiny, and at other times were pretending to be a big ol’ happy family while completely ignoring the Imoogi danger. It was very frustrating. And it’s not like these characters had bad actors either. Lee Dong Wook is extraordinarily charismatic, and Jo Bo Ah has a delightful, bubbly energy that makes her easy to like. However even these two actors couldn’t quite pull their characters through the bogged down plot, try though they might.

I kind of wish we'd spent a bit more time in the past with god-Yeon

Yeon’s character was just painfully stereotypical. Aloof yet petty god-like being who hides his empathetic heart- where have a seen that before? Only in every fantasy K-Drama ever. And Ji Ah’s character, while a little less typical, just wasn’t that outstanding. Seriously, why is it that male characters can have so many different ‘attractive’ qualities but females just get stuck with only ‘bright’ and ‘innocent’. I’d love to see a drama where the female lead is aloof or petty. And audiences everywhere are desperate for heroines with a bit more than just innocent brightness- just look at how much we all love Moon Young from ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’!

It's a damsel and she's in distress

Ji Ah started out a bit more gutsy than she finished, but her character was only really included in the story so that Yeon would have something to save. Even though Ji Ah had a large part of the original Imoogi spirit inside her it gave her no extra powers, and she had absolutely no real way to alter her fate. Beyond just saving Yeon the trouble and killing herself that is. She was an interesting enough heroine, and I so wish the writer had given her something more to do than just being in love with Yeon. I like Ji Ah much better when she was fighting against fear-spirits or digging into supernatural mysteries- taking away her ability to really save herself or Yeon made her pretty useless, and any time she did try to do anything in the final episodes of the show it just made her seem stupid. Yes, call out the mystical, powerful spirit inside you for a chat, I’m sure that poses no danger to you or the people you are trying to protect. I appreciated that the drama kept Ji Ah’s fighting spirit going strong- she never just sat down and gave up, but I just wished she’d had a way to be more in control of her won fate. Even Yeon’s mystical magical abilities were very rarely used- I think maybe if the show had upped the special powers a bit, and had Ji Ah able to draw on her Imoogi powers and become a combined force with Yeon’s nine tailed fox power that could have been really cool.

This was AMAZING, but it only happened once. And in like...episode 3...

But that would probably have come with a hefty special effects budget which this show might not have had.The acting in the drama was pretty good all around, and our leads were consistent throughout the show’s run. I didn’t feel like it was Lee Dong Wook’s best performance ever, and did think that perhaps he was getting a little complacent towards the end there when the drama reached the height of it’s emotions with Rang saying his video goodbye. I’m not sure if Lee Dong Wook was struggling with the character or the script, but I just wasn’t feeling the heart-wrenching emotion that I know he can deliver. He was perfectly petty when the show required it, and he really delivered on the cool and mysterious aspects of his character. His simmering rage the few times he let his powers lose to defend Ji Ah was done wonderfully, and I think a lot of the believability of the romance came from Lee Dong Wook’s portrayal.

I did have a chuckle at how hard Jo Bo Ah seemed to grip Lee Dong Wook's neck

Jo Bo Ah didn’t wow me as our heroine, but I think that was more from the show’s writing than her acting ability. She certainly did the role well, and her transitions between Ji Ah and Imoogi Ji Ah were very smooth. I liked the determination Jo Bo Ah gave Ji Ah’s character, and similarly to the character itself, I think Jo Bo Ah would have shined a lot more if she’d been given something a bit more interesting to do to drive the plot forwards. The chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah was…nothing sensational.

Absolute King of Chemistry

They were believable enough but they didn’t really get that spark going that makes  K-Drama couple feel really special. Kim Bum on the other hand, they both had wonderful chemistry with. The love-hate relationship between the brothers was ripe with tension and was always fascinating to watch. The quiet ways they showed they cared were definitely the best and were more heart-fluttering than any big declaration. The two had a great rapport and were endlessly entertaining. Yeon was kinda a bit of a butt to Rang though, and while it was easy to see how Rang misunderstood Yeon’s intentions and ended up thinking that Yeon abandoned him, Yeon kind of did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to fix the situation. Instead of just having one simple, frank conversation with Rang, Yeon let Rang's wounds fester and his hostility grow for 600 years give or take. Which is a pretty sucky thing to do. Kim Bum and Jo Bo Ah had a really interesting chemistry too. While they didn’t share a lot of screen time in the middle stages of the drama, the hostility from Rang was really interesting to watch unfold, and Ji Ah’ s bad*ss candid responses to him were really cool and helped bolster her character and give her a bit of uniqueness. The petty, competitive bonding the two had after Yeon’s death was also really fun, and was full of humour and heart, and did make you wish they’d had a bit more of a chance to interact throughout the drama's runtime.

