Lovestruck in the City (2020)

One of my favorite K-dramas !

I’m so surprised that this drama doesn’t have an 8+ rating ! It’s pure perfection to me. Maybe some people just didn’t like the non-standard writing format, but I liked it. Ji Chang Wook at his most lovesick moments is priceless. And I loved the portrayal of friendship so much, the simple moments of deep longlasting friendship. Some very very funny moments too, like the scene in the police station where one of the female leads is semi-passed out on a bench in the station, but responds in a drunken stupor to hearing Ji Chang Wook talking about how pretty his love-interest is, assuming someone must be talking about her. First drama I’ve ever watched with this FL. She is such a great actress.

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If you're an adult you might have met these people (or be one of them yourself)

I loved Lovestruck in the city! I love that the people in it, feel like people: they're flawed, stupid, insecure, lonely... It's so refreshing to see a kdrama where the couples look like couples who are in love and comfortable with each other: they hug, kiss, laugh, play, have sex... No dead-fish kisses here, if a couple wants to kiss, just like that and I find that more romantic than the typical slow-mo where I end up wondering if the FL is consenting.

The show explores love from different perspectives and how people react to different things, even though it uses the main couple as a way to lead the story. The characters are fleshed out and, even if you don't agree with their reactions, you end up understanding where they are coming from. All the couples have great chemistry and the friendships look great too.

In a way, it's everything I expected Run On to be based on the reviews I read before watching it (my fault for expecting something it wasn't). I know the fake documentary doesn't work for some people, but I love that it gives an excuse for the characters to talk out loud about themselves and to interact with each other unknowingly.

The acting, direction, photography, OST... is absolutely fantastic. I have no words about how beautifully this is filmed and how well everything works.

Also, the PPL is one of the funniest I've seen.

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Lovestruck in the City is a romance about the dating lives of young people including a passionate architect (Ji Chang Wook) who meets a freelance marketer (Kim Ji Won) posing as a free spirit in a new city.
Ji Chang Wook plays Park Jae Won. He is an architect who takes a long vacation to the beach to stay in a camper. There he meets a free-spirited woman who captures his heart…and then destroys it.
Kim Ji Won is Lee Eun Oh. She is a freelance marketer who experiences some difficulties in life and decides to reinvent herself in a new city as a free-spirited woman. She falls for Park Jae Won, but he falls in love with her fake identity which creates a big problem for her.
We then have our other couples which consist of Kyung Joon (Kim Min Suk) and Rin Yi (So Ju Yeon) as well as Gun (Ryu Kyung Soo) and Sun Young (Han Ji Eun).

Lovestruck in the City was a bit of mixed bag for me. It had some elements that I really loved and some that I didn’t care for it. Let’s jump into the positives first. I really loved the main love story between Jae Won and Eun Oh.
Ji Chang Wook is made for roles like this where he gets to be adorably awkward, and Kim Ji Won was great at showing two sides of her character as well as the pain she was experiencing.

Their story was told in flashbacks as well as in the present. I was completely drawn in to their whirlwind romance on the beach in the past. They had great chemistry and were very engaging. We don’t get to see much of them together in the present until a good way through the drama, but their individual journeys were nice to see. Things then get very interesting when they reunite. So all in all, I really enjoyed their romance and was completely engaged in that part of the drama.

I had one big problem with the main romance too. Eun Oh’s story was a fascinating one for sure, and I did like seeing her character growth from start to finish as she finally came out of her shell and found herself, but she really was terrible to Jae Won. It was understandable how she acted when they first got together at the beach and unexpectedly fell in love.
Her actions in the present were awful though. The hoops she jumps through to keep her secret are next level. And then when she is discovered, she won’t even explain anything to Jae Won. Not just once either, but for quite a while. The drama did do good at diving in to why she acted the way she did, but there just really isn’t an excuse for the complete shut out of information from her.

Overall, Lovestruck in the City was a quick and easy watch with 17 half hour episodes, though it could have definitely told its story in less time. I didn’t love the format, but I thoroughly enjoyed the main romance that provided swoony moments as well as some nice character exploration. It was a decent watch.

