Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter (2018)

This is a nice, quirky fantasy/romantic comedy. It features an excellent cast, and a lot of charming and interesting characters. It has quite a few twists, and is really cute and interesting. The main character is a kind but naive fairy, who has lived on Earth for several hundred years. The main love interests are a professor and his young assistant (they also live together). The two characters are like night and day, the assistant being sweet and willing to believe the fairy, and the professor being cautious and skeptical. One of the two love interests is the fairy's reincarnated husband who died suddenly several hundred years ago.

What likely makes this show a hit or miss for several people: the show is a bit on the weird side and does not go as expected. A love triangle is also a big player for the plot here. Typically when you watch a drama, you can point out who the female lead will end up within the first couple of minutes of the first episode, even if there's a love triangle. This drama gives you a bit of a guessing game, and the answer...is not what a lot of people were expecting.

As someone that dabbles in story writing, when a storyline isn't super predictable, I like it a lot more. I also enjoy finding clues to upcoming plot twists within the dialogue and events of the show. This was the case for "Mama Fairy."

This is a drama where you have to pay close attention (especially in the flashbacks) in order for everything happening to make complete sense. It had me hooked from the start, so I was never confused. I was extremely happy with who the female lead ended up with, but this was not the case for quite a few people. But when watching, it was clear that the drama pointed in that character's direction, via other characters' opinions of the love interests, the flashbacks, and the female lead's feelings toward the guy she ended up with. It's subtle, but the hints were there.

Romance aside, the main characters are each interesting in their own individual ways. It was interesting how each of the reincarnated love interests shared traits with the people/creatures they were in their past lives. Learning more about them through the flashbacks was a highlight of each episode. One of the main characters had a very tragic back story, and his story developed into a great one of friendship and redemption in the end. It ended up being the highlight of the end of the series.

That said, this show isn't perfect. Even as someone who loved and enjoyed it, I disliked a trio of supporting cast members at first. I eventually grew to like them a little bit as they started playing a part in the main storyline, but that took a few episodes. The other issue I have is the CGI. At some points I can see where it was necessary, but practically every animal that appears (even if it's a random cat running by) is CG. It's very fake and cartoonish looking, so it took a bit to get used to.

I adored this show, it's a new favorite of mine honestly. However, if you're off-put by eccentricity, love-triangles, and/or quite a few plot twists you might not like it. Even though it's a romcom, there's a complex story behind it, and that's one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much. This series is best approached with an open-mind, and a willingness to accept that not all is as it appears to be.

I gave it a 9.5/10 as I was interested throughout, and fell in love with the story and characters.

(I also rate heavily based on personal enjoyment)

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More than who-is-the-husband-game

A 699 year-old fairy waiting for her woodcutter husband to reincarnate—its synopsis says, but the story was far better than this synopsis. It was a light, quirky, fun and very heartwarming drama that you thought you won't expect too much, but as you head towards the end, you will realize that this drama is beautiful with so many LIFE messages of a friendship bonded by the realest meaning of love more than romance, brotherhood, family and—of redemption. So now, here is my *somewhat detailed* review:

Okay, first of all, I've thought that this drama is what you see is what you get—the typical one that has romance and so many laughs and THAT JUST IT. Because of that, I watched this drama without expectation to watch a good story that has a depth from this one. But hck this drama is more than your typical romcom. Apart from the criticisms it had received more particularly in the CGIs and because of its fantasy story line—and although I believed that the romance could have been much much better, I can say that this drama is MORE THAN the romance type. What started light, comedic, fun and you know a little bit weird, ended up giving me heartwarming messages—messages of the true meaning of love, the art of being selfless and the beauty of sharing with one's pain, the problem that lies upon having resentment, the power of friendship and family and most of all, the lesson of learning how to forgive others as well as yourself and in return be forgiven and—be free. I know this sounds LIFE dramatic, but that is what I really felt after watching the drama.

However there is no blinding that this drama contains flaws.

CGIs?
The CGIs are not bad but still they are not good, but for a low-budget drama like this, it was doable. And believe it or not, as I watched the drama further, I complain lesser about the CGI and I think it is kind of charming and just suitable for the light vibes the drama is trying to execute. And besides, as you watch the drama, you are not going to watch it for the CGI as they don't take over the whole show. Yes, it could have been better with good CGIs, but you don't need high budget CGIs to have a good show.

