1
depressed
Great and Sweet but falls into cliche and repetitive pitfalls with its writing
Everyone already saw the raving reviews so I'll keep the good points concise.
Love is Sweet is mostly a generic office-romcom. There's romance, comedy, office politics, multiple couples. The plot is bearable in how dark/edgy it gets (doesn't go overboard to ruin the mood of the drama), majority of characters are realistic and fun(ish). Not mold-breaking but it does this very well for its genre and is enjoyable notwithstanding its flaws. Misunderstandings are resolved quickly (a big plus) so it's not a heavy watch which is great for a slow watch or a quick quarantine binge.
Pros: Great chemistry between main leads (honestly one of the best). Acting was great and I think all the actors conveyed emotions to a great detail. The plot wasn't overly complicated and mind-numbingly confusing (although there are certain parts that will be discussed briefly later). This makes rewatch value very high since you can skip around the parts you don't like (if you don't like the office politics or certain couples/characters). One of the best (and underrated parts) is the COMEDY. It's actually very funny with a good mix of wacky fun, diabetes cringe moments, and great banter -- for contemporary dramas with cliche premises, I think that's very important.
Cons: I'll start with minor cons and move my way up.
1) Music -- lots of English background songs, some of which have pretty bad grammar/pronunciation. Might ruin the mood (whether playful or teary) when it plays the same couple of English songs over and over again, not really a standout OST here.
2) Pacing -- first half of the drama was paced very well. Got more and more draggy in the later half.
3) Second Couple -- one of the least interesting second couples I've ever seen. Extremely one-dimensional and took up a lot of screentime. Definitely didn't pay off for how much screentime they took up and there wasn't any strong attachment to them. Felt like more of an afterthought. They tried to be the comedy-relief but shifted towards unneeded angst to keep the "suspense" going which was very arbitrary -- I didn't even mind the shift since I just didn't care for them. Even fast-forwarded some of their scenes and it's a definite skip on potential rewatches.
4) SML -- Won't go too indepth with this since people complained about this a bunch already. Just know that this character is written very poorly and feels unrelatable, almost a caricature of some sort. Last couple of episodes definitely ruin this character even more.
5) Poorer writing of main leads as series continued. This issue, other people haven't really talked too much about. The beginning, you have the "overprotective ML" that is standard in CEO dramas -- started off one-dimensional. Felt his character came off a bit strong initially but not to an excessive degree. Female lead started off extremely interesting -- although somewhat of a "damsel" since she's new to the company, you quickly see her perseverance and strength. Male lead also tones down his actions gradually and really shifts to become the focal point of the drama, however, this is to the detriment of the female lead. Female lead loses substance as the drama continues and starts becoming less and less interesting; becoming both unrelatable and even frustrating at times (which is something that really doesn't happen in the first half). I think in the later episodes, the romance feels more lopsided (male lead cares more for female lead [grand and small gestures, apologies, sacrifices]; female lead shows more aloofness [going at her pace]). Everything wrapped up satisfactorily but with respect to character development (primarily FL), the second half is lacking.
Conclusion:
Yes, I pointed out many cons that might deter you from the drama but note that I still rated it 8.5/10. It's a fun watch. Yes, it has its shortcomings but compared to other dramas in this genre, this one is definitely a standout still! Just don't think too hard about its plot/repetitive and enjoy it. Very fun nonetheless.
Love is Sweet is mostly a generic office-romcom. There's romance, comedy, office politics, multiple couples. The plot is bearable in how dark/edgy it gets (doesn't go overboard to ruin the mood of the drama), majority of characters are realistic and fun(ish). Not mold-breaking but it does this very well for its genre and is enjoyable notwithstanding its flaws. Misunderstandings are resolved quickly (a big plus) so it's not a heavy watch which is great for a slow watch or a quick quarantine binge.
Pros: Great chemistry between main leads (honestly one of the best). Acting was great and I think all the actors conveyed emotions to a great detail. The plot wasn't overly complicated and mind-numbingly confusing (although there are certain parts that will be discussed briefly later). This makes rewatch value very high since you can skip around the parts you don't like (if you don't like the office politics or certain couples/characters). One of the best (and underrated parts) is the COMEDY. It's actually very funny with a good mix of wacky fun, diabetes cringe moments, and great banter -- for contemporary dramas with cliche premises, I think that's very important.
Cons: I'll start with minor cons and move my way up.
1) Music -- lots of English background songs, some of which have pretty bad grammar/pronunciation. Might ruin the mood (whether playful or teary) when it plays the same couple of English songs over and over again, not really a standout OST here.
2) Pacing -- first half of the drama was paced very well. Got more and more draggy in the later half.
3) Second Couple -- one of the least interesting second couples I've ever seen. Extremely one-dimensional and took up a lot of screentime. Definitely didn't pay off for how much screentime they took up and there wasn't any strong attachment to them. Felt like more of an afterthought. They tried to be the comedy-relief but shifted towards unneeded angst to keep the "suspense" going which was very arbitrary -- I didn't even mind the shift since I just didn't care for them. Even fast-forwarded some of their scenes and it's a definite skip on potential rewatches.
4) SML -- Won't go too indepth with this since people complained about this a bunch already. Just know that this character is written very poorly and feels unrelatable, almost a caricature of some sort. Last couple of episodes definitely ruin this character even more.
5) Poorer writing of main leads as series continued. This issue, other people haven't really talked too much about. The beginning, you have the "overprotective ML" that is standard in CEO dramas -- started off one-dimensional. Felt his character came off a bit strong initially but not to an excessive degree. Female lead started off extremely interesting -- although somewhat of a "damsel" since she's new to the company, you quickly see her perseverance and strength. Male lead also tones down his actions gradually and really shifts to become the focal point of the drama, however, this is to the detriment of the female lead. Female lead loses substance as the drama continues and starts becoming less and less interesting; becoming both unrelatable and even frustrating at times (which is something that really doesn't happen in the first half). I think in the later episodes, the romance feels more lopsided (male lead cares more for female lead [grand and small gestures, apologies, sacrifices]; female lead shows more aloofness [going at her pace]). Everything wrapped up satisfactorily but with respect to character development (primarily FL), the second half is lacking.
Conclusion:
Yes, I pointed out many cons that might deter you from the drama but note that I still rated it 8.5/10. It's a fun watch. Yes, it has its shortcomings but compared to other dramas in this genre, this one is definitely a standout still! Just don't think too hard about its plot/repetitive and enjoy it. Very fun nonetheless.
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