Drama Review: Faith, the Great Doctor

Hello! The Korean drama Faith has already finished its run yesterday and I am ready to share my thoughts on it now :)

TITLE: Faith / Faith: the Great Doctor
GENRE: Drama, Fantasy, Period, Time-Travel, Action, Romance
EPISODES: 24
BROADCASTING NETWORK: SBS
TIME SLOT:  Monday-Tuesday
AIRING DATES: August 13 - Ocotber 30, 2012

PLOT:
A 21st-century plastic surgeon Eun-Soo gets kidnapped and brought 700 years in the past for her healing powers. Goryeo-era bodyguard to the king Gerenal Choi Yeong is smart but a little naive, he almost never smiles. He faces conflicts with the female doctor Eun-soo, but soon feels attracted to her. 

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Lee Min Ho as Choi Young 

Kim Hee Sun as Yoo Eun Soo

 

Yoo Oh Sung as Prince of Court Ki Chul

Ryu Deok Hwan as King Gongnim
Park Se Yong as Queen Noguk

for the EXTENDED CAST click here. But I will show you who I think deserves recognition :)

The Woodalchi Soldiers - The ever so loyal soldiers that protects the King and Queen..
They are one of my favorites because almost all of their scenes are important and they are a loyal bunch. They are the most superior warriors among the royal army and they are trained personally by Choi Young.

The pledged siblings - Ki Chul's most loyal body guards that have inner power..They treat each other as brothers and sister and cares for each other.

The Royal Doctor Jang Bin - He is the doctor inside the palace and Eun Soo's friend and teacher..

Court Lady Choi - Choi Young's aunt and head of the Queen's guards...She is a really funny lady :)

ENGLISH SUBBED VIDEOS can be found at Drama Crazy. Just click here.

[spoiler alert] 

MY THOUGHTS:

OMGee! I really loved this drama to bits! Everything was well executed -- fighting scenes, romantic scenes, medicine-related scenes, special effects, etc. I also love how they solved all the conflicts cleanly all throughout the drama. I am just so happy and satisfied that this definitely made to my top 10 dramas of all time.

Lee Min Ho and Kim Hee Sun are really great actors because they really brought the characters to life. I really love how they interacted with each other and how well they showed the emotions needed. Even without dialogues I can feel it if they are happy, sad, afraid or determined. I know that they became good friends through this drama and if only Kim Hee Sun is still single, I will definitely ship these two because they have great chemistry :)

One of my kilig moments in this drama is this scene wherein Choi Young openly declared his love for Eun Soo in front of all the people. I think this is where he realized that he can't let her get married to another man even if it's just a ruse on Eun Soo's part.

Lee Min Ho is really one of the best kissers among Korean actors. It is so hard to see passionate kisses in Korean dramas so I really am happy that all of his drama have real kisses so far. I really get frustrated whenever they just put their lips together and the camera just goes around and around haha :)

I just love how the director handled the love story between Choi Young and Eun Soo. The development of their characters and the progression of their feelings is well executed. Even though Choi Young is a warrior through and through, he can't help but fall in love with Eun Soo in the end after going through a lot of challenges physically, mentally and emotionally. He started with the thinking that all he wants is to return her to her world as promised, then to fighting the thought of him falling in love with her,  then progressed to being her friend and partner and then to the point that he gave up and just became selfish to ask Eun Soo to stay with him instead of going back to her world.

I also loved the way Eun Soo's character developed from being a money-loving plastic surgeon, to a very scaredy-cat person because of all the people who wants her hurt, to an apprentice of the royal doctor trying to learn about traditional medicine, to falling in love with Choi Young secretly and ending it with loving the world he created for her that she doesn't want to leave anymore.

Let's not forget the antagonists too. I really salute them because they made the story so exciting and some of the part became funny too (c/o him in the picture). Gi Chul is really a funny looking guy so whenever he appears, I can't help but laugh hehe. He is the main enemy and everything that happened in this drama evolved from his endless wanting for power.

Now, after saying all those things that made me happy, there is only 1 thing that disappointed me -- The very last scene of this drama. Why oh why didn't they hug or kiss at the end? It has the same ending as City Hunter - bitin. I love the fact that Choi Young and Eun Soo was able to be together in the end. They even surpassed the challenge of being separated by time. But, director, why didn't you end it with a hug? They've been separated for 5 years and all they do is stare at one another? Oh, come on! 

OVER-ALL RATING: 4.75/5

I love everything except the fact that they didn't hug or kiss in the end haha :)

Thank you for dropping by!

Drama Review: Rooftop Prince

Hello everyone! A rainy afternoon to you all. This is kind of a long overdue review because this drama have ended last week and I was able to watch the English subbed version this Saturday. I just got busy with my dad getting injured during the race this weekend so I was unable to post until now.

