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.
Then we came to the rock scene. When Mo Yeon was trying to put that stone on top of the other stone and it kept blowing off, and then the radio turned on, I was like "NO". I was "about to smack a tree" is 'quote' what I said to one of my friends. In other words: I was about to have a fit. I distinctly remember saying something like "Bitch, how are you alive" as the song 'Here I Am' started playing. I cannot deny that I was a bit dramatic, but it was a very nasty thing to do to your poor viewers. I'm just glad that they did not die and that Dae Young was finally reunited with Myung Joo with a passionate kiss (hehe).
Descendants of the Sun is known for its beautiful OSTs, and I'll tell you now, I've never stopped listening to them, and It's been about 5 months now. The tops songs I would say are 'Always' by Yoon Mirae, 'Everytime' by Chen & Punch, 'You are my Everything' by Gummy, 'This Love' by Davichi, and 'How Can I Love you' by Xia. My favourite favourite at the moment is probably 'This Love'.
My first impression of this drama was based upon the two male protagonists. When it started with them, I got the impression that this drama was going to be a bit dodgy because they were making nasty references and acting all cool. But soon we met the female protagonist(s) and they started having staring contests I was like okay, this is looking good (haha).
I remember my best friend started watching this drama before me, and she had gotten about 5 or 6 episodes in and was saying things like "oh this is so slow, nothing is happening", and "no seriously, don't watch it" and I was like "how can there possibly be nothing happening?" I was adamant to prove her wrong and I sure did. I will never let her live it down that she told me not to watch it (mwahaha). Sure, there may not have been excessive romance action to begin with, but there was definitely a lot of story building going on.
Lets just say that the characters Yoo Si Jin and Kang Mo Yeon are very much without each other - although Si Jin and Dae Young make a very lovable comedy duo. Some say that Si Jin and Mo Yeon are what make the title, they are the descendants of the Sun, but I kind of feel that all of them on that mission in Uruk were descendants of the sun - the soldiers and the nurses/doctors. The setting, by the way, was strangely beautiful. The interactions between Si Jin and Mo Yeon were very frustrating at first, especially because Mo Yeon kept pushing Si Jin away, and couldn't make up her mind as to whether she would take the risk or not, but in the end they were very, very cute. It was reallly funny when Si Jin came back, and Mo Yeon skype called the other doctors and they were all freaking out because they thought Si Jin was a ghost (:'D).
Dae Young and Myung Joo were very adorable. I find their love story quite more romantic than Si Jin and Mo Yeon to be honest. The way Dae Young was holding back so much, and the way Myung Joo was constantly fighting to be with him. It kind of contrasts to Mo Yeon and Si Jin, because Mo Yeon really had nothing stopping her from being with Si Jin, yet she was being so indecisive, where as Dae Young culturally, and as his work position, could not be with her. I was a little frustrated with Dae Young because he had so much pride to begin with, and was making a lot about getting approval, and less about just being with Myung Joo as a woman of her own decisions. However, when her father finally gave his consent, that Dae Young had finally proven himself, it was very heart-warming. They are such a cute couple, big macho Jin Goo and fancy little Kim Ji Won. I love when Myung Joo does that chest hitting thing.
Dr Song is one of those comedic characters that are essential in any korean drama. His passion for Ha Jaeh was super cute. The funniest scene was probably when he went running around with all the soldiers with their shirts off to show off to her. Another cute scene was probably when Ha jae thought Dr Song was going to die and but he was half tricking her. It was nice to have some older romance going on.
Daniel Spencer reminded me of Joshua from the kpop group Seventeen. Ye Hwa was very beautiful and I loved her accent. She was mysterious, but in a cool kind of way.
Kim Gi-bum was so damn cute. His real name is Kim Minseok. His relationship with Dae Young was really special, especially at the end. You can also find Kim Minseok in the drama 'Doctors' which I've also done a discussion about.
Chi Hoon was whipping out all the dramatic scenes, so effectively that he made me cry every time (haha). That scene where Mo Yeon kept telling him to bite down on his back molars, and he when he did it made that fun noise and he did a cheeky smile at the same time - very cute. Chi Hoon is played by Onew of Shinee, and I am continuing to find out just how cool Shinee is.
There was a specific character that annoyed the hell out of me. Jin Young Soo, or as I referred to him as: the nasty diamond guy. Literally, he is the nastiest character I've ever come across, just so crazy. Every scene with him was hard to watch. That point when he ate the diamonds, then pooped them out then ate them again, I was literally in tears, like WHY. Of course you are going to get some fatal disease when you are eating something that came out of your own faeces. On top of that, he put so many people in danger because of those diamonds: first it was just when they were excavating, and then is was when he did that nasty thing. Myung Joo nearly died (that was very traumatising, by the way, I really thought she was going to die and I was going to chuck a fit because she's part of my favourite couple as you should know by now), and Chi Hoon did that insane jump on top of him and got bitten. Absolutely insane. Poor Chi Hoon. I kind of feel bad for the actor that had to play such a despicable character (haha).
Argus was such a whiny villian, but he definitely had a scary face.
Something I love about dots, is that they're really good at empathising with the viewers reactions; they make you feel a certain way and then get other characters to exact the response, like Dae Young wanting to kill the diamond guy - we were all thinking that.
The ending of dots was really quite strange. When Onew stood up and started talking to the camera I was like "Oh nonono don't do that onew, don't be weird, sit back down". And then there was a damn volcano eruption all of a sudden and I was like "are you kidding me?" It was such a weird way to end such a heart-tearing drama. Yet, they were all happy in the end, so it was quite satisfactory I guess (haha).
This drama took me on an 'earthquake like disaster' of emotions (lol), but I don't regret a thing. I got to meet such fun new actors. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, because once again, the hype for this drama was indeed warranted.
Annyeong~
Lararara.