DramaAjumma

She's very good at picking scripts and male leads.

Two episodes in and I feel like I'm watching a modernised Chinese version of Persuasion.

It's not that surprising of course because it feels very much like an older adaptation of a classic 19th century British novel. It's all that incredible subtext between the leads that makes their dynamic rich with tension. Belying all the small talk and non-sequiturs, It's what's not said that's driving the romance.

From your lips to God's ears.

I've seen him in that. He's pretty good there too.

It's certainly gorgeous to look at. I like the minimalist storytelling approach. It's all in the showing.

Whoah. Jing Boran's character here is 180 degrees from the character he played in The Psychologist. He's great in whatever he does.

Yeah, I didn't get the criticisms about him in his last show either. I'm surprised you're watching this.

Can only speak for myself but I have a thing about guys with dulcet/sonorous voices. For other people it's love at first sight -- for me it's love at first sound.

It's all him. I could listen to him read a phone book.

Not a whole lot makes sense towards the end. Least of all the last episode.

With a better final act, this show could have been amazing.

Yeah. I could say a lot more about that but I won't.
Thanks for reading. I found your review a great read too. Appreciate the background information.

My thoughts about the show's finale.
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/crash-course-in-romance-2023-episodes-b98

This is my problem with K dramas and their need to redeem every single character including the egregiously one dimensional ones. It's fine to have one dimensional characters in the mix but if there's no groundwork for redemption, don't bother. Charles Dickens understood that which is why he got away with it. Don't make the mean mums so mean if you're going to forgive them in one episode.

But the worst part is that they had to pair off everybody like consolation prizes.

It's a rare combination in a show which is smart, well-acted and actually... fun. And that courtroom drama in the last couple of episodes was fantastic theatre.
Glad I found it.

This show is so good. It's surprisingly humourous.
Bureaucrats duking it out with red tape. Depicts the public service quite accurately.

Oooh. A serious sageuk with palace politics and whodunit elements. Lovely. Looking foward to it.

It has a terrible last act though. More's the pity because the majority of the show was pretty good.

As suspected, the show did a big reset in the last episode. Very schmaltzy. Everyone holding hands singing kumbaya. Almost as if the last 15 episodes was just a really bad dream. No real consequences.

Got to give the cast their due. They made this work.

The more suspiciously Shin Jae-ha's character (new guy) acts, the less suspicious I am of him. He may not be a bad guy.

My 2 cents about the ending and the rest of the drama.
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/strangers-again-2023-final-thoughts