scenophile

Surprisingly, I found myself more emotionally invested in the murder plot than the ship. I'm not saying the ship wasn't cute, which it was—but it was also some back and forth wishy-washiness that kind of annoying after a while. I didn't really like how they kept keeping secrets from each other—this is always the most frustrating thing in dramas because you just know that realistically being honest would have made everything so much easier.

The actor for the murderer is honestly SO GOOD. That courthouse scene is one scene that I will definitely keep rewatching because of the small gestures and facial expressions, and just the raw emotion that comes across in that scene. Amazing. That guy deserves to be a main lead. Though I don't think I could ever see him as anything other than a murderer now because of this drama, haha.

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1. I love the main theme and the end theme so much.
2. I love the fact that there are no DUMB misunderstandings, and that the leads trust each other in their relationship. There are some moments where I felt like the leads were both a little TOO perfect, but ultimately it was refreshing.
3. I don't believe in love at first sight which this is based on, but everything is so cute that I'll honestly let it slide JUST THIS ONCE.
4. I am not on the ship for that second pairing. ER XI DESERVES BETTER.
5. I've honestly never been any sort of a gamer, and I also am not too interested in any historical aspects, but I surprisingly enjoyed the video game parts.

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To be honest, I went into this thinking I was going to hate it. The fact that the FL already had a huge crush on the ML and was super obvious and desperate about it was something I just knew I was going to cringe at—and that's the only reason why I couldn't give this one a higher rating. The main female lead was so annoying.

Obviously, I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected. It was super cute and I loved all the little things that the ML did for the FL without her knowing — but there was still a lot of lack of communication that bothered me. I know the second lead did a lot of stuff too—and that a lot of people had second lead syndrome but I actually did not, whew!

I was also hesitant about this drama because of the time jumps that I knew happened throughout the later episodes. These are so easily ruined, but the drama actually did a good job of dealing with the relationship growths during the time we didn't see. Still though, I'm not a fan of time jumps and I felt like their reasoning was very weak.

Overall, this was a really great story about romance and friendship, and I am so happy both the ships in this sailed :')

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This was honestly so much more heart-wrenching than I expected, especially since the problems faced by the character were so relatable and harsh, and I felt frustrated seeing the antagonists win again and again—but that just made it more realistic. I honestly really appreciated the way this drama handled mental illness and family issues. Even so, I felt like the antagonist had gone so far it was hard for me to empathize with her, and how the classmates acted at the end (as if they just accepted all of her and never asked her to take responsibility for anything ) was kind of unbelievable.

From the very first episode, I knew I'd love it. I loved the FL so much and it was so refreshing to see a female lead that was loud, badass, but vulnerable at the same time. I loved it up until around the 11th episode, when the characters started to do some really stupid things. Going off of that, I don't see the purpose of having Kim Yeol's dad and Yeon Doo's mom dating as a plot point at all. It was just unnecessary drama and wasn't really resolved in the end anyways.

Although I wouldn't go as far to say that I had second lead syndrome because I shipped the FL and ML, my heart still BROKE for the second lead and to be honest if he had ended up with the FL, I wouldn't have complained.

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Almost great

This drama started out SO strong. The fake marriage trope is common but this was such a thrilling twist on it with Hee-joo's voice being a secret and the kidnapper — I was on the edge of my seat for most of episodes.

I still enjoyed this overall, but in hindsight it leaves some more things to be desired. A lot of the side characters are underutilized, particularly Heejoo's sister I-na and the second ship, Yu-ri and Sang-woo. Yu-ri being a reporter ends up not really accounting to anything, and I-na's return also doesn't do much. Instead, the main leads are put through the ringer, with the female lead being put in danger over and over again. The tension is there but it does get repetitive.

I also really have to talk the last episode. It was just...bad. (And yes, I know it's in the novel, but I'm reviewing this based on drama only.) The last minute ghosting/separation is a trope that I've long-hated in kdramas, and this drama took it to another level by making this last arc just utterly random, in an active warzone in another country. It not only feels completely out of place, but there's just not enough time for all of this to happen, when I would've preferred that they just leave time for the characters to just talk to each other, and for more character relationships to be wrapped up. Hee-joo's relationship development with her mother is interesting but so rushed. Overall, the ending just doesn't quite hit; I find it hard to believe that the ML and his assistant would be able to get new government jobs after everything they've done and been in the public eye for. It wraps things up nicely but feels lazy.

Ultimately, this was still a pretty good watch, but the last episode hiccup is quite a big one.

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Ultimate yearning

It’s official, the main couple in this drama is going up there as one of my all-time favorites. Wen Yifan is a rare FL that’s quiet and reserved but still straightforward and stands up for herself when the situation calls for it. And Sang Yan is just the most amazing ML I’ve seen — he’s supportive and unwavering and funny, and the way BJT plays him is just so heartfelt.

