A lot of web-dramas are pretty throw-away. While often quite cute and fluffy and fun (unless that's not in line with their particular genre, of course), when you analyze their stories objectively, they have no real substance. They try to do too much with their limited screen-time, and what they do end up doing is pretty shallow. That's definitely not the case with Society Obsessed with Love. SOL takes a simple storyline, and instead of over-complicating it with too much superfluous bits and bobs, it commits to simplicity. It's a story about contentment with one's life, even if that life doesn't look like everyone else's, and there's no need to dress that up or overdramatize it.

I would recommend this web-drama to anyone but especially anyone who lives and enjoys the single life, or to those who are maybe feeling a little down about their singleness. You'll definitely enjoy it.

Leia Mais

FUTRE EDIT: I recently re-watched this drama and now feel compelled to come back to my old review and make amendments, as I made some criticisms that I simply don't agree with anymore.

Original Review (now with amendments):
I'm gonna give you one suggestion before you start this drama. Disregard everything about Do Min Ik being a face genius. It's superfluous information that has no bearing on the overall story, and you'll enjoy the drama better if you just ignore it.
EDIT: I completely renounce this suggestion. While there are still some issues with this part of the plot, I don't think him being a face genius at the start is as big of a problem to the story as I once did. I address said issues a little further down in my original review. :FINISH EDIT

As for the rest of this drama, it has an old-school style filled with small, but important, twists on a classic formula. A male lead who's not really a jerk, just starts off a little thoughtless then quickly becomes the cutest puppy you've ever seen (and I mean Quikly). A female lead who's a candy but not, who stands up for herself repeatedly and doesn't let anyone push her around and is very proactive in her own life. The use of disability(ies) in a way that is thoughtful and kind, even if not very accurate (looking at you, face blindness), and that isn't used as a plot device only to be reversed later (ie. not giving characters disabilities only to take them back at the end in order to achieve a 'happy ending').
EDIT: I STAND BY EVERYTHING IN THIS PARAGRAPH. :FINISH EDIT

There's an office plot outside of the romance, but that's gonna be really hit or miss for a lot of people, and probably more of a miss for most. It's not a typical office plot, in my opinion, and I really appreciate where the writers were trying to go with it, but it does have some glaring flaws that keep it from being as compelling as it could have been.
EDIT: I really liked the office plot the second time around. It doesn't go the direction you expect it to (I suspect because one of the actresses playing one of the secretaries central to this plot had to leave the drama due to a family scandal and this required changing the storyline unexpectedly), but I actually like where it ended up going. It's not super high stakes or exciting or intriguing, but it's very realistic and conveys a very strong message. :FINISH EDIT

The two main problems with this drama though are going to be this:

1) Making Do Min Ik a 'face genius' worked against them when they took away his ability to recognize faces, as he should have had no real trouble recognizing the people around him via their voices, mannerisms, way of dress, etc. (as is implied he was very good at when he was a 'face genius'). Yet he can't recognize any of these things about people, and there's no reason given as to why, which makes you strongly question just how much of a 'face genius' he was before. This is why I said to completely disregard this part of the plot as it's unnecessary and you'll enjoy the story more without it.
EDIT: I mostly stand by this. It doesn't make sense that he was so incredibly good at reading people and then when he lost his ability to see faces, he lost everything else as well. At the very least, he should have been able to recognize people's voices. I can recognize my parents' coughs and sighs and sneezes when they're on different aisles of the grocery story. Surely, he could have recognized people's voices. :FINISH EDIT

