michelleoc

Full of tropes, but in a good way!!

STORY: Seriously, if you want tropes, this has it in spades! Enemies to lovers, ex-girlfriend that comes back after years, expecting to pick up where she left off, amnesia, cold boss, illness, bullying, revenge - you name it, it's in here! The reason this show works so well is that it doesn't appear to take itself too seriously. It spends a lot of time being over-the-top and let me tell you, it's a blast! Physical comedy, revenge, strangely it all worked. Episodes 14-15 went a little awry, those episodes felt somewhat like they threw a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what would stick. Thankfully, it got back on track. I don't want to say anything else about the story, I think it's better if you don't know what to expect.

ACTING/CAST: Kim Jae Wook as Noh Go Jin (I loved him in Her Private Life and was glad to see him again.) - Straight-laced, bitter, mean and any other word you want to use for unlikeable, but you could sense his loneliness and sadness. His transition from the beginning to the end of the show was lovely, a person redeemed. Krystal Jung as Lee Shin A (I loved to hate her in Heirs) - she looks completely different, I originally only recognized her by her voice. Her character was wonderful (not a doormat and not a b**ch). She was strong when she needed to be, but she saw the good in people, which was a good foil for the ML. Hu Joon as Oh Se Gi - I don't believe I've ever seen him in anything before, and his character was very understated, so you never quite knew what his deal was. Im Won Hee as Park Yang Tae - his characters are always cartoon-like, which fit well in this drama. Go Gyu Pil as Joo Jun Pal/"John" - he had a relatively small part, but I love watching him act, he's got a great sweetness about him. I also liked the woman that played the cleaning woman at work, and how she went from hating the ML to being his staunchest supporter.

MUSIC: I'll be honest, nothing stuck out to me, but maybe that's a good thing. There was nothing to distract from the story.

CHEMISTRY: I loved this couple!! Their hatred was palpable, but the progression to liking one another made sense. Once they finally did get together, they had a healthy respect for one another, and their relationship was mature, without stupid misunderstandings or time jumps (hallelujah!). They were so cute together, I probably had a stupid grin on my face as I watched them. I think the supposed second couple (her brother and her roommate) were somewhat wasted, but I was glad that they didn't take time away from the main couple.

HAPPY ENDING and a peek into their future.

I am so glad I watched this (it was recommended by someone here on MDL, thank you very much!), it really worked my emotions, as well as giving me all the feels. Which was an absolute relief, as my recent luck with romance shows has been like a vast, desert wasteland.

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Tedious

After not enjoying SITR (unlike everyone else in the world, apparently), I should have known better than to waste my time on this drama, considering it's the same writer, director, and main actor.

I'll start with the good - there was nothing wrong with the acting, everyone played their part well, I enjoyed the interactions between the sisters, but I think that's as far as I can take the compliments.

STORY: Oh my gosh, there were so many unlikable characters! The ex-boyfriend, both sets of parents and yes, the female lead. Female lead - I think she was supposed to be this outspoken woman, but apparently that only came out with the male lead. With him she was bossy, demanding, cranky and immature ("It must be nice to be able to eat, you must not be bothered by this at all.") She spent almost EVERY episode meeting up with the nightmare of an ex-boyfriend. She was a weakling where he was concerned, even though she knew she didn't love him. Was she trying to be nice? I couldn't quite get it. The ex-boyfriend trying to get her to marry him went on until the next to the last episode. He was just creepy. Give it a rest! Seriously, she should have gotten a restraining order or something. And then there were the parents - I know that it's important to respect your elders, but when your elders don't have any respect for you and won't listen when you say you don't want to marry someone, there's something wrong. Each episode seemed to be just a rehash of the previous one. Should she pursue this new relationship? Should she give the ex another try? The male lead was smitten with the female lead because she came in for hangover medicine? Why these two liked each other was never made clear. Almost all of the conversations revolved around how they were going to manage, because everyone was against them. I realize that Korean mores are different than American, but they made the male lead out to be a terrible person because he had a son. Then when the female lead APOLOGIZED to her mother because she was involved with a man with a child, that really irritated me.
CHEMISTRY: Kisses. I didn't feel chemistry between the leads at all. There were a couple of technically good kisses, but again, I didn't sense chemistry.
COSTUMES: She was a librarian. Was it absolutely necessary to make her dress in such a dowdy way? The clothes and shoes she wore made her look so much older than she was.
OST: Three-four songs on repeat throughout the whole drama. The songs were in English for no discernible reason and they were very distracting.
REWATCH VALUE: Not on a dare!

