Personal Taste Review

Personal Taste

Alternative Title: Personal Preference

Chinese Title: 個人取向

Year: 2010

Language: Korean

Genre: Romantic-Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 16

Image Credit: Amazon

Synopsis:

Park Gae In (Son Ye Jin) is a furniture designer who lives in a traditional Korean house, Sanggogae. She is kind but clumsy and terribly naive. In a few occasions, she encounters Jeon Jin Ho (Lee Min Ho), an architect whom she presumes later on as gay. Due to some misunderstandings, the two develop some dislike with each other.

After Gae In's boyfriend Han Chang Ryul (Kim Ji Seok) breaks up with her, she attends the wedding of her long-time friend and roommate Kim In Hee (Wang Ji Hye). To her horror, she finds out that the groom is none other than her ex-boyfriend. As if that isn't bad enough, she gets home and learns that her employee Won Ho uses her house as collateral for loan.

On the other hand, Jin Ho is facing some financial problems in his small firm, making him eager to win the contract in building the Dam Art Gallery. He finds out that the head of the museum is in love with the Sanggogae and initially wants its designer, the legendary architect Park Chul Han (Kang Shin Il) and also the father of Gae In, to design the gallery. The latter, however, turns down his request.

Wanting to learn more about the mysterious Sanggogae and after overhearing about Gae In's debts, Jin Ho pretends to be looking for a new place. He convinces Gae In to rent out a room to him. Due to her dire need of money, Gae In agrees.

After they become roommates, their initial dislike for each other slowly turns into budding friendship. Despite the gay presumption, the roomies start to feel something more for each other.

Cheerfulnuts' Review:

After watching City Hunter, I had an extreme City Hunter withdrawal (or rather, Lee Min Ho withdrawal), so I decided to watch another highly-rated drama of Lee Min Ho – Personal Taste.

The female lead is Son Ye Jin. Though I'm not sure about the pairing, I love her in The Classic and Lover's Concerto. As a romantic-comedy drama, I didn't expect a strong plot in Personal Taste. Granted, the two leads are enough to make me want to watch this.

Personal Taste starts strongly. In the first episode, it immediately gives you the gist of the story and its ending leaves quite an impression to me.

The drama is hilarious. The two leads are really cute and adorable. They totally won me over despite their huge age gap. I thought this drama is something my dad (or some men) could tolerate watching. I changed my mind though after the series progresses. The latter part is more sweet than funny, so it is more fitting for females to watch.

I didn't expect that Personal Taste would have such an emotional impact on me. I enjoy watching Gae In and Jin Ho's growing friendship. It has some poignant moments, like when Gae In opens up to Jin Ho and vice versa. I do get teary-eyed in these parts. Jin Ho acts cool, but it's really sweet when he starts to soften up with Gae In. I really love how he looks at her. His gaze is filled with care and love for a friend. And Gae In, she causes troubles sometimes, but her deep love for her friends is very touching. She's definitely a keeper.

Sang Jun's acting as gay is really hilarious! Gae In thinks that Jin Ho has a lot of boyfriends and mistakes Sang Jun and Tae Hoon as his lovers. With so many fake gays in the drama, my jaw dropped when one character emerges as a real gay. When I least expected it, the respected Director Choi Do Bin (Ryoo Seung Ryong) confesses his love for Jin Ho. Some viewers may cringe at his confession, but when Chang Ryul mocks Jin Ho and the latter catches Director Choi looking at him with sad eyes, it tore me apart. This guy took a lot of courage to admit his love, but it would never be reciprocated (because Jin Ho isn’t gay). I felt sorry for Director Choi.*sniff* This scene (with Chang Ryul, Director Choi, and Gae In waiting for Jin Ho's answer) is truly an emotional moment and very memorable. It makes me think about the social stigma that gay people have to face.

Other than Director Choi’s being gay, most events are pretty predictable. The latter part gets a bit dragging. I’ve read that a lot of viewers complain about their disappointment with the last two or three episodes. I agree that they’re not as good as what the drama promises. Jin Ho is so out of character that the story becomes unconvincing. The drama obviously wants to incorporate some angst but it did it in an ungraceful way. I won’t recommend this show to men or to anyone who only wants strong plots. That said, the good and cute parts of this drama does make up for the messy parts. I still like Personal Taste as a whole. I like how it has stirred some emotions in me. A truly heartfelt drama. It’s worth to mention that the acting is really superb here. I won’t mind watching this drama again.:)

Cheerfulnuts’ Verdict:

8 out of 10 stars