Was It Love

 Was It Love

4.5/10

Was It Love

Genre:                                            Episodes: 16                       Year: 2020

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Noh Ae Jung is a single mother working as a movie producer at a small company on the edge of bankruptcy. The company has one last chance to make a successful movie, and the production of the movie brings four men into Ae Jung’s life.

Cast:

Song Ji Hyo (Noh Ae Jung)

Son Ho Joon (Oh Dae Oh)

Song Jong Ho (Ryu Jin)

Koo Ja Sung (Oh Yeon Woo)

Kim Min Joon (Koo Pa Do)

Dasom (Joo Ah Rin)

Uhm Chae Young (Noh Ha Nee)

Yoon Sung Woo (Koo Dong Chan)

General Thoughts:

Who…who wrote this? Okay so, it’s a totally newbie writer from what I can see which I guess makes it a little better- room to grow I suppose. But man…this wasn’t exactly a fun ride. I was so exasperated (mainly from the two leads) that the ending for this drama just could not come quick enough.

This drama was pain

The beginning however was actually quite fun. For the first four/fiveish episodes I was really on board and was having a fun time with the show. I mean come on, four suitors for a single mum- it just sounds ripe for all kind of hilarity and shenanigans. Honestly, I think where the show fell apart was not capitalising on all the quirky fun aspects it had. It took itself too seriously and actually ended up ignoring a lot of the parts that set itself apart form other K-Dramas.

I just don't caaaare about your past fling

I have seen nearly a million K-Dramas (only a slight exaggeration) which are about long lost lovers reuniting and falling in love again. Yawn. Boring. I’ve had this dish before, how about something new people! Reunited lovers can be emotional and sweet, but ‘Was It Love’ instead made it tedious and meandering. I can’t see the point of us getting four fun, different suitors for the leading lady, when it is so insanely obvious who the end game is from episode one. Did anyone actually think that any other character but Dae Oh had a chance to end up with Ae Jung? I sure didn’t. I mean I hoped someone else would, but in my heart I already knew how the ending would go. Dae Oh would be the father (because I never thought that this drama would be brave enough to make the baby-daddy someone other than who the ending romance would be), and he would get back together with Ae Jung despite their relationship being absolutely bloody terrible. I guess a plus of not wanting Dae Oh to be the one that ended up with Ae Jung is that I was free to bounce around whatever ship I so desired. Each episode I was rooting for a different guy- with the exception of Dae Oh of course. Depending on what had happened in the episode (such as Yeon Woo taking good care of Ha Nee, or Jin admitting that he sabotaged Ae Jung’s last contact with Dae Oh) I would flit my support from one character to the other, happily not tied to anyone in particular and free to root for whoever I wanted.

Woo hoo- so many choices!

A lot of the time I found myself cheering for Pa Do because he was just the least likely, and also because he was the most normal and reasonable of them all. Yes, the ex mafia who is protecting his dead love’s kid while hiding from a gang boss is the most reasonable. Kinda says a bit about the other boys, don’t it. Jin was sweet and nice, but he was also kinda entitled and spineless- he thought liking Ae Jung first gave him some kinda of right to her affections, yet never really stood up for Ae Jung OR Ha Nee, despite always saying he was going to ‘take responsibility’.

I do love a noona romance

His heart was in the right place, but he never really ended up doing anything important ever. Yeon Woo was enthusiastic, but he often came across as quite pushy- I get that his fear of losing Ae Jung unexpectedly again made him want to give it his all, but it more often came across as demanding and a little controlling. I’m glad that in the end Yeon Woo was given a scene where he could just tell Ae Jung that he had always been happy during the times he liked her and spent with her and that he was moving on, because he was a really endearing character, and I’m glad the show didn’t do him dirty at the end by making him a stage five clinger. Yeon Woo was always gentle, understanding and supportive of Ha Nee, so I cheered for him a lot purely because I think he would have been the best father figure for Ha Nee moving forwards. I’m a little disappointed that the show went the route of ‘who’s the daddy?’ for a few reasons. 1- we all already know who it is, let’s all stop pretending it’s a mystery. 2- if you’re going to commit to a play like this, at least commit all the way. The drama made a big song and dance about Ha Nee searching for which of the men her father was, but they were not given equal amounts of screen time, which made it really obvious who the dad was, and also just made the show feel a bit exasperating whenever it acted like the viewers wouldn’t know.

