i really liked this show at first but by the time the end came around i had sort of forgotten what i was even watching. the story was suspposed to be about the titular panda and hedgehog but that really only gets front and center for about 6 episodes right in the middle. it never stops being entertaining, but the change in direction makes it less fun than it would have been if they had kept the focus on the romcom andthe characters instead of some conviluted makjang plot. i was about half way through when i speculated this would be better to watch in a marathon and now that i've completed it i'm even more convinced.

maybe i need to go back and rewatch some of the back story, maybe the subs didn't quite capture what was being said, but there were some parts of the back story (which really became THE story) that seemed to change as the thing progressed and other parts that simply do not make any sense not matter how hard you try to spackle that plot hole with drama logic.

there were some really fun relationships in this drama and some really awesome characters. Choi Jin Hyuk's pouty little boy act is enough to make it worth watching, but there are some great supporting actors too like Won il's sister, grandpa and hedgehog's boys. i didnt expect a whole lot out of Donghae acting wise, but he's surprisingly not SUPER awful and IMO he's better than Siwon. the only performacne i was REALLY surprised by was Pan Da. i was shocked at her perma-face googly eyes and mooing. she was soooo awesome in the moon the embraces the sun. maybe she spent too much time around the mole and the bad acting just rubbed off on her.

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any one of these three story lines would have held up on their own just fine, and they probably would have been the better for it. i think the writers chose to combine them in an attempt to over come the 3 rather ordinary and almost cliche plots. problem is they never come together in any meaningful way, and the third really only exists to add drama, drama that never really goes any where or develops, it just sort of sits there, waving at you occasionally. at the end you're left feeling like you watched the extended higlights of 3 movies instead of all of one.


the acting was well done all around and it was well shot. the music went well, usually just blending into the back ground. if you like romance the two younger couples are fun to watch.

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To Get Her is a show that blessedly doesnt pretend it is anything other than what it is. It accepts that it is a fluffy idol drama and stays in it's lane with fantastic results for the first two acts. the problem with fluffy not so deep idol dramas - even the good ones- sometimes flounder when toward the end. Instead of staying in the lane that worked so well in the begining and middle, TGH swerves into on coming traffic. The last 3 episodes have a lot going on and somehow still manages to be dull, though i will say the last 3 minutes of the show were cute, fun and satisfying, but not enough to save it from it'self.

as far as the cast is concerned there's nothing not to like. i thought Rainie did great, i almost didnt recognize her! George Hu's role was so different than what i'm used to seeing from him, but as always he brought his a-game and was a delight. Chin King, ever the bit player, needs his own show. someone should get on that. i am not a Jiro fan girl - bear with me i'm making a point. sure the guy isnt ugly, heck he's even kinda cute i guess. this is the second Jiro drama i've watched. with TGH, like drama go go go- which it's been a while since i completed- i certainly wasnt watching because i thought Jiro Wang was a hottie. Jiro has something entirely different, charm. by the end of this show Jiro had me thouroughly charmed.

the music was catchy enough, i'm not rushing to download it but it didnt annoy me. i do have to admit that i probably wont rewatch TGH. i do like to rewatch my favorite shows, but this wont make the cut. truely awesome romantic comedies make your heart flutter and i got no flutter here.

i'd wanted to watch this for a few years and was very happy to see that Viki had good vid quality and subs.i dont feel like it wasted my time, so if you like romantic comedies i do reccomend To Get Her.

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i really enjoyed this for the 1st six or seven episodes, i had my doubts in the middle and toward the end i began suspecting that none of the things keeping me watching this show were ever going to amount to anything really great.

the main couple never held much interest for me, even Sung Joon, who i've liked in other shows left me less than impressed. his character was sweet and likeable but in a very bland, going through the motions sort of way.the character of Hae Young never quite managed to grab my sympathy and they didnt have much chemistry.

the other three couples started out great but though they had a great deal more potential than the main characters, it never really amounted to much. these story lines were tidied up in a very bland way.

as for the mothers, i understood where they were trying to go with Hae young's mom, but Mrs. Ha completely baffled me. i could tell they wanted you to like her a feel a little sympathy for her, and maybe if you're korean you do, but i found her character to be completely contemptable. though the writer does get points for not going the usual Evil Omma route, this character was even less likable because she was so much more realistic than a shrieking banshee ahjumma.

at the end i was left scratching my head thinking if they had spent less time on hae young being a orange lipped brat they'd have had more time to end everyhting else in a more satisfying way.

