Becky
North Pole
This review may contain spoilers
It is a Romance drama, with mental health issues as a side dish
I've come full circle on IOTNBO. It was on my PTW prior to release, then got onto CW, then I put it on hold after ep 1.... watched 2 more eps and shifted it to dropped list. Ironically, due to the scandal that Seo Ye Ji is unfortunately pulled into, my curiosity on IOTNBO is reignited and I binged the remaining eps in 2 days. This is the first drama of Seo Ye Ji that I have watched, and I am mighty impressed!! I see why she is nominated for Best Actress now. And honestly, if not for Seo Ye Ji's performance, I might be rating this drama 7. Going to watch her Lawless Lawyer after this. So hey, not all scandals mean bad publicity! IMO, I can't see why she is wrong? It was a private conversation and it is unfair to pass judgement based on a small snippet of a long chat.... but I have digressed.
What I do not like
-- This drama has mental health as its packaging and romance + family at its core. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would really prefer it to have been romance as its packaging and mental health + family at its core.
-- The pretentious beginning. If you have seen IOTNBO, even if you love it, please think over the 1st few eps.... it was really quite pretentious. The over-the-top scenes were just there to bait us into continue watching it. And that beautiful animation in ep 1, they never repeat that again.... The baiting intention was so clear.
-- The 'mystery'. By ep 10, I was guessing that the Head Nurse is the mother, and that patient, Ms Park, is only a pawn that she planted. I am quite disappointed that I had guessed correctly so early.
-- I do not understand why there is so much screaming and raised voices in this drama? Especially for the ML character. He is a normal man who is stressed-out from caring for his brother for the past 20 years, never having much personal time. So it should have been a gradual release of his stress and letting go, but the script had him from quiet and nice guy to screaming at all unexpected changes....
-- They never really explained on Jae Soo, why and how is he so attached to these 2 brothers? JS is not an orphan, so why is he not with his parents and why did his parents allowed him to give up on building a future for himself and just tag along the Moon brothers? Maybe this works in a webtoon but in drama, scriptwriter should have given his character some backstory. JS is like a poor extra character, who is just there.
What I like
-- The 2nd half. The drama dropped its pretentiousness and focused on telling the story (2nd half is much better than 1st half, imo).
-- I love the depiction of the sibling caregiver burden and struggles. This is quite accurately depicted.
-- FL's acting. Especially in ep 14, I took 1.5 hr to finish that ep as I was rewinding and re-watching some scenes. ML did well too, but FL was more outstanding.
-- I like the CP scenes, the chemistry between ML and FL was sizzling!! Although I would have prefer more scenes on the mental health issues in the hospital.
-- The 2nd couple. I like Joo Ri and Sang In's characters, they are well flashed out and the actors have a 'couple look', lol!
What I do not like
-- This drama has mental health as its packaging and romance + family at its core. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I would really prefer it to have been romance as its packaging and mental health + family at its core.
-- The pretentious beginning. If you have seen IOTNBO, even if you love it, please think over the 1st few eps.... it was really quite pretentious. The over-the-top scenes were just there to bait us into continue watching it. And that beautiful animation in ep 1, they never repeat that again.... The baiting intention was so clear.
-- The 'mystery'. By ep 10, I was guessing that the Head Nurse is the mother, and that patient, Ms Park, is only a pawn that she planted. I am quite disappointed that I had guessed correctly so early.
-- I do not understand why there is so much screaming and raised voices in this drama? Especially for the ML character. He is a normal man who is stressed-out from caring for his brother for the past 20 years, never having much personal time. So it should have been a gradual release of his stress and letting go, but the script had him from quiet and nice guy to screaming at all unexpected changes....
-- They never really explained on Jae Soo, why and how is he so attached to these 2 brothers? JS is not an orphan, so why is he not with his parents and why did his parents allowed him to give up on building a future for himself and just tag along the Moon brothers? Maybe this works in a webtoon but in drama, scriptwriter should have given his character some backstory. JS is like a poor extra character, who is just there.
What I like
-- The 2nd half. The drama dropped its pretentiousness and focused on telling the story (2nd half is much better than 1st half, imo).
-- I love the depiction of the sibling caregiver burden and struggles. This is quite accurately depicted.
-- FL's acting. Especially in ep 14, I took 1.5 hr to finish that ep as I was rewinding and re-watching some scenes. ML did well too, but FL was more outstanding.
-- I like the CP scenes, the chemistry between ML and FL was sizzling!! Although I would have prefer more scenes on the mental health issues in the hospital.
-- The 2nd couple. I like Joo Ri and Sang In's characters, they are well flashed out and the actors have a 'couple look', lol!
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