THE SHORT VERDICT:
Show starts out pretty adorable, with an excellently delivered cloud of cute around the birth of a noona romance. Show then switches gears in the middle stretch, into melo and angst territory.
In principle, it all feels warranted, with things like societal norms, family expectations, and even workplace harassment taking the spotlight. The problem, for me anyway, is, most of these things aren’t resolved in a manner that feels satisfying, by the time the final credits roll.
The writing does not feel assured, unfortunately, and is, I think, one of the main reasons this show suffered. Also, the background music becomes terribly grating, from overuse.
To be fair, Show does have its fans. So just because it didn’t work so great for me, doesn’t mean that it won’t work for you?
THE LONG VERDICT:
You know how some parents get their kids to eat their vegetables by hiding them in more appealing foods? Like, grinding up broccoli to bake into brownies?
Watching this show feels kinda like that. Except, in this case, it turns out that dressing up the broccoli doesn’t quite work in the end, because the brownie ends up tasting really weird and a lot of the kids ended up spitting out the brownie after working their way through the frosting.
Also, in this analogy, it turns out that the broccoli wasn’t actually that nutritious anyway.
This show’s basically an angsty melo, dressed up to look like a rom-com on steroids. It sashayed onto our dance floor, dangling all kinds of pretty bites at viewers, and then, very quickly, completely crushed all of The Cute, without much warning. Viewer beware, I say.
THE INITIAL CUTE
I have to confess that when Show first came out, I was quickly smitten by the deluge of Cute that Show served up.
And while my crystal-clear hindsight doesn’t quite see Show with the same rose-tinted glasses as before, I thought I shouldn’t ignore the initial stretch of Cute that Show did serve up.
Here’s a quick spotlight on the things that I did enjoy, in Show’s early episodes.
The characters
I found our leads pretty likable in the beginning, and thought their interactions were cute.
I liked that Jin Ah (Son Ye Jin) and Joon Hee (Jung Hae In) are very much platonic, in the beginning of our story. He teases her about being old, and is matter-of-fact about why he knows about the shortcut – because he’d been looking for a place to make out.
The care and friendship goes back a long time, and I felt like I could see lasers of fierce loyalty shooting out of Joon Hee’s eyes, when he sees Jin Ah arguing with her ex-boyfriend GyuĀ Min (Oh Ryong), in episode 1.Ā The way he purposefully swoops in to rescue her, is sweet.
The OTP
The way Show ramps up the OTP loveline in the beginning is fast, efficient, and littered with seemingly endless showers of puppies, rainbows, and oodles and oodles of cotton candy.
The way Jin Ah and Joon Hee grow more and more hyper-aware of each other is demonstrated to us really well inĀ theĀ minutiae of Jin Ah and Joon Hee’s interactions.
Their reactions are muted and quashed, but it’s noticeable, and watching them, I felt so pulled into their burgeoning feelings for each other.
[MINOR SPOILERS]
The way Joon Hee feels uncomfortable and sorry, and tells Jin Ah that she’s prettier than Se Young (Jung Yoo Jin), and the way Jin Ah, not saying anything, averts her eyes and tugs at the wisps of hair that have fallen around her ears.
And then there’s theĀ way they make excuses to keep walking together, with his arm around her shoulder, under the umbrella, in the rain. And the way she turns around for a last peek at him, and bounces lightly on her heels as she does so.
And then there’s the way he looks at the photo of her in his phone and smiles to himself, as he lies in bed; the way he’s so tickled by her while texting her, that his toes are literally wriggling under the covers.
It’s all vicariously thrilling, and super cute, and I couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off my face.Ā Guh.
[END SPOILER]
And just coz I can, here’s a revisit of my favorite OTP scene.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The under-table hand-hold
In episode 3, with Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s unacknowledged mutual attraction coming to a boil, Joon Hee faces pressure at a work gathering, where everyone teases him about the woman that he allegedly likes – who hasn’t indicated reciprocity.
Just as Joon Hee looks like he’s about to cave under pressure and possibly agree to date Se Young, who’s very interested in him, and has made it clear that she is very available, Jin Ah takes matters into her own hands (literally!) and reaches for Joon Hee’s hand under the table.
I love that she takes a swig of her beer while she’s at it, without batting an eyelash.
I just love how that immediately turns Joon Hee into a hiccuping blushing ball of bashful wonder. Ha.
In that moment, I felt that Jin Ah didn’t reach for Joon Hee’s hand to stake her claim, so much as she was assuring him that he wasn’t liking her in vain.
He’d been put on the spot by everyone at the table, and even his feelings were put in question. He’d even admitted that he was sure of his feelings, but was just being cautious.
How much it must’ve made him feel uncomfortable and hurt his pride, to have everyone present tease him about being desperately into the girl – and the woman in question was right there.
So, to me, it was really a tender, caring thing to do, to put her own pride and ego aside, and take that risk, and reach for his hand, simultaneously assuring him that he wasn’t liking her in vain; that she liked him too; that he didn’t have to feel awkward or embarrassed; that she was right there, liking him right back.
I did love that very much.
Show doesn’t miss a beat, and Joon Hee then promptly turns the tables and reaches for her hand as she tries to take it away, and then takes control by interlacing his fingers through hers. He’s not letting her go.
Eee!! I also love the amused, pleased expression that takes over his face, as he processes everything in his head, and as she now gets a case of surprised hiccups. LOVE.
Afterwards, the two make awkward excuses to their colleagues outside the bar, just so that they can get some time together.
At that moment, I loved the mix of nervous awkwardness and little-boy hopeful wonder and smooth operator that Joon Hee’s got going on, as he talks with Jin Ah, trying to get answers for why she held his hand, and whether that means they’re in a relationship.
The shy excited bashful-gleeful vibe of these two, as they make their way to their first official coffee date, is adorable and infectious. They literally look like they’re about to burst, and watching them, I felt like I was about to burst too.
Well played, Show. Well played.
[END SPOILERS]
Jin Ah’s friendship with Gyung Sun
Right away, I loved Jin Ah’s friendship with Joon Hee’s sister Gyung Sun (Jang So Yun).
They are truly the cutest besties. I love how Gyung Sun mothers Jin Ah when she’s all drunk in episode 1, and and I love how Jin Ah keeps drunk-kissing Gyung Sun in response.
I felt like these two would be besties for life, literally.
STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE FROM THE START
The thing with Gyu Min
I really didn’t enjoy the arc around Jin Ah’s ex-boyfriend Gyu Min. Not only is he self-centered and egotistical, he’s abusive too. Worse, Jin Ah’s parents – her mom in particular – seem to think that he’s the best thing for Jin Ah.
[SPOILER ALERT]
I found that I had great difficulty understanding Gyu Min.
1. After breaking up with Jin Ah, he suddenly gets fixated on getting her back. It’s really the strangest thing. He was the one who cheated on Jin Ah and then broke up with her. And the only ostensible reason he even tries to get her back is because the other girl dumped him.
Which means that all of his theatrics is for the simple reason that his ego can’t take the fact that she seems to like someone else.
2.Ā Gyu Min kicks up a fuss about Jin Ah dating Joon Hee, even though he’s cognizant that he’s the one who cheated on her first. That is such a crazy double standard. So he expects Jin Ah to stay faithful to him, even though he cheated on her, and even though they’ve broken up? What?
3. Gyu Min turns into a psycho who would rather die with Jin Ah than see her date someone else. Considering that he hadn’t been that into her, and that’s why he cheated on her and then broke up with her, his behavior makes no sense whatsoever.
His logic, that he’s doing this to clear his name, even though he admits that he cheated on her, is plain crazy.
Just for the record, I was so put off by the whole psycho Gyu Min arc that I took a 3 week break from Show after the episode 7 cliffhanger.
I guess Show was trying to say something about societal double standards and relationship abuse, but it also felt like this statement didn’t quite go anywhere, in the end.
[END SPOILER]
REALITY BITES, AFTER THE INITIAL FLUSH OF CUTE [SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF THE REVIEW]
I’ll be brutally honest; after the early-episode shine wore off, I found myself experiencing a complete turnaround where our leads and our OTP were concerned.
Warning: strong feelings ahead.
Son Ye Jin as Jin Ah
At around the episode 12 mark, I started to realize that I had distinct difficulty liking Jin Ah.
Here’s my attempt to break down why.
1. I find her wishy-washy, and weak, and that annoys me.
On the one hand, I think that if Joon Hee and Jin Ah existed in a different, more forgiving world, then this relationship, with just a 4-year age gap, between long-time family friends, would be nothing out of the ordinary, and readily accepted.
On the other hand, this is not a different world, and in Korea, in this drama world, all of these complications exist. And Jin Ah knew that, going into this relationship with Joon Hee.
She was the one who made the critical move, to hold Joon Hee’s hand under that table, and therefore, it was because of her boldness in that moment, that this relationship began.
Since that time, though, she’s been more wishy-washy than she’s been strong, and you need to be strong, to stand for what you believe in, in this world that she lives in.
In episode 12, I found her stricken, teary expressions particularly hard to swallow, because this is the time where she needs to be strong the most, and instead, she attends that blind date, stricken, teary and tearful.
Every time she runs her hands through her hair and blinks her tears away, I wanted to shake her and tell her this isn’t the time to be drowning in her emotions.
She needs to be faster on her feet, and stronger in her heart, to walk this path that she’s effectively chosen for herself. But she doesn’t. And that is part of my struggle with Jin Ah. I dislike that she’s like this.
2. She’s self-righteous, and that annoys me too.
Exhibit A: Jin Ah’s meeting with Gyung Sun and Joon Hee’s dad
In episode 12, Jin Ah promises to meet Gyung Sun and Joon Hee’s dad, without their knowledge and against their wishes, pledging to tell him about his children – the very children who don’t want to see him. I know she means well, but it’s not her place.
And to top it all off, she lies to Joon Hee, in order to meet his father behind his back. I hate all the lying, but I’ll talk more about that later.
When Joon Hee gets all upset and argues with Jin Ah over this, she tells Joon Hee not to behave like a child. Ooh. Low blow. That’s probably the worst thing she could say to the younger man that she’s dating.
Also, it’s not her place to tell him how he should feel, about his estranged father. I found this extremely presumptuous and unwise.
Not only is Jin Ah presumptuous and insensitive in moving to meet with Joon Hee’s dad, she then has the gall to act like she’s got the righteous upper hand, when she and Joon Hee finally are face to face again, in episode 13.
He’s still upset, and she’s the one stiffly insisting they talk on the roof. The entire way she leads him to the roof and then makes him talk, shows that she thinks she has a right to be angry. But she doesn’t.
She should be apologizing for overstepping her boundaries, and for saying that he acted like a child.
Instead, she gets upset with him, for telling her not to behave like the more mature one. Her teary expression in that moment tells me that she isn’t sorry for what she’s done; she’s sorry for herself. At this moment, I suddenly wanted Joon Hee to break up with her.
To make things even worse, in episode 13, Jin Ah tells Gyung Sun that she only met with their dad because he had bought gifts for his children and had no other way of giving the gifts to them. That is a lie.
The reason Jin Ah met him is because she had promised to tell him about his children, without their knowledge. I hate that Jin Ah tells that lie, with tears in her eyes, like she is a saint who’s being wronged for her saintly actions.
That is so not true, and I hate that Joon Hee now looks guilty for being angry at Jin Ah, after hearing that lie told to him secondhand, by his sister.
Exhibit B: Jin Ah’s breakup outburst
In episode 13, in the midst of the drunken chaos of Gyung Sun and Joon Hee’s dad visiting Jin Ah’s home, Jin Ah tells everyone to be quiet, and announces that she will break up with Joon Hee.
Now, I don’t begrudge Jin Ah the right to break up with Joon Hee, but the way Jin Ah bursts out that she’ll break up with Joon Hee, sounds self-righteous, and almost tantrumy, like (and I paraphrase), “since you think what I’m doing is SOO wrong, then fine, I’ll break up with him, happy now?”
I found this very distasteful.
In the next episode, Jin Ah admits that she did it in a fit of pique, and didn’t mean it. Which proves my point; she was throwing a tantrum more than actually choosing to break up with Joon Hee.
3. She consistently acts helpless, and that annoys me too.
Whenever Joon Hee’s mad at her, she always looks at him helplessly and says, “Then what can I do to make you feel better?” and then she’ll proceed to list useless examples, like, should I get down on my knees? Should I let you hit me? Would that make you feel better?
Jin Ah is that frustrating person. Every time she does that, I wanted to throttle her. Why can’t she give him the time that he needs, to process his emotions?
Why does she portray herself as the victim, who is suffering because there is nothing that she can do, to make him feel better, when she is the one who gave him reason to be angry in the first place?
I honestly always felt so amazed that Joon Hee kept being so patient with her.
Jung Hae In as Joon Hee
Generally speaking, I found that I didn’t dislike Joon Hee as much as I disliked Jin Ah, but my initial hearts-in-eyes response to Joon Hee definitely faded, and I noticed several things about him, which I felt contributed to the OTP’s ensuing problems.
Here, in a nutshell, is what I eventually felt about Joon Hee.
1. He’s too intense
As early as episode 2, we see glimpses of how intense Joon Hee is. I’ll admit that when I first watched episode 2, and saw how Joon Hee seethed when he saw Gyu Min at Jin Ah’s parents’ apartment, and then ordered Gyu Min to let go of her hand, before dragging Gyu Min out of the apartment by the tie, I found it all quite swoony.
My bad. That was not swoony. Now when I revisit that scene, I find that instead, to be the first troubling signs of Joon Hee’s intense and impulsive nature.
In episode 5, Joon Hee gets so enraged at Gyu Min for sending flowers to Jin Ah, along with photographic evidence of their past intimacy, that he hunts Gyu Min down at his apartment, beats him up, and trashes his computer.
I get that Joon Hee is protective of Jin Ah, and very upset at Gyu Min’s actions, but in this scene, Joon Hee’s behavior felt a touch borderline psychotic, to me. In that moment, I kept wondering if Show was going to turn around and become a psychological thriller instead.
Joon Hee’s intense level of brash impulsiveness felt problematic, to me.
2. He’s too immature
For all of his efforts to be brave and strong, there are a number of times when Joon Hee’s behavior seems immature to me.
A simple, early example is in episode 5, when Joon Hee gets all jealous and upset at the very idea of his sister setting Jin Ah up with someone.
At the time, I thought it was pretty cute that he was jealous, but on further thought, and further observation of Joon Hee, I feel that this was an example of his immaturity. He can’t handle the very idea of the blind date, and Jin Ah has to coach him through it, so that he will settle down.
We see that immaturity later in the show as well, when Joon Hee resolutely refuses to go on work assignment to China, even if it’s just for three months. He even threatens to quit, if the company insists on giving him the assignment.
The fact that he can tell his boss that he won’t go to China because he can’t bear to be apart from his girlfriend, is highly unprofessional, and also, immature.
Despite his efforts, I do think that Joon Hee’s relative immaturity also contributed to this couple’s problems.
3. He’s young and powerless
It was at around the episode 6 mark that I started to feel that for all of his intensity and bravado, that Joon Hee comes across as very young, and rather powerless to do what he dearly wants to do, which is to protect the woman that he loves.
All of his promises to Jin Ah, to make it such that she will never have to hide again, sound like wishful big talk to my ears.
The more I watched Show, the more I was convinced that Joon Hee had absolutely no idea of the magnitude of the battle he would have to fight, by choosing to act on his attraction to Jin Ah.
After Jin Ah’s mom goes ballistic and ignores him at the realization that he and Jin Ah are dating, he’s shaken enough that it looks like he just wants to get away.
Through most of the show, I felt that Joon Hee was trying hard to be strong, but found himself drowning in a situation that was way more daunting and difficult than he’d bargained for.
The OTP
I have.. a lot of thoughts about the OTP relationship, and I’m honestly not sure of the best way to organize those thoughts in a coherent way to share with you guys.
So here’s a handful of sections, each one focusing on one aspect of the OTP, that I’d like to talk about.
The issue of context
When all their context – in this case, specifically family expectations and societal norms – is stripped away and Jin Ah and Joon Hee are alone together, in a world of their own creation, they have a lot of fun, their love is sparkly and adorable, and they clearly enjoy each other.
But once context is layered on, the discomfort, awkwardness and tense feelings rise to the surface all too quickly.
By the episode 4 mark, the context starts to set in for Jin Ah and Joon Hee. The fact that they feel they have to hide; the way Jin Ah’s mom (Gil Hae Yun) tells Gyung Sun and Joon Hee that they are as good as her own children. It’s uncomfortable and uneasy.
The moment Jin Ah and Joon Hee attempt to mesh their context with their relationship, is when the hearts-in-eyes giddiness of their relationship comes face-to-face with the cold hard reality of an unaccepting community.
And as cute as this couple is while they are alone together, there doesn’t seem to be much of a foundation to their relationship besides giggles, kisses, and chemistry.Ā Throughout my watch, I wondered if there was enough substance to this couple’s relationship, to weather it all.
Intra-relationship signs of trouble
The more I watched Joon Hee and Jin Ah as a couple, the more I realized that they did not have a healthy relationship. I will talk more about the specifics of what I felt were damaging habits in their relationship in a later section.
In this section, I’d like to talk about the initial signs of trouble that I noticed, before all the fall-out from the people around them coming to know about their relationship.
One arc I’d like to single out here, is the period of time immediately after Jin Ah is safely discharged from the hospital, in episode 8.
Remembering that the context of this, is that Jin Ah has just survived a car crash while being held against her will by her possibly psychotic ex-boyfriend who was bent on a double suicide, it bugged me that Jin Ah’s all beat up from the accident, and yet, Joon Hee’s angry with her.
AND THEN, the moment she says that she’s told her parents she won’t be home that night, he switches gears and starts to hurry home.
In that moment, I hoped that he didn’t mean to hurry home for sexytimes, coz someone’s who’s just been in a near-death situation probably needs some time to recover.
Another part of my brain rationalized that it can also be argued that sex is life-affirming, so.. I basically felt conflicted about this.
Regardless, though, him switching gears from being angry, to suddenly being hand-holdy and apparently, in happy anticipation, while presumably driving them somewhere they can get cozy, while she’s recovering from an accident, AND while the stupid refrain “stand by your man” plays in the background, just all comes together to leave ALL the wrong impressions on me.
Is Show saying that she’s supposed to stand by her man by giving him sex even though she’s just been through a horrific abduction and accident? I sure hope not. But that’s what it looked like.
