Well.. that was an interesting ride. I cant figure out quite where the charm of the drama lies, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's very slice of life, while still being fantastical - I mean, a guy thats simultaneously good looking, rich and devoted such as Hyun-seung is clearly a fantasy? Or the fact that the whole Hyo-joo/Lee Jae-shin set up was incredibly makjang. Its fantastical, yet has a slice of life feel. Its isnt particularly quirky or charming, and yet is very enjoyable. Not sure what's going on here. But overall glad to have watched it.

I did feel Won Jin-ah was underutilized and has the potential to bring so much more to a role. Separately, I also felt that this is Rowoon's best performance yet. Hes improving by miles and growing into a serious actor. I'm surprised. As an aside, I wonder what SF9 fans feel about his kiss scenes? Not a lot of Idol actors out there with such passionate onscreen kisses.

Am I really the first to comment here?? I am not sure if I will be fair though.
I watched this show (with lots of FF), in order to support Won Jin ah. I feel she is growing as an actress and that's great. Not that her sumbae character needed much effort, but there were some micro expressions once in a while that showed me, she is working and that's great.
Support cast: not that bad. Nothing complicated.
Plus: I enjoy very much the siblings/niece dynamics, I think it was fresh and well done. Usually I feel dramaland neglect siblings unless they use them as antagonists or trouble makers.
Now the bad:
Personally, I didn't find much chemistry between our OTP... why? I don't know. I didn't find them that compatible.
Also, I found their romance a little bit forced, and not because he fell for her first, and basically took her out of her first relationship, but because I didn't feel any of them were much of use for the other one, except for: being or becoming the lover.
I know, I know... becoming a loved one to someone is good enough, and in this kind of love it's enough to just be able to feel the butterflies??? 🙄
But again, I didn't feel they were more than people who wanted to date and fill up an empty spot in respectively hearts. So much that at the end Song ah said it herself: I missed him, I didn't understood the privilege just to love somebody... something like that, she said.
It sounded romantic, but I found it little bit cliche. I would ask why? Why Hyun seung? And what possibly answer she could give me? The other way around is true. Why Hyun seung was in love with her? Apart from being good at work, what did she have that he fell for her?
I never got to understand it. I felt all romances in this drama were shallow, and not necessarily because they were vain, but because they were kind of empty.
That being said, it is an easy watch. I am glad it ended. No rewatch value, but at least they didn't come up with truck of doom, or one of them with a terminal illness 😂😂😂😂

Thak you for the weecap!

Gotta say though, "... for Song-ah to MELT him..." gave me some major flashbacks I'm sure I don't like...

Aahh I'm not ready to let this drama end.
This drama is not grand or have a high ratings, but it definitely has special spot in my heart. Same with 20th Century of Boy and Girls, I really enjoy watching Sunbae because it feels so warm and didn't have villain character. How about the OTP? Aahh I love them so much, for me their chemistry is really good. Not mention Rowoon has chemistry with every character in this drama! Not only with Won Jin Ah but with his sisters, his coworkers (I will miss KLAR team), and his niece.

Everyone has happy ending except Yoon Seung :((, but maybe she can be happier when she let her husband go (I'm crying with Ha Eun too).

For Jaewon and Ji Seung, aaw Ji Seung propose him, it's nice to see Jaewon was moved to tears, and finally he can be bestfriend again with Jae Shin.

Conclusion: The main story maybe seems simple or cliche, but I enjoy watching the drama from the start till the end because of the characters, the relationship between them, the tone?, the soundtrack, and not forget I like everything that Hyun Seung and Song Ah wear, their office outfit looks good on them.

I forgive the breakup and time jump since the final episode gave us so many cute moments. This will go in my list of most satisfying endings in k-drama land, every side story had their own wrap-up albeit some not so happy endings.
My favourite scene was both of them trying to "convince" Song Ah's mother that they belong together. Credit to Rowoon for his little facial expressions that complement the scene so well.

