hwillow

I had so much fun watching this show. Dramatic plot twists and almost impossible scenarios are usually not my thing, but I loved all of them here. The trick is to realize from the beginning that you're not supposed to take any of it too seriously.
I think a big part of my entertainment came from Seok Hee. I really loved her character. She wasn't particularly cunning or smart and, even though she knew the type of people she was dealing with, she still had some naive moments. But she was incredibly resilient and determined. She never complied with injustice and most of her weak moments came from believing people couldn't be as heartless as she had thought. She felt very real, specially when she acted petty or without thinking. And Im Soo Hyang did such a good job portraying all of this!

I just couldn't give it more than an 8 because I found a couple of episodes really annoying. The president episode was really out of place and nonsensical. And I really disliked Yasui's episode. I felt they were trying to justify his actions and sure, you could understand why he was more focused on making the magazine money (and I completely agree with the whole weekend and holiday thing). But his story does in no way justify his bad atitude, rudeness and lack of care for the artists.
I wouldn't mind these episodes too much in a longer show but when you only have 10 episodes, wasting two of them is a lot.

Decided to watch this after seeing it in the Incomplete Life recommendations, so I was expecting a more serious show . Was pleasantly surprised by how cheerful and positive the whole thing was. If you are in need of something to cheer you up, this is the perfect show to watch

Now, who else feels like the whole AI thing was completely unnecessary? Specially when it turns out Ji Soo magically left a bunch of letters behind that solve all the plot points that had to do with her.
Also, how the hell is it supposed to work? The AI clearly knew things it shouldn't and there was no way it could have figured it out with the information it was given????? All they had were a bunch of pictures Ji Soo had posted and Seo Woo and Ha Won's memories of her. How could she recognize a song none of them had never heard and had never been recorded? How could she know anything about her husband when Seo Woo and Ha Won didn't even know his name?

Ok, so, I don't really know what to say about this show.
I enjoyed it for the most part. The story was interesting and I think all the actors did a great job. The leads had good chemistry and their relationship was very believable. The photography and the whole aesthetics of the show were really relaxing. I also appreciated the way trauma and heartbreak were portrayed and how everybody handled it very differently.
I wasn't bothered by the slow pace. I actually felt that only the first couple episodes were slow. I did find some things confusing: some of the connections between characters could've been better explained and I also feel like the writers didn't think too deeply about the timing of some events. Also, all of the supporting cast was seriously under explored. I don't know if that happened because the number of episodes was cut but it was a shame.

Now, for some of my opinions on the girls' stories:

In the first episodes I really liked Gu Jia but grew more and more frustrated with her actions every new episode. She kept telling her husband that she was doing what she was doing because they were sitting on top of a literal box of explosives. But she was just building a card castle on top of that box. Every time they had some stability she risked it because she thought they could have more that what they had. But I was really pleased to see that when the castle finally fell, Gu Jia realized she had been wrong and apologized to her husband. From there on I really enjoyed her arc, trying to save the tea company and doing things by herself, without relaying on some rich ladies to help her.
Then the cheating plot. Basically until when Gu Jia found out, I could kind of understand her husband. Of course he was wrong and I'm not defending he's actions, but I could understand why he was unsatisfied with his life and with himself. I really appreciated that until that point he wasn't really portrayed like a heartless asshole, just a flawed person. However, when Gu Jia found out about the affair, he was quite the coward by not owning up to his mistakes and solving the problem himself. I'm glad Gu Jia didn't take him back but I think it was very interesting and realistic that she was shown considering it. After all, they do have a kid together and because of that, they will always be connected.
Overall I was satisfied with Gu Jia's ending and happy that she decided to live in the tea village while her son was still small.

