Snow White (aka Taste Sweet Love) (2004)

Ma Young Hee has a problem - a BIG problem.  She's been in love with her best friend Han Jin Woo since high school (8 years) and he doesn't have a clue.  He treats her like his little sister, carelessly going out with other women right in front of her.  Motivated by this problem, Young Hee decides to do something about it and takes off to Japan.  Of course, everything goes horribly wrong.  She ends up getting drunk and going home with a man she doesn't even know.  But upon returning to South Korea, she discovers the man she went home with that night in a drunken stupor is Jin Woo's little brother, Han Sun Woo.  Knowing that Sun Woo is trying to lay low and avoid their father, Jin Woo asks Young Hee to take Sun Woo in.  Throw in a conniving two-faced she-fox of a coworker/former schoolmate of Jin Woo's, and let the shenanigans begin!

I really don't know what to say going into this.  This drama is quite...hmm...special.  I don't mean that in a bad way necessarily, but...  We'll get there when we get there.  First, the cast.

• Kim Jung Hwa as Ma Young Hee
• Lee Wan as Han Sun Woo
• Yeon Jung Hoon as Han Jin Woo
• Oh Seung Hyun as Jang Hee Won
• Jo Yoon Hee as Tsukihara Minako

As I said before, I really don't know what to say.  So let's cut to the chase.  Kim Jung Hwa plays our leading lady, Ma Young Hee.  This character is a good example of what I might call "extreme makeover - drama edition".  By that, of course, I mean over the course of the drama she gets sort of "beautified" for various reasons (spoilers).  But this character has to be one that I think frustrates me more than any other leading lady I've ever encountered (okay, maybe there's one other that frustrated me more...but we don't speak of her).  This is no fault of the actress however.  Jung Hwa did a great job in my opinion.  She played the transitions (of which there are many) quite smoothly, making me feel like this character could be a real person - which is, of course, the point.  On top of all that though, she is a very beautiful actress who can also pull off being dorky and goofy.  Thumbs up to her.

Next is the "irresponsible" character, one Han Sun Woo, played by Lee Wan.  This character also really frustrates me because he seems to be easily thrown off balance, so to speak, when it comes to situations involving Young Hee and his brother.  Other than that though, I like this character.  He's interesting, and interesting characters are the bread and butter of good dramas.  The acting was pretty good.  Not super amazing, but good nonetheless.

Next...  Oh, dear.  Han Jin Woo.  This character, played by Yeon Jung Hoon, is...well, it's hard to describe.  He's almost a goody two-shoes type character, as he almost never gets angry, never does anything wrong, and he's always really upbeat and happy.  That in itself starts to get a little irritating after a while.  That plus the fact that for most of the drama he is SO dense.  As for the acting, well, he's not bad, but he's not particularly all that great either.  Granted, there are some twist-your-heart-out moments that have to do with him (*cough* spoilers), but aside from that, his acting is decently good.  He's sweet.  I'll give him that.

Jang Hee Won.  Never have I wanted to punch a girl so much in my life.  This...oh, how did I phrase it..."conniving two-faced she-fox"...yah, that's about right.  This oh so slippery character is played by Oh Seung Hyun, and my goodness, she's good with this kind of character.  She makes you want to reach through the screen and slap her...in the face...multiple times...with a chair.  This character wins second place for my most hated character in a drama (again, we don't speak of the only character I hate more than Jang Hee Won...bad things happen when we bring that up).  I think the fact that I hate her so much really speaks to how well Seung Hyun did her job though.  She's a character everybody loves to hate.

Now for another character that I don't exactly like, but I don't really hate her either.  Tsukihara Minako, played by Jo Yoon Hee.  This character is more just really annoying than actually worth disliking.  You do feel sorry for her as the story progresses though.  What with her past and various spoiler reasons, there are things that make you come over to her side a little - if only a very little.  Regarding the actress herself, I'd say she did a pretty good job.  At the very least it was believable and that's at least somewhat satisfactory for me.

Now, on to the writing.  This drama is definitely a good example of what the Korean version of an American soap opera would look like (minus the gratuitous sex and really bad acting).  Lots of crying, lots of difficult decisions, and a BOATLOAD of drama.  I have only a few comments to make on the writing.

First off, it was realistic - at least as much as can be expected for this type of show.  In this story one thing that stands out is that Sun Woo is six years younger than Young Hee.  Being that they are the main couple (of sorts), this in itself creates problems (I personally don't understand this though - if the girl was the one that was younger it wouldn't be a problem...or at least not as much of a problem).  This drama does, to the best of its ability, deal with those problems realistically.  It also deals with the problems associated with what happens when one partner wants to go off to another country to do what he (in this case) wants to do.  This drama deals with questions like: What happens to the other partner?  Is completely uprooting and reestablishing yourself for your lover really the right thing to do?  And so on and so forth.

My second comment is not so positive.  This might be a bit nit-picky, but I can't ignore it.  I can't help but feel that this drama is a bit...haphazard in its way of thinking.  The characters don't seem to know what they want most of the time, and while that could come off as part of the story, I think it just makes it feel a bit double-minded and indecisive.  Also, the ending few episodes were kinda rushed and the flow got a bit sticky.

As for warnings, the only thing I think warrants a warning is the excessive amounts of drama in this drama.  I know, that's kinda ridiculous to point that out, but seriously, I've seen dozens of dramas, and this is one of the most dramatic I've ever encountered.  I would only say in warning, be prepared to feel sorry for a couple of the characters...A LOT.

On the upside, however, as I mentioned before, this drama deals with some real issues that I think are well worth tackling.  The other huge focus along the way is the issue of dealing with unrequited love (does the word "friend-zoned" mean anything to you?).  This show looks at questions like: How long should you wait for someone you love to come around before you move on with your life?  How do you go about moving on once you've decided to do so?  Things like that.  These are questions I've never seen tackled in a drama like this before, and I highly commend the writers for handling it so well.

On a final note, I will say I have mixed feelings for this drama.  I liked it, but at the same time, I probably won't watch it again.  The characters were good, but a lot of times they frustrated me to no end with the choices they made.  The story was somewhat realistic in the issues it dealt with, and although the ending wasn't what I think people wanted (or what I wanted) it still worked.  Granted, this drama is a little bit older, but I think it's still worth watching (it is a little funny seeing all the characters with flip phones instead of iPhones and Smartphones though).  This show also has the character in it that wins my vote for best incidental character ever (you go, cake shop ahjussi!).  So I recommend this to any hardcore drama fans out there as well as fans of certain soap operas.  I think the rest can speak for itself.