Mr. Sunshine: Um Raio de Sol (2018)

Truly beautifully written masterpiece

Let me start off by saying I do not watch historical dramas. This is a rare occurrence but I became curious due to the ratings and reviews. I am currently on episode 20 and can confirm this is worth every waking moment. This is a beautifully written story with several twists and turns that cover everything from romance, unrequited love, the struggle between the rich and the poor, the righteous vs the corrupt, power and war. The drama intensely takes you through the impact that war, betrayal, social status, love and corruption had on the lives of all the main characters. There is an excruciating amount of pain throughout each episode; at times overwhelming and heartbreaking.  Yet, there are also those perfect moments in the plot that are just breathtakingly beautiful, humorous and heartwarming.

The acting and character development is phenomenal. From the two main female leads, though beautiful and poised also mysterious in their own way. Their strength is not just in their beauty. They have learned to survive in a world where their freedom is dictated by men and/or their country. The fearless yet hopeless romantics that play the male leads, Dong Mae, Hui Sung and Eugene Choi and even those within the Righteous Army each have a story that plays out. Right off episode one you dive into bits and pieces of everyone's lives. Discovering the closer you get to the end that they are all interconnected in one way or another.

What is there not to love about the three male leads? Aside from the fact you could slice the tension between them with a knife. One scene I can still recall is when Eugene addressed Hui Sung , who was still unaware of the impact his family had in Eugene's life. "When there is a man in front of you whose heart has been torn out. You shouldn't say you're hurt.....That would be shameful." While I watched this, though a minor part. I felt the pain piercing through Eugene's stare as he addressed the son of the family that killed his parents. Also, the chemistry between Eugene and Lady Ae-Sin is spot on. One of my favorite scenes is when she drops out of nowhere and directs him to a meeting spot after she waited days for him to reply to her letter. In that space, she ends up getting the upper hand by grabbing his gun and while pointing it directly at his face proceeds to question him. Romantic huh? But, regardless of what they were doing their romance is captivating even without having to exchange words.

Everything so far has come together seamlessly. Yet, as beautiful as this drama truly is there is also a significant amount of loss. But, I do hope the writer pulls through towards the end and that they can save us (the viewers) from a sad ending.

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Si empiezas a ver el dorama quizás no te enganché, pero te recomiendo seguir viéndolo.
A mi me pasó, me vi los primero 15 episodios sin pena ni gloria, me gustaba la historia y los personajes pero se me hacía lento y el guión un poco simplón (quizás por la traducción de Netflix). Pero aun así lo seguí viendo, menos mal.
Es un dorama con mucha presencia bélica, me gustan los históricos pero no había visto ninguno de está época y me sorprendió bastante pues desconocía la historia y lo que sufrió Corea entre 1900-1945.
Destacaría la fotografía, pues es asombrosa y sinceramente la calidad de la serie es increíble. En el primer capítulo hay escenas con croma, horrorosas, supongo que por falta de presupuesto y luego mejoraron la calidad consiguiendo escenas espectaculares a nivel de efectos, muchos personajes, etc.
La banda sonora es muy bonita, aunque no creo que ninguna canción sea para escucharla muchas veces fuera del dorama como, por ejemplo, la de Descendant of the Sun que por cierto, salen muchos actores de este mismo dorama.

Ahora bien, si los primeros 20 capítulos están bien los 4 últimos son de una calidad suprema y por la que deberías ver este dorama. Por favor, tened cerca algo para secar vuestras lagrimas.

Hasta la fecha el dorama con el que más había llorado fue Moon Lovers, pues con este creo que he sufrido aun más.

Leia Mais

This drama was heartbreaking. I've been crying for the last couple of episodes because of it. This drama started of really good and really caught my attention. However, episodes 9-18 were not the best. Those episodes had interesting scenes, but it got boring. I'm really giving this show a 9/10 because this isn't some simple drama. It definitely is not for everyone. Episode 20 onwards were magnificent. I fell in love with all the characters; Eugene, Ae shin, Hina, Hui sung, Dong hae and more. I don't see myself watching this series again, because I don't think I can put myself through that sadness again. All actors and actresses were absolutely amazing and I'm really happy to have watched such an amazing show.

Leia Mais

Very memorable, very touching

This was one of my first historic K-dramas, and my-oh-my, did it leave an impression!
It must be at least a year and a half (probably more) since I watched it, and I have watched endless hours of K- and C-dramas since, but this still has a special place in my memory.

