K-ent Comparing Legend of the Blue Sea as Successor Hit to Descendants of the Sun

View Comments

• I like it enough but not loving it yet. I must admit that the Joseon backstory is my drawing factor to continue checking on this drama. I don't like the story in modern setting. So much time spent on those fish out of the water moments and I find those comedic moments quite stale. While JJH is a stellar actress, I could not helped but feels that she is being typecast and this role is just her usual element, so harsh as it may sound, there is nothing impressive. LMH impressed me in the Joseon setting but his con-man artist is much the same as previous roles. There's not much story yet, only the setting but I still enjoy it.

  • Hmm im newcomer in kdrama.but yas i think she should try melo ,im curious does she can act emotional or not

    • Yes, she can definitely do melo. Although I've only seen her being melo in her movies (she has more movies than TV dramas) from Il Mare, Daisy, and Windstruck. She also did action to in Blood and The Thieves.

  • 100% agree with your comment. Exactlyu thoughts as well

• For som reason when a drama is over hyped im wary of jumping in. With DOTS i waited until ep 6 is out to decide to start or not. It will b the same with Legend. Its under KIV for now. And because the premier rating is on par with Star from the sky and DOTS so it was compared and deemed as successor. I thk its too early in the game to know. The dip in ratings for ep2 sure causes a brow to lift..

  • I feel you! I'll probably start watching LOTB by Dec. Haha. As for DOTS, I've never seen it bc I'm not really into dramas, I prefer rom-com and action.

    • High5.
      Then again im a lil strange. On my did-not-watch list: winter sonata. secret garden. You from another star. All 3 was super famous at their time.
      Im currently enjoyin the less hyped ones. Like 1% of anything. Weightlifting fairy. N recently completed Age of youth. Fantastic. Shopping king Louie

• I'm guessing they'll reveal things slowly but this is risky with Korean audiences. If viewers bail by the 4th or 5th episode, it's usually very hard to gain them back even sometimes when there is good word of mouth.

  I just found out that it's 20 episodes and now I'm really not sure of I want to start it. It's extremely rare for a (romance themed) kdrama to have enough story to make it interesting for 20 episodes. Really hoping that's somehow not the case this time.

  Is the 2nd episode any better?

  • I for one wish the story picked up a little bit. Maybe I'm in the minority here but by half of the second ep (I haven't finished it yet due to lack of time) not much has happened. I hope the latter half gets better. I have a feeling that they're more concerned about milking the scenery and the antics than digging more into the meat of the story. I'm not spoiling more than this but there is a twist in the story in the second ep. Many may find it a relief or an interesting turn of event. Unfortunately it's not the case for me and kind of ruined my interest in the drama built from the first ep.

    • i agree, that twist at the end, i also wasnt feeling it, tbh i kind of dislike it when that happens early on for whatever reason, it kills my excitement for the romance a little, for me personally.

  • Agree. By the 4th ep the ratings will usually reflect if d people will stay, multiple or drop it. With 20episodes not quite sure the momentum n dynamics would b there

• I expected the dip cuz the second bored me.

• Honestly, I'm watching just for the visuals. The narrative is a bit lacklustre as of now. I got kinda bored as there's nothing much to the story right now. Feeling like I was watching an hour long CF. LOL. A lot of viewers seems to think so as well so it's not just me. But this is just the premiere week so I guess it is more of a foundational introductory episode? Hopefully things will pick up in the 2nd week narrative-wise and storyline-wise?

• I'm curious what episode 3 does in the ratings since ep. 2 dropped. If it takes off then it could be a DoTS like success, but, otherwise, it'll still obviously be successful, but not to that level. People shouldn't expect anything to be close to DoTS though. Even YFAS didn't break 30%.

• The rating for second episode dips whereas "Oh My Geum Bi" rises.
  Truthfully, I was rooting for LOTBS to surpass DOTS (because I prefer both the leads here) but based on the second episode, I must say I feel bored. I agree that the Joseon setting is enticing but it was kept so short and the focus turned on the modern day setting which did not tell the story that much.
  Other dramas that not getting viewers hooked or failed in the narrative by second episode (cough...Scarlet Heart) would be tossed aside by the coming episode. But here, there is the sustaining power that is JJH and LMH so I am expecting to see it still lingering around middling 15-16% rating.
  Am I harsh to say that LOTBS is kind of over-hyped. It is flashy with the stunning visual and pretty main leads but lack of substance. Does it differ much than SHR? Aside from the better editing and good acting, I don't see it faring much better, I mean two episodes along and still not much story.
  Unless there's a better twist and improvef narrative in next episode, I could not see it surpassing DOTS or even YFAS.

  • First episode was good, enough to hook me. But second episode dips in term of the narration. The plot movement is slow, not much progress in the story development. Too much time wasted on the fish out of the water moments. Too much time spent on comedic moments. It does not leave the feeling of wanting to know more by the end of episode 2. This drama focused on being stylish and not really in telling the story. I will only check it once I have the time or feel like doing so. And yes, JJH doing the Cheon Seong Yi all over again. She could not break free from the sassy girl role, isn't she?

• I'm going to wait until episode 6 and check for reviews....Its too early to tell if this will surpass DOTS..What made viewers hook with DOTS is not really the story overall but the chemistry between YooShiJin and Kang Mo Yeon, the camaraderie between Medical team and military team and the cliffhangers which made you mad crazy to watch the next episode hence the continuous rise in ratings..So far Legends have an awesome lead chemistry...so lets see...this rating drop is worrisome though but its too early to tell...Lets see..

• Oh My Geunbi is actually good. The child actor is so good. I think it will raise again next week. Didn't check this drama yet.

  • I watch GeumBi first before LoBS. It has its own charm and I really like the kid actress. You should give it a try for this drama.

  • Yas yas i watch oh my geun bi,lotbs,wfairy
    So far oh my geunbi is good

  • I agree. This drama is what I'll be watching every Weds-Thurs

• Descendants actually saw a huge jump in ratings from 15 to 23 % between ep 2 and ep 3 so let's see if this can do the same.

  Jun Ji Hyun gets more varied work in movies, that's for sure. Her characters in Assassination and The Berlin File don't have any shades of Chun Song Yi in them.

  • I'd be surprised if it did jump in the ratings given that it's not getting good word of mouth, and doesn't have much to build on. DoTS also had amazing cliffhangers every episode, which helped the ratings grow. Ep. 2 was probably one of the most famous ones with the two leads meeting again.I don't really see a reason for Legend of the Blue Sea to explode in episode 3. It could happen obviously, though, and episode 3 will be the episode to watch to see what the ratings will do.