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Worth watching for the acting
I was very excited when I started watching this drama because of Woo Dohwan who is basically one of my favorite actors (yes he is handsome but his acting skills are pretty amazing too).At the beginning, I was really intrigued about his character Hae Jo. And the first half of the drama was really exciting and fun!!! the whole chase through the country, the drama, the funny moments were on point, if only the drama had continued like that…
Basically, after they got rescued from the island and came back to Seoul everything went down the drain…
In my opinion there was a lot of unnecessary drama and the plot was not moving on. The main lead was sulking and treating Jae Mi like trash and it kept on going back and forth. I got quite bored during a few episodes to be honest…
And then the scene when Hae Jo leaves Jae Mi in front of her mother’s door and runs away! Why??? Why did he have to run away??? I was sooo confused! What was the point anyway if you were gonna go back to Seoul afterwards? I thought he was gonna start his journey to look for his father with Heung but no they just went back to Seoul!!! I got really annoyed tbh and I also got annoyed at Jae Mi a couple of times. At the beginning she was acting like a spoiled child, punching Hae Jo and telling him to die etc. I think thats a little bit too much to say to someone, no matter how shitty they treated you…
Ofc I was also a little bit annoyed at Hae Jo at times. Why did he have to agree to kidnap the first woman from her wedding? And why did he say such mean things to Jae Mi in their first relationship? And then being so egocentric and kidnapping her and throwing away her shoes etc.
In general I also found it kinda sad how quickly and easily Jae Mi got over Heung and the treatment of his mother and how easy it was for her to move on and fall in love with Hae Jo again… I don’t think she was really in love with him… he was just a nice man she wanted to have kids with…
And finally, I was reallyyyy annoyed about how the drama started with the search for Hae Jo’s father but was never finished!!!! Like what was the point of watching (except for Woo Dohwan’s naked upper body)??? We already knew how it was gonna end (him dying in the snow) so what other new information did we gain??? I was very confused and quite disappointed to be honest…
The storyline is definitely lacking and most of the characters were very problematic too. However here are some good points:
1. The quotes: Hae Jo had some impressive quotes and it brought me to tears many times.
2. In general it did have some tearjerking moments. I dont understand why the movie’s genre is romance/comedy… it is more of a drama imo.
3. The acting skills!!! Like no matter how annoying some characters were, the actors brought them to life sooo well and authentically… Kudos to all of these high class actors.
4. The music especially the instrumental one in dramatically sad scenes (for example when Hae Jobwas dying in the snow). It was one of the reasons I got hooked on the show. The music, directing and screenplay were done sooo well!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about it…
In general I think it is okay to watch it if you are interested but be prepared for some toxic characters and relationships…
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Looks aren’t everything
Single’s Inferno is proof that just being skinny/strong and beautiful/handsome isn’t everything.Si An really might be the most beautiful woman from season 4 (although I personally would have chased Ji yeon), however this season shows that the most beautiful people are also the most toxic at the same time…
Jun Seo too! from his looks he was soooo my type and at the beginning I thought he was really funny and cute. And then seeing how he evolved into this a**hole, getting drunk and being touchy with Si An in bed 🤯🤯🤯
From the guys, Teo was the only proper guy!!! i wish him and Youjin would have started dating!!! they would have been the perfect couple!!!!
Well, yet another disappointing singles inferno season! season 2 was the best one so far i think!
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The best dating show ever made!!!!
I already knew how good the Japanese are with producing dating shows after the success they gained through shows like Terrace House. But this one was on a whole different level! It was definitely way shorter than Terrace House but SO much fun to watch! There was NEVER a dull moment although everything felt very realistic and mature and I feel like it was probably not scripted at all (which is common for Japanese reality TV which is the reason why they feel so genuine and real).First of all, the concept itself was so unique and sounded really fun!!! Something I myself would have loved to do too!
But I liked it that not everything was led to fate and the production team came up with fun challenges and tasks like the Wish Letter or the Last Letter.
Another thing I liked is that this show is not only a dating show but ALSO a travel show!!! They even have their own guide books and everytime the members go to a different city there is some information about each place! And since Nice has always been on my travel list it got even stronger to visit now after watching this show! 😍
The cute little animations were such a fun extra too 😍 absolutely loved everything about it!!!!
