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Big: Episode 16 (Final)

Well, it ends. Listen, my mother said that if I don’t have nice things to say… waitaminute, my mother never said that. Let the ragefest begin!

This show is basically a lesson in math. Turns out you can have great parts, but the sum can add up to less than those parts. I know! I didn’t know it worked that way either! But math is wily like that. And apparently, so are dramas.

SONG OF THE DAY

Big OST – Gong Yoo “Because It’s You” [ Download ]

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FINAL EPISODE RECAP

Da-ran makes her big confession (handy to have the whole cast rounded up) that she’s in love with KKJ. She takes off the ring and leaves it on the table. Kyung-joon drags her away, and her parents are left to apologize to the in-laws.

Kyung-joon calls her crazy—he’s going to lose his memory and she’ll be all alone and hurt. Da-ran: “I’m going to remember. Even if it hurts, I can’t pretend you weren’t here.”

He stammers, “You’re not going to pretend it didn’t happen?” Is the question you’re really asking, Then was the last episode all for nothing? Because that sure is MY question.

Da-ran: “No. Because I said that my feelings for you were real. The you that I like is there. He’s there now and will be in the future.” He looks at her, dumbfounded—but he might not remember, and he might call her a crazy person!

She says through her tears that it doesn’t matter. She’s going to remember and protect their love, and she’s going to tell him everything. She’s crazy now, so why not go with it? He agrees that she sure doesn’t appear sane.

She gives him the watch she fished out of the lake, and he decides she’s officially crazy. He cups her face in his hands, sighing that she’s all dirty and smelly. She says it again—that even if he can’t remember her, she’s going to remember for the both of them, and that she won’t let go of him.

A tear falls as he hugs her tight.

Little Kyung-joon’s vitals spike, and his heart rate gets dangerously high. Se-young calls the parents, who run over and stay up with him that night, worried.

Kyung-joon and Da-ran walk down the street hand-in-hand, and he asks if she doesn’t want to go home and shower first. But she says she’s going to have to learn to be seen as a crazy person by the entire world, so she may as well steel herself now.

To that end, she decides to pick some flowers out of a planter on the sidewalk, to make up for the time she threw out the flowers he gave her. She runs across the street to wave them about and sing the Pororo song, and she successfully gets called crazy.

Kyung-joon runs over and sighs that he’d hate to forget this—it’s fodder for a lifetime of mockery. She says in turn that there are so many things she didn’t do for him when she thought he’d remember, and now that he’s going to forget she’s just full of regret.

Mari comes back to the restaurant to retrieve her fake ring and asks Aunt and Uncle to be a witness for her when Kyung-joon wakes up, to say that she’s the one who was by his side the entire time.

They nod that she’s right about that, and she sighs that she’s the only one who has the right to be by his side, and not lying Gil Teacher who goes back on her promises.

The Gil family waits on pins and needles for the fallout, and Choong-shik worries—if Yoon-jae and Da-ran left like that, the air must be frosty between them right about now…

Cut to the happy couple shooting furtive smiles at each other across the kitchen table. Kyung-joon starts in on his interrogation: “When did you first start liking KKJ?!” He slams his hands on the table for emphasis.

She retraces her steps, like the time she felt something when he showed up at the theater, or realized in the park that she was no longer waiting for Yoon-jae, but searching for Kyung-joon.

She argues that they should be going over his half of the story since his is the memory they have to recreate, but he counters that his part is just full of pain, like the time he confessed he liked her and she called him a blood clot, and on and on ad infinitum. Well, when you put it like that, *sadface.*

She wonders why she didn’t find the courage to confess her feelings sooner, and he tells her to just do well from here on out, because he’s going to write it all down from now on. And then they just make moony eyes at each other in an explosion of cuteness.

Mom and Dad sit by Kyung-joon’s bedside all night, and Mom says it feels just like when Yoon-jae was young and sick all the time. She wonders how it feels the same now, watching over Kyung-joon.

Da-ran heads home to face the music, telling Kyung-joon that they can’t exactly see each other out in the open anymore. He asks if they should just run away to the boonies and she vows not to do any more running.

She steps through the door cautiously to find the whole family waiting for her. They send her upstairs right away. Mom comes in brandishing a pair of scissors: “Even when my mom cut off all my hair, I still liked your father.”

She tosses Da-ran a wedding photo, and in it Mom’s hair has been chopped off. She asks now if Da-ran wants to end up the same way. Da-ran says it doesn’t matter, because if she has to pretend her feelings aren’t real, then she’ll never be able to smile like Mom in this photo.

She closes her eyes and braces herself, and even when Mom grabs her hair and puts the scissors to her head, she says nothing in protest. Mom stops when she sees Da-ran’s resolve, sighing, “You’re really crazy, aren’t you?”

Mom sobs in her room, as Dad comes to pat her back. She adorably calls him Teacher, and cries that she just said the same things to her daughter that her mother said to her. She wonders now how much she broke her own mother’s heart. Aw.

Kyung-joon stops by the hospital to check on his coma body, and is alarmed to hear about the near-heart attack. Se-young remembers that he first woke up in the morgue after the accident, after being declared dead.

He confirms it. Oh noes. This is going to an ominous place.

He sits with Teddy, blowing balloons, and tells himself the body swap will be fine—just like inflating a balloon, deflating it, and then inflating it again. But next to him, Teddy over-inflates his, and it pops, jolting them both. Kyung-joon grabs his heart in fear.

Meanwhile Mom happily tells Se-young to wait for Yoon-jae to return to his old self. Mari tells Kyung-joon that she’s going with him to Germany, but he says they’re not going anywhere.

