Great storyline and main characters but something about this movie didn't really have me as engaged as I should be. Outside of psychological survival games like Squid Game, Korea still needs some work when it comes to other types of dystopian stories made for Netflix. Black Knight didn't really draw me in either despite its interesting storyline.
JungE is still an enjoyable watch though. I like that the focal point was between the mom and daughter. Best mom in the world anyone? But it definitely could have been better executed.
Oh yea, 24 episodes. It's definitely gonna drag and be repetitive, if "Friend to Enemy" is any indication. That show didn't pick up until 75% in. They really need to cut their episodes down to half, because writers can only come up with so much to stretch a story for that long.
Aran and Prim are cute and sweet though. Hopefully, they don't get into silly drama and misunderstandings because of his ex.
If Pod didn't want to be a monk, he'd be great with Namtan. They're both so pure and innocent compared to the others. Haven't seen Pad lately. Seriously, the good family members need more screentime to balance the misguided and greedy ones.
Grandma is crazy. Her husband could have been murdered, if she didn't murder him herself. One of the kids would have been raped by the other, if she wasn't saved. TF? One ran away. One almost hit his wife. Ma'am, do you not see how your way is destroying the family?
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not usually into het relationship slice of life dramas and really only watched this for the aroace character. Probably why I don’t have strong feelings for the drama one way or another.
The story feels like 40% het relationship and 60% friendship. For me, nothing really stood out about the het relationship compared to the many others out there. You have a couple with some differing values and with the help and support of her friend, they learn to coexist with their differences. That portion of the story felt like textbook relationship problems and how to overcome them.
As for Aiko not fitting traditional gender roles, I’m mixed and even in one of my more conservative Asian cultures, we’re mostly over that except for maybe some of the older generation and nonprogressive folks. I don’t speak for all Asian cultures ofc. Systemic gender discrimination, however, is another matter and still prevalent in most places, if not everywhere, in varying degrees. I think Aiko’s character also tackles that but is not really a significant part of the story that stands out to me. Her challenge mostly deals with gender roles related to being in a relationship -- cooking, cleaning, last name changes, being higher up on the career ladder than her partner.
Of course, there is the cute and wholesome friendship. I like it okay, but other than there being an aroace character here, even the friendship doesn’t really significantly stand out like some other shows. Take Wednesday and The School for Good and Evil as examples. Or if we’re going slice of life and Japan, I really love and adore Laid Back Camp.
I’d also say the friendship in Saneha Stories: Saneha Kap Cheewit, the friendship between both trans characters stood out there for me. They also have ace representation but lean more towards asexual than aromantic. That story is very heavy, and I really mean HEAVY. But the friendship in it really shined. And as much as I had criticisms for the GL representation in The Interns, the friendships in that show stand out, too. I would have watched that show even without the LGBT+ characters. I did go into it without knowing there would LGBT+ characters after all.
So this comes down to preferences. Although this wasn’t for me, many seem to enjoy it. I think they did well with the aroace representation. I also feel that the relationships and characters are very cute, wholesome, well developed and mostly healthy here. I appreciate seeing the positive representation of women in different career fields and levels. Also enjoyed watching their career growth, the cooking/food parts, the cute opening and ending credits.
JungE is still an enjoyable watch though. I like that the focal point was between the mom and daughter. Best mom in the world anyone? But it definitely could have been better executed.
8/10
Aran and Prim are cute and sweet though. Hopefully, they don't get into silly drama and misunderstandings because of his ex.
If Pod didn't want to be a monk, he'd be great with Namtan. They're both so pure and innocent compared to the others. Haven't seen Pad lately. Seriously, the good family members need more screentime to balance the misguided and greedy ones.
Grandma is crazy. Her husband could have been murdered, if she didn't murder him herself. One of the kids would have been raped by the other, if she wasn't saved. TF? One ran away. One almost hit his wife. Ma'am, do you not see how your way is destroying the family?
The story feels like 40% het relationship and 60% friendship. For me, nothing really stood out about the het relationship compared to the many others out there. You have a couple with some differing values and with the help and support of her friend, they learn to coexist with their differences. That portion of the story felt like textbook relationship problems and how to overcome them.
As for Aiko not fitting traditional gender roles, I’m mixed and even in one of my more conservative Asian cultures, we’re mostly over that except for maybe some of the older generation and nonprogressive folks. I don’t speak for all Asian cultures ofc. Systemic gender discrimination, however, is another matter and still prevalent in most places, if not everywhere, in varying degrees. I think Aiko’s character also tackles that but is not really a significant part of the story that stands out to me. Her challenge mostly deals with gender roles related to being in a relationship -- cooking, cleaning, last name changes, being higher up on the career ladder than her partner.
Of course, there is the cute and wholesome friendship. I like it okay, but other than there being an aroace character here, even the friendship doesn’t really significantly stand out like some other shows. Take Wednesday and The School for Good and Evil as examples. Or if we’re going slice of life and Japan, I really love and adore Laid Back Camp.
I’d also say the friendship in Saneha Stories: Saneha Kap Cheewit, the friendship between both trans characters stood out there for me. They also have ace representation but lean more towards asexual than aromantic. That story is very heavy, and I really mean HEAVY. But the friendship in it really shined. And as much as I had criticisms for the GL representation in The Interns, the friendships in that show stand out, too. I would have watched that show even without the LGBT+ characters. I did go into it without knowing there would LGBT+ characters after all.
So this comes down to preferences. Although this wasn’t for me, many seem to enjoy it. I think they did well with the aroace representation. I also feel that the relationships and characters are very cute, wholesome, well developed and mostly healthy here. I appreciate seeing the positive representation of women in different career fields and levels. Also enjoyed watching their career growth, the cooking/food parts, the cute opening and ending credits.
7/10