And so it goes with Beyond the Clouds, whose central theme is just this. Don’t mistake the drama for a common revenge yarn; though payback might be a driving force for many characters, it’s hard to call it “The Point.” Viewers should instead expect a classy, fatalistic romance, complete with slow-burning melodrama. Will these two deeply traumatized people fall in love despite their cruel circumstances? If they do, will a romantic connection hurt even more—or heal both, becoming their silver lining? That’s more “The Point,” and also the element that works most beautifully.
As to the revenge aspect, it’s fine if sometimes messy. I never fully believed or enjoyed the con-man angle. The “big bad” felt one-dimensional, as did his motivations, while other early villains were the same or even slightly unnecessary. That said, the dangerous atmosphere and situations created by their influence was excellent. It’s an odd combination, but it works.
Yoon Kye Sang stars as Jung Se Ro, a gentle man whose experiences have left him unpredictable and angry. This actor shines in Beyond the Clouds, handsome and magnetic. He grabbed my attention as if grabbing my head with both hands, so striking was his performance. Together with leading lady Han Ji Hye, he shared sparkling chemistry. Ji Hye enchants as Han Young Won, playing emotional and romantic scenes well. However, I often noticed her eyes open too wide too often, or glued firmly to the floor. The character can be meek on occasion, but these mannerisms were not strong choices at all.
Though I wasn't crazy about the whole con-man thing, Jo Jin Woong presents well as complicated Park Kang Jae. He’s the most believable and human of the seedy bunch, even the best connected to the main story. Tearful scenes seem to be his forte; he’s fantastic at them. A special mention is reserved for Kim Young Ok, probably the best “grandmother” actress ever. She made me cry so many times it isn’t funny.
Both cinematography and music embrace an elegant, almost classic feel. Early scenes in Thailand are a feast for the eyes, though the rest of the drama delights as well. Songs were well-chosen and interspersed to optimize emotional effect. Unlike in other melodramas, I never grew bored of any of it. Some great vocals include “Whale” (Zitten), “Sin,” (V.O.S), and “The Full Sun,” (Yang Pa).
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It's a revenge story and while watching I really felt the angst of the characters and it was quite clear why they were holding on to their feelings and what motivation there was for their actions. This also showed how in life there is never a simple love or hate and how the human character is so complex you can never predict how a person is goinig to act on what he is presented with.
The acting was point on without anyone overacting. Everyone was so natural in portraying their characters. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and getting involved in their lives.
The music was very good and was fit for the different scenarios.
I am not sure whether I will be able to re-watch this at once because it was quite a tear jerker. However I know that in the future it is one I would not hesitate to watch again.
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The chemistry between the whistle couple, Jung Se-ro and Han Young-Won, and their eagerness to overcome depression highlight the finest aspects of the plot. The characters are portrayed by Yoon Kye-sang and Han Ji-Hye respectively whom had done an excellent job representing their persona with such raw emotions, making viewers even anxious at times.
The ending does fall short of expectations however, as it does comes off a bit too clean. The pride that withholds the logic behind the actions of Tae Oh and Kang Jae becomes questionable near the end but nonetheless captures the essence of the storyline.
The OST for Above the Clouds also deserves some recognition but "The Full Sun" by Yangpa remains the most memorable as it describes their hardships as well as their struggling relationship as a couple.
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Many viewers would want to avoid it as it is a formulaic melodramas. But believe me, even it has ingredients of every melodrama, it's never overwhelmingly sad or too dramatic. The feel and the story may look like That Winter The Wind Blows meets Nice Guy. But I like Full Sun better. It just has the feels that won't you get in those two previous show. Yoon Kye Sang as Jung Se Ro is a delight to watch and even it's my first time watching him and Han Ji Hye, both sold me with their romance and love story. Sure, it can get better if the villain is not boring and so predictable like in every drama ever. But it can be ignored if you watch this show for something else, for instance tragic bromance or romantic love story.
Overall, Full Sun is a very good drama. The acting, story, music and rewatch value for me are very good. It's criminally underrated maybe because people are not aware of this precious gem.