He tells her that Gil Teacher will stay by his side when he wakes up and Mari gapes—you mean by your side, the little brother of the man she just cheated on? She calls Da-ran crazy, and he affirms that she is with a goofy grin.

Kyung-joon spends the entire next day trying to see Da-ran, but the Gil Family is on high alert, taking shifts to watch her every move. He finally has to romeo his way to her window late at night, and puts his arms out to 10:10 for her to jump.

She’s about to when Mom stops her, reminding her not to do something as despicable as keep all her options open (ie. play both Yoon-jae and KKJ), a phrase that means in the literal sense, to “maintain your fishing pond.”

Da-ran grumbles that her pond only has the one fish, and then worries, “What if it dries up and dies?” She decides to jump, to water her fish and save it.

She gives Kyung-joon his watch, newly fixed, and then leaves him with a peck on the cheek. He watches her go with a swoon, muttering that if she was going to water the pond, she should’ve splashed him, not given him one little drop. But then he goes right back to swooning.

The next day Mari stomps into the hospital with a team of bodyguards in tow, and declares that she’s going to take Kyung-joon away. Um… are we adding kidnapping to your ever-growing list of crimes? Because you can’t just steal people’s coma bodies and get away with it!

Kyung-joon goes to see Mom to tell him that he’ll go to Germany with Dad, and they should leave Coma Kyung-joon here. To his surprise, Mom says she’ll stay here with Kyung-joon then.

But they’re quickly interrupted with bad news: Kyung-joon is gone. WUT. She really took him? How does a person just walk away with a coma patient? SIGH. Whatever.

She answers Kyung-joon’s call to announce that she’s going to hide him away till he wakes up, and keep him from ever seeing Gil Teacher again. “You said Gil Teacher was crazy? Well then I’m double double double crazy!” Um… were you waiting for someone to argue?

He tells her that he’ll just stay in this body forever then, and not get treated. She starts to panic that he’ll die that way, and Kyung-joon calls her bluff: he’ll meet her tantrum for tantrum, and he’ll just die in this body if she keeps going. She breaks down and tells him she’ll stop.

Kyung-joon tells her that being with Da-ran is what he wants, and Mari can’t force things to go her way while ignoring his feelings. She counters that he’s doing the same, ignoring her feelings and Yoon-jae’s.

She puts the ring on the table to remind him that when Yoon-jae wakes up and finds Da-ran by Kyung-joon’s side he’ll be as heartbroken as Mari. Yeah, but I doubt he’ll resort to kidnapping to argue the case.

At the same time, Little Kyung-joon’s vitals spike again. Teddy and Rabbit worry that they yanked too hard, and we see that the Miracle picture has been torn in two.

Mari continues on her quest to meddle, and why this character is even still trying to run interference at this point is beyond me. She goes to the mandoo restaurant to lie to Da-ran that she hid the ring in the mandoo filling, just to send her digging for it.

Da-ran bursts all the mandoo to look for the ring and then chases after the delivery guy to steal other people’s mandoo dinners, all the while feeling terrible that she ignored Yoon-jae’s feelings.

At the hospital, Yoon-jae-in-Kyung-joon’s-body cries a tear, and then his heart rate goes shooting up again. But Kyung-joon shows up to hold his hand, and he comes back down to normal. Kyung-joon says he’ll wait until Yoon-jae’s stopped time gets cleared up too.

He finds Da-ran trudging along in the street, looking for something. He guesses right away that it’s the ring and he says he found it. They stand across the street from each other, talking on the phone, and Kyung-joon sighs that it won’t work for them to hold hands right away, will it?

The blinking red light and her silent pause confirms that he’s right.

He wonders how long it’ll be before they can be together, hoping that it won’t take too long. He worries that he won’t remember and they’ll be apart for so long that they’ll miss their opportunity.

But she assures him that she’ll remember. Kyung-joon: “If my heart has grown enough to be able to look back at someone else’s heart, if my heart has grown just a little… then won’t I wake up, not as a child who knows nothing, but someone who can remember Gil Da-ran, just a little?”

She says that her heart will grow too, every day as she remembers him. She promises to keep growing her heart, so that it’ll be impossible to ever let him go.

Kyung-joon finally (FINALLY) spells it out plainly for Mari, that he’s not going to wake up by Da-ran’s side right away, but he’s not going to stay by Mari’s side either. He tells her to stop running after him, because no matter how much she does, he’ll never go to her.

Just think of all the felonies that could’ve been avoided had you done this sooner! He says he ignored her feelings completely in all this and did as he pleased, but now he feels sorry and can’t keep letting her do this.

He says he’ll put up a very clear signal for her, and puts up his hand, “Mari-ya, stop coming.”

She looks up with her puppy dog eyes and cries, and then steps forward, just until her head meets his outstretched hand. Aw, that’s kind of heartbreaking. She goes literally as far as he’ll let her, and stops there, resting her head against his palm. He drums his fingers on her head one last time.

And then Choong-shik sees her off at the airport with a long face, as he watches her approach the gate. He calls after her at the last minute and runs up to write his name on her purse.

Mari: “Gil Choong-shik!” Choong-shik: “That’s right! I’m Gil Choong-shik! This will probably take about ten years to repay via pizza. I will pledge that time to you. You wait, Jang Mari!”

And then he walks away, finally getting his cool exit down just right. She smiles after him.

Kyung-joon meets with Mom to go over travel plans, and finds her studying a notebook. He asks what it is, and she says it’s her Kyung-joon notes, gathered from Da-ran and Mari, so that she can learn as much about him as she can.

