I wasn't going to write a review for this season of Work Later, Drink Now, because, well, it's been hard parsing out my rather jumbled up feelings. Despite the excessive amount of drinking the characters engaged in, I greatly enjoyed season 1, and I was very hopeful and excited for season 2. These girls are a total mess, but they are an endearing mess, and I enjoyed watching them be both messy and heartfelt. But this season was...something else.

The first problem was the arc around Ji Yeon's cancer. It was fine with me that they went to the mountains. I don't even mind that they were 'healing' cancer with nature. Sure, it's not believable, but this is Work Later, Drink Now. Part of the purpose of this drama is putting the girls in somewhat over-the-top situations and watching them respond. But when we were still in the mountains 'curing cancer' by ep. 3, I was ready for the girls to go home. The whole 'healing in the mountains' bit was only going to work for so long, and they stretched it beyond what was reasonable. On top of that, some of the humor in those episodes was both weird and not funny. (The statue grossed me out, frankly.)

The second problem is that the unnecessarily long stay in the mountains completely messed with the pacing of the rest of the season. Everything felt slightly out of whack, like when you watch a video and the sound is constantly ahead or behind of what you're seeing on screen. It was so hard to get a grasp on what this season was meant to be about, what it was meant to be doing, and I was over halfway through before I got a handle on the story.

The third problem was yoga. As in, what exactly was there of value in the entire subplot with Ji Yeon's boss and her boss' brother? They made the plotline work in the end, but for much of the drama, it felt like a weird rabbit trail that took away from more important things that were happening in the story. Sure, the brother and sister had a sweet little reconciliatory family moment at the end, and yes, I felt moved...but why was I supposed to care in the first place?

And this isn't a story complaint, but the CGI in earlier episodes was pretty bad. I was willing to overlook it while they were in the mountains, because you are not training a hog to pose for a camera, but I did not find adding a CGI snake in a later episode necessary. (The events around the snake were equally as unnecessary.) This might seem like a petty, unimportant thing to complain about, as they are the only instances of CGI in the drama, but they stuck out to me because of how bad the CGI was, and if that's what it was going to look like, they should have kept it to as much of a minimum as possible.

But, and here's where I'll give this drama some praise, while everyone else hated how things played out between Ji Goo and Ji Yeon, I think it was some of this season's strongest writing. In fact, most of the seasons strongest writing was in the second half. The conflict between Ji Goo and Ji Yeon, how things played out in both romances, So Hee and her mom dealing with their grief (I have some problems with her mom's choices, but those are not writing complaints), there was just a lot of really good character exploration and development in the second half, and I loved all of it. It was also really, really great to see what these girls were like as kids, their upbringings, and then later as college students and how their friendship began. It gave us a lot of insight into who each of them is.

I wasn't a big fan of everything in the finale, but it was still better than the yoga sibling's plotline and having to spend so much damn time in the mountains, so I'm choosing to overlook it. What I can't overlook though is the incohesiveness of this season. There were some really great moments, some strong character development, some really good romance. There were also some bad writing choices, serious pacing issues, and some really weird and out-of-place gag humor (Ji Yeon loves farting now?). I'm not sure if I would watch a season 3 of this show. I won't say I wouldn't, but I think I definitely need some time in-between this season and another one. Maybe by next winter I'll be ready.

I have to end this review with one question though. Am I the only person wanting to know why they never addressed the final scene of season 1? Or did they address it, and I just missed it?

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This drama is truthfully quite silly. Much of the viewership in dramaworld is past stories about female leads chasing the male lead around hoping he'll fall for them. I'm not really over this type of story as long as it can be done in a way that's not over-dramatic or requires a truly awful male lead or a female lead with no worthwhile personality traits (or worse, Both). But I don't necessarily gravitate towards these stories anymore either. But as silly as this drama can seem, it's also quite charming. And swoony. And cute. And laugh out loud funny.

Off the bat, you have to respect the female leads determination and drive, both in love and in work. This is one of the things that keeps this drama from being totally grating. The female lead has a major crush on the male lead, and she pursues him doggedly. But she also takes being a nurse seriously, and cares about doing well at her job.

The male lead is perfect, and I will not complain about him. (Look. Kairi is just way too good at being smoldering and brooding and adorable and unexpectedly moved by Nanase all at the same time. Also, the kisses are on point.)

The only thing that would have made this drama better would have been for the writers to ex the secondary couples. I didn't enjoy anything about them. They felt like the writers trying to shove as many age-gap couples in as they could, whether they should or not, and neither couple really has any reasonable story or plot reason for being together.

So in conclusion, An Incurable Case of Love is quite silly, but it's also a whole lot of fun. And now I want to read the manga, lol.

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My drama bent right now is human stories, stories that give you a glimpse into another person's life, their struggles and challenges and relationships, in a way that is both heartwarming and honest. I spent a long time watching almost exclusively Kdramas, and most of the dramas I watched were 1. heavily romanced themed, and 2. certainly not makjang (not if I could help it, anyway) but still often dramatic in some way. I still enjoy dramas like this (I'll always be a lover of the romance genre), but I've begun to appreciate dramas that are more interested in telling realistic stories about realistic people without all the high stakes or added dramatics.

