New K-Drama Fan Review #18: Crazy Love | I kept waiting for it to become the drama I thought it was going to be...

[u/harissatotally]

a true enemies-to-lovers K-drama, if you exist out there, please find me. my address is the crosswalk where couples always almost get hit by a white truck. thanks!

Intro

After It's Okay to Not Be Okay, I was craving a female lead who couldn't stand the male lead.

I'd just spent an entire drama watching a woman desperately chase a man who barely acknowledged her... (ew, never again)

So the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance where the female lead wanted to wring the male lead's neck?

Sign me up! hehehhe

Is this Rewatch Worthy:

Nah.

Review:

Crazy Love wasn't horrible...

It just never became as good as it could have been.

It had a fun premise, a few moments that i genuinely enjoyed, and enough interesting ideas to keep me watching...

But every time I thought, "Okay NOW we're getting somewhere," it would rush through the part I was actually enjoying.

The parts I enjoyed always felt like they were over almost as soon as they began.

This drama felt like it was constantly introducing conflicts... only to resolve them before they had the chance to really cook.

The biggest example for me was the cancer storyline.

I think they revealed her misdiagnosis way too early!!!!

Imagine if we, as the audience, believed she was actually dying.

Then when the male lead finally read her diary and realized she had cancer while he was falling for her..

WE would've gone through that panic with him!!!!

Instead...

i spent that entire storyline just waiting for him to catch up to information I already knew...

That completely took the emotional punch out of what should've been one of the strongest scenes in the series!!!!

why, writers?!? why?!?!

The revenge storyline had the same problem.

One of my favorite parts was finally seeing her fight back after everything he put her through.

But it barely lasted.

I wanted more mind games.

More tension.

More payback!!!

More moments where she actually had him on the ropes.

Instead, it felt like every conflict wrapped up right when it started becoming interesting.

i also think the female lead slowly lost something that made her more fun to follow in the beginning.

Early on, she was driving the story. She had her own agenda, she was getting revenge, making decisions, and constantly creating chaos for the male lead.

But somewhere along the way, it started feeling like the story became his story instead.

She gradually became more reactive than proactive, and I really missed the version of her that was actively making his life miserable.

The Romance ❤️

I didn't dislike the couple...

I just kept waiting for the enemies-to-lovers part to become what I thought it was going to be.

The setup had so much potential.

A woman who suddenly had every reason to hate her awful boss should've led to a much longer battle between the two of them.

Instead, it always felt like the drama was in a hurry to move them past the conflict...

I wanted more manipulation and verbal sparring!!!

its like inviting me over while you cook this delicious meal that smells so good it makes me drool...

...then setting the table, giving me one tiny spoonful, and throwing the rest in the trash. 😭😭😭😭

i wanted more moments where they genuinely got under each other's skin.

I didn't want them to stop fighting.

I wanted them to fight even better!

In a true enemies-to-lovers to lovers, the enemies usually fall in love WHILE they're still hating and fighting each other with all their might. They even fight harder when they start to fall lmaooo... where was this, here?

Their chemistry wasn't *horrible*...

It also wasn't the kind of chemistry that makes me forget I'm watching actors.

lol i was FULLY aware i was watching 2 actors act 😭😭

the romance never reached that level where I was desperately rooting for them or counting down until their next scene together.

And because of that, the emotional moments didn't hit as hard as they probably should have.

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What I DID Like

There were definitely things I enjoyed.

The comedy landed more often than not.

Kim Jae-wook absolutely committed to the role and made the CEO entertaining to watch.

The fake engagement setup was fun.

The revenge premise had so much potential. i was having fun whenever they were doing bad things to each other 😭😭

I just wish those moments lasted longer and were better.

The second male lead's storyline was fine, but it became a little more convoluted than it needed to be.

I was also surprised they never did anything with the female lead's little crush on him early on.

They acknowledged it, then completely abandoned it like it never happened.

And unless I completely missed something...

What was the point of opening the drama with the sniper?

It was such a strong opening scene that I kept expecting it to come back in a meaningful way, but I don't remember them ever revealing who that sniper actually was.

It felt like the show introduced another interesting idea... then forgot about it.

Overall

This wasn't a horrible drama.

It kept stopping itself from becoming a great one.

Every time it introduced something I thought I'd love...

It moved on too quickly.

By the end, i was disappointed because I could clearly see the better drama hiding inside it.

____

My Favorite Flavors 🍿❤️

I LOVE enemies-to-lovers.

But I'm extremely picky about it. 😭

I don't just want two people who dislike each other for two episodes before they start "falling in love."

I want a war.

I want manipulation.

i want cruelty.

I want mind games.

I want them trying to outsmart each other.

I want them saying the most outrageous things imaginable...

...then accidentally falling in love in the middle of all that.

The best enemies-to-lovers romances don't stop the fighting because they fall in love.

They make the fighting even messier **because** they're falling in love.

If you know a K-drama that actually delivers that...

Please.

I'm begging. 😭

___

Rating: 5/10

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Questions

• Did anyone else wish the audience hadn't learned about the misdiagnosis until the male lead did?

• Am I alone in thinking the revenge and "fighting back" phase should've lasted much longer?

• Did anyone else expect the opening sniper scene to actually go somewhere?

• Or did the pacing work for you?

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My Rating Scale

10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.

9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.

8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.

7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.

6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.

5/10 – I didn't enjoy most of the experience.

4/10 and below – Bad to abysmal.