michelleoc

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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Hmmm, I thought it was a little all over the place

First, I'll say I'm not a big fan of historical dramas. Though the costuming is beautiful, I sometimes find it distracting. So many of the men look alike, between the hats and the facial man-pubes, just not attractive. Then there's always the typical palace intrigue -the same plot line dropped into every historical drama. It's superficial, I know, but there it is.

This is a difficult review for me to write, because my likes and dislikes seem to be so intertwined, but I'll do my best.

LIKES:
-Ahn Chang Hwan as Poong's servant/companion/champion/friend - This was a wonderful character. Used mostly for comedy relief, my interest was piqued each time he was on the screen.
-Some beautiful filming - especially the women's festival with the fireworks and the swing. It was used as a hook toward the very beginning, and I kept hoping for more. I had to be satisfied with the beautiful landscaping.
-Kim Min Jae as Poong and Kim Hyang Gi as Seo Eun Woo. They were marvelous together. There was mutual respect there.
-The people of the medical community/village - found family. The bonding between the characters, how they had each other's backs, how they talked through crimes together. A lot of comedy, but the love shone through.
-The music was used effectively.
-Solving multiple cases. I liked how it wasn't JUST palace intrigue, but they solved a new case every couple of episodes.
-I liked that the main characters called each other by name (she may not have, I can't remember), but he did. I realize it's a cultural thing, but it always bothers me when two characters get romantically involved and she still calls him Mr./Director, etc.

COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
-I am NOT liking this trend of having multiple seasons. It makes the show seem draggy in a lot of ways, because they need to milk it for all it's worth just to continue in a new season.
-Hated the ending. Again, I know there's another season, but it was so lackluster.
-The show felt uneven to me. There were so many lighthearted moments, but then in the last three or four episodes it turned to full-on melodrama. I don't like melodrama, but that's just me. I fast forwarded though a lot of the last few episodes.
-Romance is listed way down on the tags, as it should be, but scenes that you see advertising the show focus on the romance, like they are trying to sell it as a romance. So, as a romance lover, I was disappointed in the storyline. I couldn't even call this a slow burn romance. Not only did romance take a backseat to all the intrigues, it wasn't even in the car!
-So many evil characters, and the main bad guy was so over-the-top he seemed like a caricature of a bad guy. I kept expecting him to twirl his moustache like cartoon bad guys do.
-An awful lot of abuse by parents to children. This is hard for me to watch.
-The name of this drama really bothered me for some reason. This was more like a CSI-type show. They did mention underlying reasons for what was going on with people (anger, despair, etc.), but then moved back into the acupuncture jargon.
-Overacting by the granny. I realize she was supposed to have dementia, but her constant yelling and dancing was very distracting.
-So, basically by working with Poong for a week or so, Eun Woo was a doctor?!?! I know that the standards were different back then, but sheesh!

So, I'd say give it a try, especially if you are a historical drama fan. It did have a lot going for it, but it definitely didn't leave me feeling satisfied, especially knowing now I have to watch the new season, just to see what happens.

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Light, surface story

There isn't a lot of depth to this story. It's short - only 10 episodes. If you're looking for some serious skinship, this is the show for you. I appreciated the skinship, but I didn't feel emotionally invested in the story, because we didn't really learn enough about the characters to feel anything for them. Two boys liked the FL in high school (why? Because she was pretty? That's the impression I got. It certainly wasn't because of any interactions that they had with one another). They meet 10 years later, and the same two men are still in love with the woman.

The FL did a lot of pouting, which was supposed to be sexy maybe? There really wasn't anything happening, drama-wise to create tension and move the story along. There was a moment when she said she might be leaving the country. The ML was like, "Oh, okay." The ending was abrupt.

So, overall, not a bad watch, but just not much there.

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Slow, quiet movie

The pace of this movie was very slow and quiet. We get a look into the lives of two people that are living thousands of miles apart, and how destiny brings them together. I guess you could call this a 'hate to love' story. Having someone disturb your sleep, talk to you inside your head, and try to sabotage your life can't be easy or fun. There were some cute scenes of them messing with the other's lives. But then a bond is forged, a rhythm is established, and they learn and grow from one another.

What happens if that bond gets broken somehow? This movie addresses this, though I didn't think it was in the most clear-cut way.

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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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Lots of wasted time

Granted, it's shorter than a lot of Chinese dramas, but I still found myself fast forwarding through a lot of it. It felt like the storyline was in a continuous loop. I didn't see the male lead as a superstar, he acted more like a trainee, and I really don't think his character grew throughout the drama. He was very immature and yelled A LOT. It was very sweet when he was trying to do something for the FL, but when she or someone else questioned him, he yelled. I don't like drunk confessions or drunk kisses.

