This review may contain spoilers
A disappointment even years after watching
I got the recommendation for WTCB from a TikTok. I'd gotten the rec for Reply '88, which I'd watched first. I adore Reply '88, so I went to WTCB running, thinking it would be of the same caliber. The high praises and reviews for the drama did not help, setting my standards sky high, just for them to end up falling like Icarus.
It's been three years since I watched the drama so my memory of most of it is a bit fuzzy. What I did not forget is how it made me feel. I'm actually proud of myself for making it to the very last episode, especially considering how there wasn't a single episode that I actually enjoyed.
I can't remember a single likeable character, all down to Pilgu (this drama was the first and last time I disliked a child character).
Dongbaek was described as this great and admirable character, yet I don't remember a single incident that made her live up to that reputation. She was set up to fail as a female lead.
Throughout the drama I hated how she was made at this paragon of pitiful yet brave and hardworking single mother, someone I was supposed to feel sorry and root for, but I just couldn't. Her mother and Yongsik's mother were better suited for that role in my opinion. At least I found their journeys into single motherhood more fitting for that.
I understood her reasons for leaving her ex, but not telling about the pregnancy THEN wanting to be pitiful for being a single mother, just did not land with me. What especially made me upset was when the ex found out about the child and tried to be in his life, but dongseok, the child and the boyfriend (why was he even sticking his nose in that matter) made him out to be the villain and kept him away. The whole time I was watching I kept thinking "Am I really supposed to feel sorry for her for this?"
The other parts of her life definitely made her pitiful and I sympathised with her and could see why she ended up like that, but they were secondary to her story. The primary point was her being a single mother, and they just did not sell that story well. Additionally, I've never been much of a fan of GHJ's acting, so that didn't help either.
Her chemistry with KHN was lacking in so many aspects in my opinion. For a drama with romance, that completely destroys that part of the plot. No amount of well written scenes can break down the walls built by a lack of chemistry
I actually stopped watching this halfway into the very last episode. The scene where they caught the serial killer made me so upset I just couldn't continue. The narration, talking about strength and all that was the final nail in the coffin. It made it sound, and look, like the other victims of the killer had just been weak and not "girlboss" enough and that's why they died.
Every possibly redeeming plot point of the drama was just so poorly approached and executed. Even my rating of a 6.5 often feels too generous.
It's been three years since I watched the drama so my memory of most of it is a bit fuzzy. What I did not forget is how it made me feel. I'm actually proud of myself for making it to the very last episode, especially considering how there wasn't a single episode that I actually enjoyed.
I can't remember a single likeable character, all down to Pilgu (this drama was the first and last time I disliked a child character).
Dongbaek was described as this great and admirable character, yet I don't remember a single incident that made her live up to that reputation. She was set up to fail as a female lead.
Throughout the drama I hated how she was made at this paragon of pitiful yet brave and hardworking single mother, someone I was supposed to feel sorry and root for, but I just couldn't. Her mother and Yongsik's mother were better suited for that role in my opinion. At least I found their journeys into single motherhood more fitting for that.
I understood her reasons for leaving her ex, but not telling about the pregnancy THEN wanting to be pitiful for being a single mother, just did not land with me. What especially made me upset was when the ex found out about the child and tried to be in his life, but dongseok, the child and the boyfriend (why was he even sticking his nose in that matter) made him out to be the villain and kept him away. The whole time I was watching I kept thinking "Am I really supposed to feel sorry for her for this?"
The other parts of her life definitely made her pitiful and I sympathised with her and could see why she ended up like that, but they were secondary to her story. The primary point was her being a single mother, and they just did not sell that story well. Additionally, I've never been much of a fan of GHJ's acting, so that didn't help either.
Her chemistry with KHN was lacking in so many aspects in my opinion. For a drama with romance, that completely destroys that part of the plot. No amount of well written scenes can break down the walls built by a lack of chemistry
I actually stopped watching this halfway into the very last episode. The scene where they caught the serial killer made me so upset I just couldn't continue. The narration, talking about strength and all that was the final nail in the coffin. It made it sound, and look, like the other victims of the killer had just been weak and not "girlboss" enough and that's why they died.
Every possibly redeeming plot point of the drama was just so poorly approached and executed. Even my rating of a 6.5 often feels too generous.
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