Malou Haynes

If you're expecting a series with exciting, heart-thumping action, go watch a Jackie Chan movie. If you want mystery and suspense, Stephen King would be a safe bet. This drama is definitely not for you. It is for hopeless romantics... like me. Kudos to the director, the writer and the actors who all impressed me. They sure came up with a show that tugged at my heart. In many scenes the main actors didn't even need to speak because their eyes said it all. That's not only talent... but it also shows how they understood the roles they were playing.

This series was made well, I guess, except for the abrupt ending. One thing I don't quite understand is why James' infidelity did not seem to be that big of a concern for Sophie... why his betrayal of their marital vows appeared to be easily forgiveable for her. She was more upset because James' affair got exposed in the media due to his lack of discretion... and so she found out about it. Infidelity took a backseat to the resulting shame and fear of James losing his job.

The male lead, aside from being really handsome, is such a good actor that he outshone the female lead by leaps and bounds. The female lead, on the other hand, had very few facial expressions... and they were all mostly similar... which made her quite boring. It would have helped a lot had she smiled more. I believe that the director wanted her to portray the role of a cute and sweet girl but she succeeded only in looking miserable and depressed almost throughout the whole show.

Han So Hee, although an excellent actress and really gorgeous, somehow rubs me the wrong way... and this makes it hard for me to see her as the drama's female protagonist. This could be due to her very realistic portrayal of a villainess in two dramas that I've watched: as a homewrecking mistress in The World of the Married and as an evil crown princess in 100 Days My Prince. Han So Hee in this drama is supposed to portray the shy and introverted Na-Bi... but let's pretend that she doesn't talk, there are no voice-overs and we just let her eyes do the talking. Somehow, to me anyway, she comes off as a someone with a hidden agenda... someone sinister who's hatching an evil plan. Must be her veiled eyes that seem to hide evil thoughts. As to Jae-Eon... this guy is actually suffering from multiple psychological disorders: narcissism, weird phobias, hyperactive sexual urges and serious inferiority complex disguised as over confidence when dealing with women. I wouldn't put love in the same context as him because he is actually a sexual predator devoid of a conscience who victimizes naive, unsuspecting girls. And his excuse? It's all a game!!

The story is beautiful though even with its twists and turns, it's not really that uncommon. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot. I have one very simple question, however: While the present Ae-Jeong who is in her late 30's looks exactly like her age... why does the much younger Ae-Jeong of the past who was still in college look like a woman already in her 40's??? Come on, makeup and hair stylists... what happened???

The more episodes of this drama I watched, the more uncomfortable I became... so I stopped watching it by the 25th episode. Somehow I could not get over the fact that in real life, there is a 19 year age gap between the male and female leads. Dylan Wang is so cute and so young-looking that he could pass for a 16-year old... while Qin Lan, although absolutely gorgeous, still looks all of her 40-something years. To me... and please don't bash me for stating my personal opinion... the better roles for them would be mother and son.

The actors, both main and second leads, did a superb job. They were all very convincing in their portrayal of the different characters in the series. This would have been the perfect drama except for the fact that because the female lead was so painfully skinny... especially nearing the end... it became really uncomfortable to watch. So sad because her beautiful face can not compensate for how sick and frail she looked. The stylist in charge of her wardrobe could have done a better job by dressing her up in clothes that would hide her disturbingly thin arms and legs.

This drama was released about 6 years ago so I'm not sure if my opinion still matters. I have quite a long way to go before the ending... but as early as Episode 4, I have been thinking of giving up and just stop watching it. It's mainly the female lead's poor acting that really turned me off. Her over-the-top facial expressions and silly antics were far from cute. In fact, they were uncomfortable to watch. Surely by now... 6 years later... her acting ability must have improved???