Love Letter (MBC, 2003)

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How would you rate Love Letter?

Life-altering
18
21%
See it
32
38%
Probably shouldn't miss it
16
19%
Only if you have time
13
15%
STAY AWAY
6
7%
 
Total votes: 85

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clouds421
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Love Letter (MBC, 2003)

Post by clouds421 » Oct 14th, '04, 22:30

^above

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Post by Smiley_18 » Oct 14th, '04, 22:56

Is this about the Japanese movie "Love Letter"?? :unsure:

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Post by iceberri » Oct 14th, '04, 23:14

Clouds is referring to the korean drama Love Letter. For now at least, we're not doing reviews for movies...

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Post by Yoshi8 » Oct 14th, '04, 23:16

it's a long one, but see it.

it's good. i liked it.

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Post by Kamui6 » Oct 19th, '04, 16:25

I watch it and the ending was blaaaaaaaa.... It's just such a disappointing ending for a story that just dragged on and on. If you can't tell yet, I found it boring. :|

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Post by leeunit » Oct 19th, '04, 17:36

Good story. Bad acting. No chemistry. Pretty much sums up this drama for me.

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Post by KrystalHeart » Oct 19th, '04, 18:12

I loved watching "Love Letter." It's one of my favorite k dramas. I became so obsessed with Jo Hyun Jae because of this drama. He fit the role perfectly, in my opinion!

I didn't realize until later that Ji Jin Hee was that guy who starred in the music video "Once Upon a Day" with Song Hye Gyo and Song Seung Hun. He was cute too... :)

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Post by aNToK » Oct 28th, '04, 08:11

I'd say watch it just for Soo Ae and her sexy voice...

I liked the idea of this series alot. Torn between his love of God and his love for hs girl, pretty sticky moral quandry that was handled pretty well through most of the drama. Towards the end, though, it got a little old. Maybe because of the way things with our "happy" couple were (n't) really resolved. At least in my mind. Sometimes it seems like things will never come together until the couple is too old to even enjoy much except talking about the "good old days" -- except the good old days weren't all that good.
Pretty well acted, and again, there's just something about Soo Ae and her funky eyebrows and voice that make me want to see her again soon.

Hey, at least the priest wasn't chasing after the altar boys, right?

Okay, low blow. All in all, I enjoyed watching this one, but it's not one I could sit through in one of my 10-15 hour marathon viewings. Moved a little too slow for that. That plus the ending in my book drops what could have been an A+ drama down to about a B.

Watch it, but don't die if you can't.

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Post by graceyfun » Oct 28th, '04, 08:31

I thought it will be another boring drama at the first place, watching the first 2 episodes, if I'm not mistaken. But as I watch the show, I find it heart wrenching. Torn between love for God & girl of his life as mentioned earlier, it really made shed tears. Well compared to Stairway to heaven, my eyes only start to get watery somewhere near the ending.

It felt so heart wrenching watching the 3 of them isunderstanding each other etc in Love Letter. A bit typical korean drama where someone has some sickness. Well, at least this didn't have a bad ending. & right now, I'm going ga-ga over Jo Hyun Hae. :wub:

Oh ya! I'm listening to the theme song of Love Letter as I type this reply. :P

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Post by jaycee05 » Oct 29th, '04, 07:12

I watched this drama just to hear them play that song....and when I finally found that song at soompi, I stopped watching it...it drags a bit, one episode will go on and on about one scenario...with the girl switching back and forth between the two guys...
anyway, I really love that song by Tri-be? not sure
but it was somehting like
You're my light(life?)
Fell my Love
tanan-nan nan nan nan (that's the way I sing it when the korean starts)
Dont say Bye
Let me Go
...

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Post by lavendersky » Oct 29th, '04, 17:12

am i the only one who likes JJH in this drama?? :O i enjoyed this drama very much, wonderful ost, great cast and an interesting plot! :D

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Post by snowangel414 » Oct 29th, '04, 18:07

Definitely see it!!!

I hope it'll be in Dec. series of the week/month.

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Post by ridgeview » Oct 29th, '04, 18:09

aNToK wrote:I'd say watch it just for Soo Ae and her sexy voice...
Agree with aNToK, Soo Ae has sexy voice. Good story and soundtrack. Don't like the ending.

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Post by cotton_candy » Nov 15th, '04, 03:51

at first i thought love letter was corny and boring...but when my aunt let me watch the 1st ep, i was totally hooked and got addicted to it!! hehehe!

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Post by wei_c » Nov 19th, '04, 04:11

love it. love it. love it. and i developed my huge love for jo hyun jae in this drama. :D plus it has a wonderful song too!!

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Post by clouds421 » Nov 30th, '04, 22:33

Haha, I love advertising. Got an e-mail from YesAsia about their newest English subbed Kdrama release (Romance 2002), and guess what they wrote between the lines:
This Romance DVD also includes some "romantic" bonus features! Enjoy the first episode from the smash-hit drama "Rooftop Room Cat." AND, enjoy the first episode from arguably the best Korean drama of all-time, "Love Letter."

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Post by wantse094 » Dec 8th, '04, 11:55

One word... BORING!!! No offence but I mean seriously... it's too draggy!!! In the beginning it was fine but after the supporting guy came in it got boring... :crazy:

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Post by milia » Dec 12th, '04, 02:29

tears all over ... its really sad .. but i love this drama. i in love with jo hyun jae because of his character in this drama. so touching.

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Post by TheBombastic1 » Jan 27th, '05, 22:40

I watched it purely based on it being series of the month.

Good idea, poor execution. That's what I gotta say about it.

