A fun series to watch!
A fun series to watch! One of the most balanced endings with the most constant plot I've ever seen in dramas!!! Congratulations to those involved!! Seeing my Coffee Prince oppa having his first romantic comedy was wonderful. Who says it was the first?... At first I thought he was a bit tough acting, I confess hahaha But throughout the plot he started to loosen up, just like the character (was that intentional?)... And the references aaahhhh outbreak.... I only say one thing: DO YOU WANT ME? oooowww Collective outbreak hahaha I highly recommend it, as I said, it's all well balanced. Don't expect peaks of euphoria in the itinerary, because there won't be any. But also, on the positive side, there were no slopes in the script.... Well balanced. I loved!!!Was this review helpful to you?
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Cute Little Drama
I usually take notes while I'm watching a drama so I can write a thorough review later on but this was the first drama in quite some time that I didn't watch over the course of months. I got into it pretty quickly and then forgot about notes.The cast is great. I love Park Min Young so I'm always happy to watch her in any role. I wasn't a big fan of Ryan Gold (Kim Jae Wook) at first, but I think that's the point. I was a big fan of the character Cha Shi An (One). He was super charming and charismatic from the jump.
Overall the story was super cute, although I did think it would go the route of ML vs 2nd ML with one of them being Cha Shi An, but the alternative story was sort of interesting. A little too intertwined if anything. I will say that FL and ML did eventually have some great chemistry.
I was NOT happy with the fact that they never revealed to Cha Shi An that Deok Mi was his number one fan, "Shi An Is My Road". Considering how much he adored that fan, and then how much he came to adore "Noona" that really bummed me out. I like a good old classic k-drama that ties up all the things and everyone gets there happy ending, but the fact that they didn't tell him was the worst.
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ITS GOOD BUT KIND OF BAD
This will only be brief:First of all everything started great, it kept you attached, not till the 11th ep (well for me I guess), it's quite a good drama yet it just lost its spark, it kinda became boring. But other than that, the casting, acting are good— and the plot was alright. I can recommend this to those who like kind of cliche types and kinda slow dramas.
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I know what you're thinking. How could I give only 7.5 stars to Her Private life when I gave 8.5 stars to What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, which is usually considered inferior to HPL?THE GOOD: MATURE ROMANCE
Park Min Young and Kim Jae Wook play two grown-up adults who are very work-oriented and possibly didn't have many previous relationships. Yet, they are believable. They are real. They communicate. They support each other but also give each other space. And they have this amazing chemistry. They hug, they touch and their make-out scenes are to die for. And when the FL spends a night at the ML's place, it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
I believe that it's mostly due to this reason that this drama has such a high rating. We are so desperate for a more mature approach to romance in the rom-com genre, that when it appears, we fall for it, hook and sinker while ignoring the more mediocre aspects of the show.
THE BAD: IT'S A SNOOZEFEST
I was so bored. I started this drama in April 2019 I think and I finished it in May 2020. I totally might be an exception in this but (despite the OTP's chemistry) I often had to force myself to press the "Next episode" button on Viki.
The plot was practically non-existent. The fangirling aspect which drove the first couple of episodes just slowly disappeared into the background and by the last episode, it became completely irrelevant.
The second male lead (Ahn Bo Hyun) was super problematic and the show failed to make him into an interesting and sympathetic character. The epilogue suggests he gets together with Kim Bo Ra's character – why the show didn't make them into a fun beta couple during the course of the story?
Park Jin Joo plays the FL's best friend, who had a subplot going on involving her not-so-perfect marriage. But the writers only scratched the surface of the conflict and resolved it before it had a chance to become deep enough for us to care.
The side characters were extremely generic and they lacked depth. FL's colleagues, her quirky family, K-pop star Cha Shi Ahn (played by ONE), even potentially antagonistic fellow fan "Cindy" (Kim Bo Ra) – all ended up being bland and forgettable.
