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All Drama, No Substance
It's disappointing, really. I imagine that the writer couldn't decide whether they wanted to write a nuanced/mature exploration of a 10-year relationship or a makjang about a 10-year relationship. It's laughable if it's the first. A Love Other Than Yours started off by pulling you in with a promise of an exploration of a 10-year relationship between Nam Gung and Mi Do. The premise started strong; I loved the storytelling format, which compared some of the happiest parts of their love story to the present, when their relationship is beginning to fall apart. And slowly, as more episodes were released, it was as if we turned to a different genre, as more of the writing became absurd. Initially, the drama felt like an exploration of their relationship, the ups and downs. The setup of the drama was one of a kind in kdrama land, where relationships always start with couples falling in love and yet here are Mi Do and Nam Gung in the middle of a relationship that is slowly falling apart. One was ready to take another step, while the other was stuck and unsure about their future. It’s the main reason I was hooked when I first saw the first two episodes. The story was a nice setup to explore long-term relationship challenges. What happens when two people who have loved each other for so long begin to outgrow one another? Is love alone enough to sustain a relationship? How important is that spark that you get in the beginning, 10 years into the relationship?
What initially seemed like an attempt at a nuanced drama gradually devolved into something much more sensationalized, overblown, overexaggerated dare I say, rage bait. Instead of allowing characters to grow and develop their relationship, whether that be them realizing they should break up or stay together through meaningful conflict, the story relied on unnecessary drama and forced situations to create said drama to keep the audience watching, even if they hate it or not.
The writing is overall a mess. Turning Mi Do's depression into an excuse for cheating? And just for that plot point to be set aside. The writer made depression a way to move the plot forward; being depressed is used to justify the leads falling in love with other people. It's so ridiculous and cheap writing. It would have been a bit more justifiable (not the cheating part) if the writer had wrapped up this part of Mi Do's life better. You can't introduce something so significant in a character's life, use it to justify major decisions, and then conveniently abandon it when it's no longer useful to the plot. A 10-year relationship itself is complicated enough; add in second leads and this plot of a month-long trial period with them. It was such a cheap excuse to turn to the second leads as a plot device to move the story forward into a more complicated and messy situation. It’s a silly plot point to add if the writer was trying to write a melodrama. Their lives are so intertwined with each other, yet they want to jump into another relationship without breaking things off properly first. There were so many unsaid feelings and problems, so of course your relationship was doomed in the first place. If you have problems, communicate with your partner, not turn to other people and drag them into your mess.
I'm honestly so lost about what the writer wanted to communicate through this drama. What exactly is the message? I understand it to a certain extent, but whatever the drama is trying to say gets lost because none of them are given the proper development they deserve. On the surface, the drama has plenty to say about long-term relationships, communication, love, incompatibility, and the ways people change over time. But introducing all these themes is one thing; actually exploring them in a meaningful way is another. By the end, none of these ideas really leave much of an impression because they're buried underneath an increasingly ridiculous plot.
Sure, you could argue that the themes themselves are realistic. Long-term relationships are complicated. People fall out of love, grow apart, struggle with their mental health, and sometimes find themselves drawn to other people. These are all very real experiences. But there's a difference between exploring realistic relationship struggles and using them as a foundation for increasingly outlandish melodrama. The characters' circumstances might be rooted in reality, but their actions, the consequences of those actions, and the way the story chooses to resolve them often feel anything but grounded. And this is where I think the drama crosses into makjang territory.
It's almost as though the writer mistook the seriousness of the subject matter for depth. Just because you're tackling complicated themes doesn't automatically make your story nuanced. You still need to give those themes room to breathe, allow your characters to experience the consequences of their decisions, and give their conflicts some meaningful resolution. Otherwise, what's left is a collection of potentially interesting ideas buried underneath a convoluted plot that ultimately has very little to say.
