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Boring and not thrilling
This movie was marketed as a thriller but upon watching it, I did not feel thrilled at all.The story was just really meh — nothing really stood out to me, and it was kind of predictable. The characters didn't have much depth outside of their stories and the pacing of the movie just felt really slow and boring. I didn't feel the stakes in anything, mostly because a lot of the decision-making was questionable; it just felt as if the characters were going through the motions in order to make the plot play out tragically the way it was supposed to.
I'll still watch the next few movies but hopefully they make me feel more emotions; I didn't feel any while watching this one.
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Soft but problematic
I really loved the cinematography and soft vibe of this drama, but I have to admit that I liked the younger timeline much better than the characters as adults.There's a really adorable softness and innocence to the younger characters, and I loved seeing what they were fighting for and seeing the feeling of us against the world.
The adults started out quite promising also and I liked that they had to deal with more adult problems like their children and experiencing firsthand corruption in business. However, I felt like there were actually so many typical kdrama tropes that I hated, like the overbearing ex. I also just felt like their adult development was so unnatural and rushed — I hated how overbearing the ML was while he was still in a relationship and I hated the financial disparity and the uncomfortable power dynamic it resulted in.
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Love the main leads
As the title says, my favorite part is undoubtedly the two leads and their interactions with another; this drama was peak enemies-to-lovers and I really liked that there weren't any stupid, clingy characters — each person had their own thing they were good at and their personalities. The families were all different as well and I loved that we actually got to see a lot of examples of healthy relationships, whether it's romance or familial, even when there were tidbits of noble idiocy.I really enjoyed the first half of this drama as the classes merged and they got to know each other through different events, but honestly ever since the third-lead was introduced I just feel like this drama tried to take on too much. It dedicated a lot of time to just the third-lead, whose plot was really cliche and I didn't care much for, and the character development started to feel a lot more dragged out and slow. Even though he had his moments and jealousy scenes are always fun, I feel like he's a bit unnecessary and I would have rather spent more time in the school setting rather than suddenly decending into the entertainment business universe.
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Gets better
This was one of those dramas that gets better and yep, by the last few episodes I was getting really into it and I loved the direction that the plot took.It did, however, take a while for me to reach that point; I kind of wish the earlier episodes had played into the plot more instead of just feeling like story set-up. without really answering or asking any big questions.
I also really loved a few of the characters — namely Hyun-su — but the cast was just a tad too big and I really didn't care much for many of the characters until the latter few episodes.
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Fluffy but inconsistent
To be honest this started off so frustrating with a string of bad things happening to the FL. And while I understood that and, what grew to be more annoying was the main FL's consistently bad decision-making and the repetitiveness of misunderstandings. There was pretty weak character development on her part — it seems like she just waited to be saved and still made the same bad decision next time, and it was always the same kind of miscommunication issue.There are also a boatload of tropes in this that just got a little too cliche and cheesy, and this drama also suffered from the unfortunate syndrome of the big conflict coming in late and everything falling apart haphazardly, then rushing to get everything back in one or two episodes. Even with this issue, I liked how they tied in amnesia and the backstory.
The way they handled some situations just made no sense to me, and I also hated the way they diminished the best friend's anger with something like "Girls are just emotional like that."
Overall, this has its cute moments and the theme song is a bop.
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Adorable
This was the typical rom-com — very adorable and never really high stakes because you knew things were going to be okay.Ultimately, I really enjoyed it, and it helped that the secretary and boss didn't fall too much into the cliche cold jerk/weak but warm stereotypes. JGH stood up for herself when necessary, and DMI was nicer than a lot of other bosses. The chemistry was really good.
I do, however, have a natural dislike for characters that keep these kinds of secrets — the kind that involves and hurts someone else and is purely for selfish reasons — and while I think the drama did a good job of balancing how JGH wanted to be someone else and yet felt trapped in her lie, I still think it might've been dragged on for a little too long.
