Must suspend disbelief
What I liked: DO. I don't need to say more than that, but I will. He is excellent. Intense, focused, with just a little "crazy". His hair is wild, his eyes are wild, you never know what he's going to do next. I've always appreciated his acting, and his acting in this role didn't disappoint. Lee Se Hee as Shin Ah Ra - her character was a joy. She was a hard-working, somewhat hard prosecutor, always in control, until she got involved with DO's character Jin Jung, then she was out of her element. Her facial expressions were priceless and her frustration with Jin Jung was so fun to watch. I really liked that they didn't try to make a romance here.What I didn't like: The storyline was extremely convoluted and the fact that everyone was corrupt was just too much. I felt like they were just trying to fill time. Bad guy A gets caught, then here comes bad guy B, he gets taken care of and here comes bad guy C. Then there were the situations in which they found themselves. I just found the storyline too implausible.
I'm glad I watched this for DO and Lee Se Hee.
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Too short
Each of the 20 episodes is between 9-14 minutes long. However, there is about a two-minute recap at the beginning of each episode and 2-3 minutes of credits at the end of each episode, so these episodes are REALLY short. Unfortunately, this leads to not enough content in this drama.I was grabbed by the idea. The concept of him remembering everything, and her remembering nothing was a very interesting one to me. But there really wasn't enough time to adequately flesh this out. We saw him living out a tragedy in his past, and we saw repeatedly how he remembered everyone's name, but there was a BIG link to the story that he didn't remember until almost the last episode, so how can you say he remembers everything. She doesn't mention until a few episodes in that she only remembers things for a month and then her memories reset
I would have liked to have seen how she deals with having to reset her memories every month, and how her friends deal with it. That would have been fascinating. This wasn't addressed at all.
The ending is very abrupt. Stay and watch the ending credits on the last episode, it gives a "wrap up" interview with the two leads that is cute and attempts to end the show in a more meaningful way.
I was so disappointed in the execution of this drama, it had such potential. That being said, at least it wasn't a LOT of time wasted.
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My personal opinion only
Acting: Seo Kang Joon as Jin Ho was excellent. He didn't say much, but then he doesn't have to. He just has to BE. What he said in the voice overs was beautiful, but I kept wondering why he never verbalized any of his thoughts. Park Min Young as Hae Won - in my opinion, she can do no wrong, she's that good in everything she does. However -Characters: Jin Ho kept everything bottled up inside. Hae Won reminded me of Eeyore, she was so morose all the time. There were some other interesting characters in this show as well. I loved the scenes with the book club meetings.
Music: The music was wonderful and went perfectly with the show.
Cinematography: There is no question that this show was beautifully filmed. The camera angles, the scenes in nature, the close ups.
Story: Here's where it goes wrong for me. The story itself might have been really good, but this was one of the slowest shows I've ever seen. I like a good story as much as the next person, but when you show scenes again and again of making coffee and tea (are we in a Folger's commercial?) or take five minutes showing the female lead walking up a road dragging her suitcase behind her, that's just too tedious for me. There was so much quietness in this that I felt like no one was talking to each other.
I would, however, say to give it a try for yourself, since I am definitely in the minority on this one.
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Sweet story
This was a cute show without too much angst. However, it took them FOREVER to tell each other they liked each other!(ep 18 when there are only 24 episodes!) Once they admitted their feelings, it was fun to watch them, because they are such a cute couple. And his dimples!! I really like watching shows where the friends are loyal to one another and this show had good examples of that. I felt that, at times, the male lead was too wishy washy about whether he liked her. I would have liked to have had a more visible conclusion for the photographer - I believe he got his happily ever after, but they didn't really show it.Was this review helpful to you?
I wanted to like this one, I really did
However, after reading all the good reviews, maybe it's just me, but this show really fell short. The script was all over the place and nothing was delved in too deeply. Even considering that, I still fast-forwarded through a lot. Multiple cases in a law drama can work very well, but here they didn't. I didn't find the cases interesting enough to begin with and the stories felt like they were just to get us to the next episode.I didn't care for the main characters. Lee Seung Gi - I don't believe I've seen him in anything else and I'm going to find something else to watch him in, but here I didn't find him attractive at all, especially in all of the unfortunate "squid games" track suits. His character wasn't especially likeable throughout the first part of the show. I love the idea of having liked someone for years, but you couldn't really tell, he was terrible to her.
