wia

childhood friends to lovers; bland, but perfect ending

i waited for it to finish before finally watching it. i went into this as a fan of both jung somin and jung haein, so i was able to finish it despite being slow in the middle.

i also spoiled myself a little about how it ends, because fans have been theorizing that bae seokryu was probably gonna relapse and it's not gonna have a happy ending. fortunately, they gave this a good ending.

i was surprised and very satisfied with episode 16. most dramas struggle to end a good storyline, but this one has the perfect finale. heavy spoilers below:
1. bae seokryu and choi seunghyo - these two deciding to postpone their marriage in the end made me happy. it made sense that they wanted to focus on their careers first, and to wait for their best friend to come home from her work overseas. contrary to popular comments, i liked it better that they didn't rush their marriage. i hate it when all k-drama writers think that marriage of the main couple is the only recipe to a happy ending. IT ISN'T. i also felt disappointed that choi seunghyo wanted to get married almost immediately after they got together, but the plot between them communicating each of their perspectives about marriage is perfect so they were able to write it off great
2. jung moeum and kang danho - their love story is so cute! i think it's general consensus that in most k-dramas, the 2nd couple almost always have the more interesting storyline compared to the main, and i have to agree. these two are just so cute! esp when they're all bonding together with yeondu
3. the lavenders (the neighborhood's moms) - i normally hate it that k-dramas focus more on the side characters than the leads, but this wasn't it. i loved the dynamic between the moms. they banter, hang out together, and are there for each other when they need help. i also like how they handled the end, where two of them are fighting, and they tried to resolve it among themselves
4. the dads also forming a friendship lmao so cute
5. bae seokryu taking over her dad's restaurant. this was hinted in the last episodes, and i was gonna be heavily disappointed if they didn't pursue this plot. i theorized that choi seunghyo was gonna buy and build the restaurant for bae seokryu, but i loved it even more that it was the dad's idea. it made it more special

i debated not finishing this drama a couple times, especially in the middle where things felt really slow. but the cast is star-studded and full of talented actresses and actors (esp the main leads who are two of my most favorites in the industry) so i had to see it through. i'm glad i finished it. it's definitely not rewatch material, but i loved the last few episodes.

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great world-building. sad that it didn't hold up until the very end.

what a waste of good story. it had a very good start but quickly fell off. i started this because of lu yuxiao and stayed because of her and only her.

the start was very reminiscent of the drama Love O2O. while i didn't like the female lead there, i think it had more interesting plots not just for the main characters but also the side characters. this one struggled with that. the only plot i find interesting here is hu xiu's best friend zhao and her entire arc. the rest, i didn't care much, especially the main couple's story—which is a shame, since they're supposed to be the selling point of the drama.

i also feel like the main couple here suffered through the same syndrome i see in most contemporary dramas where they lose chemistry when they get together. as soon as they become a couple, i got bored. skipped through most of their scenes because i couldn't even stomach most of them being too cheesy. lu yuxiao was phenomenal in her character, but chen xingxu wasn't doing it for me. i keep getting same-face syndrome from him, and i struggle to see his emotions when acting.

surprisingly, i liked pei zhen a lot more. he was a very complicated and gray character that i was intrigued a lot. dare i say i even like him better with hu xiu than the male lead, and that's probably why i didn't enjoy the last 10 episodes. even the climax felt too anticlimactic.

wished they explored or incorporated rongcheng more in the main plotline. that was one of the most gripping points of the drama for me.

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one of the most consistent enemies-to-lovers historical romances ever

this has always been my favorite genre, so i was very excited to start this. i've wanted to watch liu yuning dramas but don't know where to start. i was gonna watch his collaboration with zhao lusi since i'm also a huge fan of her, but i'm not ready for that emotional trauma yet so here i am.

to start, manman is an absolute favorite. she has been steady from the very first episode and she has never made any decision i disagreed with. she's very likeable, mature, and knows how to deal with wei shao when he's being an ass. the first few episodes were difficult to watch because of her struggles while adjusting, and it was a very realistic portrayal of their clans being enemies.

the wedding in particular was very well-written. i have always been irked by people labeling tons of things "enemies to lovers" but we only see it in words but never in action. wei shao was a real piece in the beginning and i wanted to smack his head multiple times. i'm glad the writers weren't scared to put him in a negative light in the beginning because it paved the way for one of the greatest redemption arcs i've ever watched.

