But after a while the drama started to drag on. I dealt with it because it wasn't as bad as other dramas and continued to watch. And after a few episodes the cliffhangers started to repeat themselves and were very predictable.
The ending...oh god i don't know where to begin. This drama had the potential of having a very good ending, but obviously the Hong sisters didn't know what they were doing and I have never seen an ending so bad. i had big hopes for this drama and was let down big time.
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I'll give some justice to to it!!!!
MUST READ to those who haven't watch it:
when I first visit the page Big I was hesitant to watched it due to the negative comments about ending and the story but then I decided to give it a try. After watching the 1st ep BOOOOOM!!! I was like UH OH! I'm glad I watched this drama!!! the name itself says it all, its BIG that you should not miss!!
let me give you 5 reasons:
1. Pure love story
2. the flow of the story is smooth and interesting, it has it's "own" potential to make the viewers keep track on it, it's like a whole puzzle that you must complete to see how it will end.
3. it will make you LAUGH!!!! (i guarantee it to you ;)
4. The sloooowmo- moments )
I'm gonna miss this magnificent drama soooooo much!! :(
When the clock strikes to 10:10 you'll definitely remember this drama!! curious? then gooo watch it now so you can relate :>
PS: I hope my review removes your hesitation in watching the BIGGEST drama!:> why don't you give it a TRY like what I did :)
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One, they don't provide enough background for the main cast of the drama. Instead they provide way too many fillers with useless information and subplots such as the romance between Teacher Ae Kyung and Na Hyo Sang's little romance. Or even more unbelievably pointless, Teacher Kim Young Ok and Kang Kyung Joon's Uncle's relationship to Gil Da Ran's parents. While their comedic relief is undeniable the time used up on these people could be used to focus on more interesting and informative things like Kyung Joon and Mari's past. Or Yoon Jae's dad and Kyung Joon's mom. Or more importantly Yoon Jae himself, cause honestly after the guy got knocked the hell out we really lost the chance to see any sort of character development. What little flashbacks that were provided simply werent enough because they centered around Gil Da Ran and Yoon Jae as a couple, not him as an individual.
Furthermore, how did Ma Ri and Kyung Joon become acquainted!? How'd she grow to be so in love (obsessed) with him? Besides a few flashback clips of him patting her on the head and her asking him to stop his mom from going to her dad, I really don't know much about this pairing's past.
Also, another thing the writers could have shed a little more light on is the truth behind Yoon Jae and Lee Se Young's relationship. Was it really one sided? And if it was why the fuck would he take and KEEP the key she gave to him if he wasn't wavering in the least bit? Is he really as pure in thought and mind as the writers have tried to convince us after discovering Lee Se Young's lies.
Speaking of the devil, Lee Se Young was a total waste of a potential character if you ask me. I mean really here you have two female antagonist, Seyoung and Mari, yet you give more screen time to the one who is mostly just an annoying fly on the wall with weak purpose. Other than being an manipulative and obnoxious little liar exactly what is she there for lmfao. It'd be something different if Kyung Joon actually had feelings for Mari which would create more tension and drama with a real love triangle. Or maybe a love square? I'm not sure? Can you really count Yoon Jae anymore since he's pretty much had no say in the matter for the last uh...15 episodes.
But anyway, we can't really speak for Mari and Kyung Joon's past because like many other important things it's vague as fuck.
As far as the casting goes, I think it's safe to say that Gong Yoo (((oppa))) saved this drama. As always his performance reeled me in like a fish. I swear when he cries angels grab the tissues and start dabbing away at their tears, lbr. Every emotion is so believable.
LEE MIN JUNG. Love the girl i really do but i hate the character lmfao. She just seems so useless half the time? And only plays a game of tug of war with her feelings. Like really I can just picture her sitting on a park bench, plucking the petals off a sunflower and saying "I love him....I love him not...I love him...I love him not". Cause that's all her character did this entire time besides act like she older than Kyung Joon by 15 years and scold him restlessly even though he has more courage, patience, consistency, commitment, and sincerity in the tip of his finger than she possess in her entire fucking body. Honestly, she just proved to me that an age gap has little to do with maturity and readiness in terms of love. BUT I'M SORRY, i can't blame Lee Min Jung for having an "eh" role. I mean she didn't write it ykwim? Lmfao i really like her acting so I won't continue to complain.
OK. BUT LASTLY.
WHAT'S EVEN MORE UPSETTING
IS HOW THIS DRAMA DRAGS ON AND ON AND ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN AND ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN and ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN AND ONNNNNNNNN-....see what i did there. Yea.
The writers spend most of the time making the main cast look like indecisive dumbasses instead of worrying about how to settle the "after come".
