Hong Sisters Missed the Mark
I waited for this drama with deep anticipation as a fan of the Hong Sisters. What I LOVE about them is their capacity to create rich fantastical world for their characters to occupy, full of metaphor and meaning. In this instance, the psychological inner world of Mu Hui took that place in the narrative, inside of an otherwise very mundane world. This psychological landscape, however, was neither innovative, fantastical, rich, and neither did it lean on realism. While it added depth to our FL, there was nothing that could not have been accomplished through character development in the otherwise real world. Further, it felt incomplete in what it aimed to accomplish, relying on an external plot at the end of the 12th episode that we never find out how it ended. It feels to me like this time the Hobg Sisters tried to play it safe for the international Netflix audience and neither achieved their usual artistic brilliance, nor psychological intrigue. I am certainly disappointed.Positive points for Go Youn Jung wonderful, bright portrayal of our Mu Hui. Fukushima Sota as Hiro also brought in a wonderful arc to his character portrayal. Kim Seon Ho as Ho Jin did excellent work with the language, but it was average or even below average performance. I did like the chemistry of our leads, however, it was sweet.
Worth watching if you’re a Hong Sisters fan so you may form your own opinion, but it’s not brilliant, merely safe.
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Watch for Heo Nam Jun and Supporting Cast - NOT for Storytelling ⏳☄️✨
Let’s start with our leads and the foundation of our story, its romantic arc. First, I gained so much respect for Heo Nam Jun through this series! I have seen him do decent work in the past, but this character gave him an opportunity to shine, which he did brightly 🌟 His character went from two dimensional chaebol, to emotionally complicated prince, to a love stricken, heart driven man - fluidly - with a clear evolution that we could follow and get behind. He very much carried the romance, particularly when our comedic time slipping aspects needed to mellow so we may connect to the heart of this love story. If you are a fan, i would watch the entire series for him, easily.Im Ji Yeon, on the other hand, doesn’t exhibit the same fluidity between comedy and melodrama. Through this series, i am noticing that I have a preference for her realistic characters, which of course this one was not. She tends to rely on outside/in personality development in comedy, which works for short pieces, like a comedic film, or the theatre. This character, however, was complex. The script didn’t fully sell it, so in the end it landed on her to make us believe it. For my taste, her farcical/comedic approach to her astronomical time slipping character was very appealing at the top, but needed to melt at some point to support the romantic arc, which was the absolute core of this world. Further, she needed to be able to meet the emotional development of her co-actor / romantic interest. Unfortunately, for my oreference, she opted to stay with the personality driven character that was relevant at the top of the series, but not toward its more heart wrenching aspects toward the end. The director is ALSO very much responsible for this. Although I enjoyed her plant whipping 🌿 chasing antics when it was appropriate, we needed to FEEL this life altering, time bending kind of Love.
As for our supporting cast, it was mostly A list actors, and i truly celebrate them. It would have been a blast to be part of this set, with this group of diverse and talented actors. They also carried the piece in the places where our directing and screenwriting disintegrated. I laughed a lot and cursed them often (as appropriate for the narrative 🫰🏽).
The directing was decent and mostly supported the story, minus the already mentioned lack of support of the romantic unfolding. Unfortunately, It was a mediocre script. They took a crazy risk with this concept, and it had potential to be great, but it needed to be fully developed in order for us to suspend disbelief and simply enjoy it at face value. Dramaturgy (script development) needs a home in Kdrama land. In this case, aspects of the story seemed added part way, while others fell away, leaving holes in its stead. In general, our script lacked coherence. Yet! It was entertaining, at that superficial level.
All in all, i enjoyed the ride ⏳☄️✨ even with the disappointment of the script and imbalanced depth of our romance.
(Initially a comment, but thought it might be helpful to others later 🤓)
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This review may contain spoilers
When Romance becomes an Error and a Shadow in an otherwise decent plot…
First, what I found right in this drama. Our actors are really phenomenal overall, give or take a few scenes. The level of professionalism on their part carried this piece. I felt proud, as a performer myself, of our young female actors in their boxing roles. It takes so much to get into these types of roles. I was also great to see Lee Sang Yeob try some new things. I liked the cinematography and the tone of this genre. Obviously a whole lot of hard work went into this. At twelve episodes, it was just the right length.Now my main critique of this piece lies in the Romance, and the huge shadow it represents of our global culture (not just Korean). First, we have a very young woman, sixteen years younger from her main romantic interest. This in and of itself is not a problem for me, however, when you add a power over dynamic, where he is in charge of her livelihood, where her relationship with her father is wounded, and then he becomes her love interest, I find this problematic. Had it instead addressed our societal issues around these types of relationships and how much trauma is interwoven, the way people get hurt, how unconsciously it can play out, that would have been amazing. I would have loved to have seen him claim the role as a protector, but have a passion with his first love. Perhaps our sweet boxer could have been paired with someone that could meet her youthful, lively demeanor. The entire first love story would have been really cute with someone else, the way she was having her first kiss, and first time pining for someone, so sweet.
