One of my favorites
This slowburner intoduced me to Korean drama’s. I put this one in the same category as the greatest drama’s of the 90’s when the Japanese were making masterpieces like Nobuta, Long Vacation, Beautiful Life and so on. You fall into this drama and it affects you. You know the type! The one’s that you live in with the actors…a great one for my favorite typesWas this review helpful to you?
If you like this drama, consider reading Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
This is a wonderful drama rich in introspection and life philosophy. It has a comforting and healing quality without resolving all of the questions that it poses.It is a great example how Korean dramas address issues of self-worth, self-image, and loneliness with a quiet depth that resonates. In doing so, it contributes to a language of compassion conveyed with honesty and restraint that I have come to love in Korean cultural works.
This drama is also a great example of the dramas that portray meaningful relationships outside the one romantic relationship (e.g., like Navillera). It also has lovely depictions of Korean family life that feel warm.
I appreciated that miscommunication (or the absence of communication) is not the primary driver of conflict and resolution in this drama. Even though the characters often fail to speak honestly to one another, they each have someone else with whom they are able to open up.
While the drama has some typical tropes of Korean dramas that can be unfamiliar (e.g., material wealth as status and the role of shame), they are not overstated (e.g., not too much fairytale).
As someone noted before, this drama is very well balanced between emotional, action, comedy and thriller elements. Compared to others, I enjoyed the music (although not all of the themes).
If you liked this drama and its themes, consider reading Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.
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The soundtrack also really supporting the scene and situations. Anw I hate why Jang ki Yong so cruel in here. I just watched "go back couple" and fall in love with his character as nam Gil sunbae but now I really angry to see his character in here. I also feel pity for Joon Young. All his plan failed even though I think he's one of the antagonists cast in here. But he loses against Park Dong Hoon. He also already paid Ji An but as a result, she betrayed him, and at the end episode he maybe gets punished or jailed and lost his title as CEO. He also was punched by Dong Hoon but he can't fight. After this drama ends I learn many things in life. Thank you "My Ahjussi"
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This review may contain spoilers
Very Beautiful Drama
I didn't expect this drama to be so good, I don't usually like watching drama reviews because I don't want to know anything about that drama in advance, I want to be surprised by the story, and I was very surprised, luckily it was a very nice surprise.Story: 10.0 *** THE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
An interesting plot, unusual, full of unexpected events, as in crime stories, and yet somehow oriented to show the lives of ordinary people and their relationships in their wonderful neighborhood.
The main plot is about the lives of two people who are separated by their age, status, family life and yet similar mental characteristics.
They both feel lonely, especially the male lead, although he has a wife, a child, a mother, two brothers, friends, he still feels lonely and misunderstood, while the female lead has only a few people around her, a difficult childhood and even murder on conscience . These two people are fighting inside and outside so that circumstances would lead them to find each other in that fight, but this is not a typical love story in which they end up with each other, the goal here is not to find physical love but the real unconditional love, love within themselves.
*** THE END OF THE SPOILERS ***
If you have problems in life, this story can help you see them from a different angle, to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to keep the love inside you no matter what happens to you from the outside, if the love is in you, the whole world can hates you but that feeling of love will be in you and keep your soul alive forever.
The family and friendship aspect of the story is portrayed exceptionally in this drama.
Due to its slower pace, this drama is experienced more through emotions and less through the mind, and that is what thrilled me the most.
Cast: 10.0
I haven't seen so many K-Dramas so I'm not familiar with any of the actors but very good acting of all them, especially the main roles who did a really good job showing deep emotions of sadness and loneliness which can be very difficult to express.
Music: 9.0
Music is great and fits into the atmosphere of the story
Re-watch: 9.5
I will watch this again for sure
I strongly recommend this drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
Almost perfect?
Well, it's really hard to write anything about this drama at this moment because I just finished it, so my thoughts are all over the place. But one thing is fore sure: This show needs one or two simple fixes, and it would be perfect. The first half of the season was but slow and sometimes over the top, and I really needed some explanation, that I've got much later. Also, I felt the ending was a bit rushed. These two things aside, it's pretty much perfect. The writing, the OST, the directing, (except the weird look of the flashback scenes) and of course THE ACTING! Holy Mother of Jesus, the acting in this drama is something else. Sure, some people could say I'm a huge IU fan but man, if this drama would be an American show, she would've won an Emmy for her acting! Lee Sun Kyun and IU carried this show like it was nothing. Also, the supporting cast was amazing too. I really loved the brothers, even tho, sometimes I wanted to slap them so hard.😅 I don't think I will ever forget Lee Ji Ahn and her sweet relationship with her grandma. I was so angry when she died, but it was great to see everyone support and love Ji Ahn. After 21 YEARS, she can be happy finally!!! And thank God for the happy ending, even tho it was rushed, like I said.This show is a MUST for everyone!!!
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Phenomenal Side Character Writing.
NOT A LOVE STORY but kinda is thoughGREAT ACTING, dialogues, greatly written, perfectly connected and realistic characters, 2-3 good music pieces
premise:
the most innocent, forgiving and kind guy as MC who lives in a neighbourhood of people who just by being on-screen make you and his day better.
but MC gets cheated on by his wife with his CEO.
The show revolves around how the MC deals with family, love, office problems
the ending was good but could have been more elaborated
the side stories and MCs interacting with them is an example of phenomenal writing
it offers drama, heavy and realistic life situations and problems.
