Encounter (2018)

The Tale of 3 children

A divorcee successfully revives and expands a dying hotel business which offends the previous owners - her ex in-law. For having the cheek to succeed, said ex in-law decides to punish and put the FL back in her place as a meek housewife. Colluding with the FLs ambitious mother, said in-laws attempts a hostile takeover of the hotel.

This is a tale of 3 children
- a son who cannot escape his tyrant mother
- a daughter married off for the sake of power and prestige
- a mama's boy

All mothers portrayed had their own definition of what their children are only good for and took action to achieve such belief.

The kdrama trope of parents prostituting their children in order to achieve or maintain their social status always disgusts me. But the FL being able to obtain a second chance at making her own decisions made me want to root for her.

As a fan of noona romance, this series fits the bill and checks all the boxes. I loved how the story did not only focus on one person or one family.
- Unfortunately, I feel like the main leads didn't have enough chemistry. The ML looked like an ejjit smiling and grinning all the time it was creepy. Well I guess any boy would be if they met a noona like the FL.
- I also loved the OST and consider this to be a good example of a contemplative and atmospheric type of drama.

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A modern fairytale - with a fairytale ending

Time will only tell if this drama will eventually undo the heaps of bad reviews and criticisms, especially from Korean audiences, about the plot's unlikely premise - a love affair between a female CEO and a male, junior employee who met by chance in Cuba, before he joined the company.

I let the story take me where it wanted to, all the way to its happy, fairytale ending - and really loved it. Not only is Park Bo Gum a sensitive and fairly talented actor. I really believed in his chemistry with Song Hye Kyo, who plays the detached, emotionally distant female CEO, who has no friends and lives constantly in the shadow of her ex-husband's chaebol family.

Their story unfolds at regular, steady intervals, episode per episode, and conquers you with the sheer power of PBG's constancy of emotion. PBG's character Kim Jun Hyuk never let age, class, or public opinion sway him from his commitment to Cha Hyun Soo. He does, at some point, given to his family's reservations about her, illustrating his abiding love for his family - the kind of filial love that is the foundation of Korean family culture. You will have to watch till the end to see how this is resolved in the story.

I think the drama knew it was dealing with a plot many wouldn't connect with, so it tried to explore this in a smaller way through another pair of characters - Cha Hyun Soo's secretary (played by Kwak Sun Young) and the owner of the moon snails restaurant (Kim Joo Heon).

Korean's strict hierarchical culture disapproves of marriages that are unequal in class, power, or achievement (such as education). Encounter tries to point out that breaking out of these fixtures in their culture may be possible. I say may - because it's very, very hard to meet a man like Park Bo Gum's character in real life!!

Watch Episode 1, which was shot in Cuba. Please, please do. It's a masterpiece of photography and romantic plot exposition. If you give up on the rest of the story, Episode 1 is enough of an enchanting experience of movie-level production quality.

If you let it, Encounter may actually enchant you till the end. Just, well, try to ignore the one plot hole in this whole story - it is basically impossible today to carry on a romance like that in one company, without having to disclose it to HR and eventually watch one of them resign in order for the relationship to continue.

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judging by the sypnosis i never expected this drama to be as realistic as it ended up being. a slow paced but never too slow masterpiece that is as beautiful as the art at the beginning and end of each episode.

story; a very simple story which helps the drama rather than hinder it. it can focus on the two main characters and allow the story to just be their growth after meeting each other.
everything makes sense, every action from any character seems justifiable which is something that i found so refreshing from other dramas and other shows in general

characters; both mains couldn't be more different, on the one hand you have cho soo hyun a big ceo, always in the public eye , someone who was never allowed to truly live her own life in any way. on the other hand this free spirited, always positive man who doesn't back down from his love while also being respectful and understanding of cha soo hyun's situation at all times. who would've thought they'd make up this perfect couple after all

side characters give good comedic relief, it would've been nice however to see more of their backstory as only a few's past have been brought up throughout ( like kim soo jun's marriage), but it's not a major gripe.

acting: both cha soo hyun and kim ji hyuk have this almost perfect chemistry from the first episode on, one while already being near perfect just gets better and more intimate with each passing episode and damn near feels very real at numerous points in the story. if i didn't know better i would've thought those 2 were actually dating, were actually in love the way they were able to convey these heartfelt emotions in just their facial expressions alone. i believe if this was a silent film these two would've done as well if not better.

ost; i'm usually not one to actually listen to OST's after a show or outside of a show but the songs on here are very well crafted, fit the mellow mood of the drama and are just overall good songs to listen to. the two renditions of take me on feel so very different despite essentially being the same song and the way they are placed throughout the episodes (saya's version being the more hopeless, saltnpaper's version being the more hopeful version) makes for excellent and emotional viewing

overall; probably my new favorite drama, i mean it even made me wanna spend time writing a review so that really should say it all. definitely a must watch during these down times

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This is not just a drama...This is an experience!

