[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Legend of the Blue Sea" Episode 5

While "The Legend of the Blue Sea" is very cute, rather on the funny side, and the chemistry between Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho is magical, it has spiraled into a silly drama that resembles romantic fluff. Not that romantic fluff is bad. It's just that I expected more from the writer of "My Love from the Star" and "Producer".

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But for what it was worth, the episode was entertaining. A clever drama analogy ran through the episode that utilized the cliff hanger terminology "until next time". At first it taps into Shim Cheong-i's ignorance of above water entertainment. Then it refers to her mermaid secrets that she refuses to divulge to Joon-jae. Later it refers to them meeting again. Ideas that come full circle like these are often found in the drama, which makes it surprising that it's not more cohesive. Repetition of history concerns Joon-jae's previous incarnation and explains that Sung Dong-il's character is definitely a bad guy. The nasty teeth and even worse behavior is already pretty indicative of his bad character. Rather than telling us that he's bad, show us. He's been lurking and leering and doing not much else. Tap into the monster talent that is Sung Dong-il!

As for the secondary leads, Si-ah is still annoying and very petty. There has yet to be an endearing moment of hers on screen. Ji-hyeon, Joon-jae's half-brother, is turning out to be quite interesting. He seems mild-mannered, but he is keen and has already cottoned onto his mother's devious schemes. His involvement with these schemes will most likely be dangerous because of Sung Dong-il's murderous character, which bodes exciting things for the plot.

Si-ah's mom and Joon-jae's mom have a strange relationship that mimics that of mistress and servant in "The Heirs". The parents' roles are still ambiguous as the children set out to explore their pasts.

As always, Jun Ji-hyun is a delight. I could watch her catch up fish in local tanks any day.

Written by: Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"The Legend of the Blue Sea" is directed by Jin Hyeok, written by Park Ji-eun, and features Lee Min-ho, Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Hee-jun, and Shin Hye-sun.

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