BIG waste of time

So BIG wasn't all that Big.  This is probably the biggest disappointment K-drama wise for the year.  I had great expectations of BIG, not only did it have a great cast with Lee Min Jung (Boys Over Flowers and Smile, You) and Gong Yoo (Coffee Prince), but it was written by the dynamic Hong Sisters duo.  I have watched all of their previous dramas, save one, and have not been disappointed with any of them, although Delightful Girl Choong Huang wasn't one of my favorites, but I chalked that up to it being the Hongs' debut drama.  Big did nothing for me.

Big has some of that Secret Garden fantasy element in that it is based on a body swapping event, but that is as far as those similarities go.  We are introduced to the main characters Gil Da Ran (Lee Min Jung) who is aspiring to become a teacher, but hasn't yet passed the exam.  Her part time job is delivering flowers and she just happens to be delivering flowers to a friend's wedding.  She ends up staying and due to some confusion with the wedding bouquet she trips and starts tumbling down the stairs but is almost rescued by Seo Yoon Jae (Gong Yoo), alas, she literally slips through his fingers.  Yoon Jae turns out to be a doctor and while Da Ran recovers in hospital they become close and become engaged.  

The hijinks come a few months later when Da Ran is a finally a trainee teacher and a new student Kang Kyung Joon (Shin Won Ho) enters her class.  Yoon Jae and Kyung Joon are in a car accident with each other and some how end up switching bodies, thus Yoon Jae is in the body of an 18 year old and Kyung Joon the body of a 30 year old.  This particular body switch takes a different trend when Kyung Joon's body with Yoon Jae's mind is trapped in a coma.  So we really only have one of the switched bodies participating in the drama. Big Kyung Joon can only depend on his teacher Da Ran to help him through this unfathomable situation.

My trouble with BIG begins here.  We learn that Da Ran and Yoon Jae's relationship is not as well-rounded as it should be between two people engaged to marry, and hints to Yoon Jae fidelity and character begin to emerge.  I don't even take issue with the way that was done.  My problems arise when Da Ran starts to like Kyung Joon in Yoon Jae's body.  It is a weird dynamic that I could never get comfortable with and just confused me over and over.  I know its a really popular trend to do the Noona- donsaeng romances in K-Dramas but the older woman liking a younger man drama has its limits for me.  In the case of BIG, it just felt wrong because of the body he was in, and just how plain childish the real body looked.  Furthermore, the more that Da Ran fell for Big Kyung Joon, I kept thinking she likes him in his current package, which include Yoon Jae's body and not his own.  I think the real Yoon Jae being in a coma throughout the drama was to its detriment.  When there were occasional returns to see how his comatose body was doing, I kept thinking that is what he really looks like, and how will a relationship between that child and that woman work out, because at the end of the day they have to switch back, right?

That is not to say that BIG did not make me laugh. I mean it is the Hong Sisters after all and they write comedic lines like no body's business.  The cornier the better from them I say.  Plus, the actors Lee Min Jung and Gong Yoo are just plain funny when they want to be.  It was just the story itself never hit the right note for me. BIG never had that extra something to pull me in.  I started off bored and continued to be bored.  I didn't feel invested in the romance, and didn't care about the issues and problems they faced.  In fact, I had some difficulty finishing the drama.  So I give BIG two stars, which I think is quite generous of me.  

According to Bel: BIG disappointment.