Reviews

Rather Bizarre Ending

Believe in Love is a partly xianxia, partly non xianxia drama. The xianxia elements are not pronounced throughout the story, as most of the characters are all normal humans living an earthly life, until towards the end when some elements of xianxia come to light. This is another story revolving around cuisines and food, and it is my fourth one in a row. Despite the tag that says “comedy”, there is very little comedy here, or comedies that don't make people laugh. Nonetheless, it’s quite an enjoyable light watch with some “angsts” for some viewers.

Hua Yinan (Huang Shengchi) and Lu Yue’er (Zheng He Hui Zi) were lovers in their previous life as General Mu Yuan and Xiao Man. Mu Yuan died and Xiao Man perished while trying to save him. Thousands of years later, they meet again living on an island -- Hua Yinan as the son of the owner of the island and Lu Yue’er as the daughter of the owner of a small noodle shop. With mysteries and unexplained circumstances, Hua Yinan is told to marry Lu Yue’er in his father’s will before he can inherit his father’s legacy as the rightful owner of the island and all his properties, including the biggest and best restaurant on the island. Hua Yinan is reluctant to marry Lu Yue’er as he doesn’t like her and the feelings are mutual. Through various encounters that make them save each other’s life, Hua Yinan begins to fall in love with Lu Yue’er. So when she agrees to marry him, Hua Yinan is overjoy. He inherits everything the will promises he will. Comes our antagonist who was the antagonist in their previous life as well. What follows become a test of their true love for each other.

The whole cast is new to me including the main leads. Huang Shengchi is good looking and despite having acted in many dramas, this is my first drama of him. His portrayal of Hua Yinan is convincing with a mild demeanor and a soft romance towards his love. Likewise, I have never watched any of Zheng He Hui Zi’s dramas, and her portrayal here is equally convincing as the naïve Lu Yue’er or the arrogant Tang Yingying. Her outfit is rather unconventional with bared shoulders, accentuating her narrow frame, making her looking like a little girl. Their dynamics together are sweet and authentic with a lot of intimate scenes. The antagonist is vile and hateful, and Xiao Kaizhong's portrayal is very convincing. The second couple, Su Tang (Zhu Rong Jun) and Du Ruo (Hou Dong), is quite a joy to watch, and the stepmom and step sister are so horrible that you want to slap them. These supporting actors are great in their respective roles.

My Verdict

This drama is not great nor very bad. It’s easy watching though it can be rather slow pace as there is a prolong romance play which can be welcoming for some romance buffs, but boring for others. The last episode turns into a love triangle with a xianxia fight with superpower. The endings have multiple plot holes and questions not answered. It's rather bizarre. Overall, watch it for light entertainment and don't be too bothered with the details.

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While watching Secret Love, I was initially sucked in because this felt so different from the rest of the kdramas out there. I use to be a big fan of the genre, but then I realized that almost all of them followed the same formula, so I stopped.

I'm slowly getting back to kdramas, so I picked this one up and at first I was all in. I loved every moment of this show. The acting was top notch and the story, at least in the beginning, was complex and unique.

I loved it!

So why the 7?

Well, what I loved about the show was the complexity of everything and how everyone was flawed. As the show progressed and more secrets were revealed, I thought that it would continue to add to the depth of the characters, instead I got the same kdrama. Rich guy falls in love with poor girl. Poor girl has a guy that likes her and the rich guy has a girl that likes him. Drama ensues.

I can accept that. What I couldn't accept was this love story. Min Hyuk and Yoo Jeong just didn't make any sense as lovers. Min Hyuk had some reverse Stockholm Syndrome where he fell in love with the person he was tormenting. It came about from obsession and then he loves her. It made sense. But for Yoo Jeong to love him back all of a sudden? No. That never made sense and never felt authentic to me. After five years of being harassed and tormented, you don't just suddenly say "I love you too."

I also felt like the story dropped the ball with Do Hoon, who was the most interesting character on the show. He's been brought up in a family that expects him to be the best, but still keep his morals intact. That all changes when he allows Yoo Jeong to take the fall for him. Him getting close to Min Hyuk and trying to destroy him seemed to be his ways of making amends, but in the end I really didn't know what he was doing.

