DramaHeroine

I'm gonna preface this review by saying that I have yet to finish this drama for the simple reason that a major plot point was introduced towards the end that infuriated me deep within my body, all the way down to my bone marrow, and I haven't mustered the strength to finish the last few episodes because of it. I will eventually go back and finish, if only out of loyalty to the main leads that I adore so much, but I'm pretty confident of my current opinion and don't think those last few eps are going to change it. (UPDATE: I did not finish this drama and currently have no plans of doing so. So there's that.)

The truth is, this was not a good season. The cases had a strange pacing to them, starting halfway through one episode and ending halfway through another. The big mystery from season 1 we were all expecting to get answers and a conclusion for....never went anywhere substantial. Instead, we were subjected to unnecessary twists and a bizarre new villain who felt totally out of place most of the season. And the romance! ThE RomANcE!!!! The romance showed so much promise! Things were looking so good! And then the writer didn't take it anywhere!!!!!!!!! Honestly, after the major plot twist I mentioned in the first paragraph that left me so infuriated, the romance is the thing I found the most disappointing about this drama.

I will forgive a drama for a lot of things if it at least keeps me invested in the romance.

You couldn't even do that, Queen of Mystery 2. You couldn't even do that.

I would be very surprised if this drama got picked up for a third season, and if that is what they were angling for with the way they chose to Write this season, then they really screwed themselves over. Because this season was dumb.

D-u-m-b, DUMB.

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This is a very short comment I wrote earlier this year that I wouldn't normally add as a review cause it's so short, but I feel sad that this special has no reviews, so here you go, lol.

I didn't enjoy this special as much as the first, even though I do think it is well written. Mr. Lookalike clearly has nefarious plans, and it's obvious throughout most of the special, so I spent most of the time wanting the female lead to figure out what he was up to and foil it, which doesn't happen. That was a little disappointing.

This also felt a bit like an ending to this story overall. I'm still crossing my fingers for another season where we finally get to see Akiko and Akira end up together, because I NEED IT, but this special makes the series feel...done. Which makes me want to cry, so I'm not going to think about it too much.

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Up front, I have to admit that I struggled with the pacing of this drama. I respect stories that move at a slower pace as I don't think there is anything wrong with a story doing so, so I can acquiesce that the problem is probably me, but it was a challenge in the first half of the drama to keep going. I kept waiting for our female lead to actually go camping with the whole group, and it doesn't happen till the very end of the drama. I found that disappointing.

But that being said, there is a lot about this drama that I loved. First and foremost, our really camping group of girls are incredibly fun. They're quirky and silly and just really humorous in how they interact with each other. I like the female lead as she's very thoughtful and quiet and clearly a little nervous about meeting new people, but my favorite scenes were of our little camping group as they planned their trips and drooled over expensive camping gear. Who would have thought a drama could make planning for camping look fun, lol?

The theme of the show is both relaxing and inspiring, and I'm honestly quite jealous of these girls getting go on all of these camping trips. I'm thinking I need to start planning some for myself. (Although I wouldn't be able to camp in winter as I have a chronic illness that makes me severely sensitive to cold weather. I would have to wait until spring/summer, lol.)

Of course, the food all looks delicious as well as simple to make. I'm definitely inspired to try and recreate some of the dishes, even though I'll probably have to get creative with some of the ingredients as I don't live in or anywhere near Japan.

Overall, I thought this drama was really good, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something wholesome and lighthearted and relaxing. Especially for any teens (or parents of teens) looking for shows that aren't glorifying things like teenage drinking or other reckless behavior but instead promote young people getting involved in fun and healthy activities. Let's make more stories for teens like this one.

