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Nicely Balanced Slice of Life Murder -Mystery with a Dash of Romance
This is a story about a girl who got tired of exchanging her time and self respect for money and honestly just needed a break... So she sold pretty much all she owned and decided to take a much needed break acting pro actively before it would have been to late and she would have hit a wall...Having pretty much 0 obligations (ok one annoying older brother), she could basically go wherever her very tight budget let her and ended up in a town by the sea with a library and a mystery to solve... It was of course not her job to solve that mystery but living in a murder house for the sake of being able to live on her budget kind of put her in the middle of things.
On her way to figure out just how little she wanted to have in her life she found a family, friendship a running partner and some slight romance.
So if you are looking for a bubbly, steamy romance you may want to look pretty much anywhere else with the genre romance... as the most intense romance is probably provided but the teens in this show and not by the leads. However if you are looking for some really good friendships, growth and life is neither black or white and definitely not always easy... truths can change, trust is complicated and domestic violence is also complicated. And a slight murder mystery that is highly predictable but will keep you on your toes... This is a good place to find it.
I must warn you thought that there are a bunch of cringey monologs, annoying elements here and there, loud crying and drunken scenes that are just off... There is however also a really cute dog, Im Siwan running, a lot of running as well as him in a wet t-shirt, as well as great umbrella and rain scenes all around it.
There is also a decent message telling viewers that what is good for you may not be good for the next so stop judging people by your own standards... The drama has a pretty good balance between entertainment and quality so it is an easy binge with lots of lovable characters.
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Reply 1988 meets A River Runs Though It light...
This was sweet and kind of innocent showing a beautiful friendship, lovable characters and parants that are not as awful as many other C-drama parants... Actually the fathers in this are even really nice most of the time. Giving me a bunch of beloved cliches and a lot of things I like but also a bit too many monologs and things I have seen done better to get up the score to a full 9 or 10.What bothered me the most was one of the moms who was just annoying and the way 5th wheel/ fat brother was portrayed making me want to skip-watch whenever those two appeared.
What I enjoyed the most was the friendship, the duality and the chemistry between the other 4 leads. the playfulleness.. even If I am compelled to say, that jealousy teasing and hitting each other is not a good basis for a relationship but indeed a lot of fun to watch. That said the male lead does not force himself on the female lead even once... The other male lead is so sweet, he does need to learn to use words and speak up for himself but he is just such a cutie, smart, fun, the type to read the room... while both are lovely, supportive and a lot of fun to watch that guy is just a little bit better then the main lead in the main couple.
There is one scene, that can be interpreted as either an attempt to add trans representation that can pass though Chinese censorship or an act of yet again making trans people invisible. So to those watching you I would like to say people who are assigned one gender at birth can very much change both geniteailia or discover that they indeed are do not belong to the gender assigned to them at birth.
The is definitely one of the smoother, less angsty youth dramas out there, easy to binge, easy to laugh, easy to fall in love with the characters. just remember that fat people are humans too and all will be well...
P.S. the use of umbrellas is pure magic
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Unique and interesting story that could use a remake to take out all the annoying elements
This story is unique and objectively really good as it deals with several subjects rarely to be told. There is depth, complexity to the situations and some really well written lines here and there, and though I did enjoy many of the scenes I did find this drama cluttered with never ending boring conversations, people shifting blame, people yelling at other bring back my... Whatever they want back at the wrong person + asking someone to bring back their whatever, you should have died instead and how dare you breath when your kid died/killed someone just does not make any sense to me. Making me feel bad for judging their way of dealing with this. But also kind of want to choke them all...The story itself id you turn off all the (way to many annoying and draggy elements ) is really good so for those of you not sensitive to this behaviour and that do not mind the tag healing, go for it you may really enjoy it, as I am sure I would have rated it a lot higher if I could just pick those elements out of this. So I am for a remake!
