I booed out loud at the end

As others have mentioned, the series started off with an interesting premise and I enjoyed the first 4-5 episodes. Then, it became clear that the story was really about her first life, which wasn't particularly interesting. The same poorly lit/shot/designed scenes from her first life were repeated over and over again.

Spoilers follow: While one must throw logic and reason out the window when considering the premise of many kdramas, I had to question what the likelihood was that most all of the leads in the show were also in her first life. And they were also all at the same ages as they are in their current life. Which leads me to the biggest headscratcher of the series: When she finally unties herself from her past life and subsequently forgets about them, how is it that she also forgets about the relationships that she has built in her current life? Yet everyone else can remember them. She eats kimchi as Kim Ae-Gyeong's restaurant--where she supposedly had lived throughout her teens--and can't remember it? However, she ended up being the same senior engineer? Huge plot hole.

I'm guessing that the writer(s) was willing to overlook this due to their desire to set up the finally scene at the hotel swimming pool. As if none of the people who knew about her prior lives are not going to tell her about them anyway?

Still scratching my head.

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Three Cheers for Team 2!

I just finished binging this series and my overall reaction is reflected in the 8/10 rating that I gave it. It had been a while since I had watched season 1 and I didn't remember most of the story arcs for that series, but I did remember the members of the police team. I like the interaction between the cops and could see them in an American style series with a new story line each episode. I got bogged down in the middle of this series, and based on the audience numbers I saw, mine was a common reaction. I'm glad that I stayed with it, not so much for the reveals, but there were some very good moments in each of the later episodes that I enjoyed. With so many portrayals of conniving characters, it was refreshing to see the good behavior of the Mr. Jung character. As much as I don't want to believe that South Korea (or the US) is full of despicable people like those depicted in this series, I want to believe that there are many more who are like Mr. Jung.

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I was happy most of the time

A key to my watching Kdramas has been the 1.5 speed as it reduces the long staring shots into something a bit more enjoyable. The writer/director succeeded in painting the bad guys as such, but after a while it just got tiresome. Their ultimate comeuppance wasn't sufficient to atone for all the screen time spent depicting them as baddies. A consistent quirk in these shows is the inability for any of the characters to see more than 15 feet in any direction. They can't see eavesdroppers or people in their peripheral vision just a few feet away.

I was hoping that there would be a moment when the two leads talked about their time spent in the woods together (when they were both ten) after the tragedy. Nope, unless I missed it. I thought the whole "I wanna be a doctor" was out of character and thrown in to satisfy someone other than the audience. Perhaps I'm wrong on this point, but the Princess taking off to study medicine didn't seem to fit the timeline.

My brother had recommended this show to me a couple of years ago and he likes the romantic happy ending type of series. And there were enough romantic moments to keep me smiling in between clicking 10 seconds forward. I wouldn't watch the whole series again, but I could see popping in to see a few select scenes every once in a while.

I'm finally figuring out that some of my best liked series have a similar storyline: Awesome guy and a bratty girl who eventually realizes how awesome the guy really is.

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Comfort Food

Maserati, Quiznos, Godiva. I'm starting with the product placements this time. Godiva I get, as Chocolate is the title and the unifying plot strand. And clearly the writer and director chose to use food preparation sequences to balance out the harsh realities of a hospice environment lest the series just become a tearfest. Upping the playback speed to 1.5 has been beneficial as it removes some on the intentional slowness of many scenes and I'm still able to read the subtitles. Again, I fast forward through much of the subplots / side characters. Except Iron Ranger III. I didn't enjoy the finale victory lap as much as usual, possibly due to how quickly I binged this series and also due to nature of the hospice. Would I recommend this series to someone new to Kdramas? Probably not. Yet for those who have already watched many Kdrama series this one has a place at the table. Not the entree, not a dessert, just a side dish.

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Not Enough Of A Return On My Time Investment

The relationship between Hye Joon and Jung Ha was the central pillar of this series. I slogged through all the episodes (lots of fast-forwarding during the last couple) and felt robbed of a romantic ending, my expected reward. I have a hard time swallowing the "realism" of the ending when the entire story is a fantasy to begin with. Yes, there were a few foreshadowing moments and it was clear that Jung Ha wasn't really ready for a long-term relationship. I guess I don't take much joy from depictions of failed relationships.

