Assustadoramente Apaixonados (2026)

cliched, underwhelming, and accidentally conservative.

it's been long since i have written a review, and this too is going to be more of a rant so bear with me while i try to make sense of my thoughts. i'll try keeping it comprehensive by explaining the three words in the heading.

- Cliched: from the get go, i felt this show was formulaic so i had no major expectations from it, i just wanted it to serve as a lighthearted weekly palette cleanser. (and i do love ong seongwu as an actor so theres that reason too). but man how it derailed! we brought back white truck of doom, can you imagine that? someone on twitter pointed out that the writer only has projects from 2010s before this drama and you can genuinely see that in their writing. childhood connection, heart transplant, someone turning evil because of jealousy, men-focused pick me 2FL, ML's family asking FL to break the relationship, the show has all the 2010 cliches and more. it's so repetitive and uncreative, each episode in the second half tests your patience.

- Underwhelming: everyone is saying the chemistry was underutilised, but i differ from them -- i did not feel any chemistry between the leads. and these are good actors, great cast, so i dont understand how they cooked such a nothingburger with them. another thing, "spooky" in love. the expectation the first few episodes set is that this is going to be a story of the leads working together solving crimes for the victims who lost their lives unfairly. oh you believed that? how could you? this is actually a corporate power struggle show. ghosts? what about them? did you even see them after the first half? oh btw, bet you want a singapore ad instead, dont you?

- Accidentally Conservative: now i dont think thats the message they deliberately wanted to give, but thats how some of the factors played in this drama. because of yeori's, well, condition, she cant hold hands with anyone. so that makes sense, but somehow all the other romantic choices here were very conservative too. they dont date, they just decide they like each other and get engaged instead. they dont even kiss other than one accidental (eyeroll) and one actual one -- even though they know that wont make him see the ghosts. they genuinely keep their distance at all times, and have 'conservative' dates, with straightaway marriage in mind. i find that so bonkers. how are you two so in love? you havent even gotten to know each other when you got engaged, you just had a crush! but suddenly the tone is all "you are the love of my life"?????

also very weird decision to turn the adopted child into the villain, like yes we all sensed that from early on, but what exactly is the takeaway here? adoptive children grow up to eat the hand that fed them? like the one character said?

all in all, i signed up for lighthearted, timepass romcom, and i got disappointed still somehow. that's it. that's the rant.

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