alli
United States
Orange Marmalade has an interesting take on an amalgamation of cliches - you have high school romance, Joseon era romance, love triangles, love squares, vampires falling for humans and vice versa, accident-followed-by-amnesia - anything and everything cliched is here. And yet, it's got an impressive take on things. Issues like discrimination, friendship, acceptance and maturity show up frequently here.
Story:
As many have said before, the drama can be split into 3 parts: High School Part 1 (HS1), Joseon Era (JE) and High School Part 2 (HS2). I liked HS2 a lot more than HS1, because HS1 seemed more rushed to me than HS2, if that's even possible! JE was actually enjoyable to me, believe it or not. I liked watching it but more so because of the relationship between Jaemin and Shihoo. In the HS2 part, I have a certain weakness for Ara - maybe it's because I find her relatable? The HS parts, both 1 and 2 could have been developed more and tied in better with the JE section and we could have had more character development - mostly Shihoo and Ara!
Acting/Cast:
Unfortunately, the show really takes hits here. I gave it a 6, because it's barely above average to me. Yeo Jingoo does well in his role, however his restraint comes through as bland, which is definitely a problem. Still, I think it was good and he did well. Unfortunately, Seolhyun was really weak in her role and it really takes much away from the drama when the lead is not on a good level. Her visuals were perfect but her acting left much to be desired.
Onto better things! Lee Jonghyun - what can you not do, seriously?? Even though I came in here as a Boice and expected to be biased, Jonghyun really did almost meet my expectations. He wasn't spectacular but he did well in portraying traits which I felt defined Shihoo - the delinquent bad boy brashness and aloofness which later translates to a reticence and maybe even awkwardness? Gil Eunhye is gorgeous as Ara and she really does justice to the role - ah, why do I like Ara so much...? I also enjoyed Park Guntae's character a lot - he kind of looks like BTOB's Lee Changsub to me? Or is it just me? Seriously, the supporting cast really made me watch on!
Music:
Cute but not memorable. The main song that Orange Marmalade performs sounds very much like an anime OST and honestly, I don't remember much else about the drama's music. Though, special mention to the flute piece that played in the JE part - I loved that!
Rewatch Value:
Once is enough for me.
Overall:
While it wasn't utterly disappointing, it wasn't quite the best, either. The reason the rating went down was because of a lack of character development and partially due to weak acting. I think most of the epiosdes were hit-or-miss for me but with the last episode being a total hit - I'm glad I went through with it!
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Story:
Almost flawless, if I had to put it simply. Many crimes are related to an overarching theme and while the later cases are not as police procedural in nature as the previous ones, this shift of focus makes sense. There's nothing I like more than a good ol' police procedural and this sure gave me a nice bit of it! The way each character's story intertwined was nice, to me. Though at some points I felt it was predictable - it wasn't as much of a 'whodunnit' as I would've expected. For example, I thought it was pretty easy to pinpoint out who Min and Lee Joon Young were - but on the flip side, I feel like the focus on the psychological battles of the characters was more crucial than a whodunnit. The characters are 'real' - there's no other way to put it! Especially Cha Ji An and Son Myeong Woo, whose characters I absolutely adored! Also, as mentioned before by many others - this has an open ending, which I don't like as a principle but I can see why it was done as so. One more episode would've helped, however since the last episode was very choppy. Many also talk about the weak romance plot but I thought it was very realistic? Especially with Hyeon's personality, I think witnessing his growth was essential before any sort of romance happened. Kudos to the writers for an extremely believable romance!
Acting/Cast:
This was really flawless! I've always liked Seo Inguk but to see him in this type of a role was a delight! Jang Nara is amazing, she really gives the depth to Ji An's character. Portraying strength and vulnerability easily, her performance could be second to none. The first surprise was Choi Wonyoung - my God, he's amazing beyond reason! Actors that can act through their eyes are a rare breed and Wonyoung does that with ease, emoting easily with his gaze! Park Bogum was easily the other surprise - I was used to seeing him be the MC of Music Bank but he's good at acting, too! Looking forward to so much more from him, especially as one of the leads in Reply 1988 - you have a new fan, Bogummy (I know it's a bad nickname but it's his Twitter handle, I'm not kidding)! The support cast was fantastic, everyone acted well! The casting was beyond fabulous, especially as the child actors and their adult counterparts were most believable - even down to little mannerisms!
Music:
The BGM sounded a bit BBC's Sherlock-y near the beginning but the actual OST is fantastic and fits the mood of the drama well!
Rewatch Value:
Ready to watch it over and over again!
Overall:
Slam dunk. That's all.
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