michelleoc

Too many people trying to keep the couple apart

I loved all the foods in this show, the beautiful displays of culinary delights, as well as the scenery, which really made me want to go on vacation. The concept of the show was good, and I liked the idea of the male lead falling in love with her by seeing her inner beauty, but they made her entirely too frumpy. When you are dating someone, you want to try to look your best, and when she went to meet all his friends, she looked even more dowdy than usual. I didn't care for the absurd numbers of people trying to keep them apart. Multiple ex-girlfriends, family members, etc. That said, the main couple was very cute together. He had a smile that completely lit up the screen. It had a lovely, happy ending.

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What's wrong with a little eye candy?

I loved this little show, though it was basically a commercial for the Duty Free shop (actually, I think that's why this was made). This is not a show in which you need to think at all. I thought this was the perfect little snack before moving on to my next full-length drama. I'll be honest, I thought this was a lot more romantic than a lot of the so-called romantic comedies out there in K-drama land.

The premise of the show was very clever, and I loved the little snippets of each male character. This is one of those shows that is perfect for people like me, people that can't decide who is the most attractive male Korean actor, each is wonderful in his own way. And as I watched each storyline, I recalled other dramas that I had seen each actor in that made me love them in the first place.

This is fluff at its finest. I was kind of disappointed in the ending, but I'm willing to forgive that due to the fact that you put some of my favorite Korean actors in one show for me.

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A pleasant surprise

I've watched this show a couple of times and have really enjoyed it. The acting was good, the characters were interesting and it was a nice change from the long, drawn out Chinese drama or the angst-filled Korean drama.

I know that some people had a problem with the age difference of Harumi and Yuri. I didn't, mostly because I felt that she was very immature, and he seemed to be very mature for his age. I think the Asian cultures can get away with wider age differences, because you can't tell what age they really are, and they age so well.

Let's start with Harumi. She was a mess. She called herself a failure, everyone else called her a failure and I think that, in a way, it became kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy. I think there was an element of her being desperate for Yuri to succeed because she wanted to live vicariously through his victory. I thought the writers overplayed the back problems - sometimes she acted more like an 80-year-old lady, walking in an ungainly way with a cane (yet still wearing high heels at times!). And could she BE any more clueless about the men that like her?!?!

Yuri - I loved that they gave him that beautiful pink hair. He was all hard edges until he started working with Harumi. He was, for the most part, very unemotional, which made the steamy looks he gave Harumi so special. And the couple of times he cried I really felt for him, because you know he had to be in the depths of despair to have that kind of reaction.

Harumi and Yuri's relationship was, for the most part, platonic. I would have liked to have seem more romance, but I think the writers played it that way because of the age difference. The obligatory separation toward the end was short-lived: I really appreciated that they didn't drag it out over a couple of episodes.

Masashi and Yamashita, both interested in Harumi. I didn't feel that Masashi deserved her, he wasn't strong enough to tell her how he felt. Yamashita had some issues of his own. I really liked how the writers wrote the three main male characters. They all wanted her love, but they still supported each other when needed, and didn't resort to dirty tricks.

I felt the same way about Eta Mika, the student that liked Yuri. She was upfront about liking him, but they didn't make her an evil character. I really appreciated that.

Miwa, Harumi's best friend, was lovely. She was trying to help Masashi as best she could, she was always supportive of Harumi and wanted her to be happy, and I loved when she decided to try and help Yuri. I also enjoyed her taking Yuri's friends under her wing and trying to teach them about group dating.

I especially liked that the writers didn't use either of the storylines that I was afraid they were going to use 1) evil young girlfriend making up a story about an inappropriate relationship between Harumi and Yuri 2) Yuri's father getting Harumi fired because he thought there was something going on between them.

I thought this was a fun, light, easy and enjoyable show to watch. It's one of those shows that you can watch between the more intense shows.

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Just no!

This show really irritated me, it was so implausible. Add to that the acting that wasn't very good, the dubbing/editing that was off and distracting, the FL makeup that was too orange and her hairstyle that looked like a duck tail, her calling him Mentor even when in a relationship, she became a counselor after watching an online video, way too many drinking scenes, unexplained things in each of the different stories, and the fact that the overriding theme of the show seemed to be that no one could keep track of their phones! People always seem to have their phone in their hand, not in a pocket or purse, yet when one person calls another, they hardly ever answer. Phones dropped on public transportation, left on tables, etc. , it just got absolutely ridiculous.

