Love Your Enemy

Bring back the high school couple for a different drama!

My title says it all and I do believe 90% of the people who watched this drama would agree. I've first seen the previews of this show on TikTok and though oh my god - this is about to be one of the best dramas to end the year!

I did feel the wow factor with this show within the first few episodes where I felt really drawn to the chemistry and the storyline of the couple in their teenage years. In my opinion, the whole story could've ended up bouncing off of that, including the misunderstandings and all of the time they've watched each other from afar. Heck, I could've even paid for the producers to extend their story into university years to round up the story even more. Like any other corny and typical Korean drama, this one too had to get tainted with the over-the-top rich family story with embezzlement, homicide etc. I'm quite literally tired of this and don't know how the modern viewer is ok with all of this crap in 2024. All in all, I want to keep it short and sweet and say please watch the first 2 episodes, as you're likely to get a bit bored continuing the series. Lots of wasted potential here, but still a chance there somewhere they can recast the young actors!

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Star crossed lovers reunite years later, but the younger versions steal the show

A drama about second chance romance will always get me, and this was a cute watch. 18 years after they broke up, Yoon Ji Won and Seok Ji Won, born on the same day and to rival families, are reunited when the ML is the new chairman of the school that the FL works at. While they both pretend to hate each other, the love they had in the past is right at the surface.

The drama doesn't just show us brief flashbacks of the ML and FL, we get to spend half of some episodes with them. Usually this would be a negative, but the HS versions of our ML and FL are absolute show stealers. They have ELECTRIC chemistry, and I was so captivated by their acting and story. It's truly remarkable how well they played these roles, and they were the highlight of the show for me. If I were to rate the flashback section of the show, it may just be a 10/10. These two need to be cast in another drama together, they are that good.

The supporting cast is likable and make the story even better, they play a great role. The antagonist, the FL's friend, doesn't get what she deserves in the end. I also think that the FL had TOO much tragedy in her life. She had a fight with the ML and then didn't see him again, and her friend prevents the ML from contacting her, her parents die in a car crash, her "uncle" was responsible and didn't save them, she loses her job because she stuck up for someone who was sexually assaulted, and now she's a PE teacher, when she was the top student in the school. I feel like they just did everything to make her life miserable, when they didn't need to do all that to her.

The students in the school had their own story line too, and I loved the romance between the top student and the bottom student. Very reminiscent of our ML and FL, I wish they had a show too. This writer does a great high school romance!

The older version of the ML and FL are good, especially the ML, but they really don't have the chemistry the younger versions do, which is a shame. They style the FL really terrible in the beginning, which wasn't necessary. The story lost some steam in the last 2 episodes, which made completing it a bit of a chore.

Overall this is a cute, short drama that's not super remarkable, but enjoyable nonetheless. It's really worth watching just to see the younger versions of the ML and FL, they really stole my heart and enhanced this drama.

Rating: 7.7, rounding it up to 8/10 for the younger ML and FL (cast them in another drama!)

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A Wonderful World That Gives Me Chills...

I see so many positive reviews about this drama, and I wonder if there’s something seriously wrong with me...

Unfortunately, I consider this drama below average. A weak, predictable story, a poor copy of countless other Korean productions.

Seriously! I’ve seen so many similar productions that I completely lost interest.

In fact, I watched it based on a recommendation from a friend whose opinion I value a lot. She even told me the plot had a vibe similar to *First Love Hatsukoi* (2022), a Japanese drama that, ultimately, doesn’t resemble this one at all.

Teen love, rivalry between classmates leading to a later romantic development—it doesn’t go much beyond a repetitive theme for me. Without a solid story behind it or a well-structured cast, it’s not even worth trying.

It’s the same thing over and over again—a waste of time.

The only part that I partially enjoyed in these 12 episodes was the period when we followed the young cast or the younger versions of the adults.

Of course, I can’t ignore the total lack of resemblance between the younger and older versions of the characters. Whether in physical appearance, mannerisms, emotional expression, or—worst of all—the famous "chemistry," there was absolutely no common ground between them.

Ju Ji Hoon is a very talented and versatile actor, but this character was laughable. The beautiful, brave, and resilient version of young Seok Ji Won died that rainy day, crying for his beloved while sitting on the stairs on a dark night. What remained for Ju Ji Hoon 18 years later (I believe that’s how long the wait was) was a bland, insecure adult trapped by his father’s expectations and a ridiculous romantic doubt that could have been resolved with a vacation trip or an honest, face-to-face conversation. The impression I got was that instead of maturing as a man, he regressed into a weak, indecisive adult teenager.

