Littletad

When a plot device becomes unbearable.

Most of you are watching the show or have watched the show because of that little clip of the male and female lead having a one-night stand. A blind woman looks at a kind stranger who had been good to her throughout school and finally "sees" a man for the first time. It's a weird clip to show without knowing the full context, but for what it's worth, it is extremely emotional and cute. That being said, I decided to watch the whole show. I'm only one episode away from finishing. Do I regret it? Yes and no.

The glaring issue of this show is the plot device. A lower-class family struggles to get by. Barely making ends meet and raising kids on a dry cleaning ownership salary. Some may have it worse, but there is some terrible luck in this particular family. The father never amounted to anything. He was supposed to become a lawyer, but never passed the bar. Rather than getting a normal job, he continued to retake the exam and continuously study. But he never passed. Instead, he drowned in debt and depression, dying at a rather young age and leaving his wife to fend for herself and their kids. Not to mention his parents. So as you can tell, money becomes a huge issue. Ten episodes in, without spoiling too much, they manage to solve most of their problems by unknowingly finding and "stealing" ten million. All of this sounds like your normal "unusual" K-drama. But the problem with Iron Family is that this becomes the center plot that transforms into multiple subplots. Towards the end of the show, EVERYONE becomes involved in the money scheme.

The problem with this particular plot is that everything else takes a back seat. Character growth? Let's see how they handle and become cautious around money. Love development? For some reason, the male lead falls for the female lead and desires to help them with other money issues. Every single development involves money in some fashion. After 4 episodes of seeing the grandparents become frustrated and even escalate their problems by being overly worried and tensed, I became fed up with the plot entirely. I started watching late, so I decided to take a peek and see how far this situation holds. And of course, the money issue isn't resolved even by the 35th episode. That means that all 36 episodes revolve around a frustrating loop that never ends. Even when you desperately want the money situation to be resolved, over, or even just ignored for an episode; you never get your wish. Just around the corner comes another circumstance involving it. Only one episode, being the finale, will put money aside and allow the characters to breathe. By then... it's already too late.

Everything started great. The mother and her personal struggle to choose honesty or lying to defend her daughter. Her perseverance in remaining strong and helping her blind daughter is brilliant. The female lead's mother is one of the most talented actresses I've ever seen. She was wonderful in Love Next Door. Here, we truly get to see her shine and witness her emotional journey. She gets the most character growth despite her attachment to the money plot. The female and male lead are incredibly cute, but because of the plot issue, they rarely get their time to truly shine in their own right. Everything just seems rushed while the money plot just drags on and on. The harm in this is apparent in every other character. The brother is absolutely insufferable. I'm bewildered that he even gets married. I'm not going to waste another word on how badly wirtten his character is. Insufferable is perfect enough.

I wish I could talk more about how cute the ML and FL are when they finally get some breathing room. But it happens so little, that I just seriously can't recommend this drama. However, if you're like me and are a big fan of the leads, I would recommend finishing it. You might want to speed through it, but it's still worth it if you're a fan. Otherwise, I don't think it's a great show to recommend.

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I'm not a fan of humanizing villians

Honestly, there are a lot of comparisons between this and Brewing Love, and they would be correct to do that. But this drama is better. Maybe not way better, but still an enjoyable viewing. My problem with it, though, is that, while it tries to do something new, it kinda reverts back to old tropes of the past decade that we're long past tired of. For instance, the first kiss takes 9 episodes. NINE. I mean, there is a drunken peck on the lips, but that really doesn't count.

My biggest problem is this: there is an antagonist in the show, despite some people saying there isn't. Here's what happened. A researcher is pretty much living a normal life. Her boyfriend has finally moved up the chain at work. She thinks they'll be married someday, or at least expects it. She trusts him blindly. However, even though they don't show it properly, he gets a chance to marry a chairwoman's daughter. He secretly dates her while still dating the female lead. Eventually, he dumps her right before his wedding. In fact he dumps her by showing her his wedding invitation. Pretty brutal, right? But it doesn't end there. His new family-in-law found out about his relationship, and they decided to tarnish and belittle the FL until she is kicked out of the company. In short, he ruined her life so that he could have his own rich and well-settled life. Sounds like a really crappy person right? But eventually the show kinda leniently glosses over what he did and turns him more human. Not by actual actions that show his remorse. I mean, we do see his regret, and he even confronts those he hurt and says he regrets his actions. He doesn't actually apologize, he just says he regrets it. But having the female lead forgive him and also attend his father's funeral just seemed so annoying to me. I'm not a forgiving person, and that's alright. Some people might call that a flaw. But there are some things beyond forgiving. I didn't want the FL to stomp on her old flame and get revenge, I wanted her to find her own happiness and move on with the ML. Instead, the show really tries to make us just forget the worst and move on, with everyone happy in some way. I felt this was the biggest flaw of the show. It didn't feel human or realistic to me. Don't humanize the people who left you to die or cared less where they left you.

