michelleoc
Entirely too many episodes!
I usually like to start with the positives, but for this drama I’d like to get my negatives out of the way at the beginning.-Too many episodes! I fast forwarded through a lot of this, there was an awful lot of time where there was absolutely nothing going on.
-Too many side stories. You had the main couple, the second couple, the third couple that wasn’t a couple yet, the fourth couple that were in a relationship on line, and the teacher couple. Add to that the figure skating rival for her attentions, and then the man and woman working together to break up the couple and there was just too much going on. I felt that the main couple’s development and my appreciation for their romance really suffered from lack of adequate screen time. A few of these people could have been eliminated to help clean up the storyline.
-Stupid breakups
-Abrupt ending. Why do we always get shortchanged on a decent ending after suffering through so many episodes?
What I liked:
For me, this was more a story about the importance of friendships, and not so much about love. The main couple was cute, but they were pretty boring. They hated each other, then they liked each other, then they broke up numerous times for stupid reasons and then at that point I didn’t even care. His confession to her in Episode 26, however, was totally cute.
The second couple – I liked how their relationship was strong throughout, and you could really see them maturing in their relationship, as well as wanting the other to be fulfilled in career choice, etc. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, but since I loved the storyline, I could forgive that.
I have to say that my favorites in this drama was the best friend, Big Jiang and the girl that was the speed skater (WeiWei?). The two of them, in addition to the male lead, were the Three Musketeers. I could really appreciate the hidden feelings of both of them and could sense that keeping silent for the sake of maintaining friendships, though sad, is sometimes necessary. He was a big teddy bear of a character (though his hair was laughable) – strong on the outside, yet mushy on the inside. I think he was my favorite character in the whole show.
Yu Yan, the figure skating rival was a good character and I liked how they brought in the storyline of the pressures to succeed, the pressures that parents place on their kids and the pressures the kids put on themselves – and what can happen if you lose sight of why you went into something in the first place. Yu Yan’s speech in Episode 39 was wonderful.
The reasoning for the parents keeping the main characters apart was weak. Also, the evil couple trying to break up the couple storyline was terrible. All of the additional things they brought in to add tension felt like they just pulled a few ideas out of a hat and stuck them in. They didn’t feel well fleshed out.
As I mentioned before, I loved the friendships in this show. I liked watching the friendships develop and their little circle widening to allow others in.
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Poorly written story full of work-place harassment
If your idea of a good relationship is one in which there is constant bullying going on, this is the show for you. She works in the kitchen for a prominent family. The young "master" supposedly has feeling for her, but there is no way that you could tell by the way he acts. He was constantly grabbing her, shoving her around and basically his behavior was one long tantrum. In addition, he had no regard for her personal space (which if you felt like he liked her, you might be able to put up with, but since I didn't get that he liked her, I was bothered by this.) In a fit of anger he kicks her out of the house, but then tracks her down to bully her some more. I realize that during the time frame depicted and because of her station in life, she didn't have many options, but the idea of her spending her life with a bully just put me off. I hate the "getting drunk so we don't have to explain our actions" trope and that was used here as well. All of a sudden, in the sober light of day, all is forgiven and she's back in the family manner, Marriage is mentioned but never does he express feelings of love for her.ACTING/DUBBING: I didn't feel that the actors were very good, but they certainly didn't have much to work with either! They seemed to feel that emotions were supposed to be shown through long stares and big eyes. Add to that the terrible job of dubbing - in addition to the shrill, whiny voices you get treated to the sounds of them eating, chewing and swallowing, like that was an important part of the story.
CHEMISTRY - there were a couple of places where the male lead's eyes warmed up a little, but I was unable to forgive his treatment of her the rest of the time.
