Érase un amor rural (2022)

This is a cute story. Not very romantic but it was enough for how this story is written. I won't focus on the main leads because everyone did very well to make this storyline come alive. The set and visuals were great from the first episode to the last episode. It was short and sweet. I'm not a pet owner, I was but I think you have to be very passionate about owning a pet that will only live 14 years. I can't do that anymore, it hurts to lose them. I wasn't crazy about the wardrobes because the police uniform is only blue and looks like the main lead only had maybe 3 changes to make. That's that.

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Good Enough

Korean Web Drama " Once Upon A Small Town " is a rural romantic comedy.

The drama is predictable, yes, entertaining though. It has all the feel good vibes that one is searching in a short rom com drama, it has the right amount of drama and the even more perfect right amount of romance. The latter was cute, with few romantic scenes however, as the drama took its time to enstablish the relationship. The love triangle was okay, on the other hand, and offered some supsence with the main love story.

The performances, in addition, were all great by everyone in the cast, even the side characters.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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"소에, 되지, 사람들까지, 계획대로 되는 게 하나도 없으니까."

I feel like the most appropriate time to watch this sunny K-drama is a leisurely summer breakfast with a cup of tea. The 30-mins episodes and an easy-to-follow story about two young people - former secret friends - will be able to provide enough warmth and comfort for the day.

🔸️The plot is entirely focused on the young veterinarian Ji Yool and a policewoman Ja Yeong slowly falling in love. By "entirely" I mean entirely. There are many authentic characters around them in the Huidong village but none of them have any influence on the main characters or an arc. That isolated romantic development falls flat leaving me indifferent to the ending. My favorite episode though was the 7th where Ji Yool and Ja Yeong give the opposite relationship advices to the kid, confusing him, therefore showcasing their differences.

However, I find the comedic beginning - how Ji Yool adapts to the village life and tries to treat big cattle - very enjoyable. Mostly thanks to the actor Choo Yeong Woo and his soft comedic style. He is never too much and has a perfect balance in his expressions. Basically, the whole show is his.

🔸️A K-drama in a rural setting with its beautiful landscapes and loud nosy ajummas is always going to be comforting despite its writing flaws. There are far better examples like Summer Strike, Hometown Cha-cha-vha, Our Blues, but if you look for a short sweet one with cute puppies and cute Choo Yeong Woo - this is it!

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Sweet and Fluffy and that's 100% okay.

I'm glad I didn't look at the reviews prior to picking up this series. I was looking for something new while I was on Netflix and thought why not when I saw the drama finished airing. I'm a sucker for small town dramas. I love Gilmore Girls and Home Town Cha Cha, it's something about a large cast and everyone knowing everyone's business. It's just a really funny set up.

I really enjoyed watching the ML, Choo Young Woo, because I was use to his younger character from School 2021. He's 23 in real life so I was curious to see how he can play a 26 year old as a vet. He took to the role very well and I'm glad he didn't type cast himself as a high school student. I'm very excited to watch of this career and I hope he gets another leading role, but in a longer drama.

One of the reason why I love C dramas is because they have a bunch of cheesy, low angst dramas and you don't really get that in K dramas. I think that is why I enjoyed Once Upon A Small Town so much. It's just totally wholesome, funny, cute and a great drama to watch right before bed. You will sleep with a smile on your face.

The episodes are 30 mins each and there's only 12, so it really does hit all of the plot points quickly without filler scenes. I enjoyed the fast pace and typical troupes. You have the cute banter between the leads, you have the best friend with a crush, you have the ex coming back and so much more. I gobble those kind of troupes up!

Overall, if you want some easy, light and fluffy, this is perfect.

