Thoughts about "Melo Movie" / 멜로무비: For the sake of the what-was-not-meant-to-be

To be honest, I was rather apprehensive about watching this drama. 

While I did like "Our Beloved Summer" to a certain extent back then, I wasn't keen on watching another similar romance drama about ex-lovers reuniting with somewhat been-there-done-that vibes. To add on to my concerns, seeing Choi Woo-shik as the male lead again and what the trailer projected made me deliberate longer than expected before finally hitting the play button. It was only after I finished this drama when I finally found out that both dramas were written by the same scriptwriter.

Potential spoilers ahead, proceed with caution!

With regard to the lead couple's love story, I have to admit that it didn't quite resonate with me. Maybe it's just me but I thought that one big reason for this feeling was the romantic chemistry between Choi and Park Bo-young being a tad weak. It felt more like they were more friends rather than lovers. Coupled with the fact that the story of the lead couple was not as heart-wrenching as compared to the second lead couple, it was difficult to feel emotionally engaged when watching them. I do not know for sure but the notably higher number of sweet moments towards the end and kissing scenes sometimes in the weirdest scenario and timing (on the filming set when people were moving around???) stuck out like a sore thumb to me rather than accentuate the romance vibe between them. 

On the contrary, what was more fascinating about them were their individual stories and how they dealt with their own traumas, pain and feelings since childhood, found closure after all these years and sought comfort in each other's presence. In Mu-bi's case, her long unresolved guilt and pain related to her late father as well as the conflicting thoughts in her mind about her career choice were well-conveyed through Park's great acting. As for Gyeom's situation, I really liked Choi's monologues and acting in showing the contrast between Gyeom's cheery facade and his anguish, anxiety and self-doubt hidden deep down. While I was already impressed with Park from her past work "Daily Dose of Sunshine", Choi really surprised me this time with the emotional side of Gyeom which was in stark contrast with his usual cheery and youthful image in variety shows and his roles I had seen thus far.

While I wasn't too keen about the lead couple's love story, what kept me going till the end were the two subplots i.e. the brotherhood of Jun and Gyeom and the second lead couple's love story which were "not-mean-to-be".

Kim Jae-wook was simply superb as Jun who was a very complicated and deep character. Not only did Kim nail the intricate emotions of Jun as a young carer and an elder brother who had given much of his life to care for his younger brother, there was a relatively unknown side to him which was so nice and fun to watch. As the viewers got to discover the other side of Jun, it was so bittersweet because it could have been good if Gyeom got to know all these while Jun was still alive. Imagine the things they could have done and enjoyed more together but it was not meant to be. Ep 7 was the big tearjerker but it was good that the story didn't try to be overly dramatic and splash out on emotional outbursts. Everything seemed to flow naturally as in real life when we may not display our grief openly in times of loss and pain so I think that hit me more than I expected. And grief doesn't pour out at one go and can creep up at unexpected moments more often than we think. In particular, when Gyeom found it hard to go back to an empty home and slept in his car, that was so difficult to watch.

Lee Jun-young and Jeon So-nee had so much chemistry going on between them as the second lead couple who were so much in love but parted ways due to circumstances and changes in their mindsets as they grew up. From students to adults, things had changed between them but it would have been difficult to love with the same intensity and depth without letting the toll of reality weigh them down. The constant tug-of-war between the ex-lovers who still had lingering feelings for each other but found that it was not possible to reconcile despite so - some viewers may not like it that they did not get back together but I could understand why because the story explained it well. While feelings may remain even after people part ways, the intensity and nature of these lingering feelings do not necessarily make it possible for people to get back together. Besides, past trauma, concerns and issues which ended things the first time could still come back to haunt even if both parties had resolved them or talked them through. As such, while it might have been a fairytale ending if Si-jun and Jun-a got back together, I actually liked how things went the other way after they came to terms and healed themselves from the pain of the first break-up to move on.

I did not regret my choice of watching this drama but on hindsight, I thought that the pacing could be improved from Ep 3 onwards. I was quite close to giving this up because I just didn't like the extended focus on the lead couple. In particular, Gyeom's inability to think about anything else whenever Jun had an issue and going off the radar so easily instead of contacting Mu-bi in many ways possible in this digital age frustrated me a lot. Thankfully, as the brotherhood and second lead couple subplots took centrestage in the second half of the story, I was convinced to stay till the end although I would have wanted to see more of Kim Jae-wook. However, it would have been better to make this drama a bit shorter and cut out the fluff to make this more engaging and memorable.

Thoughts about "My Sibling's Romance" / 연애남매 - All it took to ruin a potentially awesome show were 2 gaslighters

After watching so many dating/romance reality shows over the years, I have become accustomed to the fact that a lot of the narratives featured tend to be skewed due to the editing so I don't have much emotional attachment to whether so-and-so ends up with who or whether who dates who after the show. Most, if not all the time, I watch these shows simply from the perspective of a detached observer of human behaviour and treat it like a fictional story featuring non-professional actors.