She worries that he’s a picky eater and that she isn’t the best cook, but Kyung-joon tells her to do her best, and prepare for a cold response since he’s not the most well-behaved child. He grins to himself, touched at her effort.

Ae-kyung and Na Teacher pass around their wedding invitations, and Ae-kyung asks Da-ran what she’ll do next if Yoon-jae heads off to Germany. She says that he’ll return someday to give her an answer.

She says that she’ll tell him then, that she’s no longer waiting for his answer, but has come to love someone else, even more.

Kyung-joon watches over his body and says that he’ll meet Yoon-jae soon, and by now I’m just screaming, You said that eons ago. Can soon be now?

He runs into Se-young and apologizes to her for acting so immature lately, and says that when she touched his arm after the accident that was kinda sexy. She should do it again, when Seo Yoon-jae returns. He walks away with a smile, leaving her confused.

Da-ran walks through the park and stops to drop some money for a homeless man sleeping on a bench, and is shocked to find her green umbrella sitting right there, still with her name and number on it.

Wait… did you just steal from a homeless man? Er…

She takes it to a shop to get it fixed and finds Kyung-joon watering the lawn. She tells him to make it rain and opens the umbrella, asking if he remembers the day they met.

He remembers, and confesses now that he followed her off the bus, not because she stole his umbrella, but because he swapped them on purpose. Ha.

They ride the bus together now, remembering that day, and he says how funny she was, giving herself away with the radio story. He saw that their umbrellas looked similar so he slid his over to her, and she picked his up without even looking.

They wonder that if he liked her enough to do that, maybe when he wakes up, there’ll still be a little of her in his heart.

They get off the bus and she opens her umbrella, and he puts his hands over hers just like that first day. She hopes that if she remains in his heart, he’ll come after her again. He asks that if he does, for her to hold onto him, no matter what, and tell him about their love.

Kyung-joon: “Then we’ll come back to this time.” She takes his watch and says that the moment she tells him her feelings, Kang Kyung-joon will return to this instant, and says he’s now been hypnotized.

They get ready to part, and she starts to cry but smiles through the tears. He ekes out that he’ll be going, but then stops to say one last thing. “I didn’t want to say this. I wanted to say it to you when I returned, but… Gil Da-ran, I love you.”

A tear trickles down his cheek as he says it, and then he puts the umbrella back in her hands, and walks away.

One year later.

Da-ran is a teacher at a new school, and Mari sends her an email to say that both boys have returned to their rightful places, and that neither remembers anything after the accident. Wait… the big finale body swap happens offscreen? @&*#$T#*#KK!

Kyung-joon hasn’t asked about Gil Teacher, and per her promise to Kyung-joon, Mari won’t tell him.

Da-ran says to herself that per her promise, she’ll continue to remember.

Rabbit gets better and even gets to go home from the hospital, and Teddy gives her a big hug. Ae-kyung and Na Teacher are pregnant and happy. And Da-ran still stops every time she sees sunflowers.

Choong-shik slices and dices as the new chef at the mandoo restaurant, and Mom and Dad say that Da-ran is due for a visit, after stopping by her old school. Choong-shik heads out to send Mari yet another package of mandoo, only to find her standing at his door.

She’s here to accept an award, having turned her stalker photographer skills into an artistic pursuit instead. Well that’s lemonade out of lemons if there ever was. Choong-shik asks hopefully if she’s been eating the mandoo he’s sent, and she says her dog enjoys them.

She admits she’s tasted at least one, and he asks her how many points she’d give them. She judiciously says, “One.” Choong-shik pumps his fist in the air, to have finally made it out of zeroland.

At this rate it’ll actually take you a hundred years to get your girl. He asks if they can take a picture together and eagerly awaits the day he’ll get to two points. Aw.

Da-ran drops by Kyung-joon’s old house and sees a mother and her son living there now. She says she used to live here and just dropped by, and as she leaves the kid says that the hyung who was just here said the same thing…

It starts to rain, and Da-ran hops on the bus. She hears her letter being read over the radio, wishing the person she loves a happy birthday this June 24. Da-ran whispers on the bus, “Happy birthday, Kyung-joon-ah.”

The radio message continues that she’ll be going next month to see him, and though he won’t remember, she’ll tell him everything that she remembers. She looks down at her watch and it’s 10:10.

The message concludes, “I’m running towards the time right now, 10:10.” She looks down at the aisle, where another green umbrella lies next to hers, and she smiles.

She gets off the bus with her umbrella, and then suddenly a voice calls out to her: “Gil Da-ran!” Wait, that’s still Gong Yoo’s voice. Urg, and though we only see him from above as he runs under her umbrella, it’s still Gong Yoo. WHY. Why Show, why.

It’s supposed to be Kyung-joon back in his own body, but they refuse to show it to us. This is so lame. I waited sixteen episodes for them to reunite like this?

He puts his hand over hers and she looks up. And then the scene is intercut with Kyung-joon’s farewell scene, earlier in the episode. If we were going to do that anyway, would it have killed you to have Shin playing the present-day half of his own character?

Past Kyung-joon tells her to hold onto him if he comes back. Da-ran looks up and smiles at him now, “Hello, Kang Kyung-joon.”

Kyung-joon plays it cool, saying that he just came around because he was curious how she was doing, and she says she knows the real reason (his little crush). He walks off with the umbrella and an, “Uh-oh, you’re overreacting.”

Back to Past Kyung-joon, who asks her to hold on, even if he’s mean and cold and bristly in the future. She runs after him now, returning that gesture and putting her hand over his under the umbrella.

Past Kyung-joon says that when she tells him her feelings, they’ll return to this moment. She smiles up at him now, and his watch reads 10:10.

