Here’s my review of the korean drama When My Love Blooms.
Before I start, I must mention that I actually didn’t read the synopsis before committing to this kdrama. I saw the female lead and the male lead and I instantly was like – I have to give this a shot.
The female lead was in the 2nd korean drama I watched – I Can Hear Your Voice. I didn’t think she was that cute but after watching this korean drama, she’s now become my favorite korean actress to watch. I felt like she didn’t age a single bit since watching I Can Hear You Voice.
I watched the male lead in Healer, which I watched recently (see here). I thought he was good as well.
So I was like…one of my OG korean drama actresses and a recent favorite male actor…what could go wrong? So that’s how I got into it.
Alright enough with the weird little tid bit. Here’s my review.
The quick synopsis
It’s about the journey of two people trying to love each other again. They were madly in love when they were in college but one of them unexpectedly left the other. They lost touch. Both ended up growing in separate worlds. But fate brought them back after so many years. Here’s the trailer:
Should you watch it?
Yes, but…
I felt like this Korean drama was a bit heavy compared to most of the dramas I’ve watched. There are some dramas where I can say “I think anybody can watch this”; this didn’t feel like one of those. So I thought I’d mention what are some of the biggest themes of the drama and do a “If you like this, then I think you should give this drama a go”.
If you enjoy slow burn or slow paced dramas, you should consider watching this drama.
If you like more mature romance, specifically between a rich ML (male lead) & poor FL (female lead), you should consider watching this korean drama.
If you like more serious and slice of life related genre, you should consider watching this korean drama.
If you like korean dramas about nostalgia and fate, you should consider watching this korean drama
If you like stories about revenge, you should consider watching this korean drama.
I would say that the big deal breakers are probably the first 3 statements. This is a really really slow drama. And the romance is not lovey-dovey and expressive. It’s rather a mature one that dances around the ideas of adultery. So if you don’t like any of that, I wouldn’t really recommend watching this drama.
The beginning & ending thoughts
First time reviewing the beginning and ending of a kdrama. Hopefully it helps you! But I figured that the beginning of a korean drama is really what determines if you want to watch it. When I say beginning, I’m thinking of the first two episodes.
The ending of a korean drama can just be as important as the beginning. If the kdrama ends horribly, I’d bet that you wouldn’t want to watch it again or recommend it.
NOTE: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
It started out good for how slow the drama was
The start was slow, but it was good. I mean most shows have a slow start…you gotta spend some time introducing the characters and the plot.
But what made the start so good was how they contrasted the character’s lives in the present versus the past. You get to see how their younger selves were filled with so much passion and determination for a better world. The ML was poor then; the FL was rich then. When the show switches over to the present, you see the FL become poor and the ML become rich, but you don’t see that passion and determination anymore. You start to think – what the hell happened? And that mystery gets you to continue watching. At least it did for me… 🙂
The ending was happy but confusing
I’m glad the ending was happy. For how heavy the show was, I thought ending on the lighter note was great. But how they ended it was a bit confusing. It wasn’t just a happy ending for the main leads. It was a happy ending for almost every character. From the FL’s ex-husband to the guy who got friendzoned by the FL, everybody had a chance to grow for the better.
What was confusing was how they portrayed the very end of the show. They show the lead’s younger selves walking down the same road as their older selves. They thanked each other for holding out through the tough times. That didn’t quite make sense to me. I mean I guess but how would the younger characters know that the older characters would have gone through such pains?
Some life themes in the show
I’m always about life themes that stories can teach us. Here are some themes that I thought the korean drama highlighted really well.
The impact of the parent’s choices on their kids
I thought the show did a good job of justifying how the parent’s choices affected their children’s lives. The kids were and remained an integral part of how the parent’s made their decisions. They weren’t just random side characters that blipped on the screen every so often.
When the adultery began, you see Jae Hyun’s kid start to become jealous and violent at school. He takes it out on Ji-Soo’s kid, which starts to strain his relationship with his Mom. When Ji-soo’s son figures out that his Mom is dating Jae Hyun, he starts to think that maybe he shouldn’t burden his mother. The reactions from the kids felt quite justified and really made the whole journey of the two main leads trying to find love again a bit more realistic.
Letting actions speak louder than words
A very good life theme. Something I need to practice more.
Ji-soo does this the best when she always gets confronted by Seo-Kyung, Jae Hyun’s wife. I mean the biggest example I can think of is when Ji-soo gets a destruction notice on her house. She stands in front of her house and guards it against the construction workers. That definitely Seo Kyung’s attention.
The other time I thought the show demonstrated this theme was when Jae Hyun got stabbed. The father who stabbed him always assumed that Jae Hyun was the sole reason why his son died. We see that it wasn’t Jae Hyun who led the son to die but the CEO. But Jae Hyun didn’t say anything to him (or the man’s lawyer for that reason). He just took on the heat. He let his actions of taking down the CEO and even leaving his role as management prove that he never wanted the father’s son to die.
There are other examples of where the korean drama displays this theme of action speaking louder than words but the examples are the most memorable.
One other thing: The mature romance
I’ve read reviews where people thought that there was no chemistry between the two leads. To be honest – I could kind of see that. And if it were me at like…25 or younger, I would’ve totally agreed that the romance was barely there. Most of the time, they just stared into each other eyes. There was barely any physical contact between them.
Despite their whole “I think we were fated to be in love”, it didn’t make sense for things to be lovey-dovey and expressive between Ji-soo and Jae Hyun when they were older. One, Ji-soo had so many other things on her mind that I think prevented her from showing any emotion. She’s poor. She’s struggling with a dad who has dementia. She has to take care of her son. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. That last part is especially what makes it hard for her to love Jae Hyun.
For Jae Hyun, he’s always in the spotlight and we see what happened when they were caught kissing. He not only gets slandered by the public but she gets verbally assaulted by the mothers. Her kid also takes a bit of the heat as well.
What kind of energy would you have to love somebody when you are so burdened by life threats and worried about how you’re gonna afford rent or food? How you are gonna protect your kid from what seemed like an abusive father?
So with all that in mind, it sorta made sense to me that the adult romance was not as lovey dovey as what they had portrayed when they were kids. The slow rekindling of their love was really well done.
Music
The music. I thought the music was very well balanced. The cute romantic funny moments had very simple and pleasing music. The heavy moments were more pensive then depressing. Here was my favorite OST:
The bad
I didn’t like how the show promoted adultery. I wouldn’t know how to change the korean drama and keep it the same without the adultery but I just felt like promoting that wasn’t like a good thing.
I had originally thought that showing more of the interaction between jae Huyn and the CEO when the CEO lost would’ve been a nice like cherry on top. I mean..he spent all the time trying to take him down – why not see the spoils of war?
Quotes
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the korean drama.
- Being alive itself is a sin and debt, so I cannot ever be happy nor complain. I have kept myself so busy, but I still cannot pay for the sin nor the debt. I really want a break now. I want to let it all go. – Yoon Ji Soo
- Be nice to yourself if you want others to value you – Neighborhood grandma to Yoon Ji Soo
- I am facing the dream I had lost, so I cannot leave it… nor run away from it. Because that is my dream – Jae Hyun
- A deep wound must mean a deep longing – Jae Hyun to Ji Soo
- Just because something pains you, you can’t cut it out of your life. You must tend it more often with more car. – Jae Hyun
- Just by watching and listening, we can tell what’s really going on. But we decided to respect the two men’s’ wishes. As you know, the law sees things too – Detective
This drama has been a pleasure to watch. I hope you enjoyed this little review of When My Love Blooms. I give this show an overall score of 8/10!
