This film will definitely leave you feeling Spellbound. It interweaves romance and ghosts (and a little magic on the side) in a charming and incredibly human way. It does share some similarities to the drama, Master’s Sun (Spellbound came out first in 2011) in terms of the mechanics surrounding the ghosts, i.e., why our female lead can see them and how they manifest themselves in her life. But this never bothered me. It felt like they were both stories from the same universe that kind of backed each other up. And if I’m honest, I think Spellbound handles the mechanics of the ghosts better than Master’s Sun did. Apart from these similarities though, the rest of this film is completely it’s own.

My only complaint? Cheating, even emotional cheating that doesn’t get physical, is wrong, and I inherently don't enjoy it in stories. I do forgive it in this instance, because I think both of our leads were appropriately regretful over the incident and did the right thing in the end.

Read More

A word of warning. This is purported to be based on a true story, but upon further research I discovered that it is not, in fact, a true story. A lot of this stuff was made up. That being said...I absolutely loved this movie. This is the stuff filmmaker's dreams are made of. I loved the coach with his gruff exterior and tender heart. I loved the cinematography and the setting. I loved all of the girls who were like my childhood come to life. (Awkward, unpopular, weird, lonely, insecure. I just wanted to wrap them up in my arms and tell them 'It gets better.') I loved it all, and I even shed quite a few tears as I watched the story unfold.

Watch it for the heartwarming feelings, not for the historical accuracy.

Read More

I have conflicting feelings about this movie. On the one hand, I love it. I love the writing and the acting and the characters and the overall plot. On the other hand, I find the movie's conflicting message utterly infuriating.

I appreciate how honest it is about the way people get treated when they don't look a certain way and how they can get treated even when they do. It brings up a lot of good points in the 'What is Beauty' debate. But then it leaves you to your own devices and just expects you to figure out what the story is trying to say without ever making any declarative statements to guide you.

It had so much to say, but in the end, it chickened out and didn't say it. So why do I still love it so much?

Read More

I really wanted this drama to work. I don't know why, as there's nothing all that compelling about the characters or the story, and the leads don't have much chemistry (which is surprising considering they were apparently dynamite opposite each other in a previous drama). But something about this drama made me really want it to be good. That feeling is ultimately what sustained me through a largely dissatisfying viewing experience.

Watching this drama felt much like reading a book out of order or listening to a song in disjointed parts. The beginning and ending were in the right place, but the middle was all mixed up. There's very little conflict in the first half with the lead couple breezing their way through acquaintanceship, friendship, and eventually romance. It's not a compelling relationship, and you keep feeling like you're missing something (like perhaps a reason to care), but the longer the drama goes on, the more you feel like the writers really have nothing to say and that this is all there is. It's not a particularly interesting viewing experience, to say the least, and I kept waiting and hoping for something to Happen. Unfortunately, the writers efforts at making something happen came both too late in the story and were more annoying than they were compelling. We, of course, get the expected happy ending and maybe in another version of this drama it could have been satisfying, but I ultimately walked away bored with the whole thing.

I'm over this drama now and don't really think about it unless I come across it on Dramalist or some other drama website, but the quiet dissatisfaction I felt after finishing it has stayed with me. For whatever reason, I really wanted this drama to figure itself out, and it never did, and that's just stuck with me.

I wouldn't recommend this drama.

Read More

(Updated Review 2021)

This is an updated review after a recent re-watch:

I wondered as I was re-watching this drama if I would have trouble getting through it a second time. Would I find myself frustrated and disappointed with the story? Would a second viewing ruin the feelings I had the first time around? Would I find the age gap extremely uncomfortable? Surprisingly, I found the opposite to be true. I happily breezed through the entire thing over the course of 3 days and then subsequently suffered from the wonderful/dreadful drama hangover so many of us experience when we finish a drama we’ve loved. This, of course, makes me very happy as it means that I still enjoy the drama as much as I did the first time I watched it.

