I had issues with both lead characters. Both had intriguing premises. But I believe the writers botched the execution of that material and undermined the potential in both characters. With different choices, this set-up (a young romantic redeems the heart of an older man who has given up on love) could have been more successful. 6.5 The idea of someone commited to singlehood was fresh, but the execution was weak. Rather than having well thought out reasons for staying single, Lee Joon was artificially stubborn in his position on dating (e.g, stubborn just to create character conflict). Worse, he seemed to believe that what was true of him applied to everyone else, too. I think it turned out Lee Joon had one youthful romance turn sour. One. Youthful. Everyone can relate to that! But precious few of us conclude we should shut down our hearts forever from that first break-up. At least not as adamantly as Lee Joon. If they wanted to give us a sincere take on preferring singlehood, a richer backstory was needed. As for Ha Ram, his pushiness made me uncomfortable. Again, a suitor who refuses to take no for an answer can be an endearing storyline. But Lee Joon's refusals were clear and direct. Ha Ram simply refuses to take no for an answer. Given the deference younger Koreans accord seonbae's, his persistence seemed designed to clang the Korean audience's notion of propriety. The series touched on that, but it completely ignored the consent-driven culture of the 2020s. Ha Ram's unrelenting pursuit felt outdated and disrespectful. Outdated because a decade or two ago maybe no one even notices when a sincere suitor pushes his suit innthe face of rejection. Disrespectful because Ha Ram disregards Lee Joon's stated preferences and even fails tomabide by his own promies to tone down their workplace interactions. Speaking of the workplace, Love Mate unfolds in an office, and so does much of Ha Ram's aggressive courtship. By the prevailing legal standards of my state, Ha Ram commits workplace sexual harassment. Perhaps the Korean standard is lower, or perhaps Korean jurists only acknowledge sexual harassment between mixed sex couples, but for me situating so much of the pair's interaction at work was akin to the narrative committing what tennis players regard as an unforced error. None of the sins I outlined here rise to the level of egregious. For the most part, I liked the story well enough. The characterizations disappointed, particularly Ha Ram's tendency to say one thing and then disrespect Lee Joon anyway. It could have been worse, but it wasted its potential. Hence, "cute, enjoyable, but forgettale" works as an epitaph for me too.
Again I completely agree with forgettable because even myself, as I did a whole ass review on it, can't seem to remember much of it >< For the sexual harassement on workplace, it's actually a good point that I absolutely didn't think of. And I actually it could be considered as such. Though I think he's behaviour turned me off less than it did for you ahah For Lee Joon I think I can only disagree since I relate to him so much. Maybe it could have had a bit more depth, sure, but overall I think it was pretty well developped. But then again, maybe it's just because I relate too much. Like him, or almost like him, I only had one desatrous one sided love in my life and since then haven't dated anyone. My stand on wanting to remain single doesn't come from just that, and maybe that's where they could have expanded a bit more, but I can't deny it plays a role, or did play a role at some point in my life. So yeah, all that to say that too me Lee Joon was a really "nice" character >
@@dramawhale03 I do think that one disastrous break-up can lead a person to swear off future love. And I worried my assessment of Lee Joon would come across as disrespecting your choices. I almost _almost_ worked in the statement that "I bet Drama Whale would say more than one factor led to her own singlehood" before deciding commenting on your life was too presumptuous. You wrote, "I only had one disastrous one-sided love," but the implications there was you had other loves too. (Not disastrous or not one-sided.) For Lee Joon, it seemed as if he dipped his toe into the romantic waters one time only, then gave up. For me that was too slender an experience to make permanent life choices. And, while I forget the specifics, I seem to think the disaster he experienced was fairly routine. Hence, a subjective disaster to him, but not one most viewers would objectively agree rises to disaster level. So, I actually think our positions on Lee Joon's singlehood can be reconciled. And, frankly, I wish the writers had treated that stated preference with enough respect to explore its boundaries. Having Ha Ram simply disregard "I prefer to be single" as a viable option means we haven't really seen the premise play out. Ha Ram was incredibly selfish in his pursuit of Lee Joon. Actually, my memory is returning a bit. I think most of my failure to connect with this series when it aired owes to a low assessment of Ha Ram. I liked Lee Joon. I wanted to see him slowly thaw to Ha Ram based on a measured rethink of his stance toward romance--and burgeoning feelings, of course. Instead, Ha Ram overwhelms his defenses, insists on attention (virtual blackmail at one point), and wears out his resistance. I did not find that satisfying. Lee Joon does not choose Ha Ram so much as surrender to him. Not my cup of tea.
