*Contains Major Spoilers*
I honestly didn’t think I would angry blog, especially this early in the game, but here I am. This show made me do it. I wish the show would take full responsibility for it. Okay, so it’s not as bad as I made it sound here, but I’m not lying when I say Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol pissed me off. It is 16 hours of my life I will never get back. Wish I could be compensated for that. Need to talk to the manager!
Let me begin by saying that I was pretty excited to watch this show. I have a soft spot for musicals and music themed shows and movies. It has a beautiful cast and the trailer seemed cute and quirky. It also showed Lee Jae-wook, who plays the male lead Sun Woo-joon, in a swoon worthy role. It was a complete antithesis of his mean role in Extraordinary You. So I was down with my popcorn bowl to give this a go.
Goo Ra-ra (played by Go ara) is your average protagonist who loses her father, all of her money and gets left at the altar all on the same day. Talk about Murphy’s law on steroids. Not knowing what to do, this riches-to-rags yet perky pianist moves to a random, far off city because some random dude who stalks her online profile on Instagram told her to do so. So you know, it makes absolute sense that she does. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? *eye roll*
There she meets a mysterious guy, our Sun Woo-joon. Without any questions, he financially supports her and her expensive passions like starting a piano school in his apartment, taking care of her dog, and building an entire bedroom from scratch in the same apartment only for her to not actually live there.
Sounds like such a romantic plot for the girl to hit rock bottom only to stand back up and move on with a nice guy by her side. Ah, a delightful soul food. I would honestly have been fine if the plot was mainly just about her struggle to get back up.
But nooooo! Let us spice things up a bit, shall we? Add a heaping cup of a high school guy who lies about his age and does multiple side jobs, a splash of crazy stalker, and a surgeon feeling the burn-out in life as per taste. Sprinkle a bit of some cancer on top for that unexpected kick and you get a unpalatable love triangle and a tasteless resurrection. And I know that the point of these shows is for all the unexpected twists and turns to make you feel things. But all this resulted in a completely inedible toxic scenario that I would not want to touch with a ten-foot spoon. Exaggeration? Maybe. But let me explain why this gave me the old upset stomach.
Let me start with my Personal emotional prejudice:
Both the lead characters Goo Ra-ra and Sun Woo-joon are supposedly 24 years old. Their sweet romance blooms and blossoms, they go through ups and downs and still have each other’s back. But later we find out that Sun Woo-joon is actually a 19 year old high school student who straight up lied about his age to Ra-ra. Sure, he has a crazy elaborate reason he absolutely had to do so for the plot, but you know this is a recipe for disaster to come.
“Lies are more hurtful than anything you can do, because it destroys one’s good faith in the world”
– Cha Eun-Seok (Played by Kim Joo-hun)
I still looked past it somehow in order to go through with the show – whatever it is for the plot. But the age difference scenario was a little uneasy for me. I was once in a relationship with a much younger guy (No, he was not a high schooler, God No!) and it ended up being an absolute train wreck. Therefore, I may have had some PTSD while watching this show making me yell and throw my delicious popcorn at my trusty TV.
Okay okay, I may be exaggerating again. What I mean is, obviously there are issues that rise up when there is a relationship with an age difference. Main issue being that of emotional maturity. I’m not saying I was more emotionally mature, I wasn’t, still am not. But that makes it even worse, because now there are two immature people, both thinking they are too mature for their age, calling it a “serious” relationship with big talks about the future when neither of us knew what we really wanted from life or from the relationship. Both being at very different points in our lives, emotionally and professionally it was probably inevitable that the end would be a disaster. Or at least it was in my case, and the sad thing is, I saw it coming from a mile away and still didn’t avoid it. So this whole show, with the similar personalities, and scenario felt like it was a perfect cocktail for me to get that acid reflux.
Now let’s move on to the plot issues:
Since I was fully aware that I may be annoyed by the show because of personal reasons, I wanted to be unbiased. I wanted to give this show a chance. I wanted to see this through. When it felt like the show was rounding up fine, and it felt like Ra-ra and Woo-joon might finally get their cute happy ever after, I was like, “Okay, you know, it wasn’t a great show, but it’s an average romance drama, I guess.” I would’ve made my peace with it. I wouldn’t have been this mad. But then BAM! Out of nowhere, at almost the very end we find out Woo-joon is diagnosed with leukemia. Why? Wae??? Just for the sake of a twist??
