IRIS~ah good times… probably in my TOP10… okay no, I just wanted to try making a joke with T.O.P.’s name in it ^^” And since I almost saw nothing but him in that dorama…okay I did see Lee Byung Hun. Well it was hard not to! But let’s go on with the intro. Why did I start watching this dorama? Simple answer => TOP. Why did I keep watching this dorama ? => TOP. Why did I like this dorama ? => TOP. Told you, he’s everywhere ! but now let’s start the actual review…and please be warned: it’s gonna be long. 4 pages last time I counted. Have fun~

First let’s discuss the story. Well to sum it up, the story is nothing but a joke. Either a joke either a lost bet, I’m not sure. Okay, let’s put aside the extreme “let’s be American” tendency, it didn’t actually bother me…still IRIS is like the meeting point of non-consistent characters. Sa Woo, TOP and Seung Hee especially.. but we’ll come back to that, let’s talk about the rest first.

Near the end the NSS gets a new guy and he says something like “I’m not surprised the terrorists are winning considering how stupid you’re all acting”. Obviously all the others get mad at him and I’m guessing we’re supposed to be mad too cause we’re on the others’ side…but I really wanted to kiss that guy and scream “finally someone who agrees with me!”. What the hell is wrong with the NSS????? First of all they have only two agents and there’s always one (not always the same one though) who’s busy betraying everyone, pretend to be dead or not answering his phone because he’s taking a trip with his girlfriend. Also they just never think before they do something. Their plan of action pretty much is “let’s not think, act and then not think again! Lee Byung Hun is on our side most of the time so we’ll end up winning anyway” . None of them actually thinks! When one of them does it’s an accident… brain cells accidently colliding… Well to be fair the guy with the weird headcut who’s always in front of the computer sometimes do think. And the chief too but that guy’s got a severe authority problem: he’s got none! And all the others are like “yay, I’ll give you my access card, do whatever you want with it…oh you gave it to a terrorist? Now that’s too bad”. It’s like “dumber, dumberer and so dumb that stones might actually be more intelligent than I am” : the remake. Once, once they caught someone! And that was pure luck -_-

Also, sorry but what’s up with that end ? Okay so it was beautiful in a way, the picture looked good but to sum up: WTF? It really was just to say “hey guy’s there’s a sequel, don’t leave!”…(still I did cry at the end…. But then again I also cried at the end of Disney’s Aladdin… yeah don’t take the “I cried” as a clue: I cry when it’s sad, when it’s happy, when Kame’s good-looking, when Tsuyo smiles…seriously…I’m a bit pathetic this way)

The dorama is also too long. 16 episodes would have been perfect! First of all some flash-backs should have been removed. At first it was okay but then they became annoying and sometimes quite ridiculous (I mean sometimes there’s a flash back and then a scene telling us about the fb!). In addition there are some scenes that are just useless. And also there’s that romance that really annoyed me and that probably was nothing more than just a way of promoting Lee Byung Hun. Sung Hee should have died and then maybe LBH could have had something with Sun Hwa who was way more interesting. LBH/Seung Hee was just boring and I’m pretty sure it was just a way of showing LBH being involved in a relation ship. Like telling us “he can be sexy AND cute”. It workd… yes it did! The romance was boring, without feelings, but LBH was still LBH and so I would have trade places with that girl anytime.

Hyun Joon (Lee Byung Hun) is actually one of the few characters that made sense. His childhood trauma isn’t exactly original and his mind isn’t that complex, he’s a “straight’ guy…but you just have to like him. He’s got charisma and charm. And also well…I mean….you have to pity him somehow! His parents got killed, his best friend betrayed him (no ones knows why…he probably stole his teddy bear when they were three?) and he saw his girlfriend die. Sometimes life is hard :p Anyway I liked him. He’s a good main character. You always know where he’s standing, that is to say in the right path, so siding with him is easy. The actor’s good too. LBH’s always good anyway! Plus he’s hot…which helps. Really he’s more than okay ! the problem is the others are not.

First : Sa Woo, the best friend. What the f*** is wrong with that guy? He must have the lamest excuse ever to betray his best friend! Basically he’s told “kill him” and he just goes “oh okay”. No, actually, it does protest for a bit…maybe three seconds? And then the guy goes “if you don’t kill him I’ll actually the girl that you love –and who’s in love with him- to do it” and so Sa Woo says yes. Easily convinced, isn’t he? (These aren’t the droids you’re looking for…rings a bell ?). What is he thinking? That she can’t say no? In « So dumb that stones might actually be more intelligent than I am » he’s definitely not playing the rock ! (though they do approximately have the same number of facial expressions). I had to sit through all his whining and his “I’m such a victim” and it got me quite annoyed since he was mostly victim of his own stupidity.