I had to create an account on MDL to write this review.

What an experience it was to watch this drama. Every OST, every facial expression from both main leads, every interaction between the main leads was an absolute pleasure to watch and listen to.

Most of the reviews rave about the male lead's acting in this amazing Kdrama, and I agree with them. However, I am taken in by Song Hye-Kyo's acting. Every facial expression was priceless, and the way she carried herself throughout the whole story was so graceful to watch. The love and respect the main leads have for each other in this story is remarkable.

I did not want this drama to end. I was invested in the two main leads and experienced withdrawals once the drama ended. However, this story left an impression on me and is definitely on my top3 list.

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Absolutely beautiful

If you want to watch absolutely beautiful people in highly aesthetically pleasing settings, this is the show for you. Park Bo-Gum, stop making me fall in love with you! After just watching you as Choi Taek, it was such a treat to see you grow up before my very eyes.

The sweet/cute moments were perfect, but the obstacles got tiring at times. Thankfully, the most angsty parts were short-lived —  you just need to endure ~2 episodes or so. This story was like a more consistent Something in the Rain; the highs weren't QUITE as high, but the lows NEVER reached the depths of frustration and despair I felt from SITR.

I did have a few gripes with this show. One was the chemistry: people often tout "negative chemistry," and while I don't think this show was atrocious in that regard (I also wasn't actively following during the whole Song-Song media storm at the time), it wasn't exceptional. Another was the side characters: beyond our two leads, most of them were pretty flat, and I never cared too much what happened to them. Many were awfully black-and-white as well, and the spoken explanations by people like Chairman Kim came too little, too late. Finally, one aspect of the message: an 11th hour change of heart is absolutely common in these types of dramas, and while I fully anticipated it, I think it negatively impacted the narrative. One of the most important parts of this story was the idea of a steadfast love. The whole 11th hour flip-flipping just made me frustrated, and made me question what one of the leads even SAW in the other lead to begin with (seriously, what made that person so appealing to make the other lead willing to endure such pain?!).

As a super minor note, this show is susceptible to quite a few kdrama tropes. It's nice and fresh for newer viewers, but a little tired otherwise. Think wrist-grabs, predictable plot points, and ridiculously shoehorned PPL. Another way of looking at it is "tried-and-true," and I came to embrace all the highly out-of-place discussions people had while eating Subway.

At the end of the day though, this show delivered on several key fronts —  the eye-candy, acting talent, witty dialogue, a banging OST, and absolutely stunning cinematography. The heart-fluttering moments were far more frequent than the hair-pulling ones, and that made this show a worthwhile and fulfilling watch on balance.

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Made my heart flutter

Wow! Either I'm getting old or this is one of the most beautiful dramas I've seen to date! It's become a frequent occurrence that since getting into Kdramas I've missed my late father so much - none more than while watching this Encounter. I can just hear him say with a tear in his eye "she suffers so much for other people" ?

Please go watch this beautiful wholesome love story - stellar performances from Song Hye Kyo and Park Bo Gum - their love for each other is so genuine and the journey that Song Hye Kyo's character goes on is truly heartwarming. When she smiled, my heart fluttered! Park Bo Gum plays to his strengths and is great.

The supporting cast are great, and the wicked mother-in-law is suitably evil. There are very few plotholes and if I have to pick a negative then I would have loved a few more episodes, but only because I didn't want it to end and would be nice to see a bit more of the relationships of the supporting cast develop.

Once my heart recovers, I will be rewatching this several times! GO WATCH IT!!!

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I've just finished watching this amazing drama. I have lots of reasons why I love it, and a few reasons why it wasn't a 10/10 for me.

1. THE MAIN CHARACTERS
The storyline aside, the lead characters were quite unique. Park Bo Geum's character was my favorite male lead characters of all times probably! The personalities of male leads are normally quite similar to each other: they can be rich and cold hearted amazingly handsome, or the most skilled person in the field of whatever is their profession. Anyways, I love that Kim Jin Hyuk was just a normal guy, that fell for this beautiful and lonely woman in his own way.
As for Song Hye Kyo's character, I loved how it's showing a different side of a rich career woman. It's focusing more on her loneliness and hardships she had in her entire life instead of being a classic bitchy boss. Even though she had a really difficult life, her heart still remained as soft as it could be, and I love how she puts Kim Jin Hyuk before anything. She chooses him over her career that was her everything so many times without thinking about it twice. I love how bravely she is embracing her love.