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Weak heroine
LMH and SYJ are both very good in this series, but I had a hard time getting past what a doormat she was. I don't care for females that are so strong they are off-putting, but she was at the TOTAL other end of the scale! The "poor me" attitude was irritating. This drama went on a lot longer than I felt it should have. Also, the second lead couple were just evil and I hated the things they did. Some shows just don't age well either, whether due to the lack of production value or the storyline. Happy ending - cute proposal. They get high marks for good kissing scenes.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Best to watch after you have been watching K-dramas for awhile
I watched this drama shortly after I began to watch K-dramas. Though I enjoyed it, I didn’t know enough about K-dramas and the actors to get the in-depth feeling of enjoyment that I got this time around. The fact that I am a romance junkie, and that this is not a romance, is also a testament to my enjoyment of it.SCRIPT/WRITING: The script was very well-written. The interweaving of the characters between 1996 and 2016 was intricate and I, as a viewer, felt that I was being given a couple of clues during every episode. There was always something happening, so I definitely didn’t feel that “wasted time” I feel in a lot of K-dramas. I imagined the writer having to work with a big white board and some kind of organization chart to keep everyone straight – in the past and in the present. Different people with the same names, figuring out how the people would inter-relate in both time periods, as well managing not to have this be drama look and sound like a farce – the script was tight without obvious story loopholes.
ACTING: Choi Jin Hyuk (as Park Kwang Ho) and Yoon Hyun Min (as Kim Seon Jae) were a dream team, seriously. You take one hothead and team him up with a detective that is as cold as ice, and if the chemistry isn’t right, it won’t work. The chemistry here was perfect, yin to yang. Their relationship developed their personalities but there was no obvious point when you noticed it happening. It was such an organic transition and the further I went in the drama, the more I cared about both of them. I have appreciated both of them in dramas in the past (though I seriously would like to see Yoon Hyun Min in another romantic lead role). Lee Yoo Young (as Shin Jae Yi) started out cold and, to be honest, a little creepy. The first time I watched this drama, I felt that her acting was very flat because she pretty much had one expression. Seeing this again, I really appreciated her very contained acting. She was a good foil for the two main leads and I loved her interactions with both of them.
There were multiple supporting actors that I have enjoyed in other shows. I liked them in this, as well. The police officers in the current time were where a lot of the comedic timing came in. Watching them interact with someone from the past and not knowing anything about that was amusing, yet at the end, when they knew everything, you could see that deep friendships had been formed.
MUSIC: I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the music (so at least it wasn’t distracting!). There was one sound effect periodically when we’d see the villain that sounded very animalistic and scary and I thought that was effective.
It had a very good, touching ending. This was a smart drama and one that I will be highly recommending.
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Short drama about the difference between the "haves" and the "have nots"
This drama is only two episodes, and the writers have managed to write a clear, concise story, without giving up character development. It's basically a story about the struggles of those that don't have much and wish for more, for those that have everything and take it for granted, and what happens when those lives converge.Yun Joon Suk as Lee Min Sung is just a tall bunch of sweetness. His calm demeanor, his sweet smile, and the way he treated others - I could totally imagine being friends with him. I don't believe I've seen him in anything else, so now I'll have to be on the lookout!
Nam Ji Hyun as Oh Ah Young was a terrific performance. I've seen her in many things and I've always enjoyed her acting. There is something about the way that she talks that is just fascinating. The way her speech patterns are short, clipped, and staccato just draw and hold your attention. She felt a little too old for this part, but certainly not enough to diminish my enjoyment of the show.
They had a sweet chemistry in the brief times they were together. There was one hug, no kisses. And the photography in the forest was absolutely stunning.
So, if you don't want to invest too much time in a show, and need a break from all the angst, you would probably enjoy this.
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I didn't expect much, so in that respect I wasn't disappointed
I’ve seen other short shows done well, so I know it’s possible. This, to me, was not one of them. We’ve seen this story done many times before. It’s kind of a “local girl makes good” story, but I didn’t care for any of the characters. The female lead was not very nice and she uses her hands in such a way that her fingernails always seem to be the focal point of the shot. There was something a little creepy about the male lead and he was a bit of a bully. In addition, I don’t feel he had the looks or the charisma to be the male lead. The second FL was an over-the-top caricature of an evil person - screaming, screeching, foot stomping, she had it all. I have to be honest, the second male lead was attractive and probably could have been the lead, in looks and in the way he was written. He was just nicer than the male lead.This is a show you might enjoy when you need a break from longer, more well-done works.
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Short and cute
This was a very cute show that didn't require much commitment. The premise was interesting and made me wonder how I'd feel about knowing what people were thinking all the time. The female lead was just darling and can we talk about the male lead's voice? Oh my goodness, his voice was so deep and smooth...amazing.There was a point to this story, other than just the romance in general. It's about reading cues and listening to people, which I thought was a very good thing to bring up. We often go through life so focused on ourselves that we have no clue as to what other people like, dislike, are concerned about, etc.
