Ahh to be this young and dramatic

What a sweet story of young love meeting real world obstacles. Well worth the shenanigans I had to navigate to be able to track it down and watch it.

Similar to season 1, it took me a bit to get used to how earnest and cheesy this pairing is - it’s a bit much at times! But once you adjust and accept that someone will be calling out “baby!” approximately every 10 seconds, this is a really heartfelt and honest depiction of first love between young characters.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to see these characters build a relationship in person after their virtual Covid romance in the first series, and thought the small bumps and challenges they faced were very natural, rather than feeling contrived. The side stories with the friend group, while sometimes annoying, also felt very true to the age of the characters and the kind of drama you can expect in a small circle where everyone has dated everyone else at one point or another. The acting and chemistry was on point, and the production values were top notch.

I’m hopeful that there will be a final installment, as this had an open-ending that sets up the next segment of the story nicely, should they get the chance to make it. If that happens, I also hope for better distribution so fans can actually watch it!

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Enjoyable but doesn’t reach its full potential

The first half of this drama is pretty great - interesting characters, good chemistry between the leads, and compelling themes around grief, healing, and living with mental illness (which is not what I expected based on the very silly name). Unfortunately, the writing is pretty muddled, and the second half is bogged down by unnecessary, tropey plot points (ex boyfriend interference, disapproving family members, etc) that I thought added very little and really distracted from the original narrative. There are also multiple side romances, none of which get enough attention to actually work, so it all just detracts from the main story in the end.

It was an enjoyable watch but ultimately disappointing because the potential to be great was right there and they didn’t take it.

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Surprisingly terrible for how highly rated it is

It’s rare for me to drop a drama this far in, but I simply cannot make myself slog through any more of this. The show is what it is and I don’t expect anything will change.

There is very little plot here, and it’s straight up boring. But worse than that are the characters. The FL is set up as some genius rockstar gamer girl, but absolutely nothing on screen supports that. She is naive, simpering, weak-willed, and easily pushed around. The ML is supposed to be the campus hot guy, but he is essentially a block of wood. He displays little emotion other than arrogance, condescension, and occasional rye amusement at how silly his girlfriend is.

The main actress also seems quite uncomfortable performing intimate scenes (or she was directed to be that way, who knows). The kisses are ridiculous to watch - the lead actor is actually trying to perform passionate kisses (and is quite good at it) while the actress stands stockstill and pinches her lips together tightly, looking like she can’t wait to get out of there.

There were some side characters and potential romances that I was mildly interested in, but they didn’t get enough screen time to keep me going. If you want a modern cdrama romcom with video game elements I suggest watching You Are My Glory instead.

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Top tier revenge drama

I really loved this and watched the entire thing (parts 1 and 2) in a weekend. It’s a truly fantastic revenge drama that delivers on everything you want from the genre - the inciting incidents are brutal enough to put you firmly on the side of vengeance, the villains are interesting and insidiously evil enough to make their eventual comeuppance satisfying, the reveals are well-paced and add new layers of nuance, the plot reaches a solid conclusion that feels right, and they even manage to make a romance work amongst the carnage.

One of my favorite things about the story is how openly the revenge game is played. Dong Eun tells them all along that she will make them pay for what they did to her, warning them over and over again that she’s serious and she has put the time in to get what she needs to ruin their lives, and even gives them additional chances to atone and confess on their own before she puts things in motion. And she never resorts to committing any horrific violence herself. Every single person who stands to lose something was given fair warning and it’s their own hubris and defiant belief that they can get away with anything they please that ultimately brings them down. That’s just extremely satisfying from a storytelling perspective.

There were a few things here and there that were not perfect - some of the coincidences were a bit much and I wasn’t too fond of the subplots with the two male teachers - but those are very minor quibbles. Highly recommended and great for a binge watch.

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Nonsensical plot but everyone is very pretty

I enjoyed the main series for this show, even as I thought it had some significant flaws. But the plot for this special was so silly I actually laughed out loud a few times (not in a good way). Why they felt the need to make such a big deal about a 21 year old needing to rush into marriage even as they acknowledged it won’t be legal, I really don’t know. And everything tied to the Kirin becoming a Korean idol plot was beyond laughable. The whole thing would’ve made a lot more sense of they’d jumped 5+ years forward and had them getting married after the career stuff was worked out.

That said, the cast is still great and all the pairs have strong chemistry. Everyone is very pretty, the costumes are gorgeous, and the quality of this production remains high. It’s a fun quick binge if you can ignore the plot and just cruise along.

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