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A Heteronormative Life in an Electric Car
This drama is a celebration of heterosexuality as it shows a whole bunch of heterosexual couples... young, old, age gap... And so on and so on... They seem to be trying to have a somewhat taraditional meets progressive approach, gender role reversal, Woman Can! Heterosexual Love is Love... A real man can appreciate a successful woman and so on and so on... As it is not easy to be a woman in a Mans world... where woman are pressured daily in to marriage or even worse children... this drama starts off telling the viewers that it is okay not to get married and have kids, let the women choose for them selves... while still showing that at the end of the day woman can not resist marriage and kids... But sure the pressure women meet is not ok.They will inevetebly make the decision to get married and have kids on their own.The female lead is a strong, rational woman who does not budge while facing som pretty awful sexism, gaslighting, and flat out bullying in the workforce. She keeps her calm, is strategic and has a whole bunch of qualities etc. I admit I actually liked her, she did not annoy me and had a whole bunch of rational things to say thru out the show.
The male lead is Dylan Wang, the main reason I watched this, he is the sweetest guy ever, supportive, patient does not force himself on the female lead even once, though he does make some questionable choices here and there... Id say he is 90% progressive dream guy dripping honey 10% sexist. Nobody will of course notice that since compared to the rest of the men portrayed in this drama he is pretty much a saint.
The other suiters range between toxic, to privileged but decent, to flat out abusive... and show a hole bunch of red flags... The best friend is bad ass but married to a chauvinist pig. The other friends are pretty cool, especially the second couple who shoed the biggest character growth of them all. The Male leads mom is one of the best moms in all of dramaland, I loved her so much. the female leads mom was not as bad as the female leads mom in Something in the Rain but at times she did get close...
This drama also serves as a looong commercial for "new Power" cars (electricity), the struggles of the industry against back wards striving gasoline lovers who seem to do all in their power to cut the power... While empowering women at the same time.
All in all a decent watch, not amazing but good at times. and easy to binge.
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Plus Kisses Minus A lot
This drama has a lot of potential as it has pretty ok actors, nice cameo, sweet second couple a decent story to tell and not an overly annoying character in sight...However instead of communicating with each other most characters seem to choose kissing. As in some dramas you find yourself thinking now kiss... this is a drama where you find yourself thinking now talk... And please say something else then " We Will Always Be Together" as I kept wondering when - We'll Always Be Together from Grease would start playing. FYI - It didn't.
The story development is more or less non existent... Kiss I like you( for some after 20 years) Poof that person is dining - kiss, , poof that person died- kiss, poof we are camping-kiss, kiss- lets break up,I hate you-kiss, I love you- kiss, the world is ending-kiss, you do not respect me- kiss, lets get married-kiss, lets get a divorce- kiss, and so on and so on.. First or second couple other couples doesn't really matter everything seems to come out of nowhere and you are never more than a scene away from a kiss or make out session. The kisses where the type where they look like they are trying to eat the other persons face better than dead fish but not really as fluffy as other kisses can be.
Still it was an ok watch, nothing I recommend but nothing I regret spending time on either.
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Great male lead but to many annoying elements.
This drama has some good points but they are overshadowed by the presence of annoying side characters, annoying scenes seemingly never ending monologs... Flashbacks, montages, and the extreme over use of the words: "from this day on... " over and over and over again... Accompanied by lots and of second hand embarrassment...The female lead, is very much an overly timid scaredy cat who is supposed to be bad ass and act tough, stronger, faster than most men and what not she comes off strong as a person who does not really care much about gender, saying that the only difference between her and a man is the lack of penis...(which is kind of a problematic way of saying it). I think it is supposed to be progressive but it ends up a bit of a mess and can be interpreted as both pan, trans, bi, etc friendly but it can also come off as the opposite depending on who is watching and how the dots are connected. There are definitely ways of interpreting this as very lLGBTQ+ friendly, but also spaces that can be interpreted either way.
The Male lead is however perfect in every way sweet, lovable, charming, kind. smart and definitely stands some good pan representation. His parents are pretty lovable too and so is the female leads cousin. But there is where the lovable characters end.
So in conclusion, not very good, not very entertaining, but the ML and fighting scenes do make it an ok watch. and stand for all the stars for this drama...
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Breaking up is hard to do...
What do you get when you take a narcissistic social media addict and pair her with a spineless gal who has an affair and tries to break up with her?A whole bunch of guilt tripping, tricks and some oddly entertaining plots and personalities... The execution is not really good, but they do have their absurdly funny moments. Making you go WTF? They are both fun, lovable, flat and not very lovable at the same time. There is more or less 0 character development and it is more of a laugh at and come on kind of entertaining then relationship goals type of drama (as it was probably was intended), It does however show duality in trying to let go and difficulty moving on whole heartedly after a long and toxic relationship. That part was actually done pretty well...
