I've got to hand it to the director of That Winter, The Wind Blows because this drama was beautifully shot. The lighting, camera angles and pastel colour palette were all very appealing to the eye. But beneath that superficial shell there was barely anything of value.
Whilst it certainly started off well - with the first 5 to 6 episodes being good - TWTWB eventually ran out of steam before it even hit the halfway mark, turning into a limp, thinly spread out drama with glaringly obvious plot holes that were almost migraine-inducing. Just when you think that the plot is heading somewhere interesting, the writer goes and fucks everything up making you feel like you've been had. I found it to be a major insult to my intelligence when The Big Reveal was finally revealed after being dragged on for what felt like a milllennium. What was revealed was already known by the audience RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING, and after that nothing much happened. There was no explanation of the characters' motives and neither was there a satisfying story of redemption (or failed redemption). Instead, all we got was needless exposition and lots of angst. Which meant I wasted 16 bloody hours on a weeping mess. A weeping mess that wasn't even fun to watch. And what was with that totally deceitful and illogical ending that totally disrupted the tone of the show? I could forgive the ending in Innocent Man because the whole show had been the total opposite of TWTWB and it was what I wanted to see, and was totally deserved, despite the execution being rather iffy, but the ending in TWTWB was just farcical. Don't even get me started on that creepy as fuck faux-incest either. I'm still trying to wipe that out of my head.
Sometimes a weak plot can be saved if the characters are relatable. However, TWTWB's writer seems to have failed on all fronts because all of the characters were flat as a cardboard cut-out and failed to ignite any sympathy from me. The only one who was remotely interesting was Hee Sun, otherwise I couldn't have cared less about what happened to the rest of them. Oh Young was the one I hated the most - she started off as selfish and conceited, and she ended as selfish as conceited. She also talked too much, way too much, and most of what she had to say was repetitive, superficial and incredibly vapid. But at the end of the day, her character progression was like all of the others: it simply did not exist. How the two leads ended up falling in love with each other is simply beyond me, but I guess toxic attracts toxic
I've seen a lot of praise in regards to the acting, namely the performances provided by Jo In Sung and Song Hye Kyo. Honestly, while these two were quite good - and I use the word in the prespective sense - their performances suffered during the latter parts of the drama. Jo In Sung's tendency to overact when it comes to more emotionally powerful scenes is cringeworthy and Song Hye Kyo's face eventually came to resemble that of a dead fish. OK, I get it, she's blind, but that doesn't hinder her ability to look like a human being on screen. You can tell these two became tired by their performances, but who can blame them when their characters were so pathetic to begin with?
That Winter, The Wind Blows decides to threw logic out of the window in favour of a highly stylised drama that lacks both a proper storyline and depth. It's plot induced stupidity is an insult to intelligence and its characters are some of the most insufferable people to date. If I hadn't enjoyed the first 6 episodes,TWTDB wouldn't have scored more than a 2. If you like to be respected as a viewer, avoid it all costs - and I mean ALL.
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