Forest (2020)

I've only seen 2 of Park Hae Jins dramas, this and Doctor Stranger and my feelings about them both are very similar, they both started out fantastically and then two thirds of the way through they stopped making any sense and just become frustrating, abandoning everything that made them so great in the beginning.

I have to be clear that I LOVED this drama when I first started it. I've found that recently I've not been looking forward to each new episode of the dramas I'm watching, but for this one I was excited to see where this story would take me. The dialogue wasn't great, it was kind of convoluted and a little bit confusing, but the overall story was an interesting one and so I was truly hooked.

The things that I really enjoyed throughout this entire drama were the setting, the acting, the chemistry of our leads and the music. The setting was stunning, I never got tired of seeing these characters wandering around the forest and discovering new parts to it, it was so beautiful to watch and not a setting I'd seen explored in a kdrama before. The music was really on a whole new level, it really enhanced the drama and the music alone made me excited for certain scenes. Now to the acting, as i said I've only ever seen Park Hae Jin in Doctor Stranger and I have to say that although that drama was jam packed with beloved actors, his performance was by far my favorite. And in this drama I was not disappointed at all! He was brilliant, he brought a wonderful child-like side to this cold man who lost out on his childhood. I seriously can't wait to see him in more dramas and this was my first Jo Bo Ah drama, but WOW she was good. I can understand that some people were annoyed by her character, but that was completely down to how she was written rather than her performance, I loved the believable strength she brought to the character and the fun side to her that was also always present. And the chemistry these 2 characters had was insane, there were a few moments that were seriously steamy, I mean that first kiss with the stethoscope... And big shout out to this being Noh Kwang Shik, this is his first drama....WHAT?

As I said the first two thirds of this drama were brilliant. Choosing to have drama be about the forest rescue team was such a unique idea, having a little look into how difficult their job is made for a great watch. And the rescue teams scenes were always so fun to see, I have a weakness for found family plots in dramas, so I seriously loved their moments. And the fact that they managed to put a cliched kdrama love story in the middle of such a unique setting worked brilliantly. It was a new angle on all the cliches I know and love, it was an adorable, sweet and funny drama.

But towards the end we lost a lot of that stuff and our main couple were really the only thing that kept me coming back. For some reason the writer decided to pretty much drop the fire rescue portion of the story (which was what was making this drama so unique) and have it become a drama about "evil" businessmen trying to one up each other. It stopped being funny and sweet and started behaving more like a melodrama. And it got to the point where it was ridiculous. Having our villain maniacally laugh every 5 seconds was way to much and having Park Hae Jin beat someone up and call him self a "superhero" was eye roll worthy.

So for me this drama just lost its magic and got kind of boring. I'm not sure if I'm glad I started this drama. I'm glad I got to experience some of these actors again and some for the first time, but the script was just so bad it made the last few episodes a chore to get through. This is one of those dramas I will have almost completely forgotten about in a years time, BUT one thing I'll never forget was that first kiss, it's gone straight to the top of my list of best kdrama kisses.

Leer más

Un peu de longueur, mais agréable à découvrir

Connu sous le nom de "Secret" aussi, je me suis clairement lancée dans ce drama pour Park Hae Jin, et Jo Bo Ah. L'histoire aussi avait l'air bien sympathique et sortait un peu de ce que je regardais.

J'ai bien accrochée tout les premiers épisodes, jusqu'à plus de la moitié du drama. Mais j'avoue avoir décroché à un moment donné et avoir fait une longue pause...

Pourquoi? A mon humble avis, trop long : 32 épisodes de 30 minutes, donc équivalent à environ 16 épisodes d'une heure : Courant pour les dramas. Et pourtant, à partir de la moitié, j'ai vraiment commencé à trouver cela long.

Dommage car l'histoire est vraiment intéressante. Le couple principal est très sympa, chacun avec ses blessures. Park Hae Jin porte à nouveau très bien son personnage et arrive à le faire bien évoluer, on adhère. Les paysages sont magnifiques.

Mais cela manque malgré tout de matière pour moi : Et dans l'histoire, et dans les histoires et personnages secondaires.

