Gosto Pessoal

At viewing, this drama is 15 years old so it IS dated. And while I don't mind the older fashioned hair, wardrobe, music, or cinematography it was the cartoonish representation of several characters that made it hard to watch. The lead female character in particular was written in a way that was beyond silly. Absolutely unbelievable and in no way likable or sympathetic to this viewer. Several other roles suffered the same unappealing characterization.

The story format of "My Fair Lady" has been redone in countless movies and dramas, yet the level of "woman as unrefined idiot" in this one is in no way ingratiating. I watched this to the end because I was sure the character transformation needed for this dramas success would be worthwhile. Sadly for me, it wasn't.

What saves this drama from the abyss of having a style "too old to watch" is Jin Ho (Lee Min Ho). His role is believable, complex, sympathetic and frustrating enough to be appealing.

End Comment: to each his own. While the complex story content and dialogue was high quality, the dated stereotyping of women was utterly unsatisfactory.

I watched it again after many years, and though I love the leads, esp. SYJ, and the series has sweet moments, for me, it definitely has cringe-worthy scenes and others that simply do not hold up well.

He listened to her and comforted her when she was sad. He took care of her when she was sick. He never cheated on her. He felt for her mother's loss. He was helpful to her in cleaning and cooking. He gave her strength to not dwell in the past but for a brighter future. He defended her and protected her when she fell into states of weakness. He supported her when she fell into financial troubles. He slept in a bed with her without even touching a finger of her in the beginning of their romance and waited for her consent.

Core part of the plot was the male lead pretending to be gay as described in the synopsis, however, I'm not sure if this was intentional or not but naming the female lead 'Gae In' was seriously tripping as it was pronounced very similarly to how the characters saying the word gay. Anyway, the drama followed the typical romcom formula of the early 2010s while having a play around the cohabitation of opposite sex and pretending to be gay. This setup spawned all kinds of predictable shenanigans yet they were somewhat entertaining, solely thanks to the leads. While sometimes irritating but they had a good dynamic going on between them. The character Jin Ho was written as a reserved guy who doesn't open up or show his feelings but Lee Min Ho in this drama was way too subdued and static beyond what the characterization mandates for his character, combined with sometimes questionable production, it had created some awkward scenes and deliveries. The drama featured a love square to anchor the drama but this love square was plain stupid. It served its purpose to kick start the story but any involvement after that was a poor decision. I found the ending to be a little bit weak and boring, they played it safe and predictable. Both parents of the leads were brushed off quickly to wrap it up despite being a reasonable point of tension prior to that. Overall, it's a decent watch with nice moments here and there but lacked a lot to be recommendable or rewatchable.

16. That's the number. Well, sometimes, it's 20. But that's the standard number of episodes in Korean TV series. It's a challenge to fill and this drama, like many, doesn't quite do it. There was enough material here to make a decent 2-hour romcom movie but 16 hours was far more than could be filled up without recourse to a relentless cycle of rinse and repeat.

What makes this drama bearable, indeed more than bearable, are two tremendous performances from the stars, Lee Min-ho and especially Son Ye-jin. The rest of the cast and the stock characters they play could easily have been recruited out of the chimpanzee enclosure at Seoul Zoo, but Lee and Son are just otherworldly in their performances and chemistry, enough to blow up the labs at MIT. Son has such terrific comedic range just within this show, able to display vulnerability and strength, naivete and common sense, kindness and, when necessary, backbone, and you never fail to believe her. What is asked of Lee is more limited but he delivers without holding back.

The plot line, the single woman who mistakenly believes the guy she ends up living with is gay and therefore "safe", is a little forced and acceptable (just barely) only because the show is 10 years old and predates more widely accepted norms about the place of homosexuality and other non-"straight" orientations in society. But even there, most of the characters are quite tolerant of divergence from the norm of the time and Son at one point offers up a heartfelt declamation that love, straight or gay, is love. There is one interesting secondary character, played with some finesse by Ryu Seung-ryong , whose struggles with being gay and finding a way to express his love to Lee (whom he not unreasonably believes is gay - after all, Lee actually says he is, er, straight out) are depicted with some delicacy.

The problem is that the magic number means that Lee must be made to miss chance after chance to set the record, er, straight about his orientation in ways that are increasingly forced and sometimes lame beyond belief. Similarly, just as the writer finds idiotic excuse after excuse for Lee not to explain things properly, he (or she - not sure which) is forced in scene after scene to portray Son as clueless long past belief. The deception is enabled with the usual tropes of untimely interruptions by phone calls, people barging in, non-emergency emergencies, and an endless series of manufactured lies told by everyone and his mother, all so the moment of discovery can be delayed long past the moment the audience's patience has been exhausted, all so that the magic number of 16 can be reached.

Similarly, the second leads, played by Kim Ji-seok and Wang Ji-hye, must replay their same basic scenes over and over. Kim, in particular, is a creepy character whom both Wang and Son rightly reject and yet he cleaves first to one then the other with essentially the same nauseating sophistries and, unfortunately, the absolutely loathsome arm grabbing that pervades Kdramas.

Tertiary characters are equally repetitious and even less interesting. Lee's right hand guy, played by the forgettable Jung Sung-hwa, is merely insufferable and Son's best friend, played by Jo Eun-ji, manages to detract from every scene she's in.

These dramas need to be shorter or more inventive. Not all of them have the maximum luminescence of stars like Lee Min-ho and Son Ye-jin. I could watch Son forever and I can see why female (and perhaps male) fans could do the same for Lee. But it would be great if the material were a little deeper, a little richer or, to put it more precisely, a lot deeper and a lot richer.