Mix of cliche/often used settings

After the good ratings, I was really disappointed by the storyline.
This drama is a mix of settings and clichés you see in different dramas. I seldom see such a mix that is almost done like a recipe (s.u.).
ML actor saved the scene more than once. The music is fine, too. Just tells you which emotions to have without being noisy. The overall cinematographic quality is quite good, and the storyline is made for being popular.
If you like this kind of recipe, it is something for you, but don't expect really something new. Sometimes, you could really expect what would come next and just wait and see: it happens exactly that way.
I might have enjoyed it for just being a good drama. Not excellent, but good. But I kind of lost interest already with the second time jump. Why is it that popular for the FL to leave and become a different person, resulting in an "old flame" storyline? It is not really the same story, not even the FL we knew anymore. Never understood that. Also, I made the mistake to just want to watch the last episodes before going to sleep. Don't, if you want to sleep afterwards.

Recipe (spoiler alert):
- Take a rich good for nothing/bully and add a "tragic" past like dead parent or parent not there for him when needed.
Add a female, who does not fawn over him like everyone else.
- Make it a bet turn real love for the good-for-nothing until he wants to prove himself to the FL.
- JUMP IN TIME -> FL has a good male friend, ML is successful and overbearing (boss in city).
- Contract marriage turn real,
- salted with a jealous "ex-girlfriend"/trusted friend, a lot of misunderstandings, trust issues etc., similar story lines (FL acts, ML saves, ML jealous, FL angry) in a loop, until the FL can't handle it anymore and leaves.
- One more JUMP IN TIME. ML never forgot, FL comes back as a different person.
- Old flame, old misunderstandings get cleared.
- Fast-paced and tragic ending, turning the situation within just a couple of episodes completely.
The most creative part was choosing this setting int time (although not new, at least not as often as the other elements) and his parent's military power struggle (ok, untrusting superior, rival/enemy of same rank, mole - not too new either).
I have to correct myself: Most creative is mixing everything into one drama.

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nothing about music, not much about anything else, if not showing faces to hardcore fans

Do not watch this drama, if you expect it to be about music. Frankly, you could change "EXO" into any other "celebrity" without any change to the script, except for replacing the name. Even changing it to someone not famous, it would not be too much of a difference. The "celebrity"-storyline is not exploided.

I only wanted a drama about music (or music with a bit of drama), did not even know what/who EXO was before reading another review and even then thought for half the drama, it is a four-member-band. But I definetly did not become a fan due to this show. There was maybe half of a snipplet of a concert, I guess, so becoming a fan of what?
This really made it difficult for me to rate the music. KPop (or better called KRap) may or may not be your music style, but it was not part of the show and the soundtrack was just decent background music. So no rating of EXO's official music (which I will not rate here).

Also two things to know before watching:
a) Episodes are only 15 Minutes, so expect rather a filling than a show itself.
b) the actors are musicians and dancers, not actors. They are ok, but not extraordinary. I somehow pity them, since they were probably forced to play a part in such a show.

The story is just a story, nothing much (literally, since it is less than 4h in total). A bit stupid in the beginning, a bit more serious later on, but more something to fill the time, since the story is very clearly about reaching out to already existing hardcore fans. Since I am not one of them, I was not an expected audience in the first place.

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if not for anything else: watch it for the music

How is it, that Korea is so international famous for it's K-Pop, but while I just cannot stand most of the KPOP music (sorry, taste is personal), the K-Dramas have really good music. Why do they not let a real band like CrudePlay or Mush&Co debut and make them international? They do have the industry cut out for this.

The FL has an amazing voice! So high and clear, combined with a music, that emphazices her, you do not hear that often!
The songs, the ML produces really stay in your head.

What brings me to the story being ~ dependend on your personal liking. It probably is just an easy plot to go along. Typical triangle, but the FL decided long before the two MLs. There is a rivalry between the MLs on two topics: producing and playing bass. Both of them are a prodigy in one each, so it is quite balanced.
Rewatch value is relatively high, not only for the music, but also because I could better understand inner struggles and proper meaning of the words at a rewatch. But I did not rewatch it for that, there are better dramas out there.

The acting and quality is as high as one is used to in K-Dramas. Which is a compliment. One can easily immerse in the story, without always thinking, something does not feel right (except for parts of the storyline itself)

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