Xiao Qin really annoyed me for most of the show but that made me really like her once she finally understood how wrong and blind she had been. I just don't like that it was necessary for other characters to point it out to her, instead of her figuring it out for herself. Xiao Qin was actually the character I found harder to empathize with. For most of her story I was on Chen Yu's side. Yes they were both incredibility dumb, yes they were both in the wrong, yes they both failed to communicate what they were feeling, but it always seemed to me that Xiao Qin was less willing to understand Chen Yu than the other way around.
Even though I didn't agree with them divorcing I understand why the writers made that decision. Xiao Qin literally went from living with her parents, who always spoiled and protected her, to living with her husband, who took care of anything remotely hard or annoying. She never really learned to be on her own and fend for herself. That's why I have such a big problem with the whole Xiao Yang's plot. I really think that Xiao Qin's should have been single for a while and learn to make decisions for herself, without having anyone push her into things. I don't think she needed to see how childish Xiao Yang was to realize she was already a grown up. If the problem was that she had never been on her own, she should had been on her own.
And this brings me to my main problem, not only with Xiao Qin's arc but with the whole show: Xiao Yang. I absolutely hated his character. Every time he was on screen I was incredibly annoyed. From pretty much the moment he was introduced he was nothing but creepy, immature and selfish. This guy keep involving himself in things that had nothing to do with him, forcing himself into Xiao Qin's life and problems, ignoring her requests for him to stay out of it and acting passive aggressive whenever Xiao Qin tried to establish limits. Even if it wasn't portrayed like it, he was obsessed with her. Like, somehow he found out she had had and abortion and had gotten a divorce before everybody at work, even though they weren't close. He knew nothing of Xiao Qin and Chen Yu's relationship but he dared to give his opinion on it and act jealous when Xiao Qin was worried about Chen Yu. My dude, they were MARRIED until just a few weeks ago! You're the one that's new, not Chen Yu. Xiao Yang also kept love bombing (that's a thing, look it up) Xiao Qin with presents and surprises and taking her places without telling her where they were going, which is a very toxic thing to do. And let's not forget about all the privacy invasions and all the times he spied on her. He not only memorized how to unblock her phone (way before they were dating or were even friends, mind you) but he used that knowledge to erase her call history when she was going through a crisis. He found out about her book because he was using her computer and spied on her during her driving lessons. He also kept showing up to her house without letting her know beforehand (having a key doesn't mean you don't need to let the other person know you are coming over). And I hated that a lot of these things were framed as cute or romantic or like he was helping Xiao Qin. Literally, the moment he was out of the show I suddenly was having a much better time watching it (it is only sad he wasn't gone sooner).
So, yeah, I was very happy that Xiao Qin and Chen Yu reconciled and that they both learned to talk to each other and be supportive.

Ok, so to balance out this huge rant about Xiao Qin's story, I have very little to say about Man Ni's. Both her and her story were my favorite. I didn't always agree with her decisions but I was never annoyed with her actions. I could very much relate with her loving Shangai and wanting to stay there and, at the same time, loving to be with her family and not wanting to hurt them. By the end, I really loved that she embraced the fact that she had always been fighting alone and that she not only didn't need someone to take care of her, she actually didn't want it.

This is a lot to read through but I had a lot of thoughts about this show and wanted to share them. Thanks if you read everything!

Really loved the show. The characters are incredibly well written and even when you don't agree with them, you can understand their reasons to do the things they do. Throughout the story, the girls did some incredibly stupid things that made me want to scream but they always realized their mistakes and learned their lessons. By the end of the show you can really see how the characters changed and how much they have grown.
The actors all did a great job as well. And how cute was the little kid that played Gu Jia's son? He stole every scene that he was in, even when the camera wasn't focusing on him.

I really enjoyed this show! Some of the cases, and the lengths the team would go the solve them, were kinda ridiculous but the characters were so interesting and well written that everything seemed justified. It has really good production values and the acting is great. This is the second show with Ishihara Satomi I've watched and I completely understand why she is so loved. It was an absolute pleasure to watch her act. The rest off the cast was great as well and their on screen relationship was very natural and believable. Even though death is a major part of it, the show manages to keep a very heartwarming tone throughout so don't be afraid to watch it.

The characters were definitely more interesting this season but I think the first season was better overall. This season got soooo repetitive and formulaic, to the point of annoyance. Not that the first season didn't constantly repeat the same bits but it was excusable, since everything was still new. I was also hoping to get some character development from Michiko but sadly she stayed exactly the same. Now, every time she said "I never fail" or "I refuse" I would just roll my eyes. Some of the characters did show growth but what does it matter when the main character doesn't change and always succeeds, no matter the situation?

Sorry I don't remember any specific episodes but I'm sure there were jokes involving the things I mentioned. But I also meant the physical type of comedy that uses a lot of those things as a punchline. For me that type of comedy doesn't work when the show is also trying to talk about serious crimes like murder.