I enjoyed my time watching this and was eagerly waiting for the next episode to appear so I could watch it, but now that everything is said and done, was this really all that different from the rest of the kdramas out there? Kind of, but not really. There's a lot of plot holes and the ending was rushed. I just wasn't satisfied when it was done.

I am in the minority with this, so if you think this might be something you'd like then check it out, but if you are looking for something new in the kdrama world then I don't think you'll find it here.

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There is just something about this movie that made me absolutely love it!

The actors are absolutely fantastic as well as the original and quite absurd story.
I was surprised at the humour and jokes, being a little more mature than usual movies, but it was not excessive or out of place.

It is rare for me to give out 10, but be it because of the amazing performance, the cute moments, the amazing kisses and even such an absurd coincidental love, this movie had me clicking "replay" from the first time I watched it!

I recommend it to all those that enjoy love stories with a hint of mature jokes and some sexy concepts: trust me, you won't be disappointed!

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I started watching this drama, because of the main couple. I watched them in Secret, so I wanted to watch something else related to them.
My first impression that this drama left on me was good.
The storyline is amazing. The writers did a great job. They really knew how to mess with a viewers mind. With this drama you will laugh and cry in the same time, and you won't be bored at all.
Well, for the acting it was good. I can surely say that, Ji Sung mastered this role, he played a high school girl, I mean even if I am a girl I couldn't do that like he did. Amazing!!!!
Hwang Jung Eum was good, I really like her, but the only thing that I didn't like is her yelling and screaming, it was a bit annoying.
I really like their chemistry in this drama. It was cute and romantic.
Oh, and the OST was amazing. Especially, Auditory Hallucination. That OST has a great power to cause outburst of emotion in the viewer.
I really miss all of the characters. They really growth on my heart.
I recommend this to everyone. Even if you are having some doubts, start it, maybe you will end up liking it. :D

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The panelists were the only saving grace!

I have seen all the previous seasons so got a bit used to the show. Many areas felt same so it didn't interest me that much. However I feel even if I had watched it for the first time, I wouldn't have enjoyed it because it was too boring.

The couple lacked lustre and conversations were boring. The games were same from the previous seasons so no surprise there.
The contestants were okay-ish. As one can read on any review and the same applies to me as well that it felt they focused too much on Sian love interests. The girl prepared for the show and deserved to win it but it wasn't that exciting. I skipped her many scenes because it was evident she was doing it for the show. No judgements just got 0 entertainment watching it. Liked Ji-yeon and Min-seol for some parts but again lost interest.

The only parts i enjoyed were the panelist's commentary on the situation!

My recommendation- watch s1 or s2 if you haven't. Overall a complete skip~

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coming of age/slow burn

Overall: this could have been a 10/10 except for a fatal flaw. It is adapted from the book "Mou Mou" by Mu Su Li; however, I reviewed the series based on its own merits. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each, 2 episodes per week. There is an extra scene after the initial end credits in some episodes. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4661/the-on1y-one-2024-e01 ; Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/40680c-the-on1y-one ; iQIYI https://www.iq.com/album/the-on1y-one-2024-2ge4shuunbp?lang=en_us ; WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/album/3om6e76t014bzqy and Netflix https://www.netflix.com/mo-en/title/81907297

Content Warnings: non con kiss, fight, past child abuse, past death, kidnapping, threatened violence

What I Liked
- the lead characters and their dynamic (the tension, chemistry, micro expressions)
- sweet/protect moments
- many familiar faces (Zach Lu from HIStory 2: Crossing The Line (teacher), JN Yu from Be Loved In House I Do (quirky friend), Jed Chung from Light (classmate), Stan Huang from VIP Only (PE teacher)
- family interactions felt realistic
- symbolism with the closet
- color symbolism orange and blue
- multiple platform international release

Room For Improvement
- what stopped me from giving this a 9.5 or 10/10 was the fact that the director/writer made a very risky bet on a season 2, in order to do this they made the story drag with side plots/characters I didn't care about (like the female teacher and that random kidnapping???) and ended it in an unsatisfactory way, there has only be 1 Taiwanese series to get a season 2 (We Best Love), because it was a China/Taiwan collaboration a sequel feels even less likely given censorship and how even censored BL has been mostly shelved for the past few years
- ep 1 voice over with incorrect statistics (we don't meet 1,000 different people every day)
- actors who viewers have seen play adult characters played high school characters
- too many flashbacks
- the NSFW scene was odd compared to an earlier dead fish lip press
- the animated intro didn't match the overall vibe

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The Chang'an Crate

A Chinese update of Sungkyungkwan Scandal (2010) with a dose of Hwarang (2016), how good is that. Not to mention a flower boy cast and the star from Novoland Castle in The Sky 2.