2) People are tired of dramas where the main conflict is dragged out longer than necessary, and this drama definitely makes you feel like the main conflict is being dragged on longer than necessary and can make you really dislike the female lead even though you clearly aren't meant to. (I never disliked her as the lie itself never upset me to the level it did everyone else, but I definitely felt the frustration many felt over her not ending it sooner than she did.) But once you get past this part of the story, and the writers finally give you an explanation for some things, you do understand why they chose to go this route, and it makes a lot of sense.
EDIT: Again, I mostly stand by this, but I also felt a stronger empathy and understanding for Gal Hee this time around. Truthfully, some of the blame should be on Veronica as well, as her way of punishing Gal Hee for deceiving Do Min Ik...was to make her deceive him some more. She should have been held at least partially responsible for that. And even though the lie goes on overlong, I also think it was consistently well-utilized. There aren't any scenes where I felt like 'This is unnecessary. This harms the drama/the story.' The conflict I experienced was that I understood and appreciated the decisions the writers were making with the lie while also knowing and anticipating and being already heartbroken that Do Min Ik was going to be gutted when he found out. And he was. :FINISH EDIT

What I would have liked to see in this drama:

1) Gal Hee's mom should have been a central character from the beginning. The drama starts off with mom playing a more central role in the early episodes as a sort of voice of wisdom to Gal Hee, but then she sort of disappears for awhile for no explainable reason. She starts popping up again in the second half to have little, private conversations with Gal Hee about things, and it adds So much to the story as you get to see into Gal Hee's mindset and why she does the things she does. The first half would have greatly benefitted from more of this, and I think people's anger at Gal Hee's character would have been cooled by it.
EDIT: I don't know what I was on about. Mom was actually very well-utilized throughout the story, and I don't know why I remembered her only showing up toward the beginning and the second half. I'm also not sure if the story would work as well if mom showed up more often. I liked her a lot, but it probably worked better for her to pop in periodically rather than every, or every other, episode. :FINISH EDIT

2) I don't mind that Do Min Ik couldn't tell that Gal Hee and 'Veronica' were the same person. The explanation we get later on as to why works for me. There just needed to be more insight early on into what was going through Do Min Ik's mind to help us understand why he never recognizes how similar Gal Hee and 'Veronica' are to one another and why he has so much trouble choosing between them. It would have gone a long way to easing the frustration a lot of viewers felt over his not being able to figure it out.
EDIT: I agree. :FINISH EDIT

And that's ultimately where the split is going to be in this drama. Either you're going to be frustrated with Gal Hee for not ending the lie sooner or you're going to be frustrated with Do Min Ik for not recognizing they're same person. But at least for my part, I don't feel like either of these things should deter anyone from watching this drama. I fully admit that my rating for this drama is based purely on my enjoyment of it and not it's flaws. Despite the flaws and some frustration in the middle bit, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. It's fluffy and lighthearted and not meant to be taken too seriously. The writers know exactly what kind of story they're trying to write, and they don't try to be anything they're not. At the same time, they managed to take an old, tired formula and make it new and refreshing and full of little twists here and there and filled with characters you can't help but fall in love with. (You will love Do Min Ik. You just will.) It also has possibly one of the greatest final scenes in all of dramadom. Literally. That. Was. The. Moment. To. End. The. Drama. On. That last scene….was perfection.
EDIT: My rating for this drama is because this drama is wonderful, and the flaws are not nearly as large as I once thought, and the emotional heart of this story is compelling and strong, and the leads are incredibly sweet together, and I stand by this statement, Dang It. :FINISH EDIT

I highly recommend this. It's too cute not to.
EDIT: HECK YEAH, I DO! :FINISH EDIT

Leia Mais

This is the third version of this story I've seen (don't ask me why I keep watching different versions of this story, cause I honestly can't answer that), and it's definitely not the best version out there (although if we're being honest, every version has major flaws as they are all built around difficult-to-like and sympathize with characters), but this is one of the more light-hearted, fluffy, easy to sit through versions, so it at least has that going for it. If you aren't put off by clingy characters and jerk male leads who don't really ever see the error of their ways, then this drama (and all it's versions) are tailor-made for you.

I'd like to say here that I won't be watching any other versions of this drama. But while I might be able to lie to myself and pretend I won't, I can't lie to those of you reading this.

