Intensivão de Amor (2023)

A Seemingly Fun Drama Addressing Family Pressure on South Korean Kids to Succeed Academically

My take on this drama now that we are almost to the midpoint.

I love, love watching Jeon Do Yeon. She is a natural and has this way about her, making me believe her in every role she takes. Here she is funny, fun, and almost over-indulged as a mom trying to keep up with other moms way over-involved, if not obsessed with their children's education. I adore Jung Kyung Ho; he is such an expressive actor and so much fun to watch. He is my third favorite South Korean Actor. I have to admit I wasn't sure what to expect from him in this role, but I love this fun side of him, and his love and dedication to math and teaching make me want to go back to school and re-do all those math exams I took as a senior in high school -- who knew math could be so appealing.

The twist I didn't expect from this drama is the murder/crime/suicide aspect. It makes sense to have that twist, seeing how much pressure parents, schools, and the education system puts on these kids. I am all for pushing your kids to excel in school, but it shouldn't be at the expense of their mental health or life, for that matter. One of the biggest tragedies of the Korean education system is that children and teenagers must always study. They have little time left over for fun, relaxing, vacations, or enriching themselves in non-school-related activities. It's not forced on them, but they are given few options for success; if they do not excel, it's as good as forced on them. Some kids study 18 hours a day, spend 10 hours at school, go to cram-school classes after school, and spend their time studying at home to secure a good college and standard of living, and acceptance is beyond tragic. I wish the parents, especially the moms, would put as much time into providing their children with a more balanced life as they do with their education. It would amount to a much happier society with students/children who aren't as stressed or pressured to study all the time and wouldn't need to cheat, lie, scheme, or bully to be accepted, feel good about themselves, or stay ahead.

Not only Koreans but most Asians see education as a way of gaining success and bringing esteem to one's family. And what's even more bewildering is the extent these mothers would go to secure that success for their children even at the expense of other children, resorting to cheating, lying, and scheming -- which in turn leads to bullying others and harming others and themselves, even murder and suicide. I don't even know if a solution exists. Still, I think the system itself needs a massive overhaul, and so does the role of the family and education-crazy mothers who believe their child's life is not about freedom, personal choice, or happiness; it is about production, performance, and obedience -- life is so much more than that and just because one birth a child it doesn't mean then own them.

I appreciate this drama for bringing up the many issues related to the education system in South Korea, particularly the pressure families put on their kids to succeed academically and the consequences of those actions.

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exciting new rom-com

Really good drama I have watched 11 episodes so far this is definitely a feel-good drama. It's a light drama but it also has a good balance of addressing issues. If you watched hometown cha cha cha you will definitely like this. I like how it looks at the teenage side and adult side eg their parents and how far some s. Korean parents would go for their children's education.I like the plot and how there is a mystery in the police investigation and I can't wait to see what it will all be like after it is solved. I do like the cliffhangers at the end of the episode. The casting could have been better it would have been nice if the main character's mum was younger as I think she is supposed to be in her 30s.

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Wrong Cast, wrong aging calculation!!!

how a very young handball player jumped into a 50 years old woman in 13 years! she was younger in the past but got in age accelerator machine somehow?!!! I couldn't stop thinking about how old and ugly player they could have chosen for the main role... why would they do that??!!! whyyyyyy
I also liked the story line but I couldn't believe how easily they forget and forgive the people who were so mean to them! rude children have been doing all sorts of meaningful actions but at the end of the episode they have been forgiven by a simple apologize!
I couldn't stop thinking about the woman character's age each episode... why??just why they did that? I don't argue about the ugliness but just couldn't match the ages from past seen to future ones! I wonder no one else have gotten any problem with that!!!!:))

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Pleasantly surprised....for the first half of the drama

I wish I wrote my review when I was halfway through the drama so I could've had all my good things to say about this drama out before it got ruined by the later half of the drama.
Honestly, I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoyed the first half of the drama. Even though I had my doubts about the female lead, I thought the ML and FL were so cute and had great chemistry. I liked the warmth that our FL's family had and it was just heartwarming and wholesome. I also didn't mind having the murder mystery aspect in the drama because it kept things interesting.

