Irene
Just know what you are signing up for if you decide to watch - marriage is as much about marrying two families as it is about marrying two individuals. How do in-laws settle their differences? What place does pride have in a new marriage? The reality of bills, housing, transportation after getting married? Where will the wedding be and who will be paying for it?
This drama covers all of that and more. Both mothers of the bride and groom love their children very much. But they also have a lot of pride and the fighting between the mothers take up the majority of the challenges faced by the bride and groom.
I enjoyed the supporting cast's relationships with each other, as they depicted various scenarios. More realism with a dash of romance. As the older sister is going through difficulties in her marriage, it is interesting to include that as well, as it relates to how important marriage and family life need to be managed post-wedding. It only gets more complex as children come into the picture.
This is really a drama about the characters. Lots of push-pull type of dialogue, introspection, and negotiation. All the actors do a good job here, though the dialogue can get dry and boring at times.
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This is one of the best noona romances, proving that love knows no age boundaries. Park Seo Joon and Uhm Jung Hwa's chemistry is off the charts crazy good in this drama. You can't help but smile at the couple's cute bantering and tension. The 14 year age gap (and 19 in real life) doesn't seem real based on how believable the romance scenes are executed. Great writing, directing, and acting across the board. Uhm Jung Hwa looks really good and had great outfits throughout the drama. Actually, I really enjoyed the style choices by all of the cast and the outfits really added to each character's personality.
The middle of the story dragged too much, with the return of the ex-fiancee. If you can make it past that, you will be rewarded with lots of smiley and fuzzy sweet moments at the end.
Good use of sound effects. Loved all of the supporting cast and their storylines as well. Yoon Hyun Min shines in his comedic acting here.
Really enjoyed this drama. For feel-good moments, watch the beginning and the end.
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Lots of sugary sweet parts across the two main leads. Spice from the very attractive Mr. Namgoong Min.
The drama dragged a little, the police investigation was done very kdrama style (a.k.a. not the most logical, but watchable). However, a very solid beginning and end, lots of comedy injected throughout and lots of genuine laughs from watching the drama.
Shin Se Kyung does a great job in this drama. Her and Yoochun's acting are on par so they made for a good match as neither overpowered the other in their acting. Lots of cute moments between the two leads.
Namgoong Min is a charismatic villain here. Mysterious and sociopathic, you can't get enough of his screen time.
The rest of the supporting cast was well chosen as well.
Good use of music - I like the sound effects they used when SSK activates her seeing smells ability.
Watch this for adorkably cute moments and a new interesting way to solve crimes.
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I appreciated that the story depicted is more realistic than that of many rom-coms out there. People held realistic jobs. Working relationships are realistic too, no unreasonable boss or stab-in-the-back villainous colleague here, which made the office scenes a bit boring yet thankfully not frustrating to watch either
What's interesting is that the 4 main females' perspectives of love were all challenged. How do you find yourself, be true to yourself and your values, yet still find a fulfilling and thrilling romantic partner? It seems each of the women has their own view of the type of men they want but realize that love will find them only after they stop trying to change the men, but either change themselves or find someone new who is a better fit for their values. To me, that is way more realistic than many dramas that transform the tsundere man to a lovesick fool once he meets the main girl.
Lots of sweet kisses in this drama, even for rewatching it in 2017. The directorial decision to freeze frames as photos with narratives spoken over them was extremely annoying to me. I guess the director wanted to go for a nostalgic feel but I felt it was overdone and didn't add to the overall drama.
I did enjoy it as a lighthearted drama that you can watch before bedtime, as it isn't an action or thriller drama that keeps you alert through the night.
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The story for this drama has one of my favorite tropes: poor girl takes over rich girl's identity and meets rich boy and falls in love. The story has a rather realistic execution to it, as the female lead is characterized as someone who doesn't have a lot of gumption, isn't good at lying, and is constantly fearful of being found out as a fraud. The first 10 eps were frustrating to watch because this characterization makes you feel a lot of second-hand embarrassment. Later on in the drama the female lead finally grows some backbone and the overall drama becomes less annoying. Similarly, many of the supporting cast is also frustrating to watch and I had to fast forward through. I will acknowledge that the drama applies a realistic spin to an unrealistic premise - which differentiates from many other similar dramas.
