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This is not a romance. This is a missed opportunity of romance.
This drama is not the love story of people who have feelings for each other, love each other and end up living happily ever after. This is a drama about what people can do to people who love them when they do not return their love feelings. So, the characters are most of the time cowardly, manipulative, pathetic, annoying and gesticulating in wrong situations. This happens in real life too as not all relationships are based on true and sincere love. This is what this drama is about. It has a realistic take on adults’ relationships. Adults who do not know their own feelings, ignore them, tone them down or pretend to have feelings… and make choices with their reason that their heart does not agree with.1/ WHAT I LIKED:
- The story and the trajectory of the 5 main characters. None of them is perfect. They all have qualities and flaws that determine their choices. They are all relatable because they all look like human beings led into wrong choices by their human condition and trying to deal with their wrong choices and not the best way.
- The mature take on sex and love. It is not so common in romance kdramas. This drama is not shy about sex, and it tells that there is a difference between love and sex. Just like in real life.
- The cheating: 30% of women and 40% of men have cheated once in their life. No need to throw an anathema to them and pretend to be so much better. People have their own reasons for doing what they do. I did not want to judge them. I just agreed that in their situation, the cheating would happen, and it did happen like in real life. It was steamy and intense. People who can’t stomach cheating as a human emotional state and possible behavior should stay away from this drama.
- The rather realistic depiction of the workplace and colleagues. The friendly ones and the annoying ones who are always gossiping.
- The ending. There are two endings. One with ep15 with a sad unhappy ending but more consistent and logical with what happened during the whole drama. I have not read the novel but I felt like the ending with ep16 was especially cooked to give everyone a great situation like everything was bad that ends well. The two leads have an open ending with this ep but personally, I prefer the ending with ep15.
2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- The early episodes were confusing and exhausting with the ML and FL acting unclear towards each other.
- Some draggy parts with too much gloomy faces and long contemplating moments
- The story between the ML and his mom could have been better. The mom looked a strong character, but she was quite underused for me.
3/ CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- ML: The only one with real unconditional Love feelings. But he lacked courage and that drowned his chance. He grew into a more assured person and took responsibility of his feelings and his no-feelings in the end. Not very fond of the actor but he did a decent job looking gloomy and contrite and unable to bury his one-sided Love.
- FL: Self centered complicated person with sad circumstances and low self-esteem but she used them as an excuse to not face her own feelings and act upon them. This led her to make a wrong choice that she will try to assume despite obvious signs it is wrong. I liked Moon Ga young in this role. Different from what I used to see from her.
- SML: Student from a poor family who wanted to woo noona but when she chose him out of frustration for his kindness and for comfort, he suddenly had nothing more to offer her and became lousy and bland.
- SFL : Manipulative, possessive, scheming to always have gains from others. But I liked her bright, smart, and outgoing character. She was immature regarding Love and failed to be lovable and to love her partner. But she did not take it too badly. Of course, the ML was just a challenge and a trophy partner for her. Loved the actress who displayed lots of emotions.
- TML: Kyung Pil. This snake was a bad boyfriend, a bad friend and a bad person whispering bad ideas into the ears of the ML, SFL and FL based on his own sorry past that he chose himself. A dislikeable and pitiful person who slightly improved. The actor was great looking cunning, bitter, disillusioned and not proud of himself.
3/ OST:
Very good. I liked most of the songs and listened to them apart from the drama.
4/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
It is slow paced and the story is realistic but sad, so I won’t rewatch it.
5/ OVERALL:
It’s a good drama if you can accept that humans are weak and make wrong choices and do wrong things that do not improve their situation on the contrary. Because they lack courage and confidence in themselves, their choice of reason is undermined by their heart’s choice, and it leads to messy situations. In the end, they still manage to put things in the right order and move on to a happier life after a time jump. Despite the contemplative and slow parts, I enjoyed watching these people I had pity and hopes for. Not so entertaining but a slice of life drama I enjoyed. 8/10.
Lesson of the drama: "If you have feelings for someone, take the courage to face your feelings honestly and act upon them. "
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if you want to watch a female toxic character draging everyone down in slow motion...
this one started of so promising actually. I could relate to pretty much every character up to episode 9 or 10.Yes, the class system in Korea is harsh, very rich can't marry very poor people, true mostly.
Yes, a kind of traumatic childhood can give you trouble in your relationships as an adult, I can relate to that too.
And the writers played it out nicely for a while, with the fl and ml doing that 'wanting but can't dance' - although the 'wanting' side was 95% the ml, and the 'can't' side 99% the fl.
