3
3
Blows hot and cold.
I looked back to my somewhat tedious review of “Run On”, which was the scriptwriter’s (Park Si Hyeon) first solo offering. I will however, give myself a little leeway, it was one of my early reviews. But unfortunately the same sort of complaints and comments work for this one too.
I had hoped that she would have had the confidence to resist the temptations of trope that she seems to get stuck in. Because I think she writes character quite well. The main leads are all individuals with noticeably different personalities, even if the males are somewhat dolce. She is able to give them some depth and interest, and I felt that they were more rounded than average.
But just as you are meandering along thinking that the plot/relationships might branch in new and interesting directions, you get pulled up sharply by a seeming inconsistent return to trope and accepted norms. Such as trivial events to cause awkwardness and jealousy, with irrelevant newly introduced, one-off characters. It feels out of place in a romantic melo, rather, the sort of fluff you find in a rom com. It undermines the character integrity making them seem vulnerable to superficiality. As a result, the whole drama blew hot and cold on me. I wanted to like it more than I actually did.
There are a fair few eye rolling conveniences in the plot, particularly involving the tangled web of past relationships that does nothing to advance the credibility. But it got better as it progressed and there were some beautifully tender scenes between the all of the leads. The bathroom scene in Ep 11 was especially good. It was well written and well acted. However, I found the last episode deeply unsatisfying. It sort of fell apart, then sort of came back together, looking sort of like the flakes on your plate after you’ve eaten a croissant, that you mop up using your finger so that the plate is sort of clean by the end, but you sort of wish there was more.
I really liked Song Jung Ki’s performance. He inhabited the character’s quirkiness and made it smoothly believable. He was also backed up well by the others.
The OST had the feel of late night bar music - pleasant in the background. And the cinematography inhabited the warm regions of muted colours especially browns and dusky pinks.
I had hoped that she would have had the confidence to resist the temptations of trope that she seems to get stuck in. Because I think she writes character quite well. The main leads are all individuals with noticeably different personalities, even if the males are somewhat dolce. She is able to give them some depth and interest, and I felt that they were more rounded than average.
But just as you are meandering along thinking that the plot/relationships might branch in new and interesting directions, you get pulled up sharply by a seeming inconsistent return to trope and accepted norms. Such as trivial events to cause awkwardness and jealousy, with irrelevant newly introduced, one-off characters. It feels out of place in a romantic melo, rather, the sort of fluff you find in a rom com. It undermines the character integrity making them seem vulnerable to superficiality. As a result, the whole drama blew hot and cold on me. I wanted to like it more than I actually did.
There are a fair few eye rolling conveniences in the plot, particularly involving the tangled web of past relationships that does nothing to advance the credibility. But it got better as it progressed and there were some beautifully tender scenes between the all of the leads. The bathroom scene in Ep 11 was especially good. It was well written and well acted. However, I found the last episode deeply unsatisfying. It sort of fell apart, then sort of came back together, looking sort of like the flakes on your plate after you’ve eaten a croissant, that you mop up using your finger so that the plate is sort of clean by the end, but you sort of wish there was more.
I really liked Song Jung Ki’s performance. He inhabited the character’s quirkiness and made it smoothly believable. He was also backed up well by the others.
The OST had the feel of late night bar music - pleasant in the background. And the cinematography inhabited the warm regions of muted colours especially browns and dusky pinks.
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