Lee Se Young's character yelled and screamed a lot. I found that very off-putting. I did like how they tried to show her growing through the cases she took on, but she continued to be the "damsel in distress". Then there was the "sex contract". Give me a break!
Jo Han Chul, who I LOVE as an actor, WAY overplayed his part. Was he supposed to be crazy, funny, farcical, sociopathic? I don't know, but I couldn't stand to watch him.
Top all that off with the fact that I didn't feel chemistry between the leads. Now I feel like I need to re-watch something I've already loved to cleanse my K-drama palate!
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This review may contain spoilers
VERY unpopular opinion here...
Don't hate on me, and please remember that reviews are just the opinions of the reviewers. This reminded me of A Love So Beautiful, which I didn't care for either. I was so looking forward to watching this, based on all the glowing reviews. Part of the problem might have been that I watched this right after Hidden Love and enjoying it so much. Maybe it just couldn't live up to my expectations. I was looking forward to this drama because it was supposedly low angst, and I was drawn to that. That being said -WHAT I LIKED:
-It was, in fact, low angst
-the storyline of the second couple. I loved how he liked her alone and was always trying to help her in whatever way he could, even though his heart was breaking because she didn't like him.
-no stupid misunderstandings
-when the typical storyline started of a female trying to get the ML showed up, I LOVED how the FL shut that down. She knew her man, had faith in him, and went straight to the woman to resolve the issue.
-a wedding. Though, for me, it didn't work here, I always appreciate a wedding after watching a couple get together.
-ML and his dimples
THE THINGS THAT DISAPPOINTED ME
-FL. Supposedly cute and bubbly, she came across as a stalker (she was sure she liked him after seeing him once, and never tired of telling him that she liked him) and immature. The actress was cute as a button, but between her voice, her mannerisms, her clothes, and her bouncing around all the time, she just reminded me of a hyperactive puppy. Plus, her way of talking was very fast and staccato, like she was blurting out phrases, one after another.
-her calling him "Rang Rang" all the time. It was cute at the beginning, but by episode three I was ready to make a drinking game out of it - hear her say Rang Rang, take a drink!
-why did the ML like her? When did he start liking her? I get that he probably appreciated her energy compared to how repressed he seemed to be, but I didn't see or feel the attraction between them.
-I admit that I wanted low angst, but I also wanted something to move the story along. There really wasn't anything going on. I felt like I was watching a documentary of the life of a teen in China. I was bored.
-the parents fawning all over him was somewhat cute, but I can't believe they would have been fine with their daughter living with a man before they got married.
In conclusion, if you are still reading this, I'd say if you want something mindless to watch that doesn't have a lot of the typical tropes, you might enjoy this. It just didn't have enough going on for me.
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Short show that really got me in all the feels
Can I just start by saying that the kissing scenes in this were awesome?! Unfortunately, there are a lot of shows with fish kisses/touching lip-not really a kiss, but these were wonderful, the first one especially. That's when I really got sucked into the show, I must say. Superficial I know, but there it is.Short, lovely show to watch between the more dramatic shows that ratchet up the angst and drama.
Premise: A goblin (Bae In Hyuk as Ban Sook) must kiss 10 girls to become human. He befriends a human woman (Jeon Hye Won as Yeon Ah).
Characters: Ban Sook started out as a flat, emotionless goblin, and with every kiss he gained a human emotion. Bae In Hyuk did an excellent job of not portraying him with over-the-top emotions. You really did see more on his face after every kiss, like he was learning a new emotion and learning how to handle the emotion. Jeon Hye Won was terrific as Yeon Ah. She had so much anger at the beginning of the show, but that was quickly overshadowed by the love and compassion she felt for others.
Story: Addresses the issue of fate. Yeon Ah stating that she didn't believe in fate was an example of not being able to see what's right in front of you. Fate brought her and Ban Sook together from the beginning. The story also addressed love and loss - is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? Would you want to remember an incomplete love for the rest of your life, knowing you would never see that person again?
Writing: I thought the writing was very good, and I really appreciated the abbreviated episodes. If the writing is good, you can pull the audience in without resorting to many long, drawn-out episodes.
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Wow, thank goodness it was short!
This show was actually painful to watch. It reminded me of a poorly written and executed high school production. The dialogue was clunky and none of the actors seemed at ease in either what they were directed to say or do.The actors were, undeniably, attractive. However, that doesn't mean they should be actors. I didn't read the bios on any of the actors. They may be new to the field; in which case I can only hope that they get some acting classes under their belts before they venture out again.