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I really enjoyed this drama’s focus on what I would consider a somewhat unusual subject matter, being the type of good-looking where you don’t necessarily have to work all that hard in life and what happens when you realize that attractiveness is fleeting, and your good looks are about to run out. Kosuke, our male lead, is a good-looking guy (I wasn’t into him in the beginning, but he definitely grew on me as the drama went on), and it’s made his life easy in a lot of ways. When his future self shows up to tell him ‘good looks have a shelf-life, and your expiration date is coming,’ it serves as a bit of a wakeup call for Kosuke. He hasn’t been a selfish or lazy or mean person, by any means, but his life has been pretty smooth sailing, and it’s made him a bit unaware of the people around him. For example, he’s never had to put in the effort to pursue a girl, because they’ve always just come to him due to his good looks. His current girlfriend (who quickly becomes his ex-girlfriend) says to him early on that he doesn’t seem to pay attention or notice other people’s feelings.

Admittedly, the second half of the drama doesn’t really do any more exploration on this subject, the ramifications of being this good-looking, as the main characters romance ends up overshadowing this part of the plot. But the budding relationship between the leads is so incredibly sweet and charming, that I kind of didn’t notice (or mind) that it took over the story.

One complaint I saw from people who watched the drama before me was with the way things were wrapped up in the romance in the finale. From everyone’s comments, I understood that the leads don’t end up together. I went into the drama knowing that was going to happen, and I had prepared my heart for it. But to me, the last scene of the drama seems open to interpretation, and given the scene just before it, I think it's actually possible our leads got a romantic happy ending after all. Of course, this is speculation, and I could be wrong. If my interpretation of the final scene is incorrect, then I do think that creates some problems for the story, but I've chosen to make a happy ending my head cannon, because the last two scenes make it seem possible.

Apart from the possibility that the leads don’t end up together romantically in the future, I still like the rest of the finale. It’s overall pretty enjoyable and does actually involve our leads sort-of getting back together in the present with a kiss. But the most satisfying part ends up being Kosuke making peace with his possible future. When he has his last conversation with his future self, you realize that what he’s making peace with isn’t the future of his romance with Izumi, but rather, with the end of his good looks. He recognizes that future Kosuke didn’t make any attempt at changing the past, which means the future must not be so bad, and that gives present Kosuke confidence. Confidence to tell Izumi again that he loves her, and confidence to walk into the rest of his life knowing everything will be alright.

On this note, I was a bit frustrated with future Kosuke at one point, because it felt like he was going to be the reason present Kosuke and Izumi didn’t end up together in the future. But after both Kosuke’s conversation in the finale, I got the impression that what future Kosuke was trying to do was prepare present Kosuke for the end of his cuteness (not the end of his and Izumi’s romance). I thought that was a nice twist.

Overall, I thought this series was really charming, and I really hope it gets a special episode, because I would watch it. And I just want to add here that the main actor is PERFECT in this role. He NAILS the cute and comical expressions of his character, and I love it so much. I think it’s why I was finding the male lead so dang attractive by the end of the drama, lol.

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This drama is perfect for two very specific types of people.

1. Fans of melo/makjang/over-the-top insanity.

2. Those who love laughing at said melo/makjang/over-the-top insanity.

I do not fall into category 1. I spent years going into Kdrama rom-coms all bushy tailed and bright eyed and then pulling my hair out whenever the makjang/melo would make an appearance. I would keep watching, of course, because true love requires commitment. But I would always lament why they had to include a final hour bout of amnesia, or why couldn't the male lead just finally wake up and recognize his terrible behavior sooner rather than later?

I also do not fall into category 2. (At least mostly.) I do not seek out makjang/melo/over-the-top dramas, and when a drama I'm watching turns into one, I find it frustrating rather than entertaining. I don't enjoy watching people be terrible for terrible's sake, I don't enjoy having my heart put through a torture device for the 'exquisiteness of heartbreak', stupid decisions made for the sake of plot drive me up the wall, and while I can certainly suspend disbelief when required by a story, I cannot just turn my brain off completely.

With Husband in Law, we have the super common set up. A contract marriage, the leads move in together, male lead is completely uninterested in (nay, actively dislikes) the female lead, female lead is hopelessly in love with the male lead since youth, they end up working together with him as her boss, yada yada yada. This is very common Asian drama territory, and I'm on board with all of it. But on top of this is a secondary couple with the most insanely toxic, abusive relationship. The girl is basically treated as a rag doll by her husband, and the husband is a truly vile villain. He's also out to get the male lead because the male lead slept with the abusive husband's wife (not knowing she was married), and he even almost successfully ends the male leads life.

