ltspada
This review may contain spoilers
Solid slice of life, interesting serial killer angel, cute romances but the chemistry was a bit off
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean comedy romance drama with 16, 70 Minute Episodes.
First I provide a synopsis then a review.
Synopsis
Nam Haeng-seon's (Jeon Do-yeon) has been all about supporting the niece her sister abandoned and her autistic brother. After giving up a spot on the national handball team to raise her niece and take care of her disabled brother, she carries on with the recipes her deceased mother used and runs a banchan shop that became a favorite of food bloggers. Money is tight as a single wage earner and the last thing she needs is to deal with an eccentric spoiled celebrity who breaks her autistic brother's phone following an misunderstanding. Or so she thinks. Choi Chi-yeol (Jung Kyung-ho) works at an elite academy where people line up quite literally to get their child a prized spot in one of his tutor classes. The two are destined to interact though as Haeng-seon's niece requests a slot in Chi-yeol's sessions so she can bring up her scores and Chi-yeol finds that, for some reason, Haeng-seon's food is the only food that does not trigger his eating disorder. It provides a slice of life of South Korea's competitive educational system which provides a backdrop for an unlikely romance.
Review
Overall a very light hearted romantic comedy with a slice of life into the competitive world of academics. I found that view on how much power and influence wealthy parents can have interesting and not all that different than what you might see with ivy league colleges in the United States. I recommend it for anyone that likes straight forward romances, slice of life and family dynamics.
Spoilers
The male and female lead had a 10 year age gap in the actual ages of the actors with the Jeon Do-Yeon being 10 years older than Jung Kung-ho. Do yeon is a beautiful and elegant lady but she looks her age. Kung-ho has a young face that looked even younger than his age and made the gap seem even larger. Both did an amazing job acting but the physical appearance of the age gap really disrupted the chemistry in my opinion. It was more sweet than passionate.
It was a little disappointing that the issue with Chi-yeol's assistant Ji-Dong Hee (Shin Jae-ha) ended with suicide. It felt like too little for everything he had done.
The chemistry between Haeng-seong's best friend, Kim Yong-joo (Lee Bong-ryun) and her brother, Nam Jae-woo (Oh Eui-shick) was also off. With the brother's autism it would have taken a slow build over the series with them slowly showing feelings for each other. Her abruptly expressing interest in him seemed like she was doing it only out of loneliness and his reciprocation wound up feeling like pity. There was no "ah finally" when they became a couple because it really wasn't that much of the series where she expressed interest in him, he initially rejected her, then they were together.
As a fan of the reality dating show "Heart Signal" I was fan girling when Bae Yoon-kyung had a role as Chi-yeol's blind date and 2nd romantic interest. I am excited her acting career has taken off and I thought she did a great job in this show.
I loved the relationship between the daughter/nice, Nam Hae-Yi (Roh Yoon-seo) and her aunt/mother Nan Haeng-seon (Jeon Do-yeon). If you love and raise a child biology does not matter. And, an aunt, because of dominant and recessive genes can be more closely genetically related to their niece or nephew than the mother anyway.
I loved the relationship between the daughter/niece, Nam Hae-Yi (Roh Yoon-seo) and her aunt/mother Nan Haeng-seon (Jeon Do-yeon). If you love and raise a child biology does not matter. And, an aunt, because of dominant and recessive genes can be more closely genetically related to their niece or nephew than the mother anyway. did I not want to see Hae-Yi try to fix him or feel like she owed anyone that, I felt like he wasn't there for her during some really key times when he withdrew and basically ghosted her. That is why I was more a fan of her dating the ice hockey player and fellow student Seo Geon-hu (Lee Min-jae) because he was more straight forward with his feelings, always there for her, and I thought he would have been very good for the often too serious and underconfident Hae-yi. Instead he wound up with selfish and spoiled and almost mean girl Bang Soo-ah (Kang Na-eon) who he claimed was nice but, aside from one time when she welcomed back Hae-yi when she returned from the hospital and gave her notes, never showed a kind side. I thought the ice hockey playing, lovable and handsome Geon-hu deserved better.
The friendship between Geon-hu and Seon-jae was cute as it developed out of their rivalry over Hae-ri. I felt like Geon-hu gave up Hae-ri as he could tell her hear was with Seon-jae but also he started to like Seon-jae as a friend and was willing to give up the girl for the friendship. Still I wish he hadn't settled for a character I did not find likeable. Hae-ri's loyal girl friend Jang Dan Ji (Ryu Da-In) would have been a better choice as she was consistently nice and loyal and he did seem to have a flirty friendship going on with her before he suddenly switched to Soo-ah.
