Good start

This started out well, with a stylish opening sequence, a less common take on a monster theme, and a cool FL (Han Hyo Joo, who I almost didn't recognize - I didn't like her much in W, but she's great here), who continues to be cool all the way through! - and doesn't turn into a crying fainting jelly, as so many of them do. It is a fairly silly plot with many holes, but hey, it's a monster show, I can hand-wave that if the pace is good enough to glide me over them. Unfortunately, the storytelling in the middle fell rather flat. There are a lot of side-characters - naturally, as it's the story of the apartment block - but none of them felt compelling: no solid arcs, just randomness and dead ends, and too much time given to the least interesting and most annoying of them. (actually that was almost all of them! and they killed off 15th floor guy, who I kinda liked) The spurious melodrama with these unappealing goons messed with the momentum enough for me to get bored and abandon it on-hold for months before finally finishing it. It does pick up towards the end: the last two eps were better, and the finale tied up some of the essentials, including the romance arc, but that felt unsatisfying to me and I would have liked to have known what happened to other characters.

Still worth watching, but I'd keep the skip button handy.

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Some good bits, but gets very slow in the middle

Like probably everyone else I saw this, liked the title, and figured that the two Gongs in a comedy could not be a totally bad thing. And this turned out to be true: it's not bad. They are both very watchable and lovable actors, and I found the show pretty entertaining for the first seven episodes. In these, Biscuit Teacher GHJ has artistically enhanced kick-ass fighting abilities (amusingly debunked in clips in the episode outros). My fav of her demonstrations of that was an awesomely silly Gokusen- tribute warehouse rescue scene with her flying girl gang, who really should have had a spinoff series (Powerpuff Ajummas?). I enjoyed that a lot. I liked that she had a weird dad who's gone off to be a shaven-headed monk in the mountains and who she escapes to pray with when things get tough. And I liked that Star Candy Cute Brat Boy GY recognizes her good qualities in the first few episodes, and they don't drag out the battle between them for too long: by ep 7 he's wildly and hilariously confessing to her in an airport at the top of his lungs! - bless him.

But after that the speed got slooow like uncooked biscuit slurry. The kids were good, but the kick-ass stuff died down, the angst and suffering and crying scenes increased woefully and the love triangle with Boringest Teacher Ever got way too much airtime. I'm guessing he was written that way to make the main romance more palatable, but by that point every time his face appeared it was Hello Skip Button for me. It does have a good ending: definitely worth skipping to that if you also get bored in the middle. And it is fun seeing young versions of so many actors, although imo they don't actually look all that different - yay for the power of Korean skincare.

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Pretty, but that's about it.

City life is stressful, folks, so let's move to a beautiful village in China! It's by a glorious lake backed by glorious mountains. Sample its delights in a gorgeously photogenic homestay full of vintage and artisanal charm, where you can sit peacefully sipping tea in a flower-filled courtyard with tinkling windchimes, friendly cats, no litter and not one single bug even though there aren't any screens. While you are here, you will be gently encouraged into wholesome activities by adorable grandmas in cute cultural costumes, while random people impart wisdom to you in not-at-all-clichéd epigrams and show you the True Meaning of Life! (tm)

Unfortunately, the promotional postcard was just that; much surface, little actual dramatic content. It was vaguely soothing to watch for a while just because it is so pretty and nicely shot, and all the points I am giving it are for that. But it didn't deliver anything else, for me: some cute photogenic moments but no real depth to anyone, and definitely not enough story to fill 40 episodes. The romance left me not only cold but actually feelIng lIke kIcking the ML's cheesy white grin - he was annoying and kinda preachy, and after far too long waiting for something interesting to happen I came to my senses and dropped it. I love a thoughtful slice of life, but it has to not bore me, and sadly, this did.

