Jinxed at First (2022)

I don't get the hate.

I really don't get the hate for this drama. It wasn't the worst thing I watched, but it wasn't the best thing I watched. The plot is a little cheesy, but to the people bashing Seohyun for her acting abilities or Suelbi's characters, you have to realize that she was literally locked up for 20 years +. She's not supposed to be fucking mature. She is a kid who does kiddy things. She matures throughout the series and starts to realize the real world is tougher than it looks. I don't understand blaming Sookwang either. He never wanted a romantic relationship and didn't take advantage of her. Very "pedophilic" right? He just gave her home because he was a genuine person. If anybody should be blamed here, it is the chairman and everyone surrounding him. He later redeems himself, but this wouldn't have happened without his greed. It was also weird that Minju kept advancing onto her when he barely even knew her. At least with Sookwang, she spent time with each other. It's really not that deep.

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Worst show I've watched in a long time

I think I'm fully qualified to write this review because so many times I wanted to give up but I soldiered on to the very end just to see exactly HOW bad it was going to be. Like many reviewers, I was about to give up around episode 6 but I watched it because I have waaay too much time on my hands, haha.

I really wanted to like this show because I really like Seohyun. She is a very versatile actress and I've watched most of her previous dramas. Na In Woo is relatively new but I could give him a chance. And Ki Do Hoon, what's not to like with eye candy. The premise too sounded interesting.

However, right from the get go, the drama was flawed with over acting with overly simplistic black and white characters. It was like watching a 2D cartoon with live action characters. In fact, I've seen 2D cartoons with better stories and acting than this.

The ending was the worst of all. It was totally unrealistic and seemed to diminish EVERYTHING the couple had gone through, and negate their growth over the past 16 episodes. What then was the whole point of wasting 16 hours of my life that I will never get back? The ReWatch rating forced me to give a rating, and so I did. However, if I could, I would have given it a big fat 0 or even negative.

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Don't waste your time!

Maybe the worst drama I 've ever watched! I totally agree with the viewers that thumbed down that series before me.
-Story: Although it felt promising with a hint of Little Mermaid in it, it didn't go well from the half of the second episode. The characters were having an irrational behaviour, where the father begun as a villain and ended up as a pathetic criminal that was not punished. The FL had the silliest behaviour ever, as if she was suffering of mental dysfunction. The ML was saved by his charms as he put all the weight of his acting there since the script was not helping him at all. So many inconsistences in the story, that made it ridiculous.
-Music: was there any? The songs were annoying, the music was indifferent, overall it was as if it did not existed at all.
Bottom line: Don't waste your time with that. Watch something else.

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PROMISING FROM THE START BUT A FAILURE TO THE END. MESSY PLOT EXECUTION BUT THE LINES ARE QUOTABLE

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Honestly, I waited for this since last year, August because of Kwang Ryul. It has a promising start but the second half aroused a mysterious but a downhill ride. I get it that it has a mystery genre and I really tried to watch the second half, hoping that they will answer the few questions that I have but they failed to do it. The plot is interesting but the way they executed it is VERY MESSY and it annoyed me so much because I've waited for this for almost a YEAR. I looked forward for it because it is a fantasy rom-com and I did not expect to stuck here because of my fave and skipped a lot of scenes (including his scenes, the unnecessary business ones). The second part is depressing, frustrating, heavier and making me anxious every single time (there are still some wholesome eps but it is just 11,14,16) and I almost drop this because the plot went nowhere already it just made viewers go round and round and I got bored already because they are dragging the secrets and mysteries in further episodes. These are the questions that I have so far and I tried to think of it, critically yet I got no answers.

- Why did Misoo tell Seulbi that she can't change the future? From what I have seen from the previous episodes, they changed the future of the people they touch. And come on, she can just say to Sookwang, ''Please wear a bulletproof vest so you will not get shot by Dongsik'' and PARAH! No one will die or will be injured.

- The curse is transferred from generation to generation but it skipped Samjoong😕 so instead Minjoon is fated to have that curse from his grandfather? It doesn't make sense, seriously because they did not explain it very clearly. Very disappointing.

- Why the heck Misoo just told Samjoong about that 20 years secret? I mean, what's on her mind? The script also did not show any reasons why Misoo did that!!! So annoying.

- They were imprisoned for 20 years yet Misoo and Seulbi still defended Samjoong for his crimes, is that because he is the father? The writer is so illogical at this part.

- The production team is illogical too given that Geumhwa can afford electricity but the place is always dark and unlively. I know it is for some purpose (a dark aura, I guess) but still, I can't understand this to some aspects. The scene is boring because of this kind of set-up.

- Why Misoo is willing to lock up with her daughter? Just because she killed her mother? I hope she just let Seulbi lived outside world since her younger years since the Chairman is her father. This doesn't make sense too.