I fully admit now that I did not care one iota about what's her face and her abusive husband. I abhor abuse, and watching it play out on screen is certainly upsetting, but it happens so often and is so extreme in contrast to the rest of the drama that you eventually become numb to the abusive yo-yo relationship of the villain couple and just want them to go away. This is the first drama I ever fast-forwarded, and it was mainly their scenes.

The rest of the story is mostly standard for these types of dramas, but they would often incorporate really random elements (which I guess is also standard for most melo/makjang). The most extreme example would be when the female lead suddenly becomes a genius hacker because story reasons and hacks into the male leads company. There has been no indication up to this point that the female lead has any sort of impressive computer skills. Truthfully, there's no indication she has any skills at all, so this feels more like 'let's insert a random conflict here so we can watch him be mean to her some more' than it does anything else.

What really hurts this drama the most though are the technical issues. The editing and pacing are truly terrible. Scenes just end inexplicably, and we're mostly tossed around in the story without a very clear framework. They do such a poor job of conveying important information to the audience, explaining character motivations, etc. that I often struggled to follow what was supposed to be going on and frequently found myself on the wrong end of the stick with the story.

This point is less important, but the music is Frequently dramatic at odd moments. I get they were trying to give scenes a certain feel, but they should have invested in one more track of music that could convey the right tone without making everything feel like a tense stand-off in a crime thriller.

Now that I've said all of this, it will probably surprise you to learn that I employed the 'laugh at the absurdity' method to watch this drama. I still don't fall into category 2, but once I'd gotten into the drama deep enough to be somewhat invested, I realized the only way through it was going to be with laughter. So laugh I did, and it mostly worked. Granted, it took me probably close to a year to finish this drama, because ^see above^. But laughing at the nonsense made it easier for me to enjoy the drama. And truthfully, there are some decent things about Husband in Law. The lead actors are fantastic. They sell their characters every which way from Sunday, and I found myself liking both of them in spite of myself. (And in spite of themselves, seeing as the male lead is a selfish ass most of the drama, and I spent most of the drama thinking the female lead was trying to convince him to love her when now I'm not so sure she was. (See critique about the editing.)) They also have fantastic chemistry together, which goes a long way in a drama like this. The male leads friends are fun (even if they're frequently a little Too goofy), and they were often much needed comic relief. They also consistently root for the female lead, which I haven't seen much of in dramas in the same style as Husband in Law. The female leads friends are equally wonderful, although not nearly as funny and not necessarily all that affective when it came to being of some actual benefit to the female lead. And the male leads family all love the female lead and consistently take her side. And of course, I'm already pre-disposed to enjoy the general premise/set-up of this drama.

Still, despite being able to get some enjoyment out of Husband in Law, I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't in one of the two categories I mentioned above. I was too far in to get out when I realized this drama was going to be too dramatic for me, but you don't have to make the same mistake. If you enjoy melo/makjang, this will be perfect for you. If you don't, watch something else instead.

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I struggled a bit with this drama. Episode one creates a really solid foundation for the story to build on. There's the somewhat absurdist humor (which I admittedly didn't always get), this interesting trio of women who seem very different from each other but share one very important thing, and a very heartfelt look at the female leads life and her attitude towards her life. I was pretty hooked after ep 1.

But the drama couldn't seem to manage its overall tone and direction. We had episodes where the story went odd places for no discernible reason. Such whenever the trio is tasked with helping some random person overcome a challenge of some sort. These characters are generally not interesting, and neither were their problems, and the time spent with them often felt like a waste. There's an entire subplot to do with the female leads father running back into a woman he once cheated on the female leads mom with, a woman who happens to be a member of our main trio. This felt odd and awkward and uncomfortable to watch much of the drama, although they did manage to create a proper conclusion for it and eventually tie it into the overall story. And the drama didn't always get the absurdist humor right. It seemed only half-way committed to the joke at times, and you could really tell.

