2
6
This review may contain spoilers
East Asia yearns for their own Kal Ho Naa Ho
How much is a fictional tragedy, tragedy, before it starts becoming miseryporn?
I guess I shouldn’t question that for a series named “a story sadder than sadness” but regardless of the praise for its “heartbreaking” nature, I didn’t feel sad for the two main leads. I think when you overdo the melo, it just starts losing its impact. To further, the dullness of the emotion, all characters, their backstories, their journeys, and identities are presented as bullet pointers rather than being explored. Was it because the show is just 10 episodes long? I don’t know, for I definitely couldn’t take any more of it - especially if it keeps its focus on K & Cream.
K & Cream, meeting through the most unfortunate of fates, bond together as family and more. Only for K to find out that he inhereted his father’s cancer and decides to find a “better man” for Cream to have as family, once he is gone.
(spoilers start here)
And that’s exactly why I found K thoroughly unlikeable. People kept calling his actions the “biggest sacrifice”. I beg to differ. I agree with Cindy’s original arguments, though I lost her too, to writer’s reasoning of a love too big. First, K doesn’t treat Cream like a grownup who can decide for herself — he breaks Cindy and YouXian so he can set him up with Cream (and it is all okay because he is dying). That’s not love, that’s ownership and no, you don’t get excused just because you are dying.
Also s/n: His condition for a man who deserves Cream was "healthy and lives long"... so he set her up with the smoker. I snickered.
But then again, I didn’t care for Cream much either. Her character in the first few episodes was so well done, only for her to become a manic pixie girl just existing to support K’s story. I do not care whether YouXian knew or not, she still approached an engaged man, tried flirting with him, and kept persistantly at it; all so he marries her — to make K happy. YouXian is the biggest victim in this entire story. Everyone else who did him wrong are forgiven with zero character development on their end; somehow, he’s the one who has to understand.
The only characters that I truly cared for were the ‘family’ of three - Ke Le, Yi Chi and Po Han. I wished the show had given them more time and explored their story more, I would have loved that.
Surprisingly, my thoughts are mirrored when it comes to the cast's acting too; the 2nd and 3rd leads were better actors. Cream had this weird head bob as her personality trait that irritated me personally, and K’s constant crying was just… “okay sure” to me. They were still decent though, not bad actors, but not as natural as the rest of the main cast.
Since I have expressed my disappointments so in-depth-ly so far, I should point out here few things I liked… hmm, let me see, oh yes! PoHan and KeLe’s bond. I am a *sucker* for non-biological parent-child relationship, and I was so happy everytime they interacted - their banter and shared love for Yi Chi. The **best** part of the whole show!
Overall the drama feels too dated with its approach to the tricky genre that melodrama is. I wouldn’t be rewatching and neither would I recommend it.
I guess I shouldn’t question that for a series named “a story sadder than sadness” but regardless of the praise for its “heartbreaking” nature, I didn’t feel sad for the two main leads. I think when you overdo the melo, it just starts losing its impact. To further, the dullness of the emotion, all characters, their backstories, their journeys, and identities are presented as bullet pointers rather than being explored. Was it because the show is just 10 episodes long? I don’t know, for I definitely couldn’t take any more of it - especially if it keeps its focus on K & Cream.
K & Cream, meeting through the most unfortunate of fates, bond together as family and more. Only for K to find out that he inhereted his father’s cancer and decides to find a “better man” for Cream to have as family, once he is gone.
(spoilers start here)
And that’s exactly why I found K thoroughly unlikeable. People kept calling his actions the “biggest sacrifice”. I beg to differ. I agree with Cindy’s original arguments, though I lost her too, to writer’s reasoning of a love too big. First, K doesn’t treat Cream like a grownup who can decide for herself — he breaks Cindy and YouXian so he can set him up with Cream (and it is all okay because he is dying). That’s not love, that’s ownership and no, you don’t get excused just because you are dying.
Also s/n: His condition for a man who deserves Cream was "healthy and lives long"... so he set her up with the smoker. I snickered.
But then again, I didn’t care for Cream much either. Her character in the first few episodes was so well done, only for her to become a manic pixie girl just existing to support K’s story. I do not care whether YouXian knew or not, she still approached an engaged man, tried flirting with him, and kept persistantly at it; all so he marries her — to make K happy. YouXian is the biggest victim in this entire story. Everyone else who did him wrong are forgiven with zero character development on their end; somehow, he’s the one who has to understand.
The only characters that I truly cared for were the ‘family’ of three - Ke Le, Yi Chi and Po Han. I wished the show had given them more time and explored their story more, I would have loved that.
Surprisingly, my thoughts are mirrored when it comes to the cast's acting too; the 2nd and 3rd leads were better actors. Cream had this weird head bob as her personality trait that irritated me personally, and K’s constant crying was just… “okay sure” to me. They were still decent though, not bad actors, but not as natural as the rest of the main cast.
Since I have expressed my disappointments so in-depth-ly so far, I should point out here few things I liked… hmm, let me see, oh yes! PoHan and KeLe’s bond. I am a *sucker* for non-biological parent-child relationship, and I was so happy everytime they interacted - their banter and shared love for Yi Chi. The **best** part of the whole show!
Overall the drama feels too dated with its approach to the tricky genre that melodrama is. I wouldn’t be rewatching and neither would I recommend it.
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