Disappointing comeback for Lee Jong Suk

Pretty disappointing considering that I like Lee Jong Suk and the director, but it was really like a Vincenzo wannabe, and I didn't like Vincenzo either. So many kdramas right now about vigilante heroes...

Some specific things that I didn't like: 1) The sudden shift in personality when Chang Ho went to jail. They tried to pass it off as him acting, but he did it flawlessly. A normal person couldn't believably act as a mob boss, convincing real gangsters. 2) The wife got leukemia so quickly after just one exposure to the radiation. That didn't seem believable to me, but maybe I'm not very knowledgable about cancer. 3) The final episode was all over the place. I really wished I could double speed, but I was on Hulu. 4) How is Chang Ho going to be a good Big Mouse and still make money to support the organization? At least Bruce Wayne started out already rich.

Two things I did like: 1) Yang Kyung Won. Wow, he's a good actor! 2) Chang Ho finally getting revenge by buying the building where Choi Do Ha swims and filling up the pool with radioactive water. Honestly, I feel like the entire drama was written for that one scene.

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Like eating a whole carton of ice cream by yourself

Watching this classic kdrama (which I’ve now done 3 times) is like eating a whole carton of ice cream by yourself in one sitting. In the moment, it’s so delicious and addictive, but when you’re done and the tummy ache sets in, you really start to question your life choices.

The Bad
1. Like in a lot of old kdramas, the male lead isn’t just cold but actually treats the female lead like garbage. He is either cruel to her, messes with her because he thinks it’s funny, or manhandles her. In one scene, he punches the wall next to her head. He also confesses to Sam Soon before he has broken up with his girlfriend (aka cheating), and he never takes no for an answer. This behavior creates an addictive plot with a lot of sexual tension (see The Good below), but let’s not pretend that it’s a healthy example of a romantic relationship.

2. The basic premise is that an “overweight” baker attracts an incredibly handsome younger man. Kim Sun Ah did gain weight for this role, so Sam Soon may be “overweight” compared to the actress’s norm, but there’s no way anyone could claim that she’s overweight. In fact, she looks like she’s a pretty healthy normal weight. Watching a show where the characters say over and over again that a normal weight woman is fat is so harmful to girl’s self image, so a show that has a supposedly empowering premise ends up being really damaging.

The Good
1. The enemies to lovers sexual tension here is sooooo good. And it’s not just the flirty, innocent, romantic tension of a lot of kdramas. It’s actual sizzling sexual tension. If you want to skip this drama, I would still suggest looking up some of the iconic scenes on YouTube because they are really worth watching.

2. I typically don’t find kdrama humor funny at all, but I laugh all the way through this. Sam Soon’s loud brashness can be grating, but she also says the funniest things. The banter between the two main leads is also funny if you overlook how problematic it is (see The Bad above). Yes, some of the humor is potty humor, which usually doesn’t work for me in kdramas, but it’s done here in a way that makes it fresh and entertaining.

This kdrama is best viewed more than once so you can binge eat the delicious parts and fast forward through every stupid scene with Hee Jin, who is just simply the worst.

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Thrilling plot (not over the top)

The plot of this was fantastic. It was riveting with good twists and turns without becoming ridiculous like so many fast-paced, thriller-type kdramas. Toward the end, I started thinking that the show was going on for 2-3 episodes too long, but I liked where they took the plot in the end. What keeps me from rating this 5/5 stars is the women in this show. Hang Ah was great when she was being a soldier, but as soon as she was dressed in civilian clothes, she became the most annoying, chipper, 1950s housewife. I found the princess character annoying too. Thankfully, the male characters made up for the women, and I loved the plot.

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Not a perfectly written drama, but my enjoyment was extraordinary.

Attorney Woo is delightful, and the characters and cases were all interesting, which is saying a lot since I'm typically not a fan of legal dramas or shows that follow a case-of-the-week format. Park Eun Bin's acting was amazing; she embodied the role. I also enjoyed all of the side characters, but especially Ha Yoon Kyung as Choi Soo Yeon.

Two points of dissatisfaction:

I struggled with the romance storyline from the beginning and felt dissatisfied with it in the end. Jun Ho's crush on her started with the cliche scene of seeing her in a wedding dress, and it seemed to grow from his delight in watching her talk about whales and solving cases. But they didn't seem to have anything in common or any moment of real connection. Why couldn't they have given them some common interests? He could have been a whale fanatic too. Or loved gimbap. It's like he kept insisting, "I really do like her," as if he needed to convince the audience as well as everyone around them because nothing in their interactions made it make sense why he would like her. In my opinion, what he liked about her was taking care of her (their very first interaction was him helping her through the revolving doors, for instance), and I really disliked that because both people in a relationship should feel like equals.

I also felt that the story dragged in the episodes on Jeju, followed by some underwhelming character development in the final two episodes. My theory is that they knew by then that they had been picked up for a second season, so at that point, they were trying to follow two playbooks. Standard Korean Drama conventions say they need to resolve the story threads by the end of the season, but a second season means they need to leave some things open. Trying to meet both endgoals, the show ended up making the motivations of the characters feel whiplashy. They didn't spend enough time teasing out Min Woo and Soo Yeon's relationship (probably so they have romantic tension to work with in the next season), so Min Woo's final decision seemed out of character. Similarly, they left Tae Soo Mi a villain until the last 15 minutes (probably so they can develop her relationship with Young Woo in season 2), which made her decision feel too sudden. They brought the story to the end - season 1 could reasonably stand alone if a viewer didn't want to continue with season 2 - but it was somewhat dissatisfying.

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An underrated gem of a show!

I watched this a couple of years ago, and I loved it. Then recently Netflix started advertising it to me, so I re-looked it up on MyDramaList and was surprised to see that it has a relatively low overall rating (8.0/10 stars currently). I wondered if it was really as good as I remembered, so I decided to re-watch it. I'm happy to say that I loved it just as much this second time, but I can see why it might not be everyone's cup of tea. For one, I think "drama" might be too strong of a word for this little show, which is much more of a slow burn slice of life. There is definitely some drama, particularly in the first few episodes, but after that it mellows to typical teen daily "drama" (romance, friendship, school stress, parent pressure, etc.). In my opinion, this show explores teen drama particularly well, never condescending but instead presenting the teens' emotions as real and valid. Your heart breaks for these poor kids as they fumble to figure out what it means to grow up when they can't follow the examples of the grown-ups in their lives. I'm also probably biased toward these types of dramas since I teach high school. I can identify with Teacher Oh so strongly!

One thing I did want to clarify was what happened with Jun Woo's friend Jung Hoo because I was confused about that the first time I watched the show. It could be that it got lost in translation or that the explanation happens so fast that I just missed it, but I thought that Hwi Young and Gi Tae had paid the bullies to beat up Jung Hoo, and they had beaten him so badly that he died. Actually what happened was that he quit school and moved away to avoid being bullied, and on his way to his new job, he was in a car accident. So Hwi Young and Gi Tae were still involved in the chain of events that led to Jung Hoo's death, but not as directly as I'd originally thought, which explains why Jun Woo didn't seem as bothered by it after the original surprise as I thought he should be or why Hwi Young was never directly punished for it in the end.

Finally, I was so impressed with Ong Seong Wu's acting in this drama, and I loved the soundtrack so much. In my opinion, this is an underappreciated show that should get more love!

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