1The storyline had so much potential but unfortunately they took too long to even get into it and even when they did it felt like there STILL wasn't a storyline. The fact that the drama also included the fantasy genre was another reason for watching it. The fact that the plot was scattered all over the gaff made it seem like I was watching a web drama, only one that's 45 - 51 mins long. I also still understand the whole thing with the tree and the colours of the auras. I was hooked during the first 3 episodes or so and then after I was just watching it for the cuteness and bromance.
The cast is amazing but even they couldn't save the mess that was the drama. I loved the bromance between Oh Soo and his big brother and also their grandpa who was absolutely loveable. There was no second lead sydrom for me because again the storyline kinda ruined it for me. The chemistry wasn't like bonfires but there were some really cute and funny scenes between the two leads and I couldn't help but notice that whenever Jonghyun smiled it was as if something smelt but maybe it could just be me.
The OST wasn't really "music to my ears" except for maybe just one.
I will never ever rewatch this drama for all the reasons I've mentioned above. Only reason for completing this drama was honestly only to see HOW it ends but overall I feel like the whole thing was just one big waste of time especially with the cliché that was added at the end. Honestly should've clocked on what to expect from the drama after seeing "A Dramafever Original Co-production" at the beginning after their last Dramafever Original web drama but I guess you live and you learn.
Unless you love Jonghyun to the point of just watching anything and everything that he is featured in then I HIGHLY recommend that you absolutely AVOID this drama.
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im having so much fun watching the entire drama.. the actors & actress have such lovable characters..... and one more thing, i didnt say that jonghyun & soeun are such a fantastic couple but they show their chemistry really well.. i mean, when us as an audience watch a drama, we should know the character and try to feel their feeling.. jonghyun might look awkward sometimes but once AGAIN !!! IT IS JUST A PART OF HIS CHARACTER!!! he is a guy who never fall in love before & when he fall in love with soeun.. he try his best to make her happy and protect her..
and honestly i dont feel awkward at all with his acting lol !! that is originally his CHARACTER in the drama :) some people who read this might think that im just a hooman who just starting to watch kdrama and dont understand kdrama, but ur just wrong.. ive been watching kdrama since elementary school and now im in college.. but yeah i really appreciate a great drama.. for me, every drama has their own colour of storyline.. this drama ending might look rushed, and that damn pitiful tree story (trust me, at first i hate that tree but after knowing the truth i feel really sad about it) overall despite looking the weakness of the drama (because of that stupid tree curse that might not really unfold towards the ending.. but yeah i think apart from it we might have to use our imagination lol)
i do think this drama was really really cute and keep me blushing with jonghyun face expression and soeun bold acts hihi ^^ sometimes i cried but most of it i keep blushing & smiling untill my cheeks feel numb haha lol.. IM SO EXTRA !! ><
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I suggest you don't bother with this and save your precious time
OCN romances so far have potential in their premise, but that's about it.This drama really doesn't deserve a general rating above 6 in my opinion.
Somehow I managed to watch 11 episodes of this, and every week I just wondered if something was finally going to happen. It didn't.
I have never watched a drama with less plot than this.
The acting was just meh, though this has some good actors, but I guess you cannot give a good performance if you just have the worst script ever.
I believe this could have been nice or at least okay if they had made it into a web drama because for all that happens here they really didn't need an hour per ep - 10 to 15 minutes would've done the deal.
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This review may contain spoilers
I actually thought the story plot on the whole mysterious tree and love potion was going well (despite super slow in unraveling on background) until I don't know, the writer nim decided to be undecided and butchered the plot. I don't think I have ever watched any dramas that literally left me saying, "So that was it?" even when stories are left for open ending at your own interpretations. Depending on how you are reading into the meanings of what were said by the characters, you can decide whether it is good or bad.So I tried to reflect back to why I started watching this drama and why I continued watching it at the beginning and I realised it has to do with the light cheesy romance (so sweet you can have toothache type) between the two MCs since this is afterall a first love experience for the male MC. The beginning was really enjoyable for me and even when the theme on mysterious tree started to get a bit heavier, it was comprehensible on what the writer nim trying to convey on curses and love. What not sitting well with me was the mysterious tree theme was not properly integrated into the drama throughout and suddenly writer nim needed to end the story and bam, words vomit and stir fried ingredients hastily for closure. IMO, final ep was a total filler (not sure if this counts as spoiler) with many random scenes compiled together. I would not rewatch or even recommend others to watch unless the person just want to watch something sweet in beginning and don't care at all about story plot. Everything else was just weak otherwise.
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Other than that, the drama was seriously boring. The love story was bleak, the magic fantasy mythology incomplete and never explained properly, the plot was tiring to watch and follow and overall, the pace was too slow and the ending horrible. I mean, if there was at least a nice conclusion I would have rated this one with an additional star, but, unfortunately, the final scenes was just... confusing and unsatisfying. I mean, what happened?? What was that?? I keep thinking about it and I can't figure it out.
