I enjoyed this series because it was mild-mannered and more adult than many rom-coms. People behaved within normal limits, which was a really nice change from the all-too-frequent stomping, hollering, obsessing, and borderline stalking. No one was particularly stupid (I abhor dingbat female roles) and friends were normal people. The parents were like actual parents (not weirdo screamers or schemers or utterly lacking in adult qualities, for the most part), the development of several relationships was quite believable and nice. Just nice. It was relaxing and pleasant to watch, and I recommend it if you are fed up with drama queens and stereotypes.

Read More

High Quality Across the Board

What a wonderful series! Everything about it was excellently done, entertaining, and engaging.

Story: Nicely written with well-timed plot development. It was a complicated story to tell and each new aspect was revealed with enough time to digest it and incorporate it into the preceding events. There was' very good continuity of logical progression and a skillful, smooth meshing of plot and character development. Very good dialogue - appropriate to each character, and there were nuances and details in the wording that were placed naturally - which can be tricky to do.

Acting/Cast: Almost every role was cast perfectly and acted with accuracy, depth, and skill. If there was a flaw, it was in the sister of the main character, but for me, not being intimately familiar with Korean culture, she seemed overly dramatic and shallow - not up to par with the rest of the company. I truly enjoyed watching the characters come to know each other better, to start trusting one another first with a little trepidation and then unhesitatingly. Each had normal human flaws - another breath of fresh air.

Music: The only time I pay attention to the music is if it annoys me - otherwise the best I can do is say it was OK.

Rewatch value: I'm giving it a 10 because there were twists and turns and layers to how the plot played out that merit a rewatch to better appreciate the intricacy of the story development and how smoothly the actors handled it.

Read More

Wonderful

This a rare, masterfully crafted story. It touches on people's lives in a delicate, respectful manner, using the medium of a hole-in-the-wall diner as a gathering spot for folks to talk about everything or nothing. It's got humor, compassion, misunderstanding/understanding, pathos, happiness and so on -- all handled gently, so that the viewer feels like they are drifting down the stream of this story rather than being paddled along or riding rapids.

Rather than being action-packed or dramatic, this is a chance to observe normal, occasionally mildly quirky people unwinding after a long day in a convivial atmosphere. Can't say enough good about it!

Read More

Story: I thought the plot was intricately written with some surprising twists turning what could have been predictable moments into unique perspective changes. Also, it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors, making it into as modern and mature a story as you could hope for.

Acting: I cannot say how much I enjoyed the acting. Each actor delivered faultlessly in every episode; their level of skill was superb. In a few instances, a female police officer was a bit overdone, but I think that was done as comic relief more than as stereotyping.

Music: As long as the music doesn't annoy me, I don't pay much attention to it, although I did appreciate that there was no grandiose orchestral production detracting from the story.

Rewatch: I would rewatch this, especially if I were watching with a friend who hadn't seen it before.

Overall: I give it a 9.5 and I think it deserves every bit of it.

Read More

It was a mistake to watch this show after watching all of One Spring Night and Romance is a Bonus Book because they are all the same darned story about the same darned problems, and the lead actor is the same in two of the three. The women are dressed to be as unfashionable as possible, and the men are adorable, yet long-suffering, the parents are overbearing and mean, the relationship has to be kept a secret. The music was downright horrible because it was so repetitious.

If you like truly dreadful and inexplicably homely clothing, watch RBB, it you want to see attractive adult women dressed dowdily and frequently emoting with all the depth of a dipsy doodle 13 year old, watch all three. Apparently it rains three times a day in Korea, and women lose their shoes after getting drunk on a regular basis. If I had to pick an order of quality, RBB would be on the top (the setting was interesting and had a purpose in the story), followed by OSN and then SitR.

Read More

Best thing about this series is how it looks, Serious money was spent on costumes, makeup, locations, settings, props, and special effects Very slick, smooth and real eye candy -- probably too much product placement, at least that's what it looked like. I could be wrong.

The actors were clearly buffed, polished, brushed, waxed, and well-dressed - also easy on the eyes, even the villains. I think they did they job they were told to do to the best of their abilities, which is considerable.

After that, this show becomes a trainwreck. I am a lifelong SciFi fan, and I appreciate fantasy as well. This gave token -- beautiful visually, but token attention to any kind of fidelity to either genre or even with a blend of it. It was sad -- all of it was either garbed in fake, unconvincing jargon, or truncated when they forgot where that idea was going. Bad. Dumb.

And, here's the spoiler: The ending was identical to that of "Crash Landing on You" with the exception of period costumes and props. I was disappointed in CLoY, but this, coming out so soon afterward, was a real letdown.

Read More

Story: There is nothing startlingly new about this series. Rich, damaged guy, poor girl. Where I have a very big problem is with the portrayal of introversion being shown as what is really social anxiety disorder/social phobia. Introverts MAY have characteristics of shyness or lack of ease in public speaking or commit social solecisms. But if all of those things, plus hiding under clothing, are significantly ramped up, you do not have a personality type, you have a chronic mental health condition which requires skilled therapy and occasionally medication.

