Epilogue: Jae-won and Eun-oh break up one month later.

Ok, joking aside, actually I enjoyed the drama right up to the second last episode. Based on the first 15 episodes, I thought the drama was a cautionary tale about putting your one-month puppy love interest on a pedestal. But then Jae-won and Eun-oh end up together? Huh? I can't root for this pair, they are toxic for each other.

Also, what's with suddenly throwing in the Hae-na storyline in the final hour? I've never seen her before and don't really care about her story. I'd much rather spend time resolving Rin-i and Kyung-jun and Geon's stories.

I actually didn't mind this drama. It was an interesting experiment with somewhat predictable results. Eun Oh never apologized even the reason she finally gave, was I think pretty valid. Jae Won deserved better and didn't get it. Geon was not fully fleshed out at all and I'm pretty disappointed. As for KJ and Rini, they did the right thing breaking those two up, I mean yikes.

Hae Na's storyline wasn't romantic, it was disturbing. All I could think was this poor child is starving herself and people are acting like it is normal. She said she was eating less than 1000 calories a day, that is all I could focus on the entire rest of the episode. VERY disturbing.

Thank you, @Sailorjumun, for the weecap. I watched the show to the end, and I agree, there were times I got the feeling that I'd rather drop it, but I still come back every time there's a new episode. I think there's going to be a part 2 - because the KJ-Rin-i love story didn't get a satisfying ending. Kyung-joon still doesn't know why they broke up.

Since I binge watched until the final 2 episodes, I really enjoyed it and didnt get frustrated as people in the comments. The ending did seem like a prep for season 2 because it just finished... it finished the way C dramas usually finish, you know abruptly like in the middle of a sentence 🤣😂🤣😂.. I was like well dang and they spent the entire last episode less on the main characters and focused on a whole new couple. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT? I mean I wanted to see more of the drunk gym teacher and the writer guy... not meet a new couple.. IDK. it was whatever.. it was good for me until episode 17.. that was a fail.. the cinemotography was pretty though.. I love this director, he gets the most beautiful camera shots. The Director is like the Ansel Adams of K dramas. The beauty of shots never fails me.. not in this drama, or Encounter, or in Its Okay not to be Okay.. IDK much about the Director but he is most definitely an artist.

We barely met Hae-na today, and I already love her more than our six main characters combined. It was worth suffering through 16
episodes to watch Dong-shik oppa and Hae-na's heart-fluttering romance. I cursed out loud when the scene switched from Dong-shik making Hae-na tteokbokki to Jae-won and Eun-oh eating their PPL pizza. OMG I love Dong-shik, easily my most favorite character of this show. He's so idealistic believing love happens naturally. With the tension between them at his house, I was really hoping he would kiss Hae-na first.

Dong-shik, Hae-na, Ra-ra, and Bin were the only good things about this drama. I hated everyone else, especially Eun-oh, Sun-young, and Jae-won. It was too little, too late to redeem Eun-oh and Sun-young, who couldn't even be redeemed for me, and Jae-won was the epitome of "I don't know how to quit you," which just made him pathetic.

So what was the point of episode 17? I like where our main couple ended up- but that was by the end of episode 16. Do not get me wrong- until Eun-oh finally decided to step up with some courage I did NOT want her to be with Jae-won. But once she finally became honest with herself and what she really wanted I am OK with it. So, episode 17? Why are we suddenly starting a new story? Do not get me wrong- the story of Hae-na and Dong-shik looks like it could be a nice rom-com but unless there is a second season coming it made no sense at all. And I doubt anyone can be sold on a second season for this one.

At long last, I am free. FREEEEEE.

If they don't end up breaking in the next season, I still wouldn't watch it. Nope, absolutely not.

So, wait wait wait waaaaait, we still don't get the reason for knowing why Rin yi acted liked that to Geon? Kinda sucks that would happen to him ;-;

Wtf was that last storyline? Where the hell did that girl come from?

I can't be the only one who forgot that this was a mockumentary. It just sort of went by me.

It was a weird drama from the start to the end. I think the documentary format was interesting and adressed some themes pretty straighforwardly.

But I never really liked the characters. I could uderstand them but not really feel empathy for them.

I knew from the beginning the main couple will end together and it was cute but I still think she should have apologized and he should have found someone else.

