This review may contain spoilers
Dare to love, missed the transitions, but mostly gets there
The show does eventually have a cute romance between the lead couple Hong Do and Yoon Bok at the end of the tunnel, but it's jarringly dropped in out of nowhere like it had been setting it up all along when it hasn't been at all. Throughout the entire beginning it's always been just Hong Do being the only one interpreting his every action to be romantically driven towards her in an over the top way, whereas it's not shown from his point of view during the period when he's clearly dealing with a lot of trauma regarding his abandonment issues from his mother and sister leaving him. She herself is later revealed to have also been abandoned by her father yet doesn't empathize or connect with him about this issue. On the other hand he never showed any short of romantic attraction to her, but rather looking for familial comfort in a trusted mentor. There was one moment that could be argued and it's so vague it needs to be, and it's when she returns to him with a drink for him when he has given up the idea of her coming back. There is nothing on his face and demeanor that specifically indicates burgeoning romance though. If the actor cannot express it, then the director needed to do something about it.
This show has many lack of transitions for many different character plots starting with the main couple. Although it's literally like a flip of a switch once he quits his life as an successor to Seongsan village, it so nice when he finally turns on the romance mode because it means Hong Do as a character can ironically stop obsessing over him for once and actually start her career proper as a designer because she hardly did any designing. It was always weird that she didn't have a sense of style either despite being a designer and even later she just wore clothes from her Camille company closet. Meanwhile Yoon Bok is always nicely dressed though it seemed like the first time in normal clothes is when Hong Hak dressed him for the club, he suddenly has a tasteful closet. Their dates and life as a couple is really sweet. It took way too long to get here. The end where she makes a unilateral decision for them to choose one place or another and to break up is so ridiculous though. There is such a thing as long distance relationship and even Seongsan Village has wifi reception. Even when he shows up in Paris to see her after her successful debut, it doesn't feel very complete.
Yoon Bok's sister Yi Bok makes a awful rookie mistake like talking extremely loudly on the phone without even being aware of the people walking around her at the very place she's undercover and tailing suspects even though it looks like she's already been a detective for a long while. She just as quickly quits her job too and doesn't seem to take up any role related to it when she returns to the Seongsan village, she suddenly takes up the chief position so her brother can go to Paris for the finale. What's her dream job? Leadership skills? But she never showed any even while she was a detective. It's also a big deal her grandfather is now switching to training a woman as a leader of the village when the entire ruling class has been old men like himself, but that's all skipped over. The Hyang Gi character makes the most random turn. She was crappy co-worker happy to date a two timing guy and steal designs, but she suddenly she's an advice barista with her own business that has nothing to do with fashion even though she's a designer. It's like two entirely different characters just to keep the actress on the show. The cultural heritage administration director Bum Gyo is the ultimate random bad guy just to have a bad guy to not commit to completely vilifying the one guy (Jun Ho) that had a point to be mad's sake. He has no personality other than wanting money. The show didn't bother to give him any meaty motive and it's so dissatisfying.
Although she is a lead character, Hong Do is the third most done wrong character. The show would give her a moment like she's standing up for herself but always undercuts it with her getting steamrolled every single time. She NEVER gets to properly take agency to save herself while she is constantly damseled throughout the entire show. The second most wronged character is Jun Ho, the former child servant of Yoon Bok's family. The idea of Seongsan village presents an immediate problem that the show glosses over that Jun Ho represents. It can be one thing to preserve the culture for the people who are lords and ladies, but there are also the servant class and children who can be treated brutally like in the feudal era. Can human rights violation be consented to? Jun Ho is such a wasted character and he deserved to be part of the imitation and execution for change. The number one character that was the most done wrong is Hye Won, Yoon Bok's mother. She is a victim of the old school views of the grandfather and a bit of her tragic could have been majorly alleviated by her daughter Yi Bok, a whole detective actually telling Yoon Bok the whole truth sooner. Her mom was already in hospice in the last days and she couldn't have at least cleared the air on her behalf to her brother BEFORE she's dead? She's literally dying and not going to benefit from the deal with the grandfather anytime soon. Yoon Bok's misplaced anger while she dies is the result which is double trauma for her little brother too.
