Descendants of the Sun (2016)

The first time I felt a need to fast forward a drama- bear with my long review

I know it’s too late to comment on this drama, however I felt a need to express my opinion seeing the overflow of positive reviews about the same. I apologise in advance if I’m offending any avid fan of the show reading this. I think it’s clear by what I said that I didn’t enjoy the show- why I kept going? I wanted to understand the hype around it and that’s the sole reason. I’ll note a few positive things about the show first:

-Never dull: things keeps happening- doesn’t leave any space for the show to be dull.
-The Bromance: it is strong, it’s likeable, the ML and SML have fun moments together and great chemistry.
-Friendships: not just the bromance, but the army squad and hospital squad had loyal friendships and they brought light moments on the show while together.
-Second lead couple: classic will they-won’t they, though I’m guessing most knew the answer- the pair had good chemistry.
-Cinematography: they used grand sets to shoot and their beauty was captured well.
-OST: no surprises here- the drama is known for having a great soundtrack.

I don’t want to talk about the plot much since clearly they have not focused on it. The show is a mixture of Various genres; action, romance, comedy, thriller??- the issue here is that when a show is set in a backdrop where life threatening situations come back to back- and somehow each event is resolved relatively quick before another. There is tons of romance during a serious action sequence where survival is at stake- and I’m not one who is crazy about logic while watching a show like this but the leads are busy in being romantic in the midst of this. The medical ongoings seem completely unrealistic, I can’t even take our soldiers seriously. No moment which was shown as painful or heartbreaking brought any emotion on my face. The problem here is I think the show wants me to take its events seriously and that is the only reason I attempt to- but what goes on just leaves me questioning it or laughing at it.

Coming to the area of focus- The 2 leads fall in love by passing the corniest lines to one another, every time they would fight because our FL couldn’t accept the dangers the ML’s job brings and their fight would usually end with the ML calling her pretty. Honestly the FL annoyed me most of the time I watched the drama and I found her extremely dislikable. She kept whining, sulking and throwing mini tantrums. It was only towards the end when our lead couple is in a relationship did I find her bearable. Their chemistry- though talked about by many, it was a hit or miss for me. Once the 2 got into a relationship I felt their chemistry more naturally.

The second lead couple has much better chemistry- their characters are far more likeable and their reasons for constant ‘fights’ made somewhat more sense to me even though the reasons were very cliched.

Most people seem to have enjoyed the parts of the show shot in Uruk more- however those were the parts I was bothered by most and I enjoyed the parts in Seoul more. Maybe because there are less ‘Life threatening situations’ occurring here for me to be mad at.

I don’t know if my expectations were sky high or what was the reason- but as I finished the show I kept questioning its hype. If you’re not one for cheesy romance or fast paced stories where the leads fall crazily in love after one or two flirting sessions then this show is definitely not for you. Illogical sequences one after another is another major reason to avoid. If you’re curious and still decide to pick it up but don’t like it even after the first 3 episodes- it’s best to drop the show.

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sighhh.... i will acknowledge all the bashing this review should get, but i am voicing my thoughts. i do not mean to offend anyone. and i do not want to take any side in fan war. but here comes my review to not so great yet OVERRATED DRAMA OF YEAR..........................

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A serious drawback to drama. no plot. i know there are many great dramas and great movies with no much plot but are entertaining. but this drama is directed in a way that reminds again and again that there is no plot. making it really really obvious. characters need to be really engaging to make some thing good out of practically nothing. i think this drama dealt that fairly ok. not really great.

but what bugged me is plot holes it had. cliff hangers are really cheap with a goal to garner higher TRP ratings. which makes us wonder if we are watching a reality tv show instead of drama. and also ridiculous story line. i would love to jot down plot holes it had, but i am afraid i will spoil it for already meagre story it had. also villain are not villains. they are just simple characters which sprang up now and then.

but yet this drama is worth your time because of
1. Onew's role
only character in drama which is developed really well. he surprised me with his acting. he is so adorable.

2. bromance between yoo si jin and seo dae young/kang mo yeon and lieutenant yoon.
these characters are well engaged. and they meant more sense than leads romance. when they four are together, hilarious stuff happened.

3. comedy between doctors/comrades
really good. there are certain fangirling moments and cheesy lines between them which i laughed out loud/ screamed to top of air.

