Love to have Minor Misgivings about You
This review applies to Crazy Love as well—tenfold! I should've written something after watching it; I felt a lot more passionate about its failings than I do with Love to Hate You.
Anyway, little tension or passion, no interesting relationship development. It's comical how little Kang-ho's supposed dislike of women and Mi-ran's scepticism towards men actually factored into said development, useful solely as an annoying gimmick. Specifically with the ML, his generalizations are played too straight and never genuinely contested, so they're neither irrational and silly enough to ignore, nor do they mean anything, The explanation as to why he has issues with women is too puerile when the entire purpose of his, uh, bias?, is to contrast the FL. Maybe he should've been red-pilled. At least it shouldn't be advertised as serious enemies-to-lovers. I've noticed newer dramas struggle to establish semi-antagonistic relationships with any weight. This has more to do with chemistry and audacity than depth. Since there's no proper romance/sex comedy push-and-pull (Pillow Talk (1959) is a fun, good example) the show's identity and tone feel annoying and artificial. Where's the purported self-awareness?
Though the second half is better, the conflict surrounding the central relationship was surprisingly trite and weakened everything somewhat interesting about it. I want this to remain spoiler-free, so I'm being vague. The ML and FL dealt with external pressure in a very corny way, and I have a hard time reconciling this writing decision with their initial behaviour. It's just so unserious. Everything felt as flat and forced as can be. Side characters did nothing but exacerbate this. Kim Ok-bin has a likability to her at least, which seems to be an unpopular opinion. I'll take her over Teo Yoo's character any day. Most of the negative reviews are incredibly prudish, bitching about the FL's sluttiness. That beginning part where she's sleeping around might've been the only bit I enjoyed, as it was topical and promised a zing that immediately disappeared.
Yet another review of mine about how a show isn't too painful to sit through, just unsatisfying in its unadventurous approach to a unique enough premise. Of course, all Love to Hate You needed to do well was the romance. I had many problems with Crash Course in Romance, but the romance worked for me and Jung Kyung-ho is great, so I didn't write a fussy review.
And I hated the music.
Anyway, little tension or passion, no interesting relationship development. It's comical how little Kang-ho's supposed dislike of women and Mi-ran's scepticism towards men actually factored into said development, useful solely as an annoying gimmick. Specifically with the ML, his generalizations are played too straight and never genuinely contested, so they're neither irrational and silly enough to ignore, nor do they mean anything, The explanation as to why he has issues with women is too puerile when the entire purpose of his, uh, bias?, is to contrast the FL. Maybe he should've been red-pilled. At least it shouldn't be advertised as serious enemies-to-lovers. I've noticed newer dramas struggle to establish semi-antagonistic relationships with any weight. This has more to do with chemistry and audacity than depth. Since there's no proper romance/sex comedy push-and-pull (Pillow Talk (1959) is a fun, good example) the show's identity and tone feel annoying and artificial. Where's the purported self-awareness?
Though the second half is better, the conflict surrounding the central relationship was surprisingly trite and weakened everything somewhat interesting about it. I want this to remain spoiler-free, so I'm being vague. The ML and FL dealt with external pressure in a very corny way, and I have a hard time reconciling this writing decision with their initial behaviour. It's just so unserious. Everything felt as flat and forced as can be. Side characters did nothing but exacerbate this. Kim Ok-bin has a likability to her at least, which seems to be an unpopular opinion. I'll take her over Teo Yoo's character any day. Most of the negative reviews are incredibly prudish, bitching about the FL's sluttiness. That beginning part where she's sleeping around might've been the only bit I enjoyed, as it was topical and promised a zing that immediately disappeared.
Yet another review of mine about how a show isn't too painful to sit through, just unsatisfying in its unadventurous approach to a unique enough premise. Of course, all Love to Hate You needed to do well was the romance. I had many problems with Crash Course in Romance, but the romance worked for me and Jung Kyung-ho is great, so I didn't write a fussy review.
And I hated the music.
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