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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Cette critique peut contenir des spoilers
An average drama
I wasn't going to write a review initially, but seeing how this drama gets so much praise I decided to put my opinion out there to see if more people have a similar point of view.A word that describes this drama for me is lackluster. Everyone always complimented it so much I think my expectations were too high when I went into this. It's been a while since I saw so unfortunately I don't remember it all that well, but it was such an averege show that I can't be bothered to rewatch it just for this review.
The action scenes are good and the plot is good too for the most part, but it really lacked closure in some aspects. For an example, the show keeps teasing us about the reunion of the female lead with her mom, but when it happens they are not even shown interacting afterwards, it feels like fl just went "ha ha you're my mom, goodbye!".
My main gripe with this is Healer himself, tough. I'm sorry but he's nothing more than the stereotype of the brooding, misteryous dude scarred by the past. I guess I was too fed up with this type of lead by the time I watched this. The romance is also something that left me thoroughly disappointed. It was sparse and seemed to come out of nowhere. There was no build up to the relationship, which in return made it feel quite shallow.
All things considered, not a bad drama and if you like the archetype of character that Healer fits in you'll probably enjoy it, but I don't think it particularly warrants the praise it gets.
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I don't get why so many people love this drama so much
Before saying anything else, let me get this off my chest. I need Ji Chang Wook and Taehyung (V) of BTS to do a drama together as brothers! Some of Chang Wook's mannerisms, especially when he was acting as Bong Soo, were so insanely V-like. Also, from a few angles Chang Wook looked SO much like V it was crazy! I really hope it happens someday. I feel like they'd be amazing together.Now, for the show itself, honestly I was gonna give it a 7/10 rating, but the last episode was so weird and unsatisfying that it left me with a bad taste. This is one of the longest k-dramas I've ever watched, but the last episode felt rushed and unplanned. Like they simply threw something together because they realized it was the finale, but failed to deliver on a proper ending. Threads were left hanging loose all over the place. I was very disappointed and underwhelmed.
The overall plotlines I enjoyed. The thing with the parents, the kids, all of the interpersonal relationships between characters (especially those, the show really shined in that respect). The fight scenes were also very good and entertaining to watch and the acting from the two main characters was top notch. Chang Wook particularly blew me away. It was insane how different he was as Bong Soo and Jung Hoo. Also Park Min Young is always a delight (I almost didn't recognize her at first because of the short hair). As a couple they were adorable, and anytime there's a more than average amount of skinship, I'm happy. But the rest of the cast, I wasn't so impressed with.
Now, for the bad, who chose the OST for this? Like, maybe it's a chronological thing and back when this aired the music choices would have been considered good? I don't know, but I thought they were largely the bad kind of cheesy. Especially that "It's a beautiful feeling" one. That one made me cringe each time it started playing. But beyond that, I think they made very questionable choices on how to musicalize plenty of scenes. Like, they'd play happy-ish, up beat music during fight scenes or tense moments, which completely wrecked the mood for me. This happened a few times during the endings of the episodes, but then, on the replay of that same scene on the beginning of the next episode, they'd use a more mood-appropriate song, and it was insane how much the vibe shifted.
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The script writing was very well done too. Usually dramas will leave us thinking to ourselves, how did this happen and why? But Healer covered everything well and there weren't any plot loopholes that made you think 'this could have happened too' or 'this doesn't make sense'.
The chemistry between the two main leads were mind blowing and believable. You could almost touch and feel the love they shared...it was that great! Trust me, you won't regret watching this 20 episodes drama.
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the romance wasn't logical and it only ruined the flow of the original story , cause of that the ending was rushed and it seemed like a big mess with a lot of unfilled holes .
this drama was only watchable for me it was okay with nothing special to make it a unique drama
I know this review will get lots of hate but this is my opinion about the drama no more no less
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If you thought it’s impossible to find a drama that maintains good balance between action, romance and character-driven plot without giving into incoherence or common story elements and clichés, then watch this. If you already thought it’s possible, still watch it.
THE STORY
When I started watching Healer, I wasn’t that into it. I wish I could remember what it was that wasn’t getting to me back then, because right now all I can think of is how awesome the drama is! Objectively speaking, even if I put that initial feeling aside, Healer is not a perfect show. There are things that, without seeming wholly incoherent, don’t make a lot of sense; there are some windows that never really get closed or ends that don’t precisely get tied by episode 20. But it’s a drama that is superior from others because it breaks clichés and it’s character-driven. Not only do the main leads and the villain have depth, but even flashback characters have their own individuality, which makes these scenes come to life. The women are all strong, smart and capable; the story managed to avoid falling in all clichéd abysses we see again and again in dramas, and the primary couple is not only adorable, coherent and real (skinship is real too, and plentiful!), it also puts to shame other Kdramaland OTPs in which doubt, distrust and misunderstandings always get the best of the pair.
