This review may contain spoilers
For those who like slow-burning, healing story
Call It Love is a slow-burning tale of hurt and healing. Shim Woo Joo sets out to destroy the man whose mother ruined her family—only to find herself drawn to his quiet loneliness and the fragile heart of Han Dongjin.I've always been a fan of K-dramas and somehow I missed this drama back in 2023. Recently, I get to know Kim Young Kwang and decided to test some of his dramas before watching the recent ones which leans towards action and noir. So, I chose this drama to start with and I can't believe it got me emotionally invested.
It’s a slow-paced drama, but the tempo suits the genre perfectly, allowing the story to take its time building emotions so the audience can truly connect with the characters. Shim Woo Joo’s journey—driven by revenge yet swayed at times by her feelings for Han Dongjin beautifully reveals her complexity. The series captures the layers of human emotion and empathy, while Han Dongjin’s quiet composure in the face of constant hurt shows that some people choose resilience over retaliation.
At times, their actions can be frustrating—Shim Woo Joo’s blunt, razor-sharp words and Han Dongjin’s calm silence even when others trample over him instead of fighting back. But in the end, I realized that’s simply how they protect themselves, and in a way, those very traits become their strengths.
I also love how the two leads find comfort in each other, even in silence. When they do talk, it’s often about opening their hearts—sharing their stories etc. It’s comforting to see that you can fall in love quietly, without grand gestures or doing much at all.
Han Dongjin is probably the character I connected with the most throughout the drama. The way he walks and talks, his gaze, even the line of his back—all of it screams loneliness. Like Shim Woo Joo, I couldn’t help but feel the urge to hug him. His eyes always seem to brim with tears when he’s sad, angry, or hurt—yet they never fall, as if he’s holding himself back. The only time he ever raised his voice was when he yelled at CEO Shin for hurting Shim Woo Joo, and honestly, that wasn’t enough for me. After everything that man did to him, a part of me always wished he would finally go berserk.
As for the side characters—the siblings, Yoon Jun, Kang Min Young and Han Dongjin’s mother—they each add emotional depth to the drama through their own stories and journeys. Yoon Jun might seem like a love rival for Han Dongjin at first, but as the story unfolds, you realize he’s more of a friend who genuinely cares for her. His only wish is her happiness, even if, at times, he might secretly harbor feelings for her.
Overall, this drama is an emotional yet satisfying ride. My only complaint would be the ending—if it had shown more of their moments after getting back together, it would have been perfect. Other than that, I truly loved it!
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Eccentric Emotional Rollercoaster ride In DARK
This drama is OOOZING with Emotional Spikes. [!!]It will stir you deep through your heart and make you feel the pain the character goes through.
The casts did justice to their roles. You can't see them act, they lived as the character.
You hate the character bcoz they manipulate your emotions, not because of the plot.
You would see darkest part of each character and you will eventually understand them. This drama best describes the true nature of human selfishness and people's feebleness.
lonely people can understand this drama much better.. it resonates with you
This drama deserves Major awards for the cast performance and the direction.
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its really interesting
this is only my first impression...this drama is really heavy it is so depressing to see the way FL lived such a miserable life and the cinematography is really pretty the plot is interesting too...but i just cant believe that she is going to date the mistress son like..???i feel really bad for the FL..tbh this drama feel like a hug..i really love the FL and ML acting and this drama is giving my mister...cant wait to see more of this....its going to be really interesting..pretty sure i wouldn't drop this drama midway
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This review may contain spoilers
i like it a lot
Just started this drama and I’m loving it so far. Although all the episodes aren’t out yet, I really enjoy the storyline, the slow pacing of the show and the characters.Both the FL and ML have complex personalities because of the shitty things that happened in the past and its affecting them now.
They both have trust & abandonment issues. The ML stemming from his mother and former lover, and the FL from her cheating father.
It would be interesting to watch how their characters further interact, develop and change.
I need more episodes PLS 😭😭😭😭😭
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Sooooooooooooooo slow
This drama is RIDICULOUSLYYYY slow. Like seriously. It's so freaking slow, I can't stand it. I somehow made it to the halfway point of episode 5 and I'm just struggling to even continue to watch this drama. I knew that it was slow from previous reviews but I thought I could handle it. Apparently not because I stopped to write this review and now I'm seriously contemplating dropping this drama. And I try my damn hardest to not drop a drama.These reviews are so positive about this drama and I heard the ending was the ending we didn't get for 2521 so I was excited to watch this but... this has been disappointing to say the least. Honestly debating between just dropping the drama or just continue watching the drama but in the fastest speed possible.
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This review may contain spoilers
Overall a very satisfying experinece
The Story:It is basically a melodrama about two star crossed lovers. Basically, Dong Jin's mother and Woo Joo's father had an affair. Woo Joo's father left his family and married Dong Jin's mother. Upon's his death, he left the family home to Dong Jin's mother resulting in Woo Joo wanting the house back. She wants to approach Dong Jin to get the house back but believes that he is selfish just like his mother and seeks revenge by joining his company.
The Good:
- The acting. Every actor is excellent in this drama and they truly make you feel for their character even the evil stepmother near the end. Most of time, they will portray their emotions through their body language and eyes. The way they would just look at each other is just so noteworthy. A lot of the time they communicate less through words and more through the body language cause both Woo Joo and Dong Jin are quiet people who are dealing with their own emotional issues . I cannot fault anyone's acting in this so a solid 10/10
- The overall atmosphere / tone: Most of the characters in this drama are going through some emotional trauma and it communicated very well through the overall colour grading, the way they walk, the way they react to happy / sad news, the way some of the shots are so still and the stillness of some scenes.
