Sunbae, Não Passe Este Batom (2021)

Wonderful actors in a horrible show

Two leads whose prior performance I have greatly enjoyed are so badly served by this show that it almost makes me angry.
I watched the first six or so episodes, then went to Ep10 and 15 just to see if any of the awfulness disappeared (it had not).
In terms of positives, it is only the acting -- all of the actors do a reasonable job given the horrible quality of everything else.
So what is so horrible about the show? Oh, let me tell you:
1. The story: The premise is straightforward. The complicating factors the writers throw in move the story strongly into the melodrama territory, which is not in itself a problem -- who does not enjoy a good melodrama, after all? But... it does not work. The individual elements never gel; the choices the characters make are nonsensical (and not just in the kdrama way, which demand just a bit of suspension of disbelief, but in a "this would never, ever happen in the current world -- such as a solution to a woman attempting suicide being marriage as opposed to, say, competent psychiatric care???). Most importantly, despite a lot of dramatic things happening, it is all so boring and many of the conflicts are so clearly telegraphed that they come as absolutely no surprise.
2. The editing (I think) -- the cuts in the show and the ways the scenes flow one into the other are jarring in the extreme. Truly, I have not seen a show in recent memory that is so badly edited. Because of that, some of the scenes that should be action-filled or dramatic just come across as rather ridiculous.
3. Female lead's hair, make-up, and clothes: The female lead is a beautiful actress, and kdramas usually do a spectacular job regarding makeup. At first I did not understand what was going on with the actress, why she looked so different from when I had last seen her, and why she looked so overdone and wrong, somehow -- but then (since the show was so boring) I looked at the individual components of her appearance and it became clear. Seriously. She is supposed to work at a cosmetics company, where presumably appearance is more important than in other workplaces, but does that mean that she has to be presented as so "over done"? The stylists made her up and dressed her as though she were in her late 40s. Maybe this was an attempt to emphasize the age difference with the male lead (you know, the huge one year), but if that was the intent, then maybe the age difference should have been made larger in the script instead. And if that was not the intent, then it was just a weirdly bad choice.
My advice: Do not start watching this. You will bemoan the wasted time.

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The best pairing of the main leads in the latest years!

I can’t even express how much love I feel for this drama. What an amazing piece of work! Soooooo grateful I found it ❣️Everything about this drama was beautiful und mesmerizing . Every character's development excellent showed. Rowoon won me over now with this role , he gets better und better with every drama. And Fl as always extraordinary! Love all her work. The main leads are definitely one of favorite Koreans couples in drama’s world bis dato ❤️

I would recommend this drama to the older viewers …perhaps you must be older to enjoy this drama. I promise myself I won’t never read comments before watching dramas, because I almost skipped this great piece of work and it was the best and most natural acting I’ve seen lately. For me every scene with every actor was so real and the relationships between the main leads so funny and passionate 🥰

I especially love the FL's proposal at the end , let me quote it:

“Should we go see cherry blossoms in the spring
Let’s see the ocean in the summer
The fall leafs in the autumn
An the snow in the winter”

A must see drama.. imo

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Watching this show is a struggle

Given that this drama is kinda presented like a noona drama, I expected the age difference between Song Ah and Hyun Seung to be bigger. A one year difference in age doesn't seem that big of a deal. I expected five at the very least, ten if they really wanted to push it.

And, to be perfectly honest, it all seemed very juvenile. I feel like all the characters were too old to be playing these silly, childish mind games. They behaved like immature high school kids instead of grown-ass adults. Plus, the fact that Ro Woon had the same chemistry with Jin Ah as he did with the actress that played his eldest sister (that is to say, no romantic sparks between them in the slightest) did not help.

The only characters I found fun and interesting were the middle sister and her daughter. Everyone else was so bland and boring. And I strongly disliked the utter juvenile pettiness that's seemingly imbued into this drama.

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Just mehhh….

after watching Chinese dramas, I don't know why Korean dramas aren't interesting anymore, it's not like before watching Chinese dramas and I hate fl in this show so much. of all the scenes that ml did to fl, fl just wasted ml's feelings like that? women are selfish, I don't know, but do you really feel innocent after what ml did to fl, fl decided on him unilaterally because he felt guilty for not being able to accompany ml while ml was waiting for him? Instead of breaking up, why don't you think about change, it's better than giving up like that, women are heartless sometimes. when he has hurt ml and how dare fl still want to love ml again after what he did, how cheap that character is. give it 1 rating.

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The main leads are lowkey red flags yet me likes !!

I’ll start with reviewing the main character Hyun seung, he is blunt and confident which makes him different from usual kdrama MLs yet he gives off lil red flag vibes..Don’t get me wrong he isn’t a F boy but lil too aggressive in some ways. He was kinda scary in the beginning episodes .Maybe bcz he is young that’s why he was bit too aggressive.

Song ah, our female lead isn’t soo naive either. In the beginning, i liked how firm she was as she persistently rejects the male lead and gives him a shut up call when he crosses the line. But not much later, she asks ML not to give up on her yet !!!! She wasn’t sure of her own feelings for him but wanted to keep him around for attention ! LOL ! That was really mean thing to do.

As far as the chemistry between the main lead couple is concerned, it was okay .I figured this was going to be a noona drama and FL might overpower the ML but contrary to the expectation, ML was equally dominant and cocky. He stepped up for the FL but didn’t let her take him for granted either soo they weren’t bad as a couple.
Although the story was good but the plot was too monotonous. The writer gave us major cliffhanger in the first episode hence there wasn’t much left for later. The story got predictable and boring towards the middle of the show. Hence I lost interest. Special shoutout to the designer sister and the boss.. they are adorable together.🥰

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I would never know...and it's ok.

