Details

  • Last Online: 10 hours ago
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: Dramaland
  • Contribution Points: 0 LV0
  • Roles:
  • Join Date: February 13, 2021
Once Upon a Small Town korean drama review
Completed
Once Upon a Small Town
13 people found this review helpful
by XXI
Oct 4, 2022
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

The small town was lacking charm

From the first episode, the townspeople didn't give the best impressions. They had no boundaries & got upset at Jiyul, the ML, for daring to express not being comfortable with it. While their behavior is somewhat common compared to other small town dramas, in this one, they failed to make the townspeople endearing (except for the young boy child & Jiyul's assistant but they were never unlikable in the first place.)

For some, they would've liked Jiyul to be one of those bold MLs but I like the fact that he was mostly cool & collected. Throughout the drama, I couldn't help but to feel a bit bad for him as the people around him didn't respect his boundaries or expected things of him. However, he wasn't overbearing but he did say what he needed to when it mattered. As for Jayoung, the FL, because of her upbringing it made sense why she was a people pleaser, even if it was frustrating to watch at times. At the start , she was also one of those who couldn't respect ML's boundaries & was upset at him for him not remembering her (even though meeting her was associated with a bad childhood incident) so it took some time for me to warm up to her.

Because of FL's behavior towards ML (up until he remembers her), I wouldn't say that I was strongly invested in them as a couple but rather I just accepted that they would be together & waited to see it happen. They were kind of awkward when they got together but it was the kind that comes when you first start dating someone. I would've liked to see more moments of them as a couple, including having their ending better developed.

There was too much time spent on resolving the love triangle. Some were able to look past Sanghyun being passive aggressive towards ML & his childish behavior because of his looks, I guess, but he was irritating & made me want to skip his scenes. It was difficult for me to take him as a serious love interest when he looked like he could be the FL's younger brother. He was alright when he was being a friend to her (& it would've been better if they kept him that way) but when he started showing his romantic interest towards FL he became annoying. Whenever FL was going to reject him, he would stop her from doing so. (Sure, she should've been more firm in pushing the conversation but, again, she's a people pleaser & didn't want to risk losing his friendship too.) But, it wasn't bad enough to have only him so then they added ML's ex, who of course wanted him back, into the plot. Although ML made it clear to her that he wasn't interested in getting back together, that didn't stop her from sticking around for a bit.

When a love triangle is basically the only plot, & is only over with two episodes left, there's not much to enjoy. Instead of dragging it out, the focus could've been more on the leads as a couple, ML deciding on the future regarding his work, FL learning how to speak up for herself, & seeing the secondary couple get together. All of those things did happen but they felt as a matter of fact & were rushed. Maybe this drama is better as a binge watch rather than waiting for episodes to air. The good thing is that episodes are short & it's not a long drama.

For those looking for something to watch that won't make you think after finishing a heavier drama, then I guess you may like this drama. I don't remember the music (but I had to give it a 1 rating). There were times where the FL's acting was awkward & I didn't really care for the SMLs acting either. (I've watched all of Joy's main roles so I think it was the directing here that made her come off awkward.) I think there are better short length dramas out there so this wouldn't be at the top of my list to recommend nor would I rewatch it (but I had to give it a 1 rating).
Was this review helpful to you?