Besides all that, the show itself was also kind of boring. I never once looked forward to the next episode. Kinda chugging myself along. Maybe because the ML was dense and calculating. He saw dating as a business decision, which made no sense to me. He's an orphan. So human emotions should be important to him, even if they are or were foreign. Sadly, we also never really get a history look at his former life. He never got to see his real parents or discover what kind of pain he must of have been in to live a life of such isolation. We also never understand or are properly told what his relationship to the chairwoman is. Everyone in the highest rank of the company adores him. But why? What's the connection? In the last episode, we didn't get answers. This was a missed opportunity.

For what it's worth, though, the FL is amazing. She can be a bit annoying and her acting can be a mixed bag. But there are some scenes where she completely nails it, and they're the best parts of the show. But I never really felt the chemistry there. Mainly because of how calculating and emotionless they decided to make the ML. Even so, I do think this show is worth watching, at least once, and skimming through if you find it hard to watch.

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The Apathetic Resident

Let's be real, most of us are going to watch this cause of the FL. Alchemy of Souls is one of the best fantasy K dramas out there, and we all fell for Go Youn. Or at least most of us did. True fans know that she's been great for years now. But I have no idea why she chose this project. Let me just start out by saying that I despise medical dramas. They are all the same, mostly. But I've come to realize that the reason people watched Grey's and House wasn't because of how realistic the portrayal of hospitals were, but because of how well the writing was constructed to create characters that audiences connected with. Here, there's just no such thing. Youn plays an incredibly dull and uninterested character that seems void of life. How in the hell did she become a doctor? Let alone finish medical school? It truly does seem like the writers decided to play a game and consider just how boring and apathetic of a character they could create for kicks. The secondary characters are no better. Every single one of them is dumb, or written to be. They make mistakes constantly. Like a show that has a villain of the week, this one is a "scolding of the week." None of this portrays reality correctly, nor is it fun to continuously see stupidly written characters get wrecked over common mistakes. There's even a character who sabotages her colleagues' data by deleting it out of jealousy. No real-world doctor would do this as a first YEAR RESIDENT!! In the 4th episode, when Youn cut her co-worker's hand during surgery, I wanted to throw my laptop across the room. I wish I had stopped there. I really did. And yes, there's a love story, here and there. But honestly, not even Youn could save it. There's literally no chemistry between her and the male lead. None. We don't even witness a buildup as to WHY she likes him. Just out of the blue, she seems to show vague interest, culminating with her holding his hand in a co-worker's photoshoot to confirm her feelings that he obliviously wasn't aware of. Fun fact, that's how most of the audience probably felt, too. At least I did.

For what it's worth, the medical jargon and the portrayal of Ob-Gyn doctors were done incredibly well. Everything seemed brutally realistic and raw. In fact, I'd dare say the best part of the show was the patients themselves and the times they spent in the surgery room. They seemed natural, real, and authentic in their suffering or experiences. Anyhoo, I'm keeping this one of my shortest reviews. If you like the FL, I encourage you to finish watching it, though you may need to skim through it. Otherwise, I'd strongly avoid.

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What happens if you order Queen of Tears from Temu

I wanted to love this show, I'm a fan of the actress. She's so cute and she and the FL of Queen of Tears both appeared in Lovestruck in the City. This show, however, was not the better of the two. The comedy and cringe is just so bad. After watching over 100 K and C dramas by now, I have gotten used to it. But by and large, many of the newest shows, especially those that are financed and backed by netflix have learned how to properly tackle serious dramas. This doesn't mean we've dropped the comedic laughter; it's just been sprinkled on that it becomes an enjoyable but brief escape from the mature scenes we are starting to get used to. It's important not to forget the audience that put your genre on the map. We owe a lot to these tropes. But sometimes, a drama is trapped in that purgatory of staying perpetually in that cringe state. Sadly, this happened here.

It was incredibly hard to get past the 3rd episode. Not only is there so much cringe, but many scenes literally turn cartoonish. Now remember that this is the same writer from Bong-soon, so you could say that I'm used to this. But even Bong-soon didn't go this far off the deep end. What's worse is that there is no chemistry between the leads. And so many things aren't explained. We have no idea what line of work the ML actually holds. We learn he provides a sort of amusement park for the wealthy. They're allowed to be "kids again" or such. It's never fully explained, and the plot holes pile on after this. If this is truly a wealthy class escape, why do we barely see no more than 10 characters visiting the place at once? For better reference, think of King the Land. It does a much better explanation, and it is literally doing the same thing here. But like I said, Dreaming just seems to perpetually stay in the comedic side, without properly explaining scenes.

