AsleepWatcher

That seaweed throwing was actually hilarious and out of nowhere, I felt like I could smell the seawater through the screen. Then I wondered how it must have felt for the actors. It must have actually hurt getting slapped in the face and the salt probably stung and dried out their skin. Ouch. And saltwater probably got into their eyes and mouth, bleghhhh. Must have been a disgusting experience filming that.

Ok, 3rd episode is a lot better than the first 2 and it's setting itself apart from a regular rom com now. It's definitely looking more like a slice of life with some romance and family mixed in. The directing is coming off as a bit old school but it seems like a deliberate choice, and it's working to deliver some nostalgia.

Personally, this show felt like it had wasted potential. At the beginning, I had my own doubts about the way the show portrayed the female lead and its premise, but I was able to get past that. Even then, it had some glaringly big flaws. Subplots felt more like the main plot and was taking up too much screentime. No, I did NOT want to see the abusive dad onscreen for what seemed like longer than the main characters! The last minute attack on the foster dad was a lazy and cheap move for the writer to show dad and mom's love and history together. That part was totally saved by the actors and editing. In fact, the writer was constantly forcing in situations to create tension. That's not the level of writing I expect in a mini-drama, those are tactics that those 50 episode soap operas use to drag out the storyline. The show didn't need them, they did not enhance the viewing experience but did the opposite instead. It simply showed me that the writer was doing more than what they could handle, and I'll probably be a bit apprehensive about their next work.

That being said, there were things that were done very well. Firstly, OSTs were good, even the background music enhanced many of the scenes. Mok Ha's songs were decent to good, the first song she sang being the most memorable. It's a central part of the story and that portion being handled well gives the show many plus points. Gorgeous colour grading and while the filters were a bit overdone, they fit the theme of the show being a fantasy (it isn't marketed as a fantasy but it totally is). Ending scene was easily on par with a shot out of a disney movie. Bits and parts of her island life interwoven throughout the show, while unrealistic, gave the scenes more depth. Acting performances were decent to good. And most importantly, Park Eun Bin's singing which instantly shot up her likeability in my eyes. Frankly I think her singing outshone her acting in this one, it did feel like most of her efforts went into vocal training. Her acting wasn't bad, in fact it's still good, it just felt like it wasn't at her usual standard. While this role doesn't rank among my favorites of hers, her voice here despite not being formerly vocally trained is a testament to her hard work and dedication.

Overall, the show gets a 7.5 from me. I had a lot of complaints but I don't regret watching it.

They're from generations X, Y and Z, SDM is old enough to be KMA's mom lol. But they surprisingly can pass off as sisters in the show.

I'm kind of on the fence for this. I can't say I didn't enjoy the first 2 episodes since I didn't feel bored, but the show looks like it's at a risk of being, well, a very typical rom-com.

The Bad:
- The scandal being a way to get the FL back to her hometown is a bit contrived.
- Comedy is a hit or miss. Characters can come off as being childish instead.
- ML is coming off as a nice guy caricature so far. His workplace scenes didn't really interest me.
- FL's attitude towards her own scandal is a bit frustrating. Though there is some room for thought on whether she's genuinely too naive, is personally attached to the assistant or has a personality that tends to blame herself.
- FL's mom having an illness and hiding it is obviously gonna head into very familiar territory.
- Getting actors in their 30s to wear high school uniforms, again??

The Good:
- The 3 sisters and niece have good acting chemistry, their scenes are entertaining and relatable. There is room for character exploration here.
- As usual, Shin Hye Sun's comedic and emotional acting is effective.
- I think the pacing feels pretty fast so far compared to other shows of this genre.
- From the short flashback scenes, leads seem to have pretty good chemistry.
- Promising OSTs that are remakes of classic songs
- It's effective so far as a slice of life, borderline sitcom kind of watch

Well I'll be damned, season 1 was barely passable for me, it was actually a huge downgrade from the source material and if season 2 fell short of that... yep I'm skipping it.

You have a point. I guess I'm just tired of this artificial realism ending up morphing into the same old, familiar tropes. The premise is just another means for the FL and ML to have this sort of ill-fated relationship that will end in a touching reunion. It's so obvious that I feel annoyed, because it could have been something different. I'll see what else the show has to offer. I think Park Eunbin's singing is worth staying for.

