michelleoc

Don't go by my review

I'm apparently the only person in existence that didn't love this drama. This review is not intended to change anyone's mind, it's to remind me that I've seen the show and didn't like it. This show kind of creeped me out. A high schooler with an adult woman. Not just a young adult woman, but one that's old enough to have become an attorney! She was very immature and he was immature as well, but again, he was a high schooler! I loved the cast of this drama, and normally I'm tolerant of age disparity, but I couldn't get past it in this one. Because, in addition to the fact that there was such an age different, she was completely immature, which I found very irritating. I really have to be able to relate to certain characters in some fashion to get invested in a drama, and I wasn't able to do that with this show.

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The writing of the main characters was disappointing

This show frustrated me on so many levels. I do have to say that my rating went up after seeing the last two episodes.
THE GOOD:
1) Kim Hae Sook as Dal Mi's grandmother. She was such a wonderful character throughout, never doing anything that was out of character. A strong woman, with a deep sense of caring for those she loves. I loved her interactions with the young Han Ji Pyung (played excellently by Nam Da-Reum) and the current Ji Pyung (also excellent Kim Seon Ho). Ji Pyung tried to hold her away, preferring to wallow in his loneliness, but she was able to get through that tough-guy facade to the true person. Kim Hae Sook has such a wonderful sweetness in this part, and her smiles and shining eyes made me love her, wishing she could be my grandmother.
2) Kim Seon Ho as Han Ji Pyung. This was a combined effort of good writing for this character and solid acting. I don't often have SLS but I seriously had it for Ji Pyung. As a child, you wanted to take him under your wing and care for him. As an adult, he was an astute businessman and who wouldn't love him, seeing the way he was with the grandma? He was also very protective of Dal Mi, not wanting to see her get hurt.
3) Friendships - The friendship between the three developers was outstanding. Nam Joo Hyuk, Kim Do Wan, and Yoo Soo Bin conveyed the feelings of long-standing friendships, alternating between being very supportive of one another and putting each other down, as good friends are able to get away with doing. I enjoyed the interactions between all members of the team, especially toward the end when they were finally hitting their stride.
4) Secret crush between Yoo Soo Bin and Stephanie Lee - their interactions were darling to watch. He was the typical goofy nerd and she played the part of a cold attorney so well (I loved her interspersing English into her conversations).
5) Yeo Jin Goo - having him voice the computer and then show up in a cameo at the end was a treat.
6) Cinematography - taking a page from Do San always talking about RGB, I loved the colors in this. The Sandbox building was full of bright colors, and interesting architecture.
7) The Sandbox - I liked the storyline of trying to build a company, working together, competing against one another, pulling all-nighters, etc. It's kind of how I imagine Google or someplace like that to be - a place full of creative minds, thinking outside the box, developing the "next new thing".
8) A time jump that actually made sense, for once.
9) The last two episodes were very strong, tying up all the loose ends, with a lot of emotion from everyone.
THE DISAPPOINTING:
1) The way the ML and the FL were written. I love Nam Joo Hyuk as an actor. He's got that height and build going for him, as well as that innocent face and the gift of being able to emote so well just using his eyes. Bae Suzy does a good job, except when she is playing a very emotional scene, then she tends to overact. My complaint was not with the actors, but with the characters. I can't remember the last time I watched a show with such a weak ML. This, of course, made the SLS stronger, because I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out why anyone would like this guy. He had terrible self-esteem problems, anger issues, and he seemed to spend the first three quarters of the show pouting. As for the FL, she was a hot mess. How could she be the CEO of anything (as evidenced by her sending over 400 texts with questions to be answered)? She was unable to make decisions and always relied on the help of others. She just seemed so weak to me. I do have to say that they got better after the time jump, but up until that time they were working my last nerve.
2) I didn't feel the relationship between the ML and the FL, not only because I wanted to ship the FL with the 2ML, but there just wasn't any chemistry there. I couldn't actually figure out why they supposedly liked each other, especially once she figured out that he'd been lying to her.
3) The lie went on too long and her response to the first part of the lie was totally unrealistic - she didn't have a problem with it!
4) The fist clench - it sounds funny to say, but they used the fist clench cliche so many times in this show I was ready to make a drinking game out of it - when someone clenches their fist, take a drink!
5) The very end of the show. The last two episodes were so strong, I was very disappointed that they chose to show what had happened in their lives by just showing pictures and the end is of them walking together down the hall. Very unsatisfying.

