Heartbeat

Very Slow and Doesn't Achieve Its Goal

The first episode started off fine but in between Heartbeat started to drag a lot. I disliked watching the struggle of the teokbokki restaurant owning vampire and the tarot card reading vampire. Man Hwi and Rose were the most interesting support characters and I liked them the best. I enjoyed scenes with them in it the most as well.

The show was about a vampire who wanted to experience his heart beating for love which is why he wanted to become human. I am not sure if we really got that. It seems the writers wrote themselves into a corner and decided the viewers will be satisfied with that. They could have done this same ending in fewer episodes and it would be less disappointing. It just made me glad that I binged a lot of the episodes together instead of watching weekly as it was not worth watching something this slow moving only for a semi-satisfying ending.

The main leads didn't even get enough romantic moments together. Too many distractions and running around. Second male lead and second female lead were also all right. I'd say most of the characters are very muted.

One can keep guessing if the ending was real or imagined. I thought it was just okay. Not what I had hoped for at least.

The comedy tag doesn't suit this show either. I can't remember one moment that I felt was funny.

If you like the leads, you might enjoy this series otherwise, it's best to pass. It's average.

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Disappointing...

I loved everything up until the last two episodes. The story was not the best and kind of draggy in some parts before that but I still enjoyed it so I didn't care.

Ep 15 was so boring, I could've skipped that entire episode. The last episode was better but the ending was very disappointing. The ending didn't make me feel any emotions at all, I'm not happy or sad, just disappointed. This whole drama feels like a waste of time and I kinda wish I stopped watching at ep 12.

I did enjoy most of the episodes so I might rewatch them! I'll never rewatch the whole drama tho lol...

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We were rooting for you!!!!

Sigh. I really wanted this drama to not fall into the curse of being one of those dramas that should've had 12-13 episodes instead of dragging itself to a lousy 16 that ended up ruining the drama for me. Firstly, I loved the acting and the chemistry of the leads. The supporting cast was very cookie-cutter and replaceable, so I won't say much about them. They were boring to me.

Now, this drama presents itself as a romantic comedy at first that had a fun fast pace right from the bat. Where it falters is the need for it to become a melodrama from episode 12 onward. It is an abrupt change that feels forced and from there on all the characters basically repeat their actions over and over until the end, losing any pace it had before as a result.

The forceful need to have it be that one of the leads "needed" to die, instead of just ending with ML transforming into a human due to drinking a *bit* of FL's blood (would have been a perfectly good ending IMO, but no, let's force one of those ambiguous open endings on our viewers from what was meant to be a silly little rom-com about vampires.)

These scriptwriters and the director just couldn't pick a lane I guess. Wasted!

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can you feel my heartbeat ?

Comecei a assistir pelo Taecyeon e me apaixonei pelo drama . Achei o cast muito bom e os personagens são bem trabalhados durante a série .
Minha nota só não foi mais alta pelo final triste do protagonista , eu achei injusto o Woo Hyul ter morrido e se sacrificado pela In Hae quando ela quem bagunçou tudo abrindo o caixão dele . Eu acho que dava pra fazer um final feliz com tudo se resolvendo melhor , até o Do Sik teve um final melhor que o protagonista rs .

Sobre os personagens em si eu achei o Min hwi um ótimo vilão . O ator tinha expressões muito boas e eu adorei a perfomance dele nesse drama , espero ver ele mais vezes !!

A história do drama em si é boa , porém , curta , não tinha necessidade de todas aquelas cenas chatinhas envolvendo a açougueira e a vizinhança , achei repetitivo .

Em sumo é um drama legal com um bom elenco porém com um final inesperado , não sei se reassistiria , porém recomendo .

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Could be better with a strong FL

I came here for Taec Yeon and he didn't disappoint as usual, but the storyline, especially the FL is disappointing.

It started out really funny and then it just went downhill.

I really am so disappointed with the ending. I didn't watch 16 episodes for this. Story gets messy and draggy in middle, so I've to skip episodes.

What pissed me most is the weak FL. She is a typical "I have a poor life, save me, victim mentality" where she needs constant saving, and even sacrifice from ML. I don't think this storyline is "romantic" at this day and age.

