Legend of the Blue Sea - Guest Review

The second Korean drama our drama club watched was Legend of the Blue Sea on Viki. It's an oldie, but a goodie. As our handsome Lee Minho was the male lead (again), it seemed to be a good drama to watch after The King: Eternal Monarch. Manang Karen - our club's designated drama critic - will be writing our review today. No spoilers until the Sumorie (last section)

Sypnosis

Released in 2016, this drama is a modern mermaid fairy tale story. It is inspired by a classic Joseon legend from Korea's first collection of unofficial historical tales about a fisherman who captured and kidnapped a mermaid. This love story is centered around Shim Cheong (Jun Jihyun), a mermaid who has to adjust to living on land, and Heo Joon-Jae (Lee Minho), a witty con-artist. 

Manang Karen's Review

After 20 episodes we are finally done with The Legend of the Blue Sea! I am SO glad that we had decided on watching this drama for our club! I was honestly hesitant at first because it involved mermaids, and I had thought to myself, “How good can this drama be when it’s not even believable?” Well, surprise, surprise! I ended up LOVING it! The superb acting, well balanced mix of characters, a story line with substance, and true cliffhangers just made this drama so robust that you have to watch it to understand what I mean. I’ll try to expound without giving any spoilers.

First off, acting. I was truly impressed with the whole cast but especially with our mermaid Jun Ji Hyun. Her adaptability as her character developed throughout the story was just fantastic. There were also several moments in the drama when I thought the acting was just so natural that maybe those scenes would have better passed as bloopers, but they just blended so naturally in those particular scenes because they made them that much funnier that you were glad they were kept in. All of the supporting cast played their (dual) roles very well and added more depth to the storyline. The only flaw in this area was that there were possibly too many characters with important roles that for some of their minor side stories, their resolutions came out a little abrupt.

Speaking of storyline, we all agreed that this reminded us a lot of our previous drama with Lee Min Ho, The King, in that they both involved a parallel universe. However, this story was much easier to comprehend, and at the end of the drama the main plot, as well as all of the minor stories, had an ending. We’re not too fond of open endings, and you don’t have to worry about that with this drama. Although we had different opinions on how the story should have ended, we all agreed that we appreciated the fact that there was a real ending to the story. The extension to 20 episodes instead of the usual 16 was perfect in addressing most of the details and allowed the main story to flow without rushing too much to finish the drama. We also enjoyed the cliffhangers at the end of each episode, especially the latter ones which kept the interest level on high and tested our self control in refraining from watching the next episode. I’m not going to say who, but some of us did better than others.

Overall, this is a wonderful watch! It was a perfect balance of laughs, suspense, sadness, and excitement. We rated this 9 out of 10 and would definitely recommend watching all 20 episodes.

08/19/20 Edit:

I had forgotten to add that I really liked how they utilized the music in this drama. They had just enough main songs that evoked the right mood and emotions for the scenes, and they used them just enough that they stick to your mind but not to the point that they become annoying. The songs were easy to the ears and some have been added to my playlist.

The Legend of the Blue Sea (20 episodes)

Rating: 9/10

Recommend: Yes

Sumorie - SPOILERS AHEAD

I also really enjoyed this drama. The story, acting, presentation, and cliff hangers were all great. There were a lot of funny scenes throughout the series to keep the drama light. Not only that, Lee Minho and Jun Jihyun's faces were also pleasing to look at. 

I wanted to write about how I felt about some of the characters and scenes. SPOILERS AHEAD

Kang Seo Hee [stepmom] - Hwang Shinhye

I really disliked her, meaning she did a good job in acting. Her role was a terrible, psycho, and selfish stepmom. She killed her family and her 3 husbands. She just used them as her stepping stones to achieve wealth. I don't have much to say about her. Only that she was just so despicable and I still have harsh feelings against her. It's funny because before she played this role, she was known as a famous, beautiful main protagonist and known as "computer beauty" (according to my husbae), but I thought the complete opposite of her in this drama.

Heo Chi Hyun [step brother] - Lee Ji Hoon

I feel bad for him. He was just born into an unfortunate position. He always seemed
trapped between sides: his evil mom's doings and his desire to do the right thing. To sum him up, Heo Chi Hyun just wanted to be loved. He loved his mom and his stepfather, so he was in conflict when his mom wanted to kill his stepfather. He wanted to do good (not killing his stepfather), but he also didn't want to let his mother down. Ultimately, he chose his mother, which led to his own death. I was confused at first, though, because he acted terribly towards Heo Joon Jae when he was younger. I initially thought he was a bad person, but that thought changed as the story progressed. His last words to his mother, "You being my mother has been a curse to me." That's so sad.

Jo Nam Doo [best friend] - Lee Hee Joon

The writers totally got me with Jo Nam Doo. He was the biggest surprise. They led the viewers to think that he was a bad guy all the way up to the climax, but no! Jo Nam Doo was the game changer. I was always skeptical of him and was sure that he was a betrayer, but he was the complete opposite! Well...actually he did betray Heo Chi Hyun, but thanks to that, all the bad guys got caught. 

Last 2 episodes

These episodes are where the drama club members had differing expectations for the ending. For me, I don't understand why Shim Cheong had to erase everybody's memories. Yes, there may have been a chance that she might not have been able to return to Seoul. However, she said that she would rather love and be in pain than not remember and not be in love. So, isn't wanting to erase their memories being a bit of a hypocrite? Heo Joon Jae knew that Shim Cheong had to go back to the ocean to recover, so how would it hurt him if she left the memories with him? And how would the memories of her hurt the other people she interacted with? I don't understand. I feel that it would have been a better homecoming if everybody remembered her and everybody can reminisce and laugh together at the past.

Some of my favorite scenes are in the first few episodes when Shim Cheong is learning how to be human. I think these scenes are where her acting really shines. Especially the scenes that they had to perform in public, like when she was in the mall shopping for new clothes and shoes, and when she was eating at the restaurant with Heo Joon Jae.

VERDICT

I would recommend this drama. Great storyline, great acting. Plus, it's 20 episodes. You can enjoy it longer than the standard 16 episode series.

Sumorie Rating

4/5