Korean Title: 빅
16 episodes
Main cast:
Review: -
Title: Big. Because the mind of a 18 years-old gets into the body of a 30 years-old man, I guess. But the drama is not about what it is to be "big" (an adult). Apart from the aging aspect, no relation to the Tom Hanks movie.
Girl: She's a high school teacher. She's normal. She's fine. Boy is too. The characters were better than the drama. The actors are good (I even like her father played by someone I complained about in a previous review) and Special mention to Gong Yoo! They were not the problem, the...
Relationship/Plot was. I wanted to DNF this drama but since I am writing this blog, I finished it to review it properly. So I kept watching but I kept comparing it to Zettai Kareshi and Rooftop Prince, and I kept wanting to rewrite the drama, instead of being drawn into it.
Big tries to sell us a controversial couple: a teacher and the 18 years-old boy who found himself in the body of her serious boyfriend. Yep. I think that if you decide to do something controversial, you have to be confident to own it and pull it off. But the drama is inconsistent in the way it deals with this premise. Sometimes ignoring it, sometimes flaunting it (He always calls her "Teacher", Kang Kyun Joon really looks like his age in his real body), sometimes trying awkwardly to say "it's okay". Anyway, I wasn't sold, I didn't want Da Ran and Kyun Joon together.
That's not even the only problem. Others include a mystery that takes way too long and too many fakeouts to be discovered and is not totally resolved, two characters who are transparent plot devices (I felt really bad for one for how he was (not) treated), and a cop-out of an ending.
Other characters: Their family. Nothing particular but I want to mention some characters I really like: her brother and Ma Ri ("double double crazy"!).
Funny factor? D-stories involving C-list characters. Kind of funny but pointless. Funny moments at the beginning then none (as it's often the case).
Music: Okay.
Bottom line: There were cute bonding ideas, decent characters that were sadly wasted because it was too hard to enjoy when I was cringing at the couple and at the plot.
After the jump, discussion of the plot and of the ending. What I want to change... For those who watched it... and if you haven't, you can still read on since you won't watch it anyway, right? ;)
So the ending... I knew it was coming. I didn't know what would happen but I knew it wouldn't satisfy me. It was even worse than I expected: I can't believe the switch back happened off-screen!!! What the what! And of course, they didn't show us Kang Kyun Joon in his own body with Da Ran. Why? Because they knew it would feel weird. Which is what I was thinking for episodes: what happens when he goes back to his body? He looks so young! But they choose to write themselves into this corner.
Other possible endings:
- Yoon Jae and Kyun Joon stay in the wrong body. In my opinion, this ending would have been creepy and unfair; Kyun Joon seemed to have gotten used to his new body but what about Yoon Jae who had become a respected doctor? He would have to endure being treated like a child... not that Yoon Jae matters in the drama, I'll come back on that. But the real obstacle would have been the disturbing factor. Has a switch in body ever been permanent except in horror?
- Someone dies:
Yoon Jae and Kyun Joon's body die. Kyun Joon stays in Yoon Jae's body. But see above.
Da Ran dies. The switch back happen. Kyun Joon and Yoon Jae bond. Everyone is sad. Umm, pretty sure it can't happen because the drama is first of all Da Ran's drama.
Kyun Joon dies, Yoon Jae goes back to his body. Again, not gonna happen, this is Kyun Joon's story and see below.
- Yoon Jae and Kyun Joon go back to their bodies but Da Ran and Yoon Jae get back together. This is what I wanted but it was unlikely since the entire drama is about Kyun Yoon and Da Ran's relationship while Yoon Jae was a non-character.
Which brings me to the two characters that were mere plot devices: Seo Yoon Jae and his father. Seo Yoon Jae is in coma starting the end of episode 1 and we never see him again except for a few quasi non talking flashbacks and a brief meeting with Kang Kyun Joon during which he doesn't get to speak. However, he is present in the minds and conversations during the first part of the drama. As a plot device.
- First, we're not supposed to hate Kyun Joon for pursuing Da Ran so they make Yoon Jae appear as someone who never really loved Da Ran and was cheating on her.
- Then when they need an obstacle for their love (instead of using the pre-packaged taboo of a student-teacher relationship), it's revealed that the revelations of the first part were all a misunderstanding and that Yoon Jae was actually in love with Da Ran so she would feel bad about cheating on him.
By the end, we are not even sure of what was his answer to Da Ran's question. We don't even know what happened to him once he got back to his body except that the girlfriend that everyone wants to force on him is a liar and someone who gives her key to a guy who has a girlfriend and who never made moves on her. I feel bad for him. If he was awful, I wouldn't care but he is presented as a nice, calm, dedicated man and played by Gong Yoo with some kind of melancholy that is intriguing.
Now, the possible changes I was thinking about while watching:
- Make the switch back happen earlier with Yoon Jae waking up. Make it happen onscreen too. Think about all the drama when Yoon Jae learns that the girl he was going to propose to is in love with the brother he was looking for. How Da Ran reacts with dealing with the two of them in their real bodies... This is interesting!
- Why does Kyun Joon have to be a student? To delay Da Ran falling for him? Then why not make him be a fellow teacher and have her fall for him sooner and then switch back and see above?
- Why not having some parents' drama between Yoon Jae's parents and Kyun Joon's mother who would not be dead? She seemed like a great character and the father would have to be as complex as the crux of the secret deserves to be.
Yes, I know, it would have been a totally different drama!
I almost forgot to add that not only the end did not properly handle the Da Ran/Kyun Joon relationship but, by not having the brothers YJ and KJ meet, it felt to me that the whole "miracle" thing was just thrown away. The "miracle" supposes a powerful connection between the brothers but the drama does not explore it at all. Just another reason to have Yoon Jae wake up earlier.
But who am I kidding? This drama doesn't care at all about Yoon Jae and his potential relationship with Kyun Joon, it's only about Da Ran and KJ's couple. Too bad for me that I felt the opposite.
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