I like the general idea of characters questioning and struggling with their own faith. Faith in God. Faith in love. To a lesser extent, faith in family. To an even lesser extent, faith in medicine. Oh yeah, and faith in frienship.

I liked how faith in all these things kinda played an invisible character. I thought it was a nice change of pace how faith, and at times lack thereof, was the trigger for everything that happened. For once, it wasn't a purely evil guy conpsiring things, or economic disparity that created the drama.

But then, I felt it started to take on more than it could resolve, and as a result left more questions than any real sense of closure. For one thing, whatever happend to Andrea's aunt and her family in the beginning? If you're going to explore the aspects of faith in family, wouldn't it have been meaningful to show how Andrea finally came to terms with his aunt and her family? And what about Andrea's relationship with Sister Esther in Italy? What exactly happend there? In fact, why didn't they show Andrea in Italy, as he begins to lose faith and become so cold? And how about that other girl all of them were friends with since college? She obviosuly came off as having feelings for Woo jin,, so what's her story? And how does the family deal with the drunk dad committing suicide, considering the circumstances surrounding it? Doesn't that create more of dilemma for the mom in dealing with Andrea and Woo jin? And wouldn't the deaf mute girl at least partly blame Andrea for her father's death rather than embracing him whole heartedly as a brother? I mean, doesn't she have any say in how she feels about her family's secret when it's revealed?And speaking of the deaf mute girl, what about the deaf-mute girl and the guy in the band? I mean, as cute as the girl was, was it really necessary to show her relationship with the guy in the band if they weren't gonna go anywhere with it?

And the ending, my goodness. It was so apparent that they didn't know how to resolve the situation. The way they were going with the story, they couldn't kill off Eun Ha or God woulda come off bad by taking the life of someone who didn't seem to deserve it. They can't let her live and shake up Andrea's faith again. But they can't let Eun Ha live and go off with Woo jin cuz then that would be the antithesis of everything we''ve been led to believe. So what do they do? They end it with Eun Ha waking up from a coma. With no thought as to how her waking up could affect each of their faith once again.

IMHO, it woulda been better to simply let Eun Ha die, and show how the other characters deal with their respective faith after that. After all, Eun Ha seemed to have come to terms with everything prior to the surgery. If she dies, that woulda opened up some fascinating takes on faith. For Andrea, who gave up everything to become a priest with the idea that if he forsakes his love for Eun Ha for love for God then God would have no reason to take Eun ha, it would make him question if God's will. For Woo Jin, it would makes him question his faith in his medical skills.

The underlying problem is that the events in the drama span a long period of time, jumping to a different time too often, and creating situations in which some events that shoulda been shown aren't and only hinted at, which is like whetting the appetite even though there's nothing to eat. In dealing with such a broad subject as faith, they try to touch upon everything and end up touching very little. Too many characters are introduced, poised to play an important part somehow, that end up being undeveloped and forgotten. If they intended to focus only on the Andrea, Woo jin, Eun Ha, and the mother, it may have been better if they just left them out of the story.

A love letter is sweet. Despite the namesake, the drama just wasn't that sweet. It had a good premise, but somewhere along the way its ego got the best of it, and the drama got too good for its own good. The result was kinda sloppy.

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Post by Moenyc2000 » Jan 28th, '05, 07:35

IF your going to give your opinion TheBombastic1, please give a spolier warning. I mean GOD DAMM, u spoiled half of the movie for me.

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Post by TheBombastic1 » Jan 28th, '05, 17:07

As this was a discussion thread, I was under the impression that people who posted here had already seen it enough to discuss it. Therefore, I felt no spoiler warning was necessary.

But it's probably a good thing I spoiled it for you. Save some time.

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Post by iceberri » Jan 28th, '05, 23:30

^ Please do white out spoilers bombastic. Although it wasn't indicated in this thread, for the discussion threads that most of the mods started all request for spoiler warnings. Feel free to discuss the plot but this thread is used to help those who haven't seen it gauge how good a drama is. We created this so people don't just have one opinion of a drama (the review), but as a whole, since not everyone agrees with our opinions!

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Post by kliquey » Jan 29th, '05, 02:43

i liked this kdrama...it was good..and at times it was also boring...but overall i thought it was good....not one of my favorites, but i definately recommend it :)

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Post by Sana » Jan 30th, '05, 08:11

Avoid this post if you love this series. You have been warned. :whistling:
TheBombastic1 wrote:I watched it purely based on it being series of the month.

Good idea, poor execution. That's what I gotta say about it.
That the perfect description for this series. I had too many "What the hell" moments.
But then, I felt it started to take on more than it could resolve, and as a result left more questions than any real sense of closure. For one thing, whatever happend to Andrea's aunt and her family in the beginning? If you're going to explore the aspects of faith in family, wouldn't it have been meaningful to show how Andrea finally came to terms with his aunt and her family?
What I didn't get is why did the Aunt tried to take Andrea from his mother only to abuse him later? That's pretty lame. All children drain bank accounts. :roll Maybe the Aunt should have shipped him to one of those third world countries where you can feed a child for 20 cents a day.

When he came back to his hometown, he should've looked them up and confronted them for his crappy childhood. Also the daughter of the family was nice to him so it would have been cool if he had visited her.

