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low rating is more personal than this show being objectively bad

i think this show was just an unfortunate case of me not liking the choice of cliches and/or the execution of them. usually i love lots of cliches but this one wasnt to my taste. not to say it was an absolutely terrible show, because i definitely have some good things to say about it. the biggest one being that the fl was an absolute delight lol i love a fun silly woman who can also stand up for herself! just didn't really feel any chemi between the leads but yea i just didn't really care for this show tbh it's unfortunately cuz to me it was surprisingly getting good ratings so clearly this is very much a me thing.

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mediocre at best

too lazy to give in depth review bc honestly i did not enjoy it enough to retain details of the plot but heres more than enough of a review incase you're unsure if you should watch. the spoilers in here are not that crazy so unless ur mega particular it won't matter:

what this drama does great:
- amazing casting
- the setting itself is cutesy. love the wholesome village vibe we get at the brewery i forgot the name of the place. love me some supportive aunties for side characters
- the mcs themselves are both very cool and interesting. they both have alot of nuance to their character and it's hard to tell how their dynamic as business partners or potentially lovers is going to be. i love strong independent fls and quiet genius type mls so that part intrigued me at first

what (imo) this drama did not do well in:
- plot progression is similar to a web drama. just not well made. quality of story is low. i'll get more into this with some other criticisms
- constant solving of issues with the whole power of friendship/in numbers with the company team really pmo. areum's boss' whole thing with trying to shoot yongju and her team down was stupid because we never got a reason for all of it other than at the end of that plotpoint but it wasn't even an actual reason we just got his backstory on why he's so miserable. they didn't even bother to make it interesting lol
- idk if it's just cuz the topic of the drama is kinda silly the drama in general is cringe. theyre trying to give fun kdrama which dont get me wrong i love a good clicheed kdrama but theres a way to make it right and quality is still important. i thought outside the leads acting was whatever. nothing amazing but maybe sejeong creates high standards for her cast members to me lol she's j too good
- overall, lack of detail and nuance in the story was really where it all went wrong. i would've preferred more depth
- did not have enough on ml being an empath

my general thoughts:
- not very interesting
- half the work-related scenes were cringe
- the only enjoyable parts were at the beginning when yongju was trying to win over the ml
- again the quality was poor felt worse in terms of story even compared to a youtube web drama
- i don't understand why sejeong accepted this role. alot of my criticism for this show is the same things i said abt today's webtoon. she has such a great roster outside of that so i hope she can make better decisions and i can enjoy her shows more in the future
- i would not recommend this drama. but it is short and brainless so if u want to watch smth for the sake of watching it then go ahead

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cutesy and fun

i loved the vibes of this drama it was the perfect amt of silly but also having a serious plotline! the ml is so fun to see the life of and idk the nature of this drama was very refreshing although it's a school corruption kdrama which sometimes are just like too dark for my liking just cuz it's such an overused kdrama theme lmao. it felt very cute webtoony idk i can't put my thoughts into words i think this is losing out on a super high rating from me only cuz i thought the storyline felt a bit flat. like it just kinda fell into place by the end and not really through smt crazy which isnt fun for a 10 ep kdrama so i felt like not much really happened but at least it seemed like maybe s2 would come out in a bit which is exciting!!

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it's overhyped but still good

after years of this sitting on my plan to watch list, i finally decided to pick this up as i thoroughly enjoyed its korean remake, family by choice.

overall, i love the concept. i love how theyre found family && the dynamic between the siblings is so fun.

my issues with the show:
- the romance between the leads was not explored well. i expected better of this show than the korean one as it has so many episodes. lingxiao always seemed to be in love with her, so he felt very natural. jianjian on the other hand i feel like them getting together happened so fast i didnt even realize at first. idk if it's the acting or the character itself but i never once felt a romantic connection between the two. love, yes but every strong emotion jianjian ever showed towards him was always a very sibling-like one. it felt off.
- of course i hated the initial love triangle but it's not too bad bc i realized ziqiu initially wanted to pursue her but didn't really show much romantic interest. he just loves her and wants her to be happy and confused that protectiveness as him being in love with her
- idk it was lackluster in general. esp after already having watched a remake of it. everyone hyped this up so much saying this is so much better than the korean one but i disagree completely half the series was filler and the acting was subpar, so was the plot itself.
- i thought the korean version made the connection between jianjian's dad and ziqiu much more emotional and overall much better
- although i think song weilong is gorgeous but his character here had that slight cha eunwoo vibe where it's only like 50-70% acting and the rest is just looking serious and serving face
- did not care for tang can and the other guy (forgot his name oop)'s random subplotline

what i liked:
- love the protective brothers vibe
- what this show did better than the korean one is make the fl actually feel like a girl who's grown up around boys her whole life it felt more natural
- the dad in this show was great and the connection between him and ziqiu's mom actually was better flushed out here
- overall the story is good like in the korean one so although i think it wasn't that great i like the general setup of this show still

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unique take on crime thrillers

this drama brings a new variety to the world of crime investigation-related thrillers - slower pacing/storytelling to bring more detail and add more nuance and, pun intended - doubt as to who to point fingers to as the story progresses.

