Reviews

So adorable!

This show was absolutely adorable! Gemini and Fourth are so adorable in this and I loved getting to watch their first series together. I know a lot of the actors in this, so it was nice to see a lot of them as well. I liked most of the characters in this quite a bit and absolutely LOVED the music!! Tinn was my favorite character! I adored him so much! It was so cute seeing how down bad he was for Gun. I loved Gun a lot too! He did annoy me sometimes, but I loved him overall. These two were so adorable together. I loved seeing them grow closer and Gun start to develop feeling for Tinn as it went on. They had so many cute moments and was so happy with the way this story ended! I loved it so much!

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Cliche done right!

This drama is the epitome of cliche. The classic rom-com. We have the Orphan CEO ML with a trauma, poor FML struggling in her career, a very sweet, completely unnecessary SML and very annoying and irritating antagonists who are stupid. Family drama, inheritance and incompetent cousin fighting for the business.

Kim Young Kwang was phenomenal as Baek Horang. He was so dramatic and silly. I loved him so much. He does roles like these so well. He has the aura of the CEO, but he can also be a loser in love. And he also delivers emotional scenes like no other.

Chae Soobin was so freaking adorable. She played the bubbly character so well. Na bobae was such a sweetheart, I loved her.

The chemistry between KYK and CSB was so cute. They were so natural together and looked so good.

Haven’t enjoyed a rom-com from start to end in a while.
The premise is pretty generic, but it was done so well that it had me laughing and swooning the entire time. There were a lot of obvious plot holes, but I didn’t really care because they delivered in the rom-com aspects. I do feel like the love triangle was the most unnecessary thing. Usually love triangles serve the purpose of bringing the leads together, but here they didn’t really need it as they were living together and she could only touch him so they were bound to fall for each other. Instead of making Eunho fall for her, he could’ve been like a supportive brother/friend. It would’ve been a lot more fun.

The villians were underwhelming and they didn’t get their karma, however I suppose they didn’t focus much on them as it would be a waste of screen time because they had only 10 episodes, though I would’ve loved 2 more episodes. They could’ve shown a bit more of them and shown her drama’s shooting.
Overall, I had so much fun watching it and it’s definitely going to my rewatch list.

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Potential That Never Materialized for Me

This is a partial review covering episodes 1–12 only.

I was excited to see Bai Shu take on a lead role. Unfortunately, this one was a disappointment.

I struggled to make it through even half the drama, finding myself fast-forwarding through scenes just to get through them. There were a few interesting elements, but the overall story felt flat. The characterization was underdeveloped, and the narrative lacked the depth, nuance, and momentum to keep me invested.

I understand that short dramas have limited time to develop their characters and plots, but a shorter runtime isn't necessarily a problem when there's something else to make up for it. Unfortunately, this drama never found that balance for me. The few elements that caught my interest weren't enough to offset the lackluster execution.

I'm not going to finish this one. I have a pretty good idea of where it's heading, and I haven't found enough to make me want to see it through. This drama simply wasn't my cup of tea.

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Moments of Intrigue, Stretches of Disengagement

This was an okay watch for me. I liked the basic framework, and the psychological mystery was interesting. The performers did a good job, and I thought the script was well written, but the execution felt too slow and dry at times to keep me fully engaged.

My interest would pick up whenever the characters developed or the hints and reveals started coming together, only to wane again during the slower stretches. I also began piecing together the major twists around the midway point, which made it harder to stay invested. Had I been more connected to the story, figuring things out early might not have mattered as much. But by the time the truth was revealed, the payoff felt rather flat.

Overall, the premise and characterization had potential, but the delivery never quite pulled me in. I ended up sticking with it just to see it through to the end.

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Super cute

Their chemic fit sooo well

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Long time fan of the leads, and I can say honestly, this drama is the best work of both their acting careers. So happy the drama picked these two. They knew what they were doing. Two powerhouse actors! Seriously, Against The Current was a perfect drama for them both to showcase their acting and their chemistry was off the charts!! The reason I loved these two is their eye acting abilities. They truly can act without dialogs. So amazing!! Aside the leads, this drama is top notched. From the directors, screenwriters, crew members, and actors, they were all harmonious to bring such a masterpiece to life. I can go on and on about how great this drama is, but since Im a diehard lead's fan, I will keep all that love in my heart. I will add that I highly recommend this drama, and if you happen to fall in love with the actors after this drama, that's a win for me. 😍💕

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bad casting, bad changes, iffy cgi but okay if you don't care about being accurate to the novel

I'm just going to put this out there.

