This is a noona romance, pure and simple. There’s some exposition on what it’s like to be a reporter for a magazine, what it’s like to be an odd job man, what it’s like not to earn a steady living, and what it’s like to Earn a steady living, but all of that really comes in second to the noona romance. And the noona romance…is gooooood. The writers really got what real romance is about. Mutual respect, compatibility, excitement, passion, Actually Spending Time Together. Freakin’ real-deal romance. (And Zero asshole behavior, for which I am always grateful.)

Unfortunately, the drama did the romance So well, that it was all the more disappointing when same said romance faltered in the final quarter.

I'm talking about the Love Octopus (my name for love triangles).

I know they're common in older dramas, and it’s honestly very short-lived here (about two or three episodes), and yet I hated everything about it.

Almost from the moment he appeared on screen, I was ready for Shi Hoon to leave. From being angry at Ji Yeon for believing his secretary’s lie (don't even get me started on the stupidity of that whole plotline) to expecting everything to go back to exactly the way it had been six years earlier (because obviously, nothing could have changed within those six years; neither of them were different people or anything) to ‘pretending’ to be a ‘noble idiot’ and ‘pushing’ Ji Yeon away. (I didn’t even realize he was being a Noble Idiot until Ji Yeon pointed it out. That’s how good he was at just being an ass.) He literally got more and more annoying as the show went on, and by the end, I just wanted him dead.

As for Ji Yeon, she proved to be frustrating in a different, but all too familiar way to seasoned drama watchers. Leading up to the Love Octopus, she was a fabulous female lead. She’s feisty, she’s driven, she’s smart, she’s no-nonsense, SHE'S BLOODY CONSISTENT! Then Mr. Ex showed up, and Ji Yeon went from feisty and driven to timid and indecisive. She lost all sense of personality, spunk, spark, passion, fire, confidence, independence, and I HATED IT.

I’m not saying I don’t understand why it happened. She had been in a relationship with Shi Hoon for a long time, she’d clearly been pretending to be someone she wasn’t when she was with him, and the end of their relationship had devastated her. But we didn’t get nearly enough exposition into their past relationship for her sudden change in demeanor to feel realistic. I just didn’t believe that a woman so self-possessed would fall apart that easily at the sight of her ex.

But here’s where I sing Dong Ha’s praises as he was the only part of the Love Octopus that wasn't terrible. I love him. I love every single thing about him. He’s perfect. He’s wonderful. He’s kind. He’s caring. He’s giving. He’s hard working. He’s all the good things.

He literally saved this drama.

I will admit here that I might be too harsh in my assessment of this part of the story, but I honestly hated watching our female lead go from feisty and self-assured to a complete doormat within the span of seconds. And what made it so much worse is that all of the sexy, romantic, cuteness between our leads all but disappeared once the story hit the 'My ex fiancé is back, and for some unexplainable reason, I feel obligated to go back to him' arc. We were left with this open-ended, will they-won't they ending between our leads, and neither of them deserved that.

I don’t regret sticking this drama out, but I don’t Not regret it either. I mostly just wish we had gotten a less open ended ending. (Would have gone a long way in making up for the ex fiancé subplot.) I still totally recommend this drama to anyone who likes noona romances. Or just anyone who likes romances where there’s actually a compelling reason for the main couple to Be the main couple. Or just anyone who likes nice guys. Because as much as I hate Shi Hoon and feel like the drama really dragged it’s way to the finish after he showed up, I also think this drama was really, really, really well written and really, really, really, Really well acted and has a Fabulous romance between two people who are Actually compatible. If you can put up with two to three episodes of ex-significant-other drama (which is probably perfectly bearable as long as you’re not me) and a pretty open ended ending, this noona romance is killer.

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For a while there, I thought this would end up being one of my favorite dramas. The acting was phenomenal. The characters were phenomenal. The story was phenomenal. It was all so phenomenal. It was also one of those rare dramas from my newbie drama days where the stories outside of the romance actually interested me. Normally, I didn't care about so and so's conglomerate or singing career or whatever other boring and cliché overarching story the writers came up with, because I was there for the romance, damn it. But not this drama. I loved the whole idea of there being this woman who could see ghosts, but she doesn't know how to make them go away, and then meeting a random man who had some unexplained ability to get rid of them. It was compelling and tightly plotted, full of the kind of twisted logic only a drama can deliver.

