Something Different
From the early episodes, Because This Is My First Life makes it pretty clear that it’s not going to give you many of the K-drama tropes that are the core of so many other romcoms. Most fans, myself included, love those cliches and repeated themes and plot elements. It’s part of the appeal, and what makes many such good comfort viewing. Because This Is My First Life clearly has different intentions.If you’re in the right mindset for this show, it’s incredibly rewarding. Few others manage to strike such a good balance between being thoughtful, nuanced, quirky, fun, and deeply romantic. Maybe none do. It’s a dramatized exploration of the meanings of love and marriage. There’s a lot of introspection. But it also delivers great, lovable characters, sufficient comedy, and is thoroughly enjoyable. It’s never too self-serious.
Every relationship in the show is interesting in its own way, and they’re all treated like they matter. There aren’t a lot of throwaway comic relief scenarios or characters. Those that didn’t win me over at the beginning had me rooting for them by the end. (There is one character who didn’t work for and felt a little unfinished, but that’s partly because the others are so well realized and developed.)
In later episodes, the show tends to become very contemplative and literary. The dialog is often poetic — sometimes actual poetry. The pace and frequent pauses to indulge metaphors or peel back layers may get a little boring for some viewers. It’s very much in my personal “twee with all the feels” wheelhouse, though. I don’t think I’ve ever been as drawn to the romance elements in a drama as much as this one.
The excellent cast, great direction, editing, and production are essential to keeping it all together and maintaining the balance. This could easily get too precious, cringey, or contrived, but never crosses those lines for me. It tries to do something a little different, but still very much a K-drama, and succeeds beautifully.
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A must watch drama.♥♥
A must watch drama.Although this drama is old (2017) and I was exposed to it only now, but at the same time it is also true for 2024.
Let's start with the perfect casting, move on to the wonderful soundtrack, and end with a plot that conveys so many messages. In the title it is noted that this is, among other things, a "comedy", although I found myself laughing a little but at the same time I found myself crying more than laughing, crying because of a witty plot and such accurate messages concerning many social aspects, sexual harassment at work, the difficulty of the 30 to purchase an apartment because of economic aspects, (this is true for many countries and not only in Korea) the status of women in society, married life, tradition, customs, what is love? (between spouses and between parents and their children), difficulty in self-realization due to prejudices, and of course the beauty of determination and friendship between friends.
It is true that there are sections that are slow but at the same time it is important to listen to the content they say.
Through three couples, (each of whom has a different worldview regarding the essence of their lives), they manage to convey important social messages, which makes this drama high-quality, witty writing and accurate characters along with wonderful acting.
I couldn't help but rate her 10/10
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This review may contain spoilers
To be honest, I decided to watch this because of how cute Jung So Min was (caught me off guard when she first appeared). Stuck on and oh wow, a theme that isn't often covered in drama, contract marriages. I watched another show with a similar theme, and that really hit my chords so yeah, I was confident that this show would too. In the end, it did not disappoint me, got me my (oh so badly needed) fluff fix for the month, and made me ponder yet again about the concept of marriage. Let me just explain my ratings in detail, you can skip to the tl;dr if you don't want to be spoilt.Story: 8.5/10
The show I watched with a similar theme was Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, the scenario was right about similar to this show, except the wife had to pay for rent in the relationship in this show. I love that they developed characters well enough for the story to flow decently with good humour (Bok Nam and Bo Mi), but we do see our main characters develop a little too extremely near the end. They were hinting at the development but the catalyst that raced the development (Jung Mi) barely had sufficient presence, it left me slightly disappointed but they still did well.
The motif lasted well throughout the whole 16 episodes - about security in a relationship, and was brought back and forth the various relationships, even with Soo Jong and her mom. I believe anyone watching this would unconsciously reconsider the present day value of marriage, whether they agree with what the different views put forth by the characters in the show, or not. It still does impress me that they're actively embracing different forms of the modern heterosexual marriages in Korea, where I assume it is largely conservative.
Acting/Cast: 9.5/10
I love the cast. Didn't know anyone of them before this drama, and Jung So Min slayed me! I love her looks so much, and her acting worked wonders. Time to dig up all her old dramas for binging then!
Back to the cast and acting as a whole, the chemistry was wonderful but I do find the Ho Rang - Won Seok pair a little awkward especially since they were supposed to be playing a loving couple of 7 years.
Music: 6/10
The OST is decent, but it's nothing worth discussing or remembering. Goblin's still remains in my head even though I literally only heard it once while watching an episode of it on TV. I think the production crew for this show just didn't hit right at the jackpot when it came to music.
