Brogana Sunfrog

Confusing premise spirals into more head scratching suppositions

somethings were hard to understand-not sure if it was due to the subtitles. A few plot devices also didn't work.
How in the world can anyone throw shade at a 10 year old & blame him for a fire, when he was out playing at the time and he wasn't even where the fire started!?? Also, why blame his mother who thought he was in the apt (where the fire started) ?
Why does the juice bar woman stay with her husband ? It was really unclear to me. Why was the widowed firefighter SO flirty with all women ??? The secret (?) agency & the microchip- never did understand that and in the end was the female lead exonerated ? it seemed like they justified what she had done .The firefighter really jumped into critical judgmental mode with his girlfriend overly fast & waffled a bit too much. I didn't actually care for the side couples & the issue of ghosting was an unacceptable relationship plot device for a lasting romance.

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LGBTQ content +Lackluster & Disappointing on many levels

The strength of the series is in the medical mysteries & the lead's charms. For me, both were lacking in this season. Both leads spend what feel like endless moments staring wide eyed at each other as this season focuses on thier relationship. So much so, that it's actually boring it it's abundance of "ah we're having a moment" (s) scenes. The well fleshed out side characters from season 1 are turned into flat background scenery for the most part.
As in Season 1, where there was an abundance of focus on the plight of women, this season also high lights females females as down trodden (well it IS the Joseon era!) but still seemed a heavy emphasis- AND there is a medical mystery that revolves around two women lovers which has a modern solution.
It did seem that many plot devices went unexplained or were presented as difficult when there are easy solutions that are too often simply ignored. Examples:
male lead's bodyguard stays at the clinic (for no reason)-while his master goes out & faces dangerous situations. (totally avoidable IF servant was actually being a servant/bodyguard like he was in season 1)
Female lead's father inexplicably allows her to return to the clinic. (after insisting that she not do that as he had at the end of season 1)
When asked by the king, what the male lead wishes for as a favor, he somehow forgets to ask for the most important thing [his heart's desire-to marry female lead]
Later in the drama, we are reminded that the female lead actually cannot by law, marry or have children as she is a widow. ( if the leads left the country, problem solved & why the heck is the male lead pursuing her when he has NO plan for them to be together?)
A guy from the royal physicians group concocts a ruse to come to the clinic (spy on them) & they don't make him leave once he is healed, though they know he is not to be trusted & out to get them.
There is a happy ending, but we have to go through the obligatory trope of proof of love by pushing your lover away because despite them often proclaiming they would rather live without any & everything else BUT you, BUT you think they don't really mean it & feel you must step aside for them to be fulfilled through thier career.
So, yes, disappointing on many levels

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Everyone has thier own agenda & everyone was cruel

The first episode was hard to get through. it was dark, all the characters were unlikeable & impossible to feel any interest in.Dystopian is a bit too extreme a description but it felt like that-bleak/depressing. I knew the chances of me liking this series were slim but I wanted to see how Go Kyung Pyo did. He played to type- similar to other dramas he has been except he got to do a little action. To be fair, I lost interest in episode 3 and skimmed ahead. This was too violent and in general the characters didn't strike me as noble or heroic. Everyone had thier own agenda, everyone was cruel. It did end with the leads together. This just was not the genre I wanted to invest in & the characters weren't worth it.

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Slow paced with even Slower burn romance that wastes it's potential & turns tepid

Cute & Pleasant but Sloooow burn romance.
Acting was good but personally, I was not really awe struck by lead guy. Lead girl didn't seem to find his kissing very inspiring either.
Rewatch value: no, pace is too leisurely so plot progressed too slowly, stretching my patience. I didn't find the secondary couple or the work place plot line interesting .
The last 2 episodes were a mish-mash of the moments we'd been waiting for & filler pertaining to parents, side characters, and future.
I wish I had skipped a certain part ,fast forwarded & stopped watching 9 min into ep 24, Then the story would have been much more satisfying & left you feeling good instead of having those good feelings dulled by resolving every conceivable aspect of the character's lives. I personally am not entertained by
child to parent awkwardness concerning the adult child's love life. Neither am I ever going to be interested in seeing a peek into the main couple's lives a few years down the road (when they have children!)

here's why I rated it so low:
**********Specific-Spoilers***********

A) failed attempt at sex , with the guy doing research online afterwards on anatomy (complete with diagrams) to figure out what went wrong.This was not funny to me.
if you feel the same :stop in Ep 22, 9 min in & fast forward .
B)I hate the typical time lapse/separation (this one is a mere 6 months) but the story has already dragged you slowly to this point only to just stall, yet again.
Ep 23 (Just skip it !!!!) seriously, you miss nothing but filler.
C) Ep 24 has a non romantic bedroom scene (in what culture is it considered romantic to have a guy straddling a girl, while he holds down her outstretched hands on either side of her ? )
Plus it has the non romantic conclusion of taking an abortion pill afterwards. EU !]
Even with the slow pace & filler, I'd rate this a 9/10 If I could have skipped 2 scenes & stopped watching the series completely at any one of 3 places.
If I were to rewatch this again this is what What i would tell myself:
1) stop in Ep 22, 9 min in & fast forward through the failed sex & research scene.
1) skip the 6 month separation in Ep 23 completely
3) End before the end:
9 min into ep 24 they get married & that is a really good place to end the whole series, or even stop 10 min in after they meet a colleague at at cafe but either way,skip the non romantic bedroom scene that follows & the taking of the abortion pill 10 min 44 sec into the episode. just skip them being in bed altogether really.
4) I for some reason I you feel compelled to slog through more, 37 min into ep 24 where he sees her in her wedding clothes is also a great place to end watching the series (before those warm fuzzies go tepid & boring)

