This drama peaked at the end of episode 7.

...Which sucks, because that was just when it was really getting good.

The positive things about this drama:

OST. Phenomenal, stylistic and perfectly mood-setting.
Cinematography.
Acting. Even from the supporting characters.
Overall the production and styling were outstanding.

But it's not without its flaws. Mostly coming from the writing. At times the plot focuses on stellar action packed episodes full of tension between the gang and cops, and among gang members, others it diverts to the "romance" (whatever the hell you want to call this dysfunctional love square) for what feels like nonstop scenes or even entire episodes on end. The love square here became insufferable in episodes 8 and 9 and didn't let up. The show went from brilliant in episodes 1-7 to the leader of the gang just wanting Joonmo's wife. They really threw away his entire character development.

"Double dates" abound. The tension they were going for got really repetitive. How many times is Bibi going to show up when Joonmo is with Kichul and FL and taunt them for long scenes at a dinner table? How many times is the director going to have Joonmo give jealous glares? It became boring and awful, and this is from a romantic tension lover. Usually I can't get enough. This drama would have been SO much stronger without Joonmo's wife being involved.

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Leaves a lot to be desired

Not sure how to feel about this drama. I didn't think it was THAT bad. I mean, it was watchable. The writing was just insane, the plot just went all over the place and the last half felt like it turned into a completely different drama. It was like the writer completely forgot about the curse and fantasy plotline, just dropped it (literally had the characters say several times "it doesn't matter if the curse was real or not" with no real closure whatsoever) and turned it into a run of the mill past life connection romance. The OST is quite honestly one of the worst I've ever heard in a drama.

Rowoon impressed me, at first I thought his acting was starting out pretty stiff but then in the last half his acting became really good...again, not sure what the change in the middle of this drama was about. Either way he has a new fan.

The FL was annoying as heck, and I'm sick of the past life connection trend in dramas already. But the makeout scenes toward the end were super hot and their chemistry was good, I think mostly thanks to Rowoon.

Overall not really one I'd recommend but it had potential.

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This drama had so much potential the first few episodes. Their banter and teasing...their chemistry was off the charts. Imo this drama should have stayed that way, more of a romcom, instead of turning so melo. The writer's version of melo in this drama was the "pushing you away because I love you too much" trope, which as usual involved "being mean to you because I love you too much." Except he even went so far as to kick her, give her evil looks as he's kissing someone else, ignore her telling him she loves him and instead inviting another girl inside, etc. There were a few more scenes of good chemistry, and the pacing was pretty good until about episode 16, but otherwise the frustration went on and on. ML pushing the FL away and pretending not to like her because he has an illness. Instead of just opening up to her about what's going on. Incredibly frustrating. By the middle, this drama completely lost me.
And how many times was the FL going to stand outside ML's house sulking and hoping to be let in like a lost puppy?
This drama wasn't for me.

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When this first premiered, everyone said it was pretty average. Now everyone's raving about it apparently. The leads have good chemistry, but it took all the way to episode 7 for this drama to hook me. The episodes before that were very boring. They were about half spent on the second couple, another quarter spent on FL's work life, with barely any time spent on the leads. It made me want to skip scenes in those episodes. Editing was strange and felt very choppy and pacing felt all over the place. Humor was so-so, I wouldn't watch this drama for the humor aspect alone. The FL was supposed to be kinda crazy because she likes to fight and that was the show's humor. It's also not really enemies to lovers, definitely not like the trailer and title portray, because the FL only hates him for a short time because of a misunderstanding that's easily resolved. ML never really hates her at all, in fact he fell pretty much instantly with just this one misunderstanding between them. It finally picked up and started focusing on their relationship in episode 7. Glad I watched but I wouldn't rewatch. Crazy Love is a much better enemies-to-lovers romcom in all respects if you're looking for a good one.

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As much as JCW is my favorite actor, and as much as I anticipated this drama, I'm sorry to say it was a letdown for me. I feel like the writing was bad and the direction/production was lacking. JCW of course did justice to his character. The FL was okay. I know a lot of people have a problem with her, and I don't think she's the best but I don't mind her. Mostly it was the writing. It was not a well-developed story IMO, and there was cheesy dialogue and scenes at times. I found it very slow and boring until it finally started to pick up in episode 8...but that only lasted 2 episodes.

