michelleoc

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

Hard to watch

This was a difficult show for me to watch, because the bullying is so pervasive and, to my mind, extreme. It was felt especially strongly since it was a short show.

What I liked: I liked the friendships that developed, the feeling of standing up for and beside your friends in support. I loved this. The acting was good, and I didn't feel that anyone stood out as being out of place. At times the bullies seemed a little like caricatures of bad guys, but again, I think that was because of the short length of the show. Clever use of repeating a scene from the beginning of the show at the end when they meet up again. I loved the montage at the end with her voice over speaking about friendship.

What I didn't care for: Strong bullying. The FL telling the guy she liked him when she hadn't even really talked to him. She seemed too much like a stalker to me. And him liking her was sudden, out of the blue, and unnatural. Time skip, ugh. Their meet up - too short and abrupt.

If you aren't bothered by bullying, I'd say give this show a try, if for no other reason that seeing friendships develop

Read More

Marvelous acting

Junho and Won Jin Ah are both marvelous in this. I loved their storyline and their connection to each other from the past. The secondary story lines? Not so much. HATED her mother - she was a mess and seemed to be uncaring that she had a living daughter. It started to go south for me at about episode 13, when it appeared that I was not going to be happy about the ending. The writers turned it around, but it was rushed. The connection between Junho and Won Jin Ah was amazing, The looks they would give each other, the little smiles, the hand holding. She has a somewhat sexy deep voice, which I found fascinating as well.

Read More

Wow, bring on the heat!

What I loved:
1) After watching show after show of open-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights, arms-hanging-limply-at their sides kisses, this was a welcome change! The kisses were wonderful, realistic and full of steaminess. The only reason I rated this as high as I did was because of the chemistry factor.
Not so much:
1) Story - there wasn't one. They went from strangers to living together with no getting to know one another. If the storyline was just about sex, that would be okay, but we were supposed to believe that they were in love with each other why? The secondary characters were there to put some tension in the storyline I think, but that didn't work either.
2) Characters - male lead: he was the typical male character, nothing special about him. Female lead: I felt that she was not very bright. Her behavior was strange and she was overly friendly to everyone. She had no family or friends? I was, however, glad they portrayer her liking physical intimacy as well, and it didn't all just fall on the man. The co-workers: the men were creepy and the females were silly.
3) Ending - as Asian dramas almost always do, the ending was very rushed.
So, if you just need to see some good physical expressions of affection, this show is short enough that you don't have to make a very large time investment.

Read More

Wasted potential

Finally, a show labeled ROMCOM that actually started out as one! There were some very amusing moments in this show. The problem is, they tried to add a suspense/mystery element and then didn't develop it completely. What was the firefighter's secret? What was the devastation from his past? Where did the AI in the refrigerator come from? Why was it there? These are all questions that I didn't feel were adequately answered. Add to that a villain that you never pay attention to throughout the whole show so he doesn't really make any sense. And I can't say that these things didn't have time to be addressed due to there being only 10 episodes. These things totally could have been addressed within that time frame.
WRITING: As I said, there were a lot of amusing moments in this show. However, I really didn't like the way the women were written. They were written as needy and the type that can't be without a man. Women basically stalking men and then continually saying "I texted you so many times, why didn't you text me back?" I did like the friendship between the women, I thought it was realistic - you know you have those friends that sometimes irritate the heck out of you, but if they need you, you're there in a second. That's how these women were written and I enjoyed their camaraderie.
CHEMISTRY: There were a few good kisses and some hand holding. Sex is intimated.
MUSIC: I'll be honest, I don't remember it. The only thing I remember is the bad karaoke.
REWATCH: I don't feel the need to re-watch this. There weren't enough memorable things in this show.
OVERALL: It's an enjoyable watch if you lower your expectations and kind of leave your brain at the door. It has the added benefit of being only 10 episodes.

Read More

Be careful what you wish for...

