scenophile

Has everything except for the plot

I really loved the first few episodes — there wasn’t much of a plot but the “city girl escapes to the countryside” premise promises comfort and I definitely felt that. There was the overarching plot of Samdal’s career, the yearning of an exes-to-lovers romance, and the three sisters providing the family aspect — all of which I loved.

And then as the show went on it started to drag, and I found that there weren’t that much of the countryside vibes, and they introduced plots that were detrimental instead.

First there’s the love triangle, which is the most unnecessary part of the show, and I’m saying this as a love triangle trope defender. The love triangle where the second lead has zero shot, who the FL never once considers a potential love interest, and who has no plot other than the romance and standing in the shadows looking at the main couple steadily progress…we have to leave that behind because all it does is waste screentime.

And then there was the reason behind the main couple’s initial breakup: parental disapproval. It’s a common trope in kdramaland too, and one that I also think is really outdated and frustrating, especially for a drama like this where there’s really nothing else going on.

A third thing that got too much screentime was the gossipy old ladies, who were frustrating even if they weren’t completely horrible by the end.

In terms of the subplots, I think they started out strong but also fizzled out a little. The eldest sister’s romance with her ex-husband was really funny but I wish it was more serious at times rather than making it all so slapstick. The youngest sister’s romance and relationship with her daughter was the best part of the show, especially in connecting the theme of motherhood throughout the show. It’s a fantastic theme that I wish had a better throughline rather than coming in and out, because the mother-daughter scenes always hit really hard.

I also actually really like the focus on Samdal’s career and her adversary, and I wish it didn’t come so late in the show. I also wish they didn’t lean so much into one character being downright evil, and it doesn’t quite give you the satisfaction of karma getting her in the end due to lack of screentime. The plot line of Samdal rediscovering her love for her hometown and photography was really heartwarming still.

Another thing I wish got more screentime was the friend group. We had some at the start of the show when Samdal returned and some at the end when they were helping her, but overall the show leaned into the love triangle and other scenes instead and I felt like we never really got to feel how close they were the way we grow to love the friend groups in dramas like the Reply series.

Overall, it ends on a satisfying note and wraps things up in a neat little bow, but I feel like I didn’t quite get as many comforting vibes I wanted.

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Does the journey matter or does the ending?

Okay, if you're one of those people that think "how it ends doesn't matter, it's the journey that counts" then you'll probably rate this really highly and love it from start to finish. If you're the type of person who needs things to be wrapped up cleanly with closure — me — then the show will leave you with a lot of mixed feelings.

To start with, the vibe of the show is pretty much perfect. I really loved Heedo's character and how the themes were incorporated into the show — dreams, efforts, happiness, friendships, different types of love, supporting each other from afar...it was all just really beautiful. I still love all the friendships in this, and for the most part the time jumps were done really well with us seeing how the characters grew into adulthood and went about their lives after growing and learning from each other.

It's the last few episodes (15 & 16) that really take a different turn. There were really multiple ways to write a "realistic" story and the writers picked the one that, to me, felt as though it went against a lot of the inspiring hope that we had gotten in the rest of the show. There were crazy time jumps in the last episode and the past and present timelines never felt like they converged with closure. The last episode was just kind of miserable, except for a few side characters that really saved it.

Speaking of which, I felt like present timeline was just really unnecessary from start to finish. The characters never felt like themselves (even if they were the same actors) and it really felt like it was included either to (1) show how time passed and Heedo's daughter Minchae was dealing with the same thing (to which I would say nobody really cared about her story and everyone only cared about the 90s timeline) or (2) to purposefully throw off the audience. Either way, it felt disjointed and unnecessary. It didn't provide closure either — the questions we started with still persisted, and we never saw the other main characters again.

Overall, this was still such a comfort show for me for so many weeks. There are some iffy parts that I wish it touched more on but overall I thought all the character arcs were thought out thoroughly. It just kind of sucks that the writers picked the route they did.

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How second chance romance should NOT be done

I never really liked second chance romance (after all, what's interesting if the characters already know they like each other?) but then The First Frost came out and I realized how good the angst could be, so I tuned into this one, thinking it would be a great melodrama.

Unfortunately, I did not click with anything here at all.