Not only do we find out he is terminally ill, but he doesn’t even tell Ra-ra about it, and they are supposed to be madly in love. Instead he tries to pull off one of the most annoying clichés ever – The whole aspect of “pushing the other person away for their own good”. Frankly I find it to be utter B.S., unnecessary and overplayed as F! What he does is pretend to be in love with someone else so he comes off as the bad guy and she can move on. Oh, wow! What a great guy! Sit the hell down kid! Obviously she later figures it out, is sad about his illness, they make up, cool, you would think, “All right, all’s well that ends well.” Right? But no!!!! There’s more.
HE’s DEAD! 6 feet under. Bit the dust. Counting worms. But, of course that is not the worst part! There’s more.
Flash forward, It’s been 5 years since Woo-joon’s death. Ra-ra is completely focused on the piano school all these years missing him, only to find out he PRETENDED TO BE DEAD all these years! Why, you ask? Good question. He wanted to recover completely before he could be back with her again instead of going through the rough times together, as people in love usually do, so he freaking lies (as usual) about his death thinking it was a selfless act! Ra-ra, all this time, doesn’t get a closure she very much deserves, is devastated, she never got a chance to move on, she stays single, and then he shows up 5 years later to go “surprise, shawty”??? At this point, I am ready to throw my entire popcorn bowl at the show.
But, you know what, that still is not the worst part! On seeing her dead ex in front of her, knowing full well he lied about his death, she runs towards him with absolute no hesitation. She basically goes, “OMG! I’m so glad you lied about dying, rather than actually dying! This is totally fine since I am so in love.” The End!
*Moment of silence for the death of my numerous brain cells*
Well, if nothing else, I did learn something new after this show. My brain absolutely refused to process this ending. A little angry review reading, I found out about something called “Makjang”. Which is basically K-dramas which have over-the-top or exaggerated plot points or endings to keep the viewers hooked, regardless of how ridiculous it feels. And there apparently, is a market for it. Well, I guess some people actually enjoy these shows either as guilty pleasures, (Lord knows I have loads of those, so I get it). Some like it as an escape, or the idea that no matter how ridiculous life might get, things could just work out in the end, or maybe they just like it because they like it; no specific reason. And you know what, as long as it makes you happy, you do you 🙂
Phew…angry blogging this actually made me feel better. I’m ready to move on to my next show. See that Woo-joon?, this is why people need closure, you jerk! Fortunately we live in a wonderful era of television where there’s something for everyone, and I think that is beautiful. So go, stream your heart out. While, I go take my antacids.
Love,
Neeno Noona
Neeno Noodle Bowl 
So agree with your anger here! I am not as angry because I wised up and skipped about six episodes and then watched the last one by fast forwarding just to see how bad the end actually was. I will further admit to finding Go Ara a bit too much Lucille Ball with the rolling eyes and pushed out lips all the time. I assume she is usually a comedienne? And didn’t detect Any chemistry between leads. But the absolute worst sin in this rather silly storyline was the pretend death of the leading man, which is usually only used when a character needs to escape from some really bad guys and fakes his or her death. That was not the case here, it made absolutely no sense ( just like the blood cancer diagnosis….what???). and just ruined all the good feelings you had for Jun. Total reverse for his character to allow his loved ones to grieve for no reason! They rushed through all that so I guess nobody was thinking, why didn’t they have a funeral? Did his mother think he was dead or was she also in on the grim deception? Did nobody ask to see the body? Oh yes, he was in US so guess cremation was necessary…. Hmmm where did that funeral urn go….Lazy writing, pure and simple. The actors surely hated that part. They all worked hard on making this drama, and the writers really let them down in the end. Thank goodness Alchemy of Souls shows how Lee Jae Wook can shine with a good script and creative story.
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This is funny because I’m angry at the show too but because of whole different reasons. I know a few k dramas and they all have unnecessary plot twist at the end. This wasn’t even surprising.
But i cannot believe how a woman who lost everything, is so flippn mean to that boy. She took her money and has the nerve to be annoyed that he treated her with bread which had a discount. Wtf????? She’s annoying as hell. So i find the Revanche of him at the end very satisfying. Lol
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