***This is my favorite Kdrama***
I can't believe I put this drama on hold for so long. To be honest, I had a few biases that made me not want to watch this magnificent drama despite all of the great reviews it had. One of them is because I saw So Ji Sub on an episode of Infinite Challenge where he wanted to get slapped by Yoo Jae Suk. I didn't know if I could see him as a leading man after that. Another reason that more people can probably relate to is the horror genre. Kdramas are usually cutesy and romantic. I thought that half of the drama would be wasted on the horror and ghost hunting aspect. While it does have that aspect, it's not what I expected and the time is definitely not wasted (you'll probably agree that the drama is way too short later on). The side stories are an integral part to move the main story along along rather than being unessential stories that don't relate to the main characters at all. I don't want to offend anyone who's into the whole vampire and witchcraft genres, but I myself was not interested in that and thought that it was those fans who were posting all over the internet how great this drama was and that this drama was definitely not for me. Part of the reason is because of the deceptive cover photo. It has a very serious and eerie feel to it that makes it seem as if they'd spend a lot of time in a cathedral hiding from vampires (So Ji Sub looks like a vampire who's ready to bite Gong Hyo Jin in the picture). I thought that the whole plot would be like vampire stories I've heard about where the main conflict is the girl sacrificing her body to the vampire.
Unlike the the outdated, unappealing photo and any other biases I might have had, this drama really made me put my guard down. It takes a very comedic stance on how people view Gong Shil's ability to see spirits and was surprisingly thrilling at times while still portraying a sentimental approach to the connection between the living and the deceased. I have seen many Kdramas that I've enjoyed where I've seen couples that have shared cute and funny moments, but never have I seen a couple that I thought really belonged together or actually NEEDED to be together and that I rooted so much for until I saw this show. They are the cutest pair I've ever seen and I don't think I'd even care if the world just disappeared while I watched those two together on screen. I really wanted what they had together. Even from the beginning, where their relationship was a little weird, their chemistry made the weirdness (which I probably would've dropped a show for) work. The show has the cutest confession and cutest kiss. I appreciate how the side romances did not take over the story like they do in many dramas and thought that they had a bit of charm to them as well- of course not as much as the main couple, but that how I think Kdramas should be. I'll admit there were some things that I did not enjoy but they were very minor flaws like a little bit of being wishy-washy to the point that I was even unaware of what the character wanted at one point, and a few predictable things. However, I watched the entire drama in two days because I never felt that they were bad enough to make the show lose its appeal unlike other shows that have these problems which cause them to have a two or more episode slump that you usually find near episode 7-10 in a Kdrama. Some dramas never recover from that slump and turn your favorite drama into a typical or even unbearable one, which brings me to my next point. Not only did this drama have few things I disliked (which is the reason I did not give it a perfect ten), but it had the best ending (specifically the last episode which had so many hug-your-pillow-really-tight rewind moments) I've seen in Kdrama. Usually the ending is what loses me in many Kdramas, but this drama makes you love the main couple even more so at the end.
As for the acting, it's a given that Gong Hyo Jin is one of the best Kdrama actresses (and one of my favorites). Many shows that I watch are for her because I know she can act well and pick good roles unlike my favorite actress, Eun Yoon Hye, who is a good actress but can't seem to find good roles. So Ji Sub- is a name I will never forget now. Boy was I wrong about him. Never judge someone by your first impressions. He can ask Yoo Jae Suk to slap him all he wants and he will still be one of the best leading men. At first, maybe because of my bias, I was very skeptical of him and his ability to woo someone. How could he be cuter than someone like Seo In Guk who had me in tears in the first episode of Reply 1997? By the end of the drama I just wanted to hug So Ji Sub with the cute little caterpillars above his eyes. He can display so many emotions with them and his happy eye smile when he hears about money is to die for. It's not like Gong Yoo where you think he's very handsome, but So Ji Sub pulls at your heartstrings with how cute he can be. He doesn't even have to shed tears. He's good, okay? That's all I can say. MY GOSH I WISH HE'D DO ANOTHER ROMANTIC COMEDY! *Sigh* Okay, moving on. Seo In Guk is one of the few actors like Yong Hwa who can be cool on and off stage. He didn't woo me as much in this show but his kung fu moves really made me laugh, probably not for the right reasons though. On a side note, I did find the vice president likeable towards the end. The rest of the characters didn't seem to stand out too much to me since they were typical but they were likeable.
Although the music did not have a specific memorable-sing-along-add-to-your-playlist-and-repeat OST like That Man from Secret Garden, the music was pleasing and the placement really helped to set the different moods. I liked the song from Seo In Guk as well. Oh, and I was very surprised that this one song that I thought was Kim Jong Kook when I heard it was actually Gummy.
Overally I'd give this drama a rewatch value of ten which is very high since I don't rewatch shows since they take a lot of time and usually give a rewatch value of 3 or less. I really want to rewatch this with other people so I can show them how great it is and make them watch Korean dramas with me. I'm positive they'll start watching after they see this with me. ^____________^
This is definitely the best drama I've seen. It has all the things I look for in a drama: laugh-out-loud-and-not-just-smile-because-it's-cute comedy, good acting (even though they never had the Gong Yoo crying in Coffee Prince, I felt just as sad looking at little So Ji Sub's little sad eyebrows), no long slump near episode 7-10 that makes the drama lose its appeal, a plot twist, and a really cute ending that's not just a bunch of mush. This is definitely my favorite drama by far. It sucks now though that I will probably have a hard time finding a good one after this.
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