My Holo Love (2020)

I actually rage-quit this Drama and just FF'd through the last three episodes because of a common problem with K Dramas - violent crime is excused and completely overlooked. In this Drama, the competitor firm is guilty of multiple kidnappings, assault, theft, breaking and entering, and many other crimes, and yet NO police action is taken. Even the "good" cop is shown as being utterly fixated only on tech crimes, and doesn't care at all about the fact that people were kidnapped and physically hurt by the other company. The company which actively and violently broke the law is shown repeatedly getting a free pass from the police AND profits from its criminality. And the second lead gets a free pass for his active involvement in all of those crimes.

As a simple love story, with some interesting commentary on the nature of identity, the Drama had promise, but this weird K Drama fixation on violent crime being disregarded totally snapped me out of the mood of the show. YMMV, but for me, this was a good idea ruined.

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in the land of many annoying cliche romcoms, especially the ones with horrible characters, this was nice.
+ a mature female lead (the fl had a few frustrating moments but atleast she was a grownup that could think)
+ 2nd leads used well~ (I honestly loved the new approach to the usual 2nd leads, they actually had character)
+ cop girl and cop guy (plus her littler romance, my ship sailed)~
+ the overall big plot of the evil guy was actually "threatening".
+ the dumb kidnapper xD he really made me laugh
+ the mom ;)
+ the last scene ;p
+ the last "business" project
+ the way normal people actually found out about holo

the bad:
- overly traumatized characters
- the past connection (literally every romcom has the same back story)
- the jerk male lead (he was a jerk for too long)
- her "love-line" with holo. (I'd have preferred if they just called it deep friendship or one sided love from holo)
- it got too dramatic in the last few eps
- not enough actually lovey dovey moments with the main leads...
- the fast team switch(?) ;p
- the way everyone was ok with a love line with a hologram ;)


the ost was all great and I never rewatch dramas ;)

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Hit or Miss Drama

One episode is action-packed and great, yet another will be completely boring and dull. I believe My Holo Love has an amazing concept, but fails to deliver with a rough half of their episodes. It seemed very start-stop to me, as some episodes were very enjoyable and wanted you to watch the next episode instantly, whereas some episodes were pretty dull and boring, making you reconsider if you want to binge-watch the entire series. I normally am able to watch one episode a day, but My Holo Love made me watch an episode every other day just because I wasn't too thrilled/hyped about wanting to watch another episode. Perhaps I was overhyped with this drama, but unfortunately, for me, this wasn't a great show to watch. Nothing terrible in the slightest, just definitely not my favourite.

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I never really write reviews but this drama had me hooked from the moment I saw the trailer.
Everything from the cast to the story line was so exciting to watch! The main leads have an amazing chemistry, and rather than Holo being just a "robot" I'd think of him as his own person.
I was unsure of what to expect but, to my surprise, wasn't bored during this drama at ALL and binged it within 2 days.
I wish I'd taken my time because now I'm stuck with the empty pit you get after finishing a series you love so much.
Nonetheless, I can't wait for Hyunmin and Sunghee's next dramas. I hope the two can act together again one day!

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Light but thought provoking series exploring AI and loneliness

This underrated kdrama focuses on characters that go out of their comfort zone. I enjoyed My Holo Love because it has a great combination of genre (tech thriller, romance, drama, comedy) with great performances led by Yoon Hyun Min and Go Sung Hee.

What I like:
1) Dual roles - let me highlight on characters Go Nan Do & Holo, both played Yoon Hyun Min. Nan Do creates artificial intelligence (AI) called Holo. Yoon Hyun Min was brilliant in portraying both roles. Surprisingly at times Holo seemed more "human" than Nan Do.
2) Genre - I expected typical romance kdrama. I love the tech thriller angle with bits of comedy (who knew Nan Do could be funny) .
3) Writing - The series explored AI, which prompted me to think a lot but at the same time, the AI content is light and easy to digest. I cried at least in two scenes because of the dialogue and performance of main leads.
4) Acting - My first time watching Yoon Hyun Min & Go Sung Hee and I am impressed. Go Sung Hee seemed natural in this role. She should act in more main roles.

