Drama: Sly And Single Again

Definitely picked this one up slightly late into the game, but I'm very pleasantly surprised by it. It was, in all, a really fun romantic comedy.

Firstly, I appreciate when writers give their characters appreciable growth throughout the series. The main characters, Aera and Jungwoo, saw mental growth through their many obstacles without degenerating into sobbing melodramatic messes which I absolutely cannot stand. Aera was incredibly true to herself right to the end, never falling into romcom stereotypes despite her stereotypical circumstances. I also enjoyed Seunghyun's character as a 2nd lead; he had a great optimistic character to start off and stayed relatively objective in the love game till the very end. On the other spectrum is obviously the melodramatic mess which is Gook Yeojin -- sad, yes, but also very clingy and an unfortunately drawn third party.

I also really enjoyed the acting of the leads. Lee Minjung is absolutely amazing with her micro-expressions and scorn, pulling off the haughty and honest Aera as incredibly likeable. Joo Sangwook needs no more to be said; I enjoyed him both as a cold workaholic CEO and as the humble "loser" husband where he 눈치s Aera's every single move (which is a great comedic trope). It was also my first time watching Seo Kangjoon as a prominent character and I have to say that he's definitely a rising actor to look out for.



But I'm not going to say that it's a necessarily great drama for bits that did bug me. Towards the end I got really tired and sick of some plots they randomly threw in, and I was in no way invested with any of the company drama (though admittedly I tend to not, except with exceptional exceptions like Misaeng). There were so many outrightly unlikeable characters like the family members of Aera (yes, all three), and the Gook father-daughter combination.

It was a good idea for Jungwoo to step off as the CEO and revert to his hobo days as it was necessary to show the couple being able to live through hardships together (and not simply living happily ever after because of the new wealthy circumstances), but it was rather unbelievable. The setting up of the new company and the ultimate amalgamation of the two were brushed off way too easily, and I found it difficult again to believe that Jungwoo really had to go that far. He was, after all, a CEO with shares and amassed wealth..

Nonetheless, it was a fun drama I'd recommend if you're in the market for one. I definitely also had quite a bit of a 2nd lead syndrome because of how adorably Seunghyun was drawn (I mean, an artistic, optimistic guy who pines after you and only you?? 주세요 heh)



Now for some inevitable name analysis:

I cannot not say, this is probably the first time I've known someone (even fake characters, yes), with my name! It's cute how 나애라 (Na Aera) can be seen as My Error. I've never really been teased for my name as I think it translates rather well in everyday English; the romanised 'ae' gets a more rounded sound with native English speakers than the 'e' sound its meant to be pronounced as.

Thankfully then, that my youth was spent out of Korea.