There's also the miscommunication trope here. The ML simply doesn't want to reveal his feelings. In fact, he doesn't do so until the last few episodes. By then, it's already too late, and I found myself relieved that the show was nearly over. In another instance, his mother comes back briefly, and we get a somewhat confusing story on why she left in the first place. His parents reconcile immediately, despite a 20 plus year gap and even more questions left unanswered. If you're as confused as I am, imagine watching it.

The only savings grace, like I pointed out earlier, is the female lead. She's beautiful. You can tell she tries her hardest with what little she can work with. Sadly, there are just too many things working against her. Anyhoo, in conclusion, if you can handle large amounts of cringle with an incomprehensible script, you might find something here to pass the time. But there are far better dramas out there, even mediocre ones that respect your time.

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So much potential, so much waste.

I'm going to keep this review short but also spoil some of the stuff, so please beware.

This isn't a completely bad show, it's just horribly written and many of the scenarios make very little sense. Let me say this, the FL has a future. She is destined for stardom, maybe not on the big screen, but she's got what it takes to be a memorable tv actress. Love Alarm is by far the most horrendous k-drama of the past decade, but the actress continues to impress, no matter how horribly written her character is or the plot itself.

My problems with Lovely Liar lie within the plot itself and the chemistry of the characters. The ML is new. If you have ever watched alchemy of souls, you'll notice that he looks at the floor a lot in a gaze or glance. This is not by design, but probably just something he was told to do. He's a singer, so acting is not his forte. He does the same thing in Souls, and he had very little lines. In Lovely Liar, he's also a quiet and an almost introverted character. So, I'll cut him some slack, but there are so many plot holes. Why didn't he realize that his ex was being abused by her father? They were dating for two years in high school, and he never once met her father? He never knew she was dirt poor? So much of that makes no sense given how close they were, or at least how close they appeared to be. I can understand why her brother made her believe that the ML was her only dream and perhaps her ticket out of the hell she was in, but for the ML to be completely oblivious is just incredibly questionable. Next, why did he tell his mother that he killed his ex? I can understand that he was traumatized, but if you follow the story, he's a very bad liar. So why would he confess to something he didn't do and completely ruin his mother's life by forcing her to make a deal with a police chief? Yes, what she did was wrong, but she was trying to protect her son. But why did he confess to something that wasn't true and completely throw his life along with hers under the bus? It makes absolutely no sense. And was the perp gay? If so, why did he marry and have kids? How did he become a CEO in his 20s??? LOL, you can see how silly this gets. Also, his ex's brother is a complete psychopath, and it is understandable to some extent, given that his sister was actually murdered. But the guy legit almost killed another person and stabbed him. Yet somehow, he was able to walk out of jail, get release and be at his sister's funeral after her body was recovered. I cannot make this stuff up. And while these issues are some of the biggest, these are just the tip of the iceberg. One final straw for me was that the FL somehow managed to avoid an explosion while standing 5 feet from it and also lose her powers of lie detection. Again, I cannot make this stuff up.

Granted, I'm not expecting the writing and the plotlines to be perfect. But please, do not belittle the intelligence of your audience. It's 2023, you cannot create characters with distinct personalities and just have them do 180's to make suspense. You cannot bypass realism for comic book plot armor. You cannot ditch logic and expect the audience to be captivated by inconsequential drama.

Anyhoo... I'll leave it at that. But don't say I didn't warn you. If you still want to see this drama, by all means. If there's one thing I can say again, is that the FL is a pure delight to watch. Her character here is flawed and she has very little to work with, but she is far and away the best reason to watch.

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One of the cringiest C-Dramas out there

I don't mind cringy, I've watched Boys over Flowers after all, but this drama was really hard to watch. I had to watch it at twice the speed, for fear I'd give up entirely. The acting, the writing, the lack of common sense in so many areas is just mind boggling. The supporting characters are all extremely dense. Save for a few that serve a general purpose, none of them get a redemption ark. None of them have character growth. Only the female and male leads seem to have any kind of chemistry. Everyone's acting is also crap. Literally every scene, it feels as if everyone is reading off the script for the very first time. Then there's the cring and overly dramatic scenes. In one episode, the FL ignores the ML for half the episode because she saw him riding a bike with another girl. No communication, no talking, just pure dramatic toxicity. There's also no attention to detail. In one episode, the FL somehow enters a NATIONAL programing contest just ONE day prior. No knowledge of programing, just a gifted mind for math. If that doesn't make sense, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Having watched K-drams and C-dramas for almost a decade now, I know what to expect when it comes to the tropes of these shows. Yes, there is a cultural difference. They refuse to give up on a tried and true audience that never gave up on them. So long as k and c dramas continue, we will see the tropes in all their glory. But k dramas have long passed that and tried to break barriers and allow new audiences to enjoy their differences. So yes, cringy love and seeing a FL fall into the arms of ML as she "trips" will be there regardless, but C-dramas seem to be stuck in purgatory with the old fashion ways. The results are half hearted dramas that lack realistic and convincing acting and writing that really engages ANY kind of audience. This is what Forever Love suffers from.