As soon as I followed the story I discovered my comparison was just a first impression. The Chang'an Youth is stuffed with different story arcs. The heroine is Shen Yiyi ( Wang Yu Wen ) an ordinary girl who gets 'adopted' in her youth by a sweet rich girl. She's treated like family. Unfortunately this rich girl dies, just before her marriage, leaving a mystery behind about her pedigree and heritage. To do some research Shen Yiyi agrees to substitute for her friend in marriage and travels to the girl's intended, Tang Jiu Hua (Xie Bin Bin) in Chang'An. She travels in disguise of a gentleman. On the road she meets Yang Zi'an (Caesar Wu), the son of a magistrate carrying out orders from the King. She also meets the sweet second prince Li Xinyuan (Qi Peixin), and stark swordsman Dugu Muxue (Liu Yichang). This Chang'an Youth Gang is full of personal secrets, but eventually they end up as friends at the local academy. Apart from their exciting school life they learn to work and trust each other, meanwhile facing a mysterious case and corrupt officials.

Acting/Cast

Wang Yu Wen is a good choice for the role as crossdressed Yiyi, she combines a lean, boyish body with strong facial features. She also has great chemistry with Xie Bin Bin, her supposed fiancé Tang Tang. Xie Bin Bin is known for totally different characters, but he's so funny here, I suspect he enjoyed this role himself.
Such a pity Xie Bin Bin isn't the romantic interest, that honor goes to Caesar Wu. Agreed, that guy is Flower Boy- In -The-Flesh, but he's more the kind of flower that's already been pressed between the pages of a book. Doesn't fade, doesn't wrinkle, doesn't impress.
Another failure is the miscast of poor Liu Yichang. He convinces as the good-hearted rascal Zhao Cuo in I've Fallen For You (2020), but he can't hold a candle to Korean actor Yoo Ah In, who played the silent swordsman to a T in Sungkyunkwan Scandal. Put together with robot-like Qi Peixin they didn't float my boat. I also missed the necessary humor, the student twins excluded.

Rewatch Value

What can I say? It started out so well, but I lost interest midway the series. My guess is the writers put too much story lines together making a mess of the plot. This proofs that just combining elements that are based on audience statistics doesn't work. Really, Less is More. If only this could be a love story between totally different characters, or the coming of age story of an ambitious scholar girl in a world dominated by males, but this... ain't it. I won't rewatch this again.

Overall

Tastes differ however. So, if you like your sandwich filled to the brim with every possible ingredient, this is for you. The Chang'an Youth is a crate full of tags, just pick the things you like, and forget the rest.

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I actually enjoyed watching this drama and I was tuned in every week. The story wasn't that strong but the perspective of life was great. Dealing with people, relationships and stuff. A lot of that comes with certain feelings according to certain circumstances, such as love, hate, jealousy, anger and happiness. We can't always get what we want in life and sometimes we just have to accept things the way they are. You can try to change it but if it doesn't work out for the better then it wasn't meant to be.

I was reading comments on DF where everyone was saying how inappropriate the relationship was between PSH and KRW's character, having a student teacher relationship. They were still complaining about it even after the characters grew. I saw nothing wrong with it. It's not like they did anything out of line. Yes, they were really close, more close than a student and teacher would normally be. But so what? I shipped it so hard after they met again, because they seriously had great chemistry.

I'd say this drama could have been cut to 16 episodes but I still watched all 20 episodes without skipping anything. I enjoyed the drama more because of Kim Rae Won. The man is just so incredible. His character was cute and humble. Always smiling and it made me smile all the time. I absolutely love Shin Hye in this drama. I was sick of seeing her with the roles of being a damsel in distress because I knew she could do something even more amazing. It was refreshing to see her doing something new and awesome. It was great to see Ji Soo. He's such a hottie~ >w< I wanted to hug Kim Min Suk and just baby him. He's too precious. I liked his character a lot. He slayed his emotional scene. It was so strong that it made me cry along with him. Lee Sung Kyung is so pretty. I love her eyes. She's good at her job. At first I thought her character was a b*tch but she was just suffering inside with her own family problems as well as dealing with things from her past that affected her presently. Yoon Do's uncle, Lee Sun Ho was just too adorable.

