Let's Eat 2

Let’s Eat 2

6/10

Let's Eat 2

Genre:                                 Episodes: 18                         Year: 2015

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Gu Dae Young moves to a new town. One of his new neighbours is Baek Soo Ji, a girl he was friends with in elementary school who now holds a grudge against him. In order to sell insurance to the civil servants Soo Ji works with, Dae Young promises to help her get married to Lee Sang Woo, a man Soo Ji has liked for a long time who doesn’t even remember her name.

Cast:

Yoon Doo Joon (Gu Dae Young)

Seo Hyun Jin (Baek Soo Ji)

Kwon Yul (Lee Sang Woo)

Hwang Seung Eon (Hwang Hye Rim)

Lee Joo Seung (Lee Joo Seung)

Kim Hee Won (In Taek Soo)

Jo Eun Ji (Hong In Ah)

Kim Ji Young (Lee Jeom Yi)

General Thoughts:

I liked it but didn’t love it. It’s easy and mostly uncomplicated, but did kind of lack the airy cute feel that breezy dramas tend to need. It’s not that this drama wasn’t fun, but it did spend a lot of time focusing on a relationship that wasn’t going to last.

Yeeaaaahh...this won't last long

It’s pretty obvious that our main man Dae Young is going to be involved in some sort of romance, or the writers wouldn’t have mentioned his breakup with the girl from Season 1. That was basically a big green light for a second romance. And yet, even knowing this, for about 16 of the 18 episodes our heroine was either pining for or actually dating another guy. So that’s the reason there was minimal amounts of cute.

Cute, but not overwhelmingly so

Sure, there were some cute moments between Sang Woo and Soo Ji, but these were always marred by the fact that it was highly likely that they would break up once Soo Ji realised she liked Dae Young. And then there were cute moments between Dae Young and Soo Ji, but these were always marred by the fact that Soo Ji was dating a different guy. The rest of the characters were okay, but beyond the main three leads I didn’t really care much about the others. Grandma could be cute at times but she could also come across as nosey and obtrusive- particularly where Joo Seung was concerned. The landlady and her son just seemed money hungry and rude and it was difficult to find either of them cute. Joo Seung was far too busy being constructed as a red herring for the mystery to actually get any real development of his own, which left him in limbo as far as likability went- you didn’t want to become too attached incase he was a criminal, but you didn’t really hate him because there was no concrete proof. In Ah could be sympathised with, but her constant attempts at subtly putting Soo Ji down became grating the longer they went on.

Office scenes were rarely entertaining

The friendship that formed between the two was nice overall, but it was hard to really like In Ah after so many episodes of her snarky comments. Hye Rim and Taek Soo were really the only side characters that I had any affection for. Taek Soo was so pitiful and his loneliness and constant desire to be with someone made him easy to sympathise with. His clingy attitude towards Dae Young was funny more often than it was annoying, and most importantly the character never overstayed his welcome.

Hye Rim was the lightness this drama needed

He was present when he needed to be, but didn’t grab too much screen time. His appearances were spread out nicely and hit just the right balance of humour and sadness. Taek Soo wasn’t just comic relief, nor was he a constant downer, but sat nicely in the middle. Hye Rim was the youth that the series needed. At the start the characters were feeling a bit old- and while there's nothing wrong with that it did run the risk of losing the interest of the younger viewership. Hye Rim wasn’t an important character but her bubbly attitude and charm were refreshing in a series that had a surprising amount of angst (resulting from the love-triangle). Hye Rim’s relationship with Joo Seung, while not riveting was interesting enough, and balanced out the hardships Dae Young was going through. There were nice enough relationships between all the characters, but they never really drew together as a family the way I was expecting them to. In fact, a lot of the relationships felt like they were being maintained in order to gain something rather than simply because the two people liked each other.

Friends or no?

Dae Young and Grandma had a sweet relationship, but Grandma never seemed to warm up to Soo Ji the way she did with the boys that lived in the building. The landlady was so money focused that none of her relationships with her tenants felt like they would survive if any of the tenants moved out. Hye Rim seemed to only be pretending to like Grandma so that she could stay with her, and at times it even felt like Dae Young was pretending to be friends with Sang Woo just so he could help Soo Ji in her romantic endeavours.

