Vibes but no plot

This review is coming at you from a non-novel reader, just FYI. But it's another one of these beloved dramas that I ended up just not quite clicking with.

The concept is fantastic. I love a good time travel / isekai type story à la Scarlet Heart Ryeo or Romance of Tiger and Rose. The acting is sometimes good and sometimes a little awkward.

I feel like my main issue with this drama is that so much of it feels unearned and aimless.

There's a sort of "mystery" subplot surrounding a conspiracy reveal that appears for maybe three episodes, and it's all played out so fast from the moment it's first mentioned to the final reveal. We never really follow the story; we just know it's happening in the background, and then the big reveal happens and the story just ends.

The romance, which is the biggest part of the story, gives me much of the same feeling. I am absolutely a hater of insta-love and "destined love," and here it really does show my biggest problem with it. I'm just not understanding why or when they fell in love with each other, and we're given these romantic moments when I feel like they should still be getting to know each other better. It's weird because the potential is definitely there — the massage scene, for example, is A+ — but it would've been even better if it felt earned.

It also feels aimless in the sense of Jom's time travelling not being explained. It's explored at the start when he's so frazzled and trying to figure out what's happening, but he gradually just starts living a normal life. His situation is only addressed when he's forcibly confronted with it, and it leaves a lot of questions by the end. I constantly wished the drama went deeper into this aspect and upped the stakes. I think this is where the conspiracy subplot could've been used, because it could've given Jom a goal, and a "oh, THIS is why I came back" moment.

Ultimately, the ending also feels quite rushed. I know there's a sequel though, so maybe it'll help. Nevertheless, I think the vibes are still there, and I know the novel probably explains more, but from a drama-only perspective, that's what I felt.

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An underdog story

I had heard a lot of good things about this one. It's true — you don't have to know anything about baseball to enjoy it. In fact, there's probably about ten minutes of baseball actually being played.

It's more about the relationships between coworkers and family, about the tension of corporate politics, about your balancing your dreams and being realistic, and about the characters who have to work together to actually put the teams together despite lack of support, funding, and everything else. In that sense, Hot Stove League really is an underdog story. This is one of those dramas where it's a string of mini arcs, one after the other, but it always feels very cohesive. The core group really grows on you, too.

I think the male lead is also one of the most interesting personalities I've seen in a kdrama. He's a little awkward and aloof but it makes for really interesting ways to resolve situations and really unusual character dynamics. Min Namkoong plays the character really well, from the subtle micro-expressions to the really heavy emotional scenes.

There are some plots that are a little jumpy here and there, and I also wish we had more closure for different characters in the last episode. There are so many arcs that I just wish got a little "epilogue" moment, even if we just montaged through it. Overall, though, this show was really worth the watch.

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Closure, but it's unmemorable

I thought Season 1 was generally enjoyable, and Season 2 was also interesting, but had a little too many subplots and random characters. Season 3 fixes that by once again focusing on the most important character (Hyun-su) but doesn't give him much to do.

I'm really glad Hyun-su got more screentime in this season, especially with Eun-yu and Eun-hyeok, because these three were and still are the most important and most intriguing characters, but plot-wise, these three were pretty underutilized. I think the issue is, firstly, just not being quite sure what the end goal is. We know generally that they're on a crash course towards the antagonist, but I didn't really understand what the plan was. And secondly, between this season and the previous season, there's a pretty big shift away from individual stories and showing what triggers monsterization and how they should be dealt with. I get that it's difficult to do this once you've scaled up the story and there are so many arcs to address, but the unfortunate trade-off is that nothing quite sticks.

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Watch for the characters

As a lover of all things time travel, I was very interested in this drama right off the bat. It did, however, take me quite a few episodes to get into the swing of things.

Something about the drama seemed choppy throughout it, whether it was vague dialogue, plot explanations, or the editing of scenes. Even as the show progressed, it felt like there were constant loose ends. For example, it started out with three suspects — something that seemed very pivotal to the story — but they were quickly ruled out, whereas I think we should've done a deep dive into each character to see how they were involved and why.

Still, I think the best part of this drama is the characters. I loved seeing the FL's friendship with her younger mother Soon-Ae, the FL's frenemiship with her younger father Hee-sub, Soon-Ae and Hee-sub's budding romance, Soon-Ae's relationship with her sister, and most of all, Go Mi-sook — who I know is an antagonist but is just so intriguing of a character.

I also want to note that the romance in this drama is very subtle and not at all a big part of the plot; if you're watching for the romance, you might not enjoy this, but in my opinion it actually made the show better; we were able to see them as partners-in-crime who communicated and supported each other, instead of being treated to all the romance cliches that dramaland loves to throw at us. We get family as a bigger theme, and it's great.

In the end, this is a pretty character-driven show, and yet I feel like the FL was quite underutilized. She almost feels more like a support character in the second half of the show, whereas the male lead seems to take the reins on the mystery.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, and while it has the mystery vibes down, I feel like the plot wasn't quite fleshed out. The characters are worth watching though.