The high score is more of a this is rare, and oddly entertaining kind of high score not a oooh this is good go watch it... That said it is good enough so for the sake of supporting some GL, you may just want to give it a view.
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Interesting twists and well casted
This drama start off pretty mediocre having not much interesting happen during the first episode, not really reeling in the viewers, but as the story unfolds it becomes more and more interesting and less and less predictable leaving each episode with the feeling of wanting more, and not having the slightest idea of what is to come, ok some parts where a bit predictable, like pateley order of death but the rest seemed to literally jump out of nowhere. Keeping me on my toes from episode 2 and on.The story is certainly interesting to watch and had my otherwise heard to get to watch dramas husband taking initiative to both start watching after we left off and keep going in to the night.
The cast here is plain brilliant, all do their job well, the characters are over all well written, no one is just there as comic annoying type comic relief. The main characters are complex beings allowed to show both a tough and soft side to them making them more human. There is a slight mix of issues, cuteness, ethics, politics, and dooms day feel to it mostly well balanced adding to the plot without making it too confusing (with a few side steps but they are forgivable) . The cinematography is also beautifully done. but I must warn you there are some pretty grose scenes as well...
So all in all this drama worth a watch for those who want to be kept on their toes while enjoying some pretty good acting and visuals.
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Soju wrapped up in a show...
This drama is about 50% drama, 50% soju commercial. Sometimes Soju will be fun and sweet while other times it will taste bitter and if you drink to much at once it will just not be fun... But this will not give you a hangover so it is a lot safer than actually drinking soju.While the bingabilaty is low and there are a bunch of annoying high pitched elements, and some really awful crying scenes the show is fun, has great food shots, it is fresh shows great friendships while sneaking in an issue or three to the mix of episodes without having to much depth...
All in all an enjoyable watch and I am in deed looking forward to seeing a season two of this. I hope they will talk a little bit quieter and not have to cry as much in the next season though.
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Touching, deep, fishy.... and oddly emotional oh and funny too.
I was very skeptical about watching this,but once I started looking in to it I got more and more cureus... When you read about this movie you will probably think it is some odd quirky comedy or at least I thought it would be but besides having a man dressed as a fish (sorry who had turned in to a fish) as a lead it is actually pretty deep, not only the water (but the water is deep too). The social satire is pretty much in your face and they do not sugar coat the issues the least bit. Who owns the truth... and in the struggle between profit and life, profit, they mean ambition will win..Park Bo Young is great as usual delivering cold an raw lines as if they where just the most natural thing to say... Yet again showing depth and versatility. I would have wanted more of her, but what I got was pretty good. So was mr fish, he managed to deliver and be oddly sweet and touching at the same time. I honestly did feel a whole range of emotions...
All in all definitely worth watching, not only for Park Bo Young
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okay, painful for the ears but has a bunch of sweet moments too
Some dramas seem to be made to be watched in 1,5-2x speed and well so is this one, the story itself is a tad confusing (could be the double speed, but I do not think so) some parts are rushed others take forever and some even seem slow in double speed... The drama does however not have one single overly annoying character making you want to skip scenes, the dialog has a whole lot of great gems and the characters are mostly lovable...There is a great bromance that at times made me wonder how they got thru Chinese censorship seeing there was obviously something there even if they where in denial.
The male lead made one of those mortal sins in my eyes so he lost a whole lot of points even if even the drama has a pretty healthy take on unrequited love and does seem to be able to differentiate overly persistence from flat out stalking. The female lead is pretty cool most of the time and I did like her. And did enjoy the moments of sweetness between her and the male lead.
I also enjoyed the pets, the friendship, the grandparents and the huge amount of balloons used for this production as well as the aesthetics of the umbrellas and the stage.
A lot of this drama seems to follow other logic than human logic, can it be that it follows some kind of opera logic that I am not aware of?
The sound of the Chinese opera is part of the story, but my very sensitive ears did not appreciate the sound as much as the story... So for those of you who are like me I would like to point out that the mute button is your friend (sorry opera lovers). The other OST was actually pretty decent, so was the filming (ok it was sllllooooooowwwww) but the aesthetics in this drama are just gorgeous.
