Dear.M

Actually Kinda Sweet…

I’m a bit of cynic when it comes to “short” shows. I know that it’s wrong and trust me when I say that often my initial thoughts on shorter shows have been proven false, but often because of limited budgets, time frames and rushed writing (etc.), I can often find myself expecting the same old flukes and errors. Dear .M wasn’t entirely perfect but I would like to talk a bit about what I really liked and didn’t like with this series.

What I Really Liked;

I have my peeves with the setup but I can’t deny that main actors Park Hye Soo and Jeong Jae Hyun were really good here. Their chemistry was surprisingly dynamic and you could feel a certain impassioned expression of affections between the leads which made their onscreen chemistry feel alive.

Another thing that I really liked about the show was the topics tackled. It was a simple plot and it didn’t exactly take a lot of mental strain to follow, but that didn’t mean it was entirely absent from thought either. A lot of the subjects weren’t brilliantly detailed but it was still pretty surprising for a fairly lighthearted romance series to bring in topics such as ethics as well as psychological, physical and financial toils on students also.

I also really liked the fact that the characters weren’t entirely one-dimensional either. We saw a lot of problems faced by the main leads as well as the side characters without the plot feeling really draggy by the halfway point either. ( The writing made a point also of showing the leads and side characters for the most part as actual students. A lot of drama fall into the honey trap of making them feel like they are hitching a free ride through studies whereas here the fact that a lot of characters actually had to deal with work, assignments and campus life helped to make them feel a bit more fleshed out.)

What I didn’t like;

I’m used to a lot of cliches with characters and in all honesty I don’t mind them but I like to see where shows can diverge these stereotypes early on. Here, the show followed a typical cookie cutter approach to its main leads and side characters. I won’t go into this too much but I will say that it does become a bit tiresome as a drama watcher to see drama with characters reinforcing the same old roles and stereotypes. ( Especially the jealous and envious female leads, as well as catty conflicts and miscommunication .)

I will say that the second-half did tone down this approach but it felt as though because the drama was so obsessed with trying to present final obstacles for our main couple as well as tie up events, it was lost to the fact of featuring our side characters with more prevalence in the second-half, often making them feel out of place aside from dragging out moments of tension and drama.

Personally I felt that the ending could’ve been a little better with helping to tie up loose ends a bit more and bringing key characters to the front and smoothing out the resolution but I didn’t feel there was much to really improve on here.

Maybe my only remaining pet peeve came through the OST. It wasn’t bad by any stretch but it wasn’t entirely define as particularly memorable. Yes, there were a few songs which were sort of fun to tap your fingers to or helped to define a few scenes but it felt as though it could’ve been a little less generic at times or varied with tracks. Maybe that’s just me but I can’t really say that a lot of chosen music was my personal taste in music.

Overall thoughts; Dear.M was pretty much what it said on the tin. I think if you’re going into this drama expecting tales of woe and joy and flawless presentation then you might be a bit disappointed. Though I do think if you accept that its a lighthearted romance drama with its rough edges and fun moments then you’ll probably like this one. I have my own personal annoyances with the series but for the most part, it was pretty fun. Overall I’m going to give this one a definite 7.5/10.

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MMMMM GOOD!

I'm obviously here for Jaehyun, but I quickly became infatuated with the entire cast! I had this on my PTWL for awhile but once I started I binge watched tf outta it. Lol
The entire cast was spot on ranging from visuals to nailing their characters flaws and strengths. There's relatable content and characters you're gonna love to hate. It was nice change of pace to get a solid college campus drama. The romance was so sweet I almost became diabetic myself (drama reference). My only negative comment is some of it was visible a mile away but yet still enjoyable.
I'm glad this show didn't get cancelled and I recommend to anyone especially those who's into romance.
Enjoy ...

P.S. if you enjoy the series I recommend checking out the K-Pop group NCT

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A fun drama about college life and the relations u make and break during that time...Give it a try.

