No Gain, No Love (2024)

That darn door keeps chirping!

This is unexpected. It's a ROM-COM supremacy. I'm so glad that I started the series and ignored the naysayers about the show. I was drawn to it mostly because of Han Ji-hyun and thankfully, overall I am fully satisfied that this series is strong and one of the best light rom-com ever.

This is the definitive take on there is that one person (at least) out there for everyone. One person that you can rely on and not afraid to be embarrassed to. Yes, you may hate someone for being mean and harsh. Yes, you may say what a loser he is to let his partner have her way. But that is the REAL deal. Nobody is perfect. A person can be unbearable to you, but not to certain someone. Yes, you may hate/disagree with their choice, so decide if you want to be supportive or throw your tantrums on the floor.

The very core of a relationship/ bond to last is having acceptance of each other's flaws (never using them against each other). This series tackles not only from love perspective but between family, friends, sisterhood/ brotherhood and co-workers. It's not going to be a picture-perfect to fit your liking but with RESPECT, UNDERSTANDING and PATIENCE, those bonds are here to stay. This series is by far imho nailing those 'realism' brilliantly, no matter how unserious they can be at times.

Story
This is a not-so-typical marriage-contract setup between a head-strong heroin and a kind-hearted-angelic hero. The vibes in this one are super duper fun and so unserious, making it a joyful ride. It's like a box of chocolates, you'll never guess of what's coming and as of now I'm having a blast with their reality versus expectation scenes. Yes, keep em coming.

The introduction of the main couple is intriguing. Love, love, love with the animated graphics/ titles on certain scenes that help to amplify the antics of each character. What makes it stand out even more is the clash/ contrast of both leads which I find pretty unique on its own. The dynamics of the relationship is unexpectedly natural and exciting. Added with a stellar supporting casts whom I thought were also really appealing but doesn't feel overshadowing the main couple. Each of them was introduced subtly but made an impact, causing me wanted to see more of them.

Big kudos to the writer, I wished that I could get more than just 12 episode. Although the story may seem unserious, the writer manages to highlight heavy issues like cyberbullying, domestic abuse/ neglect, office discrimination, to name a few. It's amazing that the writer is able to take us on cloud 9 with it's romance, whack us with it's humour and educate/remind us at the same time.

But I have to give the highest credit to the director and the visual/sound editing team, for every little detail in every scene coz their effects are totally working and amplifying the storytelling. And not to mention that convenience store's door, it never fails to annoy me every time.

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SPOILER AHEAD
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Cast
Main Couple
Shin Min-ah is brilliant as Son Hae-young, her nature being an ambitious and calculative person were shown quite convincingly but isn't likeable/lovable to begin with. Her biggest flaw is her lack of empathy towards other people. What she understands are purely based on her own observation and life experience, shaped from her parent's lack of attention, thus making her insecure/ incapable of trust to others. She is confident in her own assumption, and sets out her goal as the most beneficial to her; and to other people, regardless of how she makes them feel or how they perceived her. In other words she seems like a selfish person but underneath it all, her 'calculative' decision is made to benefit others as well in her own twisted unique way. Her strength lies in her confidence, as she is willing to go the extra mile in any sort of situation. Unbeknownst to her, such act is actually a mirror to what her mother's deed all along. Although Hae-young might not be as angelic as her mother, they share the same value in life. We can see her bits of warmth and kind nature emerge here and there. Amazingly, SMA is able to make an unlikely likeable character to be relatable and that made me adore her even if she can really get on your nerves sometimes. This is one of her best works, alongside Gumiho.