4.second couple romance
their relationship is more meaningful than main leads had. they grew on me. although their kisses are subtle, it brought butterflies in my stomach. i just wish seo dae young is tough in the relationship. but he did fend some sense into him in middle of episodes.

5. acting.
acting totally saved this drama. almost all actors decently played their role. making me to root for them.

MUSIC.
music is brilliant. i enjoyed almost all songs. sometimes music had more feels than the romance leads have. so it did not sync well while watching drama. but songs are pretty amazing when you hear them , while not watching drama..

REWATCH:
i may rewatch parts of this drama which i enjoyed. but i wont do that anytime soon.

RECOMMEND:
if you are not mindful of plot, and dont mind to be nitpicking on plot holes and stupid cliff hangers it had. YOU CAN ENJOY IT.
i dont mean to say drama is bad. its actually good. but dont come with great expectation like i did.

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I really love this drama! This was the drama that made me start watching k-dramas! Once I started watching this drama I could not stop. I watched all the 8 episodes that had came out at the time in one day, which led to staying up until 3am... I hated that I had to wait one week for new episodes every week, but the wait was always worth it (at least for me).
I really liked the plot, even though there were times when you could see that the probability of what had happened in the drama happening in real life was 1:10000, but I think that's part of the drama's magic. The characters were great, Song Joong-Ki and Song Hye-Kyo had great chemistry as well as Jin Goo and Ji Won. I really liked Minseok's character as well as Onew's. I also wasn't expecting Onew's character to develop the way it did and to show a such an emotional, raw side. And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. Overall, I loved this drama and I definitely recommend it!

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There’s a whole lot of hype around this show and fandoms at stake. Given how many dramas I’ve watched, I tried my best to ignore all that and assess the drama on its merits alone. I suppose I’d be “down-voted” here for my opinion of the show but well, freedom of opinion right?

On the technical side, the drama is extremely well-shot. Many beautiful panoramic shots of the Greek filming locations, impressive large-scale sets created for certain parts of the story, and great colouring that made the complexions of all the cast members really pretty.

As for story, honestly this was slightly iffy for me. The story moves swiftly from one mini plot/event to another, with little consequence on our characters, save for some character growth, I suppose. As it is with many Korean legal and medical dramas, a liberal amount of suspension of disbelief is required. The drama poses some moral and ethical questions to the viewer but doesn’t have the time to invest and dig deeper into them, and very quickly swings its focus back to the romances. I suppose it’s not fair to expect this drama to do that. The show does have many funny moments which are appreciated given the subject matter which was heavy at times.

For the characters, I was pleasantly surprised by the show. This writer is not well-known for writing interesting or compelling characters. See Heirs for example. This was an exception. The characters were for the most part, fully formed and pretty mature. Though I found myself greatly annoyed at times by some of the characters, our characters, romances and relationships were not overridden with unnecessary angst and indecisiveness, and I’m extremely grateful for that. Though it doesn't totally redeems the show from its flaws for me.

Music-wise, the soundtrack sometimes threatened to overpower the show, as it did in Heirs. But this show has pumped out the OST songs to keep it fresh so it wasn’t bad.

The show had the opportunity to end on a compelling note, but wasn’t brave enough to go along with it, and resulted in a pretty bland ending.

Overall, my opinion is, well, meh. It is definitely an enjoyable drama for the romance, just that for all the hype and fanaticism around it, it remains a forgettable drama in my list.

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I think expectatives for Descendants of the Sun were incredibly high everywhere. I mean, it was going to serve as Song Joong-ki's comeback. And I believe it mostly worked very well.

The story was alright. I usually love slice of life romances, so I had no real problem with the plot (unlike many people, who complain that the drama doesn't have a plot at all). The thing is that the story was VERY fun and entertaining, even if at many points it was too over the top. I must admit there were a few episodes that I felt were too unbelievable (especially episodes 11 and 12), but they were still fun. And well, the 'villain', was ridiculous.

The cast was mostly brilliant. Song Joong-ki absolutely steals the show. He's extremely charismatic, and I 'm sure he could have chemistry even with a wall. Many people don't like Song Hye Kyo, but I think she did the best with what she was given. Jin Goo and Kim Ji Won (especially her) were great as the second lead, although I didn't found their story that interesting. From the supporting cast I must praise Seo Jeong Yeon and Lee Seung Jun, because their characters were one of my favorite things in this drama. On the other hand, I felt Onew was incredibly over the top, especially in the earthquake episodes.