In the main leads' story in the past, the FL was just really pushy and the ML really bland; their relationship happens at the speed of light without any sort of good build-up.

And then in modern day, their reconnection just really made me angry. The FL is extremely self-righteous and rude, while the ML just sits there and takes all the snarky comments she makes about him because he's supposedly so in love with her still. It gives pathetic more than it gives yearning and I just cannot fathom a person ending up with someone who seems to have such little respect for them.

The reignition of their romance is portrayed as a "I just couldn't help loving you" type of situation, but it comes across as codependent and unhealthy instead of romantic. I ultimately just don't see any reason why these characters could, should, or would end up together and not break up again, especially since they just don't communicate at all, even until the last episode, where we're given ANOTHER separation and time jump that makes even less sense.

The plot doesn't help much. Corporate warfare is a very common trope and I found certain plotlines — the poisoning of the sister — interesting, but ultimately we end up with a hodgepodge of tropes and antagonists, none of which are really clear: the lady who is in jail, the mom who started out evil but then I guess was okay, etc.

The last episode was the nail in the coffin. They separate again and then are brought back together by a random side character death. While the side characters were just okay — they weren't memorable and lovable but also weren't annoying — it just felt very random and made it seem like there had to be an external reason for the leads to reconnect; they couldn't do it on their own. The final scene...well let me just say that excitement and big grand gestures such as an airport chase scene will never sell me on the feasibility of a relationship. It's too short-term and just doesn't provide much depth.

2/10 (instead of 1/10) because the cinematography was nice.

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This is the first drama I'd ever had second female lead syndrome, and the first time I found an antagonist so powerful. CYJ's relationship with K2 was utterly intriguing, and honestly it would've made for such an interesting romance line, even if it started out so messed up. The two had so much chemistry.

With that being said, Anna felt like an afterthought. She barely showed up in the first few episodes and never really had an active role in the plot (No, K2 watching her cook ramen badly through the CCTV doesn't count). All that fashion show stuff and the Barcelona Angel stuff...it felt unnecessary.

A lot of the political terminology went over my head (STONKS?) and I honestly felt like the reason for "revenge" really wasn't strong enough. I never felt connected or cared about the girlfriend that was killed, and I think all the Kumar-gate talk was confusing. It probably could've been stronger it had been connected with CYJ/Anna's backstory.

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Let me preface this by saying that I had just watched Playful Kiss before this, so watching ANOTHER ditzy main female character immediately after already grated on my nerves. Then the first episode had such weirdly fast-forwarded cinematography that I got motion sickness. Yet, I decided to power through.

I have no words to describe how problematic this was, from the relationship itself, to the way gender and racial stereotypes were portrayed.

Let me start with the quickest: there was a scene where the characters are in the UK, having fun with a lot of white people. Suddenly, they run into some gangsters, who just happen to be the only black people in the show so far. The racism couldn't be more obvious.

Second of all, the way that traditional roles are reinforced in this are subtle, but alarming. There's so much talk about how a woman is still worth marrying if she's infertile, and to me this topic was never addressed sufficiently. There's also a lot of romanticizing of "woman sacrifices career to be a wife." I'm overall really unhappy about the way women are portrayed in this drama—they're either gold-diggers, gossipers, dependent and overthinking, obsessed with a boy, or obsessed with fulfilling the perfect child-bearing wife role. There was honestly not one strong woman role I was happy with.

I hated the main male character. Aside from my superficially saying that he visually does nothing for me, I just thought his personality was one of the most boring and bland I've ever watched. Firstly, he has some creepy and stalkerish tendencies, and I'm sure a lot of things he did as a boss to his employee could be seen as an abuse of power. As the show went on, he honestly got worse (as a boyfriend)—he never seemed to try and see things from Shan Shan's perspective, and he became increasingly controlling. He kept trying to use his money to get her things without her knowing—as if he didn't trust her to make her own life decisions. He kept so many secrets and justified them saying it was for her own good. And worst of all, he completely disregarded her career and kept saying things like "that's my decision" and "it's not up for discussion" when it was supposed to be HER DECISION in the first place,

Add to that the fact that C-Dramas do this weird thing where they make the main characters initiate skinship and pair it with slow-mo and romantic music BEFORE I even had any reason to ship them, and all I got was a boss doing weird physical things to his employee when the extent of their relationship was him watching her eat through his office window.

