Be Melodramatic (2019)

The story itself is a rom com, but it's definitely more com than rom -- and the com comes from poking fun at all the other romantic comedies out there.

First of all let's talk about the comedy. The plot develops in unexpected ways, and the character actions/expressions are so on point that make it extra funny. Even when they don't reference other dramas/tropes, the characters say the darnest things at the darnest times and kept me laughing throughout.

The romance itself is pretty realistically paced. The script doesn't rush unlikely relationships (coughcough The King), and focuses on letting character emotions develop instead. There are love lines, but they actively avoid typical kdrama tropes like "an ugly love triangle between girl, guy, and girl's ex-boyfriend" or "leads get happily married at the last episode, the end." In fact, they make fun of these tropes throughout the show, either through character dialogue or through a dream/imagination sequence. (you'll see. it's so great)

The main part of this drama is the meta-ness though. There are references to multiple other famous dramas, either through reenacting a famous scene or just having a scene that matches the energy. These references are complete with the appropriate insert song (like hearing Appearance during the Secret Garden reference or the Something in the Rain insert song...) You'll have to have a long history of watching kdramas to recognize all of them (I don't; but I recognized a few... and I googled the rest), but even if you don't recognize exactly where the scene is from, you'll appreciate the humor and the efforts of the production team. Look forward to how they approach the 4th wall and the actor/character relationship. Since the main characters are in the entertainment industry, they talk about dramas a lot, and you'll see some (hilarious) references to the actors themselves or their previous roles. The cameos are also really cool! I lost it when I heard Jung So Min call another character "So Min unni." I swear they did that on purpose. Also like, this is probably the only drama that will make fun of product placement in dramas *as it does product placement itself*.

Finally, just wanted to praise how they took care of the ending. The last episode was gold in terms of plot development, while maintaining the comedy factor. This show was funny and interesting til its very end.

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Perfect.

I've watched this series three times and have always been fully invested in the story. It always feels like I'm starting it afresh and I always learn something new.
It has just the right mixture of comedy and reality. At times I wondered if the writer had put in their own story into this drama. The product placement was often hilarious and clever.

Story: The three women make a fantastic trio. The story often goes in a direction which I don't expect. Usually, that would disappoint me, but it felt just right in this series.
For example, despite rooting for Jae Hoon and Han Joo, I wasn't saddened by the fact that they didn't end up together.
I especially liked how each character had a personality with depth. In Jin Joo and Hwan Dong's relationship, they showed the flaws of both sides while not making anyone seem like a villain. The same goes for Jae Hoon and his girlfriend. In Jae Hoon's relationship, although his girlfriend was fully painted as the wrong one throughout the story, the last episode made the viewers as well as Jae Hoon realize that a relationship has two people.
The story wrapped up in a wonderful way without seeming awkward or rushed.

Cast: Each actor completely suited their character. I loved how they added easter eggs, e.g Ahn Jae Hong in reply 1988.

Music: Wonderful. It suited the vibe of the series perfectly.

Rewatch value: I've rewatched this three times, so take of that as you will. It isn't fully packed with action or any big plot twists so I always find myself forgetting parts of this story and then being surprised when something happens in this series.

Overall: Might not be for everyone, but I loved it. The humor wasn't obnoxious or overbearing so I would definitely recommend this to people who like realistic yet fun stories.

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Sixteen Episodes With These Delightful Women Just Doesn't Seem Like Enough!

You know you’ve come across a hit ensemble cast of characters when you’re equally vested in all three of them. In other words, you never find yourself sighing and wishing that the story would go back to the one character you like the most. This is far rarer than people realize. As far as ensemble casts go, the only other K-drama I can find myself saying this about would be “Hospital Playlist.”

Three women from different backgrounds live together. They all work in the entertainment industry. Eun Jung Lee runs a production company, and she finds herself working on a documentary about actress, So Min Lee. Jin Joo Im is a screenwriter who is initially working for a more famous and seasoned screenwriter, until she realizes that their ideas are very different, and she has the courage to branch out on her own. And finally, we have Han Joo Hwang, who works for a small production company, at first as a marketing director, but soon as a producer herself. All three women are thirty.

