This review may contain spoilers
Big day for Fragrantica users
I kind of hated this show at first, and it somehow managed to win me over enough that I put off watching anything else. Maybe it's because I'm attracted to Shin Sung-rok, maybe it's because it became a bit less dumb, or maybe it's because I got accustomed to its wavelength. Don't get me wrong, half of the comedy never worked for me (it usually doesn't with rom-coms, alas I continue...), but half of it did. I was surprisingly amused. The horror music that played whenever the change happened felt stupid and became repetitive only the second time it happened. I have a thing for neurotic men à la Niles from Frasier, so you can imagine I was pleased by Yi-do, who was too much of a diva to take seriously.
I'm writing this a week after I finished, and I'm almost wondering if I'm misremembering something, but onto my main issue:
It can't successfully convey its obvious, though not unnecessary, message when the older, overweight, REAL version of Min Jae-hee doesn't even get the bare minimum in a relationship - a kiss. At a certain point during the final episodes you're waiting for Min Ye-rin to go away. While that wouldn't work with how they developed her modelling career storyline (so the essential plot), Ha Jae-sook's Jae-hee is shelved from having any meaningful or fun(!) scenes with Yi-do, just convos regarding her insecurities and mortality. Her insecurities are valid as a plot point up until a point. The problem is that they're only surmounted off-screen and that the most we get as a climax is an engagement we already know Yi-do wanted; there's nothing satisfying or, more importantly, very romantic about it without a proper consummation. The romance overall was relatively chaste, but the lack of one single kiss is pretty ridiculous when the characters are around 40, and young, skinny Jae-hee got her moments. Really, all it does is undermine its message. I don't watch K-dramas for anything more than fluffy entertainment, but when a show's crucial theme is so plainly weakened by its lack of edge, it has to be acknowledged.
I also think the first love nonsense worsened the romance. Initially, I was unsure how Yi-do—a fatphobic fashion designer—would come to accept Jae-hee. While I'm not totally against the first love concept as a way of facilitating this acceptance, I felt like Yi-do's character, namely his eccentricities, was whitewashed. The character/tonal switch-up from when he was high-strung and everything was comedic, to the saccharine, overly agreeable man he became didn't fully work. Their relationship had little play or variation to break up the monotonous affability he fell into. This + the lack of, I suppose, skinship, is why I couldn't shake the feeling that he loved her just because he had to, and that there is indeed a difference between Ye-rin and Jae-hee.
Despite all this, I enjoyed myself enough to finish (more like binge) and would recommend it with a few caveats. I don't think the show is as bad as others seem to believe, though I sure don't think it did much particularly right either. I agree with ArvisJaggamar in that there's some mental dissonance in its avoidance of the essential topics that are naturally introduced by the story. Ultimately though, I just want to see Shin Sung-rok in more rom-coms.
I'm writing this a week after I finished, and I'm almost wondering if I'm misremembering something, but onto my main issue:
It can't successfully convey its obvious, though not unnecessary, message when the older, overweight, REAL version of Min Jae-hee doesn't even get the bare minimum in a relationship - a kiss. At a certain point during the final episodes you're waiting for Min Ye-rin to go away. While that wouldn't work with how they developed her modelling career storyline (so the essential plot), Ha Jae-sook's Jae-hee is shelved from having any meaningful or fun(!) scenes with Yi-do, just convos regarding her insecurities and mortality. Her insecurities are valid as a plot point up until a point. The problem is that they're only surmounted off-screen and that the most we get as a climax is an engagement we already know Yi-do wanted; there's nothing satisfying or, more importantly, very romantic about it without a proper consummation. The romance overall was relatively chaste, but the lack of one single kiss is pretty ridiculous when the characters are around 40, and young, skinny Jae-hee got her moments. Really, all it does is undermine its message. I don't watch K-dramas for anything more than fluffy entertainment, but when a show's crucial theme is so plainly weakened by its lack of edge, it has to be acknowledged.
I also think the first love nonsense worsened the romance. Initially, I was unsure how Yi-do—a fatphobic fashion designer—would come to accept Jae-hee. While I'm not totally against the first love concept as a way of facilitating this acceptance, I felt like Yi-do's character, namely his eccentricities, was whitewashed. The character/tonal switch-up from when he was high-strung and everything was comedic, to the saccharine, overly agreeable man he became didn't fully work. Their relationship had little play or variation to break up the monotonous affability he fell into. This + the lack of, I suppose, skinship, is why I couldn't shake the feeling that he loved her just because he had to, and that there is indeed a difference between Ye-rin and Jae-hee.
Despite all this, I enjoyed myself enough to finish (more like binge) and would recommend it with a few caveats. I don't think the show is as bad as others seem to believe, though I sure don't think it did much particularly right either. I agree with ArvisJaggamar in that there's some mental dissonance in its avoidance of the essential topics that are naturally introduced by the story. Ultimately though, I just want to see Shin Sung-rok in more rom-coms.
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