Overall, the tone and directing of this drama is confusing. I love all the humor around the three women being unlucky and bringing it with them wherever they go. I also really loved how heartwarming the drama could be when it wanted to be. But the rest of the drama seemed to not know what it wanted to do. I think if the drama had focused on the absurd humor, the plight of the three unlucky women, and adding in more heartfelt exploration of the story's themes, this would have been a better story. As it is, Unlucky Girl doesn't totally manage to pull all of its pieces together, and I both liked the drama and was underwhelmed by it. I did laugh a lot though, and I really loved this trio of ladies, so I would say it's still worth watching.

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Don't let the score fool you. This is a very watchable drama. It's consistently funny the entire run, something a lot of dramas can't pull off, and the female lead is soooooooooo feisty and go-getter. Those two things right there make this more than worth watching.

Not a lot really happens with all of the court politics and machinations for much of the drama, and I wouldn't put too much investment into that part of the story. It's mostly Yun Zhang suspecting Liu Xie of evil intent, and Liu Xie being shady but also making the audience question whether he's truly a villain or not. There's definitely plenty of fun moments and Liu Xie is infinitely intriguing, but it is a bit slow going at times. After about ep 29 (yes, pretty late in the story) is when things really start moving, and there's a lot of really interesting stuff that happens. I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how well they tied everything together. I would say this part of the drama has a very satisfying conclusion.

Probably the one thing you're going to hear the most complaints about is the lack of kisses in the romance. I don't know why the production team decided to go the route they did, why there weren't more kisses, why there were so many almost kisses, why the first kiss is her kissing the spot between his lips and his chin, but this is what they decided to go with. Am I happy about it? No. Does it ruin the drama? Also no. But it certainly doesn't benefit the drama. We at least needed a kiss fading to black on their second wedding night. (I mean, come on!) They do hug and link arms and hold hands quite frequently once they get together, and there's plenty of non-skinship related romance to be had between them as well, but I do still wish we had gotten one more true kiss. (I mean, come oooooooonnnn. Not even on the second wedding night???) Barring the lack of kisses, they are a fun couple to watch go from bickering to mild respect to open with their feelings for each other.

What really makes this drama work is the comedy and the female lead. First, it's incredibly funny. From the characters to the plot to the intentional irreverence, even the way they play with Chinese history. (This is not a historically accurate drama, lol.) I was constantly laughing at the hijinks everyone gets up to. Then there's Jinfeng. Love her. Love her, love her, love her. She shows up at the palace and makes the place her own, and it's very satisfying to watch. Without these two things, this drama probably would have suffered.

One Word Of Warning!!!!
This drama suffers from some bizarre, jarring cuts from ep. 20 to around ep. 26 that harm the overall flow of the story. Internet drama sleuths determined that the major cuts were to do with a subplot that didn't end up going anywhere, so the production team most likely decided to remove it. The problem is the episodes had already been uploaded to the internet when they made this decision, and making those cuts created confusion for other parts of the drama. They should have just left them in, and everyone could have side-eyed the dropped plot point and moved on. It might be worth rewatching some of those eps to help with clarity on the plot. The cuts took me out of the story enough, that I decided to rewatch about 5 or 6 episodes just to help me understand what was going on and give me time to get reinvested.

Overall though, I think this was a super fun drama, my third Chinese drama to ever finish. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for really good comedy that is consistent throughout the story, and a feisty, spunky female lead who makes everyone love her.

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I guess this would count as a 'healing' drama, a term I see all over Mydramalist these days. There are some traumatic experiences in our male lead's past as well as some sad things in the female lead's past, and the drama addresses each of them thoroughly, but the over-arching story and the way it unfolds on screen is very much one of hope and restoration through a cozy, warm-hearted lens, hence making 'healing' an apropos descriptor. It's not necessarily a new story, but the over-all charm of the characters and the setting make it a pleasant watch.

