Miss Romcom

Disappointing older woman/younger man romance

Likes: Li Hong Yi's handsome face and sort of carefree acting. Kira Shi's natural acting as the older woman esp when she's annoyed. It's like a real annoyed face and not a forced cutesy annoyed face.

Dislikes: I found the second half super boring. Sometimes the FL seemed like a mom compared to the ML. The kisses were too chaste. A lot of the story doesn't add up. Oh and there's Hong Yi's awful hairstyle.

I liked the first half of this as it was light, funny, and centered on the build up of the relationship between the leads. Even though the FL sometimes seemed more like a mom than the love interest, I never felt the age gap on the ML's side. I still felt enough chemistry to ship these two together.
However, the second half dragged and no real satisfying outcome came out of the build up. It was such a let down. I found myself fast forwarding a ton which may explain why I don't really understand why Kira had time traveled back 10 years or why that element was even necessary for the story. I probably skipped that part, but I feel like you could have eliminated the whole time travel aspect and just had flashbacks or something. I dunno...I just wasn't into that part.
Also, the young FL vs the old FL was a bit of a stretch. The FL looks too old to pull off a fresh young 20s and the drastic personality change just seemed so unbelievable, And that whole aspect just lead to more questions that I don't feel the drama really answered (but again, I could have skipped that part).

Anyway, if Hong Yi wasn't in this, I probably would have dropped this.

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Still cute and funny, but fell short compared to other seasons

I've enjoyed following Yumi's journey through these 3 seasons, but this last season really fell short compared to the others. With only 8 episodes compared to the 14 in other seasons, this season felt too rushed and lacked depth. I still enjoyed the cuteness and humor, but didn't really believe the love story which is a disappointing way to end the series.

Likes:
1) Sun Rok's unique character - I think it's the first time where I've seen an introvert's energy levels explained so well in a drama. I completely related to the energy depiction and also the sort of opposite work vs home personality. Even though MBTI has helped people understand a little bit about introversion, this depiction really captured how much being social can drain strong introverts.
2) Kim Go Eun as Yumi - I can not picture anyone else who could have played this role to perfection like she did. I love her. Her expressions in the beginning towards Sun Rok's rudeness were hilarious!
3) Of course, the anime cells - I don't need to explain that one. My favs were Yumi's enormous hungry cell and Sun Rok's enormous naughty cell. hahaha
4) The addressing of how we approach love so differently as we age. I loved watching this journey as I could relate.

Dislikes:
1) The rushed loved story - it wasn't believable. There wasn't enough buildup between the indifference to love. It needed more time to develop which is a shame because the acting was good and the chemistry had potential but because of time, the chemistry fell short.
2) While I like Sun Rok's opposite work and home personality, at times it was a bit too extreme esp towards the end. So sometimes it felt unbelievable.
3) The last episode was just too rushed in wrapping up everything. A big let down as it could have been all heart fluttery, but it felt like the writers/director just didn't care.

Overall still an entertaining watch, but most likely will be a bit disappointing for those of us that have been on Yumi's journey.

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Started off fun, but dragged in latter half

Likes: The OTP laughing through their lines in the first half. Jerry's bathtub scene. DANG!

Dislikes: The 2nd half dragged. The recycling of the same outfits for Jerry. He's supposed to be this major fashion designer, yet he keeps wearing the same black shirt or same 3 outfits through out this long drama.

This started off fun and sparkling. When the OTP were together and teasing each other, they would constantly laugh through their lines as if this was an outtake which I really enjoyed. It's fun and made me smile and laugh along with them. I don't know why actors don't do this more often. When someone looks like they're laughing for real, it's contagious. I hardly saw the age gap because those scenes had chemistry.

Then somewhere in the middle, I kept being pulled out of the story. I couldn't ignore that Jerry kept wearing the same outfits. Certain locations were tied to the same outfit which is a continuity issue. Or there were times when Shen Yu would be really upset and then the next moment she's smiling brightly as if she hadn't just cried her eyes out. I couldn't adjust to the abrupt change in emotions. Or when there should have been a kiss because everything was leading up to it, but it was avoided for no reason which again, took me out of the story.

I don't know. I just feel like it became a mess the more I watched. I couldn't stick it out anymore and finally dropped at e29.

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Doesn't hold a candle to Steel Troop (Iron Squad)

Riding the coattails of Steel Troop's success, THE SOLDIERS launched with a similar feel of military competitions and drills, but with a slightly different concept. Bring in foreign leaders, pick your members, and compete for a chance to represent Korea in a national competition. Unfortunately, the show failed to delivered what made Steel Troops shine in my eyes...the sense of unity and heart.

I'm not sure if I would have felt differently if I saw Soldiers first, but I just found it pretty boring. Others I've spoken to felt the same way. I think it's because you don't really get to know the members that well. With Steel Troops, there were no given leaders but that was the fun part...you get to see which members step into that role. You get to see their personalities and their growth. Whereas in the Soldiers, you are chosen by a foreign leader who knows nothing of Korean culture or the language and all the members have to rely on them. You don't see the members grow. You just see their frustrations of not being able to communicate. The foreign leaders were unprepared imo for the intensity of the Korean competitive spirit and games. I felt like they thought they were there to teach their ways and how to safely complete the drills, when everyone else was just there to win. They started to get it later, but I felt like it was too late. I thought that gave an unfair advantage to the Korean leader who not only has the advantage of knowing the language, but also being familiar with these types of games.

Also I didn't really feel like each team had a bond. In Steel Troop, because each team was comprised of the unit they served...they already felt a connection and pride of belonging to the same unit. In Soldiers, because each person had to compete to get into a team, it was like everyone was just out for themselves in the beginning.

Also Steel Troop had MC panelists who contributed to the overall entertainment. This show did not which made it more boring in my eyes. If you haven't seen Steel Troop, then maybe without having that comparison, you may enjoy this. But for me, I can't help but compare and without having anyone to root for, I lost interest pretty quickly.

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