1Mix of Genres With Stellar Cast
I rarely write reviews, but maybe this is the TV series that might get me back to writing them on a regular basis! Hooray, I guess.The premise of the story is very straightforward: we have an established married couple who goes through a crisis, which is very realistic, as nowadays, the percentage of divorced couples is skyrocketing in multiple countries, and with South Korea being one of them, I guessed that they tried to create a series that would give the South Korean audience hope in marriage once again. Did they succeed? We’re going to see that a few years later! Some statistics take some time, folks.
Let’s talk about my enjoyment of this series as a big fan of the cast.
The acting is marvelous and stunning, and no one can take this opinion away from me—not even the storyline. Going into this series, I knew beforehand that I was in for an acting treat and basically a masterclass, which I was not wrong about. I cannot name all the cast names, but imagine the list being very long. While some are praising mostly male and female leads, I am praising everyone—even the side characters—because even those side characters were played by well-known and talented actors. This is why I just have to give them all 10 out of 10!
Now, let’s move onto the music department, which... didn't overwhelm me, but this once again wasn’t shocking to me, as I am very picky with music. I like a lot of genres, but I cherry pick from each, so to have an OST impress me, it takes a lot! I can literally name the OSTs that truly hypnotized me and are webbed in my memory. Sadly, this TV series simply didn’t have a single OST or BGM that made me shiver, cry, or just directly search for it on music platforms to listen to the full version. This is the reason why I am giving the music department 4.5 points, which isn’t terrible, but quite...below average, let’s say. It’s not that I hated it, but did it make me interested? Far from it.
Production value and visual FX—what can I say? Perfect! Yeah, it was an expensive series, and they showed this with various things, not just a stellar cast. I really don’t have a single complaint about the production value, because it was truly breathtaking. The shots were amazing, the locations were wonderful, and they made me feel calm and cozy. The costumes were also amazingly fitted and complimented the figures of all the cast members. A special thanks to the costume designer of our favorite auntie.
Now, let’s get to the backbone of the whole series—the plot! Yeah, we have reached the weakest link of this whole series, and it is truly sad because I have been waiting for years for another amazing TV series, not only from Su Hyeon’s side but from Ji Won’s side as well. Both their previous projects didn’t interest me much, so I had high hopes. Me being into more mature romances and overall melodrama vibes kind of made my expectations skyrocket even more. In the end, I was not satisfied.
Let me emphasize that the premise served me well and truly fed the melodramatic me, but the execution was the part where the series failed. The long format of the episodes was truly painful, as everything looked like filler, and I swear if you skipped some of the episodes and started in later, you wouldn’t miss a lot. I do think the plot was underdeveloped and lacking in many aspects. Some characters—the main couple—weren't written thoroughly, and for my taste, they were bland, and I honestly found myself not rooting for them at all. I get it; the premise is a marriage crisis and getting back together, but the writer has written mostly about the female lead as a very dislikable person, and I get it—she was born into a rich family, so she didn’t know that her manners were sometimes very... wrong. Still, I felt that the differences between the couple were way too big to overcome in real life, and since the series tried to portray a realistic relationship, I do think they failed. They were way too different, and even though couples can overcome differences and be happy, I felt that what they have isn’t anything too deep, and the love from both came out of nowhere. Other than that, the male lead truly tried to work the marriage out, but the female lead was very rejective of his attempts, and seeing the cycle repeat was very tiring.
In terms of the dramatic plot, I have to disagree with others who say that it reminded them of older TV series. I was there, and they were far more dramatic, I would say, and more tropey, while this had only like two prominent tropes: the second male lead being intrusive and loco, and the upgraded version of White Truck of Doom. I do not consider female lead being rich as a trope, sorry. I can vividly say and name the tropes in order with older series, and this series didn’t follow them at all, so I personally didn’t feel as if I was watching an older series.
Overall, I think the series would stand out more to me if it had shorter episodes and maybe even fewer episodes, and most importantly, a set genre. As I said, going into this, I expected melodrama, but in the end, it was a mix of melodrama and comedy, which ruined it even more for me. They dealt with serious topics (which I praise them for), but they set them in very bad times, I think? Like, writer, please decide if it’s going to be a comedy or a melodrama. Some say that because of the heavy topics, it was a melodrama, but I have to disagree. For me, it had very little melodrama vibes, even with the serious topics, and I hated that. I think if they strictly kept it as a melodrama and shot it with the same vibes as well, I would have enjoyed it far more.
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Nosediving into the horrible
Episode 1-12 9/10Episode 13-16 1/10
This took such a nosedive after episode 12. I cried myself through most of the show, but by the end the only crying I did was from crying laughing because of how bad it was.