En bref, pas désagréable mais pas non plus le drama de l'année à mon gout.

Leer más

I had extremely high expectations for this drama, and it was beautiful to watch, but also boring. After watching the first few episodes, I thought this was going to be a mellow visual drama, which is what it was, and it was really well done. 10/10 for the person who directed, filmed, produced, etc. Visually, I was pulled in.

As for the characters, I loved their "tragic" backstories that haunted them to present day which ultimately led them together. I loved how it went from annoyance, to curious, to "friends," to finally lovers. And their romance was cute and passionate and mature. But...they were the only people that I cared about in this drama. I didn't care much for Oh Bo Mi or Choi Chang, especially as a couple. I liked Choi Chang in the beginning when he started to hit on Young Jae when she first moved to the area, but all of a sudden, he just stopped showing up and insta fell in love with Bo Mi. Bo Mi on the other hand, was just not my type of drama character. She was a tad annoying, but I have to give her credit for having passion for her job. But I think I didn't like her whatsoever was because she didn't go through any character development. I think the only other people I cared about in this drama were Kang San Hyuk's assistant (who is the REAL homie) and his teammates when he joined the forest rescue team.

There were some heavy scenes and topics in this drama that I have yet to see in other dramas (I don't watch medical dramas) and I thought they did a very good job going about every situation. I think my issue with this drama was that...it was boring. Some episodes were better than others, instead of having a consistency ratio. Also, having a degree in business, I was super lost whenever they talked business, which was a large part of the drama. I got some things, but not all.

Overall, I might watch this drama again just for the way it was filmed. It makes me wish this was a real place (maybe it is...I couldn't find it) so I can go visit it. Maybe Airbnb that little house. As for the plot, maybe not. It was def a "business" drama. If you cut all that business talk about and just watch the rest of the drama, maybe it would be more entertaining. For me at least. I also wanted to give this drama a higher score than what I have been seeing because, I have not seen another drama so visually pleasing before. Also, the romance between the mains was super sweet and loving that I can overlook everything else.

Leer más

Aquele chichê de qualidade

Terminei agora e vim correndo desabafar com vocês sobre esse drama. Tem de tudo um pouco comédia ,suspense, romance. Então recomendo para você que quer assistir algo mais suave, nada complexo. Me diverti muito assistindo esse drama o enredo é bom , o roteiro mais ainda , as atuações não ficam para trás também.

O protagonista masculino é ótimo como me diverti com ele, e me emocionei também com seus traumas, foi muito legal ver a transformação do personagem. A atuação dele foi muito boa.

A protagonista também me cativou , forte, inteligente determinada , lutava pelo que acreditava adoro protagonistas assim.
Tenho que ressaltar a química do casal, adorei , torci muito por eles , eles eram muito fofos juntos.

O casal secundário não me convenceu não consegui me conectar. Gostei muito da história da equipe do resgate adora ver .
A fotografia era linda,paisagens realmente bonitas, a ost razoável.

Confesso que achei um pouco chato a parte dos CEos , aquela corrida para ver quem pegava a floresta achei muito longo, lento poderia ser mais rápido, deu muitas voltas.
Outro ponto positivo foi a duração dos episódios eram curtos gosto disso.

Em fim recomendo, é um drama mediano mais muito interessante de se por na lista para assistir.

Leer más

I'm glad I stuck with it.

Forest is an interesting cinematic story. The backdrop of the forest was a feast for the eyes. The story started a bit awkward for me but I think that is because the characters were a bit polarising.

I think everyone did a good job in acting. But I think I have an unfair bias against Jo Bo Ah. I don't know why, but I find her unlikable at the start of her dramas. And because of this I have trouble watching her. It's not logical so this is no fault of the actress who is skilled, beautiful and redeeming by the end of the drama. What I will say is she does a good job of embodying a character so that I almost don't recognise her.

I love Park Hae Jin. Have since Man x Man, the Cheese and the Trap and many other dramas. I guess my bias for him is the opposite of how I feel about Jo Bo Ah. But he fits this role nicely as the morally ambiguous lead. He's had more practice.