Last but not least, I happened to love ALL participants in this show! At the beginning I wasn’t so sure of some people like Mimi or Kensuke but we saw their feeling amd vulnerability and most importantly unique character. Each participant was sooo amazingly unique! This was something we dont see from other popular dating shows like Single’s Inferno where everyone is just being superficial and all the conversations are boring af 😅😅😅
Seriously everyone, go watch this!!!!
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More than just a Melo
I had high expectations for this drama and they were exceeded!!!So first of all, the term “Melo” seems to have a totally different meaning in Korean than it does in English. In English it refers to a subgenre of drama usually based on the plot of romance or family problems, involving exaggerated expression of emotions and characters. In Korean however it seems to just refer to classical romance movies. So before watching this drama, this should be made clear.
It’s just as Mubee says at the end: her life with him felt like a movie - sometimes a family drama, an action comedy or a melo (aka romance). And thats exactly how I would describe it too (minus the action).
Basically this drama shows people and their dark sides, how they grow together, their relationships with each other - whether family, friends or lovers. It’s about love, sadness, death, grief, self-doubt, loneliness, pursuit of love, and most importantly the love for movies and how movies can bring people together in life.
I loved this drama so much it is hard to decide where to start and end. I cried AND laughed a lot. Choi Woo-Sik is such an amazing actor! I loved all his roles so far! And then the actor who plays his brother!!!! OMG!!!! While I was watching I felt like he seemed familiar… and it is the “Japanese” guy from Coffee Prince!!!!! Aka my favorite part of that annoying drama 😅 And then he had yet another amazing role!!! omgggg his scenes with Gyeom made me cry the hardest!!! He was such an amazing character and I was DEVASTATED when he dieddddd 😭😭😭
Then with Mubee I liked her first, then I didn’t know how to feel about her, but in the end of the drama I liked how she turned out. I just mostly couldn’t relate to her (which is often my problem with most female leads in kdrama that i cannot relate to most of them).
My favorite female character however was Ju-A 😍 I loved her and even tho her relationship with her ex seemed toxic at times, I was curios about them and how they would end up. Definitely a unique and unexpected twist that they decided to go seperate ways. I felt really sad for the ex too as he cried so much and felt hopeless and like a failure… I am glad he got a good ending.
Other than the topics of romance and comedy, I was actually surprised to see a lot of themes revolving around the topic of death. First it came with Mubee’s father’s death. Then we heard director Ma talk about it. And then very unexpectedly Jun’s suicide attempt!!! At the beginning I didnt quite understand whether it was suicide attempt or some illness that caused the accident. But there should definitely be a trigger warning before the drama starts.
Then we also hear Mubee and Gyeom talk about their secrets. That was one of my favorite scenes. I think it showed human vulnerability and the hardships of life very well!
All in all I totally recommend this drama! Loved the soundtrack too!
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Fun and scary at the same time
This drama made me laugh SOOOO much!!!! 😂😂😂 The plot was super interesting and the characters were likeable too. Apart from the old lady, all actors were unknown to me but they did a great job acting.Some scenes where she is hiding were sometimes a bit over-the-top and exaggerated but still super funny!
I liked that they added a scary / suspenseful side to the drama with the murders and disappearances too. It was easy to finish it because I just kept wanting to watch it.
Also the problems of the main female lead were very relatable to me and in general I really liked her and was totally rooting for her!
Loved this drama! would recommend it to everyone to watch!
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best streetfight kdrama ever
I cried, screamed and howled so much while watching this drama omg!!! it was a ride!!!definitely not for the faint-hearted! episode 5 absolutely KILLED me!!!
in general i really loved the story and how excitement was being built up through every episode. the actors matched really well to their roles as well! I was positively surprised when i saw choi siwon in this too 😂
the fighting scenes were insane and watching my husband woo dohwan being fierce and cute at the same time drove me crazyyyy!
There were a few things that I was confused about or that didnt make much sense to me:
1. I wished Hyeonju would have come back at the end of the season.
2. I didn’t quite understand why they had the need to kidnap Mr. Oh 🤔 still doesnt make sense to me…
All in all it was a good show! Absolutely NO romance happening in this drama which was very refreshing and exactly what i needed!
One of the few dramas i would rewatch!