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Better title "Why Me?" As in, "why am I stuck watching this show?"

This show started out great! I was at the end of episode two, at which time I had just a couple of issues, and I texted a friend and said that this was the type of show that I could lose sleep over just to binge watch. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last much longer. I spent a lot of time angry with the writers as I watched this, and I never felt like they redeemed themselves.

I'll start with my positives:
Acting - all of the acting was good, but especially Soo Hyun Jin as Oh Soo Jae. Oh, my goodness, I hated her at the beginning. I did wonder why that, in order for a woman to be strong and successful, they have to be a complete B***ch, but the brief times of humanity were understated and suited her personality completely. The writers did a good job here, in giving us back story following some of her worst moments that would clarify what actually happened. Heo Joon Ho as Choi Tae Gook was amazing. He was the embodiment of evil. I don't like watching this type of character, especially since he doesn't even pretend to be a good guy, but he just drew me in. Then there is Bae In Hyuk as Choi Yoon Sang - he fascinates me. I've seen him in numerous things, and there's something about that little lisp he has... and, finally, Han Joo Hyun as Choi Jae Yi - what a precious little girl!
Found families - between Gong Chan and his hyungs, and the law school students working together, I enjoyed these relationships. I just wish they were developed better/further.

Now for the negatives: SPOILERS!)
1) For me the biggest elephant in the room - why the heck did they use two different actors for the male lead?!?! The younger version of Gong Chan looked older than the Hwang In Youp version! They didn't resemble each other in any way. I kept waiting, throughout the show, for the writers to give us an explanation, but that never happened. It actually seemed like one actor dropped out and Hwang In Youp stepped in at the last minute. I know that's not the case, but that's what it looked like to me. When Oh Soo Jae says to herself, "Why didn't I recognize him?"
2) Romance - They would have been better off leaving the romance out of this show, for many reasons. First, the age disparity - perhaps not so much in chronological age, but in emotional age. He was like a puppy chasing after her, and he seemed more like a high school student than a college student. Plus, the fact that she was a lawyer settled in her career already. And he liked her because she believed in him? That's it? The fact that he kept telling her she was "cool" cemented his immaturity. We had a few brief scenes with them together as a couple. The rest of the time he was either saving her, trying to save her, or holding her while she cried. This was definitely not a give and take relationship. I didn't ship them at all as a couple, to be honest. He called her "Professor" throughout the entire show. At some point in time, if you are truly in a relationship, you use first names!
I loved watching Hwang In Youp, but his character was not well-written.
3) Plethora of bad guys/evil characters. Probably a ratio of more than 2:1. There were so many names to keep straight (especially all the people in the same families), from the past and in the present. Each seemed more evil than the last. The number of things that these people got away with was astounding - multiple people get away with murder (literally), yet they want to draw attention to themselves by bringing her before a disciplinary committee?! And for all the evil done, minimal consequences.
4) Unnecessarily complicated storylines. It seemed like every few minutes they introduced a new character to confuse us. I lost count of the number of storylines that I was trying to keep track of.
5) The direction they took Bae In Hyuk's character Choi Yoon Sang - this one was hard for me to swallow. He likes her, he specifically mentions that he has finally found, in Gong Chan, someone that he can be friends with, yet he threatens pouts and blindsides these characters!? With so many bad guys, I would have much preferred he remain a constant in the ever-changing lives of the two main leads.
6) Too much drinking. Is no one able to solve problems without binge drinking?
7) Vulgar language. I don't know if these were actually the words or just due to the translators, but I don't find bad language necessary.
8) "Stupid heroine" moments. Your office has been broken into, yet you go on in. The guy that attacked you in said office runs out, but rather than leave you go to the roof?!?! What was that about!? Someone calls you to meet him at a deserted place late at night and you go by yourself. Apparently, she's never watched any type of horror film - the stupid characters are usually the first to die.
9) Wow, the labs were doing a booming business in this show. The number of paternity tests and DNA tests that were being run were ridiculous. And finding out that Choi Jae Yi was actually her daughter? I saw it coming from a mile away, and it really made me mad. It just seemed like something else to throw into this mess of a story.
Which brings me to -
10) The truck of doom. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated this. It was just mean and could have been avoided completely if the stupid paternity storyline hadn't been introduced in the first place.

