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It's Not the Years that Count—It's the Connection and Commitment
The large age gap between husband and wife was explored with the various issues they encountered: societal gossip, family disapproval, former lovers becoming obstacles, worry about the age gap bothering the other partner (one feeling old; the other feeling childish), and the pressing need to communicate the insecurities each felt. As a person with a May-October (not quite December!) romance, I can testify that each one of those issues rang true (down to the difference in music). The reviews complained about the addition of an intrusive ex, friend, and relative as annoying tropes, but I swear those happened in my life. Tropes come about because they repeatedly occur.The more Japanese fare I indulge in, the more I appreciate the ability to tell a full story in an abbreviated time. Someone once said that K-dramas are about feelings, and J-dramas are about learning, and there's a bit of truth to that.
Add a half star for the drama getting so much right.
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ML's Dimples Made it Bearable
The FL was hard for me to watch. Her face was either angry, sad, or had the expression of smelling something bad. I know this was due to the character, because the actress showed she could be charismatic and appealing in the introductory dance scenes, but all that vitality and joy was stripped out in the drama. How at least THREE people fell madly in love with that sour-faced, petulant toddler in an adult's body is beyond fiction's ability to make me believe. Her character was tedious. I've known many people with far more trauma and deprivation in life, and they manage to live well and happily.But, stick around for the ML. He reminded me so much of a beloved cat of mine. For nearly 17 years, every time I saw my cat, my heart would melt at how very beautiful he was: big blue eyes, pink nose, and lynx stripes on his silver body. ML was the same. Not the blues eyes or pink nose, but adorable dimples, sweet smile, and a chiseled jaw. Yes, the character was childish, but even that reminded me of my mischievous cat. When he wanted attention, he was impossible to rebuff (both ML and my cat)! His facial expressions were delicious: that quirked eyebrow, those pursed lips contemplating a prank, and his jealous pouts.
I generally despise obsessively in love characters, but ML showed he truly loved FL by being willing to die for her, saving her from poverty, and by supporting her dreams—not that she appreciated him for any of it. I thought I couldn't despise FL more, but the writers made that possible in the last episode.
The OST was fitting and enjoyable.
This should be a 7 star rating (or even less, considering how I suffered through the FL's scenes), but ML's dimples and torso deserved an extra half star.
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Nice Artwork and Music Distinguish This Tiny Drama
Started with heartache, had heartache in the middle, and ended with heartache, but it was oddly uplifting. A girl who'd been dumped after an eight-year relationship had to decide which way her life was going to turn. She made courageous, unconventional choices, especially for a FL in a drama.The artwork and music elevated this tiny drama. I should award an extra half star, but there were too many loose ends to justify that.
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All Wet
I didn't find this light and fluffy, on the whole. It started well and with promise, but it devolved into stupidity, misunderstandings, love triangles, despicable second leads, noble idiocy, and nonsense (employees take off whenever and no one complains or seems to notice if they're gone for several days). Too much angst for me. If the middle dozen or so episodes had been discarded, I would have enjoyed it more.Look, it's not "love" if you don't trust the other person. It's infatuation or admiration. Love believes. It was tortuous to have the leads mistrust and misinterpret one another's actions. I like the actress, but the character of the FL drove me out of my mind with her naive, blank stares, inability to have a rational thought, and the stupidity to keep liars/saboteurs in her life and allow them to manipulate her. Naturally, the liars/saboteurs were unscathed, forgiven, and flourished.
I gave an extra half star because I love swimming competitions (I spent last evening at a meet cheering on a favorite swimmer who won both her events), and I liked the supporting characters (except those duplicitous, scheming second leads).
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Steamy Romance, Literally!
Asako was cursed with hyperactive sweat glands due to genetics and her anxious nature. When emotionally stimulated, she had waves of heat and perspiration rise from her. Literally, steamy.As I've often found in Japanese dramas, they can be quirky and weird, and this has all that bizarreness wrapped up in a cute story. The romance was a respectful one, with each person trying to meet the other person's needs. Misunderstandings were avoided or talked out. Such a nice change from most dramas! For example: coworker told ML she'd done a good job and deserved a head pat. ML had done so in the past when she'd excelled, but he told her he wouldn't do it now, because he wouldn't want his girlfriend to misunderstand. He drew definite lines. How refreshing was that!
