Kate

There is nothing wrong with cliches, I love them. If they are well placed and executed in a proper manner they elevate the drama to new heights. Here it felt like they started throwing everything in the second half hoping something would stick - most did not.

Dynamite Kiss had a phenomenal start. The right amount of cliches, with a perfect ratio of little twists and changes to make it refreshing. Ji Hyeok was technically this “cold rich male lead”, but he was also extremely goofy with a puppy heart. Ko Da Rim was technically this good hearted and pure female lead, but she was also surprisingly assertive and witty. I was able to enjoy the cliche plots with fun characters that are so loveable it’s hard to look away.

The first half gave me nice characters, great comedy, butterflies inducing moments, pinning and well structured internal and external conflicts. The second half just gave me a lot of stupidity and I’m annoyed it mostly affected the female lead - at least make everyone equally dumb.

About Da Rim… It went beyond being naive, she was simply stupid. The disrespect the writer shows towards her character in the second half is embarrassing. To ruin the lead just to push forward a mediocre plot is never a good choice. I started the show loving how unapologetically good she was, to get disappointed when they turned that goodness into dumb naivety. What they did was make her strength into her weakness - which, with good writing, could be a great character development, but the writing here was simply not that good.

While Ji Hyeon was not as infuriating, he was equally disappointing by the end. The drama opened with a solid internal conflict he had about his feelings towards who he thought was a married woman, to make him somehow the most stagnant character with little to no growth or development. Why? Because he did not really need it - he was a good guy with smarts, drive and loyalty to his people - that’s boring, that’s bad writing.

Truth to be told, I think there was far more nuance in writing for both second leads compared to the mail pair. I liked how they gave us a nice presentation of different priorities people have, and how someone with and without a child sees the same situation in a completely different light. There are things you can do and situations you can jump into with not much consideration when you do not have a child, but you need to be far more conscious when you are a parent.

Yoo Ha Yeong was probably my favorite character. At first she might seem like a spoiled princess, but she is hardworking, driven, honest and nice. And I love how she was not without flaws - being way too pushy and getting herself involved way too much into other people’s lives. While it created many heartwarming moments, it also gave me a bit of a discomfort at the back of my mind.

Putting aside separate characters, what I truly adored about the drama was the mother’s team which was the best part hands down. I like how they were not from the start showed as this savvy workers who were just overlooked by society - they were in fact not that interested in working hard at the office and at times felt entitled, but with good leadership from Da Rim every one of them changed for the better and was able to understand they are more than just mothers and appreciate each other for who they are outside of that life role. Sometimes we are so focused on who we are expected to be, we do not appreciate who we can become.

I do believe the writing for the positive things was nice, but a failure in terms of the villains so my question is: why even bother including them? Why did we even get that plotline when the shorter drama without it would be so much better? Ji Hyeok's father, sister and Tae Yeong were just stock characters with no value. The villain's arc was neither set up nor developed well. It was laughably bad and useless. Waste of screen time.

If they kept the conflict more concentrated on Ji Hyeok's family dynamics between him, his father and his mother and how it impacts his relationship with Da Rim, his work life, life choices - what a good story it would be. But no, we need some typical business shenanigans because why not. I truly wish Ji Hyeok's mother had more presence in the drama. As much as her story was heartbreaking, I also enjoyed her journey the most out of all the characters.

For the core of the drama - the romance. I loved the initial "misunderstanding" between the leads and how some people were in on it and some were completely clueless - many different interesting dynamics came out of it.
The relationship was fine, but I do feel the best part was actually the part where they were not together.

For the production, I will start with an extremely random note - I both loved and hated the styling for Ahn Eun Jin. She looked stunning. All the outfits were pretty and highlighted her beauty. Did the majority of these outfits belong to the office setting for a woman who pretends to be a mother of a kindergarten kid? No. I am sorry, but no big office would be like: ah yes wear that mini skirt and crop top to the office, that’s completely appropriate. Still, she did look amazing so I’m only half mad.

The show is pretty, like any other kdrama - they are all pretty in the exact same way. I understand there are filming and editing trends, but sometimes just following trends is not enough.

The soundtrack though? Perfect for a rom-com. Some of my favorite songs: Weny’s Say You Love Me, Sondia’s Love Is, BBGIRLS’ Don’t Give It Up (the best one if you ask me).

Was the acting good? Yes. Was it good enough to save this drama? No. At the same time, I believe the only thing that could save it is a completely different script for the second half. That said, I am glad it put Jung Ga Hee on my radar, looking forward to seeing her in more, hopefully leading roles.

Overall, Dynamite Kiss gives me a kid who got excited for the new hobby and gave up half way through. The writers need to ask themselves not only: how do we get from point A to point B in the plot, but also - will this journey in that format make any sense?