Personal Rating: Loved it!
Story:
Anthony Kim, renowned thoughout the Korean broadcasting world as the king of drama production, is back after being tossed from his former production company. His mission is to produce a drama that would solidify his stature as Korea's pre-eminent producer and allow him to stage a mighty comeback and get back at his rivals. Will he be able to succeed when he is paired with a rookie writer and a self-absorbed top star?
*Spoiler warning*
Plot/Script:
This was excellent storytelling from start to finish. Pacing, character development, subplots were all well woven together to give this drama a nice touch. The focus on the beginning was clearly on Anthony's modus operandi as a ruthless producer and this set the engaging tone from the start. This tension interestingly transitioned into more of a character exploration and development phase where characters are rounded out filled in before launching deeper into the budding romance. I should also point out that the character redemption of Anthony Kim was very nicely weaved into the story at an incremental pace. Sadly, the ending was a little bit of a downer as it did seem a little bit too abrupt in trying to wrap everything up in the last 10 minutes. This did come as a bit of a surprise since the drama was extended by two episodes so there should have been sufficient time to nicely round out the ending.
Characters:
Kim Myung Min is back in form as production director Anthony Kim in this humorous series. While not as serious as in Beethoven Virus, his flawed character is great fun to watch, portrayed by one of the best actors in the Korean drama world today. While this was not one of his most outstanding performances, his acting was fairly solid. Jung Ryeo Won worked out nicely as his counterpart in first-time writer Lee Go Eun. Her portrayal of her character's softness, stubbornness and inexperience was very well done although the chemistry between the two leads was a little lacking, particularly from a romantic perspective. Choi Si Won was perfectly cast as the immature and self-absorbed idol Kang Hyun Min. His previous stint in Oh My Lady! served as good practice for this and surprisingly, he and Oh Ji Eun's Sung Min Ah worked out to be a great on-screen pair.
Music:
The theme song was probably one of the few things in this drama that didn't really work for me. First, one of the clearest English words in the lyrics was 'raindrops' which didn't seem to have anything to do with the drama. Second, while its soft melody I suppose was intended to represent the gentleness of Lee Go Eun, it didn't quite capture the feel of the romance between her and Anthony Kim although the director did choose to use that piece often whenever there were any romantic moments between them. Other than that, I had no real issues with the rest of the soundtrack.
Verdict:
This was definitely a surprise hit for me. While Kim Myung Min has impressed me with his past performances, I wasn't expecting much from Jung Ryeo Won and especially Choi Si Won but miraculously, the screenwriter managed to make use of all of their strengths to put together an fun and entertaining piece of work. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the rapport and chemistry between these three as they came melded together as a cast rather convincingly, which I would never have guessed. I'm surprised by the low ratings for this drama as it was quite well written and definitely provides an entertaining watch.
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