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Perfect display of society
Although I really didn’t like the extreme alliances between the smart-asses and the prison gang, I kinda felt like this was an almost perfect portrayal of an elitist society. The people who are rich and smart will always be at the top, while the ones who were a bit less fortunate as in they were too naive or not smart enough, they will be at a disadvantage… I think the divide between team HyunGyu and Team Eunyoung was too extreme!!! And from the moment that Hyungyu won the special stage at home we all knew he was gonna be the winner… Last season Seokjin was in a small alliance with only two people so he was actually in the underdog team but winning the hidden stage has given him an advantage even tho he lost all his alliance members. But in this season, HyunGyu was already in the big alliance plus he was smart plus he was always in the living room. HyunJoon was also in the hidden stage of the prison and he did make it far, but because he was in prison for too long he never got accepted into the living room crew. It’s like the poor boy who gets the scholarship and studies and becomes a successful person but the elite never recognizes or accepts him because he is from a poor background… Thats how the alliances in this season felt… I am not sure whether it was on purpose or not but I just thought it was very demotivating… The reality of it was too strong…To he honest, I hope for season 3 they will have more games that will force them to play either alone or in new alliances/groups.
Also the fact that there was no group game at the end anymore and that there were about half of the contestants in the prison now made the alliances stronger too. The prison matches were fun too but I prefered the way it was in season 1 and I hope they will bring back the group matches.
Oh yeah, I think Sohee was the smartest in this season but I was so mad how she sacrificed herself, whether on purpose or intuitively because she is a woman and maybe in her life she was always degraded for being such a smart woman and made to conform to male supremacy, I am not sure what was going on with her but I got SO mad!!! And at the beginning I didn’t like 7high but the fact that he noticed Sohee would sacrifice herself for Hyungyu and spoke to her about it changed my whole perspective about him.
Yeah compared to season 1 this season 2 was kind of disappointing … Also can the next idol being featured on here be RM from BTS please? He has a very high IQ so I am sure he would be better at this than any of the other idols we had so far
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Who is the main character?
I really liked the beginning of the drama. The actor Choi Wooshik has become one of my favorites and seeing him in a role like Lee Tang’s was also very different from what I saw him in before (Our Beloved Summer and Melomovie).I like the beginning of how he is a lost and unsuccessful student working at a covenience store who also used to be a victim of bullying so he has always been having a hard life. The moment he first kills someone and how his anxiety was portrayed in the drama was great!!! it made me feel scared too! And then just the way he got entangled more in othet killings with the blind woman and the two bullies. I wish the rest of the drama went on like this. I loved thinking about the morals and ethics of whether it is ok to kill someone who has done much worse atrocities. The concept reminded me of Death Note tbh and I reallyyyy loved it!!!
However after he moves to another city, and the ex-accomplice of Ro Bin appears, the drama changes drastically! I didn’t like this turn of plot and it actually felt like a completely new drama. We were barely seeing Lee Tang, the main character of the drama anymore… I feel like after watching this the police officer Nan Gam seems more like the actual main character because in the end it’s all about finding the murderer of his father who turns out to he Song Chon…
The beginning of the drama was worth the watch for sure and judging from the end it looks like we will get a season 2! i hope that will be more focused on Lee Tang.
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Trigger Warning needed!!!
All in all I really enjoyed this drama. It shows the struggles of teenage boys in Korea I assume who might have to fear the possibility of getting bullied. However, some aspects of the story seemed a bit over-exaggerated to me. Also there were some things that just didn’t make sense to me or made me so angry and confused.First, the good things were the overall story and the beautiful friendship that was being told. This drama also showed the reality of loneliness and how different people dealt with it differently and somehow all became friends. In general I also really liked all the different characters we saw.
Now to the not so good things about this drama and why I “only” gave it an 8.
First of all tho, ! TRIGGER WARNING ! People having a hard time watching shows that show bullying and domestic violence should probably not watch this drama.
So at the beginning the drama was going well. Basically up until Gil-su was caught the drama was a 10 for me. After that, when Beom-seok started acting out I was getting a bit frustrated with him. Did he really get jealous of Su-Ho because of the girl????? I just don’t understand! He should have used the money to pay the fighter to beat up his fake father! I did feel sorry for Beom-Seok too but thats not a valid excuse to try to injure or even kill one of your old best friends!!! just because he was giving some attention to a girl and following her instagram etc? Idk I got really annoyed and he kinda destroyed the drama for me a bit. His behaviour was so childish I just couldn’t comprehend…
I think the producers should have continued the Gil-su storyline maybe by involving some other gangsters. This waa maybe we could have seen the bullies and the three boys working together to fight for justice and then somehow overcome the bullying. Maybe the handsome cousin could have appeared more too (I was sad he didn’t show up anymore…)
Also tbh some scenes were too exaggerated and confusing especially towards the end. What happened to Su-Ho??? Did he die??? I didn’t really understand it!!!