Fight Song definitely fits the realistic human story description. The female lead has an interesting balance between vulnerability and softness mixed with mental and emotional toughness. The story addresses issues such as being an orphan, death of a parent, child abandonment, dealing with the possibility of losing one of your basic senses (your hearing), family and found family, overcoming difficult trials, and learning how to embrace/accept/make peace with what life brings. And all of this plays out over the backdrop of everyday people going about their everyday lives in the way most of us do. I loved all of the messages this drama presented, the gentle and kind way it treated its characters, and how down-to-earth everything about it is.

I have one caveat, and that is that the age gap between the leads was difficult for me. I came around to it by the finale, because you take the age gap away and you have an extremely likable couple that you can't help but root for. But it still took me till the end to do so, and that's because I just don't see why there had to be such a vast age difference between them. I guess, technically, he would have to be older than her to some degree in order for her to have heard and cherished his song when she was a child, but I still think the writers could have found a way around this.

That being said, I still have to praise this drama. I can't say I love it as much as dramas such Neechan no Koibito and Shizuka-chan to Papa, which both deal with serious topics in an equally heartwarming/healing manner, but I greatly enjoyed Fight Song and all of its characters. Its message was one of perseverance and hope, and I can always get on board with that.

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This was a cute drama. It's not a new or groundbreaking story, but it is charming. It has just the right amount of teen angst to be enjoyable without making you want to pull your hair out, and it is often very thoughtful and heartfelt in how it presents its characters and themes. I do think the second half of the story veers a little too far into the angst and drama department at times, but it's not to a degree that is excessive.

I'm also mostly pleased with the messages the story conveys. The female lead lives with a lot of shame and regret as an adult and traveling back in time provides her with an opportunity for a do-over. But eventually, she realizes that she doesn't really belong in the past trying to fix all of its mistakes. Her life is back in the future. In coming to this realization, she decides it's time to make peace with her life rather than trying to change it. What she experienced in high school is part of who she was, which in turn influenced who she became, and she chooses to embrace that. My one complaint is that this realization and decision should have been accompanied with the acknowledgement that she is an adult, and that makes her different from her teenaged friends. As a 29-year-old woman, she's at a very different place in life then a 17-year-old would be. She has more wisdom and maturity, and her goals and desires are very different. It is simply not tenable for her to date a 17-year-old boy and have a 17-year-old best friend. Even in her 17-year-old self's body. So if there were one aspect of this drama I would change, it would be that.

Admittedly, the writers did create a plot hole in their story and their time-travel mechanics in the last couple of episodes that has already created some confusion for some viewers. My recommendation is to ignore the plot hole and just go with what the story gives you. For some stories, the science fiction/fantasy elements are meant to follow strict rules as part of the storytelling/world-building. For other stories, they are meant more to serve the narrative of the story, and if some rules are broken in the process, it doesn't really matter. This drama is in the latter category, and for my part, I think that's fine. The plot hole is not enough to break the world or the narrative, so I don't consider it a major flaw.

This drama was sweet and easy to watch, and I would recommend it.

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I found Why I Dress Up For Love to be a disappointment. The main problem I had with this drama is that it never felt like the female lead was making choices for herself, but rather that she was just going along with what the male lead had to say. The drama, and the male lead, paint the changes the female lead decides to make as her decisions. This is what she wants. But the male lead is the one doing all the driving. He constantly critiques the female leads career choices, making frankly kind-of hurtful and selfish comments about how she lives her life. I think it's clear that we're not supposed to take his comments in the way they come across. He's not intending to be hurtful or dismissive. It's actually part of an intentional character flaw. He's not very good at expressing himself, and he has his own baggage that informs his opinions. But even though the writers aren't intending for him to come across as a bit of a jerk, that's still how he comes across.

What the writers were trying to convey to the audience was that the female lead wants more for her life, that she's not pursuing the things she really wants to, and the male lead is pushing her to try for more. But when all of the female leads questioning over her career and her future happens only after the male lead has made another hurtful (although unintentional) comment, it's not going to feel like the female lead has genuine uncertainty about her life choices. It's going to feel like the male lead is a bully making the female lead feel bad about herself, which is the last thing you want in a romance.

For myself, I don't dislike the male lead. I actually quite like him. You can tell he's been hurt by life and that hurt informs much of how he interacts with others and the choices he makes for himself. You really just want him to be happy. But I didn't appreciate the writers pretending the female lead was at the wheel of her own life when they've played the story out in a way where all of the changes she makes happen only after the male lead tells her she should make them. I do like that she decided to pursue being a purchaser, because that did feel like something she genuinely wanted, and we do see how running her Instagram account takes a toll on her, but we needed to see more of an internal/external struggle. More unprompted self-reflection, more difficulties at her job, more something to convey to us the viewer that she really is genuinely questioning her life path and not just trying to please a guy she's not even in a real relationship with.

