I can never hold a grudge against a drama that tried to do something different and stray away from the standard plotlines. Even if the results weren't the best, Orange Marmalade tried to bring something new to the table without losing the usual kdrama vivid spark and for that it deserves to be commended. Story The moral of the story is praiseworthy. It tries to convey the message that discrimination should not be acceptable on any grounds and that people should search for what brings them closer than what tears them apart - and what better way to demonstrate that, than through the power of music that is omnipresent and loved by everyone no matter the superficial differences. Story-wise i can split the drama in 2 parts. First part (episodes 1-4 and 10-12) is the 21st century scool-based part. Your average school drama revolving around a love triangle. The plot twist of the whole drama? Vampires aren't only real but they have been known to exist since forever. Second part of the drama (episodes 5-9) is actually set in an alternate version of the Joseon empire in the 17th century when vampires were also known to exist and even had different fractions. There is a whole sub story here that unfolds. Moreover, the characters here are supposed to be older versions of the characters in the first part in an effort to link previous lifetimes with current ones and make the love triangles and ships star-crossed. It was argued that the sageuk part of the drama was boring and unnecessary. I beg to differ. It was actually the strongest part of the drama for me, it wasn't just another cheesy drama about a love triangle, it had suspence, gave most of the characters a lot of depth, further established the main point of acceptance and the attempt to link present and past lives was pretty well-made. However, even though the story of the drama was pretty solid, the plot development was severely absurd. Let's give the disregard of standard vampire lore a pass, they used what was convenient and twisted some of it, and let's talk about the plot itself. Most situations lacked some fundemental build up, most of it was rushed to fit in12 episodes, a lot of plotlines just popped out of the blue or were conveniently introduced unexpectedly. This made the drama kinda ridiculous and borderline laughable; what's more, even though the drama wasn't draggy plot-wise it couldn't help but be boring quite a lot. Acting The acting was overall a bit cringy from the ful cast not just Seolhyun. Yeo Jin Goo and Lee Jong Hyun were satisfying enough, but not perfect and sadly lacked chemistry with Seolhyun. Gil Eun Hye needs work, while Seolhyun wasn't bad but there's definitely room for improvement. I can't say that the acting deems this drama unwatchable but if bad acting really annoys you, maybe you should steer clear of this drama. Recommend/Rewatch OM has its issues and they are significant. My 7.5 is definitely lenient because i appreciate the effort in being original and i enjoy the concept of present and previous lives being linked. However, even in its nonsensical and quite ridiculous nature it was enjoyable enough and quite fast and easy to watch. It targets mostly young-adults, the sageuk part is skippable if you dislike it that much but i'd advise you to stick with it. If you like youth, first love and love triangles, do give this a chance, but even if you don't you aren't missing on anything major here. I won't rewatch this.