Pant. Puff. Re-pant. Re-puff. I have finished this DRAMA! I so wish I had dropped it even before starting it, as it was my intention: my mum always tells me to trust my instinct, but I'm stupid enough not to listen to her. And after this review here I'm going to be stoned - by the fans of this drama, by Joong Ki's groupies, by the lovers of the genre, by those who don't like it but think I'm exaggerating as usual, and even by the random passerby who's simply entertained by public executions. Never mind: I'll try to die with elegance. Seldom have I seen such a huge mountain of misfortunes, illnesses, morbidity and gloom piled in the same spot. To this drama I own the sad realization that too much suffering works like an infallible anaesthetic to whatever emotion I was supposed to feel. If the writer's intention was to make me cry, I'm afraid she got the opposite effect: when the same person falls from a cliff, is struck by lightning, is submerged by a tsunami, attacked by giant ants, kidnapped by aliens, laughed at by a leprechaun and burnt alive in a furnace in case he hadn't yet died, I can't help but laugh. Which in itself is at the same time a failure of the plot and a further cause of annoyance for me, since it makes me feel as though I were heartless. The viewer is left with the 'pleasant' task of shouting to the screen in search of rhyme, reason, sense or sensibility which is nowhere to be found. I'm sure a tiny example won't spoil anyone's trepidation: at some point a trip on the beach is planned. Great, it was such a cheerful prospect after all the gloom, I even made popcorn. But it was not meant to be, the nth twisted machination came in between and the writer sent me to bed with no dinner, burnt popcorn and a severe scolding: "clear off, offending creature! How dare you hoping for a cute interlude!" I've racked my brain in search of a way to tell you about the ending without spoiling it. Because, you see, the ending is so lame I can't walk out of here without at least a mention. The only think I could come up with is this: imagine. Imagine you are watching a war movie. The whole plot is built upon this momentous battle which has to take place, you are presented with lots of preparatory plotting, spying, codes to be deciphered, treasons, secrets, lies… in the end, you get Sid the Sloth and Manny the Mammoth playing hockey on a pack ice. WHAT? Fine, Sid and Manny are cute, but what in the gods' name happened to the paramount battle? They gave me 20 hours of people brooding around and conveniently skipped Every. Single. Important fact. The acting didn't help. While in the beginning I was intrigued enough by the events as to overlook the actors' performance, in the long run it became obvious they were displaying the same couple of emotions over and over. All right, I atone: in the beginning I was intrigued by Joong Ki's looks. They are quite blinding, believe me. Until I realized I was so preoccupied with not missing even the tiniest twitch of his beautiful face, I actually didn't see any. And I know for a fact his features do move: in the past I went as far as watching a whole saeguk for the sake of his bewitching smile. His female counterpart is carved in an even harder stone. Wait, was that a genuine smile I just saw on Eun Gi's face? No, silly, that was a pixel out of place! And I so wish all the pixels had disappeared, because let me here declare how incredibly and insufferably odious I found the female heroine. I am furious at the production expecting me to love her, when in truth we are confronted with a spoiled and selfish brat who suddenly becomes psychotic and an almost killer for no reason, then a tamed mouse with no memory, then back to her previous bitchy self with lots of all the wrong memories, then… let's leave it at that, for the sake of brevity if nothing else. The evil lady is so similar to plastic I suppose she's recyclable, and the evil lawyer probably hides glass eyes behind those spectacle of his. I understand this is melodrama, but the genre does not justify endless starry looks and robotic movements. Mind you, this is in no way the actors fault, as it is the writer's (and possibly the director's). With only three emotions to express, even Sir Anthony Hopkins would be at a loss. This fiesta of happiness is crowded with an assembly of disagreeable characters I have seldom had the misfortune to see gathered. We have a hero who's devoted to martyrdom, a heroine who's as out as a balcony and several villains whose motives are more often then not unclear. If you're going to remind me in life people are never perfect, let me reply that statistically speaking it is absolutely impossible for such a large bunch of jerks to be all born in the same city, let alone all meet for the same events. The music was ok. For a while. It soon became haunting, in the nightmarish meaning of the word. Please do not expect me to give this drama a re-watch value. Right now I'm trying to regain my lost neuronal sensitivity. Before I'm stoned, that is.