Big (2012)

If you must watch, stop after episode 15 and then make up your own ending

Like, what the heck? This was actually a pretty good drama but by episode 14 when Kang Kyung Joon and Seo Yoon Jae had not yet switched back that the ending was going to be trash. There just wasn’t enough time left to wrap it up. I felt bad for everyone involved the entire show, especially SYJ because we never got to find out how he really felt about Gil Da Ran. I never got the closure I needed from the drama. SYJ’s character was just tossed to the side as if he was a non-factor. If I could, I would unwatch episode 16 and just imagine a better ending in which both KKJ and SYJ returned to their respective bodies and life went on. KKJ and GDR would not have looked good together and gave Mary Kay Letourneau vibes. Also, fact that KKJ and SYJ are brothers is even more messed up but there was just no good way to end this drama. Idk. Ugh.

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There were a LOT of ticked off reviewers on this show. So much so that I had pretty much written this one off as not worth watching. But then I discovered Gong Yoo....and that settled that. Awful or not, I was watching. Really and truly, the major complaints I had about this show were tied to the ending as everyone has repeatedly beaten the already dead horse over. BUT, I didn't find that it was QUITE as horrible as rumor had it. It could have been handled much better, and been less rushed. And the other was some of the seeming skipping over of certain scenes that should have been shown.

I gave this show a 9 for acting, but most of that is due to Gong Yoo. Lee Min Jung, while adorable, didn't quite convince me during the first few episodes. She plays assertiveness way better than she plays meek. I didn't care for that meek baby voice she put on at the beginning, but thankfully, she seemed to drop that affectation as the series wore on. Gong Yoo is an expressive actor who seems to be able to pull of a range of emotions and styles.

I think the writers did an okay-ish job with the story, since it was sort of fantasy/supernatural at its core. It was easy to forget that Gyung Joon was a high school boy since he was plopped inside the gorgeous, most definitely full grown sexy and manly body of Gong Yoo as Seo Yoon Jae (sorry! Let me fan-girl for just a moment - that scene where he wakes up as in Yoon Jae's body will leave your jaw hanging. Did he just get out of military service when he made this???) So, anyway, that helped the "ick" factor of Gil Da Ran falling for a mere high school boy. I do think they side-stepped a little on the romance because he was just a boy in a man's body. I didn't feel that the plot got too draggy or boring anywhere, and zoomed through the episodes pretty quickly wanting to see what was next. But I could have done with a little less interference by Ma Ri (Suzy) and would liked to have seen her give a little more attention to Gil Choong Sik. I kind of felt sorry for the boy, but he was cute in his puppy ways. As with many Korean dramas, there are lots of little misunderstandings to overcome.

If I recall correctly, they didn't have much of an OST, it had a lot of American songs for background and I think I even caught Monster by Big Bang.
I know I won't rewatch this, so I scored it low here.
I've given it an overall 7, because it wasn't nearly up there with a truly good drama, but I have definitely seen much worse. I think that if you go in with expectations that the ending may be less than gratifying, you won't find it an unpleasant watch.

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Despite all the bad reviews about this drama, I'm still excited to watch this because I'm a fan of Gong Yoo acting. And I think i'm right, Gong Yoo act so well in this movie. But somehow I found myself skipped a lot of scene when I watched this. After a lot of thought, this is my opinion :
Act: 2 main actors doing a very good job in acting, but somehow the chemistry between them wasn't good enough. So if I watched them individually, their act is impressive but they re lacking chemistry. Thats what I thought.

Music: actually, I didn't listen to it because I skipped a lot so....well...what can I say

The biggest failure in this drama is the storyline I guess.... I think there's to much going on, to many people involved in the plot and almost everything wasn't well executed. about the marriage for example. I think the scenario actually can be 2 up to 3 different drama. I found myself liking it at the beginning, since it sweet, but I'm getting confused and boring after around episode 3. The main idea about the story was brilliant, and I like it (the main idea about switching soul) but to many twist in between and a lot of it wasn't well executed..so..
Still..I'm able to finished it, but I don't want to watch this drama ever again.

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DON'T LISTEN TO THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS AND JUST WATCH IT!!!!

This is a simple love story of how a teacher and her student fell in love...

Sounds a bit frisky aye?

Well, thankfully the directors made it easy for the viewers. Throughout the entire series, we see all the romantic scenes being executed by none other than Gong Yoo, who not only is visually appealing but also his co-star Lee Min Jung, catering for the needs of both the female and male audiences.