In the end, Show treats the post-accident thing pretty lightly, and we’re supposed to believe that Jin Ah bounces right back, with just a small cut on her forehead, and enough spunk left in her to horse around with Joon Hee. Okayy.
Aside from the different way Show and I viewed suitable.. post-accident activities, we do see some hints of strain in their relationship this episode, in the conversation in Joon Hee’s apartment.
It becomes more apparent that they have different ways of looking at things, and of communicating, and it’s not matching up.
At this stage, I felt like I was watching teenagers in love, and not exactly in the best way. Joon Hee refusing to take on a work assignment because of his relationship with Jin Ah, makes him look way more boy than man.
AndĀ Jin Ah sneaking around and lying to her parents when she’s a full-grown adult woman of 35 years old feels strange, and gives me the feeling that Jin Ah basically never quite grew up.
Altogether, these earlier clues did not give me a great deal of confidence about the strength of this OTP relationship.
A tangential comparison to SLA
I usually make a conscious effort to consider a show purely on its own merit, and therefore I wouldn’t usually make a comparison to another show, in a review.
But today, I’d like to make a quick detour, to talk about how this OTP relationship compares to the one in Secret Love Affair.
It’s a reasonably natural association, since Secret Love Affair is a fairly recent drama also directed by Ahn Pan Seok PD, and also features a noona romance as its main loveline.
If you’ve been around this site for a while, you probably know that I absolutely loved Secret Love Affair and consider it a masterpiece in its own right.
One of the reasons I felt so absorbed by SLA, is because of how the intensity of the OTP relationship felt deep-rooted and profound, right from the beginning.
In SLA, it was clear that Sun Jae and Hye Won were soulmates; there was something much deeper that drew them together than just mere attraction. They felt whole with each other, and deeply understood each other’s relationship with music and their literal need for it.
When things came to a head, Sun Jae’s love for Hye Won felt deep and strong, even though he himself was in many ways powerless to protect the woman he loved. I never for a moment doubted that he was in it for the long haul, and would not run away.
I alluded to it earlier in this review as well; I felt like Joon Hee’s love for Jin Ah doesn’t have as strong a foundation, and eventually, with enough familial pressure exerted on him, Joon Hee does cave.
Not because he wants to, but because he can’t withstand it, in spite of his best efforts.Ā Which is how he eventually decides to run away to the US, with or without Jin Ah.
At the same time, I also can’t help but compare Jin Ah to Hye Won. Hye Won was a much stronger woman than Jin Ah is, and I think that makes a difference too.
To my eyes, Jin Ah often behaves like an overgrown teenager who’s rebelling against her parents, instead of a mature adult woman of 35 – which she’s supposed to be.
When I stacked the 2 OTPs side by side in my head, I felt like I could see why Sun Jae and Hye Won’s relationship managed to weather the storm, and why Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s relationship ends up being uprooted before long.
And I could also see why Sun Jae and Hye Won’s relationship stole my heart so deeply, while Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s relationship.. doesn’t.
What I really think of this relationship, after the initial flush of cute
By around the episode 12 mark, I started to feel like this romance actually felt quite randomĀ (he just was suddenly attracted to her when he saw her walking in the distance, after all), and essentially,Ā feels like the equivalent of plucking two very average people out of a crowd, and throwing them into difficult challenges, to see if they’d survive – or get eaten by sharks.
Which sounds like every disaster movie ever, except maybe Show didn’t happen to pick the most resilient random people to be its stars.
The biggest problem in Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s relationship, is that they don’t communicate enough, AND they keep lying to each other.
In episode 14, Joon Hee should have discussed it with Jin Ah first, before asking for a posting to the US.
After all, he’s expecting her to quit her job in order to leave with him. And with the renting of an apartment being a big decision, Jin Ah could’ve at least called Joon Hee, before agreeing to rent the place.
In the end, it’s this lack of communication – the lack of respect for each other, really – that really broke them up.
Additionally, through their entire relationship before and after that break-up, JinĀ Ah and Joon Hee keep lying to each other. They keep things from each other, in the interest of protecting the other person, but it creates distance between them.
From early on, I wondered, if they can’t be honest with each other, then what chance do they have, of surviving this relationship apocalypse together?
And that lying habit is exactly what eventually drove them apart. In episode 15, once Jin Ah had agreed to sign the lease, and Joon Hee happened to call, she should’ve told him, instead of lying.
Because these two people didn’t talk honestly when it mattered the most, I confess that I felt like theyĀ deserved all the problems they had in their relationship, because their behavior was causing most of their problems.
Even if we take away the parental pressure from the equation, we aren’t left with a healthy relationship; we’re left with a pair of people whose relationship seems to be built mostly on giggles and kisses, but who lie to each other habitually, and don’t ever talk honestly when they most need to.
Even if Mom hadn’t ended up being the thing to tear them apart, I believe it would’ve been only a matter of time, before other pressures would have forced these issues to the surface as serious problems.
The thing with Mom
This might be a bit controversial, but I don’t think of Jin Ah’s mom as Evil Mom.
Even though her behavior was far from exemplary, her words, caustic, and her tantrums, high on the screech scale, I did not see her as a bad person.
All the way through to the end, I do feel like Mom sincerely believes that Jin Ah dating Joon Hee is a bad idea.Ā She sincerely believes that marrying well is the way for Jin Ah and Jin Ah’s future children to have better lives.
She also sincerely believes that she knows better than her daughter, and that it is her duty to prevent her daughter from making a mistake that would ruin her life.
This is a very Asian Parent way of thinking, and my own mother has shown in many different ways, that she shares this sentiment of parental duty (though thankfully not these methods).
In this sense, I did not feel that Jin Ah’s mom unreasonably overstepped her boundaries as a parent in Korea, in principle.
Yes, her methods were extreme, but I rationalize that the woman was desperate. And a desperate mother would quite literally do almost anything, if she believes that she’s doing it for the sake of her child.
For all of the bad behavior that we saw from Jin Ah’s mother, here are 3 examples of when I felt we could see that her intentions were not bad ones, and that she genuinely cared.
1. In episode 11, when Mom discovers that Jin Ah is not in her room, she rushes out of the house in the middle of the night, gets in a taxi, and instructs the driver to take her to Joon Hee’s address.
In the beginning of her trip, she asks the taxi driver to go fast, and then later, she changes her mind and asks him to go slow. When she arrives at her destination, she also hesitates for a bit, in the elevator.
All of these tell me that she’s not keen to barge in on her daughter, that’s one thing, but more like, I felt that she was afraid that her worst fears would come true.
2. In the same episode, MomĀ kneels in front of Joon Hee and asks him to understand why she’s being like this. Given how proud Mom is as a person, the very fact that she would kneel – in front of Joon Hee, no less – shows how much this means to her.
3. Eventually, in episode 15, Mom effectively kicks Jin Ah out of the house, and Jin Ah finally moves out.
The way Mom mopes in bed even when nobody’s looking, says a lot about how she really feels. She doesn’t just feel disappointed in Jin Ah, she likely feels like she’s failed her duty as a parent.
The thing with Gyung Sun
Overall, I hafta say that Gyung Sun turned out to be one of my favorite characters in this drama world. I love that she has so much love to give, and pours it out so generously on her brother and her best friend.
This, despite having had a tough childhood, and also, having had to mother Joon Hee for most of her own life.
I really appreciated Show’s spotlight on Gyung Sun in episode 9, which focused on herĀ reaction to stumbling on the knowledge that there was definitely something going on between her baby brother and her best friend.
She doesn’t confront them immediately; instead, she takes time to process; to think; to reflect on what her mother would have said, if her mother had been alive.
And then, even though her protective noona hackles come up for a bit, when her baby brother begs her to understand, she cries, and then does just that.
That must have taken so much sacrificial love, on her part. She had to put aside her own feelings, to do what she needed to do, to respect her brother’s feelings.
Yes, there was a beating and half that she had to get out of her system, but my goodness, she dug so deep and turned around in such a short time, I just can’t begrudge her the right to beat her brother a little bit.
Afterwards, I felt acutely for Gyung Sun, every time she was faced with Jin Ah’s mom’s disapproving comments of Joon Hee. In episode 10, I felt so sorry for Gyung Sun.
The stricken look in her eyes, as Jin Ah’s mom talked to her about how they should split up Joon Hee and Jin Ah; the way she cooked a feast for Joon Hee, because she felt so hurt on his behalf, that he was looked down upon; the disappointment and soul-crushing grief that she felt, when she tried to reach out to a father who wasn’t interested in connecting.
Poor dear. She’s got so much love to give, and yet, finds herself stuck between a rock and a hard place, for a decision that she had no part in making.
Suddenly, her entire life is turned upside down because her baby brother and best friend decided to date.
Not only is she faced with the indignity of Joon Hee being pronounced not good enough, she also faces the very real risk of losing the two people most precious to her, if this relationship doesn’t work out.
In episode 11, I felt like I could sort of understand why Gyung Sun would get so upset and tell Jin Ah to end it with Joon Hee. She’s barely keeping it together, and is under a lot of stress, not just about Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s relationship, but about her estranged dad (Kim Chang Wan) coming to Korea.
So, just one thing that makes it look like Jin Ah is being unfair to Joon Hee, is enough to make her lash out.
In the end, Gyung Sun demonstrates just how uncalculated and forgiving her love is, when she basically shoves Jin Ah and Joon Hee the opportunity to talk it out, in the finale, never mind everything that has happened. How can one not like Gyung Sun, right?
The workplace sexual harassment thing
At first, I thought Show had something potentially interesting to say about workplace harassment, given how much screen time is dedicated to Jin Ah’s workplace situation where it’sĀ a nightmare for the women, who are expected to put up with regular harassment from their male supervisors.
For a while, it seemed like this arc would actually go somewhere, but to quote a dear friend of the blog,Ā seankfletcher, who recently said this memorable line on myĀ My Husband Oh Jak DooĀ review, this just felt like the wave you wait for at the beach that never arrives. (What a great line, eh?)
Honestly, by episode 14, I felt so bored by the harassment case stuff, that I literally almost fell asleep. Still, I had hopes that something meaningful would result from this arc. But no. Writer-nim had other ideas, which I’ll talk about in a little bit.
The background music
When I started the show, I found the background music serviceable and inoffensive. By episode 6, though, the songs had started to wear thin on me.
Not only were the songs applied with a heavy hand and therefore quickly at the point of wearing out their welcome, there were many occasions when the songs felt strangely irrelevant to the scene at hand.
I soon could not bear the sound of “Sometimes it hard.. to be a woh-mahn..” and every time the opening strains came on, I found myself literally bracing for impact.
At around the episode 13 mark, it occurred to me that all this use of Western music in the background, was maybe a metaphor for how Joon Hee and Jin Ah are trying to be Western in sensibility – age isn’t a barrier, love conquers all etc – but, it just doesn’t quite fit right.
Like, try as they might, they can’t escape the fact that their context matters, and for as long as they choose to live in this context, they can’t quite fully embrace that Western outlook like they want to.
And perhaps, just as those songs were grating on my nerves more and more, the longer Show went on, perhaps Joon Hee and Jin Ah’s attempt to live that Western outlook is grating on them too, the longer they go on.
Heh. That indulgent benefit of the doubt didn’t last long, though.
I don’t know what the music PD was thinking, but those English songs were overdone, overused, and just plain annoying. They basically drove my eyeballs to involuntary rolling fits, and made me wish that my player had an option to mute any and all background music.
THOUGHTS ON THE ENDINGĀ
To be honest, I found this finale distinctly underwhelming. And the reason that I found this finale so underwhelming, is because if you think about it, nothing really changes, and nothing actually gets solved.
First, here’s a summary of what happened:
Joon Hee comes back to Korea, and finds that Jin Ah is unhappily dating a parent-approved man. Joon Hee and Jin Ah have two conversations.
One is stilted and awkward. The other is honest, but he sounds like a defensive brat while she sounds like a self-righteous, self-sacrificing saint. They part ways.
Jin Ah loses her patience being her busy beau’s last priority and walks out on him. Joon Hee thinks about settling down in the US. Jin Ah quits her job.
Apparently, she won the case against Director Nam, but nothing’s changed, and she’s done enduring her exile-disguised-as-a-promotion.
She informs her parents that she’s moving to Jeju Island. Mom suddenly feels bad coz her daughter is moving away. She apologizes, and they make peace.
Jin Ah settles into life on Jeju Island, helping out at Bo Ra’s (Joo Min Kyung) cool cafe. Joon Hee chances on Jin Ah’s old love confession recording, and, his feelings stirred, seeks her out at the cafe – where he demands his umbrella back from Jin Ah.
Jin Ah says he’s crazy, and so he forces skinship on her, picking her up and plonking her on his shoulder. Afterwards all her defenses crumble, and they kiss happily ever after.
Despite feeling disengaged from this show as early as episode 10, I eventually came back, and stayed till the end, because I wanted to give Show the benefit of the doubt.
Like, sure, I may not be feeling the way you’re telling your story, but you seem to want to make a point. So let me stay, so that I can hear you out; let’s see what that point is, that you’re working to make.
Now that I’ve seen this show in its entirety, though, I can’t say I’m getting anything in terms of a solid point.
In terms of the workplace harassment, we see that nothing’s changed. Jin Ah won the case, sure, but is effectively living in exile, while the perpetrators continue to keep their jobs at head office.
So.. it feels like Show is trying to say, the problem is systemic, and standing up for what you believe in is unlikely to get you anywhere.
In terms of parental expectations, to my eyes, nothing has changed. Mom maintains that she’s got Jin Ah’s best interests at heart, and her apology feels like an emotional response to Jin Ah’s departure, rather than a promise to change her behavior.
My reading of the situation is that Dad and Mom are ok with Jin Ah moving to Jeju Island to find her way in life – but that doesn’t automatically include approval of a potential reunion with Joon Hee. On this one, it feels like Show is saying, distance makes the heart grow fonder.
In terms of Jin Ah and Joon Hee’s reunion, I feel like nothing has changed as well. They had one honest outburst with each other, yes, but does that really change anything?
When Joon Hee shows up at the cafe, Jin Ah still uses the same defensive, helpless tone with him, “What is it? What do you want? Do you still have something left to say?” while Joon Hee hides behind a defensive-sounding excuse of wanting his umbrella back.
Sure, there are hugs and kisses, but to me, those were fueled by a recording of a happier time, that Joon Hee happened to listen to again, and while that’s fine and good, there’s nothing to indicate that these two are going to make changes to their relationship that will help them relate in a more honest and healthy way.
That final happy shot, to me, is a snapshot of one happy moment, and only that. And the reason that happy moment could happen at all, is because they removed themselves from their context.
I feel like the moment these two try again, to have a relationship within the context of family and society, that a lot of old problems will surface again.
Mom will object, again. There will be tears and gnashing of teeth, again. And Jin Ah and Joon Hee’s relationship will be put to the test, again.
If I had to articulate a takeaway from all of this, it would be this: Context really is everything, after all; you can’t exist out of context. A happy bubble devoid of context, will eventually burst.
But, if you can’t be happy in the context that you’re in, you still have the option of changing your context.
Bo Ra’s the coolest one of them all, quitting the job she didn’t like, and finding a way to make a living where she could live on beautiful Jeju Island, and sip wine at the end of a work day, while she listens to the crashing waves.
When her context stopped working for her, and she saw that there wasn’t any point in trying to make changes at the office, she changed her context, and stuck to her guns about it.
To Joon Hee and Jin Ah, I say, be like Bo Ra. And fix your bad relationship habits too, while you’re at it.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Starts promising, but is ultimately underwhelming and quite pointless.
FINAL GRADE: C
TEASERS:
MVs:
It’s true that the music in this show eventually almost drove me up the wall, but here’s a track which I liked better than the others.
First to say the mother did it with good intentions WELL so did the Japanese during the war, so did Hitler Evil is just that and to say she wasn’t evil is just not realistic, and to hang onto a Stalker Now Days is a sad commentary in todays society.
(This an edited repost of comments I made in one of the open exchange sections of kfangurlās Patreon site. If you love talking about K-Drama, you should come join us there!)
Following years of rage over how Something in the Rain (SitR) derailed, I finally forced myself to reconsider writer Kim Eunās choices with a more open mind.
Why bother, you ask? Because immediately after 2018’s SitR, this same author gave us 2019ās One Spring Night (OSN) which, 77 shows later, my wife and I still rate as our all-time favorite K-romance. That too, had an unusually organic/realistic feel to it, while still bringing on some serious swoon.
So it struck me that since this writer is clearly no slouch, the problem might have been me all along. Maybe I wouldāve tolerated the last third of SitR as written if only I’d been using a more appropriate viewing lens.
My wife and I were using a lens for “primarily a swoony romance, but in the context of a modern woman struggling to become strong despite retrograde aspects of SK society — sexual harassment in the workplace and troublesome dynamics in her family — attempting to drag her back down into submission.”
That lens fit for the first half, but the show appeared to flip 180 degrees for the final third of its run and we were totally unprepared for it. Also relevant, we watched SitR immediately after OSN where that lens had fit perfectly throughout the show.
In retrospect, here’s what I didn’t get at the time: Because itās much more serious and realistic than most K-romance, the FL doesn’t follow an arc of steadily increasing personal agency. She takes one step forward, then two steps back. Because, of course, that’s how it often works IRL.
That enraged me, since those decisions felt like the very opposite of the increased agency the writers appeared to be attributing them to. She was prioritizing her relationship with her abusers over her so-called OTP.
But now that I look back on it, I can see that the point probably wasn’t that these actions were the positive result of personal growth, but rather that she was still seriously damaged and was thus making a different type of bad decision after achieving greater agency. One step forward, two steps back.
For me and my wife, it was not a satisfying watch. But had I been using a more accurate viewing lens — and had the script allowed more space at the end to resolve the sudden problems in the relationship instead of just magically waving them away — who knows? That couple haunted me for at least a year after I rage-quit the show. So there was clearly something there that was worth my time. Something in the rain…
Speaking of the scriptwriter, does anyone know anything about her?
Those two shows appear to be her only published work, and it’s been four long years since OSN aired. Her named is Kim Eun (not to be confused with fellow K-drama writer Kim Eun-sook.)
Actors at the level of Jung Hae-in, Son Ye-Jin and Han Ji-min and directors at the level of An Pan-seok (he directed Secret Affair!) can choose just about any show they like. So I’m curious how they came to commit to this previously unknown writer’s work. And why has she not written anything since?
I would watch anything she created. Seriously.