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Character, not plot, drives this story

this is character driven and the main characters both exist in a space saturated with despair so you get long stretches where it feels like nothing is happening b/c it's just shots of people speaking quietly and being sad.

and that was mostly fine. but.. Li Xiao Ran isnt as dynamic in her profound melancholy as Wallace Chung so it's harder to connect to her character. she has 3 expressions and speaks so close to monotone that it's often impossible to read her emotions aside from "she sad". it doesnt feel like purposeful characterization either b/c she is like that with her 6 year old son as well.

the last 5 eps go off the rails. it's so different in purpose and tone that you almost get the feeling it's not what the writer had originally intended.

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i didnt expect much coming into this b/c i hadnt really heard any buzz about the drama. i decided to give it a chance b/c it sounded alright and you never know when you'll find an underrated gem.


for the first six episodes i thought this drama was going to be one of those underated gems it was quite funny and progessed at a pretty good clip. sadly TMIAY coudnt keep it up. for me the crash and burn was sudden. maybe other people saw the problems before that, but around episode 6 the story of one of the men was ended in a completely nonsensical and, IMO kind of racist fashion and it went from entertaining and decently done to a sloppy mess.

i'd have to go back and count but i'm pretty sure the math is off somewhere and i really didnt like how what she was doing was made to look 100 x's worse than what was actually happening. either that or subbers are trying to change the meaning of words, which i doubt. for the last ten eps the story was sort of all over the place (it did have it's moments thought) and the epic reveal was so cheesy i skipped it.


as others have mention the female lead is very poorly styled. she looked terrible at best and like a color blind mentally deficint carney at worst. seiously, i could give my 6 yo free reign of everyhting in the house and she look better. Mi Roo could very well be a pretty girl, but it seems like her wardrobe and hair were picked specifcally to make her look hideous. her character isnt exactly compelling either. had she been a little more dynamic and a little more relatable and a little less... MI ROO this show could have maybe been a little better.

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i recently picked this back up after dropping it in disgust 7 episodes in a long time ago. when i dropped it i left it at a 5. there was almost nothing i liked aside from the general idea, the attractive guys and the willingness to embrace the manga-esque slap stick.

for the 1st 7 eps the female lead is so awful. the character is SOO whiney and has nothing remotely resembling self respect. they're going for "down and out" and end up somewhere in the neighborhood of angsty abandoned 3 yo. it was hard to watch. it was also extremely repetative and focused very little on the things that made me want to watch like the love triangle and her revenge plot.

when i picked it back up i felt a glimmer of hope. they had worked out most of the things that made me hate the 1st 7 eps but the 2nd half wasnt much better. a whole new set of problems cropped up. character development goes wonky, the story gets tunnel vision to the point that all other plot lines that have been created are ignored.

what's most annoying for me was that they picked a very BAD spot to stop. i know it's a currently running manga, but if they had waited a little longer to even go into production they could have come across a point in the story where wrapping it up felt more natural and doesnt leave the viewer hanging.

when all's said in done i dont hate it as much as i did, i'm just really disapointed b/c there is NO reason this show couldnt have been excellent.

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ball dropped

Born Again has a very interesting concept but suffers greatly from poor execution.

Many of the "fate" connections feel contrived for effect. Other things just happen out of left field with little or no explanation. You end up with several cluttered stories the writers are trying to mash together by brute force . There are several flaccid attempts at misdirection but the plot is such a jumbled mess of things that don't really connect or make very little sense that there is no satisfaction when they the misdirection is revealed. Ending are hard, so it's not surprising the entire last episode felt like the interns took over and just yakked up some melodramatic nonsense. i did get the distinct vibe that the ending was supposed to be some how profound. it wasnt. just more mess.

Character development, for those who get it at all, is highly inconsistent and often nonsensical. At one point or another every single character of consequence does at least one thing that is at odds with their characterization. you even get some of it with characters who do little to drive the plot. The worst character development by far has to go to Ha Eun/ Sa Bin. She is little more than a McGuffin. That could be for the best since Jin Se Yeon has the emotional range of a mascot costume. Aside from her barely adequate performance the rest of the cast did very well with the poorly written nonsense they handed.

I'm not above dropping a drama, but i got through this mostly on the performances and the hope that the show would rise to the potential of the concept. i don't feel it did.

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