Unique and awesome gender role portrayals

I'll get the cons out of the way as this series wasn't perfect. The last 2 episodes felt rushed and the wrap-up employed a deus ex machina device for the ending; this cheapened the story, imho, which was otherwise great. Part way through, we find out that Wol Jo had a child with the crown prince and this led to her 500 year ordeal now. This didn’t sit well with me as she was hired when Yi Hon was suffering from psychological and physical disturbances caused by his nightmares. This essentially gave her a quasi counsellor role in his life at a time when he was vulnerable, especially since they were meeting in his dream realms, which can leave a potent emotional impact, enough for him to fall head over heels in love with her when he meets her in his own dream psyche for the first time and he becomes besotted with her and is giddy to the point that those near him notices that he was behaving oddly. In this sense, I felt that what Wol Jo did justified the salacious gossip as she had overstepped her professional duties and acted in an unethical way. Because of their power imbalance, it could be construed that she seduced him. However, I did not deduct stars from this for various reasons. One, no matter how vulnerable he might’ve been in the mortal realm, Yi Hon would’ve been lucid enough to choose for himself in the spirit world and he eventually chose a difficult path that gave him a chance to be reunited with her. For me, his free will, which might’ve been compromised in the incarnated life, was re-established here. Two, the pros of this series far outweighs any cons.

There’s a test that sets a standard for female representation in any work of fiction (whether lit, film or series) called the Bechdel test. It has a basic two prong condition of showing two named women talking with each other about something other than a man. Mystic Pop-up bar fulfils this test easily and goes the extra mile with having a female char start the show, who is not being sexually assaulted, molested or abused when she is intro’d. Those extra two are my own personal conditions but overall, all four conditions are fulfilled by male characters in fiction easily and effortlessly majority, if not all, of the time so it’s not unreasonable to expect the same portrayal for female characters. On this alone, mystic pop-up bar earns brownie star points.

The other brownie star points are clocked up by the male tritagonist Han Kang Bae. This dude is a seriously refreshing creation. What appeals to me about his masculinity is that it is quietly confident. On his own, he comes across as a bit nervous, uncertain and easily frightened. When reunited with his soul parents he is given a platform to show his strength as his unshakeable conviction for karmic justice is displayed over and over again. He is not beyond sacrificing his own well being and safety to help others and is a sensitive, considerate, kind and introspective young man, traits not normally demonstrated by or expected in a man however, these traits are the hallmark of a true leader, which Kang Bae, in his own unassuming way, is. But it is when he finds his complementary soul partner that his masculinity really shines.

Yoo Rin is a “thank gawd for this gal!” strong female character. She may be one of the few bodyguard type female character there is which makes her that much more special in film & TV land. She has an overabundance of energy and is the potent animus to Kang Bae’s more subtle anima, the literal yang to his yin. Brownie star points are racked up like a winning slot machine with this char. Yoo Rin makes a change from the usual portrayal of strong women with facial ticks, such as the over exaggerated pursing of the lips and eyes when talking portrayed by “strong” tomboyish woman Bok Joo (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo) and Ja-Din in Boys over Flowers. Yoo Rin has no medical or neurological condition and is your average human albeit a stronger and tougher woman because of her background in sports and martial arts. Most of all, she is feminine. Like all women, she can take or leave make-up (she leaves it). She can take or leave heels (she occasionally takes it but mostly leaves it for work) and she has long hair. What a multitasker! She is refreshing for the very fact that film and tv execs seem to finally realise that strong women are also (shock, horror, gasp) NORMAL!

And when Ms Normal meets Mr True Man, what we get is a fantastically functionally and healthy dynamic, as only a balanced yin and yang can give. There is a scene where Yoo Rin tries to amp up her tomboyishness to scare off Kang Bae, instead, he is in awe of her potency and vitality. Another scene has Wol Jo trying to speed things along between Kang Bae and Yoo Rin by getting her soul son to open a glued up bottle thereby showing his muscles. It fails spectacularly and Kang Bae thinks nothing of asking for assistance from the woman he admires. And when Yoo Rin opens the bottle top effortlessly, there was no shame or awkwardness on his part, it’s written on his face that he simply thinks she is awesome+. Quite frankly, Kang Bae’s masculinity is true and beautiful for the fact that he is never once threatened by Yoo Rin’s superior strength, vitality or assertiveness. He accepts her, completely. And that’s the true sign of a real leader and a real man. He doesn’t just stop there though. When captured by Won Hyung, Kang Bae doesn’t try to use physical strength to fight. He instead uses the biggest muscle a true man possesses to fight Won Hyung’s baiting—his heart. The maturity and insight he shows by being able to see the greater picture of his soul parents' suffering shows a depth that is rarely portrayed, or expected of, by male characters engaged in a romance story arc. I really like him. And I love his pairing with Yoo Rin. They work so very well together and both made me emotionally invested enough to finish this show despite the unethical glitch in Wol Jo’s story arc that I mention above.

I hope viewers will give this show a try. It’s not perfect but most pioneering shows will have teething problems. I do consider this a bit of a pioneer because of the different perspective of gender roles it was courageous enough to portray so I excused the glitches. And it is nice to see strong women portrayed as normal and feminine. Possibly the only thing I would’ve liked to have seen was Yoo Rin taking on Won Hyung. Because of her character profile, I felt she was the perfect person to fight against the amped up evil spirit. That would’ve made for a better resolution of her grudge, imho, but I can see why the writers needed Won Hyung elsewhere. Still, this definitely doesn’t take away from the well deserved 10 stars.

Oh yeah, and the Gout Lovers were FANTASTIC!!! I nearly died laughing. LOL

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Strong female cast with an unconventional rom-com element

What a treat to have a kdrama that's not the stereotypical pretty-young-girl-swooning-over-handsome-rich-heir type. This story focuses on a nearly 40 female protagonist whose dreary existence gets a shake up call from someone very familiar to her.