I did wonder a little why the fl was quite overreacting for the ml to shortly hesitate when he was late for their first restaurant date. I understood her first angry reaction. But given that she liked him too at that point I did not understand why she would not, at least some days later, and when he apologised for about a thousand times, - why she then would not even consider it could have had many different reasons why he shortly hesitated. Did he forget to lock something important in the office maybe? Did he feel really unwell or hey, was he maybe scared too? She gives him no credit, won't let him explain and drags this offended diva behaviour to the max. I found her character difficult at that point and my understanding her slowly vanished from that point.
But it gets worse. Every single time the ml has enough of her escapades - which are fueled with her steady looking angry blankly and simply not answering any understandable questions, just leaving people standing there like idiots - it's her luring him in again, giving him some spark of hope with her controversial behaviour. And every single time he bites the bait like a fish, she - vanishes again, or suddenly doesn't talk to him without any explanation.
She meanwhile starts some kind of alibi realtionship with the young guardsman who obviously likes her, while she, doesn't really like him but feels reminded of her dead young brother and lives out some trauma coping - I'll give her she might not actively realise it, but it's what she does.
This misery gets even topped when the fl stunts a fake fling with another co-worker, to put everyone off of her. Well, that is rather short sighted as she could instead just have had the courage to break up with the guardsman (who has his own palette of troubles by the way), instead of so deeply hurting and humiliating him with this strange plan. Also to blame is the co-worker of course, a friend of the ml, who easily destroys his friendship with this stupid stunt.
And after that stunt where most of the bank's employees and employers do believe it took place, it gets toxic to the max. So our fl does this stunt to also put off our ml from her - fine. But the next thing she does when he is hurt, and angry, and doesn't want anything to do with her -she leads him on again, making a scene, with tears and telling him'everybody is badmouthing and hating me and asking me questions and YOU don't even care and don't ask me about it?' Excuse me, WHAT?
This is borderline narcissistic behaviour par excellence from her, she wants him away, even pulls this destructive stunt and when he stars hating her - understandably, she blames him for not caring to know why she did all that shit?
He falls for it again, follows her home (pretty much every night by the way, which, once again, has this creepy stalking vibe I disliked and criticised in other dramas before), we get an ultracheesy, her sitting in the rain crying, and him bringing the umbrella, both staring at each other quite silly in the pouring rain for an hour. Of course she doesn't only get a sniffle for being in the rain, she gets ill being on the brink of death (or so it seems) with a fever the very next day. Our ml drives to her house again, finds her ill, and totally overdoes it. So he is in Seoul, with a car in front of her house. She of course has no cold meds at home (why ever that is), and he runs like a madman through the city at night to find all pharmacies closed (surprise) until he finds one that is open. Sorry, but why didn't he go by car? And why did he not take ten seconds to use his phone and simply look up which pharmacy near that place has emergency opening that night? This is all pretty nonsensical. So well, he gets about 50 different meds for a sniffle and a little fever, cooks her the expected sick porridge and leaves. She is funnily enough, completely well the nex day and at work and doesn't even care to believably thank him for his caretaking. But, all of a sudden, she gives him high hopes again, asking him out for dinner at the weekend. He bites the bait - once again, already knowing she will leave the company for another branch soon.
So, it really happens, they meet for that weekend dinner, he is carefully happy, longingly staring at her, trying to say only the right things, ( he is never really angry even at that point which is very unbelievable) and she is still rather friendly cold towards him, leaving him in his car saying goodbye from outside.
And then, it's not even surprising, after all this verbally giving him new hope by saying from now on she will prioritise her luck and her feelings, she - completely vanishes the very next day, her place is empty (however she managed that over night so shortly) she changed her phone number, has resigned from the company and is gone without a trace.
So, wow, she is so very toxic, it's almost unbelievable. And I can't excuse all of this because she has some childhood trauma, as many people have and don't act out like that steadily.
I wouldn't even mind that much if she would just be cold towards everyone including our ml, because she is just not able to have any relationship. But she plays it out once and again, everytime he starts getting away from her for being hurt yet another time, she drags him in again, and even asking him to give her compliments, to tell her once again how much he likes her etc. it's quite unbearable to watch it.
But don't get me wrong, the ml is not any better. Although being at least 40 or older, he is using another woman too who really likes him, almost marrying her although he knows he simply has no feelings for her. I also understood that to some point but shortly after he was just a coward not breaking up with her completely as he obviously knows how painful it is for her that she can't do anything for him to like her.
