monstersnroses

dropped this to start Love and Destiny, which I am LOVING 20 episodes in... I kind of like it better than TMOPB in some ways.

For me, it's because that's the one thing that english-speaking productions keep getting wrong these past 10 years or so. That's what pushed me into k-dramas in the first place, the fact that I can watch an American action film or mystery, but the American romances these days are no good. I have met several people who when I ask them what started them out on kdramas, they say the same thing too.

Plus, whether or not it's disappointing if it doesn't have a romance element, depends for me entirely on the ML. Some ML's are so much better than others at portraying chemistry and acting out kiss-scenes, and they make us swoon. When you see one of these ML's in a drama with no romance, its sort of like being in the passenger seat of a nice corvette that's going 20mph down the freeway. Like the role isn't taking full advantage of the actor's talent.

Plus, many kdrama watchers are romance-focused, so when you see a hundred comments that they want romance, that doesn't mean each of those people is 'obsessed' with romance, it just means that there's a LOT of people who that's their preferred genre.

I also like a good mystery or thriller, but kdrama thrillers and mysteries don't usually live up to their American counterparts, so if I want to watch one, I might not choose to do so within the k-drama world. Romance is what k-drama does best, imo. However their comedies are also really good too.

Well earlier on in the drama, she had kissed him, and they'd been in the flirting stages of a relationship. So when he got aggressive on the bed, she could have fended him off or dissuaded him with just a show of annoyance and peevishness, because there was ALREADY a level of trust between them that had been established.

She was screaming like someone being mugged and attacked in a dark alley by a rando. It showed that she never trusted him in any way whatsoever, because she didn't feel like she could communicate to him or that he'd listen to her if she expressed herself. She took all that whole relationship-building they'd done with the characters and torched it, so from that moment they were back to the very beginning.

When you are in an intimate situation with someone that you already have that kind of rapport with, and you're not comfortable with what's going on, then you shove them and maybe start getting testy or yelling. Men generally know the difference between spicy intimacy and ra*e.

The fact that she overreacted so badly, from the perspective of a psychologically well-adjusted person who knows what dating is like, it looks like she's acting like someone who has been ra*ed or m*lested before and has issues with real intimacy.

I mean we're talking about ACTING performances, where subtleties count. That scene struck a really serious and incongruous note in what was supposed to be a sweet and spicy romance. It killed the aura of romance and budding trust between them.

If you are that afraid and untrusting of the male you are spending time with, then you shouldn't be spending any time with them at all. It wasn't like his behavior came on out of the blue. It was simply a spicy move he was trying to make in a natural progression of their relationship. His performance fit the situation. Hers didn't, IMO. To me, that kind of response to an advance - even if it is too spicy for your blood - is markedly juvenile. People can become juvenile in relationships they are trying to cultivate when either A) they are actually extremely young or B) they have a past trauma that leaves their psyche in a state of stasis at the age at which the trauma occurred. or C) you realize you are in the presence of a true predator.

You have to have some trust that your partner understands what YOUR consent looks like. She's acting like he's about to actually ra*e her for real. If I were a man confronted with this behavior, I'd never go near that girl again because she's not mature enough to handle an intimate relationship yet. She's afraid of intimacy even though she wants it. So afraid of it that the person she may love turns into a ra*ist in her eyes with just one aggressive play on his end. So there's no trust there as a foundation of romance. After everything he went through for her by that point in the drama, for her trust to be shaken so badly that she immediately goes into trauma-mode when she doesn't like what's happening... I can't relate at all to that kind of psyche. It seems to me like it doesn't belong in a lighthearted romance drama like this one. It would have been a lot easier to accept that the scene belongs in the show, if she had just kneed him in the nuts and shoved him off the bed. Or slapped the shit out of him. Something that shows she is willing to stand up to him and not just cower and cry in fear.

I know different people have different views on this topic, but basically no matter your view, that was wayyyy too heavy a performance for this show. It didn't match the vibe at all.

Also, I agree with you about ChuChu, and before they twisted up her character, she was really cool.

Had to drop early, I can't stand the FL for even another second.

