Got better at the end

In the middle of the drama, I had to start listing my complaints about what was happening. I never do that, but there was so much I was irritated by. Some of my issues: Soooo many red herrings! Everyone in the whole town is suspicious, and only one person is a culprit. The townspeople seem like cartoon characters, each is more strange than the last. Trying to fit too much in – romance, drama, comedy, thriller, mystery – so much that it doesn’t do any one genre justice. It’s been awhile since I’ve watched something that made me yell at my tv with the implausible things going on. There is a stalker on the loose, but you go wandering in dark alleyways by yourself (every night, it seems). The stalker appears and no one recognizes him?!?!? Her saying, “Let’s end this”. She repeats this in numerous episodes. What are they ending, exactly? They aren’t in a relationship.

Midway through the show, I was thinking that I would probably rate this show a 6, maybe a little higher due to the excellent acting. Upon completion, my rating had to go up. I loved the way they tied up everyone’s storyline and the ending wasn’t totally rushed. It’s been awhile since a drama has made me cry, this one got to me. I got stuck on, how do you move on from a tragedy of that magnitude? I loved the voice over work that let us in on some of the internal dialog of our main couple.
Once we were let in on what happened exactly, the behavior of the townspeople made a lot more sense, and I kind of had to say that I forgave their ridiculous antics from earlier on.

Acting: The acting was good by everyone, though as mentioned before, the townspeople (and her family) were over-the-top. Yeo Jin Goo as Eun Gye Hoon – he does understated very well, because he doesn’t have much facial expression. Expressive eyes, however. And the episode early on where he laughed out loud? So cute! Moon Ga Young as Noh Da Hyun – I love this actress. Her character, I vacillated back and forth between she was full of naivete or she was just stupid. I have to say that her hair bothered me (dyed VERY black). Special mention to Shin Jae Hwi as the stalker – oh my goodness he was excellent and creepy. He had a knack for changing his facial expressions from friendly to dark in just a moment and it made my flesh crawl.
Chemistry: Cute chemistry between the main leads, though, again, too many “let’s break up” moments.

Music: I loved the music. There were some really beautiful songs. But strangely, the standout to me was Unknown World by Janet Suhh – kind of a whispery, nursery rhyme-y scary song played at the end of each cliffhanger episode. I found myself humming that…a lot. I found myself appreciating the music a lot more in the episodes toward the end, when there wasn’t so much going on. It’s a wonderful OST.
Rewatch value: If I need a Eun Gye Hoon or Moon Ga Young fix, I’d watch some of the scenes, but they could have cut this down to 12 episodes to make the writing a bit tighter and the whole drama more enjoyable.

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You MUST suspend disbelief!

Let's talk about the elephant in the room - one person at 18 and at 28 being in the same place at the same time. Personally, I really had a hard time getting past that. I'm all for fantasy, but something about that just didn't sit right with me. Plus, the teenager liking "the teacher" and the teacher liking the student put me off.

The ML was stuck in a place of regret, of things that he didn't do and didn't say as a teen. If given the chance to change things from your past to rectify your life in the present, would you do things differently? And would you really be able to change things, or is your fate already set? This was an interesting concept and gave a lot of food for thought.

My favorite thing was his relationship with his mother. This was a very sweet and touching story arc.

Interestingly enough, when I saw that it was only 10 episodes, I was glad, because I tend to like shorter shows between the longer, more involved shows. However, 10 episodes was too long for this! It could have been a movie, covered all the pertinent points, and they could have gotten rid of all the time of nothingness.

I thought the actors did a good job, my problem with this was the writing.

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Loved the acting of the main leads however, the characters themselves, not so much

All the acting was good. Rowoon as Chae Hyun Seung and Won Jin Ah as Yoon Song Ah were both excellent, given what they had to work with. I liked their chemistry in the brief amount of time that they were actually together. Lots of cute interactions and good kisses. I also loved Park So Yi as Kang Ha Eun, Hyun Seung's young niece. She was precocious without being obnoxious, and I loved their scenes together especially.

Costuming was good, with generally classy outfits worn in the workplace and out and about. I tend to like office romance stories, and it's a bonus when the office workers are tolerable. I would have liked to have worked with these people. Hardworking and supporting of each other.