So, upon reflection, for me, the writing was where the problems were. I'd say, if you have a high tolerance for things that are implausible, watch this show for the excellent acting.

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Unhealthy relationships, desperation and neediness abound

I'm apparently the only person that did not enjoy this show. I'll start with the positives, and you can blow off the rest of the review, if you choose, because my thoughts are definitely in the minority.
LIKED:
1) Yoo In Na - one of my favorite K actresses. Her size and her demeanor are always attractive to me. She's got a sweet vulnerability about her. She's totally gorgeous, but she's the kind of woman that men fall in love with, and women want to be friends with.
2) Yoon Hyun Min - I enjoy this actor. Understated, intense and he sure knows how to wear his clothes!
3) The young man that fell in love with Bo Ra's sister. Brilliant smiles, barely contained energy and he reminded me of a puppy, all nervous energy. However, he knew what he wanted, and he never wavered.
4) The line in the last episode when Soo Hyuk was talking about Bo Ra being little.
5) When Soo Hyuk was with Bo Ra when she was dress shopping.
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
DID NOT LIKE:
1) Bo Ra - She was an absolute mess! As a love coach, her advice was about "playing" men to get what you want. The phrase "small and sparkly" was used at least 20 times in the first episode. It wasn't about being in love; it was about getting the ring. I got absolutely no feeling that she was in love with her boyfriend, but that she was just waiting for the ring to get married. So, when things went south, her reactions seemed extreme and out of character. Her over-the-top angst was painful for me to watch, just because I didn't think she really loved him anyway. Plus, it went on entirely too long. Almost half of the episodes were about how broken-hearted she was. Stalkerish, needy, inappropriate, and lack of self-esteem flowed from this character. "I was going to let myself like him if he says he likes me. I was going to love him if he says he loves me." She was always trying to GET something from someone. I did not care for this character nor empathize with her in any way.
2) Overabundance of alcohol. I know that drinking seems to play a large part in K-dramas. However, here the drinking caused people to behave in ways that made me really not like them. Plus, drinking alone is always a red flag. Drunken wandering in the neighborhood, peeing in public, drunken confessions.
3) Too many couples. Four couple storylines was too much, mostly because we only got part of an episode with the mains together. The rest was couples fighting, couples trying to get together, couples making up, and that was mostly the other three couples.
4) Soo Hyuk. Obviously, he wasn't in love with his girlfriend, he only bought a ring to make her happy. So, once they broke up, I wasn't feeling his sadness.
5) Overuse of the "I didn't want to be with you before, but now that you are with someone else, I want you back" trope. And we had to suffer through it with both leads!
6) Lack of realistic progression of the lead's relationship. He spent most of the drama listening to her cry and whine, then helping her "get back" at her ex, all to make herself feel better. They weren't really getting to know one another, he was just helping her. Then all of a sudden they were supposedly in love?
7) Romance is absolutely not a word I would use for this drama. The main leads getting together was literally less than 10 minutes. The rest of the time I had to suffer though watching unhealthy relationships crash and burn.

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Watch this show!

