Eleison

But that means I have to build my life around projected future doom and gloom, which may or may not end up being true. I have profound mistrust for people who pronounce things that MIGHT happen as things that WILL happen. It smacks of manipulation and fear-mongering. I will not fall prey to it. 😏

When I was in high school, according to projections, the world was shooting towards catastrophic overpopulation...

You are certainly very eloquent on these topics! You are clearly quite passionate about them.

I personally have a pretty robust faith in human resilience, but if I'm wrong, and one day society collapses because of the things you predict, I'll be sure to say, "Ah, that guy on MDL really DID know what he was talking about."

I see entertainment as a mirror more than a tool for indoctrination. I think it's more like these themes and "messages" (if you must call them that) are what they think the audience (primarily women late teenage to middle age and older) increasingly wants to see. More and more women want to see stories (and like seeing stories) where they aren't merely supporting men and fitting traditional roles but having their needs and desires outside marriage and child-rearing prioritized and valued. It doesn't have to be a global or societal conspiracy to indoctrinate women against men, homemaking, and getting married. 😉

And it's totally fine for women to be single if they can't find a man who wants to be a partner and an equal instead of a man who simply wants a maid who provides sex while he provides stability and protection. In more and more societies, women don't need men to protect them in the way they used to, and I think that's a good thing. And if that's what a woman wants (a husband who's a partner and an equal), then she should hold out for a guy like that, or stay single. Having dreams, standards and desires is not equivalent to being selfish. I think it's great that women are being given options in media. If society "suffers," then people will pivot accordingly. I don't think it's as world-ending as you're making it sound.

Ooh, maybe mark this as a spoiler? 😬

I think it's a plot device in Kdramas more than anything else. Korea is too small for the trope of "going far away," and since a lot of Koreans do move to/study in the U.S. or Canada, it's a convenient way to create distance.

In Cdramas, they definitely don't have people go to the U.S. because they think it's the "better country." 😅

I agree with mostly all the points you made. Definitely, what people find romantic is largely subjective and people can enjoy a story like this more fully if they see the story as featuring the lifecycles of a relationship. Great observations. I was just sharing what I personally don't find romantic, and the kind of relationship dynamics I don't enjoy watching because I can't get behind it.

That said, I did find your assumptions about my approach to watching dramas ("making it a lesson about morality") a little patronizing and reductive. Maybe it was not intended, but it came off that way. I personally try not to make pronouncements about a person I don't know.😉

The synopsis is terrible. 😅

They are different, but getting involved with another person romantically while you're officially in a relationship with someone else is still not cool? It's why I didn't like You've Got Mail. I didn't find it romantic AT ALL.

I highly doubt dad is getting a redemption arc...

This drama is definitely something of a hot mess at this point, but I'm not bored. It's still been fun for some reason. I don't get everything people are doing or why, but I like all the leads and their interactions, so I plan to tune in for the last week.😉

🤷‍♀️

Who has cancer?!

Yeah, they're another couple where I feel like they had more scenes planned, but then they cut them, and now their story feels underdeveloped. I've felt it at times with the main leads, too.

It looks like Episode 9 was lighthearted to offset Episode 10... cue the development of the makjang portion of this plot!

It's got a makjang slant to it, but there's lots of variety in tone, in my opinion. A mix of romance, comedy, melodrama, and trauma. Throwing all the genres into one! It doesn't work perfectly, but I'm still enjoying it.

Maybe they'll be incorporated more later? 🤷‍♀️

I don't even remember what character he played in Reply 1988?

I forgot she was in Trauma Code!

Even though he's only a second male lead in While You Were Sleeping, that's my favorite charactee by JHI. He's precious in that one.

She was in quite a few but for very brief scenes because she was in flashbacks with the ML and one of the main villains. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I remember she was featured more in later episodes.