By far this has been my drama of the year. It is such a huge shame that it fell under the radar of the Korean audience. Be Melodramatic is equally funny as it is mature; the show continued to be a breath of fresh air right until it's last episode. As someone who's seen countless shows, it encapsulated exactly what I want out of a kdrama in 2019. Experienced kdrama viewers will love it's fourth wall breaking humour and unique scenarios. Although not without some flaws, it's meta humour and moments of true sincerity make this drama so charming that you can't help but love it's characters by the time you hit credits at episode 16.


Story:

Be Melodramatic deals with some big intrapersonal topics in the course of it's run and handles them so well that you truly feel the confusion and frustrations of each of the three main leads. It portrays the life of people on their late 20's in 2019 so perfectly. Admittedly the first couple of episodes are shaky and feel a bit too slice of life. Yet the show pays off its careful setup in spades as it progresses. Following it week by week felt like a old friend that you checked up on, listening to their ups and downs. The meta jokes invite you to laugh at the tropes of kdrama romcoms; it felt like someone on the inside giving you a nod of acknowledgement. Veterans of viewing kdramas will truly belly laugh at the references the show throws at you.

Within the show's sadder topics, it never felt contrived or manufactured. A problem I have with a lot of dramas is that it creates unbelievable scenarios just to create a sense of conflict within the show. Be Melodramatic never tries to fool you or insult the viewers intelligence. It laughs with you at the ridiculous moments and supports you when things get real. The progression of the show is a testament to the careful patience of the writers and directors.


Acting/Cast:

This show is cast pretty perfectly in my eyes. The three main leads are not giant names that instantly catch your attention but each of them portrayed their own stories so well. All three of the leads made you feel for their situations and gave each of the characters a true sense of reality.
Jeon Yeo Bin as Eun Jung especially shone in her role. Her's was the most tragic and seeped in emotion; but it never felt artificial or forced.

The supporting cast of the show is quite large all things considering. But each of them is given ample screen-time and development. I never found myself skipping their parts and was always happy to watch their own personal developments. All of the supporting cast played with the humour of the show well and gave the tongue in cheek comedy of the show life.


Music:

The OST fits into the puzzle of the show pretty damn well. Some contemporary and classic OST songs wiggle their way in at points in the show that give experienced kdrama watchers a nod and smile. The drama does lean on one song pretty heavily but it never felt unwelcome or repetitive for me. Although I didn't mind the repetition of that song, I do understand that it might feel a bit much for more OST-minded viewers. Though it does attempt to alleviate that by having different versions of the song.


Rewatch Value:

I know I'll be coming back to this show before 2019 ends and right now is my favourite release of the year. The writing and story-line are done with so much consideration, I felt like I lived with the characters throughout its run. I cannot recommend Be Melodramatic enough.

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A Great Premise That Lost It's Way

I really went back and forth watching this one. The first couple episode are very slow to start and I struggled to hang on. The comedy is a bit of hit or miss for me and the general tone of the show is a bit of a whiplash of 4th wall breaking camera spiking from the two main leads, to murder and corporate espionage.

Someone in the comments here said it's like this show is a big puzzle with pieces that don't fit well and I have to agree with that. The show likes to throw twists and turns without fully fleshing out concepts or just concluding them by adding a new twist. That's not to say the story is entirely bad. The moment to moment writing is pretty satisfying and the delivery of the story was fairly fun to watch, especially up to episode 12 or so.
However the constant tone shifts throughout the show and scattered main plot make for a confusing watch. That's not to say you'll be left wondering what happened after watching the show but you'll be asking why the writers gave such odd motivations for the antagonists. The explanations on the last few episodes were pretty unsatisfying for me and left me wondering what the show would've looked like if it focused on other parts of the story inside. The premise set up after the first few episodes seemed like such a fun idea and had so many great places where they could've taken the show; but instead they keep developing and pushing too far, leaving behind the best ideas of the show behind.

When it comes to the acting, Krystal and Kim Jae Wook are super strong leads for a romcom like this, regardless of how I feel about the story. Krystal plays the overworked and underappreciated secretary very well and her charm is here in spades. She sells the character well and both her comedic and emotional moments are felt throughout.
Her character's writing fails her in the latter third of the show though and she falls into the same trope of the female lead that most kdramas end up going. She goes from being a capable, funny and impassioned lead character to being a passive supportive character to the male lead while the main plot of the story unfolds around the male lead.
Kim Jae Wook does well in the male lead role too. Just like his performance in Her Private Life, he is great at playing the cold tsundere CEO. I think just as a male lead actor should, he conveys his sensitive side of the male lead character just as well as his capable businessman side.
I do like that this show isn't interested in a second lead syndrome and in terms of the romance parts of the show, it focuses on the two leads. However the side characters in this show are nothing to write home about sadly. No acting here is too over the top (other than Im Won Hee but he's so typecast, it's hard to blame him.) and everyone plays their roles fairly well.

I think if you can accept how the plot unfolds you'll really enjoy this drama since the pieces are all there. For me it fell completely flat though and without the acting of the two main leads (and honestly too much free time for me) I would've dropped this show before it's conclusion.

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