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  • Join Date: November 18, 2018

Erika Song

Pilipinas

Erika Song

Pilipinas
Completed
Flower of Evil
31 people found this review helpful
Sep 24, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

A flower blooms where evil has been buried; suspenseful melodrama with a poetic narrative!

"I wanted to share the message that even where evil has been buried, flowers can still bloom." — Yoo Jung Hee, Flower of Evil writer.

Despite its outer appearance of a thriller, the drama centers about love and how powerful it is. Flower of Evil, on its core, is a romance thriller of salvation and healing. And, while there are already dramas trying to prove those themes, no drama has been as successful and powerful as Flower of Evil. When you think you are going to be disappointed because your gruesome psychopathic nightmare of a drama doesn't happen, Flower of Evil proves better; it offers you a deep and breathtaking drama, with great acting skills, directing, and solid writing.

Flower of Evil is one of Korea's masterpieces and I'll stand on that argument of mine. The story soaked so many emotions in me and had given me so much catharsis. Its composition is 20% suspense with 80% melodrama, but despite that composition, the suspense and the melodrama were well-balanced and complemented one another in order to come to its warming and beautiful conclusion.

The drama centers on the character and relationship growth of the married couple as they find themselves closer to the cruel truth they don't want to face. It has its share of suspenseful events partnered with suspenseful orchestral instrumentals. It is thrilling, but instead of focusing only on those elements, it combines melodrama to give a powerful story. The rawness and vulnerability of the characters made the drama powerful. We have a questionable manipulative male lead who has a dark past and deceits, and a female lead who is strong, firm and a principled police officer that at the same time, still compassionate. Many put this drama as fast-paced, but in the end, it felt like just in the middle as everything was well thought-out and well-planned. It was deep. It was great. It was breathtaking. The writer proved this with the parallelisms and metaphorical messages she laid out in the overall narrative.

One thing I very loved about the drama is how they tackled and discussed questions about morality and ethics. It will always be fascinating to know how people can easily point out others' sins as if they are cleaned themselves.

Going to its downsides, there is a character that I wished was further explored and had given more narrative. Going critical, is the mental diagnosis accurate here? As I'm not a psychiatrist, I can't say about its accuracy, but, instead of putting Flower of Evil as a realistic one, I'd put Flower of Evil as a somewhat poetic and romantic tale. With those things said, I highly recommend Flower of Evil to those who enjoy deep, emotional and mature romances. As for viewers who enjoy gruesome thrillers, crime or procedural ones, as this drama is more on the melo side and on evoking multitudes of emotions to the viewers, they may feel unsatisfied with the turns the drama took and convenient drama troupes used in latter episodes (tho it didn't overshadowed the whole narrative).

As for the acting, it was exceptional. If you've seen the casts before and think that they are already good or you are not a big fan of them—whatever the case is, the drama stands a very high chance of changing your opinion about them. This is Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won's best performance I've watched so far. Every character is incredibly well-acted even the side-ones and because of this huge factor—Flower of Evil is this effective. Lee Joon Gi and Moon Chae Won who played the leads complemented one another in acting as a married couple standing desperately in the broken bridge of trust; there was no overpowering acting, both of them give their all and you'll feel it. Their emotions intensified their chemistry and you'll feel how sincere, strong and vulnerable their characters are. Aside from the leads, I want to give praises to Nam Ki Ae, Kim Ji Hoon, Han Soo Yeon, Seoyeon (Eun Ha) and Seo Hyun Woo.

For the directing, it was well-done, this is my first time watching a drama of Kim Chul Gyu, so, I've been thinking of watching his other dramas. I was also personally in awe of the cinematography of the first part of the drama and its finale. The color tones used all through-out were exquisite and consistent for the melo and thrilling scenarios. The soundtrack has left me wanting for more songs but was good, suspenseful, and heart-wrenching. The suspense was thrilling but the melodrama and romance broke my heart into pieces then put it back into one whole piece.

PS: A year had passed and I was able to see again this masterpiece, unlike from before, I was able to even appreciate its soundtrack even more especially the orchestral ones. The rewatch value has been higher because as you rewatch the drama you will even find more.