Yeon Woo and Ha Nee were just too cute together

Yeon Woo and Jin got a bit of time with Ha Nee early on, but once Dae Oh came about, you would be hard pressed to find Jin, Yeon Woo or even Pa Do sharing screen time with Ha Nee. It’s like the writer knew that Dae Oh paled so much in comparison to these other guys (okay maybe Jin is only slightly better), that they knew they literally couldn’t have Ha Nee shown with any of the other contenders because it would show just how crummy he really was.

Yes, chase the young girl- there's no way that'll end badly

I mean come on, Dae Oh’s first interaction with Ha Nee is chasing her down a dark street at night trying to talk to her while she runs away and almost gets in an accident. And I’m supposed to swoon at Dae Oh for saving her? Mate, if you hadn’t chased this underage girl in the dark, she wouldn’t have needed saving. Alas I digress- my main point here is that there was a wealth of humour and heart to be mined from Ha Nee’s relationship with each of the four men, but rather than exploring each of those potentially brilliant emotional lines, the plot instead opted to hyper focus on the romance. Similarly to how all Ha Nee’s screen time ended up being shared with Dae Oh, majority of Ae Jung’s screen time was also with Dae Oh. Which does make sense as he is the lead, bu it also kind of doesn’t make sense because Ae Jung disliked Dae Oh rather intensely- so why were they spending so much time together? Any time Ae Jung was having a nice moment with one of the other suitors, Dae Oh swooped in to disrupt the moment. It wasn’t cute and it didn’t make their relationship seem like fate. It made Dae Oh seem like a stalker and Ae Jung like a woman who couldn’t move on with her life. Ae Jung as a character was just…not that great. She was bland and didn’t have much to her character that went beyond that she was a single mother. It’s like they tried to spin it that she was a great producer who is still trying to chase her dreams despite her setbacks, but like…we never really actually saw her do any producing.

If being great at her job was an important part of this character, maybe she should...be better at her job...

She had only just been made a producer at her company when it went bankrupt, and then all series long Dae Oh or one of the other men were solving all the problems that cropped up in the film. Even getting the film off the ground wasn’t thanks so Ae Jung- if she hadn’t known Dae Oh and Jin from university, there would have been no way to satisfy the investor's conditions and the drama would have been over before it had begun. I really, really, really wish that the show had made Ae Jung way more of a competent professional- as it was every time Ae Jung told someone to trust her to make a great film I couldn’t help but sit there and think ‘why would they- you have literally never made a movie, never mind a successful one’. I don’t know how I felt about Song Ji Hyo in this role either. I find her to be a good emotional actor, and the scenes here that were more on the serious side she acted well.

I thought we'd passed the era where wrist grabbing was viewed as romantic

But as this is a rom-com, there were a lot of scenes that required her to act silly and cute, and I just don’t think she can pull that off very well. It always felt kind of strained and awkward and was more cringey than enjoyable to watch. I didn’t much like the character of Ae Jung, and Song Ji Hyo just wasn’t able to give her that burst of happy-go-lucky energy that draws you in and warms you to there character. It was a similar thing for Son Ho Joon. I have LOVED Son Ho Joon in his roles in the past, most recently when he was the lead in ‘Go Back Spouses’, which was also coincidently about lovers rediscovering each other (sort of) and rekindling their love.

There are few male leads I have disliked this much

 But he just wasn’t able to shine here. I know that Son Ho Joon can do cute and comedy, but Dae Oh was written so badly as a character that I didn’t even like seeing Son Ho Joon on screen. I swear he got to smile like…three times in this whole show. He was just so mopey and depressed and self-centred that there was no way I could connect and sympathise with the character, even with Son Ho Joon acting him out. The rest of the acting was pretty good all round- Koo Ja Sung delivered a cute puppy younger character that didn’t have too many difficult emotions to portray, and Song Jong Ho was solid and consistent. No one really blew me away, but I thought Dasom did a really great job. I haven’t seen her in any roles since ‘Virtual Bride’ which was one of her first projects, and I think she’s really improved since then. I personally think it’s a great idea for idols gone actors to take on a ‘celebrity’ role, as I’m sure there’s a lot of personal experiences that they’d be able to draw on to assist their acting as they are starting out. Dasom felt really comfortable in her role here, and gave a nice a natural performance, even in the scenes that required a bit more emotion from her.

I don't love that they tried to tie her character up with Jin though

The plot in this drama was excruciatingly slow. I was so excited when our characters got kidnapped towards the end because something was finally happening! The momentum dropped right after our characters were introduced and had their first lot of interactions with each other, and was never able to recover. There weren’t that many mysteries in the drama, and the show didn’t want to give any away until we got to like…episode 12 (or there about). There were so many episodes where nothing was happening- no events and no relationship development.