Although the synopsis mentions that BHN doesn't want to remain single her relationship status wasn't a focus in the show at all. Instead, BHN starts out by just wanting to survive life as best as she can and then, after meeting her younger self again, wants to live up to and regain her old vibe again. Lee Re's acting as the younger BHN is consistently effervescent. She projects a palpable power and presence that convincingly puts even the mature Anthony in his place. She is a joy to watch and acts so well with Choi Kang Hee as the mature BHN. The story really is less abt the romance than it is abt a self rediscovery or, more accurately, a journey of atonement and forgiveness. BHN's backstory is heavy on the tear ducts and tissues. Her relationship with her father is believable as both actors' acting comes across as authentic and not a cheesy, forced backsobstory plot device that does tend to happen in other kdramas. The present BHN's growth from her timid self is a slow and tentative progression at first that ultimately takes pace until the she comes into her own power at the presentation, which is apt for the storyline as the energy dynamic changes soon after when the young BHN discovers the truth of their father's fate. When that happens, it feels like the baton of effervescence is passed to the mature BHN as she steps in to be her younger self's rock, just as her younger self was for her at the beginning. Lee Re's more muted carriage from then on is great acting and effectively justifies the weight of guilt and shame that's haunted the mature BHN all these decades. The viewers know the backstory already and can fathom the depths of guilt and shame that made BHN such a servile person now but it was satisfying to see the younger BHN catch up with the discovery and no longer think that she was pathetic. Before I knew abt BHN's backstory I too tot she was a pathetic person and felt guilty abt having judged her when her backstory came to light. The younger BHN's apology for having judged her was as much mine.

The journey to her return in the end was a bit rushed, imho. I expected the shaman and rain would factor into it but then that was dumped after the accident so it felt weird. And the explanation abt their first photo trip felt a bit tagged on rather than an organic plot. I didn't take stars off from that coz the time travel aspect, to me, was a minor trait of the story rather than the main focus itself. Hello, Me! never positioned itself as sci-fi so it's not a big deal that they just seemed to have fudged that part of things. It is significant that they didn't try to give a happy ending and kept the father's fate on schedule. That was courageous plotting and made me respect the story immensely because the culmination of the show, for me, was when the younger returned to her father's side as he lay dying as at that point, the viewer realises that this isn't just about the younger saving the older—it's maybe really about the older saving the younger. As the younger had said, she didn't know how she's going to survive knowing what she will lose. The mature BHN, on the other hand, has lived through it all in its grueling depths. It's her reassurances that helps the younger to trust in herself to be able to find the strength within. And the peace amid the sorrow on her face as she holds her father in his last moments kinda capstones this whole journey. We know that she'll be fine and, in turn, so will the future/present BHN in an exponential way. It was beautiful.

Finally, this review can't miss mentioning Kim Young Kwan. This guy's portrayal of the male love interest was ADORABLE AF! Stuff the smooth, suave, well groomed, casanova-turned-tamed-lover corporate heir types and bring out the goofy, well intentioned, kid-at-heart, reliable-in-a-pinch guy friend. The slow pacing to their relationship was great to watch and made it feel realistic and mature. I was not a fan of how the writers diluted Choi Kang Hee's dialogues in the end to a constant "thank you, thank you so much, thank you" between them as they were making her sound like a parrot. I think it's perhaps the directors and writers feeling uncomfortable with showing a romance between a younger good-looking guy and an older, ordinary looking lady maybe, but no stars were deducted for that clunkiness because I really liked their pairing. I believe they have a greater chance of working out than most kdrama romcoms featuring the more societally acceptable combo of gorgeous slightly older guy and stunning younger gal.

I wholeheartedly recommend this show to anyone sick of the usual kdrama romcom formulae who wants something new AND with a strong female lead.

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Underdeveloped story filled with clichés and steretypical troupes

I wasn't attracted to this drama when Netflix kept putting it up on my recommendation because, despite having a female protagonist, I had a feeling it would just be another stereotypically C-PeriodDrama offering that plays out in a male dominated storyline where the female protag still needs men to rescue her at every turn. In the first few minutes, it seemed that this might not be the case as the princess protag was actually cherished even though she wasn't a prince (where usually having a prince is the utmost achievement in Asian monarchies). Plus she seemed to be able to take care of herself as she displayed some martial arts abilities. Unfortunately, an episode later my suspicions were proven to be correct and I realised that the first few minutes had been lies to bait me in. I did end up watching the rest of this series because I have a certain weakness for men in period drama WITH LONG HAIR!!! And Princess Weiyoung, unfortunately, really really delivered on this!

Firstly, don't watch it if you're expecting a series with a good female protag. She's not. Otherwise, read on for spoilers...

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To say that I was disappointed with the storyline, or the lack thereof, is an understatement. Maybe it was too much for me to expect that the trigger for the princess's journey would also be the task that was on her mind. Because of the machinations of an ambitious general, her family gets wiped out in a fake coup allegation and her people are enslaved. Her father and grandmother are killed before her very eyes and the people involved are seared in her memory. True, her grandmother had advised her to not pursue revenge and instead pursue a simple life of stability and happiness but when she meets someone whose identity is, by a quirk of fate, quite intimately tied with the perpetrators of the dastardly deeds she had decided on exacting justice (because what is revenge but justice obtained through other means?) for her father and her people already... so why didn't she commit?

For the rest of the fifty-four series long blah we get a repetitive cycle of Weiyoung being framed then saved, framed then saved, framed then saved... framed then saved, repeat, rinse and repeat cycle again. She is a passive recipient of events and plots happening to her and is able to escape from them from many, many deus ex machinas interventions. When she elicits the attention of a prince, of course the stereotypically favoured heir of the emperor, she gets support and a savior all in one. There seems to be nothing done in her part to source out whom her enemies and allies really are, what their weaknesses and strengths are, and what resources are available to herself to really use. When one plots after another is resolved in her favour, she doesn't seek to tidy up the loose ends to ensure she is not a victim to the same tactics again ie using the same disguise techniques to imitate Weiyoung and implicate her in a royal murder. And like a bad Mary Sue plot (which is SO synonymous of Asian writing, unfortunately) we get every powerful male in the region lusting after her and fighting each other to have her and, of course, women who are mad at her because they lust after those men, with the exception of the princess Tuo Ba Di who does not resent her but is instead her ally.

I expected a series about a resourceful and clever princess who somehow fights her way to clearing her father's name and that of her kingdom's. What I got instead was a series of a trophy woman who is at the mercy of other women's jealousies and is saved by the men whom those women lust after. None of this is new. What is worst is the methods are always the same. Each. And. Every. Time. Something happens. Weiyoung is blamed. An evidence is planted. She begs for time to investigate and exonerate herself. She is helped/rescued or she has planned a counter from the beginning because of some BS reasoning and lack of logic but in the end she is cleared. The martial arts skill we saw in her at the beginning is nowhere to be found again later on and an episode where the schemes pivots on a maid copying her disaster relief plan was just WTF. Maids aren't educated to read or write well, if at all. The Li family themselves noted how Weiyoung could've come up with such an elegant plan given her country education so how the eff would a simple maid have been able to read her writing and copy it out speedily and legibly in the first place?!?!

