scenophile

I'm always really hesitant about gender-bender dramas because they become homophobic and misogynistic so easily. But this drama did surprisingly well in tackling the topic, and I loved the main lead for that. For a gang leader, I thought he would be a tsundere, cold, rude male lead—but he was surprisingly affectionate, kind, and open, and I loved how refreshing the relationship dynamic between the main characters were. There were no stupid fights and misunderstandings. Pi Ya Nuo could also pull off both male and female looks, which was a relief because I never once face-palmed and thought, "How could you NOT tell?"

There were some moments that were a little cringey, and there are definitely a lot of cliches that are in this drama. It never got unbearable though. I also have to admit that I really didn't like the ship of Na Na and Qing Yang at first, because it felt so incredibly cliche and they had that one misunderstanding. Their acting was also a little robotic at first, and I felt like Na Na was annoying. They grew on me over time, but didn't match up to the main ship at all.

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Cliche, but not frustrating

Even though this drama definitely had some cliches, it wasn't frustrating to watch, and some scenes were downright hilarious.

With that being said, I don't know if it's just me, but I've had a hard time getting into any of Jung Il Woo's roles—I've only seen him in this and Cinderella and the Four Knights, but in both dramas I found his tsundere character wishy-washy and annoying. This one was a little better because we got to see the story from his perspective as he flailed around trying to deal with his emotions, but from the girl's perspective, I found it downright annoying.

I'm surprised that so many people said they stayed for his acting, because I actually stayed for the main female lead, who stood up for herself and was strong without having to physically be. I loved that scene where none of the "gentlemanly" things the male lead did worked on her, and despite everyone saying that she was from the 18th century, her personality was strong and progressive. For this reason, I wish that the music video she filmed was more interesting than her literally just sitting in a chair and then walking around it once, but it was focused on Monsta X, so I guess that's understandable...

The HUGE amount of slow-motion falls, gazes, and wrist grabs was kind of annoying. I felt like they gave us so many—too many—even before I felt any chemistry between the main characters, and since the episodes were so short already, it was unnecessary to include one or two EVERY episode.

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I loved A-Teen Season 1 to death, and was super excited for Season 2. Even though I turned out to quite enjoy it, I don't think I loved it as much as the first season, for multiple reasons.

Firstly, there was barely any Do Ha-Na! Even though romance-wise I didn't care about her plot that much, I loved her as an individual character, and without her, I felt like the series also focused a lot less on friendship and sismance.

Secondly, I felt like there were so many questions still left unanswered from Season 1! That girl that Shi-Woo used to know, for example.

Thirdly, I was honestly annoyed by Bo Ram's mindset and lack of support for Ki-Hyun at times—I don't think any of that was sufficiently addressed.

Fourthly, I liked Joo-Ha as a character, but I don't know if it's just because he's new and I haven't warmed up to him completely yet (especially since we don't know much about him at all, other than his parents being MIA), but I just didn't care much for the relationship between him and Kim Ha-Na.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the parallels to the first season, and that we got progress for some plots, like

I'll also admit that I absolutely HATED Ah-Hyun at first, but now she's become my favorite in the cast, and I'm praying for a Season 3 so we get more of her and Min.

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The only thing I'll give this drama is that there are some scenes that are truly laugh-out-loud funny, and that the main character's straightforwardness was refreshing sometimes. At the same time, however, she did get a little annoying because she overreacted to every little thing.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why everyone loves the male lead. He was boring and his first impression was that he was doing some creepy Edward Cullen stuff. Honestly I'm just tired of the "strong and silent" male trope, in general. It got really frustrating to have to watch him say stupid and hurtful things to TJZ over and over again, and she STILL chased after him. I liked the second male character, the police officer, a lot better.

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I loved this so much more than I expected. From the trailer, it looked a little boring as I couldn't really tell what the plot was. But the actual show itself is a lot more interesting; even though it's more slice-of-life than story-driven, I still enjoyed it a lot. It was a light-hearted watch with some really funny moments, but at the same time I could really feel the female lead's pain in the first few episodes, and yes, I did shed a few tears.

