This review may contain spoilers
A Slow Convoluted Burn
I want to preface this by saying that my experience with this show might've been drastically different if this were one of my first kdrama experiences. But considering that I've been watching dramas for a while now, what could've come across as unique to others has turned out to be pretty confusing/jarring for me.
So I loved the first 5 to 6 episodes. It felt like I was finally watching something I hadn't before. It had all the tropes I've always wanted to see but seldom ever done well, if at all. The slow burn, the FL falling first, but she isn't manic or clingy about it. The ML is actually kind to her and respectful. Kim Seon Ho as Hojin simply standing and staring at Muhee as she has her big talk show moment alone convinces anyone how much of a goner he is for someone he wants to only see as a stranger he met on a trip. These small moments are what define this drama for me.
Cha Mu Hee is such a lovable, endearing character. She truly makes you root for her, even in her embarassment. Even in her desperation to be loved and accepted by everyone, there is an innocence and sincerity that is hard to ignore. It's why her paired up against someone completely practical-minded like Hojin feels so thrilling, because they're bound to have chemistry simply because of the difference in their approach to life and living.
Hojin is everything I like about a male lead. He knows what he is and wants but doesn't hokd that against anyone else.
I loved this exact dynamic of a struggling actress who met a man on a trip and fell in love with him, a man who doesn't reciprocate her feelings but wholeheartedly chooses to root for her and support her from a distance. Someone who chose to be kind to a woman who never had it growing up. Of course she would fall for this ahndsome good hearted stranger!
There was so much potential in this dynamic alone: A successful actress still pining for a man who knew her before she got all the fame and appreciation she wanted.
I guess this is the story I thought I was getting from those first 5 episodes only for the second half to turn into a completely different dissection into mental health and dissociative identities. Something like My Liberation Notes meets Bad and Crazy (two dramas I LOVED individually but would stay far away from if they were made into one...if you get what I mean...)
Now it's not even the dissociative idenitites part (that I've come to find repetitive in dramas/movies/literature at this point), but the main issue with this drama being that Muhee becomes a patient that Hojin needs to "fix" for them to be together. Thus going back to the eternal trope of fixing someone to be with them, instead of giving them the free agency to figure it out themselves while the partner supports them.
In fact Muhee's lack of agency goes back to around ep 5/6, even before the genre shift when she kisses Hojin, thoroughly breaking his boundaries btw, and magically, that is the moment when Hojin decides that he will finally start thinking about moving on from the fantasy of his first love. Now sure, he most definitely could've had feelings for Muhee the whole time after their first meeting, but I wish her kiss didn't become the catalyst for his change of heart and urgency. It truly felt completely insincere to both Muhee, and the tone the first half of the drama set up.
I also found that the chemistry between the leads sort of just fell off after around ep 7...
Dorami as a character and even altar are all great creative choices but it felt like they didn’t belong in the same font as the first half of this drama.
Aside from the writing and themes, the making of the drama and the performances of the leads stands out. Go Youn Jung and Kim Seon Ho have great screen presence and truly make their characters compelling to watch and root for. But it's tough to keep up with a plot that's trying to be 10 different things in 10 different fonts at once so I wouldn't put that on them.
The OST is beyond memorable and I will be thinking about that aurora scene for a long, long time...
I think I'll have to rewrite this show in my head from that point onwards just for myself...haha!
So I loved the first 5 to 6 episodes. It felt like I was finally watching something I hadn't before. It had all the tropes I've always wanted to see but seldom ever done well, if at all. The slow burn, the FL falling first, but she isn't manic or clingy about it. The ML is actually kind to her and respectful. Kim Seon Ho as Hojin simply standing and staring at Muhee as she has her big talk show moment alone convinces anyone how much of a goner he is for someone he wants to only see as a stranger he met on a trip. These small moments are what define this drama for me.
Cha Mu Hee is such a lovable, endearing character. She truly makes you root for her, even in her embarassment. Even in her desperation to be loved and accepted by everyone, there is an innocence and sincerity that is hard to ignore. It's why her paired up against someone completely practical-minded like Hojin feels so thrilling, because they're bound to have chemistry simply because of the difference in their approach to life and living.
Hojin is everything I like about a male lead. He knows what he is and wants but doesn't hokd that against anyone else.
I loved this exact dynamic of a struggling actress who met a man on a trip and fell in love with him, a man who doesn't reciprocate her feelings but wholeheartedly chooses to root for her and support her from a distance. Someone who chose to be kind to a woman who never had it growing up. Of course she would fall for this ahndsome good hearted stranger!
There was so much potential in this dynamic alone: A successful actress still pining for a man who knew her before she got all the fame and appreciation she wanted.
I guess this is the story I thought I was getting from those first 5 episodes only for the second half to turn into a completely different dissection into mental health and dissociative identities. Something like My Liberation Notes meets Bad and Crazy (two dramas I LOVED individually but would stay far away from if they were made into one...if you get what I mean...)
Now it's not even the dissociative idenitites part (that I've come to find repetitive in dramas/movies/literature at this point), but the main issue with this drama being that Muhee becomes a patient that Hojin needs to "fix" for them to be together. Thus going back to the eternal trope of fixing someone to be with them, instead of giving them the free agency to figure it out themselves while the partner supports them.
In fact Muhee's lack of agency goes back to around ep 5/6, even before the genre shift when she kisses Hojin, thoroughly breaking his boundaries btw, and magically, that is the moment when Hojin decides that he will finally start thinking about moving on from the fantasy of his first love. Now sure, he most definitely could've had feelings for Muhee the whole time after their first meeting, but I wish her kiss didn't become the catalyst for his change of heart and urgency. It truly felt completely insincere to both Muhee, and the tone the first half of the drama set up.
I also found that the chemistry between the leads sort of just fell off after around ep 7...
Dorami as a character and even altar are all great creative choices but it felt like they didn’t belong in the same font as the first half of this drama.
Aside from the writing and themes, the making of the drama and the performances of the leads stands out. Go Youn Jung and Kim Seon Ho have great screen presence and truly make their characters compelling to watch and root for. But it's tough to keep up with a plot that's trying to be 10 different things in 10 different fonts at once so I wouldn't put that on them.
The OST is beyond memorable and I will be thinking about that aurora scene for a long, long time...
I think I'll have to rewrite this show in my head from that point onwards just for myself...haha!
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