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A hilariously bad drama, but incredibly important for the genre

You have to admit, despite having thousands of new viewers every year, Boys Over Flowers was hilariously bad. It was a product of its time. Low budget, all the tropes you can shove into an hour for every episode, and the strangest hairstyles on earth. Despite all that, it was important. Too important. It put Korean Dramas on the map. It put the actors on the map. It changed the landscape of what foreign dramas could achieve outside their domain. The same thing happened with Descendants of the Sun. It's not equal in terms of impact, but it's up there. And for many, this might be their first Korean drama. This or Crash Landing on You. That doesn't mean it's without its fair share of problems, though. Let's do a little retrospective review as the show turns almost 9 years old now.

I do think the budget was a bit higher than boys over flowers. I agree with others that the cinematography was incredible. Or rather, they did a good job with what they had to work with. I don't know if it was shot on location, that being Uruk, but they definitely took advantage of some good scenes. That scene where he helps her put on those hiking boots is pretty infamous, and no doubt some people decided to give this show a go, simply from that clip. But the show is far from perfect. But let me start with some of the good, cause there isn't a whole lot. I do like that for a show that was shot around 2015, there are very few tropes that would continue to plague Korean dramas well into 2020. There's no crazy ex-boyfriends, no lack of communication, no dimwitted characters. There are no pointless breakups or excessive storylines that distract from the first and second leads. In short, no filter. That I really liked. Some of the characters are also extremely blunt and forward. Not in a bad way, they know what they want. The decisiveness was really refreshing, especially if you had started watching these kind of dramas since Boys Over Flowers or even before. I'm talking particularly about the male lead and the second female lead. Sadly, this is pretty much it for the good. On paper, this should save most shows. But it just didn't here.

So let's list the bad stuff. Many reviews pointed out how annoying the female lead is. They're correct. But I need to point out something else before we start talking about bad characters. It certaintly isn't the actors fault nor is it a product of it's time thing. There are no excessive bad tropes here either, like I said above. To be it simply, the writing is just really fucking bad. I mean bad. The female lead is a doctor. She's seemingly 30 or young 30's and still has no idea what she wants in life. She goes on a date with a CEO of her hospital becaue he matches her "criteria" but she still has feelings for a soldier that she coudln't decide if she was really interested in or not. Basically, because he's so secretive and lives a dangerous life, she isn't willing to go down that road. The probelm though is that she keeps pulling herself into situations that involve him. She coudl have left Uruk early, but she continues to stay and this still doesn't solidfy her feelings. It's only when she's moments are anticlimatic that she finally reveals her feelings. Speaking of climatic, holy hell. Like I said, the writing is just so bad. In less than 6 months, there's an earthquake, a power struggle between gangs, a small community of orphan girls being prepped for prostitution, an ebola like virus, and much more. It's hilarious. Technically, this is a trope. The whole hospital visit and the dying cast member being saved or recuperated with help from the leads. It's typical. But it's soooo excessive here, that I feel it creates a whole new category. But it's more about how bad the writing is. A young doctor who gets bullied and controlled by a rescued victim purely because he didn't hold his hand and nearly die with him in an ongoing aftershock. He also becomes a part of the crew briefly and helps the doctors and nurses while still actively bullying the doctor who didn't save him but helps him recuperate. Wtf??

Going back to the female lead, after she finally admits her feelings she quits her job and tries to apply for a loan jobless. I kid you not, that really happened. During the story we find out that young doctor i mentioned earlier, his imother is actually one of the hospitals benefactors. She could have easily used that leverage to punish or remove the CEO for what he did. Trying to sleep with her in a hotel. Instead she crawls back to the hopsital and stay there. Nothing makes any sense. The male lead, there is nothing to say about him. Everyone knows who he is. His character is great. Charismatic and charming, but he KNOWS what he wants. The second female lead? Same. I actually kinda which they got together. Their characters had way much more in common. She also knows what she wants. She's in love with the second male lead and completely straight forward. The second male lead, good god. I think during the show the male lead said he's a man of too much or just full of principle. He was right. He's a constant yes man, who only follows orders and never reveals his feelings until the last minute. it takes 9 episodes or so before he finally reaffirms how much he loves his woman only for him to go back on and off to his principles well into the last two epiosdes. It's annoying as hell, and ruins a really good character he was paired with.

