This review may contain spoilers
funny, heart-rending, then sweet
Finished 4-5-25
Rating: 8/10 stars
Pros:
• Frequently laugh out loud funny.
• There is a llama, and a llama-related song. It. Is. Amazing.
• Cute main couple with a very slow burn romance.
• Cute secondary couple who offer a lot of support to the main leads.
• A strong theme of self-acceptance.
• I loved that the male lead kept falling in love with the female lead because her personality was just so attractive to him, regardless of her appearance. It was so cute, and really resonated with me.
• fun scifi McGuffin in the form of the bracelet. It was often used by the characters to solve problems in quite clever ways. There was a logic to how it worked that made the show scifi rather than fantasy, and I really appreciated that. Cdrama fantasy often feels illogical and random to me.
• At times deeply emotional. Even though a lot of the plot was comedic, I really believed in the connections the male lead had with the various forms of the female lead. And I really believed in his devastation when he was forced to let them go (because of course the female lead doesn't want to keep playing these characters forever). I actually cried at one point. (If you're wondering when, it was the goodbye at the bottom of the rainbow staircase. The Fang Jin story arc SLEW me.)
Cons:
*some spoilers below*
• In-universe, the female lead is supposed to be unattractive and also super strong/athletic. In reality the actress is pretty and tiny. So yeah, some major suspension of disbelief is required, and it also really waters down the supposed core message of the show: that it's what's inside that counts and you should embrace your authentic self. Easy for the female lead, when her only problem appears to be low self esteem, since she is clearly pretty and about 90 pounds!
• There was not nearly enough time dedicated to working through the trauma the male lead experienced. He literally saw a woman he cared about die from being struck by lightning right in front of him. And that was just the start! Although he is understandably enraged and bitter at the female lead when he realizes what has been going on, he fairly quickly gets over it. His friend even tells him, "Nobody actually died, that's a good thing." He was angry for about a half an episode before he starts realizing that all the things he loved about those other people were actually the female lead. He basically falls in love and forgives her in half an episode.... I feel like I'm underselling this so let me emphasize: in half an episode he forgives the person who forced him to literally watch people die in front of him MORE THAN ONCE. Yeah. I needed a bit more of him being mad and processing that shit.
• The last three episodes were totally pointless. Seriously, if you watch this drama do yourself a favor and consider episode 29 to be the finale. The last three episodes are really slow, not funny, lay the schmaltz on way too thick, and for some reason introduce an idiotic storyline involving the second female lead being pregnant, totally going against her character the whole rest of the show. It was a struggle to finish what was otherwise a great show, so please SAVE YOURSELF.
Rating: 8/10 stars
Pros:
• Frequently laugh out loud funny.
• There is a llama, and a llama-related song. It. Is. Amazing.
• Cute main couple with a very slow burn romance.
• Cute secondary couple who offer a lot of support to the main leads.
• A strong theme of self-acceptance.
• I loved that the male lead kept falling in love with the female lead because her personality was just so attractive to him, regardless of her appearance. It was so cute, and really resonated with me.
• fun scifi McGuffin in the form of the bracelet. It was often used by the characters to solve problems in quite clever ways. There was a logic to how it worked that made the show scifi rather than fantasy, and I really appreciated that. Cdrama fantasy often feels illogical and random to me.
• At times deeply emotional. Even though a lot of the plot was comedic, I really believed in the connections the male lead had with the various forms of the female lead. And I really believed in his devastation when he was forced to let them go (because of course the female lead doesn't want to keep playing these characters forever). I actually cried at one point. (If you're wondering when, it was the goodbye at the bottom of the rainbow staircase. The Fang Jin story arc SLEW me.)
Cons:
*some spoilers below*
• In-universe, the female lead is supposed to be unattractive and also super strong/athletic. In reality the actress is pretty and tiny. So yeah, some major suspension of disbelief is required, and it also really waters down the supposed core message of the show: that it's what's inside that counts and you should embrace your authentic self. Easy for the female lead, when her only problem appears to be low self esteem, since she is clearly pretty and about 90 pounds!
• There was not nearly enough time dedicated to working through the trauma the male lead experienced. He literally saw a woman he cared about die from being struck by lightning right in front of him. And that was just the start! Although he is understandably enraged and bitter at the female lead when he realizes what has been going on, he fairly quickly gets over it. His friend even tells him, "Nobody actually died, that's a good thing." He was angry for about a half an episode before he starts realizing that all the things he loved about those other people were actually the female lead. He basically falls in love and forgives her in half an episode.... I feel like I'm underselling this so let me emphasize: in half an episode he forgives the person who forced him to literally watch people die in front of him MORE THAN ONCE. Yeah. I needed a bit more of him being mad and processing that shit.
• The last three episodes were totally pointless. Seriously, if you watch this drama do yourself a favor and consider episode 29 to be the finale. The last three episodes are really slow, not funny, lay the schmaltz on way too thick, and for some reason introduce an idiotic storyline involving the second female lead being pregnant, totally going against her character the whole rest of the show. It was a struggle to finish what was otherwise a great show, so please SAVE YOURSELF.
Was this review helpful to you?