Additionally, the worst possible companion for any introvert, let alone someone with social phobia, is someone who is going to "fix" them by talking nonstop and pushing them to do things without any consideration for that person whatsoever. That would be torture to the introvert; it will not fix them, it will push them away.

This combination negates the likelihood of any of the story being realistic, which was a real bummer.

Acting: The male lead managed to maintain some dignity and believability despite the huge flaws in how the character was interpreted by the writer/director. The female lead was a yapping chihuahua in a human suit -- a nervous, over-caffeinated, deeply insecure chihuahua, convinced that everyone finds her drunk drooling adorable. It was tedious just listening to the constant flow of drivel pouring out of her mouth. Second male lead was effective and seemed well-fleshed out.

Cast: There are some good veteran actors whom I have enjoyed in other shows - comic actors and dramatic ones as well. And filler stereotypes.

Music: It didn't bother me or impress me so, that evens it out.

Rewatch value: Don't bother.

Overall: I was disappointed from start to finish with the flawed premise and treatment thereof.

Read More

The story was predictable for anyone who reads sci-fi or time travel fantasy, but this particular version had some decent quirks worth watching. I do not think the pacing did the storyline any favors -- too slow and draggy (and boring) in some parts, and jumped inconsistently for, apparently, reasons known only to the director and accountants who were presumably whacking him over the head with their calculators and demanding it be shortened due to cost overruns.

The cast seemed good, with the children stealing the show. They were particularly good at demonstrating friendship, trust, and transitory happiness of being a kid. Sadly, the adults were prone to overacting and being either unbelievably bad or ridiculously good and virtuous. Maybe that was the script.

I didn't even notice the music, which is fine IMHO.

The biggest downside was the dubbing/voice overs. They really, really should have stuck with subtitles because the voice overs were 1) obvious and no attempt made to put in background noises for compatibility with the scene, 2) completely inappropriate for every single character, with clear age mismatch, and little professional acting emphasis to differentiate mood and content, 3) bad, they were just bad and reminded me of martial arts movies from the 1970's where the face motions were not even close to synching with the spoken dialogue, and laughable because of it. Really, stick with subtitles so that the original voices are heard and there is not that dissonance between dialog and visuals -- it was distracting and made it hard to suspend disbelief.

All that aside, the beginning three or so episodes were interesting and paced well, and the last two or three were also quite good. The middle ones were tolerable, and overall the whole show is rewatchable if you want to clear up timelines and events.

Read More

The first three or four episodes were watchable because the introduction to the characters was interesting. After that, stereotypes kicked in with a vengeance. i.e. the impulsive were super impulsive, the long suffering were martyrs that might as well still been carrying their crosses around, the innocent were dimwitted yet good-natured and naive (and, if female, left food on their faces while eating at least once), angry parents were harsh and unfeeling. There was all too much moping and misunderstanding for me to suspend disbelief. Also, it didn't pass the Bechdel smell test -- if women were conversing, it was about men - and the lead female went from normal to gang moll by adding a cap tilted sideways. Really, peeps?

There was a strong portrayal of friendship,, and the one somewhat believable character was an older man, and he played the role well. The middle 12-14 episodes were nowhere near as good as the first three and last three, so it was a bit of a slog. If you have a head cold and are stuck at home with no inclination to warm up your thinky bits, this is the series to watch.

Read More

This movie gets a three hanky rating for being genuinely moving. The story was well written with the characters being introduced a little at a time, and all of them were three dimensional and interesting. The first two episodes are difficult to get through because this is a complex story and many characters are introduced rather quickly, which is a little confusing. Also confusing are the number of characters with similar names, or names which sound extremely similar when spoken. All that aside, I thought this was worth watching, and that it was quite thought provoking.

The acting was outstanding, understated enough to be intriguing; support roles as well as leads were well-cast and performed excellently. . I can't think of a single one who wasn't bang on target with their characters. They were good, bad, mean, greedy, kind, confused, naive, jaded, crooked, honest,weak, strong, and so on, leading to a very realistic community of roles portraying middle/lower middle class flawed people.

The music was sweet and unobtrusive while still giving meaning when used. I thought the settings were particularly well-chosen… and contributed to the feeling of authenticity. e.

Each individual scene revealed a little more about the character(s), sometimes misleading, sometimes foreshadowing, and pretty much all of them were disturbing on some level. That last is important because it kept me interested, wondering where that particular "thing" was going. There are only 6 episodes, and I needed to watch all of them to see how the characters' actions and traits wove together, affected each other, and played out in the conclusion, which was very solid and believable. I really, really enjoyed the lack of stereotypes, and that all the adults acted like adults, and the children acted like children.

Relationships are also important in this series, and they help explain how characters evolved. This is a gritty, interesting, worthwhile show. Not recommended for children.