Your entire review was exactly what I thought of it too. I found this drama's main highlight was that no part of it was outright bad. But then the drawback of it is that no part of it was spectacular either.

They had so many elements it takes to make a winner show, and then they crumpled it all up, tossed it in the dumpster, lit the dumpster on fire, and stomped on the ashes. How do I even start.

Other reviews are calling out the ML for acting wooden. Actually, he was perfect. He's good looking and you can see intensity and emotions in his eyes, and subtle facial expressions. Another thing about this show that was perfect was the plot and basic story progression. And on top of that, the basic kiss-chemistry between the ML/FL was pretty much on fire. These are usually the three things lacking in most supernatural romances. So they should have been able to make a really nice drama with this as the backbone.

Now I will explain all the things they did to mess it up. First off, who takes a beautiful man and a sexy plot, and adds goofy sound effects to the entire thing. Whoever is responsible for the wacky zany soundtrack should be fired from ever working again. Next we have the camera direction, which was so weird and disoriented that at two points I actually got literal motion sickness from it. Then you have the aesthetic, which had an overall style that can only be described as 'tres tragique'. You have cheap sets, cheap looking clothes trying to pass themselves off as luxe, terrible color palattes (it should have been dark and rich - black, midnight blue, red - but it was very white, pastel yellow, light denim, barbie pink), someone thought drawing cartoon scribbles all over the scenes was lulz, and the FL was so bad she deserves her own paragraph.

FL's acting was hammy af. It looked like the actress was trying to channel the three stooges through her face. Her character is written to be a verbally abusive, selfish, childish, vain person. So in order to give the audience the ability to understand why the ML would find her attractive, she'd have to play that part in a coquettish manner, or downplay the negative parts of her character and try to at least be beautiful (like how the FL portrayed her character in My Love From Another Star). But she doesn't. Instead, she leans into the nastiness and selfishness of the character, overacting the whole time. And she gives off this vibe like she's the only one around her who thinks she is actually 'cute'. She does things like stick her face out and make a kabuki-like expression. What even is that? Def not sexy. Her wardrobe is like a car accident. Her voice (or the dub) sounded like incessant yammering interspersed with crying or yelping that was high-pitched and also def not sexy.

All in all, they produced something that feels like watching a strange extended tv commercial.

By the time I was done watching, I was completely ticked off. That ML was completely cheated out of what should have been a good role. He was the only thing about this drama that didn't suck. I find it so ironic that there's so many reviews expressing basically the opposite. But the reason these other people see Kim Tae Hwan's performance as 'wooden' is because everyone else was doing 'scooby-doo' and he was doing 'twilight'.

I thought this drama started off very powerfully, great chemistry, good acting, rich scenery and costumes, promising plot. But about halfway through I felt like they were taking that ML/FL chemistry and using it as a way to bribe you into continuing to watch long after the plot becomes tired. You say to yourself, "that was pretty frustrating and slow" and then they give you a ML/FL almost-kiss to keep you strung along.

But they just abuse the relationship as they go, they have the FL do really nasty things to the ML that if it were me, I would never forgive her for.

Then there's this scene where the ML tries being more aggressive and assertive in the relationship, and so he sort of attacks her on the bed. To me that's fine. And if she had either kicked him in the nuts, or just kissed him back, either way would be fine. He took a chance, so he could either get turned down, or he could get lucky. But the FL starts screaming and crying really really bad, exactly as if she were actually being really and truly raped by a total stranger. And it threw a big bucked of ice all over the ML/FL chemistry, and killed the romance.

I did keep watching after that only because I had so much time invested in it by that point. But it never got better. By the end of the show, that same FL that at first I had thought was cute as a button, became annoying to look at and I felt repulsed by her facial expressions. I couldn't identify with the ML's motivations and actions any more. They killed the reasons they had loved eachother, at least in my mind. So by the end, I just wasn't feelin it at all and wanted the show to be over as quickly as possible.

Which is all a shame, because the drama had - at the beginning - all the elements needed to make a really great show. The potential was utterly spoiled by the writing and acting by about the midway point.