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Amazing!

Today is the first time that I'm glad that my memory is so bad - just so I can go back and watch this again!

First, the storyline was completely different than I've ever seen. Being in a VR world - what a gorgeous world! The set design was wonderful, the costumes were gorgeous, and it was beautifully filmed. I know that there were complaints about the VR storyline being dropped, but I thought it was perfect. I think the ML only felt at peace in the VR world, where he could totally control things, until he met the FL and was able to feel comfortable in the real world.

The writers/editors understood the assignment with this drama. The episodes were shorter and there weren't so many episodes. The writing was tight and it felt like everything that happened was important to the story. My fast forward button got to rest as I watched this.

There was quite a bit of humor in this. Humor that never felt out of place but represented things that happen in real life.

ML - I've never seen this actor before, I don't think. One thing I appreciated was he wasn't "pretty" or classically handsome. Sometimes I would think that he wasn't very attractive, but the next scene I'd have to revise my opinion. And I do have to say that a lot of his attractiveness was due to the way he treated the FL.

FL - once I got past the fact that she looks like a doppelganger of a famous Korean actress (IYKYK), I enjoyed her. She is stunning. Story-wise I loved the way her character was drawn. She was smart, and was her own person, even separate from the ML.

I absolutely loved watching their relationship develop. It was very organic. They each brought something to the relationship, so it never seemed unbalanced. There were a number of scenes where they just sat together and talked, getting to know one another. Speaking to each other from one balcony to another, on the roof with a bunch of balloons, etc. I could actually understand why they liked each other. They don't get together until episode 19, which in traditional Chinese dramas is absolutely ridiculous, but here it made sense. Their chemistry was wonderful to watch, and I found myself smiling watching them, I just thought they were so cute. Lots of hugging and good kisses!

I do have to say that the storyline of her best friend and her husband didn't quite work. It felt like they were playing house and not in an actual relationship. Of course, that is ultimately addressed.

The FL wore flowy clothes for the most part and looked lovely. The few instances she wore shorts or a shirt skirt for work (is that a Chinese thing?), that seemed very out of place and distracting. The ML totally wore his clothes well. Boxy, oversized suits, the man knew how to dress.

Random things I liked: I really appreciated that the female CEO of the company wasn't a witch and trying to steal the ML. It was so nice to finally watch something that didn't have that trope. The 2ML - I hated him, I felt sorry for him. He was an interesting character. Was he really interested in her or just using her for revenge. I kept going back and forth on this, but when we last see him was the only time I teared up.

Teeny Tiny issues for me: I felt the ending was meh. After the strength of the rest of the show, it was just bland. And would it kill you to give us an engagement/wedding/life after marriage?!?!?

It's been quite a while since I've enjoyed a drama so much.

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I was appalled by the end!

This show was long, drawn out, and very melodramatic. I didn't feel that it was very well-acted, either. I stuck with it, wanting to see ultimately what would happen, even though I felt, for the most part, that I should have given up and moved onto another show. This show reminded me of American soap operas, where the story lines continue on for years and you stop watching the show for a long period of time, come back to it and still know what is going on. All of that could somewhat be forgiven until I got to the end of the show.

He married the girl when she was in a coma!! That was just creepy. Her mom was telling him that when she woke up she was going to be mad. Everyone is in the hospital room for the wedding and they are filming and talking around the comatose woman in the bed, acting like everything is normal. It was just weird. Then, when she finally wakes up she's like, "So, we're married?" And he sits down and they act like it was a normal thing for someone to wake up from a coma, and be married. Add to that, the actor was pretty flat and unemotional and I didn't think his reaction to finding her awake was realistic, but part of that I have to put on the writer.

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Dissenting opinion here

Please bear in mind that this is ONLY my opinion!

The cinematography in this drama was fabulous, as was the music. Episode 1 started so strongly; I had high hopes for this show. Song Joong Ki and Ok Taec Yeon were both excellent. Plus, there was the advantage of a bunch of actors that I have loved in other works.