As mentioned before I do ask myself with some male drama characters why they always have to have these stalking tendencies. It is not normal to follow a woman home pretty much every night, standing in front of her house, spying from corners on what she is doing and whom she is talking to. I also aks myself does he not have any other things in life? Does he not have friends, family meetings, hobbies? All we see is him at work drooling after the FL and watching her every step, and after work following her home like a stalker. Also thinking about his age, experience in life, and looks, I simply don't believe he would be lead on like a 15 year old hormone-ridden school boy after all the things the fl does through the episodes. I just don't believe it.
And on top of that, since episode 10, everything is dragging in total slow motion. I don't know why, but it seems like the writers simply couldn't find a way to sensibly fill 16 episodes, so especially ep 13 and 14 are a total drag, with scenes drawn to the max and nothing happening, flashbacks we've seen 5 times before or even scenes that kind of took place before (our ml and the other woman breaking up with her crying for what feels like the 10th time).
Altogether I have the problem I had several times with other dramas which started promising: I don't like any of the characters.
So, as I have watched 14 episodes already, I will watch the last two episodes too, maybe fast forwarding, just to see what kind of unbelievable end the writers have thought about.
Result: good idea, good start and development and then it goes down the drain.
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Everyone Hates the Ending But I Don't
SPOILER ALERT: The K-Drama has an "open" ending to a sad, though intensely moving and involving, story. The main characters may or may not get together after the story ends--one isn't sure. I too would like to see a translation of the book to read its ending but, according to ChatGPT, "Understanding Love" has not been translated into English. We are told that the book indicates they do not reunite, but I think the writers of the K-drama intended a more uncertain ending.I find the English title of the K-drama, "The Interest of Love," to be odd. It's not a good translation of the book title, "Understanding Love." I'm not sure what it means. At first I thought it was a playful reference to the bank workplace setting of the series, because banks pay interest on deposits, although in that case it should be "The Interest on Love." Perhaps it refers to our fascination with love, and should be "The Interest in Love." The question is not an idle one, because at a crucial point in the series the leading characters, looking back, ask themselves if they were once in love, or merely overcome by the "interest of love".
As for the ambiguous ending, I agree with those who find strong hints in the finale that Su-Yeong (the woman) and Sang-Su (the man) will finally get together, or at least give their relationship one more try. (After all, they have never even properly "dated".)
I was touched by Su-Yeong's remark during the walk which ends the story that she had ghosted Ha Sang-Su because their relationship left "nothing more to give or receive." By this I take her to mean that their love had reached perfection, however briefly, in the Tongyeong "Guest House". The question is whether Ha Sang-Su can convince Su-Yeong that love is not continuous perfection, but rather "two people living day to day life together". One hopes he will. Otherwise she faces years of loneliness.
Sang-Su and Su-Yeong end the story as they silently approach the end of their walk up the collegiate "hill of oblivion," with their backs to us. They are not (alas) arm in arm, or even hand in hand. One of the series' haunting soundtrack songs ("Wonder Why") is reprised. In it the singer asks why his departed lover persists indelibly in his memory, why the dream of her cannot be erased (just as Sang-Su tells Su-Yeong he has forgotten nothing). In context the song is an ambiguous close to the series. The film ends before the song reaches a line from in its earlier appearances: "I don't want to love you like I used to." Is the omission a deliberate hint, or just the result of how long the credits ran? It's ambiguous, like this whole series and the relationship it depicts.
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Understanding Love
'The Interest of Love' is a well paced, well written drama and the plot is easy to follow. The characters feel real, so maybe that's why some viewers have a problem with watching this drama. Like none of them are unrealistic, and not the candy typical far from reality that Kdramas like. Everyone in the cast is doing a fabulous job portraying their roles. All the emotions, confusion and acceptance in each episode, I love it. This will definitely make your blood boil, as well as make you frustrated. Like all of this workplace bullying, overt sexual harassment, and gossiping coworkers just screams toxic environment. Moon Ga-young, Yoo Yeon-seok, Keum Sae-rok, and Jung Ga-ram are all doing amazing. Fingers are crossed that this ends happily and we don't get yet another sad ending that screenwriters like to do nowadays. For now though everything is going smoothly and I'm genuinely enjoying the drama.(EDITED)
So I finished the drama, and all I have to say is that give it some time before you decided to drop it or give it a bad rating. The ending wrapped up nicely for me and made sense.
