This review may contain spoilers
This show is worth the journey (with caveats). Badly misunderstood due to incorrect genre rating.
Reading the comments it is quite clear that many initially came to this show believing it to be a romance or action drama. The confusion was bad enough it inspired me to create an account to review this show!
My Lovely Journey is exactly what the title states: it is about the journey of life for the main character Kang Yeo Reum acted very well by Gong Seung Yeon. In particular a 30ish something Yeo Reum's journey to discover her life goals at a point when it seems her career is in tatters.
The show is intended to be an allegory about the choices we all likely have to face when we reach a certain point in our adult life and the outcomes we envisioned vs where we are actually at in life.
The best characterization of this show is "Slice of Life". The pacing of the show is melancholic: deliberate and methodical. It is not an action show nor other than as a very secondary byline a romance between two people. However, it is a romance in terms of the variety of relationships one has as an adult and how each influence and move you. Your friends, you past loves, and your co-workers - they are each types of love & hate and affect you in your own life journey.
So in summary the show is: Yeo Reum has an introspective journey in her thoughts about her past and present, how it has shaped her and at the end of the season she finally understands the meaning of "her lovely journey" and for the first time firmly plants her feet on the ground for a determined path forward.
So how about the actual production? It has good points and bad points.
The women in this show drive it and are by far the best aspect of the show. Gong Seung Yeon is a lovely actress and she is extremely watchable and fully delivers given the material she has to work with. The other 2 recurring actresses are veterans of the kdrama industry: Hong Soo Hyun (who looks a decade younger than her real age of 44 and is just beautiful) and Yoo Ji Yeon (a support role). They ably support the show. In fact even the female guests in different episodes such as Tomosaka Rie ( a focal point of episodes 5-7) all deliver fine performances.
It is the men in the show that are the problem. Part of the show theme is the manager/actress relationship between Yeo Reum and O Sang Sik who is the owner of the agency that represents Yeo Reum. I have no idea why but he constantly over acts in his scenes and it gets very annoying very quickly. The director obviously wants the over the top characterization as part of building a characterization for Sang Sik of being "unpredictable". It is very unlikable.
Another problem is Kim Jae Yeong. His fan base came to this show believing it was intended to be a romance between he and the female lead. Honestly I have no idea why he is even in the production. His part is really a support role even though he is credited as a main role, and as a comment I read in social media elsewhere put it "he dials in his performance". It is not generally good especially in the first 6-7 episodes where he is rarely seen, and if your a fangirl who came to the show solely for him? Skip the show. His acting is bland and it is further hindered by the directing and editing.
The final main role is Oh Hyun Joong as "manager" and he really is truly meaningless to this kdrama. It appears he is supposed to provide light comedy on an occasional basis but even that is mostly not funny at all. In the first 10 episodes I doubt he has 45 minutes of screen time in total.
The direction and editing of the show is not very good. It is clearly a lower tier budget show. The most coherent and watchable parts were when Yeo Reum is on her various journeys and her interactions with guest stars and the other women in the show. But in many of the scenes for which the focus is O Sang Sik with someone and some of the group scenes the editing is really jarring with a lot of abrupt cuts. The show is really impaired by the directing and editing in "non-journey" segments.
Season 1 ends on a "cliffhanger". Season 1 and Season 2 were filmed back to back so answers in context of the realization of Yeo Reum's journey and the commencement of a a new step in the journey will come in Season 2.
BTW, at the end of most episodes there is an OST that is usually sung by one or more cast members. It is a nice touch and demonstrates that many of the actors also have voice talent.
The show does have nice appeal and I think in fact it is rewatchable. Just know what you are watching it for and you will gain from it.
My Lovely Journey is exactly what the title states: it is about the journey of life for the main character Kang Yeo Reum acted very well by Gong Seung Yeon. In particular a 30ish something Yeo Reum's journey to discover her life goals at a point when it seems her career is in tatters.
The show is intended to be an allegory about the choices we all likely have to face when we reach a certain point in our adult life and the outcomes we envisioned vs where we are actually at in life.
The best characterization of this show is "Slice of Life". The pacing of the show is melancholic: deliberate and methodical. It is not an action show nor other than as a very secondary byline a romance between two people. However, it is a romance in terms of the variety of relationships one has as an adult and how each influence and move you. Your friends, you past loves, and your co-workers - they are each types of love & hate and affect you in your own life journey.
So in summary the show is: Yeo Reum has an introspective journey in her thoughts about her past and present, how it has shaped her and at the end of the season she finally understands the meaning of "her lovely journey" and for the first time firmly plants her feet on the ground for a determined path forward.
So how about the actual production? It has good points and bad points.
The women in this show drive it and are by far the best aspect of the show. Gong Seung Yeon is a lovely actress and she is extremely watchable and fully delivers given the material she has to work with. The other 2 recurring actresses are veterans of the kdrama industry: Hong Soo Hyun (who looks a decade younger than her real age of 44 and is just beautiful) and Yoo Ji Yeon (a support role). They ably support the show. In fact even the female guests in different episodes such as Tomosaka Rie ( a focal point of episodes 5-7) all deliver fine performances.
It is the men in the show that are the problem. Part of the show theme is the manager/actress relationship between Yeo Reum and O Sang Sik who is the owner of the agency that represents Yeo Reum. I have no idea why but he constantly over acts in his scenes and it gets very annoying very quickly. The director obviously wants the over the top characterization as part of building a characterization for Sang Sik of being "unpredictable". It is very unlikable.
Another problem is Kim Jae Yeong. His fan base came to this show believing it was intended to be a romance between he and the female lead. Honestly I have no idea why he is even in the production. His part is really a support role even though he is credited as a main role, and as a comment I read in social media elsewhere put it "he dials in his performance". It is not generally good especially in the first 6-7 episodes where he is rarely seen, and if your a fangirl who came to the show solely for him? Skip the show. His acting is bland and it is further hindered by the directing and editing.
The final main role is Oh Hyun Joong as "manager" and he really is truly meaningless to this kdrama. It appears he is supposed to provide light comedy on an occasional basis but even that is mostly not funny at all. In the first 10 episodes I doubt he has 45 minutes of screen time in total.
The direction and editing of the show is not very good. It is clearly a lower tier budget show. The most coherent and watchable parts were when Yeo Reum is on her various journeys and her interactions with guest stars and the other women in the show. But in many of the scenes for which the focus is O Sang Sik with someone and some of the group scenes the editing is really jarring with a lot of abrupt cuts. The show is really impaired by the directing and editing in "non-journey" segments.
Season 1 ends on a "cliffhanger". Season 1 and Season 2 were filmed back to back so answers in context of the realization of Yeo Reum's journey and the commencement of a a new step in the journey will come in Season 2.
BTW, at the end of most episodes there is an OST that is usually sung by one or more cast members. It is a nice touch and demonstrates that many of the actors also have voice talent.
The show does have nice appeal and I think in fact it is rewatchable. Just know what you are watching it for and you will gain from it.
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