Speaking of the mom... I don't understand why she dumped Andrea in the first place. Gee, her husband dies so the next thing that pops in her head is to have an affair with the best friend? She knew he was married at the time but didn't seem to mind. Damn, the ex-wife (by forced divorce) was standing right there when she was choosing her wedding dress. Er, I think that would have been the right time to reconsider this decision. :glare:

If she was adamant about it, there's no way the Aunt could've gotten Andrea. Ever hear of being a single parent? The mom is a doctor for god's sake. Doctor = $$$. If not a doctor, she looked like somebody in the medical field. Was she too damn lazy to hire a babysitter or what? She basically dumped her son that she had with the man she loved for a husband whom she kinda likes. Of course, this makes PERFECT sense. I'm sure 99% of us would have done the same. :roll


And what about Andrea's relationship with Sister Esther in Italy? What exactly happend there? In fact, why didn't they show Andrea in Italy, as he begins to lose faith and become so cold?
Then this series will be 30 episodes long. :P She looks a bit like a Chinese actress. The name escapes me.
And how about that other girl all of them were friends with since college? She obviosuly came off as having feelings for Woo jin,, so what's her story?
Eh. She's not that important. She only there as an early love rival to show how Eun-Ha starts to develop feelings for him.. The main love triangle will come later.
And how does the family deal with the drunk dad committing suicide, considering the circumstances surrounding it? Doesn't that create more of dilemma for the mom in dealing with Andrea and Woo jin?

B. Woo-jin (B is for bastard) was annoying as hell. First he whines and whines and WHINES about how his loving family doesn't love him or some crap and then gets angry of Andrea for finding his birth mother. He has TWO mothers and a father and yet he was jealous of a freakin' orphan? What a jerk. Have some sympathy damnit! Your dad killed his dad so your family owes him big time. Notice how when Yu-Ri was sick, B. Woo-Jin tries to make it sound like Yu-Ri was only Andrea's sister. Hello? Yu-Ri is both their half-sister! B. Woo-Jin and Yu-Ri shared the same father while Andrea and Yu-Ri shared the same mother. For a future doctor, I can't believe he didn't know that. I wonder how many people he killed with his "skills".

And wouldn't the deaf mute girl at least partly blame Andrea for her father's death rather than embracing him whole heartedly as a brother? I mean, doesn't she have any say in how she feels about her family's secret when it's revealed?And speaking of the deaf mute girl, what about the deaf-mute girl and the guy in the band? I mean, as cute as the girl was, was it really necessary to show her relationship with the guy in the band if they weren't gonna go anywhere with it?


Yu-Ri met Andrea as a child and she has good impressions of him. Yes, the guy in the band was cute. More of him please. :lol I actually like that substory. It was a nice break.
And the ending, my goodness. It was so apparent that they didn't know how to resolve the situation. The way they were going with the story, they couldn't kill off Eun Ha or God woulda come off bad by taking the life of someone who didn't seem to deserve it. They can't let her live and shake up Andrea's faith again. But they can't let Eun Ha live and go off with Woo jin cuz then that would be the antithesis of everything we''ve been led to believe. So what do they do? They end it with Eun Ha waking up from a coma. With no thought as to how her waking up could affect each of their faith once again.
Ever notice how the same things keep repeating.

Stalker B. Woo-jin: I love you.
Eun-Ha: I don't feel the same.
Stalker B. Woo-jin: I love you.

Seriously, she should have filed a police report or at least tazer him when he came close. As for her and Andrea, for god's sake, they both love each other and he was willing to quit being a priest. SO, WHAT THE HELL WAS THE PROBLEM THEN?!!! But noooooo, the scriptwriters had to make Eun-Ha tell Andrea to become a priest again. Grrrr, thanks for wasting my time. Plus, I thought Eun-Ha had a rare heart condition and was dying (of course) but it looked like she's even healthier than Hercules. She was running all over the place and loved to sit on a cold, windy beach. It was strange how Andrea found out too. I never knew a hospital would let a person who wasn't employed there look at the patient's private records.
IMHO, it woulda been better to simply let Eun Ha die, and show how the other characters deal with their respective faith after that. After all, Eun Ha seemed to have come to terms with everything prior to the surgery. If she dies, that woulda opened up some fascinating takes on faith. For Andrea, who gave up everything to become a priest with the idea that if he forsakes his love for Eun Ha for love for God then God would have no reason to take Eun ha, it would make him question if God's will. For Woo Jin, it would makes him question his faith in his medical skills.
Actually, I'd hate to see another K-drama death. It would have been perfect for me if Andrea punched B. Woo-Jin in the face and then took Eun-Ha to a place where that stalker would never find them.
The underlying problem is that the events in the drama span a long period of time, jumping to a different time too often, and creating situations in which some events that shoulda been shown aren't and only hinted at, which is like whetting the appetite even though there's nothing to eat. In dealing with such a broad subject as faith, they try to touch upon everything and end up touching very little. Too many characters are introduced, poised to play an important part somehow, that end up being undeveloped and forgotten. If they intended to focus only on the Andrea, Woo jin, Eun Ha, and the mother, it may have been better if they just left them out of the story.

