Crash Course in Romance (2023)

Realistic but Comforting

I appreciate the realness of this drama. The romance took a while to develop in my opinion but that’s how real life is sometimes. You take the time to get to know someone, see their faults and learn to accept your own.

A drama filled with understanding differing lifestyles and realizing that all that glitters isn’t gold. And people can fall in love even if they are from different social statuses.

I also appreciate the maturity level. It’s not just child like adults ignoring each other. Misunderstandings are usually cleared up with some sort of good communication.

Also like the attention the writers placed on persons who are autistic.

I think if you’re looking for a slower paced drama/love story with a few of life’s bumps along the way, this one is for you. Overall happy ending.

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Still puzzled how to rate this drama. I feel like it was commissioned for the US market but then handed for execution to korean writer and director who never experienced the western world. Can’t say it’s bad, just hit and miss on so many levels!
I tend to either like and binge a drama or dislike and drop it off from the start. This was neither!

THE STORY and EXECUTION :
The hit:
1. It is a romantic story for grownups, you can’t help but like the idea of two single adults falling in love with some “enemy to lovers” basis and “if only I knew” misunderstanding.
2. Very touching and well portrayed story of non biological parenting!
3. Social issue with the demanding education/carrier success in Korea
The miss:
1. Way too dark and weird thriller/murder sub plot….waaayyy too many dead people for such rom-com.
2. Absolutely unnecessary inclusion of the autistic people. So artificial and so out of the vibe. It screams “we must cover either the autism or the racism in order to stream it in the west”….grosssssssssss…….
3. Random explanations of certain korean customs , obviously made to explain to a non asian people why such strange thing may happen in 2023 lol ?
4. Non of the villains got what they actually deserve! Everything was fixed with a magic wand. If they don’t die miraculously realizing how bad they are, they will magically become saints from now on.
5. Lack of main leads chemistry, the romance was cute but forced to the brim.

THE CAST and ACTING
The hit:
1. All kids were simply perfect! The students’ relationships, love, supposed love triangle and behaviour was spot on!
2. The ML, perfect from start to finish! Including the starved look of the mans body!!! Brilliant!
The miss:
1. FL…period! With my full respect to the actress, she was total miss for this role! I was actually wondering if she is not a last minute replacement. I can write pages how out of the place she was to portray this character. She looks, dresses, acts, speaks and lives like a 45+ ajumma but is playing a 35-ish woman?!?!? I have no issues with age gaps or ones romantic taste , if only they matched her look with her character age….

ATTENTION, Some light spoilers
*I was pushing this drama aside based on the poster and how non appealing the FL was to me, but then decided that she will probably change/evolve as the series progresses. In fact she did, at the very, very end for few short scenes without explanation.
** It is still mystery to me why all evil mothers have to become magically perfect mothers at the end…

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I almost passed on this drama because of reviews that say it was boring, the FL looking too old and homey for the ML, etc. etc. But I gave it a chance, and I was glad that I did. Right of the bat, I must say, that it took some getting used to the style of the drama, particularly not so much as the FL isn't your typical hottie older noona with the unfashionable clothes. But I have to put her wardrobe choice down to its context, and when we see the FL as the unmarried lady, who single-handedly took care of her mentally-challenged brother and her young niece since she was a teen, with very little money to her name, we can see that her lack of fashion sense was befitting. She had no time to be up-to-date with current trends, with so much responsibility in her hands. Kudos to the writer and production team to cast Jeon Do Yeon as Nam Haeng Seon. She was down-to-earth and at the same time quirky.

The rest of the cast were amazing as well, in particular Oh Eui Shik and Roh Yoon Seo as Nam Jae Woo and Nam Hae Yi. The drama carried a hodge-podge of themes: the noona-romance, the bestfriends-turned-lovers trope, a murder mystery, the political machinations behind the private education system, the prejudice towards "lower" social classes, the adverse effects of rumor-mongering, the treatment of those who are mentally-ill.

Some may claim that the FL does not deserve the "princely" ML (because of the disparity in looks and age), but I have to disagree. Choi Chi Yeol was set up since the beginning to be a person who values emotional ties, than superficial ones. He gets teary eyed just from eating the familiar flavors of Haeng Seon's cooking, despite not knowing who the chef is. He rejected the blind date set up for him, even though the woman's qualifications look good on paper and she was easy on the eyes. People bashing on his taste in women is the typical reaction of some fans who took issue with the FL's "unattractiveness."

News Flash: Not every body can look like a model and have a "perfect" personality. I like this drama that is rooted in realism and it is about time that we get more of these type of shows.

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Focuses not only on romance, but family friendship and education

Crash Course in Romance focuses on two major points - romance between a hardworking single aunt/mother and a renowed math professor, education and the ups and downs that every individual goes through the path of education.