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BAD dubbing (and worse kissing) but okay if you want angst-free fluff

In the first few eps of this the FL's lines, although delivered from what looked like an ordinary college dorm, have a weird echo and sound like they are really coming from a deep, cavernous hole somewhere. That was very off-putting! -although it seemed to gradually improve. Anyway, this is a harmless little college romance with a gaming element, where the FL and ML, both top players, meet in a game. The in-game effects are... not something anyone would be watching it for, but that doesn't matter because it's all about the romance, and that is pretty solid in that they like each other, and only each other, all the way through. There are no love triangles, break-ups or heroically sacrificial partings, all difficulties are comfortably overcome, and nothing terrible happens to either of them - well, ML is in a car accident at one point, but he's fine and it speeds the plot along instead of blocking it. They're respectful to each other, and they never really argue. A bit of bromance, a bit of sismance, a tiny hint of a gay romance (pretty cute) and a little bit of rivalry keep it rolling along smoothly for 30 episodes to their marriage. It's not exciting, but it is kind of restful, if you're in the mood for that.

However, the core relationship was marred a lot for me by the FL freezing and looking absolutely petrified whenever a kiss scene happened, and as she clearly likes him and he obviously can kiss, this seemed very jarring and cringey and lost it points. More points dropped off for her role in the game company they form after school: basically just a pretty little assistant. I would have liked it a lot more if she'd beefed up a bit, but YMMV.

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Frustrating

I totally loved the first few episodes of this. Best friends teaming up to sabotage the rich one's terrible parentally-arranged blind dates by being outrageously undateable: sold! Fast-paced and poking fun at its tropes and clichés: sold! FL with an interesting, fairly unusual job: sold! And there was sismance and nice eye-candy and a good backing cast, and it all worked well for a while: great silly fun in the best silly way. I was actually howling with laughter at several scenes, which doesn't happen that much, but then it's not often you find the hot male lead getting compared to an archaeopteryx. Sadly, it fell off the track after ML decided he was smitten, dropped the pace and the trope-twisting, made too many stops at Cringeland and got a lot less fun. It probably didn't help that FL suddenly started dressing like an ajumma on her way to the fish market (as illustrated in the episode guide photo for #6), which kind of blew the romance for me. It did pick up a little later on, but... ehhh.

It wasn't a bad watch and it's fairly short for a kdrama, so yeah, probably worth a try. But given the shorter length it could have been a lot tighter, and I wish it had all been as good as its promising beginning.

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A perfect cup of coffee

I liked this a lot. On the surface it's a gentle, quietly humorous little slice of life with small, simple 25-minute stories set around a backstreet coffeeshop, its charming owner and his new apprentice, and their customers. It embodies that coffeeshop vibe to perfection: slow, peaceful rainy days filmed beautifully in coffee tones to a lo-fi soundtrack that soothes and comforts. But it's also about how surfaces can be misleading, how nothing is as simple or as easy as it seems, and a whole heap of other things, like change and growth and failure and how we deal with them; and it deftly uses the production of the perfect cup of coffee as an analogy for all of this in a delightfully interesting way. It was a treat for the eyes and the ears, and heartwarming without being sugary. I savored it, felt better after having it and really wanted more of it.

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Likeable show, but...

I found this a fun watch all the way, and wasn't as bored at the end as a lot of other reviewers seem to have been; there were some loose plot-ends, but they weren't crucial. And I liked the FL. Yeah, she's a yeller, but she's also a loyal friend and a hard worker, she gets a lot of personal growth in this, and I enjoyed her enthusiasm and good people-skills at work. I also liked that she knew her best friend was kind of flaky and loved her anyway: the sismance was solid here. The supporting cast was fun and the SML was an extremely fun and charismatic character who was really well-acted. I enjoyed him too, but I could also see why she wasn't likely to fall for him. What I wasn't so sold on was the main romance. It's sweet; it's totally plausible given their background; PSJ is a good actor, and he's undeniably drop-dead gorgeous. But it was also kind of boring, because although she obviously cared for him a great deal, I didn't feel the chemistry and I never got the impression that she fiercely wanted him. Ehh, could be my western predilection for strong passions, but I felt that the SML's feelings were dramatically stronger than the main couple's, and that left me feeling unsatisfied.