Here's a timeline of what they do:
exposition --> rising action --> CLIMAX? --> K nope rising action --> rising action --> CLIMAX NOW?..anybody? idk --> falling action? --> nope havent reached the climax i don't think --> a bunch of plot twists --> ok wtf are we even doing anymore --> finale resolution (lol hi)
Lmfao. Kyung Joon hasn't returned to his own body and there's only 1 episode left to take care of that. Naturally, this will lead me to believe that everything will be jam packed into the finale. I'm praying that it won't be sloppy. I'm praying that it won't be a cop out ending in which they pull a "5 years later" type of thing. There's literally so many things to cover after they switch bodies back that it just leaves...to many doubts and little hopes for a clean end.
If you ask me they could have spent less screen time on useless things like standing around crying while dramatic OST music plays in the background; or, knixed one of the supporting cast subplots on creating more time for the finale, in which all questions can be answered. All loose knots can be tied.
Anyway, overall this drama just seems to be yet another predictable and shallow romance that can be used to pass time. It gets kudos for some of the exceptional pieces of eye candy though.
But again, Gong Yoo was terrific and gives a heart trembling performance as always! So, if you're a huge fan of him you can give this drama a shot.
(might edit after watching the last ep)
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Story: This story was awful. There were so many plot holes and inconsistencies that any good points in the narrative and any episodes I enjoyed were completely killed by an ending that was incomplete and worse...an ending where the writers treated their audience as stupid. There is no greater crime a writer can commit. If you see the last two episodes you will understand with glaring clarity what I mean. Too many major things were left unsaid and left undone. Horrible story and a terrible thing to do to loyal watchers who will have wasted 16 hours of their life investing in nothing.
Now, I know I sound harsh but the writers deserve it...and I am actually a fan of the Hong Sisters...But I give no quarter as I cannot judge this crap work based on other dramas I have thoroughly enjoyed. Skip this and watch The Greatest Love, Hong Gil Dong or My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.
Acting: As harsh as I am on the sad and enraging outcome of the story, I cannot be harsh with the acting. I place no blame on the actors of this drama. Gong Yoo was wonderful playing Kyung Joon; a boy trapped in the body of a 30 year old. And I would go so far as to say that his younger counterpart, Shin Won Ho did a good job playing Kyung Joon as well. He was cute and charming and I even felt chemistry between him and Gil Da Ran at the beginning. I would have loved to have seen more of him...especially toward the end. I like Lee Min Jung. I have seen her in several dramas and some movies too. I think she is a talented actress and while her part was written to be a bit weepy, like Gong Yoo, I find fault with the writing, not her acting. Suzy was much improved and Bae Sung Hyun who played Choong Sik was totally winning and adorable.
It is really a shame when a talented cast is wasted on crap writing.
The music was forgettable. I don't remember one song and never did I find myself humming a tune or looking up the OST on YouTube. Which is a bad sign because I do that a lot when a drama has a good OST. (see Me Too Flower and Coffee Prince)
Overall, I walked away from this drama feeling cheated; out of a resolution for the characters, out of what could have been a fun story if it were written better, out of a Gong Yoo comeback drama that actually did not WASTE his talents and finally out of 16 hours of time that I want back.
I won't watch this again and I caution anyone who hasn't watched to even begin.
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However, around ep 8, the drama starts to drag, consequently, becomes boring. The plot was being dragged a lot, and nothing seemed to have an "answer". The feeling you get after finish watching an episode is like you've watched nothing relevant.
The last half of the drama was just confusing, dragged, and boring. We had no answers. We just had to swallow an end we didn't get at all.
I'm giving it a 6. Just because I really enjoyed the first half of the drama and the OST is really good.
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I wouldn't waste your time on this drama honestly, it starts out pretty good but it drops drastically and there are other dramas that would better fill up your time, so only watch this if you have nothing else to watch on your list.
The story was a good idea, but could have been used in a better way.
The acting was great, especially from Gong Yoo, he really made the show worth watching in the end, otherwise I might of given up if it wasn't for him.
The music was good as well, I enjoyed all of the songs.
And I definitely will not be rewatching this one.
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This review may contain spoilers
The Hong Sisters like to make their shows a bit confusing with all the back-and-forth plot shifting. It's like this for almost the whole drama: the leads' relationship is going great and then they fight again for some reason or a new development throws them off, ruining all the fun the viewer is supposed to be having. It gets extremely tedious after the main characters' third or fourth time they spend depressed or in angst because of silly misunderstandings.I think what I disliked the most in 'Big' is how the plot threw me around, and how so much happened in a mere 16 episodes that the ending was rushed while there were still unresolved threads of the story. I will complain about the ending several times here so keep that in mind.
The premise of the story, to begin with, isn't at all original. Body switching? It's been overdone. I wasn't interested at all but my cousin basically sang praises for this drama and she kept telling me to watch it so we could fangirl about it together (no way that's going to happen now).
I wish they'd given Shin Won Ho a bigger part, besides just being a sleeping beauty (as he was dubbed in the show itself) for almost the entire show. I think they missed the whole point of the body switching since I felt like Gil Da Ran fell in love with Yoon Jae anyway because of how it ended. I can't even rant about how upset I am by the ending because it's one big spoiler but trust me, the ending sucks (and for the record, I did understand it but it was too incomplete and unsatisfying). Okay, I think I confused those of you who don't know what I'm talking about enough.
