Episodes 1-10 (Series Review) » Dramabeans MGG

Love to Hate You: Episodes 1-10 (Series Review)

by DaebakGrits

A new battle-of-the-sexes drama has just dropped, and while it boasts all the K-drama tropes we know and love, they’re packaged in a slightly more mature box. Love and silliness are still at the forefront of this rom-com, but it also addresses sexism and misogyny from the lens of a woman who has made it her mission to stomp on the patriarchy in whatever small way she can.

 
SERIES REVIEW

If I’m sporting panda eyes today it’s because I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning binging Netflix’s latest rom-com offering Love to Hate You. I was unexpectedly hooked after the first episode, and I think that was partly due to the slower pacing and introduction to our main characters. Like, seriously, what romance drama waits until the second episode for our couple to have a proper meet-cute?

But it was this very subversion of the genre that compelled me to watch the next episode. I just had to see what kind of fireworks would be set off when the worlds — and diametrically opposing viewpoints — of YEO MI-RAN (Kim Ok-bin) and NAM GANG-HO (Yoo Teo) officially collided. And from that point on, our story did well to keep me anticipating all the relationship milestones we typically see in romantic comedies.

Not to mention, Mi-ran is an absolute BAMF who immediately captured my attention with her Strong Woman Do Bong-soon-like introduction. She’s a champion of love and justice, throwing punches — and shade — at anyone who exhibits deplorable behavior. She’s particularly passionate about dismantling gender stereotypes and calling attention to internalized societal misogyny that is prevalent in dating, work, and even family life.

Of all the examples the drama used to drive home the point that sexism is a daily occurrence for most women, I was particularly interested in how the story called out her father as being a perpetrator. On the surface, he seems like our stereotypical grumpy K-drama appa who doesn’t understand his progressive and independent daughter. But, in reality, he’s very locked into gender roles and often directs his anger and frustration with Mi-ran at a weaker opponent: Mi-ran’s mother.

Sadly, this particular aspect of Mi-ran’s family life, which would have profoundly shaped her present-day ethics and distaste for men, doesn’t get the proper respect and attention it deserves. There was definitely room to flesh out her family’s side story a bit more, but instead of using a small number of higher quality and nuanced examples to drive home the point, the drama focuses more on emphasizing the frequency of such encounters. Unfortunately, because most of the “everyday” examples are of drunk men crossing boundaries, it unintentionally undercuts the reality that sober men can sexually harass and have misogynistic opinions against women, too.

As much as I admire Mi-ran’s philosophies and the way she calls people out when they’re being sexist, she is very eager to pick a fight — even when the law isn’t on her side or she doesn’t entirely understand the context of a situation. Cue: a bad — but not wholly inaccurate — first impression of Gang-ho, an actor who doesn’t buy into the rom-com cheesiness, despite being constantly typecast to fill romantic leading roles.

Gang-ho turns his nose up at the very romantic tropes we all tune in to watch each week, but his jadedness doesn’t stem from his behind-the-scenes perspective, which strips away the magic and romance of post-production editing. Instead, the real source of Gang-ho’s aversion to romance is women — well, two women in particular. The actions of his mother and his ex-girlfriend OH SE-NA (Lee Joo-bin) have led Gang-ho to believe that women only want to perpetuate gender stereotypes (*cough* aegyo *cough*) and marry rich so they can live a life of luxury.

Oh! And Gang-ho also gets panic attacks whenever he gets physically close to women. As you can imagine, this makes romantic scenes particularly difficult to film — to the point he and his manager DO WON-JOON (Kim Ji-hoon) have a habit of acting out the scenes together, preemptively coming up with strategies that hype up the romance without the need for an on-screen kiss. It’s no wonder that he’s looking to move away from romances and to film an action flick!

To be honest, his panic disorder was an eye-roll-inducing plot device used so our leading lady can prove she’s “special” by being the cure for his affliction, which was completely unnecessary for these two characters or the narrative. The story would have done better to ground his aversion to women in a series of experiences that showed how his fame and fortune contributed to a cognitive bias. A sample size of two to three is pretty wimpy, and compared to Mi-ran, who has experienced sexism on the daily, his stats make it hard to sympathize with his over-generalization and hatred for all “adult women.”

About the only thing Mi-ran and Gang-ho have in common is the fact that they’re both extremely prejudiced against the opposite sex. So, as you can imagine, there’s a good bit of buildup until these two inevitably meet and clash. And boy, do they clash!

Thanks to their opposing perspectives — not to mention a series of misunderstandings, lies, and assumptions — these two get off on the wrong foot. Gang-ho assumes Mi-ran is just like all the other social climbing women he’s met, and Mi-ran? Well, she thinks Gang-ho is a pedophile, and she sets out to rescue his underaged girlfriend (who turns out to be his niece) from his evil clutches.

From there, the story progresses like a typical rom-com, and along the way, we’re treated to some classic K-drama tropes. There’s even a scandal that forces our OTP into a contract relationship just as they are starting to acknowledge their attraction to each other!

I particularly enjoyed the story arc where Mi-ran becomes a stunt double for Gang-ho’s co-star Se-na — the aforementioned ex-girlfriend who made him join the He-man Woman Hater’s Club. Although Se-na is around to be the annoying ex who wants to get back together with Gang-ho, she — quite refreshingly — never poses a threat. Gang-ho remains unaffected and sees through her weak attempts to tug at his heartstrings, and Mi-ran is too busy living her best life as a stuntwoman to feel jealous or intimidated.

Instead, our couple’s adorably cute romance is threatened by fans and anti-fans when Mi-ran’s supposed promiscuity makes the news and creates a scandal for Gang-ho, who is fully prepared to quit acting to be with her. Although this pre-ending break-up arc dragged on longer than I would have liked, it served the purpose of highlighting the double standards concerning the number of sexual partners it’s socially acceptable for men and women to have. And, ultimately, it all built up to a satisfactory happy ending.

Once our OTP started falling for each other, I really appreciated how their love was portrayed as being healthy and playful. That scene where they’re wrestling in bed together — and no that’s not a euphemism — brought a huge smile to my face because it was both realistic and squee-inducing. And even though their official meet-cute was delayed until the second episode — which seems like a massive pacing issue for a ten-episode series — this couple had a lot more substance to their relationship than most of their K-drama counterparts.

It’s a pity that I can’t say the same about our secondary romance between Won-joon and Mi-ran’s roommate SHIN NA-EUN (Go Won-hee). Won-joon and Na-eun did well in their roles as our leading couple’s besties, but together they didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Won-joo had better chemistry with Gang-ho in that Episode 1 scene — you know which one I’m talking about — than he did with Na-eun, and I honestly thought for a long time that Won-joon might have a crush on his soon-to-be-divorced noona, CHOI SOO-JIN (Kim Sung-ryung).

As for the comedy in this rom-com, it definitely tickled my funny bone, but I found that I appreciated some of the smaller, subtler moments more than the scenes obviously intended to make us laugh. For example, in Episode 1 Mi-ran discovers that her boss — and only guy friend — is a cheating pig. After he goes outside to argue with his girlfriend, he takes off his glasses by sticking his finger through the frames where the lenses should be — proving everything about him is fake. That small detail had me in stitches for way longer than it should have.

It probably goes without saying (because I’ve already admitted to binging this drama in one night), but I enthusiastically enjoyed Love to Hate You. It wasn’t perfect, and there were certainly points where the pacing was slow and the story could have better explored its more serious themes, but overall this rom-com did well in both the romance and the comedy categories.

 
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