Crushology 101

Big romantic gestures do not make a romance

It's a shame the plot turned out the way it is because I usually will eat up a college-setting romance, especially a reverse harem. And the first two episodes were extremely promising too, with some really amusing over-the-top scenes that seemed to be making fun of old tropes, and with a female lead that was a little cliche — bright and bubbly — but still ended up sticking up for herself. And I love the bright pastel visuals.

As the drama went on, it felt like the show stopped doing tropes the fun way and just started doing them for real. I felt like I was watching something that should've come out in 2010. The manipulative ex-girlfriend plot device is especially tired, especially when paired with a male lead that just...doesn't communicate. And the way they handled the study abroad plot was so immature and frustrating.

Which is kind of a big issue throughout the drama that really made me stop caring about the leads. The show uses scenes of big romantic gestures to push the leads together, but the two of them pretty much fall flat in everything else. Maybe I'm old now but constant slow motion scenes of the leads saving each other from random situations, or running to each other to say "I love you" doesn't really mean anything to me if they're not going to actually talk to each other in between those scenes.

The side characters feel pretty underutilized. But props to Hong Min-ki for showing up to serve face for a few episodes.

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Yeol and Bani are my comfort.

It’s a beautiful and fun love story. I don’t have any issue with love triangles (plus they’re part of the history of Korean dramas and the reason they aren’t just short stories), so I loved it.

Neither was Yeol or Bunny easy to handle, but they were lovely and Yeol's final growth was the best. Yeol carried as the male lead; because he was a rather bold and complicated character, not a "perfect" and soft, almost decorative male lead everyone can easily like such as Ji Won.

It's a cute college romcom, but it’s also a genuinely strong story, something the drama keeps proving right up until the final episode. It’s beautifully directed too, with a fresh soundtrack (that French song at the start—awesome, haha) and really creative visual choices: shifting from simple shots to dynamic collages, full cinematic frames, warmer color palettes, and even black-and-white flashbacks in reduced framing, all used deliberately to serve each scene.

The original webtoon (Bunny and her Oppas, also the drama's Korean title) is a reverse harem - however, there is no endgame and of course I prefer the drama. Here you have a love story with a clear ML, but each of them had a purpose and intervened at some point.

Bani's self-esteem issues, Yeol's vulnerability and trauma from his family and heightened abandonment issues from his ex (contrast to Bani's ex and her other experience), the physical distance between him and Bani compared to Won who worked in the same department as Bani and started his relationship with her more naturally, these are the kind of things that draw me in.

By the end of episode 4, I knew it but I can't reveal it here. This whole episode ending was one of the most beautiful things I'd seen. I knew from the first episode that this story would stay with me.

The cast was a great ensemble where everyone felt necessary to the plot - Bani's parents (so rare to see a loving couple like this and get to see their own story), Yeol's friends and especially his best friend Dong Ha (reunion with his brother from Hierarchy), Bani's friends with the funny names, Ji Won and Yeol's growing funny friendship, Won's sister, Yeol's mother and his ex, the male leads, Bani's ex.

It wasn't cliché just for the sake of it; it felt nostalgic and it made me appreciate old-school tropes again. (Imagination/dream scenes too, like in True Beauty.)

The ending montage of them walking past all the leads. Perfect.

One last thing: There were actual parallels to Hierarchy, and the inspiration from Nevertheless was pretty clear (art setting, Bani and Yeol; take the beginning of Episode 4 for example, the opening, and more that's obvious). I don't care that it's a "flop", because what matters is they knew this drama would find its quiet audience. It's obvious that such dramas are necessary, but it's never of help when the international release is so weak (I'm in France and our Viki doesn't have it), since it's a Viu original.

Extras –
One of my favorite shots: https://i.ibb.co/B2kNGbPj/image.png
Favorite edit: https://www.tiktok.com/@gapthedits/video/7500693967957183750
FMVs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVlEiYP-9el5TBfeGObvF_KK-WinV6UI3

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