ibisfeather
Not as unpredictable as classic romedies but it seductively steals your heart
Solid script, light soundtrack and a director who knew how to hit just the right balance between coziness and a little cross-cultural leavening. Overall not as wildly unpredictable as classic romedies nor as melancholy, but it nevertheless seductively steals your heart. The whole cast were brilliant professionals, wait til you meet little Yeondu! The musical precision with which they hit their marks, neither over-playing nor underplaying their parts, made me so happy.
The joy of watching formulaic drama is watching how the variations are used and guessing what they will be; actually advancing the formula is a long slow collective process but if one person can normalize happy and mildly suggestive scenes in bed it is Jung Hae In. Even his back radiates joy as he disappears behind a kicked-closed door.
Other personal favourites...Jo Han Chul (an excellent villain in other shows) blew my socks off as a true sweetheart dad. ... An underlying theme of respect for women's career choices and aspirations developed comically one way into the amazing and funny devolution of Jang Young Nam, as Seungho's mom, from elegant diplomat back to her roots in the group of high school friends known as Lavender.
Two problems for me.
I almost didn't make it past poor Seokryu being actually beaten by her mom. Threats would have sufficed for the comic lift.
And I had a serious problem with architectural mismatches in shooting locations, which I am not usually fussy about. Seungho's architectural philosophy of respect for the context and history of a site set the bar too high -- the interior of Atelier was meant to showcase it but it was hard for me to read and the exterior was bland. Also the final shot of Atelier was so tight and at such a sharp angle that it looked like a 3-4 story building in a neighborhood or near-neighborhood of 2-story buildings. I wont go on and on but likewise the renovation of the snackshop which expanded its footprint 4x without any indication of the bar-kitchen, storage space and a dishwasher on the putative blueprint was irksome.
The joy of watching formulaic drama is watching how the variations are used and guessing what they will be; actually advancing the formula is a long slow collective process but if one person can normalize happy and mildly suggestive scenes in bed it is Jung Hae In. Even his back radiates joy as he disappears behind a kicked-closed door.
Other personal favourites...Jo Han Chul (an excellent villain in other shows) blew my socks off as a true sweetheart dad. ... An underlying theme of respect for women's career choices and aspirations developed comically one way into the amazing and funny devolution of Jang Young Nam, as Seungho's mom, from elegant diplomat back to her roots in the group of high school friends known as Lavender.
Two problems for me.
I almost didn't make it past poor Seokryu being actually beaten by her mom. Threats would have sufficed for the comic lift.
And I had a serious problem with architectural mismatches in shooting locations, which I am not usually fussy about. Seungho's architectural philosophy of respect for the context and history of a site set the bar too high -- the interior of Atelier was meant to showcase it but it was hard for me to read and the exterior was bland. Also the final shot of Atelier was so tight and at such a sharp angle that it looked like a 3-4 story building in a neighborhood or near-neighborhood of 2-story buildings. I wont go on and on but likewise the renovation of the snackshop which expanded its footprint 4x without any indication of the bar-kitchen, storage space and a dishwasher on the putative blueprint was irksome.
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