The Mother a monster, the Dad a weak follower, the daughter reminds me of a sad sick beaten broke person, why else would she let men bully her and make her life a living hell, then the one who’s great she throws aside, never did figure why she hid the apartment from him, her boss and even her friends bulled her.
I agree with most of the stuff you said, especially about the ending feeling a little rushed, but I loved the show anyways because it talked about things that I have rarely seen in other romantic dramas. Mainly about how a screwed up (or absent) relationship with your parental figures can mess up your romantic (and potential romantic) relationships.
It’s hard to talk about this especially in a TV drama. It’s not always entertaining, but the show did a very good job of demonstrating that on screen.
The “initial cute” hit me so hard because it showed what the characters had been lacking: someone who understood their needs and (to some extent) the problems in their life. The two leads knew each other for a long time. Joon Hee had to know Jin Ah’s mother was unstable. Jin Ah knew all about Joon Hee’s messed up family situation. They both manage to care about each other anyways and they don’t have to explain the situation the way they might for a new partner. That’s why the relationship moved as fast as it did.
The communication problems also come through clearly and felt very real. Neither of the two leads had good role models to work out differences of opinion, to talk to each other, to establish healthy boundaries. This was why their relationship had so many cases of poor communication and outright lying. It’s also why Joon Hee sometimes did unhealthy things instead of giving Jin Ah space to breathe, and why (for both characters) what might be a small rocky patch for a healthier couple turned into messy drama.
Gyung Sun’s decision to just not bother getting married makes sense as well in this context. She’s no better at relationships than her brother or best friend, she just knows that she’s bad at it, and stays away from them.
The ideal “healthy” ending is for the two leads to spend time working on themselves and on their relationships (ideally with a professional), but a four episode ending arc like that isn’t very entertaining, so we got what we got.
I still loved the series because I understood where the writers were coming from with their relationship. I’ve seen (and felt) some of that in my own life, and it is just very refreshing to see that on screen. I can also understand why other people don’t need/want that.
Hi – your reviews are so well-written and well-thought out. Usually, I agree with you, but this time, I feel almost compelled to stick up a little for Jin-A and Jun Hui (and the writer).
The establishing elements in the first episode show us that Jin-A’s mom is unhinged and hits her for nothing (and is highly narcissistic, if not rising to the level of a personality disorder <- debatable though). Her dad is a black out drunk. Her boyfriend is an a$$. Her work supervisors treat her like crap. She makes counterproductive choices (like maxing out her credit card to impress a guy who is even worse than we know) and is pathologically conflict avoidant. Later on, we find out that in addition to being a black out drunk, her dad will only take her side if he’s drunk or out of her mother’s hearing range.
Adult children of alcoholics and the children of narcissistic mothers have so many dysfunctional coping skills that you can’t swing a dead cat in the internet without hitting a website devoted to them. They’re emotionally immature people pleasers who second-guess themselves constantly and self-medicate a lot. They are fundamentally dishonest with themselves and others because the idea of someone getting angry with them sends them into panic. They’re constantly trying to manage other people’s reactions. And they don’t know how to make decisions, because they tend to let themselves be bullied into choices they wouldn’t otherwise make.
That’s Jin-A. I wish the show had thrown a couple of explicit asides at the source of her issues – they didn’t have to turn it into a PSA or Afterschool Special – but they gave us all of the pertinent information to explain her behavior.
Then there’s Jun Hui, who seems to want to be someone’s protector but lacks for male role models. The red flags early on and the flight near the end turn out to be very much like the way his sister and his father himself describe the father’s behavior with women. Loves them and then leaves when something comes along that he can’t deal with. And Jun Hui DID have one good parent early in life and an excellent parental-like figure in his sister. But he has no reason to expect relationships to end well, and the other allegedly caring adults in his life turn on him. And, in the first part of the story, he’s young in addition to being immature.
This was a long-winded way of saying that the leads are profoundly dysfunctional and in many ways are dishonest with themselves and each other, but we are told exactly why. And, if anything, it’s too realistic and maybe not what we go to romantic drama looking to find.
The other thing that may have been too real was the sexual harassment storyline. I’ve read so much frustration from people whose opinions I respect about how the story went nowhere: before MeToo, that’s exactly where all of those stories went. There are murmurs, then someone finally complains thinking she’ll at least have the support or her fellow victims, who nope out too far into it for her to back down quietly. So what happened? The men circled the wagons and went so far as to fabricate evidence that she asked for it/enjoyed it. And she *won* but was the only person punished. Even though there was video. The story didn’t trail off or peter out. It resolved (IMO) realistically. Nauseatingly so (IMO).
We don’t see Jin-A growing up or Jun Hui developing impulse control. I would have cut some of the rain walks and maybe the snow camping to get a bit more insight into what has changed that, by the end of the show, will allow them to get farther than they were able to go on love alone. And I would have loved some flash forward to see how they worked some of it out. Or them doing better by their kids than their parents did by them.
They were flawed and frustrating, but I felt for them.
Can somebody please tell me, what buildings are those? they were appearing in between some scenes and i’ve tried to find them but i can’t recognize them.
I really love this show. I am finishing my 3rd run. It will be in my all time top 10 and mainly because It gave us a solid 8eps of pure love,kilig, and everything cute, unlike many shows that gives you very little of couple’s romantic interaction.
This show has a lot of current relevant south Korean culture paradoxies which gives societal significance, and yes, a lot of frustration. But that’s the reality.
I liked the OST.
If I can be granted to change something in the show, it is that they would give more time to show how the couple progressed after they got back…i suppose the director wants to leave it to the viewer’s imagination. The couple are like two pieces of a puzzle that just fits right together so I imagine that in the end, being apart from everyone who were against them, they fall right back into their old selves.
I don’t think that Jin Ah is weak at all. Sure, there were times when I was frustrated on her behalf such as when she kept saying ‘yes’ to her male colleagues’ request that made her uncomfortable or when she lied/omitted to her loved ones on serious matters or when she went into her psycho ex’s car. But I believe Jin Ah is remarkably strong.
She’s strong because she finds her worth, and defies other’s image of her. She finds the bravery, and courage to change despite her upbringing in a patriarchal society in SK, as well as overbearing mother who cared about her image more than her daughter. There is a few things lost in context that is frustrating imo such as a grown woman (35 years old) living with her parents who treat her as a rebellious teenage girl.
Overall, I enjoyed the realistic theme of this show. The cinematography, and acting showed me how much they’re in love. I’m only halfway through, but reading this review and some comments made want to give Jin Ah justice for her character growth.
agree to the analysis. but I am more disappointed or irritated by Jin Ah. constantly lying (albeit little white lies), the only good things happening to her that she gave that up for work place and family? does not make sense. and episode 16 starts off with her with a new bf??!! how seriously is she in love??
I agree with everything you said and had to search out this review before watching the last one and a half episodes which I think Iāll leave for some other time or never. Really disappointed because I loved the beginning so so so much.
That’s what I did. I read recaps on the final episodes — at DramaBeans, I think — to know basically what happened and then watched only selected portions of the final episodes to get the good vibe payoff without all the random frustration.
The biggest fail, imo, was to shift the storyline so abruptly, then shift back just as abruptly in the last few minutes, despite resolving none of the complications that were introduced other than by waving a magic wand.
I’m not around very much these days but every now and then I get these comments on SITR and the old feelings of disappointment about how the show turned out rise to the surface. It was such a good show until it wasn’t.
By comparison, the writers of the show Twenty-five, Twenty-One designed one of its romantic storylines to go sideways, but did so in an organic manner that made sense. It was sad and, tbh, I wish it had been otherwise, but it didn’t feel wrong. As a result, the aftermath my wife and I felt for that show and for the romantic couple was pretty darn positive. (Watch it, if you haven’t yet!)
Romantic relationships don’t have to work out in end for a show to succeed. Even a romance drama. But they should at least make sense. This one was infuriating, particularly because the romance was so very good, up till it ran totally off the road.
This is a great review, well thought amd brilliant. I agree with the points raised.. Thank you fir articulating it..
I just saw the show for second time . I just loved ,i am in love with JA and JH . I never saw Son Ye Jin more beautiful. i liked how realistic the show was and the both of them wasn’t perfect like people in real life. She was so professional in her job but in personal life she was insecure like most woman.Sorry but most of the woman are like Jin Ah and i saw in many scenes myself and a typical woman’s reaction. At thirst i didn’t enjoy the music but now i don’t might i got used to it. I did’t like also the end ,i wanted some more ,maybe 10 minute more or 2 more scenes. there are so many things happend and with one scene in rain it’s all over ? He want his ombrella and tha’s all? I didn’t unterstand about his father ,why she care so much. But i saw the same thing in the Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok Joo , i thing is something about vorgiveness and to be mature ,she also said she can be with him forever if he bring him to the airport and say goodbye so i thing is something like that he have to left behind his anger. About the sexual herassment, in episode 16 her boss said that she won the trial. The show teaches us that the reason for the sexual hesassment begind from home if you been treat like you are not important you believe that and you take that with you wherever you go. I tried to watch OSN but i couldn’t finish it ,i watch only until episode 5 and then i saw in youtube that they kiss for thirst time in episode 9. That’s was to slow for me and no funny scenes ,too boring.
Persist with OSN. The pay off is great. I love the ML in that show. So mature an unassuming!
**I just realised I answered Jennaās post instead of yours before! I have no idea how that happened š
I don’t think he is mature ,he had to change also like Jin Ah. He used to never give second change to people wenn someone hurt him and he used to walk away when problem begin. This time he came back and stay of the side his lover.
I’m late to the party, but I ended the show this week and I’m only here to say how bad I felt when they broke up š© The show has a lot of good and bad things, but they did a great job showing us how in love they were.
I haven’t seen many dramas, but I was surprised to see the actors physically show how much they liked each other (in most of the dramas I’ve seen, they’re not super affectionate/act more shy). Maybe that made me connect with them on a deeper levelš¤·š¾āāļø I love how expressive Jun Hui was, I mean this guy didn’t have to say a word to communicate how he felt! He looked young and naive, so deep down it made me root for him more tbh.
I think we all thought they were too cute together, and I felt Jun Hui’s pain when they broke up. Seriously, the image of him crying in the rain is ingrained in my brain… Also, the ending needed to be at least 2 episodes long, why rush it? Or why make them break up if you had to rush the ending because of production?
Fashionably late is still an arrival! Welcome to SitR party, already in progress..
Persist with OSN. The pay off is great. I love the ML in that show. So mature an unassuming!
merij1: so i am done, i compiled all my previous comments here so you do not have to look for them in case you want to refresh your memory. and since you suggested we talk about it and suggested to transfer it to this site, i did as you suggested.
my final thoughts. they are not different from what i already said, it is still very relevant. the 2 last remaining episodes, which was your main question and curiosity. yah, they are totally gut wrenching, tearing at my very heart, and the pain is truly palpable, a shock, after 14 mostly lovey-dovey scenes that the drama fed us. this was not supposed to happen to a couple that is truly in love, but… both are at fault. HE: didn’t consult with her about moving to america, just assumed that she’ll follow him. by that he is following the pattern established by her parents, deciding for her without consideration of her emotions and desires. not acceptable, bad, bad move. somehow it does not fit with his character, being all the way a very supportive and considerate partner. it needed some more explanation, more development in this direction, and other previous episodes could have been cut or shortened, if time was an issue for the production. his other fault: suddenly, not being flexible. seeing that she has a problem, may be postpone or change plans, give her some space to breath. impulsive as a child. he was the stronger one in this relationship, but suddenly collapsed. not ready to take on responsibility. SHE: lies!!! pile on and on, and we can only watch with horror how it goes down the drain. her exuses for those are non-excusable. but sometimes it is necessary to break it all, to clear the field and start from scrach. was it necessary here? frankly, i do not think so, these two showed an ability to withstand the manipulations of all sorts, although with difficulties. they could have sit down and discuss the options like two grown ups. they miserably failed here. and so, the painful separation, totally self induced. sad to watch.
the final scenes of getting together. i do not know. yes, i am somewhat happy for them, because i thought they were a great couple and deserved to be together. forever??? nobody can know that ever. will they be able to patch it up, to forgive, to mend?
“so often the end of a love affair is death by a thousand cuts, so often it’s survival is life by a thousand stiches: (by robert brault) do these two characters have a thousand stiches – that is the question.
i am truly amazed how many opionions this show inspired. i get it ā all the complains, and agree with some. butā¦ my question is this: does the journey itself (especially that a big part of the drama has a lot of accomplishments in different areas that most of us like and value) worth our time, even when the last episodes (as it is in many cases) and especially the endings are partially or totally screwed up. i vote āyesā, as i will never forget the sense of amazement, satisfaction, intellectual and emotional stimulation and on and onā¦ from the chinese drama “the rise of the phoenixes”. as much as i hated the ending and even the last few episodes lost itās appeal due to bad writing, it is still one of my favorites. so my conclusion, if you are not concentrating on the STORY itself ONLY, a lot of the rest of the aspects of a drama can be very satisfying.
so i am now starting āsomething in the rainā, being fully aware of negative comments on it, as my main interest is the director who was able to gift us āsecret love affairā. there must be something in it that is this director’s head and heart and perception, and sensitivity, and artistry. must be. i am also going to watch his other work āone spring nightā ā for the same reason
basically, i do not allow the bad parts in a production to spoil the good parts, again iāll use the example of āthe rise of phoenixesā ā many were so pissed with the ending that ended up hating the whole show. not me. i might wish for something else at times,(even in one of the best dramas ever “nirvana in fire” i would have some episodes, events, characters and especially the endings slightly different) which happens quite often, but i accept that it is not my piece of work, and so i allow the creators of the show their artistic expressions without reservations. i might grumble, but my appreciation of the good in the drama stays with me unapologetically. if you do not like the ending to a degree that you are ready to dismiss the whole production, if thatās the case for somebody, then all is left is to eat belgium chocolates. (they are highly satisfying, promise).
so since you expressed an interest in how i would process “something in the rain”, i am half way through it, 8 episodes. i was not disappointed and not mistaken in the ability of this director ās exceptional ability to direct his actors into the very depth of their own associations, memories, emotions and synthesize those with the characterās, probably exactly as the director wants us to see it, feel it, absorb it into our own emotions. i love, love his work, and nothing will change that. so on that level i am more than satisfied. the ML joon-heeās smile is worth a million. his character as a boyfriend is also worth a million, so much so that it should be mandatory for each male to learn how to be a worthy female companion, partner, boyfriend, husband ā i am so impressed with him (and a bit jealous). their relationship, as the major component of the show, is so yummy, inebriating, at times soft and tender caring, at other times playful like two children (especially the ML), and then deep almost painful, and back to raw male-female intimacyā¦ i do not see this in other korean dramas to this degree, or may be i havenāt seen enough, but would like to see more. somebody commented that the ML repeating “you are pretty” really annoyed her. i think it would annoy any woman, but it also depends in what contex it is said, the tone, the expression, the intent and so on. in this case, it is said kind of half humorous, half serious, kind of a cliche, a private joke between them if you will. none of them doubts the sincerety of his feelings. there are also a lot of other expressions of his love, verbally and body language. so in this case, although it could have been irritating to me, i just smile when he says it as i do feel his true intent as i am sure she does. there are even prettier girls around, but she is HIS “goddess” , like hye won for sun jae in “secret love affair”.
the characters and relationships as presented to us by the story. first of all those are so incredibly and undeniably complex, it almost has no chance to untangle the deep rooted connections. the whole situation is so impossible, so twisted, so convoluted, there is no chance for a truly satisfying, happy ending. here is a discription of all those connections:
the main ML joon-hee lost his mother at a young age and the father was missing from his life. so he was taken care by his older sister.
the main FL jin-ah is best friends since childhood with his sister, more like a twin sister to her and so a sister to ML. at the same time both women, the FL and joon-hee’s sister, due to their age and both invested in this young manās existence, can be perceived by him as substitute mother figures, although probably on the most subconscious level.
the FL jin-ah has a brother, whoās best friends with Ml, again sort of a brother, which makes him a brother to our ML hae-in.
in adition, the MLās sister deeply loves her younger brother, itās her ONLY family, and when her best friend and ātwin sisterā jae-in whom she loves most in this world by her own admission, becomes her brotherās love object, the sisterās world can completely crash ā she can feel left out, betrayed by both of them and jealousy that can eat up her soul.
and to top it of, the parents of the FL and her brother consider the ML and his sister to be their own children, and played substitute parents after the MLās mother (who was a close friend to FLās mother as i understand it passed. she wants joon-hee to marry a good girl, so she herself can reunite with his mother in heaven. somehow sheās convinced that sheāll go to heaven, sheās quite optimistic i would say, about the heaven, although i am not that “optimistic” that heaven awaits her). so how can these 2 parents see both of their children, jin-ah and joon-hee have a romantic relationship? all kids also grew up together, went to the same school and frequently shared meals, activities and so on at the parent’s house. the conservative nature of south korea, and social rejection of an older woman with a younger man in addition to difference in social/economic status is at the forefront of the parent’s especially the mother’s concerns.
what i do have kind of a problem, is with all the wonderful qualities of the ML, he looks younger than the drama wants you to believe (early 30ās), and the FL looks actually older than the drama wants you to believe (mid 30, but looks to me almost mid to late 40ās). and this actress, something is missing there for me, although there are some good acting moments, even very good.
in general, you probably already know, i do like this drama, and a lot, for reasons i described earlier.
everything in this drama CAN happen in real life, it can go in either direction , no matter āartisticā. there is no life without death, we would not know good if there would not be evil, we would not understand happiness if we would not experience hardships and suffering. that is life, and we are part of it. i find this drama very relatable and true to life. also, i wanted to say that i just finished itās 12th episode with the most amazing beautiful scene of both of them in the rain , and it gave me the same sort of all emotionally engulfing vibes as the piano playing of both main characters in āsecret love affairā. ya, this is the director, i love his work.
i am on episode 14, and things started to unravel fast and furious. does it change anything for ME? not really, actually not at all. first of all with this degree of familiesā dysfunctions, with a main female character pathetic to a degree that she can be used as a ārag to wash the floorā(i feel awful saying it, but it almost feels like a personal insult to see a woman or any human reduced to this degree of helplessness, submissiveness, immobility to change and own her own lifeā¦ (uhh, i lack words, seriouslyā¦) but that line runs throughout the story and so whatever happens is expected and unavoidable, whether in a drama or life, as sad and as miserable it can make us feel. the question i have is this really still life in korea, are they still existing in the joseon period??? i am aware of parents being able to screw up their childrenās lives anywhere, but to THAT degree??? is it a common occurrence that a daughter 35 years of age is still living with her parents? especially abusive parents, and not being able to stand up for herself, not having developed a decent value system in her life? a korean drama must be reflective of real life in this country, may be somewhat exaggerated, but it is not āscience fictionā and not ājuice sucked from a rockā. anyway, a lot of questions, but isnāt it a useful part of any art form to lead viewers to questions, to work toward changes in the system, and be able to change some perspectives.
so no matter how it ends, i only have two and a half episodes left, i think itās a fabulous production, from any possible angle you take.
i still love, love this director, i think his work is very special, standing out of all other korean directors i have seen so far. and i would like to add, that i especially like the powerful acting of ML, FL and all the supporting cast. for me itās a win-win.
final grade: A –
Itās been years, so my recollection might be wrong on some of this.
