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Melting Me Softly korean drama review
Completed
Melting Me Softly
12 people found this review helpful
by manicmuse
Nov 19, 2019
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 4.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
To be honest, from the first two episodes, I knew this drama would be bad. Really REALLY bad. What kept me watching was Ji Chang Wook, who is one of my favorite K-actors, and it's his fault that I didn't drop this drama. Some dramas have a slow start and get better. Some dramas have a strong start and get worse. This drama is consistently terrible from beginning to end and yet somehow it was still watchable enough. That's because of the two leads. They do their best with a nonsensical script, and even if their love story made very little sense their chemistry made this drama seem just a little better than it actually was. Not good by any means, just slightly better than unwatchable and drop-able.

Ji Chang Wook as the insanely ambitious PD Ma Dong Chan is the strongest character in the show and any fan of his will probably be tempted to keep watching just to see him. He is honestly great in his role but unfortunately, the script gives him not much good to work with. He's stubborn and single-minded and rude but at least his character had some passion and development. He's matched with Won Jin Ah as the brave and outspoken Go Mi Ran, who is also great in her role, but her character made even less sense to me, often contradicting herself, so her actions more than the performance was sometimes frustrating to watch. I don't consider it a spoiler to say that this is a rom-com about two people who are accidentally cryogenically frozen for 20 years. You would think that loss of time would be a major factor and what drives the story would be more sci-fi related, thriller related, or even emotional because of time lost from loved ones but instead, the majority of this drama is about how frustrating it is for two formerly frozen people to have a normal relationship and being unable to drink coffee. To me the relationship also felt forced from the start but because "Wookie" is so charming the most romantic moments are the best thing this drama has to offer. That doesn't mean I felt anything deeply for them as a couple, it just means that they knew how to deliver when it came down to romantic chemistry. They have quite a few cute and flirty moments but their shower scene is legendary.

The rest of the cast looked like they enjoyed working together but they were all one-note and over the top. I guess their goal was to be extra funny but instead it was silly and cheesy and I rolled my eyes more than I laughed. They did do a good job matching younger and older versions of the same characters, but I honestly cared so little about the other characters that it didn't matter. Usually, I'm a softie when it comes to stories about nostalgia but with this one, I felt absolutely nothing. That may be because characters basically stayed caricatures with little to no depth. Even her special-needs brother felt like a joke sometimes and don't get me started on the silliness of the "Professor" who ran the experiment. Shallow characters also lead to a very repetitive plot, which really stands out when the story is already weak.

The greatest offense this drama committed is creating an elaborate premise for why everything in this drama happened in the first place and then resolved it in the laziest, most anti-climactic way possible. One "bad" character literally only shows up to do bad things and doesn't even get more than a brief mention in the final episode. It was insulting how little effort went into creating a logical story out of a premise with so many possibilities. I really can't say I was disappointed though because I knew it was bad and watched it anyway. I can say that the second greatest offense this drama committed was dragging out the ending with ridiculous last-minute obstacles, and scenes that literally felt like place holders with no purpose or structure, only to end with a resolution that felt unresolved and shrug-worthy with a cheap metaphor thrown in that played off of the cold theme (ugh!).

The answer to whether or not I would watch this again is obvious. Of course not. What I will probably watch multiple times is that shower scene, which is the only reason the rewatch score is at 1.5.

The music was very forgettable.

Overall this drama is a complete waste of time unless you really love Ji Chang Wook so much that you can watch his smile at anything no matter what's happening around him, but in that case why not just follow him on Instagram instead? Part of me hopes that he and Jin ah may get a do-over drama with a better script one day but I doubt that would be in high demand after this one. This drama would have left me with so many unanswered questions if I cared enough about the story but I didn't. I also know I'm not the only one who's emotions ran cold watching this based on other reviews (yes, it's really as bad as most of us are saying). Many parts felt rushed and predictable yet also dragged out. The pace of this drama was a little like watching a block of ice melt... I knew that it would end in a mess all over the place... like a puddle, but I still watched this drama literally melt into that mess anyway. I would never recommend this drama, but If this drama touched on any important theme (barely) it's that it's important to be mindful of not wasting your life on things that don't matter. To avoid wasting time on this drama just read the synopsis, watch the shower scene (not the episode just that scene), and have someone spoil the ending for you instead. Trust me. If you did sit through all 16 episodes most of it would be forgettable anyway so just like Mi Ran and Dong Chan pretend you were frozen while this show was airing and just skip it and move forward with your life.
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