One Shot Scandal (2023)

I liked this one.

Crash Course in Romance had K-drama from the 2012-2016 vibes, including all the annoying tropes that I’m not sure work as well in 2023, but it made me happy and nostalgic watching this show so I’m definitely tossing it into the recommendation pile. I’m not sure I will ever understand the competitive nature of college entry in South Korea, and I will certainly never be able to wrap my head around math… but it was cool to learn about these study schools and watch this struggling lady strive to ensure the best possible future for her teenager. The romance between the celebrity math tutor (I know, right? what a weird world) and this hardworking middle aged lady made me kick my feet in the air it was so cute and stupidly adorable. What can I say… late to love stories work for me.

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Math + Food = Love

Crash Course in Romance (2023)

Likes
1. Choi Chi Yeol as best math teacher and boyfriend of 2023! Love Jung Kyung Ho's comedic timing too.
2. I havent really watched a lot of Jeon Do Yeon's works but i hope she stars in more romantic and lighter dramas and movies because i love her smile!! Although her character has many problems she was wonderful as Haeng Seon.
3. I also love Haeyi and her friends. I was rooting for Geonho but Sunjae is not bad too.
4. Best character growth is Sunjae's mom. I was crying when she went on a trip with Hui jae.
5. Chiyeol having his own bestie in Jong Ryeol!
6. The final episode was so warm and happy i really hope everyone will live brighter and less stressed.

Dislikes
1. This drama could have been even better if there were no serial killer storylines. And even how they resolved it was bad and felt rushed.
2. Didnt like the pairing of Jae Woo and Yeong Joo, or even Su A and Geun Ho. Almost everyone had to pair off with one another for a "happy ending".
3. I'm so done with Kdrama mommies being too toxic to fellow mommies and their kids.
4. Haeyi's mom didnt need to come back and create unnecessary drama in the last eps.

Rating: 8.5/10

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Fun, heart-flattering and unique

I really loved it. The first time i liked a kdrama i watched as it aired till the end.

I wanted more romantic scenes between the leads and sunjae and haeso i think they should have shortened the storyline of the murder and the aunt( the birth mom storyline shouldn't have been there) .

Also i am confused how fast some characters changed ( sua and sunjae's mom mainly) and what the hell was up with sua storyline ( where she freaked out implying she had something to do with missing hae) they just left it.
Other than that, i really enjoyed my Saturdays and sundays.

Editing me( mar 21 2023)
I think i enjoyed the first have way more than the second coz of that, i am reducing the rating to 8.5 or 8.75 instead of 9).

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A slice of life romcom laced with the harsh reality of the korean academic rat race..

I hadn't heard of this drama before it first started airing if I'm being entirely honest. I had one of my close friends watch the first ep and tell me that it was nothing like they've ever seen before, and I was thoroughly intrigued. Now that it has ended.. It doesn't feel real.. Waiting every weekend for a double episode only to have to wait another week to see what happens next, and having continued that until today has been a very memorable experience. This drama did that for me.

The title "Crash Course in Romance" obviously suggests a very kdrama-esque romcom but I was very pleasantly surprised to see the evident elements of the academic competition in Korea and how serious it can get, including our group of helicopter mothers and very stressed and emotionally unstable students driven to the edge because of this life of grades and success. Nam Haengseon, our lovely FL is presented as someone who would never enforce decisions on anyone, not even her niece Hae-yi. We can see how Hae-yi has organically become better at studying based on her own motivations and receiving almost no pressure from her family; and that starks in comparison to some of the other kids we see in the show (*cough* SUA *cough*)

The whole history with Chiyeol's former student and her brother was very striking personally. Like I'm not an emotional person, but knowing how Suhyeon said that he was one of the only adults she trusted made me feel so bad for them, especially because of their mother (her daughter fell to her death but she wants her son to study harder because he's "now her only hope"????? That's messed up.) I felt so bad for Sua until the very end and I knew that the shit she was going through isn't entirely her fault but the show made me hate her so much and I hated that so much - speaking of which, the geonhuXsua pairing is lowkey SO underrated I really really really wanted to see more of them they're SO CUTE

Ji Donghui (or rather, Jeong Seonghyeon) really scared me since the BEGINNING yeah at the start the pairing was lowkey cute and I had NO clue it was going to be him but I had a HUNCH... I'm also confused about how everything just died out at the end when he died? like okay yeah it was sad for a bit but I love how everyone forgot about it soon after?

The whole plot was played out very well, in fact. Recently I've been having quite the blackout with kdramas and I seem to get bored REALLY easily. The spacing of this one was incredibly even and I think that's a major factor is the longevity of a drama for me! Portraying every single aspect of the plot from almost every single character's perspective is an important feature of a good drama and this one definitely did it for me!

