Bubble Gum

6/10 Is my rating.

I found this drama to be misleadingly heavy and filled with tired tropes althoufh it did have some heart.

As someone who pretty thoroughly researches drums before I watch them, I found I wasI totally misled by *Bubblegum*’s vibe. The title, the bubbly opening with Park Ri-hwan (Lee Dong-wook) and Kim Haeng-ah (Jung Ryeo-won) smiling and jumping in bubbles, and most synopses out there paint this as a warm, fuzzy romance. Nope! This drama is a heavy somber slog that leans hard into Alzheimer’s disease and family drama, overshadowing the love story. The acting is top-notch—Lee Dong-wook and Jung Ryeo-won pour their hearts into their roles, and the writing is solid—but for me it was, on balance, too dramatic, dry, and sad. The Alzheimer’s theme, especially from the midpoint to the end, is a major part of the story, not some quick side plot, so if you or a loved one are dealing with dementia, be warned: it’s intense and might hit too close to home. If you love emotional, heavy dramas, you might vibe with this more than I did, but if you’re expecting the light romance promised by the marketing, you’ll be disappointed.

SPOILERS

The cutesy opening and synopses barely hint at the heavy Alzheimer’s focus, which takes over from the time Sun-young is diagnosed (about halfway through) to the end, making the show feel more like a family tragedy than a romance. I was misled in the beginning thinking, it would be a heart warming friends to lovers romance with a little bit of parental disapproval to overcome. I was not all prepared for it to become a medical drama centered around the mother as a patient.

The breakup between Ri-hwan and Haeng-ah was infuriatingly stupid and dragged on for *episodes*. They try to sell it as Ri-hwan being noble, worried he might inherit Alzheimer’s and not wanting to “burden” Haeng-ah. But this guy was a happy-go-lucky optimist before, and suddenly, after his mom’s diagnosis, he turns cold and ditches Haeng-ah? It’s so out of character! Haeng-ah has almost no family and sees Ri-hwan as her anchor, yet he abandons her when she’s desperate to support him and his aunt (who raised her). It’s selfish and cruel, especially since she wants to be there for his mom’s care. The breakup felt like forced drama, and it made several episodes boring. The show could’ve ended by episode 12 or 14 instead of dragging to 16, diving too deep into Alzheimer’s and slowing everything down.

Park Sun-young (Bae Jong-ok) was my least favorite character. Bae Jong-ok’s acting is heartbreaking, but Sun-young is so selfish. Raising Ri-hwan as a single mom in Korea was tough, sure, but she tried to end her life *twice*—once while pregnant with him and again when he was a kid, traumatizing both Ri-hwan and Haeng-ah for life. Then, she insists Ri-hwan marry into a rich family, pushing Kang Se-young (Park Hee-von) on him and rejecting Haeng-ah, the woman he loves, despite Sun-young herself escaping a wealthy family. The irony is ridiculous! Then, after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis, it’s like she flips overnight from mild symptoms to severe memory loss, suddenly forgetting her obsession with the rich-girl marriage. It felt rushed and unrealistic. Having a family member with Alzheimer’s, I found the portrayal off—Sun-young becomes kinder as her disease worsens, but in my experience, difficult traits often amplify. The show also downplays how Alzheimer’s patients often don’t recognize loved ones because they remember them from years ago, not their current age, making Sun-young briefly forgetting Ri-hwan, episodic and not a part if the disease.

The secondary love interests were awful and leaned into tired K-drama tropes. Ji-hoon (Lee Jong-hyuk), Haeng-ah’s ex, is a selfish jerk who emotionally neglected her, yet *she* apologizes to *him* in the end, which was nonsense. His “I’ve changed” act wasn’t believable—people don’t transform that fast, and he was cruel to Ri-hwan for no reason, despite the girl he professes to love seeing Ri-wan as family. If you really wanted the girl you would be nice to the people important to her. And Kang Se-young (Park Hee-von), the rich girl chasing Ri-hwan, is a spoiled brat who decides she wants him because he’s handsome and nice, ignoring his obvious history with Haeng-ah. She’s rude to Haeng-ah and just unlikable. The show pushes the tired “she likes you, so you should like her” trope with her, but I never felt sorry for her. Yeah her mom was snobby and said cruel things but so did she. Even when she ends up with a nice guy, Han Tae-hee (Ahn Woo-yeon), I wasn’t happy for her because she still seemed mean to him. Also, Ji-hoon was hyped as “super handsome,” but I didn’t see it—he reminded me of Leonard Nimoy in *Star Trek* with those eyebrows and hair, and his awful personality made him even less appealing.

