This review may contain spoilers
This drama came to me at a little bit of a surprise - I need to stop going into shows with only seeing one clip and without reading the biography, but honestly, I don't think I would have put it high on my list if I did that. The single clip I watched, that made me really want to watch this, was when Tami and Scarlet went to town destroying a car with some bats. I thought that this drama was going to be about two (or 3) bad ass women who go around kicking ass and taking names. And don't get me wrong, this drama was that, but not in the way I thought. This drama was very mature yet had all the elements of what I look for in a drama. I think it was one of the more mature dramas I have ever watched on Viki, that I would 100% recommend to anyone who doesn't like the typical cookie cutter kdrama feel and story. Yes it did have the swoooooooony-est romances I have ever watched, but this drama wasn't about the romance. For the first time, I went into a romance drama...not wanting to skip the plot to get to all the kissing scenes. I loved how Tami picked herself up and knew that she was a boss ass woman, even after being unfairly fired from Unicon, to help build her new empire at Barro with Scarlet (her previous competitor) and their team mixed with Barro and ex Unicon employees. I loved the loyalty and the friendships and how much faith Ellie and Joseph had in her, willing to start a whole new career at their competitor's company. I also loved the hate to love friendship Tami and Scarlet built throughout the drama . This drama hit all the feels and the ending honestly gave me goosebumps how they tied in the title of this drama. The one thing I disliked about the main plot, though, was Song Ga Kyung. Yes, we come to understand that she became a cruel person due of her mother-in-law and what she had to do in order to get to her dream of being director as well as being able to be her own person, but as the story goes on, we start to realize that her mother-in-law actually just brought to light Song's true personality (as we saw in flashbacks in the drama). And yes, we can go back and forth debating if it was really her true colors or something she developed from her mother-in-law, but she had an evil inside her that ate at her so much that she took out on others. We did see a little evil in Tami in the beginning, but it was an evil that she didn't take out on people - she always followed her moral compass and if she needed to take someone out, she would expose someone who committed evil acts rather than Song who would take anyone out that was in her way regardless if they were innocent. I am happy that everyone got their happy ending, including Song, but I only seemed to care about Tami and Scarlet and thought that they were more bad ass than Song was.
Now going into the romance in this drama -
As I said previously, I loved the romance between Park Morgan and Tami. It was one of the most mature relationships as well as passionate ones I have ever seen in a drama. It broke my heart every time they would break up (because there were a lot), but at the same time, it was hard to be mad because all the reasons why they broke up were logical. Plus, I enjoyed how they didn't just break up and run away, they sat down and talked about how they were feeling every bump in the road, even if it resulted in a break up. They would both take a day or two and think about if that reason was enough to keep them apart. At the end, they both just decided, even though they both have conflicting ideas about their futures and how they want to spend it, they decided to stop thinking about the future and live in the now. Which, is very scary if I am being completely honest, but in a sense...it is very romantic. I know so many people who break off relationships because they always think about the future before they think of the present and their current happiness. I loved how Park Morgan and Tami chose to live in the present and not the future because they were happy in this moment and wanted to live in that happiness, not caring if there wasn't a future. Not how a cookie cutter kdrama would normally end, but I liked that it more more "realistic" in that sense.
Then we have Scarlet. To be completely honest, when we first met her, I thought her romance was going to go in a completely different direction. I thought that her and Song had been high school lovers, the way the flashbacks were going, but then we realize it was more of a friendship that came to be because Song always felt some kind of guilt towards Scarlet as she believes she took away Scarlet's first dream. Instead, half way into the drama, Scarlet meets and falls for her "soap opera"/drama idol, Seol Ji Hwan. She helps him as a step-in-manager to help build his fame. There relationship was a very cookie-cutter kdrama romance and it almost acted as a comedic relief to the drama as it was the only scenes that didn't really follow the same mood and style. They acted as giddy teenagers who were experiencing first love and it was super romantic. I've been wanting to see actor Lee Jae Wook in more dramas after seeing his minor role in Memories of Alhambra as well as watching clips of him in Extraordinary You as one of the love interests, and I fell in love with his cutesy character in this. One of my favorite couples of this drama.
