good.. but expected more
this was genuinely my most anticipated drama, itsshot in such beautiful places, one of the most visually satisfying experience, cast top notch, chemistry as expected is good, even the supporting cast is also good. but I just could not connect after 8 episodes, I mean this blending of genres kind off didn't work for me.. certain things could have been avoided. as the combination of an actress and interpreter was good, so many moments we could have got. but the show focused on something else and I lost interest mid way.. it felt like a chore to just complete it.Was this review helpful to you?
A Refreshing Plot with Missed Potential
I honestly can’t rate this drama either high or low. The storyline was definitely unique, but the split personality angle and the tragic backstory didn’t really blend into the core of the plot. After episode 7, it felt like they ran out of solid material to sustain the drama any further. Still, I’d say it was a good and refreshing watch overall.Was this review helpful to you?
Not worth the time
Don’t watch it. It is absolutely not worth it. Even by the end, I could not figure out what genre they were aiming for—was it horror, psychological, or romance? The entire story revolves around Mu Hee’s belief that she can never be loved and her tragic past. I despised her uncle and aunt throughout the series, only for the ending to reveal that everything was merely a delusion. That delusion turning out to be her mother made things even more confusing, especially when they showed her supposedly romancing Ho Jin at the same time. Nothing made sense.The sheer number of misunderstandings in this series is unbearable. I have lost count, and they did not even spare the second lead. On top of that, the second couple’s romance came completely out of nowhere. It felt like the writers suddenly decided to include second leads and forced a romance without any proper development or thought.
I watched this drama after a long break, and now I feel like taking another long leave from dramas altogether because this one emotionally exhausted me. They wasted four to five entire episodes just showing the characters sorting out their feelings, finally deciding to express them—only for yet another misunderstanding to appear like a plague. I had been rooting for them to get together for what felt like centuries.
Overall, this drama left me extremely frustrated and mentally drained. I could not make sense of half of what was happening. I definitely do not recommend it unless you want to frustrate yourself to the point of exhaustion.
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1. It's a well made romance drama that doesn't beat around the bush and focuses on the main premise of being just that
2. It could've been so much more that I agonized about it, I kid you not I was fuming about it skimming, dropping, skipping or letting simple improvements of the plot go. I really curse that Netflic infected daramas, cause this one could've been a masterpiece in a way I haven't seen before if we would've been given at least 24, but possibly even 36 episodes. I could actually feel the pain I imagine the writers had when they couldn't expand on all their creative ideas.
Despite this I still ranked it at an 8 because it really is well done and you can feel the love for it, but I'll never rewatch it because it hurts too much thinking about the possible 9.5-10 star drama we could've had.
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Great but Not Satisfy My Expectation
Overall this is a "great" drama. However, I don't know, but somehow i think the middle episodes didn’t really make sense to me. When the FL runs into the ML to stop his meeting with the SFL and confesses her feelings, somehow the ML doesn’t understand, gets mad, and pushes her away. It felt odd—rather than reassuring her and saying everything was okay and that they could face things together.Furthermore, to be honest, I felt less excitement toward the end of the series. The chemistry gradually dropped, and the love story became quite plain. Of course, this is just my personal preference, and it might also be because I’ve watched many different types of K-drama romances.
A solid 7 ⭐ for story, but because my beloved Go Youn Jung is there, i added 1 more star. So, 9 ⭐ from me.
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This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful until the last word
This drama completely won me over. I binged it in a day and a half and loved every moment. It made me laugh a lot and also hit emotionally in the right places. Visually, it’s stunning: the scenography, colors, and overall atmosphere were breathtaking and perfectly chosen.Go Youn-jung was incredible, and Dorami deserves special mention. She’s a beautifully written character: wild, unfiltered, and fearless, bringing chaos and honesty exactly where the story needed it. Kim Seonho delivered a subtle yet powerful performance, especially through his eyes, and I have to give him huge credit for the effort he put into learning so many languages, especially Italian. As an Italian, I was genuinely proud. Their chemistry was completely on point, natural and electric, carrying the drama effortlessly.
The story was sweet and well-developed for most of its run, but the final twist disappointed me. The sudden reveal about her parents and her leaving felt rushed and unnecessary, hurting the emotional payoff. Still, despite the messy ending, this drama gave me so much and I genuinely loved it.
