When the Camellia Blooms

Cute story but boring and confused

Well, i love happy endings and romance and that kept me going...

PLOT - not very interesting but maybe it portrait the preconceptions of a society based in hold and unffair values. The murders were unnecessary for me and very boring. Like they want to give some suspense and mystery...didn't work for me... The murder was as awful as that part of the plot. And how can anyone tried to help Heung Shik, when they know (or supposed to acknowledge) that he knew about his father's homicides...
But, the problem is the lack of consistency of most of the characters, like a strong and powerfull Dong Baek that is always crying or a group of women (that behave in a stupid, traditional and very hurtful way with an orfan and single mother) that treated her like family in the end.

CHARACTERS -
Dong Baek is a strong and independent beautiful woman that should be portrait like that. She raised her kid alone, she is an entrepreneur and lots of guts. She manage to stay positive and a beautiful soul that helps everyone.
Yong Shik was sillier than i want him to be. He was annoying sometimes and i think he could be a positive, supporting and free spirit boyfriend without being, sometimes, portrait as a silly and dumb guy.
Jong Ryul family was boring and i can't understand why he says that he was very imature and young with 27 years old, when she, who was kept invisible by Jong, abandoned him. He was selfish, self centered, even more when he wanted to take his son from her mother. His wife Jessica and their marriage was laughable.
Hyang Mi was an interesting woman, made cold and pragmatic by the hardships she endured. Wish there was a better development of her character and that she wasn't portrait like she was in the relationship with her stupid brother. Liked her relationship with Dong Baek.
Gyu Tae and his wife Ja Young had some strange chemistry but it kind of worked. He was funny and delusional but a nice person, i guess, and she was a strong and alpha female wife.
Duk Soon was a character that i don't understand. She suffer almost the same as Dong Baek and still treats her like venom or a disease.
Pil Goo is as selfish as a 8 year boy should be. He is strong and protective towards his mother. He seems like an adult sometimes with, of course, behavior of a ignorant child as he should be! Like it!
Jung Sook was Dong Baek mother who abandoned her. Her past is like a mystery (don't know why there is a "daughter" that appear and then disappear). She goes to say goodbye but ends up redeeming herself. Fortunately i had a happy childhood so i can't say if her relationship with her daughter makes sense...

ACTING - despite some of the characters weren't interesting for me, i thing the actors and actresses made a very good job. Most of them, anyway.

OST - don't remember so it was not very good for me.

REWATCHABLE - No, never. I was rooting for Baek and Shik but his silliness and her cry made the romance fade away for me and seemed like it was more of supporting than romantic feelings...

SUMMING UP - i think i watched too many kdramas to like this one as much as i wanted. Far better dramas than this one for me, even though i think Gong Hyo Jin, Oh Jung Se or Kim Sun Young are very good at acting...

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A whiny, annoying drama with unlikable characters...

This drama has a good plot in theory but it wasn't executed well at all. The romance between the main characters was slow and so was the crime solving, so the overall pacing was snail pace which isn't always bad thing but in this case it was just boring.

The characters were the main let down of this drama, every single character was annoying apart from Yongsik, he was the saving grace. Dongbaek whined and cried and pitied herself so much that when a scene came along that should've made me sad I just rolled my eyes because she was crying AGAIN. Yongsik's mother was particularly annoying, she was so horrible throughout the drama and then just magically changed her opinion in the last couple of episodes!

The music was nothing special, just your typical k drama osts.

I think giving this a 6.5 is highly generous and purely because Yongsik's character was so refreshing.

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definitely a good watch but I feel it's a bit overrated

there's no doubt that it's a good drama but I've mixed opinions abt it. I had some big expectations from it because how successful it was & how everyone was praising but once I was done watching it I didn't know what to feel. Ofcourse enjoyed it & didn't hate it but I also didn't loved it the way some people I knew did.
Maybe it's cos of my high expectations or maybe I was not in the right mood for it when I watched it.

