Profile Drama: Love to Hate You (연애대전) Network: Netflix Episodes: 10 Release Date: February 10, 2023 Language: Korean Country: South Korea
Plot: A top star and a lawyer fake a relationship because of a scandal but ends up falling in love.
Main Cast Yoo Teo – Nam Kangho Kim Okvin – Yeo Miran Kim Ji Hoon – Do Won Jun Go Won Hee – Shin Na Eun
Review: Finally, a straight up romcom without murders or fantasy elements!! I wasnt planning on watching this until i saw the preview. Enemies to lovers? Top star and lawyer? Sassy lady vs Cool guy? Count me in!
I love Miran. She’s feisty, assertive and can beat the guys in any game or fights. No wonder Kangho was so impressed at this “unusual” woman. He doesnt get to meet a lot of them in his work. I love the maturity of their relationship even the dates and bed scenes looked more age appropriate and natural. I laughed at the scene where she spoke aegyo to Kangho while on the phone. She was so shocked that she can do aegyo, even the lawyers in the office were grossed out. LOL.
I also like Kangho, he looks cold but is actually playful and romantic when he finally got past his trauma. His bromance with his bestie was so funny and cute. I wouldnt have minded if they ended up together! i mean that scene in the early episodes when they were rehearsing a confession/kiss scene was so hot!
The second leads are cute but I wasnt as charmed by their story like the leads. Most of the time Na Eun was in love with Won Jun because of his looks and kept stopping him because of it (like hello, he wasn’t interested then!). On the other hand, Won Jun prolly fell in love because she understood him or was the only other female he can comfortably talk to.
This drama probably takes a jab at actors and actresses who look like they are friends in public but actually hates their guts in private. And all the insider rumors that go around the industry. Again, fans and netizens should also stop obsessing on their faves and let them live their own lives. Im imagining Lee Seunggi as I watched this show and how awful fans have been to him because of his upcoming wedding.
That super cringy public confession. I’m so glad Miran didn’t accept! The ending although is not bad is also not especially fantastic. But it also feels like it’s more realistic and the two leads stayed true to their characters.
Sometimes the vocalizing background music didnt fit the scene or was too loud.
Review “I don’t know if we’re better than before. We don’t know if our future is better or not but we are the best to enjoy this moment.’
The above statement summarizes the 2 seasons of this drama. There was no big resolution at the end, it’s just about going through life and enjoying it with your friends, family and partner.
At first, I thought this drama lost its magic in the first 2 episodes. It was so odd and didn’t like their time at the mountains and how Jiyeon’s cancer was miraculously cured. Was the time spent there supposed to mean something because they didn’t really grow up when they went back to the city. Maybe it was just to wrap up Jiyeon’s cancer story. Should she be drinking so much?? I’m so glad they went back to the city and the story went back to how it was in season 1. I watch this because of the 3 girls and their relationships with each other, their memories about their parents, and the guys. They didn’t drink as much as in S1 though.
I always look forward to Sohee’s story and her weird romantic vibes with Director Kang. They always show him as gross and dirty but she oddly feels attracted to him, esp when he does those little things to support her. We also get to hear Kang’s story and why he is that way. He also has a lot of trauma (Siwon in fatsuit is too cute!!) And Sohee loves helping pitiful men. I think they are a match or complements each other well. But wow to Jiyeon for taking care of Kang and his dad instead of running away.
Jiyeon is the friend that I also love. She is too noisy most of the time but she shines when you need her the most. I thought the story with the siblings were boring but end up liking them too. They should bring Seonjung to their trio. She is also crazy. I also thought pairing loud Jiyeon with a guy with hyperacusis is interesting. But wait Jiyeon and So Hojun (funny cameo!) also works!! Alas she is still single by S2 end (but with 3 men) lol. Just a note that she told the siblings that communication is best, but when she fought with Jigoo, there was also a lack of communication.
Jigoo is the most silent and boring (for me) but she is the most thoughtful. I love that she found someone who really likes her. Yoon Si Yoon fits right in with his lovely artsy vibe. And Jiyeon is right, when the time comes, Jigoo will be the first one to leave and never look back. I wish Jiyeon told this to Jigoo, so that Jigoo can reassure her that they will be friends no matter what.
