NikkiO

Same Story. Different Feeling.

I almost never write reviews but I couldn't stand the slander this series is receiving.

Firstly, it is predictable. We all must have watched a similar story in this language or another, but this was different in the way the actors portrayed it. The dialogue was fresh and simple. Every episode made me think deeply about my life.

I saw a comment someone wrote about it not being relatable. And I think our problem is trying to find ourself in every story. Making us assume we are the centre of the world. Meanwhile, we haven't lived every struggle or every fantasy, so what makes us think we can relate to every story?

This story is light-hearted, but not in a flippant way. It will make you think.

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12 episodes are not enough for a Korean drama

I have always said it: 12 episodes are not enough for a Korean drama, and this drama proved that.

I think this is one of the dramas that I have watched that I did not mind her ending up with either man. I would have understood her if she didn't get back with the ML, and I also think that they will be a couple that could be featured in any future shows about K-drama couples that did not last forever.

The story starts off very well; there was drama at the beginning that kept the viewers interested, and the way the couple got together seemed genuine. Then the creepy guy joined. I was surprised that the ML did not create a clear boundary with him. And I don't think the interaction between Sejin and any of the other lab techs was realistic. How is it that he was never confronted for his stalkerish behaviour? I was so angry when he still got the new system the ML bought for the FL after laying claim to the old one. To the ML, how are you comfortable with someone who blatantly crashes your dates? And you never confronted him? Blurts out your home address without you even informing him in the first place. Going through your personal mail?

There was no in-depth explanation for any of the characters. So many plot gaps, and none were filled. E.g. why did her parents say they wanted someone with full limbs? Of all the things to mention, why that? Why was ML's relationship with his mother strained? Why did his mom show up at the FL's family's car centre? Why was the FL's relationship with her brother strained? What's the deal with the FL's brother? Why didn't the FL's brother's first crush/relationship work out? What was the female professor trying to gain by blacklist the FL? Why is the creep the way he is? Why did the creep leave his first lab? Why is the creep drawn to the ML? Why did he move so close to the ML?

Then the plot hole: no one knew he had a mother; how did she suddenly know Tae Ho's name to tell him that she is disappointed in him?

Also, I hate that we didn't see their breakup. We didn't get to see them hurt, especially the girl. And the audacity of the guy to pull the same thing again. I didn't feel or see the intensity of their love/relationship to justify the girl saying that she will die if he does. Her making that statement without the writer/director/editor showing us that their relationship was intense made the statement childish. I think these are some of the things that were edited out. At a point, I felt I mistakenly skipped an episode, because the next thing I watched was an 18-month jump without any in between.

Overall, the actors did a good job. I believed their characters, and they conveyed what the writer/director wanted us to feel. I understand that in real life not everything gets closure, but I would have liked the following to happen: the female professor got exposed, the creep was reported, he didn't get his girl, and at least one of the other lab partners got a girlfriend. The only character that never pissed me off from beginning to end was the Professor. He was a friend to the girl all through, despite loving her one-sidedly and getting rejected.

I will still advise people to watch it; however, you will leave with more questions than answers.

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This drama will push the buttons you didn't know you had.

This drama is good, very good. The actors portrayed what the writer wanted so well that I also hate the drama.

I'm not here to give a full review, just to rant. If I skip the ML's parts with his mother and her relatives, I would give it an 8.5 or a 9. But because I want to get the whole gist, I end up not skipping.

I refuse to believe that someone can be as spineless as Ling Xiao. He has all the annoying attributes (he can't say no to her or stand his ground against her) of a mama's boy without being a mama's boy (his mom hates him).

As a woman, no matter how loving and handsome you claim to be, if you cannot stand and protect yourself and me, we won't be together.

Jianjian was an outspoken and no-pushover girl till she started dating this man and he had a negative impact on her. She now takes the abuse his mother and sister rain in her.

I think he likes and enjoys wallowing in self-pity that's why he didn't stand up to them.

The abuse he receives overshadows the wholesomeness of the drama for me.

Also, there is only one and half good and loving adult in the whole series - one is Jianjian' father and the half is Ling xiao's father because he is an absentee father towards his son but a good person.

If the further I watch and I see ML be protective of his mental health and of those who love him, I'll update but till then....NO.

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Big Budget, Big Disappointment

I started watching it with excitement, thinking I would get to see beautifully written characters in beautiful clothes. But nope, that was not the case.

Initially, it seemed as though Sung Hui-Ju was a no-nonsense character, and she gave as good as she got, but we never saw that throughout the drama. In fact, she cowered when confronted with the marriage contract by the media. The only time we see her show "power" is when it was directed at her family. She never thought anyone in the palace a lesson. She was played like a fiddle. I was expecting a showdown between her and the queen mother. The only thing she managed to do at the palace against the enemies was donate to the palace when they needed funding and play the recording of the prime minister. I only saw a flashy character with no strength.

For Prince I-an, the queen mother was right; their bloodline was weak. The only person he punished was Lord Inpyeong, and I am sure it was because the Queen Mother insisted. I would have expected him to show us that he would have made a better monarch than his brother and his nephew before proposing abolishing it. Because he said he was coveting the position initially.

Hui-ju got the short end of the stick from her contract with the Prince because she never used the power marrying him gave her before he proposed to abolish the monarchy. At the end, he became a jobless bum living off his wife. As her brother said, she likes the trophy type.

The drama had actors like Jo Jae-yoon, who everyone knows can play a very good, love-to-hate villain. But we didn't see him do anything else, though trying to kill the Prince is significant, but it didn't feel enough. And there were a lot of under-utilised actors. Like the King's maid, Hui-ju's father, the royal secretary, and many more.

Generally, Korean dramas need to stick to 16 episodes because their stories can be so rich compared to their Western counterparts that squeezing them into the 12-episode format will end up destroying the industry. I would like to think the emptiness of the plot was due to them having to edit a lot of things and remove parts that could have given the drama more flesh.

Just my 2-cents. Also, we don't get to see what happened with the prime minister. He did try to kill the Prince and blackmailed someone from the royal family.

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