I will try to make this as short as possible, but I will probably end up writing a long rant. I'm not fond of long family dramas because I find them tedious, but I started this one because of Sung Hoon and ended up liking the story.
STORY - is pretty original to me because I have not watched something like that. Okay, the forbidden love part is very popular, but having a Korean woman going and becoming a modern Gisaeng (an equivalent to Japanese Geisha) is not really common.
The main characters are Dan Sa Ran and Ah Da Mo. She is an independent and mature student of dance. I mostly liked her because of her positive attitude and strong character, but I also disliked her very much because her face is too expressionless and she is also too frigid. I mean, there is NOT EVEN ONE KISS because she is too ashamed to kiss her boyfriend and soon-to-be-husband?! So you will see scenes in which she keeps turning her head away and insulting Da Mo for being a hoodlum, only because he wants a physical contact. These scenes were painful to watch, plus I despise people who act as if their frigid nature is nice and makes them better than the others.
When it comes to Da Mo, yes, he is gorgeous and I also love his stubborn and powerful character, because such persons love to the max and when they set their mind to something, they do not give up until they achieve that. I respect that in people. However, he is also a spoiled almost 30-year-old man who cannot live without his parents and has not achieved anything on his own. He basically lives off his father, drives the car he bought and sleeps in the same house as his parents. No independence there and that is a major turn off. There is one scene in which he says that he does not plan living without his parents because he is an only child. Ewww.
His tyrannical father is basically a man whose only love is reserved for his dog Andre while he treats his wife less than a dog, and believes that the highlight of a man's life is to marry and have a son so he can be proud and show off to other businessmen and rich people. Even though there is one scene in which he says that he would "get hit instead of his child if the world is throwing stones at him", 99% of time he is just a tyrannical and conservative man nobody would want to live with if they were in their right mind.
The mother is even worse because she is a typical housewife - massages her husband's feet before he wakes up and all she does is sit around the whole day doing nothing in partical. There is one scene in which she will show development and finally speak her mind, but you will have to wait 40 episodes for that and you will already feel like shit by then.
I didn't pay much attention to supporting characters but I liked Sa Ran's step sister and Da Mo's grandmother. She seemed like a very talented and open-minded person while the granny showed more reason and intelligence than Da Mo's both parents.
Music is ok but not remarkable. The rewatch value is low, except for some favorite scenes. The acting and cast are great.
Overall, I can say that I liked the drama because it shows that humans are not black and white. They can be both good and bad, it depends which one prevails. Da Mo's father may have real affection for his family, but he still thinks more about his reputation. Da Mo may be hot, nice and in love, but he is still a little boy who is suffering because of his father's lack of love in the childhood, and he is far from being independent and ambitious (I'd never want to marry him and live with his terrible parents). Sa Ran may be pretty and great, but she is far from perfect - she is frigid and acts as if physical contact is something terrible before you marry which is stupid and which makes her just one of many Korean female characters who are not allowed to be sexual and physical beings, they just need to be pretty, kind and calm. I felt sorry for Da Mo.
So, if you have time, check it out. This drama would make a great basis for analyzing conservative Korean families and the importance family holds in their society.
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