Como flores en la arena

Loved this series for a couple of reasons. One, because I learned so much about a sport I never knew existed. Ssireum....who knew? Jang Dong-yoon is a true pro who remade his physique, not to look awesome, but to look real for the sport. The matches looked so authentic to me, and I got invested in Kim Baek Du's challenges as well as the connection between the teammates. The seedy gambling world touches about every sport, and this series showed parts of that as well. Next, the culture of the village was immersive, and you could relate with the gossiping neighbors, get angry with their ridiculous nosiness and be touched by their loyalty. Third, the characters of Baek Du and Doo-sik (sounds like doo sheek) are perfect foils for each other, with a mysterious bond from childhood that neither can forget. Their relationship is the heartbeat of the series. Don't see how anyone could resist the charm of this show.

A ssireum wrestler Kim Baek-doo played by Jang Dong-yoon is thinking about retiring as at thirty two he thinks the opportunity to be a champion has passed him by. Before he makes the decision he runs into Oh Yoo-kyung played by Lee Joo-myung who was his best friend when they were children but who disappeared from his life due to an incident which took place in the town. The plot then looks back at the earlier incident and how it impacted on the group of friends and the townspeople who are all involved with ssireum and how they all turned out. It is a well acted series from the entire cast, a gentle comedy with the funniest moments between the two leads and an easy watch.

I look forward to this show every week. It is the perfect balance of comedy, sport, romance, and mystery. It reminds me a lot of When the Weather is Fine without the dark elements. I have watched hundreds of dramas and love this one.

It follows the reunion of childhood friends in a little village. You get all the humor of the village dynamics, along with the fun backdrop of the sport of Ssireum. It was so nice they casted actors that looked like they played the sport. They are all regular people, no CEOs or chaebols in sight.

The chemistry of the ML and FL is palpable and of course the ML character is so well acted. You can't keep your eyes off the ML whenever he is on. He is nearly unrecognizable from his earlier works, like Tale of Nokdu, but his acting is 100% better. He makes you listen to every word and expresses every emotion. I absolutely love his character.

This is not a roller coaster of emotions or adrenaline murder mystery, but instead a very entertaining steady and moving story with so many memorable characters. I have lost interest in so many weekly releases, but I absolutely love seeing these characters every week. My only complaint is it is only 12 episodes.

It's hard to review this series.

The first half of the series I was somehow bored. It didn't felt like a love story, the mystery story wasn't strong either. I didn't know what to think.

Kim Baek-uk was portrayed as a naive "boy". I didn't like at all that they made him look stupid. In fact he was just a warmhearted guy growing up at the country side and was just happy either way with the simple things in life. He was so caring for others. So beautiful! They didn't need to made him look stupid.

The villagers had an important role for the setting of the series. The way they talked was marvellous.

From half of the series the mystery story became more interesting and the relationship between Baek-uk and Du-sik had more depth. Although I kept missing cute love scenes.

The wrestling theme was nice and the games were thrilling, although predictable I especially liked the last one. A shout-out to Jang Dong-yoon for the wrestling part. Must have been tough. And he even changed his physique for that role. Wow!

If you watch this series for the warmth of the ML and the atmosphere of the town, you will like this series. If you watch it for the love story - like I did -, you will be disappointed.

This is on UK Netflix under the title Like Flowers in Sand. I found it to be a gentle, interesting drama with light-hearted moments. The story is interesting and gives a nice insight into Korean culture, especially around Ssireum (Korean wrestling) which I'd never heard of before.

There is some great acting - I thing the actress who plays Du-Sik as a young girls is particularly good at conveying her emotions.

The story revolves around the reunion of two friends - one a wrestler and one a police officer investigating possible match fixing. I've watched a lot of k-dramas and I thought this one hit a perfect balance.