Don't watch with high expectations

Don’t watch with high expectations like I did. My initial high rating kept dropping episode after episode because:

- The ML has a moron-cartoon-like-villain father (plus 2 stupid step brothers), and I think that even cartoons might not have such unrealistic characterization. This destroyed the credibility of the plot (for me) as his decisions' were absurd, causing silly predictable collateral damages.

- The ML is a smart, strategic thinker, but he is a beta hero, a beta lover, and a beta, insecure son who suffers the mistreatments (and murder attempts) from his cartoon-like-father, without protesting the whole drama with a moronic forgiveness at the end.

- Although the ‘know-it-all’ female lead character becomes less irritating with time, the leads’ love story becomes bland after the first half of the drama.

My 6 rating is for XU Kai acting, plus the effort that went into the set/art production and special effects.

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Truly disappointing

I gave a 7 to another drama which was also very hyped (you are my glory), but not even that one disappointed me as much. I expected so much and all I got was:
---- A shallow, silly plot. Plus plot holes galore.
---- Cartoonish villain, and other stupid characters (even leaders like the king, crown prince, queen).
---- No characters' development.
My rating is for the acting of ML and both FLs, the Art Direction, and OST. At least the silver lining with overhyped dramas when my rating differs from the majority, is that it’s easier for me to spot users whose rating also disagree with the majority, so I can add them to my list of members with similar tastes to mine.

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SPOILERS SPOILERS

The script was made by writing one cliche after another after another. I would have rated it 6/10, but misunderstandings were solved fast, the tone was light and it relaxed me while taking a break from two stressful dramas (All In and Hotel King). Following are some of the main cliches:

- ML fakes amnesia and convinces FL to let him live with her
- Childhood friend of ML is in love with him, she pursues him, tries to separate main couple. Of course she trips on top of him exactly the moment the FL enters the office and catches them.
- Childhood friend of FL is in love with her, he pursues her, tries to separate main couple. Of course the FL is oblivious, even when he touches her all the time, pulls her away from the ML, etc.
- ML secretly finds a job for the FL, and of course she breaks with him when she finds out
- FL is looking for her biological father, but of course his current wife fakes the DNA test. By the way, FL never finds out.
- Of course the ML and FL remember each other when they were children, although they only interacted once
- The ML’s competitor hacks his company, causing a financial crisis. More clichés follow this financial crisis:
--- Of course the Childhood friend of ML proposes a convenience marriage to solve the crisis, that leaks social media
--- Of course she tells FL she can’t help him with the crisis, and of course the FL goes away without saying anything to the ML even though they’re already in a relationship.

There's also the coworkers that bicker and then fall in love, the typical part with the obvious signs that the ML is going to propose, including obvious speech before he proposes, and still the FL is very surprised, and so on. Therefore I would only recommend this drama as a break between other dramas.

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Just want to add something

There are many reviewers who already gave 10 to this drama. Not much to add as to how good it is. Many people think it's the best by the Hong sisters. It topped the TV chart for 5 consecutive weeks when it was aired. It got 13 awards (including 7 MBC Drama Awards) plus 13 nominations. It was so successful that its rights were sold to 5 countries. So I just want to add, for those who commented that the ML is abusive, mean, and so on, that his character is not that of a mean guy, but of a spoiled, arrogant man due to what he overcame after being ill for so long. But his heart, who never opened to another person before, is a gentle heart. We can see it when he's regretting doing something, or when he helps the FL from the very first episode. In fact, this is one of those rare dramas where the ML realizes very early on that he likes the FL. I've watched many dramas, and this is still one of my 5 all-time favorites. The chemistry, the original plot, the laugh-out-loud moments, not secondary annoying characters, no cliches, the little kid... Such a treat.