The setup was good and initial episodes had good chunk of romance and comedy that we usually see from most of the KDrama, but the last 2 episodes felt rushed and a needless story of a serial killer might have been a painful thing to watch and consume.

The one thing the drama captured very well is the education system. The show captures the sheer desperation and frustration of parents in the form of a group of worrying and conniving mothers, and how they would literally resort to just about anything to ensure their children’s future.

Crash Course in Romance is mostly a fun and sweet watch, despite the contrived killer storyline and hastily done last two episodes that had numerous plot holes. Perhaps watch it for two people being adorable or the reality check on education, or maybe watch it because even if you don’t get mathematics or Korean, it just sounds like poetry when Jung Kyung-ho explains it, hahaha. At the end, a slight bitter feeling remains that the story could have been written better towards the last 2 episodes of the drama.

My Rating : 7.5/10

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Fantastic story with questionable subplots

Dnespite the obvious age difference, I though the FL and ML had great chemistry and hilarious moments with one another. Enemies to lovers is an overused trope for a reason, it’s amazing when it works well. Their reasons for interacting early dispite disliking each other fit perfectly with the tone and plot. Speaking of tone and plot…. I feel very conflicted about how some of the subplots were handled. Withiut spoiling much, let’s just say that people do very bad things without much punishment. The way that certain parents treated their kids was a massive contrast to how the main cast acted. I’m not saying that this portrayal is bad, but I felt someone of the darker subject matter clashed with the tone set very early on. This drama is not afraid to go to some interesting places with its story, I just don’t think it all fit together as well as it could have.

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Pretty decent drama, just by the numbers

I've enjoyed this show. It is well put together and the main leads and side characters are good as well.
You don't see older women with young (ish) couples on TV.
She's like 50 ish and he's like 39 or even younger when this was made.
She's a great actress though. She also has a great action movie as well.
I've had some issues with the show there are only one good mom on this show lol
And that's the lead and she's the aunt lol.
Every parents are horrible because they need only care about themselves even though they know many kids are off themselves because of how hard they have to study. I'm sure it's a Korean culture thing but still horrible.
I never liked any of the parents they are all horrible
There also some serial killer plot and It didn't seem like it was needed and the explanation for why he turned into a psycho didn't make any sense and I didn't care for it.
Also he killed a girl in like episode 2 or 3 and that never got brought up or even reported.
I really couldn't believe they just moved on to the next episode without mentioning it
I don't think the leads had much chemistry though. I really think they needed to spend more time together even though it seemed like they did but still think they needed more time.
But I don't think I'll re watch this or even remember this drama
Didn't come out not really like or hate anyone.

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Cliché troupe with murder mystery ROMCOM

Mar. 13, 2023

WHOA.

Another KDRAMA I have finished this year, Crash Course In Romance is such a cute and sweet Kdrama to watch. The plot is very normative but the casts that play their roles are just too good at their delivery. To be honest, the only weak point that this show had or my very huge critique were that:

First of all, the murder mystery troupe just did not give any flavour or a sense of interest for me. I think it was very stale and bleak in terms of the writing process and just the overall progression. I feel like instead of doing this route, they could have focused more on the youngsters. Since they really made the show more interesting than the murder sub plot.

Second, I feel like that the problematic Moms weren't given proper character development. It was too fast and that there wasn’t really any sense of logic behind it. I definitely have huge irk with the last 4 episodes of the series. Like, especially with the biological Mom being added last minute. WTF was that - my literal reaction.


Aside from these two major things. Nothing else really bothered me. The couples were lovely both in the older generation and the younger generation. I really wish the youngsters had more screen time than the annoying murder arc!!

That's all.

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You don’t have to be young to have love

Started watching with No expectations and ended up gladly surprised.

Basically…. Hard working FL with a healthy, busy family life…. Meets super star teacher ML…. And go from haters to friends, to admiration to love…. Which is how it normally happens in a mature relationship between adults.

Yes… she looks older than what the story portraits… Yes, her clothes style are not of this century…. who cares? She brings life to a lovable character that got me cheering for her success pretty soon.
Now he… well he does a great job going from arrogant-narcissistic-I am better than bread man to super caring-loving-even passionate man….. totally in love and respect for her…

They have issues… get angry… but they talk about it… like normal people should do.
Now… it is also true that the murder plot takes time away from these 2 in romance … and it was solved in a very simple, quickly way…. That could have gone better.

What gets me thinking is the obsession of parents and the education of their children… the pressure to perform is unbelievable at such young age…these kids wake up, go to school, then academy and then online lessons… seriously?… no time to live,.,, no time to be young… no wonder they get depressed and have serious mental issues. And worse… the power of the mothers to drive the school agenda… is ridiculous… but so true… a reflection on the reality of education… not only in Korea, but other countries… sad but true.