As for the girl I just didn’t get her. I don’t have anything against the actress who’s pretty and does her best but I’m thinking maybe she refused to sleep with the guy who wrote the story… when it started I was glad she looked like a strong character, a woman that could stand on her own…but one improvised LBH’s kiss and a few LBH’s words later she had become the “come rescue me” princess type that only knows how to cry and be in love. And then at the end there’s some kind of weird twist that’s supposed to add some tension to the story…didn’t actually work I’m afraid. So you see the thing is , I just didn’t get the character. She just doesn’t make any sense! I’m not saying I wanted her to be wonderwoman but since she started off as a strong woman, why not stay one? She really should have died. This way I wouldn’t have had to bear all these tears, romantic heaviness and useless scenes. And also had she died, Sun Hwa would have had a chance!

And I really liked Sun Hwan. She starts of as a wonderwoman too but then she gets kinda weak but not in the same way. She’s weak cause her whole world is changing and she has no one to rely on but she stills knows how to react and how to be strong when she needs to. I like the actress, she’s got a face like a little girl which is a nice contrast with the character. Don’t really know how to explain. She knows how to handle stuff and she’s not the time to whine hoping that’s gonna change something but at the same time there’s a “fragility” to her that makes her really touching; I loved that character. And her superior too.

Actually I liked the terrorists Hyun Joon worked with for a while. Well…I didn’t approve of their actions but they were well organized which was a nice change and I didn’t feel like giving them strategy lessons. Anyway the “bad side” was just much better!

And here comes…T.O.P.! (I always write “TOP” though, I’m way too lazy to type the dots every time..also it seems his character’s called Vick but I really don’t know when they mentioned that in the dorama) and guys I’m sorry , I really am, but here comes the long part.

I could almost write a post about just him. Cause to me he is the dorama! As I already wrote I started the dorama because of him and finished it because of him, I was more interested in his next appearance then in how the dorama would end. That’s kinda sad but I just can’t help it. My eyes were automatically looking for him in the previews and every time there was a guy we couldn’t clearly see I was going in the “TOP is that you? At last? You’re back? Finally !!!!!!…okay so no T.T » mode. He doesn’t have enough screen times, it’s awful, I was on the verge of breaking down. This dorama really is never wracking. And each time he actually was on screen, I was watching the scene three times. A first time to enjoy the pictures, a second time to actually get what was happening and a third time in slow motion to take all the screencaps I could take. Which explains why I find myself with 230 pictures of him when he probably just appears 30 minutes in 24 episodes.

It doesn’t mean I didn’t like the rest (LBH is very likeable :p) but still TOP was the main interest for me. Come on girls, he’s got it all: he’s good looking, he’s young, he’s expression-less, he’s efficient, he’s discrete…well…at least he’s good-looking, young and expressionless! As for the rest….

When it comes to discretion…let’s just say it might no be his best quality. I just love that guy, even when he’s making coffee he looks like he wants to kill the cup. Wearing a sign that says “hey, I’m a killer” wouldn’t make any difference, it’s pretty obvious even without it. I especially love the scene in the supermarket where he’s spying on someone. He’s looking at the guy and you can almost see the bullets coming out of his eyes. Maybe he just hates the whole world?

Still the big even for me is the start of one of the episodes when he kisses a girl! Who that girl is doesn’t matter, she kissed TOP so we hate her. As for the “let’s not be obvious” thing this dorama lets us enjoy TOP with several haircuts, clothes and even glasses. My favourite would be the green coat which really suits him well! It’s also cool for hiding in the snow…well at least he seems to think so. As for haircuts, I liked the one in ep14 but I still like the first one better with the poney tail. I like ponytails anyway! He should have done a “ponytail/green coat” combo, that would have been perfect! Also, weapons –though they are useless since TOP could probably destroy a town by looking at it- suit him well too…he looks good with them and looking good is all that matters in this dorama anyway. Still I like him best when he fist-fights cause when shooting he’s got to aim and so we can only see one of his eyes which is a waste T.T The thing is still that when he doesn’t have a gun…well…

