I'm not a fan of Sung Joon, but I did enjoy his performance in this show that does an excellent job of exploring the shit and shine of any relationship.
Jung So-Min is my girl, though with those scene-stealing lips! The fact that she has an extensive emotional range is just icing on the wedding cake, baby! Truthfully, I was jealous of Sung Joon. If it was me I would've gone off-script every episode. We would've gone over budget having to do numerous takes or I would've gotten fired. It would've been worth it though! But I don't think Jung So-Min is into black men. She will be in my Jung So-Min inspired fanfiction story titled Soul to Seoul about an African-American exchange student who travels to South Korea to study abroad (no pun intended). Of course, the host family will be living in near poverty, which is the real reason they sent their son to the States in exchange for who they believe is a wealthy white American. They've also arranged for their free-spirited daughter to marry a wealthy autocrat's womanizing son. They're soon shocked to find out that not only is Malik not wealthy but that he is black, as he arrives wearing a #blacklivesmatter t-shirt. All sorts of mayhem ensue as Malik attempts to get to know his host family while confronting relevant issues of race and class in South Korea's cultural underbelly.

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This movie certainly turns up the outrage to the point where my blood was boiling knowing that issues of bullying, rape, and suicide continue to plague high schools all over the world, but the greater tragedy is the systems that are allowed to remain in place, which more often blames and ultimately fail the victim.
I agree mostly with the Han Cinema review by William Schwartz that the amount of suffering Jaya endured was heavy-handed, eclipsing the majority of the movie, allowing us briefly to empathize with her father's feeling of helplessness and revenge.
Unfortunately, much of Jaya's suffering and death are in vain due to her father's cerebral palsy, as he goes on a sort of mentally challenged rampage that falls way short of meeting my criteria for vigilante justice.
Like Mr. Schwartz, I thought maybe she would've done better going with the social worker in the beginning.

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The amount of crack one needs to smoke in order to believe that a wardrobe change, a pair of glasses, and a different hairstyle is enough to fool highly skeptical characters into believing that there are actually two different people, who look that much alike and are never present at the same time, but are unrelated is the same amount of crack the writers and producers smoked when they created this show, committing plot suicide.
Congrats to the creators of Fall in Love with Me for making the surrounding characters playing opposite Lu Tian Xing/ Xiao Lu look stupid and causing them to lose all credibility throughout the rest of the series.
This show never gained any traction from the unimpressive meet/cute to a very much expected, unsatisfying conclusion.
I never thought I would grow to hate the lead characters so much.
This is by far the worst T-drama I have ever binged.
Aaron Yan's character never seemed to be held truly accountable for any of his actions.
The damage to Lu Tian Xing's watch was caused by Lu Tian Xing acting aggressively. Li Huan Huan ending up in a wheel chair, again, was caused by Lu Tian Xing acting aggressively. Watching the aggressive behavior of Yan's character in his treatment of Tao Le Si (who btw is the clumsiest third-degree black belt I've ever seen) was not consistent with her character letting him treat her that way.
Tao Le Si's love for Lu Tian Xing was unearned and should've never been given to him. Her love for him seemed to happen overnight.
This show was really just a 20 episode promo for Samsung products.
Lu Tian Xing's Samsung presentation was extremely lame and unconvincing as the CEO of Sky Rider.
It is these types of shows that inspire me to write fanfiction.

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Itaewon Class Is Fun But Not Special

As far as Kdramas go, Itaewon Class does nothing to distinguish itself from any other Kdrama that relies on tired tropes, sibling and romantic rivalries, and overarching themes of revenge. Still, the characters are likable enough and the performances are pretty solid and manage to maintain a consistent energy throughout. There's even an attempt to address hot-button issues like racism and transphobia but they seem to resolve too easily and in an unsatisfactory way just to score some quick social justice points. And I'm not sure why Chris Lyon's character, Toni, would be the only staff member at Danbam to be required to learn English. But I did enjoy the cinematography, the fashions, and the overall David v. Goliath vibe of the show.

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