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Slow start...but the characters end up charming you

After seeing 630 k-dramas, I almost gave up on this one up at the beginning because of the clichés and the over-shy discomfort of our leads when they first met. But it worked. Yes, even the over-long camera focus on our leads faces when they try to to communicate. I remember the earlier days of K-dramas when this 'film trope' was used a lot, but I read an article in which a director explained that it was to bring viewers closer in, then hold them a beat longer in the emotion along with the character. This drama uses it almost in the same way, although today's viewer might not like it. Our leads stare at each other during conversation, their eyes often saying way more than their wordscommunicate.
It's an old-fashioned story idea too: city boy meets a country girl. But clichéd stories don't shoot down a drama if the characters are interesting. I felt his social phobia was actiually endearing and loved our femal leads friendly, capable and generous personality was a worthy lead . The countryside's villagers are another tropey tie-in to classic dramas indeed, yet I foundwe gotsome nice country extras with both the animals and the children, who stole scenes even more than the nosy neighbours.
As for romance. The parallels among the three love relationships reflect each other almost to a fault and seem over-scripted ...but yet...it works. We get some fresh insights on how men and women think differently about managing a relationship, yet they come up with the same answers we all do in the end. Finally, the sweetness of Once Upon A Time...might seem like cheese at times...but when it comes to dramas...I like both.

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It took me a few weeks to do so, but I finally finished the series. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It was a nice and easy watch... it was just a bit slow and dare I say a bit boring at times.

For me, it's along the lines of Lie to Me where the plot is lacking but you want to keep watching for the leads. Though, Lie to Me had the lead actor/actress' raw and magnetic chemistry to run with while the chemistry was lesser in this one.

I'd still recommend OUaST for anyone looking for an easy, cute watch after an intense one. The visuals of the small town were nice. And the little kid and his story with his girl, who is a 'friend' was a lot of fun to watch. Watch this for a breath of fresh air watch if the synopsis interests you.

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So many better series out there with similar storylines

My rating is 8.5/10. This is a 2022 South Korean romantic comedy drama with 12, 30-40 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

When Han Ji-yul (ChooYoung-woo) is tricked by his grandfather to leave Seoul and come to a small community in the country, he thinks he will just keep his head down and run his grandfather’s vet clinic quietly. Huidong village is not a place to bring your big city attitude though, the people are close and everybody not only knows everybody but they know everything about each other. Ahn Ja-young (Park Soo-young) grew up in the village and is the jack of all trades helper. She seems to have a hand in about everything and this brings the village beauty into close contact with the annoying city man on a frequent basis. At first this “nosy” behavior annoys Ji-yul who didn’t want to be there in the first place. But it is not long before he too relies on Ja-young to navigate this confusing new social environment. Will the city guy find love in this very unexpected place? Can he win her love over the boy turned man she grew up with?

Review
A nice romantic comedy with a very linear, predictable storyline, If you are looking for something shorter and not very complex, this would be a good choice. It is worth warching once but I may never watch it again. I would not turn the channel if it was on but also would not seek it out. My 30 year old daughter, who watched it with me, said she would rate it 10/10 and we usually agree so that shows how differently people feel about this one. She said she could not think of anything wrong with it. As you can tell, from my review below, I found quite a bit wrong with the series.

Spoilers*
I felt like he was very unkind to her in the beginning for no good reason. He was bristly and aloof in general despite the towns people being relatively friendly. Then it flipped and there was a point where she was not very nice to him. Because of that it was harder for me to completely buy into their sudden deep love for each other. I think, had the series been longer, there would have been more time for them to have a slower build to romance which would have added credibility. For me just them knowing each other as kids was not enough reason for them to fall so quickly and completely as adults.

Ja-young expecting him to remember they were friends as kids and being so angry it took so long was unreasonable. He was obviously severely traumatized by his parent’s death and a mature adult would have realized that. So the anger she had over that was uncalled for. The writers did a poor job of providing that back story. There was not enough information about that traumatic event to understand why he went mute and how he recovered. The person he was talking to on the phone brother? Uncle? Friend? It was difficult to determine that relationship. And it was an important one because you never got to see him being close to anyone else, including the grandfather. When Ja-young got in the car accident and Ji-yul is in a panic trying to get her out I thought there would be a series of flashbacks that would explain his trauma more but there wasn’t. The car was neither on fire nor in the water so it was strange for him to find it that critical to get to her. It implied it was due to the past trauma but you had to make that connection mostly yourself.

