Cable network jTBC Mon-Tues rom-com Clean With Passion for Now is ending next week on February 4th right on lunar new year and all it’s done is inspire me to clean (good) without an inspiration to keeping watching the drama (bad). I watched up to episode 8 and then just paused due to inertia rather than proactive refusal to continue so those who have held on please share an yay or nay on whether the drama is worth following. I think Kim Yoo Jung was perfect as the female lead but eight episodes is enough to convince me that Yoon Kyun Sang was rightfully pegged as miscast as the male lead. In both his portrayal of the character and chemistry with Kim Yoo Jung, I just didn’t feel it. In terms of their overall careers this drama is harmless enough even has a relative misfire that there isn’t any long term repercussions, so overall I just think a rom-com continues to lie and die by the chemistry of the two leads and age/visuals/size differential/aura are the four elements that cannot over overcome by sheer acting ability alone.
The worst couple I’ve seen in K-drama land. Literally zero chemistry at all.
YKS doesn’t suit rom-coms. He don’t have the heart-fluttering feel.
I have the same opinion. They are just not a good pairing and nothing sizzling….for a rom com to work, the most important is the chemistry of the couple. In this instance, he looks more like her uncle. And you are right, male leads in rom-com needs to give the audience the fluttering feeling but YKS was unable to do that. The plot is already meh, but the pairing makes it even more difficult to overcome when visually, they are not compatible. It would have worked with a good, younger actor, like the original actor it was offered to.
I agree. No amount of good acting can overcome the visual gap between these two. Male lead didn’t do a good job of managing himself.
Everyone agrees that it was a shit drama with shit chemistry. Visuals matter in a romcom and neither of them had the right fit for their roles. They both looked either too young or too old.
oh no!
Honestly the drama was harmless to me, not good, not bad, just a whole lotta meh. I don’t regret watching it but I probably won’t re-watch it. Part of it is because Yoo Jung and Kyun Sang have a friend chemistry and not a passionate chemistry, so the “passionate” scenes or when they have to be lovey dovey felt really forced as in you can tell they are acting. Part of it is because Kyun Sang is starting to look his age while Yoo Jung looks incredibly young. It isn’t helped either by the fact that the story doesn’t have a lot of depth or plot and the writing is pretty mediocre. This is more obvious to me because I was watching Children of Nobody (which is going up there as one of my favorite dramas even though it was dark) and Strange Hero at the same time which has a lot better writing. I do think Yoo Jung had a lot better chemistry with Song Jae Rim which may have been helped by the fact that they have worked together in the past. I think Jae Rim was spot on as Dr. Choi. I hope he gets more main lead roles in the future because he is quite good.
I agree with you. The writing is meh. The dialogues in this drama isn’t powerful enough to make me impressed with the drama. And also, this drama doesn’t build my passion to watch the next episodes. Some other dramas make me want to binge-watching (watch more than 1 episode per day) but this drama… it is even hard to watch one episode of this drama.
It was a yay for me. But mostly because it’s fluffy and gave me good feels during a week full of work. It’s not rocking it out of the park but it was sweet.
I think Kim Yoo Jung and Yoon Kyun Sang did a great job to portray their characters. And I don’t see why the scenes were awkward. They were extremely professional. So there is that.
Personally I’m still not happy about the trend to cast young actresses with much older actors but again KYJ and YKS were professional enough to make it work.
Overall I think if someone wants to enjoy a short drama and isn’t interested in layers when it comes to the plot: check it out.
At first, i was quite bothered because of the obvious age gap. It seemed a bit awkward to look at. But, as i continued watching it, this drama really caught me??. All The actors were very good portraying their characters.
I was very very satisfied with the romantic scenes?? and also with the drama… In fact, this made me cry a lot.. iloveit!!! ????
Good job!!
I forgot to mention that the kissing scenes here were very hot??
(one of the hottest among ive ever seen on kdrama..haha)
At the same time, those cute moments were really very cute!??
It’s really fun to watch..???
I don’t agree about the chenmistry! Their kissing scenes were very natural, cute and hot in the same time. The BTS scenes showed they were very confortable with each other. I’m so happy that AYS didn’t take the role because YKS is really great in the comedy and emotional part. Everybody judged before to watch and it’s sad because they’re great together. I don’t think taht SJR has a better chemistry with KYJ, his character didn’t exist nin the original story and I’m not sure it was usefull for the drama. The age gap doesn’t bother, KYJ looks as an young adult and she’s pretty convincing. I like they don’t have to be careful for the romantic scenes, they feel very natural not like in Radio Romance.