Yoon Doo Joon is Dae Young- no one could fill his place

Dae Young never seemed relaxed around Sang Woo the way he was around Taek Soo, and while no two relationships are the same, it would have been nice to see him really relax into the friendship so that we knew he liked Sang Woo (which I’m sure is what the writers were aiming for). The acting was all okay. There was nothing exceptional, but there was no one that was glaringly bad either. Yoon Doo Joon once more made Dae Young come alive and settles into character well. He delivers both humour and heart and makes Dae Young a really loveable hero. Also, it’s weirdly fun watching Yoon Doo Joon eat, which is a total bonus. Soo Ji was a significantly less annoying heroine than last season (though I will admit that her inability to handle her finances drove me slightly insane), and Seo Hyun Jin gave a fair performance. She didn’t add anything dramatic to the chaacter that wasn’t already on paper, but she made Soo Ji cute and likeable enough. Her chemistry with Yoon Doo Joon was sweet and the two sold the friends-to-lovers dynamic extremely well.

Omg just don't spend money on stupid sh*t- it's not hard.

This was probably the most likeable I’ve ever found Kwon Yul- probably owing to the fact that he got to act a character that had a shred of personality. Kwon Yul nailed both the personalities of Sang Woo (the cool, calm worker and the playful, swearing kid), and made one hell of a second lead.

I'm glad neither had to suffer for the other's development

It was nice that Sang Woo was a character that was able to remain likeable to the end, and yet he never took away from Dae Young. K-Dramas can tend to let the character of the second male lead suffer in order to enhance the good qualities of the lead, but instead ‘Let’s Eat 2’ simply showed that Dae Young was a better fit for our heroine. There was nothing wrong with Sang Woo so it was enjoyable that the writers never felt the need to make him clingy, short tempered or rude just to explain why the heroine would choose another guy over him. As expected there was copious amounts of food porn, but the show focused a lot less on eating than it did last time. While the characters still obviously enjoyed eating and spent a good deal of time doing it, it didn’t feel as though 70% of every episode was watching people eat (the way Season 1 sometimes felt). Season 2 also seemed to explore a wider range of food than Season 1. The characters did go to restaurants, but the show also showcased takeaway Korean food, homemade Korean food and Korean convenience store food.

Yes, please, and thank you

There were also occasions where the show focused on international foods as well. It was interesting to see a Korean take on Thai or Mexican (it looked very different to the Thai and Mexican we get here in Australia). I will say this though, boiling that octopus alive was super off-putting. Please don't do that again. Ever.

What Was Great:

Love Swap:

I really enjoyed the romance of this drama, even if I do wish we’d gotten there a little quicker. The whole situation was so different from what we had in Season 1, which is a total relief, otherwise it could have felt too same-same. Rather than having two girls fall for our main man, we had the more standard rom-com triangle of two guys in love with the same girl.

Though for a time it did seem like they were fighting over Dae Young- which isn't bad either

It was a nice switch up as it meant we got to see different sides to Dae Young. This fit in nicely with the direction of Season 2- in the first season, Dae Young always remained a bit of an enigma with no one really knowing what was real and what was just salesman persona. Watching Dae Young discover his feelings for Soo Ji felt like we were getting to know him in a different, more in depth way than last time.

It felt like they actually liked each other (unlike last season)

Dae Young didn’t want to let his feelings show, so when they did we knew they were genuine. Dae Young also got to remain the cool guy in Season 1 where he could take his pick from the girls fawning over him, but this time around he showed a much more uncool, more relatable side of himself as he was pining for his friend’s girl- who he set up together no less. While it might not have been necessary to have Soo Ji and Sang Woo date for so very long, it was a direction the story needed to take. Soo Ji would never have learned that comfort and happiness were more important than looks and credentials if she hadn’t spent that time with Sang Woo. Realising that dating Sang Woo wasn’t enjoyable or comfortable was the exact ‘aha’ moment Soo Ji needed to be able to see Dae Young in a romantic light. It always felt natural between Soo Ji and Dae Young, whereas she could never be herself in front of Sang Woo for fear of disappointing him- and that’s a type of relationship that could never last. I do wish the writers had made it a tad more obvious that Soo Ji wasn’t actually having a good time dating Sang Woo, as occasionally it did seem as though the two were getting closer and more relaxed- such as when they would swear in the car together.

Ooooooo such angst 

Ultimately Soo Ji’s switch in romantic interests was very understandable and believable, but it could have done with being hinted at earlier. It's always a bit tricky to have characters from the main love-line be involved with someone else during the drama’s run, but thankfully ‘Let’s Eat 2’ handled the situation nicely, with both Soo Ji and Sang Woo coming to terms with the end of their relationship in their own way.