Back to Past Da-ran: “I love you.” Past Kyung-joon: “The moment I hear those words, my heart will grow, as big as it is now. Like a miracle.”

They beam at each other, and then we end, on Past Kyung-joon and Past Da-ran, under the umbrella on that day they parted.

 
JAVABEANS’ COMMENTS

What? Huh? What? What? Was that just in her head? What? How did he get his memory back? What? What was the point of the year? Did Yoon-jae get over his sadface? What?

I have no more words for you. Drama, you don’t deserve any more words. Go sit in a corner and think about what you did.

RAGEQUIT.

 
GIRLFRIDAY’S COMMENTS

*HULKSMASH*

THE FUCK? We don’t even get ONE measly glimpse of Kyung-joon in his own body, even when they meet again? BAH. So. Disappointing. I know it’s jarring, but you’re the one who stuffed the hero in the wrong body for the entire goddamn series; own up to it and let us see the couple who’s supposed to be together, TOGETHER. If that’s the line you’re playing, you have to see it through!

It’s not like Shin has to appear 30 for crying out loud; he’s just 21 so how hard is it to let us see the 21-year old hero in his own body, finally getting the girl? I was so ready to say that despite some unnecessary episodes and senseless prolonging of plot points, that they managed to salvage a satisfactory ending. Until they didn’t show the swap. And then that last scene… where they didn’t give me my ONE moment, of Da-ran with the real Kyung-joon! Aaaaaaaaargh.

That’s just… plain mean.

Siiiigh. So many ways this drama went awry, and sadly, I think it began at the roots. They should’ve stuck with the original Big concept of a boy who rapid-grows into his own 30-year old body, because then at least it would’ve been HIS body. Having him stuck in Yoon-jae’s shell (even till the final moments of the show, dangnabbit) just kept me at arm’s length the whole time, knowing that she was having to look past his shell. Sure, it’s admirable that she can, and I went along because I expected that we’d get the final scene with Kyung-joon in his own body to say yes, Da-ran still loves him completely, as himself. IS THAT SO HARD? Why must you take that away from me? How can a story culminating in a body re-swap… not show the swap??? I. Don’t. Get. It. And did Yoon-jae just never come back to see his fiancée, or did that happen offscreen too? Why do you need a drama if all your most interesting narrative payoffs are going to happen OFFSCREEN?

Okay, calming down now. Truth be told, I might be angry now, but I was pretty checked out emotionally for most of the show’s run. There were definitely things that kept me invested, like Gong Yoo’s fantastic performance. But a showcase for one actor does not a drama make. And despite my love for Gong Yoo as the teenage Kyung-joon, my heart is always with the story first and foremost. That’s why I needed to see Shin playing the character in the end, because to me, telling me that they re-swapped offscreen is not enough. If I’m buying into the idea that he’s one character, no matter whose body he’s in, then you have to trust that I’m going to buy it till the very end. It shows a lack of trust in the audience, and for that, I feel betrayed.

I certainly don’t think that it was all bad, because there was a whole lot of cute and some good coming-of-age stuff in there amidst the confusing. But one thing I constantly asked all series long was: Are we there yet? I feel like somehow every step of the way, the show never got a step ahead, never surprised me. I held out hope that the boys would swap back sooner than the final hour (because honestly, I think the fallout is FAR more interesting than the lead-up), but that didn’t happen, and then to top it off, we didn’t even get to witness the big moment. No heartfelt first official meeting between the brothers, who saved each other’s lives? No my-hand-was-warm-because-you-reached-out-to-save-me-first? No wonder twins, activate? Nuthin’?

It’s really too bad that the whole drama failed in the writing department, because the Hong Sisters have penned some of my favorites over the years. I don’t love all their works before Big, and neither am I going to just write them off because of this one drama. But I’ll call a dud a dud, and this one just sailed right into the crapper. It turns out you can’t shape a whole drama on one big premise and leave things like logic and character motivation and emotional payoffs at the door. We kinda like that stuff. It’s sorta why we live here, in dramaland.

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Where does one begin with such a minefield of problems?

The one really brilliant bit of this drama ?? -- Gong Yoo's acting. That's it.

Everything else could have been done better. Re-worked scenes appeared in nearly every episode, no new and interesting locations, music, dialogue or characterizations were introduced much after the first three episodes or so, and one could see clearly from 400 miles away that the bus was going off the cliff in the end and leaving us not only unsatisfied with all the unanswered questions, but the Hong Sisters were actually arrogant enough to skirt a few major medical ethics issues and then just ignore them. EEP! Perhaps they started taking drugs, or stopped their meds, who knows??

Where was the cute? the clever? the pithy dialogue and zany zingers? Where was the anst? the caring? the love? Not cute. Check. Not clever. Check. Not pithy or zany. Check. No angst. Check. No caring. Check. No love. Check. Perhaps they were just teaching a class: How To Write a Drama that Sucks from A to Zed.

I can't even be bothered to list all of the problems, it is such an endless and fruitless task. There's no answers to the "why" questions we all have, there's no solutions or explanations good enough to redeem a lackluster drama that solely made it to air-time by the talent attached -- Gong Yoo and The Hong Sisters.

Now one wonders where they will get their next paycheck, those sisters, since this is not just one for the crapper, it's the black seemingly bottomless pit of crap under the crapper.

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Ha,ha.

Good summary; pretty much my exact thoughts.

For a romcom, 'Big' was severely lacking in fun/cute moments and witty/clever dialogue (which both 'Best Love' and MGIAG had).