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Completed
Pasta
1 people found this review helpful
Dec 28, 2022
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 8.0

Solid chemistry of Lee Sun Kyun and Gong Hyo Jin; the rest – plain plot but still entertaining

Lee Sun Kyun and Gong Hyo Jin's chemistry as they embark on this love-hate, mentor-flirtatious relationship for its first half sold it for me. You could feel the pining and romantic anticipation they showed in its first 10 episodes and it was clearly delightful to watch. Those two people were clearly opposite – Lee Sun Kyun’s character as Choi Hyun Wook is a complex man who seems to have a lot of resentment (with a woman) but was an extremely great chef but with a very strict personality and Gong Hyo Jin’s character as So Yoo Kyung was persistent, understanding and down-to-earth. They were clearly opposites of one another but they clicked at one thing – both were clearly stubborn, Yoo Kyung was stubborn in reaching her dreams and won’t stop even at this jerk of a great chef in front of her, eventually convince him to mentor her so she would be a good chef, and stubbornly won’t stop liking him even if he tried to shut her out. While Chef Hyun Wook was extremely stubborn too in his way of teaching other chefs, criticisms about food going out of ‘his’ kitchen, and not going out of his own ways but was ready to lose when it comes to Yoo Kyung. Both were stubborn even when in the relationship, but their fights never got too big as one gave in to another. One of the hurdles in their relationship that was a tough watch for me was when Choi Hyun Wook needs to be the fair Chef in the kitchen and exudes strictness with Soo Kyung’s cooking – Chef acknowledged this when the San (Alex’s character) bows to treat Yoo Kyung better but he needs to continue being strict with her (and that includes shouting at her when making mistake as that was his way of teaching and managing the kitchen as the Chef).

Lee Sun Kyun's performance as Choi Hyun Wook is very solid. He was a jerk in times of the drama – no doubt, this was especially true in the first episode and when he berated the other chefs with their mistakes and led to Eun Su, the kitchen assistant crying. He was prideful, arrogant and had extreme prejudice towards women (apparently because he was betrayed by the woman chef he loved in Italy). However, he was also an honest person both as a chef and as a person, albeit his strictness, he is a great chef who actually knows what he's doing and he wants the other chefs improve and learn though they couldn’t understand it as they kept on mulling over the discrimination they’re feeling due to the arrival of korean chefs who studied in Italy. He was like the personification of tough love. We could call him out on his strict ways in the kitchen especially when they were still battle wars as the original chefs couldn’t still understand and accept his ways as he never truly reached out to them properly, but as a person and not just as a chef, he didn’t tolerate corrupt doings, clearly established the line on his ex, and have always trusted in Yoo Kyung’s judgment, loyalty and love for him even when San the real president of La Sfera confesses his three years of love to her.

His character could be tough to watch, but even at his tough moments, I appreciate all the solid acting of Lee Sun Kyun. His character’s best moments for me except all his comedic timings, were when he helped Soo Kyung clear her name from being framed by the acting-president Seol and when he reached out to Eun Su and gave him his name tag back.

Gong Hyo Jin’s performance as Seo Yoo Kyung was charming. Her character was naive but persistent and stubborn. She’s actually extremely tenacious all throughout the drama despite her naive appearance. She knows what she wants and she takes pride in what she does in the kitchen. Despite hardships in the few first episodes as a woman, she never stopped to prove her skills and eventually won her spot as a chef in La Sfera through a blind audition without any single pity from anyone. Her way of liking the chef was also foolishly stubborn but was adorable to watch as this was complemented with Chef’s tsundere behavior over her behavior. I just wished that I could’ve seen more tenacity in her character instead of passiveness in her outside appearance as she navigates the kitchen. Good thing that those moments were addressed at the end of the episode as a result of navigating their relationship in the kitchen. There were also moments were I didn’t appreciate her actions like when she was encouraging Chef to give in to the rather narrow-minded chefs who doesn’t appreciate to be taught, however, since all turned out for the best and in return created a harmonious environment in the kitchen, I took that as she did the right thing and her stubbornness even in their relationship created a way for him to be more gentle with his subordinates.

There was not really much big plot going on to the drama, but its best parts for me were when they’re just navigating their attraction to one another, it was incredible to watch. I believe it would’ve been better if the drama was only 16 episodes as they would have made the plot tighter. The attitude of the original chefs weren’t also welcomed by me as I take their stubbornness as complete arrogance and inferiority complex. It might have seemed like they were being discriminated against in the kitchen, but it was all due to inferiority, insecurity and their own arrogance that they couldn’t admit to themselves; having them admit it as early in the episodes, the kitchen would have a rather better atmosphere. The way they also treated Yoo Kyung after finding out she’s dating Chef was terrible, including the acting-president Seol. I believe this drama’s main villains were the pride, corrupt behaviors, prejudices and insecurities that all characters couldn’t admit to themselves but once acknowledged with one person taking the first step, it leads to a better and harmonious relationship in the kitchen.

