Destined with You (2023)

Don't be quick to judge, just give it a try!

As a Rowoon fan, I'm surprised I left this show in my watchlist for so so long. For some odd reason, I was on a hiatus from k-dramas and just could not pick this show up even though I liked the premise enough to put it in my watchlist. Last night, I randomly decided to give it a shot, and boy I'm glad I did. What a ride! 24 hours later, and I've finished this in it's entirety with very few skips here and there (I'm not a fan of costume/period trope).

Contrary to the majority of the views here, I actually did not find this drama to be unbearable, or the story to not fall into place. I'm still trying to think back to any major plot holes but I don't find many so I'm kinda falling short at understanding many of the reviews here. But to each it's own! Which is why I started this review with not judging until you give the show an honest unbiased try. I was lucky to have come here to read the reviews only post 6 episodes when I just needed a little spoiler on a happy or sad end. I'm not sure if I would've watched it had I seen the reviews earlier.

I like the story and what I like the most is that although it has those fluffy typical kdrama butterfly moments and some amazing chemistry between the leads, it is a refreshing take from your usual over the top sweet rom-coms. while there are other tropes like past life which are also relatively common, it was an easy watch for me personally. The leads have superb chemistry and I think the three: Hong Jo, Shin Hyu and Mr Kwon together gelled so well that it was a very pleasant watch.

I like how the second male lead was not vengeful which I why I absolutely abhor the same old trope of the vicious second female lead (if we can call her that, she was anything but a lead). But she has barely any screen-time so it's still fine. I also find the co-workers at City-Hall to be extremely rude, extra and not needed. Although a lot of redemption comes by towards the end of the show and once Ms Ma comes back, but before that I keep questioning which workplace allows such blatant infringement of privacy? These two women are just always shouting??? Who allows that? That was another aspect that was putting me off a bit.

ONE THING that has PUT ME OFF the most is the lack of respect shown to the second female lead. Even if she's a bad person, she deserved to be told that he's breaking up with her before he goes around telling another woman "he loves her" for whatever reasons those might be. This was done repeatedly, and not just under the spell trope. Even after that, this continued. I do not support such nonsense so it was a big downer which is why this show does not go into my all time fav list. Everything else was on-point for me otherwise as nothing is absolutely perfect.

However, I like how the story progresses. I also like the suspense of it in the beginning though it becomes quite predictable towards the mid of the show. But where it lacks in dramatics, the romanticism makes up for it. Lots of angst and cute moments between the leads to keep you smiling throughout. Even their banter is hilarious. I quite enjoyed it.

Although I liked Shin Hyu's parents as actors and roles, I'm pissed at how easily his mom overlooks the imprudence of the dad. That's where the feminist in me gets triggered but obviously they are not the main focus of the show so maybe something happens off the screen (other than that insufficient scene post drinking where he drunk hugs her and apologises once???) for her to forgive him! I also quite enjoyed the warm friendship between JSH and his lawyer friend and how he actually supported JSH throughout.

All in all, I quite enjoyed the show. I have a long watchlist and this is a little heavy so I'm not sure about a rewatch, but it's definitely worth one watch and I would recommend this show to people. In the end, I would just advice you to push through 2-3 episodes before deciding if this is your cup of tea or not. For me, it became better as it progressed. Cheers!

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Supernatural clickbait. Consent has left the room with this problematic kdrama.

Consent seems to be a concept that is giving issues for some kdramas. This is the case for Destined with You.

The series promotes a supernatural themed experience replete with Joseon flashbacks. It starts strong with a visceral curse of a bloody, red hand haunting the male protag and also a haunted shrine to start the ball rolling on events. A couple of episodes later, however, that enticing premise is nowhere to be found.

Lee Hong Jo's character is unlikeable and unrelatable. She is insecure at work because she is not invited to the collegial team luncheons. There are suggestions that she is bullied as well. At first, I thought she might be a low ranking public servant. The synopsis itself says she is a "low grade public servant" however, at one stage we discover that she is in fact an assistant manager, ie the second in charge. At that point, all sympathies for her work problems evaporate. If she's skilled enough to get to that point she should be skilled enough to handle the politics.

Furthermore, we discover that she stole Na Yeon's bf in high school. For some reason Na Yeon chooses to apologise to her for the incident and Hong Jo has the gall to refuse to forgive her. This was quite early on in the series already and had cemented my dislike for this character. But I decided to keep on with the show by switching focus onto the male protag instead. That, unfortunately, also sank like another cement block in the river.

