K-Drama 
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8
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5
Hometown disappointment (Tl; dr at the end)
If you liked this drama, keep scrolling, because this rant might break your heart. Hop onto the disappointment train of Kdramas, where originally great ideas get stacked up with clichés until you don't recognize their originality anymore.
Frankly, the only thing I liked here were the seaside settings and landscapes, the implicit deeper meanings and overall village atmosphere.
As for the rest, I got gradually more disappointed the longer I watched, but let's start with the smaller issues you might easily overlook.
The professionalism: Please don't ever think what FL did as a "dentist" was remotely medically accurate. Not to mention none of the businesses in town could survive with this few customers, but whatever, it's a drama, right?
The comedy: If you find enjoyment in watching things go terribly wrong, misunderstandings and smaller mishaps, the humour will totally get you. The only comedy trope I hate more than this is play with embarassment and disgust, hence I wasn't amused at all by the comedy here.
The screaming: Why, for the love of the Kdrama Gods, do people in a lovely seaside village have to scream all the time? Is the wind too loud? Have they not heard of telephones and communicate through town by yelling? It will have to stay a mystery, but as someone who hates loud noise, this drama was about as healing as grating cheese without protecting your fingernails.
The setting: The setting was super closed off. Everybody knew everybody, had some kind of connection to each other and only talked to other people in the setting. We have two restaurant owners, yet barely see them interact with people other than the selected few presented as the village community. Even if you forget about the fact Gongjin has to be bigger than these few people to survive as a town, when the characters leave town to go to bigger cities, it's just the same. Unless a character has relevance for the plot, they don't exist in this drama. We don't even see a single waitress in the restaurants or a cashier at the checkout, and if you have watched this drama and can tell me exactly at which occasion you did see someone else - congratulations, you noticed too and it was so prevalent you still remember the few times you saw someone different.
On the positive side, that makes it feel homey, getting close to the villagers who are almost like a big family. On the down side, it means the characters are reduced to their role in that family. The longer I watched, the more the things that used to feel comfortable felt forced.
The plot: For a slice of life drama, there was an awful lot of plot, especially in the last episodes. I didn't particularily enjoy it. The things that happened were either not my cup of tea, misplaced in their (often nonexistent) foreshadowing or simply unrealistically big and dramatic. I didn't mind the series to have some heavier bits in general, but the way it was designed and dealt with felt over the top.
The more the series progressed, the more it had to rely on clichés to keep the plot going and I hated it. There's some tropes that we should have ended years ago unless it's used for self-criticism.
All this one-upping itself and its clichés made any of the truly beautiful, inspiring messages feel dull and meaningless. I did see them, please don't get me wrong despite all the rant - I did rate this a 7 after all. But with what it had to work with, this easily could have become a 9.5 for me, yet like so many other Kdramas, it didn't dare to actually deal with these topics in depth.
Like so many others, they couldn't decide whether to do fluff or falter, so they failed at both.
The relationships: The platonic relationships developing between the characters were wholesome to watch and I enjoyed watching friendships form and everyone getting to know each other. The romantic ones tho... There is not a single healthy romantic relationship in this series, and we get a whole lot of couples.
Now, from a Western point of view, I understand that directly talking it out isn't the preferred way in Korean culture, and sometimes, you got to appreciate the gesture instead of waiting for words that will never come.
But I wasn't so much bothered by the words unsaid but by the way characters treated each other.
How the husband of his pregnant wife dismissed her needs, put himself first all the time and complained more than anyone else in that family, promising to do better but never doing so. How harsh words that killed any love between another couple were redempted by pretty words just two episodes later. I can't believe the only healthy and mature people in this series were the kids.
I also know that in Korea, especially in small communities, you rely on each other's help in emergencies, so it's easier to forgive and forget than be angry with someone who might one day save your life. But there's got to be limits to what someone can get away with without at least facing some consequences for it and having to prove themselves again?
However, I was most annoyed with the leads. They had chemistry, as bantering village neighbours as well as an established couple. The steps in-between though? What was that pacing? Their relationship happened so suddenly and it was so unbalanced and stiff all the time. For good reason, but those were only properly mentioned in the last episodes which was way too late for me. FL kept pulling ML into things he didn't want to do, told her he didn't want to do yet still did for her because he's a people pleaser. No matter how hesitant he was, she kept insisting.
The characters:
You know you're in trouble when the only characters you like are a little boy and a grandma.