The drama plot hits the sweet spot between angsty and uplifting. The leads give us really adorable moments, but when it comes to Yifan’s backstory and how her family has made her feel unworthy of love, the drama becomes heart-breakingly relatable and both the lead actors play their characters beautifully, and the amazing OST certainly adds a lot to each moment.

I will say that this drama was a little more dramatic than I anticipated — it’s pretty steady most of the time but there are a few fights and backstories that were extremely intense. To add, I’ve always hated the separation trope, and yeah this drama has it. It lasts quite a few episodes and it is frustrating and depressing, but I think this is one of the few cases where I think it really makes sense, and I like how it was resolved not by the ML finding the FL again, but by the FL realizing there were good people around her, being brave, and choosing to call him again. This IS Yifan’s story, and that gave her a lot more agency. It also makes the conversation they had where she finally lays out all her cards on the table feel earned.

The biggest “blah” part of this drama for me is, unfortunately, the side characters. I loved the SFL in WIFTY, and I loved the SML in Your Name Engraved Herein, and they’re both fine when they’re acting either as Sang Yan or Wen Yifan’s friend, but when it comes to their romance, I really could not care less. They have a few arcs — something with a dog, something with a car accident. I’m sorry but I could not tell you a single thing that happened (lol). For this reason I've been bouncing between a 9.5 and a 10, but I think I love the main couple so much I can't bear to give this any less.

Other than that…folks, this is one for the books, and I mean it when I say I think this drama had the best finale I’ve ever seen. It wrapped everything up beautifully, revisiting all the moments between our leads and capturing their growth. I cried my eyes out.

I also just want to take a moment to say that the cinematography in this show is GORGEOUS. You can tell that there is so much thought put into each shot, and it captures the warmth, the angst, whatever the scene calls for — perfectly.

Watch this to understand real yearning.

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Soft and quiet

Let me just start by saying I was in the middle of this drama when the Kamimura Kenshin news dropped, and unfortunately it really did affect my enjoyment of this show by a lot. I sped run the last half. I'm trying to separate those emotions from my review of the show, but I just have to admit that I didn't like it as much as I think I normally would've.

I think the beginning was kind of rough. While I love the premise of a romance between a misunderstood delinquent and a good student who just tries to keep their head down, the amount of random and unprompted kissing in the first few episodes felt a little abrupt and confusing.

Over time, the characters and story definitely grow on you. I think the cinematography is great and the vibes of the show are really warm. The actors have good chemistry and the dialogue is really insightful and thought-provoking, and it's overall pretty well-written, with some really dramatic plot points that somehow manage to never feel over-the-top. The plot unfortunately does fall victim to the break-up and separation trope, and while I don't think it's completely out of left field here, I still didn't love it and I feel like their reunion should've been slower, even knowing that there's limited screentime.

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Great visuals, terrible writing

I was absolutely sat after watching the first two episodes. While “country girl who moved to the city to escape her past but now goes back to her hometown” is a plot that has definitely been done before, something about this one just felt especially raw. The main female lead was carrying a lot of emotional baggage that added this really good heaviness to the drama, and the main male lead carrying a torch for her for so many years promised some really good tension.

As the drama went on though it just got SOOO repetitive. The FL pushing the ML away was understandable at first, but it should not have been 8 episodes of a 12 episode show. Each week, the ML or FL would say something mean to the other, they would separate,\ in anger, and the instigator would feel bad and run back to the other (in slow motion). The episode would end. You’d think that they’d talk it out the next episode but nope, and the cycle would just repeat. This happens so many times where the main leads meet and end up NOT talking it out — even in the penultimate episode — that the entire journey just feels utterly tiresome and pointless.

When the leads finally got together, it did not even feel cathartic, and it felt like they’d barely had one full conversation that was not filled with animosity. As much as I liked the flashback scenes of their younger selves (so cute!) it wasn’t enough of a strong foundation once their present selves had changed so much and weren’t communicating.

The second leads are unnecessary, but I actually did enjoy the smaller side ships — I think this drama could’ve focused less on a love triangle/square that made no sense and instead had more scenes of their friend group and showing more of the town.

The tropes in this show aren’t all that uncommon in dreamland, but for some reason they felt especially frustrating here.

You have the disapproving parent, who had a motive that was so unreasonable it became annoying that the characters didn’t stand up for themselves for so long. And then you have the car accident (two, if you count the one in the past), which is used to dissipate the disapproving parent and make them suddenly empathize (but only for a moment). And then a character having cancer (also two, if you want to count one in the past) and wanting to keep it a secret…leading to our ML still lying to the FL, in the second to last episode.