But Pa Do developed a relationship with his son, and that's all I really cared about

It’s almost as if the writer wanted to hold onto Ae Jung and Dae Oh getting together until the end of the show, but to do that they had to sort out the misunderstanding behind why Ae Jung left all those years ago. Which was the show’s main mystery- so we couldn’t be told that too early on apparently. Unfortunately this meant that there was very little development between Ae Jung and Dae Oh, despite each episode being about trying to force them together- it made for an extremely frustrating watch. 

What Was Great:

Kiddies:

Ha Nee and Dong Chan were by far the best parts of this show. Ha Nee was so delightful in her endeavours to find her biological father, and her relationship with Dong Chan was really sweet.

10/10 this is fab

Ha nee was by far more mature than either of her parents, and always had sincere and thoughtful responses to her situations. She was hurt by both Ae Jung and Dae Oh (seriously- who doesn’t talk to their child about their absent father when they know she is looking into it), but never lost the capacity to try and understand their situations and why they acted the way they did. She was able to look past her feelings and her emotional responses (something neither of the adults could do) to try and come to a compromise that worked well for everyone. Dong Chan was her cute and trusty side-kick and the two of them were just a joy to watch on screen- they were so fun! Uhm Chae Young gave a really solid performance and delivered well on her heavy emotional scenes- you really felt for her, and as a viewer your heart ached every time Ha Nee had to suck it up and be strong on her own because the adults around her just didn’t have the sense to be able to support her properly. 

What Wasn’t:

No Love:

The main love line in this drama was just bad. There was not nearly enough cute and sweet moments between the leads- they spent most of the series misunderstanding each other and disliking each other! They constantly pushed the other away under the guise of it being ‘better for them’ or ‘easier for everyone’. The show really didn’t give much away between the mystery of their separation until the end, so it was also hard to understand why these two characters felt so hurt by the other.

JUST GET OVER IT

In the end, it did make sense, but by then it was too late for me to actually care about their relationship. I also had absolutely no faith that these two could make an honest and communicative relationship work. Right until the close of the drama, they didn’t communicate with the other what they wanted- they kept making unilateral decisions without discussion which is a recipe for more misunderstandings and fall outs.

I 100% believe they will break up again anyway

Honestly, considering that they broke up just after their 300 day anniversary and couldn’t move on with their lives, I really question their sanity. Despite how good of a relationship they thought they had, how could they not have moved past that for the rest of their lives. They weren’t even dating for a year. 300 days is less than a year. These two supposedly functional adults dated for less than a year and they f*cked it up so badly that it tainted the rest of their adult lives until they met again. Like oh yeah, it will toooootally work if they get back together. Sure. Even before the main misunderstanding that eventually broke them apart happened, Ae Jung and Dae Oh’s relationship was already breaking down. Dae Oh constantly sidelined Ae Jung and put other things before her, and never told her about what was stressing him out and causing him to act that way, and Ae Jung was never able to adequately express her frustrations in a way that helped Dae Oh understand that what he was doing was seriously damaging and risking their relationship. Even without Ae Jung’s sudden pregnancy and Ah Rin and Jin’s meddling, that relationship was going to break down. The only difference is that without those things, there would have been no mystery surrounding the break up and they both would have just got on with their lives. The chemistry between Song Ji Hyo and Son Ho Joon also wasn’t that convincing. All in all this was a very lacklustre love line.

Friggin’ Time Skip:

Why did anyone think that it was a good idea to finish this drama on a time skip? Like…why? How? I’m baffled. Baffled and confused I say.

Here comes Oh Dae Oh- ready to not communicate his emotions to anyone

After finding out that he had a daughter that he hadn’t heard of for fourteen years, Dae Oh wants to build up a relationship with her and rekindle his romance with her mother, his lost love. And he decides that the best way to do that is to…leave and go no contact for two years?

Ah yes, break her heart. That'll show her you won't hurt her in the future

How is that showing anyone that you are responsible and reliable and not going to walk out on them? Newsflash- it doesn’t. One of Ha Nee’s conditions on being a partner for her mum is that you will always be by her mum’s side, and while looking at those conditions and ticking yes on all of them, Dae Oh then packs his sh*t and nopes out of there. I just have no fathoming of why he thought he needed to leave them, and why he thought either of them would ever welcome him back into their lives after he disappears off again. I sure wouldn’t. I just fail to understand why the original story that was based on Dae Oh’s original perception of the events had to be deleted and changed. These people do know that it’s fiction right? Dae Oh and Ae Jung weren’t really warriors fighting to the death- they know that right? Why can’t they just make the bloody film more accurate, or write a sequel/prequal/spin off afterwards that reflected what really happened. Just because the FICTIONAL STORY didn’t pan out the way real life had, doesn’t mean everybody had to go put their lives on hold for two years while Dae Ho wrote a new book. What utter rubbish.

