This drama are stories of people (and animal) who had taste of life. Those who have fallen in and out of love, people who are in a turmoil relationship, people who are scared of trying and cats who deliberately left alone when their master is away from home. At some point in time in our 20's, we will experienced these kind of pain, happiness, sadness, hope, agony, bereavement, and love. Then, we will be like these characters: getting frustrated, doing unnecessary mistakes, hurting ourselves and one another, hoping for the best to come, and lastly learning to fall in love amidst all those events happened. That's the beauty of life, you have time to redeem yourself and be well in return.
"Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it is not the end." - John Lennon
Best beginning and best ending in all dramas so far.
Sweet dates are fluffy. Kisses are great. Confessions are the best.
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the romantic equivalent of having your teeth pulled
it's one of these dramas that I genuinely cannot understand how they are so popular here. the premise is nice enough: two young people entering a white marriage to afford life, and falling in love in the process. good, right? wrong. what follows is a cringe worthy attempt at a relationship but the problem is that you can't root for either character! the female lead is bland and the male lead is the stereotypical cold boss that because the standards for men are so low, he passes as decent. plus, the actor doesn't exhibit the charisma and to pull it off. and I've seen more chemistry between kindergarten kidsas for the two side stories, nothing interesting except Esom's character. she's so damn captivating and real, I was rooting for her all the way. unfortunately, she's been paired with a middle aged bore, when all my girl wanted was some no strings attached fun! god, they did her dirty.
overall, I don't see what other people see in this draft of a story, but if you enjoyed it, good for you
what you can watch instead: Something In The Rain, Forecasting Love and Weather, School 2017
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Side comments: It was really fun watching this drama with the comment section on because when major scenes would play out you could see the audience watching would be split about what they wanted for the main characters. I think thats the marking of a complex show; having people see different paths for the main couple. I think maturity is important when watching this show because some of the characters actions near the end may be hard to understand unless you can really understand how they're doing things out of love
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Along with the development of the lead characters, the supporting characters have fairly unique and memorable character arcs. Aside from the contract relationship premise, Because This is My First Life also tries to tackle the three modern day females with different perspectives setup. This drama does this very well. The roles of Woo Su Ji and Yang Ho Rang are able to share in some very poignant moments throughout the drama. I enjoyed how the portrayal of these female characters provided a commentary of the modern day woman and the challenges that she faces from day to day.
Personally, this was one of my favorite dramas this year. It was just pure perfection from start to end. It astutely created characters that had special circumstances, but were still entirely relatable. A feat not many dramas can aptly pull-off. I can’t recommend this one enough!
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For me I feel like this drama tries to solve that with the stories of 3 modern couples. cohabitation/contract marriage with past romance wounds couple, being a hard working woman vs carefree man, and a struggling long term relationship. This show tackles hard questions like traditional roles, sexual harassment, open/close communication, man vs women responsibility's.... Everything that happens has a reason and a purpose. The writing is very skilled and it is easy to miss something. There is no "filler plot". No one has to have a huge over the top emotional over acted moment to make a point or have the plot move on. More than once there is a cliche plot mentioned but it is glazed over as unimportant because they are adults. Ex- love triangles, yes they are there but instead of conflict that makes the Leads question their "love" it is used to build other emotions like understanding of their core person.
One of the things each couple has in common is money, but it is a factor that effects them differently. 1. Rent/ daily needs- a feeling of belonging somewhere. 2. Being young and together but not communicating about the future/ wedding expenses/ providing for a wife. 3. Being the only person that can support your mom when they get older + they have a disability- leading to holding back your true-self.
This drama hit me on a emotional level. I cried a few times. I feel like no matter where you are at in your dating life- this story has something for everyone to learn from. If not, then at lest you'll understand the importance of room 19 and a pocked of stars. 100% recommend.
Great great kisses....
~soft spoilers-
LOVE-
-For sure high in the list of best kisses.
-Best use of cat- they lived with it. In other dramas you can just tell the animals hate the actors. It felt like the cat could do what it wanted on set and was their real cat. lol
- No filler or extra drama. When the past is brought up its not a huge issues like in other shows.
-They don't use sex as a way to get people to want to keep watching. They don't need to take off shirts to show bodys or be extra provocative. Its there but its not cheesy.
- Lee Min Ki- his acting has so much depth. Starts off like a robot but in the end he is human as he recovers from his problems.
Don't like
The leads are cold-Its not in a bad way. They are just very damaged and try to protect themselves. Ji Ho had dead eyes with Se Hee sometimes -which would bother me as she is happy person.