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You are the sum of all your experiences, learn from it and be a better person.
The ultimate question: Did they live happily ever after, as a couple? Or, did they live happily ever after, as friends?Answer: it can go either way, 50-50.
Here's why.
As I mentioned in the previous weeks, this show is a story about love, relationships, break-ups, forgiveness, and moving on. This is not a fantasy romance where we would feel we are in heaven, and dream of Mr. Right and Ms. Perfect. No, none of that.
My first romantic relationship lasted for three (3) years. She was my first, and I was her first. We broke up, we talked, we closed things properly. But, guess what? We both failed to moved on.
In our case, she got married a few years later. It took us 11 more years to have a real closure. We failed to move on because we were not honest with ourselves, and we did not learn to forgive ourselves.
Before we can truly move on, we need to forgive the other party. But, we can not forgive other people if we do not forgive our own self first. To be able to forgive our own self, we need to face the reality and embrace it.
Yes, it is a process. It can take years, or it can take as short as a minute. It does not matter if you understand the process, there are people who can truly move on fast without being aware of the process.
Personally, I have proven that process to myself, when in late 2020, my 15-year relationship ended. When I learned to face reality, when I learned to embrace it. It was only then I was able to forgive myself.
It felt good. The heavy burden in my mind, and on my shoulders, were lifted. I was able to finally breathe. Then, I was able to forgive and thank her, even though I was only talking to the air.
It took me three (3) months, and I also had to put a deadline for myself. What do I mean? I told myself, “after this date, all is over, period”. After that date passed, I moved on. I started to smile.
Once we have truly moved on, that is only the time that healing begins. There is no healing if you can not smile. There is no healing if you can stomach hearing your ex's (or enemy's) name. You are not healing at all if you are still reacting emotionally when you see that other person's shadows, or hear them breath.
All these things are what “The Interest of Love” was telling us.
We all know that love and relationships are complicated, but do we truly understand it?
The 1FL was mostly pessimistic in the entire show. Rightly so, because there are people who are pessimistic. They do exist, and if you have not met at least one pessimistic person, you have not truly lived. The 1FL represents people who are pessimistic.
While the 1ML is a type of person who have a positive outlook in life, who was later crashed because of love. He was that type of person you have probably met once who never had time about love and relationships. But, when their heart was stolen by someone, they had no idea how to act and handle things.
Our pessimist 1FL eventually grew and started to have a positive outlook in life. All because of the 1ML.
At the same time, our 1ML, who had no idea about love and relationships, learned to listen and understand other people. All because of the 1FL.
Are you seeing how these two characters are helping each other grow? That is love and relationship. In episode 16, they even asked, “Were we really in love?” Because their relationship as two individuals was closer than they care to admit.
Let's take a detour.
There is also an important contrast between the 1ML and the 2ML. The 2ML acted badly when he heard the news that the 1FL slept with another man (note: there was no concrete proof if she did or not). The last word he told the 1FL was, “b**ch”.
However, what struck me was the 2ML also grew. Instead of sulking, or trying to find the 1FL and, maybe, force her back into a relationship after apologising, he decided to just call it.
Like what I mentioned earlier, the 2ML faced his reality and embraced it. He was not able to ask for forgiveness in person, but he knew he was forgiven because he learned to forgive himself.
He turned his bad experiences as a source of strength. He focused on his studies, and eventually achieved his dream to become a police officer.
Meanwhile, the 1ML was not giving up. He tried to find the 1FL, and he did, only to lose her again. And for the next four years, he tried to survive, hoping to see her one more time. (We are assuming he chose the branch himself.)
Another detour. The 2FL! Let's not forget her.
What type of character was she? She is that person who will do anything to get what they want. Not necessarily rich and wealthy people, mind you, there are ordinary people who get what they want just because. The 2FL represents those type of persons.
However, when it comes to love and relationships, it's either shallow or one-sided. First, she accepted the fact that the 1ML has eyes for the 1FL, but when he needed a shoulder to cry on, she freely offered herself. This is what we call “rebound relationship”.
For the 2FL, as long as she gets what she wanted, it is fine for her to be the rebound. The bad effect of this is that, the other person (the 1ML in this case) will never be fully into that relationship. They are either still thinking of the other person (the 1FL in this case), or they are only using the rebound relationship to heal (and once they healed, they will more likely leave).
The 1ML, who was growing because of the 1FL, realised this and broke up with her. Three years later, the 2FL returned to Korea, healed. In episode 16, she mentioned that she is fine talking about the 1ML because she (truly) moved on.
