Something in the Rain (2018)

This was very complex and slow-building melodrama. The families were really culturally interesting and complex. For an American who is not Asian, it was a little astonishing but believable because of the acting. Adult children need to come to terms with their parents and their expectation if they are going to become authentic adults. I saw this drama as a reflection of how that happens in any society. I know this is a love story but it is also more than that. It was very different, particularly in how the female grew in the story. Not your usual Kdrama rom-com stuff. I think this was an important drama for women to watch.

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This is my first time writing a review & I hope it goes well. & English is not my first language so forgive me if there is any mistake .

I have mixed reactions about this drama. The first 8-10 episodes were too good. It was realistic with a decent plot & had so many heart fluttering moments. The chemistry between the two leads is GREAT & both the actors did a very good job.
The first half was great but
but then everything went downhill after that.I had to force myself to sit down & watch each episode. Disappointing coz I had lots of expectations & I really adored this drama.
I think the main issue was that there wasn't enough plot to fill 16 episodes so they created unnecessary drama towards the end.
If I could just rate just the first half , I would rate it 8.5/10
It had potentials to be a great drama but the writers ruined it.

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Something in the Rain is like the longest indie romance film I've ever watched. At first I loved it, it felt fresh - a little rough round the edges but it was okay. Then by episode 11 I couldn't watch a whole episode in a one sitting because it bored me too much. Especially with the soundtrack seemingly consisting of 3 songs for the most part... Very everyday scenes were dragged out too long, which although makes it more real and organic, there is only so much I can take. The acting itself was good and I can't fault them in particular. I feel like the story was made too dramatic (especially with inappropriate music for the scene) but that may have been due to the difference between my culture and Korean culture. Overall it was relaxing enough to watch before bed but would have been better as an hour and a half movie in my opinion.

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Producer Ahn Pan Seok is considered one of Korea's finest PDs for three main reasons: his shows are beautiful works of art defined as much by what he doesn't choose to show as much as by what he does; his use of music is poignant, artful and powerful; and he's a strong feminist, creating female victims of a sexist and misogynistic culture and then freeing them in ways that can be brutal but are no less cathartic.

So it seems strange to write a review about his latest work and say that, while it no less beautiful or artful or well-framed, it's use of music is ear-screechingly bad and its portrayal of women's lives depressing. In fact, this is the most depressing Korean drama I've seen since Misty told us a woman can only have success if she destroys men - and she won't be happy anyway when she does it.

Which is not to say that there is anything wrong with the writing, acting or cinematography of this show. It is, in fact, a warm and often-visually beautiful representation of the ordinary life of a very ordinary noona and her very ordinary romance with her friend's dongsaeng. But it is in the show's realism that it fails.

Jin-ah (Son Ye-jin) is the most everywoman portrayed on TV: told her job is to compromise, to keep the peace, to slide through without conflict. Basically raised to be this way and then simultaneously judged for being this way. Forced to be a participant, essentially, in her own mistreatment. In the end, Jin-ah will only be happy, and the people around her will only be happy, if she stops trying to make everyone happy. She's such an everywoman that I don't know why the writers and the PD told the story at all - unless it's to completely depress us as to the current state of feminism.

For those who want a fluffy, happy romance this is the wrong show, even if there's a lot of that in the first half. Love it seems can survive in a bubble but can't survive the real world, even if the two people in the romance are not doing anything wrong.

In the end, this show gets a seven because it was a very good piece of television despite the depressing overall theme. The one true flaw was the OST, which was so awful it had me muting the soundtrack throughout. If you told me a few weeks ago that I'd be muting the soundtrack in a PD Ahn drama, I wouldn't have believed you. But here I am. And if I have to hear 'Stand By Your Man' one more time, it will be one time too many.

Sometimes it is hard to be a woman. But only if you are brought up to embrace noble martyrdom as a woman's main role. It is ironic perhaps that the people who will truly hate this show are the ones who love shows that promote woman's noble martyrdom as a virtue to be rewarded - like Mischievous Kiss. And while there is a lesson in that for women, it's not a particularly uplifting one.

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The first half of this drama was utterly intoxicating. I even watched episodes raw (something I NEVER do) because I was having so many feelings. Jung Hae In and Son Ye Jin had some incredible chemistry here in the build up to and the beginning of their relationship. The cinematography was beautiful. The atmosphere was just right - realistic and raw. The hospital scene was so intimate that I felt like a voyeur. And then it went downhill steadily from around episode 10. With a melodrama tag, I wasn't expecting all sunshine and roses, but I also feel like the back half meandered too much without real feelings of resolution or growth. Issues were just swept away without showing or telling us how they were overcome. I feel like there was no real closure on anything - like the workplace harassment or the issue with Jin Ah's mother. I want to know that our couple has a stable future to look forward to and that they won't become mired in the same problems that plagued them before. The plot is overly simple, but dragged out for far too long. I think cutting it back to 10 or 12 episodes and eliminating useless scenes where the story isn't progressed or too much time is spent on an artistic shot would have helped a lot.

