Winter Sonata
Spent the rest of the weekend finishing Winter Sonata. A reviewer said it best by calling the mini series "bittersweet." Despite the recycling of the plot over and over within the series, it was overall fairly good. It's become a classic in Korean drama. Graphic Intensive here and there.
characters
Kang Jun-Sang; transfer student, has a reputation for being brilliant, but lacks major social skills, has a strained relationship with his mother, and is told that his father died. Since he was born as an illegitimate child, he always questioned who his father was. From gathering clues, he believes that his father may not be dead after all, and transfers to Chuncheon.
Jeong Yu-Jin; stereotypical friendly character with a positive and innocent outlook in life. She first meets Jun-Sang when she accidentally falls asleep on his shoulder, on her way to school. She wakes up when he tries to push her off. She becomes angry he didn't wake her up until they had long pasted their stop (after she found out he would be attending the same high school). Her natural personality brings him into her small group of friends. She gradually falls in love with him.
Kim Sang-Hyeok; childhood friend of Yu-Jin, has a one sided love and adoration for Yu-Jin, who is oblivious. Dislikes Jun-Sang for two reasons: 1st) when Jun-Sang believes Sang-Hyeok may be his half brother, feels jealous that Sang-Hyeok may have stolen his father from him. Because of this, Jun-Sang treats Sang-Hyeok as rival. 2nd) Jun-Sang has Yu-Jin's love, something he would never have.
Oh Chae-Ri; given the label of the "other evil woman," and has a friend/rival relationship with Yu-Jin. She dislikes Yu-Jin for having grabbed the attention of the smart transfer student, when she openly admitted having "claimed" Jun-Sang for herself. (Pfft.)
Kong Jin-Suk & Kwon Yong-Kuk; friends of the other characters. Although they play a small part in the series, they are quite important. Jin-Suk is one of Yu-Jin's best friends. Jin-Suk tends to absent-mindedly slips out hurtful comments, without meaning to. Yong-Kuk is Sang-Hyeok's other best friend. He often acts as the comic relief to the series, but is surprisingly level headed.
Jun-Sang discovers something extremely shocking, and decides to leave Korea. He makes one quick trip to return Yu-Jin's mittens, but dies in a car accident on the way. 10 years later... everyone is grown up. Chae-Ri has just returned from Paris, and brings home a surprising boyfriend. One who sends everyone back into the past.
Lee Min-Hyeong; friendly, loving, kind type of character who gets along with everyone. His uncanny appearance to Jun-Sang (who dies in a car accidently) brings up a lot of painful memories to all the characters. Despite appearances, he grew up in America, and has a completely different personality than the dead Jun-Sang.
comment -- SPOILER FOR THE WHOLE SERIES
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
Despite the rave for this series, and the emotions it provokes, the plot was tiresome. You have a girl, and an angst-sy filled guy. Yu-Jin can be incredibly annoying and pretty evil at times. As Sang-Hyeok's mother points out, she tends to throw Sang-Hyeok away when she can be with Min-Hyeong, but she doesn't think twice about Sang-Hyeok's feelings. When she can't be with Min-Hyeong, she returns to Sang-Hyeok. But she isn't completely wrong, because Sang-Hyeok is too blind to care. Even though when he realizes this, he still accepts her back. She is incredibly selfish.
Even though they are characters to be pitied, I don't like Sang-Hyeok or Chae-Ri either. Sang-Hyeok can be too obsessive. He says things like "I don't care if you don't ever love me, as long as you're with me, I'll be happy" which pisses me off. When he realizes what he should do, if he really loved Yu-Jin, it shows him in a better light. But even then, it's incredibly dumb because he doesn't try to move on with his life. He is always being pulled back when Yu-Jin breaks up with Min-Hyeong. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Chae-Ri is given the "evil" woman role, but she's anything but. Yes, she lies, tricks, and throws chaos into the story, but she is one of the most honest characters as well. Her actions are more "normal" than most of the other characters, because she is reacting to what is going on around her. She adores Min-Hyeong, and it's evident when they were together. But she still annoys me with her superior-than-thou attitude.
The plot cycles over and over again. She meets him, she loses him in a car accident (when he found out they were possibly half siblings), they meet again (years later when he lost his memories), she loses him again (she found out they were half siblings, and he may die from a surgery), they meet again (years later when she sees his house). They're constantly pulled together and pulled apart, it's pretty much a "what now?" kind of show. Despite all this, if you cut down the series into small parts, it's not that bad. When Yu-Jin and Jun-Sang are together, they're so adorable and sweet. The actors played their characters incredibly well. Yu-Jin cries too much though. All the main characters cried too much. But when Min-Hyeong cried, he's not "getting in touch with his feminine-side, boo-hoo-hoo." He's really, truly, sad. That probably touched me the most. His sad face is honestly heartbreaking, which makes me admire the actor.
