Reviews

A Beginning and an Ending

In the weirdest of ways, I appreciated the ending a lot more than I thought I would, especially since it was unexpected, and as it unfolded, it made total sense. In that only in Han Tae Sul's death would everything be resolved, especially for the future. I admired Han Tae Sul for sacrificing himself in the present for a better future, not just for himself but for all those he cared about, and especially for Kang Seo Hae. The storyline that didn't work for me at all was Sigma. Things started going haywire from the moment he was introduced. Everything about him was totally insipid; even his manipulation or attempts at manipulation, should I say of the Bureau, Seung-bok, Sun, Han Tae Sul, and everyone and everything in between didn't feel as well-grounded as it should've been for a villain of his magnitude. I mean, he is the guy who brings about the end of the world, yet I couldn't take him seriously.

The other biggest failures aside from Sigma for me were Seo Jin and Seung Bok, as prominent as they were at the beginning of the drama as non-existent towards the end; I almost forgot about them that when they reappeared, I just wasn't interested nor did I care. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even sure what roles they continued to play even when Seung Bok threatens Tae Sul and Seo Hae at the end rather than menacing, it felt contrived, and his reasoning, the age-old jealousy felt so uninteresting. The villains in this drama did, however, have one thing in common the intensely personal feeling of inadequacy and hate towards Han Tae Sul for being their total opposite.

As I said, I didn't expect a glamorous ending, but I was pleasantly surprised, not that it was glamorous, but it was indeed interesting. I give it to the writer and director. I liked the last 10 minutes of the finale and wished the show had spent more time reflecting on that rather than on Sigma and his self-pitying, hate, narcissism, jealousy, egotism, obsession, and doubt. I doubted we would get a meaningful ending, but we did -- once we get to self-interpret an ending of our liking. In the end, this was nothing more than a love story.

I love the first half of this drama, but towards the second half of this drama, I started getting this feeling that Sisyphus failed me somehow, but then I probably failed it too for not fully grasping its storytelling. I do, however, fully appreciate the acting, especially Jo Seung Woo as Han Tae Sul, Park Shin Hye as Kang Seo Hae, and Sung Dong-II as CEO Park and Sung Dong-II in particular. He was piercing in the role of a broker torn by his past self's emotional indulgences and his present self waiting, pinning to save those who matter to him most yet at the same time failing to recognize they were with him all along. I will miss Jo Seung Woo and hope the next time I see him in a drama, it will be Stranger 3.

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Wonderful drama

This drama is really wonderful. You feel that you are in a roller coaster ride of emotions. I love the characters of ML and FL and also you will feel the love of both actors. As they are really in loved with each others. I really feel the sweetness of ML and FL. Their crying scenes especially Cheng Yi, when he cries you will truly feel his emotions and cried with him too. I really love Chinese Drama because there are always lessons that you can learn when watching. Like these one. If someone makes mistakes there are reasons why do people do those things. There is something that triggers them why they do that. You will understand them and forgive and move on. I highly recommend this drama. I watch these a couple of times already especially if there are no new episodes I binge watched them. I truly love this wonderful drama. Kudos to all the actors and actresses. ❤️

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Started off as. a potential 8.5 ... slowly went to 8.0... and then to 7.0

The basic backstory of this drama is that the female lead is into taking and restoring plants
The male lead is a ceo of a hotel/ corporation that also has a garden kind of thing., due one to the male lead's grandpa passing he meets the female lead. The male lead often gets headaches and the female lead is the only one that can make him feel better. The female lead ends up working as his hotel.. The second female is kinda annoying, making it hard for the female lead to do what she really wants which is gardening and taking care of plants.

The drama focused mainly on the backstory/ identity of the male lead and the second male lead. ( don't want to spoil it too much)
The production focused too much on the identity part which felt really draggy after a while. I thought it was going to end around 30... , but in total there are 36 chapters.

I skipped majority of all the planning/scheme/identity /backstory ... >_<
The biggest a**hole in the story is the dad......