However, the conclusion of the murder mystery was so anticlimactic and just outright disappointing. And from there, everything else just also went downhill. All of a sudden, we're given all these random subplots being rushed throughout the last few episodes of the drama, and for what? I just found everything so pointless or anticlimactic. The love between the best friend and FL's brother felt so random, out of place, and forced. They could've at least dropped hints of it throughout the first half of the drama so that it could make sense in the end but instead it feels like they just wanted to make sure everyone was paired up in the end. I also hated having the biological mother come back, and it felt so incredibly pointless and I really don't know what Hae Yi was thinking during all of that. I also was waiting the ENTIRE drama for the two evil mothers to be punished for all that they had done. I was so sick of them and the only thing that kept me going was that they were going to pay for their actions later. But NO. Instead, they were able to redeem themselves with little consequences for their actions and go on their merry way. And honestly I liked the Hae Yi and Geon Hoo pairing better than Hae Yi and Seon Jae but I knew that was a losing battle. What I didn't expect was for Soo Ah to also be barely punished, to just be redeemed in the end, AND put together with Geon Hoo.
It's really a shame. I was enjoying this drama so much and had such high hopes. I can't believe this is how it ends.

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Things I hate/love about this drakor

Yang aku suka dari drama ini adalah openingnya dengan animasi yang lucu juga judul episode nya yang berkorelasi dengan MTK. Kyung Ho juga all out banget sebagai Chi Yeol.

Yang aku gak suka dari drama ini adalah Konfliknya yang terlalu banyak untuk drakor bergenre romcom dan eksekusinya juga gak begitu memuaskan. Dari awal drakor ini udah bikin kita nebak-nebak siapa villainnya (meskipun riddlenya gampang ditebak dengan beberapa hint yang dikasih), tapi saat villainnya udah ketauan langsung dibuat adegan bundir aja kayak serius nih gitu doang? kita nonton nyampe 14 episode tapi ending villainnya gitu doang? Emaknya Hae yi juga kenapa mesti muncul lagi kalau akhirnya bakal ilang juga. better buat emaknya die aje dah?

Terakhir, ini yang paling gue benci, kapal gue sejak awal karam ges? ketebak lah, geon hui??

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Absolutely fantastic!

I’m still in shock at how good this series was. I have rarely found a “romance” that is this good and keeps me so engaged that I don’t want to stop watching.

At first, I didn’t see the two leads together. Complete opposites. He looks so much younger than her. He’s professional and polished. She dresses frumpy and really needs to do something with that hair. But as the series went on, they made sense.

There were so many side stories which included characters that I loved and hated. The love triangle with her daughter was hilarious most of the time. I just loved both guys so much. But there was only one obvious choice for her.

There was murder and suspense. I have to say that was the most devastated I have been and I started crying from the moment I realized what was going to happen. I figured out exactly how it would all go down and I was right. Left me gutted and I still haven’t stopped crying.

Her best friend’s relationship was the cutest.

I highly recommend this series. It has substance and not at all boring. It has a great ending.

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Quite fun

This was cute and fun! I liked how bright and colorful the show was, it felt like an easy watch.

CCIR sheds light on the competitive educational system, and how it negatively affects students in terms of mental health and behavior towards others (their parents or classmates). Su Ah, for example, may have a nasty personality for most of the drama, but I couldn't hate her because it was clearly a result of the academic pressure she has on her shoulders in order to be consistently high achieving in class. I also blame her mother and any other adult in this show lol. Seon Jae's mom... Su Ah's mental health drastically deteriorated: she had hallucinations and even fantasies about harming Hae Yi. Due to the pressure she felt, she viewed HY as an enemy that needed to be eliminated but we could see that she felt bad and that she was self-conscious. Hee Jae is another example of how academic pressure (and parents) can destroy a person mentally, especially because his mom continued to make the same mistake with Seon Jae.

The found family trope in this show is strong and great, I really liked it. Chi Yeol finally found his people, and Haeng Son's little circle was so wholesome. And I loved it whenever she'd say "Anyway" ?. However, I found the episodes a tad too long, I watched the second half of the show in double speed and also skipped a little. I thought I would enjoy it a little more than I did to be honest. The show is overall 'alright' - I don't know what it is, but it didn't catch me 100%. The OST was okay - average, there wasn't really a song that stood out to me. But: I really enjoyed the relationship between the leads. It offers some sweet and fun moments between all the teasing and bickering and is also overall quite mature. I didn't like how it was never clarified that Hae Yi didn't attempt suicide though. That was bad writing... my girl was kidnapped!

In conclusion: a cute little show that offers an insight into education and its dark sides and impact on mental health, but also a show with fun romance, friendship and found family.

