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This review may contain spoilers
A Bunch of Nothing Wrapped in Beautiful Visuals
✧✦ This is just my personal view on the drama. We can all agree to disagree✦✧
I usually finish Netflix originals in a single day but this one took me three days and that alone says a lot.
✦Let me start with the good, because there are good things. The cinematography is easily the biggest highlight of the drama. It’s consistently beautiful. Cha Muhee’s outfits were another win and Dorami completely stole the show for me. I think I liked Dorami so much partly because I wasn’t invested in the main love story at all and Go Youn Jung absolutely nailed the role.
✦Now, the things that didn’t work for me.
This drama suffers a lot from mis-genre issues.
The drama is labeled as a rom-com but the comedy is almost non existent and I’m not even sure the constant push and pull between rejection and pursuit qualifies as romance.
In the first half, It felt like the same thing happened in every episode: the main leads having the exact same conversation, the female lead trying to court the male lead, the male lead rejecting her and then a goodbye at the end of the episode. As irritating as that was, at least the male lead still felt somewhat relevant to the story during this phase.
The second half is where the male lead completely faded for me. He wasn’t doing anything remarkable or even necessary for the plot. He felt like background noise, so much so that I probably wouldn’t have noticed if he’d barely appeared. Ironically, I enjoyed the second half more simply because Dorami had more presence. Go Youn Jung once again proved her range by slaying the dual role.
If you strip away the cinematography and the pretty actors, I honestly don’t know what’s left of the story. It feels like many things are happening, yet nothing is actually happening. The main love angle was repetitive and painfully boring.
Personally, found the second male lead–female lead dynamic far more engaging. Hiro wasn’t perfect but if his character had been properly developed as the main lead, the drama could have been much more entertaining.
A story about a Japanese actor and a Korean actress, carrying childhood trauma, unable to understand each other’s language, starting off as enemies and slowly falling in love sounds far more aligned with the rom-com genre they were supposedly aiming for. Dorami being dynamic and Hiro matching her energy would’ve made so much more sense. Hiro wasn’t some flawless green flag character either.He had his own issues and I don’t mind imperfect characters at all. My problem with the male lead is simply that he felt repetitive and stagnant.
✦I rated the drama 6/10 and here’s why:
2 points for the cinematography
1 point for Go Youn Jung
1 point for Go Youn Jung slaying a double role
1 point for Go Youn Jung’s outfits
I’m not blaming the actors. They did what they could with what they were given. Visually, the drama was engaging and easy to watch but when it comes to storytelling, it ultimately fell apart.
I usually finish Netflix originals in a single day but this one took me three days and that alone says a lot.
✦Let me start with the good, because there are good things. The cinematography is easily the biggest highlight of the drama. It’s consistently beautiful. Cha Muhee’s outfits were another win and Dorami completely stole the show for me. I think I liked Dorami so much partly because I wasn’t invested in the main love story at all and Go Youn Jung absolutely nailed the role.
✦Now, the things that didn’t work for me.
This drama suffers a lot from mis-genre issues.
The drama is labeled as a rom-com but the comedy is almost non existent and I’m not even sure the constant push and pull between rejection and pursuit qualifies as romance.
In the first half, It felt like the same thing happened in every episode: the main leads having the exact same conversation, the female lead trying to court the male lead, the male lead rejecting her and then a goodbye at the end of the episode. As irritating as that was, at least the male lead still felt somewhat relevant to the story during this phase.
The second half is where the male lead completely faded for me. He wasn’t doing anything remarkable or even necessary for the plot. He felt like background noise, so much so that I probably wouldn’t have noticed if he’d barely appeared. Ironically, I enjoyed the second half more simply because Dorami had more presence. Go Youn Jung once again proved her range by slaying the dual role.
If you strip away the cinematography and the pretty actors, I honestly don’t know what’s left of the story. It feels like many things are happening, yet nothing is actually happening. The main love angle was repetitive and painfully boring.
Personally, found the second male lead–female lead dynamic far more engaging. Hiro wasn’t perfect but if his character had been properly developed as the main lead, the drama could have been much more entertaining.
A story about a Japanese actor and a Korean actress, carrying childhood trauma, unable to understand each other’s language, starting off as enemies and slowly falling in love sounds far more aligned with the rom-com genre they were supposedly aiming for. Dorami being dynamic and Hiro matching her energy would’ve made so much more sense. Hiro wasn’t some flawless green flag character either.He had his own issues and I don’t mind imperfect characters at all. My problem with the male lead is simply that he felt repetitive and stagnant.
✦I rated the drama 6/10 and here’s why:
2 points for the cinematography
1 point for Go Youn Jung
1 point for Go Youn Jung slaying a double role
1 point for Go Youn Jung’s outfits
I’m not blaming the actors. They did what they could with what they were given. Visually, the drama was engaging and easy to watch but when it comes to storytelling, it ultimately fell apart.
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