Of travels, food hunts and korean entertainment: Drama Reviews

Over the holidays, I marathoned The Time I Loved You, because love for Ha Jiwon supersedes everything else. I went in with really really low expectations since everyone hated it so much but I was surprisingly kept pretty entertained.

I'm sure most people know what the story is about but I'll just do a summary anyway. Oh Hana (Ha Jiwon) is a 34 year old career woman who has been best friends with Choi Won (Lee Jin Wook) for 17 years. The whole show is about them going from friends to lovers, with a few obstacles like Hana's ex-fiance Cha Seo Hoo (Yoon Kyun Sang) suddenly returning after not turning up at their engagement party 3 years ago.

There is basically about zero plot in the whole show and it's very slice of life. Slice of life dramas are almost always very slow, which I'm fine with. But a show focused on characters not plot makes it hard to dissect imo, because human's decisions and relationships often don't make a lot of sense. That is why I could buy that Hana went back to Seo Hoo, and why she broke up with him after she realised that this time, it was too tiring to maintain such a relationship where they love each other passionately but fight all the time. Relationships start and end in all sorts of ways, and I think Hana really needed to work her way through this relationship.

However, it was a pity that Ha Jiwon didn't have much chemistry with Yoon Kyun Sang, who I think was a little miscast. The chemistry was really lacking, especially compared to Ha Jiwon and Lee Jin Wook. Then again, chemistry is a very subjective thing. Some people think Ha Jiwon and Lee Jin Wook didn't have chemistry. (To give a better example, it's like how some people think Ha Jiwon and Hyun Bin had the best chemistry ever in Secret Garden, while some think they had no chemistry.) To each his/her own, I guess.

My main problem with the show was in episode 14. That Paris thing was just ridiculous because President Min suddenly decided that it was fine for Hana to be near Seo Hoo (what is President Min's motivation??) and Won should have known that Hana was no longer going. The use of the whistle in an airport is also as unrealistic as it gets. I had a good laugh at how ridiculous it was.

The crazy amount of PPL also bogged down the drama. Some were fine, like the makeup Hana wears or Hana carrying that bottle Ha Jiwon endorses every time she goes exercising. (Admittedly, I laughed whenever I saw that bottle but fine, still acceptable.) But there were some that were completely random like Mi Hyang getting pig feet or something?

Now about the good.
Ha Jiwon looked flawless in the show. It's essentially why I even started to watch this show. No matter whether in her work clothes or home clothes, she just looked gorgeous. Kudos to the stylist and makeup team. Even when the clothes weren't my taste, somehow she looked good in them. I think you just look good in everything when you have a pretty face. I totally understand why those 2 guys were so obsessed with her because I would be too.

Also, Hana is eerily similar to Ha Jiwon's real life personality. Not the romance part (we wouldn't know hah) but how they pose for pictures, her reactions to stuff etc. I think that is one of the reasons why I didn't mind Hana's supposed cuteness too, because I'm so used to it from watching Ha Jiwon irl, while most people only know her from the fierce roles she's played.

More importantly, the leads were adorable together. I just kept watching the next episode and the next episode because I wanted to see when they would get together so the cute would start again. I thought their comfortable chemistry was completely believable and that they were super cute in the last 2 episodes. I certainly welcomed it after she looked so miserable all the time with Seo Hoo.

But urgh at the kiss scenes. Ha Jiwon is not a terrible kisser all the time (she's actually really good in movies) but it was particularly bad in this show. Directors, please don't film the kiss scenes at 3am again. Apparently this show was live shooting from episode 6, and considering how much screen time Hana had, I really pity Ha Jiwon. I wish the filming climate of Korea would change to be more considerate of the health of their actors :/

Overall, the show is just mediocre and suffered from immense behind the scenes drama. I don't know how many writer and PD switches they went through. It's really a pity since they already had a good script to work with plus such well casted leads. I also think it would have benefited from having a shorter run like 12 episodes. However, I think too much vitriol has been spewed at the drama. It got to the point where everything and anything was being bashed.

(PS. Some people complained that they thought they would get to see Ha Jiwon be bitchy and were disappointed by Hana's lack of bitchiness. If you want to see her be bitchy, watch Hwang Jini. Excellent drama with a very bitchy Ha Jiwon.)

Favourite scenes!
Hana realising she was being used by Sungjae, being devastated, found by Won then having a party in the hotel room and then waking up next to each other in bed.
Too many squees. And Ha Jiwon in that blue dress!!!