When the Camellia Blooms

Been addicted to tv. And am an Aussie who strains the eyes to read the scripts. This one is up there. Well casted , well produced and I wish Aus or USA or UK tv producers had the talent Koreans have

This drama is hard to rate. It was refreshing to see a different slice of Korean life beyond the hustle and bustle of Seoul. The acting is mostly very good. Young-sik is my favourite leading male in a K-drama thus far. He's an absolute chaotic weirdo, in the best possible way. However the three things I struggled with the most were: 1. The pacing - there honestly didn't need to be that many episodes. As a result, the series often felt very uneven. 2. The mystery around the Joker - it's a bit anti-climactic and doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense 3. This can probably be chalked up to cultural differences, but the constant labouring over the fact that Dong-Baek is a single mother and *gasp* sells alcohol. You'd think the woman was engaged in organ harvesting for the black market based on the way some of the peripheral characters carried on. It was both hard to watch and, as a point of tension, was overly relied on. We know she's an outcast, we know everyone's favourite hobby is sl*t-shaming Dong-Baek. Maybe if they'd spent less time driving this point home and more time on the Joker element of the narrative, it would be more satisfying.

In summary despite a lot of potential, it's mostly good but frustratingly doesn't quite knock it out of the park (baseball reference LOL).

I can't emphasize enough how I love and annoyed at Kang Haneul's character. I think he delivered it perfectly and the role suits him well. I also like all the supporting characters especially the landlord and the lawyer. The acting of the child and the mothers are awesome. The location is perfect for the neighborhood ahjummas. However, the story is slow-paced, Hyang mis acting is nah and I sometimes don't like the acting of the female lead or sometimes I like it, hard to tell. I liked it but not that much.

I love it and recommend to all who want to see some simple old school romance

" When the camelia blooms " was a nice blend of slice of life and mystery.

The drama had, first of all, great performances, especially from the three main actors and actress. The characters were pretty interesting too. Another thing that worked for them was the mystery. Although the episode before the last on seemed like it had wrapped up everything, the last one was pretty intense and had a nice, unpredictable twist. The romance, in addition, was good at first, but, honestly, it got a bit boring towards the ending. But the family drama was just right.

So, overall, eight out of ten.