This review may contain spoilers
Another drama that I found started off with me hooked, but as it went on started losing me more and more. Lots of plot holes and things that are skipped over for the sake of the plot. Plus you know we have to have the stalker mystery that doesn't fit in at all! I think this would've been a perfect drama to make 12 episodes and have it finish on the happy end it did without all of the messy in between.It veers away from the magic box/spells of it all and starts on a love triangle story line for most of the drama. I do not find these tropes interesting and it's not in this one. It really took away from the story in places where we could've been getting more background on Hong Jo and Shin Yu instead of shoving it all in towards the end of the series.
A lot of tropes, but the romance scenes are worth it at some points. I love Rowoon's acting and he definitely keeps you watching for the chemistry he brings. I loved his character and the charming side that he brought out in this drama. The other characters fell flat for me and the side stories weren't enough to keep me interested.
Romance scenes almost make it worth it, especially the few episodes towards the end (12-14) where their backstories are finally revealed. The rest not so much.
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Not Good Enough
Korean Drama '' Destined With You '' is a fantasy romantic comedy with some drama towards the ending.The drama starts out quite intriguing, with the two leads displaying smooth banter between them and the comedy being subtle but enjoyable. The chemistry of the couple, in addition, was what carried the drama forward and let things progress. So, when it comes to the romance, the drama did things right.
Where, however, failed was with everything else. As the drama progressed, the story started being random. The love triangle got messy and confusing, the fantasy element was simply out of hand, and the last episodes tried to wrap up everything and fill two hours with spontaneous scenes of domestic bliss.
At least the performances were enjoyable till the very end.
So, overall, four out of ten.
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Watch it for Rowoon's visuals
Destined With You is okay, but I have a few issues with it. My biggest complaint is why the second female lead has to be an insufferable, cartoonish villain. Similar to 'She Would Never Know', the second female lead has to be the villain of the story to make the audience admire the female lead. Why deprive the audience of a serious moral conundrum? I think the drama would be a little better if Na-yeon (Yura) were a likable character.It is easy to pair Shin-yu (Rowoon) with Hong-jo (Jo Bo-ah), not because of the destiny thing they tried to pull, but mostly because the other alternative is a horrible human being, a bully. I also feel that Jae-kyung's (Ha Jun) character is underutilized. The saving grace of this show is of course Rowoon and its cinematography and the beautiful scenery. Even though it is sometimes heavily edited, it still gives the show an ethereal feel.
All in all, it's not that bad.
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light and entertaining
Past and present collide in this rom-com about a city lawyer with a mysterious ancient curse and a civil servant with whom he shares an "unseverable destiny". If you are undecided on whether to watch a modern or costume drama, this show will deliver both.While there are all the usual ingredients of a rom-com, this show is more entertaining than average. There wasn't the usual shy, denial of feelings, but rather a full on "Sorry - Not Sorry!" head first dive into love. Shin Yu believes he is under a love spell cast by Hong Jo and struggles to fight it. "You're not pretty, but you are to me!" It's a funny internal battle between a newly awakened heart and a seasoned analytical brain. A few scenes were too slow but, before you get too bored, the story manages to move along with hints into previous lives, dark magic, murder and suspense. However, the draggy scenes were during the modern portion of the show and I felt more time could've been spent on the historical back story. Rowoon and Jo Bo Ah change pace smoothly and maintain their chemistry between the two settings.
The overall cast is very funny and work well with each other. However, it was almost uncomfortable seeing Park Kyung Hye being very over the top; she has had better roles. The comic timing between the 2 ML's as they compete against each other in 1 of 2 intersected triangles is spot on. It's also nice to see two decidedly unglamorous people in their own romantic story arc; it counters the expectation that only young and beautiful people can fall in love. Rowoon, noticeably freakishly tall (his height is mentioned several times), is good at comic scenes and his fans won't be disappointed. He is maturing into a decent dramatic actor as well.
If you're not looking for anything too profound, this show is light and entertaining to watch.
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Only for Jo Bo Ah
Only for Jo Bo Ah, If you are not satisfied in this drama you can watch her in Tale of the Nine-TailedThe story is not complicated
But the director, screenplay makes it complicated
Actor and actors are done their best
As usual [ Jo Bo Ah ] her cute acting in screen presence is mesmerising to me
First 7 episodes you must be patience from 8th episode the drama becomes interested
Thankfully Drama has happy and good ending
May be part 2 for destined with you if there is chance
So don't worry worth to watch
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Keep clear
I'll keep it very short. This drama is sht. I don't know why it has such a high score....Plot-driven story. Everything happens because the writer intended for it to go exactly that way. And in order for it to happen, the characters do dumb things, act in strange way, otherwise the next step in the story wouldn't be possible. And even more weird, new plot elements are introduced and dropped later without any real reason. So basically the story is dumb and it gets cluttered with extra stuff, for no real reason. Beside that, cringefest. Lots and lots of cringe moments. Probably that was supposed to be comedy. Well, it missed.
Next, character development. Too few and not where it should've been. The chemistry is ok, mostly because of the ML. The FL tries too hard. Even her acting is a little bit off (and the "sexy" scenes are cringe and used only to boost the viewing numbers). I've seen her in other series and she wasn't this "bad". Of course, a lot of it can be blamed on the script and maybe even the director, but still.
What else? Annoying soundtrack. The production value is decent. The pacing is awful. Well, you get the idea. Give it a wide pass. The ML made all the heavy-lifting ( I even suspect some improvs from him, to make the scenes a little bit sweeter), coupled with some of the supporting cast. But not even the cast should make you curious about this one. Clearly the people who gave this drama a high rating did it only because "Omg I like X actor/actress. I'm so happy I got to see them again" or something like that.
