Story: Even though it has familiar themes such as hotel setting, rivalry for power, baking, birth secret, jealous ex gf you want to punch etc. the writer did a great job of keeping each episode well paced, which made me want to keep watching. The ending is wrapped in a nicely neat bow for those who care;)The last 20 episodes felt dragged out though, that's pretty much the only critique for the story.
Acting/Characters: The acting was spot on for all the characters. Well except Lee Jang Woo who I can't seem to like in anything. It doesn't help that his character is a spoiled whiny chaebol who blames everyone else for all his "problems." The actress who played Saewa was really great with her character because I cringed every time her character came on, probably the most annoying character I've seen in a drama ever (and I've seen a lot!). My favorite characters were Sae Young & Tae Hoon Oppa(Alex). They were too funny and cute! As for the lead couple most of the time I felt like they had more of a cute chemistry meant for friends. I really like the lead actress though (saw her in King of Dramas first, really different characters). I forgot to mention the actress who played the mentally handicapped mother Anna. Excellent acting although her character got annoying towards the end as well...
Music: Not a lot of it, and not memorable either. It's to be expected though cause most daily dramas don't incorporate music.
Rewatch: It's rewatchable but I don't know when I'll have the time to sit through all those episodes again. I also don't care to watch all the annoying characters again so there's that...
Overall Smile, Dong Hae is worth a watch if you like family themed shows with a happy ending. It is possible to finish...if you dare!
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Characters: you've got
Donghae: (Ji Chang Wook) who plays a smart innocent nice guy who was ditched by his girlfriend of 6yrs and then he meets Bongi.
Saewa: the evil ex-girlfriend who tries to get in the family of the rich in order to make her self known (she is the evil girl in the drama).
Anna Laker (my favorite mother) who after an accident when she was young is stuck with the mindset of a 7yr old - but she is loveable, yet sometimes a bit too naïve/stupid in things she does - but the reason is obvious.
Donghae and Bongi are my reasons for loving this drama. Donghae is the best male lead ever - he is trustworthy and loveable! Someone who believes in his love no matter what.
159 episodes (35 min episodes each) so it's more like 45 episode drama.
I've watched it twice and want to re-watch it again - I even bought the drama! to me it is a Masterpiece!!!
I loved every character in this drama - but all in all Donghae and Bongi were still my favorites :D
I HIGHLY recommend this drama if you like Family dramas!
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NO....
The looks are too deceiving in this one, this is 5% family drama and 95% melodrama with the usual violent violin playing in the background every 2.1 seconds. This is not a family drama and the tag should be removed. For the length the drama had there was barely any story and the writing wasn't passable at all. I was losing my mind because of this "James" plot line, 100 episodes of endless tease and hundreds of close encounters to reveal the father identity. That's mostly the main story, what's even worse is that the exact same scenario step by step is being repeated for another 30 episodes for the grandparents identity. The last 30 episodes were random shenanigans and cringe.This drama definitely had one of the laziest dumbed down writings out there. The writer was relying heavily on the mentally challenged mother to create tension, I lost count how many times a character threaten the mother that result into a problem and people shouting. It also extends to the characters' writing, all of which were bland, one dimensional, single digit IQ and unlikable. The writer was also trying to push her political agenda of pro-life antiabortion so damn hard with multiple extensive dialogues sequences.
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The story is just about a son and his mom (Donghae and Anna) who came back to SK to look for his biological father who happens to be an heir to an owner of a hotel conglomerate. I love how the son and mom wether all hardships and difficulties of life to finally find the long lost father and became one big happy family with the second family of the father! But what I truly admired is the family of the lead actress (BongYi) who were very kind and generous with Donghae and Anna! They have helped them through and through!
Although the drama is quiet long at 159 eps, the writer has been very consistent in keeping the pacing of not too slow and not too fast! although there were episodes that were dragging but it did not affect my viewing pleasures at all since there were many cliffhangers, twist and turns that will interest you as a viewer.
I love JiChangWook as Donghae and for me no other actor can portray Donghae effectively other than JiChangWook! It is as if the writer has JiChangWook on his mind to play when he is writing the story. Even at a young age JiChangWook has already a knacks on acting! And he can handle the role so maturely and responsibly. No wonder he was called Korea's Son after this drama is over. He was held by the many viewers with much liking and respect!
The music is not to be reckoned with but i like the OSTs which is just a few. The music is just enough to stir emotions but not enough to leave a lasting effect. But I should say because of its many episodes, and that I always listened to it, I have already come to love the music especially the opening song.
I am always been a re-watcher of JiChangWooks drama and this is no exceptions. However, I only watch those episodes which has lasting effect on me like the proposal Donghae made to BongYi at the park, so simole yet so romantic, the 2 weddings that they had, among others. I would probably watch this again once JichangWooks is enlisted in the military! A good way to be reminded of him always.
This is a highly recomended drama if you are a JiChangWook fan and love a family drama! If you are into strong family ties relationship, loving and forgiveness, this is the right drama for you!
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This review may contain spoilers
Just unnecessary long
One of my biggest problems is that it's too long to a point where you can skip not episodes but you can skip a lot of unnecessary scenes. the first 60 episode give or a take a 10 episodes are great but once you go past the halfway mark a lot of the episodes is regurgitating the drama or the problem without any solution multiple times to Strech it out that add nothing to the story, yes there are key moments with importance but it still feels like I'm being dragged on again there's no build-up to the big drama scene that happens every 5-10 episodes. again, certain scenes in episodes can be skipped and you could still figure out what was going on,And the ending is just worse its your usual happy go lucky everybodys friends and stuff i wouldn't have a problem with it if it wasn't mega rushed. it was the problem above but reversed they tried squeezing these conflict resolves without any character development into 3 30-minute episodes when they literally could have used past episodes that contained scenes that didn't add anything to the plot other than regurgitating the drama
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