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I had expected the Hong Sisters to change their usual formula given their last interview, HOWEVER, that still means writing a well-put together drama that actually interests the viewers and keeps us coming back for more.

A good story is a good story.

Big was not a good story. It lacked everything except a compelling male lead. 'Nuff said.

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Yay, thank goodness I checked out a loooong time ago. Imo, the only good episode of this entire drama was ep 1. Maybe even 2. But this drama is the ultimate trainwreck. Poor Gong Yoo. I feel for you, dude.

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So KJ and YJ went back to their real bodies, only to be duped because they did not want to show Shin and instead bank on Gong Yoo to appear in the final scene. WHAT THE HELL???

Gong Yoo, I love you, but this sucks.

Damn it.

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But why? They didn't even kissed in the ending...I was at least expecting to see Shin's face, the real KJ with Daran. So disapointing!

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what does a WTF ending mean? She did not end with anybody?? or what

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BIG DISSAPOINTMENT should be the title of this drama! haha

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or BIG PILE OF CRAP, take your pick.

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I 'd go for BIG PILE OF CRAP

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lol ouch

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BIG DISAPPOINTMENT

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I can't believe i finished this drama, it was so promising for me at the beginning but argh this ending, what the heck. i was so annoyed everytimed they kept doing fakeout bodyswaps (i swear all that fakeout could of added up to an hour of my time WASTED) but the fact that its not even shown to us? i feel your rage, there are so many OTHER ways the ending could have been satisfactory for me, but it was dragged into nothingness, it needed more backstory, i needed them in their real bodies so that i could understand where they stood but nuh... nothing.

Also, sidenote - normally i like hong sisters minor characters (the older loves) but the mini arc of KKJ's uncle and the teacher really made NO SENSE, was neither cute nor had a point ergh, i don't even know why i thought it would lead somewhere...

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Seriously, cut out the circular story-lines and loops, you'd have about 4 hours-worth of actual drama in this drama.

Sixteen hours is a lot of time to fill with ... a great male lead who can bring the same angst or love over and over again ... too bad absolutely NOTHING else in the drama was worth watching, and cute as he is, sexy as he is, smart as he is, we got tired of Gong Yoo doing the SAME DA** scene 22 times/ways. (slight exaggeration, I'm not sure how many times he pulled the same scenes and I'm sure as hell not going back to count).

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the ending is a big slap in the face. pissed. i want the hours i wasted back.

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AAWWWWWWWWWW.... the ending was sooooooo disappointing!!!! arrrrrrrggghhhhhh...... i was thinking the same, why can't we all see them as normal person as before? Even if they can't be in love with each other at the end, at least, it'll made sense in anyway. :(
This Drama got me. Really got me angry. PPffhtttt....

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Man I'm so glad I peaced out at Episode 11?12? Don't even know. Just that I couldn't take it anymore. It was just not worth my precious time just to scour the episodes for the cute when I could *gasp* actually be productive!

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what the heck??? did I waste my precious time and energy for this crappy ending?
I've waited for KKJ and this is what I get??? They only used young KKJ as a props! such a waste!
I expected better than this. especially it's the Hong Sisters!

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They should let KKJ wake up on episode 15, then they will have 2 episodes to tie up every loose ends and make logical explanation of how the love birds are solving their problem-- and how yoon jae really can 'feel' for his brother in his sleep and bless them without needing much tear.

It will be nice to see KKJ and Daran leaves house together -- one to school to teach, one to uni to study :D

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thats what i was expecting! since it didn't happen, it was only downhill from there :( as much as people wanted KKJ to appear, i wanted real yoonjae as well! now i really do feel like she two timed ._.

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I'm just ARGH. SERIOUSLY. WHAT HAPPENED? I'll admit that I was completely in love with this drama, despite all it's flaws, until the last episode, but I figured that they were going to have an amazing ending and they just had to have filler in order to make it, but then they come out with this.

I actually was okay with MOST of the episode, until the ending. WHAT? You had THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ENDING ALL SET UP, JUST READY TO BE PLAYED OUT AND THEN YOU JUST COMPLETELY DISREGARDED IT. Even if we hadn't seen the body swap and whatever happened to Yoon Jae (although I don't understand what happened there... if Yoon Jae remembers nothing, why did he not go to Da Ran??????) on the bus, Kyung Joon should've gotten out (PLAYED BY SHIN) and NOT HAVE remembered anything and then Da Ran should've confessed their feelings and then they could kiss and we SHOULD SEE IT AND NOT JUST THE TOP OF THE STUPID UMBRELLA.

That still wouldn't have fixed the ending, but it would've been better. The only real emotion I felt in this episode was when they said that Rabbit was better. I cried tears of joy, but for everything else I was devoid of emotion.

Overall, I did like this drama, and if I ignore the last two episodes, then I could say I loved it. But sadly, I cannot because I will never be able to erase this ending from my memory.

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Same here...I love Gong Yoo but my heart literally sank when I heard his voice in the last scene :( I feel so betrayed.

I didn't ask for much, just for Shin Won Ho (and I'm not even a fan) to appear in the last minutes of the drama...it would have been so much more meaningful and it would have made more sense (at least for me)
Sorry, I don't buy the twins BS, I just see an excuse here made up by the Hong sis to make the pairing more acceptable to the audience (people are so narrow-minded, it's like living in the dark ages seriously, a 6/7 year age gap is no big deal imo, oh well o_o)

I have so many questions left unanswered
- Did YJ die?
- KJ (Shin Won Ho) never existed then? Because I don't buy the sudden growth spurt in a one year time, it's ludicrous.
- They never have to explain themselves to their parents
- Do the parents even know that a switch occured?
- What was the purpose of the switch if it's not to switch back at the end?
- I also don't buy DR love for real KJ...she may love his personality but what about his face, body (it's YJ's body for God sake, no matter how hot he is, it's still him)...Would she have felt the same way if it was Shin? She's had it easy in the end, nothing to explain, nothing to work out, what's that all conflict/struggling about then? Give me back my 16 hours, pleaseeeeeeee

All in all, I'm through with Hong sis dramas...they always have promising premises but their endings often fall flat.

