Brilliant acting, but goes around in circles

I started watching this series due to all the hype and awards. It's a psychological thriller (not a mystery) so you do need patience and the willingness to understand the motives, behaviour patterns and relationship connections for all the characters. It's a very intricately woven story, with a lot of nuance and some phenomenal acting from all the cast members.

However, I found the pace inconsitent from episode to episode, and it was annoying to have a lot of the story told with flashbacks ranging from months to years to days to hours! It also had a gimmicky approach towards some of the characters, making you suspect this character and the other character quite randomly, and then the story heading in a completely different direction. They could have done without these gimmicks.

Overall, it's a good, though slow, watch and worth it purely for the performances of all the cast members.

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One of the most satisfying endings I've seen in kdramas

The drama is an ode, a poem, a dedication to the relationship between Hardy and Ramanujan, full of passion and maths. The leads have a connection quite different from typical kdramas, metaphorically linked to the way Hardy and Ramanujan inspired and cheered on each other.

The first half is a lot of maths and the second half is a revenge plotline. I enjoyed the first half more, as I love maths, but I can imagine that a lot of kdrama watchers will relate to the more stereotypical second half better. The drama has one of the most well-paced, complete and satisfying endings ever, wrapping up all plotlines beautifully in episodes 15 and 16.

The acting is impeccable, especially from Jin Kyung (the Principal), Oh Gwang Rok (FL's father) and Choi Dae Hoon (the 2ML). The child actors have also done a good job. Lee Do Hyun looks absolutely gorgeous and very stylish in the latter half!

Overall, a terribly under-rated drama with consistent pacing, good OST and good visuals. I would recommend everyone to pick it up and give it a try despite its bafflingly low MDL rating.

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I fast-forwarded through most of the drama, but even I have to admit it was beautiful..

Those who expect a romance or a romcom will be sorely disappointed - but you will be rewarded with a powerful social message and beautifully written characters and storyline. It makes you cry A LOT, but the slow pace of life shown reflects the actual message from the series - life is quite mundane and ordinary most days, but we must find the beauty and meaning from it where we can.

I didn't know what to expect so I found the early episodes quite slow and boring. But after Episode 8, I started appreciating the message the writers were sending us - that when we are young, we refuse to accept we will get old and we take things for granted.

Overall, I would recommend the drama, but only if you are ready and willing to go through some powerful emotions and accept the slow pace of unfolding. Yes, and do watch out for that famous plot twist!

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The best of scenes, the worst of scenes..

I finished watching Start-up months ago, but I still haven't decided whether it was good or bad as a series. The first few episodes were world-class - the show features some of the most emotional, touching, visually superior scenes ever seen before in kdramas. But it went downhill so fast, and the last few episodes and the ML's behaviour did not make any sense at all!

I am being generous with the rating despite the absolute catastrophe the last few episodes were because:
- The OST is superb!
- The cinematography, visuals and fashion are top class
- The world discovered Kim Seonho thanks to this series
- The endearing scenes - HJP and Halmeoni scenes, the noodle scene, the HJP drinking scene, the sam san check twirls, the happiness on HJP's face when he meets the charity guy, the little gestures and mannerisms of HJP, HJP driving in fancy cars,.
(eh, the good scenes all belong to HJP? Never noticed)

I work in a start-up, and the start-up story line is fairly accurate as it goes. Until we hit episode 12 or so, and it takes an absurd, nonsensical direction that I can't explain. It's nothing to do with business from that point on.

I would still recommend this series - just for them to see the talented KSH in action. I am sure a minority of them will be okay with the ending as well. But good luck making sense of the fall from grace, episode after episode.

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I really wanted to like this drama, but..

I am really surprised, shocked and disappointed at the level of unanimous approval this drama has. The drama is fantastic for a lot of reasons - a traditional historic drama with no major twists or gimmicks, fantastic acting from every single cast member and powerful screenplay/dialogues. Junho's acting will probably get a baeksang.

However, I can't rate it high due to the extreme misogyny and forced behaviour shown. It's okay to call some of the toxic, mysoginistic behaviour a 'sign of the times' and accept it as part of history, but it's a different matter liking and enjoying it and giving it a high rating.