So I guess I’ll go about this review by addressing the thoughts/feelings/complaints I had with the drama the first time I watched it and how I think/feel/would complain about the drama now.

1) I have to start off with the most important aspect of this drama, that being the age difference. This is going to be the make or break part of the drama for most people, and understandably so. I myself couldn’t initially remember just how wide the age gap was between the leads, and for awhile, I secretly hoped it would be only five or six years. Alas, it is eventually revealed to be ten.

To be honest, I’m still confused about the exact ages of both leads, but the age gap didn’t bother me while re-watching. Of course, that’s probably solely because the male lead is played by a much older actor, so it’s easy to ignore the gap. Would I feel the same way if this were real life and not Seo In Guk playing a character much younger than himself? Absolutely not. Real life is very different from a Kdrama. But the leads work well together, you see very little of Min Seok’s school life, and there’s no untoward or inappropriate behavior in the main couple’s relationship, so I was able to overlook it. Not everyone else will be able to do so, however, so it’s something to keep in mind going into the drama.

2) I liked Director Yoo as a character much better this time around then I did the first time. I understood him better and wasn’t as turned off by him as I had been before. Yes, he’s a dismissive and thoughtless jerk, but up to the moment with the forced kiss and the fist fight with Min Seok, that’s all he is. And afterwards, he’s incredibly respectful and apologetic towards Soo Young and even displays some nobleness in his effort to save his father’s company from possible ruin. He’s not as fleshed out of a character as he could have been (which is a shame as he could have been much more interesting and provided some real competition for Min Seok), and the story still provides no compelling reason for me to believe he actually falls for Soo Young in any way, but he’s not as terrible a character as I thought he was, and I’m happy to be able to say that.

3) This isn’t something I personally had or have any complaints about, but it is something a lot of other viewers have complained about, so I think it’s worth mentioning. We get to see how masquerading as the Director affects the hockey side of Min Seok’s life, something that ends up being a very poignant part of the drama, but we don’t see it have any effect whatsoever on Min Seok’s academic life. He never gets caught skipping school, there’s little focus on his grades, there’s little focus on his school life at all. This will bother some people as it’s an unrealistic plot hole, but it never bothered me as I was never invested in that side of the story to begin with. Ultimately, Min Seok’s academics were never all that important to him. He was clearly not a superb student to begin with and most likely didn’t have any serious plans of higher education. His goal was to play hockey, and that’s why we spent so much time watching him working, practicing, and playing with his team. It’s also why it’s so poignant and heartbreaking to see him have to give up that dream later on in the drama. Is it a flaw of the drama that this part of his life gets so little screentime? Most likely, but I don’t really care.

4) Hyung is an underwhelming character and only serves as a vote in a boardroom, the catalyst for a beloved characters death, and a transit for a massive information dump long after we needed to know most of the information. He’s disappointing, and we never needed to see him in person. I did like Seo In Guk’s performance as Hyung better this time around then I did the first time, so I’ll give props for that, but otherwise, he’s useless. (The scene where Soo Young and Min Seok’s friends mistake Hyung for Min Seok is pretty funny though.)

The thing about this drama, after tallying up the flaws and the virtues, is that there are conflicts that need to happen and secrets that need to be revealed, but the writers consistently liked to put them off till later. Instead of building up to the right moment and slowly revealing information as they story went along, they would do it all at once. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in terms of storytelling. On the one hand, this alleviates a lot of the unnecessary tension and frustration you go through in most dramas. On the other hand, it means that a lot of things play out in a way that’s not realistic. For example, Soo Young and Min Seok’s relationship isn’t discovered by anyone outside of a small group of people until the very last episode, but there’s no way they were That good at hiding it. More people should have found out or at least have been suspicious. Am I saying that I’m bothered by this? No. I got what I wanted out of the drama, so I’m happy. But it is poor storytelling, and I can admit that.

