I might be labelled as a hater if I say this, but I honestly can't stand Cha Eun Woo's acting. I really really…
I think the character is meant to be emotionally withdrawn, doubting the sincerity of other people. He's been treated like a face genius all of his life while nobody has tried to see the real person beneath. This is a counterpart to Mi Rae's situation. When she was ugly nobody cared who she was like on the inside, while Kyung Suk grew up beautiful and nobody cared about his deeper self either. It left them both damaged in their own way.
This is why Kyung Suk struggles in trying to make a connection with Mi Rae. He has a hard time relating to other people in a positive way, so his bad habits tend to take over and he becomes abrupt and rude, even with her.
But, like any worthwhile character in a work of fiction, he grows as a person over the course of the series and is much warmer and self-expressive by the end.
We can be sure that Cha Eun Woo didn't create this character on his own -- it would have been a collaboration between him, his fellow actors, and the director. The story needed a ML who attracted a lot of attention but was at first robotic and stand-offish. That's what he gave them, and I think he did a great job at it.
In his roles before 'Gangnam Beauty' he simply played a version of his K-pop idol self. He did fine in those but probably relished the challenge that 'Gangnam Beauty' presented. And, most recently, his role in "Rookie Historian" proves he can play yet another kind of character at the opposite end of the spectrum.
I think he's a real talent and I look forward to his future work.
I enjoyed reading your review and agree with almost everything!
The only detail I'm not sure about is that Jiaze held off on accepting Cancan's feelings because he thought she liked someone else. I got the impression that he held off because he was so confident that she'd like him whether he accepted her feelings or not. This came out the most the day that Lan Tianye told Jiaze that he likes Cancan and challenged him to a basketball game, saying that the winner would be the one who could date her. Jiaze declined the challenge saying he didn't need to win a game to win Cancan, because he already knew she liked him.
This resonated at the very end when he watched his high school self speak on the video that they recorded for the time capsule. He shook his head at how over-confident he had been back in the day. It was also interesting to me that after all the fuss over him being such a gifted pianist he didn't end up in the music business whereas Cancan and Lan Tianye did.
The chemistry between the leads was better than just about any other drama I've watched. One of the best scenes was when Lan Tianye showed up at the restaurant to eat with Cancan and her university roommates. As the roommates watched them bounce hilariously off of each other they immediately knew what was up between them. It was so cute. I must have rewatched that scene a dozen times and it still makes me laugh out loud.
Others in the drama world must have realized how well the ML and FL worked together (or maybe they realized it themselves) because it looks like they're the leads in another drama that's in the pipeline called My Girl.
Anyway, thanks for a review that puts my own thoughts into words better than I myself could have!
This is one of the very first dramas I watched and remains a favorite.
I love all three of the leads.
Shen Yue's ability to create a character who's as believable as a high-schooler as she is as a mature woman is nothing less than extraordinary. I've since watched other dramas ('With You', 'Wait, My Youth', and 'A Little Thing Called First Love') where the female lead accomplishes the same feat, and all I can say is that the mainland Chinese seem to have this concept on lock.
The two male leads are perfectly cast. I felt terrible for the one who lost out, but the one who triumphed managed to redeem himself in the end.
Yes, the plot does tend to rely too much on misunderstandings and miscommunication, but with such a great payoff I won't complain about that too much.
How can anyone help you to feel the excitement? :)But I CAN give you one friendly advise. Watch the drama till…
What a great perspective. It's true, anyone who's into a certain artistic genre should be familiar with the iconic works that have helped to define the genre.
I'm one of the rare few who has empathy for Non. When all you've known is a dad like that it can make you feel desperate in so many ways. Kao's empathy and kindness must have felt like divine salvation.
This is a well-written and thought out review and a great conversation starter. You make many valid points about details that I'd kinda forgotten, but as you made me recall them I was usually thinking "Yup, that's right."
Regarding Tharn and Type's relationship, I had been thinking about how once we got past the first couple of episodes we didn't see much of their interaction outside of their sex life. Yes, Type visited Tharn's home and family, which was nice, but that was about it.
