Forest

I would rate this K-Drama as 6.5 stars (rounded up to 7), with little that stands out either positively or negatively. It was a pleasant, if generally tepid watch, with nice scenery, acceptable script, and a story and characters which were interesting, but not compelling enough to produce a lot of buy-in (for me).

The one noteworthy point was the ending, where the writers made an obvious effort to tie up all the loose ends for a clear-cut (if slightly unrealistic) conclusion. In short, if you like stories where justice is served, and the power of love changes people for the better, you might go for this one.

ROMANCE RATING: 7/10 * * * The romance in this show generally stays in the "warm fuzzies" category, with 4+ kiss scenes featuring gentle kisses or brief pecks. PHJ and JBA have believable chemistry together (though IMO it could have been even better). Sadly, the only real sexual tension was in a heated, pre-dating kiss scene where the leads are using their heart rate to prove how unaffected they are by each other. It would have been super spicy if not for the sound editing, which failed to adjust the BPMs and therefore made the intent of the scene confusing/ distracting.

The entire drama and the main couple's relationship was built entirely around bonding over their each others trauma. Not necessarily bad but it felt it was purposely designed that way to manipulate the viewers' emotions forcefully. This was pretty obvious from the very beginning with how they portrayed and handled the female lead's boyfriend. You would fell for their trap if you were a newcomer. The music choices were odd and mostly cheap, in addition, the dubstep soundtrack was completely unfitting. Anyway, if it wasn't for the forestry scenery then the drama wouldn't have had much to offer. Throwing in two attractive leads together isn't enough anymore.

" Forest " had potential but it didn't really exploit them.

The first episodes and the last ones were actually great. The couple had also plenty of romantic moments and they were sweet and adorable. Their love story was enjoyable to watch especially since both of them helped each other get through their phobias and problems. The big mystery behind the forest was solid too. In addition, the second couple was quite entertaining. Finally, the performances were great from all actors and actresses, though the bad guys tended to overdo it sometimes. And yet, somehow, the drama ended up boring. They didn't really handle the story very well and most of the episodes were tiring if it wasn't for some entertaining moments here and there.

So, overall, five out of ten.

Park Hae Jin is so charming, sweet, gentle, attractive, handsome and I like him very much. I feel like watching other kdramas played by him. it's a MUST! Park Hae jin, you charmed me. Oh my God!!!

I still had this image of Park Tae jin from bad guys of being a psycho so it was hard for me to look at his charisma in romantic settings. I also felt that there's so many talks in between romantic scenes that it becomes boring. Also, the conflict was overly emphasized in a way that it becomes annoying as you watch it till the end.