Here's where my problems came in: Yoon Song Ah has been in a secret relationship with her boss for two years. She finds out (because Chae Hyun Seung sets her up) that her boss is getting married in a couple of months. I'll address the set-up later. So, she's brokenhearted and mad, yet she tells the boyfriend that she wants to end their relationship, not mentioning that she's found out that he's a two-timing slime ball. He is constantly in her face, wanting to get back together, to the point that he should have had a restraining order out against him. You feel sorry for Song because she's supposedly so in love, but then suddenly decides she liked Hyun Seung - I was never able to see the transition. THEN she decides to go work in Europe for five years and they are going to try the long-distance thing. She never has time for him, so she breaks up with him by trampling all over his feelings. THEN she comes back and wants to get back together with him. This woman was so self-absorbed I had a hard time sympathizing with her. Weak woman.

Chae Hyun Seung had his own issues. In the first episode I thought he was so sweet, pining for Song Ah, but when he set her up for her to find out the truth, that really bothered me. Plus, the fact that he sounded like he was threatening her by saying things like, "You'd better show up" and especially when he wiped the lipstick from her lips and told her not to wear it. Once she knew the truth of the deadbeat boyfriend, Hyun Seung kept after her and after her, one minute saying he'd wait for her, and in the next minute wanting to know if she liked him yet. There were times that he was supposed to look like he was protecting her, but I thought his actions were very high-handed.

As for the side couples: I LOVED the storyline for Lee Jae Woon and Chae Ji Seung. He was immediately smitten, and the things he would do to be in her presence were precious.

Lee Jae Shin and Lee Hyo Joo - rat bastard cheating man that is marrying her because he feels he owes his friend a debt? Wants to get up in the world? I don't know and I don't care. But he stayed with her so she wouldn't kill herself? Weak woman.

Kang Woo Hyeon and Chae Yung Seung - You could tell at the outset that he didn't love her in a romantic way. And they stated that he spends ALL his free time with his friend from school. Once they started to address the possibility of him being gay, he blamed everything on the friend. She said she'd stay with him until he figured out who he was. Weak woman. So, she wasted years on this guy, living with him while he tried to find himself. Once he figured out what he wanted and they divorced, all I could think of was the years she wasted. The scenes with their young daughter when she found out they were getting divorced broke my heart.

The storyline with Song Ah and her mother I absolutely hated. Her mother was a complete and total mess and irritated me to pieces. What this storyline just reinforced to me was the Song Ah saw what her father did and so she was never going to make herself vulnerable to a man. That showed why she kept herself slightly apart from men, but on the other hand she seemed to always need to have a man in her life.

I do have to say that I enjoyed the last couple of episodes, though I couldn't quite forgive her for what she put him through. It's very shallow of me to say, but I was able to forgive quite a bit, just because I had the opportunity to watch Rowoon.

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The power of the internet (good and bad)

Bottom line? In my opinion, this is an okay show to watch when you don't really want/need to be invested in what's going on. The acting is okay and there are no over-the-top evil characters. It was sort of a cute college romance.

Another show about hiding behind the internet/social media. While I don't think it's intrinsically bad, I do find that the anonymity can perpetuate a lot of misunderstandings and create toxic situations (though not in this show, thankfully) including cyber-bullying. I'm finding myself really appreciating show where the people actually talk to one another and there aren't ridiculous understandings.

The show was pretty fluffy, but I felt it suffered from an over-abundance of characters, especially considering its short length. I know who was SUPPOSED to be the main couple, but they often felt like secondary characters. Two of the female secondary actresses looked so much alike I wished they were wearing nametags. There were so many characters, their story lines were rushed, and that kept me from developing an attachment to them. For me, that's an important part of the experience for me. If I don't care about them, why should I watch?

Not to give anything away, when one of the men confessed, I felt that the female's response was terrible! It wasn't like he was a stranger or a stalker. There is no reason to be so mean. It takes a lot of bravery to confess to someone, and that kind of response could traumatize someone for a long time!

I found that I never really did care about who was posting on the internet, so when that was revealed, I STILL didn't care.

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Cute but forgettable

The synopsis sounded good, and it was starring Yokohama Ryusei, so why not? In general, it was sweet, I liked that there weren't a ton of episodes, and there was no angst. The main couple was very cute, but I found it hard to feel a connection with them. Friends, more than friends, roommates, it seemed to change at the drop of a hat. I didn't really feel their chemistry.