Although you are pretty much on target regarding how Type's molestation was handled, in some ways I think Tharn's sexual aggressiveness was a catalyst for Type to have those harrowing flashbacks while Tharn comforted him. No matter how clumsily the molestation theme was handled, Gulf's acting here was extraordinary.
It bothered me that they went to the trouble of casting the role of Khom and included the difficult scenes between Type and Khom but never resolved anything. It didn't reflect well on Type that he treated his friend so poorly and didn't try to make amends later, once he'd adjusted more to his new situation.
What I liked the least about the series was how it was another instance of "I'm not gay, I'm just gay for you" in a BL series. I don't know why this attitude prevails in these dramas. Is it because most of the fan base is straight females who want to believe they can meet and date these fictional characters? It just strikes me as weirdly dishonest.
She was annoying from the very start but there was a point where I finally lost all patience with her.
It's the scene where Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader attend one of Lee Hyun's lectures, and afterward there's a male student from the audience who wants to speak with him privately. This student is clearly distressed. Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader each want to speak with Lee Hyun as well, but Lee Hyun tells them that the student comes first.
Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader stand some distance away as Lee Hyun takes the student aside and they begin to talk. Cha Ji Ahn gets all fired up, actually saying how offended she is that the student would be "Number One" for Lee Hyun. She even starts to walk over angrily to interrupt them, but the team leader stops her.
I ask you, what normal adult would be this insensitive and selfish? The student is visibly disturbed about something personal and turning to Lee Hyun for help. Did the writers intend Cha Ji Ahn's behavior to come off as humorous? Well, they totally misjudged on that count. She just comes off as immature and self-centered, a real jerk. The student isn't even a female, so jealousy can't be cited as the motivation for her impulsivness.
As I have watched further and the romance between her and Lee Hyun has begun to surface, I have started to skip quickly through their "cute" scenes together. You can probably imagine how much it annoyed me when the plot concocted a reason for her to stay at Lee Hyun's house with him.
The reason is because she was attacked at her own house, and eventually Lee Hyun even tells her she can stay with him until they find the culprit. Then, in another example of Cha Ji Ahn's "me first above all others" attitude, at one point she's riding in the car with her team leader, and he tells her that he's going to make it a top priority to find the guy who assaulted her. Cha Ji Ahn immediately remembers how she'll have to move out of Lee Hyun's house if they ever do get an arrest, so she tells the team leader that he doesn't need to hurry with that investigation. Terrible!
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if her character paid someone to beat her up again so that Lee Hyun would continue to shelter her. However, since I'm now at the episode where she's been roughed up and kidnapped, I guess she'll be able to use that incident to play on his sympathies. A fake beating won't be necessary.
I know it's too much to hope that they would kill off this loathsome character entirely, so I appreciate the opportunity to post this rant about what is otherwise a superb series.
man i remember this was one of my first ever kdramas so it was so magical to me but when i rewatch i realise three…
I don't understand why you think she stole her sister's life...
First off, Eunbyul purposely instigated the entire switcharoo because she wanted her sister to know what it's like to have good friends and a mother who loves her.
Second, they both came forward in the end to make it clear who was who, and Eunbyul decided she wanted to leave the school anyway.
Third, even before the switch, Eunbyul told Han Yi An that she wasn't the same person she was when they grew up, and things were now different between them. She seemed frustrated that he wasn't realizing it himself. Later on, she also gave Eunbyul her blessing to have a relationship with Han Yi An.
I agree that Tae Gwang did more to earn Eun Bi's love and trust and probably should have prevailed at the end. But I think the writers wanted there to be two love triangles -- one between the two guys and Eun Bi, and another between the two sisters and Han Yi An. The only way to end that "neatly" was to have Eun Bi and Han Yi An end up together.
For a while there I wondered if Tae Gwang would somehow end up with Eunbyl after she returned, but then I realized there wasn't enough time left in the series to develop that.
One thing I like about this drama is that after the first episode the villain, as resourceful as she is, is never able to get one past the FL.
In most of the dramas I've watched the villain is able to sustain a constant barrage of terrible acts, and only at the very end does it all come tumbling down on them. In this series it's different. There's always something (or someone) to thwart her time after time, usually in an entertaining manner. For me it got to the point that I looked forward to her next evil plot so I could see her get frustrated yet again.