#CrashCourseInRomance
#JeonDoYeon
#JungKyungHo
#RohYoonSeo
#LeeChaeMin
#ShinJaeHa
#OhEuiShick
#LeeMinJae
First I provide a synopsis then a review.
Synopsis
Nam Haeng-seon's (Jeon Do-yeon) has been all about supporting the niece her sister abandoned and her autistic brother. After giving up a spot on the national handball team to raise her niece and take care of her disabled brother, she carries on with the recipes her deceased mother used and runs a banchan shop that became a favorite of food bloggers. Money is tight as a single wage earner and the last thing she needs is to deal with an eccentric spoiled celebrity who breaks her autistic brother's phone following an misunderstanding. Or so she thinks. Choi Chi-yeol (Jung Kyung-ho) works at an elite academy where people line up quite literally to get their child a prized spot in one of his tutor classes. The two are destined to interact though as Haeng-seon's niece requests a slot in Chi-yeol's sessions so she can bring up her scores and Chi-yeol finds that, for some reason, Haeng-seon's food is the only food that does not trigger his eating disorder. It provides a slice of life of South Korea's competitive educational system which provides a backdrop for an unlikely romance.
Review
Overall a very light hearted romantic comedy with a slice of life into the competitive world of academics. I found that view on how much power and influence wealthy parents can have interesting and not all that different than what you might see with ivy league colleges in the United States. I recommend it for anyone that likes straight forward romances, slice of life and family dynamics.
Spoilers
The male and female lead had a 10 year age gap in the actual ages of the actors with the Jeon Do-Yeon being 10 years older than Jung Kung-ho. Do yeon is a beautiful and elegant lady but she looks her age. Kung-ho has a young face that looked even younger than his age and made the gap seem even larger. Both did an amazing job acting but the physical appearance of the age gap really disrupted the chemistry in my opinion. It was more sweet than passionate.
It was a little disappointing that the issue with Chi-yeol's assistant Ji-Dong Hee (Shin Jae-ha) ended with suicide. It felt like too little for everything he had done.
The chemistry between Haeng-seong's best friend, Kim Yong-joo (Lee Bong-ryun) and her brother, Nam Jae-woo (Oh Eui-shick) was also off. With the brother's autism it would have taken a slow build over the series with them slowly showing feelings for each other. Her abruptly expressing interest in him seemed like she was doing it only out of loneliness and his reciprocation wound up feeling like pity. There was no "ah finally" when they became a couple because it really wasn't that much of the series where she expressed interest in him, he initially rejected her, then they were together.
As a fan of the reality dating show "Heart Signal" I was fan girling when Bae Yoon-kyung had a role as Chi-yeol's blind date and 2nd romantic interest. I am excited her acting career has taken off and I thought she did a great job in this show.
I loved the relationship between the daughter/nice, Nam Hae-Yi (Roh Yoon-seo) and her aunt/mother Nan Haeng-seon (Jeon Do-yeon). If you love and raise a child biology does not matter. And, an aunt, because of dominant and recessive genes can be more closely genetically related to their niece or nephew than the mother anyway.
I loved the relationship between the daughter/niece, Nam Hae-Yi (Roh Yoon-seo) and her aunt/mother Nan Haeng-seon (Jeon Do-yeon). If you love and raise a child biology does not matter. And, an aunt, because of dominant and recessive genes can be more closely genetically related to their niece or nephew than the mother anyway. did I not want to see Hae-Yi try to fix him or feel like she owed anyone that, I felt like he wasn't there for her during some really key times when he withdrew and basically ghosted her. That is why I was more a fan of her dating the ice hockey player and fellow student Seo Geon-hu (Lee Min-jae) because he was more straight forward with his feelings, always there for her, and I thought he would have been very good for the often too serious and underconfident Hae-yi. Instead he wound up with selfish and spoiled and almost mean girl Bang Soo-ah (Kang Na-eon) who he claimed was nice but, aside from one time when she welcomed back Hae-yi when she returned from the hospital and gave her notes, never showed a kind side. I thought the ice hockey playing, lovable and handsome Geon-hu deserved better.
The friendship between Geon-hu and Seon-jae was cute as it developed out of their rivalry over Hae-ri. I felt like Geon-hu gave up Hae-ri as he could tell her hear was with Seon-jae but also he started to like Seon-jae as a friend and was willing to give up the girl for the friendship. Still I wish he hadn't settled for a character I did not find likeable. Hae-ri's loyal girl friend Jang Dan Ji (Ryu Da-In) would have been a better choice as she was consistently nice and loyal and he did seem to have a flirty friendship going on with her before he suddenly switched to Soo-ah.
#CrashCourseInRomance
#JeonDoYeon
#JungKyungHo
#RohYoonSeo
#LeeChaeMin
#ShinJaeHa
#OhEuiShick
#LeeMinJae
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