This review may contain spoilers
A little slow but worth a watch
My observations:
1) ML is an absolute cutie pie and pretty much perfect…although some might consider him a bit too obsessive in his pursuit of FL. However, in my opinion, FL doesn’t deserve this guy. It’s not that I don’t like her; it’s just that I don’t like how she treats him, especially at the end when she dumps him for her career. Honestly, I can’t believe this nearly perfect man is dumped twice: once by his ex-girlfriend for another guy and once by FL for her career. I agree with her mom – no career is worth leaving a man like this. He’s a once in a lifetime find. It’s really unfair of the scriptwriter to have him dumped twice. And, honestly, how realistic is it for a guy to be dumped twice, especially one as wonderful as this guy, but I suppose one can ask the question – how realistic is it for a guy like this to even exist in real life.
2) One reviewer I read said that ML’s motives for showing FL the truth about Jae-Shin were purely selfish in nature. Perhaps but honestly, she needed to know. If I were her, I’d want to know before I made a bigger fool of myself. Plus, ML took this course of action, knowing that she might hate him afterwards so was his motives purely selfish? He could have waited and let her discover the truth in 3 months, but of course, maybe Jae-Shin would have kept seeing her after his marriage, making the betrayal even worse. I think ML did the right thing despite the benefit he received in their break-up.
3) I didn’t like how FL wasn’t straightforward with Jae-Shin. She avoided telling him the truth as to why she was breaking up with him over and over again. Just tell him that you know about the fiancée instead of making him guess! This guessing game just didn’t seem to fit her normally straightforward character. Yeah, to her and ML, he was a jerk, but the viewer knows that Jae-Shin isn’t as bad as he seems. He’s a man being suffocated by his father, a woman who’s mentally unstable and her rich family. Instead of Jae-Won begging JS to accept his sister, he should have been making arrangements for her to be placed in a psych ward. No doubt JS’s relationship with FL was the one place he could go and BREATHE, which is why he didn’t want to accept the end of it.
4) I think Jae-Shin is an interesting character, probably the most interesting of the drama. On the surface, he appears like a typical cheating boyfriend, but I felt real sympathy for him and the life he was living. He clearly didn’t want to marry the Hyo-Joo (I despise people who threaten suicide to blackmail the object of their obsession) but felt he couldn’t resist because of his dad’s debt and the deal he made with Jae-Won as a teen. The best thing that happened to him was his dad’s death since it made it possible for him to break free from the toxic Hyo-Joo & Lee family. One of my favorite moments of the drama is when Hyo-Joo asks him later on (after she’s recovered from her obsession) if he ever regrets ending it with her, and he says, ‘Not once.’ Good for you, Jae-Shin! I’m so glad he was able to live free in the end, although, by that time, there was no hope of recovering the woman he loved. Just a side note: Hyo-Joo's outfits were ugly - too big on her and loud.
5) I liked FL's calm voice and manner. She behaved maturely except for the guessing game she put Jae-Shin through. However, I found it hard to like her when she leaves for Europe and eventually dumps ML. Clearly, ML loved her more than she loved him since he was willing to suck it up and wait it out until she returns, but she throws him away like something you once cherished but no longer have time for. Oh, sure, she cried – boo hoo - but the fact remains, that she chose herself over the man she claims to love. I guess, in the modern world, sacrifice is a dirty word, and now, it’s all about ME and MY dreams because you know, I don’t want any regrets. All of us regret at some point, no matter what choice we make. At least, when she comes back, she does acknowledge to her friend how shameless she’d be to expect ML to take her back. If I didn't prefer happy endings, I would have rooted for ML never to take her back. At the very least, he should have made her suffer longer than he did, but we only had an episode to get them back together, I guess. Just one question – why do all these FLs’ dreams involve studying aboard, working aboard? Can no one further their career in their own country, in their own city? And why do most of these dreams seem to be about acquiring power/prestige through career? Is furthering one’s career the only dream these days? I guess I must be showing my age because I still believe that relationships are important and shouldn’t be thrown away so casually. But I guess in the end, since she returned after only 3 years, she found out that her dream wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. That’s the dirty little secret dramaland doesn’t tell the young women watching these dramas – dreams aren’t always what you imagined them to be.
6) Jae-Won and Ji-Seong added a bit of humor, which this Rom-Com was seriously lacking. Uh, writer/director, this is billed as a Rom-COM, which means there should be some comedy involved. This relationship (thanks mostly Jae-Won), the little girl, Ha-Eun, and the coworkers were the only comic relief. For the most part, it was pure romance. I would have liked to see more of Jae-Won and Ji-Seong – it took forever for their romance to get off the ground, mostly because so much time was spent on FL rejecting ML, and ML looking like a lovesick puppy. I know FL was coming out of a broken relationship, but geesh, for the sake of viewer interest, could we move her romance with ML along a bit faster? Heck, why not send her off to Europe early on so she could get Jae-Shin out of her system and be ready for a new love? It would have been kinder to breaks ML’s heart before she actually started a relationship with him, but alas, this great guy is destined to be kicked around by the women in his life.
Overall, it was an ok drama, but I'm not likely to go back and watch again. If I did watch again, it would purely be in order to gaze at that Cutie Pie, Chae Hyun-Seong.
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