The FL's behaviour is annoying quite often (though I like her independent personality) and is shown as a manipulator and egoist. The writing doesn't make sense after Ep 15 and becomes extremely slow and draggy. I have never seen a drama with more rejections from the FL and more forceful behaviour from the ML - do they really need to get together? She cringes every time she sees him!

I also have to warn about the amount of tragedy in the series. I know we are all inundated with countless stressful news and media every day, and this series will definitely add more stress/anxiety due to the nature of the story. There are dramas with a mix of tragedy and comedy which I rate highly, but this one is quite straight-to-the-heart. If anyone's looking to avoid stress, probably best to skip this drama.

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A drama that deserved more hype

I watch multiple kdramas at one time, but Lovestruck wasn't in my radar at all last year. I was busy watching super-hyped dramas like Mr Queen, Start-up, True Beauty, Run On, Uncanny Counter and then Vincenzo all at the same time while Lovestruck was running. I feel it's a drama that has suffered from poor timing and sheer bad luck as the other dramas were so over-the-top brilliant and successful!

This is a fantastic love story and deserved so much more hype, good ratings and reviews! It's probably in my top 10 romance dramas of all time (not just kdramas).

In summary, it's a feel-good drama with a modern urban setting and fantastic visuals. It's well-suited to the Netflix generation of slow, modern romcoms that explore realistic relationships. It seems to be better suited to a western audience than an audience expecting the structure and tropes of kdramas though. JCW is fantastic as always, but I absolutely detested FL's selfish behaviour. Despite that, the beach scenes, the cinematography, the romance, the openness of conversations, the music, etc make it a worthwhile watch. I might just take up surfing thanks to the series. It certainly deserves a higher score than it has on MDL!

PS: Check out the song "Kiss me" by Isaac Hong. So good!

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Cute romcom, but skip Ep 16

I will admit that I watch Kdramas for the cliches and fluffy, happy moments and general feel-good quality and this show has a lot of these. A chaebol ML, a strong-minded (?) FL, good visuals, decent OST and a solid supporting cast. The first few episodes were genuinely funny and entertaining as well.

A lot of the recent shows seem to have writing problems towards the ending (cough-Startup-cough) and this one suffered the same fate. The last episode made no sense to me at all! I have no idea why the writer went down the route they did, but it had no story or visual correlation to the first 15 episodes.

Overall, I watch dramas for the enjoyment and light moments, and I must say this delivered to a large extent. Not the best romcom out there, but fun nevertheless.

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There was laughter, sadness, horror and a lot of feel-good vibes!

I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud so much in the middle of the night! A hilarious take on the tired gumiho/supernatural genre, but so so good.

One of the best things about the drama was the strong-willed FL, which was refreshing to see. She never changed character or personality throughout the show and I was so glad there was no character improvement arc for her, because she was perfect! The leads had awesome chemistry together too.

But my absolute favourite character was Kang Han-na's. She simply stole the show! Her character as someone who lives life fully suited her so well.

I don't have any complaints - the pace was perfect, there were elements of horror, fantasy, history, comedy etc thrown in without too much unnecessary focus on any, all characters were fleshed out well and everything tied up nicely at the end. A must watch for romcom lovers!

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What a lovely, straight forward romance!

This was a hidden gem, and something I picked up only because I was looking for contract romances. The love story was so cute, feel-good and one of the best I have ever seen in kdramas! And it's such a natural portrayal of relationships with lots of cuddles, kisses and hugs, and doesn't drag or slow down in any way. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend for romance kdrama fans!

The acting is great too - am surprised the ML and FL haven't been cast in many hit dramas since this one, I would love to see them in romance dramas again. The ML is just so cute, you can't take any offense even when he's rude in the beginning.

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Watch it for the lead chemistry!

I started watching Love Designer for its business elements and attractive cast - it didn't always deliver, but it was a decent watch.

The good points:
- The FL/ML chemistry is really really hot. I don't remember the last time I found a pair so good and easy-going together. It was like watching a real couple spending time together!
- The sister Luo Luo's character was so adorable
- Good visuals especially around Shanghai and fashion
- The business part in the beginning was quite interesting, especially around China's funding landscape and copyright issues. But the business part almost disappeared after the midway point?