All in all not really my cup of tea but an okay drama to watch.
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Fluff meets gaming
This drama has allot of sweetness, cute animals and some interesting issues. The characters seem to grasp the notion of consent, the only toxic people are some mild side characters, fans and the media it is pretty low conflict with allot of interesting fun moments great one liners. this drama also deals with some interesting issues so why only 8 stars?I was actually debating 8,5 but decided to give it 8 stars because well it did not really excite me, do not get me wrong I found myself looking forward towards every episode something in the female leads character bothered me she is not annoying or overly stupid or anything like that but there is something about her that kept me from falling for Smiley ;) the male leads actions where at times odd, being in desperate need of a lesson in communication as well as ownership... but he did redeem himself and had this great charm to him that definitely left me wanting more of him. He also seemed to have had allot of bottled up sexuall frustration seeing once he started kissing he never seemed to want to stop,,,,
When it comes to side characters the second couple was adorable! The the male leads brother was annoying in the beginning but grew on me. A side character named Fatty was way to stereotypical and though he was very sweet there was quite a bit of fat shaming in this drama. Yes that is common in may dramas and yes it bothers me. Fat people are people too and more thaan snack eating punchlines. The teammates where allot of fun and did a great job assisting the couple as well as lighten the mood with some great singing. And then wee have thc pets! Sweet, fluffy adorable pets that definitely stole the show and where allot of fun to watch,
So all in all worth a watch but not WOOOW this is the beast thing I have ever seen...
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Like a mixtape of classic dramas with an unique lead couple
Nothing really screams romance as much as a woman in a wedding gown surrounded by a SWAT team… yes beautiful men in black and big black jeeps...At first, I thought this was a mixture of Decedents of the sun with, Love is sweet and my little happiness. Then I realized that the creators of this drama must of had allot of fun brain storming classic drama plots to call out or just twist and turn. I assume it sounded abit like this: so where can we put in an evil childhood lover and what can we do with it... and how many close to death encounters can we fit in to this drama? I don’t know if it was meant to be funny but I definitely laughed at them.
The main couple is probably one of the sweetest c-drama couples out there. They make you wonder if it may be worth being taken hostage if it means you will meet a guy like him, but then he was the only one like him in his team so I wouldn’t take the risk if I had a choice... They truly evolved as a couple and had this great awkwerdness at first that turned in to this fun and mature relationship with allot of humor such as:
Ml - my sister will skin me alive!
Fl - what are you worried about I will stitch it back on for you.
Though the male lead did have light stalking tendencies in the beginning it was more of a I want to help you without you knowing because otherwise you won’t accept my help, and not a I’m going to find out everything about you so I can own you kind of stalking so I forgive him.
The male lead actually never forced himself on the female lead not even the classic kiss her in her sleep or when she is too drunk to remember kiss. Though he did make the classic mistake of listening to his dumb friend he was otherwise a truly amazing guy who didn’t mind showing his abs…
The female lead is smart, funny, self-aware and really kind without being overly naive. A truly lovable character.
The side characters have their ups and downs some of them are awesome others mid annoying to sweet at the same time and one was truly a nuisance, a good looking nuisance but still a nuisance.
To sum this up this was a fun drama, with an adorable couple and lots of everything
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Sweet but a bit psycho crown
This was an easy binge, with several sweet, intreating bad ass and evil characters. The plot was not really mind blowing or particularly suspenseful but it was just enough to keep me interested in pressing that next episode button.The leads are both sweet, hot, cold and all round bad ass. While hot on their own, their chemistry is more of a puppy love, cuteness fluff than an exploding, longing sexual tension type o f deal. Its not that they do not deliver some pretty decent kisses and physical scenes, because they do but you can sense more sexual tension elsewhere.
All in all an not a bad watch.
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Good start but bad oh so bad
It stared out all fun and interesting, a nice little window int japan meets Korea, food, insecurity, starting over there was so much potential to both the couple and the theme but then it took a turn that made the female lead copleatly toxic in a way that did not even have entertainment value. What made it even worse was that both the male lead and secound male lead kept buying in to her delusional world making me yet again role my eyes so many times that I wished I had dropped it or even better never started.That said the chef and one of the side characters is pretty ice and the cooking was inspiring. .
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