The ending was incredibly satisfactory thankfully! - I was so afraid we were going to get a Hae-yi and Haengseon separation moment BUT HER MOTHER DID SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE! - I loved Sunjae's mother's redemption arc! The picture she sent Sunjae of her and Huijae made me tear up:"( and when huijae came back on leave from the military:"((((( I really love happy endings! - The Sunjae and Hae-yi moment:"( It was too late for me like I would have appreciated a whole episode with them together - and the same for Geonhu and Sua!! When he went to pick her up saying that he was going to enrol in her university:"( Underrated AND unexpected pairing but I loved it! - and lastly, our main couple!! As if them proposing together wasn't cute enough, him rooting for her throughout her examination preparation process was the most wholesome thing ever :"(

As if I haven't spoiled the entirety of this show in my review already, If you still made it to the end and you HAVEN'T watched it, I suggest you do!!! I know I will definitely be rewatching this in a few months!!! <33

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Me tirou da ressaca de doramas.

O último dorama que terminei, foi Advogada Extraordinária, e puxa, eu o amei. Amei tanto que passei meses sem ver nenhum outro drama.

Começar CCIR foi uma das melhores decisões que já tomei, e eu daria tudo para assistir de novo como se fosse a primeira vez.

O dorama é bom em tudo que eu gosto, romance, drama, suspense... mas suspense? Eu não esperava isso em uma comédia romântica.

Então é essa a minha opinião sobre, sem spoilers: Trabalharam muito bem com os dramas familiares e adolescentes, mas muito mal com todo aquele plot twist que teve nos últimos episódios. Pra mim, esse dorama teria sido 10/10 se focassem somente nas dificuldades que adolescentes encaram durante o preparo para o vestibular e no romance dos protagonistas (e nos casais secundários, também). Enfim, me tirou muita risada, e o episódio 9 me deixou em lágrimas, e por isso minha avaliação é o que é.

Se você gosta de um bom haters to lovers, family found e adultos resolvendo problemas como adultos maduros, esse dorama é perfeito pra você.

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This show is INSANE

I absolutely love the writing. The plot is meticulous. Moments you don't pay attention to are brought back up and become relevant. There is never a dull moment.

The characters are so well written. The love story is realistic and really entertaining. Their chemistry is incredible. The young stars in this are also absolutely brilliant actors. The way they act their struggles is brilliant to watch.

The thing I love most about this drama is it takes tropes that at the start you really think will go a certain way, but it turns everything upside down until you don't know what to expect. Where you think the story is going, it will undoubtedly go a different way.

It also tackles issues that aren't very commonly tackled, like eating disorders in men, and other things I can't reveal because it will ruin the story.

Basically, WATCH THIS SHOW. The final two episodes are on this weekend and I can't wait!

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Messy and ill-fitting female lead

It began very interestingly with a view into the intense education demands of the country.
Characters looked different and intriguing too. The teenagers are all lovely and their friendships/ relationships were very refreshing. The female lead's brother was wonderful - very touching to watch him.

It had the tag of romance - which is the only genre I watch - so was looking forward to a different kind of story.

However the zero chemistry romance fizzled, the appeal went flat, the genre decided to embark on its own path.

The female lead was so ill-fitting in her role that it soured the whole drama. She may be considered some kind of hero in her country, but she was the least appealing. Grandmother outfits, greasy hair, bony hands of an older person pretending to be young. If she is considered a great actor then please give her intense roles. Not romcoms where she destroys the sentiment of romance.

Even the nasty mother's club had more appropriate actors.

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Overrated

I think this drama suffers from a number of flaws, just from my personal point of view, and I do not understand why it has such high ratings.

First of all, if you're not a fan of noona romances, you would not like this. I do not have problems with age gaps IRL, but I just don't like huge age gaps in my dramas. In this particular case, the actress, while being a fine woman and good at her craft, I'm sure, just somehow felt miscast for the role. She looks and feels way too old for a romance drama of this type. Sometimes it almost feels like she could be the male lead's mom or aunt. The pairing just felt cringey for me. And this is not a prejudice against older women falling in love. There are other dramas where this is given much better treatment and the romance is more age-appropriate, or the actors are better cast.

My second issue is I just did not like the male lead character at all. Not the actor per se. Just the character. I didn't hate him. But there was nothing about the character that I found attractive. He's an okay guy, a fine teacher, but other than that, the character was not developed fully and felt flat and one-dimensional almost. Even his supposed main selling point, his mathematical brilliance, was somehow not utilized enough to make you swoon for him. So with the ML's character not fleshed out and the FL being miscast, the main romance just did not do anything for me at all. Many instances where the FL, who is very ahjumma-like, is acting like a schoolgirl just felt...cringey.