Too many product placements! Hurrah for BMW and Subway, among others.

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More Hopes Dashed!

I started watching Kdramas several years ago after my brother mentioned he enjoyed them...and generally I have too, over the 100 or so series I have seen all or part of. About 6 months ago he told me that he had started watching the last part of a final episode first to help determine if he was going to spend 16+ hours on the series. After the last couple of series that I have watched I have arrived at the same point. (Just before Interest of Love I watched Misty and Record of Youth.)

As is common for me (and apparently many others), I started to get weary of the premise / storyline after the first 4-8 episodes. In this case it felt like they were just circling back (as explained in one of the episodes) back to the beginning, without much of interest (pun intended) being added after each lap. The slow pace was getting to me so I bumped the playback to 1.5 and made frequent use of the 10 seconds ahead feature. I binged the first 12 episodes over a couple of days before hitting the wall at the end of episode 12. Maybe I was just tired, but I didn't want to watch anymore, excepting part of episode 16 to see how this train wreck ended.

The memories collage in the finale lacked any joy for me as I felt cheated out a positive ending. True, most of the individual scenes were the best of what had transpired along the way and those segments AT THE TIME were satisfying to watch. I kept watching the remaining time display thinking "There is still enough time to salvage a good ending. Come on!" Alas, their last steamy-stares were left to be interpreted. Were they still in love? If so, what a couple of losers. I get that these Kdramas present what many Americans (or at least my Boomer cohort) would consider dysfunctional, immature, sloooooow-developing romantic relationships. Six or more episodes before a confession of liking someone or maybe agreeing to drop the honorifics or hold hands. Then almost immediately into a committed maybe-gonna-get-married relationship. Heck, back in my day we dated for FUN. I have to believe that these Kdramas do not represent real life in South Korea.

Yes, I'm rambling a bit, an early morning rant about yet another waste of my time on a series that COULD have been so much more enjoyable. As it was, one of the highlights was trying to figure out the product placements. (Is Volvo really happy to have their EV shown as needing a longer-than-a-gas-fillup recharge?) From now on I am following in my brother's footsteps and watching the ending first. If I wanted to see tragic relationships I could always just watch French films. (Or maybe just checking the reviews here, as clearly I am not the only to dislike this show's path and ending.)

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Girl Power Done Well

Normally I am turned off by girl power scripts where the women are all winners and the men are all losers. Had I watched the finale first I might not have watched the series in the first place, as the girl power underpinnings (and gay rights) are finally laid bare in the last minutes of the series. Yet, having binged through the episodes, with frequent fast forwarding, I felt that these women had earned their results and weren't just given them capriciously. It was only after reading some reviews that I bothered to look up the director and writer and saw they were both female. There were a few hints along the way that it was a feminine hand on the tiller, but not those hands were not as heavy as I might find in an American production.

Sure, the male characters were killers, adulterers, and generally inept human beings. But I didn't feel that the women in charge of the production were bent on indicting ALL men, merely highlighting the foibles of THESE particular men. There really wasn't much to applaud in regards to the male characters. The Young Master was let off the hook a bit and given a participation trophy for rising above the barriers of tradition in order to date and marry a maid whom he barely knew and who certainly didn't seem as much fun as his arranged fiance. (Or maybe the writer was dissing him for his unwise decision. Hmm)

And I'm not sure I would have watched the series if Lee Bo-young wasn't so darn attractive. I guess that's why they cast pretty people. I enjoyed the over-the-top presentation of Grandma and can't remember another series where they purposely allowed a main character to have food on their face while eating or showing an open mouth full of food. My own mother was quite dramatic and given to outbursts at times, but the cultural behavioral expectations of Americans and Koreans are much different. How would a Korean view Grandma's (or her daughter's) bombastic episodes?

Fortunately the ending of this series broke the string of unsatisfactory ones that I've experienced recently. Though I wouldn't categorize the ending as great or romantic. I would have enjoyed an epilogue set several years in the future instead of just 6 months. Let's see how well the young couple is doing. Bring in some new romantic interests. Alas, not enough there for a second season, so I'll just have to make up my own story lines.

And as always, the product placements were blatant, which I find a bit humorous.

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