Rewatch value: 7/10
I'll probably rewatch it for the fluff scenes with Ji Ho all cute and flustered. Not much for the rest.
tl;dr:
A great plot that does its best to develop characters who were acted out very well, and will provoke some thoughts about the concept of marriage that we are all familiar with.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great Slice of Life drama
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2017 South Korean television drama with 16, 60 minute, episodes.Nam Se-hee (Lee Min-ki) is a software application chief developer who is very talented in his field. He is practically emotionless - it would have been easy to convince me he was a robot. Yoon Ji-ho (Jung So-min) is opposite in almost every way. She is a hard working assistant drama writer who finds herself without a place when her younger brother gets a woman pregnant, marries, and takes over the house they occupied together. Ji-ho spends some time couch surfing until a friend tells her about someone in need of a housemate. Se-hee and Ji-ho do not, at first, realize they are opposite sex - there assumption was those that recommended the co-habit knew their gender and paired accordingly. Having completely different schedules it is some time before they realize and, given the conservative nature of the culture - part ways. Ji-ho finds herself in undesirable housing circumstances and constantly migrates back to the environment where she felt most safe - Se-hee's house. They develop a friendship of sorts and Se-hee approaches Ji-ho with the idea of a tenant/landlord relationship in the form of a two-year contract marriage. Their friends and family believe it to be real and soon the two start to develop real feelings for each other. But something in Se-hee's past keeps him from getting close, to anyone. Will their love find a way before it is too late? Ji-ho has two close female friends who also have their trials with life and love. Their side stories are as entertaining to watch as the main story.
Spoiler 🚨 When I first started watching this is was hard for me to understand why it rated so high on other sites. As the story developed I quickly understood why the story was so entertaining and compelling. As we lean more about each of the very complex characters, their behavior starts to seem much more real and genuine. The deep relationships that develop also make sense over time. I really liked this as a sort of slice of life of those in their 30s and 40s and the struggles that occur when life does not play out the way you envisioned.
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This is the slice of life drama I never knew I needed
Okay so first of all, THIS DRAMA IS SO RELATABLE IN SO MANY LEVELS. It doesn't matter if you already are in a relationship or not. This drama brings in a lot of realizations in life. On how hard it is to get jobs and apartments, etc., It's like that story your mom tells you over and over again during the holidays but this one really strikes your heart. Story wise I think this drama is really well written the characters were really fleshed out on its finest. I love how you can actually differentiate the character's colors in this drama. 🙂I love the cinematography of this drama. It really makes you feel the emotion of the scene through their creative shots of super close up to the eyes which makes the viewer feel more intimate with the character. I think its a bit risky move but the actors pulled it off together with the camera work so I salute to that.
The actors are really good at portraying their characters. Its really interesting to see such actors pull off those kinds of characters. Kudos to them for that.. 😊
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Millennial Existentialism done right
One of my favorite dramas. I wish the writers understood that THIS is what many of us want to see: realistic, complex, bitter, unhappy characters who want a better life with all the complications that entails.This is one of the best series about young adults trying to define their lives. There are no millionaires who will solve your life overnight, no magic formulas or stupid plot twists to make love arise between the main characters. It's pure realism, uncomfortable and funny. A clear reflection on what it means to grow up and realize all the beauty and horror we take on in the search for our independence.
One of the best couples in the history of K-Dramas and oh my God Lee Min Ki in this bitter facet changed my brain chemistry because of how hot he looks.
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Had potential, but ultimately untenable
I was excited to watch this because Lee Min Ki is generally great and the 8.4 rating was impressive. Sadly, it didn't live up to the hype. This is one of those dramas with an identity crisis. It wants to be too many things and only succeeds at a couple of them and bombs the rest. The main thing that it bombed was having a mature lead couple with an honest relationship. It had potential at first, but in the last 4 episodes the FL became soooo unlikeable; just a mopey insecure girl playing games with the ML's head. My eyes were rolling so hard my head hurt. I hate it when dramas purport to go against the status quo or champion feminism but then so quickly undermine that. The thing is, if you write a tsundere character, you have to live with the consequences. If she really loved him as he was, then it was totally ridiculous for her to BREAK him like that. It was sad to see him become such a mess. In fact, he had already done all of the things that she would qualify as evidence of his affection for her. They should have just written it so that someone told her about the things he'd done (e.g. the book he got, or how he beat up the assistant director, since that is apparently the kind of gesture that would please her.)Anyway, just as others have said, the supporting cast was exceptional! Love CEO Ma; it was always a relief when he was in a scene. And Bo Mi was a real treat too. Since the subplots were pretty engaging, I can muster a 6.5 for this otherwise disappointing drama.
Also, LMK has a fantastic full-toothed grin, so it was a real bummer that his character only smiled like twice.
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I had no idea who Lee Mi Ki was, but I liked his performance, I like Jung So Min so i gave a try to this drama, and I fell in love with everything. I liked the plot and the ost was amazing and well placed in the situations.
I love the story. It's soft, calm...with a good amount of comedy. I liked the various relationships in the story: the problems, the thoughts of each one, the equalities or differences and their evolution.
In the end this made me reflect and see the various ways of thinking and do things
Love this <3
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started out strong but the ending is awful
This one started off with the promise of a refreshing plot, with innovative characters but as episodes went by, all the usual k-drama plot devices kept showing up and after episode 10, I couldn’t help but skim over. There were two positive points for this: the openness of the characters when talking about s*x and Soo-Ji and Mr. Ma’s relationship.Was this review helpful to you?
Thoughtful
It's been a long time since such a drama hit close to home and made me question everything I thought about career, marriage, and life in general. There was so much to love here and it's rare to see two characters that are just so respectful of each other's space and opinions.If anything, however, I wish the back end of the drama had the same oomph factor. It felt like the story gave up some of those life lessons that hit me so hard in exchange for the romantic plotlines, and as a twenty-one-year-old, questioning the institution of marriage just wasn't something I could relate as much to.
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