She ends up being a personal servant to an emperor who was ignorant of his general's, and his son's, ambitions and agrees to free her people from slavery but will not clear her father's name of the fake rebellion and, as a princess of Northern Liang, she sees absolutely nothing wrong with that. JC. Has she no pride? The emperor basically claimed the iron ore mine, that this plot was borne from, allowed his subordinates to be the ones who dirtied their hands and still kept the credit. She saw nothing wrong with that! Even when she does reveal who she is to her beau, she still does not mention her original name. By the end of the series, we get her giving her conditions to prince Nan An that her people and father be cleared of this fake treasonous coup but we never get to hear any edict on that front. Like everything in Asian cinemas, the male POV takes over to the point where the struggle becomes Tuo Ba Jun's struggle for the good of the Wei empire (the very ones who took over her Northern Liang empire) and he becomes the main character and we never really remember her ID as the Northern Liang princess anymore. Goddamn, I was cursing and laughing at the ridiculous plots every single episode, especially the latter episodes that insinuate she has terrible calligraphy. It was just a way to show how the man is superior to her, even having to teach her how to write calligraphy when she would've had the same royal education that he had and she also had no problems writing out her disaster relief plan.

Having said that, I did watch it till the end as there were a few promising arcs that I was hoping the show would develop: Minde and princess Tuo Ba Di, general Chi Yun Nan and Hong Luo and Cheng De and Jun Tao. Two out of three ain't bad. The writers should've really went into the potential arc for Chi Yun Nan and Hong Luo though as I found her background and their relationship interesting and there was a lot of baiting in their interactions to suggest that he has feelings for her but, alas, the ineffectual princess and her Marty Stu beau dominated the screen. Pity... because HIS HAIR!!! And he has earrings!!!

What I was pleasantly surprised about was the prince Nan An character though. He was very nuanced and incredibly unpredictable. I was about to dump this series until we got to the episode where we discovered his childhood trauma. Then this char became interesting. Plus... HIS HAIR IS GORGEOUS :D And I was also glad to see Li Chang Le drop the stereotype of an eternally-longing-woman-with-an-unrequited-love and just drop that obsession already. Nevermind that she swung to hate instead, at least she broke out of that eternal limerence state, unlike her cousin Chang Ru.

Watch value is probably a 2 or 3/10
Rewatch is a 1/10
Presence of male chars with long hair 10/10
These don't add up to the 1/10 that I gave this series but that's coz the only thing that made sense were the hair anyway :P

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Tumbleweed fest

The catchcry for this is a woman rebuffing the advances of younger men. This isn't true. It's not about the age difference. It's the fact that she doesn't want to date with another colleague again as this age issue is resolved within the first couple of minutes in the series where we discover she's only a year older than him. That's right. A YEAR. Shows some insecurity issues for the ppl who actually promote and produce this webtoon and series if they think a year's diff between a woman and a man is a huge deal.

That aside, this show is a huge WTF for Rowoon. It doesn't showcase his full abilities at all and as a character Hyun Seung was flat and without personality. What does he like? Whatever Soon Ah likes. What makes him happy? Whatever makes Soon Ah happy. What's his favourite food? Whatever is Soon Ah's favourite food. *facepalm* It's quite a change watching him play a doormat in this whole series where nothing really happens. I stayed with it till the end because the cosmetics industry insides was interesting to watch and I love series where you get a good idea of an occupation from the characters' lives and She Would Never Know delivers on this at least. But the unlikely pair of older sisters that Hyun Seung has, and the going-ons of their love life was just a whole bunch of fantastical BS on display. Ji Seung, the older sister who is a successful entrepreneur and gorgeous is single. She is courted by Soon Ah's big boss, Jae Woon, who is a chaebol heir and single and is interested in her to the point of stalking her. He says the most weirdest things to her and she is all submissive and accepting of his behaviours because Korea and women apparently *rolls eyes*. Yun Seung, the oldest sister I think, is the "successful" woman and person of them all because she's married with a kid. She tries to match her siblings off asap and has trained her daughter to be focused on only appearances and boyfriends. Excellent. No need to educate the little girl, just prance her off to some escort service since men and skin beauty is prioritised highly in her metaphorical books. Those industries like the girls young and vacuous anyway.

The whole Jae Shin and Hyo Joo arc is weird AF. If he was really interested in Soon Ah and not Hyo Joo his behaviours and actions would not have been as it was in the series. The Jae Shin character behaved that way solely because the execs wanted to drive through the point about him being a cheater but the implausibility of how he treats her and keeps her in the dark stretched the suspension of disbelief too much that I just dumped this whole character. I couldn't take him seriously at all. He was just a pawn to act in whatever way fitted the plot and not a real organic character that was believable. It's quite a common trait anyway in Korean writing to have things be plot oriented rather than character oriented, which makes for implausible characters behaving in implausible ways.

Anyway, the only blimp that happens in Soon Ah and Hyun Seung's r/ship was her having some attack of doubts in Paris when he visits her. All that is resolved when she returns to Korea after her Parisian assignment and decides she wants him after all. And like the doormat that he is, of course he returns to her. Predictable. Then there's a wedding in the end and that's it.

A lot of blahs in between but not a lot of real substance to this series. All the characters are dull, boring and flat. I felt like I was watching ppl going through the throes of life post-lobotomies, tbh. You could replace druggies with the actors and you'd get the same spaced out results playing surreal situations that go through a predictable trajectory.

Rewatch value is -10.

I really wouldn't even recommend anyone watching this unless they were interested in marketing, esp retail marketing, as this is portrayed well in the series. The characters are shallow and dull and the story is just a bunch of nothing. Watching grass grow would have a better rewatch value.

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Entertaining. Fun. Great Acting.

This was a seriously enjoyable and entertaining watch from beginning till end. First intro'd to Seo In Guk in Doom At Your Service where he looked bored AF. Having watched Cafe Minamdang, I can see why. He's got a great comedic range and is effusive and charismatic in Cafe Minamdang. He goes through the roles of brother, friend, mentor, shaman, son, charlatan, detective and beau effortlessly. The chemistry between him and his movie sister, Nam Hye Joon, and his longtime buddy, Gong Soo Chul, is so genuine it's a pleasure to watch. Also Gong Soo Chul and Nam Hye Joon is a seriously cute couple.

Although it was obvious to this viewer that Cha Do Won, the prosecutor, was the villain from the moment he appeared it still did not detract me from enjoying this hilarious romp. There were enough shenanigans that were unpredictable to have kept my interest going.

Probably the only thing I'd criticise is the age consideration in the casting. Jung Da Eun is meant to be years older than Won Hyun Joon and Seo In Guk a few years older than Oh Yeon Seo. And some unrealistic behaviours like how when Cha Do Won called out for help when he caught and was decked by Goo Tae Soo, I would not expect a detective like Han Jae Hee to go to him without looking around her and seeing the assailant run away. Also, I would've liked to have seen Gong Soo Chul's character show more of the fact that he had been a homicide detective in the past. Aside from the flashback, he was consistently the clown character throughout the series and at times it was frustrating as one can't help but feel that he wouldn't think or react this way because he's been trained as a homicide detective before! But anyway these sorts of unrealistic behaviours seem to be a hallmark of many Kdramas anyway so it's tolerated.