And I guess I have to talk about Song too. Not that I really "cared" about her character, but I did feel bad for her husband Oh Jin Woo who felt responsible for Song's unhappiness. He is the same as Song in terms of having this evil and willing to throw anyone under the bus if he does not like them, but he did it to always protect her. He didn't care if he had to ruin Tami's reputation and career if Song would not be miserable for a day. We also learn that he had always loved her, but didn't show it knowing that his family was hurting her and her family the longer she stayed married to him. Unlike the other characters, Song and Oh Jin Woo didn't have a traditional happy ending, but the ending was open that there could be a possibility to one.
Overall, this drama took me by surprise, and I wanted to give it a 10/10 so badly, but I couldn't. Even though I loved Park Morgan and Tami's relationship, I hated how they broke up every other episode. They literally waited until the last scene for them to decide that they didn't care about the future and wanted to be together now. Given, this drama was not about the romance, it was still...painful. Yes, I would watch this drama again 100 times over, but damn...every break up hurt...all 50 of them. So no 10/10.
Ps: This drama had one of the BEST soundtracks - Elaine's Follow as well as Mamamoo's OST song, instant favorites and added to my playlist.
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This review may contain spoilers
Where do I even start? The whole drama from the plot to the cast was amazing. It has slice of life, some aspects of comedy, some romance and loyalty in friendships and families, corruption and so much more. I was so surprised that the screenwriter, Kwon Do-eun, made her debut with this drama. The plot was focused on women empowerment and the women who played the roles were so inspiring to watch in their own right. They didn't even play down the abilities of the women in story but instead elevated their characters with each episode. While there will be some aspects of men in power trying to abuse it, we also see women who do the same. There wasn't a hint of gender disparity, but more of how much manipulation of influence each character had, in setting the fate of their respective companies and relationships. The story plot was not draggy at all and kept its momentum til the end. It made me sad when I reached the final episode because I got so hooked to how the story was playing out but alas, where there is a beginning, there will be an end. It was refreshing to watch women take on dominant roles which set the course of societies perception of media and towards other people. We see roles of CEOs, Directors and any related leadership roles and how their values dictate what happens next. We have the power corrupted, the repentant and also those who will stick to justice til the end. These types of characters are intertwined with another which causes a lot of conflict which is necessary in seeing whether they will stick to their own values or be willing to change for the betterment of others. There is also mention of how the government will try to assert their dominance in infringing the rights of the internet users and how these companies choose to comply or deny to them. With the story based world wide portal companies, we see how two opposing companies instill their own company motto in running the the web and their justification on how much is shown to the world.
Each cast chosen for the characters were played out beautifully. Some notable mentions are Kwon Hae Hyo who did a great job to in showing what sticking to the side of justice and protecting his employees are like and also Yee Soo Jung who showed us the corrupted side of having influence. Her acting made me her character so much and I commend her for that.
For the romantic aspect, each character had different outlooks and expectations of how relationships should be. Some are hesitant, some want out and some are still learning along the way. While the way they approach their significant others sometimes frustrates me, I am aware that there are people like such in real life too.
The music played throughout the drama complimented the situations and didn't overpower it.
Overall, the drama has a consistent pace with interesting characters. It leaves you wanting more and you could watch this in one sitting if you dare to.
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If you want badassery delivered with refined elegance, progressive content and whole slew of characters to fall in love with, look no further.
I'll start my review off with something easy and simple: the acting. The drama already has a pool of amazing actors and it's no surprise that they all pull off their roles perfectly. You genuinely see the individuality to each character (although that may also be due to the way they were written). Ta Mi's assertiveness yet logical and empathetic individualism, Ga Gyeong's ruthless stoicism with just the faintest glimpse of pain behind her eyes and Hyeon's playful hotheadedness with a moral compass that always points straight. I fell in love with all three ladies. They each have three very different personalities that are always colliding throughout the entire show despite them having quite a few similarities as well. Their constant clashing always has a deeper issue involved which just adds to the whole suspense of whatever issue they are facing. AS WELL THE SISMANCE. The chemistry between them was so perfect and I don't think I've ever seen something like it. There were a few times however where I noticed that some of the acting seemed a little awkward, or the way certain characters reacted to a situation; an issue I believe could of easily been fixed with better direction but overall, wonderfully done.
