This review may contain spoilers
Love It But Don't Be Fooled...
Okay, first off, I didn't read the webtoon so I can't compare. I do say that this is a refreshing show but it does have its drawbacks. You may fall in love with all the fluff but there are some negatives to point out. BTW, I originally gave this a 9.0 rating from EP 10 and by EP 12, I changed it to a 7.5
So, briefly explaining the plot, the FL, Ha-Ri, decides to go on a blind date in place of her best friend. Apparently, they do this switch-a-roo because Ha-Ri is good at acting and making all the blind dates fail. However, of course, that one blind date goes awry because as you already know, the blind date is with the ML, Tae-M.oo who is the CEO of her company.
Now from the get-go, while Ha-Ri's antics to get him to dislike her is funny and hilarious, you don't get to know what his first impression was of her. You do get to hear the inner monologue of the FL and the first impression she has of him but you don't know what he thinks of her. So despite all her silly antics, he decides that he wants to marry her anyway. Of course, she refuses him flat out. He finds out later that she wasn't the original person he was supposed to meet and using that, he binds the FL into a contractual fake relationship so that his grandfather will stop arranging blind dates for him.
Ha-Ri still doesn't tell him that she works for his company, so she constantly tries to hide from him at work and of course, later he finds out.
There's the second FL, Young Seo who is Ha-Ri's best friend and has a crush on the second ML, Sung Hoon, who just happens to be Tae-Moo's secretary and best friend.
So as of this writing, I've watched up to EP6 of 12 episodes.
So here are some drawbacks:
-There's a part where a voyeur secretly films the SFL and later gets caught. The SFL is actually a rich heiress. When she's on the way to the police station with evidence that she was videotaped, the voyeur stops her and of course, she gets pushed down and now the second ML, Sung Hoon comes running to her rescue. Then later, the ML, Tae-Moo sweeps in and finishes off the bad guy at the police station using his connections and money. IMO, this is something that the rich SFL could've done herself. But falling for the "damsel in distress" trope, they make the SFL into more of a victim rather than a woman who could've dealt with the bad guy just like the ML did. Instead, it could've been written that the SFL decides NOT to be a victim of this voyeur or at least make the bad guy very regretful he ever crossed her. She's a rich heiress and a powerful businesswoman too.
-There's a dress montage where the ML picks out dresses for the FL and she tries them all on and he picks which one HE likes because of course, it's a fake anniversary gift to HER. They turn this moment of him looking at her like she looks gorgeous in this dress so it's all so lovey-dovey... but don't be fooled. From another vantage point, the FL agrees that she likes the dress too even though the dress is too small and she can hardly breathe, let alone eat in it but who is she to say anything? After all, he's buying. The dress later rips and he's a "hero" for covering her backside, and later they "laugh" about it but does he apologize for kinda forcing that dress on her or ask her why she didn't say something earlier? Why not write it like he's sorry for making her wear it and she says, "I should've said something and now I know better." Something where they both learn and grow together?
-At one point, Ha-Ri tries to hide out in the bathroom when the CEO's grandfather has to use it and she refuses to open the door. She's afraid he'll find out who she is so she tries to keep the door closed even though the grandfather badly needs to use the bathroom. The door finally bursts open and the grandfather falls and hurts himself and Ha-Ri doesn't reach out to grab him because she wants to just hide her face. Not a cool scene at all. There was a lot of fuss over this about disrespecting the elderly and I agree. I mean, she could've just dashed out but whatever.
-There's the ML's reaction when he finds out Ha-Ri works for him and that she lied and hid her real identity from him. He abuses his authority as a boss making her overworked and stressed emotionally. Not the best writing. Same ol' cliché of the rich boss being bad while the female employee puts up with it. She even begs him to keep her job because of course she lied to him so it's ALL her fault. Would've been better if she had quit and he begs her to come back.
-The FL's drunken confession of telling the ML who she really is, (btw, Netflix gave away this spoiler and put it in the details as the episode was released so I read it first and was disappointed finding out how the ML finds out the truth before I watched it). Anyway, of course, the FL admits who she really is to the ML but she's drunk and she thinks she's dreaming and she forgets the next day. It would've been better had she been sober.
