Basically I received two kinds of depiction from this drama. On the first half, it was portrayed (may be I’m wrong but it’s totally my perception) love is important but living life is far too important. Love comes gradually. Not necessarily it always have to be “love” at first then “marriage” between two persons, however, “marriage” can happen before as a natural response of fulfilling basic needs between two people and then love can be discovered in the process. Conversely, on the second half, it was portrayed, realizing a person is in love is most important and marriage will come naturally as a result. Love and marriage are two completely different subject. If love fails between a couple, marriages is not possible. Marriage comes with a huge baggage which is not a game, it needs sacrifice, commitment and perseverance. Two different arguable school of thoughts. Former quite old-fashioned and latter quite contemporary. What I think no matter which era we live in or what people say about living in 21st century, marriage-a holy institution- should not be abolished completely. It is imperative for any society and I’m happy at the end the drama focused on marriage.
The story was based on romantic relationship of three couples. Main highlight was three women characters. One was in a living relationship for seven years, who typically like many other girls wants a family of her own by getting married and having a kid. She was all into settled life. Another girl who was smart, beautiful and brave doesn’t believe in love or marriage rather believe more in casual physical relationship. She was audacious, careerist and hardheaded woman. And the third one is the struggling one who was in her 30s but was fighting to make her own way of becoming a screenwriter. She was never into dating or any relationship but falls victim of a contract marriage and ended up falling for the person she married. These were three individual romantic set up. Through the romantic lenses of these three different relationships, different contemporary societal facts and issues of modern world have been highlighted. A crude realistic vision of modern society was embedded in the dialogues and monologues.
Three couples had their own hardships both from personal level and also as a couple. Through the romance of Ho Rang-Won Seok couple a newfangled reality of romance has been executed. They were into living relation for more than seven years when they gradually realized they both are way different than each other. When it comes to marriage various issues forced them to part their ways. Through Sang Goo-Su Ji couple, a more independent and casual romance have been executed. The couple transitioned from friends-with-benefits to a more serious relationship. Su Ji was shown as the epitome of modern careerist women who in the journey of building her own place in the corporate world constantly faced despicable adversities. Where surviving in a harsh patriarchal society in itself difficult, love, marriage, relationship and a settled family were always secondary to her. The tensions created between these two couples, their falling apart from each other and coming back are quite evident in real life couples as well. Nonetheless, in reality not all couples goes back together.
The third and the main romantic couple of the drama was Ji Ho-Se Hee couple. They were due to some circumstances bounded by contract marriage. The concept of contract marriage can be unrealistic but the story depicted through their relationship by emphasizing on multifarious sides of a wedded life is simply marvelous. In love only two people are involved and in marriage number of people are involved. Responsibilities to run a family, responsibilities towards in-law family and to compromise in almost any situation despite against one’s will is what marriage is. The couple realized that they are not only entitled to solely think about their happiness and contentment. Instead they realized, it’s more about fulfilling other people’s (mainly in-laws) needs and wishes rather than their own. Mostly the sufferer is the bride. Ji Ho wanted to break the stereotype. Through her character it was portrayed, love is crucial than marriage. Being married not necessarily means to fulfill other people’s expectations. If they keep on doing that when will they be able to fulfill their own desire? To fall in love, to discover each other, to respect each other, to understand each other should be comprised 90% of marriage. Completing family rituals, doing regular household chores, giving birth, to maintain a good bond with the in-laws are not the essentials in a married life. Those are indeed good things which will come gradually along the course of running the family life. When these extraneous factors become more important, love dies between the couple which shouldn’t be the case.
I fell in love with the concept of the story. Marriage is a wonderful and a very strong institution which is not denied here. Preferably the foreground was to respect each other’s space, to respect each other’s dreams and aspiration and to help let each other’s other half grow as per their wish, as a result a jovial conjugal life is possible. Marriage shouldn’t be strangled with the wishes and dreams of the nearer ones but it should be more about substituting each other’s weakness with each other’s strength.