ORV is a great story, and I have immense respect for the authors and effort put in to make this show by all the staff working on it.

That being said

The actor for Dokja is a bit too tall, Joonghyuk's hair is flat, Gilyoung does not give the vibes of a gremlin whom a literal demon takes interest in and is too young for the role, Jiyhe is too old (and not really a good actress), Sangah seems a bit too passive - she's not a damsal in distress, and they changed her powers. Also gong pildu??? does not have a full head of hair??? The only two I think were decently cast were Heewon and Hyungsung.

The cgi...just look at Bihyung to know what I mean TvT

Guns are used. This is a bit odd, given most character skills are related to swords.

As a standalone, and perhaps as satire of the genre, it's okay. But the thing I cannot get over is Dokja hating TWSA. In what world??

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an Irreplaceable missed opportunity!!

I want to start by saying that my review does not contain any spoilers, and that I really enjoyed this show!

A lot of things were done right and the story stayed focused on the office side of things.

It's a story about the quest of a young ambitious woman to become irreplaceable, and accomplish her goals to heal from her rough childhood. She gets an ally, the ML Ye legend, who becomes her mentor, then her crush.

I love this drama because it showed the sides of ambition on relationships. it also gives a realistic evolution of a feeling of admiration to more. While they never truly address the age gap in the romance, the age difference does come up in the office side of the story. What was really clever, in my opinion, it how rivalry shows up. beautifully executed. While the first rivalry with our FL is with her mentee linlong, I thought it was an easy trope since linlong was pregnant. ( That too I think they did really well in showing the toll of motherhood on ambitious women!! )

I just wish they were just a little more bold in addressing rivalry: they show it really well with women, especially by the end with our FL... but I found that the show never broke down the ML's POV in dealing with it, mostly showing only the outcome of his internal struggle. some will say it's maturity. some will say it's not necessary to show that...

For me, it was a missed opportunity to put both through vulnerable lenses: This would have been a very unique take!!!

While I always deplore the trope that only a " fresh young promising girl" could catch the eye of Ye legend... the show treaded VERY carefully: conflicts of interests and abuse were still possible as she started "WORK" for him, but not under her official employer. The show just tells us to trust the goodwill nature of the ML. As much of a green flag as he is... I still think there were some issues.

still, kudos to the production for giving us a mature leads and also a good second couple story that were able to put what they wanted beyond what they "should" do.

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UPDATE with final thoughts - after finale

This update isn't really a review but my "unpacking of what I feel now" after 14 dreadfully put together episodes.
All characters (especially the main 4) needed intense therapy and counseling. And the enduring feeling I have is the Writer has worked in Psychotherapy and seen all these issues play out in everyday people's lives. It is NOT pretty. BUT, the Writer has yet to present us with drama worth the time of 14 episodes and then leave the viewer with a trite "pretty ending".
Regardless of that, here is what I found unforgiveable. The dialogue was terrible - who speaks like that? Regardless of culture, the dialogue was "cut and paste" from a database the writer has kept handy. None of it felt real, or relatable in their scenes. I can see this drama had countless personalities (not just characters); the drama itself had no personality...but multiples. Next: Our main female MiDo never developed emotionally beyond the age of 9. (and it is likely true of Namgoong until he finally was true to himself). Characters may study; work, take on adult responsibility and even engage in adult sexual expression. BUT their key trait from childhood is an inability to express needs or desires honestly. They remain stunted until mid to late 30s and finally see their own failing in emotional growth. This handicap seriously damaged another person (Mido & Namgoong). And it isn't because there wasn't a kind of love shared, it just was not a healthy love that could sustain a couple in marriage. THAT was obvious to me FROM the very beginning in episode 1. Ahn Eun Jin is an incredible actress - she brought this creature to life and Mido was NOT a likable person. Even at the end, she's still stunted emotionally. All the tears in the world will not fix what's wrong with her.
The family dynamics were dreadfully manipulative; the brothers were weaklings. Namgoong at last realized he needed to break free and the last episode did not make me feel any sympathy for the brothers or Mido. Even if the mother said the right words in the script, she was a flat excuse of a character. Hence my firm conviction - the Writer had a dialogue database they chose lines from...and they never fit. This is the WORST drama of 2026. It was NEVER Romance genre; this was straight up a Psychological (or Horror) genre. And even so, it missed the mark IMO.

