Encontro (2018)

slow, serious show about romance/love

This is not a rom-com (which is what I normally look for), but a slow and serious (but not melodramatic) show about love. Song Hye Kyo and Park Bo Gum both did an excellent job. In most of the things I've seen Park Bo Gum in, there's always been something a little "off" to me about his acting. This role changed my mind. His acting in this was perfectly on point. When he was happy, you wanted to smile with him, and when he was unhappy it was heartbreaking. There was a slow buildup in their romance/love, and it made sense. His patience, and constant love for her was so wonderful to watch. I felt really drawn in to their relationship, sometimes I felt like I was a voyeur in their lives.

Park Bo Gum's character was open and innocent. He seemed to look at life with joie de vivre, and that was an infectious thing. I couldn't help but smile, watching him. His love for her was so apparent, even though they were so different. Song Hye Kyo's character, on the other hand, was very repressed. Her life had been decided and planned for her, and she had never deviated from that plan. I enjoyed watching him bring her out of herself, opening her to new experiences, and living the way she wanted to.

I did feel that the breakup, though necessary to keep the story moving, was a little lame, especially since it was uncalled for and none of the circumstances that she was concerned about changed, so the breakup made even less sense. I felt that Song Hye Kyo's character was a little too weak in standing up to her family (the moms in this were all nightmares!). I also felt that, because of her reasoning for the breakup, her love for him wasn't as strong, and that was disappointing.

The cinematography and the OST were both amazing as well. This show was beautiful to watch.

Leia Mais

A beautiful Encounter

This is not one of those average cutesy romance dramas. It captures true romance. The leisurely pacing of Encounter allows the viewer to linger in that splendid feeling of love. The music, poetry, artwork and sincerity of communication bring you into those lovely feelings.

The casting was fairly well done, but I wavered back and forth on whether I liked the ML actor for that role. I felt the FL was perfectly cast.

Please be patient and keep watching past the first episode. It lacks a connection somehow in the beginning. It progresses better after that.

By the end of this drama I’m a little emotionally tired, but it was a fulfilling ride. Hope you enjoy it too.

Leia Mais

A modern fairytale - with a fairytale ending

Time will only tell if this drama will eventually undo the heaps of bad reviews and criticisms, especially from Korean audiences, about the plot's unlikely premise - a love affair between a female CEO and a male, junior employee who met by chance in Cuba, before he joined the company.

I let the story take me where it wanted to, all the way to its happy, fairytale ending - and really loved it. Not only is Park Bo Gum a sensitive and fairly talented actor. I really believed in his chemistry with Song Hye Kyo, who plays the detached, emotionally distant female CEO, who has no friends and lives constantly in the shadow of her ex-husband's chaebol family.

Their story unfolds at regular, steady intervals, episode per episode, and conquers you with the sheer power of PBG's constancy of emotion. PBG's character Kim Jun Hyuk never let age, class, or public opinion sway him from his commitment to Cha Hyun Soo. He does, at some point, given to his family's reservations about her, illustrating his abiding love for his family - the kind of filial love that is the foundation of Korean family culture. You will have to watch till the end to see how this is resolved in the story.

I think the drama knew it was dealing with a plot many wouldn't connect with, so it tried to explore this in a smaller way through another pair of characters - Cha Hyun Soo's secretary (played by Kwak Sun Young) and the owner of the moon snails restaurant (Kim Joo Heon).

Korean's strict hierarchical culture disapproves of marriages that are unequal in class, power, or achievement (such as education). Encounter tries to point out that breaking out of these fixtures in their culture may be possible. I say may - because it's very, very hard to meet a man like Park Bo Gum's character in real life!!

Watch Episode 1, which was shot in Cuba. Please, please do. It's a masterpiece of photography and romantic plot exposition. If you give up on the rest of the story, Episode 1 is enough of an enchanting experience of movie-level production quality.

If you let it, Encounter may actually enchant you till the end. Just, well, try to ignore the one plot hole in this whole story - it is basically impossible today to carry on a romance like that in one company, without having to disclose it to HR and eventually watch one of them resign in order for the relationship to continue.

Leia Mais

judging by the sypnosis i never expected this drama to be as realistic as it ended up being. a slow paced but never too slow masterpiece that is as beautiful as the art at the beginning and end of each episode.

story; a very simple story which helps the drama rather than hinder it. it can focus on the two main characters and allow the story to just be their growth after meeting each other.
everything makes sense, every action from any character seems justifiable which is something that i found so refreshing from other dramas and other shows in general

characters; both mains couldn't be more different, on the one hand you have cho soo hyun a big ceo, always in the public eye , someone who was never allowed to truly live her own life in any way. on the other hand this free spirited, always positive man who doesn't back down from his love while also being respectful and understanding of cha soo hyun's situation at all times. who would've thought they'd make up this perfect couple after all

side characters give good comedic relief, it would've been nice however to see more of their backstory as only a few's past have been brought up throughout ( like kim soo jun's marriage), but it's not a major gripe.