here's what i liked about the doubt / why you should watch it:
- cinematography is beautiful. the setting is nothing special, just a normal city and the detective/his daughter's normal house. but the way they depict it to be gloomy and colorless adds to the ambience, and also highlights the relationship between the detective and his daughter.
- the big picture is not clear throughout the drama, which is where i think they did a great job. each episode they revealed something about the storyline that wasn't known, but not necessarily solving the issue at the end of the drama. it was fun, trying to figure out whether or whether not habin was the culprit. sometimes it felt so obviously her, and sometimes not.
- watching the detective's calm, collected, and cold demeanor slowly fall apart towards the last few dramas was a great addition to the climax of truly finding out the important parts of what really happened to lee suhyeon, and habin's mother.
- some people may not like the pacing of this drama, that is for sure. it is slow, which is why it's unique. instead of big shock moments and revelations, things played out slowly, allowing us to first be introduced to every character into high detail, and steadily connecting each detail to the storyline. i felt that when everything was starting to come together that i really understood what was going on from a multifaceted view. it's fun it made me feel like a smart detective a little bit

overall, they did a great job with this drama. it's changed my perspective of crime thrillers and maybe they should always be around 10 eps idk

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pretty lacking but still a somewhat worthwhile watch

HII so after rejecting watching this show after however long this has been on netflix for i finally did full binge LOL here are my thoughts i'm not into long lengthy well worded essay reviews so here are some pros and cons

cons:
- there was no plot. like im realizing now it was just the first ep's happenings and then just the general aftermath/effects of that. i wish samdal's worklife was explored more throughout the show and not just at the end for a bit again cuz i LOVEEE her as her cool boss self lol
- imo, the main leads' romance was stressful and straining. messy, less communicated breakups, unrequited love, decade long "soulmate" type crushes, parent disapproval, these all are just... a lot and have a lot of plot holes and me personally i actually didn't like or care for their relationship. i actually liked everything else abt the show
- and what made it worse was this romance was majority of the plot idk i hated it
- other lead couples were much more enjoyable. i wish the youngest sister's relationship wasn't just a bunch of extra little scenes and an actual plotline. i also wish jindal's ex husband situation was made a bit more serious at the end just so it could wrap up well
- the antagonist should've been more present throughout the plot. there was no change in personality, no development. she was very one dimensional and tbh samdal was a very flawed person at the start and so i think the writers could've come up with a way of creating an antagonist that had some reason because of the fl to become the way she did. the ex bf was just stupid too
- idk how to explain this other than based on my previous points, esp the last 2, the show was almost too focused on samdal. she was way too main character syndrome. sometimes this is fun when the plot is actually good but it didn't work here
- this isn't an issue w the show but also why i didn't enjoy it as much and why i took forever to watch this was casting. nothing wrong w ljw i just don't think he's an actor i enjoy in dramas. idk just not within my preference. i never seem to care for any of his roles. love hyesun tho

pros:
- i like samdal's personality she's very raw aka like a good mix of cool and confident but also became very open ab her emotions
- the mija sisters episode was the best part
- loved her development as a photographer
- glad she went back to seoul lol i stopped caring for the small town vibes
- idk but overall enjoyed this more than i thought. it is very flawed but i almost can't believe i have sm negative to say cuz it was still a very good watch

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really fun watch

honestly don't know why i ignored this drama when it was airing. i regret not watching it sooner but am glad i decided to pick it up. first watch of 2025 was great thanks to bad and crazy

the first 3 eps were a bit slow for me. i found a lack of hook and while alot of it was just major buildup for everything idk i was bored i almost dropped it. but luckily i didn't. it got good fast. i thought the investigative side of the plot was done well. and i'm also glad they didn't totally introduce the whole childhood thing right away. idk overall plot was well made and layered i'm too lazy to give an in depth review but lee dongwook is truly a legend in his craft

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funsies kdrama def recommend

family by choice is a fun drama centered around the relationships of haejun, juwon, and sanha who have a sibling-like bond but have no blood relation to one another.

what this drama does great:
- gives us a multifaceted view of all the main characters. we're able to see life/the timeline of the drama from all 3 of them which i thought was great! getting to know each character felt so personal.
- haejun and juwon's dad had some of the most sob-worthy scenes ever. their relationship was so heartwarming. haejun's healing journey was so great to watch and also to see dal and him help each other through hardships throughout their lives.
- their take on familial troubles wasn't shallow and actually felt very realistic.
- every episode while all having pretty sad moments at times always felt really giddy it's just a really fun watch overall it makes you wish you could be there too
- NO love triangle thank the lords

what could've been done better:
- while sanha's 14 year long or however many year long crush on sanha was well drawn out, we never got that from juwon. it was just her being flustered by sanha's confession(s) and then dating him. i wish they could've either added scenes where maybe in their younger years she thought of him that way too or have done like flashback scenes idk it just. for a childhood friends to lovers trope was not a very deep romantic relationship
- haejun's america storyline was idk all over the place and needed better integration to the plot. also similar to my issue w juwon he should've had a gradual liking to dal while im happy they got together at the end he literally said in that ep that they aren't good together and then later asked her out

overall lovedddd this show chaeyeon is such an amazing actress

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