The plot is all over the place, plot threads are abandoned and Mr. Cartoon Villain keeps showing up to ruin any semblance of good storytelling.
And when you think you have finally finished his part of the story, nope, there he is again overstaying his welcome and to become a villain befitting of a bad episode of Supernatural.
The amazing main leads are the only ones holding this thing remotely together. And I will definitely try and check out more things with them. But I had similar issues with Crash Landing on You, so probably avoiding this writer
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Hearts Rekindled
This is an exciting entry in Netflix's deep collection of Korean romantic comedies! Many typical storylines are reversed here, however. The rich, ruthless protagonist is female; the show starts with a seemingly happily-ever-after wedding; and it is the male lead who must demonstrate his dedication to the family.At its core, it's a story about navigating the delicate terrain of a relationship in turmoil and rediscovering love. Despite the conflicts, there is an underlying optimism, hope of reconciliation, understanding, and healing. The angst is punctuated by comedy and humor. There are hidden gems and delightful cameo appearances. Themes include gender roles, social expectations, and family. The actors are beautiful, and so are the cinematography, wardrobe, and shooting locations.
The writer is Park Ji Eun, the creator of Crash Landing on You. She specializes in powerful yet feminine characters. This is her third Queen of ... series. No doubt Kim Soo Hyun is masterful in roles alongside strong-willed counterparts, as he did in It's Okay to Not Be Okay. Kim Ji Won excels at portraying the somewhat stoic and mysterious but troubled female lead, as she did in My Liberation Notes. Enjoy this skillfully acted, therapeutic, and playful story!
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The drama didn’t live up to the hype!
In an interview actress KIM JI WON said she signed the show because she was curious and wanted to know why the couple hated each other that much . Every viewer had the same question but the question was never really answered properly. The writer didn’t delve deep into the issues of the couple. Like why their love turned cold? . Yes we saw the lovey doovey memories and how they fell in love but not how they fell out of love and most importantly how it turned into hate!In the first episode HYUN WOO was miserable and wanted to end the marriage. After finding out that HAE IN is terminally ill and will die soon he was genuinely happy and wasn’t even a bit shocked. This showed how much he hated hae in and wanted this marriage to end. There must’ve been a strong reason for him to be this way considering how empathetic and kind person he is in the show. But his wife, (who he use to love) is going to die and he is happy about it!!! What caused this !! the writer didn’t unveil those details hence the plot felt incomplete.
And more emphasis was put on Hyun woo’s misery and Hae in’s side was left out from it. I couldn’t understand why she stopped putting effort in marriage and was soo cold towards him.
The story could’ve been complete in itself and didn’t need villains at all if the story focused on the main plot. It felt like a completely different drama afterwards. Hae in was terminally ill and eun seong still wont stop chasing her till the very end like a psychopath. And seeing him chase her again and again became boring and too dragging. So many thing were going on at the same time like the villain plot and hae’s in illness plot, that the main issue was swept under the rug.
Last but not the least I am tired of how no kdrama can go without lead hero being a saviour..The writer could’ve done better and not give us the same story that we have watched 100 times.
In the end I gotta admire kim ji won, she was phenomenal. Brilliant acting by her. She has proved how amazing of an actress she is. Baek hyun woo and hae in’s chemistry is also amazing. Their acting and Chemistry carried the whole show.
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Just a normal K-Drama with fans insisting it's one of the best...
It was, at first, a normal and cute romcom about a married couple getting together. Then they kinda realized that people need a little more drama, but they forgot we only needed "a little" more drama, not a super dramatic melodrama.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
So very disappointing...
I really expect more from the highest paid actor in South Korea script of choice but this drama pull out every cliche which made it so predictable and it dragged. To the point I'm just finishing for the sake of doing my workout while watching (more listening) and because my husband likes the female lead actress. I don't even care what happens to these characters anymore. I also felt NOTHING, no butterflies with this couple, no heartache, no sadness with all the tears and no joy in watching this at all.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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A stairway to heaven type Makjang, in this era. Really?
When the drama started and became very viral, I was very reluctant to watch it. It has happened to me that they have made some dramas very popular and when I decide to watch it, I'm like "So much fuss about this?" That's really what happened here.When I read that Koreans themselves started calling this drama "Makjang" I assumed something was really going to go wrong. And I wasn't wrong at all.
It is truly a "Makjang". You know those dramas where meaningless things begin to happen here and there, deadly diseases that magically disappear, overly typical topics like memory loss and starting over again, again.
