When the Camellia Blooms
When the Camellia Blooms (Netflix) [TV-14]
Content Warning: Language, Violence, Innuendo, Kissing
My Rating: B+
Character Glossary:
Oh Dong-baek: Main Girl: Single Mother, owns a bar
Hwang Yong-sik: Main Guy: Police Officer
Kang Jong-ryul: Main Girl's ex-boyfriend and famous baseball player
Choi Hyang-mi: Works at the main girls bar
{I will note that there are a lot of other "main" characters in this show. I will discuss them throughout the "Main plot" and other character sections. I just don't have as much to say about them.}
When the Camellia Blooms is about the struggles of a single mother as she faces the judgements of her neighbors, her own insecurities, and the threat of a serial killer.
I really enjoyed this show. I thought it had a lot of depth and I love how it developed. The romance and the thriller aspects were great. I will not that the show itself was a little slow but it was faster right at the end.
SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
OVERALL PLOT: This was a more slow building show. The plot took a while to get started and really flesh out what was going to be the main conflict of the story. Of course the romance was a big part but the thriller aspect was as well. However, I think that the biggest message of this show was about mothers. Dongbaek is a single mother doing everything she can to make sure her kid is raised happy and well. We meet Dongbaek's mother who gave her up in the hopes of making more money to provide a better life for her. Yong-sik's mom does everything she can to protect her son from harm. There are countless other examples in the show but those are the main ones. This show brought me to tears with that message. (I love you mom!) The part that legitimately made me cry was towards the ending where Dongbaek's mom is in critical condition and they need to get her to the hospital to do the kidney transplant. Everyone--all the secondary characters and main characters--work together to make sure her mom gets to the hospital and is saved. I legit cried. It was so inspiring and so heartbreaking after everything we went through to get there. I could go on forever about this but moving on to the thriller plot. It didn't develop much in the beginning but as it reached towards the middle/end I was on the edge of my seat. I was back and forth trying to figure out who was doing it. One moment I was sure it was the father but then the son would act weird. It threw me back and forth--love the whiplash. But that was one of my favorite parts of the show and well worth the lengthy buildup. For the most part I enjoyed the secondary side stories but at times I was really tempted to skip them. Hyang-mi blackmailing people because she needs money and ruining other peoples lives was not my favorite. Or the struggling marriage with that couple which was okay towards the end but sometimes I didn't see the connection to the main plot. Overall this story has many layers that it takes A LOT of time to discover. If you want a slow moving but excellent show I recommend this one. If you are looking for something more fast paced I suggest looking elsewhere.
MAIN ROMANCE: This was really cute because it had the typical gender roles switched. The guy was the super eager one and the girl was the more closed off leave me alone type. It made it a pretty unique story because both of the main characters grew through this relationship. Dongbaek learned that she is a strong person who deserves to love and be loved. Nothing helped her grow into herself more than him. Which was one of my favorite parts of the show because that girl needed to be loved. Because of their relationship I felt like Yong-sik really matured a lot. He really grew as a character through loving and supporting her. Their relationship was cute but it was not your typical "teen" relationship. And I loved that. They had a mature, adult relationship and treated it as such. I really wish that we could have seen more about Yong-sik building a relationship with her kid though because I felt like it would have enhanced the show and their relationship.
OH DONG-BAEK: She was such a unique main character. She has had a difficult life that only seems to get more difficult with every passing episode. She was insecure and let people walk all over her. One of the most satisfying parts of this show was her growing into herself and getting out of that victim mentality. When a continual stream of bad things keep happening it is too easy to think "the world is against me. No matter how hard I try I continue to fail, so what is the point of trying anymore?" I find myself thinking this all too often so I related with her so much in this area. (I'm not a single mother or have even gone through anything close to what she did but the main idea is relatable.) And who can blame her for feeling this way? She was trying to hard to be kind to people but they were just awful to her because of her situation in life. However, the most empowering thing is when she began to own her life. Yeah life sucks but you are strong enough to face it. It is too easy to fall into the trap of thinking everything is against you--like Dongbaek did countless times throughout the show. If you feel like that, Dongbaek is a brilliant role model for helping inspire you to get out of that mindset. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the show because she never changed who she was to please other people. She just owned her choices and her situation in life.
