ArvisJaggamar
The usual kdrama pattern is this: spend a lot of time with great characters, fall in love with them, then marvel at how the writers completely fail to end things properly in the last episode. Longing Heart completely reverses the trend. Here, you can expect almost the entire 10 episode run to be a complete mess, but then the last episode wraps everything up in captivating fashion. That was really unexpected and really saved the drama.
STORY
It's a mess and makes no sense at all, but I can say that the concept of it is quite good. If you're of a certain age, you've probably looked back on your high school self and thought "What an idiot. Wish I could fix some things." Well, that's the story here. There's a time slip and the MC meets his younger self and very aggressively meddles in his life, leading to the majority of the comedy here. It's fun and cute! However, their are never really any "rules" established for the time slip, which is bad form, nor is there even a hint of an explanation. So don't think too hard about what's going on or you'll get really annoyed. As the show progresses, it becomes less and less funny. And since that's the real strength of the show, that means it gets worse and worse. But once you get to Episode 10, it will all start to come together, so stick with it.
ACTING/CAST
This is where the majority of this show's dullness comes from. Not only is it poorly directed, leading to otherwise-talented actors to completely ruin some scenes, but there is a severe lack of chemistry among the entire cast. There are several romantic pairings here and absolutely none of them resonate, not even the OTP. We get one kissing scene and it's incredibly forced, maybe the worst I have seen in 70+ dramas. One of the only characters that really grabbed my attention was Jo Seung Hee's character. She plays a teacher who has some truly hilarious scenes with the MC. Her bold flirting and adorable mannerisms made her a joy to watch, and Seung Hee carried it off with a ton of natural charm. However, she is barely used at all, and her romance arc is absolutely atrocious and lacking even a single redeeming merit. She and the actor they paired her with had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Additionally, her being the brightest and best of the characters was ruined by her being paired off with a guy who was, by far, the worst character in the entire show. It was hard to watch.
Do Hee is pretty good, as usual, but even her character is misused. And probably the best pure actor in the show was Kim Sun Young, who really really stood out here. She nailed every scene she had. But yet again, we don't get very much of her. Song Ji Hyun was cute and good at being quirky and moody, but it should be noted that melo is not her strength. Still it was cool seeing a Korean Emily Blunt lookalike. Her distinct look is quite attractive and I'd like to see her start getting a few more roles. My wife also really enjoyed Seo Ji Hoon (but I have no idea why, since to me he was completely unremarkable). The rest of the cast was truly disappointing. Lee Yeol Eum, so good in High School King of Savvy, flops hard here. She needs a better director or a better character to play. She had basically no personality. Lee Jung Shin was charming and funny, but overacted hard at times. Lee Joo Hyung was aggressively unlikable. The rest were totally forgettable.
TBH, the pace of the drama probably hurts this category more than the actual actors. Not only is it short, but a lot of time is wasted. So we don't get to really linger with the characters and get to know them. So the actors, by default then, have a lot less to work with when trying to build their characters.
MUSIC here is decent, with at least one pretty good vocal theme, and the REWATCH VALUE is pretty low, being saved only by the early comedy and the final episode.
OVERALL
Believe everyone who says that Longing Heart could have been even shorter than it already is and not have lost anything. While the show is sweet and simple, it's also mostly dull and really spends an awful lot of time in flashbacks of things we've seen, sometimes as recently as 60 seconds prior. This, though, is balanced by some really good humor and a few nice plot twists and surprises, making it a quick watch that shouldn't bring too much regret with it.
FINAL SCORE: 7/10
STORY
It's a mess and makes no sense at all, but I can say that the concept of it is quite good. If you're of a certain age, you've probably looked back on your high school self and thought "What an idiot. Wish I could fix some things." Well, that's the story here. There's a time slip and the MC meets his younger self and very aggressively meddles in his life, leading to the majority of the comedy here. It's fun and cute! However, their are never really any "rules" established for the time slip, which is bad form, nor is there even a hint of an explanation. So don't think too hard about what's going on or you'll get really annoyed. As the show progresses, it becomes less and less funny. And since that's the real strength of the show, that means it gets worse and worse. But once you get to Episode 10, it will all start to come together, so stick with it.
ACTING/CAST
This is where the majority of this show's dullness comes from. Not only is it poorly directed, leading to otherwise-talented actors to completely ruin some scenes, but there is a severe lack of chemistry among the entire cast. There are several romantic pairings here and absolutely none of them resonate, not even the OTP. We get one kissing scene and it's incredibly forced, maybe the worst I have seen in 70+ dramas. One of the only characters that really grabbed my attention was Jo Seung Hee's character. She plays a teacher who has some truly hilarious scenes with the MC. Her bold flirting and adorable mannerisms made her a joy to watch, and Seung Hee carried it off with a ton of natural charm. However, she is barely used at all, and her romance arc is absolutely atrocious and lacking even a single redeeming merit. She and the actor they paired her with had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Additionally, her being the brightest and best of the characters was ruined by her being paired off with a guy who was, by far, the worst character in the entire show. It was hard to watch.
Do Hee is pretty good, as usual, but even her character is misused. And probably the best pure actor in the show was Kim Sun Young, who really really stood out here. She nailed every scene she had. But yet again, we don't get very much of her. Song Ji Hyun was cute and good at being quirky and moody, but it should be noted that melo is not her strength. Still it was cool seeing a Korean Emily Blunt lookalike. Her distinct look is quite attractive and I'd like to see her start getting a few more roles. My wife also really enjoyed Seo Ji Hoon (but I have no idea why, since to me he was completely unremarkable). The rest of the cast was truly disappointing. Lee Yeol Eum, so good in High School King of Savvy, flops hard here. She needs a better director or a better character to play. She had basically no personality. Lee Jung Shin was charming and funny, but overacted hard at times. Lee Joo Hyung was aggressively unlikable. The rest were totally forgettable.
TBH, the pace of the drama probably hurts this category more than the actual actors. Not only is it short, but a lot of time is wasted. So we don't get to really linger with the characters and get to know them. So the actors, by default then, have a lot less to work with when trying to build their characters.
MUSIC here is decent, with at least one pretty good vocal theme, and the REWATCH VALUE is pretty low, being saved only by the early comedy and the final episode.
OVERALL
Believe everyone who says that Longing Heart could have been even shorter than it already is and not have lost anything. While the show is sweet and simple, it's also mostly dull and really spends an awful lot of time in flashbacks of things we've seen, sometimes as recently as 60 seconds prior. This, though, is balanced by some really good humor and a few nice plot twists and surprises, making it a quick watch that shouldn't bring too much regret with it.
FINAL SCORE: 7/10
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