The ending could have been more detailed but other than that the show was 10/10 '
highly recommended by me
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Great watch
Honestly it was a great watch overall. It had some quite emotionally inducing scenes that make you really connect with the characters and their experiences.I would recommend this series if you’re looking for something that explores life, purpose, happiness, and connection.
The background music is also very nice and builds nicely upon the flow of events. Overall, the elements of this show come together to create a nice piece of work.
It’s true that the beginning is a little bit slow paced, but I felt like exploring the mundane day to day life and relations between the characters was essential to understanding the dynamic they have with eachother and the struggles they struggle to solve later on throughout the series. The show picks ip nicely between the fourth and fifth episodes.
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This review may contain spoilers
I admit that I had a hard time making it through the first two episodes because Lee Ji-An seemed like such a terrible, amoral character. But I kept watching because the reviews were good and I’m very glad that I did. It kept getting better and better. The drama is a heartrending but ultimately inspirational and moving story about a damaged, emotionally numb girl and an equally emotionally distant man. I thought that Lee Sun-Kyun and IU were fantastic but all of the actors were also great (including Kim Young-Min, who made me actually feel sympathy for the antagonist). Some of the story lines ended messily and unhappily, just like in real life, but somehow that was fine because they all showed that what matters more than money or prestige or even romance, is the connections we make with those around us. As I said, the drama gets better and better with every episode.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Touching on so many levels
The way the relationship changed and grew between the ML and FL tugged at my heartstrings and so much was conveyed with just the way they looked at each other. Superb acting and brilliant writing!!Some of the side stories were interesting particularly the one with Jeong Hui and the one with the loan shark. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect much with the one involving the actress and found myself skipping those scenes. Without that side story, my rating would have been higher.
Cinematography and music suited the sentimental mood of this slice of life drama. I could understand the struggles of the ML and his wife and I am glad to see the story showed the wife’s view as well and how she tried to make amends with it. Realistically painful especially when they talked honestly with each other. I appreciated how the story refrained from going down the usual drama route of dragging on misunderstandings by lying or hiding the truth.
This was truly a case of melodrama done right.
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Perfekt
Diese Serie überzeugt mit einer herausragenden Story, die nicht nur spannend, sondern auch tiefgründig und emotional ist. Sie regt zum Nachdenken an und lässt einen lange über das Gesehene und das eigene Leben reflektieren. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die genial gezeichneten Charaktere sowie die großartige schauspielerische Leistung aller Beteiligten – allen voran die beiden Hauptdarsteller liefern eine fesselnde und authentische Darstellung. Absolut empfehlenswert!👍👍 Irgendwann schau ich sie nochmals an.
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Why you should or shouldn't watch this drama
Before I begin my review I would like to say that all that I write here is my own opinion and what I felt like when I watched this drama. I love watching dramas and especially reviewing them in my own way. Whatever I write is what I may have felt when I watched this drama. Please don't get offended in any way if your views don't match mine.I have watched a fair share of drama mostly romance and also have explored other genres as it is good to expand your view range. This drama is totally different from any other drama I have watched so far, even though I have watched many. The lead actors Lee Sun Kyun, IU, Park Ho San, Song Sae Byuk and other supporting actors did a very good job at portraying their characters which makes this drama worth watching. You may wonder why I am writing this review after almost 4 years of its release that's actually I have skipped this drama when it was airing in 2018 because of its heavy topic. But oh! boy oh! boy, if you don't watch this drama you really are missing out.
You probably may have seen IU in Hotel Del Luna, Moon Lovers etc. which received a lot of love from her fans and others. In this drama, she has really played a very difficult character that looks easy on the surface but is definitely not. Her character is full of emotions like depression caused due to various reasons, which you will get to know if you watch this drama there are many other emotions and expressions that Lee Ji Ahn (character that IU is playing) portrays throughout this drama. She is selfish and self-centred a type of person usually people hate, but the way she is because of certain factors that the drama covers. Ji Ahn is unpredictable, in one scene you will feel like she is a good person in the very next scene you may hate her. She really showed commendable acting skills in this drama as Lee Ji Ahn.
Like I said in the beginning this drama is nothing like what you may have watched previously, this drama has a lot of heavy topics that it covers, the title doesn't reflect it that well though. though the title is quite three dimensional if you analyse it after you complete watching this drama. I personally am a binge-watcher but when it came to this drama I surely couldn't binge-watch this, I will definitely not recommend anyone to binge-watch this drama as you need time to analyse each and every single episode, there are very minute details that you need to follow to get along with how the plot will unveil itself. WARNING: You may feel depressed after watching this drama though.
The first few episodes are quite slow which can make one feel like giving up, but I can tell you one thing that is please don't give up the drama yet wait and see how beautifully the narrative arc is. You may think it is boring at first but the moment you reach the part of rising action you will not be able to leave it that is my guarantee to you as someone who has watched this drama. You need to carefully and minutely follow the story it is almost like a treasure hunt, this drama is more like a novel than a film I suppose in that case. This is a different yet well-written plot. Park Hae Young, the screenwriter did an amazing job. She was able to somehow thread the loose bits together very well. A quality of a great writer is someone who is not only a good storyteller but a good weaver as well.
(You need to figure out the rest by watching this drama)
Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoy this drama.
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I feel bad for the grandma though, i like how she rolled out of the hospital, that's uncommon scene.
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