I was blown away by the intensity of the first couple episode which sucks me in completely. I can't stop myself to keep on watching. The main male character is very interesting and the story mainly focuses on his point of view. In the beginning, there are a lot of questions whether he is a really good doctor or just a talented yet only focus on money.
I think the idea of the story is amazing and the chemistry and the acting between Jo Won and Kim Tae Hee is just amazing. Jo Won is one of the most talented actors that I ever know. I have watched some of his drama and every time I watch him on screen, he always surprises me. The only thing that I think makes this drama kind of boring is the couple last of the eps. I find it's dragging too long and wrapt up in a very open end way. To be honest, I kind of wanting a different ending.
I recommend this drama for a person who loves angst and melodramatic drama. There are some little comedy but not much.
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Nonetheless, it was a good watch (most k-dramas don't have a good ending anyways :p ) ! the acting was really nice and it has some cool scenes.
I'm not saying it's bad , it's just a bit disappointing compared to the trailer and the first few episodes. so if you're watching this , don't have any high hopes. It's still really enjoyable and somehow interesting.
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The story brings nothing new. The chacracters are put in typical kdrama situations. There is absolutely no doubt I gave a 6 score.
But... why did I give a 9 for the overall? Can a drama with ordinary plot have any chance of getting a higher score?
Yes, it can. And this is like... the second time I truly feel a drama being underrated.
There are chain events that are very well connected throughout. For an uninteresting story, they made it very well executed and I could not help but keep watching and watching until the end. The writer did a great job building plot outlines. I was kept entertained and it was honestly a success for drama to do so to me.
The shining part about this drama, however, is the characters.
There are really a lot of characters and I love it. Every person isn't the same with different names, but has their own traits amd color. That's why I didn't bother seeing so many scenes involving different people but not the main pair.
I love Yong Pal. He is playful and acts like money is everything to him (which is right sometimes), yet a very talented, kind person who always thinks of the positive and justice (and something along the lines), despte of course, his kindness becomes too angelic here and there (and that makes him even more lovable).
And also we have Yeo Jin. She is a very strong woman with great intelligence and a very clear mindset - tit or tat; you own blood, pay with blood. We can't blame her for acting just about the same as her enemies if we get to know about her childhood and her surroundings environment. At first I thought Yong Pal is going to overshadow Yeo Jin (hence the title) but actually, Yeo Jin just shines at much, especially toward the second half of the series. Her inner character complexity and the contrary between hers and Yong Pal's mindset makes their relationship feel realistic.
Both characters have their own flaws and their different persinalities blend well with one another. That's why theri love is special and very convincing as well.
This kind of characterization, I only have seen in this drama. The characters are very strong and deserve their main roles in the drama.
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Of course, this drama has many problems aside from its great characters. Mediorce OSTs and BGM (the intro was actually good though), choppy and forced love development, not so special storyline, unanswered questions (for example, the nurse in charge of watching Yeo Jin, there was a picture of her and Yeo Jin yet we never find out what kind of relationship they have). The ending should be longer though. There was only 57 mins for the last ep so why not make it longer for our couple? Ugh.
The chacracters is the main point that make this drama a recommended one to watch. Thats all I have to say
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Chaotic plotting, some interesting ideas, a few engaging characters - many that you will just hate.
Enjoyable.That said, first - the irritations with this drama
I found the pacing too slow. This should have been absolutely no more than 16 episodes at most. I think it actively spoils a good drama when they spin it out with unnecessary pauses in dialogue. No body speaks that slowly! Perhaps they "think" that it heightens tension, but it ruins it.
The music was heavy handed to say the least. It's not BAD music. It simply tries to maximise tension or convey emotions which should rest in the writing, or the production - it's a real indicator of laziness or poor work when this happens. I suppose there may be times when it is used to supplement poor acting, but never have I ever seen that!
The plotting is pretty loose, with plot holes and poor depiction of - for example - realistic procedures to take down a conglomerate; recover from a coma; complete a medical degree; kidnap someone; arrest the entire board of a multi million company; and so many more!
The ML here doesn't do it for me. He's believable up to a point - especially in his role as underdog but brilliant surgeon moonlighting on the shady side of the tracks, but I don't believe him as a romantic lead. For some reason his screen presence in those moments just isn't strong enough, and - even though he pities the FL - I just do not see any chemistry.