On a side note, Rowoon will definitely be seeing more lead roles coming his way. This must be his best work yet, although I'm embarrassed to say I watched him in 2 of his previous dramas About Time and When Stars Land without realising who he was (I still don't remember him specifically in those shows. He was just another handsome dude that didn't really stand out).

This drama is a good ride, with the romances handled quite well - different strokes for different pairings. The divorce was heart wrenching, I wasn't expecting the couple to dissolve after that much work they've done in working together to accept his sexuality, never did it occur that they'd go on with 'he is gay'. I really wished they remained a couple.

Watching this weeks episodes I realised a parallel between SongAh/Hyunseung and HyoJoo Jaeshin romance. Both relationship were so much alike although one was 'somewhat' and the other warm, they shared a similarity- only person was ready to throw in everything for the other and in this case it was Hyunseung and HyoJoo. They were comfortable with doing all the work if the other could just do one thing - be there. That was the one assurance they wanted from their others and it's just funny that both JaeShin and SongAh threw the efforts of Hyojoo and Hyunseung to their faces, and it took SongAh MinYoung's point of view to understand what she should have being to Hyunseung and Ji Seung's admonition to realise what her actions cost HyunSeung. In my opinion, SongAh is in no way different from JaeShin and it took them being with other people for me to realise that.
JaeWoon is such a sweet character and his chemistry with JiSeung was everything dreamy, everything our main couple should have been. He has such a heart of gold and a heart thats full of love so much that he couldn't stay angry with JaeShin forever ( I was very sure of this). Teary eyed sulking JaeWoon+ perceptive JiSeung is a delight to my screen.

What a wonderful drama it turned out to be!! To think that I wanted to drop after the second episode :) I am so glad I didn’t.
I really liked how they show the couple reconcile. It was slow yet so beautiful to watch. Sad, yet calm. It was so much like their personality.

I kind of got frustrated that Song Ah never told her boss about her BF Or her long distance relationship. Sometimes you need to be open and honest to have a better work-life balance. It’s true that not everyone is comfortable with this. But the boss and her seemed to have a good relationship.

And I didn’t not expect RoWoon to deliver this role so well. I was pleasantly surprised to see him carry this role. I look forward to his future projects.

Ha-eun- poor girl. But I am glad everyone around her is coming forward to give her more love and making her feel more loved. The siblings are the best and I love them to bits.

And thank you @missvictrix for the weecaps and your thoughts. As always, a pleasure to read.

Thank you for all your weecaps @missvictrix. This show was such a delight to watch from beginning to end. Rowoon is amazing and I look forward to more of his work.
But what was so nice about the show were all the side character (KLAR team) and the siblings and their stories.
Not everyone had a happy ever after - but it was more of a real life ending.
I too was so sad the husband finally accepted his sexual preference, but how he was so much happier to have someone who accepted him was so telling. It broke my heart that they divorced, but that is reality. The writer handled the 'gay' story well and focused on love, acceptance and forgiveness rather than the torrid love affair.
And he wasn't played as the total queen they usually make gay men out in kdramas. whew!

One of the other stories I loved was how Song-Ah's mother finally created a life for herself and was so much happier!

Overall I liked it and was very satisfied at the ending.

I pretty much agree with everything said in this recap about the episode and the drama, and I am sad to see it end. However, the show has been terrible for my self-esteem as a romantic partner and sibling. The Hyun-Seung character served like a scold to me to be a better person.

She Would Never Know She knows now!

Yoon Song-A : I really like her character. Her parent's story made her to invest herself in her job more than love stories. She's discret person but it was nice to see her opening herself to Hyun-Seung by talking to her studies or her mother. She shared a part of his life with his friends or his family. She felt confortable enough with him to go to him when she was sad and to say she liked him. The break-up was super sad but I understood why she did it. She felt selfish and it hurt both of them. The solution would have been to return with him in Korea and not one year after but I think it was a good thing she realized how she loved him because she never thought she could love someone like this. She finally did it. It was super cute to see her trying to win him over. I liked the parallels between the beginning and the end : the bus scene with one staring the other, bringing food, helping each other, drunk scenes.