Other shoutouts to the most heartwarming character – Eunsu! I also liked the President San and even Chef Of especially when she admitted her mistake in the end.

Since this drama never really delved deeper in the issues it provided, I just wished that instead of kitchen politics and wars, I could’ve witness proper relationship development and skinship with Chef Choi Hyun Wook and Seo Yoo Kyung because their chemistry was really good and a little seductive in the first half.

Nevertheless, I truly hated the acting-president’s character and I disliked all his scenes. I’m glad that the trio-girl chefs were brought back to the kitchen again, but I believe their characters were a waste all throughout the drama and I didn’t enjoy their shenanigans and revenge scheming for Chef which only hurted the two lovers, especially Yoo Kyung, which was ‘supposed’ to be their friend.

Pasta is a charming drama, albeit not being brilliantly written, it has solid performances from the leads. Some scenes could be tough to watch and the kitchen seemed like a battle war, and the main characters weren’t really the likable ones, you might end up hating them or you might keep an open mind and probably learn from them or they could grow on you, or any of these combinations.

For a romcom, it was really enjoyable and a really adorkable watch for me. I’m giving this an 8, solely for the performance and chemistry of the main leads!

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Completed
The Vineyard Man
1 people found this review helpful
Oct 24, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.0

Slapstick comedy! Light. Romantic. Innocent. Warm-fuzzy feeling.

The Vineyard Man is the drama that I watched right after Crash Landing On You, that makes this a big thing. While the cinematography, acting, and video quality was nowhere to be compared to the phenomenal CLOY, this drama has its own charms.

Reasons to watch:
• If you want to laugh out loud!
• If you are in for a cozy and feel good romcom
• If you want to get away from the Seoul setting and want to go something natural and organic
• If you hate Cho Cheol Gang in CLOY! He's the best thing in this drama. Yes, he's playing the male lead and he's charming.
• Nice songs!
• Oh Man Seok (you might fall in love with this provincial farm boy after this)
• If you are looking for a drama that will satisfy your HAPPY ENDING imagination.

Things to consider:
• If you hate love triangles to the core, then, this will irritate you. However, despite those scenes, the romance and friendship of the two leads remain something that I root for until the end.
• If you are looking for a mature love story with strong themes, this is not it. It has its shared of deep content, but the inner conflict of the characters are presented in a humorous manner.
• The female lead is the typical female lead that is subject to hate by some kdrama viewers, but, her character will grow and it's one of the drama's main message.
• If you are no fan of slapstick comedy.
• The acting and directing is not its best especially of the supporting male lead. But, note that this drama is created with 2006 and actors are still new. Despite them being not that good in today's standards, Oh Man Seok was charming, so did, Yoon Eun Hye and the village people.

So, that's it. I hope that you will try The Vineyard Man because it was unique and charming on its own, especially if you are a fan of romcom.

Where to watch? Dramacool.

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Completed
Solomon's Perjury
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 14, 2019
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 7.0
The ending was beautiful--I'm glad to have watched this drama. Although due to my slow ability to process too much information haha, I had a hard time finishing every episodes but I am still happy to finished it. It was truly a good experience, especially to hear that message in the end from Han Ji Hoon, I think I would even write it down and make it as a reminder of mine. Honestly, I've only tried to watched this drama for Seo Ji Hoon after watching him from Tale of Gyeryong Fairy, but now, I'm grateful that I've got the chance to learned and be with the different stories of these characters, I just only wish that I've got the chance to further understand them more. Surely, I will watch this again, but I think it will be a few years after, maybe when I got older and more matured to understand the themes of this drama.

All in all, it was a good experience. :) Thank you, first of all to the writer of the novel it was based on, and of course to the whole korean production--the casts, the writers, the staffs and everyone who worked hard to finished this drama.