Eun Jung Lee is the glue of the trio. She’s sharp, independent, and finds herself struggling to deal with a personal tragedy. The love of her life recently died of a terminal illness. She sees him everywhere and even engages in conversations with him. If you have ever had to deal with the loss of a loved one, you can easily sympathize with Eun Jung. And while she’s a strong woman, especially when dealing with anyone who tries to bring her or anyone else down, the cracks in her armor are growing by the day until she finally decides to seek some professional help. Eun Jung is the mother hen, and we can determine that she’s always been this way. Her brother, who lives with the them, is a gay man, and it becomes painfully obvious that their parents never accepted him. In short, Eun Jung has always felt compelled to be the pillar of strength for those closest to her. But here is the age-old truth: you can’t take care of anyone else until you first learn to take care of yourself. You have to be the priority.

Jin Joo is a woman who has the courage to face the unknown; to strike out and become and independent screenwriter. Of course, it helps to have the encouragement of friends, but when she meets film director Beom Soo Son, he helps her become more confident in herself. She is the most cautious member of the group, who isn’t as prone to simply “jump in” to a new romance or situation. Having got out of a long-term relationship, we can see why she’d be hesitant to start another one. But then again, life is about risk. Love is about risk, and you can never get anywhere in life by sitting on the sidelines where it’s safe and secure.

Finally, we have Han Joo Hwang, who arguably has more life experience than the previous two. She found herself in love at a young age, had a son, and suddenly found herself all alone when her husband divorced and left her high and dry. Now, as a seasoned marketing director, she takes on a young intern in Jae Hoon, and does her best to pass along what life wisdom she has to help him navigate his own romantic problems. While it becomes obvious that Jae Hoon is infatuated with Han Joo—and we can also see that Han Joo is a bit smitten with him as well—she already knows that getting involved with Jae Hoon is a bad idea. First of all, she’s his boss at work. And second of all, Jae Hoon has a lot to learn about himself and how to be in a relationship. There is a very touching scene in the last episode in which Han Joo maps out perfectly Jae Hoon’s most recent relationship that ended badly and why it failed. Han Joo already knows, that even if they were to enter into a relationship, Jae Hoon would end up treating her the same as he had his previous girlfriend, and Jae Hoon realizes this.

This series is about three women who navigate life’s ups and downs. In some ways, life is like a big K-drama, starring you and those around you, and those with whom you have friendships and relationships. It’s about dealing with one crisis and preparing yourself as best you can for the next one. In a show, you as the writer and director control and dictate what happens to your characters as well as the situations they are in. In life, you can only control yourself. However, in both, you still have to deal with moments of happiness and moments of disappointment and learn how to move on. It’s human behavior. It’s life! And this show does a fantastic job of mirroring life within the confines and world of this sweet and often touching, drama.

And, yes, that also means enjoying yourself and not following some arbitrary rules. As soon as you try to grasp love and life by putting rules and boundaries upon them, you’ve already failed to realize that life and love are like the wind. They are there to be enjoyed, not to be harnessed and held onto. Jin Joo and Beom Soo make this mistake when they try to separate work and love by some silly rules.

Performances in this series are rock solid across the board. As with so many K-dramas, we have hilarious moments, cute moments, and heartfelt moments. We find ourselves cheering for most of the characters, and by the end of the series, we can say that they have come out the other side of things pretty well. But life isn’t about stopping or sitting on our laurels, thinking we’ve finally crossed a finish line. There is no finish line. There is always the next thing. Bruce Lee once stated that a plateau in life makes a nice, brief rest stop, but don’t ever stay there. You have to keep going. And by the end of the series, you are confident that our three protagonists have already come to that realization.

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Wholesome

The drama for me has been like a good old cup of coffee.
It's like one morning I woke up with a headache, and just the smell of coffee somewhat reduced the throbbing pain. Each sip I took comforted me through all the stress and when I finished it, I felt a bit empty.

Of you're feeling down or sad, then this drama is sure to comfort you. It makes you realize, it's okay not to be truly amazing, it's okay if you do "just enough" instead of something huge.

The acting is amazing and the characters feel real. The story is relatable and simple, which makes it more unique. And the ost perfectly captures the moment.

The drama left a sweet aftertaste for me, I hope it does for you as well.

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Totally wonderful

I just thoroughly enjoyed this series and felt sad when it ended. Isn’t this about most people’s lives? So very funny, heartwarming, and at times sad. All the actors were just great, there isn’t an actor here that you can’t connect with through having the same experiences in your own life.

To me, the ones that really shined were Ahn Jae Hong (The director) and Son Keok Koo (the cursing director). This is a definite re-watch for me.

I thank whomever it was that posted on the main feed in conversations about Jeon Yeo Been, that she did a fantastic job as one of the FL in this drama. I might have missed this otherwise.

