Cinderella at 2 AM

Somewhat funny, somewhat bitter, somewhat... something

I am puzzled.... not sure what to make of this one.....
There were a lot of opinions about the FL acting... most of them negative. And I kind of agree....

Story is not bad..... Yun Seo agrees to break up with Jun Won because of their different backgrounds and expectations.
Only... it is easier said and done... Particularly because Jun Won is the most amazing boyfriend you could imagine.... and he decides not to let her go.

So far I have come across a few dramas where the ML is just unrealistically nice...
This is one of them....

Ju Won is rich, handsome, caring, funny, loyal... the whole deal.... only min point, a bit young but I forgive him for that...
Actor Moon Sang Min plays him wonderfully... he is simply adorable. In his suffering because his girlfriend left him, he is super cute... in his resolution not to accept the break up... he is a champion. I was rooting for him all the time.

Now, FL is a different story. The character was written to be plain.... which was delivered accordingly.
This is a woman that suffered child abuse horribly by both parents, to the point she had to run away in her early teens, with her little brother, in order to survive.... Because of that, she became a practical, realistic individual...

that is fair and relatable.
BUT
The way she was portraited... it delivered no emotion in me. The scenes of the child abuse are terrible, those one made me cry, but for the rest... she is very bah... which is a shame.
She agrees to break up with Jun Won, and later on realizes that she loves him and can not be without him...
really? I would not believe it.. she looked pretty normal to me.

Now... the 2nd couple was AMAZING and lifted the whole show ....
Seo Si Won (Yoon Park) is one of the most versatile actors I have seen so far... he is just adorable, cute, like a teddy bear. One moment he plays ruthless CEO, the other he is confused man about his wife and how to deal with her...
His interactions with his contracted wife Mi Jin (Park So Jin) are hilarious... so adorable... they made my time watching the show worth it.

same effect as in Business Proposal... and I would love for them to get their own season.

This is a fluffy story, good to pass the time.... the big lesson is that your mind can say but the heart rules.

Would I watch it again? Nope

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Thank goodness it was only 10 episodes

Standard Disclaimer - This is only my personal opinion.

It has been quite a while since I've had such a visceral reaction to a rom com. I binge watched this just to finish it, and yet I felt like I was watching it for a month. For me, this is time I'll never get back. I don't usually go into a rom com expecting something outstanding and fresh, I'm pretty patient with tropes, I can usually ignore age gaps and unrealistic people as teenagers, but this show was bad on so many levels, over and over again. I felt like I was watching Groundhog Day. I could have started a drinking game with the number of times the ML and the FL talked about breaking up. "We're breaking up", "we already broke up", "we should break up". MULTIPLE times in episodes 1-9 followed by them looking longingly at each other, or having lunch dates even though they broke up, or spending the day together as their "last day". These things are nothing new, but everything was just so repetitive.

It wasn't all bad for me, though. Episode 10 redeemed it enough to raise my score.
Things I liked:
1) Secondary couple. I love Yoon Park and Park So Jin, and they were the cutest arranged marriage couple! I would have been happy to have more of them and none of the main couple.
2) The cutest scenes were in episode 10 when the boys kidnapped their mother. I was laughing out loud, and seeing the boys interact with a mother that they really didn't seem to know anything about was funny. I have always liked the actress that played the mother, and when she finally got the stick out of her butt, I loved her.
3) Beautiful architecture, especially the wedding venue in the last episode.
4) The music was good.
5) The last episode.

Things that just didn't sit right with me:
1) The main couple. Don't get me wrong, they were really cute when they were together, but that was MAYBE an hour out of the whole show. She was obviously older than him, which I don't have a problem with per se, but often she seemed more like his mom, partially because he was so immature.
2) Too much immaturity in the ML. He spent a lot of time pouting.
3) Too much drinking, and every time they drank there were consequences that they had to apologize for or pretend didn't happen. You'd think they'd learn. Another reason I had a problem with the drinking was the FL had an extremely abusive drunken father. I would have thought that she'd stay away from it.
4) Kim Tae Jung as the FL's high school brother. I like him as an actor, he was way too old for this role. Not to mention, in real life he's older than the ML.
5) The reasoning for the mother buying off the FL. That was never adequately explained.
6) The FL taking the money and breaking up with the ML. If you can do that, you aren't in love with him. PLUS, you took the money, broke up with him, and then walked around in misery for the entire show. She was depressing to watch.
7) Hair and makeup. This sounds mean, but whoever did the FL's hair needed to get a clue. She has ears that protrude away from her head and all the hairstyles that had her in just drew attention to her ears. As far as makeup, the men had more lipstick on than the women.