Highly recommend.

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Felt my brain cells atrophy with each episode

Watched this because of Cha Eun Woo. Could not finish it.

It was so predictable and stupid. The protagonist's problem is not so much that she is ugly but more so that she is dumb. She has the voice of a preschooler and just comes across as an absolute bimbo. If I could retitle this show it would be "A Schoolgirl's Manual for Transformation into a Date-Rape Target". She comes across as self-absorbed and lacking in any self-preservation mechanisms for her own safety. Going on blind dates with older men while dressing up as an older woman; giving her number to strange men just because he asks for it; letting men invade her private space; having an imbalanced response to just being a victim of upskirting. If I had a teenage daughter, I would keep them away from this show or at least let them know this is brain fluff and not to be taken seriously. At all.

JG's voice grated the entire time. She is immature, does not care about anyone at all except her own issues. Sure, it's to escape bullying and such, but having achieved her objective of being allowed to live her own life and not be bullied, one would think that someone in that situation would at least spend that time on SOME amount of planning for her future. Hell, no. She has no mental ambitions at all and is quite happy to have her grades be as low as her skirt is short as long as she is considered pretty. Why bother being left alone when you're not going to do anything with your life? Even Han SJ's younger sister has more ambitions than her. I watched on because I was fascinated with her cool older sister but the r/ship with the teacher was unnecessarily angsty and weird that it wasn't enough to keep me invested.

Pretty much every episode has a kdrama romcom formulaic slo-mo clumsy moment from the protag that involves falling and getting caught by the handsome male lead and then this time-stood-still stupid, googly-eyed stare at him. Once in a while is tolerable but this was nearly every. Single. Episode. On some episodes, any close contact with the male will lead to her having heart palpitations while in others, she's quite naive to invading their personal space and being oblivious to their reactions i.e. with Han SJ. Like, really?! Very convenient. Who goes around roaring like an idiot up close to the guy? Bimbo JG, apparently.

The mother's treatment of the father was appalling as well. Flip the genders around and see a husband treat the wife the way the mum treated the dad and what would one think? She's unsupportive, verbally and physically abusive. She puts him down when he's trying out new ideas and having new interests. She's the type of partner that wants to keep the other one meek so she has the upper hand in the r/ship. She's shallow AF and so is her bimbo daughter.

I can't believe this got as high a mark on MDL as it has. Cha Eun Woo reprised his role as a tsundere handsome boy in My ID is Gangnam Beauty but that show has 100x more depth than this absolute... WTF.

Immature. Shallow. Stupid. Formulaic. Don't waste your time on this.

Addendum:
Regarding viewing this show as just a brain fluff, easy watch, yes, I totally went into it knowing that it is just such a show. There wasn't an episode that went by that I didn't roll my eyes but I reminded myself that, "it's just brain fluff. Just for a brain turn-off watch". And I accepted the rules that were set that in this parody-esque romCOM dictating that the protag would be the "norm" for cute and desirable. The problem I had was that even the writers didn't stick to their own rules so why should I?

Part way through they intro'd a new char of Go Woon, the bad boy Han SJ's younger sister. GW is the cliche char that's meant to showcase the vulnerable side of the bad boy tritagonist and also provide multiple excuses for the protag to be in close proximity to SJ whilst having the setup be construed as totally innocent and coincidental i.e. she just happens to be at their home when SJ is prancing around, headphones in ears, in nothing but his underwear and a loose robe; convenient. And predictable. As a third function, GW is also the mirror image of JG, sharing the same "wounded" background as JG, albeit younger. JG is able to save her in a way that she was never saved herself and this helps to soothe her own past wounds. The problem with GW is that she is superior to JG in every way.

When we get intro'd to her r/ship with SJ she is maternal and independent. She cooked her own ramen and SJ loves her cooking and commented that it was delicious. When next we meet them in a family setting again she is with the mother, the matriarch of the family, and she is shown to have folded the clothes and instructed her brother to take his underwear and head off to the room in a very un-younger-sibling-like way. She is mature, has ambitions (wants to get into Music Academy) and, unlike JG, only uses makeup for the stage and her performance, not to maintain a duplicitous life. She is aware of the benefits of makeup for its effect on an audience and does not need it in real life, not even in school. When the part-time job comes up at the comic store, she's there in a flash, securing an income before JG does even tho the latter frequents the shop more often than she. In terms of guys, she knows what she wants and doesn't want and has strong boundaries and knows how to set them. Most of all, she has a normal speaking voice and does not have a predilection to trip over herself every episode so we can get the cliche time-stood-still-slomo catch/rescue from a guy. In fact, I doubt she really needs a guy to rescue her. When her bro wants to sort out her bullies, she insists she'll deal with her problems herself. Even had JG not have stepped in, I believe she would've found a way to do so. Maybe she'd have missed that one performance but her eyes will still be set on the Music Academy. What's the use of a small high school performance when she'd be unhindered in a larger platform later on? It's obvious that the teacher recognised her talent. She would've had no problems getting recognised at the Music Academy later on too.

At the same time, we get the parallel to JG. She decides that she doesn't like the baseball player and starts to kinda set her boundaries, in a much less confident voice than GW and only, if I recall correctly, after seeing Lee SH set his boundaries with someone who'd known him in the past (that no one knew or have seen and have seen after). I don't recall ever seeing her do something adult like cook in all the 9 episodes. She only stepped in for the family and did the cleaning once the dad was gone and when he was around, she was daddy's girl and princess and did not do any cooking of her own. Tho an older sister, her r/ship with her younger sibling seems to be more like she's his younger sibling. He always seems to have the power, using his upper hand to blackmail her into things and they are constantly bickering . She showed no initiative in getting a p/t job until later even tho she would've passed the job sign at the comic shop often and she only got her job through SJ's help. She also never had any ambitions until later, in fact, it's not till after she's met GW that cosmetology crystalises in her mind. In all these ways, she is inferior to GW and the show itself got changed in tone because of this juxtaposition. As a viewer, I now have the option of something "normal" and superior in GW. The problem is she's only a side char with the role of fulfilling a bridge function for the WTF protag. Her romance arc would've been either that she rejects JG's brother totally or that she gets charmed by his sincerity in the end or, worst yet, she might've been subjected to having a crush on a yet unknown pretty boy char so that the stereotypical love triangle can be expanded to a love decahedron to fulfill the quota for the kdrama romcom theme of it's-not-as-much-about-love-as-it-is-about-how-many-trophies-of-alpha-males'-hearts-you-can-get. Gawd knows they tagged on the Kang SJ love interest to make it a love pentagon (along with the baseball creep) when she'd been pretty ok with a friendship with Lee SH for TEN YEARS. They even changed her capacious char to be a conniving, manipulating wench just to fit this pentagon arc. WTF. I couldn't bear to watch GW's char be subjected to a cliche in the short moments that I'd get a glimpse of her.

