When the Camellia Blooms (2019)

Good drama but not re-watchable

I added this drama to my watch list because of all of the high reviews. Initially, I didn’t want to watch because the title and trailer just seemed boring to me. However, I’m happy that I took a chance but this is not a drama that I’d consider re-watchable. It was good while it lasted but I’m glad it’s over.

1. This drama seemed to be heartwarming and sweet, especially because of the super innocent and doting ML. I loved how he knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to let FL know how he felt.

2. I didn’t mind the abandoned child turned single mother storyline but the way the community treated FL like a pariah who should be banished to hell, especially by ML’s mother who was a widow with 2 young children and a newborn, got on my nerves. ML’s mother was best friends with FL until she found out her son, whom she raised to be a warm and loving person, was warm and loving on the “wrong” person.

3. I felt bad for Jeong-ryeol because after 8 years, he finds out he has a son but his mother wants to keep them apart. Excuse me?!

4. I liked that Dongbaek’s mother came back and after hearing what she wrote when she thought she was going to die, I felt really bad for her. But I do not understand why she pretended to have dementia. That was very strange and did not fit into the storyline well at all.

5. I liked Pil-gu but did not like how FL just let him control everything about her life. Dongbaek is the adult and Pil-gu is the child. I don’t know why she just could not explain to him that she is not abandoning him by being with ML. She chose to look sheepish and give up on her own happiness to appease her 8 year old. I’m glad ML’s mother came to her own senses and knocked some sense into Dongbaek.

6. Overall, the drama was pretty good but FL’s “woe is me” attitude got on my nerves and ML’s puppy energy became a bit too much for me.

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Loved it for the story and the ML

The plot and story was really good . Its definitely worth your time !

I really liked the family , the social life , neighbourhood setup with a tinge of mystery involved in the story . The story goes out really well . I would have loved it more if the mother-daughter reunion happened a bit earlier and we could see a proper wedding and some romantic moments between the leads , rather than them just crying all the time ! May be the FL chasing ML after breaking-up , something like that ! His family accepting him with open arms ! Argh , he totally deserved that :)
Also , MLs mom apologises FL , though she has been protecting her for 6 yrs , while FL, FL's mom and son neither apologises nor appreciates the ML ?? instead they ask him to just be back with FL ? This is not what he deserved , he was just too good for this :)

Kang Ha Neul was fab with his character . He was one persistent ML . I think one of the best K-drama MLs and he has done the wonderful job portraying his role . i totally understand his character , but i just wanted him to have a little bit of self-respect . It felt like he lost all of himself in the journey of chasing FL. He was a man with strong sense of duty , so they shouldn't have shown that he was after joker just coz of Dongbaek ! Everyone from FL side was just advising him , though all he did was to try to protect her and her family !i felt bad for him , he dint get the ending that he deserved . Towards the end too , everyone is telling him to go back to Dongbaek coz she is crying :| ??? Why cant she come to him ever ?

Gong jin was a mediocre as always ! She is just same meek , feeble character . I have seen her previously in jealousy incarnate and master's sun . Initially i liked her , but then it started to feel repetitive ! Character wise , They have tried to bring her out as strong at certain moments , but have failed to do so ! She doesn't convince being strong through her actions ! She and her character are the only reason I gave it a 8.5 score , otherwise it would have been a 10/10 for me !!

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I almost missed out on this amazing drama series. The first several episodes was really slow and dragging. I almost gave up, but thank goodness I didn’t! After the character building up and the back stories, every episode after that was so much fun to watch! I cried, laughed, was mad and had so many emotions. Everyone cast was absolutely perfect in their roles. Gong hyo Jin was the perfect Dongbaek and Kang Ha Neul is Extraordinary as Yongsik. He makes every one fall in love with him. I did not really care for him until I watched this drama. He is just perfection! They did amazing as everyone pulled off their characters perfectly. Even the sisters in the neighborhood who were always picking on her and giving her a hard time, helped protect her agains the spies. I can’t express enough how much love I have for Camellia Bloom. I will anxiously wait for season 2! Netflix better renew this ❤️

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the story of a naive but storng woman that bring a child on her own as a single mom, without the father knowlage. she open a bar by herself while rising a baby . she doesn't tell the father because she want to raise the baby on her own, she doesn't want his support, she can do it, she also doesn't want him to give her any support after he found out about the child, she also forgive her mother after abonded her and take care of her, her mother has being forgiven because she is ill, she also very storng and not firghtening to live in dark bar with her baby for more than 6 year while a murderer want to kill her and made her as a target.

when you think of this description you already become familier about the South korean biggest obsession of all:
------------------Woman must be superhero and a saint /angle -------------------------
she is literally saint super hero.
while in reality women in day life struggle to earn money to themself, when they have a baby as single mom they are barly live, they need finance help, or they become prostitute to bring income or sending the baby to adopted family.
even single person without a support can't open a bar, but here we see an single mother orphan that open a bar...it's quite amazing don't you think? more as a super hero than a real human, espesialy in South Korea,

the thing is that in korea there are a lot of prastitude women but they don't talk about it, they don't even dare to show it in their "clean" "rich" Kdramas , the woman is always perfect even if she is poor , the main lead i mean.