What I dislike:
1) I wish Chansung's character was meatier - perhaps leverage on his conflicts with his father.
2) I enjoyed Chansung's chemistry with Goo Yoo-jin. Wish they were given more screentime.

Favourite scene:
When So-yeon told Nan Do that she likes him and reassured him that he deserves to be loved. I cried during this scene.

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Because this is a Netflix drama, I thought that this would be over the top with a huge budget, so I didn't expect much except for a classic Western plot that was extremely flashy. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I really need to stop doubting Netflix's asian drama originals. Yes, it seemed to have a big budget, but not as much as a lot of the original action dramas. It was simple, but the plot was complex, and the relationship between So Yun, Nan Do, and Holo was really solid. So Yun, due to her face blindness, doesn't trust people off the bat, and they always need to earn her trust. Nan Do, was a man who didn't believe in love and really any emotion after his mother's death when he was young. He didn't believe in creating positive relationship with people except for Holo.
It was extremely interesting to see how Holo's existence influenced both So Yun and Nan Do and ultimately became almost a middle man - expressing both So Yun and Nan Do's better emotional traits. He took the best parts of both of them and became this confidant to both of them.
Yes, this drama had a lot of cringy and cheesy Asian drama tropes, but they were easy to look past with everything going on. I think the one I hated the most was how So Yun had thought she was in love with Holo and acted like such an idiot with her imaginary boyfriend. Yes, I have watched My Absolute Boyfriend and have seen a relationship between a robot and a human and totally shipped them, but this one was weird. Holo was such a great influence on So Yun, and he had brought her out of her shell and helped her become confident in herself, but her sudden development of feelings for him was super odd. Even Holo looked extremely uncomfortable while trying to go along with all her date plans. In the beginning, So Yun was a sheltered woman who was great at her job and terrible with starting any kind of relationship. But when she first met Holo, she was quirky, intelligent, and cautious when she needed to be. She just needed a little kick. Then when she fell in love with Holo, she was still all of those things, but it ended up being this cycle where her happiness depended on Holo's existence and him being by her side always. It never seemed healthy. In the middle of the drama, I actually started to dislike So Yun's character, but she came through at the end.
Nan Do was a funny character. Even though he was trying to "teach So Yun as lesson" but ruining her life...all I really saw him as, was a butthead. He was wilding out in the beginning, but when it mattered, he would do the right thing. It took a little while to get out of his ways (with a little help from a crush developing for So Yun), and he expressed some annoying drama tropes, but all in all, it was understandable. Not reasonable, but understandable.

I think my favorite part of this whole drama, even though it was cheesy and obvious, was Holo's "backstory" and who he was and the people who created him, and what they wanted to be. I think the only time I sad cried in this drama, was when So Yun and Nan Do finally realized why Holo's personality was programmed the way it was...because there was a specific reason. Plus, it hit home for me personally understanding how hard it is being the person you want to be, but honestly scared to be that person.

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Cute, Simple, Cheesy

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

Among short, surface-level romances, this drama is one of the better ones. Despite its MANY flaws, it was a nice binge watch.

Acting/Cast: This is probably the strongest category. Good cast and acting. The secondary love story was nice to watch, as well. The male lead was great, even though I found myself wishing it was Hyun Bin instead, but obviously he's too big of an actor to play in a drama like this. Maybe I was just thinking about Memories of the Alhambra too much...8/10

