spicyeggroll
This review may contain spoilers
Tom and Jerry but make it a CDrama
Objectively, I don't think this drama is that bad. But subjectively, I really struggled to finish this and small things got on my nerves. I was looking for another body-swap drama after adoring The Day of Becoming You (which I really recommend!!) but the body-swap portions of The Lonely Planet got tiring after the first couple of episodes. At the half-way mark, I was watching at 2x speed until the leads got together (ep 17) and slowed down from there. I still really had to push myself to finish.
PROS
❀ Main actors did a great job in their roles | Yang Shi Ze and Zhang Ling Yi are new to me, but I enjoyed their screen time! I like how the ML has an unconventional face (whoa @ his cheekbones) and how the show tried to make him more than a cold CEO. He loved his dog, was tacky in fashion, and was playful when he wanted to be. I wasn't impressed by the FL's character, but the actress was adorable and had great energy.
❀ Main leads pull off a bickering couple well | I wasn't sold on their chemistry BUT the way they were at each other like cats and dogs was fun. This kind of relationship also lends a casual vibe to it though, which is another reason why I was indifferent about their romantic progression.
❀ I liked the way the main leads got together in a business venture | She's the designer, he's the operations manager. It was great to see them balancing each other out and struggling through the challenges of a clothing start-up. Unrealistic, for sure, but sweet and fitting for such a light drama.
❀ Loved the camaraderie of all the people who had their personalities switched with their pets | There's a frog prince (who wants to be an actor), a hamster girl who can't stop eating/working out, and a turtle dude who apparently goes into hibernation. I wish they had more screen time, because they were so fun to watch!
CONS
✕ Instead of giving more time to fun characters, we get to follow lousy side characters | AKA the second leads. A huge reason why I watched this show at 2x speed was because of these useless characters that I could care less about. Their actors had one expression the whole time and it was ":|"
The 2FL starts out with the ML but they end their relationship around ep 6 when the ML finds out she's been cheating on him and is a gold-digger. For some reason, the show follows her around still afterwards and even gives her a redemption arc!!! Like, pls - get this woman's face off of my screen. The actress was a wooden plank, too, so I didn't even like or hate her. She was just,,, THERE. To fill up time, I guess. Why was this necessary???
The 2ML is someone the FL has a crush on in the beginning of the drama and we get the unexpected pleasure (/s) of seeing their entire relationship, from kisses to an evil mother, all the way to the break-up in ep 11. WHY???? LMFAO I could give 0 fucks about this dude and his evil mom. They tried to make him an in-depth character by giving him a whole arc too ("Mom, I want to move out of your place and end your toxicity"). Again, a waste of my time. Again, the actor himself had no emotion and walked around like a wooden plank. The show tries to get them together near the end but by that point I was skipping through their scenes.
Even the goofy characters of the ML's friends (and the second couple) was pushed aside to make room for these useless second leads. They made the secondary couple meet, date, and get married in the span of ~3 episodes!
✕ Inconsistent and disappointing use of the body-swapping premise | In this drama, the leads take on the personality of the other person's pets, so the FL becomes dog-like and the ML becomes cat-like. The way the writers use this premise is VERY inconsistent, and they played the game of "pick and choose" for what traits would pop up. For example, the FL becomes a loyal dog and her first instinct when she changes personality (or gets upset) is to run to the ML's side. This was emphasized so much in the first couple of episodes, and forgotten about later on. It also didn't make sense that the pets would be feeling the same way as the humans when they were upset (it was just thrown around randomly during key plot points??).
There was also a slight imbalance on the pet traits. It was obviously shown when the FL became Coffee (the dog), because she would start getting super expressive and loud, while the ML only got withdrawn and uncaring when he became the cat. I think there's quite a bit of cat traits to work with (ex: curiosity), but this show just made the ML lethargic/lazy. There's another cdrama called Make A Wish that does the cat-human trope better. It irritated me how clingy the FL became when she was a dog, and I thought it was REALLY telling that the writer decided to make the FL behave like that while the ML didn't have to deal with such a huge trouble. She was loyal to the point of not reading important contracts in the beginning, which was sososo messy.
You might think I'm reading into it, but to me this is just another way of writing a ditzy, naive, immature FL. I don't think her character is inherently that way, but that dog personality really made it seem so, which was super grating.
✕ These characters forgave and forgot way too easily | Someone who plagiarizes the FL is forgiven, the cheating gold-digger ex is forgiven, the evil mom is forgiven, even the sexual harrasser CEO near the end has barely a punishment (I bet he would have been forgiven if there was another episode!).
✕ Misunderstanding level: 3/10 | They happen more than I would have liked but are resolved within the episode or less (even the FL's noble idiocy in the later episode is quickly uncovered). These misunderstandings are because of a lack of communication (ugh) but the leads later on communicate and apologize for them, so there's that I guess.
