Cha-cha-cha la Malul Mării (2021)

Slice Of Life and Everything Else...

Maybe this review will sound more like a drunk message to an ex whom you're not willing to let go.

Maybe this is not a review at all, it's just me trying to deal with the fact that the drama I have been obsessed with since its casting news got confirmed is...O-V-E-R, over. And so is my life. Okay, I am over exaggerating here but am I?

Spent my weekdays blissfully rewatching the previous episodes, analysing every other little detail the show had to offer because the writers incorporated so many layers and deep meanings to each scene and dialogue.

Not to mention had such an amazing time discussing and fangirling over the enigma that was Hong Dushik, gushing about how God awful relatable and funny the Gongjin fam was (where else will I find such wholesome side characters again?) and putting into words the feels of watching the leads gradually falling in love as if for the very first time while romantic sunday played in the background, weekend after weekend, here in the comments section.

Despite some of its minor flaws (which I can probably justify btw) personally, this show will always have a special place. Because if I had to describe the entire thing in one word it'll be- BEAUTIFUL.

From its cinematography, coastal locations, familial themes and how they were dealt with to all its character interactions and gradual growth to almost perfection. Everything comes down to being beautiful and not in a on your face way but a more sublime, understated take to the word.
As if the show itself doesn't know its beauty but only we as viewers could acknowledge and appreciate it. Which needless to say, I obviously did.

I'll probably listen to all the Home-Cha OSTs now and cry a river with the realisation sinking in that no more will I be privy to Du Shik and Hye Jin's bantering like them old couples, Ju-Ri fangirling over her favourite idol all the while his dad pitying her for missing out on the real idol in the town- him. I-Jun and Bora's cute lil friendship and hedgehog both as a pet and a metaphor will be as badly missed and don't even get me started on the grannies and Mi Seon's budding romance with the cutie cop which almost felt like courting before an arranged marriage? I don't know I want a spin-off focusing on just these two and that's it!

Honestly, the myriad of emotions all the characters made me feel throughout the show's runtime will be a fond memory because they included not just those hearty feels but also loaded it with things that I would love to reminisce about, things that actually matter in a society and I, as a viewer could empathise and/or sympathise with
1. Mental Health
2. LGBT inclusion
3. Acceptance
4. Death
5. A child's suppressed feeling of a broken family
6. Remorse

Just a thought but if every man watched Hometown cha cha cha and set Du Shik as the standard the world might be a better place.

The Love triangle which I dreaded would ruin the happy-go-lucky vibe of it all, was nothing but a mere journey of complete closure from a relationship that never actually found its perfect timing. Who hasn't gone through that? So the dreadful triangle wasn't dreadful at all but a lesson on maturity and moving on. Quite unexpected and like I said, beautiful.

Lastly, I bargained just for Kim Seon Ho's character to finally have a happy ending but got drowned in the emotional pile of it all by the end. No wonder I am still crying and smiling at the same time.

Anyway that was me, ranting my views and sorrows from one Homecha lover to the other (and hopefully to the future ones too).

P.S. since I was supposed to be helpful which am guessing I exactly wasn't? Here's link to my article for the drama which has all the overall critiques and opinion.

https://mydramalist.com/article/currently-watching-hometown-cha-cha-cha

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Soothing to Your eyes...!!! For Sure.

In this era of all dark theme kdramas, this drama will sooth your eyes. This is one hell of a refreshing drama?.
About the plot I thought it would be slow paced but I was wrong, it is not slow at all and evolves beautifully.?
And the casting is just so perfect.Kim Seon Ho and Shin Min Ah did their job perfectly and put a lot of efforts.Their visuals are out of this world.Their chemistry is just adorable.Kim Seon Ho showing his perfect body in some shot are ??.
There are many charecters, and they all have their own stories in life.
The people around them are so relatable like we all have these kind of people in our lifes.

In short the best healing drama of 2021.??

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Swoon marathon - wholesome it its simplicity; deficient in its variety.

First off, the earlier episodes are much better than the rest of the show. Up to the seventh episode I was certain that this show might pocket all upcoming awards, but the episodes thereafter are - not necessarily bad - but a little letdown compared to the earlier eps.