I however really liked the chemistry between the two leads, wish there could of been more sweet scene
.
Mainly watched it because I like the male lead Zhang zhe han :)


I definitely would not rewatch

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I Told Sunset About You as the Caliber of BL Genre

https://medium.com/@fritzamido/i-told-sunset-about-you-as-the-caliber-of-bl-genre-7792927b701d

I Told Sunset About You — a 2020 Thai romantic drama coming-of-age directed by Boss Naruebet Kuno for Nadao Bangkok. The story revolves around two highschool boys who are figuring out what will be the life ahead of them with their complicated and raw feelings from each other.
I’ve been a huge fan of BL series ever since- from the cliche ones that gives your heart a little nudge to make it flutter to the tragic ones that caused you to shed tears. As different variety of BL series started to make its way in all streaming platforms, I am not going to lie if I will say they all have repetitive plots.
Meanwhile, I Told Sunset About You creates its own flavour that makes it totally different from the rest of the BL series that are existing at date- it hits differently. At first, you’re going to assume it’s just a mere story of two teenagers, from childhood bestfriends, turns into rivals, and became potential lovers but as you get deeper watching the whole episodes, it’s not- it is more than that. It exemplify itself from the rest of indistinguishable narratives of BL genre produced.
It’s a real life story.

Its distinct cinematography and production design gives the viewers a total melancholic conjecture. Its visual details and aesthetics has the same par with Call Me By Your Name; very warm and subtle, also alluring- the way they play with the right color schemes and saturations to equally portray the mood of every scene. It has this… Oscar’s movie quality production set in Phuket. The feeling that the cinematography and camera works gives are immaculate and bewitching.
These factor alone makes the series rise above the mediocre cinematography of all BL series.

The acting of Billkin and PP Krit on the other hand remains phenomenal. They cemented their acting finesse in this series- tough match. Both has a very complex roles yet they managed to deliver every single line very well especially on how they embody their characters into themselves. It doesn’t look like forced nor too rehearsed, it is a perfect example of spontaneity that was well-executed. Most of all, they never had any cringe-acting moments that I always encounter in other BL series as if it’s a part of the acting formula. Theirs was very genuine and natural. They always show the right and raw projection from emotionally charged scenes.
The chemistry between them is undeniably exquisite, very nuanced- from those small gestures, the secret gaze and glances from each other, the restraint desire that was perfectly painted on their faces, the grieving from rejection… that makes both of them a top-notch actors with their effective acting and sensational portrayals.
To make it short, what they feel, you also feel. It transcends into you as if you belong to their world.
And also, commending the portrayals of supporting roles in this series. Their acting are excellent as well, not mediocre and stable enough to deliver what they should deliver on screen. Overall, no screentime was wasted from both main and supporting roles.

When it comes to the story writing and its depth, you can definitely say that it was very well written; brilliant and exceptionally profounding- the dialogues, incorporated by the actor’s excellent acting, will make you feel a lot of emotions in every episode, you name it- happiness, devastation, anguish, confusion… you will be emotionally involved and invested as if you are in a roller coaster ride. Viewers will not going to be spared as it will bequeath everyone with pure emotions firsthand.
The pacing of the story is quintessential- very realistic, not rushed and spot on. You should not miss every single detail on every episode because they are value-added as to how you are going to interpret the story on your own. The color arrangement of the scenes, the color symbol of the main characters- the color blue and red representation, the incorporation of Chinese language and how it was used significantly between Teh and Oh-aew’s relationship, and the seamless symbolism that you can distinguish on every episodes. They were all well-thought and speaks volume perfectly.

There are BL series that also tackles societal issues that is relevant to LGBTQ+ but looks like forced just to fit in the storyline but I Told Sunset About You managed to carry it out perfectly stitched within the entirety of the plot, establishing a mutual connection to certain viewers who can relate either on Teh’s and Oh-aew’s character. It never fails to depict and validates someone’s struggle and make it even more relatable- not exaggerated.
And here lies the spectacular talent of the screenwriter, Goy Arachaporn Pokinpakorn and the director, Boss Naruebet Kuno. They solidified the plot, cinematography, and script to make a pristine masterpiece.
Talking about the sountrack and music scoring- they are all perfectly placed to create the story more appealing, to make it more impactful. It doesn’t overtake the scenes, it is not distracting. It blended with the movements impeccably. There is beautiful thing when they incorporated the Chinese version of Skyline as one of the sountrack and you cannot also deny how the cover song of Billkin and PP Krit added flavor to the soundtrack, making it very personal from their roles.
As you listen to the whole OST, you will realize how pulchritudinous the lyrics of each songs are if you’re going to look for its English translations- totally poetic and written with so much ardor based on the meaninful messages of the songs that gives you a heartrending impression of the series.
Billkin is a great singer as well. He sang two of the sountracks and it tells how well-rounded he is as an artist.