Acting?
I believe the actors really hardwork for this drama. I noticed that there are scenes (that include rocks and mountains) which are really hard to execute but they still did it and have done their best, because of that I must congratulate them for doing really great and giving me (and other viewers) a good show. To be honest, I have never felt like they were inappropriate for the role they were given (as a little portion of people here suggest). No casts were young enough or old enough for the role, each of them has carried their character and their own charm. However, I must admit that on the first two episodes, I felt off with the acting of Yoon Hyun Min only in terms of the comedic aspect (maybe because of the script he was given?), however his acting and his character got better as episode 2 end and as his character gets further development and had reached its extent complexity. Due to that, it was safe to say that I can finally disapprove on the comments that suggest he can't act, 'cause absolutely I watched his character and not him. Lastly, I am moved by the story and I believe that you cannot love a story unless the emotions and actions are properly executed by good actors and actresses.

Cinematography?
The visuals of each character is really good especially for our fairy, Seon Ok Nam and the views are really good too. However, there are many complaints about some lightning, although I would not go further with that since I can spoil something on this review and it was not a main concern for me.

Music?
Yoon Hyun Min sang one of their OST and I must say that his voice is incredibly good. You must hear it for yourself, "The Taste of Tears". However, I feel like I have been needing much OST from this drama T.T And I would have liked it better if they had played the OSTs more and more and more. Who wouldn't love more OST?

Story?
Let's get this pretty quick. The story was from the very first start light and it still ended light, but the amazing part is, it gave your heart a warm squeeze of LIFE lessons. Does it have plot holes or flaws? The story if you are not keen on tiny details, it can be sort of confusing--but that is the fun part, it is unexpected and interesting. Every episode can give you a whole lot of theories between who is the husband? who is who? what will happen in the end? Surely, the story can be weird for some people and this story has also given me some weird vibes, but h ck, I've come to loved that weirdness as well, and I'm happy that I've finished this story. And actually, for a fairy tale drama, the story was PRETTY UNIQUE.

Story pacing?
The pacing was slow on the first four episodes as it still uncovers the plot, but as after episode 4, the pacing of the story was better, but I wished that the story behind its climax could have been stretched out a little bit more, since I would to see more drama—but I wouldn't complain that the drama was light and funny on the first half of the drama as it was a cute, fun and laughable enjoyment for me. Episode 10 towards the end was kind of intense because of the revelations, but of course, the quirkiness was still present even at the serious scenes. The drama was all throughout heartwarming but episode 10 to end will really got to your heart especially on episode 15 and its finale.

Ending of the drama?
I've thought the end would come a little bit rush but it was the opposite. It was perfect, they ended things pretty good by episode 15 that will make you cry a lot and they give you an epilogue on episode 16.


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Honestly, as you can see, this drama comes pretty underrated and had many flaws, but trust me, I did not watch the drama because of all those flaws because what I watched here are the brotherly relationship of the two male leads, the awesome chemistry of the lead partners, the quirkiness and funny conversations of the supporting characters, the cuteness and loveliness of the fairy's family, and above all...the very very very heartwarming message of sharing with one's pain, the realest meaning of true love (more than romance), friendship, brotherhood, and as I previously said, forgiving others and yourself and be forgiven.

After all the flaws it might have encountered, I came to loved this drama, and personally, it became one of my favorites. Before I end this review, this drama surely made me cry on episode 15 a lot and h ck made me laugh hard. This drama has given me a rollercoaster ride and I hope you will enjoy watching it as much as I do. Sometimes you might get confused, but please stay put and let its warmness embrace you.

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Disappointing plot and story line. The ending was just felt as a let off as their had no more idea left to expand. I know the story was based on webtoon but the character and the casting just doesn't match at all. Credit to Yoon Hyun-Min who acting was an 5 star performance, but the other character just doesn't feel like acting at all. Even the love story line was feel like half assed done. If someone ask me whether to watch this drama, i wouldn't recommend it at all as it was just full of disappointment, the story actually ended on episode 15. The next episode was mostly rubbish content.

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A fairy who comes into human realm to take bath in fairy falls loses her winged dress. The winged dress was stolen by a deer who was with a woodcutter. The fairy marries the wood cutter and when he dies waits for his reincarnation for centuries. Meanwhile woodcutter's fate is entwined with that of the deer. Their children also reincarnates as a tiger and dragon. At present day and age fairy runs a Cafe. A professor and his assistant comes to the cafe. The professor reminds fairy of her dead husband.

I liked the fairy cafe part. Apart from that, the story is draggy and pretty much predictable. A very weak plot. The issue between izy of mizar and Dubhe sounded like it was created for the sake of creating something for the story to move on.

Many incidents happen in the drama but the plot connecting them all is very weak. Actors were ok and this drama was too sweet for my taste. The actress who played fairy was beautiful but unrealistically sweet. May be that was required of her for this role.