So, I'd say watch this for the business aspects, definitely not if you are looking for romance. If someone asked me my absolute favorite part of this show, I'd say the grandmother with any person that she came into contact with - especially Ji Pyung. This is the first time I've watched a show where my favorite character was the oldest one.

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hits and misses in this one

I have to say that all of the food scenes were an orgy for the senses, and they made me want to scout out the nearest good Chinese restaurant. The bromance between the two male leads was fun to watch, as their friendship developed. I didn't care for the female lead at all. I was hoping that she would kind of grow on me, but I found her smiling/smirking to show up at times that were very inappropriate. I felt like she was playing both men and that her emotions weren't totally invested in the male lead. And don't even get me started on her parents! The male lead really tried to step up, but the female lead just let the parents walk all over them. There's being respectful, and then there's being a doormat. And the mom saying that if they went to work in the restaurant, they would have to move out of the house? It wasn't even her house! Good kisses (though few and far between) and a happy, though rushed, ending, considering how many episodes I had to sit through.

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For those that like beautifully filmed food

I had to wait until it was all released, because a sad ending would have killed me. So much to like-
-Food orgy. Seriously, don't watch it if you are hungry.
-Beautifully filmed.
-ML was excellent. The diversity of his emotions was so stressful to watch, in a good way.
-Yoona did a good job. I'm not normally a big fan, but they took advantage of her beautiful, expressive eyes.
-The kitchen staff - so fun!
-This was a different take on a time slip. I found it interesting.
-The ending was good (but could have been much better with more time and chemistry.)

I scored lower because there were a few things that I didn't like-
-SOOO many bad guys! Silly hats and chin pubes made it hard to keep people straight
-Too much fighting and blood for me.
-too much palace intrigue and not enough romance for me.
-As most K dramas tend to be, I felt that the ending was really rushed.

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I just couldn't like it

I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. Try it, you may like it. I, however, just couldn't get on board with this for numerous reasons.

1) This show struggled with tone. It started out pretty slapstick and I was amused by it, but then it would turn very serious, and then back to comedy. It didn't know what it wanted to be.
2) FL. Oh my gosh, I didn't like her, from beginning to end. She was supposed to be a strong woman maybe, but she just came off as a shrew. She yelled, A LOT, at everyone. I found nothing to root for where she was concerned.
3) ML. I find it interesting that Kang Tae Oh loved someone neurodivergent in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and WAS neurodivergent here. Think gorgeous, unfeeling robot.
4) Relationship. They hated each other, then suddenly they loved each other. Did I miss an episode? There was no rhyme or reason to their relationship. She continued to yell, he continued to be a robot.
5) Chemistry. Nope. There were some technically good kisses, but I couldn't feel them as a couple.
6) Story. This could have been about anything. I don't know why she loved potatoes, etc. It also felt like they threw in things to make the story longer. Her ex lied. Then we find out that the ML lied. Then we find out that the best friend lied.
7) About the best friend. Oh my gosh, she was SO irritating!
8) Music. The theme song was like a buzz in my head that wouldn't go away. ugh.
9) Costuming. The FL dressed like a sack of potatoes. There was nothing remotely attractive about anything she wore. However, ML wore some fabulous suits.
10) Hair - FL had the worst hairstyle! Did they not have the budget for a hair stylist? ML hair was entirely too dark.
11) Makeup - ML makeup apparently was applied with a trowel, and boy did he look plastic. However, the four times he smiled were wonderful. In some of the scenes the ML looked like he had a bad case of pink eye.
12) Though it was only 12 episodes, it felt like 45 and I didn't think I'd EVER finish it.

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Too much going on, but really ultimately, not much is completely fleshed out

