It was fine.

Well .... Drama is not bad in itself. For a long time I thought to rate it 5.5-6/10 but the main characters were not the best. As actors, the leads did great, but I didn't like their creations. More female than male. Lu Bo Yan is handsome, kind and strong while Su Jia Nan is semi-pretty, mean and selfish. In the synopsis it is said that he is giving her the "price" for being married to him, but actually he is paying that price for being married to her. Jia Nan is egocentric and for a long time doesn't acknowledge his goodness towards him. She claims to be an indepentend strong woman who knows what she wants but in the same time she rejects it and sacrifies the her and his happiness ??

Their love story has its obvious ups and downs and keeps you entetrained. Jia Nan starts as a poor lover and luckly finishes as a bit better person. Through out whole drama she prefers to chase her dreams than to respond to Bo Yan's approching. He is really doing his best and apologize for what he was going at school. That prolonged negligent was annoying enough to make me to lower the rating. When times are good the lovers do show some passion but in bad times they really give their worst attitude. It was nice to watch that the actors seem comfortable with each other and the kisses are pretty strong?

It is too hard to say if I recommed Love in Time or not.... Thankfully this Chinese drama was only 24 episodes long and producers didn't drag any moments. This is a rarity I adore! ?? I did not hate Love in Time. It was just ALRIGHT. Nothing more nothing less. Even though there was a chemistry between the list there was not spark. I don't know how to exactly explain it .... The force that brings them together wasn't present and I hope you know what you mean by that ?

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Lost opportunity for a great drama :(

It was quite a strange drama. I don't know what else to say about it. I mean, actors were good, story too, background impressive so it had what a good drama should have but because they have cut down the story in the strange moment I am not positive about this production.

All in all the drama was not bad. It had a potential to be a good show but they ruined it by making it a mini-serie. I still can't believe that Netflix released a serie with only 6 episodes (+/- 35 min each) and kinda ended it with a giant cliffhanger ??? That "ending" could easily be transformed into the core of love-action drama because the episodes that we were presented with felt like only beginning of the actual story.

Story was cool, had it's potential but I agree with one other commentator on MyDramaList: "Who was the guy who decided to turn a 20 episode Taiwanese drama into a 6 episode one? With episodes of only 40 minutes? Where does that guy live? And why does he still have a job?" Now when I watched it and read that there is no word about second season I am even more angry on producers. If Netflix eventually decides to release more episodes, I will be more that happy to watch ??

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Unpopular opinion: Seo In Guk is terrible

My first moments with the drama were very positive. I thought to myself "wow there are such a crazy characters here that my cheeks will soon hurt from laughing". Yes .... the beginnings were good, but unfortunately it finished here. Till it's half, the drama was pretty cool, refreshing and had an interesting concept, but the weirdness and crazines of the characters started to bother me and I ended up disliking the drama.

Characters are the biggest problem here - not the story. Most of them are weird to the far extend, from clothes to behavior. A little weirdness in the show is never a bad thing, but when we have 5 or 6 characters who are constantly doing something out of this world - Hudson we have a problem ? The problem of repetition that ceases to be funny. This goes also to the dumb-silly faces that Louis presents throughout the series, 2-3 episodes with the occasional expressive facial expression? OK .... But 16 and it goes more and more per episode? Sorry but I can't take it.

Louis was too childish, Bok Shil was too pathetic, Cha Joong-Won was too weird, Baek Ma-Ri was too self absorbed. Only grandma Choi (holy Kim Young-Ok) was acceptable and nice to watch. I had never seen a drama where I didn't like any of leads or almost all secondary characters. It was my first drama with Seo In Guk and he was so bad that I will never come back to his performances. People praise him for doing an amazing job in the drama which I completly don't understand.

Shopacholic Louis isn't the best and in general I wouldn't recommend it. There are much better dramas out there.

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Poor character development

Since the time of the Olsen sisters and the Sprouse brothers, I don't remember watching any interesting shows with twins in the lead! Drama She is the one took a different look at them and made a unique story. The show was fun to watch but it's a pity that they were not real twins, which I realized only after a few episodes ??? I must admit, I was expecting too much from the show from what I read online. It was for me too lovey-dovey and not enough action that could have lift the show from 4,5/10.

Although the series was long, there is not much to write about it because not much happened. There were many cute and a few cringey scenes, as expected, and some random plot twists. And as I mentioned before - it's a pity, because they could make a really interesting series out of it. It was a typical comedy of mistakes, pretenses and understatements with moments of teenage romance.