Dear. M is a drama about main 6 college students, their life, relationships friendships, etc., portrayed in a very realistic manner. As a college student myself I was fascinated to see the happenings being very accurate.
Its a fun drama that will lighten ur mood and definitely make u happy.
The actors and the characters they play are spot on and I absolutely loved all of the ships of the drama and was very glad about how the show ended.
Did this show end with me wishing I had the experience as one of the main characters? heck yeah. Is it going to be? sadly no.

Do give this drama a try and I'm sure you'll love it. Hope this review was helpful.

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A bingey heart fluttering summer watch

RELEASE the official Something's Wrong OST!!!!

I didn't expect to binge through this drama, especially since I saw a comment saying they felt like they were losing braincells watching this. While the drama was cliche, the cast members played each role so well. Their chemistry was natural, and I was surprised at how many rookie actors there were!

1. Min Ho's sadboi simp behavior throughout the whole drama was hard to watch. I am not a fan of forced kisses, and I wish if they were to show us the best friends turned lovers trope, there was more development for Joo Ah's feelings. I feel like she felt forced to like him back. But both have amazing chemistry together! The karaoke scene felt so Disney-like.
2. The girlfriend Ji Min has a lot of problems. She kept blaming her bf for her own personal issues, and I don't like how they resolved their story. Ha Neul is just another simp.
3. What was the point of Hwang Bo and Min Ho's older sister relationship? Thought there was going to be something there, but I guess it was just for us to paint a better picture of the older sister's background.

This drama drags the plot out and at the end, glosses everything with a youthful romantic message of chasing your love. If you focus on that solely, this drama is super bingey!

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If you like dramas about one-sided love, then this is for you!

First off, I just wanna point out that the poster is misleading. There are three characters who aren't on it and at least 2 of them should be. If they added these two/three actors/actresses with everyone looking in the right place or at the right person, you would have a basic understanding of the storyline as it first starts. Apparently, this series is about someone who likes someone who doesn't like them back.

I usually like to write a detailed synopsis about what this show so major spoilers ahead:

The storyline takes place in college. There are two main couples.

The first "couple", the main leads, are best friends, with a one-sided-love-triangle-trope. The guy likes the girl, who is his bestie, but the girl likes someone else who likes her back.

The second couple is the "Magnet Couple" or "Campus Couple". The girl in this relationship has a female "friend" that has a kind of stalker-ish one-sided love for her obviously taken boyfriend.

In total there are 9 characters, 4 guys and 5 girls. 3 of the guys including the ML and SML are roommates and 3 of the girls, FL and SFL, are roommates in the separated dorms. There are "what do the women think" and "what do the guys think" opinions of the same issues and problems.

Then there's the mysterious author of a post that starts off with "Dear M". This is a post confessing that some mysterious person likes someone in their Photography and Appreciation class. All of the above characters share this class so everyone is wondering who wrote this letter that was posted on one of the school's forums for everyone to read. Everyone is trying to guess who wrote the letter and who is "M". More letters follow after.

There are a few things that annoy me about this:
-The campus couple and their lack of communication. It's not that they don't talk, it's just that they don't share important need-to-know crap. There were a lot of red flags with the stalker friend, but SFL just pushes her suspicions aside and by the time she finally confronts the stalker friend, it's a bit too late.
-Also, the SFL falls into the "I'm going to do and say this to my boyfriend but I'm secretly hoping that my boyfriend won't listen or do what I say" scenario. Then she runs crying and whining to her friends when he actually just does what she says because dude is just a nice guy.
-The boyfriend, the second male lead, is played by Bae Hyeon Seong. While he's nice to look at because of course, he looks like BoGummy, most of the time he looks lost and sad. If it isn't his girlfriend, it's his studies. Every time I watch him, I think, "Poor guy... doesn't even know why he likes his girlfriend." Lol. He's still a good actor though just his character seems depressing every time he's not smiling.
-The FL, played by Park Hye Soo, looks like she belongs in high school or maybe even middle school. I'll be honest and say that I don't think she's a suitable FL. The way she acts all shy and naive is definitely out of place for a uni student. I get it she's experiencing first love vibes and all but it's the same kind of acting that keeps going on with her. Also, her kiss with her crush is while drunk and she barely remembers it the next day. Really?! That's the worst kind of 'first kiss' cliché.
-Another thing I really dislike is the FL lying and saying she likes this and that so it's the same likes as the guy she has a crush on. She managed to get inside information about him and used it to her advantage. So she pretends she's interested in everything he likes. Literally. WTF. Because of this, the career path she starts thinking of is the one that her crush says she would be good at. Go figure.
-The same goes with the stalker friend but her route about finding out more about her friend's boyfriend was more in a stalker-type way.
-There's a scam that's very obvious.

