A Love To Kill (KBS2, 2005) with Bi/Rain

[carling5]

A Love To Kill....THE GREATEST K-DRAMA EVER!

[Keikan]

I'm on episode 10 of this drama and I can't decide whether to continue watching or not. I was looking for a really sad drama similar to "I'm Sorry I Love You" and decided to watch "A Love to Kill" when I heard it was written by the same writer. But where "I'm Sorry I Love You" managed to touch me, "A Love to Kill" is frustrating me and boring me to no ends. First of all, I really can't stand the main female character. She's the most ungrateful lead female character I have ever seen in a drama. She has everything one could possible want in life: she's a superstar, she's got money, a family who loves her, and a smart rich and well-educated fiancé. Yet all she does is cry, get depressed, and try to commit suicide (from what I understood). I really don't understand why the main male character is even interested in her when he's got a girlfriend (Da Jun) who is so sweet and caring.

About the main character: I don't understand him or his motivations at all. I think the writer should have explained them more clearly.

What was his purpose for becoming involved with this starlet? We know he's set on a course for revenge, but why, by episode 7, does he french-kiss her and tell her "I'll love you until I die?". There is no indication before that that tells me he does have feelings for her, nor is there anything she ever does for him that is worthy of his love. If anything, the only person he seems to genuinely care about is Da Jun (his girlfriend). So is it all part of his revenge? I really don't understand anything, and this is very frustrating for a viewer, but the story seems to go on anyway, leaving the viewer behind.

As a result I don't find myself rooting for any of the characters except Da Un, because she seems to be the only innocent and straightforward character in this story.

Now you can feel that this drama is very well-written compared to most dramas. Plus, the OST is really beautiful. These are the two things that have kept me watching so far. I just think that it's one of these dramas that is based on a very interesting idea for a story, but that ended up being poorly executed because the script doesn't work in practice. The two main actors have zero chemistry, and to be fair the story becomes more and more confusing (and less and less believable) as the drama goes on. I think this story would have made a better movie than a drama, or a 4 episodes special. 16 episodes is too long for an "epic" love-story that I don't find myself rooting for.

I've tried to look on several forums for comments that could motivate me to keep watching, but the only positive comments I've found are "It's boring but I'll keep watching because Rain is hot! *_*". Too bad I'm not a fan of Rain, nor of his acting.

[rootabega]

I've erased two "Cahiers du Cinema"-worthy commentaries on ALTK already by accident, so here's my two cents in point form:
-ALTK has an uneasy and vague "sense of threat" throughout; not action, not suspense, just a nice, dark thread of low-key angst cruising along for the length of the series.
-connoisseurs of "noir" will understand and will lap up the slow train to nowhere atmosphere, just like I did.
-a masterpiece it may not be, but as a mood piece with zero pretententions to being anything but a K-dorama (or a Rain vehicle) it manages to succeed, IMHO.