FL was difficult to like. Not because she was a bad person. She cared for her friend and, once she settled in, also visibly cared for the villagers. She was hard-working and diligent.
At the same time, she was and stayed superficial, printing her own beliefs on everyone else, holding high expectations without ever reflecting on whether that was feasible. She had a backstory, a past and things to overcome, but they weren't considered nearly deeply enough to give her a personality beyond dentistry, her friend and loving ML.
Now, I am a bit biased here, but her way of insisting to do things for others even after they told her her help was unwanted is one of my pet peeves. From my experience, people do that because they know exactly they have nothing else to offer but would rather look helpful and genuinely caring on the outside than deal with what's wrong on the inside.
ML in contrast was perfect, someone who's able to do everything and who's a people pleaser to the extent the village can't run without him. What he truly liked and what was part of his care for the villagers? It didn't show. Why he liked FL? Probably bc she kept telling him what to do. I don't know. He existed to prove FL wrong, to initiate her character growth by helping her get rid of part of her attitude. On that regard, when did she ever push him about his own beliefs? When did she ever challenge him on whether he really needed to be everyone's spokesperson and handyman?
I'm tired of the "flawed chaotic FL, perfect ML" trope, and in a drama marketed as healing? Oh, come on, what century is this?
I could see some character development with them both, but it didn't come from true understanding of their past, their flaws and the way it impacted themselves and others, it was simply a way to fit in with the village people. And while I don't expect to see the character development completed when the series is over, the progress here didn't match the time I invested.
Each episode had 1.5h of screentime and yet close to the end, FL was still insisting ML throws away everything he stands for just to please people that never really cared for her.
Never in this drama did anyone become aware of the less than ideal dynamics they were dealing with, and neither were they presented in a way that would allow the viewer a more critical perspective, learning the lessons the characters couldn't.
Tl; dr:
This was a drama with a nice and cute setting, a variety of diverse characters and deep messages for anyone ready to hear them. If you want to follow various characters as they develop romantic feelings, experience some feelings of found family and belonging and enjoy seaside settings, you might really love this drama. Be prepared for it to lend its ideas from generic romcoms and don't expect too much originality and you might be surprised.
However, if you're looking for healing, healthy relationships, true deep character growth, original ideas or calm seaside atmosphere - nothing to see here, keep looking.
Frankly, the only thing I liked here were the seaside settings and landscapes, the implicit deeper meanings and overall village atmosphere.
As for the rest, I got gradually more disappointed the longer I watched, but let's start with the smaller issues you might easily overlook.
The professionalism: Please don't ever think what FL did as a "dentist" was remotely medically accurate. Not to mention none of the businesses in town could survive with this few customers, but whatever, it's a drama, right?
The comedy: If you find enjoyment in watching things go terribly wrong, misunderstandings and smaller mishaps, the humour will totally get you. The only comedy trope I hate more than this is play with embarassment and disgust, hence I wasn't amused at all by the comedy here.
The screaming: Why, for the love of the Kdrama Gods, do people in a lovely seaside village have to scream all the time? Is the wind too loud? Have they not heard of telephones and communicate through town by yelling? It will have to stay a mystery, but as someone who hates loud noise, this drama was about as healing as grating cheese without protecting your fingernails.
The setting: The setting was super closed off. Everybody knew everybody, had some kind of connection to each other and only talked to other people in the setting. We have two restaurant owners, yet barely see them interact with people other than the selected few presented as the village community. Even if you forget about the fact Gongjin has to be bigger than these few people to survive as a town, when the characters leave town to go to bigger cities, it's just the same. Unless a character has relevance for the plot, they don't exist in this drama. We don't even see a single waitress in the restaurants or a cashier at the checkout, and if you have watched this drama and can tell me exactly at which occasion you did see someone else - congratulations, you noticed too and it was so prevalent you still remember the few times you saw someone different.
On the positive side, that makes it feel homey, getting close to the villagers who are almost like a big family. On the down side, it means the characters are reduced to their role in that family. The longer I watched, the more the things that used to feel comfortable felt forced.
The plot: For a slice of life drama, there was an awful lot of plot, especially in the last episodes. I didn't particularily enjoy it. The things that happened were either not my cup of tea, misplaced in their (often nonexistent) foreshadowing or simply unrealistically big and dramatic. I didn't mind the series to have some heavier bits in general, but the way it was designed and dealt with felt over the top.
