♥♥♥♥/♥
TITLE: Descendants Of The Sun [태양의 후예]
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: February 24 to April 22, 2016 (KBS)
WIKI: http://asianwiki.com/Descendants_of_the_Sun
SEASONS/EPISODES: 1 season, 18 episodes, 1 hour each. + 1 BONUS Behind The Scenes
US AVAILABILITY (as of 2019-04-20): Viki (free w/ads), Kocowa (free w/ads), ONDemandKorea (free w/ads)
Captain Yoo Shi Jin is a member of an elite special forces team. His team carries out the kinds of missions where you vanish at the drop of a hat for days, weeks, or months and leave your tags at home when you do, so your identity can't be compromised if things go terribly wrong.
Kang Mo Yeon is a skilled doctor at a prestigious hospital. She is bold and opinionated and tries to resist the advances of the handsome and funny older man Captain Yoo.
Seo Dae Young is a member of Captain Yoo's team and his best friend. The father of the woman he loves is doing everything he can to keep them apart.
Yoon Myung Jo is Mo Yeon's old medical-schoolmate, with whom the bitter rivalry never quite died. She's in love with Dae Young but he keeps running away from her and she suspects her father (military, as is she) has something to do with it.
Our cast of characters must survive disasters like earthquakes, epidemics, kidnapping, and war in order to find peace and love in the midst of their tumultuous lives.
TITLE: Descendants Of The Sun [태양의 후예]
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: February 24 to April 22, 2016 (KBS)
WIKI: http://asianwiki.com/Descendants_of_the_Sun
SEASONS/EPISODES: 1 season, 18 episodes, 1 hour each. + 1 BONUS Behind The Scenes
US AVAILABILITY (as of 2019-04-20): Viki (free w/ads), Kocowa (free w/ads), ONDemandKorea (free w/ads)
Captain Yoo Shi Jin is a member of an elite special forces team. His team carries out the kinds of missions where you vanish at the drop of a hat for days, weeks, or months and leave your tags at home when you do, so your identity can't be compromised if things go terribly wrong.
Kang Mo Yeon is a skilled doctor at a prestigious hospital. She is bold and opinionated and tries to resist the advances of the handsome and funny older man Captain Yoo.
Seo Dae Young is a member of Captain Yoo's team and his best friend. The father of the woman he loves is doing everything he can to keep them apart.
Yoon Myung Jo is Mo Yeon's old medical-schoolmate, with whom the bitter rivalry never quite died. She's in love with Dae Young but he keeps running away from her and she suspects her father (military, as is she) has something to do with it.
Our cast of characters must survive disasters like earthquakes, epidemics, kidnapping, and war in order to find peace and love in the midst of their tumultuous lives.
Basic summary:
Captain Yoo Shi Jin and his best friend Seo Dae Young have an encounter with a young thief who steals Dae Young's phone when he wrecks his motorcycle and the two heroes Shi Jin and Dae Young give him emergency medical care before the ambulance arrives. Figuring out what happened to the phone, the heroes head toward the hospital to get it back. They wind up saving the young thief's life yet again, this time from a gang, but the pretty lady doctor, Mo Yeon, believes them to be the villains at first.
Shi Jin takes an immediate liking to Mo Yeon and he's not afraid to be (hilariously) over the top to get her attention. Things seem to be going well, after a bit of a rocky start, but then go downhill again when Mo Yeon decides she's not sure if she can deal with being the girlfriend of a man with such a deadly job.
Then Mo Yeon's boss makes a pass at her and she turns him down flat, resulting in her being 'volunteered' to go on a humanitarian mission to a military outpost in a country called Uruk where war was in the recent past and peace is still precarious. Meanwhile Shi Jin and Dae Young are temporarily stationed on the outpost in Uruk and Myung Jo has pulled some strings to get herself stationed to Uruk also so that she can be with the man she loves. Myung Jo's father has pulled some strings of his own and had Dae Young brought back to Korea to lead a training squad- the two father-separated lovers wind up only crossing paths momentarily as they switch places.
Shi Jin meanwhile is making headway once again with Mo Yeon. She's no match for his drownable brown eyes and deep voice, not to mention the hilarious and over the top things he says to make her laugh, but she's still pretty sure their differences are irreconcilable. Shi Jin winds up going back to S. Korea on leave.
Mo Yeon and the volunteer medical team are getting ready to go home also when disaster hits: an earthquake decimates the nearby power plant. Dozens are trapped, injured, and dying. The special forces team, headed up by Shi Jin and Dae Young, are sent in to take control of the rescue efforts and manage the disaster relief, bringing our two couples back together under less than ideal circumstances.
Meanwhile, a thug named Argus is threatening the manager of the power plant for diamonds, as well as running ghost villages of orphans for human trafficking. The earthquake throws a monkey wrench in the transfer of diamonds from the power plant manager to Argus, putting Argus in a dangerous mood.
