michelleoc

It should have been called Love to Play You

If you don't want to take the time to read my long-winded review, I can recommend this show if you want over-the-top characters. Sometimes the characters seem like caricatures of real people, but that is for comedy effect. This rom-com could actually be called a rom-com. There was romance and a lot of comedy, which is refreshing if you are trying to cleanse your palate after a serious show.

There were a number of things I liked about this show:
-Yoo Teo as Kang Ho. I enjoyed the way the actor played the part (doppelganger for Ok Taec Yeon, so what's not to like?!) as well as the way his character was written. I liked him almost from the start, he was wound a little tight, granted, but quickly redeemed himself.
-Kim Ji Hoon as Won Joon. Him and his beautiful head of long hair! I liked the way his character struggled to straddle the line between manager and friend, not always being successful. When, in the last episode, he said to 2FL "Are we still in our same life?" that gave me all the feels.
-Kim Sung Ryung as Soo Jin. I love her in everything I see her in. With her distinctive voice and the way she always plays slightly off center, I always enjoy her performances. I loved the character she played here - being the underdog and then standing up for the underdog. She seemed like the kind of woman that never had a woman friend before, and was glad of her friendship with Mi Ran.
-That it was only 10 episodes. It wasn't long and drawn out, with tons of filler.
-The playfulness of Kang Ho and Mi Ran in later episodes. Their chemistry was fire.
-The director that didn't speak throughout the whole show.
-The last episode was cute. This made me rate it a bit higher than I was planning to.
-The lawyers in Mi Ran's office, including the ex-boyfriend. What a misogynistic bunch of Neanderthals, but they redeemed themselves in the best way at the end.
However, there were some things that I didn't care for:
-The character of Mi Ran. Throughout this show, I didn't like her. First, her saying that she'd been with 100 men. I struggle with this in romances (for the women AS WELL as the men). Romance is about finding that one special someone. I've heard that you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince, but that doesn't mean you have to sleep with them. Her reasoning for sleeping with them was lame, and as a potential partner, I'd insist upon a clean bill of health before I got too close. I was hoping for some hate turned to love (tricks played on one another, etc.), but that wasn't the case. She found out early on that he wasn't the way she thought he was, but even after he confessed his feelings, she was still playing him. She continued to talk about a 3-month (maybe a year) relationship limit, and her not wanting to get married made me feel like she wasn't totally committed to him. They were awfully cute together toward the end, but I still felt like she wasn't willing to totally trust and invest in the relationship.
-The massive amounts of drinking done.
-It is possible to portray a woman being strong without her being a b*tch and beating people up all the time. I felt like she needed to get some anger management counseling.
-Why, oh why, do they need to bring in an ex-girlfriend all the time?!?!

I really struggle with shows where one of the main characters is not likable. That affects my enjoyment of the show in a big way.

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Not for me

I'd say give it a try and don't go by what I say. I write reviews mainly so I can remember what I liked or disliked about a show.

When I saw the cast for this movie, I got so excited. I mean, really! However, I had to drop this due to coarse language, female objectification and continuous sexual references, talking about sex, thinking about sex, etc. There are just certain things I choose not to subject myself to.

Kim Woo Bin is true-to-form and looks really cool with all his hair combed forward. He usually plays characters that are pigs, and you shouldn't like him, but there is something just so sweet about him.

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I thought it would never end!

Don't shoot me, this is just my personal opinion, but what did I just watch? There were a couple of things that I liked about this drama, but truthfully it irritated me no end. I don't actually think I should have rated it as high as I did, but it did have some redeeming value for me. I watched this show a couple of years ago and just watched it again after watching You Are My Glory and loving Yang Yang.

What I liked:
1)Yang Yang - he's better in YAMG because he's grown as an actor, but here he was very cute. He doesn't show a lot of emotion, but there is something so magnetic about him, I kept watching, waiting for his smiles. He knows how to do good kissing scenes. Unfortunately, it looked like he was kissing a piece of wood here. I blame the actress or the way she portrayed the character. In the kissing area, she's of the dead fish variety, until the final episode.
2)Good CGI for the gaming.
3)The Hao Mei/KO storyline.
4)Episode 30 - they turned up the heat in this episode!
5)His friends were funny.