What Wasn’t:

Fake Mystery:

I think I was part of the minority that actually enjoyed the mystery of the first season, but the added mystery element in the second season felt forced and fake. While the first season mystery was more a question of who rather than what, the second season gave the answer of who but danced around what the what really was.

This guy reeks of red herring

Which isn’t an awesome set up for a mystery- particularly when the mystery isn’t the central idea of the drama. Rather than being intrigued by the character of Joo Seung, I just became annoyed whenever he was on screen. It was hard to gain an understanding of him as a character and thus hard to connect to him due to the writers purposely withholding information. As nothing bad was actually happening it was easy to dismiss all Joo Seung’s odd behaviours as red herrings- which they mostly ended up being. Because while Joo Seung’s actions were odd and suspicious, they didn’t actually hurt anybody, thus reducing any tension the drama was aiming for. Not having a phone, hiding a suitcase of cash and using someone else’s ID are strange behaviours, but they’re certainly not behaviours that cannot be explained into a less suspicious situation- which is ultimately what happened. Sadly, the mystery in the second season lacked any sense of threat, and didn’t add much to the series at all.

5 Minutes of Romance:

I was so onboard this romance that I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when we got so little of it. The execution of Soo Ji’s feelings transitioning from Sang Woo to Dae Young was brilliant, but it all happened a bit late.

This show focused a lot more on Sang Woo than on the friends-to-lovers thing

You’d think that a 2 episode extension would give our lovers more time to, you know, be lovers, but that was not the case. Instead the breakdown of Sang Woo and Soo Ji’s relationship was streeeeeetched out. And then no one told Dae Young that the girl he’s been crushing on is finally single again?

And then the series ended

Lame. While the angsty conflict was enjoyable for a time, it was slightly marred by the fact that I could see the end of this drama fast approaching and the leads still weren’t together. Understandably Soo Ji needed time before she was ready to be in another relationship, but that doesn’t change the fact that the writers could have ended the Sang Woo-Soo Ji line a few episodes earlier and given us more time on the Soo Ji-Dae Young line. The last few moments of the final episode were really sweet, and I won’t deny wishing that I could have seen more on how Dae Young and Soo Ji’s new relationship went- I’m positive there would have been loads of laughs and entertainment there. At the end of the day, I just felt a bit robbed that after 18 episodes of cheering on Dae Young’s feelings for Soo Ji, we only got to see 5 minutes (or less) of their happiness together on screen. 

Recommend?

Uhhhh, this is a tricky one. If you liked the first ‘Let’s Eat’, you’ll probably like this one BUT you have to be mentally prepared to let go of the first season’s love-line. If you didn’t like the first season, then chances are you won’t like this one either. If you haven’t seen the first season it really doesn’t matter- you can go straight into season 2.

More Yoon Doo Joon as Dae Young is never a bad thing

18 vs. 29

18 vs. 29

2.5/10

18 vs. 29

Genre:                    Episodes: 16                          Year: 2005

Romance

Comedy

Family

Synopsis:

On the way to file for a divorce, Yoo Hye Chan is involved in a serious car accident. After waking at the hospital, it becomes apparent that 29 year-old Hye Chan has lost all her memories after the age of 18, and still believes herself to be a high school student. Hye Chan is shocked when she is told that she has married her high school nemesis Kang Bong Man, who has gone on to become an extremely successful actor. While Hye Chan worries over Bong Man’s close relationship with his co-star, Shin Ji Young, she grows closer to an 18 year-old boy she met while still believing she was 18 herself.

Cast:

Park Sun Young (Yoo Hye Chan)

Ryu Soo Young (Kang Bong Man)

Park Eun Hye (Shin Ji Young)

Lee Joong Moon (Kim Noon)

Jo Eun Ji (Yoo Hye Won)

Lee Sang Woo (Kang Bong Kyu)

Park Min Ji (Yoo Hye Chan)

Choi Siwon (Kang Bong Man)

General Thoughts:

I did it guys. I made it through. Not completely unscathed, however I did finish the drama. Why? Because apparently I don’t know when to quit. If ever there was a drama worth dropping, it was this one. But I persevered in order to deliver this review to you, along with a firm warning. I strongly believe that it is in your best interests to not watch this drama.

