Cidade do Romance (2011)

For a drama called Romance Town, I went in to this drama expecting a great deal more romance than what we are presented with. In fact, the biggest story point of this show isn't even mentioned in the synopsis, which is the lottery ticket and money. I almost regret that I stuck through to the end with this drama, but there are a couple of things that almost make it worth the 20+ hours I invested in it.

First, could Jung Gyu Woon be any more adorable? I mean, seriously, that is one good looking guy. Even Kim Min Joon (whose MDL picture just does NOT do him justice!) is ridiculously cute in this show. I felt like they could have done more with both characters, especially Kim Min Joon's. His character was just kind of thrown in whenever it was convenient for the writers, and his storyline felt incomplete.

I also did like the lead actress quite a bit too, though the script did not really do her justice. All in all, it was an interesting look into humanity, and how money can change a person's morality and make them do things they never would have before coming into a large sum of money. But what that has to do with a town of romance, I can't tell you. I did like the relationship between the maids, and how they were all so willing to fight for each other. Well, at least til the money got involved, in which case they just wanted to fight with each other.

When everything is said and done, this drama is not wholly irredeemable, but it definitely could have been cut in half and been a much more watchable experience. 20 episodes just seemed to drag on and on and on and on and...well you get the point.

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Confession: Out of all of the May/June dramas, I was most addicted to Romance Town. Not The Greatest Love, or Lie to Me, or even City Hunter. Nope. My drug of choice was Romance Town.



"But Romance Town doesn't have a plot!" Well, there is a plot, but it without a doubt became a secondary concern for the writer. What the writer brought to the forefront was a thoughtful (albeit at times heavy-handed) and quirky character study, and it was this slice-of-life aspect that grabbed me. The characters became so real that I found myself accurately predicting their every move, not because the plot itself was predictable, but because I came to know these characters so well in and out that guessing their next move was like friends finishing the other's sentence. More wonderful still is the grayness within each character: there is no absolute evil or good, and as a result I found myself sympathizing with even the most unlikeable resident of the street. Overall, the world of this show felt organic, with events progressing naturally based on the characters' authentic reactions as opposed to being driven by artificial plot devices.



Admittedly, the plot could have been tighter. At 20 episodes, the show is perhaps four episodes too long. There were plot points that went nowhere, towing along certain characters in its wake. Gun Woo and Soon Geum's relationship, despite being the main one, fell on the dull side, and a last minute pairing felt too sudden, but I let it slide since it was a couple I had been rooting for. Some episodes seem to just drag on (ironically enough, given the title of this drama, those were the episodes that dealt directly with romance), while others had me yanking my hair, gasping aloud, and craving more.



Despite the above complaints, I thoroughly enjoyed journeying through the world of Romance Town with the maids as my guides. We were gifted with a glimpse into their lives, friendships and loves, and I'm not ashamed to say that I miss them already.

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To be honest, I don't really know if I liked this drama or not. The story line was good indeed and I really liked how they not only focused on Sun Geum and Gun Woo's love but everyone else in 1st Street, but because of that i got really confused at times. In fact, I'm kind of confused a little bit even with the ending. I really liked how it ended though but still, so many questions were left unanswered. I really really liked the drama at the beginning but after I think episode 5 or 6 it got kind of boring. I wasn't sure if i would finish the drama but I just tried anyway. There is one thing I learned while watching this drama though and it was that it's really amazing how a person can change because of money. It made me realize that even the people who you trust the most can betray you because of money. Money sure is a scary thing. Overall, the drama is good but not great...even though the cast were really good too.

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While its very difficult to describe without going into specifics
(Don't worry I won't post spoilers!) This drama was physically painful to watch, and this is coming from someone who watched Playful Kiss in its entirety. The lead guy loses your empathy by episode 6, and I personally think its because the writers weren't sure what his motivations were. The lead girl is honestly pathetic, very weak even in the parts that were supposed to show her independence.The only saving grace in this show were the other ahjumma maids, who were great for some laughs. Other than that I honestly couldn't make it past episode 7 because I thought the lead characters were horrible people and frankly I couldn't care less about them.

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I think this drama is sort of underrated. First off I feel like I should say that it has a TERRIBLE title... it really doesn't reflect what the show is about at all. The prevailing themes here are really greed vs. relationships (romantic, filial, and friendship) and bucking an unjust social class system. It's not a melodrama though, it's a straight-up comedy! This is true ensemble drama, which I think is pretty awesome because all of the characters are actually really interesting. There's nothing showstopping about the plot, but between the characterizations and the large number of wacky situational comedy scenes it's worth a watch. The first half of the series is much stronger than the second, but isn't that true of most dramas?

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I was really excited for this drama,and at the beginning I wasn't disappointed. It started out amazing; I was captured and I was sure I'd found a one-in-a-million drama, and my thoughts stayed this way until about the 9th/10th episode. It started to get boring. Too many episodes, a little too slow, and although I loved the heroine at first, I started to dislike her. There also seemed to be too much focus on life outside of the heroine, which is only good in small doses. Needed more focus on the main character. Unfortunately, I dropped it. Couldn't bring myself to watch another episode. I'm disappointed, since the idea was good all the actors were very good as well.

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This drama starts off funny and charming then very quickly becomes a bore then gets interesting again, then it drops the ball on the romance and the story changes to focusing on the greedy maids.

The Ups: The 1st episode is solid. It is funny, charming, and tricks you into believing this might be a fresh romantic comedy. Second, the cast is well chosen and as a whole have a genuine chemistry. You really feel like they all live on the outrageous 1st street. The standout of course is Kim Min Joon. He really made me fall for him in this. Now I want to see more of his dramas.

The downs: The plot for most of the series. The romance is dull. The ending is blah. Too many eps.

Overall this drama had potential but it really is a mess. I would only recommend this to anyone who has extreme patience. Good luck!

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