So three out of ten because of the performances, some few cute moments and the soundtrack.
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In the end, there was very little point to this show that promised magical realism but gave us little magic.
On paper, Evergreen should have been one of those delightful and heartwarming Korean dramas we all know and love. Lee Jong-hyun plays Oh Soo: one of a family of guardians of a magical tree; the pollen of which he uses in his cafe to help couples fall in love. Determined not to love, he nonetheless meets and falls for Seo Yoo-ri (Kim So-eun), a policewoman who was recently dumped by her boyfriend.
With a magical tree, enchanted coffee, and a strong female protoganist, this show could have been an enjoyable watch if it wasn't all so boring and meaningless. Oh Soo is also an expert in AI for no clear narrative reason but nonetheless spends most of his time making coffee. The female lead is a badass cop - whom they repeatedly damsel to prop the male lead's heroism. The second male lead... exists. The show makes a half-hearted attempt to make fun of the cliches and tropes it's embodying but simultaneously embraces them in a way that makes the show feel generic.
The blandly-nice OTP fall in love despite the threat of the blandly-nice second male lead. Their love is threatened by fate. The ending is meandering and ultimately unsatisfying, despite the show pulling out every kdrama cliche short of a birth secret.
In the end, like the magical tree itself, this show exists. But like the magical tree itself, I'm not entirely sure why.
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Everything in the first four episodes showed promise, and it had an interesting concept but it was just that, all promise but no real pay out. For about 8 episodes we muddle through an annoying triangle that is so lopsided that it's like almost impossible to maintain, and yet the writer does and it's horrible. And then it just trudges on with no end.
I didn't mind the acting, actually that was it's only saving grace, they had charm but it wasn't really enough to sustain and ignore the horrendous plot holes and the dumb storylines that cropped up in the drama. So while unnecessary story lines were brought up, the real interesting parts weren't really explained. And I love Lee Jonghyun but he's no Lee Junki and he cannot make me turn off my brain with his charisma like Lee Junki can (ie: scarlet heart ryeo )
Fantasy is great and all, I quite love it and it's been my favourite genre since childhood, but the most important thing about fantasy is that it must make sense in the world the writer has created, it can violate whatever real world logic it wants, but it must not defy the story's own logic, and this drama didn't even establish anything until the very end. And by then I didn't care anymore, and within an episode they dropped what was just barely explained and what was fatal for someone wasn't fatal to our protagonists... hmm. yeah I was really pissed off that the writer basically drove the story to the cliff and then nonchalantly ignored the 100000 meter fall and skipped to the next cliff without showing the bridge the characters crossed on.
so basically don't watch unless you're a fan of the actors because if you aren't you'll really feel the complete waste of time it turns out to be at the end.
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Now I will seriously talk about the so called good things that I probably like about the drama...
STORY
This is the thing that has made me watch the drama. By watching the trailer or by reading the wiki I thought "Wow! It's looking good. I should watch this drama" Usually I choose any drama based on the story. I think anyone will do that. The story is like the heart of any drama. I like the story of this drama because it has a supernatural thing. The story is about a man named Oh Soo. He is an IT company technician. His family has power of pairing lovers together. This kinds of power just runs through some special people. Oh Soo can see the invisible emotion of people and uses his magic pollen to make people fall in love. Our lead actress is a policewoman named Seo Yoo Ri. She was dumped by her boyfriend and having a hard time because of him.
CAST
The cast was really likeable. I mean I liked the leads individually. They make a good pair but I don't like the chemistry between them. Kim So Eun is one of my fav actress. She never fails to impress me. I liked her acting very much. Lee Jonghyun is also good in acting. But he disappointed me here.
SECOND LEAD SYNDROME
I am really in love with the second lead. Like his character is seriously amazing. While watching the drama, I always wait for his scenes.
It's time to talk about the things that I really hate...
ACTING
The acting of the lead actress is good. But let me talk about the lead actor. Dude do you really know how to act? I mean in the scenes where he was smiling, it seems like someone has pointed gun towards his heart and telling him "Smile baby" When I almost liked him, his acting became bad to worst.
MUSIC
Though I liked some tunes, I will not appreciate it overall. Music is not average. I mean my expectation in music is not that high. Still I was disappointed.
CHEMISTRY
A Kdrama lover is obviously a big fan of romance(not everyone). I mean most of us are used to watch fluffy romantic dramas. But I don't want too many romantic scenes in a drama. I just want some moments between the leads that will make me feel like they are actually in love. A pure eye contact is enough. In this I liked the pair but I don't see 1% of chemistry between them.
OVERALL I DON'T LIKE THE DRAMA BUT I HAVE A HABIT OF FINISHING WHAT I HAVE STARTED. I CAN'T RECOMMEND THE DRAMA TO ANYONE. SO I AM SORRY BUT ITS TRUE THAT ITS A VERY BAD DRAMA
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This drama is a fantasy romance, between a guy who is an engineer and a cafe owner, and a woman cop. The barista has inherited the ability to see "emotion" aromas coming out of individual's body, and he uses pollen from an ancient tree to help them have nice consequences. The heroine was one of his customers, who accidentally drank one of his pollen mixed coffee, and their relationship builds up. Yeah, there will be the triangle relationship, accidents, something about their parents, and eating.
