Cute, but…
This drama is a fun watch so far. I like the idea of the drawing group and “unconventional” friendships. However, it’s a little too obvious to me what this drama is trying to do. This is going to sound harsh - but it’s clear this drama was intended to play out a fantasy for the average girl of some unrealistically handsome guy suddenly coming along and falling head over heels for her. The lead girl is cute and seems to be a nice person, but she’s obviously intended to represent an average, “plain” girl (despite the actress being gorgeous in my opinion) that any teenager or young woman could relate to. She doesn’t really have any hobbies or unique qualities - and that makes sense in the context of the drama due to her relationship with her mother - but there’s nothing about her that would justify some outrageously gorgeous and popular guy suddenly becoming so obsessed with her that he loses his mind. I know that’s kind of the point of the drama, but it’s hard to look past and just makes everything feel a little ungenuine. This trope does work sometimes (like in the case of Lovely Runner, where the female lead is intended to be a fairly regular girl, but her extremely bubbly and bright personality is what makes the male lead fall for her), but it just feels a little overdone. I would’ve liked to see a more average looking guy with the same personality as the male lead to show young girls that it’s not always going to be the hottest guy in the world that makes them happy and treats them right, but then again I don’t think the viewers would want to let him get away with as much obsessive behaviour if he were regular looking. Alternatively, it would make more sense for the male lead to slowly fall for her over time as he gets to know her and she starts to open up for the first time.Was this review helpful to you?
Fantastic start ruined by weird, unnecessary body swap
I was hooked on this drama by the first few episodes. I loved the premise, I loved the ML’s yearning, and I loved the chemistry between the ML and the FL. Then they randomly switched bodies much too far into the drama and everything fell apart. All of the romantic tension they had suddenly became extremely weird and uncomfortable, considering they were having romantic tension with their own body. It went from a drama with a good balance of humour and seriousness to an overload of humour. I’m really disappointed - if they don’t swap back bodies by the halfway mark of the drama run I’ll be dropping it.Was this review helpful to you?
THANK YOU to the creators of this drama for getting me out of my drama slump
It’s not often that a drama sucks me in and has me this invested within the first 4 episodes. I’ll admit - I’m a sucker for media that artfully plays with the morally grey. All too often, characters that are intended to be morally grey are either too hateable or too likeable in a way that feels inauthentic and uninspiring. This drama balances that line so well. The storyline so far is cleverly written and thought-provoking, and the actors are all holding their own in some pretty difficult scenes. I’m particularly impressed with Kim Young-dae - I saw a few of his dramas about five years ago and swore to never watch another because I thought he was such a flat actor - but he has improved massively and a clip of him in this drama is actually what drew me to watch it in the first place. He’s been added to my list of actors whom I think can actually pull off an obsessed, yearning to the point of losing their mind character like the male lead in this. Fingers crossed that the plot doesn’t fall off from here on out.Was this review helpful to you?
A masterpiece - clichés and all
This is one of the first kdramas I watched, and over 100 dramas later, it’s still the only one I’ve watched all the way through more than once (3 times in fact). This drama came out before the globalization of Korean media outside of East and Southeast Asia - and I admit it shows. It doesn’t have the level of cinematography later dramas have nor does it shy away from cheesiness or clichés. But this is what I think so many of us come to kdramas for - that delicious cheesiness wrapped up in truly heartfelt stories that’s hard to find in western media.This drama is chock-full of angst, pining, tragedy, and epic romance. It leans in to everything that makes kdramas unique, clichés and all. It’s also messy and strangely paced - but the exceptional character arcs make up for it ten-fold.
MLSHR stuck with me for ages after I first finished it. I always tell people it changed my life - and it’s true. I wasn’t prepared for how much this drama would affect me emotionally. Even the mere sound of a few notes of the soundtrack gives me a pang in my heart. Years later, even.
A lot of the reviews here criticize IU’s acting and I would have to disagree. I think she held her own. There were no scenes in particular that stood out to me as poor acting. Sure, she’s no Lee Joon-gi, but I think she did a perfectly good job portraying her character.
To sum it all up: if you can handle cheesiness, and are a sucker for pining, then this is an absolute must-watch. If you prefer more concise, modernized stories, this is a skip. But it will always be a 10/10 for me.
Was this review helpful to you?
Exceeds all expectations. BRILLIANT
This is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write a review on this app. I’ve watched over 100 Korean dramas - at this point I can predict the the entire arc of a drama’s plot by the second episode. Usually when I’m unable to predict a plot twist it’s because it ends up being some cheap cop-out. This is the first drama that has managed to surprise me over and over again without feeling gimmicky. Every time I thought I had it figured out something new would be revealed that would have me rethinking everything. This drama had me kicking my feet yelling “what the heck is going on?!?” at my phone only for everything to make perfect sense in the end. Hands down the best time slip drama out there.Was this review helpful to you?
Chemistry makes up for [almost] every flaw
A lot of things were left unexplained by the end of this drama. By the last few episodes all the inconsistencies in the writing became pretty glaringly obvious and it felt… lazy. The ending was overall a bit of a let-down - I was hoping for some sort of extremely clever twist but it ended up feeling like a cheap cop out.THAT BEING SAID - this drama features hands down the best chemistry of any leading couple I’ve ever seen. Each episode had me pausing to take a break countless times throughout because the butterflies were just too much. The romantic moments were filmed and paced wonderfully which gave the leads’ chemistry the opportunity to truly shine. This absolutely incredible and undeniable chemistry is what makes up for nearly every flaw in this drama and it is what will have it go down in history as a cult favourite.
Byeon Woo-Seok’s acting was top notch for me. It was never too much or too little - it was always perfectly believable. I’m not one to crack up at dramas but comedic scenes had me laughing out loud in the middle of the night. Nobody else could do this character justice the way he did… the dorkiness, the emotion, and absolutely beautiful singing voice. I really look forward to him taking on bigger roles in the future.
Was this review helpful to you?