Here comes the “efficiency” question. During 24 episodes they tell us “TOP is soooo strong, he’s like…scary and al, he’s a pro, a killing machine”. Well I’m sorry but every time he can be spotted, he is (I started wondering if he wasn’t doing it on purpose at some point).When he’s being followed, he doesn’t notice. Someone breaks in his apartment? Well he’s too busy looking at himself in the mirror to care and so he gest beaten up in three seconds. Seriously it’s so ridiculous , one might actually wonder if his previous victims weren’t actually just too lazy to resist. Actually I’m pretty sure he only remembers his victims according to what he was wearing. At some point the main guy asks him “do you remember her?” talking about one girl he killed and I could sooo picture him answering “yeah, I was wearing a beautiful green coat that day and I just had my hair permed” …. I don’t blame him though, I was doing the same thing, only remembering his scenes as “the one when he had a ponytail”, “the one when he had sunglasses”, etc. His character is mostly about the visual effect.

I was sooo waiting for him to finally speak, for real, more than three words…but when he did? Well…let’s just say he shouldn’t have. He was so unconvincing, I was actualy sad for him.As for his romance thing (not really a romantic thing but I don’t know how to call it) it was really not well written and: how could the girl not realize she was sleeping for a killing freak???? I’m sorry but each time he poured her coffee it seemed like he was counting all the objectfs in the room he could kill with. Well… “don’t take it personally” I wanted to tell her “he does that all the time”. Remember the time when he was spying on some other guy in a supermarket? Well I’m pretty sure he was wondering how many people he could kill with a single tomato. Okay, I’m making fun of him a lot but I loved him! Wondering when he would suddenly appear kept me interested and somehow he made the dorama fun.

Ooooooh we’re close to the end! Yes finally! Aren’t you glad? To sum up I just don’t know what to say. To be honest I liked this dorama! As long as I didn’t think about the story it was okay. I like the main guy, TOP and Sun Hwan… It’s clearly not the masterpiece and the guy who wrote it was probably drunk but TOP’s cool and he’s got black under his eyes so…well…you know. If you’re a TOP or LBH fan, watch it! If not I don’t think you’d miss out on anything if you didn’t. Your call!

IRIS — Grade (fangirl/sympathy grade A-) (real grade B) Here’s why

In comparison to american spy dramas, 24, alias etc this drama is not that good. Think Chuck with nonsensical elements that don’t make sense, but not goofy cuz Iris is certainly not a comedy. On the other hand, I may be being too critical, because there were/are def plot flaws with all of the spy series on U.S. tv because well they have to drag out and thus they to fall victim to plot twists that make no sense.

Anyway up til about 3/4 through the drama everything made relative sense (wierd engrish signs and mispellings notwithstanding), then the spy stuff gets a bit hmmmmm well it doesnt make sense some things that happen.

Why the A-; Story of a Man/SLingshot, Money’s warfare etc are well written good dramas because they deal with topics that are inately korean or at least that korean’s are very familiar with. The CIA stuff is clearly not familar with and it shows. However, they did an OUTSTANDING job making the drama seem real. The headquarters were very spylike the acting was phenomenal (caveat…. Lee Tae Hee’s acting bothered me a bit, but i have been somewhat tainted (not her fault, just is what it is) by all the hype about her and some bloggers dislike for her so i don’t know that if i did not know it was LEE TAE HEE if I would have been as bothered or even bothered at all). If you watched Queen Seon Duk I think part of the problem with the queen’s character is similar to LTH’s character in Iris. The mishil character was written so badass that even a better actress would have faded against her. Same with Iris, Kim So-yeon’s character was written so much more awesome than LTH’s in my opinion. (so pissed KTH got a bigger award then her but whatevs) Lee Byun Hun, Top, NK dude, actually all the boys acting was very convincing.. I get the impression all the guys like playing these badass characters and they really reveled in their roles, which was great.

The location shooting did not feel like.. WE ARE ON LOCATION like say in BOF, but rather like places the characters would really go if they were in hungaray or japan or whereever.

Let’s talk about the english…everyone’s english was either spoken by AN AMERICAN ACTOR (not some russion pretending to be american lol), or korean actors that spoke English, Lee Byun Hun’s english was flawless. Top’s english was not bad,,, but they explained his accent so they knew it wasn’t perfect and made it a part of the storyline, finally directors recognize that you cannot pawn some dude from ubekestan as a german diploment from american… people will fracking notice.