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Lots of potential.

This is a nicely shot, stylish short drama set in a college, where an OCD-ish loner student programmer developing a game needs a good designer, and finds one in the shape of a fashionable, popular, annoying boy who has beef with him for some reason that wasn't quite clear to me. The designer decides to piss the programmer off for payback/amusement by stalking him and being really irritating. Both of them: AAA YOU ARE ANNOYING AF! But also strangely attractive! Especially in a terrible wig.
And so... love story.

Overall, it's a fun watch and a good story, but imo the pacing could have been improved on. Stalking isn't my fav trope, and it's a pretty big feature for the first half of this - too much for my liking. Luckily, the eps are short, so the cute kicks in and beats out the annoyance fairly quickly. The kissing is good when we get to it, and I very much approved that there was no hesitation about it for either of them: no power imbalance here, they're equally into it, and that got me invested. Sadly we only got a little slice of time with them as a proper couple and working partners, and I would have liked to have seen more of that, as it felt like there was good potential here for interesting character development together, and that, with a gay couple, would have been really great. Some bonus episodes in Paris would have been great too (ha, not me who spent a chunk of the last ep yelling RUN OFF WITH HIM LETTUCE! PACK YOUR SUITCASE! SPEAK YOUR FRENCH!) Hope to see more like it, with bigger budgets.

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SO MUCH FUN

I didn't expect to laugh out loud this much. I nearly bounced off it after the first ep - thought it was mildly amusing, but it didn't hook me - but from #2 onwards I couldn't stop watching it. All of the characters are ridiculously great, and the writing is really tight: there's a whole lot of clever in with the stupid, a ton of sly references, trope-twisting (especially loved how they twisted the Candy set-up) and fun surprises. If it hooks you I guarantee you will not be bored and you will wish it was longer. It isn't deep and meaningful, but it is thoroughly enjoyable, and it's the first drama I've watched that left me really hoping for a Season 2, because I need more of the second couple for sure! - and we never got to see how Aziz gets on in the office! - or what happens to Power! - aaaa so many possibilities. And it has high rewatch value for many reasons, not least that it will be fun going back and spotting Mr Anonymous. In short: YES! WATCH IT! and vote it up to increase the chances of more of it.

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Surprisingly enjoyable

These kinds of fluffy rom-coms are often too cheesy for me, but I liked this a lot, despite the cheese, because it was just so overwhelmingly nice and relaxing to watch. Struggling? Feeling traumatized? This is for you: it's like a warm. pleasantly scented bath in a really clean, luxurious bathroom in the House of No Worries. Many have griped about Chu Li's cutesy voice, but I found it soothing, along with her calm and positive attitude, and really enjoyed her growth as an editor. Zhou Chuan is a brat, but he's cute and he improves, and I especially enjoyed the arc with his father. The second couple are wonderful eye-candy (let us take a moment here to appreciate the shirtless shots of the SML, because yum). They had a pretty good storyline too, there were many other nicely portrayed side-characters, and the setting of the publishing house/pro-writer world kept me engaged throughout. Yes, it takes a leisurely speed - it is a cdrama, of course it does - and the romances are slow, and while sweet, they're not particularly steamy. But if you are looking for a relaxing dose of niceness where everything works out, you should definitely try this.

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Decent drama, terrible romances

Title says it all, really. This is a good slice-of-life with good acting, good leads and a great backup cast, and a lot of interesting things going on in it. It's staged around a fake-romance trope which it subverts by not having the stock happy ending. This is believable, due to what happens to the FL, but the problem with setting up that particular trope is that viewers are led into wanting a happy ending! - and it feels disappointing when we don't get it. I came out of it feeling very sorry for the musician - and the SFL - thinking how sad it is when people unwisely invest such a lot of time in loving people who don't love them back, and how I would much rather watch something where they do. There were some heartwarming relationships in it - the 'house mother' of the children's home, the nice deaf friend - and it was well-made and had some pertinent things to say about hearing loss (if this is why you're watching, Silent does that better imo), but if you're looking for a comforting romance to watch, this probably isn't going to satisfy.