If its not for Taec Yeon, I'd have dropped the show long ago, but on hindsight, I probably sjould just have dropped it and saved myself from the disappointment

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achei que era uma comédia romântica

Comecei a assistir achando que ia ser aquela comédia romântica básica mas que ia entregar alguma diversão. Isso acontece no começo, só que em algum momento, as coisas foram tomando um caminho meio turbulento. Assistir a esse kdrama foi como uma montanha russa pra mim, uma hora tava lá em cima outra outra tava lá em baixo.
Nos 4 primeiros episódios tava tudo normal, aí depois deu aquela decaída e voltou a subir mais ou menos no episódio 10. Depois desse episódio, começou a cair de novo, quando faltava apenas 3 episódios pro fim, caiu outra vez e percebi que ia ficar lá mesmo.
Falando do final, era realmente necessário a morte do protagonista? Eu entendo o conceito mas achei meio incoerente. Porque? Pra quê? Qual a necessidade? E a premissa, o conceito do começo? Não sei a resposta. O autor queria que eu ficasse triste, que eu achasse emocionante? Minha resposta é: não fiquei e não achei emocionante.
Parecia que o autor queria fazer um final com uma grandeza maior do que realmente ele era. Não foi. A única tristeza que eu senti foi em relação a infeliz decisão do autor em acabar uma coisa que já não era grande o suficiente.
Depois de tanto esculacho, será que eu odiei o kdrama? Não. E eu não sei como ainda conseguiu me prender até o fim. É aquilo... é ruim que é bom. Talvez minha nota seja até alta. Mas, no geral, foi uma boa distração para mim.

Obs: ... toda a parte daqueles vizinhos se metendo sobre a mansão foi uma chatisse.
A morte do vampiro vilão foi tão rápido e fácil, e os vilões não tiveram um fim ruim como mereciam.

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Atrocious horrible awful writing

This drama sucked out 16 hours of my life that I'll never get back.

What I liked:
*The performances. The acting is pretty good in this drama, considering the awful script, except for one and a half (?) actors who gave consistently bad performances. Baek Seo Hoo who plays Lee Man Hwi... No comment. I'm not 100% convinced about Won Ji An though. It could be In Hae's unlikeable character or the actress herself, I haven't seen her other dramas so I can't judge it fairly. Yoon So Hee who was unfortunately given a horrible character (Hae Won) played her well, good for her, I hope in her next drama she is the MFL, I kind of want to watch her play a well-written character.

*The characters of Woo Heol and his friends, Do Sik and Hae Won. Overall the characters are pretty shallow and one dimensional but they don't annoy me. I felt bad for Hae Won at first, she seemed like a good person, and she was honest the whole time and got nothing, she deserved better, until, of course, her character's assassination happened and erased some part of the complexity (which it doesn't have a lot in the first place) in this drama and turned her into a stereotypical evil and jealous female second lead.

*The soundtrack is pretty nice, especially the title song. That song introduced me to the singer Han Seung Yun whose discography I liked a lot. Btw stream Han Seung Yun's album 'Lovender'.


What I didn't like:
*I don't like how the main female lead has no chemistry with either of the male leads. I'm not rooting for either of the couples. I wish her 'falling in love' arc was about finding herself and loving herself but alas.

*The plot dragged. If the characters weren't so slow figuring out the basic plot, this drama could have been shortened by half. Also, there are weird cuts/transitions between scenes/plotlines. Lots of unnecessary flashbacks when the flashbacked snippet happened literally one scene ago. Also, why did the plot start normally happening only after the 10th episode? Overall, an interesting premise ruined by dumb slow characters, horrible pacing, and overall bad script. From the 14th episode, I started to skip through filler parts where nothing was happening. Thank god I saved some time which I'll be using watching better dramas.

*This drama has a 'no communication' trope instead of the 'miscommunication' trope which is so much worse: (Woo Hyeol doesn't say that he's going to die if In Hae doesn't fall in love; Do Sik doesn't directly ask In Hae about Woo Hyeol being a vampire immediately after seeing Woo Hyeol's supernatural powers; Do Sik takes out the journal about vampires, which he has been safekeeping as a family relic, straight after finding out about their existence and does not read it right away (????????); Mr. Ko telling Woo Hyeol the conditions of turning himself human bit by bit during the drama and not at once). Everyone is lying/omitting information and being vague about everything being okay. This only artificially builds conflict to solve later in the drama. All of the conflicts arise from not communicating properly and not actual problems/dilemmas. It's just bad writing.