THE ACTING
I love Ji Chang Wook, okay. I really do. I always follow all his projects. But he never gave me the feeling of being an amazing actor. I think that it’s because he always seems to be playing the same role, with only slight nuances. Anyway, he was dashing as usual in here, and chemistry was bursting out between him and Park Min Young. She was great, I think I liked her more than usual in here (possibly because her character was the best she’s had). But for me, the best acting in Healer definitely came from the older cast. Do Ji Won, Yoo Ji Tae and Park Sang Won were awesome, and my favorite ajumma actress, Kim Mi Kyung, as well.
THE MUSIC
It was great. Well, it must have been great. Frankly, I can’t remember most songs, not even Chang Wook’s. I was too infatuated by Ben’s You. Was on my mp3 since episode 1. Most catchy OST I’ve heard in a while!
REWATCH VALUE
Well, the show just ended yesterday, but guess what I’m thinking of watching tonight?
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Cast: The main character's personalities aren't what you would usually find in 'typical' dramas. Although in 'typical' dramas, the personalities aren't bad, they are just used a lot. Therefore, it makes this drama really refreshing. I was a bit hesitant to watch this drama because I was still confused about what it was, but I got excited after watching the first few episodes. The chemistry between the two main characters felt natural. I loved how Yeong Shin trusted Jung Hoo, it really made them a powerful couple in this drama. The supporting roles in this drama all seemed important enough to remember throughout the drama as well. They all seemed to make some sort of impact throughout the drama.
For the music, I really loved "Eternal Love" by Michael Learns to Rock. The other songs were kind of just a blur, but yeah Eternal Love was really good and seemed to fit pretty well.
I am not a person that rewatches dramas, but I mean if I really had the time and wasn't sure what else to watch I would definitely want to rewatch this drama.
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I think the casts did a really good job in this drama. I'm not familiar with any of the actor/actresses but my favourite has to be Park Min Young. Her portrayal of Chae Yeong Shin was really cute and easy to fall in love with. I think Ji Chang Wook did a great portraying Healer both in a super natural way and as a human who is isolated from society. Park Min Young and Ji Chang Wook have good chemistry together, they pass off as a couple very naturally so it's easy to understand how Healer can fall in love so quick with Chae Yeong Shin. I think main characters having chemistry is great, however at the same time I felt like neither of them were very inspiring during emotional scenes in a way that went straight to my heart. When they cry or stare into each other's eyes, the intensity of the emotion is lacking and I never get the gut wrenching feeling i know i should feel. Something else that really bugged me was the romance was a little bit too puppy love. Call me perverted, but in the few lip touching (i can't call that a kiss com'on!) scenes and hug scenes where we get to see the couple enjoy time together with each other (and when they finally confess), why does everything feel so tepid? Is that really all they do together?! Considering we know how much Healer did in order to be by Chae Yeong Shin's side, yet their romance is sorely lacking.
Anyway favourite character in this drama is in fact hacker Ahjumma, she is someone who's past is still shrouded in history and will forever remain so but I like how she worries subtly about Healer and watches over him and their bickering is like mother and son.
My impression of the music in this drama is not good. The main reason is due to one single song that ruined every moment for me, every time it came on during tender moments the singer's high pitched voice felt like nails scratching down a chalk board and killed the moment. I remember hearing this song on three separate occasions and how it completely ruined the mood for me. As a result i have a extremely bad impression of Healer's OST as a whole. Subjectively speaking however the music might deserve a higher rating than i gave them, but again the reason i did so is because of one song which killed every single scene for me.
Rewatch value of this drama is quite low for me because once the story unfolded all the mystery of the past was solved, and there is really nothing that attaches me to this drama. The romance of the mains while convincing just isn't at the level that makes me miss them.
As this drama drew to a close, it became more and more obvious the pacing in the initial episodes was a bit slow so not enough time was given in the last episode to wrap everything up. Therefore viewers are forced to watch a rushed job as the script writer and director do their best to give us a happy ending. I am extremely dissatisfied with this ending, it could have been much better but due to bad planning and scripting it became poorly made.
Overall, this is a drama i might recommend to friends who like a good action/suspense story and prefer romance to be toned down.
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Lots of humor, Awesome script writing and very detailed... The Music score and OST??---just PERFECT!!... (& that's what I love the most with Kdramas)...
This is not exaggerated but this series really deserves a perfect feeling.... There might be a few flaws, but that's too minor to pay attention too.... All actors/actresses had a great dynamics and connive with their characters well... They just delivered it perfectly... even the flashback scenes are heart wrenching...
I've never seen a fight/action stunts that graceful and sexy..... I guess, they were using "parkour" on those action scenes... It has a classic, timeless appeal so even many years passed this will be a very remarkable drama for everyone, just how "Endless Love" series are..
Just watch it, and you wont regret it... I've seen a lot of Kdramas, but Healer is incomparable (in terms of feeling watching it and the plot as well)..... Great for international viewers as well..
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