I totally agree that ML/Joon Hee failed by assuming FL/Jin Ah would be willing to join him in America as a way to get away from the poison that was still infecting her (and their relationship) in SK . . . and continued to fail by not verifying this was actually the case when she appeared to be stalling. Accepting an overseas job was his bold solution to seemingly intractable problems but he absolutely should have gotten her buy-in before accepting that position.
As you say, given what weād seen of him up till then, not doing so was weird to the point of feeling contrived.
Even so, I donāt see the issue as him being inflexible.
For whatever reason, Jin Ah suddenly backed out of the trusting relationship theyād built and chose to lie to him about what was really happening. So once he left town, he was acting on bad intel. Didnāt she signed a long-term lease for an apartment they had looked at together but misled him to think she was still living at home and was still working on joining him in the US? Had he known the truth of where her head was at, he might have been entirely flexible.
Big caveat and an interesting observation about me: I can no longer distinguish what actually happened in those episodes from the even more exaggerated version I spun in my imagination. Joon Hee being abandoned like that was so vicariously powerful for me that it dwelt in my mind for months, marinating into possible false memories. For example, I have a memory of her going on arranged lunch dates with potential husbands while Joon Hee still thought they were a couple and was still thinking she would be joining him in the US. Did that really happen in the show?
None of us dispute that these are stupid fails that could happen in a real life relationship. The storytelling problem was the non-organic way they were abruptly introduced and then never addressed via character growth or even basic communication.
Every now and then I search the Internet for hindsight from the director or writer on what they were originally thinking and how well they felt theyād executed their vision.
Thus far, the only thing Iāve found worth sharing are these observations from actress Son Ye Jin:
i get your main “pressure point” – how could she leave him and their amazing love story, am i right? ( “Joon Hee being abandoned like that” – uooh, merj1…i get your pain) but… you are right, there are a few memories that got embellished or altered in your mind during this time.
Thank you for those details!
All that fits pretty cleanly with my memory. How soon did she start dating that horrible man that her mother wanted her to marry?
As for the apartment, my point wasnāt that she couldnāt get out of the lease, but that in my memory she didnāt even tell him that she had signed a lease. And therefore was clearly not intending to come join him. In my memory, she even talks to him on the phone while in her new apartment and misleads him on her whereabouts. She allowed him to think she was still living at her parents. (In the version I remember…)
As to whether the corrections to my memory change my impression, nope!
I always cared about these two as a couple. Thatās why I felt so strongly.
Since they are fictional characters, my anger was always truly directed towards the writers and producers. Fictional characters are utterly powerless in the hands of their creators.
It felt arbitrary to build this wonderful relationship and then abruptly sabotage it. And then just wave a magic wand for an equally abrupt happy ending without showing the characters work through those newly revealed relationship issues. Especially given how profoundly damning they were.
“How soon did she start dating that horrible man that her mother wanted her to marry”. merj1, she never ever dated this blind date, she had only one blind date with him, was totally uncooperative as a date, even rude, and he left very upset with the whole situation, never to meet her again.
in regards to the apartment, your recollection is correct, she signed the contract and moved in during his business trip to china for a week, so he was not even there. yes, it was pretty disgusting that she never mentions this issue to him and even lies that she is still in her parent’s place. she later justifies it that she wanted to wait for him to come back from his trip and tell him then. of course, if they are THAT close, as this drama made us to believe, she should have discussed it with him openly and truthfully. but, o well… what i am not sure is that by signing the lease she decided NOT to go with him to america. this was all still very new, and she might have needed time to give it a serious consideration. besides, at the time of taking this apartment, she did not know yet about the move, he told her that only after he came back from china. really screwed up situation from all sides.
although we are dealing with fictional characters (always in any literature or cinema, or theater) our emotions are NOT fictional, and our reactions to the characters are very real. so i get your frustrations.
did i want to change your impressions? nooooooooooo, i was just curious. our human minds are not very flexible that way, unfortunately. a truly open mind is a rare blessing, at the most we can have moments of openings and should be grateful for those if and when it happens.
Surely she dated that guy before becoming engaged to him. Did they give any indication how soon that happened?
what man are you talking about? the one that her mother set up while she was still in a relationship with joon hee and going pretty strong? or the one she dated after the break-up? i was thinking about the first case. if it is about the one after the break up, i do not think the drama gives specifics, but later on we learn from her that she was in mourning for months and very miserable after joon hee left. the drama skips all the time our couple is apart, and jumps straight to the wedding of her brother, where our two main characters meat again. another question that i have, exactly how much time were they with no communication at all. and how come her brother,(joon hee’s best friend) and his sister ( jin ah’s best friend) got removed from the situation entirely, as it seems to be. why? didn’t they love their siblings and their respective friends? everything is very strange, to say the least, if you think about it. complete collapse – everybody gave up on everybody, but drama gives no details or explanations.
Thanks, btw, that did answer my question, that there was a gap of at least months before she started dating the new guy she appeared to be serious with near the end of the show.
āby that he is following the pattern established by her parents, deciding for her without consideration of her emotions and desires. not acceptable, bad, bad move. somehow it does not fit with his character, being all the way a very supportive and considerate partner. it needed some more explanation, more development in this direction, and other previous episodes could have been cut or shortened, if time was an issue for the production. his other fault: suddenly, not being flexible. seeing that she has a problem, may be postpone or change plans, give her some space to breath. impulsive as a child. he was the stronger one in this relationship, but suddenly collapsed. not ready to take on responsibility.ā
I think the main reason why the ML stops being his patient self applies for that job abroad without discussing it with the FL is the hurt that FLās mum is inflicting his sister and the fact that the FL has been kicked out of her family home. He wants to resolve the situation. Take the FL out of her context. Itās understandable. What I donāt think he completely understands is that the FL needs to resolve her issues with her family and her work and at her own pace. Heās pressuring her to take big steps too soon. The whole situation is heartbreaking but completely understandable I think.
Edit: …his patient self and applies…
agree. the root of the problem (plant)is understandable, the question is how is one going to “harvest” the plant. true, he is at the end of his rope, and hurting for him and for her, pains compounding – but the resolution is wrong. that’s what i am saying. nobody is a mind-reader (except my dog, i am not joking), so communication is the key, and that is where both of them miserably fail. he is not even pressuring, it is beyond that, he is imposing his will, his decision on her – take it or leave it. and that is why it is so heartbreaking for us – his behavior completely out of character.
Lol about your dog š. My one is far too lazy to lift an ear for anyone š³
I see what youāre saying, but I think these guys understood each other more than than words could express. The FL knew the ML was at breaking point and he deep down knew he had to leave the FL fight her own battle. For me communication wasnāt the issue. At that precise moment the relationship failed due to their mutual need to concentrate on themselves and they both knew it. The ML needed to leave the FLās toxic environment for his own sanity and development. The FL needed to give her toxic environment a second chance. She owed to her new more mature self. It wasnāt the right time for their relationship and both chose those other things before love. Thatās why it was so heartbreaking.
The point I think of this story was to show how destructive both parental interference or lack of it can beā¦ In the end we are all a product of how we were raised and our successes and our mistakes in life are very strongly connected to our family history.
you must have a very spoiled or lazy dog! mine is a “genius dog” (sorry to be a proud mom).
interesting to read your take on it. but for the life of me, i can not see her “new mature self”. her parents are still ruling her world (she’s almost 40), and she already jumped into another relationship, this time approved by her all mighty mama. seems like she hasn’t learn anything. and although the drama does not elaborate much on that period, it is clear that not much has changed in FL’s world, except she lost the wonder, that gift that her love with joon hee introduced to her otherwise grey miserable life.
both of them went through hell after separation, seems like the abuse from the entire situation to ML was actually less toxic than loosing his love. so, what was achieved? it’s like the surgery was successful, but the patient died. so she’s in the same rotten situation , and what kind of development did he achieve? longing for his lost love for years.
i still believe that the situation was salvageable, starting with communication.
in regards to family history. yes, it is a part of it, but not all. when a person grows up, it is up to them to be their own person and as a grown up take responsibility for one’s own life. there are plenty of examples of orphans growing up to be incredible human beings, an vise versa.
i agree on this: That it was so heartbreaking.
You see, their separation was there not to show āgrowthā but ārealisationā. Itās different. The FL prior to letting the ML go feels that, to be mature and realistic, she needs to sacrifice her love for him and give her motherās wishes a committed shot. This is misguided in her part and frustrating for the viewer, but that is her rational (heroic idiocy if you want to call it that, although I think itās more a stage in her āliberationā journey). Of course, in the end she cannot do it, because she at last realises (when ML appears again in her life) that she needs to withdraw herself from the terrible social setting she grew up in and move to a more liberal setting (Jeju island, I believe is the most alternative free living area in South Korea. The fact that her work friend and herself move there is not aleatory)
I believe that the creators of this show wanted us to realise that overcoming the āsocial programmingā for a whole generation of Koreans is not an easy feat resolvable with a mere success love storyā¦ that it takes time and iterations, and that one can miscalculate these too, because at the end of the day youāre also a byproduct of that patriarchal structure and do not have all the answers, and can even lose the love of our lives in the process…That to achieve āliberationā you need to find it in yourself the strength to say ānoā, even if you have to leave behind difficult and unreasonable parents who you love dearlyā¦ If they had made the FLās plight any easier, and the way to resolution less frustrating, the message they wanted to put across would have been less impactful. Thatās also why the FL was nothing special as personality goes to begin with: to show how difficult it is for the regular person to go against your parents and what you have been brought up to believe is the right way of livingā¦
In the West we tend to underestimate the huge influence our background has on us. Going against oneās background is much more difficult that people imagine. This show is all about that. Every time an insignificant person overcomes a generational nonsensical hurdle, a hero is born.
As for my dog, yes, sheās very lazy, but wise and stoic in her own way, I think. š
i never wanted to insult your dog – as i believe that all animals are wise and mind-readers (even my cats, seriously, this is not a joke. and even my fish know how to manipulate me (sort of). i wish your dog a long and healthy life.
now back to the story. i must admit, your analyses of it is most interesting and enlightening about the goal of this drama. after reading it i should “capitulate” and accept your interpretation as more in depth and introspective way to look at the work of this director, whom i love and appreciate now even more. so thank you for that. to fight for progress, any kind of progress, is quite a daunting task, always slow, one step forward two steps back, and many times quite “bloody” – i have enormous respect for those who are not willing to give up, and art is a big stimulator in all of this. i still stand by what i said earlier, but your way of looking at it is probably way closer to what the writer and director wanted us to consume.
you know, sometimes i think how interesting it would be if we could sit down all together and exchange ideas while looking at each other. but of course, we are a group that comes from different corners of this planet (which makes it so interesting), and that can not just happen.
stay well.
Well my dog is an important part of my life. Now that my kids have abandoned the nest sheās my baby š„° I see your pets have you wrapped around their fingers/ paws/fins as it should be š. I only have my dog and she definitely rules the house!
I would also love to put a face to the people I talk to here. Everybody as so many interesting things to say and I always learn something new in this website. How great it would be to talk about these dramas over a cup of coffee. Somewhat this stuff we write doesnāt deliver completely the spirit in which we share our points of view. Itās doubly hard, I think, for some of us who are not native English speakers.
Everyone one of us view things differently and fixate on different things when we watch these dramas. I must admit that Korean family and social structure is one of the things that Iām most fascinated with. In so many of these stories the conflict with parents, the legacy of parents, the presence of parents are always there. In this drama I just connected with the message at a very fundamental and personal level and I felt the same with One Spring Night, whereas with Secret Love Affair by the same director, although it was a most enjoyable and fascinating watch, did not felt as relatable or grounded to me, perhaps because the very complex and interesting female lead did not feel like the regular mediocre girl I prefer rooting for.
The writers and the director of these three shows are really great. I think you and me agree on that. š
o yah, my animals definitely have me wrapped around their paws, but that’s just how i like it! having close relationships with other species i consider a true privilege.
i will definitely watch “one spring night” also, it’s next on my list, it’s just that right now i am watching “doctor john” (love ji sung, but even more important the aspect of euthanasia has been front and center on my mind and heart as i lost a lot of close people to cancer, so i really wanted to see how the koreans are dealing with this “hot potato”, and actually so far i am impressed, seems like they are more brave than the americans). at the same time i am watching “ruyi’s royal love in the palace” – 87 episodes,(don’t call me crazy, i missed the glory of the chinese historical dramas, they are my first love and my guilty pleasure). but this particular drama is like walking into the metropolitan museum, (if this is something of interest to you) the palaces, the dĆ©cor, the costumes, and the hair fashions – they are no less than entire sculptures on the harem’s girls’ heads. but of course, there is much more, talk about women’s psychology in a super men’s dominated world ! and i am rewatching “the disguiser” – actually you might find it interesting, apart from a riveting drama of the same production crew and actors as from “nirvana in fire” (i dare to say that wang kai, our favorite prince from “nirvana” and jin dong are even more impressive than in the “nirvana in fire”-imagine that!), it is really not just about war, but warmth of a close nit family under intense stress, brotherly love at any cost, sacrifices for siblings and country… it warms your heart, i promise.
and of course i am watching the group dramas. i find that if i can divide my attention between a few dramas, it helps me be less obsessive on some of them, as i switch my attention between them.
I must look out for the dramas you recommended, although I must confess Iām one of those people that watches primarily romantic stories, let it be kdrama, Chinese, Japanese or Western drama. I do fixate on and appreciate social and political issues in these stories and how they enrich the plot and characters, but what Iām more interested in is the evolution of the romantic storyline and the OTP.
Saying that I do view stories which do not necessarily contain romance, but I tend to be very selective on that score. I started Nirvana in Fire (as I was told it was a must-see by many people here), but I found it a bit too hard to get intoā¦ I probably should give it another go in the summer and force myself to watch the first eps until I get into it. I also watched Squid Game since it became so popular and absolutely loved it! Of the non-romantic genre Iām planning to watch DP and Iām waiting for the watch group here to start watching My Mister too.
of the period kdramas, I started to watch the Crowned Clown. Itās very well made, but for some reason I lost interest in episode 5ā¦ the romance is cute but painfully slow and the palace intrigues were starting to bore me.
Im quite fun of Chinese dramas, Meteor Garden being one of my favourites. I have also enjoyed a couple of Chinese romantic comedies, but I probably should deep my toes in their period and fantasy dramas.
At the minute Iām busy at work so Iām just in rewatching mode. Iām going back to watching everything with Hyun Binā¦ I never get tired of that man and the characters he plays! Iāll probably move to Gong Yo soon, starting with Coffee Prince and moving on to Goblin, which are the two dramas of his I love most š
ok, so now that i know what you are looking for more or less, i probably should derecommend “ruyi’s royal love” – unless you want to glance on just a few episodes, (not the very beginning but starting from epsd. 15-20), just to “flush your eyes” with the explicit splendor of ancient chinese palace life – this particular drama is the most representational of it all from all dramas i’ve seen so far.
“doctor john” is quite special, as it does not present you with a specific idea like the ones you described in “something in the rain”, rather throws at you not just two different perspectives, but quite a few, on the issue of euthanasia including most complex views, different from each other and opposing, on life and death. it simply describes all possible points of view on this most difficult question that humanity is facing and leaves you with multiple questions to ponder on, and that is quite different from most dramas that want to lead you in some specific direction that the production chooses for you to follow. it is not an easy drama to watch, as it deals with THE MOST important questions of humanity – life and death. the drama itself, although pretty good acting, is not the best drama, but raises the most interesting and necessary ideas, quite outstanding in it’s presentation.
if you like chinese romantic comedies, i think you would really enjoy “the perfect couple” with wallace huo and tiffany tang and as a perfect OTP, very funny for more than the first half and then turning into a melodrama, but i guess you would still appreciate it.
but the most, most, most perfect OTP is in “the rise of the phoenixes” – truly the best ever. i would strongly recommend, i personally think that it is more enjoyable than “nirvana in fire”, and easier to get into and stay there. it is one of my top favorites, if not THE FAVORITE because of the OTP, and the amazing acting of chen kun and nini. and although it is 70 episodes, it is so engaging that i did not even mind it. plus, you can view it as if you are watching 3, or 4, or 5 different shorter dramas, what’s the difference. that is how i look at it. i watched it 6 or 7 times, more than any other drama. and i would really like to hear your take on this drama.
one more thing i wanted to add: “ruyi’s love..” is one of the most if not THE MOST historically accurate, down to the costumes, hairstyles (o my god, these hairstyles i did not see it before) and all the rest, including the characters (or most of them). so to me that was a big attraction.
Just completed my post Kdrama ritual by thoroughly reading Kfangurl’s review to help me understand my reaction and reading comments by her fans. I’ve now viewed almost 20 Kdramas!
There is a lot to unwrap. I found this drama to be exhausting, confusing and unsatisfying. For me, the decision to watch it was driven by the lead actors–both are so talented. Loved her in Crash Landing on You and him in While You Were Sleeping and Prison Playbook, and wanted to see more of them.
So, having said that, the writers seemed to give up on characters and themes introduced in the first half, pulled things apart in the last half, then deprived the viewers of a decent conclusion. I wish the lose ends in the finale had been tied up earlier (the last 6 minutes of 16 episodes–SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?) and thoroughly. I agree with the fan that suggested showing an iconic American landmark during the beach walk would have been simple (green screen technique) and effective.
I watched One Spring Night first and did not care for it either. So, my next Kdrama is something lighter: Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
Someday I’ll try others suggest by Kfangurl, like Secret Love Affair and Healer.
Thanks so much for being there with your top-notch reviews, Kfangurl & thanks fellow Kfangurl fans for completing my viewing experience.
