1
1
This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful, Somewhat Tragic Love Story
Oh, how I wish I would've finished this so much sooner. Time of Fever was so incredibly beautiful, captivated me in so many ways, and I am completely in awe of these two characters. What a beautiful, somewhat tragic piece of a love story. And still, unfortunately, it will not be getting a 10 out of 10 from me.
Let's Dive In.
Midway through the series, and possibly up until the last episode, I was going to give this 10 stars, hand down. One things is most important to me than anything else and that is YEARNING. These two actors did above stellar, the best I've see so far in 2025. The way my heart flutter when they looked at each other, the idiot that is Hotae that had no idea what he was doing, the brave, yet cowardice Donghee too afraid of his feelings and everything in between to be open. I think one of my favorite parts was that Donghee want Hotae to call him brother so bad, and yet, Hotae even then knew something wasn't the same. I loved how not much is said about the eternal meaning of anything, and we as the audience get to interpret everything. While there was so much to unpack here, one of the more frustrating things in the world was Donghee and his flaws which is why I can't give this a 10/10.
Donghee, oh, Donghee, how absolutely more irritable can you get? Donghee had planned to stay in his hometown for college until things with Hotae had occurred. He does so because he feels like everyone would be happier with that decision. Now, let's just break this down. Who was the one who asked to kiss? Who was the one that initiated the second kiss? Hotae. So, it almost seems silly that the first thing on Donghee's mind is "oh, I'm the problem." So infuriating. And then, we have a time jump. I know the implication of that is because this couple's story is also told in Unintentional Love Story, but how absolutely aggravating was that ending.
Moving on, Hotae as a character wasn't brilliant either, his flaw was his inability to decipher his feelings for Hotae fast enough, and the dumb, quick relationships he got into just to avoid his feelings. However, you can see the moment something switches in him, except Donghee, of course, doesn't see it. I hate when writer's make character stupid and incompetent in favor of the plot. Donghee is smart, Donghee would quickly be able to understand why Hotae asked to teach him how to kiss if they didn't want to ruin his character in favor of a seemingly long time apart.
Anyways, other than that, I seriously loved this series. The yearning in this had me to my knees, when they finally kiss it's like a light switch goes off, and it was perfect.
Ratings:
Story: 9/10 - So, so entertaining. I loved everything about it. Just a few writing choices was annoying, but overall, this was perfection.
Acting: 10/10 - PERFECT. I rarely give perfect scores for acting, but I mean, everyone did great, especially the leads.
Music: 6/10 - Didn't pay attention to it.
Recommendation Value: 9/10 - heavily recommend. Definitely up there with one of the best K-BLs. But, it is pretty tragic in its one way, so I might not recommend it for all.
Let's Dive In.
Midway through the series, and possibly up until the last episode, I was going to give this 10 stars, hand down. One things is most important to me than anything else and that is YEARNING. These two actors did above stellar, the best I've see so far in 2025. The way my heart flutter when they looked at each other, the idiot that is Hotae that had no idea what he was doing, the brave, yet cowardice Donghee too afraid of his feelings and everything in between to be open. I think one of my favorite parts was that Donghee want Hotae to call him brother so bad, and yet, Hotae even then knew something wasn't the same. I loved how not much is said about the eternal meaning of anything, and we as the audience get to interpret everything. While there was so much to unpack here, one of the more frustrating things in the world was Donghee and his flaws which is why I can't give this a 10/10.
Donghee, oh, Donghee, how absolutely more irritable can you get? Donghee had planned to stay in his hometown for college until things with Hotae had occurred. He does so because he feels like everyone would be happier with that decision. Now, let's just break this down. Who was the one who asked to kiss? Who was the one that initiated the second kiss? Hotae. So, it almost seems silly that the first thing on Donghee's mind is "oh, I'm the problem." So infuriating. And then, we have a time jump. I know the implication of that is because this couple's story is also told in Unintentional Love Story, but how absolutely aggravating was that ending.
Moving on, Hotae as a character wasn't brilliant either, his flaw was his inability to decipher his feelings for Hotae fast enough, and the dumb, quick relationships he got into just to avoid his feelings. However, you can see the moment something switches in him, except Donghee, of course, doesn't see it. I hate when writer's make character stupid and incompetent in favor of the plot. Donghee is smart, Donghee would quickly be able to understand why Hotae asked to teach him how to kiss if they didn't want to ruin his character in favor of a seemingly long time apart.
Anyways, other than that, I seriously loved this series. The yearning in this had me to my knees, when they finally kiss it's like a light switch goes off, and it was perfect.
Ratings:
Story: 9/10 - So, so entertaining. I loved everything about it. Just a few writing choices was annoying, but overall, this was perfection.
Acting: 10/10 - PERFECT. I rarely give perfect scores for acting, but I mean, everyone did great, especially the leads.
Music: 6/10 - Didn't pay attention to it.
Recommendation Value: 9/10 - heavily recommend. Definitely up there with one of the best K-BLs. But, it is pretty tragic in its one way, so I might not recommend it for all.
Was this review helpful to you?