Favourite female character? n/a ; Male character? Min-Hyeong
m__Min-Hyeong is the kind of person that everybody wishes they were. Good looking, friendly, attractive, and successful. Personally, I think Min-Hyeong is one of the best characters around Korean drama. But as the show develops, and he begins to become Jun-Sang again, his personality deteriorates. Jun-Sang isn't a character I like as much, even though they're the same person. He's much too moody, and sullen to be as likeable. Although when Jun-Sang is with Yu-Jin, his softer side is much cuter, like the bit with the two snowmen. When Min-Hyeong becomes more Jun-Sang like, he loses the cool and friendly persona. He becomes lost, and tends to cling to Yu-Jin until it becomes annoying. Yu-Jin clings a quite a bit as well, which probably makes them suitable in a way. Once things settle down a bit, they are wonderful together, and don't annoy me as much. As much as I tend to dislike Yu-Jin at times, I find their moments together to be really sweet and fluffy. They're star-crossed lovers in a way.
"Eeuuhhh..." Female character? Min-Hyeok's mother; Male character? n/a
The base for the plot of the story lies in the love triangle SLASH childhood friendship between Yu-Jin's father (label as "A"), Min-Hyeok's mother (B), and Sang-Hyeok's father (C). C loves B, but B loves A, except A doesn't love B. Ha. So B sleeps with C, and gives birth to Jun-Sang/Min-Hyeok, except lies because she's in love with A. If she never lied, then Jun-Sang's life would have never became complicated. I disliked her right to the end. She held a grudge against A her whole life, and despite her love for her son (which I still doubt anyway), she messed up BIG time. No one should have a mother like her. Especially not someone as kind and sweet as Min-Hyeok. She messed up Jun-Sang, and now that Min-Hyeok is finally getting his memories back, she continues to mess up Min-Hyeok/Jun-Sang again.
Honorable Mentions, Female & Male? Kong Jin-Suk & Kwon Yong-Kuk, for above reasons.
I don't really like sad love stories. I try to avoid them at all cost. Even though this one was particularly sweet, it was still too repetitive and bitter. Possibly, the only other one I might make an exception for, is Autumn's Tale, which happen to be one of the "best" ones as well. (And I realized I over did it with the Yu-Jin & Jun-Sang/Min-Hyeok caps but they're so sweet together...)
one; Pictures taken from Official Website.
two; More pictures here and HanCinema,
three; More info @ Wikipedia, ThingsAsian, and SPC.net review. Review is highly recommended, and include some pretty amusing comments.
four; Tour2Korea: talks about sites in Korea where the filming occured.
The soundtrack is gorgeous. It has one of the most beautiful music I've heard in movies and television. Grab Winter Sonata OST on YSI.
characters
Kang Jun-Sang; transfer student, has a reputation for being brilliant, but lacks major social skills, has a strained relationship with his mother, and is told that his father died. Since he was born as an illegitimate child, he always questioned who his father was. From gathering clues, he believes that his father may not be dead after all, and transfers to Chuncheon.
Jeong Yu-Jin; stereotypical friendly character with a positive and innocent outlook in life. She first meets Jun-Sang when she accidentally falls asleep on his shoulder, on her way to school. She wakes up when he tries to push her off. She becomes angry he didn't wake her up until they had long pasted their stop (after she found out he would be attending the same high school). Her natural personality brings him into her small group of friends. She gradually falls in love with him.
Kim Sang-Hyeok; childhood friend of Yu-Jin, has a one sided love and adoration for Yu-Jin, who is oblivious. Dislikes Jun-Sang for two reasons: 1st) when Jun-Sang believes Sang-Hyeok may be his half brother, feels jealous that Sang-Hyeok may have stolen his father from him. Because of this, Jun-Sang treats Sang-Hyeok as rival. 2nd) Jun-Sang has Yu-Jin's love, something he would never have.
Oh Chae-Ri; given the label of the "other evil woman," and has a friend/rival relationship with Yu-Jin. She dislikes Yu-Jin for having grabbed the attention of the smart transfer student, when she openly admitted having "claimed" Jun-Sang for herself. (Pfft.)
Kong Jin-Suk & Kwon Yong-Kuk; friends of the other characters. Although they play a small part in the series, they are quite important. Jin-Suk is one of Yu-Jin's best friends. Jin-Suk tends to absent-mindedly slips out hurtful comments, without meaning to. Yong-Kuk is Sang-Hyeok's other best friend. He often acts as the comic relief to the series, but is surprisingly level headed.
Jun-Sang discovers something extremely shocking, and decides to leave Korea. He makes one quick trip to return Yu-Jin's mittens, but dies in a car accident on the way. 10 years later... everyone is grown up. Chae-Ri has just returned from Paris, and brings home a surprising boyfriend. One who sends everyone back into the past.
