This is a show to be savored, not binge-watched

I tend to be a binge-watcher, so I had troubles with this show at the start. There were so many characters, and so much going on, added to the fact that each character was not too terribly likeable. There seemed to be an abnormal preponderance of evil parents, and I seriously got tired of every character saying something about they wanted to die, they wished they were dead, they almost died, etc. It seemed to me they threw that phrase out too cavalierly.

However, I think that if you slow down and watch one episode at a time, with a breather between each episode, you will quickly get drawn into each story. There are multiple story lines, and the writers were clever in having each character tie to another in a twisty-turny, round-about way. I imagined them sitting in an office with a giant white board, making a flow chart to keep each character straight. As mentioned, there were multiple characters that were not very likeable at the beginning of the show, but as we saw their growth through their relationships with one another, I felt like every person redeemed themself. An advantage to so many episodes - you have a good amount of time to flesh out the characters, and that was done really well here.

This is a melodrama with periods of lightness. There were multiple times that I felt that I couldn't take another tragedy. Kudos to the writers for two particular things - 1) No obligatory time jump, and 2) a satisfying, unrushed ending.

ACTING: First and foremost, Kim Yeong Cheol as Byun Han Soo, and Kim Haw Sook as Na Yeung Shil were absolutely brilliant as the parents of this family. I felt that everyone did an excellent job, but they were standouts. On a basic level, I just love seeing Ahn Hyo Seop in anything, so that was a treat.

FAMILY DYNAMICS: They did a wonderful job of showing this family, warts and all. Each person had their own demons to fight. They showed the strength of the family, and how each person was stronger for being in the family. The siblings often fought like cats and dogs, but at the end of the day, they loved one another and supported one another unconditionally. I loved all the scenes around the table for meals. It was so special to see more and more people come to the table, room being made for them in the family, and there was even a comment about how empty the table seemed when someone was missing. Toward the end, I was so grateful to have spent time with this family.

MUSIC: The music was very melodramatic for the most part, but there were a few good songs, especially as related to the main couple.

REWATCH VALUE: It's too long and my list of "to watch" shows is too extensive to rewatch the show.

NEGATIVES: It is never okay for an adult to use violence on their child (I'm not talking spanking here).

So, if you decide to give this show a try, take your time with it and allow yourself to settle in with the family. You'll be glad you did.

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I was surprised at the surprises!

This webdrama, for the most part, was a very interesting watch. It begged the question - can you ever really move on from a sudden tragedy? It also addressed the paths we take in our lives - decisions aren't made in a vacuum, each thing we chooses changes the trajectory of our lives in some way. In the story, there were some surprising twists that kept my interest piqued.

I loved the friendships, though they weren't delved into as much as I'd like due to the jumping back and forth in time.

I didn't really feel the chemistry between the main characters. Their interactions were cute, but initially it was hard to see their attraction for one another because they were sniping at each other all the time. One kiss that looked totally staged.

The acting was good. I was especially impressed with Hongseok during his emotional scenes.

My main complaint was that the time jumps were so frequent, and they weren't good about differentiating between past and present. It often took me a few seconds to figure out what time they were in, and that took away from my immersion in the story.

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An okay watch

Storyline was cute, though the dog and the cat, other than the reason for bringing the couple together, were wasted. A lot had to happen in a brief amount of time, because of the number and length of episodes, so sadly, so much was too abbreviated. I was very interested in his progression from "zero to hero", but it happened too quickly and easily for him. Add to that, he had the worst haircut, every time I saw him, I thought of Spock from Star Trek. I did enjoy watching him, because there was something so endearing about him.

To me, she seemed a lot older than him, but that might just be because of the way she was written. I didn't love her character, and there were entirely too many drunk scenes, especially for such a short show.

I think my favorite parts of the show were the friendships between the men, and the friendships between the women. I could feel their bonds, and they were very supportive, unlike most Korean dramas which always have the mean girl or the psycho guy.

I found the music irritating in the fact that there was one song that was played over and over again.

The ending was pretty abrupt.

I really enjoyed watching the parts with the dating doctor. I thought he was just going to be a crook out to steal their money, but he was a nice guy and very helpful, overall.

It was an easy, middle-of-the-road watch for me.