My first k-drama, and one I revisit periodically. The storyline is original - a man destined to continue living to atone for crimes in his past. I'd like to address the age difference - I can see why some people really had a problem with it, especially since she spent so much time in a high school uniform. However, the chemistry between Gong Yoo and Kim Go Eun was amazing. When watching Gong Yoo - his loneliness was almost palpable and was heartbreaking to see. Kim Go Eun was able to vacillate back and forth between her pitiful life and her vivacity as she gets to know Kim Shin (Yoo) better. The secondary love story between Lee Dong Wook and Eu In Na was lovely as well. There was a lot of humor (like when he told her his name was Kim Woo Bin!), but such sadness as well. The scenery is just beautiful when they are in Canada. The music is absolutely perfect. Each song fit perfectly where it was used and there was a haunting quality about a number of the songs. These songs are easily recognizable when you hear them outside of the show. But I think the thing that I love best about this show is the friendships between the characters, especially between Goblin and Reaper. If you look up the word Bromance in the dictionary, you should find their pictures there - what started out as hate, moved to grudging respect, and then finally brotherly love. Their scenes never failed to make me laugh. This is one of the few shows that I have watched multiple times, and have enjoyed it just as much each time.

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Pretty boring with a large cast of evil characters

I was looking forward to this because I loved Rosy Zhao in Dating in the Kitchen. I was so disappointed! This drama could have been greatly improved by cutting the number of stories and the number of episodes. It seemed to go on and on forever. They have GOT to work on the dubbing! The thing that I noticed most in this show was everyone's footsteps, whether they were wearing tennis shoes or dress shoes. Why? I have no idea.
The concept for the story was cute, but it didn't feel cohesive to me. I understand that you have to have a "bad guy" in these shows to create drama and problems. Why were there so many in this show?
I didn't find the lead actor very attractive, but I loved the height difference between the two. There were some good kisses and some really bad kisses, but I didn't find the acting very good at all.
This was one of those dramas that, while I was watching it, I was wondering when it was ever going to end. And once it did, I was so glad!

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Time I will never get back

I decided to watch this C-drama because it only had 24 episode (which is short for C-dramas), but once I got started, I quickly realized that this could have been completed in half the episodes, and it would have made the whole thing more interesting. I felt that this show REALLY needed a different editor, there were some episodes that, once I got to the end, I realized that the entire episode was a complete waste of time. I really felt that a lot of it was like watching paint dry - boring as all get out.

I suppose the actors did a good job with what they had to work with. The problem was the script. The main character of Tu Mo was so irritating. First, she'd been liking a boy for years, and that boy was one of the most irritating characters I've seen in a show recently. Then, I couldn't actually see what Gu Wei Yi saw in her. Then, she always seemed to be mad at the male lead for something, but rather than talk to him about it, she did a lot of clomping out of the room, slamming doors, and generally not being very nice to him. She was very immature.

Overall, no chemistry between the leads, too many irritating characters, too much dog and cat sound effects, fish kisses, and multiple unnecessary scenes/storylines.

It was sad for me to realize, after watching this, that most of the C-dramas are along these lines and not, for me, overly enjoyable. Love Me If You Dare and Dating in the Kitchen are the gold standard for me, and I will continue to hope that I happen upon other C-dramas that live up to them.

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The ending ruined the rest for me

First, they should have used the title Let Me Be Your Night, as it was referenced in the drama. Knight does not make sense in any way!

As I was watching this show, I found it to be a fun watch, fluffy and light. There were quite a few amusing moments, and I didn't feel the need to fast forward through scenes (the advantage of fewer episodes). It addressed numerous issues that idols must endure, and I found that interesting as well. It was a very cute concept for a show, and if you just want an easy watch and don't expect too much you won't be disappointed.

What I liked: Jang Dong Joo as 2ML Seo Woo Yeon. He's got a lovely, deep voice and I really liked the way his character was written. Admittedly, I had some SLS going on here, especially since the ML was not a nice person. The music was catchy. The LUNA actors all did an okay job, and I liked how each of them had their own style sense. The story didn't focus on just one or two main characters. That said, there were things that missed the mark...