I have mixed feelings about this show. Overall, I had a lot of fun watching it and I can see there's a lot of heart in it. The team behind it clearly enjoyed making it and at it's best, this show is witty, smart, unexpected and engaging.
That said, I had a really hard time getting through the first 6/ 12-13 episodes. Once I got the gist of things, I literally fast forwarded most of the scenes (and I'm really not a fast forward kind of person). Things do get better after that but it's only when the show reaches its middle point that the story truly gets good.
The comedy can be hit or miss. The first episodes really struggle to find a balance between the more serious tone of the show and its lighter side. It's really hard to be funny when they're also trying to sell us how evil and corrupt most of the characters are. Especially when a lot of the jokes involve doing funny faces, poop or vomiting, which I really don't care for. Once things start to go better for the priest, the comedy also gets better and less awkward. I laughed a lot with the zanier moments, when the show embraced how ridiculous a lot of its story was.
The prosecutor, the young priest and the nun where definitely my favorite characters, but I was never completely sold on the main priest. A lot of his actions really made no sense to me, specially after knowing his background. And I'm also really tired of the good guy with anger issues trope. Just go to therapy, ok?

Despite my complaints, I do think this is a good show, but in the end it seems like I only really enjoyed about half of it. My advice is: watch it, you'll probably have some fun, but don't believe the hype.

I considered dropping it so many times during the fist episodes because I just kept getting more and more frustrated! Things do get better after episode 6/12-13 but it sure was difficult for me to get through the beginning of the show

It still baffles me that this show is one of the highest scored ones in this website. It's definitely not bad but it doesn't hold a candle to other shows with similar scores. The only reason I can think of is because of how popular Ji Chang Wook is

Se-Ri's father had an affair, so Se-Ri is not her daughter, even though she as been raised as so. It seems this has caused the "mom" a lot of suffering, since she had to raise the "proof" of her husbands affair. She says that the day she abandoned Se-Ri at the beach, she didn't want to live anymore. This and other comments during the course of the show imply that the mom has dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts ever since her marriage was ruined by the affair. So it seems the day she abandoned Se-Ri she wasn't in her right mind but she went back to the beach when she realized what she had done.

The writing is definitely not the best. A lot of times the plot/ character motivations just don't make any sense (specially when it has to do with the ex-girlfriends). That said, this show made me laugh pretty often. I also liked Soo Jin very much! It was nice to see a kind but pragmatic main character. I guess this is one of those shows where you have to turn your brain off for a bit to truly enjoy it. Overall it's worth the watch if you like romcoms

It has been more than a year since I watched With You and I still come back to it often. It is such a great show! You can clearly see that a lot of love and care was put into it.
The cinematography is beautiful and gains extra points for being the only cdrama I've watched that isn't dubbed. Just those two things alone do a lot to bring the right sentiment to the scenes. There are plenty of wonderfully cute as well as funny moments. The drama never seems forced and the major conflicts come from very natural things in a teenagers life, like struggling with grades, feeling like your family doesn't understands you, or having a fight with your friends.
The acting and casting is great. Not once did I thought that the actors weren't 17 years old kids. Their looks and mannerisms were on point and the characters all felt very real. The excitement of spending time with your crush, worries about school, the pressure of having to make huge decisions about your future. All of these things are very well portrayed and do a great job of transporting you back to your teenage years.
The only reason I gave this a 9.5 instead of a 10 was because of the last episode. I know this is based on a book but I would much prefer an open ending than a 10 year time jump. The show is about the character's high school years, so I think it would have been fine to end it in an hopeful note just as they finish high school and head up to college.
But I still love this show to pieces because the ending doesn't matter all that much really. What's important is the ride and what a wonderful ride it is.

Because of your user name luzitania. Portuguese people are called lusitanians because most of modern Portugal is located where the roman territory Lusitania used to be. Ahah sorry for the history lesson

Exactly! But who needs money when you got a man ahah.

Hey, I'm curious, are you portuguese? I'm asking because of your user name

Right? And she's basically only taking care of the guys, bringing them food and drinks and making sure they sleep comfortably.

It's not really clear where does he go when he is not on earth but I think he does age, just in a much slower pace than humans. So by the time she get old and dies he will still have tons of years to live.