2.THE STORYLINE
I think the writers did a very good job with this one. The love between the two characters start and develop very naturally. I loved the gradual development of their relationship: they went from being friends that are attracted to each other to a pre-relationship phase, then they start the relationship and in the end their love exceeds everything else. I think this part of the show was written very brilliantly

3.ACTING
I mean the show has Song Hye Kyo.. In my opinion she is one of the best actresses in Kdramas. She can deliver all the emotions with her eyes which I love. I also love love love her drunk scenes where she becomes just so funny. For me she is the star of the show for sure. Park Bo Geum is also one of the actors that I admire. He really made a great job especially towards the end of the show.

4.CHEMISTRY
This one for me is the only reason why I can't rate this show 10/10. Even though I love the characters, and I love their story which was so beautiful, I couldn't sense a very strong chemistry between SHK and PBG. It wasn't because of their acting or anything, because both of them gave brilliant performances. But it was just lacking a good chemistry I guess. Perhaps the love story of this show is better compared to the Descendants of the Sun, but I still can't get over the chemistry between Song Hye Kyo and Song Jong Gi. I mean yes they got married in real life which meant they had chemistry in real life too when they were shooting. But still on-screen chemistry can be very strong even when the couple isn't dating in real life (ex: Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum, Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won, Gong Yoo and Yoon Eun Hye, Gong Hyo Jin and any korean actor ever, and the list goes on and on)

Overall, I think it's definitely a drama worth watching!

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Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly,..... Song Hye-kyo

I loved this film. sometimes K-drama can have too much drama. this was romance. and what a romance! Song Hye-Kyo made me add one person to my most beautiful women ever list. Classic, elegant, eternal beauty. I saw The Glory, which was brilliant. but the way she was shot for Encounter was special. and yes, I am just about to watch descendants of the sun. regarding the movie itself. I loved the Cuba location, I wish more kdramas had some international locations. The rest of the story was standard, but great because of execution and the chemistry between the 2 leads. biggest downside was the rushed completion of the secondary romances. The characters in relationships were too well set up for them to conclude so abruptly.

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Me encontrei

Esse drama desde o primeiro episódio é deslumbrante em toda sua fotografia e carregado em um roteiro envolvente do início ao fim.
Os desafios do jovem rapaz e toda sua imaturidade e inexperiência, assim como toda magia no olhos que resplandece com tem sucesso é maravilhoso. Uma atuação sincera de todo elenco.
Cada sentimento mostrado nas diversas atmosferas são mostrados de forma realistas, o preconceitos exibidos e todo a reação dos pais foram expostos com uma delicadeza, que leva as mais diversas emoções cada espectador.
Assistam está realmente demais!!

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UNIQUE AND DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING!

I watched this drama solely to kill some time, and I was pleasantly surprised and it was definitely a breath of fresh air. The story isn't really a new concept, but the execution is what made this show a treat to watch. The story is realistic and isn't filled with unnecessary and unrealistic drama. The whole ordinary MALE LEAD with the older, rich, superior FEMALE LEAD , and the whole politics, gave off the vibe that it could have turned into another overly dramatic ordeal, but it was done just right! The whole journey and the character development was what made me watch the show. It is not a cheesy ROM-COM, which was definite refreshing. The cinematography and the overall energy was very poetic and rather classy. The casting, and the performances of the characters were great, and the ending was quite satisfying which is always a positive. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND YOU GIVE IT A GO IF YOU ARE FAN OF ROMANCE!

(side note: the product placement is a little annoying at times)

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I finally got around to watching this and honestly, Park Bo Gum's smiling face as male lead Kim Jin Hyuk was probably the only thing that got me through this.

While this was a nice, slow-paced romantic series, I was disappointed in the writing of the female character Cha Soo Hyun played by Song Hye Kyo. I felt like her character lacked any real depth or personality. She plays a guarded CEO mostly throughout the entire series. In the end, I wondered why Jin Hyuk even liked or fell in love with her. There wasn't enough to her personality to make her a loveable character. Most of the time, I either felt sorry or pitied her or just felt uninterested.

This is a story of a guy who chases a girl to the end of the world and you have no idea why.

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