100% would watch a spin-off about this rag-tag fam

Kim Bum absolutely smashed his role and it was such a delight to see him back in Dramaland after his long hiatus. He certainly didn’t feel rusty, and he once again delivered a wonderful ‘bad boy’ tope persona, squishy centre included. Rang had a much more interesting storyline and development than Yeon (who was pretty boring if we’re bring honest), and Kim Bum had a big range of emotions that he had to deliver on. He slayed every single scene, and I ended up wishing that the drama itself had actually been about Rang rather than Yeon. The plot started off at a fairly decent pace, but just after the halfway mark it really slowed down.

Terry killed a LOT of people while Yeon *ssed about

It felt like there should have been another event and a bit more buildup to the final Imoogi confrontation, because as it stands, after Rang declares for Team Yeon, not a lot happens. Terry reveals himself as Imoogi (which Yeon didn’t tell everyone about already because…that would make too much sense?) and then there’s like 5 episodes of everyone standing about talking about how much it sucks that Imoogi is here and now how sad it is that either Yeon or Ji Ah has to die. It was very stagnant. Due to the romance being more on the lukewarm side, I found myself not really caring if they were separated or not, and just wishing that one of them would hurry up and die already so that innocent people would stop being killed by Imoogi’s plague. Seriously, over 900 people died in the 3 days Yeon took to formulate any sort of plan. Nine. Hundred. All because he wanted to save one girl. I’m kinda on the Gatekeeper’s side on this one- let the one die for the sake of the many. Brutal? Kinda. Best course of action? Definitely. Those poor 900 dead people are pretty quickly swept under the rug and forgotten, and the drama totally glossed over that Yeon and Ji Ah were ready to let basically everyone on the planet die so that they could live happily together. Kinda selfish in my books. On a positive note, something the drama did really well with was the overall look of the show. It was very pretty and very glam. Even though the plot was a bit slow, it’s hard not to get sucked in by the pure beauty of the show.

Such pretty, much wow

It was lovely to look at, from the costuming to the sets, and there was a really lovely soundtrack to accompany all the pretty on screen. None of the supernatural elements felt tacky or looked like bad CGI, and the show felt really professional and smooth. The actual world building, however, could have used a little more work- we only get introduced to a handful of supernatural beings, and even then they are explained rather poorly. I never quite understood how the afterlife/supernatural system worked- Rang has been ‘wanted’ for hundreds of years even though everybody always knows exactly where to find him when they need him.

Did someone forget to tell 'evil' CEO that this wasn't a comedy?

Who goes after the wanted people anyway? Clearly not Yeon- Yeon doesn’t seem to have any sort of supernatural job. He’s just immortal. And rich. I do wish a bit more detail had been put into the world building, but there were a few elements of detail that I liked- the nine tailed fox favour bonds as a way to bind the foxes extreme power was an interesting take, and I did like how that played into the story with Rang being unable to break away from the evil CEO and Ah Eum forcing Yeon to kill her by returning a favour. I liked the added complexity it gave the fox powers and was glad that it was a recurring detail and not just thrown in at the last moment. While the show as a whole wasn't exactly the heart-stopping entertainment I was hoping for, there was certainly enough in it to keep it interesting. The final few episodes with the slow in pace really hurt the show, but it was otherwise an enjoyable watch. I think my high expectations left me feeling a little let down, which is why I seem to be focusing more on what I didn’t like over what the show actually did well.

What Was Great:

Sassy Sides:

So better get onto what the show did well. The side characters were wonderful. More specifically, the fox side characters. They had a lot of humour, heart and personality, and they were always fabulous to watch on screen.