Not only were their lines delivered in wooden and unnatural ways, their movements reflected the same problems. You could actually see the blocking of the scenes, there wasn't a natural flow. For example, one person walks across the room to sit down, the other actor stands woodenly until the actor has finished walking and sits down, then the second actor starts walking across the room as well.
This will definitely be going on my "That's time I'll never get back" list.
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Slow, and did they get a standin for the ML in the last episode!?!!
The concept was good, the acting was good, but it was just too slow for me. The main actor was awesome, kind of expressionless, but the first time you see him crack a small smile, you are hooked. She was a complete mess at the very beginning, and I was concerned about that, but she finally got a clue. But the ending?!?!?! Did they change the ending and had the actor moved on to another project, so they had to use a stand in? I can't believe how much that bothered me. And WHY do they separate totally? If a man just basically fell off the face of the earth, I'd probably have to think about moving on.Was this review helpful to you?
I didn't think this would EVER end!
I fell asleep numerous times watching this, it was so drawn out, with SO MUCH unnecessary stuff. Every episode I was like, "Get to the point already!" So much of what happened was for the sole purpose of making this drama longer. Why, I have no idea. The story was a typical Chinese school story. Girl likes boy, boy might like girl but absolutely nothing happens between them until 3/4 of the way through the show,I loved the male lead character. Aside from being gorgeous, he was a very nice guy and his smile was lovely. The female lead was actually scary looking at the beginning, but you got the impression that he might like her regardless of the hair and the braces, which was nice. During the short period of time they were actually together, they were cute, but they had the typical breakup storyline, and I felt it was more stupid than most. As usual, the ending was rushed.
Now, concerning the second couple, they were extremely irritating. He was a complete jerk to everyone, especially her. She was a stalker, in essence. I don't know in how many different ways he told her to go away, but no, she just kept coming back for more abuse. I think this sends a bad message. Stalking is never okay (so, it might not technically be stalking, but she was certainly following him around). This makes me think that her self-esteem is so low she has no business being in a relationship anyway. Then, once he decided her liked her (for what reason remains a mystery), she blows him off. Again, to make the show longer.
As far as the positives go, I did appreciate that the costume designers didn't put them in ridiculous clothes and that she actually wore jeans, which is a nice change to see.
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This review may contain spoilers
Please, for the love of all that is holy, pick a genre and stick with it!
I'll start with what I liked:-the kisses. Let's call them for what they were, "fire"! After watching multiple shows with open-eyed, slack arms, dead fish kisses, these were exactly on point. These are the scenes that I rewatched, and the only reason I actually gave this a rating of 5.
-the acting was good, for what it was. I loved Park Gu Young in Dali and the Cocky Prince, and I liked her in this as well, though I didn't really love her character that much. When she kept trying to get him drunk (I'm so tired of drunk scenes), I found her to be irritating. Cha Eun Woo was basically like he's been in everything I've seen him in. Quiet whispery voice, serious. You could play this show and True Beauty side by side and get what I mean. Everyone else did an okay job.
-family and friendships
-happy ending
Then the stuff that I didn't like.
-Thankfully, I waited for all the episodes to be released before I tried watching this. If I hadn't, I would have given up early on. I think the programmers did a disservice to this show by making it so long to be finished, between an episode once a week, to pre-empted episodes. That being said, this show was entirely TOOOOO long and very repetitive. My Viki showed it as having episodes 0-15. Episode 0 and episode 15 were the same, basically a recap of what the show was about. After watching episode 0, I kept having feelings of Deja vu while watching episodes 1-4. Then there was the recap at the beginning of every episode, and the mini recaps throughout to remind us of what has been going on.
-This show shifted and lost its footing halfway through. Started out as a comedy, with the potential to be cute and quirky. Then it shifted to bullying and its effects, then it went to revenge melodrama with the mountain god. It should have been either a comedy or a melodrama but should not have tried to mix the two. I don't think it was successful.
-The whole mountain god storyline was completely unnecessary. It seemed so over the top melo after watching funny scenes. This storyline took up a lot of screen time, and I didn't enjoy it, especially since he had cursed this family and done terrible things and there were no consequences for him. That REALLY irritated me!
-This scene really stuck out to me, and I had a hard time getting past it - whenever the woman turns into a dog, her clothes drop and she has to have friends get her clothes to her because she's naked when she turns human again. In the scene where he kisses her and lifts the curse, she turns human and is completely dressed. Why?! This would have been a great opportunity to throw in some comedy by having her be naked as usual.
