Winter Sonata
REVIEW (K-drama)
Finally finished watching Winter Sonata (check out the official website [Korean only]). It took me less than a week to finish 20 episodes. Starring Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo, it's probably the most talked about drama of 2002 (or whenever it was talked about). I only noticed Yon-sama (Bae's nickname in Japan, and maybe other places as well) when I visited Japan last year where he was the talk of the town. His major fans are women in the thirty-and-over age group. Why? I don't have a clue since I don't live in Japan, but that's what I've heard.
Anyway, let's get back to the drama. First of all,
What it is about
Kang Joon Sang (played by Bae Yong Joon) was a transfer student at a high school in Chuan Chun. He was someone who didn't get along well with others. The main reason for his transfer was because he wanted to find his biological father, whom he believed was in Chuan Chun.
At school, he befriended Jung Yu Jin (played by Choi Ji Woo), who was always late for school (obviously never heard of something called an alarm). At first, Yu Jin didn't like him, but after several encounters between the two, they drew closer and closer towards each other.
Meanwhile, Kim Sang Hyuk (played by Park Yong Ha) was a childhood friend and classmate of Yu Jin. And as expected with every romantic drama, Sang Hyuk liked Yu Jin, but never confessed to her.
Since the appearance of Joon Sang at the school, Yu Jin was attracted to Joon Sang. So guess what? Sang Hyuk was not happy. And for some reason, Joon Sang was very unfriendly towards Sang Hyuk, and that provoked him even further. An episode or so later, Joon Sang and Yu Jin finally fell in love. Whatever happened to the search for his father? Who cares when you've got a girlfriend?
Just as the love between the two started to grow, the unexpected happened. Joon Sang was killed in an car accident (surprise, surprise). Yu Jin was very heartbroken, but life must go on. Without Joon Sang in the way, Sang Hyuk easily got what he wanted. Ten years later, Sang Hyuk and Yu Jin were engaged.
Then, on the day of the engagement party, Yu Jin saw someone remarkably like Joon Sang on the street. So she gave chased, but couldn't find him anywhere. A couple of days later, Wu Choi Lim (played by Park Sol Mi), an old classmate of Yu Jin and Sang Hyuk turned up at an unofficial engagement party between Sang Hyuk and Yu Jin that was thrown by their friends. She brought her boyfriend Lee Man Yeong with her. The big surprise came when Yu Jin and friends found out that Lee Man Yeong looked exactly like Joon Sang, Yu Jin's first love! A bigger surprise came as Yu Jin's renovation company, Polaris, was involved in a ski resort project with another company, Marcian, in which Man Yeong was a manager. Yu Jin and Man Yeong were the person-in-charge for their respective company on the project. So now Yu Jin has a working relationship with Man Yeong.
That pretty much summed up the first three episodes. The next 17 episodes deal mainly with the struggle between Sang Hyuk and Man Yeong to win the heart of Yu Jin. To make things more complicated is that Yu Jin is not sure whether she should marry Sang Hyuk, or fall for someone who looks exactly the same as her first love. And when the winner is finally declared, we've got the parents to deal with!
What I think of it
Let's get the bad bits out of the way first. Expect a lot of cliche. I guess I was expecting that in any drama of this scale. I haven't seen one drama without a triangle love, whether it's two guys who like the same girl, or two girls who like the same guy. And to make it more interesting, another character will try to ruin the relationship between the main characters because he/she likes one of them. If you have seen one romantic drama, you've pretty much seen it all. This series doesn't detract from this formula, and it throws in some twists for good measures.
The overall feel of the drama was great, but some situations were let down by the script. I felt that it could have been done better, or even removed from the story entirely for the sake of keeping the story in par with reality.
Tears are everywhere, naturally. Everybody cries anywhere any time, whether it's in the office, at home, on the street, in bars, in restaurants, in bed, on the snow field, inside the car, in a hospital, at school, day, night, rainy, sunny, cloudy, snowy etc. The tears just kept on falling. They can easily fill about 5 Olympics size swimming pools. Are they necessary? Some are, but some ain't. It kind of ruins the story because the characters cry so much so often that the tears don't have the same impact on the audience as if they cry less. You can almost guess when the character will cry over something.
The story line, like many others similar series before it (and after it, for that matter), can only happen on the TV screen. Where do they get "I love you, but I can't leave him." from? I mean, you love him, so why are you staying with someone you don't love? Just go with the love of your life, dump the other guy and call it a day. End of story. And this guy just keeps nagging her even though he knows full well that her heart is with someone else. "I don't care if you don't love me *sob*, just don't leave me." Are you begging her to stay with you? That's pathetic. What's the point of keeping her? She will never ever love you. Just give up.
And don't get me started about their parents. Every parents in every love series have this line to say, "You can't marry him/her!" Their sole purpose in any romantic drama is to stop the main characters from getting married. Why???? What did they do? Just leave them in peace. They love each other, and they deserved to get married.
Sometimes, it is frustrating to watch this show because some of the characters or situations are just so stupid or depressed. There were times when I was like, "How could he be so dense?", or "Make up your bloody mind!". Then again, it's only my opinion. I bet someone will disagree with me.