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After finishing the first episode, I could tell why this was rated so highly: It's very heartwarming. It is sweet and inspirational watching an elderly man find passion in something late in life and prove to the world that he can do it despite his limitations or what anyone else may think. Yes indeed. But that alone isn't really what makes a drama "good" or necessarily watchable to me.

I continued through episode 4 and felt pretty bored. There's not much more to this drama IMO than excellent production value and that heartwarming-ness it has going for it. Plot is very slow. Wasn't for me.

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One of the greatest dramas that could have been even better than it was

Just getting it out there that I love this drama. It's one of my favorites, and I've even rewatched it. It has lots of pros, such as:

- Amazing acting. Junho quite literally carries this show on his back with his acting chops. This is his best performance to date IMO. Watch it for that reason alone.
- Great story that blends a true tragic event seamlessly and respectfully with a beautiful and tension-filled romance.
- Beautiful cinematography.
- Quality writing and direction. A lot of good qualities and obvious talent went into this drama.

Cons:

- Pacing. Although the story flows exceptionally well, I felt it did struggle with slowness.
- The OST here didn't do it for me. There were 1 or 2 songs I liked, but for the most part, I felt the music and instrumentals didn't match the vibe and quality of the rest of the drama.
- The special effects of the disaster could have been better, but they weren't bad for 2017.

Definitely watch it, especially if you're looking for a low-key melodrama.

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I watched this when it first aired and ended up dropping it around episode 3-4. Since then I've kept trying to pick it back up and every time I do, I end up almost falling asleep or my finger finds the ff button. The ML is one of my favorite actors. This was his comeback drama after the military, so maybe that's partly why it received such a high rating. He's one of the reasons I keep wanting this drama to click for me like it seems to for so many people. But it's incredibly boring. As much as I want to, I honestly cannot see where the hype is coming from. I can only take watching people walk around their apartments talking about nothing relevant for so long.

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This is way overrated imo. It felt like this drama was trying way too hard from start to finish. If just watching gloomy-looking people with no backstory or context makes you feel something and think that makes a good drama, then you'll love this, because everyone except 1 of the MLs just naturally looks miserable af in every scene. Lots of things were over the top and unrealistic, like bullies drugging someone with a fetanyl patch as a joke. I have a hard time believing something like that would actually happen, and we got no deeper reason except they were just supposed to be so evil that they'd get pleasure out of drugging someone, and we also get zero context as to why they start targeting him so much except he basically looks at them the wrong way. There is depth missing here, it's very lazy writing. And ML just gets a little woozy and then is completely fine and nothing else happens from the drug, but then just starts slapping himself? And cut scene, that's it? Speaking of weird actions, I didn't really like ML, his actions such as that were largely unexplained. He came across as more crazy than a sympathetic hero. He's supposed to be a pushover but then starts going around defending himself with a pen. Sorry I found it pretty cheesy.

I see this being compared to DP, which is a masterpiece...both these dramas are melodramas whose OSTs feature the same artist (Meego), but that's where the similarities end.

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This is a gorgeous drama!

The good: Cinematography, direction, acting, music, pacing, chemistry. There is so much to love and this drama really draws you in.

The bad: The ONLY faults I can find are that it actually uses the now-ancient amnesia trope (although it succeeds in pulling it off, imo), and the adult ML did some things that made him not very likable. These were small things compared to the bigger picture, and this drama is still 100% worth watching. Actually, you don't want to miss it.

This is one of the best dramas of the year for me. It could have been better, but not much. It's close to perfect.

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Unpopular opinion, but I couldn't get into this drama. I thought it was mediocre at best. Maybe it's because I'm generally not into fantasy, which (obviously) this is. But even aside from the fantasy elements, there was something about it that kept me from caring about the characters and feeling anything for them. I didn't feel truly drawn into the story and I couldn't quite pinpoint why.
A big part of it might have been the FL. I'm not a fan, she always does the same dead fish look with a blank expression and her mouth hanging open in almost every scene. Her character here has good backstory and she showed a bit more acting skill for sure, but the personality she had her character portray was godawful. Cold, flat, boring, almost masculine and I didn't feel any chemistry from her when it came to her interactions with the ML. I dropped it at episode 7.
I thought the ML was a different story; he was the one character who kept me watching. He's a good actor and his character actually had dimension and personality. But the romance was very elusive and a mess. He likes her, but does she like him, or the crown prince, or her childhood sweetheart....? Does she even have feelings for anyone at all, since she never shows any emotion?? Idk the whole drama was enough to keep me kind of interested and keep hoping it got better, but overall bored me. I kept having to fast forward long palace conversations. Something would occasionally happen to make the plot seem like it was going somewhere exciting, but then they'd cut to scenes of one of other several side characters and the little exciting twist wouldn't amount to much.