Now for the worse. In the last stretch of episodes, things go bonkers. The army characters we started to like somehow turn into secret service for some reason, the female lead becomes even more materialistic in subtle but annoying ways, the second leads have a temporary breakup due to the second leads principles that I stated previously, and much more. The male leads also get captured and they are absent for one year, but then they come back in dramatic fashion. If you want to label any of these as bad tropes, go ahead. I won't blame you, but I categorize this just like I said earlier. Extremely bad fucking writing. I won't go into detail about the last batch of episodes. I think this summed it up quite well. But I will say this, the leads ended up marrying a few years after the show ended. I think a year or two later, they married. But years later, they divorced. Just like Crash Landing on You, I think this is the reason why so many people made this show memorable. When leads marry, you automatically assume they had amazing chemistry. I think you could somewhat say this for Crash Landing, and be right in some respects. It is the better show, by far, but I think it's incredibly silly that fans make a drama more memorable when this happens. Anyhooo, please watch this show if you want, but remember my warning. Attractive actors can't save a show, only good writing. And this show just doesn't have it.

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So much wasted potential.

Like I've stated before, Cdramas continue to stay further behind Kdramas. Over the past few years, there have been some really good dramas out of China, but they have almost always involved the most famous cast members with larger budgets. The FL here finally has her big break after When I fly towards you, but you can tell she's trying so much. She's insanely talented, no doubt, but she can't fix this mess. It really seems like they picked random people out of the street and just forced them to read lines to each other. It's that bad, there's just zero chemistry between cast members. The delivery of the lines, the writing itself, the plotlines that make little sense. It's horrendous.

I'll give a few examples, but I'll be quick. They have a relationship contract so that the FL's mother can stop annoying her. That's it, that is literally the reason why they agree to it. Then 9 episodes later filled with plotlines that could have been done in ONE episode, they decide to get married for some reason. Because why not? They hadn't even kissed btw. Then there's the problem with the weddings. They all have weddings, but no one to officiate them. No family. The FL has her parents show up in about 3 episodes, but that's about it. It's explained that the ML lost his mom when he was young and only has his aunt and a jobless father who gambles. Even so, it was extremely weird that they just glossed over weddings and missed out on potential scenes to demonstrate a coherent plot. The supports are even worse, with an editor forcing the female support to "find love soon" so she can find inspiration for her latest book. None of it makes logical sense. Their marriage on the beach was a little bit cute though. Depiste the fact that there is no guests, no officator, and not even the camera man is shown. Someone is just "mysteriously" taking pics.

The worse offender? The writers forget the age of their own characters. They end up getting married at 29. Their support and best friends marry and quickly have a kid. Six years pass, and the main leads still have no baby. By this time, they are at least 35 or 36. Finally , they talk about having a baby and miracously have one nine months later. I can't make any of this up. The writers literally expect the audience and the story to remember them as 29 year olds in love.

Anyhoo, sorry for the uneven review. I'm currently writing this at midnight and keeping it under five minutes. Why? Because this drama should have been dropped within that time frame. Don't make the same mistake I did. That being said, I do hope the FL is cast again in a main role. She's absolutely wonderful, and they did her dirty here.

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One of the most horribly written characters and plot I've experienced in a K-drama.

You can only do so much, even with a talented cast. I came into this show after watching the female lead in another show titled "Female Historian," I thought we would get the same caliber of acting and plot, but boy was I wrong. For some reason, the male lead is written as an extremely dimwitted and dense character. It's almost as if they decided he was born at 20 and just barely learning social development skills. Granted, most k-dramas take this route, but it's usually a lead character who is anti-social and only opens up when a female lead piques their interest. In this case, the male lead himself is just dense af. There really is no other word for it. There are numerous cringe-worthy lines, along with awkward writing and meetups that it becomes an abomination by the 6th episode. In fact, the sixth episode is perhaps the worse written of them all.

To make it worse, the male lead acts in a robotic manner with a puzzled "why am I here" look 90 percent of the time. It's infuriating cause there are moments where he acts in a normal manner and stems to be a person who does more for others than himself. The problem is that information is withheld within characters. No one says why they're doing what they're doing, or gives corrections to rumors (except for his fake actress relationship), but instead, hold back info that is counterproductive to their social lives. It makes absolutely no sense. Then when the characters revert to a pre-social development stage, it's when you seriously want to throw the remote at the screen.

For what it's worth though, Ms. Seo or Dan/Dahn is perhaps the absolute best reason to keep watching the show if you must. Her beauty, story, and acting come together for what little material she has to work with. Her love story also overshadows the main leads. To have found this actress is the only reason why I'm glad I checked in.

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One of the dumbest dramas I've ever watched, for a C-drama (but not the worst)

I'm starting to think that C-dramas will only allow natural acting unless there's a big budget or one or some of their high-profile actors are involved. I had recently seen Unforgettable Love before this, and I wish I hadn't. How in the world does a child actor dwarf the entire cast of this one?