First of all: The acting was top-notch. They brought their characters to life in such convincing ways, displaying their inner and out emotions so you can’t not connect. That goes for both the main leads, and several of the supporting.

And then: The script. How it weaved the love story into the depiction of this difficult time in history. It made me interested in finding out more about this part of South Korea’s history, as not really something we learn about here where I live (or it’s just that I’m too old so don’t remember from my school days 🤭).

The cinematography and music was also good as far as I can remember.
This is one of a handful of dramas I highly recommend to my friends, and one I can see myself watching over again.
Warning: You will probably cry.

Leia Mais

too slow pace drama and too long

Well, the first 10 episode is so slow paced that I almost dropped the drama. It was very boring but I sticked to it as it has really high rating. Then I got hooked and like the story but again from 17 episode I got bored and had to skip sceen to finish the drama. I have to say 24 ep is to much specially if its really slow pace.

It is really sad story of Joseon and the people that tried to change the faith of their country but sadly they had to suffer 40 years under Japans ocupation and after that their country was divided.

The last two episodes are really emotional as you know their deaths will not change anything.

Overall its nice drama but its too long.

Leia Mais

so slow

I watched this drama because it has so many good reviews, it was well watched and just known as one of the top dramas in the kdrama world (not to mention that literally everyone is in it in some way or another).

It started well, the historic background really gripped me and made me watch further. The main story as well as the sub plots were all very interesting and made me want to find out what would happen next.
But then the story started to slow down, like reaaaally slow down.

Before I get to the rest of the story, I just have to say the main love story just did not convince me at all. Their scenes were poorly written if you ask me because at some point they were just in love and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why it happened or when. And their scenes were unnecessarily dramatic. Their long gazes, the dramatic music... it would work if I had been convinced from the start but I wasn't so it was just boring and skippable. However, the last episodes changed a bit and from the moment they get fake married, I really like the couple. Their heart wrenching ending also made me bowl. But again these were the last episodes.

The rest of the story is kind of the same. Starts interesting, especially with Eugene assassinating that minister, the smuggling of that one patriot etc. but then the story sort of forgets it's potential for exciting moments. There were some funny moments, some interesting ones but they hardly kept my will to finish the show intact. I honestly only finished it because of the historic background which was really interesting, especially in those last episodes. And there we are again, those last episodes saved the show to me. They were exciting, the love story was finally interesting, things started moving along and I finished those episodes with no problem.
Also, someone here said the historic background doesn't feel as meaningful for a global audience but I fully disagree. The story about the rebels was my favourite and it was incredibly touching to see how many people from different life paths all came together to try and save their country. I feel like I learned a lot and was just moved by the resilience Korean people showed in the faces of their oppressors.

All in all, this drama was okay. The cinematography is amazing, the casting was obviously great and the OST has some gems. But it should've been shorter, 24 episodes all longer than an hour is just way too long to keep the audience gripped (although many would disagree i guess). But I still think if you have a good attention span that you should watch it.

Some other things that annoyed me:

- Hina finding out about her mother's death. I don't know why the minister had to use her only to tell her her mother passed away. I know he gave his reasoning but it felt dry and just lazy idk
- all the men being in love with one woman while not even properly knowing her and who she is. Very unnecessary.
- we get zero closure for Hotaru. Plus we don't really learn anything about her until the end and the story felt cliche when i feel like it could've been way more meaningful to the whole plot. Idk she's just there and then she's not and that's just lazy writing to me.
- Hina dying??? like I know she wanted to but then she didn't want to but then she did? It would've been a lot more meaningful to let her die in the hotel or let her live. The way it happened was only so that she could confess to Dongmae which at that point felt unnecessary. Why did they even start that love line?????
- Dongmae having 309403924 battles and dying several times until actually dying like ??????
- the French... girl

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Guns. Glory. Sad Ending.

I wish that I could go back in time and watch this show for the 1st time, that’s how good it is.

It’s heartbreaking. it will rip you to shreds, but you can’t help but surrender. The love portrayed here can be felt to the core, no fluff. There are no kisses, but the love is so real you can almost touch it.

This show holds a very special place in my heart, right next to CLOY. I love it so very much. I gave the show a 9.5 because I didn’t like how it ended, but after careful review and gave it a solid 10 because it deserves nothing less — this masterpiece.

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