City Hall (2009)

Well THAT was certainly an adventure. City Hall is definitely a politically driven drama, but because it keeps its focus to the social impacts of politics, rather than just running like a Korean version of CSPAN, the story was awesome! I was absolutely drawn into the plot points and all the adorable shennanigans of the characters.

That said, as far as the romantic element of the drama was concerned, while I did enjoy the ship of the two leads and I believed their emotional development, at the end of the day their relationship kind of felt a bit spasmodic. This is especially true when considering the drama in its entirety. It also didn't help matters that this series takes several episodes to finally get under way, but this adds realism to the nature of the plot.

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the magic of a small town combined with unpredictable politics and a beautiful romance

the gem that this drama is!

it starts off as a very light-hearted comedy. she is goofy, doesn't have much ambition, plays dumb but actually has a big heart and knows how to use her intellect when she knows she needs it. he, on the other hand, is stoic, driven, focused and absolutely does not want to be in the small town he finds himself at. they keep running into each other -- remember hometown cha-cha-cha with him being everywhere she goes? yeah, city hall did it first. jo guk and mirae had such an amusing dynamic, as she was continuously disrupting his peace and he became more and more entwined with her. if you like bickering couples, this is a must watch. but even more than that, the chemistry was amazing and so palpable i held my breath in some scenes. i loved watching them slowly fall for each other and realizing their feelings. there was a particular scene in episode 12 where after all the bickering, teasing and annoying each other, he encourages her beautifully and they have a moment of realization and my heart was actually fluttering. :')

there is a big "but" with their relationship that might put people off though, it is shown in early episodes but it isn't mentioned in the synopsis so i will just say that it is something you often see in dramas about high profile people wanting to secure their power. i quickly realized that it isn't something emotions are involved in, but i still was unable to understand why it wasn't resolved sooner. it is one of the few complaints i have about this drama.

but, i have to say the male lead's calculating personality was definitely one of the more fascinating aspects of this story, as he was a much more morally grey character than the typical k-drama ml is. seeing his character soften and him start fighting for morals was great though. mirae also had one of the more awesome character growths i have seen in dramaland, because she went from being too passive to fight back to a strong, confident woman who knows how to stand up for what she believes in, even if it meant going against someone dear to her, and i loved seeing that.

as for the politics, people who have followed my posts on feeds for a while will know that it is not my favorite genre, but it did not bother me much here. yeah, maybe i couldn't follow all the titles and understand every part of the hierarchy, but the plot is deeper than you expect at first, so there will be a lot of twists and turns to hold your interest all the way through, i think. you do need to focus to actually understand it though. :D

the final episode was very well-rounded and left me feeling very happy and content, so if you haven't watched this yet, you should definitely try it, especially if you love romance dramas, because believe me, this one will deliver. :)

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Interesting well-balanced drama!

The synopsis doesn't do this drama justice. The plot is quite good, and for me seems quite original, just complex enough to not be boring yet still easy to follow. The love story is good and believable.
The drama doesn't take itself seriously though, characters and situations can be slightly exaggerated, just enough to be funny but not enough to be ridiculous, often playing with clichés but in a good way, it's all part of the charm of this drama.

The main couple has an amazing chemistry. The acting is overall very good.

The drama may be a bit disconcerting at first, it took me 4 or 5 episodes to really get into it. But unlike most dramas, the story just gets better and there's no slow or boring moments toward the middle or the end.

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Mayornnaise

One of the romance I've liked the most. Notice here : "I've liked the most" and not "the best I've seen".
City Hall is like a very pretty gem hidden in a little cave lost in the middle of an unknown forest.
And as such, this korean drama is a little more demanding from its viewers, and while to me it's one of its strong point, I can understand it could be hard to some.
First obstacle : Silliness. There's perfectly assumed silliness, in this tv-drama. This aspect is essential to its comedy theme, and the female character is almost perfect in its role, leading the viewers - and the male lead - to progressively fall for her and her crazyness traits. Well, it's OK to create 'larger-than-life' characters, but at this point, that's also a way to discourage some people as it can also bring the whole show on its knees, at least to some viewers, since it's not exactly matching the very adult topic of the drama : politics.
Now while politics in this drama happens to be the main setting, I think it still only serves the backgrounds of the story to be told. You would be very wrong to dismiss a tv-show that also emphasizes a very sweet and touching romance, especially if you're specifically looking for one.
And to convey this romance, the two main lead have just outdone themselves.
My desktop monitor was just not big enough to reveal everything from their characters on screen, slowly falling in love, while they hurt each other, protect each other. This TV show still had plot flaws, inconsistency, over-the-top and exaggerated situations but since the main characters love acted as a 'fil rouge', a red thread that connnects them to the viewers along the path of the drama, it was honestly sufficient to watch the show without boredom, and without hoping it ends faster. So for the touching romance alone, and the awesome feelings the actors were able to describe, a 8.5 rating here is not too much if it connects you to this drama.

