A story that treats its audience with dignity and respect!
Its been a while since I've written a review, so bear with me hehe😅
I'm giving the show a re-watch value of 8.5 cuz I think i need to be in a certain mind space to watch this show in its entirety due to the angst and anger 3 of the characters bring out within you! You can def catch me rewatching my fave scenes and moments from the show!
To Cherish and Love is one of those rare lakorns I've come across with good, consistent writing, where the audience feels like they are a part of the story themselves, living with the characters' lives and feeling what they feel.
Before I can delve into anything, I have to give a shout-out to the young actors portraying the younger versions of our main leads. They truly made the story feel alive, as if their life experience did happen; their friendship, love, heartbreak, everything was indeed lived through. So so beautifully portrayed, your healt wept for the characters, and understood them much better!
The story focuses on a hard-working woman- K'Ran who is the sole bread-winner of the household after the passing of her father. In order to meet basic needs, she works multiple jobs to keep their family of 4 afloat and comfortable, always taking care of others, but not herself, as she believes she doesn't deserve it.
N'Dao, the youngest character, is a very mischievous and energetic fujoushi, who goes to great lengths in order to make sure that her favourite pairing isn't separated (I wish they could have touched on this a bit more, showing that bl actors are human too, and need to be respected as such, and are not there for "fans" to force their beliefs onto their "idols". It at least shows that bl actors behind the scenes do have relationships with women, which I appreciated, so 0.5% cut!). N'Dao does this by basically managing to sneak past all the security of the TV-Station of the ML and gives him an earful.
The male lead, forced into an engagement by his mother with K'Nana, shows no affection towards her, as his heart still beats for K'Ran though he's been trying to forget about his hurtful past. When he meets his ex-K'Ran, the FL at his company unexpectedly, he is livid. He threatens to fire her, but K'Ran is resilient, patient, and self-sacrificing, painfully so. She tries her hardest to fight for her survival at her ex's company.
I did not like how K'Yai treated her, but based on what he believed: that K'Ran is a heartless, selfish woman who goes after rich men, his actions make sense. I am not saying I support him making the FL's life ever more of a living hell than it already is in the slightest, but the story is so well-written that you hate him for what he is doing, and also want him to have an honest conversation with himself and have his eyes opened! He truly cares for K'Ran, but at the same time, he is afraid she is after K'Sam (his best friend from the US, a bl actor at his company who also falls for K'Ran's kind heart and resilience) and his younger brother K'Lek as they are rich. He makes her overwork herself so that she doesn't get time to "seduce" his friend or brother.
The show is very well executed in that, you not even for a moment feel confused or lost in the plot. You do not feel like your emotions are being played with. When you have a doubt, it gets resolved, even if not immediately within the same ep. The best part is that there is not a single miscommunication or misunderstanding (yes I choose to say this because K'Ran chose to lie to K'Yai deliberately). There are NO dumb characters!!! The story flows naturally, and the characters are actually intelligent! They find out the truth on their own, and the audience doesn't feel like we are being spoon-fed/info-dumped.
I absolutely LOVED that the other 2 male characters did NOT fight for K'Ran. They instead fought to keep her happy, to help her earn, and eat well lol, cuz that woman refuses to take care of herself my God! Thank God for K'Lek being there! And once both K'Sam and K'Lek realise K'Yai still loves K'Ran, they do their absolute best to help them both get back together again!
I am not giving the show a 10 simply because I am not satisfied with how the story dealt with K'Yai's narcissistic, selfish, clearly, hurt, AND psychotic, masochist of a mother (I wanted to cut off an entire 1%, but that would mean the entire show in only 85%), who was the cause of the rift between K'Yai and K'Ran. Living with a person like her, I know first hand that such a person will not change, whether over a long period of time (in my family's case-25+ years), or overnight just because their safety is threatened. They can pretend they have turned a new leaf, but they will NEVER accept their mistake, or let the world know of it if they can help it. So K'Aoijay revealing her disgusting deeds to the world, AND getting off scot-free really pissed me off.
Character ranking:
Grandma: Hands-down best character! And truly wise!
K'Lek: Gosh adorable bean!
K'Ran: So glad she is finally happy!
K'Sam: Can we have more men/2nd leads like this please!!!
K'Yai: You can see he's gotten his mother's masochistic tendencies, but he becomes better, and learns from his mistakes!
K'Dao: Annoying little devil (saying this is the sweetest way possible😂)
K'Nana: Girl please learn some self-worth! And someone make her pay an actual price for trying to make K'Ran's life hellish in highschool!
K'Aoijay: Lady, you need to pay for your crimes against your son, you daughter-in-law (especially), and mother-in-law, AND your granddaughter!
I'd honestly love to see a continuation of the show with just our main CP living together, a happy and fullfilled life filled with laughter and warmth. That way we could also get to see if K'Ran wants to explore going back to her studies, or Taekwando, seeing that she's truly stopped blaming herself for her father's death
And, can someone PLEASE cast the young actors portraying K'Ran and K'Yai as a couple or even friends in another show! Their chemistry was so natural!!!
Truly a great journey overall!
PS: Did anyone else feel K'Film has lost more weight or was it just me...? Ma man, you are perfect the way you are! Please don't lose weight!