For me, this drama had a couple of problems. 1) First, so much bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed. Vincenzo is completely missing a moral compass, which made it hard for me to root for him in any capacity. Then, you have the upright citizens whose moral compasses go on the fritz or something and are willing to do whatever it takes for revenge. 2) The character was just all-around irritating. I kept waiting for her to get better, but no such luck. 3) I didn't feel the chemistry between the ML and FL. They would have been better to stick with the bromance.

But worst of all was the comedy. Don't get me wrong, the comedy was, for the most part, funny, and if the serious parts were less dark and violent, it might have worked well. However, it felt too much like the writers were trying to lighten up the heavy storyline and it felt contrived. The serious parts provided a lot of tension, but I kept being pulled out of the story by the comedy. So often, to me, this felt like a mash up of two diametrically opposed genres.

My review is to remind me of what I watched and what I thought, not to change anyone's mind, so please don't come at me with hate.

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For me, editing was the issue. No, maybe it was the relationships

This was a slow drama, which here was a good thing. Some of the scenes were just beautiful and you could feel the emotions of the characters. The music was lovely, and the use of silence, was, overall, very effective. The acting was, for the most part, understated and not overacted as can be seen in a lot of Japanese shows.

However, the timeline of the script and the way it was edited decreased my enjoyment of the show. This story would have been more effective if it had been told in a more linear fashion, rather than the heavy use of short flashbacks. As I watched this, my mind was busy seeing what I would have done differently when making this show. There wasn't enough of their high school storyline to get me to feel and understand their relationship. As a result, their relationship felt superficial, and I had a difficult time seeing what all the fuss was about. They loved music and the sound of each other's voice, but what else?

Also, I have a difficult time feeling that theirs was a great love, when she was, to all appearances, living her best life getting ready to move in with her boyfriend. Consequently, she felt like a "love the one you're with" type of person.

Then, there was the editing itself. Numerous times I thought there was something wrong with my tv, when the scene cut at a strange place and the screen went white or black. Was that supposed to symbolize time passing? I don't know, but it was jarring.

Apparently, I'm in the minority for not loving this one. I wouldn't recommend this show, but I wouldn't tell people to run away from it either. Some of the scenes are very effective, but since I couldn't see the love between the main characters, and since so many of the choices they made would, on the surface be noble, but on closer look I found their choices to just be selfish.

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You should start this show and decide for yourself if you think it's worth your time

This is one of those shows that people either loved or hated, and I lean more toward the camp of not liking it.

Let me start with the cast. I thought all the actors were excellent and I've enjoyed most of these actors in other shows previously. I think that Kim Go Eun as Seol might have been the weakest link (she seemed pretty one-dimensional) but that may have been more due to the writing than to her acting abilities.

I could barely label this a romance, partially because there was so much other stuff going on, and the fact that Kim Go Eun and Park Hae Jin seemed so uncomfortable with one another. Hae Jin's character, Yoo Jung, was completely unlikeable throughout the show, so I spent a lot of time wondering that Seol saw in him. Did she think she could change him? Did she want to go against everyone else's advice? Every person that came into Yoo Jung's orbit suffered in some way. So, as I watched Seol trying to have a relationship with this guy, "run away" was playing in my mind.

I felt that Seol would have been a better match with In Ho (played very well by Seo Kung Joon), so even though I knew this wasn't the direction the writers were going in, I was disappointed.

I adored Lee Sung Kyun in Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok-joo, and she played a completely different character here. She was wound a little too tight and you were never sure what she was going to do next.

Overall, I felt that the show was never able to fully realize its potential, because the writers didn't seem quite sure of what they were hoping to accomplish. Did they want to redeem You Jung? I know they were trying to portray accurate university life (though Park Hae Jin seemed entirely too old for this to be effective) and the foibles of the different characters, but I felt that the characters were SO odd that I couldn't warm up to them much.

And the ending? The obligatory time jump (three years!) and very vague and non-committal ending left me completely frustrated and dissatisfied.

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I kept wondering if it would ever end!