Acting by the casts were excellent. Decades later I could see Lee Min Ki on small screen which in itself pretty overwhelming. Jung So Min is one of my favourite actresses and my girl crush. She is beautiful and an utterly talented actress. I thoroughly enjoy all her work. The other actors did laudable job. Not even once I felt they were acting. They all felt real and natural.
The OSTs are really nice. With some scenes few OSTs are played accordingly which suited the mood of the scenes perfectly.
Few of the scenes are there in the drama which are my favourites. One was the conversation between Se Hee and his mother-in-law during Se Hee-Ji Ho’s wedding, another between Ji Ho and her mother during the very day and also at their house when they were conversing about Se Hee and some scenes from flashbacks of 80s which were consisted of only Ji Ho’s monologue. Also the comic reliefs of this drama are extraordinary. One moment it will engross you into something grave then immediately it will give you a good amount of laughter dose. Some of those comical moments are also my favourites.
On the whole, it is a great drama which executed the difficult, sensitive and complicated issues of relationship from various perspectives: relationship within marriage, relationship without marriage, living relationship and casual relationship. The concept was not an easy one to write. Full credit should go to the writers for their wonderful creativity of lucidly showing all kinds of romantic relations in one drama. Never seen such realistic and meaningful romcom ever before.
Guys go watch it. No regrets guaranteed.
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The BEST!!!
One of the best series EVER. I have watched it many times since it first came out. And I am still seeing new things in it. I just finished it again last night. What a joy. I won't repeat what others have said in their reviews of celebration and deep pleasure about this top notch drama, as they said it so well. I have given this series 10 for every part of it. Clever. Moving. Funny. Sad. Intelligent. SUPERB. All acting is wonderful. . And the two lead characters are brilliant. The script is as good as it gets. I adore both Jung So Min and Lee Min Ki. ( I am still furious at the producers of Alchemy of Souls, who dropped Jung So Min out of the main cast in Part 2 of that series - and put a younger actress in her place. I won't comment on the "new" actress. But part 2 doesn't hold up at all for me. Not having JSM in Part 2 was a clumsy dumb move. Jung So Min was fabulous in part 1 of AOS. She pretty much "stole the show". ) However, JSM has clearly moved on with dignity and has two new series coming up. I look forward to anything she is in! I would love to see her team up with LMK again.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
This was a very pleasant watch with fewer aggravating plot turns than I've come to expect from Kdramas. I have a bunch of random, disconnected opinions:*Ji Ho was a very likable main character. Actually, she was too charming and beautiful for the story, because I found it hard to believe that even a guy as damaged and stoic as Se Hee wouldn't immediately fall in love with her as soon as she moved in. As a reserved, logical guy myself who doesn't like talking too much, I can relate to Se Hee to a certain extent, but even I would totally speak up and tell Ji Ho that I loved her and wanted her to stay and not let her leave so easily. Also, it’s highly unlikely that a beautiful girl with her personality and outgoing temperament with a healthy sex drive who wasn’t raised in a fundamentalist religion or cult would have reached age 30 without having gone on a single date or kissed. Or that such a girl would only have 2 friends. It would have been much more credible if the actress was more plain or quirky looking. (Did anyone else think that something about her eyes makes her look Japanese?)
*Poor Jung Min, being mistreated by the Nam family over and over! Not only does Se Hee dump her with his dad's encouragement, his wife Ji Ho years later just uses her up and doesn't give anything back to her. So Jung Min goes out of her way to be totally generous to her ex-boyfriend's wife, offering her a job, using her company’s attorneys to file an expensive lawsuit for her, and then finding her a job at another company when she got rejected. What does she get in return for this? Absolutely nothing. After Jung Min's company helps file this scandalous lawsuit against their fellow industry colleague, isn't it obvious that her company is going to be blackballed and lose business? So she's totally going out on a limb for Ji Ho. And Ji Ho doesn't even bother to accept Jung Min's offer. I felt sorry for Jung Min.
