Love Is for Suckers (2022)

Watch for the plot, not the romance

A lighthearted easy to watch drama with the main focus being the dating show.

I had very high expectations for this drama after watching the first two episodes, it was right up my alley (providing an old kdrama vibe). However, it slowly lost that charm. Don't get me wrong, it's still a reasonable drama, I really like the dating show concept, it kind of feels like watching one, the only difference is being able to see the behind the scenes chemistry of the cast and how it's all put together. But just a heads up before jumping into this, the first half and second half are quite different due to its shift from focussing on the mains relationship to only mostly focussing on the dating show.

As much as I absolutely adored them in the early episodes, towards the second half of the drama, I began to lose interest in Yu Reum and Jae Hoon's relationship. I was worried this would affect my overall view of LIFS as waiting for their romantic relationship to actually develop was tiring. However, I chose to focus on their individual stories, rather than their romantic ones and I think, with that mentality, I was able to stick with this longer and enjoy the drama more. And for that, I recommend starting LIFS for the plot and less for the romance between the main leads, because, even 11 episodes in, there is little to no romance between the two. The title 'Love Is for Suckers' summarises this drama pretty well.

Lee Da Hee and Choi Si Won are an amazing kdrama couple (perfectly casted in my opinion), but they sadly just couldn't thrive the way they were meant to with a plot like this... They had so much potential, but the writing was lazy, giving no tension or hook.

There is a love triangle, but the second female lead is sweet and likeable, no overly rude and annoying SFL's in this drama - just means viewers might root for her happiness more.

Overall, it's cheesy but not to the point of being unbearable and cringe to watch, the acting is pretty good and most of the characters are likeable in their own quirky way. The plots rather simple (and slow paced), but it's reasonably interesting despite being a bit messy and occasionally going backwards rather than forwards in the development of characters. Also, the actual story doesn't start until episode 5; the first 4 are more just an introduction to the characters and their backstories.

The writer did one thing right - giving a good character development to John Jang. I was so much more invested in his story, he’s surprisingly a really likeable character as the story progresses. Park Ji Wan too! Those two are lowkey my favourite characters. ^^

If you read my review and still think you'll watch it, why not - go for it! Despite its flaws, it's still worth checking out.

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Watch for the outstanding romance just not between the leads

Before you decide to write off this drama due to the bad reviews, hear me out.

This drama suffers from a case of split personalities. It is both very very good and absolutely awful at the same time. But do I regret watching it? Not at all.

The bad:

The drama started off decently with a best friends to lovers trope and it was engaging enough within the first half of the show. In the second half, the chemistry between the leads fizzled out. As a fan of Lee Da Hee, it pains me to say that her character was incredibly frustrating. Also it takes special talent to make someone as gorgeous as her look terrible, but this show managed to do it with the awful fashion choices. As for Choi Si Won, his character was too selfish. In short the leads were very unlikeable and over time I completely lost interest in them.

The good:

While the reality show aspect was fairly engaging, there was an unexpected couple that developed and they really stood out far more than anything else in the drama. Individually, these two characters showed the greatest growth and together their love story was swoon worthy. While they had limited screen time, their presence is what kept me obsessed and coming back for episodes week after week. Maybe the actors aren’t well known but they had great chemistry, engaging character development and an interesting background that could easily be expanded into a full series. I would give anything to have these two get a spin off show . If not that, then at least to see their crackling chemistry again as in Goblin/ Touch Your Heart.

To summarize, this show is mediocre at best if you consider the story of the leads, and most of the supporting characters. They show limited growth, and have few redeemable qualities. While they tried to tackle a lot of concepts, eating disorders, obesity, trauma, etc, I don’t think it was presented very well. Poor writing is ultimately the source of the show’s downfall.

This is also where the concept of split personalities come in. While the main story is so dull and poorly written, the story of the side pairing is so amazing that I would gladly fast forward through the rest just to watch them over and over again. Even if you’re not won over by how adorable they are together, you would still enjoy watching them. The two actors have a great screen presence and their characters evolve throughout the story. The male character ‘s arc in particular deserves special appreciation. To me these were the most interesting and fleshed out characters. It’s a shame the show didn’t give them enough screen time. Had they been the focus, the show could very well have ended up being a 10 for me. The writers have missed out on a brilliant opportunity to show something unique and special.

