chillingindoors

Set in a quaint little seaside town with no villains or overtly antagonistic characters, it may appear feel-good and breezy (like the majority call it), but it was far from it. I'm probably in the minority who did not love this drama. There were so many problematic elements in the various relationships that were brushed aside and justified in the name of love. I have no issues with characters that are grey, flawed, complex or problematic. My issue is when characters' complexities are justified to make them appear ideal, when they are far from that. Not to mention, the surface level characterisations which really irked me. In the end, none of them felt real, even though it started with so much potential.

I guess it's worth a watch for those who love the regular K drama romances and are not looking for anything too different, deep or substantive to watch.

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Let's talk about the decent parts of the show first:

- Our dimpled leads had chemistry.

- Their banter and comfort in the initial episodes eg. scenes like when she challenged him to solve the maths equations or when she told him off - that was the dynamic I fell for

- South Korea's quintessential grandmother and her friends. Loved the natural banter and their relationship

- The 2 kids ended up being the most mature characters on the show. Loved their bonding and camarederie.. I tell ya they're gonna date in the future.

- The police officer and Mi Seon's relationship was sweet and I love that they communicated.

- Glad that the cafe owner's dream to be a famous singer again wasn't forgotten and brought back in the finale

- The ending scene; there was something very endearing about it


Now let's talk about the problematic elements:

1. Doo Shik –Yes, Doo Shik is a nice, considerate guy but after the leads got into a relationship, I no longer saw the guy I loved; the guy who talked informally to her father and was very upfront with him without the niceties or pretence that he must be respectful to her father. She wants to hide the relationship – OK. She hits him countless times to hide the relationship – you’re cute. She introduces him to her so-called friends and brags about graduating from an A1 school and tells him to talk to her friends in a respectful tone – OK. She buys the expensive necklace – Do whatever you want with your money. He never told her that she can't cook. That’s great, but where was his opinion in all this? Respect isn’t silent agreement. It is about stating your opinion and letting the other know that you’re ok the way they are. Silent agreement is either subservience or being avoidant. You’re telling me a minimalist like him has no opinion with her lavishly spending. A guy who wants to live his life his way played golf to impress her friends. This is the same guy who asked her how many friends she has, and she said Mi Seon. This guy knew these friends don't care for her.
Their relationship came across as superficial with just them either acting cutesy or discussing things for the sake of it (with no real issue actually discussed). There was so much potential to show banter and love between a couple that are very different from each other, but the show chose to take another route in making him too nice and accepting, and her being tamed and overtly clingy towards him.

Let’s talk about him before they got into the relationship – when Hye Jin first walked off stating that the villager ought to stop spreading rumours about them, Doo Shik went after her and told her “you have not changed”. After they got into a relationship, he said “you have changed.”
My question is why does she need to change? There was nothing wrong with her at all. Yes, she spoke her mind and was blunt, but it’s not like she never had empathy. She stuck to her business, did her thing. Yes he drew her out, helped her become closer to the villagers, but again, what is wrong if she chose to stay in her own zone?! Why does she need to fit into his expectations as a nice amicable girl who gets along with everyone like he does. Why not accept her the way she is? I hate how she was always proven wrong to prove him right.

Why was his past kept all the way to the end? Why wasn't it infused into the plot? For someone so guilt-ridden, I am surprised that they made him into such a sunshine character. Yes that was a disguise to hide his pain (as the show liked to call it) but I disagree. He looked pretty content to me. Again the show conveniently used his guilt as and when needed, and in the end, it was simply used as a plot device to create angst between the leads and probably add some mystery to the ML. SIGHHHH.
Once the past was revealed, everything went back to being hunky dory.

2 . What was the need to establish a childhood / past connection? Or that she saved him on the bridge that day? Why can't SK dramas move on from this trope especially if it serves nothing to the plot. Even if they didn't meet when they were young or she didn't save him on the bridge, it wouldn't change what they share or make their love any deeper.