What I like:
-So far I love the acting of ML, Jaehyun and I really think that he's suited for this role.
-I love the bestie relationship and their story but more so with the ML and how he really knows his best friend and the way he takes care of her more than she does of him. She does like one major thing for him but that's really all I can r member. He does all these little trivial things for her and it's endearing even though she's oblivious.
-the Karaoke scene was very well done and I loved the beginning where it seems almost like they can't sing but then the duet comes and it's perfect. They pulled off the duet in a creative and interesting way. It's my fave scene so far that I rewatched that scene a few times already. I'm hoping Kdramas do more scenes like this. I hate it when they have an actor/actress who can sing but in a drama, they "fake" sing terribly.
-The storylines are interesting enough and so are the backstories of some characters
-The road trip scene with the lip balm was hilarious and the curse cafe was funny too.

All in all, this is holding my interest but when I really think of it, all the women are written poorly with more flaws than the guys. The women are either clueless, naive, b*tchy, stalker-y, or victims. Sigh. Right now I'm at Ep6 and I like the fact that they're dropping a lot of episodes at once. I can't rate too high as of yet but I'll update my review later if necessary.

Update:
I was glad that this series dropped 6 episodes in 2 parts at once because I don't know if I would've been excited each week to wait for new episodes. For me, it's started getting draggy. I fast-forwarded a few parts because it wasn't holding my interest.

I'll say that ML, Cha Min Ho played by Jaehyun, was probably the only character I was rooting for because I got irritated with everyone else. Everything ties up at the end and once that happened it wasn't like fireworks or cute "awwww" feelings. It was just so so. All of a sudden, the couples were just... boring. There is the standard, typical k-drama trope where the actresses always look surprised every time they're being kissed. (What's up with that btw? The guy goes in for a kiss and the girl is always surprised. Even the ones in relationships. It's always like watching a bunch of teenagers kissing for the first time.) There was a wedding dance that was so cheesy that it should've been cut out and as for the villain girl and guys, nothing much happened to them. The mystery of Dear. M was answered and left much to be desired. Everyone looks bored by the ending scene and it made me bored. Overall, it wasn't too bad but not great either. Jaehyun's acting was really great and gawd knows he's got that eye batting and longing looks down! I'll probably rewatch his singing and cute confession scenes.

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Related to Dear.M

Dear. M is a sweet and refreshing campus romance drama that features multiple couples and their stories. The drama has a good balance of comedy, mystery, and angst, as well as a realistic portrayal of university life and friendship. The main cast has great chemistry and acting skills, especially Park Hye Soo and Jeong Jae Hyun, who play the childhood friends turned lovers Ma Joo Ah and Cha Min Ho. The drama also tackles some social issues such as financial difficulties, diabetes, OCD, and online dating. The plot is simple but engaging, with the identity of the anonymous letter writer “M” being the main mystery that drives the story forward. The drama has some flaws, such as stereotypical female characters, unnecessary side characters, and miscommunication, but overall, it is a fun and heartwarming watch that will make you smile and swoon. I would recommend Dear. M to anyone who enjoys youth and romance dramas.

