I expected to find this movie interesting, and to enjoy it as kind of a cult-classic of Korean cinema... But I didn't expect to be entranced or moved so deeply. And I certainly didn't expect to still be thinking about it for days and weeks afterwards.

The characters are strange, and yet we know them, because we know loneliness. We know what it's like to look into a house and wonder about the lives of its inhabitants. We know what it's like to feel helpless and trapped. And if we don't know what it's like to meet someone who understands us, we want to know, and 3-iron (or "Empty Houses") takes us there. It doesn't shy away from the weird, the violent, or the morally ambiguous, but somehow the main characters' innocence is overwhelming.

Weird and wonderful is the best way I can describe the movie. Highly recommended!

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The best things about the drama -
Strong acting from the entire cast. I have a cynical heart, and get real tired of kdrama stereotypes and lazy acting... But there isn't much of that in Healer. Ji Chang Wook plays the dark, troubled soul type stuff with an ease that makes me buy it. I never had to work too hard or analyze the situation in order to understand his feelings; it flowed naturally. (Plus, he's super funny when he wants to be.)
Park Min Young plays the cute and quick-witted girl with reality, combining spunk and fearlessness with an honesty that sometimes gave me goosebumps. The supporting cast is so obviously golden I don't even really need to talk about them. (ajumma!!)

The chemistry between the two leads was refreshingly real. Damsel in distress, hidden identity, etc; all those things were there, but Healer used them creatively, making them new. And when the relationship needed to move forward, it did: frustrating misunderstandings which kept our leads apart were resolved quickly and responsibly and not allowed to drag on for episodes at a time.

I could go on but I'll cut myself off and get to what I consider the drama's slightly less amazing qualities -
The complexity of the plot. Or rather, the sheer number of important players in the plot and how they're all intricately related. That DID take some work to figure out, and there's a decent amount of potential for getting confused if you're not actively paying attention.

The ending. It wasn't a bad ending by any means- the show did what it needed to. But it was slightly anticlimactic... (like 90 percent of kdramas, in my opinion).

Any other qualms I have with the drama are tiny ones, easily surpassed by the strength of the relationships and the pull of the plot.

I don't know exactly what has made Healer so easy for many of us to adore and obsess over, what it is that made masses of watchers experience euphoric giddiness at the first notes of the theme music. But undeniably, the drama has got that potential to suck you in (which we all love in dramas, right?!) and avoids a lot of the pacing slumps and boring cliches that abound in other dramas, so even if it ain't your total cup of tea, there will probably be plenty to entertain you!

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