Maybe because I'm, "of a certain age", but her constantly being on her phone really bugged me. Living life through your phone screen, while the world passes you by, I don't think there is anything sadder than that. I did, however, like how they treated the juxtaposition of the two main characters - her constantly being on her phone, him not even carrying a phone with him.

I struggled with the triangle as well. It was hinted at early on, but actually entered the picture pretty late in the show. The whole thing made me feel like she couldn't make up her mind.

I liked the housemates concept, learning to live with different personalities, and ultimately becoming a family of sorts.

It's a good, short watch if you just want fluff.

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Don't come for the romance

Lee Jong Suk plays a young many with an attitude that seems he doesn't even care about swimming. Pressure can take enjoyment out of anything. Seo In Guk is a young man that has basically nothing and needs to work for everything he gets. The movie does a good job with the bromance, showing how they become better once they become friends.

Kwan Yu Ri - I felt that her part was poorly written and not very well acted, if I'm honest. I couldn't see how either of them could fall in love with her and she just seemed too shallow.

We get to see Lee Jong Suk's charm, which is always a bonus.
Seo In Guk with physical comedy and over-the-top use of his face and his hands, just wonderful. He does goofy well (as further evidenced by Shopping King Louie and King of High School).

I enjoyed the swimming scenes, as well as the rare opportunity for an overbearing parent to turn around.

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This is a show to be savored, not binge-watched

I tend to be a binge-watcher, so I had troubles with this show at the start. There were so many characters, and so much going on, added to the fact that each character was not too terribly likeable. There seemed to be an abnormal preponderance of evil parents, and I seriously got tired of every character saying something about they wanted to die, they wished they were dead, they almost died, etc. It seemed to me they threw that phrase out too cavalierly.

However, I think that if you slow down and watch one episode at a time, with a breather between each episode, you will quickly get drawn into each story. There are multiple story lines, and the writers were clever in having each character tie to another in a twisty-turny, round-about way. I imagined them sitting in an office with a giant white board, making a flow chart to keep each character straight. As mentioned, there were multiple characters that were not very likeable at the beginning of the show, but as we saw their growth through their relationships with one another, I felt like every person redeemed themself. An advantage to so many episodes - you have a good amount of time to flesh out the characters, and that was done really well here.

This is a melodrama with periods of lightness. There were multiple times that I felt that I couldn't take another tragedy. Kudos to the writers for two particular things - 1) No obligatory time jump, and 2) a satisfying, unrushed ending.

ACTING: First and foremost, Kim Yeong Cheol as Byun Han Soo, and Kim Haw Sook as Na Yeung Shil were absolutely brilliant as the parents of this family. I felt that everyone did an excellent job, but they were standouts. On a basic level, I just love seeing Ahn Hyo Seop in anything, so that was a treat.

FAMILY DYNAMICS: They did a wonderful job of showing this family, warts and all. Each person had their own demons to fight. They showed the strength of the family, and how each person was stronger for being in the family. The siblings often fought like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, they loved one another and supported one another unconditionally. I loved all the scenes around the table for meals. It was so special to see more and more people come to the table, room being made for them in the family, and there was even a comment about how empty the table seemed when someone was missing. Toward the end, I was so grateful to have spent time with this family.

MUSIC: The music was very melodramatic for the most part, but there were a few good songs, especially as related to the main couple.

REWATCH VALUE: It's too long and my list of "to watch" shows is too extensive to rewatch the show.

NEGATIVES: It is never okay for an adult to use violence on their child (I'm not talking spanking here).

So, if you decide to give this show a try, take your time with it and allow yourself to settle in with the family. You'll be glad you did.

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I was surprised at the surprises!

This webdrama, for the most part, was a very interesting watch. It begged the question - can you ever really move on from a sudden tragedy? It also addressed the paths we take in our lives - decisions aren't made in a vacuum, each thing we chooses changes the trajectory of our lives in some way. In the story, there were some surprising twists that kept my interest piqued.

I loved the friendships, though they weren't delved into as much as I'd like due to the jumping back and forth in time.

I didn't really feel the chemistry between the main characters. Their interactions were cute, but initially it was hard to see their attraction for one another because they were sniping at each other all the time. One kiss that looked totally staged.