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What is great about this drama is how even though it has a lot of cliches in it, it still somehow manages to stand out in the melodrama genre. Surprisingly- this drama has a real plot and as I started watching it, it sucked me in completely. This is one of those dramas that is better enjoyed if marathoned through. Week after week, the curiosity about how things would unfold kind of waned. I am really not good with patience and this drama required too much of it.
Although the plot is slow and not overly dramatic as some other dramas, it has an addictive vibe to it. I think this drama was perfectly paced upto episode 8-9. The middle was kind of boring and dragging for me but the last two episodes were solid. They totally redeemed the drama in my eyes because I had been worried about how things would turn out.
The main characters in this drama seem interesting at first, but ironically the lead pair fades in comparison to the second leads. My favourite character in this drama was Kang Jae. He was a bad guy with a conscience, an anti-hero, a guy in need of love and a great hyung. I loved the complexity of his character and Jo Jin Woong did an excellent job of playing him. As for Yoon Kye Sang even though I liked his acting, it went over the top at times. Han Ji Hye was pretty but had no variation in her expressions- she always had the same, sad, "damsel in distress" face. Her character was written well but too bad she could hardly do justice to her role.
There are a lot of touching moments in this drama. It teaches you a lot about life, love and family. It raises a lot of questions about morals and shows how greed can destroy people's lives. I think that was a pretty interesting take on the whole story. It also makes you think of loyalty and human psychology which was rather cool!
There is murder, romance, deceit, revenge, lies, betrayal and friendship- all in this drama. It has enough of everything to keep one entertained. If you like romance, there is enough of that too. Maybe not as overwhelming as in some other dramas but I was quite satisfied with it. :)
I have to give props to the OST of this drama. It's brilliant and I've been listening to some songs every day now and still don't get bored. Every single song is memorable. I think this drama has one of the best OSTs ever.
I think it's a good drama to watch if you're looking for something different. :)
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This review may contain spoilers
As far as melo, revenge dramas go, I have seen a lot of them. This one is average. The story is good, but I think the directing was a problem. How many scenes of Han Young Won walking down the sidewalk crying or in thought is necessary? The pace is a little slow, but over all it is a good drama. The ending is kinda anti-climatic, but I'm sure some of you will like it.I like Han Ji Hye and she did well as Han Young Won. I have love for Yoon Kye Sang ever since I watched Road Number 1. He did a great job as Jung Se Ro. The perfect blend of kindness and anger. I wish I could post spoilers, because there are specific scenes in which he excelled. I have never seen anything in which Jo Jin Woong has acted previously. He is a really good actor. I felt deeply for Park Kang Jae. The other actors are good too.
The music was fitting and some of it is really nice.
If you like light melo/revenge dramas, then this is definitely a good one.
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This drama has an amazing OST with a lot of memorable songs, like Whale from Zitten (this one will be on my playlist for like ever).
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So please give the drama a chance because it's so damn good!!
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The story itself revolves around revenge, crime, and the price of success, with one character getting caught up in a life he didn't plan, and another character having her entire perfect world turned upside down. Somewhere in between there is an ill-fated love story. I do like melodrama, so I can generally handle all the feels this drama offers, but I admit that it was even too much for me at times... not the circumstances, but the heavy handedness. Some of that could be the fault of some weak writing and acting.
The cast is lead by Yoon Kye Sang who plays a man who reinvents himself into a con man in order to seek revenge. His struggle to fight against his true nature is heartbreaking, from the very first, beautifully shot, scene. I haven't seen him in any drama since "The Greatest Love", where he gave me major second lead syndrome, but here he is completely different. Here he gets to show off a much wider range, going from bad@ss to vulnerable with ease. I thought he was excellent, but I can't say the same for his costar. Han Ji Hye as Han Yeong Won is either a case of an actress not bringing enough to the role or the role not giving her much to work with. She played the sheltered rich girl part well, but her emotions were pretty one note. She was good enough for me to believe her character, but compared to the epic tears and emotions from Kye Sang, she often felt flat. I mean, she's dealing with some major tragedies and betrayals in this drama and her reactions always seemed a little "Meh". Even her anger seemed super passive, which I think was a character choice, but it made it hard for me to invest too much in her emotionally. I wanted to care about her more than I did. To put it more bluntly, she can be pretty boring to watch. I may have cared more about the whistle than her by the end.