-The SFL has an embarrassing moment where she really needs to go to the bathroom and the bathroom is locked. Of course, the SML "saves" her again in the nick of time. Oh btw, he also "saved" the SFL from a CGI cockroach in her apartment. So in total, he saved the SFL from the cockroach, the voyeur, and from the bathroom fiasco and if we include him catching up to her while she's walking home drunk, that would be 4 times. Also, as for the FL, when Ha-Ri's friends run into her, they ask her about her "rich boyfriend" which was actually a lie that the SFL made up for her bestie, but luckily the ML steps in front of Ha-Ri's friends and pretends to be her boyfriend. So basically all the women get the embarrassing and humiliating moments but none of the guys really. They just fall into the "heroes" tropes all the time.
-The SFL kisses the SML while she's drunk now you have a love connection between the two. I'm not liking the fact that the second ML reciprocated the drunken kiss. Would've been better if he was a "gentleman" and didn't give in to a drunk woman. Like WTF is with the women having to be drunk in pivotal moments?
-You hear all about the SFL's feelings about the SML but you don't hear much about him and how he feels about her really. Everything is focused on the second female lead's feelings.
Okay, so don't get me wrong, I do love this rom-com but I'm being unbiased in some moments where it could've been better. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the writers of the show or because it's following the webtoon. As previously mentioned, I've never seen the webtoon so I can't say. Also, I'm not a fan of the OST... it just isn't as memorable or catchy. I still can't remember it even now.
Btw, I'm a huge fan of Paul Anh (Anh Hyo Seop) and I think Kim Se Jeong is perfect for this role!
Update:
I just finished watching this and I found the last two episodes lacking. It wasn't rushed but I felt like it was unsatisfying to watch at the end. Something was just missing. The whole grandfather's disapproval was dumb, dumb, dumb... Can someone tell me what was the point of showing us scenes where the grandfather is watching his fave kdrama if it really didn't contribute to the main story? I thought maybe the grandfather would've approved of Ha-ri after seeing how Shin Geum-hi was treated on that show. Pointless scenes if you ask me.
Anyways, all in all, it was funny and cute but I do have to say that the last two episodes were just so-so and missing something. The OST was barely memorable as well.
So, briefly explaining the plot, the FL, Ha-Ri, decides to go on a blind date in place of her best friend. Apparently, they do this switch-a-roo because Ha-Ri is good at acting and making all the blind dates fail. However, of course, that one blind date goes awry because as you already know, the blind date is with the ML, Tae-M.oo who is the CEO of her company.
Now from the get-go, while Ha-Ri's antics to get him to dislike her is funny and hilarious, you don't get to know what his first impression was of her. You do get to hear the inner monologue of the FL and the first impression she has of him but you don't know what he thinks of her. So despite all her silly antics, he decides that he wants to marry her anyway. Of course, she refuses him flat out. He finds out later that she wasn't the original person he was supposed to meet and using that, he binds the FL into a contractual fake relationship so that his grandfather will stop arranging blind dates for him.
Ha-Ri still doesn't tell him that she works for his company, so she constantly tries to hide from him at work and of course, later he finds out.
There's the second FL, Young Seo who is Ha-Ri's best friend and has a crush on the second ML, Sung Hoon, who just happens to be Tae-Moo's secretary and best friend.
So as of this writing, I've watched up to EP6 of 12 episodes.
So here are some drawbacks:
-There's a part where a voyeur secretly films the SFL and later gets caught. The SFL is actually a rich heiress. When she's on the way to the police station with evidence that she was videotaped, the voyeur stops her and of course, she gets pushed down and now the second ML, Sung Hoon comes running to her rescue. Then later, the ML, Tae-Moo sweeps in and finishes off the bad guy at the police station using his connections and money. IMO, this is something that the rich SFL could've done herself. But falling for the "damsel in distress" trope, they make the SFL into more of a victim rather than a woman who could've dealt with the bad guy just like the ML did. Instead, it could've been written that the SFL decides NOT to be a victim of this voyeur or at least make the bad guy very regretful he ever crossed her. She's a rich heiress and a powerful businesswoman too.