I’ll start with what I liked:
The acting, in general was very good.
Jung Hyung Ho as Chi Yeol, the man knows how to play quirky but still vulnerable.
Oh Eui Shik as Hae Woo, Haeng Seon’s brother. Eui Shik tends to play kind of over-the-top characters and I thought he did a wonderful job reigning himself in for this role. I found it very believable.
Shin Jae Ha as Ji Dong Hee, Chi Yeol’s secretary. Wow, he had a fantastic character arc.
The teen’s story line – slight romance, triangle, developing friendships.
The show was pretty good until about episode 10-11. Nothing fantastic, but somewhat enjoyable.
What I didn’t like:
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
Terrible name for the show. I’m sorry, if the words “Romance” or “Love” are in the title, that should be where the focus is. It was not the case at all here.
Jeon Do Yeen as Haeng Seon. This actress was very poorly cast for the age she was supposed to represent. She was MUCH older than they talked about her being at the beginning of the show, and I just laughed when multiple people said she looked too young to have a teenage daughter. She looked a lot older than all the other moms.
Why did they dress her like a grandmother?!? She had the most awful wardrobe I’ve seen in a while and everything made her look even older.
Lack of chemistry between the leads. Why did they like each other? The writers told us they were supposed to like each other, but I certainly didn’t feel it at all.
Then there was the over-abundance of story lines-
Despicable, power hungry, gossiping moms – every one of them, other than Haeng Seon. I guess that was to make her look good, but how many terrible moms do you need in one place?
The pressure on the kids to excel. I understand that’s a thing, but though it was pretty much a main focus of the drama, there was no positive resolution in sight. Then to have the teachers blame everything on the fact that the kids are drinking power drinks and eating sugar.
Student Suh Ah. I get that her mother pretty much made her the way she was, but she was over the edge, having hallucinations, anger issues, etc. and seriously needed counseling, and then suddenly at the end of the show she’s going to med school!?!?!
Ji Dong Hee’s storyline – I loved his portrayal but was so disappointed in the direction they took him and the total cop-out with the suicide. I was also disappointed in the fact that they didn’t address the trauma that Chi Yeol MUST have experienced to be betrayed like that. He had an eating disorder because of prior trauma, but this whole thing was just glossed over. They could have done a good job of addressing this without all the extra people showing up.
Haeng Seon’s niece’s kidnapping – again a traumatic experience that was just glossed over.
Haeng Seon’s brother and her best friend – just no. It was thrown in at the end like they needed to fill some time. It was off-putting and fake.
The real mom coming back – again, filler. She was a terrible person and we already suffered through a bunch of episodes with OTHER terrible people! She left a bad taste in my mouth (which was probably the writer’s intention, but it was pointless)
I didn’t really feel that the mom’s learned much through what they put everyone through, especially the lawyer mom. She was a liar, a cheater, she treated her kids terrible and then made her son sound like a nutjob to get him out of jail, when she actually thought he was guilty.
Then there was an ex that showed up for three minutes in the last episode, just long enough to start rampant rumors.
Two-year time jump. PLEASE, this is used all the time, but it got on my nerves here, a lot. Haeng Seon has tried multiple times to get her physical fitness certification and failed. What’s the deal, does she not study, are the writers intimating that she’s stupid? I don’t know. Then, I hated the lack of closure/end for the teen couple. He asked her over two years ago if she would go out with him. He’s waited all this time and then she just gives him a peck on the cheek and walks off?!?!?

I realize that a lot of people enjoyed this show, but for me it was over-scheduled and under-developed.

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Toxic all the way around

What I liked: ML - seriously handsome. Some of the intimate scenes were really well done.
The rest: This show could be a poster child for the kinds of relationships to avoid at all costs. ML - verbally, emotionally, and to an extent, physically abusive. He took manhandling the FL to the next level.
FL - foolish, no self-esteem, weak (she keeps telling him no, and then gets caught up in the moment. No means no, people!) Bed hopping between ML and 2 ML - I can't even describe how much I hated this. That is not romance, that is being a slut. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and at that point, all the hate I had for the ML was replaced by hate for the FL.
2ML - weak and kind of creepy.
2FL - crazy and VERY creepy.
Bartender - over acting much?

Having sex when you aren't even dating just really bothers me. I like a good romance, and this diminishes the feelings the characters have for each other.
Characters saying "I love you" when they haven't dated or spent any time together. Let's call it what it is - lust.

It was like watching a train wreck. I didn't want to watch it, I couldn't look away, then I was disgusted with myself for wasting my time on it.

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Time I'll never get back

Same female lead as the first season, which is good, because she is just precious. I like her acting, and I like her character. She's very spunky. She's down on her luck but she's no one's door mat. I always enjoy watching strong female leads that are likeable.

Different actor for ML this time, and I wasn't buying him as the ML. Expressionless and he seemed very uncomfortable. I didn't find his acting totally believable, but that may be partially due to the script.

However, the rest of the actors (other than his secretary) were really overacting. It is really hard to take people seriously when they scream and stomp and act like babies.