the political turmoil also made a lot of sense. politics in historical dramas are always hit-or-miss, but this one is a definite hit. they wrote government officials quite accurately, and even the climax in the end where wei shao had to decide whether to take back an area that will greatly aid his tenure as a ruler in the future or go back and defend his hometown where his family resides. the plot armor is a bit too on-the-nose, but i didn't mind it one bit.

one thing i could never forget was just manman's cousin, qiao fan, being unbearable to watch and not because she was a bad actress. she was good! very effective at making me want to pull her hair. admittedly, i didn't care much about her in the end, but the entire thing happened because of her stupid father, who also annoyed the hell out of me. great writing. what's a family without a relative you want to throw in the river anyway?

barring all that, the music is also good, as well as the side characters and their stories. i love the relationship between the generals and the lady's maids. i didn't like how the story panned out for one of the generals because i think it was too obvious that we needed it to further the plot. but i still like the rest of the story.

i, however, needed a longer epilogue.

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zhao jinmai will always deliver!

i'm in the process of watching every drama starring zhao jinmai, and this is definitely gonna be one of my favorites.

to start, the introductory plot is very interesting. i'm glad that lin yusen was wrongfully petty before they cleared up the misunderstanding. what happened to him was not something light, and if he immediately just let go of his hatred when he met nie xiguang the second time, he wouldn't be my favorite. i hate foolishly stupid men in love. that he had to go through his negative emotions towards her before fully accepting his feelings again is written accurately.

i was also surprised to find that xiguang's character was not doormat. what we usually see from rich nepo babies, especially women, is they have to be extra nice, so they don't offend their (fake) friends with their wealth. when she got accused by her jealous roommate, i was glad she stood up for herself and didn't apologize. her close relationship with her maternal family, especially her cousin, was also something i value greatly. i'm glad she has permanent people on her side because sometimes, it tends to get unrealistic when everyone seems to be against the main leads for the plot.

another character i'm surprised about is zhuang xu (second male lead). i started this drama fully ready to hate him to my core. the edits on tiktok, the clips i saw, they're all showing how much of a manchild he was and i was glad xieguang didn't date him. however, surprisingly, i did sympathize with his situation and understood where his inferiority complex came from. i'm not saying he's not annoying—he is!—but his insecurities are valid. it's not a something he can change (their social status gap), no matter how hard he works. i do think he shouldn't be so foul-mouthed when talking to her, but i felt bad for him in the end when he ended up realizing how wrongly he fucked up. his childhood friend feeding him lies also didn't help his case and made his resolve to be a coward so much worse. in the end, he got courageous in the wrong time. this scene also cracked me up because he and xiguang were finally confronting each other, and the taxi xiguang hailed was just beside them waiting. i was laughing, wondering how that will play out if it happened in real life.

anyway, i also disliked that they cleared up the misunderstand too late. i wish they cleared it up earlier than that, or at least before episode 20.

the ost is also not something i connected with, especially the theme song that plays whenever they have romantic moments together. it takes me out of the scene because the song pisses me off, and i just mute it and hope it ends immediately. i wish they played something else; not a singer belting out an english song that i feel like don't match the main couple's calm energy.

the on-the-nose propaganda about their solar technology also got old too fast. i was hooked in the beginning, and then i started skipping it halfway through. the drama felt so draggy with these scenes prolonged in some episodes.

there was also a memorable scene i couldn't forget where xiguang got angry at yusen when he had to attend to an emergency, and she got upset because he didn't update her. i get her and i'm always team maimai, but i was lowkey thinking: "girl, somebody almost died. surely, you'd think this isn't about you?"

but overall, i really enjoyed this. the equal social status of both leads made it interesting, and although i was getting tired of seeing CEO leads left and right, song weilong was good at portraying a CEO who actually does his day-to-day work. it made me believe that he was really busy. the ending was also satisfying. definitely rewatch material if you're feeling like watching something lighthearted.

