Dynamic start & amazing chemistry, with a somewhat lacklustre, frustrating and 'tropey' execution
Started off very strong, the chemistry was over the roof, and the concept sounded amusing. The first episode was magical, and although I knew that the misunderstanding would be at the core of the storyline, I did not expect it to become the protagonist of the whole drama. The 14-episode length sounded questionable to begin with, and I was proved right, it should have been 12 episodes and saved us from the misery of all the overdragged misunderstandings and lies to keep the job/protect the family trope.It had all the potential of a fun and exciting office romance, but it really just fell flat soon after the first few eps and took a completely boring and different tangent, in which this was trying to be more makjang than rom-com. So many bits and plotlines could have been easily left out, as they really took away the focus from the romance/couple and added nothing valuable whatsoever to the plot. The second leads' arch seemed so unnecessary at times, I couldn't even get myself to root for them in any way or form. I feel like they ruined two otherwise nice characters and made them and their story unlikable by forcing a love triangle (square?) that was literally the most unfortunate part of the whole drama. The least they could have done was wrap it up way earlier. Just when I thought the last few episodes were getting better again, we get more conflict and misunderstanding and whatnot, and it ended up being a very messy and rushed wrap-up, too. The last episode could have focused on some other plot points that would have been nice to see.
There were many cute moments, though, and there's no denying the chemistry and tiki-taka between the leads and their acting, which initially raised my expectations, but sadly, it was mostly wasted and lost in the plot, with their characters' poor decision-making, the hot and cold behaviour and inconsistency in what the director promised us with the premise of the drama and the amazing cast, to what we ultimately got which felt very lacklustre. That last episode was a social experiment, I'm not gonna lie. I was just in for the ride.
Well done to all the cast and actors, though, the acting was really on point, and the support cast was full of talented people, which made the drama shine when the storyline couldn't.
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Lead actors chemistry was great!
Overall I kept on watching bc the leads are great actors with oberflowing chemistry.Tbh, that's the selling point of the series, the chemistry between the leading characters, if you try turning off your brain on some of the major plot holes you can enjoy the cute and funny moments.
The male friend storyline was really not enjoyable though. It makes you wonder what it was that the writer was trying to do with that weirdly developed side story. I won't say more bc I'll get into spoiler territory.
Good music, great actors, messy script. That's how I would describe this drama.
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One of the Best 1st Eps of a K-Drama I’ve Seen!
I often fast forward the 1st episode of a KDrama impatient for the story to get going. Not for Dynamite Kiss! What a start to a series! The episode was fantastic. The chemistry between the ml and fl is SO good! I honestly wasn’t a big fan of the fl in My Dearest but she’s so charming and funny here, and when she appears in the expensive dress and all made up, I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful and elegant she looked! Wow. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her during the entire party scene. But it’s really about the chemistry and I can’t wait to see more of their interactions in the upcoming episodes!Was this review helpful to you?
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So much potential came to nothing in the end
-----TL;DRWhy you should watch this drama: Jang Ki Yong is hilarious, dynamic, and painfully attractive, the chemistry is fire for most of the drama, and there are some very funny and very heartwarming moments throughout.
Why you shouldn't watch this drama: The FL character never develops beyond her original poor, helpless, "I'm so giving and selfless" premise, the second leads are useless, and despite a clever, strong start by the end it felt like the writer was playing trope bingo and got blackout. The show fizzled out completely in the last couple eps and even the chemistry of the leads couldn't save it.
My recommendation: It's worth a watch for the main couple and first half, but don't expect much and don't expect the fun to last all the way through.
-----FULL REVIEW
This drama suffered from the typical K Drama fatal flaw-- a strong premise, a great start, a compelling build to halfway, and then a complete unraveling through to a rushed, superficial ending. Too many K drama writers have no idea how to up the stakes in a drama and keep things interesting without relying on the same old lazy cliches. This show used every single one. At first it was done in a way that flipped the tropes on their head, but by the end it was just your typical ridiculous K drama that was almost nonsensical.
When this drama was hitting, it was hitting GOOD. Jang Ki Yong was delightful from beginning to end, showing literally every side possible of a male lead from asshole chaebol to petty manchild to goofy loser to swoonworthy romantic, spending episodes commanding respect as a businessman, staring longingly at his Darim, breaking down crying, yelling at his deadbeat dad, and hamming it up with hilarious physical comedy. He was the heart and soul of this drama.
Ahn Eun-jin brought genuineness to the role but the character was written as your typical helpless, selfless, poor female lead. It seemed like the character might develop a backbone or some sense of self awareness so she could actually grow as a person, but they kinda just handwaved that all away by the end.
The main couple had really amazing chemistry. The second leads were utterly wasted. Their loveline goes nowhere, their characters change personalities every other scene in order to be whatever the main needs them to be in order to cause drama, they get no real character arcs and no real resolution. They may as well have been cardboard cutouts. I genuinely believed the writer forgot they were characters for the last few eps.
There was a lot of potential with the storylines with the side characters like the mother TF group, the two mothers, and the two families, but with a few eps left the writer abandoned all the story lines, wrapping them up sloppily and lazily so that she could throw in an unnecessary amnesia plotline . Yes, amnesia. I told you it was trope blackout bingo.
I'm glad I watched this show for the super romantic and super funny moments, but man, this could have been so so much better. Like a million times better with a little better writing.