Yes, please, thank you

While I didn’t exactly like Yoo Ri when she was first introduced (she seemed snappy, selfish and a tad too happy about violence) she grew on me pretty quickly and actually ended up becoming one of my favourite characters. As the plot started to drag, I found myself wishing that Yoo Ri had been the heroine of this show. While there was nothing wrong with Ji Ah, Yoo Ri was just SO unique and fun. And Yoo Ri got sh*t done. Admittedly, she didn’t really think things through, and she also didn’t really care about what happened to people that weren’t Rang or Shin Joo, but I actually found that to be one of the entertaining and endearing parts of her character.

I didn't expect to, but I adore Yoo Ri

While I admit it may not really work for a heroine if she doesn’t care about anyone else, it was quite refreshing to have a character who thought that way, and not only thought that way but really owned it. Yoo Ri didn’t pretend to be righteous or pure- she knew who she was and what she wanted and never pretended about anything else. The way her flippant, remorseless attitude caught others off guard was really fun, and it was a pure delight seeing Shin Joo start to pull her out of her hurt and direct her forward, determined attitude into other things- like taking care of Soo Oh. Shin Joo was another character that was fun to watch on screen. Similarly to Yoo Ri he had no hidden motives and was extremely loyal. He had great banter with Yeon, Yoo Ri and Rang, and could always be counted on to deliver backhanded humour with a charming smile. His innocence was endearing, and watching Yoo Ri fall for that innocence and warmth was really sweet. Throw Rang (who is easily the best character in the show) into the mix, and you’ve got such a fun, entertaining group of side characters. After Yeon’s death when Shin Joo and Yoo Ri get married, it was such a fun and unexpected dynamic to see all three of them (plus Soo Oh) living together. They all had fantastic chemistry and owned every scene that they were in, no matter who else was in the scene with them. 

What Wasn’t:

Convenient Reincarnation:

So many times in this drama we are told that reincarnation is random. It’s not a guaranteed way to see someone again. They will likely not look the same. They could be a different gender. Yeah, so that was a lie.

So if you look really closely, Ah Eum and Ji Ah are EXATLY THE SAME

Literally every person in this show who we see has been reincarnated looks exactly the same as they did in their past life. Except for the dog who is now human. But apart from that. All the same. So it’s evidently not as random as the show would have you believe. It was also miiiiighty convenient. Yeon dies, and then Rang sacrificed himself so that Yeon can be reincarnated and have another life. It’s all supposed to be very bittersweet and sad. And then Yeon is back. Not as a baby, not even as a child. He is back as a full grown adult with all his memories and even all his nine tailed fox power. So that’s less of a reincarnation thing and more of a resurrection thing.

Those expressions are basically how I watched Yeon's 'reincarnation' play out

It made no sense and it was quite lame. All the conflict the show tried (and I would argue it didn’t necessarily succeed) to gather is just…undone. It all seems so pointless if Yeon just gets a free pass and a second shot at life- what were all those episodes of worry for then? Like, sure, the characters didn’t know that it would pan out that way, but it felt like a huge cop out, and felt more like the writers didn’t know how to wrap up the show in a satisfactory manner after killing Yeon so they just brought him back. At the expense of Rang. If we’re all being honest, we knew Rang wasn’t making it out of the drama alive. Bad boy brothers that turn to the good side never make it out alive. It’s like the brooding bodyguard best friend in Joseon dramas.

My heart did hurt for Rang here

 Always gonna die. But the way they did it was so….not cool. Okay, so the actual scene was great. Kim Bum slayed the emotions, and the fact that time ran out just before Yoo Ri could reach him and say goodbye was absolutely heartbreaking. Rang’s death was always going to hurt, but it hurt that much more seeing Yoo Ri so close to being able to be next to him when it happened, but not quite. So the scene was wonderful, but how we got there wasn’t. Rang and Ji Ah are arguing about which one should sacrifice themselves to get Yeon back. And they decide on Rang. Rang who has a whole new family and finally has a chance of living a life where he can love and be loved freely. Ji Ah has…her parents? Two friends? The show spent a lot of time and effort making us believe that Yeon was everything to her. So why didn’t she let Rang have his well earned happiness and just take a shot in the dark and hope that she and Yeon cross paths in their next life? Sure, I can understand Rang’s argument that her dying negates the sacrifice that Yeon made…but as she didn’t know that Yeon was going to come back as an adult man with all his memories…why would she just continue on like that? It felt like a quick and easy way to just switch the dead brothers, and it wasn’t satisfying at all. In my mind, either Ji Ah should have sacrificed herself and she and Yeon could have been born again and grown up knowing each other and falling in love all while being looked over by this weird fox family of Rang, Yoo Ri and Shin Joo. Or Rang could have taken the Imoogi inside himself somehow and sacrificed himself for Ji Ah and Yeon both, thus completely changing their so-called ‘fate’.