The whole story is a slice of life mixed with the usual tropes of the early 2000s dramas and a dash of the supernatural "body-switch" concept. I read all the negative reviews and thought I had to check it out for myself just how bad the ending had to be...but was surprised that I not only found myself suddenly on the last episodes not long after I started, but also at how amazing the cast, production, soundtrack and overall storyline was told. If you're a sucker for souvenirs this drama will leave you smiling and thinking about it, every time you notice the time strike 10:10

Gong Yoo does an amazing job at portraying an 18-year-old in a 30-year-old body and Lee Min Jung's emotional scenes are so organic and genuine that it is hard to see it as an act.

I thought a 2024 review of a 2012 drama would help those who are looking for good older dramas to watch, not stop or hesitate to place this on their "Plan to Watch" list and miss out on such a diamond in the rough.

If you want an explanation of the ending scene which in my humble opinion is a 'masterpiece', then look for my comment at the bottom of the details page where I explain it for ya'll

Hope this review helped in whether you disagreed or agreed 😊

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I liked Big overall, but there were some things that I noticed that I think could have been improved. The first 10 out of 16 episodes had some really comedic moments that helped balance some of the more serious topics, but then after episode 10, things became more serious and the drama as a whole lost its comedic flare that balanced how heavy the plot became, making it more of a melodrama than a comedy. Also, the drama was pretty fast paced up until episode 10 and then after that, everything was dragged out and the ending was just too slow in comparison to the rest of the pacing of the drama. I also feel like the ending scene where the MC's meet again was supposed to be symbolic, but ultimately failed in being poetic because by using Gong Yoo as the actor, it made it confusing for viewers to understand definitively what happened. I kinda feel like the writers kept Gong Yoo as the main visual for Gyeung Jun instead of using the little brother's actor was to try to distract viewers from how young the younger brother's actor looked that way viewers wouldn't notice the "nouna" relationship as much since Gong Yoo looks more mature and manly. Which leads to my question, why didn't they pick a different actor for the younger brother that looked a bit more mature instead of so pubescent?

I did enjoy the drama for what it was, but after episode 14, I kinda just wanted to skip to the ending and just see how it ended because I was getting bored. The writers essentially repeated the same conceptual conflicts between the two MC's to draw out the ending and that just made me bored. I also think that having Gil Da Ran deny her feelings once for Gyeung Jun was enough - there was no reason to have her confess her feelings and then when things got tough for her to go back on them, break his heart, and then boom, they love each other again. It was just too much of the same shit and I think there was a better way to go about getting to their happily ever after. Also, Gil Da Ran was way too gullible about Gyeung Jun losing his memories prior to the ending and that just got on my nerves.

Overall, I think the story was creative and the "plot twist" was believable (parents really do that to/for their children, as despicable as it is). I just think the plot and flow of the drama would have been better if they had maintained the comedic aspects throughout the entire 16 episodes and lightened up on the melodrama in the last 6 episodes.

What I did absolutely love was Gil Da Ran's brother. He was so sweet and caring toward his sister and exceptionally suave in his pursuit of Jang Mary. He never failed to make me giggle and wish that he were my little brother.
Something else I really appreciated was how Gil Da Ran didn't just all of a sudden develop feelings for Gyeung Jun and that their relationship developed over time. The writers also did a nice job showing how torn Gil Da Ran was in being unfaithful to her fiance instead of just jumping ship the second she began to waiver.
I also appreciated that Gyeung Jun tried his best to respect Gil Da Ran and Dr. Seo's relationship by not being overly aggressive in his pursuit for Gil Da Ran, so initially their relationship kinda fell into place. I do kinda wish that there were a couple more romance scenes with them though.

I probably wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone unless they were avid Gong Yoo fans, which my mother is, so she said even though she didn't like the ending, it was worth watching just to see Gong Yoo's hunkiness ;D.
Gong Yoo is an exceptional actor and did well portraying both Dr. Seo and Gyeung Jun's characters. He did a great job portraying an adolescent as well as being flirtatious and charming.
I'm not too much of a fan of Lee Min Jung, but she didn't do a bad job in this drama. I think she fulfilled her role decently.
It was weird to see Suzy playing the "bad" character even though she wasn't actually bad, she was just a character that wanted what she wanted and got what she wanted.

Anyways, this review on Big makes it seem like I didn't like it, but honestly, it was a good drama, I just think things could have been done a bit differently toward the end to make it better received and make more logical sense.