acting: both cha soo hyun and kim ji hyuk have this almost perfect chemistry from the first episode on, one while already being near perfect just gets better and more intimate with each passing episode and damn near feels very real at numerous points in the story. if i didn't know better i would've thought those 2 were actually dating, were actually in love the way they were able to convey these heartfelt emotions in just their facial expressions alone. i believe if this was a silent film these two would've done as well if not better.

ost; i'm usually not one to actually listen to OST's after a show or outside of a show but the songs on here are very well crafted, fit the mellow mood of the drama and are just overall good songs to listen to. the two renditions of take me on feel so very different despite essentially being the same song and the way they are placed throughout the episodes (saya's version being the more hopeless, saltnpaper's version being the more hopeful version) makes for excellent and emotional viewing

overall; probably my new favorite drama, i mean it even made me wanna spend time writing a review so that really should say it all. definitely a must watch during these down times

Leia Mais

This is not just a drama...This is an experience!

I had to create an account on MDL to write this review.

What an experience it was to watch this drama. Every OST, every facial expression from both main leads, every interaction between the main leads was an absolute pleasure to watch and listen to.

Most of the reviews rave about the male lead's acting in this amazing Kdrama, and I agree with them. However, I am taken in by Song Hye-Kyo's acting. Every facial expression was priceless, and the way she carried herself throughout the whole story was so graceful to watch. The love and respect the main leads have for each other in this story is remarkable.

I did not want this drama to end. I was invested in the two main leads and experienced withdrawals once the drama ended. However, this story left an impression on me and is definitely on my top3 list.

Leia Mais

Absolutely beautiful

If you want to watch absolutely beautiful people in highly aesthetically pleasing settings, this is the show for you. Park Bo-Gum, stop making me fall in love with you! After just watching you as Choi Taek, it was such a treat to see you grow up before my very eyes.

The sweet/cute moments were perfect, but the obstacles got tiring at times. Thankfully, the most angsty parts were short-lived —  you just need to endure ~2 episodes or so. This story was like a more consistent Something in the Rain; the highs weren't QUITE as high, but the lows NEVER reached the depths of frustration and despair I felt from SITR.

I did have a few gripes with this show. One was the chemistry: people often tout "negative chemistry," and while I don't think this show was atrocious in that regard (I also wasn't actively following during the whole Song-Song media storm at the time), it wasn't exceptional. Another was the side characters: beyond our two leads, most of them were pretty flat, and I never cared too much what happened to them. Many were awfully black-and-white as well, and the spoken explanations by people like Chairman Kim came too little, too late. Finally, one aspect of the message: an 11th hour change of heart is absolutely common in these types of dramas, and while I fully anticipated it, I think it negatively impacted the narrative. One of the most important parts of this story was the idea of a steadfast love. The whole 11th hour flip-flipping just made me frustrated, and made me question what one of the leads even SAW in the other lead to begin with (seriously, what made that person so appealing to make the other lead willing to endure such pain?!).

As a super minor note, this show is susceptible to quite a few kdrama tropes. It's nice and fresh for newer viewers, but a little tired otherwise. Think wrist-grabs, predictable plot points, and ridiculously shoehorned PPL. Another way of looking at it is "tried-and-true," and I came to embrace all the highly out-of-place discussions people had while eating Subway.

At the end of the day though, this show delivered on several key fronts —  the eye-candy, acting talent, witty dialogue, a banging OST, and absolutely stunning cinematography. The heart-fluttering moments were far more frequent than the hair-pulling ones, and that made this show a worthwhile and fulfilling watch on balance.

Leia Mais

Made my heart flutter

Wow! Either I'm getting old or this is one of the most beautiful dramas I've seen to date! It's become a frequent occurrence that since getting into Kdramas I've missed my late father so much - none more than while watching this Encounter. I can just hear him say with a tear in his eye "she suffers so much for other people" ?

Please go watch this beautiful wholesome love story - stellar performances from Song Hye Kyo and Park Bo Gum - their love for each other is so genuine and the journey that Song Hye Kyo's character goes on is truly heartwarming. When she smiled, my heart fluttered! Park Bo Gum plays to his strengths and is great.

The supporting cast are great, and the wicked mother-in-law is suitably evil. There are very few plotholes and if I have to pick a negative then I would have loved a few more episodes, but only because I didn't want it to end and would be nice to see a bit more of the relationships of the supporting cast develop.

Once my heart recovers, I will be rewatching this several times! GO WATCH IT!!!

Leia Mais

I've just finished watching this amazing drama. I have lots of reasons why I love it, and a few reasons why it wasn't a 10/10 for me.