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Completed
Hospital Playlist
2 people found this review helpful
Oct 12, 2020
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

Light drama that takes your stress away

First things first, this drama is a big appreciation for our medical staffs especially now that we are in the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, this is so light and it's perfect as a stress-reliever. If you are tired, overworked, bored, sleepy, you can watch atleast one episode then after that continue whatever you need to do. For my case, it really worked. A few times, I only watched half the episode then continued later. It's not because it is not engaging but it was just really light compared to the ones that keep you in the edge and that's its beauty. There is no major plot, the drama strive no masterpiece, it is just meant to make you smile a little, laugh a little, cry a little and just there to refresh you. The medical aspect is close to reality, not dramatic, just right and some of the stories just hits you naturally especially those in the finale.

But, I do believe that our medical friends will much more appreciate this drama, since, there are technical terms that might be really helpful for them especially to those that are med students. And there are med jokes, I'm sure they'll loved (I am not a med student, I am programmer btw). Overall, this is really nice, I also learned a little on what the doctors do on certain cases.

However, the reason why my rating is not that high, because although it delivered as a light medical drama, I think there is some mediocrity in it, especially in the first two episodes. The first episode was a bit over the place. There are some stories of the patients in those episodes that I just felt like kind of force. I mean, the stories are sad and I cried, but the directing and acting on some of those first emotional scenes weren't delivered very well as I expected. The humor is also there, I laughed but did not buy me off. The editing of the first scene in episode 1 did really seem mediocre in my opinion --but, wait hold up!! Don't be discouraged because episode 3 got me attached to it and have warmed up to their friendship and by episode 4, I am really vibing the drama.

I also want to talk about the romance as its sub-plot, although I enjoyed the ships especially Min Ha and Seok Hyeong, I think this drama would've been really impactful not it almost turn into a shipping club. But, for what it is, I enjoyed its low-key romance.

The likes:
- Jun Wan and Song Hwa best food buddies
- Yang Seok Hyeong, the sweetest teddy bear!
- Min Ha x Seok Hyeong ship (they are my absolutely OTP in this drama!)
- Gyeoul's character development and her motivation of becoming a better doctor!
- The friendship, it is lovely
- Chae Song Hwa best teacher, best girl, best prof
- Ik Jun being the best PR, doctor and a father
- Uju moments (I hope to see more in season 2)
- Jun Wan and Jae Hak friendship development!
- The touching finale
- Its nice OSTs

The dislikes (major spoilers ahead):
- Ahn Jeong Won's shallow character development.
He's a sweet nice doctor, I commend his character for that. But, I don't buy the way he was 'obsessed' of being a priest, maybe not really 'obsess', but the drama did not give a backstory or the main reason why he wanted to become a priest, the whole plot was just there to become some comic relief. It was really shallow for me. I also thought that at least at the end of this season he would realize that God's calling for him is to become a doctor, but he realized mostly because of some 'romantic' reasons. I know not just because of Gyeoul, but let's admit that she is the biggest influence.
- Ahn Jeong Won treatment on Gyeoul that doesn't feel right
- The lowkey jokes about Catholic priests and nuns
- Some transitions of scenes on the drama's first part
- Choi Young-Joon role as the gossip doctor (I really liked him in Flower of Evil but here his only job is to be a gossip doctor, if he's going to be cast again in season 2 I hope to see more involvement in the medical cases^^)

So, that's it. Of course there are things I did not like but you see, there are more things that I liked. I enjoyed the drama, got refreshed by it and appreciated our medical staffs! :) So last words, if you are craving for a romcom, not this one, next. But, if you are in for some medical drama that is light, good, simple with some good friendships and nice feel good music, hop in and this drama might be for you!

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Completed
Doom at Your Service
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 10, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

A poetic and artful experience for the soul

At its core, Doom At Your Service is a human drama. Despite having fantasy elements, it's a mundane representation of the lives of some of us -- existing but never living, making mistakes and growing up even as adults, learning to be more responsible, becoming braver, encountering losses and pain, having to celebrate small wins and experiencing to let go, to be loved and love.

Doom At Your Service, will be one of the special dramas for me; it's a show that started with things and life coming to an end; where everything disappears, but in the end, it shows the beauty of new beginnings. That we aren't meant just to exist, but to live happily and love for a very long time.
--

"If I were to be born again, I want to be born as a moon like that. You know, inanimate things like the sun, moon, stars, and wind. They just exist instead of living. I want to be one of those things in my next life."

