launev

SO much wrong with this

I came to this because I just discovered Takeru Satoh - I just watched all the Rouroni Kenshi movies and wanted to see something else he was in. This was one of the few things I could find - and man was this a horrible shift.

Everything about this drama is so wrong - from beginning to end, this drama is what is wrong with Asian rom-coms. That someone thought this was a good story of a ‘romantic’, healthy adult relationship is just a bit disturbing.

While commenters have issue with the age gap - that is not really the problem - its the maturity gap. She has the maturity level of a teenager while the ML has the maturity level of an adult . Not to mention the power dynamic that he is her superior at work. It’s all just so wrong.

Let’s start with the idea that a teenage girl, on her day of graduating from high school, goes to a temple to pray that she finds a good man, stumbles upon a woman with a medical emergency and the dashing, handsome doctor shows up, smiles at her, pats her on the head and whola! - I’m in love! To the point of running off to become a nurse so she “can be near him’ - not because she wants to be a nurse and help people, doesn’t decide to become doctor because she just witnessed him saving the woman - but, no, lets be a nurse so I can stand next to him - wrong!

She then spends 5 years to go to school so she can get a job at his hospital, then shows up and runs around proclaiming her love for this person in the middle of the workplace- to a man who she has only even, met briefly once in her life. She then spends all her time bumbling around, acting like a pre-teen with a crush on an idol. And she never grows out of it. Wrong!

Then there is the whole awkward dating situation - again, the maturity gap happens - he clearly has experience and she clearly has none. She has this very romanticized, teenager mentality of what being in a relationship means and it just doesn’t fit - most of the time she seems terrified - that dear-in-the-headlights, ready to jump out of her skin look on her face and in her demeanor - very subservient, bowing and apologizing all the time - all the while he is calling her an idiot every five minutes. It is just the most unhealthy dynamic and yet the writers/directors and even viewers - all think this is ‘romantic’, it is not.

You never get a real sense of why he likes her and it isn’t event until the second to last episode that he says anything. He spends most of the time ignoring her, glaring at her and generally looking like he is annoyed with her and then one day, just turns around on the street and kisses her - what?!?!

I also do not see, not just one, not two, but three grown men falling in love with her - that this idea of an immature 22 year old, who behaves like teenager is somehow so appealing that men are falling over themselves - is just absurd.

And then there is the older sister of the dead girlfriend who shows up and just happens to look EXACTLY like the dead girlfriend, hasn’t seen the guy since she died and is now ‘in-love’ with him - seriously! I cant even with this stupidity.

Overall - most of the problems come back to this maturity issue. it would be one thing, if through out the show you see her mature and him soften - but that never happens (he does, ever-so-slightly - but not really enough)

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Romanticized stalking

This was not a big it for me - mostly because of the writing - it felt so lazy and sloppy - like someone just cut and pasted every rom-com trope, wrapped it around a rescue team and threw it out there. I had a hard time right out of the gate with the very premise of this ‘love story’.
You have a 15yr old girl who survives an earthquake and immediately ‘falls in love’ with the man who rescues her. She never even actually speaks to him until he is leaving. Then she obsesses about him for ten years (again, never meets him or talks to him in all this time) , comes back to find him (randomly) and then basically stalks and harasses him. I was disturbed at the romanticization of trauma induced feelings (it called transference), obsessive love and then stalking that is played off as determination and persistence. And it wasn’t just the main FL - you had her best friend who was obsessed for 10 yrs with her, you had the celebrity girl who kind of stalks the best friend - the amount of completely unhealthy ideas of ‘love’ this drama had was astounding. All packaged as somehow romantic and ‘cute’.
Next there as just the bad, lazy writing that had repetitive story’s all through the drama - like, how many times are the leads going to get injured and end up in the hospital. How many times is the FL’s coworker going to try and screw her over - it just kept happening, over and over and over to the point of absurdity. The ultimate being the end earthquake - come on - really, she goes back to the place where she experienced the first earthquake, only to have another one just conventionally happen again - it was just dumb.
And I get that this a drama - but so many pieces that were just beyond absurd - made it hard to watch sometimes (especially the parts of her constantly at rescue scenes and jumping into the middle of them - soooo would not happen).
I also wondered if the FL was ever going to write a story that did not involve the ML and his crew - seemed that was all she ever did or covered.
In then end - it just became draggy and predictable and I didn’t really care about most of the characters. Main couple was ok - but not great. They actually felt a little awkward to me. They have the FL be super-aggressive in chasing him and then once caught - she becomes coy and shy - super-annoying and inconsistent (again, writers fault here) Kissing scenes were horrible - FL leads to learn how to move her lips - its that horrible dead-fish kissing