That being said, I was personally impressed with the drama's focus on forgiveness and redemption. This is not a typical topic in Korean dramas, namely because of an aspect of Korean culture called Saving Face, but Hometown handles the subject with thoughtfulness and fairness. It never openly mentions Saving Face, but it treats the male lead and difficult past with graciousness.

Of course, it's sad that after portraying such a beautiful story of hope and redemption, the actor playing the male lead has found himself in a very real scandal of his own, and for behavior far more egregious than his character's. We've been seeing a lot of serious scandals recently in the Korean entertainment industry, and each time, there's the same conversation. Should we dump the person, should we dump the media they were part of, should we forgive them, should we believe in their innocence? For my part, I hope Hometown's male lead actor and his ex-girlfriend can work through what happened in their relationship and apologize honestly for the things that went wrong and then move into the future healthier and making better choices. It's a sad situation but not one that cannot be redeemed.

As far as whether you should watch this drama or not after this scandal, that will ultimately be up to you. I don't think it is something that should stop you if you've been eyeing this drama since it started, but you also do not have to watch it if you just can't. There are so many drama's out there. If you are aware of the scandal and are more concerned with whether Hometown will suit your particular drama tastes, then here are my thoughts: If you like 'healing' drama's, then this is a good drama to watch. It has a warm and cozy feeling with charming characters and a beautiful story of redemption and restoration and hope for the future. And if you're looking for a drama that has that perfect, gooey, romantic ending, then is definitely the drama for you. There's some straight cheese in the finale that will be right up your alley, lol.

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Updated Review 2022:

I remember the first time I watched King2Hearts, some ten odd years ago. There's this really great scene in episode 1, possibly my favorite in the series, where the South Korean royal family watch as the Berlin wall in Germany comes down. It's a foundational moment for King2Hearts, as it sets the tone for the rest of the drama. This isn't just a romance. This is a story about a country, two countries, and what could be between them. This is ultimately why I appreciate this drama like I do. There are elements of the story that are clunky in their execution, there are things that are just downright bad, and while I enjoy the romance, it's not one of my favorites. But King2Hearts attempted to do something a lot of dramas don't. Give North Korea a voice and take a serious look at what it might be like if North and South Korea were ever to come together again. Obviously, this was done through the lens of a fictional monarchy and not much time is spent on exploring what life in North Korea really looks like, but it was an earnest attempt to reconcile these two countries, even if just in fiction.

Of course, I can't write a review for this drama without talking about the female lead, Hang Ah. At this point, you've probably seen a swath of people waxing poetic over her and for very good reason. Hang Ah has an incredibly well-crafted balance between the delicate and the fierce aspects of her personality. She dreams of finding love and enjoys dressing up and feeling girly, but she's also principled and supremely tough in the face of danger, and not once is either side compromised for the other. It may be annoying at this point for people to constantly talk about Hang Ah's consistency as a character, but this was such a rarity in Kdrama's of the time, that it stuck with most of us who watched King2Hearts.

It is fair to say that King2Hearts has it's share of very obvious flaws. First, there are the terrible with a capital T foreign actors. I wrote in my original three sentence review (which you can see below this updated review) that watching them was like being tortured and tickled at the same time, and I still agree with that. They are bad to the point of distraction, which is unfortunate as it mars a lot of what goes on in the main villain's storyline. But we will have to chalk up the terrible acting to the fact that there was likely no budget for Kdrama's of the time to hire foreign actors with some actual skill, so they used what they could find.

What can't be as easily forgiven is a villain who is sometimes successful at being terrifying but also sometimes successful at being nothing more than useless. He's very convincingly acted, although again, his character is often undermined by the terrible acting of the foreign actors around him. This could be overlooked, however, if his machinations more consistently successful or even frightening. Sadly for him, his plans are unsuccessful a few too many times, and they fail to consistently inspire fear in the audience thus making it harder for us to understand why we should be afraid of him at all. I will acquiesce that the villain improves upon a second viewing, but I still didn't walk away from the story feeling the level of fear I was clearly meant to. I mostly viewed the villain as pathetic.