I loved the music. Every song was a perfect setting for the mood. I actually found myself singing along to a few of those songs. ^^

I'd rewatch this again, mostly for Kim Rae Won, just so I can see his cute self smiling so brightly. ^^

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"Hopeless show," said a mydramalist reviewer, a comment that answered my question, why did the Korean drama rating: Kokdu: Season of Deity dive sharply, from a rating of 4.8% (nation wide and Seoul City) closed with a rating of only 1.3%.

What caused it?

Many cursed Lim Soo-Hyang's appearance as Han Gye-Jeol, one of them with the sentence: A 30 year old woman who acts like a 12 year old, dresses like an old woman, is very clumsy and a bit stupid - very annoying

I'm so sorry, Lim Soo-Hyang?

Lim Soo-Hyang is not a newcomer. The actor Kang Mi Rae in the Korean drama ID: Gangnam Beauty and Mo Seok-Hee in the Korean drama "Graceful Family" won the Best Actress award at the 2020 MBC Drama Awards and Excellent Actress (daily drama) at the 2017 KBS Drama Awards. Lim Soo-Hyang's proof has had enough of the bitter and sour sweetness of acting.

So both Lim Soo-Hyang's fussing and sulking acting and his old fashioned clothes must have been according to the director's wishes.

I agree more if the bad rating is aimed at the entire production. The storyline is going around and around, the number of shows that should be enough for 10 episodes only stretches to 16 episodes. No wonder many stop watching in the middle of the road.

It seems that the screenwriter wanted to make a drama similar to the Korean drama Goblin/Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, but with additional slapstick scenes, such as the scene where Ok Shin and Gak Shin's lips meet. Not kisseu, because only lips that "accidentally" meet, and that's really annoying!

The plot is bad, the scenes are cliche, and there are many holes in the story, compounded by shooting that isn't really good. Like when Han Gye-Jeol found a magic mirror and was in Cinderella style, the shooting angle reminded me of the 90s.

It's not wrong for a screenwriter to be inspired by another Korean drama, but the results have to be better than their predecessors. If not, no matter how good the main character's acting, the audience's ratings and votes will be punishing.

What about Kim Jung-Hyun's acting?

The acting of King Cheoljong in the Korean drama "Mr Queen" always satisfies his fans. You could even say, Kim Jung-Hyun became the savior of the Korean drama "Kokdu: Season of Deity".

You can imagine how disappointed Kim Jung-Hyun was with the ratings for the Korean drama "Kokdu: Season of Deity". After successfully rocking South Korea with a rating of 18.554% (Mr Queen), now his drama only gets a rating of 1.3%.

The next review can be read here: https://www.maria-g-soemitro.com/2023/03/kokdu-season-of-deity-review-drama-korea.html

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When Passion meets Peace filled with warmth

Imagine spilling an ice cream we just bought. How heart breaking would it be? And what if a person who put her everthing into her career for years, made sacrifices and finally made it big but due to some unfortunate incident lost everything ? How will that person cope up? will she be able to get back on her feet?

The first two episodes were mostly character introductions and their backstories. The sisters trio would be interesting to watch as each one of them have their own story and reputation in their village. YongPil's, though skilled in his profession why does'nt he want to leave his village ? This would be interesting to watch. The next two episodes showes us more of the leads bonding in the past and that they had a misunderstandinf whatever it was, lookinf forward to it

This is a rom-com. Yes, it indeed is!! the first four episode made me laugh my heart out. looking forward to the romance part.

The actors definitely wont let us down. Almost all the cast members are known faces in the industry .JCW and SHS combination is fresh and interesting. I havent seen such loud and choatic leads like them before. I am so glad to watch JCW in a light heart romcom again. Loved the OST- Short hair by our DK- His voice is so sweet and refreshing, perfectly fits the Jeju vibe.

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An edgy black comedy that ended up with pink frills

The initial setup of this show is hardly original. Nasty, cold hearted boss making all his employees’ life miserable. His worst victim is his parade of secretaries whom never lasted more than 3 months before they are driven to despair. That is until the FL arrived at the scene and managed to stick it out for 1 whole year. In that sense, it was almost like a Shakespearean play of revenge where a conga line of people all wanted to harm the ML either for real or at least play out some fantasy to get redress for past wrongs.