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Heartbreakingly Beautiful

I was reluctant to watch this drama because I thought it would be like Hello Teacher which just seemed to get increasingly more annoying with each new episode. BIG is an entirely different entity. This is a younger man/older woman drama that hits all the right notes. Every moment draws you in. Gong Yoo captures the essence of an in-love teen effortlessly. Disbelief is suspended. His pairing with Lee Min Jung is flawless. Funny and emotionally intense without going for the worn-out rom-com cliches, BIG is a story that stays with you long after the last episode and it is a story you will want to revisit.

Soundtrack, production values, casting, nothing was spared. Every part of this drama was crafted with care. Every moment shines.

I can't recommend this drama highly enough.

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When I first heard about this drama I was so excited. The plot had great potential. When I actually watched it for the first time I fell in love with it. It started off so well. Now if only the REST of the drama was as well done...

Now I noticed that it started to just draaaggg after a while. Then it just started to get plain stupid. It felt like the writers decided to take random words out of multiple books to create one big mess. One episode was here and another episode was there. I mean we BARELY got any background information on the characters. We only found out about the main important background info that every main character has that won't be revealed until the end.


Finally, the ending came. I was a LITTLE excited just to see how the writers would wrap up this BIG mess. (You see what I did there?) We don't get to know why these certain scenes happened or why it ended this way! SO MANY PLOT HOLES

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If you're a man of culture who likes noona romance then the synopsis will definitely seems intriguing. And the first few episodes will make you go uWu true but after finishing it you'll feel you've been deceived. The utter shithousery ending will want you to pull out your own hairs because you wasted some valuable hours of your life watching this crap.

The plot was great, the age of male protagonist was also doable(in noona romance). All it needed was a good ending. The first 5-6 episodes gives you the impresssion of a great noona romace drama in teh making, but after that it all goes downhill.
Felt like there was no direction. I was wondering whether teh script was completed before they start filming. One or two episodes of cringy romance is acceptable but no, the drama will force you to endure that almost through the whole duration.
So advice will be if you want to watch it, watch the first half of the drama then drop it. Make up your own ending and never touch it, it'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.
All these are applicable unless you're one of those "Goblin" come "Gong Yoo" fan. And it's admirable how "Bae Suzy" pull out her career in k-drama industry after this one. "Lee Min Jung" was beautiful in the drama like she how is does in her past and future works, that's it.
Don't let the overall rating of 7 fool you, that's just work of fanboy/girl of certain actor certainly. Since MyDramalist won't let me give negative rating I'll leave it at 1.

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These are some of my favorite actors, and I love seeing them in dramas. I think the issue is with the writing. This drama started out really well, but was kind of labored and you wish they would just get on with it. It could have been half as long as it was. I don't want to spoil the ending, but honestly I skipped through the last few episodes to just get to the end. I really wish they explained what happened to everyone in the story at the end much better. I think the storyline is a great idea, but I real think that instead of so much back and forth on again off again on again off again all the way up to the very end, there could have been a lot more depth and a better plot with a more explained ending

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I took a bbbbbbbiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggg time to finish this drama. Yes it was good in the initial episodes but it lost its way somewhere. What did the writer wanted to tell was a total mess. It would have been better to wrap it in 10 -12 episodes. And ending ah, what was it, JUST BAD.

It was a total disappointment for me after there is a time jump of one year. I kept guessing until the very end what was it supposed to be body swap, finding family or truth of oneself.
Acting wise it was ok but I was heavily irritated to see the clingyness of Bae suzy which means she did play her part awesomely. She was sassy and bratty simultaneously.
Gongyoo was good but he also cant make a bad script work.
Lee min jung was totally flat in expressions for me. I wasn’t convinced by her acting.

Since story was not kicking I didn’t enjoy the music, but BGM was good and I wont ever rewatch it, neither would recommend it to anybody.

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Big - My Second Korean Body Swap Drama

This drama was my 2nd body swap drama after I watched My Secret Garden.
The main question throughout the drama was if the teenager in the man's body was ever going to get into a relationship with the main girl.
Typical of korean drama they didn't really go there, and in the end, the teenager grows up and meets the teacher, and I think that's when the love starts but it's not shown.
One of the gripes I have about this drama, is that the main adult guy who's body is used by the teenager get's the short end of the stick, as he was engaged to the main girl, but the main girl falls in love with the teenager, and the drama doesn't show the fall out of what happened.

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