A love letter is sweet. Despite the namesake, the drama just wasn't that sweet. It had a good premise, but somewhere along the way its ego got the best of it, and the drama got too good for its own good. The result was kinda sloppy.
Nothing got resolved. B. Woo-Jin acted the same throughout this whole series until suddenly he became a better person at the end. But the problem with this was the audience never got to see the gradual change. Now Andrea is sill a priest and when Eun-Ha wakes up, she will still love him and he would have to comtemplate leaving the church again.
Last edited by Sana on Jan 30th, '05, 22:19, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Jannah » Jan 30th, '05, 10:13

Wow, that's a long rant, Sana. I didn't read a lot of it though, since I haven't watched Love Letter & don't want it to be spoiled for me. But now I'm expecting some "what the hell" moments when I watch it! :P

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Post by Sana » Jan 30th, '05, 22:24

Watch til episode 8 then skip to 15-16. Trust me. :wink:

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Post by neonkinpatsu » Jan 30th, '05, 22:52

I just finished Love Letter this week after 3 days. Phew, I can't even comment on it in detail in this forum because I'll be ranting my ass off and I'm too lazy to do white text and quote boxes right now :lol I liked it and it had me hooked for the first 10 eps, but I generally didn't like the direction it went in towards the end. And yeah, some unrealistic stuff too. The ending pissed me off, but I expected a crappy ending anyway. :P It could have been much better if they had called me up, paid me, and let me change some stuff. :lol

EDIT: Both of the guys were HOT. And yes, even Andrea in the priest clothes. Actually, that is a little hotter :lol I'll give him something to confess about. 8)

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Post by LITTLEteaPOToo17 » Jan 30th, '05, 22:58

i just got onto esp. 8 and so far...i loving it...hope the rest of the drama remain pleasureful... :-)

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Post by supadupahearn » Jan 31st, '05, 02:22

What is up with the freakin ending. This drama is okay. It was good in the beginning then it lags and lags and then the ending. Oh my goodness, what is up with that.

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Post by pajnra » Jan 31st, '05, 04:40

it was a great drama. i really liked it. i was hooked onto it for the longest time!

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Post by supadupahearn » Jan 31st, '05, 04:42

what is the name of the girl that played yu-ri and is she in other dramas?

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Post by lilxtwinkies » Jan 31st, '05, 18:08

i loved this drama~ ho hyun jae is soo cute in it~ he's like the perfect character for this cuz he looks so innocent and naive~ :roll

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Post by Vatima Corlati » Feb 4th, '05, 10:47

TheBombastic1 wrote:
And the ending, my goodness. It was so apparent that they didn't know how to resolve the situation. The way they were going with the story, they couldn't kill off Eun Ha or God woulda come off bad by taking the life of someone who didn't seem to deserve it. They can't let her live and shake up Andrea's faith again. But they can't let Eun Ha live and go off with Woo jin cuz then that would be the antithesis of everything we''ve been led to believe. So what do they do? They end it with Eun Ha waking up from a coma. With no thought as to how her waking up could affect each of their faith once again.
It seems you dont know the true meaning of wishful thinking. I dont mean to be
stereotypical, but does everybody in this forum seem to love cliche endings?. I mean,
dont get me wrong, that's probably the only reason why we watch it. For the story
between a "love triangle between 3 characters with the 2 mains hooking up in the end."
But if we were to do that, every series we watch becomes cliche and boring in itself.

I personally love seeing endings such as these. They leave you to the point where they
give you with the decision to invision a true ending for your personal satisfaction. An
ending with infinite possibilities. And you actually fell victim for it.

"IMHO, it woulda been better to simply let Eun Ha die, and show how the other characters deal with their respective faith after that. After all, Eun Ha seemed to have come to terms with everything prior to the surgery. If she dies, that woulda opened up some fascinating takes on faith. For Andrea, who gave up everything to become a priest with the idea that if he forsakes his love for Eun Ha for love for God then God would have no reason to take Eun ha, it would make him question if God's will. For Woo Jin, it would makes him question his faith in his medical skills. "

But what do I know? I'm simply the minority here.

As far as the subject of story dragging, I also think that this was their intention. That's
why this series was classified under the "drama" genre. Drama was meant for the sole
purpose of keeping you glued to your seat anticipating what's to come next, while at the
same time, crying your eyes out. This series could have ended very VERY quickly. They
could have finished it before Andrea left for Italy at the beginning of the series and
confessed his love for her. There you go. But, that would seem too simplistic, and that
will probably bore us even more considering that the series will probably only be 5
episodes long. :|

Now on the other side of the stick, I would be pretty sad to see a tragic ending as well.
You watch a series with a solid intuition, and come to see it all fall down and leave you
with a jawdrop. I can agree with the most of you there, but as you can see, this series
never had anything close to that which is what I'm basically trying to point out.

For a my quick review, I thought the story was solid, given to a good cast, with a
beautiful soundtrack. I'll admit that it has it's flaws, but every series has it's shares as
well.

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Post by raynebow » Feb 6th, '05, 05:47

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I loved the characters, even though the guy who played Jung Woo-Jin (can't remember his name) annoyed me a lot throughout the drama. XD;

But yeah, I agree with what a lot of you have said. I was rather disappointed in the ending too. It seemed so...unresolved. No closure there, and it just didn't wrench at my heart enough. Maybe I'm just a sucker for happy endings where everything works out perfectly at the end...XD;

Personally, I would have preferred it if Eun-Ha died because it would kinda put closure on the two guys' relationships with her. I felt like at the end, the whole circle would start over again. Woo-Jin would somehow find a way to go crazy over Eun-Ha again, and Andrea would find himself torn between his faith for God and her. etc. etc.

Still, its a good kdrama to see, and I am glad I saw it. There have been many sob moments--(almost every episode, I believe...) and I really enjoyed the character relationships and interactions.

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Post by rainidy » Feb 6th, '05, 06:15

My vote goes to see it. It's not life altering, but it's definitely a good drama. I just finished watching this and I'm glad that I did. I was skeptical at first because I'm not a religious person and I'm not sure if I will like drama because it's based on a guys struggle to become a priest or choose to love a girl. But after watching it, I like how this drama is different from most korean dramas that I've watched. I especially like the chemistry between Andrea(Woo Jin) and the main girl (forgot her name).