I truly enjoyed this drama!
STORY/WRITING: The story was very cleverly written. Since this was only an eight episode drama, there wasn't filler, which I appreciated. Each story was given its own time to develop and didn't feel rushed at all. There was just enough humor to kind of dial back the "scariness" factor. I'm a big old sissy when it comes to horror and scary things, which was a concern. I needn't have worried. This show brought out things about wishes that we don't often consider. If you wish for something, there will be consequences, sometimes good and sometimes bad. I'm glad they dealt with both sides of the coin on that issue. It also brought to light that we are an intrinsically selfish people, wishing for things that will make us feel better, even at the expense of others (except for the male lead - I loved him and his wish so much). And the consequences that were written for each wish weren't terribly outlandish, so there wasn't a huge need to suspend disbelief.
ACTING: I love Nam Ji Hyun and she didn't disappoint here. I appreciated all the actors and the acting was such that you could believe the fantasy that was unfolding.
CINEMATOGRAPHY/SETS: Beautifully done. The food scenes were beautifully filmed, a lot in slow motion. Good CGI. The inside of the restaurant was wonderful, with many quirky things to see as you watched the drama. I appreciated the darkness at the beginning of the show contrasting with the lightness at the end, showing the personality of each witch.
MUSIC: I don't remember the music specifically, other than the good use of drumming and sound effects during the creepy parts.
REWATCH VALUE: I might watch this again if I want to spend some time just looking at beautiful cinematography and don't want to invest too much time before moving on to a longer drama.

Read More

Entirely too many episodes!

I usually like to start with the positives, but for this drama I’d like to get my negatives out of the way at the beginning.
-Too many episodes! I fast forwarded through a lot of this, there was an awful lot of time where there was absolutely nothing going on.
-Too many side stories. You had the main couple, the second couple, the third couple that wasn’t a couple yet, the fourth couple that were in a relationship on line, and the teacher couple. Add to that the figure skating rival for her attentions, and then the man and woman working together to break up the couple and there was just too much going on. I felt that the main couple’s development and my appreciation for their romance really suffered from lack of adequate screen time. A few of these people could have been eliminated to help clean up the storyline.
-Stupid breakups
-Abrupt ending. Why do we always get shortchanged on a decent ending after suffering through so many episodes?
What I liked:
For me, this was more a story about the importance of friendships, and not so much about love. The main couple was cute, but they were pretty boring. They hated each other, then they liked each other, then they broke up numerous times for stupid reasons and then at that point I didn’t even care. His confession to her in Episode 26, however, was totally cute.
The second couple – I liked how their relationship was strong throughout, and you could really see them maturing in their relationship, as well as wanting the other to be fulfilled in career choice, etc. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, but since I loved the storyline, I could forgive that.
I have to say that my favorites in this drama was the best friend, Big Jiang and the girl that was the speed skater (WeiWei?). The two of them, in addition to the male lead, were the Three Musketeers. I could really appreciate the hidden feelings of both of them and could sense that keeping silent for the sake of maintaining friendships, though sad, is sometimes necessary. He was a big teddy bear of a character (though his hair was laughable) – strong on the outside, yet mushy on the inside. I think he was my favorite character in the whole show.
Yu Yan, the figure skating rival was a good character and I liked how they brought in the storyline of the pressures to succeed, the pressures that parents place on their kids and the pressures the kids put on themselves – and what can happen if you lose sight of why you went into something in the first place. Yu Yan’s speech in Episode 39 was wonderful.
The reasoning for the parents keeping the main characters apart was weak. Also, the evil couple trying to break up the couple storyline was terrible. All of the additional things they brought in to add tension felt like they just pulled a few ideas out of a hat and stuck them in. They didn’t feel well fleshed out.
As I mentioned before, I loved the friendships in this show. I liked watching the friendships develop and their little circle widening to allow others in.