The FL was gorgeous to look at. I don't think I've previously seen her in anything. Her character started out strong, in the middle became a doormat, and then toward the end got a spine again.

The second couple, just no. He had absolutely no personality and the character of Pan Duo was one of the most irritating I've seen in a while. Her voice was terrible, and she was virtually a stalker. She constantly called him "My Idol". She was constantly trying to trick him to spend time with him. I don't understand how anyone could come to want her as a girlfriend.

There were a few cute scenes in this show, but unfortunately, for me, they were few and far between.

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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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Not believable gender bender

I felt that this show was entirely too long, with too many characters, with too much going on, and I thought it was very draggy.

The actors were fine, though I felt that Park Yoo Chun was so much better in Rooftop Prince (I liked that show a lot more too). Park Min Young is so gorgeous, there is NO WAY that anyone in their right mind would think she was a man. Her attempts to change her voice when she was pretending to be a man were not very successful. Plus, the fact that she uses her hands so much and her mannerisms are always so feminine (every show she's in spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on her hands, for some reason. She has beautiful hands, I'll give you that.).

The chemistry between them was okay, nothing outstanding in my estimation.

The scenes of them bickering at the end made no sense to me, because that wasn't the type of relationship they had throughout most of the show.

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This Rom-Com had me smiling through the whole thing!

***I just had to add something to my original review. I just re-watched this show, because I had just finished watching a couple of no-so-great shows and I needed something I knew I would enjoy. Upon re-watch, I think I enjoyed it even more, and this is why. The development of relationships was very evident, of both couples. I loved seeing even the most seemingly insignificant conversations, you could really understand why they felt the way they did about each other. So many shows, you never quite understand why the people like each other. It was just as much fun the second time around.

What a fun show!

Let's be honest, there's nothing too terribly original about it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, if the things that they are doing are what you enjoy. And enjoy I did. It's full of the typical rom-com cliches, but it's put together in a very endearing way. The identity confusion didn't go on too terribly long, the main leads were strong characters that didn't let their families walk all over them, and I can ALMOST forgive the obligatory time jump. There is a lot of heart, a lot of humor, and a lot of fun to be found in this show. I also appreciated the fact that there weren't misunderstandings just to push the show along and keep the couple apart. We get to see an actual development of a relationship here, which I really enjoyed.

ACTING: Ahn Hyo Seop as Tang Moo - I had a bit of trouble with him toward the beginning, because it seemed he was trying to channel the lead from What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, but then a couple of episodes in he seemed to hit his stride. I ADORED him as Yoo Chan in Thirty but Seventeen, but whereas there he reminded me of a gangly puppy that hadn't grown into his body, here you can see that he has definitely grown into himself and is full of that cool grace of a romantic male lead. I thought everyone in the show did a very good job.

CHEMISTRY: Wonderful chemistry between both the lead couple and the second lead couple. No fish kisses, which is a nice change. Both couples had healthy relationships and there was time spent in honest, everyday conversations. I loved the scene of the lead couple when she went back to talk to him at the hospital when it was raining. there was a good balance between sadness, support and love as they discussed survivor's guilt.

The bromance was okay but tempered by the fact that they were employer/employee.
Sismance - amazing! While watching these two women from such completely different backgrounds interact, they were always supportive of each other. I love to see healthy friendships in the shows that I watch.
The ending was okay, a little more rushed than I like, but definitely better than most.

I have so many shows on my list to watch, I'm not normally one to re-watch anything, but I may revisit this one again soon, because it's an easy watch and it left me smiling.

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Cha Eun Woo does NOT have a lead role!

Be honest, are you considering this show because Cha Eun Woo is listed as having a main role? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm sure they did that to get people to watch. I love every scene that he is in, but he suddenly disappears in about episode 8 with absolutely no explanation. It was also good to see the whole group Astro - though it was only for about two minutes.

The other thing that irritated me no end, the FL kept wondering, throughout the whole show, who the author of the Revenge Note was, and the author was never identified.

I really liked Kim Hwan Hee as the female lead's BFF. She was so cute, supportive, and smart.

I understand that bullying needs to be involved in order for there to be a need for a Revenge Note, but I felt the bullying was way over the top. Each time there was an opportunity for a Revenge Note, the scenario was pretty much like the previous one. You might not be bothered by this if you like shows like Mean Girls, but that's not my cup of tea. Add to that the fact that the FL was extremely weak. I just wanted to tell her to stop being such a doormat.

I did not enjoy the overabundance of bathroom humor. It was unnecessary and completely uncalled for.

The romance was so tame it was actually boring.

I know I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm going to watch the sequel, in hopes that it is better.

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