how is the completed series? i haven't watched season 1 either. worth watching?
I hear not-so-great things about In The Name Of Blossom (season/part 2), but so far this season is very good (I have 8 episodes left currently).
If you've seen The Double, A Dream of Splendor, or When Life Begins, it has some very similar themes, tropes, and beats. But this one is a bit more... dark? Not the right word, but the female characters suffer a lot in this (it doesn't have the sensual darkness of The Double, but more like domestic abuse and just the plight of women historically which they're showing basically sucked; also, just being a child (boy or girl) of a poor family or a family without connections meant your life probably sucked because you have zero choices in life, and only get to do what your parents tell you to do).
Also, this has less overt romance than any of those dramas; the leads are more like comrades than lovers, but they have really fun interactions (and feel like a very modern couple inserted anachronistically into a historical setting 😅; to be clear, I don't mind it. It's what makes watching the more historical scenarios bearable), it just doesn't really feel like it's going anywhere beyond close friendship.
It's a bummer, because I think season 2 was supposed to tackle the "lovers" part of this story and it sounds like it didn't deliver from what I'm reading.
From what I've seen so far, Season 1 is wortth watching by itself, as long as you don't need any overt romantic culmination/conclusion and are content with the leads working nerely together having good chemistry (up to Episode 24, at least, that's all I've seen).
very similar to hospital playlist vibes with group of friends coming together throughout their workday. At first,…
I love the interplay of realism and positivity; many dramas that try to be realistic go for depressing and gritty; while this drama doesn't shy away from tough scenarios, it combats their potential hopelessness with community. "You don't have to face any of this alone," and that makes all the difference. Life is hard, but doing it with people who care about you makes it not only bearable but even sweet.
am I the only one who really likes Ha Sang Gi and Kim Ryu Jin chemistry? Their love story delivery is very natural…
More like it makes me respect her more to think she'd fall for Sang Gi, who is not from a "good fanily," flashy or charismatic and just infinitely practical and at times almost crusty (but if she's seeing the goodhearted gem underneath and attracted to THAT... awwww 😌).
just listened to Jung In’s OST “In The End”, and it’s literally the best K-drama OST. It’s definitely…
Oh yes, I instantly wanted to look it up after hearing the opening bars the first time it played, and I rarely do that with OSTs as I tend to be a BGM person. 😉 It's a VERY good track!
Is this like Attorney Woo, which focuses on cases, or like The Interest of Love (Mun Ka Young's previous work),…
I haven't seen Hospital Playlist, but some people are comparing this drama to that and/or Resident Playbook because those are slice of life dramas set in another demanding workplace.
I can kind of see the comparison on the surface, but also they're different, and a lot of people who like those dramas aren't liking this one.
Here are some of the ways this differs (in my opinion): 1) These characters feel a bit more mature and established as people or as professionals than in RP (that was of course about young doctors, so that makes sense, I guess). 2) The focus is less on drama or angst among the characters themselves (i.e. the friend group), and more about their camaraderie in the midst of their own personal challenges or when working individual cases and how they support each other throughout that process. 3) There's a lot of "talking shop" in this over meals (this is so realistic to coworker meals, by the way 😅), and 4) the humor is less frequent/more subtle and more like the humor you'd get from real people who are very familiar with each rather than humor that is funny but feels constructed for a script). 5) The locations are more balanced as far as time spent at them; they will have a decent amount of time spent in their offices, but also out and about the local district eating, gathering, and at court or even work on cases working with clients. RP almost exclusively took place at the hospital; not so here. In that sense, the title is apt. :)
It's also not quite right to say this is an office drama because those tend to focus more on the inner workings and dynamics of an office, which I find SO boring. Because law is actually pretty relational, this drama focuses more on the human interactions side of law (without much drama beyond that which you'd expect to accompany it) than on the systems of a law office. If the systems of a law office/firm come through, it's more incidental rather than the focus. It does obviously use legalese and jargon and shows what things look like in court (also seems much more realistic than the typical law drama, the first or second episode even made fun of this 😅). Also, something kind of unique about the law system in Korea (over the U.S. and I think even other than some western countries), is that lawyers there actually do on the ground investigations and evidence gathering that here in the U.S. would be left primarily to law enforcement. That is partly why you see them out about so much, which I really like.
This drama also just tries to capture the stage and season of life of these various characters, and does such a good job portraying how their lives have contributed to where they are now, and how they go about things.
Some watchers tend to think it picks up in Episodes 2-4, so if you get that far and still find it boring, it probably won't improve based on things I'm reading from others. Episode 1 MANY seem to agree was boring (I didn't think so, though; I resonated with the ML's work vibe after working his job for 9 years, and found it fascinating to see how they nailed that tone).