If you'd switched Yeon and Rang here I would have literally downed in my tears (in a good way)

Rang would have a bittersweet ending, and Yeon and Ji Ah would have been together. The only perk of actually having Yeon die would be so that he could be reincarnated as a human and live a human life with Ji Ah like he wanted. But then the show backtracked on that too and he was still a nine tailed fox in the final scene! The way this show handled death and reincarnation was just so sloppy and so all over the place, and was definitely a big weakness in the writing.

Ji Ah, Ah Eum...Ah Well, doesn't matter anyway

 It also felt like the love-line suffered a bit because of the show's over-reliance on the reincarnation theme. Because the writer was leaning so heavily on 'fate' being what drew our hero and heroine together, it kind of missed out on developing their own special connection. A lot of the time it felt like Yeon was seeing Ji Ah and Ah Eum as the same person- but they weren't! Sure the soul is technically the same, but Ji Ah didn't have any of the memories of Ah Eum. Sure, she then saw her past life played out- but that was more like watching a movie than anything else, and Ah Eum and Ji Ah remained completely separate entities. At first when Ji Ah wasn't reacting to Yeon calling for his fox bead I thought it meant that Ji Ah might not actually be the reincarnation of Ah Eum, and that we would discover Ah Eum somewhere else. Preferably happy and in love with someone else and living her best life away from Yeon. And then Yeon would really have to pick between Ah Eum and Ji Ah because they wouldn't be the same person! But no, the show went the typical cliche route of the heroine being the main man's reincarnated love. 

Secret Plans:

Does anyone ever sit down and watch a show and just be like ‘oh man, I really hope the main couple in this show don’t communicate well and keep lots of secrets and just make life so much more complicated by keeping everything to themselves and not sharing their pool of knowledge around so they can work together and come to better solutions’? No? Me either.

Wow this blindside could have been totally avoided

So why do K-Drama writers keep making their characters act this way? Golly gosh it is just so annoying. Everybody in this show thinks they know what is best for everyone and act on what they think will work out best. Only instead they aren’t sharing what they know and are putting each other in more danger. Like, it would have been so helpful if Yeon had told Ji Ah what the Imoogi looked like so she wasn’t taken by surprise. And Yeon and Ji Ah both knew for like a whole two episodes who the Imoogi was, what his plan was and neither of them thought it would be a good idea to let Ji Ah’s parents know? That’s how you end up in situations where they are unawares and being friendly to the evil guy. Like jeez, just TALK it’s not that hard!

This really should have been their strategy a lot sooner

It was tricky and tiring to keep track of who knew what and what different plans were being formulated. So many people were caught off guard and ended up having an Imoogi spell put on them just because Yeon didn’t tell his immediate circle of friends what was going down. Just pure bonkers behaviour, it really was. In my opinion, you deserve to get Imoogi’ed to death if that’s how you strategise. 

Recommend?

Ehhh, I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this to people. Though I would probably say that if you really loved ‘The Lonely Shining Goblin’ or ‘Bride of the Water God’ (though I haven’t seen that one), you may want to give ‘Nine Tailed’ a go. 

So is Yeon just hoping Ji Ah never notices that he isn't ageing and is in fact still an immortal, magical being?

Fantastic

Fantastic

8/10

Fantastic

Genre:                                  Episodes: 16                                 Year: 2016

Romance

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Lee So Hye is a popular drama writer who has just started production on her latest series ‘Hitman’. Against her wishes, the lead role goes to Ryu Hae Sung, a popular, handsome actor who can’t actually act well. When So Hye is diagnosed with cancer, she decides to live the rest of her life, no matter how short, to the fullest.

