Jairen

The series is appropriately set in the winter, which is symbolic to the nature of the relationships between characters. It's a slice of life story with two lonely leads who both have a tragic past. A lot of the characters, regardless of whether they are the main or support cast, have a story of their own (though not quite as tragic fortunately). This is one thing I love about this series. We have complex and well developed characters, sad and heartfelt stories, and moments of cuteness and comedy sprinkled occasionally throughout to provide relief from the more emotionally heavy plot. Although it's a small town setting in the winter, which makes the pace feel slow, I feel like a lot actually happens narratively.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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[ --LIKES-- ]

✔ I love the use of the book club and literary pieces of work to allow characters to express/analyze their feelings on human relationships. It allows the characters to give insights, thoughts/emotions, or make parallels with what the characters are going through.

✔ The series contains lessons in many topics including loneliness, happiness, how lies can cause sufferings, and the importance of sincere and honest communication.

✔ Lots of great, complex character. Everyone has their own story and personality. While not everyone is equally important to the overall narrative, they all at least feel real and are interesting.

✔ Female lead taking initiative in confessing to male lead. I like that she can be straight forward about her feelings. Her telling her exfriend and her mom how she feels, her being honest to Youngwoo on liking someone, her confessing to Eunseob, her asking him to give her a proper response to her confession, and her expressing her feelings to Eunseob on top of the mountain. Later, she wasn't even shy about telling him she wants to sleep with him.

✔ Male lead is very cute, especially when he is feeling awkward or flustered due to his shy and introverted nature. He requires a little more poking to express his feelings, but it's a nice representation for guys who are not as expressive.

✔ A lot of beautiful acoustic and orchestral instrumental music

✔ I very much enjoyed the inclusion of Jangwoo and Eunsil's love story to add some cuter, lighter moments that balances out the lead's more emotionally heavy story. Eunseob's little sister's romance was also fun to watch, adding more color to the general vibe of the series.


[ --DISLIKES-- ]

✖ It sucks that an abused woman is punished for killing an abusive man, especially when her life was being threatened.

✖ One of the characters I wished we explored more but didn't was Oh Youngwoo. He played an important part in Haewon's high school days as he used his popularity to help her not be an outcast by sitting with her at lunch and making sure everyone noticed. As a result, she made some friends. We can see he has somewhat of an interest in her, but I wonder to what degree. I think he could have been a cool character to explore, but we really only saw him once and then a little bit at the end. Sadly, he was mostly a plot device.

✖ While I understand needing time to process, Haewon's reaction to finding out the role that the aunt played in her mom going to prison sat poorly with me. Maybe it was because she didn't know everything we as a view knew, but it still felt very harsh.


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● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

While the romance between our two leads are a significant part of the story, it's not the only story or focus. "When the Weather is Fine" is a series about the relationships between people, whether it is between lovers, family, friends, or strangers. We are introduce to many characters, who each have a story to explore. We dive into the related topic of loneliness, the search for happiness, and the desire for sincere human connection and interactions. It's a story of love and healing. Like the progression from winter into spring, the characters begin to thaw/melt and heal from their cold, harsh past and their relationship with others begin to get warmer.

Our main leads Haewon and Eunseob have a lot in common. They both have a sad past that affects their current personalities and relationships with other people, mostly with their respective families. However, Haewon is a little more expressive than Eunseob is. She is able to communicate her feelings honestly to the people around her even if she keeps a distance. Meanwhile Eunseob is more secretive and struggles with expressing himself. However, they are able to connect with one another and begin healing from their past traumas. In the coldness of winter, they are able to warm each other. There are a lot of heartfelt moments and once they get together, a lot of cute ones as well.

Speaking of cute, we also get a lighter, fluffier romance with Jangwoo and Eunsil's story. Their story, as well as Eunseob's little sister's story, bring some much needed light-heartedness and energy to balance out the quieter romance of Haewon and Eunseob's story.

[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

Nothing bad to really say as the acting and casts were great. The actors did a great job at portraying the depth and emotions that comes along with the story. Even in the moments where it seems like the characters like our leads were expressionless, it fits because of their cold, lonely nature. However, you can still see the emotions/hurt, hesitation, or affection in their eyes. The acting was subtle but it was there. And when it was time to be cute, they were cute.

[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

I'm not huge on the ballads or slower songs, however, the acoustic and orchestral instrumentals for some scenes were pretty nice and they fit the vibes of the scene. A lot were pretty calming and relaxing to listen to. However, there really wasn't anything that stood out to me as something I needed to keep listening to.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

The story has a lot of depth and thought-provoking insights into the relationship between people. It also makes a lot of books and poetry references which invokes thought as we try to draw lessons from them. There is also a bit of cute, funny moments I enjoyed. I don't think I would watch again in its entirety but there are episodes and moments I would like to go back to watch in greater detail and enjoy or contemplate about.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

Overall, this was a very endearing and heartfelt series. The characters are well developed and interesting, each with a history to unravel. Everyone has a reason for being the way they are, which is explored through great use of flashbacks. We also get different perspective on events that happened. I also liked that the book club also played an important role as members offer they own insights into different aspects of human relationships. I really love the way different pieces of literature are referenced to help tell the story and draw lessons from. There was a lot of symbolism both narratively and visually. It's also not a series with a lot of action or big moments, but one with a lot of quieter moments to reflect upon and think about.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