There are some dramas that when people say "this is a bad drama" i immediately know how bad their taste…
Yeah, the gripe I can't abide is when people say a drama is "poorly written" when it's just the genre or actors they don't like but they make it about the writing. One of my pet peeves. 🤨
So, it looks like I should not bother with this after finishing season 1? Such a bummer, I'm at Episode 21 of FP and the leads are still not even close to being together. This is when those second season attempts often fall flat. Gotta do it all in one go or not at all or you risk making a second season flop. *sigh*
Why are people calling this his comeback drama? He did Big Mouth and Decibel (a movie) after returning from the…
Huh, but a lot of actors take breaks? And he clearly wanted to mix things up as this is quite different from his other projects, even Romance Is A Bonus Book.
Gosh. China has, since the post-Republican era, had a strong equality ethic between the sexes, but is at war with…
I don't think any historical societies in the west or east had strong equality ethics between the sexes as a general rule. There were only degrees of difference (some better, others worse) in how women were treated/seen.
I swear the stations must pick a theme and all do dramas based on it because this isn't the first time different…
If I'm pretty confident it's going to remain solid and/or not have a crummy/sad ending, I sometimes prefer watching it as it airs so I can't binge it. 😅 And it's gives me something to look forward to each week!
Okay so here's an honest breakdown. Law and the City definitely didn’t turn out the way I expected. I thought…
Why are people calling this his comeback drama? He did Big Mouth and Decibel (a movie) after returning from the military already. He's already been back at it, just not doing as many projects as before his military time?
ML did a great job back in Pinocchio. I guess it's bcoz of the script, director, type of drama, etc
@IamKalai, He's doing fine in this; he's playing a colder character, so that's why he's toned down. *sigh* Seriously, don't get all the negativity about him. 🤔
ML did a great job back in Pinocchio. I guess it's bcoz of the script, director, type of drama, etc
Highly recommend (though just know it's a noona romance; I love the screenwriter for it)! And While You Were Sleeping (same screenwriter as I Hear Your Voice); he's a dork in that. 😅
It is interesting that he hasn't, honestly. So many ML roles are/have been chaebols, so it's actually incredible he's been in so dramas and never played one--I've never thought of that before!
In some ways this reminds me of A Dream Of Splendor, but as I watch further (currently on Episode 15), I'm noticing…
First of all, I've been so puzzled, because basically all the moments where the FL was in need and up against an awful situation (and she's had a boatload of terrible fortune and mistreatment), I realized I was waiting for the ML to swoop in and save her (you know, like in all the other dramas that exist).
In A Dream Of Splendor, they opt for the way less traveled by having both characters take turns saving each other, but in this drama when that moment came? The ML is almost always... nowhere to be seen OR he watches without intervening at all. 😅
It kind of annoyed me ("What the heck is going on with this guy?"), and then I realized it's because he is allowing her the dignity of figuring it out herself, and trusting her. The only times he helps/saves her (so far) are when they'd discussed beforehand that he would (and they struck a deal). It feels a little cruel at first, because friends should support and help one another, but he IS supporting her, just not in a way that diminishes or mistrusts her skills and capabilities. He's ready and waiting to help if she asks, but also isn't just in the business of pouring kindness on her out of pity. He deeply admires her. He lets her fight for every inch of what she gets so it becomes HERS because he truly believes she can and should.
Even the times when it seemed like he was penny-pinching with her, I'm beginning to think two things are actually happening in these scenes. 1) He is trolling her 90% of the time (the scenes with his old teacher made this more obvious, but I also think the FL has not honestly completely figured that out, either, until the fake dagger 😅; the ML is honestly Scarlet Pimpernel-esque in his masquerading as someone he's not while doing good in the shadows), and 2) I actually think he's doing that to preserve her dignity by wheeling and dealing with her like he would with any fellow man (instead of taking pity on her for being a "helpless women"; he's respecting her intelligence!). This is new territory for an ML in a drama. I was already pleased with the ML in A Dream Of Splendor. This is even more surprising (in a good way). I like it.
P.S. I was also annoyed at how long it was taking for the FL to trust the ML, but I actually like it now. She has been burned by a lot of men, and it makes sense she would only extend her trust to him after much time has passed where his virtue is undeniably apparent.
In some ways this reminds me of A Dream Of Splendor, but as I watch further (currently on Episode 15), I'm noticing some unique qualities of this ML and his dynamic with the FL:
If you've seen The Double, A Dream of Splendor, or When Life Begins, it has some very similar themes, tropes, and beats. But this one is a bit more... dark? Not the right word, but the female characters suffer a lot in this (it doesn't have the sensual darkness of The Double, but more like domestic abuse and just the plight of women historically which they're showing basically sucked; also, just being a child (boy or girl) of a poor family or a family without connections meant your life probably sucked because you have zero choices in life, and only get to do what your parents tell you to do).