I even got some enjoyment out of Joong Won's kidnapping and betrayal story. The idea of him being kidnapped and simultaneously betrayed by his teenaged girlfriend/teenaged girlfriends evil twin was overdramatic and unrealistic and filled with plotholes, but it had such a great initial setup that I couldn't help but be drawn in. I was excited to see what was going to happen. I totally called the whole thing falling apart long beforehand, so I wasn't surprised when it veered off into left field towards the middle of the drama, but it was still disappointing to see. The whole plotline was total makjang, confusing and silly and hard to follow. Hee Joo, Han Na, Anna, Falanna, Fee Fi Fo, Banana, let's forget about the fact that a teenage girl could not plan out a kidnapping like that (or really any kidnapping) by herself, we were also given very little explanation for Why she did it. At least not a strong one. So your nice twin stole your man without him realizing that was what was happening (although I don't know just how 'nice' that makes her.) Why you gotta kidnap Him for it? It wasn't His fault. The more logical option would have been to just kill your twin and take over her life so you could date Joong Won. Still messed up, but at least the logic follows.

It's in the characters and the romance that this drama really shines though.

I liked pretty much all of the leads (minus one) equally. Gong Shil is adorable, hilarious, full of emotional depth, and dogged in her pursuit of relief from ghosts. Her plight was both comical and heartrendingly sad. When she batted away a ghost or reeled back from one in fear, I laughed and felt for her at the same time. Joong Won is obsessive compulsive, highly intelligent, full of emotional depth, and dogged in his pursuit of relief from Gong Shil. His journey of self discovery and growth is superbly done and kept me very invested in his character. He's the same man at the end of the story, same quirks and mannerisms, and yet...he's a completely different person in so many ways.

Kang Woo was too precious for words. Loyal, sweet, adorable, intelligent, in possession of one of the most beautiful faces ever gifted to man, basically the perfect secondary male lead. He doesn't experience any kind of growth, but he doesn't really need to. He's Kang Woo. And once again, let's acknowledge the obvious. Man is DOUBLE FINE. (It's like a double rainbow but better.) Yi Ryung was the only one of the main four that didn't wow me. Spoiled and snobbish and hilarious in the most unintentional ways (intentional on the part of the writers, unintentional on the part of the character), I liked her. But I never loved her. She never experienced the amount of emotional growth and maturity I wanted her to.

Han Na and Hee Joo's teenage versions were interesting (despite the utter insanity of of the kidnapping and betrayal plot). Unfortunately, adult Hee Joo does not get a pass from me. I'm sure it was explained at some point and I just missed it, but I never understood why she showed back up. What did she want? What was her goal? She'd killed her sister, ruined Joong Won's life, and stole an expensive necklace for fun. (Or did she? I've actually forgotten now.) Did she just want to gloat about it?

In what is a rare turn me for me, I found myself experiencing some heavy second lead feels with this drama. This was particularly distressing to me, as I loved the male lead equally as much. Joong Won and Kang Woo were both perfectly acceptable romance options for Gong Shil, having equally compelling chemistry and relationships with her that were very carefully developed and thought through.

Some people would consider Joong Won a jerk and not worth Gong Shil's time, but I wouldn't classify him that way. If I were in a similar situation as him and someone I'd never met started following me around trying to touch me all the time because the 'ghosts' wouldn't leave them alone...I'd call the police. You really can't call Joong Won a jerk for trying to make a weird, kind of creepy woman leave him alone. Yes, his way(s) of avoiding his feelings for Gong Shil later on in the drama were unfair and not particularly kind, but they weren't intentionally malicious either.

Of course, Kang Woo filled the role of perfect second male lead to perfection, and that's the whole reason I had so much trouble squashing my second lead feels. If he'd had the ability to make the ghosts disappear rather than Joong Won and Gong Shil had shown romantic interest in him, I would have rooted for him instead. But Gong Shil and Joong Won liked each other, and he was the only one who could make the ghosts go away, and I really wanted Gong Shil to not have to see them anymore, so Joong Won...won...in the end. (That is a name ripe for puns.)

Intense second lead feels aside, I would say this romance is very well done. Gong Shil's constant need to be in contact with Joong Won contrasted with his desperate desire to get rid of her provided us with a hilarious give and take situation that I thoroughly enjoyed. And then when the tables were turned and it was him who needed the constant contact, it just made my heart go awwwww. The whole 'I love you, so you have to make sure I don't love you' thing was a surprisingly brilliant and effective plot device, even if incredibly silly character wise. Watching him try to deny his feelings was like watching those kids who take part in those experiments where they have to not eat something for a certain period of time in order to get something better. Only in this case, there was no reason for him to wait for something better, because Gong Shil was already perfect for him.

