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Too slow, too fast, or just right?
I both loved and loathed this show while watching it. As many others have said, it is a slow-paced, slice-of-life drama. The atmosphere of this show is really wonderful, with a great OST, lots of slow, lingering shots of nature and montages of people happily going about their daily lives in a small, country town. It is genuinely pleasant to watch, and I loved that aspect of the show.The atmosphere fits in well with the slowness of the plot. The female lead is returning to her hometown, and you slowly get to know her and her troubled past in the first few episodes while you enjoy the atmosphere and get to know the area. It takes a while, but I did enjoy getting to know Mok Hae Won this way, with bits of her past interspersed with her present as she readjusts to country life. During this part of the show, the male lead is somewhat mysterious, with the viewer mostly learning about his feelings through his actions and the blog posts read at the end of each episode - you only know what Mok Hae Won knows.
This changes around the mid-point of the show, where they shift to show us more about Lim Eun Seob. This is one of the parts I didn't love - the show gave us a lot of time with Hae Won and her feelings, but it felt like they rushed Eun Seob's history in some ways. We solved most of his mysteries in the course of two or three episodes, between Hae Won's confession and the couple officially getting together. Honestly, this was the first drama where I was surprised when the couple kissed - I didn't feel like the show had adequately shown us Eun Seob's feelings and explained his change of heart after he initially rejects Hae Won.
I generally enjoyed most of the episodes from 10 - 14, as the leads were mostly happy together and we got to know the side characters. There were one or two episodes in this part which felt pointless upon reflection, but overall not terrible. Hwi and Jang Woo are the best.
Things went south again for the ending. The last two episodes just weren't very good, plot-wise, at least for the leads. The side plot characters felt like they all had their appropriately wrapped up endings, but I did not get the same feeling from the main couple. Their central "issue" as a couple was around their future - would Mok Hae Won stay or go back to Seoul? Would Eun Seob mysteriously run off again? Especially with Jang Woo's speech about finding happiness in simplicity and the overall atmosphere of the show, it felt like the point of the show was for the couple (esp Hae Won) to officially come to the resolution that their simple happiness was with each other in this small town. In the end, I didn't quite get the sense that they had done that. I'm pretty sure that's what happened, but it felt rushed. For once, I wished that the show had slowed down to show me a bit more. Somehow, in an incredibly slow show, the writers didn't have time to fully resolve the story of the main characters.
Basically - sometimes this show was too fast, sometimes it was too slow, and occasionally it was just right.
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A romance with level-headed lead characters! WOW
Anyone who has watched enough romance dramas knows that the main couple usually has a disagreement at some point during the series that could be easily resolved with a little bit of communication. For me, this can ruin an otherwise perfectly good show. We all know they're doing it to give themselves another episode or two of conflict before they let the leads settle down and be happy, and I usually find it more annoying than anything else.The best thing about Her Private Life is that the leads act like real adults the whole time. It is so refreshing to see in a show that is otherwise your run-of-the-mill romance drama. Yes, there are quite a few of the usual tropes in this one (contract "marriage"? secret identity? Heck yeah!), but without the annoying misunderstanding ploy to throw a wrench in things, I could find it fun and not contrived and irritating. The leads talk through their problems, guys. It's amazing.
Also, you can't miss the chemistry of the leads here. Like, wooooow. There are no overtly sexy scenes, but again, adults behaving like adults. I am buying whatever Kim Jae Wook is selling, let me tell you.
There are some lows, and they, predictably enough, come at the end once our leads are together (and not arguing, because, you know, they're adults). They clearly felt like they needed to spice up the script with some more tired drama tropes to drag us to the end. You should be able to see what's coming if you've been paying attention, but you might not like it. The bright side of this attempt at creating drama is that both of our leads are still both perfectly level headed while the script is flinging stupid shit at them, so even while I hated it, I kinda loved it. In a different show, that would have been at least four episodes of plot.
Honestly, I might recommend skipping episode 15 and just watching 16 to get the wrap up episode, if you feel like you need it. You could even stop at 14, but then you'd miss the steamy makeout session at the very end, and isn't that part of the reason you're watching this show?