The first part was good. I'm not really going to make a big deal out of what the reason for their divorce was. As the protagonist explains at the end, many times when you get married (I have never been married but I say this because I am the daughter of divorced parents) or when you go out with someone. There is no single reason to separate from that person you love nor is there a single reason to overflow the camel's back. There are thousands of reasons, stupid fights that begin to become more frequent and wear down the couple, not sitting down to talk to solve problems, not communicating to your partner that attitudes that bother you about their character in a calm way, no, everything always ends. in fights and in a sentencevery typical but real "Can't talk to you". So that ends up wearing down the relationship and you end up making the decision to leave that person. It is also very common that when there is a loss of a baby, couples end up separating. It seems stupid, but losing a baby does a lot of damage to the relationship and even more so when neither party manages their feelings and supports each other in that difficult moment. So I really don't think there is one reason, there are thousands of reasons why a couple ends up breaking up. So I won't be too harsh in that regard.
But the second part is a disaster, really stupid things happen, why? not at all. Just to add more unnecessary drama.
And the ending... ugh I'm not going to lie, I did cry at the ending. After everything the protagonist did for the protagonist, does he see himself as an adult visiting her grave? When I saw that older man climbing the stairs they climbed together when he was younger I already feared the worst. And everything came true, when I saw the name of the protagonist embodied on her tomb.
I really don't know what I expected if this is a Makjang. It was obvious that things were not going to end well and the ending would be sad. Like any drama of this style. But at least I would have liked to see more moments of the couple again and not just random flashbacks that conveyed nothing to me.
The acting was great and the cinematography was great too, but actors alone can't save a poorly written drama. Even if they are the best actors. At least their performances made this a little lighter to watch.
I recommend it? I'm sorry to say this, because I love both actors, but no, I don't recommend it. Unless you like Makjang dramas.
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Bits and pieces of old kdramas combined together
I like how the drama started with a messed up marriage and showed story of a couple who have fallen out of love and their journey to rediscovering their love. It was going good till episode 7, after that it become like a complete different story. All the focus was shifted on the queen’s group family being broke and falling in the trap laid by the villains. And how easily the villains got everything they wanted and even kicked the family out of the house. It’s was bit unrealistic how a business tycoon family had nowhere to go.And in the midst of all this villain drama the main issue was left unaddressed. What about the martial issues that brought the lead couple at this point? Why hae in and hyun woo hated each other that much at the beginning of the show? The answers were vague. I wish the focus of the show was on addressing their martial issues and rekindling their love and not on the unnecessary villain drama.
If the story had only focused on hae in’s illness and their troubled marriage. It would have been alot better.
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wasted potential; crashed and burned with the same old lame tropes and plot holes
Let me preface this by saying that I'm not usually one to watch romcoms, but the premise drew me in. The first few eps were hilarious too so I decided to give it a shot. Alas! it was downhill from there. Like many other reviews here mentioned, the premise is interesting and refreshing. A genderbent version of the typical "cold rich CEO" and "long suffering wife" trope seemed intriguing to me, and it was until the villains were revealed.The villains' (Moh Seul Hee, Eun Sung, Grace (??) and Da Hye) plans and machinations were portrayed so confusingly and nonsensically I had to turn my brain off in order to understand how they were intending to takeover the company. After the villains were revealed, the IQ levels of the Hong family immediately dropped several notches and they were bested. Does this even make logical sense?? This is a 3rd generation chaebol family and yet they were behaving like idiots. This does not fit the supposed backstory of Chairman Hong who supposedly went from shining shoes to building this empire. Would an astute businessman fall prey to such schemes so easily? I would think not. Of course, thankfully we have Baek Hyun Woo who still retains his superior intellect and rescues his ex(??) in laws almost singlehandedly.
I felt sympathetic to Baek Hyun Woo at the start. He was portrayed as a long-suffering son in law who in constantly undermined at home and work by Hae In and her family. I felt for him really; he is supposed to be the male version of the typical korean daughters in law being mistreated by their in-laws and ignored by their husbands. Unlike most viewers, I found the writing and portrayal of his character genuine and hilarious when realizing that he would soon be released from his predicament by Hae In's timely (or not?) death. To me, those were the most hilarious parts of the drama. Part of it is due to how hard it is to like Hae In as a person. She is portrayed as a cold and stoic CEO who almost constantly masks her emotions. She seemingly cares for Hyun Woo but rarely expresses it. She is blunt and puts him down at work publicly. It honestly is a miracle their marriage lasted 3 years. I was curious to see what made him fall in love with her in the beginning but we never really get that. We never really get any scenes on how they mended their marriage either; sure her cancer diagnosis was the catalyst but it felt like the foundation they were trying to rebuild their relationship on was never shown. Instead we get makjang tropes of multiple car crashes, MULTIPLE childhood connection tropes and ridiculous random car chase scenes.