Some odds and ends, Camille is an independent queen who is always dressed to kill. It's a bummer we never see Frankie's lover. The two older couples of Camille and the grandfather and Chil Bok and Joo Daek are cute. Yoon Ah and Hong Hak got surprisingly saucy with their one night stand. All of these couples create interesting familial interconnections but the show NEVER capitalizes on it, instead using up half the show on endless chase scenes to catch Jun Ho. There's so much potential heart and humor just left on the floor. Even Joo Daek as Yoon Bok's mother figure wasn't played up enough. Chil Bok's immense financial losses also caused Hong Do and Hong Hak to be homeless as well, how did they survive that? There are missed opportunities and holes in the narrative everywhere and very slow to get into the meat of the story, but the romance when it happens is lovely and mature until it's messed up at the end.
This show has many lack of transitions for many different character plots starting with the main couple. Although it's literally like a flip of a switch once he quits his life as an successor to Seongsan village, it so nice when he finally turns on the romance mode because it means Hong Do as a character can ironically stop obsessing over him for once and actually start her career proper as a designer because she hardly did any designing. It was always weird that she didn't have a sense of style either despite being a designer and even later she just wore clothes from her Camille company closet. Meanwhile Yoon Bok is always nicely dressed though it seemed like the first time in normal clothes is when Hong Hak dressed him for the club, he suddenly has a tasteful closet. Their dates and life as a couple is really sweet. It took way too long to get here. The end where she makes a unilateral decision for them to choose one place or another and to break up is so ridiculous though. There is such a thing as long distance relationship and even Seongsan Village has wifi reception. Even when he shows up in Paris to see her after her successful debut, it doesn't feel very complete.
Yoon Bok's sister Yi Bok makes a awful rookie mistake like talking extremely loudly on the phone without even being aware of the people walking around her at the very place she's undercover and tailing suspects even though it looks like she's already been a detective for a long while. She just as quickly quits her job too and doesn't seem to take up any role related to it when she returns to the Seongsan village, she suddenly takes up the chief position so her brother can go to Paris for the finale. What's her dream job? Leadership skills? But she never showed any even while she was a detective. It's also a big deal her grandfather is now switching to training a woman as a leader of the village when the entire ruling class has been old men like himself, but that's all skipped over. The Hyang Gi character makes the most random turn. She was crappy co-worker happy to date a two timing guy and steal designs, but she suddenly she's an advice barista with her own business that has nothing to do with fashion even though she's a designer. It's like two entirely different characters just to keep the actress on the show. The cultural heritage administration director Bum Gyo is the ultimate random bad guy just to have a bad guy to not commit to completely vilifying the one guy (Jun Ho) that had a point to be mad's sake. He has no personality other than wanting money. The show didn't bother to give him any meaty motive and it's so dissatisfying.
Although she is a lead character, Hong Do is the third most done wrong character. The show would give her a moment like she's standing up for herself but always undercuts it with her getting steamrolled every single time. She NEVER gets to properly take agency to save herself while she is constantly damseled throughout the entire show. The second most wronged character is Jun Ho, the former child servant of Yoon Bok's family. The idea of Seongsan village presents an immediate problem that the show glosses over that Jun Ho represents. It can be one thing to preserve the culture for the people who are lords and ladies, but there are also the servant class and children who can be treated brutally like in the feudal era. Can human rights violation be consented to? Jun Ho is such a wasted character and he deserved to be part of the imitation and execution for change. The number one character that was the most done wrong is Hye Won, Yoon Bok's mother. She is a victim of the old school views of the grandfather and a bit of her tragic could have been majorly alleviated by her daughter Yi Bok, a whole detective actually telling Yoon Bok the whole truth sooner. Her mom was already in hospice in the last days and she couldn't have at least cleared the air on her behalf to her brother BEFORE she's dead? She's literally dying and not going to benefit from the deal with the grandfather anytime soon. Yoon Bok's misplaced anger while she dies is the result which is double trauma for her little brother too.
Some odds and ends, Camille is an independent queen who is always dressed to kill. It's a bummer we never see Frankie's lover. The two older couples of Camille and the grandfather and Chil Bok and Joo Daek are cute. Yoon Ah and Hong Hak got surprisingly saucy with their one night stand. All of these couples create interesting familial interconnections but the show NEVER capitalizes on it, instead using up half the show on endless chase scenes to catch Jun Ho. There's so much potential heart and humor just left on the floor. Even Joo Daek as Yoon Bok's mother figure wasn't played up enough. Chil Bok's immense financial losses also caused Hong Do and Hong Hak to be homeless as well, how did they survive that? There are missed opportunities and holes in the narrative everywhere and very slow to get into the meat of the story, but the romance when it happens is lovely and mature until it's messed up at the end.
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