Love & Wish (2021)

A more mature story on school bullying, albeit a bit green and cliche around the edges.

My curiosity was peaked by the mention of a male student enduring school bullying as I'm used to seeing more of a damsel in distress-type situation play out in Korean television with the male savior trope a little too played out. It was refreshing to see the roles switched, and I was interested to see it unfold onscreen. I'm not familiar with GOT7 excluding Jinyoung from The Devil Judge, and only because I saw the "IDOL" hashtag and realized he was a band member after the fact. I think he's a fantastic actor and has a beautiful cry face (lol). That said, I only realized Youngjae was a member because of the other reviews here exalting his performance as "perfect" and "amazing." I expected him to blow me away based on their reviews and honestly, had I just watched the show without first seeing their comments, I probably would have had a much higher rating for him. Be that as it may, I came out of the mini-drama fully understanding that he is very green still and thought he did well considering.

The show itself threw me off quite a bit in the first few episodes. It starts off very silly and like a cliche-rom-com with the FL a bit too bubbly and smiley and the music too simplistic and designed for comedic effect. As the series goes on and we're introduced to the antagonists, the tone of the show becomes a bit more serious, and the music shifts into mostly calm and melodic piano. The leader of the bullies was a little over the top and felt more like an evil caricature, and I was more scared by the unhinged ex-girlfriend because of her instability and reactionary anger. The climax of the series was definitely dark (with her slicing at Youngjae's neck) and I thought that scene was excellently done. It caused the hair on my arms to stand on end, and my jaw dropped. I wish the resolution had been given more breathing room, and I thought the time-skip at the end was an overused cop-out. Overall, I wouldn't watch this series again, but I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it. While Youngjae is certainly green around the edges (and not quite ready for heavy emotional scenes as was evidenced by his pleading scene at the end of Episode 9), I do think he has a bright future in acting ahead of him and will only improve with time and experience with his peers.

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It was not what I had expected. But yet I was pleasantly surprised

I watched all nine episodes in one straight go. And I must say that it was not what I thought it was going to be. However! I was pleasantly surprised none the less.

Story- 9/10
I honestly thought that this qould have been the typical rom-com K drama. But it wasn't at all. It touched on school violence and handled it very well, I might add. I had questions that they were able to fill. I felt that they did thier best to tell this story in nine episodes that were all under twenty minutes.

Acting/ Cast-10/10
Everyone's acting amazed me. And I am so proud of Youngjae, I believe that he did an excellent job and I look forward to see more works from him.

Music-10/10
It's an OST from Youngjae- of course it's gonna be a banger!

Rewatch Valu-8/10
As I have said, this was not what I originally thought that I would be watching. But I still enjoyed it and I do see myself watching it again.

Overall- 9.5/10
Overall, I give this series a 9.5. And yes, you can watch it in one go- like how I did!

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From the cast to the acting. The drama truly goes in depth of the outcomes of school bullying and the school violence. No one truly knows what happens. A story about love. Choi Youngjae showing the drama world once again that he is an amazing actor. I highly recommend the drama to everyone. Everything about the drama is remarkable. The way they go about and explain school violence. I screamed. I jumped. I was physically mentally involved in the drama. Who could say they really got into a drama from the very first minutes to the very last second of the drama. The episodes were small but the drama is simply amazing. To me it was just to short. I needed it to be longer. I need a season two. I need it now.

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To good to be end on a short note...

Firstly I am a Got7 fan but doesn't mean that whatever they will do will impress me and didn't really expected anything from this drama but today I finished watching it, all the 9 episodes and I have to say it was hands down the best one I watched in 2021 and there were alot I loved this year but this one just hits differently and I can't explain it, I am still thinking about the scenes and the potray of all the characters and there different shades. Overall 2021 best short drama and all about youth, summer,school, friends, bully, depression and last but not the least love and wish.
I am always supporting these dramas who doesn't contain the most famous actors but do have a story to tell with there mind blowing acting skill, I wish all the actors in this drama find more work and show us more.

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Hard to watch

This was a difficult show for me to watch, because the bullying is so pervasive and, to my mind, extreme. It was felt especially strongly since it was a short show.

What I liked: I liked the friendships that developed, the feeling of standing up for and beside your friends in support. I loved this. The acting was good, and I didn't feel that anyone stood out as being out of place. At times the bullies seemed a little like caricatures of bad guys, but again, I think that was because of the short length of the show. Clever use of repeating a scene from the beginning of the show at the end when they meet up again. I loved the montage at the end with her voice over speaking about friendship.

What I didn't care for: Strong bullying. The FL telling the guy she liked him when she hadn't even really talked to him. She seemed too much like a stalker to me. And him liking her was sudden, out of the blue, and unnatural. Time skip, ugh. Their meet up - too short and abrupt.

If you aren't bothered by bullying, I'd say give this show a try, if for no other reason that seeing friendships develop

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What is Bullying?

Wow! I'm impressed with Choi Young Jae with his acting. I really love Got7 and wished I knew them sooner. I laughed at episode 1 because BTS was mentioned. The topic of this KDrama needs to be seen in schools all over this world. It is much needed. Choi Young Jae acted his behind off in this drama. I wanted to go through my TV screen and punch some folks out. He did an awesome job being the main lead. The main lead actress Choi Ye Bin who played Son Da Eun, did great, changing from an introvert to an extrovert is hard to do and she did it well. The actress who played the knife bully was so believable, I wanted to whoop that behind.

If you have teenagers, you need to show them this drama. Bullying in schools needs to be reported, but the schools need to make sure that retaliation doesn't happen afterward.

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Good Enough

Korean mini drama "Love and Wish" is a short drama that starts in a cheesy, rom com note and then takes a turn towards the darker parts of school life.

The main problem of this drama is its length. It robs the drama of a smooth progress and a strong impact of what was happening, as everything kept happening too fast. The start was pretty cliche too, as well as the ending that used the trope of time leap which was kind of a letdown. Nevertheless, the middle part was really good and the performances really shined in that part. The back and forth was well handled as well. But it would have been nice if they had explained the main lead's family situation in a more explicit way.

So, overall, 6.5 out of 10.

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I’m not the best judge of what constitutes an accurate portrayal of a high school drama since I was sheltered as hell growing up, but I just know deep within my heart that this ain’t it lmao. I feel like the immature portrayal of the characters and the strange insta-lovey romance of the leads is something that is more likely to take place in middle school among barely-teenage 13-year-old kids. Perhaps other dramas’ portrayal of a high school setting was more mature than the reality and this drama is spot on about teenage insta-love and pathetic-looking bullying attempts (once again- this sheltered young adult is not the one to ask), but something felt incredibly off about this drama the entire time that I was watching it. The acting especially just didn’t do it for me. Son Da Eun looked like she was laughing instead of crying, and Seung Hyu’s expressions were crustier than week-old stale bread. I surprisingly enjoyed the darker tone shift in the second half - that part was done pretty nicely. I also really loved Da Eun’s backstory episode (episode 7 I think) and I was honestly more interested in that part than the main story. I think this drama would have been better off without a romance at all, because the one that we got just felt forced and unnatural. Overall, it’s an okay drama that could have been improved with better acting and more realistic relationships. Oh, and a less lame ending.

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Very good!!

I thought this drama was going
to be an ordinary drama but after
some eps this really took another
way, I was impressed!! Acting was
really good, I really cried in last eps.
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