This review may contain spoilers
A Cliché bonanza, tropes-infested drama that needs not just suspension but shutdown of disbelief
This is a rather long review, parts of which I wrote midway through the watch (specifically after ep 12) and parts (between *) I wrote after finishing the drama.
The beginning although feeling a bit rushed especially in igniting a flame between the main leads, and despite being greeted head-on with a bunch of well-worn tropes such as the chaebol-orchestrated poor girl makeover and the pretend relationship, it still was somewhat fun to watch and roll my eyes at the predictable cliched sequences.
This should have been a sign of what was to come, but positive-thinking me only thought it was just like many a K-drama as of late that choose to rush the story in the first couple of episodes to reach the somewhat climatic part or turning point from where the story progresses in order to suck the viewer in and keep them engaged. But unfortunately, it wasn’t just the first episodes, and when it comes to rushed and sudden emotional progress it didn’t just involve the main couple, but also the supporting characters’ romance felt sudden and lacked believability IMO. An art gallery director from a wealthy family falls head over heels at first sight with a divorced photographer with a kid, as a combination not rare, but it needs buildup to be endearing, but when they turn from attracted to madly in love in the flick of the finger it just feels contrived.
As for the main issue with which most viewers found trouble with; the FL’s choice to fake being married to land a job despite her poor qualifications. In order to sell us on this choice and convince the viewer that what she was committing was not downright fraud, they chose to orchestrate this sudden financial ruin of her family, leaving them in deep debt with foreclosure on their house looming, and her mom having to undergo heart surgery and long-term hospitalization. Even if I can somehow convince myself that she was cornered with not many other choices and needed to quickly find a full-time job to support her mom, the more she became involved with her colleagues and her boss/ML, it became annoying and infuriating to endure her lies and deception. And I know the technique of creating this lingering big misunderstanding or hidden secret is common in K-dramas, it aims at making the viewer watch with breaths held for the moment it gets revealed or resolved, but the wait here was filled with infuriation rather than anticipation.
On the other hand, one of the few plots that I liked was the concept of the ML’s tormenting guilt at being attracted to a married woman having been traumatized by his father’s affair and the psychological damage it caused his mother, and that might have been one of the rare moments were the drama presented something in a somewhat serious tone, even though the viewer knew his guilt was unfounded.
But more than anything, what dampened the watching experience for me was the sheer amount of k-romcom tropes that this drama was plagued with. I don’t mind me a little bit of cliched story plot or sequence of events here and there, but this one was just a string of clichés one after the other! It was like the writers opened the catalogue of K-Romcom drama tropes, and didn’t just pick a couple, the picked almost all the well-worn inside-the-box K-drama tropes fit for a fluffy romcom save just a few like cohabitation, amnesia, noble idiocy and last-minute separation, and the main leads having a hidden childhood connection. (At this point I would not be fazed if any of them are used)
* I started writing this review to vent my frustration with 2 episodes left, and I mentioned that save just a few cliches, this drama almost utilized all the k-romcom cliches in the book. The most astonishing part is that most of the tropes I mentioned eventually showed up and drove me to scream at my screen literally!! *
It almost felt as if the writers realized that they might be taking it too far so they just thought they might as well throw in more cliches just for fun, turning the whole thing into a Shojo manga.
I am not expecting major believability from a romcom trust me, but we are told to believe that after they were separated after their initial fleeting romance and despite the story taking place in this age and time, the two of them never exchanged contact. Let’s assume it happens, still it was even harder to swallow the ML’s idiotic attempts to find the FL purely depending on this one ambiguous landmark she mentioned was in her neighborhood, is that really the best that a head of a successful M&A firm can come up with? Has he never heard of the concept of PIs, I mean he knows her name, can guess her age, maybe go from there!
The more the story progressed the more it became harder to pretend to take anything seriously, like what took the cake for me in terms of lack of believability were scenes like the FL venturing into a raging fire, rescuing and carrying the macho ML all on her own, with both coming out without a single scratch or even some soot on their clothes! For crying out loud! You could still write a good turning point or moment of realization that pushes the leads closer or make them more forthcoming with their emotions, without having to resort to such over-the-top events. And don’t get me started about the amnesia!! They always get hit by a car, fall bleeding to the ground, wake up with no side effects except only losing the right chunk of memory that erases the romantic relationship with the FL.
* As I mentioned above that I started this review at the 12th episode, and I was ready to give the drama a maximum rating of 5, but after watching the last two episodes, I realized I would be generous if I gave it even a 3. The last 2 episodes were the result of a writer who had decided to break a world record with the amount of clichés he can manage to fit into one drama. Not to mention that everything became super easy to predict (examples: they advice her to keep recording her ideas > her phone will record something that helps bring down the villains, he’s crossing the road after crushing his envious enemy (who doesn’t mind starting an arson during an event packed with people just out of spite) and leaving him humiliated > the crazy dude will try to run him over).
I almost gave it a less score just cause of the ending sequence with all characters dancing which was stomach-turning level of tasteless. *
This drama had a mix of genres; romance, comedy, office, business & a dash of angst, but despite each having its funny moments, the drama as a whole was sub-par all thanks to the world-record-level cliché-ness the story suffered from. I would not recommend.