Finally, I gave it the sympathy A- because the show was ambitious, and riveting. this was one of those dramas like alias that left you on a cliff hanger where you HAD HAD HAD to watch at least the first 15 min of the next ep to find out how they would get out of their latest pickle.

Why the drama really is only a B at best. Yes it was slick, Yes it was se4xy, with hotties coming out the wazoo and explosions (that made sense) car crashes (that looked painful and real) etc etc, but the drama in an effort to be cool and just like the big boys was missing that element that we have come to love in k-dramas. IRIS does not have that IT factor that makes you wanna watch over and over, makes you cry buckets, or makes youy fall in love with it. When I see the name Eun Chan my heart smiles. When I think about Dong Woo (from the slingshot/story of a man) I shiver and wonder where that bastard is right now. When I think back at Iris I will think cool drama, but easily deleted.

watch even if its just for the historical purposes (i have a feeling future spy drama will crop up and all will be measured against iris)

i am not a fan of action drama, but the cast and the synopsis lured me in to watch this one and i wasn’t sure i was going to be able to finish the series, until i finally realized i was addicted to it. The action is “on the seat of your chair” with guns, and bombs and in between all the action scenes you find yourself the a-typical love story of love at first sight and then un-foreseen separation and romantic “entanglements” too. there is enough in the story line to keep you wanting to keep up with this one! i recommend this one for any kdrama fan of any genre!

A REVIEW/RECAP WRITTEN IN THE IRIS AFTERGLOW

I finished watching IRIS yesterday, and some of my opinions have changed since I last wrote about IRIS after viewing only the first four episodes. And after episodes five and six, I was this close to giving up on the show all together. Thankfully, the show redeemed itself, and I was able to continue enjoying it after the debacle that was episodes five and six. (An example: You are a spy. You’re girlfriend is also a spy. You are injured; you are being pursued by the Hungarian police, the North Korean security detail, and your best friend. You and your girlfriend want to escape Hungary, so you go to the train station. What is going through your supposed well-trained spy mind to make you say, “I’ll go get the tickets, you wait here.”?)

Despite what I felt were several moments of sheer annoyance, over all, I really did enjoy IRIS. This was a show that was right up my alley. I enjoy shows as well as movies that have a lot of action and intrigue. Now that IRIS has wrapped and is still fresh in my mind, I’d like to take some time to recap what I liked and what I did not like about this show.

THE ROMANCE:
As a rule, I am not a fan of romance in shows where something else should clearly be the priority. For example, as much as I am obsessed with CSI, the Grissom/Sara relationship bugs the hell out of me. In NCIS, as much as I want to see Abby and McGee get together, I will be highly irritated if Ziva and Tony have a romance. So, with that being said, you pretty much know where I stand on romance in my action/adventure/spy-type series. In IRIS, there were actually two romantic storylines (well, three if you count Seung hee and Sa woo, which I don’t.) One worked, and one, well, not so much.

WHAT WORKED: Mi Jeong and Vick. This minor pairing showed up enough to be intriguing, but not enough to be a distraction. The first interaction scene between this couple was one of the scenes in episode six that, at the time, didn’t make a whole lot of sense (although I highly enjoyed it.) In the bigger picture and the greater scheme of the storyline, everything that happened between them made sense, once you find out exactly what is going on. The chemistry between Juni and T.O.P was incredible, in my opinion. You could see the attraction their characters held for each other in their eyes, and “the” kiss, well, it was amazing. (Curse you, KBS for cutting it! Many blessings on OCN & You Tube users for making it available for the rest of us to see!)

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Seung hee and Hyun Joon. I have been watching Kdramas for 9 months now, and have never been tempted to fast forward through any of them (including 90 Days, Time to Love, which I hated). The scenes between Seung hee and Hyun Joon, on the other hand, made my fast forward button look really tempting. Their romance scenes took up way too much of the storyline, in my opinion. (Ok, alright, we get it, you’re in love! *vomits*) When you take my general distaste for overbearing romance in these kinds of dramas, add to that how much air time was spent on this romance, and the fact that Kim Tae Hee and Lee Byeong Hoon had zero chemistry, you get something that was better left on the cutting room floor.