The premise of this show is that LHJ decides to cast a love spell on a crush at work. This distastefully amoral deed, which smacks of psychopathy, backfires and instead (and quite predictably) Shin Yu gets lumped with the spell on top of his curse. I dropped the series at the start of episode 5 when it was revealed that there was no way to break the spell. Shin Yu is stuck with having to feel feelings that he does not have for a woman he had no inkling of having those types of feelings for in the first place. This show became as romantic as watching a guy try to woo a woman he roofied. It's not cool for it to happen to a woman. It's not cool for it to happen to a man too and it was tragically sad watching Shin Yu struggle against being physically gravitated towards Hong Jo and saying things he doesn't want to towards her while the vacuous, insensitive Hong Jo just keeps asking, "why are you here? Why are you staring at me like that? Why did you say that?" etc when he has said, time and again already, exactly why he was behaving like that and has literally begged her to help break this spell just as multiple times.

For the fact that it also became obvious the supernatural themes were just used as clickbait and there's no substance to the characters or the story, it was not worth even a first watch.

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um what the h*ll. So many things wrong here. It felt like 5 stories smooshed together. At the beginning, the ML has this haunting thing going on with the red hand grabbing him, which goes away after like 2 episodes? I assume that represents the symptoms of his illness?

And his chronic/terminal illness seemingly goes away for 5+ episodes after they do the spell, which by the way those don't actually work!

Then the random stalking plot. Why did it change from this supernatural creepy story to a weird love story where they fall in love and things become so ordinary? I am just in disbelief of how poorly the story was executed. I only got halfway through but it changed so much - the story was devolving - to the point that I can't even imagine what happens next.

Okay NO when she makes the first spell, the love spell, and puts the potion in her tumbler, puts most of it in the glass for her coworker to drink.... okay. Then, her boss takes her tumbler off her desk and drinks the water in it, then keeps it? what? In that scene she CLEARLY holds it upside down and shakes it to show that there is NO love potion left. Yet, a few episodes later, she brings it to a work thing in the forest and the creepy gardener drinks some? Hello, what? Why would there A. be any potion left after we SAW IT EMPTY and B. why would she bring that with her days later? Like girl what?! Am I misremembering this or something? The more I type the worse I remember it being.

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Inaspettato

Dopo aver terminato Lovely Runner che ho amato e mi ha lasciato un vuoto grande, avevo bisogno di una storia leggera ma altrettanto fatta bene. Senza troppe aspettative ho iniziato “per amore e per destino” e me ne sono innamorata. È stato davvero un kdrama inaspettato che non pensavo di divorare nel giro di 3 giorni. Ho amato la sintonia dei 2 protagonisti che hanno reso la storia sicuramente ancora più coinvolgente, davvero bravi!! Ci tengo a fare una bella recensione, perché non mi sembra se ne sia parlato e se ne parli abbastanza. Contenta di aver scelto questo kdrama per caso, lo consiglio!!

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One of the TOP dramas

I love it, i love it, i loove it! --- This reaction i send to my best friend when i finished this drama.

Great actors, amazing story what i did not see before.

Drama is super funny, cute, scary and everything what i needed.

And also pretty hot (actors and some scenes).

I did not know what will happend next, (only like 2 times and in normal k- dramas you know half story from beggining)

Only like 2 things did not make sence for me, but that was the scene that we all hate, when you shout : do not do this or do not go there :D so nothing bad.

I finished it in 1,5 day, becouse i could not take my eyes from that.

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Impressionable With Mystique & Intrigue

The latest entrant on JTBC’s mid-week block, Destined With You, has a lot to offer. With a stellar casting that includes big names like Jo Bo Ah, Rowoon, Ha Joon, Yura; the drama premiered to high ratings on Netflix. I have been closely keep a tab on JTBC’s official accounts, since the day this drama was announced. It has got nothing to do with my thirst for fantasy dramas, and everything to do with the fact that this show has both of my favorite stars. I’m a huge, huge fan of Jo Bo Ah and she is nothing short of adorable here. Following close on her heels is our handsome hunk, Rowoon, whose character has streaks of mystique and intrigue. The first two episodes do a decent job of setting the storyline, which is gripping and exciting. There is a lot happening in the pilot episodes; shamanism plays a pivotal role in this fantasy and the show is as riveting as the trailer that promises a love story that spans over 300 years.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2023/08/26/destined-with-you-first-impressions/#more-91

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What is this??