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Post by TheBombastic1 » Feb 6th, '05, 10:45

Vatima Corlati wrote:
It seems you dont know the true meaning of wishful thinking. I dont mean to be
stereotypical, but does everybody in this forum seem to love cliche endings?. I mean,
dont get me wrong, that's probably the only reason why we watch it. For the story
between a "love triangle between 3 characters with the 2 mains hooking up in the end."
But if we were to do that, every series we watch becomes cliche and boring in itself.

I personally love seeing endings such as these. They leave you to the point where they
give you with the decision to invision a true ending for your personal satisfaction. An
ending with infinite possibilities. And you actually fell victim for it.
You must have been thoroughly intoxicated when you wrote this. Nobody who’s levelheaded could have possibly written so many words about nonsensical points. Do you mean to tell me that you are so short-sighted and arrogant enough to actually believe that there is a “true” meaning to wishful thinking? I would have thought that, purely by the definition of the words, something like “wishful thinking” would naturally imply a level of subjectivity that would preclude any semblance of a “true” meaning.

Now, I don’t mean to speak for everybody here, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it’s not the “cliche” endings that most of us enjoy. What most of us enjoy are GOOD endings: endings that fit in well with all that preceded it. Love Letter did not have a good ending. Leading up to the ending, we were hammered with a series of ideas, only to have those ideas be unceremoniously and unaccountably discarded when the writers couldn’t figure out how to resolve them. The overlying premise of the rest of the series was an exploration of the different facets of faith. A fitting ending, therefore, should have, in some shape or form, shown how the different characters dealt with or have come to terms with their own faith. Instead, any attempt at incorporating faith issues was neglected so that the writers could tack on the usual “the main two characters end up happy while the third wheel suddenly decides to take himself out of the equation for no reason” type of happy ending bullsh1t. The ending of Love Letter made huge jumps of rationality from what preceded it, with no satisfactory justification for it. I can’t possibly pretend that such an ending is a good one.

I don’t have anything against open ended finales that asks the viewer to come to his/her own conclusions. But even that has to fit in with the rest of the story. The Japanese director Shunji Iwai, for example, can handle the open ended conclusion rather well in his movies, particularly in April Story. Japanese dramas tend to as well ( can’t speak for Korean dramas as I haven’t seen enough to generalize). Even if we have to envision or draw our own interpretations - out of infinite possibilities as you say - a good open ended conclusion still has a sense of closure or resolution. Love Letter didn’t; its ending was out of place and befuddling. You don’t tack on an open ended conclusion just for the sake of doing it. That’s just selling the viewer short.

And a word about cliches. Cliches don’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. A drama can have every cliches and contrivances known to man, and still can be good, if utilized well (Case in point: Ruler of Your Own World). In fact, some of the world’s greatest writing, like those of Shakespeare, include plot clichés to illustrate universal truths. Cliches are horrible, however, if they are used even though they have little or no relevance to the larger story at hand – and Love Letter is an example. This drama, which was going ok, decided to doom itself by ultimately resorting to the “the two main characters have a happy ending while the third wheel exits the picture for no fathomable reason” cliche, even though it had no place in the larger scope of the story.

So I’m curious. Just what did I fall victim to? Unless the whole show was a joke, and the writers of the show intended to carry us along for a ride only to dump us with some ridiculous ending, then I don’t see what I could have possibly fallen victim to.
As far as the subject of story dragging, I also think that this was their intention. That's why this series was classified under the "drama" genre. Drama was meant for the sole purpose of keeping you glued to your seat anticipating what's to come next, while at the same time, crying your eyes out. This series could have ended very VERY quickly. They could have finished it before Andrea left for Italy at the beginning of the series and confessed his love for her. There you go. But, that would seem too simplistic, and that will probably bore us even more considering that the series will probably only be 5 episodes long.
Your’re kidding me, right? They INTENDED for the drama series to drag? What kind of idiotic writer WANTS to lose viewership? Drama does appeal to the emotions, I grant you that point. But how does a dragging one appeal to the emotions?

I think you must be confused as to what it means when we say a show is dragging. Dragging does not mean slow paced (something can be slow paced and still be intensely interesting). Dragging means the show begins to lose interest. In the hands of a skillful director or writer, the show can still be 16 episodes and be interesting. For the most part, I think Love Letter had its points of merit, ie. a good premise and Soo Ae's acting. There were a few dragging moments, resulting from predictability and repetition and lack of logic, but for the most part, mostly due to an ingenious premise, it kept my interest. Of course, a more skillful director or writer would have come up with a better ending than the one the show had and also would have dealt with the roles of the supporting characters better, and in general polish up the show a little more.
Now on the other side of the stick, I would be pretty sad to see a tragic ending as well. You watch a series with a solid intuition, and come to see it all fall down and leave you with a jawdrop. I can agree with the most of you there, but as you can see, this series never had anything close to that which is what I'm basically trying to point out.
I’m not even going to pretend to understand this gibberish. “but as you can see…” See what? You haven’t shown us anything. What are you basically trying to point out? That you “would be pretty sad to see a tragic ending as well”? huh?! This series never had anything close to what? Please don’t assume that you can just stick a few words together and assume that it would make sense. Say as much as you want, but at least have the courtesy to have it make sense. This paragraph convinces me that you were drunk or high when you wrote this.
But what do I know? I'm simply the minority here.
Maybe not quite. There's someone around here named dorkhan83, unless I scared him away, with whom I think you would get along with very well. Both of you seem to possess the same sort of unintelligible rationale. Who knows? Maybe you and he are twins. After all, both of you seem to employ a similar syntax and have a propensity for saying things like "as well".
For a my quick review, I thought the story was solid, given to a good cast, with a beautiful soundtrack. I'll admit that it has it's flaws, but every series has it's shares as
well.
Fair enough. To each his own. Can't criticize you for your own preference. Far be it for me to call you a moron just because your opinions differ with mine. Like I said, every body has different tastes. So allow me to give you my final review of Love Letter.