With all these conflicts, the plot just feels so incoherent. It was particularly frustrating too because we had such an interesting set up in the setting. We had a motel, complete with social stigma and pretty visuals, and then we had an architect lead. Remodeling the motel and dealing with the discrimination from the other townspeople would’ve been an adequate plot so I don’t know why we had to add all that other stuff. It just feels like lazy and unnuanced writing, which is a shame because the leads are really good at showing emotion, and the emotional scenes would have hit me if the writing actually built up to them.

The last episode wrapped things up nicely, but the road to get there felt very bumpy. I also just figured that most people had checked out by then anyway. I certainly did, emotionally.

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Vibes but no plot

This review is coming at you from a non-novel reader, just FYI. But it's another one of these beloved dramas that I ended up just not quite clicking with.

The concept is fantastic. I love a good time travel / isekai type story à la Scarlet Heart Ryeo or Romance of Tiger and Rose. The acting is sometimes good and sometimes a little awkward.

I feel like my main issue with this drama is that so much of it feels unearned and aimless.

There's a sort of "mystery" subplot surrounding a conspiracy reveal that appears for maybe three episodes, and it's all played out so fast from the moment it's first mentioned to the final reveal. We never really follow the story; we just know it's happening in the background, and then the big reveal happens and the story just ends.

The romance, which is the biggest part of the story, gives me much of the same feeling. I am absolutely a hater of insta-love and "destined love," and here it really does show my biggest problem with it. I'm just not understanding why or when they fell in love with each other, and we're given these romantic moments when I feel like they should still be getting to know each other better. It's weird because the potential is definitely there — the massage scene, for example, is A+ — but it would've been even better if it felt earned.

It also feels aimless in the sense of Jom's time travelling not being explained. It's explored at the start when he's so frazzled and trying to figure out what's happening, but he gradually just starts living a normal life. His situation is only addressed when he's forcibly confronted with it, and it leaves a lot of questions by the end. I constantly wished the drama went deeper into this aspect and upped the stakes. I think this is where the conspiracy subplot could've been used, because it could've given Jom a goal, and a "oh, THIS is why I came back" moment.

Ultimately, the ending also feels quite rushed. I know there's a sequel though, so maybe it'll help. Nevertheless, I think the vibes are still there, and I know the novel probably explains more, but from a drama-only perspective, that's what I felt.

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Fun & heart-fluttering

This show seriously shot its way up my list of favorite web dramas so fast. It's a travesty this couldn't go on for longer because I'm such a huge fan of this enemies-to-lovers (or more specifically annoyer & annoyee relationship) trope and I feel like this drama did it absolutely flawlessly.

The plot was straightforward and it had its cliches, but the drama didn't feel recycled at all — it was so refreshing, the leads absolutely killed their roles, and I just really loved how the story and relationship developed between the characters, who were simultaneously polar opposites and like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together.

The cinematography was also really good; it's not high production by any means but I really loved the symbolism of different colors as well as how the show edited SW and JY's scenes to parallel or contrast them.

It's also rare we get to see side characters get their due in these short shows, but Semantic Error really did an amazing job on the minor characters revolving around the leads; they not only had their own personalities and lives either, but I also just felt like their scenes were just as interesting and fun.

Overall, such a good drama with the perfect balance of fluff and tension. Definitely one I would return to watch.

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Heartwrenching at certain points

I honestly have to say that Jang Ki Yong totally stole the show for me. From his first scene, I knew that he and Ji-an would have some sort of history, and indeed he turned out to be the most layered and gray character. He had one of the best development arcs I'd ever seen, and the acting was top-notch.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the development between the leads as well, but it just didn't captivate me the same way, save for a few scenes that were actually really touching.

I wish I could rate this higher but it actually took me so long to get through this drama, and even mid-way it was hard to find the motivation to keep going. I think part of this was the amount of time dedicated to the side characters — while some did grow on me, especially when they interacted with Ji-an in later episodes, for most of it I didn't care much for many of their scenes and it just very disjointed from the main storyline.

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Potential

My 5.5 is not to say that I didn't enjoy this — it was a light-hearted watch and the aesthetics of it are so beautiful. I was even okay with the weird documentary format that worked in some places but didn't work in others because somehow they got "footage" from before and in weird, personal places, and somehow they were indirectly talking to each other as interviews bounced back and forth.

The part that turned me off the most was the plot and character development, which needs a lot of work. It was like they had 4 pairs of characters but only thought about 1 of them, and even the story for that main pairing was dragged out and very thin. I was more invested in all of the other ships and they either didn't get a storyline across multiple episodes or just didn't play a role in the story at all.

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