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Predictable and unmemorable

Just wrapped this up and here is my take
Its just mediocre - worth a watch if you like this genre and the ML (although not one of his better performances)
The bigger fault is just a bad script and poor direction - cant really fault any one of the actors as this is what they were told to do - but it's predictable. Nothing new to see here.
ML is handsome, but kind of stiff in this role. Preferred him in Everlasting Longing and looking forward to Seven Relics
FL just did not do it for me. On the one hand - she is playing a character that is no more than 17yrs old - and you feel that (too much). I will say, I did appreciate that she did look like she was a teenager - too often they have actresses who are much older doing this role. Cause, for me - it just highlights how ridiculous it is that we would consider these young women adults. She too often felt like the teenager who thinks they are an adult - but they aren't. This was the whole vibe for me.
She also spends too much of the drama being the damsel in distress, running head first into situations that she is wholly unprepared for (as would a teenager) - has no business being there, expect she is the main lead - these kinds of things just annoy the bejesus out of me - lazy, sloppy writing. At the same time, the writers want us to believe she is calm noble lady who, apparently, is a jewelry designer genius. This character was just so inconsistent throughout, it was hard to get behind her.
She gets slightly better at the end - but by then, I really didnt care.
Chemistry between leads was not that good - they just did not feel like loivers at all (more a sibling vibe) - and this is mostly due to the actress, clearly, not having a ton of experience here - maybe when she gets more mature - it will get better - but it did not work for me at all.
The whole marriage contract thing was just dumb - mostly because she immediately (and I mean immediately) - writes the contract the night before their wedding and then completely forgets about it on their wedding night. She then constantly seems to completely forget about this contract (I blame the writers for this silliness). And then gets mad at the ML for adhering to the contract. It made no sense and was really just a bad plot ploy - luckily it doesnt last long.
Shu and the bodyguard had the best chemistry
Minmim and Zhang were just annoying (as a couple) - not a big fan of the constant bickering
Loved her Dad
Emperor and Dingbie had a great relationships and always happy to see an emperor that isn't a completely, feckless, egomaniacal fool - he was smart, handsome and a good person.
Could have done without the whole, (albeit brief, thank god) Prince Wen silliness - there was just no need for that (and to be honest - she wasn't all that for him to start a war over)
Ending was just 'meh' for me.

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Missed the mark

I found this drama randomly, read the synopsis and decided to watch it. It has such great potential, but ultimately failed.

Let’s start with the positives - since there aren’t that many.
Kim Nam Joon play this role brilliantly - the character itself is a whole other issue and will get to later
Lee Kyung Young is fantastic as the newsroom director
Newsroom cast is mostly good

Now to the failures
When storytelling - there should be a main character that you have empathy with in order to be invested in the story - this is where this fails the most.
Lest start with the FL . You want to like this character - she is a bad-ass news anchor woman who has risen to the top. We are supposed to admire her determination and ambition. I would normally admire these traits - especially in a culture that is horrible mysogynistic - unfortunately, she is also self-centered, has no thought for those around her or how her actions impact them, is quite manipulative, mean to the point of cruelty. They try to redeem her in the end - even try to make her the victim - but it just doesn’t work.
She lies about knowing Kevin and Myongsuk-Woo and only comes clean when backed into a corner. She cheats on her husband - not once, but twice (and then tries to play victim on both accounts). And then there is the abortion story - I am all for any person making this decision and having control over their own reproductive life - but that she goes and does it without telling him and only just informs after the fact, when he was clearly showing up to celebrate the pregnancy - it was just cruel. There are just instance after instance of her showing she has no concern for her husband and is just mean to him.
I honestly do not get the appeal of this woman and why two men were willing to throw their lives away for her.

Now to the ML - again, you want to be sympathetic towards him - but you just can’t in the end. She is very clear when she marries him that its not out of love, but convenience. He chooses to ignore that and thinks she will change. He lives in that marriage as if its a traditional/real marriage, when its not. Then feels sorry for himself. Then they turn him into the simpering puppy asking her for forgiveness for not being a good enough husband. He has literally spent 7 years with her and has NO idea who she is actually is - he has a dream of who he wants her to be - but not who she is actually is. And, to top it all, he is a really bad lawyer. Their whole relationship, except for a brief moment after the trial is just the two of them constantly lying to each other

Eun-joo - just, come on lady - your husband repeatedly cheated on you, you lie about that fact and for some reason its Hye Ran’s fault?? I hate the trope of women blaming other women for their husbands cheating. And, the person who actually slept with him isn’t even Hye Ran - but the other news anchor lady - which is conveniently ignored after a couple of episodes.

Myongsuk-woo - really dude - you spend 19 years in prison for this person and somehow think you are the only person in the world who gets decide if she is happy or not or if someone loves her properly or not. This weird sense of possession of other people in S.Korea is just so weird to me.