Note: don't watch with your Nana, unless she's cool with sexual content; although, I've got to say that voraciously eating rice or kicking fruit out of a bed (you'd have to watch to understand) is about as explicit as it gets. I found those scenes oddly entertaining and inventive. I must be getting accustomed to Japanese dramas. What is wrong with me?!
I'm adding an extra half star for FL's lingerie. She spent 1/3 of her time without a blouse, and costuming gave her some beautiful bras.
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Good Things Can Come in Small Packages
Want something short and sweet? How about a body swap between an arrogant model and a high school girl with aspirations to become a runway model. The ML did a credible job as a teenaged girl; I found his inner female amusing. Due to the condensed running time, the viewer wasn't treated to many of the embarrassing sex switch scenarios, which are typical for such dramas. Instead, the story faced the dilemma head on, and the couple had to learn to deal with their new roles to eventually become allies. I was impressed with the quality of story, acting, and production in a drama just a little over two hours long.Was this review helpful to you?
Steamy and Stupid
This was a drama of stupid actions interspersed with steamy slap-kiss scenes. If the main characters hadn't all been brainless, the drama would have been one episode long. Here's a survival tip: when in a dangerous situation, don't make out. I'm not even going to complain about lazy writing, because I don't think there was a script.I subtracted a star for stupidity and awarded a half star for attractive leads and off-the-chart chemistry. I'd be willing to watch them in something better written. Or written at all.
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If You Make Excuses, You Lose
"We lost because we didn't have enough money? I didn't go to college as I didn't have tutors. I lost because I was sick. Everyone can't be in same environment. They are fighting with what they have. If we make excuses, we'll lose in same way again." -- Baek Seung SooThat encapsulated the driving force in Stove League: to face the obstacles and overcome them without excuses or whining.
I love baseball (go, KC Royals!) and Namkoong Min's acting, so this was a treat to watch. There was a huge cast of great actors but no cardboard characters; they all existed for a purpose. The story was superb with twists, losses, wins, and great personal development arcs. Oh Jung Se played a complex villain. Watching his story develop was satisfying.
I was a wee disappointed with the ending, but I reminded myself that the Korean drama culture is more about enduring rather than winning.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Sweet RomCom with Demons, Murder, and Blood
The good: a sweet and brave FL, her loyal friend SML, and a handsome, tortured ML. I enjoyed all the casting. Kim Mi Kyung played the spiritual mother of the FL, and I always look forward to her appearance in dramas (I've seen her in 24 and have nearly that many more I want to see). She's especially good in roles of powerful leadership tempered with maternal instincts, and that's the exact role she played here. The cast of students added warmth and levity to balance the darker issues. With only 12 episodes, the drama maintained interest and didn't drag until the final episodes.The bad: it seemed all the characters took turns taking stupid pills which rendered them unable to make sensible decisions. FL Seong A told her best friend to avoid her love interest, the ML, but left out the reason why: he's demon possessed. Best friend made terrible decisions without consulting Seong A, which put numerous lives at risk. Worst of all, the big villain was taken into the household and given full run of the place when everyone knew she was plotting evil. Did bad things happen as a result? Darn skippy, they did. After all that, the viewers were treated to a poorly executed time skip at the end of the drama. The last few episodes were once again written by the janitor, makeup artist, and security. That's the only viable explanation for the disjointed and illogical mess the drama became (that, or the writer contracted brain-eating amoebas).
The drama depicted Bong Su as a supreme evil spirit, but the worst I saw of him were a few anger management failures. The Big Bad kicked a tripod once, punched his rival for love in the gut a couple of times, and got into a few altercations. He was also guilty of raising his voice several times. Hardly the evil we were promised! The true villain was the shaman who orchestrated the deaths of a hundred people, terrorized the ML most of his life, and caused the death of her spiritual mother. As often is depicted in South Korean dramas, she was given cheap grace and walked away free and unrepentant. To the very end, even when the viewer was supposed to believe she'd had a change of heart, she was still trying to solve her problems with murder.
I subtracted a star for the execution of the ending, but I added one for the delightful cast.
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The Much Longer and Less Enjoyable Splash Splash LOVE
I've got to admit I lost interest in the middle and put this on hold. I then forced myself to watch an occasional episode at a time until it became interesting again.
Due to censorship, the drama treated the time travel as a dream which inevitably harmed the story.
For not holding my attention throughout, I've removed a star, but I added a half star for the enjoyable music.