This leads me to the second male lead and my other problem with this drama. The second male lead never even puts up a fight! It becomes clear at a certain point that he has feelings for the female lead, and he even seems to want to act on them, but he never, not even once, truly enters the ring. He makes a couple 'declarations' to the male lead about 'If you don't go for it, then I will,' but he never follows through. It makes him come across as weak and mealy-mouthed. Which again, I don't think was the writer's goal, although I'm also not sure what their goal was with him. But just like the male lead, I actually really like the second male lead. He's very good at his job, seems to have strong morals, and he definitely values and appreciates the female lead. I kept hoping he would become a real contender for her affection. Honestly, part of me wanted the two of them together instead. There was something about their potential romance that just felt a little bit electric. But he never rises to the challenge, and this leaves him as a disappointing, and somewhat useless, character.

Ultimately, all of these problems with the central romance/love triangle are a flaw with characterization, not with the characters themselves. All three of them are likable people on their own, and both romantic pairings are compelling in their own ways. So if you can overlook the missteps and see what the writers are trying to do with the story, then you'll be able to enjoy Why I Dress Up For Love. Personally, while I can see what they were trying to do, and I can appreciate the attempt, the execution left me disappointed.

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This drama is perfect for two very specific types of people.

1. Fans of melo/makjang/over-the-top insanity.

2. Those who love laughing at said melo/makjang/over-the-top insanity.

I do not fall into category 1. I spent years going into Kdrama rom-coms all bushy tailed and bright eyed and then pulling my hair out whenever the makjang/melo would make an appearance. I would keep watching, of course, because true love requires commitment. But I would always lament why they had to include a final hour bout of amnesia, or why couldn't the male lead just finally wake up and recognize his terrible behavior sooner rather than later?

I also do not fall into category 2. (At least mostly.) I do not seek out makjang/melo/over-the-top dramas, and when a drama I'm watching turns into one, I find it frustrating rather than entertaining. I don't enjoy watching people be terrible for terrible's sake, I don't enjoy having my heart put through a torture device for the 'exquisiteness of heartbreak', stupid decisions made for the sake of plot drive me up the wall, and while I can certainly suspend disbelief when required by a story, I cannot just turn my brain off completely.

With Husband in Law, we have the super common set up. A contract marriage, the leads move in together, male lead is completely uninterested in (nay, actively dislikes) the female lead, female lead is hopelessly in love with the male lead since youth, they end up working together with him as her boss, yada yada yada. This is very common Asian drama territory, and I'm on board with all of it. But on top of this is a secondary couple with the most insanely toxic, abusive relationship. The girl is basically treated as a rag doll by her husband, and the husband is a truly vile villain. He's also out to get the male lead because the male lead slept with the abusive husband's wife (not knowing she was married), and he even almost successfully ends the male leads life.

I fully admit now that I did not care one iota about what's her face and her abusive husband. I abhor abuse, and watching it play out on screen is certainly upsetting, but it happens so often and is so extreme in contrast to the rest of the drama that you eventually become numb to the abusive yo-yo relationship of the villain couple and just want them to go away. This is the first drama I ever fast-forwarded, and it was mainly their scenes.

The rest of the story is mostly standard for these types of dramas, but they would often incorporate really random elements (which I guess is also standard for most melo/makjang). The most extreme example would be when the female lead suddenly becomes a genius hacker because story reasons and hacks into the male leads company. There has been no indication up to this point that the female lead has any sort of impressive computer skills. Truthfully, there's no indication she has any skills at all, so this feels more like 'let's insert a random conflict here so we can watch him be mean to her some more' than it does anything else.

What really hurts this drama the most though are the technical issues. The editing and pacing are truly terrible. Scenes just end inexplicably, and we're mostly tossed around in the story without a very clear framework. They do such a poor job of conveying important information to the audience, explaining character motivations, etc. that I often struggled to follow what was supposed to be going on and frequently found myself on the wrong end of the stick with the story.

This point is less important, but the music is Frequently dramatic at odd moments. I get they were trying to give scenes a certain feel, but they should have invested in one more track of music that could convey the right tone without making everything feel like a tense stand-off in a crime thriller.

Now that I've said all of this, it will probably surprise you to learn that I employed the 'laugh at the absurdity' method to watch this drama. I still don't fall into category 2, but once I'd gotten into the drama deep enough to be somewhat invested, I realized the only way through it was going to be with laughter. So laugh I did, and it mostly worked. Granted, it took me probably close to a year to finish this drama, because ^see above^. But laughing at the nonsense made it easier for me to enjoy the drama. And truthfully, there are some decent things about Husband in Law. The lead actors are fantastic. They sell their characters every which way from Sunday, and I found myself liking both of them in spite of myself. (And in spite of themselves, seeing as the male lead is a selfish ass most of the drama, and I spent most of the drama thinking the female lead was trying to convince him to love her when now I'm not so sure she was. (See critique about the editing.)) They also have fantastic chemistry together, which goes a long way in a drama like this. The male leads friends are fun (even if they're frequently a little Too goofy), and they were often much needed comic relief. They also consistently root for the female lead, which I haven't seen much of in dramas in the same style as Husband in Law. The female leads friends are equally wonderful, although not nearly as funny and not necessarily all that affective when it came to being of some actual benefit to the female lead. And the male leads family all love the female lead and consistently take her side. And of course, I'm already pre-disposed to enjoy the general premise/set-up of this drama.

Still, despite being able to get some enjoyment out of Husband in Law, I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't in one of the two categories I mentioned above. I was too far in to get out when I realized this drama was going to be too dramatic for me, but you don't have to make the same mistake. If you enjoy melo/makjang, this will be perfect for you. If you don't, watch something else instead.

