You Drive Me Crazy!

You Drive Me Crazy!

5/10

You Drive Me Crazy!

Genre:                                                Episodes: 4                                    Year: 2018

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Han Eun Sung and Kim Rae Wan have been friends for 8 years, but their relationship grows awkward after they get drunk and sleep together.

Cast:

Lee Yoo Young (Han Eun Sung)

Kim Sun Ho (Kim Rae Wan)

Sung Joo (Yoon Hee Nam)

Kwon Do Woon (Moon Seo Jung)

General Thoughts:

I usually love friends-to-lovers shows and I usually love short series, but this one just didn’t tickle my peach. It had a lot going for it, and definitely had the right idea, but there was something in the execution that was a little bit lacking.

Yeah, but nah

The tone sort of shifted from comedic to wistful nostalgia, and with such a short amount of time to tell its story, I honestly think it should have stuck with one or the other rather than trying to do too much at once and not quite succeeding in either.

That awkward moment when you bonk your bestie

That being said, there were also parts of the show that were interesting and unique. Being a short series, the drama didn’t have a lot of time for character and situation set-up, and I thought it was a fresh idea to have the drama start after the two friends had drunkenly got together. In most friends-to-lovers dramas the friends get together in the middle and becomes a turning point, or at the end after they’d sorted their feelings. It was interesting to see how the show explored the relationship between the friends after their drunken encounter while they were in limbo-land somewhere between friends and lovers but not quite one or the other. This of course meant that the two were already well aware of each other on more than a friendship level, and helped speed up their development. The inclusion of the two other potential love interests added a layer of possessiveness and jealousy to the relationship- and nothing speeds up feelings quite like a little competition.

And Sung Joo is some serious competition

I enjoyed Eun Sung’s fling with the younger musician more than Rae Wan’s weird relationship with the bartender- who felt like she was only there to be another female character. Sung Joo slayed it as the dreamy, struggling musician, and I think this was a good role for him to extend his acting a bit.

The magic of skinship

So far he seems to be sticking with roles that have something to do with music, so I’m pleased to see him building his confidence in acting, and hoping that we’ll see him in another drama soon. Kwon Do Woon didn’t really make an impression on me, but her character’s role was really so small that it would have been a miracle for her to be a stand out performer. Lee Yoo Young was sweet and fun, but I did find her a tad annoying. I think it was more her character than her interpretation of the character, but I’m not quite sure. Kim Sun Ho was plain delightful, and really expressed his character’s conflicting moments well. He was excellent at showcasing Rae Wan’s turmoil to the audience, while keeping it hidden from Eun Sang, which made it very believable that a misunderstanding could occur between the two. I think the acting was one of the show’s highlights- the writing was mostly fun with snippets of emotional depth, but I did think that the writer struggled to portray the story the way they were wanting to.

I'd enjoy this scene much more without a bloody great window frame through it

There was definitely some awkward scenes that didn’t need to be included, and it glossed over some scenes that would have been great additions. The camerawork tried to be a bit too fancy at times for my taste, with odd angles and shooting through windows and whatnot. 

What Was Great:

Chemistry: 

Lee Yoo Young and Kim Sun Ho had wonderful chemistry that drove the story along nicely. They had excellent banter that was indicative of their past friendship, but also brought a nice spark that hinted at more romantic feelings in the works.

Bow chicka wow wow

The two actors brought that extra ‘something’ to the story that made it much more interesting than it was on paper. They had the perfect amount of stubbornness, flirtation, and comfortable conversation.

What Wasn’t:

Time Skip:

Long story short, this drama is seriously too darn short for a time skip of any kind. Short story long, I don’t know why the writer thought it was necessary. The fact is that we come into this story after the two mates have done the dirty deed.

Are time skips ever a good idea? No, not really.

Months after. This should theoretically give the characters enough time to mull over what has happened, wonder about why it happened, and think about what may happen in the future. The awkwardness between the two was interesting and believable, as was their hesitant relationships with other people. Where the story started to lose me is when Eun Sung freaked out after Rae Wan confessed to her and then she leaves for an extended period of time. This girl has cracked onto this guy not once but twice, and she wasn't even drunk the second time. I’ll allow for some confusion about her feelings, but it was obvious that Eun Sung liked Rae Wan as more than a friend in some regard. I thought her departure at the end of the series was completely unneeded in the story, and it was completely unbelievable that Rae Wan would wait that long for a girl that had rejected him so cruelly. The benefit of coming into the story after the friends had their drunken encounter was totally mitigated by Eun Sung leaving at the end- shouldn’t this have been what she was thinking about after she slept with him all those months earlier?

Girl, why are you like this?

I feel like this time skip was a waste of time in a very short drama, and hindered the story much more than it helped it. I’d liked Eun Sung all drama long, quirks and all, but her reaction to Rae Wan’s confession and the subsequent time skip made me rather dislike her.

Recommend?

Nah, there’s nothing that really stood out in this drama unfortunately.

Almost a good drama, but not quite