Okay, I’m going to be honest again. One, I didn’t watch this show. I tried watching the first episode and just couldn’t do it. Too bad, so sad. And two, this show isn’t terrible.
It’s just not very good.
Reading the blurb about the show, I was kind of exited to try it. I believe this may actually be the first show I did on my Roku box (oh, how far we have come). Taking the Cinderella story and twisting it? Despite my dislike for the Wizard of Oz, I loved Wicked (for those of you who don’t know, Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witches POV), so I know how the formula could work. However, it just didn’t work for me. Unlike Wicked, where the Elphaba is perceived as evil and such bad things happen to her because of it, that she figures what the heck–I’ll be evil, in My Love Patzzi, Song-Yee is bad tempered.
Hee-Won and Song-Yee
Yep, that’s it.
She has an ongoing rivalry with her old school nemesis which follows them to adulthood. Yes, Hee-Wonis a jerk to Song-Yee, yes she underhandedly does things which puts Song-Yee in a bad light, but Song-Yee wouldn’t be in the position she’s in if it weren’t for the fact she can’t control her temper. I felt bad for both guys who were following her.
I think I just couldn’t get past the incident which pushes the plot forward. It’s not the inciting incident, but it is an important turning point.
In an attempt to make Hee-Won look bad, Song-Yee breaks into the warehouse of the amusement park where they work and proceeds to sabotage a multimillion dollar train float. Why? She thinks it will make her friend look bad if the train doesn’t work. Seriously? That’s your big plan? First off, why would that even happen? It just doesn’t make sense. Secondly, you didn’t think there was going to be a security camera? I know this took place like 10 years ago, but I think they had security cameras even 20 years ago.
Surprise! She’s irritated again.
You can’t base a show on a giant turning point which just doesn’t make sense. From that point on, I can understand her actions. She likes the amusement park owners son SJ, who’s life she saved (from the fire she caused by wrecking the train). At this point she has realized what she has done is terrible, and is afraid to tell anyone because she doesn’t want to get into trouble and she can’t very well tell the guy she likes she almost killed him. As we’ll find out in my review of Princes First Love, almost killing your love interest is a bit of a deal breaker for me.
I also didn’t think there was any real chemistry between anyone in the triangle. Yes, in the end you are rooting for the hero, but this is mostly because he’s a pretty cool character with some interesting things going on, unlike most of the other characters, who are admittedly taste slightly cardboard-y. In the epilogue everyone is so casual with each other, it’s as if they are all no more than really good friends.
And perhaps that’s all they should be.
this is actually a dream sequence, but the actual ending isn’t much different
There were a few things I did like about this show. I liked the male leads. SJ the owners son who likes Song-Yee despite of her temper and bad behavior is very sweet. (I also thought he was super cute in it and if it were me, I totally would have chosen him.)
Come on–he’s cute!
I also liked the scene where Hee-Won gets her comeuppance and is discovered to be the not very nice person she actually is.
But then again, who doesn’t like a good comeuppance scene?
What I really liked best about this show is the hero’s story line. Hyun-Sung works as a seal trainer at the amusement park but he wants to become a veterinarian. He has a heart condition which can flair up at any time and is likely fatal without treatment. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have insurance and as the main breadwinner of his family, can’t afford either the expensive surgery or the time away from his job. This is pretty compelling stuff. He tries to be a happy uplifting character, but underneath is a sadness because he knows at anytime he could have an attack which would kill him. Now, this would have been a great drama–however, in this show, it’s just glossed over until it becomes a minor plot point which is then easily solved. While I’m happy he didn’t die, I really feel the writers kind of copped out.
While I didn’t really care for the character, I can respect the writers for trying to take a chance on a different kind of heroine. So many times in Kdramas you see the same sort of girl, the cute, overly-helpful, very cheery, with a can do attitude (see the heroines in Playful Kiss, I Really, Really LikeYou, and Can You Hear My Heart for starters) I enjoy these a lot, but again, it could have been done better.
The heroine in Me Too, Flower starts off very prickly and angry. Throughout the show her layers are stripped down and you get to see her change and grow. (Man, I can’t wait to review that one, I’m not letting myself watch it again until that time) So you can have a heroine (and I say heroine here as in Kdrama, the heroes usually start off as angry jerks) who seems to be unlikeable and still have a compelling story.
Anyway, like I said, it’s not terrible, but with all those exceptional or even just average-good shows available for watching, I just can’t recommend it.
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