Mad for Each Other (2021)

Surprisingly Heartwarming

I almost gave this a pass after the first episode, because I didn't like the humor or the caricature-ish characters. I'm glad I kept watching because it had some refreshing lessons about acceptance of people/lifestyles that appear strange to you (and everything not being what it may appear to be), but it did so very naturally- it didn't feel like it was pushing a specific agenda.

The friendships that developed were really a highlight for a me. And although mental illness is a serious topic (be aware, it does talk about domestic abuse as well), overall the show kept a light mood and I didn't it to be sad or heavy.

Personally, I don't think it's "substantial" enough to merit a rewatch- but I did enjoy it. I'll look for the male lead in other dramas as I particularly enjoyed his portrayal of the character's development.

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Lots of Laughs

The plot was nicely done and lasted just the right number of episodes to keep it moving along well. The settings were good, the comic relief characters were nicely done, and it passes the Bechdel test with ease.

I enjoyed all of the acting - I think the cast was well chosen and did a really professional job. ML and FL had good onscreen chemistry and played off of one another nicely.

The music did not annoy me, and I'd rewatch it without hesitation.

The only part *SPOILER ALERT* that was disappointing was the outright wrong resolution of the FL's mental health issue. It just doesn't resolve that quickly or like that. I DID appreciate that there was good context, but the flip from having a socially/mentally disabling condition to "on top of the world" mentality was not realistic.

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Okay I had to write a review about this show.
Didn't have huge expectations yet I ended up binge watching it in one day! This hasn't happened in such a long time for me. Can't believe it's not as popular as it should be.

Things I liked:
-The main male & female. Even though I'm barely 20, I feel like I always relate to MCs in their 30s/40s, the most lol. I always sympathize with their struggles & emotions.
-The convenience store girl (hi AKMU's vocalist!!) + the cross-dressing man. They were such a cool duo. I also loved the way they represented the guy, there was never mockery in the writing & I loved how the ML stood up for him
-Loved how they represented mental health (again, without any type of mockery or exaggeration) + also abuse in relationships.
-The pacing. I'm anxious so I love how quickly the story developed. I mean, considering that the episodes are 30 minutes long, it makes sense.
-ALSO THE DOG. He's the main character and he knows it.

Now a little bit spoiler-y (didn't want to tag it as ''contains spoilers'' because I did want to attract new viewers with all I've written above). So stop reading here if you haven't watched it and plan to.

-Felt like the last two episodes were written entirely by someone else. I think I was expecting it to go into a different direction but I'm not complaining, though.
-I was rooting for them to end up together so I'm happy they did. Which is interesting because I almost never care enough about MCs relationships.. Just wish they had more cute moments together.
-Her ex can fucking rot in jail. Period.

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Absolutely love it!

Exemplary acting skills from all the cast! I really appreciated the humanization of mental issues in different people. FL's trauma was well executed and totally matched the situation. People not believing her 'paranoia' was something quite realistic. Many people with (C)PTSD are often told that it's just in their head and that nothing 'bad' is going to happen and they were able to portray this scenario quite well.

Another part of the series that really amazed me was how they have shown that women often are subjected to 'victim blaming'. FL pretty much did not know what she was getting into, after all, her ex-BF lied so much to her. Even then, she was still considered to be the one at fault. Talk about gender inequality! Kudos to everyone on the production team! A very touching story with a mix of humour was something I never knew I needed. BTW, each episode only runs for 30 minutes--so not much dull moments!

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The living mop is the star of this show.

Not to diminish the effort of the actual human actors, but that dog was the cutest, and so talented!

This is an excellent example of a drama that deals with heavy and dark themes but does it with such grace and humor that you fall in love with it. This drama resonated so much with me and my life experiences, they did a great job representing mental health struggles and the stigma associated with getting help, as well as the burden of affair shame that often seems to affect women so much more than men. The people were real, the solutions were messy, the conflict was approachable, and the comedy was exceptional. The female lead actress is super good in every drama she does, I feel like she just -gets- what her characters are feeling and experiences at the time. The male lead was also very good, though I didn't like the parallels toward the end between his character and the bad guy. There's a fine line between chasing after a chick and aggressively stalking her and I feel like his character skirted that line a few times. He was an excellent crier though!

I will say...it's a frustratingly short drama. They did a great job with the plot and dialogue, the acting was great, but because of the dramatically shortened format (13 episodes 30-40 minutes each) there wasn't a lot of space for viewers to really experience the depth of different relationship dynamics that are so hallmark to the Kdrama format. That said, they did a wonderful job really developing the side characters even in the short format, which is something many long-format Kdramas can't seem to get right. I guess my disappointment with the shortened time has more to do with my selfish desire to spend more time in the world the characters inhabit because it was so much fun.