Because the minority (me included) who have issues with the show will be louder. I won't have much stuff to say if I think a show is flawless. Likewise if I think a show isn't worth watching, I won't bother leaving a comment and just drop it, full stop. I can imagine many users doing the same, so you'll always see criticism under popular and well received shows.

This isn't a bad show or anything, but I don't really know where it's trying to go with this story. The FL just got rescued from a deserted island and before she had a chance to properly adjust to modern society, she goes to meet her idol to fulfil her dream of becoming a singer. The thing is that her devotion to this idol stems from escapism from her abusive childhood and probably her means of motivation to stay alive during her years of isolation. We all know the entertainment industry is the best place to stunt emotional growth. And that's where the story throws her into, which is the last thing our already emotionally stunted FL needs. Of course this being the romcom that it is, the 2FL probably isn't going to manipulate her and she has the ML to protect her. But there are sooo many red flags if this were a real life situation. And as far as I can tell, it's just adding more pain to her already traumatic life.

I don't like to compare but I preferred the way Still 17 dealt with its FL. It had a similar premise but kept the story simple, it was about adjusting to adult life, building relationships and overcoming failures. By the end the FL has grown as a character and is emotionally mature enough to accept that she can find other sources of happiness, even if she can't be a violinist. But here, the only outcome I can think of if Mokha fails to achieve her dreams is that she would need a lot of therapy (that she already needed) because that is essentially the whole world to her (other than Kiho I guess). I can continue but I'll end the rant before it becomes an essay.

I hope so. Fortunately the writer doesn't seem to have any history of adding killer plots.

They may be, but the serial killer arcs were still poorly executed and felt unnecessarily shoehorned into the show.

To add, some of the worst offenders: Crash course in romance, You are my spring

After that second teaser I wonder if this is leaning towards romcom/slice of life or melodrama? But tbh as long as there's no serial killer plot shoehorned in I'm good to go. I can't even count how many dramas have been ruined by that!

This lineup is very promising but what's with the photoshop in that poster 🤦‍♂️

“This is the best burger ever, I rate it a 10/10!”
“So this burger should be nailed on for one or two Michelin stars minimally based on the hypers who are declaring this the best burger ever with their 10/10 ratings. I think it won’t even be under any consideration for any award. But let’s see whether I’m right or wrong”

Yes. I'm triggered by the fact that the above user uses the ridiculous logic above to knock down people who are entitled to their own opinion.

That is such an unnecessary comment. There will always be hypers especially from fandoms of actors. A ton of shows are hyped like that on this site. I wonder if you go around being condescending to all of them. And it's obvious enough that the show has low chances of nominations as it didn't reach satisfactory TV ratings or acclaim. That still doesn't invalidate anyone's rating or opinion, biased or not. How many hyped shows on MDL actually score a nomination at Baeksang? Get over it.

You see, that's the point. That the hatred wasn't something worth enduring the pain of living a thousand years (which is probably why she didn't remember it in the first place).

The story being crammed into 12 episodes is probably the biggest issue here.

Yeah no hard feelings here, just a matter of opinions. I have only watched Kim Tae Ri in 1987 the day comes and I tried a few episodes of Mr Sunshine (yes I know it's critically acclaimed but I just can't get into most period shows). Maybe you can recommend her works so I can get a clearer idea of why you thought of her?

I respect your opinion. Just to clarify, my point is that the romance is on such shaky grounds with very little development from the rather one-sided "older sister protecting younger brother" dynamic that as I mentioned, only started to change in episode 10 where Seoha finally begins to reciprocate emotionally and take care of Jieum. So unless both actors don't stay true to the way their characters are written, the logic behind their relationship is not very convincing. That's why I blamed the writing.

I can't say much about Kim Tae Ri since I'm not very familiar with her works.
P.S. Shin Hye Sun isn't my favorite actress lol. This is my first time watching a show where she's the lead. I'm defending her because her character is the one carrying all the emotional scenes and I like her portrayal (I have read most of the webtoon).