They even showed a scene how the 2FL saw the 1ML during the wedding, and it did not bother her. Was it because she found a new boyfriend? No, it wasn't about faithfulness and loyalty to her new boyfriend. In the first place, if she has not truly moved on, she would not be able to have a new boyfriend, that is not her character. Not to mention, she would not show up in the wedding knowing that they may cross paths.
The 2FL grew and learned what it means to love and have a relationship. Not just a romantic relationship, but also a relationship with her father.
Which brings us back to the 1FL and her relationship with her father. Like the 2FL, the 1FL also have a strained relationship with her father, although different, they are both not close to them.
See the contrast and 'relationships'?
And now, we are in episode 16. We have gone full circle when the 1ML and the 1FL started to talk about their “what-ifs”. This is a different kind of “what-ifs”.
Usually, “what-ifs” are regrets. However, in the case of the 1ML and 1FL, it was an intellectual discourse. Would things between them have ended up differently… if…?
There were no regrets when they looked back at their memories. Why? How? Simple. They learned to face and embrace their reality, and have forgiven themselves, and each other.
They moved on from the pain they caused each other. And they used those experiences to grow for the next four years of their lives.
Thus, when they met again, they were simply two ___healed___ individuals reminiscing their time together.
Think of it this way, tabula rasa. Clean slate.
They can choose to become a couple. Or, they can decide to remain as “special” friends.
I personally know married couples who broke up and later met again 4+ years later. They rekindled their love and relationship.
I, myself, went through the latter. Remember the first relationship I shared earlier, which took 11 years before we finally were able to moved on? Whenever our paths cross, after the true closure, there are no more lingering emotions and feelings between us. We can talk about the past normally, as in, just the past.
Some would probably say, “well, she's married and have children”. Sure, that's valid. However, even if she is still single, that part of our lives is long gone. We have reached the point wherein we will never cross our unwritten and undiscussed boundaries. We are just nothing but “special” friends.
I can see it in her eyes, and I am sure she can see it in my eyes, too. The past is the past. It's over between us, permanently. There is nothing to rekindle. We can reminisce, but that's it, nothing to rekindle. Our love for each other changed to something akin to brother and sister.
This is why the ending of “The Interest of Love” was like that.
Here are two individuals, whose lives were entwined when they were younger and innocent. Four years later, having learned from their experiences, and have forgiven themselves in the process, their paths crossed again.
They are representing two types of “couples”.
The first is: those couples who rekindled their love and gotten married later.
The second is: those couples, like me and my first, who will never have a romantic relationship ever again, but remain good friends.
It is up to the audience to decide which path the 1ML and the 2FL will choose. They can remain as friends, having grown and learned from each other. Or, they can rekindle their love and see where it goes this time around.
After all, they did ask and realised, “were we in love then?”
These are what the 1ML, 1FL, 2FL, and the 2ML, all learned in their lives:
You are the sum of your experiences. Learn from it and become a better person. Never harbour hatred and bitterness, rather, listen and understand each other.
All of our relationships are important. Be it romantic, as friends, or with our families. In these personal relationships, let love encompassed it all.
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"Emotional Damage!"
This drama is intriguing if you know what you're in for, and extremely frustrating if you don't. This isn't a true romance drama, at least not in the traditional sense. It's not exactly a love story either, but more a story about pursuing love... or running away from it. Many people watch romantic KDramas for the escapism of a 'soul mates who are meant' to be story or a 'love against all odds' story. Instead, we have a slow-paced drama about longing, obsession, denial, misunderstandings, toxic behavior, and emotional damage told in a more realistic way. The opposite of the escapism most people crave. I found the female lead enraging at times and the male lead frustrating, but I also couldn't look away. Yes, the leads have chemistry, but it's the kind of palpable chemistry that makes you torn between rooting for them and raging against them. This drama makes you seriously question what makes a relationship worth fighting for, or can it only be considered a love story if the love works out?It stars Yoo Yeon Seok as the stoic and dependable Ha Sang Soo, and Moon Ga Young as the stubborn and guarded An Soo Young. What I liked is that both characters felt non-cliché. Sang Soo,'s puppy dog eyes often made me feel bad for him while Soo Young.'s deceptive but pained smile made me both furious and sad. They are both messy, although it's clear that the female lead is much messier, and sometimes just the way they looked at each other could fuel the emotion of a scene. Then we have Geum Sae Rok as the spoiled romantic Park Mi Kyung, and the equally romantic Jung Ga Ram as small-town boy Jung Jong Hyun. If you hate love triangles be warned that this one is a love square most of the time and even ventures into love pentagon territory. Connections between the leads often get intense, depressing, and cringy... but never boring (although repetitive).
