Monthly Magazine Home

Very Well-Done Character-Driven Plot - But Disappointing ML

I must say, this series surprised me immensely. I started watching this drama because I needed a breath of fresh air between episodes in my other series. However, I soon began watching this drama 'full-time,' and for a good reason too. Where do I begin? The first episode introduces us to a female lead (Young Won) who quickly establishes herself as a well-written character. She's driven, energetic, and sweet - but also has her doubts, which fleshes her out pretty nicely for the viewer. The drama also introduces us to the rest of the cast, who have their quirks and backstories. Then, we meet the ML (Ja Sung), and boy, is he something.

Ja Sung starts with all the boxes in the 'make-a-prick' list checked. He's inconsiderate, rude, manipulative, and a millionaire landlord on top of it too. This drama does take the route of 'FL does all the emotional labor,' so beware. The writers try to make him grow as a person and brush his miserly personality off with a below-average childhood (who could have seen that coming.) Sorry, but in my eyes, Ja Sung's circumstances do not justify him being such a nasty person to those around him.

The supporting characters make this story. They're entertaining and drive several b-plots, which are almost better stories in their own right. Although rational thinking would have prevented some of these situations, everything goes well together, but this is a romantic comedy, so something should happen. Most of them are also absolute dinguses initially, but we see them grow as people through the episodes. This character growth works for the supporting characters, not Ja Sung, because they're way more relatable. You will never convince me to have any sympathy for a man who is that rich. I will not apologize for this.

And then there's the ending, which seems to have split the reviewers. Without spoiling anything, I think it was very mature. We got to see where everyone ended up, for better or for worse. In my honest opinion, everyone got an ending that they deserved.

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Okay But Nothing Special

This is a standard kdrama Rom-Com. There is no real depth of characters... no twists in the storytelling... nothing out of the ordinary. It has the cutesy Rom moments, and the Com isn't so annoying that I fast-forwarded it (which I do if it makes the difference of enjoying the show or abandoning it).

Pros:
*The opposites attract kdrama trope, which I personally think is cute.
*Beautiful buildings, set designs, etc.
*High quality filming, cinematography, lighting, music, etc.
*Decent acting for the main leads. Both are fine and their chemistry is okay.
*The comedic-relief characters are annoying, but not so annoying I want to stab them.

Cons:
*There are some tropes (especially near the very end) that I'm not a fan of at all.
*100% predictable in every single way (I knew those tropes were coming--very obvious)

In short, it was watchable af. I cruised right through in no time at all. The cons for me were just "meh" rather than deal breakers. They were manageable because 1. They happened late (didn't have to suffer through 4-5 trash episodes) and 2. I knew they were obvious, so I wasn't as irritated when they popped up.

If you're looking for a rainy-day watch of something mindless and fairly cute, this could work.

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The comedy in the series is sweet

In the beginning, it was a great series, but I mean, as it neared the end of the series, it became boring
And without meaning they broke up at the end for stupid reasons But the comedy and the beautiful songs remain special in the series The characters are also beautiful. The story was also wonderful and had a great meaning But whoever loves comedy and wants a change in the series, this series deserves comedy with something strange but romantic no He misses this aspect a lot The music is sweet and the story has a beautiful meaning, and in this series he wanted to convey the meaning to you,

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This drama has encouraged me to save money again, which is pretty much frugal living. It makes me realize that my current way of life is not sustainable in the long run. It was the first 8 episodes that made me think like that. When Na Young Won was still single and not tarnished by true love, what was inside her mind was only to save up money, save up money, save up money, etc.

After Eps 8, so Eps 9-12 were fine; I'm fine with Ja Sung becoming a simp, but it causes Young Won to lose sight of her life goals, and this drama feels like an ordinary romance drama around those episodes.

Worse, after Ep. 12 or when Ja Sung decided to break up with Young Won, this is really too much, just like when Young Won was drunk and said, "I couldn't understand all of this," which I also thought with frustration. It's just dumb. I'm glad that Choi Go, Sang Soon, and Ui Joo came to the rescue, as they have since the first episode.

At this point, I only hope that K-drama can be self-aware like Business Proposal (2022), which had only 12 episodes but was solid.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama "Monthly Magazine Home" is a slice of life drama with a fun couple as the main focus.