I would never, ever, EVER recommend this show to anyone, except maybe to suggest skip episodes 1-9 and just watch episode 10. You'll still get the gist of what is going on, but you won't have to slog through the rest of it.

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Missed its mark.

It had potential but ultimately didn't reach it. I never thought it would be a drama that would hit it out of the park, but I thought it might have some hidden depths. The drama started out good, they explored some issues in the beginning and I liked how understanding the ML was. He is clearly a green flag. But the story was very subtle and didn't leave much of an impression. The ML's brother and his wife were more interesting to watch as a couple.

Every week I tuned it expecting that something would happen that would break the linear path it was on, but it never got to it. So, I am a bit disappointed. But it did have the power to make me complete it so there is something there.

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Better than the other Cinderella kdrama but I wish for more depth

I needed something light & romantic to watch after finishing Again My Life. Moon Sang Min's face was heavily promoted on Viu so I chose this drama. Cinderella at 2 AM is light touch romance drama with moments of seriousness.

What I liked:
1) Moon Sang Min - He has this sweet, kind face. This is my first time watching his work and I enjoyed it. For a leading man with this characteristic, he's alright.
2) Yun Seo chracterisation - It's great that her past was shown to the audience because then I understand why she is the way she is - fiercely independent woman who is focused on raising her younger brother. I cried when scenes of her childhood was revealed - I did not expect that at all.
3) Si Won characterisation - I also enjoyed knowing Si Won outside of work. Such a quirky but sensitive character.
4) Seong Min - At first I find his character creepy but later on he turned out to be a great guy. I wish he formed a tighter friendship with Yun Seo because they have a lot in common.
5) Yi Rae & her Uncle - Great support system for Yun Seo and Ji Seok. Plus I love that they brew their own maekgeolli.
6) Music - I love most of the songs featured in this drama, which is quite rare for me. Love the 80s vibe of the OST. Standout songs are Sweet Drama and Boyfriend.

What I disliked:
1) Romance - The romance between Yun Seo and Ju Won was sweet but I wasn't convinced at the end and I sided with Ju Won. I don't know why they needed a wedding when Yun Seo doesn't seem to be ready. I also wanted more of Si Won and Mi Jin's romance. They were so adorable but only got together in episode 7 if I am not mistaken.
2) Si Won and Ju Won's mother - She is selfish because she acts more like a chairwoman than a mother. I still don't understand why she opposed Ju Won's relationship with Yun Seo. Overall I find her character poorly written.

Favourite scene
Yun Seo's childhood because I see the love she has for her brother.

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Cinderella in shining armor for a few seconds

It's a trend nowadays where the age difference is downplayed by either the younger actor playing a lot older or the older actor playing a lot younger so the gap is actually so close it's negligible. The difference here is focused on job status, with the female lead as the team leader and the male lead as initially an intern. It was actually pretty cool to see from his memories how she guided him as the responsible boss, the Cinderella in shining armor. It would have been great to see more of that. Their dating days were also cute and I really liked how the first two episodes had subversions like Yun Seo learning from Ju Won's brother that he didn't like horror movies, but went for her and learned to like something new. It would have also been nice if the rest of the show had them learning more about each other, but it quickly slipped into bog standard romcom cliches with the most odious being the faux love triangle with Ju Won always having a jealousy stand off with the painter guy Seong Min, who almost committed suicide, but then his mental health was magically fine afterwards. Yun Seo's storyline with escaping her abusive household and not buckling to her mother's pressure to take on her father's debts was really powerful. Sometimes the people you need to cut out of your life are your blood relatives and to keep them far away for your own well being. I feel it's especially important for Asian audiences to see that it's okay to do so. I like how Yun Seo wanted to break off the relationship because she knows that Seong Min's family would not be accepting of him. I feel like the show could have better connected the fact that it would be yet another parental figure treating her terribly. Yun Seo and Mi Jin's short friendship at the end was really short, I rather they have started their sisterhood sooner and less of Mi Jin and her husband's shenanigans. Yun Seo deserves more supportive friends and family. It would have been nice for Yun Seo to have one more scene with her mother in law, finally in acceptance and support of her, one big happy family.

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Two cute couples for the price of 1!

Perhaps this show is not for everyone but I loved the concept. The couple was already established but now the FL is being asked to break up with her boyfriend. It was funny from the first episode. I was very curious how they will work through their issues. The FL has a strong head on her shoulders due to her background and can overrationalise things at times but she is a kind and caring person. The ML can be clingy but he is sweet and kind and who wouldn't love that. I also loved the second leads in the story. Maybe slightly more than the leads because their relationship didn't deal with too much workplace distractions.

Though thers ard a few serious moments, the show also makes you laugh and smile. And both couples have cute moments together. Though I wish there were more romance, a little less angst, and if the comedy was even better then I would have rated it a 9 at least.

