Brogana Sunfrog

dated classic "Old school" drama with Kim Hyun-joong; good to look at but playing a jerk

This was one of the First 4 k-dramas I watched. I got to ep 10 or 11 & had became so disappointed in the story that I put it on hold. 3 years & alot more dramas later, I finished it and found that whatever attachment I previously had for the characters was severed. This is an "Old School" drama, with tentative melodramatic piano music for for much of the background. It's not bad, just dated. the style of filming & the situations is very dated as well. I think what really drew me in & got me attached was the acting & story potential. Well, honestly, it was Kim Hyun-joong ! I first saw him in Boys over Flowers & wished that he had been the lead instead I was thinking that Playful kiss would fulfill that. Sadly, I did not find his character here to be one that you can just forgive for being a jerk. When he smiles you forget everything else, but he does not smile much & there is NO reason for his jerky attitude or cold behavior. He's definitely not tsundre , just inexplicably cold. I wanted to like this so much, but then I had the same problem with Boys over Flowers : the lead is a jerk that I just can't accept & it ruins the story

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leads have no chemistry. Interesting medical "mysteries"

Let's just start with: It ends on a cliff hanger & after watching this I hunted down season 2 & it was not in any way as good as season 1
So;
I jumped into this without reading any reviews . 1st few episodes are unpleasantly dark with, everyone dying, trying to die or trying to kill someone. The tone picks up but there are alot of heartbreaking moments. It takes awhile for the characters to "jell" into a 'family' of sorts and for you to actually like or care about them. Eventually I did end up getting invested in the characters . The over arching story was not as interesting as the individual medical cases in the rural area, though there did seem to be ALOT of cases where the the mistreatment of women & thier low status/lack of rights was front & center. It would have been nice to have more diverse medical issues , but honestly, they were in a rural area, so that limited them greatly. The leads didn't really have much chemistry, but by the end you have expectations & right as everything seems to be resolved & calms down, they end the series on a cliff hanger (before you can get any relationship resolution or happy warm fuzzies).

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Avoids most tropes. Nice balance Some parts are worth skipping

I was pleasantly surprised that this avoided most drama tropes & every time I thought it was heading into heavy drama territory it evened out nicely, which was a relief as there were already enough sober issues that get dealt with. I never did figure out what the title refers to. The height difference between the leads was often weird .
Even though I rated it highly when I re watch it I will need to skip some parts in order to have the drama I want !
There were 4 things I absolutely hated.
spoilers:
1) Female lead's actions.
Female lead feels bad about herself so breaks up with guy because SHE feels guilty. And later they trick us by making it SEEM as if female lead says she's not going to leave but then changes her mind and does.
2) Time Skip.
I loathe time skips & this one is done oddly.
3) Male lead's sister's husband is probably gay (but in denial) it's a bit is he or isn't he for most the series & the couple start to get along really well & both seem happy & at that point-they divorce ! UGH!
4) Not watching some parts definitely make the drama better
This series is totally rewatchable until the female lead decides to leave for __________. so I personally will stop before that ( as what follows really crushes the warm fuzzies you have for the main couple.
here are my notes for future rewatching:

Ep. 13
stop 57:24
right after he says "is it all right" [with 5:29 left in the episode]
Ep 14 pick up at 17:17 with 46:02 left (when he is outside leaning against car)
stop at 19:25 (rings)
pick up at Ep 16 making eggs 28:37
stop 31:35 holding hands
pick 54:42 I feel lucky and thankful (feeding him) (with about 6:04 left ]

so future me:
stop before she leaves for overseas in the time skip & skip right up until they are dressed for thier wedding at the very end .

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lacking balance, relationship break, Disappointing end

My initial take was that the male lead was not that interesting so I was in no rush to watch this. Having watched it, I'm still on the fence about him !This series doesn't have a good balance of tension, violence & warm fuzzies. (simply too much cruelty & violence). One of the biggest plot points: the female lead having a "big" secret from her past, is never resolved ! All we are told is that she was bullied in highschool because of something her father did. Also, It was inconceivable that a character would rather have one month of normal & resign themselves to death than live in a lesser capacity but keep the relationship they are willing to die for. I never did figure out what happened to the fathers (are they dead or ?). The leads' relationship took a break with a "gap" year ( I HATE this trope !!!) And, WHO doesn't communicate in any way for a WHOLE year [even if they are away getting treatment ????]. Secondary couple was a complete nonstarter. A bit too much filler content towards the end and ridiculous circumstances where a guy is mostly dead BUT he manages to fight a whole bunch of guys AND lift a car, AND walk home before collapsing. In the end, though the couple are reunited there is No kiss, no glad faces, just thier backs. SO bland!

