This review may contain spoilers
It is really impossible to write a review for this drama without getting my blood pressure up. The people that waited week after week for this drama will truly understand my pain.All the writers of this drama need to be under some kind of witness protection program because they have succeeded in angering so many people including myself that had to sit through 20 eps of this BS. This drama was written under the influence of some serious narcotics.
The acting gets a 9 because they did a good job of conveying the foolishness the writers were spilling out.
Trying not to give away any spoilers, I'm a strong believer of the saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you". Well in this drama there's a lot of biting and chewing and an attempt to amputate the hand that was doing the feeding.
In this drama you get to witness ungratefulness at it's max and decisions that make you question the way some men think.
The drama was good and cute up until about episode 10 when the writers decided to play "how far can we piss off the viewers". In all honesty, the drama could have been done in 16 episodes or better still 10 episodes.
We could have done without all the crap from ep 11 to 19 and 20.
The only take a way is the OST. There are some really good songs in this drama....The drama had some good potential that was played with.
If you want to sit through this be my guest but make sure to drop by for an "I TOLD YOU SO".
Writing this without spoilers was seriously challenging....off to take my blood pressure meds
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First off, I'm being generous with my ratings. I can't quite decide whether I liked or hated this drama. It's probably a little bit of both. The concept was good and got me watching in the first place. The first half was really good and had the potential to be something great but then the last half sort of spiraled out of control. Who doesn't want to watch a man (Han Tae Sang) who's had a hard life, meets a girl (So Mi Do) that makes him want to change it all, becomes successful while quietly supporting and loving her over the course of 7 years. When Tae Sang and Mi Do meet again and he begins to pursue her, their story moves along pretty quickly. Tae Sang was right to the point with his feelings, as was Mi Do. Then enter the third wheel (Lee Jae Hee) and that's where all the drama begins. Sounds like your typical kdrama setup but eventually the story became so far out there it made it seem ridiculous. There were also sub-stories regarding Tae Sang's long lost mother and brother, a murder, a jilted woman w/ a one sided love and the rival of our main actor. I don't feel some of those stories were explored as much as they should have been therefore they ended up being overlooked. At least for me they were. By the time the last episode rolled around I had no clue how everything was possibly going to be resolved in just one hour. There was just so much the writers were throwing at the viewers. I guess, for me, if the writers wanted to add all these extra plots, they should have toned down their focus on the love triangle or just not even introduced those plots in the first place.
Acting/Cast: Many people stayed with this drama bc of Song Seung Hun. I know he was the only thing keeping me going at one point lol. Han Tae Sang was my favorite character and the only one I even care about in the end. He was such a naive man in his pursuit of Mi Do it became endearing. He was learning the ropes through trial and error. He would even research how to interact with a girl on a date and so forth. He had his faults but was ultimately a good man. Han Tae Sang definitely got the raw in of the deal throughout this drama though. Poor guy couldn't catch a break, and he was such a likable character! You really started to hate the writers for how much they screwed with him. Now So Mi Do...there's so much I could say about her but I'll keep it short. She was a very unlikable character. She was extremely selfish, stuck up, rude and immature. The way she treated Han Tae Sang drove me crazy and she showed hardly any emotion. I did like that she was straightforward and got right to the point. She also lost her moral compass for a bit but I feel she tried to redeem herself towards the end. In the end, I still didn't care what happened with her. Lee Jae Hee, I never really liked him either. He wiggled his way right in between Tae Sang and Mi Do even though Tae Sang was the one who provided the very best for him while his brother (Chang Hee) was away. He basically tried to find anyone who would speak ill of Han Tae Sang to, I suppose, justify his backstabbing. He was so naive and blind to the truth it was maddening to watch. He didn't want to hear anything that could make him question the hate he had built towards Han Tae Sang. Besides, he was pretty sloppy at being a "bad guy" towards Han Tae Sang. Supporting characters I liked were Lee Chang Hee, Tae Sang's bff and Jae Hee's brother. He was kind of the voice of reason (to an extent) and the glue that tried to hold everyone together. Loyal friend to Tae Sang and protective hyung to Jae Hee. I also liked Mi Do's mother, her brother, her 2 friends, Roy Jang and his father. Characters I felt were completely pointless were Baek Sung Joo and Goo Yong Gab. Goo Yong Gab was the most useless rival I've ever seen. He really didn't do anything. Baek Sung Joo was also pretty mild compared to other scorned women. They basically worked out and had dumb conversations with each other. Completely useless.
Rewatch Value & Overall: Rewatch value is not likely. This drama put me on a roller coaster of emotions throughout the entire thing. I wanted to drop it but it kept pulling me in. That's why I scored it higher than most probably would. It infuriated me to the maximum degree but left me needing to find out what would happen next. It could have been a great drama had the writers not gone completely insane. It does have it's good points but I feel the bad unfortunately outweighs the good. The ending kind of sucked too. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but they could have also done something to make it spectacular and that just didn't happen. I say, watch maybe the first 10 episodes or so, stop before it heads on its downward spiral, and just create you own ending lol. Guarantee it will be better than anything that happened in the last half of the drama.
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Lets start with the really bad acting of Shin Se Kyung. I admit I knew what I was doing when I started watching it. The weird thing is that Mi Do is so much like Ga Young (Fashion King)...neither characters are ever happy no matter what the main lead or even the second lead does for them. Regardless of the character, Shin Se Kyung can't act. She isn't believable. At least her face changed expression a few times in this drama. Still, it is just blah!!!
OK, enough of that.