I've truly resonated with the character of Tak Dong Kyung, not because our circumstances are the same, but with not truly living and just existing. We all have fronts like Dong Kyung, something that we want others to see—that we aren't broken—that we're okay and we are not lonely—but unfortunately, we are. I'm not exactly a person who lives as diligent as Dong Kyung, I'm very much a faulty person and there have been times when I'm not truly proud of myself and ashamed—and I still am. But this drama resonated with me so much because I watched it during this time when I am currently trying to move past some mental weakness in my life and the feeling of being overwhelmed about getting it together with life. I need to gather up the strength to make myself look okay to most people and show I'm as fine as possible.

I want to continue existing during those brief moments of weakness every day, and then have the courage to live as my time goes on—waiting that someday, I'll get it together and it'll make sense. I will always remember that moment when Dong Kyung said that she's still growing up, and I know that despite Doom living for quite a very long time— he's still growing up too. The way he just started at her, then smiled, possibly falling in love even more and knowing that he is no longer alone was a very delightful watch.

I think this is the reason why I've loved the drama so much. From Dong Kyung wanting to just exist until she dies to embracing life as her days are numbered and loving the precious people in her life—her brother, auntie, unnie, and especially—the found love of her life, Doom. To both Dong Kyung and Doom being confronted about the reality of her situation and acceptances of their fate. To Dong Kyung once more having to continue to exist again while trying to find courage every day to live for Doom's sacrifice and happiness. Longing and waiting, and finally reuniting with Doom to conquer life together and find strength every day with their now bigger family to make it to their next day until the very end.

How come when you're about to die you realize that you want to live so badly?
--

At its core, Doom At Your Service is a human drama. Despite having fantasy elements, it's a mundane representation of the lives of some of us -- existing but never living, making mistakes and growing up even as adults, learning to be more responsible, becoming braver, encountering losses and pain, having to celebrate small wins and experiencing to let go, to be loved and love.

More so, I think I loved the natural progression of Dong Kyung and Doom's love story. The circumstances where both of our beings fall in love and lose each other is a real event that will occur. It's truly a life-and-death situation albeit with some fantasy elements. And the moment they realized this together, they never hold off each other's hands.

The way their relationship naturally progresses from the start with push and pull caused by how their emotions react to the current circumstances happening to them is a delightful watch; there's also lot of subtleness from the show's story telling. From Doom refusing to be loved and not believing he's something worthy to be loved, from Dong Kyung's hate on her fate and Doom, to them truly falling in love with each other despite resistances and to acceptance on both of their fates that come with loving.

--

“So are you saying you’re winter, darkness, and the end of everything? Hey, I like winter, I like the darkness of the night, and I like it when things end. If you think about it, spring, morning, and new beginnings also come because of you. It means you’re responsible for both my misery and happiness.”

"The reason for everything that disappears...It would be sad to fall in love with something that disappears upon his touch. Sad enough to make him never love again."

Doom is such an interesting character; he was an angstful and lonely being—despite hating humans, he longed to be one of them. Being the reason for everything that disappears, he never thought of loving and being loved. So, Dong Kyung's human love for him is the start of him truly living instead of just existing. For so long, he thought of himself as the end, evil, unworthy to be loved, and simply can't be loved—only to be deemed as not a bad guy and loved greatly.

"If we never met, I would still be nothing. I want to mean something to you. Experiencing that once will be enough for me."

Because of this, all of their moments together and the sacrifice Doom made it more touching. To be loved once is enough, that being able to live even just for a short time with the person you love is enough—than existing for a long time, but not living at all. He hated his existence for most of his life, but finally, he was granted his happy ending and Dong Kyung too because they found each other—and because they never gave up, they continued to exist until they can live— they endured and waited for a long time.
--

"Even if it rains. Even if you're the only one without an umbrella, it's not a big deal. If you run, you'll reach home quickly."

I think I'll take these words of Doom for a long time...and enjoy life for a very long time.

But I do not just want to run, I want to enjoy the rain and look forward to the mornings. I want to be more grateful for life, and I want to love a lot.

Doom at your service is a drama of new beginnings, it starts with lots of doom and things that will end, but it ends with beginnings for every character in the story.

I know this drama will never be the most fan favorite and I think I know why. It's not a drama with a very solid plot, most of the time—its messages are very subtle, and it comes with a lot of push and pull of emotions. But for me, this drama is a comfort and nudge I needed to bravely face life. It didn't have extravagant fantastic elements or the most solid plot lines, but the humanity of their stories always shined through it. Let's start living life today and be happier for a little longer, and let's continue to do that, until we finally get to live.

