Picture a top romance actor who hates women. Now imagine a woman who goes after cheating men to turn the tables on them. Can you imagine them now? OK, now put them together. What did you imagine would happen? Romance? You'd say no, but YES, for the Korean series on Netflix called Love to Hate You, that is EXACTLY what happened. Want to know more? I've got you covered! Read my review of this series and let me know if it will convince you to want to check out the show!
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| Image Credit: SBS and Netflix |
The Plot
Yeo Miran is a new lawyer for an entertainment company. Nam Kang Ho is a top drama/romance actor who meets at a party thrown by the law firm for their clients. Miran assumes Kangho is a bad guy who takes advantage of women based on her first impression of him. She tries to find out how she can out him, making the extra effort to get closer to him to do so. As for Kangho, he takes Miran on as a fight instructor after discovering her fighting skills. She agrees to pull double duty as his instructor as well as his lawyer to try to out him as a bad guy. In the process, the two learn more about each other and end up falling in love.
My Review
Looking back on this series, I don’t think that it made that much sense to me how these two fell in love. I don’t think that they put in enough scenes to justify exactly how it happened. They established Kangho as a woman hater who can't stand even to touch women. The show used the fact that he can touch Miran as a simple basis to say he fell in love with her. That was so weird for me. If someone said he loved me because he could touch me without feeling like he would throw up, that would be crazy. I would be running in the opposite direction. Wouldn’t you?
Then, of course, there was Miran, who hated the guy so much because of what she assumed of him. Then, once she found out she was wrong, she was in love. Again, so weird! Weirdness aside, I did like seeing these two when they were already in the relationship phase. To be fair, the writers did better with that part.
As with any drama, this romance needed some complications. At this point in the show, there was so much going on. It may have been a little too much. It's like the writers decided to throw in all possible conflicts to make life harder for the leads. First, Kangho was starring in a movie with his ex-girlfriend, who wants him back. Later, the press found out that Miran had been with a lot of men before Kangho, and it affected both their careers. Then we find out that he wanted to marry her, but she didn’t want to get married. These complications caused a strain in their relationship. Not to worry though, as with most dramas, everything worked out for everyone in the end.
I found some supporting characters and backstories from this show interesting. I wish they could have tackled the part about Miran’s parents more. It seems there was more to that story that made her the kind of woman that she was that they could have explored. That whole dynamic with her father is very telling about her opinion of men in general too. The backstory would have been nice to see if they had more episodes. It would have made me understand Miran's motivations more if they did. It would have helped me to like her a little more.
I thought Miran's sort of avenging angel thing for other women felt a little off. Showing that she went out and dated men to get even with them was weird. The start of the show showed that she even slept with one of them. It felt weird that she would go that far considering the risks involved with her reputation and her job. Yes, she had good intentions, but the execution of it all felt odd to me. If I understood why she did what she did it could have made a little more sense.
It would have also been good to see more about the romance between Miran and Kangho's friends. I felt that this happened a little too late so there wasn’t much about them to see. If the series had more than ten episodes, they could have done that. As it was, the romance felt like an afterthought. It was like the writers needed to do something more with these supporting characters. Pairing them up seemed like the logical step and so they did it.
I thought it was cute, casting-wise, that Kim Jihoon, who played Kangho’s friend, and Lee Joobin. who played his ex, were familiar faces from another series. Both actors worked together on another Netflix series: Money Heist Korea. I recognized them right away and I thought it was amusing to see them in this show together. Their roles here are very far from the ones they had in Money Heist. I love seeing actors who can take on roles that are opposites of each other.
As for the two leads, I did not feel any chemistry between them. They did do well together in their scenes but the romance was not there for me. They looked more like buddies than lovers to me. I did not see any sparks between them the way I usually do with the rom-com K-dramas that I have seen before.
I thought that Teo Yoo did well in his role as an actor with an aversion to women. You could see the struggle in his eyes and the way he moved. I also loved how he seemed to show such a gentle giant type of role in his portrayal. It's amazing how actors can give off the vibe of their characters with the way they move or through their faces. When I later saw him appearing in the movie Past Lives, I knew that it would be one to watch because of Teo Yoo. I knew he would be able to pull off the role in Past Lives with the talent I saw in this show (more on Past Lives in a future post).
Where Are They Now?
After playing Yeo Miran, there does not seem to be any news on future projects for her.
After his role as Kang Ho, he was next seen in the now-popular movie Past Lives. He is set to appear in another show called The World's Worst Boy.
He next appeared in the movie Ballerina for Netflix.
Her next project after this show was in the series King the Land.
Her next project is a series called Queen of Tears scheduled for 2024.
After playing an interesting female character in this show, she has two films lined up. She will be in My Name is Loh Kiwan and Resurrected Man. There is no release date yet for both films.
The lady who played Miran's mother has a movie lined up called Jochiwon Hae-mun, but there is no release date yet.
After her role in the show, she also had roles in the dramas Taxi Driver 2, Joseon Attorney, and Duty After School: Part 1.
Celebrities in Cameo Roles
The show had a lead who plays an actor, so it was natural to have cameos from celebrities who played themselves. Unfortunately, none of them seem to have any projects after their cameos in this show.
Eugene https://www.instagram.com/eugene810303/
Two other actors had cameos, but they played roles other than themselves.
He's an actor who I last saw in Pandora: Beneath The Paradise. He also appeared in the show Han River Police.
He also appeared in the show Stealer: The Treasure Keeper.
Love to Hate You was a good enough drama to watch if you were passing the time doing something else. It’s not as good as some of the romantic comedies (or dramas) I’ve seen so far but it’s not that bad either. It had its moments and I did enjoy watching some of the characters featured in the show. I loved the older actress friend of Kangho who befriended Miran. I thought she was an interesting and quirky character who I would have loved to see more of in the show.
This series is cute and entertaining, but don’t expect too much from it when you start watching. It was nice, even if it did not give me the kilig feels that I wanted in a rom-com. As disappointed as I was, it inspired me to start watching rom-com Korean dramas again. So, if only for that, this is an OK show to watch!
What do you think of my review? Would you want to see it after reading about it? Let me know in the comments and tell me what you think!
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