The biggest plus of this show are the characters and their relationships, the slow pace as well as the chemistry of the lead couple and the scenery. But at the same time these aspects are somehow also the downfall of this drama. For example, some characters are left unexplored or just briefly touched upon, while other characters and their relationships are of primarily focus, being addressed again and again, but just don't move you, to be blatantly honest, do not intrigue you at all. I cannot put my finger on it, but even though some dialogues between the characters are extremely emotional and poignant, the relationships lack depth. 'Where the Camellia Blooms' had done a better job here.
The slow paced plot line which worked in favor of the leads in the earlier episodes as we got plenty of witty verbal exchanges, stealing glances and gestures, meaningful moments and heart fluttering push and pull scenes, helped to build their relationship and let the viewer be part of not only their growing attraction but also attachment and comfort to and with each other. However, after a while these lengthy conversations and moments of togetherness were not leading anywhere and felt repetitive and I do not dare to say boring, but sort of tedious and wearisome. The scenery is no exemption. It is picturesque and beautiful and a feast for the eyes but seeing the same spots (and costumes) over and over again reminded me of a sitcom where we have two main 'stages', the story switches between.
The lack of deeper analysis and exploration of characters goes for Dushik's (Kim Seon Ho) "story", his past, too. There was this HUUUUUGE secret around his past which ends up being a serious issue, but it is only explored more in depth in the last episodes, which is too short and rushed. Especially topics of greater severity should be dealt with caution, patience and pace and it is really frustrating as the episodes 11-14 felt more like fillers and definitely had room for a deeper analysis of Dushik's story, whereas, let me warn you without giving away too much, episode 15 was a sheer overdose off heavy emotions.
Also, I would like to regretfully mention that there were some unbearable ridiculous moments in the show, e. g. some slapstick comedy or a delivery scene as in childbirth, which - and I'm not a medical expert, by no means, but even I could tell - was so blatantly far from reality, that I could not focus on the rest of said episode.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the drama a lot. There are many lessons to take away from Hometown Cha Cha Cha:
- "Don't judge a book by its cover."
- "Give 100% not only at work but also as you rest (e.g. no emails checking on vacation) "
- "No occupation or lifestyle is superior to another."
-"You can find happiness anywhere, if you are willing to open up and appreciate the small and simple things in life."
- And a lot more...

The greatest strength as mentioned above are the leads and their chemistry. Shining Kim Seon Ho and shimmering Shin Min Ah carried the whole show and successfully so, as the ratings reveal. While most people are understandably in awe of KSH, his natural acting and the worthy successor of good boy Han Ji Pyong, the even greater man Hong Du Shik, I personally was mesmerized by Shin Min Ah. She was so natural and instinctive as Yoon Hye-Jin.
Be it her reluctance upon meeting and engaging with people she barely knows, her little frownings when confronted with uncomfortable critique, her contrasting cheesy lovey-dovey side when in a relationship, Shin Min Ah played Hye Jin in such a realistic way, that it would not come as a surprise if there was a Hye Jin in real life running her dental practice somewhere in Gongjin.
Since Hye Jin and Du Shik have different views on life and seem like total opposites of each other, it's entertaining whenever they interact. In general their interactions are adorable and natural. There was for example a scene in which Du Shik mocks Hye Jin by mimicking her and it didn't feel like acting at all, maybe it was an ad lib. And as funny and cute their little bickerings are, their not so lighthearted and heartfelt conversations are smililarly serious and emotional, especially the latter ones make you cry rivers.
As stated above, since it is a slow paced drama with main focus on the lead's relationship you can see how they grow more and more fond of each other, rely on each other, complement each other. With each episode you can witness their bond steadily grow and become something magical; you accompany Dushik and Hyejin through their journey of love, support and character development and witness firsthand how their innocent mutual infatuation turns into a mature, healthy companionship, which makes this show all the more special.
There is another couple that is likewise adorable, but fails to outshine dimple couple.

All in all, Hometown Cha Cha Cha is an enjoyable ride with a great lead, greater emotions and undeniable chemistry, that make you swoon more than once. But frankly, it could have been better.

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Unexpectedly wholesome and genuine drama that makes you cherish every character.

Such an unexpectedly enjoyable drama. Maybe it helped that I knew nothing about this drama other than that the male lead was the second male lead in Start-Up, which I had just finished and needed another thing to watch. This is a slice of life in a modest village town where, by the end of the show, you wished all the residents were real and that you could visit yourself. I laughed, cried, and contemplated life while watching this show. Each little anecdote made me think about similar themes in my own life. The whole cast was absolutely perfect and you find yourself becoming attached to each and every person by the end of it. Would definitely rewatch again if I wanted some feel good, wholesome entertainment.

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Unpopular opinion - This drama doesn't deserve the hype it's getting.

First of all, I've been a fan of Shin Min Ah for years and I love her acting a lot.

But I personally think this drama doesn't deserve the hype it's getting. The story is pretty lukewarm, nothing that keeps you hooked up to the story. This story reminds me of those 100+ episode weekend dramas, except they squeezed it into 16 episodes.