Chae Hyun-Seung : at the beginning, he was very sure of him ( I mean he's handsome, smart and rich) so he was very straightfoward. If he was too pushy, I think the way he handled the secret was pretty good. It was rude but it helped her. But for their relationship, he had to learn patience. I think one of my favourite scene with him was the ramyeon one. Song-Ah was worried for him and he asked why, he was waiting for her answer to take a decision and he finally stepped back to give her space. I think all the Chae siblings have a big heart, his way to love was beautiful.

Lee Jae-Shin, Lee Hyo-Joo, Lee Jae-Woon : I was happy for the conclusion of their relationships. It started badly when they were young but ended well as adults.

Chae Yeon-Seung and her family : I didn't think they will stay married until he finds his trueself. I admire Yeon-Seung for her patience to wait for him to be ready to be himself that she will have her freedom too. Ha-Eun made me cry so much. But it was beautiful to watch her family around her who was worried about her. The fact she can phone to her uncle knowing he will come showed the bond they have.

Chae Ji-Seung: She was a nice character! A professionnal career woman but with a big heart. They were cute with Jae-Woon.

KLAR Team : They were the best colleagues. They were so fun and supportive.

Song-Ah's mother : their relationship developped pretty well. She was so funny at the end by saying that Song-Ah wasn't good enough for Hyun-Seung 🤣

In a general way, I really loved the production of this drama. The story was super simple but I didn't care. At the opposite, it was refreshing we didn't have a big villain, they were normal characters with normal issues who had to take decisions. They were surrounded by family, friend, colleagues and it let us see what kind of people they were. The love story was sastifying with a lot of cute moments or more sexy ones but well balanced with interesting discussions.

The actors were great...

Sunbae Don’t Put On That Lipstick was a wonderful K-drama with relationships that endured and changed without a single truly evil enemy of the people in it! I wish it was a 52-episode weekend drama! Roo Woon, as I’ve gushed before, is my new bias.♥♥ I loved the closeness he (as Hyun-Seung) had with his sisters and adorably witty niece. Actress Wang Bit-Na really captured my attention (she is also in River Where the Moon Rises) with her smart acting and charming stage presence. She is very classy. Song-Ah grew on me over time and I loved her story of following her dream, living it out (remember her mentor said to pick what she would regret less); however, time affects our perspective and we get to change our minds in life, right? I could hold it against her for hurting Hyun-Seung (I want him to know I would never do that to him!!), but her efforts to reassure him and win him back were make-up-after-break-up perfect and I love her for that. Hyo-Joo deserves applause for her recovery journey and ability to face Jae-Shin with inner strength. So, two weddings, a divorce with as much family support as one could hope for, and two people free to go their separate ways makes for as happy an ending as any K-drama I’ve seen and I love it!

I was not as satisfied with the final episodes. It should have been harder than this for Song-ah to get Hyun-seung back. But at least we got a really pretty picture at the end.

I was even less satisfied with the resolution of Woo-hyun and Yeon-seung. There was a dramatically better route- and it would have explained Woo-hyun's depressed state even better. Yes, Woo-hyun is not 'straight' and can fully enjoy a sexual experience with a man- so our gay chef assumed that he merely had to keep the pressure on- sexual harrasment in other words- to push him into the gay box as it were. But what if Woo-hyun was actually right when he said he was not gay? What if he was in fact bisexual? The chef's pushing would have been genuinely offensive because he may be bi but Woo-hyun is not promiscuous. Woo-hyun was genuinely repressed sexually by the chef's insistence that he be a gay person when he was in fact something else.

Ji-seung and Jae-woon- It took them three years to get married? Why? Dramatically it would not have hurt our main couple's story if they had married two and a half years before Song-ah returns.

OK, I am nit-picking here and in fact this has been my favorite show and one I enjoyed a great deal.

