My Golden Life

I'm surprised to see the relatively weak ratings of this series. The emotional intensity, the acting, the subtleties, the twists in the script etc. are absolutely brilliant. Yes it's not a 'quick fix' pleaser of the receptive senses, but that's exactly what makes it special. The casting is perfect, a stunning production in so many aspects.

This drama is about two families, one poor, the other rich and how they become entangled in each others lives. At 52, one hour episodes, its a long haul but you get to know each character better which is always a good thing.

The two lead actors Hye-Sun Shin (who plays the sister Seo Ji-an) and Shi-hoo Park (who plays the brother Choi Do-kyeong) really do play their parts to perfection. But for me its the support cast who really knock it out of the park, especially Eun-Su Seo (who plays the other sister Seo Ji-soo) and Ho-jin Chun (who plays the father Seo Tae-soo), they are so good, they will no doubt get more dramas to work on as leads.

At 52 episodes you can expect a few slight appearance changes to the cast but Lee Tae-Hwan (who plays Ji-soo's boyfriend Seon Woo-hyeok) has ginger hair for 43 episodes then suddenly goes black and nobody wonders why.

The story lines are twisty but always interesting and every episode has a juicy cliff-hanger, so you can't wait for the next episode to start.

For me its the two mothers and the final episode that stop this being a 9. The mothers are just not good actors, they occasionally look at the camera, which is a no-no. And the last episode is rushed, to tie all the loose ends together. They should have split it into two seasons and gave all the characters a proper ending.

Even with those two little flaws, its still a must watch, but keep the hankies close, you will definitely get through a box or two.

This is a good watch. At first, I didn't get what the writer was trying to say in the story, but later, I found it so worthwhile and I.learned so much it.made me think better because the arguments that was presented here were pretty much challenging. The actors were great, they are all deserving of praise for a well-justified presentation of their characters. Park Si Hoo became a favorite of mine after this because I liked how he expresses the emotions of the character here. I am looking forward to his future projects.

Shin Hye-sun is already a favorite since Wok with Love and Thirty at Seventeen. Now I have started Angel's Last Mission.

Please rate fairly. Look first into the whole plot before judging.

This series is a very sensible one.

This show has everything... laugh out loud moments, cringe moments, spit out your coffee moments and moments where you'll demolish a box of tissues. I have given it a 9/10, the only reason it misses a point is for the fact it's 52+ hours long, and some of the sets are very cheap and nasty (like the supposedly rich peoples' house where the wallpaper pattern is so mismatched you can't unsee it, and they strangely all drive Nissans).

The story really does show the divide between the mega rich and the struggling and just how awful and judgemental people can be without even realising it. It also shows unimaginable hardship and successes and truly is a joy to watch, even for the absurd bits.

If you have almost 2.5 days of your life to spare (when you put it altogether), watch this.

I've watched many Korean series and I just loved the storyline of this one!! My favourite series so far.

💞 from Australia.