Anyway, let's go back to the purpose of this post. I am gonna share my thoughts about the Korean drama Rooftop Prince.

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Historical 

Episodes: 20

Air Time: Wednesday, Thursday

Broadcasting Network: SBS

Broadcasting Period: March 21 - May 24, 2012

Casts:

Park Yoochun as Prince Lee Gak / Yong Tae Yong

Han Ji Min as Park Ha / Bu Young

Jung Yoo Mi as Hong Se Na / Princess Hwa Young

Lee Tae Sung as Yong Tae Mu / Moo Chang

Lee Min Ho as Song Man Bo

Jung Suk Won as Woo Yong Sool

Choi Woo Shik as Do Chi San

Summary:

This is a time-travel drama which also involves reincarnations.

Joseon Era (18th Century) - Crown Prince Lee Gak lost his Crown Princess Hwa Young and he believes that she was murdered.  He gathered 3 warriors (Song Man Bo, Woo Yong Sool, Do Chi San) to help him investigate the case. During the investigation, they were hunted by a group of bandits and ended up disappearing.

Seoul (2012) - The Prince and his 3 warriors appeared on the rooftop apartment of Park Ha. After they realized that they jumped 300 years to the future, they concluded that they were sent there so that they can investigate the death of the Princess. They attached themselves to Park Ha because they don't know anyone except her since she's the first person they met and she is very nice.

Park Ha grew up in the US because she was adopted after she lost her memory due to an accident when she was only 9 years old. She came back to South Korea because she found her biological father after searching for a long time. She reunited with her dad's 2nd family but her step sister Se Na didn't like her at all.  She took care of the 4 strangers that appeared on her rooftop apartment and thought them how to survive the present. They became great friends and she believed that they came from the Joseon Era.

MY THOUGHTS on the drama Rooftop Prince:

I watched this because of two reasons: (1) The main character is played by Mickey Yoochun of JYJ and (2) it is a romantic comedy. I really loved Mickey because aside from being a great singer, he is also a great actor. He already have won awards for some of his dramas but my favorite would be Sungkyukwan Scandal and he played a noble of the Joseon era too...He was so good there and I really believed that he would do great in this new drama...and I'm not disappointed :)

This drama made me laugh, cry and fall in love with the characters all throughout. It never had a dull moment and I love the writer and director for that. Everything is well written and well executed. The comedy parts are not awkward because it feels so natural. I believe Mickey is meant to play this kind of roles.

I also commend how the love between the two lead character Lee Gak and Park Ha evolved from irritation to being actually in love with each other. There's no such thing as love at first sight in here which made it really realistic. And as an audience, it made me feel the emotions more when they finally realized that they will get separated anytime because of their situation. 

The distribution of scenes and the character development are also superb. Each of them have their own moment to shine. I specifically love the Joseon Power Rangers (that's what the fans call them hehe) because those three warriors are so fun to watch while they are trying to adapt in this new world. 

Here's a clip of their first day in the year 2012...you can watch it in Youtube with English sub...just click CC and choose the language ^_^

*SPOILERS alert!*

The ending...I don't know what to say. It is sad but funny at the same time. I guess it gives a complicated feeling but since it was done great, I did not get put off by the ending.

I am sad that Lee Gak and Park Ha can't be together because they are living 300 years apart but I still hoped it is possible. I love that they got "married" before Lee Gak disappeared and went back to Joseon because it made their relationship's ending beautiful. 

I cried during this scene because just after this kiss, Lee Gak started to disappear and Park Ha was left alone with no other memories like pictures coz those disappeared too :(

Prince Lee Gak ended up alone because he stayed in love with Park Ha...he also learned that Bu Young loves him but they can't stay together because she's dead.... while Park Ha ended up with Yong Tae Yong who got revived from being in a coma (I guessed this because their meeting is the last scene).. I guess it is still a realistic ending...

But I laughed during the scenes when the 4 Joseon Power Rangers got back to their era and they learned that even though they lived a long time in the future, they were just missing for one day in their time.My favorite part is when the three warriors brought with them things from the future like mp3 players, beer and candies. I actually laughed that after solving the murder case, the three warriors set up a small cafeteria that sells omurice only. They still love the omurice made by Park Ha and they eat it whenever they miss her ...and they used their knowledge too to earn money at the same time ^_^ 

OVER-ALL RATING: 4.5/5 -

I still can't get over the fact that they didn't get to stay together hehe

WILL I RECOMMEND THIS? Definitely! This is the best Korean drama for the 1st half of 2012. Also, after watching this, definitely check out Sungkyukwan Scandal too if you haven't watched that yet.

Thank you for dropping by! Until my next review ^_^