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Completed
Another Miss Oh
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 1, 2022
18 of 18 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
This drama perfectly portrayed human emotions -- those depressing, messy, wrecking, joyous, foolish and hopeful emotions. I never expected a romantic comedy to sensitively portrayed those heartaches. The writer fearlessly tackled every serious issues in the drama, she never tried to put a band-aid on every pain that the characters were going through. Everyone healed in the drama or at least in the process of healing and that is the most important part for me.

Everyone, you will not see an ideal and the most healthy relationship here, instead this a story of two people who fearlessly fought and cherish their love and finally attained happiness in the end.

Also, I think something is being pointed out by the writer through its 'peculiar' plot that you cannot blame others for your own decisions. You have your own will and you have to take responsibility for it. Love fully and do not let your pride, shame and embarrassment hold you back. It's better to hurt together than alone, do not let your pride hurt the people you love the most. Fight together with them and be happy together with them.

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Completed
Cheongdamdong Alice
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 20, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Contrast: Moon Geun Young's realistic portrayal and Park Shi Hoo's over the top acting

This drama really started great with laying out the story of Han Se Kyung, from her job, her determination, her lover of 6 years portrayed by Nam Goong Min, the break-up, the pain, the discrimination, and her frustration at everything. In the middle, it was funny and kind of cute, though the "over-the-top" acting was being sold by almost everyone, it was still pretty nice and the comedic timing was there. After it hit the climax, we see changing of characters and some heartwarming moments, however, it felt like I was only waiting for the secret to be revealed, and when it was revealed, the reactions and choices of every character was surprising and unprecedented, showing that the writer had a strong idea in her mind. However, closing to the end, though it was wrapped up nicely, I didn't feel like it achieved its selling point of the "social divide" and love, though of course, it was there in the dialogues if we will analyze. Nevertheless, it has a dark story that tried to incorporate both the elements of comedy and melodrama and it was a good watch.

For the acting, I've always thought Park Shi Hoo was "over-the-top", he's not bad, he can deliver emotions and has comedic timing and was funny here, but the delivery of emotions always felt "acting" for me, maybe it was his facial expressions. I've watched him though in My Golden Life and his emotional moments were fairly good though he still had the "over-the-top" acting. For Moon Geun Young, I believe she was the only one who acted naturally in this drama, she bore the sadness and guilt of Han Se Kyung and it showed. Her expressions when we reached half of the drama was depressing and mellow, if we are going to draw comparisons over positive Park Shi Hoo's acting and character, of course, it would felt like she "underperformed", but I watch differently, she acted her character and lived with her misery, it was the scripts and director's fault for not being able to balance the comedy and melodrama elements. Still, it was a good drama with an indeed "dark" message and despite selling it as a rom-com, it was a melodrama.

My favorite parts of the drama were the first three episodes with Nam Goong Min, who I loved his beautiful scenes with Moon Geun Young, the craziness of Park Shi Hoo's character, the sincere events that follow Kim Ji Seok and Moon Geun Young when their characters decided to help one another and lastly, the moment where Moon Geun Young's character despite her guilt and conscience haunting her and people are stopping her to put her in the so-called "right place", accepted Park Shi Hoo's proposal in the middle of the night while snowing and Park Shi Hoo's character lifted her up—smiling, laughing and giggling at their bliss of happiness.

Overall, a good watch.

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Completed
Innocent Witness
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 26, 2020
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This film has moved me. It was slow...but it was good—really good. It didn't had that so much thrilling aspect, but it was very smooth and engaging that I wasn't bored over the course of 2 hours. At first, I thought it was trying to be a thriller and full of action kind-of-movie, but I was glad that it turned out to be simple—predictable but awesome on its own.

Even though it's outer shell told us a law, court story, it was about reigniting your passion, redirecting your ways, finding back yourself, being good, being better, and no matter how hard it is in your life—you try and try. This is a very good film. I really enjoyed all throughout especially with its subtle messages.

If I am going to rate its storytelling, I'll give solid 9. As for the acting, 9.5 - 10 as the acting of the actors were natural and raw. I felt them. And for the cinematography and directing, I'll give a 10.