THE ACTORS:
Recently, Javabeans published an article on her blog featuring a scorecard of how each of the actors in IRIS measured up: http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/12/scorecard-how-did-iriss-stars-measure-up/. In a blatant rip off of this article, I’d like to add my own opinions of how I, personally, felt the actors measured up.

LEE BYEONG HOON: Being a Newbie to the Kdrama scene, I believe this is the first thing I have ever seen this actor in, and even I can see why he is one of Korea’s top stars. (I can also see why he is considered hot, even though he does nothing for me personally.) I believe he was well cast for the part of super-spy/turned rouge-spy/turned back to super-spy Kim Hyun Joon. I know I’m not alone in this opinion, as I believe everyone else has already raved about his performance, so I’ll keep this brief. Although, one does have to wonder with such a fantastic actor being the male part of main romance, how it can be that the couple seemed to have no chemistry…which brings me too…

KIM TAE HEE: She annoys me. She annoys me the same way Katie Holmes annoys me: for no good reason. Despite the fact that she annoys me, if she is in a project that I would be interested in watching, she won’t deter me from watching it; my friends will just have to put up with me griping about/making fun of her. After all was said and done, I had a really hard time buying her as a spy.

JUNG JOON HO: He did not make an impression on me one way or the other. Considering he was the second male lead, I’m thinking this is probably not a good thing….

KIM SEUNG WOO: Very believable as one of the heads of the North Korean security force. He didn’t get a whole lot of screen time, and I’m not that familiar with him, so I will just have to go with other’s opinions that he is good.

KIM SO YEON: Love, love, LOVED her! She was amazing in her role as the North Korean spy/turned rogue spy/turned back to loyal spy. I’m fairly sure it was her, and not a stunt double, in the ambulance scene in one of the early episodes (I want to say four) and if that is the case, she can totally kick ass! She has this incredible way of being tough as nails one minute, and soft and feminine the next. I became such a fan of hers in IRIS that I’ve started watching All About Eve, where she shows the same talent for being strong and soft, but uses it in a completely different way. I will definitely be searching out her other works.

T.O.P: Before I get accused of being fangirly here, let me preface this review by saying that I first had an interest in IRIS, then I developed an interest in T.O.P, then I became a fan of Big Bang. That being said, I will admit that this may not be the most object actor review because I feel, well, let’s just say “love” for the boy. (Yeah, “love”, that’s a good “L” word to use…) I have read reviews where people have said he was believable until he opened his mouth. Maybe, since I don’t speak Korean, this was lost on me, but I like his voice. Javabeans referred to his “gangster drawl” I believe is how she put it, but he played a bad ass assassin, so I’m thinking maybe the whole “gangster drawl” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Oh, and his eyes! His eyes were very expressive, especially in his last scene with Juni, which gave me chills, and yet, I couldn’t look away, and, in fact, backed it up and rewatched it several times, just because that scene was so intense!

JUNI: As far as I can tell, no one has really given her a grade for her second drama role. I thought she was great; I really enjoyed her performance as the “cool computer chick” a lot. As I said before, she had really great chemistry with T.O.P in all of their scenes. She also has a really nice voice, and I enjoyed it when she had a chance to sing. Once again, I find myself comparing her with Pauley Perrette from NCIS, another “cool scientist chick” which a really great voice. There were some moments, in fact, when Juni came on screen that I was looking to see if she, too, had any trademark tattoos!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. It was a fun, intense ride, and I always was on pins and needles waiting to see what happened next. There were a few elements that will keep me from giving this drama as high of a rating as I gave Time of Dog and Wolf, but, this is still a drama I will be ordering on DVD when it is available. (And I will probably be throwing gummy bears at my 52” TV screen whenever Kim Tae Hee comes on…)

The good and the bad, here it comes!
First let me start off with that the basic overview of this drama. This drama is very similar to an american mystery/thriller that mixes in spy action alongside the popular OMG A NUCLEUR BOMB IS GOING TO GO OFF theme that many western tv shows such as 24 implement. In my opinion, i think that the producers have done a very good job in picking out A list actors that can properly play the role that they are given… in this case Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Hee play the main characters that fall in love but are split apart due to a sequence of events that will uncover as you watch the drama.