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healing drama that can get a bit boring if you don't connect with any of the characters

as a huge fan of lee sungkyung, i'm determined to watch everything on her cinematography and i was fortunately looking for something short so i can finish it fast. i was just looking for something lighthearted and this was obviously the wrong choice because of the minutely heavy themes that were discussed.

i did like this, but i think it lost me a bit in the middle.

to start, we have 4 couples in this show.

the first couple being song haran (lee sungkyung) and seonu chan. i initially found them cute but when we were nearing the end and the guy still hasn't come clean about the truth, i got tired of it. i was already iffy about lying by omission being one of the foundations of their relationships, and when we found out, i think it was already too late in the story, and it all felt rushed. i feel like it was manipulative that haran discovered the truth, and then he disappeared and was implied to be hurt so she couldn't even process the lie and her feelings about it too much. it was unfair to haran, and she should've had more time to reflect on everything. instead, she had to worry about chan too soon just because he vanished. i wasn't even rooting for them by the end of it. the chemistry sometimes felt off sometimes too, but maybe that's because i'm really just not a fan of lying and i hated that he never told her sooner.

the second couple being their grandmother kim nabong and park manjae (cafe owner) was cute. i like the backstory they provided, but i honestly skipped most of their screentime. i just wasn't interested. i was also a bit frustrated that the grandmother hid their dementia and that they're technically putting themselves at risk by not telling anyone. if hadam's boyfriend didn't know, who knows what could've happened to her? really, they're all frustrating in this family.

the third couple is COO yeon taeseok and song hayeong which is surprisingly my favorite couple in the show. i really like the dynamics between both of them being people pleasers, and hayeong being a straightforward person. she embodies the middle-child personality well, and the chemistry between them is good. shame that we didn't see much of them, but i'm glad they didn't rush the plot between the two.

the last high schooler couple, song hadam and cha yugyeom, was also quite okay. they reminded me of the numerous high school YA dramas i've watched before, and they were both frustrating and hilarious. classic high schoolers and their miscommunication.

all in all, if you're into faster pacing when it comes to plot moving forward, this might not be for you. i do love that we didn't have unnecessary drama or love triangles, but it can get slow and bland especially when you lose interest in the characters. the strongest connection i have with this drama is the sisters and how they relate to one another. that's all, really. there's a bit too much lying to their partners on not just one but, like, 3 couples for my taste which is why i couldn't rate it higher. it definitely felt like a few episodes were cutoff because the last 2 episodes rushed through the remaining problems the characters had.

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suprisingly an easy watch

i have been out of the loop with k-dramas for a while now. i stopped watching about a few years ago and have only missed watching IU in dramas this year so i gave this one a try since it was fairly short. i'm aware that it had multiple issues while airing, and that both leads even had to apologize for some trivial things i could not care about. but it was okay!

things i liked:
- the relationship was mature, and they didn't have unnecessary miscommunication. i guess since the drama is so short, if they suddenly add something to break them apart on the third act, it will ruin the experience altogether and i'm glad they didn't go down that road.
- the side characters, especially the palace maids and attendants, are hilarious and i love their relationship with the royals. i especially find both secretary do and secretary choi funny. i like the switcharoo that happened and it definitely made the episodes so much more fun.
- i'm glad the queen mother had a redemption. she of all people really needed it.
- iu's role somehow reminds me of the past roles she had. it seems like she's being typecasted, but i don't mind. i like most of her character e.g. in scarlet heart or in hotel del luna. i like how she's a strong character who also has her weak moments. her relationship with her family is one of the most realistic portrayals of complicated familial relationships i have ever seen, including her banter with her older brother. i'm glad they gave us that.

things i didn't like:
- quite predictable plot, e.g. the "big" reveal in the end. from the very start, you can very much feel that they're setting up the villain, so it wasn't a surprise at all for me.
- byeon woo-seok's acting is good, but i get why people say he has the same-face syndrome in some cases. he cries, but only his eyes are lonely. the rest of his body language doesn't seem to follow suit. maybe that's why the chemistry between him and iu can be a bit on and off in some cases. i can definitely see him matching more comedy-heavy dramas than serious ones. his comedic timing is golden, and that's where he shines the most.
- plot is almost a copy-paste of some of the famous historical dramas in the past that tackles the same thing, but with 12 episodes, i doubt they can do much anyway.

overall, highly digestible episodes! i was able to finish it in one day. hilarious watch, and definitely a good palate cleanser after watching something heavy. it's a shame iu won't be coming back to lead in hotel del luna 2.

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