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Uncanny, peculiar and interesting with 3 female leads and side character with quite deep exploration

This drama is very unique not just to entertain but also with meaningful episodes coming through. We kinda get the idea of each character, even with the side one. I really enjoy this drama because the romance part were not too much simple and you can relate to it pretty much. It was like watching how the character live their life in reality.

For people who has deep interest in movie industry can get a grasp of idea from this series. Almost all of the character work in this industry from a documentary director, writer, production house marketing team and actress. This drama potraits life really well just like a slice of life genre. I also like the quotes from each episode, the cinematography also simple yet perfect ! everything is done inadequately and beautiful.

What I don't like is how they did with ji eun and jae hoon because I see potentials with this couple but again I respect the writer-nim perspective. But, I guess this is what they want to potrait as well , how complicated relationship it is and pretty platonic.

I also like their OST's, my favorite is moonlight.

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A "Late to the Party" Review

Overall, not bad, lots of clever writing and stuff. But I have a few major gripes!

First of all, WHAT WAS THAT 180° TURN from the set up of Ahn Jae Hong's character as a kind of a hilarious, childish, blowhard to being mature, meek, and softhearted? His character went from fascinating and bold to bland and flavourless basically from episode 2 to episode 3.

I can't call it poorly done—the writing is clever; I enjoyed the meta-narrative of a drama about writing a drama, and the humour that came from that was pretty funny. I guess my main gripe is that, for slice of life, I didn't find the characters believable.

I think this was an intentional creative choice to complement the story-in-a-story? To make them exaggerated caricatures.

For example, the single mom's story made zero sense from the beginning... they didn't show how he wooed her at all, which would have fleshed out how she changed from seeing him as a creepy, annoying stalker to someone who she'd be open to having a baby with.

They couldn't even show him being funny? He was just a caricature of a trash-like man. Like, for a slice of life—show me what she saw, give me a peak at her heart.

It just made it hard to relate to them, for me personally.

Not a badly done show, just not my cup of tea, overall.

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One of my recommended kdrama

This drama has been on my list since I got to know that it's sort of slice of life genre. Now, I just got a chance to finish the whole drama and I've got to say. As a fan of this type of drama, I will recommend this to people! But then again, not all gonna love this because some might think it's boring or too slow.

Honestly, for me, the first ep was great. I like the introduction to the casts. Then to the next eps, gotta say it is a bit slow. However, as it went to ep 5 and above, it's starting to look much better and the characters became more interesting. Then, I remember in one episode where Beom Su told Jinjoo that he would make groundmaking decision in the last episode. Gotta say, it works for me!

Overall, everything is great. From the characters, I like how there's no 'bad' people at all, it's just human being human , the romance (it did get me giddy at times), the plot and all. Thumb up!

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BOOM, you'll love how this drama feels!

Fool me that this drama waited too long on my list. First I just watched a few Son Seok Koo's scene in episode 10. Then I decided to give it a try since I grow fonder with Jeon Yeo Bin because of Vincenzo. Omoo I suffer too much for waiting her as Hong Cha Young a week feels like so long. Okay I admit that I'm more like the obessed type when it comes into good actor/actress haha.

Then I decided watch this, since her is the Main Actress and this drama already on my waiting list and BOOM THIS IS SO GREAT!! I DON'T EVEN EXPECT THIS. This genre the main focus on character itself, and every character building is amazing. Even when you think that this role isn't really important or cool. You're wrong, every characther matters. You not found a lot of drama that feels like this, trust me. Damn this drama is definitely a gem!

I laugh a lot, cry too and this is also make me thinking about my life, especially right now I'm in the position as a good-for-nothing :)

My characters comment:
Lim Jin Joo characther and her interaction with Son Beom So is satisfying and fun, very unique.
I kinda hope that Han Joo will end up with Jae Hoon, but yeah this more like bro-sis relationships I guess? But Jae Hoon getting back with his ex? Hmmm thats not even a healthy relationships, for my point of view..
Yeah but for me the best couple goes toooo: So Min x Min Joon🎉🎉

But still my fav is Eun Jung's story! I satisfied so much since her is the reason I started watching it. Her story is deep and made me cry.. Her strong and brave character screams a girl power. But that doesn't mean a human always strong, we all have our fragile part.. I wish she can make her African date come true!! We saw hopes as a netizen and I wanna thank the screen writer so so much! Especially for cast Eun Jong and Hey Director~~~

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Start Again and Know Bliss Called Happiness

Things will be fine when you turn 30.