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This is a movie very much of its time. The camera work, the editing, the type of storyline, the type of humor, they are all hallmarks of the period this movie comes from. It's filmed in a slice-of-life way (despite not being a slice-of-life story) with what another MyDramaList reviewer referred to as a series of vignettes that all connect together. I think that's an accurate summation and a good thing to know going in. There is an over-arching storyline with a beginning, middle, and end, but it doesn't feel quite the same as most mainstream movies today. This style of filmmaking isn't something that was done in all Korean movies made at the time, of course, but it was a somewhat common form of storytelling from what I can tell. Initially, I found it a bit confusing, but I got the hang of it about halfway through, and now that I've finished the movie, I think I like the directing/editing decision.

The one thing that really hampers this movie is some of the humor. The male lead is a rich, sexist, jerk in the beginning. This isn't a new trope, and it's not one that bothers me if the male lead grows as a person and sees the error of his previous behavior. But the way the filmmakers chose to portray him in the first half of the drama involved a number of inappropriate jokes/scenes that I found tasteless and unnecessary. For example, the male lead arrives for his new job and immediately a fantasy plays in his head of a bunch of teen girls (although the actresses look like they might be in their early 20's) coming out of classrooms and running past him in skimpy gym uniforms, all the while laughing and giggling with their long hair flowing behind them. I was not amused.

If you take out the crude jokes though, this movie does work surprisingly well. Like I said, it's filmed in a sort-of vignette sort of way that I came to enjoy, and the male lead actually becomes quite likable by the second half of the story. The catalyst for his character growth happens about halfway through. Something terrible happens to one of his students, and he really pulls through for her in a way you don't expect. From there, he continues to improve, and by the end, he's become a decent guy. The crude humor also goes away in the second half, for which I was very grateful.

I don't know that I will ever watch this movie again because of aforementioned crude humor, but it was funny when it wasn't crude.

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I binge-watched this in one sitting and....I kind of regret it. It had a great start, really fun opening on our main characters, who they are and their contract relationship. Things happen a little too quickly in ep 1, but the first 5 eps overall are solidly enjoyable. But then....choices are made in the story, and not all of them are the greatest.

First, there's the fact that the male lead has an unrequited love for his brother's wife. The backstory of how this happened is very believable and realistic, and I certainly feel for him, but...that's your brother's wife, man. The second the two of them became serious, you should have dealt with those feelings and moved past them. Not hid them in your heart so you could 'love her in secret'. That is not appropriate. There are a couple of moments that are particularly uncomfortable and concerning, because they lean dangerously close to him trying to turn his 'secret love' into not so much of a secret. Thankfully, that does not happen, and by the end of the series, he has made the decision to move on. But he should have made that decision much sooner.

The story also has no consistent message on marriage, whether it's for it or against it, and that makes the latter half of the drama completely confusing. I personally am for marriage and commitment, and I would have been very happy if the story had ended pro-marriage and commitment. But even if the story had ended up saying 'Marriage is not for everyone', at least it would have said something. As is, I couldn't figure out what message they were trying to convey.

Lastly, the male lead is a confusing character. He starts off very brooding and serious, which works well, but halfway through he becomes this inexperienced shy guy, and it feels like a 180. It's not that I have a problem with him being inexperienced and shy, but it doesn't feel natural to his character. They definitely could have done a better job of revealing this side of him.

I think some dramas are great at creating forward motion in their stories, keeping you watching even when you start to question the writing choices. This is one of those dramas. I was invested almost the entire time, but I was also increasingly more confused by the story in the second half. So while I'm sure some people would enjoy this drama, it wasn't for me.

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I struggled a bit with this drama. Episode one creates a really solid foundation for the story to build on. There's the somewhat absurdist humor (which I admittedly didn't always get), this interesting trio of women who seem very different from each other but share one very important thing, and a very heartfelt look at the female leads life and her attitude towards her life. I was pretty hooked after ep 1.

But the drama couldn't seem to manage its overall tone and direction. We had episodes where the story went odd places for no discernible reason. Such whenever the trio is tasked with helping some random person overcome a challenge of some sort. These characters are generally not interesting, and neither were their problems, and the time spent with them often felt like a waste. There's an entire subplot to do with the female leads father running back into a woman he once cheated on the female leads mom with, a woman who happens to be a member of our main trio. This felt odd and awkward and uncomfortable to watch much of the drama, although they did manage to create a proper conclusion for it and eventually tie it into the overall story. And the drama didn't always get the absurdist humor right. It seemed only half-way committed to the joke at times, and you could really tell.

Overall, the tone and directing of this drama is confusing. I love all the humor around the three women being unlucky and bringing it with them wherever they go. I also really loved how heartwarming the drama could be when it wanted to be. But the rest of the drama seemed to not know what it wanted to do. I think if the drama had focused on the absurd humor, the plight of the three unlucky women, and adding in more heartfelt exploration of the story's themes, this would have been a better story. As it is, Unlucky Girl doesn't totally manage to pull all of its pieces together, and I both liked the drama and was underwhelmed by it. I did laugh a lot though, and I really loved this trio of ladies, so I would say it's still worth watching.