Kim Young-dae brought his 'A' game as Kim Ji-uk. I'm sold at his portrayal of this awkwardly-angelic-persona as a good samaritan. Ji-uk stands at the very end of Hae-young's calculative nature spectrum. He was raised thinking that his existence is a curse instead of a blessing, and he lived his life as an act of service to the community just to fill his void (his sense of belonging). It was never revealed clearly as to what he was doing that is unknown to others (*my likely guess is he continues to care for his 'foster mom'). So he works at the convenience store nearby to keep in touch. And so happens, Hae-young asks him to be her fake groom. He just couldn't bear the thought of Hae-young getting involved with any stranger under those contract/fake circumstances. So, true to his nature to protect, he agrees, reassuring that at least it's under his control. Little does he know, the heart can play tricks on your mind. It brings me back to what Ji-uk's grandma had said earlier; "Whatever you say, is bound to happen later on". It implies that you'll do whatever your heart desires the most, which in Ji-uk's case, a family. A family which is not perfect; a family which is a HOME, a sense of belonging thus making his existence matter. KYD's portrayal of Ji-uk is highly commendable as his kind-angelic persona shines through just like his spellbinding mesmerizing visuals. I'm his new fan.

The chemistry between the leads are realistically incredible. It gradually climbs off the chart just like the dynamic in their relationship (from enemy to lover). It's insane if you think about the age gap. It's like magic. It's feels natural as both leads initially disliked each other; and each time both of them learn something new about each other, the sense of awe sparks their curiosity and eventually care. So how did they fall in love? Well, opposite does attract. Ji-uk thought he knew everything there was about Hae-young, but as he got closer, he realized that there was more. Hae-young's hidden charms slowly unmasked and grew on him. As for Hae-young, her curiosity about Ji-uk's past made her care about his well-being more than she should, as they share the same feeling of being neglected/ unwanted while growing up.

I just love watching them grow fond and be comfortable around each other. The push and pull effects with this couple is sizzling. SMA being maturely expressive somehow matches up with KYD's shy-aloofness. I'm not saying KYD is super-great but he's not all bad either. It works. I'm all giddy, anxious and excited each time I see them together.

Second Couple
Han Ji-hyun is an amazing actress. A room lights (steams) up whenever she is around. She plays Nam Ja-yeon/ Yeon Bo-ra, a +19 web-novel writer who is positively easy-going persona. She shines like a bright sun that can influence other people naturally. Her demeanor is quirky and often looks as if she is a care-free girl with no issues but underneath she hides a terrible past that shook her entire being. She often acts as the peacemaker if any fight occurs between the other two 'sisters'. Meaning that she is the type of person who doesn't like to hold a grudge for too long, easy to forgive and look for the bright side. Which resonates as to why she is able to accept Gyu-hun's sincere apologies. HJH's strong presence really made Ja-yeon believable as a survivor, given her ability to show her bright side in contrast to her dark-hidden past. The joke about her becoming a serial killer is actually a reminder to us all.

Lee Sang-yi as the insecure CEO Bok Gyu-hun is marvellously funny and charming. His brief intro with his family are amusing as it alternates from seriousness to opposite naturally. And then he pairs up with Yeo Ha-jun, his reluctant secretary play by Lee Yoo-Jin, forming a chaotic dynamic duo that will keep us entertain till the end. Their chemistry and interactions with each other never fail to make me laugh and I look forward to whatever turmoil coming their way. As for Bok Gyu-hun, his flaw is in his lay-back approach in dealing with what his parents expected of him (his mom especially), also by his lack of passion in his career/love. So the arc of half-sibling-rivalry and newfound love may trigger his true ability to shine through. LSY is able to portray such silliness with class. He made Gyu-hun to be likeable and charmed us in rooting for his growth.

As for the 2nd lead, with same trope (enemy to lover), imo their chemistry is good however it suffers a bit, as they came across each other pretty late in the story, resulting in a pretty jarring attraction; as to why would the writer have a soft spot for her hater, BUT it will be explained further in a 2 episode of spin-off (Spice Up Our Love). From it's preview, the 'spin off' took place when Ja-yeon fainted and slept for 20hrs... Haha, that'll explain a lot.

