일단 뜨겁게 청소하라!! || 2018

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Clean With Passion For Now aired on JTBC in the Monday and Tuesday 9:30pm slots. It ran from 26th November 2018 to 4th February 2019. It is based on popular webtoon of the same name by Aengo, which was first published in 2013.

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Gil O Sol (Kim Yoo Jung) is finding it hard to land on her feet, but her determination is strong and so is her love for her family. She is outgoing, vocal and somewhat scruffy and unhygienic. This has never really been a problem for her, but when she continues to run into CEO Seong Cheol (Yoon Kyung Sung), it becomes one as her mere presence causes him distress due to his mysophobia (the fear of contamination and germs with OCD behaviours). Despite her father’s wishes, she secretly gets a job as a cleaner and it happens to be at Seong Cheol’s “Cleaning Fairy Company”. The pair then start a comical back and forth that leads into something more.

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This drama started out very strong. Gil O Sol is tenacious and loving. She strives to do the best for her family, but finds that she always falls short. Kim Yoo Jung plays her very well and her comedic timing is wonderful, especially when paired with Yoon Kyung Sung.

Seong Cheol is somewhat ridiculous, but he has a lot of heart and respect for his employees. His mysophobia gets him into a lot of mishaps, some of which are funny and others that are heart-breaking. I liked the progression of the romance, as well as the reactions each of them had to realising their feelings. For the most part their relationship is wholesome and cute. It was frustrating at times, especially in the angst ridden episodes of 14 and 15, but I’ll get to that later. While it is cliched and not something I advocate in real life, Gil O Sol being the reason he wants to get better and she being the only person he can touch made me happy. Also, the height difference is everything! ♥

Side Note: Seong Cheol and Kim Min Kyu (from I’m Not a Robot) would get on so well! I’m imagining them having a joint birthday party for their little round robot floor cleaners and having a great time 😂

The employees at Seong Cheol’s company are all great. Yeong Sik (Go Geon Han) is an idiot, but I really liked how he was always rooting for Gil O Sol and there was no one sided romance on his part. Another idiot was Jae Min (Cha In Ha) – who was funny and enjoyed teasing the leads. He was a good actor, and it’s sad that he passed away so young. Dong Hyun (Yang Hak Jin) rooted for both and had a calming and solid presence which balanced out his dumb children 😂

Secretary Kwon (Yoo Sun) was similar to Dong Hyun, however, she is the one who understands Seong Cheol the most. She makes his life as easier as she can and I enjoyed their relationship. It was always funny when she got sassy with Seong Cheol and put him in his place. Her relationship with Seong Cheol’s grandfather (Ahn Suk Hwan) was very different and it shed more of a light on her personality. Ultimately, it also showed how much she cared about Seong Cheol.

The workplace and it’s little dysfunctional family is where this drama really shines. They root for each other and, though a few times they made mistakes, they weren’t afraid to apologise.

Aside from the Mysophobia aspect, Clean With Passion For Now hits several Kdrama tropes. There are definitely more, but these are ones that stood out the most for me: “dead or absent parent(s)”, “rich male, poor female”, “love triangle”, “corrupt elderly male relation” and “unnecessary break up”.

They did try to subvert some of these tropes, especially regarding Seong Cheol’s overbearing mother Cha Mae Hwa (Kim Hye Eun) who I became to really like. She’s by no means a perfect person or mother, but she tries her best and we see that as the series progresses how much she wants the best for Seong Cheol. She just doesn’t know how to support him. For the absent parent part – at least on Seong Cheol’s side – it was subverted into showcasing a single mother. Granted, she didn’t do much of the parenting as she was sent away to America and he was raised predominantly by his grandfather and nanny – Geum Ja (Kim Jung Young), which is an element that plays into Seong Cheol’s tragic backstory.

The love triangle was okay. I was a little concerned about Song Jae Rim being the second lead – next to him Yoo Jung looks like a little sister or niece. However, there were times that I felt bad for him, because they did have sweet and funny moments. My main problem with this “option” though is the basis for it. Ha In worked on the construction site where Gil O Sol’s mother died and they briefly met while her mother was still alive. And by briefly I mean, one tiny conversation… and this man latched onto that memory. Of course, this is linked to his feelings of guilt, but it’s odd to me that such a tiny interaction could accumulate into love. And the fact that he moved into their rooftop room specifically to be near her was weird.