@@johnmaster3748 No no actually I only had one love in my life so far, so it was the only one ahah But like I said, it's not the only factor that makes me want to remain single, not anymore at least^^ So I think we can kind of still stand on the same grounds a bit :D I see what you mean for Ha Ram and I actually agree with you that Lee Joon is more surrending to him than opening up to him. I still believe you've gotta be a bit pushy with someone who doesn't want to date. But there are still boundaries to it, you can't just do what you want. I have a perfect example of that but I prefer not tot alk about it, this isn't about me >< In the end I think it's super difficult to walk the middle line of being pushy without doing too much. And to this I can agree that it's not really well done in the drama.
@@dramawhale03 "in the end...it is super difficult to walk the line between being pushy [and doing just enough to he sweet]." Often, I bash scriptwriters in this space. But let's just admit the job is difficult. Especially since "the line" in one culture may lay far from the line of another culture. Or generational. Or even individual. But where ever the line is, these writers did not get it right. But it may have been a near-impossible task in the first place.
This one was okay. Cute, but not memorable. In fact, I didn't really remember much about it until I watched your video, and then I was like, "OH, it's that one." I did like that they got together in the middle of the series. I'd give it a 6/10. Not terrible but not bad.
2023 has featured a recurring corps of "watch, enjoy, immediately forget" mediocrities. They are not necessarily bad, they just are not memorable. I can't tell whether the BLs have become more pedestrian or whether the humans have become more jaded. Maybe three years into our near-continuous binge of these series it is simply more difficult to stand out?
@@johnmaster3748 A bit of both. With the success of Semantic Error, Korea has been trying to recreate the winning formula with varying degrees of success. We as viewers used to be satisfied with cookie cutter BLs, but our palates have become more sophisticated and we want series with more than a parade of pretty boys and a thin thread of a plot.
@@j_scott as I finished writing my reply, I found myself thinking "Both can be true." Nice cookie cutter reference. I always associate those with this season of the year. That reminds me, I really need to call my mother.
I had issues with both lead characters. Both had intriguing premises. But I believe the writers botched the execution of that material and undermined the potential in both characters. With different choices, this set-up (a young romantic redeems the heart of an older man who has given up on love) could have been more successful. 6.5
The idea of someone commited to singlehood was fresh, but the execution was weak. Rather than having well thought out reasons for staying single, Lee Joon was artificially stubborn in his position on dating (e.g, stubborn just to create character conflict). Worse, he seemed to believe that what was true of him applied to everyone else, too. I think it turned out Lee Joon had one youthful romance turn sour. One. Youthful. Everyone can relate to that! But precious few of us conclude we should shut down our hearts forever from that first break-up. At least not as adamantly as Lee Joon. If they wanted to give us a sincere take on preferring singlehood, a richer backstory was needed.
As for Ha Ram, his pushiness made me uncomfortable. Again, a suitor who refuses to take no for an answer can be an endearing storyline. But Lee Joon's refusals were clear and direct. Ha Ram simply refuses to take no for an answer. Given the deference younger Koreans accord seonbae's, his persistence seemed designed to clang the Korean audience's notion of propriety. The series touched on that, but it completely ignored the consent-driven culture of the 2020s. Ha Ram's unrelenting pursuit felt outdated and disrespectful. Outdated because a decade or two ago maybe no one even notices when a sincere suitor pushes his suit innthe face of rejection. Disrespectful because Ha Ram disregards Lee Joon's stated preferences and even fails tomabide by his own promies to tone down their workplace interactions. Speaking of the workplace, Love Mate unfolds in an office, and so does much of Ha Ram's aggressive courtship. By the prevailing legal standards of my state, Ha Ram commits workplace sexual harassment. Perhaps the Korean standard is lower, or perhaps Korean jurists only acknowledge sexual harassment between mixed sex couples, but for me situating so much of the pair's interaction at work was akin to the narrative committing what tennis players regard as an unforced error.
None of the sins I outlined here rise to the level of egregious. For the most part, I liked the story well enough. The characterizations disappointed, particularly Ha Ram's tendency to say one thing and then disrespect Lee Joon anyway. It could have been worse, but it wasted its potential. Hence, "cute, enjoyable, but forgettale" works as an epitaph for me too.