Fan of this series or not, BL enthusiast or just a casual viewer, you can totally say that I Told Sunset About You really made an impression for being a prime and stellar BL at this date. An ensnarling yet beautiful portrayal of teenage love and the strong power of friendship, identity seeking, fragility of someone’s trust and worth, and the manifestation of someone’s dreams and inspiration in a very realistic approach.
Nadao Bangkok as a powerhouse production, outdid themselves and set a new quality standard for BL genre. The fact that I Told Sunset About You has one more finale episode but the first episodes already proven that it has potential to be considered as a brilliant masterpiece. It only has five episodes in total but considering how they successfully laid out the plot on every episodes- without a waste, was masterly polished.
On a personal note, I would definitely give it 10/10 for surpassing my expectations from the very beginning. It is not a perfect series but it is undeniably the best out there- a hard to beat, I must say. It also deserves recognition in any Thai Drama Award Shows and an international acclaim for that matter.
This is a cinematic masterpiece… a caliber for the BL genre and production houses to ameliorate their BL plots and narratives.

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One word: disappointing

The text below might contain orthographical mistakes since I'm not a native english speaker.

I was anticipating for this drama even before it was released: a friend sent me the teasers and I got super excited since I was looking for a mystery drama to watch. The beginning was pretty confusing (I had to rewatch the first four episodes to fully understand), I thought the random informations we got were going to be addressed while the episodes were passing, but it never happened. The writers were just opening new problems in every episode and never clarifying the ones created previously, taking the focus away from the main subject and creating a whole mess. It's hard to connect every piece of information we got about the murder itself when the drama focused more on exploring the life of secondary characters, and there comes another problem: how come we know more about the supporting roles than about the main characters, Kang Sol A and Han Joonhwi? They never clarified what happened with Sol A's family or what Joonhwi's uncle said to Jiho when he was on drugs. It was just a mess from start to end. But what made me watch it until the end? 1. The OST; 2. The charismatic characters: Even if I see the deepening of the student's life as something unnecessary for the plot, it made it easier to like them. I loved how the study group's character's personalities were contrasting, but they still had interesting interactions, looks like something I would see on a 2010s Nickelodeon TV Show. The subtle hints of a possible romance between some of them were amazing too (Bokgi crushing on Yeseul was so cute!). I knew there wouldn't have space for romance, but at the start I waited for something like Suho/Jukyung/Soojin from Joonhwi and both Kang Sols, instead, they worked very well as a trio; 3. Yeseul: If it wasn't for her, I think I'd have dropped the show. Different from the others, her arc added something to the plot and I LOVE how the scriptwriters portrayed her feelings: The blind love she felt for her boyfriend, the fear she had of him, The Moment Of Realization, the confusion someone feels when dealing with an abusive partner. Overall, I don't think it is a good drama and would not recommend it. I'd never watch it completely if I wasn't keeping up with the weekly updates. Anyways, it's a pity that it doesn't give what it promises, but I don't fully regret watching it.

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A drama that set out to show off to its viewers but ultimately failed to live up to its own hype.

That's the sense I got from the beginning of this show, it felt big headed and self satisfied, "please watch me, I'm so clever" Not.

This show tried its best to dazzle us with the mystery regarding how time can be manipulated and with mathematical wizardry, but unfortunately as the story progressed all of this clever potential was discarded by the wayside and all we ended up with was very poor pacing and inconsistent storytelling.

I consider myself to be adequately well versed in things like music, literature, world events, art, philosophy etc; so as a viewer I really welcome it when a writer presents an unusual and unique story, and I'm quite able to keep up with the events the writer is unfolding. But in this drama I was constantly scratching my head wondering 'what's going on now?" "did I miss something ?" "wait a minute who's that?" all to culminate in this weak ending that rendered all the confusion null, mainly because the huge amount of characters that were introduced came to nothing, were never fleshed out and their stories were minimised towards the end.

