relationships

She And Her Perfect Husband (2022)

by maandoe

Profile:
Drama: She and Her Perfect Husband (爱的二八定律)
Country: China
Episodes: 40
Aired: Nov 14, 2022 – Dec 11, 2022
Aired On: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Original Network: Tencent Video
Duration: 45 min.

Plot: To get a shot at promotion, a female lawyer lied that she is already married to a guy she has never met. By some twist of fate, they meet at a party and her boss and colleagues thinks that he is her real husband. She makes a deal with the guy to pretend to be her husband for 3 months in exchange for a place to live and to help him stop his mother from setting up blind dates. Will their fake marriage turn into a real marriage?

Main Cast:
Yang Mi – Qin Shi
Xu Kai – Yang Hua
Li Ze Feng – Tao Junhui
Wang Zi Xuan – Wu Feifei
Baby Zhang – Yao Yao

Review:

First completed drama for 2023! My third jiedi lian romance. I don’t know why I gravitate towards this kind of romance. Most likely it’s because the actor is cute 🙂

I love the relationship between Qin Shi and Yang Hua. They may have started with a fake relationship, but they supported and complemented each other that the age gap wasn’t even an issue. And the guy wasn’t “lower” than her, he was a genius and helpful to her career, it’s just that he had some previous career issues he had to work with, and meeting Qin Shi gave him the courage to face his issues and find support where his parents/friends/ex gf couldn’t give him. Where can I find my own Yang Hua? He was almost perfect! Good thing Qin Shi found the perfect fake husband. What if she randomly found another stranger who was a jerk? It will be a very different story! I wished they also showed how successful Yang Hua was to get back at all those who looked down on him for being jobless.

Every fake marriage trope needs to end before their real relationship begins. That’s why I didn’t mind that they broke up on eps 36-40. Qin Si mostly had the upperhand in the relationship, so it was just right that she should be the one who realizes what she lost. Although I liked that that they got back together, I wish it was Qin Shi who made the grand gesture to bring him back. And even at the end, they never said “i love you” to each other and they didn’t remarry. But that’s alright. Just like what Yang Hua said, they don’t need to get married, as long as they can be together forever and ever. Not being a pessimist here, but nowadays, marriage doesn’t guarantee forever.

I was expecting to hate Tao Junhui but I actually liked him too. It’s just that he wasn’t able to protect Qin Shi that time, and she disappeared from his life that he couldn’t even make amends. And now he missed his timing since Yang Hua is already in Qin Shi’s life. Although I don’t know if Yang Hua wasn’t there, will Qin Shi take him back? She probably still wouldn’t. I can’t believe that he would like a spoiled and spiteful girl like Wu Fei, I thought he deserved better. I thought Wu Fei was cute and sweet, but she so the opposite of Qin Shi, who was sexy, mature and intelligent. I didn’t want Junhui to end up with Wu Fei, but the ending looks like Wu Fei also grew up a little and is now ready to be more mature and work earnestly and not just rely on her daddy’s money. I hope that’s true!!

What I didn’t like is that it took too long for Qin Shi to resign from Cheng & Hui and realize how toxic their culture was. Junhui already warned her that she was being used, but she didn’t listen since she had stubbornly set her sights on partnership. I almost thought she was going to accept the partner offer after all the humiliation she went through. I’m so happy she didn’t!! Particularly Madam Tang who I always thought looked so fake, trying to dangle the carrot in front of Qin Shi and throw it away again and again.

I thought Li Dai was going to be the b.tchy villain but I also liked her a lot! She is the funny, sassy friend that Qin Shi needed. Wished that they just opened their own female lawyer studio. Their combo will be lethal!

Let’s not forget Yang Hua’s best friend who is funny and great help to the couple. I love their dates with him tagging along. Too bad we didn’t get to see his wife.

The whole side story about the brother Wenyu and Meimei was boring so I skipped all those parts. They just keep fighting and fighting it was so toxic.

Lastly, I loved the ost but couldn’t find the songs on Spotify.

Rating: 8.5/10

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First Love: Hatsukoi (JDrama) (2022)

by maandoe

Profile:
Drama: First Love (First Love 初恋)
Network: Netflix
Episodes: 9
Release Date: November 24, 2022
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan

Plot: They were each other’s first loves, but a tragedy broke them apart. Years later, they meet again as adults.

Main Cast:
Takeru Satoh / Taisei Kido – Harumichi Namiki
Hikari Mitsushima / Rikako Yagi – Yae Noguchi

Review:
Wonderful leads. I love the high school version – they were full of love and passion and energy. You will just think where did it all go wrong?

Using amnesia as a plot device to keep them apart for years. They had their first major fight but why is it so shocking as to cause severe amnesia? And her friends and her MOM did nothing to tell her that she has a boyfriend!!! The mom even told Namiki to go away and she burned all his letters.

Her mom was selfish, wanting her to marry the rich doctor and look what happened to her! She had to drop out of school, get married young and have a kid, get insulted and divorced at a young age. And lonely for the next 20 years.

The adult version were great too but they were both broken and sad. Can you imagine if the mom didn’t keep them apart, they could have fallen in love all over again when they were still in their 20s? Because it’s fate.

I also liked the small bonding between Namiki and Yae’s son, even when they didn’t know who they were.

I realized that Tsunemi was also a wonderful person, when we finally get to see how they first met. It’s just too bad Namiki never got over Yae, and she will never be able to get his heart.

Eps 8 and 9 had me crying so hard, tears won’t stop falling.

I also loved the ending. Together, their dreams finally came true!! 🥰

It was a little confusing that the timelines kept jumping from past to present.

Rating: 8.5/10


Love Is For Suckers (2022)

by maandoe

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?

Rating: 7.5

It’s Beautiful Now Eps 41-50 (End)(2022)

by maandoe

Profile:
Drama: It’s Beautiful Now (현재는 아름다워)
Network: KBS2
Episodes: 50
Release Date: April 2 – September 18, 2022
Runtime: Saturday & Sunday 19:55

Plot: A story about 3 brothers and their parents betting on them to get married.

Main Cast:
Yoon Si Yoon – Lee Hyun Jae
Bae Dabin – Hyun Mirae
Oh Min Suk – Lee Yoon Jae
Shin Dongmi – Sim Hae Jun
Seo Bum June – Lee Soo Jae
Choi Yebin – Na Yuna

Episode Review:

Rating: 7/10