I might watch another version.

Leia Mais

I started writing up my review of this drama a few episodes or so from the end, because I had a pretty good idea of what my overall feelings were going to be once I finished. I was disappointed with the lack of development in Bong Sun and Seon Woo's relationship compared to Sun Ae and Seon Woo. There was not an even split, and it made the viewing experience frustrating. (I took a couple of hiatuses because of it.) It's not that I didn't love every moment Sun Ae and Seon Woo were together, because I did. I love Kim Seul Gi to bits, so I'm never going to complain about seeing her more often or about her characters getting lots of delicious character development. I also enjoyed watching possessed Bong Sun chasing after Seon Woo, and thus by proxy, Sun Ae developing a relationship with him. Minus the ghost issue, she would have been a strong contender in the fight for his heart. I just wanted there to be an even playing field for our two girls, and there wasn't. Only one of them was ever going to have better than a snowballs chance of being with Seon Woo, and she wasn't the one whose romance the writers chose to focus on most of the drama.

Then I watched the next to last episode, and my frustration and disappointment didn't seem to matter anymore. Seeing what happened to Sun Ae, how horrifying it all was, experiencing this flood of gut-wrenching emotions in the pit of my stomach. I was so angry and heartbroken for her, that she had to die so young, and by the hands of someone she cared for and trusted. And then the biggest surprise of all (for me at least), discovering there was still some scrap of humanity left in Sung Jae. The entire drama, we were lead to believe that he was just pure evil, that he had been possessed by an evil spirit for so long that there was nothing good left in him. But in those last moments, what we saw was a broken young man fighting against a destiny that was unfair and recognizing the man he had become and maybe not being so happy about it. He wasn't so far gone that there wasn't still room for redemption.

Of course, then I watched the Last episode, and I was back to being disappointed. Finales are hard for even the best of dramas, and Oh My Ghostess (which I do consider to be one of the best of dramas) is no exception. So much of the last episode felt unnecessary, frustrating, a little confusing. I could have done without much of it, to be honest.

Sun Ae's final day was beautiful and moving, each goodbye a perfect send off to the people she loved, but it seemed a little unfair to me that such an important character should get her send-off at the very beginning of the episode and then be completely forgotten about afterward.

And we have to talk about the forced separation of our main couple. I'm not inherently against main couple separations in dramas. But drama writers always utilize them so poorly or just throw them in for no reason other than it's the finale and they need to fill screen time, and it Really felt unnecessary here. Bong Sun and Seon Woo are only just starting to really get to know each other as people and develop a genuine relationship. Do you really think this is the right moment to separate them? It's just not on.

I think the most confusing writing choice though was what the writer did with Sung Jae. It is hard to be sure just how much was the evil spirit and just how much was him, because the drama never made it fully clear, but at some level, whether conscious or not, Sung Jae was inviting the evil spirit into his life. Even with possession as an excuse, there was at least a part of him that wanted to do some of the things he did. I'm probably in the minority here, but I was willing to forgive him and give him an opportunity to atone for his part in all of the terrible things that were done while the demon was in his body. Just...not that way. That wasn't justice Or redemption. It was just...confusing and weird.

Now that I've finished the drama, I still think my initial feelings were correct, that Seon Woo and Bong Sun deserved more relationship development. And I think the finale did the characters and overall story a disservice in many ways. But I'm also really glad I finally sat down and finished it (and pushed through my frustration during the midway portion.) I think this is a good drama, despite its flaws.

Leia Mais

Updated Review January 2023:

I rewatched this drama last year, and it ended up being a pleasant ride down memory lane. Radiant Office has its flaws, there’s no denying it, but there’s also a lot of heart to be had with this story. That reason alone makes Radiant Office worth watching at least once, in my opinion.

