SunOh

Crushology 101 reminds you of the preciousness of love, even through its complications

It's a cute college rom-com, but it's also a genuinely strong story, something the drama keeps proving right up until the final episode. It's beautifully directed too, with a fresh soundtrack (that French song at the start — awesome) and really creative visual choices: shifting from simple shots to dynamic collages, full cinematic frames, warmer color palettes, and even black-and-white flashbacks in reduced framing. All of these choices are used deliberately to serve each scene.

The original webtoon, Bunny and Her Oppas, is a reverse harem. However, there is no endgame. Here, you have a love story with a clear ML, but each of them had a purpose and intervened at some point.

Bunny's struggle with self-esteem, Yeol's vulnerability and trauma from his family, his heightened abandonment issues from his ex (contrasting Bunny's ex and her other experience), and the physical distance between him and Bunny compared to Won, who worked in the same department as Bunny and started his relationship with her more naturally — these are the kinds of things that draw me in.

The cast was a great ensemble where everyone felt necessary to the plot: Bunny's parents (it's so rare to see a loving couple like this and get to see their own story), Yeol's friends and especially his best friend Dong Ha (a reunion with his brother from Hierarchy, who has his own love line that's also hilarious), Bunny's friends with the funny names, Ji Won and Yeol's growing and funny friendship, Won's sister, Yeol's mother and his ex, the male leads, and Bunny's ex.

Honestly, I was a little scared when I saw which webtoon they were adapting, because I thought it would be a waste of potential for their romance to become some reverse-harem rom-com, and I'm not into that. Turns out, their romance more than satisfied me, and I loved how the concept was handled.

(Spoilers up to Episode 7)

However, I've read comments about Yeol that make me wonder if they really watched the drama. In Episode 4, he confesses his feelings. In Episodes 5 and 6, he goes after her several times and makes it very clear that he likes her, reinforcing the confession from Episode 4. In Episode 7, he is trying to deal not only with his own feelings, but also with his ex, who won't let him go even though he makes it clear that he doesn't want her.

Bunny, even though she is hurt by the whole situation, doesn't choose to give up. And she has Ji Won, but she doesn't see him romantically and makes that clear. After knowing the truth, Yeol felt bad about his ex because all this time he hated her.

(End of spoilers)

The drama felt nostalgic, and it made me appreciate old-school tropes again. The imagination scenes were great too, like in True Beauty. Yeol made me a think of a fox personally lol, so if you get what I mean, basically Nick and Judy.

The ending was also beautiful, on top of the great cliffhangers the drama had. I wish it had gotten a better release; it should have been on Netflix and not a region-restricted platform like Viu. Even I couldn't watch it on Viki in France. It's a "small" drama, but it deserves way more.

For details that you might notice, there were parallels to Hierarchy (the end of Episode 1, the bike, the shirt), and it also reminded me of Nevertheless — the art setting, the beginning of Episode 4, the opening, one particular scene especially.

P.S. I'll post one of my favorite shots and edit under the review.

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If something gets bathed in the moonlight, it becomes a myth. I guess our story will become a myth.

~ Why do you think you're the water god?
~ What sort of question is that? Then you, why do you think you are human?

The Bride of Habaek has a lot of meaningful subtext that many viewers seem to overlook. Beneath the surface, it’s actually a beautiful fantasy — a bit unconventional, quietly layered, and laced with humor that gives it its own charm. Not everything has to be about high-budget showcases of flashy superpowers.

The icing on the cake: Shin Sae Kyeong has a fear of water and Nam Joo Hyuk is afraid of heights, so they really had to push themselves and supported each other.

The Bride of Habaek starts with a little girl talking to an old man, introducing its universe as a balance between both realms, the Gods serving to maintain the nature, a symbolic scene of So Ah's story, an unfinished painting of Habaek. The Gods simply appeared many years ago, with no such thing as growing up. Ironically, they aren't much different from us. With their own complicated stories, sometimes immature, sometimes selfish, sometimes clueless. The story is the journey of a psychiatrist who sees Habaek as another of her patients, and they grow to be more human together. Why Habaek lost his powers? Why did he get them back only to save her? Remember his conversation with the old man when he asked why he had to go the human world to deserve his future title.

A fun detail: Habaek is actually part of Korean mythology, and there is a sequence where So Ah tells him what she read on the Internet, which was false.