We find out that Argus and Shi Jin have history: it seems that once upon a time Shi Jin saved his life. Now, Argus holds no loyalty and will stop at nothing to get ahold of the diamonds- even kidnapping and murder. Will the man who saved his life have to be the one to end it?
Captain Yoo Shi Jin and his best friend Seo Dae Young have an encounter with a young thief who steals Dae Young's phone when he wrecks his motorcycle and the two heroes Shi Jin and Dae Young give him emergency medical care before the ambulance arrives. Figuring out what happened to the phone, the heroes head toward the hospital to get it back. They wind up saving the young thief's life yet again, this time from a gang, but the pretty lady doctor, Mo Yeon, believes them to be the villains at first.
Shi Jin takes an immediate liking to Mo Yeon and he's not afraid to be (hilariously) over the top to get her attention. Things seem to be going well, after a bit of a rocky start, but then go downhill again when Mo Yeon decides she's not sure if she can deal with being the girlfriend of a man with such a deadly job.
Then Mo Yeon's boss makes a pass at her and she turns him down flat, resulting in her being 'volunteered' to go on a humanitarian mission to a military outpost in a country called Uruk where war was in the recent past and peace is still precarious. Meanwhile Shi Jin and Dae Young are temporarily stationed on the outpost in Uruk and Myung Jo has pulled some strings to get herself stationed to Uruk also so that she can be with the man she loves. Myung Jo's father has pulled some strings of his own and had Dae Young brought back to Korea to lead a training squad- the two father-separated lovers wind up only crossing paths momentarily as they switch places.
Shi Jin meanwhile is making headway once again with Mo Yeon. She's no match for his drownable brown eyes and deep voice, not to mention the hilarious and over the top things he says to make her laugh, but she's still pretty sure their differences are irreconcilable. Shi Jin winds up going back to S. Korea on leave.
Mo Yeon and the volunteer medical team are getting ready to go home also when disaster hits: an earthquake decimates the nearby power plant. Dozens are trapped, injured, and dying. The special forces team, headed up by Shi Jin and Dae Young, are sent in to take control of the rescue efforts and manage the disaster relief, bringing our two couples back together under less than ideal circumstances.
Meanwhile, a thug named Argus is threatening the manager of the power plant for diamonds, as well as running ghost villages of orphans for human trafficking. The earthquake throws a monkey wrench in the transfer of diamonds from the power plant manager to Argus, putting Argus in a dangerous mood.
We find out that Argus and Shi Jin have history: it seems that once upon a time Shi Jin saved his life. Now, Argus holds no loyalty and will stop at nothing to get ahold of the diamonds- even kidnapping and murder. Will the man who saved his life have to be the one to end it?
Flow and sequence:
During the early episodes of this drama, we find Shi Jin chasing Mo Yeon's affections, and Myung Jo chasing Dae Young's affections. In the middle, Myung Jo and Dae Young are still fighting just for the right to love each other. Meanwhile Shi Jin and Mo Yeon's relationship is going well (when she can refrain from getting into dangerous situations), but Shi Jin is having to deal with Argus' distasteful enterprises and Mo Yeon is fighting an epidemic that could take the lives of some of their own. Near the end of the series, the characters are dealing with a new storyline; a North Korean operative who has been framed and needs their help. The characters are now people with more experience, mostly bettered for it, and spend the last couple episodes dealing with the emotional fallout from everything that has happened to them (more in spoiler section.)
Cast and acting:
Song Joong Ki as Yoo Shi Jin does a phenomenal job. I am always impressed with his acting abilities. He must really give his all to the characters he plays. The character is very likable and humorous, very charming. His chemistry with lead actress Song Hye Gyo was undeniable- I'm not surprised they wound up falling in love in real life and marrying after starring together in this drama!
Song Hye Kyo as Kang Mo Yeon was a very good fit for her character. At first I thought her character was too similar in personality to the character she played in That Winter, The Wind Blows, but the more the character Mo Yeon was developed, the less similarities I saw.
Jin Goo as Seo Dae Young: Possibly the most complex character in the series. Dae Young is the "strong, silent type." It was hard to see him suffering in silence in the earlier episodes, but still emotional to see him working out his love with Myung Jo in later episodes.
Kim Ji Won as Yoon Myung Jo: I always find couples with a large age difference interesting and in this drama, Kim Ji Won is a 24 year old woman playing the lover of a character played by a 36 year old male actor. You would expect the relationship dynamic between characters to be something other than what it turned out to be; which is with the younger female having an extremely dominant and headstrong personality, contrasting with the quiet and steadfast strength of her partner. I think Miss Kim did a great job bringing out her character's strong personality.