The FL here also has little to work with, but perhaps does her best. Unfortunately she spends most of the time immobile and expressionless, and then when she is recovered and has her own agency is revealed as a very unlikeable person. I didn't believe she deserved anyone's affection. Pity, yes, but warmth, not so much. When she was with Tae Hyun, she seemed like a different person, but she was unfortunately not someone I would trust for a moment - her first instinct would always be brutal revenge. TH was absolutely right to get out when he did, but when they get back together, would I trust her to be changed? not much. Her vengeful patterns are rooted in her background and her anger, but we hear about incidents when she was incredibly young and that adults around her feared her revenge - that's never going to change. She might never take out her anger on TH - but she will in a heartbeat hurt anyone else around him - and that would break his heart. Also - is the fault with the writing or the actor - I find it hard to say that another actress could have presented a less imbalanced personality - I think the writer failed to get the balance right.
All that being understood - what's to like
I was engaged by some of the relationships as they developed, especially between Tae Hyun and ... nearly everybody else. He starts off being someone who seems to have very questionable morals, but little by little that gloss is peeled away and we see him as someone prepared to take risks to protect anyone he loves: not perfect, but an enormously high achiever; bruised by life, but not yet beaten down; possessing a drive for excellence wherever he places his hand; increasingly able to empathise and very quickly form alliances wherever he finds himself, with the most unlikely people.
There are several moments of satisfying victory - both in the hospital settings, the mansion, and the company world. Each are pretty unrealistic, but still enjoyable.
There are a number of thought provoking issues, moral dilemmas, real risks, psychological struggles and personal conflicts, as well as genuinely heart-breaking moments. Many of the last are (for me) ruined by very heavy handling from the director, and the liberal serving of heavy strings in what I can only refer to as foreground music, but if I were reading it on a page, they would be very moving indeed.
The plotting is not well balanced. There's a massive shift in focus from hospital settings to conglomerates, with huge focus on indicators of status and power, and ways in which those both affect the world but can also be undermined. It's a roller-coaster -and sometimes annoying, but some of those elements are very interesting.= and make the rather chaotic plotline bearable.
The acting was competent all round, with some very familiar faces which always mean good things - notably Jung Woong In, Kim Mi Kyung and Oh Na Ra in minor roles - not much screen time but always a lot of dramatic punch. Chae Jung An was excellent as the female airhead who hides a knife-like mind and enormous determination - and a very dark and vengeful personality. Her husband, the main villain was serviceably presented by Jo Hyun Jae - handsome and affable in appearance, a certain amount of charisma, but perhaps not quite enough, but believable as the boss with murderous capacity. He did a very good job in making the character, apparently strong, but in reality easily manipulated by his Secretary, very believable. The secretary, played by Choi Byung Mo, was (for me) always very obviously the real villain, so I had no surprises when his conspiracy with all the other baddies was revealed. That could have been handled better, but it was all flagged so desperately obviously in the script and direction that I can't for a minute blame the actor.
I apologise for this long and rambling "review". It was hard to get to grips with my thoughts. This somewhat reflects the pretty chaotic plotting of the drama though, so perhaps not so inappropriate!
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If you're planning to watch this show, don't expect too much medical/ surgery scenes after the first half episodes, or maybe after the first two episodes will do, lol.
Don’t expect a lot of action scenes. The first episode is thrilling but that's that, you won’t be able to see another scene as breath taking as that on the nxt eps since only few action scenes in this drama.
This drama is entitled “Yong Pal” but it didn’t really talked abt him. It’s abt waking up ‘Sleeping Beauty’, helping her back to the throne, and trying to stop her from her revenge.. It’s mostly about Politics, Revenge, romance. And just a touch of medical thingy…
As others have said, the story took a complete turn on the Second half so don't expect too much out of the Male Lead since he was overshadowed by the Female Lead.
And again, this drama gives us a little information Abt Yong Pal (at least for others, or so it depends on how we really view it).
And soo… There are a lot of reasons to watch this drama and whether we like or hate it depends upon our tastes.