Again I completely agree with forgettable because even myself, as I did a whole ass review on it, can't seem to remember much of it ><
For the sexual harassement on workplace, it's actually a good point that I absolutely didn't think of. And I actually it could be considered as such. Though I think he's behaviour turned me off less than it did for you ahah
For Lee Joon I think I can only disagree since I relate to him so much. Maybe it could have had a bit more depth, sure, but overall I think it was pretty well developped. But then again, maybe it's just because I relate too much. Like him, or almost like him, I only had one desatrous one sided love in my life and since then haven't dated anyone. My stand on wanting to remain single doesn't come from just that, and maybe that's where they could have expanded a bit more, but I can't deny it plays a role, or did play a role at some point in my life. So yeah, all that to say that too me Lee Joon was a really "nice" character >
@@dramawhale03 I do think that one disastrous break-up can lead a person to swear off future love. And I worried my assessment of Lee Joon would come across as disrespecting your choices. I almost _almost_ worked in the statement that "I bet Drama Whale would say more than one factor led to her own singlehood" before deciding commenting on your life was too presumptuous. You wrote, "I only had one disastrous one-sided love," but the implications there was you had other loves too. (Not disastrous or not one-sided.) For Lee Joon, it seemed as if he dipped his toe into the romantic waters one time only, then gave up. For me that was too slender an experience to make permanent life choices. And, while I forget the specifics, I seem to think the disaster he experienced was fairly routine. Hence, a subjective disaster to him, but not one most viewers would objectively agree rises to disaster level. So, I actually think our positions on Lee Joon's singlehood can be reconciled. And, frankly, I wish the writers had treated that stated preference with enough respect to explore its boundaries. Having Ha Ram simply disregard "I prefer to be single" as a viable option means we haven't really seen the premise play out. Ha Ram was incredibly selfish in his pursuit of Lee Joon.
Actually, my memory is returning a bit. I think most of my failure to connect with this series when it aired owes to a low assessment of Ha Ram. I liked Lee Joon. I wanted to see him slowly thaw to Ha Ram based on a measured rethink of his stance toward romance--and burgeoning feelings, of course. Instead, Ha Ram overwhelms his defenses, insists on attention (virtual blackmail at one point), and wears out his resistance. I did not find that satisfying. Lee Joon does not choose Ha Ram so much as surrender to him. Not my cup of tea.
@@johnmaster3748 No no actually I only had one love in my life so far, so it was the only one ahah But like I said, it's not the only factor that makes me want to remain single, not anymore at least^^ So I think we can kind of still stand on the same grounds a bit :D
I see what you mean for Ha Ram and I actually agree with you that Lee Joon is more surrending to him than opening up to him. I still believe you've gotta be a bit pushy with someone who doesn't want to date. But there are still boundaries to it, you can't just do what you want. I have a perfect example of that but I prefer not tot alk about it, this isn't about me >< In the end I think it's super difficult to walk the middle line of being pushy without doing too much. And to this I can agree that it's not really well done in the drama.
@@dramawhale03 "in the end...it is super difficult to walk the line between being pushy [and doing just enough to he sweet]." Often, I bash scriptwriters in this space. But let's just admit the job is difficult. Especially since "the line" in one culture may lay far from the line of another culture. Or generational. Or even individual. But where ever the line is, these writers did not get it right. But it may have been a near-impossible task in the first place.
@@johnmaster3748 Completely agree !
This one was okay. Cute, but not memorable. In fact, I didn't really remember much about it until I watched your video, and then I was like, "OH, it's that one."
I did like that they got together in the middle of the series.
I'd give it a 6/10. Not terrible but not bad.
Yeah it's true that it's not memorable at all :/
2023 has featured a recurring corps of "watch, enjoy, immediately forget" mediocrities. They are not necessarily bad, they just are not memorable. I can't tell whether the BLs have become more pedestrian or whether the humans have become more jaded. Maybe three years into our near-continuous binge of these series it is simply more difficult to stand out?
@@johnmaster3748 A bit of both. With the success of Semantic Error, Korea has been trying to recreate the winning formula with varying degrees of success. We as viewers used to be satisfied with cookie cutter BLs, but our palates have become more sophisticated and we want series with more than a parade of pretty boys and a thin thread of a plot.
@@j_scott as I finished writing my reply, I found myself thinking "Both can be true."
Nice cookie cutter reference. I always associate those with this season of the year. That reminds me, I really need to call my mother.
@@johnmaster3748 You never fail to make me grin. Go call your mom.