There's a certain phenomenon that happens to everyone that makes them want to buy or have a brand name product, only to find out that it's not all that cracked up to be and end up with buyer's remorse. The same can be applied to Korean dramas. Sometimes dramas are labeled as "the-best-drama-you-will-ever-see-in-your-lifetime" that people are blinded by how flawed the plot is because they can't look past the pretty-pretty faces of our lovely actors/actresses and don't notice the cheesiness of it all, when a ever-so-mushy kiss scene comes across.


People often think that because something is popular, means that it's good. Lots of people don't understand that something being popular doesn't necessarily correlate to the quality of it! Quality is what makes something popular, not the other way around. People are often get sucked into peer-pressure from talks and gossip and buy into the fact that something bad is actually good because people keep saying that it is.


Well, Descendant of the Suns is no exception here. One of the co-writers, Kim Eun-Sook, is revered as a popular screen writer who has written a slew of popular dramas in the past, but most of her dramas are not written very well (IMO). In the early 2000's, her writing style was a hitting trend in the drama business. Writing dramas with the happy-go-lucky damsel in distress with the misfortune of having to put up with a pompous rich and handsome chaebol who has a heart of ice that can only be melted by her cheerful attitude. But these days, the trend of dramas demands a little more realism and a deeper understanding and display of human emotions, instead of superficial dramatics scenes and fleeting emotions driven by the moment. Her characters lack depth, her plots are horrendous (and that's putting it nicely) and her pacing is erratic, if not, very inconsistent. I admit, I find two of her dramas, mildly entertaining, Lovers and Secret Garden. But Descendants of the Sun was just a complete and utter mess.


I don't know what this writer wanted to do with the army and soldier part of it all, because it just seemed like an excuse to somehow squeeze in some action into it, but the relationship development between the two leads were hard to watch. It was like a child pushing a naked Barbie and Ken doll together, and see if they'd make a baby. Kim Eun-sook literally did just this with our two leads, and created no real connection with the two aside from the super cliche bump into each other, hate each other, share a memory or two and (BAM!) fall in love. The feelings that Yoo Shi-jun had for Dr. Kang Mo Yeon felt like it just suddenly appeared out of nowhere when he met her. There was no real gradually (realistic) feelings of romance, it was just WAM, hes sees her across the hall and he thinks to himself "I love this woman!" deal.


I didn't know what this drama wanted to be! A rom-com, a melo-drama, an action movie?! It is possible to combine so many kinds of genres into a drama, but it needs good timing, wit and creativeness to pull it all off. This drama tried to do that, but it all felt very rushed as if it couldn't wait to get to the next drama-filled scene.


Cliches are sometimes a guilty pleasure for South Koreans, and we love a typical love triangle and angst (myself included), and that's fine, but it would be appreciated if you at least TRIED to develop your writing more to grow your talents and maybe realize, "Writing fun dramas is fine, but I think I can do better!". Most of Kim Eun-sook's dramas are very typical, and really boring! REALLY BORING! The Heirs was like nails on a chalkboard. If you're going to ask me, then why watch them? Because of the wonderful and talented actors that are involved. T-T It makes me wonder why they chose her dramas. Because they thought it was a good drama, or because they thought the press involvement would be good for their career. To be honest, I'm hoping it's the latter. After Descendants of the Sun, Kim Eun-Sook is a drama writer that any actor/actress wants to be involved with because lately, by being a part of her dramas has helped dramatically in furthering their exposure and acting career. It's a career move, and we can't blame an actor/actress for wanting to take advantage of that. After all, actors/actresses make a living off our consistent admiration and interest in them.


To be honest, I'm really scared of what she's going to do with Goblin, because it's got some of my favorite actors/actresses in it, and I'd hate to see their talents diminished by such horrible plot writing and lack of character development. I know this review has been mostly centralized around Kim Eun-Sook's writing, but it's been frustrating to see how her dramas, that involve great and amazing actors/actresses, fall so short and end up being a very long and boring 16 or 20 episode thing. I'm willing to give Goblin a chance because of the cast, but we'll see if maybe Kim Eun-sook can bring something new to her repertoire of boring-and-typical-drama, product line.