⚘ Expires Before Episode 10 ⚘ °6.4° °somewhat good°
A brief encounter with Dae Hyun, our saintly male lead, prompts orphan Jung Saet Byul (who is currently raising her younger sister) to fall in love. He goes on with his day, but she is smitten for life. Fast forward 3 years and she goes to work for him at his convenience store. While people of her status are overlooked by the world, she manages to distinguish herself with her hard work and intelligence. She, °inconveniently, puts the hook-kick to his love life, however, through a series of misunderstandings and other blocks. There is no mistaken understanding when it comes to her, though: She's marked him for clearance; /her clearance to purchase him/ that is.Rated 7.6 on MDL, BSR is much like unexpired convenience store fare - edible, somewhat good, but not very good. It degrades from being pleasant to being a bit of a chore in the last third. Knowing what I now know, would I go back and watch it again for the first time? That's almost a coin flipper. My answer is "no", but many people will enjoy watching this show - for good reason. Everyone is entitled to h/h form of wind-down entertainment, and BSR has obviously done the job for many viewers who have received it well. There are gems tucked away like Korean beef and fresh green onion in the 🍲. They have plenty of good ingredients, but they didn't incorporate them well. Just go into it with your eyes open(ha!). If your enjoyment level starts declining, know that it doesn't get better later. It fizzles and flattens.
Let's talk about the fizzle first. They have fun with the girl fights. There's flying kicks & flying bodies all over the place. They even do the Matrix Reloaded burst-out-of-the-pile-up. They have animation overlay to show eyes with hearts or to bleep out some language. All of it's cute and fun. I was thrilled with the first couple episodes.
They lay out clear character contrast in the opening shots of ep1. She's leading a gang brawl. He's saving a 🐈. (Gimme the perfect combo, indeed!) Sadly, he doesn't notice her for 2/3 of the show. Forget her, /I/ was frustrated! Most viewers want to see him take notice in little ways early on - let's get those 🌭 on the warming rollers! It takes a while for them to get toasty, right? It's a pity that all we see is his pity, or his overlooking her. Very gradually, they bond - soon the two communicate naturally by intricate hand ✌🏽👐🏼 signals. Nobody else can understand, but they somehow do. It's one of the cutest things about the show.
There's a handful of excellent scenes… brilliant really. "Let me go through the expired goods," she says, when the girlfriend walks in the store. He goes to a college reunion and everyone is practically dressed in monotone. They look a boring bunch. He has the most color in a pale green sweater, which could signify that he's still green. He's still a bit naive. She doesn't have a HS diploma, but she is not green. She loves green things and 💐, though. Our FL knows the meaning of every flower. I loved it and it makes me want to learn more of them.
We will see each female lead have a talk with the other that leads to a situational change. It's skillful mirroring. Kdrams love the 💘 🔺. (It's not a love triangle if a third party is interested in one of them, but they only have eyes for eachother, is it?) There's some truly funny moments that are muted, slightly, by other clumsy humor attempts that fail. The closing of episode 12 is fresh - stunning, even.
The best thing about BSR is Kim Yoo Jung playing Jung Saet Byul. She's gorgeous. Her smile is brighter than 🌞. If she went past the freezers she could "melt all that stuff". Also, she can wear tan or white and look good, which shouldn't be allowed - I hate her, lol. Her friends are likable, as is the ML's BFF. The secondary romance is painfully goofy at times, but overall I enjoyed that couple more. Kim Sun Young as Kong Boon Hee, Dae Hyun's mother, is a blast. She commands the screen. Watching her makes me happy. I suppose I'm a true fan.