Have a lovely evening.
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In the past life and in this life.. I love you.
Thumbs up from my mom to Rowoon for being handsome ahahaMight not be a big hit, but it was a good drama.
I started watching not expecting much, I'm new to these actors, the story might not sound new, but I don't pay too much attention to pointless comparison these days, since everything depends on actors and production team and they managed to keep me interested and the last half I simply binged. Strictly speaking there are always hit and misses, but speaking truthfully it's not as horrible as some people say.
What I considered to be good.
Acting. I had no idea who Rowoon was before watching and I must say he has the face and skills for you to remember him on the screen. What can I do, who doesn't like handsome guys. Oh! And so far the only actor I've seen who could act drunk so well ahaha like honestly when it comes to drinking or being sleepy many actors don't look drunk at all. You can put a ton of blush on their faces, but they can't do it, but his scenes were on spot ahaha. Same for Bo Ah. Although it wasn't her fault there was so much emphasis on her acting shy at the beginning, which was later dropped, but overall she did a good job with her role. I noticed he acted with actresses older then him in several dramas? :)
All other actors did a good job too.
Romance. I'm not against characters having prior relationships. It's not a bad thing having a character who is not a blank piece of paper when it comes to love/relationships. This is why I found the initial entanglement interesting. After all the mistake Hong Jo made gave a strong sense of "fate". And from initial almost enmity they came to love. Tbh those episodes when he couldn't control himself were quite funny, because we could see the rational and emotional sides clash constantly. Eventually her life was filled with him and his life with her and their feelings shifted in the direction towards each other. On screen chemistry was great :)
As for the storyline. You need to watch it completely to see the writer's idea. I think the story would have tasted really different if the backstory (past life) would have been dumped from the get go. Basically, we as viewers get the glimpse of the past life together with the characters themselves, which was quite fine. And if someone says something about sub-plot.. *sigh* don't you see why it was brought up. If not this it would have been something else because what should have happened must come, don't forget the settings of the curse after all. I try to speak spoiler-free as much as possible and keep things vague.
PS: The only thing I couldn't get was actually HongJo's co-workers. They acted vile and I couldn't wrap my head around why. You can justify it by saying that because she reported Gong, who in return kept mentioning her, they might have accumulated negative feelings towards her, but this was the part that felt fake to me. Maybe because despite justification I couldn't get why they acted like that, so it felt forced.
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A wonderful surprise
I wanted to watch it because of Rowoon whom I had seen in other dramas before and whose performance I always admired .The beginning of Destined with you is slow and Rowoon 's part of an upright , haughty and stiff lawyer , who 's always sour looking did not inspire confidence . I thought it might be a rom com but there was little evidence of that . But then the plot developed into a thrilling , engaging , intense love story , with suspense , compelling supernatural mystery , which had me on edge until the end when everything is very well tied up together . it has a happy ending and I would say well deserved for the main characters after all they went through ! I would watch it again .
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Do not care about bad rewiews here, it's worth the watch
At the start, I thought that wasn't that much worth my time, even though I've been a huge Rowoon fan (also SF9) for the past years, and I've also been influenced by the other reviews there, but decided to give it a try!Honestly, not the best 2023 drama, but is well done. Loved their chemistry, also the support roles actors and actresses did a really good job, the storyline is dumb and that is why is good, is supposed to be a lighthearted drama that doesn't need to be taken seriously. I love some random phrases of Rowoon and the bickering with the second lead, also his parents are hilarious in certain moments.
I would give a solid 8 to this!
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Mixed feelings but enjoyable
Being completely honest, I was going to drop it around episode 6-7 because it didn't have any interesting progress, but I decided to give it a chance and watch it. Yes, I did not regret it. I started falling in love with the actors and I wanted to see more and more. I get that the plot is a little weird and cliché, like, another drama with past life relation, but overall it was pleasant to watch and the kiss scenes were 🤌🏻 . I think it deserves a watch, it has many promising scenes and Ro woon's the epitome of good acting, despite his latest controversy ...Was this review helpful to you?
The only good character was the second lead.
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This review may contain spoilers
Destined With You – A Journey of Conflicted Feelings That Eventually Wins You
I started Destined With You without many expectations, and while I ended up enjoying it, the first half really tried my patience. Until around episode 8, both leads were stuck in messy feelings. Jang Shin-yu, a skilled lawyer burdened by a centuries-old curse, was still entangled with his girlfriend Yun Na-yeon, unwilling to end things openly. Meanwhile, Lee Hong-jo, a kind-hearted civil servant who stumbles upon a mysterious spell book, lingered around her crush Kwon Jae-gyeong, a reserved and seemingly perfect mayor’s advisor. This dragged-out love-square made the early story frustrating, and it was especially painful to watch when Jae-gyeong began to flirt back with Hong-jo, even though it was clear her heart wasn’t fully in it.It was a relief when Shin-yu finally broke up with Na-yeon, though he kept it private out of respect for her request. Jae-gyeong’s character, however, never worked for me—he constantly felt like a forced third wheel, especially in the early episodes.
The show truly improved once Hong-jo became certain of her feelings for Shin-yu. Their romance blossomed beautifully, with heartfelt kisses and intimate moments that made their growing bond feel real.
Side plots like Shin-yu’s mother and the Miss Ma–Mr. Kong storyline didn’t ruin the experience, though they occasionally pulled focus.
Despite its rocky start, the drama delivered: a truly evil villain, engaging conflicts, and unmatched chemistry between Shin-yu and Hong-jo made Destined With You a satisfying watch.
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