I really enjoyed this drama and am so glad that I finally jumped in. I loved the character development with so many of the characters growing and changing, plus the ever supportive office group. I rewatched both these episodes. At some point it hit me that I was getting some of the feelings that I had while reading Jane Austen's Persuasion (my favorite book ever)! This drama might end up on my all-time top ten list.

The thing I liked about this drama is that most of the characters were at the better place from where they started. They went on a journey and found growth and acceptance.
I liked how Jae-shin went from despicable, manipulative jerk to a person who apologized to the people he had wronged, made peace with his past and himself.
Hyo-joo got over her obsession and Song-ah made peace with her past and her mother.
I still felt bad for second noona. She genuinely loved her husband but it fell apart at the end. I did admire her courage. There are very few people who are willing to help others when their own world is falling apart.
I did not love this drama but it was a nice watch. The story was quite cliché but it treated most of the characters respectively and nobody was villainized. Each character was a person with some shades of back and white except the Hyun-seung and Ji-seung. After first two episodes Hyun-seung character became and remained perfect.

After dealing with termites last week I am back for the ending. I loved all of the weecaps @missvictrix thank you for them! I loved reading everyone’s comments every week. I loved reading what everyone enjoyed and did not enjoy above. You all make my watching experience so much better and I am grateful for this community of drama lovers!

I have to be honest, I enjoyed the drama. I would be lying if I said I didn’t. I swooned over the main couple and had butterflies. I loved each of the characters. I looked forward to this drama each week. I LOVED Rowoon. Though he hasn’t reached bias status for me yet, his character is on my list of best boyfriends in dramaland.

Now comes the unpopular opinion:
I thought the drama was shallow and had the potential to be a lot deeper. I think I complained about this every week so I won’t repeat it here.

Let me instead complain about something else. In the end, I wondered what the drama was about and kind of reflected on the titles “Sunbae, don’t wear that lipstick” and “She would never know.”

I couldn’t really answer what the drama was about. It was just a collection of love stories of people who knew each other or were related. Only one story, in my opinion, was well developed and at times there were unnecessary hurdles for them to face (think BM Seo). That was the story of SA and HS. Theirs was basically an office romance/love story dealing with love, ambition, and work. The other stories, however, were on a variety of different topics.

Also, the titles refer to scenes or situations at the beginning of the story. “Sunbae, don’t wear that lipstick” was a provocative scene that put things in motion SA and HS but isn’t really covering the totality of the drama (or perhaps I am missing something). “She would never know” at least refers to 3 storylines: HS + SA, SA’s mother, and YS not knowing about her husband’s sexuality. But, for me, it is hard to say that that was what the drama was about or that it delivered a powerful message on keeping your partner in the dark about important things.

I don’t think that all dramas need to be deep but when you come with interesting topics and don’t sufficiently explore them, it leaves you (me at least) with the unsatisfied feeling of missed opportunities.

I am sorry to see it end though.

I’m so sad! I will miss my coffee drama. This drama never failed to put a smile on my face. It’s slow pace and soothing leads literally brought me joy. The storyline wasn’t that stand out but it was just something about HS and Song Ah that makes this one of the best romantic dramas I have seen in awhile.

I live the progression from Episode 1 with HS and his one sided love to episode 16 where we see Song Ah propose marriage. That was quite a journey. I hope these two do another drama because Wowza😍🥰🥰🥰..

Goodbye my feel good drama 🥲.. it’s been fun

I just finished watching the whole series twice (back to back) and the last 2 episodes 4 times. I guess I just really enjoyed seeing Song-ah trying to win Hyun-seung back. Just as he so deserved, to be showered with love and affection. I am so happy this drama turned out to be such a wonderful watch overall because I came in with no expectations. The one and only reason that I decided to watch it in the first place is because of Rowoon. But I love the world this drama created. The camaraderie at work, the Chae family relations and the fact that there is no one true villain made this drama an easy watch for me. I will miss this world, I will miss Hyun-seung. He just joined Xiao Nai of Love O2O on the top of my best drama boyfriends. I love the way he loves. If I could describe Hyun-seung's love in one word it would be steadfast.

Thank you @missvictrix for your hard work!