I will be watching season 2 for sure hoping for some old faces to come back. I really really liked Su-Ho tho so if he really died then I will be SO sad…
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Cute and relaxing slice of life drama
I enjoyed this drama. It was a nice, fun and innocent story about teenagers and their passion for badminton. I liked how the characters had created this sense of community not only among the players but especially among the villagers. I also really liked all the BTS references 😂😂😂 Those were probably the funniest!!! But in general there were a lot of fun things about this drama.Some things that got on my nerves was for example the behaviour of Hae Kang. He was way too full of himself. I just couldn’t really identify myself with him, or tbh with any of the othet characters either… Thats mainly the reason why I gave it a lower ranking.
In general I just couldn’t really align with any parts of it.
I also wouldn’t say it was bingeworthy. Like I was fine just watching one episode a week or sth.
Although it didnt get me especially hooked, I would say that the story was still very cute and wholesome.
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What would you do if you got a visit from your younger self
To be honest, when I first started watching this drama I thought it was gonna be a fail. the cringey squid dance at the beginning and how frustrated I was over how her family was treating her despite knowing how much she must have been suffering in pain.Luckily things started getting more interesting slowly with the different characters showing up and seeing how all of their pasts and presents are entertwined. A bit cliche but always a fun trope.
I also liked seeing how the main female lead has evolved in the course of the drama. Some of her struggles were very relatable for me personally especially the job and money issues is something that probably a lot of people especially millennials go through.
In general just the whole idea of meeting your younger self made me wonder and reflect: What would my younger self say about my life?
I also liked the company drama and the typical kdrama intrigues happening. The fact that it was a snack company made it even funnier!
Some things I didn’t like as much were the overly exaggerated imaginations of the characters. Although Yu-Hyeon’s unrealistic fantasies were quite hilarious tho.
I also didn’t like the ageism issues going on. Like come on, 37 ist not that old!!! I don’t know if the drama was criticizing ageism as well or just portraying the reality of Korea and how Koreans fear the fact of getting old and see it as something shameful especially for women.
All in all it was a fun, exciting watch that oftrn made me cry quite a lot.
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Feels like three different dramas in one
I seriously don’t understand the hype around this drama! I watched it because it got such good reviews! It looked like it would be an exciting drama and yes in some parts it was quite exciting (which is the main reason for getting any points).First of all, I really disliked all the phone calls. It was so ridiculous after a while and sorry but it was not exciting at all! It was quite boring and lame tbh…
After Paik Sa-Eon finally finds out that the caller is his wife the drama starts picking up pace. They now team up to find the culprit and the back story with the Childcare Center and the missing children is being thematized now. Here I also wanna mention that Sangwoo and Yuri were my favorite couple and I really liked how we were fooled into thinking that Sangwoo was gonna be a bad guy but in the end he was so cool and smart and I wish we found out more about his past and the missing children case…
Park Do Jae was my favorite character from episode one and after a while I was getting a hunch that he was the accomplice. I feel like the drama gave a lot of clues for that and tbh if you were surprised by that then you are not paying enough attention to the scenes.
However I also thought that his missing twin brother was gonna be Paik Sa-Eon which he wasnt and I thought that was lame!!! How much MORE exciting and shocking it would have been!!!! In the end he was just the son of the old guy which I didn’t quite understand how it was not further explained!!! Like who is the mother?? What happened to her?? How?? Also, strange but in the end he is the brother of the man who was his fake father??? So many questions that I was hoping to get answers for in the Final Episode.
Which brings me to the main reason why I bumped the drama from initially 7 to finally 4 points… Not only were so many of my questions unanswered, but also we suddenly have the Final Episode of a seemingly completely different drama here!!!! 🤯 This last episode made absolutely NO SENSE to me whatsoever!!!! Like ok he is punishing himself but for what??? He didn’t kill the brother!!! And then why did he have to go to Argan? And omg all those ridiculous scenes with the rebels and her being kidnapped ughhh cringe!!! And him punishing himself for his “sins”??? What sins??? he is acting as if he was the one who wanted to kill the brother!!! Ughhh so much drama for nothing! No sorry but the last episode made me so angry!!!! AND it made me cringe!!! in general there were a lot of cringe-worthy scenes in the whole drama but the final episode just took the crown!!!!