I dont know if there’s a possibility of S3 because I’m going to miss the girls!! They can actually stop at S2 but the ending just begged for a new season!! Would love to see the girls evolve since they’re now in relationships. They’ll prolly continue to be crazy.
Plot: In futuristic Korea, euthanasia has been passed into law and a mysterious company is offering people the ability to design their own death.
Main cast: Shin Ha Kyun -Kim Jae Hyun Han Ji Min – Cha Yi Hoo Jung Jin Young – Dr. K Lee Jung Eun – Seiren
Review: Spoilers alert. The drama opened an interesting and controversial topic to discuss and debate on, which is about life after death. Or specifically, designing your own death.
From episode 1 i already knew the potential danger that may happen with the premise. By N By was exploiting people’s grief and manipulating them through religion (souls going to heaven after death) and science (creating data from memories) to follow their dead relatives. I think they should be arrested for inciting mass murder/suicide. But the story was left open in the end and didnt have proper closure.
I thought the dying people who chose Yonder were very selfish. Like the lead’s wife. She couldn’t bear that the husband will forget her when she dies. Instead of wanting their family and friends to move on, they are also encouraging them to join them in “heaven”. And a lot of them did with false hopes of happiness, which is very sad. Like the girl killing herself to be with her dad, and the father to be with his family.
I also feel bad for those who wanted to grieve, and were led on by By N By. I mean the it was created by the married scientists who were grieving for their dead daughter and wanted to create their own alternate universe by bringing everyone else into their metaverse. It’s psychotic and chilling. I was disappointed with the sudden change of Jaehyun from a non believer upto ep 4 to suddenly joining his wife in ep 5. But am glad he was able to “wake up” and let go and also have friends who were able to bring him back to life.
The visuals were gorgeous, like the drama was supposed to be a movie but got extended to 6 episodes.
I personally favor euthanasia like if I were dying, i would like to choose when I would die rather than wait until I cant handle the pain anymore. But i would rather that memories remain in my heart and not create a new life after death. I’d rather be left at peace than have my brothers mourn me forever. Like Jaehyun said, “The reason beautiful moments are precious is because that moment can never return”. And the memories were built from data that maybe real but are remade for illusions.
I did wish the drama was 1 episode longer to explain where Yonder is and what happens after and to everyone else. I’m assuming it is some form of metaverse so I’m surprised people were not able to find out where it is located (eg. Server or IP address), and raid the company.
Profile: Drama: Love is for Suckers (얼어죽을 연애따위) Network: ENA Episodes: 16 Release Date: October 5 – December 1, 2022 Runtime: Wed. & Thu. 21:00 Language: Korean
Plot: A story of a guy and a girl who have been best friends for years but at one time or the other had feelings for each other but never at the right timing. Girl asks guy to be part of her reality dating show after one of the contestants drop out. Will love finally find the two or will they forever be just friends?
Main Cast: Choi Siwon – Park Jae Hoon Lee Dahee – Gu Yeo Reum Jo Soo Hyang – Kang Chae Ri Lee Ju Yeon – Han Ji Yeon Park Yeon Woo – Chef John Jang Son Hwa Ryeong – Park Jiwan
Review: I was really looking forward to the friends-to-lovers story (which is one of my fave tropes). Eps 1-6 were so great – they showed how much of good friends they are. Jae Hoon is the annoyingly funny but supportive guy best friend, while Yeo Reum is the charming and friendly girl best friend. They’ve been friends since college and they’ve seen each other through heart breaks (mostly Yeo Reum), grief (Jae Hoon’s father dying) and career changes (Jae Hoon’s a surgeon, Yeo Reum’s a show PD). We get a lot of flashbacks when they were young (although the leads playing their younger selves was not a good idea – they look too tall and too old to play kids).
Their relationship starts to change when Yeo Reum’s a–hole ex-fiance comes back to Korea and wants to get back with Yeo Reum. Yeo Reum, who doesn’t want to be lonely/alone anymore decided to accept her ex-fiance’s proposal (despite Jae Hoon’s disagreement and their almost-kiss) and starts planning for her wedding. Unfortunately, jerks never change because apparently, he got a girl pregnant from a one night stand and Yeo Reum finds out on the wedding day. Good thing the girl told her before the wedding started so Yeo Reum was still able to walk away.