What I didn't like:
1)Zheng Shuang as Wei Wei (both the actress and the character). She had the wide-eyed look down to a science. She is a stunning woman, but she didn't display much range in this role. He facial expression pretty much stayed the same the whole time. She was treated unfairly (a lot) but her expression never changed. Very poorly done kissing scenes. And her character? She was supposed to be this brilliant computer science girl, but once she got with Xiao Nai, she was just an accessory hanging on his arm. Up until they met in person, she was this cool young woman, the type that other women admire and aspire to be. They met and it was as if her IQ immediately took a nosedive. She couldn't look at him, she was doing all this stupid internal dialog, she was behaving in a silly manner (was it supposed to be cute? It wasn't).
2)The dubbing. This is always a problem for me in Chinese shows, but it seemed especially bad here. I swear, the FL and at least three of the other females were dubbed by the same person with the same high, squeaky, breathy, irritating voice.
3)Too much gaming. I get it, it's a show about gaming, but come on!
4)Her friend group, especially Er Xi. They behaved in a juvenile matter all the time, chasing each other around, tickling each other, etc.
5)The character of Er Xi. She gets special mention because of how much she irritated me. The high dubbed voice, the overacting, the yelling, the immaturity. Ugh!
6)I didn't come into this show expecting realism, but the way that everyone fawned over Xiao Nai all the time was absolutely ridiculous. Women running toward him and standing around him talking about how handsome he was. He comes into a room and everyone takes out their phones to take pictures of him in all his handsomeness. Conversations cease, staring begins, and the thesaurus comes out to come up with new words to describe how handsome he is. There is one scene in particular that stands out. They are trying to take graduation pictures when he shows up. No one can pay attention to what they are supposed to be doing because they are all enthralled by him. The photographer says, "Handsome guy, go stand behind that tree." That pretty much sums it up, If he's in the vicinity, he must be fawned over.
7)Mean girls. A plethora of them, each one more mean and scheming than the other. They were portrayed as "the popular girls", but with the way they badmouthed Wei Wei to her face and to everyone around them, there was NO ONE to stand up for Wei Wei and tell them to shut up? It was verbal bullying at a very high level.
8) ASMR. We were privy to EVERY indrawn breath, surprised breath, and sigh of Wei Wei.

I would love, love, LOVE to find a Chinese romance that I didn't have to use the fast forward button so much. The concept of the romance was cute, but not executed that well, and there was SO MUCH boring stuff to get through!

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I liked it a lot more than I thought I would

Sometimes I read reviews, sometimes I don't. I love romance, melodrama, not so much. I don't know what made me start watching this, especially after reading so many negative comments. This was the classic chaebol melodrama, class separation, back-stabbing family, etc. I liked the main characters for numerous reasons, however.

Uee as Yoon Ha. This character could have been a spoiled rich girl. But, even with all the money and status, her family was a nightmare, each and every one of them. She tried so hard to get a scrap of affection from each of them, but they were so busy trying to climb their way to the top they had no use for her. She decided to break free and work as a part-timer at a grocery store. She has rebelled against her status and wants to live like a "regular person" (though she's still living in her family home and living off their money, so how free could she be?) I liked her. She appreciated and was true to her friendship with Ji Yi. (there was wonderful sismance here).

Sung Joon as Joon Ki. I really liked his storyline. He wanted to be in the upper echelon and wasn't above trickery to get there. I loved watching his interactions with others, I was never quite sure about his motives, if he was being truthful, or if it was all to get ahead. His character grew a lot throughout the drama. Plus, he has a beautiful deep voice.

Park Hyung Sik as Chang Soo. I had a love/hate relationship with this character. Multiple shower/workout scenes - loved. He's a beautiful crier. He is so cute when he is drawn to a woman and I really liked his surprise at liking a woman "for real" after having just been a player previously. Chang Soo and Ji Yi had a very cute relationship that was, for the most part, fun to watch. He's got that sarcastic humor down to an art. Good romance and good kisses. My problem with this character was his being a total doormat to his mom. She was going to decide who he married, she threatened Ji Yi multiple times and made no bones about the fact that marriage was for status. I absolutely hated how weak he was. It reminded me of the ML in Boys Over Flowers, who I hated for the same reason. You're absolutely in love, but going to marry who mommy tells you to. Even toward the end, I felt that he was compromising with his mom and felt that there would always be a problem there.