Read More

Poorly written story full of work-place harassment

If your idea of a good relationship is one in which there is constant bullying going on, this is the show for you. She works in the kitchen for a prominent family. The young "master" supposedly has feeling for her, but there is no way that you could tell by the way he acts. He was constantly grabbing her, shoving her around and basically his behavior was one long tantrum. In addition, he had no regard for her personal space (which if you felt like he liked her, you might be able to put up with, but since I didn't get that he liked her, I was bothered by this.) In a fit of anger he kicks her out of the house, but then tracks her down to bully her some more. I realize that during the time frame depicted and because of her station in life, she didn't have many options, but the idea of her spending her life with a bully just put me off. I hate the "getting drunk so we don't have to explain our actions" trope and that was used here as well. All of a sudden, in the sober light of day, all is forgiven and she's back in the family manner, Marriage is mentioned but never does he express feelings of love for her.
ACTING/DUBBING: I didn't feel that the actors were very good, but they certainly didn't have much to work with either! They seemed to feel that emotions were supposed to be shown through long stares and big eyes. Add to that the terrible job of dubbing - in addition to the shrill, whiny voices you get treated to the sounds of them eating, chewing and swallowing, like that was an important part of the story.
CHEMISTRY - there were a couple of places where the male lead's eyes warmed up a little, but I was unable to forgive his treatment of her the rest of the time.

Read More

Weak heroine

LMH and SYJ are both very good in this series, but I had a hard time getting past what a doormat she was. I don't care for females that are so strong they are off-putting, but she was at the TOTAL other end of the scale! The "poor me" attitude was irritating. This drama went on a lot longer than I felt it should have. Also, the second lead couple were just evil and I hated the things they did. Some shows just don't age well either, whether due to the lack of production value or the storyline. Happy ending - cute proposal. They get high marks for good kissing scenes.

Read More

Best to watch after you have been watching K-dramas for awhile

I watched this drama shortly after I began to watch K-dramas. Though I enjoyed it, I didn’t know enough about K-dramas and the actors to get the in-depth feeling of enjoyment that I got this time around. The fact that I am a romance junkie, and that this is not a romance, is also a testament to my enjoyment of it.
SCRIPT/WRITING: The script was very well-written. The interweaving of the characters between 1996 and 2016 was intricate and I, as a viewer, felt that I was being given a couple of clues during every episode. There was always something happening, so I definitely didn’t feel that “wasted time” I feel in a lot of K-dramas. I imagined the writer having to work with a big white board and some kind of organization chart to keep everyone straight – in the past and in the present. Different people with the same names, figuring out how the people would inter-relate in both time periods, as well managing not to have this be drama look and sound like a farce – the script was tight without obvious story loopholes.
ACTING: Choi Jin Hyuk (as Park Kwang Ho) and Yoon Hyun Min (as Kim Seon Jae) were a dream team, seriously. You take one hothead and team him up with a detective that is as cold as ice, and if the chemistry isn’t right, it won’t work. The chemistry here was perfect, yin to yang. Their relationship developed their personalities but there was no obvious point when you noticed it happening. It was such an organic transition and the further I went in the drama, the more I cared about both of them. I have appreciated both of them in dramas in the past (though I seriously would like to see Yoon Hyun Min in another romantic lead role). Lee Yoo Young (as Shin Jae Yi) started out cold and, to be honest, a little creepy. The first time I watched this drama, I felt that her acting was very flat because she pretty much had one expression. Seeing this again, I really appreciated her very contained acting. She was a good foil for the two main leads and I loved her interactions with both of them.
There were multiple supporting actors that I have enjoyed in other shows. I liked them in this, as well. The police officers in the current time were where a lot of the comedic timing came in. Watching them interact with someone from the past and not knowing anything about that was amusing, yet at the end, when they knew everything, you could see that deep friendships had been formed.
MUSIC: I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the music (so at least it wasn’t distracting!). There was one sound effect periodically when we’d see the villain that sounded very animalistic and scary and I thought that was effective.
It had a very good, touching ending. This was a smart drama and one that I will be highly recommending.

Read More

I didn't expect much, so in that respect I wasn't disappointed

I’ve seen other short shows done well, so I know it’s possible. This, to me, was not one of them. We’ve seen this story done many times before. It’s kind of a “local girl makes good” story, but I didn’t care for any of the characters. The female lead was not very nice and she uses her hands in such a way that her fingernails always seem to be the focal point of the shot. There was something a little creepy about the male lead and he was a bit of a bully. In addition, I don’t feel he had the looks or the charisma to be the male lead. The second FL was an over-the-top caricature of an evil person - screaming, screeching, foot stomping, she had it all. I have to be honest, the second male lead was attractive and probably could have been the lead, in looks and in the way he was written. He was just nicer than the male lead.
This is a show you might enjoy when you need a break from longer, more well-done works.

Read More