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Contract marriage - not the most interesting I've seen

I like the trope of contract marriages. However, for me, this one left a lot to be desired. I didn't find it that interesting and I couldn't really relate to either of the characters, so it was hard for me to care what happened to them. They were together, then they weren't. There were a lot of ancillary characters that didn't really get fleshed out but served to act as filler. I did like the guy that liked her, and he was good about warning the ML that he'd better step up or he would step in, but that made the misunderstanding more difficult to tolerate. Why can't people just talk to each other?!?! Then, when they did get "back together" she didn't want to re-marry him - that made no sense. A couple of very uncomfortable, open-eyed kisses added to their lack of chemistry. I'm glad there weren't more episodes than there were, I was just anxious to get the whole thing over with.

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Still no resolution to the mystery of the author of Revenge Note

So, are they planning a Revenge Note 3, and that's why they aren't telling who the author is? If so, that's a pretty slimy thing to do. I felt that the first show was okay, but I liked this one even less. I didn't care about the characters, WAY too much bullying, and it's bad enough to watch teens that are bullies, but watching adults act like psychopaths is not enjoyable to me at all. The shows about high schoolers tend to focus A LOT on bullying and I don't enjoy that. I didn't feel chemistry between the supposed love interests, and, truthfully, I didn't find the acting of anyone very good.

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Quick, easy watch

This movie wasn't bad, but something felt off about it to me. Was there something missing? Was it too rushed? It was probably a combination of the two. The characters didn't feel fleshed out to me. The ML was apparently idolized by all the girls, yet he was pretty much an idiot when around the FL. His behaviors/movements always seemed over-the-top and kind of frenetic. The FL was very pretty, but she only had one expression throughout the movie.

I enjoyed the bad guys that weren't actually bad guys, as well as the friendships. It's an okay movie to watch for mindless entertainment. There's nothing in it to irritate you, but there also isn't much in it to get excited about.

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Cheesy but cute

I happened upon this movie accidentally. The ML's hair was ridiculous through half of the movie and was very distracting, but I liked the development of their relationship. She was supposed to be "plain." but I found her very cute, and she was hard-working and didn't take anything from anyone. I loved the ML's progression and his very surprised discovery that he had fallen in love with her. Some of it was overacted, but I must admit that I actually shed a few tears. They had both been through quite a bit in their young lives, and once they opened up to one another, the healing could begin.

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Short and kind of cute

I found the character of Hana to be endearing. She was strong and knew her own mind. The actress had a sweet and beautiful face and played her role without going over the top. However, there were many times that that ML came off as somewhat cartoonish in his expressions.

I normally like shorter dramas without all the filler; however, this one felt like it needed something more. The age gap played a big role here, as it should have. I was surprised that no one seemed to blink at the fact that a 16-year-old was involved with a 26-year-old, especially her family.

The makeup/face/voice/laugh of the grandfather was just creepy.

Pretty abrupt, unsatisfying ending, again, probably owing to the age gap.

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This one took a lot to get me interested

Let me start by saying that I have to have at least ONE character that I really like to enjoy a show. The two male leads were extremely unlikeable for quite a few episodes. A friend kept telling me to stick it out, it gets better, and it did, somewhat. However, I never felt fully invested in the show.

LIKES: Loved Rain and Kim Bum's acting. Rain, especially, was able to wring emotions from me with his looks, his mannerisms, and, let's be honest, his crying. For me, it was worth watching just for their acting, and their bromance. This was a relationship that started out with hate/antagonism and it was a very enjoyable journey watching them come to terms with their connection with one another, and develop a deep friendship. There was a lot of humor when these two played off each other.

I also liked the other coma ghosts, especially the head guy (he was awfully funny, too).

THINGS THAT WERE DISAPPOINTING: The romance. My favorite genre is romance, so I never thought I'd say this, but they should have stuck with the bromance. The romance was just boring.

The bad guys. These bad guys seemed like caricatures to me, like they should be twirling their imaginary villain moustaches. They got away with so much for so long, and the justice served just seemed like an afterthought.

Changing rules for coma ghosts - 1) you can't go past the desk at the front lobby, yet suddenly you're out in the community. 2) WAY too much leeway to a slacker intern who has made no bones about the fact that he isn't committed to being a doctor - by all means, let him do surgeries!!!