I left this story after watching Ep 7, maybe 8, a few years back when it first showed on Netflix. I was really looking forward to the noona romance, was investe in the story when a few things just made me feel enough is enough. I just couldn’t continue….and has left it since. It has sat in my “cannot proceed” Kdrama list ever since.
First, the main song. Never liked it. The lyrics alone smell of patriarchal bs to me. And the intro guitar is annoying and appears too often in the story. Ughh….i can hear it in my mind now.
Second, weak fl. I was rooting for Jin Ah and was hoping that she would be a strong, resilient and consistent character – but she was disappointing. And since I’ve read your review Kfangurl, and there doesn’t seem to be any big development on her, guess she’s wishy-washy till the end.
Third, the mother character was a bit much to me. I just wanted her to back off a bit.
Fourth, the main guy Joon Hee looks a bit too much like a high-schooler still. Can’t they make him look a biiiit more late 20s or early thirties? I know this is a noona romance but….hmmm…are we supposed to see him as a kid compared to the more sophisticated looking Jin Ah?
So thanks for this review. I knew there was something a bit ”off” about the story but I thought I was being nit-picky. So nope, not going to revisit and finish the story.
I am so glad Iāve found your blog, #kfangirl! As many of the others commenting here, watching SitR left me so confused and disturbed that I needed to reach out to try to get to the bottom of my unease. So, thank you, #kfangirl for clarifying some of the points in your review.
Iām very new to Kdrama having started only during the first lockdown. My first show, My Secret Terrius, recommended a friend, was so ridiculously silly, carefree and removed from the grim reality of Covid that I think it largely contributed to saving my sanity during that time. But it also got me hooked and since I have watched a number of kdramas getting more and more intrigued and then fascinated by the country, its culture and the profound societal change itās undergoing.
However, unexpectedly SitR hit me quite hard and I couldnāt get to terms with it. I guess my confusion was partly related to the fact that I donāt entirely trust my understanding of the context that #kfangirl so interestingly writes about in her review. I was wondering that even though I found Jin Ah highly irritating and immature maybe in fact in her context she was meant to depict an exemplary modern, emancipated woman. Fortunately, I was relieved to discover here that others too consider the Jin Ah character deeply flawed (not unlike J. Austinās Emma) and not a role model at all. Was this intentional though or was Jin Ahās character a result of too much of male contribution in the creative process that transformed her into someone suiting archaic views on femininity?
Similarly, I couldnāt get over the Gyu Minās violence plot and how it was brushed over. With the level of violence against women both in Korea and elsewhere in the world and with so many women being killed daily by their partners or ex-partners, usually at the time of splitting-up, Jin Ah just moved on with it remaining in good spirits throughout. And then she even met with Gyu Min again, just to get her new phone. ģ§ģ§?!! Women experiencing this kind of assault typically suffer from PTSD, I know this too well having worked with survivors of gender-based violence. Again, my suspicion was that some chauvinistic guys meddled in the creative process and implanted in the script their vision of a perfect woman who is meek, accepting and forgiving, not particularly reasonable (perhaps relying on the so called āfemale intuition and tacticsā instead). I found this pretty upsetting.
I agree with some here saying that the workplace sexual harassment plot was perhaps meant to be simply, and sadly, realistic rather than being flimsily constructed so this part didnāt cause me much bother. I also only partly agree with #kfangirl on the meaning of the ending. I thought that what the authors might have wanted to convey, even if not very skillfully, was that Jin Ah at that point in life was free to move on, having dealt with all her different problems on her own and maturing in the process. Maybe that was to indicate that now she was ready to change her context, freely and not just to be rescued, and leave with Joon Hee to the US? But Iām not entirely convinced.
Like many others, I too loved Gyung Sun and Bo Ra. They both left the oppressive context even if their exile was internal only. Interestingly though neither had been involved in any romance at any point. Were they too strong women to attract attention of any man whatsoever in the authorsā view? Was this another uninvited even if unintentional misogynistic insertion?
All in all, whether a result of misogynistic meddling or not, it all felt very messy and unsettling. The whole world depicted by this drama was sad, deeply pessimistic and oppressive with people trying to control and take advantage of one another whether financially, sexually or emotionally. Also, what was meant as a ray of hope in the form of Jon Ah and Joon Hee childishly frolicking on the beach was not very plausible either. Well, I think I might need to find another secret Terrius now to cheer myself up a bit.
I feel differentIy from you about this one, kfangirl. I did enjoy SITRā¦ I loved how it ended too. Pure melodrama. Whatās not to like? The acting was fantastic and the chemistry between the leads truly amazing.
I think coming to this show one must be warned that, even though this is a love story and the OTP is everything, one cannot overlook the fact that the overarching theme of the show is how profoundly both parental presence and parental absence can affect a person. The parents of both hero and heroine are polar opposites in terms of involvement and the story is trying to contrast and expose, successfully I think, the damage both types of parenting causes. The point where Jin-a says goodbye to her mother for good in episode 16 is what the show was building up to. Jin-a needed to reach that point to finally allow herself to be happy. It was frustrating, sure, but that was her journey.
Jin-a and Jun-hui are not meant to be extraordinary peopleā¦ in fact this story is more impactful because they actually are not that special or heroic, but just your average sweet young woman brought up to please everyone (and yes, slightly immature) and a charming younger man trying very hard to be more grown up than he really is. They are both the product of their upbringing and their circumstances. This drama criticises how ruthlessly societal norms and expectations can erode a romantic attachment that does not conform. It is not about a couple heroically āovercoming difficultiesā. The point is exactly the opposite: that these difficulties are insurmountable for mere individuals because theyāre systemic. In the end, the only solution for a happy life is leaving the nest with all its pressures and be brave enough to live your own life. In the case of Jin-a this is something sheās unable to do until she decides to start a new life in Jeju island. Learning to leave parental pressure behind has been presented as a coming of age of sorts in this story. I have noticed this is a running theme in other dramas by this author. I find it very interesting.
I personally donāt need main characters to be strong nor extraordinary in order to like them or root for them. Also the style of this melodrama stabilised early that the OTP dynamics were performative and visual rather than dialogue based. We only know that they care about each other. The drama is not interested in telling us why because it doesnāt have to. You are meant to āfeelā their love rather than āunderstandā it. It is a writing and directing choice. Thatās why the coupleās chemistry had to be strong, āshowingā love rather than ātellingā love.
The abuse in the workplace storyline illustrated how our heroine gains courage thanks to her relationship with our hero. In the end she is able to fight a battle she knows will bring her down professionally, but she does it anyway, because she wants to bring her abusive bosses to justice. Doing this is part of her growing up into the adult she wants to become.
Also, I donāt believe she meets the Jun-hui’s dad out of self righteousness. She simply mishandles the situation and even admits doing so. Also, I donāt think that the problem the couple faced was lack of communication exactly, but rather a difference in priorities at some point in the story: Jin-a values her parents and her world, even though it causes her pain. Jun-hui, however, feels like an outcast in a world that so viciously judges him. This is the real reason why he leaves Korea in episode 15 and Jin-a decides to stay. Jin-a and Jun-hui’s love was intense, but neither of them was prepared to give up everything to save it at this point in the story. it isn’t a case of them having to learn to communicate, but rather them creating a new environment for themselves in which their relationship can exist. But they are only prepared to do this in episode 16. That was frustrating, I admit, but I did enjoy the journey. A C grade is far too harsh for me.
Totally agree, that not all issues can be resolved. Sometimes the best thing is to remove yourself from the environment after all certain things in life cannot be changed. For example, Jun-huiās parentage.
Sure. This is one of those shows in which there is no happy ending for parent and child. The take here is that, with change, some people from the older generation will be left behind and, yes, abandonedā¦ It is harsh but hey: you reap what you sow.
ĻĻĻĪæ Ī“ĪÆĪŗĪ±Ī¹Īæ ĪĻĪµĪ¹Ļ Ī±Ļ ĻĪ® ĪµĪÆĪ½Ī±Ī¹ ĻĪµĪ»Ī¹ĪŗĪ¬ Ī· Ī¬ĻĪæĻĪ· ĻĪ·Ļ ĻĪµĪ¹ĻĪ¬Ļ ĻĻĪ¹ Ī“ĪµĪ½ Ī±Ī»Ī»Ī¬Ī¶ĪæĻ Ī½ ĻĪ»ĪæĪ¹ ĪæĪ¹ Ī¬Ī½ĪøĻĻĻĪæĪ¹ Ī³Ī¹Ī± ĻĪ±ĻĪ¬Ī“ĪµĪ¹Ī³Ī¼Ī± Ī· Ī¼Ī·ĻĪĻĪ± ĻĪ·Ļ ĻĪ·Ī½ ĪŗĪ±ĻĪ±Ī»Ī±Ī²Ī±ĪÆĪ½ĪµĪ¹ ĻĪ¼ĻĻ Ī“ĪµĪ½ ĻĪ·Ī½ ĪµĻĪ·ĻĪµĪ¬Ī¶ĪµĪ¹ ĻĪ»ĪĪæĪ½ ĪŗĪ±Ī¹ ĻĪ±ĪÆĻĪ½ĪµĪ¹ ĻĪæĪ½ Ī“Ī¹ĪŗĻ ĻĪ·Ļ Ī“ĻĻĪ¼Īæ . Ī§ĻĪµĪ¹Ī¬ĻĻĪ·ĪŗĪµ ĻĪæĪ»Ļ Ī“ĻĻĪ¼Īæ ĪŗĪ±Ī¹ ĻĻĪ½Īæ Ī³Ī¹Ī± Ī½Ī± ĻĪ¬ĻĪµĪ¹ ĻĪ·Ī½ Ī±ĻĻĻĪ±ĻĪ· Ī½Ī± Ī±ĻĪæĪ¼Ī±ĪŗĻĻ Ī½ĪøĪµĪÆ Ī±ĻĻ ĻĪæ ĻĻĪÆĻĪ¹ ĻĪ·Ļ ĪŗĪ±Ī¹ Ī½Ī± Ī¼Ī·Ī½ ĻĪ·Ī½ Ī½ĪæĪ¹Ī¬Ī¶ĪµĪ¹ Ī½Ī± ĪµĪÆĪ½Ī±Ī¹ Ī±ĻĪµĻĻĪ® ĪŗĻĻĪ· Ī® Ī¼Ī¬Ī»Ī»ĪæĪ½ Ī±ĻĪµĻĻĪ® ĻĪµ ĪŗĪ±Ī½ĪĪ½Ī±Ī½ ĻĪæĻ Ī®ĻĪ±Ī½ ĻĪæ ĻĻĻĻĪæ ĻĪ·Ļ Ī¼ĪĪ»Ī·Ī¼Ī±. Ī Ī¼Ī·ĻĪĻĪ± Ī“ĪµĪ½ ĻĪ±ĻĪ±Ī“ĪĻĪµĻĪ±Ī¹ ĻĪæ Ī»Ī¬ĪøĪæĻ ĻĪ·Ļ ĻĻĪ·Ī½ ĻĻ Ī¼Ī¼ĪµĻĪæĻĪ® ĻĪæĻ ĻĻĻĪ¹ĻĪ¼ĪæĻ ĻĪæĻ Ļ ,Ī“ĪµĪ½ Ī±Ī»Ī»Ī¬Ī¶ĪµĪ¹ Ī±Ī»Ī»Ī¬ ĻĪ·Ī½ Ī±ĻĪ®Ī½ĪµĪ¹ ĪµĪ»ĪµĻĪøĪµĻĪ·. ĪĪ¹’ Ī±Ļ ĻĻ Ī¼ĪæĻ Ī±ĻĪĻĪµĪ¹ ĻĻĻĪæ ĻĪæĪ»Ļ Ī±Ļ ĻĪ® Ī· ĻĪµĪ¹ĻĪ¬ Ī³Ī¹Ī±ĻĪÆ ĪµĪÆĪ½Ī±Ī¹ ĻĪ±Ī½ Ī½Ī± Ī²Ī»ĪĻĻ ĻĪ·Ī½ ĻĻĪ±Ī³Ī¼Ī±ĻĪ¹ĪŗĻĻĪ·ĻĪ± ĪŗĪ±Ī¹ ĻĻĪ¹ Ī¼Ī¹Ī± ĻĪµĪ¹ĻĪ¬ ĻĪ±Ī½ĻĪ±ĻĪÆĪ±Ļ. ĪĪ¹ ĻĪ±ĻĪ±ĪŗĻĪ®ĻĪµĻ Ī®ĻĪ±Ī½ Ī¼Īµ Ī»Ī¬ĪøĪ· ĻĻĻĻ ĪæĪ¹ Ī¬Ī½ĪøĻĻĻĪæĪ¹. ĪĪµĪ½ Ī»ĻĪ½ĪæĪ½ĻĪ±Ī¹ ĻĪ»Ī± Ī¼Ī±Ī³Ī¹ĪŗĪ¬. Ī¤Īæ Ī½Ī± Ī²Ī»ĪĻĻ ĻĪ·Ī½ Ī¤Ī¶Ī¹Ī½ Ī± Ī½Ī± Ī±Ī»Ī»Ī¬Ī¶ĪµĪ¹ ĻĻĻĪæ ĻĻĪæĻĻĻĪ¹ĪŗĻĻĪ·ĻĪ± ĪŗĪ±Ī¹ Ī½Ī± Ī±ĻĪæĪŗĻĪ¬ĪµĪ¹ Ī±Ļ ĻĪæĻĪµĪ²Ī±ĻĪ¼Ļ Ī®ĻĪ±Ī½ ĻĪæ ĪŗĪ¬ĻĪ¹ Ī¬Ī»Ī»Īæ.
Hi Gatsa. Thank goodness for google translate! It’s great that I’m able to read your post it. the mother was certainly abusive, although unwittingly I think. The show wanted to comment on this terrible and, apparently, socially accepted behaviour in the Korea of today.
I know a bit of Ancient Greek so: ĻĪæĪ¹ ĪŗĪ±Ī»Ī·Ī½ į¼”Ī¼ĪµĻĪ±Ī½ į¼ĪøĪµĪ»Ļ. ĻĪæĻ į¼Ī½ ĻĪ· ĻĻĪ½ į¼Ī»Ī»ĪµĪ½ĻĪ½ ĻĻĻĪ± Īµį¼°;
edit: read your post using it.
OK, I’m slowly recovering from this series. And I’m very late to the party, but I’m so moved that I can’t resist posting a comment. I watched the better part of “One spring night”, to help me realize that SitR is only a show, and not real. The play is so realistic. I have a hard time believing that this was only acting. Watching this show made me realize how hard it most be for an actor of actress to give your all on camera, and then return to “normal” life again. I read somewhere that even miss Son mentioned that, while she normally steps out of a role easily, she had some worries about this one. And it may be my bias – I confess that I am deeply in love with Jin-Ah/miss Son – , but every time mr Jung is with the female lead in “One spring night”, I look at his face and only see “D**n, why did Son Ye-Jin decline this role”.
Did I love everything? No. The car race thing (and a lot of stuff about jerk BF) felt unnatural. And I felt this anxiety growing in the latter part of the series to get on with it. Wanting to skip through the slow scenes, and get some resolve.
For the most part I agree with the outstanding primary review. Then again, there are a few points where I beg to differ. More on that later.
I’m no expert on Kdrama. My first experience was “Memories of the Alhambra”, and checking out the cast led me to “Crash landing on you” and then “Something in the Rain”. The first two have this ending of unreachable love (OK, apart from a lousy two weeks a year in CLOY that will have to make do), that is not really satisfying for a male white European like me. Both series have a sort of abstract, stilistic feel to me (MotA more than CLOY). But SitR I truly loved. Including the brilliant ending (more on that also later). Had to rewatch immediately after some research, to try and understand what is really going on and what this show is about.
First of all, it took me a visit to wikipedia to understand that the series deals with several underlaying Korean taboos. And my first rewatch was with that in mind (with more of an idea how this noona-thing is troubling Jin-Ah). And picking up a lot of subtle hints you can easily miss the first time around, but give a lot of depth to what is going on. So I watched again. Admittedly, I skipped through most of the “stand by your man” and office scenes, but nevertheless. I got the feeling that the characters are much deeper and complicated than in your average drama. And that you have to understand the characters to really understand the series. This is almost psychological drama primarily disguised as romcom. The review points out some points where both players act not grown up. Exactly. That is not a bug, that is a feature. That is what the series is about. The struggle to grow up. Even when you seem to be an adult.
Who is Jin-Ah really? A woman in her mid-thirties. We learn that she is known for dating quite a lot and passionately (statement to Joon-Hee, spicy pictures on the laptop), but has never been really in love (statement to BFF). Trying to please everyone around her, to live up to expectations from her work surroundings and her dominant mother. She plays the role of good daughter and loyal worker. But beneath a lovely smile she’s emotionally severely damaged, fleeing in dancing, karaoke and drinking (brother calls her an alcoholic). There is some truth in the statement of her jerk BF that she is konjak. She complies. Emotionally she is not a grown up. She’s immature, despite her age. Look how they first meet. Chasing Joon-Hee on his bike, chasing him around the office. That is not how your average thrity-five year old woman reacts. He takes her back to her teenage time, when they were playing. And sets her coming of age in motion from that point on.
Same goes for Joon-He. No father, no mother, a nobody in Korea, found some self respect in America (“Korea is too small”). But also immature. And quite rushing things. (Really, wanting to join her on a two day trip the day after you held hands the first time? Inviting her to stay over the first weekend of your relation?)
A bit more about Jin-Ah. Yes, she lies. A lot. But it seems customary for almost all characters to give their “own twist” to reality. Might be a cultural thing, to slightly bend the truth. Or it might be the damage to her, or her habit of years to never speak out that she cannot break. She complies, avoids conflict. That is how she survived for 15 years or so. She’s very afraid, maybe incapable of showing her true feelings. She doesn’t know how to handle situations in which that is what you have to do. Watch how she can not tell Joon-hee to his face that she loves him. A lipsticked kiss on the picture, a heart drawn on his back, OK, but not in words. Not even after she recorded the message on his phone, which was the first time she was truly honest – in the safety of being alone in her bedroom. Watch how she flees in strange girlish behaviour after her statement that they break up, struggling to make up, but unable to, even offering herself in a desperate attempt. That is not calculation. That is despair.
I can’t help but wonder what goes through her head (yes, I know it’s acting) when she spends the first weekend with Joon-Hee and he aks her to hold her “more tightly”. She thinks it over, takes another sip of wine, (Joon-Hee thinks things are going south) thinks again, put the glass away and walks clamly to the bed. Was that love or compliance? Because that’s what expected of her? Yes, there are unhealthy elements in this relation.