But as a whole, if I'll add my own experience into the account of my rating, I'll gladly give 10stars, because, it was just a beautiful experience. Not boring a bit despite not having the thrills, and very inspiring at its goes through the end. Highly recommended for people who enjoys slow and humane films.

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Completed
Monthly Magazine Home
1 people found this review helpful
Aug 6, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

A woman who owns a house and a man who owns a home; nice drama but anti-climatic ending!

Monthly Magazine Home is a nice drama, it is filled with lots of simple things that make you laugh and smile a lot. It was a comfort drama. Sometimes, it was weird and over the top, while there were also times where I didn't know if I would cringe because it was funny or just feel butterflies in my stomach. It was good until—it wasn't able to sustain its sincerity until the end.

It is the drama of a man who buys a house and a woman who wants to own a home. It has an office romance, funny relationships with office co-workers and friends, and a love triangle that might introduce a conflict but still not a strong one, thank goodness. The main highlights of the drama for me are the incredibly funny moments of the side characters but still heart warming at the same time. I also loved the sincere and romantic moments of Young Won and Ja-sung. The drama was also lovely with its monologues at the end of every episode plus it has good OSTs!

At its core, the drama was simple and honest and I would've preferred if the writing could've pulled that sincerity until the end, because other than the laughs and the good things, you will realize that it is just plain. But it wasn't bad because you are enjoying this vanilla ice cream with your friends and loved ones. It is so sweet and that it has become the charm of the drama even passing clichés and its weak writing—not until you realized it is a 16 episode drama not a 12 episode one. And, this, I believe, pressured the writer in creating conflicts and challenges because this vanilla writing with lots of good moments could not just sustain a 16 episode drama.

When the writer could have focused on its sincerity and the reality of the hardships of becoming a homeowner in every episode, she opted for cliché plot devices that could invoke long-range conflicts in romance department. But, since the writer is also not yet mature in handling long-range conflicts nor the directing was suave in its execution. Sometimes the emotions were there, sometimes it was missed.
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The two main lead couple had an early romance, however, after that, I think the writing started to become misguided with its original concept and main intention. It lost some of its sincerity and instead had the sitcom vibe; I didn’t complain because it was funny for its short span. And, thank you to the story and craziness of the side characters, the drama lasted up to episode 11. Episodes 12-14 is where the major conflict happened. We had a break-up and a love triangle, but the writer proved that she could still make it work. As she tried once again to show her sincerity, the drama became warm and charming again. I remember loving the emotions felt through the end of episode 14. The writing was at its best when it is not trying to be too ambitious, when it was just honest and raw and when the directing is opting for honest and sincere direction.

In a way, episodes 1-14 were delivered well. It had good moments, there were hits and misses, but it was STILL balanced. Then episode 15 came—it was sweet, crazy, funny and for its content, I believe the main message of the drama was already delivered well—“home is a container that holds life”.

But, of course, we still need to complete the 16 episodes and one thing was missing—the resolution that it promised from its original concept—becoming a homeowner. However, it was already too late and the weakness of the writing started to become evident as the writer probably did not know how she could produce that kind of outcome. The last episodes, although delivered well, failed to provide the progress of its major concept, therefore, with an hour left, they needed a diversion that could fast forward the concept they promised at the start and finally show the female lead owning a house on her own. And this became the main problem and probably the weakest link that drove the drama to its anti-climatic and disappointing ending.

She pulled off a last-minute "plot twist" that you are very tired of because that conflict already happened in episodes before and what's amusing is, she used that unnecessary conflict to give back to its major concept, pulling every kind of cliché that it can and creating unnecessary suffering for the main leads and covering it with a bad aid saying “starting over again”. You know I am not picky, I don’t really mind if they wanted that one last “plot twist” but we still got a cliché trope of misunderstanding, so yeah. The ending was bad because it failed to invoke the right emotions to the viewers, it was bad because the writing was weak from the very first start, it was in many ways bad because it erased all its sincerity and tried to be ambitious when it couldn't.

In the end, the drama still failed to deliver its main concept of becoming a homeowner; while Ja-sung finally owns a home now, Young-won only owns a house. Isn’t it sad? Yeah. But, of course, you still have an open-ending and while I interpreted the ending as anti-climatic and bad writing, you could be hopeful that as they found another one in the end and just as they are starting to rebuild their relationship step by step by being friends, someday, together, they will find themselves building a house that will eventually become their own home. Have a good day!

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