The perfect representation of right person, bad time

Forecasting Love and Weather managed to receive a decent amount of hate since it came out earlier this year. I personally was very excited for its release because it is starring one of my favourite K-Drama actresses - Park Min Young - whose work, never disappoints.

Its start was quite slow, the first few episodes dragged out a little and the writer really liked to experiment with messing up the timeline or omitting certain details from viewers which completely change the perspective of a scene at the start and throughout vs the end. This is also a technique the writer kept close to heart throughout the drama.

The relationship between the FL and ML developed very quickly and in my opinion at a very bad time; they both had just broken up with their partners and their lives were a depressed mess where a new relationship didn't make sense, yet they fell in love and wanted to be together.

I feel like a lot of people are needlessly comparing this drama to A Business Proposal which came out at the same time as Forecasting. However, comparing the two is a big mistake. A Business Proposal is a quirky, fun rom-com meanwhile Forecasting Love and Weather is about relationships and life.

The drama analyses three different types of relationships:
- Romantic
- Family
- And professional.

It toys around with hard-hitting themes like parents manipulating their children or being way too nosy and pressuring their children into marriage, the line you draw between colleagues and lovers and where you stand with your exes.

I was gassed to see a female lead, finally, who was in a superior position at work to the male lead - she was his boss. And this new perspective gave office romance dramas a new theme to work with.

The couple's relationship comparison to the weather also spoke volumes to the drama's central theme. I like how the relationship between the ML and FL wasn't pink and colourful all the time, but instead, blue and grey because relationships are never like A Business Proposal or Her Private Life, they require work and understanding and most importantly communication (which was a long way coming for the main couple here).

A lot of people also discussed the FL's ad ML's relationship with their exes. Personally, I think the drama portrayed the relationship one has with their long time ex pretty well. Not everyone can just block their number and forget them - even though that would have been the healthiest way to deal with things - sometimes people from your past linger in your contacts a little longer than you hoped they would, other times, they become your friends.

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Great representation of family, relationships, friendship and well, starting a business!

I've seen quite a few people bashing this drama but I personally really enjoyed it.
From the production all the way to the actors and storyline this drama is everything I have been searching for.
I personally am a sucker for office-style romantic comedies and I was looking for one where the FL is the CEO as opposed to the ML being the CEO and this drama was suggested to me multiple times. It took me some time to "get into the mood" for it, but once I did I got to enjoy three days' worth of laughter, tears and butterflies!

If you're anything like me - enjoy cheesy rom-coms, amazing friendship dynamics, character development, internal conflicts and learning something new, then I suggest giving Start-Up a go.
I really like dramas that have educational bits and bobs in them and similarly to Suspicious Partner, this drama had small explainers throughout on business, investing and start-up terminology which I found very educational. In addition, if you have no idea how start-ups work, then this looks like a fun introduction. Also, I really enjoyed how each episode had a start-up related theme, which also tied in with the whole storyline of the series (character development, relationships, what events may take place etc.).
I also wanted to give a separate shout-out to the director and production team. I managed to cry nearly in every episode including the first. I mean, I have never had such a strong emotional connection to a drama - crying on episode one. But I think the storyline was so greatly developed and the actors were able to portray that storyline so well that viewers could emotionally connect with them, feel what the characters felt and let their emotions go wild!

Honestly, this drama was a great journey and I would definitely watch it again :)

Okay, SPOILER-FREE review over, let's get into the good stuff!

This drama was my introduction to the wonderful Bae Su-zy who is considered to be Korea's Sweatheart and oh boy do I see why! She embraced her character so well and was able to portray an amazing Seo Dal-Mi and one I could relate to. A girl in her mid-20's who doesn't really know what she wants to do and is stuck fantasizing about a boy she wrote letters to 15 years ago who she never met turns into an astounding woman, who is strong, confident and inspirational. The amount of character development she alone goes through from doing things just to win in a battle against her sister to actually having a goal that is for the greater good and not for a petty vendetta.
I also really liked that this drama highlighted the fact that you do not need to have a university degree to succeed in life, however, if you do not, people will judge you and think you are "stupid" or "not worth it". Higher education is ridiculously expensive and not everyone can afford it - that's why start-ups and small businesses exist - to give people a chance to succeed.

