No Gain, No Love

Fast paced, lots of themes, and enjoyable primary and secondary storylines make this a good watch . . .

There's a lot to recommend here. We get two couples with solid romantic chemistry and fun storylines, plus some themes on childhood wounds and how they carry over into adulthood. Interjected throughout is a really funny sense of humour, and a much more modern feeling to the characters. While a bit clumsy, this turned out to be one of my favorite K Dramas of this year.

The brilliance of this show is that realistic childhood traumas get in the way of forming romantic relationships. Unlike may dramas where poor communication is the result of unexplained immaturity, here there are understandable, justifiable reasons for

As with most dramas, as it nears the end the storylines get clumsy and the end is a bit anti-climatic. (So much so that I actually thought for a whole week more episodes were on their way!) Even so, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Sometimes having less budget/prestige pressure allows for more enjoyable watching. That was certainly the case for me. This drama was really a present surprise.

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Wasted Potential

The drama was interesting and had a lot of potential. However it wasted its potential. The story was long winded had too many plots happening at the same time. There was mystery, romance and family all happening at the same time. Now that it has completed, I see that it could have had alot more potential if they selected a main plot and not too many sub plot.

It was a new troupe and i enjoyed it. However, there were more things that could have been done. The acting by the actor and actress were great but it did not give me the feeling of enjoying waiting fir the next episode. I even missed a couple of episodes for weeks as it wasn’t a drama that was at the top of my head.

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A masterpiece that has the worst ending in drama history.

So i gave this a 7.5, because exactly 9 episodes were good, very good, then came the last 3 episodes..
Maybe the writer had a stroke and left her dog to write them.
1. Ml2 was ruined and hated so the entire 2nd leads' story felt like nothing
2. The actual bad guy wins and gets all the credit after cheating and plagiarizing.
3. Fl loses everything then comes crawling back to the same place that wronged her and made her lose everything.
4. A pathetic excuse for the leads' breakup so much so that i wished ml was actually marrying someone else.
I recommend watching the 9 episodes then spoiling the rest or something because watching the ending would seriously leave a worse impression than the entire drama deserves overall.

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This show was hilarious at first...

I loved the initial premises and could feel the chemistry building between the two leads. Then we got to episode 7 and it all went to hell. Right after they kissed, they had that petty fight and the reveal with the "divorce" talk happened. I was wondering what the hell happened because I could have sworn everything up to that point was hinting that we were finally due for the moment they officially got together. After that, I slowly checked out and started to fast-forward, and I couldn't "feel" that chemistry I swore was between our CP anymore.

I love Shin Min Ah, and Kim Young Dae is decent (although he was a bit dry in this), but they were not believable as a couple - to me. It's not entirely for lack of trying but the script was so convoluted at some point that I think it destroyed all the engagement that had been built from the beginning of the show.

A show that started off not taking itself too seriously forgot all about that halfway through and flopped sadly.

The 2nd ML won my heart all the way. There was a part when he discovered ML's identity that I thought was off-putting in how he dealt with it. Other than that, this is the couple that earned this drama a 6 in my book.

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Good watch

It's really difficult to find a good fun drama that doesn't drag nor get boring in the middle, and despite being generally good and very enjoyable, it still lacks one thing or two to be the perfect drama.

What I really liked was the cast, they were great and the second couple were amazing, tbh I continued with this despite the slow beginning just for them, and sadly they appeared after a while so you gotta stick with it till it gets better.
I liked the relationship between the 3 girls but sadly I couldn't feel much sismance between them, there is hardly any strong bond to be shown specially with Huiseong and the 2 FLs.
It was full of funny moments, GyuHyun family and secretary were scene stealers, even his creepy mother.

What I didn't like was parts the story, I don't know why they can't skip the stereotypes found in every single rom-com, also the cast the just appear to serve a purpose or just show something then Poof! disappear.
The end was vague and the whole Book family problem just wasn't solved, also I couldn't understand some characters behaviour in some scenes, specially the FL with the ML and also Huiseong character was completely removable, I don't even think her story was needed, it added nothing but very questionable moments.

Overall it's watchable and enjoyable even, but forgettable and I don't think I'd rewatch it, yet! I'm too excited to watch the spinoff with the 2Leads because they are the best thing about this drama.

