Juelin
United States
This review may contain spoilers
Nope
Honestly, I didn't expect much from this adaptation because the plot of Hana Yori Dango (HYD) is quite awful. Yes, it is a beloved classic, but it can't get away from its very horrible storylines - normalization of bullying and abuse of power, entitlement, abusive male lead, toxic relationships, betrayal, flaky female lead, absent parents, abandoned children. A re-make means recycling these terrible storylines because they make up the main plot.
One of my biggest gripes with HYD is that the F4 are portrayed as rich and popular boys who are good at everything, except they don't do anything to be good at everything. This show did a very good job at showing them wasting time not going to class, bullying their classmates, partying, and drinking alcohol all the damn time. I would think a modern adaptation would flush out this plotline to show them participating in some activities to make their talents more believable and to give them some goddamn personalities. When Domyoji /Thyme is not a psychotic bully, he obsesses over Makino/Gorya making her want to get away from him.
To make up for the lack of character development, the actors overacted the characters' feelings making the scenes look very forced. There was very little motivation behind their actions and everything looked thrown together just to move the story forward. Thyme's mother had a lot of screen time, but the writers didn't give her any personality. In the original, she was already very cold. Here, she was a female terminator in pursuit of some mythical "perfection" while treating her children as stepping stones to achieve that perfection. Some plot lines were not in chronological order, and I quit the show as soon as the fiance showed up. I hated that storyline anyway.
Gorya and Thyme spent most of their time yelling at each other and having no romantic chemistry. Watching them together quickly became a chore. The cheating kissing scene with Ren was turned into an awkward hugging scene which wasn't properly resolved. And, the acting altogether was quite terrible. I did like that Gorya's parents were tolerable and not as stupidly annoying as in the original.
Overall, this show was just another awkward attempt at resurrecting an old skeleton that should stay buried.
One of my biggest gripes with HYD is that the F4 are portrayed as rich and popular boys who are good at everything, except they don't do anything to be good at everything. This show did a very good job at showing them wasting time not going to class, bullying their classmates, partying, and drinking alcohol all the damn time. I would think a modern adaptation would flush out this plotline to show them participating in some activities to make their talents more believable and to give them some goddamn personalities. When Domyoji /Thyme is not a psychotic bully, he obsesses over Makino/Gorya making her want to get away from him.
To make up for the lack of character development, the actors overacted the characters' feelings making the scenes look very forced. There was very little motivation behind their actions and everything looked thrown together just to move the story forward. Thyme's mother had a lot of screen time, but the writers didn't give her any personality. In the original, she was already very cold. Here, she was a female terminator in pursuit of some mythical "perfection" while treating her children as stepping stones to achieve that perfection. Some plot lines were not in chronological order, and I quit the show as soon as the fiance showed up. I hated that storyline anyway.
Gorya and Thyme spent most of their time yelling at each other and having no romantic chemistry. Watching them together quickly became a chore. The cheating kissing scene with Ren was turned into an awkward hugging scene which wasn't properly resolved. And, the acting altogether was quite terrible. I did like that Gorya's parents were tolerable and not as stupidly annoying as in the original.
Overall, this show was just another awkward attempt at resurrecting an old skeleton that should stay buried.
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