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a show that i really loved but one that still disappointed me

Ever since this show was announced I was one of the happiest about it and one of those who looked forward to it the most since it is written by Once Again writer, one of my all times favorite weekend dramas.
Then as expected, this show started amazingly.
Everything about it was beautiful until the rom&com were suddenly reduced for the murder plot to gain the biggest attention from the writer.
The show felt ruint and its beauty was lost in a meaningless sub-plot that served for nothing. I thought the writer had great reasons for the mystery / murder plot but it was nothing but a story that took place and ended uselessly.
The final then brought back the beauty of this show that was lost for weeks and made me smile.
This was the show I liked so much, this was the story that I really wanted to watch.
How great would it have been if crash course in romance was a 12 episode drama without the murder sub-plot? I don't think i'll ever stop thinking about the answer to this question.

It was a nice show regardless.
(Still I am bothered by Jaewook and young joo dating and getting married and I do not see this relationship fitting nor appropriate since she was like a family member for him for a long time besides them suddenly sharing something romantic felt so forced and unnecessary but I won't comment on that further.)

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Drama seems to have potentials..... (EDIT: DRAMA IS DAEBAKKKKKKKKKK)

Well ..so far I can feel the maturity and the cute immaturity of both leads... Since I am still on Ep 4... EDIT:( NOW IN EP10)

I will not want to say much. However, if I am to be sincere with how hooked I am in just 4 episodes, I will give my hooking percentage 40%..... EDIT(INCREASED TO 79%)

I hope it continues to give me joy till the last episode. (EDIT: IT IS GIVING ME SERIOUS JOY)

Also, I love the switch into motherhood by the Female Lead, she seems quick to adjust to every situation.. at least from what I have noticed in just 4 episodes though...EDIT:( NOW IN EP10)

The Male Lead on the other hand.... I love the way he acts cute towards children, even though sometimes he might be cold to other adults... he still has some kind of sweetness within him.

EDIT: PLEASEEEEE WATCHHHHHHHHHH IT....... I honestly can not breath because of the sweetness.

Also, I tend to get picky with casting....but I honestly love this pair, even though some people aint having it because of the age difference..... To me I honestly do not care about that, I mean.... why would you not love the FL..... she is a loveable type...

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Great drama, poor casting.

The plot isn't special. A pitiful woman and a powerful man slowly fall in love. Very typical for a kdrama, but this show still manages to make the cliche very interesting every episode.

The FL isn't special, She's just a normal mom trying to make a living. She's living a comfortable life and has friends around her. But somehow she's still very interesting character. Maybe it's the whole fish out of water where she first dwells into the world of private education. Maybe it's because it's fun to see how a pitiful woman gets an opportunity to feel loved. Maybe it's both.

Now the casting problem. She was a national athletes so she was like early to mid 20s. Her adapted daughter was in kindergarten so 5-6 yo back them. Now she's in HS so it's been around 10 years since she adopted her. The actress is 49 and the character she's playing is in her 30s. Don't get me wrong she looks great for her age but it feels really forced when people say she looks like young for being a mother of a HS student.

I love the show for the relationship between the mother daughter and how the ML is helping them but I can't feel the chemistry between the main characters. Even the teenager's love life was more interesting.

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Love this so far...

The first thing that reminds me while watching it, was my own school, clg life. I used to hate math in school but there are some really good teachers I found after school.

So, I can relate to the student life that they show in this drama, the strict parents who had high expectations of the kids, and the pressure they feel, Actually, I was avoiding that drama cuz of that BUT it turn out to be the GEM?

The 1st two episodes were a bit slow which normally happened with any other drama. I really love how they projected the eating disorder on the male lead and shows that the man could also suffer from these!

Unlike, "Crazy Love" There main lead actually teaches math... I also like the new love triangle b/w the kids Nam Hey-yi, Soeon-Ji, and Ji Doon-Hee (the athlete)

And Like any other drama they had to make a brilliant Smart Girl, who is a topper, obsessed with her grades make her jealous of the main girl ( Nam Hey-yi)... why? Why do they always make 2nd Females bad/jealous?

Overall, I love this, It is fun to watch it, The main leads became enemies to friends to lovers... I'm excited to watch more!!
Edit: I really love the overall show ending was happy for everyone... which isn't realistic but it is worthy.

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A good one when there's just nothing!!!

Recently in these 2 months, dec and jan, i haven't been able to find a good drama. The dramas airing were few and had bored me up.

But this one cane down as a breath of fresh air. The drama is gud, not really bad. Though the plotline might seem childish at parts, but overall deserve a rating of 7/ 7.5

The drama has many plots going on from enemies to lovers, children to adult meetup and of course, the education background.
The actors are talented. Both ML snd FL are gud. Though the students trope is more attractive. Jung kyung ho is as gud as always but FL attracts more. I'm seeing FL for the first time but she's doing a gud job.

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