Pulling off a romantic thriller…
…is not easy, but is certainly possible. Our Sticky Love does not, in my opinion. The plot itself has a lot of potential for a romantic thriller. However, the mixture of these two very polar-opposite genres simply does not work.
Combining a thrilling plot with a romantic—or rather, downright swoon-worthy—romantic storyline simply does not work. From a viewer’s standpoint, it feels strangely insincere: one moment, you are swooning over the main leads as they stand under cherry blossoms and take cute pictures; the next, you are on the edge of your seat, trying to figure out when the FL will regain another part of her memory. It simply feels wrong to root for the main leads’ relationship, almost invasive in a way.
In my opinion, the show would have been better off toning down the swoony-romantic side and focusing more on the psychological romantic thriller. The show could have been a lot more gripping if it had focused more heavily on the FL’s amnesia and on how her recovering memories would affect her relationship with the ML—a relationship that is, after all, built on a lie.
In a way, it could have been similar to Flower of Evil, where the thriller is driven by the intense deception within the central relationship and the uncertainty surrounding it. In Flower of Evil, the suspense works precisely because the romantic relationship is at the center of the thriller: the more the FL discovers about the ML’s hidden identity and lies, the more her feelings for him are put into question.
Instead, Our Sticky Love feels like a strange mixture of genres, where both could have worked well on their own, but simply do not work when combined in this particular way.
Combining a thrilling plot with a romantic—or rather, downright swoon-worthy—romantic storyline simply does not work. From a viewer’s standpoint, it feels strangely insincere: one moment, you are swooning over the main leads as they stand under cherry blossoms and take cute pictures; the next, you are on the edge of your seat, trying to figure out when the FL will regain another part of her memory. It simply feels wrong to root for the main leads’ relationship, almost invasive in a way.
In my opinion, the show would have been better off toning down the swoony-romantic side and focusing more on the psychological romantic thriller. The show could have been a lot more gripping if it had focused more heavily on the FL’s amnesia and on how her recovering memories would affect her relationship with the ML—a relationship that is, after all, built on a lie.
In a way, it could have been similar to Flower of Evil, where the thriller is driven by the intense deception within the central relationship and the uncertainty surrounding it. In Flower of Evil, the suspense works precisely because the romantic relationship is at the center of the thriller: the more the FL discovers about the ML’s hidden identity and lies, the more her feelings for him are put into question.
Instead, Our Sticky Love feels like a strange mixture of genres, where both could have worked well on their own, but simply do not work when combined in this particular way.
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