When a Man Loves 남자가 사랑할 때 Review

When a Man Loves 남자가 사랑할 때 

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The 2013 Korean drama, also known as "When a Man Falls in Love," starring Song Seung-Heon as Han Tae-Sang, Shin Se-Kyung as Seo Mi-Do, and Yeon Woo-Jin as Lee Jae-Hee.

Brief summary: When Seo Mi-Do and Han Tae-Sang first met, he was living as a loan shark under a company out to collect from her father. Seo Mi-Do's spunky personality left a permanent impression on Tae-Sang and he saves her from an ugly situation by sacrificing himself. Ten years later, Tae-Sang is a large company CEO and Mi-Do is still just trying to get by when they meet again. Tae-Sang takes their meeting again as a sign of fortune because he still has a special place in his heart for Mi-Do, and tries to get closer to Mi-Do and her family. However, his ideas for the two of them may become threatened by another young man named Lee Jae-Hee and the realization that Mi-Do may not like Tae-Sang as much as he likes her!

This drama's story had a lot of potential. It's an interesting concept- a reformed man trying to find the love of his life. Unfortunately, there were a few things that took away from it, such as the character of the first leading female and the push and pull caused by the second leading female and the primary antagonist. It didn't help that the show falls perfectly under the melodrama category. Of course, the occasional soap opera is no bad thing, but it means that the string music is a little excessive, the plot shifts happen rather quickly, and it's not really deep. There's also a few melodrama cliches, such as a case of amnesia, car accidents, a love triangle (well, more like a web), long lost family members, and breaking stuff. 

The real appeal for this drama came from the casting. Song Seung-Heon may be from the slightly older generation, but he is still very attractive! His character in "When a Man Loves" is also very cute! Shin Se-Kyung, although I had difficulty liking Seo Mi-Do, is amazingly talented as an actress. The other secondary characters were all good picks, too! Although the plot and melodrama didn't impress me, I found reason to keep watching because of the great cast.

Quite a few of the characters were impressive, but I liked Han Tae-Sang and Gu Yong-Gab the most. Lee Chang-Hee comes in third. Tae-Sang is obviously the main leading male but he has unexpected immaturity and child-like qualities to him. For instance, he can't handle spicy food. He kept trying to eat it for Seo Mi-Do's sake, but he just couldn't get through it without a quart of milk within arm's reach! He also couldn't handle a rollercoaster ride but pretended he didn't pass out for Seo Mi-Do's sake. What girl wouldn't think that was cute?! I was a little sad when his character hardened in the third and fourth quarter along with the plot. 

Gu Yong-Gab comes across initially as your typical antagonist that has something against Tae-Sang and something for Baek Sung-Joo. He keeps up his conniving behavior for the longest time, but finally, in the last episode, he becomes genuine. He practically begged her not to marry Tae-Sang and apparently knew both of them well enough to know that it wouldn't work out for either of them, leaving himself out of the picture. Finally, I found his changing hair color kind of funny. Did he just flip a coin to pick between blonde and purple?

Lee Chang-Hee is obviously the most selfless person in the character list, so it's hard to NOT like him!

There are a few things I would change about this drama, but the idea was good to begin with! The cast was awesome and I was motivated to watch it to the end!