I think it's a cultural thing. Directors just can't match the natural dramas of South Korea. But if you watch some of the latest and popular C-dramas, they are getting better. I thought that since this was new, 2025, this would continue the trend. But nope, every actor in this drama is reading their lines like it's the first time they've read them. There's no synergy, no chemistry, and no natural writing/progression to really embold the talent that some of the cast have. It's not just the stoic presentation that every actor displays when they deliver their lines, it's also the writing. The storylines and the writing itself are just incredibly bad.

Case in point, the FL moves in with her family to a new apartment complex that is filled with a sense of a close neighborhood feel. Everyone there is a doctor or nurse, or at least a teacher. But halfway through the story, they retcon it and reveal that the parents have actually been friends since college? WTF? Later on, the second couple also break up because of cultural and class differences, which makes no sense. The second male lead's parents aren't literally a doctor and a nurse?! It's implied that the second female second lead's mother is insanely rich, so I can understand that to some extent. But to make it so strangely odd, feels like a cop out just to move the plot. Let me remind readers that after high school, all the younger characters go to their own universities and still somehow have enough money to fly across the country and visit each other, let alone stay at a mountain resort. Like I said, it makes no fucking sense. Then, there's the huge problem with the male lead. Throughout high school, he was an idiot. That's literally how they wrote him. He had no talent in academics, but he wanted to be a professional soccer player because of his dad. Let's ignore the fact that he looks nothing like an athlete and just move along. Later, he gets injured and finally takes his studies seriously. I think this happens when he's a sophomore. Out of nowhere, they again retcon his story, and he's now a computer science prodigy. This means he's good at math, a subject he literally failed at in the earlier episodes. For those who don't know, computer science is one of the hardest degrees out there. Right alongside math, engineering, and physics. In one episode, they show him writing code out of nowhere lmao. I'm sorry, it's just hilariously bad. They just gloss over these things like it's nothing.

I'm sorry, I must apologize for sounding so negative. It's not uncommon for dramas, especially C-dramas, to just forgo realism in a certain way to tell a story. Nothing has to be perfect. It's just that the performances really are that stoic. It feels like everyone is enunciating their lines and speaking in a tonal form. And this is expected in Mandarin. But when you watch recent hits like "Lighter and Princess" or the "Unforgettable Love" I mentioned earlier, you get the idea that this is changing. So when a new drama reverts back to this cultural tone and doesn't allow informal banter, it's hard not to get frustrated. Chinda doesn't allow provocative content, but this shouldn't hinder tension and synergy as much as it does. Waiting over 22 episodes for a kiss doesn't help matters, too, btw. So I do feel bad for comparing, but those retcons to the story and loopholes that feel made up really frustrated the viewer. Or at least they frustrated me.

For what it's worth, though, I think the FL has a very bright future. You can tell she tries her hardest with the script she got. Her smile feels genuine. Her effort feels genuine. I really enjoyed watching her. And also, I will admit that when topics got a little serious, the acting partially felt natural and raw. It happened so sparingly, but not enough to make me think this drama was worth watching. So I did watch the whole thing, but I skimmed pretty much every episode after 20. I'm sorry to say, but you're better off watching something else.

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One of the worse dramas attempting to mirror grief.

I'll try to keep it short. The drama tries its best to tackle grief and show how different individuals overcome and experience hardship. The problem is that it simply isn't realistic. The coping doesn't involve professional help, but rather toxic traits that include pill-popping, destroying lives around you to feel better, and being stuck in a time loop of self-destruction. Now, many of these things can be real for us, but the show does little to really address problems head-on. People don't give full answers, there is little context to justify the pain sometimes and the approaches to cope are never healthy.

The first 6 episodes are actually very well done. There is little drama, the cringing is kept to a minimum, and every character shows promise. Then, with little context or reasoning, it just goes bonkers and many characters attempt to destroy their own lives. In one episode, the male lead experiences ghosts of the dead and voices in his head. This isn't grieving, it's a mental disorder and borderline schizophrenic. The crazy part is that this is never addressed again in any other episode, nor do we see those ghosts again. If you're having trouble understanding me writing that, imagine watching the show.

Overall, your time would be much better spent watching virtually any other drama.

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Perfect example of a series being carried by a good looking Male lead. Please beware.

I feel so bad. I've reviewed some titles lately and many of them were terrible. The crazy thing is that I've seen some incredible shows lately, yet I've never had the time to review them. The Atypical Family, King the Land, Queen of Tears, and Perfect Marriage Revenge, These are some of the best K-dramas I've ever seen and my personal list for best shows of the past two years. And the reason why I've never written a review for them is cause I'm immediately rewatching my favorite scenes over and over. I go back to reddit and watch the episode recaps and usually I get to see people share the same love and excitement I had for the series.

