I really hate illogical scenarios (crash landing on North Korea *coughs) and almost missed out a top-notch entertaining romcom show! I love the main leads' love story and the interactions of Seri and NK squad (they are soooo precious and my scene stealers). They nailed it with romance and comedy. There's some minor aspects that could have been done better. Perhaps because of the show's popularity, they stretched the runtime almost always longer than 1h20m which is pretty long for a regular show. Several scenes could have been cut shorter especially if they were fillers. Main characters are unoriginal (I can see My Love From Another Star corresponding leads in them), if not to say they are too perfect, the typical ideal romcom personalities, even Ri's supposed flaws are portrayed in a cute way every time. Prepare yourself for a bunch of kdrama cliches! Especially fateful moments, those make the story even more reaching. Those scenes played out nicely though, so I found myself enjoy them a lot! I'm not sure to what extend life in NK was romanticized in this drama, and if I knew, some low-rated reviews would have made much more sense to me. So glad I didn't take this drama THAT seriously and was able to enjoy all the way. The main focus of this show was romance between the leads which was done beautifully, and it's what matters most.
Personailty-wise, male lead is okay-ish but I couldn't really like female lead all the way through; she has the typical female leads' characteristics like a decade ago in dramaland (oblivious, cute, vulnerable but can be strong, THE SMILE), very basic and bland. There is no fresh ideas in plotlines here, I have seen a lot of scenarios / arcs tackled in different dramas in the past, especially my favorite "Go Back Couple". But the execution was overall enjoyable, though the pace is not the most consistent. The closures for everyone were nice to watch except for the ML (I feel really bad for this guy though I know he's happy where he is, but oh wells) Not a lot of romantic moments (too bad for me, I'm a sucker for those), too much screen time on the SML (he's cute though, but watching him building hopes with the FL was painful), I wish they milked more comedy out of Daeyoung being in his 18 body or the school life in general. I wish they gave a brief flashback on how they even had sexual intercourse with no protection at that age like OTL), was kind of frustrating looking at their mistake without much prior, proper, characterization context. Last but not least, it was overall a win for me as I got to watch Lee Dohyun, he's a charmer.
Mild spoilers ahead! I picked this drama from my long long plan to watch list after watching All In (since I really enjoyed LBH's acting there), then I checked out who wrote the script and I had a good laugh as realization hits: I dropped 5 out of 6 of this writer's most recent dramas (except this one of course). I didn't steer away thankfully because I have had a lot of fun (and sadness) watching it.
The pacing is slow at times and I wish they allocated more time for character development (especially our 2 leads), though of course all characters - sides or main, were memorable at worst and phenomenal at best. The best character for me was one of the side leads (Hui Seong best boy, please if anyone knows of such a drama or movie with a similar character send it my way!!) but Eugene and Aeshin were decent enough as they served the plot well that way. I have to admit I really enjoyed watching the leads just interacting with each other, especially our trio frenemies; twice especially Hui Seong with anyone - loved that instead of with Aeshin he got to share a romantic moment with Eugene (typical kdrama wound treatment scene) and Dongmae (typical kdrama accidental bump lmao) and I thanked the writer thousand times for those. The story was decent with plentiful moments of sadness, humor, and romance (they didn't have the best chemistry in my opinion, but their love story was heart-fluterring; I'm glad they didn't share any thing beyond a hug by the way).
Acting wise, I personally love Kim Taeri's and Byun Yohan's performance the most, especially the latter, he stole the show for me.
Three biggest complains: 1. kind of forced one-sided love coming from the SML half-way (feels like it's only served as a plot device), 2. too many coincidences (though reasonable enough to look pass), 3. ML can be a bit too capable at points. Some strong points: eventful and touching storyline with romance; political and action elements, good characterization for the ML; all the ladies are lovable; beautiful conclusion for all main/ sub characters. don't miss out even if it's an old drama! Big thanks to the two 10-scored reviews and the below comments because I was encouraged by them to watch this 18-year-old drama at last. It was so worth it. For the first time in so long did I find an angsty romance hitting so right to my taste, and it was a ride watching the male lead growing up going through so much ups and downs (that being said, not much to the FL - she seems like a plot device, if only her characterization was done half as good the ML). I watched the show at 1.25x speed most of the time (1.25x for this drama seems like normal if not still slightly slower paced for dramas these days), sometimes 2x because it tends to extend 'emotion' scenes or show flashbacks. maybe I would have rated it less than 10 if I were to watch at normal speed and deem it draggy, but the storyline is well-written, and let me emphasize this once again, the characters and their interactions/ relationship are what make this show's watch-ability pretty much timeless. As for the acting, Lee Byunghoon is one hell of an actor. His eyes speak volumes and he emotes very well. Kudos to Jingoo as well, he also did a splendid job portraying the young ML.
