Greatest Love (also known as Discovery of Affection and Best Love) is another "which guy loves which girl" Korean melodrama. The story revolves around two main leads trying to discover if they love each other, along with 2 other characters which are battling for the leads affections.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The two leads are played by Gong Hyo Jin and Cha Seung Won. The former plays a washed up past girl band member just trying to stay relevant and milk her few waning seconds of fame. The latter plays the biggest star in Korea at the top of his fame.
Hyo-Jin is really good in her role as Ae Jung. Ae Jung has long been forgotten by most everyone following the Korean entertainment industry, and, those few people that do remember her can't stand her. Image and perception play a big part of many of the character arcs and story lines in this show, and Ae Jung's public image is that of a plain awful troublemaker. In reality though, she's just an earnest and charming sweetheart with virtually zero faults, who's just trying to get by in life.
Seung Won plays the role of Go Jin. There's no two ways about it; Seung Won has a commanding screen presence; he's tall and ripped, with a deep voice and rugged features. He can be considered good looking I suppose, but he's also one downright menacing looking dude. As such, I wonder if he just takes these types of roles in order to solely avoid getting forever typecast as the "ass kicker/villain/rogue cop/etc" that he appears to have been genetically engineered to play. He's quite impressive here as the narcissistic and tyrannical superstar on the outside, with a soft spot on the inside.
The two other characters are played the lovely Yoo In Na and the terribly handsome Yoon Kye Sang. In Na portrays Ae Jung's former band mate who's become hugely popular in the 10 years since the group disbanded. She's also the host of a dating show that matches eligible Korean bachelors to various female stars. Kye Sang plays a rich young doctor that's a little slow on the up take with the ladies, and is completely uninterested in the ultra image conscious Korean entertainment industry.
The story has Ae Jung and Go Jin inadvertently bumping into each other time and again. Feeling a little sorry for her, he uses his star power to help her career out some by throwing her a bone; this eventually results in Ae Jung being one of the suitors on the dating show that In Na's character hosts. The doctor is the bachelor contestant on the dating show.
Meanwhile, In Na's character and Go Jin are a popular couple in the entertainment world (but are not actually a couple in real life). Go Jin slowly takes more and more of a liking to Ae Jung as time passes. In Na's character has been absorbed in the entertainment industry life for so long, that she's taken aback and soon smitten with the doctor she has to work with on the dating show that has no idea who she is and treats he like an everyday person. The doctor gets more and more inclined to select Ae Jung as his match on the dating show, because her personality and approach to life is most suited to his own. You can tell where all this is headed from there; all you have to do is just follow along to see who will be and won't be with whom, and for how long, and why.
There are a number of sides stories sprinkled in, one of the cuter (although not major) ones, being the bond between Go Jin and Ae Jung's cute seven year old chunky & dorky nephew. The interaction between these 2 characters is pretty amusing as Go Jin continually tries to use this child to get closer to Ae Jung. At first, Go Jin (who knows nothing about children) is mostly an obnoxious and manipulative brute who frequently and openly makes fun of this kid (which he refers to as Ding Dong). Over time though, Go Jin comes to look at this nephew as his little adopted brother who he takes under his wing and gives life lessons to, helps become more popular at school, etc. In turn, the nephew becomes sort of a surrogate friend to the arrogant superstar who really doesn't have any friends of his own or anyone to confide in.
This show is pretty standard fare for this genre (i.e. it's a romantic drama with a bit of humor thrown in). You'll likely find it fairly agreeable if you enjoy this type of stuff. It's a 16 episode love quadrangle, with a number of side/back stories, and one of the characters might be dying of heart failure, so you should know by now what you're in for here if you watch this.
There's a good bit to like here. The four main cast members all put in good work and interact well together, writing is mostly solid, and it maintains a nice comedic romance feel for the bulk of the series. I was not particularly fond of how this show incorporated the plot regarding the heart problems of the one character, however; it couldn't seem to decide whether this should be used for comedic or dramatic effect or how much of an integral part it should play. Also, I think they dropped ball a bit over the last few episodes trying to wrap up all the story lines, but that's the way it goes sometimes with many of these shows.
Entertaining and plenty enjoyable overall...it's more than solid enough to recommend. I'd rate it in the 7-8 star range, and, I may have closely considered giving it the elusive 9 star rating I only rarely give out, if they'd tightened up the ending a little. Nevertheless, it is one of the better all around KTV melodramas.
Final Score: 8 stars!