And dont get me started on the parents with no sense of boundaries - seriously - letting yourself into your grown-ass, married son’s house without permission and being waaay too involved in their reproductive life is just gross.

And then there is the detective - seriously, would not the spouses have been two of the first people you looked in to? How was the ML not even looked at until the end of the trial - this is just absurd.

And, can we talk about the ‘accidental’ meeting at the airport - they try to play this as if she doesn’t know who Kevin is or what he looks like. It’s not like there weren’t pictures of him on the tour - so this scenario just doesn’t work for me.

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Good plot, but could have been less episodes

Overall, this was totally worth the watch.

XZ delivers an amazing performance - probably one of his best - worth it just for his performance.
My only issue here is the usual, having an actor who is in their 30's play a character who is only 20yrs old - its pretty obvious he isn't 20 anymore (which is not a bad thing) - so those places where it falters are the places where he is supposed to come across as this youngin' and it just doesnt work - cause, its obvious he isn't anymore. But, you can let it slide, cause the rest of his character is great.
This story is VERY slowed paced - so be prepared, it DRAGS. Honestly, it could have been at least 10 episodes shorter.
The story is interesting and the thing that really keeps you watching is trying to figure out who the masked man is/3rd enemy.
The Marquis villain - mostly done well. I kept not being sure if he was truly bad or not. And the whole parents clothes/skin in the basement made no sense and wasn't really explained why he had them. it just felt kind of inconsistent with his character - so could have seen the eunach villain doing this.
The Eunuch villain - creepy as F*CK!
Minister Zhao - also creepy - but it's the dead eyes that just gave me the heebie-jeebies.
FL - really just a supporting character and mostly a plot ploy as a romantic interest for the ML. She wasn't bad - but it was an odd character. She is super-helpful at times and I did like that she was a smart, fierce woman - but they tempered it too much with her just being a brat (although this does go away after a bit, which I was happy with because I was starting to not like her at all).
Goa Ming - he was wonderful and this relationship was so sweet, which made the end so much sadder.
The boyhood friends - such a great addition. I loved the found family aspect of all of this.

I totally didn't why he didn't her make fake bronze fish?

Costuming was beautiful - simple, but spot on - I loved it.
Cinematography was pretty good as well.

Not sure who was in charge of wigs - but ZX's wig just bugged me the whole time - too clean around the edges and it was obvious it was a wig - minor annoyance, but still bugged - lol!

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Not so bad, but not that great

Just finished this and would say I mostly enjoyed. It's one of those, didn't LOVE it, but didnt hate it either.
My favorite relationship was between the ML and the Prince Heng Yang - I thought I was gonna hate it cause they started down the love-triangle path - but so not where it ended up. Instead - once of the best ending/breakups with FL and Heng Yang - writers - take note, this is how it should be. And then the bromance with Hang Yang and the ML was just the best! Only regret is that they didnt find a good woman for Heng Yang in the end.
I wanted to like the main couple - all the elements were there - mostly. There was some good chemistry - but the battering/bickering got a bit old after a while - they literally couldn't have a single conversation without it turning into fight. Everything became a game of win or lose - either about admitting something first, getting caught in a scheme or giving in - and this is just about ego and pride (more so for the FL than the ML - I dont think she ever apologized for anything she did wrong). Would also add - while sufficient kissing scenes - FL actress needs to work on her kissing skills - I say this for ALOT of these dramas - this is an interactive action - lips should be moving. At one point she goes to kiss him on the cheek and she doesnt even pucker her lips - it was basically a face plant on his cheek - it's just weird. That being said - the kisses between Prince Shang Yi and Yang Ling were en worse - soooo awkward!
I so wanted to like the FL (and I mostly did) - she was feisty and clever and straightforward (mostly - for some reason she loses this when it comes to the Heng Yang - will get this later). But she was also prideful, narcissistic, never owns her mistakes and kind of mean to the ML when she didnt need to be.
Now - I see debate on the relationship between the FL and Heng Yang here in the comments - was she using him or not. The answer is, most definitely yes. She even says so - it was all about having him protect her from Fan Qing. The problem becomes - as in most of her schemes - she is so myopically focused on her scheme she doesnt see the impact on the people around her and she really doesnt care about how they feel about it - she is just focused on the result and not the process. Hence - she doesnt see the whole problem coming down the pike with Heng Yang that others see from a mile away. Then when the problem does arrive - it was uncharacteristic of her to not just take it head on and she gets all wishy-washy about for a bit. Luckily, she finally does and it is one of the best breakups in a cdrama.
Now once you get past all this first half silliness and everyone is sorted - it was fun to watch them all plot together to take down he bad guys

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