Next, the storyline. I had gotten into a loop of watching kdramas with the typical tropes, and honestly I was getting a little sick. Search: WWW does sort of use the typical tropes we see, but then flips them on their head so that we see them in a different way. For example, the childhood love that carries over into adulthood; Hyeon and Ga Gyeong have known each other and developed a beautiful relationship since childhood. Honestly the way they introduced the relationship between the two in the beginning, I truly believed the writers were trying to hint at one of them being lesbian/bisexual, something which to my disappointment was not revisited, but regardless Hyeon still sort of has a love like fantasy about Ga Gyeong (not in a romantic way, but more like great admiration and respect). There are several other examples, but for fear of having too long of a review already, I'll end the examples here.
If you want the perfect drama to watch just to emerge into a world complete with Girl Power, get watching right away. This drama doesn't scream feminism, it doesn't need to. Ta Mi's world is what I dream about for the future. Female CEOs and directors who are in the spotlight and no one complains about them being a women. But not in a "only women rule" kind of way. There are so many men characters too who are at the top of what they do, but they aren't the focus of this story. After watching each episode I wanted to go and immediately go take charge of something. The energy being emitted was so refreshing and empowering. Each woman has such depth to them that goes beyond romantic relationships.
I need to give a shoutout to the men as well. I'm in love with Park Morgan. He's smooth, supportive and sexy. He is not the "just a nice guy." He may clean your house for you and wait by your door like a puppy, but you're going to be the one who ends up wanting more, as Ta Mi experiences for herself. I honestly love Brain too. He's like the cool dad that will let you try weed, but only if it's in front of him. He's the perfect level-headed man to deal with the polarizing debates between Ta Mi and Hyeon. When I was first introduced to Seol Ji Hwan's character, he almost seemed fake nice and I wasn't too invested in him. I regret ever having such thoughts, he's a soft puppy that needs to be protected at all costs. I respect Oh Jin Woo so so much. He goes through a very different kind of pain than Ga Gyeong, and that is having to just watch her struggle from the sidelines. I would hate to be in either their positions and the way this man changes himself and becomes so selfless truly makes me respect him. I also need to complement Alex and Joseph (as well as Ellie and Jenny!). They are the perfect side characters, each having their own personality and still serving as relevant pieces to the story.
The story is so unique and even some of the ethical debates about the internet and search engines make it so interesting. You will not find another drama with this kind of story. However, because most of the suspense lies in those ethical debates and what will happen to both Barro and Unicon (the search engines) as well as the leading ladies, if you were to rewatch it a second time, it may not be as interesting. And because the romance isn't too hot, if you were to rewatch it, going through some of scenes of the couples may also seem uninteresting. But I believe the characters themselves would perhaps serve as one reason to perhaps rewatch it, should you choose to.
Finally, the music. The music is absolutely impeccable. Opening up to a song that says "Show you a bad girl" while the three leading ladies stare you down is definitely the right way to start a drama. Other than that song, the rest of the OST was just perfect and perfectly timed as well. Nothing stood out too awkwardly and you can just tell how talented the musical directors are from their use of music and when they used a particular song.
Along with the music, there were so many scenes that were shot so beautifully and artistically well. It's hard not to notice the deliberate use of angles, positioning and editing. Mostly everything was quite smooth. I admit in the beginning of the show, some of the editing seemed forced and awkward, but for the most part, it was a win.
So why should you watch it? A Unique story with girl power done right, extremely well written characters, great acting, even better music and beautiful cinematography.
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This review may contain spoilers
I was initially struck by the stylish direction and videography, reminiscent of a tv commercial, but not as obnoxious in that respect as some dramas and movies I’ve seen. That, plus the premise of the IT world reimagined as the fashion industry (not a single nerd works for the two biggest “search engine” companies) was enough to keep me watching in the beginning.Two of the leads, the Ta Mi and Cha Heon characters, were well-acted and likable, as were their boyfriends (although it took me several episodes to stop thinking of Park Morgan as the sadistic violent scary guy from Na Ajushi).