The story is laid-back, portraying the daily life of a rural village, and the string of events that takes place when a woman from the city comes to live in it.

The story is okay. The acting is better with a good cast. But it doesn't deserve all the hype it's getting.

I personally had a hard time watching it because it was too boring. I even skipped most parts and managed to finish one-hour episodes in 20 minutes. I didn't even feel like watching it at the end, but I did because I hate to do things half-ass and I was hoping things would get better but NO!! It doesn't!! It's boring until the very end.

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Beautiful, good at times, bad most of the time and annoying as...

This one is soooo hard to rate,almost as hard as it was to complete it...

I would say that the characters where about 65% highly annoying and 30% amazing, great and 5% ok then highly annoying followed by ok than highly annoying again (the Female Lead) all due to writing not acting the acting was fina most of it at least not much worse than other stuff, but what was extra troubling was that the awesome characters kept interacting with the highly annoying ones, making it hard to skip if you wanted to see the awesome characters but also hard to watch because of the annoying characters. Such a SHAME and here is why:

The cinematography was beautiful, the scenery was mmmmmmm.... the faces were beautiful, the abs where not bad either... The second couple was adorable ans well so was the second male lead was just the cutest guy ever The umbrella here was such a star and it was used soooo beautifully! really enough to bring up the score. The dimple couple did look good together but their interactions where 50% annoying 40% cringe 10% cute and fun. Making my love for him fade because he liked her...

Kim Young Ok is an international treasure may she live long and prosper! the kids acting AND characters were great and one of the shows most honest lines was delivered by one of the most annoying characters.... yes it did have a bunch of good lines here and there I will give them that, but it was ruined by all the cringe.

Back to the bad, the way they make suicide sound easily avoided bugs the hell out of me, people who are close to people who have commited suicide ten to have enough what ifs as it is, making it seem like a person can hinder an attempt if they just call is just mean. And so are a bunch of other parts of this drama... cringe, superficial, highly predictable, very highly predictable in a bad way sais I who loves cliches but honestly about 80% of the twists where soooo predictable it was as if they were trying to throw us off but it was so clumsy made that any one who has seen a few dramas would guess it. Also great use of product placement as well as village feel and the found family trope thumbs up there!

Story as a whole is 8-9
Character writing 1-10
Dialog 1-10 stars
Bingebilaty 5
Extra points for some well done stuff are unfortunately less than the stuff done bad...

It is not the cast acting (most of it) that is bad it is the writing! I will probably try avoid that writer in the future...

So in conclusion if you like cringe and grownups acting like stereotypical children (an insult to children out there), or just love Kim Seon Ho enough to put yourself thru this than all the power to you enjoy! Me I am happy it is over...

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Refreshing and Fun Romcom with enjoyable characters

After having finished the drama, it is safe to say that the drama is a very refreshing and fun romcom with its own quirks. The main male leads are extremely charming, with Chief Hong having a very likeable 'Boy next door' vibe and Ji PD having an equally charming 'Campus Crush' image. Our female lead is every romcom lead from 2018 - starting to pull away from the tropes and yet no so much - her character is still enjoyable and she definitely has her redeeming qualities. Do I love her? Not really. Do I really like her? Yes.
The highlight of this drama lies in its portrayal of its side characters. All of them have their own stories to tell and you really see them as people. My favorite character has to be, hands down, Hwajeong. Her story, the way she treats the people around her are all so admirable.
PS. The casual queer representation is definitely a win.
The pacing of the show is surprisingly pretty good and even.
The city where the drama is set is just so so beautiful and the sea is absolutely stunning too.
The humor isn't forced and you find yourself smiling throughout the episodes especially when the characters are bickering.
The OSTs definitely match the vibe of the show and are very soothing.
My main issue with the drama is the way immediately after they start dating, the female lead dumbs down, losing all her personality traits except for being in love with the male lead. When oh when are we going to stop doing that?
Definitely a fun watch that goes easy on the eyes.

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Oh man, I must be missing something

I really don't get it. I must be missing something or watching an entirely different drama than this because I don't understand the rave reviews on this drama. I was so excited to watch this but waited until all the episodes came out because I hate waiting for the next episodes. When it was finally finished, I was so excited to watch it alongside my friend but it just seemed so boring and slow paced. We ended up dropping it at episode 7. Fast forward, some months later, and my friend said he picked it up again and that it's such a good healing drama. So due to my curiosity, I decided to give it another shot. Now I'm on episode 12/16, and I'm just struggling through the rest of this drama. I already have it at 1.5x speed since I restarted because it's just way too slow for me otherwise. And honestly, if I could put it at 2x speed I would but Netflix only lets us go up to 1.5x speed. The main couple is finally together at this point and even though they are cute sometimes, they just seem so cringy on top of it. I must really be missing something because I don't find this refreshing at all. I just want to get to the end at this point. I'm hoping the last 4 episodes will save the rest of the drama for me, but right now, it's not looking too good.

