That Winter, the Wind Blows Final Episode 16

Zo In Sung (Jo In Sung) as Oh Soo

***************SPOILERS*****************

Before I really delve into this drama, I want to get my two main critiques out of the way. First, I think 16 episodes was not long enough for this particular story to unfold. I don't think that Oh Soo and Oh Young shared enough sweet, intimate moments or enough painful moments for us viewers to really build a strong emotional attachment to them as a couple. If this drama had 20 episodes, I think we could have also seen more of Jin Sung (Kim Bum) and Hee Sun's (Jung Eun Ji) characters and their cute romance. Kim Bum and Eun Ji are two popular actors who are building quite a large fan base, but neither of them had more than a few minutes of screen time per episode. As for my second critique, I wish That Winter, the Wind Blows would have kept the same feeling of the first 3 episodes throughout the entire show. Those first scenes were  pretty but had a dark, twisted side lurking beneath the softness that the show's aesthetic displayed. To me the later episodes relied heavily on the typical Korean drama tropes like the sick person in love, the evil mother (or mother-like figure), the self-sacrificing bad guy, and the jump through time in the last episode in order to sort things out without really explaining anything, and it lost the magic I felt during the first week it aired.

Song Hye Kyo as Oh Young

Now let's discuss the final episode. It began in a rather gruesome fashion. Oh Young was bleeding in a bathtub after just having cut her wrists, and Moo Chul (Kim Tae Woo) was stabbed by a thug and proceeded to violently break the thugs shoulder and arm. Of these two bloody scenes only one is fatal, and I am sad to report that Moo Chul died. Even though he was a bit of a douche, I liked him. He was busy protecting everyone without taking any credit for it. Again, his character could have seen a lot more development had there been 20 episodes in this series. But, the important thing about the first part of this episode, I suppose, is that Oh Young survived that bloody night, and, happily her surgery a few days later.

Of course she forgave Oh Soo for lying to her about being her brother. He was the first person who came into her life and really had fun with her and made her feel loved and happy. Even though Secretay Wang (Bae Jong Ok) had taken care of Young for most of their lives, Young didn't trust her because of the deceptions she carried out surrounding her sight. I had trouble believing the resolution of Secretary Wang returning to Young because I'm not sure how Young found the strength to forgive her, and I felt the plot line involving her, Myung Ho, and the company was left unresolved.

Kim Bum as Jin Sung and Jung Eun Ji as Hee Sun

The ending that came about in the final 10 minutes of the series was a happy one for most characters. After stabbing Oh Soo to save his family, Jin Sung moves to the country with Hee Sun to live the simple life away from the city and gambling. We see this after the show jumps about a year into the future. At this point Oh Young has survived surgery and can see. Her vision isn't perfect, but it looks like a soft filter from Instagram so she seems to be pretty satisfied with it. And after a fake-out conversation between Jin Sung and Hee Sun that makes it sound like Oh Soo is dead, it is revealed that he is serving tea near Oh Young. At first I had a horrible thought, "Oh no. He better not have lost his memory." Thank god they didn't use that trick again because Oh Soo and Young needed another hot kiss to end the drama. On that note, another positive thing to add about That Winter, the Wind Blows on top of my many critiques is that Zo In Sung and Song Hye Kyo shared some soft, sexy kisses in the final episode, redeeming them from the forced kiss that happened a few episodes earlier.

Soo and Young, fighting!

Don't forget to download the beautiful and addictive That Winter, the Wind Blows OST just click here!

Watch That Winter, the Wind Blows with English subtitles DramaFever.com

That Winter, the Wind Blows Episode 1-3

Zo In Sung as Oh Soo and Song Hye Kyo as Oh Young

I am completely hooked on That Winter, the Wind Blows. It has everything that I value in a Korean drama: hot Korean guys, layered plot lines, a romantic coupling that seems impossible at first, crazy rich people, and a very dramatic OST. So far, I am feeling a strong connection between this drama and last fall's Nice Guy (Innocent Man). The first similarity that stood out to me right away is the music. The opening theme music which is used often throughout Nice Guy is almost identical to the music that plays during dramatic moments in That Winter. Other similarities I noticed: the fragile yet strong leading lady, Oh Soo is a man doing bad things because he was wronged by a woman (his mother who abandoned him and ex-girlfriend who sent him to prison) like Kang Ma Roo (Jae Hee, the girl he loved, caused him to spend years in jail), and the muted but vibrant coloring. Maybe I am stretching to compare the two, but that's what I've noticed so far.

Zo In Sung and Song Hye Kyo

In the first 3 episodes that have aired so far Oh Soo was falsely accused of embezzling millions of dollars by a psychotic girlfriend (played by the queen of crazy-eyed girls Seo Hyo Rim), spends a year in prison, is stabbed and beaten over the money, and takes on the identity of his recently-dead friend of the same name. By a twist of fate, his dead friend is Oh Young's long-lost oppa which leaves him an opening to get the money he needs to stay alive. Oh Young is the blind daughter of a dead billionaire. So, from that summary it is easy to see how complicated the relationship between Oh Soo and Oh Young will become.

Song Hye Kyo is so perfect at portraying the beautiful sad girl (see Autumn in My Heart and Full House) that I feel like the role of Oh Young was written for her. Whereas Moon Chae Won as Seo Eun Gi in Nice Guy had a bitchy bite to her that made her soft-hearted love for Ma Roo slightly hard to believe at times, the sadness in Hye Kyo's eyes makes it seem like the lonely Young will be open to trusting her fake oppa.

Zo In Sung, on the other hand, makes up for the bitchy bite that Hye Kyo is lacking. Though I love Song Joong Ki as Ma Roo, his extreme self-sacrificing pissed me off sometimes. The whole reason Ma Roo got himself into the intial mess of being accused of murder was because he took the fall for Jae Hee. I don't see that personality trait in Oh Soo at all. He appears to be much less of a "nice guy" than Ma Roo, and his aim to entangle himself in Oh Young's family problems is not for revenge, but because he needs the money to save himself. It's too early to predict how he will evolve throughout the course of the story, but I hope that he doesn't become unbelievably selfless for Oh Young's sake. Loving her is one thing, but taking it the extreme kills the sincerity.

Jung Eun Ji as Moon Hee Sun

Kim Bum as Park Jin Sung

The lighter side of That Winter is brought to you by Jung Eun Ji (Reply 1997) and Kim Bum (Boys Over Flowers). They act as Oh Soo's side-kicks that are aware of his true identity. Kim Bum is adorable and silly and he looks like a cute little elf when standing next to the over-six-feet-tall Zo In Sung. Eun Ji portrays a spunky florist who has been keeping tabs on Oh Soo ever since he dumped her older sister who subsequently died in a motorcycle accident. At this point in the drama they are helping Oh Soo in pretending to be the deceased Oh Soo. I doubt they will contribute much to the overall plot, but only time will tell.

Watch That Winter, the Wind Blows with English subtitles DramaFever,com