scenophile
Another unnecessary mystery
Out of all the dramas recently that randomly inserted a mystery/thriller subplot (Cheer Up, Crash Course in Romance), I think this one disappointed me the most. I loved the premise of reunited rivals, and the theme of mental health is one that always tugs at the heartstrings without fail.
Instead, I feel like this drama used the mystery as a plot device instead of learning how to develop its characters by themselves, and the mystery itself turned out to be underwhelming anyways. Instead of both our main characters having to deal with life just going wrong sometimes, there was a villain to blame. Everything became a very cliche drama plot, particularly that one already-very-memed trope that I can’t believe they did in 2024.
In terms of the slice-of-life and humor aspect…it worked until it didn’t. I’m actually not a huge fan of this type of “goofy” humor anyways, but at the start it actually worked in the drama’s favor by not treating depression like a life-ending, horrible thing. Over time however, it started feeling like the drama gave up on serious moments in order to have humor.
As the drama progressed, however, it became pretty clear that they didn’t know how to move the plot forwards in organic ways. It became super repetitive with the characters drinking every episode (and yes social media has already called out the fact that they’re not supposed to be drinking while on medication!), and side characters constantly leaking information by accident. Both just feel like really lazy ways to get the characters to talk.
Now — the romance. This is what I was looking forward to the most, but it wasn’t really written in an interesting way. There’s a sort of tension that rivals-to-lovers promises, but with Haneul and Jeongwoo it all felt too easy. Aside from a few reminiscing scenes, the fact that they were rivals ended up having little impact on the plot or their romance.
Even with so much focus on the mystery, it still felt pretty underwhelming. The motivations are weak, there’s no tension in it, it ends really early, leaving you wondering what the rest of the drama is even going to be about.
In terms of the mental health theme, I also just think it ended up not being very deep. There were some well-written moments where it talked about burnout, the stigma of antidepressants, parental expectations, or toxic workplace culture, but the drama never took it one step further and gave it the seriousness it deserved. There were moments where toxic positivity was treated as a funny moment instead of describing its dangers, for example, or how the FL’s brother was a bum and it was mostly played for laughs when it really just felt frustrating since the family theme could have been fleshed out more.
Overall, I know our leads our top-notch actors, though this drama doesn’t really show it. The comfort vibes are like, three-quarters of the way there — it could’ve been helped out by much, much better writing.
Instead, I feel like this drama used the mystery as a plot device instead of learning how to develop its characters by themselves, and the mystery itself turned out to be underwhelming anyways. Instead of both our main characters having to deal with life just going wrong sometimes, there was a villain to blame. Everything became a very cliche drama plot, particularly that one already-very-memed trope that I can’t believe they did in 2024.
In terms of the slice-of-life and humor aspect…it worked until it didn’t. I’m actually not a huge fan of this type of “goofy” humor anyways, but at the start it actually worked in the drama’s favor by not treating depression like a life-ending, horrible thing. Over time however, it started feeling like the drama gave up on serious moments in order to have humor.
As the drama progressed, however, it became pretty clear that they didn’t know how to move the plot forwards in organic ways. It became super repetitive with the characters drinking every episode (and yes social media has already called out the fact that they’re not supposed to be drinking while on medication!), and side characters constantly leaking information by accident. Both just feel like really lazy ways to get the characters to talk.
Now — the romance. This is what I was looking forward to the most, but it wasn’t really written in an interesting way. There’s a sort of tension that rivals-to-lovers promises, but with Haneul and Jeongwoo it all felt too easy. Aside from a few reminiscing scenes, the fact that they were rivals ended up having little impact on the plot or their romance.
Even with so much focus on the mystery, it still felt pretty underwhelming. The motivations are weak, there’s no tension in it, it ends really early, leaving you wondering what the rest of the drama is even going to be about.
In terms of the mental health theme, I also just think it ended up not being very deep. There were some well-written moments where it talked about burnout, the stigma of antidepressants, parental expectations, or toxic workplace culture, but the drama never took it one step further and gave it the seriousness it deserved. There were moments where toxic positivity was treated as a funny moment instead of describing its dangers, for example, or how the FL’s brother was a bum and it was mostly played for laughs when it really just felt frustrating since the family theme could have been fleshed out more.
Overall, I know our leads our top-notch actors, though this drama doesn’t really show it. The comfort vibes are like, three-quarters of the way there — it could’ve been helped out by much, much better writing.
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