Story Discussions

Descendants of the Sun (Korean Drama) [SPOILERS]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

YATTA!!!!

Wow. 

Okay so there wasn't SO much hype on this drama for no reason. 

[Note, I watched it drama quite the while ago, and only finished this discussion 5 months later! Yay!] 

I think I first heard about this drama from a friend at school, and I didn't pay much attention to it until it started turning up everywhere. By then, I was really itching to find a time to watch it, but alas school work comes first.

This drama is once again something unique that stands on it's own, and has brought or at least reinforced a new dynamic that I am now more emotionally sensitive about: the duty of a soldier in the army. And it has also reinforced the morals of being a doctor - the lengths to which a doctor risks their own life for their patients, without discrimination. I find the way that they paralleled the work of a doctor to the work of a soldier quite beautiful; both lines have their own important battle of life and death with skill, morality and teamwork. 

It constantly brought tears to my eyes, and made me laugh incredibly, and it's a drama I would have regretted greatly if I had chosen to skip. Although I often yelled at the producers for messing with my heart too much, I am very grateful for their production.

|<-- As usual, I will state my disclaimer: if you haven't given into the hype yet, I sincerely encourage you to and definitely do not read past here if you haven't watched it for yourself. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT-->|

^ This is a video I will never forget, Dae Young's dancing killed me for the second time. I had barely recovered the attack called episode 15, and my heart went from a low to a high and I was ready to pass out.

This Korean drama is slightly different to the previous two I've watched, it doesn't have Lee Jong Suk or Park Shin Hye in it, although it surprisingly had the actor for one of the captains from Pinocchio in it who played the head of the South Korean Army. Despite not having many connections to begin with, I gradually found new connections. The lead male protagonist is played by Song Joong Ki who used to be a permanent cast member of Running Man - a korean entertainment show I love dearly - , and Kwang Soo, his best mate from Running Man also got to star in the first episode of the drama, so that was a nice surprise for me. And eventually, of course, I got to know some new actors and faces, the charming Joongki, the lovely, beautiful Song Hye Ko, and handsome, quirky and mysterious Jin Goo and the angel Kim Ji Won. Oh and the cute, cheeky and tear-jerking Onew.   

Something I absolutely loved about this drama, is the abundance of romance and love across the board. We are not just faced with one love story; there is one absolute main love story between Kang Mo Yeon and Yoo Si Jin, then there is the secondary, but still very significant love story between Seo Dae Young and Yoon Myung Ju, then there is the comedic but sweet romance between the senior doctors Ha Ja-Ae and Dr. Song, then Daniel and Ye Hwa, and Chi Hoon and his girlfriend, and finally the bromance between Yoo Si Jin and Seo Dae Young. My favourite couple I'd have to say is Dae Young and Myung Ju. 

I've mentioned that episode 15 was a very significant episode. Episode 15 was very traumatising for me. I was not expecting it. I had already had an experience when Yoo Si Jin turned up to the hospital covered in blood and bullets all through him - I screamed in fact when I saw that (haha). So when they had finally gotten over that, something very not nice happened so suddenly. Sure there was quite a lot of foreshadowing of it, but I didn't think it would actually happen. When Yoo Si Jin and Dae Young went out on that mission, I remember watching Yoo Si Jin's face after he got shot, like "nooo no no no noo why is it like that, what's going on." I was so lost at that point that I didn't even realise that Seo Dae Young's codename was 'wolf' and that he was the one with him. At that point I was still adamant that they could not die, so I was only tearing up a little bit. HOWEVER, I had myself a misunderstanding. There was a point where the other guys of the alpha squad returned to report the incident, and when they said "we couldn't find the bodies", I mistakingly read "we found the bodies". Therefore, you guessed it, I was completely taken back like "well shit this ain't a fantasy or supernatural movie, they can't come back from the dead when they have the damn bodies." As each of the characters reacted to the news that they were dead, I was breaking inside. I was like a todler having a tantrum: I was crying, literally throwing things around in my room (non breakable things, mind you), and shouting "don't do this to me!", "you can't do that!", "Why would you do such a thing??!" At one point I even reconciled the idea that it was more realistic, that soldiers go to war and a lot of them never make it back, leaving their wives behind. It was hectic, but realistic. However, I also noticed that there were still two episodes left of the drama, and questioned "surely, how can they go on for two more episodes without the main boys?" Thus, I was going insane.