Starting from the first episode, the drama throws in many different action scenes that instantly draw in any type of audience that enjoy fighting and gun fights but also gives the typical love scene that any romance addict would be drawn too. Unfortunately, with the multi million dollar backing that they had to support to creation of this drama, i do not think that they creators of this drama did the best job that they could have with all the money that they spent. They make several mistakes in their editing throughout the drama and the story line is very cliche and cheesy. If an american version of this drama aired, i could easily foresee failure and low ratings. HOWEVER, being a korean drama that is one of the first to actually use a western style filled with a lot of drama and suspense, i give it props. If you are one of those drama addicts, you can easily see the different style that they used. If this is confusing to you, what im trying to say is that instead of throwing in a bunch of filler scenes for the middle 55 minutes of the drama and only putting the suspense in the first and last 5 minutes, this drama is suspenseful throughout the each episode keeping the audience on their toes.

Also, if you are one of those people that only watch dramas because of the actors’ looks then this is might be heaven for you. For both guys and girls, this drama has a cast of some of the best looking actors and actresses in Korea. If you’re a guy can i say KIM TAE HEE? She is considered one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful female actress. In most survey, shes the one that always wins most envied or the one i want to look like. She is infamous for having absolutely no plastic surgery done (WOW A FIRST!). Anyways, her looks just blow you away in this drama. Now girks… you’re even luckier than the guys. Do i even have to say his name? Lee Byung Hun… Even though hes older now his looks are still their and just look at his body. His body is the body that any guy would envy. Now now, if you dont appreciate Lee Byung Hun, you still have T.O.P. HOLY COW DID YOU JUST SAY T.O.P.? yes i did. He’s tall, charismatic, buff, good looking….. the list just goes on. Do i need to say more?

Overall this drama has a lot to offer.
With a season 2 in the works with even more A List actors this drama is something you dont want to miss. With these in mind these are the numbers i give it.
Overall: 8.0/10
Storyline: 6/10
Aesthetics: 10/10
Production and Editing:8/10

The good: nice intensive pace throughout the movie with car chase, face off, and or surprises that kept me anxious to see what happens next.

The awful: The storyline was great, but Hyun Joon turned a bit dull after Sa Woo betrayed him. He turned into this quiet puppet walking through each event. I understand the script was for him to feel confuse, but he looked confuse almost the entire drama.

Overall 9/10

This is not a Kdrama as the ones I used to watch. More in the line of 24 but with more romantic sub-plot. It is not without loopholes but still angst enough and hype enough to keep the viewer wanting and impatient for the next episode.

Loopholes as I mentioned an example: when the terrorists infiltrated NSS. Though they were North Korean ultimately it was IRIS that controlled it. Beak San is IRIS and as Head of NSS he must have known what they were coming for. What I don’t get it is why did he send Choi Sung-hee back to NSS.

Since there will be a Season 2, I guess other unanswered issues will give it essence to develop. I don’t know how IRIS season 2 will look like wthout Hyun-jun or maybe the writers will do a ‘Jack Bauer’ and make him come back. In any case I do not see IRIS season 2 without Lee Byung-hun. It was his acting and charisma that pulled off IRIS.

This drama reminds me about the thrill rides I can get from such American shows like 24 and Prison Break. There’s the back and forth espionage quality but its not real time like 24 is. IRIS tends to go at the pace that Prison Break went at. There were some episodes where I practically could not wait till the next release of the subs that I finally made my donation to withS2 to get my VIA access.

Not to spoil the plot too much but the first couple of episodes starts off a bit slow in that it is establishing the characters and the overall situation. But as you watch it, it builds up. At the moment at around episodes 12 and 13 it slows down a bit. But it’s still good.

Also this drama is loosely based on Shiri which if you aren’t totally into Korean media, Shiri was probably the first famous hollywood style movie that came out of Korea. Shiri was a movie that also explored the tensions between North and South Korea like IRIS is doing here. If you notice, one of the cast members in IRIS was also in Shiri. (yes, I watched it the other day to make some comparisons)
Yoon Joo Sang was actually the director of OP in Shiri and now he plays Oh Hyun Kyu in IRIS. I thought that was neat nitpick that I discovered the other day.

I can’t say much about the guys. But apparently the other reviewers say they’re hot. BUT with Kim Tae Hee, I like her. Kim So Yeon is not too bad also.

So in the beginning, I said that this drama has just enough action for a guy like me to like. So girls, if you’re wanting to introduce your boyfriend to kdramas and asian dramas in general, I’d say IRIS is a good start.

So, my rating is 8.5/10

I would not say it is the best love story type drama I’ve seen but it has enough of a love story to keep me interested and its got some action to satisfy my testosterone in the process.