David Lee McInnis as Argus was a terrific villain. He wasn't as detestable as the reigning champion for "Most Detestable Villain I've Ever Seen" (that particular title may forever be held by Lee Sung Jae's amazing performance as the horrible Jo Gwan Woong in Gu Family Book), but I could probably safely say McInnis' Argus comes in second. ;)
Song Joong Ki as Yoo Shi Jin does a phenomenal job. I am always impressed with his acting abilities. He must really give his all to the characters he plays. The character is very likable and humorous, very charming. His chemistry with lead actress Song Hye Gyo was undeniable- I'm not surprised they wound up falling in love in real life and marrying after starring together in this drama!
Song Hye Kyo as Kang Mo Yeon was a very good fit for her character. At first I thought her character was too similar in personality to the character she played in That Winter, The Wind Blows, but the more the character Mo Yeon was developed, the less similarities I saw.
Jin Goo as Seo Dae Young: Possibly the most complex character in the series. Dae Young is the "strong, silent type." It was hard to see him suffering in silence in the earlier episodes, but still emotional to see him working out his love with Myung Jo in later episodes.
Kim Ji Won as Yoon Myung Jo: I always find couples with a large age difference interesting and in this drama, Kim Ji Won is a 24 year old woman playing the lover of a character played by a 36 year old male actor. You would expect the relationship dynamic between characters to be something other than what it turned out to be; which is with the younger female having an extremely dominant and headstrong personality, contrasting with the quiet and steadfast strength of her partner. I think Miss Kim did a great job bringing out her character's strong personality.
David Lee McInnis as Argus was a terrific villain. He wasn't as detestable as the reigning champion for "Most Detestable Villain I've Ever Seen" (that particular title may forever be held by Lee Sung Jae's amazing performance as the horrible Jo Gwan Woong in Gu Family Book), but I could probably safely say McInnis' Argus comes in second. ;)
Writing and directing:
The character development from beginning to end was decent. I enjoyed seeing the characters both meet and defy my expectations as I got to know them better. The music direction took a while to find it's footing, and that's putting it nicely. It wasn't that the soundtrack wasn't good, but that in the beginning of the series the music would come on deafeningly loud and jump-out-of-your-skin suddenly with regular frequency. I was very put-off by this and am so glad that they got better at the music thing as the drama went on. (Either that or I became desensitized to it after a while!) As far as the music itself, volume and sudden-ness aside, I found it to be very pretty and enjoyable.
Rabbit trail:
If you watched this drama and enjoyed the main song, here is a beautiful piano cover of it!
Rabbit trail:
If you watched this drama and enjoyed the main song, here is a beautiful piano cover of it!
Happy Ending Factor?
I give it 10 out of 10: at least one of the main couples gets a really good happily ever after and there are no loose ends or mind-bogglingly confusing plot lines.
I give it 10 out of 10: at least one of the main couples gets a really good happily ever after and there are no loose ends or mind-bogglingly confusing plot lines.
(SPOILER SECTION! SKIP to Summary if you don't want to know how it ends!)
Okay okay, BOTH the main couples get a happily ever after, though both of them ALMOST DON'T! Shi Jin and Dae Young are sent on a 3 month mission they don't come back from. They are shot and then the area they were last seen is blown up. They are reported as dead to their beloved women, and a year goes by in which the former rivals Myung Jo and Mo Yeon seem to settle into a friendship of sorts that has been developing throughout the series. It's quite unbelievable that they came back from that but don't panic because somehow they did and we get our happy ending!
Summary:
From the synopsis and the images of this drama, I thought it would be significantly more about war and medical stuff and significantly less romantic and sweet than it actually was. The first 2 episodes didn't make me want to keep watching, but I decided to watch just one more episode because it seemed the first 2 episodes had been sort of like a prequel and episode 3 was where we would finally see what sort of drama it was going to turn out to be. By the end of that episode, I was interested enough to at least watch one more. I became a little bit more interested with each episode after that, and by halfway through the series I knew I would have to finish this whole drama out. If you're thinking of giving this drama a shot, I suggest you watch at least the first 3 episodes before deciding whether to give up on it. The music is kind of out of control in the beginning (you'll hear what I mean if you watch it), but it's starting to chill a tad bit by episode 3 and gets better and better with each episode after that, as does everything else about this drama.
Check out Descendants Of The Sun on Viki!
Check out Descendants Of The Sun on Kocowa!
Check out Descendants Of The Sun on ONDemandKorea!
Check out the Descendants Of The Sun OST on Spotify!
(Above links based on US availability. Dramas may not be available on certain sites for certain countries. It depends who acquired the license for a specific drama for your country and who did not. Drama may be available on Netflix in your country but not even show up in mine, so check there if you have a Netflix acct. Ditto for Viki- may be available in your country but not mine. Click HERE for a list of legal Kdrama streaming sites and what countries they work in.)
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