Unfortunately, the third couple, Ga Geong and Jin Woo, were not only poorly acted with no charisma whatsoever, their characters were poorly written as well, with uninteresting back stories and actions and motivation that lacked credibility. Every time they came onscreen, they dragged down the story and I wanted to fast-forward. Also, they were miscast. Did some powerful chaebol owner pressure the studio into casting some of these actors? Ga Geong is clearly at least a decade older than Cha Heon, so how could they have gone to high school together? Also, their high school versions looked absolutely nothing like the adult actors, so I always felt like I was watching different people and that helped to weaken the emotional resonance of the back story between those two. Also, the significant history between Ta Mi and Ga Geong was told to us but not shown (the one brief flashback to the early startup days didn’t cut it), so again that just sucked all the emotional depth out of that relationship.
I wish they had added more screen time to some of the secondary team members like Ellie, Jennie, and Matthew and reduced the tedious time devoted to Ga Geong and her hubby. Those secondary characters were very likable but we didn’t really get to know them. Jennie in the brief karaoke scene totally lit the screen on fire when she was shown singing and dancing for a split second. The chaebol granny was good too, and she was by far the best part of that whole Ga Geong side of the story.
Ta Mi was very charming and relatable and made a strong anchor for the entire drama. However, there were a few things that I would tweak about her. Her emotional hang-ups about relationships got really tiresome, and their origins weren’t explained well. So the fact that you had this perfect, strong, smart, and totally competent woman who had this weird flaw seemed a little off. And she did that eye widening trick a little too often. Also, this isn’t necessarily a problem, but when she would get that emotionally dead inside look staring off into space, it reminded me of Tale of Two Sisters. And do most Koreans wait such an annoyingly long time to stare at their ringing phone before answering it? If I waited that long, it would go to voicemail. And I think they made Park Morgan into too perfect a boyfriend, so he seemed too good to be true. I wish they had made him more like a real person.
The depiction of the IT world and search engines was cartoonish and almost entirely made up. If they had done more research and portrayed it more realistically, that would have been nice, but it would have been more of a pleasant surprise than an expectation, since these types of dramas are usually pure fantasies.
Some random thoughts: Did anyone else keep thinking of the Korean word for vitamin every time they heard Bae Ta Mi’s name? Why are western actors who appear in Kdramas so terrible? Why would Bae Ta Mi and Cha Heon ever go out with that slimy guy who works in the video game group? Did Maserati just provide their cars for free or did they pay a hefty product placement fee?
Overall though, I enjoyed it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Really long time ago I didn't watch a drama that captures me like this one I liked it so much
Three different lives for three different women
The story was smooth , solid and all the aspects was great
EXCEPT .. three things that annoyed me as hell
1st : That sh**** open end
2nd: FL character
I can understand her fears at the beginning
Then it turned to be silly and stubborn like a mule with no need
I know that she had her convictions
But even yours will change according to the circumstances and the age
every woman no exceptions is seeking for secure and true love when she gets older
Because it's a human nature
so i can't understand her the way she is thinking with at all,
especially according to her mind and age
She really doesn't loved the ML enough to defeat her fear or cross the borders
Maybe my point of view about romance is silly
But really that's what love made you become,
stupid and have no fear to cross the line
The FL annoyed me sooooooooooo
When she told him
(I want you to continue begging me to stay with you so I can do it)
REALLY !!!!!!!????????
what about him, she was so selfish
Every time she always focused on her fears, her feeling, her future
And hurting your partner under the name of his benefits
This is extremely stupidity and cowerdness
She was deadly asking for separation
So I can't feel sympathy with her at all when he already left her
For the first time I wished 1st ML leave the 1st FL and go to the 2nd FL
I saw her a real FROZEN B***H
And the end between them was so annoying
i saw her forced him to accept her convictions
3rd : the 3rd FL and ML's story
There relationship was too much cold
Too much the mind controlling feelings so it became cold and lukewarm
Except that I enjoyed the events of the drama so much
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This is literally one of the best shows that anyone can ever grace their lives with.