My parting thought is the following: give the show a chance and make your own opinions about it. There are few dramas where the romance has gotten me this excited in recent years. I really did enjoy the side pairing and will continue to rewatch their scenes whenever I feel the desire to watch some sweet romance. It was an unconventional pairing but absolutely delightful to watch. If you need one reason to watch this show, it is to watch these two characters as they grow and to see how their romance blooms. I promise you won’t regret it.

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Love is not for suckers. Not when it's done well. Which this is not.

A reality show within a scripted show is a potential goldmine of craziness, scandalous behavior, unexpected betrayals, unlikely alliances and revealing both physical parts and intangible sides to the cast. And “Love is for Suckers” when it peels itself away from the generic main-character-romance drama, acquits itself rather well. “Rather” though is an important qualification because there’s some frustratingly obvious ways that this production could have been a memorable one.

The main issue is how the storyline and tone are balanced. It’s very much a show centered on the two main characters - Lee Da Hee’s reality show producer Yu Reum and Choi Si Won’s neurologist/reality show participant Jae Hoon. They’re best friends and neighbors that, of course, have the occasional surfacing of romantic tension that’s been blocked by Jae Hoon’s all-encompassing job and Yu Reum’s previous serious relationships.

They end up on opposite sides of the camera in a reality dating show with Jae Hoon expected to romance one of the female cast members and Yu Reum expected to make compelling reality television. That both of these don’t sync up with a potential girlfriend-boyfriend relationship between the two main characters is the primary narrative. It’s not altogether unentertaining but how it unfolds ultimately is unfulfilling.

Chief among them is that Choi Si Won is a natural at light and comic and boisterous, but is out of his depth with a more serious role. And there’s a good stretch focused on the character’s tortured past that he hasn’t moved past and it’s not a convincing portrayal.

It’s also a hard sell that Yu Reum is a diligent worker, an ally to her colleagues, stands up and takes responsibility when she makes a mistake, is honest and kind, a respectful daughter, fearless in the face of danger, able to eat spicy food, etc. but is somehow struggling at both work and her personal life. Together, the two are just not a lot of fun, don’t really seem to match each other at all and neither is sympathetic enough that the melodrama lands emotionally.

Meanwhile, there’s some tremendous characters beyond the main two. Jo Soo Hyang is electric as Yu Reum’s superior Kang Chae Ri. She’s a modern, unapologetic, strong female that is flawed and damaged and reckless that is both maddening and endearing. Park Yeon Woo also hits all the right notes as an insecure celebrity chef. Lee Juyeon’s Han Ji Yun is a more one dimensional character as the art professor pining for Jae Hoon’s attention, but it’s a warm and touching performance. As is the married and co-restauranteurs couple played by Min Jin Woong and Noh Susanna hoping to conceive. But each part of this ensemble gets short screentime so that Jae Hoon can break out a head-tilted pouty face at an unendingly despondent Yu Reum about a dozen times per episode. Had the whole thing been reengineered to spread the spotlight around more and tilt the main pair’s romance to a lighter, more comedic style, perhaps that would have really pulled in an audience.

Other minor complaints - Lee Dae Hwi’s Sang Woo is a bland character that rarely is necessary to advance any narrative, whether primary or secondary, forward and the performance is uncomfortably stilted. There’s a smattering of subplots between the reality show cast members and some of them are well-acted and show promise, but as soon as one episode sets up a potentially compelling direction, it will be forgotten and ignored thereafter. An eating disorder? Appears and vanishes. A mental illness? Forgotten once it triggers a laughably poor cliffhanger at the end of an episode.

And a minor detail, but impossible to miss - Lee Da Hee was styled and wardrobed to near perfection in her most notable recent work “Search: WWW” and the contrast with how poorly she is outfitted on this show is gargantuan.