Writing: Maybe it would have been better if it had more episodes. There would have been more time to flesh out characters and the pacing could have been improved. The drama felt very rushed and sloppy. For instance, when the male lead comes to the realization that he has feelings for the female lead, it seemed very sudden and I felt like I had missed a scene or something. A slow burn romance would have worked better with his personality type and both of their childhood traumas. Unfortunately, like I said before, not enough time for that. I would have also liked to see more of the growth of the relationship between the male lead and the AI over the years of his life. Also, the ending was too...childish? Immature? Idealistic? With the premise of the plot being about AI, loneliness, and being disconnected from people, the writers could have went really deep with the psychological issues and the effects of these technologies on human relationships and the world. It could have taught the audience a profound moral message. However, the drama barely scratched the surface of these aspects. It seems like a waste of a plot that could have taught us so much. But I guess if they wanted the vibe to stay more on the cute and cuddly side , they succeeded. To me though, it feels too childish, too simple. I like it when dramas can really get me thinking. 2/10

Direction/SFX/Music : The SFX was good for the most part. There was one scene where the green screen looked terrible, but that's about it. The direction could have been better; scenes could have been cut better to illustrate emotional build up and help the audience connect with the leads. For instance, the scene where the male lead sees his mom for the first time since childhood. The camera should have been on his face for most of that scene, especially his initial reaction. I don't need to see his mom; I don't have an emotional connection with her--I need to see HIM see his mom and then his acting would be a tearjerker moment for the audience. As for the OST, it's pretty good. It wasn't good enough to enhance the drama on its own, but still good. 4.5/10

Entertainment Value: It was a quick watch that was able to keep me interested throughout. The lightness of it was the most boring thing about it to me. There was stupid romance stuff like running in the woods, having a panic attack, and now the male lead needs to carry her on his back. It made me roll my eyes. But, luckily it was mostly toward the end where I was getting annoyed. The ending itself really annoyed me though--very cliché. 4/10

Overall, I gave this drama a 4.5 out of 10 due to it's superficiality, rushed story-telling, and cheesiness. I found myself comparing it to Are You Human, Too? (a similar sci-fi plot about AI) and I had liked that one much more (I had given Are You Human, Too? a 5 out of 10). I also couldn't help but compare it to Memories of the Alhambra (a sci-fi about augmented reality becoming real), which is miles better than both My Holo Love and Are You Human, Too? (I had given Memories of the Alhambra a 6.5 out of 10).

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Good bit of fun as the FL falls for a hologram and the hologram falls right back, and then the creator of the hologram falls too, and then, well, it's a funky triangle, and not actually the terrible annoying sort :) Enjoyed it a lot, some great visual effects and a story that moves along at a decent pace as it's shorter than the usual.

Good to see Go Sung Hee in another drama, i've been enjoying her in the Korean version of Suits as well and was one of the reasons I was keen to pick this up - besides the sci-fi / tech based storyline to this one.

Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we humans are already very ready to become attached to things, we give our cars names and talk lovingly (or not...) to other tech around the house. We have a real emotional connection to some things - and while I think we're a fair way off it still, it's only a matter of time before the tech starts feeling back.

The idea of the Augmented Reality style "holo glasses" is great and clearly just around the corner (let's forget those google things that just freaked everyone out). Whether we'll be happy to waffle away to a holo-buddy that nobody can see, I think that we're not there yet - a lot of people are still having trouble talking to Alexa in a useful way, though perhaps with more natural language interaction that might improve.

In amongst the side of the story covering human-AI relationships, there's a corporation jealous of the progress that's been made and wants to take over and this presents more interesting dynamics for human-AI relationships and how they might change at the simple click of a button.

Great story, haven't sat and listened to the OST yet but definitely will, thought that the actors did a great job and really nothing stood out as wrong to me. Ending was satisfying, though with an unnecessary wrinkle at the ending which was just plain odd and in a very minor way it diminished some of what had gone before.

Another good one, particularly as it's only 12 episodes it's an easy weekend-watch if you're as obsessed as I am :)

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This is SUCH a good drama, one I thoroughly enjoyed.