I know there are many viewers out there that don't like Song Seung Hun, but I love him. He has in the past had an eye bulging problem when trying to show surprise or anger, but he kept that totally under control. Tae Sang felt authentic and I really like the mix feel of bad boy, gangster with naïve and soft lover and friend. He is the best part of the whole drama.
Yun Woo Jin had no hope of showing his acting skills, because Jae Hee is an atrocious character. For someone that is so smart that he went to college abroad...blah...blah...blah, why did the writers turn him into a total idiot. Are we supposed to believe that "When A Man Loves" he does a 180 in character? That is all I get from his role.
There were a lot of unnecessary characters. However, I enjoyed Kim Seo Kyung acting as Roy and the adoptive father as well.
The music is fine.
I will never rewatch this.
I won't recommend this drama. I will end with this. If you liked Fashion King, then this drama is for you. If you didn't like Fashion King, then this drama is only marginally better...you have been warned. If you have never seen Fashion King, then good for you...don't watch this either. :-)
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I’m not sure whether WAML features a stereotype storyline or not since I had never yet to watch any Korean melodrama (I did watch a few episode of Nice Guy, but it has been on hold, until now.), thus when I watch WAML, I see the storyline as something new and fresh. Honestly, I couldn’t really expect what would happen next and that somehow kept me going.
About the characters, most of them are all messed up, but it was kind of interesting and I see that as some kind of characters experiment done by the director and scriptwriters. Because it is the first time I’m having a love-hate relationship with characters of a drama. I really liked Han Tae Sang character at the first few episodes, he has that manly look and tough personality yet is very naïve in love, it is sort of cute. So I thought I could like him until the very last episode but sadly, I couldn’t. It reaches a point where his love for Seo Mi Do doesn’t feel innocent anymore, all I could I see was him trying to keep her by her side without even trying to understand her real feelings and dreams. And that just turns me off.
I’m sure lots of audience couldn’t stand with Seo Mi Do character. Me too. But, I somehow could easily put myself into her shoes of why she is being like that. Her character is surprisingly more realistic compared to other Korean dramas’ female leads. If I were in her place, I would not know too of whom to choose.
This story focuses not only on the main characters but also the supporting ones, so it is basically one of this drama’s good points. The acting is generally good. Song Seung Hoon is already a pro; obviously, he did a good job here. Shin Se Kyung, yes, she needs to vary her expression more. And that Chang Hee guy (Han Tae Sang’s right hand), it’s now the time for directors out there to give him a main character- he is one of those actors who knows to convey his emotions perfectly through eyes!
Overall, it is a good drama for me. The only problem is the main characters- they aren’t that likable. Still, it’s a good thing, since they don’t stick to cliché drama characters’ traits.
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Absolutely Addictive
This drama is so good and I enjoyed every minute of it, the actors did an excellent job.Acting
The FL and ML had great chemistry. They poured out their hearts and created beautiful scenes . I was captivated from ep1.
The Storyline was well written and there are no flaws, I absolutely loved it. It gave me feelings that are difficult to describe all I can say is that this was a good storyline, you will not regret watching this drama, ignore the negative reviews.
I want more of this kind of drama, they don't make them like this anymore.
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The story line was alright. It's not anything special. The ending made me cry a little since Song Seung Hun was very sweet.
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This review may contain spoilers
Story: I thought was good. However, there were some dead spaces. I think this was the drama that I wished Cruel City would have been. Some parts of this story line were good and bad. They did some how convince me to watch all 20 episodes, and that was what save this for me. I would go into more detail, but I'm afraid some of you would complain about the spoilers. If you want to hear what my biggest downers on this were message me or I might put them in the comments marked spoilers.Acting: I thought it was ok. The cast didn't seem to work well together. It could just be me. I feel like they were disjointed because the story was disjointed. I saw on here that so many people complained about the lead being deadpan or showing little emotion, but I thought that was how she was supposed to be. There are people in real life that are like that.
Music: I really enjoyed the music I thought it was beautiful, and fit the scenes well.
Rewatch: I'd watch it again. There are parts that I loved and I thought this this drama showed well.
Overall: This was just an ok watch. This is far from being the worst Asian drama that I've watched, but it was just ok. One thing that I have to mention is the cinematography in this drama is beautiful. The only other drama that I think can compare would be Innocent Man. There are just some really nice shots that I think really help this drama. I think so many times cinematography is for gotten in dramas, but that is a huge part of telling a story on screen. Honestly I think without that I don't think this drama would have been as good.
I really want to give this a 6.5, but I can't so it will stay at a 6.
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On the contrary, I almost fall in love with Yun Woo Jin (Lee Jae Hee), who really had a lot of cute sides in the drama (even though Song Seung Heon had his part too^^).
That's it for the cast, now let's talk about the story ! There were so many turnarounds in the script ! It was almost tiring honestly... But well at the end you discover that at least some of them were needed to get the denouement we have (even though I don't like the end, but I won't tell anything about it !).
Concerning the love story, honestly I think this was a great one. 'Cause you'd get what you want with both male characters. Usually you cheer for the second role, and he doesn't get anything beside your cheers during the drama ! Here it's quite different, and quite refreshing !
So the drama was quite good, even though sometimes the story was a bit "too much". I don't regret watching it though ! It was quite entertaining !
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Actually it's the first drama that i watched where Song Seung Hun played (don't know why i always skipped his dramas, perhaps cuz i don't like his picture that's in mydramalist...)2
But after watching "when a man's in love" i changed my mind, and think that he is really hot, somehow childish, but we all know how love can change a person. I liked his character. At first i didn't like Mi Do, but later i was sorry for her... i liked the idea of the blackboard...
If u like romance, bromance, and twists, than i recommend u not to delay this drama.
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