Im Ji Yeon as Ji Yi - effervescent personality. Loyal friend. Forgiving soul. I didn't like some of the conversations she had with Chang Soo - "I've decided I'm going to like you", etc. I went back and forth between admiring her and thinking that she needed to get a spine.

Jang Hyung Soon as Chang Soo's mother - Surprisingly, I loved to hate her. She was a force to be reckoned with, but her scenes between her and her son were fun to watch in a "there's an accident on the other side of the road and I don't want to look but I can't help myself" way. And when she met Ji Yi, you always felt that Ji Yi had the upper hand and Chang Soo's mom was busy trying to figure out where she went wrong. Funny!

I went back and immediately re-watched the final four episodes to see again the growth in the characters. They learned from their mistakes and were moving forward. I liked how none of the main characters were over-dramatic, for the most part. The ending was kind of love/hate for me. As usual with K-dramas, the ending was kind of rushed. We got a proposal (loved) but we also had a married couple that went through so much to be together, but now all they do is squabble. That was a letdown for me.

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Charming and funny historical (an oxymoron?)

First, I'm no expert on Chinese dramas, especially historical ones, because they normally aren't my cup of tea. They tend to be too angsty, too overdone, too dubbed, too costume-y, too long, too slow, etc.

I happened upon this one accidentally after watching something else on Disney+. What a pleasant surprise! This show was very light, funny, and enjoyable to watch. And when I say funny, there were numerous laugh out loud moments for me. Add to that the fact that it was only 16 episodes, I'll give the editor kudos for keeping the editing tight and managing to leave out most of the filler.

There was so much to like about this show, I'll name just a few of my favorite things.
-Wang Xing Yue as the Prince - this actor is only 22! I think he will probably go far in the business. I loved the character he played. He was cold and reserved, as befit his station in life, yet meeting Xiao Xiao turned him a besotted, sometimes clueless, man. I loved how his eunuch was so supportive, giving him a "thumbs up" when he did something right. There were times that he behaved in an immature way, but that really endeared him to me. He was in uncharted waters, but was forging ahead in his feelings for her. His broken heart was heartbreaking to watch. The way he looked at Xiao Xiao, he didn't care who knew he was in love.
-He Rui Xianao as Xiao Xiao - though I didn't always love her character, I thought she did a fine job with her part. There was a stillness about her, a quiet determination in her actions. She had a goal and wasn't going to let anything get in her way. However, I did find it interesting that when she was upset her food tasted bad, but she didn't notice? Did she not taste her own food?
-The Queen - random, I know, since her part was relatively small. However, I LOVED how supportive she was of the Prince. So many historical dramas have the evil queen character, and it was refreshing not to have it here.
-Side characters - especially the kitchen staff. They started out with tension but grew to trust and care about one another.
-The food - this was a plus and a minus for me. Food porn is an apt description for the abundance of food cooking, food presentation, and food eating. The eating part is where I had a problem. Were they going for ASMR? The loud sounds of them slurping, chewing, swallowing, with the extreme close-ups of their mouths, was disgusting.

Ending/alternate ending - this confused me. I had been reading that episode 16 was an alternate ending, but it was almost a carbon copy of episode 15. There are basically two endings in episode 15. SPOILER: In one ending she leaves the palace - watching the Prince's heartbreak was so sad! He "pretends" to die so he can go and be with her? I had a couple of problems with this. I love a love story, and the fact that she could walk away without a backward glance made me think that she couldn't have loved him that much. Also, she can't have gone too far from the palace because she heard about his "death". Did he not go and look for her? Also, in that day and age, would she, as a woman, be able to open her own restaurant? Where did she get the money for it? THEN, she's wasting away when she thinks that he has died. Seemed a bit much since she had no problem leaving him. THEN, when he shows up and stays with her, I didn't like how their relationship was presented - she was always nagging him to do some work, and he was just lazy. Their personalities had changed so much. The other ending was unsatisfying as well - if they married and stayed in the Palace, I would have liked to have seen how she adjusted. We are just shown a brief snippet of them when they are old. END SPOILER.