Ever been stuck in a waiting room for hours with some family that has a nasty brat of a child, who lets them terrorize everyone else in the waiting room with their bullshit and tantrums? Well if you like that kind of thing, then this is the show for you!

i had to drop, due to the FL factor. Her acting is so bad. This drama is about as low budget as you can get. So the only way to properly suspend your disbelief is if the acting is good, and hers is not. That itself maybe I could have gotten past. But I can't get past her CONSTANT screaming and yelling. It is SO shrill.

I tried to get past that for 5 whole episodes, and instead of getting easier to handle, it just got worse and worse.

The second "digression" is crucial viewing, not only for the plot but also because the spiciest part of the love story is in there! The first one is less crucial to actually watch per se, but I'd reccommend at least skipping around through those episodes enough to understand the plot elements represented in that part of the story as they do end up tying back into the story later.

This drama was almost indescribably good. The casting was perfect. The romance was about as perfect as you can ask for. Settings and costumes were beautiful. There's this age/power discrepancy that gives it a little bit of a kinky aspect to it, but it's somewhat subtle. I gave it 9.5/10, and the downgrade from a ten was because of the following: not enough spice in the kiss scenes for my taste, and not enough kiss scenes; music was a bit intrusive at defining moments in the drama; and I wanted more than 10 minutes of "happy ever after" (which is exactly the same mistake they made with Eternal Love).

While it was not quite spicy enough for me... the ML/FL relationship was passionate and some of the looks ML gives FL are hot enough to burn up your screen. Their chemistry was intense enough to give my brain 2nd degree burns, and yet it was also understated.

This drama is easily in my top 5.

What I like about this drama is that the relationships - at least through the first half of the series - progress with a very natural feel. Nothing feels rushed or draggy, the couples all have enough chemistry with eachother that it seems realistic. I also like how the plot isn't being held back, it keeps moving along at a steady clip. And while the settings are a bit skimpy, the costumes are gorgeous, some costumes look painstakingly detailed, the fabrics and colors are sumptuous.

What I did not like about it was how in the last third or so of the drama, the Mo Yuan/Ye Hua/Su Su (ML/FL) plot starts to become stale and drawn out, and at the same time, the Dong Hua/Bai Feng Jiu (2ML/2FL) storyline becomes incredibly intense. Their chemistry is off the hook and they are both beautiful and interesting characters. Because of this, by the last quarter of the series, I don't even care about the ML/FL story arc anymore because all I care about is the 2ML/2FL storyline. And then they don't get their happy ending. This makes it so the "happy ending" isn't really all that happy for me at all.

Zhu Xu Dan is a terrible actress, and her overacting nearly kills every scene she's in. It's tolerable because she isn't a central character with a lot of screentime, but if she had been, she could have singlehandedly made the drama unwatchable. She did give her all to the performance, it just wasn't up to par considering the performances her fellow actors turned in. I think with more life experience and practice, she might make a good actress someday. For her role here, her lack of acting talent stood out and she was miscast, imo.

Ye Hua/Su Su do have a couple kiss scenes that nearly spontaneously combusted the screen. But they were very few and far between.

All in all, I thought this drama was good, but I didn't lose my mind over it the way some people do.

I am pretty picky and this was a GOOD show. I could go on and on, but instead I'd just say that I completely recommend this drama. THE FL IS SOOOO CUTE, THE ML IS SOOOOO SEXY! The plot is good, the jokes are hilarious, the relationship was spicy, the ending was sweet, the soundtrack didn't suck, what more do you need. I'd rewatch this anytime.

"Any athlete that builds muscle is gonna majorly struggle without carbs and he clearly has no idea what he is talking about."

omg, you're totally right, I didn't even think of that while I was watching it, but now that you mention it... if he was ZC he'd have to be eating plates and plates of protein , he would NEVER pick at his plates the way he was doing in this drama. His breakfast every day would have to be BIG. And he'd also have to know that one sitting of 100 carbs isn't going to really phase his body at all, so he wouldn't be so fussy about an occasional bite of some carby food.

If you had to put the FL on a diet, what would you have had her eating, if you were her personal trainer.

