Love to Hate You | Review

An attorney hates her new top star client.
Notable Actors/Actresses

Kim Ok-Vin: Yeo Mi Ran

Yoo Teo: Nam Kang Ho

Kim Ji-Hoon: Do Won Joon

Go Won-Hee: Shin Na Eun

Hangul Title
연애대전

Love Wars

Genres: Contemporary, Romcom,  Contemporary Romcom

Network: Netflix 

Year: 2023
Episodes: 10

Reviewer: FanFanX

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Cast

Kim Ok Bin: Yeo Mi Ran

Yoo Teo: Nam Kang Ho

Go Won Hee: Shin Na Eun

Kim Ji Hoon: Do Won Joon

Romcom/Romance Checklist

How much of the plot is angst/romance?

0.25 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

The ML: 

Cold–Lukewarm–Warm / Timid / Falls in Love First / Noble Idiot / CEO / General /

The FL: 

Bold / Cute / Cool & Independent / Falls in Love First / Better Than ML / Noble Idiot / 

Describe the Relationship (the tropes):

Bickering Start / Childhood Connection / Cohabitation / Contract Marriage or Fake Couple /  Enemies to Lovers (Mild) / Hidden Identity / School to Adulthood / Love Triangle / Married Couple (Real) / Secretly in Love (F/ML) / Star-Crossed Lovers / 

Relationship Progress (officially together; first (official) kiss; breakup*):

Ep 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10* 

# of CPs (including main CP):
0 / 1 / 2 / 3

Ending:

Happy / Sad / Open Happy / Open Sad / Bad

Other Remarks

[First Impression (Ep1-)] Finished this the day it came out. I haven't been able to digest many kdramas due to other obligations but they dropped all ten eps in one day so... I caved! Totally digging the more mature-looking leads, and I've never seen the four leads in anything else before. Mi Ran is currently my favorite badass FL. Yoo Teo isn't a flower boy by any means and I'm enjoying him very much. (He's also trilingual in real life. More rawr for me.)  ^_^ 

[Behind the Scenes] Fights and more... At 12:30 mark, rehearsing the car wake-up scene. xD! I knew it, she was laughing during it! 

[OST] 

Sweet Dream | Mi Yeon, Yu Qi

Lovey Dovey | TAEIL  

[Ending] Happy.

[Review & Rating]

The leads are fun and on the mature side - more mature-looking. However, they're not childish acting but the initial bickering is pretty fun. Yeo Mi Ran is not the typical damsel-in-distress type and definitely doesn't need saving of any kind. She’s perfectly capable of holding her own and then some. Mi Ran is kind and intelligent but not a doormat - she’s quite blunt. She doesn't like our ML, Nam Kang Ho, best actor of the year, because she thinks he's a chauvinistic jerk due to a couple of misunderstandings. Initially, to her chagrin, she becomes the attorney who handles his work affairs. But there’s a silver lining: Plan her revenge inside the beast now. Kang Ho, to his credit, is actually not a total jerk. He just has issues in relation to women. There is a mild love triangle with the return of Kang Ho’s ex, a fellow actress. Do Won Joon, Kang Ho’s bestie (and actual handler) is hilarious and there’s truly a brotherhood here. He’s also our master manipulator cupid of sorts. Making it an even foursome is Mi Ran’s bestie, Shin Na Eun who knows her best friend through and through. She is also unlucky in love though. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover: Choi Soo Jin was a surprise for me, as I thought her character would be exactly one way, due to her looks and attitude. I ended up looking forward to her scenes - even amidst the histrionics.

Caveat: Disclosing here so if anyone finds either to be contrived, then you can move on. Both leads have a skewed view on the opposite sex due to past experiences… FL isn’t interested in romance because she’s never had it, and ML isn’t comfortable around women due to the two who influenced his life.

Overall, this is an easy binge with the ease of the female leads and the male leads’ respective friendships. Definitely a bickering start for the main duo but it doesn’t overtake the entire series. There is some character development for the leads, mostly for Mi Ran and Kang Ho. Plot? Is there one? It's about relationships. The annoying characters do exist, and karma is the cure. 

Bottomline: Be yourself and the rest will fall into place eventually.

Yoo Teo is new to me but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more from him. ;) The rating is a tiny bit higher because of him. Totally tipped in his favor. Tell me if I’m wrong… I am not budging though.  

Random Recommendation: Kiss Sixth Sense

Rating: 3/5♥♥♥

For a period of time, Mi Ran ends her relationship with Kang Ho. Luckily, it doesn't last. (Noble idiocy.) Otherwise, I would've definitely downrated this series to a solid 2.