Kelekat

Just reading the first 2 paragraphs of the synopsis above had me thinking, "Holy hell!" That's A LOT.

As you grow older you'll learn that's not a fact. Nowhere has it ever been proven to be a fact either and no actual adult would try to state as such because life experience teaches us otherwise. You're young so you don't know any better so I'm not trying to target you or anything like that. You just have a lot to learn still that's all.

For example, a woman can be physically beautiful and have the nastiest personality. I know - for a fact - that many men can be around a physically attractive woman and have no sexual attraction to her whatsoever. Some wouldn't even be able to get it up if they tried and the woman were all over them. We're, of course, referring to only straight men here.

You're actually insulting mature men with such a statement if I'm being honest. It's not your intention, I know that, so I'm not trying to get onto you about it. I guaranty you didn't learn in Biology that it's a fact that a man cannot help being attracted to a beautiful woman. No teacher would tell you that.

You're attempting to state your own personal belief as though it's a fact. Your statement alone shows you're very young. I guaranty as you get older you will learn to realize it is not factual, it's an opinion. There's adults don't go around making such a statement. You'll understand when you've experienced life more and have a better understanding of human sexual behavior. It is a fact that your statement is false.

I seriously can never understand why every single time this happens in dramas there are always so many of you who keep thinking the FL ended up with the wrong person - completely ignoring THE FL'S FEELINGS.

If she never loved the SML why is it wrong that she didn't end up with him. Why do you guys continually want someone to be with someone they do not love?

I'm sorry. I haven't even watched this yet but the situation seems pretty clear from the comments AND I just saw how old your post is so you're probably completely baffled by suddenly seeing this response to it completely out of the blue, but I just had to get that off my chest. So please don't take my frustration personally. Maybe in these past years you've learned to see these situations differently.

I'm just so tired of seeing these types of comments on so many of these dramas.

IF the FL had been torn and had been shown having feelings for the SML at times but then still chose to go back to the ML THEN I could understand making these kinds of comments like her having chosen the wrong guy (only to some extent though since it's still a matter of love we're talking about and we can't dictate someone's feelings). However, when the FL has NEVER been shown to have any romantic feelings towards the SML whatsoever and has only ever seen them as a close friend then, no. What you're wishing for is for her to settle for someone she does not love, just because he treats her well. That'll only end up hurting the SML more than anything in the long run since he'll always know he's not the one she truly loves. That kind of love/relationship is painful and damaging. There's nothing beautiful about it.

Just because there's someone who's liked and cared for the FL for years doesn't mean she should end up with them. You don't date someone out of gratitude. She doesn't owe him for taking care of her and being there for her. HE chose to do that and she chose to accept it because she viewed him as a FRIEND. Do you really think she would have accepted his care and support during that time had she realized he harbored feelings for her? No, she wouldn't. If she did AND if she started developing feelings for him in return they would have been together after 3 long years of spending that much time together. The fact that they still weren't together after all that time is proof in itself that the SML's feelings were unrequited.

It's exactly why these SMLs choose to never confess, because they WANT to continue to be able to be by their side despite knowing the FL doesn't return their feelings. They know if they confess they won't be able to do that anymore. It makes me angry that they stay close to the girls on the pretense of being a friend when the reality is they want more. That's a form of betrayal as far as I'm concerned. She trusts him completely because she views him as her friend, not knowing he feels differently. She genuinely cares for him as a friend and wouldn't want to realize she's been hurting him all along by not being able to even see his feelings for her, much less reciprocate them.

The only reason these SMLs finally take the chance to confess when the person the FL actually loves does return is because they know that, either way, their farce is about to end. So, they give it one last hoorah to be certain the FL didn't have any dormant feelings for them before finally giving up their charade.

Dang it! Between whom might I ask?

That is not a "biological fact". We get the point you're trying to make but to say it's a biological fact is a literal falsity.

The problem is with the people who choose to take up and produce the drama. I haven't even watched it yet but the one common consensus I've seen is the writing sucked. Some of the stuff that makes it all the way from being picked up to being produced and aired simply baffles me.

This is sarcasm, correct? I'm just confirming since it's difficult to tell tone in writing.

I agree! I cannot fathom why she felt the need for surgery in the first place.

I haven't watched Love in Contract yet. I still haven't decided if I want to or not. Did you just not like the way she looked in Love in Contract? Or was it the drama itself that you didn't enjoy?

I'm about to start ep 15 and right now I firmly believe they should have just omitted episodes 2-7 entirely. Those episodes were just pointless. The second half of the drama is literally the entire drama. It's still not great but it's decent now.

Are the majority of Chinese Romcom scripts that are picked up by production companies, written and submitted by teenagers and college students?

This is a sincere question. I'm not sure I'll find someone one here who would be able to answer it for me but, fingers crossed. I'm not looking for random guesses or opinions. I'm trying to gain real understanding from people who have actual insight into the Chinese entertainment industry.

Maybe I should ask this as a discussion question...

