Synopsis:
A 40 something year old husband who was no good in business is divorced from the love of his life and kicked out of the family home. Years later a tragic car accident makes his family believe that he has perished. The eldest daughter takes up the baton of being the head of the household and secures a job in a decent company where she works to promote sales on items. When the father surprisingly returns on the anniversary a year after his death all their worlds are shaken up. The eldest daughter will have to learn how to forgive her father of his shortcomings and open her heart to accepting help as well as his love again. The mother will have to learn how to love the new man her ex-husband has become. The youngest of the family will have to find a way to patch his loved ones together and prove his father's innocence over the murder of the previous landlord.
Review:
Hello dear reader, I know, I know I'm putting out a review twice in the same month? It's a surprise hahaha. Thankfully I still have a little time before the rush of school start, but also I have recently had a small shift in careers. Hopefully with this new job I will have more time to put out reviews more regularly.
If you are new here, I rate my dramas on mainly two categories, storytelling, and direction. Under Storytelling, I take into account not just the acting, but the writing, and music as well. It is usually presented as a percentage. Under the category direction, I consider both editing and direction, editing counts for 2 points while direction counts for 3. It'll be out 5. I call them my sticky notes because that tends to be what I write my thoughts on when I'm watching. I've rated Romance in the House 78% on storytelling and a 2/5 on direction.
In all honesty I think this is the lowest I've ever rated a drama on either category. I wanted to like this drama. I promise I gave it a good try and even waited my usual 3 episodes before I decided on the final rating for this. Granted, I know that the drama hasn't finished. However, it is already half way in and I . . . I can't. The idea for this drama was right up my alley and something I was looking forward too but this execution is terrible.
The acting, with most actors, feels like a low budget weekend drama. If I wanted to
see bad acting, I would watch the 100 episode novela like series that Korea pumps out by the dozen. I don't watch them because one of my biggest pet peeves is bad acting. I do not want to see the over the top, exaggerated, 1920's silent film acting in a drama that is supposed to be in a higher pay grade.
I know online there is a lot of discourse over Son Na Eun's bad acting who plays Byeon Mi Rae the eldest daughter. Look, I am far from the person who would defend her. I've seen her in Cinderella and the Four Knights and Ghost Doctor. She was terrible. In fact, I skipped most of her scenes because I could not stand her acting. She, like the master of one face: Cha Eun Woo, need to just stick to being idols and leave acting on the back burner until they can get some training. That being said, I find the acting equally terrible on all fronts.
An old Vaudvillian term that I'd like to bring here is, hamming it up. If you want an example of that, 1920's over-exaggerated acting. Something that is over the top and unnatural. Like when you throw a surprise party for your mom but you tell her before hand and she makes a large gasp and sprit fingers to prove her surprise. That is what the acting is like in this drama, ham-like.
When your least bad main actor is Choi Min Ho, you have a problem. Sorry dear
reader if you are a Min Ho fan, I love the man too. I adore him, and his handsome face. He's doing decently in this drama at the current moment. I will also admit he is getting better on the acting gig, but he still isn't Park Seo Joon. Whom, in this writers humble opinion, is one of the greatest actors in South Korea.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, onto my rant on the directing. The directing in this series . . . are they a novice director? Or are they a veteran that thinks they're still shooting dramas for the early 2000's? The director basically leaves nothing for the audience to imagine. They leave no room for suspicion that creates the all consuming thoughts I like from well done K-Dramas. I can't even blame the bad acting
on the actors, because each actor actually has decent moments that are almost always ruined by the director and their choice of shots. They also force the comedy. Let the scene breath for crying out loud. Let the actors and the writing carry the weight of bringing the comedy, you shouldn't have to push it.
Speaking of breathing, the music. Good heavens, I feel like I am bombarded with the music every 2 minutes. It's too much. Music is a good enforcer and definitely enhances the mood to a scene, but too much is too much. Place the music well. If you don't place it well then it's too crowded and it gets annoying.
Anyway, that is my take on Romance in the House thus far. It is available on Netflix. Give this series a try if you want. I you have, I'd like to hear your opinions and leave a comment below. Goodbye and until next time my dear reader!
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