I started this drama months ago and could only watch one or two episodes at a time. But I didn't hate it. I liked what I was watching but I could only watch so much before I would quit. It was like this up until episode 12, when I found myself addicted and falling for the leads and being drawn deeper and deeper into the story.

I don't want to spoil it for viewers, but things are not what you would expect and yet there are a lot of common tropes in kdramas. It's kind of a nice blend. The romance of this story is of the love / hate / love variety. So you need to brace yourself to their sweet and sour relationship. But they are couple who know they are cheesy so I didn't mind it.

If you have some patience and love scenic greenery I think you will enjoy this drama, it really does get better over time.

Leer más

Good drama to watch for natural lovers

I'm not a person who writes reviews for dramas.But this drama made me write it!.
The main reason I watched this was for park hae jin. But this was awesome.Many people might find this drama boring and many might have dropped it. But for me it was good one. For nature lovers it will be a nice watch.Such a refreshing drama...From mesmerizing beauty of nature to bitter truth of reality.
Unique storyline which revolves around a forest and incidents happened there.
It starts from heart fluttering romance between the leads which was so amusing... Maybe you'll feel it's kinda slow but story progressed with the secrets of the forest interestingly and keeps curious and ends in a little dramatic way.
Park hye jin and Jo bo Ah, both did really well and looked amazing together and their romance and characters too admirable.
It really feels so good and refreshing while watching this drama also because of the beautiful sceneries of forest and to get to know about what happens there in reality.
Such a different drama and yet worth watching.Must watch.💯😊


THE OSTS WAS AWESOME 😍
THE LEADS WAS NICE.
NICE CHEMISTRY 👍


IT IS GOOD DRAMA.
GIVE IT A TRY!

Leer más

Kang San Hyeok is an absolutely loathsome arrogant cold-hearted businessman with a hidden psychological trauma. I say this lovingly, he’s super compelling to watch. In the beginning he says and does so many cold, nasty things, despite his trauma there’s very little to redeem him. Of course, meeting Jung Yeong Jae triggers a change in his demeanor, though it’s a slow one, and makes him a more likeable character.
Jung Yeong Jae is much more emphatic and always wants to do the right thing. In the beginning she can’t stand Kang San Hyeok, but they’re inevitably drawn to one another. The two leads have amazing chemistry, both when they can’t get along and when their relationship evolves.

Besides the ML and FL, I really liked the other characters too. Choi Chang is very charming and a delight every time he’s on screen. Oh Bo Mi starts off as an annoying busybody whom you eventually can’t help but like. Park Hyun Soo is the perfect dependable right-hand man.

As for the story, it took a few episodes to get into it. The business aspects went over my head and there was a lot of that in the beginning. It became more interesting when the characters were more settled in their Miryeong lives. I liked how slowly the relationship between Kang San Hyeok and Jung Yeong Jae developed, as well as the mystery of Miryeong forest. I liked how the possible love triangle was quickly dismissed. Some of the vagueness of the past trauma was too drawn out though, while new information about it was squeezed in too late.

Speaking of Miryeong forest, THAT SCENERY. Absolutely gorgeous, lush, dreamy. So much of the story took place in the forest, which gave us many beautiful green scenes to look at.

One of the few things that irked me in this drama was the inconsistency of Kang San Hyeok’s character, mainly in the second half. In some ways he becomes kinder and less selfish through his love for Jung Yeong Jae. He becomes the perfect caring boyfriend to her, but then he seems to stay exactly the same in his work and his relationships with other people. Even towards his colleagues in the rescue squad, despite all they go through together, he barely changes.

Another thing was the dancey electronic music. At first certain tracks just completely tore me out of my immersion and all I could think was how terrible this music was. It didn’t match the overall mood and aesthetic at all. However, it did grow on me later on.

Other than those few things, I loved Forest. It has some flaws and I could see why people don’t like it, but there’s more than enough to keep you invested. It’s definitely worth giving a try.

Leer más

I don't know why so many people didn't like it.