Love Letter had lots of promise that weren’t fulfilled. It had enough material (an interesting premise and notable acting by Soo Ae) going to keep you semi-interested throughout, but the plot holes resulting from time shifts and lack of development for the supporting characters, in addition to the utter debacle they call an ending, makes it one of those dramas that feels like a waste of time after you’ve finished it. Ultimately, the negative overshadows the positive.

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Post by Vatima Corlati » Feb 7th, '05, 10:26

Seeing as that you can't seem to keep discussions civil, I'll keep my replies short in
hopes of you not freaking out and suddenly emailing me viruses. :lol
TheBombastic1 wrote:Now, I don’t mean to speak for everybody here, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it’s not the “cliche” endings that most of us enjoy. What most of us enjoy are GOOD endings: endings that fit in well with all that preceded it. Love Letter did not have a good ending. Leading up to the ending, we were hammered with a series of ideas, only to have those ideas be unceremoniously and unaccountably discarded when the writers couldn’t figure out how to resolve them. The overlying premise of the rest of the series was an exploration of the different facets of faith. A fitting ending, therefore, should have, in some shape or form, shown how the different characters dealt with or have come to terms with their own faith. Instead, any attempt at incorporating faith issues was neglected so that the writers could tack on the usual “the main two characters end up happy while the third wheel suddenly decides to take himself out of the equation for no reason” type of happy ending bullsh1t. The ending of Love Letter made huge jumps of rationality from what preceded it, with no satisfactory justification for it. I can’t possibly pretend that such an ending is a good one.
Like you said...to each their own. ; )
So I’m curious. Just what did I fall victim to? Unless the whole show was a joke, and the writers of the show intended to carry us along for a ride only to dump us with some ridiculous ending, then I don’t see what I could have possibly fallen victim to.
You spoke of your dissapointment about the ending. I can understand that. But then
gave us what you thought should have happened. You just fell victim for what they
wanted you to do, which is provide it yourself. Regardless of how you thought it
wasn't a good open ending closure.
Your’re kidding me, right? They INTENDED for the drama series to drag? What kind of idiotic writer WANTS to lose viewership? Drama does appeal to the emotions, I grant you that point. But how does a dragging one appeal to the emotions?

I think you must be confused as to what it means when we say a show is dragging. Dragging does not mean slow paced (something can be slow paced and still be intensely interesting). Dragging means the show begins to lose interest. In the hands of a skillful director or writer, the show can still be 16 episodes and be interesting. For the most part, I think Love Letter had its points of merit, ie. a good premise and Soo Ae's acting. There were a few dragging moments, resulting from predictability and repetition and lack of logic, but for the most part, mostly due to an ingenious premise, it kept my interest. Of course, a more skillful director or writer would have come up with a better ending than the one the show had and also would have dealt with the roles of the supporting characters better, and in general polish up the show a little more.
Guess I didn't interpret you correctly there. Sorry about that. I was going forward
to slow paced dragging.
“but as you can see…” See what?
That it wasn't a bad ending.
After all, both of you seem to employ a similar syntax and have a propensity for saying things like "as well".
I don't mean to tease, but you have the propensity for saying things like "premise".
I know...I know...utterly pointless and a waste of time...just a friendly tease okay? : )

As for the rest of your questions. I'm too tired to read and reply to your
entire post. Sorry.

You see? It's not that hard to reply civily. ^_~

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Post by TheBombastic1 » Feb 8th, '05, 20:52

Vatima Corlati wrote:Seeing as that you can't seem to keep discussions civil, I'll keep my replies short in
hopes of you not freaking out and suddenly emailing me viruses. :lol
TheBombastic1 wrote:Now, I don’t mean to speak for everybody here, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it’s not the “cliche” endings that most of us enjoy. What most of us enjoy are GOOD endings: endings that fit in well with all that preceded it. Love Letter did not have a good ending. Leading up to the ending, we were hammered with a series of ideas, only to have those ideas be unceremoniously and unaccountably discarded when the writers couldn’t figure out how to resolve them. The overlying premise of the rest of the series was an exploration of the different facets of faith. A fitting ending, therefore, should have, in some shape or form, shown how the different characters dealt with or have come to terms with their own faith. Instead, any attempt at incorporating faith issues was neglected so that the writers could tack on the usual “the main two characters end up happy while the third wheel suddenly decides to take himself out of the equation for no reason” type of happy ending bullsh1t. The ending of Love Letter made huge jumps of rationality from what preceded it, with no satisfactory justification for it. I can’t possibly pretend that such an ending is a good one.
Like you said...to each their own. ; )
So I’m curious. Just what did I fall victim to? Unless the whole show was a joke, and the writers of the show intended to carry us along for a ride only to dump us with some ridiculous ending, then I don’t see what I could have possibly fallen victim to.
You spoke of your dissapointment about the ending. I can understand that. But then
gave us what you thought should have happened. You just fell victim for what they
wanted you to do, which is provide it yourself. Regardless of how you thought it
wasn't a good open ending closure.
Your’re kidding me, right? They INTENDED for the drama series to drag? What kind of idiotic writer WANTS to lose viewership? Drama does appeal to the emotions, I grant you that point. But how does a dragging one appeal to the emotions?