The search for the artworks that eventually reconnected one family was not a bad idea, but it could have been executed in a much more thoughtful and meaningful manner. And then it went to hell when the writers decided to add the most idiotic "we met as kids" storyline to the last two episodes. (don't get me started on how nonsensical the whole childhood story was, the less we say about it, the better)
ACTING/CAST
Fantastic leads. The rest was ok, honestly, considering the weak writing, they just did the best they could under the circumstances. Park Jin Joo as FL's best friend was super cute.
It was also nice to see Kim Mi Kyung and Park Min Young starring as a mother and daughter again and they were the saving grace of the idiotic melodrama in the episodes 15–16.
MUSIC
Unusually for me, I didn't even download any of the songs from this drama: they were just...there...nothing special. And I admit I get bad vibes when a girl refers to herself as "precious little girl", as in the opening lyrics; I just cringed every time I heard it.
REWATCH VALUE
I think that the first couple of episodes with the fangirling and fake dating shenanigans are very rewatchable. The rest of the show...kissing scenes only :).
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Fangirling Over Ryan Gold
I had gotten very tired of hyped rom-coms that had leads in their late twenties or thirties acting like teens and dead fish kissing scenes. I heard this was a more mature romance and I was not disappointed.Park Min-Young seems to have amazing chemistry with every actor she’s paired with, but her chemistry with Kim Jae-wook was really next level. The chemistry between the two of them paired with a fake dating trope? Forget it, I’m in.
The absolute main reason to watch this show is because of the male lead, Ryan Gold. Ryan was such a green flag and he was written in a way that went against so many drama stereotypes. There were many times where I expected him to get angry about a situation, and if it had been any other kdrama, it would have led to a miscommunication that lasted multiple episodes and probably also an unnecessary breakup. Instead, Ryan and Deok-mi communicated so beautifully with each other. The fights they did have were portrayed in such a healthy way and ended with them laughing and/or kissing. I think miscommunication is such an overplayed and boring trope a lot of the time and I loved seeing this show do things so differently.
I loved Kim Jae-wook’s portrayal as Ryan. He was so attractive and I loved that from the very beginning he was protective of Deok-mi, even if he had a completely wrong read of the situation. The way he was delighted by her fangirling and impressed by pretty much everything about her was so cute. The real first kiss scene was one of the best I have seen and they had many others that were just as good! I loved that the main couple was so playful and affectionate. I think the show did a great job portraying a realistic relationship for people in their thirties.
I think Shi-Ahn was actually adorable. I saw the twist coming, but I do wish that they had built it up a little better.
This show was well on its way to being in my top ten based on the main couple, but I did end up having a couple of gripes with it. I think basically everything with Eun-gi was poorly done. I hate a love triangle where one person has just no shot but tries to force it anyway. I think it was weird that he had those feelings in the first place, but I think that he definitely should’ve kept them to himself. I did really appreciate how unbothered Ryan was by their relationship and fully trusted Deok-mi, but I just think that whole plot was not needed. The big reveal at the end of what had happened to Ryan and his connection to Deok-mi was also a major weak spot in the series. It didn’t make much sense and also added a layer of drama and mystery that this show really didn’t need. The show also really took it easy on some of the darker aspects of fan culture. Deok-mi being so understanding of the people who stalked, assaulted, and doxxed her felt really unrealistic.
All that being said, I had so much fun with this drama. The leads had me giggling and kicking my feet. I want to see Kim Jae-wook in more rom coms for sure.
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Relaxing Drama
It’s a very easygoing drama with no second lead trying all sort of evil to exaggerated plans to separate the couple.One thing that I really like about it is how everyone behave like adults!!! Adults actually acting like adults and not being overly childish or trying hard to be cute.
I feel like this is a story fangirls of KPop would really enjoy. The way the male lead supports the female lead will certainly make fangirls dream of getting such a supportive life partner!!
It was very relaxing and dreamy for me.
No big catastrophic twist, if that’s what you are looking for.
Though of course, as so many Kdramas, we have the not so shocking news that they grow up together or met in childhood.
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A sweet but slightly messy rom-com.
