Binge, Stream or Skip? Drama Review // Perfect and Casual《完美先生和差不多小姐》

You can watch the trailer above or start watching episode one here.

Warning! Spoilers ahead.

Straight away without explaining myself in detail, I would tell you that this drama is stream-worthy. Just solely based on the reason that I didn't watch any episode, nor any part, on 2x speed.

Synopsis:

The story revolves around a cold and distant statistics professor who calculates every detail to ensure perfection meets a warm-hearted girl who does anything based on her feelings.

What I like about this drama:

The main couple's love story starts off with a contractual marriage, and I like contractual marriage centered dramas. It never gets old for me. And it also seems to be the trend currently. No kidding, this drama is the third drama that I watched in a row (yes, back to back!) where the couple's love story revolves around a contract. The others being (in chronological order), Cute Programmer and Begin Again.

In such romcom dramas, during the period where the male lead (ML) and/or female lead (FL) is realising or coming to terms with their feelings for each other, is the funniest. The scenes in this drama when the ML gets jealous are so, so unique, which made me laughed out loud because they were so ridiculous and I never saw those coming. Like for example, in order to prevent the FL from getting onto another guy's motorbike, he bumped his car into the car in front of his on purpose. Then the ML basically forced the other guy, who is his lawyer and the FL's boss, to stay behind and settle the "accident" while he snatched his motorbike and rode away with the FL.

I suppose one big reason I didn't watch any part of this drama on 2x speed because I didn't get a chance to. Whenever a misunderstanding occurs, it doesn't get dragged on for too long before it gets resolved. So when I thought I might have to fast forward, the misunderstandings get cleared! Hence I didn't get the chance to hit that speed button. In general, the whole pacing was done quite well, in my opinion. It started well, the events in the middle happened at a good pace, and then it concluded with a satisfying ending.

Not exactly something that I like but, this random bed that comes out of nowhere when the couple were kissing in, I think a park??? Then it transits to them on the bed at home. I wasn't exactly shocked by this anymore since they reused this transition for Begin Again (Begin Again was released about a month after Perfect and Casual, I think). But for me, I watched Begin Again before this, so I wasn't exactly shocked anymore. But still creative!

The soundtrack!!! Do I need to say more? Music makes a lot of difference for me, in any drama.

Who I like in this drama:

The ML's grandfather, who is also the cupid in this drama. He is so cute and always full of wisdom.

The FL's best friends, especially the female, although I was really disappointed with the way she handled her own relationships. But the FL's best friends are really best friends indeed, always helping the FL whenever she is in trouble and always giving her the wake up call that she needs. The FL's best female friend, I suppose, can receive the credit for being cupid number two, as she is always pushing and encouraging the FL to express her feelings to the ML.

And of course, I really like the ML in this drama. Unlike most other contractual marriage centered dramas where the ML is mean to the FL at the start, this ML has been nice and respectful towards the FL. He may be calculating but he is definitely not mean. He respects her decisions hence the need for his grandpa (and actually almost everyone else around the couple) to play cupid to push the story otherwise nothing is going to happen given how dense the ML is.

What I don't like about this drama:

Honestly, there is nothing exactly that I can pinpoint about this drama that I don't like. There are characters that I don't like though. See below.

Who I don't like (or possibly even dislike) in this drama:

I actually don't like the FL, not to the extent of dislike, but I just cannot come to like her. Even till the last episode, I'm probably just very neutral towards this character. At the start, I almost gave up on this drama because I found her annoying. But I guess, mostly thanks to the ML, the good largely outweighed the bad so I continued watching. Glad that the FL has character development throughout so that she gets less and less annoying. For example why I found her annoying was, she got upset at the ML for trying to keep their marriage status a hush from others, especially at their work places. The ML was only keeping it a secret because he didn't want to tarnish her reputation after they split at the end of one year, which is their contract period. The lesser the number of people who knows about them being married, the lesser number of people will know that she is a divorcee in the near future. After the ML explained his intentions to her, he also said that he doesn't mind if others come to know, the misunderstanding is resolved. But then the FL herself still kept it from others anyway, especially at her own workplace? So why did she get so upset in the first place? In the first half of the drama, the FL made me feel like she is the ML's kid rather than a partner. A kid, not even a childish girlfriend.

Lin Chu Chu is the main female antagonist I suppose, but she doesn't appear until much later and only for a bit. She is the ML's ex-classmate, and she has a crush on him since forever. She reappears in the ML's life and tries to snatch him away even though he is married! But because she knew that the main couple wrote up a marriage contract. But still, legally he is married! Girl...don't worry, all her petty tricks has no impact whatsoever. If anything, the ML friendzoned her over and over, and pretty much kept his distance. So I don't exactly not like nor dislike her. This character appeared too briefly and is very much insignificant for me.

Other notes:

The side couples didn't outshine the main couple. In a sense that I wasn't more interested in the side couples than the main couple. In fact, I wasn't interested one bit.

The actress who played Lin Chu Chu played a similar role in Cute Programmer. Just like Lin Chu Chu, her character in Cute Programmer also only came out in the later episodes, reappearing into the ML's life again only to snatch him back and resorted to many petty tricks. But her manipulation in Cute Programmer is way more impactful than here. I wonder if this actress is pretty much stuck in such roles...

Then the actress who played the FL's older sister, Yun Lan, initially I mistook her for the actress who played Oh Soo Jin in Oh My Venus. Stupid me realise that it couldn't really be possible, because this is a Chinese drama and Oh My Venus is a Korean drama. But who knows right? She could be bilingual or even multilingual. And guess what, Oh Soo Jin is also a lawyer in Oh My Venus, just like Yun Lan in this drama! Do you also think they look alike?