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I don't remember when I started this drama. MyDramaList shows me starting it both 2 years ago And in 2014 (I definitely did not watch this in 2014), so my guess is either it really was 2 years ago in 2020, or it was sometime in 2021. Regardless, the point is that it took me quite a few months to finish, and I only finished it because I was dogged and determined to do so.

This drama is pure soap opera, very indicative of the time it came out of. Absurd situations, obnoxious/terrible behavior, a plethora of villains, the quintessential jerk male lead and candy female lead, plenty of goofy background music (that gets stuck in your head until you begrudgingly come to love it), and overall, not very well-written or well-acted. It's also all of these qualities that gives BOF its charm, a charm that can only come from a drama of this era. That and it's so absurd that the joy of watching often comes from laughing at said absurdity.

Personally, I don't really watch dramas like this anymore. They've never truly been my cup of tea, even when I first got into dramas and most of what was out there was at least somewhat soapy. But back then in my early days of drama watching, I wanted to watch every drama ever made, and I was constantly seeking the next crack drama to grab my attention and not let go. BOF definitely would have fit that bill, and I'm surprised I never tried watching it before now.

I would say this drama is perfect for that particular period of a drama lover's journey when you're consuming drama's voraciously and always on the lookout for something to take you on a wild ride of emotions. You might re-watch BOF years later and think 'Why was I so enamored with this???', but you won't forget the experience of watching it.

I gave Boys Over Flowers a 6 overall purely because the absurdity and over-the-top drama gave me a lot of laughs, but based on actual quality, I would say it deserves a 4 or 5. The only reason I could think of someone wanting to watch this, outside of being in that particular period of the drama journey I mentioned earlier, would be because the drama is so absurd it's hilarious to watch. So definitely watch this if you enjoy wild, over-the-top, true soap opera style drama that makes your sides split from laughter. Or watch if you're in that phase where you want to consume everything, and you're looking for a drama that will grab you and not let go. BOF definitely that kind of drama. Otherwise, I wouldn't really bother.

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It's taken me a while to finally sit down and write a review for this drama, which I guess makes sense, because it took me awhile to finish watching the drama. I think this is a fairly popular drama, and I personally liked a lot of things about it. But there is one reason (well, two problems that compile together to make one big reason) you might not want to watch this drama. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from watching it, because I think I Don't Love You Yet has a lot to make it worth watching. But this one reason creates a lot of frustration when watching, and it's a common complaint about the drama even by those who love it, so I'm just going to lay it out for you and let you make up your mind from there.

If you hate the Love Octopus (my term for love triangles/squares/hexagons/trapeziums/parallelograms/the part of the drama that so often sends you into spiraling despair) ...you will not like this drama. There is a love square, and one side is particularly infuriating. The first half of the drama is fine. The second female lead provides moments of irritation in her role as part of the love square, but she's more like a fly that's gotten inside your house and likes to buzz around your head every so often then a wasp/bee that's actively trying to sting you to death. But the second half of the drama spends an obnoxiously long time in the Love Octopi territory with the worst example of an 'ex comes back' trope I think I have ever seen. Yes, the female leads ex-boyfriend comes back, and he is the Literal. WORST. He is so incredibly controlling of the female leads life when he's around, trying to manipulate and maneuver her to suit his own desires with no regard to her wants or needs. He's basically the stereotypical male lead jerk but who never grows or changes except until the Very End, and by that point, it's completely unbelievable seeing him as a nice guy and it would have been better if the writers had left him a jerk.

That's enough of a problem for the story on its own, but it unfortunately leads to a separate problem that makes the Love Square even more difficult to bear. Once the ex-boyfriend returns, the female lead becomes (almost) unendurably frustrating. I guess I can't say it's she's truly unendurable, because I obviously did endure it in order to finish the drama, but the female lead puts up with a lot of nonsense from a guy who once utterly wrecked her and whom she may not even be in love with anymore. He was incredibly selfish when they were first together, then he broke her heart out of nowhere disappearing into the night to go focus on thinking only about himself some more, and since then, the female lead has created a life for herself including a career she loves and a dawning recognition of her feelings for her best friend. And yet, Mr. Attack Wasp comes back, and we're supposed to believe that what they once had together is so valuable she would be willing to overlook his egregious behavior.

Maybe this could have worked if I had been able to relate to the female lead and her complicated feelings for this man. Old relationships like theirs can be very hard to get over, and even years later, you can still experience the pangs of hurt and disappointment and pining. But the female lead is already a bit of a frustrating character without the added torture of her terrible ex. The truth is, she is very self-involved. She's not mean or demanding or spiteful or anything like that. But she's very clearly been ignoring the poor male leads feelings for her for a long time, and truthfully, she's kind of taken advantage of those feelings. That and it's just patently obvious that she shouldn't get back together with her ex and there's no strong feeling on her part to suggest she would even want to to begin with.

So if you hate the Love Octopus, if you hate when the ex-boyfriend/girlfriend comes back, if you hate when one of the leads is a little too self-involved, you will definitely hate those things here. The reason, however, I still say this drama may be worth watching, is because I like literally everything else about it. There's no denying the actors are basically perfect for their roles, and even in the face of the female leads selfishness, I like both of the leads and I like them Together. I also think the finale is basically perfect, and watching it Almost erased my previous frustration with the story. Almost.