3. Hye Jin – A character with sassy potential that was sadly tamed. Till the end of the drama, I never found out about her. Little details were thrown in about her- she had to earn her way to college, she got into an accident during college and suffered a herniated disc, she had a relationship with a guy who dissed her resulting in her taking off her specs and dressing better the next day, she came to Dongjin to make some money. But what do these details even tell us about her? Her dreams, her insecurities, her psychology? Nothing. How did she change from the girl who didn’t eat and focused only on her studies to a girl interested in pretty and expensive things? How did she turn out so vibrant having lost her mother at a young age and fending for her alcoholic father. Nothing was addressed. The only point the show made was that she “changed” as Doo Shik said and became more amicable. While I didn’t like the way she softly pressurised Doo Shik into revealing his past, was she wrong? Nope. But again, she came around, as she did with the other villagers which I’ll discuss below. I wish she took up the job opportunity in Seoul and had a long-distance relationship with him instead. Again, her ambition took a backseat for him. I refuse to believe that she will be happy living in this town all her life because that's not who she is.
Who styled Shin Min Ah in this? The clothes were way too loose for her and did not do justice to her frame and beauty.

4. The villager who slut shamed Hye Jin (said she was having a thing with both guys) and even referred her patients to another and looked down on her profession was justified in the name of grieving for her daughter and letting her do whatever she wants as long as that makes her happy. Are you kidding me?! Just because you are grieving. it does not give you a right to spread rumours about others.

5. The pregnant store owner and her husband – there was constant neglect in that relationship with him not caring about her feelings, or her needs to the extent of him saying shit like “Why can’t you undo your own shoelaces” to a freaking pregnant woman and the only redemption he gets is that “I’ll treat you better.” The worst is that till the end, he didn't even realise what the problem was. She gave birth and there, it's done. Everything brushed aside in the name of upholding the sanctity of marriage and the writer convenient blaming it all on her, showcasing her as the toxic one screaming at him in the last episode and him remarking that it was better when she was pregnant because she was drunk. Welppppp.

6. Similar thing with the landlord and her husband. Why did she even divorce him when she wanted to hold on to him all the way till the end? How is this woman ok with getting back with a man who confessed his love for a younger woman just a while back, and now suddenly wants her back because he got scared that she might move on with another man and not give him the attention he is used to. Her insecurities, his disloyalty and mistreatment was all just brushed aside in the name of love once again. In the end, I felt sad for their son (the most mature character on the show) to have to witness all this. Don't even get me started on the random LGBT angle with the young woman liking the landlord instead of her husband, and the landlord acting like she knew. If she knew then why did she ask this woman to not accept her ex-husband? Did the writers conveniently forget this scene HAHA

7. Hye Jin’s father was justified in the name of loving and caring for his daughter when he called Doo Shik a man with a flaw because he was an orphan. WTF?! How will her marrying into a rich family ensure that she's not lonely?! Just like your wife died, her to-be husband could die as well you know. Again WTF?! What about the father's flaws? Admitting that you neglected her is not good enough. Merely buying her a plant is not called making up for your mistake. Did he even try to do anything for his daughter after that or reflect on his behaviour? Just because you are a parent, it doesn't mean you do everything wrong and that's ok because you love your children. Love isn't something that is felt, it is something that one has to prove with their actions time and time again.

8. Why did we even need the second lead? What did he and his crew, along with the DOS boy group even bring to this drama? His character was too good to be true, and his arc brought nothing to the show. His bromance with the ML didn't feel sincere. Couldn't connect with his relationship with the FL either.

9. Grandma's son turning up at her funeral and acting like a great son who wanted his mother to stay with him when he just left her there and told her to get dentures instead of implants becuase he didn't want to spend a single cent. Sorry but admitting that you are an idiot is not good enough. And Doo Shik being the noble soul he is comforted this guy instead of punching him in the face for the grandma who loved him and supported him all the way. OK I'll accept that as his character.

10. Yet another SK drama that could have been 8-10 episodes, but they stretched it to 16 with episodes that were more than an hour each. SIGHHHHHHH.