THIS SHOW CHANGED MY PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE. It made me believe in myself, it made me believe that no matter what stage of life I'm going through, I will never have everything figured out, and that's okay. In fact, that's LIFE because life is complicated, messy, unpredictable, harsh, rewarding, and beautiful.Starting with my favourite character, Bae Ta Mi. She was the one that I have resonated with THE MOST in all my Kdrama history of female leads. She was devoted to her job, devoted to her sunbae (and the second main lead of the show), and had her life mostly figured out.
All until the day when she finds herself unemployed. Her life changes drastically there on, and through a new job and a new relationship, she has to constantly reinvent herself, and watching her clumsily and messily and gracefully handle life taught me that being strong is not about having all the answers, it's about working hard to be true to yourself and follow your heart and staying true to your goals and dreams and being honest and being stubborn.
She doesn't want to get married and have kids, but her partner does, and despite their strong feelings for each other, they struggle to find a balance between living in the moment, or being worried about the future. Her boyfriend was so spot on with the way he always challenged and also accommodated her, loved her, and wanted to be with her without any reservations. He was so damn sweet, honest and simply perfect for this role which is Jang Ki Young's best role without a doubt.
This relationship of him with her and her thought process was something I could STRONGLY relate too, because I feel the same as she does and I can picture myself to be in her shoes, where I find myself constantly having to explain why I don't want to get married, but someone who does never has to explain anything. She survives her life smartly, and despite being extremely emotional, she is brave and adamant in achieving her goals and she learns through her mistakes. She acknowledges that even though she thought she'd have her life figured out by 38, the fact that she doesn't surprises her, but she takes it in stride and marches on.
I could go on and on but I simply loved her and her sense of fashion was my FAVOURITE.
Secondly, the sunbae of the trio, who was ruthless and manipulative, but somehow found her way through til the end through a horribly abusive mother in law. Thirdly, the maknae of the group, who was bright and fierce in her anger and her love, and was super DUPER cute with Lee Jae Wook.
I also LOVED BRIAN HE IS LITERALLY THE BEST BOSS IN THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD.
I also loved all the other characters in the show, there was hardly anyone I disliked tbh.
TLDR: Loved it, EASY 100/10.
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Excellent
What a pleasure to see smart beautiful adult women who are so well dressed and successful in their careers. Tired of seeing cutie pie actresses wearing tiny skirts and behaving like 12-year olds. This is really a great story with great relationship between the 3 women.And the steamy kisses are really hot. Please - directors - read the reviews and make dramas like these intead of creating your own version of plastic stories.
Please stop making dramas more than 12-16 episodes and have a solid story. Not just playing video games and living in fantasy worlds.
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The premise had so much potential but the story did not deliver enough
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.Sub par at best. And I say this with a heavy heart because the premise was so intriguing, female-centered plot with strong successful female leads is exactly what I signed up for, but they managed to waste their potential. I feel like the writers did not have enough material to create a full 16-episode story in the first place. Making a drama about the business behind the two biggest search engines in Korea is a door for endless possibilities. They could’ve done so much but they ended up reducing it to cliché events that everybody has seen already. It became boring in the middle so I fast forwarded many of the business talks, it didn’t really matter much anyway.
Tami and Morgan’s romance bored me to death. I ended up watching their scenes on either 1.25x faster or fast forwarding it. Tami did so much push and pull, it’s agitating. She always find reasons to push him away but he keeps crawling back to her like a lost puppy. If we’re being realistic, nobody with a brain is gonna be patient and pursue you while you repeatedly push them out like Tami did. Now that I think about it, Morgan deserves better than that. The age gap play a huge issue and their relationship is never gonna work out. It makes more sense for them to break up but they made them come back together just for the sake of a “happy ending”. They could’ve given Tami a permanent love interest who shares the same belief as her because, news flash, you can be in a healthy loving relationship with somebody and never have to get married, you just both have to be up for it. But I guess they would run out of story to tell. Tami’s progressiveness was just wasted away by giving her a love interest who does not share her views. And Morgan deserved somebody who can give him more than Tami can.