What I didn't like: Though I love Jung in Sun as an actress and she did an okay job here, I felt that she was entirely too old for this part. I didn't feel any chemistry between the leads in the romantic sense. They were fun to watch when they were antagonistic toward one another, but the romance fell flat. There was an absolutely terrible, cringe-worthy kiss that looked like their lips were barely in contact with one another and her eyes were open the whole time. Though I liked the fact that there were multiple story lines, I felt there were so many missed opportunities to delve deeper into the characters, especially the LUNA members. I would have liked to have seen more of their interactions with one another. The interactions they did have made me think that they didn't care much for one another. The ML character was stoic and cold throughout and I never did become truly attached to him. With the FL being the "live-in doctor", I would have loved to have seen more of her helping the other members of LUNA, not just the ML. A secondary romance took up a lot of screen time and ultimately went nowhere.

WHAT I HATED: Misunderstandings are resolved, someone saves the other, feelings are verbalized, and then one of them leaves the country for an indeterminate period of time after saying "have a good life". WHAT THE HECK!!?!?! That made me mad enough, but the ending was just horrible - short, abrupt, no physical contact (almost like they were just meeting again!), and then just OVER! The last half hour of this show made me so angry I had to drop points. All that time wasted just to be disappointed. Why is it so hard to have a decent ending in so many K-dramas!?!

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Just my opinion...

Apparently, I watched a different show than everyone else. I'll put the sadly necessary disclaimer - this is my own personal opinion, so don't come after me.

For me, the show had a lot of style, and not much substance. Beautifully filmed and beautifully dressed beautiful people, so much of the time I felt like I was a spectator watching a fashion show runway catwalk. Lots of walking from here to there, "look at what I'm wearing now", models with no expression.

I just didn't like anyone in this show. For me, there has to be something likeable about someone to make me care about what happens to them. Both the ML and the FL had personality issues. FL in particular was unlikeable, she was such a cold person. Kim Ji Won tends to play the same type of character, and her lack of facial expressions just doesn't endear her to me. The ML's reaction when he found out she was sick was just wrong. And the sequence, with the overabundance of flashbacks, was out of synch and made it hard for me to like them. I didn't believe in their story and was never able to feel their love for one another, even at the end.

And can we talk about tropes? In this drama, the tropes were piled high, one after another. When they got to the amnesia part, I laughed out loud - my trope bingo card was complete!

Should you watch it? Don't go by me, because apparently, I'm an outlier. Give it a try and come to your own conclusion.

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How is it possible to get bored with only 10 episodes!?!?

The first few episodes rushed the whole story along and then they had to backtrack and add problems to fill in the rest of the episodes. I couldn't wait to finish this one. For me, this fell in the camp of "that's time I'll never get back."
Here are some of the problems that I had: 1) why did he like her? From just seeing her? 2) the ML was very one-dimensional, showed absolutely no emotion whatsoever throughout the show; 3) the FL starts out somewhat strong and has career goals for herself, and ended up just giving everything up for him; 4) Look up stalker in the dictionary - ML's picture will be there; 5) the show was unbalanced, it tried to go from ROMCOM to farce and then started to take itself seriously; 6) Almost every man in this show liked the FL. Why? 7) Large cast with inadequate development of characters. Grandmother was the cliche "bad guy" and the brother seemed to be thrown in to try to further the story and that whole storyline was not addressed in a way that made any sense; 8) No chemistry between the leads; 9) she spends a lot of time, in essence telling him to go away and not be a stalker, but then she's in love with him. Again, why?

This is a show that was actually irritating me as I watched it. For one reason, I think I've only ever dropped one drama and I felt compelled to complete this one, and that made me mad. As I was watching it, I just felt that, the leads especially, were just going through the motions. I couldn't relate to them and I didn't care about them.

