Please Don't Date Him (2020)

The rom-com is not the point of this drama

The main theme of this drama is not the love story between the main leads, which is why you won't get to see that many heart fluttering moments.
I was pretty bored for the 2 first episodes, I wasn't sure where the drama was going, there was no character development.
If you're looking for a good romcom drama, I found this blend on the romance and comedy aspects, and I felt like the romcom was almost a cover-up for the important part.

In my opinion, the interesting aspect is the second plot hidden behind the mainstream romance.
It's about the impact of new technologies and personal data collection from a woman's point of view and how sexism and girl-shaming can be spread though those technologies even though they're supposed to embody progress within our society. And more generally how new technology can impact negatively our daily life.

The ML is the "good guy" because he's out of this overly connected world, which allows him to question things from an outside point of view.
It also depicts all the subtle injustices women can face in daily-life, like not being recognized properly for their work etc...
And above all, this is a BRILLIANT representation of how some people are not inherently bad people with bad intentions but are still unable to see how scary and invasive their actions are in a relationship, and when confronted with it, they throw back the emotional burden on the other and victimize themselves instead (daily gaslightning at its finest).
It's a form of emotional abuse but a very faint one and above all, a socially accepted one, which leaves victims often unheard.
This drama does an amazing job at depicting how gut-wrenching it can feel and how wrong it actually is. The real victim ends up feeling guilt and shame.

Because the seriousness of this show is at first hidden behind a pretty common kdrama storyline, i would not recommand it to people who just want to enjoy a fun drama since the romcom part is actually almost boring.
However, its a very subtle and well-made story if you digg a little deeper.

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RomCom done right

Simply, it's romantic comedy done right. There are many shows categorised as "RomCom" over the years and very few deserving of this label. "Please Don't Date Him" is one of the few exception as it brings out genuine laughter in every episode while building on the romantic relationship of the characters.

The literary device used for the plot was properly used and was not just a literary device later forgotten after setting up the story. When this was revealed, I was expecting this show to turn serious and deviate from being a romcom and turn into a serious drama, but the writer(s) stayed true and kept it in the sidelines yet still an important part of the show.

Song Ha Yoon, who played "Seo Ji Sung" did very well in portraying an A.I. programmer yet still "just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" (to borrow from "Notting Hill"). I also love how they chose a woman as a programmer in this show debunking the stereotypes [1] programming is for men; and [2] girl programmers does not have a love life.

I recommend this show if you are looking for a series which will make you laugh, fall in love all over again, and appreciate the people around you, even strangers like our brave firefighters. Don't forget to check my review of episode 9: https://mydramalist.com/62539-please-don-t-meet-the-man/episode/9 -- a must-watch episode.

It's sad that they only planned a total of ten (10) episodes, they could have extended it to thirteen or a full series (sixteen episodes).

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Was a good watch for me.

It's not a typical rom com cause it have some suspense also but definitely not a thriller type. It's just 10 episode short drama so it don't take that time so it's definitely worth to watch if you want to try something different.

I was very confused in the start because of the synopsis cuase I didn't got anything from that... but when I started to watch it it was quite fun. I did enjoyed it even though I didn't liked some parts of it and there were also hilarious moments.

The FL was quite annoying for me sometimes but wasn't that bad character it's just that ML's character was very great indeed so it overshadow it. I also enjoyed the stories of both secondary couples.

Overall it was a good drama with romance, comedy and mystery so I'll recommend it give a chance guys....

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Wasted potential of interesting idea

I’ve said it once before, the worst dramas to review are those that are simply good. Not bad, not perfect, just good. And unfortunately lately I’ve watched couple of dramas that are good, so my list to review is getting longer and longer with each week. So let’s get is over with. Please Don’t Date Him is a good idea that was basically wasted into oblivion by naive plot solutions and focusing on less interesting plot lines.

And the idea seemed so interesting at first. Young programmer get’s into possession of advanced technology that let’s her infiltrate private lives of people she knows by interface of a smart fridge. Quickly it becomes a tool to check background of men she and her fiends are dating. The problem arises when she meets Jung Kook Hee, young and very mysterious firefighter who seems to have a lot of secrets that he doesn’t want to share with anybody.

