Must suspend disbelief

What I liked: DO. I don't need to say more than that, but I will. He is excellent. Intense, focused, with just a little "crazy". His hair is wild, his eyes are wild, you never know what he's going to do next. I've always appreciated his acting, and his acting in this role didn't disappoint. Lee Se Hee as Shin Ah Ra - her character was a joy. She was a hard-working, somewhat hard prosecutor, always in control, until she got involved with DO's character Jin Jung, then she was out of her element. Her facial expressions were priceless and her frustration with Jin Jung was so fun to watch. I really liked that they didn't try to make a romance here.

What I didn't like: The storyline was extremely convoluted and the fact that everyone was corrupt was just too much. I felt like they were just trying to fill time. Bad guy A gets caught, then here comes bad guy B, he gets taken care of and here comes bad guy C. Then there were the situations in which they found themselves. I just found the storyline too implausible.

I'm glad I watched this for DO and Lee Se Hee.

Leia Mais

My personal opinion only

Acting: Seo Kang Joon as Jin Ho was excellent. He didn't say much, but then he doesn't have to. He just has to BE. What he said in the voice overs was beautiful, but I kept wondering why he never verbalized any of his thoughts. Park Min Young as Hae Won - in my opinion, she can do no wrong, she's that good in everything she does. However -
Characters: Jin Ho kept everything bottled up inside. Hae Won reminded me of Eeyore, she was so morose all the time. There were some other interesting characters in this show as well. I loved the scenes with the book club meetings.
Music: The music was wonderful and went perfectly with the show.
Cinematography: There is no question that this show was beautifully filmed. The camera angles, the scenes in nature, the close ups.
Story: Here's where it goes wrong for me. The story itself might have been really good, but this was one of the slowest shows I've ever seen. I like a good story as much as the next person, but when you show scenes again and again of making coffee and tea (are we in a Folger's commercial?) or take five minutes showing the female lead walking up a road dragging her suitcase behind her, that's just too tedious for me. There was so much quietness in this that I felt like no one was talking to each other.
I would, however, say to give it a try for yourself, since I am definitely in the minority on this one.

Leia Mais

Time I will never get back

I decided to watch this C-drama because it only had 24 episode (which is short for C-dramas), but once I got started, I quickly realized that this could have been completed in half the episodes, and it would have made the whole thing more interesting. I felt that this show REALLY needed a different editor, there were some episodes that, once I got to the end, I realized that the entire episode was a complete waste of time. I really felt that a lot of it was like watching paint dry - boring as all get out.

I suppose the actors did a good job with what they had to work with. The problem was the script. The main character of Tu Mo was so irritating. First, she'd been liking a boy for years, and that boy was one of the most irritating characters I've seen in a show recently. Then, I couldn't actually see what Gu Wei Yi saw in her. Then, she always seemed to be mad at the male lead for something, but rather than talk to him about it, she did a lot of clomping out of the room, slamming doors, and generally not being very nice to him. She was very immature.

Overall, no chemistry between the leads, too many irritating characters, too much dog and cat sound effects, fish kisses, and multiple unnecessary scenes/storylines.

It was sad for me to realize, after watching this, that most of the C-dramas are along these lines and not, for me, overly enjoyable. Love Me If You Dare and Dating in the Kitchen are the gold standard for me, and I will continue to hope that I happen upon other C-dramas that live up to them.

Leia Mais

Sweet story

This was a cute show without too much angst. However, it took them FOREVER to tell each other they liked each other!(ep 18 when there are only 24 episodes!) Once they admitted their feelings, it was fun to watch them, because they are such a cute couple. And his dimples!! I really like watching shows where the friends are loyal to one another and this show had good examples of that. I felt that, at times, the male lead was too wishy washy about whether he liked her. I would have liked to have had a more visible conclusion for the photographer - I believe he got his happily ever after, but they didn't really show it.

