Driven By Chemistry, Heart, and Tropey Non-Tropes!
As a Kdrama watcher for 15 years, I can say that this drama as previous users have mentioned, had a ton of tropes, but despite that the show manages to remain engaging and fun throughout its run, while putting some new spins on classic things we've seen. It's fluffy goodness wrapped in a sizzling hot package of chemistry, and I ate this one up quickly. Jang Kiyong and Ahn Eunjin's acting, along with Ahn Eunjin's mom (Cha Mikyung) in the show were fantastic actors. I think having a basic storyline is okay as long as you're going to do it well---and I much prefer this over contrived uniqueness & completely misleading your viewers or failing at it at this point in my dramaland journey, honestly.
The Good:
Chemistry. Oozing from every scene since the start of the show to its finish. I usually don't like love triangles but somehow the one presented in the show early on made the show more compelling, probably because both male leads were caring human beings and were entertaining to watch in their own right. The angst was something that felt very 2000s and I was here for it.
The Jeju scenes early on were so memorable for me and gosh did they look breathtaking together.
Jang Kiyong's acting here is probably the best I've seen him--I truly felt his care for Go Darim, and his microexpressions whether it was hurt, disappointment, fear, anger--gah. He did them all exceptionally well.
Go Darim's moral compass. Yes there were some moments early on where she may have done morally questionable things, but given her circumstances I do think many people in her shoes would have done the same thing if not worse. And the fact that she felt guilt over it showed us she did have a conscious. Time and time again they showed viewers who GDR was through her actions, presenting them as reasons why Gong Jihyuk fell for her. It felt nostalgic that show had this strong of a moral compass, which many shows these days don't necessarily focus on.
I loved that they represented a SML who was a single dad, you don't often see that in kdrama land. It's usually a single mom FL, and it's the SML/ML that's pining after her. So to see them put a spin on this trope was refreshing and honestly every scene with Jun was adorable--and I don't even care for kids very often in dramas.
Side characters were all entertaining to watch. The ensemble felt cute and relatable. I also thought it was unique that they focused on babies and mothers--a demographic often forgotten in dramaland.
Tone of the show nearly the entire 14 episode run was lighthearted. Even during sad moments, or towards the end where 2 major "sad" events happened that in older dramas or even other contemporary dramas would take 1-2 episodes to resolve, show did within half an episode or less. That I appreciated even though I was annoyed they were added in the first place. I do agree with others that the last twist the writers wrote felt unfair to the audience, so for that I docked points from the story, but honestly the way they tied the story together overall I could accept, and the ending credits' scene was so remarkable and well done it sort of made up for the annoying twists they added in the end.
The Meh:
The villains in this story overall had pretty low-ish stakes considering the ML didn't even care that much about retaining his status in the company from the get-go anyway. Low stakes isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just thought it was funny that show wanted us to care so much about his retention in the company since they painted him to be more free-spirited and independent in the beginning, it just felt more like meddling than actual high stakes. Which is fine because show's tone overall was lighthearted anyway.
All the business stuff in show was kind of whatever, made some logical sense surprisingly, although they brushed past one of the incidents that posed a danger to our ML pretty quickly towards the end. I did like that they showed entrepreneurship and environmental engagement in a good light though--so props to show for that!
SFL took me some warming up to do. It also didn't make complete sense for her to pine after SML for so damn long and so persistently, but I guess homegirl was in love? I did eventually warm up to her and liked her scenes with Jun. But overall I feel like second couple's storyline left a little bit more to be desired towards the end but I'm thinking that was their point, and this "non-trope" actually felt more authentic to the show.
Overall:
This is an easy, breezy show that has intense moments of chemistry which really are its hook, line and sinker. It's not meant to be super deep or share something super new, but the spins it does display are tastefully done and shown in a positive light. This makes show feel like a warm cup of hot cocoa--perfect for its winter release. And sometimes that warm cup becomes hot!
Jang Kiyong's acting was probably the most enjoyable thing about the show, you could tell he had a fun time filming, as did Ahn Eunjin. I'd also love to see Kim Mujun's work in the future. I think he did a fantastic job holding his own against JKY despite being a newer face in the industry. I also would like to shout out Cha Mikyung for her earnest acting, she portrayed GDR's mother very convincingly, and also her takes to GDR's decision-making felt real.