I honestly wasn't a huge fan of Shan Shan either. This has something to do with the way the drama was filmed, but half of the entire show is her whining in internal monologues. So much of this show is advanced by Shan Shan "accidentally overhearing something," then overthinking it in a lengthy internal monologue while she pouts externally. As cute as she is at some points, I got SO tired of hearing her voice. MOST of the sub-plots are brought about because she needs validation from Feng Teng about their relationship, or that she needs to do something to "be good enough for him." And nobody ever tried to convince her otherwise, or argue that she was good enough. As the show went on, she also started standing up for herself less and less, and I almost ripped my hair out hoping that she'd say something about making her own life decisions, but she never did.

Overall, this was a tiring and dragging plot, filled with lots and lots of problems. The only character I never got TOO annoyed with might be Zheng Qi, who seems thirty times more fun to be around than the boring male lead.

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A quiet drama about how life goes on

Let me start by saying that I think the amnesia trope is one of the worst tropes out there — it's convenient, it's tired, and it's a lazy way of forcing characters to go through character development all over again. But there are some dramas where amnesia IS the plot, to which I have no choice but to just wait and see if it's done well.

In this case, it's...okay? The event itself and the fallout immediately after it is almost laughably early 2000s drama cliche, but the entire drama somehow does a good job of staying grounded in its melodramatic vibe and I think that's the part that makes all the difference.

At its core, this drama is very nonconfrontational, which I kind of have mixed feelings about. On one hand, it feels like there are scenes missing, especially discussions between characters that I wanted to see but didn't.

On the other hand, it feels like that's part of what gave this drama its mellow, realistic vibe. There are some things in life that you don't say, some unsent letters that will never be read, some decisions you can never undo. But life goes on.

Overall, this was a comforting watch and I admit I'm partial to the younger timeline (as I expected) simply because of how innocent, fun, and full of life the characters were. There are some side characters that got more screen time than I would've liked, but the leads did the job and stole my heart, all to the the tune of a fantastic OST.

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Cute at first...but falls off

I had pretty much completely bought into this drama in the first two episodes — the main female lead was timid but not a pushover, bright but not stupid, and the main male lead was stoic but not rude, smart but not condescending. It was really quite a cliche dynamic but it was still enjoyable to watch especially because there were moments where they were equally hilarious and chaotic despite seemingly having such opposite personalities.

As the drama went on it it did start to drag a little with the very typical "does he like me or not" and the "I'm going to step aside for my 'friend'" — but that wasn't my main gripe with it. In fact, I like a good slow burn and I never thought these misunderstandings got too extreme and frustrating.

One thing that did get increasingly annoying, however, was how the main male lead's "social awkwardness" manifested when he got jealous; the number of times he consciously CHOSE to sabotage the female lead's work...it got very frustrating and was neither cute nor amusing especially when it was played off as an inability to express himself.

I also found both of the side ships either boring or over-the-top annoying; one of them didn't have any stupid miscommunications but the side characters also didn't have any sort of backstory or personality. The other one had a female character who was very clingy, a male character who was essentially the same as the male lead, and just no sensible development between the two of them.

Overall it was kind of a light-hearted watch and there were elements of a healthy relationship and great communication, but it was also a drama that just felt very trope-y and average.

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Messy

In theory this had a lot going for it — but execution was super messy. It felt like characters were introduced haphazardly and it was hard to link all the subplots and backstories together. A lot of things just made no sense and I hated that the rules of the Abyss kept changing. It just felt too convenient and really made for a lot of plotholes. The same really goes for the ending, which is my biggest issue because a lot of the resolution just makes no sense.

A plus is that the main leads are really cute together, even though there's some parts of their relationship that is just really confusing.

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So close

This one took me REALLY long to get through, and I'm not sure why. On paper it has everything I love — a strong female character, mental health, tragic backstories.

But I really just couldn't connect to the female lead. Insecurity is something I understand, but when every other line out of her mouth was "did you do this with all your girlfriends?" or "are you breaking up with me?" or "are we even dating?" it just made her very overbearing and unlikable.

I really liked the main plot about JJY dealing with his abusive childhood, but it really could have come earlier. There were some subplots that I felt didn't really add much to the story, and more time could've also been dedicated to Hae-soo's sexual fears, which I thought was never addressed as much as I wanted it to. The second ship was also kind of out of nowhere for me and didn't make much sense.

