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thereluctantshoweater

thereluctantshoweater

Because This Is My First Life korean drama review
Completed
Because This Is My First Life
0 people found this review helpful
by thereluctantshoweater
Jan 11, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

YES.

I watched this awhile ago but I felt compelled to contribute a bit more gushing for this show in the hopes that more of its ilk are made.

I often find K-dramas fall in one of two camps: super-technicolour surreal middle-class world where everyone lives in nice apartments, works hard at their jobs, drinks soju with colleagues after work and get given piggy back rides home by their crushes OR the super-in-your-face gritty world where the hardships of society are magnified, intensified and delivered as a punch to the gut so that we think a bit more (and probably feel a bit of guilt). This show managed to gently blur the lines between these two camps. It takes a lot of the conventions of an Asian rom-com but gives it to us as a group of friends who are all experiencing quite different but very relevant challenges. It asks the hard question: if you only get one life, who are you living it for? The answer should be obvious but real life is never as obvious or easy.

Is it fun? Yes. Is it funny? Yes! The support cast are as solid as the leads - side-note fan girl moment, is there a character on this planet where Kim Soo Young hasn't yet made it all her own? The sheer variety of roles she has played, and with such skill, continues to baffle me.

Okay, back to the show: it was visually lovely and the music is wonderful; a little bit in your face in parts, perhaps, but that tends to be the K-drama way. The pacing is largely great, although sometimes the FL is so agonisingly slow to make her revelations that I wanted to scream at her a little bit to hurry up! The story and and the journey are wonderful, and even as a non-Korean speaker like me I got a sense of how beautiful the writing was. I won't spoil it for you but there are some truly great moments that will make you laugh out loud and some equally moving ones. If there was ever a show with character and gumption, this one has both in spades.

This show, for me, is a class above many of the K-dramas I've consumed. Let's hope South Korea hears us loud and clear and gives us more.
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