Bad Love

During the last Christmas week, my wife and I were watching this series with minimum breaks for bathrooms, meals and sleep. Recently, we watched it for the second time. They were truly refreshing and enlightening watching experiences. We both cried like babies and I am one of those men that cry while watching superior drama like this one. Yes, it sure uses all the standard melodramatic devices for plot development, but they are used expertly to advance the story. I welcome sappy and over the top melodramatic scenes or plot devices only if it serves well and is used effectively to flesh out the complexity of a story, of the cruel love that should not have been, as is the case here. This drama elaborates on the meaning of “the pledge of loving the special someone” in the best of times and the worst of times, and even when it feels like hell on earth. When the special someone fills your senses, when lovers complete each other, how far are they willing to go facing the worst of circumstances, even when it feels like hell? How to fall in love with someone is very difficult to explain but when you feel that no one can fill your heart and mind the way your special person does, then that is the kind of love that Kwon Sang Woo and Lee Yo Won have in this drama. This is the test. Yes, it is difficult to explain how to fall in love but you will see an enviable example here. Viewers will ride a rollercoaster of emotions as they witness the most difficult challenges that they face. What keeps them going on is the fact that they only see each other, no other person can replace the other, and no other can fill their senses just as they do to each other. This is the test in order to know whether it is worth fighting for their love and enduring all the hardships. Bad Love provides one of the best serious treatment of falling in love with one's soulmate. I say it is better than Romeo and Juliet because the lovers here did not commit suicide for their hell on earth, for their forbidden love. As many things in life cannot be explained fully with words you have to watch and experience it yourself.
I wished Bae Doo Na had been the love interest of Sang Woo. She is the mischievous and playful actress that would have been a better match to him. She is an ugly duckling that has so much sex appeal that many men would go crazy for her. The pixie Bae Doo Na is one of my favorite Korean actresses after Lee Na young and Lee Da Hae. Read more about her at http://www.subwaycinema.com/nyaff06_bdn.htm. I recommend the following powerful dramas where Bae Doo Na happens to star beause of her charm and great acting skills (dramafever.com): 1) BEATING HEART, 2) HOW TO MEET A PERFECT NEIGHBOR, and 3) GLORIA. Beating Heart is a gem of 6 chapters with 2 episodes each, and the first chapter is a masterpiece, a mini version of one cruel love. Perfect Neighbor is also one of the best love stories ever and I still cannot make up my mind as to which one is better compared to Bad Love, it is that good. Perfect Neighbor is a masterful combination of a refined comedy (guaranteed belly laughs) with real love stories. The last farewell scene at the airport between Bae Doo Na and her “male friend”, Kim Seung Woo, touches an emotional core that I cannot describe, like an unscrutable zen puzzle. Gloria is the 50 episode version dealing with at least two cruel love stories, but if the beautiful sister of Bae Doo Na is included, as it will become clearer in the end, there are three separate love stories all intertwined. There is also in the mix a very interesting story of vengeance that will serve as the catalyst for a rewarding conclusion. It will show that sometimes vengeance is a necessary evil to fight and avert an on-going wrong, like self-defense.

This story line was nothing like I have ever watched before and the acting was on point. My husband would come home to me crying thinking something happened, but it was just BAD LOVE! Great Love Story!!

My mother is Korean and I enjoyed watching this with her. The drama is amazing and the actors are complex. Some might not understand the reasons why the characters act and interact the way that they do but try to realize this is a foreign Drama and it wasn't produced for America or "westerners" exclusively. This was one of the best Dramas I've ever watched and I don't really like them that much. If you've ever been in love then your really should take the time to watch this one.

bad love is k-drama at it's best! i laughed & cried thru all 20 hours. although it took like a month to finish them all (stupid job... lol). there wrere times when i wanted to slap 2 or more of characters (su hwan got on my last frakking nerve w/ his pity party... and in jung w/ all her self sacrifice, although i understand her actions she went overboard sometimes...) . but bottom line is the show is frakking awesome.