Although it’s a webdrama, Noble, My Love has more of a full length Kdrama feel to it than other webdramas I’ve seen. Was it because of its 20 episode length? Although each one is only around 15 minutes long it’s still almost double the length of most webdramas. Could it have been because it is a truly decent love story? The characters have more depth to them and watching their relationship grow is enjoyable. Maybe it is due to the respectable acting. Both the male and female lead have been in several other shows before. Well, I don’t really know what it was, maybe a combination of all those things and more, but Noble, My Love is a deserving five hour watch.
The plot is simple – a tremendously wealthy businessman is kidnapped. Thanks to his decent fighting skills he manages to escape but not without injury. He is stabbed in the side and collapses, in the rain, on the side of the street. A kind female veterinarian finds him, takes him back to her hospital, fixes him up, and stays by his side all night. He recovers, thanks to her help, and leaves her animal hospital before she wakes up. When he later comes looking for her, to give her a reward for saving his life, he falls in love and decides to keep her close to him by any means possible.
I saw some similarities between the main characters in Noble, My Love and the sweethearts in the Kdrama Secret Garden. Lee Kang-Hoon and Kim Joo-Won are both so stinkin’ rich they’re able to use their money to manipulate the girl they like. And just like Ra-Im, Cha Yoon-Seo jumps to the tune of the rich guy that likes her, not because she wants to but because she has no other recourse. It’s cute to have the guy be the head-over-heels in love character.
Lee Kang-Hoon is the CEO of a worldwide company. He is so rich he’s able to purchase a whole building at a second’s notice. Fairly young and still single, he isn’t interested in the blind dates his mother wants him to pursue, mainly because he’s busy thinking of Cha Yoon-Seo. His right hand man enjoys watching business-minded Kang-Hoon lighten up as he falls deeper and deeper in love with the sweet vet.
Cha Yoon-Seo is a beautiful, down-to-earth, kind-hearted, 30 year old veterinarian who sacrificed and struggled to open her own animal hospital. She wasn’t able to afford a clinic in a nice area of Seoul so she settled for a not-so-fancy area somewhere else. However, the clinic is all hers (aside from the debt she incurred from opening it) and she’s happy with what she has “earned” from her years of studying and hard work. She has a handsome former boyfriend from her college days who still has a crush on her. Her parents are lower middle-class folks who own an orchard.
Bang Sung-Hoon plays the part of Lee Kang-Hoon. He was on a swim team for 14 years but had to quit because of an injury. He then turned to acting and, bingo!, earned the Best New Actor award in 2011 for the first thing he was in – New Tales of Gisaeng. From there he went on to do several other Kdramas and a Chinese TV series called The Bodyguard. As I watched him in this I kept thinking he reminded me of someone. Then I finally realized it was actually a combination of two men. If you decide to watch this look carefully and see if he doesn’t remind you of a cross between Korean actor Lee Jong-Suk and American actor Brendan Fraser in his younger years.
Kim Jae-Kyung plays veterinarian Cha Yoon-Seo. She went to Dongduk Women’s University and majored in fashion design before making her debut as a member/leader of the girl group Rainbow. She went on to make a handful of cameo appearances, one in a feature length movie and several others in Kdramas, and played leading roles in two dramas.
The love story is cute but the kisses leave a lot to be desired. There’s more than one kiss in this show, that’s a plus, but they’re all just the stiff, touching lips kind. Why, in 2015, are Kdramas still having couples kiss motionless? Are we really supposed to believe a couple in love will stand frozen when they finally get the chance for their lips to make contact? That is not a kiss, as far as I’m concerned. Let’s step it up, Kdrama directors.
One thing that was noticeably amiss was the fact that Kang-Hoon’s surroundings didn’t match his title. I was surprised that with as rich as he was, his home wasn’t any more fancy than a nice middle class house. It was a tiny hut compared to Kim Joo-Won’s house in Secret Garden. And Kang-Hoon’s office at the company was pretty average as well. Was that something intentional in order to make him come across as a humble, rich guy? I’m guessing, no. Maybe setting/scenery is one difference between the budget of a webdrama and that of a full length Kdrama.
Another thing I wasn’t thrilled with was Cha Yoon-Seo’s over acting. Please notice I didn’t say Kim Jae-Kyung. There’s a difference in an actor over acting and a character doing it. It seemed like Jae-Kyung was directed to have her character be the type of person that blows things out of proportion. Have you ever met a person who does that – acts like something is the end of the world when, to you, it’s something that’s just irritating? Well, Yoon-Seo has that type of personality. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, I’m just pointing it out and admitting I find it annoying. But, it didn’t stop me from liking Yoon-Seo, at all.
This show has, what I call, “added hopeful laughs”. You know – thought bubbles over a cat’s head so we can see how the animal is responding to what’s going on. I’m not a fan of those kinds of things. I think the only show I’ve seen that I didn’t mind the “added hopeful laughs” is Fated to Love You. It grew on me in that drama, but in this one… not so much. For me, it’s not cute, it’s just distracting.
The soundtrack is just so-so and the scenery wasn’t anything special, either.
Although I didn’t love this show I did like it, a lot. It’s decently written with an average but enjoyable romance and has a good beginning, middle, and end. The characters are likable and the acting is fine. I suggest you give Noble, My Love a try sometime.
Score: 5
The Good:
Decent love story
Likable characters
Fine acting
Good ending
Handsome Bang Sung-Hoon
Pretty Kim Jae-Kyung
Nice length
The Bad:
The character Cha Yoon-Seo’s over acting
Some missed editing
“Added hopeful laughs”
Kang-Hoon’s surroundings do not match his status
Stiff kisses
Heart and Seoul 