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Tonally uneven, poorly structured, with an insanely sweet lead couple
I wish this drama was better. There's a lot of potential in the premise, which is fresh and fun, and you've got two great looking and quick good actors as your leads, but the execution just isn't there.Tonally, this drama either doesn't know what it wants to be (ultra sweet romance or dark thriller or farcical comedy?) or wants to be all of the things mentioned and doesn't know how to meld them together into a cohesive whole (there is only one drama that I've ever seen that can blend super sugary romance, serious and dark themes and pure comedy together and that's Joy of Life, but that drama is such a masterclass in writing, acting and directing that it's unfair to judge anything else against it).
What you end up with is a drama that has some great romance, some good action, a hell of a lot of baggy and unnecessary scenes and some comedy that is either deeply disrespectful and homophobic, or gives you whiplash. The ongoing gag of the gangsters that were beaten up by the female lead is funny at first, but when you've got it paired next to a scene where her best friend is in the hospital after being kidnapped and possibly tortured and raped by a serial killer, the gangster stuff starts to feel cheap and ugly.
This drama is a mess. It's all over the place, it has uneven acting and is very draggy in some areas and very rushed in others. I like rewatching it for the lead couple, but I find myself fast forwarding like crazy. That's really the only way I can watch this show -- treat it like a highlight reel. Keep about 30% (the romance! The fighting!) and throw out the rest.
Greatest Weakness: The homophobic 'comedy'
Greatest Strength: The romance between the leads
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The story line mixes rom-com and action/thriller elements in a very sucessfull way.
I honestly felt like the thriller plot was lead in a very smart way giving depth and helping the story line development without being overwatched nor rushed in the end like other romcoms. Also loved how the comical elements were smartly incorporated in the story without being too much nor out of place. The drama gave me some of my biggest laughts !
Both leads grew on my heart and almost fell for the second male lead ! Loved Bong Soon kirky yet super cute character that you never got enough of but most of all the fact the the charater unlike other strong FL never totally fell fot the ML knight syndrome and remained the show stealer <3
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I have no memory of the music so I just gave that a generic 5.0.
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Ironicaly Weak Female MC
Another trope of the female lead always getting herself into trouble and making terribly emotionally charged decisions that draws out the conflict for another 10 episodes. The side charcters don't serve more than plot progression, objects for dispensible humor, or sudden context so the show brings nearly 0 consideration to them having character growth. Jokes where the punchline is "acting/being gay" painfully overdone. The ONLY saving grace is the cast who did well carrying out such a lacking, one note script.I have no notes for the actual cast. The character dynamics were great and it felt like the main couple had a great connection looking at them but writing them together came so forced. He might as well have been omniciently summoned every moment she's not thinking of him because the sentimental niceties that draw them together are outweighed by his sheer instance on getting closer to her through the show that it's more like he wore her guard down by being the most orbitting figure in her life. They are cute together and there are a handful of funny instances from side characters but the crude humor and letting the villian just keep getting away made it such an annoyance to watch. Not for me and never again.
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Strong leads, enjoyable, but the plot and focus are a bit of a mess
I thought the cast for this was very strong, especially the three leads. Bong Soon and Min Hyuk have near fatal chemistry and that's the clear highlight of this drama. Bong Soon is adorable and Min Hyuk's mannerisms and romantic approach are overpowering. The rival character is also one of the strongest I've seen in this role, even if I had such a strong distaste for him early on. I don't care at all for love triangles but this one was relatively reasonable and well-acted.The show has way, way too much comic relief and non-central character focus, to the point that I felt like every episode had nearly 10 minutes of filler. The comedy itself is often very lowest common denominator (don't get me started on the wine gag and loud is funny humor), though the main character centered comedy is pretty good. I'm also an opponent of overarching psycho pervert thriller-style conflict, though here it sort of makes sense given the comic-book/action movie premise. This conflict trope is extremely overused and very often distracts from what actually works for the central relationships. In my mind, Strong Woman Bong Soon should've been a more focused romcom with episodic villains; for instance, they should've made housing development and local thugs the central source of conflict - the show teases this possibility before diving into the thriller stuff. I think defeating villains and converting them to acquaintances/friends would work way better for the tone this show sets early than using the genius evil sicko. One example of why this fails - the main antagonist, despite the job he has, carries around basically tens if not hundreds of rolls of cash; honestly, if the plot needed it, I'm sure he would've had more money on hand than the ML. He's meant to be taken seriously but the overall presentation of his character doesn't make a lot of sense. The slice of life side of this show is undoubtedly the best part so the conflict should be on that level; as it is, there's a sharp divide between what works tonally and the conflict the show forces.
Also, I didn't like the use of wealth in this show (though I'm not a fan of this dynamic in general). Min Hyuk is a very young CEO entrepreneur-type who's absurdly wealthy and who uses it and its influence to basically coerce the main character to him. I don't like rich guy/poor girl dynamics because it leads to a lot of plot expedients and holes in logic. For instance, "if he is so rich, why didn't he do X, Y, and Z" that anyone with that money would do in the circumstance? Beyond such plotting problems, Bong Soon is also extremely economically dependent on her relationship's success to maintain her job. I think having a character be filthy rich actually robs us of layers that their personality could've taken on otherwise and, in this case, moves the relationship further towards the concerning side of the spectrum. I had to bracket off dimensions of their relationship to fully enjoy it, but Bong Soon as a character is so compelling that eventually the wealth problems fade a bit into the background.
Still, a lot of this could be ignored because the show doesn't take itself too seriously and aims mostly for fun over logic. Even so, I think the lack of a clear focus and the weak overarching conflict are major detriments. I would recommend this because it has so many features that one might connect to when watching. Even if I'm pretty critical above, it has a lot going for it at the character level.