Speaking of holding more tightly (or the post accident activities, as the above review calls it): This is a point where my opinion differs from the review. This was definitely Jin-ah’s choice. She called her parents to say she wasn’t going home. She tells Joon-Hee he’ll be sorry for stating he hates her. She wanted to be comforted by a man that did love her, and makes that very clear by even suggesting they do something all couples do. And Joon-Hee, who scares off at this point because now she is getting serious (or misses her point), makes her work for it. That is where he went wrong. Not in speeding home.
But my main reason – yes, I am somewhat long winded – to react is about the ending. I think it is brilliant and very well thought out. My take on it: the umbrellas are clearly symbols. The red one: Jin-Ah asks why one and why red. Red is love, passion, color for a bride. It is a definite and possibly very bold statement from Joon-Hee. Look how confused Jin-Ah is: how is she to interpret this? He makes it a gift.
Later, when Jin-Ah on second thoughts decides not to throw it away, Joon-Hee keeps dragging on about it, giving enormous emotional weight to that thing. The green umbrella (standing for a new beginning) is given to him by Jin-Ah, after her stupid blind date. Again, promises are made to not throw it away. Add that to their normal communication, from the days things were good, never speaking out openly, but somewhat childish.
Their last conversation is just code. When he asks for his umbrella, it is reminding her that they both should never throw them away. The umbrella’s are almost engaments rings. He asks not for his umbrella, but the clean start with her it symbolized. She offers a yellow one in return. Meaning: you can take any girl you want. Umbrella is umbrella. But he does not want any umbrella, he want HIS umbrella: Jin-Ah.
Have they matured? Yes. Where Jin-Ah the first time holds his hand to start their relation up (and Joon-Hee felt stupid for not taking the first step), she now forces him to speak out first. He has to take the first step now. But now, she is free and independant. And it is her explicit choice (and not compliance!) to go back to when all was good.
Listen to the final words of the song, deep into the titles: Come away with me. Leave it all behind.
Guess they are grown up now.
I watched this show last week and is still in my mind, so Iām reading through the comments here trying to find out if someone feels the same way I do, and I see you very much touch on very important points the drama is trying to communicate, I think.
There is a very intentional criticism of Korean family expectations and patriarchal society in the show, demonstrated by the heroine’s decision to leave her family and professional set up and move to a more liberal, easy going part of Korea. Only in this new environment her relationship with the hero is possible. It takes her a very long time to get there, but I think the point of this drama was to show that it is not easy to break away from our nurturers, no matter how poisonous our nurturers may be and how much they make us suffer.
Thank you for your insights. I really enjoyed reading your post.
I mostly like your reviews but this one seems too harsh. I agree that Jin ah was a very flawed character, mostly because she was a very weak person while Jun hui was immature and impulsive. But they had their share of good traits too. They were just ordinary people with their share of imperfections and this was a romance between them. However you can’t dislike a drama because its characters aren’t according to how you expect people to be. If seen from a western perspective Jin Ah’s character would be impossible to conceive, but if you are brought up in an Asian society with all its taboos, restrictions and demand for unconditional respect and obedience for elders and parents, the amount of emotional trauma Jin ah had to go through can be really understood. It definitely borders on abuse as rightly pointed out by her brother. Sure she should have been stronger, but she wasn’t. That definitely makes her less likeable as a character; but it doesn’t make the drama bad. The drama was impeccable in its writing, direction and of course acting. I could feel every moment of their relationship as if it was my own. Which doesn’t mean that I liked everything about their relationship. I hated all the lying and dishonesty part specially. But a good show is one which makes you invested in the story and characters enough to care about them and I could literally feel myself shouting at Jin ah not to go on that blind date. You said it yourself you felt like shaking her up and telling her to be strong. That according to me is what makes a good drama and a good show. It feels like reading a book where you are transported to their world and you can really connect with the characters. I haven’t watched one spring night (will definitely do so after this) but it is just my opinion that a drama doesn’t have to be about a perfect relationship or about people who are likeable to be good.
The workplace harassment issue was also dealt with in a very realistic way. Sure it seemed like there was no proper resolution for it, but in Korea and in also in many other countries, these things usually pan out in this same way that they have shown. It was just a realistic portrayal of how things stand so that people who watch it realize that a change is needed.
And the most important thing I disagree with in your review is about the music track. I really loved the background scores. In fact the music was the reasons I didn’t auto-play the next episode immediately but
waited for the credits to roll after each episode. I seldom do that while watching dramas. I definitely do
not like the lyrics to that song stand by your man. But I like the music and all the other tracks. Specially save
the last dance for me and love goes on and on. The music was beautiful. As was the drama in its entirety.
Is people are looking for a cutesy typical K-drama romance, this drama would definitely be a let-downer for them after episode 6. But for me, this drama was more of an emotion; a slow burning, heartrending tale of two imperfect people and their imperfect relationship and a soulfully realistic depiction of the familial and societal taboos, restrictions and expectations in Asian cultures.
I finished watching “Something in the Rain” on Netflix yesterday and found it both compelling and irritating. While searching for reviews, I found this website. I really enjoyed kfangirl’s review and the comments, as they helped me articulate what I liked and didn’t like.
My background: I’m getting my money’s worth out of my Netflix subscription in the time of coronavirus and stumbled across the Korean show “Abyss”, which I watched although it was totally ridiculous from the get-go. So then Netflix would keep advertising other Korean shows to me and I’d try them out (finished “The King: Eternal Monarch”, watched part of the first episode of “Crash Landing on You”, and watched the first two episodes of “Memories of the Alhambra”). I have little experience with Korean entertainment and no ties to Asia (other than friends and colleagues from there). Compared on the other shows I’d seen, this one was quite different in being more realistic.
Jin A: She definitely got annoying, especially when she did dumb things, and her mannerisms when making up after a fight were off-putting. But I had a lot of sympathy for her, neuroses and all. It would have been instructive to see more about her past: surely Gyu-min was not her first boyfriend and surely her mother has been bullying her about getting married for at least 15 years. That together with unpleasant experiences at work may have made her rather passive-agressive. I’m guessing that especially because of the culture she grew up in, it is terriby difficult for her to decide that her parents’ opinions on her significant other are irrelevant.
Jun-hui: His character flaws seemed less than hers and perhaps more forgivable given his age (I viewed him as 25, giving a 10-year age gap). Primarily, he tried so hard to be upbeat and positive that he wouldn’t admit when anything was bothering him.
Their relationship: I agree with another commenter that Jun-hui was actually in love with being in love. For whatever reason, he chose Jin A, and I wonder if the fact that she was the same age as and friend of his own beloved sister was part of the attraction. Given his personality and aversion to his dad’s behavior, I’ll bet he viewed loyalty extremely high, and wasn’t going to change his mind about her, even if she deeply hurt and disappointed him. On the positive side, the show mostly presented their happy laughing times with no dialog, while zooming in on their fights. So maybe we didn’t see Jin A at her best in the relationship. I wonder if the writers were working from the Anna Karenina principle: “Happy families are all alike [boring]; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way [interering].” And of course their level of communication was abysmal!
Their future: I’d like to be optimistic that they will be together. In the last episode, Jin A showed a lot maturity in having honest (non-cutesy) conversations with her mother and Geyoung-seon (sp?). I was a bit taken aback by her final conversation with Bo-ra saying that she couldn’t take the intensity and stress of her relationship with Jun-Hui. I wonder if it is true or if she was retconning the past to try to make herself or Bo-ra feel better. It’s in contrast to things she said during their relationship about how much she loved him, she’d never give him up, and the recording she put on his phone. However when they did meet up at the end, they definitely reverted to their old bad habits of communication.
The music: Please put me out of my misery if I ever have to hear Tammy Wynette again!! OK, I now see that it wasn’t actually Tammy singing but you know what I mean. They must have had zero budget for music and just put three songs on repeat.
Miscellaneous: I wasn’t convinced how the creepy ex-boyfriend morphed from everyday jerk to psychopathic killer. The sexual harrassment at work case was an interesting angle but I couldn’t follow how it was resolved. Jin A’s situation afterwards was probably realistic, or even better than many real cases where the victim ends up losing the court case and out of a job, but it wasn’t uplifting.
Summary: I don’t disagree with the negatives articulated by kfangirl, but for me, the show was greater than the sum of its parts. I don’t know if I’ll rewatch it (especially in its entirety) but the characters are likely to remain with me, and I wish them well. And kudos to the actors for amazing performances.
Thanks for running such a fun and informative site! Now I don’t have to have all these conversations in my head.
That actually was Tammy Wynette. However they alternated her original with a cover by Carla Bruni.
Someone else will say if I don’t, so here you go: Check out One Spring Night, also on Netflix. Same writer/production team, and like this one, it’s more realistic feeling than some of these shows. But they got it right this time.
It’s also the same actor for the male lead and for the female lead’s mom, except that this time the mom is wonderful.
Also the same technique of using a few songs over and over, except this time it mostly works.
One Spring Night is one of only two of these K-dramas that my wife and I have watched twice. The other being Romance Is A Bonus Book. Also great, though quite different!
Thanks for the recommendations! I will check them out.
Agree with you on most points. What happened in the years prior to the series is only pointed out through very subtle hints and short remarks at different points. I do think she’s much more emotionally damaged/immature than we, viewers, realize at first sight. But to me, the whole series is just about Jin-Ah (and, more or less, Jun-Hui) growing up.
I don’t know if it is Jun-Hui who is in love with being in love. He can get any girl he wants and has proven so (hence his 100% score), but he now specifically chooses the person Jin-Ah. Maybe because she is somehow important in his youth/mothercomplex thing? I don’t know. But he chooses her. In the beginning I think it’s Jin-Ah who is in love with being loved. After the car accident, it seems like Jin-Ah is ready to get into a real relationship and become a real couple, which seems to scare Jun-Hui off. I wonder if at this point Jun-Hui realizes what being in a relationship really means. He does not understand that his noona needs to find and develop herself. I agree with your analysis of loyalty and never letting go of a decision you once made. A less determined man would never have taken a plane to Korea to go to a wedding he wasn’t invited to (!!) just to see his old crush. (no, don’t believe him if he says otherwise. We know better).
Although the harassment thing took quite a lot of screen time, to me it never was about resolving the harassment itself, but an indicator of her growth as a person. We don’t see her personal growth in her relation with Jun-hui. That keeps going up and down, with steps forwards and steps backwards and lots of foolish decisions and hopeless communication. But we do see miss Tambourine first refusing to join the bosses at dinner, refusing to go to a karaoke bar with them, asking very politely what she did wrong during the trip, and even fooling her bosses into watching a bromance film together, reminding them of this in front of the CEO. Brilliant! It is not very important that she won the harassment case. She stood up for herself. Even if the system didn’t change and she is still bullied by a boss (I thought she was head of that logistical centre? well ok, nvm).
I do think though that meeting Jun-Hui confronts her with what has happened. Yes, she stood her ground, but there’s no real difference. She’s back to living up to other peoples expectations. Has another jerk BF (how foolish can you be). O, how I love she just gets out of the car at a traffic light and that’s it, this time. We only see from a distance how jerk BF steps out, but he’s not relevant. She decides it is over, and this time that means it is. No efforts to win her back, no parents trying to change her mind. She’s in charge of her life.
Her final talk with Bo-Ra to me is obviously lying to herself. That she can wear his necklace because she has no feelings for him anymore is an blatant lie, and an attempt to come to terms with the fact that this is it. Both she and Bo Ra know it, but Bo Ra won’t press on. Jin-Ah has – finally – made her choices and is ready to live with them.
And yes, the final talk with Jun-Hui is once again in their own crippled code, but hey, they understand what is said. They pick up seamlessly where they left. As if the confrontation in Jun-Hui’s room was only 5 minutes before. And just what should have happened then. I loved it.
And indeed a truly amazing acting performance. Son Ye Jin will forever be Jin-Ah to me. Never been so immersed.
I just found your review and am trying to read through the wealth of comments. It is wonderful to see so many intelligent responses with such an excellent review. It will take me awhile to go through them all. My husband & I are new to the Kdrama world and have never loved TV so much; we are blown away by the Korean quality of shows. I will hopefully more comment after I have finished reading. Thank you so much, it is so nice to see a really good exchange of ideas on an experience we have all shared!
Welcome aboard! My wife and I are only a year or so into K-drama, but we’ve seen a lot of shows now, so if you ever need a recommendation…
Twenty-five shows later, SitR still stands out for us for several reasons:
One, the romance was sooo good. Until suddenly it wasn’t.
Two, the sexual harassment theme was brilliant, until suddenly it wasn’t.
What tied these two storylines together was Jin-ah’s growing sense of agency, aided in no small part by Jun-Hui’s faith in her.
So why, I wonder, did the writers choose to wreck the show’s great vibe by having Jin-ah newfound agency lead her so far astray? She blows off her OTP and rewards the vileness of her company’s response to the lawsuit by meekly accepting a job in the hinterlands, and then stays there for years?
Was that their intent, as some kind of deeper insight into the fickleness of human nature? Or were they simply trying to add new dramatic tension and muffed the execution?
Someday I hope to learn the answer. The way this show played out in the final stretch was deeply upsetting. But only because I cared so much in the first place.
Hi there Kathryn, I just wanted to say, WELCOME TO THE BLOG! š I’m glad you found me! š I hope you’ll continue to enjoy the reviews, as well as the great comments from everyone!
I laughed so hard at the last sentence. It might not be popular opinion but this dramaš¤£š¤£ made me love stand by your man alot, I even unconsciously hum it while bathing.
I think my opinion falls somewhere between the glowing reviews and kfangurl’s review. As far as a noona romance goes, I thought this is one of the better ones I’d seen (vs. C-drama Find Yourself which couldn’t find itself). I don’t think the mother was evil but I do believe she was a bitter, shrewish harpy who was only happy when her way was met. She might be a decent mother but there was no joy or light in this home – the father was totally emasculated, the brother was a sullen tool, while Jin-ah was a submissive wreck of a machine (until Jun-Hui). I get that money/stature is a defense in this world but if those are not the cards you have been dealt, what’s next? Is everything that is thought about money and family defense correct? (I am also thinking about these questions as I watch Record of Youth’s reckoning with questions of family support and class). As far as the relationship between Jin-ah and Jun-hui goes, I think what has been undervalued is that he gave her acceptance, love and VALUE. Unlike her mother (and her co-workers), his estimation of her was about who she was NOW which was enough for him. As a result, she was LIBERATED and began to BLOSSOM (as noted by co-workers). I’m biased but I like intensity and really he was the only male in the show who tried to consistently act on Jin-ah’s behalf for her good. Due to Jin-ah’s submissiveness, she is a mess but I personally don’t know that I would call her flakey. I think she endured what she had to for what she thought was the greater good or bigger picture (i.e. sexually harassed for 10 years at her ‘good’ job, getting into a vehicle with a psycho-ex for a new phone, going on a blind date to appease her mother so she can win points on behalf of her boyfriend). No matter what is thought about her actions, taken in this context, she’s pretty consistent to me. Does the relationship between Jin-ah and Jun-hui have problems? Sure, they are a new couple who have different points of view but what couple doesn’t? Unlike Jin-ah’s ‘cushy, cozy’ family unit, Jun-hui has had to grow up fast due to the lack of this same support unit. However, he and his sister seem to be much more balanced and loving vs. the brother/sister duo who have the nice place and both parents present. So, is there some immaturity? Sure, but I don’t think it’s insurmountable and I believe this is where Jin-ah’s cautious approach can smooth out some of Jun-hui’s youthful, rougher edges. As far as Jun-hui’s sister goes, I liked her but she really needed other people (besides a distant father or a self-centered friend) and places to park her deep wells of love; people live their own lives. Jin-ah’s ex was not just psycho – he was a stalker. Restraining order (or Korean equivalent) should have been sought. Sexual harassment plot outcome – the corporate world is often disappointing because too many people have conflicting goals on the both sides of the aisle, as was the case in this plot. Rushed happy ending? Maybe, but this is romance and as for me, that’s what I came to see! There was enough reality in this show to balance it out.
Another reason to watch One Spring Night is that this same actress plays the FL’s mom, and this time the role is written as extraordinarily wonderful. Same team wrote and created the two shows, so they make an interesting contrast, across the board.
In SitR, the ostensible problem is the prior pseudo brother/sister relationship, but in fact it’s that no family wants their child to marry an orphan, since that brings nothing to the table. Most of Jin-ah’s family gets over both these obstacles, but the mom cannot.
In OSN, the flaw is that the ML is a single dad, which again, makes him unsuitable for any woman who doesn’t have a comparable flaw/scar of her own.
Two great shows, but one that self-destructed for reasons I have yet to hear explained. I’d still love to know, so if anyone ever reads anything where the writers talk about this, please share!
This drama inspires such strong emotions in everyone. Viewed through the lens of a classic rom-com (noona romance subcategory) it starts off as having the potential to be among the best ever. The quality of the cinematography, the very realistic “watching real life” feel of the episodes. And SYJ’s charisma. It avoids the biggest pitfall of the noona romance where the passion melts away and it turns into a cute fest instead – I’m looking at you Witch’s Romance.
But then the story diverts into a depressing melo as the two main characters fail again and again to overcome the forces against their relationship – both external taboos and internalized ones for Jin Ah, who carries a ton of baggage about her duties to her family. And then the tacked on happy ending where the last 10 minutes of the show miraculously (and unconvincingly) overcome or overlooks all the negatives. So, from that angle I’m with our host of most commenters.
From a Western perspective it is hard to understand a 35-year-old woman with a real job who is still so dominated by her mother in her relationships.
There is a more positive take on youtube by TwoTenEast that made me at least appreciate more how this show works as a drama that explores social issues rather than rom-com. And some of the clever cinematography. And it made me appreciate the cultural backstory of how shifting to Jeju made the ending somewhat less bad than otherwise.
Loved the review as usual.
Ha. Somehow, I never tire reading others’ frustration with how this show imploded. It was soooo good at first, then . . . bam!!
good summation. I have to agree. Had I liked Jin-a’s character it would have been enjoyable despite the other objections. Showing the mother and her influences relieves her of some of the flaws in her thinking, however, the dialogue was against her from Season 1. Also, in K dramas mostly we are watching them in real time – eat, walk, talk, work, walk etc., then who they are becomes all the more crucial in setting up a successful story. If they are so flawed and never evolve, well, it’s just a waste of time really.