So, I'd have to say that the ending/s were the weak link for me. Thankfully, the rest of the show made up for it. This is an easy, funny, fluffy, low angst watch when you need a break from heavier shows.

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Lived on the couch the day it dropped on Netflix!

I have to say, I didn't like it QUITE as much as the movie, but I still liked it. This series had more filler than the movie, and there were a lot of storylines going on. There were also multiple instances of misunderstandings, and I wondered if the main couple would EVER get together! The FL seemed more docile here than in the movie, always apologizing. I was concerned about the ML, but I thought he was perfect. Baby face, his eyes really expressed his feelings for her, and he was a pleasure to watch. There were a couple of instances of over-the-top acting, which I have come to expect in J-dramas, but it was from people that had relatively small parts.

I loved the graphics at the beginning of every episode, and the village they lived in was lovely. I really liked the scenes where they were walking the neighborhoods, talking.

I appreciated the music as well, not for the songs, necessarily, but they used tinkling bells in quiet scenes, that for some reason I found very effective.

The storyline was great. There were multiple couples, and I liked the story of each of them, because they were so different. First love; long-lasting hidden love; forbidden love. Each had their strengths.

But I have to say that the friendships really shone. Getting acquainted, developing friendships, overcoming difficulties, and then the uncertainty and fear associated with leaving your insulated life and heading out into the big world. Would these friendships stand the test of time? I teared up a number of times with the goodbyes. I would have liked to have seen where they all ended up, but other than that, it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

***After re-watching this, I had to lower my rating slightly. FL had too little self-esteem and couldn't believe that anyone could like her. She was too quick to believe lies, but couldn't believe when the ML was telling her how he felt about her. This resulted in multiple episodes of me talking to the TV, telling her to get over herself and listen up! She still felt this way after the friendships that she had developed and even THEY were telling her how the ML felt. I felt like it wasted a lot of time, and made me worried for their ability to communicate with one another in the future, if she was always going to go to the worst-case scenario.

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What a surprise!

Sometimes it's best not to read reviews or know anything about a show before watching it. I happened upon this gem completely by accident and I enjoyed it fully. It's a very calming story. Strangely, while watching it, it made me feel like I was sitting on the porch on a beautiful spring day, watching the world around me. Low angst.

Tabe Mikako as Sawako. Now, one of the problems that I tend to have with Japanese shows is that the FL always has her head down, speaks haltingly, and apologizes for absolutely everything. At the outset, I thought this was going to be the same, but here, it worked perfectly. She didn't fit in and was all alone, until she was able to make some friends. I liked the way she portrayed her shyness, her loneliness, but finally learned to speak up, at least when her friends were being trash talked about.

Miura Haruma - (It was sad watching him from a RL standpoint. All I could think of was that beautiful smile hid his true self. The world lost a sweet soul. My mind goes off on a tirade of the importance of seeking help, of speaking up, of not suffering alone.) He did a wonderful part with this role. Tall, gangly, friendly, popular, handsome. The last person you'd expect to come to the aid of Sawako. I adored the voice over when we first hear about his feelings for her.

A plus for me was how this movie didn't just focus on romance, but on the importance of friendship. How opening yourself up to an unlikely alliance can bring such happiness and completion. I enjoyed watching Sawako's change over time (her trying to kick a soccer ball was so funny!). She realized the importance of those friendships and was willing to totally come out of her shell to defend those friendships.

I felt that this movie flowed very smoothly, and I was along for the ride. There were no jarring moments to make the ride bumpy (except for the guy playing the homeroom teacher - WAY overacted!), and we are treated to Mikako's beautiful smile at the end of the movie. I found myself smiling as well. I'm really glad I took this journey.

Then, to find out that there's another version coming out on Netflix March 30th - I hope they don't screw it up!