But the Love Octopus puts in a very valiant effort at strangling the life out of the story, and it had no right to do that.

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Don't let the score fool you. This is a very watchable drama. It's consistently funny the entire run, something a lot of dramas can't pull off, and the female lead is soooooooooo feisty and go-getter. Those two things right there make this more than worth watching.

Not a lot really happens with all of the court politics and machinations for much of the drama, and I wouldn't put too much investment into that part of the story. It's mostly Yun Zhang suspecting Liu Xie of evil intent, and Liu Xie being shady but also making the audience question whether he's truly a villain or not. There's definitely plenty of fun moments and Liu Xie is infinitely intriguing, but it is a bit slow going at times. After about ep 29 (yes, pretty late in the story) is when things really start moving, and there's a lot of really interesting stuff that happens. I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how well they tied everything together. I would say this part of the drama has a very satisfying conclusion.

Probably the one thing you're going to hear the most complaints about is the lack of kisses in the romance. I don't know why the production team decided to go the route they did, why there weren't more kisses, why there were so many almost kisses, why the first kiss is her kissing the spot between his lips and his chin, but this is what they decided to go with. Am I happy about it? No. Does it ruin the drama? Also no. But it certainly doesn't benefit the drama. We at least needed a kiss fading to black on their second wedding night. (I mean, come on!) They do hug and link arms and hold hands quite frequently once they get together, and there's plenty of non-skinship related romance to be had between them as well, but I do still wish we had gotten one more true kiss. (I mean, come oooooooonnnn. Not even on the second wedding night???) Barring the lack of kisses, they are a fun couple to watch go from bickering to mild respect to open with their feelings for each other.

What really makes this drama work is the comedy and the female lead. First, it's incredibly funny. From the characters to the plot to the intentional irreverence, even the way they play with Chinese history. (This is not a historically accurate drama, lol.) I was constantly laughing at the hijinks everyone gets up to. Then there's Jinfeng. Love her. Love her, love her, love her. She shows up at the palace and makes the place her own, and it's very satisfying to watch. Without these two things, this drama probably would have suffered.

One Word Of Warning!!!!
This drama suffers from some bizarre, jarring cuts from ep. 20 to around ep. 26 that harm the overall flow of the story. Internet drama sleuths determined that the major cuts were to do with a subplot that didn't end up going anywhere, so the production team most likely decided to remove it. The problem is the episodes had already been uploaded to the internet when they made this decision, and making those cuts created confusion for other parts of the drama. They should have just left them in, and everyone could have side-eyed the dropped plot point and moved on. It might be worth rewatching some of those eps to help with clarity on the plot. The cuts took me out of the story enough, that I decided to rewatch about 5 or 6 episodes just to help me understand what was going on and give me time to get reinvested.

Overall though, I think this was a super fun drama, my third Chinese drama to ever finish. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for really good comedy that is consistent throughout the story, and a feisty, spunky female lead who makes everyone love her.

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This drama was an emotional ride, joyous and heartfelt and at times, bittersweet. I hit the halfway mark, and it became unusual for me Not to cry during an episode. The characters are so real and so easy to connect with, and the topics the drama explores are handled beautifully with thoughtfulness and sincerity and honesty.

It was eye-opening getting a glimpse into Shizuka and Papa's lives, and I was pleased with how natural and consistent the drama was at adding little things here and there to illustrate just what it's like to be deaf or have a loved one who is. Shizuka using little bean bags as a way to get Papa's attention, the flashing light in the photography studio to alert Papa when a customer comes in, Shizuka leaving the sound off on the television even though she doesn't have to since she can hear, a young Shizuka signing her class' song during a performance so her father can experience it. Just so many things that really bring home to the viewer how deafness can affect your day-to-day life.

It was also heartbreaking to watch both Shizuka and Papa struggle because of the challenges that come with deafness. Papa's early life was sad to watch, although not surprising, given the historical context. Imagining how difficult and demoralizing it must have been for Papa to work so hard to learn how to speak and please his mother only to disappoint her because speaking is just not something Papa's able to do was very affecting. That would have created some deep wounds that wouldn't be easy to overcome. Shizuka faces her own set of troubles from others finding her demeanor and mannerisms offensive and being mean behind her back or excluding her to her intentions being misunderstood because of the straightforwardness she developed through communicating with Papa. Of course, Shizuka internalizes all of this, something most of us would probably do, and it becomes a reason for her to not truly live her life.

On this note, I'm very glad this drama didn't shy away from giving Shizuka legitimate problems relating to Papa's disability. I'm not a fan of the current narrative you sometimes see that the loved ones of people with disabilities shouldn't struggle or complain or ever say ever that caring for someone with a disability can be hard, because their problems aren't legitimate, and they're just shaming the disabled person or 'speaking over them' or any other number of critiques. This drama doesn't do that. Instead, it chooses to be honest and show that it can be a struggle for those who love someone with a disability. They may not face the same hardships, but they face ones of their own, and those hardships matter.