*Note : I'm not so keen on romancing cyberbullying, but I love to see how the storm subsided. So please be kind to each other ^__^

Other Cast (Overall)
Omg where do I start? Coz all of them are amazing.
Ms Cha - Love her deep tone voice and as the third sister, she is the 'normal' one that keeps the other two sisters (Hae-young and Ja-Yeon) on the ground.
Kkulbee Education staffs - Pretty solid, fun and entertaining. Big kudos to Ms Gong, never have I like a nosy co-worker with lovely comical expressions. Even Hae-young's two-timing ex-boyfriend, who I wished to see his downfall. It's never going to be a dull moment in that office.
Gyu-hyun's parents - Intriguingly funny. Their dynamics although was shown briefly, is enough to set the tone of how interesting the progression will be.
Mr Jang - How could I forget about him? Truly an underrated side character. Brief yet memorable.

5 Top Favourite Scenes :
1) All epilogue scenes; especially Episode 1
2) The fake marriage proposal; including the ring.
3) 'Family' dinner and the chaos that follows. (Including the morning after LOL)
4) Rooftop kiss... Insane! (the fluttering kills me) Great editing, hauntingly-beautiful score, the hands, the snowflakes... Ahhh it's so perfect!
5) The night when the power broke (I die again with that song)
5+1) When Ja-yeon realising Hae-young knew about the whole dad thingy. Han Ji-hyun, your acting is SUPERB! Award winning performance.

3 Honourable Mentions :
1) Wedding Night where Ji-uk opens up;
2) When their mom congratulate Hui-seong;
3) Gyu-hun/Ja-yeon's rendezvous in the office;
3+1) The fight between Gyu- Hun and Ja-yeon's dad. Till now I am traumatised.. laughing non-stop that is.

Music
Again. Kudos to the sound director/ editing team. They did an awesome job to match and amplify the effects of a joyful storytelling. As for the OST;
1. Possible Love - Sondia
2. Someday - Kassy (my fav)
3. My Side - Hui (Intro)
4. Falling Into You - Kim Jae-hwan (my top fav)
5. Another Story - Cheeze
6. A New Day - Kei
7. By Your Side - Bang Yedam
8. Only For You - Colde

As usual, should I rewatch it as a whole?
A BIG YES. Even if the show could crash and burn, I still have that annoying door to go back to.

(After finish the series) - Ending explained;

1) Ji-uk's promise to grandma that held him back from visiting his birth-mom;
2) Ji-uk's promise to Hae-young's mom that held his feelings for Hae-young;

So, why the break up is necessary? Understand this from Hae-young's perspective;
- She doesn't want to be the reason for Ji-uk to withhold himself further since he is still young with a bright future. She wants Ji-uk to put himself first, since he always held himself back.
- She knows that if she didn't push him away at that time then she wouldn't be able to let him go, ever.
- She asks him to help her to do the right thing and protect her to stay true to her nature of avoiding any loss, to her and himself (especially him).
- She afraid that she would always have her way, meaning that he will always let her win without thinking about himself. That is too burdensome.

Now from Ji-uk's perspective when Hae-young breaks off with him;
- He grew up having used to bottle up his feelings, unaware that he has been denying his priority all his life and always accepts whatever decision that's being made for him without throwing any fit or tantrum.
- He knew that he has no control of things that happened to him. So he needs to take charge of his life, without having Hae-young as his priority. The only problem is he still loves Hae-young nonetheless.
- He knew in his heart that even if Hae-young had pushed him away, he will always love her, no doubt about it. So, how to win her back?
- Ji-uk needs to be free from all his promises. Since he already broke promise no 2, then he needs to break promise no.1 for him to get a shot of reconciliation with Hae-young.

So when they meet again;
- The Canadian mini-globe marks the broken promise to his grandma, a clear sign that he has put himself first.
- Added with his new unusual act; being carelessly drunk, rambling consistently of how weightless he is. His light tantrum as a protest, a way to slip himself back into her life. (Baby Ji-uk is so cute that Hae-young was unable to resist.)
- She finally sees him in a new light, knowing that he will prioritise himself.
- She then discovers in herself that she could love him without any calculations; doesn't even mind about losing herself. You can see how distraught she was when she thought that he was gone. (She even wore mismatched slippers).

