Could have been worse...but could have been better. Two Reviews in One!

~~~This post has two reviews...my first review here that I did 6 episodes in:

Netflix labeled Queen of Tears as a comedy....but a comedy this definitely is not. I am enjoying QoT - the acting is excellent and the 'realness' of their struggles with love in marriage seems realistic. Sometimes you don't want a fluffy romcom...sometimes you want a more realistic slice of life. And, sure, we aren't all going to marry a chaebol, but we might have periods in our relationships that are more strained than other times.

I have not finished watching QoT yet, however, I popped into the reviews to give a heads up that Netflix lumps a lot of things into their 'mature themes' warning. While Netflix can't spell out everything you'll encounter while watching a show, watcher beware that not only is terminal cancer a theme, but pregnancy loss appears to be a theme as well. As someone who has dealt with pregnancy loss those scenes of tearing down the nursery and looking at the ultrasound pictures post-loss hit very hard. If I had known it was in the show I would have not watched it right now given recent events in my life.

Will I finish the drama? Absolutely -- despite this I am really enjoying it. I plan to update this review once I'm finished with the episodes. Just spreading the word that the category of 'mature themes' that Netflix puts on its shows covers a myriad of topics and some folks may want to choose the time in which they encounter themes like these.
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And now that I'm finished, here's my final review:

I have such mixed feelings about Queen of Tears.

On the one hand Kim Soo Hyun's and Kim Ji Won's performances were excellent. They were probably the main reason I kept on schedule with this drama. But as much as I enjoyed their acting, I felt this drama suffered a bit during the second half of the show. I was really engaged at the beginning when Hae In was determining her diagnosis and the drama with her internal family politics against Baek Hyun Woo was going on.

(and here's where the spoilers start...)

But then the focus of the show shifted away from her family problems (and the family dynamics being a type of villain which I found really interesting) to traditional villains. And wow -- they sure lathered on the villain-hood really thick. Sinister glances, brooding expressions, evil henchmen...not much subtlety or texture to be found there. But whatever. Despite my whining, I enjoy a good "Muahahaha Villain" at times.

No, what got me was the usage of that tried and true kdrama trope -- the "a main character loses his/her memories" plotline. When Hae In discovered she could get surgery but, oh no! there was a side effect -- I thought, "please be more original than losing your memories...please be more original..." But alas and alack! It was not to be. We spent episodes on the angst of the decision as well as the amnesiac character being easily duped because...well...amnesia. I am so so so burned out on main characters losing their memories.

And once she gets the surgery there's not ONE more mention of cancer. Was she cured? We see her popping pills as part of "her treatment" once...but is she in remission? Did the uncurable cancer get cured? We fast forward from the surgery a month to see her going home to Seoul with no word on whether she's cured or not? Did I miss it? Even if it was one line and I did miss it...this was THE major plot point at the beginning of the drama. It needs some resolution. Obviously she lived a long life from the end of the episode montage, but we literally invested SO many episodes in the "Oh no - Cancer!" and "Will she or won't she get surgery?" only to write it all off the second she loses her memory? And while we're talking about unsatisfying loose strings, what happened to the secret fund? How long did Mol Seul Hee get put away for? How long was Da Hye away for?

Queen of Tears feels a bit like two dramas in one. The first half of the drama was an interesting glimpse into family politics/drama, a relationship in crisis, and how health troubles (including miscarriage) can impact a marriage. The second half of the drama was a little too trope-y for me leaving too many strings hanging around.

Do I recommend it? Sure...it was an enjoyable story despite my gripes over the repeated tropes. Will I rewatch it? Nah...I'm good.

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Flawed....but still entertaining

Oh, Miss Night and Day...what opportunities you had.

The premise of MNaD is very entertaining -- a young woman gets transformed into the older "ajhumma" version of herself during the day allowing her to get a "senior person" job at a cute prosecutor's office. And of course there's a *drumroll* serial killer! And an opening title sequence that is suspiciously close to ripping off Sailor Moon! The drama delivers through the first half...maybe even two thirds...of the show. And then it just kind of starts to unravel. At that point you've invested 12 hours into the show, so might as well finish it, right?

