Melting Me Softly (2019)

Does not deliver its promising premise and instead digresses into the utmost bonkerness...

When a PD makes a variety show about a cryogenics experiments, Ma Dong Chan and Go Mi Ran, a part-timer struggling with family debts, participates in the "24-Hour Frozen Human Project.", but they are accidentally frozen for 20 years. To survive, they must maintain a body temperature below 33°C, while seeing all of their loved ones aged 20 years!

The premise about two people being the sole survivors of a truly unique traumatic incident, is a creative premise, but I can’t enjoy my drama if I can’t get on board with the story and the characters. To me, Melting Me Softly does not deliver its’ potential and instead digresses into the utmost bonkerness... I got really bored when the show becomes more of an office romcom with a jarring murder mystery in the latter part. Of course, it can make an interesting subplot, but shouldn’t they focuses mainly on the characters and their love developing firsthand?

Ji Chang Wook, being our male lead Dong Chan. Honestly, his character doesn't leave very much of an impression, and my liking for his character is truly driven by the actor. Even though he is so cute, act so well and have good chemistry with Won Jin Ah, their romance feels forced since they both have no relationship outside of colleagues, I am not seeing any buildup towards them as a couple. I feel the true love story would be between Dong Chan and his previous love Na Yeong, rekindling a true love story that transcends age differences and experiences. I would love to see them finding each other again after time apart and forgiving each other. To not end this on a negative note, I got to give a shout-out to one kiss scene, which is pure brilliance–in order to keep their temperatures and heart rates at a safe level–Dong Chan turns on the shower and kisses Mi Ran, with both fully-clothed. Talk about one of the most steamiest kdrama kisses out there.

-Dec 2023, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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Okay, I could understand why people dropped this drama. In the middle of the drama, the story turns kinda boring and the plot does not sustain itself with much emotion. As I said on my first impressions, I thought the plot interesting and with potential, but the execution was poor and made us think that they could be enforced more. I just have the feeling that this could be a much better experience and not just another tasteless drama.

I was frustrated with the plot of Na Ha Young (Yoon Se Ah) and Ma Dong Chan (Ji Chang Wook). I really think that they could develop a real problem with their relationship and this would be very instigating! But how they showed this, I thought sometimes that Ha Young was freeze for 20 years and Dong Chan was waiting here. They totally invert their feelings and this made their story very difficult to understand. They really could make something very cool, and I don't even like love triangles, but I was hoping for something exciting.

I would like to see more of Go Nam Tae (Yoon Na Moo). He started being so important to Go Mi Ran (Won Jin Ah) and with the process just lost the power. The same with the plot of Hwang Byung Shim (Shim Hyung Tak). I think they just showed a lot of possibilities and at the end just worried about the main couple and that was all. It isn't the worst thing, but for me it is very amateur.

The ending was very boring for me too. I had the feeling that the story was finished in episode 12 and after that, they just try to fill the episodes with anything. The "problem" that came out was aleatory and so easily resolved that I already knew how everything will end up. The last episode and the little "crisis" that we saw with the main couple were revolting to me. After all, they tried to convert the bold and courage of Go Mi Ran (Won Jin Ah) into coldness and I don't think that she's like that at all, at least don't in the process before...

Anyway! I don't think this was a great drama, for me was just more of the same. I keep loving Ji Chang Wook, but I wanna see him in something more exciting now.

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Slow, boring and all over the place

I'm not someone who gives into reviews and if the reviews are especially bad (like here with Melting Me Softly), it makes me actually really intrigued to watch it. So I did...and what a mistake I have made!

Before I get into what's wrong with this drama (and there will be a lot), I'll start with the positives. The first two episodes were actually pretty good and promising. Basically, the story before Mi Ran and Dong Chan defrosted 20 years later. There were moments that could've been done differently (ie Mi Ran catching her boyfriend cheating and literally flying in the air like a seagull to kick him in the face). I really liked Mi Ran's relationship with her brother (which was basically forgotten in the second half of the show). Ji Chang Wook's (Dong Chan) acting and Yoon Se Ah's (Dong Chan's ex) acting felt like the only realistic and watchable ones. Won Jin Ah (Mi Ran) had her moments as well but her acting in a lot of scenes was way over-the-top.

Now what I couldn't stand in the drama (and there's a lot): 1) Most characters' reactions (or should I say overreactions). Especially Dong Hyuk (Mi Ran's ex), Dong Chan's sister, and his best friend Hyun Ki. Most of the characters kept on yelling, crying, and stuttering and their expressions were over-the-top in a lot of the scenes. Technically speaking most main and supporting characters were in their 40s (as well as 50s) yet they kept acting like toddlers. It became unbearable just 3 episodes in.