As actors, Jung Hae In and Son Ye Jin did an incredible job in their roles. I really loved Seo Joon Hee (JHI) - he was so smitten and protective. (And Jin Ah needed someone to save her from herself at times). Yoon Jin Ah (SYJ), however, was sometimes hard to like as a character. She did some incredibly stupid things that were frustrating for me to watch as a viewer. And I didn't like how she wasn't always truthful with Joon Hee. While the couple lacked good communication in general, Jin Ah had a bad habit of doing hurtful things and then being cutesy to Joon Hee in order to avoid his being (rightfully) upset with her. They didn't know how to resolve conflict. Jin Ah's mother is the WORST - she is hateful and unbendingly stubborn....to the very end. She was the only character that I outright hated, so the actress rocked her part! I also enjoyed Bo-Ra's character. She made a great friend to Jin Ah - possibly even better than Jin Ah's life long best friend Kyoung Sun (Joon Hee's sister). The other characters were serviceable. I honestly think I could have watched 16 straight hours of Joon Hee and Jin Ah just being in love and happy together...without all the angst of the outside pressures.

The music - I loved the cover of Save The Last Dance For Me...even if they were heavy handed with it in the beginning (and then it disappeared altogether later in the series). It really set the tone. This drama in the beginning had the feeling of old 80's romances. (That's not a bad thing to me as I grew up in that time and it made me all nostalgic.) However, I thought that the cover of Stand By Your Man, while a good song, was an odd choice and didn't exactly fit with the narrative that was being told to us. It was also played during really inappropriate moments where it really didn't belong. I thought that Rachel Yamagata's track was beautiful and fit well with the tone the show took later.

As far as rewatch value - I've pretty much already rewatched it just because I watched raw and then again with subs. However, if I was ever to rewatch this in the future, it would probably only be up until they exposed their relationship to others and then maybe the back half of the last episode. I don't think I could go through the painful parts again, but the lovely build up of their relationship, I could probably watch over and over again.

I gave the show an 8, just based on the first half of the drama which was a total 10 to me. I probably should have knocked off more for the second half, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy the show at all. I just wanted more from it in ways that we didn't get and less from it in ways we got too much of. If you are not a fan of 'slice of life' or melodramas or artsy scenes that don't do much for the story, I would suggest that you avoid this one because I promise you will be bored. Personally I wasn't bored as much as I was frustrated by the direction (or lack thereof) that the story took. Not enough to drop it, but enough to leave me feeling a little deflated in the end. It was sort of like eating a piece of cake that was beautiful and sweet for the first several bites, then turned bitter, and only the last bite had about a quarter of the sweetness that it had in the beginning. Not *quite* enough to remove the bitterness, but just enough to dull it a bit.

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The first 7 or so episodes were really special, out of this world good romance, beautiful cinematography,excellent acting performances by the main pair and annoying, but tolerable side characters. Unfortunately by the time we reached the last episode the writers ruined almost everything & also some really tedious & annoying sub-plots were used.
So in my opinion the best way to watch this is to watch the first 9 episodes & then jump straight to 16. ~~ That way you all will see something truly remarkable.

My disappointment in episodes 11 > 15 is comparable to what I felt watching Jealousy Incarnate, when they all lived in the same apartment...

Still I will remember this show for a long time to come, rewatching the first 9 episodes is something I will probably do, when the pain of what followed has become a faint memory. Objectively I should probably give this something like 4-5 stars, but the first half of the show is good to the point that it's insane, hence the 8 stars rating..


edit: It's been three years and finally I have decided to give this one another go. I followed my own advice, watched the first 9 episodes followed by the finale. My attempt to relive the magic has mostly failed. Probably it does not help that I've seen One Spring Night 3 times.. In my review I said "tolerable side characters", but I had an extremely hard time to tolerate them the second time around, especially the horrible horrible mom and the ex. I have some qualms about ML's sister as well, but I'm sure most of it is bias having seen the actress in EVERYTHING.

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The first part of the story is really good! the love story is well written and acted, but for the hole conflict part of the drama they leave all to her evil mother, which is not enough to maintain a good argument for more than 2 episodes, imagine having to drag it along for 7!!!
Apart from that, we have a strong confident woman that supposedly stand up for herself, that loves this young man, and instead of being there for him like he did when she needed him, she acts like a total BS and disregards his feelings towards a man that abandon him and his sister, she MAKES him do something he does not want to do, just like her mother is doing to her... (guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree)
And after everything he did for her, he asks her to go with him to the US and she not only disregards his feelings ones again and rents an apartment without even telling him, but while he is away he starts dating some guy just to please her mother... wow! I mean... WOW
AND! to put the cherry on top of this whole Jin Ah 100% egotistical story line, Joon Hee is the one having to take all the responsibility at the "nothing but a pathetic excuse of a grand finale" they tried to pull in the last 5 minutes of the show so they would end up together...