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This drama introduced me to Kimutaku

-- I found this drama by the luckiest chance, with good quality in kissasian.
-- Then I became one of millions of fans of the sexiest Japanese ever, imho
-- In Pride, the kisses are real, not primary-school-pecks.
-- The pace is fast. Great editing,
-- I loved the plot, including the side stories which I rarely enjoy.
-- Since it's a sport drama, the story centers around the team, the main lead,
and also two other members as side stories. The music was by Queen , it
matched the scenes perfectly. I also loved the other background music.
-- My hook factor: non-stop watching
If you haven't experience Kimura Takuya yet (nickname kimutaku), I recommend this drama, or Long Vacation or Love Generation. I became a true fan, read all about his influence in 1990s and 2000s pop culture. I plan to watch more of his works, including Ando LLoyd, Asunaro Hakusho, and his famous Hero drama although it's not a romance.

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Truly disappointing

I gave a 7 to another drama which was also very hyped (you are my glory), but not even that one disappointed me as much. I expected so much and all I got was:
---- A shallow, silly plot. Plus plot holes galore.
---- Cartoonish villain, and other stupid characters (even leaders like the king, crown prince, queen).
---- No characters' development.
My rating is for the acting of ML and both FLs, the Art Direction, and OST. At least the silver lining with overhyped dramas when my rating differs from the majority, is that it’s easier for me to spot users whose rating also disagree with the majority, so I can add them to my list of members with similar tastes to mine.

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Fast paced and sentimental

I watch dramas from several countries, but I think Japanese dramas are very unique in themes, directing, and editing. And unless the genre is pure comedy, they always make me cry at some point (although I only choose happy-ending ones). This is the reason why I always remember them even if I didn't rate them '10', while I’ve forgotten a bunch of other countries’ dramas.

They may have flaws, or some parts that I don’t like, but they never fail to engage my emotions. It happened again with Soratobu Kouhoushitsu, unexpectedly in some episodes, without tedious, previous melodramatic scenes where you already know what’s coming next.

I also loved most of the characters and the fast-paced overall story that would have been better without the typical silly separation of the main couple.

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Disappointing

Badly written characters galore. This drama’s now topping the dramas I’ve watched with most number of unbelievable characters. Honestly, every few minutes I was thinking: ”Nobody would react this way”, or “There’s no one with such incoherent personality” or “Nobody would say that in that situation” and so on. Most of them were badly written. Even side characters like manager Mr. Kim or the FL’s mother, who also had the worst acting (among a lot of bad acting with few exceptions, like the 5 main roles and the FL’s father).

I don’t want to go into the script and its unrealistic sub-plots, some of which were perfect for a parody, like the rich ex-girlfriend turned psycho and willing to lose it all to kill the FL….yeah right.

I finished because I wanted to know the MC love story, and gave it 5/10 which is my lowest rating, because I only liked the ML character and the OST, sadly, because Park Min Young is one of my favorite K-actress.

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Emotional love story

About the cheating tag
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In my opinion, what happens at the beginning of this drama is not cheating: the FL knows the ML doesn’t want to be with his cold wife anymore, but she doesn’t accept the divorce. This is different from being in a relationship in which you believe your spouse loves you, but then cheats.

Not accepting to divorce when one spouse knows the other truly wants to, is in my opinion unacceptable, but fortunately, and unlike South Korea, there are about 80 countries whose laws offer ways out of this predicament with no-fault type of divorce, that allows only one of the spouses to file and be granted the divorce without going to court.

We know how many centuries had to pass to get laws that protect women from undesirable marriages. One of my uncles in Spain never agreed to divorce and my aunt couldn’t even be in another relationship, until the law was changed in the 80s. I can’t even imagine her impotence.

I wonder, if the roles were reversed and the FL was the one married to an unfeeling jerk who opposes the divorce, how the comments about infidelity in the MDL chatroom would have been.

