The delicacy of love
This show for sure is not one of the masterpieces you can find around, but still has its solid what&why which make it more than worthy of being watched.The story is obviously focused on the two leads, but also the other main roles are well encompassed and developed, which make the show a chorused one, since the stories of the three couples are all well tied the ones to the others, due to the strong and amazing friendship shared by the three women leads.
The story is a love story, or better (as said) a chorus of love stories, each one with its peculiarities and its identity. The psycho one, between the two leads Ji-ho and Se-hee, the normal one (so much normal that fell into a huge crisis) between Ho-rang and Won-seok, and the special one between Soo-ji and Sang-goo which I found simply captivating and perfect. Around them there are the support roles which are actually well convincing and functional for the story itself.
The main characters were well casted, even physically: I found all of them perfect, each one in the respective role. My preferred one: Soo-ji for sure. The kind of strong, unconventional, and independent woman, well performed by Esom, who breaks the rules of a society often still too much traditionalist, conservative, patriarchal and sexist, who finally finds her way to self-make her life and success, and who at the same time still believes in feelings as soon as she found the partner who's able to complete and support her (and Sang-goo did it excellently). I found them shiny together. As well as the performers were really nice (and surprisingly I found Park Byung-eun unrecognizable after having saw him in Eve). But that does not mean that the other two couples were bad. Instead, I have to say that their stories were captivating too. Ji-ho and Se-hee because they are actually more affine to me (and to my partner: ok tonight I will die) in their being a bit psycho (in the good way) and actually not banal. I liked a lot the way they faced the issues coming from the conventionalities well identifying the traditionalist Korean way of life. And I appreciated their path toward their liberation, as individuals and as a couple from those constraints, and from the miseries of their past lives. They actually growth together, in a sort of transfiguration well depicted eventually by the transition from the formal to the unformal speaking. Jung So-min and Lee Min-ki well performed two roles which actually were not banal. Last but not least the classic love story, the apparently banal one, the normal one, the one so normal and adherent to the traditional way to live a love story that very realistically exploded, because of its forced normality, predictability, conventionality, The story between Ho-rang and Won-seok is all of that. And as very often happens in the real life, the couple exploded because sedimenting upon the wrong premises. Both of them looks naive and banal, but actually also them eventually experienced a transfiguration which finally led them to reconciliate upon new premises. Both Kim Ga-eun and Kim Min-seok were able to perform their characters successfully, to include their irritating traits.
It looks like the underlay message in the end is: no matter which are the adversities, no matter the hindrances, Love will always find its own way to make it...
As said already, the rest of the support roles were well sorted and casted: Bo-mi, Jung-min, and (a bit less essential) Bok-nam well played their key roles in pushing our heroes to make their choices.
You will not cry, but you can find some things on which thinking. Nice photography and direction and convincing plot: just tell the director that cats are not so continuously meowing :)
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not bad but overrated
i really wanted to give this drama a better score than 7, but it's so full of tropes - though well executed - that i cant help it! the ML is really Mr Perfect, the FL is Miss Innocence, the parents are way too typical, the coincidences are never ending! it's also very predictable, slow, and... boring? after the first episode, all the action flows one direction. still it takes forever for anything to happen!the woman-chases-man-first trope put me off - the FL acts clingy sometimes.
the old story of cohabitation and new love that heals past traumas is only saved by the good-looking faces - though i suspect filters were added - and the adorable cat... cinematography is excellent, benefits from modern technology.
everything is too polished to give the illusion of reality, like - the numerous expensive coats worn by the part-time waiter FL on a daily basis? seriously, her wardrobe wouldnt fit into a small rented room. this goes for the other characters as well.
support cast is excellent, though not necessarily needed to the main plot. a lot of scenes could be cut/skipped with no loss.
also... i'm not into narrative movies, i dont need that voice to teach abt what we see and what we should think.
watch it if you wanna kill time.
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amazing series!!
‘just because you lived today, doesnt mean you know everything about tomorrow’ - jung so minits a great series, the relationship dynamics in this are so nice to watch. the slowburn between so min and min ki is very entertaining and i love them as a couple, i have a few episodes yet left but i can already tell you its amazing. the subjects it explores and touches on so far are done in a tasteful way and i find it relatable, because of this i feel really connected to so min and i adore her as a character. i like that shes presented as quite innocent and kind but she also can stand up for herself and be strong too.
i would definately recommend to those who enjoy slowburns, as well as opposites attract type dynamics.
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This review may contain spoilers
OMGF
i just finished this amd wowwww.... from lee min-kis acting omgmgmgmgmg im so amazed he played the role so well the slight angst towards the ending and the perfect start THE BABYYYYYYYYY omg i 100% recommend this for people who love sweet kdramas with slight angst, idk i could feel how in love they were OMGGMGGMMMMM this made me cry i love this. this show is srsly one of my faves i love this sm..the side couples and the amount of perfect screen time they were given along with how much emotion each story has. Ji Ho was really an interesting character and the way she spoke to Se Hee made me fall inlove the deep talks and the way he listened was so sweet. During the crying scenes in the kdrama that was amazing it was so realistic i fell in love with the actor..
please watch this, this is an amazing kdrama..
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Amazing in spurts, but the last three episodes killed the main romance.