This drama took its viewers for granted mainly because the majority of people already loved it even before it began. There was a great willingness on the part of the viewers to forgive some flaws and go with the flow, but I think that the flaws in this show are unforgivable, for example the show has very poor structure and the chronology is all over the place ( I know this is supposed to be explained by the time travel/parallel universe premise) the story is all over the place, literally; As a viewer I was often plunged into scenes without a clue as to the context, thus the head scratching.
In my personal opinion, my real time experience watching this was not enjoyable because as I watched it episode by episode I never got to the point of enjoyment because I was always searching for clues to help me understand the story better.

The acting mention I can give here is for Woo Do Hwan, his scenes are always engaging and he has a depth of delivery that is impressive. I also like Lee Min Ho, he's not a bad actor but in this show, the intention was to make him look cool rather than to act well. Kim Go Eun is the kind of actress that will act according to the quality of her leading man and supporting cast, and I think she failed to shine here; I was also not impressed with how she was written, from a strong, confident police lieutenant to a weak, weeping, lost in love damsel, it was truly awful.
Prime Minister was atrociously written, I can tell she's a good actress but really Jung Eun Chae had no chance with the cards she was dealt in this script, It's a role she should have refused to play; her character's descent into the typical jealous, mean and spiteful spurned woman was so disappointing, because this was a role with so much potential.
Lee Jung Jin as Uncle Yi Rim was a waste of a good actor, he was so badly written with weak motivation and back story, it was sad to see.
Kim Kyung Nam had depth as Shin Jae, but ultimately it all amounted to very little.

This show had flashes of brilliance, the concept is intriguing, unfortunately it was handled poorly.

The rating I've given is mainly for the production value, the cinematography and the few flashes of brilliance, oh and Prime Minister's wardrobe.

I understand the OST is good, but I actually never became too familiar with the songs except for the one by Gummy. The music was not used consistently so that's another lost opportunity to build poignancy because music plays a big part in that.

That's all I have to say, sorry but no.

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Pill that is very hard to swallow

This show is a pill that is very hard to swallow..

The initial story setup I felt was really good and had a lot of potential. Characters felt unique and interesting and show had a very promising start as well.
But as the story progressed and reached its final destination it felt unsatisfying and shallow...

I think the ending really puts into perspective what the writing was trying to do in the first place. The writers was more interested in the philosophical aspects( conveyed through dialogue and themes) rather than the characters themselves. Every story arc seems under-utilized. There are so many story threads that was unexplored or blatantly ignored.
The best example was Gu's past. They just used the past just an excuse for why he is drunk all the time. We never fully understand what happened, why was she important to him or whether she was important at all.

Acting was overall top notch special mention should be given to Son Seok-Koo. The charm charisma and the ultimate dread he brings to the role was really great to watch..

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Unfair review

this could be unfair review because i'm writing it after i finish and i'm so mad over this drama and i wasn't that mad on drama on along time maybe none of 2020 drama made me that mad.
let's start with the good things so i can calm down. the plot itself was good and interesting. all characters was also interesting and enjoyable to watch expect the Present Tae Yi. acting was amazing from everyone. and that's it.

the drama start so promising with time traveling where we don't say just one want to solve a crime and the usual thing in kdrama, but focus in the time traveling work itself and effect in people and that was so amazing but then they got lost fast and we are stick in 2020 when the lead meet with the time travelers like they don't travel any other year and when they travel they only go to that one day on 2010.

they got lost in the same time line no one think to go back like the father or something?? why present tae yi didn't work at all in stopping time what was her role again?? why jingyeom have emotion illness but he cry, scream and get mad a lot. the romance was so forced in the story like it's the thing ruin it all.

let's go to the main character the fl lead they interduce as intelligent professor TaeYi but we see only girl sticking to the lead because he protect her and act some forced romance didn't do anything intelligent in work just their to wish his hair and make him food and when she know he will die she take him to park lol so stupid, didn't even understand she is his mom other self even through everyone tell her he protect her because she look like her and when she know the only thing she care about oh he didn't see me as who i'm??like she don't understan or care about everything going around she just stick to that guy and that's it. professor Taeyi the worst character in Alice. so useless.

