Review: While You Were Sleeping | Korean Drama

Hello everybody!

It's been a while since I've done a drama review so I thought I would just share one of While You Were Sleeping. 

While You Were Sleeping 당신이 잠든 사이에

Summary:

Hong Joo lives with her mother and helps her run a pork restaurant. Hong Joo is haunted by seeing the future deaths of others in her dreams. What's worse is that she does not know when the deaths will happen, but she tries to stop her dream from becoming reality. One night, Hong Joo dreams about the death of her own mother.

Meanwhile, Jae Chan is a rookies prosecutor. He meets Yoo Beom at the prosecutors' office. Yoo Beom was Jae Chan's private tutor when Jae Chan was a student, but an incident caused Jae Chan to dislike him. Yoo Beom was a prosecutor, but now works as a lawyer. He takes on any case that brings him money.

Jae Chan and his younger brother move to a new house and they become neighbors with Hong Joo. One night, Jae Chan dreams that Yoo Beom drives Hong Joo's car and this leads to a chain of events, including the death of Hong Joo's mother, and then Hong Joo. When Jae Chan senses that his dream is about to become real, he takes extreme action to stop it. Yoo Beom becomes furious at Jae Chan, but Hong Joo hugs him and thanks him. Jae Chan and Hong Joo later work together to solve other cases. 

(Taken from Wiki x)

Characters:

Nam Hong Joo (Bae Suzy)

Hong Joo is a journalist who is able to foresee people's deaths in her dreams and tries her best to prevent them. From the start, you can see that she really wants to save others, but loses confidence in herself when her dreams come true despite all her efforts. When she dreams about her mother's death, she does everything she can to prevent it, including cutting her hair (because in the dream she had long hair). All of her attempts to change her dreams are futile until Jae Chan appears. With Jae Chan's help, she becomes more confident in herself and eventually returns to her job as a journalist (she took a break and worked at her mom's restaurant for a bit in the beginning of the drama). She becomes an optimistic character and a huge encouragement to Jae Chan. 

Jung Jae Chan (Lee Jong Suk)

Jae Chan is a rookie prosecutor who just started his job at the Division Three office after Lawyer Lee Yoo Beom leaves his prosecutor position and becomes a lawyer. He starts having dreams about the death of a girl (Hong Joo). He doubts if his dreams are real but still attempts to save Hong Joo's life, which he does. Hong Joo persuades him that his dreams (and her dreams) are real and that they should work together to stop them from coming true. As a prosecutor, Jae Chan goes through hundreds of cases and determines if they go through to the court or not. Some of his cases require further investigation and with Hong Joo's help, he manages to catch the right culprit and make the right decision. Jae Chan becomes quite discouraged working at the prosecutor's office as he does not go through his cases the same way other prosecutors in the office go through theirs and gets yelled at quite often. Most of the time, his ideas are shot down and people complain about how much extra work they have to do because of him. Occasionally he wonders if he should really seek justice or take the easy way out. By the end of the drama, he learns that he will be forced to make difficult decisions in his life but he should not regret his decisions or get hung up by them as he will laugh about them in the future.

Han Woo Tak (Jung Hae In)

Han Woo Tak is a policeman who acquires the same abilities as Hong Joo and Jae Chan after Jae Chan saves his life. He becomes their friend and assists them in solving cases. He is usually there to save the day or provide the last piece to the puzzle, so no case can really be solved without all three of them (the three musketeers!). He has a major crush on Hong Joo (of course, what's a k-drama without a love triangle?) but respects Jae Chan enough not to pursue her. He's very morally upstanding, but hides a secret that could cost him his job. He also has an adorable little corgi named Robin. 

Lee Yoo Beom (Lee Sang Yeob)

Lee Yoo Beom is a lawyer who used to be a prosecutor at Division Three. He is the main antagonist of this drama since he happens to always be the lawyer of the defendant Jae Chan is charging. For enough money, Yoo Beom is willing to do anything to set his client free, including tampering evidence and manipulating testimonies. He is Jae Chan's old tutor and Hong Joo's ex-boyfriend. All of his dirty tricks, inside and outside the courtroom, cause Jae Chan and Hong Joo to dislike him. Even at the end of the drama, he believes in what he did and is unremorseful of all the damage he has done.

