I can’t believe I watched this entire thing. The things I do for Ji Chang-wook. Ultimately Backstreet Rookie was a fun, easy watch, and I did like it, but I can’t ever see myself recommending it to anybody.

There were a few main reasons why people were skeptical of this show before it even aired. The age gap between the leads didn’t really bother me at all. But I can’t really ignore Um Moon-suk’s character, Han Dal-shik. He reinforced really terrible racial stereotypes, and I honestly can’t believe this character made it into the drama. Ultimately I did find him funny, and Um Moon-suk had me laughing a couple times, but I couldn’t help but cringe every time there was a fly buzzing around his head.

Other than that, I didn’t have many problems with this drama, because I wasn’t expecting anything at all. I just wanted something watchable, and that’s what I got. I wasn’t disappointed by it, like others seemed to be. You lose less when you go in with zero expectations.

I do think Backstreet Rookie had potential though. It’s a wacky and cartoonish comedy and I liked the directing style, and most of the comedy and references land well. I especially liked the over-the-top fight scenes in the first half, but as the fights take a back seat, this show becomes little more than a rom-com with characters that I couldn’t really imagine together.

When Backstreet Rookie is a comedy about a convenience store, it’s funny albeit aimless. When it tries to do romance, it fails. Ji Chang-wook and Kim Yoo-jung are adorable together as boss/employee or mentor/mentee, but as a romantic pairing, they fall flat. The show has an undeniable charm though. I like the leads, and I even liked most of the side stories. There were some really sweet character moments in between the comedy as well.

The Cast:
There’s a part of me that wishes I didn’t watch this, because I can feel myself falling out of love with Ji Chang-wook. I haven’t seen any of his projects in full since Healer. But after watching this, some of his facial expressions stand out to me more than they did before, and I’ve started questioning his skills as an actor. I think I’ll probably just (try to) stop watching his projects and wait til I hear good things. In the meantime, I’ll rewatch Healer again (and again and again). That being said, if you really like Ji Chang-wook, this has a lot of him, and he’s pretty adorable.

Kim Yoo-jung gives a good performance, but I didn’t buy this relationship because of her character. I blame the cartoonish writing for that mostly.

In other news, I aspire to like Han Sun-hwa. I recently finished Marriage, not Dating, and she does hate-able second lead fine, but it’s boring. I wish her character was more than irritating.