Destined with You

A 2 hours' worth of story that got dragged out to 16 episodes.

𓂃 A cheap trick to deceive the viewers right at the beginning. In the opening scene, they make it seem like some kind of horror event is happening, then suddenly cut to mundane everyday life. Around the middle of the episode, they reveal the answer, which turns out to be nothing. It’s just some light, childish play, not any real horror at all. They mislead the viewers just to grab attention. This feels like a cheap trick from those who don’t have the ability to truly hold the audience’s attention.

Apart from that, this drama is super slow and boring

𓂃 I almost dropped it after ep 1, but tried to give it a proper chance. It’s still too boring to watch properly I had to fast-forward and skim ahead from time to time. So, I decided to drop it again after finishing ep 7. But then, I read a review saying it only starts getting better after ep 7, so I gave it another chance.

Ep 8 still the same, though.

The past-life storyline begins in ep 9, but everything is still slow.

Ep 10 still slow. The romance, despite being plain, still manages to feel cheesy at the same time. The ending of ep 10 picks up my attention a bit, but then it goes back to be plain and cheesy and slow in ep 11.

𓂃 At this point, I can conclude that this story is never meant to be a full-fetched 16-ep drama. There’s nothing in the story. What they do is stretching a 2-hour movie into 16–17 hours. This is a scam!

𓂃 At this stage, there're 5 ep left for me, so I decided to see it through to the end. My annoyance level keeps going up, though, with the amount of time they’re stealing from me. And I expect to see the ML kill the FL in the past life now. Anything less intense would just be pathetic.

Ok, in the last 5 episodes, the ML actually does kill the FL in their past life during a prisoner chase even though he had just rescued her from prison. He even volunteers to be the one to kill her, but the reason is so lame. He says he doesn’t want her to be dismembered. What the hell! How weak the reason is! In that scene, a palace guard is already about to kill her with an arrow while the rival shaman tells him not to fear the FL's curse, guaranteeing that he can prevent it.

Each episode is still way too slow. The main plot points are scattered with only a few in each episode. They really stretch this out a lot. I almost don’t want to believe this is a Korean drama, which normally doesn’t drag things out this excessively like Chinese dramas that go on for 36, 40 or even 50 episodes as a norm. This is only 16 episodes, but it honestly doesn’t feel worth more than 2 hours.

𓂃 Apart from that, I don’t see any good acting from the supporting roles. They don’t really serve any purpose in this drama anyway. I don’t feel any presence from any of them. On the contrary, some of them are even outright annoying.

For example, the ML’s dad. What the hell is his lame reasoning? His behavior is basically victim-blaming. He also opposes the leads’ relationship like a literal idiot with no brain. He's irrational in a way that only happens in a soap opera. Yeah… this is exactly what it is—a lame melodrama soap opera series.

𓂃 After ep 1, I gave this a 4.5, but more nonsense kept piling up along the way. It dropped to 4 after ep 7. And this final score reflects my level of annoyance and frustration at the peak after finishing everything. The actual quality is probably around 3, but I’m so upset with the plot and the drag that it ends up at 2.

𓂃 ✦ 𓂃

Read More

Ignore all you've read about this and go in with an open mind

This will be short, seeing as it's my first ever review here, and I just wanted to write all I felt during and after watching this drama and my process of rating a drama good.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions, so don't take anything personally. We don't have to agree, and I'm not here to argue with anyone. Just dropping my honest thoughts on something I very much like.

The drama does start off slow, trying to set up things—a little too slow in my opinion—and because of the whole love potion bit, it kind of made me lose interest a bit because it did start off well before the love potion bit. I was lost by episode 6, and I just had to power through and hope that it got better.

After episode 7 I was invested again, and it didn't disappoint. Yes, Yun Na was cheating, but before Sin Yu knew about it, he was already thinking of cheating himself. So I think we can say he cheated after the fact (still cheating), but he had been looking to end things way before; she was just clingy af. So I understand people not really liking this because of that aspect, ultimately glorifying cheating and calling it "fate." But I look past these things because it's K-drama.

What I look for is if the story-writing is compelling enough to overlook certain flaws and if the actors (mainly the leads but some supporting cast) are executing that story very well, and this didn't disappoint in the latter, and the former just had minor details that I mentioned but didn't really take away from the main plot.

Jo Bo-ah, as always since her debut, is fantastic as an actress and sold her character for me. Our ML Ro Woon, my first intro to him, and he was a great match for her, and their chemistry was solid off the bat, even though I kind of hated the love potion thing at first in the beginning, but ultimately it didn't matter. The other leads and cast really did well too.

But one thing that bugged me and still does is how did Na Jung Beom get his hands on spells or even know about them? And was it the love potion that made him crazy, or did he just legit think Hong Jo looked like his dead wife? Plot holes were bound to exist in this sort of drama, but everything else was very good.

