1
1
sapphicdisaster
Austria
Meh
Is something wrong with me? Is it me? Am I the problem? Why can’t I see what everyone else seems to see in this drama?
Everyone was buzzing for this but I honestly hate having to wait in-between episodes and decided to not start this drama before more than 10 episodes were out. So I waited. And it just wasn’t what I wanted from it.
I wanted to love this so so so much. I needed this show, I needed a sweet, cozy, wholesome romance. There were days where I told myself to push through solely so I would live, to watch Homewtown Cha Cha Cha. And I can’t say that I was heavily disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either.
I want to start off by saying this: Hometown Cha Cha Cha is fine. It’s okay. It’s not bad by any means. But it’s just not more than that.
There are plenty of things to like about this: A beautiful, charming setting that will hit you with homesickness for a place you have never been to. Two good-looking leads. A catchy OST. A fun premise. Lots of lovable side characters. I sincerely love Yeo Hwa-jung, she was my favourite character by far, and even though I am not too pleased with the conclusion to her arc, she had the backstory I enjoyed the most and all things considered, she’s probably my favourite aspect of the entire show. There were a few comedic moments that made me chuckle. It was an alright watching experience. But people are calling this the romance drama of the year and I’m just not on board with that.
The number one thing I read about this show was how refreshing and healthy it was. And I just don’t see it. This felt more formulaic than I expected it to. We have our male lead who is perfect in every single way and always correct. His one flaw is being too caring. We have our female lead whose only job is to be proven wrong by our male lead or get saved by him. This is fine, honestly, what are most romance K-dramas if not female wish-fulfillment? But is it particularly new or interesting? I don’t think so. This felt less like a healthy and realistic portrayal of adult relationships and more like a self-insert fanfiction. There are times when I want that from a story but this wasn’t one of them.
Surprisingly enough, even though I am easy to please in that regard, I wasn’t crazy about the romance between the two leads. I didn’t really understand the progression of them falling for each other, to me, that kind of came out of the blue. Which is a shame because I do think that the actors have chemistry. But it took ages for their characters to even become something close to friends. They had the same surface-level arguments every single episode, which always ended with Doo-sik proving Hye Jin wrong, and next thing you know I was expected to believe that the two were in love as well when I wasn’t even convinced that they liked each other.
I wasn’t impressed with the way this show dealt with Hong's past either. Since we only unpack his backstory in the last ¼ of the show, the first ¾ of the drama felt weirdly trivial. All of the sudden, the entire feel of Hometown Cha Cha Cha just changed and got way too depressing for its own good. And the extent of trauma our male lead had, was way too heavy to be resolved in the little time the drama had left. It really felt like this show bit more off than it could chew. The subject matters were a tad too dark and the writing a tad too clumsy. Instead of our male lead having this ultra-depressing past, I much would have preferred it if both of our main characters could have been just two regular people, with regular people’s problems that made them flee from their city lives (similarly to Lovestruck In The City for example). But sadly Hometown Cha Cha lost everything that made it feel realistic or relatable by that point. And I honestly had to force myself to sit through the last few episodes, something I definitely didn't expect.
Maybe I am being too harsh on this drama. Maybe I would have given it a higher rating if my expectations had been lower. I gave My Roommate Is A Gumiho an 8.0 out of 10, and on every level, objectively speaking, that’s a worse show. But I knew what I wanted out of My Roommate Is A Gumiho and it delivered exactly that. I wanted it to be dumb, harmless, cheesy, and cringy fun and that’s what it ended up being. But out of Hometown Cha Cha I expected more. Something more adult, more, fresh, more interesting. And it just wasn’t any of those things.
Everyone was buzzing for this but I honestly hate having to wait in-between episodes and decided to not start this drama before more than 10 episodes were out. So I waited. And it just wasn’t what I wanted from it.
I wanted to love this so so so much. I needed this show, I needed a sweet, cozy, wholesome romance. There were days where I told myself to push through solely so I would live, to watch Homewtown Cha Cha Cha. And I can’t say that I was heavily disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either.
I want to start off by saying this: Hometown Cha Cha Cha is fine. It’s okay. It’s not bad by any means. But it’s just not more than that.
There are plenty of things to like about this: A beautiful, charming setting that will hit you with homesickness for a place you have never been to. Two good-looking leads. A catchy OST. A fun premise. Lots of lovable side characters. I sincerely love Yeo Hwa-jung, she was my favourite character by far, and even though I am not too pleased with the conclusion to her arc, she had the backstory I enjoyed the most and all things considered, she’s probably my favourite aspect of the entire show. There were a few comedic moments that made me chuckle. It was an alright watching experience. But people are calling this the romance drama of the year and I’m just not on board with that.
The number one thing I read about this show was how refreshing and healthy it was. And I just don’t see it. This felt more formulaic than I expected it to. We have our male lead who is perfect in every single way and always correct. His one flaw is being too caring. We have our female lead whose only job is to be proven wrong by our male lead or get saved by him. This is fine, honestly, what are most romance K-dramas if not female wish-fulfillment? But is it particularly new or interesting? I don’t think so. This felt less like a healthy and realistic portrayal of adult relationships and more like a self-insert fanfiction. There are times when I want that from a story but this wasn’t one of them.
Surprisingly enough, even though I am easy to please in that regard, I wasn’t crazy about the romance between the two leads. I didn’t really understand the progression of them falling for each other, to me, that kind of came out of the blue. Which is a shame because I do think that the actors have chemistry. But it took ages for their characters to even become something close to friends. They had the same surface-level arguments every single episode, which always ended with Doo-sik proving Hye Jin wrong, and next thing you know I was expected to believe that the two were in love as well when I wasn’t even convinced that they liked each other.
I wasn’t impressed with the way this show dealt with Hong's past either. Since we only unpack his backstory in the last ¼ of the show, the first ¾ of the drama felt weirdly trivial. All of the sudden, the entire feel of Hometown Cha Cha Cha just changed and got way too depressing for its own good. And the extent of trauma our male lead had, was way too heavy to be resolved in the little time the drama had left. It really felt like this show bit more off than it could chew. The subject matters were a tad too dark and the writing a tad too clumsy. Instead of our male lead having this ultra-depressing past, I much would have preferred it if both of our main characters could have been just two regular people, with regular people’s problems that made them flee from their city lives (similarly to Lovestruck In The City for example). But sadly Hometown Cha Cha lost everything that made it feel realistic or relatable by that point. And I honestly had to force myself to sit through the last few episodes, something I definitely didn't expect.
Maybe I am being too harsh on this drama. Maybe I would have given it a higher rating if my expectations had been lower. I gave My Roommate Is A Gumiho an 8.0 out of 10, and on every level, objectively speaking, that’s a worse show. But I knew what I wanted out of My Roommate Is A Gumiho and it delivered exactly that. I wanted it to be dumb, harmless, cheesy, and cringy fun and that’s what it ended up being. But out of Hometown Cha Cha I expected more. Something more adult, more, fresh, more interesting. And it just wasn’t any of those things.
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