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Brilliant. Deserved all of its awards and more.

I read somewhere that the scriptwriters said that when this came together, it was like it had 'come from god'. I can see why, because it is utterly magic. And somehow they magically got lead actors who were also utterly magic. I found it lovable and heartbreaking and unforgettable. Technically it's incredibly well put-together - the cast in general, the music, the cinematography, the amazing job they did with keeping the complicated timelines straight - but it's the emotional impact that puts it into top-grade for me. I would never have expected a time-travel drama to feel this real, especially when portraying grief, which is very easy to do badly. YES, you should watch it.

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Top marks for pacing.

It's always great to find a drama that manages to keep all the narrative balls in the air (on a first watch anyway) all the way through 18 episodes. I was hooked from the start, I binged it like a delicious pudding and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It has some genuinely original characters and some genuine surprises, it has some excellently meaty moral dilemmas, and I think I might be a little in love with the scriptwriter right now. WELL PLAYED, LADY. Big hearts for you.

What might put you off: it's a noona romance and the FL is pretty much a female tsundere, which delighted me, but might not be everyone's cup of tea. The actress did a great job with her though and all the cast were great: the fantastic mom and the baddie deserve special mention. I liked Yoon Sang Hyun a lot in Secret Garden, and he was very likeable in this too. But it gets a 9 and not a 10 because I wasn't 100% sold on the romance. Not sure why exactly: the actors were both good, but maybe their chemistry wasn't quite up to the script? I shall probably watch it again at some point and see how it hits the second time round.

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Not what I was expecting, but enjoyable anyway

It's less about fangirling - although there's a lot of that in the beginning and it's pretty funny - and more about the mystery of the ML's parentage, which becomes the focus of the plot and takes some unexpected and fairly heavy (and slightly implausible) twists in the last half. I liked the way it all linked up, but it was very different to the fun fannish shenanigans in the first half, which kind of fizzled out. Nicely played by the whole cast though: they're all pretty likable and the romance is sweet and refreshingly angst-free, with no breaks or noble sacrifice or any of that nonsense - although gotta say that from recs I expected it to be steamy and it really isn't, just adults kissing in a normal, non-frozen way. I liked that the rival fangirl got a little redemption arc and some independence from her weirdo mother! - her final scene with the 'brother' was great. Watch it if you're looking for a peaceful romance with niceness, and no angst or fish kisses.

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Disappointing end

Visually, this is quite stunningly beautiful, in a deeply satisfying way. Ahhh the color. Every single scene was a jewel: they could have made the whole thing silent (and kept the orchestral part of the soundtrack, which I also loved) and I would still probably have watched all 16 episodes. The storyline switches between the ghost hotel's current incarnation in present-day Seoul and monster-of-the-week-style tales of its residents as its new young non-ghostly manager adjusts to his job, and historical flashbacks to the story of the immortal, 1000-year-old owner Jang Man-wol and how she got the curse which ties her to the hotel. She was a great character, wonderfully played by IU - I had never heard of her before this, but she was marvelous, and so was her wardrobe, which must have filled a warehouse. I loved both the flashbacks and the ghosts and unlike some reviewers, I liked the ML, who grew on me, and in fact all of the cast. And it was so very good in parts, especially the flashbacks. I'm sad that it's finished and out of my queue.

But the storyline was undeniably patchy and messed up: there were too many arcs, which felt rushed, badly paced and not sufficiently filled out, and the end fell very flat for me, as did both of the romances. I felt similarly about The Master's Sun - that it started so well and could have been absolutely brilliant - so I'm super curious now about the Hong sisters' writing process: how much is pre-outlined, how much is done on the fly as it's filmed? Because it feels like they just started pantsing it at some point because they were out of time. If anyone is reading this who has better Korean than me (not hard) and can link to any interviews with them, that would be great. Anyway. In short, could have been a 10, but it gets an 8. Still definitely worth watching though.

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