Overall, besides these aspects, I mentioned one important factor that supersedes most of all I said, if not all, which is enjoyment. If I don't enjoy it, I can never rate it no matter what. And because I'm not a paid critic or someone who just looks for plot holes or things to point out while watching dramas, I have to choose enjoyment first before anything else.

So I gave this a 9/10 purely from the acting and execution from our leads, their chemistry, and my overall satisfaction and enjoyment of the drama. Really glad I finally watched this after putting it off for so long, and it was really worth it for me.

Ok, this ended up being kind of long in the end, but I hope this my personal review and thought process are able to help you give this drama a try. Because personally, I don't think you'll regret it.

Read More

NO SPOILERS REVIEW | Cute, but the plot holes made it difficult to enjoy.

This is my opinion and it's absolutely okay if we don't agree.
This is not a personal attack to anyone's preferences.

I recommend this drama if you're looking for some fantasy to pass the time but doesn't care about plot holes.

I'm not a fan of fantastical stories, but enemies to lovers is my favorite trope, so I went for it.

The trope was well developed and the acting is really good. The side characters and their stories weren't my favorite, but my issues lie somewhere else.

I don't have answers for so many things that happened during the story, there was so much useless information added for whatever reason?
I see them as plot holes because they are indeed connected to the main story, and for me, it made it difficult to give a positive review for this title.

It feels like the first half of the drama was written by a group of people that didn't talk with the group of people that wrote the second half and when they realized that, they added some scenes to try to connect it and called it a day.

It wasn't a waste of time, of course, the MML is stunning and the FML is super sweet, so there's that.

Read More

Getting better and better

Not an attractive title but I totally agree to Moon’s review that this drama is wonderful after you watched till the end. It took me several attempts until I watched till the mid part and then the story caught me. The love story took over and the weird start was almost forgotten. I am still not the fan of the psycho aspect of the story also do not like the bullying over-acting colleagues. No idea whether this should be funny, it was just very annoying. The male lead got very strong, just watching Ro-Woon falling in love made my day:-) one of his strongest performances. Also the second male lead was lovable. As the reviewer Moon said the ending part is beautiful and you leave this drama with a big smile

Read More

the female lead gave me second hand embarrassment

at first the story doesn’t seem that bad with the cliches of past lives and stuff but the female lead just got on my nerves soo much . Now a days kdramas are about strong and smart female charecters. But here the fl didn’t seem to have any self respect or common sence whatsoever. and also I couldn’t really feel any chemistry between the leads. It didn’t even look like the ML was falling is love, It just looked like he was doing all that against his will . and then suddenly confesses his love. and then again saying it had nothing to do with the potion was weird. and the ML technically was cheating on his then girlfriend. They tried to cover it up by making that girlfriend a cheater as well, otherwise the ML would’ve been bashed for it. anyways i rearly have kdramas soo much

Read More

Love, Fate, and Some Questionable Choices

Okay, so Destined With You wasn’t perfect, but honestly? I really loved it. It had that classic romance drama formula, but the execution made all the difference—especially with how they built Jang Sin Yu (Ro Woon) and Lee Hong Jo’s (Jo Bo Ah) relationship. Because let’s be real, if I’m watching a romance drama, I need to care about the main leads' love story, and this one had me fully invested.

What Had Me Hooked
1. Chemistry?? Off the Charts: Ro Woon and Jo Bo Ah absolutely delivered. Their moments had me laughing, swooning, AND stressing. Bonus points for the love potion concept—it added the right amount of chaos.

2. Mystery, Thriller, and Plot Twists Galore: The backstory of Mu Jin (past life of Sin Yu) and Aeng Cho (past life of Hong Jo) was everything. The whole “meeting their destiny even in the afterlife” vibe hit so hard. And Mu Jin sacrificing Aeng Cho to protect her?? Gut-wrenching.

3. Solid Side Characters: Mr. Gong & Ms. Ma had their fair share of will they, won’t they moments, but at least they worked it out in the end. Even Hong Jo’s coworkers grew on me—they were chaotic but entertaining. And Shin Yu’s parents?? Their storyline had me guessing till the last second. Like, ma’am, what do you mean you’re having a baby??

What Didn’t Sit Right
1. The Curse/Shamanism Mess: They started off strong with this theme but totally fumbled the execution. Are we supposed to just accept that the curse broke and Sin Yu is magically healed? No explanation? No closure? The final scene had Mu Jin walking off with some mystical spell book, and I’m still confused about what that even meant.

2. Kong Seo Gu & Workplace Bullying??: Listen, this man EMBARRASSED Hong Jo at work, and somehow he got a free pass? Not cool. The whole “call me if you don’t marry Sin Yu in six months” was bold, but honestly, bro, you had your chance.

Final Thoughts
Loved the romance, loved the mystery, loved the OST (yes, I downloaded everything onto Apple Music). The ending was sweet but chaotic, and even though there were major plot holes, it still delivered that fun, binge-worthy K-drama experience.