Would I watch this again? Not likely. I think the performances are great but what was exciting to watch the first time would probably just be upsetting if I watched again knowing the ending. Also, the story, although it follows a clear timeline, felt pretty one note at times. Boy pursues girl. Girl runs away. Repeat. Sure, it's not always as simplistic as that but that's still the main formula. The theme can be a downer as well since not one couple in this drama is drama & dysfunction free... well maybe one, but that's because they don't include them much in the story.
Overall, this drama is an acquired taste. We love to see stories of people who find the perfect match and live happily ever after, but what happens if you meet someone who sparks interest and desire but fear, misunderstandings, society, and past hurt get in the way? What if you love someone much more than they love you? What if you don't trust love at all? I understand why some viewers would not be interested in a drama like this, but I think I appreciate the imperfect love story it aimed to tell. I can even appreciate the reflective and bittersweet ending. This is one of the rare KDrama moments where the title is actually perfect. Whether it's about getting in the way of your own happiness, or regret, or accepting that every relationship isn't meant to be just because there's interest, it is definitely the kind of story that could have you reminiscing about any love unrealized. Still, This cast and this drama definitely held my interest, so if you're up for it, it may hold yours too.
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Sincere, relevant, unforgettable and ahead of its time.
This is more gonna be a warning rather than a review.The Interest of Love is for people who are into psychology and sociology, melos and slow burns. This is not a conventional romance but a romance depicting modern korean society. This is the opposite of what you could call "dreamy escape" from the K-Dramas people love and are accustomed to. If you want to learn about the society and adult relationships in Korea, look no further. Although the setting is Korean, many adults around the world could relate to this story, at least to some extent. In fact, The Interest of Love is the adaptation of a critically-acclaimed novel in Korea, named "Understanding Love" which is the drama's korean title. The adaptation was also acclaimed by the critics and recognized as one of the best K-Dramas of 2022 by the industry experts. Of course, if you think that you know better than them, that's up to you. The novel ends at episode 12 (which wouldn't have been adapted to the TV series... you'll know why when you'll see how the episode ends), and the rest was penned by the screenwriter. As for the ending, it was appropriate.
Mantra by everyone who signed up for The Interest of Love’s chaos: “Everyone is flawed. I'm gonna sit and watch.”
Like it or not, get it or not, The Interest of Love is a masterclass in directing, acting and writing. The storytelling and attention to detail are really clever, and the mundane beauty of this drama is something that no other can match.
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And by the way, I learned a lot from this series
And by the way, I learned a lot from this series, the most important thing for me was to be honest with my feelings and not do anything that I will regret at the end, this genre should not be seen for the the main characters that getting together at the end (which in my opinion is almost reaching each other ?), this genre is for understanding the facts, if one looks deeper, it happens to be full of lessons?Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Mature and emotional drama: More of a character study rather than romance
My rating of a drama really depends on how engaged it kept me, if the characters were compelling, and the story is unconventional. I kept coming back to The Interest of Love every single week. It’s a well-written show with great direction and well-developed characters. The last few four episodes especially the finale dragged out, but still not so much that I couldn’t watch it anymore. Although I admit that I came to the ending after a gap and that ways I was able to look at it from a fresh perspective. I wanted my rating to reflect my overall experience with the drama and not just the ending. I’ve watched so many k-dramas, where I’ve been really excited in the beginning but watch it fizzle out toward the end. I wanted to follow the story of IOL till its end and rate my experience throughout. It is a complex and mature love story, and unlike anything I’ve ever watched in the romance world of K-dramas. I feel that the drama is underrated on MDL, but that’s my opinion since I was completely hooked on to the show. The interesting part about this show is that it’s essentially a love story, but it also considers social class and hierarchy, and how that can affect personal and professional relationships. It also portrays the leads in a refreshing and nuanced manner. I’d a good time watching this show and if you’re in the mood for watching a serious romantic drama, give this one a shot! One drawback may be that there’s not much levity or comic relief, so at times the show can feel intense or emotionally heavy and draggy, but if you enjoy the angst and longing, you will probably like the show.Comments on MDL have been hugely divisive around the lead characters, particularly the FL. Although, the characters were sometimes frustrating, I still found them mostly relatable and realistic…their emotions raw and messy making them very human. What I appreciated about the show is that none of the characters are good or bad, they are all flawed and vulnerable, who sometimes make terrible