Characters where going from immature kids to the world's greatest businessmen in a light speed ? This rollercoaster of behavior was a bit hard to digest in the long run. Also - the development of all characters wasn't the smoothest. I was confused and not very impressed with the backstory. Decent acting definately makes the show. Thanks to that and 30 min lenghts drama is light and easy to watch

I rarely evaluate series so critically, but apart from the interior designs and music, I did not like much about it. I saw it all, hoping that something interesting would eventually happen, that there would be an event that would glue it together and make me say "WOWWWW AND TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!??" but nope, it did not happen ?
So if you like dramas where you really do not need to focus on what is happening, sure go ahead ? But if you are looking for some action and surprises, check out The Glamorous Imperial Concubine or Young Lady And Gentelman ?

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Reality of dating and marriage

Didn't expect that the drama about two divorcees that are forced to work together can be so engaging ? Ha Ra and Eun Beom happened to be very intersting characters whose history hooked me up already from second episode. The leads are not only each other opposites but are also their presentation is twisted to compare to other Korean dramas. Goo Eun Beom is not typical because he not a cold-hearted guy with EQ of river-stone, nor an athletic heir to a fortune, nor the best lawyer in town. On the contrary - he is emotional, broke and has as good as no career at this point in life. Ha Ra ... well .... she surely won in this divorce. I adore this drama and probably will watch it one more time in the future. While the story develops the conflicts between the leads goes to another level. I was feeling hyper conflicted wether I cheer for them being back together or not. Even though at first I hated the ending, I came to thing that it happened for the best.
I speak more about this drama on my blog: https://my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com/

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One night to happy life

What can be better than a lovely drama with Sung Hoon? One-night-stand with him in the drama! Oh yeees ? till today's day I didn't know that something like that can happen in korean dramas but seems it can ? The show started off strong and hooked me hard from first to 14th episode.

My Secret Romance is one of those dramas that you don't want to break away from and return to the gray everyday world. It is sweet and light breath of fresh air! I absolutely loved the storyline which was rather simple and straightforward what was a nice change after The Sword and the Brocade where a loooot was happening ? Moreover, there was no conspiracies here, evil plots or in-laws, sudden murders or weird childhood connections.

It definitely could have been longer but it didn't take away much from its quality therefore I could totally recommend to watch it. Would I see it again someday? Sure, why not ^^ It's like Bridget Jones Diary, you can watch it any time?

You can find this one and more reviews of kdramas on my blog: https://my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com/2021/05/my-secret-romance.html

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Great young actors!

To be honest, Kim Young Dae was my main reason to see this drama, only later did I notice that the story is very interesting as well. I liked his performance as "The Penthouse" more that I would expect and was curious that he would be able to perform well in completely different environment - the role of a king in the Joseon era. AND HE DID I!

The start of the drama was difficult because the first two episodes seem to turn in all directions but as soon as I reached episode 3 everything came to one point. Forbidden Marriage contain some popular clichés: intrigues at the palace, wicked stepmother, Cinderella-like heroine but this doesn't affect its positive reception. Humorous and romantic situations increase that reception. I love how they incorporated handsome men showing off their biceps, reading books to "wake them up" and unexpected references to other dramas like Hotel Del Luna considered bedtime stories ??

The drama was still very well balanced between the aforementioned himoristic elements and the seriousness of the situation in which the main couple is. I fought with myself for a long time whether to give the drama 7 or 6.5 points, but because of poor chemistry between the leads, it ended up on 6.5/10. Certain shots and actions of the actors showed that there was something between them, but it was not enough to accept it as a real feeling between the lady-swindler and the king ? These are young actors who need to learn a little more or have better screen partners ?? Nonetheless Kim Young Dae and Park Ju Hyun are on the verge of being great actors.

I speak more about this and other dramas on my blog! Come and visit me there: my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com

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Misogynist fells in love with a strong feminist

Love To Hate You was a quite production which I really liked not only for it's comedy and beautiful fight scenes but also for the questionably different ways of treating of males and females. I am feminist who just like Yeo Mi Ran hates when someone says "you did it good for a girl" or "girls shouldn't do that" pfffff Watch me! The war of the genders is treated here with a lot of humor but also shows the ugly truth.

For a series with only 12 episodes, the main characters were very well presented to the public. The secondary ones were not so well presented, but it was enough to like them. As for the acting itself and the cast, the actors were very well matched to the characters they played. Lawyer Mi Ran was not the most beautiful but she had a hidden beauty and fantastic character ?, on the other hand Kang Ho was gorgeous but his character ... could be better ?? Together they create an explosive mixture and over time allow each other to solve relationship problems.

