I hadn't heard of this drama before it first started airing if I'm being entirely honest. I had one of my close friends watch the first ep and tell me that it was nothing like they've ever seen before, and I was thoroughly intrigued. Now that it has ended.. It doesn't feel real.. Waiting every weekend for a double episode only to have to wait another week to see what happens next, and having continued that until today has been a very memorable experience. This drama did that for me.

The title "Crash Course in Romance" obviously suggests a very kdrama-esque romcom but I was very pleasantly surprised to see the evident elements of the academic competition in Korea and how serious it can get, including our group of helicopter mothers and very stressed and emotionally unstable students driven to the edge because of this life of grades and success. Nam Haengseon, our lovely FL is presented as someone who would never enforce decisions on anyone, not even her niece Hae-yi. We can see how Hae-yi has organically become better at studying based on her own motivations and receiving almost no pressure from her family; and that starks in comparison to some of the other kids we see in the show (*cough* SUA *cough*)

The whole history with Chiyeol's former student and her brother was very striking personally. Like I'm not an emotional person, but knowing how Suhyeon said that he was one of the only adults she trusted made me feel so bad for them, especially because of their mother (her daughter fell to her death but she wants her son to study harder because he's "now her only hope"????? That's messed up.) I felt so bad for Sua until the very end and I knew that the shit she was going through isn't entirely her fault but the show made me hate her so much and I hated that so much - speaking of which, the geonhuXsua pairing is lowkey SO underrated I really really really wanted to see more of them they're SO CUTE

Ji Donghui (or rather, Jeong Seonghyeon) really scared me since the BEGINNING yeah at the start the pairing was lowkey cute and I had NO clue it was going to be him but I had a HUNCH... I'm also confused about how everything just died out at the end when he died? like okay yeah it was sad for a bit but I love how everyone forgot about it soon after?

The whole plot was played out very well, in fact. Recently I've been having quite the blackout with kdramas and I seem to get bored REALLY easily. The spacing of this one was incredibly even and I think that's a major factor is the longevity of a drama for me! Portraying every single aspect of the plot from almost every single character's perspective is an important feature of a good drama and this one definitely did it for me!

The ending was incredibly satisfactory thankfully! - I was so afraid we were going to get a Hae-yi and Haengseon separation moment BUT HER MOTHER DID SOMETHING RIGHT FOR ONCE! - I loved Sunjae's mother's redemption arc! The picture she sent Sunjae of her and Huijae made me tear up:"( and when huijae came back on leave from the military:"((((( I really love happy endings! - The Sunjae and Hae-yi moment:"( It was too late for me like I would have appreciated a whole episode with them together - and the same for Geonhu and Sua!! When he went to pick her up saying that he was going to enrol in her university:"( Underrated AND unexpected pairing but I loved it! - and lastly, our main couple!! As if them proposing together wasn't cute enough, him rooting for her throughout her examination preparation process was the most wholesome thing ever :"(

As if I haven't spoiled the entirety of this show in my review already, If you still made it to the end and you HAVEN'T watched it, I suggest you do!!! I know I will definitely be rewatching this in a few months!!! <33