Don't do it guys- DON'T WATCH IT

Sure, there were parts of the series that weren’t all bad. Namely Kim Noon and young Choi Siwon. If you were curious- yes. Yes, Choi Siwon has been adorable and insanely charismatic his whole life. Waffling and fan-girling aside, the drama- it’s not good. The premise is interesting enough- married woman wakes up believing she is still 18. It basically opened a whole door for cute, hilarious shenanigans. But did we get cute, hilarious shenanigans? Of course not. We got ‘Full House’.

Let the madness begin. 

But worse. Because rather than lying about being married and being forced to be cute in front of others, we have two leads that are actually married, but it appears they kind of don’t want to be. Cue the unrelenting bickering. Kang Bong Man didn’t get a great start, with the show making out like he cheated on his wife, then it’s all good because she can’t remember. However, as we become aware that this is not actually the case, and that Hye Chan’s really just a complete over-reacting psycho- Bong Man does gain some points. His complete devotion to his wife and tireless efforts to save their marriage do a lot to elevate Bong Man’s character. However, just when you think you can start to like him and cheer for him, he does something stupid or insensitive. Sure, the cute was there in his thoughts, but we need to see him actually caring about Hye Chan while she’s in front of him. Instead, we get him quietly worrying about her and trying to care for her from the sidelines, while getting angry and yelling at her when she doesn’t understand what he’s done for her. Number 1 way to not get a lady to fall for you- yell at her all the time when she doesn’t know what she’s done wrong. On the flip side of that is Hye Chan. And what a total mess she becomes. At first it’s easy to forgive her mistakes, because she’s scared, confused, and honestly believes that she’s 18. But as the drama goes on and her actions continue to be based firmly in the realm of selfish and idiotic, it becomes hard to support (or even like) her character.

Behold this K-Drama mess and weep

She becomes increasingly more selfish as the drama progresses, pulling Bong Man close or pushing him away on a total whim. She never understands her own shortcomings or how her actions have such a negative impact on her husband. Number 1 way to not gain love from your audience- have a self-centred asshat for a heroine. It also didn’t help that Hye Chan acted like she was 12 not 18. The music was forgettable, the plot was slow and uninteresting, and the characters were irritating. The acting was all pretty good- but when your characters are that sucky, sadly the acting doesn’t count for much.

What Was Great:

The Young Boys:

Choi Siwon and Lee Joong Moon are some much needed eye-candy in the series. Not only were they the cutest (by far) actors in the whole show, but their characters were also easily the least irritating.

In case there was any doubt- Siwon was always dazzling

The same traits that were annoying in Kang Bong Man were acceptable, if not adorable, when acted out by Choi Siwon. Because, you know, he’s an adolescent. And has no idea how to express his emotions. In a young boy- cute. In a grown man- not so much. And then there’s Lee Joong Moon as Kim Noon. Ahhhhhh Noon-ah! Literally the only reason I didn’t drop this drama. He carried the Noona Romance torch bravely and sweetly, and did everything right. He provided some pretty hefty Second Male Lead Syndrome when you consider he’s 11 years younger than our heroine. Noon did everything right to gain the love of our viewer hearts. I loved this character so much that I actually didn’t even want the heroine to fall of him because I truly believe that she didn’t deserve what a thoughtful, wonderful man this 18 year-old boy was. Of course this means that the bratty, selfish 18 year-old classmate didn’t deserve him either- but in a drama full of disappointments of course the most likeable character is going to get paired of with a snotty little sh*t.

Sibling Romance:

Lee Sang Woo is always all kinds of amazing in whatever he’s in. At least the drama didn’t manage to kill how wonderful Lee Sang Woo is. His character was excitingly different with his inability to speak, and while the drama made no effort to capitalise on this difference it was still interesting to have this kind of character grace my screen. Yay to Lee Sang Woo knowing sign language- it was awesome.

But first- Imma take a selfie

I also tend to enjoy Jo Eun Ji’s performances, and she provided another down-to-Earth, logical, and simply nice character in this series. The relationship between Jo Eun Ji and Lee Sang Woo’s characters was enjoyable and cute, and a wonderful distraction from our main pairing. While the romantic relationship between the siblings of our hero and heroine was not without its difficulties, the two managed to work through their problems together. Not only were they able to sort out their own issues, but these two characters also played a great role in assisting our main characters and their highly dysfunctional relationship.