Thankfully, it's Gaksital time this afternoon, BINGO! (though we're still halfway through the serie, it is the best drama of the year imo)

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But..but....but...they never even told us why Yoon Jae always seemed so distant from Da Ran. So DID he ever love her? They made me expect a little twist or something there and they don't even touch on it in the end..........ugh.

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I could be totally wrong because they never actually explained it in a satisfactory way, but I supposed that he was distant and afraid of committing to the marriage because he knew he was sick again. He was trying to find KJ first for the transplant and maybe to make amends since mom says that YJ reacted poorly to the news of a brother the first time he heard it, and that is why he had the ticket to LA and was hesitating before he knew how it would play out.
As I'm writing this, I'm thinking, maybe the purpose of the side character's love story (the aunt and principal) was to show YJ's side of the story. The "if I'd only confessed my feelings when I had the chance" feeling, or the if only I hadn't missed that important meeting. Still felt really forced and weird though.

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The only happy ending was of Ae kyung and that other teacher.
It really doesnt make sense that she was pregnant even after a YEAR? :D

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You are so right girlfriday!!!!!! They crashed a very good idea for a drama! I love Gong Yoo but while I was looking at him as he played KKJ, I saw a face of little Shin:)

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Aft watching the finale for BIG, I cant blame the viewers for their swearings and sorts. The ending left us to create our own imagination on how the couple will develop... that's the problem with the Hong sister's final workpiece. Always vague and rush. (I guess they pretty well knew the viewers' reactions. Maybe that's their plot!)

Overall, I am still very satisfied with Gong Yoo's acting skill. Forever so charming and cute...superb actor!

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Err.. do I dare confess I only watched ep 16 of this drama but followed it via recap.

I am so happy right now. Compared to the rest of you.
Whew.

Pat, pat everyone. For all the lost brain cells.

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Lol dont pat me I only watched 10mins of eps 8 then quit.

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I gave up THIS DRAMA long time ago and just watch I do I do..At least, i don't feel the frustrated like this..lol!! =)

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LOL.

Why so many people saying "Only Gong Yoo was great""I only watched for Gong Yoo"? bra bra bra.

I do understand people are frustrated, but it's sound like "Gong Yoo was only worth, and all others were nothing!"

Isn't it bit too indiscreet? I'm just saying, because I feel bad for all other actors and actresses who also did great job.

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None of the other actors/actresses really stood out, aside from maybe the actor who played the dim-witted brother.

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Wow, don't be so rude.

Maybe you feel that way because only Gong Yoo got a decent role, but I appreciate other actors and actresses more because they've got really bad written role but still played well in each character.

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I like Mari...She's so pretty...that's all that matters to me..haha..

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Did I say they 'stunk'?

No. They were OK, but nothing really memorable.

Even w/ crappy writing, Lee Beom soo, Lee So Yeon and a few others are making the most out of their roles in 'Dr. Jin.'

In the exact same drama, SSH, PMY and KJ are bad to mediocre - so there is more to it than just quality of role/writing.

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good thing this drama has ended, the worst drama ever, even dr.jin is better

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And that's saying a lot!

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I started out watching the first few episodes of Big, but dropped it halfway and just read the recaps. Now I'm super glad I did...what a terrible ending. I did however watch the last 30 minutes of episode 16 and it just left me more confused.

I get that people may have wanted to see Gong Yoo at the end since everyone thought he was the "lead", but the story wasn't about the body but about the soul. Kang Kyung Joong was the main character in all this, played by both Gong Yoo and Shin Won Ho, so I would have loved to have seen Shin Won Ho's KKJ at the end with Da Ran.

I also feel like there were too many loose strings left untied mainly the final body switch (which was a BIG plot line for this drama), maybe some brotherly interactions between Yoon Jae and KKJ, a Yoon Jae/Da Ran future meeting, and finally Kang Kyung Joong returning to Da Ran in his actual body!!

This drama had so much potential to be great, which sucks when it tanked. I always look forward to the Hong sisters writing, the way they develop characters and set up their plots, but this drama just seemed slow and didn't have the same feel as their other dramas. Of all the Hong sister dramas this is the first one that I've actually never finished :(, maybe I'll come back to it someday.

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wow...what a waste of time anticipating for a good ending...duh!! i didn't get it!

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Rereading the recap, I totally agree that they should've shown KJ's real body or better yet at least his real voice, they covered him (supposedly older KJ) up with an umbrella anyways so why chicken out? I would have been more forgiving if it had panned out this way but I'm still left with a bitter taste.

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Hong sisters, I am a character. I deserve some respect for that instead of being cast aside like a piece of rotten meat.

Please answer my questions:

1. What was I going to say to my fiancee when I drove to meet her that day?

2. Why was I flying to L.A all that time ago?

3. Why do you not let me come face to face with the brother who saved my life but thrust a knife deep in my heart by cheating on me with my so-loving wife?

4. Why do you not let me confront this woman, this WIFE, who says she loved me but betrayed my love by switching her affections so quickly to my own brother, her BROTHER-IN-LAW?

