So I recently went through a phase where I was completely out of it due to a medical situation; I felt light-headed and woozy, and my brain basically felt like cotton wool.
Given that not too long ago, when I’d felt too exhausted for more regular-type drama-watching, I’d found quite the lovely little drama snack in Noble, My Love, I thought that this time around, I might find a similarly fun and fluffy distraction in I Order You. At about 20 minutes an episode, the commitment was low enough, and I had it on good authority that the kisses in this were better than the ones in Noble. Ahem. Good kisses are always a plus, no doubt.
Too bad this little web drama just didn’t work out for me the way I’d hoped it would.
THE BETTER STUFF
To be fair, I Order You does have some stuff going for it. Here’s a quick list for the record:
1. Everything’s pretty to look at. Stuff is prettily filmed and the color palette is cheery and warm.
2. The tone is light and breezy, at least in the early episodes, and the short episodes add to the fluffy, bite-sized feel.
3. The cast is pretty too, although I’ll say that the Pretty in this show isn’t quite my kinda Pretty. Yunho and Jang Seung Jo are both good-looking male leads, to be sure. Just, not quite my style, and neither of them grew on me as I progressed through the episodes. Kim Ga Eun did grow on me somewhat, though.
4. The food looks great, and would’ve probably qualified as food porn, if the camera had just lingered a little longer.
5. It’s true, the kisses are better in here than in Noble. Yunho and Kim Ga Eun go for it pretty gamely, and the camera lingers long enough to convince us that yes, they can kiss.
SO WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME?
Nope, it wasn’t the not-so-great acting nor the abundance of tropes that are typical of web drama series like this. And no, I didn’t drop this one because I couldn’t get on board with the Pretty either.
The thing that threw me the most, honestly, is the Lack of Logic throughout. I kid you not, I regularly felt like I had no idea why the characters were behaving the way that they were. About 80% of the time, I honestly felt like I didn’t understand the emotions nor the thought processes behind any of the lead characters’ decisions.
[SPOILER ALERT]
Quite literally, we go from seeing male lead Gook Dae (Yunho) looking at Song Ah (Kim Ga Eun) with contempt one moment, to him grabbing her and kissing her in another. I.. honestly have no idea how or when he started feeling differently about her.
Anyway, lots of angst ensues, and she rejects him even after he comes clean with his I-was-married backstory, which really doesn’t even amount to very much.
Lots more angst later, when Song Ah realizes that he’s the one who’d caught her when she’d fainted, and that he’s the one who’d caressed and kissed her forehead when she’d been ill, she races all the way to the restaurant to confront him. He confesses he likes her, and demands (why so demanding?) to know if she likes him back.
…Cliffhanger later, Song Ah flatly denies that she likes him and coldly turns down his feelings.
Which leaves me scratching my head, But, why??? She’d seemed so consumed by the knowledge that he’d been the one at the hospital, and had taken off running towards him, with so much intent. Plus, it’s clear that she does like him.
[END SPOILER]
There’re lots more examples where that came from, but essentially, I just don’t get why the characters behave the way they do. Which makes me feel like I’m watching a very random sort of show. And I realize it’s really quite impossible to be emotionally invested in a show where the characters behave in such seemingly haphazard ways. Basically, I can’t care, if I can’t figure out whether you care, and why.
10 episodes into 16, I still wasn’t feeling this show.
Worse, with the appearance of the possessive ex-wife in episode 10, things looked to be turning dark. It’s one thing to hang on to a show for more servings of illogical light fluff, but another thing altogether, if it’s illogical heavy melo that we’re talking about. I put my ear to the ground – or rather, my eyes to Google – and sure enough, word on the street is that this one, despite having a happy ending, does turn heavy and melodramatic after all. Which is when I decided that it was time for goodbye.
Sorry, I Order You. Guess you and I just weren’t meant to be. For the record, you were pretty decent with the kisses. But, good dramas are made up of more than just prettily filmed kisses, right?
Late, but I enjoy your posts and I haven’t read it in so long with my hiatus. 🙂
I watched the whole show, part of it was because it was short. Part of it was probably because I like both actors, but you really didn’t miss much. And I completely agree that we didn’t why who was doing what.
But everything happened so freaking fast that at first I saw it as pure comedy and enjoyed it, felt like an anime with real people… for instance Kevin Joo who proposes to her a few days after they met, what??? Only because you were 10+ years ago you had a crush on her or something and she defended you? Or she got so sick she got drunk and was sent to the hospital when she found out he was divorced? eh?? It was crazy but I enjoyed that craziness. But the moment it turned dramatic they lost me. Oh and don’t get me started on the insane ex-wife whose reason for forsaking her husband was a divorce out of love suggested by her shady mother in law. Turns out mom-in-law had lied to her to “keep her son” and she dhouldn’t have divorced, and the adult that she was didn’t care to ask directly to her husband what was up, knowing that HE WAS IN CONFLICT with his mean and controlling mom on top of that? Mmmkay….. So that idiot of a wife believed her over her husband and left. WTF? Then she’s on stalker mode, finds out where the new girlfriend lives to warn her not to touch whats hers? Ummm WHAT? Then this idiotic lead female role doesn’t even wonder how that scary ex-wife got her address but agrees to “talk with her” WHENEVER she is ordered to???? A MESS!!!! No emotions, nothing, just a bunch of foolishness. They could have kept it light and fun, they completely ruined the show with the “drama” LOL!
My oh my oh my! This show really went quite cray-cray in the final stretch, I see!! OMGGG. THE ILLOGICAL DRAMA OF IT ALL! XD Thanks for clueing me in on what I missed – now I’m really relieved, that I dropped it when I did! I salute you for being able to hang in there to the bitter end, even when the melodrama went manic. You’re made of steelier stuff than I am! XD
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I dropped it in episode 10 too. Just couldn’t bring myself to give a hoot about the characters or their problems.
Lol. High five, Brenda!! I think E10 is as far as I could possibly go, with this show. Once the ex-wife started showing her possessive true colors, I started to see how badly this could go! XD I’m gonna pretend that everything ended when the OTP kissed and decided to be together. I mean yes, it makes no sense, but then, none of the show makes sense anyway. And like you said, I couldn’t bring myself to care either. XD
Good authority. *snickers* yes, great kissing does not a drama make. It had some funny moments, but you saved yourself a lot of angst and even worse lack of logic. I was so ticked at Song Ah in the latter episodes. Let’s just say she said something so horrible to the lead, when, no exaggeration, 5 minutes earlier she said something exactly opposite. I tried to understand that she got a shock, but I don’t recall her saying she was sorry for saying that at any point after they make up.
And I agree, the leads are pretty, but not my type of pretty. A comment somewhere said the actress looks just like Li Seung Gi, well thanks to that I couldn’t watch with a straight face.
thank you. i finally figure out who this actress reminded me of. It’s just something in the shape of her face and eyes. I totally see it too.
Lol, you ARE good authority, my dear! And, after reading your description of the scene where she changes her words so completely, I’m SO relieved that I didn’t hang on to this show – thanks for affirming my decision!
Also, now that you mention it, I do see the similarity between Kim Gae Eun and Lee Seung Gi! I think it’s in her smile. But yeah, I’m glad I didn’t have THAT on my mind while watching. That would’ve made it even harder to focus, over and above this show’s lack of logic! XD