*In Hae's character and Lee Man Hwi + other characters. She is a girlboss for being principled and not letting anyone push her around but dear god she's so annoying. In Hae has the audacity to be angry when Woo Heyol rightfully states that she ruined everything by waking him up early. She also has the audacity to forbid Woo Heol from leaving the house. Is he a child, is she his mother? Also, her personality turns 180 degrees after she confesses she likes Woo Hyeol. She said she needs him in a too-dependent kind of way. It's so weird and uncharacteristic of her. 'Don't you think it's selfish' says In Hae to Woo Hyeol who said that he would rather die than kill her because he already has lived a long life. Absolutely unhinged behavior by the MFL. This was done with no organic build-up. /// Baek Seo Hoo who plays Lee Man Hwi gave a pretty terrible performance, his portrayal of a villainous vampire seemed so fake it took me out of the drama. /// Most of the other characters are also written pretty badly. Everyone, including the characters that I do like, is so slow/dumb, they do not understand basic subtext/meaning when somebody says something or they don't understand what is happening. Watching them question what other characters have said or done when it's obvious is torture.

*The character assassination of Hae Won. At first, she was a nice, ambitious woman, straightforward about her intentions but then, after Woo Heol rejects her (very nicely by the way), she turns into a cartoonish villain who says 'This (the drawing of Woo Heol's first love who looks just like her) is enough to kick out In Hae (from her own freaking home that she owns and take over her place so Woo Hyeol can fall in love with her instead)'. Pardon me? Who wrote this? Because this is not how good writing looks. She spews similar absurd obsessive statements a bunch of times absolutely demolishing her character.

All in all, I will be avoiding the screenwriters of this drama because this is the worst writing I've seen in a long time.

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama " Heartbeat " is a fantasy romantic comedy about a vampire and a human girl who have to live together.

The first part of the drama was smooth, with plenty of comical acts, enjoyable pace, interesting story, an intriguing mystery, and engaging mythology concerning the vampires. The action scenes were nicely handled as well.

However, things started deteriorating after that first half. The romance was cheesy and boring, and, thus, not enough to save the drama, that started leaking from its many plot holes. All of which led to the shipwreck that was the ending, which more or less did not make any sense and ruined every plot development that was made in the previous episodes. And sure, I don't believe that what makes a good drama is a happy ending, but an ending that makes sense and doesn't erase everything that one has watched for the previous 15 episodes is a major factor for success.

Still, the performances were enjoyable and the actors did a good job with their characters.

So, overall, four and a half out of ten.

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Mostly Fun... But Oh That Ending

Full disclosure, I mostly watched this drama for Taec-yeon and I am also now reviewing this months after having finished so some details will be lost--
I enjoyed watching this drama for the most part (until about two-thirds in) so that's what saves the score from being lower. The cohabitation trope, the classic fantasy immortal man looking for his girl, the historical elements and mystery of the flashbacks slowly coming together, the SML and his mystery disease-- chef's kiss. FL being different than the average Kdrama girl and actually kinda liking SML. Mystery girl with the matching face. It had some unique elements that made me enjoy it beyond Taec-yeon's acting (and face).

Honestly, I don't remember the OST. It didn't end up on my playlists, so I guess it was probably average.

SOME SPOILERS COMING

I watched it as it was being released, and waited each week for the next episode. At some point, that excitement faded. The intrigue started getting clouded by annoyances: the SML becoming kinda obsessive, the side characters being useless and ruining things, the weird cat guy who was just kinda there to be mystical and weird and then ALL OF A SUDDEN drops this very important lore he failed to mention before, the cheesy vampire antagonist, and honestly just the whole "I want love that makes my heart beat" message felt shallow. Like that could've been a joke because ML is such a goofy romantic, and instead it's legit serious sometimes but it feels corny. Cool FL starts to catch the corniness too, but I suppose that's what happens when Taec-yeon catches you.
Also that one side character's hair...

