I think it would have been funny if we'd gotten a hint of romance between Moon-sik and Hyun-ha in the last episode, as a portent of future chaos in the family amidst all the peace and happiness of the Mi-yeon/Hyo-seop wedding and Eun-tae and Yoo-ha riding off into the sunset.
There was definitely some romantic subtext between them throughout the drama, but the writer should have brought it out at the end at least IMO.
Every time I see the phrase 'forced romance' I read 'I don't like dramas that focus on women and their feelings, so all romantic subplots seem unnecessary to me.' Because it means nothing otherwise. What the hell is an unforced romance anyway?
I loved the concept of Hyeon-woo and Jeong-eun in theory; JE's eccentric yet strong personality was refreshing, and Kim Jae-won infused HW's ambiguous character with a dark charisma and his smile was deadly in the few lighthearted flirty scenes HW and JE had together. I also liked the premise of their relationship because I'm trash for revenge romance.
But I found the execution to be lacking, unfortunately. The drama didn't do enough to establish HW's feelings for JE for me. I know he was supposed to be dead-set on revenge and his feelings for JE were a distraction from his plan, but we didn't see the actual distraction part, just the part where he treated her like shit. There should have been more romantic interactions between them to make their arguments over HW's plans feel like charged confrontations between star-crossed lovers rather than like JE being a nuisance and HW being a psycho (which is how he tried to present their dynamic because he was in denial, granted--but again, I wanted to see more proof of the actual feelings being denied!).
Basically, I felt like their romance was a bit neglected/underwritten. Fewer scenes of Mi-joo being the stereotypical clingy rich fiancée and more scenes of JE and HW being cute and sexy together would have improved the drama massively.
By the way, I liked that the mother in this drama didn't actually want her children to live with her and wasn't the stereotypical controlling shrew. Sure, she was very unreasonable and mean at times, as all parents are in family dramas, but the drama presented her tantrums as childish and comedic instead of as expressions of maternal concern that have to be waved off/forgiven because of emotional blackmail.
Ru-da should have just told her creepy ex he's trash for humiliating a patient with depression and low self-esteem like that and abusing his professional position instead of starting some competition with Ji-hyuk over whether she could ~fix Young-shik. It doesn't matter how pathetic DYS's life is or isn't; what Ji-hyuk did to him (to say nothing about his original intention, which was to hurt and pressure Ru-da by embarrassing Young-shik) was completely shitty in every way and is more than enough reason for LRD to never talk to him again. She doesn't owe this dick an explanation for dumping him or proof that there's a better man than him in her life! He sucks!
Can someone spoil what really happened with the Fl's mother why she was jailed. I don't have the energy to watch…
MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE DRAMA AHEAD:
The FL's mother was having an affair with the ML's father and had visited his room just before his death. The ML saw them kissing that night, but in the confusion after his father's death and at his mother's urging (his mother knew about her husband's affair and hated the FL's mother) he did not tell the police that they were kissing, just that he had seen the FL's mother in his father's room before his death. His testimony, plus the evidence his mother planted at the crime scene, was enough to get the FL's mother arrested.
At the same time, the ML's mother was also having an affair and had asked her lover to come over and kill her husband because she was mad at him for loving another woman and having a child with his mistress (this child being the FL). Her lover decided he couldn't murder her husband, but her lover's younger brother snuck into the house with the intention of killing HER (the ML's mother) because she had ruined his brother's marriage. However, he ran into the ML's father first, the ML's father realised his wife's lover's brother was there to kill his wife, the two got into a fight, and the ML's father died. The killer ran away. The ML's mother covered up for her lover's brother (while thinking he was her lover and had killed the ML's father at her request) and framed her husband's lover (the FL's mother).
To sum up, the FL is the biological child of the ML's father and the ML is the biological child of his mother's lover, so they're not blood-related. And there's never a moment when they think they are, since the fact the ML is not his father's biological son is an open secret in Kougetsu An, so there's no fake incest or anything, although the fact they turn out to share a father (biological in the FL's case and adoptive in the ML's) is weird.
As a bonus, the killer ends up falling in love with the FL...
This is all extremely convoluted, so sorry if I didn't explain it clearly enough.
honestly, i loved the story and its many twists and turns, but i hated the romance. all of it felt SO forced and…
I loved the romance actually. I thought it was sexy and fun in a slightly unhealthy way that preserved the dark atmosphere of the manga. I was very glad I didn't have to sit through 10 episodes of stupid love triangles, misunderstandings and denial of feelings. Instead, the main conflict driving the relationship development between Nao and Tsubaki was their belated realisation that they really were in love with each other, instead of just engaged for strategic revenge/power trip reasons, and that being together for real seemed next to impossible.
Basically, the drama skipped all the stupid cliches and jumped straight to the good shit (angst).
If by rushed you mean that it's weird they slept together after being engaged to each other and sharing a bed, well, I didn't find it that unrealistic, personally.
