zoe_smith

Beautiful Days was my first watched and my most liked Korean drama series. It may not be appreciated by a Western audience - the implausibility, the reliance on extreme coincidence, and the heavy fringe hairstyles may also be a bit amusing, too. At first, I was also thinking that way, but the longer I watched the seductive charm of Lee Byung Hun's main character, Lee Min Chul, as I happened on the TV channel each night of the series' run, I was hooked.

Lee Min Chul meets many women's fantasies about how their dream man should be: wealthy, successful in business, impeccably dressed around the clock, handsome and strong. You can watch him and be completely overwhelmed. Many of the scenes rely on subtle poses. Lee Byung Hun has great talent for posing, so this production was ideal for his model looks. His co-actress, Choi Ji Woo, also played her role superbly.

It's nearly impossible to explain any of the story without spoiling it. Suffice to say that there is romance, illness, ambition, rivalry, and a complex web of connections between the characters. The actual ending differed from the producer's intended ending as a result of audience pleas while the first screening of the show got underway. Consequently, you can notice a somewhat strange and abrupt ending.

The soundtrack to this series was also good quality, too. Ryu Shi Won, an actual Korean pop singer, who played the other lead male character, recorded several soundtracks. There is also that lovely guitar number, too.

I can recommend this drama to anyone who has a soft heart for romantic dramas. Probably not for any male viewers - they'll just giggle at the melodrama.

Lee Byung Hun, my Korean movie idol, manages to sustain a great performance based on real-life gambler Kim In Ha. I think it's only thanks to the skills of Lee Byung Hun, that this series managed to be so good. Although there were also some genuinely mean performances by a couple of other villain characters, as well as a couple of slightly farcical and not so good characters.

Usually, the romance thread is the main point of the Korean drama series. They introduced the fictional romance between Lee Byung Hun's character and that of Song Hye Gyo against the gangster backdrop. The 2 became real life lovers during the production of the drama - now broken up. You can see on screen that the two really like each other, but as for Song Hye Gyo's character of 'Angela' on screen, she didn't seem to have a lot of substance and I wasn't convinced why Kim In Ha should go nuts for her. You also have to believe in the nature of extraordinary coincidence - a common feature of Korean drama series - to be convinced that the couple should be reunited on SO MANY occasions in various parts of the world.

For me, the stronghold of the series was the rivalry and backstabbing between the gang members. I especially cheered at the fate of the vampire-esquire Dae Soo character. Such a theme attracted a lot of male members to the audience - not something typical of most Korean drama series. I also think the series can appeal to many on an international level. They have on-location scenes in Las Vegas including some foreign actors. The gambling skills picked up by the actors was also impressive.

All In is a great drama series to get started in.