I also wish the rules around DMI's face blindness were worked out a little better; how it was resolved at the end honestly felt deus ex machina, though I was still kind of relieved we got a nice resolution.
The secretary subplot was honestly really interesting, but I really wish it had been given more screentime and had been fed to us earlier. It's also rare that our two main characters are so uninvolved in the subplot and rather just victims of it (which was interesting to see actually). But I also felt like it wrapped up a little unsatisfyingly, though that could've been because I just didn't spend enough time with those characters to care deeply for them.
I liked JGH's siblings as well — even though they were parent-less, there wasn't ann overdose of angst and I loved how they still teased each other and supported each other.
Ultimately, this was a really fun watch, and I gotta say Veronica Park was HILARIOUS and cast perfectly. Favorite character.
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Drama Special Series Season 3: Adolescence Medley
1 people found this review helpful
It took a while for the main female lead to grow on me, as throughout a lot of the drama she really just felt like another cliche quiet, top-of-the-class good girl lead. The few scenes we saw her with her best friend made me like her a lot more and I wish we had more time to get to know the more talkative, smiley part of her.
Another character I really wanted to know more about was Brown Bear, and part of me wanted him to end up in the main ship instead, as his personality and backstory just seemed much more interesting than the main lead, who I didn't like as much. The few minutes of flashback we saw between Brown Bear and A-young's brother made him grow on me A LOT. Overall, I just wasn't a huge fan of the male lead, and I didn't think there was enough time for his character development.
Story-wise, however, the plot was really strong and I liked how we saw very subtle but well-paced character development in the side characters. The open ending (which is a style I'm not a fan of in general) left a lot to be desired in my view, but it can still be considered a happy ending, which I'm grateful for.
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This review may contain spoilers
The main couple's on-and-off-and-on-again relationship started to get really repetitive, and to be perfectly honest I was rooting for second lead a lot more.Now, the special episodes I loved, because NOTHING beats the friends-to-lovers trope and even though something about Pu-Reum doesn't quite sit right with me, I love Ha-Neul and I will root for his ship.
I'm also surprised about something else—I'd always thought Jae-In was the main female lead, but it's been three seasons and she doesn't have much plot. I'd definitely want to see more of her in the next season.
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The plot of the "missions" to bring the cousins closer together completely disappeared, and we were hit with a bunch of old k-drama tropes: disapproving guardian, secret relationship, hospital and health issues, fighting over a corporation...etc. etc. etc.
A lot of the characters lost their personalities. Even the female lead, who was my only reason for watching, started descending into a stupid girl who cried A LOT and refused to communicate about anything. Truth be told, I was rooting for Hyun-Min because he was such a fun character(and I'm tired to death of the cold/rude male trope), but he definitely lost his charm somewhere, and at the same time, Ji-Woon's cold personality did a 180, as if the writers were actively trying to get the viewers to like him. For me, it was too little, too late. Overall, some of the things the characters did just lacked common sense, as if it was to move the story along. Hye-Ji was also honestly such a problematic character who had no personality (other than being obsessed with Hyun-Min), and the fact that she was such a huge part of the plot development annoyed me, though I liked that she wasn't as conniving as other k-drama second female leads.
I will say, though, that the OST was good.
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Si Tu Mo was a lovable main female lead as well. She definitely stood up for herself, was straight and to the point when it came to romance and friendships, and it was really great to not have to get frustrated at those stupid misunderstandings that too many other dramas have.
Sadly, the last few episodes of this drama really slowed down the pace, and I felt like it dragged without any real storyline—they seemed like filler episodes.
The OST is also okay, but I love love love Time For A Love Song by Luna!
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For a drama that has such a dark sub-plot, this drama was surprisingly funny. The romance was hilarious, especially the jealous scenes, and I loved the chemistry between the two leads. The side characters were really interesting as well, and I enjoyed seeing how other relationships developed.