The Ending (I Suppose):

Considering that K-Dramas are notorious for notoriously average finishes, it was nice surprise for the wrap up of ’18 vs. 29’ to not completely suck. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was a good ending (as to have a good ending you require a good drama) but it was definitely a step up from the rest of our series.

In one word- insufferable

We had the better relationship (Hye Won and Bong Kyu) get a sweetly satisfying conclusion with their marriage, and even our main pairing were able to pull their sh*t together enough to start acting like believable adults. While I never honestly believed that the characters in the main pairing truly loved each other, at least by the end I was convinced that they could stay together. And not threaten to move out or get divorced every five minutes. Maybe. The clear up for Hye Chan’s amnesia was pretty well done. As her memories returned she became more like the adult she was before her accident, but with the added knowledge of the misunderstandings that had been cleared up during the time she had believed she was 18. It also provided an acceptable out for Noon’s feelings- because she wasn’t the girl Noon had fallen for. He had loved the adult who held a childlike innocence and found joy in simple, uncomplicated things- just as an 18 year-old would. When Hye Chan regained her memories, experiences and maturity, she was no longer the same person Noon had fallen for. I really appreciate the time the drama took to express this issue when it could have quite easily left Noon out in the cold while wrapping up Hye Chan with Bong Man under the excuse that they had loved each other all along for 11 years.

Weirdly satisfying relationship wrap-up

What Wasn’t:

Pretty Much Everything Else:

Our two leads were pretty sucky. All their fights and misunderstandings were sucky. The jealous co-worker was sucky. The complete inability of our characters to think of someone else’s perspective and feelings was SO sucky. And last but definitely not least: the plot was sucky. The whole drama basically circles around the fact that Hye Chan doesn’t know if she wants to be with Kang Bong Man or not. And that gets old pretty darn fast.

We're married- now let's fight for 16 hours

The drama may have held more interest if the writers had chosen to focus on rebuilding the love that was shaken between these two individuals, but instead it chooses to centre around 18 year-old Hye Chan having to deal with 29 year-old Hye Chan’s problems. And that’s not all that fun. Due to her immaturity and unwillingness to cooperate with Bong Man, rather than Bong Man attempting to assist her and romance her again, he just becomes frustrated and angry with her- as do we all. It was also a mistake to have the audience doubt Bong Man’s sincerity and loyalty to his wife.

I feel like I've seen this character before. Because I have. In every K-Drama ever.

Had we known all along that he had always been faithful to Hye Chan and had never even considered Ji Young in a romantic light, at least the audience would have been completely supportive of him from the start. As it was, we were led to believe that Bong Man had cheated on or been unfaithful to his wife in some way, so our opinions of him were lowered right from the start and we sympathised more with Hye Chan. But as it became clear that Hye Chan was selfish and crazy and that Bong Man had done nothing wrong, Hye Chan quickly lost our sympathies. Which unfortunately meant that viewers were feeling no connection or warm feelings towards any of our main characters. Except Noon. Because he was perfect. The supposed ‘love rival’ was just purely dislikable. She had no redeeming qualities and couldn’t even play the pity card- it’s no one’s fault but your own if you let yourself fall for a married guy. As Bong Man only saw Ji Young as a colleague and had always made his feelings clear, Ji Young’s role was basically redundant. Even if Bong Man and Hye Chan broke up (with or without Ji Young’s meddling), Bong Man would never have made the switch to Ji Young. Irritating and stupid as many of the characters were (Hye Chan, Ji Young, Grandfather, and at times Bong Man), my biggest issue with this drama is that there was no overarching plot.

0 effort to re-romance his wife

Sure, Bong Man and Hye Chan were rediscovering their feelings, but they were doing so in a slow, round-about way made up of many smaller happenings. The drama didn’t even have Bong Man trying to romance his wife again the way he had when they were 18. Like, c’mon dude- you’ve done this once before, you know what worked when she was 18, at least try and do that again.

Really? This is who Kim Noon ends up getting?

But no, instead Bong Man simply tries to jog Hye Chan’s memory so that she remembers falling for him the first time around. While Bong Man did make an effort to relate and connect to Hye Chan, it never felt like he was making much of an effort romantically. And Hye Chan just plain never made an effort. Except for that one time she made him dinner. But then she had a complete hissy and left before he even got home, so that’s kind of a moot point. Sadly, this also meant that there wasn’t a whole lot of cute going on between our main pairing because they were always awkward or angry with each other. There were a couple of cute scenes, but in a drama with nothing else happening but the relationship development between the leads I was expecting (and wanting) a whole heap more cute. At least Noon delivered. I suppose you could say that the triangle between Bong Man, Hye Chan, and Noon was the main plot development- but did anyone actually believe Noon had a shot? I didn’t. Hye Chan only ever saw him as an adorable 18 year-old friend who she could connect to intellectually. Supposedly. I still argue that Noon was more emotionally and intellectually advanced than either of our leads.