Why this trash has a high rate?..
Just bc he is handsome? Or she is beauty?
From the beginning it has a bad plot, fvkin storyline
it says comedy romance drama.. but what?? Fishing a catfish? Is it funny?
And a youtuber come to looking for ghost's and or scary place, n what happened???
Their act is like a robot.. or a villager on the camera..
Tf with ppl giving 10/10 , im not haters but wasting my time watching this shitty trash
No value at all oh my gosh
Bla bla yeah .. id rather watching 2 monkey in drama but has a high value storyline, background,music and act
Better than just because he is handsome

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Watch it or Not ?

Opening Shot: A thunderstorm rages over a mountain. A small, dilapidated building has “Police Line: Do Not Cross” tape stretching around it. Inside a woman’s body is lying motionless.

The Gist: It’s not a dead body we see in the first shot of the series but the very much alive body of Lee Hong Jo (played by Cho Bo-Ah). Hong Jo is a low level civil servant for the city of Onju’s Green Space Division where she responds to the worst complaints the citizens have: she cleans dead fish out of the local ponds, she tries to calm angry residents with noise complaints. While responding to a noise complaint about a construction site working all night, she tries to calm the tension between the workers and their angry neighbors, when one of the men in the construction crew throws himself off the fourth floor and dies.

Six months later, we see a trial playing out and a young lawyer named Jang Sin Yu, played by K-Pop star Rowoon, is defending the construction company in a negligence lawsuit brought by the dead man’s wife. Sin Yu proves he’s clever and cunning, revealing in court that the dead man and his wife planned for him to get injured on the job to collect insurance, and things went awry during his fall. He and the rest of his legal team are ruthless, but his lack of emotion and empathy aren’t his worst trait: He’s plagued by a mysterious curse that manifests in different ways. He has body tremors. When he’s alone, a bloody red hand envelopes his face. It’s not really clear if this curse if truly evil or what, but it obviously haunts Sin Yu every day of his life.

So what brings these two very different people living in very different worlds together?

After a young man who was hiking dies at the site of a mysterious and reportedly haunted temple, Hong Jo goes to investigate the scene of his accident. While she’s there, she gets spooked when she thinks a statue is speaking to her, and she slips and falls, getting knocked out. Sin Yu also happened to be there checking in on it, as his wealthy family owns the shrine and the land it was built on. Eventually, the shrine has to be demolished, but while it’s being torn down, Sin Yu unearths a wooden box buried beneath it. A shaman, a woman who used to live in the temple on the land and obviously knows something about Sin Yu’s curse, tells him that his suffering will end now that he has met the owner of the wooden box. And guess who THAT is…

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Dropping because its too predictable from watching just one episode

1st episode and this man already has a girlfriend, whom he did not treat well but he has ONE,
but since jo bo ah is FL so he will end up with her means, it will be cheating in relationship (not Marriage) but still cheating
then 2nd point here is he is also a murder and inhuman unkind
Only thing good about him is his height and looks, height is here unmatched with FL because Jo bo Ah is not that tall and looking how good a relationship will be only based on his good looks, in dramas it work but in reality after few months even Woo Bin and Hyun bin start looking normal to there wife's not some GODLY figures

Jo bo ah is having crash on SML and she might first seduce him then reject him for ML so this drama is not in mood to give you Second lead couple
i give 2/10 to story because there is nothing in it Cursed Box Girl love Cheating breakup and happy ending for Selected people called ML & FL
Raa won acting look artificial and fake, no genuine emotions Showen, being arrogant indifferent type of person is very easy to portray you do not need to much emotion there
this drama may try to follow what's wrong with, business proposal. King the land
Same bullshit sing Along
overall it needed 1/10 because some fake account start giving 10/10 without even watching

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apenas não

Coloquei tanta expectativa nessa serie, de tanto que o povo falava que era boa eu tava louca pra ver, mas me arrependi dmsss

Pra min essa serie foi sem pé nem cabeça, muito confusa com esse negocio de maldição, todos os personagens são insuportáveis, a unica que salva é a mãe do Shin yu que mesmo assim perdoou o marido otario dela ainda terminou gravida, esse triangulo amoroso entre os principais e o outro cara la foi horrivel, a menina não se decidia com quem ficar, a protagonista sonsa demais, depois daquelas colegas de trabalho dela humilhar e desfazer dela a sonsa ainda assim no final vira amiga delas

Qualquer cena do casal me dava dor física, as cenas de vida passada não me descia também muito chatas

Eu achei tão horrivel que sinceramente tive mais odio dos personagens principais do que dos vilões, roteiro de merda esse viu, maior decepção, dei tudo pra esse dorama, potencial jogado totalmente no lixo

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