And that move us to the ending they don't know what to do to make the lead end together after we saw that she his mom other self so they just was like what ever we will let them met anyway, if time reset his mom should disappear too so why she still have the other Jingyeom and he grow up normally?? if time reset the only one should be in the world is the present Tae yi and she will met his dad and life go on and then he come to life in the future. but they be like whatever Jingyeom live with his mom (Tae yi) then he meet other Tae yi because we should make a happy ending to a couple everyone see as mom and son.
and why the present Tae yi remember him and how Doyeon didn't remember him while they are school mate even if they didn't become friends after the reset. she the only one know the original jingyeom they just want to end their relationship like that?... i really wish they give us minhyuk/taeyi ending with normal jingyeom who meet doyeon! that was the best thing they can do after messing around for so long. and that what normal happen if reset happen but they say NO we will force this couple in you anyway.

this drama make me so mad but i enjoyed the acting so i will give them a better rate for that.

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Strong First Strike, but Loses Its Footing in the Last Quarter

Watching this show was an emotional roller coaster ride: in the first three-quarters of the show, the cart climbed higher and higher until it could go no further, limited by the tracks that the writer had laid out for the machine. But then it started its descent, and for me, the train derailed before it reached the station.

It's clear to me that the writer knew exactly where she wanted to go and tried to careful craft a scenario to deliver her message about the elation and tribulations of first loves. For the first part of the show, I was totally engrossed with this plan. The story is told as a flashback of a little girl who read's her mother's diary, and like many other viewers, I was invested in the open question of who the identity of the girl's father - is he the main character of the mother's love story or he is not?! This was a question that kept everyone awake at night when this drama was airing. This was definitely an intentional effect as the series would intentionally omit clear references to the father, going so far as not to even show him on screen and to make dialog ambiguous so that you don't even know his name nor any hints towards his identity. Moreover, it seemed like every little detail of this Kdrama mattered -- it didn't matter if you forgot something, because boy, the writer sure remembered everything, and she often utilized these minutia to extreme emotional and dramatic effect. It was almost a masterpiece.

Almost. For me, the plot past episode 13 took a noticeable decrease in quality: characters started acting in ways that I thought were unearned - the fierce female lead that we had all come to know and love somehow became more passive and willing to give up -- this was a far cry from her "never give up attitude" that had led her to toil so hard to hone her fencing skill. The conscientious, sweet boy who put family and friends above all else suddenly became a workaholic -- he spent most of the first half of the story practicing the little, individual acts of loves for his friends, family, and love interests, and suddenly he's all about sacrificing for the greater good/his career. Yes, people can change, but for me, if we're talking about a television series, we should be shown the change and not have to infer it -- it's just jarring without a proper explanation. Even for side characters, things just started to arbitrarily work out for no discernible reasons - this is a little baffling to me in a story that prided itself on being so clear and clever with the details. The final nail in the coffin for me was dismissing things that we had become so invested in: that mystery we all cared about? Without spoilers, I feel I can safely say: it turns out it's irrelevant. Put simply, it felt like a slap in the face as if we were intentionally manipulated only to increase ratings and not for story purposes.

I don't believe that a story necessarily needs to have a happy end nor needs to have a sad end to be great. But I just feel this Kdrama did not execute its ending in a way that I felt was earned. It pains me to say: this Kdrama started as a 10/10 for me, but quickly destroyed my faith in it with just 3 measly episodes, to the point that I actually think it did the whole story a disservice. There were so many unanswered questions, that I think either the show needed a few more episodes to flesh things out or it needed less episodes to tell a complete tale without the feeling that something is missing. Either way, I can't help but feel there was a missed opportunity here. It's just such a shame.

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Home is no longer sweet

Extremely inconsistent tone for its episodes that led the storyline direction to nowhere. The action sequence in the first three episodes is absolutely impressive, it's cinematic and immersive but that's all about it. The episodes ahead are of really questionable decisions, the whole mood shifted out of sudden with a bunch of newly added characters that look detached and don't provide much to drive the storyline. Things got stagnant and the monster craze wore out pretty quickly, it felt like they were trying to reserve the bigger part for the next season, but hype dies down and home is no longer sweet.