I don't normally get into robot/AI type dramas but this one was so good. I've seen a few drama love triangles where they use the same actor for 2 different characters (that in itself is so funny to me), but this time it's between the female lead, the male lead and the male lead's AI hologram that he created. Weird if you think about it lol
But it WORKS okay, trust me

There were a few times when I couldn't believe So-Yeon really couldn't tell the difference between a living breathing human being and a hologram but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
it's kdrama logic what can I say

But speaking of, Yoon Hyun Min is a such a good actor. He is able to portray these 2 characters so well (human vs AI). Even without him speaking, you can tell the difference - A+ acting.

After deciding to watch it, I couldn't stop binging. I was worried about the pacing considering it's only 12 episodes and I was hoping, praying for a non-rushed ending. Thankfully it didn't come across that way (at least not to me) and everything was wrapped up nicely
[You have no idea how hard I was praying "don't be like Memories of the Alhambra - don't be an open ending, don't be an open ending, don't be an open ending"]

Holo in itself is such a cool concept, and oh how I love him. At first I thought it would be so cool to have your own Holo. But after seeing it in action released to the public....with random people everywhere speaking out loud to their own holos, omg it would be so infuriating, I would be so annoyed all the time…@god pls don't let this happen in the future. Like a Black Mirror episode *shudders*

Think about it, Pokemon Go (which is just a phone app!!) had people getting mugged, stabbed, falling off cliffs, you name it (crazy but true), can you imagine the damage of an AI hologram!

Honestly this drama really makes you think about the way technology could be heading and the importance of human connection (I say ironically in quarantine)

I would be lying if I didn't wish there was more romance, but it is what it is. Overall, I loved this drama and would highly recommend for a weekend watch

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I thought it'd be typical but...

I started watching this because I wanted a break from crazy intense dramas. It sounded like a typical romantic K-drama. Had a typical genius, emotionless CEO character. Had a normal woman who was just trying to get by. Joined both trends of AI intelligence AND prosopagnosia, the inability to recognise faces (I still don't understand how it could be a trend). I thought it was trying to be too on trend and it wouldn't give enough thought into making a good drama.

I was so wrong. I stand by my way of thinking that 'tropes' in and of itself aren't bad. You can have a story that's entirely filled with tropes but it's amazing. Because that's what makes a trope doesn't it? There's something good and intriguing about it which makes other creators think that's good, I'm going to use that too. In one sense this drama is typical and, to make it 'worse', completely on trend so I wouldn't call it particularly innovative but despite it basically being a mash of I'm Not a Robot and The Beauty Inside, two great dramas by themselves, this drama manages to not only be as great as it's possible inspirations but even surpasses them. They both had a bit of a fizzle when it should've been the climax whereas this one was quite strong all the way through. I loved the respect the leads had for each other, another thing I loved from The Beauty Inside, there were ups and downs but it was respectful.

Starring Yoon Hyun-min who I loved in Witch's Court and Tunnel and Go Sung-hee who I've also loved from her supporting role days, it's so exciting watching someone's career blossoming. I'm glad they not only met my expectations but exceeded them.

It ended up being so much better than I expected, there was more to the plot, more to the character development, more to the relationship development. It was funnier and deeper, both in the plot and emotionally, than I expected.

This review definitely ended up being all about how I thought it'd bad but actually it was good so I think that if I raise your expectations you might not think it's as good but even then it's still a great romance sci-fi drama.

Quote:
Because people aren't like machines that can be fixed when they're broken, sometimes they just need to be left alone. - Go Nan-do

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umm... an okay drama

first of all, rather than seeing this as a romance drama, i see this as somehow symbolic between people and technology, on how we become dependent on it. but still, it was slow-paced and luckily there was only 12 episodes. the thing that keeps me going was how they would depict the AI hologram thingy, but i'm not really into it till the end. well, i do kinda enjoy it a little, curious on how the storyline would unfold, specifically about Ko Nan Do rather than holo, and that is why towards the ending it becomes more interesting. anyways, it was an okay drama for me.

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