I thought the ending was awful.

The characters are so cold it's not even believable that real people would be that way. The main couple had some chemistry. They made Park Min Young look so beautiful, and yes Seo Kang Joon is handsome but their kiss scenes were just so-so.

Mixed reaction to this one. The acting was excellent for ML and FL, but their chemistry was a bit tame. There was some chemistry, enough that the relationship was believable. In fact it kind of made it more believable because ballet dancers are notorious for having eating and nutrition problems, which can easily lead to lowered sex drive or emotional issues that would make sex kind of lower down on a female's list of emotional priorities (I've worked with ballet dancers in the past and seen it many times). What the FL in this show wants more than anything is security and stability. It lends some realism to the fantasy.

The music was good at reflecting the emotions being portrayed in the scenes, and didn't intrude on the show except for in a few rare spots that can be easily overlooked. Special effects, styling, cinematography are all good.

The way the relationship plays out between the ML and FL is not conventional... instead of the show working up to them getting together, they get together more toward the middle of the show, and the rest of the drama is about them fighting to stay together.

You also get to see SOME ballet, which is nice, although I wish there were more. This is not Black Swan.

I gave it a 7.5, and would have given it a higher rating if it weren't for the fact that you spend the last 3 episodes watching tragedy after tragedy unfold, and then the resolutions don't come until the last 15 minutes of the last episode. A resolved ending, but not very uplifting.

Happy ending at the last second.

This was a weird one. How do I even start. The plot was better organized and unfolded for the viewer better than most kdramas I've seen where the plot centers on business/legal matters. I was engaged by the plot, I wanted to know the mystery of the forest. Most plots I don't feel very invested in. So that was good.

The ML/FL relationship was really good, in that they had chemistry you could feel. Small moments were totally kilig in a way that's extremely rare for any show. Through the middle of the drama, there were many kilig moments. But then they peter out toward the last third of the show, and the relationship itself was anti-climactic. The best and most intense parts of the romantic relationship were at the midway point of the drama.

The acting was awesome. Everyone did a good job. There were so many moments in this show where the plot turns on a moment of acting that involves no dialogue, and so it's important that the actors get it right, and they all did. I generally don't like Jo Bo Ah, but she fit this role so well and acted it with a lot of talent, so I didn't mind her. The ML/FL were really well cast.

The setting of the show was beautiful. The ending of the show was beautiful. The style direction was on point. And yet, something about it felt flat. The tone of the show is very mellow, with a lot of moments that are going for a feel of realism. But that realism is more "slice of life" style realism, and not like "gritty" realism. So there's a confused feel about what exactly this drama is trying to be to it's viewers.

I think the best reason to watch this drama is the Park Hae Jin sexy-factor. But you won't get a whole lot of that, especially toward the end. If you like the drama enough, you might wind up sticking it out to find out the mystery of the forest. If you do, the ending is satisfying enough.

Just such an odd show.

I'd seen a lot of people recc this drama over time, so I finally decided to give it a go... did not like it one bit. I did a lot of yawning and ffwding, and didn't find myself laughing much. There was one fair kiss scene in this show, but it wasn't worth the investment of time it took to see it.

They had a good musical score, good actors, a good plot, and yet it was so boring. This was a show with an identity crisis, it didn't know what it wanted to be to it's viewers. It wasn't an action, wasn't a romance, wasn't a comedy, it was just nothing in particular really. Also having Eric Mun in a show with no skinship, no kiss scenes to speak of, no kilig moments... is like driving a brand new Ferrari 20mph down the freeway. Who in their right mind would cast such sexy ML/FL pair, and then not have them do anything sexy whatsoever in the show. What a waste.

The plot had some clever twists towards the end, I'll give it that.

I just finished this, and I agree. One of the main things that struck me about this film is how amazing of a job they did with such a small budget. The actors, the cinematography, the music... everything was really creative and aesthetic and conveyed the emotions they were trying to portray very effectively.

The story was messed up yet cute, like so many other Japanese films. The movie could have been longer, or could have been made into a series, and really developed further.