If you're in the target age group for kdrama fantasy and enjoy the genre though, you'll probably like it.

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I finally got around to watching this drama after putting it off for so long.

First I'll say it's the only sports drama that kept my attention all the way through.

Overall though, I thought the setup between ML and FL and how hard she'd already fallen for 2ML and was in love with him for so long made for a strange drama. I really liked Joo Hyuk in this though, it's the first role I've seen him play a character very different from his others. The chemistry between FL and ML was cute, but very minor because she was in love with someone else almost the whole time. I thought FL was a good actress but her character needed to be a little more down to earth and with more backstory. She acted bizarrely, walking stiffly and making funny faces, pouting and acting dumb, and being mean and cold to ML all the time. It was kind of funny, but after a certain point, the behavior got a little weird because they never showed any other side of her.

It's also one of those dramas where most of the drama was spent walking around the same place; this reminded me of Cheese in the Trap in that way, where nothing much seems to be happening as they go about their days, but it's still entertaining because the pacing is so good...Cheese in the Trap was better in that regard IMO, this started to bore me a bit with them continuously running around the same place trying to find each other after making phone calls and silly "problems" that kept coming up. Not to mention the obsessed and unhinged ex of ML whose character was milked to death.

It did keep me watching though and I thought it was cute. But it's overrated. Don't go in expecting something 8.8 on the level of Goblin or something. Not sure why this drama was rated so highly, I have a feeling if it came out today people would think it was pretty average.

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I gave it a 9 because as toxic as it is, I do miss old-school dramas like this where the plot was faced-paced and every episode was packed with things happening. It was fun to watch every episodes. Chemistry was often better in dramas like this, too.

But there are a lot of things to complain about with this drama.
It's very outdated, which is a given ... I can look past that.
It did keep me wanting to binge watch all the way through, but the last 1/3 of the show really dropped the ball with the leads' plot. It's like the writer moved onto different storylines all while ML still secretly pined for her, but didn't do anything about it? I missed the scenes where they were both liking each other still, but FL had pretty much cut him off by then emotionally (understandably so). It became pretty unrealistic and annoying. Like if you still love her, say something ... clear up the confusion ... but no, this drama thrives on misunderstandings.

The whole "conflicted as*hole" trope got really old in this too, it's what made it so toxic. By the last several episodes, 2 members of F4 were now being abusive, calling women stupid and idiots and even offering one's body to someone (???), and a few scenes later supposedly feeling guilty (barely) about how they can't stop being abusive jerks and hurting everyone around them, all while the girl victim continues swooning over him like nothing ever happened.

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I'm just gonna come out and say I hated it. I finished it only because I kept hoping there might be more scenes of decent chemistry like the scene where they had to share a room/bed together. But nope, that was the highlight of the whole show. The FL was insufferable. By the time she started crying/whining about a puppy coming too close, I couldn't take her anymore.

The ML was too cold. It went beyond what was necessary for the trope. For example, FL kept finding herself being harassed by creeps, and ML would watch on, sometimes laughing with them. He also bullied her, which again was part of the trope, but the way the FL continued swooning and obsessing over him, even stalking him at times despite how cruel he was to her rubbed me the wrong way. She literally had no life outside of stalking this guy for years.

Pass

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Excellent drama. Fast-paced and plot driven. This is the reason earlier dramas are usually my favorites, the plots used to be so much better like this one.

I first watched this for JCW and wasn't disappointed at all. In the beginning episodes, I saw lots of resemblance in his character to Park BongSoo from Healer, which was a nice surprise. Literally the only issue I had with this masterpiece was the FL. I couldn't stand the actress. She might be the most stone-faced FL I've ever seen, and her only actual change of expression through the whole drama was staring awkwardly wide eyed and motionless when something surprised her.

Still highly recommended. One of the best dramas of all time.

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