5
6
2
FreshKicks
This review may contain spoilers
Enjoyable if you don't mind a FL who is extra about everything
I finished this one a couple of days ago after stopping for a while when I was just one episode from the finale.
I will never rewatch this series but I'm glad I saw it. It introduced me to some fine actors and satisfied my curiosity about how such a premise could be realized in a drama. On the latter question I think they did very well.
Now that I've watched to the end, though, for me the last two episodes felt like filler. The solution to the mystery about the aunt and uncle was pretty mundane considering the screen time given to the FL's angst over it. (Looking back, I think the main purpose of that set-up was to give the FL a reason to stay in the ML's house. If she'd found her aunt right away then she would have moved in with her instead.)
It was also tacky for the writers to engineer the plot at the very end so that the FL was all hyped to go to Europe, leaving the ML alone and lonely, then changed her mind at the last second so that they could have yet another reunion scene on the bridge. Please.
As for the rest of the series, my main issue is with the FL in the 30yo version of the character. I think she over-acted to an extreme. Every emotional scene (and there were many) was pitched at the highest level. This was true whether she was happy or sad. It was as if the director's notes for her were always: "As you're saying these lines of dialog, imagine you're being electrocuted." The character also seemed too slow on the uptake and over-emotional every time she realized how the world had changed since she'd been in a coma.
I don't think these directorial choices added anything to the story. For me the constant barrage of emotion just got annoying. If you have a character who keeps going berserk about everything, those moments of emotion lose their ability to move the viewer.
My second issue with the series is the number of times a coincidental "near-miss" ended up postponing the revelation that the FL was the same girl that the ML was drawn to when they were kids. It got to the point that when one of these moments approached I was no longer excited, I was only curious how the writers would thwart us again at the last second. Sometimes the way they did it made me laugh. Let's just say it's probably a good thing that I can't rate this series based on the number of eye-rolls rather than a number of stars.
I loved loved loved the younger cousin character, Yoo Chan. Ahn Hyo Seop's performance made him into so much more than a SML or source of comic relief. (Although his funny moments were indeed very funny, and very welcome.)
The ML was also did an excellent job, but his character is so accomplished and mature that it made me wonder how he could possibly fall in love with a mess like the FL.
The rest of the supporting cast was also very good.
And, since I've criticized the writers for a couple of things let me praise them for something: what they came up with as the reasons why the ML shouldn't feel guilty about the bus accident. That little twist was impressive, and I should add that the ML's reaction to the revelation was a moment of superb acting.
If the FL had just toned down her own acting then I think this series could have been quite outstanding. It makes me think I need to see Shin Hye Sun in another role just to assure myself that this isn't her only performance mode.
I will never rewatch this series but I'm glad I saw it. It introduced me to some fine actors and satisfied my curiosity about how such a premise could be realized in a drama. On the latter question I think they did very well.
Now that I've watched to the end, though, for me the last two episodes felt like filler. The solution to the mystery about the aunt and uncle was pretty mundane considering the screen time given to the FL's angst over it. (Looking back, I think the main purpose of that set-up was to give the FL a reason to stay in the ML's house. If she'd found her aunt right away then she would have moved in with her instead.)
It was also tacky for the writers to engineer the plot at the very end so that the FL was all hyped to go to Europe, leaving the ML alone and lonely, then changed her mind at the last second so that they could have yet another reunion scene on the bridge. Please.
As for the rest of the series, my main issue is with the FL in the 30yo version of the character. I think she over-acted to an extreme. Every emotional scene (and there were many) was pitched at the highest level. This was true whether she was happy or sad. It was as if the director's notes for her were always: "As you're saying these lines of dialog, imagine you're being electrocuted." The character also seemed too slow on the uptake and over-emotional every time she realized how the world had changed since she'd been in a coma.
I don't think these directorial choices added anything to the story. For me the constant barrage of emotion just got annoying. If you have a character who keeps going berserk about everything, those moments of emotion lose their ability to move the viewer.
My second issue with the series is the number of times a coincidental "near-miss" ended up postponing the revelation that the FL was the same girl that the ML was drawn to when they were kids. It got to the point that when one of these moments approached I was no longer excited, I was only curious how the writers would thwart us again at the last second. Sometimes the way they did it made me laugh. Let's just say it's probably a good thing that I can't rate this series based on the number of eye-rolls rather than a number of stars.
I loved loved loved the younger cousin character, Yoo Chan. Ahn Hyo Seop's performance made him into so much more than a SML or source of comic relief. (Although his funny moments were indeed very funny, and very welcome.)
The ML was also did an excellent job, but his character is so accomplished and mature that it made me wonder how he could possibly fall in love with a mess like the FL.
The rest of the supporting cast was also very good.
And, since I've criticized the writers for a couple of things let me praise them for something: what they came up with as the reasons why the ML shouldn't feel guilty about the bus accident. That little twist was impressive, and I should add that the ML's reaction to the revelation was a moment of superb acting.
If the FL had just toned down her own acting then I think this series could have been quite outstanding. It makes me think I need to see Shin Hye Sun in another role just to assure myself that this isn't her only performance mode.
Was this review helpful to you?
