I watched the first 3 episodes of Friend and thought it was really good; the only problem I had was that the site I was viewing it on had poor video quality (coupled with those intentionally blurred-out scenes, it didn't make for very pleasant viewing).
Now that Dramafever has added it to their lineup I'm planning to pick it back up. It's very dark and intense, that's for sure. I'm glad to know they're planning to air it as it was originally intended; I stopped watching Strike Love and now I'm not sure I even want to finish if it ends badly!

Friend, Our Legend is definitely in my list to watch.. for now i have a lot of dramas that i'm watching.. once they are done i'll be watching it..

Strike Love did not attract me from the beginning.. i just feel it's not my type.. same goes for triple.. although it seem you liked them both sara

man, hyunbin hasn't had much of luck with his dramas since samsoon! :(

off the topic but any idea Who is Hyun Bin dating.

This has been on my 'list to watch' for a while but each week I've been losing my enthusiasm to watch it as I the ratings have been consistently low which I find surprising since the film was a huge hit and therefore leads me to think the drama isn't good.
And although there's been some good reviews, its never been about the story or acting, its always about how 'dark and intense' it is, how good the cinematography etc so Im still unsure if I want to commit as I never drop dramas once I start.

@ 4 He's dating Song Hye Kyo apparently

I felt a great sadness when I read this news.
Why?
It's actually easier to invent falsehoods to discredit a work that deserves to be appreciated for its value?
Please, respect.
Please, watch this drama going to be intellectually honest with yourself when you judge.

I hope they won't cut the drama short. Though I am not watching it now, I will one day, if it is good.

I really don't like it that ratings decide everything. Quality doesn't matter anymore?

i can say, Friend is a very good quality drama... quality, cinematography, etc is very2 good..realy2 appreciate drama like this..

i watched the first 6 or 7 episodes. It is definitely an intense drama. I like the part where it portrays the life of a mob boss's son, the friendship. Spoiler alert?: Watching the life of teenage boys in korea around 70s (ie., the way they think a cassette player which rewinds for each track, school life, the boys watching imported porn) is invaluable to me. It is so intense that it does not give me a summer mood that i wanna feel. So, i ended up finishing the guy who cannot get married instead of "friends our legend".

It might have something to do with the quality of video as someone mentioned above. The drama makes u feel like u r watching an old black and white movie yet it fails to have appeal for some online viewer like me.

I am sorry to hear about poor ratings. However, when i started watchin the show,, i could tell why hyun bin chose to be in it and i m glad that he did. He does a pretty good job there. I also like the guy from spring waltz but i hate the female lead. she has no physical appeal and makes u wonder why all guys are going for her... haha.

@ EM:'And although there’s been some good reviews, its never been about the story or acting, its always about how ‘dark and intense’ it is, how good the cinematography etc so Im still unsure if I want to commit as I never drop dramas once I start.'

Actually I've seen plenty of good reviews, IF you are interested you can go onto MBC's official forums and read the audience's feedbacks. You'll be surprised at how little fangirling spazz was going on there.

And my thoughts... a drama can only convey what it intends to , in this case 'dark and intense' when everybody, actors, director, writer, crew.. are all doing their thing, it's the sum of all parts. I don't think it'll be able to accomplish that if the story and acting is not up to par.

Frankly you need to rework the notion where good ratings =good drama. Entertaining, popular... maybe, but I've seldom found it directly correlates with quality.

and @ sue, it can be open to debate whether binnie is being lucky or unlucky after mnikss. Fr his goal of working towards being an actor, I think he did come across many juicy parts, the dramas may not be popular, but he got what he needed out of them. I bet in his head, it'll be nice if the dramas got the popularity, but he did not evaluate himself as such. Actually recently he said he got his more than fair share with popularity and ratings with mnikss and he's honestly contented with that... almost like a relief he got that out of his way and can focus more on roles he really want to pursue, such as DS in this case. Imo I still consider him very lucky.

Yes, the blurring was buggy, but it only happend in the violent scenes in first couple eps, I've forgetten about it already.

I also started watching the drama @ viikkii but they are having trouble finding subbers and the quality of the videos wasn't good. But now that DramaFever has the drama can't hardly wait for the next episode!!!!

The thing is that this drama is VERY intense and complex and it seems that people is used to lighter dramas and maybe that's the reason for the low ratings. The performances of the whole cast is top of the line! very well acted and directed.

I LOVE Hyun Bin caracter, very complex and very well performed at the point that you can't relate it to other caracters he had and there's where you prove your acting skills.

uh I forgot...that poster with the scene where Hyun Bin is dying is MORTAL! that scene was just perfect!

My years of watching kdramas has taught me not to depend too much on the ratings nor on the opinion of other people on what drama to watch or not to watch. There was a time when i followed most of javabeans recommended must-watch dramas only to find myself dropping the drama towards the middle of its run because it just couldn't hold my attention anymore despite the "smexy actors" , the intellectually-stimulating plots, and excellent acting (this happened a lot of times!!!). There were times also when i ended up finishing and thoroughly enjoying dramas that jb tagged as unwatchable. I found it best to watch enough episodes of a drama to form my own opinion, if i don't like it (despite high ratings and good reviews) i just drop it. If, on the other hand, I find I like a drama (despite low ratings and bad reviews) I count myself lucky for finding a gem in the pile of dramas trashed by other people.

About Hyun Bin's luck with dramas: I think although many actors say that rating does not matter but in reality inside their heart I bet they feel really sad with the low rating , especially rating under 10% marks . I think rating 11, 12, 13% although low but very fine with many good actors who just care about acting and not much about the rate.

So I think so far Huyn Bin does not have much luck on dramas since Kim Sam Soon
I love this guy and his personality, but feel sorry for him getting more dramas with very low rating under 10%

I hope he find much better luck in his next drama project , his smiles are always so sweet, and he deserves to have luck with 14, 15% or even more than 20% rating !!!!
Huyn bin fighting !!!

I really can't go on with this drama. It is just too dark and violent. I did not see the original drama but I imagine it was much the same and made a huge impression at that time.
I am not in the mood for such subject matter these days and especially I don't want to see Hyun Bin being carved up by a vicious knife wielding killer.
Sorry but just not for me.