So to wrap up this review, am I more aware of this drama’s flaws then I was before re-watching? Yes. I am. But do I love it just as much or more than I did before though? Also yes. Yes, I do.

Read More

Updated Review 2024:

I no longer know what year it was the first time I watched this drama. I only know that I was enamored with it the first time I watched it, and I am decidedly Not enamored with it anymore. In fact, this is the only drama I've rewatched so far that I've been really disappointed by. (Which does make me feel rather good about myself since I've mainly rewatched dramas I loved the first time, so it's nice to be reminded that I have good taste, lol.)

Contrary to what probably a lot of other drama viewers think of this female lead, I love everything about the Go Dok Mi. I relate to her struggle of connecting with the outside world, I relate to the way she carries herself, I relate to the way she communicates, I relate to her intense anxiety in social situations and her desire to hide. There's nothing I dislike about her. Sadly, I think it was my deep connection to the female lead that blinded me to the drama's otherwise serious flaws in my first viewing.

Firstly, there is no romance between the leads. Unless you count the male lead pestering the female lead and repeatedly stepping over her boundaries and being generally annoying. Enrique is a hyperactive man-child, and it is not attractive. He acts like he's 7 years old, bulldozes his way over everyone, and that's literally his entire character. I understand what the writers were going for. They were trying to write a male lead who would push the female lead into getting back out there instead of hiding in fear. They just did not succeed. The romance is simply 'They like each other now.' No discernible story reason, just the writer said so.

It's decidedly unromantic.

This brings me to the second male lead, Jin Rak. Poor, sweet Jin Rak who would have been a Much better male lead. Yes, his method of helping the female lead is ineffective, and his way of connecting with her is misguided in some respects, but you can see his heart behind everything he does. The daily post it notes are incredibly lovely and romantic, and you just know he wants the best for her. His problem is he doesn't know how to help her, and that's probably because of his own insecurity.

In my perfect drama world, Enrique would have floated down like a fairy godmother/matchmaker/cupid and worked his magic to gently but firmly guide Dok Mi and Jin Rak together, pushing Jin Rak to be a more active pursuer and coaxing Dok Mi out of her comfort zone so she could face her past and really live her life. What a lovely drama that would have made.

Tied with Enrique for the worst character of the drama is Do Hwi. Do Hwi is the epitome of the evil second female lead that so many Kdrama's of this era had, only she's one of the worst offenders of this trope (if not The worst). Her entire personality is 'I treat Dok Mi like dirt and chase Jin Rak around despite his obvious disinterest in me, because I just Can't. Let. Anything. Go.' The actress does an admirable job with what she's given, so you really can't hate her performance. It's just that the character itself should have either been thrown in the drama-writer trashcan, given some kind of real redemption or come-uppance arch, or turned into butt-of-the-joke comic relief. Those are the only ways to make this character not insufferable.

And the writers chose none of them.

One bright spot of this drama is the comedically adorable romance between the webtoon manager and Dong Hoon. I've been a Kim Seul Gi fan for ages (I think this is the project that put her on the map for me), and she's fabulous here. She's aggressive in the most hilarious way, and her machinations to ensnare Dong Hoon are amazing. I'm literally taking notes, lol.

Something interesting about rewatching Flower Boy Next Door is that I wrote down a lot of quotes (all by the female lead). I connected with the drama's themes of isolation, insecurity, anxiety, distrust. But the drama's execution was so incredibly disappointing, and that makes me sad. Dok Mi and Jin Rak deserved better.

(I'm trying to get my hands on the original webtoon, because I feel like I will really love it, but it's nigh impossible.)


Old Review:

Loved it immensely, despite its flaws. Felt a very deep connection with the female lead and her struggle to connect with the outside world. Even though she does not have a mental illness, this drama perfectly portrays the internal turmoil those with mental illness (including myself) deal with.

Was desperate for an Enrique of my own by the end.

Read More