Major spoilers ahead, but here are my thoughts:

- The cat. What was with that cat? We follow the cat and follow down a well to get transformed...then we try to find the cat...then we just drop the cat plot point? Was the cat the guardian spirit of her dead aunt? Why expend all that time trying to find the cat in the first half of the show and then just have it pop up twice in the second half to enigmatically walk around? Was it the mechanism that turned young Female Lead into her ajhumma self? Was it like Luna in Sailor Moon -- hence the Sailor Moon title sequence and the cat in the logo? I have questions.

- Casting decisions. I liked the cast just fine. My biggest issue was the young FL and old FL had drastically different acting styles. Young FL was very wooden and had about two expressions. Old FL was very dynamic and expressive and much more entertaining to watch. It was hard to believe that the two actresses were representing the same character because they portrayed it so differently. There also wasn't much chemistry between the young FL and the Male Lead...but I chalk that up to her wooden-ness.

- The plot. I love a good serial killer story and K-dramas seem to love them too. I always get a bit concerned when a serial killer plot line pops up, though, because it never seems to get wrapped enough. MNaD fell in line with the incomplete villain arc. I thought at first we would have a decent resolution, then when the villain was chasing young FL she (the villain) starts exhibiting symptoms of psychosis and possibly some kind of illness? Um...what's that? Is she sick? Why is she trying not to fall over? It was oh-so-perfectly timed to allow young FL opportunities to escape. Ok, that's great and all...but without an explanation of her apparent illness, it seems like a plot hole devised to allow young FL to escape a situation she otherwise wouldn't be able to escape. Oh no -- she won't have time to untie herself to escape the drug needle...except the villain falls over RIGHT THEN allowing FL time to escape? Convenient. Oh no -- FL is on the ground unable to escape and villain is coming at her with an axe...but then villain sees the ghost of FL's dead aunt and has a full blown conversation with her allowing FL time to recover and get the upper hand? Convenient.

- The romance. In my opinion, don't watch the show for the romance. It has one...and it starts out strong. But by the time they realize their feelings for each other it feels stale and weird. I think it boils down to the lack of chemistry. The relationship between the second female lead and second male lead was much more interesting and entertaining in my opinion. The failed romance between young FL and the idol doing his military service was also kind of weird. I dunno...this would have been a fine drama without the romance.

So those are several paragraphs of me complaining. I mean, I liked the show enough to finish it. I **have** quit a drama on the next to last episode before (*cough* looking at you, My Demon) so I liked this well enough to see it to the end. It's light, fluffy, with a few dark twists...it's worth a watch for the fun premise if nothing else.

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A bit long but worth the journey

I'll be completely honest -- I picked up this show because I like Dylan Wang's dramas. So based on that very superficial premise, I can say that I was both pleasantly surprised and confused by Only for Love.

The good stuff:
-- The chemistry between the two leads was pretty great. Their acting was very good -- this is my first time watching Bai lu and I really enjoyed her performance. And there were parts in the drama where they really played the romance back and forth very well.
-- The second leads were also interesting to watch. There were two additional couples in this drama which is nice since the show is 36 episodes long...it was good to switch perspectives every now and then.
-- I liked the show's resolution. It had an ending that felt like an ending which is always nice.

The bad stuff:
-- I like a good office romance...but include too much of the "office-y" stuff and it begins to feel like work itself. I honestly am not much interested in the financial impact of the chip industry in China. But whooo boy did they fill you in throughout these 36 episodes. My eyes glazed over at Dylan Wang's monologues about investments in the industry and whatnot. It was just too much "work".
-- The show felt a bit like a slog for the first half -- I think largely because of the focus on setting up this financial investment in the chip industry plot. Once the story moved forward from that, though, it started picking up steam again.

Overall it was a decent show. I will never rewatch it, but I'm glad I gave it a go at least this once.

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Revenge is a dish best served cold...like the cooling plotline of Marry My Husband

If you want to watch Marry My Husband chances are that you either are a fan of one or more of the actors or you enjoy a good revenge plotline (or both!). The drama starts out very heavy with a terminal diagnosis followed by an ultimate betrayal of trust and love. Sprinkle in some time travel and the stage is set for what one hopes is a salty revenge tale full of thrown water glasses, screaming at each other in public places, and tears. Lots of tears.

