Enjoyed the romance. I knew coming in, looking at the female lead, that this was not going to be even remotely realistic. That helped me not think too much and just enjoy the romance and the visuals of both leads. It is, after all, a Hallmark romance dressed in period costumes and amateur politics. It's basically coffee in the morning, popcorn at the movies, lemonade in summer, and your favorite takeout. Nothing special but as long as they stick to the simple recipe, it works every time.
Life is stressful as it is and a good series or movie provides some respite. After a hard day's work, my heart and mental state can't take the heavy, overly emotional melodramas with frustrating characters and overused plots. Nor can it tolerate the excessively fluffy and ridiculously unrealistic romcoms with manic pixie dream girls and tragic domineering CEOs (except when the leads are eye candies). Luckily, we sometimes get the Goldilocks dramas, when everything is just right. The right amount of realism, the right amount of glow and glaze, and the perfect soundtrack to go with it. This drama portrays how ordinary people (meaning the sensible general public) deal with common life problems (relationships that have gone sour, parent-child conflict, health issue of a love one, etc). The only unrealistic thing about this drama is how absurdly good-looking the main couple is.
Guess this is supposed to be the climax, the "I'll leave you because I don't want to hurt you" part that makes a drama melo. The resolve she had when she was in her mum's house evaporated rather abruptly, too quick for the running away to make sense...in a drama. The trope of course plays on romanticized suffering and noble self-sacrifice that makes for really heavy emotional moments that some drama writers, even to this day, just prolly can't help biting into. I know it will make the reunion scene even more powerful, and it's meant to keep the audience emotionally invested, but dang it, it's always frustrating because I'm immune to it now. Hope writers find a more creative and realistic and less dramatic or frustrating way to generate heart-wrenching moments... anything other than "I'm leaving for your own good" which is, for me, almost as bad as the misunderstanding trope.
Who would believe that eradicating potential serial killers would create a Utopia? Did they check the statistics for serial murders? Especially in S. Korea? Anyway, with a weak foundation to begin with, it was difficult to taken in by this drama completely. It tries to sway audience by adding a lot of "scientific" crumbs, but I've watched too many Western shows of this genre to be convinced. Good stories usually make the audience feel as if we simply stumbled into an unfolding plot or we play the role of a confidante for a character as that character tells us everything that happened. This was like putting on a reality show that everyone knows is scripted.
I keep dropping this. Shin Hye Sun is too good an actress that she convinces me she's a spoiled mean woman who thinks she has the right to be mean just because she's miserable. I'm sure a character development is bound to happen but she's the equivalent of the cold domineering CEOs whom no sane woman would actually like if not for the looks, power, and wealth and the hope that she could be his savior. If the person is wealthy and good-looking, we have to dig deep to find the redeeming quality. Subtract the wealth and good-looks, we probably won't bother?
I finished the series only for Lee Soo Hyuk's one-liners. The idea was more interesting than most of these urban fantasies, had the potential to be profound but I don't know what happened that made me fast-forward and skip.
Having a naive, bubbly Cha Eun Woo is just a breath of fresh air. Also, a big fan of Shin Sae Kyeong. I loved the details of the job and the presence of Western influence at that time. It got me looking into Joseon history.
Not a big fan of Xianxia, especially if the FL is the manic pixie dream girl type (except in Fairy and Devil) but the cast is just way too pretty to pass up. Besides, all the of the protagonists are likable.
I quite enjoyed that. I don't know how loyal it was to the novel but I could tell the original story is full of interesting details. More grounded contemporary adventures are rare these days. By grounded, I mean the characters are realistically written in terms of personality, motivations, and behavior. Overall, it was an entertaining, often intriguing, watch.
I wasn't into K-drama when this became a hit. But now that I am, thought I'd give this a try. I think I saw an episode of this when I wasn't into K-drama and had decided I really didn't enjoy this type of shows. Years later, presently, I realize my preference has not changed. The first few episodes were funny, although the bit about the friends conning a really close friend already made me doubt that I'd enjoy the writing. Later it seemed none of the characters are based on normal people. Every one is unhinged, written purely for dramatic purposes, nothing based on how actual adults would behave given the same situations. I fast forwarded halfway through and found their relationship the same, barely a development happened. Also, it just didn't make sense to me how a woman would find the ML attractive with that personality. Anyway, to each her own. Still enjoyed the acting and there were a few genuinely cute and funny moments. It reminded me of the Spanish soap operas my grandma used to watch.
Not a big fan of xianxia these days. The childish trouble-making little girl character annoys me. If you've seen TMPB and L&Destiny, you're all good. If you want the sugar rush, you can add Pillow Book. Aside from those, I've dropped every other xianxia after one or two episodes. It seems that after one or two episodes I can tell that it will only be about the couple falling in love over and over and nothing else.
BUT this one has me hooked! I thought I'd be annoyed by little Orchid but surprisingly not the case. I think I like how self-aware she is. She's not foolish and foolhardy because she knows she is weak and alone. And I know it's a love story but not the in-your-face type...so far. The petty love-sick fangirls that I hate too, are present but not as persistent and not as one-dimensional. But mostly I love the idea that the devil gets sidetracked from wreaking havoc and cries out of the blue (very anime-ish). Loving this so far.
BUT this one has me hooked! I thought I'd be annoyed by little Orchid but surprisingly not the case. I think I like how self-aware she is. She's not foolish and foolhardy because she knows she is weak and alone. And I know it's a love story but not the in-your-face type...so far. The petty love-sick fangirls that I hate too, are present but not as persistent and not as one-dimensional. But mostly I love the idea that the devil gets sidetracked from wreaking havoc and cries out of the blue (very anime-ish). Loving this so far.