5. Tell me, am I dead or alive?

6. Tell me, am I in my own body or am I in my treacherous brother's body?

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Yoon Jae yaaaaa, I FEEL you!! LOLZ

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I thin you are the fetus in Dr. Jin's brain....

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Thank you! My thoughts exactly!

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I'm not a Hong Sister, but I'll try to answer.

1. I don't know for sure. Part of me thinks that you did truly love her. However, you weren't going confess that but rather you'd throw the question back at her. GDR was many things, but I think you know deep down that she didn't really see you for who you are. The scary thing was that both of you were going to proceed with this marriage without address this (as messed up as that is). ...Or even showing off your Choco-abs to GDR which (in some ways) is an even bigger travesty (and imo the more interesting question).

2. I'm guessing to find KKJ. The ticket was left in the Miracle book which I'm assuming you were going to give to him and explain everything. The search for your brother started months and months before the accident. I'm guessing you wanted to meet your brother and perhaps invite him back for the wedding to meet your new wife and the rest of his new family.

3. to 6. Admittedly, it would have been nice/interesting to explore the points you've raised and see them play out on the show. But at the end of the day, (much like Se Young’s role in YJ/GDR relationship) it's irrelevant. The focus was never really on you or your relationship to GDR. And before you get uppity, it wasn't about your brother either. Since day 1, it's been about GDR and her "coming of age" story (for lack of a better term). I know you're disappointed with that answer, but how else do you explain everything that's happened/why it played out like it did?

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FROM A DISAPPOINTED-BIG-EXFAN,

WHAT THE FU** HAPPENED IN THE END??? WHY WHY WHY HONG SISTERS DID YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE ACTION OFFSCREEN; ALL THE RESOLUTIONS THAT WE NEEDED TO SEE; KYUNG JOON IN HIS REAL BODY( YES WE COULD HAVE HANDLE IT BECAUSE WE WAITED 16 EPISODES/16 HOURS FOR THIS) SO WHY DID YOU END UP BEING JUST BAAADDDDD AND DISAPPOINTING???? I LOVE THE CONCEPT, I LOVED THE SERIES WITH ITS MANY FLOWS BUT YOU MADE US HAAAATEEEE THE ENDING, ITS WRITERS AND YOU SHOW, YES EXACTLY, YOU SHOOOOWW!

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Aside from the crappy ending, I wonder how much the "real" kyung joon got paid for just lying there practically for like ~10 episodes of this drama. Freaking easiest job in the world. I would at least thought that they would switch at the end and he would end up getting up.... but guess not.

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Huh? Wait...what just happened? Did it really just end that way? I'm asking if this drama really just ended like this?!?

O.O

I feel...betrayed!! Really? I mean...really?!? you said they returned to their own body but in the end, it still is Gong Yoo playing Kyung Joon!! (if you were gonna hide that fact, maybe you should have done a better job >,,< such a FAIL!!!

I stuck through this since the beginning because I actually liked it for the most part and this is what I get?!? That's just MEAN!!! What a crap ending TT_TT

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Epic FAIL Finale. I was holding till the end of the series to see the real KKJ and Da Ran TOGETHER!

Arrrrghhh.

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That's it...?

Okay, I know I'm amongst a ragefest right now, but does anyone have even ONE episode they'd recommend watching? (No sarcasm please.) I've been following the recaps right from the start, and although it sounds less than captivating (yes, understatement perhaps), I'd really like to watch at least one episode before I sweep this from my mind. All for my love of Gong Yoo...

How could LMJ be so great in the crapfest that was BOF, then be such a humdrum in the drama I was most anticipating?!

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After my post earlier here...i told to my self to give myself a 2nd look on the controversial scenes of the finale.

I realized that the switched indeed happened. Thus, Kj returned to his body and Hj on his.

The identity of the man under the umbrella is where most of us cracked up!

I believe that the use of Gy's body and hand to play that scene is for some continuity to the viewer’s comfort with seeing KJ with Da Ran, but shielding his face is to affirm that Da Ran isn’t going to be with a Yj's doppelganger in Kyung Joon.

I believe when Da Ran smiles at the man its exactly Kj whom she smiled at but with the face of Hj the face that she saw (and many of US viewers) when she fell in love with him, but inside is still the same soul.

By having that thought...its a happy ending per se coz Daran ended up with Kj...and Hj...has moved on.

You might say that...i'm still on denial stage...huh! But this is what i want to implant in my heart and mind...coz i really love Gong Yoo and the Hong Sisters' works...

LET ME SAVOR THIS THOUGHT,OK?

Thanks, dramabeans specially to Javabeans and Girlfriday.

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My thoughts exactly! I have nothing left to say =)) when I watched it last night unsub I just knew it…what a BIG disappointment of all…Really if not for the main leads whom I love soo much in Coffee Prince and Smile You… I won’t watch this till the end.

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Oh man, when the Hong Sisters go Disneyland style writing, they really go Disneyland style writing. Utter disappointment, however... there's a however? Yup, I kinda get it why they wanna take this careful approach for an ending. To cut the fish free of student + teacher = <3's controversy. And we all know it happens too frequent these days in real life. Do we really need a valid Mary Kay-ish drama repeat itself?

Let your imagination run free, but stay PG ratings. Taheehee~

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Although I don't worship at the Hong Sisters altar, I am a Gong Yoo fan and watched primarily for him. I was disappointed, but thank God there's still Dr Jin.

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First of all I'm upset at myself for losing a good hour of nap time for this (What? I like to take daytime naps like my cats. They are important to me ok?).

