A Hundred Memories

IF ALL CHARACTERS CAN BE MASS MURDERED FOR AN UGLY PLOT, THIS SHOW WILL BE THE PRIME EXAMPLE.

I’ll analyse characters with my perspective for you, because there is no plot. Only assassinated characters. This will be my review.

1. YEONG RYE:
uhmmm…. sigh! I liked her so much as the drama began. But I’m telling you she feels like this two-faced green flag wrapped not so green flag. Do you get it? It’s more like, to her, Jeong Hui’s sacrifices never mattered. On the surface she missed her. Inside she didn’t like how JH came back for her friendship and love. I get that YR and Jae Pil have now become closer but she freakin KNEW that her best friend liked him and he liked her as well. You broke the girl code dude. Could’ve not longed for his love when she got to know that they both liked each other or at least, when JH left because of you!!

I’m not saying that just because JH has done so many sacrifices, now YR must be grateful to her till eternity and clean her feet or something, but YR could’ve really chosen not to still harbour feelings for her best friend’s boyfriend. Her own feelings were more important than anyone else’s. She said goodbye to her first love, but never truly did. On the surface she sacrificed, but never really did. Felt like a show. And I think there are many such things like that. MISS KOREA!!! It was your friend’s dream all along. You knew it. No, the scholarship excuse doesn’t suffice.

YR’s character felt so shallow. I felt like she is something, but was portrayed to look like something else. Just because she is the FL the writers wanted her to look nice at the end, so they made JH the bish. But to me, YR felt like the real problem here. The writers just forcefully tried to install that she is the HERO. But it felt like a hollow well.

2. JEONG HUI:
What is she? God’s most unfavourite child or something? Like bro… is she even human at this point? Sacrificing her most important life choices left and right as if she is Jesus or smthg. Didn’t girl start off as someone who has a backbone? Now the writers don’t want her to become a bigger emotional ride on people’s minds cuz she is not the FL, so they turn her arc and make her the villain? What in the world??? SHE EFFIN DESERVES HAPPINESS!!! Tell me one character in this huge ahh casted drama that would choose JH over everyone else? Girl is like STRONG STRONG to choose these people over and over. She DESERVES the best…. away from all these people and drama. And gorforsaken for once she blurted her trauma, she is made to look like the villain? Everyone blames her and looks at her like she is guilty? Ew… they were never her people and she gave away everything she had for these very people. SAD.

3. JAEP PIL:
He is not the red flag. Sure. But definitely someone who feels things just for the sake of feeling things. All the bond that he shared with JH meant nothing to him. He was fully aware that she she still liked him before she had to leave everything and go. So now no feelings, bye???? Then YR. He wants her because he wants to pay back for what she has done to him and his family. More like repayment of loan with interest than love. It’s like he ticked boxes. We are compatible because I don’t eat tomato, she takes mine. Okay. She took care of my father. Okay. She loved me first. Okay. All boxes ticked. And then, oh competition! I must win. So let’s repay and win??? If this is real life, I swear they’ll get separated sooner or later because there was never love from his side. When the repayment is enough, there will be nothing left. I felt bad for YR in this thing because she deserved love. Not a conditional clause.

4. JEONG HYUN:
??? What happened to my Mr. Cool? His character had so much potential. But because he was not casted for the main lead, he shall suffer. No other reason. Character development what? This is character deterioration. Man had seven years to get closer to YR. He went away? Why? I understand JH for being away for seven years, but what reason did this man have? He loved her but didn’t put the effort at the right time. Anyway, his character felt like he was being reduced just because he is not the male lead.

5. YEONG SIK:
Consitently the only good guy. Bro doesn’t lift a finger tho. Never goes and puts efforts to get the girl. He just waits until she gets exhausted and comes to him. IDK if I had to feel good for him waiting and helping her when no one is there or bad because he never actively took the stand to show his love. He is just there in the background eating popcorn. He’s like- “Tell me when all of this drama is over. Things will fall in their places. I don’t have to do anything.” What in the ‘Eat Five Star and Do Nothing’ is this??? But I can never hate him. I felt like he was the only consistently been character out of the plethora of them. I only wished that he got involved a bit more.

6. MA SEONG CHEOL:
Play that ‘Eh? Eh? Ehhhhhh??? Ehhhhhhhhh!!!’ sound please. So much happened with this guy, but no one knows why it happened because it was never shown. I loved his character in the first half, it brought all the fun. But again, bro was sidelined. Then they came up with a new story for him. And no fly was convinced. How did he go from loving one woman to the other? It was only iterated that he likes taking care of the child so now he wants to take care of the child’s mom. The end??