My advice is don’t expect this drama to go in quite the same way as most Kdrama’s of it’s time and genre. The office politics are pretty standard fare (and pretty boring, honestly), but everything else about the story kind of goes its own way. A subtle romance without all of the big hallmark moments we typically expect, a delightful main trio of friends who cheer each other on while also making mistakes but always making amends, and this ever-present spirit of perseverance and determination and belief in one’s ability to overcome struggles. But best and most important of all, a determined and principled female lead who when faced with the prospect of her life being cut far too short, chooses to take it as an opportunity to make the best of the days she believes she has left.

And maybe cause a little righteous trouble while she’s at it, lol.

I’ll say here that a lot of people complain about the last three episodes of this drama, and for understandable reasons. There’s some rushing in the finale, and a particular character finds out some very serious and heartbreaking news pretty late in the story, which some felt should have been brought up sooner and handled a little better. But after my rewatch, I have a deeper appreciation for what the writer was doing, and I now think the episodes played out mostly as they should have.

The other big complaint you’ll probably hear is that the romance is too subtle. But while it is subtle in some ways, it’s not really in the way you might think. There’s pretty consistent build up between the leads throughout the drama as they each gradually come to like each other and slowly find themselves forming a relationship. I think a lot of people missed that a relationship was forming between them, because there aren’t any conversations addressing the changes in their relationship until the finale. But in some ways, it’s sort of truer to life, as many relationships happen gradually over time without all of the grand gestures and pointed conversations we’ve come to expect in dramas. My only complaint about the romance is that we deserved a better kiss at the end. He gives her a mild peck, and that is simply not sufficient, lol.

It's interesting to think about this drama now, 6 years later, considering it was written by a contest winner. It seems they never went on to write anything else, and I often wonder what happened to them. Why did they never write anything else? I assume getting into the industry is quite hard and winning a contest wouldn’t necessarily mean they would go on to lead more of their own dramas. In fact, that probably was always unlikely. But I still wonder if the experience at least got their foot in the door, or if this drama was the only time they got to work on anything. Hopefully, Radiant Office was the beginning and not the end of their drama writing career, and maybe someday in the future, we’ll see this writers' work again.

Now wouldn’t that make a great story?

Leia Mais

I don't think it ended as strong as it started (it began to drag a bit in the last quarter, lost the darker edge it started out with, and certain plot points weren't given as much attention as they deserved), but I enjoyed it for what it was and what it aspired to be. Hell Joseon is a real place, and I felt the characters pain each time they tried, failed, then pulled themselves back up to try again. I ended up being more invested in the secondary couple than the main couple (cause they were just too dang cute), but I appreciated the main couple's struggles in their relationship and how they supported each other and held each other up when one was falling apart.

I wouldn't watch it again, but I'm glad I watched it at least once.

Leia Mais

As I get older (about to be 33 soon), I find myself becoming more and more drawn to dramas that tell stories about adult women (ie. women in their late 20's and early to mid 30's). Some of this obviously comes with being older myself and wanting to watch characters my age in relatable situations and circumstances. Some of it is my drama tastes changing and maturing over time. (I still love most of the same genre's and tropes, etc. that I did when I was younger, but my tastes have expanded in some areas and shrunk in some others.) As such, I've been on a bit of a mission the last few years to watch more of these particular types of dramas, and this drama is one of the first of this type that I watched.

And I have to be honest and say the story left me feeling very disappointed.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I didn't get the vibe from this drama that it was going to be the type of story that didn't give you a romantic ending. I watched with bated breath to see which suitor our female lead would ultimately choose, knowing in my heart it had to be her co-worker, because they were so clearly right for each other.

And then she chose no one.

I didn't get it. I didn't understand. The female lead had such strong chemistry and compatibility with her co-worker. They were so clearly in it deep for each other. And she had spent the majority of the drama wishing to find someone she could be with. The trajectory was clear.

