Ah, first love... Why does it have to hurt so much? Why can't we just forget it and move on with our lives? Why is it so difficult? Love Rain doesn't have the answers, but will definitely make your heart flutter as it attempts to recite a beautiful story about an unfulfilled first love.
Story
The drama throws you in the 70s in the first 4 episodes. I can't tell i was very excited since i know nothing about Korea in the 70s, but it does a splendid work setting up the atmposphere. Episodes 5-20 fast-foward to 2012.
The main concept of the story is how painful first love can be, and i think, i can safely say, we can all relate at least to a certain extent. That feeling of adversity due to not being able to be with the one you love. It targets questions such us, 'should i put myself and my needs above everyone else and think only of me or put them first and look at the bigger picture?' .The show i think, tells us that being selfish to a certain point is acceptable and ok. In the very end, who will think of our happiness if not us first?
The drama centers 2 romances, 2 couples. First couple is the one from the 70s which.. didn't work back then but their love isn't dead, and the 2nd one is a younger couple in 2012. Plot twist? The younger couple is actually the son and daughter of the older one. Best thing about this drama: the romance.
The main story, even though nothing extraordinary, plays a lot with your feelings, it crawls in that grey area of what is wrong and right, making every decision even more difficult. The romance was satisfying but still i can't say that the drama was intruiging and interesting to watch. On the contrary it was rather boring, tedius and stretched.
Apart from that, it couldn't really decide what it wanted to be, the older couple was from start to finish the main melo plot of the story. The younger couple though... had some very fluffy rom-com scenes that i can understand how people might like them, but i didn't. I signed up for a melodrama and those scenes weren't welcome. The 2nd half of the drama was heavier melo but it was difficult to watch because of the constant back and forth in the script. I think the drama wanted to attract as many viewers as possible but it ended up being inconsistent and unstable.
Funny how many people argued that the older couple had too much screen time. I disagree. The main focus of the drama should have been the older couple, not the younger... It started with them, it was them from the very beginning... sadly the drama not only put them slowly in the secondary seat but even used them as a plot device to keep the younger couple apart. Chemistry wise, i can't say that the young couple had any, while the older one... sparks everywhere.
Moreover, the drama introduced some super irrelevant and borderline annoying secondary characters that brought nothing new to the drama, were just used as comedic relief or just conveniently to fill the episodes to 60 minutes.
Overall the drama was difficult to watch. The combination of tedium and constant melodrama due to miscommunication became old fast. It tried to be overdramatic but funny, while show 2 stories that are entangled and give a happy closure to both. I'm sorry but that was definitely not doable, it tried to do too much in the wrong way. In my opinion, it would have been better if the drama had stayed in the 70s. I found myself many times in later episodes asking for the original story to comeback, it was sincere and beautiful, something that the later episodes failed to maintain.
Acting
First time watching Yoona act, and because of the overwhelming hate i've actually been avoid watching this for over a year. Well, as expected, the hate is unreasonable. Yoona won't be winning any awards for her performance here, but none of the actors will. She was really great on par with everyone else, and to be honest, she was way better than i initially expected. Only error i can point out is her cringy crying, other than that i actually enjoyed watching her a lot.
First time watching Jang Geun Suk too. He was really good, he can definitely act, i wasn't swayed the way i want a male lead to affect me, but his performance was certainly great.
Special mention to my personal favourite who made me shed a lot of tears, Jung Ji Yeong. The man was emotional beyond imagination. I loved him deeply and his beautiful character!
Recommend/Rewatch
This one is difficult to recommend. This is straight up adressed to melodrama-romance fans. If you are a hard-core romantic, you'll like it. Other than that, just move on. Recommended with a grain of salt. I doubt i will ever rewatch this.
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