For this show, although I heard of it last year, I didn't want to wait for the weekly updates and decided to watch it when it concluded. Then again, I forgot all about it until I was reminded of this recently.

It's been a while since I watched something which I thought could potentially be a good one in this genre. As in it doesn't rely on heavily-edited drama and still provides warm vibes with characters who seem kind with well intentions. However, what happened in the second half of this show was simply maddening because everything went downhill, thanks to 2 gaslighters who messed up things for many of the participants.

To begin with, this show had a very unusual setting in that you entered a sharehouse with your sibling and hid this relationship from the other residents. While seeking your own romantic adventure, you can help your sibling in their romantic pursuits. Although it may be awkward and you will feel self-conscious about courting a love interest in front of your sibling, the relationship dynamics between family members also serves to provide some fun entertainment and heartwarming vibes for the viewers.

Or so it seemed to be when everyone was in Seoul.

To be honest, the Seoul arc did have its fair share of drama on the romance side with some experiencing "unrequited love" while some seemed to have developed mutual interest in each other. And since the siblings were revealed very early in the show, it was interesting to observe how different pairs of siblings reacted and behaved towards each other. Along with their family stories, some a bit sadder while some looked like the typical happy family, it made these characters endearing and easy to empathise with. What's more, most of them were not models, influencers or aspiring actors so this sort of made the show feel a bit more "real" compared to other shows when the participants clearly looked more interested in boosting their name awareness or increasing their social media follower count rather than seeking romance. As such, it was quite surprising to hear the topic of "what happens to us after the show" being thrown up repeatedly because some of the participants were clearly looking for a relationship to last rather than matching up solely for the sake of this show. And this showed very clearly in how some of them approached their love interests with caution because they really wanted to be as sure as they could before declaring their feelings for the other party.

Just when you thought that this fun and fuzzy vibe would continue when the setting moved to Singapore, things just went haywire. Or as some participants of Korean dating shows said everyone goes crazy when they move to a place outside of Seoul.

The Singapore arc, albeit short, gave the participants ample time to date 24/7 because they didn't need to go to work during this period. While in Seoul, some participants were so busy that they hardly stayed in the house and could only date late at night or during pockets of free time. This created an unfair situation where those who had more time could cultivate relationships faster and better than the others. However, having all the time in the world certainly doesn't mean that everything will go well because you get to observe things that you probably don't see on a 2-hr date. And that with more time to talk, you find out some things, for better or worse which may change your mind. Maybe that's why people say that the best test of a relationship is when the couple goes on a holiday and spends time together 24/7.

While I do have favourite pairings at times, these people not ending up together may raise eyebrows for a brief moment but once the show finishes, there's nothing to feel unhappy or upset about anyway. However, what got me seriously mad from the Singapore arc was the behaviour of 2 gaslighters who eventually ended up together (good for them though and a blessing in disguise for those who got spurned!). It is the first time in a long while for a reality show like this that I had skipped most of this couple's scenes especially in the last three episodes because their behaviour was seriously off-putting.

While it is perfectly normal to change your mind and heart and like someone else other than your initial love interest, it is definitely not acceptable when you blame your initial love interest with ridiculous reasons for your change of heart instead of coming clean. And it's obvious that your true feelings lies elsewhere right from the start because you were being so disrespectful by talking about another woman constantly while on a date with someone else. To maintain this "consistent and faithful" image, you pretended to keep someone on the sidelines until the very end before blaming her for causing you to lose interest. It's as if you are trying to make the other party feel that everything is their fault through this kind of gaslighting behaviour. She already told you not to confuse her anymore and you kept flip-flopping and were so flippant with your attitude. What's with the open declaration to everyone that you had lost interest in her? More public humiliation for someone who spent a lot of time with you? Couldn't you have made this known only to her and your final choice because they were the only people who should know about this? And yet you can still claim to be honest and sincere in your actions when everything showed otherwise. Don't even get me started on that yellow dolphin-destiny rubbish because you would certainly have repacked your luggage to replace autumn/winter clothes in Seoul with summer ones for the Singapore climate and that bulky plushie couldn't have been slipped into your suitcase by mistake. This move already betrayed your intention to change your mind back when you were in Seoul so don't blame the Singapore trip and the increased exposure time with your initial love interest for this. To make sure that your final choice's second choice would be seen negatively, you even hurt your own sister by adding on to her humiliation in front of the group. That's hardly acceptable behaviour from someone whose onscreen image at first was a loving and protective elder brother.