But the 'I love you. Don't let me love you' plot device eventually turned into a double edged sword, and it soon became obvious to everyone that all Gong Shil and Joong Won really wanted was to be together, and no matter how many reasons they came up with as to why they Couldn't be together, there was just no longer a legitimate reason for them Not to be together. Then it became a waiting game; a long, drawn out, waiting game where the only way to pass the time was to place bets on who would give in first.

And what better time for a third quarter shake up then right when our leads are on the cusp of admitting their undying love for each other. (That is a joke. It was not a good time. It was a bad time. It was terrible. I want my money back.) No, I'm not talking about Joong Won dying and then coming back with no memory of Gong Shil. Surprisingly, after sitting down and working out my feelings about it, I realized that that actually happened at the perfect point in the story.

I'm talking about Mr. 'I can see ghosts too.'

I understand why he was there. The drama was extended unexpectedly, and they needed to fill the extra time. But the characters presence is ultimately unnecessary. He adds nothing to the plot, he doesn't help Gong Shil find any answers, and he has it in his head that he has some kind of romantic claim on her because he met her ghost once. Nah, son. That ain't how that works.

In the end, our leads do still get a happy ending, but they also have to suffer through some rather unnecessary heartache before getting there. And they deliver to the audience what is a super weak-sauce kiss. Maybe the writers thought all the casual touching would be enough to satisfy the audience, but they thought wrong. Lame kiss was lame.

Despite it's faults, this drama does have a lot to commend itself, and I would recommend watching it.

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Just a Heads Up: This review is being written literal Years since I watched this drama. At least ten years now, if my math is right. That means it won't be an accurate representation of what I thought of this drama just after completing it but more of a reflection of my feelings for it now with all the nostalgia, the frustration, and eyes wide open to the stories flaws.

....

Ooooooh, Fated to Love You. What a history we have together. You were my first Asian drama ever, where it all began for me. You were the Definition of a crack drama; over-the-top, melodramatic, ridiculous, and yet somehow intensely watchable. Your female lead hit me in the feels so hard I'm Still feeling it. And you were So. Damn. Infuriating.

I loved and hated you at the same time.

First and foremost, I Love Xin Yi as a character. I know mousy, downtrodden, insecure, damsel-in-distress characters are considered passé now, offensive even, but I like them, and I always will. (Judge me all you want.) And Joe Chen's portrayal of such a character is simply superb. When she cried, You cried. (And don't tell me you didn't, cause you're lying.) Of course, Cun Xi is a terrible person, and you hate most of the things he does and frequently hate him himself, but he still made me like him at the same time, and whenever he did something lovely for Xin Yi, my heart melted into a puddle at my feet. (So sue me.) Anna, unsurprisingly, is one of my least favorite second female leads of all time and probably the main source of ire for me in this drama. She's bloody awful, and you spend most of the time she's on screen thinking up creative ways for her to die. And Dylan may have been a nice (ok, he Was nice), but that doesn't change the fact that I find clingy secondary leads annoying on most fronts, no matter how nice they are, and I did find him clingy.

Looking back at this drama now, I fully recognize the myriad of flaws with the story, and if I were watching it today for the first time ever, I probably wouldn't be able to finish it. I actually tried to re-watch it a few years ago, and I couldn't get more than halfway through. There are a lot of things I love about old-school dramas and sort-of miss, but there are a lot of things I put up with while watching them too. Draggy sections, extreme noble idiocy, wringing every last ounce of drama from a situation as possible to the point of inducing intense rage. I didn't enjoy those things then, and I don't enjoy them now. But I put up with them, because the stories made me care. And that's how it was with Fated to Love You. It may have had extreme noble idiocy, and it may have dragged in places, and it may have spent a large chunk of time trying to wring every last ounce of unnecessary drama from some of it's plot points, but it made me care. I wouldn't care Now, but it made me care then.

So I love this drama. And I hate it. And I will probably always feel that way, lol.

....

I don't remember anything about the music of this drama, so I've rated it a 1, but I'm sure it was like a lot of dramas of it's time and therefore holds some level of nostalgia/cringe of it's own, lol.

....

Original Review:
This is the first drama I ever watched, and I consumed it like it was crack. I both love and hate it at the same time, and it will forever have a special place in my heart.

I tried to rewatch it a couple years ago, and I couldn't get more than halfway through, lol.

Links to my reviews for the other versions:

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/review/22004

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/75009

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/274737

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I don't actually know how to rate this drama. If I went off of my feelings based on the first half and the very end, I would give it a 10. If I went off of my feelings based on the second half minus the very end, I would give it a 5. Like most dramas, it starts off great. It's quirky and charming with (mostly) enjoyable characters, and a story I guarantee you haven't found in any other K drama. But also like most dramas, the story begins to drag halfway through, almost as if they'd reached the wait part of hurrying up to wait, and you start to feel a little tired of carrying it around with you.

