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Unrequited Love
This was another drama I watched because it’s as on Netflix and easily accessible and seemed to be a little low-key. There was nothing particular objectionable about it, but it definitely doesn’t stand out in comparison to the other dramas in the same genre that I watched around the same time.
The show follows a college student who attends the same university as her high school crush — a crush that she sorta-stalked throughout high school but who never knew she existed. I mean — I guess she didn’t actually stalk him? But she kept a journal chronicling every single interaction they ever had (including, for example, if he walked by her in the convenience store to get a bottle of water). The whole thing struck me as kind of weird and stalker-y but also non-invasive (she chronicled everything she could and was always watching him but didn’t go out of her way to find personal information / stalk him).
Anyways, in college she no longer stalks him, but when she runs into him, he starts taking an interest in her. Their romance develops, at which point you learn that in high school they actually had an almost-romance going on (they were leaving secret notes for each other, but while she knew his identity, he didn’t know hers; it’s a long story) before his ex-girlfriend sabotaged it by pretending to be the person leaving the secret notes.
I actually liked the way the romance developed when they were in college — the female lead’s personality is very low-key and observant, which is an interesting change from some of the other female leads in similar dramas. She holds the world at a distance, she’s really smart, and I liked the way she dealt with a lot of the conflicts and issues that came up for her in the drama.
What I didn’t like was the volume of misunderstandings in this drama, which frustrated me. I also had little to no interest in all of the subplots / side-characters. I didn’t care about her roommate’s asshole boyfriend or said roommate’s creepy & manipulative new love interest. I didn’t care about her high school friend actually stalking the female lead’s cousin (honestly, the high school friend was very creepy and I still don’t understand why she decided to betray the female lead later on in the drama).
And then, there was the source of all the misunderstandings, the male lead’s ex-girlfriend, who was also quite stalker-y (@ex-girlfriend, he said you are broken up and doesn’t want to go out with you! Why do you keep visiting his campus and trying to go on dates with him and hanging out with all of his friends and implying to all of them that you are all his girlfriend? Also @male lead, when your ex-girlfriend shows up and tells everyone she is your girlfriend, you need to Use Your Words and explicitly tell people that she is not). She was everything you would expect the evil secondary female lead to be but frankly, I didn’t understand why. She put a whole lot of effort into manipulating and stalking the male lead, and sabotaging the female lead, and that just seemed like a lot of effort for a high schooler for a guy who wasn’t that worth it. Maybe I’m just spoiled by dramas that didn’t have actual villains, or had villains with actual character development.
Final Verdict: Would Not Recommend (unless you’re already a fan of the genre)
This was another drama I watched because it’s as on Netflix and easily accessible and seemed to be a little low-key. There was nothing particular objectionable about it, but it definitely doesn’t stand out in comparison to the other dramas in the same genre that I watched around the same time.
The show follows a college student who attends the same university as her high school crush — a crush that she sorta-stalked throughout high school but who never knew she existed. I mean — I guess she didn’t actually stalk him? But she kept a journal chronicling every single interaction they ever had (including, for example, if he walked by her in the convenience store to get a bottle of water). The whole thing struck me as kind of weird and stalker-y but also non-invasive (she chronicled everything she could and was always watching him but didn’t go out of her way to find personal information / stalk him).
Anyways, in college she no longer stalks him, but when she runs into him, he starts taking an interest in her. Their romance develops, at which point you learn that in high school they actually had an almost-romance going on (they were leaving secret notes for each other, but while she knew his identity, he didn’t know hers; it’s a long story) before his ex-girlfriend sabotaged it by pretending to be the person leaving the secret notes.
I actually liked the way the romance developed when they were in college — the female lead’s personality is very low-key and observant, which is an interesting change from some of the other female leads in similar dramas. She holds the world at a distance, she’s really smart, and I liked the way she dealt with a lot of the conflicts and issues that came up for her in the drama.
What I didn’t like was the volume of misunderstandings in this drama, which frustrated me. I also had little to no interest in all of the subplots / side-characters. I didn’t care about her roommate’s asshole boyfriend or said roommate’s creepy & manipulative new love interest. I didn’t care about her high school friend actually stalking the female lead’s cousin (honestly, the high school friend was very creepy and I still don’t understand why she decided to betray the female lead later on in the drama).
And then, there was the source of all the misunderstandings, the male lead’s ex-girlfriend, who was also quite stalker-y (@ex-girlfriend, he said you are broken up and doesn’t want to go out with you! Why do you keep visiting his campus and trying to go on dates with him and hanging out with all of his friends and implying to all of them that you are all his girlfriend? Also @male lead, when your ex-girlfriend shows up and tells everyone she is your girlfriend, you need to Use Your Words and explicitly tell people that she is not). She was everything you would expect the evil secondary female lead to be but frankly, I didn’t understand why. She put a whole lot of effort into manipulating and stalking the male lead, and sabotaging the female lead, and that just seemed like a lot of effort for a high schooler for a guy who wasn’t that worth it. Maybe I’m just spoiled by dramas that didn’t have actual villains, or had villains with actual character development.
Final Verdict: Would Not Recommend (unless you’re already a fan of the genre)