Song Ga Gyeong is okay. I like her character arc. She’s a morally grey character that is executed to still be likable and I ended up actually rooting for her and her ex-husband. It’s fascinating to see how their relationship started to develop much better when they were in the brink of divorce.
I found Scarlet to be the most redeeming factor of this drama. Without her, I would’ve dropped this and never pick it back up. She’s the most likable character among all. She’s impatient and aggressive, she does have anger management issues and violent tendencies but she also has a strong sense of justice and cares very deeply. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she thinks is right. She’s competent and flawed and I so dearly love how complex yet so simple she is. Cha Hyeon and Seol Ji Hwan’s relationship was adorable. It did drag a bit, because again, I feel like they don’t have enough story planned to tell so they need to drag it out instead of just letting them know how they feel about each other in the first place. But the development is still rewarding nonetheless.
All in all, I feel very hot and cold about this drama. It had a lot of potential and I just wish they brought out more.
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this is like a revolutionary drama~ a full on wonderful women's world drama! I loved all of them, I'm gonna miss it though I'd LOVE a 2nd season~
+ I loved all of the female cast! every single one
+ the drama was full of interesting diverse women
+ I loved the male casts too~
+ I just loved the whole "world"
+ scarlet and jihwan are my couple of the year~
what I didn't like:
- I'll be honest, I was over tammy's character and her relationship troubles.. she started off as a confident independent woman, but throughout she became a little selfish and self observed that I was worried if the show continued she'd just push everyone away with her arrogance.
- morgan was too perfect that even Chang Ki Yong seemed to have a hard time "connecting" to his character.. he did everything else well, the cute stuff and the flirting, but other times he was too, detached?
I'll blame these two points on the fact that all writers have a problem with showcasing a steady healthy relationship because they think it'd be "uninteresting"..
my rewatch values are either a 1 or 10, but I think now that I know the ending I'd love to rewatch it~
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Best Kdrama of 2019
Story:The main story line is so interesting as we dive deep into the internal workings of a search engine company. The main story line never gets boring and the side story lines and romances also give a nice break to keep the story going. The side stories of each of the main female leads are interesting and quite unique for the standard side stories in k-dramas. Even though the characters are on the older side they still send the message of youth being the time for growth and experimenting. They also touch on the ideas that life can be stressful, depressing and lonely. With the inclusion of the supporting characters' side stories they want the view to know that everyone is having a hard time and struggling in life so don't be so down on yourself, find comfort in the knowledge that others find life to be just as hard.
Acting/Cast:
The cast is amazing, the characters are all so diverse in personalities and each couple has amazing chemistry. Lee Jaewook and Ye Soojung had the strongest impact in their characters for me and stood out. Also the writing of the three female leads is amazing . The change in their relationship with each other throughout the show and their character development really allows the show to develop and proceed in the most intriguing way
Music:
I still listen to every song from this soundtrack, each song has a different message and is so beautiful. My favorite OST is Reaching Hand by Jang Beom June, his voice is amazing and the lyrics tell the listener that when you are feeling down its okay to cry. Its okay to cry until you run out of tears because tomorrow is a new day and after your done crying you'll feel better. The song encourages people accept their feels instead of ignoring them or trying to force yourself to be happy. This song is just one example of the amazing soundtrack for this series. They play this song during the sad and depressing scenes of the show which caters to the emotions of the scene but also acts as a source of comfort .
Overall:
Everyone needs to watch this show , it will change the way you look at kdrama series
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This review may contain spoilers
Yo, my dude ML got dumped 8 times, will it really last in a relation if that is the case?
Life is too short for stressful drama. Why spend all that time watching and be stressed? Don’t our lives already provide enough of that?Summary of the series:
- somewhat Light hearted rom/biz drama; series’ romance flow was slow due the ML/FL, they broke up dumped the bro so many times, but he looks for more punishment. They would he not gotten back together is his mother didn’t passed away, so lame; if you break up in a relationship 8 times, I predict that it would not work in the long run as you will be dumped again! The 2nd FL/M couple does have a cute love relationship.
