Eleison

Seo Tae Pyeong to Yang Hui: "Do you know what the difference is between you and Ji Hwan? You always take and steal what you want from others, but Ji Hwan can convince his opponent to give it to him. That's why he's better than you'll ever be!" (I paraphrase)

This quote! 😧 The dad is such a manipulative gaslighter. I wondered why Ji Hwan was so intimidated by him. After seeing his father try to convince him he's really a thug deep down, and seeing how he went about trying to persuade him, I understood.

Some said that it was boring that Ji Hwan was always good-hearted and never truly a mobster, but they do imply he bought into his dad's lies for a portion of his life. And niw he's trying to make up for them. Poor Ji Hwan!

I would have loved to see more of how and why he decided to turn his back on the mobster life and go straight.

YES. I wanted to scoop him up and put him in my pocket after that scene! 😂 (I don't mean this in a creepy way, he was just so lovable that he felt like a cute little kid!)

Ah, anecdotal evidence? I see.

The only Jdrama I've seen is Hana Yori Dango (it had some good parts, though I prefer the Thai BOFs and Korean cause it was my first BOFs), and I've seen clips from some, read things about them and looked at synopses and they usually don't pique my interest. Maybe I'll try one of your gangster ones someday, though. :)

Don't have Viki? What if you do a free trial and watch it that way? I'm with you, I don't like unofficial sites either.

Ooooh, tell me your secret! How did you find out that all those who rated it high are only rating it high due to Woo Seok?! I'd love to know so I can make sure to avoid dramas rated in a similar manner moving forward.

The whole Thirsty Deer crew + the MC all have fantastic chemistry. Either they really practiced the seamless interactions to make it feel super convincing, the actors just really felt comfortable with one another, or they let the actors with comedic talent spearhead ad lib and improv to give their scenes convincing spontaneity and enthusiasm. Or all of the above, maybe!

Whoa, had no idea there were so many gangster rom-com Jdramas! 😂

Have you seen the drunk playground scene? It reminded me of Kim Soo Hyun's "I'm too cute when I'm drunk" scene from Queen of Tears, but even cuter. Ji Hwan's irresistibly adorable in this.

Yes! And he's a plot device, still, but he's not a useless character being used to create extra drama for the sake of drama and filler for a script; his character has a purpose.

And Soju has a high alcohol, content, no? Much stronger stuff than beer, I think. And it always seems to be the drink of choice, at least in Kdramas.

There's also apparently a lot of alcohol intolerance (i.e. people allergic to it) for Koreans, which I didn't know. You'd never know it was a thing from the Kdramas, though!

Episode 10 has been my favorite so far! Even the 2nd lead couple is interesting (I was dying to know what would happen with the "test" Mi Ho did and to see who would find it first 😂, and to watch how they handle the fallout of their discovery), and the little group of guys is adorable (I really enjoy Il Yeong and Hong Gi, in particular) and they're pretty well fleshed out as characters, too.

Haha, he exhibits the noble idiocy of a Victorian damsel... we're so used to seeing female characters portrayed this way, but not we've got a guy, haha.

I DO like how they show him very clumsily trying to go about liking and dating Eun Ha. It's ridiculous to think guys who have never dated would ever be able be perfect at this despite having never practiced. That's silly! If you're going to write a character who's 36 and never dated, you've got to write him at least kind of bad at it to start. The clever way of doing it was to make his mistakes and bumbling adorably cute because he's just SO earnest and true-hearted.

But much of Ji Hwan's arc is him working up the courage, self-esteem and confidence to pursue Eun Ha. Isn't his jealousy and fear he'll lose Eun Ha to another guy how he gains the courage? I struggle to see how Ji Hwan's arc could progress without the 2ML acting as a catalyst for action on our ML's part.

I'm not saying romances always need 2MLs to be good, I'm saying that for this drama, the 2ML seems integral to the plot and development of our leads.

It did bother me that the English translation said the ex-cons' dog was a bulldog, but it's obvious to anyone who knows anything about dog breeds that the dog is a Frenchie; true, the full name is a French Bulldog, but a no one ever calls them "bulldogs," at least not in English. 🤔

When did he lie to her? Keep watching, he'll tell her he's not the guy she was hoping he was.

He's very persistent, but he's not evil or bad; it's just that Seo Ji Hwan has so many Victorian damsel, "I don't deserve her," "I am too dangerous for her to love," etc. complexes as well as ZERO experience pursuing a girl he liked, that he needed some stiff competition to kick him into gear.

Also, after all this stuff about children and their soft spot for them ... they need to show our MC with some of their own. :)

It sounded like something you'd like! Another good one. :)

Also, the drunk playground scene...

I nearly died!

That little hoarse squeak Ji Hwan makes as he walks across the play rope bridge with his arms stretched out...

🤣🤣🤣

Cute, hilariously unexpected, endearing--gosh, never seen anything like it!