Call It Love

A well written and at times, very touching story. At other times, a very slow and frustrating watch. It focuses on loneliness, grief, healing and family.

The good: The setup of the family and story is interesting, and I liked their dynamic, it was realistic and wholesome and fun a lot of the time, which was needed because the rest of the drama is pretty depressing. The cinematography is beautiful. There's a truly platonic male-female friendship which is a breath of fresh air in a romance drama.

The bad: I know the lead actors in this have a decent range, because I've watched other shows with them, but here their characters are very stoic and wooden, and their scenes became a drag. Don't think they had good chemistry, and I mostly finished the show to see what happened with the family and second couple.

It was a good start to the season of Call it love, good story line and easy to follow. Didn't drag, actors gave a great performance but... I felt depressed watching it and wondered why. Basically both the main actors are depressed all the time. I'm not sure why others said it was a feel good, happiness is feel good. I thought perhaps it may improve as the story line was great so kept watching in the hope the story line would take a turn. By episode 8 I started to skip bits just to see the ending and a few parts I wanted to. Sorry, just being honest but the whole thing just leaves you feeling depressed, the story had no hope, just something positive to look forward to. You feel depressed for the actors lives not improving, depressed because of all the unhappiness. It left me a little disappointed actually. I rated it 6, lower than others. Would have been nice to just see some happy bright times and I would have watched all of it then.

Watching this entire series was very challenging. At times I wanted to bang my head from frustration. There were so many unnecessary filler scenes that made the series uncomfortably long. Like just watching the characters walk down the street and hearing their footsteps, or stare at a campfire and even a virtual one on screen. I tried to fast forward at times but of course when I did, I would miss the one line they actually spoke. I understand the culture in that it is unnecessary to speak to avoid a conflict or hurt the other persons feelings. That is very common in all Asian dramas, but this particular drama takes it to the extreme. In the west we believe communication is key to a successful relationship. If you don't tell me what you feel or want, how can I understand/satisfy you. It's amazing any of their relationships work. All in all, it is a good love story, and the characters performed well. However, be prepared to practice a lot of patience.

I call it love!

As "Western" people, I think it is difficult for us to understand Asia. We will find it difficult to understand that not everything that comes to mind needs to be said. We will find it difficult to understand that family in Asia has a different, albeit somehow familiar, meaning from what we understand it to be and how we live it. And we will find it difficult to understand that the art of filmmaking has a completely different claim than ours. Much is very theatrical and artistic, indirect and implied - as if spoken in verse. For the western consumer who needs an arc of suspense, a (more or less) obvious story development and the good old happy ending with marriage and children and a single family house, this series will be difficult to understand.

To be honest, I can't watch American shows anymore. Everything is kind of the same, and everything that isn't the same is either extremely violent or action-packed in some other way.

There's probably a lot in KDrama that's just entertainment, too. However, "Call it love" is very refreshing. I have eagerly awaited every episode so far and enjoyed every minute of the series. You have to read a lot between the lines, be able to interpret a lot and pay attention to the details. This is entertainment for me. And I wish for more of it, even if experience has shown that it won't go down well in the West.

I just completed episode 8 and it's time for review. I really tried to like this show. The story is actually really good and give credit to the writer. The issue is the lack of direction on how to handle the story. I think the director is trying to create a very artistic show, but it was too slow. You want the drama to build up with each episode, but it stays flat throughout. Watching the main characters was emotionless and with no connection. The side stories were just as emotionless. You would get to the end of an episode thinking ok this ending will get this show going the next episode. In the end it never amounted to anything. The acting was pretty good except the pharmacist. I think they put him in for looks and not the acting.