This one is a difficult drama for me to review. When I read the synopsis, I thought it sounded really interesting, and somewhat original. I have enjoyed Fei Xing in other works (especially My Little Happiness) but this one really let me down. It started out well, but then one thing after another irritated me no end so it was hard for me to find the positives. I usually focus on the positive aspects in a review, but was unable to in this one.
1) Costuming for all of the cast was good, except for Fei Xing who wore some of the worst outfits I've ever seen in a drama. Big pants, big blouses, poorly tailored, I think every outfit she wore was unattractive. They went to a semi-formal event, everyone was dressed up, and she was wearing jeans.
2) Martyr syndrome of the female lead. She accepted responsibility or took the blame for absolutely everything that happened to anyone in the show. When she took the blame for what the evil character had done 10 years ago, that was just too much. The majority of the conversations had her starting with "I'm sorry"
3) Second couple - he was a stalker and she was trying to be tough all the time. At the end they got a bit cute, but by that time I didn't like them.
4) Overacting of some of the cast, especially the other guy that liked the female lead and the woman that played the aunt.
5) Wow! So many bad guys! By the time we went through 32 episodes and found out in the LAST episode what the main bad guy had done, it was rushed. Then there was more apologizing by the girl and the second male lead.
6) Serious lack of chemistry between the leads. They acted, for the most part, more like brother and sister. There was one kiss, but even their handholding, etc. lacked any warmth. I do have to say there was a sizzling kiss between the second lead couple toward the end.
7) Too long and drawn out. It was episode after episode of sameness.
8) And, oh my gosh, can we talk about the ending?!?!?! I stuck through this long, drawn out drama and that's the ending you give me?!?! It was one of those endings that makes me mad.
I will admit that I am particular about my dramas, so I would say, if you liked the synopsis and think it sounds interesting, give it a try. But don't say I didn't warn you.

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Seriously, what did I just watch!?!?

Normally I wouldn't rate a show that I had to drop, but this show irritated me on so many levels. I watched a couple of the first episodes and then skipped to the last couple of episodes, so take this for what it's worth.

Female lead was tremendously irritating. Was it a self-esteem problem? An entitlement problem? I found it hard to like anything about her. She didn't appear to be very bright, and I just kept wondering what her deal was. Then there was the male lead. He had an interesting job, I'll give him that, but BOY was he boring. He had no on-screen presence and his performance was bland.

Oh, so very much drinking, and the FL even said that getting drunk is the only way to have fun.

This was filmed in 2016 but it seemed older than that. The clothing and the colors in the clothing were more like the 1970's and the male lead's hair reminded me of a football helmet.

So, if you are a tolerant person, you might want to give this a try. But for me, there was just too much wrong with it.

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My own personal, unpopular, opinion

I was fully on board for this one. I love all of the actors in it and was chomping at the bit for a decent rom com. Here's what worked for me -
1) Visuals. All of the actors are just so attractive.
2) Bickering main couple (at the beginning).
3) 2ML's daughter was just precious and not a brat.

It started out well for me, but slowly but surely went downhill for me. I'm all for a good trope, but this show was just too tropey for me. Some things were good, some just had me shaking my head and talking to the tv. It seemed to me that every episode brought in a trope to further the story.
1) He's loved her for a long time - I'm always in for this.
2) Their bickering was chemistry-ing, but I didn't buy their chemistry once they decided they liked each other.
3) Physically/emotionally abusive parent. I know this is used for comedy, but it was too much and went on too long.
4) Miscommunication - this applied to the main couple, the second couple, and both sets of parents.
5) FL's brother was pretty much a waste of time.
6) Of course, there was a woman that liked him that he worked with. Thankfully, she wasn't overly irritating and realized that she had no chance "They might as well start planning what schools their children will be going to" - what a great line.
7) Ex-girlfriend that wants him back. They redeemed themselves by having her come around to what was going on quickly.
8) Ex-fiancé coming back into the picture. This felt like manipulation to further the story, because why else would he randomly show up out of the blue?
9) "Let's keep our relationship a secret".
10) Parents trying to marry off the kids to others.
11) Parents against their relationship.
12) Parents against her career choice.
13) Secrets - 2ML has a daughter that we don't find out about for a while and then she's not really his daughter. Why?
14) Illness. Cue noble idiocy and not wanting to be with someone to save them from hurt.
15) 2FL going away for a year. A paramedic going to Antarctica for a year?!?!
16) ML's mom is a total bi-atch through the entire show, suddenly we think she has Alzheimer's. But no, her forgetting where she is, that she resigned and where she sent her suitcase is all due to stress?!?!
17) FL wanting to put the wedding on hold because she wants to focus on her career. Women are better than that at multitasking.
18) Wedding red herring. It wasn't the OTP.
19) The leads walk into the sunset, bickering as they go.