For Ri-Ni, which mother passes her daughter off as her niece? It's so weird... Neither of them are wrong to spend the life like they want but I think it's too different for them to be happy together.

Geong was a nice man but sometimes their friendship made me feel awkward, it was not very well balanced between the 3. Sun‑young could have more place in the story.

The last couple was cute but pretty sudden. We didn't know the girl...

Surprisingly, I liked Eun Oh and Jae Won's resolution. Episode 16 gave them a platform for healing and a launch pad for progress. Episode 17, however, treated the couple like lovesick teenagers which seemed so far off from the people we spent 9 hours with. Also, I hated that someone told the PD to stop labeling all the PPL for this episode. I rather enjoyed the PD's passive-aggressive way of handling the marketing.

Min Ho's vignette infuriated me because it felt like we've been robbed of such quality writing all along. The cast carried this drama on their backs. (Directing was beautiful throughout as well.) KJW and JCW were absolutely amazing at making their respective characters compelling, and for me, both actors were the reason I stayed with this drama. Watching Min Ho, and the actress accompanying him, showed what could've been if all the stars ever fell in line. If the acting, directing, and writing had synced, this would have been a phenomenal series. Unfortunately, for 16 episodes, one leg of the pyramid always came up short.

This drama is more like a PSA of how NOT to date. Am I the only one who is bothered by the kiss Hae-na planted on the cop? It seems like he wasn't as in to it as he was. He pulled back AND he stepped back. I think she was just using him as a memory for her first kiss.

Pretty much bothered by how the drama ended (no resolutions to the lovelines! Isn't this the reason why we love kdramas?) but also relieved that it did. Please don't add a season 2!

Yes, this drama was a mess. I never connected with the characters, and the storyline was kinda sloppy to me. But do I regret watching this? No. Because there were some elements in this drama that I really liked. I loved the mockumentary format of this drama and the way people shared their thoughts with the director. It was new and the way they bicker back and forth with each other made this show such a fun watch. There were some lmao moments as well as WTF moments, and sometimes it was so frustrating but I was fine because I signed up for a mindless watch. The cinematography was great, as always with this director, and I have a special shout-out to all the ppl moments (HAHA😂 genius). And finally, this drama actually pointed out that drinking is bad for your health. As a non drinker, I never really understood why people drink to the point where they do all sort of crazy stuff, especially in kdramas, where people drink like there's no tomorrow.

So yeah, I was fine wasting my time watching this, and because of the the 30 minutes format, I feel less guilty about wasting my time😅

It was all a bit strange but I watched the whole thing, so ...yay? I would probably watch a second season too, or at least try it out.

I feel like there was probably a good drama hiding in there - I liked the interview format, the idea if not the execution of some of the stories, and some of it was really funny....but the pacing was all over the place.

That was a weird turn. (And why did I practically miss that the officer was Minho?) Are they planning to start season 2 with explanations of why season 1 ended like a car pileup of crummy drivers?

Well, that was a waste of time! What a weird ending! I mean, the policeman and......who?.......... Not annoying, just bewildering. And the reason why a couple of five years standing broke up was a little on the weak side, to say the least. It was, actually, a pretty decent cast but Ji Chang-wook has a rubbish management team, they put him in so many rubbish dramas. Good looks and good acting will only take you so far, if the story is silly you just end up being bored and watching because there's nothing else to watch. Sad!

I wish i can unwatch ep 17. It wasn't clear at all that it's a special episode. And no, i didn't catch the news nor do i think audience needs to follow news to understand the context.

The sunbae treatment, a clear sexual harassment, just being brush out. The way she returned to the set basically imply that rookie should just put up with whatever harassment they receive.

Her kiss with her childhood crush also come acroas wrong. No reason can justify her enforcing herself to him. An no, it is not romantic even when show try to frame it that way.

The subliminal message of having to starve yourself to be pretty is also disturbing.

All these issues are especially disturbing because it is presented in 1 episode with no guarantee of continuation. If we left it as it is, the episode come across as a way of normalizing all these behaviors. I genuinely don't know what they're trying to achieve in this episode.

What the **** did i just watch? I laughed so hard at episode 17. I couldn't believe they made that episode knowing how random and abrupt episode 16 was. When I thought the MC for the first time came to their senses that made me a little proud of them, the characters made a sudden turn, roll 180 degree, and here we are in eps 16 with fickle eun oh and still beyond help jae kwon. Where the time lapse when you badly need it? Not even 3 months character growth off screen? PD nim succesfully bamboozled me into believing nothing more important than self worth and respect do . Unless it's Didier Dubot.