*Bo Mi was so cute! I think she would have been a perfect match for any of the 3 main guys, Se Hee, Sang Goo, or Won Seok. I'm sorry that she came up empty at the end.
*Was Sang Goo channeling Christopher Walken? I liked him, but I would have dialed that back a little.
*I usually can't stand those typical Kdrama clingy girlfriend roles, but Ho Rang actually was a better example of this, and I found her very sympathetic. Won Seok was very sympathetic too, and I thought he did by far the best acting job out of the 3 male leads. Because both of them are so likable and realistic, it made their ending that much more of a disappointing cop out. Absolutely nothing changed for either of them, so why wouldn't they continue this endless cycle of breakup and makeup indefinitely into the future?
*I'm just as frustrated with Ji Ho's strange divorce decision in the last couple of episodes as everyone else. Why couldn't she instead do one the following much more sensible and less disruptive things?
A) Ask to have a temporary separation so she can think and decide what to do for the future. This is actually what she really ended up doing, except that she misled everyone into thinking that she wanted a permanent divorce, causing unnecessary pain and disruption to everyone around her. The separation should have just been discussed between the 2 of them and not announced to the whole world as a divorce.
B) Maybe actually communicate and talk things out like normal people. Just come out and tell Se Hee that she loves him but she wants him to come out of his shell and tell her he loves her, show more affection and emotion, and change their marriage contract so that it's based on love rather than paying the rent. He would have immediately agreed and things would have been fine after that. Also, they could have told their families that they want to have a non-traditional marriage where they opt out of those in-law duties. Problem solved.
*The editing was very strange. Scenes would end abruptly in odd places, switch to a different scene, and then come back in a way that was frustrating rather than artful or dramatic.
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This is a Drama that could seem a simple one but not. This Drama is warm, depth and intelligent by its own. The writer made many analogies compering things and objects with the life of the characters, she used books, and poems in a magic way.
This Drama is not a melodrama this is basically a Romance- Comedy drama and the writer and the director made comedy in a very simple an beautiful way.
The characters are nice and lovable , sometimes while watching a Drama we used to say “I can’t stand this or that character” but here each character have their own reason to be how they are or to do what they did. This Drama make you feel a lot and think even about your own life.
I needed to re-watch every episode and each time I did I could understand and see things that I didn’t get the first or the second time I watched and I am sure that if in two months I go back to watch it again I will see things that I didn’t or couldn’t see before. This Drama made me go from laugh to the crying in seconds.
I am sure that when I can’t find any good or interesting Drama to watch I will watch again.
I have to say that this year I abandoned about 10 different Dramas I tried to watch but I couldn’t, so if you are looking for something interesting, beautiful, well done, well-acted, well directed, well written this is the Drama for you and I have to say that this Drama is not for immature people.
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I enjoyed each couple as they were and how they developed throughout the story. This drama was nearly perfect for me with the exception that toward the end, it was getting choppy. It seems to be an underlining idea in K-Dramas that some kind of miscommunication needs to happen or our couple(s) need to forcibly part ways of their own free will for no tangible reason.
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Once the story hit its groove, we got wonderful metaphors and themes that framed each episode. Episodes 11-13 were particular highlights for me, although I cried all the way until episode 15 (as everyone says: that SUNSET). But also, 13 was the episode that got me most of all and was most applicable to my life — the concept of room 19 is one that will stick with me, for sure.
The social commentary was also strong with this one. I had no idea how patriarchal South Korea was until now (also compounded by The Economist's latest "special report" on South Korea). I loved how this story subverted common / expected tropes, like the possible love triangles that were evaded. It also made me more thoughtful of the differences between love and marriage, and how marriage changes things because of the dynamic it creates with others.