So the first half was more or less entertaining but later the plot became a bit repetitive in my opinion & everything was all over the place. I really feel I would've enjoyed it more if it had lesser episodes.

It's definitely a good drama & deserves a watch but just don't expect too much.

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Shaking my head

Started watching Korean dramas on Netflix during the COVID pandemic. Some were pretty decent but most shows ranged from ‘meh’ to ‘um...what?’ But this show topped them all as far as ‘what the ?!?! is going on?’ department. So much so that I’m actually writing a drama review for the first time. For your info, I’ve watched up to Ep. 15 or 16.

I’ll just write down a list of my comments/thoughts/questions I had while watching the show to keep things simple.

1. I’ve never not liked both female and male leads but wow! They assigned the FL to be sheepish and the ML to be hotheaded and goofy. Ok, I’m ok with that but they turned up the unrealism dial all the way to 100. It’s so hard to like them and root for them because they’re cartoon characters.

2. So basically people act crazy and ignorant because they’re all just country bumpkins. Very convenient. I see why they chose a podunk town.

3. The ML can’t control his mouth and fists? He’s on live TV and starts beating up a suspect? He’s a cop? He got reassigned but still can’t control himself?

4. Is this a Rom-com, drama or murder mystery? Every couple of episodes, they shake things up.

5. I still can’t get over the fact that they introduced a serial killer and s/he is after the FL? What?

6. Side characters like the landlord and the kid’s dad are absolutely unnecessary. Could have cut at least 6-7 episodes easy. Also, the girl that blackmails.

7. It doesn’t matter who it is, the FL has time for them all. She’ll eat/drink with male characters no matter how badly they treat her. She tells them to leave but still ends up eating/drinking right after. I guess that’s because she’s sheepish.

8. So the serial killer resurfaces but only the country bumpkin cops are investigating. No Feds getting involved?

9. The serial killer breaks into FL’s business multiple times but everyone seems to forget that he’s around. Nothing major gets done. Very nonchalant about it. Episodes come and go but it’s like they’re investigating a missing dog case. If someone’s after my life, that would be my #1 priority and I would get everyone and everything involved but not the FL.

10. I don’t think the writers bothered to do any research on dementia at all. When you first meet FL’s long lost mom, she urinated on herself. Then she seems pretty normal except that she’s a bit crazy.

11. I’m getting a sense that whenever they run out of drama, they bring up the serial killer.

12. My wife just asked “so how big is this small town?”

13. A famous pro baseball player keeps coming around in his Audi but I guess nobody notices this

14. Now everyone’s suspected of killing the blackmail girl. Ridiculous.

15. The town bullies are nice to the FL all of a sudden because she wore a red dress?

16. Oh, now we’re supposed to feel bad for the Instagram wife.

17. FL keeps doing stupid stuff and asks why her fate is so mean to her or something like that. It’s called bad decisions. Not fate.

18. This show has something against men. Men are portrayed as idiotic, weak, greedy, insecure, spineless and/or hotheaded.

19. Would you hide your dad if you thought he was either an arsonist or serial killer?

20. So now the FL’s mom doesn’t have dementia. Her idiot daughters the only one who fell for it. So hard to like this woman.

21. They keep introducing new side characters that are irrelevant. Trying so hard to drag the story along. Sigh.

22. The FL just walked into an abandoned shopping mall with the entrance chained shut. She knows she has a serial killer after her. These people are cartoon characters.

23. The FL’s way of dealing with her bratty son is to just appease him. She breaks up with the FL because her son is turning into her? What??? Maybe the writers never had kids of their own or they have bratty kids themselves?

24. Show runner: Ok, now we found the serial killer but we still need a couple more episodes... I know, let’s have the FL dump the ML after all he’s done! Brilliant!

25. Er... so now the bratty son is the narrator of the show? He’s all grown up? What?

26. It’s like this show had 3 different writers taking turns to write different episodes without reading what the others wrote.