HWANG YONG-SIK: He was absolutely hilarious. I really like seeing the actor in this kind of role because the only other role I have seen him in was in Scarlet Heart and I was NOT a fan. (But you'll have to read my review for that to see my reasoning.) My favorite scene with him ever (besides his forever supporting Dongbaek which I will talk about in a minute) is when he confesses to Dongbaek and she is like "you are not my type at all. I am into guys like Gong Yoo" (Gong Yoo plays Kim Shin in Guardian) and the Guardian theme starts to play and Yong-sik is having this dramatic inner monologue about how he can never compare to a goblin. (But who can?) Everytime I think about it I start laughing. But the funny stuff aside he is one of the best people because he believes in Dongbaek and does not look down on her lifestyle. He is just an amazingly good person and I loved the fact that he was not your typical kdrama male lead.
KANG JONG-RYUL: I absolutely despised him. I hate him with every part of me. The thing is I get that he wants to have a relationship with his son (who he had no idea existed) but he was manipulatively trying to buy off his son with expensive gifts, tear his son away from Dongbaek, and control every aspect of their lives. And he was ALWAYS looking down on how Dongbaek lived which heavily contributed to her long lasting insecurity and low self esteem. He thought he was so high above her because of his status in life and it was that arrogance that lead to my deep seeded loathing for the man. I understood his position in the beginning but after I saw the way he was going about getting what he wanted I was sick. So I'm sorry if you really liked him but I felt like his character was cheap, rude, and manipulative.
CHOI HYANG-MI: She was an incredibly complicated character for me. I liked her in the beginning but when she started her whole blackmailing this I was not a fan. But when we got to learn why she did things I started to like her again. She lived a legitimately hard life and she deserved more than to be murdered and her body so carelessly thrown into a lake. I really wish she hadn't been killed because it seemed like her character was going to make some serious changes and I was pretty excited about that. But instead I am left with a gaping hole of what could have been.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
"What's weird is that I smile a lot these days. It's not the situation that matters. I guess it's whom you're surrounded with."
SHIP VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNs2JamZYg&t=221s
Content Warning: Language, Violence, Innuendo, Kissing
My Rating: B+
Character Glossary:
Oh Dong-baek: Main Girl: Single Mother, owns a bar
Kang Jong-ryul: Main Girl's ex-boyfriend and famous baseball player
Choi Hyang-mi: Works at the main girls bar
{I will note that there are a lot of other "main" characters in this show. I will discuss them throughout the "Main plot" and other character sections. I just don't have as much to say about them.}
When the Camellia Blooms is about the struggles of a single mother as she faces the judgements of her neighbors, her own insecurities, and the threat of a serial killer.
I really enjoyed this show. I thought it had a lot of depth and I love how it developed. The romance and the thriller aspects were great. I will not that the show itself was a little slow but it was faster right at the end.
SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
OVERALL PLOT: This was a more slow building show. The plot took a while to get started and really flesh out what was going to be the main conflict of the story. Of course the romance was a big part but the thriller aspect was as well. However, I think that the biggest message of this show was about mothers. Dongbaek is a single mother doing everything she can to make sure her kid is raised happy and well. We meet Dongbaek's mother who gave her up in the hopes of making more money to provide a better life for her. Yong-sik's mom does everything she can to protect her son from harm. There are countless other examples in the show but those are the main ones. This show brought me to tears with that message. (I love you mom!) The part that legitimately made me cry was towards the ending where Dongbaek's mom is in critical condition and they need to get her to the hospital to do the kidney transplant. Everyone--all the secondary characters and main characters--work together to make sure her mom gets to the hospital and is saved. I legit cried. It was so inspiring and so heartbreaking after everything we went through to get there. I could go on forever about this but moving on to the thriller plot. It didn't develop much in the beginning but as it reached towards the middle/end I was on the edge of my seat. I was back and forth trying to figure out who was doing it. One moment I was sure it was the father but then the son would act weird. It threw me back and forth--love the whiplash. But that was one of my favorite parts of the show and well worth the lengthy buildup. For the most part I enjoyed the secondary side stories but at times I was really tempted to skip them. Hyang-mi blackmailing people because she needs money and ruining other peoples lives was not my favorite. Or the struggling marriage with that couple which was okay towards the end but sometimes I didn't see the connection to the main plot. Overall this story has many layers that it takes A LOT of time to discover. If you want a slow moving but excellent show I recommend this one. If you are looking for something more fast paced I suggest looking elsewhere.