Normally, if I like a show less than others, I'm usually in the minority and say give it a try, you might like it. I have reservations here, unless you make the FF button your friend. I can't remember the last time I watched a show that was so repetitive.
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This review may contain spoilers
Very intriguing
I always wait until a drama has all the episodes available, but when reading all the comments about how good this show was, I was almost certain to be disappointed. But it was just as good as all the comments I read. Yoo Yeon Seok as Sa Eon and Chae Soo Bin as Hui Ju were excellent. I hated him at the beginning, as I was meant to, but once a couple of layers of the mystery were revealed, I loved the character. Chae Soo Bin doesn't have much facial expression (perfect for I Am Not a Robot), and that also gave me pause, but they were both perfect in their roles.ML and FL had amazing chemistry. One thing that really stood out to me was the way they always highlighted his wedding ring. That was my first clue about how he felt about her.
This is the first drama I've watched in a while that I did not fast forward through any of it. I was able to just enjoy it for what it was and not pick apart any logic or lack thereof. I looked forward to each episode, anxious to see what was going to happen next.
I have to say, I didn't care for the casting (or maybe it was the acting) of the SML. He had an odd look about him and I couldn't get past the feeling that he was a bad guy. Also, I felt that the role of In A, Hui Ju's sister, was miscast. She seemed entirely too old, more like her mother.
I don't give out a bunch of 10 ratings, but this probably would have been one of them, if it weren't for Episode 12. What the heck?!?! I couldn't suspend disbelief that far. Did they give a third string writer a chance to write the last episode? It had nothing to do with the rest of the show, was sloppy, and irritated me. If the main couple had managed to get together in episode 11, I'd just tell people to skip episode 12!
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Take a relaxing vacation with the Wooga Squad
This show had a different feel from the BTS In the Soop. Sometimes, I felt that here, they didn't know what to say and how to act, and that feeling came and went for me. In the first episode when they were talking about showing themselves in a good light on camera, that concerned me. I wanted to see real, not scripted. And I think that is ultimately what I saw. There is something relaxing about watching others relax. In their matching sweats and their matching pajamas, sitting around talking about how they met, what's on their bucket lists, what makes them sad, it really calms the mind and warms the heart.One thing I continue to be amazed by is the respect that Koreans have for each other. They kid around a lot, but it's always around love and respect. Sharing grocery shopping and housekeeping tasks, each person kind of fell into a perfect place, so they all had a job and worked cooperatively. I also appreciated that they were supportive of one another, praising each other personally and for their careers. In a world that seems to revolve around trying to tear each other down, this was nice to watch.
While in the car, they talked about if they would be able to take a camping trip together. I hope that they can get their schedules to work to be able to do this, it would be a treat for us!
If you enjoyed watching this, I can also recommend Young Actor's Retreat, that Park Seo Joon is also in.
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Watch it for Park Eun Bin's performance!
The story was good, overall. It started out very strongly, but by episode 6 or 7, I felt it had pretty much done all that it could do. I would classify this as a legal drama. There is a hint of romance that takes a back, back seat to the legal aspects of the show. That's not wrong, per se, but if you are coming for romance, you'll be greatly disappointed. Even the legal stories got to be a bit boring toward the end. There wasn't a lot of differentiation/conflict between the cases, they all flowed together.Park Eun Bin was excellent as Woo Young Woo.
I struggled with the romance aspect of the story, because I couldn't see what made Lee Joon Ho like Woo Young Woo. They were cute together, but they weren't on equal emotional/developmental footing, which would provide significant conflicts in a romantic relationship (maybe they will delve into this in the 2nd season, because I think that would be the only reason to have a second season).
Kang Ki Young as Jung Myung Seok - I love him in almost everything I've seen him in (the only time I haven't liked him is when he's a bad guy - so his acting is ALWAYS excellent, I just haven't liked the character in that instance.)
The music was fun and appropriate, and I liked the graphics with the whales, but this got old after a while.
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Short and simple
If you need a break from heavier material, this web-based series is kind of cute. The story is very simple, there's a little bit of magic involved, and there are no unlikeable characters.My favorite story was the one about the teacher. There was a little more to it than the other storylines. It really spoke to how things can change if you believe in yourself.
I do have to say that I found the acting wanting in this show. Everyone went around with the same expressions all the time and their actions were kind of wooden.
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