Also… social media pressure is the curse of this generation… how superficial opinions can break a hard working person’s reputation without any repercussions will continue to haunt us down in this life time… another sad but true.

The Uncle is hilarious…. Kudos for such a warm loving performance!

I found the story original, funny and got me reflecting on a lot of stuff….
Would I watch again? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

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A wholesome romance set in education with a side of murder mystery

Crash Course in Romance, or its literal title, One-shot Scandal, is a drama I thoroughly enjoyed after a year of not watching kdramas. I really loved the characters and the varied focus it had. I loved seeing the spotlight on the high schoolers as well as their parents, even though in the beginning their parents made me want to tear my hair out by their ridiculousness. Although many people did not like the additional side of a murder mystery, I am always a fan to see it, so I didn't dislike it as much. It was pretty obvious to guess halfway through the series who was the actual killer even though there were red herrings.

I personally loved the actors and their portrayal of their characters. Even though most people were hung up on the casting of Jeon Do Yeon as Nam Haeng Seon, I didn't think it was an extremely big deal since I think she was nailing it regardless of her age. She was fantastic as a mom to Hae Yi, sister to Jae Woo, and friend to Young Joo. She was pretty realistic with her relationship with Chi Yeol, which Jung Kyung Ho nailed by the way as an ego-filled star teacher turn puppy for love. I also loved Shin Jae Ha as Ji Dong Hee. He was a refreshing character, although I have to admit, he was done dirty by the writers at the end. I wish we were able to him face the consequences of his actions. The kids were amazing, and I really loved Hae Yi's whole arc and would wait every week just to see the kids instead of the main romance lol. Although I did hate the moms, I do have to applaud them for doing a great job since we were supposed to.

In terms of romance, it was pretty simple. Starting with a misunderstanding, getting closer, denying the feelings, and obstacles to overcome. The mystery had some plot holes lol. The girl that gets murdered in the first few episodes, we never hear about again, which made me sad even though she was annoying. The kid and teacher who get murdered after get more screen time with the police searching into their deaths. Heck, Hae Yi's abduction wasn't looked into properly, and we never see it resolved on screen. It seems she would have gotten some trauma from that. While I understand that since the main focus is romance and a police procedural, we're not going to see a lot of it, but I wish there was a bit more resolvement of this storyline rather than justing killing off the killer. Up to episode 14, it seems like everything would be wrapped up nicely in a bow, but I was personally thinking how they could cover everything in 2 more episodes, and they didn't because they added extra subplots that weren't necessary. A lot of the side stories with the parents and their parents felt good but lackluster. It seems like the writer wanted a nice bow on everything and redeem everyone, and hey I liked it, but it didn't feel necessary.

Overall I really did like the mother-daughter relationship with Haeng Seon and Hae Yi, especially the flashback scenes, and the high school plot, which overshadowed everything else for me. I would definitely suggest watching this if you are looking for a feel-good family drama, since it felt like it at times, with a splash of mystery and realistic portrayal of the Korean education system.

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Love this so far...

The first thing that reminds me while watching it, was my own school, clg life. I used to hate math in school but there are some really good teachers I found after school.

So, I can relate to the student life that they show in this drama, the strict parents who had high expectations of the kids, and the pressure they feel, Actually, I was avoiding that drama cuz of that BUT it turn out to be the GEM?

The 1st two episodes were a bit slow which normally happened with any other drama. I really love how they projected the eating disorder on the male lead and shows that the man could also suffer from these!

Unlike, "Crazy Love" There main lead actually teaches math... I also like the new love triangle b/w the kids Nam Hey-yi, Soeon-Ji, and Ji Doon-Hee (the athlete)

And Like any other drama they had to make a brilliant Smart Girl, who is a topper, obsessed with her grades make her jealous of the main girl ( Nam Hey-yi)... why? Why do they always make 2nd Females bad/jealous?

Overall, I love this, It is fun to watch it, The main leads became enemies to friends to lovers... I'm excited to watch more!!
Edit: I really love the overall show ending was happy for everyone... which isn't realistic but it is worthy.

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crash course in confusion

so I don't know that I've ever been so conflicted about a drama - the parts that were good- actors, occupations, emotions, feelings, playful love- were SO GOOD.

BUT the parts that were bad- why we gotta go so dark and awful in places to achieve a story line that's been done... less stressfully... made it feel like a grind at times.

I had to force myself to watch at times, had to read the recaps to see if it was worth the push, and did end up finishing it and I'm glad I did... although per usual the fun endings you wanted you didn't get enough time with and the situations you wish would wrap faster took forever.

I do think overall it's a darling show- but missteps along the way!

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