- The screentime for the main leads already lessen too much for the second half and it looks like the main narrative for the main couple is they have to solve the mysteries of the powers and curses, and solve the chaos left by the Seon Family. I feel pity for these characters. Writer should have done better for them because THEY ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND MAIN COUPLE.

- The Geumhwa secretary also admitted his faults and protected the chairman until the end. Lol. These people around the chairman sacrificed a lot for him. He must pay for his sins too. Being a father to the FL must not be an excuse.

- Seulbi is too good to be true. She forgave easily the Geumhwa Seon family because it is her real family? Nonsense.

- I was confused about what extent these witches of prophecy can see the future. As far as I remember, Misoo said (from one ep) that they can only see short future but Misoo saw young Sookwang's future 20 years later😂. There's really an inconsistency.

- the relationship between the FL parents is so inconsistent too. They apparently have love-hate relationship because of each one's misjudgment. They also changed 360° suddenly after knowing FL's father. That's so weird. That's a mispoint, too.

I just loved their monologue lines here because I'm kinda relate sometimes and it speak of a reality.

For the music, I don't like it overall. I only like Junsu and Dongyeon's ost. The ending ost sometimes ruin the mood of the viewers. Example, the ending is sad or frustrating and the ending ost will be from Dongyeon's or ''You are my miracle'' ost. The ending ost doesn't fit most of the times .

The editing in transitions became a problem too in the late episodes. I hope the production company pays their editors sufficiently. Lol. The editing premise from beginning is too far to these recent episodes.

I also want to resent the writer and PD for ruining this drama despite its potential. It is not a healing drama anymore but a frustrating drama until the end. The main couple seems has happy ending but if you are planning to watch it, expect that there are some assorted and diverse stories that are really questionable and it is not recommended to REWATCH this. Like, never again lol.

For the casts, the acting is good except KDH. I just gave them 7/10 because KDH aka the 2nd ML pull it down. He is so emotionless and he can't deliver his lines, too. I hope that prod team casted a good actor suitable for Minjoon. I hope he improved a lot. Also, I did not expect that SH can pull out her character, childish Seulbi and also for NIW, he's into a comedic role, too. I felt sorry for the casts for having a bad script and miserable directing. Actors/actresses have no control for this. Just want to give an applause to Samjoong (I'm not being biased but many people praising his acting too lol) and Dongsik character by portraying their characters and the way they deliver the lines and emotions lol. Although my fave and some familiar faces are here, it is really not recommendable to watch it (only the first half lol so I gave it a shot of 2)

Also, some of the viewers are appealing if they just followed the webtoon, I think it is more dull if they will just follow the original and it is okay to add twists like what have you watched to the drama but it is annoying that they just executed this out of nowhere and seems there are drastic changes in the middle of scriptwriting. Seems like the director have a touch on it since I watched his previous work, River where the moon rises and some of his similar techniques can be distinguished to these two works.

NIW, SH, I am looking forward to a real romcom project for both of you. You both nailed the roles and I really love the chemistry. For the rest of the great casts, I hope you can find better pd and writer for your next projects. Don't make your acting talent a waste.

PS: Mr. Wang and Pi Dae Shik, love this overprotective and chaotic duo. Will miss them😂

PPS: there's no problem in makjang type of story if they can execute it wisely and smoothly.

Maybe if you want some confusing and dragged plot twists and you are into diverse genre and you are also fan of one of the casts, this is for you but I will not recommend this.

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Promising start failed to carry on

The first few episodes seemed promising. Na In Woo was fun to watch and Seohyun's cute behavior while playing Seul Bi complimented each other. However, soon after its start, the show became stale and boring. The plot felt stuck when Seon Min Joon kept looking for Seul Bi and after finding her, he decided not to forcefully take her back but instead let her live with Soo Kwang (Na In Woo). This storyline kept on going until it became boring. The action picked up in later episodes (I'd say ep 13/14).

I can't even say what exactly the drama was about as its plot seemed to be extremely slow, almost frozen over the middle of the drama. To me, this drama isn't worth it unless you are a fan of someone from the cast.

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Only the first few episodes are worth watching, I'd say till ep 4-5

This drama started off amazingly well, it was really fun, light hearted with an amazing concept and few elements of mystery to. I was very excited, Seohyun is a versatile actress and she nailed all the phases of her character. I love Na In Woo too, he has been growing well over the past few years. But the moment this drama drops its humorous tone and shifts into misery and seriousness, it becomes an epic failure and bored me to death. The ending never got any emotions or expressions out of me and I was waiting for something to happen but it was all too bland. The way the quality graph of this show dropped is appalling because it had a unique plot and an amazing start, there was a lot I was expecting and waiting for and they could have done a lot too. Webtoon based dramas have their content and outline ready already so the least they can do is execute it well or change few parts into something better. I don't know how the webtoon ends or if this drama sticked majorly to the webtoon or not, but it was a huge disappointment after the first 5-6 episodes.