Show definitely got a lot of entertaining moments that kept me through and I was fascinated with its cinematography. However, I agree with UKIYO's review. They could delve more into Vincenzo's characterization (maybe showing his past how he became a gangsta), make the villains scarier (felt like Taecyeon could have done better with his role btw) / more sophisticatedly evil (you know without all the ridiculous killings), and focusing more on romance?
The main plot was not selling it for me (problem solved rather too abruptly - how he decided to jump again like that should have been given more resolution), a lot of side plots filling up the show (not really a bad thing to me since I find them more enjoyable than the main). The best thing about this drama was watching second male lead, not because he's good-looking but of his personality <3
Merely watched because of the silly promise comment i made when i was a teenager lmao (the pressure I put on myself like why??) but I finally finished it! The plot was as expected filled in with a few overused tropes (well it's old) like car accidents, parental abandonment, disease, gangsters; but it's well played out given what it got so that was a pretty watchable ride! The ending was bittersweet and kind of satisfying (not the happiest with the second lead couple but not unreasonable), all characters don't feel flat (some side characters were more interesting to me than the main leads), character development was probably the strongest part of the show. The show felt very slice-of-life throughout so it wasn't exactly my cup of tea (I like dramatic lmao). Though I might have to admit, it was quite fun watching nowadays well-known A-list actors like Kim Kangwoo, Kim Seohyung, and Eric in their younger days.
dropped halfway because I realized sci-fi is not my genre and this show needs full attention while I was looking to multi-task. It's not bad as far as I have seen but definitely a bit dry in my opinion.
no omg I feel old. the premise is interesting enough though, I'll try to check it out (theres also the actress in Sky Castle so this should be more exciting lmao)
To me, character growth was the strength of this dorama! the main leads also have nice dynamics too. If you are not looking for dramatic plot then this solely romance show is a good fit; light-hearted and short.
This drama is more about developing characters and they did so well in this aspect. I had great laughs with this show (the humor was no joke here) and I learned many things from the story; especially enjoyed how they leave quotes at the ending of each episode. definitely worth a watch! 8/10 2 points docked because it seems there were abundant amount of unneeded fillers (too many scenes for supporting characters/ couples and product placement *the bottles omg*)
This drama was to me a bit draggy. The serial killer mystery thing and the storyline in general are kind of lukewarm maybe because they don't bring anything fresh enough (?) But I loved Dongbaek's characterization and Haneul's character was such a joy to watch :D But boy am I invested in Noh Gyu-tae and Ja-young's storyline. To me they were the scene stealers of this show lol. Their scenes were so cute especially in the final episodes!
I'm so glad I finally watched this drama. The plot was great! The only thing I was let down is the way tutor Kim killed Kim Hye-na. She was (although I hate her lol) an interesting character; killing her just kind of made it easier for the plot to proceed. I wanted her to have a justified true ending where she isn't dead.
There's some minor aspects that could have been done better.
Perhaps because of the show's popularity, they stretched the runtime almost always longer than 1h20m which is pretty long for a regular show. Several scenes could have been cut shorter especially if they were fillers.
Main characters are unoriginal (I can see My Love From Another Star corresponding leads in them), if not to say they are too perfect, the typical ideal romcom personalities, even Ri's supposed flaws are portrayed in a cute way every time.
Prepare yourself for a bunch of kdrama cliches! Especially fateful moments, those make the story even more reaching. Those scenes played out nicely though, so I found myself enjoy them a lot!
I'm not sure to what extend life in NK was romanticized in this drama, and if I knew, some low-rated reviews would have made much more sense to me. So glad I didn't take this drama THAT seriously and was able to enjoy all the way. The main focus of this show was romance between the leads which was done beautifully, and it's what matters most.
There is no fresh ideas in plotlines here, I have seen a lot of scenarios / arcs tackled in different dramas in the past, especially my favorite "Go Back Couple". But the execution was overall enjoyable, though the pace is not the most consistent.