My Mondays and Tuesdays will never be great again! Sunbae is the first drama I've watched completely during the eight weeks that it was broadcasted. My affinity to this drama, at first, was because of Won Jin-ah because I LOVED her performance in Just Between Lovers (my favorite drama!). Though she does not have many works under her belt yet and Melting Me Softly is the drama most people prefer to not remember, Won Jin-ah was perfect in this role. If you've seen JBL, you'll know the kiss scenes in it are slightly awkward (maybe because Won Jin-ah was a newbie?), but Sunbae is much better. Gradually, I kept watching this drama for both her and Ro-woon. Ro-woon really stepped up his game in this drama! His acting is more natural and his chemistry with Won Jin-ah is beautiful. I would watch a drama that just has close-ups of his face, honestly.
Small nitpicks about this drama: Why wasn't there a better shot of the last kiss on the pink-filtered street? I don't know if that street was the same one they used for the drama poster but for some reason, I wanted a shot in the drama that mirrored its pretty poster. I wanted the hugging couple smack-dab in the middle of the street, not the couple on the side with a car passing by.
In the first episode, Hyun-seung gives Song-ah a different lipstick that he thinks suits her better. I would've loved to see that lipstick make a return. For example, she wears it and he recognizes that she is.
Hyun-seung's two friends were a little bit unnecessary to the story but they provided some laughter.
Ultimately, this drama was quiet and peaceful. It had funny scenes with the KLAR team and never dived too deep into anguish. Supporting characters were a nice complement to the story. It's comforting to see people who are passionate about their work and their love. Looking forward to Won Jin-ah's next drama (although it looks VERY different from Sunbae)!

JTBC drama has released 32 minutes of BTS \o/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LBGEtM-heE

Still at the beginning of ep 15 because I'm waiting for iqiyi to make eps 15 and 16 available, so I'm missing some information here and scrolled down with my eyes closed just to get here, he!
I'm loving this drama so much! It apparently has all the tropes - now it's the time leap and the breakup before the OTP gets back together for the finale - but somehow they manage to make the characters so relatable and real. I totally understand her decision to go and loved their last days
together beforee she left. Them just hanging out at home is so sweet - and 🔥without being too on the nose, he!
That conversation "don't feel unsure"/"don't feel guilty" felt very real and it makes it clear that they are aware of the relationship's unbalance and why. Songha simply isn't in the same place as Hyunseung, and she constantly feels like she's letting him down. It must be burdening, and a bit triggering for her taking into account how her Mom spend years trying to keep her from being independent to have her around as an emotional crutch. The separation is very sad, but the drama feels real to life in that too: that sometimes you meet a person who's right for you, but the timing is off, you need to go through some experiences on your own before committing to a relationship, and that's ok. For once, kdrama people don't drop everything else for love - I find that a healthy message!
I'll hate to watch that breakup, but I'm eager to see them getting back together stronger and on a equal footing 💚

My eye is twitching looking at that ponytail, girl fire your stylist. 😲

Just finished watching this one....thanks fellow beanies for your comments.

Overall, this drama was calm--no tropes and over-the-top, unrealistic characters. Loved how the last episode wrapped up all of the arcs. The entire production was well-done and well-written.

The first few episodes were tough to get through but I finally made it past them and enjoyed the rest of the drama. The way the leads behaved made it seem as though the male and female characteristics and roles were reversed. The "noble idiocracy" just didn't seem to fit the established relationship and made for an annoying path to the end of the romantic arc.

I did feel disappointed in the last episode. There should have been much more emphasis on how Song-A had to WORK, very hard in fact, to re-establish a relationship with Hyun-Seung. it felt so rushed from the time he turned away at the crosswalk to the reconciliation and wedding dress. We did not get to see the romance between the two truly re-established; after a few cute scenes, suddenly the reconciliation had happened. How did they reconnect and find romance again?

BTW, the title of this series is mind-baffling. What did that title "she would never know" really mean? And the "don't put that lipstick on" was code for something beyond me.....