Jin

It's not a story of dramatic twists and turns and screaming heroines, which is why it might almost seem boring to someone who watches Korean soap operas. Except that Jin possesses a charm that few historical Korean series can even dream of. Unlike Faith, the characters' behavior here makes sense, it doesn't feel out of place, and there are no stormy jealousy scenes or characters letting themselves be driven by jealousy. I confess that for me this was a big break from all the Korean scenery chewing. It's not perfect and it ends on an open-ended note (but that's why there's a second season), plus the two lead actresses Miki Nakatani and Haruka Ayase didn't appeal to me here, so it took me a while to be able to accept them properly, but in the end it all worked out, largely because of the way their characters were written. The male characters were interesting, not so much the doctor Minakata, but Sakamoto Ryōma. An awesome redneck. Plus it prompted me to study cholera and the history of syphilis. A weaker 4 stars and I'm going to watch the second season, somehow I haven't gotten tired of it yet... (2014.03.27)