-creeper plot- not needed for any plot, her going to work was enough for me. I think the protectiveness later is enough.
-sexual harassment- her emotional state is quick to change and we dont hear them talking about it or her finding out what he did for her.
- Her going away- I don't see it as selfish, I see it as poorly done. You think she is going out to collect stars but for me she is going to find herself. After the harassment, her core self was gone. IDK maybe cuz I'v never staying in a hostel, I might not understand. But they make it clear that her english skills make it hard to communicate with them. So I wish she had go on a real trip. Cuz for me after she came back, she left her single life to become an "our".
-
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Okay,i've finished this drama a while ago and i miss it like crazy. This is hands down one of the best dramas that I've ever watched. I don't know why but i got hooked since the beginning. It hit all the right notes. The plot was fun and exciting as hell. The couple felt so natural and unforced and I HAD SO MANY BUTTERFLIES because of them. I enjoyed it as much as Weightlifting fairy kim bok joo and Goblin,and that says something.
This is one of the most amazing, refreshing Korean Dramas I have seen in ages so please PLEASEEEE give it a try. And congrats to everyone who worked on this masterpiece.
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A wonderful story with a generally very positive and warm tone throughout (though things do derail a bit, I am not going to classify this one in the "stupid breakup" category because as much as I wanted it to work out without it, its presence added a lot of weight and I think made the story that much more valid).
The history of the various characters involved, particularly the main leads, adds a nice depth and explains why they act the way they do now, and serves to reinforce that you might think someone is a bit odd but there's a good reason why they are that way. The male lead's character in particular comes off cold, flat, intellectual and unemotional and you'll find out why during the course of the story.
One of the most powerful scenes for me was him going from someone smiling as he watches a soccer game, to a few moments later on the floor crying his eyes out, for a character that is cold and unemotional for the entirety of the show leading up to that point it makes it that much more painful to watch and you fully appreciate what he's going through. Brilliantly acted.
The main leads make a fantastic couple (they were paired up as Kim Mi So's parents in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim too, in Episode 10) and I'm definitely going to be looking out for more from them.
The second leads are awesome too, dealing with their own stresses and pressures both within relationships and within the workplace.
Good strong female leads in this in my view, in fact even some of the support/guest actors are filling strong character roles too such as the CEO that offers the female lead a writing contract (she has a bigger role in the story that shows strength in her character too, but I won't go into that!)
Absolutely brilliant, loved this one and it will definitely be on my re-watch list when I come to start looking for stories to enjoy again, the overflowing warm fuzzies on this one are like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket :)
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Because this is...disappointment
There is a reason this series is taking first places in several "underrated drama" lists. After having put it on hold a couple years ago, I now decided to pick it up again and absolutely loved it. Until... I didn't.When do I recommend watching this:
- You want to see something slow-paced and calm
- You want to see something different
- You like series feeling relatable or down-to-earth
- You don't expect great chemistry, a grand love or swoon-worthy romance (but realism)
- You still can enjoy a series even when the ending is messed-up / you're disappointment-proof
- You don't mind clichés, especially misunderstandings and back and forths
- You don't expect the series to actually challenge your way of thinking, but simply approve of what you already know in a creative way
This had everything to finally be different. It was slow and thoughtful, it showed the characters challenging societal standards, addressed common issues, and many topics were shown very directly and openly without palliating. It felt incredibly relatable. They showed that love isn't the only thing neccessary for relationships to work and proved that even romantic K-Dramas can do without clichés - until they didn't. Suddenly we have all those clichés coming around the corner, love is bigger than everything and issues are solved in ways I'd call irresponsible. You can admit this is your first life to show kindness and understanding towards your own (or other people`s) decisions. Or you can use it as an excuse. During the course of the episodes, the characters' actions and mindsets seemed to turn from one to the other.
As one person mentioned below in the comments, the FL's personality changes drastically when with ML. She suddenly appears so self-conscious and timid and the amount of things left unsaid between both of them started to massively bother me after the first half. FL is pulling the hardest series of back and forth-movements I have ever seen in a character. She is presented as a person who thinks everything through carefully - but she never really follows through. Towards the end I wanted to yell at the characters "being grown-up doesn't mean you never make mistakes - it means you deal with their consequences, so please, finally deal with them". For all the mistakes they make, I never saw an open conversation or a proper apology. In fact, character development was slow and barely existent, and most side characters almost disappeared towards the end.