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Excellent chemistry against a backdrop of corporate intrigues

Unfortunately, I watched this show on the heels of Dating in the Kitchen, which in my mind, is the gold standard for Chinese drama/chemistry/romance, and a show that generally has it all. I've heard good things about Love is Sweet, so I decided to give it a try, hoping to continue to feed my romance fix.

The only thing I'm going to give away is that he's loved her for years. I always love that in a show. They meet up again and are, rather than friends, antagonists.

Leo Luo is the male lead and he's terrific. Always impeccably dressed, powerful businessman and extremely handsome. As when they were kids, he also bullied her in the workplace, but I felt that it was to better her performance at work. He, behind the scenes, always took care to make sure to protect her.

Bai Lu (Son Ye Jin lookalike, if you ask me) as the female lead was good as well. One of my favorite lines was when someone was looking at her and she said something to the effect of "People tell me I look like Bai Lu, have you heard of her?" A little tongue-in-cheek humor never goes amiss.

As a couple their chemistry was wonderful, but once they got together their romance took a back burner to the office intrigues, of which there were a lot. I found that aspect of the show to be very drawn-out and boring. Them admitting their feelings and acting on them was hot/hot/hot for a couple of episodes, though. There was the obligatory time jump, but it happened with about 6 episodes left, and their lives had settled and become pretty mundane. I think this show would have benefitted from tighter editing and less episodes (about 10 less!)

The costuming was good, especially when they were dressed in formal wear. The buildings/sets were visually interesting, as was the soundtrack. As with so many other Asian dramas, I was obsessed with the jewelry.

I never did enjoy the secondary couple. Though I have liked Riley Wang in other things, and he was good enough in this, I didn't feel they had any chemistry and she was a little too immature and stalker-ish for me. I kept hoping for some improvement, but it never materialized for me.

The female lead's allergic disorder was mentioned and addressed time and time again throughout the show, and then completely forgotten at the end, which I thought was a cop-out. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't cry at that proposal?!?!

Everyone got their happy ending, including, to a certain extent, Du Lei, who was really a scumbag, but maybe he really did give up his wicked ways.

So, though I can recommend it as a show worth watching if you don't mind the multiple, endless and convoluted storylines, if you are looking for strictly romance, this one falls a little short.

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Watch it for the acting

I enjoyed the last couple of episodes more than the rest, though they still somewhat left me dissatisfied.

What I liked:
Acting was excellent. I love Park Bo Young. The only time I don't like her acting is when she cries. It is loud and it's overdone, so it makes me want to laugh. She did better in this drama. She still had a couple of over-the-top moments, but her moments of quiet crying were very touching. Plus, she had the perfect, calming voice for her character's job.
Lee Jeong Eun as Nurse Manager Song. I love this actress. She's got that tough exterior and that inner softness/caring. Plus, she has a great voice.
Noh Jae Won as mental patient Kim Seo Wan. This was a tragically beautiful character, and he did an amazing job. As he struggled between fantasy and reality, there was a wonderful sweetness (or maybe innocence) about him. His relationship with PBY's nurse Da Eun was terrific to watch.
Relationship between Da Eun and longtime friend Yu Chan. I'll admit, in my heart I thought they would be a better match for each other. So supportive of each other, with the fighting that often comes with people that have known one another forever.
-special effects were good. Physical displays of what was going on in the person's mind.