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Endearing and fun

After all the angst and misery that Young Royals season 3 gave me, I really just wanted some fun and light-heartedness, and this drama HIT THE SPOT.

The main couple is, of course, the best part of the show. The chemistry is fantastic and this is a great example of how to write a healthy relationship that isn't boring. I loved seeing their relationship develop from "enemies" (with gigantic air quotes lol) to friends, and watching how they communicated and supported each other throughout. The side romances were also great and I never once felt like I wanted to skip any scenes.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how well the humor worked. There are a lot of comparisons with this and 2gether, but I found that drama's humor too over-the-top, making the drama feel low-stakes and nonsensical. On the other hand, this show's humor was well-timed and endearing, and most importantly it never interfered with the tone of the show. It was serious when it needed to be, touching and sad when it needed to be, and funny when it could be. It struck a great balance between touching on some serious topics like homophobia and discrimination, while also making sure we got the feel-good friendships and family scenes.

Overall, this was a great watch. I admit that not all the songs were my vibe, but I loved the ending song, Once Upon A Time. Whether or not you like the songs won't really affect how fun of a watch it is. Ultimately, it's not a life-changing drama, but it will, without a doubt, make your weekend better.

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Warm and comforting

This was a really comforting movie despite its original premise being so sad; the entire vibe of the family spending time together just cooking or cleaning while it rains outside makes you feel really warm.

In terms of plot and story, I honestly don't think it offers up anything new, but it still successfully makes use of one of my favorite tropes — one person has been pining for a long time just for you to find out the other person has been pining for even longer — so this isn't even even a complaint.

I do wish this was longer. I'm not sure how or where it would go, but I felt like I didn't get enough scenes with the leads and their son for me to see them as parents, as opposed to just being a couple (since we got a lot of their love story, which I loved). The theme seemed to bounce between romance and family without being able to make it cohesive.

Overall, I'd say the story goes pretty much as expected, but it's still a really comforting watch.

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What is the message?

I came across a fan-made music video of the leads to Ellie Goulding's Still Falling For You and it convinced me to watch this drama for the longest time. I am sad to say that the FMV was far better than the actual drama.

The first thing I noticed was was the overall tone and style of acting. It was almost parody-like, and it felt like the acting was always dialed to 30% no matter how emotionally heavy the scene was supposed to be. I also had this issue with 2gether so I'm not sure if it's just a sign of the times, but the unconvincing acting made it so that none of the plot really felt emotional or high-stakes.

My biggest issue is probably with the social messaging, which turned out to be very self-contradictory.

So you have a main character who's only temporarily ugly because a procedure went wrong; this is actually a pretty good (and common) set-up for a previously shallow girl to realize there's more to life, but as the drama progressed the theme started getting muddled. There's a female character who's on the heavier side and the drama was filled with comments about her weight, but it was all played for laughs. Additionally, people would tell our FL that she just had to wait a year and then she would be pretty again, and as the drama went on, this did prove to be true and very quickly the drama changed from "women shouldn't let shallow judgements bring them down" to "women should appreciate men who like them when they're ugly, even when they become pretty again."

I felt a similar issue with the way the male lead's plot went — after so much character exploration around why he had to work so much and be so frugal and how it impacted his previous relationship, it would've been extremely interesting to see how his relationship with the FL would be different, considering that once again there would be a wealth gap. Instead, the drama went the easy route and made it so that he was secretly rich and there would be no family disapproval or long-term insecurity.

As a result, it felt like the drama focused instead on how they it was important for everyone to be ugly/poor (or pretend to be) at some point in their lives to test who really cared about them. The drama didn't explore the lives of anyone who actually was unattractive or unwealthy, and would never be able to change it.

I also just have a huge issue with how they destroyed the ML's character in the last few episodes. I liked his playfulness at the start; it was fun, albeit a little over-the-top sometimes, but playful MLs are my favorite archetype and I liked the he was genuinely nice. Once the female lead rejected him, however, he turned into a very typical Nice Guy™, slut-shaming her by saying her clothes were too revealing and she just wanted men's attention like all other shallow women, calling her a gold-digger who didn't like him because he was poor, and being stupid for not appreciating him for liking her when she was at her lowest. It made me not root for him at all and it really is the reason for my dropping my rating so much.

Despite all that, I still really think there is potential here and I wish the writing had taken itself more seriously to really reach that.

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Fun little extra but not a lot of Totono

The first half was a rehash of the first episode so it was nothing new, and the second half was a new case which was a pretty cute watch and a fun addition, especially since I absolutely loved the original drama. But there actually wasn't a lot of Totono in it.

The case introduces a new character — Sagara Ren, who was bubbly and fun and had a really adorable relationship with Totono. I loved the two of them together and I hope we get to see Sagara again.

The case itself was fine, but the detective work was actually done mostly by Sagara and the other characters, and it just didn't have the same endearing awkwardness that situations usually have when Totono is front and center.

