Sweet Palpitations (2011)

A Winner

Admittedly, I haven’t watched too many over hundred episode dramas. However, I have tried a few and did lots of forwarding. With this one, with minimal forwards, I think it’s worthy of its length.

Pros:
*It’s a pretty good family oriented story. A family with complications in relationships, personal as well as within. I thought the writer did a good job giving us a story that isn’t the first of its kind, however, it was moving. If a scene that is supposed to move you to tears doesn’t, it’s not well written or acted? This one has lots of moving themes that bring you to tears and afterthoughts.
*The elderly fathers/grandpas that become in-laws. Their acting was so good and pretty much stole the show. They were vital in the story and their acting was impeccable. The rich one of course is obnoxious and it takes the poor one to change him. You can get so mad at the character but smile at the person who is the character. I imagine the effort and laughter in pulling it through while filming.
*It’s like dividing the story in parts. For instance, first part was the romance of leads. Then came the part of opposers (his ex, her admirer) trying to break them up. Then it’s the sister in law and her true nature creating friction. Then it’s one of the dads and his struggle. It transitions well to keep story moving and flowing.
*Family. Many dramas pit brothers against each other. This one has brothers who truly care for each other. We see dramas with evil or let’s say screaming annoying parents. Besides the father of lead male who’s very grumpy and mean, others are kind and make efforts to bring unity. This was so refreshing and I like that a lot in this drama.
*Antagonists did their part to wreak havoc (his ex, her admirer). What’s good though is that their chapters ended pretty early instead of dragging us through their dirty to the end.
Cons:
*I felt that the FL acting was lacking. She was a boring character is maybe more accurate. She’s meek, mousey voice, and just plain boring. In beginning when she kicked out her leg to react at ML attitude, I thought she was gonna be bad**s. As it is, once she got the guy she was more or less insignificant. Lol. She’s kind, humble, gets talked over, etc. You know the kind too familiar (I’m poor so yeah, do as you will rich ones).
*The chapter on dad dragged a bit so I skipped a few episodes.
*It ended well, happy but if I was a producer I would have closed it in another direction. For its focus on the ending portion, even if it’s sad in a way, it would be most realistic. As it is, they opted to give us what we hope to see in dramas, ever ending happiness.

It’s tough to rewatch long dramas and there’s too many to catch up on anyways. If you’re looking though for a long one, this one delivers pretty good and I believe you’ll be satisfied.

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Another Heart Transplant Love Story

The usual daily drama format. It took exactly 3 episodes to glue everyone together inside a company setting. More or less, the drama had about three major problems. The drama hit a dead end and became in an irrecoverable state at episode 102 which is why a sudden switch was flipped to alter the drama's direction. Another possible reason for the shift, everyone was contractually obliged for about 100 episodes but the drama suddenly got an extension for 30+ episodes and some members of the cast had a busy calendar so they weren't available for the extension. The other problem was the constant escape technique the writer plagued this drama with. Do Hyung's father played a big role creating conflict and tension with the leads, however, his weak health was always present to cut any dialogue/scene short, delaying the conflict, and neglecting his purpose as a character. Being hot-tempered parent/in-law is a common archetype in daily shows but combining that with his health problems made things quite irritating. The third problem was the intense and harsh humiliation and degradation the FL and her family suffered from throughout the drama. At a certain point the drama attempted to fix the situation in preparation for the ending, while they might have been fine on the surface but the damage couldn't be washed away. At bare minimum, they needed to address it directly and make it worthwhile. Anyway, the drama remains pretty average.

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