There are moments in this series that are truly amazing. Moments that will make you cry, moments that will make you giddy, and moments that will make you laugh out loud. I was completely hooked on it in spurts. During those spurts this drama is one of the best I have seen. Unique plot for the leads, minimal to medium amount of cliche for the other couples, and the catharsis from some moments is just breathtaking. At the end of episode 11, I was so happy I was fist pumping a la Michael Jordan because of the ending which was a first for me when watching Korean Dramas.But the last 4 episodes absolutely killed the the main romance for me. The ending of the main romance and how the story got there completely wrecked the foundation that the prior episodes provided. Such a shame. If you are interested in watching the drama, consider episode 12 as the last episode, and look at the last four episodes as bad follow-up movies they should not have done.
Is this series still worth watching? Absolutely. Just be warned that the main romance fizzles quickly from a cute and unique budding romance at the halfway point of episode 13, into a toxic and dangerous sewer by the middle of episode 16.
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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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Masterpiece romance drama
This show has one of the best concepts I've ever seen for a romance drama. Start with the lead characters getting married. But they don't marry out of love. Only then does the show break down the preconceived notions of love, marriage, and happiness between two people. It questions what marriage truly is and why marriage doesn't automatically mean love between two people.The character development is also some of the best I've seen in a kdrama. The male lead goes through a ton of growth from the start of the show to the end. The female lead all throughout the show wrestles with her emotions for the male lead. By the end of the show you feel satisfied with where the leads end up and the amount of growth each character goes through
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Wasted time series
I regret wasting my time watching this terrible series. The story was vulgar and the dialogue had no connection to the plot. The main female lead's acting was not good, as she showed no reaction on her face. However, the main male lead was good, which kept me watching. I also liked the second couple - the manager and the female lead's best friend. Overall, I gave this series 3 stars because of the male lead and the second couple. ?Was this review helpful to you?
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Good show about the idea of marriage
I really liked this drama and bingewatched it without fastforwarding through boring parts, which I do with 9/10 drama's after the first couple of episodes. the side characters were interesting, although I thought her friend who wanted to get married was really toxic to her boyfriend.I would've rated this 9/10 if it weren't for the ending though, were the FL went off the rails. Without spoiling too much, her behaviour in the last two episodes was manipulative, toxic and selfish and I didn't care about the story from that moment on. I wish she had communicated with him instead of what she did, but oh well. It was a great watch overall, except the last two episodes so I would still recommend it.
I would've rated this 9/10 if it weren't for the ending though. the
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Good Story but Just Not For Me
This started out good, even thought from the get go I knew I wasn't going to like Sehee. I didn't like the whole cold, socially awkward act. Not that's its bad or wrong to be that way ofc, but it was just done horribly. Throughout the course of the drama I expected for the relationship between Jiho and Sehee to develop and have depth but that didn't happen at all (like I wanted it to) and I just kept getting bored. I'm really into dramatics and into couples with deep intense feelings but that wasn't their dynamic. The drama does a good job exploring different social constructs around marriage and relationships in South Korea and I appreciate that but again, it wasn't my vibe. Overall, this was a very chill drama that explores the complications of life, and relationships, and I can see why some people love it but it wasn't my cup of tea.Was this review helpful to you?
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Quietly steals your heart
I went in expecting a typical cliched romcom but got pleasantly and wonderfully surprised at how this drama turned out to be. All episodes except for the last two are charming and warm your heart, they contain so many life lessons and musings which strike a chord in sensitive hearts. It was a refreshing change from the jaded and cynical world. Lee Min Ki oozes quiet charm. The soundtrack is endearing and I can't get 'This Life' track out of my head. It perfectly suits the quiet love of this drama.****Major Spoilers****
The last two episodes were a letdown. Even knowing the reasons of why the FL would behave in such a way - to test their feelings in the long term - it still felt cruel and so unlike her character to leave the ML completely clueless about her thoughts and feelings. After opening up his wounded and tired heart by healing words, and knowing that he had feelings for her already (as plenty shown by actions) she still left because she wanted his room 19 forcibly opened for her selfish emotional validation. I just could not digest her laughter at the face of him expressing his anger to her for the first time- triumph that he is opening up could be there but it felt more malicious and sociopathic of her to laugh at the face of it. And to see her living it up with her friends completely unconcerned about her lover while he is shown sobbing alone in his apartment.. it was heartbreaking and unfair. And why would she let him think she reappeared in his dream, hear his love for her and still act completely clueless about it the next day is beyond me.
**** End of Spoilers****
Ok so maybe I loved Lee Mi Ki's character too much to accept this behaviour :) Nevertheless this is a must watch.
The side stories are quite impressively portrayed as well and very well interlinked with the main story. Even the old girlfriend has a refreshing and dignified contributing role to the drama, not the typical evil girlfriend. This is a story to be enjoyed by adults. It is something I feel I will keep coming back to over the years, it has that something special.
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Have your tissues ready
I really enjoyed this Drama. I wasn't sure at first to watch it as I hadn't seen any rave revues but I binge watched it over 3 days.I think most of the plot was good but they rushed the ending abit as I feel it should have had the last 2 episodes to do it properly.
Overall though the characters were likeable, no serial killers for a change trying to kill the female lead which was a nice change.
As well none of the old tropes of rich guy poor girl. Just everyday people trying to live and live and face the delimmas most people face. Support cast had well rounded characters and did well.
Well worth watch for sure.
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