Something’s Not Right Series Review: Friendzone Terrors
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘I like you’
‘I like you too.’
That’s got to be the easiest way to wrap up a love confession, right? You tell someone you like them, and they say, “Oh, I like you back!” That’s the dream. But not in the Korean series Something’s Not Right, where the protagonist says it to his childhood best friend, who even says it back, but apparently mistakes it for a platonic reaffirmation of being “besties for life”! Who’s to blame?
Directed by Seong Yu Hwan, the Korean series Something’s Not Right stars Choi Min Ho as protagonist Do Ba Woo, a ridiculously cute but insecure university student, who is in unrequited love with his childhood best friend Ji Hyun (Jung Je Hyeon), a dense aspiring musician. Tired of being in the ‘friendzone,’ Do Ba Woo tells Ji Hyun he wants to cut ties. However, when another student, Jung Ha Min (Ji Min Seo), accidentally reads Ba Woo’s personal diary – mistaking it to be an unfinished fictional story about unrequited love – Ha Min eggs Ba Woo on to participate in a webtoon contest with him and finish the tale. So, with some inputs from Ha Min, Ba Woo once again tries to pursue Ji Hyun, this time suggesting they date for a week and see how things go.
How do things go? Frustratingly slow. The frustration is softened by the fact that all the lead actors are incredibly good-looking/handsome/cute, and other synonyms for being a visual treat. But damn, Do Ba Woo is a self-sabotaging freak and is excessively mean to the Labrador-like Ji Hyun, who clearly values Ba Woo’s friendship, follows him everywhere, and makes the viewer feel like either he has zero romantic sensibility or is too innocent to view his relationship with Ba Woo in any other light. Either way, it’s hard not to like Ji Hyun, and actor Ji Min Seo adorably portrays this ‘lost cause’ of a character. So yes, something’s not right with Do Ba Woo, because he is well aware of his friend/crush’s inability to “read the room,” and instead of being more forthright with Ji Hyun, he continues to be cryptic and shifty.
For those readers who might not know this: these characters exist in the same universe as the Korean series Blueming, which was adapted from the webtoon Who Can Define Popularity?. In fact, the live-action series also featured a young guy playing the guitar with the initials D.B.W engraved on it, short for Do Ba Woo, in the climactic episode. But while Blueming had a simpler yet fulfilling romantic plot, things in Something’s Not Right are complicated for no reason. Oh, and the series also includes a minor subplot about Do Ba Woo’s co-worker having a crush on someone, which was completely pointless.
What I did enjoy the most about Something’s Not Right is how there’s some subtle romantic potential between Do Ba Woo and Ha Min (actor Ji Min Seo looks like a heartthrob, btw), and the creators make it difficult to guess where things will go. Actor Choi Min Ho had ample onscreen chemistry with both Jung Je Hyeon and Ji Min Seo, but sometimes, just mere eye contact between Do Ba Woo and Ha Min was butterfly-inducing. Will Ha Min remain in the role of unwitting cupid between the pair, or snatch DBW for himself?
For me, I thought, regardless of who Do Ba Woo ended up with, he’d be the lucky one, because he is such a drama queen! But also – too cute. Yeah, clearly, some of us enjoyed this show a lot more than usual because of the pretty men in it.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch the series on Viki.
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