Because of all those criticisms, I was pretty much stuck on episode 8 for months and just never felt the urge to watch. Once I did, it was the last few episodes where we really fleshed out JY's plot that really had me buy into the drama.

Ultimately, this was still a pretty good watch, though I'm surprised it's rated so highly. My favorite part is undoubtedly the OST.

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Binge it if you can

I’ve never read the webtoon so this is based off this show as a standalone drama and not as an adaptation. I started watching this 4 episodes were out because I saw that hair-tying scene on my Twitter/X timeline and it completely convinced me. And the show proved me right — I binged all the released and couldn’t wait for next week. The main leads had amazing chemistry, the antagonists felt like actual threats, and I couldn’t wait to see how the revenge would play out.

As the weeks came around, I still enjoyed the episodes, but I did feel like the show started losing steam.

First, the main leads’ screentime dwindled and we got more and more scenes of our antagonists (of which there were many). It added good tension to see things from their perspective, but it also added frustration. The leads had so much chemistry and tension and we only got to see a few minutes of that every week.

And as more episodes went on, we ran into a different issue: we did get screentime for our leads, but it didn’t necessarily feel like they were progressing. We’d get the same hugs and conversations where they talked about being there for each other and fighting together against the bad guys. These scenes were cute but it felt got sort of repetitive, especially now that we’d gotten all the tension-filled conversations out of the way earlier and it seemed like the next plot development wasn’t happening anytime soon. I still really enjoyed scenes where they cared for each other, but all the stakes felt a little lower by this point, and I started to feel like the revenge was almost too easy. Sides had been chosen, secrets were already revealed, and most importantly, the main antagonists had stayed quiet or had lost too many battles in a row.

Honestly, I was pretty lukewarm on the entire plot by then. Looking back, I don’t remember a singular satisfying moment where our main female lead got to face off against her mother in a moment where I felt like they were on equal footing, where the stakes were high and I truly didn’t know who was going to win. The revenge plot seemed to delve into smaller moments where they would address this one thing first and then that other thing, and I wasn’t sure there was a climax. Even the build-up to some other reveals and to the ML’s perspective felt overdue and a little underwhelming.

Episode 11 was a turning point. Things that needed to be revealed had been revealed, it felt like the revenge had been finished, and the antagonists had been out of the picture — most of which was off-screen, I might add, which made the story feel somewhat incomplete — long enough for The Time Jump to happen. Yes, the dreaded time jump. I’ve never been a fan of the time jump. It’s fine as an epilogue but I’ve never once enjoyed it done in the middle of the story and this was no different. It just felt kind of…weird. Like they didn’t know what to do after all the villains were put away, so they had to bring them back, but had to wait some time for them to be able to. Story-wise, it was a bit confusing to have it happen after everything was seemingly over, but ultimately I don’t think it was blown out of proportion, which was good.

I think part of the plot simmering down also had to do with the female lead, who was really proactive in the first half and then started being more aimless in the second half. Still, I liked the message the drama left us with — that the best revenge for her was having a happy marriage, a healthy family, and a good life. Despite the slowdown, I think this drama had a really good finale episode.

Overall, it was still a pretty good watch — this was my second favorite watch behind Castaway Diva during its runtime, but if I were to recommend it to someone I would suggest binging it rather than watching it slowly. You might be able to retain more momentum that way.

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Needed to be longer

I haven't read the original source material but I can feel that it's so rich and really needed more than seven 30-minute episodes. So many things happen that we needed a lot more scenes where the main characters could just simmer and go about their daily life, rather than jumping from one plot event to the next without really showing the development of emotions in between. The non-romantic angst is one of the most intriguing parts of the story and I feel like it didn't nearly get enough screentime. Towards the end, there were a few time jumps that felt very sudden and overall it made the pacing uneven. The final few episodes solely focus on the romance but I feel like it was also scattered and there were a lot of loose ends I wish were revisited.

The acting of the main leads was just okay — it was very obvious that they were rookie actors, and so the more light-hearted and fun scenes were great but I don't think they were able to carry scenes with more emotional weight, especially because the scenes felt disjointed already.