But when shows don't respect your time and they can be a complete miss, that's when I feel the need to write. Lovely Runner is one of those examples. Despite all the love for the shows above, I could not get away from people recommending Runner or at least including it on a "must watch" list. So let me keep this sort. My verdict is this, it's a poorly written show. It tackles extremely sensitive subjects with juvenile intelligence that doesn't make any sense, given the plot.

The Fl is extremely dim-witted and childish. Which makes no sense given that she's supposed to be approaching her mid 30's. She gets the chance to save a friend but makes it a completely linear goal, void of intelligent thought. With how sensitive suicide has become for it to be a subject in a drama, the approach from this show baffles me. Our FL gets the chance to save her friend, but she can't openly state what the future will be. That's fine. She's actually 30, so she could comfort her friend. Become his friend. Openly talk to him, allow him to express his feelings and learn whatever darkness he has, right? Well, she doesn't do that. Instead, she becomes a 15 year old high school girl with a one way track of thought. She forces the ML to avoid anything to do with his future career. Becomes overprotective with no communication as to why. No character buildup to demonstrate how or why she cares. No chemistry. Do you understand how confusing irritating that can be? So I go online to reddit and I'm relieved to see so many others agreeing with how annoying she is, but also her intelligence. Why do they love each other? There's no clear answer, no writing to explain, no chemistry to show. It's just... bad. If you have ever watch Run On, you'll remember how strange and dimwitted the ML was. This show has the FL equivalent perfectly.

There really isn't much to say beyond that. I mean, the writer does throw in a serial killer and why not? Let's just throw in another trope when the others don't even make sense or help. As for the ML. Well, I'm a straight man, but even I can admit when another man has won the genetic lottery. He is handsome, there's no other way to put it. Has everything. But I've watched many of his past shows, there's a reason he's been playing support for the past decade. He's not a bad actor, I just strongly believe you need something more than a baby face to be a lead. And this guy just doesn't have it.

Suicide is nothing to balk at. It's a tough subject that demands slow caution and careful writing. I'm not suggest the show doesn't respect the subject itself, it just shows that the writer doesn't understand it. Never use it as a plot device when you don't know how to properly approach it, especially in 2024. Along with that, I just can't recommend this show. Dropped.

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Completely forgetful show

God, I wanted to love this show. The ML and FL are some of my favorite actors. "From now on Showtime" is my most rewatched show, ever. The usual magic they both bring to their projects wasn't here, though. This drama surprisingly doesn't suffer from bad tropes,. Rather, it has horrible direction and writing. I mean it, it truly seems to have junior-high-level writing. The worst part is that the translation is bad. And I mean bad. In one episode, there is a tragic accident involving a rescuer who loses his leg. Three different translations state that he DIES. So normally, this wouldn't be the show's fault, right? Well, to make it worse, the FL has a panic episode. She runs into the hospital lobby after being unable to save the patient's legs and collapses in front of the ML. He then picks her up. This gives the original translation an incentive to make the reader believe that she lost the patient. Why does this matter? Well, for one, this is the first show to truly show just how bad a messed-up translation can ruin your experience and the entire story itself. So, when you have writing and direction that also confuses the audience, it's an absolute disaster.

Another reviewer said that so many things seem unrealistic in the show. And I honestly agree. There are many examples. For one, the fact that the ML decides to join the rescuer team despite having his job of acquiring assets for his CEO, either land or property. While his job title is never stated, he's called the director. Basically, his job is like Edward Lewis from Pretty Woman. Naturally, the writers think it makes sense to turn him into a sort of fireman so he can better access the land he wants his company to acquire. The problem is how unrealistic it all seems and plays out. How about the romance? The FL lead literally just says, "Let's date." Simply because they end up in a common board house, stuck together. Which, btw, isn't revealed to be part of the hospital directors properly 3-4 episodes after they both start living there. And because of the writing, nothing feels natural. There is no chemistry. Physically, they are a match. But the writing is bad, I just couldn't see them together. And because of the bad translation, in one episode, he says, "How could you not fall for someone as perfect as me?" Now, something like this has been done before. Like, for instance, "What's wrong with secretary Kim?" The problem, though, is that when they try to make ML's like this, it's usually comical. They aren't really that insufferable. But ML in THIS show is dead serious about how perfect he finds himself. He then starts obsessing over who she spends her time with and her ex, among many other things. It isn't THAT bad, but from what we know of the FL, it seems extremely unlikely she would have fallen for him. In reality, she would have despised him and moved out of the community house. Speaking of the Fl, she's a surgeon. Something that either got lost in the translation, or the show forgot what her title actually is. During the show, she acts more like a PCP than a surgeon. She never seems to worry about her hands. She also walked out and ran from a patient when she was first doing rounds as a psychiatrist. Makes no sense, right? I'll just stop here.

