Forest

The entire drama and the main couple's relationship was built entirely around bonding over their each others trauma. Not necessarily bad but it felt it was purposely designed that way to manipulate the viewers' emotions forcefully. This was pretty obvious from the very beginning with how they portrayed and handled the female lead's boyfriend. You would fell for their trap if you were a newcomer. The music choices were odd and mostly cheap, in addition, the dubstep soundtrack was completely unfitting. Anyway, if it wasn't for the forestry scenery then the drama wouldn't have had much to offer. Throwing in two attractive leads together isn't enough anymore.

It's a tricky case. It takes some millennial themes simple and trivial and remakes them in a way that the result is truly worth it. The story of the rich and heartless, cold and bad businessman and the sweet, innocent, brokenhearted - I care about everyone and everything - doctor ... oh yes... The plot has enough side stories in order to make it interesting and hold the viewer, and in addition, they are slowly building the drama tension to the point where you anxiously wait for what is going to happen next, the secrets that 'Forest' is in no hurry to reveal. So, a well-written script, albeit a common theme, with an interesting touch of ecological awareness, nice dialogues which are natural and effortless without clichés. A fantastic Park Hae-Jin, gorgeous and upright, performs his best in a role cut and tailored to its own, that of a cold, heartless, but it also shows another more vulnerable side, which in the most private moments shows feeling as it should. Jo Bo-Ah's amazing, energetic, full of life portrays her role with great success and I think she has good chemistry with the protagonist. The romance does exist but it does not dominate the rest of the story, on the contrary it unravels simultaneously and sometimes triggers action, I think it is just right so it's not cheesy. The second roles are well written and realistically put to life, with O Bo Mi (Jung Yeon-Joo) standing out, I think she has a very interesting role: morally steadfast, politically correct, she is guided by her passion for her job so much that she wants to make the right thing as well as for her love for nature, shy and boisterous, agitator and brawler, stubborn and irreverent head, a character you first hate and then unconditionally surrender to. Furthermore good production - there were ambiguities or imperfections - great music that you can't get enough of. Nice landscapes and views of the forest. Clear messages of support for work of the Fire Brigade and Rescue Teams, in particular, environmental awareness and responsibility. The end was expected and cliché, a little too sweet in order to satisfy the general public. Personally I would opt for a more dramatic ending as the culmination of the dramatic agony that had been building up since the previous episodes, but it's a matter of personal taste !!!

I still had this image of Park Tae jin from bad guys of being a psycho so it was hard for me to look at his charisma in romantic settings. I also felt that there's so many talks in between romantic scenes that it becomes boring. Also, the conflict was overly emphasized in a way that it becomes annoying as you watch it till the end.

I would rate this K-Drama as 6.5 stars (rounded up to 7), with little that stands out either positively or negatively. It was a pleasant, if generally tepid watch, with nice scenery, acceptable script, and a story and characters which were interesting, but not compelling enough to produce a lot of buy-in (for me).

The one noteworthy point was the ending, where the writers made an obvious effort to tie up all the loose ends for a clear-cut (if slightly unrealistic) conclusion. In short, if you like stories where justice is served, and the power of love changes people for the better, you might go for this one.

ROMANCE RATING: 7/10 * * * The romance in this show generally stays in the "warm fuzzies" category, with 4+ kiss scenes featuring gentle kisses or brief pecks. PHJ and JBA have believable chemistry together (though IMO it could have been even better). Sadly, the only real sexual tension was in a heated, pre-dating kiss scene where the leads are using their heart rate to prove how unaffected they are by each other. It would have been super spicy if not for the sound editing, which failed to adjust the BPMs and therefore made the intent of the scene confusing/ distracting.

So I have watched so many Kdramas, in fact its my main source of tv as I find it entertaining, clean and fun for the most part. Forest is certainly a refreshing and interesting Kdrama. My Score of 10 had a lot to do with the story, I found it really refreshing, the main actors stories was really good, I loved how the characters develop along the way, not only dealing with personal obstacles but also with in the back story of the forest (that mainly only involved Park Hae-Jin). I loved how each set of partnered actors and roles had their own issues and stories, not like some dramas where you see a romance progress forward but it is faced with revengeful, spiteful and jealous exs to cause trouble along the way. I enjoyed that this drama had the obstacles but it was based on psychology and environmental issues rather than the desperate ill fitting ex drama. The setting for the drama is just beautiful, if only we could travel right now I'd love to go and visit the forest, the filming is clear, clean and gorgeous colors to match the surroundings. I loved every aspect of this show. There were times when the script writers seem to have packed a punch into a few words that left me reading between the lines but it all made sense. Hope you enjoy this as much as i and many other have. AA++