This is a drama that stirs up deep emotions as well as a lot of food for thought. It presents you with an opportunity to think a little bit deeper about things you may not often think about and possibly even examine some of your own thoughts and ideas and behaviors around certain topics. I certainly felt stretched as a person while watching.

I'll end this review with a drama suggestion. Shizuka was a very similar viewing experience to Neechan no Koibito, so if you've seen Neechan and are looking for something similar, Shizuka to Papa is a good choice. Conversely, if you've already watched Shizuka to Papa and you're looking for your next drama, Neechan is definitely worth checking out.

You should really just watch both, lol.

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Someone called this in the comments a silly, low-effort rom-com, and at the time of that comment, they were 100% right. This started off and stayed until halfway through, a very silly but very fun remake. I tried watching Jane the Virgin once but never finished it, as the majority of the characters were constantly doing selfish and destructive things, and I don't find watching people be selfish and destructive entertaining. But Woori had kept all the parts of Jane the Virgin that I had enjoyed in and cut out the stuff I didn't, so I was happy enough. I didn't expect to get to the end of the drama and praise it for superb plot or characters, but I did expect to have a good time until the end.

Expectations can really turn on you, can't they?

What was a silly, low-effort rom-com that brought me laughs quickly turned into an unwatchable mess. Ep 9 and 10 were probably our sign that this was going to happen, as they were both paced at a chaotic, breakneck speed. They weren't unenjoyable episodes, but they were very jarring compared to the rest of the series thus far. But ep 11 was worse. Poor editing, no effort at character or plot development, slowly turning the male leads unlikable. And worst of all, it just wasn't funny. I had actually noted to myself at one point that 14 episodes didn't seem like enough time to tell the full story, and I wondered if they would be able to pull it off, but I hadn't factored in the possibility that they never even planned to tell the full story to begin with, and I find that to be rather disrespectful to the audience. Of course, we will never know what their plans were, but I can only presume that they intended to only tell half of the story and maybe get a second season to tell the rest. Or maybe they planned on ending it the way they did and not doing further seasons, because reasons. I don't know. I also don't care.

What bothers me about this drama is that they waited to let it fall apart until we were already into the second half when many of us had become invested. If this had gone sideways and stupid in episode 3 or 4, for example, I could have noped on out with ease and swiftly forgotten about this drama. But no. They had to wait until ep 11 and 12 to go full stupid, and now I'm on the internet complaining about it, because that's what you do when a drama does you dirty. Glad I didn't finish it, but now I'm wishing I hadn't started it to begin with.

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This has been one of my favorite dramas I've watched so far this year (and I have been watching a surprising number of duds lately, so it was nice to actually watch something good), so I can't really offer any complaints. I'll go ahead and get through the quick and easy bits of my review first.

First and foremost, I think this drama's pacing and structure was very well-done. All of the different plotlines are compelling and heartfelt and moving, particularly the backstory with You Nian's mother and Kia Tuo struggle with accepting his new family. The romance is a slow-burn, and I don't typically go for those, but this is definitely slow-burn done right. There's a lot of focus on friendship between the leads as well as between all of the secondary and side characters, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the secondary characters are all great, and I like all of the couples that end up together at the end. I would have loved to see Miao Miao's best friend, A Xia, have a romance (she is the funnest character and the only one of the main recurring secondary characters who Doesn't get a romance), but she does appear to be paired up with someone at the end (and he's a real cutie, to boot), so I guess that's somewhat nice. I think all of the elements of this drama come together in a very complimentary and easy to watch way.

But guys, I Adore Miao Miao. From start to finish, Miao Miao feels like the same person, the same personality and quirks and struggles, but who is consistently growing and maturing in confidence. She's a shy and awkward high school student, like many of us are or once were, with this adorable crush on an older classmate (who is very worthy of said crush). Then she's a University student, slowly working to shed that awkwardness and break out of her shell and come into her own. And then she's a young woman taking charge of her life and her future. You really have to respect her as you watch her work diligently towards her goals. For awhile, that's just being near You Nian, but over time, that goal begins to shift. She finds a purpose for herself, something to work toward that isn't just prolonging her crush but rather something that gives her deeper satisfaction. I mean, she does an entire years' worth of course-work within 6 months on top of her regular coursework in order to successfully switch her major. That's an impressive achievement that shows not only is she driven and determined, but she also has the patience and perseverance to pull something like that off. In a world where being a strong female lead now means being aggressive in a power suit or a superhero costume and pretending like you don't have emotions or ever need help from anyone and you may even be a pretty nasty person to the people around you, I honestly think I prefer Miao Miao. (This is not shade towards female superhero's or female lawyers or even women who are complicatedly mean, but I think the sooner we recognize that strength in a woman is something a lot deeper than the stereotypes we've created around it, the better.)

Some people are going to have problems with Miao Miao's makeover in this drama (because everybody hates makeovers now, apparently), but I'm in the minority on that one as I enjoy a good makeover. And the makeover here is one of the best. It's not a quick, one and done, kind of thing, but a gradual change from beginning of the drama to the end. I guess you really shouldn't even call it a makeover but a transformation. Her friends ultimately doomed attempt at fixing her hair, wearing sunscreen more often that has unintended benefits, refusing to get braces every time her mom tries to convince her only to turn around and do it after a comment by a classmate, going through an entire trial-and-error ordeal with contacts and glasses before eventually getting laser eye surgery. I was very impressed with how they handled her physical transformation as something gradual over time, and never treating it as something she Had to do to be pretty, but also not acting like personal appearance isn't important to young girls, and none of us ever do things to try and be prettier. For better or worse, these are things most of us go through, and as long as there are humans, there will be the desire to mold ourselves and change ourselves in an effort to fit in and be liked. I would much rather have a story like this then stories that pretend young girls have to just be confident no matter what. Talk about Not realistic.