There were many beautiful moments sprinkled throughout, and it deals with death and loss with such a deft and gentle hand, so I soldiered on, pushing myself to finish, and this drama clearly did Something right, because I was a sobbing mess the entire final 15 minutes.

That ending Wrecked Me.

I wouldn't put this drama on my list of favorite's. I wouldn't even put it on my list of 'definitely don't wish I could get any of that time spent watching it back.'

But there's something about this drama, even if I can't quite put my finger on it.

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This drama is inevitably going to be compared to Healer. Similar plot setup with the same lead actor playing a character living outside the law, highly trained in the art of fighting and espionage, finding himself wrapped up in a massive conspiracy centered around a traumatized young woman, etc. etc. etc. There’s obviously a lot there to compare.

But the #1 complaint about this drama I heard the most from other viewers was about who the male lead chose to be with. By and large, everyone liked the idea of a passionate (albeit reckless) romance between Jae Ha and Yoo Jin and utterly disdained the pairing of Jae Ha and Anna. They loved how meaty and well-written Yoo Jin is (not to mention the strong chemistry she has with Jae Ha) while they hated Anna passionately, how innocent and helpless she was, how she wasn’t a ‘strong female lead’, how the relationship between Jae Ha and Anna was tame and boring, so on and so forth. The consensus seemed to be pretty unanimous.

But these complaints sounded like quibbles rather than drama-breaking issues to me, so I dismissed them. I don’t consider innocence a character flaw, I don’t automatically consider helplessness a character flaw, and I quite enjoy my sweet and innocent romances, thank you very much. On top of that, I wasn’t seeing any of these critiques going any further and really examining why Anna was supposedly such a poorly written and acted character, just that she didn’t fit everyone else’s personal preferences for a female lead.

I now have to admit that I was wrong to dismiss everyone's critiques so quickly

Having now seen a sizable portion of the drama, I understand the criticisms, and even have to agree with them somewhat. Yoo Jin is simply a much better character. She has personality presence, the actress does an amazing job making her interesting and intriguing and impossible to look away from, and yes, she has crazy good chemistry with Jae Ha.

But she’s also a terrible person, and there's no getting around that.

She's manipulative and selfish, willing to hurt others for what she wants; she uses Anna as a pawn, keeping her separated from her father basically her entire life, more than happy to make her life miserable and allow her to believe she's not loved or wanted, probably even willing to drive Anna to losing her mind. Yoo Jin is a b****. She may be a fascinating, intriguing, mesmerizing b****, but she's still a b****, and I don't stan that sort of romantic relationship.

Unfortunately, Anna is not a good character, and there's very little about her that will make most viewers root for her relationship with Jae Ha. It's not that she's so terribly written. She certainly could have been beefed up a bit more once you really got into the story, but a good actress would have been able to make the character work and even feel sympathetic and interesting to the audience. But, and I'm sorry to crush any biases here, Im Yoon Ah is a terrible actress. She has her moments, but every time she speaks in sentences longer than 2-3 words, it's a cringefest. And that's why everyone wanted Jae Ha with Yoo Jin. Not because Yoo Jin was worthy of his love, but because she's a better character.

For my part, I did still want Jae Ha and Anna together as I quite liked their innocent romance, and I like stories with knights in shining armor, and Jae Ha very much is one. But as you can see by the dropped tag in this review, their romance was obviously not enough to keep me watching, and that's due to the other major complaint people have had about this drama.

The story is all flash and no substance.

The first few episodes provide great set up with a clear trajectory. We’re treated to a number of impressive fight scenes early on that really wet your appetite for more. But that's where the compliments end. The fight scenes become fairly generic 6 or so episodes in, and it quickly becomes obvious that there's very little story to back them up. Yoo Jin's complex character motivations and Jae Ha's innate bad-a**ness and their obvious chemistry become the only things in the drama giving it reason or purpose. Even poor Anna's complicated and sad relationship with her father doesn't inspire you to feel much.

Ultimately, the drama set itself up for success before finding itself floundering in it's own story.

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Someone called this in the comments a silly, low-effort rom-com, and at the time of that comment, they were 100% right. This started off and stayed until halfway through, a very silly but very fun remake. I tried watching Jane the Virgin once but never finished it, as the majority of the characters were constantly doing selfish and destructive things, and I don't find watching people be selfish and destructive entertaining. But Woori had kept all the parts of Jane the Virgin that I had enjoyed in and cut out the stuff I didn't, so I was happy enough. I didn't expect to get to the end of the drama and praise it for superb plot or characters, but I did expect to have a good time until the end.