I really did not like 2nd guy at all for her. He was mean to lead guy beyond what mere jealousy would have called for. He was pushy about his feelings. Not sweet and patient but it seemed like he took for granted and expected she should turn to him. He never effectively defended her when the others treated her poorly for being an orphan nor went out of his way to help her often. It just seemed territorial and not like he had true romantic feelings for her for a long time.

The whole situation with the ex girlfriend was so brief it felt rushed and not a valid insertion to the story so late in the game. Triangles are often used to reveal the character’s feelings for the lead. In this case the ex shows up and he does not waver at all. And, at first, you wondered what horrible thing she had done. But then you find out she was just going abroad. That separation trope is done often enough those of us in the know expect that separation does not come between true love. But it did. And he just broke up with her. Yet we learn he was so deeply in love with her it took a long time for him to recover. He wondered if he could ever love again. But she shows up and he does not even waiver from this girl he newly loves. The ex had everything, they shared interests and were both veterinarians, lived in Seoul and had history. For him to so quickly choose main girl did not ring true. It would have been more credible if the ex had done something horrible or was not a very nice person or something. Or even if he discovered he never really loved her but mistook friendship for lovel. It nade his love for anyone seem shallow.

When he gave up his life in Seoul to take over the vet hospital in that small town it felt like he was sacrificing a lot to be with her. There was never a sense he grew to love working with large animals it just felt like he adapted. When they were dating and wanted privacy they went to Seoul. So it appeared, as a young couple, Seoul would have more to offer them. Thus the choice to live in the small town did not flow logically. I think the point was the town people started to feel like a big family which is something he never had, but they did not portray that well. It never showed him developing deep relationship with town members. So it just seemed he was giving up a lot and she wasn’t.

Her being a police officer yet doing everything seemed weird. I have seen others about police in a small town and they still do police work. Here she would be, in the middle if a shift, helping to cover peaches. That would have made sense for maybe a town mayor or something but not for a police woman. And she came and went whenever it seemed. It did not make police in a small town look very good. And I do not think, based on a lot of other examples, it was an accurate portrayal.

#ChooYoungWoo
#ParkSooYoung

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Divertido e leve

Os dois últimos episódios foram os mais gostosos deles dois como casal, foi muita fofura!
É um drama divertido, pra entreter, é leve, tem poucos episódios e curtos também, pra passear o tempo é uma delícia! Até a cenografia dele, se passando no interior, onde todo mundo se conhece adoro essa vibe
O casal é fofo e tem química, o sang hyeon que é o amigo dela não me tira da cabeça que ele é o seojun desse drama, lindo, legal e na friendzone, fiquei apaixonadinha por ele e queria que ele tivesse sido o casal secundário, amei que ele fez amizade com o Ji yul fofos
Amei as criancinhas e o casal do amigo dele e da outra moça, muito engraçado
Só queria que tivesse aparecido os avós dele, são tão citados mas nem aparecem.

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Le plaisir de sortir des villes et de respirer le bon air !

J’ai vraiment aimé ce drama tout simple, parfaitement prévisible au niveau de l’histoire (citadin versus campagnards, couple improbable, conclusion attendue…)mais dont les personnages sont sympathiques, les dialogues bien écrits, et donnent tout du long la sensation partager la vie de gens simples et normaux, je veux dire par là sans tueur en série, sans psychopathes ou sociopathes, et si les héros ont leur part de trauma de l’enfance, ils n’ont rien d’extraordinaire non plus. le drama est court, les épisodes aussi, entre 30 et 40 minutes chacun, d’ailleurs l’histoire n’en aurait pas supporté plus ! Il y a de l’humour, de la tendresse de l’émotion, et la découverte de nouveaux acteurs est un plus certain, même si Choo Yeong Woo est encore un peu à l’étroit dans le personnage, ce qui tombe bien puisqu’on a affaire un homme peu sociable et introverti ! Nul doute qu’il a du potentiel, et les autres aussi !

Je le conseille donc, c’est un délicieux moment de fraîcheur, suffisamment bien écrit pour qu’on en arrive à penser que les clichés ne sont en fait que l’image de la vraie vie !

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