Loved it, Loved it Loved it! I could end my review there, but there is so much more about this series that I want to say. Spoiler restrictions prevent me from saying about 80% of what I, otherwise, would write, so I will comply. It's a story about hard times that, through a stroke of good luck, ill will, nefarious dealings, buckle-down hard work and even wilder twists on a well-worn theme, eventually turns out to be a morality tale that we all can be edified by.

Our Hero strives to survive under the harsh circumstance of misfortune due to his unknown parentage through hard work in the street-stall marketplace among the merchants who have adopted him as one among their 'family'. This allows him to escape the certainty of a life of crime which would have inevitably lead to his early demise. At a time he thought he had shaken the grip of the street's vicious hand, a calamity, which had nothing to do with him becomes at once the opening of a whole new world of wealth and power, as well as, a slippery path leading to his own destruction. Any lesser man would have succumbed early to the lure set before him to facilitate his fall, but not our Hero.

Love interests in conflict with his self-realized moral code, traps laid by apparent benefactors, breaches of trust at every turn and plot twists (just to keep the storyline moving) incite, invigorate and initiate --cue the fanfare-- his own unrelenting will to overcome, succeed and thrive. The odds stacked against him were indeed overwhelming, but for him, 1% is enough of a formidable alternative to the 99% of certain doom and becomes the underdog's best case scenario. Our Hero comes through with flying colors; bloody but unbowed, battered but unbroken, bruised but unbeaten.

'Big Man' reminds me of dramas I've seen before, but the portrayal the lead Actor puts in, blows ALL the others away. This was running as a currently scheduled program airing at the time I first came across it. But, as is my habit, I refused to watch until most of the episodes were posted at my favorite streaming drama venue so that I could marathon it. This is the best way to consume a series of this length so that the ep-to-ep continuity goes uninterrupted.

Action, drama, comedy, Love story, big business intrigue, seedy underworld criminal perfidy, this one has it all and never skimps on any constituent ingredient. Watch 'Big Man' and you'll agree with me, walking away after the final credits roll, saying,"Loved it, Loved it, Loved it!"; At which time, you may quote me on that...

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I gave this drama very high marks (on my personal K-Drama Richter Scale) because it brought me to tangible emotional extremes that rarely occur to me. The story-line remained consistent, explanatory elements were sparsely introduced when needed and it never got boring; not a single frame was wasted. Kind of goes like this: The dedicated Agents of the Secret Service are tasked with protecting the VIP. Set as a counter balance to this, is the age-old lust for money and power. Politics is the arena chosen for this battle and persistence, patience, competence and trust are all tested to the breaking point as the results shake out.
The main character was worthy of the viewer's trust throughout, and his inevitable Love interest, proved equally fit for the gig; (cute as she was tough, to boot). High stakes international political intrigue is a tricky genre because false-flag invasions, terrorist bomb plots, Presidential assassination attempts and shifty 'sinister' archetypes are easily scripted (within the drama realm) but risk being perceived as hokey tension building devises unless executed with deft articulation of means, motive and opportunity, which 'Three Days' polls off in spectacular fashion.
The artfully crafted cast assembly (in my mind) makes this possible. I walked away from this drama satisfied that every intent of its creators came across as an unqualified success, with no dangling plot elements which were left curiously unresolved. The bad guy (we would all wish to 'get his in the end') held this anticipatory promise with spellbinding consistency. If you haven't seen it yet, do so. It's worth the time and, if you're a drama addict like myself, you'll be hoping for a sequel to this story. It's enough in and of itself to remain a one season series, but I'd like to see more. More of the story, cast ensemble and action design that 'Three Days' brought to the screen...

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Stop me if you've heard this before, but, I literally stumbled onto this drama --because the first episode started while I was out of the room-- and didn't realize (until ep 16) that it was 50 episodes long! By that time I was in way too deep to bail. It was at once, cute, funny, dramatic, witty, awe-inspiring and downright frustrating, but worth every minute I spent in rapt enjoyment.