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lovestruck in the city is not for everyone

This drama is not for everyone you will either like it or dislike it, there is a bit of room in between but most people have strong opinions. The drama is one where you would require a lot patience to watch/continue watching.

I'm not going to lie when I watched the first two episodes I was not interested that I left it on hold for seven months and only decided to pick it back up to get it out of my on-hold list lol. But, the drama is not as bad as people make it out to be, it is just the plot was not that well written and the characters have many flaws. There were many inconsistencies within the plot that could have been addressed better but only made the main characters frustrating to watch. I understand the female leads insecurities but they should have portrayed them differently so that we could actually sympathize with her reasons for not contacting jaewon for a whole year. As for jaewon, it was good they actually addressed his alcoholism, but they made him way too pathetic even without the alcohol. I was not rooting for the twos' reunion to be honest, they lacked basic communication and I really wanted them to get closure then develop themselves separately. This drama could easily have been 12 episodes instead of 17, because there is so much filler, and maybe that would have forced the writing to be better. But if a second season did come out just about the side characters I would probably watch it.

Now yes I gave this drama a pretty high rating despite not liking the writing because I enjoyed the cast, acting, and the music. Maybe I'm way too biased towards ji chang wook but he really carried with his acting, as pathetic as jaewon was I was still rooting for him for some reason. Overall I enjoyed the drama and I will most likely rewatch it because I skipped a lot of the filler episodes and don't remember much other than how good chang wook looked lol.

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The ML is an adorable Teddy Bear.

When you put yourself in the ML shoes, all you can think of is that the guy is a saint and so damn mature. Even after all the things FL put him through, he still loved her and went out of his way to understand where she was coming from.

We get that FL was coming off a lot of hurt and the reasons she chose to escape her life, but at some point she should have told him the truth. She made selfish decision to protect herself from the hurt and allowed the poor guy to go crazy. He was so damn worried about her. While ML is 10/10, I do wish the FL would have put him first and at least told him the truth about her life. So what if they had went there separate ways, at least he wouldn't torture himself like that. Knowing the ML, they might have reconciled sooner.

Now, as a viewer, I completely enjoyed the style of the drama. I also had fun watching how frustrated the guy was and all the things he shared so freely. I honestly wish more people were this brave. I also liked how the FL gradually shared how she felt but she clearly was the more loved by the ML.

The supporting characters were also pretty good and fun to watch.

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Relatable and realistic (kind of)

The acting was pretty much accounted for, having a stellar cast. However, the plot and direction can be a hit or miss depending on the audience watching. Personally, I enjoyed both aspects. The way the entire series was shot was refreshing for a kdrama and it reminded me of more western productions. The interspersed past and present also kept me curious throughout the series. Although the storyline may be frustrating, i think that's a part of the point of the plot. Honestly, Ji Chang Wook and Kim Ji Won's whole plot was frustrating but i think it's supposed to be, especially the way everything was set up. I think it was realistic. I won't discuss it in detail as to not spoil anything. However, as realistic as it may for me, this is entirely subjective as I base from my personal experience. Other people in the audience may not get it or even like their storyline at all, depending on their own experience, personality and how they see relationships. However, I do think that the other couples in the series was as interesting as theirs as well, despite less story building allotted which is one of the things I could say I wished they had done in the series. I wish they could've dived deeper into the story of the others, especially Han Ji Eun and Ryu Kyung Soo's. I think that would balance out the series better rather than just making them seem like side stories to make everything connect in the end.

This was a pretty good watch for me though, overall. It felt more like a movie and I didn't even notice time passing at all especially each episode was only 30-40 min each. If asked if I would recommend this to others, I think I would definitely do so.

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Every adult finding themselves should watch this series

On the surface, this drama was a treat to the senses: beautifully composed shots, an OST that accentuates the emotion of the scenes and gorgeous leads.

It'll take some patience to get through to the first 2 episodes but I thought it was appropriate in helping the viewer piece the connectedness of the characters. It's a complex and mature script without the usual tropes which is both refreshing yet touching.