I watched this because I felt like I needed to finish both of them, but I can't recommend either.

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I wished they'd tightened up the writing and made it one season

I was frustrated with the way season one ended and I think that may have somewhat colored my response to this season. Sadly, it felt like more of the same, with nothing new. The village "family" was pretty much the same, but granny redeemed herself for me in episode 10. The rest of the time she was overacting.

WHAT I LIKED:
The main couple were so cute together! I got extremely tired of the 10 minutes of being together and then the rest of the episode being apart. It seemed like they took turns being noble. "I'll leave to save you." "No, I'll leave to save YOU!" It got to the point where I was just thinking, here we go again.

But the scenes where they were together were wonderful. A couple of excellent kisses, some hand holding, and an absolute plethora of longing looks. The chemistry was wonderful. Let's be honest, Kim Min Jae is gorgeous and he's got that wide-eyed, stunned look down to a science. He also cries beautifully. There was one scene where he came back to the village by himself, someone tried to talk to him, and he looked devastated. A couple of tears coursed down his cheeks and he just walked away without a single word. That was so powerful.

The last episode was cohesive and very enjoyable. I think that's the main reason my score is as high as it is (I realize I'm in the minority on this one. Remember, this is just my personal opinion.)

Cameo appearance by Woo Do Hwan. I loved him in Tempted and was thrilled so see him here, even if his scene was so brief.

WHAT I DIDN'T CARE FOR:
The gay storyline.
The princess - poorly written and cast. She looked SO young and she was just so immature, all I could think of was a teenager trying to get her own way. Thankfully, she didn't hang around long.
The 2ML. I know, I wasn't supposed to like him, but I felt that the writers waited until too late in day to explain his motivations.

I'm glad I watched this show, if only to get closure from the open ended first season. It seems like the newest trend is having multiple seasons, which makes no sense to me, because so many of the shows are draggy in just ONE season, so now they are just extending that feeling of watching paint dry.

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Better title "Why Me?" As in, "why am I stuck watching this show?"

This show started out great! I was at the end of episode two, at which time I had just a couple of issues, and I texted a friend and said that this was the type of show that I could lose sleep over just to binge watch. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last much longer. I spent a lot of time angry with the writers as I watched this, and I never felt like they redeemed themselves.

I'll start with my positives:
Acting - all of the acting was good, but especially Soo Hyun Jin as Oh Soo Jae. Oh, my goodness, I hated her at the beginning. I did wonder why that, in order for a woman to be strong and successful, they have to be a complete B***ch, but the brief times of humanity were understated and suited her personality completely. The writers did a good job here, in giving us back story following some of her worst moments that would clarify what actually happened. Heo Joon Ho as Choi Tae Gook was amazing. He was the embodiment of evil. I don't like watching this type of character, especially since he doesn't even pretend to be a good guy, but he just drew me in. Then there is Bae In Hyuk as Choi Yoon Sang - he fascinates me. I've seen him in numerous things, and there's something about that little lisp he has... and, finally, Han Joo Hyun as Choi Jae Yi - what a precious little girl!
Found families - between Gong Chan and his hyungs, and the law school students working together, I enjoyed these relationships. I just wish they were developed better/further.