The character of the younger male lead is also poorly written. In a way, he's worse than the main lead because the way he's written, he is not just undeveloped and quite generic, but he also has some glaring character flaws. After the exam fiasco, he resorted to avoidance instead of facing the issue head-on. In the interest of inserting some social commentary about how Korean students suffer from pressure exerted by parents, the writers turned him into a cowardly and immature boy who could not even be open and honest with his supposed best friend who he knew was also suffering and confused due to the circumstances. Just not someone I'd imagine falling in love with. The second teenage male lead had more spunk, more sense, and was at least always there for the female lead. Anyway, both male leads were too bland and uninteresting, and not well-developed, IMO. Just poorly written characters.

I also had some problems with the portrayal of the FL's brother. Was he supposed to have Asperger's? High-functioning autism? Somehow I feel like the portrayal was inaccurate, but I am no expert in this. And I also feel like the actor was miscast. I mean, I'm sorry. He's a fine actor. I've seen him in other dramas. But it would have been better if someone...more attractive were cast in the role so that we could swallow the sudden romance later on. That romance with the FL's best friend just felt too sudden, too forced, and just totally unnecessary. The fact that he said he treated her like an older sister all his life didn't help.

The plot itself is nothing special. It follows the usual format of the new spate of romance kdramas, where the main leads get together at episode 10, after which the plot devolves sharply into a not-that-interesting murder mystery, which, in the case of this drama, was resolved in a totally unsatisfactory way. I guess the main point of the drama is to critique Korea's obsession with academic excellence and tutoring services, and I guess they were able to get that across, at least, but the rest of the drama just feels uninspired and not that interesting.

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Boring and a waste of time

The storyline was really boring, predictable and contained too many unnecessary scenes. The actress playing the FL was a bad choice. The Fl was obnoxious. The leads had no chemistry. The only thing i liked about the show was the scenes showing how bad the education system is and it's effects on the students mental health, as well as the scenes showing how obsessed parents get when it comes to their children's education. I also really liked the students scenes they were much more fun than the leads scenes. The show wasn't funny at all, i don't get why it's labeled as a rom com. Overall I wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone

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C grade

The adults act so childish while the teenagers get all the emotional heavy stakes and interesting plot developments. The best parts of the drama were actually the teenagers and their struggle to meet these physically and mentally taxing educational standards and expectations of their parents and society as well as the mother daughter relationship between the aunt and niece. The wildness of the the hagwon institutions like how the parents have to line up everyday to get the best seating for their children was interesting as well. The murder mystery part of the drama was okay, but it was dragged on for like 3 or 4 episodes too long. When it was revealed that the brother is a red herring and assistant guy is the murderer, that's when they should have wrapped it up.

I quite enjoy seeing pairings where both grown consenting adult characters have the female lead as older than the male lead and the corresponding actors, but the casting here is really distractingly off with the actress not looking anywhere near believable as the character age range she is portraying. It didn't really need to be a noticeable issue except for the drama itself making it awkward by throwing lines like "she doesn't look old enough to be a mom to a teenager" and showing that only a decade has elapsed between the past and the present the story takes place in. It's compounded by the fact that the costume department didn't make a single effort to at least style her to look like she's in her 30s or even 40s and always put her in clothes and hair styling that made her look very middle aged.

Her character is also like an emotionally volatile doormat, it would have been nice to see her have some smarts and effectively save or stand up for herself and her loved ones from time to time. Her version of acting cute was really off putting as well with the over the top laughing as she covers her face and violently hits whoever is in front of her. The romance plots of all of the adults were the least interesting parts of the story. None of them had chemistry and it would have been better to keep those as brief as possible. The teenagers were more interesting, I like how the two boys actually developed a friendship despite being love rivals.

For a single mom with younger man romance that also includes a serial killer plot, I recommend watching When the Camellia Blooms instead of this drama.

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Farofinha

Foi muito divertido de assistir, ria cada vez mais todo novo episódio que se passava. Como a relação dos protas foram mudando aos poucos de enemies pra collaborators e em fim lovers kkkkk. Até o triângulo amoroso secundário foi lindo de se ver, não teve aquelas intrigas besta entre os meninos, na verdade criaram uma amizade verdadeira, eu amei isso. O vilão foi meio sem sal , sem açúcar, enfim espero que o ator faça um dorama com um personagem legal na próxima vez haha
Os atores escolhidos, amei todos, combinaram certinho com seus personagens e entregaram tudo!

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