I’ll be very honest and straightforward. If you dig Rowoon (and who can blame you?), watch it for him whilst switching off your brain and not paying attention to the story or the bad acting that surrounds him.

Nothing extraordinary or original. Unnecessary filler scenes that were they absent, they wouldn’t alter the plot or deprive the viewer of vital info (but serve as a cf, so I guess they make sense?).
The drama is a cacophony of cliches. E.g. why, oh why, is the FL always gullible when it comes to bad relationships but assertive in her job? (I’ll take a hard guess and say due to severe insecurity?) Such poor representation of women all round.

Oh, did I mention bad acting? Won Jin Ah plays so stiffly the role of the senior (sunbae) and is generally.. old. Then she has a partial lobotomy and warms up a bit but still, she’s an old maid trapped in a body of a supposedly 30 yr old. Naturally, not much chemistry going on, therefore, making it very hard to root for the OTP.
No character stands out apart from the fact that they’re all pretty weird. Even Rowoon’s niece. It’s hard to feel the emotional bonds between any of them.

Just small examples of bad writing, directing and shall I say unfortunate costumier choices too? Were they all deliberate in order to make a point?
To finish it would be a Herculean task. Need I say more?

3/10

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This was my introduction into KDrama ?

This was my first KDrama and I was not disappointed. Loved the cast, the plot, the love story, the fashion, the scene transitions, the consistency and most importantly I fell in love with Rowoon's character. He perfected this role and I'm so proud of this show. I would watch this over as if I didn't watch it before...it's that type of Drama. Kudos to the production team, management and cast that produced such a quality KDrama in 2021. One for the books; I got a lot of fashion ideas from this Drama as well and it helped me to understand how the KWorld views fashion, makeup and marketing; learnt strategies to apply to my own field of work; the level of discipline perfecting your craft and standing up to what you believe in.

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Dark, depressing and predictable.

Can't say I enjoyed this one. You can tell what's going to happen pretty quickly. Most of the characters do the same stuff in each episode. Rowoon is the usual perfect dashing male with no flaws, no growth and no character development. He's the same from beginning to end. The rest is just 16 episodes of waiting for Yoon Song Ah to give in. Few of the other characters change or grow (with one very notable exception).

One side story is unconvincing, another is pretty depressing. Without giving away spoilers I could tell how everything was going to end pretty quickly and had to force myself to finish watching just for completion. This would have been better suited as a movie IMO.

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She Would Never Know (2021) - I love both male and female lead in this drama that I think I expected too much from it.

I read the webtoon and I guess I was really not into the webtoon that is why I was not convinced with watching the drama. The first episodes of the drama is engaging for me as a watcher but as it goes the spark of the drama was lost. Maybe because I think the chemistry of the main leads is not there but they did really good in both their roles. I don't have anything against the actors and actress because they did well. The storyline is just not really my type.

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Unexpectedly very very good

This is not a light hearted romance comedy but a mature romance drama dealing with the topic of adultery (unknowingly by the female protagonist, who stops the relationship once she knows he has someone else), it is dealt in a very very interesting, tasteful and smart way.
So it is not actually about adultery, but about love..

For the FL, it is about healing and moving on after a 2-year relationship to the 2nd ML, who secretly gets committed to someone else (sick) during the course of their relationship , not because of love but because of greed…
it makes sense that both relationships of the second ML remain secret to the world, the one with the FL because they are coworkers, and the other because the GrandFather is opposed to it, and owns the Company they work at. Also, he doesn’t love her… We are told that he kind of had not choice in agreeing to marry the CEO’s grand daughter, but plans to keep the FL, who he really loves, as his mistress after marriage, hence the drama tittle, he hoped « she would never know »…because he knows she loves him deeply and he counts on it when she will learn the truth not to break up.

The best part of the story for me is about the male protagonist, played by Rowoon,: his story arc and genuine personality in the drama makes it one of a kind, extremely well written, directed, insightful, interesting, and … swoon worthy. As rowoon says in the drama, he wants to make the FL live the most beautiful love there is… and that’s exactly what he does throughout. He offers her an unconditional pure mature love, which not everybody is able to receive , especially someone with scars and who hasn’t been loved by her parents…
,.
We also understand that without the support of Rowoon, who told her the truth about her boyfriend, she might have compromised her integrity and accepted the situation once known to her, that’s how much she loved him in the beginning.
But ultimately, she has a strong character and manages to overcome her feelings for her ex boyfriend. And that is quite interesting, because usually, the mistress would keep hoping and waiting for her lover to choose her…

On a lighter side, Rowoon character in the drama is the perfect boyfriend material, absolutely kind, caring, charming, He brings light to the drama, like the second leads arcs., the ones of his two great sisters. What a treat to watch them interact with each other.

Rowoon wins the FL over in the end thanks to his pure personality. dedication and unwavering supporting unconditional love,

All in all, not the classic rom com,
Extremely well treated difficult topic
Very smart and well directed
With meaningful dialogs that make you reflect
Doesn’t fall into adultery unpleasant pitfalls, excusing an unhealthy / amoral relationship under the pretence of love…

And a great positive ending lasting a full episode
A beautiful love story
Rowoon is decidedly a promising actor

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