Thanks for enjoying the review, Apollobartender! Yes, that lack of growth for Jin Ah’s character was a real downer for me.. and probably one of the key deal-breakers for me, with this show. š
Thank you for this post. It helped me sort out my thoughts on this series.
I just finished the series and did not like how it evolved/ended. I grew frustrated with Jina and JinHui, especially in the latter half of the series. I really wanted to cheer for them given all the adversity from family and societal expectations. However, they really did themselves in with their lack of communication, immaturity, and their running away to their little fantasy world of them two.
I like how the series addressed taboos though(Older woman/younger man dating, parentless children dating, career taboos (women being flirtatious), etc).
Thanks again!
I’m really glad this post helped you, Andrew! š If you were disappointed with this one the way I was, I do suggest One Spring Night. It was by the same writer-director team, but it feels like they took everything that I didn’t like about this show, and FIXED it! So watching One Spring Night was a great antidote for me personally. I hope you’ll give it a try! š
I came here because I stopped at episode 7 too. XD The cliffhanger of this episode felt like it’s going to be the turning point of the whole plot and the happy-cute lovey-dovey moments are about to end. So I was contemplating if I should continue watching the series or not, then i stumbled upon this quite detailed review and after reading it, i have decided to not continue to save myself from wasting my time on an unsatisfactory plot and ending. XD so thank you very much.
Good call to stop at episode 7. I watched the entire show (was my 3rd ever Kdrama – my feeble excuse) but was only able to keep going in the second half because of SYJ, who I had discovered in CLOY. And like someone else, I discovered this blog when I was searching for someone with a similar take on this show and KFG was spot on, a different take from other glowing reviews. I’m not being critical of other reviewers because everyone has a slightly different prism through which they look and everyone’s opinion is legitimate but I was so surprised my views differed so radically from what I read.
I can’t remember when it became unbearable, since I couldn’t imagine how bad it might get until it had already gotten pretty bad.
But I would have said SiTR was still a good show for several episodes following Ep. 7. By 12 or 13, it was bad for sure. And 14-16 were unbearable for me, other than the rushed ending where suddenly all the dysfunction gets erased by magical thinking.
@merij1: I think you’re probably right that the show was still fun to watch probably into episode 10 or so but I was so disappointed I just consigned the second half, for convenience sake, to the twilight zone.
Verryyy detailed review. I just finished the show and i’m glad i’m not the only one feeling this way.
Jin Ah was annoying and in my opinion manipulative of Jun hae. She would always lie and do stupid things and then act all quiet and demure after and not allow him to get upset at her and basically leave his feeling about whatever she did unresolved. I think he really liked her so he had a mindset that he would forgive her for anything. And she took advantage of that.
Yes he was a little immature and lied to her about SOME things but his reasons usually made more sense than her reasons for the things she did (except applying to go to the US without telling her. He shouldn’t have expected her to just up and leave her life just like that)
In all i don’t think she deserved him and i feel like they shouldn’t have gotten back together
I don’t think they deserved each other quite frankly. They were both very immature in different ways, FL was too much of a pleasing person even at the expense of the ML while the ML was unrealistic and not grown up at all in his handling of the relationship. The ending doesn’t flow naturally out of the progression of the show and my totally unsubstantiated thesis is that the writer/director were forced to tack on a happy ending because of pressure from the producers/sponsors responding to the viewing audience.
Hi there Max, thanks for enjoying the review! Hi5, that we feel similarly about the show, and about Jin Ah in general. I agree she came across as annoying and manipulative, and I don’t think they should’ve gotten back together either. That ending felt like just the start of another unhealthy cycle, where they’d date, and then get stuck in their unhealthy habits all over again. š Not the kind of drama ending I usually go for! š
Never, ever have I watched a drama and ended up angry, sad and regretful that I wasted some days in my life watching it. This is why honest reviews such as this one are important. If I had read this review I may not have watched it and if I still ended up watching atleast I would have known what to expect. The beginning parts were so sweet and promising but the later episodes left a bad taste in my mouth. Like why did Ji An have to be so weak and annoying? Why did she have to lie so much? Gosh! I couldn’t stand it. Also, when they met again after her brother’s wedding, her explanations and attitude was very condescending and sounded like just excuses. Frankly, I didn’t put so much blame on Joon Hee cos he still seemed to put more effort in holding on much longer and be strong for them. He showed a bit more maturity than Ji An to be honest though I agree that he was unprofessional and immature in his reasons for not wanting to go to China for work. Lest I forget, the Stand by your man soundtrack pissed me off too and I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt that way. Every time it played I rolled my eyes and wondered whose bright idea it was to use it inappropriately and completely unrelated scenes. I have a different view on Ji An’s mother though, if anyone gives her an evil mother tag I feel it was well deserved. Her meddling and controlling ways were extreme, but what really ticked me off was her hitting Joon Hee. There’s no amount of Asian parent pass that gives her that right to do that. I was angry and cried so much watching that scene. It unnerved me to no end.
The drama is a total fail on many counts, it didn’t deliver as promised.
Hi Tolu, I feel your pain! This show was very aggravating for me to watch as well, so you’re not alone! In an interesting twist, I found that One Spring Night – by the same writer and director – actually got all the things right, that I felt were wrong with this show. In that way, watching One Spring Night felt like some kind of antidote to Something in the Rain. If you haven’t seen One Spring Night yet, perhaps you’d like to give it a try? š
i am currently on episode 7 and i am extremely bored and pissed. haha, so i searched for a review that have thoughts like mine. though I didn’t read it all, i read some points that i do agree on and told myself to go back to this to read the whole review when i am done watching drama. I was actually quiet expecting from the drama because of the hype it got from the posts I see from Filipino fans and it’s been on my list for a long time now and decided to watch it few days ago. I am actually not smitten by the love team because I don’t see the chemistry but I do get the point they are trying to get across the viewers. Fortunately, I’ve watched Haein’s drama One Spring Night and I can say that it is better in this one. I noticed that they are trying to show the same kind of vibes in these two dramas except that One Spring Night had it better. Thank you for this, I’ll read this again when I have the will to finish the drama hahah. It makes me tired just thinking of it.
Hate to say it, but if you’re not enjoying the first 7 episodes, I can’t imagine you’ll care for the last 3-4. We loved the first two-thirds of the show but had to resist the urge to throw heavy objects through the computer monitor from episode 13 or maybe 14 on.
Unless the issue is that you’re an anti-fan of romance, trusting relationships or healthy communication. In which case, omg, just hold on, because I promise you will end up LOVING this show!
This one preceded One Spring Night, so at least that team eventually got it right. My wife and I really liked OSN and plan to re-watch it soon. Which will be only the 2nd K-drama to which we’ve offered that VIP treatment. (Love Is A Bonus Book was the other.)
Aw, don’t finish the drama if you’re feeling it – I got all the way to the end, and was underwhelmed through to the end. š You’re absolutely right, One Spring Night is better. And since One Spring Night was made after this one, at least the makers are on a positive trajectory? šš
Hi I love your review! I was sooo annoyed since ep 12 started and was thinking about whether or not to continue the show, and your review helped me made my decision – which is to stop! Around ep 11, there was just wayyy too much angst and anger and lies that the initial fluffiness of the show just wore out completely to me. It was nice to watch at first, though there were some really annoying parts (like when she met up with her psycho ex who ASSAULTED her just so she could get a new phone)… And when she agreed to go on the blind date, lied, then offered to meet up with the estranged dad, it was just too much for me – i was annoyed as hell. Yeah anyway I chanced upon this review to look for spoilers – whether or not the angst will drag till the ending – and apparently it does. Sooo I’m dropping the show! Thanks!
Also another comment I have is how in the review you said that you don’t see the mom as a bad person, but on the other hand, you called jin ah “self-righteous”, so I can’t help but feel like there’s some sort of a double standard here??? Imo they’re BOTH self-righteous, they believe what they’re doing is for the best but failed to be considerate towards other people’s feelings/views.
I read the complete review of yours and it’s perfect in every way. I was so excited in initial episodes but eventually ended up with a huge disappointment. They should’ve atleast made the ending better.š
As per the drama, Joon Hee is in his twenties and Jin Ah 35. Remember the scene when Jin Ah’s brother ask Joon Hee if he is dating anyone and if the age is around 23 – 24. I think the age should be atleast 7 years. That’s what plot in Wiki says too. This review clearly show cased the short comings in Joon Hee characterization but I think that is typical of a guy in twenties. Immaturity of the character stems from his age. I would be surprised if he behaved with the finesse and maturity of the hero in One Spring Night. In Something In Rain, Joon Hee is a twenty something, who grew without parents and with just his sister. I felt all his love, he poured on Jin Ah for whatever the reason. His character of being brash too seems to go well for his age. What really turned me off was Jin Ah’s indecisive character and especially the fine lines she crossed with the episodes with Joon Hee’s dad. For Jin Ah’s age, she was very immature and kept repeating mistake after mistake and then playing the victim too, which I felt was very unfair to Joon Hee. Her mobile phone episode with Gyu min made me loose interest in the show. She could have easily taken Joon Hee, her brother or friends help to get him change the mobile to her name. Worst plot. Back to back, with Joon Hee father’s episode and Jin Ah’s mobile episode with Gyu min I literally wanted to Joon Hee to break up with such a clueless and thoughtless person. Well it did happen for 3 years. LOL. In the last episode, I also hated the fact that she was even in a relationship casually with another guy. That was a yuck moment for me. Sighhh. Anyway, they got back together after all the storm. In a way, I felt sorry for Joon Hee in the last scene that like all the times, he was saying it was all his mistake. Poor guy. Jin Ah was more flawed than him but always does the victim role play. Good for her, she anyway got Joon Hee but poor that guy. All his life he would be apologising to her for her own immaturity, stupidity and fake saintly like character š.
I just realized that the epilogue in Ep 15 of CLOY could be a nod to Something in the Rain.. It was raining and Capt. Ri was holding an umbrella for Seri, and it was shown that the other shoulder of Capt Ri not being covered by the umbrella is getting wet. There was an instance where the scene looked like the poster for SITR. š
I’m rather new to all this myself, but umbrella scenes like that are extremely common in these romance dramas. It’s a thing.
Hi Steven, that’s a great observation! That was indeed a nod to the famous scene from SITR! If memory serves, they even played a song from SITR’s soundtrack, for the scene. I think. š
I’d say it was not born out of great observation, but rather from watching CLOY too many times! š
Ah. Now I want to go back and compare the two scenes to enjoy the nod that much more!
*Sigh*. I came here about 5 minutes after watching the finale, while still in my feelings and moping about my journey with the show ending. I’m not one to be easily swayed by others’ thoughts and opinions but this review really dimmed the bitter-sweet thoughts I carried in my heart for this show. I still believe this is the most enjoyable k drama I have watched though (I’ll be honest, I love seeing Jung Hae-in’s face and he’s such a convincing actor! SYJ is a fantastic actress too and I really do love her). Like in the handful of k dramas I’ve watched till date, the ending was rushed and underwhelming. I was really looking forward to the last scenes showing them sitting down and having an honest discussion about what had gone wrong in their relationship and how they could make it work in the future. What is all that kissing and hugging in the rain going to get them? Will Jun-hyi quit his job and become an artist on Jeju island? Will Jin-ah go to the U.S with him? Will her mum finally cave in and stop being a hexenbiest? Ugh, it really was frustrating to watch nothing get resolved. The workplace issue not really changing was extremely annoying as well. And I also noticed that their relationship really didn’t have any substance but who knows, maybe laughter and kisses can get you quite far in a relationship.š As for the OSTs, I wonder why they thought they needed to play them over and over again so much!
Sorry for the long comment, this one was close to my heart.š
Glad I found your page, I’ll have a look at your list of recommendations and hopefully find a show satisfying (with a proper ending).
Watch One Spring Night (OSN) for more Jung Hae-in! Pretty much the same role as SitR, only without the weak ending. We also saw him in Tune In For Love, which was OK but not as memorable. Both shows stream on Netflix.
OSN was created by pretty much the same writers/production team as SitR, so be forewarned that, once again, only a few songs are used over and over. But the really, really good news is that Stand By Your Man is not one of them!
@Izzie: My theory on the ending is that the writer/director were forced to write a “happy” conventional ending as it really doesn’t flow from the way the show has progressed. I think this partially explains the abruptness of the ending and the non-resolution of all the important issues. I agree many Kdramas have a less than satisfactory ending (many end somewhat abruptly, others meander aimlessly in the last episode) but I think for me this is the first where the ending did not fit the development of the storyline, it just felt tacked on.
Jellylo
I disagree with this method of picking apart actors for playing the role that the director has designed for them. Far better to pick apart the script writer and director who designed and executed the storyline and drama. I found the story intriguing and engaging just for being told against a Korean background and in an Asian context. So the Mother was believable, Jin ah delightful in being strongly rooted in her lifestyle but irresistibly drawn to Jun Hui, the slightly younger man and brother to her bestie. I think she played it very well and realistically in this context. Jun hui was totally smitten with her and showed it with every fibre of his being, in fact Iām sure he was genuinely drawn to her like a magnet. The sister was excellent but blind as a bat not to have picked it up before. The brother played well but I was disappointed in him at his wedding. Bo ra was brilliant. They had to have the ex boyfriend drama happening to give the plot some substance, otherwise it would have been a soapie.
I have seldom watched a Korean drama, and Iāve watched many, that has drawn me in so completely. To like every character in a story is unrealistic. You have to have baddies and goodies, but donāt take it out on the actors. They are paid to do what the director tells them. They love scenes are so believable that I felt like an intruder. I rate this as my best drama to date.
Iāve watched One Spring Night, this was not nearly so realistic or well acted. Jung Hae In didnāt have the rapport with his co star, they were wooden together, and he had no idea, not his fault, how to be a Dad. So much was like a sequel with so many similar cast but a ludicrous ending with them going backwards and forwards across the door of the pharmacy, nothing really resolved. How were they going to live.? The music and direction was really similar, it would have been great to see Jung Hae In and Son Ye Jin together again, hopefully we will. Younger sister was Bo ra character, very good actress.
I also watched CLOY, Son Ye Jin is a versatile actor and beautiful, and it was a completely different experience and a fascinating delve into life in North Korea and the remoteness of it and how it is completely off limits, and how scary it is. Well executed and popular world wide. Hyun Bin is good, he and Son Ye Jin both able to execute such complex roles. No sex scenes in this but the comedy was brilliant. I canāt compare this as it was not really a romance but maybe an adventure, comedy romance.
Something in the Rain gets my vote, it is indelibly imprinted on my soul. These two have as much chance in this unpredictable world as the next couple. Iā m sad you all gave up after things started to go wrong. Iām an English teacher and when you teach narrative it is an essential part of a story to have complications, that the resolving of these problems and the denouement leading to the resolution is how you structure a complete story. Otherwise you might just as well walk up the street and look through a normal familyās window and watch their life role boringly by. The little sub plots were good too, I only agree about the sexual harassment case at work, that wasnāt satisfactorily address.
Hi Julia,
I do feel that I was talking about the characters (and therefore, by extension, the writing) rather than the actors, though I do concede that this role did taint Son Ye Jin for me, until I saw her again in CLOY. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that we’re picking apart the actors rather than the writing. My biggest beef with this show, is in the writing, which I won’t repeat, since it’s all in the review.
What I’d like to say, however, is that you are completely entitled to love this show, and I know there are many fans of this show. That said, I also think it’s perfectly fine for people to prefer One Spring Night. Different strokes for different folks, as they say. Just because you prefer this show, doesn’t mean that One Spring Night is not good. Also, I am familiar with the idea that dramatic tension needs to be introduced in order to keep a story interesting. To that end, I was personally more satisfied with how OSN dealt with the conflicts it introduced, compared to how SITR dealt with its conflicts. Again, it’s a personal opinion, and I don’t begrudge your preference for SITR. I would say though, that I did not, as you say, give up when things started to go wrong, since I did finish the show – and therefore was able to write this review.
Let’s agree to disagree; the dramaverse is diverse enough to cater to all our varying tastes, and big enough, so that we can all be friends who don’t judge each other for not liking the same things we do. š
@Julia: It’s interesting how a show can be so polarizing to the viewers. Having watched both SITR and OSN, in that order, and being a relative newcomer to Kdramas, perhaps I could add a few comments.
OSN doesn’t hit the highs of SITR but I found it much more mature and realistic take on how a relationship can develop and survive societal and family pressures. Essentially, SITR is an almost perfect rom-com until the relationship is exposed to the world and family. At that point, the relationship disintegrates given the immaturity of the individuals and the rom-com morphs into a melodrama, all the romantic and comedic elements disappear, there’s no fun anymore. It’s okay to create a melodrama about the tragedy of a failing relationship due to external pressures but it’s tricky to tack this on as a second half to a rom-com. This created expectations in the viewer that “crash landed ” in the second half for me. All credit to you and a number of others who stayed high on SITR but the show lost me.
You’re right that we shouldn’t be too hard on actors for their role, their job is to deliver a convincing performance of the character, following the director/writer’s lead. However, human nature being what it is, it’s difficult for some of the feelings for a character not to spill over onto the actor. Emotions are much stronger than logic or reason and good agents and managers know this and so are very careful in selecting roles for their clients. It’s not entirely fair but that’s reality to varying degrees for us all. But I think for me, the writing/directing were more at fault here, the schizophrenic nature of the show, an out and out drama tacked onto a delightful rom-com. This plays with the viewer’s emotions with not entirely unexpected results.
As a side note, I remain a big Son Ye Jin fan and totally agree with you on her role in CLOY
Looking back, I’m not surprised many viewers prefer SITR to OSN, I still on occasion re-watch clips of SITR (first half) while I don’t think I’ve done so with OSN, the highs of SITR were so good.
This is what makes life interesting, the differences in how we perceive things. If we were all the same, it would be boring.
Hm… looks like we are talking about three different shows in this sidebar, CLOY, OSN, and SitR. What is common between the three; all have a social or political forces that obstruct blossoming of a relationship and its sustainability in the future. CLOY’s premise being the hardest to overcome, followed by SitR and SON. Between SitR and OSN, I am not sure about which is a harder social taboo to overcome, as I have very little understanding of Korean culture.
The crew make their best effort to bring us shows that we enjoy. The final product is team effort.
I think in CLOY (watching BTS), the off screen friendship (which they have confirmed) between the two leads helped them show much better chemistry on screen, plus the fact that Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin are lot more versatile actors, heavier weights in the industry and hence their ability to influence script brought us a better show of the three in my opinion.