I really like this drama, it’s a good romcom. The actor are really great and it’s funny.
LOL you got to be kidding. Radio Romance is a gazillion times better than this mess with passion.
*the main female lead in radio romance doesn’t violate the main male lead.
*natural romance? Their romance illogically started because she had no dignity and kissed the main male lead.
I was talking about the acting not about the story. I didn’t like Radio Romance, the story was not better at all.
All the time main actor forcely kisses the main actress, nobody talk about violate but in the opposite, it’s a crime? People are so funny.
Natural romance, again I was talking about the acting. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t have no dignity because she kissed the main lead. I found his reaction pretty funny. But their feeling are more than that but to undertand you need to watch all the drama not only some episodes.
Kim Soo Hyun was not ready to play in a role like Radio Romance and you could see they were very careful in the way they filmed the romance scenes and that the main actor did all the work.
Kim Sohyun and Kim Yoojung were of the same age when they filmed both dramas. But KBS and/or Radio Romance team was alot more considerate not letting Kim Sohyun film sexually explicit scenes and exploiting her lol.
Kim So Hyun was far more convincing in her chemistry with Yoon Do Joon without making her look like a porn star by having overly erotic kisses and weird camera angles that sexualized her. Radio Romance had a more meaningful storyline as well but your views are clearly biased.
TY for the clarification.
The main male lead has a phobia, a mental health problem, so for her to disregard that, is a big no no.
So what? That doesn’t justify her action, which is an assault, just because male leads do so in other dramas.
I watched the entire series.
Both Kim so Hyun and Kim Yoo- jung should not be playing in roles that make them way older and have like huge age gaps with male leads because they both are still young.
It’s not about natural acting, its about the sinister side of the entertainment world, taking advantage of young actors.
RR was a natural romance from start to end without throwing in weird scenes. The kiss scenes in RR trended among teens for being heart fluttering and Insitz had an entire article about it. The kiss scenes in this drama trended for looking like sexual assault and just being plain gross.
Your comment is clearly stab a KSH but just be known Radio Romance was far more popular than CWNP even from the start and made it on to the CPI for 3 out of its 8 weeks while CWNP never did. In addition RR articles always trended in the top 5 and if you read nay of the translated netizen comments they were always positive and praised the chemistry. There were no comments talking about miscast from korean netizens unlike CWNMP. You can try and defend it if you want but this drama was doomed from the start and the ratings plus comments form netizens proved it.
@Zany Yes you’re right and good on you for advocating for RR and KSH. No qualms from me in that department.
Agree!
I just watched this drama until ep 2 (not my cup of tea). But wondering what the problem of this drama, the rating just hit 1%.
The ratings were about 3% but they postponed several times because of football matches. It never helps ratings to postpone episodes, the last ratings were 1.9%.
The ratings were always poor and people just watched for lack of anything else but on Pann and all you can see they hated the drama and the chemistry from the start. Mama Fairy which was pulling in low numbers before this premiered started to pull in much higher ratings that means they already lost their audience even before the pre-emptions. It really has been the worst drama since Manhole.
Bad chemistry, bad acting, bad writing you pick. Ahn Hyo Seob saved himself a bullet by stepping down. The boy is smart.
It’s not that he was smart but he was already tied to a different drama.
Correct!
Everyone looks so
Tired at the wrap up party according to the photos :/ too bad their hard work couldn’t save this mess of a drama.
It’s like the writer combed through every cliche kdrama known to existence and picked out the most cliche scene from each cheesy drama and then weave them all together and had the nerve to say that it’s an original product.
It doesn’t really matter if we thought YSK is miscast or not because it’s going to be a poor drama no matter who the main male lead is.
It’s TVN first rating bomb in a long time, even for cable, the ratings in the latter episodes is abysmal.
I’m so disappointed that I wasted my time watching this. Hopefully kyj chooses a drama on par with moonlight next time.
Not tvN. This drama is under JTBC.
You are right. JTBC.
Moonlight’s success was largely because of park bo gum even if suzy did that drama it would still have pulled off the same ratings.
