Reviews

My drama senses are telling me to . . .

. . . drop this show.



No really. The evil step sister for the sake of being evil. Why does she feel so threatened by this girl? Why does she feel guilty for the wrong she did that led to a daughter not only losing her memories of her father, but to lose her father once found? What is her motivations. Jealous step sister is not enough. And it's become a pet peeve of mine. Not just for dramas, but for stories in general. Why do woman have to hate woman just because? If you're going to make that as part of the plot, be prepared to flesh it out.



Not to mention that suddenly Lee Gak has decided to be Tae Yong! That does not make Lee Gak a good guy. He's now going to be taking advantage of this poor old woman's grief. Though he is taking advantage of Park Ha's hospitality. Or are they really going to go with the idea that Tae Yong, dead apparently for 2 years, is now possessing time jumped Lee Gak's body? That would be bad either way.



Normally this is where I leave a drama. Oh, boy do I want to. But I've heard such amazing things about it. I am going to do the unthinkable. I'm going to try a few more episodes out. Maybe up to 7. There's promise, I see it. Maybe it can be argued I'm over thinking things. Nah. It's just under written. So for there are too many tropes! Somehow a unique idea is taking the path of super predictability. The 4 guys being from the past is just a minor factor in the story. A story that is underdeveloped and too busy trying to pander the same old stuff that you could find in other mediocre dramas.

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ep 9 spoilers ahead

1.Shifu is so angry he injures Xiao Fan (he spits up blood!) and he storms off. The female teacher/wife tells the students to take care of him and she will try to persuade him (never mind that she knows what Lin Er did!) he is healed....and then he must fight against Lu Xue Qi (stoic girl!)



2.Okay this makes sense now. I am thinking that his shifu injured him to 'even the playing field' since Xue Qi has suffered injuries up to this point (more than him)



3.The battle commences, and Xue Qi is verrry skilled, able to perform advanced magic spells. She is also able to help Xiao Fan, as she somehow connects with him mentally to save him from his 'mind demon', which looks like Boss and wants the destruction of their sect



4.While everyone outside watches them stand still, they are both trapped in his mind, tasked with hunting down his mind demon...He begs her to kill him when they escape (!) but her words are of hope and support (awwww! I like her!)



5.Once they kill the mind demon, there is an explosion of magic power in the real world and they fall unconscious...



6.Meanwhile, in ghost kingdom the king and his general are discussing the competition while princess listens. It seems that the competition was a draw between Xiao and Qi and princess calls Xiao weak; however the king tells her not to look down on a boy who has such special destiny to attract such a mysterious power...



7.Meanwhile, a recovered Xiao is speaking to Lin Er, who shares that her father hit him because he was clearing up his blood clots, not to punish him



8.After being questioned again, Xiao tells Tian that he found the torch while at the mountain (in pursuit of boss) in a puddle. His shifu tells him that it is an object of blood skill, and that it is bound to him because his blood has fallen on it. He also shares that it is a type of magic their sect does not used and has always been used by those of the evil sect.



9.Tian is able to convince his shifu that he truly did not know of the object's controversial use, and that he has been using it without knowing how. Still, his master points out that the object holds a strong murderous intent and that not even all the sect masters could wield it with their cultivation (destiny..) so now he has to go to Tian Palace and pass another test...



10.So he doesn't seem to have an evil aura (they test him) however Jung Yue's master Cang Song is extremely hateful it seems (or just careful, depending on how you look at it) and strongly believes that he is there as a spy :/



11.Bwahahahaaha junior sister stands up for Xiao and points out what we are all thinking--that Cang Song is just bitter that his disciples lost why else would he be trying to get this kid killed? he is afraid his position will be usurped!



12.Brother Cang Song reveals his awful way of thinking when he blurts out that everyone from the evil sect should be executed on sight....raising a few eyebrows. He still insists he be kicked out because of the possibility that he become evil...but based on that flawed reasoning anyone could be kicked out if he deemed them a threat....this guy is a few cards short of a full deck....



