The Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)

Love it or hate it . . .

If you fall in love with the mermaid out of water storyline in the first couple episodes, you will love the show. She is THE main character, and I loved it. I thought Jun Ji-hyun was electric, playful and a bit sarcastic in a way that was up to matching Lee Min-ho's aggressive acting style. I wanted to watch her all the time. I liked Lee Min-ho's protectiveness/jealousy/action-ness for this storyline where it made much more sense than say Boys Over Flowers or Heirs.

The fantasy elements give an added sense of drama and tragedy but if you were hoping for a full fantasy world, this is not for you. There is barely any undersea water universe/other mermaids or sea creature scenes at all.

The plot is extended with yet another out of place serial-killer type storyline (why??? K-dramas, why???). It really was not needed to add such a disturbing element in.

Music didn't register for me. Some scenes do linger on - again I just really liked the interaction between the two main leads a lot.

I grade on other criteria as well.

Complex Themes - 6.5
Not too much. Greed is relentless through multiple lifetimes - you need to address and confront it not let it fester. Your family is who has your back and sticks with you, not simply who has married in/is a blood relative. Life on earth is wondrous if you can take a step back from it.
Character Growth - 7.5
Jun Ji-hyun shows a lot of different facets to her character, and she gets harder, cynical and a little rough around the edges as the plot goes on. Lee Min-Ho basically is the character he typically plays.
Complex Women Characters - 8.0
The high score is almost solely for Jun Ji-Hyun's portrayal of the mermaid. There are other female characters but they play very supporting roles. The main couple has the majority of the interest/screentime.
Cinematography/Production Values - 8.0
Competent. There were some scenes where Lee Min-Ho came off as very 'cool' in a way that I had to credit the pacing/shooting of the scene. I loved the use of real/in person locations. Lots of shooting outside and in-person gave it a much better 'feel'. It was shot in a cinematic style (focusing/unfocusing in different areas, shooting from different angles) - it didn't just try to capture the whole room clearly in every shot.

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The reason why I didn't watch LOTBS while it aired is simly because I was fed up with Lee Min Ho at that time. Don't get me wrong, I really really really love The Heirs (it was my first KDram, so forgive me, I still love it!), and after watching it I had to watch (almost) all Dramas with LMH and PSH. So I did. And then I was fed up with him because honestly, all the other dramas with him (prior to The Heirs) were just not as good :( So when LOTBS came out I wasn't ready to give it a chance. But now I did, and boy, where did I get myself into!? :D I bingewatched it over the last three days, I just had to! Let's see, why:

Story:
Love ties from ancient times are the reason for a mermaid and a human man to fall in love in the recent time. What follows is a hilarious and adorable story of a mermaid coming into the human world, making crazy friendships, falling deeply in love, and ultimately making a family (partly) reunite. Sounds like a great story, right? It is! Why I took half a point of is because I am not that much into these fantasy story lines. I think it would have been enough to just let them be reborn and fall in love again, without all this mermaid stuff. Some story lines would then probably not work anymore, but still. I prefer "realistic" story lines.

Acting/Cast:
Full points! The characters were all perfectly depicted, and I believed them everything. JJH was hilarious, and thanks to her I burst out into laughter several times. Also, LMH did a terrific job! He's back on my favorite actors list. But also all the supporting characters were great, adorable, and some I would have loved to see more often (Shin Won Ho for example, who plays Tae Oh).

Music:
Well placed and alright, not disturbing.

Rewatch Value:
This drama is really beautiful and funny, but I don't think that I will rewatch it any time soon. Ultimately, I don't rewatch dramas very often. The only two dramas that I rewatched so far are The Heirs (and I only rewatched like the last 6 episodes) and DOTS (all of it). So I am simply not a rewatcher :D

Overall:
An almost perfect drama, with tiny flaws, but great acting, and many (great) surprises =)

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I just finished watching this show, two days in a row, not because I needed to see what was happening, just because I had free time... so, we could say it’s OK to watch it if you have time, if you like dramas as “My love from the stars” (and you don’t expect to see anything so good so far...).
+/- the story
+ The fact that the settings of the first two chapters are in Spain, my country, that some of the scenes are in La Coruña, a place really near to my family hometown and a city that I know by heart since I was a kid... and that a Korean drama choose this place to do the drama... it’s really got me! So only with that, I was more than interested in watching the show.
+ the cinematography and photography of the show is amazing. 
+ it’s funny. There are several parts of the show, as when the three con artist friends are doing their jobs, or when Tan Oh is doing photographs of the mermaid all the time, that I simply loved.