“Love is for Suckers” has some nice pieces but they don’t fit together very well. Not really recommended.

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What a sucker!

Love is For Suckers (2022)

Likes
1. I was really looking forward to the friends to lovers story (which is one of my fave tropes). Eps 1-6 were so great - funny, heartbreaking, lots of kilig, but the story started going downhill when they started shooting Kingdom of Love.
2. I love the pairing of Siwon and Dahee, they were both gorgeous and had great chemistry together. Too bad the FL character was so frustrating, i was half wishing they just stay friends, or ML end up with the 2FL (although that's also not a happy ending i want), or ML finding someone else who deserves his feelings. But then ML was also confusing and kept leading on both females.
3. The unexpected pairing of Chef John and Jiwan is prolly what kept the viewers staying until the end. Their love story was more fascinating than the main leads.
4. For a show that was so messy in the second half, they were still able to have a good ending where all the stories were neatly tied up except one - wth was the scene in very beginning where the contestants were in wedding gowns?

Dislikes
The whole Kingdom of Love was executed badly. The show is a mess, the contestants were mostly boring. I prolly wont watch it if it were real. The 2FL is a nice girl but she kept crying like a little girl who cant have what she wants. But loved the #KwonYul cameo.

Rating: 7.5

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It's like a bag of chips

The chips taste good, but the bag has more air than chips most of the time. But you bought it cuz you're hungry and you like it so you eat it but it just falls short. That is what this drama is.

When I started, I had zero expectations and was just looking to pass the time. At first, I got more than I was looking for and I was intrigued. They had a good cast to start off with. The characters were all solid, introductions good, chemistry good, even with side and supporting characters were good though seemed only minor as compared to the leads who have a nice set up, some wounds in their past, some problems in the present and they were just starting to look for a better future. Cool. Ride begins. Reality show within a drama. Literally that's the story if you've read the synopsis. Things pick up pace, life happens, characters react and adapt, story moves on. Excellent. But now you have expectations. You are attached to the plot and characters and they need to deliver. That's when things fizzled out. Honestly the SFL started to irritate me a bit and the ML and FL became a bit stagnant with their actions and feelings in the middle. And the plot suddenly brings in unnecessary stuff to make up for it.. However, some of the supporting characters, either they oozed out a lot of sweetness or they stayed cranky as ever being a riot.. anyway, they really shine even with limited screen time.

Since they started out so good and honestly everyone's acting was good and I even liked the production (camera? costume? set?) and everything, I just wish they'd done more.

Overall, worth a watch if you're looking for some mild romance and drama.

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I won the sucker bet

Based on the past performances of the two leads, I was willing to offer odds that the show will be good. I wish I finish the Show before I mortgage my house.

Still, on paper, I should be on a safe bet. It seems to be a standard BFF to lover trope with good looking leads and nice chemistry. It is a win-win formula for sure.

The problem is that the main plot went nowhere fast. The FL was lost in a sea of self-doubt and the ML is an island with a sign that reads “No Trespassers”. This is after all the flashbacks, almost kiss and daydreams. Even at this point, the plot is still viable, but it needs a firm hand on the tiller. What we got instead is a show within a show, a reality dating show, no less.

Now I’m starting to worry. If the dating show is framed as a satire or spoof, then it could be a lot of fun and there will be opportunities for the leads to interact and break down the barrier. However, for that to work, the new characters in the dating show have to be larger than life to kickstart the plot. What we got was a half-hearted attempt at an exposé which swings between banality and earnest. We are greeted by a mix of new secondary characters that are mostly cliché roles designed to fit right into their designated subplots. This meanders around for too many episodes before the Show finally calls it quits. It is frustrating that most of the introduced subplots lead nowhere and largely faded away as soon as the dating show wraps. The token antagonist stirred up some angst but escaped scot free. The Show doesn’t really need an ensemble cast. It is largely a distraction and suck the oxygen from the main OTP plot.

