Friendly suggestion: start from episode 6
The first half of this drama is just a bunch of random stuff that messes up the main plot..as it often happens in kdrama.If you start from episode 6 you won't miss anything and you'll be plunged straight at the core of the story.
The funny thing is that even plot holes are declared by the characters and the issue is solved with a simple "I don't know this person/objetc has a fate of its own beyond the power of God"..ok, thanks for the sincerity Mr. Writer :-)
Anyway, the soundtrack is wonderful and engaging and I was completely charmed by Kim Hyun Joong gaze.
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Take it for what it is and you'll enjoy it
I don't understand all the hatred for this drama. It's not a masterpiece, but if you take it for what it is (a light story made to entertain and not to think too much while watching) you'll enjoy it.All the characters are interesting and funny..except for Woori who's unbeareble up to me. I don't know if the actress ever played other roles different from this and the one in My ID is Gangnam beauty, but I find her characters selfish and hateful and the way she acts increases these features.
Despite this I liked the rest of the cast and loved the way things turned out, I never got bored and it made me laugh several times.
Maybe it deserved one or two episodes more to make the ending less rushed.
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The triumph of non-sense
I think I've never seen anything so wrong before...starting from the plot, to the way characters treat each other and their problems...until the final acknowledgment of #metoo and menthal stress affecting athletes, while every single person is putting tons of pressure on main leads that are basically teens on their way to growing up.I was quite bored by the first part of the drama, but starting from the winter training storyline everything turned so incredibly weird and bad that I started to enjoy it somehow, like "wait, now I want to see if they can do worst than that"...and they could!
I found so much psychological violence in this drama that I couldn't believe that all this mess was a mean to convey some positive message.
Yet, as I said, somehow I found it interesting to watch and I don't regret finishing it.
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I wish I had watched only the last 5 episodes or so
I read a review under another drama stating that often the issue with kdramas is that they tend to be complicated just for the sake of being complicated, and that's exactly the case. I wish I had watched only the last 5 episodes. Boring and slow at the beginning, just the acting of Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young kept me from dropping. I started to enjoy the show as soon as they stopped adding more and more characters and intrigues.In the end I felt like nothing was resolved (but actually it was, it's just me that couldn't thoroughly follow all the scheming and plot twisting) but the story left us with a bittersweet ending which wasn't completely sad in my opinion.
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Came here for the BL and stayed for the straight couple
Lately Thai BL are really disappointing me, but I wanted to give this a try.Well, I slept throughout most of the episodes (surely missing a lot of important pieces of the story) and endured only for the "straight couple" secondary plot.
No chemistry, no feelings, no credibility.
I felt akward and a little irritaded every time Solo called Gui "Guitar". It should have been a meaningful and sweet way to address him, but to me it felt only annoying.
The classic clichés typically used to trigger the action here feel just boring and seem to be used without sense, just put there to justify 13 episodes.
At least the characters were boring, but not completetly stupid like other Thai BLs.
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This review may contain spoilers
A drama to be seen without biases or high expectations
This was a nice drama to watch, a plot that merges comedy and more serious parts. I found a lot of food for thought but the funny scenes made the drama enjoyable and not too heavy or boring.By the way, talking about the balance between funny and serious parts, PHS acting reminds me a lot of Jim Carrey and his versatile talent.
What bothered me were the too many drinking scenes (I don't think that drinking so much alchool is suggested when dealing with depression and taking drugs) and the fact that a lot of subjects where brought up without really focusing on one or the other remaining on a shallow level.
Lastly...the sub-plot of the friend betrayal was really unecessary.
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Deceiving from the start..
At the beginning of the show Yoon Jae Gook says something like "let's love while we are breaking up"...the phrase should have been "let's struggle and suffer by ourselves while breaking up". They had more chemestry in the first episodes while they were not together rather then when they're a couple. They never really face their problems as a team, but they seem to leave one another out of their struggles, like they need to face everything on their own.And the plot is so frustrating! All the world is against them and their love in a way that is unreasonably fierce. Maybe the cultural gap between Western and Eastern culture makes it hard for me to understand completely why they act like this, but only in Itaewon Class I found a similar harshness. I mean, ok, ok being mean at the beginning, but at a certain point it all becomes unbearable and unjustifiable.
Thank God we had the secondary couple lightening up the scene.
Anyway, despite many reviews stating the contrary, I found the acting of Song Hye Kyo very good and credible most of the time, above all when portraying both the happy and the sad moments of the relationship with her friends and family.
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Why r u so short?
The biggest flaw of Korean BLs is their lenght. They put a lot of stuff on the table but don't take the right time to develop anything.The scenes pass from one to the other without a real connection just to speed up the plot and that's a real shame. I hope to see a 16-episode K-BL soon with episodes lasting at least 45 minutes like classic kdramas.