The bad points:
- The story dragged oh-way-too-much! This could have ended in episode 22 and noone would have complained!
- Too many unnecessary characters and plot points added after the halfway point for no reason
- Too many parents creating trouble - what's with all these meddling moms?
- Johnny's strong entrepreneur character became... too soft and lost his personality towards the end

Overall, decent but nothing great. Could be something to watch if you are in the mood for a fluffy, light romance with some business elements.

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If you like meaningful philosophical discussions, this show is for you

I went in to the show expecting a fantasy with supernatural, good looking beings, and I did get Goblin and Twilight vibes in the first few episodes. However, half way through the show I've realised that's not what the series is about at all! It's a long look at life and death, light and darkness and how destruction is as important as creation. It's a whole philosophical discourse. It's almost ironic that such a dark theme (of death) has been dealt with so positively and leaves us all with happy thoughts at the end of each episode. Hope all of us watch it for the life lessons and learn to live our short lives as best as we can!

Thoroughly enjoyable for its slow pace and meaningful discussions (if you are in the right frame of mind for it) and I will come back to review again at the end!

Edit: I've finished the series and the ending didn't disappoint! The story and screenplay have remained true to the theme till the very end. This will certainly be remembered as a classic!

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A promising start, and then dragged to the end

The series had a lot to offer at first - a powerful woman boss, Hwang In Yeop, a gripping revenge/law/courtroom drama and some elements of a whodunnit mystery. I was gripped for the first four episodes. But goodness, it went downhill after that! The story went around in circles and repeated the same tired storylines, cliches and tropes from then on till the last episode when things were resolved. Every episode brought in the same problem for the hundredth time with no intent of resolution, increased intensity or decreased intensity - just the same problem hashed again and again. Even though the female lead character was written very well, the FL could not act beyond her shocked wide-eyed look.

Romance was completely unnecessary to the plot. In my mothertongue there is a saying that 'when you put random unmatched things together, it creates poison'. This is what an unnecessary romance did to this series. Plus a few copouts to the storyline like the white truck of doom to solve things much too easily.

There were a few good things though - the romance up to Ep 4 was decent, I could almost believe they wanted to be together (until it became stalkerish later on). The actual storyline started off quite interesting. My favourite part was all the scenes the villain appeared - Heo Joon Ho is such a fantastic actor! His drunken walk scene may be the best-acted scene I've watched recently. Kudos to him.

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20% fun, 80% cliche

I think this is one of the most over-hyped dramas of 2022. It was fun at the beginning, I really enjoyed the cute scenes, the fast pace, the narration... but after ep 6, it became just another one of those cliche kdramas that I absolutely love to avoid. The humour died and so did the quality of narration.

I'm a little surprised that people love such cliche dramas even in 2022. I hated What's Wrong with Secretary Kim - it showed office relationships in a very bad light, had unnecessary childhood trauma tropes, the male lead was a jerk not charming and the poor FL was forced to stay and do a job that she didn't want to do. ABP is not this bad, but very much on the borderline of some of these misogynistic tropes.

The FL was cast perfectly and she easily steals the show. The second couple is adorable and I took to them far more than the first couple.

Overall, its a fun, easy watch but go in with the expectations of an 8.2 rated show rather than an 8.8 rated show!

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A fantastic commentary on human behaviour, but the series is not for everyone

The drama has rave reviews and high ratings and that is for a good reason. It's a well-made drama based on a solid plot line. It will resonate with a post-covid audience on random governmental controls and lockdowns as well as human greed and power plays. Every episode keeps you on the edge, and not a single scene is predictable or boring.

But everyone probably knows this all by now from reviews and word of mouth. On the negative side, honestly, I struggled to finish the series - I had to take long breaks in between episodes and had to watch happy/feel-good series before being ready to come back to Happiness. The title conveys how difficult it is to find happiness in our day-to-day lives, and the series' plot line is also like that. Happy moments are rare; when they do come, it is refreshing. But it's so, so rare amidst all the conflict and chaos.

When you do manage to finish the series, it's all worthwhile as it is a happy ending. But the journey to get there is filled with fear, anxiety, worry and disgust, probably quite an accurate reflection on human behaviour around the pandemic.

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