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1) Casting and Acting
The supporting actors--Mom, Chairman, street vendor gang, and loanshark hyung--are the true gems. They contribute the best they can given such minimum significance and poorly written plot. I quite like Jangkyung's actress as well; she has managed to avoid stereotypes of annoying 2nd female lead. Too bad, second couple pairing doesn't have much sparks here. The responsibility falls on Seon Minjoon's actor though. His acting is just too flat; you won't know what he's feeling toward anyone unless he spits it out.

Regarding the leads. I was startled when the drama revealed Seolbi's age. While I can't find fault on Seohyun's acting, she definitely doesn't look in early 20s. Don't get me wrong, Seohyun is young and pretty af. It's just that she naturally carries mature elegance aura in her face. I think she shines better if she takes roles whose are in mid or late 20s. I can't say much about Na Inwoo. So far he's acceptable, not exceptional. Maybe he still needs more experience to add something unique to his performance.

2) Plots
I'm curious enough about where the main plot is heading so I finished all the episodes. I skip a lot though, like maybe 40 to 50 percent of all scenes. The pers conference scene is awkwardly executed.

3) Characters
The production team strangely is willing to pay some additional actors for nothing. For example, you can take Janggeun (Jangkyung's brother) out of the story and it will not change anything. Same with street vendor gang. There are characters who don't really serve any addition to the plot.

4) Romance
Imo 'fated since birth' is barely necessary; they should spend more screentime on cohabitation arc instead. And I am disappointed with the love triangle--this troupe is too outdated. If only they make Seolbi and Seon Minjoon's relationship more platonic, it will definitely be more enjoyable for me.

5) Music
I don't usually pay attention to OST but I do in this drama because it is Junsu.

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Not Worth the Watch...

"Jinxed At First" started off great but started going downhill after the 6ish episode. The 2nd half was disappointing and all over the place.

Story: The 1st episode is pretty dark but the few episodes after it have romcom feel to it, much like the trailers. Somewhere between episodes 6-8 though, everything changes to a melodramatic mess. Basically secrets come out, people get threatened, and some start going crazy. That basically sums up the plot lol.

Acting/Cast: Nobody's acting was outstanding to me. Many of them were stiff, acting childish, or sulking most of the time. BUT I think the way the characters were written have a part to play in that too. The market people were good though.

Music: The ost "Please Know My Feeling" by Lee Solomon was probably my favorite part of the drama! I always had a rush of serotonin when I heard it hehe. The other osts were good and some had the 2000s kdrama feel to them which may be nice depending on who you are.

Rewatch Value: I don't rewatch in general but this one would be definite NO if I did.

Overall, this show is not worth the watch in my opinion. The beginning is great but it just gets overcomplicated and things start to make no sense. Nothing really stands out as good either (except for the one ost to me). If you're interested in trying it still, I say go in with no expections and don't let the romcom episodes fool you haha.

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Rapunzel, Ursula and the Evil Capitalist House of Cards

What do you get if you cross Rapunzel with The Little Mermaid And Shopping King Luis and throw in a bunchh of annoying characters.... Well I guess this, this is what you get...

The Male Lead has some good sides to him (other than his smile) as he starts out as goodie good, good guy... poor unfortunate guy tries to survive in this world turned cold male lead with a hint of cruelty (just a hint). But after a while he turned in to this softer than soft guy who speaks sooooo slowly an mildly that it triggers my gag reflex. Think Kindergarten teacher meets priest in an afternoon special type of voice and character.

The Female lead is portrayed as childish but in a non annoying way, she is smart just not used to the world and looks at the world with these amazing curious eyes and does not need to be spoken with as if she was a toddler. She is powerful and ambitious, dedicated and so on...

The rest of the cast series in annoyance, and are mostly an unstable bunch who will love you one moment but hate you the next and vice versa. The truly evil characters are more evil than evil... Some evil characters start evil but go good... Other good guys turn out mmeee .... Those who go from good to bad seem to cast a spell on the rest as they are easily forgiven. But I will say that the evil psychopath of this drama is very well casted.

There are a lot of intrigues in this dram stuff happens all the time.... Some is interesting some not... most of my interest was taken away by the seemingly comic relief characters that just kept annoying me and the romance just felt wrong. Well filmed and fluffy with a guy who does actually seem to be kind and grasp most of the basics behind consent but it still felt just wrong.

Nothing I would recommend but it was fine for me though I will admit I ff some parts....