The drama then takes us to the second part of the story which is filming Kingdom of Love. After Yeo Reum’s last show was dropped, she was forced to join as co-PD of the hit reality dating show. The filming of the first episode was the day after her wedding and despite her personal feelings, she threw herself to work because she didn’t want to face her feelings. She has always butted heads with Chae Ri, who is the main PD, and one of the contestants had to drop out prior to the first filming. Yeo Reum then asked Jae Hoon to join the show as a replacement. Jae Hoon, who has been in love with Yeo Reum for years, decided to join not only to help her keep her job, but to stay close to her.
While this was all happening, Jae Hoon previously was set up with a pretty girl named Ji Yeon. Their first date was terrible, Jae Hoon was a jerk (because he didn’t want to go in the first place) but Ji Yeon told him off and that kind of impressed Jae Hoon, but not enough to be interested (he’s too in love with Yeo Reum to look at anyone else). Jae Hoon apologized and Ji Yeon fell in love (I still don’t know why). Despite her attempts, Jae Hoon firmly told her he likes someone else and that was it. Or so he thought, because guess who’s one of the contestants of KoL too? Yup, it’s Jiyeon!
The drama started getting disappointing because of Kingdom of Love, which was executed badly. The show is a mess, the contestants were mostly boring, I probably won’t watch it if it were real.
I love the pairing of Siwon and Dahee, they were both gorgeous and had great chemistry together. Too bad the FL character was not written very well. She was so frustrating, I was half wishing they just stay friends, or that Jae Hoon end up with Jiyeon (although that’s also not a happy ending i want), or Jae Hoon finding someone else who deserves his feelings more. C’mon Yeo Reum, Jae Hoon is handsome, sweet, funny, very supportive and likes you the way you are, why do you not see him as a man and keep on going out with stupid jerks?? I did get that Yeo Reum just came out from a traumatic non-wedding disaster so she’s not ready to fall in love again, but telling Jae Hoon, she just wants to be friends, then asking him to do her a favor and kiss Jiyeon on TV was terrible behavior. If I were Jae Hoon I would have left the show. Yeo Reum also started feeling jealous when Jae Hoon started paying attention to Jiyeon. If Yeo Reum likes him but is confused, she could have said, “JH, I’m not rejecting you now, but let me finish KoL first and give me some space, let’s talk again after the show wraps up.” I think JH would have handled it better.
But then Jae Hoon was also confusing and kept leading on both females. But what can he do if Yeo Reum keeps rejecting him and Ji Yeon keeps telling him she likes him? In real life, any guy or girl who wants to move on may probably try to accept another person’s feelings or try to get to know the other person too, but if the one you love calls you, you will go to them.
Speaking of Jiyeon, she is a nice girl but she kept crying like a little girl who can’t have what she wants and begging a guy to love her, it was sad to see her look pathetic when she can find someone else who deserves her more. I didn’t like how Jiyeon also felt like the victim “I like you, I’ve made so many efforts but why can’t you love me back?” (Girl it doesn’t work that way). Plus, Jae Hoon was upfront from the very start, “he likes someone else, he doesn’t like you, but we’re in this show, we can pretend to like each other so you dont look stupid in public.” I do agree, that half way, Jae Hoon told her he will try to get to know her and move on but she shouldn’t have accepted being a rebound. Plus what does she really like about Jae Hoon? Does she even know him well to think she can match whatever history Jae Hoon has with Yeo Reum? And Jiyeon telling Yeo Reum to stay away from Jae Hoon like it’s her right. I did like that Jiyeon got a happy open-ending. A guy approaches her at the gallery telling her that he likes her (super loved KwonYul’s cameo here).
The unexpected pairing of Chef John and Jiwan is prolly what kept the viewers like me staying until the end. Their love story was more fascinating than the main leads. I didn’t expect Chef John to get the best growth in the drama. He was a jerk at the start, even dating and rejecting Yeo Reum, but then he meets Jiwan and his real, nice, country boy self came out. With Jiwan he didn’t need to pretend he was some hotshot chef. He looked so happy whenever Jiwan complimented his food or finished everything he cooked for her (compared to the pretty but vain girl but couldn’t eat his food for fear of getting fat). Jiwan is also super nice and sweet and didn’t deserve to be hurt by the other contestant.
For a show that was so messy in the second half, they were still able to have a good ending where all the stories were neatly tied up except one – wth was the scene in very beginning where the contestants were in wedding gowns?
KDrama Dreaming 