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RomCom with a twist and lots of mixed feelings
After waiting for years, CTLBT is finally shown in Netflix as one of their most awaited deamas for 2026. The series is not the typical romcom we expect… there’s more to it than langauage translations…I love all the actors acting. How calm yet passionate Ho Jin is was excellently portrayed by Kim Seon Ho. GYJ was great as Mu Hee/Do Ra Mi and Sota Fukushi has natural comedic timing.
The cinematography were superb. The storyline might be a little more than expected but all in all, it was a great watch that I didn’t need to skip on episodes!
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1This review may contain spoilers
It wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be
I think the casting was great, each actor played their role very well so it was easy to get into the story.The first half of the show was great but unfortunately it went downhill after that. So many side stories felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the main plot. The love story between the second female lead and Mu-hee’s manager could’ve been completely scrapped. The same goes for everything surrounding Hiro, none of it served the story and only dragged the pacing down.
At first, Mu-hee’s love for Ho-jin was cute and relatable, but after a while, it became soooo frustrating. The writers turned her into a desperate girl who seemed to have no self-respect, endlessly chasing someone who rejected her multiple times. It was disappointing because she’s clearly capable of being so much more than that. And honestly, the fact that they only get together in the last two episodes, just to immediately start talking about breaking up, was ridiculous. At that point, I almost wished they hadn’t gotten together at all. The love story just wasn’t convincing from either side. Ho-jin’s reasons for rejecting her felt shallow, and overall, the writers completely wasted the potential of their relationship.
But my main issue was with Do Ra Mi.
The way her storyline was handled was such a missed opportunity. They could’ve explored a much deeper narrative about mental health and the emotional toll acting takes, especially for someone’s first major role that ended with a traumatic accident. There was so much potential for an honest look at how difficult it can be for actors to detach from their characters.
Also, I guess her seeming to have no physical issues after such a huge fall and being in a coma for six months was a bit unrealistic, but okay. And the fact that she barely saw a therapist until the very end? Like come on. But anyway, I guess that maybe wouldn’t have helped the plot that much (especially seeing how the plot was lol).
Instead, we got a messy and unresolved subplot about her family which ultimately went nowhere. The whole “she looks like her mom” revelation had no meaningful payoff. If her parents being alive was meant to be a big twist, why leave it hanging like that? That kind of storyline needed to be introduced earlier and explored properly, not dropped at the end with no resolution. If the goal was to show Do Ra Mi as a product of childhood trauma, the writing simply didn’t go deep enough.
And while we’re on that, they could’ve made Do Ra Mi genuinely dangerous. When one of the producers said, “Do Ra Mi doesn’t kill anyone, the only person she kills is the man she loves,” I expected the show to actually do something with that idea. The split personality concept was introduced well, but it should’ve gone muuuuuch further. Imagine if Do Ra Mi started seeing Ho-jin as both the source of Mu-hee’s pain and her greatest weakness, trying to hurt him for real, maybe in an attempt to “protect” Mu-hee from heartbreak. That could’ve added real suspense and emotional depth, blurring the line between love, obsession, and self-destruction.
Ho-jin saving Mu-hee with his words and his love could’ve been such a beautiful and powerful thing for the show. Seeing him reach her through his feelings, helping her find herself again, would’ve given so much more emotional weight to their relationship and tied everything together perfectly. But instead, everything stayed very surface level and unresolved.
Finally, the language theme had so much untapped potential. I think the show was trying to say that everyone has their own “language” and sometimes we struggle to understand each other even when we speak the same one. That’s a beautiful idea, but they could’ve done so much more with it, instead of the endless misunderstandings. Since the story takes place in both Italy and Canada, they had the perfect opportunity to explore English and Italian idioms, cultural nuances, and emotional expressions. They could’ve shown how certain feelings are expressed differently depending on the language, how love, heartbreak, or longing can sound or feel different in another tongue.
The opera sequence was a lovely touch, but imagine if they had woven more of that linguistic richness throughout the show. Since they’re filming a romantic variety show, they could’ve played with the idea of “romance in translation,” how words of love mean one thing in English and something entirely deeper in Italian. It could’ve been poetic, symbolic, and so so beautiful. Sadly, they only scratched the surface of what could’ve been a defining part of the show’s identity.
Honestly, this show should not have been a rom-com at all. It would’ve worked so much better as a melodrama with hints of comedy, something that leaned into the darker emotional themes and psychological depth instead of trying to keep things light and cute all the time. The tone they went for just didn’t fit the story they were trying to tell.
