dreamcity
I like the story itself, it's a nice re-version of Cinderella, although ther were a few things I couldn't really stand, and by a few things, I mean Hawon's father. The man won shittiest father of the year, even to the grandfather of the Kang cousins. I was also surprised when I noticed her stepmother actually loved him, like, why wase she so mean to the daughter of the man she genuinely loved? I was expecting makjang, but that storyline doesn't make sense in any world.
The romance was cute, I wasn't much into the main couple at first, but honestly they won me over being cute after they get together. I wasn't very fond of the second couple tbh.
I didn't care about the acting, as I was expecting it to be a bit over-the-top and silly, but I have to say I couldn't stand Son Naeun's performance, her character was a bit annoying at times (and likeable at others), but I always felt like punching her when she spoke (I like her as an idol though!!). Ahn Jaehyun's facial expressions were terrible, but he made me laugh a lot with them and I'm not sure it was on purpose, as it's my first time watching him and I've read good comments about him, so I'll let it slide lol. Park Sodam was lovely, she fit perfectly into this silly world while still feeling like an actual person. And I also enjoyed Lee Jungshin a lot, I only realized he was from CNBlue after he made the joke lol.
The OST was meh, honestly. I love BTOB, but this song kinda wasn't it for me. Jessi's song kinda got me on my nerves whenever it started playing, I'm not sure why.
Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. The pace of the story was pretty good, something that doesn't happen often on this kind of shows. As long as I didn't take it seriously, I laughed a lot. I feel like it's a good comfort show to re-watch when you need to get your mind off of things.
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I don't even know where to start, I'll just say that if you're watching this drama for the romance... don't.
I just didn't understand how the leads came to fall for each other (and so fast?? the whole show happens in the span of 3 months). They meet, she is kind of bitchy towards him after he lets her go without paying, they have some kind of spark, and suddenly they're totally obsessed with each other. She memorizes his phone number after he said it *once*. And don't get me wrong, I understand that it sometimes happens that you have an instant connection with someone, but it felt so out of place? 2nd episode and the guy was head over heels for her following like a puppy after she was only mean and dry to him?? and told him she had a boyfriend?? I just did not understand why and how they were so into each other after barely speaking. And what I first thought was the characters acting awkward with each other because they just met, was actually the actors having no chemistry with each other. They did get a bit better by the end, but still. The dialogues between them completely sucked too, so I feel like I can't really blame the actors. There's also the fact that I could never believe the characters were the same age because Jeongmin (FL), looked way older than Jiho (ML), at the end I googled and indeed Han Jimin is 6 years older than Jung Haein. They could've made her character older but I guess that would've been just too much for her family lol.
Then there's the main conflict of the show which is Jeongmin's boyfriend (Kiseok) and their parents. I don't know if all Korean families/people are like this or if it was just being exagerated on the show, but they were really getting on my nerves. Jeongmin's father specially. I get it was pointed out all the time how he was in the wrong, even by his wife, but by the end it was just too much, the man seemed insane. And Kiseok, oh my god. At the beginning I thought, 'well he's kind of a shitty boyfriend but he's not that bad, doesn't deserve his girlfriend emotionally cheating on him'. By the end, I just didn't understand what he was doing. His character didn't make sense. Neither did his father, I could never understand what that man's intentions were.
I enjoyed the relationship between the 3 sisters and their mother a lot though. They always had each other's back. I also liked Jeongmin and Jiho's friends and workmates, loved the dynamic between her sister and his friend lol.
Another thing I didn't enjoy was how 90% of the conversations happened while eating. I know it is a thing in K-Dramas, but in this one it felt way to excessive. I just couldn't catch a break between meals. Please find another place to have a conversation. And the music... probably the most annoying part of the whole show. They had 2 songs that were played over and over again every few scenes. And they felt so out of place most of the time, they didn't really go with the mood. I'm not sure if they were original songs because they were in english? It was weird.
Overall, this drama didn't suck. The story was fine, but the script fucked it over. The actors did a good job with what they had, but it's a shame the leads didn't have any chemistry. The soundtrack was pretty bad.
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This review may contain spoilers
Worthwatching. Great Acting and Interesting Storyline, but Lacking Some Closure
I understand why so many koreans didn't want this drama to happen, given the innacuracy about the spies and the ANSP. I suggest to whoever wants to watch this to get informed about this period of korean history first, or at least of what's wrong with the drama. This was the reason I wasn't sure about watching it, but I'm glad I did.The acting was excellent, I've liked Haein since Were You Were Sleeping (I literally only finished watching that one because of him, and he wasn't even the lead), and I love seeing him play such a different role here, (now I plan on watching DP just to see him being a badass lol). Most of the supporting cast are very well-known and acclaimed actors and they also did amazing here. I was very nervous about Jisoo, as this was her first drama and she was playing the female lead, but she did honestly great. In the first few episodes I found some of her expressions a little cringeworthy, I'm not gonna lie, but I found all of the actors' expressions like that at the time so it might have been the director's fault? I don't know. But she gets better throughout the show, she nails the dramatic scenes, and I wish we had seen more depth to her character. Her chemistry with Haein was off the charts too, I want to see them together in a light-hearted show in the future. Oh, and special mention to Yoo Inna, whose character and acting was the best on the show along Haein's.
Now to the story. During the first few episodes, I found the politics parts completely uncomprehensible. I couldn't understand who was plotting against who, who were trying to catch the north koreans and who were in control, plus whatever the gossipy ladies were doing and who they were married to. During these episodes, the Youngro and college girls' storyline was what kept me going, it was very entertaining. The scenes where she meets Suho at the group date and then runs into him at the music shop are very cute (when he's making gestures so she picks the paper plane, my heart!!). I wish we could've gotten more of all of this before we got to the hiding Suho part. Still, the episodes where the girls hid him and the open house part were also super entertaining and cute. What I found super annoying was how every 5 seconds someone would get themselves in a situation where they were about to get caught doing something, only for them not to get caught. This literally happens like 10 times during the first 3 eps.
When the hostage situation happened, I finally started understanding the politics part, and Youngro and the girls started losing leadership. The main plotline became about 'how are we getting out of this' and the South-North schemes, instead of the romance (which I wouldn't have minded if this wasn't advertised as a romance). I really liked how they managed to spark the
romance up again after he literally held her at gun-point, hostage and threatened her life several times. It somehow felt natural, so props to the writers for that (it would've felt even more natural if they had known each other more before all of that, though).
I actually liked the ending, I expected things to go like that, I just wished we had gotten news about Dr. Kang, and specially closure on Youngro and her relationship with her roomates. They went through so much together only for them to never speak to her again? Did she ever get to explain she didn't support or speak to her dad? Her brother and the love of her life died and her father is in prison, at least they could've shown she had friends again. I also felt like there was more to Seolhee's character and family and it never got explained.
One thing I really liked was that I didn't know who I was rooting for (other than the college girls) until the last few episodes, Kangmoo and Hanna? The Spies? The ANSP? (no never) Ms. Pi? did I like Bunok or not? (answer was no). It was fun to switch sides every few minutes.
In the end, I really enjoyed the drama. I just wish the leads would have dated or gotten to know each other better before the conflict happens, most of the romance was due to Jisoo and Haein's amazing chemistry and acting rather than how their scenes were written. I also wish they had excluded the whole wives' sub-plot, the actresses were good (and funny, specially the last few eps) but it was so unnecessary.
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