And this contrast between Seo Ji Sung with her magical spy fridge and secretive Jung Kook Hee was what made this series so interesting at first. We get a mystery that wanted to be solved, what happened that Kook Hee doesn’t even want to have his pictures taken? Why isn’t he using any advanced form of technology, what is he really hiding? And where is this amazing technology hidden in the fridge coming from?

The thing is, that the answers turned out to be so disappointing that I couldn’t believe how much buildup we had only to be severely disappointed by the outcome. And on all the levels. Because Kook Hee’s secret didn’t seemed to be so scary (the way it was told made us believe that he really done something absolutely atrocious), fridge secret somehow was dissolved so it wasn’t so interesting at the end. Person who leaked informations and wanted to kill Ji Sung at some point was just some random dude that nobody really paid any attention to before. There was just a massive buildup for basically nothing in this series. And that’s a shame, because I honestly found Kook Hee pretty interesting character at one point and was wondering what really his deal is.
And this drama comes up with such ridiculous solutions to very simple ideas. Like, you have someone tied by zip-ties to a kitchen handle. What do you do, considering that you’re highly trained special agent?Do you take a knife or a pair of scissors to cut fragile zip-ties? No, you take a thermoflask and try to break pretty sturdy looking handle with it. Oh, and everything around is on fire, but you’re fine.

There’s not many scenes like that here, but they absolutely spoil the fun of watching this series that beside that would be pretty fine story about smaller or bigger problems in various relationships. Because besides obvious main couple we have at least two more couples that would be very interesting only if we het a bit more time to get to know them.
So I’d say that this is pretty average drama with good idea that was somewhat wasted since so enough attention was paid to it and viewer get just more of side plots that were rather bland. There is nothing in particular that I’ve liked or disliked that much. I think that it was just one of those dramas that don’t leave any particular feeling after finishing it.

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This was a well written drama for just 10 episodes!

I enjoyed this drama. When I first started, I was extremely excited because it had mystery, drama, and comedy. Almost every genre that I LOVED. Yes romance too, but the other aspects of the show stood out to me a lot. Even as a girl who is very interested in the engineering major, I definitely got a kick out of this drama.

Story: It was very good for the first few episodes but then things started to go a bit different from how I expected it too. It's not a bad thing though, within 10 episodes this drama has managed to keep the storyline up with many plot fillers and twists which I thought was executed very well.

Acting/Cast: I actually didn't know anything about the main cast except for Bomi, but when I figured out the female ML was one of my favorite actresses, I was sold. Besides favoritism, all the actors included in the story (even the crazy ex) played their character very well without breaking.

Music: 10/10 automatically. I was so eager for 'Who I Am' to release and I haven't stopped listening to it since the day it was released.

Rewatch value: I made this rating low because it's a personal preference, I usually do not watch dramas over again, I've only watched Hana Yori Dango over again and that is the only exception lol. But for others, if you felt as if you didn't get the message throughout the drama or maybe you just really enjoyed, I would recommend to watch it again, I probably would.

Overall: It was a bittersweet, hilarious, yet 'mysterious' drama that I really enjoyed. There's a few tear-jerkers every now and then, but there's also a whole bunch of thrilling and exciting scenes that kept me excited for every episode. I say to give this drama a chance, it was very confusing to follow at first, but trust me the show is really good.

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a short and cute drama on an unusual theme!

please don't date him was just a short drama i wanted to try out, with a fresh cast and some sweet looking chemistry!

you'll like this if you enjoy A.I (and women in stem!), or just enjoy hot firefighters ahah. the drama was slow at first, but the story gets better pacing towards the middle. it's overall a pretty well made drama, with some cute supporting characters and couples! i liked how it dealed with aspects of privacy/communication in relationships a lot. but we also see a lot of the usual tropes like boy saves the girl, boy gets trapped with girl etcetera,, it's enjoyable nonetheless!

fun, short and sweet, i guess that would sum this drama up!