Re-watch?

Never.

I still don't understand why I watched it the first time

2 Outs in the 9th Inning

2 Outs in the 9^th Inning

4.5/10

2 Outs in the 9th Inning 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2007

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Hong Nan Hee and Byun Hyung Tae have been friends for as long as they can remember. They have an uncommonly close friendship where they can always call each other, drink together, and support each other. Their close friendship has often been the cause of trouble in their relationships. As Nan Hee turns 30, she realises that she is running out of time, and may only have one chance left for love. She is currently dating Kim Jung Joo, a talented baseball pitcher whose dream is to play in the American Major League, who is eight years her junior. After a disagreement with her mother, Nan Hee moves out of her family home. With hardly any money and nowhere else to go, she moves into Byun Hyung Tae’s house. As the two grow even closer, they realise that their friendship may be the reason they have never had a successful relationship, and that they must choose- love or friendship?

Cast:

Soo Ae (Hong Nan Hee)

Lee Jung Jin (Byun Hyung Tae)

Lee Tae Sung (Kim Jung Joo)

Hwang Ji Hyun (Yoon Sung Ah)

Lee Sang Woo (Lee Jun Mo)

Jo Eun Ji (Kim Chun Hee)

Park Hye Young (Park Ji Sun)

General Thoughts:

Don’t be deceived, apart from a few wild analogies- it has nothing to do with baseball. Seriously though, it’s not a bad drama, it just moves incredibly slowly. There’s basically nothing going on besides the gradual development of feelings between Hong Nan Hee and Byun Hyung Tae.

Most baseball action in the whole drama

Apart from our two main leads, hardly any characters get any development. A significant portion of the drama was devoted to Kim Jung Joo, and then he just sort of disappears. Besides Kim Chun Hee, we actually don’t know much about anyone else in the supposedly tight-knit group of friends. The drama could have been so much more heart-warming had it focused a little more on the friends as a group, rather than Nan Hee and Byung Tae as a couple. While there were definitely cute moments between our main couple, a lot of the time it felt like rehashing what we already knew. “I want to move out” vs. “I want you to stay”, “I want to love you” vs. “Don’t risk the friendship”. I originally started out watching the episodes back-to-back, but had to change pretty quickly to leaving at least a day’s gap between them, because I was just getting so frustrated at how slowly things were moving.

Cute snapshot of life over 30

The characters themselves were very realistic and believable. No one made big, bold moves that really created a sh*tstorm, because no one wanted to mess up their lives. Unfortunately though, this did contribute to the plot moving at a snail’s pace.

What Was Great:

Noona Romance:

Long live noona romances. They are just adorable. There are few things better than watching a young man battle against the odds to claim the affections of the woman he wholeheartedly loves. And Jung Joo is such a great character. He’s got our typical younger male puppy-love, immature jealousy, and burning passion. All must-haves for a good noona romance.

Can you get any cuter? 

He has that little bit of uniqueness as through all his actions, he constantly holds that tiny piece of fear that he will lose Nan Hee because he is not man enough.

Sad reality of the noona romance

This drama delved into some big, realistic problems with noona romances: the simultaneous pride and embarrassment of your partner, family objections on both sides, and loss of time. It was heart aching to watch the two circle each other, with Nan Hee feeling both like she was running out of time, and as if she was stealing time and youth from Jung Joo. My favourite parts of the drama definitely involved Jung Joo. It was after his disappearance that I felt the plot started to lose steam.

Questionable Friendship:

The relationship between our two main leads was pretty great. They were so comfortable around each other that gender didn’t play an important role- but then we got those awkward moments when our character would think ‘Oh, he’s handsome’, or ‘She’s like a woman today’.

Adequately amusing shenanigans

The friendship also laid the groundwork for mass-jealousy. We had jealousy from the outside- those romantically involved, jealousy from within- when they felt the girl/boyfriend was closer than them, and jealousy of each other- when one had a partner and the other didn’t. It was relaxing and easy to watch the dynamics constantly shift around, but again, not a lot actually happened.

