The eponymous central character in this Drama is something you NEVER see in Korean Dramas - a FEMALE genius. I was predisposed to like it for that reason alone, but the show went beyond that with a fascinating mix of characters, telling interesting stories.

There were some inconsistencies with the way the lead's character was presented in terms of her metereological education and experience, but overall the show was very enjoyable. In terms of the human relationships, kept hoping for one outcome at the end, yet the way the Drama went was the way I expected it to, precisely because it was the less conventional, less neat and tidy option. That raggedy unfinished feel persisted right to the very last frame it seems.

I did love that the female lead was shown to be superior to the male lead, but that he was also shown to have his own strengths, including a goodness and decency of character which it could be argued went not only unrewarded but was actively punished. Another episode would have been nice, I think.

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I started this ONLY for Kim Yeon Seo, and because her character and arc were well-developed and she did a good job, I'm ok with the rest of it. It's insubstantial fluff, but has some good lines, and the Ha Rim/BaDa story in particular seemed quite intelligent. I just hope that if a future series exapnds their story the writers leave her sharp, clear-eyed, cynical character intact.

There's nothing to dislike about this piece of Xmas fluff, even the Xmas setting was low-key, a plus for a devout hater of Xmas like me. Overall, an inoffensive timepass, and another step forward in the development of a young actor whose work I plan to keep an eye on

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I'm WAAAAY outside the target demo for this web Drama but as a longtime fan of Do Hee's acting, I was keen to watch her first real lead. The fact that it also has Jin Ye Ju (Kim Yeon Seo), whom I really like in My Only Love Song, was a delightful bonus.

The story is nothing earth-shaking, but I was impressed with Do Hee's performance as THOROUGHLY unlikeable character. Selfish and UTTERLY self-absorbed, her character also showed zero growth in terms of maturing and getting half a brain until basically the penultimate episode. She treated her mother despicably, consistently so, and even managed to provoke her somewhat implausibly tolerant boyfriend to rage by her thoughtless self-absorption. That's why I was impressed with Do Hee's performance. In the first 12-5-12 episodes, there's really not one thing about her character that evokes sympathetic approval. She's just a whiny, self-obsessed spoiled kid who truly has no idea about the real world or how incredibly easy she has it. And Do Hee nailed it, well done.

Happily, there WAS a character to like and root for, and that was Jin Ye Ju's Ha Rim, the BFF of Do Hee's character. Ha Rim was sharp, cynical, insightful, and clear-eyed, and a perfect foil to Do Hee's Da Mi. She made the show fun, even when Do Hee's great portrayal of a selfish slob was so good as to be vexing.

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This entire sequel was built around a character I despised in the original, and he was just as pathetic, contemptible and stupid in this one. All four episodes featured EXACTLY the same basic plot, him being setup and exploited by people who knew how vain and stupid he was. The two leads from the first series had much reduced interactions, and the interesting moral ambiguity raised at the very end of the first series was not even touched on once. I raced through this one on massive FF, only watching the sadly brief scenes where the two leads were working together. They saved this sequel from getting dropped and are why it scored as high as 5 from me

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Not bad, but it got a bit "Lost"

There was a lot to like about this Drama. The physics references were surprisingly well thought out and on point, especially in the first 2/3 of the Drama. I smiled at seeing reference to Einstein's "God doesn't play dice with the cosmos" and the reotort that "he not only plays dice but sometimes hides them"

The two lead couples were also very enjoyable ESPECIALLY the "2nd" couple. Their repeated reunions were sweet and funny and touching, and provided a cohence the story needed.

The last third went a bit soggy as it seems the writer threw in every bizarre, vaguely SF plot line they could think of, with more than a little nod to "LOST" - the whole ending on the island is where the show got a bit lost for me, sadly. But it was still a worthwhile watch and I'll be looking out for the leads again

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Right Idea, Wrong First Pair

It's a testament to the strength of the core concept that I kind of stuck this one out. I don't watch historicals, but the 'bride swap' intrigued me so I gave it a go. By ep 3, the core problem was clear - the WRONG pair was primary lead. I kept hoping for more of Bingyan and her General, but by ep 10, they were bit players. So I skipped to episode 21, where I cracked up laughing at the amount of exposition. It was a totally random pick for where to start watching "the end" but it woked really well as the Old Grandmother helpfully had a conversation with TianLei and Yuhu that filled me in on the 11 eps I'd skipped. It also confirmed that I missed nothing except endless politicking and trickery from the villain and stupidity from the non-villains.

Overall not an awful watch, but definitely not worth sitting through all 24 episodes, when so many of them are "rinse and repeat" storylines. Had Bingyang and the General been the primary leads, it could have been a real treat.

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Bitter, sweet, fun

Like most who watched this, I enjoyed it. I watched it with my wife, and we both laughed a lot throughout. We've been married nearly as long as the leads have have been alive, so the OTT rage was genuinely funny for us. Sveral have commented on the chemistry between Jeong So Min and Kang Ha Neul, and there's no question that was central to the movie's success. Both delivered very good performances, and Jeong So Min especially cemented my high opion of her as an actor. The first thing my wife said when Jeong So Min first appeared on screen in this movie was"she's really pretty". and obviously I can't disagree. But her range even in a light romcom like this was impressive. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting an uncomplicated and genuinely funny romance

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A pleasant surprise

This Drama ended getting 8/10 from me for surprising me in positive ways more than once.

