Was It Love

All my stars are for the male lead Son Ho-jun who played Oh Tae-oh. Now I know why I very rarely give a good review for the female leads. It is because the writers make me detest the female lead. This whole story is so frustrating and the best part of it at all is the last 10 seconds of the series. Other than that the only thing I enjoyed is Oh Tae-oh and the child actors did a fine job acting as well. This is the last time I will be watching a single mother K-Drama that allows the child to believe that they got abandoned by their father and the mother never straightens them out. Couldn't stand it.

There was so much potential here. Sigh.

I'm caught between loving Kdramas and being utterly annoyed by them. Loved how this took a past love triangle (... square?) into the present with the potential for a balance of both proper drama (mafia boss guy) and comic relief (nauseating arrogant fool ex) but lost me at the lead character.

If that's normal behavior for a Korean woman, then WHY are the supporting women in these movies so unbelievably cool? The best females in this movie are her assistant and her entirely fabulous bar owner/landlady friend. (Also her daughter, major credit and huge talent!!)

I'm finding this over and over again in these films. Why the constant winging and whining? Why the melodrama in completely unwarranted scenarios? Why the lack of intelligence in obvious situations? Why the hysterics in perfectly normal circumstances?

If this woman has worked ANYwhere for 5 minutes, she knows that she needs to be professional or at least credible. A list of top tier guys giving a frumpy, bossy, totally unprofessional, inexperienced PRODUCER her first movie opportunity ever? Ummm... No.

Sitting through episode after episode of watching a single mom play out three amazing guys and one loser... then ending up with the loser as a "happy ending"? Again, really painful to watch. From about the 4th episode on I just got angry- with everyone... from the actors to the stylists to the writers... just ended up reading about them instead of watching. As a single mother who has actually gone through this plotline, I guarantee there were better ways to tell this story.

Loved the beginning of the story but towards the middle it seemed characters were stagnant, no development and the plot a bit overcharged for a 16 episodes drama, and the dumb revelation of their misunderstanding. First half keps you hooked, second half made me skip. The finale quite boring. All in all is a series above the average with funny moments.

No man is an island ❣ Entire of itself ❣ Every man is a piece of the continent ❣ A part of the main ❣....❣ Any man's death diminishes me ❣ Because I am involved in mankind ❣ And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls ❣ It tolls for thee.

~John Donne~

Is that love? Yes, it is.

'I wanted to carry the burden alone,' many characters in WIL say. Is that love? If you choose to act alone, you are choosing to be alone. Before you act alone, remember that you don't act alone: No man is an island. Everything we do has an impact on others, & every one of us is a role model, whether for good or less-than. "By the time I realized I'd pushed you away, it was too late," is another line we hear. Again, was acting alone, love?

'Why would you drop out of college w/ just one semester to go?' Long pause. It opens up to our FL, Noh in a job interview at a movie studio. Finally, she blurts out that she had to drop out to have a child. Her daughter's now older, so she's ready to pursue her dream of being a movie producer. Hired immediately - Wow, that was easy! When the owner of the studio disappears, she learns that he tricked her into cosigning for his debt! The debt collector is a really scary looking dude. She needs to make money fast or risk losing limbs.

Noh frantically rifles through the studio in search of anything that can generate quick cash. She comes across a contract to adapt 'Love Is Non-existent' to film. It's the fledgling novel by a now enormously famous author. Jackpot. She arranges a meeting & is pleasantly surprised when the reclusive writer agrees to it. Upon arrival, she understands why: She's met this author before. He's never posted pictures publicly, & he writes under a pen name, but this wordsmith, Dae, is her ex. Right here. Right now. Right in front of her disbelieving eyes. They had been very close, but was it love? I'll tell you what it is now: It's hate. No matter how much money is involved, this is a man she won't work w/. Lo, & behold! HE says the same thing about HER! He'll never agree to work w/ /her/ on /anything/.

Noh has the script's rights, & she's desperate, so she's thinking about forcing through w/ the project. In the meantime, Dae looks for comfort & support. He reaches out to the couple's closest college friend, Ryu. Now a famous actor, Ryu has his OWN agenda. As the project goes forward, things will get quite messy w/ the 3 of them.

Not as messy as it is w/ Dae & his daughter, Hani, though. She's been longing for him her whole life. He didn't know she existed. Dae's first interaction w/ the kid is darling. It's loaded. There's tension, they spat, they look alike, they act a little bit alike, yet she also acts like her mom. Hani may seem inconsistent. She's looking for her father, but when she finds him, she's reluctant to accept him. She's lived 14 yrs w/o a father, she tells him, so she doesn't need one. It's understandable that she would be self-protective & cautious before opening up her heart to this man whom she's just met, but the toxicity is frustrating. Is that love? Not yet.

When things get a little more serious, the actors shine. They get to show off their skills. That is part of what hurts. I'm behind in writing reviews. Sometimes, the way I see a show changes over time. My first impression isn't always the lasting one. The more I recall WIL, the less I like it. The more I look back on it, the more bitter it is. WIL is a difficult pill. What it does well, it does really well; but the negatives are what stays w/ the viewer. There are things in this show that I didn't merely dislike, but actively loathed.

1st of all, some characters don't come around quickly enough. It's frustrating.

2ndly, Noh committed so many no-nos! They will show the couple's falling out. Dae became obsessed w/ the many things pressuring him between school & career, He turned dismissive, unappreciative, & inattentive towards Noh. He was horrible. He was wrong. She, in turn, separated herself & never told him he was a father. Not when she started showing. Not as the due-date neared. Not after the birth. Not at the first birthday, or the second. Count to 14. Fine, to that. I don't agree, but she was really angry at that jerk. But we'll also learn that /Hani/ was tortured at school over not having a father. They had to frequently move due to the intolerance from outsiders. Hani had trouble making & keeping friends. Hani longed for her father, and Noh sacrificed her daughter to her anger. Her feelings were more important than her daughter! Was that love? HAIL NAW! This isn't up for debate: Noh was wrong.

