Master's Sun (2013)

Country: South-Korea
Format: drama in 17 episodes
Genre: Supernatural, romance
Cast: So Ji Sub, Kong Hyo Jin, Seo In Gak, Kim Yoo Ri, L, Choi Jung Woo, Kim Mi Kyung, Lee Jong Won, Han Bo Reum, Hwang Sun Hee, Park Hee Von, Lee Jae Won, Jung Ka Eun,
Synopsis: After being in an accident, Tae Kong Gil develops ability to see and hear ghosts. For years ghosts are coming to her in order to find help to move on to the "other side". Only bad thing is that Tae Kong Gil is scared to death by ghosts. On one stormy night her road crosses with Joo Joon Won - rich businessman who values only money. She ends up discovering that all ghosts disappear once she touches Joo Joon Won. After finding her "safe-spot", she is willing to do anything in order to stay by his side.
Rating: 5/5
I heard the uproar and success of this drama for 3 years and yes it took me 3 years until I decided to watch it.. alone in my weird apartment in Lisbon. Never been more afraid to turn off the living room lights in the middle of the night. It is not exactly scary movie, but as I am a big scaredy-cat then it was enough for me.

Tae Kong Gil aka Sun is now one of my favorite female characters. Before the accident she used to be extremely talented and one of the most successful people in the university, but due to ghosts she has become antiocial introvert who prefers not to go out in crowded places. What I like about her is that she does not fall in love with Joo Joon Won on the first second and for a long time he is just her "safe-place" with no other emotions included. It is refreshing to see a woman who has different kind of attachment to a main male character.

Kong Hyo Jin is amazing in this role. A lot of people say that she was made really ugly for the role, but I think it is refreshing to see a female lead who is really simple, but does not look like a total mess. She is not clumsy nor shy, so she does not get embarrassed to touch Joo Joon Won in public. Maybe it is also that she is very desperate after living all the years with seeing ghosts and finding the only way how to get rid of them, makes her confident in order to succeed. In addition, this woman has so much courage that it is simply amazing. I am also big fan of Kong Hyo Jin's facial impressions because these are just priceless.

At first Joo Joon Won aka Master seems to be a bit like every other rich guy in Korean dramas. He can be material-orientated rich bastard, but he is definitely my favorite "rich man" from any drama. He measures everything in net worth and how much money he can earn so it is surprising to him to find that his calculations about Tae Kong-Gil turn out wrong while they still feel more right than anything else. I guess for him at the start Tae Kong-Gil is more business and an entertainment. She is the first person who takes him out of his usual zone and make him do things he would rather avoid in his everyday life, but at the same time it makes him feel more alive. I like his comical side that makes him very appealing. He can be so mean with his jokes and many times you cannot even understand if he is simply being mean or joking. Funniest is to see his "passive war" with his Uncle as everything is just showed with passive-aggressive actions.

It is interesting to see how two people, so unfamiliar with love and feelings, are trying to find a way from professional business relationship to actual romantic relationship. Even when they are not officially a couple, the awkward way and not giving real explanations makes them from the start one of my favorite couples of all times.

For me Kang Woo became unnecessary character and he actually ended up annoying me from one moment. He knew exactly how Tae Kong is feeling, but he still continued to be a pain in the ass. He has double-identity and is playing dangerous game. Despite being chief of security guards he is totally scared by any kind of ghosts as what else can be more scary than things we cannot see? He lives in the same apartment building as Tae Kong Gil and ends up getting to know her closer. He is rather serious person and most of the time does not understand any kind of humor. Only times when I really like him are when Tae Yi Ryung is trying to hopelessly seduce him, that usually ends up with him using self-defense to protect himself and Tae Yi Ryung getting another bruise on her skin.

Tae Yi-Ryung is top celebrity model who is the face of the mall. She is supposed to get married to famous footballer, but her wedding gets ruined by Tae Kong Gil who delivers a message to Ti Ryung's soon-to-be husband from his ex-girlfriend. Tae Yi Ryung and Tae Kong Gil are also former classmates and their tables have turned as in high school Tae Yi Ryung was known as "Small Sun" - small girl with bracelets and always in the shadow of Tae Kong Gil. Her failed marriage only adds oil to her anger against Tae Kong Gil. Despite that she is actually sweet girl who just wants to be loved. She can act like a spoiled brat, but her actions never go so far to actually hurt anyone. In addition, she knows how to be clumsy and fragile enough, so that she more ends up hurting herself than anyone else.

From the start Hee Joo's ghost is the most important character from the ghosts. Her story is really confusing at first and for sure there is a lot of confusion going on. Sometimes it feels as if she truly cared about Joo Joon Woo and next moment she honestly says that she is only after his money - just as if she is two different people. She is also the most complicated ghost that Tae Kong Gil has met as Hee Joo does not really speak to her as other ghosts do. Let's say that there are for sure more mysteries behind the story and it is really interesting to see it unfold.

I guess one of my favorite characters in the drama has to be the Chief. He is shipping Tae Kong Gil and Joo Joon Won from the start and basically ends up helping them to get together faster. Just as almost every character in the drama, he has his own secrets from the past for what he hopes to receive forgiveness in future. Another characters that I rather liked were Joo Joon Woo's aunt and uncle. "Uncle" is actually his aunt's husband, who is many years younger.

He likes to joke around and despite being rather ignorant and silly, he is able to notice things around him much faster than his wife. Aunt on the other hand is strong independent woman who at many times tries to understand what were the reasons she married to this kind of man. All I can say that neither of them is a bad character and they actually end up giving a good comical touch to the drama while they are trying to figure out what is really going on between Joo Joon Won and Tae Kong Gil.

I think one of the high-lights of the drama are the conversations between two main characters. Their dialogue is full of hidden messages and beating around the bush, so sometimes it might be really difficult to understand what exactly they are meaning with their words. I even had to pause the scenes to re-read the subtitles. On this point, big thanks to subbers who made awesome job with this drama.
This is definitely one drama that nails you to the screen when you like good comedy, great characters and a bit of supernatural activity. Here is a small teaser for you...

Spoiler-review: I did not enjoy the end as much as I wanted to. They are going in circles with "being good enough" for each other and it just makes feel that I am wasting my time with watching it. I would have been much happier if they just had summed it up and ended it nicely without going around and around. The last episode is pretty much just long ending that could have been done much shorter.
Also, I was surprised about Hanna/Hee Joo being so evil. As being a twin myself, I cannot imagine how one can ever hurt their twin.