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If you're going to be in a relationship, you have to think about others
This web show felt like a "what not to do" show, as far as relationships are concerned. The lead actress was beautiful (she reminded me of a couple of other Korean actresses), but oh my gosh, I could totally see why she had such difficulties with her relationships! She was very immature and self-centered, plus she didn't seem to know what she wanted from one moment to the next. She was very demanding. As a man, if I were in a relationship with her, I'd feel like I always had to be careful about everything I said and did.The actors in each episode were good, and the storyline from each episode was good and stood on its own, Each man had a different "issue" that she had problems with.
As I was watching this, I thought that there was something to be said for being alone, rather than in multiple relationships when you are unhappy in each.
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Fluffy, no angst
What happens when you get married the day you meet someone? That is the story for this 7-episode show. You know, sometimes you just need a show that doesn't require a lot of commitment. This was perfect for that. This show is fluffy and cute, with literally no angst involved. No evil characters, no parents trying to keep them apart, no crazy woman trying to take the lead away from someone else.Itagaki Mizuki is so handsome. It's a shame that part of the time he was doing an imitation of a sheepdog and his hair was completely covering his beautiful eyes.
Matsui Airi was so cute. I was kind of bothered by her attempts to try to BE cute. These two were very sweet together.
Aside from the show being nice and short, there was more skinship than I remember ever seeing in any Asian drama in the past. You know, sometimes it's also nice to get away from the open-eyed, arms-straight-at-your-side kisses. I realize that it's a cultural thing to a certain extent. One of the reasons I enjoy these shows is because they are clean and leave pretty much everything to your imagination. However, it's always nice to see a couple and get the feeling that they might actually like one another, and that she's not terrified of being approached.
So, I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching this show. Again, it was very cute.
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Fate - it's funny, yet bittersweet
So, after being disappointed in the last couple of shows I tried, I saw a clip for this on Facebook and figured I'd give it a try. This show definitely showed me that you can have a truly engaging drama without the episodes going on an on. This is only 10 episodes, each about 25 minutes long. So, it's kind of got that webtoon feel. Kim Eun Sook is the producer and she's got serious writing credits to her name - Goblin, Descendants of the Sun, Secret Garden, Mr. Sunshine, The Heirs, King: The Eternal Monarch. This show definitely has the Goblin feel to it, and I'm not complaining.The story has been told before. A god of destiny has written the female lead's destiny, wanting to make it a masterpiece. Once he gets to know her, he realized that the destiny he envisioned for her was all wrong. Personal involvement for a god of destiny is a no-no, you get eliminated and go into the ether somewhere. I love how the writers slowly revealed her past history with said god of destiny. The longer I watched it, the more I felt "If you're meant to be, you'll end up meeting in one way or another" (great line, by the way). Their lives were intertwined, and it was so interesting for us as viewers to discover that, and when the female lead makes that discovery, it's an "aha" moment, yet heartbreaking at the same time.
In this show, the K-drama cliches really worked - fate, coffee (do Koreans really love their coffee as much as it is portrayed in dramas?), rain, umbrellas, first snow.
I felt that the acting was very good. Our clues to the passage of time seemed to be driven by the hairstyle of the lead. Curly hair, straight hair. The chemistry between the leads was very good, as was the bromance between the two main gods of destiny. The lead actor's attractiveness, for me, grew as the show developed. His development of emotions was very understated and real and were always held in check, often revealed by only a small smile.
I loved the soundtrack. A lot of it was very haunting and went perfectly with the scenes. I especially liked the song Time Machine by Jeong Sewoon - he has the perfect voice for the vibe they were going for.
Special effects. Amazing! The effects they used for eliminating a god were surreal and wispy. When they went into the penthouse/book room, those effects were so good, the changing colors, the darkness, the mystery.
I had to lower my rating one point because of the ending. It was a little to ambiguous for me. It went in line with the rest of the show, but it just wasn't satisfying for me. Was he just going to keep being eliminated over and over? And what happened to the rule of it only happening three times? In my head I've written my own ending and guess I'll have to be happy with that. This show has definite re-watch value for me, though. The writing was very clever and there was more humor than I expected.
