EarlGayTea

On paper, this drama looks like just another contract marriage/dating rom com, which is honestly what I was expecting and in the mood for, but it exceeded all expectations I had of it honestly.

Let's start with how it subverts drama tropes and stereotypes. I won't give any spoilers but there are many aspects--second male and female leads, subplots, secondhand romances--that never played out the way I was expecting. Instead, the show mostly turned these around and twisted them so that even if I predicted what would happen, I could never predict the outcome. It was so refreshing and fun.

Second, I never got bored. I've watched over 80 dramas. I usually get bored with some aspect of a drama I watch. That never happened with 1 Percent of Something. Even in spots where the show could have gotten boring,  I think the biggest factor in helping this show is the 40 minute episodes. This helped keep the show from getting stale or putting in a lot of filler. Each minute had to mean something and helped keep me engaged with the characters.

Which leads me to my third point: the characters! They were so alive and engaging! I loved all of them. Even the second male and female leads which is honestly a hard feat for me. They were all so real. I felt like I could call them up and they would be real people instead of creations of the writers' minds. It was absolutely amazing. The characters were flawed but had so many redeeming qualities. I didn't even think the jerk chaebol was THAT big of a jerk. It was so incredibly nice to watch.

My last point: The most realistic version of hate to love I've ever seen. You get to watch the main characters slowly fall for each other over a series of small moments. It doesn't feel forced. You watch as they interact on the terms of the contract and slowly start caring for one another. It's obvious in their actions and what they say that they're both falling. Nothing feels out of the blue. Jae Inn is able to redeem himself slowly and even learns from his mistakes and doesn't continually treat Da Hyun as garbage like a lot of dramas will do (coughheirscoughcough).

There were some not so great things. The small plot lines about Da Hyun being the president of Ji Su's fan club wasn't my favorite thing. But it was cute and added to her character. The music was just okay. It was nothing that got stuck in my head or that I'll ever listen to again later but it worked well in the drama.

Overall, this is definitely going to get added to my favorite dramas list. I am a little worried about rewatch value since a lot of my enjoyment came from being surprised. That's why I've marked it a 7. When I eventually feel like watching it again, I might update this number/review. We'll see.

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This is the kind of drama you know exactly what you'll get when you read the title. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's the kind of drama I'm often in the mood for but it's also not going to blow any minds. The characters are....interesting. I really love Joo Jang Mi. She can get annoying if naive optimism isn't for you but she was kind of refreshing. Even in depressing parts of the show she found a way to be positive. She never felt like she lost who she was. I also really like Han Yeo Reum, too, and not just because he's in 2am. He was an interesting character with an interesting dynamic. I do think he ended up being used mostly as a plot device rather than being truly fleshed out. The last two or three episodes REALLY do this. It made them not as enjoyable. The rest of the characters were okay in my opinion. Gong Ki Tae is kind of a stereotypical drama male lead so I wasn't too drawn in by him. I did think Yeon Woo Jin and Han Groo had great chemistry which made the romance between Gi Tae and Jang Mi more believable. I think there was pretty good character growth over all too for the rest of the characters. But I found myself wanting to (and sometimes actually) skipping scenes with the side characters. The plot was honestly as generic as they come. Fake marriage/dating has been a troupe since people started writing romance for entertainment. It's fun, but there was nothing ground breaking about this version of it. The music was great! I found a lot of the songs stuck in my head so I'll probably buy the soundtrack. They didn't really get annoying either which is always a huge plus. I ended up starting this drama months ago and just recently picked it back up to finish so I ended up rewatching/skimming the episodes I had already watched so I wasn't completely lost. This does not hold up to a rewatch at all. It probably won't be a drama I'll ever revisit. But it was fun and cute and fluffy. And who doesn't need that sometimes.

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