Nam Joo-Hyuk portrayed a great ML. Nam Do-San was just perfect. I really enjoyed that for the first time in a long time we had a ML in a drama who was sincerely interested in the FL and did not try to hide it (unlike our second ML Mr. Han Ji-Pyeong). Yes, he was a little bit of a geek but his geekiness made him so innocent and pure that he brought me pure joy. You could see his actions were reflecting his good intentions and even though they might not have been the right path at times, he was such a pure soul I wanted to protect at all costs.
It became quite clear from the very beginning that Dal-Mi and Do-San would end up together at the end and honestly I did not mind that. I oftentimes hate love triangles, just because the second ML usually gets dumped, left behind all by themselves (which was sort of the case with this drama), but Ji-Pyeong annoyed me a little so I was a hardcore Dal-Mi x Do-San shipper.

Ji-Pyeong was portrayed by Kim Seon-Ho who I think did a great job of playing a lost and lovestruck man who doesn't really know what family means or how to express his emotions. By the choice of my words, it becomes quite clear that I was not the biggest Ji-Pyeong fan, but I can excuse a big part of his actions on the fact that he grew up in an orphanage and never knew what family meant.
I mean, this guy lived with Dal-Mi's grandmother for like a year, made a ton of money, left for Seoul and just disappeared? Who does that? Personally, it feels like pure disrespect to the person who took you in and I was very happy to see him integrate into Dal-Mi's family later on in the series (I was also really rooting for him to end up with Dal-Mi's older sister In-Jae just because it made more sense for him to end up with her - they were both older, ambitious, successful... and well, lonely - match made in heaven if you ask me! And I am really hoping they ended up together once the drama ended :))
Another thing that really bugged me about Ji-Pyeong was his lack of balls. Let me explain. Ji-Pyeong was way older than Dal-Mi and Do-San. While Do-San was in San Francisco for three years, Ji-Pyeong did not get the courage to just ask Dal-Mi out, I mean he made his feelings clear, she shot him down once, and he just sat back and watched her hoping Do-San will never return back to Korea. Again, who does that? This man had so many chances to just get the girl of his dreams and he lost them all. Then, when he saw that he was going to lose to Do-San when he came back from SF he decided to play it dirty by lying that he was dating Dal-Mi. God this man bugs me. He did call her telling her he regretted his actions straight away but Jesus I was ready to punch him at times.
Because of his actions though, we can see he is kind. And I am happy to see him finally let go by the end of the series. It's refreshing and shows growth and I am really hoping he finds his person later on.

Now, I wanted to give a special shout out to Seo In-Jae, Dal-Mi's older sister portrayed by Kang Han-na. Honestly, I first couldn't understand how a child could just so coldly turn their back on their own father, who only wanted the best for them. I mean she was a stone-cold **** and I hated her guts. Even after when Dal-Mi was let go from SamSang Tech when it was acquired by 2STO and you could see In-Jae felt bad for her sister she did not offer any help. Just advice which was delivered in such a harsh manner, maybe it would have been best to say nothing at all?
I have a lot of pride, so if I were in Dal-Mi's situation would I have been able to go for a job interview at my sister's company, who was hiring, knew I was in trouble and did not offer help? Probably not. But I guess this is what the drama tried to show us - that maybe sometimes it's best to step down that pride pedestal and choose your battles wisely. If Dal-Mi would have never joined In-Jae's company, they would have never made up. Granted In-Jae did go through quite a lot but I really wish we saw her character development earlier on in the drama and not just in the last few episodes.

I also wanted to mention the friendship dynamics represented in this drama because they were so good. I never had such a close group of friends like Do-San had and I would kill to have even half of what he has in the drama. Their friendship is so strong and you can see them supporting each other no matter what. Inside jokes and the way they act with one another were also so realistic, it seemed like the actors themselves had fun shooting their friendship scenes.

And of course family! The drama is big on family and children-parent relationships.
First, we have Dal-Mi's family which fell apart when she was in her early teens. She and her sister stopped talking pretty soon, her mum was not present and her father passed away early on so she was brought up by her grandmother. We can see how much admiration Dal-Mi has for her grandmother, how much she cherishes her and cares for her. We can see how her grandmother is trying to mend and bring their family back together by accepting back Dal-Mi's mother who left Dal-Mi's father in one of the worst ways possible. I think this drama did a great job at representing women as the head of the family, which is so important (even when it came to Do-San's family you could see his father "had the upper hand" but his mother controlled it).