13.They decide that Xiao Fan join the three other winners and another Junior brother will study the 'magic treasure' before returning it...

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Emotional

Soo Hoo's conflicted mind really makes me sad and I feel for him. At last, he shows his true intentions in this episode and I'm glad he made that choice. I am hoping for an ending where the hostages will live, but with that said I also want both Soo Hoo and Young Ro to live, but I can't shake the feeling that some tragic event might befall on one of them. I want to remain hopeful, however, with the mindset of both of them living. When Young Ro was shouting to her dad about sending her brother of well it just made me cry. Honestly, I cried throughout this whole episode. The interaction between Young Ro and So Hoo, especially the pigeon pendant sequence. Such emotional characters, I can't help but feel sad everytime I see them, I hope they can be happy in some way when all of this is over. "If you tell me to die, I will!" That was one of the most emotional scenes I have encountered and it just broke me.

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Five Stars

1. Young Woo throwing back the argument of the Judge back at him.Yeah, why not? It's logical. What's wrong with it? But in the neurotypical world, there are 'social rules' to follow and what Young Woo did is not acceptable, it is considered rude and especially disrespectful for a judge who is higher in rank.But again, autistics think more on the logical side and doesn't understand 'social rules' the way neurotypicals do. For neurotypicals, they understand these 'social rules' naturally, for autistics, we don't. You have to tell us, then you have to explain it logically, then we will add it in our already long list of "Do's and Dont's" that is draining us.2. Letting Attorney Choi speak first.Scene: court trialThis one is not easy to generalize so I'll just react if I'm on their shoes.Even though Young Woo and I are different, I would not be able to take advantage of that opportunity wherein the jury is feeling sympathetic over the witness. My approach and thinking will still be logical which always appear harsh for neurotypicals. It's all about "x + y", especially in an argument (like debates and courtrooms).3. "Why the long face?" And Young Woo checked her face.3.a: "Literalism".This is one thing I've been waiting for them to touch on, "literalism". They could've done this in a lot of ways but they chose something funny. That is good, I applaud them for their choice on how to portray this.In other shows I've seen, literalism was portrayed on a more serious scenario, either by telling an autistic to "wait here" when in fact the neurotypical girl left him and he did not realize he was dumped. Or, the autistic was confused because s/he can not tell if they should take it literally or not.EAW chose a more lighthearted way to portray literalism. I like that. However, I hope they touch on it again in a more serious occassion because this is one of the most misunderstood aspect of an autistic and if one is not careful--especially if they already know the person is autistic--it might not turn out well.For example, if one tells an autistic to "wait here", there are autistics who will wait for as long as they can. They may ask someone to buy food so they can stay there and wait because they were told to "wait here". THEN! When the person who told them to "wait here" sees them, they'll blame the autistic person for being stupid for taking it literally.3.b: It is not easy for us to understand idiomatic expressions.Like in this example, "long face", Young Woo did not understand the idiom.From my own experience, in the Philippine elementary education system (at least back in the 80s), it is part of our curicculum to teach kids about idioms. So I understand many of the basic and common idiomatic expressions, like "fall in line" (which is used a lot in schools).There are also idioms that makes sense so even if it is new to me, I can deduce some meaning to it and react accordingly. But there are idiomatic expressions I have to ask about or research to understand what it means, some examples are:- break a leg -- for the longest time, I never understood this. If used in a context, I understood it as "go change things" or "go prove to them you are right". But what it actually means, and I found this out only today, is "good luck".- easy does it -- what it means to me is "easy, right?" Just today, I found out it means "slow down".- give the benefit of the doubt -- what it means to me is literally that, give a person a benefit of the doubt. Meaning, give them an opportunity maybe they are right or they are telling the truth. Give them a chance. But I learned today, it means to "trust what someone says". That's way over my head. "Trust" is such a huge word. The idiom "give the benefit of the doubt" does not fit "trust" in any way as far as I'm concerned. I'm just giving you a chance.