The acting was good. I was especially impressed with Hongseok during his emotional scenes.

My main complaint was that the time jumps were so frequent, and they weren't good about differentiating between past and present. It often took me a few seconds to figure out what time they were in, and that took away from my immersion in the story.

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An okay watch

Storyline was cute, though the dog and the cat, other than the reason for bringing the couple together, were wasted. A lot had to happen in a brief amount of time, because of the number and length of episodes, so sadly, so much was too abbreviated. I was very interested in his progression from "zero to hero", but it happened too quickly and easily for him. Add to that, he had the worst haircut, every time I saw him, I thought of Spock from Star Trek. I did enjoy watching him, because there was something so endearing about him.

To me, she seemed a lot older than him, but that might just be because of the way she was written. I didn't love her character, and there were entirely too many drunk scenes, especially for such a short show.

I think my favorite parts of the show were the friendships between the men, and the friendships between the women. I could feel their bonds, and they were very supportive, unlike most Korean dramas which always have the mean girl or the psycho guy.

I found the music irritating in the fact that there was one song that was played over and over again.

The ending was pretty abrupt.

I really enjoyed watching the parts with the dating doctor. I thought he was just going to be a crook out to steal their money, but he was a nice guy and very helpful, overall.

It was an easy, middle-of-the-road watch for me.

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Contract marriage - not the most interesting I've seen

I like the trope of contract marriages. However, for me, this one left a lot to be desired. I didn't find it that interesting and I couldn't really relate to either of the characters, so it was hard for me to care what happened to them. They were together, then they weren't. There were a lot of ancillary characters that didn't really get fleshed out but served to act as filler. I did like the guy that liked her, and he was good about warning the ML that he'd better step up or he would step in, but that made the misunderstanding more difficult to tolerate. Why can't people just talk to each other?!?! Then, when they did get "back together" she didn't want to re-marry him - that made no sense. A couple of very uncomfortable, open-eyed kisses added to their lack of chemistry. I'm glad there weren't more episodes than there were, I was just anxious to get the whole thing over with.

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Still no resolution to the mystery of the author of Revenge Note

So, are they planning a Revenge Note 3, and that's why they aren't telling who the author is? If so, that's a pretty slimy thing to do. I felt that the first show was okay, but I liked this one even less. I didn't care about the characters, WAY too much bullying, and it's bad enough to watch teens that are bullies, but watching adults act like psychopaths is not enjoyable to me at all. The shows about high schoolers tend to focus A LOT on bullying and I don't enjoy that. I didn't feel chemistry between the supposed love interests, and, truthfully, I didn't find the acting of anyone very good.

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Quick, easy watch

This movie wasn't bad, but something felt off about it to me. Was there something missing? Was it too rushed? It was probably a combination of the two. The characters didn't feel fleshed out to me. The ML was apparently idolized by all the girls, yet he was pretty much an idiot when around the FL. His behaviors/movements always seemed over-the-top and kind of frenetic. The FL was very pretty, but she only had one expression throughout the movie.

I enjoyed the bad guys that weren't actually bad guys, as well as the friendships. It's an okay movie to watch for mindless entertainment. There's nothing in it to irritate you, but there also isn't much in it to get excited about.

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Cheesy but cute

I happened upon this movie accidentally. The ML's hair was ridiculous through half of the movie and was very distracting, but I liked the development of their relationship. She was supposed to be "plain." but I found her very cute, and she was hard-working and didn't take anything from anyone. I loved the ML's progression and his very surprised discovery that he had fallen in love with her. Some of it was overacted, but I must admit that I actually shed a few tears. They had both been through quite a bit in their young lives, and once they opened up to one another, the healing could begin.

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Short and kind of cute

I found the character of Hana to be endearing. She was strong and knew her own mind. The actress had a sweet and beautiful face and played her role without going over the top. However, there were many times that that ML came off as somewhat cartoonish in his expressions.

I normally like shorter dramas without all the filler; however, this one felt like it needed something more. The age gap played a big role here, as it should have. I was surprised that no one seemed to blink at the fact that a 16-year-old was involved with a 26-year-old, especially her family.

The makeup/face/voice/laugh of the grandfather was just creepy.

Pretty abrupt, unsatisfying ending, again, probably owing to the age gap.

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