Before I start the review, I would like to confess that this was actually my very first Korean drama ever. (That meant that I watched it from the very first episode to the very last episode.) I must say that during my skimming journey on local channels, I rarely cared for it since I found it boring to the hardcore because of its predictable story and extremely depressing storyline with the whole “disease” thing and the “dying” thing thrown in. Unexpectedly, this was an extremely good drama to consider. No wonder it won several awards and was one of the greatest Korean dramas ever made. The acting was excellent from the main cast although it did touch on some familiar themes. It made up for a lot of things and I was totally blown away by it. (Possibly because I haven’t found any Korean drama that was worth mulling over yet.) The soundtrack was also very nice (as known with most Korean soundtracks).
I don’t want to spoil much of the drama itself but I found it very creative and complex at the same time with how the ending was crafted. It wasn’t just some typical Cinderella story, but it strongly emphasized on how this could happen to anyone with life’s many wonders.
I loved the main couple character-wise (since I have not seen their actual interaction off-screen to determine). They had excellent chemistry and were really natural with all their scenes together.
As much as I loved this drama, I couldn’t help feeling like this reminded me sooo much of Taiwanese idol drama Heaven’s Wedding Gown. Yes, especially with a lot of the details. But I must say this one was crafted much nicer in a sense because it didn’t have too many subplots or frustrating moments since Taeyoung was very strong and independent despite all her hardships. The circumstances were different and couldn’t be compared totally, but I didn’t like it that in the other one Ai Qing got bullied so much. It was really annoying. The common factor that could be agreed upon was both soundtracks were amazing to listen to.
Notice, I wasn’t implying any sort of “copying” going on since it was aired at around the same time (and possibly in the works around the same time as well). It could be a coincidence and I loved both works in their own way.
Posted (on Xanga): March 3, 2009
Re-posted: April 26th, 2010