Winter Sonata is a highly regarded popular Korean melodrama with great reviews. The series features a small cast and focuses on the love triangle between:
i) Jun-sang, a bastard, born from the embers of passion between Gollum and a village hound dog
ii) Yoo-jin, a feisty pretty young thing
iii) Sang-Hyuk, the boy next door.
Jun-sang is actually a good guy, but is hypnotised by Yoo-jin, and begins wearing big scarves and ladies mittens. Sang-Hyuk is like a brother to Yoo-jin, and rival to Jun-sang, but he has no job and is no good at fighting. Watch out for danger woman, Chae-Lin!
So the story begins with the courtship between Jun-sang and Yoo-jin at their high school. The other cast are introduced who are the school friends and also the elders. Then tragedy strikes......One of the characters headbutts a Volvo. It's OK though, the Volvo survives and is sent to the repair shop.
Fast forward 10 years later and the high school students are now working in Seoul. Coincidentally all have kept in touch and are either living, working or drinking together. Jun-sang has disappeared from the scene but has been replaced by another actor who looks very much like him and is called Min-Hyung. Min-Hyung is hypnotised by Chae-Lin and starts to quote Confucius and wear turtle neck sweaters. Everyone misses Jung Soon and hates Min-Hyung.
Next everyone start fighting with everyone else, each fall over or go to hospital one at a time, everyone bows a lot and finally Yoo- jin makes a decision.
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The Good - Performances, heart (first few episodes)
The Bad - Predictable, Cliché, Overlong (next 14 episodes)
Overall - Dour