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Minimal drama. Smile inducing

I had this on my "not interested" list, but I wanted something light & fluffy & this was free , AND I saw that it had a happy ending, so I figured I'd try it. It took me along while to warm up to the female lead's character. She was SO cringy. I wasn't all that captured by the male lead's visuals either. But by the 4th episode I was getting numb to those negatives. By the 5th episode the male lead's acting impressed me. There was very minimal drama & a very short separation period of the leads before the resolution of the story. I was surprised to find that having had no expectations of really liking this, that by the end I really had done alot of smiling throughout the drama-which is just what I wanted. I would actually watch this again sometime.

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Frustratingly slow

Male Lead is plainly smitten right away, but is frustratingly clueless about declaring himself. Again the thing that is the major problem is the very old trope of lack of communication.
I'm going to blame the director for having Cha Eun Woo do most of his emoting with his eyes & clenched fists. You accept it because, well, it's
Cha Eun Woo ! Unfortunately, it quickly gets frustrating to watch. His character is written so broken & emotionally withdrawn & yet we never get a good explanation besides his mother leaving. It really needed to be plainly shown that his father's being emotionally distant/selfish/demanding/uncaring is the cause. It was annoying that Alot of his actions & attractions are simply inexplicable. The series stylist did an unflattering job with Im Soo Hyang. Her look was flat & not as attractive as she really is so it was hard to see her as the super pretty. She also was not given much in the way of direction or something as she too often came across dim witted & dull. The premise was interesting & there were alot of good point about appearance, but the series was also heavy on being preachy about beauty standards & attitudes towards females. I was not fond of the OST. I wanted to like this, but it was a bit of a waste of time because of the pace & the flat characters. would not watch again, even for Cha Eun Woo

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Delightful

This is not a drama to rush through.It's a nice little drama that is best appreciated by not binging. Though I found it delightful, I also found it unmemorable, but not in a bad way ! It's something I will re watch & so am glad it's that way, because having something that's a reliable lovely thing to revisit is actually a great thing!
I normally skip episode intros, but this one has a different one for each episode - showing you how a different piece of chocolate /confection is made every time. I liked that they portrayed people in love yet it didn't mean that thier "issues" disappear & they become instantly healed.
Pleasant without too much melodrama.
I especially like the cross over element as the female lead is Korean & that factors into the story
There is a fun cameo at the end by Song Joong-ki & Kentaro Sakaguchi for no particular reason

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not my kind of genre : juvenile humor- watch the awkward insecure girl & laugh

It makes me sad to not like this & i want to support Korean content on Netflix, but this made me want to quit only 10 minutes in. My problem is that this is not my kind of drama. High school is a hard pass for me. The angst, the awkwardness, the whole mentality, the fact that you can't really have a satisfying romance with a satisfying conclusion because; it's high school ! I tried to like this, but it got me cringing at the humor & when the female lead starts to pursue her crush, you know she's going to make a fool of herself & we are supposed to laugh. Again, this kind of humor is a hard pass for me. I've got other dramas I will enjoy better

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Male lead smolders ,but only 4 out of 16 Episodes were good

I really wanted to like this The [premise was good, the actors were attractive, had good chemistry & did a good job]. BUT; episodes 1-10 left me more irritated than interested.
I put it on hold for 5 months before I went back to finish it Here's why:
1)The screaming mother who hit everyone.
2)Sindy the stalker fan
3) The BFF who was cold & uncaring about her long suffering husband but swooned over her idol singer.
4) Secondary characters that mooned over the lead characters & wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
5) Bickering. fan obsession.