I think you must be confused as to what it means when we say a show is dragging. Dragging does not mean slow paced (something can be slow paced and still be intensely interesting). Dragging means the show begins to lose interest. In the hands of a skillful director or writer, the show can still be 16 episodes and be interesting. For the most part, I think Love Letter had its points of merit, ie. a good premise and Soo Ae's acting. There were a few dragging moments, resulting from predictability and repetition and lack of logic, but for the most part, mostly due to an ingenious premise, it kept my interest. Of course, a more skillful director or writer would have come up with a better ending than the one the show had and also would have dealt with the roles of the supporting characters better, and in general polish up the show a little more.
Guess I didn't interpret you correctly there. Sorry about that. I was going forward
to slow paced dragging.
“but as you can see…” See what?
That it wasn't a bad ending.
After all, both of you seem to employ a similar syntax and have a propensity for saying things like "as well".
I don't mean to tease, but you have the propensity for saying things like "premise".
I know...I know...utterly pointless and a waste of time...just a friendly tease okay? : )

As for the rest of your questions. I'm too tired to read and reply to your
entire post. Sorry.

You see? It's not that hard to reply civily. ^_~
You say eveybody is entitled to their own preference, and yet I find it hypocritical that in your previous post your tone suggested your disregard for people who like cliche endings.

Also, It seems now that you don’t understand what the concept of an “open ended” closure entails. An open ended closure asks you to imagine what happens after based on everything they’ve shown you. It does not mean ignoring the last few scenes they show you and make up one that suits my desires. A good ending is one builds upon all that preceded it – regardless of whether they match my initial desires. Love Letter’s ending was bad because it was one ignored the rest of the series. I simply suggested what I thought should have happened instead of that disaster of an ending. Were it an open ended ending, all I had to do was to imagine what happens after what they showed me, and not have to suggest something that’s not even based on the ending provided. The ending was a ploy by the writers trying to get you to buy into a happy ending in a series that didn’t seem to warrant one. So if anyone fell victim to anything, I should say it was you for falling victim to that ploy.

You say you showed us why it wasn't a bad ending. But you didn’t show us that. You stated it wasn’t a bad ending, without providing any sort of valid reason as to why you thought it wasn’t a bad ending. The only reasons you gave were indefensible and did nothing to make us reconsider our belief that it was a bad ending.

If I lack civility, it is only because you lack sense and in the case of another post, honesty.

I don't even want to dignify anything you may say later with a resposnse.

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Post by Vatima Corlati » Feb 9th, '05, 17:19

TheBombastic1 wrote:You say eveybody is entitled to their own preference, and yet I find it hypocritical that in your previous post your tone suggested your disregard for people who like cliche endings.
Sorry, tone is not something you can easily detect on the internet. If that was your
assumption, then you are mistaken. I don't mind cliche endings. But that doesn't mean
that when they give you one that makes you have to think about it automatically
means that it was considered bad. Even one that leaves us with many strings
unattached.
Also, It seems now that you don’t understand what the concept of an “open ended” closure entails. An open ended closure asks you to imagine what happens after based on everything they’ve shown you.
Umm...it did to me. This ending can have many possibilities. You don't have to think too
hard. I could list you the amounts I've thought up, but it's 3AM here.
The ending was a ploy by the writers trying to get you to buy into a happy ending in a series that didn’t seem to warrant one. So if anyone fell victim to anything, I should say it was you for falling victim to that ploy.
...mmkay.....wow......good one...yeah, I fell for it....big time...
You say you showed us why it wasn't a bad ending. But you didn’t show us that. You stated it wasn’t a bad ending, without providing any sort of valid reason as to why you thought it wasn’t a bad ending. The only reasons you gave were indefensible and did nothing to make us reconsider our belief that it was a bad ending.
You're putting words in my mouth. Yes, I did say it wasn't a bad ending, but nowhere
did I say I showed it
. Did you even read my posts at all? And you say I'm BS. I don't
need to provide reason simply because it wasn't a bad or good ending so my defense
doesn't lean anywhere. What I said was merely my opinion. You're the one who kept
pushing and pushing on how they didn't provide enough to warrant it as a good open
ending or a good one at all.
If I lack civility, it is only because you lack sense and in the case of another post, honesty
No, it's you who lack sense. You're the only one here who sees discordance as an
attack, and then respond with insults.

You seriously need to grow up.

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Post by vhh » Mar 6th, '05, 19:59

Very good drama, but I felt let down by the ending -- how Andrea became a priest and so on.

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Post by Jannah » Mar 7th, '05, 02:22

vhh, you really should edit your post & put it in a spoiler quote! I haven't watched Love Letter & you just revealed the ending! :crazy:

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Post by maea_maie » Oct 29th, '05, 11:45

the story is about Andrew having all these tragedies in life, being abandoned by his mother and being abused by his Auntie. but his life changed when his uncle priest saved him and it might also be his trigger to become a priest. all thru out the series, Andrew struggles for everything, problems keep coming in and he juz keeps getting hurt and being a priest is the only way that could save him. Eun Ha eventhou being pushed away is still keep declaring her love for Andrew not knowing that she is the greatest temptation Andrew has ever encountered in entering the priesthood.

I juz don^t understand the ending thou if they did end up together. becoz at the end while still comatozed, Andrew said that she doesnt want to wake up because she might thought that she^s still going to give him a hard tym again in him becoming a priest but he said that if she wakes up they would still love each other again. it^s confusing me becoz it could give an impression that he would leave priesthood again and be with her again.

and I Love Andrew! He looks gud eventhou in his priest clothes.