The story-line kept me guessing (though I thought I'd seen it all) and never strayed from its initial promise: you will Love this series and EVERY character who strutted and fretted across the screen. (For what it's worth, Eun Ju has got to be the cutest young Lady in the genre); but, I digress. Though things may not have turned out as I would have wanted them to from the start, it carried me along from title to credit-roll without apology as to how it had shaken my normally stoic emotional state. The underlying music was tasteful and held the script together without being pedantic, campy or unnecessarily over-sentimental.

Performances were masterful and made me believe that no improvements were necessary; if 'improvement' were at all possible. A true delight. If I'm ever cabin-bound in the mountains with a weeks worth of time and a solid internet connection, I could revisit 'Give Love Away' (or, 'A Little Love Never Hurts') set it on auto-play and watch every moment again without taking, wanting or needing a break in the flow.

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This drama had me from the very first scene. It was intense and, once i got a feel for the direction it was going, I followed right along. Since it was airing at the time I began watching, I had to wait for each episode to come on; then, after a pause, I picked it up on my favorite k-drama web server to see what in the world I had missed, and was going to happen next. Once I had caught up, I breezed through the remaining episodes in less than a week.

I Loved it. Aside from having one of my favorite actresses in the lead role, the story line and the movement from episode to episode held my interest to the point that, when the final credits were rolling, and I realized there were no more plot twists to come, I got that sinking feeling, "What will I watch next that'll make me not miss this one so much?" With each plot element rolled out in regular succession, the tale got deeper and deeper into my own psyche. I felt at times like my own suspension of disbelief had been stretched to its outer limit. Still, at other times, (when not being so particular), I was held in rapt attention waiting for the next clue to drop. I suppose that's what we're in it for and this one had it in spades.

The push-pull of repulsion-attraction-repulsion-attraction between the main characters wasn't as contrived as most dramas make it and these characters seemed to be going through real emotional turmoil. And (it makes sense) that the cure to their necessarily constant proximity, had to be prolonged separation which only complicated matters toward the end. Life and death (and the paradoxes of a middle ground somewhere in between) were vividly explored and exhaustively teased out.

As the resolution to each episode's immediate conundrum was reached, the leads were more unstable in their own relationship. Questioning their own motives and each other's sincerity. Each metaphysical entanglement wrought further existential complications. I even started to think that whatever happens to shatter the binding spell between the two, couldn't be worse than the constant dithering between affirmation and denial; passion and antipathy.

Toss in supporting characters whose presence in the piece created a subversive dynamic tension that helped increase the perplexity and inhibited both lead's determination. Predictably, this brought unnecessary confusion and, at times, tended to get tawdry and overwrought. Everyone had difficulties that only our Girl could fix, and it took more and more out of her spirit in order to bring, for some, their long hoped for resolve. Yet, for others, they had been brought to a place where they were forced to face what they had long been determined to evade.

Finally, when there was no one left, whose problems were yet to be 'handled' on either side of death's misty veil, our main Man and his leading Lady had only to realize what they truly meant to each other after such an ordeal. Mysticism, fate, romanticism and luck are a potent mixed cocktail; from which cup, we drink to our own sorrow, joy, pain and amusement. The Master's Sun serves it all up for those willing to partake of it. Drink up, ye hearty souls, for tomorrow we die. But, while we are yet alive, enjoy as much as is set before you. Drama like this informs our imaginations to give us alternative modes of thinking about what it is we ought to believe; and with that in mind, this one's worth watching again...

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As far as drama goes, this one is not to be confused with hybrid action/rom/coms or any other standard fare we drama addicts tune in to view. This is a creature of a whole different nature. It seemed the writers were intent upon carrying this cast in a specific, predictable direction, when, for whatever reason, reasons unknown to themselves I'd imagine, they (very late in the game) caught their bearings and salvaged what redeeming value could be wrought from this tale. The cast was great, aside from a few ill-conceived roles, or was it the actors cast in those roles; (I won't speculate). But, at times I wanted to -- no i DID -- scream, "WTF!?! I wouldn't stand for THAT!" But then again, I'm not carrying out the whims of directors, producers and writers who just want to get the production in the can.
My initial impression was that this particular vicinity had a severe snake infestation problem (of the two-legged variety). And I surmised that if anyone was to get through this script unscathed, widespread de-snakeification with extreme prejudice would be necessary. Logical choices would have been to build tragic loss(es) into the story-line at some point so as to not lose the audience's emotional consonance with the lead characters. But as the story progressed, certain character deficiencies became less and less critical to the overall resolution of 'When A Man's In Love'.
I can't say how I would have handled this if I had to wait week to week for each episode to be aired, but it was, in the final analysis, worth the twenty hour investment -- at any rate -- and gives several broad-stroke examples of the beauty of forgiveness. Forgiveness for certain persons who exhibit such irredeemable personality flaws that an abrupt writing out of the script, as a final option, may indeed be in order. Just a single character endured the length of the series, having suffered no credibility loss; though suffering repeated incidents of betrayal, deception and malfeasance from the people whom they had trusted most, for the longest time, for the most honorable of reasons; and for that small mercy, I AM grateful...

