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Blindsided

That Winter, the Wind Blows is an interesting k-drama series that pairs a handsome con man (Jo Insung) with a blind, possibly suicidal heiress (Song Hye-kyo) who believes he's her long-lost brother.

Framed by his psychopathic girlfriend for embezzling millions from the wrong people, con man and gambler Oh Soo hatches a plan to get the money from Oh Young, a blind heiress. Once he begins the con, however, Soo discovers Young's dismal situation and how she's been manipulated by the people in her life. He begins to develop romantic feelings for her as well, which of course he can't reveal as her faux brother. Jo Moo-chul, the wrong people's menacing enforcer, also hovers on the fringes of the con, promising to kill Soo if he doesn't come up with the money he owes. The psycopathic girlfriend then returns to throw herself in the mix.

I have to say that con men are my least favorite protagonists. There are also a lot of convenient set-ups in this story, such as the fact that the con man already shares the same name (Oh Soo) as the heiress's brother, and knew him, and (inadvertantly) got him killed. I also found a lot of the excuses used to keep from exposing the con man's ruse rather implausible. Despite this I still liked Soo's character, and I thought Jo Insung did a marvelous job handling this complicated role. Song Hye-kyo was absolutely stellar with her difficult task of portraying a blind woman.

The ending of the series is supposedly open to interpretation, but while it was a bit fuzzy on some of the details it made sense to me. Available on Netflix in the US.

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