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Grown Woman Acting Childish

Major spoilers ahead:

So the gist of it is that the FL and her mother have been locked away in a section of a hotel room by a Chairman. Seul Bi and her mother possess powers similar to that of powerful psychics. They're shamans of prophecy. They can see into someone's future by physical touch so Seul Bi and her mother always wear gloves. The Chairman uses them to see into the future so that he can make wise business decisions which he profits from. He basically keeps them locked up as his personal talismans. So in other words, Seul Bi has never been "outside" the real world. She grows up practically as a prisoner in a lovely "home" with her mother. Her only knowledge of the outside world is through books but the only books she gets to read are basically children's books and animals books. They cannot contain any stories regarding law, economy, politics, sociology, or psychology.

It so happens that the Chairman's son, Min Joon, had some friends over while his father was away. Su Gwang was his best friend and by coincidence, Seul Bi sees him through a door. Of course, besides those that know about Seul Bi, Su Gwang is the first man she sees and she immediately thinks of him as her "Prince". (Seriously?!) Seul Bi manages to escape because that "secured" door somehow magically opens. She sneaks out and spends a day with Su Gwang. Later, Su Gwang takes her back "home" to the hotel where he first met her. They are confronted by the angry Chairman who accuses him of kidnapping and he goes on to destroy Su Gwang's life.

Su Gwang survives being murdered for knowing about Seul Bi and assumes a fake identity. Two years later, Seul Bi escapes again and the first person she runs to is Su Gwang and she imposes herself on him.

I really don't know what to make of this show. There's something disturbingly annoying about seeing a woman who has the knowledge of a 10-year-old but the hormones of a 30-year-old. Like, what kind of creep would get together with a woman like that? It's almost pedophilic. Even the people who work around Su Gwang call Seul Bi "slow" and that didn't stop one shop owner who took advantage of her by telling her to buy stuff from his store with a credit card she found. Even when she had told the shop owner it wasn't her card, that still didn't stop him.

It's hard to watch a grown woman acting all "naive" and "immature" but yet pouts and pines after Su Gwang like a teenager. They're trying some twisted "A Little Mermaid" storyline in so far the FL uses a line from the book. Then she falls in love with the first man she saw. We're supposed to believe she's never seen the outside world but yet she manages and fares rather easily. She's supposed to be 21 but looks like a 30-year-old. Her character doesn't look 21 at all. And she's supposed to have the knowledge and persona of a child. We constantly have to see her clapping and acting with like childlike innocence, with wide doe-y eyes. Then we have to see her sulking after Su Gwang, as she openly calls herself his girlfriend or future wife. It's all so repetitive that it's not even charming or cute anymore. Then it's worse when she gets drunk for the first time and kisses the ML. It's like giving a kid alcohol and forcing her/him to drink it. IMO, that is the worse "first kiss" trope. Where the girl is drunk and she kisses the sober guy. Kdramas gotta stop romanticizing that crap. There's nothing cute or romantic about it. It would be far better if a sober man immediately rejects a drunk woman's advances no matter what she says or does. That's just being a true gentleman. Kdramas just skirt this by having the guy always taken by surprise.

There are other annoying things that I'm not liking about this show. The gangsters are idiots who look like they belong in the 70s, the neighboring shop owners' stories are boring and it seems like everyone is looking for Seul Bi. At one point, they show just how powerful Seul Bi's mother really is, and yet all this time, she didn't escape with her daughter?? Whatevs man. It seems also that the main lead Su Gwang is just oblivious all the time or clueless.

So far the only character I really like is Min Joon, the Chairman's son. At least he always wanted Seul Bi to have her freedom since the beginning. He seems nice so far but I don't know if he'll change. I actually wished they wrote him as the main lead or endgame. So far I'm on Ep 5 and already, I'm constantly pausing it to go do other things and then I come back to continue watching. It's not really holding my interest. I feel like the actors are lacking. It's missing something.

Update:
By the time I finished Ep9, I was losing interest fast. Took about two weeks before I started on Ep10 and I made it only halfway. It's just getting too draggy and uninteresting. There's no consistency with the FL. She's all over the place, one minute she's naive, and another minute she's like, I'm just gonna be a fortune teller and make money. I don't understand why her character would want to do that knowing what she and her mom went through. I also feel like the market ppl are very two-faced to both leads, IMO. The storyline is moving in all different directions and it's not even interesting. Watching the two leads be depressed is boring too. In other words, I'm realizing I don't care for this show, period. I'm dropping it for now and maybe I'll get back to it when I'm really bored and to pass the time. I've changed my rating from a 6.0 (from EP5) to a 4.0 (as of halfway through EP10) but it could change again if I ever finish this series.

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