Haeng-ah’s friend, Oh Se-young (Kim Ri-won), was another letdown. She calls herself Haeng-ah’s friend but is weirdly mean to Ri-hwan for no real reason, just saying he’s “not good” for Haeng-ah when Haeng-ahs glowing happiness around Ri-hean says otherwise. I mean she says it is because Haeng-ah would be “shredded” by Sun-young’s cruelty toward her as a romantic interest for Ri-hwan then later in dealing with dementia but she obviously does not know her friend. It felt like another cliché “protective friend” trope done poorly, and she had no redeeming moments for me. Even after Haeng-ah and Ri-hwan are back together and the only “shredding” that happened was when they were apart she doesn’t ever admit she was wrong and congratulate her friend.

One redeeming aspect was the heartwarming found-family vibe. The people at Haeng-ah’s radio station, the restaurant crew, Ri-hwan, and even Sun-young formed a tight-knit unit that felt like a real family. Those moments were genuinely touching and gave the show some warmth amidst all the sadness.

The show also leaned into dated tropes, like Ri-hwan’s endless turtlenecks and trenchcoats—such a 2015 K-drama thing! The ending is bittersweet, with Ri-hwan and Haeng-ah reconciling, which is nice for happy-ending fans, but Sun-young’s worsening Alzheimer’s keeps things heavy. The title, opening, and synopses promise a light romance, but *Bubblegum* is a tearjerker bogged down by grief, tropes, and unnecessary drama.

The side romances in were a mess and mostly unbelievable. The older DJ, Lee Seul (Kim Jung-nan), was so silly and self-congratulating, always acting full of herself and fake, that I found her completely annoying. For the young, normal, nice guy, Noh Tae-hee (Go Bo-gyeol), to fall for her felt so weird—they were such different people, and there was nothing compelling about Lee Seul (Kim Jung-nan) to make me believe he’d overlook the age gap or her over-the-top personality. Then, Haeng-ah’s friend, Oh Se-young (Kim Ri-won), had a crush on the manager, Kwon Ji-hoon (Park Won-sang), but it was never clear why—she just liked him out of nowhere, with no meaningful interactions to show why she’d fall for him. Meanwhile, Ri-hwan’s friend, Dong-il (Lee Seung-joon), and Oh Se-young (Kim Ri-won) had a past relationship that ended mainly due to his alcoholism, though she also thought he cheated. Later, when Ji-hoon (Park Won-sang) rejects Oh Se-young (Kim Ri-won) and leaves to work at another station with Ji-hoon (Lee Jong-hyuk), she drinks with Dong-il (Lee Seung-joon), hinting they might reconnect, which made no sense since she’d already called out his drinking as a dealbreaker.

Lee Dong-wook and Jung Ryeo-won acted their roles well, and the found-family moments are sweet, but the misleading title, bubbly opening, and vague synopses hide how heavy and sad this show is. The Alzheimer’s focus, dragged-out breakup, tired tropes, and unlikable side characters made it a slog. If you love emotional dramas and can handle dementia themes, you might rate it higher than my 6/10. But if those topics hit close to home or you want the light romance it promises, brace yourself or pick something else.

SYNOPSIS

This is a 2015 South Korean drama in the romance, comedy and family genres that has 16 episodes that run about 60 minutes each.

In the bustling worlds of a traditional Eastern medicine hospital and a late-night radio station, childhood friends Park Ri-hwan (Lee Dong-wook) and Kim Haeng-ah (Jung Ryeo-won) are navigating adulthood. Ri-hwan is from a wealthy family and Haeng-ah was "adopted" by Ri-hwan's family and raised as another child in the same household. Both have dealt with unspoken feelings, family pressures, lingering exes, and the quiet ache of loneliness. But, Haeng-ah was clearly told that she was not of status to ever romantically pursue Haeng-ah by his mother both when she lived in the house and again as an adult. But what starts as playful bickering and platonic support evolves into a slow-simmering romance that's as comforting and fleeting as blowing bubbles—sweet, light-hearted, and gone in a pop if you don't savor it. The drama blends heartfelt family dynamics with witty banter. If you haven't heard of it don't be surprised as this underrated gem might capture the joy of rediscovering love in everyday chaos but it lacks the over-the-top angst that plagues other k-dramas but also pulls them into the ring of notice. And in true love triangle fashion there is also Hong Yi-seul (Park Hee-von) a rich heiress who had a blind date with and now has feelings for Ri-hwan, and Haeng-ah's ex-boyfriend Kang Suk-joon (Lee Jong-hyuk) who is also her senior/director of the company she works in, and who wants her back.