What compounded my frustration was how uninterested and uninvested in the other female leads stories and love lives I was. I pushed through their parts of the drama, not because I really cared all that much about what happened to them but in dedication to the main couple. And then at the last minute, the female lead decides she wants to be a 'cool single lady' instead of finally find love?

I didn't invest all that time and energy into the drama for an ending like that.

Blegh, I say. Just blegh.

Leia Mais

2023 Review:

I watched this drama for the first time back in 2016 (I think), and while I enjoyed a lot of things about it, I also remembered kind of forcing myself to overlook some aspects of the story. So when I decided to rewatch it recently, I was unsure how things would go.

Guys, the way they made this drama work should not have been possible.

There were absolutely places where I cringed my way through, but then the writers would pull me right back in and make me root for the main couple. The male lead would do something egregious, and I would want to shake him into pieces, then he’d give this heartfelt and meaningful apology, and he would MEAN it. Or the writers would give a really darn good explanation for his behavior that really made you understand him. Or they’d just make him so dang likable and sympathetic. The romance gave me plenty of frustration, but it also worked its way right into the depths of my heart.

One thing that was consistently nice about this drama was seeing the female lead getting so much joy out of her work and working so hard towards her goals. She clearly loves teaching and is very good at it. Then at the end of the drama, when the leads love is tested and she decides to quit her job in order to prove she’s worthy to marry the male lead, he is actually upset by her decision. I was honestly surprised by this reaction, as I assumed he would eventually expect her to quit. But then we find out that he doesn’t want that at all, and it made me very happy.

Granted, them registering their marriage right before she moves to New York in the final episode for an undetermined amount of time (the drama never tells us how long she’s going to be gone) makes no practical sense whatsoever, but this is a drama where you just have to go where the writers are taking you, and by that point, I was on board that train, lol.

I’m sure I’ll watch this again someday in the future, and I’m sure the same moments will make me cringe, and I’m sure the drama will win be back over every single time. I fully understand that there will be other viewers who won’t be able to deal with the male lead in this drama, and I totally get it. But just like Takane won over Junko’s heart, this drama won over mine.

Leia Mais

I love it! I love it! I love it! I WAS PUMPING MY FISTS AT THE END I WAS SO HAPPY!

Oh drama, how I love you. Let me count the ways.

You were fun and engaging. Your characters were bang on fabulous. Your story went in so many unexpected directions.

I love everything about you. (I'm totally glossing over the wooden acting that other reviewers have brought up, because everything else about this little show was so much fun.)

I even don't mind how you made me intensely anxious half the time cause the female lead kept doing things that seemed to be totally screwing everything up, and all I wanted was for her to make better life choices. You made up for it all in the end.

Dramaworld, you are perfection. Will you marry me?

Leia Mais

I love this movie’s sense of humor, especially the video tapes that play a large role in the story (you'll have to watch the movie to know just what I'm talking about). They are this great combination of campy and tongue-in-cheek. If they were real and available for purchase somewhere, I would buy them. Just because they are so hilarious. My biggest complaint with this movie is that some of the logic employed by the lead characters (particularly the male lead) is Stupid. He accuses the female lead of using him even though it was quite clear (at least to me) that she was merely trying to learn how to be more assertive. (Not to mention the male lead was a womanizer who used people all the time. Hello pot. Meet kettle.) But overall, this is a fun, lighthearted film, and I'm glad I gave it a viewing.

(Music is 1 because I don't remember what the music was like.)

Leia Mais

2013 Review:

This web drama is very over the top and ridiculous. At first, the ridiculous seemed to be just that, ridiculous. There was no clear motive behind any of the main characters behavior. And that was perfectly fine. Sometimes you just need to watch something funny and not have to think about it. But as the story went along, the drama revealed a surprising amount of heart.

Each young man is a caricature of a stereotype layered on top of said stereotype. There’s the brain, the ‘charismatic star’ (whatever that means), the artist, the sportsman, and the flower boy. Together they create an entirely hilarious and unique set of characters that you just can’t help but love.