Read More

Don't Bother

The blurb for this made it sound like it could be pretty good - adult introspection, reevaluating one's life, and choosing to, or not to, make changes.

What it wound up being was a series of jarring and somewhat difficult to follow scenes that were badly patched together, combined with poorly thought out flashbacks, and often insufficiently clarified relationships. It also suffered from bad makeup/wardrobe choices, with one memorably bad FL hairdo and a particularly greasy looking ML with an inexplicable furry pink jacket. The acting was mediocre, the characters so uninteresting as to make it impossible to feel sympathy or empathy for any of them, and there was a complete lack of cohesive flow in the story line.

It was boring. Really, don't bother.

Read More

Sheesh

Gosh darn it all - FL is yet ANOTHER moping mumble-bunny and a completely uninteresting person. She has a couple of lash out moments, but they don't make up for her general "almost as interesting as cold, stale porridge" acting ability. ML is easy on the eyes, but he is not a good actor in this one. I thought he was better in Sweet Home, but that may have been a result of a more action oriented plot. OTOH, most secondary characters were well acted, but we really didn't get enough of those scenes to improve the overall plot.

The story really did not merit this many long, crushingly boring scenes. While some people may find it different with the whole "with benefits" aspect, the fact is, most romance movies and shows are already "with benefits" -- not a lot of dating or other more normal together times, so this show isn't as special as the promos want you to think it is.

The music was repetitive and annoying. You couldn't pay me enough to watch it again.

Read More

This plot is so overworked, the overacting by most players vivid, and the characters themselves immature and vapid, that I cannot explain or justify why I watched the whole series. Maybe it was like watching a train wreck to see just how bad it was going to get.

I do have to say that most of the male roles were reasonably acted, even the stock trite characters. A nice surprise was the relationship of two main male characters.

The portrayal of women was completely, mesmerizingly awful. They could have been drawn by children in crayon for all the depth or differentiation between them. I can only recall ONE scene which technically passed the Bechdel test, and even that one had sinister undertones of rivalry that were a demeaning caricature. The female lead was written and acted as the most addle-pated twiddlepoop I think I have ever seen, and in real life she would have qualified for supportive services and housing for persons with cognitive challenges. This portrayal was treated as though it was a common, ordinary state for women. It is insulting for adult women to be shown as if their common behavior is that of a love-smitten 12 year old, who shouts instead of speaking, is impulsive, routinely leaves food on her face, is unaware of any social nuance or rights of privacy, who falls down constantly, and who apologizes endlessly for being stupid and incompetent.

This was a huge contrast to the nicely nuanced, well-acted, and much more genuine Iron Ladies.

The best thing I can say about it is that the scenery was nice.

Read More

Strong Female Lead! Women not talking about men!

I enjoyed this series because it strikes all the right notes for me -- no one is extra-super special, characters are generally realistic, situations are plausible, settings are appropriate, and, best of all, everyone acts like a real person - which is a joy after seeing so many canned plots.

It passes the Bechdel test with flying colors - also a delight - women talking to other women about things other than men -- their goals, dreams, supportive friendships - it was really top notch there. As an older woman, I often have trouble suspending disbelief when the female characters are two dimensional and/or disappointing stereotypes of what men THINK women talk about or do when they don't have any men around to flirt with.

FL was brilliant in her role, and played it with great skill. What was particularly noteworthy was how her persona held up and remained consistent within realistic boundaries. That's not an easy thing to do. Got a big kick out of ML, who I kept thinking of as "Pineapple Head" (from Meteor Garden) - he got to play a well-rounded, good hearted young man and did it well. Supporting female lead was, sadly, not a well-fleshed out character -- too much "ditz" for the job she presumably had, but I thought friend of ML had some good character development and a great young lion moment with his parents.

I had to revisit the portrayal of FL's mother in my mind a time or two - in many ways at first, I thought it was badly done, however, in the latter episodes, a chance remark makes the wild mood swings and other personality oddities much more understandable. I still think it was a speck over the top, but the chance remarks tamed it. Nice to see Mom do some growing up, too. Great green jacket on Mom!

There's also an element which I have now seen in several Chinese serial stories - comeuppance within realistic boundaries. I like this -- it doesn't happen as often as we'd like to think in real life, but when it does, it happens with doorbells, not trumpets, which is how that element worked out in this show.

I recommend it and encourage you to wait through the few places where it drags in order to see a glimpse of life played lovingly and believably.

Read More

I watched this as a comedy rather than a drama, and for that reason, I enjoyed it hugely. The bromance was center stage and got laughs out of me almost every time. Yes, some acting was over the top and other times too restrained, but I thought that in each case it fit the personality of the character. Both male leads were really funny and their interactions well done. They could have left the girl-guy romance aspect out of it and it might have been even more entertaining.

I do have to ask this - why on earth when and guy and a girl are kissing, do they look as passionate and invested in the kiss as a couple of dried and salted mackerel at the fish market? It was that bloodless banging together of dead fish lips that made the romance a clinker most of all. I suppose it's cultural.

Read More