Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010)

This Drama managed to surprise me a lot. First of all I hated the first two episodes and considered to drop it, but thankfully because of all the good things I had heard about it I decided to fight myself through the rest.
Well, after having watched the first two episodes there wasn't much "fighting" left because I actually started to enjoy it.

The characters were so different, deep, cute, funny, emotional, complicated and sometimes annoying that I never grew bored of them. Well, sometimes I was frustrated with the main couple but it wasn't bad enough to mention.

The story was unique in a way but not something that has never been done before. I liked this take of it and I think that was mainly because of the characters rather than the story itself, since I'm not a fan of historical Dramas. Oh, actually I strongly dislike them. ;)

The acting was great. Even though Park Min Young never looked, acted or sounded like a man in my opinion - I was so frustrated with it being unrealistic for the other students to not realize she was a girl - everyone pulled their role off perfectly. I especially enjoyed Goo Yong Ha and Geol Oh.

The music was very good and fitting and most of all it wasn't always the same song playing. I enjoyed it, but I'm not going to look for the OST.

I usually don't rewatch anything, but for this one I give it a high rating because I will certainly rewatch some scenes of it. A lot.

So overall I recommend this Drama to everyone (even if the historical aspect may turn you off) and and advice you to not drop it after the first episode. It will be worth giving a try. :)

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Disappointing!

I rarely give low scores and I love classics but I couldn't stand watching this drama. 20 episodes and I watched all episodes by skipping. The FL character is so lame, clueless and cries when there is no need to but is projected as a leader who deserves to be a scholar.. I was bored but I don't drop dramas usually so finished it! There was talk about pride when it wasn't needed. She didn't seem manly either. Actually all the characters felt lame to me except for Song Joongki's character. Upto 15 episodes, I felt story had not moved. It was slow and a very disappointing drama for me. Overall, it was an unappealing drama.

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There are many things that I loved about this drama. 1) When the guy falls for the girl he doesn't waiver. He freaks out a little because he thinks he is gay, but he still ends up loving her even when he thinks she is a him. 2) The roommates fight for her not against each other. 3) The bromance between all the guys is too cute!!! 4) The romance between Lee Sun Joon and Kim Yoon Hee/Kim Yoon Shik is beautiful!!! 5)All of the actors were good and the story was well written.

Things about it that bothered me was that Park Min Young in no way looks like a guy and it is weird that not every guy at Sungkyunkwan new she was a guy. Not that Park Min Young didn't do a good job acting, but she is just really feminine.

The ending was AWESOME!!! Which is good in my book and I put the rewatch at a 10 because I rewatched it!!! ;-)

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I decided to watch this after reading all the good reviews on here but was pretty disappointed with what I got. I thought the storyline really dragged and it took me a while to finish the series because it just wasn't very exciting. This is the third series I watched with Park Yoo Chun (I watched sensory couple then rooftop prince) and this is by far my least favourite series of his. I did not like his story with Park MIn Young and did not feel the chemistry between them. The only thing I enjoyed was the relationship between Song Joong Ki and Yoo ah in and they stole the spotlight.

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I've never written a review here before, so let's see how this turns out ^^ This is my 2nd historical drama, first was "The Moon that embraces the sun". Honestly, this one was way more enjoyable to me.

I'm not that fond of cross dressing shows/dramas (Hana Kimi, Ouran, etc..) Not even Coffee Prince was that great to me, I guess You're Beautiful and now this have to be the exceptions. However I don't want to compare it to You're Beautiful since the storylines are completely different, despite it having a girl dressing up as a boy.

I loved Park Min Young in City Hunter, and just randomly started watching this drama because she was in it. In my opinion, this drama is one of the best that there are, even if it is not known as much as Boys Over Flowers or You're Beautiful.

All the actors were GREAT!! This drama introduced me to amazing actors which I will continue to watch from now on. The characters stayed in my heart, and I wish I could have seen even more... "Hey, I'm Gu Yong Ha! ;) " I'll never forget that line or his cute winks. I'll miss Geol-Oh's hiccups and his charm. Yeorim... So lovable.. Funny and silly, yet smart and caring too. I'll miss him.

Lee Soon jun and kim yoon hee's romance was really great, and I loved how it all progressed. I loved the pace of the story, for me, not draggy at all. The romance was great as well, even though prioritizing other important things in the story. (Which I found very interesting, the whole Geum Deung ji sa) I loved the character development of each character (especially Lee soon jun. His character may have started off a bit dull, but he turned into a very epic person :D ) The literature was beautiful (the writings, quotes and sayings stated) and I'm a big literature freak so that was inspiring for me. *.* I learned a lot about Korean history too.

The ending scene was hilarious!! I can just say that xD Though I wanted some more things to be cleared up, I still liked it. Recommend this drama if you're starting of to Historical dramas, like light romance, depth scenes and lovable characters. Definitely going to re-watch this drama in the future, and now, I look forward to watching Rooftop Prince to see more of Micky Yoochun's acting. ^_^

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This was an enjoyable series! The acting was great, I was really reeled in. The actors didn\'\'t leave me a choice but for me to love them and their characters, and yes even the antagonists. :D For me one of the most important things in a drama, if not the most important, is the acting. Also, all of the characters were believable, and none of them were pure evil just because there was someone who needed to stand against the protagonists. Many of the antagonists just went against the Jalgeum Quartet because they were motivated by their love for a woman or a family member, and I find that very believable and very human.