Leia Mais

Uneven but enjoyable

This was a somewhat frustrating watch for me. I vacillated between enjoyment of the characters and anger with the writing. Some of the episodes felt like they were penned by a different writer. One episode would be romance, one episode would be mystery, throw in some comedy every now and then. I do have to admit, I enjoyed it more the further I got into it.

What I liked:
-I enjoyed Lee Hye Ri and Lee Jung Young as the main characters. However, the writing for him was all over the place. His sense of guilt, his dumping the ex-girlfriend after ten years, his leaving a profession that took years to get into (and then falling back into it right at the end like he'd never been gone). The man had a serious martyr complex.
-The main characters
-The resolving of the issues of the dead. Some of them didn't get enough closure and there seemed to be large gap in the middle where they didn't get addressed at all.
-Vincent and Michael. They were both very caring and were fun/funny to watch.
-Tae In Ho as Im II Sub. I loved FINALLY seeing him in something where he wasn't a complete and total jerk.
-The dad.
-The music.
-The couple, once they got together, supported one another.
-No time jump.

Issues for me:
-ML was too much of a "poor me" kind of guy.
-Ex-girlfriend and that whole storyline. It felt like his feelings for her were never resolved, just swept under the rug, which diminished his feelings for the FL as far as I was concerned. And can we just talk about how the ex-girlfriend had absolutely no self-respect? Move on, honey.
-The ex-girlfriend's mother. What a terrible, screechy, woman. Terrible relationship between the two, which made the death and reactions to it so unbelievable.
-Friend whose personality does a 180 shift halfway through the show and becomes a terrible person.
-Too many irons in the fire with unnecessary characters/plots. Im II Sub and the woman/baby that show up, the ML's ex-girlfriend immediately spring to mind.
-Once the couple got together, the romance was forgotten, and the couple became boring.
-Storyline for the dad. REALLY!?!?!?!
-The ending didn't feel satisfying to me.

I was REALLY tempted to drop it early on. I'm glad I watched it, but the writing/editing could have been better.

Leia Mais

Lack of chemistry and unlikeable characters were the downfall for me

I was excited to see Park Min Young again, I've always thought that she was a good actress and I've enjoyed most of the things she's been in. Go Kyung Pyo, honestly, I'm on the fence about him. I've seen him shine in a couple of things, but he seems more like a second lead actor. He just doesn't have the charisma needed to be the main actor. However, the acting wasn't the problem, the story was, and the way the actors were written. I found that I couldn't root for any of the characters, so I was unable to invest totally in the story.

Park Min Young and her character - first, has she been ill? She did not look well in this show. She looked almost frail she was so thin. Add to that, there was no "spark" to her character. I didn't like her or her motivations.

Go Kyung Pyo and his character - I'll say again, he just doesn't have the magnetism to carry off a lead role, especially here. A lot of shows are throwing in socially awkward characters, which is fine, but I'm thinking he was on the spectrum somewhere? His flat affect, his mannerisms all led me to believe that which is fine, but he's no better at the end than he was at the beginning. I didn't see or feel any growth in either of the characters.

There was no chemistry between the two leads. Add to that, there was an inordinate amount of time where nothing was happening, too much staring without dialogue, and the storyline was weak.

For me, this was one I kept watching, hoping that it would get better, but it never did.

Leia Mais

I hated the characters!

STORYLINE: I didn't buy this story. She falls in love with him why? After hearing him give a speech? He is the epitome of a cold fish, and no matter how mean he is to her, she still loves him. Can we talk about having no self-esteem? There are a number of words that came to mind watching her - stalker, dumb, crazy, silly. As for him - mean, robotic, verbally abusive, poor decision skills, self-centered. I didn't care for either one of these characters throughout the entire show. I like to watch shows that have people that I can relate to in some fashion - either in shared experiences or people that I might be friends with in real life. Add to that the fact that the male lead supposedly has a complete turnaround in the last episode. I have absolutely NO idea why he would have fallen in love with her, other than he liked the idea that she worshipped him. And I'll get a little picky here, but can someone please tell me why he always that his giant bag slung over his shoulder, yet carried his books in his other arm?
ACTING: The acting is bad in this drama; however, I will say that if it was supposed to be like a live-action cartoon, they accomplished that goal. He is completely flat with no emotions whatsoever throughout the entire drama. He had no emotions in his eyes, he was wooden when he walked. The female lead what just completely over-the-top. Her constant pursing of her lips, which looked completely unnatural and forced, and her eye rolling and "comical" expressions and movements did not work. There was a lot of overacting by many others in the cast, most notably his mother and her friends. All of their reactions were so exaggerated so as not to be realistic at all.
CHEMISTRY: None. There were a couple of kisses but I was still never able to figure out why they liked each other.
REWATCH: Not on your life!