Lee Min-Hyeong; friendly, loving, kind type of character who gets along with everyone. His uncanny appearance to Jun-Sang (who dies in a car accidently) brings up a lot of painful memories to all the characters. Despite appearances, he grew up in America, and has a completely different personality than the dead Jun-Sang.
comment -- SPOILER FOR THE WHOLE SERIES
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
Despite the rave for this series, and the emotions it provokes, the plot was tiresome. You have a girl, and an angst-sy filled guy. Yu-Jin can be incredibly annoying and pretty evil at times. As Sang-Hyeok's mother points out, she tends to throw Sang-Hyeok away when she can be with Min-Hyeong, but she doesn't think twice about Sang-Hyeok's feelings. When she can't be with Min-Hyeong, she returns to Sang-Hyeok. But she isn't completely wrong, because Sang-Hyeok is too blind to care. Even though when he realizes this, he still accepts her back. She is incredibly selfish.
Even though they are characters to be pitied, I don't like Sang-Hyeok or Chae-Ri either. Sang-Hyeok can be too obsessive. He says things like "I don't care if you don't ever love me, as long as you're with me, I'll be happy" which pisses me off. When he realizes what he should do, if he really loved Yu-Jin, it shows him in a better light. But even then, it's incredibly dumb because he doesn't try to move on with his life. He is always being pulled back when Yu-Jin breaks up with Min-Hyeong. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Chae-Ri is given the "evil" woman role, but she's anything but. Yes, she lies, tricks, and throws chaos into the story, but she is one of the most honest characters as well. Her actions are more "normal" than most of the other characters, because she is reacting to what is going on around her. She adores Min-Hyeong, and it's evident when they were together. But she still annoys me with her superior-than-thou attitude.
The plot cycles over and over again. She meets him, she loses him in a car accident (when he found out they were possibly half siblings), they meet again (years later when he lost his memories), she loses him again (she found out they were half siblings, and he may die from a surgery), they meet again (years later when she sees his house). They're constantly pulled together and pulled apart, it's pretty much a "what now?" kind of show. Despite all this, if you cut down the series into small parts, it's not that bad. When Yu-Jin and Jun-Sang are together, they're so adorable and sweet. The actors played their characters incredibly well. Yu-Jin cries too much though. All the main characters cried too much. But when Min-Hyeong cried, he's not "getting in touch with his feminine-side, boo-hoo-hoo." He's really, truly, sad. That probably touched me the most. His sad face is honestly heartbreaking, which makes me admire the actor.
Favourite female character? n/a ; Male character? Min-Hyeong
m__Min-Hyeong is the kind of person that everybody wishes they were. Good looking, friendly, attractive, and successful. Personally, I think Min-Hyeong is one of the best characters around Korean drama. But as the show develops, and he begins to become Jun-Sang again, his personality deteriorates. Jun-Sang isn't a character I like as much, even though they're the same person. He's much too moody, and sullen to be as likeable. Although when Jun-Sang is with Yu-Jin, his softer side is much cuter, like the bit with the two snowmen. When Min-Hyeong becomes more Jun-Sang like, he loses the cool and friendly persona. He becomes lost, and tends to cling to Yu-Jin until it becomes annoying. Yu-Jin clings a quite a bit as well, which probably makes them suitable in a way. Once things settle down a bit, they are wonderful together, and don't annoy me as much. As much as I tend to dislike Yu-Jin at times, I find their moments together to be really sweet and fluffy. They're star-crossed lovers in a way.
"Eeuuhhh..." Female character? Min-Hyeok's mother; Male character? n/a
The base for the plot of the story lies in the love triangle SLASH childhood friendship between Yu-Jin's father (label as "A"), Min-Hyeok's mother (B), and Sang-Hyeok's father (C). C loves B, but B loves A, except A doesn't love B. Ha. So B sleeps with C, and gives birth to Jun-Sang/Min-Hyeok, except lies because she's in love with A. If she never lied, then Jun-Sang's life would have never became complicated. I disliked her right to the end. She held a grudge against A her whole life, and despite her love for her son (which I still doubt anyway), she messed up BIG time. No one should have a mother like her. Especially not someone as kind and sweet as Min-Hyeok. She messed up Jun-Sang, and now that Min-Hyeok is finally getting his memories back, she continues to mess up Min-Hyeok/Jun-Sang again.
Honorable Mentions, Female & Male? Kong Jin-Suk & Kwon Yong-Kuk, for above reasons.
I don't really like sad love stories. I try to avoid them at all cost. Even though this one was particularly sweet, it was still too repetitive and bitter. Possibly, the only other one I might make an exception for, is Autumn's Tale, which happen to be one of the "best" ones as well. (And I realized I over did it with the Yu-Jin & Jun-Sang/Min-Hyeok caps but they're so sweet together...)
one; Pictures taken from Official Website.
two; More pictures here and HanCinema,
three; More info @ Wikipedia, ThingsAsian, and SPC.net review. Review is highly recommended, and include some pretty amusing comments.
four; Tour2Korea: talks about sites in Korea where the filming occured.
The soundtrack is gorgeous. It has one of the most beautiful music I've heard in movies and television. Grab Winter Sonata OST on YSI.