What Wasn’t:

Slooooooow:
I’ve basically said all I need to on this. The plot was slow. Nothing actually happens. There’s some things that happen in the workplace, and a few things that happen with outside relationships, but not much. Nothing is given even close to the same amount of development that is given to Nan Hee X Jung Joo and Nan Hee X Hyung Tae.

That sexual tension though

There were a lot of half-assed side plots that never really found their feet- they just kind of lurked in the shadows debating whether or not to emerge.

Friendship Circle:

What little glimpses we got of all the friends together were actually really nice. But we were never given enough information on anyone. Supposedly Lee Jun Mo was a major contender to become Nan Hee’s husband- but did any of us believe he actually stood a chance? No. Because All we knew about him was that he dated Nan Hee a while ago, and they broke up because of Hyung Tae. We all KNEW our main couple would end up together- but a little contest would have been appreciated.

Everyone loves a bit of boy biffo

It was the same sort of thing with Yoon Sung Ah. She and Hyung Tae dated. She and Hyung Tae broke up. She and Hyung Tae dated again. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Oh, and she cheated with the dead guy. Speaking of the dead guy- what up with that? It was as though the writers only thought of this development a minute before they put it in. It could have been a MAJOR development, but it was just swept under the rug.

Oh I'm sorry, who are you?

The impact of his death on his friends was interesting to watch, but would have tugged a whole lot more heartstrings if, you know, we actually KNEW any of them. Also, why would Nan Hee not tell Hyung Tae that guitar-girl cheated on him? The dynamic between the two girls was a tad wishy-washy, I could barely even tell if they were openly competing against each other for Hyung Tae or if they just enjoyed saying snarky things every now and then.

Honestly, as much as I hate flashback sequences, I feel this drama may have needed some, or at least something to develop the group of friends beyond ‘our main couple’s mutual friends’.

Friends or Love?:

Similarly to many points in this drama, it just dragged on for too long. Really, as soon as it got to the point where Hyung Tae was ready to walk away from their friendship because it wouldn’t survive their marriages to other people, Nan Hee should have been on board. She had nothing to lose at that point anyway.

Ha Ha

While it was great to have all the awkward of slowly realising their feelings, and questioning their intentions- there was just this lull from about 2/3s in.

This guy knows what's up

Everybody knew they were ending up together. Legit everyone. It was charming for a while have our support characters chuckling from the sides, knowing how their relationship would play out but it was a little overused and bordered on irritating after a while when our main lady didn’t respond. Because, let’s be honest, Hyung Tae really did all he could.

Holiday:

It was adorable. The whole scene was pretty picture perfect and played out quite nicely. The casual confession and suggestion, begrudging acceptance, giggly honeymoon phase. I was expecting when our main couple returned from their getaway that they would be smacked with some real-world problems, and watch them slug it out together (similar to Nan Hee and Jung Joo at the start). But alas, Nan Hee turns into a big chicken and backs out of everything, and we’re back to square one- but this time with a very frustrated Hyunng Tae and a very frustrated audience. It’s understandable that she doesn’t want to ruin the friendship- it is. But when Hyung Tae was ready to walk away from their friendship anyway, and Nan Hee STILL didn’t suck it up and dive in, I wanted to smack her. Smack her hard.

What's not to like?

Development for Nothing:

I was so invested in Jung Joo’s character. Not gonna lie, when he was around vying for Nan Hee’s heart I was rooting for him- even though we all know he wouldn’t get the girl in the end. His determined passion was just so inherently likeable. He goes through so much struggle and development, and is such a driving force in the beginning stages of this drama, so I couldn’t help but feel a little gypped when he vanished off for America with no return. It makes sense storywise why he went- it was his dream, and Nan Hee would have been constantly looking towards him wanting to go back to him that it would have made things difficult to progress.

Come back Jung Joo!

While I suppose that this rings true to real life- after a serious breakup that’s the end of the role that person will play in your life, I just so desperately didn’t want it to be the end of Jung Joo’s role in this drama. At least we got the 10 second video at the end, so we know he was smashing it in American baseball.

Re-watch?

No, once was definitely enough. The development of feelings was cute to watch, and Nan Hee and Hyung Tae were both likeable characters- but everything just moved far too slow. Not every drama has to have a racing plot, but it does need at least a little forward momentum.

It may have taken 16 hours, but we got there in the end