I've been watching Korean and Japanese dramas since january 2011 and this is the first drama I'm reviewing. (I always wanted to use this sentence and I had one shot; so, sorry in advance.) I didn't expect to watch anything that came close to City Hunter, while Healer surpassed it unmeasurably!
This will be a very short review: By far the best Korean drama I've watched so far - and I watched a decent number of them.
This drama has everything: breath-taking story, very good acting, music much above average, overall a very well calculated entertainment value.
Pace - In my personal experience, this was closest to perfection in terms of pace. I'm a marathon person. So I just sit down and watch all episodes in 40 hours or so. As a result, in most dramas, I lose interested after watching the two thirds of the episodes - so you have no choice but fast forward those exaggerated scenes full of staring and misunderstandings. This wasn't the case for Healer, the story was breath-taking from the beginning to the end. Let me add that the story captures you from the first episode onwards - which is somewhat rare also in Korean dramas in my opinion.
Cliches - There is a decent amount of cliches in the drama which are used smartly. so it captures both the new-comers to Dramaland as well as seasoned watchers who are tired of the cliches. I was especially happy because there were minimum number of misunderstandings and actual communication!
Love - Awesome dosage to my taste! Not sticky, boring love but also not one of those that make you go rrrrrrrrr at the end due to unsatisfaction. Let me add that the presence of SEX (finally in a Korean drama) is one of the reasons I rated it so highly. Enough with the 15 year-old approach to love and sex. The one and only sex-oriented and somewhat erotic episode is not overdone at all, but just the right dosage.
Female lead - This is important. You don't have the traditional idiotic female lead - which is somehow associated with innocence and purity. No, female leads don't have to be complete idiots to be cute and attractive and thank god we have a mart one here.
Male lead - Ehm... Well, I'm a straight woman so the "eye candy" element is crucial for me. And oh yeah I was satisfied! :) no more comments on this...
Acting - Much much above average, one of the best I've watched so far!! I wouldn't expect this much from Ji Chang Wook, I was very very surprised! And of course, chapeau to ahjumma! Brava!
Still I couldn't cover everything but I can't write forever. So if you're reading this to decide about watching or not, stop reading and start watching. Definitely I'll be watching again in a few months.
Thank you for everyone who worked on this drama to bring it to its current quality level! Hallyu wave owes you guys big time! =))
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