Stunning debut

This was such a sweet, fun story, and qualitatively very much better than I expected. The dynamics of the story are reminiscent of Put Your Head On My Shoulder with the ML falling fast and hard while the FL remains oblivious for a long time. And what an FL! She is CLEARLY the alpha in the pairing, which is rare enough as is, but for an 18 y.o actress on debut to have such a role, and to excel at it, was a real joy to see.

With a few episodes to go I was going to give this Drama 8/10 but then noble idiocy made its expected appearance. The way the Drama handled it caused me to bump its score UP to 8.5.

So often in Dramas, noble idiocy is dragged on for ages, then brushed off as a passing irrelevance of no real import, but this Drama did neither. The noble idiocy itself was wrapped in a relatively short time (yay), but then the CONSEQUENCES were shown to be very serious, particularly the emotional impact on the injured party and those close to them(yay+). The person guilty of being the noble idiot even suffered physical pain as part of their penance. This was VERY refreshing, especially the dialogue given by the injured party, clearly explaining the reason the "noble" idiocy was nothing of sort, but was selfish and stupid.

All in all, this was a very satisfying and sweet watch, with a powerful romantic OTP, intelligent dialogue and bright and forthright FL and a great performance on debut by the lead female. Who also has a lovely singing voice :)

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This Drama was badged "OCN Romance", a nice reminder that OCN doesn't really focus on romance Dramas. It kinda showed. The story itself was pleasant, but the strongest moments for the OTP(s) were the sad moments. They were the sceness that made me feel most strongly.

Part of that was the overly-elaborate time travel recursion. I have absolutely no problem with shows that don't bother trying to come up with an explanation for time travel, because there isn't one. As the Doctor said, it's all just "wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey stuff", so Dramas can cook up whatever explanation they like, or none at all, which is how this Drama handled it. But I think the writers got a bit carried away the idea of Inception-style layers upon layers, like a Matryoshka doll version of the Matrix. The intricacies took some of the gloss off the OTP and made it easier to focus on and cheer for the single-timeline stories. The boy who became a celebrity so that his crush could call him Oppa was my favourite of those.

Overall, by no means an awful Drama, and it did have the virtue of being short, total runtime well short of 9 hours. I've definitely sat through much worse.

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"No drama" Dramas are very hard to do right - they tend to come across as boring. This one really showed how to meet the challenge. It was a simple, sweet story full of fun and light, with almost no angst at all. What made it work was the casting and the acting. The two leads especially really sold me on the story, and I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud, then gushed "awww" at the sweetness.

The only reason I 'downgraded' this fine Drama to 8.5 is that it was a little too long. had it been somewhere between 25-30 episodes, I feel certain I would have given it a 10. As it is, it's still the second highest score I've given to any C Drama, and only the second to go over 7.5. A refreshing change from the current Korean obsession with the supernatural, psychopaths and serial killers - often all together. This one was an almost perfect confection.

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This Drama at first felt like a war between two initialisms: SARFT vs OTP. Happily, OTP won. For the first 12 or so episodes the frequency, intensity and crude unsubtlety of the political propaganda was so bad it was laughable. If you tried playing a drinking game to down a shot every time some version of the phrase "for the glory of China" was said in the first third of the Drama, you'd be at severe risk of fatal alcohol poisoning by the end of each episode.

BUT, after that flag-waving rarara start, The PPL (propaganda placement) was dialed right back, the story settled down, and go on with the important business of delivering a sweet, cute romantic Drama. The OTP sold the conventional story very well, and the supporting characters were great. Especially Niannian's BFFs, both of whom were adorable (and easy on the eyes) . Also a BIG shoutout for having the FEMALE lead being openly and repeatedly described and acknowledged as a genius. As I close in on three hundred K Dramas started, I am STILL waiting to see one where the female lead was the intellectual superior of the male, and where he was happy to acknowledge that

Most C Dramas I've tried have been underwhelming for me, but this one was a delight.

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Stupidly, I watched this SP to the unmitigatedly abominable series in the vain hope that it would somehow be better. That thinking was as annoyingly insane as Kahoko's monstrously maliciously mental Mother. If this Drama is "all about family", the message it's trying to convey is "don't have one, or be part of one, ever. You'll regret it"

The whole series and SP were manic and OTT and relentlessly awful. The Drama at least had the redeeming feature of the titular lead's own growth from 22 year old child to functioning adult, but sitting through all 11 episodes (inc this SP) is, perhaps ironically, enough to reduce sane viewers to gibbering wrecks.