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My first big revelation about this drama was discovering within two minutes of the first ep that, "hey, they're not speaking Korean!" I stayed with it anyway and Loved it. Aside from the striking beauty of the lead actress, and the ethereal earworm value of the main theme, was the show stopping acting job put in by all cast members, but the little guy playing Mu Chen's son, Xiao Le, still has me in amazement. Along the way the storyline needed pruning, and this was accomplished by the six year 'time leap' where characters and events made more sense; even while bringing in a whole new set of characters. Tearjerker for sure. Even a world worn stoic such as myself got a little misty at key points in the series. Kudos...

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I literally stumbled into this drama. I was watching something else, clicked the wrong link and, viola. I was watching a beautiful Woman do something so incredibly STUPID, I couldn't turn away. Throughout my history of watching dramas (kdrama in particular), I have rarely encountered a character whom I wanted to punch in the throat more than Prosecutor Ahn.

I have recognized that in drama, there are basically three kinds of Men among whom the Woman in the story must choose to fulfill the intent of the writer to make the play resonate. I've generically categorized them as: Boneheads (who wouldn't know a good Woman if she fell from scaffolding into his arms); Jackasses (whose manipulation, abuse and treachery against (usually) the Female Lead is entirely body-bag worthy); and, the Lucky Bastard (to whom, for whatever reason, the Woman chooses to give her whole heart; whether he's worthy of it or not).

This particular drama has the Female Lead straining the limits of her own Love and Fidelity to watch two Men, over the course of sixteen episodes evolve (and devolve) through the above categorized Male archetypes. One went from Bonehead to Jackass to Lucky Bastard; whereas the other went from Lucky Bastard to Bonehead to Jackass. As mentioned above, there a few examples of a less worthy Man to breathe free air in this day and age. In every sense of the word I do believe that we have encountered a hybrid species of Male drama characters: the Weenie. Dude is/was/and remained to be, throughout the course of the series, irredeemably a freaking Weenie. Whose suffering could have been ended really early in this drama (but, what's the fun in that?)

The storyline held until very late when surprise revelations and incongruous turns neither fleshed-out lingering questions or resolved underlying tensions between the characters which is why I couldn't give it a higher grade. It almost seemed as if the writers who began the series caught the flu all at the same time and new writers had to be flown in from another continent to complete filming on schedule. And, though there was a binding thread running through it all from beginning to end, that thread was inevitably undone by it's destined conclusion -- (you'll know what I mean when you watch) -- or not.

That aside, I recommend watching this drama at least once. Performances were tolerable, the music was phenomenal (situational and OST selections) and production value was very well done; befitting a much tighter script. OMO, My Personal Favorite: Jailhouse Unni with the Bette Davis Eyes kills every single frame she's in! Overall rating of 'Secret Love' is out of due respect for the main characters who accurately portrayed what it must truly be like to Love, lose and win; (because the Love losses and wins weren't ultimately charged to one's own account in the long run anyway)...

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I waited for all eps to be posted to begin watching. Ran through it in just over a week, and I've said it before, (probably here) Kang Ma Roo is a Superhero! Rarely does a drama character do EVERYTHING right. I've tried. You can't be (and remain to be) a 'Nige Guy' when every female within 30 meters of you is a card carrying, fully licensed Train Wreck Engineer. But, Dude pulls it off. With barely a scrape on him in the end, he got to reconcile his errors of Love, disregard the shame of Love and capitalize on being an error-free Lover; unashamed to be Loved. Bravo...

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