Personal Taste

At viewing, this drama is 15 years old so it IS dated. And while I don't mind the older fashioned hair, wardrobe, music, or cinematography it was the cartoonish representation of several characters that made it hard to watch. The lead female character in particular was written in a way that was beyond silly. Absolutely unbelievable and in no way likable or sympathetic to this viewer. Several other roles suffered the same unappealing characterization.

The story format of "My Fair Lady" has been redone in countless movies and dramas, yet the level of "woman as unrefined idiot" in this one is in no way ingratiating. I watched this to the end because I was sure the character transformation needed for this dramas success would be worthwhile. Sadly for me, it wasn't.

What saves this drama from the abyss of having a style "too old to watch" is Jin Ho (Lee Min Ho). His role is believable, complex, sympathetic and frustrating enough to be appealing.

End Comment: to each his own. While the complex story content and dialogue was high quality, the dated stereotyping of women was utterly unsatisfactory.

Omg this drama was soooooooo good !! The story was amazing !! The way lee min ho was dressed.. omg I was in love !! Absolutely loved this drama !! I laughed aloooot !! Love love love it !!!

16. That's the number. Well, sometimes, it's 20. But that's the standard number of episodes in Korean TV series. It's a challenge to fill and this drama, like many, doesn't quite do it. There was enough material here to make a decent 2-hour romcom movie but 16 hours was far more than could be filled up without recourse to a relentless cycle of rinse and repeat.

What makes this drama bearable, indeed more than bearable, are two tremendous performances from the stars, Lee Min-ho and especially Son Ye-jin. The rest of the cast and the stock characters they play could easily have been recruited out of the chimpanzee enclosure at Seoul Zoo, but Lee and Son are just otherworldly in their performances and chemistry, enough to blow up the labs at MIT. Son has such terrific comedic range just within this show, able to display vulnerability and strength, naivete and common sense, kindness and, when necessary, backbone, and you never fail to believe her. What is asked of Lee is more limited but he delivers without holding back.

The plot line, the single woman who mistakenly believes the guy she ends up living with is gay and therefore "safe", is a little forced and acceptable (just barely) only because the show is 10 years old and predates more widely accepted norms about the place of homosexuality and other non-"straight" orientations in society. But even there, most of the characters are quite tolerant of divergence from the norm of the time and Son at one point offers up a heartfelt declamation that love, straight or gay, is love. There is one interesting secondary character, played with some finesse by Ryu Seung-ryong , whose struggles with being gay and finding a way to express his love to Lee (whom he not unreasonably believes is gay - after all, Lee actually says he is, er, straight out) are depicted with some delicacy.

The problem is that the magic number means that Lee must be made to miss chance after chance to set the record, er, straight about his orientation in ways that are increasingly forced and sometimes lame beyond belief. Similarly, just as the writer finds idiotic excuse after excuse for Lee not to explain things properly, he (or she - not sure which) is forced in scene after scene to portray Son as clueless long past belief. The deception is enabled with the usual tropes of untimely interruptions by phone calls, people barging in, non-emergency emergencies, and an endless series of manufactured lies told by everyone and his mother, all so the moment of discovery can be delayed long past the moment the audience's patience has been exhausted, all so that the magic number of 16 can be reached.

Similarly, the second leads, played by Kim Ji-seok and Wang Ji-hye, must replay their same basic scenes over and over. Kim, in particular, is a creepy character whom both Wang and Son rightly reject and yet he cleaves first to one then the other with essentially the same nauseating sophistries and, unfortunately, the absolutely loathsome arm grabbing that pervades Kdramas.

Tertiary characters are equally repetitious and even less interesting. Lee's right hand guy, played by the forgettable Jung Sung-hwa, is merely insufferable and Son's best friend, played by Jo Eun-ji, manages to detract from every scene she's in.

These dramas need to be shorter or more inventive. Not all of them have the maximum luminescence of stars like Lee Min-ho and Son Ye-jin. I could watch Son forever and I can see why female (and perhaps male) fans could do the same for Lee. But it would be great if the material were a little deeper, a little richer or, to put it more precisely, a lot deeper and a lot richer.

I watched it again after many years, and though I love the leads, esp. SYJ, and the series has sweet moments, for me, it definitely has cringe-worthy scenes and others that simply do not hold up well.

I don't know that my rating is acurate. After watching so many Kdramas, I think I've seen most of the very good ones. Since I couldn't let go of this passion, I lowered my expectations a while ago. That's how I found myself watching something with Lee Min-Ho in it, although this should have been enough to deter me. Someone wrote "If I ever see the Male Lead actor in a show again I'll stop watching immediately" It was really funny because his performance in this drama is actually the best I've seen from him so far.

So. Cons. REPETITIVE SOUNDTRACK. (Pabo choleoooom....) WEAK PLOT. POOR ACTING. POOR DIALOGUES. NO CHEMISTRY. No chemistry of course, with the leads behaving so awkwardly around each other, hardly touching, as if they were both contagious or something. I remember SHJ in Something In The Rain. It doesn't even compare.

Pros. LMH. Ah, I can't help it, his beauty is really from another world. Er... What else... Yes. Director Choi. If memory serves, he is now my second favourite character in the entire Kdrama world. First one is Mister Ma, the lawyer in I Hear Your Voice. My admiration for him is immeasurable.

Director Choi melted my heart. If such a man existed in the real world, I would want to meet him and stay by his side forever. He is handsome, classy, dignified yet humble, selfless, thoughtful, caring, sensitive. His one-sided love story was the one beautiful thing in this drama. My heart ached so much for him. I'm grateful if only for that part. The actor's skills stood out beside all the poor performances. Such pain, and at the same time, such kindness in his eyes... I will never forget him. I'll seek out more dramas with this actor, maybe it's something about him? There. 8 stars just for him.