Leia Mais

Slow, rambling story - and not in a good way

I don't mind a story that develops slowly, giving me time to get to the know the characters and their reasoning for doing the things they do. Unfortunately, for me, this show never lived up to its potential. Multiple boring storylines. Multiple unlikeable characters. The bullying storyline was disturbing, the nightmare father was too over-the-top bad, of course they felt like they needed to include a gay storyline and then did nothing with it. As for the two main couples: I could never understand why they would have fallen in love. The main characters were SO different and they never seemed to work to get to know and respect the other's differences. Plus, I found the main actor's acting, as well as his character, problematic. Was he supposed to be on the autism spectrum? Because that's the way he was played. The actor had absolutely no facial expression and his stares were so intense it just looked like he was waiting to say his next line. The second couple had a lot of cute bickering scenes, but really, that's all they ever did.
As I finished this show, I thought that the main goal of the show might have been "keep running forward, don't look back to where you've already been" but who knows, because at that point I just didn't care anymore.

Leia Mais

Full of unlikable characters

I get that a lot of people praised this show for its originality, but for me it didn't work. The documentary style just took me out of the story too much. I didn't care much for any of the characters in this show, but especially the main couple. I think the actors did okay with what they had to work with, but the way these people were written was lacking. The male lead spent the entire show going on and on about how much he loved this woman, to the detriment of everything and everyone else. Why? Why was he so obsessed with her? She was NOT a nice person! Their relationship seemed toxic to me. A romance needs to make sense to me, I need to be able to empathize with the feelings of SOMEONE in the show that I am watching, and I wasn't able to do so with this show. And the ending was just very abrupt and strange.

Leia Mais

My opinion only

I love Shin Min Ah, as well as Kim Young Dae, so I was very excited for this one. I was so disappointed. There were too many storylines going on for 12 episodes, but I'm glad there weren't 16 episodes because it was all I could do to finish this.

What I liked:
The second couple. They were so cute together, as well as in the scenes that they had separately.
Kim Young Dae's character, even with the bad haircuts.

What I didn't care for:
-Hae Yeong (Shin Min Ah's character). I was totally getting narcissist vibes from the character at the beginning, which didn't lessen as the show progressed. She was not nice to the ML throughout. I know some had said that she had a right, because of her mother, but I'm not buying that. Sometimes a character redeems herself. This one didn't, as far as I'm concerned.
-Bad kisses by the leads.
-3FL multiple sexual partners, one of whom wasn't exclusive to her either. The latest catchphrase seems to be polyamorous, but a different word comes to mind. Accidental pregnancy, not knowing who the father is. This whole storyline could have been left out and made the show more cohesive.
-Multiple storylines that went nowhere. What happened to 2ML's mom and dad? They had such a big story at the beginning, and it just fell off. What was the point of the 2ML's secretary? He was just irritating throughout.
-All of the sex chatter by the FL which demonstrates that she's had multiple partners. Personally, that really decreases my enjoyment of a "romance".
-The sex talk, the profanity, the sexual innuendos - for me, this was all very off-putting. I have been watching K-dramas to get away from all this stuff.

Again, this is just my personal preference, but considering that I love to binge-watch shows, I could only manage one episode a day and was reluctant to continue thereafter. I just found too much unlikeable about it.