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intimacy in the face of the storm

i can't stress enough how important this story is in today's world. besides the beautiful romance, it deals with the taboos of korean society, but in a way that imbeds them to the story, not merely checking things off a list

1. romance:
No one suspects they're a couple because of the many differences between them: income, age, social class. still, they fit like two pieces of a puzzle. there are no over the top declarations, but a genuine, all encompassing love that can be seen in the smallest actions, like drying each other's hair and bringing coffee after an exhausting day at the office. their intimacy shines like no other kdrama, you truly believe they are a couple. no other people are more tethered to each other

2. Acting:
exceptional and subdued. the characters show their full range of emotions, from crying to laughing to being adorably cranky. it features both seasoned actors and relatively new ones like the main male lead that can play off each other naturally.

3. story
besides the love arc, there is a story about sexual discrimination in the work place. it's not presented lightly or get wrapped up with a bow. it's a serious issue that the main lead faces and the enemy isn't a single person, but society's attitudes that benefit men. she's not a crusader, but she's a fighter. things don't come easy to her, but that's what women face in the workplace. it's important to see that. for me, that's what makes the ending the perfect conclusion

4. music
you will both hate and love Carla Bruni

5. ending
fitting. that's all I can say. many people don't like it, but it's very consistent with the show and hopeful.

TL;DR a must-watch for every woman

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I liked this sweet little drama. I found myself smiling through a majority of the episodes. The romance worked for me. The ML was fairly established in his career so there was none of the usual hand wringing about the older FL stifling his dreams and potential. The conflict was largely familial. They both learned from each other and both made mistakes. My only caveat was that if felt like the writer had problems with the last couple of episodes disrupting the flow of the storyline.

Also, I liked that the FL didn’t recoil from the ML’s kisses as if he was going to give her a root canal. They had a healthy tactile relationship. One of the few Kdramas I’ve seen where the couple was in a believable intimate relationship.

I found the acting solid all the way around.

Regarding the OST: I dinged it for the overuse of Stand By Your Man. They could have cut the use of that song by 80%. Bonus points though for Rachael Yamagata’s Something in the Rain. Already downloaded it.

I will rewatch all or at least parts of it when I’m having a bad day and need a smile and a warm feeling in my heart. I definitely recommend giving this drama a try.

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In order to get to heaven, must go through hell first.

After reading several bad reviews, I was hesitant to watch this drama. However, I was glad to have watched this drama and left me feeling appreciative to the deep insight of the writer. It is really nice to watch a grown up drama.

I wish they had wrapped up the ending with more details of their future together. The last episode contained many minutes of flash backs that did not move the story forward. As expected, the our main couple ended together but the director could have given us some more answers about our primary couple.

I was sad to see their breakup but, in retrospect, it was really necessary for Jin Ah to find her self. In order to come to her own, she had to really let go of all bonds that were holding her back. She really had to learn to walk the path of her life on her own. Although, it is nice have allies but ultimately she is the author of her life. I really appreciate the writer's willingness to explore/risk it all to find the happiness.

After the breakup Jin Ah tried to live her life according to her mother/family outlook. But she was still miserable and no better off than before Joon Hee. She finally found her happiness when she risked it all. Our "young" lady has finally grown up.

This drama is not a typical ROM-COM. After watching the drama, I am still left with an ache in my heart as a reminder of our own lives. The lesson: In order to live happily with a significant other, I must be equal to him or her. It is not 50-50 but 100-100.

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UNDERSTANDING LOVE AT A DEEPER LEVEL

What is love ?
Is unorthodox love accepted ?

We are represented by the people around us and judged for the same .
Whether it's family , work or personal everything holds a view and opinion .

This drama is really wonderful .
You would see lots of people being dissatisfied with the ending .
But the director had the guts to convey what really happens .

Are you the kind of a viewer who watches an idealist romance ?
Everything has it's ups and downs .
This drama portrays the good and the bad with such convenience that it's baffling .

All the moaners in the review are immature to accept the beauty of this drama .
( These are all weak people and not smart . Like you average viewer with the disability to assess and tell diamond from carbon )

This has an indefinite ending .
Coz people really don't have answers for everything .
Life and relationships are stories .
And not all stories have a definite ending .

It does get slow but the director is giving you time to think what you could've done in that situation .
This drama comes with an art of reflection for what to do and what not to do .


PS : Cinematography is one of the key element of this drama . Purely phenomenal !

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