Cast:

Kim Hyun Joo (Lee So Hye)

Joo Sang Wook (Ryu Hae Sung)

Kim Tae Hoon (Hong Joon Ki)

Park Shi Yeon (Baek Seol)

Ji Soo (Kim Sang Wook)

Jo Jae Yoon (Oh Chang Suk)

Kim Young Min (Choi Jin Tae)

Kim Jung Nan (Choi Jin Suk)

Kim Jae Hwa (Jo Mi Sun)

General Thoughts:

How can a drama about cancer be so fun to watch? Admittedly, the drama wasn’t all happy and fun all the time, but it managed to hit this strange balance of being heartwarming at the same time as heartbreaking.

I don't know what to do with my emotions

The writers did an excellent job, as I was riding every wave of emotion they wanted me to. I was sad when I was supposed to feel sad, happy when I was supposed to feel happy, and frustrated when I was supposed to feel frustrated. K-Dramas can often come off a bit heavy-handed in the way they try and manipulate your emotions, but ‘Fantastic’ had such a gradual pacing that you didn’t realise you liked these characters until you were already in love with them. There were so many things the drama did right, but by far my favourite was the way they handled the love-triangle.

Unexpected bros

The men didn’t hate each other just for liking the same girl, and they didn’t fight over So Hye like a scrap of meat. Both Hae Sung and Joon Ki respected So Hye enough to let her make her own decision, and never resorted to pettiness or bringing each other down. In fact, it was quite the opposite, where the men also had a deep respect for each other, and gave each other as much of a fair chance as they could- meaning they could remain friends even as So Hye dated Hae Sung.

He's just so loveable

And what a beautiful friendship it was. I all-round just loved Hae Sung as a character, but the moment he truly blew me away was at Joon Ki’s party to fulfil his bucket list. Only a really wonderful man can look at his friend with that much love while his friend is looking at that man’s finance in the same way. Granted, Joon Ki was dying and this was on of his last wishes, but it was still such a selfless act for Hae Sung to give Joon Ki that day with So Hye. And Joon Ki himself was a pretty magical character. Even though he loved So Hye, he was constantly supporting Hae Sung, and teaching him the best ways to respond in medical situations that were bound to arise for So Hye. The bromance was beautiful because it didn’t feel forced and it wasn’t set up as though it was one of the drama’s highlights, even though it was. Hae Sung and Joon Ki has a steady, natural relationship that was so fun, and so sad to watch unfold. The writers did an amazing job in the way they handled Joon Ki’s death. We’d had a couple of scares, so we knew the event was going to happen eventually, and having Joon Ki plan his funeral with Hae Sung was a beautiful way to get us ready for his inevitable departure.

So much love. So much cancer.

So while Joon Ki’s death was extremely sad, it also managed to snag a bit of a happy note, in that Joon Ki had accomplished all the things he wanted to, and spent the last of his days loving and being loved by his friends. Having such a complete story arc for Joon Ki that ended with his death also meant that it didn’t feel like a cop-out when So Hye didn’t die in the series.

Because she will die- it's just a matter of when

Through Joon Ki we saw how So Hye was most likely to die, so we all knew it would happen, but it didn’t have to happen right there in Episode 16. While the finale ended up perhaps a little too neat and happy for some people (I personally loved it), it was always in the back of our minds that So Hye could die just as suddenly as Joon Ki did- even though we weren’t going to be around to see it. I enjoyed the happiness of the episode (and the fact that So Hye didn’t die) because I felt like Hae Sung earned a bit of happiness. Sure, it’s not realistic in the slightest- you can be the most supportive husband ever and cancer can still kill your wife, but in a K-drama I do enjoy that little bit of magic now and then. Hae Sung went through so much all series long, and always stood as a firm, constant support for So Hye. And I must admit that So Hye wasn’t always the nicest to him and tended to flip-flop around, making supporting her that much more difficult. So I adored the way she was quietly supporting and cheering on Hae Sung in the last script-reading, which was a lovely juxtaposition to the first script-reading where she laughed at and embarrassed Hae Sung. Overall the thing I’m most glad about with the finale is that everyone was just carrying on with their normal lives.

It's all well and good preparing for death, but also prepare for if she lives another 5 years, okay?

All series long we’ve seen our characters act as if So Hye could drop dead any second, which left me feeling a bit conflicted. While it’s good to be prepared for that, I felt like our characters were ignoring the possibility and not preparing for the event of So Hye actually living longer than was expected (like how Joon Ki lived five years longer than medical science said he would).