I'm almost finished with the series and don't understand why Chilbong is so obsessed with Na Jung. She's immature and not very nice. Having been "spoiled" on the ending, I'm actually relieved that he has a chance to be with someone other than her.
Trash and Na Jung share a past trauma that was written on their hearts forever, and they will always share that, but it's a shaky foundation on which to build a relationship.
I'm eager to finish Reply 1994 so I can watch Reply 1997, which I understand is better and avoids any love triangulations.
So I just finished watching it but I’m confused. If yu xi gu is dead....then who was that kid hao tin was meeting…
Hao Ting was meeting with a guy he met while hiking. He’s a look-alike for Xi Gu, although someone made a good point which is that maybe the guy was a look-alike only in Hao Ting’s mind.
5 
6 
2 
And yeah, Pun's "crying" ... it was so poorly acted! Just horrible.
This is why Kyung Suk struggles in trying to make a connection with Mi Rae. He has a hard time relating to other people in a positive way, so his bad habits tend to take over and he becomes abrupt and rude, even with her.
But, like any worthwhile character in a work of fiction, he grows as a person over the course of the series and is much warmer and self-expressive by the end.
We can be sure that Cha Eun Woo didn't create this character on his own -- it would have been a collaboration between him, his fellow actors, and the director. The story needed a ML who attracted a lot of attention but was at first robotic and stand-offish. That's what he gave them, and I think he did a great job at it.
In his roles before 'Gangnam Beauty' he simply played a version of his K-pop idol self. He did fine in those but probably relished the challenge that 'Gangnam Beauty' presented. And, most recently, his role in "Rookie Historian" proves he can play yet another kind of character at the opposite end of the spectrum.
I think he's a real talent and I look forward to his future work.
The only detail I'm not sure about is that Jiaze held off on accepting Cancan's feelings because he thought she liked someone else. I got the impression that he held off because he was so confident that she'd like him whether he accepted her feelings or not. This came out the most the day that Lan Tianye told Jiaze that he likes Cancan and challenged him to a basketball game, saying that the winner would be the one who could date her. Jiaze declined the challenge saying he didn't need to win a game to win Cancan, because he already knew she liked him.
This resonated at the very end when he watched his high school self speak on the video that they recorded for the time capsule. He shook his head at how over-confident he had been back in the day. It was also interesting to me that after all the fuss over him being such a gifted pianist he didn't end up in the music business whereas Cancan and Lan Tianye did.
The chemistry between the leads was better than just about any other drama I've watched. One of the best scenes was when Lan Tianye showed up at the restaurant to eat with Cancan and her university roommates. As the roommates watched them bounce hilariously off of each other they immediately knew what was up between them. It was so cute. I must have rewatched that scene a dozen times and it still makes me laugh out loud.
Others in the drama world must have realized how well the ML and FL worked together (or maybe they realized it themselves) because it looks like they're the leads in another drama that's in the pipeline called My Girl.
Anyway, thanks for a review that puts my own thoughts into words better than I myself could have!
I love all three of the leads.
Shen Yue's ability to create a character who's as believable as a high-schooler as she is as a mature woman is nothing less than extraordinary. I've since watched other dramas ('With You', 'Wait, My Youth', and 'A Little Thing Called First Love') where the female lead accomplishes the same feat, and all I can say is that the mainland Chinese seem to have this concept on lock.
The two male leads are perfectly cast. I felt terrible for the one who lost out, but the one who triumphed managed to redeem himself in the end.
Yes, the plot does tend to rely too much on misunderstandings and miscommunication, but with such a great payoff I won't complain about that too much.
Regarding Tharn and Type's relationship, I had been thinking about how once we got past the first couple of episodes we didn't see much of their interaction outside of their sex life. Yes, Type visited Tharn's home and family, which was nice, but that was about it.
Although you are pretty much on target regarding how Type's molestation was handled, in some ways I think Tharn's sexual aggressiveness was a catalyst for Type to have those harrowing flashbacks while Tharn comforted him. No matter how clumsily the molestation theme was handled, Gulf's acting here was extraordinary.
