I had such a hard time rating this drama, and I still don't know how I feel. I've always believed that good characters can carry a weak plot, and the characters in My Holo Love were amazing, but I still can't get over how... messy...? the story was.

I didn't think I was going to like this because I'm wary of sci-fi, I wasn't the biggest fan of the lead actress (notice the past tense), prosopagnosia is the new amnesia and it's annoying (and wouldn't you know it? mhl had both!), and the plot sounded weird, but despite these hesitations I was hooked within the first five minutes. (Note: I've also been a big fan of Yoon Hyun Min since Tunnel, and his real-person character shown in the trailer is what eventually pushed me to watch.)

I was really surprised and super moved by how emotionally complex the story was, and the psychology and emotional weight behind the creation of Holo, and by extension the relationship between Nan Do, Holo, and So Yeon. I think it was around episode three? (the park scene for those of you who have seen it already) that really got me emotionally invested in the characters... which is why I am having such a hard time rating the drama.

I saw someone on tumblr joke about how My Holo Love had every trope in the book: childhood trauma, childhood acquaintances, prosopagnosia, amnesia, accidental kiss, cpr kiss, secret/mistaken identity, love triangle, grumpy/closed off/rich male lead, and still this list goes on. All of it plus your typical action that comes from a dangerous bad guy doing illegal stuff to steal a product. But there were still times the plot felt slow. And there were times when the plot was hard to follow, most of which occurred because of technical computer lingo that I don't understand and it was hard to follow how certain things happened and how characters came to certain conclusions, etc. But there were also times the non-techy parts were hard to follow. Mainly the death of Nan Do's mom when he was a kid, I have some nit-picky unrealistic complaints about that whole scenario, but I don't want to include spoilers so.... I can't tell if the drama only being 12 episodes made the messy plot worse by seeming rushed or condensed or if it saved the drama from dragging on.

But at the same time, while all of the plot was ridiculous, the actors and the characters played it off really well. Like if I were to try to explain this drama to someone else I would sound insane, but actually watching it wasn't that bad? I seriously loved the characters so much that it's really hard to find a good rating. So basically what I did was compare my enjoyment level and critique of the plot to other dramas I have rated. This falls pretty close in line to Flower Boy Next Door for me, so I decided on a 7.5.