I have to note Gong Yoo's great acting here. He was just a victim of a bad storyline but he did wonders acting like a 30 year old man in the beginning and then an 18 year old. He has improved loads since the last drama I've seen him in (which makes sense since Coffee Prince was 5 years ago). Bottomline is: the man knows how to act. Really well.
Alright, I'm ending this review because I can't really rant much since then we'd be getting into spoiler territory but I don't recommend watching this show. Edit: I'm not saying I didn't have fun at the beginning before every thing was ruined, and I'm not saying it wasn't ridiculously funny at times, but in the end, it was even more disappointing to watch because of that. So I don't recommend 'Big' because the disappointment you'll get is not worth spending 16 hours of your time on this drama.
If you want to watch a decent Hong Sisters drama, then watch 'My Girlfriend is a Gumiho' but otherwise, stay away from this one.
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I thought to myself, this drama is so negative, why don’t I try to see the “why” for myself, and find the answer. I was just curious as to how my own reactions will be. While watching every episode, I was always on the lookout and waiting for the “light bulb” moment of “Ah! This must be what they were ranting on about!”
Such things as “confusing”, “repetitive”, “dragging”, “failed characterization”, “lacks background stories”, “plot holes”, “terrible, rushed, unexplainable ending”, “horrible writing”, “waste of time”, etc…
I couldn’t find enough justification to agree on all these negative outputs. Instead I simply discovered a beautiful story, infused with serious moral issues (got touches of My Sister's Keeper and Biscuit Teacher), consistent characters that had me invested, development that is well paced, believable conflicts and angst, great sense of humor, facets of love from every minute angle (imagine everyone, including side characters is presented with their own take or slice of love).
In the end, I hardly had any breaks while watching until I finished all 16eps of it. I wasn’t left with any lingering questions either, every episode made sense to me. And the wrap-up and finale was all fine; the drama stuck to its whimsical nature, because it gave me the same feeling that it did in its very first episode, with the “first encounter” and the “body-switch”.
I wasn’t too bothered or concerned that the drama supposedly didn’t show “this” or “ that” because they were not really crucial to the point of the story. Sometimes, the conclusions were pretty much obvious because the words have already been said, and even the unsaid were also quite obvious from the characters behavior, so that to show them play out “returns”, “reunions”, “confessions”, or “confrontations” will end up being redundant.
I’m plenty happy with the cast; they surely breathed the right tone for the drama. The music played out well but I honestly can’t bring up anything memorable. I feel that I may even re-watch this in the future. Likely, I’ll be skipping a lot of Jang Ma Ri scenes ‘coz once is surely enough exposure. I can give this an overall rating of ‘9’ for a first-time watch, and then it falls to an average of ‘8’ after that.
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I really enjoyed the chemistry between Gong Yoo (Kang Kyung Joon) and Lee Min Jung (Gil Da Ran) they just worked very well together. And they just seem like a very goofy, fun, complicated couple.
My main complaint of this drama was the last couple of episodes in where everything just seemed very repetitive about the situation they were in and then the way it ended just seemed very rushed. I just kind of wish there were a bit more episodes to explain exactly what happened or they should have wrapped up the drama more nicely.
But overall I loved it, may re-watch episodes here and there... Loved the characters and will definitely be checking out more dramas with them in it. ^^
** There is also a lot of symbolism in this drama.
MY BLOG REVIEW: beautifulobsessivethoughts.blogspot.com/2013/08/k-drama-big.html
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There are two things that are so wrong with this drama:
1. It totally sucks after about episode 10 when it just gets so repetitive.
2.Before body switch Kang Kyung Joon and after body switch Kang Kyung Joon are NOTHING alike. Which defeats the point of having a body switch storyline. Grrrrrrrrr.
The first two episodes of this were brilliant, I loved them. Shin Won Ho was brilliant, despite being a newcomer. I will deffo check out some of his other work because he's so slick and cool in this. Except he then goes and spends the rest of the series lying in bed looking pretty but not really adding to the story.
I don't know if this is just me but I found all of the other characters a bit annoying, especially Gil Da Ran. And there's nothing worse than an annoying main character. I also didn't like Suzy's character either, which makes me sad because I loved her in Dream High. Just another let down in this drama.
The ending was the worse part. This drama went from being awesome and funny in the first episodes, to bearable with some funny moments in the middle. And then just pure terrible at the end. Did the writers suddenly get ill or something? Because I cannot see how the ended up writing such crap for the last episodes. It literally makes me angry!
Overall, I would DEFINITELY NOT recommend this drama. I think it's one of, if not he worst drama I've ever watched. Want my advice? Stay well away and save your time for a drama that doesn't turn to dog dodo half way through!
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