Flaws aside, I think this is still an important drama. It's not polished like most Kdrama's coming out today. The drama team would have been limited by the resources that were available to them at the time. But watching with the Korean royal family as the Berlin wall fell made my heart swell with hope for North and South Korea, and I think that was the point. This wasn't going to be a hard-hitting, finely detailed approach to the issue of North/South Korean relations, but an attempt though the storytelling medium to say something of value about the two countries and to express a hope for tomorrow. A hope that one day, peace will reign. And for my part, I hope that will someday be the case.

Original Review:

The villain was pure nonsense, and watching the foreign actors was like being tortured and tickled at the same time. But the scene with the Korean royal family watching the Berlin wall come down in the first episode sold me. Couldn't put it down and was so sad when it was over.

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I don't have anything super profound or revolutionary to say about this drama other than to reiterate what I said about season 1, so I'll copy and paste that here, because this season really deserves at least one review on this site.

The Wakako series as a whole has everything to commend itself; a really interesting female lead, lots of delicious looking food, an overall cozy feeling, an unspoken exploration of belonging and purpose (there's a lot going on in the subtext that I think most viewers probably don't notice.) Each episode hosts, so to speak, 2 real-life restaurants and some of their dishes and spirits, and the show serves as a lovely way of advertising for what look like some really great mom and pop restaurants. I imagine the viewers found themselves frequently compelled to seek these establishments out after each episode.

Really, there's just nothing outside of the slice of life element that could deter someone from watching this drama or it's future seasons, and I would caution anyone from letting that stop them from at least giving it a chance. There's no hyped up drama or high stakes or heartbreak, just lots and lots of charm.

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In general, I'm not good with slice of life dramas. It's not the genre that's the problem but rather me and my attention span. Of course, I haven't watched very many dramas in this genre, and so far, I've only had good luck with them, but I do tend to gravitate towards stories that have a little more going on to keep me interested. So when I started Wakako, it took me some time to really get into it. It truthfully wasn't until starting season 2 that things really began to click for me, and now I'm sad that there doesn't appear to be anywhere to watch the future seasons.

Of course, the Wakako series as a whole has everything to commend itself. A really interesting female lead, lots of delicious looking food, an overall cozy feeling, an unspoken exploration of belonging and purpose. (There's a lot going on in the subtext that I think most viewers probably don't notice.) Each episode hosts, so to speak, 2 real-life restaurants and some of their dishes and spirits, and the show serves as a lovely way of advertising for what look like some really great mom and pop restaurants. I imagine the viewers found themselves frequently compelled to seek these establishments out after each episode.

Really, there's just nothing outside of the slice of life element that could deter someone from watching this drama or it's future seasons, and I would caution anyone from letting that stop them from at least giving it a chance. There's no hyped up drama or high stakes or heartbreak, just lots and lots of charm.

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This was a really enjoyable watch. Destiny stays very light-hearted and fluffy and not particularly heavy or deep most of it's run. This works really well, because the story does each of these things really well without feeling like it lacks too much substance. But then the drama surprises you in the last few eps with some genuine depth and great plot development and a very good talent at making you feel all the feels. (And booooy did I feel all the feels.) The rules of the magic system are a little bendy at times (particularly in the latter half), changing when it suits whatever is currently happening, but it all ultimately serves the story in the right ways. I particularly love the twist that the one who is fated is able to change the fate in their book if they manage to get their hands on it, as it creates a very interesting dichotomy between the role of the gods of destiny (and who/whatever is behind them), and the people whose fates are being written.