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A bit too much? Yes!
Honestly, I only watched this because I love Park Bo Young, but the first half of the season was funny and entertaining. Even tho it looked like it was made in the early 2000s.😅 The base of the story was great, but I was disappointed, because they didn't do anything with it. I mean, why she's so strong, where comes her power etc. The main characters, Bong Soon and Min Hyuk were great together. Bo Young and Hyung Sik had a great chemistry. It really is a feelgood show with some crime story in it. Nothing special, but overall, a decent drama. One of the most predictable drama too.What I didn't liked, is the second part. The romance was good, but sometimes it was too childish, still it was funny. The biggest problem with this show is the writing. It was all over the place and over the top. One normal guy is smarter and tougher than anyone, basically. Also, this show should've been a 12 episode max. There were way too many filler episodes with the school kids and those mafia guys. I don't skip parts in anything, but this time I felt I have to because neither of those scenes added anything to the story. Not even the scene with Bong Soon's parents at the shop.
The love triangle was weird as hell, but I was happy that they didn't do the same cliché stuff, but I didn't like it when they started it again in the finale. It was 100% unnecessary, and also, childish.
Overall, it's a good, fun show, if you're not thinking about the plot too much. Park Bo Young is probably enough to carry the show until the finale.
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What a batshit crazy useless show!!!!!
I am seriously questioning the sanity of people who found this show even remotely likeable.The story was a hot mess. There was no particular plot. The plot was the basically 3 good lead actors trying to be cute along with useless unfunny fillers and bunch of people overacting. That's it. That's the plot.
What were those bunch of goons getting beaten up all the time? Why is a very loving father getting beaten up funny?? What was that priest kind of dude trying to do all the time?
Where was the story? Just looking cute can not be whole plotline of the show.
Also what was the really dark weird creepy thriller doing in between??
Basically.. What was this show?? WHY WAS THIS SHOW EVER MADE?
Plus oh my god the amount of homophobia. Yeah i understand most romcoms are not progressive or even give much thought to it but OH MY GOD. The "gay is funny" thing was so on the face. I get it. You think homosexuality is some kind of disease. But can you please have a limit.
The re watch value is actually 0 but that is not allowed.
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Are Korean people so homophonic?
I have been always appreciating Kdrama, but this drama despite its high rank, has gravely dissatisfied me. It is so Pejorative toward LGBT community to garner the high rate acceptance of society. You can clearly trace this disparaging by hearing phrases such as:1- I am a normal man and I like wemen.
2- he is not gay he is a decent person.
Are gay men not decent or normal??
Is the prove of male lead being heterosexual a strenghtening point of his character??
I didn't consider the Korean people as a modern society to be homophonic but this drama makes me mull over again.
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still the last 2 episodes made the show justice which is the reason why i was able to give this a high score
the acting was fine but during some scene Ji Soo was quite akward and not believeble as a detective.
i don't think i'll ever rewatch this
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So cute
This drama is very good because there are many aspects similar to real life, such as the fact that there are many strong women in reality but are still seen as weak or the discrimination that occurs both in the family and in society,the woman being seen most of the time by the bottom. I love this drama because it has the best chemistry among the main characters and how everything it takes a turn and become very thrilling and dangerous. Especially this backward turn of power,this time the women being the strongest not a man it's the aspect that I love the most and the behavior of the main lead when he is in love it's just very funny and cute. I wish I could give this drama the highest rating of 1000000 stars but till then I'm gonna give it 10 stars plus my heart because I love it and sorry if I made some mistakes, English is not my first language.Was this review helpful to you?
What knocks off points for me were two things: first there were 3 characters I really disliked and did not see the purpose of them even being present in the story and the second is the tonal shift in the storyline toward the end. I'll explain better.
First the 3 characters I really disliked were Hee Ji who was Gook Doo's girlfriend in the beginning of the show, Kwang Bok who was one of the 'leaders' for the gang that was after Bong Soon, and Oh Dol Pyo who was the head of the Strategy Department. The girlfriend was there only to showcase Bong Soon's one sided crush but then her personality and actions irked me as there was no reason for any of it since that sub plot did not move the story along in any way. The last two characters were played by the same actor and I truly hated both. The gangster was just meant to be a ridiculous punching bag but since there were so many other gangsters that were all silly as well then this character was not needed. And Mr. Oh was brought in later in the series just to create a weird conflict within the Strategy Department for Bong Soon as well as be another comedic relief but again the character was just annoying and unneeded.
Now the story line. This show did try a little hard to mesh a couple genres together. It is a rom com/ comic super hero/ mystery thriller/ comedy all in one. In a lot of ways the writers made this work quite well. Where they faltered was from about episode 11-15 when the climax of the mystery thriller was beginning to really set in. While the story progressed well with the mystery part it was the constant scene shifts to unimportant characters and comedy scenes that felt so jarring that I was annoyed. I ended up skipping portions here of the gangsters side storyline and the parents in favor of just seeing the main plot and characters.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this show and highly recommend it especially if you are looking for a cute romance or a show to get you giggling.
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Great chemistry between ML and FL
I don't have a lot to say about this drama except that it should be watched just for ML and FL. They had amazing chemistry, romance, kissing, you name it. Everything else was forgettable.I ended up skipping through the scenes with the parents, gangsters, high school kids. They were not interesting and felt more like fillers than part of the actual story. Even the villain was kind of disappointing because the writers did not really develop him. He had no backstory and his motivations were kind of just doing bad things for the sake of doing bad things, kidnapping just to see his victims suffer, and that's it. He was a one dimensional personality with no substance. However, the actor who played the kidnapper was very handsome and I wish he was cast more in main roles.
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