Things that let me down:
Being in the medical profession, I have a difficult time suspending disbelief, especially since this was a medical drama. Where do I begin?
-she transfers to the psych unit because her previous boss told her to? (Unbeknownst to her, her boss was trying to get rid of her.) It takes a special person to work in a psychiatric unit, and she knew NOTHING about psychiatric disorders, not even bipolar disorder, which is something that everyone has at least heard of.
-she doesn't use gloves when giving injections or drawing blood.
-it's a locked psych unit, but the patient rooms each have a refrigerator in them, and the patients are allowed to have pretty much whatever they want in their room. There were multiple people in a room, if a person wanted to hurt themselves or someone else, they have access to pretty much anything.
-You leave with a psych patient to take her to the bank to open a savings account?
-it's a locked unit, but a patient can get to the roof without anyone knowing? Add to that, there are cameras all over the place and no one saw anything.
-I realize it was a short series, but many of the psychiatric disorders were glossed over and oversimplified. The grown woman that has a contentious relationship with her mom, and all it takes for the woman to be healed is for the mom to bring her the correct kind of fruit. She's miraculously cured and gets discharged. Pep talks seemed to "cure" some of the characters.
-PBY character depression. Came as a result of a tragedy, but was definitely more than situational depression, especially since she tried to kill herself. She had been working on the psych ward for some period of time, her case was so severe, and the voice overs showed that she was aware, to a certain degree, that she wasn't behaving right. She didn't seek help.
-I'm sorry, she would not be able to go back to work on a psych unit after having the issues she had. The writers made it seem like she was "cured" as long as she took her medication. Being on a psych unit would be a constant trigger for her.
Then there were the relationships:
-I don't usually have SLS, but she should have ended up with her longtime friend. I was bothered by the fact that the doctor liked her because looking at her made him stop cracking his knuckles, but when they were apart, he went back to cracking his knuckles. She was a panacea for his behavior, that's a lot of pressure for anyone. Yeon Woo Jin as Go Yoon was good, and he's just so cute when he smiles, but I didn't feel their relationship at all.
-2nd couple. She had absolutely no self-esteem, and I could see why after we met the nightmare of a mother. It seemed to me he was always the one doing the work in the relationship. Very unbalanced. Don't even get me started on the fact that she decided to go away for a year. These writers will do anything to include time skips, people leaving, etc.

So, I'm glad I watched it, but was, overall, disappointed. At least I can cross it off my watch list.

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Could have been so much better

Not an original idea, by any means. However, I could have forgiven a lot if it had been better written.

Kim Dong Wook as Lee Jung Hoon and Moon Ga Young as Ha Na both did a good job with what they had to work with. My problems were these: 1) So he's able to remember everything - I don't see how that could prevent him from ever loving again. He held off and once he was interested in Ha Na I had a hard time understanding why. 2) Ha Na's character was too "stalker-ish" for me. He's not interested in her at all, yet she keeps showing up, asking him questions about things and generally making herself a nuisance. The actress is a beauty, and I loved the niceness of her character but otherwise she didn't endear herself to me. 3) Stalker storyline - that could have been written so much better, in such a way that it would be more of a surprise to us as a viewing audience. I was just happy to have it over with. 4) The two-year break up. So, you had fears of being in the public eye - hello?!?! You're public figures for heaven's sake! Her going to the US and them not having any contact at all for two years. In this age of technology (especially since she was always using her phone), it didn't make any sense. A breakup that lasts this long diminishes their love. How much could they possibly love one another if they are willing to be apart for that long? 5) The ending. Unbelievably rushed. No contact for two years, they run into one another in a book shop, and they act like virtual strangers. There wasn't enough time after this for us to get back to feeling like they were in love. Plus, the issues that drove them apart were magically resolved and not discussed. I really wish K-dramas would get a clue that we would like a little more at the back end of these shows, and maybe cut out some time-wasting stuff in the middle.

Liked:
The music was good.
Real kisses, thank you very much.
The very rare appearance of his smile
She's a beauty
Loved her sister

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This by no means was a comedy and shouldn't have been labeled as such

This was a hard movie to watch due to the subject matter. The evil in the world is never easy to watch. That said, I really enjoyed the acting and the action. Kim Woo Bin does such a fine job with micro-expressions, and I really liked the development of his character. There was a possibility of him going down a certain path, and I'm glad they didn't take that direction. Also, thank you for not trying to add in romance. (though I'd love to see him in a romance!)

I thought that the action sequences were very well-done.

Personally, I was glad this was a movie and not a series. It got straight to the point without wasting time.

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