As for every other character… yuck. His father is contemptible. I want to strangle him every time he's on screen. It's not okay to be that lazy and irresponsible. They get offended when somebody hurts dad's pride. He deserves so much more than hurt feelings! What °pride? ...Pride in what? Breathing? Dae Hyun. He's the ultimate good guy, but they fail to sell "everybody's doormat " as a romantic lead. He is in a current day relationship with a woman when the show begins, and it's a mostly positive relationship; at least, his GF is not the cartoonish villain that they'll often show in romcoms, which is appreciated. He's a wonderful human being, but he's missing sex appeal. He's too wimpy! Ji Chang Wook plays Choi Dae Hyun. He plays a similarly nervous guy who is upended by a woman, in Lovestruck In The City, which is far better than BSR. He's great in K2. It's not the actor's fault, it's how they wrote and directed him.
Our leads' °besties° have instant 🎇. Their relationship is easily more fun than the primary romance. "If I had love in My heart, I'd want the expiration date to be ten thousand years away." "Just call me ten thousand years." Yep, that's how GMO the dialog can get in the show. To be fair, that's between a pair that is comic relief, and they say a lot of very slurpy things. It's almost slapstick, but hey, they're fun. The director tries to wedge in a little too much nonsense, so the eyes will roll at times.
BSR becomes a bit of a slog to stick with it as the episodes roll on. Despite many nice touches like animation overlay, snappy cutting, and pauses that enhance, they don't have enough content to fill more than 10eps competently. Most of the characters are not relatable enough to truly draw the viewer in, and many of the plot drivers and vignettes are boring. Unfortunately, after the initial taste sensation, the expiration date is met long before the episodes expire.
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬72 📝57 🎭70 💓60 🦋40 🌞60 🎨45 ⚡ 🎵/🔊70 😅43 😭20 😱30 😯45 🤔40 💤40 🔚75
Age 13+ The show is tame. No language cautions. They touch on eroticism via the friend's webtoon. Fighting.
Re-📺? Never
{BTW, our ML is BFF with a guy that actually has a tan! Eum Moon Suk plays
Han Dal Shik (Dae Hyun's best friend). He looks so much like a friend of mine (who happens to be Hispanic) that I could only smile and smh every time he appeared on screen. I never plan to go down a 🐇 ⚫, but here we go: When you watch East Asian dramas you would think everybody there is paler than Tom Brady, which is tedious. East Asia's multi-millenia love of pale skin is connected to wealth & status. Field workers are tanned by the sun while the wealthy have a cave-dweller-like vitamin-D deficiency. We will hear Dae Hyun's family talk about their pride more than twice, and that is what it's all about. I am in love with 🌏Asian entertainment. I hesitate (or voice qualifiers) before recommending it to my African American friends and family, though, because it's as colorless as the show Friends. People insist on judging people based on things for which we have no control. Is anything more meaningless than a person's looks? Nobody has a choice of parentage or their skin color, so what is there to judge? Furthermore, much of history has been bleached. Early pictorials of Jesus showed a milk-chocolate skin tone until racism gripped the middle ages. Bible scholars will tell you that there aren't any white people in the Bible, except perhaps, some tangential bad actors. (In Poland they never adopted the Caucasian Jesus and kept the old paintings). The legend of the leprechaun was probably based on real-life Africans visiting Europe with gold. Africa was loaded with gold in ancient times, and there were Africans that navigated the world in canoes with gifts and exotic animals. They were masters at reading the sea currents, or the superhighways of the sea. The legend degraded over time to what we see now. That's two examples from a whole universe most people didn't know existed, Other than the good old vices of pride and prejudice, I cannot tell you why our 🌍 history has been color-lifted, but it is a fact. So, if we point at 🌏, three fingers are pointing back at 🌎. The result is that we remain divided. We should challenge them to diversify more, but also be patient with Asia. We all have deficiencies to work on. I am respectfully and patiently calling them out on this tired old mindset. Let's not start on the way they beat up on orphans…}
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
Reformed by Love:
Crazy Love-7.8,
My First First Love-8,
Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max,
The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2 (But for eps 20 &21 it's an 8+)
Oh My Venus-7.4K,