And the train wrecked started, or end in that matter, with rin yi suddenly brought the new character into already sinking ship, the Mom. I mean, really PD nim ? all this yolo non sensd life style is not driven by free-yourself-live-by-your-own-standard our little rin yi kept pushing to us ? And instead we got insecure rich girl who has acknowledgement issue that end 5 years relationship at kyung joon, a perfectly boyfriend, expense ? When kyung joon complained how could he know when he's not mind reader, I nodded too. I feel bad for kyung joon and the mom, who has to be the bad guy cause the writer refused to end any story in normal way. God forbid.

I tried to read good final review from anyone who has given the drama solid 10, and looking for something that i might missing when watching the drama unfold. I just couldn't see it. And when they said this is masterpiece, I looked to My Mister drama and befuddled. Have I used masterpiece wrong all this time ?

A short journey, and i won't stop saying this. Just use 60 minutes 16 episode format. I don't care how revolutionary this drama is when the basic plot, story telling, editing, character development are left at the front door, that's when i drew the line between good and bad drama.

Thank you @sailorjumun for recaping.

I think that the final episode was a mediation on young/idealistic versus mature/knowledgeable love: the beginning of the road vs being far into the journey. Hae-Na represents the young idealistic first love, when everything is new, has to be perfect and - we imagine and wish - will be forever. How could she possibly have her first kiss with someone she does not like? But really the first love is just the beginning of the self-discovery journey of our needs, preferences and abilities for love, very few of us will stay with our first love for the rest of our lives, most will look back and realize that the first love was our first effort at love, clumsy and feeble, a time when we really did not know what we actually like in love.

The six main characters show us where we can get to on our romantic self-discovery. Jae-won discovers that he is driven by raw physical attraction (smell & sight) and can readily overlook character and personal history issues in someone who attracts him physically; he is very smart and well-off, he can afford this, and really Eun-oh lacks in nothing; when we see Eun-oh and he together for the last time (in the pizzeria), he can't stop telling her how pretty she is.

Euo-oh, on the hand, is reserved and inhibited in her demonstrations of love and is sensitive to social norms. I now think she originally intended to carry on with Jae-won in Seoul, but when she came back and found Rin-i is back from London so soon and Jae-won's cousin Kyeong-Jun, Rin-i's boyfriend, is around, she decided to protect Jae-won (and herself) from embarrassment by breaking up with him. I think she feared that Kyeong-Jun will tell Jae-won's family that she was recently engaged. In the sexual tension filled end of Eps 14, she asks Jae-won about this, and Jae-won says that he can't care less about the cousin. In the next episode, he tells her that he knows about the engagement and does not care either. After that, there were no longer any reasons for her not to date him. Professionally they are comparable (both have college degrees and run business), and I think their love based on physical attraction and care will last.

Seon-Yeong is still very much in the process of romantic self-discovery, while Rin-i and Geon pretty much know that love is not that important to them.

When the supposed crew asks the six characters to reflect on the "first", they are really asked to reflect on how their naïve views of love changed over time. Jae-won says he can't remember the girl of this first kiss (note, he says "kiss" not "love"), and then says his first kiss was with Eun-oh -- and he is right, who cares about that girl and that smooch, except maybe as a "learning experience", that smooch is inconsequential. Eun-oh, of course not as sophisticated as Jae-won, goes on to talk about her first "love" - surprise, surprise -- Geon!, which does not endear her to us and, if anything, "raises some eyebrows". Geon uses this opportunity to...

