Melo Movie

I really enjoyed this series. While the title implies melodrama, it is definitely not overly melodramatic. But it is about relationships and contains the full spectrum - new love, broken love, familial love, grief and heartbreak. It will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. And even though it is only 10 episodes long, it does a great job of providing ample time to fully develop each of these sub-threads and seeing them thru to a satisfying ending.

I felt the chemistry between both couples, Moo-bi & Gyeom and Joo-ah & Si-jun was fantastic as was the other relationship pairings - Gyeom & Jun; Gyeom & Si-jun and even Gyeom/Jeong-hoo and Moo-bi/Joo-ah. I especially enjoyed the short scene in ep8 with Gyeom and Si-jun. I felt they nailed the representation of a long time, close male friendship perfectly in how they interacted in that situation.

That said, I did feel the writers were very lazy with the setup for the tension between Moo-bi and Gyeom. Especially in the confrontation between them in ep2. There is no reason he wouldn't have just explained what happened and settled the issue right away.

I also wasn't thrilled with the all-too-common kdrama 'stalking' trope used in ep1 and somewhat in later episodes. While there was nothing sinister about it, she does clearly tell him to leave her alone several times and he persists in ignoring her requests until finally wearing her down. Not a great example on male / female relationships.

But I recommend just ignoring those details and enjoying everything else in the series. The acting is fantastic and the storyline engaging. Even though it is very early in the year, I feel this will be one of my favorite kdramas of 2025....and if not, that only means we are in for a great year of entertainment.

Disclaimer: I'm bad at English so I use AI to translate my review.

Summary: Just watch it and let it sink in because, in reality, it's complex and not overly melodramatic.

This series is intricate and tries to tell more than it can fully explain. You can enjoy watching it more than once because there are many symbols for you to decode. If you're a hardcore fan of series that delve into the philosophy of life, you'll love it and want to rewatch it, at least once more.

The romance part is just a way to lighten the heavy nature of the story and serves as a tool for the writer to tell the narrative. In the end, the series tries to take us on a journey to learn about the differences and the subtleties of life's transitions. I think the Male Lead (ML) performed excellently, living up to his reputation, while the Female Lead (FL) was standard. I didn't feel any disconnect in their performances.

I rate this series very highly because I don't see it as a romance series. If you're looking for a good romance series that will make you cry over a romantic relationship, there are definitely better ones out there. But if you're searching for a series that explores philosophical themes of life, this one will definitely be top of mind. It even gives off more of a J-Series vibe than a K-Series one.

...in this series and steals every scene he's in, but his cuteness isn't all he offers as the second half gets deeper and he really gets to show off his acting chops.

If you're expecting something silly & lighthearted, you'll get that, but way more too, as there are explorations of loss, grief, depression, loneliness & vulnerability.

The series follows lovable Go Gyeom, (Woo-sik) a seemingly happy go lucky young man who can charm the birds from the trees, who falls for Kim Moo-bi, (Park Bo-young ) an aloof assistant director who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, and who isn't willing to let love into her life for fear of being left.

Is Go Gyeom as carefree as he seems? Why is Kim Moo-bi as she is? The supporting cast are excellent as we delve into the family & friendship dynamics of the 2 main characters. I laughed & I cried, I cried quite a bit actually, but I found this series to be delightful & at the same time, thoughtful & meaningful. Shout out to the writer & director for pulling this off.

I absolutely recommend this.

The timeline on this is hard to follow, but it seems like the actors should be late 30s, almost 40, but they act more like late teens early 20s.

The premise was cute, but by episode three, I've lost interest and I keep checking how much time is left.

It's the same old same old misunderstanding type of rom-com that I've seen too many of.

It also feels more like an anime format than a movie.

Good for high schoolers, I guess, but at 60+, I'm out.

I always have a problem here with character limit. Everything is either too short or too long. Don't ask me why someone thought that was a good idea. Thank you for your patience.

I love kdramas and I have seen the main leads in other shows and I know they have great potential However, it seemed wasted on this show, the main reason was it missed opportunities to further develop the characters, and needed more action from them. The emotions didn't translate as well and couldn't connect on a deeper level with them, needed a narrative of who they all were in the past. Parents death, brother suicide, relationship broken (this did not need so much air time) - do we/can we fix this or move on? Poorly executed.

To sum it up, they all felt like walking at the same speed - and couldn't tell them apart. Would have liked to see stronger reactions, timings at key points but it was too slow towards the final 5 episodes. Started well then crashed.

A shame as I love the cast.