In other words, they are adorable. Really inappropriate, but adorable.

Kim So Eun pretty much embodies the awkward, shy, quiet high school girl. She’s adorable and real and someone I totally would have been friends with if she had gone to my school. If my loud voice and opinionated and argumentative ways didn’t scare her off first, that is.

The interesting thing about this web drama is that for about the first four or five episodes, you really have no idea who the female lead could end up with. She could end up with any of them. She could end up with none of them. With most dramas, the romantic set up is clear. This character is going to end up with this character. I appreciated how After School subverted this typical drama set up.

They did trick you later on in the series as the lead started to fall for one of the boys while two of them started to fall for her. Of course, it didn’t really matter who you liked better because….

She doesn’t end up with anyone, lol.

The idea of this group of young men continuing their club in honor of their dead friend was very touching though. Granted, the dead friend they were doing all of the missions for came off as kind of a jerk to me once we finally met him. ‘Hey, Kang Joon, don’t like this girl you clearly like, because…I like her. And obviously, I have more right to like her then you do. Cause that’s how friendship works!’ *fake smile and hold up a thumb* No. That’s not how friendship works.

But they’re teenagers, and teenagers don’t act rationally when they have crushes, so what are you gonna do?

I do need to add a caveat/warning here. There is a mini storyline part of the way through that involves a joke making light of child molestation. I don’t remember it being a very long moment in the story, but the joke is legitimately offensive.

All in all, this is an odd little web drama. And that is definitely the highest compliment. With the exception of the molestation story, and the fact that the female lead doesn’t actually end up with anyone, I loved everything about this show. Every five seconds I was bursting into laughter. Every five seconds I was going ‘This is such a weird show.’ Every five seconds I was a little offended by the boys and some of their behavior. I marathoned the whole thing in two days. It took me two days, because I was trying to be responsible and not spend my entire weekend in front of my computer screen. (That and I needed a break after the molestation episode.)

I highly recommend this drama for anyone who loves stories that play with stereotypes and that have an over the top sense of humor. It’s a fun watch.

Leia Mais

It seems like a lot of people really love this drama. Having now finished it, I can see why. I can't say I really love this drama as there are flaws in the execution, but I did enjoy a lot of things about it as the story has some interesting story mechanics/concepts, and there are some genuinely good twists.

Xiao En is a fabulous female lead in the first half. She finds herself in the middle of a romance novel and takes full advantage of this to hilarious effect. Nothing's too embarrassing for her to try, she expertly handles the villains and their shady behavior, and she goes after absolutely everything she wants (principally the male leads heart), ultimately succeeding in turning herself into the female lead of the story. It's all incredibly charming and laugh out loud funny. But then she wakes back up in the real world, and the story takes a bit of a nosedive into mope-land for a time. On the one hand, I get it. Xiao En's spent 3 months (I think it was 3 months?) falling in love with a book character and making herself at home in the book universe. Then she wakes up and is brought back to reality that none of it was real, none of it actually happened (although I feel there should have been more awareness on her part about this), and she mourns everything she's lost. She just...mourns longer than I think she had a right to.

It's unclear how much of Situ Aoran's personality is the book character and how much is actually Tian Xing, because the drama doesn't tell us, but for my part, the male lead is bland as toast in the novel world. Seriously. Situ Aoran is incredibly uninteresting, lol. Tian Xing is an improvement, and there are glimpses of him having an actual personality, but we don't get to spend nearly as much time getting to know him as we do Situ Aoran, so it's hard to know just what he's like. (Maybe some of Xiao En's mourning period could have been spent on developing Tian Xing as a character and building a relationship between them instead.......)