It bothered me that they went to the trouble of casting the role of Khom and included the difficult scenes between Type and Khom but never resolved anything. It didn't reflect well on Type that he treated his friend so poorly and didn't try to make amends later, once he'd adjusted more to his new situation.
What I liked the least about the series was how it was another instance of "I'm not gay, I'm just gay for you" in a BL series. I don't know why this attitude prevails in these dramas. Is it because most of the fan base is straight females who want to believe they can meet and date these fictional characters? It just strikes me as weirdly dishonest.
She was annoying from the very start but there was a point where I finally lost all patience with her.
It's the scene where Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader attend one of Lee Hyun's lectures, and afterward there's a male student from the audience who wants to speak with him privately. This student is clearly distressed. Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader each want to speak with Lee Hyun as well, but Lee Hyun tells them that the student comes first.
Cha Ji Ahn and the team leader stand some distance away as Lee Hyun takes the student aside and they begin to talk. Cha Ji Ahn gets all fired up, actually saying how offended she is that the student would be "Number One" for Lee Hyun. She even starts to walk over angrily to interrupt them, but the team leader stops her.
I ask you, what normal adult would be this insensitive and selfish? The student is visibly disturbed about something personal and turning to Lee Hyun for help. Did the writers intend Cha Ji Ahn's behavior to come off as humorous? Well, they totally misjudged on that count. She just comes off as immature and self-centered, a real jerk. The student isn't even a female, so jealousy can't be cited as the motivation for her impulsivness.
As I have watched further and the romance between her and Lee Hyun has begun to surface, I have started to skip quickly through their "cute" scenes together. You can probably imagine how much it annoyed me when the plot concocted a reason for her to stay at Lee Hyun's house with him.
The reason is because she was attacked at her own house, and eventually Lee Hyun even tells her she can stay with him until they find the culprit. Then, in another example of Cha Ji Ahn's "me first above all others" attitude, at one point she's riding in the car with her team leader, and he tells her that he's going to make it a top priority to find the guy who assaulted her. Cha Ji Ahn immediately remembers how she'll have to move out of Lee Hyun's house if they ever do get an arrest, so she tells the team leader that he doesn't need to hurry with that investigation. Terrible!
At this point it wouldn't surprise me if her character paid someone to beat her up again so that Lee Hyun would continue to shelter her. However, since I'm now at the episode where she's been roughed up and kidnapped, I guess she'll be able to use that incident to play on his sympathies. A fake beating won't be necessary.
I know it's too much to hope that they would kill off this loathsome character entirely, so I appreciate the opportunity to post this rant about what is otherwise a superb series.
First off, Eunbyul purposely instigated the entire switcharoo because she wanted her sister to know what it's like to have good friends and a mother who loves her.
Second, they both came forward in the end to make it clear who was who, and Eunbyul decided she wanted to leave the school anyway.
Third, even before the switch, Eunbyul told Han Yi An that she wasn't the same person she was when they grew up, and things were now different between them. She seemed frustrated that he wasn't realizing it himself. Later on, she also gave Eunbyul her blessing to have a relationship with Han Yi An.
I agree that Tae Gwang did more to earn Eun Bi's love and trust and probably should have prevailed at the end. But I think the writers wanted there to be two love triangles -- one between the two guys and Eun Bi, and another between the two sisters and Han Yi An. The only way to end that "neatly" was to have Eun Bi and Han Yi An end up together.
For a while there I wondered if Tae Gwang would somehow end up with Eunbyl after she returned, but then I realized there wasn't enough time left in the series to develop that.
In most of the dramas I've watched the villain is able to sustain a constant barrage of terrible acts, and only at the very end does it all come tumbling down on them. In this series it's different. There's always something (or someone) to thwart her time after time, usually in an entertaining manner. For me it got to the point that I looked forward to her next evil plot so I could see her get frustrated yet again.
Trash and Na Jung share a past trauma that was written on their hearts forever, and they will always share that, but it's a shaky foundation on which to build a relationship.
I'm eager to finish Reply 1994 so I can watch Reply 1997, which I understand is better and avoids any love triangulations.
Does Pun choose Sib or Em? (My money is on Em.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u17XIDbLODA