Call It Love (2023)

A healing journey through the facial expressions of the leads

After watching My Liberation Notes, Summer Strike and Tell Me That You Love Me, I was looking for a drama that would make me feel a certain way - Melo with warmth. Glad that I came across this drama.

I rarely love a show this much. What attracted me the most was how both FL and ML portrayed emotions simply through their facial expressions. The whole drama is so healing and welcoming. It felt as though I was living there, through them, within them.

Revenge can be taken in various ways. Sometimes, an act of revenge can be simply forgiving and understanding. A point to highlight was the maturity of the FL. Instead of being blinded by revenge, she understood who was at fault and who was not. Eventually, her family also comes to understand that.

Definitely worth watching.

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An achingly beautiful love story told deliberately

This drama is not for the faint of heart or those looking to quickly get through a story. I sometimes watch dramas that I feel linger too long at a gaze, or rehash the same issues over and over again. This drama is beautiful in its pace. And to appreciate the drama, you have to be at ease with the pace. You have to flow with it. Being in the right mood, right time makes a difference.

The cinematography is like no other. Each composition holds such meaning, done with such deliberateness, that I couldn't bear to skip anything. Every movement, every glance, every flicker was so deliberately and meticulously crafted, that it would be a shame to turn away for a moment dare you miss any of the artistry.

The character development was brilliant. Everyone had growth, everyone had space and room to be a complex human, to learn, to regret, to forgive, to fail, and to grow. It's a talented writer, and a talented cast of characters, every lead, every supporting lead, gives purpose and depth to their part.

I would have given this drama a 10/10 regardless of the ending they had chosen. Everything felt deserved. This tangled story was told with such love and care,

But my empathies lie solely with Shim Woo Joo, brought to life by the wonderful Lee Sung Kyung. Perhaps as a middle child, a pillar of the family, and eldest daughter, any way I look at it, she had my whole heart. I understood her most, rooted for her throughout. For people that say this is a slog or slow burn, I disagree. It is deliberate in its pacing, so you ache as she aches. Also, coming from a culture where honor, family, standing in society means everything, I was heartbroken for her. Like I said, regardless of the ending I would have understood, but I still harbor resentment that Shim Woo Joo doesn't. She reflected my own short comings, showing what a long was I have to go to be understanding and deliberate and honest and hopeful.

Beautiful. Please watch.

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bated breath, lump in throat and shining eyes

Against all expectations, 9.5 stars for keep me the breaths, for the touching musics, the slow acting to underline sads moments. I was a little scared by the slow pace but to my surprise it didn't bother me.
Don't expect an overwhelming and passionate story but rather a soft and touching story like a flower that blooms.

The character of the main woman lead was direct talking, altruistic and protective person. Meanwhile, the main man lead character was a sad person, lonely, pathetic, heavily hurts in feelings and betrayed by everyone.
Shy people who need time to grow their relationship. When the heart says one thing and the head says another.

I apreciated small gestures and I remember certain scenes:
When she wants to talk but he doesn't want to hear and vice versa. Him opening up and smiling again. He's not used to her direct ways but then he appreciates them. The gesture of sewing the button. She who protects him, comforts him and takes care of him. Being torn between what the heart feels and what the head says. Their looks. The fact that his ex dumped him at his favorite place (camping) and ruined it for him and never went back. Knowing that they love each other but give up everything for the family...

I spent half the time with wet eyes and a lump in my throat.

The last two episodes were a little too pathetic and heavy. Why did they waste more than a year to meet theirs? They love each other, the mother agrees, she and her brother have the telephone number? What did they expect, destiny?
My happy ending would be that they worked together at his uncle's campsite and the whole family gathered there, with his brother playing the guitar...

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Call it BEAUTIFUL

A slow burn romance to top most slow burn romances. You got 2 incredibly complex characters with incredibly traumatizing histories and they come together to create a beautiful love story.

It starts out with our no non-sense badass but impulsive FL. She’s got revenge on her mind and she won’t stop at anything to achieve it.. until she meets our kind hearted and greenest of the green flags ML. However, she’s supposed to wreak havoc on his life as part of her revenge. So, what is a girl supposed to do? She fell in love.

It’s not a typical girl and guy fall in love kind of rom com. It’s about growing past your trauma, pain, internal conflicts, and allowing yourself to heal. I love that we get a no bullshit FL who’s not afraid to love, not afraid to protect those she loves and not afraid to love even her supposed enemy. Then, you get an incredibly warm and kind ML who’s slumped shoulders show a man carrying the weight of the world on him. What he needs is the love of a good woman. Here, enters our FL crashing into his world and coloring his blank pages. He also helps to bring colors into her black and white world. 10/10

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I enjoyed the silent moments

Slowburns really are the best. It's all about the long stares full of pining, hand gestures, and simply being in each other's presence. These type of dramas don't even need a kiss scene, but when they did kiss? Priceless. I felt so many emotions inside me.

