A big fan of Zhou but not this drama.

Story is too cheesy for my liking and even odd at times. The gap created between the leads was too large and some scenes even felt uncomfortable to watch...

***spoiler***
As someone who has not read the original, I can only rate the storyline based on the drama. The drama begins with a bus scene where the ML drops by the FL's personal chat group and comments about a dish. That scene alone threw me off as it felt almost predatory and raised immediate red flags. There are many scenes within the first few episodes that follow a similar pattern. ML sends direct messages to the FL or just randomly talks to her and shares recipes, asks what she is doing. To a certain extent, I can understand the FL's fascination and reaction to the voice msgs as she has idolized the ML for years but as the audience you can't ignore how odd this is. And once you learn about the age gap (in the drama), the messages almost feel inappropriate as if the ML is grooming her/taking advantage of her naivety as his fan.

As the drama goes on, it continues to shine light on the ML, painting him as the perfect boyfriend while muting the FL, focusing on her visuals only. And perhaps too perfect, the ML's actions and tone felt forced at times, making their interactions awkward and unnatural. The FL felt one dimensional with not much else going on in her life; the drama fails to portray Zhou's character's charms and achievements which is a shame. Another point of contention is that there's little to no explanation why the ML fell in love with the FL as he basically started pursuing her from the start with the random voice notes. The leads' love story lacked substance, with the ML feeling the desire to marry the FL on their first trip together when they barely dated was far from romantic and unconvincing.

All in all, I find the storyline to be too unrealistic and underdeveloped. It was an injustice to the cast as it was lacking in so many departments. The actors couldn't flesh out their characters as their story lacked so many details that were necessary. I am currently on episode 22 and plan to finish the drama but feel most would drop this unless they are a fan of Zhou or Tan like myself.

side note: I feel like Zhou played her character well given the script and restrictions to her character. Hoping Zhou will have better luck next time with her scripts and am looking forward to her future works in 2024/2025.

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Interesting plot with A+ acting

Went into this one blind as I haven't seen the og one (I tried but couldn't even get past ep 1). This is my first time watching Jeon Yeon Bin in anything but I've become a fan.

Despite what some are saying in the comments, I think Yeon Bin slayed all her roles with my favorite being Junhee from her college days. There is this innocent charm added to Yeon Bin's timeless allure during this timeline. The ATCY team did such a great job showcasing her different charms as they jumped through the timelines and I was genuinely impressed. If I were to be a harsh critic, I would give the drama itself an 8 but her performance was a true highlight. Kim Tae Ri , Kim Go Eun and Jeo Yeon Bin are the rare breeds in the industry that demonstrate the epitome of acting and why it should be appreciated as an art form. They truly understand how an actor should utilize their body and eyes to convey specific emotions/showcase a character. Without giving away any spoilers here, viewers are in for a treat as Yeon Bin goes through the various transitions.

Without necessary expanding the number of episodes or just by adding one to two episodes, I feel like the storyline and characters could be fleshed out more. Speaking for myself, I wanted more details about between the leads as college students/adults and what they went through as a couple. There were snaps here and there but I didn't think it was enough especially when they dated for more than a decade. Perhaps they could show some key milestones, when Junhee graduated, how the two celebrated when she got her first "real job" (as her character was goal oriented while the ML was more of a romantic), their first fight (and how they reconciled) or when they first met each other's parents. What I'm trying to get at is that the show didn't show enough moments of the two being each other's soulmate, why they love each other as much as they do. There's a part in the drama where Junhee mentions Yeon Jun knows her better than she knows herself but the drama doesn't go further into it or show viewers what she meant. It's a shame because I'm sure the actors would have delivered these scenes well.

**slight spoiler**

They also could have also expanded on In-gyu's character(?) as it lacked depth and felt flat (not an actor issue, there just weren't scenes to show his development). And lastly, with such a complicated storyline with intersecting timelines, viewers definitely needed more explanation on how it all worked (not sure if the og did well on this component). I became very confused by the end of episode 9 and had to resort to third party sources to understand what happened. Perhaps it needed to be broken down more for the average viewer (or maybe I am just the only one missing a few brain cells), an aspect I believe the writer/director could have done better at.

This also leads me to highlight a detail I thought could have been changed. The present story starts one year after the ML's passing and I thought they could have changed it to 3 or 5 years instead. The fact the coworkers at the office thought Junhee should've moved on is a bit odd (I'm not saying she should be sobbing everyday but it would be normal to stay single for awhile after such tragic). As an interesting opening, it would be nice to have someone confess their feelings to the FL but she kindly rejects them. She goes back to her apartment that night and the viewers see all the old photos, only to realize she is still mourning her bf who passed some years ago and is only putting up a front at work/in front of her friends. There is a flashback to when her boyfriend's sister told her about the engagement ring and she cries. A few days later she receives a mysterious cassette tape and the story begins there.

All in all, I enjoyed the show. A few misses here and there but definitely worth your time. I mentioned this at the beginning but you should watch this show just for Yeon Bin's performance alone (the others did well although there's definitely room for improvement); her scenes are for the acting manual.

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I wanted to love this...

As much as I love KTR (she has been in my top 3 since Mr. Sunshine), I did not feel this drama at all and ultimately had to drop it despite trying to push through. It felt like the storyline lacked depth and felt one dimensional (regardless of how well the actors were). I imagined a group of writers writing a story that checked all the boxes for a "Coming of Age" drama within a tight timeline. There were obviously great scenes but altogether the drama did not feel cohesive and did not "sing" for me. I know I hold an unpopular opinion but I didn't feel the spark between the characters at all.

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