In my case, in the first episodes I wanted to get rid of the FL probably more than the ML did, and since Koreans can’t divorce unless both agree, or determined by a court, I would have done anything to force her to sign it. But the FL grew after losing her memory, recognized her past wrongdoings in her job and with her husband, and their love story became very deep.
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About my rating

This is a soap opera, not my favorite genre, but I fell in love with the main couple’s love story, great chemistry, very emotional, all the nuances of it were very well done (even more after ep. 11). I found myself binge-watching it, barely sleeping during one weekend, because I needed to know what would happen next, despite the typical villains with family and corporate intrigues.

It has too many episodes, but I’ll probably rewatch those parts that I liked the most about their love story.

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Love stories amidst workplace harshness

I have a weakness for old dramas and this one was next in my list. Didn't plan to review it, but I watched it with two friends who were shocked at how violent were bosses with employees in this drama, so I decided to mention this to warn others (I’ve watched such scenes in other K-dramas, I'm not shocked anymore). But on the positive side:
- The love stories were very original, and the main couple had lots of chemistry, so much that they became a couple in real life at that time. And the secondary couples too.

- I loved immensely watching sexy Hyun Bin, such a scene-stealer actor even those years ago. I think I’ll rewatch it in the future just for him (I found the FL character annoying sometimes)

- Fast-paced, good acting and OST

- The slice of life in a TV station and filming sites were interesting

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My rating of this drama

For this particular drama, my rating doesn't fully reflect my great enjoyment. From the first to the last episode, this drama was adorable. Not silly sweet but refreshingly sweet. No wonder it rushed to the top on the first day of its launch and into the top ten in real-time. Moreover, despite being so young, the main and secondary couples gave such amazing acting performances that I'll follow up their future projects.
It was a beautiful love story, and very well directed (with only minor editing flaws). But it is a simple plot, not intricate or complex twists. Although it had some drama that contributed to the male lead character development, most scenes and dialogues were very simple as expected in a high school setting, and some were shallow (the few cliches included in the plot). So although the love story is a 10/10, the overall drama's simple (but sweet) plot is why I gave it 8.5 (dramas that I think were very good and a rewatch in the future).

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Original plot

--I loved the ML acting and his character. He was the hook factor that kept me watching until the end.
--Original plot, real kisses, no clichés.
--This is the 6th C-drama in a row where I disliked the FL character, and also my high expectations weren’t met, joined by Lucky’s First Love / A Love So Beautiful / The Brightest Star in the Sky / Go Go Squid / Fox’s Summer. Curiously, right before them I really liked 6 in a row: Le Coup de Foudre / My Love Enlighten Me / The Romance of Tiger and Rose / Gank Your Heart / My Girlfriend is an Alien / Intense Love. So maybe my C-dramas runs in cycles of 6s...
--In my opinion, the villain’s actions in the last episodes seemed forced and unnecessary.
--The secondary couple love story was unremarkable and without chemistry.
--Most of the songs were in English and matched the scenes very well.
--All in all, it was good enough and I'd recommend it for Leo Luo and the original plot.

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Long and slow

This was not a 'non-stop watching' drama. I even stopped once, for a week, before continuing.

What I liked
-- The male lead character
-- The acting was very good by most of the cast
-- The second female lead and the second couple love story

What I didn't like
-- Too long and slow. It could have been a 16-ep drama by skipping unnecessary side stories.
-- The female lead character, indecisive, whining instead of studying, etc
-- The silly breakup. By this time I was already tired of watching.
-- The lack of communication between the main couple

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Too much hype

Other than the great acting by gorgeous Mark Prin, and good unexpected plot twists, this drama was just okay.
I disliked the actions of the FL from start to end (although her acting was good.) By mid series, I started skipping the scenes with Kang (Jieb Lalana Kongtoranin) and the other woman with glasses, which bored me to death. As to production quality, I know Thai dramas don't have the same budgets than K-, C-, J-dramas, but this one could have had better editing and technical transitions of flashbacks. However, I may rewatch in the future to enjoy the Mark Prin's scenes :)

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