To summarize, this show is a master class in what happens when you combine bad writing and horrible translation. Honestly, if you truly want to watch this show, I'd suggest disabling subtitles and just making up your own dialogue. You'll have a better time at least trying to make up a story rather than reading whatever the writers intended. Otherwise, avoid like the plague.

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The most incredibly forgetful "Cinderella" story

I'm absolutely amazed the actors chose to participate in this project. The writing is just so juvenile and cringeworthy, as if they hired someone straight out of junior high. Even a high schooler could write something at least more compelling. There's also zero chemistry between the leads, and again, zero chemistry among their fictional characters. When they finally get together and she calls him "honey", I cringed at the name. They acted and seemed more like brother and sister than an actual couple. Only in the flashbacks do they seem normal and sane. I understand the ML is young, but I'm just astonished he's getting lead roles when his acting skills are still in their infancy. I will say this, though, he is damn tall and handsome. But that's about it.

To be fair, though, out of all the dramas I've watched, ironically, this one has the best two lines put together. "Gosh, I thought I was a prince. Turns out, I'm the fairy." I legit cracked up at that delivery. I also loved the upbringing storyline, but they never explored that further. How did she manage to raise her brother alone when she was barely 13 or so when she escaped her father? How did she legally escape? None of these things are answered. Her little brother also had the best character growth, but we never again saw the consequences of his fight at school. It's like the writers shelved coherence for nonsequential plots. I honestly have no idea why the ML had an older brother. I admit his acting was miles better than the ML, but his character and his wife's character really weren't needed at all.

So is this the worst Cinderella drama? No, the story really just has the Cinderealla name in the title and nothing more. The drama plays it safe, far too safe, and requires zero input. At best, it's background noise or a drama where you can just shut your brain off with little to no expectations. Watch if you have absolutely nothing else to watch, if you must.

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Horrible direction, writing, and confusing segments take away from impecabble acting.

God, I wanted this drama to do better. I saw the ML on The Witch. And while that drama was even worse than this one, I instantly knew there was something special about the ML. His acting is just top tier. I really hope he finds a proper director and series to really establish himself as a leading star. From what I understand, he was a singer turned actor? Either way, he's the reason you'll be watching this show. The FL is also great, and you'll recognize her from her more recent breakout role in The Glory. There's also a little more well-known actress in a support role that will make most of you smile, too. But even these great actors can't fix the horrible directing and writing of the show. I'll keep it short.

There's a scene where the ML leaves a car in front of the police station where the FL works. The next morning, it's still there after they have an argument. But during a flashback she has with the prosecutor that very afternoon, the car is gone, despite the next future scene having it there. It really kills the immersion cause they went out of their way to include it, but forgot to keep it in an important scene. There are numerous scenes like this where they simply forget the coherent timeline of their own story. So that's just one example. Then there's the difference between the ML and the FL, too. They are both the same age, yet the FL was able to go two years dropping out of high school and then becoming a low-ranking police officer. Meanwhile, the ML is dumb as ever. In the show, there is a clear distinction between their intelligence, and the FL is portrayed as having nearly similar intellect as the high-ranking support colleagues, who are much older. It makes absolutely no sense. Then there's the "powers" bit. Even in the show's intro scenes, he's established as some sort of super "hero" who has experience with those said powers. In reality, his powers are extremely weak, and often they aren't really useful. Pointing more towards riddles that involve more riddles until they get a clear picture. Now, for one, I'm glad they didn't make him more powerful or all-knowing. That would have killed the purpose, but to be honest, it really feels like his power and his progression to use them are almost nonsensical. To make it worse, they establish in the show that the key to making his powers grow is to get closer to the FL lead. But they purposely keep withholding physical contact until the 7th or 8th episode. Later, they almost drop this plot device entirely. In fact, by episode 14, the FL disregards one of his flashbacks because they didn't like the outcome. WTF??? Next is the authority figures. One old man simply sits at a desk in that police station I mentioned, and all he does is pluck his nose hairs. Later, he gets tasks with being the head of ALL investigations involved with the main cases. He becomes immediately "important" overnight and, of course, he disregards the ML's powers. The show just doesn't know how to have proper sequences, structures, and likeable characters. Speaking of likeable characters, they literally kill the most fan favorite character, the female detective. After her death, the show loses its identity.

There are about half a dozen or so more examples of what went wrong with this show, but I'll just leave it here. The show isn't terrible. It's just badly directed. Had it had better direction, the writing would have been a small hindrance to the overall quality. Anyhoo, I do think the show is worth watching if you enjoy the actors. Just keep your expectations in check.

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