The casting:
+
Not being a big fan of Lee Min Ho after “Boys over flowers” and “The Heirs” I can say that I liked him here. He improved his acting.
-
I didn’t like Shin Seung rol as a stupid/Innocent mermaid. I get that she gets out of the sea and she doesn’t know how the world works... but sometimes it was too much. The script showed that she was really smart and she could learn really easy but it didn’t show nothing new about her competence as a learner... so for this reason it seemed that every other lead would think as she was stupid all the time...
On the other hand I couldn’t really see the romance between the two main leads at least until the last episode. I like their acting but separately. I would prefer the scenes where they were not together. In fact I think their love story was the thing I was interested the less. I don’t know if it was that they lacked chemistry or what, but I always had the feeling that they were missing something.
+ or - the music: The music is ok, even when I think most of the songs, are too cheesy, but I liked very much “Lean on you”.
Rewatch value: probably I won’t see this show anymore, but perhaps I would watch the two hour special recap.

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LOTBS was pretty entertaining and funny. It had its cliche moments and the plot was pretty mediocre. However, it was worth watching as it gave the audience empathy for a couple of complex characters. I personally liked the character development. But I felt that the villains were defeated way too easily in some places. The chemistry between the main leads was mediocre in my opinion and the entire drama is okay to say the least. I would recommend it for casual watching without great expectations for a complicated and thrilling plot. This will also be super entertaining for people easily moved by emotion.

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I find this show simply amazing to the point that, back then, I subscribed to Viki-pass just to watch this one.
First show for me with the super popular Lee Min Ho: I loved his character and how he played him.
But I absolutely ADORED Jun Ji Hyun: she is probably one of the best actresses I've ever seen and the way she goes from drama to comedy in a bit is unbelievable (though I already had the chance to appreciate her in You Who Came From The Star). Great chemistry between them.
Drama and comedy are quite balanced, too. Probably it could've been a bit shorter, but I don't complain, I liked it a lot.

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Mermaid Holy grail

As a massive fan of mermaids and a lover of Lee Min Ho, I couldn’t wait to watch this one. It definitely had a cheese element to it, and I don’t think the chemistry between the leads was a strong as it could be, but I still love this. The story was sweet and innocent, I love the reincarnation flashbacks and intricate details into the lives of all our characters. Jun Ji Hyun plays such a lovely mermaid with such a sweet, doe eyed innocence, I couldn’t help but love her. I adored LMH as Joon Jae. While I didn’t really feel the sparks between these two particular actors the way I have felt sparks with other pairings, I still found their scenes sweet and precious. There was also a solid romance and some truly underrated characters and friendships in this one. There’s definitely some cheesiness and typical fish out of water jokes, but as a mermaid lover I was absolutely adoring it. It reminded me very much of “Splash”, and has made it into my top 5 dramas.

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I recently became enamored and obsessed with K Dramas. This was the 4th drama I have watched and it's a tie for my favorite spot along with Strong Girl Do Bo Song! I loved the chemistry between the two actors, it helps that they're both out of this world beautiful. I found the story sweet, funny and magical. People complaining were probably expecting something more serious. With all that's going on in this world, I love having something that could suspend my belief and has a beautiful ending.
Since I live for fashion, I also wanted to highlight how the stylists did an amazing job with the wardrobe. The whimsical notes to the fashion were such a lovely accompaniment to the storyline.

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Jeon Ji Jyun , Lee minho , Shin Hye sun , Shin won ho , if this isn't a visual treat .. what else would be ! Ji hun's role will make you love her , cry and laugh with her ! Minho's role will get you in awe all of the time! This is just too good :D he certainly gave his fans a good parting gift before going in , and oh boy we did enjoy it too ! many comedy scenes and episodes have very high rewatch value .. the drama is really good and all Everything about this drama is Lit :D But still .. there's a but idk why but the romance in the air just fades a bit ? yet it doesn't looses it's rewatch value... I know , having Lee minho and Ji hyun makes it hard for the writers and direction dept to tone it down a bit but still , they're a bit over bearing in the drama .. the side characters , well technically side mains? Wonho and Hye sun definitely deserved more screen time .. all in all , you'd enjoy it !