Recommend?

If you have read this rant and are still unsure whether I would recommend this show to you, you need to…well…just read the rant again. (P.S- the answer is that I would not recommend this show to anyone). 

I want to watch a good drama...

Psychopath Diary

 Psychopath Diary

6/10

Psychopath Diary

Genre:                                     Episodes: 16                         Year: 2020

Thriller

Comedy

Synopsis:

Yook Dong Shik is a timid man who is looked down on by those around him. One day he witnesses a murder and picks up a diary belonging to the killer. As he flees the scene he is involved in an accident that causes him to lose his memories. Due to the diary, Dong Shik mistakingly believes that he is the killer. He draws closer to Shim Bo Kyung, a police officer who is investigating a string of suicides that she believes are actually the work of a serial killer.

Cast:

Yoon Shi Yoon (Yook Dong Shik)

Jung In Sun (Shim Bo Kyung)

Park Sung Hoon (Seo In Woo)

Choi Sung Won (Heo Tak Soo)

Kim Myung Soo (Shim Seok Goo)

Heo Sung Tae (Jang Chil Sung)

General Thoughts:

A lot of the time when reviewing K-Dramas I tend to find myself saying ‘I thought I would like this more than I did’. With this drama however, I’ve actually ended up thinking the opposite. Yes, it’s one of those rare times where I actually enjoyed a drama more than I thought I would.

I won't lie- I thought this show would be nothing but ridiculous

I went in with my expectations pretty low, and kinda just watched this show as a way to pass time while the dramas I was actually interested in watching were released (joke’s on me- I stretched my watching of this over many months and now I am once again way behind on shows). I thought it would be silly and fun for an episode or two before becoming a bit boring. But it didn’t! The first episode was great, but after that the momentum slowed a bit, and I’ll admit I found myself thinking ‘yep, here we go’,

Chill Sung made this show so fun

but then the storyline started to pick up again and I found myself being happily drawn in again. It’s not like I finished an episode and instantly switched the next one on because I was so curious to see what happened next- but I didn’t get bored in the episodes, and the episodes themselves were fun and didn’t feel long. There was an unpredictability to the show that made it quite enjoyable- you could never be sure where it was going to take you. I was surprised that we found out who the killer was so early on, but it actually worked very well in the show’s favour to do so. Seeing Dong Shik flounder around thinking he was a serial killer was funny, but putting that next to the REAL killer, In Woo, made it a lot funnier. The parallel between the two characters was a great source of humour, and the show drew on that further when In Woo thought he had found another person like him- he was so serious about it, but we the audience were very clued in on the situation and what an absolute muppet Dong Shik really was, that seeing In Woo believe he was a killer was really funny. Yoon Shi Yoon matched the character of Dong Shik extremely well- this type of character is tailor made for the over-the-top comedy that Yoon Shi Yoon so often delivers.

This is Yoon Shi Yoon's brand of comedy

If I’m being honest, I did find Yoon Shi Yoon’s acting to be a bit too much a lot of the time, but it did suit the character well. It’s kind of an old-school type of comedy that can take a bit of time getting used to, but once the drama set the stage as being one of extra, somewhat slapstick humour, it was easy enough to accept and just go along with it. It paired well with Jung In Sun’s more straight-faced, earnest character, and the show had a relatively breezy vibe over all. Even with the actual serial killer.

They made a fun pair

I don’t think Jung In Sun is the best actress ever, but she did well here and delivered an honest and endearing character. Bo Kyung’s hunches and dedication to her job made her an easy character to cheer for- particularly when everyone else in the police force was so weirdly determined to not catch the real killer. I mean seriously, did anyone think her mentor detective was a good guy? He just screeaaamed shady from the moment he stepped on screen. Our bad guy, In Woo, was played by Park Sung Hoon, who isn’t exactly a new face in dramaland, but I am fairly sure that he’s been relegated to pretty small roles previously- like a named friend of the hero or office colleague kind of thing. Well, he was so fabulous as our psychopathic killer. I won’t pretend that there was a lot of backstory behind In Woo’s character (chaebol son takes out frustrations by killing people, you know the drill), but he gave a lot of energy to the character. His smiles had such a way off coming of creepy, even in non-creepy settings. His chemistry with Yoon Shi Yoon was really fun and the two made for a really solid comedic duo, even if Park Sung Hoon played a serious character the whole time. The rest of the characters were all pretty stock-standard, but there were a couple of great side characters. Heo Sung Tae was absolutely brilliant as the gangster-turned-good, and his adoration of Dong Shik was both hilarious and adorable.