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Not that exciting
The story is redundant. Lacks strong characters, especially female characters. I’d rather watch something else.Acting was okay but the OST from melomance is good.
The female lead is a people pleaser, she ends up being a victim to obvious and avoidable situations.
The second male lead character irks my soul so bad…
Do not recommend watching this drama at all.
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started with a bang, ended with a... why?
I honestly don’t even know where to start with Dynamite Kiss. For the first few weeks, I was telling everyone they had to watch this. The chemistry was incredible, the pacing was on point, and it felt like we were finally getting a drama that knew what it was doing. But then? It’s like the writers just decided to ruin it for fun.The middle of the series started this slow slide downhill, and then they hit us with that memory loss arc. I’m sorry, but it was so random? It felt like a cheap way to create drama because they didn't know how to fill the time. It completely stalled all the character growth we’d been cheering for.
And don’t even get me started on the last two episodes. Talk about a rushed mess! It felt like they tried to cram a whole season’s worth of side plots and "happenings" into the final hour. Half the stuff that happened in the finale felt totally unnecessary and honestly had nothing to do with the actual plot. If they had just cut those scenes and let the characters breathe, it could have been such a beautiful ending.
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don’t waste your time
the only good episodes are the first two ( maybe the 3th and 4th too )first off all the plot is lacking wdym the plot is about her lying about her being married as if the company wouldn’t ask for her marriage license anyway it’s a kdrama so we’ll say nothing
her blindness is too much wdym you thought he wanted to kiss you because he wasn’t well oh please
after going through all this shitty misunderstanding his dad slap her ?? how is that even allowed and then they broke up they literally lasted two minutes
i didn’t watch the two last episodes but i’ve seen some tweets about it wdym he lost his memory ??? now why do we have to deal with all the cliche stuff ??
not to forget the horrible writing of her friend he just seem to plain suddenly he realized his feelings for her when she founds the love of her life oh please..
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Was “Woww” and became “mehhh”.
So I’m just gonna tell you how it goes! No spoilers!The first 2 episodes were just awesome 🤩
But if we start talking about from episode 3 to 10 it didn’t just went downhill, but it went down into earth core like I did not know how they even manage to bring this much episodes. The storyline was kind of like stretching a rubber band , man. And it was kind of sad seeing the ML getting too much hurt from the FL. The first 2 episode were like oh my God, it was so Majestic. It’s going to be a very hit drama, and I don’t know the directors and the scriptwriters made it a fail . But again start talking about episode 11 and 12. It was kind of good that started a relationship. It was now feeling a office romance like we were all thinking that if the tag is office romance, there was none until episode 11 and 12 then again, if you come to talking about episode 13, it was like simply breaking up, I mean why breaking up you can just support him, and I don’t know why directors make the FL look so dumb !!!??? literally can’t they make them look like intelligent I mean, come on if we start talking about Queen of tears , the FL slayed and it was very good . But I don’t know why so many Kdrama directors think that making FL look dumb will make the ML out stand the FL . Literally, it won’t, it will just ruin the drama. Somewhat just try to watch it. This drama is more of like when you want to kill your time. Just watch it if you want to kill your time . It’s gonna really kill your time and kind of no use. It’s like meh forgettable.😑 it had a very nice potential of becoming a hit drama, but the script weren’t scripting so no words literally… but talking about the soundtracks, they were very addictive. At least one thing this drama did 10 out of 10 and good. The acting was good, but it was more of their acting was all just wasted into this useless script. They could have made the script more having a very nice potential thingy. Bhat. Yeah, they did not use their kind of brain into it , sorry for the directors and the script writers because i’m not trying to offend you guys but you could have done much better… so yeah, it’s just forgettable meh killing your time drama…
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Dynamite Kiss
The show started off with a bang and end with a flop. The last episode did not make any sense. I would love to know what the writers were thinking.The storyline is simply ridiculous, and I don't think the ML and the FL were a good match. This show did not do justice to the ML. He is a great actor but this made him seem mediocre.
Had the show continued on the same premise it started, it would have been a hit.
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Potential Left Unused
I really enjoyed the first episode and had high expectations for this drama. However, after just a few episodes — when her best friend suddenly realized that he loved her, had always loved her, and couldn’t let her go — I already started questioning the writing.I still watched the entire drama, but unfortunately it ended in strong disappointment. There was so much potential, yet the story was stretched almost entirely around the fake marriage trope and her working under the identity of a married woman.
The strongest character by far was Kong Ji Hyeok, and I truly wish the final episode hadn’t gone with the memory loss storyline. It would have been much more interesting to see the characters face real-life challenges, different social classes, and their consequences.
Ko Da Rim’s character also lacked strength in the final episode. I still don’t understand why she gave up so easily after he said he didn’t want to see her anymore.
The rest of the characters felt extremely unrealistic, so I won’t even go into detail.
I would have rated this drama an 8/10 based on the beginning, but after the final episode my score dropped to 4/10. I’m adding one extra point only because the first episodes were genuinely fun and kept me looking forward to each new release.
Final score: 5/10
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Something is Missing
The story looked promising in the beginning then somehow lost its charm. The same old same old story - rich guy, poor girl cliche 😐In the beginning I thought it would be engaging. But, midway I had realised that this has nothing new to offer. I somehow completed the episodes. Even the romance part was not giving that butterflies feeling. So watch if you want to see something just to kill time.Was this review helpful to you?