The soundtrack was brilliant. I'm used to watching mostly j-dramas, where there is only 1 insert song, or 2 at most. But here there were a lot, and I think I loved every single one.

Another thing that must be pointed out are the production values. The show lookes GREAT, it really shows that it had a very big budget, and it even felt like a blockbuster at times.

Like I said, the story is very fun and entertaining, so I'm pretty sure this has a fantastic rewatch value.

To sum up, I think DOTS is a very entertaining drama, even if at times it's too over the top or unbelievable. And honestly, it's worth watching just for the cast and the production values.

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This show was so great! Everything about it was great: it was funny at times but also really sad but also had interesting themes and topics and the plot was actually pretty decent. However, the last two episodes were horrible. The 16th episode was a trainwreck. Between the attempt at wrapping up the story line but including the huge deus ex macchina (it was sloppily completed), the bits of comedy, and the extremly strange wall breaking ending, it was a general mess. I wish it wasn't ended like this. I'm highly disappointed by the conclusion to this amazing drama.

Definitely worth watching though.

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I can not hold on to this drama. It lacks something that makes me want to continue to watch it. I usually have trouble picking a drama, it's also why I expect they are finished watching them. But, I really worth. I'm on episode 11 and since I started, I watched 5 other dramas (seen trafficked few) and some films. I think I'll end up Give Up.

Je n'arrive pas à accrocher à ce drama. Il lui manque quelque chose qui me pousse à vouloir continuer de le regarder. Habituellement j'ai du mal à décrocher d'un drama, c'est d'ailleurs pour cela que j'attend qu'ils soient finis pour les regarder. Mais là, je peine vraiment. J'en suis à l'épisode 11 et depuis que je l'ai commencé, j'ai regardé 5 autres dramas (vu d'une traite ceux là) et quelques films. Je crois que je vais finir par l’abandonner.

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I watched this second time so it's time to write a review. I rarely rate any drama this high.

If you are looking for a story that has action, humour, witty characters and of course, romance then you are going to love this. Now, I usually don't go for military themed dramas or in fact medical dramas either. I just hate to watch political scenes and "we have to explain this medical procedure with a 10-minute scene" kind of dramas so that's why I rarely start any drama with those themes even if it is highly recommended.

So why did I decided to start Descendants of the Sun? When it aired it popped up literally everywhere; in drama sites, discussions, forums etc. I was slowly getting interested because the hype was huge. What finally drew me to watch DotS was a scene where Kang Mo Yeon drives a car, gets into accident and makes calls babbling about how she feels towards everyone. I accidentally saw this scene when it was shown on a variety show and I was like well, that looked somewhat interesting. Next thing I knew, I was watching first episode of DotS.

Don't let first minutes fool you because this show is full of humour, funny moments and romance. Even if story deals with serious issues it takes a bit lighter approach to them than most of military/medical themed dramas. I was hooked after only one episode which happens veeeery rarely. It's difficult to get my attention in just one episode but DotS did it. It was mainly because main couple's chemistry was so good!

Characters are likeable and you can find at least one character you will cheer on. Our main leads are charismatic and shine like no other. There's instant attraction and I like that about drama instead of watching hours and hours of bickering before they slowly come to like each other.

Song Joong Ki does amazing job portraying Captain Yoo Si Jin; he is handsome but adorable at the same time and has pretty good sense of humour as well as he's responsible leader who does not fear to take action. Song Hye Kyo likewise does great job presenting Kang Mo Yeon, a headstrong doctor who is kind at heart.
I loved watching our main couple and their witty dialoque with each other. I have to say I didn't like Song Hye Kyo as an actor before and that was one of the main reasons I was relunctant to watch this drama. But man, I wish I had started this earlier. Now everytime I try to judge and skip a drama based on theme or actor/actress I tell myself "look what happened with Descendants of the sun. It ended up being your favorite drama ever."