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Toxic tsundere - pass

I gave this five episodes because of the bright, funny start. I genuinely laughed often in the first couple of episodes, and the concept displayed real promise. But it quickly settled into a misogynist pattern of abusing and mocking the FL while excusing the ML for being a thoroughly nasty piece of work. The "pranking" session coming after the FL was egged and floured was actually quite brutal, but it did not signal any change for the better in the treatment of the FL. With no improvement by the end of 5, it became another "life is too short" moment, and I was glad to dump it.

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Saved the Best Till Last

After the first 20 episodes of this 44 episode Drama, it was already BY FAR one of the best C Dramas I'd watched. By episode 39, I was trying to decide whether I would give it an 8 or even go as high as 8.5/10 - a stratospheric score for C Dramas, only reached or bettered by three Dramas. Even while I was debating 8 vs 8.5 I kept telling myself "wait, they could screw up the final four". Instead, they did THE EXACT OPPOSITE and this became my very first 10/10 C Drama

I give it 10/10 despite niggles like the length (40 would have been better) and the irritating and inconsistent dubbing because they "nailed the landing". The final two episodes were sublime. The power of the emotion and the skill of the acting had me in tears, in all the right places and all the right ways.

Right from the start, the dialogue impressed me - and I say that as someone dependent on subtitles. Knowing how much is lost in translation, my principle is that if the SUBS are thoughtful, powerful and not trite, then the actual dialogue must be AMAZING. I did not roll my eyes ONCE though the whole Drama, and even when they added elements that often DO induce eye-rolling and or facepalming (especially in K Dramas), they handled them with the quiet realism and restraint that made this such an engaging watch.

The opening and closing songs were a joy to listen to, and the VERY end was simply perfect - absolutely flawless. This Drama was such an immensely satisfying experience I doubt I will come across another as good for quite some time.

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Ran out of steam

This Drama started brightly and as a fan of Shen Yue I was hoping for good things. Sadly, it fell flat rather quickly.

In her EXCELLENT review
https://mydramalist.com/profile/8862033/reviews

Sandy Prater said in part:

"As for cons, the biggest is the script. At times it wants to take itself very seriously and tries to set up moments of intense realism/realistic issues but then uses the most ridiculous and fantastical scenarios to "solve" them. The conflicts are repetitive and (without revealing any spoilers) don't really show much growth in the characters - just a dull acceptance from the characters themselves or those around them, which I don't believe was the intended takeaway."

That 'dull acceptance' bit was a perfect summation. Two especially egregious examples spring to mind. The "geeky girl" of the 4 was treated VERY badly over several episodes (~14-17) by both the school authorities and her friends, but there was no proper resolution. In another instance, in about ep 15 the 'spoiled princess' deleted her BF's entire photo collection of sevreal years in a fit of infantile jealous pique and, at least by the time I dropped at 19, she had NEVER apologised, nor seen any need to.
Shen Yue's own role was a bit disappointing as her romantic fixation was one I found troubling. My wait for another Shen Yue Drama I can truly enjoy goes on

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I beg to differ

After reading the other reviews of this Drama I was hopeful that this might FINALLY be a C Drama free of the patronising patriarchal propaganda that poisons almost every C Drama I've tried to watch. Sadly, it was not. I stuck it out for 10 episodes, but by then I'd had enough - ESPECIALLY of the way the young rookie ML took over the FL's life

Other reviewers have praised this as a realistic office Drama, but I can' agree. The ML is a rookie, very young AND an intern on probation, but despite that, within a month not only is he quite insanely possessive of his boss, he's also compltely forgotten the concept of "personal space" If any PA physically intruded on their boss like that in any of the offices I know, that PA would not last long.

This is a 35 episode Drama, yet instead of taking its time to develop the romantic relationship, we already see the ML portrayed as the physical saviour of the FL in multiple occasions within the first 5 episodes. By episode 10, we're also "treated" to the sight of HIM telling her how to do her job. It's this which was the last straw for me, because it's SO depressingly common in C Dramas - no matter how skilled and competent a woman is at her job, she ALWAYS needs a man to teach her - in this case a man barely out of college and with zero prior work experience at all.

If you're after a Drama featuring a good looking OTP, then by all means try this one. If you want a Drama that gives token lip service to the idea of female empowerment while perpetuating Chinese chauvinism, this Dram would be PERFECT. But if you want Drama that ACTUALLY celebrates independent women who don't need to be protected and tutored by males, look elsewhere.

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Kawai - WHY?