It's honestly so refreshing to have not one, but TWO nice male leads, even though I'm pre-hurting because I know I'll be sad for the other guy no matter who Song Yi ends up with. I loved how mature the three main characters were, honestly—even though there were some scenes where I wished the characters would just be more honest, their actions were understandable and I loved how there weren't really those huge and unnecessary miscommunications.

Ga Rin and Choi Hoon were fun characters as well, but I didn't feel too invested in their plots or as a ship. They were more there for comedy, and even so I found Ga Rin a little annoying at times.

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Gets repetitive and annoying

At some point you expect some character development, and by episode 10, OHN's stupidity and stalking tendencies got extremely annoying and unbearable, especially when everything felt like an exact repeat of the earlier episodes. I liked the moments where OHN got tired of BSJ and finally said she was giving up—I just wish that these moments lasted for more than ten minutes before she ran back to him. That was a big reason I liked episode 13 (post-marriage meeting) because that lasted longer.

Another thing that makes this super problematic appeared during the college years, when OHN planned her entire career and future around BSJ's. For someone like OHN who seemed to know who she was, this lack of identity and independence was just one step too far.

A lot of scenes started annoying me as they went on, too. OHN's clumsiness and stupidity and apparent lack of ability in ANYTHING got very tiresome. OHN's tennis scenes pissed me off, especially. I wish there was more character development and growth on her part as an individual. I wish there was more growth for BSJ too, and he addressed his mother directly about what she did when he was younger—I'm not sure why that part was talked about as "trauma" and made out to be such a huge deal when it was never going to be resolved.

Honestly, a lot of characters were annoying in this, and it seemed like many of them were exaggerated in some way. BSJ and OHN were okay, obviously, but Bong Joon Gu was also horribly desperate and irritating. Of course, I liked Eun Jo and BSJ's mother, but mostly as comic relief. I liked OHN's two friends as well, but I just wish they had more screentime and personality than just being the people who OHN always ran to to talk about her boy problems.

Plot-wise a lot of things are questionable, like the random and rushed marriage (that nobody even questioned) and the sub-plot of the guy who suddenly liked OHN who never showed up again after two or three appearances.

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Interesting premise but...

I felt like the premise was really interesting and there was a lot of potential for this to become a really thrilling mystery, but it suffers from something that many mid-2010s dramas do, which is that the romance and the attempts to smush the leads together hinders the show's ability to be darker.

The romantic set-up is a very common kdrama one: childhoods connected by tragedy. I'm fine with this, but the ML's story was just so much more interesting and the chemistry with his brother and the serial killer so much more intriguing that all his scenes with the FL felt just so "blah," as if they were going through the motions.

With that being said, the trio — Lee Hyun, Min, and Lee Jun Young — were absolutely the best part of the show. Their performances were very convincing, and there was a lot of tension in all their shared scenes, and I was also really excited to how the story would play out.

On the other hand, I think the individual cases were fine, but didn't really grab me; in fact, they were a little vague at times, or it just didn't that high stakes. It didn't really help that the FL felt very reactive throughout, never really planning or investigating anything until it was right under her nose, both when it came to individual cases and with the overarching plot.

Now, the ending really does leave a lot to be desired. I felt like they rushed through it (which a lot of kdramas fall victim to) and it focused on giving us unnecessary closure for the romance instead of for the more interesting thriller plot.

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Father-daughter relationship

So the father-daughter relationship in this movie was undoubtedly the best part of it, and I really wish we had seen more of the before-after scenes with them. These scenes were so touching that scenes with the mom honestly paled in comparison and I just didn't love her as a character at all; her subplot felt very extra and I was also just not very interested in her conversations or reactions.

What I was interested in was the reaction of the children; I was honestly expecting this movie to be a lot more depressing, with instances of the community reacting with disgust or blaming the parents, or with other students being nosy/gossipy and there being bullying. But this wasn't the case at all and the movie delivered exactly what the title promised: Hope.

That's not to say that it was all positive, as of course there was the commentary on the legal system. It was interesting but they didn't go much into it and I kind of have mixed feelings on that.

Overall, this was a pretty touching movie and I did feel emotions — but it wasn't consistent.

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