I'm giving the show a re-watch value of 8.5 cuz I think i need to be in a certain mind space to watch this show in its entirety due to the angst and anger 3 of the characters bring out within you! You can def catch me rewatching my fave scenes and moments from the show!
To Cherish and Love is one of those rare lakorns I've come across with good, consistent writing, where the audience feels like they are a part of the story themselves, living with the characters' lives and feeling what they feel.
Before I can delve into anything, I have to give a shout-out to the young actors portraying the younger versions of our main leads. They truly made the story feel alive, as if their life experience did happen; their friendship, love, heartbreak, everything was indeed lived through. So so beautifully portrayed, your healt wept for the characters, and understood them much better!
The story focuses on a hard-working woman- K'Ran who is the sole bread-winner of the household after the passing of her father. In order to meet basic needs, she works multiple jobs to keep their family of 4 afloat and comfortable, always taking care of others, but not herself, as she believes she doesn't deserve it.
N'Dao, the youngest character, is a very mischievous and energetic fujoushi, who goes to great lengths in order to make sure that her favourite pairing isn't separated (I wish they could have touched on this a bit more, showing that bl actors are human too, and need to be respected as such, and are not there for "fans" to force their beliefs onto their "idols". It at least shows that bl actors behind the scenes do have relationships with women, which I appreciated, so 0.5% cut!). N'Dao does this by basically managing to sneak past all the security of the TV-Station of the ML and gives him an earful.
The male lead, forced into an engagement by his mother with K'Nana, shows no affection towards her, as his heart still beats for K'Ran though he's been trying to forget about his hurtful past. When he meets his ex-K'Ran, the FL at his company unexpectedly, he is livid. He threatens to fire her, but K'Ran is resilient, patient, and self-sacrificing, painfully so. She tries her hardest to fight for her survival at her ex's company.
I did not like how K'Yai treated her, but based on what he believed: that K'Ran is a heartless, selfish woman who goes after rich men, his actions make sense. I am not saying I support him making the FL's life ever more of a living hell than it already is in the slightest, but the story is so well-written that you hate him for what he is doing, and also want him to have an honest conversation with himself and have his eyes opened! He truly cares for K'Ran, but at the same time, he is afraid she is after K'Sam (his best friend from the US, a bl actor at his company who also falls for K'Ran's kind heart and resilience) and his younger brother K'Lek as they are rich. He makes her overwork herself so that she doesn't get time to "seduce" his friend or brother.
The show is very well executed in that, you not even for a moment feel confused or lost in the plot. You do not feel like your emotions are being played with. When you have a doubt, it gets resolved, even if not immediately within the same ep. The best part is that there is not a single miscommunication or misunderstanding (yes I choose to say this because K'Ran chose to lie to K'Yai deliberately). There are NO dumb characters!!! The story flows naturally, and the characters are actually intelligent! They find out the truth on their own, and the audience doesn't feel like we are being spoon-fed/info-dumped.
I absolutely LOVED that the other 2 male characters did NOT fight for K'Ran. They instead fought to keep her happy, to help her earn, and eat well lol, cuz that woman refuses to take care of herself my God! Thank God for K'Lek being there! And once both K'Sam and K'Lek realise K'Yai still loves K'Ran, they do their absolute best to help them both get back together again!
I am not giving the show a 10 simply because I am not satisfied with how the story dealt with K'Yai's narcissistic, selfish, clearly, hurt, AND psychotic, masochist of a mother (I wanted to cut off an entire 1%, but that would mean the entire show in only 85%), who was the cause of the rift between K'Yai and K'Ran. Living with a person like her, I know first hand that such a person will not change, whether over a long period of time (in my family's case-25+ years), or overnight just because their safety is threatened. They can pretend they have turned a new leaf, but they will NEVER accept their mistake, or let the world know of it if they can help it. So K'Aoijay revealing her disgusting deeds to the world, AND getting off scot-free really pissed me off.
Character ranking:
Grandma: Hands-down best character! And truly wise!
K'Lek: Gosh adorable bean!
K'Ran: So glad she is finally happy!
K'Sam: Can we have more men/2nd leads like this please!!!
K'Yai: You can see he's gotten his mother's masochistic tendencies, but he becomes better, and learns from his mistakes!
K'Dao: Annoying little devil (saying this is the sweetest way possible😂)
K'Nana: Girl please learn some self-worth! And someone make her pay an actual price for trying to make K'Ran's life hellish in highschool!
K'Aoijay: Lady, you need to pay for your crimes against your son, you daughter-in-law (especially), and mother-in-law, AND your granddaughter!
I'd honestly love to see a continuation of the show with just our main CP living together, a happy and fullfilled life filled with laughter and warmth. That way we could also get to see if K'Ran wants to explore going back to her studies, or Taekwando, seeing that she's truly stopped blaming herself for her father's death
And, can someone PLEASE cast the young actors portraying K'Ran and K'Yai as a couple or even friends in another show! Their chemistry was so natural!!!
Truly a great journey overall!
PS: Did anyone else feel K'Film has lost more weight or was it just me...? Ma man, you are perfect the way you are! Please don't lose weight!
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