Just okay
First, the positives.. This drama was funny. Extremely. There were times when I could not stop dying laughing. The scenes that were just the four friends hanging out together, whether enjoying drinking on the rooftop or all congregating for breakfast were endearing - as a story about friendship it was enjoyable. Every scene in the past with the little kids was brilliant. The mysterious landlady quickly became one of the most entertaining and compelling parts, and as the story unfolded I kept very much wanting to know more about her.I believe in general the cast did the best they could with what they were given. The problem I had was that the main story was flat and not very interesting. The MMA scenes themselves were well choreographed and nice to watch, but it was hard to suspend disbelief sufficiently to actually be caught up in them, and to believe that the final fight would ever actually occur. The writing kept putting the women of the show in the position of being told what to do or treated like they couldn't decide for themselves or required rescuing, which was off-putting to me. Ae Ra was shown to be a strong, capable character, so why did she keep needing to be rescued? Why did Seol Hee keep getting shut down every time she tried to articulate what she did or did not want? This could have been so much more than what it was; a story about young people doing their best to overcome the odds against them should be inspiring and uplifting. In the end, though, it just felt like more fluff than substance.
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This review may contain spoilers
I liked it as a drama, but...
Yoo Jung was an abusive, manipulative, toxic character. I found it quite uncomfortable that whatever he did Hong Seol accepted it and rationalized it. There were also bullying classmates, and she continually found herself in extremely dangerous situations that she treated as perfectly normal. For example: why would she not block the phone number of an extremely creepy stalker? Even Baek In Ho often had a tendency to immediately resort to violence in any situation.Even so, this was an unusual gem of a drama. The acting was quite impressive all around, but Kim Go Eun and Lee Sung Kyung were both phenomenal. Park Hae Jin managed to portray a sociopath with skill, and his moment of realization was masterful. Seo Kang Joon absolutely shined as Baek In Ho - both his performance and the character were stellar.
The story was well written, even while being disturbing, but I felt the ending was rushed, and it made me sad Seol was still pining for Jung three years later - he realized how harmful he was to her, but she seemingly never did.
I find it a bit odd that Viki tagged this show as a romantic comedy - the genre is more akin to a slow-paced psychological thriller or straight drama.
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why?
Why would a writer, with a fascinating story to tell, proceed to write it in such a ridiculous way that nothing about it makes any sense. It was frustrating, infuriating, even nonsensical at times. The makings for an excellent drama that would make even the most hard-hearted person turn emotional, and yet instead it was nothing but a mess.Annoyingly every time there was a scene that should be suspenseful I instead was stuck thinking that the writer wished us to believe that every victim was just an idiot, all the police were bumbling fools, and that no one was even trying to solve the crimes at all.
The acting was superb, the cast did their best to make lemonade out of this lemon of a script.
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Delightful, heartwarming, beautiful, and never dull.
This drama took me back in time - mix tapes. rubiks cubes, going crazy for stars, reading trashy teenage smut... I could go on and on. The same teenage experience, just on the other side of the world from me. Even the fashion was recognizable. The storytelling device of having their older selves being interviewed gave the feeling that everything in the past was simply reminiscing about their journey into adulthood, which gave it a pleasant feeling,. Just for the nostalgia alone this is easily worth 10 stars, but it is so much more than just that.The thing that struck me the most about this drama was the sense of community. This is not the first time I have found this in a Korean drama, but every time it moves me a lot, and every time it is presented in a different way. Here in this alley there were clearly people better off than others, but at no time was this division made into a wedge to drive people apart - everyone shared. Food, house chores, watching children, gossip, laughter, tears, troubles - this is a list that could go on and on. The adults shared a bond, and so did the kids. The flashback scenes of them all as very small children growing up together made it easy to see why they were all so close. In this drama the community was essentially one big family - emphasized by the fact that they called for all the neighbors to jump into the family photo.
The acting was superb. The young people were all so well-performed that it was a particularly immersive show - they truly seemed like kids just living their daily lives. They were not all perfect students or perfectly behaved, but they were all good to one another and to the people around them. The adults were played nicely also, all with humanizing quirks and well-developed personalities.
The music was nice; presumably comprised of Korean songs well-suited to the late eighties to mid-nineties. In general it did not pull me in as much as other aspects of the show did since it wasn't the popular music of my youth, but it was all quite enjoyable anyway.
Definitely a show worth watching - despite the long episodes I kept not wanting to stop because the story is so compelling.
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