As for the ill-fated relationship, with its long years of waiting, I can only think of it as masochism, a lack of better options, or simply having nothing better to do in life.

Jung Yu Mi, as the adult Yun Ji Won, was a poor choice. I won’t even bother commenting on her portrayal of the character’s adult version. Just think about the last episode and her wedding dress choice, with a ridiculously inappropriate veil, and you’ll get an idea of how much value her wardrobe or "persona" received throughout the show.

As for the supporting cast, I’ll abstain from commenting as well, except to highlight the worst character of all—the clown, Kong Mun Su. What a laughable role the young actor agreed to take on. I wonder if a character could be more unnecessary to a plot than this one was.

And in the end, sweet as honey, for the umpteenth time, everything works out—every grudge is forgiven, and villains and heroes leave the poorly staged set hand in hand, crying or smiling, happy as can be. Mission accomplished!

A bed of roses...

I must confess, this wonderful world depicted in the latest Korean rom-coms actually gives me chills...

I didn’t like it, and I don’t recommend it.

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DELIVERS WHAT IT SHOWCASES

I started this drama with nothing much in mind.
The script looked decent.
But the execution turned out to be superb.
The cast delivered exceptionally well.

This is a fun-to-watch drama, the script is simple.
Even the young versions of the ML and FL were cast spot on, I would go on to say the younger version of FL outshines the FL's adult casting.
She's the weak link.

It's a sweet romcom to watch especially on this last weekend of the year.
You should give it a go.
I had fun and you will too.

Special credit to ML's father who was hilarious throughout with his over-the-top angry acting.
That guy deserves an award.

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A second chance at romance trope more than a hate to love

**7.5/10** is my rating. This is a 2024 South Korean Romantic Comedy with 12, 70-minute episodes.

**First, I provide a unique synopsis, then a review.** I provide the synopsis to give another description of the story since, particularly with Chinese and Japanese shows, the descriptions aren't very good. If you're not interested in the synopsis, the review is labeled; you can scroll down to it.

**Synopsis**

Born of two rival families, Seok Ji-won (Ju Ji-hoon) and Yoon Ji-won (Jung Yu-mi) were destined to be enemies. But in true Romeo and Juliet style, they fall in love as teenagers. However, a misunderstanding drives them apart for 18 years, and circumstances reunite them as adults. Now, they not only have their family rivalry but also their own personal grudges to overcome. Can they put aside their differences and convince their families that their love is the key to ending the long-standing feud?

**Review**

I'm actually surprised by how many other reviewers really like this one. Perhaps because I've watched over 300 dramas, I am jaded. I actually like a lot of the tried and true tropes. When I saw this one, I thought it was going to be like a hate-to-love trope. I thought they might try to get one over on each other in funny ways, and that would be the comedy part of it. That would have made it interesting. But it really wasn't much of that playful enemy-type banter at all. Instead, it was a rather uninspired romance. Instead, they were angry with each other over a misunderstanding that had nothing to do with their family feud. They just had these angry bickering exchanges and then all kinds of blocks in the road of their romance. Because they didn't go for some kind of entertaining battle between them, there wasn't much else to it. The chemistry was lukewarm, there were some unlikable secondary characters, and nothing else to pull you in. If you are a romance junkie, it is worth a watch.

**Spoilers**

Yoon Ji-won’s friend, Cha Ji-hye (Kim Ye-won), is the worst kind of friend. Her violating Yoon’s privacy to delete messages and even respond in a way to break Seok and Yoon up was just bottom-feeder low. Then she does something similar again as an adult. They tried for this redemption arc in the end where she admitted what she had done, and her friend forgave her, and they just went on being besties. I had a problem with that as she didn’t admit everything she had done. She just admitted deleting a few emails when they were younger and didn’t tell her she actually replied with a nasty comment back to him, telling him to never contact her. That is a much worse offense than simply deleting some texts (although that is bad enough). And I think she blocked his calls too. She also didn’t tell her she stole her phone again as an adult and did similar. So, if you forgive somebody based on them only telling you a portion of the wrongs, that is not a truthful confession, and the forgiveness isn’t valid. I was actually very disappointed that the main girl forgave her without even telling her off. And then we never even got to see the main lead find out that the snake of a friend had lied to her, not once but twice, and kept them apart, not once but twice, so I never could feel good about that character at all.