In a way I am glad the writers didn't drag the background storylines too much. They were not ths point of the story. It was about the couples and some of the problems they dealt with are quife realistic. Even the nicest people have trouble in relationships because you aren't completely sure how to handle the situation.

The one good thing about the breakup trope was also that they didn't show both living separate lives. They continued to work together as they dealt with their emotions. I don't like when they completely remove the leads from each other's lives. So that was a plus for me.

The OST is also quite calming. I hope everyone gives the series a chance.

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Sweet but clingy rom-com

Cinderella at 2 AM is an office romantic comedy about the struggles of Ha Yoon-seo, a realistic and capable woman who believes that there is no Cinderella in reality and tries to break up with Seo Joo-won, a romanticist who believes that conditions are not important in love and a perfect young chaebol man who only looks at her.

Looking for an easy-breezy K-drama with all kinds of possible cliched tropes? Well, Cinderella at 2 AM could be your pick. Starring Shin Hyun-been and Moon Sang-min in lead roles, the show revolves around a young ordinary woman, Ha Yun Seo [Hyun-been], who doesn't believe in fairy tales until she falls in love with Seo Ju Won [Sang-min], a third-generation chaebol (a Korean term for a person born with a silver spoon, especially a person born into a business family).

Yun Seo is not the one to complicate things. She desires a simple life. So, falling in love with a third-generation chaebol was never on her bingo card. Upon learning about Ju Won’s identity and being pressed to break up by his mother [who also offers her money], she decides to part ways. But our Cinderella has more hurdles to overcome, including convincing Ju-won, who would do anything to protect his love

If you're looking for a cozy rom-com to watch this is not for you cause it only pisses you off with poor writing and off chemistry.

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How cinderella would've felt after coming back from the ball

How Would Cinderella Have Felt After Coming Back From the Ball? After the magic wore off and Cinderella came back from the ball… how would she have felt about this entire thing? What would she have been thinking at 2AM after returning? Was she thinking about the slipper she left behind? Did she leave it on purpose? No… she wouldn’t have wanted the prince to see her shabby side.
ps: she wouldn't have thought of watching this drama. At least i am sure about that.

And this was the premise of this show that hooked me in. I was like, this is so real. We always think of this story from the prince’s POV—he got the slipper, he started looking for the girl—but nobody talks about Cinderella’s thoughts after coming back from the ball. But then it turned boring and stupid, so I dropped it. The end. The cast is okay. ML was good-looking, and FL is good-looking plus a better actor. She’s quite senior, so that’s a given. The rest of the cast… characters (from office coworkers to SML, to be exact) were annoying—especially the office coworkers. I don’t know what exactly their deal was, but they were just too nosy, beyond logic, immediately irritating. The storyline is straightforward. They made it into a drama, but this plot specifically deserved a 1.5-hour movie, not a 10-hour stretch. That’s exactly why it became extremely slow in the middle. Either way, I dropped it at episode 7. Because why not?

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You Have to Have Patience

The only thing I'm going to say about this show is that the ML Seo Ju Won (Moon Sang Min), the 2nd ML Seo Si Won (Yoon Park) and the 2nd FL Lee Mi Jin (Park So Jin) are great. In fact, the secondary couple carries this show and honestly, it should have just been about them. The FL Ha Yun Seo (Shin Hyun Been) was insufferable. Can't make up her mind, when she finally does, she screws that up, plus she was just generally unlikeable. Every drama, I try to take notes as I watch so I'll leave those below because I am not writing a whole review on this awful show. lol

So far this is alright. I chose it out of the many shows on my "Plan To Watch" list because I just finished A Shop For Killers and wanted something light, funny, and predictable.

So far I don't clock much chemistry between the FL Ha Yun Seo (Shin Hyun Been) and ML Seo Ju Won (Moon Sang Min) and I'm not sure if it's the way they're written, the acting, or the apparent large age gap between the two actors.

I am surprised at how quickly the show is moving in terms of the predictable plot. She's already been bought off by the MIL, already done the breaking up, he's already trying to win her back AND she's just admitted she does, in fact, still love him and that's just the first two episodes!!

Okay, I just checked because I was like, "Oh boy, if there are the usual 16 episodes of this then I know we're in for at least three separate things that will come between them.". It's only 10 episodes long but I'm guessing we still get two things. One will be another woman or man, and the other will be their own lack of communication. lol

Okay, I STRUGGLED to finish this. If it hadn't been only 10 episodes I definitely would've given up. The ML is great, the second couple are actually interesting, but the FL is insufferable. More so than the mother. At least the mother is up front and knows what she wants.

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