I was SUPER intrigued by the mystery aspect of this, and it definitely delivered. The backstory was nothing that I'd expected, and the cinematography creeped me out successfully, which was a great balance.
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This review may contain spoilers
Healing
Wow, I really loved this one. The premise of a twin swap is already very promising, and the first episode was really strong. I was immediately captivated by the younger scenes of Miji/Hosu, and their friends-to-lovers romance went on to become one of my on-screen favorites.This show really did a fantastic job balancing romance with more serious, darker topics. Each character had their own struggles and their stories, and I really loved seeing everyone grow individually and together. But the most important theme in this show actually turned out to be motherhood; I loved seeing different mother-child relationships throughout the show, whether it was about the twins vying for their mother’s attention, or about the struggles of being adopted, or about generational trauma. I was really impressed with how much nuance this drama had towards each story.
Aside from motherhood, it’s just a really touching story about growing up, healing from trauma, and dealing with adulthood, and I found every plot point to be really relatable.
There are a few things that I’m not the biggest fan of, even if this show handled it okay. One of those is the very well-known final act break-up. While I think Hosu’s reasoning of not wanting to burden his loved ones with his disability is very realistic and aligned with his character, I’m just never going to enjoy the final act break-up trope in media because it feels like introducing a new conflict near the end; in this show, I would’ve preferred if we took some more time to confront the twin’s relationship with each other or with their mother.
The other thing is the second ship, Mirae and Sejin. I don’t have any particular criticism here; I just didn’t really connect to the romance as much.
I’m ultimately satisfied with the ending but it is a tad bit open-ended; my heart wants to see more Mirae confronting the office bullies but my brain knows that it’s actually healthier for her to just remove herself from the situation and have her legal representatives deal with it. Either way, the message the show left me with is very true to life — life goes on.
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Not your typical drama
For everyone who's looking for a typical romance cdrama, this is NOT that. I think this show did a really good job at showing ALS's physical AND mental effect on the person diagnosed with it, as well as on everyone who cares about them. It's a really interesting to think about what you'd do in this situation — both if you'd want to put your loved ones through the pressure of caretaking, and also if you would be willing to become one if someone you loved was diagnosed. Lin Yi does a really good job at showing the progression of ALS, and Landy Li also does a really good job with emotional scenes.Other than that, I actually found this drama to unfortunately be not as engaging. While I understand that the romance and "getting together" part wasn't the point of this show, I felt like the leads got together too early and quickly for me to connect with their love story, and the second couple was also a skip for me — I found them more irritating than anything else and their tone really clashed with the seriousness of the ALS plot. The second male lead also did not really add much. It's weird because all of these characters were great when they were reacting to the male lead or interacting with the ALS plot, but their love lines were not fun to watch.
Ultimately, while I like how this tackles a heavy topic pretty well, I don't think I actually really connected to the characters and story as much as the disease just being sad. For a similar plot, I'd highly recommend One Liter of Tears (jdrama) instead, though that one is about SCA and not ALS.
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Solid but not mindblowing
This was pretty solid across the board — interesting characters, a fun supernatural twist, a well-rounded mystery (with actual consequences), but it was still somehow missing the spark that would give it more tension and suspense.While the mystery is well-written overall, it didn’t necessarily blow my mind and the pacing sometimes felt a bit slow. I also think the flashbacks at the start, while nice and did slowly reveal more about the story, did get a little repetitive and retread the same thing multiple times. The acting is also decent, but having many of Jin-young’s later dramas, it’s clear that he improved a lot since this one.
Still, this was nice watch, with a good mix of mystery and romance.
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This review may contain spoilers
Typical but not bad
As far as bittersweet Asian coming-of-age romances go, this was pretty typical and I'm not so sure I felt much chemistry between the two leads. There's some merit in the story and the debates you see in the reviews about whether it was work breaking up over shows exactly that — but I honestly just feel like I've seen one too many versions of this story at this point.Was this review helpful to you?