No it wouldn’t have pulled out the same ratings if Suzy was cast in LITM how can you make such a statement? KYJ was pivotal in her role as eunuch Sam Nom and everyone involved acknowledged her left right and centre.
Whatever and stop changing your user name. Be succinct in your delivery of your opinion and not lazy in criticising KYJ fans because that’s a cop out.
I have to disagree.
Kim Yoo Jung was a strong key to moonlight success. Park bo gum was indeed amazing.
I just wished that the writer made her character more useful in the second half of the drama because she was so clever in the beginning.
Its true, in moonlight they deleted many scene of her, and just focus more in PBG’s part
@pleasedude-Editing is pivotal to the dramas storyline ensuring the continuity flows and the narrative is clear so PBG character was highlighted more due to the very cause of him pining for his lost love so yes it makes sense in the 2nd half he would have more screentime. It doesn’t lessen KYJ character at all. Were you bean counting how many times he appeared in the episode because it seems that way.
@ginger crunch of course its still make sense of the story, but that bodyguard guy supposuly fallin love with raon too, but that part got cut, the same with jinyoung part. because viewer love PBG more than anyone else in the story. They give him so many parts, kinda pity him, he need to carry this drama alone, but he got all popularity, so yeah he did well. And kim yoojung got lucky actually.
@pleasedude – Geez that’s cool you have firsthand access to the production script knowing the storyline and how PBG managed to score more scenes per se and that you obviously were not following the story to conclusion rather you were drawing your own theories and that was a good thing that KYJ had less screentime that’s mindblowing stuff! Oh is that why in the award speeches PBG paid tribute to KYJ calling her ‘sunbaemin’? Don’t try and slaughter a good thing where there is nothing to slaughter except your ego. Oh and 5000 people lined up for their LITM fan meeting in Seoul and only 200 were the lucky ones chosen to get actual signings. BoYoo couple were a OTP and whilst I followed the drama too it was very much PBG AND KYJ ACTING who made that reality seem very real. Sorry but you can’t discount that no matter how hard you try so please dude.
The plot itself was bad plus the casting. Everyone said this drama would do poorly but the fans stay blind till the end. What to do.
My reply to you is above XOXO.
Don’t call us – the fans are blind. For us this drama is nice to watch.
You know, some people love roses, some people love jasmines. It’s all about taste.
I tried so hard to stay focused and persevere but alas another parked drama waiting for a rainy day. Same happened with Radio Romance. It wasn’t the cast or story it was my lack of patience and not wanting to see the train wreck of a love triangle unfold between KYJ and the second lead SJR. So my love for KYJ and loyalty got shunted sideways but to compensate I watched Love in the Moonlight and PBG for the 3rd time. Happy ❤️
I know what you mean . I too have a weak spot for SJR . Second lead syndrome for life 🙁
I also feel that YKS is not suitable for this role. I thought throughout the whole 16 eps, he gave out awfully awkward smiles. I don’t think he’s a bad actor, just not cut out for rom com.
To each their own. For me this drama is pure entertainment. Enjoy the fluffy lovey dovey and don’t think too hard about the story. I love the main couple and think their chemistry is so sweet and natural. A new discoveries of KYJ in real romcom and YKS talent in comedy. I have been always eagerly waiting for each episode, and always check the BTS snippets. Love their off screen interactions, either main couple or the whole production team. Very good spirit. Looking forward to last episode and I hope it will have a happy ending.
I so agree with you, Molly. Chemistry was palpable (on and off cam). First time I was moved and almost convinced that they were a real couple though I know this may not be the case. That only means one thing, good acting for main leads. That’s my barometer. Been watching Kdramas for so long now and have never shipped actors, and this is the first time I wanted to rewatch one and had been rewatching on downtimes of my life. Of course, all dramas have the usual formula for commercial value. Name one, which didn’t have cliche and cheesy lines. None. One way or another there’s always that scene or line. I enjoyed CWPFN and I recommend it. No biases since I have never been a die hard fan of any K actor. Oh and it made me watch all YKS past dramas. He’s very good and delivered the character. As for KYJ, no question she’s a pro.
It’s hard to find a good romcom lately and most of then began great ant went to … a rom com should be wrapped in 12 ep. Chemistry is subjective and there is diferent kind of it. I read that Jo Bo ah is in talks for a new one with Park Hae Jin, Go Jun Hee with Eric,… I’m always on the boat for a new rom com even if it’s without YOON EUN HYE . See ,i began watching Romance is a bonus book and until now i like it even if it’s not with Yoon EUN HYE !