Final thoughts
It's a great ending for both main leads. Both have grown and come along way throughout the course of time they were being together or apart. The only problem for me as a viewer is that I want more of them because I love them so much. It's evident to me just how good the series is and that I am having trouble of letting them go. I need Help.

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A Phenomenal Drama that will leave Mesmerized

I still can’t grasp the reality, is this show really over? Where is my “Hae-Young & Ji-Uk” happy hours?

I’m mostly annoyed by the fact that tvN had the audacity to end this phenomenal show at 12 episodes (why so stingy?). Frankly, I could sit down and watch Hae Young’s hijinks for another 12 episodes as she drives her deterrents up the wall, falls in love with her fake husband again and protects her foster sisters fearlessly. Shin Min Ah is an exemplary actress, so I had no doubts that she would add meaning to this role. The surprise package was however Kim Young Dae, his subtle yet empathetic portrayal of Kim Ji-UK was so fantastic, I’m in tears. I kept comparing his past performances to Ji-Uk and realised one thing- it is the patented Shin Min Ah magic. When you have a co-star like her, naturally your performance gets enhanced. Despite the visible age gap, they led this drama fearlessly and got me hooked. Apart from them, I was also mesmerized by the second lead couple, Lee Sang Yi & Han Ji Hyun. Mostly secondary couples get sidetracked, but this show did them justice and both actors were truthful to their characters. Honestly, this drama is a potboiler of emotions with hilarity mixed in equal proportions!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/no-gain-no-love-series-review/

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My opinion only

I love Shin Min Ah, as well as Kim Young Dae, so I was very excited for this one. I was so disappointed. There were too many storylines going on for 12 episodes, but I'm glad there weren't 16 episodes because it was all I could do to finish this.

What I liked:
The second couple. They were so cute together, as well as in the scenes that they had separately.
Kim Young Dae's character, even with the bad haircuts.

What I didn't care for:
-Hae Yeong (Shin Min Ah's character). I was totally getting narcissist vibes from the character at the beginning, which didn't lessen as the show progressed. She was not nice to the ML throughout. I know some had said that she had a right, because of her mother, but I'm not buying that. Sometimes a character redeems herself. This one didn't, as far as I'm concerned.
-Bad kisses by the leads.
-3FL multiple sexual partners, one of whom wasn't exclusive to her either. The latest catchphrase seems to be polyamorous, but a different word comes to mind. Accidental pregnancy, not knowing who the father is. This whole storyline could have been left out and made the show more cohesive.
-Multiple storylines that went nowhere. What happened to 2ML's mom and dad? They had such a big story at the beginning, and it just fell off. What was the point of the 2ML's secretary? He was just irritating throughout.
-All of the sex chatter by the FL which demonstrates that she's had multiple partners. Personally, that really decreases my enjoyment of a "romance".
-The sex talk, the profanity, the sexual innuendos - for me, this was all very off-putting. I have been watching K-dramas to get away from all this stuff.

Again, this is just my personal preference, but considering that I love to binge-watch shows, I could only manage one episode a day and was reluctant to continue thereafter. I just found too much unlikeable about it.

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Another disappointing k drama

Another poorly written k drama where the overall story isn't very good and majority of characters are unlikable. I only like 1 character and that's the male lead, Kim Young-dae. After ten episodes he's starting to wear on me as well as he's becoming a total Simp. The female lead is a selfish, whining, immature 40 year old. Her character as a teenager is exactly the same as her older self. Shin Min-a is doing a good job acting it's just her character is unlikable. Almost every other secondary character is unlikable; the 2 sisters, the ex boyfriend, the ceo, the ceo's parents, etc etc

four episodes in you can start to fast forward through lots of uninteresting scenes, most of which have to do with every side character especially the Ceo and the 2 sisters. The only scenes worth watching include the leads or the ex boyfriend and his girlfriend. Episodes 9 and 10 i watched less than half of each episode as the 2 sisters scenes are unwatchable as i could care less about their storylines.