To illustrate how our writers were somewhat aware of the fire they were playing with, we even had the father and our ML acknowledging that her attraction to him was not the healthiest for her (or either of them), and he asked her to back off, because “she is young”. By the time Kim So Hye’s character ordered him to kiss her at the end and that peck happened, I felt so uncomfortable I was almost gagging. Not to mention that the entire scene felt like an afterthought in their story arc. I felt on edge that Lee Sang Yeob as Kim Tae Young had to approach this young actress in this way, it was unsettling and unromantic. A peck is all that he could muster, I thought to myself. I am very disappointed at this choice by the writers, even the directing and acting was cringey in that moment, and it was the pinnacle of the piece. Why, dear artists and and storytellers? Why?
*trigger warning*
The fact that we also had a guest actor in the drama that has been convicted for his relationship with minors made this dynamic all the more obvious to me. I am ashamed that we still haven’t found a way to look at these things as humans, to become accountable and responsible for our hidden urges and the harm they cause. Large age gap coupled with power over dynamics is often not sexy in real life, but rather rooted in a great deal of unconscious patterns and pain.
I was glad that at the least our female lead had a year to “grow up” as she said. Of course, she was a legal adult, able to make her own choices. And still…. it left me uneasy. Even if I am the only person, I felt it important to address.
Wish everyone involved in this piece much reflection, growth and success and us a supporters as well.
✨🙏🏽✨
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From Romantic Perspective
Expanding on a comment I wrote: This was an Awkward couple and nit in the cute cringe way.FL couldn't pull off the cutesy romance bit, and the writing of her character in this way was not congruent with the persona of the ML. She was irritating in her habits, both as the character and in the acting, but worse, she made very weak choices (again as both).
As a couple the ML and FL were flat, I couldn't feel them. This was not a clear enemy to lovers, nor a power couple, or touching heart story…. It was just meh. This was a major issue as their love was the catalyst to change our ML’s trajectory completely. Their romance was poorly written, directed and acted. Park Hae Jin, as much as i have liked him in other roles, lacked Soul and motivation in this series. And while Kim Min Jung nailed her most recent role as a bada** in Check in Hanyang (watch for her, not for the drama), she failed to reach us as Cha Do Ha.
The ending of the romantic story also left much to be desired. We were meant to be engaged and rooting for our couple at this time, but neither the writing, acting or directing left us drawn in sufficiently by this point…
On the positive side, ALL secondary character actors in “Man to Man” nailed it. All of them. They had complexity, soul, empathy and coldness as required. Too bad the writing didn't use them to the extent that they were capable.
All in all it was an ok oassing of time. 7.5
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Mature Love, Deep Inquiry ❤️
When my Love Blooms was a refreshing Spring in a deserted land, an oasis upon which the cracked hearts may blossom again. In this drama, we take a look at the true nature of Love and the Human Spirit through the lens of time. I loved, sighed and cried throughout this series and largely base this review of my experience throughout the journey.Joo Yi Tae and Lee Bo Young became two of my favorite Korean Actors as their characters strive to find their way back to their hearts and to that which truly mattered within their Being. As they navigate the real chasm of their current life, back to each other, they have to face the long forgotten or denied aspects of themselves through the mirror of each other.
Their younger versions played by Park Yin Young and Joen Seo Nee were endearing and moving. Their fresh, youthful idealism was delightfully portrayed as they came into themselves, who they wanted to be in this Life, and felt true Love for the first time.
The writing and directing highlighted the perseverance of Truth in their Story. I was touched by the beautiful imagery throughout. It was sometimes heartbreaking and at others cathartic. All in all, very satisfying to watch.
Highly recommended. It is rare that we get to examine a deep, mature experience of Love such as this in a Korean Dramas, which often favor the youthful infatuation stage of coming together. I truly appreciate this type of work.
I hope to see Joo Yi Tae and Lee Bo Young continue to be cast and work with production teams that will continue to show and develop their talent as artists.
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