Bubbly
This review may contain spoilers
Great premise, likeable male lead, disappointing ending
I want to start by saying that I really loved the first 3/4 or so of the show -- it had an interesting premise, with a very socially awkward (but in a cute way!)/extremely frugal male lead (Nam SeHee played by Lee Min Ki), and an unusual female lead (Jiho played by Jung So Min) who is an aspiring drama writer. I liked how the writers poked fun at product placement and cliche drama tropes while we saw the female lead write some of her own original drama scripts. It was also interesting to see them interact with the supporting cast. I actually binge watched the first 10-ish episodes in the span of 2 days because they were so good. The male lead is a great actor, and for the most part, the female lead was tolerable. However, towards the end, her lack of expression when acting became increasingly off-putting, maybe also because her character's personality weirdly becomes increasingly off-putting in the final episodes. I would have given this drama a much higher rating, but the last 3 episodes made no sense unfortunately. I was very disappointed in the female lead basically causing own drama herself and not being direct with communication. I feel like a lot of problems could have been solved easily if she just spoke with the Se-Hee plainly instead of beating around the bush and stating weird vague statements. As the show went on, I found myself skipping over parts because I couldn't stand Jiho constantly reciting lines from a weird book about "Room 19".Overall, I would recommend viewers watch with caution -- the first episodes will be great, but the ending I can almost guarantee will disappoint. That being said, I hadn't seen any dramas with Lee Min Ki (who plays the male lead, Nam Se Hee) before, but now am a fan!
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There are multiple remakes with the same story line, but ISWAK is by far the best. (Please completely skip over the Korean one -- "Playful Kiss", it's really awful.) Unlike the Korean version, the casting/acting here is excellent. Ariel Lin does a really great job of being the silly but still likeable main female lead, Yuan Xian Qin, and is perfect with Joe Cheng, who plays the cold-hearted/genius male lead, Zhang Zhi Shu. The second male lead, Ah Jin, is also extremely funny and played by the awesome actor Jiro Wang!
Plus, the OST is also amazing, especially the main theme, "Practical Joke". There also are a bunch of other background songs that fit perfectly, like "Hear" and "The Whole World Knows".
If you can't tell, I would highly highly recommend this drama! ^__^ It's happy and funny and filled with memorable characters!
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This review may contain spoilers
Great story premise and excellent actors
I loved the intro/story premise! The show starts off with the main characters' back stories, and how all of Tae-o's friends ended up coming to live at his house. My favorites were Tae-oh and Choe Hun. Choe Hun's actor in particular was great; I first saw him as the main ML in Extraordinary Attorney Woo; how he acts there as more serious Lee Jun Ho versus here is so different! It really shows his incredible talent and versatility as an actor!Season 1 was very, very solid. It was becoming one of my favorite dramas (although I did not particularly like Dohyeon's character). I binge watched the first 8 episodes in one day and was fully ready to give it a 10/10 score. I was super surprised it only had a 7.5/10 rating on mydramalist. In the middle of season 2, the story got began to drag, but overall, great show! Would recommend for a relatively light, fluffy watch with funny characters.
*spoilers below* I can understand why some stars are docked off. Song-i's perpetual despondent sad face was getting to be too much during Season 2. She is like this for many episodes back to back in Season 2. I also particularly disliked Dohyeon's character. Mostly though, I don't know why basically everyone is looking for their mother. A bit too much angst and drama. Dohyeon's character was getting more and more annoying as well.
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Very solid first 4 episodes then not worth watching :(
I was really disappointed because the drama had so much promise! The camera pacing was super slow and the music was a bit weird, but I loved the first 4 episodes. Jin Ah and Joon Hee's interactions were extremely cute and their chemistry was believable! However, by the 5th episode, the main character started getting on my nerves and now I understood why the average rating was only 7.9/10 stars... The characters starting having random conflicts for no reason. There is no meaningful plot! There was only alternating fluff and conflict. I could not keep watching. As a side note, it is not attractive at all to smoke cigarettes in this day and age!! No matter how aesthetically pleasing the male lead is, that is 0/10 points for cuteness.Was this review helpful to you?