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Razoável

Eu tinha começado Dear. M assim que lançou (muito por influência da época em que eu acompanhava o NCT), mas larguei porque não tive muita paciência com o estilo do dorama, confesso. Fiquei um período bem longo sem assistir doramas no geral e agora que voltei a ter esse hobby decidi dar continuidade também aos que eu nunca terminei e Dear. M, como esperado, estava entre eles. O que tenho a dizer sobre ele agora é que é bem básico e previsível, com nada de muito surpreendente ou diferente do comum. É aquele dorama genérico para passar o tempo mesmo, o que não o torna exatamente ruim. Só é bem fraco. Os casais secundários me cativaram muito mais do que o principal e senti que erraram um pouco na dose na representação da antagonista. A atuação, no geral, também não é de tirar o chapéu. Tirando esses pontos, é assistível (embora eu não sei se reassistiria em algum outro momento).
Por fim, shout out to my boy Jaeyhun! Nos provou que é sim possível ter mais de uma expressão!

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good college romance drama

I'm just kinda sad about the fate of this drama honestly.It's nicely editted with a great flow to garner the attention of knetizens. There was a great hype surrounding this drama. I can remember everyone being so excited about the release of this drama after trailers dropped.Then out of nowhere Park hyesoo's scandal happened. It was actually a really good drama.Main story revolves around college life and finding love . FL and ML are childhood friends . Main plot revolves around FL ,ML and their roommates.It's a soft romance drama without unwanted dragging. Plot is simple and sweet. Of course there are bitter characters and situations but as a whole it's a good drama for a college /romance drama lover.

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MY HUSBANDS ACTING DEBUT

I watched this just for Jaehyun to be honest as you can probably guess by the title. He did great for his acting debut! He had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire time! (Not that that's hard for him to do)

I liked the friendship the main two had and liked seeing it blossom into something more.

I haven't seen the main actress in anything else, but I hope if she's still doing romances that she learns how to kiss on camera. So tired of these women always looking like a dead fish when they kiss. It makes the kiss so unsatisfying and awkward. It's not just this actress either, I've seen it many times.

The story is pretty cute! Pretty typical college rom-com.

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The power of the internet (good and bad)

Bottom line? In my opinion, this is an okay show to watch when you don't really want/need to be invested in what's going on. The acting is okay and there are no over-the-top evil characters. It was sort of a cute college romance.

Another show about hiding behind the internet/social media. While I don't think it's intrinsically bad, I do find that the anonymity can perpetuate a lot of misunderstandings and create toxic situations (though not in this show, thankfully) including cyber-bullying. I'm finding myself really appreciating show where the people actually talk to one another and there aren't ridiculous understandings.

The show was pretty fluffy, but I felt it suffered from an over-abundance of characters, especially considering its short length. I know who was SUPPOSED to be the main couple, but they often felt like secondary characters. Two of the female secondary actresses looked so much alike I wished they were wearing nametags. There were so many characters, their story lines were rushed, and that kept me from developing an attachment to them. For me, that's an important part of the experience for me. If I don't care about them, why should I watch?

Not to give anything away, when one of the men confessed, I felt that the female's response was terrible! It wasn't like he was a stranger or a stalker. There is no reason to be so mean. It takes a lot of bravery to confess to someone, and that kind of response could traumatize someone for a long time!

I found that I never really did care about who was posting on the internet, so when that was revealed, I STILL didn't care.

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Watch without too high expectations ;)

Best friends to Bf/ Gf ✔️ Couple- breakup- get back together✔️ New couple ✔️ Love triangle✔️ Manipulative, narcissistic, back-stabbing bi*ch✔️

I enjoyed the second half more, it was more engaging and had more drama going on lol. Didn’t really skip much, so that’s a good sign :) The storyline is quite predictable, and the ending is a happy one. You might feel some angst with the Jimin-Hanuel couple, as there is a female love rival. The male love rival Yi Dam is actually the most matured character amongst all, and I believe he’s the youngest!

It’s only 12 episodes, so it doesn’t drag at all. Have a go at it and enjoy! :)

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