Honest Review: Was It Love?
With the combination of Song Jihyo and four love interests, it was hard to stray away from this drama. As it was easily accessible on Netflix, I gave ‘Was It Love’ a chance.
‘Was It Love’ started on July 8th and had their final episode on September 2.
The drama was about single-parent Noh Aejeong (Song Jihyo), who has been a producer for a failing movie company. As complications arise out of her control, she has to save the company by making a best-selling movie. On her journey to make the movie, four men appear in her life. Oh Daeo (Son Hojun) is a mysterious best-selling author, Ryu Jin (Song Jongho) is a famous actor in Korea, Koo Pado (Kim Minjun) was once a gangster but now leads a financial company, and Oh Yeonwoo (Koo Jasung) is Aejeong’s daughter’s middle school PE teacher.
I’m a sucker for the second male leads having their chance to sweep the woman off her feet. This drama gave us four male leads to choose from! Additionally, the drama incorporates the inside life of the entertainment world, which is a topic I always seem to gravitate towards while searching for a drama to watch.
However, there is one downfall to the drama that will be noted later in this article. I will talk about the show’s strong points and weak points, as well as my personal thoughts on it.
Spoilers ahead!
Strong points:
Just as I mentioned before, the plethora of male leads in this drama is what makes it so entertaining! Not only that, but each of the male characters has their own unique charm that makes themselves so different from the other. First, we get Oh Daeo, who was revealed early on that he was Aejeong’s ex-boyfriend from 14 years ago. He’s an author who has such high self-esteem to the point that he’s a bit arrogant and cocky. Ryu Jin was Aejeong’s senior back in college that was constantly seen as charming and suave. Oh Yeonwoo was a loyal friend that to Aejeong and has kept up his down-to-earth and positive attitude. Lastly, Koo Pado exudes a strong and intimidating aura but has a soft heart. With (almost) all these men pursuing Aejeong, it’s entertaining to see all the variety of interactions!
To continue off the first point, the overall cast is fantastic! Although, we have to give more points to Aejeong’s support system throughout this whole drama, which includes her daughter Noh Hanee, her mother Choi Hyangja, and her best friend, Kang Sookhee. If it weren’t for these three, Aejeong wouldn’t have been able to find her true happiness at the end of this drama.
Noh Hanee is a 14-year-old middle school student trying to find out who her birth father was out of the four male leads. While she is young, she is far more mature for her age. Hanee could be a little rowdy and stubborn throughout the drama, but it was all for the sake of her mother. Hyangja did what any mother would do. She also wanted the best for Aejeong after seeing all the years of work she put into supporting Hanee and her dream. Lastly, Sookhee was someone that perfectly balanced Aejeong’s naive personality. Sookhee would talk words of wisdom and truth that would shake Aejeong into reality. Plus, she owns a bar that is the perfect place to drink and talk about your problems away.
We have to appreciate our main star too! Noh Aejeong seems very gullible and innocent on a surface level, but she is much more. As a single mother that had to work harder to support her family and reach for her dreams, she has the limitless determination that separates her from other female leads. She is also strong-willed and would face her problems head-on. As the producer of the movie, she goes out of her way to get the results she desires, and that’s admirable!
Another strong point to the drama is Koo Pado’s relationship with his son, Dongchan. Their father-son relationship was a good contrast from Aejeong and Hanee’s relationship. From the beginning, Aejeong and Hanee openly love each other and would do anything for one another. For Pado and Dongchan, we saw a distance that was very vague when we first see of them.
However, throughout the drama, we get to see the growth between them while we figure out more of Pado’s past. Spoiler: Pado is not Dongchan’s father and was once just a gangster that worked for his father and mother. At Dongchan’s mother’s last breath, Pado vowed to protect Dongchan from this dangerous life and become a father.
After some serious talks and one impromptu rescue mission, we see Pado and Dongchan become a true father-son duo that will melt your heart!
I enjoyed the whole concept of first love and fate that this drama planned out.
The viewers found out early on Daeo and Aejeong were each other’s first love while in college together. ‘Was It Love’ had plenty of cute moments between the two leads during their time together, making their present much more worth it.
It had been 14 years since the two of them see each other, and the only way to describe their meeting was destiny. Pado gave the idea of who he wanted to be included in the movie as he was investing in it, and he wanted the famous author, Cheon Eokman, to be the director. When Producer Aejeong sets out to meet the author to join the project, she finds out that the author happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Despite the misunderstandings and the hidden frustration, Daeo and Aejeong still cared for each other after all those years.
Even though they denied their emotions at first, it was obvious they still loved one another, and that’s exactly the kind of cliche kind of trope that will make your teeth rot from the sweetness!
Weak points:
This is my only weak point, and it leads directly to the previous paragraph. As the the-first-love-and-fate plot is one of my strong points, I had to include it here too.
As viewers watch the show, they can predict from the very beginning who would end up with Aejeong and who is Hanee’s father. As it was so predictable, it felt like having the rest of the male leads was a waste of potential. I was hoping for some shocking twist to the story, like Hanee’s father being Ryu Jin or Aejeong falling in love for one of the other male leads. To have Daeo be endgame was something expected with all the flashbacks and their many scenes together.
So, in my opinion, the ending disappointed me, as the drama had a lot of potential to wow the viewer and left a lasting impression on how they would fix all the problems within it. Also, due to a scandal breaking out, Daeo and Aejeong had to part to achieve their dreams. The time skip was also a thing that has been overdone in stories.
The drama has such a strong start with all the possibilities for the ending, but it chose the most obvious one. At some points, Daeo was the one I was rooting for the least due to his cocky personality.
And, if the drama had to make Daeo endgame at the end, I wished they could’ve planned the drama better, so it wasn’t so evident from the beginning. ‘Was It Love’ focused on Daeo way too much in the drama, and I would have wanted more sweet, romantic moments between Aejeong and the other three men. While they did show Yeonwoo and Ryu Jin confessing to Aejeong, it was instantly shot down that there was no room to give them a chance. There was no point in rooting for any other guy.
Final thoughts:
I did enjoy this drama a lot! It was one of the dramas I have kept up with a week to week to see what happens next in the new episode. The drama did lose me a couple of times as it was wrapping up in its last few episodes, but they did maintain some excitement until the conclusion. Overall, it was sweet, hopeful, and cliche, a (mostly) lighthearted drama that is easy to watch.
I would still recommend it to people because I know some people would think differently for who they wanted to end up with Aejeong. Specifically, my mother was on Team Daeo and was very happy at the show’s ending, so who am I to say not to watch it because my personal favorite wasn’t endgame? I still thoroughly liked the show.
If you watched the drama, what are your honest thoughts about it? Also, were you on Team Daeo, Yeonwoo, Ryu Jin, or Pado? (I was Team Pado) Comment below and let us know!