-Realistic portrayal: Now, not everything in this drama is portrayed realistically but most of the things that happen are pretty realistic. Ex: How people develop a relationship, how people fall in love, how families usually influence one's decisions in life, etc
-The character development: The way the characters develop, their relationships change and the way they react to things depending on their personality was very good. Also, a few of them learn life lessons and some give them depending on their experience.
- Forgiveness: One of the biggest takeaways from the this drama is how important it is to forgive someone so you can lead a more happy/ healthy life.
The Bad:
- The pacing: This is more of a character heavy drama rather than a plot heavy drama so the pacing of the drama varies depending on what the emotional state of the characters. The beginning is really slow cause you are being introduced to the characters and their situations. Once I made it through midway of the first episode, I pretty much binged through the 6 -7 episodes and then the drama was pretty much dragging with the indecision of the characters and how you were basically waiting for the bomb to drop. Then, it somewhat picked up pace again only to slow down again till the end. There are shots / scenes which are drawn longer than necessary. I sometimes found myself wanting to skip them cause it was just dragging the story
- The ex-girlfriend: I feel like she was just added to the story for more drama and nothing else. I did not like her character nor felt sympathy towards her. She could not have been in this story and it would have changed nothing. A good thing is that she did not get more screen time.
- The cliche evil stepmom: When this drama was going for some realism, they went for the evil stepmom and her evil sidekick. They are no redeeming qualities to her until near the end. In a drama where most characters are realistic, she with her sidekick just seemed to be so out of place. Her motivations are never shown/ given. She is just who she is and we are supposed to accept it. She never has a moment where she explains her actions.
- The ending: For a drama that loves to drag out certain scenes, they pretty much gave a very rushed ending in the very last 1 -2 minutes. I personally would have liked some sort of epilogue, conversation, or something solid. It is a satisfying ending but not a perfect ending. Considering all that happened, I just wanted a few more minutes to wrap everything up.
So, overall 8.5 / 10. Give this one a try if you like slow paced star crossed romance, characters going through emotional trauma and excellent acting from everyone.
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This drama is endearing
For once I really enjoyed following and watching a Korean drama. The story has nothing extraordinary and the characters are quite common but the actors are good and the direction is excellent. The scriptwriter had the intelligence to build a solid plot that does not evolve into unnecessarily complex events. But it is especially thanks to the direction that this series is of great quality. I have rarely seen a story so well filmed and edited. It was a real pleasure to watch some scenes. It happened several times to me to go back to see again certain sequences. Everything is excellent: the choice of shots, the lighting, the way of filming the places and the characters, the editing, etc.We too often forget that a story, however good it may be on paper, will never make a good movie without a solid direction.
I have two criticisms to make. First of all, the music. It is sometimes too present and seems to underline too strongly the emotions of the characters. The other negative point concerns some lengths and some sequences are not really useful to the story. The last episode has a too predictable content. It was not necessary. This drama would be much better in 12 episodes.
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Unreasonably slow
I actually really liked the start of the show. It was nice cute and i kinda knew that this is not gonna be some hot romance. It would be ok to me if the show was slow but this is just unreasonable. Even after characters get to each other and grow close together the still talk so weirdly and soooo slooooooow. This makes all the dialogs feel extremely unnatural and dragging. Do you really need to put some deep almost phylosophical meaning into every single sentence you say to your loved ones? Idk it just didnt feel real and that was bothering me so much.And its so annoying because first few episodes were sooo good! Why is that it so often feels like korean screenwriters wrote first few episodes and cooked the rest on the fly? Why is it that the show is awesome at the start and mediocre at best in the end? Its so annoying.
What i liked on this show was development of FL. She is such a good actress and if she didnt have to go trhough such bad dialogues in the end it would bo soo good.
Idk such a wasted potential
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This drama definitely not my cup of tea Although it was ok but
It reminds me a lot with
Just between lovers and my ajusshi
And with sorrow I hate both a lot
Very very veeeery slow paced, one scene can take more than 2 minutes. Which was really torturing, dark filming which gave you depression, very bad haircuts for all Main leads,
Very bad fashions and styles and bad directing
The characters were extremely cold as if they hadn't any soul with dead face expressions
Even when sung yung had to be angry. She didn't gave me the right feeling for that
Always dead face
All her emotions were the same which was extremely weird for her as a professional actress
The majority of this drama was depressing and melancholy
I know I didn't like it the time i started to speed it ×8 and when I jumped eps. And still got the whole idea
It was more nice than my ajusshi and just between lovers
But for me just to watch once
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Too pink
I don't normally review dramas that I've dropped but I had to mention the pink filter. The PD explained that it's supposed to be like the sunset at the end of a tiring day or the sunrise full of hope which is a lovely sentiment but the execution is poor. Every scene has an overlay of cotton candy pink that is incredibly distracting. It doesn't help that some scenes are over lit with harsh shadows. Yes there are some gorgeous shot compositions but it's ruined by the miasma of pink. That plus some implausibilities in the story made me give up.Was this review helpful to you?
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How could they not get KYK out of his mould?!
I have not much to say - and I’m on ep7 - but I feel the casting&director missed a trick here!The story is simple, the writer kept the side stories to a minimum. Which is okay if the main story held a bit more weigh - what is killing it for me is the main male character. It’s infuriating that they left KYK to play this two dimensional persona, with no charisma, relatability and non expression ! I just wished I can go and slap him to start acting- he is playing someone depressed and lonely - and I know, those people are hardly two dimensional; character with two impressions
She is a bit better, but not much - I’ve seen her chapter before from her.
The rest of the cast is is ok - the “lower” you go on the pecking order the better then actors actually!
But why no one told him that being tall and handsome is not enough to play a complex character?! Why?!
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