-There's a dress montage where the ML picks out dresses for the FL and she tries them all on and he picks which one HE likes because of course, it's a fake anniversary gift to HER. They turn this moment of him looking at her like she looks gorgeous in this dress so it's all so lovey-dovey... but don't be fooled. From another vantage point, the FL agrees that she likes the dress too even though the dress is too small and she can hardly breathe, let alone eat in it but who is she to say anything? After all, he's buying. The dress later rips and he's a "hero" for covering her backside, and later they "laugh" about it but does he apologize for kinda forcing that dress on her or ask her why she didn't say something earlier? Why not write it like he's sorry for making her wear it and she says, "I should've said something and now I know better." Something where they both learn and grow together?
-At one point, Ha-Ri tries to hide out in the bathroom when the CEO's grandfather has to use it and she refuses to open the door. She's afraid he'll find out who she is so she tries to keep the door closed even though the grandfather badly needs to use the bathroom. The door finally bursts open and the grandfather falls and hurts himself and Ha-Ri doesn't reach out to grab him because she wants to just hide her face. Not a cool scene at all. There was a lot of fuss over this about disrespecting the elderly and I agree. I mean, she could've just dashed out but whatever.
-There's the ML's reaction when he finds out Ha-Ri works for him and that she lied and hid her real identity from him. He abuses his authority as a boss making her overworked and stressed emotionally. Not the best writing. Same ol' cliché of the rich boss being bad while the female employee puts up with it. She even begs him to keep her job because of course she lied to him so it's ALL her fault. Would've been better if she had quit and he begs her to come back.
-The FL's drunken confession of telling the ML who she really is, (btw, Netflix gave away this spoiler and put it in the details as the episode was released so I read it first and was disappointed finding out how the ML finds out the truth before I watched it). Anyway, of course, the FL admits who she really is to the ML but she's drunk and she thinks she's dreaming and she forgets the next day. It would've been better had she been sober.
-The SFL has an embarrassing moment where she really needs to go to the bathroom and the bathroom is locked. Of course, the SML "saves" her again in the nick of time. Oh btw, he also "saved" the SFL from a CGI cockroach in her apartment. So in total, he saved the SFL from the cockroach, the voyeur, and from the bathroom fiasco and if we include him catching up to her while she's walking home drunk, that would be 4 times. Also, as for the FL, when Ha-Ri's friends run into her, they ask her about her "rich boyfriend" which was actually a lie that the SFL made up for her bestie, but luckily the ML steps in front of Ha-Ri's friends and pretends to be her boyfriend. So basically all the women get the embarrassing and humiliating moments but none of the guys really. They just fall into the "heroes" tropes all the time.
-The SFL kisses the SML while she's drunk now you have a love connection between the two. I'm not liking the fact that the second ML reciprocated the drunken kiss. Would've been better if he was a "gentleman" and didn't give in to a drunk woman. Like WTF is with the women having to be drunk in pivotal moments?
-You hear all about the SFL's feelings about the SML but you don't hear much about him and how he feels about her really. Everything is focused on the second female lead's feelings.
Okay, so don't get me wrong, I do love this rom-com but I'm being unbiased in some moments where it could've been better. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the writers of the show or because it's following the webtoon. As previously mentioned, I've never seen the webtoon so I can't say. Also, I'm not a fan of the OST... it just isn't as memorable or catchy. I still can't remember it even now.
Btw, I'm a huge fan of Paul Anh (Anh Hyo Seop) and I think Kim Se Jeong is perfect for this role!
Update:
I just finished watching this and I found the last two episodes lacking. It wasn't rushed but I felt like it was unsatisfying to watch at the end. Something was just missing. The whole grandfather's disapproval was dumb, dumb, dumb... Can someone tell me what was the point of showing us scenes where the grandfather is watching his fave kdrama if it really didn't contribute to the main story? I thought maybe the grandfather would've approved of Ha-ri after seeing how Shin Geum-hi was treated on that show. Pointless scenes if you ask me.
Anyways, all in all, it was funny and cute but I do have to say that the last two episodes were just so-so and missing something. The OST was barely memorable as well.
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