Dear. M

Just not enough.

This is okay, but too unidimensional characters, nothing special or deep about any of their personalities. The FL is just silly, innocent and sweet, the ML is smart, loyal and secretly in love.... And so on. Filled with stereotypical clichés and doesn't really have enough push.

Good for teenagers I guess.

I'm a huge sucker for cute little romantic kdramas, so I made sure to check this one out on Viki. There are many characters, but everyone provides an important part in the story. No fillers at all.

What made me think this is the perfect college romance is its theme and atmosphere. It's cute and very lighthearted, and the theme really makes me feel like I go to college with them. I can compare it to Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (AKA my favorite of all time) for how natural it is. Not corny and cheesy, but it still touches quite a few common k-drama scene tropes I adore.

Now let's get to the talk of the town... JAEHYUN. Non NCT fan here, and I did not watch this for him, but I knew most viewers came for him so might as well I talk about his performance. Very good acting from him... not perfect, but also not bad. I see his skills and I believe giving him a more complex role next time would let us see his real potential, because roles like this in lighthearted rom-coms aren't exactly what we should judge an actor for. I also found out it's his first ever acting role so I'm even more impressed with him.

For the rest of the cast, everyone did great. Hyesoo is very talented, and a good singer too which I did not expect. I really like her as an actress, but not so much as a person (because you know...).

So, to end this pretty long thing I typed, I wanna say this has become one of my favorite college kdramas. I love the longing from Minho, the plot twist, the characters, their personalities, and so on and so forth. 10/10 from me!

Before we head into Jaehyun's acting, I will briefly say why I gave this kdrama a 10/10 rating. I loved it. Simply as that. Quite cliche but it doesn't affect my opinion. Now about Jaehyun, he is GOOD, contrary to what I saw on twitter from people who never even watched the series. He still has room for improvements and that's just right since this is his first acting experience. But take note: THAT DOES NOT MAKE ONE A BAD ACTOR. Honestly, he is way too good for a first-time idol actor. As a common viewer and a non-Jaehyun stan, I say I'm impressed even though it's his first time. His acting isn't cringey like other kdrama male leads, it's very in-character. His eyes show so much that he doesn't need to open his mouth or scream "I'M SAD! I'M GONNA CRY!" for me to feel the pain his character feels. I empathized with his character because of Jaehyun's acting, I applaud him for that one. Not every actor can do that without providing a white actor's Oscar-winning scene. Congratulations actor Jaehyun!

While the whole love triangle trope set in high school or university has been consistently done in many K-dramas, Dear. M still somewhat feels like a breath of fresh air. In an array of dark, suspenseful, political, and thrilling K-dramas, this series is exactly what we need.

Of course, there are still tons of K-dramas out there that have a similar plot, but one thing that stands out in Dear. M is the fact that it is told in a different point-of-view. Other series with the love triangle-in-a-campus plot often features a wealthy, heir, and smart male lead who has all the chance to win the heart of the female lead. Meanwhile, the second lead is characterized as the one closer to the female lead, but fails to become her "happily ever after". This series portrays the male lead, Cha Min-ho, as the seemingly hopeless romantic best friend of Ma Joo-ah. Here, he competes with Moon Joon, the son of a wealthy CEO. In other words, it seems like their roles have been switched.

Performance wise, I want to praise the main cast for giving such natural performances. What makes it all so different is how it doesn't feel forced and cringey; the actors are portraying their characters in such a natural way that perfectly fits the lighthearted theme of the series. Also, kudos to Jaehyun, Jinhyuk, and Eunbin for their acting despite being known more as K-pop singers.

Dear. M features a coming-of-age romantic story that we have seen before; just in a different perspective. This drama is an ode to the classic K-drama love story archetype, giving us a new story while still sticking to what we are already familiar with.

Right off the bat, the drama did a poor job establishing the mysterious M and its mystery. The story was so soulless and shallow it made the 12 episodes runtime so damn dreadful. The whole trio couples were lackluster from all angles, both the actors and their characters. Dialogue was riddled with platitudes and awkward exchanges, making each interaction painful. Even the central mystery, which could have been the saving grace, was handled so clumsily that it failed to generate any suspense or intrigue. The mysterious M could've been an alien for all I care. The ML's sister was the only real sensible semi-functional piece of story in the entire thing. One more thing: from a production standpoint, it adopted the deplorable style of cutting everything short and prematurely; nothing plays in full.