Because of these reasons, that the writers showed it was possible to get a normal, functional female char, the show pushed itself out of being just a brain fluff, easy watch offering into something that needed to be considered properly. In those terms it failed miserably.

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Misleading victim narrative

I saw the promo for this on Netflix back in late April and decided to wait till the whole series finished uploading in early June to watch it. It wasn’t worth the wait.

Dr Cha’s premise is that of an ambitious woman who gave up her dream of becoming a doctor to became a devoted housewife to an unappreciative and disrespectful husband and family. It promises a great comeuppance epic for the middle-aged woman who gets a new lease on life, a second chance at her medical dreams replete with a haircut that makes her look more youthful and a toy boy to elicit jealousy from her cheating husband. What an enticing mix! Except, we find that this narrative is all BS in Dr Cha’s case.

The premise is set up in the following manner: we get intro’d to a near middle-aged Dr Cha who questions whether having given up her medical license, and her dream of becoming a doctor, to become a housewife was worth it or not. Her mother-in-law assures her rearing children is the most worthy pursuit in life before instructing her on performing her duties and chores, which is basically as a servant of the household. The protagonist then has advanced hepatitis and we see how meaningless her selfless sacrifice has been. Her husband (In Ho), the only compatible donor for a liver transplant, is not only reluctant to save her life but is having an affair on the side. The oppressive mother-in-law puts the life of the family above hers yet guilts her into being more “considerate” of In Ho’s future as a surgeon and actively stops him from donating his liver to her. Oh, the outrage! Oh, the inhumanity! What a bunch of a-holes. Except we find that Jung Sook is anything but a victim.

In only a couple of episodes, all the poor victim housewife narrative is debunked. Firstly, Jung Sook never had a medical license so she was never a doctor. I’m not even sure how the scriptwriters figured in her residency years when she got pregnant in only her 2nd year of med school. Medical degrees are usually 5-6 years, with a year’s internship before the residency years, so she wouldn’t even have made her residency years. It’s doubtful that she even completed her degree. Plus, she never had a dream of becoming a doctor until she had her brush with death, in the present, so this part of the premise fails too.

Secondly, there was no betrayal from the “affair” since Jung Sook and In Ho didn’t get married because of love. They got married because Jung Sook seduced him in a situation that can only be described as the lamest reason to hook up I’ve ever seen—Jung Sook basically had sex with In Ho because the room they were in was very warm. *roll eyes* Laziest scriptwriting ever. And I say she seduced him because at the time, it was well known in their course that In Ho and Sung Hee (the “mistress”) were in a r/ship. They were the it couple of the program but because, and I quote verbatim from Jung Sook, Sung Hee was not there to stop them, they had sex together. Not only was love never part of the equation, the mother-in-law had never approved of Jung Sook to begin with; instead, she preferred the gf, Sung Hee. Despite this, they did marry because In Ho was man enough to take responsibility for the child and felt obligated to provide for mother and son. So it was understandable, in the present, that In Ho was reluctant to put his life and career at risk to donate his liver since there was never any love between them to begin with. And being that there was no love, his “affair” could not be construed as a betrayal. Thus, the whole unappreciated, betrayed victim housewife angle fails spectacularly. Not only that, it quickly becomes clear that Jung Sook is really an opportunistic and petty airhead.

For one thing, Sung Hee not only stole In Ho from Sung Hee but also Sung Hee’s best friend, Mi Hee. Also, although we get told that she’s good at studies, she gets better grades than the surgeon husband, In Ho, and also a higher residency mark than her son, a surgical intern in In Ho’s department, the reality of her abilities is totally different. Of all the hospitals she could have applied to, for her residency, she applies to In Ho’s hospital. Why? Is it because it’s a good hospital? We don’t get told this so—no. Is it because it’s sentimental to her? She suggests this but even Mi Hee vetoes the idea so—no. It’s because she finds out that Sung Hee is his colleague. Yes, the gf that, when Mi Hee was recounting the past with her, she claims she doesn't remember at all. Talk about starting anew—NOT.

Then, rather than diligently focusing on her work, which is literally life and death for patients, she indulges in petty office politics by resolving to keep an eye on her son’s strict supervisor (and secret gf), doesn’t know the basic medical acronyms, sulks about being reprimanded for getting medications wrong (which could’ve killed someone!) and gets upset over not being treated with respect as an elder. What an entitled attitude. This is after having the gall to meet the woman whom she stole the bf from, asking Sung Hee if she remembers her before asking her to support her application to the hospital. Unbelievable nerve. By right Jung Sook could not have made it in at all but for the same agency that brought her a compatible liver in the first place—luck! This airhead is nothing but lucky and did not make it in anything in life on any of her efforts because they don’t exist! She gets lucky by getting knocked up by a skilled boy, whom later becomes a good surgeon, and then lucky by an applicant dropping out of the running for the residency position. How does she celebrate all this luck? By drowning her new liver with the very thing that would damage it—alcohol.

The toy boy angle was a mess in this clusterf#ck of a series. The whole American-surgeon-moving-to-Korea thing was obviously created to enhance the appeal of the toy boy, and her middle-aged "revenge", but, like her medical license that never was, the angle made not an ounce of sense at all. It’s great that toy boy went to Harvard or Stanford med school and all but being an adoptee who grew up in America, how the heck did he learn up adequate Korean to be able to be a surgeon in Korea? Why did he come back to Korea anyway when his family and life was all in America? Just because someone was born in Korea doesn’t mean they’ll be able to master Korean when they’ve grown up in a non-Korean speaking country most of their life! Not only that, conversational Korean would be vastly different to technical medical Korean, of which toy boy would have had to have mastered to be able to give the simplest instructions in a surgery. Did this obvious fact not even occur to the scriptwriter at all?! Jeezus!

I tapped out half way through episode 4 when Jung Sook was trying to guilttrip her son for not doing everything that was rightfully her job as a resident-in-training in what was meant to be her dream career. She's effing useless and I had no bond with the character nor any inclination to want to invest in her journey, which is the most important thing for a screenwriter to have to do with a character. Instead, the writer created a self-absorbed narcissist who should find somewhere else to play out her misguided victimhood fantasies so that she can stop endangering the lives of patients.

