Love Story in Harvard

Country: Korea
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2004
Type: Series

User Reviews
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Average User Review Score
80%

Love Story in Harvard Review
Kim Hyun-woo is a Harvard Law student enrolled under the strict tutelage of Professor Keynes. Although he struggled at the beginning of the school year due to the intense nature of his course and his professor’s dislike towards him, he begins to gain more respect from his teacher and peers as he puts forth the effort to learn all the material thoroughly. In his class is another Korean man named Alex Hong, who happens to be a very diligent worker and the top of the class.

Kim Hyun-woo meets a girl named Lee So In and thought that she was a prostitute due to her irregular activities and frequent motel visits. Later he finds out that she is actually a medical student who was hired to perform checkups on several of the patients at Harvard. As they spend more time together, Kim Hyun-woo falls in love with Lee So In, however, Alex Hong also has his eyes set for Lee So In, and it seems he is better than Kim Hyun-woo in almost every aspect. Who will she end up with?

From the synopsis, you might think this drama is all about a romance triangle between Hyun-woo, Alex Hong, and Lee So In. Although the beginning of the series revolves around this, after the three characters leave Harvard, the storyline shifts dramatically. The relationship between Lee So In and Alex Hong becomes pretty much one-sided after she has decided that she loves Hyun-woo, although Alex Hong still pursues her. The storyline becomes more mature, involving some more serious matters rather than the jealousy between two students and a superficial love triangle.

Love Story in Harvard actually leaves Harvard behind halfway through the film, and once this happens, it seems that the storyline becomes very varied and different from the first half of the series. I didn’t really like this change of pace because it seemed too artificial. Plot twists and irrational behaviors were thrown everywhere, and I was especially annoyed by the ever-so-present clichés of Korean dramas. By clichés I mean the scenes where one character is looking for another character and they narrowly miss each other by a millisecond. Although the series started out pretty nicely, by the middle episodes Love Story in Harvard started getting old.

The characters were all very realistic except for their English-speaking abilities. Alex Hong is a character raised in the US, yet his English is so terrible that I wasn’t even able to understand most of his dialogue without subtitles. The other characters weren’t so bad, especially the female leads. Alex Hong’s character is immediately seen as an antagonist from the way he acts and his arrogance. You can’t help but hate his character thanks to the talented portrayal by the actor. Still, the bigger antagonist in this series is probably fate, as it is fate that separates the two lovers, Hyun-woo and So In.

Hyun-woo and So In are both average characters. They are the typical love-struck college students. At the beginning, Hyun-woo provides a lot of humor, and you can’t help but like his character and personality. Lee So In is also likeable at first, but I began to dislike her character after she made some very illogical decisions. The directors didn’t really write her part well at the end; I didn’t feel some elements of her story were necessary for this series. Still, the fact that the hot Kim Tae Hee played her part is a reason most will probably be drawn to this film.

Love Story in Harvard is average. It’s not terrible, but it’s not that great either. I would recommend this series mostly to fans of Kim Tae Hee, but it is also appropriate for the Korean drama fan in general. This series will probably be mostly criticized because most of the drama is forced into the series and doesn’t seem logical. The director tried too hard to add drama and the end result wasn’t that extraordinary.

Written by Lance