The following is the reason why this drama is receiving terrible reviews:
1. The story line sucks. It had a good build up, but some scenes were too random, or sometimes skipped, that it caused confusion. Some people complained about the slow pace and unnecessary interruptions.
2. The ending sucks. Cannot spoil it, but the ending wasn't surprising at all, yet it lacked explanation.
3. Music sucks. Some scenes had mismatched BGMs.
Personally, I like the first few episodes. Misunderstanding, cuteness, jealousy and cringe... these type of things. But after a certain point (you will know lol), you will be like "Wha?", and then starts commenting.
To be honest, it is fun too watch if you want to witness the cute couple, ignoring the story line. This is drama is for those who just want to kill time by watching drama, instead of watching YouTube.
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Although I was really excited for it in the begining, it was only a dragging-through and skipping-scenes in the end.
Story:
The synopsis sounded quite alright, eventhough I am not a huge fan of fantasy elements. Now the fantasy element here was that Oh Soo could see the aura of people and thereby understand how they feel. He could then mix something in their drink to soothe or intesify this feeling. Ok, ok, whatever. I was more interested in the romance from the very start, and yes, there was romance. And no, it wasn't fluffy or cute or anything in my opinion. There was no chemistry between the main leads.
Also all this aura-seeing, the mysterious tree and the whole family & friends background stories seemed to just be there, so there was SOMETHING. The stories didn't connect in my opinion the way the writer had probably planned them to. Seriously, what did the tree had to do with his ability to see things? Was the powder maybe extracted from the flowers on the tree? If so, I really missed the part where that was explained.
Acting/Cast:
I was excited for Kim So Eun as I really like her acting. And her acting was really good, as well as Lee Jong Hyun's, but the characters were just meh. Yoo Ri was sometimes really annoying and not funny at all. It was cringeworthy. Oh Soo was totally shy and a stuck up in the beginning and then suddenly he was the obsessive boyfriend (really, there was no development, it just suddenly happened).
Music:
I don't recall any songs from the drama, which means there was some music, but it wasn't good enough to let me think "Oh, this drama's music was great!"
Rewatch Value:
No.
Overall:
I can't find a single reason why someone should watch this, so don't. The story was all over the place and the characters had a poor development, if there even was some. Just no.
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I'm sure most of the reviews here say the same thing, but this was a huge disappointment.
When I first saw the trailer for this drama I was instantly pulled in and I knew I had to watch it. I was really excitied to see Lee Jong Hyun and I was also really looking forward to watching Kim So Eun on the screen again since the last time I was saw her was in Boys Over Flowers which was 9 years ago!
The beginning was very promising, we got introduced to the characters, some things were vaguely explained but I assumed that things would be cleared up later on...they didn't, for the most part at least.
I really stuck around this drama because I thought, maybe, just maybe, things would look up.
They never did.
A story is unfolded around Oh Soo and his family and the magic of this old tree in their house and how there's this magic power of using love potions that gets passed down from generations to only the first son, or something. You get to see this magic, or as the show calls it, the "pollen" but heres the thing : THEY DONT EXPLAIN ANYTHING. You have Oh Soo just casually pouring a blue pollen in someones drink but you have no idea what its suppose to be doing. I think the most they do is explain maybe 2-3 but thats it, I was trying to keep a list for myself and maybe make some sort of inferences but honestly, it didn't help much.
In brutal honesty, it felt like the writers sorta just gave up halway and didnt feel like continuing the story anymore. The plot was all over the place, it was messy with so many plot holes, the acting from Kim So Eun was well done in my opinion and I think she delivered her role and lines well, Jong Hyun on the other hand felt a little stiff to me. I don't know if that's just how he is normally but -shrugs- I felt something was lacking.
I think they had a really good idea and a good thing going but this was honestly quite a let down and I think the only thing I can blame is lazy writing.
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This review may contain spoilers
How to crash and burn a drama right at the end
I will first explain my feelings towards the plot of this story . This kdrama starts and continues the rom-com fluff for most of its episodes and I initially wanted to rate it 8/10 even just for the story all though it had blatantly abandoned plot lines and teased a different plot but did 180° turns. I was fixed on 8/10 with the possibility of 9/10 till episode 14. From there it went downhill with a completely unnecessary story plot just to fit the rom com cliche that it abandoned any sense to the plot and fell to a 7/10. The FL and SML all have decent acting skills and expressions but the ML of this drama made me understand what an expressionless actor really means. I honestly wanted to make it a 6/10 because of the ML but to do justice to the story till ep14 I give it a 7 . It's a one time watch and regret type drama atleast to me .Was this review helpful to you?
