This review may contain spoilers
This drama is a welcome antidote to all of the revenge dramas out there. Watching revenge dramas such as "The Glory" or "Vincenzo" is vastly entertaining and satisfying. "Call It Love," on the other hand, shows the emotional costs to one’s humanity and to innocent bystanders when one seeks revenge. Refraining from seeking revenge after one has been deeply wronged can be a sign of strength, not cowardice or weakness, and choosing to forego revenge can paradoxically leave one satisfied and more at peace with oneself. I’m glad that this drama shows the other side of revenge.Shim Woojoo’s and Han Dongjin’s stories and their developing attraction to each other are beautifully told. I was impressed with Kim Young Kwan’s acting, which nails the still waters run deep-personality of Han Dongjin. Too often such attempts result in wooden acting (like Bo Hyun Ahn in "See You In My 19th Life"), but Kim Young Kwan is excellent. Even his back does a great acting job (you’ll understand if you watch this drama).
I watched this on Hulu but the subtitles were pretty bad and too often unintentionally funny. For example, when a tall, broad-shouldered, deep-voiced guy would laugh the subtitle would show, “Giggles.” Someone would cry and the subtitle would say, “Sniffles.” Big sigh. Or, as the subtitle would say, instead of sigh, “Snort.”
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Beautiful Leads drowning in Melodrama tropes
Melodrama is not my thing but I've been waiting for this pairing so.... I powered through.Positives:
1. ML & FL pairing. He's tall & a model. She's tall & a model. It's basically hotness overload.
2. Sibling dynamic
3. That Rich Friend
Negatives: ALL the Melodrama tropes:
1. The walking dead. Sad people living but dead inside
2. Slow .... everything, talking, walking, reacting.....
3. Standing & staring .....
4. Wrist pull & save you from some kind of running vehicle
5. The comeback desperate ex
6. FF flashback moments overload
Yes I get it, it's supposed to connect 2 lonely sad people making their slow burn love more beautiful. I think the pair worked for melodrama lovers.
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This show made me buy a years worth Disney+ subscriptions, and I absolutely don’t regret it
Honestly I've kept my eyes on this show ever since Disney announced it their 2022 December promotional events in Singapore (the synopsis they gave back then made sure this show was going to be in my watclist)Not since last years' My Liberation Note I've see a slowburn k-drama done right until this dropped in Feb this year.
Please don't all consider it an overrating when I say that Dongjin has made it to top 4 in my list of Best-kdrama-men-ever list (you'll know why he has become such a favourite of mine, if you decided of watching the show)
The CINEMATOGRAPHY- This is best I've seen in any show in any language.. seriously its stellar... the framing and shots contribute to the chracters development and understanding the chracters feelings...it will be hard for other shows to top this level of intricacy..
The OSTs also were an achievements especially Roy Kim's Flower and Moon Song...
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Only watched it for KYK
So dreamy, KYK. I only watched the drama to watch him. Kdrama fixation.Don't care if he emotes two dimensionally or whatever else people are complaining about. Just happy to see him glide by and watch that face!
The FL was also lovely and the rest of the cast was the good, underplayed k drama actors who are actually the unsung pillars.
I must commend that lady who plays the wicked mother.
Did not check what her actual name and age is, but she is gorgeous.
Not sure how she ended up consistently playing a philandering wicked mother - have seen her in atleast 3 dramas doing the same wicked stuff.
But she has the courage to continually play the terribly villainous mother and excels in her negative craft.
This drama needed a lot more intimacy because the slow burn is fiery but ends with cold water.
There was ample room for it but it was wasted with just despair longing.
Needs a serious fix.
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What a drag
I am baffled by the way this story was told. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to buy this main couple when their interactions were mostly just them staring sadly at each other and sighing with the occasional wrist grabbing. There was so much potential here, but this story dragged so much. Endless scenes of no dialogue or dialogue that the characters took ages to utter. I have liked both main actors in other dramas and think they could have done much better with a better script. There was some chemistry there, but it was completely wasted and I actually bought the secondary couple a lot more than the main one. They actually enjoyed each other's presence and had fun together instead of just moping and being sad together. This should have been a lot shorter than it was or 16 episodes, but with a much better script and interactions between the main characters. Very disappointed in this.Was this review helpful to you?