If you have already watched the thai version you can't help making comparaisons and, even though the basic story is the same, there are a lot of differences in managing the plot that almost make of them two completely different series. The lack of sexual tension in the Korean version is balanced by the astonishing acting when it comes to showing the feelings.
While I watched the thai version only for Tutor/Fighter storyline, in this Korean version I enjoyed Jung Lee Won story the most because it felt like the K versions of Zon and Saifah did justice to their relationship and somehow filled the gaps of the thai plot.
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Hypnotic in a positve way
I would have never thought this drama would be so enaging.I started watchin it with in mind the reviews calling it slow, at times boring, to centered on school issues rather than love despite of the title.
In a way all these reviews were right except for considering it boring.
Every single dialogue is so interisting no matter what the topic is. I found myself completely absorbed in every single scene.
And the love story permeates the whole drama.
It's a love story between adults, so don't expect lovey dovey scenes, rainbows and butterlies, but love and warmth is still there and it made my heart beat a little faster.
The other positive thing is that the characters are quite realistic. You won't find prince charming solving all the problems or the perfect FL that succedes in everything she does. Here we have "real" people with all their flaws and weaknesses.
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I've got you under my skin...
There are dramas that make you laugh out loud, other that make you cry your eyes out, other again than make you scream at the top of your lungs..but this one is none of them.Each episode flew smoothly, never boring, never obvious or banal. I kept watching unaware of how it was silently touching all the strings of my soul. Only at the last episode I felt like I've been living with my heart and soul the journey portrayed by the character and I found a lot of similarities with my own life.
Just like you realise the value of something when it's gone, this drama quietly brought me to the last episode with apparently mild feelings and no strong reactions just to find out that it got under my skin without noticing.
I'm absolutely unable to describe how I feel at the end of this. I just think I won't be able to watch it again knowing how true it is and how hard it can hit.
From story, to acting and setting..I think this can be called a masterpiece.
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I wish I could give it a 10 but...
...but there are two many scenes without any sense or connection among each other. I mean, a moment they're fighting (with harsh words and gratuitous violence) and a second later they are lovey dovey in love.Moreover, many times the relationships are portrayed with a lot of stereotypes, maybe because China is still against same-sex relationships.
In the end, if you look more closely and more critically this drama, many flaws arise and the score would be even lower, but...Chi Cheng with his fragile yet strong side is irresistible and WeiWei is adorable. How can you rate badly a couple like this?
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Fluffy fairy tale with a lesson to teach
A simple, even though a little unlikely, story that will entertain you without much effort. But if you go beyond the surface, there's an important lesson to learn, something that is often lacking in tv series (doesn't matter the country): problems and obstacles can be overcome with honesty and by speaking one's mind. To keep your feelings, thoughts and fears to yourselves can only lead go missunderstandigs and ruin a possible good relationship.Talking about the characters, FL was a little exasperated, over the top. I found her sweet, but bothersome at times.
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The many faces of Yang Yang
The first time I saw Yang Yang was in cdrama "You are my glory". I was blinded by his beauty, entertained by the story, but I found him and his acting a little stiff. It seemed like he had just one or two expressions and kept using them over and over again.Then I started this drama and found a versatile actor, able to portray the different stages and attitudes of a boy growing up, facing hardship and finding his way in the world despite everything.
FL was very good too and I really appreciated her duality: strong and resolute in her job, fragile and insecure in her private life.
Leaving aside action and hospital scene, which weren't so realistic (and the toxic mother which we are unfortunately used to), the relationships portrayed are quite realistic and engaging.
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This review may contain spoilers
Why didn't I have it on my watch list before?
When I find a masterpiece like this one I wish I started watching kdramas before.Although I am usually more into funny rom-coms, sometimes I need something more serious and that's when I find the true worth-watching series.
No flaws, no useless content or scenes. All characters follow their path, find their way and development.
The plot is so perfect that I would have been ok even with a sad ending, but the authors gifted us an unexpexted happy ending giving way to pure romance.
If I really want to find a defect, the few kissing scenes were not so passionate, but I could live with that.
Lee Jun Ho astonishing...almost beyond the acting of Seo In Guk in "The smile has left your eyes" (which I found a materpiece as much as this drama, but at times pissed me off a little more).
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Smooth as silk
Apparently nothing really happens in this cdrama, but once you get started you won't get enough of them. A simple love story that will entertain you with complicit glances, irony and a lot of tenderness. If we go beyond the sport storyline, they are an avarage boy falling in love with an avarage girl, living their story in a very realistic way, without silly missunderstings, without useless dramas or traumas.And..please tell me that the two main leads dated in real life because they had such a great chemistry!
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