There were glimpses of brilliance in the acting, the setup, and some of the ideas, but it all felt underdeveloped and rushed by the end. It’s such a shame because this could’ve been something truly special.
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Can this show be translated?
Yes, if only you take time to appreciate the script and story. A love story that one should watch slowly and digest to understand the intent of the writer. It is not your light, fun heart fluttering romance story.Both leads (Kim Seon-Ho and Go Youn-jung)did a wonderful job building the chemistry, delivered on its comedic scenes, intense emotional moments and passion of their relationship. Solid acting including Sota Fukushi. Not a big fan of Hong sister's genre but this is one of their better ones. Best to watch this 4 episodes at a time.
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Its not that good
Writing this review for the first time. Ive been hearing mixed reviews about this drama. I personally did not enjoy it very well at all. I love mostly all kdramas but this one went wrong. The story is really messed up and so is the plot. The main characters don't really get to be romantic until the very end and it's gets very boring when the main lead goes back and forth with her multiple personality disorder 😐 😕 🤔 it just went wrong somewhere.... I'm just dragging myself to finish this one.... don't waste you time... don't get me wrong the actors did a great job and the cinematography of the locations is nice and all but the story is horrendous... only one time watch ⏳️ ⌚️Was this review helpful to you?
Can This Love Be Translated? Maybe Not for Everyone.
I finally finished Can This Love Be Translated? and honestly, I don’t understand the level of bashing this drama has received. Is it the best K-drama out there? No. But is it the unwatchable mess social media is making it out to be? Absolutely not.I started this drama on a whim after coming back from work, mostly because Kim Seon-ho was the male lead. I noticed the low ratings and harsh comments but decided to continue anyway, partly out of curiosity and partly to test my patience. And while I do agree that the ending was underwhelming and the drama lost momentum in the middle episodes, I never went in with huge expectations—and maybe that made all the difference.
As someone who has been watching K-dramas for over a decade (with 400+ dramas on my list and a very high drop rate in recent years), I’ve seen enough slumps to know that modern K-dramas don’t always hit the way older ones used to. So instead of expecting a flawless rom-com, I approached this as a casual watch—and overall, it worked for me.
The drama starts off strong, slows down midway, and ultimately falls short of what many viewers might expect from a typical K-romance. The genre itself feels a bit confused. What initially seems like a light romantic comedy slowly leans into something more psychological and emotionally layered. That tonal shift wasn’t handled as smoothly as it could have been, and much of the emotional depth—especially the female lead’s backstory—was revealed too late to fully resonate.
That said, I appreciated that the drama tried something different. It didn’t rely on the usual tropes: no over-the-top villain, no unnecessary love triangle, no second female lead scheming to break the couple apart. Instead, we got a male lead who was genuinely understanding—of the female lead’s past, her emotional struggles, her impulsive decisions, and her inconsistencies. That kind of emotional maturity is surprisingly rare in K-dramas these days, and it was refreshing to see.
Acting: Kim Seon-ho carried the role effortlessly. His subtle acting, expressive eyes, and calm presence did a lot of heavy lifting. Go Youn Jung delivered a solid performance as well, portraying the duality of her character convincingly. Their chemistry was one of the stronger points of the show. Sota Fukushi and the supporting cast added warmth without unnecessary drama, which made the overall viewing experience more comfortable.
Visually, the drama was pleasing, and the lack of forced conflict made it feel quieter and more introspective than expected. However, the writing—unsurprisingly for a Hong Sisters project—started strong but gradually lost focus. This isn’t new for them, and long-time viewers will recognize the pattern.
In the end, Can This Love Be Translated? is far from perfect. It could have been much better with tighter writing, better pacing, and earlier emotional groundwork. But it also didn’t deserve the excessive hate it received, especially so soon after release. If it’s not your taste, that’s fine—but no one is forced to watch it.
For me, it was a decent, imperfect, but enjoyable watch.
Rating: 7.5–8/10
(Mainly for the chemistry and performances by Kim Seon-ho, Go Youn Jung, and Sota Fukushi)
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This review may contain spoilers
Unexpected - Good show to binge watch
This drama shows an interpreter and an actress's relationship go from a professional relationship to a love relationship, but it does go into other details. This drama also added double personality and trauma topics. It's not bad, but it was unexpected and interesting. This drama is still a good drama to watch in one sitting. The acting is good! I think this is the first drama that I've watched with both of these actors, so I'll definitely check out their other dramas.Overall, this drama was nice and worth watching.
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