On the upside, Show can be fresh, fun and zippy, and serves up some unexpected narrative surprises that I personally found interesting &/or refreshing.
On the downside, I feel that Show tends to be a bit too matter-of-fact in its portrayal of its lovelines, and is therefore lower on the feels than I would like.
Additionally, I feel that the ending could have been better handled, on several fronts.
Not a bad watch, necessarily, but definitely could have been better.
THE SHORT VERDICT:
A romance that manages to feel real and raw, yet sweet and aspirational, at the same time.
Even though our characters are flawed and sometimes even a little unlikable, Show manages to also make them brave enough, and sweet enough, and considerate enough, that our lead couple feels thoroughly worth rooting for, both separately and together.
While our story doesn’t ever achieve cracky levels of engagement, Show more than makes up for this, with its deft exploration of characters and relationships, while putting some very healthy relationship dynamics on display.
Despite feeling a touch slow in terms of its plot development, Show manages to feel thoughtfully satisfying all the way to the end.
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?