Expectations can really turn on you, can't they?

What was a silly, low-effort rom-com that brought me laughs quickly turned into an unwatchable mess. Ep 9 and 10 were probably our sign that this was going to happen, as they were both paced at a chaotic, breakneck speed. They weren't unenjoyable episodes, but they were very jarring compared to the rest of the series thus far. But ep 11 was worse. Poor editing, no effort at character or plot development, slowly turning the male leads unlikable. And worst of all, it just wasn't funny. I had actually noted to myself at one point that 14 episodes didn't seem like enough time to tell the full story, and I wondered if they would be able to pull it off, but I hadn't factored in the possibility that they never even planned to tell the full story to begin with, and I find that to be rather disrespectful to the audience. Of course, we will never know what their plans were, but I can only presume that they intended to only tell half of the story and maybe get a second season to tell the rest. Or maybe they planned on ending it the way they did and not doing further seasons, because reasons. I don't know. I also don't care.

What bothers me about this drama is that they waited to let it fall apart until we were already into the second half when many of us had become invested. If this had gone sideways and stupid in episode 3 or 4, for example, I could have noped on out with ease and swiftly forgotten about this drama. But no. They had to wait until ep 11 and 12 to go full stupid, and now I'm on the internet complaining about it, because that's what you do when a drama does you dirty. Glad I didn't finish it, but now I'm wishing I hadn't started it to begin with.

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(Updated Review 2021)

Wow. What a difference a few years (or more) of drama viewing make. I originally watched this drama back when I was still a little baby drama newbie, and it definitely shows in my first review (which I've kept at the bottom of this updated review for you to compare the two with each other). I did not understand this drama or what it was trying to do. At all, lol. After a re-watch (only the second drama I've ever attempted to re-watch and the only drama I've Succeeded in fully re-watching), my feelings have fundamentally altered.

This drama is literally genius. Uproariously funny, office politics intrigue that's actually...intriguing, Yoo Bang and Yeo Chi are Damn. Good. Characters., side characters who feel like family, consistent plot, a side character who Really surprises you with their character progression, extremely well-used aspects of the drama's real-life source material, chock-full of traditional Korean sayings. This is basically a Kdrama classic and required viewing for all Kdrama lovers.

And now that I've given it such glowing praise, let me talk about my complaints, lol.

While I love Yoo Bang and Yeo Chi to pieces, Hang Woo and Woo Hee are definitely the most inconsistent characters out of our main four, and my major complaints about the drama are all related to them.

1) Hang Woo has a deep-seeded desire for revenge that plays an important part in the main plotline of the drama but at some point, said revenge disappears and isn’t mentioned or alluded to or plays any part in the story again until about 3 eps out from the end. It fades from the story in a way that feels natural and realistic, but the writers never give an explanation as to Why Hang Woo doesn’t seem to care about exacting his revenge anymore. He just effectively stops trying to get revenge.

2) Once Hang Woo and Woo Hee start down the path of truly falling for each other (not just flirting/driving each other nuts at every turn/Hang Woo being manipulative), there's very little focus on them actually getting to know each other as people. I found myself wanting to actually See them falling in love with each other, not just be told that that's what happened, and I was disappointed that their entire relationship added up to 'they (adorably) (hilariously) drove each other nuts for ages and now they're in love.'

3) The last three to four eps are not as tightly plotted as the rest of the drama and can be a bit draggy in places. This is mostly to do with Hang Woo's character (and tangentially Woo Hee) because of the aforementioned problem with his plans of revenge disappearing with no explanation then suddenly popping back up to become an important part of the plot again.

I'm not going to say this is one of my favorite dramas, but man do I respect it a lot more than I used to. Contrary to what ignorant, naive, little baby drama newbie me thought, this is a very good drama.

I do not recommend Korean drama newbie's watch this drama as their first, second, third, fourth, or even fifth drama though as there's a lot going on here that you probably won't be able to fully appreciate until you've got a few other dramas under your belt, but you should definitely watch it once you know enough about Korean dramas to really appreciate all of the magnificent things Salaryman did with it's story.


:Original Review:
Great at humor. Terrible at drama.

And Hang Woo. Make up your damn mind, son!!!

I've contemplated going back and watching that last episode so many times.

Maybe I will someday.

Then again, maybe I'll just get some ice cream instead.

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