SPOILER WARNING

And then two thirds in you get a prediction of how things will end and I'm thinking "well this hasn't been the most unique drama ever, it's been full of tropes, so nah not happening they'll do the classic everybody lives except maybe a side character" and then it does happen. It's predictable in the worst way. The whole tone is just depressing after the revelation is dropped and then you just ride that wave thru a bunch of annoying "not telling you so I won't hurt you" tropes until the end. If you're gonna try to be a different Kdrama than the rest, be consistent. It just made his sacrifice feel like a noble idiot moment, she has no choice in it. Instead of character growth and them truly enjoying each other thru real communication (I know it's a Kdrama but still) it just feels like another grand gesture from him but this one goes horribly wrong. Questions left unanswered in other elements of the plot too. Ugh. Such a disappointment.

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Not a strong story...

Definitely a hot/cute/handsome ML. The story is everywhere, meaning you will have unanswered questions throughout the 16 episodes. You will need to use some imagination to make sense of the ending. I am really not a fan of the first and second female leads. I don't know exactly why but there just aren't enough strong scenes for me to like both actresses. In other words, it was boring to watch them. I typically can tear up easily whenever there is separation/death but I did not feel much of the last bit of the story. It would have been a better scene if she chose to cut herself and drain her blood to save the ML but nothing. It was a huge disappointment because she practically did not do enough to save him. And again, their time together were not sweet and steamy enough for me to even consider give this a 7/10.

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LOVE MAKES EVERYONE CRAZY, EVEN VAMPIRES

I want to talk first about a vampire desiring to feel their heart beat and love, this concept is the main foundation of this drama, for me, like on that concept, the story is going to run from, and that excited me of how will that be turned out that is why I said at the title that even vampires go crazy of love.
I love the thing that this drama implies that in loving someone, you don't have your heart to be beating but loving is doing things together, protecting each other, being with each other in every situation most of all and giving everything for that loves ones.
This drama is unexpectedly heartbreaking not heart-beating because I never thought I would cry this much of this drama, coz it is really funny at first episodes, with the acting of OkTaeKyeon and his 2 brothers and the girl, I loved their friendship and brotherhood, their saying good bye at the last episodes really made me cry, like not just them but it seema everyone, even Na Daepyo. I also love their neighborhood , like the Ox blood ahjumma with her store named Daebak as far as I remembered and the Father-son there, it is really cute, that is what I am going to miss also here.
When I was watching the first episodes I was glad that they did not made it like too modernized, it has still the vibes of typical Kdrama that has a lot of character-momenting-filled-with-background-song scenes and I so loved the songs here. I was also excited that it is the drama of Ok TaeCyeon coz I barely watch his dramas, I never knew he is this handsome and very good at acting I liked his character here, but the female lead in some ways I find her not that fitting but not that much, most of the time she really did gave justice to every scenes.
Maybe many of here hated Do Shik SeonBae but, I never got to hate him throughout this drama, He is a good man, and he is just simply loving In Hae here, I don't know but I hope he will be the one ended up with In hae if we are to think practically. Na Daepyo is such a goergous woman as ever, I watched her at The witches love which is one of my most unforgettable dramas, and as usual she is very good at acting, I somehow hoped that she is the main lead here rather than the In hae coz you know there will be no confusion first of all, but she being the second female lead is still fine. The Man Hwi is also good here he really looked and acted as a villian very suited at the character.
What I learned in this drama is not everything is in favor of you and not everything you want will be given or will happen to you, and it is right! in some ways Seon Woo Yeol saying it, trying everything and risking his life just to become human and his heart to beat maked sense ! not everything he wanted has happened to him and even I knew this fact already, I was reminded by this drama.
The only thing I hated here is so many characters said good byes ! which is so sad ! but the rest is I like so much. For some reason I hope this drama has a part 2, but even without is fine. The ending is satisfyinh for me to give justice to what ever happened through out the story, I somehow assumed that Seon Woo Yeol will live and become human since In hae gave her her blood when He rested during their YeoHaeng but not.
All in all I love it, I learned many things, I enjoyed it, I laughed, felt bad, and cried, I had fun watching it, I was not wrong watching it and TaeCyeon acting here is so refreshing to me. I would recommend this one. This drama has somehow similarity concept with Hotel Del Luna and Goblin, so yeah very great I hope you watch it too. ❤️

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