Another thing I really liked about this drama was the Samantha character. Kdramas are difficult to watch sometimes because they get so awkward about alternative lifestyles, especially when it comes to gay people. It was nice to see a straight people romance comedy drama that embraced a cross dressing man while still keeping (but overcoming) the inherent awkwardness. They used that same format, actually, to deal with the reactions of the neighborhood ladies to the scarlet letter situation. The women approach the situation clumsily, awkwardly, but eventually learn to embrace the truth instead of remaining intolerant and ignorant.

Overall, the drama did such a good job at masterfully exploring a wide variety of themes in a truncated but effective format. I might watch this again in a few years because the comedy was good and the initial bickering between the two leads was fun to watch.

As a side note, can someone please explain to me the trope at the end of every romance Kdrama ever where the female lead leaves and returns a year later? Like you finally get everything you wanted, your problems are solved, you found the love of your life...and you bail? I can't fathom it at all. Maybe they do it so you can have two happy endings instead of just the one?

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Very insightful, cute and fun for the most part

Mad for each other is a surprising good drama especially because I didn't expected much from it. It surprisingly was very insightful.
It revolves around the story of a woman who is diagnosed with delusion and a man who suffers from pted (aka anger, aggressive behaviour in reaction to negative life events especially if they think its unfair to them). This aspect itself sets it apart from the rest of the dramas that never showcase such topics. A life of a person with delusion is shown so well, it was so heartbreaking to see the female lead suspect everything including herself. But pted wasnt so well shown, his problem was mostly ignored except the first few and last few episodes.
The reasoning of why both of them are the way they were was satisfying to watch especially the female lead. The female lead's story was so well portrayed and really made me empathize with her.
It clearly showed how mental illness affects the life of people, such clear portrayal is literally never shown in a drama. You could see how positive bright, hard working and competent the leads were before the illness. It showed clearly that mental illness doesn't just "go away" if you just "stop being sad, stop worrying, stop being anxious " and how much work you need to actually put in to treat yourself.
The drama also touches upon personal choices of how a person likes to present themselves.
The chemistry of the leads and how the relationship develops is really nice to watch and they're super cute together. The acting was pretty good along with iconic looks like flower behind the ears and sunglasses, will never forget it!
The osts were all good too I'd probably come back to them.
Now this was gonna be a 9 or 9.5 rated drama for me but then 11th episode happened and things started to go downhill. Literally all the hardwork the writer put in to build such a great plotline was lost by the ridiculous progression of the story.
From 11th to finale, the show was a mess with no logical reasoning, no problems solved, and rushing of the story like the writer didn't know how to proceed. We had random car chasing like its mission impossible, some random arguments, random singing on the street etc. The ending was happy but it didn't give me the satisfaction the first 10 episodes gave me.
Mad for each other is a small drama with 13 ep of around 40 mins, it is quite insightful and I think it is worth it though the ending is not so well done. I recommend it.

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A hidden gem that takes a fresh approach to the "enemies to lovers" trope.

I found out about this drama by chance, and it was the most fortunate incident of my life. After reading a few reviews, I decided to watch it, and overall, I was very pleased. Also, it's short format helped not only make it easy to watch, but also harder for the story to go off the rails.

My first impression upon watching this drama's first episode, was that it would be "It's Okay, That's Love" 2.0, which isn't a bad thing, as that is one of my favorite dramas of all time, but I was wrong.

Our main character is Noh Hwi-Oh, a suspended detective, who has obvious anger issues, and he's trying to overcome that problem. On the other hand we have Lee Min-Kyung, who has pretty deep trust issues and is traumatized by her past. Both of them are considered "mad", and the drama follows their healing process, as they learn how to deal with things through therapy, and slowly but surely fall in love with each other. In other words, this is your typical "enemies to lovers" slow burn with a mental illness twist. This isn't meant as a criticism, but rather to prove that you can make a trope interesting.

The main thing about this drama, to me, is its approach to the mental illness part. Each episode we have snippets of their therapy sessions, and this gives as a window to what is going on in their minds. I also need to praise this drama for not making love the cure for their problems, as many dramas do. As much as I would like to believe that love can cure anything, I say from experience that sadly, just like any other illness, mental illness doesn't go away just because you're in love.

At first, I found the main characters a bit annoying, but I feel like that was done on purpose, maybe to show how outside people perceive them. But slowly, as we learn more about them and their trauma, they start warming up to us. And when you realize, you are rooting for these two to be together.

Dramas like this can be frustrating at times. You want to see these two get along, but in reality, each of them has issues and traumas that make it difficult for them to be together.


Though this drama is primarily about the two main characters and their backstories, I also enjoyed the B-plot involving the part-timer and Samantha. Although a bit out of nowhere and with a rushed ending, I thoroughly enjoyed their storyline. And the ladies from the "Women's Association" were quite fun to watch too.

I think that the only issue I have with this drama is the last two episodes. I don't think they were inheritably bad, but instead extremely rushed. In my opinion, if they added one or two more episodes, to actually develop and wrap up the story, this drama could have been perfection. Since the format of the episodes was so small, and there was so much going on in the last two episodes, many things went either unexplained or the conclusions did not make much sense.