Now for the negatives: SPOILERS!)
1) For me the biggest elephant in the room - why the heck did they use two different actors for the male lead?!?! The younger version of Gong Chan looked older than the Hwang In Youp version! They didn't resemble each other in any way. I kept waiting, throughout the show, for the writers to give us an explanation, but that never happened. It actually seemed like one actor dropped out and Hwang In Youp stepped in at the last minute. I know that's not the case, but that's what it looked like to me. When Oh Soo Jae says to herself, "Why didn't I recognize him?"
2) Romance - They would have been better off leaving the romance out of this show, for many reasons. First, the age disparity - perhaps not so much in chronological age, but in emotional age. He was like a puppy chasing after her, and he seemed more like a high school student than a college student. Plus, the fact that she was a lawyer settled in her career already. And he liked her because she believed in him? That's it? The fact that he kept telling her she was "cool" cemented his immaturity. We had a few brief scenes with them together as a couple. The rest of the time he was either saving her, trying to save her, or holding her while she cried. This was definitely not a give and take relationship. I didn't ship them at all as a couple, to be honest. He called her "Professor" throughout the entire show. At some point in time, if you are truly in a relationship, you use first names!
I loved watching Hwang In Youp, but his character was not well-written.
3) Plethora of bad guys/evil characters. Probably a ratio of more than 2:1. There were so many names to keep straight (especially all the people in the same families), from the past and in the present. Each seemed more evil than the last. The number of things that these people got away with was astounding - multiple people get away with murder (literally), yet they want to draw attention to themselves by bringing her before a disciplinary committee?! And for all the evil done, minimal consequences.
4) Unnecessarily complicated storylines. It seemed like every few minutes they introduced a new character to confuse us. I lost count of the number of storylines that I was trying to keep track of.
5) The direction they took Bae In Hyuk's character Choi Yoon Sang - this one was hard for me to swallow. He likes her, he specifically mentions that he has finally found, in Gong Chan, someone that he can be friends with, yet he threatens pouts and blindsides these characters!? With so many bad guys, I would have much preferred he remain a constant in the ever-changing lives of the two main leads.
6) Too much drinking. Is no one able to solve problems without binge drinking?
7) Vulgar language. I don't know if these were actually the words or just due to the translators, but I don't find bad language necessary.
8) "Stupid heroine" moments. Your office has been broken into, yet you go on in. The guy that attacked you in said office runs out, but rather than leave you go to the roof?!?! What was that about!? Someone calls you to meet him at a deserted place late at night and you go by yourself. Apparently, she's never watched any type of horror film - the stupid characters are usually the first to die.
9) Wow, the labs were doing a booming business in this show. The number of paternity tests and DNA tests that were being run were ridiculous. And finding out that Choi Jae Yi was actually her daughter? I saw it coming from a mile away, and it really made me mad. It just seemed like something else to throw into this mess of a story.
Which brings me to -
10) The truck of doom. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated this. It was just mean and could have been avoided completely if the stupid paternity storyline hadn't been introduced in the first place.

So, upon reflection, for me, the writing was where the problems were. I'd say, if you have a high tolerance for things that are implausible, watch this show for the excellent acting.

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What is with the music!?!?!

The biggest problem with this drama was the overbearing music, dubbing, and English translation.

Music - it started out when they were playing a Christmas song and the scenes had nothing to do with Christmas. The music didn't fit the story at all and there were so many times that the music was so loud you couldn't hear the people talking. The loud music that they kept playing reminded me of circus music, it was very jarring. I don't care for the voices that they use when they dub Chinese dramas, and this had the added problem of the words not synching with the speaking. This wasn't in all the episodes, but did happen during a few episodes in the middle. Then the English translation had issues, some of the translated words didn't make any sense at all, added to the multiple times that "him" should have been "her".

The story had potential as far as I was concerned. I love me a good destiny story. I couldn't quite decide if I liked his memory loss story line, maybe it just went on too long.

This drama had a very sweet and detailed ending. I appreciated that the story lines were wrapped up nicely and not rushed.

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Never answers the question, is magic real or not?

The music and the singing were very good. That, for me, was the highlight of the whole show. I felt as if they wrote the songs and then thought, "wait, now I have to write a story around the music" and didn't actually know where to take it.

Watch this in a dark room, because it is filmed in a very dark way. Actually, the whole story, as well, was a lot darker and more disturbing than I thought it would be, especially just basing it off watching the trailer. There's quite a bit of sadness and evil in this.

I had a difficult time believing Choe Sung-eun and Hwang In-Youp as high schoolers (of course, I'll always suspend disbelief for him!), and really, neither of their characters were very likeable. Ji Chang Wook as the magician - I'll admit I was glad to see him again, especially since I haven't cared for his last couple of dramas. He did what he could with the role, but I didn't find it well-written. He wasn't mysterious as much as we never knew what his deal actually was.

I'm glad it didn't have any more episodes, because I was glad when it was over. I'd suggest giving it a try though, because most people seemed to like it a lot more than me.

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Easy to watch

If you're looking for an enjoyable watch that doesn't take too much thought, this might be for you. I didn't love it, but I also didn't feel that it was a complete waste of my time. I appreciated that the FL was not a typical doormat and that she spoke up for herself. The ML was a tortured soul, reflecting on a tragedy in his past and unable to move forward. They were cute together. I certainly wouldn't say that their chemistry was off the charts, but I could somewhat believe in them as a couple. I do have to say I was bothered by his constant referring to her as "idiot", and that she was willing to put up with it. The whole thing was pretty "fluffy", without angst, and the fact that it was only nine short episodes was a bonus as well.

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