That’s basically it!!! The only good points about this drama is the big secret that the Paik family was hiding with the switched out sons and the missing children case. In general that part of the drama kinda took the main spotlight and turned into the main plot for me so that we soon forgot about those anonymous phone calls, which in the end leads me to the drama title being a bad match for this story…
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A unique and fun Drama with strong female characters
Okay not gonna lie, I am lowkey shook at all the bad reviews this drama got 🤯I really enjoyed watching this! I thought it was funny, exciting and relatable to some point. It was refreshing seeing a drama like this where the focus is not the love relationship and the female lead is not a weak beautiful woman who always has to be saved by the male lead. In this case it was actually the opposite most of the time and I thought it was HILARIOUS how she was always carrying him. I laughed a lot and I seriously don’t get the hate.
If you came for some serious plot with characters looking and acting all mature then yes this drama is not it. But I think you can already sense the kind of humor this drama has from just the cover photo. It is made in a comic style and ofc all the characters act super exaggerated over the top. I guess because I am also kind of an exaggerated person myself, I loved watching this drama.
I loved how the connection and strength between the females in one family was portrayed.
Then the whole plot with the drug cartel going on and the evil guy WAS AMAZING too! He was the perfect villain.
All in all I can totally recommend this if you are looking for something unique.
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The smartes of the smartest
This was the first time I watched a show like this. Yes, I did watch a lot of game shows but this was not just a game show. It was a show of the geniuses! Most of the time I didn’t understand the rules of the games until they started playing it . And even then sometimes I didn’t get it. To he honest some games were too boring and too long (math poker) but most games were quite interesting. I especially liked the group games where they had to win to accumulate money.Although there were alliances, I liked that some games required you to either play alone or play with a different group in order to secure your survival.
The twist with the hidden stage was fun too 😂😂😂 Seok Jin was just amazing! I was rooting for him and the lawyer woman who memorized all the hospital objects 🤯🤯🤯 My mind was literally blown!!!!
All in all, apart from some boring games and questionable contestants, it was quite an interesting watch
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First time watching a Mockumentary KDrama
Before I start reviewing this drama, I have to say that the filming perspective was very new to KDramas since I haven’t watched a Kdrama doing a mockumentary before.Mockumentary is a style of filming when the characters of the show interact directly with the camera, aware that their life is being filmed. This style has been popular in American dramas recently like The Office or Modern Family. In Lovestruck in the City they are not documenting office life or family life but the live lifes of 6 people who are all intertwined with each other romantically.
I liked the concept and there were some very funny moments in this drama. I also liked how unique and diverse the female characters were, showing different types of women and their different approaches to their love life.
Sun Young was by far my favorite! She is such a bad-ass woman!!! Kyeong-Jun was my favorite guy because he is so sweet, caring and supportive.
I also liked Geun the author 😂He was handsome and chill but also created a lot of funny moments! I definitely liked the characters!
For the plot, I have more concerns… to be honest at the beginning I found the main characters’ love story quite toxic. The way he was obsessing over her so much, the way she has been lying not only to him but also her friends, I just didn’t get why she had to lie so much.
In the end we find out about her tragic past and how she wants to find herself first before she can date him, but then again, I had the feeling that the time and effort she put into thinking about him already shaped her into a certain person. I do think it is important to find yourself but if you are obviously obsessed with a man and he is obsessed with you too then why not get back together? You can still find yourself in the process of it all. I don’t know there was too much back and forth between the main leads that I sometimes got a bit over it…
The pacing was very off too. It started soooo slowly and then SUDDENLY everything happened in the last two episodes!!! Our main leads got together, at the same time our wholesome side couple broke up!!??!!?? I still don’t understand why they had to do this tbh… I got mad at both of them but especially Rin-i… I understand her pov but Kyeong-Jun meant no harm and it was just a sign of how much he loves her… So yeah the sudden and rushed break-up at the end didnt make sense and I wish they had spent more time on the six main characters instead of bringing a new story in with the police officer and the actress. Like, I did like their story but why didn’t they include them earlier? Like maybe from the time Jae-Won starts going to the police station more. If they had shown little snippets of his life and relationship with the actress then, I would have totally liked it. But what did we get from seeing it in the last episode??!??! And what connection did it have with the main story??? I just didn’t get the end tbh…
All in all, I liked the diverse characters and the mockumentary style of filming, but I think the plot and pacing had a lot of errors…
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