Then, we have Ji-Pyeong, an orphan who doesn't know what family is but so desperately longs for it and loses it only to regain it again. I think his storyline was pretty great and contrasted with Dal-Mi's perfectly.

And finally, we have Do-San, an only child - the son, who made it his life's goal to please and make his father proud and kept failing. His failures built up this fear inside of him which stopped him from telling his parents the truth. I think the part where Do-San tells his father that they should no longer strive to be each others' pride was a key development in their relationship. I also really enjoyed all the parts where Do-San asked his parents for dating advice, which, if I am not mistaken, came only after the pride conversation he had with his dad.

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The perfect medicine to de-stress

I knew that this drama would be the one FOR me as soon as I saw its spoilers and short clips circulating all over social media.
Five minutes into episode one and suddenly your girl was on the hook.

I absolutely love business rom-coms and this was the treat I was looking for. It's a mix of She Was Pretty, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim and The Secret Life of My Secretary, so if you liked any of those shows chances are you will enjoy A Business Proposal.

It is relatively short - only 12 episodes - which makes it a fast watch with no unnecessary typical K-drama cliche tropes like amnesia, a breakup or the whole "we used to know each other when we were children but then something dramatic happened and we lost touch".

I felt like the last few episodes were a little repetitive and dragged out the drama's general narrative. Having both Tae-moo's grandfather and Young-Seo's father disapprove of their children's relationship was a bit too much and got to a point where it was exhausting and boring to continue watching. I would have preferred if instead of dragging that out they would have added more double date scenes where both couples are spending the day together.

The female lead was very lovable. A lot of people said she was cringe-worthy but I found her hilarious, especially when she was pretending to be someone else in front of Tae-moo.

Tae-moo was oftentimes compared to Lee Young-Joon (Park Seo Joon's character in WWWSK) but I do not see the resemblance, mainly because Lee Young-Joon was unbearable, too into his looks and himself while Tae-moo was more down-to-earth.

The friendship dynamics between Tae-moo and Sung-hoon and Ha-ri and Yeong-soo were very well developed and I especially enjoyed the second couple.

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Breaking down so much stigma

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is an easy 10 in my books. A legal drama with a hint of romance and comedy, the show also manages to break down so much stigma not only surrounding autism but also in relation to other issues (won't say more as this may be considered a minor spoiler).

I absolutely loved Park Eun Bin's portrayal of Woo Young Woo ("whether it is read straight or flipped. Woo Young Woo. Kayak, deed, rotator, noon, racecar, Woo Young Woo."). Her research and dedication to the role is outstanding - from minor details like avoiding eye contact, to hand movements and ways of speech.

The supporting cast was also outstanding, although I wouldn't call it much a supporting cast when I think they 100% deserve to be called the main cast. I appreciate that they each had their own story, that was not directly tied to Woo Young Woo, their own character development and drama. Relationships were formed (or at least we are led to believe ) and many were mended.

The ending was left open to interpretation with a lot of unsolved issues popping up, however, now that I know the show was renewed for a second season I am really hoping these issues will be brought up.

I also wanted to say that I really liked Kang Tae Oh's portrayal of Lee Joon Ho, a young lawyer on the litigation team who was fascinated by Woo Young Woo from the moment he laid eyes on her in ep1. Kang Tae Oh has a knack for playing young likable characters (like his role in Run On) and it makes the audience root for him and swoon even more! Also, I love dramas where the male lead swoons for the female lead from the very first few episodes.

I knew this would be a good show as soon as I saw a cast I enjoyed watching in other shows (like Kang Tae Oh - was so excited to see him get a lead role too and Kang Ki Young who plays Attorney Jung Myung Seok, although I can't wait to see a drama where he is the lead romantic interest - finally).

Overall a great binge - a little tough when it comes to legal jargon, but if you enjoy watching legal k-drama's you get used to it quite quickly.

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I loved it because of the many twists and turns!

This drama was on my list for a while after I heard it was similar to Extraordinary You which I really enjoyed.
It has a fresh concept and a very intriguing plot. It has a number of twists and turns (some people even said too many, but tbh this is what kept me at the edge of my seat) and nearly all episodes ended with a cliffhanger (which makes it very hard to stop watching). It's quite adrenaline-filled as well and its second half kept me at the edge of my seat either screaming at my laptop or chewing at my nails.
What I also really enjoyed was the merge of a variety of genres from a cheesy rom-com (first half of the drama) to an action-packed adventure and thriller in its second half.
The first few episodes are filled with comedy and I genuinely was able to have a good laugh and destress after a tiresome week at work. I especially enjoyed the character of Park Bu-Song, he was an extra and purely there for the comical relief, but he executed his role so well!