On the other hand, the female version gaslighter had shifting goalposts on what kind of person she was looking for through this show and kept contradicting herself. It was clear that she was smitten with the male gaslighter right from the start but as he pretended to have the hots for someone else, she gave up and looked for a second choice. However, once the male gaslighter declared that he was on the market again, she swiftly found fault with her second choice and displayed such disinterested behaviour almost immediately yet blamed him for not doing what she expected. Frankly speaking, this just screamed dishonesty and a lack of basic respect for the other party and I felt so bad for the second choice who was still trying to convince her of his sincerity till the end. It was even worse when the second choice mentioned that his ex who resembled this female gaslighter had hurt him badly so I wouldn't be surprised if he became traumatised by the experience this time as a result. In addition, as she kept projecting her elder brother as someone who's so useless and not deserving of the praise and admiration from the rest of the group, it also came across quite evidently that if she had shown the slightest appreciation for her elder brother in any way, he would have reacted differently as well. The rest of the group could see her elder brother's good points (especially how he made meals for everyone - sometimes one by one at different timings, cared for them in various ways and even stood up for the male gaslighter's original love interest by encouraging her to lash out and flare up for how she was treated) and reciprocated accordingly. I certainly wouldn't want to do things for someone who disses me and shows zero appreciation for my efforts all the time. 

As for the Singapore arc, while I really hated to see what happened between the participants, it was no doubt a good travelogue in a sense to showcase the sights here. In recent years, there have been quite a number of Korean shows which filmed in Singapore which I think it's good exposure for us to some extent. However, I also can't help but wonder why they keep going to the same few places to shoot especially some of which are not necessarily the top choice for locals. I felt bad for the cast and crew too because they clearly came during the year-end monsoon season when it would probably rain every day. Coupled with the high humidity after the rain, it was quite painful to see them sweating like mad because I know exactly how uncomfortable that feels. The scene when Cho-A was at Brewerkez One Fullerton was especially memorable. I can just imagine how hot it must be for her because her fringe was sticking to her forehead and her make-up looked like it was melting. Not to mention that the date she had there was simply annoying to sit through because of that male gaslighter.

If not for the gaslighting couple, I think I would have rated this show more highly based on the Seoul arc alone. 

On an ending note, I just want to highlight that I really liked some of the siblings' interactions especially the two sets of Park siblings - Jae-hyung and Se-seung as well as Cho-A and Cheol-hyun. While Jae-hyung and Se-seung may poke fun of each other at times, they stand united as family and have each other's back when faced with a crisis. Likewise for Cho-A and Cheol-hyun who went through tough times, their love and support for each other became such a beautiful sight to behold. From brother-in-law hunter to brother-in-law killer...that was bittersweet but I'm glad Cheol-hyun called out the male gaslighter for his lack of sincerity towards Cho-A. I was really moved when they said that they wanted to show through this show how well they had grown up to be despite their difficult circumstances in the past. Truly impressive to rise against the odds.

Thoughts about "Hyena" / 하이에나 - A bit different yet largely been-there-done-that

After watching "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call", I was in the mood for more of Ju Ji-hoon's works so that was why I finally embarked on this 2020 title which had been sitting in my to-watch list for ages. 

While I do like legal/courtroom dramas, I was a bit apprehensive about watching this partly because of the synopsis which suggested that it was more about the rivalry between two top lawyers who had differing values when it came to dealing with their rich and powerful clients. And since such rivalry stories tend to end up with the leads either coming to terms with their differences and becoming allies and/or lovers, I wondered if it was worth spending so much time watching a been-there-done-that kind of story already replicated elsewhere many times.

The first episode turned out to be very interesting as it actually showed the lead couple falling in love for real despite the circumstances that led to their meeting. The chemistry between Ju and Kim Hye-su was simply sizzling and such a joy to watch. As such, to see them "regressing" from lovers to rivals and the constant tug-of-war between them in terms of their feelings for each other was such a refreshing and unexpected approach to take. Since Kim's character was not the typical weak/passive female lead, it was exciting to see her acting opposite Ju who still managed to hold his own against his senior and not let the pairing appear unconvincing.

The problem was, things sort of spiraled down from there. Since the first episode literally started off with a bang, what happened after that became so predictable and I couldn't care less about their work rivalry because the cases and clients were quite boring. Things did improve a bit from the point they became allies but still, the legal action left much to be desired. Considering that this amounted to a huge portion of the story, there were times when I was really tempted to hit the fast-forward button or increase the playback speed just to get through these parts.

The "conspiracy" or "final villain" part in the second half of the story was also less compelling that I would have expected. To begin with, it was so easy to guess who would be the biggest baddie. Moreover, the process to nab the villain felt a bit sloppy and rushed that I felt as if all that build-up over several episodes amounted to an underwhelming ending. Coupled with how the stepfather threat simply fizzled out too easily, everything just felt like it was all for nothing.

There were also some parts which I felt could have been addressed that might have given the story a bit more depth and complexity:

- Did the biggest baddie have a role to play in his wife's condition? 

- What was the biggest baddie's motivation in pushing for the inheritance tax act? To take over his wife's assets?

- Was the female lead's fixation with the Song & Kim building merely for money or did she actually have a grudge against this law firm?

Although I wouldn't say that I wasted my time on this drama, I thought that it was way too long for a story which could be more concise. The legal parts of it were just not engaging enough and too predictable for me. If you are in this for the sake of the romantic tug-of-war between the lead couple, this should be quite entertaining though.