Leia Mais

Take a relaxing vacation with the Wooga Squad

This show had a different feel from the BTS In the Soop. Sometimes, I felt that here, they didn't know what to say and how to act, and that feeling came and went for me. In the first episode when they were talking about showing themselves in a good light on camera, that concerned me. I wanted to see real, not scripted. And I think that is ultimately what I saw. There is something relaxing about watching others relax. In their matching sweats and their matching pajamas, sitting around talking about how they met, what's on their bucket lists, what makes them sad, it really calms the mind and warms the heart.

One thing I continue to be amazed by is the respect that Koreans have for each other. They kid around a lot, but it's always around love and respect. Sharing grocery shopping and housekeeping tasks, each person kind of fell into a perfect place, so they all had a job and worked cooperatively. I also appreciated that they were supportive of one another, praising each other personally and for their careers. In a world that seems to revolve around trying to tear each other down, this was nice to watch.

While in the car, they talked about if they would be able to take a camping trip together. I hope that they can get their schedules to work to be able to do this, it would be a treat for us!

If you enjoyed watching this, I can also recommend Young Actor's Retreat, that Park Seo Joon is also in.

Leia Mais

Toxic message and bullying abound

The story was okay, but Im Soo Hyang looked totally plastic. I think it was to emphasized all the reconstructive work she had had done, but as her expression hardly ever changed, it reminded me of a bad botox job. Cha Eun Woo had absolutely no facial expressions and his voice inflections never changed. Both characters were just bland.
So much emphasis was put on her completely making herself over, and her resultant self-esteem problems, I couldn't feel for her character at all. Was the message that you should be happy with who you are? Or was the message that you should consider plastic surgery? It was hard to tell. I didn't feel that the characters were fleshed out enough.
The body shaming in this drama was way over-the-top. A recurring question I have about Asian culture - do people just say whatever they think in front of people or is this just a cliche? ("He's so handsome" "She's so ugly") I can't imagine taking pictures of a man because he's handsome and talking to my friends about it with him standing there.
The last episode was cute though. Happy ending.

Leia Mais

Beautiful actors, but...

For me, this was a long drama with not a lot going on. There is slow in order to build a story, and then there is slow to draw out the episodes. I felt that this definitely fell in the latter category.

Riley Wang as Shu Wei - man, is he ever fine! And those dimples! But, I'm sorry to say, his acting really leaves something to be desired. His movements are wooden and he has basically one expression - he's supposed to be brilliant and anti-social, but to me he just always looked mad. When he was supposed to turn to look at the female lead, it often looked like his neck had some kind of ratchet-gear to make his head turn...turn a little stop, turn a little stop, etc.

Rosy Zhao as Er Duo - I love this actress. She was brilliant in Dating in the Kitchen, and here she has somewhat the same cute, innocent vibe going on, but I got so tired of everyone dumping on her all the time. She was always in trouble with someone.

Chemistry: Seriously lacking. Open-eyed fish kisses, then multiple times that she is trying to keep him from kissing her, like she's scared to death. It's so unrealistic in this day and age. And then they admitted their feelings for one another and I really didn't care.

Second lead couple - they were a big old mess and it was as if the writers had no idea what to do with them. And what they ultimately decided to do made no sense.

Ending - obligatory separation/time jump - stupid, as usual, but since I didn't buy them as a couple it didn't really matter anyway. The ending was very abrupt.

Leia Mais

Lots of laugh out loud moments

Wonderful show. I spent most of my time thinking how attractive both of the leads were. They were both stunning. I actually liked both of the characters. There was quite a bit of physical humor, which was fun, and his facial expressions were priceless! Yoon Kyun Sang played this part perfectly. He was harsh at the beginning, but he did an excellent job of displaying his vulnerability. When he smiled a partial smile for the first time, what a treat! They did a good job of portraying the OCD. I loved her friendships with the rest of the cleaning crew. Didn't like her dad, HATED his grandfather, and I felt the ending was entirely too rushed after spending all that time trying to get them together. Korean shows use that "going away for years" storyline a lot, I guess. Funny, sweet, romantic, low angst, happy, though rushed, ending.

Leia Mais