SPOILERS:
I also really enjoyed the FL. I thought she was hilarious and relatable. I didn't see her as a damsel in distress either. Her facial expressions whenever she was dragged into the webtoon were hilarious, especially when she was trying to make sense of the whole situation at the very beginning.
I especially loved her desperation to leave the comic-book world at the very start of the show.
My favourite scene was when Yeon Joo was desperately looking for a way out of the webtoon in episode 2 and resorted to at first slapping and then kissing Chul, poor man was so confused but sorta liked it and we all knew it ?. I was also expecting this (it was a little obvious in the lead up to the slap and when that didn't work my thoughts went "omg she's gonna kiss him now ... there she goes!")
I think what would have made Yeon Joo's character a little better was if she had a little bit of Chul's sassiness.

Okay, now let's talk about Chul.
This man is unbelievably attractive (and not just physically, but as a character). He has so much charisma. The way he carries himself just exudes this sort of influence and power like you know he is badass, successful, rich but also a sweetheart.
Every time this man winked my heart was ready to just burst. He was so sassy and flirty that most times I couldn't even tell whether he was being serious or just messing with the FL, but what I can tell for sure is that he was messing with my heart ... and I was ready to give it all up ... even though he's a fictional character.

The romance, I'll be honest, felt a bit unnatural to me. Not because the ML and FL literally kissed in the second episode (I honestly liked that ngl) but because I couldn't tell whether Chul really liked Yeon Joo or not. I think this became even more confusing to me in the episodes that followed the whole amnesia memory erase scene.
I also think this barrier between faking the kisses and I love you's that Yeon Joo sort of initiated as an attempt to get out of the cartoon world and actually liking Chul (and him developing feelings for Yeon Joo) overlapped a little bit.
The episodes following the amnesia scene where the couple is reunited once again are a little bumpy in terms of their romance. I know it will take Chul some time to get used to Yeon Joo and get to know her once again but again I couldn't tell whether his actions (dates and kisses and stuff) were justified by his feeling towards her or because he wanted to remember what he felt when they were together.
Also, I really wish they didn't wait for 15 episodes for Chul to say "I love you" to Yeon Joo and I really wanted that to come out way sooner in the drama. When he finally said it, it felt really unnatural. Like he just said it, because Yeon Joo was sad he never said it to her before and he just wanted to make her happy and didn't really mean it.


The drama has quite a few plotholes too, especially in the last episodes. I quite liked that Yeon Joo's father was a sacrifice that meant his daughter would lead a happy life. It was also the most logical part of ending the series. I mean, he started this mess and he was going to finish it.
Her father was unhappy, despite the success he gained from the webtoon and a drunk who seemed to not have much going for him. His life was sad which is what personally I think made his sacrifice even sadder.

But I can't help and be curious about what happened to the other characters of the webtoon. Do Yoon and So Hee specifically. We knew Chul was no longer the webtoon's main character and my only guess on how he was able to come to the real world was because the author intended on that's how his story would end - after all the author was the God. But what happens to the webtoon's universe? Do they continue living as if nothing happened or do they cease to exist since there's no longer a story to tell?

Also, I really wanted the drama to explore the whole how did this happen scenario. And why was it all controlled through one drawing tablet? Was it a magical tablet or was it just magic because it was the og tablet used to create the characters?

Apart from the plotholes, it left me a little confused with the very tacky time jumps and some unnecessary scenes that didn't really fit in well with the whole plot of the episodes. Sometimes I caught myself reminding myself that Yeon Joo was either dreaming or reminiscing or imagining things just so that I was not left even more confused.
Several parts in the drama are easy to catch on to (like you know what the characters will say or do before they say or do it). For example, I could tell pretty early on that Yeon Joo's father never really knew who the killer was in his comic book because he never got to develop that character.

Overall though, this was a great show. I watched it in two nights just because I could not let go and was so obsessed and eager to see how the plot will evolve. The many twists, in my opinion, really reflected the whole theme that this comic book suddenly had a mind of its own and its plot would move in unpredicatable directions.

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