Wow, perfect timing. I'm watching episode three right now!

yea would have liked to see the drama the way it was intended but no biggie i guess.

You know, I wondered if that scene might have been edited! Not that it wasn't good, but it did seem a little tepid compared to the white-hot kiss we saw at the beginning of their romance.

Hmmm...guess I'll have to be trolling around trying to find the uncut version. What a trial and tribulation THAT will be. :-)

@langdon: and you'll tell us all where you found it when you do dig it up, right???

I was actually going to wait until the end of the series because I hate commenting on something half way. However, this is so disappointing, I feel compel to give out my opinion even at this point.

I was hoping IRIS could take the number one spot on my drama list (Time Between Dog & Wolf holds the number one spot) because my favorite actor is Lee Byung-hun, so is only natural that I would want his drama to be my favorite number one drama. Nevertheless, as early as it is on the show, I have to say that if things keep going the way they are it will not make it to be number one… on my list, that is.
I absolutely hate when they try to diverge your mind from what’s really interesting and key factor to the story with sub-plots, making them main-plots when they should always stay as sub-plots, and –to my opinion- be very subtle when there is already so much tension going on with the main-plot (the mystery with his parents)
I mean, the love story between the main characters is soooo dragging… soooo &*%&$ dragging. They fall in love, deeply in love… OK WE GET IT!!!!! No need for so many mushy mushy stuff, I want to be driven in by mystery not love!!! Watching episode 2 and 3 felt like watching a love story with a twist instead of a spy drama with some romance on the way. Which is it??

LEE BYUNG HUN, I SO LOVE YOUR ACTING…. I’m sorry! I'll keep supporting regardless... just for LBH.

@6, deedee

If someone doesn't beat me to it, you bet! I don't think it's airing on OCN for several more hours though, I think it's only about 12:30 p.m. there. But I'll be on the lookout, rest assured! :-D

@8 langdon813 Thank you for searching!

Sadly, when I watched ep 3 I realized once again that I am too young to think the kinds of thoughts I do about BH. That man is...

Right. Anyway, as I get older, the more I realize that I am too young for alot of things and every time I see that man I am reminded that I need to take a Flinstones' vitamin and take a nap!

I mean what was he thinking touching that little girl's face...WTF! I needed to be that little girl...

I have to say I like this drama. I have never really been a fan of LBH but I especially like his character in this drama. The man is really beautiful!!

@Laura

Woah ......I had the same thought. I didn't like scenes set in Japan. My guess is the director is giving us some romantic scenes so that when there's a separation later it's going to be poignant and bittersweet. But the romantic scenes were classic kdrama cliches. It could have been more realistic and natural. I wish they had gone for something different. Not naked LBH much as I love his body. The romance was handled so well in TBDW. But then I do prefer Nam Sangmi to KTH. Iris otherwise is much better than I expected .Those North Koreans are really cool. It's funny how in all the Korean films I have seen about North and South , the north Korean always are so much cooler than the south Koreans. Like the cool north Korean character the great Song Kang Ho played in Joint Security Area.

WAAA. . . .i just finished watching episode 3. . . the scene in japan was soooooo cute. . . I wished I had a bf like that loll anyways. . . .I did find the love scene a little bit too short loll. . .anyways I still liked it hihi

The twittering between the romantic scenes and TOP getting his killer on doesn't really work. (Therefore, This Belleza stayed pregnant free through Episode 3. Phew!!) Having said that . . .

What I love about their scene is that HE has less clothes than she does. And I could be wrong, but I think Kim Tae Hee kissed Lee Byung Heon's BOOBS. Amen sista!! How's that for female empowerment??? :D

I loved how she just sort of dove in and smelled him when she nuzzled under his arm. Now that is sexy. ..cause you just know he smells GREAT. :-D

@ 13 belleza

You just crack me up with those comments, but I have to admit that the same idea crossed my mind as well.

After I saw all those translated interviews with LBH on You Tube, I was wondering- he is not talking about marriage any more, there is no hint that he has a girlfriend, he becomes more and more known not only in Asia etc. Yea ... I know he is very low-key with respect to his private life, but what drives me crazy is WHO ENJOYS THIS BUDDY (or should it be, body :-) ) ??? Sorry for being shallow... it just happens when you realize that you are deprived of a super hot scene with LBH in IRIS :-)

BTW, I really miss JB's insights and comments on Iris. It seems that LBH factor makes my brain inactive.

"cause you just know he smells GREAT. "

Amen. LBH BO is actually written as L=B=H=B=O, which is a chemical formula for Smells Like Love. :D

(But seriously, when she went for his nipple, I was like OMOMOMOMOMOMO) :D

I love how KTH's character is the superior, the drinker, the demander, and well the one who's enjoying her piece of meat.

"It seems that LBH factor makes my brain inactive."

And it makes me pregnant. This is going to be a problem for 2 months. :(

"know he is very low-key with respect to his private life, but what drives me crazy is WHO ENJOYS THIS BUDDY"

He has a playboy reputation (deserved or not), but honestly we won't find out he has a girlfriend until he is marrying his GF.

Just as long as it's not Sienna. OMG This Belleza will give the Mishilbrow of Death if that news came out!

This Belleza will have plenty of accomplices, too. One, for sure.

@Sonam

Thank you. Im so glad someone agrees with me… so many LBH fans (me included) blinded by his nakedness. I was very angry during those scenes because I thought that IRIS would actually be better than that, but… DISAPPOITMENT.