If I tell you I couldn't stop watching a drama you should trust me. That's because I tend to drop a lot of series I'm not interested in anymore. I like character-driven stories; this was EVERYTHING I've wanted in a while. The actress for the fl did such a good job with portraying her character. She absolutely shined in this drama.
Her temper, her somewhat cold attitude while also being warm, her maturity and her character development were all things I LOVED and was interested in. While getting to know the ml she slowly began to show her sweet side. I found it natural the way her loathing turning to pity and then finally love. I also liked her approach to dealing with that woman (I forgot her name). She realized that she turned her hate towards that woman when she should've hated her father, too. Although, she still doesn't forgive her, and rightfully so. They had a crucial talk at the end, and the fl communicated her thoughts well. I know some people would want to let that woman suffer in prison, but that's the point of this drama because the message it gives us is that life is not all about revenge. That's how I interpreted it, anyway.
The gentle, calm nature of the ml was a refreshing change from the usual teasing, charming love interests. We need more of that. He never snapped words out of anger to someone. The one time he did lose his mind was when the fl got hurt.
They're the exact opposite, yet that's why they complement each other so nicely. The fl needed someone who would be patient, accepting and kind. The ml needed someone who would be honest, straightforward and compassionate.

You know it's bad when I was flabbergasted at this drama not having an unnecessary second lead. That's rare, you know? The fl's best friend didn't have a secret crush on her. Instead, he fell for her sister.

The thing I'm disappointed with is the last episode. I didn't really understand their third-act breakup. It didn't make sense. And once they got back together at the final scene I wished for more. We were barely showed cute moments between them. They had great chemistry. I was able to feel their love from miles away. However, it wasn't enough imo. Also, I dislike that the younger brother was being treated like a 15-years old kid. He. Is. A. Grown. Man! I'm glad they focused a bit on the older sister, though.

Bottom line: two sad people falling in love is just my thing

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Call it… why, a biggo WHY

WHY would you cast the handsome Kim Young Kwang if you´re gonna use that UGLY pink filter throughout the drama?

WHY would you cast the handsome Kim Young Kwang if you are not going to exploit his charismatic smile and just have him play a one dimensional depressed character? It was interesting and engaging in the early episodes, but it soon got old… to the point where I grew exasperated with him and that´s criminal. I watched the entire The Secret Life Of My Secretary with a big smile, even though it was a stupid romcom with a questionable premise I loved watching Kim Young Kwang. With him alone and his killer smile was so worth it!

WHY would you waste some potentially interesting cinematography with that UGLY pink?

WHY would you introduce great initial characters and midway just let them go to shit?

WHY in the second half of the series everyone took forever to get the words out of their mouths? Especially the leads in the last 4 episodes… my God what the hell happened, were they on Valium or something? Did I miss the part where they visited their psychiatrist and were prescribed a speech impairment drug?

WHY would you turn such a potentially strong, endearing and adorable FL into a wimpy FL?

If writers knew that they had 16 episodes to fill WHY did it feel like they ran out of material and they just went on circles the second half of the series?

WHY the pretentious and repetitive shots? Actors taking turns to eat side by side, actors taking turns to walk side by side, actors taking turns to look at each other from a few meters away, actors taking turns to look at the camera with a solemn face…. You get the point… repetition that made no freaking sense in a non beautiful way because of that UGLY pink filter.

WHY the bland ending?
I read some comments where viewers say that they were satisfied with the ¨happy ending¨ Frankly speaking I didn´t get it or by that time i was too jaded to appreciate it.


And then it got me thinking were they trying to emulate the ending in LOST or were they trying to emulate LOST the entire time? If so, they failed miserably. Actors take note: check out Ryu Joon Yeol and Jeon Do Yeon because that´s how you play a depressed person on the brink of despair. It does´t have to be boring!! In Lost the ending made perfect sense after the things that they had been through. In Call It Love, the ending looks like two slow and dumb people looking at each other, very stupid in my book.

So WHY did I watch this? Because I LOVE Kim Young Kwang and I liked the first half of the series to the point where I was willing to overlook the ugly pink filters.

Please Kim Young Kwang stay away from complex characters they are not for you or work with directors that can really use your strengths to build characters like in Mission Possible, Hello Me, The Secret Life Of My Secretary, The Guardians… playing those characters you were fantastic!!!


P.S. The OST, Flowers by Kim Roy was the true STAR of the series. Stunning!!!!!

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Healing, .love, and perfect chemistry

There are many characters in Korean dramas that I would aspire to be because of their fundamental goodness, compassion, empathy, and kindness. Han Dong-Jin, in 'Call it Love' might go to the top of that last. His steadfast love turned desire for vengeance in the female lead, Shim Woo-Joo, brilliantly acted by Lee Sung Kung, into love, forgiveness and understanding. This healing is transformative across all the characters, grudgingly perhaps by the villainess, but even she is able to wish Shim Woo-Joo a good life. It's rare enough for chemistry this perfect to exist among the male and female lead but here is carries over to all the couples. The transformation and healing wrought by love permeates this quiet but powerful drama, one that will melt your heart. The cinematography is rather special as well, highlighting the moods of the characters and I appreciate that the OST is not just a play-list of popular songs but uses orchestra and piano to help create and sustain the moods. Call It Love is one of the most soulful dramas I have seen and it will linger with me for a long time.