2) The dialogue. I'm not someone who's usually reacting to the dialogue and don't usually comment on it but a lot of the dialogue didn't make sense.

3) The recast. 20 years later and the production decided to completely recast the cast - except the main couple - instead of making the original actors look a little older which made them completely unrecognizable for Dong Chan and Mi Ran.

4) Mi Ran and Dong Chan's chemistry. It just wasn't present, especially from Mi Ran's side. I feel like it would be more interesting if the writers just focused on the struggle of adapting to a new world and reconciling with their old love interests and then them slowly building their relationship (slow-burn). Instead, there were little-to-no signs of romantic interest between the two, they didn't appear to be into each other at all but suddenly, they are together. Plus Dong Chan's obsessiveness over Mi Ran.

5) The whole increase-temperature-and-you-die plot/idea. Their temperature can't go over 33 degrees Celsius so when they kiss, Dong Chan pushes Mi Ran under a cold shower so they can kiss while having cold water stabilizing their temperature to remain below 31.5 degrees. Okay...however, on multiple occasions, the whole idea went out the window. For example, when Dong Chan was carrying Mi Ran and running to the hospital in episode 5, his shirt was soaked with sweat indicating he worked out a lot. Body temperature rises when exercising yet he was fine the whole time.

6) Glorification of domestic abuse and anger issues/problems. Mi Ran beat up her ex-boyfriend multiple times. The violence in this show was made into a humoristic aspect.

7) Bong Chan's possessiveness. He told Mi Ran to stop smiling at another man, he literally says (episode 6, around 26:45): "I don't mind if a woman is ugly, eats a lot...but I really hate it when a woman swears and hits people." as he owns her. It did add to his character but again, the romanticization of this trait is just not okay. He became even more obsessive with her later on.

8) The second half of the drama just became boring. So many things were happening yet nothing was getting solved, the plot was all over the place and a lot of scenes were made unnecessarily long (multiple shots of the same scene, long pauses between talking, slow-talking etc...).

...and more...

To end this, I was really let down with his one. In my personal opinion, Ji Chang Wook carried the show but even he couldn't save the later episodes (eps 12-16). The plot had so much potential in the first two episodes but it truly went downhill after the main couple defrosted, even more in the second half.

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This drama doesn't do any justice to JCW's comeback.

Where do I start.. extremely draggy, uninteresting plot and the extra characters are just straight up annoying. It's supposed to be a romantic comedy but the humor isn't funny at all. The story had so much potential but its ruined by the terrible writing. The whole tone of the drama feels off. There were times when I just wanted to stop watching because it is so god damn boring.

**SPOILER ALERT**
For a show involved with cryonics, I would expect the story to depict more of their struggles to fit into the modern society, but they just moved on so fast??
Also, the female lead was really angry at the TV company for losing 20 years of her life due to the experiment. An episode later, she is suddenly interning for the company like nothing happened
Was the scene where they were kidnapped in the freezer truck supposed to be funny?
The first kiss scene felt so forced and sudden that its laughable..
After SIX EPISODES, the only thing the male lead did was to get his old job back. THAT IS LITERALLY IT.

There are just so many faults in this drama that I don't know how tvN thought it was a good idea to produce this.
Also, as of writing this review, EP9 had a rating of 1%, for a drama on a prime time slot on tvN. Ratings speak for themselves.

Don't waste your time on this.

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Watch if you like pretty colors and want to mark one of the ML's works off your list.

What I liked
I can't remember even after watching several episodes as they aired.
Loved the FL voice, I thought she was another actress (w/ chin surgery, my apologies to both)

What I didn't like
The discussions on age were and honorifics was a reliable trope for humor but, gets old quick when you realize everything else lacks.
The colors. Seems like 85% of the dramas are doing the "peachy, turquoise" Instagram filter on everything this year.
The second female lead actress is completely wasted here. She is a good actress and by the time they gave her something to do besides repeating the same lines over and over, I dropped it.
The vintage items to represent the 90s(mainly the last half) was laughable. I sell vintage for a living and also lived through the 90s on very modest means so, no, we weren't running around with walkman's that played cassette tapes.
People forget the Matrix was out and we used Cds and DVDs.

Avoid this one unless your folding laundry or want something on while studying.