Chu Chu, the female lead turned second female lead, has an unusual if also kind of stereotypical character trajectory, as she goes from being the male leads love interest to one of the villains of the story. I personally can't decide if this was a good writing choice or not. On the one hand, there are a lot of reasons this makes sense. Her role in the story is essentially snatched away from her, which would understandably be upsetting, especially if you're one of the leads in a romance novel. It's also a clever story twist to switch the roles of the female and second female leads in this way. But a number of viewers didn't like it, and part of me doesn't like it as well. The evil second female lead has been one of the most common tropes in Asian dramas for a long time, to the point that a lot of drama lovers are sick and tired of it. It's not uncommon today to see people complain about mean female characters in a drama even when they serve an important and appropriate purpose in a story. For me, it's hard to reconcile my feelings on this writing choice, so I've decided not to spend too much time thinking about it.

Qing Feng is, as they often are in these types of rom-coms, an absolutely lovely second male lead. He does everything right, is honorable and kind and a loyal friend, and he has a very hard time of it, lol. What sets him apart from so many other second male leads though is that while he starts the drama liking Chu Chu then switches his affections to Xiao En, his true love...actually isn't even in this novel at all. This is an incredibly unique twist that works well (even if I have a few quibbles around it). It can get hard watching so many lovely second male leads end up alone at the end of the drama, but that is luckily not a problem with this drama. Since the woman he really loves is from a different novel, you don't have to be sad for him that it didn't work out with Chu Chu or Xiao En, because Xiao En is such a good friend that once she gets back to the real world, she doesn't rest until he gets his happy ending. (This is one of those drama exceptions where a second male lead gets an ending that is truly deserving of his wonderfulness.)

The part of the drama that is the most flawed is all of the business and family drama. The real-world storyline around Tian Xing's family and his father's company could be a real slog, and I did a lot of skipping/fast forwarding through it during much of the first half of the drama. The business machinations and family drama were simultaneously boring and irritating. But then the sister's plotline became both interesting and quite heartbreaking, and I found myself slowly becoming invested in the family dysfunction. There's a lot of bitterness and distrust and hurtful behavior to go around, and it makes for a very sad family portrait. It may have been the actress portrayal (probably) that helped bring me around, but I felt a lot of sympathy for the sister. (Not enough to forgive any of her behavior but definitely enough to understand her better and hope she will change her ways and live her life differently.) I didn't have any hope for the rest of Tian Xing's family, sadly. Mom does have the tiniest bit of an epiphany about the role she's played towards the end, which is good, but I honestly was too apathetic about her to feel very invested in her change of heart.

The finale was surprisingly great. Lots of good storytelling choices. From the leads going straight to the courthouse to get married sans wedding ceremony to having a hitchhiking, camp-out honeymoon of all things! (I was seriously expecting that writing choice to not go well, but it was surprisingly romantic and appropriate for our leads.) And the sendoff for Qingfeng was perfection. It made me teary-eyed.

Despite the drama's faults, I understand why so many people love Lost Romance. It pulled off a lot of really good and unexpected twists. It's also just a lot of fun. But don't go into this expecting it to subvert every trope and avoid all the stereotypes of the typical rom-com Asian drama, because while it does subvert a lot of tropes and stereotypes, some are still alive and well in this drama.

Leia Mais

This is a very short comment I wrote earlier this year that I wouldn't normally add as a review cause it's so short, but I feel sad that this special has no reviews, so here you go, lol.

I didn't enjoy this special as much as the first, even though I do think it is well written. Mr. Lookalike clearly has nefarious plans, and it's obvious throughout most of the special, so I spent most of the time wanting the female lead to figure out what he was up to and foil it, which doesn't happen. That was a little disappointing.

This also felt a bit like an ending to this story overall. I'm still crossing my fingers for another season where we finally get to see Akiko and Akira end up together, because I NEED IT, but this special makes the series feel...done. Which makes me want to cry, so I'm not going to think about it too much.