My other issue is that we never really get to see Nam Gung and Mi Do grow individually or as a couple. Meaning it wasn’t until the very end that they became honest and communicated. Confronting the issues in their relationship and the truths they hid from each other. Mi Do's growth as a director and her depression were pushed aside, and Nam Gung's internal conflict with himself, his guilt and his trauma, I feel, was never properly developed, and it felt abandoned towards the end. It was frustrating that the drama saved some of its most important conversations for the very end when they should have been addressed long before. It’s a shame that the beginning was strong enough to carry the entire story on its own. Using Mi Do’s depression and the second leads as plot devices to manufacture conflict and prolong the narrative was unnecessary. The drama already had the necessary compelling plot to explore. The writer just needed to let it flow on its own path. Instead, they spent so much time creating unnecessary complications that there was very little room for actual character development that could have made the story worthwhile. Besides the very badly written script, I think the cinematography, actors and production design were well done, and they did a fantastic job with it too; it's a shame the story will overshadow these aspects of the series. Will now be mourning the wasted chemistry between the lead actors in this bad script. They were cute in the beginning; it makes me wanna see this pair in a rom-com.
What initially seemed like an attempt at a nuanced drama gradually devolved into something much more sensationalized, overblown, overexaggerated dare I say, rage bait. Instead of allowing characters to grow and develop their relationship, whether that be them realizing they should break up or stay together through meaningful conflict, the story relied on unnecessary drama and forced situations to create said drama to keep the audience watching, even if they hate it or not.
The writing is overall a mess. Turning Mi Do's depression into an excuse for cheating? And just for that plot point to be set aside. The writer made depression a way to move the plot forward; being depressed is used to justify the leads falling in love with other people. It's so ridiculous and cheap writing. It would have been a bit more justifiable (not the cheating part) if the writer had wrapped up this part of Mi Do's life better. You can't introduce something so significant in a character's life, use it to justify major decisions, and then conveniently abandon it when it's no longer useful to the plot. A 10-year relationship itself is complicated enough; add in second leads and this plot of a month-long trial period with them. It was such a cheap excuse to turn to the second leads as a plot device to move the story forward into a more complicated and messy situation. It’s a silly plot point to add if the writer was trying to write a melodrama. Their lives are so intertwined with each other, yet they want to jump into another relationship without breaking things off properly first. There were so many unsaid feelings and problems, so of course your relationship was doomed in the first place. If you have problems, communicate with your partner, not turn to other people and drag them into your mess.
I'm honestly so lost about what the writer wanted to communicate through this drama. What exactly is the message? I understand it to a certain extent, but whatever the drama is trying to say gets lost because none of them are given the proper development they deserve. On the surface, the drama has plenty to say about long-term relationships, communication, love, incompatibility, and the ways people change over time. But introducing all these themes is one thing; actually exploring them in a meaningful way is another. By the end, none of these ideas really leave much of an impression because they're buried underneath an increasingly ridiculous plot.
Sure, you could argue that the themes themselves are realistic. Long-term relationships are complicated. People fall out of love, grow apart, struggle with their mental health, and sometimes find themselves drawn to other people. These are all very real experiences. But there's a difference between exploring realistic relationship struggles and using them as a foundation for increasingly outlandish melodrama. The characters' circumstances might be rooted in reality, but their actions, the consequences of those actions, and the way the story chooses to resolve them often feel anything but grounded. And this is where I think the drama crosses into makjang territory.
It's almost as though the writer mistook the seriousness of the subject matter for depth. Just because you're tackling complicated themes doesn't automatically make your story nuanced. You still need to give those themes room to breathe, allow your characters to experience the consequences of their decisions, and give their conflicts some meaningful resolution. Otherwise, what's left is a collection of potentially interesting ideas buried underneath a convoluted plot that ultimately has very little to say.
My other issue is that we never really get to see Nam Gung and Mi Do grow individually or as a couple. Meaning it wasn’t until the very end that they became honest and communicated. Confronting the issues in their relationship and the truths they hid from each other. Mi Do's growth as a director and her depression were pushed aside, and Nam Gung's internal conflict with himself, his guilt and his trauma, I feel, was never properly developed, and it felt abandoned towards the end. It was frustrating that the drama saved some of its most important conversations for the very end when they should have been addressed long before. It’s a shame that the beginning was strong enough to carry the entire story on its own. Using Mi Do’s depression and the second leads as plot devices to manufacture conflict and prolong the narrative was unnecessary. The drama already had the necessary compelling plot to explore. The writer just needed to let it flow on its own path. Instead, they spent so much time creating unnecessary complications that there was very little room for actual character development that could have made the story worthwhile. Besides the very badly written script, I think the cinematography, actors and production design were well done, and they did a fantastic job with it too; it's a shame the story will overshadow these aspects of the series. Will now be mourning the wasted chemistry between the lead actors in this bad script. They were cute in the beginning; it makes me wanna see this pair in a rom-com.
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