SitR was too deep into intimate romance between the leads, more physical, and some may say cheesy. While I really enjoyed the show, like kfangurl, I thought the characters in the show were flawed. The subplots did not add a jive well with me, except for the friendship between Jin Ah/Bo-Ra, and Jin-Ah/Kyeong-seo. Jung Hae-In was better in SirR than in OSN.
OSN somehow felt more real, even though my life experiences are closer to SitR. Ji-min Han did a great job of portraying Jung-in. I just can’t picture Son Je-Yin portraying Jung-in. Even though Ji-min Han is six years Son Ye-jin’s junior, Ji-min showed a maturity that I don’t think Ye-jin would have been able to pull off especially with her SitR character lingering in viewers mind. Jung Hae-In’s portrayal of both characters were similar, he reminds me of puppy that everyone loves :). Between SitR and OSN, of all the common actors, there were many, I think Min-Kyung Joo did the best job. Keep an eye on her, she is going places.
@ A Reviewer: I may have misread your comparison, but actresses Han Ji-min and Son Ye-jin are virtually the same age — 37 and 38 as of today.
I’m fond of them both, but since Han Ji-min is probably talked about less, I’ll say that what I loved about her performance in One Spring Night is the range of emotion and attitude she communicated with her eyes and subtle facial expression. As written, it was a prickly character to bring to life, and I thought she did a really great job of it.
My bad, I must have misread Ms. Han’s DOB on IMDB. You are correct, they were both born in 1982. Her profile picture here https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1617711/ looks similar to Ms. Son.
Yes the one on the left does, with the longer fair and broad smile.
I thought the acting in all three of these shows was excellent, both the primary and secondary roles.
The dispute for most of us has only to do with the writing decisions in the later episodes of Something in the Rain/Pretty Noona. I for one appreciate seeing realistic relationship struggles in a show like this. But if you’re going to veer off the safe path of a light-and-fluffy rom-com, you can’t help but set higher expectations for how meaningfully you eventually resolve them.
In this case, it felt like they injected profoundly serious flaws into the relationship much too late to resolve convincingly in the brief time left at the end. The pacing felt like a casualty to the pressure of needing to write and re-write episodes only a few weeks ahead of production. Usually they pull it off; but sometimes they don’t.
All that said, the only reason most of us bother to talk about it is that we were SO enchanted with the quality of the romance up till that point.
So on these two things can we agree?
1. The acting in SitR was excellent
2. The OTP as written in the first half of SitR was extremely compelling
@merij1, agreed, most if not all characters in SitR were portrayed well by the actors. In the other two shows, portrayals varied, especially in CLOY, Se-Ri’s bros and pop were really bad actors IMO.
Huh, I didn’t get that feeling with CLOY. I thought the pop and bros were following the character portrayals in the script — dad as distant and barely communicative and both bros as shallow, but one both shallow and vile and the other merely shallow and a twit!
I found all three of their acting unnatural, especially when they were portraying anger. The way they were shouting didn’t sit well with me.
You might be right. I think I was discounting for the Latin American Telenovela over-the-top campy/melodrama feel that show sometimes aimed for.
Hm… the last couple I watched was Toy Boys and Money Heist. Toy Boys were had less over the top scenes than Money Heist (never watched past season one).
I really love your reviews! Reading them always gave me additional insights into the show that I could have missed otherwise! Well, this is just my second kdrama but your site has now become a post-kdrama routine, like I can’t say I’ve finished a show until I’ve read your review. š
After watching my first kdrama in CLOY, I’m aware that it might be hard to watch another that could immediately top it. So I went into this show with much lower expectations to begin with, but yes I still came out disappointed. Haha! And I’m aware of the bad reviews, I just needed to get my Son Ye-jin fix after CLOY.
I find amusing your comment that CLOY miraculously reversed whatever bad feelings you had for Son Ye-jin as an actress. In my case since I watched CLOY first before this show, the good vibes that Son Ye-jin had build in CLOY was too big, any disappointment in this show could barely nudge the huge capital she had built for me. š
Throughout the show, I was half-expecting that it would somehow provide some glimpses of their younger years as good friends or even as close families, to somehow ground the events unfolding in the present, but too bad the show didn’t provide any.
I have a different interpretation of the ending though, esp. on the context staying the same. For me, the moves of Jin Ah to uproot herself geographically from her family to live in Jeju and quitting her job, are actually attempts in that direction — to change her context. And after getting back together with Joon Hee, should he invite her again to move to the US (which is where he’s planning to settle in), I’d say she is now in a better position to say yes. And thanks to her moves which put her in a position to be ready this time.
I was thinking why the show didn’t bother to even provide a hint even in an epilogue that they’d move to the US together this time, but that might overshadow a key point they made earlier in the show — that love is all about the right timing. Their love didn’t prosper the first time around due to bad timing, but they made the necessary preparations (Jin-Ah specifically) so that should love come knocking back again, this time the timing is right.
Hm… glad you share the same thoughts about the ending as I did after watching the last two episodes a second time, prompted by comments here that they had not resolved anything. They yelled at each other, got it out their systems, and were ready to re-unite. Necklace is the key to Jin-Ah’s mood, Joon-Hee ‘s ego was in his way till he realizes how good he was to her, how much he loved her (though not sure why the recording played when it played). Few frames of them on beach or some landmark in the US would have provide better closure. Watching this made me realize what all I did right to get my noona to the US š
Thank you for your detailed review, which in the most part I agreed with. My wife and I were both emotionally exhausted at the end of the series and I was frustrated, as you pointed out, that most of the issues did not get resolved. As an insight to Korean culture I found it fascinating. I was particularly interested to read that you did not feel that Jin Ahās mother overstepped her boundaries. From the point of view of a British man, and I am pretty sure from British culture, it doesnāt matter how sincerely she believed she was right, what she did was totally wrong, contributing to the destruction of so many relationships.
As others have heard too many times, I got so frustrated my wife had to watch the last two episodes without me and then explain what happened. Which, considering what did happen, was definitely the right call.
Yet that couple all continues to linger with me. Which would not be the case with a failed show, normally. So the show definitely had something right, up until it didn’t.
I wonder if anyone associated with the writing decisions has talked about the internal debate over where to take things in that final stretch?
To get over any lingering ill will towards those two actors, my wife and I and many others here strongly recommend you watch One Spring Night (same actor and similar in many ways — same team, actually — but done right, resulting in a really great romance) and Crash Landing On You (same actress in a wonderfully swoony romance + campy-yet-warm humor + action + cultural look at the two Koreas.
Both stream on Netflix, at least they do here in the US.
Yes, the couple lingers with me too! Itās like I got to know them personally ā I wanted to contact them and tell them to communicate and stop lying to each other! The show could have been so great ā such a shame they ruined it! Yes, they are on Netflix in the UK. I have watched a few episodes of āOne spring nightā ā I liked the pharmacist, but the librarian irritated me ā maybe I will try some more of the show. I have only watched one episode of āCrash Landing On youā and will probably continue but we have got hooked on āThe Kingā for now.
A number of these shows start slow with a couple set-up episodes before they get into the groove. So I’ve learned to figure out whose advice I trust on which ones end up being worth the effort.
Which is why I read this blog/ Nice to see another guy representing a couple here, btw!
Hi, your observation about the mother is spot on, IMO, even if you take the cultural aspects out. I was born and brought up in the sub-continent, culturally that part of the world is more similar to Korea than it is to US/UK. I found the mothers actions very selfish and self-centered. Reminded me of how my mother behaved when I did something similar) and it took me decades to forgive her. While watching the show, there were several moments that really annoyed the heck out of me š
My wife lost interest in the show halfway through, my curiosity kept me going. Of the last few dramas I watched, CLOY, Memories of Alhambra, Something in the Rain and My Holo Love, I would SitR the lowest of them, even though Son Ye-jin did a great job of portraying Jin-ah very well.
There is a movie on Amazon Prime called Red Family – little dated but quite good. You may want to check that out.
Okay so first I want to say- I am so happy I found your blog! I am a relative newbie to kdramas and have been an avid watcher for the last year or so. I started with Romance is a Bonus Book and was clearly spoiled by its awesomeness. I watched both Something in the Rain and One Spring Night and I have to say- when Something started I was so in love with the story and the characters. I loved the unadulterated romance scenes, the kissing scenes were so amazing. And then the drama started with the mom and itās like they took this beautiful story and beat the life out of it with every grueling episode. And the way it ended was okay but left such a bad taste in my mouth. I read your blog right after and was so happy someone else felt the same. Then on your recommendation with OSN I tried to watch that. It was okay at best for me. It felt like the story barely took off the ground and stayed at a steady and often boring pace for me. There werenāt many cute lovey scenes, even though I felt like the chemistry was way better between the two leads. That show was the hardest one for me to get through by far. Mostly because it felt so slow. I liked how mature the couple was in comparison to this show (no ridiculous lying, no blow ups and weird ultimatums) but it lacked the compelling romance that something had at first. I had to stay away from kdramas for a while after back to back watching these two shows lolol. But I came back with one of my favorites! Itās called My Only Love Song. Itās kinda silly at some points but itās really cute and fun to watch. And the couple has such an intense chemistry, it is amazing to watch them. I havenāt seen you review that one but Iād love to hear your thoughts on it if you have! Thank you so much for your detailed reviews and fun voice!
Hi there mothermakeme! Welcome to the blog! š Thanks for enjoying this review! š Aw, I’m sorry One Spring Night didn’t work as well for you as it did for me.. it’s definitely a slower paced, more muted story than the average kdrama. I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen My Only Love Song, but you might enjoy the quick review that my friend Kay did for the show. You can check that out here. š I wonder if you’ve seen Crash Landing on You? That sounds like it would be up your alley. š Also, you might like to browse my Full List of dramas rated here. I hope that helps! š
In the past, I have watched some critically acclaimed Korean movies that were available on Prime Video. During the lock down, I stumbled upon CLOY. I was so impressed by the performance of the lead actors that I sought out their other works and ended up watching Something in the Rain. Korean isn’t even my second language, so I watched the show with English subtitles. Somethings might have been lost in translation. So please take my comments with this in mind.
As a South East Asian man who fell in love with a ‘noona’ in the early eighties, I can relate to this show in many ways.
Unlike the reviewer, I would not be so kind to the Mum. Yes, parents often think about what is best for their children. But that does not mean that they know best. My mum threw very similar kind of fits back in the day. It got so bad that I left for a western country and tried to negotiate with her from a distance. I returned three years later; my girl friend and I moved away and got married. Nearly forty years later, we still think we made the right choice – to remove ourselves from all the drama around age etc.
Could this drama have been a lot better/shorter? Yes. But K-Dramas seem to have 16 episodes. That is the real culprit here; adds a lot of side stories that do not have the same impact – that sometimes makes the whole show a little tiring. I think Memories of Alhambra and CLOY did a better job of better integrating minor story lines to the main thread.
Overall, if you remember that this is fiction (after all), Something in the Rain is a good heart warming series that you can add to the list of shows you want to watch during long running Social/Physical Distancing phase of our lives.
Hi there, Reviewer! Welcome to the blog! š
Thanks so much for sharing your story; I do agree that if you’ve got personal experience that resonates with the story, then that just changes your perspective of the drama in a big way. To be honest, I feel like you and your wife would’ve made a better couple to root for, than the couple in this show, because you guys did something about your situation. You changed your context and freed yourself from the context that was threatening to stifle you. I feel like very little changed for our lead couple in this show, such that I felt nothing really changed by the end, even though she moved to Jeju Island, and he came back to look for her. The unhealthy dynamics in their relationship is still present, plus they are still in Korea, which implies that if they resume their relationship, they will face the same familial opposition that they did earlier int the show. So, I’d rather watch a drama about you and your wife, coz at least I’d see meaningful movement in your story, by the end. I hope that made sense. š That said, I’m not knocking your enjoyment of the show at all. I do understand that every person has a different filter through which they receive their dramas, and therefore we all enjoy different dramas. I’m glad you enjoyed this one, coz that means you felt your time was well spent! š
I can add a different perspective to Reviewer in that I sympathized with the couple in SITR facing social and family opposition to their relationship. I had a serious inter-racial relationship, before I got married, which my Chinese mother objected to strenuously, not because she was racist (I don’t think) but because she felt the social pressures from her friends and she genuinely felt only someone from a similar cultural background, i.e. a chinese girl, would make a good, long term partner. This relationship died, as many do, not because of my mother’s opposition (not as bad as JA’s mother in SITR though) but for many of the usual reasons. However, the arc of the relationship was defined by us.
Having said that, I found SITR (2nd half) so depressing because the couple’s relationship founders on the shoals of their immaturity. they just kind of meander around and let life happen to them and react erratically when issues arise.
Yeah, we accepted that Jin Ah’s mom being horrible was a valid characterization of real life, based on different cultural circumstances and filial expectations than we are accustomed to.
It was Jin Ah’s decisions/behavior in the last quarter of the show that we could not stand. The lying and other deceiving, of course, but also choosing to stay with an employer that treated her like dirt over Joon Hee and continuing to cave to a mom like that regarding her own love life.
They started her arc as that of “a submissive woman finding her agency” but then had the gall to have her describe her passive capitulation to others as a product of this new-found confidence. (Not to mention the gall of making us listen to not one but two versions of a wretchedly annoying song, over and over and over, when that song urges women to do THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what Jin Ah actually does in the show!)
Most of which would have been fine if they’d resolved the OTP dysfunction well. But they took it sideways much too close to the end of the run and then had to act like nothing really needed to be addressed get the couple back together.
All that said, we wouldn’t have cared so much if the OTP hadn’t been so enchanting in the first half, right?
Thanks for sharing your story, Geo! I think your story is in line with the point I’ve been trying to make about the OTP in SITR; they have so much that’s not working in their relationship, that even this “happy ending” feels hollow to me. I feel like they’ll break up if they don’t fix their bad relationship habits, like so many couples do. And if nothing’s changed to make their relationship stronger, then they still won’t have the fortitude to deal with the external pressures that they face as a couple. š¤·š»āāļø
Hi:
merij1: you’re so right about the first half of SITR being so good that we came to really care for the couple so that the 2nd half was a big let-down.
KFG: I really believe this was not the ending the writer/director wanted but were forced to do so by the producers, given the popularity of the show. Which is why this ending doesn’t seem organic or natural, but hollow as you say.
Thank you all for the warm welcome and comments.
“That said, Iām not knocking your enjoyment of the show at all” – no worries, I did not take your comments that way at all.
” Iād rather watch a drama about you and your wife” – well that would be a multi-season mini series š that spans generations :). May be I should a ghost writer when we retire š to tell our story.
“I feel like very little changed for our lead couple in this show” – from my perspective, they are a single unit when they face external challenges/stimuli, but when it comes to their future, they work independent of each other; near zero communication about those topics. During his stay in the US and on return his feelings for her have not changed (he has not dated anyone while in US). Her feelings for him have not changed; neither of them are willing to admit to that to the other, instead they bicker. Jin-ah’s move to Jeju is her breaking ties that held her down the first time (ready to make the move), if only he would ask… but then again he didn’t have the guts to touch her hand first, so he needs to be nudged again. They both beat around the bush again and just want to enjoy the here and now – lame. From E2, Jin-ah is realizing that he is the one. As time progresses she knows he is the one. But yet she goes on a blind date (I would have gone completely nuts) inviting more abuse from her mom (by sending mixed messages), starts dating again, when they really haven’t broken up – I agree with you, the character that the writer created is really weak, it is hard to put parts of her personalty together to form a whole. That said, I thought Son Ye-jin did an excellent job of portraying the character that the writers created, I guess unlike Negotiation and CLOY, she did not have the rapport with the director to influence how the character was depicted.
Comparing Son Ye-jin’s on screen chemistry with the male lead in CLOY and Something in the Rain, BinJin chemistry is on whole different plane, orders of magnitude better.
BTW, I tried to figure out what the age difference is between Jin-ah and Joon Hee… googling for this is what brought me to this site. I don’t recall his age being mentioned anywhere in the show, but hers is (34-35). Do you folks know the answer?
In real life, it’s a six-year age difference. At the moment, she’s 38 and the actor Jung Hae-in is 32. Subtract +/- 2 years for their respective ages while that show was filmed.
I have to say, I spent a lot of time imagining this story from his perspective during the time they were apart. The pain and loss of the rejection he would have felt. It’s a compelling set of emotions. Not healthy, to be honest, but oddly addictive, for me at least.
Had the writers taken that angle and really run with it, with a fully developed resolution, it could have been quite powerful. I have no problem with flawed characters or bad life choices, per se. Because, hello, we’ve all been there.
The problem here was that it felt like an after-thought when they realized they had a few episodes left to go: “Hey, I know. Let’s through a spanner into the gears to break our viewers’ hearts! Then they’ll be so relieved and happy when we bring these two lovers back together at the end!”
Nope.
Which reminds me of Australian comic Hannah Gadsby’s devastating Netflix show (“Nanette”) on the abusive dynamic between the comic and the audience in stand-up.
She pointed that her job is to make us extremely tense and uncomfortable. . . so that we feel good when she eventually relieves us of that tension. Forgetting that she was the one who made tense in the first place.
Per kfangurl, it was a four-year age gap in the script. But as I recall, Jin Ah was 34-35 and Joon Hee was in his late ’20s. So I’d say maybe five years.
My first wife (and the mother of my children) is eight years older than I. But I’ve never thought about her that way. We’re still close, as is she and my 2nd wife.
The only hint I could get from the show (as I mentioned, I don’t know Korean) was in E3 where Jin-Ah and Gyung Sun are in the market on the death anniversary of her mother, she says she died 10 years ago when Joon Hee took his college entrance exam. Don’t know when they take the entrance exam, so if you add 10 to that age, that would be what his age is.
“My first wife (and the mother of my children) is eight years older than I” – less than two for me, we were in the subcontinent, different religions, 99.99% were arranged marriages, we were the only ones dating (couple) in the whole university campus. Even our peers were uncomfortable with the idea :). Fun times š
Hi there Reviewer, maybe this DramaWiki page will help; it has the ages of the characters listed. š
I found the ages of the actors (34/31), but not the characters. I must be missing something.
Hi Reviewer, those are the ages of the characters. Son Ye Jin is 38 and Jung Hae In is 32, in real life. š
Btw, I used imdb.com to look up details on movies and shows. It will be good to have your reviews linked from there as external reviews š