MAIN ROMANCE: This was really cute because it had the typical gender roles switched. The guy was the super eager one and the girl was the more closed off leave me alone type. It made it a pretty unique story because both of the main characters grew through this relationship. Dongbaek learned that she is a strong person who deserves to love and be loved. Nothing helped her grow into herself more than him. Which was one of my favorite parts of the show because that girl needed to be loved. Because of their relationship I felt like Yong-sik really matured a lot. He really grew as a character through loving and supporting her. Their relationship was cute but it was not your typical "teen" relationship. And I loved that. They had a mature, adult relationship and treated it as such. I really wish that we could have seen more about Yong-sik building a relationship with her kid though because I felt like it would have enhanced the show and their relationship.
OH DONG-BAEK: She was such a unique main character. She has had a difficult life that only seems to get more difficult with every passing episode. She was insecure and let people walk all over her. One of the most satisfying parts of this show was her growing into herself and getting out of that victim mentality. When a continual stream of bad things keep happening it is too easy to think "the world is against me. No matter how hard I try I continue to fail, so what is the point of trying anymore?" I find myself thinking this all too often so I related with her so much in this area. (I'm not a single mother or have even gone through anything close to what she did but the main idea is relatable.) And who can blame her for feeling this way? She was trying to hard to be kind to people but they were just awful to her because of her situation in life. However, the most empowering thing is when she began to own her life. Yeah life sucks but you are strong enough to face it. It is too easy to fall into the trap of thinking everything is against you--like Dongbaek did countless times throughout the show. If you feel like that, Dongbaek is a brilliant role model for helping inspire you to get out of that mindset. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the show because she never changed who she was to please other people. She just owned her choices and her situation in life.
HWANG YONG-SIK: He was absolutely hilarious. I really like seeing the actor in this kind of role because the only other role I have seen him in was in Scarlet Heart and I was NOT a fan. (But you'll have to read my review for that to see my reasoning.) My favorite scene with him ever (besides his forever supporting Dongbaek which I will talk about in a minute) is when he confesses to Dongbaek and she is like "you are not my type at all. I am into guys like Gong Yoo" (Gong Yoo plays Kim Shin in Guardian) and the Guardian theme starts to play and Yong-sik is having this dramatic inner monologue about how he can never compare to a goblin. (But who can?) Everytime I think about it I start laughing. But the funny stuff aside he is one of the best people because he believes in Dongbaek and does not look down on her lifestyle. He is just an amazingly good person and I loved the fact that he was not your typical kdrama male lead.
KANG JONG-RYUL: I absolutely despised him. I hate him with every part of me. The thing is I get that he wants to have a relationship with his son (who he had no idea existed) but he was manipulatively trying to buy off his son with expensive gifts, tear his son away from Dongbaek, and control every aspect of their lives. And he was ALWAYS looking down on how Dongbaek lived which heavily contributed to her long lasting insecurity and low self esteem. He thought he was so high above her because of his status in life and it was that arrogance that lead to my deep seeded loathing for the man. I understood his position in the beginning but after I saw the way he was going about getting what he wanted I was sick. So I'm sorry if you really liked him but I felt like his character was cheap, rude, and manipulative.
CHOI HYANG-MI: She was an incredibly complicated character for me. I liked her in the beginning but when she started her whole blackmailing this I was not a fan. But when we got to learn why she did things I started to like her again. She lived a legitimately hard life and she deserved more than to be murdered and her body so carelessly thrown into a lake. I really wish she hadn't been killed because it seemed like her character was going to make some serious changes and I was pretty excited about that. But instead I am left with a gaping hole of what could have been.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
"What's weird is that I smile a lot these days. It's not the situation that matters. I guess it's whom you're surrounded with."
SHIP VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNs2JamZYg&t=221s
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