Love the ordinariness of this un-Kdrama-like show
The ordinariness of the female lead and plotline is beautiful: woman in her mid-30s, who is stuck in life with her career going nowhere; and her relationship collapsing, finds companionship and support from the male lead. Of course, the male lead also happens to be her best friend's younger brother, complicating it. And possibly, western audiences do not understand this complication too much.Writer Kim Eun and director Ahn Pan-seok strive to bring a realistic, unmushy feel to the relationship and its growth. But what brings it together is the natural chemistry between the leads, Jung Hae-in and Son Ye-jin. The writer-director's second project, One Spring Night (8.3, 7.9, 2019), tries for a similar feel but fails without Son Ye-jin.
The show also has a nuanced take on sexual harassment at the workplace. It is not as loved as other shows because it's not your regular kdrama, making it the lowest rated show that I recommend, but that's what I love about it. Having said that, it does drag a bit in the middle and could have been shorter.
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Soundtrack is WTF
Adore this show, truly.Wonderful acting. Funny, dear, sweet, tough, teary-eyed storytelling.
1 & only 1 issue.....WTF with the 'Stand by Your Man' song???!!!
Every other scene this exhausted country/western tune drones on..and on.
With the budget to use the original & cover versions of this song, they could've hired
a composer to create music to compliment this series..for less money!!!
Over & over again this song plays. OMG!!!! Stop. I don't ever want to hear this song again!
Watch the series its great. Hit the mute when 'that song' starts.
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Starts out promising but drags and gets repetitive
I watched this show right after Crash Landing on You and I was really looking forward to watching another Son Ye-jin-starring vehicle. It starts off pretty promising. The two leads have great chemistry and their romance is super adorable. But their romance is also the show's only main plotline. (While there's also this office sexual harassment storyline, which is a super important topic to discuss, the show makes it very confusing and hard to follow, IMO). Anyway, because the romance is the only plotline, the show has to keep throwing obstacles in its way, first in the form of a super clingy, unredeemable ex-boyfriend, and then in the form of Yoon Jin-a's insufferable mom. I really could not stand the mom-she just screams and cries all the time and gets in the way. There's just no compelling reason why Jin-a and Jun-hui shouldn't be together, so the latter episodes got really annoying. I finally stopped in the middle of episode 11 and just skipped to the end. It just got so repetitive.The music is funny; the whole soundtrack is just these two American songs from the 1960s: "Stand by Your Man" and "Save the Last Dance for Me." Kinda random, but they grew on me.
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Someone needs to grow up and it isn't the younger ML
I created an account to write this review because this show was so triggering. As someone who is close to the FL's age and has experienced a "forbidden" romance that was sabotaged by her batshit Asian mother, I feel qualified to comment on the failings of this drama.If you are looking for drama with similar themes, I recommend the cdrama The Rational Life. It's a noona romance that deals with a female executive who regularly encounters misogyny and politics in the workplace and societal/familial pressure to get married. Her mom also has anger issues, lmao. It doesn't have the indie aesthetic, but the FL actually has a spine, ambition, and social/communication skills.
I find Something in the Rain to be extremely defeatist and socially irresponsible. The show dances up to calling the mother abusive and calling her ex out for sexual assault, stalking, and harassment. And yet... The mother is forgiven, her ex gets off scot-free even after attempting a FREAKING MURDER-SUICIDE, and nothing really changes at work. In fact, she ultimately decides to leave the workplace from the emotional trauma of the situation. These are very common sentiments from women of older generations, but to normalize them is to enable abuse from elders, rape culture, and toxic work culture. And ATTEMPTED MURDER-SUICIDE!!!! I cannot stress enough that this is not a healthy mindset regardless of culture or age.
As someone her age, the FL has a societal responsibility to improve things for her juniors (this is how you know I'm Asian lol), not let herself get lost in the shuffle and have no sense of up or down. There's so much victim blaming that is easily debunked, but the writer clearly doesn't have the feminist theory to do so. To the writer and the other women whom think this is good societal commentary, I beg you to read Audre Lorde, bell hooks, or other feminist literature. You're only scratching the surface of societal observations even if you have lived experience. I also recommend the Taiwanese drama Wave Makers which showcases how the interplay between different generations of women can actually be empowering, to the point of kicking off the Taiwan #metoo movement in real life!
Age gap relationships are complex ethically, and this relationship falls short. I'm so glad they don't end up together. It's very clear she is dating a man so much younger because she herself is emotionally immature. One comment mentions that the apple doesn't fall from the tree, and I'd have to agree. She regularly meddles and disrespects boundaries just as much as her mother, she just takes a covert self-victimizing approach instead of throwing temper tantrums and assaulting her juniors.