Unlike others who got bored after the 1st/2nd episode, I find this drama interesting from beginning to end. But I’ll focus on the characters…
Often, I’d prefer dramas with Cool, cold, mean, rich, male leads who falls in love with a poor, naïve, sweet girl or in short, a Cinderella story but this movie changed it all…
I love the role reversal in this movie. The Male lead is a talented poor, kind-hearted, charming doctor who fell in love with the rich somewhat spoiled beautiful patient… I love how badass Yeo Jin is in this show, her mean demeanor, and cleverness got me cheering for her, she’s not your average female lead always getting saved by the Male lead because of her idiocy.. instead, she’s a strong woman who can protect and think for herself. She’s so sweet and loveable when she’s with KTH, but cruel and vengeful to others and yet, you can’t definitely hate her-- She used to be innocent, sweet little sister to her brother but she changed after the people she trusted the most betrayed and imprisoned her. (Think about Sleep Paralysis and experiencing it for 3 yrs, I find it frightening)
Tae Hyun isn’t your ordinary impatient guy who pulls tantrum when something goes wrong, he always try to be understanding and supportive towards Yeo Jin and does his best to stop her from doing bad things for her sake. Not only that, his relationship towards other is simply appealing as he cares so much about them—how he risk his life for money in order to save his sister is heartwarming, saving chief lee is definitely something, the way he treated the gangsters as humans to be helped earned him respect, and that saving the life of the police who was out to get him, he gained a friend.. and many other beautiful interaction.
Others would often comment that the Main leads don’t have any chemistry but the romance in this drama is admirable. Their relationship is unlike others-- its full of caring, deep understanding, and to see them separate is heartbreaking.
Chae Young … I like how she often tease her husband that she never fails to annoy him. She’s a happy-go-lucky, always full of energy, and often times playful,. Yet she too fall on the abyss of darkness and in the end got blinded by vengeance. I think on one way or another, she did love her husband at one point. Lol
Not only the Main leads are awesome… there are a lot of diverse characters in this movie and they all performed their role well that it’s often frustrating and disheartening to keep on watching the antagonists plot something on some point. But of course you’ll also love the people who supported KTH no matter what happened …
Why not a perfect 10? It might have been better if it ended when YJ finally got her rightful throne back since the extension of the show for another 2 more eps did disappoint me since many of the characters personality changed a lot you’d actually wonder wtf happened, and too much unnecessary scenes and flashbacks for the last 2 eps… As I said, I love how badass YJ is, yet her brilliant cleverness suddenly disappeared that she can’t even do a simple reasoning… And I’m fine with the ending but I don’t particularly like it, if only they extended that part rather than dragging too many scheme in the episode, but oh well, it can’t be helped..
OVERALL, I LOVED IT and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DRAMA... I Had fun watching and have re-watched it so many times, I can't just get over it…
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Acting/Cast = No complaints there. Kim Tae Hee and Joo Won were gorgeous together. Joo Won's calm & fun character complemented Kim Tae Hee's bit sass & craze character ideally.
Music = Nice instrumentals and theme song, Westlife's Angel was a nice treat as well since I haven't heard that song by them in ages lol
Rewatch Value = Can see myself rewatching the first few episodes. Some funny moments in there as well that I really liked
Overall = I wish it had a stronger climatic point near the end. They could've gone a few different ways with some plots, but I guess they didn't want to stretch it another few episodes in fear that it may begin to feel draggy.
That's what I liked about the drama though, it didn't have a lot of that "draggy" feeling like I usually get from many Korean dramas. So overall it was still a good watch.
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Let me make this clear, I enjoyed the show for what it was, I just wish they had actually expanded on 'Yong Pal' as a character more than they did.
As for the 'real' story of this show, it was actually quite good for the most part. I was really drawn into the politics and revenge plotting for the majority of the show, enough for me to marathon it in a couple of days. The casting and acting was superb overall, with Joo Won providing an especially engaging performance as Kim Tae Hyun. The relationship between his character and Han Yeo Jin was really a delight to see unfold. The rest of the main cast did a really good job as well, to the point where I can't think of a performance that stands out as being particularly poor.
While the show maintains a solid pace throughout the main body of its runtime, the last few episodes the plot really begins to unravel. Apparently, (not sure if this is true), the show proved so popular that it was spontaneously extended by two episodes, and this really shows. The last two episodes are easily the most confused and underwhelming of the entire show. While there are good scenes here, it ends up feeling like the writers throwing characters and conflict at the audience for no real reason. This culminates in what I can only describe as an abrupt, disappointing ending, with several notable plot points left largely unresolved.
Despite this, i'd say this show is worth the watch, as it provided a really good viewing experience for the most part, with lots of likeable characters (and some easy-to-hate antagonists), and really solid performances by the cast.