- "a perfect storm" -- is as literal as it gets. I have no idea this is used as an idiom until today which means "the worst scenario".Because I also love to read fiction novels, I had the chance to get exposed to these idiomatic expressions and many other nuances of the English language. Whenever I encountered something I don't understand, I keep re-reading the sentence or the paragraph for the context, deduce some meaning, then I go check a dictionary or thesaurus to confirm if I understood it correctly; today, I just go online and search for it to confirm.Here is another example: In the UK, their greeting is "how do you do" and you reply with "how do you do". For an autistic, the reaction (verbally or in thought) is "how do I do what?" This was portrayed in the film "A Brilliant Young Mind" (a.k.a. "X + Y").Such expressions are confusing. My reaction is the same and it took me a long time to get used to it. Still, there are other expressions that I have to pause because I have to figure out what it means.My personal pet peeve is this: apologizing when someone mentions a relative or friend of theirs passed away. I will never understand this 'social rule'. It simply does not make sense especially if the person who passed away was years ago. But it is a 'social rule' so it is in my checklist.This is why it is draining for us, we have to keep a list in our mind of 'social rules' and react accordingly when encountered, otherwise people will whisper "rude", "what's wrong with him/her", etc. For me, the more appropriate reaction is either silence or tapping them on their back or ask them "are you okay" but apparently those are rude.It's similar with "condolence" and "sorry for your loss". I just say "thank you" if they're telling it to me. I just say "condolence" if someone I know is greiving. Does it mean I am not sincere? Not at all. It just does not make any sense but since it is a 'social rule' …However, since I've been watching K-dramas and recently there were a lot of mourning scenes, I think I found what that I can appreciate and agree with: the Korean way of mourning. I have not fully looked into it but the Korean way makes far more sense than "condolence" or "sorry for your loss". You visit them, pay your respects, if you are relative or very close you do 2.5 bows. If a colleague, you do a head bow. Then you eat the food they offer not because it is part of the "ritual" but because it is part of paying your respects. It is like the last meal you'll share together.That makes far more sense to me.4. Young Woo: "I don't like department stores"Reasons: Too crowded -- it is draining for us. Too much noise -- same thing, draining. Confusing -- this one is hard to explain but I've seen other autistics use this as an explanation why they avoid malls and department stores. For me, since reading maps is my first fascination, I learned to orient myself and creating personal landmarks. I also learned to visualize an area from a top view, it may not be exact but I can see the layout. I am __not__ saying I don't get lost, there was one time that I did and to this day I still can't figure out what happened that night. (And I was with friends not familiar with the area.) Too many things to 'fix' -- me, I just learned to distract myself, and I tell myself I don't get paid to make things perfect. Unfamiliar - she did not grow up visiting such places so she has not found a routine and ways to cope with everything that is happening in such places. If a place is unfamiliar, we can get overwhelmed. This is one reason why many, not all, autistics are afraid to travel alone. We can but first need to prepare for it. To find order to things. To have a checklist in our mind. We go through with it again and again. In my case, I check online maps, familiarize myself with the town or city's layout, where the police stations are, the malls, foods, and so on. When I visit an unfamiliar establishment like malls or hotels, I pay attention to fire exits, where the doors are, staircases, except the restrooms (you can just ask for that one without anyone calling you weird (I once asked where the fire exits are and I got looks and laughter from people around me, so I stopped asking about it)). "No touching" policy, she more sensitive to it than usual because she's already trying to calm herself and it's only adding more pressure5. Young Woo's suspected mother may be in the spectrum too.Scene: she fixed the shoe displayIt looks like they are going to touch on the most common understanding that autism is genetics and can be passed on.Besides that, this is also interesting. If her [suspected] mother is in the spectrum too, so far it appears that her mother is masking her autism so well like autistic women in real life.6. RomanceIt is good that they are not pushing it. I think the message here is that it should be taken slowly to let an autistic find his/her way to it and make them comfortable. If it is rushed, the tendency is to take flight.Autistic women are the best ones to explain this.

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