(I think it's also worth noting here how accepting western culture is of plastic surgery and other procedures that permanently alter our bodies for the express purpose of achieving a specific look, often to fit in or deal with some sort of insecurity, yet we're deeply resistant to makeovers. I find this to be a strange disconnect. The same underlying issues that make us desire a magical makeover transformation are what make us desire to change our bodies in more permanent ways as well. Just some food for thought.)

A nice thing about this story is that there's never any real meanness or bullying directed at Miao Miao by the majority of characters. She has actual friends who are encouraging and loving and want the best for her. The two main guys both like her when she's 'awkward/gawky/unattractive,' and not for inexplicable reasons, but because they genuinely like her. Her parents don't talk her down or lament that she's not like their friends' kids. If anything, her younger sister is meaner to her than anyone else, and that just comes with the territory of siblings, lol. I don't think they necessarily had to go this route. They certainly could have created some bullies for Miao Miao to face, but I think the route they took ultimately aided in the messaging of the story. There's an overall focus with A Little Thing Called First Love on perception and how it can affect us. How we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, how others perceive us. It's not necessarily explicitly discussed, but I think you can feel it as you watch.

This message is especially strong towards the end when Miao Miao and You Nian break up, and it's where I think the crux of the drama's message is. The circumstances of Miao Miao and You Nian's breakup are a bit silly, on their face, but there's something going on in the subtext that's important and that a lot of people have probably missed. Miao Miao has gone through this beautiful transformation throughout the story, not just physically but psychologically as well, and she's now at what would typically be considered the final stage in the transformation. She's now conventionally pretty by her culture's standards, dating a good looking and very talented young man, and she's on her way to pursuing a serious fashion career. She's also gained a lot of real confidence over the course of the story. At the beginning of the drama, she never would have approached You Nian herself, but now she's doing it all the time. By outward standards, she has emerged from the chrysalis and is a beautiful butterlfy. But the insecurity that always made her so unhappy with her appearance and too afraid of openly pursuing a friendship with You Nian is still there. It hasn't gone away just because she now has pale skin and straight teeth and pretty hair. It's why she followed You Nian around for so long but could never openly try and be his friend, it's why she avoided telling others about her and You Nian's relationship after they started dating, and it's the real reason she breaks up with him. She's never felt good enough to be around him, and she has doubts about their relationship. Maybe he doesn't really like her after all, and one day, he'll realize his mistake and break up with her. So she beats him to it, cuts him off at the pass, probably thinking she's saving herself from future disappointment. But it's really just that big, mean monster called insecurity holding the puppet strings. In that way, I think breaking up was good for her. Through breaking up, Miao Miao had to learn how to be alone, not constantly pining for someone but being okay with just being with herself. She'd never had to do that before, because she always had You Nian to pine after. I really don't advocate for final hour breakups/separations in dramas. I never see them work. But I fully understand and appreciate it here.

This part of the review is a side note, but everyone always wants to know about second lead feels, so I'll share my experience. I don't typically experience second lead feels. I go into every drama with the desire to support the story's OTP. Sometimes that means dropping a drama if I can't get behind the main couple. Other times, it means taking any possible feelings I might have for the second male lead and placing them in a locked box and throwing it into the ocean. Usually, it means wanting to throw any second leads trying to interfere in the main couple's relationship into said ocean, because meddling with true love should be a crime.

In what is part of a select group of extremely rare cases for me, I had some strong second lead feels in this drama for a portion of its run. Not in a 'I wish the second lead were the lead' kind of way, but definitely in a 'I am having a hard time choosing between these two characters' and also somewhat 'Can we have this version with this OTP and then the writers go back in time and make another version with the other OTP?' My second lead feels don't last the entire drama, and the writers ended up doing a pretty good job of killing those feels for me later on in the story, but it was a little touch and go there for awhile, lol. For me, both You Nian and Kai Tuo are really great romantic options for Miao Miao, each in their own way. You Nian is a thoughtful, gentle, conscientious, and considerate young man whereas Kai Tuo is more impetuous and brash but with a lot of underlying vulnerability and that perfect ability to tease his crush without it going way too far over the line into mean (they could just be my opinion though). He also outwardly shows (and develops) feelings for Miao Miao a lot sooner, while You Nian takes his sweet time recognizing his feelings and doing something about them, so you really you can't blame a girl for being swayed by that, can you? Either way though, University me definitely would have been swooning over both of them, lol.

In conclusion, I would say this drama did great justice to its source material while making the story its own. I love the original movie to pieces, and I can definitely see the inspiration peeking through, but I never felt like I was watching a reduction of something else or like I was watching a beloved story be butchered. This was a strongly written and portrayed remake that I will most definitely be re-watching in the future.

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