Now the whole spy story and mystery with his parents (what they SHOULD focus on) its right on, super, AWESOME.

Before IRIS came out, there was a lot of fans rooting for TOP and still there are, and I thought to myself “who the hell is this TOP person? What else is there but LBH?” But now, I know what they see. He is so much cooler than LBH’s character…. At this point, is all that love, mushy stuff, between the two lead…by the way, is it me, or what? Actually, I don’t think they have all that chemistry to begin with.

Episode 3: When they go to rescue that guy from NK, and they are at the church; All I was thinking, during the scene with the guy and LBH and God and all that philosophy, was: “ OMG don’t let KTH come in now and spoiled the good mood” lol. Not because of the actress – actually I don’t think she’s half bad- but because LBH’s character is so much better when she is not around, and the whole story turns into this really good mystery spy drama when they are not together. When I see them together is like I’m watching “Dalja Spring”… good, old romance comedy.

Im off to watch episode 4; hopefully things will start turning in the right direction of what a “spy drama” should be all about.

yeah..what do you expect from spy stories........??

Hehe...KTH is now getting more and more attractive!! ^___________^

@ Jenna: What do you expect from a spy drama???? Well… hahaha, very simple: you expect a wicked intense, greatly intricate, seriously executed PLOT.

You expect mystery, suspense, and lots of action. You know, themes like; politics, religion, nuclear weapons (like in this case, partly) and love yeah why not...? but the latter, very little of, or very subtle anyway. You don’t expect a spy drama to be compare to a love drama like “Spring Waltz” as someone has done while translating the subs for this drama.

Aside from that, I have to say, I just finish watching episode 4, and now is when it’s getting good. ON THE 4TH EPISODE????
Yeah, well, the only good thing was that even when they were giving you all those sappy mushy moments – unnecessarily tawdry- between the leads, at the end of each episode they would throw something at you just to hook you in for the next episode. Especially on episode 2, the ending was very interesting but then I felt cheated when I watched the 3rd episode. Lol

Needless to say, but, hehehe... I will still say it: Lee Byung-hun is such a good actor. WOW.

"Now the whole spy story and mystery with his parents (what they SHOULD focus on) its right on, super, AWESOME. "

Yeah, the core problem with Episode 3 is that the romance needs to be driven by the situations coming from the spy story. I thought the kissing scene in Episode 2 worked because it just came after a torture and a fight regarding her deception. However, here, it seemed inappropriate, and the contrast in tone between TOP's killing spree and the Lovers in Japan stuff was distracting.

Of course, we know that their separation is nigh, and so they needed to push the romance early. Haven't seen Episode 4 yet, but I'm hoping the show quickly refocuses.

I should mention that I felt Time of Dog and Wolf's big weakness was the romance. Didn't work for me, and I actually wished the female character was never written into the show. (Of course, what would a K-drama be without a triangle? ;) )

I should say though . . . . TOP's mayhem achieves a viscera that's rarely executed even in American TV thriller shows. (Again, big problem with American TV thrillers -- everything must be "cool" or "smirky".) Here, he's like the Vin Diesel of Death. ;)

"Aside from that, I have to say, I just finish watching episode 4, and now is when it’s getting good. ON THE 4TH EPISODE????"

That's about right though. Most 20-episode K-dramas use the first 4 episodes to set the table.

@ Belleza

Whats up? its been a while... anyway:

"That’s about right though. Most 20-episode K-dramas use the first 4 episodes to set the table."

Which is why it should have been 20 epsiodes. If we cut all those romantic scenes we actually have a new IRIS with only 18 to 20 episodes... thats how heavy (in a bad way) the romance on the third episode is.

The romance in Time Between Dog & Wolf, I thought was very good actually. I liked it, becuase it was the first suspense/action drama (and so far the only... well not really, "The Devil" good one) that didnt focus on romance while giving you a taste for it. But of course, everybody has their own opinions. So...

TOP... OMG I'm so glad there is such an assassin… however, right now all I can think of, after having watched episode 4, is LBH actually kicking some major ass from now on. About time Byunghunny...

"If we cut all those romantic scenes we actually have a new IRIS with only 18 to 20 episodes… thats how heavy (in a bad way) the romance on the third episode is."

I felt Iris had been pretty lucky in the romance department for the first 2 episodes. In the sense that I didn't think the rom-com bits were taking away from the flow of the show. In episode 3, that luck ended. Now, I liked the romantic bits, but it took away from the flow of the show.

"TOP… OMG I’m so glad there is such an assassin…"

TOP's scenes were really well directed. One stylistic choice that Kim Kyu Tae's emphasized is shooting everything very tight. The fights fill out the frame, and there's less emphasis on wide-lens and establishing shots or overtly complex tracking sequences (besides the car chase.) Also, he was more disciplined about the handicam movements.

Back in an East of Eden thread, I mentioned the show actually got better when they switched writers and cut budget. First, there were a lot less daeha-wannabe speechifying. Second, it forced the director to shoot everything tight, since they couldn't waste money on ooh-ahhs master shots and those expensive tracking shots. In other words, director started to focus on the bullets through the windows, people getting shot, and guns pointed up close. Inexpensive stuff. Consequential stuff.

You can kinda see different directors working on Iris, but in the spy scenes, they did a marvelous job keeping the action on point and compact.

Just finished episode 4 .. .like the twist and i could not believe that his friend will turn against him..or will he? i still like the romance bit between LBH and KTH.. wish they would have more scenes like that..