I didn't feel bored much since I watched it each week but I did pause after 20 to 24 minutes and took break. Not a story that would make you glued to the scree. This is not a drama that you want to watch nonstop from start to finish - Well not for me atleast.

If you are a person who gets bored easily because of a sweet not much of a story romcom, then I suggest you skip this one.

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This is my first mdl review, so bear with me please.
First of all, I haven't read the manga, so my opinions are based solely off of the show.

The premise was interesting, a twist on a traditional fairy tale. I waited for 15 episodes to find out everything that happened & people's reasons for doing things that they did. Still, the characters have little depth except for the professor & Kim Geum.

We got little to no background information on the fairy or how she spent 699 years without her husband. Why she wasn't at least upto date enough to use paper, if not modern technology. Her character was stupid, & honestly aside from being accommodating, smiling & making good coffee i didn't see any merit in her character. Her feelings could be blown by a wisp of wind, they had so little substance.

The story had unnecessary characters like the three musketeers, who made absolutely no difference to the story. They wasted a lot of screen time that could have been dedicated to writing a tighter narrative.

There are plot holes like the young pretending to be college student guy; he was made to look like he was one of those humans/special beings who possessed some flair for the fantastic/supernatural & that's what drove him to be declared as mentally abnormal. However in the end his closure was worse than a bandaid ending.

Kim Geum had more chemistry with Jeom Soon than with the fairy. He was endearing & I wanted him to get the woman he wants.
 
The story would have been interesting had it been about falling in love because of a wrong notion & how the heart can change over time, but I don't think the Prof even liked the fairy for what/how she was, he just fell in love with the idea of a woman that loves him. He did not look ready for a romantic relationship at all even at the end. I'd rather take an open ending of his romantic possibilities, since he's now cured of all traumas

The good - the osts, fairyland shenanigans, the parent x children scenes, the acting.
The bad - The CGI, the execution of the plot, the toilet humour, & everything else.

Overall, this drama could've been a 4-6 episodes drama special & it would have been much better.

I liked the ending, I wish if that was what they were going for all that time they had written it better so our final guy wasn't a second choice the FL was settling for, & had realized their great love at some point before the end.

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After finishing this drama, the emotion that I feel instantly is bittersweet.

This drama confused me a bit but I do feel like episode 15 did a good job of explaining the plot holes or maybe confused me even more. I can’t decide which of the two it was.

That episode also got me teary. It was well done.

Also with Izy’s character… I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt many times because she couldn’t stand injustice but her battles to get justice wasn’t right. To me, she was selfish and she wasn’t thinking about the consequences of trying to avenge wrongdoings.

And Ahn Young Mi slayed her role!

So am I happy with how the drama was concluded? No.
Am I unhappy about it? No.

I feel like although I didn’t get the ending I wanted, where my ship wins because that does determine my opinion on a drama to a GREAT extent. I feel like everyone in the drama got a happy ending. So I can’t be mad.

Without spoiling the drama too much the second I found out that the drama was not gravitating to my ship. I lost about maybe 30% interest. I think it added up to me a few episodes back but I was still in denial.

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Ok someone please tell me what the hell was in that coffee! Lol not going to lie some parts of the drama were clearly made on something more than regular caffeine. That said I really enjoyed it! I'm betting the ending will piss people off for sure lol but it didn't bug me I'm happy for the direction they took. And while it was very well shot and had a pretty engaging story and characters, it was nothing special. That was the only drawback for me. The good part was the bromance and the romance. And it was really funny without being too annoying. So all in all not the best but pretty damn watchable and both male leads are gorgeous and I fell for them both.

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This is a drama that goes beyond the romantic love we know.
does good people really get rewarded in the end of a story? and does the bad guys get punished in this world?
(if you want a packed story with depth and emotions in a "light-hearted" refreshing presentation, then you came to the right place.)

it goes beyond the typical romantic love that we're used to see in other stories, it is about all and every form of love, it focus on the deeper bonds that humans form between each other. and let me tell ya it's not only about three main characters, it's all about the connections and affects that a family, friends, people around us make us feel.

ok now for the concept and story, personally I didn't read the webtoon so I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this drama, I had neutral first impression when I first started, but the more I watched the more hooked I got with both the story and the characters.

Plot and story 10/10:
the story for me is really what is special about this drama because you expect certain pattern when you're watching a k-drama of how the characters will act and how events would effect certain situations, but this drama takes all of your expectations and SLAMS it into the wall and I loved it!! it's just so refreshing to see things turns different.

Cast and characters 100/10:
oh god where should I start on this, it's crazy how they nailed every single character weather it was a main or supporting, I fell in love with all of them, specially the humor they added, it would be a bland story if it wasn't for the characters and the actors, I laughed so HArd watching the three idiots specially "Park Shin Seon" I can't appreciate enough how stupid sarcastic and funny he is lmao..
and obviously there's some moments where you would relate to how they felt and I bawled my eyes at them.