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This drama has an original story, relationships, characters and it is so addicting! I just finished rewatching it! If you search for a drama with a different approach (all mostly have the same approach) on EVERYTHING and you want to see a strong female lead who actually fights and is ruthless to her enemies, then you have to watch this. Also, it is supposed to be a medical drama but it focuses on the female character's development so it isn't really a medical drama... It has lots of medical scenes but it's not the main point of the drama. I definitely loved this and I recommend it!
There might be some little spoilers below so if you don't trust me on this and you need more info to go and watch it, go ahead and keep reading.
It might not be a 'full medical' drama but I believe it is original and the characters development is so entertaining. It is one of the few dramas (actually it's the only one that comes in mind) where one of the main characters actually goes for revenge instead of doing nothing and just enduring everything the bad characters do. It also shows the side effects and outcome of revenge. In all the dramas that I've seen until now , the main characters are good guys that endure everything and keep defending themselves but not attacking the opponent so I always wanted to see what would happen if the characters actually take revenge. Well here we go! Not only that it happens in this drama but it also shows the outcome of it and how it interconnects with other people!
I definitely enjoyed the female lead's development during this show because honestly I'm so fed up with powerless, ignorant, stupid characters with 'good girl syndrome' that always need another character to pick them up from the ground when the bad guys act up (even if even here, the guy saves her.. but if you'll watch the drama you'll know what I really mean).
I've seen people being unsatisfied with Kim Tae Hee's acting in this drama for not having expressions but I think she did a good job here playing a complex character. Most of the time she's either filled with affection for the male lead or she's dead serious trying to be a step ahead of the bad guys. Maybe that's why people complain about her expressions but based on her character's story, that's what she should express..
As for the love story, it is different from other dramas. It might not be very deep love story for some people but it's pure and considering that the female lead is 'dark' and full of hatred, the male lead is the light that completes her and gives her a reason to smile. I honestly liked this approach on the love story and that even if the male lead slowly found out how dark she is, he didn't feel disgusted by her but tried to get her 'on the righteous path'. Did he succeed? Watch the drama and see for yourself.
When it comes to music.. I honestly couldn't pay attention to it because the plot really caught me.. I don't even remember hearing music during this show.. Sorry I can't comment on that but I'm a fan of kdrama osts so the music should be amazing as well.
Everything happens fast in this drama so you can't get bored.. you start the first episode and then BAAM you happen to finish the series and wonder what to do with your life. It is entertaining and unique. 100% would watch again in the future.
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This drama had severe mood swings as it progressed. Kim Tae Hee and Joo Won portrayed such a painful, understanding, but loving relationship that I really enjoyed. The FL is what you call a badass, emphasize on the "bad". Kim Tae Hee truly deserves her recognition as a "national beauty" and is a charismatic actress. Joo Won is just absolutely magnificent in his portrayal of the many emotions of the ML. As the show furthered, our FL became engrossed in revenge to the point I was questioning if she was gonna die in the end or not. The ending was incredibly rushed, especially in the last 10 minutes of the show. Was this review helpful to you?
Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman.
Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman. Story should have ended when the female lead shows up and became the chairwoman.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
About Yong Pal:Yong Pal is a drama that caught my attention, for the quality of the actors who participated in this production, especially Jo Hyun Jae, who was impersonating his first role as a villain. He characterized a classic villain, in an excellent way. He was a rebel with a cause, rehabilitable, who could have been saved by the scriptwriter, instead of killing him so cruelly. I realized that the drama really revolved around Han Do Jun, the character of Jo Hyun Jae, so much so, that it was necessary to add additional chapters, in which Do Jun was a "hallucination" of his sister, the product of the guilt of having sent him to death. I had to understand that Han Do Jun lived rebelliously. That he was the eldest son, but nevertheless, not the heir. And that his father had the blame for the crooked way in which he always treated him. I am very hurt, because this is the first real villain that characterizes Jo Hyun Jae, because in "Ad Genius Lee Tae Baek" characterized a "villain lite", a mere antagonist who didn't get his way, an inferior character for the great talent shoed off of Jo Hyun Jae and the reason why I'm hurt is because his effort was not recognized in the annual awards given on the television network. They never recognized his great effort with an honorable mention. He sacrificed his romantic leading man image and clean man, to characterize the evil and Machiavellian Han Do Jun, which in turn, the thirst for love was the cause of his rebellion.
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