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All problematic stuff aside, still boring

I feel like I have to discuss this drama in two parts — one covering the problematic issues that it has and one covering it as a drama and nothing more.

On the first part —it's insane to me that in 2022 we're still dealing with the issue of the so-called "Third World" being portrayed like this. The story starts with Gong Tae-sung in Africa for some charity work, and right off the bat it was problematic that they not only kept referring to his presence in Africa (no specific country) as if the continent was a monolith, but also that the charity work that he did was digging wells, building schools, and "bringing water to Africa." I felt like I was thrown back in the early 2000s with this sort of outdated stereotype, not to mention the yellowish filter that was placed over all the shots in Africa, as if the entire continent was nothing but mud and dry dirt.

This all took place in the first episode, and I was grateful that GTS came back, hopeful that there would be no more mention of Africa if that was how they were going to portray it. Unfortunately, there was, and every time Africa was mentioned it just completely took me out of the show. It was always either in the context of saying how great of a person GTS was for his charity work, even saying something super weird like how there was an African child that did not have a father and so GTS "became his father." All of these mentions just felt utterly unnecessary — there are much better ways to show that someone is a good person and I can't believe that all those scenes, with dialogue about how Africa now has water and education because of this savior character, got through the writers, the directors, the actors, the editors, etc. and made it all the way to air.

Now, all that aside, I felt like I didn't connect with the drama at all either. Immediately I realized that there were far too many characters. I rarely like ensemble dramas and this is a perfect example of why. Every subplot felt half-assed and incomplete, and every character felt boring and cookie-cutter. There were several romantic ships and my interest in each of them went up and down; the writing for them just felt boring.

At the start, I was most interested in the main leads — after all, enemies-to-lovers is a great trope when done well, and I definitely liked some of their bickering scenes and their flashbacks to college. But even though the chemistry was quite good, the development for them was awkward and almost sudden. Another thing I really hate is when two characters completely alter their personalities and dynamic with each other after they get together; it often makes the relationship suddenly boring and that's exactly what I felt about these two. No more bickering (not even playfully) and while some scenes were still sweet and fun, it got old very fast.

The two main side ships were okay but I definitely felt like they were just THERE and going through the motions of getting together; I started feeling that way about a lot of side characters individually as well, even when there started to be a backstory plot with GTS's mother and also a friend who had died. Both of these plotlines felt like they could individually take up the entire 16 episodes if the right depth and emotion had been dedicated to them, but it just wasn't and combined with a bunch of anti-fan and drama-filming subplots it all just felt like a big hodgepodge of plots where none stood out.

It's funny because despite how much I was watching for the main ship at first, my favorite part of this drama ended up being a very minor side ship that had all but a few scenes every episode together — Jaehyun and Yuna, the actors from Be My Boyfriend who now play two actors. They captured the enemies-to-lovers really well and I really loved how cute the arc of their plot was.

Overall, I just felt like this drama was really messy. There were some funny scenes and interesting characters but the writing of the plot really didn't allow any of them to shine. Along with the problems that the drama had, I felt like this became something that I just watched without feeling any sort of emotional investment whatsoever.

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Best kdrama of 2023

This is probably my favorite 2023 kdrama. It really just had me by the first episode, where we saw the childhood backstory of our two leads. It was heart-breaking but also beautiful seeing how they went from simple classmates who judged each other to two people who stood with each other against the world.

I was a little nervous going into this, since the premise of “a girl gets stranded on and island and wants to become a pop star when she returns to civilization” seems sort of like a goofy premise…but the first episode completely dispelled all my worries. There are stakes in this, for sure. There’s the familial abuse plot, which was what I was most invested in, and I really loved how we got a “found family” aspect amidst all of it.

I also just loved the dynamic between our characters after the time jump. You had our leads, who had amazing chemistry despite one of their identities being hidden. It’s really a testament to great acting and directing that most people started shipping them so early on. And despite a bumpy road at the start, they grew into a communicative, trusting relationship where you could see how much they wanted to protect each other. It’s really refreshing that how real and human all the characters seemed: they tried to stay kind but sometimes wavered out of fear and made selfish decisions, or it could be something as simple as they tried to lie but weren’t very good at it.