He was like a cute meerkat always popping out his window

So I truly loved how our characters finally seemed to reach this balance of yes, So Hye (and in fact any one of them) could die the next day, but they could also live on together for quite some time. Taking a step back from our main characters, the support was just as wonderful. Ji Soo once again slays it as the puppy with a noona crush, but it was enjoyable to see him cast as a character that was a little older, and so was able to assist his noona and actually be viewed as a man. Seol herself was a great character to watch as her character has such a gradual, but steadily built conflict. While her explosion at her in-laws couldn’t seem to come soon enough, it was ever so satisfying when it finally came. I love that Seol never actually had an affair with Sang Wook, but it was his adoration of her and his certainty that Seol deserved to be loved that gave Seol the courage to finally step away from her oppressive and abusive in-laws. The cover for Ji Soo's illness flowed smoothly and you wouldn't pick him being absent unless you already knew. His character's relationship with Seol flowed smoothly despite the slight interruption, so I'm glad he and the writers/producers/director let him have time off early to recover, and he was able to make a quick return to the show and finish up his great role. As for the in-laws themselves they were great antagonists for the story.

In-laws. What a bunch of bastards.

So Hye and Hae Sung had enough drama between them simply due to So Hye’s cancer, so it was a relief that the drama chose to focus on mainly external conflicts (mostly in the form of Jin Sook) for our main couple. Jin Sook and her brother were haughty, arrogant and insanely dislikable- but as we could see their downfall coming a mile-off it was easy to watch them have their small victories because we all knew that soon enough Hae Sung and Seol would win the big, final showdown (which they did- yay!). This crappy family wasn’t so dislikable that they sucked the fun out of the drama (as some villains tend to do), but they were a consistent force to compete against and eventually beat. As much as I loved this drama and its characters and writing, I did find the editing choices to be a bit odd at times.

What kind of weird ass editing choice was this?

There were some symbolic dream-scenes that didn’t really make a lot of sense (why the doll crying tears of blood as a puppet collapses? Just why?) and some edited scenes that could have been presented better (why am I getting a split-screen face close-up of of two people talking when they’re standing right next to each other in the scene?). But everything else was good.

What Was Great:

Hye Sung:

The two leads were always great- both the acting and the characters themselves. While I’m not usually a huge fan of the first-love scenario, I didn’t mind in this case as it meant we got to skip the awkward getting-to-know-each-other phase (which is cute and has its own merits) for the much more emotionally investing I-don’t-care-if-you’re-dying relationship.

Skipped straight to snogging- what a win

While it’s fun watching our characters get to know each other, in this case it makes for much neater narrative flow that our leads already know and understand each other, and thus it makes sense for Hae Sung to stay and deal with So Hye’s cancer- because he’s loved her for so long already that her illness can’t change that.

Just be happy forever (until cancer kicks you in the nuts)

The balance between angst and happy in the relationship was done well, because with cancer there’s obviously going to be angst kicking in somewhere. I’m glad we got So Hye’s noble idiot-ing out the way fairly early as it meant that it was unlikely the she was going to run away again later in the drama. Having her back away from Hae Sung early in the piece rather than later meant that we could be understanding of So Hye’s decision rather than frustrated by it. It made logical sense for her to pull away from Hae Sung before their relationship started if she knew she was sick, and made Hae Sung’s choice to stand by her that much more meaningful- because they hadn’t really started their relationship at that point, so it was Hae Sung choosing to go into the relationship with all the information, rather than having it sprung on him several months down the track after he was already invested (when it would have made him the bad guy for leaving). While I would have appreciated So Hye doing a little bit more for Hae Sung (he seemed to be putting in about 80% of the effort), it did highlight what an excellent man he was. He was so sweet and caring and just plain wonderful.

It's all so cute, but it's also so sad

It’s been quite a while since I’ve watched a drama and had the male lead really grab me (I’ve been having a bit of second male lead syndrome lately), but I must say that I fell in love with Hae Sung right away. He was brilliant as an innocent man-child, and it was those qualities that really helped him take care of So Hye.

