Kpop exploitation explored.

NB If you choose this drama because it has a comedy genre I think this is misleading. This is not a fluffy romance. It explores the very unhealthy actions of the victim rescuer dynamic.

This drama highlights what happens when a young girl, who due to earlier neglect by her money grasping mother, decides to become an idol. She is groomed by her manager and eventually becomes a money making product. Along the way she begins to experience crippling anxiety. This is conveniently ignored by her manager until during a concert she collapses. He then bundles her off to live in an apartment that is part of a shared household.

An insight Doona gets later in the story is that the managers deliberate ghosting of her during this mental breakdown is to force her to suffer loneliness and isolation and drive her back under his control.

FL Doona is an emotional red flag mess.
she has no close friends, anger issues, abandonment issues and severe anxiety and depression. She acts out aggression in very inappropriate ways (using glass bottles as a weapon) and has never experienced love.
ML Won Joon enters the story as a student studying for his engineering degree who moves into the share house to be closer to college. He has left behind his single parent mother and a chronically ill younger sister. He has also had an unrequited love with a former childhood female Jin Joo whom he perceived to be out of his league due to her families wealth.

The story depicts the initial misunderstandings and then eventual curiosity and attraction between the two leads. Both actors represent their characters excellently.

The ending is left open for us to choose what happens next and this is very suitable after all the angst each character has faced in this relationship.

One thing I felt was that these two people needed to meet to help each of them to grow and heal. Both show more maturity and better boundaries in the end.

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Romance got lost

I liked the drama, however, towards the midpoint it veered off course.
The acting is not terrific and the main couple are possibly not the best pairing.
The ML is a traumatised king who is being kept emotionally unbalanced due to a series of grisly murders reinforcing his wife's supposed suicide.
Enter the FL who is hiding from her evil, murdering step mother and has become a con artist involved in the marriage compatibility business. She is a fast talker and not averse to pretending she has Shamanistic skills to save her own neck.
The comedic aspect is in play here as this clueless heroine behaves as though she was never been privy to a wealthy family background, although, as we find out later she has only been on the run for 7 years.
I actually like the 2ML best. He comes across as strong, caring and respectful. At all times he is protecting the king and the FL.
The introduced baddies and their nefarious plots to keep the kingdom's marriage ban in place so they can traffic kidnapped women is jarring.
The evil mother is a suitably Korean Melodrama character whose power and influence gets ever increasingly bigger without ever being suspected.
Luckily the script writers finally wrapped up the crisis, gave the bad guys a suitable end and marry off the two leads. What follows is more cute fun and fairy tale ending to wash away any bad taste left over from those middle episodes.

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A BL rom com that leaves a sweet taste

Loved the music from Jeff Satur it really set the scene.
This rom/com is an easily digestible story that shows the interaction of 4 couples in a school environment.
Depending on your own preferences will decide which couples you favour. Each have their own story and back story that is lightly touched on in this short (12 episodes) drama.

I think the writers did a very good job of linking the characters and showing some character progression as the young men move from the study world to the business world.
Special mention are the scenes with the parents.
Mek's parents are lovely and accepting and love shipping the BL couple. Kim has a wonderful scene with his caring mom helping him to discuss his struggles with his first work experience.
Even the perfect Tim gained my sympathy when showing his restrained and polite refusal to be coerced by his father into joining the family business.

The romantic scenes are tastefully done without any graphic content. I feel they can be viewed by all the family without causing discomfort if wanting to help 'normalise' the idea of same sex couples. There is plenty of touching, hugging and kissing. The friends and two sisters are very supportive and it was especially lovely to see the long-term couple, Park and Lee getting married the vows were very touching.

Not too perfect; the headmistress is too OTT and borderline bullying/blackmailing could be written out in a swap for more couple time.

It is also satisfying to see the boys remain in touch and supportive whilst chasing their career objectives.

I do think this is one I will rewatch when I need a little taste of sugar.

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Appearances matter

I think this drama proves that when it comes to looks we can all be quite shallow, so suspend beliefs and prejudices and enjoy.

Handsome male lead dates girls purely on their looks and in a very short time (average 2 months) realises their personality is not attractive enough to continue so drops them.
Our FL has never measured up to society's standards of good looking and in her youth was bullied and teased (she assumes) for her looks so has low confidence in this area.
Set the scene for the beautiful ML to be the model for her art class and she becomes in lust for him.

The fantasy of her wearing a ring that cloaks her real appearance allows her the chance to experience an adorable guy being devoted to her. The fact that no one else can see her transformation is the twist. She luckily stays true to her own personality, probably, because she realises this is a temporary transformation and not likely to last. ML finds that her unaffected personality is very attractive and falls deeply in love.

I liked the tension of when she is exposed but not the execution. The 2FL is also given some sympathy as her backstory is revealed.
The ML is also shown as vulnerable due to his relationship to his mother. The FL is the luckiest because she has very loving parents who are good role models for love.
The story is entertaining and as a fantasy drama it works well.

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