My one quibble with this drama would be the ending. Chae Kyung has the opportunity to do just this thing, and she could have written in her book that she and Ho Yoon got to be together. There's no specified rule that says she Can't do this, especially if Ba Reum can decide he doesn't need a god of destiny anymore at all, and there's no story reason for why she Wouldn't do this. So why doesn't she do it? Why does she choose to have the same heartbreak repeated endlessly throughout her life ultimately causing her (and Ho Yoon) endless pain when she had the option to simply...not do that? Full stop, that's not romantic. That's self-mutilation. Personally, if I made it into the hall of fate, got to pick up my own book, Write In It, and no one stopped me? I'm writing my happy ending and looking up at the ceiling at the same time like 'This is your own fault for not locking the door.' Of course, I'm creative enough to make up my own head cannon, and I enjoyed the rest of this drama more than enough to not let the ending ruin it for me, so I'm choosing my own fate here an now and saying they end up together and happy and creating lots and lots of ridiculous (and ridiculously entertaining) soapy dramas till their end of their dying days.

The end.

While I could see this story being expanded to 16 episodes in order to flesh out the story and world and magic system more, I don't think that would have suited this drama. Maybe expanded the ten episodes to an hour each would have worked. But this was clearly intended to be something short and simple and genuinely pleasant to watch, and it succeeded. I definitely recommend it.

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I've always been somewhat mystified by the fact that Korea has sooooo many historical dramas set in loooooong-ago times but so few set in more recent era's, ie. from the early 1900's onward. I assume it's partially to do with how poorly Kdrama's not set in modern day or ancient history have done in the Kdrama market. They definitely don't seem to do very well. And in that regard, I guess I understand why so many people slept on this drama when it originally came out (myself included). The reviews for it now are mostly positive, but I don't remember anyone talking about this drama when it came out, and when they did it was usually to critique it. (I think it was 'too slow' for Kdrama watchers back then. This style of drama storytelling wasn't really a thing in the Kdrama landscape until more recently.)

Regardless though, of why this drama wasn't super popular when it came out, I can confidently say it Deserves to be popular now. The story is, first and foremost, about the lives of women, their loves and losses and struggles and triumphs, and it's very, very compelling. But the way the writers subtly weaved through the story an examination of the era it was set in, tackling some deep topics in sensitive and thoughtful ways, is superbly done as well. It's not a drama about the Korean democratic movement or marital affairs or school sanctioned abuse, but these elements are all integral to the story and help give a better picture of what life during 1970's Korea would have been like.

I think part of why this story works so well is because of the filming style and the storytelling choices. The camerawork is very soft and light and the pacing very gentle, which again, was not typical of Kdrama's at the time and probably another reason why this drama wasn't popular then. But I really love it, and I'm glad they chose to go this route despite it not being the norm at the time. It gives the story an almost slice-of-life feel even though I don't think you could classify this drama under that genre. Things happen and things change and people grow, but the story isn't afraid to take it's time.

I do want to give one word of warning to future viewers though. Early on in the drama, it appears like two characters might be having an affair but the drama doesn't say yay or nay about it for a long time, and the possibility really bothered me. Not because I have a problem with stories addressing the issue of cheating, but because I have an abhorrence of the act and drama's that don't make a clear statement about it upset me. So I'm going to tell you upfront, there is cheating in this drama. Fortunately, it is also properly addressed and the affair ended, so if you are like me, you don't have to worry on that front.

And now I have to mention the fashion, because it's great. I don't think it's 100% historically accurate to the era as the cuts of most of the pieces definitely veer on the modern side, but I think it strikes a nice balance between period accurate and modern interpretation. I also just really love it. I think most of the young female characters outfits outside of school are really cute and I was taking notes the whole time, lol.

I'm sad this drama wasn't more popular when it aired, but I also understand. With the dearth of historical Kdrama's of this type, the fact that the Kdrama landscape was in the stages of changing when this came out, and Kdrama's with this style of storytelling were a lot more atypical than they are now, it makes sense that this ended up being sidelined for so long. I think this drama probably would have done better in Kdramaland today as Kdrama viewers are more open to this sort of story, but alas, it did not happen that way, and we just have to accept that. For my part, I'm glad I watched this drama Now, because it left me feeling good, and that's really what I want from most drama's. To finish them with a smile on my face.

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