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It's okay, if you are in the mood for some moodiness.
Honestly this is nowhere near as bad as the makjangish and super silly setup would suggest.I have two big problems with the show.
The first is that the OTP romance is not very believable. I think acting shortfalls are definitely part of this issue & the chemistry was just not enough for me to fully immerse myself in their relationship.
The second is that the ending is extremely low effort. There was all this crying/suffering/hardship & then everything just worked out senselessly, also following the always annoying separation followed by a 1 minute happy ending formula. It's better than people dying I suppose, but not by much. I don't know if this was live filming or not, but it sure feels like it. Then again, it's quite normal for kdrama writers to not give a fork about well thought out endings, so that could be it. (This is pretty much the industry standard now, if anything.) On a positive note a well thought out, reasonable ending would've been exorbitantly difficult with the setting we've had, so perhaps embracing the silly is not the worst thing in the world. I would hugely prefer though if writers made scripts that can be wrapped up in a way that makes sense, instead of making convoluted messes & then just yolo-ing the ending.
As for what I liked.. There is a lot of reasonably well written dialog existing outside of the plot-driving conversations. I liked the moody presentation & the pink filter was part of that too I suppose. I liked the visuals on my color calibrated displays, but I can see why someone would hate this, if watching the show on an LG oled TV or a Galaxy phone..
The OST is pretty good too!
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This is a feel-good revenge drama, but honestly the revenge is forgotten about early into the show. While it starts out strong, I felt myself skipping through a lot of the smaller storylines that are weaved throughout. There are no secret murderers in this slice of life, but many love triangles, relationships, dating and finding yourself going on. One thing that needs to be pointed out is: Lee Sung Kyung... Wow! She did such an incredible job in this drama. The character of Woo Joo is amazing and I kept seeing myself in her so much. A strong, beautiful, focused woman who doesn't back down to life and the people who walk all over her. The way she holds herself and the way she speaks yet cares about everyone around her, especially her family all really helped me relate to her. I loved her acting so much with Woo Joo. The emptiness that you get from her in the beginning and even towards the end that all ends whenever she is around Dong Jin. It's incredible, honestly. I can't think of another actress that has had me so wowed from a drama in a while.
Now for the story, I did love the main plot going on that followed with the lead's relationship, but I really didn't care for all of the siblings stories playing out. I found Woo Joo's sister to be kind of annoying and it was hard for me to follow her relationships or sink any emotion into them at all. Especially when it started to become a 3 person love triangle that I just couldn't follow. Jun was basically in love with her and Woo Joo, so the whole thing seemed pretty weird. I was finally glad when it all settled and they wrapped it up. The brother's story is really a backseat honestly and doesn't really serve a purpose to the overall plot other than him wanting to follow their father's career path and not the one Woo Joo set up for him. As for the lead story line, it was pretty dragged out and I hate when dramas wait until episode 15-16 to start dropping truth bombs that prevent us from getting more of the relationship we watched for. This one does exactly that.. I felt like right when it was starting to get to the happier part of everything, it came crashing down with them trying to wrap up the house story.
I do slightly find the step-sibling relationship slightly weird, but it was easy to look past when you realize they didn't know each other at all in their lives growing up. His mom just so happened to marry her dad. I just found it really weird that was the main story line going on with them also having a romance.
I could see myself re-watching this if I wanted to watch a nice melodrama slice of life. One that gets you thinking about life and its ups and downs. It was almost a favorite for me, but the slow pace of everything with the story just didn't grasp me as much as others have. It's still such a good watch.