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Great Watch!

I just finished watching it, and even though in the beginning I thought I wasn't going to like this drama because of the serious undertone, I was wrong. It was a great journey that I didn't want to end. The characters grew on me at the end I loved the main cast so much. The relationship with the main leads was a real one built on authenticity and genuine care/love for each other. Many touching moments are great lines in this series defiantly has my mister vibe but with a more satisfying ending, in my opinion. Great watch for a nighttime drama think everyone should stick with it for 3 episodes it is not boring!

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LLike a warm and nostalgic cuppa

I don't know why but when I had initially tried watching this show, I couldn't. When I tried the second time, I realized that with each episode I wanted to know more about the story of SWJ and HDJ. The story for me felt like a warm yet nostalgic cuppa. It's a melodrama so expecting to instantly like or get hooked on the 1st episode is not a good idea. I liked the development of the main characters. They were both flawed yet at the core, both of them were good, I think DongJin and Woojoo were the best for each other because he was initially a pushover and needed someone to not pity him but show him what he was doing not entirely right, and someone needed to make Woojoo realize that taking revenge wouldn't make everything go back to normal. I would, however, want the reunion to be a bit longer, but it aligned well with the rest of the episode. The filter, the back and forth of the times, and the prologues at the beginning of some episodes made the show interesting. However, it would have been better if it was 12 episodes rather than 16. But I would say this is worth watching because you will see how a broken girl could be strong enough to protect the right people.

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Call it Satisfying

When I finished Call it Love I I honestly felt like I was satisfied in a well that was a grand days work kinda way as opposed to oh my god im totally blown away kind of way. But yet i look back at this as time well spent it kind of grows on you and you go through a certain kind of coming to terns with whats happening along with the characters.

At times this drama really had me moved and totally absorbed and at times I was feeling this is getting dull only for it to pull away from the edge and remain engaging and it makes you interested to hear what others thought.

Pros:
Some great chatacters and exploration of same and a sense of understanding them gradually in a satisfying way.

A really good fairly realistic story not OTT and well brought together. I genuinely felt any number of endings would satisfy me no anxiety re a happy vs sad vs open ending a few episodes out as the story was making sense to me (eventually) regardless.

The Secondary characters were all really engaging and not filler material and no really extreme characters (though some might say close to)

For a drama with virtually no comedy it was still not gratituosly depressing.

Some genuinely powerful moments.

The normalised and gentle treatnent of sister struggle with mental health issue, note not a central part of plot but nicely introduced and explored with subtlety and normality.

Cons

The leads at times were too monotonous and almost unable to express any emotions outside of a narrow range of stoic silence and underlying sadness.

The FL in particular some of her scenes were like oh come on say something, its actually getting weird now. Tropes were not rampant in this script apart from the miscommunication/no communication between leads trope which weared just a little at times.

The chemistry between leads lacked i felt I dont know if it was directing acting or both but it was a bit too low key to match where they get too in their relationship. However this may be because this was not just a story about romance it was that and a bit more so even the romance had to be in balance.

To put it simply the acting was anazing to capture a certain tyoe of mood or moment which was then repeated a lot so while many fekt the acting was great i felt it was within a narrow range and not mind blowing sorry.

The use of the split scene then flash back was done really well except maybe a bit too often esoecially where verbal communication was sparse it was at times a long wait to find out what was actually said when.

Overall I feel like this is really really a great watch but maybe not all in one go. I have a fulfulling sense of satisfaction even though at times i was not sure what to make of it. Somehow this drama didnt neccessarily always go they way I wanted and yet i never felt cheated or had an oh i hate this type of story moment. I still havent settled on a no for my rating im curious what people feel.

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looking for a soul healing journey? BINGO

Call it Love is a beautiful Kdrama that tells the story of three sibling that couldn't be any more different. The main themes are friendship, romance, hardship, grieve and revenge.

The three siblings taught me many things:
Rely on yourself but don't go through all the hardships alone.
Don't be afraid to be alone and learn to appreciate your time with yourself.
Always pursuit your dreams. Never give up.

The writing is excellent, with character development and plenty of heartwarming moments that will make you smile. The show also touches on deeper issues such as family and societal pressures, which adds an extra layer of depth to the story.

The supporting cast is also exceptional, with each character bringing their own unique personality and quirks to the show. The soundtrack is also fantastic, adding to the overall romantic and lighthearted vibe of the show.

Lastly I want to say

Goodbye pink filter

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