First, thanks to @sailorjumun for hanging in there with recaps of this baffling drama. Because Romance is a Bonus Book was my gateway Kdrama, I wanted to give LITC's writer, Jung Hyun-jung, the benefit of the doubt. A line from ep 1 of Romance hooked me, something about all women liking a Cinderella story, but not really believing the fairy tale.
I decided to do a quick review of Beanies'c comments on Lovestruck and smiled along with all the kvetching (some of which was mine). So what made us stick with this drama to its puzzling end? Was it the mini-ep length, the mock-doc interview angle, the schadenfreunde of watching people who are more messed up than us, the wish for a happy resolution (or a decent drama for Wookie fans)? If it was difficult to watch, it must have been even more difficult to write - unless it was a deliberate cautionary tale. Maybe this drama was a compilation of all the writer-nim's pet peeves in Kdrama plots.
I'm looking over my notes of recaps and comments that include mention of manic-pixie-dream-girl, banned honorifics, non-bougie wedding, lots of yelling/little communication, drinking as a serious problem, mopy angst, commitment phobia and nepotism (to name but a few). Some Beanies had fun imagining what terrible backstory trope could allow the FL to behave so brutally toward someone she allegedly loved. Others called for a serial killer and/or a Truck of Doom. Yet, weirdly, it ended with a bow tied around the most problematic relationship and ripped off the "first-love" one. Hmm, another pet peeve?
If delivering a cautionary tale about the RL pitfalls of modern relationships was writer-nim's motive and a second season theme implied in ep 17, then I suppose we should expect the dysfunctional side of idol academies to be the production team's next effort. Weird to have JYP's Party People jumping around in the corner of my screen as I type that, just sayin'.

The women in this show collectively grated my nerve along with Ji Chang Wook's character. What did I even watch. Kyung Joon and Rini dont suit each other, break up was the only possible outcome. Rini grated my nerve to the max by then. And I started off really liking her. Ji Chang Wook is now on my official shit list. He just doesn't have good eye for script. Never checking out his projects again. Done here.

I just want to think that the drama is over and characters are not coming back. I really don't need them. I overall found the drama ok, but I surely forget about it soon. Would I recommend it? Why not? I really loved the interactions with the camera and the second part was much better than the first one. We spent way too much time on the main couple flashbacks, time wasted, on my opinion.
Did I like the ending? I didn't dislike it, although I wished EunOh and JaeWon wouldn't have ended together. JW deserved better and EunOh should just go to therapy, but at least their ending together was well written, I sort of believed it.
The other two couples couldn't stay together as long as they keep thinking the way they did. Geon said it clearly: he knows where he is and SunYoung doesn't. She even confessed she's never loved anyone, probably because she doesn't love herself enough. Do these two stand a chance to be together in the future? Maybe, because both of them understood they had to let the other go.
As for Rin-I and KyungJoon, they are going in different directions. Rin-I has all the right to live her life the way she wants: if she doesn't want a permanent position and wants a frugal life, it's her decision. KJ was being overprotective when she didn't ask for it. She may be wrong, she may regret her decisions, but they are hers and unless she wants to change her lifestyle because of her, they can't be together. KJ was ashamed of her, so that's not true love.

About one third of this was good so JCW is improving in his post military choices. Getting rid of all the beginning episodes and using them sparingly as flashbacks might've made the entire drama enjoyable.

So many toxic relationships in this show! Not a single healthy one.

The very unsatisfying ending. Even these toxic characters needed to be better fleshed out.
I hate how LeeEunOh had forgiveness handed to her just like that.
Unnecessary last episode.
Plus the glorification of alcohol abuse like it's no big deal all through the show.

All in all, I am not much into this "interview style". It was an interesting experiment but highly unsatisfying.

Well, I finished it and I won't be tuning in for second season (if there is any). I was okay with series ending with episode 16. I was even okay with Rin-yi and Kyung-Joon breaking up. They wanted different things from life and it was fine that their relationship came to conclusion. What was the point of episode 17?

I'm glad I read this instead of watching the last two episodes. I hate that I've been disappointed by all of JCK's post-military dramas :(

I finally caught up with this after an involuntary break of one whole month from k-drama. I still love JCW and I always will, and I think he is a really superb actor who is underappreciated because his acting seems so easy and natural. It really shows through though in those moments of extreme emotion like the "tearful confrontation in the bar". And he's always a beauty to watch. I found Poor Eun-oh to be a frustrating character to watch. (I always find inarticulate characters frustrating, especially women.) Having said that, I loved Kim Ji-won in Fight My Way, and seeing her in this makes me wonder why dramas are so often propelled using such inarticulate female characters as provocation. In this case it all depends on the negative energy of a woman who seems inexplicably hurtful. As a result, Park Jae-won has to be unaccountably persistent in the face of constant rejection. Honestly, what man would persevere in the face of so much rejection? The story pushed both characters to extreme positions that strained my credibility. It all made me think that their dilemmas were "first-world problems" that could have been easily resolved with more communication. But hey, I watched it and still loved it for what it was.