Review:

I was seriously hooked on to this drama and watched it faithfully every week (except the two weeks I had midterms). Each episode leaves you wanting for more. What I really liked about this drama was the chemistry between the characters. The three musketeers (Hong Joo, Jae Chan, and Woo Tak) are so adorable together. Hong Joo and Woo Tak have a very friendly relationship and always poke fun at Jae Chan's jealousy of it. They also provide a lot of emotional support for each other as each of them go through hard times in the drama. 

At first, the drama seems a bit random, mostly just Jae Chan and Hong Joo saving people from dying. But through these seemingly random cases, you can really see Yoo Beom's unmoral practices and the development of Hong Joo and Jae Chan's relationship. There are little hints throughout the drama that all tie together at the end. I didn't notice most of them until the end when there was an "ah ha" moment and everything clicked. You really have to pay attention to how certain characters act and it all makes sense at the end. 

I just wanted to briefly mention Kim Won Hae's character, Choi Dam Dong. His character really touched me and my roommate and I bawled our eyes out at the end because of him.

Also, shout out to Jae Chan's little brother and Hong Joo's mom for their random comic reliefs.

Rating:

Rating: 9.5/10

Plot: 3.5/4

Characters: 2/2

Intensity: 2/2

Cuteness: 2/2

Recommend? Yes!!

Halfway through the drama, I realized that Woo Tak is Hyun Woo from Blood! Anyone remember my Blood review? I loved his character in Blood and fell even more in love with him in While You Were Sleeping. Seriously considering rewatching Blood now while I wait for Meloholic to be over so I can binge watch it later. 

Also, I'm seriously in love with Henry's OST for this drama. 

Let me know if your thoughts on this drama if you've watched it or if you want to watch it. As always, leave any recommendations you have down below and I'll check them out!

Thanks so much for reading. I'll see you soon!

~Claudia

Review: Blood | Korean Drama

Hello everyone!

I just finished watching Blood, so I thought I'd write a review on it. 

I started watching this drama after I saw Ahn Jae-hyun in My Love From Another Star (he's seriously adorable in that drama) but then I totally fell in love with Ku Hye-sun (like a serious girl crush). 

Blood (블러드)

Summary:

Park Ji-sang is a doctor specializing in hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery at Taemin Cancer Hospital, the best hospital in the country. He is also a vampire. Despite seeming cold and unfeeling, Ji-sang masks his soft heart and inner pain and yearns for closeness with people. He believes very strongly in the sanctity of human life, and suppresses his thirst for blood to treat terminally ill patients and save lives.

Among his colleagues is Yoo Ri-ta, a hotshot physician who entered medical school at the age of 17 and is also the niece of the chaebol group chairman who owns the hospital. Ri-ta is highly capable but snooty and prideful, yet Ji-sang finds himself falling for her. He also gets drawn into a conflict between good and evil as he encounters Lee Jae-wook, a two-faced hospital chief who gains everyone's trust with his gentle demeanor, but inwardly harbors a dangerous ambition for power and a talent for cruelty.

Characters:

Park Ji-sang (Ahn Jae-hyun)

Park Ji-sang was born with a virus that made him into a vampire. His parents were both scientists who were infected with the virus while working under another scientist (who created the virus). All his life, he's wanted nothing more than to become human. Despite his thirst for blood, he becomes a well known doctor and comes to work at the best hospital in the country, Taemin Cancer Hospital. In the beginning, he is cold and very straightforward towards his patients. If they're going to die, or they have very little chance of recovery, he tells them that, without any sugar coating However, throughout the drama, he becomes more gentle and warmer towards his patients, giving them hope and encouragement. 