What happened next is dark, zany and over the top, but it worked because it was done with a lot of manic energy and running at break-neck speed. You just don’t have time to ask questions. It was a wild ride to say the least. However, that ride did not last. Around the halfway mark, the pacing and tone of the show began to shift. It coasted for a bit as it shifts gear and recalibrates. By the end of the show, it is a completely different beast. This may be a good thing for some viewers, but it can be problematic as well. If you start watching this show because of the leads, then there is no issue at all. They have great chemistry plus a nice amount of passionate skinship. However, if you stumbled onto this show and was hooked by the crazy, fast paced story then how it morphed into a fluffy romance might leave you scratching your head. On the other hand, if you were put off by the dark whimsical plot and dropped the show then you would have missed the swoon worthy love line that blossomed later on. It is a weird juxtaposition of genres but you have to give the writer-nim credit for trying something different.

Now, back to the main revenge theme that is the backbone of this show. It is ever present and drove a lot of the plots forward. However, it is a double-edged sword. It worked in the subplots and there were many of them. From silly voodoo doll action to inflicting serious bodily harm, just about anything goes. Nevertheless, I thought the overarching central plot is weak and out of proportion when the full reveal happened towards the end of the show. The Show would have us believe that the main antagonist was a mastermind that plotted his revenge for years and has many resources at his disposal that he can manipulate public opinion and pay for others to do his dirty deeds. Yet he blames the ML for ruining his life?! In all honesty, I don’t buy that. The antagonist is living well, and he certainly doesn't seemed to be hung up about his reputation so why play such a long game and devote so much energy to it. It is not as if it is a family feud or the cliche “you killed my father!” storyline. It did make the grand reveal somewhat lame. The ML certainly didn't understand the motivation and neither did I.

Acting is great from the leads. They demonstrated a wide range of skills especially the ML, he raced through several different personalities during the show so kudos to him. The FL was also very good and she is tough but deep down is a sweet and caring soul. The support casts were solid but the writer-nim gave them exaggerated roles so overacting is the norm. They all earned their keeps. SFL was no wall flower even though she is beautiful and I confess to having a bit of second lead syndrome.

To complete the transformation of the show, the final episode is total fan service. It was the most leisurely strode down Closure Lane I have seen for a long time. The writer-nim lovingly closed all the threads and ticked them off her list. Not that I'm complaining because it was so nice and sweet. She paid attention to minor subplots that would have been forgotten by most shows. It was sugar overload but if you ship the OTP then it would just be the icing on the cake. Speaking of OTP, the 2OTP is cute and sweet too and provided some early distraction from the endless revenge action.

To be honest, if it started as a rom-com with just the boss/secretary plot, it probably would have faded badly because the love line is fairly standard. It is the crazy momentum of the first half that carried it over the line.
OST is nice and easy on the ears. Rewatch is there depending on whether you like sugar or spice. ;)

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This drama is just a masterpiece.
I am not the kind of person that watches this kind of dramas, but I also think that if they're well done they are masterpiece.
14 days was that kind of drama that it is just not your cup of tea but you see it because it is just addictive.
Also, see it while airing had its contro (since there are a LOT of things that happen, sometimes I couldn't remember things that happened last week) and also its pro (I am able to say it was worth watching, I had all the time to find my opinion about it).
Let's go in points.

1) Story
The plot is just perfect. Not that perfect wich means "happiness" but that perfect that makes you watch the drama.
Every character is different, everyone (from Saetbyul to the policeman) has his own way to think and act.
The team up between Dong Chan and Soo Hyun makes you see how they are able to work togheter.
14 days is FULL of plot twists, it is not predictable at all, at the end of every episode you make considerations, but in the next the situation is completely different and new.
I loved how they were able to make me think a lot about the mistery and the reason of what was happening, and then they bring up something out of nowhere but not unrealistic. Everything was believable.
The episodes go on in a rush, but not a bad rush, it is only that characters don't lose time while searching to find the truth.
Really, the story never gets you annoyed. It never makes you want to turn off the tv.