The plot got ridiculous & I just didn't like any of the characters.
Then comes episode 10 and the tone completely changed to one of an abundance of
cutesy romance & romantic drama -with way too much sentimentality & much too much kissing (so that it felt like viewer Voyeurism!)
By the time the end of episode 14 came along I felt like it was the perfect ending as it gave a sense of completion tidying up most things (& had somehow pretty much erased my irritation from the first 10 episodes!) But, no, Episode 15 is just sad. It's about resolution of some plot points but it was totally unnecessary. It was like it was on a mission to make sure that EVERY plot point was completely tied up perfectly. And while the drama does avoid most drama tropes, the fact that everyone got thier happy ending seemed really forced.
The one plot point that they completely ignored was Ryan's adoptive parents- it would have been great to have known something about them (are they dead ?) I was so sure I'd love this but even though the male lead is smoldering & does a great job acting in this, I just won't re watch it because out of
16 Episodes, only 4 were good & that's not enough for me.

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Mismatched leads=Relationship drama, depressing just pass

The first episode was hard to get through because of the depressing medical/surgery/ inter-hospital interactions.
I know that was the point in order to set up what followed but it was tedious & it didn't encourage me to want to watch more (because it made me depressed !).
There was so much I wanted to just rant about, but I will try to keep my objections clinical
1) Leads flirt too much too often, too soon + became a couple too quickly .
2) Thier high school rivalry was not a great building block for romance.
3) without asking why or recommending counseling, a Doctor says: "ah, you are depressed- here some meds" !
4) The leads do SO much drinking WHILE on depression meds !
5) Women hitting men. [Mother, sisters, girlfriends, wives, grandmothers, aunts]
6) The female lead became a black hole of neediness and nothing the male lead could not please her
8) What the female lead thinks is an ideal date proves they are incompatible
9) Female lead doesn't want to "own up" & be honest and so puts the blame of being humiliated (really? did he ? nah) on the [rightfully] clueless male lead.

The male lead did well & up until Ep 8 the female lead seemed to be doing a fine balancing act between annoying & warm hearted.
But As I came to the end of Ep.8 I regretted continuing this drama. I felt like it could have ended nicely on ep 7.

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Heavy second lead syndrome. Tedious, painful, ridiculous drawn out drama

I know this is an iconic drama, but I hated it. And while I offering up myself for stoning, I might as well get this off my chest; " Lee Min Ho doesn't appeal to me & his acting here doesn't impress me much. [you can put down your pitch forks though because I thought he did a stellar job in The King Eternal]. But let's be honest, the character he plays here is a gutless apathetic jerk. That any female would find him boyfriend material must mean that, said female must be shallow [to be blinded by her attraction to his looks] as well a martyr, as he is so broken & needy she must take care of him {because no one else is dumb enough to want that job !}
And stating the obvious ; this drama is bogged down with a heavy second lead syndrome that it can't recover from. Grudgingly I will admit that there are some fun parts in this drama, but by the time I reached the end of the series I was numb from the recycled melodrama. Seriously, The main character's family has their jobs taken away from them, like 3 times !
By Ep 16 I realized how the relationships are going to be resolved - which just made me hate the rest of the story. Story plot lines are recycled/repeated throughout the series ad nauseum. Unsatisfactory happy ending with the dratted time skip has the story fast forwarding 4 years (!!!!!!!!) to reunite the characters & then end things abruptly (somewhat happily).

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A disappointment all around with a happy ending as bland as cold dry toast.

I had high hopes for this, but it was a colossal let down. It had
1)Disappointing romance
2) disappointing end
3) gruesome violence
4) poor choice of characters to be the Villain,
5) barest hint of romance
6) 8 month time skip

Some dramas are slow to get into so I pushed through the beginning where there is SO much swearing -by everyone
I did not find the butt touching (an ongoing joke) funny-especially with it needing extended contact or more "vigorous" touching.
Too much time was spent on interpreting what dogs feel.
Humor didn't work for me; Male lead physically tossing the female over his shoulder onto the ground twice was not funny to me & certainly did not make him boyfriend material . I've seen the male lead in other things, but here he is not on his game or directed poorly because here he is totally 1 dimensional.
A mind numbing amount of neighborhood old people scenes .
The writers set themselves up to present us with a perfect "gotcha" by having the male lead "win" & get what he wanted while giving the female lead what SHE wanted -[neither of which was each other !] But, no, they dropped the ball . The leads did have chemistry, but it was not romantic and it made no sense that the female would fall at all for the male lead. (he also seemed equally confused that he was supposed to be attracted to her !!) Male lead never got likeable and was laser focused on his job. The tiny bit of character & emotional growth he achieved was not enough to make him romance material. They did a clunky job of forcing the leads into being a couple at the end. The premise for getting the second male lead out of the way was so dumb???The over used lack of communication trope !!!
The viewer is dragged through the mystery of which of the many suspects was the real villain while female lead skipped around as if there was no killer on the lose. Honestly, it was poor writing to choose the villain they did. He had absolutely no real reason, so they Should have made the villain be the Female lead's ex brother in law-who ACTUALLY could easily have had plausible reasons to kill all of the people that died. They drag out the capturing of the villain, and then the toss in an 8 month time skip, in which time the female lead has apparently gotten over her dead crush and is ready to move forward with the one person who is most responsible for his death. No kisses between the female lead and anyone at all in the series and the happy ending served up is bland as cold dry toast.