I have difficulty memorizing my passwords all the more to remember my 30s. According to the writer of this drama, when one turns 30 years old, one tends to be melodramatic. I am 42 years old and have reached half of the life expectancy limit. Is it the worst for me then? At this point, the inevitable question we often find ourselves asking is --- What have I accomplished so far?

Being the second Korean drama (the first one was "Search: WWW") I watched that compared life and love to a designer bag, I begin to wonder how so?

What I love most about this drama is the friendship of Jin Joo, Eun Jong, Han Joo, and Jae Hoon. But among the four, I like Eun Jong. Her character intrigued me the most. Jin Joo (Chun Woo Hee) and Beom (Ahn Jae Hong) Soo's relationship is the closest reality as it can be. Their conversations speak not only of the truth but of the elephant in the room in most relationships.

There is a great deal of narration in this drama. I would take this as an exercise of the mind. It got me thinking and made me realize a lot of things in life.

If relationships fail, do you also see yourself as a failure? Or maybe fail to grow in that relationship? It just did not work at all. Every breakup has its share of resentment and remorse. I might be saying this and that. And a lot may react with the words easier said than done. But what you take are lessons and good memories.

Do people change? For every break up, do you feel that somebody or something died that day? Does your old self remain and die? Do you want to forget that old self and never look back? At times, confronted with the question, do you remember yourself in the past? Have you set up a funeral for that old self?

I would like to believe that one can change within the situation. People can be resilient if need be and tend to adapt. In the end, the truest of ourselves remains. As long as we never stop our desire to start again, we may attain the bliss called happiness.

On another note, I can see that this drama is somehow underrated. But amidst the raw kind of vibe of this drama is a depth that somehow only sentimental people can fathom. I might sound bias, but not all people are fond of drama with a lot of talks and less action.

But then again, what I love most about this drama is it pounds you down to your core. I feel like I was reading the book entitled Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus.

To iterate what I meant:
Men: "What matters is my feelings, not the words I say."
Women: "Say the right words. Sweep me off my feet with your words."

Consistency means quality. Sometimes in the middle of airing, TV drama tends to fall short of its substance. It may have a very impressive beginning but maintaining the interest and curbing interest is another story. But not this one. That is why this drama is a must-see!

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[I honestly don't remember much of this drama, I wrote this review in my notes 3 years ago]

Having mostly watched for the Jae Hoon and Han Joo storyline, I am somewhat disappointed in their ending. Perhaps, rewatching this drama when I am in my late 20s or 30s will bring about a more enlightening perspective to fully understand and relate to the drama’s issues. While I understand the creative intention of the way their storyline was ultimately concluded, I find myself struggling to accept it due to some issues I have, but this could be to biases and my inherent desire to escape from reality by watching idealistic rom-com shows. From what I gathered, Jae Hoon’s implied reconciliation with his ex-girlfriend somewhat rubs me the wrong way (wanky) in that it fails to understand the true nature of alcoholism and toxic relationships. The depiction of Jae Hoon’s contribution to the decay of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend was not executed that well in my opinion. Having just watched 500 days of summer with its themes fresh in mind and similarities to this, the execution wasn’t done as well. My honest opinion of this drama is that on the outer surface, it claims and portrays itself as a fresh and groundbreaking drama with the issues it tackles, when in reality it’s execution of these important and significant issues are subpar. However, this is specifically what I gathered from mainly being invested in the Jae Hoon-Han Joo storyline. Going beyond my focus of that storyline, it fails to really go deep into the struggles of Hyo Bong and being an openly gay male in modern-day Korea. The exploration of same-sex relationships and homosexuality made only a speck of the plot, but in a very outer-perspective and outer surface manner. Another thing is being a young, single mother. These issues that go beyond my initial reasoning for watching this drama were barely explored and poorly executed. I’m not so much upset that Jae Hoon and Han Joo didn’t end up together even though I was rooting for them, but it was more the disappointment of the endings they were given, more so Jae Hoon, and the final conclusion of the nature of their friendship in an attempt to subvert typical kdrama tropes and expectations.

The drama seems to only scratch the surface of the serious issues it intends to explore. While I have rated dumber dramas higher, the distinction is that this drama intends to be groundbreaking and so I must rate it on that basis - on how it executes their intention. As opposed to dumb and exaggerated rom-coms, those should be taken as what they are as their intention isn't to spark some sort of relatability like this drama attempts to. However, I do give it a relatively high rating despite my dissatisfaction with the ending because I love the refreshing characters it presents us with. This really distinguishes itself from other dramas and made it an enjoyable watch.

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