Ending 100/100:
if you have worries from other reviews let me talk a little bit about the actual love story in this series;
I usually really fu*kin hates love triangles, it's over used and it's never honestly a good idea to me, HOWEVER. I really like this "love triangle" that was going on in this story, it's just so different!! and I really liked it for the first time!!! because it wasn't predictable, as the plot and characters relationship kept progressing tell the end, despite the other series where you know exactly who the FL will end up with. I ended up rooting for someone then changing my mind over and over, and till the end you will not know what will happen.

Overall:
this is a drama that has it all, and I really liked how they handled reincarnation and mixing the old historic characters with our modern world, everything felt natural and brought everything together, one of my favorite qualities in this drama is the BROmance it had! omg where do I start it's beautifully pure that it will make you cry.
the only reason I gave it 9.5 rating is because of the bad CGI, it was a shame since this series heavily used it, but honestly I couldn't care less about it to enjoy the actual show.


Recommend it???
hell yeah this drama is fairly simple and not complicated at all yet it's full of surprises.

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This drama should really be called "The Journey of Jung Yi Hyun" rather than its given title since I felt like the story was mostly about him and his own personal journey though hell and back (basically). He was also the only character that really had any development or depth to him.

The other characters were just alright..Sun Ok Nam was super sweet and adorable, but for being nearly 700 years old I just expected so much more from her character. While I couldn't dislike her since she was just so nice...I didn't necessarily like her either, as she was--for lack of a better word--quite boring.

Kim Geum was so cute and lovely as a person but same thing here: he was just...flat.

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS BUT IS NECESSARY FOR THIS REVIEW:

While at first I was super happy with the idea of Kim Geum "getting the girl" in the end because it's so rare that a second lead (and let's be honest here, he had all the characteristics of a typical and stereotypical Second Lead going for him) comes out victorious in the end...so, that aspect alone was really awesome...I just ended up liking Jung Yi Hyun SO much more and I couldn't help but think of how much more romantic and moving it would have been if Sun Ok Nam truly fell in love with him in the end (plus Kim Geum and Sun Ok Nam had like ZERO chemistry...boo).

I just felt SO bad for our dear Professor. Sun Ok Nam came out of nowhere, TOTALLY lead him on, and then left him just like that as soon as she realized he wasn't her husband. She made him think she really cared about him and would always be there for him and then...POOF! Whoops! Wrong guy.

Damn.

So...anyway, I don't think this drama has much going for it other than it's fairy-tail-like elements, which I always enjoy in Korean dramas since they are not as common. The CGI was God-awful though, so you kind of have to cringe your way though and just accept things.

Overall it's a decent enough watch for a rainy day, just don't expect to get a lot out of it.

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it's not your typical kdrama and it was confusing

i kinda enjoyed but it was a really confused drama. the writers must had been on drugs when they wrote the whole plot XD Also the especial effects are not that great.
I am warning you guys that it's not your typical drama and that shocked me. For a long time this drama didn't make sense to me bc according with kdrama logic the girl always gets and just kiss the main lead, so if she kissed the professor that means that he is the main lead. But then if kim kim was the husband and knowing that kdramas usually value family the most how could her and the professor be together? So until the penultimate ep. i thought the deer/red lady was possessing the professor and manipulating their memories for revenge but i was wrong.
Funny thing is that i never shipped kim kim with her so i basically skipped 80% of the last episode :)
Well, i still dont know who the main lead is. People are saying that in this drama the second lead finally gets the girl, but if he ended up with the girl that don't make him automatically the main lead and the professor the second lead? At least that is the way i see things

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Quirky romance between fairy and the woodcutter(s)

Initially, I stumbled upon this drama out of sheer boredom, with no particular expectations. However, the first episode immediately drew me in, leaving me eager to delve deeper into the storyline. Upon discovering that it was an adaptation of a webtoon, I couldn't resist spoiling myself by reading ahead.

To my surprise, I found myself falling in love with the webtoon's story, sparking a curiosity to see how it would translate onto the screen. Adapting such a complex webtoon into a drama was no easy feat, and I must commend the makers for their bold attempt.

Now, onto the drama itself. It delivered everything I could ask for: past lives, reincarnations, mystery, romance, relationships, and, most importantly, bromance. While the love triangle may frustrate some viewers, it served a crucial role in advancing the storyline, so I encourage you to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

If you're on the fence about watching this drama, my advice is to give it a shot. And just a heads up: don't take the CGI too seriously.

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