Having said that, the series is, for the most part, a joy to watch. It is well structured, and plot aside, well presented. Some of the arc are well planned out. The story flows smoothly from one arc to another. It did keep me glued to the seat till the end, even thought I knew what was going to happen next. Watching someone like Choi Ji Woo also helped ^_^. The characters are likeable, even Choi Lim. She was not that evil afterall. There is no real villain like in some other series where they would go all out to ruin everything. And you would really want to stab him/her with a letter opener.
The use of parallelism is interesting. The best part was when Yu Jin and Joon Sang strolled through their old school at separate times, we see the clever use of editing to separate the characters, yet feel that they were there together.
Being called Winter Sonata, there are obviously lots of winter sceneries. Snow is the biggest attraction. Whether it was the snow field when Joon Sang and Yu Jin were 18, or when they were 28 at the ski resort, snow featured heavily in this series. They are just stunningly beautiful. And when you add the element of love between the two characters (like the snowman scene in the early episodes), it makes the snow scene all the more adorable.
The use of real locations, as compare to studio settings, is great. It has been known that there are Korean tours that will take tourists to the famous filming sites. Even the Korea National Tourism Organisation has a website dedicated the Winter Sonata locations. The openness of the set, for example, the snow fields is simply amazing just to look at. I especially liked the panned out view where you see two figures in the middle of a sea of white. I found myself looking at the scene more than I looked at the actors at times. The setting fits the winter theme perfectly.
Music is beautifully rendered. I love both of the theme songs, "From Beginning Till Now" and "My Memories" (Both by Ryu). It fits the mood, and are easy on the ears. There is also another lovely song ("Don't Forget") that is played in only one of the episodes.
Overall
I have a love-hate relationship with this series, really. On one hand, some of the situations are just so frustrating to watch. Some people are so annoying that they don't deserve my sympathy. But on the other hand, when the story finally gets going, I found myself glued to the TV screen.
Despite this series falling victim to cliche, it still kept me asking for more after each episode. The characters are likeable, and the music is really nice. I love the settings. Clothes worn by the main characters are elegant, and are actually nice to look at.
Compare with other romantic series, this is one of the better ones. It makes more sense than most, and has a better story line. And there are not that many recaps (i.e. reuse previous scenes) that I just hate.
If you are a die-hard fans of love stories, this one is definitely for you. Otherwise, watch it for the sceneries. They probably don't worth the price of admission, but at least you can boast about seeing some of the most beautiful places in Korea.
Score (out of 10)
Music: 8
Setting: 10
Character: 7
Plot: 6.5
Overall: 6
Finally finished watching Winter Sonata (check out the official website [Korean only]). It took me less than a week to finish 20 episodes. Starring Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo, it's probably the most talked about drama of 2002 (or whenever it was talked about). I only noticed Yon-sama (Bae's nickname in Japan, and maybe other places as well) when I visited Japan last year where he was the talk of the town. His major fans are women in the thirty-and-over age group. Why? I don't have a clue since I don't live in Japan, but that's what I've heard.
Anyway, let's get back to the drama. First of all,
What it is about
Kang Joon Sang (played by Bae Yong Joon) was a transfer student at a high school in Chuan Chun. He was someone who didn't get along well with others. The main reason for his transfer was because he wanted to find his biological father, whom he believed was in Chuan Chun.
At school, he befriended Jung Yu Jin (played by Choi Ji Woo), who was always late for school (obviously never heard of something called an alarm). At first, Yu Jin didn't like him, but after several encounters between the two, they drew closer and closer towards each other.
Meanwhile, Kim Sang Hyuk (played by Park Yong Ha) was a childhood friend and classmate of Yu Jin. And as expected with every romantic drama, Sang Hyuk liked Yu Jin, but never confessed to her.
Since the appearance of Joon Sang at the school, Yu Jin was attracted to Joon Sang. So guess what? Sang Hyuk was not happy. And for some reason, Joon Sang was very unfriendly towards Sang Hyuk, and that provoked him even further. An episode or so later, Joon Sang and Yu Jin finally fell in love. Whatever happened to the search for his father? Who cares when you've got a girlfriend?
Just as the love between the two started to grow, the unexpected happened. Joon Sang was killed in an car accident (surprise, surprise). Yu Jin was very heartbroken, but life must go on. Without Joon Sang in the way, Sang Hyuk easily got what he wanted. Ten years later, Sang Hyuk and Yu Jin were engaged.
Then, on the day of the engagement party, Yu Jin saw someone remarkably like Joon Sang on the street. So she gave chased, but couldn't find him anywhere. A couple of days later, Wu Choi Lim (played by Park Sol Mi), an old classmate of Yu Jin and Sang Hyuk turned up at an unofficial engagement party between Sang Hyuk and Yu Jin that was thrown by their friends. She brought her boyfriend Lee Man Yeong with her. The big surprise came when Yu Jin and friends found out that Lee Man Yeong looked exactly like Joon Sang, Yu Jin's first love! A bigger surprise came as Yu Jin's renovation company, Polaris, was involved in a ski resort project with another company, Marcian, in which Man Yeong was a manager. Yu Jin and Man Yeong were the person-in-charge for their respective company on the project. So now Yu Jin has a working relationship with Man Yeong.
