michelleoc

Cute, easy watch

Okay, so it's not going to change the world, but hear me out. Lately, I've not had much luck with dramas. I happened upon this one completely by accident and decided to give it a try. I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish it.

I enjoyed the relationship of the leads, going into a business relationship and then discovering that their feelings were overriding their business arrangement. It was a natural progression, with actual conversations between the leads, as opposed to so many dramas making them "suddenly" in love.

I liked how we were able to hear their inner dialog when they weren't willing to verbalize their feelings to each other.

I'm pleasantly surprised that I was pleasantly surprised!

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My eyes got a ton of exercise - rolling them at the ridiculousness of this drama

Liked:
-the cola scene
-Jeju
-the FL finally making friends with her long-time adversary.

Disliked:
-The FL in the first few episodes was working my last nerve. I didn't find it funny; I found her irritating and pitiful.
-Typical rich man/poor girl story, done much better elsewhere.
-This may seem random, but her clomping all over Seoul and Jeju in 4-inch heels was just so unbelievable, since during so many scenes she was running. Get this girl a pair of tennis shoes.
-Whenever the ML got mad and was yelling, very over-acted.
-"Oppa" girl - it's hard for me to watch someone that has no self-respect and tries to hold on for the sake of holding on.
-ML's brother - always gets feelings for the woman his brother likes. What happened to him, anyway? Suddenly just disappeared.
-Too much back and forth - "yes, we are going to be together" "oh never mind, we aren't going to be together". This drama would have definitely benefitted from fewer episodes.
-the last two episodes. Did they get a new writer? They were FINALLY together and then the FL decided she "lost something" and moved to Jeju to work, didn't know if she wanted to get married. Isn't it a natural progression when you supposedly love someone so much? He gave her specific instructions - when you come back, if you are wearing the necklace, I'll know you are ready to think about getting married. But did she follow those instructions? No, she sent the jewelry box back to him with a note in it. You know immediately that he isn't going to open the box, why should he? Then his secretary sees the note and mentions it? Oh, and through all this, she's wondering why he isn't calling her! I really hated the FL in the last two episodes. The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.
-The show is old and it didn't age well.

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Title should have been ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER

I have never been so misled by clips like I was for this one. I was looking for a romance. I have enjoyed both lead actors in other things, and I couldn't pass up Xu Kai in something contemporary. But the clips that I watched were the total of their interaction throughout the entire drama! I did enjoy watching the ML go from cold and ruthless, to someone who actually cares about others and basically inherits a family. I could never actually tell when the FL started to like him, but they were cute together. However, all of their scenes would have taken up two episodes (and I'm being generous. The romance tag should be removed or moved to the end of the list and changed to "slight romance".

The focus of this drama (80-90%) was about the FL's mother. She was a toxic, loud, disrespectful, overbearing, money-grabbing, immature, domineering mother. I know that respect for parents in Asian cultures is important, but there is a certain point in time when a husband needs to step in to try to curtail the behavior, or the child will deliver an ultimatum. I was determined to finish this drama, hoping for redemption, but it was too little, too late.

Spoiler examples:
1- the mother worked with the FL's ex-boyfriend's sister and organized a huge engagement party. Huge affair, balloons, flowers, ballroom, friends and family. The FL was sent on some fake premise, and when she opened the ballroom door, she saw all this. The couple had already broken up (of which the mother was well aware), but the mother was trying to force her hand.
2- the mother takes her obnoxious relatives to the high-end hotel that the FL is the new general manager and asks the staff for the best rooms and the best treatment, and discounts. The daughter arranges all of that and says that she'll pay for it out of her own money.
3- the daughter SPECIFICALLY told the mother not to come to her workplace. The mother shows up with lunch while the FL is holding a staff meeting, trying to cement her job as boss. The mother interrupts the whole thing and tells the daughter to send everyone to lunch because she (the FL) needs to eat.
4- they are staying in a home that turns out to be the ML's inheritance. He brings his stuff to move in and she refuses to leave. Husband and FL both try to convince her, with the FL saying she'll buy them an apartment, and still she refuses. ML says that the house is big enough for all of them, but she won't give up the master bedroom, the other rooms are for when her kids come home, so he ends up sleeping in the attic.
5- ML pays for both FL's parents to get a complete health screening. There is something abnormal in her tests and they want to do more testing. Instead, she roams around pouting and being all dramatic, then packs a suitcase and leaves home without telling anyone where she went. The whole family is out searching frantically for her (because, of course, she has turned her phone off), only to find her in the town they lived in years ago that she always complained about. The whole family shows up and she refuses to leave. Days of begging and pleading go by, and she finally agrees to the testing, to which she finds out everything is fine.

I have never hated a character or the way it was written more than this. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, I'd suggest you run away from this drama.

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Brilliant cameos!

This is a light and sweet story. I felt that the actors all did a good job, except for Ji Soo in her crying scene toward the end. Granted, it might be played for laughs.

The idea of escaping reality for a man that loves you regardless (one of the characters said the "HAVE TO" love you) was interesting. The alternate reality scenes were beautifully filmed.

Ji Soo's character was getting on my nerves, being unable to start a real relationship, because she was afraid for the end of it. Has she not heard "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?"

My favorite episode was 7, when we got to hear the ML's thoughts and how he came to like her.

Seo In Guk never disappoints. Him playing two parts was bonus for me.

Sure, there were things that made absolutely no sense - how was the fake boyfriend able to send mail and call?

But if you want a break from heavier dramas, this is a great palate cleanser.

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Thank goodness it was relatively short

I will begin this review by saying that I normally don't watch historicals, especially Chinese, because they always seem so unrealistic, too much satin, and ridiculous hairstyles. That said, if this is a genre you usually watch, give it a try, because there was a lot of cuteness, but I just judge harshly.

What I liked:
-FL is gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous. She lit up the screen.
-Though I wasn't enamored with the ML, they were really cute together.
-A nice mother-in-law.

What I didn't care for:
-Dubbing. Just why!?!?!
-The translation was so bad. Not just mixing up him/her, but there were so many times I had NO IDEA what was going on, because the words had nothing to do with anything.
-Choppy editing.
-Too much internal dialogue, sometimes it seemed that they could hear each other's thoughts, sometimes not.
-The fight scenes were laughably bad.
-was that supposed to be music in the background, or a sound effect or what?

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