The literal translation of this one is actually If the Weather Is Good, I’ll Find You, which I kind of like. Anyway, I'd finished the Flower Boy Next Door and I did a few exercise sessions with the Isekai Izakaya (which I really am enjoying), but I thought it would be nice to do another drama. And...you know, I really like Mystic Pop Up Bar...BUT I think I've figured out why I haven't watched an episode in months even though I'm about half way through. I know it's about to head into the angst-y arc. And it's a somewhat formulaic show where every episode features a "problem" that they solve. And a fair amount of those problems feature dead people. Because, you know, heck, half the cast is supposed to be dead. And while the show itself is fairly funny, I just literally can't take any darkness right now. I just really want ALL THE FLUFF.
And, at this point, I've probably given up on Good Casting and probably also Sweet Munchies, even though I've also made it halfway through both. The one because you know who the bad guys are so there's no real plot tension and the spies are just...so freaking incompetent. And Sweet Munchies because I don't really like how they're handling the whole "pretending to be gay thing" and you know people are gonna get hurt.
Anyway. Back to this show. I'd been hearing for ages how it was slow but sweet. And it's got Park Min Young from What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. And the male lead runs a bookstore. What's not to like about that?
So, Hae Won (also another bonus that the female lead character has one of my favourite Korean names), played by Park Min Young, is a cellist. She's been teaching in Seoul but has come back to her small home town to stay with her aunt. She's a bit disillusioned with life after some of her experiences in the big city (horrible students with overbearing parents, an unsupportive and unscrupulous boss and probably some other things we haven't even seen yet) and has come back with her tail between her legs and some hidden anger.
Her aunt, Sim Myung-Joo, (played by a sunglasses wearing Jin Hee-Kyung) runs a dilapidated inn, though Hae is surprised to learn she's in the process of shutting it down. There's obviously some weird history between them (or maybe to do with Hae's mom?). Not really sure what's going on there yet.
And then there's Eun Seob, played by Seo Kang Joon, the bookstore owner who had attended high school with Hae. He's had a crush on her forever and while he tries to play it cool, he's a bit of a flailing mess. Everything I've read about this one is that it's very s-l-o-w paced and I can already see that. The episodes are an hour long and everything, including the artisan-ish coffee making, is slow and methodical. A bit of staring into the void, as it were.
There's also about a billion other characters mentioned on AsianWiki (some of whom I've seen in other things before). His family, her family, people they went to school with, and then a bunch of others that I have no clue how they fit it.
After the first episode, I can say that it seems like a warm cup of tea on a winter's day, with slow tendrils of steam rising into the air. I think it's going to be good. I like the leads (while I haven't seen Kang Joon in anything but clips, he's in a fair few of the ones I have on my to-watch-list). Park Min Young so far is a bit blank faced and emotionless, but I think that's more of her character trying to not make ripples in the world around her. Quite liking Eun Seob. I like it when the guys flail a bit. And, you know, bookstore.
Looking forward to continuing on, though I wouldn't say it has HOOKED me yet. It definitely has a slow burn kind of feeling.
Edit: Watched episode 2 today. It is a very quiet show, though on the other hand, it's already bringing out some of the past drama. Apparently the reason Hae was living with her aunt in high school was that her mother killer her husband (presumably her dad) and went to prison (!?). And the one friend she'd made, Kim Bo Yeong, let that slip to the other girls & they had a falling out and present-day Bo Yeong wants to talk with Hae about their "misunderstanding".
Loved the book club scene. It was very sweet. Honestly, I wouldn't even mind if this show really didn't have much drama and it was just the book club and the slow making/drinking of coffee and the two leads slowly getting to know each other. I'd be okay with that. Don't think that's gonna happen, but I can hope.
Edit: Yeah, okay, going slowly through this one. I'm up through episode 8 now? Which means I'm halfway. And they're finally sort of getting together. But given how many episodes are left and the whole O woe, we have so much past trauma, I have the distinct worry that it's gonna get a lot worse before it ends up okay. Besides her whole "my mother killed my father and I was bullied for it," now it looks like his mom is not really his mom (guessing maybe aunt?) and something bad happened to his mom or she abandoned him before dying and it all has to do something with the cabin up in the mountains? And so he's got the whole I'm not worthy thing going on.
So, eh, I dunno. In general, I like all the characters. It's slow going for everyone though. And it isn't nearly as fluffy or happy or warm as I'd had hope for. But I do think I'll finish it. Just slowly.
As an aside, I did like the characters enough that I made them in my Sims game. Wherein they are loads happier.
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