Do you love rom-coms? How about K-Dramas? Are any of you familiar with Super Junior? Have you ever seen reality dating shows? If you like any of those three things, you might want to read on as I review a K-Drama starring a member of Super Junior. This rom-com is one of the few K-Dramas that gave me a satisfying ending. I have a feeling that this is something that lovers of rom-coms, K-Dramas, and Super Junior would love to watch! Read on to find out what I thought of the show Love Is for Suckers!
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| Image Credit: ENA Korea |
Long before I became a fan of BTS, I was also a fan of the K-pop boy band Super Junior. To be specific, I was a fan of one of the members, Choi Siwon, who is also an actor. I’ve seen him in a couple of K-Dramas, and I was a fan of his role in the show She Was Pretty. He wasn’t the lead in that one, but he stood out so well that I was rooting for his character to get the girl in the end. I know he had other shows where he was the lead, but Love is for Suckers is the first time that I watched him in a lead role.
Plot
Love is for Suckers has a common trope. It's about best friends who should be more and could be more. What was the problem? At some point, both of them held back at that one moment when the timing was right. They were both afraid of crossing the line or something like that.
The show is about these two dancing around the situation until they finally get together in the end. I hope that doesn’t spoil the show for anyone. It's what's expected for rom-coms anyway. Everyone expects a happy-ever-after for a romance like this. For this review, I’ll try my best not to go into too much detail to avoid spoiling it for those interested in watching it.
My Review
This is a show that has a lot going on. There is drama in the background stories of both lead characters. Add to that the drama from the stories of the supporting characters. Then, of course, there is the actual love story that is the center of this series. It may seem a bit much for 16 episodes, but it's not. The show gives the stories space to develop without overlapping. They are each given time to play out without overwhelming the viewer.
I also must add that they did a good job with this ensemble cast. The storylines and the character development made me root for the characters. It made me feel for them (although sometimes it was not in a positive way). The entire cast of the dating series they were doing grew on me in this show. I would love to see these actors in other projects in the future.
The main setting of this series is on the set of a reality/dating show. That part of the show reminded me a bit of the US show UnREAL starring Shiri Appleby. In UnREAL and this show, the producer of the show gets involved with one of the male contestants. That causes complications in the show as this relationship develops.
For Love is for Suckers, the female lead (Yeoreum) played by Lee Dahee is the producer. Choi Siwon plays the male lead Jaehoon, who joins the dating show Yeoreum is producing. Their will-they-won't-they relationship causes complications for them as they do the show.
All these complications would not have happened if Yeoreum had not forced Jaehoon to join the show. He only gives in to do her a favor but it only makes things more difficult for their relationship.
It’s interesting to note that in real life, Dahee is also involved in a similar show. She is one of the hosts of Singles Inferno on Netflix. She co-hosts that show with another member of Super Junior (Kyunhyun), among others.
Love is for Suckers, as with other rom-coms, should be about rooting for the leads, but I didn't do that. I found myself more drawn to the supporting characters in this show.
I loved seeing singer Daehwi in his role as Sangwoo, an assistant producer. I found myself smiling every time he was on screen because he is such a likable character in this series. He also reminds me so much of BTS’ Jimin, his looks keep making me think of a younger Jimin.
I was also a big fan of the storyline of Park Jiwan, a webtoon writer whom Yeoreum fought to have on the show. Her romance and happy ending was one of my favorite parts of this series. It was such an unexpected romance but at the same time, I could see why it worked out. It was such a cute part of the story!
As much as I wanted to be a big fan of the lead characters, it was hard for me to do. This reminded me of another show, Soundtrack #1 (will blog about that later). The lead actors are both good, but for me, they did not have any chemistry. They meshed well, but I did not feel a spark seeing them together. I wanted them to have chemistry, but cute moments aside, I could not get myself to root for them together.
I was expecting to fall for Siwon in this show, but I did not. He was charming and all, but I was expecting a bit more from him. He was quirky and weird in She Was Pretty but I still fell for his character in that one. He is more normal in this series but I could not get myself to have the feels that I expected. If it weren't for the nice subplots from the other characters I would have stopped watching this show.
I kept waiting to fall in love with his character in this show but I couldn't. I liked him, but I did not fall for him. Most rom-coms or romance dramas I loved had characters I fell for. Not the case for this one. Too bad because I like the show and I have been a Siwon fan for a while. It was a good show, but I guess you can say that I expected more from it and I did not get what I was looking for,
Lack of chemistry from the leads aside, and I enjoyed watching this show from start to finish. I was home sick when I binged this because I had nothing else to do but stay in bed and this was a huge comfort for me. I enjoyed the plot and the various characters and found myself invested in everyone’s story. Unlike other K-Dramas I’ve seen, this one also has a very good ending. It was not rushed, and it was also not dragging or forced.
They wrapped it up well using the show's theme and gave a resolution to every plotline they had. I also love the little cameo at the end. It was an appearance from Kwon Yul, who is an actor from some older K-Dramas that I loved (My Fair Lady and Lie to Me). That was also a favorite moment for me because I had a crush on him back in the day. I haven't seen him in any of the shows I've watched recently and I missed seeing him on TV!
Where are they now?
Lee Daehee
Daehee starred in the series Island with Kim Namgil and Cha Eunwoo after this show. She was also, as I mentioned earlier, a host on the show Singles Inferno. She is set to come out in another series called S Line in 2024.
Choi Siwon
Siwon appeared in the series Bloodhounds after Love is for Suckers. He has projects lined up but there has been no date of release except for a cameo on the series Death's Game. He has also made appearances with the rest of Super Junior in shows in different countries. He is also part of the cast of the reality series My Little Old Boy. It's a show that features mothers of Korean celebrities.
Lee Daehwi
Daehwi appeared in the series Strong Underdog after this show. There has been no news of future TV or film projects for him since then. He is also one of the permanent hosts of the show M Countdown. He is also a singer and producer, so he may be also doing things on the music side of his career at the moment!
What did you think of my review? Did it make you curious about the show? I hope that you can check it out and see for yourself! Leave me a message in the comments and tell me if you watched it because of this review! If you've seen it already let me know your thoughts on the show! I would love to hear about it!
Love is for Suckers is available on Amazon Prime. Catch it while it's there if you like K-dramas and rom-coms!
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