sarafilleSD
San Diego, CA
Second Lead Style ML with Swimming as a Backdrop
One of the things I enjoy when watching dramas is learning new things or being set in a new story world. I mean, how many more palace or office dramas can you watch?! This drama had me looking up famous swim competitions and enjoying this new world of college men's competitive swimming as a backdrop for a drama. The teamwork and camaraderie among the male swimmers (ugh, can I say how insulting it was to watch the female "swimmers" pretend to practice alongside them as fake feminist window-dressing) was the highlight of the drama for me and I don't watch dramas for bromance. I HIGHLY recommend watching it on Viki or another commenting community app because the other commenters made watching this drama so much fun that I finished it without really wanting to do so. ;p
Couple Chemistry: MEH. Cute but kinda listless for the MC. The ML reminds me of a SML character that's sweet, kind, understanding, always supports the FL, yadda-yadda-yadda. (Sorry, can you tell I was bored by him?) He's a REALLY nice guy and the relationship he has with the FL is very sweet and cute. It seemed more high-school chemistry-wise to me, since they acted like teenagers goo-goo-gaga-eyed over each other but seemed stunned into just staring and smiling at each other like idiots. Even though the FL is your typical clumsy, naive, sweet, kind idiot, she has some moments of self-awareness and clarity, though they are infrequent. She has her own dreams and works to pursue them as an intern reporter--and she learns some harsh lessons along the way. I don't mind Seven Tan but she got on my nerves in this one. As for the 2nd couple, I shipped them so hard...omg, if they weren't in the show, I might've stopped watching it past ep 23. The fact that the MC didn't kiss until episode 27 or some such insane nonsense is also why I was tempted to drop it. ;p
Story/plot/characters: I enjoyed the story except for this deliberate suspense cloud of past-problems that the moniker "little one" brought up. Like you could just see it hanging over everyone's heads and the writers really thought they were clever with the flashbacks and how the other characters were connected to this backstory. The scheming side characters, the swimming friends, her boss, omg HIS MOM was, like, my favorite mom in a c-drama EVER, lol. Well, I was giving the romance a long time to build into slow-burn satisfaction but JUST when I was ready for it, the writers threw in that stupid misunderstanding trope that turned me off from the entire drama--characters, writers, directors, you name it, I just needed to take a break from the show and come back to watch it a little later. I'm not sure who designed this plot structure in many c-dramas, where they start off light, funny and romantic and veer off into melodrama territory 2/3 of the way through. It became another show for a while and it seriously began annoying me. (I wasn't the only one, it seems! Many other commenters were just as fired up.)
OST: The 2 songs I remember were overplayed but to GREAT effect in specific moments. Very inspirational. The message of the drama was very inspirational as well. :)
Yeah, no. I will not be rewatching any part of this.
(I wanted to add that the 10s are obviously from people who were emotionally touched by something in this drama that I was not touched by. I have dramas like that as well but there is NO WAY this drama is a 10 when you compare it to what else is out there.)
Couple Chemistry: MEH. Cute but kinda listless for the MC. The ML reminds me of a SML character that's sweet, kind, understanding, always supports the FL, yadda-yadda-yadda. (Sorry, can you tell I was bored by him?) He's a REALLY nice guy and the relationship he has with the FL is very sweet and cute. It seemed more high-school chemistry-wise to me, since they acted like teenagers goo-goo-gaga-eyed over each other but seemed stunned into just staring and smiling at each other like idiots. Even though the FL is your typical clumsy, naive, sweet, kind idiot, she has some moments of self-awareness and clarity, though they are infrequent. She has her own dreams and works to pursue them as an intern reporter--and she learns some harsh lessons along the way. I don't mind Seven Tan but she got on my nerves in this one. As for the 2nd couple, I shipped them so hard...omg, if they weren't in the show, I might've stopped watching it past ep 23. The fact that the MC didn't kiss until episode 27 or some such insane nonsense is also why I was tempted to drop it. ;p
Story/plot/characters: I enjoyed the story except for this deliberate suspense cloud of past-problems that the moniker "little one" brought up. Like you could just see it hanging over everyone's heads and the writers really thought they were clever with the flashbacks and how the other characters were connected to this backstory. The scheming side characters, the swimming friends, her boss, omg HIS MOM was, like, my favorite mom in a c-drama EVER, lol. Well, I was giving the romance a long time to build into slow-burn satisfaction but JUST when I was ready for it, the writers threw in that stupid misunderstanding trope that turned me off from the entire drama--characters, writers, directors, you name it, I just needed to take a break from the show and come back to watch it a little later. I'm not sure who designed this plot structure in many c-dramas, where they start off light, funny and romantic and veer off into melodrama territory 2/3 of the way through. It became another show for a while and it seriously began annoying me. (I wasn't the only one, it seems! Many other commenters were just as fired up.)
OST: The 2 songs I remember were overplayed but to GREAT effect in specific moments. Very inspirational. The message of the drama was very inspirational as well. :)
Yeah, no. I will not be rewatching any part of this.
(I wanted to add that the 10s are obviously from people who were emotionally touched by something in this drama that I was not touched by. I have dramas like that as well but there is NO WAY this drama is a 10 when you compare it to what else is out there.)
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