Eleison

Also, Minji never went to a hospital for her head injury and just bounced back beautifully. That was pretty unrealistic. There were several things that didn't quite make sense.

Might want to mark this as a spoiler?

Whoever was in charge of styling knows their stuff. Minji's Nike Air Force 1's are the shoes all the teenagers wear. 😅

Also, Minji should be listed as a main. She's in it too much to be relegated to a support role.

Ah, then I had it pegged from the start. 😅

The FL's response after learning the truth was one of the parts I loved best also. It was refreshing!

Cause he suspected it was not real... 😏

Min Su Ji and An Gi Jun.

Yes, though their story was not super compelling; that said, the guy (and I guess together they) grew on me as the drama progressed. The girl was not written the best, though, in my opinion.

I thought it was BL based on the poster (it looks like BL posters) until I recognized the MLs cast in it. I predict a "Devil Judge" vibe/dynamic.

I think the same would go for Jun Young, though he seems more willing to experiment with different types of roles than Song Kang.

While there are some draggy parts and some cheesy/cringey parts, overall, I really enoyed it. Despite the violent/mild thriller aspects of this drama, it's a cozy drama at heart, about found family and what truly builds a lasting connection between people: trust, willing good towards those around you (aka love), and integrity.

It was so refreshing to watch a drama that was clearly planned from start to finish, and didn't nosedive halfway through. It didn't do what a lot of dramas do, which is the typical cliche and trope grab from the Kdrama formula box to fill run time for the second half or last four episodes.

I liked all the characters very much, and I felt like they were well-fleshed out and all grew in some form or fashion. I even liked the way they intertwined the villain's story into the rest of the character's stories/pasts. It made him feel more human, and showcase the tragedy of someone capable of more but who continued to choose less. He lost big time, and realized it too late.

I thought the "childhood connection" was sweetly played, and I also LOVED that when the FL got her memory back they didn't spend an episode showing her feeling betrayed and hurt that he had lied to her. She instantly and immediately connected the dots and trusted what she'd come to see and know about the ML through her actual interactions with him. I also loved what the grandma said to Tae Ha's mom about her being a wonderful mother; it was very sweet.

I also enjoyed the part when the FL asked why the ML hadn't asked for her number in Japan. He admitted that instead of becoming an Olympic athlete he'd become a gangster, so he felt unworthy of her because she was becoming a lawyer standing up for what was good and right. She countered him by saying that she had veered from the "righteous lawyer" path, too. "I guess none of us live up to our own expectations of who we'll become in the future." (Or something like that). She was reminding him that both of them had made mistakes, and comparing was unhelpful. I loved that!

It reminded me of Crash Landing On You in a lot of ways. Not as iconic, but similar in tone and feel and theme.

A cohesive, cozy, enjoyable watch!

Lack of spicy/steamy for a Netflix original was kind of surprising (in a good way!). That's not usually the direction they go with dramas so this was unexpectedly wholesome and cozy.

The bones of this drama were good, but they cut too much for the drama to really land effectively and satisfyingly.

I liked the main leads and thought they had very good chemistry (I thought the scene where they reunited in Episode 12 sizzled), and the second leads were a cute bonus.

I would have liked to see the ML expand his own dreams beyond the FL (he was too fixated to be healthy), but none of the characters were angels, so I liked that they all made mistakes in one way or another.

Objectively speaking, it probably deserves a 7.5/10, but I enjoyed it despite the fact that it was clearly hacked up from its original vision (in my opinion), so I was generous and gave it an 8/10.

I have been well!

A lot has been going on in my personal life (in good ways) that has kept me occupied so I have not been watching many dramas lately! It's probably my lowest summer streak of dramas back-to-back ever, which, between you and me, is probably not a terrible thing. 😅

I might give Spooky In Love a try! I have one episode left of Dream To You, and even though the drama is a hot mess (mainly because I think it was significantly cut down, for whatever reason, and because it also has some weirdly makjang-level plot points), it was a fun watch and I liked all the actors in it. Wouldn't necessarily recommend it, though. 😅

I finished A Splendid Match in June and really liked it (the last few episodes got kind of ruined by massive cuts that left gaping holes in the story; it was weird, but I think the rest of the drama made it worth the watch). I also finished Teach Them A Lesson (which was great fun (loved the satirical elements), especially after working in education for years). I finally finished I Am Nobody (just reconciled myself to perpetual confusion and a high threshold of weird in order to finish it) and stumbled on a short, low-budget Cdrama on YouTube called Spring Burning which was a pleasant watch and enjoyable if not high quality and pretty basic (I realized I enjoy Cdramas set in rural, unique parts of Chinese countryside, like Meet Yourself (LOVED this one) or Love Me, Love My Voice). I had seen snippets of You Are My Hero on YouTube, but I finally watched the whole thing because I love Bai Jing Ting. It was very reminiscent of Descendents Of The Sun (but more draggy, and even more unrealistic, believe it or not 😅).

I liked IU in her first drama, Dream High (that was her breakout role), though the drama is dated. That screenwriter is my favorite Kdrama writer, so I loved everything she's written since Dream High. IU was also very good in My Mister, but the drama was not my cup of tea; too depressing and melancholy for my taste. Worth watching once, though. Hotel De Luna was also not my favorite, but because I don't always like the supernatural elements cause I'm easily spooked (I'm totally fine with dramas like Missing: The Other Side, because they're not creepy at all). I have a pretty low threshold for horror or anything genre-related, because Hotel De Luna is not that scary, objectively speaking. 😅 But I often don't like dramas with those elements. Spooky In Love seems like it would be fine, though.

Happy watching to you as well!

I finished it with my sister a few months ago and it's now one of our favorites of all time. A great drama.

I wrote a review of Twinkling Watermelon and named it, "If Back To The Future Were A Kdrama." 😅

I probably won't be watching this, but the leads are a GORGEOUS pairing. 😏

Genuine question (not picking a fight): what do you mean by "realistic dramas like this"?

He's also great in Dr. Romantic!

They had a pretty immature dynamic (particularly her). She slept with him twice on a completely spontaneous whim by making him think she was super interested and then dipped BOTH times when he tried to pursue something more sustainable. Don't honestly know what he saw in her and why he tried to stick around...?🤷🏼‍♀️

I also think this drama suffered from some serious editing where a lot was cut to get it down to 12 episodes. My take is the third couple was the pair with the most cut out, which is also why their arc felt so... sparse? Like we just kept getting crumbs and never had the full story of what was really going on with them. 💁🏼‍♀️