Lazy Unnie’s Couch: To All The Men Who Loved Me

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I love a good childhood meet-cute scenario as much as the next person. The writers do their job and really sway my heart when it comes to them. However, this show takes that idea to a whole new level. Instead of just a childhood meet-cute, we have a past life meet-cute? Yeah… sounds strange.

Originally I thought I was coming into a reverse harem storyline but that was quickly chucked out of my mind when I started this drama. After spending the last few weeks watching this show, I can’t really tell where my feelings land. Parts of me liked some aspects while the other part of me rages with sloppy writing and misguided characters. The synopsis makes you think that this will be your classic love triangle trope. But by the end of the first episode, you quickly find out that this is not what it seems and that’s when the frustration starts to set in.

What this show did that incites the rage is they really set this up from the beginning to have no other outcome that it did. We come in Seo Hyun Joo is against marriage and they painted a picture of why very clear. I was okay with that. Then they introduce, who in my opinion was one of the best characters of the show, Park Do Gyeom, as her “little brother” who is also one of the sides of the love triangle that dominated the first half of the show. Again, still okay. But it was when they introduced the male lead, CEO Hwang Ji Woo, is where my frustration came to a head. What I really didn’t like about this was how manipulating he was but it was passed off as being sweet. I mean, sure, this was your spouse in 3 past lives and yeah… the stars may be lined but in this life all you did was make it so she was by your side and no one ever really got mad at the conniving ways he did things. I’m sure that he was supposed to come off as likeable and such but come on, it was a bit annoying. So, thank you but not really for giving us the end game before the game even starts.

Even amongst the rage I felt that my boy Do Gyeom got the real short end of the stick, there were things that were enjoyable about the show. That was basically Seo Hyun Joo’s parents. They provided complete comedic relief from the stupid love story that was brewing. I found myself wishing for just more scenes of them. Also about the supporting characters and their storylines, they just seemed to be really developed but in a way that maybe they deserved their own shows. It almost made it seem like there was just too much going on and a lot to keep track of. You had the mains with their whole past lives mystery and romance, but then you had a whole revenge plot happening. Like, come on, pick a lane.

By the end, I was really confused as to what the moral of this story was. Was it the fact that even through multiple lives we still gravitate towards the same love lines? Or was it a look at how relationships don’t have to conform to the status quo of marriage to strive with commitment? Or is it don’t hold on to the past cause it can cause more damage in the present, or do hold on to the past cause it can help you? Who fucking knows. And that’s what really makes me annoyed at the end of the day.

Honestly, I stuck with this show because I needed to complete something and I’m really liking Seo Ji Hoon as an actor. But here is another instance when I watch a Hwang Jung Eum show and I’m disappointed. I just would like it if she would pick things where she isn’t playing the same kind of character. Instead of this, I could have had a second season of Mystic Pop-Up Bar.