Leia Mais

I probably would have given this drama a 9 or 10 if the last four episodes had matched in quality with the first 8. A lot of the MDL comments I saw before going in called the female lead too self-sacrificial, a claim I always take with a grain of salt. I personally find that while there are plenty of legitimate complaints about female leads who will literally lay themselves on the train tracks or burn themselves at the stake or sit themselves in the electric chair for some of the most foolish and unreasonable of reasons, there is also lot of disdain out there for too much kindness in female leads, like if a female lead sacrifices herself or something she wants for another character, even if it's truly a noble sacrifice, she actually Deserves to be laid on those tracks or burned at that stake or put in that electric chair. With this in mind, I decided to go into Usokon open-minded. I truly like kind and self-sacrificial characters, and I'm always happy to see them represented in dramas, so I was hopeful and excited for this drama.

For the first 8 episodes, I can genuinely say Usokon is very solid. I enjoyed the episodes so much, in fact, that I struggled to understand what people had been complaining about. The female lead can be more self-sacrificial and kind than she might need to be, but all of her kindness and sacrifices are for truly kind and worthwhile reasons. She never did anything I found to be outrageous or stupid. I really, really, really liked her. Of course, like most everyone else, I found the male lead charming and adorable and a riot to watch as he acted surreptitiously silly and excited over his feelings for the female lead. The romance was so easy to root for, because the leads were sweet apart and together.

But then came the last four episodes.

I'll just jump straight in and say that a random girl who went on one date with the male lead in high school and who he obviously didn't really like back shows up and is all 'I've loved him for ten years! Give him to me!' (I'm exaggerating a bit, but that was essentially her attitude), and the female lead...acquiesces. Granted, two of our side characters have a heart-to-heart with her telling her she's being foolish and way too self-sacrificial and she sort of, finally, sees some reason, but the whole plot twist is completely unnecessary and leads to a rushed finale where the female lead and the second male lead have to fake a wedding ceremony in order to lure the male lead there, because He is so heartbroken over the female leads behavior that he decides to walk around moping about it. As you can see, this ^ story choice...is a real buzzkill.

Now, I know there are going to be people who disagree with my assessment of the female lead as a character in the first 8 episodes. In response, I can only say that there's a vast difference between sacrificing your job on behalf of for your single-mom co-worker who is struggling to make ends meet and giving up your man because some girl he went on one date with ten years ago shows up saying she's in love with him and she'd very kindly appreciate it if you'd gtfo. The first scenario is relatable and shows just how much the female lead cares about other people's well-being. The second scenario is stupid.

I do have to disagree here with some viewers who have said the female leads nice-to-a-faultness rubs off on the male lead, because I think they missed some important context clues from the flashbacks about his character. He starts liking her when they are children but never makes a move until in his late twenties. The reason? Because he's intimidated by the other friend in their friend group and feels like he has to prove himself in order to be good enough for the female lead. He believes (we never find out if he is right or not) that the female lead likes this other friend, and he (the male lead) doesn't measure up. The whole drama, there's this big, neon sign over the male leads head telling us he struggles with insecurity/self-doubt. This is fine with me, because I think it works for his character, and I really felt for him, but I don't think you can act like his difficulty with expressing his feelings are because of the female leads influence. No, he already had that problem. I will, however, agree that his response to the female lead stepping aside for this nobody girl is pretty dramatic. Why he doesn't confront this girl and be like 'We went on one date. You need to grow up and leave the woman I love alone' is beyond me, but he doesn't, and we all just have to live that.

I honestly went into this drama hopeful that it would be a more positive portrayal of a kind female lead. I don't need, nor do I want, all drama female leads to be super kind, but I would like to see more dramas treat female leads who exhibit such kindness and self-sacrificial behavior with the respect they deserve. True kindness and self-sacrifice, the kind that actually puts good into the world, is not for the faint of heart. It's for the strong.

I'll end my review by saying that if the female leads kindness had continued in the same vein as what we'd seen in the first 8 episodes, my opinion of this drama would be very different. It's amazing how much only 4 episodes can completely change the way you feel about a story, isn't it?

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