About the ending: (in the comments)

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I could watch My ID is Gangnam Beauty more than a hundred times and Cha Eun Woo and Im Soo Hyang still nail it like they were born for the role. I was in middle school and could relate to Mi Rae with her anxiety and both her and Kyung Seok with their awkwardness (Mi Rae's being more about social situations, Kyung Seok simply being the outcast). I myself am quite awkward so yeah lmao. I also had a difficult time when I watched it during middle school and it became a comfort drama that I kept rewatching, like a safe space. A calm and stoic character has nothing to do with bad acting and when you don't express yourself like other people this is as comforting as it gets. Looking good isn't enough, you need to play on subtle emotions, restraint, charisma. Eun Woo himself graduated from acting and claiming he's bad based on this, while he has a bubbly personality in real life and more expressive roles even in his past dramas like Hit The Top is ridiculous. (Also, acting like he doesn't have plenty of various roles with even stronger acting. None of his roles is the "same.") Yet, his acting in this drama is stronger. You can see the affection in his look even when he recognizes Mi Rae at the university, remembering her dance moves, looking at her from afar and the chemistry whenever they get close. They are one of my favorite introverted couples. Helping her to grow and feel confident, directly and indirectly confronting her to her insecurities and mindset. He was charismatic, serious, smart and full of warmth. I also loved when he got angry. Having his own family drama in the story, there was even a scene that impressed me where he had to cry while containing himself with anger. Mi Rae's character development and her relationship with Kyung Seok, Su Ah, Mi Rae's mother, Kyung Seok's mother, Mi Rae's best friend. This drama had such a great cast of female characters, depicted the experience of many women in society, gave awareness about the Korean society, and influenced the Hallyu wave. The only thing that sucks is how they changed New Face by PSY into some random music which almost ruins the scene where Mi Rae dances to it. (Here's the original scene in the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5i_3E7hyUY)

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A Masterpiece for the Ages — A Modern Retelling of Wuthering Heights

Born Again is a hardcore melodrama (some might say makjang, which I view more as creative freedom than criticism), so you definitely have to be into that, although my hatred towards the second lead was definitely a struggle despite my usually high tolerance (again, that's praise). I actually liked him a bit at first, but then it just kept getting worse and worse, but well, it’s a k-drama where growth and redemption are a thing, and usually character behavior doesn't come from nowhere, so you have to see how it ends.

I loved the leads and the story so much, everything was so well done, and I'd love to read Wuthering Heights (which is also known to have a supernatural atmosphere, while this drama has a supernatural plot). As I did a lot of research about the story and the ending of this novel, I realized Born Again was an even more beautiful and passionate drama than I initially thought. And on top of that, there’s a brilliant biblical reference at one point.

You get to see many different sides of humans, which is what makes it interesting. You have to look at it kind of like a chessboard, the development throughout the two lives is really well thought out (personalities, jobs, illness, psychological state, relationships/family, background lore, the unexplained dreams, the painting), and the MC’s story is really moving in so many ways. The only drama I wanted to drop but absolutely refused to drop because I loved it so much 😭 Can you believe that the leads got closer in the second life through their shared interest towards skeletons in a teacher-student relationship? This drama is the best.

Anyone who likes tragic romances with hope for a future and a beautiful spiritual touch (like the scene where she meets him in the church and touches him deeply with her empathy) absolutely needs to watch this. The actress has such a beautiful voice too, and she was basically my ray of sunshine throughout the drama. Of course, I was annoyed sometimes because I was seriously invested in the male lead, but that's what makes a drama good. And Ji Chul really reminded me of a wolf: a sort of wildness, his long hair, deeply anxious and traumatized, kind but misunderstood. His future self Jong Bum does too in his own way.

I'm sorry for those who mistook the second lead as the main lead, but I have bad news... you guys need to start seeing things a bit less at face value because of your love for an actor (considering him as such for being with the female lead from the beginning; as the narration is naturally yet not so directly painted as a tragedy between them, while the male lead was wronged from their perspective). Many dramas are underappreciated if not hated for being less straightforward and different. It was very obvious he was not in the first episode alone, hell, just seeing the premise and the poster is enough. Notice that, the male lead is the one who's placed further from them. A poster reflects the story, not the ending. You have a romance drama about reincarnation and you somehow expect the girl to end with the same guy from the beginning who did so much wrong? Anyway, not like this is a first-time situation.

Another weird thing, some of them apparently didn't get that Sa Bin was deeply confused because of Ha Eun's heart, leading her to have strong feelings for Soo Hyuk, and made up her mind later as she started to know her own heart and what those feelings were. No, she did not owe Jong Bum to become his girlfriend out of nowhere. But yes, it's obvious that she will be. The parallels in this drama were so good on top of the order and manner in which each of them slowly got their memories back. Absolutely thrilling.

Well, I can see that the second lead fans just watched for the actor lol. I myself like him now, thanks to this drama.

I could mention some themes that I can remember right off the bat, like not being able to choose the family you're born with yet the hope to start anew, found family (including a very nice bromance) and breaking free, history repeating itself, the danger of death penalties, wrong accusations, the psychology of the MC and his relationship with the FL, the topic of warm and cold empathy...

The journey also has enough happy moments of them side by side, the latter half is clearly more peaceful, and the ending after the final climax is a poetic one which kind of has the spiritual feeling of the author's books. In the end, everything that needed to happen took the time necessary. But they're together way before the end, and a certain kiss of the MC was memorable. Those who like complex, smart and mysterious characters will love Jong Bum. The most important in the end was to make things right.

I’m definitely planning to rewatch it, because I think I’ll suffer less this time around and it’s still more fun for me than a lot of dramas.

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