That pretty much summed up the first three episodes. The next 17 episodes deal mainly with the struggle between Sang Hyuk and Man Yeong to win the heart of Yu Jin. To make things more complicated is that Yu Jin is not sure whether she should marry Sang Hyuk, or fall for someone who looks exactly the same as her first love. And when the winner is finally declared, we've got the parents to deal with!
What I think of it
Let's get the bad bits out of the way first. Expect a lot of cliche. I guess I was expecting that in any drama of this scale. I haven't seen one drama without a triangle love, whether it's two guys who like the same girl, or two girls who like the same guy. And to make it more interesting, another character will try to ruin the relationship between the main characters because he/she likes one of them. If you have seen one romantic drama, you've pretty much seen it all. This series doesn't detract from this formula, and it throws in some twists for good measures.
The overall feel of the drama was great, but some situations were let down by the script. I felt that it could have been done better, or even removed from the story entirely for the sake of keeping the story in par with reality.
Tears are everywhere, naturally. Everybody cries anywhere any time, whether it's in the office, at home, on the street, in bars, in restaurants, in bed, on the snow field, inside the car, in a hospital, at school, day, night, rainy, sunny, cloudy, snowy etc. The tears just kept on falling. They can easily fill about 5 Olympics size swimming pools. Are they necessary? Some are, but some ain't. It kind of ruins the story because the characters cry so much so often that the tears don't have the same impact on the audience as if they cry less. You can almost guess when the character will cry over something.
The story line, like many others similar series before it (and after it, for that matter), can only happen on the TV screen. Where do they get "I love you, but I can't leave him." from? I mean, you love him, so why are you staying with someone you don't love? Just go with the love of your life, dump the other guy and call it a day. End of story. And this guy just keeps nagging her even though he knows full well that her heart is with someone else. "I don't care if you don't love me *sob*, just don't leave me." Are you begging her to stay with you? That's pathetic. What's the point of keeping her? She will never ever love you. Just give up.
And don't get me started about their parents. Every parents in every love series have this line to say, "You can't marry him/her!" Their sole purpose in any romantic drama is to stop the main characters from getting married. Why???? What did they do? Just leave them in peace. They love each other, and they deserved to get married.
Sometimes, it is frustrating to watch this show because some of the characters or situations are just so stupid or depressed. There were times when I was like, "How could he be so dense?", or "Make up your bloody mind!". Then again, it's only my opinion. I bet someone will disagree with me.
Having said that, the series is, for the most part, a joy to watch. It is well structured, and plot aside, well presented. Some of the arc are well planned out. The story flows smoothly from one arc to another. It did keep me glued to the seat till the end, even thought I knew what was going to happen next. Watching someone like Choi Ji Woo also helped ^_^. The characters are likeable, even Choi Lim. She was not that evil afterall. There is no real villain like in some other series where they would go all out to ruin everything. And you would really want to stab him/her with a letter opener.
The use of parallelism is interesting. The best part was when Yu Jin and Joon Sang strolled through their old school at separate times, we see the clever use of editing to separate the characters, yet feel that they were there together.
Being called Winter Sonata, there are obviously lots of winter sceneries. Snow is the biggest attraction. Whether it was the snow field when Joon Sang and Yu Jin were 18, or when they were 28 at the ski resort, snow featured heavily in this series. They are just stunningly beautiful. And when you add the element of love between the two characters (like the snowman scene in the early episodes), it makes the snow scene all the more adorable.
The use of real locations, as compare to studio settings, is great. It has been known that there are Korean tours that will take tourists to the famous filming sites. Even the Korea National Tourism Organisation has a website dedicated the Winter Sonata locations. The openness of the set, for example, the snow fields is simply amazing just to look at. I especially liked the panned out view where you see two figures in the middle of a sea of white. I found myself looking at the scene more than I looked at the actors at times. The setting fits the winter theme perfectly.
Music is beautifully rendered. I love both of the theme songs, "From Beginning Till Now" and "My Memories" (Both by Ryu). It fits the mood, and are easy on the ears. There is also another lovely song ("Don't Forget") that is played in only one of the episodes.
Overall
I have a love-hate relationship with this series, really. On one hand, some of the situations are just so frustrating to watch. Some people are so annoying that they don't deserve my sympathy. But on the other hand, when the story finally gets going, I found myself glued to the TV screen.
Despite this series falling victim to cliche, it still kept me asking for more after each episode. The characters are likeable, and the music is really nice. I love the settings. Clothes worn by the main characters are elegant, and are actually nice to look at.
Compare with other romantic series, this is one of the better ones. It makes more sense than most, and has a better story line. And there are not that many recaps (i.e. reuse previous scenes) that I just hate.
If you are a die-hard fans of love stories, this one is definitely for you. Otherwise, watch it for the sceneries. They probably don't worth the price of admission, but at least you can boast about seeing some of the most beautiful places in Korea.
Score (out of 10)
Music: 8
Setting: 10
Character: 7
Plot: 6.5
Overall: 6
posted by Chocobahn at
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