I see mixed reviews here but more people that don't like it than do. To be perfectly honest I'm not sure why people don't like it it's a relatively good show the acting great I relatively like the story that I told and I found it pretty interesting. It's a lot better than a lot of people say it is. I definitely recommend the show I think everyone should check it out at least give it a chance. I know it's a long show with 32 episodes. But it really starts to get interesting halfway. Like I said good show give it a chance.

*This is just my opinion of this show/movie. Please don't take my opinions or comments literal or seriously. I don't do well with people attacking me and leaving rude and nasty comments.*

Leer más

Its good but with flaws

this is a very good show very very good show but there are flaws depending on what you are looking for in a drama

the very very good is the story, the visuals, the thriller portions of the show.. its very mysterious, exciting and the story makes sense.. (drama land sense -- hold realism a bit..)

the cast was great the ensemble and the 4 leads are fun together.. the push pull of the romance.. i thought was fun.. some ppl may not like it due to the coldness and brashness of the ML

the 2nd couple was much more cute definitely.. but it felt way rushed.. but fun nonetheless...

the visuals was amazing.. just so beautiful and music was just on point. too bad its not on spotify anymore but its really really good the OST

now the not so great.. i did feel the bad guy felt too comical new the end.. too cartoonish.. i mean it started great and believable but they kept stepping it up and up and up till he became the omni of bad guys.. it felt.. too much for me..

there really is no character growth.. BUT each main character did deal with the thorn in their heart and psyche.. whatever trauma that was.. for each.. at the end both dealt with it and "moved" on from it.. for me thats growth enough.. but others may not feel that way..

for me some of the setup was boring.. like boring boring.. but.. some like that.. its all business blab... so.. be warned

its really good overall for me.. even with the gaps..

Leer más

Qu'importe la vraisemblancesi on a deux bons personnages ?

Au début j’ai cru que c’était un avatar de Romantic doctor Kim !! (la montagne, la forêt...)

J'ai beaucoup aimé suivre ce drama, et pourtant je ne dirai pas que c’est un bon drama, car le scénario est truffé de maladresses. Apparemment le(la) scénariste n’a rien fait d’autre, il va falloir qu’il(elle) s’entraîne !
Les personnages « mauvais »sont parfois poussés à la caricature.(Le rire du traître, frôlant le ridicule…) On laisse parfois le héros en pleine montagne, poussé par un tracto-pelle dans un immonde trou de boues rouges, la seconde d’après on le revoit ailleurs et bien propre… On ne saura jamais ni comment il s’en est sorti, ni où est passé la tracto-pelle ! Ce n’est qu’un exemple !

Mais si j’ai aimé ce drama, c’est parce que le scénariste, qui s’est manifestement peu soucié de l’intrigue, a mis tout son soin à écrire les deux personnages principaux, qui sont très intéressants ! Leurs sentiments seront vite reconnus, mais ils restent chacun fidèles à eux-mêmes, gardant une vraie sincérité l’un envers l’autre et envers eux-mêmes.
San Hyeok veut, et aime, réussir, non par arrivisme, mais parce qu’il prend sans cesse une revanche sur une douleur profonde qu’il porte depuis l’enfance. Et c’est ce sentiment qui le pousse à faire des choix parfois douloureux, mais quand Young Jae lui pose la question, il le reconnaît : il n’a pas agi par bonté d’âme, mais parce que ça le servait et tant mieux si en chemin sa revanche a servi la justice. Young Jae, arrivée malgré elle dans ce trou perdu, va y redonner un autre sens à son travail de médecin, et s’appuyant l’un sur l’autre, sans rien renier d’eux-mêmes mais parce qu’ils s’aiment, ils vont avancer, et non oublier, mais apprendre à vivre avec leurs souvenirs cruels. Les moments où l’arrogant San Hyeok doit apprendre à se plier à la discipline d’un groupe sont très intéressants !
Et surtout, c’est Park Hae Jin qui interprète San Hyeok ! Je ne l’avais encore jamais vu donner un personnage si clair et si direct ! Parfois, quand il manigance avec son bras droit des intrigues pas toujours morales pour obtenir ce qu’il veut, je ne pouvais m’empêcher de penser à Yoo Jung… Sauf que là, il est parfaitement conscient et assume tout à fait, et sorti du travail quand il est secouriste, ou quand il est amoureux, il l’est tout aussi complètement et il rit, ou s’émeut avec une sincérité, un naturel parfait ! Park Hae Jin qui rit.... C'était bon !
Jo Bo Ah, passé le premier épisode où elle partait très mal, devient très vite un très joli personnage apportant un équilibre heureux par sa présence à Park Hae Jin. J’adore la façon dont il avoue son amour, dont il se laisse totalement investir par ce sentiment, dont il clame haut et fort qu’il lui est indispensable… Et j’adore la façon dont elle le reçoit, le comprend, et même accepte ses décisions qui pourraient lui faire mal.
Bref ! Ce couple est vraiment ce qui m’a fait aimer ce drama. Il y a tout un groupe de jolis rôles secondaires (le père de Young Jae, le jeune secouriste Choi Chang, le capitaine du groupe, le docteur et l’infirmière de l’hôpital de la montagne… )
Ce qui m’a fait aussi aimer le drama, c’est la Corée, ses montagnes, ses forêts… les paysages sont sublimes et donnent un belle et véridique image de la Corée. Je l’ai retrouvée avec grand bonheur !
Les chansons ne sont pas mal mais elles sont tout le temps là !!! tout le temps !!! et vraiment c’est pénible, surtout avec toujours les mêmes paroles qui viennent s’ajouter aux dialogues…
Et la traduction de Viki est ici très moyenne, des phrases très longues qu’il fallait relire deux fois pour essayer d’en comprendre le sens…