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For me, this drama was irritating

Positives first:
1) Tan Song Yun as Ning Meng was excellent. Her growth from secretary to investment person was interesting to watch. This was a character that depended upon herself to succeed. She wasn't whiny, stupid or over-the-top in any way.
2) The character of Ning Meng (when she wasn't making bad relationship decisions). She was not the typical damsel in distress character.
3) The clothing that Ning Meng wore. Mature, classy.
4) The friendship that ultimately is developed between the ML and FL.

Unfortunately, the list is short for the positives. The negatives far outweighed them.
1) The character of Lu Ji Ming. I think that Ling Geng Xin did a good job portraying him, but this man was abusive, plain and simple. They made a point of saying, multiple times, that she had worked for him for three years, so she'd been putting up with this for quite a while. He was mean, and the name calling was terrible. He called her stupid, saying she had no talent, and could not be successful at anything other than being his secretary. It's bad enough when it's just the two of them, but when he bad-mouths her to her new boss, I thought he'd progressed to a new level of low. Then he basically stalks her and tries to convince her to come back and work for him!
2) The excessive amount of push and pull in their relationship. It was just one drama after the other designed to keep them apart. An editor would not have been remiss here. I mean, it seemed like filler just to complete the "required" number of episodes. Each time there would be a glimmer of hope, I would look at what episode I was on and think, "Okay, what bad thing is going to happen next, they've got a bunch more episodes to fill." This would have been so much more enjoyable with half the episodes.
3) To call this a slow burn romance is not correct. They finally got together in LITERALLY the last five minutes of the last episode. There was no burn, no sizzle, no spark, no flicker. Personally, I think to call this drama a romance at all is misleading.
4) I appreciated their chemistry once they became friends. I liked that the FL was the one to come to the aid of the ML and to stand by him. However, since I watched this show looking for romance, I was sorry to not see any romantic chemistry between them.
5) The handling of the physical and/or verbal abuse. There is never an excuse. I really didn't like the turn the writers took in trying to explain away the ML's verbal abuse "I was raised that way", etc. Just once, I'd like to see a character realize how wrong he was and sincerely apologize.

For anyone that has been patient enough to read this review, I'd say, decide for yourself whether to give this drama a try. Typically, I don't love C-dramas because of the length, dubbing, characters being apart more than they are together, ridiculous costuming, etc. I have seen a couple of C-dramas that I really loved, but most, not so much. So, if C-dramas are what you gravitate to, you might like this one.

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Spicy bite-sized drama

I'm glad I didn't read anything about this drama ahead of time, because I would have bypassed it. One reason I watch Asian shows is their lack of explicitness. Had I skipped over it, I would have missed out on an enjoyable evening (I stayed up and binged this one).

Story - It was an original story and handled well. Some of the lines were somewhat stilted, but that can either be due to the way it was translated or I'm viewing through American eyes.

Acting - the acting was good, especially by leading lady Takada Kaho. First, she's stunning to look at. Contrast that with her slight goofiness and the fact that she's bemoaning that she's a virgin. She was a joy to watch. Plus, it's not often that you see a Japanese woman that is, for the most part, together and not completely subservient to the man.

Chemistry - oh my goodness. These two were hot together. Their tenderness with one another. Not giving much away, but two things stood out to me - 1) They had a "no kissing" rule. There were numerous times that he gently rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb - wow! 2) The scene where they were sitting on the bed with him behind her with his arms around her - this was such a wonderful scene, because they were sharing so much with their words, when previously it was just with their bodies.

The music for the intro was too loud and very irritating, it didn't go with the rest of the show.

I will probably rewatch this show again, especially if I have watched a couple of shows that I've been disappointed in.

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Too slapstick for me

I have watched a few Thai dramas and have found the acting to be bad. I found it hard to take this show seriously because of that. I know it was supposed to be funny, so there is that in its favor, but everything was just too over-the-top. The sound effects became irritating very quickly. The woman playing Modem (what's with the names?!?!), had some very good reactions, but as I watched this, I found myself re-writing the lines in my head, envisioning better ways for the scenes to go. I don't claim to be a screen writer in any way, shape or form, but that just demonstrated how lacking I found the writing.

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Watch it for Steven Zhang!

Steven Zhang when he's in another's body is worth the price of admission! He embodies all the confusion, as well as the characteristics and mannerisms of trying to be a female. That aspect of the show was a treat to watch.