This next paragraph will be dedicated to all the plot holes that I seriously couldn't stand. First of all, Hae In's illness is just so...fake. She has a couple of symptoms that only flare up at the most convenient times and looks in the pink of health despite being literally at death's door. Like seriously, whenever she is at the hospital for checks or whatever, she is always sashaying around like she's walking down a runway. I get that its a drama and that it would be impossible to really look THAT sick, but its hard to feel sympathy for someone supposedly going to die when they are still strutting around in the pink of health! Her brain surgery thing was the most fake thing too. Going in with full face of makeup and HAIR and somehow "losing" her memory but still retaining the ability to walk/talk/eat and returning to work after 1 month... I know I'm nitpicking when this isn't a medical drama but this is a major plot point which the show hinges heavily on so some realism would be good here. I'm not even going to talk about the car accident tropes because yeesh. Lastly, those darn childhood connection tropes, which I honestly HATE the most because it adds NOTHING to the plot. In fact, I feel it demeans the love between the characters. I want the characters to be in a relationship because they CHOSE each other and would go through heaven and hell to make that choice, not because fate ordained them to and the choice is already made for them. That is such a cop out. So if they are fated to be together forever why even bother with anything? Why bother with treatment? Why bother with saving the marriage? if it's meant to be it's meant to be you know what I mean? Since they are fated to be lovers they wouldn't need to save their marriage because they would be together till the end anyway. Lame.
The story is honestly the weakest point of the show. Acting, music, cinematography are all top notch and I'm not going into it because all the other reviews are already singing their praises. The last thing I need to get off my chest is the ending. If I were the scripwriter, I would write that Hae In dies in the end. I seriously cannot believe that she lives. And I always think back to this quote from a western medical drama: dying changes everything, almost dying changes nothing. After the surgery, Hae In loses her memory but somehow reverts back to her old personality (partly due to Eun Sung?). Almost dying wouldn't change anything about the relationship; Hae In is an ambitious person and would probably get over the health scare and return to chasing her trillion dollar club goal, leaving Hyun Woo by the wayside again. The fundamental issues that broke their marriage down were never addressed (miscarriage, communication issues etc) and Hae In can't remember it anyway. The whole treatment thing felt like just pure fanservice to appease the fans and to keep viewership numbers up. If Hae In dies, it would be more impactful in the grand scheme of reflecting on her relationship with Hyun Woo and also her family. I feel like it could have tied in with the scene at her grandfather's funeral quite nicely. And of course realistically, with a 3 month death sentence no treatment would usually be available. But that's just me lol, I just wanted to get this off my chest because this premise had a lot of wasted potential.
In summary, watch for the acting. The plot just goes downhill after ep 6? If you like makjang you would like this. Hand to heart, i was entertained by this but I was hate-watching the last few eps.
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We had high expectations
Certainly the drama I less appreciated from our star Kim Soo Hyun. It is not about actors’ performances, I actually was stoned by Kim Ji Won’s acting. It was a very refreshing role for her. But the story itself lacks deepness… Of course if we compare this to recent works labeled as kdrama romances, you can find worst cases scenarios which actually got better reviews than this one but how can I say… maybe high expectations were awaited here. Kim Soo Hyun’s choices used to be better. In this series even main characters reach a point where they stop to evolve. And the intrigue and vilains are not justified at any point. It’s like, let’s put a vilain to get an intrigue… on a short notice, I’d like to see our boy is something very different from what he usually plays. Maybe a vilain ? Idk.Again my review is only subjective tho.