Would I watch again? Yep, but with slightly lowered expectations for a satisfying resolution.

Read More

In need of better writers

"Destined with you" suffered due to it's subpar writing.
The plot was intriguing and fun but the way the episodes were written was so done messily the viewers didn't have time to really sympathise with the protagonists/fully engage. But the superficiality of the script was saved by some funny moments and ... the actors. To my surprise despite the negative comments I've heard, Rowoon was a joy to watch, he never felt awkward and he excelled in comedic scenes.

Despite not being a great drama I didn't really find it boring, I only felt pity that it could have been so much more.
Still, not a bad watch 6.5/10

Read More

A Love Story Forged Across Time

This drama is like a rollercoaster ride of emotions! It's got this epic love story between Jang Sin Yu and Hong Jo, with tons of sparks flying. There's a messy ex-fiancée in the mix too!
Their past-life connection adds a whole new layer of mystery, and the flashbacks are seriously intriguing. It's like they were destined to be together, no matter what.
There's also hilarious moments with Hong Jo's coworkers that had me cracking up. Plus, the soundtrack is fantastic and the ending is super satisfying.
Overall, 'Destined With You' is a fun and romantic drama with a bit of everything. Definitely worth checking out!

Read More

Strong Foundation But Still Managed To Lose Its Footing

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

I really had high hopes for this one. I love Rowoon (로운); I think he's a great actor. I saw some short clips of this drama that highlighted his portrayal of a quirky character in an unfortunate but comical situation. It seemed very charming. So despite my dislike for the female lead, I decided to give this drama a shot...

Acting/Cast: This is going to sound so harsh...honestly, the only positive in this category is Rowoon (로운), the male lead...and even he struggled. I don't know if it's his fault or the writing or the direction or all of the above, but he couldn't hold the character. It was such a unique character, too, with an extremely distinct personality and it just...fizzled away as the drama progressed. I would catch glimpses of his former self here and there but it only served as a depressing reminder of what once was. Jo Ba Ah (조보아), who played the female lead, wasn't any better. I had really disliked her after watching her ruin Tale of the Nine-Tailed with her horrible acting. At least she had improved in this drama. I was surprised that she wasn't the reason this drama failed. The villains - all three of them - are lame. The side characters tried so hard to be likeable and they just couldn't pull it off. Oh, I almost forgot about that poor 2nd male lead... a K-drama pet peeve of mine -- disrespected 2nd male leads. 1/10

Writing: I'm so sick of the "we loved each other in a past life" trope. It's so over done. It's seriously becoming another huge K-drama pet peeve of mine. The writing and plot started out strong. It was an interesting premise with a dark, ominous undertone. Unfortunately, this all goes away pretty early on in the drama and it just becomes a boring, typical romance...with a stalker cliche. I think it fizzles out around episode 8 or 9. Ugh...the beginning was so good...I'm so disappointed... 3.5/10

Direction/SFX/Music: This drama does have good cinematography and production quality. This is definitely the strongest category. The OST is decent. Direction though, I did not agree with. Going from unique, quirky, cute, with some creepy and even adult vibes to a cookie-cutter romance. I forgot the ending. It's only been a few days and I already forgot. That's how unimpressed I was. 6/10

Entertainment Value: Getting through the 1st episode wasn't quick for me. I don't know if it was the drama or me. However, after the 1st episode, I really got into the story. I was excited to watch it. I really loved the male lead's character and the dynamic between the 2 leads. I thought the plot itself was very engaging. Then, I reached the 2nd half of the drama and as I continued watching to the end, I experienced all the hope within me slowly shrivel up and die. 4/10

Now I'm sad.
Overall, I gave this drama a 3.5/10 due to the complete disregard for the solid foundation that had been established in the beginning of the drama.

Read More

Witchcraft, comedy, keeps you hooked throughout, cursed from generations

Critically speaking the series deserve 6/10. The flow of story is pretty random, story itself was weak. I liked the costume design though.

But the reason I gave it 9/10 is simply because this series was not meant for critical assessment. The whole intention was to make the audience take the back seat, turn off cynicism and just enjoy. I would say it was successful in making me feel what it intended to- Romantic!

The chemistry between Hung-Jo and Sinyu was critically lame, yet non-critically adorable, funny and cute. Actor Rowoon and Bo-ah were perfect together. Specially Rowoon showed his acting prowess. He gives brilliant yet subtle facial expressions. I hope he thinks about acting in movies, and on more serious script. He displayed a lot of potential, and can be something really big and global. Bo-ah is the the cutest, I felt like squeezing her cheeks, haha. Hope to see this pair again. Every person in this drama literally justifies their role this is worth it

if you're looking for some

rom-com with main leads in love yet in denial Then this one is for you you won't regret watching it.

Read More