What is the story about? Love stories which are vessels for exploring self-love and self-worth and how these impact relationships.

Explosive chemistry between Kim Ji Won and Ji Chang Wook and on their own, very nuanced performances. Along with the beautiful script, I felt every gut-wrenching moment of despair of the male lead and the insecurities of the female lead. I also loved both the side stories of the other couples - the standout scenes for me from them were Rin-i & Kyeongjun's break up (mad respect for someone who knows her worth!) and Kang Geon and Sun-Young's closure.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who's been trying to find and love themselves. If you're not on that journey, you might find this bland but oh! what a gem you'd have missed.

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Very good but alas the ending is a different story

* SPOILERS ALERT *

Like I said this drama is pretty amazing… until the last ep. For starters, the cinematography is wonderful, especially the scenes at the beach in the flashbacks (I wish I could live in a environment like that lol). The documentary-like format didn’t bother me too much. It was original and added a little something to a story that would have been maybe a little too plain without it. The only downside was the confusion it made me feel at times. I didn’t really understand how they could communicate with each other : I guess the producer/spoke person each time relayed to the others what one of them said ? I think there was an app or something like that too but yeah it was definitively confusing especially in the first episodes. Also, there was a scene that perplexed me a little in which Jae Won spoke directly to the camera then the focus widens and we see Eun Oh with Jae Won still in the background but there’s no cameraman with him. It was like the crew etc were invisible the whole time lol. But despite these little oddities the format grows on you and you learn to appreciate it.

I was also agreeably surprised when I realized there was a good amount of humor mixed with the more “realistic” vision of life and romance because I thought it would be kinda depressing considering the synopsis but not at all fortunately. I absolutely loved the bond between the 3 childhood friends and their interaction with everyone else. In fact I liked every character in this drama. All 3 “couples” were great together but they weren’t defined entirely by their romantic relationships (but bear in mind that romance is at the center of the drama). All the actors did an fantastic job and their chemistry was off the charts! I don’t want to spoil too much because the journey is what makes it really special. But if you want to watch this, just keep in mind that all of these characters have flaws. Their decisions sometimes doesn’t make sense at all but hey I don’t think that us viewers always choose the most logical decision in our lives. So that’s why I could relate to their problems even if it was a little frustrating to watch. There’s also a little redundancy that sometimes alter the pacing of the story but the cinematography makes up for it. I was just so amazed by the beautiful shots and beautiful actors/actresses that I didn’t really care in the end. The OST is also a big factor in making all of this work, I simply loved all of the songs and they were perfectly chosen.

* BIG BIG SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING *

Now for the final ep… I just didn’t understand. Why was there a sudden focus on the cop and his (childhood ?) best friend turned actress ?? Even tho I liked his character, there was no reason to add a love interest for him in the last ep. Like yeah they were kinda cute but I felt absolutely nothing watching them together. In fact I just wished the focus would shift again to Kyung Joon and Rin I. So many questions are left unanswered between them ! What was the letter written by KJ’s grandpa (or uncle I don’t remember exactly) ?? Why was it important ?? And who was the man who answered when KJ called Rin I ?? Are they really done when it seemed like they were so madly in love with each other ? Why did the writers decide to keep these things a secret when we were even shown how Eun Oh and Jae Won met each other in the past ? I thought for a moment about a possible season 2 but it doesn’t seem likely… That’s why I’m a little frustrated with the ending, it just felt different than the rest. Although I’m of course very happy our main couple is endgame and reassured about the fact that there’s still hope for Gun and Sun Young in the future.

To conclude it was still very good and I will give this drama a 9/10 for ep1-ep16 and a 7/10 for ep17. So for the entire drama maybe an 8,5/10 ? It seems fair because I still enjoyed the ride and the quality (production, music, actors) was overall exceptional. So watch this if you like flawed and realistic characters, amazing chemistry, tales of friendships and overcoming hardships and a very good amount of cute and swoon worthy moments.

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