A rich lonely man helps a poor damsel in distress and eventually falls in love with her. Sheesh! I actually narrated the story of My Lovely Girl in one line. Love stories are mostly predictable. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they overcome difficult circumstances and live happily ever after. Despite the predictability of romantic shows, romance lovers never give up on their favorite genre. Why? That’s because every romantic story has some freshness to it. Every story has its special moments that make it worth cherishing. Sadly, My Lovely Girl is a predictable story with hardly any moments worth remembering.

 

My Lovely Girl (2014)

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Korean love drama, My Lovable Girl (also translated as She’s So Lovable and My Lovable Girl) is a 16 episode long television series about a music composer named Lee Hyun Wook (played by Rain), who’s on a sabbatical as he is left devastated after the death of his girlfriend. He happens to meet his girlfriend’s younger sister Yoon Se Na (Krystal Jung) who has come to the city in the hopes of becoming a music producer but is struggling to make ends meet and is under heavy debt. Hyun Wook decides to help Yoon Se Na by giving her a job at his father’s music company. However, she is not aware of his past relationship with his sister and accepts his help thinking that he is in love with her. Now working for the same company Hyun Wook and Se Na meet every day and gradually grow closer to each other.

Let’s weigh My Lovely Girl on the show beam balance and see if it is ‘lovely’ to watch or no.

Good Weights

Lead Actor’s Performance: Military service is mandatory for all Korean men. This rule is no exception to popular actors and singers. My Lovely Girl was Rain’s comeback show after serving 21 months of compulsory military service. And let me tell you his time in the military has worked wonders for his face and body. I last saw him in Full House and compared to that he looks much manlier in this show. His jawline is so sharp and prominent that you will want to slice a fruit with it.

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Thank God that Rain not only looks good but also acts well. He was the only reason for me to keep watching this draggy drama. He has actually carried the show solely on his shoulders. The show was tad slow but because of Rain, I managed to complete it.

 

Magical Moments: The show initially showed a lot of promise before gradually nose-diving to the end. The initial few episodes had many tender moments where the lead pair managed to spark some chemistry. The build-up was good and interesting. Hyun Wook and Se Na’s initial friction was cute. Since the story involves an older man falling for a girl more than a decade younger than him, there are a lot of scenes where Hyun Wook acts too protective of Se Na which is adorable. It is funny to see him nervous each time she comes too close to him. This drama is bearable because of these sweet moments than the whole story.

Bad Weights

Story and Script: The story is highly inconsistent and the script seemed haphazard. Character’s actions were left unexplained and unjustified. At times, I couldn’t understand why people were being the way they were. The show hardly offered any explanation for it. Some characters would appear and then leave without a trace (for instance Se Na’s sister’s ghost helped Hyun Wook rescue Se Na and then the ghost never appeared again). Most characters lacked evident motivation and were acting on a whim.

Lead Actress: Though Krystal had a minor stint in the show The Heirs she stole the show with her cutesy act as Lee Bo Na. The makers of My Lovely Girl must have hoped to use that innocent charm in this show but sadly Krystal trampled over their expectations. The age gap between Rain and Krystal was perfect to show an older man falling for a young girl. But Krystal’s lack of expressions and terrible acting pulled the drama down. Maybe because of the age gap they couldn’t show a lot of lovey-dovey scenes but whatever little we got to see was ruined by Krystal’s bad acting. Even the one kiss in episode 8 was totally meh. Seeing her reaction, I thought that maybe she didn’t realise that he just kissed her. Wish she was more expressive for me to have enjoyed the drama.     

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The show beam balance has only one good weight, that is lead actor, Rain. So if you have seen Rain in any of his shows before or if you are a fan of Rain you would not mind watching My Lovable Girl because he is there in almost every scene and he does not disappoint acting-wise. Other than that there is no good reason to spend 16 hours of your life on this drama.

I give the show 2 out of 5 rating. The show is too bland compared to the other romance rich K-Dramas. This show is only for those who enjoy subtle romances and for those who are fans of actor and singer Rain. Krystle fans please skip this one. For the rest, give it a miss, invest your time in some other drama. 

 

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