1. THE MAIN CHARACTERS
The storyline aside, the lead characters were quite unique. Park Bo Geum's character was my favorite male lead characters of all times probably! The personalities of male leads are normally quite similar to each other: they can be rich and cold hearted amazingly handsome, or the most skilled person in the field of whatever is their profession. Anyways, I love that Kim Jin Hyuk was just a normal guy, that fell for this beautiful and lonely woman in his own way.
As for Song Hye Kyo's character, I loved how it's showing a different side of a rich career woman. It's focusing more on her loneliness and hardships she had in her entire life instead of being a classic bitchy boss. Even though she had a really difficult life, her heart still remained as soft as it could be, and I love how she puts Kim Jin Hyuk before anything. She chooses him over her career that was her everything so many times without thinking about it twice. I love how bravely she is embracing her love.

2.THE STORYLINE
I think the writers did a very good job with this one. The love between the two characters start and develop very naturally. I loved the gradual development of their relationship: they went from being friends that are attracted to each other to a pre-relationship phase, then they start the relationship and in the end their love exceeds everything else. I think this part of the show was written very brilliantly

3.ACTING
I mean the show has Song Hye Kyo.. In my opinion she is one of the best actresses in Kdramas. She can deliver all the emotions with her eyes which I love. I also love love love her drunk scenes where she becomes just so funny. For me she is the star of the show for sure. Park Bo Geum is also one of the actors that I admire. He really made a great job especially towards the end of the show.

4.CHEMISTRY
This one for me is the only reason why I can't rate this show 10/10. Even though I love the characters, and I love their story which was so beautiful, I couldn't sense a very strong chemistry between SHK and PBG. It wasn't because of their acting or anything, because both of them gave brilliant performances. But it was just lacking a good chemistry I guess. Perhaps the love story of this show is better compared to the Descendants of the Sun, but I still can't get over the chemistry between Song Hye Kyo and Song Jong Gi. I mean yes they got married in real life which meant they had chemistry in real life too when they were shooting. But still on-screen chemistry can be very strong even when the couple isn't dating in real life (ex: Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum, Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won, Gong Yoo and Yoon Eun Hye, Gong Hyo Jin and any korean actor ever, and the list goes on and on)

Overall, I think it's definitely a drama worth watching!

Leia Mais

UNIQUE AND DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING!

I watched this drama solely to kill some time, and I was pleasantly surprised and it was definitely a breath of fresh air. The story isn't really a new concept, but the execution is what made this show a treat to watch. The story is realistic and isn't filled with unnecessary and unrealistic drama. The whole ordinary MALE LEAD with the older, rich, superior FEMALE LEAD , and the whole politics, gave off the vibe that it could have turned into another overly dramatic ordeal, but it was done just right! The whole journey and the character development was what made me watch the show. It is not a cheesy ROM-COM, which was definite refreshing. The cinematography and the overall energy was very poetic and rather classy. The casting, and the performances of the characters were great, and the ending was quite satisfying which is always a positive. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND YOU GIVE IT A GO IF YOU ARE FAN OF ROMANCE!

(side note: the product placement is a little annoying at times)

Leia Mais

A film script became a drama that works

Initially I dropped this show but came back to it later, and I’m glad I did. There’s a lot that could be better about it, but the heart of it is very good. What interested me was that a film writer (Yoo Young Ah), wrote a drama that filled 16 hours with a plot that could have serviced a two hour movie, and managed to pull it off.

Movies, like short stories, revolve around one basic idea. To try and do more is actually to do less because you don’t have the space to properly explore them. So, here she takes the basic noona/chaebol romance, stripped of any excess emphasis on politics, secondary romances, plot twists (the normal complexities written into long dramas) and plumbs the depth of it. Although I don’t think the characters had enough shade written into them to give them the full three dimensions, Park Bo Gum acted his heart out and gave a a really convincing performance, particularly towards the end.

I doubt there’s anything more than that comment, insightful enough to add anything to the already abundant comments in other reviews.

What my rating means: 8+ A great drama with interesting content and good writing, direction, acting, OST, cinematography. But didn’t quite have the requisite sparkle to bump it into my all-time fave list. Worth watching.

Leia Mais

Light and Sweet

Simple, light and sweet melodramatic romance.
I picked this show because of Song Hye Kyo and was not disappointed.

Not many complications and lame misunderstandings, thankfully. The FL and ML had a pretty strong love for each other. It would have been better if the show had say .. 4-6 episodes less as I felt things getting a little dragged out from ep 11 onwards.

I love the supporting characters. The driver, the secretary and even the ex-husband were all quite likeable. They made the show a lot stronger.

My only complain is the chemistry between the FL and ML. It wasn’t very sizzling and felt a little flat for me.

Overall a recommended watch if you want a light show. Minimal crying, I assure you.

Oh, and it’s a happy ending.

Leia Mais