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I watched this without expecting too much because of many disappointed people who watched it before me and just like them I still watched it because of Ji Chang Wook and the synopsis didn't sound bad.
Soon I was proven right to not expect anything as the beginning was dragging already. We get a lot of insight into the life of the main leads which is not that interesting.
Then when the experiment goes all wrong and they wake up 20 years later you might think now it's picking up pace but instead we see overacted (fake) drama and comedy. The side characters are annoying, especially Ma Dong Chan's family and the female lead's ex yet they get a lot of screen time which is a waste. The funniest parts were those with Ma Seo Yoon (Ma Dong Chan's niece) or the female lead's brother which became my favorite characters beside the professor's aide. The main couple lacks chemistry in my opinion which was the least thing I could care about.
The worst was the draggy story with lots of unnecessary side and cliché plots. I was able to predict the end in detail because it was also cliché. They tried making the end exciting yet it only left a lame impression.
I feel sorry for the cast because I think they can do so much better and I don't blame them, but the script. Have nothing to say about the music as I can't even remember it so it surely wasn't outstanding. For me there's zero rewatch value, as it has more negative aspects than good ones.
So to make it short, I would recommend not to bother and go watch something else.

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So I've seen tons of negative reviews /comments and can't seem to agree with most of them.

The overall drama is very enjoyable. Yes, I sometimes skip scenes, but that is nothing unusual (for me). The actors are not at all disappointing and did a good job. The story is okay and the music is mediocre. The rewatch value is a little low since some dramas are not that rewatchable to me.

I may not have the opinion as others since I judge the drama based on the overall feeling, not analysing each part. But I can say that the drama isn't half bad as it might seem from some comments. I look forward to watching each episode, but not as much as I would've with some other dramas (Hotel Del Luna, Strong Woman etc...). Yes, it's not an excellent drama but it is something nice to watch

I'm not really good with reviews, but my main point is that you should watch first episodes to judge the drama for yourself since the ratings vary so much. :)

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I kinda look forward to this show when it was announced mainly because of JCW, his comeback drama after military. Personally i am not a fan of the FL though. This is the first time i watch her drama and not sure if it is the character problem but i don't find her acting believable. Anyhow i watched a few episodes and still okay but then i really can't go on with it after that. I just skips through each episodes until the last one. Use like 10 mins for an hour episode. The only reason i did this and not drop this altogether is because i want to see JCW lol

The script is really mess up. Plot holes everywhere. Plain boring. Forced comedy which is just annoying. The list could go on. After this, my perception of the FL got more worse. I don't think i am gonna watch her next drama.
Nothing in the storyline keeps me interested or looks forward to it. Even if i skips it i still know what happen so what's the point of watching the whole thing right? I am not even curious what happen to the parts that i have skip. This is terrible because i usually finish a drama once i start it even if it is boring unless it is really bad like this one. What a waste to my precious JCW

What was quite promising turns out disaster. So byeeee don't bother to watch it people!!

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I keep seeing people put that it was not worth it or it was just bad. I liked it. it was kind of different as for the theme. Of course, there wee also cliche things. If you combine the cast and the plot, it is not that bad to try and watch it. At first, i didn't think it was going to be good. It was kind of confusing but i mean that's how i feel about every kdrama. I really recommend you watch it. Overall, it has a great ending. I just wish it had a better explanation in the final episode or just showing more of the happy stuff. I would've enjoyed it , if there was a marriage at the end or something.

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I read many reviews about this series in various places, Many of them stated that the series was awful or poorly written. I decided to give it a chance anyway and I am absolutely glad I did. I will start out by saying that if you start the series expecting a traditional romance series you will be very disappointed. This series embodies science, drama, romance at at times fantasy like elements. You will see two people frozen over a period of time and how they attempt to navigate life and/or survive. The first few episodes switch back and forth past and present but after that it’s all present tense. Although it’s not a traditional romance series it does display various levels of love, romance and commitment. You get to experience or at least see the others experience the disappointment, greed and sacrifice that many other cast members made.

To summarize; this series is about two people that were frozen for a certain amount of time and came out much later than they expected. They face challenges and disappointment all along the way but they also have an opportunity to find love and heal as well. I am only on episode 10 so far however I really like this series and I’m excited to see how it ends.

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Let's be honest, I'm being generous with the rating because if it wasn't for Ji Chang Wook I wouldn't have sat through more than a couple of episodes. But I kept at it because it was his comeback and I missed him. But tbh this became the same as Ong's comeback, so much wasted potential. So, I'm not even going to get into the plotholes etc because if something is entertaining I don't mind all that. But okay, I was basically forcing myself to watch it even though it wasn't terrible, it's just passable. And that's the problem, isn't it? Why give someone like Chang Wook or Jaewook something trite and passable! I don't understand. Anyway, I hope his next project will be better.

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