So, the only reason why I wanted to watch this drama is for one reason and one reason alone, The Story. It is like a plot straight from those cheesy romance pocketbooks that I use to drown myself in waaay back in my early teens. ok, in a nutshell this is the story …A very young couple getting married when she was 19 and he was 21, only to break up after only 6 months, and 6 years later meeting again, both in a relationship with someone else. Not too interesting IF the story ended there right? But, in this convenient and supposedly happy set-up of everybody having a partner, what is the “green-eyed monster” doing rearing its ugly head? Why should an ex be uncomfortable seeing an ex in a romantic relationship with someone else…haaay, jealousy, it makes life more colorful and exciting. Nice, I super like :) So on the strength of the story alone, I was drawn to this drama even if there are others on my hardrive.
let me get this off my chest first, Im not too crazy about the leads, particulary the “idol” leading man, and I have not seen the leading lady in any of her previous works. I am always wary of these type of “instant” actors nabbing lead roles in their acting debut. On what grounds have they earned that right? I know their management companies have managed to create this larger-than-life image for them therefore blinding a lot of fangirls to worship whatever gig they get themselves in, still, it is unfair to the legitimate actors who is still out there struggling and waiting for that big break. Sorry for the rant, its just that sometimes there are some things that nags at my sense of fairness. I don’t even care if these said idols can give justice to the roles they were given. To me that is not the point. ALRIGHT, lets give credit where credit is due …Shim Chang Min didn’t mess-up in his portrayal of Han Dong Joo. its a good enough performance for a first timer. ALRIGHT again, maybe my problem is im not a fan of this guy??? Maybe. Moving on…
At first, and I mean from episode 1-5, I thought “there is something seriously wrong in this production”. It seems to be lacking in every way. I felt no sense of attachment or attraction in any of the main characters, nor anticipation for the next episode. I found the leading lady, Lee Yeon Hee, and the character she plays, Lee Da Ji, quite cute even if her acting sometimes border on trying way too hard, but from ep1-5, that cuteness was not enough for me, not even nearly enough. Don’t I just want to slap some sense into her when she told Yoon Ho “ahjussi” that she would wait for him and not content with that, she had to repeatedly ask him if its really over? Haaa, stupid girl!!! You have no pride. I hate to use this word but there is no other that would best describe this girl’s effort but …pathetic!!! Thank goodness the “ahjussi” is not exactly a player and told her honestly to not wait for him. Girlll, when a man says he doesn’t want you, even if you are still panting after him you say, good riddance!!! Ok? As I was saying, ep 1-5 was anything but interesting, BUT im a patient girl, I gave it a few more episodes and IM GLAD I DID. by ep6, the story and the pacing of this drama begun to pick-up and by ep8 when ahjussi’s “nearly” ex-wife made her appearance, I was thinking, this is getting preeetty exciting :) here I was thinking that the ex-wife’s appearance will be just long enough to create a ruckus or a “slight “ chaos within the “foursome” BUT when she came back with a vengeance, it is a twist that I sooo welcome. Rock the boat, she certainly did! From then on, I was laughing, and swooning, and eager to see the next episode …when you cant wait to see what will happen next, that’s a good sign and it says a lot about a drama as far as I am concerned.
I like the honesty between the leads, they tell each other what's on their minds. I also like how they are often at each other’s throats …you know what they say about love, it often manifests itself thru aggression …haha, I just made up that one myself, so it is definitely not gospel truth :) Despite Dong Joo’s squabbles with Da Ji, I just love it when he would instantaneously, quickly run to her defence each and every time somebody makes the mistake to speak ill of his ex-wife. Theirs is a cute kind of lovin’ that seems to be a resumption from where they left off 6yrs back. Its tumultuous, its loud, its petty one minute but totally mature the next minute … but it is definitely LOYAL and SWEEET.
Id like to give the acting honors here to the second male Joo Sang Wook as Yoon Ho the “ahjussi”, it was a perfect portrayal of an honest man with a strong sense of obligation and loyalty. His play on emotions like loneliness, apathy, amusement, sympathy, compassion, hurt, resignation, love …is done with a large dose of sensitive acting. This sophisticated ahjussi can be sooo nice and charming and sweet and to top it all, extremely loyal to-the-bone that for the affection of our lead girl, he certainly gave our leading man a run for his money. I even felt sorry for him, he paid dearly because of his loyalty to his troubled “ex” wife. In the end he could no longer regain lost ground.
Everything considered, to me it has what it takes to be a good romantic comedy. I have to commend the ending ‘coz it showed an important lesson to our young people that marriage is a serious business and in this drama, our leads somehow showed that they have learned from their youthful indiscretions. For the first 5 or 6 episodes, I would give it a rating of 2.5 out of 5 for being so-so, neither good nor bad. for the rest of the episodes I’ll give it a 4out of 5.