OVERALL
The Lonely Planet's quirky premise sets the tone for the rest of the show: light and silly. Even the romance is more of the "playful" type than "passionate" type. Unfortunately, its reliance on too many common cliches and the lack of creativity with the pet-personality-swapping plot point made it a miss for me. I was only able to finish out of sheer determination. If the points I made in the CONS section don't bother you, then I'd say go for it, since it's at its core a light/fluffy romcom.
(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)
PROS
❀ Main actors did a great job in their roles | Yang Shi Ze and Zhang Ling Yi are new to me, but I enjoyed their screen time! I like how the ML has an unconventional face (whoa @ his cheekbones) and how the show tried to make him more than a cold CEO. He loved his dog, was tacky in fashion, and was playful when he wanted to be. I wasn't impressed by the FL's character, but the actress was adorable and had great energy.
❀ Main leads pull off a bickering couple well | I wasn't sold on their chemistry BUT the way they were at each other like cats and dogs was fun. This kind of relationship also lends a casual vibe to it though, which is another reason why I was indifferent about their romantic progression.
❀ I liked the way the main leads got together in a business venture | She's the designer, he's the operations manager. It was great to see them balancing each other out and struggling through the challenges of a clothing start-up. Unrealistic, for sure, but sweet and fitting for such a light drama.
❀ Loved the camaraderie of all the people who had their personalities switched with their pets | There's a frog prince (who wants to be an actor), a hamster girl who can't stop eating/working out, and a turtle dude who apparently goes into hibernation. I wish they had more screen time, because they were so fun to watch!
CONS
✕ Instead of giving more time to fun characters, we get to follow lousy side characters | AKA the second leads. A huge reason why I watched this show at 2x speed was because of these useless characters that I could care less about. Their actors had one expression the whole time and it was ":|"
The 2FL starts out with the ML but they end their relationship around ep 6 when the ML finds out she's been cheating on him and is a gold-digger. For some reason, the show follows her around still afterwards and even gives her a redemption arc!!! Like, pls - get this woman's face off of my screen. The actress was a wooden plank, too, so I didn't even like or hate her. She was just,,, THERE. To fill up time, I guess. Why was this necessary???
The 2ML is someone the FL has a crush on in the beginning of the drama and we get the unexpected pleasure (/s) of seeing their entire relationship, from kisses to an evil mother, all the way to the break-up in ep 11. WHY???? LMFAO I could give 0 fucks about this dude and his evil mom. They tried to make him an in-depth character by giving him a whole arc too ("Mom, I want to move out of your place and end your toxicity"). Again, a waste of my time. Again, the actor himself had no emotion and walked around like a wooden plank. The show tries to get them together near the end but by that point I was skipping through their scenes.
Even the goofy characters of the ML's friends (and the second couple) was pushed aside to make room for these useless second leads. They made the secondary couple meet, date, and get married in the span of ~3 episodes!
✕ Inconsistent and disappointing use of the body-swapping premise | In this drama, the leads take on the personality of the other person's pets, so the FL becomes dog-like and the ML becomes cat-like. The way the writers use this premise is VERY inconsistent, and they played the game of "pick and choose" for what traits would pop up. For example, the FL becomes a loyal dog and her first instinct when she changes personality (or gets upset) is to run to the ML's side. This was emphasized so much in the first couple of episodes, and forgotten about later on. It also didn't make sense that the pets would be feeling the same way as the humans when they were upset (it was just thrown around randomly during key plot points??).
There was also a slight imbalance on the pet traits. It was obviously shown when the FL became Coffee (the dog), because she would start getting super expressive and loud, while the ML only got withdrawn and uncaring when he became the cat. I think there's quite a bit of cat traits to work with (ex: curiosity), but this show just made the ML lethargic/lazy. There's another cdrama called Make A Wish that does the cat-human trope better. It irritated me how clingy the FL became when she was a dog, and I thought it was REALLY telling that the writer decided to make the FL behave like that while the ML didn't have to deal with such a huge trouble. She was loyal to the point of not reading important contracts in the beginning, which was sososo messy.
You might think I'm reading into it, but to me this is just another way of writing a ditzy, naive, immature FL. I don't think her character is inherently that way, but that dog personality really made it seem so, which was super grating.
✕ These characters forgave and forgot way too easily | Someone who plagiarizes the FL is forgiven, the cheating gold-digger ex is forgiven, the evil mom is forgiven, even the sexual harrasser CEO near the end has barely a punishment (I bet he would have been forgiven if there was another episode!).
✕ Misunderstanding level: 3/10 | They happen more than I would have liked but are resolved within the episode or less (even the FL's noble idiocy in the later episode is quickly uncovered). These misunderstandings are because of a lack of communication (ugh) but the leads later on communicate and apologize for them, so there's that I guess.
OVERALL
The Lonely Planet's quirky premise sets the tone for the rest of the show: light and silly. Even the romance is more of the "playful" type than "passionate" type. Unfortunately, its reliance on too many common cliches and the lack of creativity with the pet-personality-swapping plot point made it a miss for me. I was only able to finish out of sheer determination. If the points I made in the CONS section don't bother you, then I'd say go for it, since it's at its core a light/fluffy romcom.
(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)
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