decisions. So, the FL is a diligent worker who’s really good at her work but has been overlooked for promotions due to her educational background. She’s kindhearted, loyal, and compassionate, yet she can also be stubborn and not communicate her feelings well, to the extent of being self-destructive. Then, there’s the SFL, who’s wealthy, manipulative, and slightly obsessive. Yet, she also takes pride in her work and wants to make it on her own professionally without her father’s support. So, these characters are very nuanced, and that’s what I loved and appreciated about the show. Just like in the director’s other show (Do you like Brahms?) the FL is complex, she’s quiet, fiercely independent and strong. I loved Ahn Soo Young, and Moon Ga Young plays the role like a queen. A quieter and more serious turn for her after her role in True Beauty. I admit that at times, I questioned Soo Young’s motivations and decisions, but the more I thought about it, the more I could see how her past influenced her romantic decisions. I think her fiercely independent and serious character didn’t go well with some audiences because the writers don’t justify who she is by using a mental health issue or a really traumatic history. Even though she’s had some trauma, I think the reasoning behind her actions is perhaps too simple and too real for audiences to grasp why a FL should be so unpredictable. Even if, not all of her decisions made sense to me, I still found her relatable in many ways. The relatability was in small things, such as her taking time off whenever she was struggling, or her looking for more space in her relationship when she was feeling low, to me these characteristics were very comforting. But again, that’s why I love about K-Dramas, good writers put a lot of thought into the characters. Ultimately, the show is about Soo Young’s growth and her finding what she truly loves to do ~ a path that is true to who is. More power to Ga Young and the writers of this show, I hope they continue to bring such female leads to life on the screen. The ML is also unconventional, in the sense that he’s cautious and not aggressive. This is different from other dramas, where the ML almost always takes charge and beats the SML and takes every chance to get close to the FL. The ML here is relatively quieter and lets go of the FL, and respects her decisions for the most part.
The complexity of the characters in the show also extends to their relationships. Unlike most dramas, the second leads are just not there waiting for their chance, but they actually get a chance and then things happen…as it would in real life. All four characters’ situations are truly entangled, and they feel real and complex emotions. I think this drama is out of the norm in the way that the FL is truly conflicted in her feelings towards the male leads, which is refreshing. Most dramas I’ve watched are too scared to explore this, and the leads are typically oblivious to what the second leads feel for them. In that sense, this drama is mature and realistic. Although, the drama still plays it relatively safe and is not as bold as it may appear at first. I felt the makers couldn’t commit to what they were going for at first and spent a lot of time in the last few episodes trying to clean up the leads’ acts. As realistic as the show is, I felt that some characters were holding on to their relationships as if they were in a marriage, so that part to me was unconvincing. In real life, break-ups can be more brutal than how it was conveyed.
Of course, Moon Ga-Young and Yoo Yeon-seok sparkle in this show, but I also enjoyed Moon Tae Yoo as Kyung Pil and Seo Jung Yeon as Sang Soo’s mother. I also really liked the OST and just the overall vibe of the show. I would recommend this show if you’ve liked Something in the Rain or some other quieter shows. I personally, didn’t find the show to be as slow as some other shows like One Spring Night and My Liberation Notes, and to me those shows were really slow. The Interest of Love has decent pacing, except in the end, which for some reason happens to almost every other K-Drama, which is pretty annoying and disappointing. If you haven’t watched this drama, this is a great time to binge watch the show. The director does rely on cliff hangers to keep the audience hooked, so at least now you won’t have to wait for a week racking your brain as to wtf is going to happen next!! Also, I wish the makers would have promoted the show as slice of life drama or character sketch rather than romance, as I feel the viewers would have then appreciated the non-romantic aspects of it more and been more forgiving towards it.
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I’m Interested in You.. until you are very uninteresting
I’m a huge pessimist about things so I don’t know if this drama will be a full melancholy or if it will be lighthearted. So far it’s a calming watch as the plot and setting are easy to follow. I think the name of this drama is really clever, as the main characters work in a bank. he promotional wall warn you of love square.. it’s a melancholy and won’t be fast paced or tropey… whateverAs for the first episode .. I really liked it. It doesn’t seem like the plot is too much for the show to handle, and I think it will follow a slice of life with characters opening up about their backgrounds and we will learn why they are the way they are. The main two characters are both very likeable. I love this upwards trend of respectful men that are caring.. very green flags here. It’s so heartwarming to see a man simply cherish and care for someone, the main character has been pining for the main girl but he isn’t overbearing about it. He has been working with her for years and hasn’t pressured. He admires her from afar.