Of the battling elders, I thought Seok’s father was not a very likable man. He was abusive to his son. I liked Yoon’s grandfather and was on team Yoon in the "to golf course or not to golf course" battle. Seok's father did have some redemption in the end when he decided to be nicer, but it was hard to forgive him for those early slaps he gave to his son that were just physically abusive.

The other thing I did not like about this one was that as a young couple, they were both top-tier attractive, but then the adults who played their grown-up selves were attractive but not at the same level. It just wasn’t a very good match of the young actors to the older actors.

I also thought it was ridiculous when the elders found out they were together, and they treated them like teenagers, saying they couldn't even be in the same house.

Whoever did the wardrobe for the lead female part put her in the most dumpy, frumpy clothes I think I've seen in a while. It somehow even made her look a little chubby, even though you could tell she was completely skinny. That wedding dress! So ugly! It took me totally out of the moment. What should have been a very romantic moment, when the male lead first sees her in the dress, became a comedic moment. I’ve seen some pretty ugly wedding dresses, but that is now the #1 ugliest. Maybe the female lead should have let her mother-in-law pick it (or maybe she did). The veil was horrible too. It looked like they just plopped some taffeta on her head and called it a day. So he catches a glimpse of her, and it is supposed to be the moment he thinks how beautiful his bride is, and I would have bought it more if he had turned and run from that fashion nightmare. Completely shapeless dress, like she jumped in a big white potato sack. Then, at one point, she moved her arms, and the dress became even more shapeless, which I honestly did not think was possible. And when it showed it from the back, it even made her look like she had a bigger butt. Just a horrible, horrible wardrobe.

It ends okay. The lead couple gets together and are on their way to marriage finally. But I just wasn’t all that invested in any of the relationships. They didn’t show enough of the sweet side of the main girl, even when she was younger, to make you understand why he would like her. And then they had a young couple that were in high school. I guess they were supposed to be similar to the main couple when they were younger, and I thought that girl was extremely unlikable. She was mean to all of her classmates, so I don’t know. Is there this trend where attractive lead guys like mean lead girls? Did he only like her because she was pretty? Because he should have been relieved of that notion with the frumpy mess of wardrobing that made her look less attractive.

**#LoveYourEnemy** **#JungYuMi** **#JuJiHoon** **#KimYeWon**

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Something to consider watching for a light drama

Finally had the time to write a review for this drama! I started this drama before Trauma Code, and came back to it after completing that drama. Did not regret it as I could watch more of Ju Ji Hoon as he had done a fantastic job in the other drama, and I really enjoyed seeing another side of him in this drama. Jung Yu Mi did a fantastic job in this drama too, but I would say the teenager versions of them had better chemistry. I really enjoyed the flashback scenes as the younger versions were able to portray their love-hate relationship really really well. Overall, this drama is good for a light watch & if you just want something fun!

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A throwback to rom-com excellence

It's been a while since a show felt like a quintessential kdrama rom-com to me, but this one definitely scratched the itch. The romance — both past and present — hit the right balance between serious/angsty and funny, and even when the storyline got very dramatic, it felt very peak kdrama.

As much as I enjoyed most of this, I do think there was one particular standout, and that was the younger versions of the Jiwons; the chemistry for their banter was so fun, and they were brilliant at the sad and heart-wrenching scenes. I loved the adult versions, but their younger counterparts have a special place in my heart.

Overall, it's not anything ground-breaking, and the "same name" premise actually doesn't play a huge role in the drama. It's what you'd expect out of a rom-com, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.

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Documentation

Comeback of Ju Ji Hoon to romcom and paired with jung yumi, as a long time kdrama watcher who wouldn't be interested in this drama. Well, after watching it it was very decent, nothing incredible or nothing crazy but it delivered the romcom genre really well, never too comedic, never too romantic, never too dramatic. Also the cast for the young characters were pretty nice, especially Haesu, and young Yoon Jiwon, they're both "actress"pretty. I liked that the love triangle was handled really well, nothing too frustrating and the second leads character was really commendable. What they did a little bit iffy was how forgiving the grandfather was and how easily did characters forgive each other, but to be fair it's only 12 episodes. Also nice cameos in episode 12. Overall, it's really decent, it's easy to digest and good for some laughs and romantic thrills, it's some extra dopamine pretty much.

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