I'll finish the series just because i like the 2 lead actors and i want to see how poorly the writers wrap this up. Of course fast forwarding a lot will help.

The last episode was awful just like the rest of the show after ep 4. Very disappointing

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High Hopes, But Disappointing

I wanted to like this show and gave it my all. I love Shin Min Ah, I like Lee Sang Yi, I love contract relationship stories, but the story and execution of this show isn't good. This show, like a lot of bad k-dramas, goes crazy with slow-motion, slapstick, randomly devious characters, irresponsible uses of serious subject matter, wacky sound effects, and production decisions that amplify the goofiness of its characters and create a schizophrenic tone to the show. If you've watched a lot of k-drama, you know what I mean--it's the "try too hard to be interesting and funny" style of k-drama. I think with better creative minds at the helm of the structure and script, it would've been much better; the cast is pretty strong, but the executive choices are all the wrong ones.

No Gain, No Love follows Shin Min Ah's character who, very believably, is pissed about shilling out so much money over the years to passing acquaintances who were getting married. Her workplace discriminates against single women and so she decides she needs to get married in order to advance her career. She picks Kim Young Dae's character as her groom, who's a convenience store worker; they start out pseudo-enemies but he eventually agrees. A bit later, through some pretty contrived means, he starts working at her company and they have to manage the "realness" of their relationship. The B romance is a crazy mix of comical and serious, focusing on FL's foster sibling/adult fiction writer and FL's company CEO (Lee Sang Yi) who she sues for harassing her online (for one of the most ridiculous reasons I've ever seen).

I haven't seen anything else with Kim Young Dae, but I didn't care for his character here at all. I don't think he's given that much to work with; he's basically cast as "handsome guy ideal." All of the mystery and conflict of the story comes from him, but I didn't find him compelling at all. His character is responsible for all the slow-mo, fan-service, etc. that I find tacky in k-drama. It's not the actor's fault, but I can't help but think he's been typecast and this is the result. I also hate when a show always tells me a character is handsome; it makes me start thinking, "Is this guy really that hot? If he really was, why do they have to say it so much?" To give an example of what this show is working with, it goes full "glasses-make-you-ugly" followed by what he looks like without them, ending with an "oh no, he's hot!" I didn't like how it developed his character, even though I liked Shin Min Ah's career-oriented pragmatist character. They have decent chemistry (but definitely not as much as her and the guy from Hometown Cha-Cha), but what they do have, the last act pretty much kills.

Overall, just about every decision the show makes doesn't work for me. I can take and even enjoy a little bit of the classic k-drama silliness, but in this show, it's a crutch, as if it uses all the goofy editing and production tricks to pad time, which the show could've definitely used to flesh out what actually matter, i.e. the story itself. No show - not even an action romp - needs 10 instances of slow-mo an episode like this show. I also didn't find any of the extra stuff to be funny (besides maybe Lee Sang Yi's character). Not even Shin Min Ah can make up for all the weaknesses and lazy plotting temptations this drama gives in to. Disappointing.

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No Watch, Not too much Loss (2024)

Whenever I see a bad ending I tend to bitch and moan about it, so let's get that out of the way. I feel that that the writer has not even tried to prepare to write a 12 episode long miniseries. She just went through the motions almost exactly the same way as if it were a 16 epi long drama & then in e12 just quickly tried to wrap it all up, but -3 minute long happy ending aside- the finale is the worst episode of the show. It's just really messy & quite a bit stupid.


