This review may contain spoilers
It felt flat
My rating: 7/10
I finished Can This Love Be Translated yesterday, and I’m giving it a 7 out of 10. Not because it was bad, but because… for the amount of hype around it, I honestly expected more. It was fine. Watchable. But it didn’t hit the way people made it sound like it would.
And I know how deep I can go with a drama when it truly hits me. Crash Landing on You is the perfect example of that. That show had such an impact on me that I actually watched it like a die-hard fan. Scene by scene. Episode by episode. I analyzed everything, because it made me feel something real.
But with this one, I never got pulled in like that.
I love a good romantic story, and on that level this one felt… flat. Like something was missing. It was lacking. It didn’t give me that “wow” feeling, and it definitely didn’t leave me emotionally wrecked in a good way.
The male lead was actually one of the better parts for me. I love a good T-character and he delivered that energy.
But the female lead… I don’t know. I just couldn’t connect with her. I couldn’t put myself in her shoes, and the way her mental health was presented really bothered me. It felt kind of clumsy and overly casual, like they wanted to include something serious but didn’t want to treat it with the weight it actually deserves. If you’re going to imply someone has a personality disorder, you can’t present it like it’s just a quirky character trait. That didn’t sit right with me.
And honestly, it wasn’t even “miscommunication” that got in the way of the relationship. It was more like… she just didn’t know how to say what she felt. And she sabotaged herself.
The moment she started feeling like, okay wait, he actually likes me now, her whole mindset switched into, this won’t last anyway. It’s going to fall apart. So I’ll end it first, before it ends me.
I get what they were trying to do, but for me it felt a bit too forced. Like it needed more depth, more buildup, more emotional logic behind it. Because I kept thinking: why are we doing this right now? It didn’t feel natural enough to be heartbreaking. It just felt… unnecessary.
There’s also one big thing that didn’t land for me: the love story itself. The male lead tried, I’ll give him that. But based on the scenes they had together, I didn’t really understand when or why he suddenly fell in love with her. I couldn’t see it happening. It felt like the plot decided it was time, and that was that.
And maybe I’m hard to impress because the only K-drama I’ve given a straight 10/10 to is Crash Landing on You. Nothing else has touched that level for me, not even My Dearest or Mr. Sunshine. So I’m not saying Can This Love Be Translated needed to be life-changing, but still… I expected it to hit harder than it did.
In the end, it’s a perfectly fine feel-good series. I enjoyed watching it. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t a waste of time. But it also didn’t really do anything for me. And if I’m being honest, I already know I won’t be rewatching it.
Final verdict: a decent watch, good male lead energy, but emotionally underwhelming and not worth the hype.
I finished Can This Love Be Translated yesterday, and I’m giving it a 7 out of 10. Not because it was bad, but because… for the amount of hype around it, I honestly expected more. It was fine. Watchable. But it didn’t hit the way people made it sound like it would.
And I know how deep I can go with a drama when it truly hits me. Crash Landing on You is the perfect example of that. That show had such an impact on me that I actually watched it like a die-hard fan. Scene by scene. Episode by episode. I analyzed everything, because it made me feel something real.
But with this one, I never got pulled in like that.
I love a good romantic story, and on that level this one felt… flat. Like something was missing. It was lacking. It didn’t give me that “wow” feeling, and it definitely didn’t leave me emotionally wrecked in a good way.
The male lead was actually one of the better parts for me. I love a good T-character and he delivered that energy.
But the female lead… I don’t know. I just couldn’t connect with her. I couldn’t put myself in her shoes, and the way her mental health was presented really bothered me. It felt kind of clumsy and overly casual, like they wanted to include something serious but didn’t want to treat it with the weight it actually deserves. If you’re going to imply someone has a personality disorder, you can’t present it like it’s just a quirky character trait. That didn’t sit right with me.
And honestly, it wasn’t even “miscommunication” that got in the way of the relationship. It was more like… she just didn’t know how to say what she felt. And she sabotaged herself.
The moment she started feeling like, okay wait, he actually likes me now, her whole mindset switched into, this won’t last anyway. It’s going to fall apart. So I’ll end it first, before it ends me.
I get what they were trying to do, but for me it felt a bit too forced. Like it needed more depth, more buildup, more emotional logic behind it. Because I kept thinking: why are we doing this right now? It didn’t feel natural enough to be heartbreaking. It just felt… unnecessary.
There’s also one big thing that didn’t land for me: the love story itself. The male lead tried, I’ll give him that. But based on the scenes they had together, I didn’t really understand when or why he suddenly fell in love with her. I couldn’t see it happening. It felt like the plot decided it was time, and that was that.
And maybe I’m hard to impress because the only K-drama I’ve given a straight 10/10 to is Crash Landing on You. Nothing else has touched that level for me, not even My Dearest or Mr. Sunshine. So I’m not saying Can This Love Be Translated needed to be life-changing, but still… I expected it to hit harder than it did.
In the end, it’s a perfectly fine feel-good series. I enjoyed watching it. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t a waste of time. But it also didn’t really do anything for me. And if I’m being honest, I already know I won’t be rewatching it.
Final verdict: a decent watch, good male lead energy, but emotionally underwhelming and not worth the hype.
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