I did like how he was actually incredibly smart and just let everyone think he’s an idiot. Ha In had a carefree and playful attitude most of the time, but his serious side didn’t feel forced or out of place. I do think he was completely unprofessional and took way too many liberties with Seong Cheol’s therapy sessions. His personal life overshadowed a lot of his dealings with the former and some of his actions came off as more harmful than helpful – I will say near the end they did have some great moments. The best interactions of Ha In’s were with Gil O Sol’s dad (Kim Won Hae) and brother (Lee Do Hyun), they were such a funny dumb unit 😂

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In the end, I did like our “rooftop pervert” and I wish we could have seen more of a conclusion to his story. I felt somewhat cheated by the writer’s decision on where his story ended.

Seong Cheol’s tragic backstory is linked to his grandfather who had the main role in causing his mysophobia. The grandfather is also the source of Gil O Sol’s family tragedy and due to his present behaviour he is also a source of creating new ones. He is manipulative and when he realises that he can use Gil O Dol’s sports team situation to his advantage in getting Gil O Sol to do his bidding, he goes for it. I think the drama tried to give him some sympathy, but the small snippets they gave us didn’t work for me. Honestly, I don’t think much of the conflict was expanded well or compelling.

If you don’t want to be spoilt, just know that I think the conflict was predictable and when considering how we are meant to perceive certain characters, Gil O Sol in particular, it was frustrating and turned the watching experience in a tedious chore.

-start of spoilers-

Gil O Sol’s mother dying in a construction accident caused by the grandfather’s company isn’t a new concept. Added with the fact that it’s the main reason Gil O Sol decides to break all contact with Seong Cheol isn’t overly off base for a drama, either. I think that her dad’s reaction was granted, but at the end of the day Seong Cheol didn’t do anything wrong – which is what everyone seemed to suggest. This poor baby wasn’t involved and yet he gets the blame and no one wants to explain the situation to him. This aspect made me think poorly of Gil O Sol, despite liking her before. She would stand up for him and express her love while in the angst hole of episode 14 + 15, but would hide from him. She talked a lot of talk, without doing any of the walking. I get that she wanted to protect her brother’s future, but that didn’t mean she had to make his mysopobia worse! He could have died and I’m not even exaggerating. It also spoke to Gil O Sol not thinking he could help. For the most part, all this man has done is help her, but when it matters and will keep them both happy and together in the process she dips out?!

These two episodes were mostly boring and there were moments that I started skimming instead of watching the full scenes and it didn’t impact my understanding at all – nothing much was happening. The entire genre shifted and it did it in a way that was jarring and not captivating. There was a lot of emotion, Kim Yoo Jung did well with her acting, but at this point I was just done.

This drama is based on a webtoon, so I’m sure how much the writers deviated and how much I can truly blame them for.

-end of spoilers-

One final point that didn’t play a huge role in this drama, but beside the Cleaning Fairies, was one of it’s shining elements that wasn’t tarnished by poor writing was Min Joo Yun (Min Do Hee) and Gil O Dol. From the beginning we saw a cute friendship between the pair that extended outside of Gil O Sol’s storyline. She roots for him and he is protective of her. I wish they had more screen time!

Overall, I really enjoyed this drama. I thought the characters were great and the plotline was interesting. The acting is wonderful! And the special effects added such a cute and fun aspect. I think the leads did a fantastic job, both in their roles and with the chemistry. Gil O Sol’s back and forth bickering that blooms into love was the backbone of this drama. The problem is I really wish I could forget about those last few episodes as when I think about this drama, I tend to be a little put out. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t happy watching the last part of episode 16 where they get back together and it’s all sunshine and rainbows, because guess what? I’m a sucker for happy endings! 😂

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Ratings:

• Plot: 7
• Production: 9
• Acting: 8
• Enjoyment: 6

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

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Credits:

• Director: No Jong Chan
• Writer: Han Hee Jung
• Network: JTBC
• Release Date: 26th November, 2018 – 4th February, 2019
• Episodes: 16

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What are your thoughts on Clean With Passion For Now?

Thanks for reading!

I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