The Good
⌲ Most characters on the show are rather entertaining on their own.
⌲ The Kim Young Dae + Shin Min Ah pairing worked better than I thought possible! (not amazing, but good)
⌲ Frenemies to lovers done very well in the first 9? episodes. (lots of fun bickering)
⌲ The show is very entertaining until the messy stuff in the final episodes. (until secret identities are found out)
⌲ The cat
⌲ The sismance
⌲ The comedy early on


The Average:
⌲ FL's seconary love interest (cartoon tier plot with a divorce offer, but he had so little impact that this does not qualify to trigger my hate for love triangles)
⌲ This is probably Min Ah's worst acting performance I have seen thus far & I'm a fan btw.. (still good, but disappointing compared to her usual self)
⌲ The murderer
⌲ The sex toys


The Bad:
⌲ I'm fairly open minded about consenting adults doing whatever, but this polyamorous plot was increasingly bad all the way to the end. (what bothered me has very little to do with the free hippy love part, more with marriage etc etc)
⌲ For a kdrama romcom there is barely any fluff in the show, sorry but this is not enough sugar for me!
⌲ The stupid 6 month separation in the final episode
⌲ The ridiculous career choices in the final episode (Jeez!)
⌲ The chaebol dad (though the time pressure on the writer made some very predictable plot developments disappear, so this could have been worse)
⌲ Tobacco
⌲ Why just WHY did FL's mom have to die just one second before the finale?

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Grande potencial, mas que infelizmente foi desperdiçado

O enredo inicial de No Gain no Love é cativante, assim como a introdução dos personagens principais. A protagonista, determinada e competitiva, se destaca por sua aversão à derrota, enquanto o outro é um trabalhador de loja de conveniência extremamente bondoso e inteligente. Nos primeiros episódios, o drama proporciona momentos divertidos e envolventes, mas a história começa a se perder quando é revelado que o protagonista é, na verdade, o filho bastardo do dono de uma grande empresa. A partir desse ponto, diversos sub-enredos se acumulam e, infelizmente, muitos acabam mal resolvidos ou simplesmente deixados em aberto.

A forma como o CEO manipula os protagonistas a mando de sua mãe é particularmente frustrante, especialmente porque ele não demonstra qualquer arrependimento, nem mesmo no final. Ele não pede desculpas ao meio-irmão e tampouco restabelece a posição da protagonista na empresa, além de dar os créditos de sua ideia a outro funcionário – que, coincidentemente, é o ex-namorado dela. Esse funcionário, por sua vez, sai ileso, recebendo os méritos que não lhe pertencem e mantendo o casamento intacto, mesmo após ter enganado a esposa e perseguido outra mulher. Além disso, há outros pontos problemáticos, como o comportamento da irmã da protagonista, que, apesar das ações prejudiciais de seu interesse amoroso - o CEO - contra sua irmã e "cunhado", segue com o romance sem demonstrar preocupação.

A decisão de limitar a série a apenas 12 episódios foi claramente um equívoco, considerando a quantidade de enredos e conflitos que No Gain no Love tenta abordar. Isso se torna ainda mais evidente no episódio final, que é apressado e deixa várias pontas soltas, dedicando pouco tempo ao casal principal. As cenas finais são marcadas por um término abrupto e sem sentido, que poderia ter sido resolvido de forma mais coerente, seguido por uma rápida reconciliação que transmite a sensação de um desfecho feito às pressas. Enfim, um drama com grande potencial, mas que infelizmente foi desperdiçado.

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low rating is more personal than this show being objectively bad

i think this show was just an unfortunate case of me not liking the choice of cliches and/or the execution of them. usually i love lots of cliches but this one wasnt to my taste. not to say it was an absolutely terrible show, because i definitely have some good things to say about it. the biggest one being that the fl was an absolute delight lol i love a fun silly woman who can also stand up for herself! just didn't really feel any chemi between the leads but yea i just didn't really care for this show tbh it's unfortunately cuz to me it was surprisingly getting good ratings so clearly this is very much a me thing.

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