Also, this has less overt romance than any of those dramas; the leads are more like comrades than lovers, but they have really fun interactions (and feel like a very modern couple inserted anachronistically into a historical setting 😅; to be clear, I don't mind it. It's what makes watching the more historical scenarios bearable), it just doesn't really feel like it's going anywhere beyond close friendship.
It's a bummer, because I think season 2 was supposed to tackle the "lovers" part of this story and it sounds like it didn't deliver from what I'm reading.
From what I've seen so far, Season 1 is wortth watching by itself, as long as you don't need any overt romantic culmination/conclusion and are content with the leads working nerely together having good chemistry (up to Episode 24, at least, that's all I've seen).
I can kind of see the comparison on the surface, but also they're different, and a lot of people who like those dramas aren't liking this one.
Here are some of the ways this differs (in my opinion): 1) These characters feel a bit more mature and established as people or as professionals than in RP (that was of course about young doctors, so that makes sense, I guess). 2) The focus is less on drama or angst among the characters themselves (i.e. the friend group), and more about their camaraderie in the midst of their own personal challenges or when working individual cases and how they support each other throughout that process. 3) There's a lot of "talking shop" in this over meals (this is so realistic to coworker meals, by the way 😅), and 4) the humor is less frequent/more subtle and more like the humor you'd get from real people who are very familiar with each rather than humor that is funny but feels constructed for a script). 5) The locations are more balanced as far as time spent at them; they will have a decent amount of time spent in their offices, but also out and about the local district eating, gathering, and at court or even work on cases working with clients. RP almost exclusively took place at the hospital; not so here. In that sense, the title is apt. :)
It's also not quite right to say this is an office drama because those tend to focus more on the inner workings and dynamics of an office, which I find SO boring. Because law is actually pretty relational, this drama focuses more on the human interactions side of law (without much drama beyond that which you'd expect to accompany it) than on the systems of a law office. If the systems of a law office/firm come through, it's more incidental rather than the focus. It does obviously use legalese and jargon and shows what things look like in court (also seems much more realistic than the typical law drama, the first or second episode even made fun of this 😅). Also, something kind of unique about the law system in Korea (over the U.S. and I think even other than some western countries), is that lawyers there actually do on the ground investigations and evidence gathering that here in the U.S. would be left primarily to law enforcement. That is partly why you see them out about so much, which I really like.
This drama also just tries to capture the stage and season of life of these various characters, and does such a good job portraying how their lives have contributed to where they are now, and how they go about things.
Some watchers tend to think it picks up in Episodes 2-4, so if you get that far and still find it boring, it probably won't improve based on things I'm reading from others. Episode 1 MANY seem to agree was boring (I didn't think so, though; I resonated with the ML's work vibe after working his job for 9 years, and found it fascinating to see how they nailed that tone).
In A Dream Of Splendor, they opt for the way less traveled by having both characters take turns saving each other, but in this drama when that moment came? The ML is almost always... nowhere to be seen OR he watches without intervening at all. 😅
It kind of annoyed me ("What the heck is going on with this guy?"), and then I realized it's because he is allowing her the dignity of figuring it out herself, and trusting her. The only times he helps/saves her (so far) are when they'd discussed beforehand that he would (and they struck a deal). It feels a little cruel at first, because friends should support and help one another, but he IS supporting her, just not in a way that diminishes or mistrusts her skills and capabilities. He's ready and waiting to help if she asks, but also isn't just in the business of pouring kindness on her out of pity. He deeply admires her. He lets her fight for every inch of what she gets so it becomes HERS because he truly believes she can and should.
Even the times when it seemed like he was penny-pinching with her, I'm beginning to think two things are actually happening in these scenes. 1) He is trolling her 90% of the time (the scenes with his old teacher made this more obvious, but I also think the FL has not honestly completely figured that out, either, until the fake dagger 😅; the ML is honestly Scarlet Pimpernel-esque in his masquerading as someone he's not while doing good in the shadows), and 2) I actually think he's doing that to preserve her dignity by wheeling and dealing with her like he would with any fellow man (instead of taking pity on her for being a "helpless women"; he's respecting her intelligence!). This is new territory for an ML in a drama. I was already pleased with the ML in A Dream Of Splendor. This is even more surprising (in a good way). I like it.
P.S. I was also annoyed at how long it was taking for the FL to trust the ML, but I actually like it now. She has been burned by a lot of men, and it makes sense she would only extend her trust to him after much time has passed where his virtue is undeniably apparent.