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Post by bloodwraith » Oct 31st, '05, 13:39

There has only been two kdramas that have actually glued to my mind, and those are:

Love Letter
Emperor of the Sea

Mainly because both of them features the oh so talented Soo Ae 8)

First of all I think Love Letter distinguishes itself from the rest, by adopting an unusual theme, Religion and Love.
You don't see many dramas about that!

What makes the drama so special is its story and pace. Many have complained about it being so slow, but I think its well paced. Every scene is important and every word spoken has some kind of feeling and depth to it. There aren't many unnecessary events that disrupts the flow of the movie.
I like how the director is keeping the story focused and intense all the time, unlike so many other dramas where meaningless events are being added just two fill up the timeslot.

Another good point is the emotional part. Goddam its well-timed. I mean u actually feel sympathy for the characters and their hardships. Not like so many other dramas where u would give a dam about their misfortune. I think this is the first drama where I actually wished for a "happy" ending.

This just shows that u don't need to have lots and lots of crying scenes (like Autumn Tale ) to display sadness or sorrow. The emotions in this drama has been kept well-balanced.

Last but not least is the casts. I hate when a drama is based upon "hot" actress/actors just to please the eye. There have been too many of them ( I'm sorry I love you, Stairway to heaven etc. ). That is why I really enjoyed the drama, because you are not distracted by the popularity of any cast member.
I must say that I have to give A+ for their acting skills.

And last A++ for Soo Ae, LOL ( no biasing here hehe )

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Post by jpoplover08 » Jun 4th, '06, 00:51

jaycee05 wrote:I watched this drama just to hear them play that song....and when I finally found that song at soompi, I stopped watching it...it drags a bit, one episode will go on and on about one scenario...with the girl switching back and forth between the two guys...
anyway, I really love that song by Tri-be? not sure
but it was somehting like
You're my light(life?)
Fell my Love
tanan-nan nan nan nan (that's the way I sing it when the korean starts)
Dont say Bye
Let me Go
...
Who is this song sung by? I'd love to know I LOVE THAT song, not too crazy about the drama though, unfortunately...

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Post by Tran » Dec 1st, '06, 07:30

I thought at the end they become brother and sister? No? I like this drama, I think the three main lead did a good job, especially Soo Ae, well done!

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Post by Miaka FY » Dec 31st, '06, 23:37

Just finish the serie and o.o i don't know how i can ...understand the end o.o

I'm not catholique ..so i dunno if priest can married or not ..
i know protestant priest can married ..
if i read somewhere that ..

truly ..i don't get the ending at all ..
i happy because the girl was awake ..still
i dunno if i happy if they become sister and brother ..
-.- someone please explain to me that ^^;;

PLEASE READ THAT if you finish the serie ..
I DON'T understand at all that o.o ^^;;

well HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE ^^

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Post by fimfim » Jun 25th, '07, 06:11

Just finished watching Love Letter. Loved the music. Lots of sadness and frustrating moments throughout the drama, but I see a lesson or a philosophical way of thinking (based on faith) that is taught.
There's a huge lesson that is mentioned by Andrea as he talks to God in the church in the last episode. Andrea realizes something after making peace with his mom. He had such a frustrating and sad life. In the last episode, after he got drunk and Woo-jin took him back to his house, his mom gives him a hug and they talk. His mom wants nothing from him but just to love him, and he in turn says his feelings towards his mom wasn't resentment and that he loved her. Andrea's feelings towards his mom and towards God are very similar in many ways. Andrea was abandoned by his mom early on in life and he felt abandoned by God as the story progressed. At one point there was resentment and anger towards God as well. All this frustration was resolved when Andrea decided to not want anything but rather to just love God and accept God's will...in the same way that Andrea's mom wants nothing more than to just love Andrea. The confusing emotions all of a sudden cleared up with the realization to love and accept the things which have happened, God's will.

Another thing that is pointed out is that loving someone is not a sin. Though, in my own point of view, I find that it would be wrong for a man to become a priest if that man loves a particular woman more than he does God. Ideally, I think that a man should become a priest only when his emotional bond with God is greater than it would be for a woman. A man becomes a priest, (joins the holy order) for the strong love he has for God similar to in holy matrimony, where a woman and a man marry for love of one another. Back to the topic. When Eun-ha wakes up, they can still love each other....is what Andrea said. I can see that loving someone is not a sin when it is a pure love from heart to heart (no immorality involved).

There are certainly some things that are left unanswered, but watching through to the end, it is clear that the theme of Love Letter is the importance of love.
That is the message I got from watching Love Letter.

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Post by rambutan » Nov 27th, '07, 12:46

Love this drama from start to finish. Pace is slow but acting is intense and story is utterly riveting. Only big question I have is the ending - the priest will commit SIN.

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Post by fimfim » Nov 27th, '07, 23:03

lucypcng wrote:Love this drama from start to finish. Pace is slow but acting is intense and story is utterly riveting. Only big question I have is the ending - the priest will commit SIN.
In my opinion, the priest will not sin if he loves her platonically.

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Post by rambutan » Nov 27th, '07, 23:51

fimfim wrote:
lucypcng wrote:Love this drama from start to finish. Pace is slow but acting is intense and story is utterly riveting. Only big question I have is the ending - the priest will commit SIN.
In my opinion, the priest will not sin if he loves her platonically.
The drama emphasised that the relationship was platonic, that's why their loving was not a sin. But in reality, it is very difficult for a man and woman to love on a platonic level for long. So when I said sin, I meant he would one day break his vow of chastity as a priest!

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