Original review: As of Episode 8 - a drama like none other... it's not a pretty one.
This will be a unique and much discussed drama. Many have already decided it's the worst - from a moral point of view. Citing infidelity as their main issue. There is no doubt this story was meant to wreak havoc in the viewer's mind and upset the status quo of most Kdrama viewers. However...there's more going on here and NONE of us will know until the end what the point or trajectory was until then.
In my opinion, Ahn Eun Jin is slaying her role as the most unhinged, self-destructively impulsive woman who realizes in her 30s, she's no longer the sure sighted person she thought she was after being "so incredible" in high school. This is a HUGE issue. The other issue is of course the "so called romance" between her and the ML (Seo Kang Joon) that from my own personal viewing...never existed. This drama looks like a friendship that fell into the trap of "youthful sexual attraction and physical needs" because no one else was there. All the flashbacks show a very FLAT romance. There is sexual expression, but no equality of persons - friends who know each other well, and have regular sexual intimacy but...THERE was never any real lifegoals of it leading to marriage. Here is is where I feel the drama wants to drag the viewers on a journey of..."it's time to question what you want to watch in a K-drama romance." Do you want to watch a RomCom, do you want to follow all the usual tropes? In particular, do you want the childhood friends equal fated lovers for life to be your status quo. Or do you want to explore the reality that, being friends from childhood DOES NOT MEAN, there is a romance in your future.
Those are my thoughts after watching the available 8 episodes of 14.

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When the rational meets the shameless

This was one of those dramas that I was really looking forward to, because I like costume dramas and I really liked the cast.

While the storyline is familiar as I've watched plenty of dramas in the same genre and there are repeated tropes that return in all these dramas, whether you're going to enjoy it stands and falls on the characters.

So let's start with the story. First of all, the rebirth doesn't really add a lot to the story. What I mean by that is that the story could have been told exactly the same way without the rebirth aspect. I think that's because she loses her whole family and is dropped in a completely new one. There's no rewriting of destiny to be done, no revenge, ... She's just given a second chance at life and she goes along with it. There were also some unnecessary characters and storylines that didn't really go anywhere or had a logical progression. That being said, for the most part the story did develop nicely and the relationship between the main leads developed pleasantly. Despite the flaws, this was one of those dramas that I just couldn't stop watching.

The most entertaining part of this drama for me were the characters. I really liked the casting and the actors did a great job.

The obvious standouts are the main leads. Meng Zi Yi is definitely in her element in this drama. She was a very fitting choice to play the elegant, graceful, mature and aloof noble lady. Her character is intelligent and compassionate, but also ruthless and decisive when she has to be. If there was one issue that I had with this character it would be that in the effort to make her intelligence stand out, they made almost every other character more stupid than they should have been. That defeats the purpose of her intelligence in a way, because she has no worthy rivals, which could have been a very interesting dynamic.

He Yu is also impeccably cast. He has a strong screen presence and charisma and pulled off this part perfectly. He plays the cunning and ruthless prince equally as well as the shameless, silly one and it was an absolute delight to watch his shenanigans. In a similar way to the FL, He Yu's Crown Prince is nigh unbeatable. Thankfully, he does have a bit of a rival in the form of his fifth brother, Prince Xin, played by another standout Jeremy Xu.

Jeremy is a very charismatic and magnetic presence on screen. His Prince Xin is very intense and obsessive, to the detriment of everything else. While his performance was great, I think the writers had some issues with the development of this character. He could have been much more interesting, but they kept going back and forth between making him a good guy, a bad guy or a morally grey guy and unfortunately never really settled properly.

Another absolutely likeable character is Lester Lin's Tian Yuan. The relationship between Tian Yuan and Xiao Hua Yong was among the cutest things in this drama. I'm not sure why such a young person was chosen to play this part, but I did like the older brother/younger brother dynamic that the two had, especially since Xiao Hua Yong didn't have a brotherly bond with any of his actual brothers.

I definitely also need to mention Fan Shuai Qi. It's very rare in CDramas, to see a "woman who's pretending to be a man" played in a believable, convincing way and she definitely succeeded.

Something that also absolutely needs to be said is that this drama is visually stunning. The cinematography, the costumes, the music and the locations were all absolutely beautiful.

All in all, while this drama may not be perfect, I'm still inclined to give it a high rating, because I really enjoyed it.

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