Overall, this is definitely not a necessary watch, but it's light-hearted and low stakes. I can see why it was split off into a special and if anyone wants to see Totono again it's still worth tuning in for.

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Confusing but interesting mythology

Pretty early on, I realized that I felt the same way about this drama the way I felt about Goblin. While I thought the lore was well thought-out and it was really cool to see Amis mythology translated into a Taiwanese drama, I felt it very difficult to emotionally connect to the characters.

The pacing is quite slow at the start — it feels like you're dropped into the middle of a situation that doesn't change or explain itself for a few episodes, and even when it did start to develop, it was difficult to understand where the story was headed and why. The dialogue feels kind of vague and abstract sometimes.

The side characters are also okay. There are some that have interesting stories that do tie into the main plot but I felt pretty apathetic about most of the characters as a whole. In a sense the female lead felt very isolated from the more down-to-earth characters who I wish were taught the myths; it might've helped explain the story in a more understandable way while also bringing the mundane and the fantasy worlds closer together.

I did like the environmental themes here but I don't think it was as prominent as I expected; the romance definitely took center stage and once again, I cared about the romance more as a concept and not really because I was genuinely emotionally invested in it.

The ending...is actually fine to me, but I think it would've been better if they'd dedicated more time to it because it felt very sudden. The ending is probably the biggest place where I could recognize that the writer of this drama is the same as that of Someday or One Day.

Overall, not really for me (hence the lower than average rating) because I found it difficult to emotionally connect with it, but I still think it was worth a watch for the mythology.

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I pretend I do not see it

Unfortunately it seems like this is one of those sequels I would prefer to forget about and likely will never watch again, except for maybe parts of that first episode and some scenes where the leads are just spending domestic time together.

The chemistry between the leads is absolutely still there, and all the intimate moments are still beautifully shot and make you feel like you're intruding on something very private and meaningful.

As someone who absolutely despises infidelity plots, it was really difficult to even give this drama a chance, and the end result was exactly as I expected — infuriating. It's not only that I feel like we went through so many learning moments about communication in part 1 just to feel like the characters regressed to a worse place, but also that the side characters involved in the infidelity plot weren't enjoyable to watch at all. There was none of the chemistry the show tried to convince us of, and all of the deep moments or life lessons felt icky considering the circumstances.

There are far too many time jumps, which felt lazy and meant that emotions seemed to appear out of nowhere without proper build-up and forgiveness happened without feeling earned. The subtle visual symbolism and showing-not-telling was also absent, despite the cinematography still overall being great.

I feel like the only reason I still don't absolutely hate this to the point of a 1/10 is because there's just so much magic between the leads when they're on screen together and because the scenery is still gorgeous.

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Satisfying but has some hiccups

There are some pacing and story issues, but overall this was a pretty satisfying watch — as expected, the Flipped trope is great.

I might be one of the few people who didn't get too annoyed with the first six episodes. Sure, Khai was kinda terrible and it was a lot of repetitive crying from Third, but you could feel the story building towards Third's breaking point and the reversal of roles, and that was good enough. In fact, I think the two-part style works really well, with the first half being from Third's perspective and the second half being from Khai's.

With that being said, I still think there were some weird pacing issues. While I liked the two-part style itself, the transition between them was a little fast, and I also do think the back-end of both sections were a little dragged out, before just jumping to the next plot too fast. There's not really a strong main plot going on behind the romance either, so I don't get a really good sense of how much time is passing.

I also didn't care about some of the side plots, particularly Bone's. Two's story got better over time and it definitely paid off at the end, especially because he was such a good character even on his own.

The bromance throughout the show was actually one of its strengths. Some of the best moments came when characters were talking to each other about their struggles and heartbreaks and I wish we'd seen more of it, because I often felt like characters were dealing with issues in silos.

As someone who rates with my brain, 6.5 is what I would consider average, but I do have a soft spot for this show and for what it might bring to any viewers who've ever been trapped in unrequited love. And all the film references also made my movie buff heart very happy.

And finally, as a little heads up I also do want to mention that there are some nonconsensual kisses in here, in case anyone reading doesn't want to see that.

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Adorable and Intriguing

I went into this drama with zero expectations and WOW I was just blown away by all of it.

The first thing to talk about is of course, the main lead. He's eccentric and intelligent and just so lovable. Following the ML and seeing him randomly roped into mysteries was super fun and it never felt convenient. I loved his interactions with every single side character. The way the ML perceives the world is so interesting too; there are a lot of memorable quotes in this show.

Speaking of side characters, the drama also did a really good job of giving every single side character, even if they only appeared in a two-episode case, backstory that actually makes you feel for them. The acting is fantastic for every single one of them. I was really impressed with how fleshed out the subplots were and how they ended up tying together.

The plot is just super smart. This is one of those dramas that gives you pieces of the puzzle out of order, and everything becomes clear once you keep watching and start piecing it all together.

Such a great watch and I can't wait to watch the movie and see a season 2.

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