I would definitely recommend this show since I'm totally in the minority, but it just didn't work for me.

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Time I will never get back

and I even fast forwarded...a lot!

I have loved KHY in other things I've seen her in, but I didn't find her suited to this part. Her voice, her pouting, her arms crossed, it was all just wrong. You know how some people can portray a character in such a way that even if they are unlikeable, you end up rooting for them? That was not the case here. I didn't like her at the beginning, and I liked her even less at the end. I hate to say it, but KHY may be typecast as the friendly, bubbly FL.

Lomon was okay, but he could have played a bit part and my feeling for him would be the same. Nothing stuck out about him here.

Personally, I thought the script was very lackluster. None of the actors seemed fully invested in their characters, I felt like they were just going through the motions. It meandered all over the place, never arriving at something that made sense. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads, but that wasn't helped by the script. She was hateful, then suddenly they were dating because she decided that was what they were going to do, and she was still her hateful self. Definite lack of character growth.

And PLEASE! A 10-year time skip, one of which she was around him but didn't tell him?!?! One opportunity I think that was really missed, when the other gumiho spilled about all that she had done for him, when he thought it was the FL - it would have made more sense for him to discover that the FL was actually human and not still a gumiho. Or maybe that's what actually happened, but I missed it, because I was counting the minutes until I could be done with this drama.

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Thank goodness it was only 10 episodes

Standard Disclaimer - This is only my personal opinion.

It has been quite a while since I've had such a visceral reaction to a rom com. I binge watched this just to finish it, and yet I felt like I was watching it for a month. For me, this is time I'll never get back. I don't usually go into a rom com expecting something outstanding and fresh, I'm pretty patient with tropes, I can usually ignore age gaps and unrealistic people as teenagers, but this show was bad on so many levels, over and over again. I felt like I was watching Groundhog Day. I could have started a drinking game with the number of times the ML and the FL talked about breaking up. "We're breaking up", "we already broke up", "we should break up". MULTIPLE times in episodes 1-9 followed by them looking longingly at each other, or having lunch dates even though they broke up, or spending the day together as their "last day". These things are nothing new, but everything was just so repetitive.

It wasn't all bad for me, though. Episode 10 redeemed it enough to raise my score.
Things I liked:
1) Secondary couple. I love Yoon Park and Park So Jin, and they were the cutest arranged marriage couple! I would have been happy to have more of them and none of the main couple.
2) The cutest scenes were in episode 10 when the boys kidnapped their mother. I was laughing out loud, and seeing the boys interact with a mother that they really didn't seem to know anything about was funny. I have always liked the actress that played the mother, and when she finally got the stick out of her butt, I loved her.
3) Beautiful architecture, especially the wedding venue in the last episode.
4) The music was good.
5) The last episode.

Things that just didn't sit right with me:
1) The main couple. Don't get me wrong, they were really cute when they were together, but that was MAYBE an hour out of the whole show. She was obviously older than him, which I don't have a problem with per se, but often she seemed more like his mom, partially because he was so immature.
2) Too much immaturity in the ML. He spent a lot of time pouting.
3) Too much drinking, and every time they drank there were consequences that they had to apologize for or pretend didn't happen. You'd think they'd learn. Another reason I had a problem with the drinking was the FL had an extremely abusive drunken father. I would have thought that she'd stay away from it.
4) Kim Tae Jung as the FL's high school brother. I like him as an actor, he was way too old for this role. Not to mention, in real life he's older than the ML.
5) The reasoning for the mother buying off the FL. That was never adequately explained.
6) The FL taking the money and breaking up with the ML. If you can do that, you aren't in love with him. PLUS, you took the money, broke up with him, and then walked around in misery for the entire show. She was depressing to watch.
7) Hair and makeup. This sounds mean, but whoever did the FL's hair needed to get a clue. She has ears that protrude away from her head and all the hairstyles that had her in just drew attention to her ears. As far as makeup, the men had more lipstick on than the women.

I would never, ever, EVER recommend this show to anyone, except maybe to suggest skip episodes 1-9 and just watch episode 10. You'll still get the gist of what is going on, but you won't have to slog through the rest of it.

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