Despite this, I do plan to finish this series but only while on the treadmill where I don’t need all my brain cells but just moving images to keep me going. For those who do want to watch shows with a full brain though, I wouldn’t recommend this. The suspension of disbelief needed to watch it with full attention is asking too much of a discerning audience. It’s just insulting to the intellect to watch Jung Sook being valorised as the victim when she was the real mistress and villain to begin with and I felt sorry for Sung Hee for the villainess tag that the series was obviously trying to pin on her.

Disappointing AF.

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Waste of time

The only person who is able to save the wounded princess/maiden character is completely controlled by the antagonist who is bent on ensuring her death. The story was never able to redeem itself from this ridiculous setup and like a fool I watched it till the end thinking, hoping, to see some remarkable writing to be able to free the shaman/priest from the evil shaman's thrall only to be bitterly disappointed. Those are hours of my life I'll never get back.

The male protagonist is eye candy. It's great to see Min Do Hee in any role and she shows sass here. The relationship between the female protag and her adopted brother is just creepy. Everything else is sheer nonsense.

Mirror of the Witch feels like some remedy you buy from a snake oil salesmen who guarantees that it will work, it will work! Just take it home. Give it time. Believe! Except you should've trusted your instincts from the word go that what's in the bottle is just what meets the eye, something that resembles sewerage sludge. It's just deceptive; that's the only word for this movie. One can easily tell by ep 3 that there's just no way anyone can save the maiden, given the set of variables imposed. Why anyone would go on to write such utter BS and produce it is probably the only miracle in this whole mess.

Vehement recommendation is don't watch. Unless you're ok with wasting 20 hours of your life. Nothing was noteworthy except the feeling of being misled into a fantastical journey only to find that it's just a drug induced haze that should never have been attempted.

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Tragic brain trauma story

This is really a sad series about a girl with untreated brain damage which affects the way she eats and talks (poor thing!). When the series starts, viewers are clued into her condition when she totally disregards the fact that someone who is bleeding from multiple head wounds is about to commit suicide. She shows some semblance of normalcy when she steps in to grab the kid as he jumps. This act gives her a one way ticket into Upskirttown Academy where girls prep themselves for a lacey-panties-and-high-stiletto-heel future of hybrid French-maid and Japanese-child-porn-school-girl courtesans. What an awesome life for young ladies of the 21st century! As incredible as that might sound I just couldn't get over how bad GJD's grasp on reality was as the series progressed. There was a bullying scene to begin with that our protagonist didn't witness so I guess that's not her fault but then more bullying ensues until we get a setup that suggested an upcoming gang rape. Of course, we can't expect our poor brain-compromised protag to fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation enough to avoid the mofo who set her up in the first place. Instead, she confronts him and tells him an irrelevant fact that she was an unkissed virgin. Yes, GJD, that's exactly what I would tell the forker who nearly got me gang-raped (newsflash: no, no it's not). Moving right along, we get the hapless heroine getting herself into a sexual assault situation where the aforementioned mofo tries to force a kiss on her. No red flags there for GJD apparently as she continues on with life as usual, her neurological condition shielding her from the trauma; lucky girl. Blah blah blah, then some insta-romance BS plot where the rich mofo falls for her without logic or reason at all and tries to woo her, yadda yadda yadda, some intervening storyline with a Fabio wannabe kid who has the hots for a model who likes to toy with his feelings, oh boo hoo hoo for him, then the point at which I decided I wasn't the target audience for this... GDJ gets roofied and gets photographed in a compromising position... and it flies over her cranium chamber. Rather than reacting to the fact she had been potentially raped she was more focused on convincing the mofo, whom she supposedly doesn't have feelings for, that she didn't have a relationship with the roofie guy. At this point, it just became really, really tragic to watch.

Firstly, there's a difference between a relationship and rape; a whole consentful of difference which the directors and writers just overlooked as conveniently as the protagonist GDJ did. As a pre-MeToo production this series didn't age well, but I don't believe it needs a MeToo movement to have corrected this story, it just needs a functional brain to realise what's wrong and right, but BOF never seemed to have meant to be anything other than a blatantly misogynistic production anyway with the gratuitous upskirting angles and forked up "school" uniforms for the girls.

Secondly, there's nothing to recommend this series as none of the chars are remotely good looking. I checked it out for Kim Bum at first but his character here was such a slut that it made him ugly to watch. The only char that was likeable was Bom Chun Sik coz he was interesting with his psychic guesses however, he's a minor char.

I mean if you're a neuroscience student then by all means check this series out to study how sick the production team's brains are to have created this crap and how accurate GDJ's portrayal of a brain damaged person is. Aside from that, it could be a good series for people who need eye exercises as you end up rolling your eyes and scrunching them tight a lot wondering WTF did u just witness. Oh, and if you're a zombie then go for it, you'll totally enjoy the irony of the show. Apart from that, I wouldn't recommend it to viewers who do not fit into any of the above categories as it might cause brain damage from your neurons spontaneously combusting from trying to make sense of the sheer ludicrousness of the protagonist's behaviour and decision making processes. This show feels less like a serious series attempt and more like an erotic soft porn fantasy of a bunch of middle-aged, male Korean film execs.

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Supernatural clickbait. Consent has left the room with this problematic kdrama.

Consent seems to be a concept that is giving issues for some kdramas. This is the case for Destined with You.

The series promotes a supernatural themed experience replete with Joseon flashbacks. It starts strong with a visceral curse of a bloody, red hand haunting the male protag and also a haunted shrine to start the ball rolling on events. A couple of episodes later, however, that enticing premise is nowhere to be found.

Lee Hong Jo's character is unlikeable and unrelatable. She is insecure at work because she is not invited to the collegial team luncheons. There are suggestions that she is bullied as well. At first, I thought she might be a low ranking public servant. The synopsis itself says she is a "low grade public servant" however, at one stage we discover that she is in fact an assistant manager, ie the second in charge. At that point, all sympathies for her work problems evaporate. If she's skilled enough to get to that point she should be skilled enough to handle the politics.

Furthermore, we discover that she stole Na Yeon's bf in high school. For some reason Na Yeon chooses to apologise to her for the incident and Hong Jo has the gall to refuse to forgive her. This was quite early on in the series already and had cemented my dislike for this character. But I decided to keep on with the show by switching focus onto the male protag instead. That, unfortunately, also sank like another cement block in the river.