The closures for everyone were nice to watch except for the ML (I feel really bad for this guy though I know he's happy where he is, but oh wells)
Not a lot of romantic moments (too bad for me, I'm a sucker for those), too much screen time on the SML (he's cute though, but watching him building hopes with the FL was painful), I wish they milked more comedy out of Daeyoung being in his 18 body or the school life in general.
I wish they gave a brief flashback on how they even had sexual intercourse with no protection at that age like OTL), was kind of frustrating looking at their mistake without much prior, proper, characterization context.
Last but not least, it was overall a win for me as I got to watch Lee Dohyun, he's a charmer.
agreeing with the op
I picked this drama from my long long plan to watch list after watching All In (since I really enjoyed LBH's acting there), then I checked out who wrote the script and I had a good laugh as realization hits: I dropped 5 out of 6 of this writer's most recent dramas (except this one of course). I didn't steer away thankfully because I have had a lot of fun (and sadness) watching it.
The pacing is slow at times and I wish they allocated more time for character development (especially our 2 leads), though of course all characters - sides or main, were memorable at worst and phenomenal at best. The best character for me was one of the side leads (Hui Seong best boy, please if anyone knows of such a drama or movie with a similar character send it my way!!) but Eugene and Aeshin were decent enough as they served the plot well that way. I have to admit I really enjoyed watching the leads just interacting with each other, especially our trio frenemies; twice especially Hui Seong with anyone - loved that instead of with Aeshin he got to share a romantic moment with Eugene (typical kdrama wound treatment scene) and Dongmae (typical kdrama accidental bump lmao) and I thanked the writer thousand times for those.
The story was decent with plentiful moments of sadness, humor, and romance (they didn't have the best chemistry in my opinion, but their love story was heart-fluterring; I'm glad they didn't share any thing beyond a hug by the way).
Acting wise, I personally love Kim Taeri's and Byun Yohan's performance the most, especially the latter, he stole the show for me.
Some strong points: eventful and touching storyline with romance; political and action elements, good characterization for the ML; all the ladies are lovable; beautiful conclusion for all main/ sub characters. don't miss out even if it's an old drama!
Big thanks to the two 10-scored reviews and the below comments because I was encouraged by them to watch this 18-year-old drama at last. It was so worth it. For the first time in so long did I find an angsty romance hitting so right to my taste, and it was a ride watching the male lead growing up going through so much ups and downs (that being said, not much to the FL - she seems like a plot device, if only her characterization was done half as good the ML).
I watched the show at 1.25x speed most of the time (1.25x for this drama seems like normal if not still slightly slower paced for dramas these days), sometimes 2x because it tends to extend 'emotion' scenes or show flashbacks. maybe I would have rated it less than 10 if I were to watch at normal speed and deem it draggy, but the storyline is well-written, and let me emphasize this once again, the characters and their interactions/ relationship are what make this show's watch-ability pretty much timeless.
As for the acting, Lee Byunghoon is one hell of an actor. His eyes speak volumes and he emotes very well. Kudos to Jingoo as well, he also did a splendid job portraying the young ML.
The plot was as expected filled in with a few overused tropes (well it's old) like car accidents, parental abandonment, disease, gangsters; but it's well played out given what it got so that was a pretty watchable ride!
The ending was bittersweet and kind of satisfying (not the happiest with the second lead couple but not unreasonable), all characters don't feel flat (some side characters were more interesting to me than the main leads), character development was probably the strongest part of the show.
The show felt very slice-of-life throughout so it wasn't exactly my cup of tea (I like dramatic lmao). Though I might have to admit, it was quite fun watching nowadays well-known A-list actors like Kim Kangwoo, Kim Seohyung, and Eric in their younger days.
8/10 2 points docked because it seems there were abundant amount of unneeded fillers (too many scenes for supporting characters/ couples and product placement *the bottles omg*)
But I loved Dongbaek's characterization and Haneul's character was such a joy to watch :D
But boy am I invested in Noh Gyu-tae and Ja-young's storyline. To me they were the scene stealers of this show lol. Their scenes were so cute especially in the final episodes!
The only thing I was let down is the way tutor Kim killed Kim Hye-na. She was (although I hate her lol) an interesting character; killing her just kind of made it easier for the plot to proceed. I wanted her to have a justified true ending where she isn't dead.