I started this Drama for Ishihara Satomi, and she's the reason I finished it. Her character was SUPER annoying, but she managed to avoid making her unlikeable. It helped that there were flashes of personal growth for the character over the 10 episodes of the Drama. The same was emphatically NOT true of the AWFUL "Kawai" - a character who was utterly pointless from the beginning of episode 1 to the end of episode 10. a 1-D character with a zero-D growth arc. The character was a "kawaii" as rotten fish, and MUCH less appealing. I had to FF most of his scenes, many of which were supposed to be funny (as was his 'I want to PUNCH it!' smile). Without the nightmare of that character, I could have gone to a 7 for this Drama, maybe

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The core concept was appealing, and in the end, it was not a terrible watch.

First, the flaws.
(a)I'm guessing the Drama's source is a manga of some sort, because the lead male character was totally flat. It's as if he LOST a dimension when moving from paper to screen. Only in the very final scene, as the credits are starting, do we see ANY character growth at all.
(b) Every episode's story was effectively EXACTLY the same. Just as well there were only three, because it was very definitely, "seen one, seen 'em all"

Now, the saving grace

The female lead was not only super-kawaii, she super smart. SHE was the brains of the outfit and the show made sure this was VERY obvious. "Cute smart girl makes moron male cop look good" is not a formula that would even be imagined in Korea, where it seems that it is forbidden by law for the word "genius" to be used of a female lead (unless the male lead is a "super genius")

Also, I felt that for a very young actor, Ms Himabe did very well with the role. HER character was given some depth, we definitely saw both good and less-good sides of her personality, and of course, she was unapologetically the heroine and star.

For that refreshingly pro-female POV , and for the fun of watching a smart, cute female lead, this Drama scraped into the pass range.

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Coercion & Control != romance

I really tried to like this Drama, which is why I stuck it out for 8/24. But by then I had had more than enough of the ML physically dragging the FL around, locking her in the house, ignoring her views on EVERYTHING, taking control of everything and doing NOTHING for her.

This is a depressingly common setup in C Dramas, godlike ML who can literally do no wrong, and doesn't see anything amiss in treating the FL as his property, a vassal from whom unquestioning instant obedience is his right, and whom he can physically coerce if she doesn't give him the slavish submission that he deserves. It's Tsundere gone nuts, and if that mindset persists through 8 episodes of a 24 episode Drama, it's time to ditch.

If you LIKE the idea of a man dragging a woman around like a plaything, then you might enjoy this Drama. If, on the other hand, you kind of like the idea that a romantic partnership might have at least some SHRED of equity or balance, then this Drama is not for you.

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THE HERO POLICEMAN ... oh, and bit parts for his fire/paramedic lackeys

I started this show for 2 reasons: Gong Seung Yeon, and the advertised concept of a show about the emergency services working together. GSY was great (and so was Ji Woo), but the premise turned out to be a lie.
Instead of a show about the 3 services working together, we got a show about one 'rogue' detective using the fire and paramedic services as his personal investigative lackeys. Openly derisive of the value of their work from the start of episode 1, he did everything. Which is just as well, because EVERY episode of the 4 I watched turned into an investigation for the police. Not what was advertised and not what I signed up for.

The other BIG problem I had was with the "Big Bad". I am not a fan of multi-season shows, and when I saw the "Big Bad" in this first series, I rolled my eyes. Sure enough, I see he's in S2 as well, and that was the kiss of death for me as far as my watching this show went.

That's a bit of a shame, because KRW was doing well in his role, and it was great seeing SHJ and GSY together. Had the show actually BEEN about collaboration, perhaps with each emergency service taking the lead in different episodes, and had the writers not stuck on a superfluous "Big Bad", it could have been a fun watch.

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I stuck with this Drama for 10 episodes because of a promising secondary (or tertiary) couple, but the unusually consistent tone of the comments warned me that it did not get better. In the 10 episodes I endured, the male lead was nothing but a bullying brutish stalker who grabbed the FL by the wrist whenever he felt like dragging her somewhere. That sort of behaviour is not 10 years late, more like 10 centuries. It was simply "I want you, therefore you will be mine, your opinion is irrelevant, and I will phgysically manipulate you, bully lie and maneuver to make sure I get what I want" UGH!

The kicker was learning of the reason why the Drama has a "tragedy" tag. I'm SO glad I read that spoiler, because rather than spoiling the Drama, it confirmed it's a merde mountain and saved me bothering with the last 29 episodes. Do yourself a favour, and skip this one.

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