9/10 for me due to the strong acting, tight pacing, and consistent light and warm tone throughout the show. Despite some missteps toward the end of the show, I think it still proves to be comforting and an extremely addicting watch! Would recommend.
The Good:
Chemistry. Oozing from every scene since the start of the show to its finish. I usually don't like love triangles but somehow the one presented in the show early on made the show more compelling, probably because both male leads were caring human beings and were entertaining to watch in their own right. The angst was something that felt very 2000s and I was here for it.
The Jeju scenes early on were so memorable for me and gosh did they look breathtaking together.
Jang Kiyong's acting here is probably the best I've seen him--I truly felt his care for Go Darim, and his microexpressions whether it was hurt, disappointment, fear, anger--gah. He did them all exceptionally well.
Go Darim's moral compass. Yes there were some moments early on where she may have done morally questionable things, but given her circumstances I do think many people in her shoes would have done the same thing if not worse. And the fact that she felt guilt over it showed us she did have a conscious. Time and time again they showed viewers who GDR was through her actions, presenting them as reasons why Gong Jihyuk fell for her. It felt nostalgic that show had this strong of a moral compass, which many shows these days don't necessarily focus on.
I loved that they represented a SML who was a single dad, you don't often see that in kdrama land. It's usually a single mom FL, and it's the SML/ML that's pining after her. So to see them put a spin on this trope was refreshing and honestly every scene with Jun was adorable--and I don't even care for kids very often in dramas.
Side characters were all entertaining to watch. The ensemble felt cute and relatable. I also thought it was unique that they focused on babies and mothers--a demographic often forgotten in dramaland.
Tone of the show nearly the entire 14 episode run was lighthearted. Even during sad moments, or towards the end where 2 major "sad" events happened that in older dramas or even other contemporary dramas would take 1-2 episodes to resolve, show did within half an episode or less. That I appreciated even though I was annoyed they were added in the first place. I do agree with others that the last twist the writers wrote felt unfair to the audience, so for that I docked points from the story, but honestly the way they tied the story together overall I could accept, and the ending credits' scene was so remarkable and well done it sort of made up for the annoying twists they added in the end.
The Meh:
The villains in this story overall had pretty low-ish stakes considering the ML didn't even care that much about retaining his status in the company from the get-go anyway. Low stakes isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just thought it was funny that show wanted us to care so much about his retention in the company since they painted him to be more free-spirited and independent in the beginning, it just felt more like meddling than actual high stakes. Which is fine because show's tone overall was lighthearted anyway.
All the business stuff in show was kind of whatever, made some logical sense surprisingly, although they brushed past one of the incidents that posed a danger to our ML pretty quickly towards the end. I did like that they showed entrepreneurship and environmental engagement in a good light though--so props to show for that!
SFL took me some warming up to do. It also didn't make complete sense for her to pine after SML for so damn long and so persistently, but I guess homegirl was in love? I did eventually warm up to her and liked her scenes with Jun. But overall I feel like second couple's storyline left a little bit more to be desired towards the end but I'm thinking that was their point, and this "non-trope" actually felt more authentic to the show.
Overall:
This is an easy, breezy show that has intense moments of chemistry which really are its hook, line and sinker. It's not meant to be super deep or share something super new, but the spins it does display are tastefully done and shown in a positive light. This makes show feel like a warm cup of hot cocoa--perfect for its winter release. And sometimes that warm cup becomes hot!
Jang Kiyong's acting was probably the most enjoyable thing about the show, you could tell he had a fun time filming, as did Ahn Eunjin. I'd also love to see Kim Mujun's work in the future. I think he did a fantastic job holding his own against JKY despite being a newer face in the industry. I also would like to shout out Cha Mikyung for her earnest acting, she portrayed GDR's mother very convincingly, and also her takes to GDR's decision-making felt real.
9/10 for me due to the strong acting, tight pacing, and consistent light and warm tone throughout the show. Despite some missteps toward the end of the show, I think it still proves to be comforting and an extremely addicting watch! Would recommend.
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