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Cute Romance with a unique lens on a "crystal ball" way of seeing how that guy really is

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2020/2021 South Korean Romantic Comedy Drama with 10, 70 minute episodes. It is also known as "Please Don't Meet that Guy".

Seo Ji-seong (Song Ha-yoon) is a information technology engineer who works for a development company that adds artificial intelligence components to household appliances and other technology. When a smart refrigerator she is developing goes beyond its programming to not only make meal recommendations but to provide a complete background check of the person input, Ji-seong covertly tries to figure out what the gliche is and stall her boss for time before the product is marketed. As she is testing the refrigerator's AI, she uses people around her as inputs and finds out information about men in her and her friend's lives she is not sure she wanted to know. It reveals a dark secret, Ji-seong's fiancé had been keeping, and causes Ji-seong to break off their long term relationship. Fate steps in and Ji-seong finds herself crossing paths with Jung Kook-hee (Lee Jun-young) multiple times and even has occasion to work with him through a project with her company. She growns close to Kook-hee but is disturbed by his reluctance to have his photograph taken and his avoidence of technology. Having been burned in a relationship once, the secrets Kook-hee is hiding might keep their relationship from moving forward. Can Ji-seong resolve the problems with the AI and solve the mystery of Kook-hee's absolute avoidance of technology?

Overall I liked this. Usually I would think 10 episodes was too short but they were able to develop and tell the story in this number of episodes. I thought the relationship between the ML and FL was believable and they had great chemistry. I really liked Ji-seong and the fact that she was a female IT/engineer was cool because I have personally known a lot of person(s) in those fields and appreciate their analytical thinking. There are always difficulties in translating between different cultures and it was hard for me to understand Kook-hee's guilt over the fire as it was not his fault the firefighter decided to go in thinking he was still inside when, in fact, he went to a soccer game. That is not something individuals are likely to feel guilty over in US culture. I also did not see a lot wrong with Ji-seong finding out about her friend's boyfriends and warning them. She was not doing it intentionally, she was trying to get the refrigerator to simply provide menu suggestions based on a profile. She had to run it to sort the glitch. She may have ran it a time or two when not actively working on the issue and just to find out, but it would be no different than hiring a private detective at that point. I liked that she never forgave the ex boyfriend for betraying her by sharing her pictures with his friends and making comments about her body. That is not something someone who cares about you should ever do. I liked that Ji-seong's mother stuck up for her and told her ex's mother off when she tried to put the blame for the failed relationship on Ji-seong. I was disappointed when Kook-hee turned away from Ji-seong when he found out she might have dug into some personal information. It was right after she stuck up for him without even knowing the whole story. He "came around" but it still felt like a bit of a betrayal that he did not stand with her when she was having a hard time as a result of information being sent to him. Overall it was good and entertaining. Just a few, somewhat minor, "flaws" in some of the characters. It was also a unique story with the refrigerator acting like a "crystal ball."

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A unique Rom Com

Overall this was really a great Rom Com which healed me. This drama was not the best however to be honest for a small budget project, the production was really great. The staff and the cast really did amazing job for this drama.

Things I loved :
- Short and sweet.
- The story was unique and refreshing
- The acting was good and they played their characters really well

Things I disliked :
- It was really obvious that last two episode was rushed. If I heard it correct this was supposed to be a 12 episode drama
- The last episode story was really poorly done.

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Love love love love love this.

I am squealing with happiness and joy. This is such an amazing wonderful gem of a drama. The female lead is so very very cute. She is a STEM nerd who is designing an AI program. This itself is so very rare in dramaland. There is a scene where she repairs a cycle by looking at its gears and suspension and I was bowled over. I felt like I will die of happiness for seeing such an amazing heroine. Plus she has this amazing group of real chill babes as friends and they are amazing too. Her mom is full of sass and is another super cute lady who is secretly dating. This drama gave me so many happy butterflies. The male lead is the same dude who acted in love and leashes and let me be your knight and he is super super super amazing. I love his acting range. In all the three shows I watched - love and leashes, this one and let me be your knight, his personality has been totally different in all the three. I wish he got a lot more recognition. His colleague at work is a bodybuilder dad who is a sweetie with three cute kids. Oh my god this drama. This would probably get 20 points for me if it was possible to rate it such.

