So I recently binge-watched the Taiwanese drama In Time With You last week (there’s a Korean remake called The Time We Were Not In Love starring Ha Ji-Won and Lee Jin-Wook but apparently that one doesn’t even come close to how well-made the original was)

And oh my God guys WOW. This show is the ultimate friends-to-lovers drama – I think it’s the best one I’ve seen so far. It perfectly captures all the nuances of what a friendship between two 30-something best friends who have flourishing careers should look like. They had such a comforting, natural relationship and it was so obvious how much love and respect they had for each other as individuals.

It reminded me A LOT of 9 Ends 2 Outs (if you haven’t watched that ALSO an amazing friends-to-lovers drama) Both dramas deal with similar issues where the female lead is approaching her 30s and fears ending up alone as everyone around her settles down. There’s not much plot, but it doesn’t need one because it’s very slice-of-life and is mainly the female lead’s journey through life (with an amazing best friend by her side)

Also can I just say this show probably had one of the best portrayals of a true, ambitious career woman. She’s known as strong-headed and arrogant, but is also extremely vulnerable and always there for others, and the actress does such an amazing job striking a perfect balance between the two.

Overall, I was blown away. It’s exactly the kind of mature, introspective drama I was looking for, so if you’re in the mood for a super low-key story about a pair of best friends who slowwwwlyyyy fall for each other over the course of 13 1.5 hour episodes, I recommend this gem from the bottom of my heart <3

16
14

    thanks for the recco! i’m a big sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope.

    2
    1

    Always have loved Ariel Lin, and this was no exception 🥰🥰🥰 This was actually her comeback drama after taking a 1+ year hiatus due to health reasons— she was diagnosed with a 2cm cyst in her pituitary gland that she had to surgically remove 😔😔— and was her first drama where she portrayed something different than all her softer roles before… You could say that she was being typecast in the industry, but she caught it, and basically took the reigns of her career and turned things around, and for the best, too 😊😊😊

    4
    1

    One of my favourite dramas of all time! I rewatched half of it last year, and it struck me just how well thought-out the female characters were. Even though Maggie was a clingy second lead, there was sufficient character motivation shown for why she behaved that way. I also loved the strange camaraderie that the three of Henry’s exes (Lala, Youqing, and their other colleague whose name I forgot) developed XD

    5
    1

      I know so many people like Maggie in my actual life – girls who are so focused on the idea of marriage and believe following a set of criteria for a man will guarantee a successful relationship. I loved that weird friendship between the exes too! Wished we had more scenes with them haha

      2
      1

        And yet I can empathise, because her mum had a bad relationship with her dad hence she fixated on working hard pursuing someone with good qualities without realising that sometimes, you need to go with the flow when it comes to relationships too.

        I loved that although Da-ren seems like the perfect guy because he’s so sweet and considerate, those same qualities can backfire on him as well. The characters had such depth and realism!

        0
        0

    Thank you, off to watch!

    1
    1

    Where did you watch it?

    1
    1

      I watched it on one of the websites dramabeans won’t allow me to type lmaoo. Viki has it apparently but it wasn’t available in my region (I live in Canada)

      0
      0

    One of my favourite dramas of all time. I think I started liking friends-turned-lovers trope due to this drama. I’m thinking it deserves a rewatch now that I’m older, and I might be able to understand the characters more.

    1
    0