Watched up to episode 8 – 

Episode 1 started off strong but seemed to fall off at the end. this is not a critique of the acting but the storyline itself. perhaps 10 episodes was not right for this storyline because everything felt off, uneven, rushed and then slowed down unnecessarily at very odd times. the leads are great actors but for some reason they didn’t go well together, it’s hard to understand why because on paper they should complement one another but that’s not how it was received.

the second leads seemed to flow better both in storyline and auras. there was something about them that made sense although i understand why both characters shouldn’t end up together i think it’s quite weird that we don’t even see them date much and we have no clear understanding of how their relationship panned out. 

the second female lead ended up resenting her relationship because she felt like she had to give up a part of herself ( to which her boyfriend was oblivious) almost as if the entire relationship was a lie. I would like to take a tangent here to express that this scenario often pans out when your partner has no other life outside of the relationship, it’s important to explore and grow in relationships not just always going along for the ride. you don’t have to be similar to one another for things to work out as you might end up taking decisions that no one asked you to but instead of resenting yourself, you resent your partner for essentially doing what they didn’t ask for. If you fail to meet your goals in life instead of resenting yourself you take it out on those around you. 

As for the second male lead, i would say he was too impulsive and never wanted to confront how he felt or even be vulnerable. i don’t recall a single meaningful conversation he had with the main lead and every time this was initiated he shut it down really fast. 

i also think her returning just to engage his services as a song writer for her screen play didn’t make any sense but i digress. 

my favorite characters were the male lead’s brother and the female lead’s best friend, both carried the show on their backs. they worked well together and had really compelling storylines. i stopped at episode 8 because i could not get over the fact that his brother dies at the precise moment he gets his will to live. i also felt like his death was rushed or that his character’s death was unnecessary and played no role in the drama just essentially a character dying for the sake of it. 

But perhaps what felt the most unsettling to me was the female lead’s family. i don’t think her mother really loved her father or at least it didn’t feel that way. but even more unsettling is i don’t think her father loved his family, he seemed to only have time for movies and even in scenes where he was present at home it seemed like his mind was always wandering. their entire family dynamic was weird and it was a slightly different genre of movie, i might have said it was almost sinister. her dad was practically not around but what about her mother? it didn’t seem like she much of raising the child either. why is that? 

aside this, i don’t really get the male lead’s point of view, he never seems to break until he does the night he had a fight with his brother before his passing. and even when he does ‘crash out’ he takes a unique angle to it. i wouldn’t say his anger is misguided but rather it’s interesting what he is upset over. 

plus was it ever revealed why he was unable to play outside when he was a kid and spent all his time watching movies ? 

it never sat right with me why he didn’t tell the female lead why he ghosted her all those years ago or why he stood her up that night? 

again on paper their relationship might work but i don’t think they would have been end game in real life. in contrast the second leads could go to therapy and work on themselves before getting back together as they seemed more in sync with one another. further more, for a group of friends, the characters never had any emotional support for one another nor any meaningful conversations overall. they had known each other all their lives yet still had such surface level friendships?? how. 

also it was quite funny how the male lead wasn’t portrayed as a terrible actor instead he always stole the scenes where he appeared but at the same time was never casted as the lead role or got any significant acting role? 

lastly and perhaps the most baffling aspect of this drama is the female lead’s contempt for the film industry but ends up actively seeking and working in that industry. that makes zero sense. she hated her father but not having a life outside of work but she was the same. she had NO friends and did nothing but work and then come home and repeat the whole cycle again. she claimed to have no passion for the job but took her time picking out scripts and directing the movies to ensure the perfection. isn’t that contradictory? i mean if she was so unbothered why did she have to pick the melody script even when the screen writer initially refused or why was she so particular about the music for the drama if she didn’t care?? 

and then she falls in love with someone so similar to the man she has hated all her life, talk about the thin line between love and hate. 

Maybe all these are resolved in the original source material, perhaps it would have better if there were more episodes either way, the overall feel of the drama was a hit and miss which is sad seeing as all these leads and supporting roles are phenomenal actors. the cinematography was excellent, no notes and i loved the scene in episode 1 when the male lead’s pulls back to ask if the kiss was a mistake and when the female lead’s affirms it’s not, he says “okay then” and leans in again.