This review may contain spoilers
How to be "Passionlessly" out of love!
This show was on my radar before it aired. Both leads look compatible visually and close in age with an interesting romance drama titled "passionate in love" and implies two young lovers in a full-blown passionate affair. Oh boy, what can go wrong?
Character wise, I cannot even hide my disappointment in the lack of storyline, it felt like ML was chasing after FL the whole time. FL has a borderline narcissistic personality which she describes as overconfidence. She is inconsiderate about everyone else until someone is upfront with her. ML acts like FL is his whole life which you can interpret as "romantic" but its not. Many times, FL is playing around cause she enjoys the chase and excitement. This is exacerbated by the fact that actress herself cannot perform intimate scenes and brought on a whole controversy that is more heated than the non-existent plot in this show. The FL just appears to keep dodging at the thought of a potential kiss. The FL in the novel is bold, confident and - let's be real - not at all shy when it comes to kissing since she initiates most of them. FL in drama is complete opposite, to say she is a miscast for whatever reasons is an understatement. The whole production team trying to sell a product that doesn't resonate with what the audience expects, play with teasers and build up the anticipation only to ruin it, you bet there will be a backlash. It feels like one paid for premium but ended getting scammed with an inferior product, cannot shake off that feeling like being ripped off cause they cheap out with fake camera angles and borrowed kisses. They are being downright disrespectful to the viewers and they're not even trying to hide that fact.
Many times it feels like ML is trying to salvage the remaining pieces, but FL has a low EQ and has a problem with reciprocating love. Most of the time the actress herself spaces out without an ounce of this "passion" for acting. When the scene requires intimacy, ML is giving passionate gazes and shooting cupid arrows at her, FL just tenses up and becomes a frozen cube. As a viewer, that discomfort transfers over to me once I realized she is truly intimated by intimacies so all those romantic scenes looks forced and unnatural. It truly was hard to watch! The only thing that had it going was the good OST. I still managed to finish the show barely getting through it with FF button.
Editing wise, there were so many choppy parts where they were doing one scene and it skipped over to something else so they ruined the whole flow of the story. The leads' relationship felt tumultuous and downright unhealthy and it felt like they were both in this sort of complicated loop that they can't climb out of. Sure they manage to get a happy ending but it fell short and didn't seem to address the issues that kept popping out throughout the entirety of the show. You can say they sort of breezed through it. Towards the end they continue to drag on unnecessary filler scenes and the focus started shifting towards the supporting couple. It almost felt like the actress and/or director sabotaged her character but she isn't entirely at fault since her agency should have not accepted a script if she's downright uncomfortable doing these roles. The director is still mostly at fault for casting an actress who cannot deliver along with the poor directing/editing so there's a whole set of problems that spiraled into what it is. Quite disappointed since it was high on my anticipated list of shows to watch but floundered as it progressed on. This has got to be one of the worst romance dramas I've seen, I'm just not vibing with the flaws in this.
Is it worth the watch?
Yes, if you didn't read the novel and have little to no expectations. Visually it's top notch and the leads look great together, the acting is not atrocious, only subpar and flat at times but still somewhat bearable.
No, if you loved the novel and have standard expectations as you bet you're going to be very frustrated as there doesn't seem to be much of a plot and feels messy at times.
Character wise, I cannot even hide my disappointment in the lack of storyline, it felt like ML was chasing after FL the whole time. FL has a borderline narcissistic personality which she describes as overconfidence. She is inconsiderate about everyone else until someone is upfront with her. ML acts like FL is his whole life which you can interpret as "romantic" but its not. Many times, FL is playing around cause she enjoys the chase and excitement. This is exacerbated by the fact that actress herself cannot perform intimate scenes and brought on a whole controversy that is more heated than the non-existent plot in this show. The FL just appears to keep dodging at the thought of a potential kiss. The FL in the novel is bold, confident and - let's be real - not at all shy when it comes to kissing since she initiates most of them. FL in drama is complete opposite, to say she is a miscast for whatever reasons is an understatement. The whole production team trying to sell a product that doesn't resonate with what the audience expects, play with teasers and build up the anticipation only to ruin it, you bet there will be a backlash. It feels like one paid for premium but ended getting scammed with an inferior product, cannot shake off that feeling like being ripped off cause they cheap out with fake camera angles and borrowed kisses. They are being downright disrespectful to the viewers and they're not even trying to hide that fact.
Many times it feels like ML is trying to salvage the remaining pieces, but FL has a low EQ and has a problem with reciprocating love. Most of the time the actress herself spaces out without an ounce of this "passion" for acting. When the scene requires intimacy, ML is giving passionate gazes and shooting cupid arrows at her, FL just tenses up and becomes a frozen cube. As a viewer, that discomfort transfers over to me once I realized she is truly intimated by intimacies so all those romantic scenes looks forced and unnatural. It truly was hard to watch! The only thing that had it going was the good OST. I still managed to finish the show barely getting through it with FF button.
Editing wise, there were so many choppy parts where they were doing one scene and it skipped over to something else so they ruined the whole flow of the story. The leads' relationship felt tumultuous and downright unhealthy and it felt like they were both in this sort of complicated loop that they can't climb out of. Sure they manage to get a happy ending but it fell short and didn't seem to address the issues that kept popping out throughout the entirety of the show. You can say they sort of breezed through it. Towards the end they continue to drag on unnecessary filler scenes and the focus started shifting towards the supporting couple. It almost felt like the actress and/or director sabotaged her character but she isn't entirely at fault since her agency should have not accepted a script if she's downright uncomfortable doing these roles. The director is still mostly at fault for casting an actress who cannot deliver along with the poor directing/editing so there's a whole set of problems that spiraled into what it is. Quite disappointed since it was high on my anticipated list of shows to watch but floundered as it progressed on. This has got to be one of the worst romance dramas I've seen, I'm just not vibing with the flaws in this.
Is it worth the watch?
Yes, if you didn't read the novel and have little to no expectations. Visually it's top notch and the leads look great together, the acting is not atrocious, only subpar and flat at times but still somewhat bearable.
No, if you loved the novel and have standard expectations as you bet you're going to be very frustrated as there doesn't seem to be much of a plot and feels messy at times.
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