Drama drop: ‘Lucky Days’

Nov 7, 2011 by zerohundred    1 Comment    Posted under: drama, opinion, review, Taiwan

I have developed a habit of dropping dramas midway through. I recently finished City Hunter (review coming soon!) and it was actually the first drama in many months (maybe even a year or so) that I have been able to get through completely. The reasons I drop dramas vary, but I sometimes wonder if it would have helped if someone told me sooner that it might not be worth it. It can be hard to find reviews, and people rarely write reviews for things they don’t complete.

SO, my solution to this problem is to start writing about the dramas I don’t want to watch anymore. Feel free to tell me to that I just need to push through a little longer, or that the end is worth it. If you liked it, I want to know why! I’m willing to go back to most of the dramas I drop.

Today, the Taiwanese drama Lucky Days is my topic. I started this drama a few days ago because the premise seemed really interesting and the promotional picture seemed really attractive. The plot is this: After a pleasant courtship, a couple gets married because it will solve financial issues. Less than a year later their marriage is falling apart so they decide to divorce. Just minutes prior to their divorce, the guy gets a mysterious opportunity to look back on their married life and “control+Z” (the keyboard command for “undo”) the bad moments in order to change/improve them.

Here’s the problem. The first episode is basically terrible. It’s just done so MESSILY. I had no clue what was going on for most of it, and there were especially some random daydreams (which were hardly classified as such and not given much explanation before or after their occurrence) that confused the heck out of me. Each of the characters seems cute and likable enough, but they whine to death. The female lead acts like a martyr and the guy is like a child. They gave me hope with some really adorable (and again, unexplained) flashbacks to moments of their happy coupled past that seemed like they could be drama gold.

The first episode (and the episodes are over an hour long, by the way, with 20 episodes total) was rough, but I didn’t want to give up because they were just getting going by the end. How that was even allowed baffles me. They gave us the most confusing and muddled back story EVER and only just started getting to the interesting part at like an hour and fifteen minutes in. THAT’S OVER HALF A FULL LENGTH FILM!

The second episode definitely showed more promise. You get the idea that the characters are going to improve exponentially over time and become really great people, and even that you will get lots of cute moments. Lessons will be learned and everything will be great. AND the opening is ahmaaaaaazing and it makes me want to believe in this drama forever and ever (seriously, watching it again to get screen caps for this post made me tempted to keep watching).

THE PROBLEM: It’s not enough. If the second episode says anything of how the rest of the series will go, it’s going to be really episodic and tiring. There will be bits of good things that you can hold on to and enjoy, but… I can’t do it. I need more. I’ve already watched enough dramas like that, and at this point in my life I can’t waste any time. I watch TV and dramas to unwind and I only feel stressed when I think about watching this. I don’t need good quality everything, per se, but I do want good quality SOMETHING. Writing is a biggie. Acting is definitely high priority. Now this drama makes me realize I need to add good directing/editing to that list. There are the bones for something good here, but that’s it.

I have a feeling a few years ago I would have watched this all the way through and liked it. I probably would have rated it 3/5 or something, but it would have been nice. Not anymore. I am almost 24 (puke and barf about this being true lol). I am learning that I need to allocate my time well and I can’t mess around with things that aren’t worth it.

So that is my explanation for why I am dropping Lucky Days. It has promise, but it can’t sustain me. SIGH! I am now going to look for another drama that can quench my growing thirst for quality. I’m really curious to hear from anyone who got farther with this drama than I did, especially if you finished it. What did you think? Am I way off base here?