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Great performances, but :too much family drama & spiciness void of romance

Jung So-min & Lee Min Ki are VERY good as the main couple. Just watching them together is a treat, but what goes on around them frustratingly detracts from any good feelings I developed over the storyline.
There are SO many negatives.
It's A romance , BUT with an incredibly jaded view of marriage: an outdated, unnecessary thing -a conclusion derived from the fact that [ridiculously] ALL the character's parents are in bad marriages ). Which makes the ending completely juxtaposing & baffling.
Too much family drama ,patriarchal fathers, submissive mothers pressuring thier children to get married is the "engine" that supposedly drives their children's dismissal of marriage .
A cavalier attitude towards sex is presented as an enlightened, modern sensibility-(said literally Every generation!) Side female characters pursue sex like a game of cat and mouse while they dismiss romance. Too many- open discussions about sex. Too many scenes of people jumping into bed with each other.
The character's touted generational superior worldview did not actually seem to lead to happiness and thier lives seemed devoid of anything meaningful, making them unlikeable sad people.
I Do like a story with strong women, but don't find it comedic relief for women treating decent men as inferior in a way that's toxic.


The bits that ruin the drama: [Spoilers]


1) girl walks in on her younger brother having sex. (AGH ! NO !!!)
2) BFF#1 whines like a baby & continually coldly bosses around her boyfriend of 7 years
3) BFF #2 carries around a condom in her purse,(just in case) wears no bra & bosses around the guy who likes her.
4) Male lead lived with a girl & got her pregnant 12 years before this story takes place. This IS integral to the plot & it's resolution And explains why he is the way he is - making the choices he makes.... but for me : it's a Nope !

Positives:
ALL the young people & couples grow alot but it's only shown at the very end.

All the younger generational characters decide that marriage is stupid, BUT all the couples get married!!!

I liked the OST but they did repeat one song way to much.

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messed up story with plot holes.

Set your expectations low. This is light on the drama with no draggy plot resolutions or too much intensity. Happy endings for most characters (that deserve it) & righteous justice for those who don't. There's enough kissing & warm fuzzies to keep romance junkies content. I gave this the same score as Love in Contract, My Demon, Immortal Goddess, Radio Romance & Trot Lovers, but I would rewatch this & Trot Lovers over the others.
Here's the parts of the drama that downgraded it:
Time skip : 1 year at the end. I hate time skips. I don't care if there's a good reason plot wise, I just hate them-they ruin the continuity and made the happy ending stutter instead of soar.
Male lead's brother changes hair color (& make up) so he goes from scary looking evil guy to normal attractive nice guy. It was unnecessarily blatant & just plain weird .

Spoilers*
no talk of replacing the pacemaker ? no other options except eminent death ? sick guy needs to limit his physical exertion, but then (much later) suddenly, it's not an issue as he fights bad guys & gets vigorous in the bedroom (speaking of which- knowing she was going back in time never to return- did no one consider she might get stuck in the past , but pregnant?)
But more importantly:
how many times do we have to see the female lead traumatized, by repeatedly dealing with the death of the male lead ??? The "happy" resolution of the lead couple felt sloppy as in the last few episodes they kind of ruin the lead's romance as they revisit the difficult love triangle (with 2 of the sides of that triangle being the same person, yet not). My affection for the female lead was on a see saw as she started with one version of her husband then got romantic with another version of him, went back to the original version, started to like him but then went back to version B again. The worst part being : that version A's love was rejected & he had to die twice. This made me want to swear as the whole triangle was an untenable plot device .
My solution would have been to simply have had the male lead go back with her & live in the past ( after his past self had passed or become one with his past self!!)
I require very little reality in my fictional dramas, but there were too many "what" ??/ huh"? moments for me in this drama to rate it higher.

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