Irresistible Love (2023)

'Destined with You' review: a spellbinding romcom falls flat with a lackluster story

With the number of psychopaths in this kdrama, its title should have been "Obsessed with You" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Destined with You revolves around Hong Jo, a civil servant, whose life unexpectedly got tangled up with Shin Yu, a renown corporate lawyer. A mysterious box and several encounters later, they find themselves stuck with one another and they discover their unbreakable connection.

For starters, the plot was messy, loaded with uninteresting supporting characters and subplots. The series can't even create two episodes which tackles the same thing. Every episode is unrelated to one another. It is very important for a fantasy k-drama to steadily build the mystery and keep the thrill. Adding more confusion and questions to the bunch is certainly not one of the ways to do that.

Most of the episodes were merely fillers and keeps poking around the central conflict of the show. I'm not even sure if the main characters only have one main problem since they, too, are not searching for answers. The antagonists mostly did the work to keep the momentum going.

At the very beginning, the story is about spells and a century-old curse. Then, halfway through the show it became a secret office romance. Once again it changed course, the story became a thriller and that's the moment I knew the writers screwed up big time. It tries to have all genres at once. Honestly, the kdrama's only saving grace is Rowoon's visuals and his striking suits. At least the fashion department knew how to get the right work done.

Anyways, Rowoon and Jo Bo Ah had an undeniable chemistry here. Rowoon throwing funny puns while keeping a straight and handsome face certainly deserves a daesang. As for Jo Bo Ah, I kind of wished her character were more smart and strong. Hong Joo falls under the weak female lead stereotype category and I find damsels in distress intolerable. Her struggles of working and living alone definitely pulled some heartstrings. She also had some character development at the end but it felt too formulaic for my liking. Maybe it's just me who saw this issue. Perhaps I simply prefer smart female leads over the ones who needs saving and longs for a hero to realize her true worth.

On the other hand, I wish it had gone the same route as 'Extraordinary You' where the leads had one goal in mind and then conflicts appeared and the answers unfold one after another. We are solving the puzzle together with the main characters. That's the most simple structure of a fantasy drama.

In Destined with You's case, we don't even know what Shin Yu and Hong Jo want to do with their lives. They're simply flirting and encountering lunatics, that's it. The plot had so much potential. If only they stayed picked a lane, this fantasy k-drama could have been interesting and gripping.

This series could have also been way more short if it solely focused on Shin Yu and Hong Jo's past lives and their unbreakable connection. Up to now, I still can't figure if the spells were real or not. Shin Yu got better so the spell transcends through time? But why was Hong Jo never able to cast a spell if she were a direct descendant or even the reincarnation of Aeng Cho? We'll never know the answers to these questions because the show didn't even bother to acknowledge and answer them.

Episode 14 was not the resolution I was expecting. They could have given us glimpses of their past lives bit by bit throughout the series. However, they decided to dump the whole Joseon period in one go. I got emotionally invested in that episode but the sudden return to the present day only left me hanging. Aside from the talisman box, the show could have given more reasons why ML and FL were bound together by fate and how they gravitate towards one another even if they stay out of each other's lives.

Overall, 'Destined with You' both had its highs and lows. It was fun and swoon-worthy. However, the lackluster script made this show messy and incoherent. If only this story were written right, it could have been at par with What's Wrong with Secretary Kim and Business Proposal and will go down in the record books as one of the inventive and spellbinding office rom-com. The series is entertaining but doesn't quite put you under its spell.

Leia Mais

Another 16 hours wasted ^ᗜ^

Okay, so this series started as a seven for me, I'm not a huge fan of any of the actors, so I went in with no bias as the premise sounded interesting. The first two to three episodes were quite good, a bit slow but because I had high hopes I gave it the benefit of the doubt... but then it all fell apart. The fl just got dumb and dumber, the ml just basically turned into a gaslighter under a disguesed as a man in love, so so many plot holes, side characters no one cares about, and many questions were created just to be left unanswered. When I reached the 10th episode I felt like I watched a 30-episode show where nothing really happened, most events were just fillers, new plot twists got added randomly, and so many more stupid things happened to make this whole show into a disaster. I sped through the last 6 episodes like lightning because I had gotten so far and didn't want to waste all my efforts.

As I write this, I originally wanted to give it a five, but the more I write the more I feel like it doesn't deserve it.

Spoilers from here on:
All the things that ruined this show for me:
-I have no clue why they decided to go the cheating route. No matter what the ML thought ro felt he was still dating the SFL. Granted she was a b**ch herself but still, you can't really like a cheater.
-His "love" started because of a spell. There was no reason or any event to trigger true affection. So how did they fix it? With the classic "actually he has loved her all the time... like since their past lives" Please... that's so freaking dumb and overused.
-He was sick, haunted. But then suddenly he wasn't for the longest time, but then it came back again randomly. like what??
-FL just carried the love potion around in her tumbler and every single man just decided to drink it. Like girl, you've already used it on the person you wanted (not really lol), so either pour the sh*t down the drain or keep it at home.
-SML just randomly fell for the FL because "oh, wow. now she's liked by another guy huh, I'm suddenly interested." •ᴗ•
-Why do all Korean dramas just NEED to have their main leads have met each other before? Its always: childhood, past life, they met one time before and one saved the other. UGH! Not to mention, one of them always has some sort of trauma.
-And WHy, OH WHY!? do they have to break up for like half an episode just to get back with each other again? Its just lame.
-also the past story was just lamer... it could have worked with better writing but this show lacks that along with all sense so...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Things I liked:it was fun
-I liked the sass of the ML
-and what else... Um... FL looked really pretty in her past life ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)
-Oh wait... The main leads did have good chemistry I'll give them that

Leia Mais