Updated Review:
I enjoyed the last 2 episodes and that's basically what I watched the entire series for. It was a struggle getting there but I'm glad I watched all the way to the end. The two episodes were sad and heartbreaking but we ended with wholesomeness and warm, fuzzy, feel good feelings. However, I guess this drama was just not my cup of tea, it was too boring and slow paced for me. I get that village life is much simpler and slow paced complete with nosy and rowdy neighbors which Hometown portrayed beautifully. But I guess I just couldn't get into it that much which is sad because I wish I could have loved this drama just like how so many others did. Oh well, onto the next one I suppose.

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Ms. Dentist should have brought more friends from Seoul

The show is part small-town ensemble comedy and part romance between leads attempting to overcome difficult childhoods. The foundation is there for a successful show. There’s some terrific actors in the supporting roles. Jo Han Chul, Lee Bong Ryun and and Cha Chung Hwa are excellent performers. It’s not uniformly great up and down the roster (In Gyo Jin as the district head and Lee Bong Ryun’s ex-husband flops badly), but it’s a serviceable group. Several of the supporting cast appear to function as comedic relief (Jo Han Chul’s Oh Yoon and Cha Chung Hwa’s Nam Sook particularly). The comedy, unfortunately, rarely connects. A great deal of it doesn't land because it relies on crudely portraying the locals as a group of hillbillies that has no fashion sense, no sophistication, can't solve basic problems, can barely operate modern technology and is semi-literate. Punching down isn't a good strategy to generate laughs and even if it were, the characters and cast used to attempt it here execute it poorly.

There's other issues too. Early, it appears that there’s some special connection between Chief Hong and Kim Young Ok’s Gam Ri, but her presence fades until there is a throw-in backstory moment near the end. There’s not merely one secondary romance, but a handful of relationships between supporting characters. None of them, however, get enough screen time investment to pay off. While Lee Bong Ryun’s Hwa Jeong is a strong character and gets enough screen time to develop an entertaining arc, the rest of this crew are not much more than one dimensional characters that only very intermittently entertain. Overall, the ensemble just never develops as it has too many characters, not enough character in those characters and a poor job of weaving the supporting arcs to the overarching narrative.

Which leaves it up to the leads to carry the show. And the leads are more than capable hands. Shin Min Ah is marvelous as the centerpiece character - a driven dentist with an inner warmth that isn’t visible through a normally prickly exterior. The character is far from perfect and frustratingly stubborn as she consistently finds ways to damage the tenuous relationships in her new seaside neighborhood. But the blemishes make her charms shine brighter as she begins to connect and find her way.

As for Kim Seon Ho, this is the most Kim Seon Ho style role ever. It is distilled, purest Kim Seon Ho and for viewers that are looking for what he's done in previous work only with more of it and taken to an even more natural, laid-back, "aw shucks" style, this role will probably never be surpassed. For viewers looking for something that would expand his range or show a new type of character, search elsewhere. But he works extremely well with Shin Min Ah and whether it was written with this intent or simply this actor found the right balance, his Chief Hong is the only resident character that doesn't end up being pigeonholed as a backwards simpleton.

Were it not for some missteps with the narrative setting up the conclusion, Ms. Dentist and Chief Hong would probably contend for best romantic lead couple of any drama this year. But the long-awaited unveiling of Chief Hong’s back story is teeming with cliches and reveals that should surprise exactly zero viewers. There’s also some uninspired dialogue in what should be a big emotional moment. It’s exactly when things should be building up to a grand conclusion that it deflates instead. To confound matters more, there's an explosion of crying and product placement in the final two episodes. Frankly, the last three episodes are a massive disappointment. While a less than stellar conclusion shouldn't completely negate what had been a worthy production up to that point, "Hometown Cha Cha Cha" nosedives badly. Badly enough that it does cast a shadow on the show as a whole.

Recommended but barely.

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Disappointing :/

I was really disappointed
This is not what I expected at all
The story was too ordinary till the limit of being boring
Too detailed without no need
Many side stories which turned this drama to be like the 50 eps family drama
I took A deep breath when I finished it
For the first time I didn't enjoy a drama for shin min ah
This is not her level of stories at all

Shin min ah fashion style was bad for the first time
The make up and the light was bad, made them looked old many times

The story was too predictable
Light but just to watch once which was frustrating

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