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It's Not a Cliffhanger—It's Like Everyone Just Left the Set
My relatively low score reflects my disappointment when I realized I'd watched 40 episodes and the drama just abruptly stopped without wrapping anything up. If season 2 comes out while I'm still alive, I'll revisit my rating and likely award more stars. At the moment, I'm disgruntled to have invested so much time to have been given an incomplete story.Slapstick isn't my thing, but I gave an extra half star for Dylan Wang. He's a natural at comedy, and his smile adds to the fun. FL has a cute smile, too, with her winking dimple.
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Four Stories in One Drama
Serendipity featured dystopian, sageuk, office, and fantasy stories. That's much to incorporate in 12 short episodes, but the drama did well on that. Where I took issue was in the cheesiness and silliness of tone, especially in the dystopian section, but I reminded myself this was a romcom, and those tend that way.An extra half star for ML's chiseled jawline and the cat's, Quin Quin, exquisite blue eyes.
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Nuanced Characters in Very Human Situations
Dislikes: love triangle, too melodramatic, supposedly intelligent people doing stupid things, time skip at the end, and an unfulfilling ending. Likes: a thoroughly evil villain that I couldn't help but sympathize with and like (I appreciate complex characters), a "respectable" good guy that I despised, the amnesia trope done well for a change, the clever tie in with the art piece for which the drama is titled (The Time Between Dog and Wolf is at nightfall when the world is stained red, and it's hard to distinguish friend from enemy), and fine performances by Lee Joon Gi, Jung Kyung Ho, Choi Jae Sung, and Sung Ji Ru.Extra half star awarded to Lee Joon Gi's bout with amnesia, when his style upgraded and he developed a smirk.
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Per Murphy's Law, It Went Wrong
After two enjoyable Taiwanese romcoms, I was looking forward to another. Murphy's Law should have warned me against high expectations, as this drama inevitably went wrong.The FL was a psychologist who was the least self-aware individual possible. Even when people told her in specific words how they felt, she had no clue what was going on. One would think with her training, she'd have a handle on personal relationships, but she didn't even know her own mind. Imagine a psychologist who can't communicate.
Why do older, professional FLs in dramas act like toddlers? Please stop continual pouting before the teen years.
Then there were the oddities that didn't make sense. In the beginning, the viewers were introduced to the FL as an extremely unlucky individual: it would rain when she didn't have her umbrella, plans would fall through, and Murphy's Law of "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" wreaked havoc. Later episodes mentioned Murphy's Law, but, all of a sudden, it didn't figure into the FL's life. She had two rich, handsome men vying for her attention, and her career was on fire. That's the kind of bad luck to be dreamed about! Also, FL's sister featured prominently early on. She divorced and moved in with the family, where FL resided, but then she was never seen or mentioned again.
Misguided noble idiocy, stupid misunderstandings, and an incomprehensible break-up rounded out a mediocre drama. I liked the actors, but the story needed help.
An extra half star for the cute Shiba Inu. He wasn't a particularly good actor, but he stole the scenes he was in.
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Male Lead's Jealous Expressions Were Priceless
This is one of the few cross-dressing women-pretending-to-be-men that is believable (Coffee Prince is another one). In other productions, the fact the "boy" had noticeable breasts, was tiny, and looked like a pretty actress (complete with make-up) made belief nearly impossible.In Bromance, FL started out as a strong man and ended as a strong woman. So often the "strong" woman becomes a weak, idiotic damsel in distress by the end of a drama, when she started out so strong initially. I appreciated FL's acting skills that allowed her to portray the strong male initially but gradually reveal her more feminine side without losing any of her bravery, aggression, or power.
I loved, loved that once the couple had affirmed their feelings for one another, they respected each other while maintaining passionate feelings. Especially in K-dramas, once the leads kiss, it's like they've been married 50 years: no spark or attraction after that at all.
Was the drama cheesy and unrealistic? Yes, a thousand times, yes! Did I care? Not a bit. When the interactions between the characters are as satisfying and wonderful as Bromance, cheese is just fine. Besides, when were RomComs ever realistic? We were treated to the kinder, gentler mafia, and that made me roll my eyes. But I still didn't care!
The drama made me happy with loving interactions, fun music ("your beauty is like a migraine"?; something is lost in translation with those lyrics), and the ML's facial expressions when he was jealous. ML made me laugh out loud at his possessiveness! An extra half star just for that.
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