The premise of this show is that LHJ decides to cast a love spell on a crush at work. This distastefully amoral deed, which smacks of psychopathy, backfires and instead (and quite predictably) Shin Yu gets lumped with the spell on top of his curse. I dropped the series at the start of episode 5 when it was revealed that there was no way to break the spell. Shin Yu is stuck with having to feel feelings that he does not have for a woman he had no inkling of having those types of feelings for in the first place. This show became as romantic as watching a guy try to woo a woman he roofied. It's not cool for it to happen to a woman. It's not cool for it to happen to a man too and it was tragically sad watching Shin Yu struggle against being physically gravitated towards Hong Jo and saying things he doesn't want to towards her while the vacuous, insensitive Hong Jo just keeps asking, "why are you here? Why are you staring at me like that? Why did you say that?" etc when he has said, time and again already, exactly why he was behaving like that and has literally begged her to help break this spell just as multiple times.

For the fact that it also became obvious the supernatural themes were just used as clickbait and there's no substance to the characters or the story, it was not worth even a first watch.

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Nuanced characterisation and amazing acting. Strong female characters. Great storytelling.

It's hard to find a women-centred series that isn't ultimately about the aftermath of a man's infidelity and the modern day take of harem infighting that goes on between wives, mistresses and empires. It's harder to find a female revenge story that's really satisfying. 'Burn the House Down' or 'Mitaraike, Enjou Suru' ticks both boxes. To say that I was blown away by this story was an understatement. The female characters are really strong and nuanced and the plot twists keep you guessing till the end. Ultimately, it was hard to draw the line between wrong and right and most of things were left in the grey areas.

What I loved about this story was how fleshed out and realistic it was. It's usual to have one character shoulder the burden, and hog the limelight, for the plotting and revenge work but to share the work between the two sisters was really unique writing. I really liked how the sibling relationships were explored in BtHD both between the Murata sisters and the Mitarai brothers as well. It's refreshing to see supportive, functional sibling relationships as well, having been so used to competitive and backstabbing ones from western shows. All the psychology behind the characters were also realistic. The ineffectual father, the only son from a family of dominant women, was on point. The fact that Makiko could handle the sisters' bullying better and the fact that Yuzu would be too young to fully understand the father's character and the dynamics at play.

Mitarai Makiko was portrayed as the villainess from the start but in the end, the audience is left wondering "what the hell?!" when we discover that her only crime had been envy and being a protective mother. Is she still someone we should hate? Does she still deserve all that bile buildup from the onset? Or was she also a victim of circumstance and only acting out of self preservation? It's all still up in the air. What's not up in the air was Suzuki Kyoka's acting though. From the moment she appears on screen she really captures the attention. Her micro-expressions when witnessing the fire was also excellently acted to portray both possibilities of what the audience was first led to believe was schadenfreude and also the immense relief at being able to start her slate anew that we later discover was the actual case. Kyoka really inhabits each scene she has with the confidence that comes from being a battler single mom Makiko, something that Satsuki desperately seeks. Makiko is a tremendous survivor of the odds and despite her major setback we see her endeavour to make a comeback again in the end. She is not a pure white character but a real one and though her methods were questionable one can't really judge the means by which she employs her resources to survive in a society and culture that is not kind to single, poor mothers. Makiko's juxtaposition against Satsuki was fantastic in that she brings out the "life" in the latter.

As the show developed there was a suspicion that Satsuki was an unhappily married woman. Satsuki's character was interesting in that she was only unhappy because she felt she could not be enough to help her husband in life and career, not because of problems with the husband. All her thoughts were for her husband and family. This was a character who wanted nothing more than to be an effective and competent homemaker, a stark contrast to most portrayals of stay-at-home mums being sapped of life because of their choice to be SAHMs. Despite being bullied by her sister-in-laws Satsuki wanted to develop confidence, not to defend herself, but to help her husband in the family more. She wanted to learn how to communicate what she wanted and felt, and to even know what she wanted to begin with. We see that her blog posts are described as lifeless and mundane. What a great little piece of information to show a facet of her character. In the end, Makiko's family's acts sets her on this path to self deconstruction and reconstruction. We hear harsh words from her that we'd never imagine could come from a selfless, kind, compassionate Satsuki. Words like "I've hated you from the beginning" directed at Makiko, "I will never forgive you" to Shinji, words that would be more fitting coming from villainess Makiko than pure Satsuki yet when she utters those words and feelings there is a life in the woman, for once. It dawns on the audience and now, with the flaws and the dark thoughts, Satsuki has found that confidence and life that she lacked and so desperately sought in the past. Having this contrast made it seem like Makiko and Satsuki were the perfect yin and yang, bringing out the little light and little darkness that balanced everything out to be more harmonious people. Both were not perfect yet both are real. And because of the diametrically opposite dynamic of their characters it was fitting for Satsuki to have been the one who brought down Makiko by doing something slightly Makiko-ish ie underhanded. By doing so, Satsuki became a less passive character and ended up being the one who saved herself.

Anzu is an incredibly strong female character that is so rare on the screen. Nowadays we are used to badass women who are badass on the male level ie they are warrior like amazons or compete well on a male dominated corporate level or similar. Anzu is none of those but still a badass because she is focused, disciplined, and resolute. She was scared of Kiichi but still plowed through those fears because her mind was made up from years ago. She was scared of other things going wrong, of being found out, of this, of that, but she still did it. She didn't meekly take the push from Kiichi but also pushed back. Courage is having fears but still doing it and Anzu is the embodiment of that. When she stood up to her father and b!tchslapped his phone out of his hands Anzu was really showing the strong feminine energy that's rarely, rarely celebrated. Being the firstborn, she's seen the father's role in the Mitarai family, acutely appraised his character from his behaviour during the 13 absent years and know where she stands in what she's doing and his place in it. Unlike Anzu, she has no illusions that he can be relied on to be even a chance of an ally to her plight to clear her mother's name. Where it is usual to portray daughters as being easily fooled by the excuses of errant fathers Anzu has long ago decided she has no place for his BS. The phone smack would be considered utterly rude and unfilial, in the cultural context, but morally correct in the universal justice context. Anzu showed that she was a bigger person in defying culture and her patriarch. The real badassery from that act was the fact that she did it as she was championing her family, which included her mother and her sister. Because, as Anzu so rightly contextualises everything to Shinji at his confession, it is all about protecting one's family, just as he did.

The reveal was a bit of a rollercoaster which hovered on comical in that it was too "Come on! What?! How 'bout the cat? Did the cat do it too?!" However, the flashbacks interspersed in between and the way the characters have behaved throughout (Makiko always refers to protecting Kiichi, Makiko discovers she still had the cardigan but it was in a box whereas the cardigan on the CCTV shows it being worn) supports it. Because the careful editing supported the conclusion the plot twists did not feel like a gimmicky add-on, which made the story even more masterful.