Yoo Ri-ta (Ku Hye-sun)

Yoo Ri-ta is the niece of the chairman of Taemin Cancer Hospital. Her parents died when she was young, leaving her under the care of her uncle. She is very prideful and kind of snooty, especially towards Ji-sang. As the drama goes on, she becomes less prideful and snooty. She has a very big and warm heart and cares for Ji-sang even when she's hurting herself. This actually inspires Ji-sang and reinforces his desire to become human, so he can love with a human heart like hers. Ri-ta goes through a lot (like seriously, a lot) of hardships, especially towards the end of the drama.

Min Ga-yeon (Song Soo-hyun)

Min Ga-yeon is a first year resident at Taemin Cancer Hospital. After telling a story about how her mother died of cancer and how it inspired her to become a doctor, Ji-sang picks her right away as a resident over a Stanford graduate. I really like her. She's so kind and has a good sense of morals. She cares so much about some of the patients, especially the younger ones. I was absolutely shocked when her secret was revealed.... I honestly couldn't believe it. But in the end, she redeems herself. Her ending was such a plot twist (although I kind of saw it coming) and it really touched me.

Lee Jae-wook (Ji Jin-hee)

Lee Jae-wook is a doctor who is also infected with the virus. In fact, he was one of the first ones to get infected, along with Ji-sang's parents (he worked with them). His goal is to use the virus to create a drug that could get rid of all human illnesses. That sounds amazing, right? But he goes through extreme measures to test his new drug. He sets up a ward, Ward 21A, just to test the drug on humans. He seems gentle and charming on the outside... but omg, he is so evil, I hate him so much. Honestly, this f-ing liar makes me so mad, ughhh. Like honestly, if the closest people around you start turning on you, something's wrong.

Joo Hyun-woo (Jung Hae-in)

Joo Hyun-woo isn't a main character, but I thought I'd mention him because I love him so much. He's a scientist to works for Ji-sang, but the two of them are super close, like brothers. He creates drugs for Ji-sang to take so he can control his blood thirst in the hospital. He also does a lot of experiments and research for Ji-sang to find a way to make him human. He also created Luvvy, a robot, and it's so cute and funny. Hyun-woo is probably my favorite character out of all of them. Well, him and Ga-yeon. 

Ji-sang and Ri-ta's Relationship

Their relationship doesn't start off that well. They basically hate each other from the moment they met. Ri-ta bumped into Ji-sang and broke his "limited edition" sunglasses from Peru (she then replaces his with the same one, but from a street vendor).  Ji-sang then embarrasses her by telling her, and everyone in the conference room, that her method of surgery wasn't going to work and his method was the best choice. He then goes and proves himself right. They continue to clash as she is put under his unit and works under him. They begin falling for each other (as they always do) and their relationship is ADORABLE!!! (What makes it even more adorable is that they're actually married in real life and also totally adorable in real life. #relationsipgoals) Ri-ta helps Ji-sang realize what it means to be human and to love with a human heart. When she's in danger, he swoops in and saves her. 

Plot

The plot kept me in suspense all the way until the last minute of the drama. I thought by the last episode, things would calm down a bit... but noooooooo, more drama happens. Other than the plot line of Jae-wook developing his drug and Ji-sang and Ri-ta's relationship, there are other plot lines woven in. There are also a lot of other interesting characters that come about. The last two episodes had me bawling my eyes out. I have never cried this hard in my entire life. It literally broke my heart. The ending, however, was not my favorite. There are some things that I still have questions about, like what happened to the patients in Ward 21A? Was Ji-sang's team successful in their experiments? And the last minute of the drama... what???? What happened? Slightly confused....

What I liked most were all the plot twists and the character developments that occurred throughout the drama. 

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Characters: 3 / 4

Plot: 1.5 / 2

Intensity: 2 / 2

Cuteness level: infinity / 2

Recommend? Yes!

As you can see, I've improved since Murphy's Law of Love, I've moved onto Korean dramas!!
If you have any recommendations, please leave them below!

Thanks so much for reading!
~Claudia