Burning the Line

Cowardly and selfish FL who took no accountability for her actions. I disliked this drama!

I got curious about this vertical drama after reading my MDL friend Raiana's review. I have only watched a few Korean verticals and most of the shows I watched (available on iQIYI) cannot match the quality of Chinese verticals. I had high hopes for this drama because I had already seen 2 rave reviews before starting this drama. Unfortunately I don't share the same love for this drama like the other reviewers. I usually avoid giving away too much spoilers in my MDL reviews so I apologise in advance - there are a lot of spoilers in this review.

What I liked:
1. Production value - The drama was well directed and edited. Burning the Line felt like a compact version of a standard Korean melodrama.
2. Supporting characters - I liked FL's best friend and FL's dean / superior. They were the most rational people in this drama.
3. ML characterisation - He was lovebrained and overall nice guy. He was mature beyond his age and at times, more mature than FL.
4. Duration - This drama is less than 90 minutes. Thank gawd!

What I disliked:
1. FL - She was the antagonist of this story. She was unhappy with her career and love life but instead of breaking up with a fiance she didn't love and focusing on career advancement, she just let the engagement go on AND got entangled in a situation that could jeopardise her goal. I HATED that she gave weak excuses (to herself and ML) about being in relationship to ML despite knowing that he was her bestie's son! She was cowardly and did not take any accountability for her actions. She ran away when facing problems.
2. The ending - Gosh, what kind of ending was that?!! Noble idiocy!
3. Romance - I love noona romance but sadly I didn't like the romance arc in this drama. Their romance started with deceit and even though ML knew that FL was still engaged, he was happy to continue being in a relationship with her.

Favourite scene
When ex-fiance bumped into FL and ML.

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A chama que consome..

Que gosto amargo que fiquei ao finalizar esse drama vertical coreano.
Kim Ji Hoon e a Son Ye Ji tinham uma tensão incrível, e suas cenas mais íntimas eram muito realistas.
A história inicia-se com a FL, noiva, de um homem que não se importa com ela, não a conhece em seu mais profundo entendimento e com toda aquela pressão familiar. Já o ML, não se sabe muito dele, apenas que houve aquela atração forte entre os dois.
Gostei do desenvolvimento da história e como os temas abordados em sala de aula eram coerentes com a situação de ambos, era a teoria vs prática nos sendo apresentada.
A atriz Son Ye Ji conseguiu transmitir toda a confusão de sentimentos que sua personagem estava sentindo, sejam em suas expressões mais melancólicas ou nas que se sentia realmente feliz e leve.
O sabor amargo que me restou foi pela dura realidade e pressão da sociedade perante a mulher mais velha com um homem mais jovem, sabemos bem que é assim, independente do país. Tudo bem um homem de quase 40 anos ficar com uma mulher de 20, mas ao contrário é "nojento", como alguns personagens secundários disseram.
Apesar do final ser um pouquinho clichê, eu gostei da simbologia do isqueiro, a tensão, se a chama iria se acender ou não e toda a recapitulação dos sentimentos vividos de ambos.
Tenho me interessado cada vez mais pelos dramas verticais coreanos, é uma pena que seja um tanto quanto difícil encontrá-los, principalmente com legendas em português.

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