Au total un drama où on ne s’ennuie pas, où on visite la montagne coréenne et où on a un très joli couple romantique mais ni cucul ni guimauve ! C’est déjà pas mal !

Leer más

A Nora Roberts style Kdrama

Let's face it, when we started this we weren't really expecting it to be a psychologically thrilling and thought provoking masterpiece. It is what it is- a romantic drama, full of the cliches that, while overdone and expected, we still fall for because it can make us smile. If you want a fantasy to take you out of your life for a little bit and give you a lot of steamy scenes and romance, an occasional rofl moment, and/or just want something to while away some time with a glass of wine and a blanket in front of the fireplace, this is for you.
PHJ and JBA both carry off their roles with aplomb, neither one becoming particularly annoying to me, which could very, very easily have happened. Instead, there are a few roll your eyes moments interspersed with truly sexy encounters that will make your heart jump a lil bit. The sex appeal PHJ carries so subtly in Cheese in the Trap just runs wild in this one, and if you're watching this solely for him, you will not be disappointed. At. All.
JBA was endearing to me, and that goes a long way for me in these romantic dramas- if the female lead is a pushover or brainless, I'm just done. But she manages to stand up in the relationship and not take any BS, to the point of making me chuckle a couple times- which with the rather overpowering personality of PHJ's character, is rather a feat in itself.
There really wasn't much of a triangle, which was rather refreshing. The couple certainly had enough issues to work out without it. The secondary couple seemed to be added in just because, but there are one or two funny moments that had me laughing hysterically, because as absurd as they are you can still see it happening. (That parking lot loudspeaker scene, omg.)

While I hope PHJ doesn't get relegated to eye candy roles- the man has an amazingly chilling ability to carry off that razor edge of Machiavellian brilliance without looking completely psychotic- I admit I enjoyed him in this. You'd have to be blind and estrogen-less not to.
Sit back, have a glass of something fun, curl up and just enjoy. I am.
Binge watching this still while you read this, most likely. I'll amend if I need to.

Leer más

Good story. Few tropes here and there. Happy ending.

Good story. Rich components, really good cinematography with a few tropes here and there.

At first, it feels like a very chill one. The ML was a typical domineering powerful man from the business world, domineering and narcissistic but not cruel. The FL was a typical sweet and bubbly girl next door doctor, sweet but not dumb and love crazed.

Then the story developed with a good mystery/crime/power struggle that involved both the business and the medical world. Add in the RomCom feels from the main couple and the secondary couple. The story didn't rely on the classic love triangle or tragic love story angle, which is really refreshing.

Leer más