not as plucky as promised
This has a very attractive cast. But the characters we are given are not all that interesting . The female lead is immature, selfish and mean. The male lead is a push over. Thier interactions are honestly not pretty to watch. I didn't really want them to be together. The parts that are supposed to be comedic, I just didn't find any of it funny.Was this review helpful to you?
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Fluffy escapism fails to deliver satisfying romance but Cast shines
Silly fluff is lovely escapism that has unexpected depth that you have to look past the fluff to see. They really are "roasting" Jang Keun-suk, playing up the ridiculousness of the "power" of his attractiveness. I really didn't think I would rewatch , but after a year I did & Then again a year later. It's charm is in that it doesn't pretend or try to be more than it is. I liked it 50% more on the 2nd viewing than on the first. I think that Knowing not to expect this to be a real romance set my expectations differently so that I could sit back & enjoy it .Jang Keun-suk, IU & Lee Jang-woo are well cast & play off each other well. This series does not have an original plot concept & Jang Keun-suk plays a similar character to those he has played in other series but you can forgive all this because of everyone's acting, which is really good. Also, if you are just watching for Jang Keun-suk & Lee Jang-woo, then you will be in heaven as they really woo the camera. I was a bit concerned with the concept of Jang Keun-suk presented as a Giglio (As he is cozy with many women) but he is shown just as a ladies man [not a real giglio] .For the most part even the skin ship is minimal. [He never sleeps with any of the women, & somehow manages to avoid kissing them on the lips]. Annoyingly they throw roadblock into the plot at the last minute [Episode 15]. They should have used that plot device sooner and I felt it was resolved awkwardly & badly. The end is happy but disappointing as they suddenly have skipped ahead a year. The romantic moment that you have been pining for the whole series, fails to appear & we are given a public, chaste resolution ,rather than the passionate one we've been patiently waiting for. still it's a good ending & when my focus wasn't on the romance I enjoyed the stellar cast & thier performances. I will note that upon the 3 time viewing this, I discovered that there was unexpected depth to the male lead's character growth & that everyone evolves in some way is something I missed before.
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The poster lies. More crying than happiness ( so if you need to clear your sinuses...)
Watched because it was free only 8 episodes & thought : "how bad could it be?"Bad enough that writing a review just extends the unpleasant bad drama aftertaste.
Be warned: The poster/picture of the happy group of friends that they use to promote this drama is not a true depiction of this drama or how it ends .
At first the story seems fine until the character's are shown to be inconceivably relationally dense. Park So-dam's character is selfish, mean, cries, pouts, takes advantage of others, & speaks her mind unapologetically . Somehow the male lead fails to see those qualities as a red flag.
Apparently the opposites attract theory is in play here because Minho's character is adorable & a complete idiot over Park So-dam's character. He addicted to her & allows himself to be mistreated a great deal. [WHY???]
They give you the nonsensical plot point that he's known her for years & yet STILL thinks she's nice & sweet. There is a saying "you accept the love (or lack of) you think you deserve" . His self esteem must be pretty low. He seems to get his happiness from other people being happy but I don't think he actually does get any happiness in the process or in the end as he will continue to self sacrifice to the end, being left with nothing.
It's achingly sad.
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sometimes you watch things because you Want to not care
I had no experience with this story before watching the movie and though I wanted to like it, there were too many extended " people turning into weird creatures" scenes as well as long explanations of Rock/paper/scissor strategy. It felt a bit indulgent .The main character wasn't sympathetic enough to excuse his extreme violence and still be the good guy. I had to strategically apply 25 Band-Aids so I put this on the TV. This did not distract me muchWas this review helpful to you?
It's dark. You will get depressed, it's sad
I really really needed to start "vetting" my dramas & movies, because way too often I get sucked into watching things that end in the most depressing way. this was one of the first K-dramas that I watched and so it was a new and intriguing experience. I rated it highly at the time but now having re watched it, it seems much too dark and sad. I got enough of that in real life, so I prefer lighter, less dramatic, less crying entertainment !Was this review helpful to you?
Body humor, if that's your thing, enjoy
This was an extremely cringy movie that I watched late at night, thinking that it would bore me & make be sleepy. Unfortunately I kept thinking that, ah , this stupidity will end and the real story will start. That was a misleading of an overly tired brain ! This had WAY with more jokes about bodily functions and sex than I was comfortable with. I was like a deer in the headlights, with unrelatable humor weirding me outWas this review helpful to you?
