InspectorMegre

Interesting twists on rom com - lots of promises but pathetically disappointing messages

==== WRITTEN AT THE END
Wow what a waste of time. It had potential, trying to make young people's world visible, shatter some preconceived notions and stereotypes, and promote inclusiveness and the environment.

And ended up as a bunch of smart educated kids NOT taking the embezzlement files to the police, suing the university, calling the media, or whatever, etc, to end the crime there.

So the final message is that these people are just helpless kids kinda exploring some adult things but really clueless.

So that is why this was sponsored by Ministry of Culture or whatever it said at the start of the drama? That is how you brainwash the kids into complacency?

Disappointingly pathetic.


==== WRITTEN AFTER EP 8
This drama is generally cute college drama, but ... with some twists... i wonder what this drama is really trying to accomplish... It is using some unexpected twists to shock the audience...

For the first time ever, the typical asian drama plot is reversed - now the man is all heart no brains, and the woman is smart and frozen cold rather cruel. The exact opposite of a typical kdrama, which creates 100% of th plot by having FL do stupid stuff and ML save her.

I am also glad we get to see real women. Not some skinny chicks in mini skirts, like Jenny. Korean actors and actresses seems like are forced to be super thin and that is horrifying. That was fashionable in the West in 1960s... Now, what is fashionable is MUSCLES. And that is a lot healthier too.

I like that this kdrama addresses the topic of "good looking men" and how the looks are passing and not everything, and how many good looking become addicted to attention, fall and become entitled ppl, players, etc... That is a cool attempt to introduce certain equality between genders and to educate youngsters about years ahead and what really matters.

Also, FL is a comp sci major - how great. I am so glad someone is promoting engineering and comp sci, smart women, female engineers, etc. That is so cool.

This show also promotes LGBT.... which is promoted a lot lately, generally, there are so many gay romance kdramas now.... so ok, young people probably need to figure things out these days as the global overpopulation and no need for kids makes LGBT acceptable and actually ... desirable... :) but also clashes with the S Korea being the lowest with birth rate and Korean government and kdramas promoting having babies...

Then we have statements about no environmentally friendly golf courses and hotels... not using plastic straws and bottles... recycling.... Nature... Sure, I am on that...
but.... while ML is figuring that out, ML is wearing a necklace with a catholic cross... and a tank top with the Jesus crown of thorns.. Heck what was THAT??? So many gays in catholic church killing two birds with one stone...?
Then we have party crowd going in cars to some hotel in Nature... ????

Surprisingly LGBT community, at last in the USA, is actually rather wealthy and SUPER CONSERVATIVE and would NOT support green, organic, natural, saving environment, no golf courses and hotels.... They mostly vote Republican... and have taken over the entertainment, fashion, and many other areas of business and wealth and influence...

Then, what is the purpose of that sex toy at the end. It was rather ... cheap humor. I was wondering why that was introduced? Why does th audience need to see that? To shock or tickle the audience? Really? To make this drama so americanized, to have it based on shocking the audience with cheap trashy sexualization? Heck no. I dont watch anything western because of such lack of content and covering up the brainless trashiness by cheap tricks.

If this moment was going to be used to discuss the prevalent use of pornography in the last generations in the West - and perhaps that is a good thing against overpopulation? LOL but it is a bad thing for egotism..... - well those scenes did not have to last like ... 20 mins total? Why make such a big fuss about it?

because that wasted time and cheap meaningless content, I gave a low rating and got totally put off.

Some dramas like Bon Apettit Your Majesty created lots of plot just by showing food... Saves the script writer from having to think about CONTENT...

and I totaly dislike it when th content is thrown out th window

Also, I am very suspicious at this point... it seems as yet another attempt to americanize the Koreans and to cater to american audience and make them watch this and pay $$$$$ for th drama. Exactly the holywood/disney trick - put as much sex and violence and wild car chases as you can, the most lewd and explicit kind, and it will definitely make the movie/series very popular... HECK NO... I am quitting if kdramas become westernized. There is absolutely nothing worth watching in the west, and if Kdramas lose their creative CONTENT then bye bye kdramas too.