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Amazing

What an amazing drama. Honestly, what can I say that's bad about it? Nothing. It was completely new and like nothing I've seen before. It was really different and fantastastical. It had romance, humour, fight scenes, and fantasy elements. All in all, it was just a really great drama. I loved it a lot and the ending was perfect and made sure everyone got their happy ending. I would for sure rewatch it and recommend it to anyone. Don't let the bad reviews get to you and stop you from watching because we all have different tastes and to those who are up for trying it out, I would definitely back you up! Good luck and enjoy.

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This drama has a cute romance, great acting, and good music. However, my problem with it is the story.

The story is actually well written, logical, no apparent plot holes, and no character was sacrificed due to bad writing... No these were not the problems with the story... the problem was simpler than these, the writers forgot their setting!!! They forgot that they were writing about prisoners, about criminals, about victims and about the pain caused by the crimes, by violence, and by poverty (not just money wise, but emotional and moral poverty). They forgot that crimes are entangled with morality. They forgot to mention psychological aspect of a crime, that for example when one person commits the act of murder, other that than the pain they've caused others, they themselves are forever psychologically scared, that these scars don't just fade away, that these scars need to be addressed, that rehabilitation and a lot of help is needed for them to hurt less ...

In the drama, they joked about how the prisoners should come to their senses and that they are not in a club, or a hotel... to be honest, I felt like the writers thought the characters were simply lost sad boys who had decided to come together and live in a hostel ...

Half way through the drama, when I saw that the is no sign of ANY remorse the drama lost its charm for me, it wasn't fun to watch anymore, it was actually alarming to watch, to see how everyone in the drama seemed to ignore all the signs of psychological problems and morality issues of the main characters ... so yeah if I were to go back in time I will pass on this drama and spend my 16 hrs doing something else ....

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Inspiring; would make you want to get up on your seat and do something

This story made me feel so much feels all throughout its run. The family, the friendships, the relationships, the challenges of running a business, the hardships that you will encounter in following your dreams, the stupid and reckless decisions that young people make as they navigate through life, the humor (!!!), and all the heartwarming moments -- this drama has everything. It definitely is not perfect -- got a bit draggy in the middle and I personally felt like the story could have gone in a different direction than a love triangle, but the end was just too beautiful and redeemed the series for me (yes it has one of the most beautiful endings in kdrama ever!). Plus the way those hackathon / demo day moments made my heart pound was just **chef's kiss**. I will definitely miss the Samsan squad -- what an inspiring group of people who started from the bottom and kept going and dreaming and falling and failing and eventually achieving success.

For those seeing super angry and negative reviews for this drama lol, let me just give you context: throughout this drama's run it has been plagued with very passionate shipping wars as to who the FL should end up with (people got very hooked on the SL because he was introduced first and was really ML material and the real ML was a dork), and of course if you're part of one ship and you're not getting what you want you'll be mad lol. But don't let it stop you from watching this drama. Try to understand it from an objective view (or even if you have a ship don't let it blind you) and you will see the beauty in it. This drama legit inspired me to get up from my seat and do something (plus the OST is SUPERB). You wouldn't want to miss that just because of angry fans who didn't get the ship they wanted hehe. Definitely one of 2020's bests!

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Seemed interesting... but fell short

I really wanted to like this drama! but couldnt. It had such potential and seemed kinda cute,, why did they ruin in ?

Female lead has a super taste what wine she has drank before she'll remember it. She is trying to be a wine taster/ recommender at this company name Anda. She takes may blind taste test and wins but is always blocked my the third female lead. They never liked each other. The third female lead never liked the female lead. The male lead has a very strange disease/disorder which his symptoms gets better when the female lead kisses him. He tries to do what he can to pursue her, be her neighbor etc. The male lead never told the female lead his true identity ( being the ceo of Anda company). The male lead has a younger brother. The younger brother is pretty famous in the wine industry. He holds a grudge against his family due to a car accident while he was young. The younger brother becomes the female lead's teacher.

There is just way too many misunderstanding between the leads. It suppose to be a sweet drama since, they kiss so many times! but its not... no chemistry at all..

Few reasons why it flopped

1) FL AND ML didnt have enough chemistry
2) Annoying/evil third female lead character constantly sabotaging.
3) Annoying younger brother
4) male lead is not honest enough in the relationship
5) female lead is too naive

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