I really enjoyed this drama overall - I think the casting was good and I love that it depicted such a mature and healthy relationship, however I had some slight issues with the plot. It felt like it was trying to do a lot of things all at once and I'm not really sure if it succeeded in balancing them very well as it often felt like the plot had completely changed direction to what it was doing a few episodes before.While I appreciated the representation of "fangirls" who are older and not just teenage girls, this whole part of the plot ended up feeling completely inconsequential to me. At the beginning of the show this is such a huge portion of what the show is about and it kind of gave me the impression that that was what the drama was about at it's crux, but at some point along the way it was almost completely dropped and I honestly kind of forgot that that was where we even started. Duk-Mi's fan site was made to be such a huge deal, but then it reaches a point where it's basically not even mentioned again until the very end, and I'm just not really sure any of this was needed in the show as it had no real consequences on the plot or the characters.
It also felt like it was trying a little too hard with all of the side characters having feelings for other characters, when again these storylines beared almost no impact on the overall plot, and all of the sudden backstory we get at the end also felt like it was trying a little too hard and felt unnecessary when it was all just rushed in the last couple of episodes.
Overall, despite having some issues with the plot, I am glad that I watched it, and I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy rom-coms as I think that element of the show was very well done and the leads did an amazing job.
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There is some truth to the ending being bad, but that is really only concerning the last episode. This drama feels like it ended on the 15th (second to last) episode and the 16th episode was really just a flash back and where they are now episode, while also wrapping up a few loose ends. Was it needed? No, no it was not. Does it hurt the story? No. Was it boring to watch? Maybe a bit.
I only say all that to hopefully help others that were on the fence, about watching this drama, due to the talk about the last episode.
With that out of the way, on to the real review.
Story: 7.0
The story it's self is fun. It has many moments where I found myself laughing out loud, crying, feeling anger and over all just enjoying my time with the show itself. Some parts of the story feel cliche. Some gags feel over used. But none of that is to the point of making the show unenjoyable.
Acting/Cast: 10
The cast, the acting, and the writing was stunning. The actors all have this amazing chemistry that is helped out even more by the realistic writing that help lend to make the reactions and relationships feel real. This may be the first drama I have ever watched and never thought, "Why would they do/say that".
The drama and romance is handled in a realistic manner. There never seems to be any points where a character in the story does something only to push the plot along and that is both really refreshing and enjoyably.
Music: 7.0
This drama is pretty light on music, many of the scenes have none and I found that really nice. Not every scene needs to have music to heighten the mood and this drama understands that. It uses music where it is needed and in scenes where it makes sense. None of the music was overbearing or over the top. While at the same time none of the music really stuck me as something amazing.
Rewatch Value: 5.0
This is not a show I would rewatch. If I did I think I would still enjoy my time with it, but there are dramas with much higher rewatch value that it has to contend with.
Overall: 7.0
I recommend this drama, with the understanding that the story is nothing new. Expect amazing cast and acting, but the story is really just a place to allow the actors to shine and the relationships and drama to grow.
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Healing drama and healthy relationships
This surpassed my expectations. It was funny, sweet, and emotional, with great acting by the two main leads, and her parents.From the synopsis here and on Netflix, I started this thinking it was something I would be able to watch over time, not binge. That quickly turned out to not be the case!
Fangirling took a backseat in the story as it progressed, and the story turned out to be more of a healing drama, with mature, healthy relationships - both romantic and family-wise.
It was so refreshing to see a couple in a drama that actually were communicating well with each other, as well as being considerate for the other person. I would also say they had rather good chemistry.
What I did not quite like was the character of the first director (Cindy's mum). She was just overly exaggerated - made me cringe. That character could still have done it's part in the story without being so extreme.
I saw some comments about not seeing the point of the second ML (mr Nam Eun Gi), but I thought he played a part in the story, without it taking too much space. I would say that his story, together with Ryan's, showed two different "versions" of a similar issue (difficult to explain without giving away possible spoilers).
If anything, her friend's employee/artist was the character that felt a bit unnecessary to me, even if he didn't take up too much of the story.
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The flamboyance lovey dovey will make your heart flutter.
Happy though I watched.
If you're looking for something just for relaxation, this is the series for you.
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