The drama offers enough cute moments, like the colourful tips on how to save money in order to buy a house. The main couple was, in addition, the biggest provider of these moments as well, especially the male lead, who was frustrating at times, but funny and enjoyable overall. The romance was also pretty sweet, but the progress was messy and close to a slow burn. The love triangle was not well handled either. Still, the side characters were interesting enough to keep things aloof and entertaining when the romance was failing to live up to its potentials.

However, what makes this drama not as good as it should have been, even though it checked all the boxes of an enemies to lovers trop, is that it is forgettable, as it didn't offer anything special, and the ending was bad. The latter was open, confused things for no real reason and it was just ridiculous. Plus, looking back, the drama didn't really leave any impression, nor had anything to say. It was just an office rom com with no sufficient plot.

To boot, the characters weren't well explored, as the story offered a few clues only when it came to their past life. However, the performances were great.

So, overall, 6 out of 10.

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So frustrating

I watched the very slow paced 11 episodes, skipped 12-14, then watched episode 15 and 16. I love Jung So-min, which is primarily why i started watching this series. Definitely my least favorite role she’s played in of all the ones I’ve watched so far.

The story line felt so redundant, most things were funny the first time, that was it. They could have expanded the plot of the FL’s father and a lot more of the background of the ML’s family and why they were homeless and so poor and all of it….

They did not make a good couple, i was rooting for Mr. dimples, they would’ve been so much cuter together.

The ending :( so disappointing! At least they could’ve gotten back together after 3 years, really???

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Lesser than the sum of its parts

This may not be al all-star team, but "Monthly Magazine Home" has a high caliber of talent at the top of the credits. Kim Ji Suk may not have a history as a lead but he's been a standout as a supporting cast member. Kim Won Hae has an incredible resume'. Jung So Min is unquestionably a quality lead actor. Chae Jung An has stolen more than her share of scenes in previous work. And for a good chunk of of this series, they play a terrific melody together. But it doesn't last and, while it remains an entertaining show, "Monthly Magazine Home" falls short of making the memorable performance that this cast is capable of making.

Kim Ji Suk's Yoo Ja Sung is the character with the most significant growth, but while the character matures and grows, his charm vanishes. Ahn Chang Hwan has a series of episodes where he is scintillating but his tendency to overdo comedic scenes is unfortunate. Kim Won Hae, similarly, bright moments mixed with less than his finest work. Jung So Min is terrific where her character has material for her to use. But Na Young Won just winds up being rather bland.

There's plenty of criticism for the storyline in later episodes and there's merit to it, but things started to go awry much sooner. It really begins with some clunky direction at the halfway mark. Kim Ji Suk, in particular, has some extremely awkward blocking in what should be touching moments with Jung So Min. All the supporting characters are asked to recycle the same lines for rapidly declining comedic returns. And there's quite a bit of extraneous cast that are present for a large amount of the show but are given almost nothing to do. What's more disappointing is that there are multiple devices that work well for much of the series that completely vanish shortly after the halfway mark.

Credit to the wardrobe people for an incredible collection of sweaters. The Jo Yuri track "Story of Us" is terrific and one of the best soundtrack entries of 2021. The houses featured are absolutely stunning.

Overall, "Monthly Magazine Home" is a nice show. It has flaws and some are noticeable. It also has a nice collection of positives and quality moments. It's not strongly recommended, but recommended nevertheless.

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This drama has a Unique concept it makes interesting

I love this drama cause it's unique concept and it's very entertaining and realistic and I got so many life lessons in life. I hope this drama will be discovered by the young generations they really needed this. And to the cast Kim Hi Seok a little bit older but I can see their undeniable chemistry. Maybe because Jung So Min charm makes good chemistry to all her leadingman. And now this drama is ep7 is getting better and better can't wait ep8❤️. Maybe because of its unique concept the others cannot find this interesting that's a big no! U need to watched this and see you goona like this.

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If you like drama born from immaturity, then this show is for you!

I just can't with this show. It's love-hate - and mostly hate it at this point. It look me awhile to figure out why this show grates on me so much. There are many reasons but the main one is that the show has 30 and 40 year olds going around with the emotional maturity of teenagers. It's bewildering and, in my eyes, a complete waste of storytelling and talent.

The female lead is a complete pushover devoid of personality and severely lacking a backbone. Let's just turn the feminist movement back by a century, why don't we?

The male lead has redeeming moments, but the show somehow thinks it's okay/endearing/funny for him to display circa 1990 kdrama toxic male behavior?!

The only redeeming factors about this show and why I continue to watch are Kim Ji Seok (Ja-sung) and Editor Nam, who are delivering great comedic and dramatic acting gold.

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