if she is a side support role actress she can be aweful, but than she got murdered by the joker, so she not even allowed to live\ i am talking now on the waiter that worked in camellia bar. she suppose to be the real main actress, the main character also, but yet...she is only the "support" actress.
she is so human, to compare to Camelia...yet she satying alwayes the supporting role//

she is not pritty enough, she is not good enough,.she just need to die!
that how they see women in general in their society.
you don't understand it until you watch in a decate full of Kdrama, and than you understand theres a lot of prastitude on the streets and you want to cry...why can't be a prastitude them main lead, why she is not human in their eyes, why women have to be perfect saint all the time,

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After the first episode I thought: strangely enough, there’s nothing special about this boring drama (delete that now!), but there are the really beautiful moments that hit right.

It is the most down to earth drama. Down to earth characters.

Amazing acting. Yong-Shik was brought to life.

Heartwarming, Touching, Funny, Irresistible charm, amazing people, wonderful OST.

Great plot. It’s clear that it’s done by a talented director (who also made other fav dramas of mine).
Great cinematography. Great shots.

Leaves a strong impression.

A Refreshing kind of story.
This drama makes me crazy. It makes me laugh out of no where.

Music is fantastic.

I knew it would be good because of Gong Hyo Jin but ...
Hwang Yong Shik was the heart of the party.
Watch it to understand how precious his character is. It cannot be hated.

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Unique combination executed well

I am a huge fan of Gong Hyo Jin and after watching this, I also admire Oh Jung Se as the bumbling town clown, Son Dam Bi as the tormented street-smart gal, and Yeom Hye Ran as the hard-on-the-outside accomplished woman. They all played absolutely amazing supporting characters.

I have to give the writer and director so many kudos for this very unique combination of: rom-com, innocently chasing the girl romance, complex ex husband and family relationships, and thriller. I haven't seen it executed in this way. At the heart of it, I would call it a slice of life exploration of a single mom who feels empowered one moment and anxiously depressed the next. Some might criticize some of her choices, expecting the character to either be "always good" or "always needing to be rescued" as some dramas depict, but I feel that the variety of actions she takes make her very human and realistic. She makes mistakes like we all do.

It's a slow paced drama so you need to have a bit of patience to savor each step. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the pace kind of meanders but in a way that still fits the slightly mysterious feeling of the way the director and writer wanted it to go. You never feel completely confident that you understand where anything is going so you have to be OK with that when watching this drama.

The only thing I am a bit disappointed in is actually the main romance storyline. I think Kang Ha Neul played his role as Yong Shik well, but it was perhaps written a bit too innocently. You see glimpses that he truly understands all of the nuances of Dong Baek's life, but he doesn't get the chance to articulate it through effective script writing in the way I would have liked. I feel the other characters have more meaningful interactions with each other and Dong Baek than he does, even by the end of the drama.

Overall I have to applaud this unique execution of a realistic feeling mysterious drama. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it and would watch it again to catch all the nuances that I missed the first time.

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I hated the male lead’s character

I held out until the first kiss but I had to drop this drama as I couldn’t stand the male lead’s character. Is he really 30 years old because he acts so childish and says the dumbest things? I was not impressed by the ML’s country bumpkin pseudophilosophy about life (and did not find anything he said swoon worthy). I don’t know how the female lead could fall for this guy (maybe he just wore her down with his relentless pursuit of her). The ML is a nice person but he spends more time chasing of his love than he does at work. When the ML is working, he only obsesses over catching the Joker (who is, of course, directly linked to the FL). I almost wished the FL had reconciled with her ex-boyfriend to give her son a better life. TBH, I am coming off some short 10 minute episode Chinese dramas so I was never able to watch an entire episode, of this drama, in one sitting.

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Don't get be wrong; this is honestly a good show. It's a good filler and good binge show; but I think it truly extremely fell short with the whole murder story line; like what? Lmao. It was good and I liked the story and the actors and actresses played such good characters but WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE MURDER??? THERE WASN'T!!!! HER LIFE WAS ALREADY SO HARD!!!! But you should still watch it; because it was a good show overall. Like the characters were sweet and the bond; the family story and the emotion you'll feel because there really is a lot of ups and downs but there is a lot going on with separate stories between everyone; from an ex to a new guy; to a divorcing couple and cheating husband; all sorts of whirlwind of things.

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Pet peeve tropes

I was lured by this because apparently Koreans really valued this series for destigmatizing single motherhood.

But when we learn the single mother is in this predicament by her own choice and for no reasonable motives AT ALL the show loses all relatability and verisimilitude. She basically decided not disclosing her pregnancy to her then boyfriend for unexplainable reasons, which is infuriating in itself because both the kid and the father have the right to know their biological family in this case.
And then we discover that her baby daddy is a rich athlete on top of that. So she made her son and herself go through hardships just CAUSE. She deprived her son of a more abundant life, perhaps with better education and whatever money can buy for nothing.

And then we have some more tired tropes like the FL being a doormat to the horrible people that live in that small town.

And this is all I could endure. The dealbreaker was really the baby daddy reveal.

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