Holier than thou posters leave me speechless and angry. They’ve obviously got their own problems! Some of the comments are downright vicious. FYI, CWPN is rated higher than RR on MyDramaList which is normally a fair representation of popularity
That site is decent but has its own problems, one of them being that recent dramas are rated higher than older dramas. Also fluffy dramas are overrated, such as Strong Woman being rated high than Misaeng and Reply 1997 lmao. Don’t get me wrong PBY + PHS were brilliant, but there’s no way the story of SWDBS beat Misaeng and Reply 1997.
As another example, right now, CWPN is rated equally to Dream High…Just no. One is a brilliant youth story, one by which musical Kdramas have been measured by ever since. The other is…well whatever that mess that I dropped in episode 5 was.
Woah, what’s with the hate? It’s a cute, fluffy, harmless little drama. I honestly don’t see why so many people are complaining about the age gape. No one said anything when it was the reverse in Encounter/boyfriend, and that age gap was even bigger I believe. She’s not a child anymore, she can make up her own mind, I’m sure she knew what she was doing when she signed up for the drama. She probably doesn’t want to be seen as a child anymore, hence this drama. No need to get butt hurt about everything. If you don’t like a show, move on lol.
Thanks atlast I find a lovely comment from someone, There are some faults in plot well its hard to adapt amanga,but no doubt chemistry is beyond 100% both YKS & KYJ nailed it, here role is mature,its 29 year old man so YKS(31) is so near whats with that agegap problem.In some scenes he is so cute,affectionate & has a baby shape no age gap is seen at all.Even their characters have some 7/8 agegap so what.I dont think anyone can beat this role than YKS he did comic side extremely well & romantic & affectionate scenes too❤ they are the best visual chemistry couple for me cause we feel they are really lovers .Their bts too are so lovely.KSH &KYJ is both talented actresses I like both but I found KSH chemistry is not so good & awkward in a way but her chemistry in Ruler was so good to me.But KYJ nailed the role.Well its depend on our point of view anyway no need to hate this amazing lovely couple.
This drama is good. Yoon kyun sang and kim yoo jung chemistry is great. I think i will rewatch it again once it finished.
For me, this is better than radio romance.
KYJ presence brings out the crazies and especially those that are fixated on her physicality as seen from the posts that have since been deleted by Mz Koala. I can live by the criticism of the drama and casting BUT I will not sit by when the posts start sexualising her to the point of being vulgar. Yeah @Fey if you’re sniffing around here looking for an excuse to drop your perverted 2cents worth.
So many desperate haters nut intellectuals wannabe ready to pounce on YJ. lol. I don’t see the point of comparing the ratings of RR and CWPFN. One is from one of the 2 public broadcast a.k.a free channel, thus, larger viewer base so to speak. One is from a cable company which rely on subscribers as audience. Censorship for shows being broadcast in public networks versus cable. Before people start bringing this up, they need to be educated first.
I am a KYJ fan since TMETS and yeah, I have always had bad feeling about this drama. I dont even want to talk about it, I simply want to move on.
Agree with this.
As a KYJ fan, I simply want to pretend this drama doesn’t exist and hope she get better roles and co-stars in the future.
Agreed, Woola. I’m another long term KYJ fan who also feels the same way. Waiting and waiting for her comeback but the second they re-cast YKS I knew this drama was dead in the water and I was right. Just want to move on and hope for much better for Yoo Jung for her next projects. Nothing good came out of this drama. Just want to forget it happened.
Bad bad drama. I dropped it at ep 4. Come here to read comments only and most people think the same way. Major male lead miscast. Cringy overacting. Regardless of the ratings (because of different channels), just comparing the two rom-coms RR and CWPFN – RR is way better written (even though it is not great) with more natural acting of the leads. Why can’t we compare two dramas of the same genre? There is a lot of similarities between these two dramas – genre, female lead age, male lead age, story etc… The only difference is the airing channels. The person above need to be educated. We can always compare an apple with an apple.
Most of the hate for this drama comes from inetz and knetz who thinks Yoon Kyunsang is ugly lol.