I also enjoyed that there was no over-the-top villain. That was a nice change of pace. She had great parents and a lovely BFF. However, the story lines for the characters other than the leads were sorely lacking.

Don't binge this show, take it slowly. I think that by binging I was able to see a lot of the long, blank periods of really nothing happening. I fast-forwarded through a lot of it just to get to the body swapping parts (which happened multiple times).

The confession was sweet but happens very late in the show. The main couple was cute together. Some good kisses.

However, the break-up, separation of a year and reason for coming back together all fell very short for me. I am so tired of the time jump that seems to be in every Asian drama. It seemed to me that they couldn't think of any good reason for them to break up, so they created this whole, totally implausible story line (I know it's a fantasy but come on! It was way too far-fetched!). Add to that, the strange last 15-minute storyline at the very end to satisfy the censors (I don't get why, really) was a complete miss and felt like it was just tacked onto the story. (For anyone old enough to remember the shower scene with Bobby Ewing in the American TV show Dallas and how angry everyone was to find out "it was just a dream", you'll understand my frustration at this ending.)

However, I will reiterate again, it's worth watching for Steve Zhang.

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Good beginning and good end

I enjoyed this show, I just wish it didn't feel like it dragged so much in the middle. I also kept wondering why they weren't trying to figure out how to get her back to normal.

I'll be honest, the big draw for this show was Taishi Nakagawa. As expected, I thought he was really good in this. I really felt for him, closing off his emotions to protect himself, and really trying to live a life that he wouldn't have chosen for himself. I really appreciate that he tends to keep his acting understated, when a lot of Japanese actors can tend to overact. For anyone that has not seen him in Today's Kira Kun, you should really check it out.

I got extremely irritated with her constantly calling his name, but other than that the female lead's character was good, trying to make the best of a bad situation. The interactions between the two were enjoyable, especially once he figured out that he liked her.

I loved the ending. I always appreciate when we get some time at the end of the show to wrap things up adequately, and not rush things.

Cute, sweet, low angst.

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Full of heart!

I ALMOST turned this off in the second episode, because I found the FL so unlikeable. I'm so glad I didn't!!! This was a lovely show that totally gave me all the feels. I thought the storyline was very original and the writers did such a good job of keeping some mystery throughout and changing how we feel about the characters. Some you start out hating and then grow to love. There was quite a bit of physical humor (noodle legs after a kiss is all I'll say) that didn't take away from the story. The parents in this show were different than the majority of Korean dramas. Plus, you can never go wrong with family and friend dynamics.

ACTING/CAST: I thought the whole cast was excellent, but I'll speak to just a couple. Uee as Do Do Hee - Hated her character at the beginning, she seemed so angry and miserable all the time, but was we got to know here better, it all made sense. You could really feel her loneliness, and it was a joy to see that she wasn't as put together as originally thought, especially when we were treated to flashbacks. Choi Woo Shik as Kang Ho Goo - this is a young man that has the most beautiful baby face, and he knows how to use it. He was so expressive. His love was almost palpable, love toward everyone in his sphere, but especially for Do Hee and the baby (cutest baby ever, by the way!). In Seul Ong as Byeon Kung Cheol - a character that you love to hate, but you may change your mind as time goes along. Powerful and successful, yet so insecure, this character had a lot of hidden depth and provided a lot of comic relief as well. Lee Seo Kyung as Kang Ho Gyung - Ho Goo's twin sister - I don't like aggressive females, and she bothered me quite a bit at the beginning, but she redeemed herself as well. The actress played her with so much heart.

This show tackles some serious issues, and does it without becoming melodramatic. The script addressed beauty standards, pregnancy stigma, physical and sexual abuse, sexuality, and the double standards that are involved in each thing. There were times that not a lot was going on, but watching the characters develop and the overall sweetness (in a good way) was so enjoyable, I didn't need to fast forward.

The music was innocuous and fit in well, as evidenced by the fact that I can't really remember the music.

I probably won't watch this again, only because my list of shows to watch is so long, I probably won't get through it in my lifetime.

After watching a few mediocre shows, I was so happy to see something that had me so engaged in the story and invested in the characters.

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