The supporting cast is excellent. Of course Kim Young Ok is the Halmeoni MVP of KDramas, Kim Young Chul was excellent as the worst dad ever, as well as the other wonderfully horrible family members, and I especially loved the cast of cons as an ensemble. I was honestly more interested in Kim Yoo Ri as the petty and jealous Seo Jae In than I was in the female lead. And the real star of the entire cast in my opinion is Jo Jin Woong as Park Kang Jae. I think there is a reason he earned a spot on the promo poster, and that is because he is by far the strongest character in the show. I liked that almost all of the characters blur the lines between good and bad, and are complicated, but his character made me angry, made me root for him (even when he was wrong), and brought me to full tears. I have already seen him in Signal, so his being so good is no surprise, but his character was imo the best one in the drama as far as the writing and performance goes.
I feel like the story itself was interesting when in came to the cons, especially in the first episode, but instead too much time was spent on two sad people trying not to want to be together. The romance is also very restrained, which makes sense to the story, but it means more tears and anguish than loving or passionate moments. If I watched this while it aired, I probably would have dropped it after the first few episodes, but instead I powered through the boring parts just to see how it would all end. It also helped that the beginning was so intriguing that even when the story got slow I at least wanted to make it to the part that the beginning scene foreshadowed. The ending wasn't disappointing, so I have no regrets watching the whole drama, but with it's fair share of clichés and tropes it is hardly original, or necessarily recommendable. It does feel more like a movie than a drama at times, but only visually. I also want to avoid spoilers but the characters are far more complicated than the actual story. Just know that you've probably seen this all before.
Would I watch it again? It's possible, but not that likely. I just didn't like the story enough, although I liked some of the characters enough. A lot of it is also already forgettable, which is not a good thing.
Overall, if you choose to miss this drama you're not really missing much. I do believe that Yoon Kye Sang deserved a much better leading lady, and maybe I would have liked this more. Still, it's entertaining enough if emo-melodrama is your thing. Just keep some tissues nearby, just in case.
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Good premise, but felt contrived at times.
I watched this around the time it started airing and I remember reading an article where someone stated "It is a well-made drama" in reference to the drama Beyond the Clouds. After having watched it I still can't grasp what made them say that. Was it the story? The acting? The direction? Everything? Maybe it's because I don't often go for melodramas, but I had a really difficult time watching it until the end. While there were some intense and interesting moments, especially from Jung Se Ro, I didn't find it sufficiently captivating as a whole. I usually quite like the revenge theme, and up until halfway I felt the story was well-structured and developed at a good pace. After that, it dragged needlessly making it absurdly boring up until the last two episodes. Personally, while I enjoyed the angst and the dual feelings in the main character's actions, I did not find their romance interesting or necessary. One, because of the way it was written, and two because of how poorly the female lead conveyed emotions. There was simply not enough passion portrayed between the leads to make me care for their relationship. Don't even get me started on the whistle. Overall I felt that Beyond the Clouds had a good premise and story. It had many heartfelt moments, it posed pertinent questions about how your life choices affect you, and how money, greed, and power can turn your life, and the life of others upside down. If you like melodramas why not give this one a chance?Was this review helpful to you?
how to become a flop
What started pretty strong, as a dark revenge melodrama, turned soon into some boring nonsense where nothing added up. i feel sorry for the wasted potential this drama had, and especially for the excellent ML. BUT the plot was a total mess after the first few episodes, its just like they tried to patch together all the ideas gathered during a brainstorming session with the filming team.The ML and FL dont really communicate, though they frequently talk (!?). Everybody blackmails everybody and keeps secrets from them. As i already said, nothing adds up and its a total mess.
After ep13 or so, just skipped and watched the final - which is pretty rewarding - and thats all.
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