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Warm fuzzy inducing romance. Well thought out time travel trope

Even though female lead is not one of my fav actresses, I keep ending up watching a good many of dramas with her in them.
I would have rated this a 9/10 except that there was a 1 year time skip at the end as well as the last 2 episodes being unnecessary , annoying & a bit of a let down warm fuzzy momentum wise. If this series suffers from anything, it's tail chasing; plot points where they revisit & rehash the same circumstances over & over. It diminishes the impact of a plot point. That complaint aside, the story moves along well. The male lead's reticence & bemused low key reaction to what happens to him is reminiscent of Star Treks' Spock. It was hard for me to see what exactly attracted him to the female lead's character, but, hey, he's a simple man from the past & she is kind AND pretty, so let's not make it complicated!? Kudos to the writers who put alot of thought into building a detailed structure of how this time travel story would work. And it mostly does. As much as I disliked episodes 15 & 16, I will admit that 16 does tidy up loose plot holes that you may have perceived (but which I did not particularly care about as this is fantasy after all). I found all the happy ending I needed at the end of episode 14 & if & when I rewatch this I will stop at the end of 14. Episode 15 is a bland slice of the characters saying "now we can relax", only to set you up for : "wait ! One more impossible plot point !" Yes, the male lead needs (?really!?) to risk everything, again AND there is a 1 year time skip (I HATE time skips with a passion !!). The biggest failure of those episodes is that 15 is bland & does not address the question we are all thinking : "what IS he going to do with his life ? He didn't bring back any more artifacts to sell, so how is he going to make a living ?" There is a second happy ending with the conclusion of episode 16, (with some steamy award worthy kisses!) but it doesn't really hit as romantic as the "1st" happy ending" at the end of episode 14. This is a case of more episodes are not always better. Still, I enjoyed this & found the male lead's character endearing. I like how they used traditional Korean instrumentals & the drama checks all the boxes for having rewatch value! [a feel good, frequently smile inducing, warm fuzzy inducing, not an abundance of violence, ends happily]

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Maudlin series with alot of bickering. Leads lack chemistry

I put this aside for awhile because initially there was too much discussion of sex & innuendos in the first few episodes & the personalities of the leads didn't seem mesh-able. Nothing really grabbed me & made me want to watch more.(yes the Male lead is attractive, but his demeanor & the things he insinuated were off putting. didn't feel that the leads had any spark & female lead was not written well (in the episodes I viewed) Turns out that my first impressions were spot on! After I picked this back up I thought perhaps it did have a certain amount of charm. I thought the concept of the radio/songs intertwining with real life was somewhat interesting. Unfortunately this is more than a bit of a maudlin series. Though there are blessedly few, if any, misunderstandings , too may secondary characters are over bearing & really push too hard for thier own agenda & make themselves completely unsympathetic when you know the writers are trying for the opposite. Too much bickering !Also, sadly, the leads have NO chemistry and the romance is a hard sell. The male lead is either a terrible actor and can't emote or he is directed poorly. The female lead is boring & slightly unappealing. The kisses between the leads are awkward & boring. You can give them a pass to begin with since it's supposed to be their first time in love but as they kiss more, it just looks like 5 year olds kissing. Cold, embarrassing, tentative & immature. I could not figure out why a nice second lead impulsively proposes to the abusive trashy girl. And the lead's happy ending is a result of a VERY unromantic proposal. it doesn't help that after the big reveal of the mystery behind the male lead's trauma, you actually like him less

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Comedic train wreck that becomes depressing

I actually had this marked as "not interested" because of the compelling bad reviews & I should have not allowed myself to be tempted , but it was free on Netflix & I thought :oh, it has Choi Si-won in it AND it has a happy ending ( I cheated & looked). Ah, I was SO very wrong to watch it. I wish I hadn't because I now like Choi Si-won less & that is harsh, but his character was horribly irritating & written badly. I loved Choi Si-won in 'She was pretty' & wished that he had been the lead. This series should have been the answer to his fan's prayers, but no, it fails miserably. the first 10 episodes are a comedic train wreck .It's so bad that Choi Si-won's mischievous smile actually becomes less & less attractive & for that I hate whoever was directing him. His character is selfish, even in his selflessness. He never really shows any real growth & even in the happy ending, he is not considering the female lead's feelings or wishes, only his own. The last 6 episodes have a totally different feel to them as things get serious, but though you get a relief from the comedy, it just starts to become depressing. To make matters much much worse, they play Gu Keun Byul"s "sing my song" not only as a theme for the 2 leads, but also for the the bromance ,as well as the unrequited love with the 2nd lead. It is SO over used that is looses it's charm completely. The series is lovely to look at & the actors are all charming, but it is not a series I would recommend. Only my affection for Choi-si won kept me from giving this 1 star

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