The FL is used to dealing with abusers and she hasn't come into her own yet, despite being a grown woman in her mid-30s. It's embarrassing to watch herself repeatedly cram herself into a wardrobe to hide from her best friend she's known her entire life. No wonder men her age don't want to deal with her. Her boyfriend is too young to understand that this is a woman with deeply unhealthy boundaries and communication skills. Son Ye-jin's trademark expression of smiling with a pained look in her eyes is put to good use in this drama.
I know it is common for kdramas to only have one or two songs on repeat, but this one was particularly frustrating because this lady does not stand by her man!!! She straight up lets her mother slap her boyfriend in the face and then acts like she's somehow helpless. She forces him to reconcile with his deadbeat father, even after he's made it clear he doesn't want him in his life. There's a huge difference between filial piety and being an enabler. There isn't a single thing she does that actually improves this boy's life. As someone who's been on the other side of an age gap relationship, he's in for an awakening as he gets older and realizes just how stunted she is and how much this relationship affected his formative years.
I don't mind slow-paced indie features, but I agree with another reviewer that this could have easily been a movie. The actors are very well cast and have good chemistry, but the plot simply is incapable of progressing past a certain point, reflecting the writer's emotional and social ceiling. No matter how good their chemistry is and the build up is, there's only so much ~heartfelt hugging~ a person can take. I also felt like they didn't really know how to flesh out a young male character like the ML. A lot of his emotional motivations felt underdeveloped and aimless.
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Jung Hae-in's best work
The first 6 episodes were bliss. The drama did an excellent job of introducing all important characters while setting out the context and the problems that lie ahead. If they had continued on that trajectory, this might have been my favourite show ever. But then from like episode 7 onwards it just drags on so much and only really gets somewhat interesting again in like episode 15 or so.Like I mentioned in the headline, Jung-hae outdid himself with this role. It's hard to believe that this was his first lead role, he did not act like an amateur one bit. As for the pretty noona who buys him food, she also did a good job portraying Yoon Jinah although her character was very annoying at times.
Despite the boring middle, this drama was good but I have to say that I was not fully satisfied with the ending. It left so much to be desired as they still had not talked about how they were going to resolve the underlying obstacles surrounding their love.
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Watch One Spring Night instead
I enjoy watching Jung Hae-in's works and I think he excels in melodramas. Similarly, I think Son Ye-jin is a fantastic actress who has the ability to create very strong chemistry with the people she acts with. The concept of the drama seemed very interesting and refreshing, as with the director's other work, "One Spring Night", which I enjoyed a lot more.The front half of the drama, as many would say, was extremely enjoyable, but I also thought that the drama went downhill after maybe ep 10? What kind of 40 year old does not have the capability to stand up for herself, yet is rather emotionally manipulative towards her significant other? And they communicated well at the start, yet threw everything out of the window when times got tough (reminds me of Record of Youth). And the mother is the most overbearing parent I've ever seen, including in real life. I think I spent more time wondering why no one has slapped her and yelled at her instead of actually watching the drama. The office sexual harassment plot seemed to take up too much of the plot as well, though I think it is an important issue that the writers and directors tried to incorporate.
As for the OST, I don't understand why people are complaining that it's an all-English OST or that it's repetitive. However, I think the OSTs were just okay. They weren't bad, but it was nothing spectacular either. I preferred the waltz/jazz/mellow sounding OSTs in One Spring Night.
Overall, I think this would have been better as a 2hr movie than a 16 episode drama, or maybe a 10-12 ep drama. I have no idea why I finished watching this drama.
In summary:
What I liked - cast, chemistry between JHI and SYJ
What I disliked - SYJ's mother in the drama
Star of the show: JHI and SYJ's chemistry
Rating: 6/10
Watch if you like to be angry (or watch the front part for some JHI fan service)
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I seem to misunderstand korean culture
First, the tl;dr:+ acting was good, characters were mostly believable, the main couple had chemistry, and I love Hae-in's smile and short hair in this.
+ story: I loved seeing a woman my age as MC who dates a younger guy. It's exciting and relatable.
++ the side plot about workplace sexual harassment. <3
+/- depending: the music. You get Bruce Willis crooning save the last dance and C Bruni moaning Stand by your man in every episode. Either it sticks with you in a good way bc you like it or it keeps popping up in your nightmares.
- annoying side characters (mother, brother, stalkerexboyfriend), the only plus was him getting slapped repeatedly and that one coworker with the deeper voice that also didn't understand why them dating openly was an issue. I feel you, girl!
- some scenes felt very very long. Many walks, many hugs, many dinner scenes. Repetitive
Now the longer stuff.
