My Heart Is Beating

Korean Drama " Heartbeat " is a fantasy romantic comedy about a vampire and a human girl who have to live together.

The first part of the drama was smooth, with plenty of comical acts, enjoyable pace, interesting story, an intriguing mystery, and engaging mythology concerning the vampires. The action scenes were nicely handled as well.

However, things started deteriorating after that first half. The romance was cheesy and boring, and, thus, not enough to save the drama, that started leaking from its many plot holes. All of which led to the shipwreck that was the ending, which more or less did not make any sense and ruined every plot development that was made in the previous episodes. And sure, I don't believe that what makes a good drama is a happy ending, but an ending that makes sense and doesn't erase everything that one has watched for the previous 15 episodes is a major factor for success.

Still, the performances were enjoyable and the actors did a good job with their characters.

So, overall, four and a half out of ten.

The beginning of the story, the comedy, the friendship, and romance are all great. The actors did a great job portraying their characters. Unfortunately, I don't see that there's much chemistry between the main male and female leads.

Also, I think Rose is prettier than In Hae. I think she would have been a better main female lead. Then again, that's just me. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say.

To go through all of the things In Hae and Seon Woo Hyeol did to finally feel what it's like to love and be loved, then for the them to end up that way is so disappointing.

It has a happy ending in some ways but it's not very satisfying.

If you want a complete and happy ending with closure, then skip this drama.

From the beginning until the end of this drama, the theme is, "to have loved and lost is better than to not have loved at all."

Such a wild mix of refreshing ideas (the idea of the weak vampire/male lead, which has no problem with being the cleaning lady), great actors, great female lead and terrible terrible conclusion, cheap scenery and anticlimactic last few episodes. To put viewers through that and than give them such an unsatisfying ending, that really has no justification in the story, because the whole thing is fantastic and implausible to begin with, so why not see it through until the end...?

And why force a hardcore comedy to become a drama in the last episodes?

Really bad writing.

Tacyeon has a great talent for the comical and the female lead is super straight and not comical for a second, which works really nicely together.

I view this series quite differently that a lot of the other reviewers. While OK, I felt the first half of the series was rather slow and plodding. The acting, story and comedy were fine....just not very engaging. It was good enough that I kept watching but I didn't feel the urge to binge onto the next episode like I do with Kdramas that I fall in love with.

That changed as the series progressed into the second half. The romance thread finally started and while the FL isn't as expressive as some FL's of other series, I felt Won Ji-an nailed the character perfectly considering the circumstances and her character's backstory. I also really enjoyed the suspense/thriller plot-line as it picked up. The main villain was excellent. Seo Hoo Baek's acting made it so easy to hate the character and to cheer his ultimate downfall.

I also loved the three friend characters. Park Dong-seop, Yoon Byung-hee and Seung You played them brilliantly. Those roles could easily have been overplayed into caricatures but these 3 played them with finesse that greatly added to my enjoyment of the series.

I really liked how the series broke away from the standard tropes of reincarnation and happily-ever-after. I can understand why so many people hated the ending. I made the mistake of reading those reviews while still in the middle of the series and almost stopped watching as I was expecting the worst. BUT DON'T let that deter you. While very bittersweet, I felt the ending was perfect for this series. It showed a version of true love that is often ignored in romantic dramas.

I love Taecyeon acting since Bring it on Ghost, so I really wanted to like this one!

The first half of the series held so much potential, drawing viewers in with its intriguing premise and captivating characters. However, the second half turned into a disaster.

The initial episodes were great and the characters were engaging, and their dynamics seemed to be setting the stage for a compelling narrative. Wasn't a huge fan of the female lead though, too much screaming for my taste.

But then, the drama took an inexplicable nosedive into chaos. The plot became convoluted, and the once-promising characters started making choices that were completely out of character and illogical. It felt as though the writers had lost their way, throwing in random twists and turns without any regard for consistency or coherence.

The pacing, which had been steady in the beginning, became jarring and uneven. Key plot points were rushed through, while other scenes dragged on endlessly, leaving viewers both confused and frustrated.

The ending also felt like a slap in the face to anyone who had invested time and emotion into the drama and was so unsatisfying that it left a bitter taste in the mouths of viewers who had been hoping for a rewarding payoff.

In the end, Heartbeat is a perfect example of how a promising start can be utterly squandered by poor execution. The dramatic decline from an intriguing beginning to a messy and disappointing mess makes it a prime example of what happens when a drama loses its direction and fails to deliver on its potential.