First, it COMPLETELY threw me as to who the killer was, I did not see that coming at all - excellent!

Second, the tone ended up being rather unexpected, another pleasant surprise

Third, it's handlnig of the characters showed intelligence. There was nuuance and context for the characters' behaviour, and the final end of some characters' arcs was balanced and realistic. Not implausibly rosy or even implausibly complete. A great example was the resolution of the ML's own mother issues, the end to that arc was note perfect.

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Three episodes too long

This Drama started very strongly, with the central character Lee Ro Um especially interesting. Portrayed as a genuine sociopath, she was fascinating. The basic setup seemed like 70% Leverage, 10% Dark Angel, and the first 3/4 of the Drama set it up well.

The major flaw was that it was too long, and as a result, it went soft and soggy in eps 13&14. This was especially noticeable with Lee Ro Um, but the Drama also burdened us with the inevitable mother and child reunion for the ML character Han Moo Young. Yawn.

Another flaw caused by the Drama's excessive length was the mystery of the mystery. The Drama dragged out its central mystery, who the "Big Bad" was, until the end of episode 13. The whole team were supposed to be prodigies of various kinds but somehow they missed the fact that the Bib Bad was basically walking around with a tattooo on their forehead that said "I'm the Big Bad" from at least episode 6.

The final 2 epiodes tightened up a bit, and overall it was a much better K Drama spin on "Leverage" than the actual Korean Leverage was. But it could have been so much better with fewer episodes.

One other important point to note: Besides doing an excellent job of portraying her character, Chun Woo Hee is also "really, really, really ridiculously good-looking" ?

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Koshiba Fuka does it again

I've had this Drama on my PTW for ages because I wanted to compare it to the Korean original. Then recently I watched Yuganda Hamon and was stunned by Koshiba Fuka's performance in it, so moved this up the list. She did not let me down. Her performance here, in a role that could not have been more different from the restrained, downbeat introvert of Yuganda Hamon, proved that she is a very good actor.

It was her performance, and that of Sakuma Yui as her BFF, that ended up getting this Drama 7.5/10 from me, versus the 4.5/10 I gave the original. The storyline is VERY problematic, but the portrayal of the relationship between the two friends in this Drama really shone. Both actors sold their roles well, and their interactions made this a pleasure to watch. The ending scenes were cute too, and a nod to what I really WISH they had done with Ms Koshiba's character at the end.

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Almost perfect

Right up until episode 10, this Drama was heading for a score of 10. Every episode was taut, tight, and ruthless. It was edge of the seat stuff and utterly compelling. Unfortunately it wobbled a bit in the final third by trying to inject human interest, in the mistaken belief that it needed to. The utterly outstanding Forest of Secrets (1 &2) both avoided that trap. Their chief protagonist never changed, and that was a smart move. This show went slightly soggy by turning the Eun Jung character into comic relief, distracting from the previously unbroken focus on the workplace battlefield. And the "mother and child reunion" sequence was eye-rollingly nauseating. Utterly out of character and utterly unnecessary.

Despite those failings though, this remains an outstanding show. The key player are all VERY smart, and the action is entirely cerebral. Le Bo Young smashed it out of the park with her portrayal of Go Ah In, and both the badeuk playing CEO Jo and the Machiavellian patriarch Kang were perfect. It is such a rare and blessed treat to watch a Drama that doesn't insult viewer's intelligence but respects it, and celebrates the success of strong females who triumph on merit and by strength of character.

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A Solid Remake

I can't believe I haven't written a review of this Drama that I watched 4 years ago, but I've been prompted to by the number of reviews from people who have never seen "In Time With You"

This is a "friendship first" " friends to lovers" next, Drama, for sure, and is VERY MUCH a remake. As remakes go, it's one of the best I've seen, of any Drama. As others have said, the music is not as strong, and personally I don't htink anyone's going to top Chen Bo lin's performance in the original. ITWY was one of the Dramas that made me a hardcore fan of Ariel Lin Yi Chen , and she aced her performance in the original, BUT, the one outstanding area where this remake beat the original in my view is in the personality and behaviour of the FL. Ariel's character was, quite frankly, just ruthlessly self-absorbed for too much of ITWY, and it was Ariel's delivery that made her character first tolerable, then likeable. The FL in this version was much easier to like. The fact that the J-version is significantly shorter didn't hurt, either.

In summary, ITWY has an ineradicable place in my heart, watched in the year I first started watching East Asian Dramas, and probably the 1st TW Drama I ever watched. So no remake was going to displace it. But this is a fine remake that stays true to the spirit and intent of the original, and improves in at least one significant area

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Better than I expected

This Drama is about 19 year-olds, and it is several decades since I was that age, so I wasn't sure how I'd react. I watched it after being impressed by the performance of Park Se Hyun in "Best Ending" and seeing her listed in the cast for this Drama. She did not disappoint, and nor did the Drama overall. Ms Park's character and her delivery were the standout for me, but the whole Drama was more nuanced and intelligent than I was expecting. The only letdown were the AWFUL subs. They were worse than most fan subs - full of typos and really bad, awkward English. Happily, the Drama's cast defeated the bad subs by shining despite them.

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