However, the ending kind of felt hurried and some characters who I\'\'d like to know more about (like Chosun and Ha In Soo) have been left in the dark. There should have been another episode so the last episode could be expanded to cover more characters :(

Anyway, good job Sungkyunkwan Scandal!! :D

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I started SS when i was on my travels cos of the hype I had heard good things about it...I found it bit slow but after reassurances from kamz & I think C4U i stuck with it till about ep 10 when I was tempted to drop it, the only reason I didn’t is that SS was available on YouTube & whilst I was in Asia I had dodgy wifi connections & also a lot of sites that I could access in UK I couldn’t access over there even Dramacrazy, & even the sites i could access the buffering speed was slow that i lost all patience so as SS was on YT with a relatively quick buffering speed I had little choice but to watch it I left it at ep 18 when I got back to UK & I recently decided to finish it cos it was only 2 more hours out of my life lol.

The above explains why I watched it haha generally Im not a masochist & drop a drama quicksmart if I dont like it.

OK my views on the drama itself the main couples chemistry I didn’t find convincing also the so called second lead Yoo Ah In I hardly saw him languishing away for his lost love he was too busy running around on rooftops with his red letters lol….

The story wasn’t compelling enough to hold my interest over 20 episodes perhaps if it had been condensed into 16 episodes it might have been more punchy. Don’t get me wrong I am a fan of sageuks & loved Iljimae, Chuno & The Princess Man – SS just wasn’t in the same vein & I found it disappointing overall I still gave it a 7 out of 10 though.

The best thing about the whole drama was the lovely Song Joong Ki his mannerisms & way of speaking I found totally captivating. I also found his love for YAI endearing he truly cared for him! I found THAT story more fascinating than the main couple & I like Yoochun as well, maybe hes got the same problem as Kim Hyun Joong who doesn’t come across well as an actor either although to be fair to Yoochun I have only seen him act in SS & KHJ I have seen him “act” in a couple of dramas & I remain unimpressed.

I know plenty of people loved this drama & it was pleasant enough just not exciting or angsty enough for my tastes…as I say each to their own.

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When the drama started, it was obvious that there are gonna be cute cliche moments, but that 100% fine with me cuz that's what I was looking for. What threw me off was around halfway through the show, the girl MC was just not growing with the pace of the story. it was like I was just waiting for her to get on the same pace as the rest of the characters. I saw a lot of people giving this a 9-10 rating, so I am definitely the odd man out. I really loved how the story was going, but it just started to go downhill even though there were some plot twists.
I have seen a few girl-dressing-as-a-guy dramas, and this follows a similar story line in terms of the girl trying her best to hide it and someone finds out.
Let me tell you, Song Joongki's character carried the show for me. I was hooked onto what he was going to do next. That was one of the reasons I did not drop the drama.
I rarely write reviews, but I chose to write this to show someone that has a slightly different opinion on this show. ANd sorry for my review being all over the place.
Also P.S. there is Second Male Lead Syndrome in this.

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This is one of the classics, a drama that every kdrama fan should have the pleasure of watching

It's a university/college drama: sageuk style, with all the ingredients for a good watch. It has comedy, a touch of mystery, an interesting plot, good characters, romance, and friendship. For all 20 episodes it maintains its quality, and is so binge-worthy.

I also cannot stress enough the chemistry of Yoon Hee x Sun Joon. It's as slow burn as it gets but the PINING is amazing. It’s the same struggle as ‘Love in the Moonlight’ where the guy is so in love and is in a constant battle with himself, all ‘nonono I can’t be gAy, nOooOOO i am NoT’

Tfw you like someone so much you’ll even like them despite the fact it is the biggest taboo of the time period. Get you a man who falls in love with you even when he thinks you’re a guy, he’s just THAT attracted to you.

I should also mention one of my favourite things about Sun Joon's character (minor spoiler! - but it is one of the best parts of the drama for me) - - is when her gender is revealed, he is so CONSIDERATE of her. Anyone who's seen any drama ever when the male lead finds out the big secret the female lead has been hiding from him, all hell breaks loose (some examples 'I'm Not a Robot' or 'The Secret Life of My Secretary'). But for once, when finding out some big secret, he DOESN'T shun the female lead and we don’t have to deal with that angst for ages. He is is so kind and asks her ‘so…for how long did you wear men’s clothes? …you don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable’ (my heart!!)

The only flaw for me is the ending, in the way that it felt rushed. The plot of the final episode is something that should have been given more focus and more time! There were also so many unanswered questions (not to mention the all-important-something™ the mains spent the whole drama looking for - ultimately made no difference in the outcome)

I should also warn you that as much as I love the romance in this, they have as much physical love/skinskip as a Studio Ghibli movie lmao. The magic is in the yearning, the emotions in their eyes!! I... must admit I wished for more, but hey it's still a beautiful love story nonetheless. 'Less is more' as they say.

Many said they got second lead syndrome from this drama but I didn't feel that way at all. Sun Joon's character is so charming, and fits so well with Yoon Hee. They are both intelligent, share the same views, and are the source of each other's smile. But also in the way opposites attract, and made each other better people. From the beginning she was a pessimist who only knew of the cruel world she grew up in as a peasant. The only way to support her family and use her talent was to disguise herself as a man, otherwise she would only be sold off. While HE was overly idealistic and grew up in a privileged home with strong ideals of a good world. But both of them had things to learn from each other, and gave each other courage. Need I say more?

Overall, I'd highly recommend it

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