Other side characters were important to story, there was no "extra" character filling up some plotline. This was propably one of the hardest dramas to pick which couple you like the best; main or secondary. I instantly took liking to Seo Dae Young and how he can make jokes with that poker face. He has cute serious personality (can I even say it like that :D ). Yoon Myung Ju shines beside Seo Dae Young, I think this is Kim Ji Won's best role so far portraying no nonsense, I get what I want kind of a woman.

From other actors, Onew did pretty amazing job too. Yet again I was surprised by an idol actor. Only thing I didn't like though that his character was too wimpy in one point :/

Ok, the bad guys. They were pointed out pretty much from the start and I think David McInnis was right choice to play the part of ex-soldier turned gangster. He had this dark moody look and when he smirked it just gives chills.
And minor bad guy Jin Yeong Soo played by Jo Jae Yun made me hate him so he did a good job.

Something I didn't like about this drama is hard to find. But if I specifically have to point something out then it's events in episode 15. Hard to explain without spoilers but let's say that writers did one pretty typical korean drama plot twist. Otherwise this drama was really unique, had equal amount of seriousness to it as funny moments and romance. I liked how whole drama was filmed in advance so no viewers or whatsoever could affect how story would progress.

Music was good, especially main theme song stays in your head after you watch episode or two :P

So overall I'd say that give this a chance even if you don't like military or medical dramas. If you for example loved City Hunter drama, I think DotS is kind of similar but even hundred times better. (just my opinion).

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I got to say that The descendants of the sun SLAYS!!! It is a really amazing drama!! There is a lot of action,many cute scenes,the music is just perfect and the cast is amazing! It is not a typical love story! It is a fascinating story with many unexpected things.After each episode you just wanna watch more.I really fell in love with this drama and that is why each category got a 10 from me,it deserves it.I am definitely going to rewatch this! I dont regret spending my tme watching this,I really enjoyed it ^^

YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY WATCH IT YOU WON'T REGRET IT TRUST ME :D
( By the way half scenes of this drama were filmed in Greece :'3)

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This is amazing.

It isn't a really unique story that no one could ever think of. But the entire flow of the drama was perfect. Instead of the entire skeleton of the story, it was the little details that made this a success. The script was just great. The scrabbles and conversation with all the different characters was done so well, it really brought out the personality of each character in DOTS. I love how each character have a story behind them, and how they show the developments in the characters. Furthermore the relationship developments were also done incredibly well. Not just the leads but also the bromance between the guys and also the friendship with the girls, and all were all done so well, you just can't help but fall in love with each and everyone of them. So all in all, the writers were INTRICATE. Its not something out of the world, but the story will really tug your heartstrings with the little minor details that help bring this story to life.

Another factor that brought it to life were the actors. Song Joong Ki was fantastic. (And I'm not just referring about his looks) It was obvious he put lots of thought into his character throughout the entire show. There were countless of times I am awed by his facial expressions in the scenes. He portrayed YSJ so well I really can't think of another actor to play this role. He was able to perfectly bring out the manly, fearless side of YSJ, the boyish side and the thoughtful and meticulous side of him which was amazing. At one point you will swoon in his manliness and right after you will just giggle at the cute side of him which I think is what YSJ is about. Song Hye Kyo was amazing too. Her crying scenes were so well done that I really could put myself in her shoes and dilemmas and also, cry with her. She was able to portray the empathetic side of KMY, yet she is brave and witty unlike other drama leads. She was able to show us her goofy side and also her worries which I thought was also a huge feat.

The second couple was also unique in their own way. Jin Goo really managed the 'rigid' soldier image really well, yet also show his feelings with his eyes and slight body movements that you can't help but feel for him. Kim Ji Won was great with her emotional scenes while MyungJu was like a little porcupine, you could see that little sweet girl in her.

Nothing to complain about the music as well. It's just incredible.

So to sum it up, SJK's looks might be why everyone first knew about the show, but DOTS have so much more to offer. The script, the relationships and the acting were all done so superbly well that its just a show everyone should watch. Not only focusing on the love lines, but this drama also shows how serious the characters are at their jobs, their determination and also their principles which I think sets this drama different from others. AND LASTLY, THE SCENES ARE ALL SO BEAUTIFUL, THANKYOU CREW FOR SHOWING ME 16 HOURS OF BEAUTIFUL STUFF.

HEHEH. And thanks for taking your time to read this :)

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