The love between the main leads is believable. The story does tie up nicely.
Overall, a decent melodrama, especially for someone like me who doesn't particularly like melos.
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This is a classic case of rich boy falls in love with poor girl (but think she's a rich girl).
If they tightened the storyline and made it 12 episodes instead of 16, the story would be even better. Last few episodes could be scrapped altogether as they didn't add much to the storyline. Otherwise, the plot moved forward at a reasonable pace.
Acting between the leads was serviceable. Yang Jin Sung's acting as the doppelganger is decent. A lot of times what happens with an actor playing two roles is that one role often is more fleshed out than the other, while the other one is often more serious and emotionless. The same thing happens here so I wasn't blown away by her acting. I don't know what the ages for the actors were supposed to depict in the drama but both leads acted as if they were in their early 20s. Made me believe there is a romance, albeit more of an innocent first love kind of love rather than one that is worth risking your all for.
Use of the music was effective for this drama.
Overall, not bad for a rewatch, as it was one for me!
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A very unique storyline that failed in convincing me of the romance. The revenge aspects were certainly persuasive and I appreciated that the writer tried to keep some consistent themes throughout the drama i.e., revenge is a cycle, circumstances are what drives a person's actions, etc.
Yong Pal was a character that could do no wrong. He was so perfect that it was hard to endear myself to him. Similarly, all the other characters were so unlikable that I didn't really like any of them either (other than some fantastically written supporting characters) and therefore was not invested in the ending. At the end I really didn't care whether or not there was a happy ending.
Same writer as The K2 and if you've watched The K2 you'll see very similar vibes especially in the beginning of the drama. This makes me think the writer is very good at laying out unique storylines and a fast moving plot but cannot write in any romantic development. Cute romantic moments between the leads were hard to watch because it was so unconvincing to me.
I still gave the story a somewhat high rating because of its uniqueness. Kim Tae Hee's character is interesting as a female chaebol and I only wish to see more of that in today's dramas.
Overall, don't watch this for the medical stuff or romance but watch it for an engaging plot where a perfect man rescues a perfect (on paper anyway: looks beauty brains) woman and have a fairytale perfect romance. No fights between this couple! Their challenges lay in ideological differences and external circumstances. Not realistic but that's what we watch kdramas for!
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For someone who has been watching dramas for a long time, you will find that while the premise is quite interesting, the storyline and villains are quite predictable.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. The first few episodes are the best because the SSH and KTH had good dialogue and the repeated meetings between the strangers were believable and cute. There was character development throughout the drama between the two main leads.
Watch this for cute moments and skip the predictable villains that pop up throughout.
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I guess this show tries to be different by showing you how love can make a person do crazy things.
There's also lots of cliches in this drama, including, misunderstandings, family secrets, accidents.
The love triangle/rectangle is convincing, even though you really can't root for any character because none of them were in their right minds. I also agree with other reviewers who said the drama is too long.
My favorite character in this drama was Chae Jung Ahn. Being the second female lead, she loved the male lead deeply but didn't go off the deep end like many cliche female villains. Won't spoil the ending but it was not satisfactory to me though it did tie up loose ends.
Watch this if you love Song Seung Heon or cliche korean melodramas. Otherwise, skip it.
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What a wonderfully shot drama with a winning cast and tight knit storyline.
Story: Every episode builds upon the last. I was never bored. The use of humor in this drama is also on point. Instead of the common "trolling" often employed by writers in dramas these days, the humor is unique and refreshing. The way the past life story is unraveled also fits very well with the character and story developments. In all, a very well executed drama.