Not really, the drama was boring. Kyunsang didn’t look his best here but overall is an attractive guy normally. But a lot of people didn’t think the two had that much romantic chemistry. I mean they both are good actors, the drama just isn’t that good. They are cute together but the scenes that should make you want to fan yourself are just meh. If you watch them both on variety shows they did for the promotional period for the drama and the behind the scenes for the drama they have great friend chemistry but that doesn’t always translate to passionate/romantic chemistry on screen.
Yeah the drama is boring and I’ve seen comments criticizing the scriptwriter for all the cliches. But majority of the comments were also calling the kiss scenes disgusting and the male lead fat lol.
I don’t think YKS is ugly. But if you have read the webtoon, you will realize that he is definitely a miscast. He is very clunky which does not fit into the description of the male lead image. The drama is also very poorly written and directed, all the added cheese makes it look awkward and taste terrible.
I think Radio Romance and Clean with Passion are both boring…
But I’d rather watch the former since the pairing looks better visual-wise.
The funniest thing about this comment section is seeing the KYJ and KSH fans compare their latest dramas to see who is less of a flop lmao
it is indeed funny but it is normal. bear with it. and see who bring RR first
The male lead was very gorgeous. Saw him in Pinnochio but he looked so bloated here. And, I feel upset that KYJ is trying to hard to shed her innocence. The kiss scenes were not too much. Don’t act sexy KYJ, that’s not what K-Drama is all about. I am not a fan of Kim So Hyun, maybe because she always got the role the bad person but she looks rather grumpy and petulant. Love Radio Romance because of the lead actor. He was amazing with Kim Seu Gil in Splash Soaked slash love. Back to Clean with Passion, the lead is too tall and too big. Often he looked so clumsy … better of with the doctor. KYJ slow down, don’t do a harakiri to your career just because you want to shed your child actor image.
Agree with you. The way she posed, directed or maybe not, the way the camera angle were, tend to sexualised her which for me is abhorrent. If she agreed, then maybe she wanted to shed her child actress image. Maybe. But why, KYJ?
The story didn’t get to me. RR on the contrary had these touching sweet moments. And yes, KYJ, you are great actor, you don’t need to go to that path.
I read a comment by someone to avoid the thread thread that has KYJ, Or KSH …for my sanity, I was wondering why that person said that, now it’s proven hahaha.
Hahaha, so true, it doesn’t help the situation especially when KYJ’s drama is so so bad too ?
I was wondering, actors and actresses usually have to shoot from various angles as instructed by the director. And the actors may not know how the scences were cut and edited until it is broadcast. So in this case, KYJ and male lead may not even know before hand that the whole 3 minutes kiss scene will be broadcast.
I agree that a younger actor would have had better chemistry with KYJ. But the script lacks depth too. The clothes they chose for KYJ also doesn’t do her justice. Overall the production team is weak.
Dont understand why so much hate. It’s a great drama for me to watch especially after a long day at work. Both leads work great together too! Love their chemistry.
If its nice to watch, do continue watching.
If it isn’t your cup of tea, press the stop button and move on to the next drama. Not everyone has the same preference. Peace!
You wont be able to appreciate this drama if you’re full of prejudice..
Tsss…. Just watch and dont let yourself be bothered by the age gap..
And surely, you will love this drama!!????
I don’t like the male lead at first but after watching it, I really liked him. The girl is pretty. I like the story since I can relate to being OC. I haven’t watched other movies of him or her so I can’t compare and I don’t want to compare
YKS played a fantastic role here. I don’t know why you people have a lot of time to say bad things about him. They work there ass off for this drama so why not just appreciate they’re hardwork. Stop hating or comparing. All Korean actors have their own unique talents. Please stop the hate. Let’s give YKS a chance to prove himself that he can be a lead role not just a second lead. I started to love watching Kdrama since I saw this CWPFN.
AGREE !!!!! For me it’s a big YAYYYYYY !!! I loved this light yet deep drama full of humanity and love. I fell in love with the cast, and especially with the 2 leads wich did an amazing job. Their chemistry was so REAL that many watched this drama on repeat.
YKS is an excellent actor, handsome man and beautiful human being indeed. When I saw the webtoon, I thought he was a perfect match with the character : tall, broad shoulders, and warm hearted. He treated actress KYJ with the utmost respect and careness. She looked very happy and relax with him. Their kissing scenes are just the epitome of ART, of a love poem. What a magical duo ! Hope to see them in another drama.