I've found something this show did EXCEPTIONALLY WELL. It broke down that farce of "noble sacrifice" and illuminated the reality of what that really was - fear and self-righteous selfishness. It's not an act of love but it's spun that way so those who do it feel justification in their actions. They just want to hate themselves less.

I honestly haven't seen it broken down this well in any other drama. It's a pity because many people would benefit from seeing that scene (in ep 12) when the ML's mentor broke it down to truly understand why it's a complete fallacy yet, because this is such a mediocre drama it won't be seen by a large audience. Since it's a miracle in itself that I've made it this far to even see it myself, I can just imagine how many others who've even attempted to watch this, never made to this point.

It FINALLY starts picking up some in ep 8. Not a lot but at least we start seeing actual progress in 1 or 2 aspects of the storyline. Before this there was literally no progress for anyone in any regard.

My God! Days later and I've finally made it to ep 7 but this is still so damn slow! I cannot comprehend how or why a drama this short could/would progress this slowly! I mean, the story is interesting enough that I do still want to find out how things play out but this is getting to be ridiculous!

Also, does that ex-boyfriend of the ML's sister not comprehend what comprises sexual harassment in the workplace is all about? Literally every interaction between them has been sexual harassment towards her.

Plus the FL's lack of any sense of loyalty makes the character annoying. She's not terrible but she's inconsiderate. From the perspective of her career I understand her doing reviews for the ML's competitor and others but the way she goes about things constantly comes of as highly inconsiderate and very backstab-ish.

UGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm genuinely now trying to figure out what I can skip that will still allow me to enjoy this. It's agony otherwise.

Don't be deterred by how old the drama is!

You are correct. She was the daughter or the woman he loved and someone he loved and cared for since birth, as an uncle. He only pretended to have romantic feelings for her to provoke the ML.

He was only pretending to have romantic feelings for her to infuriate the ML. His feelings for her were always that of her being the daughter of the woman he loved, and the fact that he helped raise her when they were still little.

I did like Suspicious Partner a lot and I also did enjoy Lovestruck in the City as well, even though his characters in both were really different from those in this and the K2. I liked his character in the K2 but didn't like the drama itself as much as this one - the FL character got on my nerves too much.

I do feel like his agency did a terrible job managing his career though. He should be a much bigger star than he is. Jumping from one type of role to another is in itself a sign of poor management. You getting a footing into one type of role first before you start branching out to others. You develop a strong fan base and a few works under your belt first then, when you branch out and show you can do those other kinds of roles well too, you gain an even larger fan base and even more credibility as an actor. But they had him jumping all over the place character-wise so he was never able to gain any real stability or momentum.

Yeah I feel like his agency completely let him down. The K2 was the closest comparison but I didn't enjoy it as much. Couldn't stand the FL character.

It's been a while since I last watched so if I say anything inaccurate hopefully someone else will correct me. Otherwise I'll correct myself after my next watch:

*The Elder will just be replaced by another. The brought him down but not the organization itself. It was multinational.
*I agree that Moon Shik, in terms of justice, was left unresolved but seeing that he basically started losing his marbles I'm sure he just fell apart after that. The truth is, once he lost his wife there was no recourse or repercussion that would matter to him. Nothing would destroy him more. He'd probably end up in the looney bin.
*Agreed about the reunion. They both know who the other person is so why not just come out and give us that satisfaction?
*I believe it's implied that he reconciled with the ex; that he needed to let go of his past to be able to really give his all to her. However, my personal opinion is that he'd only ever be settling for his second choice since he knows he'll never be with the one(s) he really loves. He always knew he'd never be with the FL's mother; that she'd never reciprocate his feelings and there's no way he'd ever do to her what his brother did (who also knew she'd never reciprocate his feelings either). For him it was more a matter of him not being able to move on from the past all along because of all the guilt he'd been carrying toward both the FL and her mother, both of whom he loved deeply. He also didn't like that the FL's mother was with his brother whom he suspected (rightfully) played a part in what happened to her first husband. Once he let go all of that baggage he could finally truly give his relationship with his ex a real chance.

This continues to be one of my all time favorite dramas to this day. It's been a while since I last watched it though. Thinking about watching it again now but not sure if it's time for that yet.

You know, I binged this every single time I've watched it and it's continues to be one of my all-time favorite dramas so I have to say that I disagree with your assessment of the length being an issue and the reason for your need to FF, as I feel like there's no way they would have been able to properly tie up the story in 16 episodes at all in a satisfactory manner.

HOWEVER, I also want to say I DO still completely understand where you're coming from. Just because it worked for me and I didn't feel the need to FF doesn't mean it would be the same for everyone else. I also do seem to remember there being a point towards the later episodes where the drama seemed to lose its rhythm and seemingly stumbled a little bit before righting itself and pulling things back together again to successfully cross the finish line.

I have much respect for the way you broke down your views on the drama. Particularly since your suggestion to break things up a bit and not binge may actually help others enjoy it better too. So while not specifically beneficial to me, I LOVE that you took the time to share your impressions and comment about your viewing experience in the way you did. Kudos to you!