The beginning although feeling a bit rushed especially in igniting a flame between the main leads, and despite being greeted head-on with a bunch of well-worn tropes such as the chaebol-orchestrated poor girl makeover and the pretend relationship, it still was somewhat fun to watch and roll my eyes at the predictable cliched sequences.
This should have been a sign of what was to come, but positive-thinking me only thought it was just like many a K-drama as of late that choose to rush the story in the first couple of episodes to reach the somewhat climatic part or turning point from where the story progresses in order to suck the viewer in and keep them engaged. But unfortunately, it wasn’t just the first episodes, and when it comes to rushed and sudden emotional progress it didn’t just involve the main couple, but also the supporting characters’ romance felt sudden and lacked believability IMO. An art gallery director from a wealthy family falls head over heels at first sight with a divorced photographer with a kid, as a combination not rare, but it needs buildup to be endearing, but when they turn from attracted to madly in love in the flick of the finger it just feels contrived.
As for the main issue with which most viewers found trouble with; the FL’s choice to fake being married to land a job despite her poor qualifications. In order to sell us on this choice and convince the viewer that what she was committing was not downright fraud, they chose to orchestrate this sudden financial ruin of her family, leaving them in deep debt with foreclosure on their house looming, and her mom having to undergo heart surgery and long-term hospitalization. Even if I can somehow convince myself that she was cornered with not many other choices and needed to quickly find a full-time job to support her mom, the more she became involved with her colleagues and her boss/ML, it became annoying and infuriating to endure her lies and deception. And I know the technique of creating this lingering big misunderstanding or hidden secret is common in K-dramas, it aims at making the viewer watch with breaths held for the moment it gets revealed or resolved, but the wait here was filled with infuriation rather than anticipation.
On the other hand, one of the few plots that I liked was the concept of the ML’s tormenting guilt at being attracted to a married woman having been traumatized by his father’s affair and the psychological damage it caused his mother, and that might have been one of the rare moments were the drama presented something in a somewhat serious tone, even though the viewer knew his guilt was unfounded.
But more than anything, what dampened the watching experience for me was the sheer amount of k-romcom tropes that this drama was plagued with. I don’t mind me a little bit of cliched story plot or sequence of events here and there, but this one was just a string of clichés one after the other! It was like the writers opened the catalogue of K-Romcom drama tropes, and didn’t just pick a couple, the picked almost all the well-worn inside-the-box K-drama tropes fit for a fluffy romcom save just a few like cohabitation, amnesia, noble idiocy and last-minute separation, and the main leads having a hidden childhood connection. (At this point I would not be fazed if any of them are used)
* I started writing this review to vent my frustration with 2 episodes left, and I mentioned that save just a few cliches, this drama almost utilized all the k-romcom cliches in the book. The most astonishing part is that most of the tropes I mentioned eventually showed up and drove me to scream at my screen literally!! *
It almost felt as if the writers realized that they might be taking it too far so they just thought they might as well throw in more cliches just for fun, turning the whole thing into a Shojo manga.
I am not expecting major believability from a romcom trust me, but we are told to believe that after they were separated after their initial fleeting romance and despite the story taking place in this age and time, the two of them never exchanged contact. Let’s assume it happens, still it was even harder to swallow the ML’s idiotic attempts to find the FL purely depending on this one ambiguous landmark she mentioned was in her neighborhood, is that really the best that a head of a successful M&A firm can come up with? Has he never heard of the concept of PIs, I mean he knows her name, can guess her age, maybe go from there!
The more the story progressed the more it became harder to pretend to take anything seriously, like what took the cake for me in terms of lack of believability were scenes like the FL venturing into a raging fire, rescuing and carrying the macho ML all on her own, with both coming out without a single scratch or even some soot on their clothes! For crying out loud! You could still write a good turning point or moment of realization that pushes the leads closer or make them more forthcoming with their emotions, without having to resort to such over-the-top events. And don’t get me started about the amnesia!! They always get hit by a car, fall bleeding to the ground, wake up with no side effects except only losing the right chunk of memory that erases the romantic relationship with the FL.
* As I mentioned above that I started this review at the 12th episode, and I was ready to give the drama a maximum rating of 5, but after watching the last two episodes, I realized I would be generous if I gave it even a 3. The last 2 episodes were the result of a writer who had decided to break a world record with the amount of clichés he can manage to fit into one drama. Not to mention that everything became super easy to predict (examples: they advice her to keep recording her ideas > her phone will record something that helps bring down the villains, he’s crossing the road after crushing his envious enemy (who doesn’t mind starting an arson during an event packed with people just out of spite) and leaving him humiliated > the crazy dude will try to run him over).
I almost gave it a less score just cause of the ending sequence with all characters dancing which was stomach-turning level of tasteless. *
This drama had a mix of genres; romance, comedy, office, business & a dash of angst, but despite each having its funny moments, the drama as a whole was sub-par all thanks to the world-record-level cliché-ness the story suffered from. I would not recommend.
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