SUMMING UP:
Worst plot. All characters are assassinated for the leads to get their ending- a story which doesn’t make sense. Waste of a beautiful cast and potential packed actors. Love you Dami and Shin Ye Eun. This drama can’t overpower my love for you. lol. This drama is more frustrating than healing. Didn’t expect this ridiculousness from a writer like her.I would rate it lower if not for the actors working hard and doing their job and the first half of the drama where the friendship between YR and JH was actually celebrated unlike the second half where all essence of the drama is lost for Hero making rubbish plot. I finished it just because I began watching it. Sick ride. Never recommend.

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More Like A Hundred Disappointments

80s story that could have had potential but ruined by hundred dumb routes. They have promising setting, two female bus conductors at first having their own family burdens, social expectations, and dreams. Their contrast personalities give balance for their character. But the show reduce them to “love rivals” rather than an individual characters who have goals. The writer want to create story about girl friendship complexity but failed, no build up, no progress, no motivation, no solid story message. They wasted it with story being defined and revolved around the male lead and lost the unique identity they supposedly had.

Oh yes, I understand it is romance. But then they didn't show how they develop the relationship, how and why they catch the feelings bit by bit, what push them to change, how they got to be who they are. The story becomes a disconnected events rather than a cohesive journey for the main characters. All of their purposes are pulled into shadow by the romantic entanglement rather than resolved by their own growth. All these forced emotions are craps.
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A Hundred Triangles?

Alas, I find the male lead out of place from the female leads's dynamic. Whereas Yeongrye and Jonghui's opening come from down to earth household, economic hardship and gender expectation; Jaepil comes from the contrasting background. Prince on white horse? His cliche "privileged rich cold boy" introduction failed me to connect with his character in their 80s setting.

Yes, ML owns his emotional wounds, daddy issues, and bankrupt era. But the drama also seems to rely on him being the “object” that the two female leads orbit, rather than giving him enough depth to make the audience care deeply about him as more than just a romantic figure. Even his "aspiring boxer" narrative is scrapped by "heartbreak". He also got no much role for female leads's development. At least other male characters play a significant part in female leads's ambitions plot / Yeongrye asking the brother duos about law as she lacks education but she still revolve the problem on her own / Jonghui with his criminal brother side by side with Ko's siblings.

Once again, the main character's dreams, are scrapped throughout the drama, removed, forgotten, then pulled back in last seconds just for the sake of dumb plot. Titled hundred memories then give us a whole 7 years timeskip with a minimum flashback with majority of dramatic tension still weight heavily on the male lead, who, is not given enough complexity, growth, or... good acting to justify that weight. Romance drama? Well, it is also supposed to be a youth family drama but the series fall back into hundred romance tropes.
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Not Enough A Hundred Memories, But A Hundred Cliches.

Anyway, some parts are great especially when they show Yeongrye's family dynamics and 80s economic straits through the open door bus conflicts and.... well, there isn't much arc in the dorm lmao, what else I can mention? Wait, there is another love triangles plot in the dorm! Rather than showing the fellow conductor's struggles, they chose to add another male-centered side story! Even the side character cant escape from the love triangle, sick how the writer sidelined Jeongbun's struggle and made her story all about cheater character instead of addressing pregnant without marriage issue in 80s. The ending is such a joke too, I would accept the writer's intention to push "friendship" narrative in the last minutes if they focus resolving the main conflict, the stab incident trauma between the girls, but then they pulled this foggy dream light crap and made Yeongrye scream "Jaepiiiill" !!

But really, this drama has some genuine emotional moments, especially during first half in portraying female friendship and societal pressures of eldest daughter, female labor etc.. Though it went down hill, jumped to the cliff latter part, especially with the makjang nonsense.

Overall I am disappointed. I gave it lower rating because I had high expectations with my fave starring here. I have much more to complaint especially the late 80s hair salon background setting and styling post time skip. I expected much more from both Kim Dami and Shin Yeeun. Why the hell did they accept this script? I wished the story prioritized showing the dorm characters's inner lives, ambitions, 80's conflicts, and especially more evenly. It could have been a strong 80s story. If you are looking for that, turn around! Don't get scammed like me~

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