The more the series progressed, the more it had to rely on clichés to keep the plot going and I hated it. There's some tropes that we should have ended years ago unless it's used for self-criticism.
All this one-upping itself and its clichés made any of the truly beautiful, inspiring messages feel dull and meaningless. I did see them, please don't get me wrong despite all the rant - I did rate this a 7 after all. But with what it had to work with, this easily could have become a 9.5 for me, yet like so many other Kdramas, it didn't dare to actually deal with these topics in depth.
Like so many others, they couldn't decide whether to do fluff or falter, so they failed at both.
The relationships: The platonic relationships developing between the characters were wholesome to watch and I enjoyed watching friendships form and everyone getting to know each other. The romantic ones tho... There is not a single healthy romantic relationship in this series, and we get a whole lot of couples.
Now, from a Western point of view, I understand that directly talking it out isn't the preferred way in Korean culture, and sometimes, you got to appreciate the gesture instead of waiting for words that will never come.
But I wasn't so much bothered by the words unsaid but by the way characters treated each other.
How the husband of his pregnant wife dismissed her needs, put himself first all the time and complained more than anyone else in that family, promising to do better but never doing so. How harsh words that killed any love between another couple were redempted by pretty words just two episodes later. I can't believe the only healthy and mature people in this series were the kids.
I also know that in Korea, especially in small communities, you rely on each other's help in emergencies, so it's easier to forgive and forget than be angry with someone who might one day save your life. But there's got to be limits to what someone can get away with without at least facing some consequences for it and having to prove themselves again?
However, I was most annoyed with the leads. They had chemistry, as bantering village neighbours as well as an established couple. The steps in-between though? What was that pacing? Their relationship happened so suddenly and it was so unbalanced and stiff all the time. For good reason, but those were only properly mentioned in the last episodes which was way too late for me. FL kept pulling ML into things he didn't want to do, told her he didn't want to do yet still did for her because he's a people pleaser. No matter how hesitant he was, she kept insisting.
The characters:
You know you're in trouble when the only characters you like are a little boy and a grandma.
FL was difficult to like. Not because she was a bad person. She cared for her friend and, once she settled in, also visibly cared for the villagers. She was hard-working and diligent.
At the same time, she was and stayed superficial, printing her own beliefs on everyone else, holding high expectations without ever reflecting on whether that was feasible. She had a backstory, a past and things to overcome, but they weren't considered nearly deeply enough to give her a personality beyond dentistry, her friend and loving ML.
Now, I am a bit biased here, but her way of insisting to do things for others even after they told her her help was unwanted is one of my pet peeves. From my experience, people do that because they know exactly they have nothing else to offer but would rather look helpful and genuinely caring on the outside than deal with what's wrong on the inside.
ML in contrast was perfect, someone who's able to do everything and who's a people pleaser to the extent the village can't run without him. What he truly liked and what was part of his care for the villagers? It didn't show. Why he liked FL? Probably bc she kept telling him what to do. I don't know. He existed to prove FL wrong, to initiate her character growth by helping her get rid of part of her attitude. On that regard, when did she ever push him about his own beliefs? When did she ever challenge him on whether he really needed to be everyone's spokesperson and handyman?
I'm tired of the "flawed chaotic FL, perfect ML" trope, and in a drama marketed as healing? Oh, come on, what century is this?
I could see some character development with them both, but it didn't come from true understanding of their past, their flaws and the way it impacted themselves and others, it was simply a way to fit in with the village people. And while I don't expect to see the character development completed when the series is over, the progress here didn't match the time I invested.
Each episode had 1.5h of screentime and yet close to the end, FL was still insisting ML throws away everything he stands for just to please people that never really cared for her.
Never in this drama did anyone become aware of the less than ideal dynamics they were dealing with, and neither were they presented in a way that would allow the viewer a more critical perspective, learning the lessons the characters couldn't.
Tl; dr:
This was a drama with a nice and cute setting, a variety of diverse characters and deep messages for anyone ready to hear them. If you want to follow various characters as they develop romantic feelings, experience some feelings of found family and belonging and enjoy seaside settings, you might really love this drama. Be prepared for it to lend its ideas from generic romcoms and don't expect too much originality and you might be surprised.
However, if you're looking for healing, healthy relationships, true deep character growth, original ideas or calm seaside atmosphere - nothing to see here, keep looking.
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