Basically, if you are an adult and you're looking for a fun romance drama that won't irritate you because the entire plot wouldn't exist if the main leads just got their shit together, pick this one. It is everything you want and not too much of what you don't.
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I started watching The K2 right after Healer, because Ji Chang Wook, and the plot looked interesting. I was not disappointed by the first few episodes. The action scenes are well choreographed and fun, Ji Chang Wook looks great (duh), and there is some nice underlying intrigue with the plot and the characters. If the show had continued like this, all would have been well. Sadly, it did not.
Most of the characters in this show are nuanced and well acted. The initial episodes are compelling because you are trying to figure them out. Most of the characters start out clearly labeled by the show as "good" or "bad," but whether or not they will all stay that way is unclear. A character that the show initially signals is "good" is shown doing "bad" things, but are they being manipulated or is this their true character? Are the characters doing bad things really trying to do good? The uncertainty of each character's position within the spectrum of good and bad is a large part of what makes the plot compelling (besides the action scenes, which are consistently awesome). Song Yoon Ah, in particular, is masterful at her acting within the grey area. Her character is clearly set up to be the big bad at the beginning, but I remained convinced that there was a possibility for her redemption. This was particularly helped by her frankly smoldering chemistry with Ji Chang Wook on screen. This chemistry with the protagonist suggests that maybe she isn't so bad after all.
It is difficult to explain what is ultimately disappointing about this drama without spoiling the plot, but I will try. There was SO MUCH potential with this concept. Unfortunately, the intriguing initial episodes are followed up with the destruction of all subtlety by the ham-handed romance of the destined pairing. The show points out this pair early on, much like how characters are labeled as "good" and "bad." With all of the grey going on in the first few episodes, though, there remains the chance that MAYBE this drama will not play out to the seemingly-destined pair. As we entered the latter half of the drama, it still seemed possible that Wook's protagonist would not end up with the destiny partner; she had a strong reason to love him, but the show never convinced me why his character was really interested in her. Additionally, it seemed that her naive character, clearly outlined as "good," at first, was drifting into the grey area, which seemed to worry her potential love interest. Could he be driven into the arms of the "big bad" instead? This was exciting! Even if the destiny pair did still end up together, having some bumps on the road is always more fun, especially as it plays into the general state of intrigue on the show. That is the show I wanted to watch.
Sadly, I was disappointed. Instead of allowing the protagonist to have some doubts about his destiny partner and letting everyone play around in uncertainty a bit longer, the show throws the pair together shortly after the halfway point in such a way that it becomes pretty clear that they won't be separated. Suddenly, a drama that seemed to be built on the nuance of its characters becomes a straightforward political/spy drama with a romance side plot. Turns out, that's not interesting. I struggled on for a bit, but ultimately stopped watching.
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A delightfully paced ensemble/romance
To be honest, I wasn't expecting a lot out of The Package. I mainly chose to watch for Jung Yong Hwa, one of my first drama loves, and I was in the mood for a silly romance.The Package is surprisingly complex. The show follows a group of travelers (three couples and one single man, our male lead, plus the tour guide, our female lead) and slowly shows us their personal stories as we join them on their package tour of France. Once we've met everyone and established the backstory of the main couple, the show shifts to focus at least one episode on learning more about each of the other members of the group. This approach makes the pacing of this show an absolute delight. Even when the leads themselves aren't being particularly interesting in a given episode, watching the other members of the tour interact can carry the episode. Honestly, I hadn't realized that the show was only twelve episodes, and was surprised when I practically stumbled on the last one. I think the writers could have stretched it out more, but they didn't, and I'm honestly glad. Not every storyline was fully finished, but that wasn't the point of this show. The point was to explore the different reasons that these couples are on their trip and enjoy a little bit of romance along the way. The open ending for our little group fits with the theme of travel and finding yourself.
An ensemble drama masking as a romance, plus a lot of nice shots of France. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, fairly quick watch!
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