- as stated above the relation of the ML/FL is super drag, shame that the dude can’t move on
- best part of the move is the business competition and how to gain market share
- a bit of stress watching it, had to fast forward some due to the many mis-opportunities and my dude getting dump and dump and dump and dump; you look up and he is dumped again.. lol
- story really is about 3 things 1) ML getting dumped 2) business competition b/t the FLs 3) the 3rd FL finally do the right thing and stick it back to mother inlaw who owns you
- 2nd FL looks the best and has the healthiest personality
- no mystery, no deep story, just sit back and let it drag at times
- some struggles, calamity or miscommunications to cause more drama, stress/ more dumping to extend the series
- at mid-way I stop rooting for the romance b/t ML/FL, instead rooting for them to stay broken up; or date the pianist
- if you are a friend, wont you speak up and not set you pianist friend be heart broken? Where is the female camaraderie; FL is despicable at times but smart
- the supporting cast made the show more fun
somewhat fun with the business aspects with some stress series: watch only if you have time and have watched others
If you are looking for forced brutal love story with gratuitous stress/drama, frequent relation breakups, then this is for you.
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Strong leads, social and political issues but suffers from pacing
I generally recommend this drama, it has good leads, an interesting story and some funny bits (Seol Ji Hwan's soap on tv was so funny!! as well as Scarlett's reactions to it).The story and the social issues mentioned in the drama might be more interesting to you if you have a bit of background info about certain things in Korea. I liked the gender swap roles and commentary, as well as the fact they tackled the thing of korean women changing their views on marriage in more recent times. Even in the western countries it's still frown upon not wanting to marry out of convictions and morals. As the FL said, she didn't believe in the institution of marriage, and I applaud this drama for tackling this. I don't know exactly how it's in Korea in terms of civil partnerships but I can imagine is not great, it's not even perfect in the western countries eventhough generally accepted. I would have liked more social commentary on the aspect of other women not wanting to marry because of the societal pressure of quitting their careers, as well as the family pressures (although I guess it can be seen a bit through Song Ga Kyung's character but I would have liked for it to be more clear). But overall I'm very happy this drama tackled the marriage thing, I've never seen any other drama do it.
Corruption and politics on the internet was also interesting. As usual, I would have liked more in-depth commentary but I'm still satisfied.
The sismance in this show is strong and I loved it, it was so cute and so much fun. Scarlett was great as a character and sometimes I wished she was the main one, but at the same time I think I got enough of her to not be annoyed she wasn't the main FL. Some of her fashionable outfits were so cute! and me saying that is a lot because I'm not usually into the trendy styles they wear in dramas. Her romantic story with Seol Ji Hwan was fun as well.
Talking about Seol Ji Hwan, I loved that he had a flip phone!!!
I'm usually not a lot into the OST of kdramas either, but I have to say this is one of the few ones where not only it was tolerable but there were certain songs I liked, especially the game one that Park Morgan makes and it's used at different points throughout the series.
Now, for the things that didn't make it a 10 for me.
Main thing is the pace, it dragged at times and it was a bit boring, mostly I think they spent too much time in certain scenes. That actually brings me to the second problem it had since I think that the scenes that dragged the most were the ones with the main couple. I totally get why the story is there as I mentioned before (and very glad it's there) BUT they dragged it way too much and the ending for the couple is not satisfactory to me. Their romance should have lasted half the show max, and they shouldn't be together by the end, the excuses given to continue together are unrealistic, no one is going to commit to a serious relationship "for now" well knowing it will inevitably end because they want different things. Their back and forth became tiresome quite quickly despite the cute scenes here and there. It would have been a lot more satisfactory that in the end the FL had met someone that matched her views, I would have been happy even with a tease at a new relationship.
The product placement in this drama is very on the face, and it broke the immersion for me every single time.
The adopted trope was also annoying and way too overused at this point. I can't care anymore because usually it's copy paste from one drama to another, especially in more modern times. The adoptive parents are great but the kid still mostly favours the biological ones because being adopted in Korea is a curse. In this case it made less sense considering he had foreign adoptive parents and lived in Australia, I think naturally and more realistically he wouldn't have had those views as ingrained in his mind. Either way, the bio mother passing away was an uninteresting dramatic filler as well.
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