I have to admit I was losing my interest from episode 14 but I still hoped Hong Sisters will pull another My Girl and salvage the drama at the end, so I kept watching out of blind faith. But boy was I disappointed. Seriously, does the PD have a grudge against Shin or something? Why not show KKJ in his real body at the last 30 seconds of drama? *Rolls Eyes*

Seems like only drama that is somewhat consistent with twists and plot is Ghost (I hope they don't pull another BIG). Gaksital might be more appealing due to sentimental reasons but the plot has big holes that can't be ignored. Just my 2 cents

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HULK SMASH...my sentiments exactly. At the end my brain could only say... "what?!" Did this drama ever drop the ball...Wait! the ball didn't just drop it, rolled under a bus, fell into a sewer and ended up in hell... I am sooo irritated.

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Ridiculous finale... I dont even understand why is Kang Kyung Joon counted as the main character when he just lies on the bed from the start till the end.

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Goodbye, Choong-shik :(

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I don't agree with what is being said by most of the commenters here. "Big" was an excellent drama for the most part, with believable chemistry between Lee Min Jung and Gong Yoo. And I loved every episode, except the finale, where I think the writers couldn't come up with a satisfying conclusion and instead opted for a half-assed "happy ending". Sans the final episode, "Big" is easily the best rom-com drama of 2012.

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Oh my! I refuse to swear....I'll write the alphabet instead....abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz....it's like all foreplay and no sex...it was a bad tease, worst than fashion king's ending....even the cuteness cannot compensate...

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WHUTTHEWHUT. Such a waste of talented actors. Ugh, I feel for Gong Yoo and Lee Min-Jung.

I'm so disappointed at the Hong Sisters because I enjoyed their previous dramas. I never expected Big, again despite having the awesome Gong Yoo in it, to be this bad. I guess I expected too much.

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the drama had its disappointments, but I wouldn't call it a waste of Gong Yoo and Lee Min Jung's talents. I think some of the response in Korea have been positive about their acting in this drama (even if the story didn't quite deliver). I'm glad they had this opportunity to show off their chops.

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I'm just grateful that I was anesthetized by wine when I watched the conclusion of this disaster of a drama. Otherwise, I might have flung myself out of my third story window. What a waste of talent, an interesting idea (at least in the beginning), my time and heart.
I'm just curious about the actors; were they as confused and disgusted filming these final scenes as we were watching them? Did they look at the script and go "WTHFH!!" Big just let me down so freaking hard I think I might need a drama vacation for a while. I know they can't all be Queen In Hyun's Man, but for crying out loud writers! Give your audience some credit and put some real effort into the story. Okay, rant over. I wish I could say I feel better now, but I don't. I am still freakin' mad.

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i wonder though do koreans love this show? do they having ragefit with this drama like we do? do they think that this drama is the worst HS drama? i am just curious.

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A total failure of moral courage. They allow the forbidden love by putting forbidden boy-toy/young hottie into a grown-up body. That done, they should have stuck with the premise. They should have said "Okay audience, you accepted the love when the guy looked older, now learn to accept the love when the guy looks young --and looks like himself!!!!!" But nooooooooooo!

Total failure of courage.

I have to say that the best body-swap kdrama I've seen this year is I love Lee Tae Ri. (I love italy) The writers STUCK to their guns on that one. And they manage to get over the possible pedophilia grossout very sweetly. How? They have the characters part and wait until the main characters grow older. The love is so true and they are each other's DESTINED ONES so they can WAIT for the kid to grow up.

Not showing the wake-up-from-coma or the brothers-uniting-and-accepting-each-other or the family-adjustments is not seeing one's plot fully.

I'm a fiction writer and a fiction writer knows what the mouth of the reader/audience is watering for. Yes, we want the lovers together (in a decent way) but we also want to see young Kyung-Joon find our about having a real family. We want to see the guilt-help-need between the brothers resolved. And we want to see it onstage!

I totally don't get the "memory-loss" coma science they came up with. Seriously?

I kinda checked out on this a long time ago but even a person who has checked out can be annoyed at a stupid ending. I'm glad I wasn't too invested in it or I would have seriously been annoyed.

If you want to watch a good kid/adult aged-body (it's not quite a swap) drama, check out I LOVE LEE TAE RI. It was very heartwarming and was my favorite this month.

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I watched I Love Lee Tae Ri and I could say it has a very satisfying ending.

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I agree. I loved Lee Tae Ri. The ending was also an open one because we never really got the confirmation that they end up together...just that they met each other again. In my opinion, that drama was a whole lot closer to the original movie BIG.

And I love Ki Bum! I was so convinced that he is a 14 year old stuck in a 25 year old's body, of course it helped that he DOES look really young.

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My head hurts from that

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Make a special so that the drama can ''officially'' be complete, and what is the point of having a year time gap - when nothing has changed (besides the lives of the supporting characters).

Or at least have a ''roof top'' scene, where a flash of the real KKJ appears (just for symbolism for crying out - to show KKJ's soul).

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This was a waste of the actors' talents. The ending was a total dud! One of the worst dramas of I've ever watched! Dr. Jin is looking better and better.

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what kind of ending is this???

better focus for GAKSITAL....:D

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wait.. wait.. how's the ending again? db's recaps have never failed to make me understanding things before but i guess this drama is beyond help since the last few episodes..

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I don't like the ending :/

I had high hopes in the ending. I though it would be better than this.

I still think that Queen Ihnyun's Man is till the best drama of 2012.

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Yay for QIHM. I still havent found anything worth watching.

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Try this Japanese drama called Rich Man Poor Woman. Tell us what you think. You can find it on dramacrazy and elsewhere.

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Thank you I'll check it out :).

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'I Need Romance 2012' is better (actually one of the best Korean romcoms ever done).

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