What also should be mentioned here is the lack of chemistry between the characters. Actually, amongst all the life, relationship and marriage philosophy and the societal critique, we learn so few about the characters that it is really hard to like them for who they are. Which leaves the question - what do their partners like about them? We never find out.
I don't remember the last time I was so annoyed by a series' wasted potential. This promised to finally be different and I give them credit for that, but its messages seem to have turned into their opposites towards the end and that was a huge let-down.
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This review may contain spoilers
Started out subversive then descends into a millenial emo cliche.
I was so immensely disappointed in the the way this show got derailed towards the end. When it began, the issues and concepts that My 1st Life touched on were very well tackled. It subverted the whole institution of marriage and examined the cultural and political angles of it. However, because the female protag was a Lit grad somehow this signaled to the screenwriter that it was ok for the show to descend into some emo cliche interspersed with Lit references to somehow make it really meaningful and deep... when it ain't.The whole arrangement that the two protags had were perfectly rational and works. Then the female protag decides to overstep her boundaries and gets upset with the male for standing his ground and drawing the boundary lines clearly. I think from there it was clear to me that this show won't live up to its original premise of being a groundbreaker in the construct of marriage and, sure enough, Ji-Ho continues on this vein of irrational decision-making throughout the rest of the series. Because they need to stretch it to 16 eps, the pace suddenly slows around I-can't-remember-anymore-tbh. I found myself checking on the speed on my TV to make sure it isn't a technical issue on my end but no, it's totally the show. The chars are reduced to stretching out conversations in lifeless tones, all snail speed (maybe aligning with Ji-Ho's love for snails) with interspersed broken pieces of internal monologue and emo music. This is meant to be a TV series. It just ended up being an attempt at a film noire/art festival/avant garde kind of filmmaking that's pretentiously desperate. Viewers aren't dumb.
Honestly, I stayed till the end because of the cat! As other reviews have indicated, Ji-Ho's behaviour is toxic AF. Her reasonings—delivered in broken pieces with emo drama music—are so nonsense that even her mother says, "you're talking crap". It was just really painful to watch if not for Soo Ji's arc AND THE CAT! Whatever "intellectual" proposition the series wanted to make on the topic of marriage was thrown out the window episodes ago and in the end, we're left with characters with conflicting behaviours (first the groom's dad was anti-marriage, then he wasn't), BS profiling (Ji-Ho's mum stayed with the dad coz she remembers how he was so sweet to her when they were dating... yeah, she's full of sh#t too. If she'd won the lottery, she'd have been outta there so fast she'd have left skit marks) and shallow motivations (Ho Rang pressures the hell out of Won Seok to get married and have babies ASAP so desperately to fit in with and be approved by girls whom don't matter at all—WTF). In the end, all the stuff that the show was trying to subvert were reinforced, along with a mystery baby in Won Seok's arms (we are left with the assumption that it belongs to him and Ho Rang) to complete the whole marriage-and-baby-is sacrosanct construct.
All in all, it was a dishonest series that utilised a subversive concept that had so much potential for illuminating the different angles of love for a gimmick purpose.
F#ck this series. "Extremely disappointed" doesn't even begin to describe it. I feel sorry that the cat had to sit through her emo co-stars.
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I'm apparently in the minority, not liking this one
I didn't feel an emotional connection with the characters. He was flat throughout most of the show, he felt robotic to me. His personality was the same, no matter who he was dealing with. I didn't care for the side stories much, I watch K-dramas to get away from all the sex/language that is found in American/British shows, so between one couple living together and the other girl talking about all the guys she's had sex with, that was a turn off for me.Lack of communication really frustrates me. The breakups because they don't talk to each other (mostly her fault) were maddening. I could, to a certain degree, relate to the progression of their relationship, but unfortunately by the time that happened I really didn't care for him at all.
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The cliffhangers started from day 1 and this is one of the reasons to be so excited for this series. Waiting for the next episodes was really a pain.
What I found so special about this drama were the characters on the first place. Se Hee was such an unordinary person and even though I thought Ji Ho was kinda annoying in the beginning, I just couldn't help but love her as the time passed. Really enjoyed the script writer's work. Almost every episode had those lines, full of metaphors that really make you question your whole existance. I also loved the secondary couples and even though in most drama they're just a waste of time, here they were just as interesting as the main one.
What I found lacking was that there wasn't much of explanation about Se Hee's past, which played a quite a big role this drama. On the other hand I think they could make the ending episodes a little more dramatic and emotional.
Overall if you are looking for something light-hearted, funny and with some good acting, this is perfect for you!
Hope this was helpful and sorry for the mistakes <3
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