BOTTOM LINE: Just my opinion, this is a good one to watch for excellent acting, but other than that it was ho-hum for me.

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It was better on the second watch

This was kind of difficult to rate. Being a movie, it didn't have a lot of time for character development, not much time for relationship development, and the end was abrupt. But I have to say that the endings of the long dramas even tend to be abrupt, so I cut it some slack there.

Kim So Eun as So Jung was cute, though a bit of a hot mess. She spent a lot of time apologizing and seemed to be kind of clueless. I loved her in Boys Over Flowers and was glad to see her in this.
Sung Hoon as Jeung Jae spent a lot of time yelling. For me, he tends to be pretty unemotional in his acting, and that was true here as well.

I liked the friends in the coffee shop and I loved AnNa, as she wasn't the typical "other woman". I get so tired of seeing the evil, conniving woman trying to ruin a relationship.

There wasn't much chemistry between the two when I watched it initially, but when I went back to watch it again, seeing all the clues that I missed the first time, the story was very sweet. I just wish we had seen them together a little bit more.

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Disappointed in the sequel

Though I didn't LOVE A-Teen, I liked this one quite a bit less. There is a lot more focus on romance rather than friendship in this one. Normally I'm all about the romance, but I felt that the first season addressed the romances enough. This season would have been better served by focusing on resolving the issues between the two Ha Na's. Those issues were resolved/glossed over in the first season, so I was hoping for more of that.

Nothing really earth-shattering happened in this season. My biggest disappointment was the limited amount of time spent on Do Ha Na and Si Woo. They were really cute in the first season, and I was hoping to see more of them this time around.

In general, one season is usually enough for these shows. It just seemed like a lot of filler for the sake of having a new season.

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Quick watch

This is a short web drama that you can binge in no time. It's short, pretty fluffy and not angsty at all. There were numerous things to like about this drama:

1. Lots of internal dialogue, which was pretty unique. There was a lot NOT being said. I found that Si Woo had the most swoony thoughts. His thoughts were more full/complete and made a lot more sense. Sometimes the internal dialog of the girls came off as trying to be somewhat esoteric, which I didn't think worked that well.
2. Less bullying than a lot of high school dramas - thank you very much!
3. Some surprising twists.
4. Good friendships.
5. The couples just kind of happened naturally and there wasn't the typical evil girl trying to steal the guy and doing whatever necessary to make that happen.

I certainly wouldn't say it's the best thing I've ever seen, but it was an easy watch while trying to figure out what I should watch next.

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A food-lover's drama

This was a very good show. Loved the main characters together. Loved all the cooking/food. LOVED the restaurant manager!!! The restaurant manager added a lot of comedy to the show, and he really felt like someone you would want to be friends with. Kissing scenes - wow! Though the big breakup and the reason behind it was very weak, it was powerful to watch, they both did a really good job. She was awfully slow to confess, (which they tend to do a lot in Asian dramas. Why? Just to make it last longer and have more episodes?) and I thought she relied on her guy friend too much, especially since she HAD to know how he felt...

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Middle-of-the-road for me

Overall, I found this to be a cute show, but I don't feel like I would have missed anything if I hadn't watched it.

Story: I struggled with the character of Misaki through the first few episodes. She was very flighty and obsessed about getting kissed. She liked Chiaki and told everyone that would listen, but she could hardly talk to him. Then she liked Kanata. When that started and how that happened is kind of a mystery - he's a complete jerk. If I was Kanata, I don't know that I would be able to trust her feelings. I do have to say that the relationship between Misaki and Kanata was pretty organic. They spent a lot of time together, originally antagonistic, then becoming friends. Their chemistry was excellent. There were some side stories that made no sense and went nowhere. Plus, there was an older, creepy landowner guy that kept showing up and that storyline just disappeared. As usual with Asian dramas, I was pretty disappointed in the ending, it was pretty boring.

Cast: The actor and actress that played Kanata and Misaki were both good. The actor playing Chiaki was okay as well, though there wasn't much for him to do other than be handsome. I felt like the actor that played the youngest brother overacted quite a lot, which took me out of the story, which is unfortunate, because he had a good storyline.

I really enjoyed the cooking scenes, and the dishes were a treat for the eyes.

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