Long live this unexpected and hilarious bromance

Watching Dong Shik actually come to rely on Chil Sung was sweet and super entertaining- watching the two hapless fools bumble their way through a dangerous serial murder investigation just felt so fresh and had a load of comedy to draw from. Another scene stealer was Kim Myung Soo who played Bo Kyung’s disabled father. At first he was a sweet and endearing character that was used to showcase Bo Kyung’s love for her family and dedication to her job, and honestly that’s kind of how I expected him to stay- a sad backstory for our heroine.

Don't hurt Dad

 But then the show did something quite special- it expanded Kim Myung Soo’s role into being an aspect of Bo Kyung’s life that In Woo could take advantage of and exploit. The drama was so light-hearted that I was completely taken aback and got chills when In Woo threatened Bo Kyung’s father knowing full well that he was unable to speak out for help, and watching him keep the poor man helpless and under his influence through the hospital and drugs gave In Woo a massive fear factor that he hadn’t really had before. Kim Myung Soo played every scene perfectly- he was so sweet and defenceless that it really ignited a feeling of anger and desperation when he switched to the heavier scenes. For the plot itself, there was nothing really revolutionary going on, but it was more the interactions between the characters that was the draw of the drama anyway. The show wasn’t predictable, but it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking either- there were no major twists and it was easy enough to follow along even if you got distracted for a minute or two along the way.

What Was Great:

Lasting the Distance:

A problem I find a lot of K-Dramas have is that there just isn’t enough plot to spread out between the episodes. Plot-lines rise and fall and there tends to be a bit of a lull at some point in most shows. I was surprised to find with ‘Psychopath Diary’ that as the show went on it started to feel more engaging not less. The comedy found its footing and became a bit less slapstick based, and I just became plain interested to see how In Woo would get caught and how far along Dong Shik would get dragged.

Pre-psycho Dong Shik was painfully wimpy

I didn’t think the show would have Dong Shik kill someone while he thought he was the murderer, but I was never positive that it wouldn’t happen either. It was a good path to have Dong Shik decide that killing people was now boring, as it gave him an excuse to not go around killing people while also extending the period of time that it made sense for him to believe himself the murderer. Usually the hooks that draw you into a show, the special little somethings, become undone before the halfway point, so I was fully expecting Dong Shik to catch on that he wasn’t really the killer pretty quickly. I was impressed that the show kept Dong Shik in killer mindset for most of its run and crafted the story around that without defaulting back to a regular old ‘who dunnit’ when in actual fact we already know who dunnit.

I mean, I know which one I'd pick as being the psychopath on hairstyle alone

The show brought in enough little side stories as we made our way to the conclusion that the plot never felt dragged out, and the momentum was built nicely. With each side quest Dong Shik and Bo Kyung went on, they got a little closer to the killer. It was just plain fun to watch these two characters bumble their way into catching the most notorious killer of their time, and there was enough entertainment in each episode that it managed to fill all 16 of them without stretching the plot thin.

What Wasn’t:

Low Stakes:

Generally the downside of silly, fun shows is that there isn’t a lot of substance to them. It isn’t to say that this drama was insubstantial, but there’s only so much you can relate to dorky, slightly cartoonish characters that stumble through life. 

It's always the rich boy. Always.

There’s a level of tension you expect out of more light-hearted shows, and it almost a guarantee that no major characters are going to die or be greatly endangered. We all knew In Woo would get caught and Dong Shik would realise he wasn’t the murderer and that it would all work out in the end. And even if some characters did get hurt or die, there was very low personal investment in the characters, so while it would have been a surprise, it wouldn’t have been too heartbreaking. Also due to the fact that Dong Shik thought he was the killer, the show couldn’t then have In Woo going around killing more people- because then Dong Shik would know that he wasn’t the killer- because people would still be dying even though he was doing no murdering. So while In Woo was set up well as a scary and remorseless killer, he actually spent most of the show not killing people and just laughing about how Dong Shik thought he was a cold-blooded psychopath. 

Recommend?

If you want a silly comedy to not take too seriously then sure. If you’re after a more serious mystery or romance I’d advise you to look elsewhere.

The show gets props for an interesting twist on your classic murdering chaebol story