2) Actors/ Acting
I have to say I used to like Lee Bo Young when she made IHYV. I thought she was a good actress.
Maybe because I only saw her in IHYV and Becoming a Milionaire I saw her like a just 'normal' actress. But I was wrong.
She is a VERY GOOD actress. When you see her in this drama, you know she can do every personality. She was able to bring me to tears with her acting.
The pain that you can see in her eyes when her character is facing the lost of her child seems so real.
Cho Seung Woo made a perfect job too. His personality was very clear, you were able to trust in him unlike other characters.
The kid was good. Maybe sometimes a little bit to 'un'clever, but well, she's just 9 yo.
Everyone acted well, I have nothing to complain.
Well, I have to say even Baro move me to tears. His character was so pitiful.

3)Music
The music suits perfectly the drama. There were few songs and a lot of instrumentals.
Since you're listening the dialogues and watching the scenes you don't listen to the music, but it leaves something anyway.

4)The ending.
I am not making spoilers but I am only saying if I liked it or not.
I'm am doing this only because there are people that watch dramas only if the ending is in a certain way :)
So, if you don't want to know ANYTHING about the end (I am just saying how it seemed to me), DON'T read.

The ending was something 'shocking' for a LOT of people.
Was BAD for a lot of people. Was GOOD for others
It is a kind of end that makes you understand something and makes you wonder a lot.
It isn't nor good nor bad.
I liked it. It was in the drama style.
Some people might say they rushed everything: NO, the didn't. It was only the way EVERY episode went from the first minute in the first ep.
Every episode is the same, speaking of rushing times.
Someone might say it is a bad ending only because they wanted to see some characters again. But that characters weren't able to do anything for the kid and DC's brother anymore.
In this drama, when someone leaves the scenes is because his part is over.
Some people might be sure that something bad happened.
I don't think something bad happened, otherwise they would make us see the thing happening.
The ending is a little bit misterious, the last lines are the key for understanding the end.
There's something missing, but they WANTED to insert that words. They WANTED something to be missing.
It's not that they didn't have time, or they were in a rush or anything.
That end is good if you pay attention.

5) Overall: A masterpiece.

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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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I want to live in that neighborhood too.

As I write this I have tears. This is one of the best dramas that I have seen in a long time. The writer and director somehow drew me in and I began an emotional roller coaster ride. I think they bring to light that most people force their selves through life. Sometimes we forget that the most important part of life are the lovely moments with our families and friends. The characters may seem like ordinary people living ordinary lives, but there are so many layers to each of these characters. The story has an extra marital affair, corporate intrigue, child neglect and some violence. here is plenty of suspenseful moments, heartbreaking realizations, and pleasant surprises. I am particularly impressed by the well written character, Park Dong Hoon. All of the extra characters are also very much needed to make this story complete. Some people may think that this drama is slow, but it totally works that way. I can't explain why the characters of this drama touched me, but I cried and laughed and stared blankly.

I like it that Lee Sun Kyun plays Park Dong Hoon with strength and conviction. I had honestly forgotten about this actor since Coffee Prince. He was made for this role. At first I admit I wasn't sure what the big deal was about these brothers, but each episode shows more depth of character until I was totally engrossed in their lives. People talk smack about idol actors and also say that she didn't have to do much talking or acting. To that I say you are so wrong. IU had a quiet strength that was palpable as Lee Ji An. I didn't know what to think of Ji An at first, but I felt sympathy for her and wanted her to succeed no matter what. The other actors are good also.

The music is good.

I may rewatch this sometime.

No matter what genre you usually prefer, I recommend that you watch this drama.

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Only for the Fans

Did not understand the hype. It looked like the main goal was to get every main character to kiss each other before the end of the series. While some characters were interesting (e.g. Sand, Ray, Boston), others were rather one-dimensional, bland and just didn't work for me (e.g. Mew, Top, Nick) aka there was nothing likeable or interesting. I truly do not understand what Mew's appeal is and the character Nick was annoyingly frustrating throughout the entire series (yes even until the end!).

The only thing that kept it going for me was the development between Sand and Ray, with the exception of some parts towards the end where the story-line did not gel with the characters. If the idea was to make homosexual relationships seem toxic, promiscuous and hedonistic (selfish to a certain extent), then this drama has certainly achieved that.

The lack of good character design and a compelling story-line aside the choice of music was rather refreshing and the acting was actually pretty decent, which helped in getting through the series. I did feel that there was too much emphasis on the intimate/love scenes, and at some point it felt like a whole lot of fan service.

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