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nice fun to watch rom-com

a k-drama that listed all the major K-dramas tropes and tried to apply them all to a T, contract marriage;check, birth secrets;check, chaebol and commoner love; check, fake relationship and cohabitation shenanigans;check, OTP with constantly crossing paths;check, last minute needless separation; check. It practically covered all the main romcom and angst cards out there but it still somehow managed to do it in a very refreshing and fun and endearing way. maybe because this show boasts some of the most easy to cheer on strong gutsy characters, and maybe cause most characters were honest to each other and honest toward themselves when it came to how they felt. we don't get much frustration of an OTP both in denial or oblivious of their feelings, no much useless bickering and missed signals, instead we have a couple of adults that are mature and to the point when they express themselves. another thing I appreciate about Kdramas, is that they somehow sell you chemistry even in the most unexpected of couples, the main leads have quite an age gap, and initially I was worried that they didn't both exude much chemistry and that the romance might be forced, but thank God later the story progresses and the interactions, dialogues and romantic moments were so good they definitely pulled the trick. this drama could've gotten a better rating especially the story, but alas the finale pulled a card that I totally hate "noble idiocy seperation". last episode separations and reunifications are sometimes done well where the story calls for it, it happens because there was a necessity, but other times it is done in such a forced and out of the blue and it just doesn't serve any purpose other than creating a grand reunion scene etc, and it only dampens the story imo especially when in order to pull it off the writers have to abandon the character arc. in this drama the same thing happened but thank God it was kept brief so no much harm was done thank God.

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I found the ML okayish, not great, not terrible.

FL was excellent, her hairstyle was meh.

Secondary couples were good, no love triangle, thank God.

Secondary couple member 'Han Ji Hyun' was the best. Top notch acting, the traumatic/haunting scenes especially. "We will watch your career with great interest."

OST was meh, once again, not great, not terrible.

The jokes/comedy was hilarious. The writer is a man - or woman? - after my own heart. The 'lightsaber' fight was just...in that setting that was the last thing I had expected, but it was ridiculously funny. Alchemy of Souls/Vincenzo level of sound effects, like cat meow and 'tarzan-scream?'.

The ending was poop, but almost every k-drama ending is bad.

Overall and excellent show. Definitely not on the top, but an 8.0/8.5? I think it deserves that.

P.S. Please more jokes and sexual related content like this. Not every k-drama watcher is a 14 years old girl.

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PLEASE END WELL!! (EASY WATCH)

This show had me skeptical at first, due to the way it was described in the synopsis. I wasn't too keen on the marriage or the FL's goals. However, the first episode was a pleasant surprise ! The concept of a fake marriage/relationship felt overdone, but even so, the writing and editing made it fresh regardless. ML's natural charisma held my attention far beyond expectation. I had seen him in other works before, but his performance here was completely different. He was a lot more coy and shy, but still had an ego. My favourite types of dramas are ones with a FL that genuinely have character, and this one surely does. From the moment she is introduced we understand her motives and her goals. Her personality, while slightly flat, can still be very intruiging. ML's backstory is super interesting and even though it's serious, it doesn't bring the mood down too far before picking back up with lightheartedness. The comedy in this show had me really laughing, which felt like a breath of fresh air recently with the other dramas airing right now. The side characters stories were very cute as well, and I liked the inclusion of FL's 'sisters' to give her more people to interact with. Writer Sister's story is very fun and despite what I've seen online, I think her acting here was cute! She was silly and dumb and I think that contrast with such explicit writing is very well executed. This show is a comfortable watch so far, as it just leaves me smiling throughout the series. It may change in the coming episodes, but overall I am enjoying the watch so far, and hope it ends well !!

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Entertaining but Forgettable....

This was an entertaining watch, one of those dramas I watched today but will most probably forget tomorrow or the day after... as I had to take a break in my binge (a few days) and it took me a while to remember what the plot was once I started watching the last two episodes.

While I do not like the female lead. By not like I mean I generally try to avoid her dramas, this was one of her better works, still not very likeable but indeed bearable.

Pretty much every single one of the side characters stories out shine the leads, by chemistry, story line, acting... You name it the other characters carry this show and are what makes it an entertaining watch worthy of that next episode button.

Male lead was fun in the beginning giving me my beloved cliches bit grew dull towards the end all in all an ok way to pass time...

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