Music: AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL OST. One of the songs is in English, which made it all the easier to relate to as a English-speaking viewer. A great choice of the songs used in this drama. Made the drama so beautiful and easy to be immersed in.
Acting: Yoo Ah In is in this. Need I say more? All 3 of the leads were able to infuse layered acting into this so that the characters embodied their roles perfectly, whether that was helplessness, confusion, paranoid, etc. The ending was perfect and poignant, and only because the leads' acting was able to pull it off. Some people criticized that the main lead was too insensitive and a jerk, but as you keep watching the drama reveals why he is that way, so have some patience.
I cannot say enough good things about this drama. While Legend of the Blue Seas (which is also about past and current reincarnated lives) is a romance story, Chicago Typewriter is instead a story about patriotism and friendship. The past life motif is strong this year (i.e., Goblin, Legend of the Blue Seas) but Chicago Typewriter has the best story.
This drama is so underrated, I honestly don't understand why this drama doesn't have as many viewers as the other two above. Don't be put off by the "literary-ness" which put me off initially but instead expect a very intriguing period drama x fantasy/supernatural aspects. The bromance is strong in this one. Instead of rooting for the love line, I rooted for the bromance all the way.
Definitely worth the watch! (and perhaps staying up late for!)
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Acting: The two main leads both have very natural acting talents. The second male lead's acting is too stiff and thus made for a pretty boring love triangle storyline. Surprise cameo was a riot!
Story: I enjoyed watching the various versions of marriage/dating throughout the drama. I also really liked Jung Kyung Ho's character as a single dad. If only all single dads were this perfect! Unfortunately, the story dragged, especially in the middle of the drama. If this drama was shortened to 8 episodes with 2 focused on each couple, it would have been ideal.
Overall, a good watch for when you are bored and want some cute romance but don't expect your socks to be knocked off. The entire cast is as good looking as they come so it's worth it for just watching all the handsome men and women in this drama!
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The BGM really resembled that of Healer's, which I enjoyed. The acting by the leads was top notch. I watched this for the romance and not for the business / corporate takeover aspects. The beginning of the drama had a good story flowing but became a mess towards the end of the drama as the writers tried to wrap everything up neatly in the last 2 episodes. However, the ending felt rushed and as a viewer, I felt robbed of the potential cute romantic scenes between the leads... I would have been more satisfied if I got to watch more cute scenes by the leads.
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Completely resonated with me as someone in the late 20s/30s striving for her dreams. Don't let the summary mislead you, as it did for me. This is a drama about friendship and love. This is about living in reality, while still looking toward your dreams.
I fell in love with the characters in this drama because they are so relatable. The two main leads share a great chemistry, as they progressed from friendship to romantic love. I really liked how the drama depicted the relationship's initial awkwardness as they transitioned - very totally cute scenes. The acting was great as I was sucked in every single time. I also enjoyed the depiction of lifelong friendships between the four main leads, and the friendship between the parents as well!
Use of music was great, as the background music made me crack up many times. Also, I liked how the product placement wasn't completely obvious and was very artfully placed in the drama.
All the subplots and main plot was wrapped up very nicely in the end, which made for a satisfying ending.
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I never read the webtoon so this review is for the show only. Very strong beginning and set up of the show but frankly very limited character development and limited relationship development. While the characters did grow a lot of times I'm found thinking about just how average these characters are in their personality. Hardly anything about the characters themselves made it worth watching other than how pretty the overall cast was.
The side plots are very cliche if you've ever read shoujo manga, but then again this was based on a webtoon.
The show had potential. Worth a watch if you like college setting and rich boy/poor girl tropes.
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However, the overarching conflict was stretched out for too long. Half the time I wondered if the lead actor was really in love with the female lead or more interested in self preservation.
This is an interesting variation of rich guy/poor girl trope so commonly found in kdramas. I enjoyed that aspect, at the very least.
And leads are quite pretty to watch.
Watch this one if you like time travel and in the mood for general badassery from male leads (this one was great because he can travel through time...)
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