Call It Love-8.4,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Itaewon Class-8.9,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
SKY Castle-9,
My Mister 9.5,
Out of Reach love:
A Love So Beautiful-7,
99 days with the Superstar-7,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Something in the Rain-8.6,
Romance junkies only -
My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks),
The Bride of Habaek-7,
Heirs-7.3,
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine,
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8
Consider a 🇨🇳Chinese 🎎/🔮 fantasyfeature: The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8, Love Between Fairy and Devil 8.9, Love and Redemption 10 or 🇯🇵Japanese romcoms: Maid Sama 10, Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo 7.8, Love, Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4, or Toradora 8.5
Originally 〰️🖊 8/2023
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Chemistry Isn’t Enough to Save a Messy Story, But It Sure Makes It Worth Watching
“Backstreet Rookie” is a drama that’s easy to enjoy. The main leads’ natural chemistry and charming performances are the real highlights. The show gives off a fun and easygoing vibe with the mix of romantic and cheesy moments, especially those flower themes and playful teasing. Supporting actors, like Daehyun’s parents, add a lot of humor and heart. Saet Byul’s journey stands out too as her life with lots of struggles feel emotionally real and are easily the part of the drama for me.But there are quite a few flaws in the drama which is impossible to ignore. The handling of sensitive topics, like Dalshik’s culture, even if it’s meant for comedy, does comes off as racist. Furthermore, the plot often feels messy, especially after a slow start which loses focus as it goes on. Characters like Yeon Joo are underdeveloped, and there’s just too much going on without enough story. The drama would’ve been much better from either more episodes to develop the characters or fewer episodes to cut the extra scenes. And let’s not forget the cop-out kiss scene. Sometimes, we just want the leads to go for it.
Overall, Backstreet Rookie is a mixed bag. Strong chemistry and storyline kept me hooked, but messy writing and some questionable choices hold it back.
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Was good
The story was original. K-drama characters almost always tend to be super wealthy, smart, clever, have special powers, etcetera. These characters don’t really have any of that, except for Saet-byul’s ability to fight. The acting was good. I particularly enjoyed Kim Yoo-jung’s performance; she was absolutely beautiful in this series. It was hard to be attracted to Dae-hyun’s character as he came across as such a pushover and a bit of a loser. If there was music in the series, I definitely don’t remember it. As for rewatch value, I probably won’t be watch it again. I think I personally prefer something a bit more serious, but as mentioned, I did really enjoy watching Kim Yoo-jung :)Was this review helpful to you?
It would be great if it was slightly less
The 2nd half of the show is great, but the 1st half is like dragged on.The first half is monotonous and somewhat frustrating to see. I mean, you introduce the FL at first so the break up was inevitable I think it is kind of dragged on and all they saw was the misery of the ML He was continuously going here and there, juggling both of them and constantly getting hurt.
The second half is more organized; at first they saw us break up and then the next following path.
Some other complaints are that they could make the ML and the FL closer. and somewhere the slightly done some more justice with ML. I mean, they suffered the most in that part of the show, and then they could show the male villain could pay more; they completely ignored him after the truth was discovered, and somewhere they kept a soft corner for the ex till the end. That's it.
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Light-hearted with exaggerating scenes
LIKEEverything about Saet Byul - loved Kim You Jung since Moon Embracing the Sun days
DISLIKE
Kind of an average story and I expected more from Ji Chang Wook since his past works were superb
MUSIC - personal fav
Something - Kang Daniel
Crazy - April
REWATCH VALUE
It doesn't matter if I re-watch or not
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Thrill and crazy
Hit drama You will get different types of thoughts But there in drama different Please watch all episodes of this back street rookie drama I hope who ever watch this drama those hope satisfied...... By I am from India, I am a big fan of kdrama,comedy and family involvement
All rolls are super ....
Please watch all episodes
Dont give wrong review..!