The side characters were all well-rounded as well. The second male lead had his own backstory and emotional growth — although I do think his part in the love triangle was unnecessary, but it was good that it wasn't blown out of proportion — and the family members also played their part in the story, with their own heart-warming backstory. It was beautiful. Even Ranjoo had her journey of becoming a singer and her fall from fame, which tied together with Mokha.

I admit I cared a little less about this plot; don’t get me wrong, I LOVED all the songs — both actresses are so immensely talented and the songs are definitely new additions to my playlist — but the ickiness of the entertainment industry’s power struggles, rude fans, pushy reporters and press conferences…I think I would’ve been happier with less of it.

Overall, I still really loved this one. In addition to great characters and story, you can tell a lot of thought went into the cinematography and set design (I looked into an art print in one of the shots and it totally had symbolic meaning) and it really just added that much more to the atmosphere. Definitely recommend this one.

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Action-packed — but rushed and without the charm of S1

So I really enjoyed the first season and decided to read through the webtoon before S2 came out. I enjoyed it thoroughly and grew to love the gigantic cast of characters. I was really excited to see how it would be adapted — all while keeping in mind that it’s very different.

With that being said, I don’t mind when an adaptation takes creative liberties, but I think this season is not only missing the structure of the webtoon but also the charm of the first season.

I think it’s pretty obvious that eight 40-minute episodes is not enough to go through the complete journey the main character goes through in the comics. It’s an epic journey of going to a new school and slowly learning how to make friends again, as well as fighting for them — starting from defeating the mindless bullies, to taking down the one at the top and dismantling the entire system.

The drama just goes through everything WAY too fast. It feels like we’re speed-running through fights, dropping backstories in 5-minute conversations, and going from place to place and defeating antagonists without even establishing who they are. It’s unclear why one plot point is leading to the next, and the final fight is so short and so quick, and the drama never established WHY we had to do everything to get to that point.

The webtoon really gets us deep inside Si Eun’s mind as he learns who’s who in the hierarchy and how to face each one. Choi Hyo Man / Colton Choi is the first fish — the one whose bark is larger than his bite. Geum Seong Je / Wolf Keum is second — the arrogant and prideful one who is quick to start fights and enjoy them. And finally the story works its way to the top, where we have Na Baek Jin / Donald Na — the charismatic leader and the mastermind fueled by his own tragic backstory.

In the drama, it feels like these antagonists run in parallel, and either their motivations aren’t fleshed out well, or they just feel underwhelming. The different schools/factions blur into each other, and the fight against the Union feels more surface level and small-scale — we’re simply shutting down an illegal business and beating an ex-friend, instead of dismantling the entire power structure.

Still, Geum Seong Je (played fantastically by Jun Young) is probably my favorite antagonist. Na Baek Jin has great visuals and great acting too, but the changes to the backstory made it too cliche for me, and I also don’t think the show did a great job of establishing how powerful he was and why.

As a sequel series, I also think it doesn’t quite have the charm of the previous season.

While S1 really focused on Si Eun’s personality of carefully observing personalities and surroundings and implementing science/math into fights — which is what made it stand out in the first place — this season feels a lot more simple, punch-punch-kick-kick. His calculated personality isn’t shining through in the fight scenes anymore, and even outside of fight scenes, he feels a lot more passive and a lot less intentional. Pacing has been the main issue so far and that affects this as well — Si Eun is just not given time to “study” his opponents. And when he does…I think we were in desperate need of more internal monologues because from the outside, it seems like he’s just running around, doing whatever the next plot calls for.

I like that we are seeing him go through grief and guilt though and the drama doesn’t shy away from reminding us how much Su Ho shaped his identity — the show is strongest in those moments.

I also think the friendships are just a tiny bit less strong, although I love the casting for every single character and I actually REALLY buy into them as a friend group when I see them together. Once again, though, they’re hampered by the short runtime. The group chemistry is fantastic when they’re having fun, but I just can’t buy into the more emotional moments.

Compared to season 1, it’s also pretty obvious there’s a new production team, The color grading and cinematography are a little off sometimes, and I really miss the gritty and darker vibes from the first season. This is minor compared to my other issues, but when you take a weirdly satured color scheme and combine it with the glaring pacing problem, it just feels like we lost a lot of tension.

One last gripe: I will never like the car accident trope lol. K-drama writers…stop it.

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