Lee Min-Ki was a bit too robotic for my tastes at times, although the tsundere was built into the character. It did make his emotions later on all the more powerful.
The ending was romantic and heart warming, although a bit too perfect for my tastes. One couple in particular should've taken a different path — I think sometimes we do need to think realistically about our desires instead of dying on the sword under the belief that love conquers all.
That being said, "I'm glad that I got to spend the best time of my life with you."
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This is the best Korean drama I have watched yet !!
Acting, story music everything is just amazing but what is the most important in this drama is all the topics that story covers. For me ( for a girl ) it was very interesting to watch it as this show covers the topic about patriarchy in the family, at work and generally in society. Even if i haven't experienced it that much show was so good that it felt like I've been dealing with that problems instead characters. Normally Korean dramas are all about romance and important topics like that are not discussed, that's why i was not really waiting that much from the drama but it surprised me for the best.
Apart from sexism there are some more issues that were shown and I love to watch, like relationships in family and connection with parents, friendship, marriage, love, career, life and how hard it can be to achieve your dreams, economical struggles in life etc. But most fascinating thing is that even though we see love story of main leads, at the same time we experience love stories of 2 other couples which are absolutely different from each other, but quite realistic and interesting, with their issues and problems through their relationships.
Shortly, my Eng vocabulary won't be enough to describe all the positiveness of drama :D You need to watch it yourself !!
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Without relying too heavily on the standard drama tropes, the creative team behind Because This Is My First Life have built a story that's powerful, poignant, and funny all at the same time. I love the microcosm of today's generation's different perspectives on love and marriage that we see with the three girls.
Combine these thoughtfully laid out themes with a great (and adorable!) cast of characters and a distinctly poetic writing style... and the end result is just a breath of fresh air!
I highly recommend giving this drama a try if you're looking for a heartfelt drama that breaks the mold.
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CAST: Wow! Lee Ming Ki was awesome! Jung So Min was good too and she was sooo pretty! I also liked the kissing scenes esp when she asked if she can kiss him, it was so sweet and I liked the thought that she asked permission instead of diving in for a surprise kiss.
MUSIC: the BGM/OST were good too! esp Ben's singing voice it's angelic!
REWATCH VALUE: I actually just rewatch it last night, I had so little sleep hahahah
OVERALL: 10/10 it was good and very cute! TVN did a very good job!
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In terms of things I liked, I really liked the character development and rational of the main lead actor, Se Hee. While he was an 'emotionless,' apathetic character in the beginning, he didn't really display himself as cold, as many emotionless kdrama characters tend to do. Whenever he did something, he usually thought things through and how those around him might feel. His awkwardness also made him rather funny at time, and made the romantic scenes more memorable as you wouldn't have expected him to behave in that way given his character. For the main lead actress, Ji Ho, for the most part, her choices were also pretty rational, and there weren't a lot of flaws to her as with a lot of main kdrama actresses. In addition, I really love the dialogue behind the 'Room 19.' There were a lot of deep things that could've been taken away.
However, where the BTIMFL turned sour was in the last two episodes. It became really cliche and extra parts/'twists' were added that didn't need to be there. Also, Se Hee began to make really irrational choices that didn't really add up and were contrary to her previous narrative dialogues, especially as it related to her career choice. I think the dialogues surrounding marriage and love that were presented in the situation of Se Hee and Ji Ho should've been the case for Ho Rang and Won Seok. I'm really disappointed with how the ending turned out, and it just left a sour taste on my tongue. Granted the actual ending was wrapped up nicely, but the events leading up to that could've been changed.
Tl;dr: It's an okay/good drama, but nothing noteworthy. I felt like there were a lot of opportunities to make this drama stellar, but it just fell flat, which was rather disappointing.
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I very rarely write reviews because I’m too lazy, but this show went beyond my expectations.
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5 months later UPDATE: I want to give this show 10 bonus stars. I want to re-watch it now.
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