This review may contain spoilers
Should Have Dropped
This is actually the first time I've ever written a review for a drama, but after seeing all of the positive reviews, I felt that I had too. I was originally going to drop this drama on episode 11, but ended up continuing because the person I started it with wanted me to keep watching it with them. The drama had so many problems it's hard to even know where to start, but I'll try.1. The female lead's age is mentioned more times than I could've thought possible. Normally I wouldn't mind so much, but with the female lead clearly looking to be in her 40's (as was the actress in real life), the more I heard them mention her age of 33 and 34, it became harder and harder to believe. I have nothing against age gaps and a 12 year age gap would have felt doable had the actress actually looked her portrayed age. There were several times when they were together that she honestly looked like she could have been his mother. Again not a huge problem if 20 years was the portrayed age gap, but hearing them repeat 12 years a million times just made it feel ridiculous.
2. The dialogue in the drama was pretty bad. Again a lot of repetition with specific wording and there were several episodes where the exact same situation occurs. The female lead is disrespected, it looks like she's going to come out on top, she cries and eventually everything works itself out, but it get's old. It always seems like she's going to truly stand up for herself but instead she somehow manages to control the situation without ever really advocating or standing up for herself. It get's hard to root for a character when they are constantly put down and just take the mistreatment.
3. Misogyny was present everywhere. From the insane mother to most of the male characters it blows my mind that people viewed this drama as empowering for women when it was the exact opposite. Bringing awareness to misogyny and actually speaking out against it are two completely different things. I understand that a lot of it was due to cultural differences that maybe I can't understand, but the way the female lead was treated was absolutely insane, and most of the time she did not truly stand up for herself. The side couple were the worst offenders. The side female lead's husband was so misogynistic every word out of his mouth would have had me ready to sign divorce papers. It was not believable to me that they could work through these differences and stay together, when he didn't really seem like he had changed. There were rarely any times misogyny was mentioned truly in a negative light. Instead it was just presented to the female leads and left as is.
4. The male lead felt as though he changed when the main couple finally got together. There was even a scene where he attempted to get the female lead drunk so he could kiss her and who knows what else. Seeing the male lead attempt to take advantage of her and feel upset when she didn't want to move at the same pace as him, was frustrating. It didn't necessarily feel like the same character that had been presented in the drama so far.
Overall I wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone who supports women and women's rights, as it was incredibly frustrating to see the way the female characters were treated. If the creators meant to touch on the topics of misogyny and highlight how bad they are, they failed. For a drama so focused on the experiences of women and societal pressure, they completely missed the mark.
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