Although the acting and story contained in Love to Hate You is not up to Thirty-Nine, it deserves a good score of 6.5/10 ? because it talks about a big problem faced by many societies in the world - inequality in thinking about a woman and a man. I'm not going to manifest anything here, don't worry about that ? I am a feminist but also a realist and I know women's limitations. Certain professions are made for men due to their physique, and a woman cannot overcome that. Sorry but no. However professions like lawyer, doctor or stay-at-home parent.... I don't see a difference if it's a man or a woman. Mi Ran's father's attitude is aggravating and I'd love to punch him in the nose myself.... ?

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Oppa choice disappointment

I heard True Beauty is one of those dramas that a respected k-drama fan needs to see along with Inheritors/Heirs, Gangnam Beauty and Boys over flowers. I've already seen two from this list, Gangnam Beauty one on the waiting list but the last one .... sorry but that is not going to happen ? With all respect to the producers and fans of the drama but I cannot stand Boys' haircuts and clothing styles. I would die from laugh while watching. What is also special about True Beauty and what I found out while collecting pictures, is that the drama is based on WebToon! I heard so much about this platform and it's second time I see its drama and I must admit that both Mystic Pop-Up Bar and True Beauty made a very good impression on me. They have a very nice storyline and they take up serious problems and show it in a refreshing way.

Because I way more prefer Ju-Kyung with Seo-Joon than Soo-Ho. I mean, I understand why she chose him – she can be herself with him, he saw her without make up at first and still felt in love with her, he was the one that lifted her spirit (and she did something similar to him). But I liked her and her behavior more when Seo-Joon was around. There was an obvious chemistry between these two! So many sparkles! Also Hwang In-Yeop’s (Seo-Joon) acting was on way higher level than Cha Eun-Woo’s (Soo-Ho). Even though both were quite natural with their acting, In-Yeop seemed to be in his place while Eun-Woo was sometimes robotic. In the WebToon, Ju-Kyung chooses Soo-Ho so of course the producers couldn't change that …. what a pity ?

Based on that I wasn’t satisfied with the ending as Seo-Joon didn’t get his happy ending. At this point I share the frustration of other k-drama fans. Producers waited with him being rejected to the last moment and we couldn’t see how is he doing. Maybe if that would happened earlier we could have see him recovering from a heartbreak and would save me from the same feeling.

Is True Beauty worth watching despite Oppa choice? Of course! ? It is an amazing drama that I will definately one day comeback to. There are many memorable scenes, catchy music, the cast that in majority has a great and deep development. It is definately fair to say that it was one of the cutes dramas I saw this year with a oryginal script that I purely enjoyed!

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Netflix did it gooooood!

The series was anticipated by many, including myself. I only saw Hyo-seop Ahn once in Abyss and I really liked it, so Business Proposal had to be on my screen the moment it came on Netflix! Rarely do you get dramas where both the primary and secondary couple have such interesting stories and you wish the episodes were stretched to the max to see more sweet moments between them. I don't know which couple I adore more! ??

The story of Abyss was way more unique and imprinted itself stronger in my memory. Despite that, Business Proposal is a very enjoyable romantic drama. They use every possible clichés and stereotypical elements of the genre but it sells. Oooh it sells! Drama has ended sometime ago and people are still raving about it ?

Moving on to female lead. Shin Ha Ri is not a boring scientist who devotes herself to her work. She becomes recognizable thanks to her achievements, which makes it easier to believe that in a large corporation she has a chance to stand face to face with the president ?

Secondary love story .... Cha Sung Hoon and Jin Young Seo were so so so so soooo great together! I was dying for their love and I wished they had more screentime. It's been a long time (if ever) since I was so drawn to the love story of secondary characters in the series. They were so sweet and crazy that I was getting pure pleasure from watching them approach each other ?

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I do not recommend it.

I'm an official Seo In Guk anty-fan but I decided to give him a chance to prove himself as he is paired with lovely Oh Yeon-Seo. Unfortunately even she couldn't pull him up in my likings. Drama ended up at the bottom of my drama list - https://my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com/p/k-dramas-i-watched.html

What I was most afraid, has happened. Stupid faces, clowning and poor-comedy moves of Seo In Guk destroyed the last hope for this serie. I felt that it will happen to this drama. He's acting the same as he does in Shopaholic Louie which doesn't fit the theme of Café Minamdang! ? I understand that the producers wanted to introduce some humor to this series but this was too much and out of place ... flying characters with one kick or throw a shoe? I beg of you .... It was more pitiful than entertaining. Screen editing was poor and there was too many "funny" flash-ups that aggravated me.

About leads as couple... THERE IS ZERO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THEM, they are mismatched characters and both have quite and annoying roles. These two should never be in the same show together. Oh Yeon Seo had a great role in My Sassy Girl and a brilliant one in Korean Odyssey .... but here .... eh low. You can feel she was trying. Her character along with hacker Nam Hye-Jun and commentator Jang Du-Jin were the best characters in the drama. I also like the handsome Jo Na-Dan, but he didn't play a big role in the series. He was a typical supporting character but gave more heart and authenticity into it than Seo In-Guk in the leading role. Saddening.

