bojojoti

How have I never noticed Jang Ki Yong before? I've seen him in ten dramas, and he never really caught my attention. His versatility is commendable: he had great comedic timing in The Boy Next Door; he was the sweet, supportive male friend in Couple on the Backtrack; he was the aloof, yet vulnerable, gumiho in My Roommate is a Gumiho; and he portrayed a depressed, lost soul in The Atypical Family.

Ahn Eun Jin was the lead in My Dearest, one of my favorite dramas. I've seen her in supporting roles in a few other dramas, and, by happenstance, saw her in Genie Make a Wish right after watching this. She had wonderful chemistry with the ML. I wish her character had been better written. The underlying theme of the drama was female empowerment, but the message clashed with the FL's downcast loser attitude.

The script needed help. It started fresh and engaging but it lost its way a few episodes in. When the FL noticed the lost boy had entered a dangerous, cordoned off area, she didn't notify the search party of her find (phone was in her hand, and they'd all been in touch) so that they could have come help look for the child instead of wasting time looking elsewhere. It was a case of a sloppily manufactured staged catastrophe that truly disappointed me, because there was potential for this drama that couldn't be realized because of overt stupidity. I hate when the FL becomes an idiot. Add the tropes of a love triangle (which really wasn't too unendurable), loan sharks, lies and misunderstandings, the most idiotic of noble idiocy, and lack of communication, and it's hard to believe that I enjoyed this as much as I did, but that was all due to the charisma of the actors. There was some originality in swapping the White Truck of Doom for the Black Car of Crashing. Falling off a cliff was substituted for a tumble down a steep incline. Four-leaf clover, piggyback rides, watching the loved one sleep, only one room at the inn, a trip to Jeju Island, Namsan Tower, evil sibling, unsavory scrabble for corporate succession, saving a drowning person (twice—some tropes need repeating, I guess), singing karaoke to vent, secretly holding hands on the work elevator, corporate espionage enabled by poor security, time skips, and FL being slapped by ML's father were a few more. I shouldn't even mention that bugaboo of amnesia, but when will drama writers give up on that tired trope? I believe the only trope skipped was pricking the finger for indigestion (FL did end up in the hospital for indigestion, but she was given an IV instead). But, then again, I'd rather have a tired trope than an imbecilic main character who can't use her words.

I was excited when Namkoong Min appeared on screen, but he turned out to be a cameo, and that part of the drama wasn't fleshed out. There were many instances of a potential storyline being presented, then abandoned. Ostensibly, the FL's sister was the entire reason for the drama. She caused the ML and FL to meet. She caused her mother's collapse and hospitalization. She impoverished her sister to the point she had to lie for a decent job to get funds to pay the debt. Irresponsible sister was the catalyst, but she disappeared like an original thought in a trope-ridden drama.

An enjoyable moment was the engagement party with all of the scheming and planning of diverse characters coming to a head. Who would act first? Another fun bit was the outro when the cast danced, including smiling villains, to leave the viewer on a happy note.

I added an entire star for the cast. They did their best with what they were given. The first episodes deserved that rating or more.

TL;DR: Overall, I enjoyed the performances and would love to see the main leads together in another romcom but with a better script. The drama started with great promise, then got bogged down tropes and massive FL imbecility.