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R-Rated discussions.Not romantic .Male lead is eye candy but too selfish & cruel.
This was one of those dramas where I forget to ask myself ;"WHY am I watching this !?" It should have been a red flag when I almost didn't get through the first few episodes [because I was put off by how much talk about casual sex & the hunt for condoms]. Many times I found myself glad that I was only getting the subtitles because I'm pretty sure the actual dialogue was much racier, After a few episodes, the plot got off that topic (for the most part).The acting was good. The characters were a bit extreme. They went overboard with how much they enticed the viewer to hate the cold main lead. He's selfish, ice cold, manipulative & cruel. They made the female lead into an idiot when she was slow (as an iceberg to melt) when it came to figuring out her feelings. By the end you get great resolution with the side couples but the resolution for the main couple was luke warm.Rewatch ? ah the male lead was such eye candy but too extremely selfish & cruel & never ever got romantic
***********spoilers**********
Some things were not tied up by the end, like they never did explain what happened to the male lead's uncle. .The end was so bland !I am ignorant of just how important education is to other cultures, & to me it was ridiculous that a guy that is so Very interested in a girl he's been pursuing for 30 episodes & is really wanting to get "cuddly" with, would suddenly shrug & say :"sure, go off to another part of the world & we'll see each other, whenever!" Yeah that lack romance & good resolution ruined it all .
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Good looking lead and some action are all you're going to get out of this
ell it was 24+ wasted hours that I won't get back that made me start to really investigate the dramas I watched going forward. I was very interested in this to begin with. The end of every episode was such a cliff hanger that you were dying to get to the next episode. Sadly, it lost momentum around ep 15 & I had to push to finish the series. There was SO much repetition of the bad stuffWas this review helpful to you?
Too many plot holes
There were alot of things going on that were simply not explained and it seemed the viewer was supposed to figure out for themselves. I don't think it was the fault of the translation but it's possible. The end, while happy still had irritatingly unfilled plot holes. While it provided medium entertainment, it was unmemorable and certainly not worth re watchingWas this review helpful to you?
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Emotional detachment, tries hard but doesn't really work
kinda sweet and clean, but some things made it odd in a bad way. Leads actually looked less attractive when they were dressed up & fancy. how is that possible ? side characters were kinda ridiculous looking, which was less interesting & more distracting. some plot points were so unrealistic that it was in your face that they existed only to make the plot work. they should have made the cruise last 45 days in order to sell the idea that the leads would switch thier affection for thier significant others because how are they not the same as thier cheating boyfriend/girlfriend if they are so easily emotionally detached ? AND nice happy ending, BUT what about the fact that male lead's job is on a cruise ship ? how can he maintain any relationship with someone not also on the cruise ship ?Was this review helpful to you?
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Maladroit male lead. plot device fails. warm fuzzies were " Meh"
the bad :a Glut of extended blatant Product placement.
I like the actor playing the Male lead , but his character was portrayed in such a way that his maladroitness ceased to be funny because it was really an undiagnosed form of Asperger's. A blank look can only work for so long before it becomes a detriment to the story.
2nd male lead: lacked character development.
Irritating female court worker-the actress plays the same character in every drama-super chatty, crazy, intrusive.
LGBTQ character felt contrived
The reveal of female lead's mother. It did not work. The resolution of thier relationship did NOT work.
The break/time skip-where the couple are apart is for THE dumbest reason ever.
Last 3 episodes were particularly dull.
Happy ending: on the scale of warm fuzzy to meh it was a Meh.
A disappointment overall, but not a flop.
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Loathsome female lead. Lacks romance. feministic point of view
6 episodes in & the female lead's character is really loathsome. She ridiculously jumps to conclusions & has an overwhelmingly obnoxious personality. The fact that she is a "tramp" , casually sleeping around ALOT, makes it hard to accept her as a romantic partner for a super relationship shy male lead. In fact The male lead is the only one creating any chemistry. Either the actress, her acting or the script are lacking but it is very lacking.By Ep 9 & it's so hard to believe the female lead is sincere in her affections as She was ready to jump into bed with anyone (even after she met the male lead!) , so it's really unromantic when she makes a move on the male lead. We are given no reason at all to believe that she is doing more than playing with him & it's really pitiful when he confesses that she is unlike any other female he has known because they were all manipulative, selfish & wanted to use him for their own gain. As that exactly describes the female lead, who insists on relationships on Her terms it's hard to want them together.