In spite of the rushed ending, I still think it is worth watching since it discusses very important topics.

Side Note: the two main characters in this drama always look so comfy in their clothes, and I really want Min-Kyung's wardrobe.

Acting and Cast: I think everyone involved was very competent in their roles. I thought Jung Woo did a superb job in the role of the righteous but a bit too aggressive cop who wants the best for everyone, but can't control his anger. Oh Yeon-Seo, is one of my favorite actresses, and as always, she did not disappoint. I really felt the pain and trauma her character lived through. The rest of the supporting cast also did a good job in their roles, even with little screen time. And I have to mention Lee Soo Hyun, cause I didn't know she acted, and I was really surprised, she didn't feel awkward or out of place, so good job.

Cinematography and Sound/Music: I like the cinematography of this drama. They did some visual references to movies, and although in the first episodes I found the abrupt endings a bit jarring, and an odd stylist choice, I got used to it after a few episodes, after all this drama is supposed to be a bit "mad". And this "mad" theme also leaked into the camera work, with some odd camara angles that either were used for comedic reasons or for tension. As for the OST, there was nothing special or memorable about it, in my opinion, and the sound mixing was alright.

Will I watch this drama again? Maybe, I really liked the main couple and since the episodes are really short, it's easy to do a marathon. Do I recommend it? Yes, I think this drama is a hidden gem, that does the typical "enemies to lovers" trope very well, and talks about very pertinent issues, with a touch of comedy and a tiny bit of tension.

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A medias

El titulo de mi reseña se titula así debido a que a mi parecer y gusto pues habría estado bien poder entender mejor la historia de ambos antes de conocerse e incluso creo que también habría estado bien el saber un poco mas del futuro de ambos y a la vez saber también del resto de gente que vive en el vecindario o mas bien en aquel edificio pues había historias que parecían interesantes o al menos a mi me lo pareció. Pero dentro de todo esto no me ha parecido nada mal, es entretenida la historia, la relación entre ambos protagonistas y creo que está bien que se traten ciertos temas aunque sea muy por encima y también sobre todo la salud mental de la gente, que a día de hoy esta bastante invisibilizada creo que de manera mundial.

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🌸Holi, ¿Cómo están?🌸 Hoy les traigo la reseña de uno de los últimos kdramas de Netflix: Mad for Each Other.

🌪No Hwi Oh es un detective de la división de crímenes violentos de la policía de Corea que es suspendido por problemas de ira. Lee Min Kyung es una mujer que sufre de pánico y le tiene fobia a las personas. Lo que menos esperaban estos dos era que, luego de conocerse de manera caótica, lograrían superar sus dificultades gracias a la ayuda del otro.

✨¿Qué decirles? Empecé este drama pensando que iba a ser pura comedia, cosa que no me hubiera molestado, pero para mi grata sorpresa, fue más que eso. Obviamente lo que predomina son las escenas graciosas, pero se tocan temas bastante importantes y profundos para el tinte con el que comienza la serie. Para que se den una idea, se tocan temas de violencia de género, un poquito de LGBTQ+ (muy a lo coreano), etc.

💯Los personajes principales tiene un buen desarrollo. La forma en la que se da el crecimiento de cada uno está muy bien ejecutado, especialmente el de la protagonista. Posta se nota cómo van creciendo paulatinamente y ninguna de sus actitudes se sienten bruscas o ajenas a la personalidad de los personajes.

💕Además, la manera en la que se va formando la pareja es buenísima. Es el típico cliché de "enemies to lovers", pero sucede tan lento y de manera tan armoniosa que es todo lo que está bien. Por si fuera poco, los actores manejan una química excelente, tanto en las escenas de comedia como en las románticas.

❌Obviamente tiene un par de cositas que se podrían mejorar, como el intento de profundidad que le dan a los personajes secundarios, o las situaciones que son muy convenientes para la trama, pero la verdad es que son cosas que no hacen que disfrutes menos la serie.

💥Si tienen ganas de ver algo súper entretenido, lleno de escenas graciosas y delirantes, con dos protagonistas poco comunes y con pocos capítulos, denle una oportunidad a Mad for Each Other, no se van a arrepentir.

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I didn't have high expectation when I started watching this drama. And bam, I love it since the first episode. This story has many conflicts but can be told simply and very well. The story is deep and can relate to today's era, but not dragging and overbearing. I also like the ending, even though it's fast and easy, but I'm satisfied.

Acting from all cast = top notch. ML and FL really got me immersed in the story. Their chemistry is very good. I also like every supporting character in this drama. Friendship between apartment residents, ML and FL's mothers, ML's co-workers, and not to be missed, the part time employee and Samantha. I love them so much.

This drama fits. Not too long and not too short. All can be told in a few episodes.

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