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So much potential, but utterly wasted by trying to do too much
If there is one phrase to describe the show, it would be "wasted potential". Honestly, up until episode 12 or 13, i was planning to give the show a solid 9/10. The writing crew and director clearly knew how to tug on the audience heart strings and watching Hyunwoo and Haein come to terms with the very real possibility of Haein dying just as they finally reconcile brought tears to my eyes. Kim Soo-Hyun and Kim Ji-won have such amazing chemistry and Kim Soo-Hyun continues to prove he is one of the best actors at subtly showing how the character is feeling with microexpressions.BUT. There is a MASSIVE but here. The show throws any potential out the window the second we hit episode 14. For reasons that I can't even begin to guess at, the writer team seems absolutely married to keeping the character of Yoon Eung-Seung involved until the very end. Up until episode 14, it felt like he was an omnipresent threat lurking in the background. He gave stakes to the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein, because it meant Hyunwoo didn't have infinite time to win back Haein. If he waited too long or screwed up too many times, she would fall for Eung-Seung. But once it became clear the Haein will always choose Hyunwoo every time, the bit got old. MASSIVE spoilers head - having a murder framed on Hyunwoo, and then sending him to the hospital TWICE after he gets out of prison in the span of two episodes was just too much. We spend more time trying to unspin the various webs of lies that Eung-Seung has spun for Hae-in and dealing with the drama of the murder case and all the "random" accident Hyunwoo has at Eung-Seung's hands that the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein is left to the side. It ends up being very hastily cleaned up at the end of episode 16 and you can feel how rushed it was. The writing team needed to realize that once you wipe a character's memory, it becomes incredibly important to have them build back those memories over a decent time span so the audience can experience the highs and lows of how confusing and terrifying it is to not even know who you are. But instead, because of this weird Eung-Seung second plot, Hae-in basically magically recovers most of her memory after reading her journal and a few random interactions with Hyunwoo.
And just to put the "missed or mishandled plot hooks" cherry on top of this cake, there is an entire subplot about how the traumatic event that started their spiral into divorce was due to a miscarriage, and it's never addressed. Both characters independently seem to want to address the hurtful things they did or said to cope, but not once do they have a face-to-face conversation about it. It doesn't help that by the end, Hae-in doesn't even remember what she did because of the stupid memory loss plot line.
TL;DR - fantastic first 2/3rds of a series, only for it to come crashing into a brick wall right at the finish line. It truly feels like had they just rewritten the final 3 episodes to avoid Eung-Seung, the show would have been an easy 9 or 10 out of 10.
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Frustrating to watch. Problematic characters. Toxic FL.
The character design is quite problematic. I'm really struggling to understand the FL's mother and brother.----------Mother----------
Regarding the mother, she's been blaming the FL for her own negligence in supervising her small children, which resulted in a serious accident when the FL was just 10 years old. It's absurd how she continues to openly blame a child for 20 years when it's obvious that the adult should take responsibility. She doesn't just do this in their personal life, but also in their work life, going as far as finding reasons to sue her own daughter, which could harm their family company that's publicly traded on the stock market. And all of this is happening right under the noses of the FL's grandfather and father, who are much more rational and surely wouldn't want their corporation's reputation tarnished. The whole situation is just so unrealistic and absurd.
----------Brother----------
As for the brother, it's unbelievable. His wife deceives him into marriage and even has a child with another man while they're married. Then she flees away with money of her husband's family, only to return after being abused by her child's biological father. Despite all this, the brother unquestionably welcomes her back with open arms, and still loves her illegitimate child as if the child is his own. It's like he lacks any capacity for learning or judgment. It's hard to trust someone like him to run a company at an executive level, yet he holds a high-ranking position in their publicly listed company. How is that even possible?
----------Female Lead----------
And don't even get me started on the FL herself. She gets kidnapped by the villain in a car. And when the ML catches up with them after a violent car chase, succeeding in rescuing her while he's injured, she complies with the villain's gaslighting to say that she voluntarily follows the villain, then she willingly gets back into the villain's car to be kidnapped again. The reason the villain gives her is that if she doesn't go along, the ML will realize her illness is worsening, causing her to mistake the villain for the ML. But later on, the ML still has to break into the house where the FL is being held captive to rescue her once more, and she still has to tell the ML the truth in the end. It's infuriating how easily she falls for such manipulation, especially considering the ML already knows about her illness and its progression.
----------Toxic love----------
Let me address the ML's love for the FL as my last point. I find his renewed affection for her perplexing. While his initial love before their marriage is understandable, I fail to comprehend how he could still love her after enduring a toxic relationship. Despite their troubled history, she continues to resist cooperation, vilify him, withhold her true feelings, and maintain emotional distance. It appears to be a very one-sided effort, devoid of reciprocity. His affection seems solely driven by blind devotion, without any tangible reason or justification. Their past history of love before marriage doesn't seem to influence his current feelings, and the FL's behavior offers little to warrant his continued love. In essence, it feels like he is merely serving her as a servant of love. In real life, such a dynamic doesn't foster a genuine and sustainable relationship, so it isn't believable or convincing for me.
The story's irrational elements are so frustrating to watch. I keep going with it until the end because I'm a fan of the lead actors. However, while the FL's acting is passable, it still comes across as quite stiff to me. I've seen her in 3 series, including 'Descendants of the Sun' and 'Fight for My Way,' and her acting seems to be consistently one-dimensional, and not even the best version of the character she's portraying.
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