What you get is....some of that. And when you do get it, the drama is really good. For the first half of the drama I was very interested in Kang Ji Won's quest for revenge and her budding entaglement with Yoo Ji Hyuk. I appreciate the acting of Song Ha Yoon -- she really made me despise Jung Soo Min and her neverending craftiness. I also found the plot device of fate still having to play out (whether it plays out on Kang Ji Won or someone she knows) to be really well done and interesting as well. For the first half of the drama I found myself eagerly waiting for the next episodes to drop so I could find out what happened next in the quest for revenge.

But then the plot just...cools. I don't know of any better way to put it than the plot just cools down. I think it happens in earnest shortly after Kang Ji Won and Yoo Ji Hyuk realize they both have time traveled. The way that this is revealed (through BTS songs) was interesting, but then the pacing gets all funky. I found this change of pace to be a bit jarring - almost like a car stopping and stalling. The change in pacing threw me out of the story so much that I was no longer invested in their budding romance at all...which became the main plot point over the revenge. Some episodes there were a million things happening and other episodes weemed to drag on. I accidentally fell asleep during two of the episodes....oops. By the time BoA entered the drama portraying Oh Yoo Ra I was pretty much done with the story and ready for it to end.

By the time the drama was over I was definitely ready for it to end. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I think I did despite what I would call its flaws. Would I rewatch it? Nope.

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Worth a binge watch with light expectations

What made this drama worth watching:
-->A fairly unique plot mechanism where the female lead turns into a dog if she kisses somebody.
--> Cha Eun Woo's acting is getting better -- still a little wooden, but I think he's definitely improving.
--> Enjoyable to watch it all in one go. I am not sure what I would have thought if I had watched it while it aired -- seems like it was on a slow release schedule which would make it drag. As a binge watch, though, it was paced well and kept my interest.
--> Enjoyed the dynamics of the characters at school and at home.
--> There was a healthy dose of humor scattered throughout...thankfully this drama didn't take itself too seriously.
--> The OST was enjoyable and fit the vibe of the drama well.
-->Lots of cute puppies -- always a plus!

What made this drama a little cringey:
--> Watching Cha Eun Woo trying to kiss a dog romantically was.....weird. Not too into that tbh.
--> I don't mind the historical fated lovers trope, but the flashbacks were many in this one. Probably too many.
--> Hae Na's uncle barking was fine at first...but then got pretty cringey. And was resolved without much explanation.
--> Last episode was a little bit of a filler episode. Cute overall, but not really necessary.

My final takeaway --
I'm glad I didn't get too discouraged with some of the negative reviews before diving into this one. Overall I really enjoyed it. I think it requires the viewer to be in the mood for a light and fluffy romcom. If you are looking for serious acting or a romance plot with depth...this is not your drama. This is something for when you need a little bit of the "warm fuzzies" in your life. Don't take it too seriously and enjoy it for what it is...a drama about a girl who turns into a dog.

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Please pour me some wine to go with this cheese!

Only two episodes in so a lot can still happen -- both for the good and equally for the bad. I will say, however, that despite some flaws there is great potential for this to be quite a fun romcom.

The pros --> a fun mix of old versus new. Have you ever had a very specific itch to watch a historical drama AND a modern romance at the same time? Well then, this might be the drama for you. It's an odd mix of the Joseon era and modern day and I'm not quite sure if it works yet...but it's still kind of fun. Another perk - chivalrous male lead helping out a female lead who is struggling. Might be cliché, but it's a trope that I always go for and this drama delivers that. Plus art thieves? And work drama in the fashion industry? What? A strange mix...but this MIGHT work.

The cons --> I'd like some wine with this cheese, please. It's been a bit over-acted and, at times, a bit cringey. The female lead seems to be a bit over dramatic (she's either REALLY happy or REALLY upset...there's not much in the middle) and I think that's to the detriment of the story. And the combo of Joseon era + modern era? Plus art thieves? And work drama in the fashion industry? What? A strange mix...this might NOT work.

Two episodes in is too little to make a judgement call on the drama as a whole. But will I continue to watch? Yep. Will I hope for more chivalrous moments that I'm trash for? Absolutely. Will I cringe a bit at the over the top expressions and layer of cheeze whiz on top of most of the scenes? You bet.

Why?

Because, to steal my dad's most favorite awkward conversation filler, "I like cheese."

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