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Modern Technology - A Blessing in Disguise? More than just a Rom-Com.

Completed: 10/9/2022

What a pleasant surprise when you started watching a drama without any expectation. I came across this drama because I needed a title that features a walkman/pager for my MDL Challenge 2022. I have never heard of “Please Don’t Date Him” before but the synopsis seems interesting enough and it’s only 10 episodes long. So I gave it a try and I am so glad I did.

At first glance, “Please Don’t Date Him” seems like a typical rom-com. But the drama is a lot deeper than that. A computer chip belonging to the National Intelligence Service was accidentally inserted into the AI-capable refrigerator that FL is developing. She also seems to be the only person who can activate the special abilities of this chip and access the personal information of others. Actually, I still don’t know why she’s the chosen one who can activate Jango.

When the world of data is at the fingertips of our FL’s hands, what would she do with all this confidential personal information? Is using such information really helping others, or is it ‘violence’ towards the victims? How accurate is information on the internet? How do we interpret this information? This drama delves into ethics and pros and cons of modern technology. Technology provides us with lots of data, but decisions are still made by the individuals.

The romance is slow-burn and sweet. The couple was more fun before they got together (which is usually the case with modern dramas these days). We can see their contrasting personalities, upbringing and philosophy of modern technology. It's a good reminder of the pros and cons of modern technology. We have an episode of fluffiness but then drama hits and our main couple starts to face challenges in their relationship. The chemistry is pretty good, not sizzling, but good enough for me to be invested. It doesn’t hurt that our female lead is pretty and smart (Yay for girls in STEM), and our male lead is tall and handsome (topless six-pack alert!).

The other two romance storylines have a decent amount of screen time, but don’t take away from the main romance and plot. Both of these romances are quite interesting and unique in their own ways. I find the sismance between the three friends to be fun and believable. Each of the ladies has very distinct personalities and they complement each other well.

There are many comedic moments throughout the drama e.g. karaoke at the bridal shower was very unexpected. The cast is small and luckily I don’t find anyone annoying, even the ex-boyfriend. This drama is very binge-worthy. I finished all 10 episodes in one sitting on a Saturday. The pace is fast with so many things happening in this drama. Some might find certain plots underdeveloped due to the drama’s length, or that things are happening too fast.

My main criticism of this drama is in the last episode. I did not see the twist coming and it seems to have come from nowhere. That particular side plot is underdeveloped.
Everything that happened inside FL’s apartment was quite unrealistic. No scissors in the house or kitchen? I thought the story would lean towards the NIS involvement and undercover work.

However, this is a really fun and easy watch for me. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but due to my unexpected personal enjoyment, I am giving this an 8.5 (it might seem overly generous compared to my recent reviews of other bigger budget and more well-know productions).


Other Random Observations:
1. Those organic drinks look really nasty and unappetizing. They do have very weird and creative ingredients.
2. Not all the firefighters are good-looking, but they all have hot bodies! We need more topless firefighters in photo shoots.
3. I did not recognize Lee Jun Young (ML) as the same actor in “Love and Leashes”. Well, he has a very nice (but too thin) body and a cute face here. He also has a lovely singing voice.
4. What is so special about the walkman and the song?

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Not bad but quite slow

The idea was interesting but it started a bit slow and I am not sure if they managed to develop it fully. There were too many ladies and it seemed a bit too much at the beginning - their conversations were not very engaging. It was dragging on for a while. There was too much introduction to the problems they were facing, too much about the losers they were dating..
The leading lady role was good - she was clever and had a logical reaction to what was happening, she was also kind enough. As a bonus the actress had a nice voice, which seemed good if you are trying to understand the Korean.

The leading man role was not very impressive. He seemed a bit too weak and traumatized. He is not very good at coming thru when needed. The guy playing the role was good looking but I do not feel like I emphasize enough with the man.

Overall not bad but quite slow and you lose interest at times. It does not seem like a cheap series and the ending song was good.

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