We're a same bcs I also was a fan of medical romance too!! Even only a part of it related to medical either female…
Haha, I'm the same; even if it's just a part of the drama, it draws me in. (I also like crime dramas that have some romance, but they're unfortunately pretty rare.)
I didn't have Sweet Teeth on my to-watch list because I wasn't sure about the dentistry stuff, but if another medical romance fan recommends it, I'll put it on the list! Thank you.
I assume you've watched You Are My Hero, which is the most popular medical romantic cdrama to come out this year, but have you seen Surgeons? I like that one even more. The romance is a bit more mature and subtle and both leads are doctors there.
I'm also looking forward to Thank You, Doctor, which should come out next year.
This is not a medical romance. Only Gu Wei is shown as doctor by profession. This is just a beautiful love story.
The fact one of the main characters is a doctor and their relationship begins because of the other person always being at the hospital is enough to suggest it will be a major theme, but yes, I know it won’t be a medical drama in the same way as, say, Surgeons.
I'm a fan of medical romance and the slice of life tag is encouraging as it suggests there won't be too much dumb melodrama here. I'm looking forward to the drama! Has the novel it's based on been translated to English and does anyone happen to have a link to it?
This sounds awesome! It's so rare to find a crime thriller with psychological tension and an interesting mystery that also has a good romantic subplot (or any romantic subplot at all). I hope the mystery and romance here are both done well.
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There was definitely some romantic subtext between them throughout the drama, but the writer should have brought it out at the end at least IMO.
365: Repeat the Year had some action/suspense elements and sustained its momentum throughout the entire drama IMO.
But I found the execution to be lacking, unfortunately. The drama didn't do enough to establish HW's feelings for JE for me. I know he was supposed to be dead-set on revenge and his feelings for JE were a distraction from his plan, but we didn't see the actual distraction part, just the part where he treated her like shit. There should have been more romantic interactions between them to make their arguments over HW's plans feel like charged confrontations between star-crossed lovers rather than like JE being a nuisance and HW being a psycho (which is how he tried to present their dynamic because he was in denial, granted--but again, I wanted to see more proof of the actual feelings being denied!).
Basically, I felt like their romance was a bit neglected/underwritten. Fewer scenes of Mi-joo being the stereotypical clingy rich fiancée and more scenes of JE and HW being cute and sexy together would have improved the drama massively.
By the way, I liked that the mother in this drama didn't actually want her children to live with her and wasn't the stereotypical controlling shrew. Sure, she was very unreasonable and mean at times, as all parents are in family dramas, but the drama presented her tantrums as childish and comedic instead of as expressions of maternal concern that have to be waved off/forgiven because of emotional blackmail.
The FL's mother was having an affair with the ML's father and had visited his room just before his death. The ML saw them kissing that night, but in the confusion after his father's death and at his mother's urging (his mother knew about her husband's affair and hated the FL's mother) he did not tell the police that they were kissing, just that he had seen the FL's mother in his father's room before his death. His testimony, plus the evidence his mother planted at the crime scene, was enough to get the FL's mother arrested.
At the same time, the ML's mother was also having an affair and had asked her lover to come over and kill her husband because she was mad at him for loving another woman and having a child with his mistress (this child being the FL). Her lover decided he couldn't murder her husband, but her lover's younger brother snuck into the house with the intention of killing HER (the ML's mother) because she had ruined his brother's marriage. However, he ran into the ML's father first, the ML's father realised his wife's lover's brother was there to kill his wife, the two got into a fight, and the ML's father died. The killer ran away. The ML's mother covered up for her lover's brother (while thinking he was her lover and had killed the ML's father at her request) and framed her husband's lover (the FL's mother).
To sum up, the FL is the biological child of the ML's father and the ML is the biological child of his mother's lover, so they're not blood-related. And there's never a moment when they think they are, since the fact the ML is not his father's biological son is an open secret in Kougetsu An, so there's no fake incest or anything, although the fact they turn out to share a father (biological in the FL's case and adoptive in the ML's) is weird.
As a bonus, the killer ends up falling in love with the FL...
This is all extremely convoluted, so sorry if I didn't explain it clearly enough.
Basically, the drama skipped all the stupid cliches and jumped straight to the good shit (angst).
If by rushed you mean that it's weird they slept together after being engaged to each other and sharing a bed, well, I didn't find it that unrealistic, personally.
I didn't have Sweet Teeth on my to-watch list because I wasn't sure about the dentistry stuff, but if another medical romance fan recommends it, I'll put it on the list! Thank you.
I assume you've watched You Are My Hero, which is the most popular medical romantic cdrama to come out this year, but have you seen Surgeons? I like that one even more. The romance is a bit more mature and subtle and both leads are doctors there.
I'm also looking forward to Thank You, Doctor, which should come out next year.