He really is fantastic

He wore his emotions on his sleeve and was honest with everyone, so it made scenes of him struggling that much more emotional, because he was such a straight-forward open book that we all felt what he was feeling. I was less sold on So Hye than I was on Hae Sung, because we only really knew her as So Hye the Cancer Patient who had a bunch of side-effects and was having her world be turned upside down- so I never really got an exact idea of who she was as an individual pre-cancer. However it was still enjoyable to see her relax into Hae Sung and let him look after her (even if she did have meltdowns at him every now and then). What the writers did well with So Hye's character is that you never left an episode feeling annoyed with her. Even if she’d treated Hae Sung unfairly or said hurtful things to him, by the end of the episode she had apologised and they were back on good terms and I was left with a positive impression of her. By the end So Hye was helping Hae Sung (with his new business and with his acting) so it felt like Hae Sung was getting some looking after as well, rather than it being a one-way street. 

The Magic of Friendship:

There were load of friendships in this drama, the most entertaining one definitely being the three women. K-Dramaland can be a bit stingy with its gal-pals, so its always nice to see a bunch of girls having fun and looking out for each other. And boy did these girls look out for each other.

Friendship fixes everything

I loved that it was her high school girl friends that So Hye reached out to first after hearing her diagnosis, and I adored the way her friends reacted. Even though they’d been out of touch for some years now they were still ready to jump right back into that friendship and take on all the burdens that the others carried. It was doubly great that it wasn’t just So Hye that needed this rekindling of friendship, but Seol as well.

Revenge is a dish best served with two kick-ass friends backing you up

She’d always been unhappy with her family, and we saw moments of her desire to leave it behind. But it was her two friends that gave her the courage and the support to do so. It wasn’t just emotional support that So Hye and Mi Sun gave Seol either. Neither of them thought twice at giving all they had saved up to help Seol pay for her mother’s treatment or give her a place to stay once she left.

Bro-tastic

I think the unsung hero of this drama is definitely Mi Sun. Compared to the other two her life seems pretty easy- she’s married to a lovely man with a smart son and lives happily without cancer or terrible in-laws. Yet Mi Sun is always ready (as is her gorgeous husband) to step outside the happiness of her own to take on the challenges that her friends can’t handle by themselves. Next to the girls we have the bros. The boys were just as cute, but the friendship between them all kicked in pretty late. Joon Ki and Hae Sung had a pretty wonderful friendship from the start, but I found myself waiting for Chang Suk and Pil Ho to get pulled in as well- which they eventually did. I adored that they even got Sang Wook in on the bromance as well, treating him as a friend rather than just a lawyer. It was cute. It was all super cute and super fun to watch and I love these characters so, so much.

What Wasn’t:

Absent Family:

I don’t know why they even bothered introducing So Hye’s family in the beginning of this drama because they were of no importance and never made a reappearance. I guess it made sense to explain away why So Hye wasn’t drowning in money (because her brother and sister kept spending it all) but they really contributed nothing to the drama in the slightest.

Never to be seen again...

So Hye never even told them about her cancer. It didn’t seem like she had a completely hostile relationship with them either, it just seemed like the drama forgot that they existed at all. The only other family we really saw for our heroes was Hae Sung’s grandmother. Admittedly she was super cute, and I loved her easy acceptance of So Hye and her illness saying that healthy people can die just as suddenly as sick ones, but her role was very limited (as was Seol’s mum’s role).

Solid friends, sucky family

The only family that got any extended amount of time was Seol’s in-laws and we all know how sh*t those guys are. While the drama nailed all the friendship dynamics, but it definitely could have built up the family relationships a tad more.

Joon Ki Visions:

What is even going on here?

For the most part I adored the relationship between Joon Ki and So Hye. But I wasn’t sold on So Hye seeing visions of him after he died. Some of them I found passable (like in the prison scene or the last one where he seemed to send her back the living world), but most of them I just found awkward. While I didn’t mind the show exploring So Hye’s grief at losing her close friend, the way it was presented felt like she was longing after him in a way that was more than friendship- particularly when she was ignoring they very live, very present Hae Sung next to her to go after these visions. I think the writers had a good idea behind it, but it could have been executed much, much better.

Re-watch?

Probably not. The pacing of the show is pretty slow, so while I ended up adoring the series and all its wonderful characters I’d need to wait a fair amount of time before considering watching it again.

So much love