Yoo Yeon Seok is the main lead and he is the green flag. I really love his character so much, he is just a really good person and the first episode shows many examples of that. He is also a handsome guy and it’s nice to see how this actor can stay in a lighthearted drama, but sell a completely different character so well. The feelings he has for Ahn Soo Young are very wholesome and I love how we can see this coming from an adult man. I see a lot of high school dramas portraying crushes and those are fine. To see a grown man feel excited and get worried about how to react for someone is interesting since I haven’t seen it too many times. Especially done where he is just so respectful and cautious.. the guy gave her his jacket when she was climbing a tree. He notices her and does small things for her without making a big deal out of it or holding her accountable.
Ahn Soo Hyun is a very interesting. She is very soft spoken and takes care in what she does. She has ambitions to move up in her job but isn’t too overly confident. So far I’m the most interested in her story, why is she so calm? Why is she so nice? I understand why the lead pines for her, she is really just an intriguing girl that people want to be around. She’s appealing and the first episode sets it up for a story between the two that could be very satisfying. Moon Ga Young does a great job with her character, as I saw her in Tempted playing basically the opposite of this character. Although she can come across as cold in some scenes, there is a reason to why she’s holding up a wall. With this being a melodrama I believe she isn’t just one sided and harsh; I want to see why she gets cold and harsh and how she can thaw out.
This drama isn’t too amazing /yet/. The trailer makes it look like it will be dramatic in the right places and tugging at the heart strings for others. I’m looking forward to see how this show develops and so far it’s a gorgeous modern drama with bright scenes, like likeable characters, and an easy going script to back it up. Yoo Yeon Seok is such an amazing actor. Honestly saying that is an understatement. Even in the first episode he’s already got me feeling just as anxious and down bad as he is
None of the main characters are bad people actually which is refreshing. But they fumble the bag with the resolution between the characters. It’s just. It engaging.
A sore spot of this drama is that the conflicts revolve around relationships. Which is something I don’t usually like and it tends to drag a bit. But with the addition of new characters coming in it keeps things interesting and keeps you wondering. The longer time you have with the characters.. it just makes you not like them as much. There are decisions made that don’t have to. I understand that it doesn’t exactly make it bad writing.. but as for engaging me it wasn’t doing it.
Finishing up the drama I must say it really dragged. Like I had to skip a majority of the last two episodes because it was just going over old things. What needed to happen took so long. I honestly grew to not care and it’s too bad because aesthetically I was really enjoying this drama at the beginning. The last three episodes just lost its touch. It was just boring.. and I usually like the dumb and stupid dramas- but this one just wasn’t fun to me anymore. It’s too bad.
I did really like the osts and I wouldn’t go as far as to say don’t watch it. I wouldn’t tell someone to watch it either honestly.
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Want-to-be-romance that got lost
What a mess of a story. If this was the planned ending, then there was no need for 16 episodes - could have been cut by half.The poor actors all did their best, but the energy level of the story was low, dull, and prooooolllllloooonnngged. It dragged on and on. Then having watched 14 episodes you finally hope the ending will forgive the wasted 14 hours, but no!
There is the most awkward, strange and ludicrous kissing scene in 15.
Who goes for a smoke right after only a kiss? A kiss that we didn't know was supposed to intensify or just cut short - but the ML goes for a smoke right after that. Gosh.
Does the FL go back home that night?
Aaargh! So incomplete.
Is this supposed to be for a prudish regional audience? And it's okay for a married mother of two grown kids to have an affair but not okay for a 30 something single woman to spend a night out?
And my favorite ML - Yoo Yoon Seok- agreed to work in this drama and bring his rating down?
Why why why did you do that? I absolutely fell in love with you in Mood of the Day - and to watch you in this pathetic role was heartbreaking.
Would you like me to be your agent and pick better acting gigs???
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Don't waste your time
The drama had an interesting plot, but it has too much unnecessary scenes and things. It could easily be 12 episodes, maybe in that way the drama would flow better.The main leads were adults and could just sit and talk about everything and resolve it. But no.
The female lead created so much drama for nothing, invented a completely meaningless and unrealistic story about sleeping with another man story just to push the two men away.
Anyway, the ending was really disappointing, I feel like I wasted my time with them.
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