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I have one reason, and one reason only, for why I dropped this drama.

Cheating. There is a strong case of cheating in this drama, and I cannot abide it.

Yes, many will consider the cheating pseudo-cheating as the male lead's fiancé is an awful person, and their relationship is more for show than out of love, and they both acknowledge that. But all of the things said cheating brings along with it are so glaringly awful, I refuse to put up with them.

There's how it completely distracts the female lead from her goal of disrupting and changing the political landscape of her town. The story is meant to be about tackling government corruption and laziness and just downright ineffectiveness, but instead, it becomes about two people having a secret, untenable relationship that ultimately makes them both miserable, because they're not being honest with themselves.

There's how it ruins the female lead as a character, because instead of fighting for justice, she's mopey and whiney and constantly pining over this secret relationship and ultimately becomes the type of person who's willing to hurt others and sacrifice them for her own personal gain.

There's how it highlights that the male lead is so selfish that instead of breaking off his engagement to a woman he doesn't love so he can be with a woman he does, he would rather go through with the engagement and eventual marriage while stringing the female lead along beside him, never to be first in his life, always to be second.

And then worst of all, the fact that the female lead knows full well that the male lead is engaged and, Believing It To Be A Genuine Relationship, goes along with the cheating anyway. You want to make a case that he's not cheating on anyone because he and his fiancé don't actually love each other, fine. I'll let it slide. But her? She thought his relationship with his fiancé was real, and she was okay with ****ing that over.

Not. Cool.

Now maybe all of this was intentional and later in the drama the writers were going to show the leads just what kind of people they had become, just what they had sacrificed out of their own selfishness. Maybe there was an entire redemption arc planned. But I read spoilers for the later episodes, and that's Definitely not where I saw the story going.

I'm not saying that stories shouldn't talk about and address cheating, that characters are never allowed to cheat in a story, but I sure as hell am saying that a drama that portrays cheating as somehow romantic and not a big deal and easy to gloss over is Not a story I want to watch. In any context.

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Shin Mi Rae! Shin Mi Rae! By the end of the first episode I was already on her team, just something about her attitude appealed. I really enjoyed her transformation into a force for political reform, morals, ethics and the ability to whether the blows rained upon her. I can't say I followed all the political vagaries but for the most part I rarely skipped past anything. Supporting characters had at least enough flesh on them to recognise them and their roles and the 'set pieces' worked well.

The main criticism I have with it and what ultimately made me drop it is the 'Romance'. Almost from the first time Jo Gook arrives on the scene I'm wondering how they are going to make Mi Rae fall for him in a convincing manner. I mean handsome and rich was a fair enough initial interest ploy but his almost immediate acting like a twat made it sputter out for me. Not only that, he's the sort of politician she ends up fighting against. So when this strong, moral woman keeps getting dragged into such deeply compromising situations with him both in a personal and a political sense I'm like..Why? The way that he treats her and she just does it again..Why? She's not stupid or weak willed and...just why? I mean camping? alone? in one tent? Why? I mean a couple of ok gestures but on the whole he treats with little respect. And I just don't get a fatal attraction style chemistry from them at all is it really just because he's rich and handsome?

The clincher for me and why, even though I was eager to see what happened in her political life I gave up on this, was again a compromising situation, alone in a hotel room with a single man. Who says to her (from memory) - you're alone in a hotel room with me, there's a bed there or a sofa if I can't get you that far, I'm stronger than you, no one would hear you shout, I could do anything I wanted to you, I mean you could try and fight me but hey what good would it do you...ha ha ha?
I think she calls him a 'Player'...I skipped back, read the subs again and then turned it off in the sure knowledge I couldn't watch them kiss from there on in.

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