Oowindii
I do wish that the subplot of the male lead following Bongsun's blog was a bit further explored, however. I think it would have allowed further depth into their relationship, and to him liking her for who she really is, and not the ghost possessing her.
Also, I almost stopped watching the series for a bit when (very minor spoiler) the ghost kept using Bongsun to constantly pester Chef into sleeping with her. It made him obviously uncomfortable, but she would still keep doing it. It was pure sexual harassment, and I felt bad that it kept being played as a harmless joke.
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This review may contain spoilers
So, I really did not enjoy this drama as much as I thought I would based on the reviews. The first half was quite promising, and I think both the romance and characters of the leads were being very well developed. However, that gets somewhat wasted in the second half. The two leads spend several, painfully slow, episodes apart, to the point where I was honestly beginning to forget about the development of their cute romance. Not to mention the whiplash from going from a very lighthearted and comedic first half to suddenly being thrust into an extremely melodramatic second half. And this second note is a minor one, but I also was not really that interested in any of the subplots. The corporate drama was boring and predictable, and the side characters' romantic subplots were passable at best.
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TL;DR Everything about this drama sucks except for the romance
I'll start off with the positives: the chemistry between the leads is really good, and I think the romance part of this drama was handled very well. Their relationship was convincingly built up over time, and the leads had an interesting enough push and pull, flirty yet bickering dynamic that it didn't feel slow.Unfortunately, that's where the positives of this drama ends.
Honestly this drama (or at least the first half of it, hopefully it gets better) is the perfect example of why the "show don't tell" rule is important.
The first nine episodes dedicate almost half of their runtime (which is extremely precious when your episodes are literally 30 min long) to introducing a character via narration. And somehow, even though it goes for that long, the information presented is both super meager and can be found out naturally by just watching the show and seeing the characters' actions and dialogue. If you do end up watching this drama, which I don't recommend, do yourself a favor and just read the Netflix episode descriptions and skip the narration bits because they literally present the same information; the only difference is that the netflix description takes like 5 seconds to read and the drama version takes half the episode. It was only marginally cute when they did it for On Dal because he's the lead, and it made it seem more like a folk tale. But no, they didn't stop there, and it carried on for nine episodes. And with every episode, it seems like I'm spending more and more time hearing about the life stories of characters I haven't seen before and who I don't care about. By the end, they were even introducing the van for 15 minutes and giving it a sad backstory. THE VAN. THEY GAVE THE INANIMATE VAN A SAD BACKSTORY. AND IT WASN'T EVEN A QUICK GAG IT LITERALLY TOOK HALF THE EPISODE.
Even apart from the narration, the characters repeat exposition info SO. MANY. TIMES. A character trait will be revealed about x character and every time that character appears, they'll bring up that character trait. The other characters will also bring up that trait every time they talk about that character.
For example, the side character Ilyong is egotistical. Every other line out of his mouth is comparing himself to a flower. When other characters talk about him, all they say is "Oh have you heard about Ilyong? He's so egotistical and always compares himself to a flower, it's so weird." Then the next scene he shows up and he's like "Wow I look like a flower." DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM HERE
And then apart from that, everything else is just kind of meh.
The music is fine; I didn't dislike it or like it particularly, but it's forgettable. Rewatch value is an absolute 0 if you intend on watching the whole thing again bc I'm sure that the overly long narration would be even more painful when it's introducing info that you already know, and there are a lot of scenes that drag on way too long. But with *very* generous use of the skip button (aka literally skipping every scene that the leads aren't together in), rewatching the leads' dynamic would be enjoyable.
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Pacing: This drama was SUCH a breath of fresh air. The leads actually spent the whole drama together, with none of that contrived "I love you but I hate you" nonsense that keeps the characters separated for episodes on end. The push and pull dynamic of the first half, when they were yet to get together was exciting and fun to watch, but what I love about this drama is the pacing of the second half. Once they get together, each episode has its own mini plotline that features the characters/their romance facing a problem, and then resolving it by the end, usually alongside some very compelling physical intimacy. Each episode is chock-full of cute moments between the leads, and it makes it so fun and heart-warming to watch.
Subplots: There are three main subplots: the comic relief romance between some quirky co-workers, the cute and heart-warming romance of the coworkers with well developed characters, and the mystery subplot of the main character's past (no corporate subplot!!!!). And, coming, from someone who normally hates the subplots, each of them are extraordinarily well paced and add something to the story. Each of the subplots and side characters are developed throughout the course of the show, allowing time to get invested and not make it feel like it came out of nowhere, or was forced in at the end, like so many other dramas.
Acting: I mean, casting Park Seojoon and Park Minyoung as the lead roles? There was no way that the acting could be anything but amazing. Both actors portrayed the original webtoon characters incredibly well, and their chemistry was also commendable!
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