I'm so glad I watched this show!!
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Very smartly written
It wasn't one of my very favorites, only because it was low on romance. However, this show was well-written, and the characters were developed very well. I loved the concept of the five main characters being friends for many years. One of the reasons that this show was so enjoyable was that the characters weren't cliched - a woman was the head of neurosurgery, a female soldier, a single dad - kind of the opposite of what we have grown to "expect". Each person had their strengths, as well as their idiosyncrasies. I also liked that the characters worked in different areas of the hospital, neurosurgery, general surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics. This kept the story lines fresh. The stories of the hospitalized patients were often so heart-wrenching (There was a lot of crying going on by me), but that was balanced by the funny interactions between the doctors. This cast played well off of each other and you could really feel their friendships. There was a happy ending, of sorts, with a couple of things left hanging in the balance, I'm assuming so that they can be addressed in season 2. I also liked that this didn't have a lot of the K-drama tropes - such as love triangles with an evil person, and I don't believe I saw one wrist grab in the whole show!Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Short and sweet
Very cute, short drama. The episodes were only about 15 minutes long. They managed to pack a complete storyline into the series, without all the "filler" that so many of the dramas are plagued with. Neither Seo Ji Soo nor Shin Jun Seop seemed very comfortable in their acting, but they had some very cute scenes together.This show speaks to the pitfalls of being a celebrity. I didn't see much difference between the two different female characters (played by the same actress) other than one never smiled.
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Sweet story
I was looking forward to this rom-com since I first heard about the casting of Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na. I love both of their works as actors, and I already knew they had amazing chemistry after watching them in Goblin.I'll have to admit, the first couple of episodes had me a little worried. I was afraid her character was going to be too over the top. But this is an example of why you should be a little patient with Asian shows. By episode three I was pretty much hooked. There wasn't really anything original about the story line, but the way the story was told was Lovely! Romantic, funny, touching, believable. The two main leads were just wonderful together and watching this gave me such a warm feeling. The nod to Descendants of the Sun was very funny. My only complaint is that the ending was too rushed, but this is one I can definitely watch again.
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Personally, I preferred this over the show
I watched this movie after watching the show and I have to say I preferred the movie. There wasn't a lot of ancillary stuff going on, and Park Hae Jin's character (Yoo Jung) was more likeable (although, not really until the very end). The storyline was still dark and you didn't often know what to think about him. Seol was very standoffish throughout, so I couldn't really warm up to her. In this movie version, though, I really got the sense of them BOTH being square pegs in a round hole, and the fact that they were both different drew them to one another. I didn't like seeing girls get hit by a man, but I realize that was part of the storyline. I didn't feel the strong sense of disappointment at the end of the movie that I did at the end of the show.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Watch it for Riley Wang's character
15 episodes that felt so much longer than that. The only reason I stuck with it was because I was able to binge watch it. If I was watching it an episode at a time, I would have given up and moved on. The concept was good, but the execution left something to be desired. Li Zheng and Shao Xi were children whose parents decided before they were born that they should marry when they grew up. That fact was mentioned numerous times, but was not explored at all. The female lead character of Shao Xi was good - she was rough around the edges, good at sports, and very loyal to her friends. I liked the fact that she was upfront early on about her feelings for Li Zheng. The character of Li Zheng is where I had the problem - every episode was him looking at her longingly and not telling her how he felt. I never understood why it took him so long. The trauma in his past affected him, but I didn't think it was enough to warrant him being so emotionless toward her. They were cute when they finally got together, other than the fake-looking kisses, plus the writers made us wait until too late in the show to bring them together. The ending of the show was a happy, though lackluster, one.The saving grace of this show was the second male lead, played by Riley Wang. When we were first introduced to him, he appeared to be a player, so I was slow to warm up to him. He was always around, and just never "got" her rejections. As the show went along, he definitely matured. Granted, there was a progression of years from the beginning to the end of the show, but let's be honest, some people never grow up! He appeared to watch out more for Shao Xi's physical and emotional safety than Li Zheng did. Even though he cared deeply for her, he was able to put that aside for her happiness. He was a wonderful character to watch.
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