KDrama Review : Liver or Die

Title : Liver or Die,  What’s The Problem, Poong Sang? ,What’s Wrong, Poong Sang

Episodes : 40 ( half an hour each, so 20 in total)

Genre : Family, Drama, Tragedy, Comedy, Romance, Melodrama, Doctors, Gambling

Story : 7 out of 10

Characters : 7 out of 10

Cinematography : 7 out of 10

With an odd title, this drama will test your limits, as the main character goes through hell because of his family.

Story

Poong Sang works as a car mechanic and lives with his wife, daughter and three younger siblings. He was forced to raise them since he was a teenager, as their parents didn’t really care for them, and their mother, especially, was absent, gambling and having affairs with other men. Now, years later, Poong Sang still supports his siblings financially, to his wife’s dismay. Jin Sang, the older of his siblings, is a lazy man who enjoys gambling and dating older, married women. He often causes trouble to Poong Sang, the latter having to pay off his debts. Hwa Sang is one of the twin sisters. She hates her twin, Jung Sang, who is a doctor now and she had left the family, living a better life. Hwa Sang feels inferior to her and she tries to find company in worthless men, forcing Poong Sang to save her from all kinds of trouble. We Sang is the youngest, and he is part of a gang, joining them after his dreams of becoming a baseball player were dashed when he was injured and failed to recover. He falls for a woman whom he saved after she was left on her wedding day. However, his happiness is ruined when a girl he only met once, announces to him that she is pregnant.

Poong Sang’s life is a living hell because of them. But he can’t help but care for them and thus, he often neglects his wife and daughter, while saving his siblings. Things get even worse when his wife leaves him, having had enough of having her husband not being there for them. To top that, Poong Sang is diagnosed with liver cancer and he has to ask one of his family members to donate him their liver in order to live.

Poster of the korean drama liver or die

I can’t say that this drama was a roller coaster of emotions, as only one emotion was dominant throughout the whole length of it: annoyance. Not towards the story, but towards the siblings (and mother, she was the worst!!). They were horrible, caring only for themselves and just taking advantage of Poong Sang. Not that you can easily sympathize with the later, as he was hopelessly naive (?) and he let them exploit his kindness and love for them. I get that he raised them and thus cared for them, but enough is enough. And, really, everything dramatic and bad that you can possibly imagine that can happen to a man, actually happened to him. Some situations were actually ridiculous, because it is difficult to imagine that someone would have been such a fool and let something like that happen to them. Plus, the siblings never changed or tried to, blaming everything on Poong Sang.

On the positive note, there were some nice moments in this drama. The romance was good, especially with We Sang. Some of them were tragic, others cuter, but, overall, they were enjoyable. There were moments, also, where the family dynamics were warm and sweet as well. Those moments allowed the viewer to see why Poong Sang was so attached to his younger siblings. Finally, the story, part of being frustrating, was actually good, especially if you like melodrama where the hero has to overcome horrible situations.

Characters

Poong Sang is a gentleman who loves his family. He has raised his younger sibling since they were young and, thus, he lets them take advantage of his love for them. He is a strong character, even though that isn’t obvious as first, as he had to put up with many unpleasant situations. Yoo Joon Sang did a great job as the tragic figure who stood still while life threw everything bad on him.

Poong Sang from the korean drama liver or die

Boon Shil is the wife of Poong Sang. She is a strong woman who often tries to reason with her husband but fails to do so. She has to put up with the siblings’ mess, and raise her daughter, while dealing with her father, who feels neglected by her and Poong Sang. Shin Dong Mi played probably one of my favorite characters in this drama, as she was the most reasonable one.

Jin Sang is the eldest of the siblings. He is lazy and he always steals money from his best friend and his brother to gamble, believing that one day that will change his life. Oh Ji Ho did his best with Jin Sang, even though the character was really annoying.

Jung Sang is the clever one of the family and Poong Sang’s pride. She is a doctor and she tries to detach herself from the family. She also had an affair with a married doctor, which almost ruined her career, if it wasn’t for Poong Sang. So, even though she is strong and cold, it is obvious that she still depends on her brother. Jeon Hye Bin’s character was favourite character number two.

Hwa Sang is the pretty member of the family. She hates her twin sister and always tries to be the center of attention, leading to poor partner choices. She is especially linked still to her ex-husband, who used to be an alcoholic and he abused her. Lee Shi Young was great as Hwa Sang, an annoying and yet tragic character.

The family of Liver or die

We Sang is the youngest. He was in a gang, but he tries to get back on track. He meets Young Pil, a woman who was left at her own wedding. He falls for her, but fears that he isn’t good enough for her. Things get even more complicated when a girl he only met once and he doesn’t even remember, tells him that he is the father of her child. Lee Chang Yup had my number three fav character, because of the romance with Young Pil.

Cinematography

The whole drama was well managed. However, there were moments were the siblings just had to run out of one situation only to meddle into another in the very next scene.

Overall

My overall rating is 7 out of 10. Even though it was a good drama, it was frustrating to watch.