The reason for her prolific dating comes to light & they try to make her into a sort of hero, but dating is one thing, "dating" with the definition of sleeping together is really another. The Female lead has no intention of getting married & the male lead wants to get married & have kids. They present marriage as a woman being tamed by a man. Whoa ! this is the happy ending we are given? agh !
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Choi Jin-hyuk shines but lacks chemistry with Jung Eun-ji. Lee Jung Eun is brilliant
I put off watching this for a long time because the plot line did not appeal to me. However I had run out of fresh dramas to watch so I ended up watching it.This drama is stuffed full of familiar actors, most of who are simply replaying similar roles. That was a little annoying. The first few episodes really drew me in & those performances by the male lead and the 2nd female lead were impressive so I was expecting this to be an 8/10 drama, so it makes me sad to give it only a 6/10
here are the Plus+ and the Minus-
- I had seen the Male lead Choi Jin-hyuk previously in "Devilish Joy /Charm" & his acting here was pretty much the same ( playing a broken man with a tragic past incident ) His acting is fine, it was just felt like the same character with the same emotions.
+ But having said that, it was his acting & Lee Jung Eun's (as the older version of the female lead) that were the best part of this drama.
- Female lead, Jung Eun-ji felt miscast & she had zero chemistry with the male lead, to the point where this would have worked better without any romance.
- The lead's first kiss suffered not only from lack of chemistry but also terrible timing. The circumstances were incredibly unromantic .
- Baek Seo-hoo, while nice eye candy, was underused. It really felt like there were whole scenes & story lines that he was cut out of.
+ + Lee Jung Eun really shines supernova bright as the older woman version of Jung Eun-ji. I've seen her in alot of dramas, & was not really a fan , but as an older actress; this part & the way she plays it is worthy of an award. Her zeal & mobility combined with her expressions & line delivery really won me over. I ended up liking her character more than Jung Eun-ji ,the female lead.
- I've seen alot of Jung Suk-yong over the years in various dramas. His part as father here felt like he was just playing to type & honestly I'm kind of tired of seeing the same actors in the same roles so often
-- Jung Young Joo as the mother was given way too much screen time. I have seen her in too many dramas, playing the loud aggressive overbearing female who goes around hitting people.
- The villain : It was never clear to me what the Villain's motivation was. Also, the villain was physically incapable of lifting & moving the victims the way it's implied that he did
( how far can a person of average strength drag dead weight or lift it into a car ?)
- The Cat: it was really unclear what we were supposed to believe about the cat.
- I really hated that Jung Eun-ji's character was hot & cold in the romance. She didn't even want to try & work around her condition , though the male lead was willing. Then once her life goes back to normal she seems just fine ,so you believe that if she hadn't met the male lead again, she would have been sort of sad, but not as broken up with longing as he was. Very unappealingly unbalanced romance
- There is a 6 month time skip into the future at/ near the end & though the leads do end up together, the ending is a bit lack luster, a very weak "yay" happy ending.
+ OST : I really enjoyed the as it used instrumentals a good bit & did not replay sung songs too much
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Watch for the action & violence if that interests you
This has alot of action/fighting/running . A good deal if not most of this of is violent. Really the death toll is staggering. It's extremely hard to see the leads as a married couple, especially the female lead, but they do fight well together against thier enemies. I was hoping for something a little more like Mr. & Mrs. Smith -But this is completely lacking in romantic chemistry.Was this review helpful to you?
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Abusive female lead, bad styling,
I did not like that Yoon Eun-hye was very physically abusive & that they guy she loves just takes it. You are supposed to see her change, but it never feels that she does. Yoon Eun-hye did not look her best in this (not at all like the posters of the series) and the stylists did a terrible job. Moon Chae-won should have been cast as the lead as she had a more believable look. The ending was delayed by an inexplicable reason & really not done well even though relationship loose ends are tied up they are not finalized satisfactorily .I was also disappointed that there was premarital sex as part of the love story. I wouldn't recommend it.Was this review helpful to you?