That's the worthy msg rolled into WIL. "Stop before you end up doing something you regret, like I did," we hear. No one is guilt-free in this show. Everybody thinks they're running in a straight line. We're all going after our prize. However, none of us are capable of running in a straight line. Society is a web, a tangle, & endless knots. In WIL, most of the characters make decisions on their own w/o a care to verify the facts. Is that love? More often than not, when we think we're acting alone, we're lying to ourselves. We're always intruding into others' lanes. We choose to ignore that & keep the focus on us, what we want, & our own pain. Instead of the wide 🌏 around us & loved ones closest to us, it's our bitterness, hate, & anger that drives most of us. Nowhere is this more true than w/ parenting. "It was my choice to have her, but it wasn't hers to live this way," Noh sobs (yeah, it was). She's in the middle of her Oma & Ha-ni. Mom is saying that she'll take on all Noh's burdens b/c that's what a mother does for a child. Noh slowly sees that, ultimately, burdens must be borne - nobody can /walk/ our path for us. It's much easier w/ support, if we can get it. Regardless, the toll must be paid. She realizes she put blinders on while a heavy burden was piled onto her unsupported daughter. Noh had refused to see it. Was that love?

Parenting is the main theme of WIL. One mother, desiring to protect her son, takes over his life. Is that love? Ironically, it backfires, utterly. If she had just been natural w/ him they would have been close. 'I'm a single parent, so I'm your mom & your dad,' is Noh's attitude. That's asking the kid to enter a pact of lies. No matter what a parent says, kids know when they have another parent out there, somewhere. Some siblings, close to me, had a parent who claimed s/he would be 2 parents. The kids knew it wasn't true; all they felt was betrayal from the parent who wasn't there, & they underappreciated, w/ a little resentment mixed in, the parent who was there. Nobody can fill two roles. We should merely fulfill our responsibilities to our utmost ability & love. Kids always want a mom & a dad, but we can each only be one. Tell them you'll do everything you can to make up for the lack. Tell them that you're in this together. It's important that they know that things don't always work out the way we like in life. Besides, it's usually a bad idea to lie to kids. Most lies are for ourselves, not others. (Even many white lies are about making us feel more comfortable, not about looking out for the other person, who might improve if s/he heard the truth in kindness. Is that love?) Most of all, we lie to ourselves 1st. You can get through anything by cherishing your kids & keeping communication flowing. Claiming "I'm your mom & your dad," (focus on YOU) as opposed to saying "I will do everything I can to make up for what you haven't been given in life," (focus on THEM) are almost opposite. As one character in WIL says: 'it's not enough to fill the void in her heart."

3rdly, he ends up wanting to scrap his book, change his pen name & tell the true story. He claims the 1st book was a lie. It was the truth as he knew it. I think a better idea would be to write the sequel from her perspective. He can't scrap the book, it's already out there.

Finally, the dreaded, no good, very bad MSS - Mandatory Separation Syndrome. It's a tired-out plot device in which, once a couple commits, they are separated for an extended chunk of time. I can't believe that after 14 yrs of separation they still did a 2-yr MSS. Yeah, sure, they had to go do what they had to go do, but no contact? How could they bear to be separated, & how could he leave his daughter for another 2 yrs? Is that love? Nope. This is utter nonsense in any culture.

There are solid elements. The childrens' relationship mirrors the adults. It's charming. "Why do bad things always come all at once?," Noh wonders. Apparently suitors come all at once, as well. It ain't a Kdrama w/o a ❣⛰. First blood: They each got a paper cut early on in the show; they are linked. The cool camera work during some of the kisses makes the viewer feel how dizzy it must have been for them. They aren't going for all-out laughs, but there's plenty of amusing moments & characters in the show; director Kim Do Hyung does a nice job. The issues don't stem from the technical side. The acting is tremendous. It's just enough to string the viewer along for the big letdown. The weakness in WIL is the writing, more than anything else. While It isn't w/o merits, we are left w/ an emptiness that hurts. I'm not in love w/ it.

QUOTES🗣

I don't know how many knots there are, but let's start on tying them one by one.

Love has no revenge.

I wanted to stay by your side & protect you, but I was just being selfish. It wasn't love.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬6 📝5 🎭7.7 💓5.5 🦋6.5 🌞3 🎨7⚡3 🎵/🔊6 😅3 😭5 🤢2 🤔5 💤2 🔚4

Screenwriter: Lee Seung Jin (Cinderella & the Four Knights-5.6)

Age 14+ R-rated lang Incl a f💣s.

Re-📺? Sorta wish I skipped the 1st viewing.

After So Long, It's YOU:

My First First Love-8, Romance is a bonus book-7.9, Oh My Ghost 10, It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9, Sisyphus 8, Hospital Playlist 9 Itaewon Class-8.9, Familiar Wife-8.5.

I know Korean society is still conservative but the dialogues over the main character being a single mom are so full of stereotypes that it's hurtful to watch. They portray her situation as being shameful and pitiful even though she's a strong woman who fights for her dreams and her family. Even the clothes are pushing the stereotype of a pitiful single mom. For example, they make her wear everyday "mom clothes" to go to meatings with CEO's and movie stars while even her roomate, who is a teacher, wears stylish clothes. This could have been a fantastic K-drama, but all of this made it not so enjoyable...