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Amazing
So, I just finished this drama last night after binging it. This drama is amazing I loveeee the plot, it did start making me mad how long they were making dongjin suffer from his mothers actions (the family). They only had one kiss... and only had .1 second of a happy ending. I didn't care for the second lead couple whatsoever, I actually hated them, a lot. But overall the plot was amazing, the acting was great for the most part ( mainly kyk did a v good job ) the ost was okay. This drama was actually the only drama I've cried so hard for, literally cried at least once every episode, saddest episode has to be the episode where Dongjin was about to get hit by a car.(ep. 4/5 i think). I don't know I feel like dongjin is a very relatable character. woojoo was a great character too, i just hated how she basically let her family control her dating life for the whole drama, she did overall have great character development. Still sad for dongjin, he had to suffer the entire drama. One last thing, the main couple was amazing but I feel like a lot of their scenes were a bit awkward and wish they had a bit more skinship and cute moments rather than just the last 1 second of the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Well acted, somewhat problematic romance drama
There is a lot that is really good in this drama. The acting is really good, the script flows pretty well, and there is in my opinion strong chemistry between the main characters. The problems lie more in the directing. There is massive overuse of flashbacks which end up placing a very heavy handed forced third person omniscience over many of the emotional scenes. This shortchanges the actors, the cinematography, and the script leaving the watchers unable to be interpreters. Also the massive use of song tracks and backing music again does not suggest, it pushes towards emotions not always earned.It is a family drama in addition to being a romance, in fact it is arguably more the former. I guess, I would call this a relationship drama- it is about how the many interconnected lives evolve. I do recommend this if you are in the right mood to have a good story a bit forced on you.
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A subtle and well written melo
This was my intro back to dramas after a good 8-month hiatus and the bar was set pretty high after completing this. The has the elements of a melodrama but told in an almost slice-of-life way that makes it entertaining but still easy to digest.I think the best of this drama are the characters and, of course, the actors who brought them to life. I was looking for a female lead like Woo Jo. I love her straightforward (but not entitled) attitude. I like that she is not perfect. She is very flawed and frequently gets called out on her flaws but still very likable and relatable. I like how, though the ML’s character, she calls out the hypocrisies and fake “nice person” behavior we often see in drama and real life. LSK does an excellent job portraying her. I really liked our male lead and how gentle he was. It was nice to see how our leads matured and changed because of each other. In fact, I loved how all the characters stayed consistent while being allowed natural development as the episodes progressed. I really appreciate the story that was told. Given the character set-ups, they had a lot of opportunities to turn to annoying cliches (unnecessary love triangles or misunderstandings) but they didn't. In fact, it kind of feels like the story that could be told when you take away cliches. This lets the show explore its themes in a more mature and meaningful way, especially the concept of revenge.
The execution was decently good. There were a couple time the camera work, although on theme with the vibe, would feel a little slow, or an angled or artistic shot would be a second too long. Plus, the filter felt a little dark at times; I appreciated the daytime shots more. The music fit the mood of the drama well but not memorable outside of the drama.
Overall, this is a very well written and acted "subtle melo" with strong character development.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama definitely not my cup of tea Although it was ok but
It reminds me a lot with
Just between lovers and my ajusshi
And with sorrow I hate both a lot
Very very veeeery slow paced, one scene can take more than 2 minutes. Which was really torturing, dark filming which gave you depression, very bad haircuts for all Main leads,
Very bad fashions and styles and bad directing
The characters were extremely cold as if they hadn't any soul with dead face expressions
Even when sung yung had to be angry. She didn't gave me the right feeling for that
Always dead face
All her emotions were the same which was extremely weird for her as a professional actress
The majority of this drama was depressing and melancholy
I know I didn't like it the time i started to speed it ×8 and when I jumped eps. And still got the whole idea
It was more nice than my ajusshi and just between lovers
But for me just to watch once
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Good Enough
Korean Drama " Call It Love " is a melodrama with interesting cinematography and a story focusing on family bonds and an unconventional love story.The drama, first of all, has inspirational cinematography, with a pink filter for the real-time timeline, while using harsh lighting for the flashbacks with stretched frames. The mood of the drama is also enjoyable, atmospheric, and chill.
On the other hand, the story was quite intense, even though the drama presented it in a more relaxing tone. Therefore, and even though it was reaching its end, it felt like there should be more episodes, as the story didn't seem to have kicked in or reached its climax, when the emotions burst and the melodrama reaches its peak. Rather, it felt anticlimactic and rushed.
As for the performances, everyone did a good job with their characters.
So, overall, seven out of ten.
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