Tropes and Secretaries

This is my very first review!
I am an avid and seasoned watcher, and I am quite strict with myself, If I don't like it I drop it after 5 minutes...
I was inbetween drama, was looking for something easy and fluffy to binge, had this saved in my list so... I gave it a go.

I have my special preferences, and if a drama mixes together a few cinnamon rolls, contratctual/fake marriage, office romance, she is short/he is tall, he is a newbie to loving/she's got the experience: then I'm in!
So I watched with great expectations, which were not deluded until episode...8, I believe? After that, the drama took a totally different direction, which was on the verge of cringeworthy and that almost ruined my good impression of it.

It had nothing to do with the many many tropes (oh yes, many reviews prior to mine deal with this matter) that stuff this drama to its full. If you like them, you'll have them all, shoelaces, rain, umbrellas, piggyback.... undsoweiter undsoweiter undsoweiter, all the usual suspects!
I actually LOVE tropes, I actually expect them, it a sort of ritual, a drama is not a drama withouth tropes!
It's that from episode 9, things got on a different rail and the fluffy lost to the anxiety /cringe, too much roverling inside, to many talks so little true action (of any kind, if you know what I mean).
What saved it for me, is that at some point I started to think about this drama as an exercise of style, an enciclopedia of quotes from and references to A-List k-drama of the past years, so many there were at every instance. In this perspective, it becomes a game and it is quite fun to look out for the which (which drama is quoted at this moment?), the who (which character?), the how (how well is the quote / innuendo made?)...

What ALSO saved it for me, and again I am not alone in this, is the 2ML&2FL love story, which was actually one of the best I have ever seen.
And the 2ML.
THE SECRETARY.
There have been many dramas where the secretary is a revelation, starting with Kill me, Heal Me and Choi Won Young, in this case the secretary is so totally worth it and let's just say that starting tomorrow I 'm getting myself a gym subscription.


As for the ratings:
Story: I gave 6.5 because of all the premises which are my favourties, but the development is not the one I was looking for.
Acting/Cast: I gave 7.5 because they are all cute ( especially the secretary. But I already said it, eh eh eh).
Music: I gave 7, it is overall ok
Rewatch: i gave 5 as I will not rewatch it (or possibly maybe once, only beacuse of the secretary?)
Overall, I believe 7 is a good note, even if it could have been a 9.

Read More