Although the last episodes were better than the first ones, I still can't say that I liked the series. An interesting scenario was poorly acted and even the best ending did not improve it. I don't want to say much about the ending so I'll just say that like the killer, it was pretty predictable. A lot of things in this series were like that so at least they keep the level ?

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Acting that will push you off the chair

The acting throughout the series is brilliant and she alone deserves a very strong 8. Each of the characters is completely convincing and they don't step out of their roles for a second. It's a pleasure to watch such actors.
(....)
Song Joong Ki as Vincenzo was insane in every meaning of this word. Before starting this series, I was afraid of this casting because who thought of giving a role to a child-like guy? His cute face contrasts enormously with the character's being and actions but it works.... oh it works!
(....)
Kim Yeo Jin as Choi Myung Hee was on the other hand, a typical evil character that you despise from the very beginning, hate in every single episode and watch the drama just to see her bad end ? Nothing more and nothing less to be said about this character.
(....)
Drama had a very strong cast that brought it to the top, but the script itself wasn't fantastic. The story presented was quite trivial and many minor elements could be predicted. The humorous scenes introduced were very enjoyable and balanced well with the brutal ending.

I totally recommend the drama. Why?! Check my blog for more https://my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com/2022/05/sono-vincenzo.html

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Too confusing plot and dragged scenes

I was excited to start this drama as I finally found something from a different time period and with quite an interesting story. Unfortunately .... that is for my excitement. The series turned out to be stretched to infinity and painfully boring. Although I tried and fastforwarded some episodes, I even got to the middle of the series for some minutes but I couldn't make it further. My biggest problem with the drama was story dragging and constant revolvig around the same scences again and again and again. The story as a while wasn't bad, execution was ?

The actors aren't bad, the story isn't bad either, but the editing is terrible - hundreds of drawn-out scenes, unnecessary takes and scenes that give the show nothing more than extra minutes of length. If we cut the episodes, we would have 30 minutes from 45 minutes, which means the series would be shortened by 30%! 14 episodes less!

Shen Bi Yun, the female lead seems to be quite a complex character but her development and mysterious willingness to stay at Xuan family is annoying and hard to put together. The same goes for the rest of the family. They all have secrets (which is nice and interesting) but characters are not much explained. At the moment of my dropping they all seemed to be 100% of pure idiots.

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Don't throw yourself at big money because you can die

There are too many characters to speak about them all so I will just say that each of them did a great job and I am full of admiration for the team. The series was not easy, rather hard to digest. Productions that are based on human morality are always difficult and can backfire on producers. Fortunately Squid Game was a hit?

I don't know who came up with the idea to turn children's games into a bloodbath, but applause for him/her. He/she totally ruined it for the next generation ? In principal the "players" suppose to be equal as they were stripped down from outside connections, money and sanity. But still some managed to cheat and the "organizers" intentionally exposed players with lower numbers to the first fire. NOT NICE! ?

I don't know if you can say that the drama has its message because what would it be "don't throw yourself at big money because you can die"? I do not think so. Because is it one of the first Korean Netflix production it has a lot of american vibe. This is also why it is so widely propular around the world. When you would start to compare it to Goblin or It's Ok Not To Be Ok in a minute you would notice how mediocare Squid Game is. I am not denying the actors' talent because they were very good just the style was a bit off for me for korean market. So I rate this drama 6/10 but despide the odds still recommend it to watch as it is a great fun ?

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Dragged and annoying

From the description, drama seems to be interesting and that's what drew me to it. But actually apart from that summary, there's nothing interesting in it.

The female lead is absolutely gorgeous. Her smile is mesmerising and her acting seems to be good too. The same to the male lead but that's all I can say about them and the characters. I don't like any other person in this drama. For example Ah Li was too pushy and Han Lin was too dumb. Watching only a few episodes, allowed me already to notice a tendency that I bet will continue throughout the whole series - everyone will be telling and deciding what is best for the Qiao Man and noone will ask for her opinion.

It's been a long time since I've been so annoyed and irritated by fictional character. Because the storyline is not bad, its simple but not bad. What is bad is the characters who are impossible. Drama has 50 episodes and I managed to see bearly 10% of it and you can already say that the series will be full of unnecessary scenes extending the episodes ? And looking at the comments and rewievs of the dramas placed on many platforms - I was not far from the truth.

Dragged dramas are awful but streched drama with annoying characters to the core is something too much for me. BYE BYE BEAUTY!

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