It is not all bad news though. The 2FL (Kang Chae Ri) is a revelation. Her character is thorny throughout the show and is borderline psychotic, but she is so much more alive than the FL. It is hard to like her character, but she is a scene stealer. This is almost the opposite of the FL. While the FL has great visuals, and her acting is solid as ever, her character is a wet mop. She spends the bulk of the Show running away from her feelings and tries to melt into the background.

Acting is decent on the whole, but the writing is a mess. By the time the leads are a couple, we are hanging on for dear life. The HEA ending and some nice developments of the side couples is small compensation for an overall disappointing show.
OST is serviceable but there is little reason for a rewatch.

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blah

as a fanwriter that has an overactive imagination, I saw this and thought, 2 friends get closer and fall in love as they film a reality dating show, one as a contestant and the other as a pd, an unexpected paring.
but instead I got a 20 year double 1 sided crush and random "we can't confess for blah blah reason" with past trauma and dating mishaps

they gave us 2 manipulative characters (Kim Joon Ho/Han Ji Yun) and I things will explode and they'll be exposed. I wanted both to show their ugly personalities to everyone, but instead one was shut down and the other switched sides and continued her fake sweet personality..
tbh, I see it as evil karma, she was obsessed with a dude that never liked her and she knew nothing about but she imagined him as what she wanted. and now she get this creepy dude that's been looking at her through a tv and things he knows/gets her. so he sees what he wants, and she can continue her fake victim mentality psycho

I was actually enjoying it, but then suddenly it was the last ep and, nothing happened?
like I was expecting things to go down, people fight and expose their ugly side, but everyone was happy? with, everything? where did the built up tension go?

I wanted the cake rejection to be a cake fight. I wanted people to see HJY faked her slip and show her fake "perfect" persona.. I wanted KJH to be exposed for exposing Park Ji Wan's trauma

and worse of all I wanted Kang Chae Ri to show the hidden scenes between Goo Yu Reum and Park Jae Hoon, because she was the evil editing that used people for viewership... so what was the point in everyone snooping?
that 1 small "scandal"? where's the big shocking finale?

also I loved Ahn So Yeon but the heck was her ending too? the guy cheated on her. sure they weren't official, but he slept with someone else while he faked being fully invested in her


Park Ji Wan and John Jang were the only good thing out of this but even their interest in one another should've been exposed.. in the end everyone was happy, like non of the conflicts mattered... no one followed through with their evil intentions... tbh the last eps were a disappointment
it's one of those cases a writer has an idea, and thinks "inspiration" comes after filming ep per ep and then boom it's the ending and nothing is coherent

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The title says it all so that's what viewers should expect for the romance

While this isn't the greatest drama, I'm one of the few who doesn't think it's as bad as some are making it out to be. If you're looking for flawless characters who aren't realistic & a perfect fairytale type of love story, then you probably won't enjoy this drama much. Although I can't say I loved the characters (except for Jiwan) & some of their actions were frustrating to watch, I was able to understand where they were coming from (except for Chaeri who was just awful). & while understanding their actions didn't mean that I liked them, they certainly kept the point of the drama's title - that love can be sweet & salty.

Yureum, the FL, wasn't my favorite but it's important not to ignore her circumstances so you won't hate her too much. Because of her age, she feels the lowkey pressure to be in a relationship with marriage being the outcome. Yes, I know we think who cares you can be a single, independent lady but not all cultures/societies/families think that way. That feeling & need to make her parents happy leads her to make a decision that will make viewers think she's being foolish. As expected, she's left to pick up the pieces of her disappointed heart. Amidst that & work problems, Jaehoon, the ML, confesses his feelings. The rest of their story shows her accepting her feelings & fears that come with falling for a friend while having a working relationship with him too. A lot of viewers were unhappy with how she dealt with a certain situation while filming for the reality tv show but they weren't acknowledging that she has a job to do & can't give him special treatment because of their friendship, however harsh that may appear to be.