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An ode to motherhood; with brilliant acting !

It is genre bending because the main premise of the story is how a police officer, protects his love interest, Dongbaek, from a serial killer. But really, the story is about Dongbaek (or Camellia in Korean).

Dongbaek is a beautifully written character who is beaten down by life and ostracised as an unmarried mother, but can be fiercely protective. And Kong Hyo-jin wears this ultra-complex character like a glove, with demureness even while she's threatening. There are episodes dedicated to motherhood, particularly one about three single mothers that tugs at your heart. (In fact, there's only one father character in the show and he's shown in poor light.)

Set in a small town, the tight-knit community is inherently heart-warming with a solid supporting cast: Lee Jung-eun (of Parasite fame), Oh Jung-se and Kim Sun-young to name a few.

Among all the stellar performances, Kang Ha-neul shines through. While most Kdramas feature successful and suave male leads, Kang Ha-neul plays an average small-town guy, awkward and simple, and very straightforward, who cries just as easily as he laughs.

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I watched this drama without reading or researching anything about it. If you're planning to watch this too, it's a good mix of different genres (romcom, melo, thriller, family)

I really really liked the rom com side of this drama. It was refreshing to see Kang Haneul as a lead in romcom. He portrayed his character perfectly. I laugh every time he has that "gaze" in his eyes, you know, that look he has when you know his game is on. I don't know much also about the sattori (dialects) in korean but it suited him very well. Love his subtle bromance as well with his chief and Noh Gyutae.

The casting was made perfectly. All the actors did an excellent job in playing their characters especially Kim Kanghoon who played Kang Pilgu. His acting was on point. Heck, even the younger version of Kwak Deoksun (mother of Yangshik) was really good, she took notice of the way how Ko Dushim (Older version of Deoksun) talks and her mannerisms. I was impressed.

However, a few things that really didn't sit well with me regarding this drama is the thriller side of it. Ever since the first episode, it was about finding out the true identity of Joker and why he killed people. However, the way they caught Heungshik who was the real Joker was so anti-climactic. I understand that they needed to show that Dongbaek is not someone weak, but they made it so comical that I really didn't understand how someone who can be caught that easily was able to hide for 6 whole years. I don't also understand why he decided to let Dongbaek go after everything he has done. I mean, it was the perfect set up. Yangshik, who was the only one suspecting him was not there, even if he killed Dongbaek right then and there in the bar he would be able to walk off and go in hiding as nobody else suspected him. That part I really didn't understand.

During the last episodes, after they caught Joker, it seemed like everything was back to normal. Like the world was on reset. I didn't see that much repercussions of the incidents that happened from the early episodes. Personally, I think no matter how strong of a person you are, once you've been targeted by a serial killer/ psychopath it will somehow have a huge impact on your life/ well being.

Lastly, I know this is still a romcom but the way everyone got their happy ending was so surreal. It somehow felt fake (well I know this is a drama but still) and that the writer was really really trying hard to act like cupid or a god and just close the books for everyone. The ending was too good to be true that it felt like it was forced. I personally think that this drama was too long and 16 episodes could've sufficed. Maybe, if it wasn't as long, maybe, just maybe, the ending could've been better.

But nevertheless, I'm not regretting that I watched the drama. It still is good. And it was refreshing to see a story about single moms. Single parents rock!

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One of my all time favorites

This is my favorite drama. I love everything about it. The setting, the ost, the characters, everything.

I like how it was set in a small town where everyone knows each other so they are all friendly with ech other (except for with the fl) and help each other out. As time goes on though they become friends with the fl and help her out when she most needs it. The music they play during the romantic scenes is cute and honestly we all need a yong sik in our lives. I love how he gave dongbaek confidence and love, something that she always need it. He always treated her with respect and absolutely adored her. Not just her but also her kid. He loved him like his own. My mom is a single mom so I have seen the struggle for providing for a child and the rent and stuff from my mom. It was nice seeing though how even with the struggles of being a single mom she was still happy. She had friends around her and that did not stop her from dating. I have not watched many shows with single moms so it was a nice change. The characters were all fun and quirky. I liked seeing dongbaek little by little become stronger and confident. She never backed down when she found out she was in danger but defended herself. I have watched this drama 4 times and I still can't stop myself from crying during the last episode, both tears of joy and sadness. Being able to make me cry just gives a show or book bonus points.