The thing that kept bothering me throughout watching this was how a 35 (?)yo keeps living at home and how the parents and the brother seem to have a say in how and who she dates and how she lives her life. Wtaf? Co-worker-girl there spoke right from my heart when she asked Jin-ah wtf the problem was about dating the guy openly.
In fact, how everyone seems to think it's their concern that the two are dating is kinda mindboggling. It's none of your business, sister, brother, parents, coworkers, it's the couple's business. Period. And watching them all be pissy about being left out and lied to like they're entitled to any knowledge at all is making me angry af.
Which brings me to the thorn in this drama's side: the meddling annoying mother of doom. O. M . G. I started skipping scenes with her bc she made me so incredibly angry as well. You've had your youth, mother, now let your kids have theirs and stop complaining!
The dad was a welcome positive antagonist to thr mom, supporting the MC in his own way. Liked him.
I read a lot reviews that said watching beyond ep 9 isn't rec'ed bc of unnecessary heartbreak and they'll get together eventually anyway so I don't know if I'll ever finish this.
I kept watching for the subplot about workplace sekuhara bc it's a real problem and I really wanted to see it resolved, i.e. have the creeps be fired from the firm.
I came at this straight from Crashlanding bc I liked the main actress and sometimes I wished Jin-ah was more like a tough business woman that let's nobody step over her....ah well...
I have to second other reviews here, watch this until you get bored then just drop it and watch sth else.
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I get the hype for this drama because Koreans love their romance dramas but for me I don't get swayed by just a handsome oppa.
It seemed like they're going for a more American style type of drama, the cinematography I liked but that's about it. The plot is so weak and thin that there's nothing I can hold onto to keep my interest awake.
I dropped this after 5 episodes cause I just can't go on anymore with their cheesiness. The only best thing that happened in this drama is at the end of episode one when she was dancing to 2ne1.
I'm sorry but I couldn't recommend this even to the newbies.
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Great minus the mother character
I dropped this due solely to the mother’s character and the way everyone gives into her abuse and manipulation. It was so over the top for me that I got annoyed and just read episode synopses through the end. This mom was bad enough that if she’d been my mom, I would’ve slapped her then disowned her (if a child can disown a parent), because no one treats me that way, especially not someone claiming they love me. And I never hit people, let alone someone I might care about. It could in part be a cultural thing (I’m American, grew up in New England, and whiter than mayonnaise), because I’ve seen more than a few that would’ve made me cuss my parent out for their bad behavior, but those have been mostly c dramas. And even those I didn’t drop because of it. Again, it might be a cultural/parental thing because I was raised a bit differently being taught that respect is earned, not just freely given, no matter how much older that person is or who they are to you them which is more extreme than most of my New England peers. That being said, the writer and director had other, better options to create the tension they needed to create without making a character be emotionally/psychologically abusive, let alone a parent.I really loved everything else about this show. I was actually upset to drop it because the 2 leads are so amazing together, just the mother was enraging me so much I couldn’t enjoy it anymore. I’m glad I dropped it when I did because the episode synopses showed me I was only going to get more annoyed with her and everyone else around her well before it got any better. If the mom doesn’t bother you or you can at least tolerate her, then this might be a great k drama for you. I might eventually try it again and if I can stomach her on the 2nd try, I will be sure to update this review.
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Dropped it as the female lead was unbearable and stupid
My god I signed up just to give this drama 1 star…am so irritated after watching this tedious and unrealistic drama that I have to vent…coming from an Asian background myself I find the female lead to be the most unrealistic portrayal of a mature working woman…she is supposedly good at her job but makes such monumental mistakes that u want to reach thru the screen and bash her….no woman even one from a so called conservative society would react in such a passive manner…show her to be a doormat at work too then a huge failure because no sane person and I stress no sane person whether man woman or any other gender would be capable of functioning in today’s society…terrible script with unlikely scenarios and decisions thrown in just to create tension and continue the tedious plot line….dropped it for the steaming pile of waste that the writer regurgitated !!! And please no excuses about how conservative Korean society is to make up for the wafer thin plot as I too come from a patriarchal ultra conservative society and know that no career woman from a so called educated urban background would make the harebrained choices that the FL makes ….Baah dropped it out of sheer frustration and a savage desire to beat the living daylights out of the FL…crap and lazy writing shame on the author…minus stars if possibleEsta resenha foi útil para você?
Annoying repeated songs
Love the story. But i cringe every time the same soundtrack plays over and over again "YOU CAN DANCE....."OMG >_<
and the "STAND BY YOUR MAN" song. IF I HEAR "SOMETIMES ITS HARD TO BE A WOMAN" one more time....
Who the heck chose these songs? It could've been just fine with Korean music. The sound tracks alone is just an example of bad taste in music. It's like my grandpa chose 3 songs to repeatedly play in this.
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