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I finished watching Legend of the Blue Sea last night. This was a solid little drama, really. It stars Lee Min Ho (from Boys Over Flowers and Heirs, among many other shows) as Heo Joon Jae, a modern day conman with a troubled family past, and the amazingly lovely Jun Ji Hyun (best known for My Love From Another Star - which was very good, you should check it out) as Shim Chung, a mermaid who has come to dry land to find her love and live her life as a human. It comes complete with evil stepmothers and weird serial killers and quirky friendships. The supporting cast is just as amazing as the lead couple. I could listen to Lee Min Ho read the phone book, really. Jun Ji Hyun is not afraid of physical comedy and it was a delight to watch her as Shim Chung. The drama moves back and forth between modern day and historical with some reincarnation storylines. Got7's Park Jinyoung does a lovely job as the soulful young Kim Dam Ryung in the Joseon era bits. There were things about the plot that kept me guessing until the end, which was nice, and it kept up pretty well with the pacing. It's a lovely story.

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Honestly I don't know how this show has such high ratings. The premise is probably the best thing about it and it has many elements that attracted me to it, but the development is so poor it's almost sad. The story is engaging enough in the first episode, but after that it just drags on forever leaving this impression that nothing important is really happening. It became so boring I lost interest in many moments and even considered skipping certain parts, which is something I never do.

Oh, and don't even get me started on that stupid lighter hypnosis thingy, it was such a cheap plot device it made me feel like the drama was underestimating my intelligence.

Another thing, which just killed the drama for me, is the protagonists. I don't know who thought making the female lead behave like a 10 year old was a good idea, cause frankly it enraged me. I get that she is a mermaid so it's natural she doesn't act like a human and is more naive, but the writers literally made her a dumbass. How am I suppose to believe this womam managed to learn korean in one night by just watching dramas when she displays the IQ of a banana. Seriously, I hate the ml but I couldn't exactly blame him on not wanting to shelter her after she erased his memory and basically swam halfway across the globe for him without even thinking of a plan to get closer to him.

The male protagonist is even worse, though. He is so overbearing and possessive to the point he even becomes abusive. Like he forbids the fl of wearing certain clothes, puts a curfew on her and even stalks her. Honestly I don't know if Lee Min Ho chooses to play rich jerks or if it's just coincidence, but all his characters are horrible people.

Honestly, the story that takes place in the past with their past reincarnations or whatever is much more interesting to me, cause at least the leads there had some common sense and were more likable. It's a shame they weren't the focus of the drama, otherwise this show could've been much better.

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MAJOR SPOILERS Last ep ruined an amazing drama

MAJOR SPOILERS

I would have seriously given it 10/10 if it wasn't for the last episode. The last episode felt unnecessary as if the writers didn't know what to do for it.

I don't understand why from a gunshot she needed to stay in the sea for 3 flipping years and why they showed her heart aching even b4 the gunshot and all of the sudden her going back to the sea is cuz of the gunshot. Makes no sense also unnecessary.

I also don't like the fact she erased everyone's memories and why did it take her 3 years to heal. She could've kept the memories and left, even if for 3 years why erase memories. He would know why and can visit her and his friend that found out will be ok with it too. The others they could just make an excuse.

The last episode was rly dragged and didn't feel satisfying especially since the entire drama was almost flawless and so good! Like the last episode ruined everything.

Another thing that I also didn't understand much about the drama is how the step brother all of a sudden turned so evil. Like he was so conflicted and reminded me of Hamlet but siding with the wrong people. I love how he was portrayed as a tragic hero sorta.

I just wish that rather than making him take an active part in the evil, that he would've just found out about everything and kept quiet about it. Would've suited how he was portrayed at the start more. But I still love his side of the plot.

Now I wish I had a mermaid erase the memories of the last ep for me.

HOWEVER, don't get me wrong the drama overall is still amazing! I loved the mix of humour and drama in it. First drama where I love the main girl more than the guy (her expressions were priceless XD).

Also I never rly liked Lee Minho b4 for no apparent reason but this is my first drama with him in it and I fell in love with him.

Totally would recommend despite the last episode

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