So I definitely recommend this to anyone who is not sure if to watch it or not. Its a cute romance and its a nice change from other dramas.

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the little heroes.

in my quest to find other (see: better) projects from actors i really enjoyed watching in SQUID GAME after how disappointed i was by season 3, i stumbled upon WHEN THE CAMELLIA BLOOMS. without knowing it, i'd watched kang haneul a few years ago in his film MIDNIGHT RUNNERS, which i enjoyed a lot back then, so i was glad to see him again in SQUID GAME, even by accident.

i decided to watch WTCB because i really wanted to see him in a happier role with a nice ending and i'm glad that i picked it. i fell in love with yongsik almost immediately, endeared by his crybaby, lover boy, overly optimistic ways. he was my favorite character throughout the entire story and would have been even if it was another actor instead of haneul.

i think the story was decent. i like when genres are blended, and i think romance and mystery really did a good job here. i also have a lot of commendation for the actors as well. there were a few i recognized from other projects and i was happy to see them here too so that i can praise their acting! yeom hyeran is fantastic in this after only seeing her in more dramatic roles (THE GLORY and WALL TO WALL).

i loved the romance between dongbaek and yongsik. it was really sweet to see a man fall so hard and so fast, and be so earnest about it. i feel like so many romance dramas i watch go with the love triangle cliche, which is fine in most cases, but here, it was clear that dongbaek was only ever going to end up with yongsik and i was glad for that because he saw her for who she was the whole time and never made it seem like her son was a burden to him. he was ready to take it all on from the very beginning and i adored that. men need to take NOTES.

i will say that some character beats did annoy me at times. i didn't like the group of women at the start who bullied dongbaek, though i was glad to see them come together to protect her near the end. and as much as i liked yongsik's mother, i hated how she treated dongbaek after she and yongsik started dating. it confused me a lot because if my son started dating the young woman i was friends with, i'd be excited to potentially welcome her into the family eventually as my daughter in law! maybe that's just me though.

all in all, i thought this was super cute and would totally rewatch again someday! hwang yongsik, you are so everything to me.

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This drama has the best demonstration of why the main leads love each other of any drama I've watched so far. The male lead may have fell in love at first sight, but he quickly comes to respect and admire the female lead's strength of character, while his pursuit of her not only softens her heart to him, but gives her the space to bloom and shine as a person. The leads vocalise why they love each other so that we're not left making up the reasons like in many other dramas.

While this drama embraces many unnecessary tropes at times, and piles on difficulties in the female lead's life to an excessive extent, it has a great cast, and overall feels more realistic than it arguably has the right to.

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Almost gave up but overall a good drama

I almost gave up on this drama. I loved it at first but I lost interest more than halfway through. However, I’m glad I pushed through. I think this is a drama you should watch slowly instead of binge watching it. I wish I watched it while it was airing. I think I would be able to appreciate it more.

To be honest, I thought this was a romantic comedy after watching the trailer. But this drama is actually about mothers and family. The last episode really made me cry. I love the relationships of the characters. The neighborhood is like one big family and it was really heartwarming.

I think this might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Dongbaek’s life stressed me out and it was really infuriating that so many people didn’t treat her well. I also didn’t like how she was very meek but she did have character development towards the end. On the other hand, I really adored Yong Shik’s character although he also has his flaws. This drama made me fall in love with Kang Ha Neul. Honestly, I didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between the main leads but they are really good actors. I went into this expecting romance but I stayed for the other stories.

Overall, I think this is worth watching although I wish it was shorter.

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