There are times when you may think "Jaehoon, just move on already" but, as we all know, it's not easy to control the heart. He's had feelings for her for as long as they've been friends, which is about 20 years, so they weren't going to disappear like that. I guess some can find it unbelievable that his feelings wouldn't end but we see glimpses of them through the years that show there's always been something there between them. (It'll be important to remember that when she finally confesses to him.) To some, he may come off as a pushover when it comes to his feelings for her (& I agree to some extent but I personally don't think she was selfishly trying to take advantage to hurt him as others thought) but, once again, that ties back into the message of being a sucker when you're in love. (I'm not saying that's a good or bad message.)

There is no love triangle but there is someone with an unrequited crush on Jaehoon. I sympathize with unrequited love but I failed to find sympathy for Jiyun. From the start, & throughout their entire interactions, Jaehoon was always clear about his feelings & intentions. It actually got boring, & kind of cringe, seeing her stick to him. Maybe he shouldn't have been as nice as he was in his delivery but the messages were clear. I can't feel sorry for someone who knows the situation they're in & lowkey tries to make the other person feel bad. However, she's harmless & not like those other vindictive secondary lead characters who continuously plot to tear the couple apart. (Also, because this point kept being brought up while the drama aired, I want to make it clear that if Jiyun was a man I would've felt the same way about the character. Actually, my reactions would've been worse watching a man who can't accept multiple rejections.)

As for other characters, they missed the mark with Chaeri (who many found to be the most interesting character). Her character & story could've been more developed if they focused less on the filming of the reality show. What I mean about that is they gave us tiny snippets to show us why she is the way that she is but they fell short. I think they wanted to create acceptance for her character, & even make us feel sorry for her at times, but I was just left bothered (& confused at times) by her horrible actions & not liking her at all. (To give one example, her sleeping with one of guys on the show - especially because of who it was- was unnecessary & felt like they wanted to give us a plot twist.) Aside from her, most of the characters were okay. I wish we would've gotten more screen time for Yureum & Jaehoon's married couple friend. Jiwan & her unexpected romance were the scene stealers of the show. I was also pleasantly surprised watching chef Jang's character development.

Once the episodes about the reality filming begin, expect the focus to be more about it & Yureum & Jaehoon as individuals rather than them as a couple. However, they don't have many sweet moments & when they finally get together it can feel abrupt for viewers. (I think the writers were counting on the fact that they are friends of many years to make us okay with not much communication between them before getting together.) So, if you want a sweet & easy romance to be thrown in your face every episode, that is not happening here. I actually didn't mind seeing the reality tv filming plot but I do agree it should've gotten less screen time or instead the drama should've promoted that as the main plot . Anyways, the actors all did well enough in their respective roles to make me watch episodes. I really don't rewatch dramas (so 5 is my standard ratings for dramas that weren't a waste of my time) but I would say it's an okay drama to pass the time, especially if you don't have high expectations. I don't know the music that was used, & I'm not going to search for it, but it was fine in the drama, which is why I gave it my standard rating for osts that weren't memorable to me but were nice as I watched the episodes.

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We're the suckers and no, it's not for the love of this drama.

I'm going to keep this short and not very sweet.

I wish I could have come here to talk about the growth of tackling difficult aspects of being a single PD over a certain age and finding love through her varsity sweetheart, but nope. The initial set up we got in the first two episodes was a farce and they decided to take on a whole other direction soon after, which lead to an upside down mess trying to tackle too many aspects of love, that wasn't happening between the leads.

In all honesty the writers would have been better off writing a drama revolving around an ensemble cast with ALL the contestants and having the PDs as side characters because there was clearly more spark, more romance and more opportunities given in those characters to make an interesting show than what we received with the lead couple.

Do I recommend this drama? No, not even one bit.
Please don't waste your time and rather find something worth watching.

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Lackluster

I don't usually usually start a drama while it is airing and this drama wasn't an exception. The reviews weren't quite good so i was a bit skeptical about starting it. I must say, the plot blew me away because of its mediocrity. The acting was also below par that even the ML and FL couldn't save this drama. The first few episodes were a bit promising but it all went downhill towards the second half of the story. Characters were poorly developed, the overall acting of the supporting characters looked kinda forced, and alot of events weren't clearly explained. I strongly suggest you only watch this if you wanna waste your precious time.

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