Hit drama You will get different types of thoughts But there in drama different Please watch all episodes of this train drama I hope who ever watch this drama those hope satisfied...... By I am India I am a big fan of drama
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Promising leads but disappointing results
I only rarely write reviews. I write reviews on two occasions, when I find a series so good that I want to reward it, or when I find a series very disappointing that I want to point it out. This review is the latter case.First of all, the main problem with this series is the story. The main scene is a convenience store. How on earth is that an appealing environment for a love story? The story is as flat and dull as any convenience store.
Two things that disappoint me the most with this series.
1) It wasted the main actors time. Both of them are a favorite of mine, and I feel like this was a wasted effort. I would much rather see them take on different projects with better results.
2) Ji Chang Wook and Kim Yoo Jung are unlikely to pair up together again, because leads rarely do pair up again in another series. That's disappointing to me because I really like them. However in this series I didn't find any chemistry between them, but I don't know if it's the story or not, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Maybe they got unlucky. There's also a 12 years age difference between the leads that could have had an affect.
At some points in the series I thought this was like a R&R (Rest & Relaxation) project for Ji Chang Wook. Ez work. And thought Kim Yoo Jung drew the short stick when she decided to do this project. One thing I'll say about Kim Yoo Jung, she was lovely in this series, I liked her the most.... her character was most evolved, and her smile makes you forget about the bad script.
But it's sad to write this review because I really admire the main actors.
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Worth the watch (definitely not as bad as everyone says)
Honestly the negative reviews under 5 we’re definitely watchers going into this expecting something super serious. This show has its elements of seriousness, but it’s mostly so unserious it’s hilarious and entertaining. A really easy show to get hooked on and binge watch (I can vouch for this). I’ve gotten many good laughs out of this show, and I’m not someone who would laugh out loud during a show/movie. All I can say is if you need a good laugh, or a break from other long dramas I definitely recommend this. What I can say is doing expect too much & this is the drama for you.Was this review helpful to you?
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Meh
I actually expected a lot for this drama. Maybe because its main leads were so promising? IDK but I did and maybe it was my own fault why I was disappointed in it. I tried to give it a chance. A lot of it actually. But I just ended up fast forwarding so much.The beginning and the end was actually bearable. It was kind of cute in its own special way. It was the middle part that made it feel so dragging. I found all the characters here weak, only one who really stood out was Saet Byul. I think she's the only strong character here with a really good foundation. Everyone else was meh.
The ML was so confused in what he wants that I actually prefer Saet Byul together with her puppy. They look so good together. (Really hoping they get cast in a romcom together). There were a lot of plot holes, the acting sometimes got a bit too much comical, things just got a bit too absurd at times.
Anyway, still good job to the team. Looking forward to everyone's next projects. I hope its a lot better than this one.
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SO MUCH POTENTIAL
This is my first review of any drama, but i will have to say i am stuck in the middle. I really like how this drama began but i feel like after the controversy they just played it save for the rest of the drama. Don't get me wrong it is a drama i enjoyed but i cant help but feel disappointed on the short comings of the series. The cast was great that pretty much is what kept me watching but (althought a little less Dal-sik would have been ok) It had so much potential to be a great drama and the writers/producers dropped the ball on that.Was this review helpful to you?
Despite all the controversies surrounding this drama with it not being suitable for the masses, there were moments were I really laughed out loud. Some parts were funny. So generally for me, it was okay. Just okay. Not mindboggling but just okay. If I would rate their acting , I would give them perfect points. It was like they wasted what JCW and KYJ could offer for the plot. I would like to see them act again in a better plot.
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Annoying and sometimes offensive
They wasted to much screetime on Dae hyun and his girlfriend relationship, he seemed so patetic and she clearly didn't care much for him. Saet byul is a cool character but her unconditional and devotional love for Dae hyun looked dumb. I guess they both ridiculous so hey they match! I would give this at least three stars but Dae hyun's best friend was a racially offensive character because they made him dirty (flies were often flying around him)and having dreads wich is a black hairstyle (racists often think people with dreads are dirty).Was this review helpful to you?