The ending, imho, was very satisfying. It wasn't linear but it was right. Everything that should happen did happen and the characters all found their own peace. Only let down was the odd soundtrack but it sounded like some 80s video games which I thought was an allusion to Kiichi's fondness for video games maybe. It's not a dealbreaker by any means.

I highly recommend this series for ppl who love great stories about strong women and aren't looking for neat, linear endings but real ones. It's refreshing to see a predominantly female cast in the testosterone filled film & tv industry, even more so that the characters aren't cliche and shallow stereotypes.

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Toxic AF

Wanted to drop it after 1st ep but thought maybe I could stay on because of Kim Chang Wan but could. Not. Do. It. Dropped it 5 mins into ep3.

The male actor, Kim Soo Hyun, seems to be typecast into leads that are paired with toxic, prima donna women. First intro'd to him in My Love from the Star, which is on my treadmill playlist (films with moving images to keep my mind off the exercise time but with shallow plots that won't require any emotional commitment or interest on my part), then the short cameo at the end of Hotel del Luna, then now. His work in Hotel del Luna was good because it was short. His work in It's Ok Not To Be Okay... it's just not okay.

Female protagonist exhibits psychopathic tendencies since young age and is socially maladjusted yet everyone pampers to her every need because she's dressed up like a porcelain geisha doll replete with ridiculous high heels, f#ckable hyper short-skirted dresses, an emo attitude and a goth lean in look and makeup. Talking about the male protag's brother having erogenous zones in his hair triggered when the brother, who is clearly autistic, had a physical altercation during her book signing was inappropriate AF. The male protag just accepts her behaviour because why? He's scripted to? Because she's hitting onto him and she's flawlessly beautiful? Right.

Flip the genders around and see if her behaviours are ok. The way she tracks his info and then tracks him down. Stalking. The way she talks about wanting him like cars and pretty things. Objectification. The way she keeps talking about erogenous zones and bringing up the topic of sex work with him. Inappropriate talk. If it were a guy who did all this to a female protagonist the story would not be romantic at all. Why should we believe it's ok for a woman to do any of those to a man? Is it romantic? Not to this viewer. I prefer my romances healthy, functional and without red flags.

Was looking for a quirky romance. Since this was neither quirky or romantic and was just plain WTF, dropped it like the radioactive sludge that it was. UGH. Does not even make my treadmill playlist. Would not recommend.

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Disappointing Cringefest with Zero Sensitivity and Respect for Sentient Beings

Waited for this to finish uploading before tucking into it. Like Doctor Cha, it was uberly disappointing. Unlike Doctor Cha, it wasn't even good enough for me to consider adding to my "treadmill list", which are a list of shows ok enough to watch only while I'm on the treadmill but not really to capture my utmost attention and emotional investment.

Main reasons were:-
1) For Asian shows that deal with animals, the first thing I'd prefer is "No Animals were Harmed" precautions. If the 'Secret Royal Inspector and Joy' series were able to achieve this—and their story did not revolve around animals— why couldn't 'Behind Your Touch'? Especially since animals are such a pivotal theme to BYT.
2) The plot was so cringey and paper thin nonsense. Woman keeps going around holding onto a moving being's butt to "read" them is not quality writing. I've read better stories from 9 year olds.
3) The male and female behaviours were WTF. Having a man Judo-flip a woman onto a bitumen road floor isn't cool. The same kind of uncool with getting flipped off a treadmill in 'King the Land'. Neither was remotely quality slapstick comedy. Plus the "romance" between the policeman and her aunt was cringefest to the max.
4) The characterisation of the protagonist was unrealistic. Vet Sci is a hardcore course in any country to get into yet the FL is an emotionally underdeveloped idiot who doesn't have seem to have any instincts or confidence around handling animals.

But, ultimately, the main reason I decided to drop this disaster was the treatment of gender violence. Having the FL find out that her ex coursemate might have abducted a woman whom he is abusing is one thing. To have it glossed over and ignored by fluffing the rest of the minutes up with comedic routines was incredibly tone deaf. If writers are going to show gender violence have some backbone to treat it with the care and sensitivity it deserves. The portrayal of it as just a plot device to fill in the time, without any context or follow-up, seemed an extremely lazy and cheap writing serving only to titillate for views. Pathetic. Are we supposed to laugh at the carrying-ons of the ML and co at the farmyard and completely ignore the horrid images of the poor abused woman whom have been seared into our memories? Go f#ck yourselves, male Sth Korean studio execs.

Have some respect for crime victims. Have some respect for animals. And, especially, have some respect for discerning viewers.

Don't waste your time on this BS. Unrealistic portrayal of a vet. Stupid approach to animal whispering and brain dead characters all around. Only stars were the animals but since there's no way to know if they'd been treated well at all during the filming of these series it's especially not worth supporting a show that could have been unnecessarily harmful to animals.

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Cliched and predictable

Couldn't watch after the second episode. Everything was too predictable and cliched while some aspects were too farfetched to believe. Logically speaking, the eponymous secretary Kim went into the job for the money so why wouldn't she honestly consider her boss's generous offer, which included a house, to retain her? The excuses were too forced and fake and I just couldn't put myself through this boring BS fest. Oh, and it was annoying having to be subjected to the male lead's showering body a lot. It objectified him just like showing flesh on an unnecessarily scantily clad woman would objectify the woman. You know this show is shallow when they'd use this device to fish for views, and you know it's an artificial device when it added nothing to the storyline.

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A try-hard that misses

Dropped it after 1st ep.

What I liked about it:
—of all the kdramas I've watched thus far, this is one of the few that has the languages downpat. I was impressed with Sa Rang's Mandarin and English, and Gu Won's English was good too. This added truth to the reality the show tries to portray with the different countries at play.

Things that turned me off:
— obvious Euro-centrism with "we are so rich that we are overlords to white ppl in their own lands". Did they need to juxtapose their wealth against westerners to make their point? Rather smacks of insecurity and overcompensation. Was a very cringeworthy scene, to say the least
— parallel of Gu Won receiving a bouquet on his graduation and Sa Rang receiving it from her beau, as though her greatest culmination was the attentions of a man whilst his, the attainment of higher education. Real warped idea of female empowerment that clues me in on the values of this show.
— despite the above, the thing that made me decide to discontinue with this show was watching Sa Rang try to get Gu Won's attention by speeding him off the treadmill. Not quite sure what the writers had in mind but in which planet is this harmful behaviour, that can potentially kill someone, actually acceptable? Just watching the show continue on after that and Gu Won stand up and brush it off was watching a gaslighting exercise in its own right. This behaviour is not acceptable and normal and garnered me zero sympathies for the female protag from that moment on and because I have zero emotional investment in any of the characters I won't be watching the rest of this series.

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