So I am not sure where this is going - is it saying - we are hip? is it saying - hey this is fun look at me? is it saying - we are sooo totally westernized, watch us, we are the same?

I dont know. But what I do know is that there is no reason to ruin a perfectly fun great drama with TRASH. No you are not cool when you show sex toys and sex in a drama. It is not cool. It is just trashy westernization.

The ONLY advantage that a kdrama has over a western piece is that a kdrama is creative, based on unique story and characters, has CONTENT, has CHARACTER GROWTH, solves problems in meaningful and warm ways, and promotes sane healthy living lifestyle.
So if a kdrama throws that out, ... there is no reason to watch it :) it becomes the same old western trash.


Kdramas now show ppl drinking whiskey, sleeping in beds, eating bread and pasta, drinking coffee, taking LOTS o sleeping pills, there are Catholic churches and crosses everywhere, like in every single drama... I dont get to see Buddhist scenes in the dramas anymore!!!!

So what is going on here, really.... ???

I will probably finish watching this on some rainy cold day like today but will fast forward through scenes that have zero content.
====

One more comment: I liked those Pilates machines and ML seems to have strong legs, so how come his shoulders and arms are so skinny?

I suspect that ML actor is some kind of fun loving party dude in real life, he is so enthusiastic and natural in those scenes, and very contrived fake in scenes where he is dumb and bland..... I wonder why he took this role.

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Ok drama.... Actor Yoon Bak shines here, great script and acting .... SML-SFL couple is the best

The fact that I 100% forgot I completed this drama a while ago, says it all... BUT after reading recaps to jog my memory, I realized I DO remember one thing: the second lead couple. The drama is worth watching it for them.

Why I watched it? bc of the premise - HOW DID CINDERELLA FEEL AT 2AM?

I just saw the title by coincidence and it looked familiar, so I clicked on it and YES I watched this drama. But I dont remember much about it except the second lead couple..

In retrospect, why I watched it?
SangMin gave a decent performance as the ML - but not great
and his brother gave an AMAZING performance, and the relationship between him and his wife was just wonderful, how two strangers fell in love
and FL was not bad. She was written as a decent person, not a damsel in distress

So overall it was not a terrible drama. When I was watching it, I was not too happy nor too unhappy about it :)
but the fact that I dont remember too much about it... means it was not so... deep or impactful or engaging
A nice frill, shall we say :)

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A great way to destress

I aw this in Korean on https://moviekhhd.biz/watch?id=9230 I dont speak Korean but I understood .. the scenes of her very male job and her dance outlet... I lived it myself :) so I can relate!!!!

Someone from India said they watched in on Hitv Android...

as a dancer with plenty of time spent in perfectionist environments, I am THRILLED to see this plot LOL it sounds fun!

I have not watched the entire movie, only the trailer, and it looks amazing! And very very realistic!!!!

This women is middle aged and of lesser athletic ability, so flamenco is PERFECT for her...
She too needs to escape into right brain creativity and expressiveness....
This story happened to me too but not with flamenco LOL Flamenco is a GREAT choice for the movie!!!!

Esp since flamenco is soooooo over the top dramatic, FLASHY, and soapy LOL this is a riot :)

and very plausible bc flamenco has lots of middle aged dancers, it is not a youngster thing for fun...
flamenco is very serious, and although flirty, not lewd, it is more about asserting personal power, in a very flashy and dramatic way - "you must notice me!!!!" and it is mostly solo but you can dance in a group too or even have a partner, and it has amazing complicated steps and music, even Africans appreciate it,

Flamenco has RHYTHM and music and stomping steps... it is perfect for emoting and breaking out - any time you want - it is a solo dance.... and doesnt require jumping or lots of space, and it has no sexy moves so nobody will be alarmed to see you dance in public ...

so you can dance it in the bathroom if you want... ! you can dance it on the street, bearfoot on the grass, in the middle of public areas, ..... anywhere.... and it is relatively easy to do....

and flamenco has lots of time expressing grief and sorrow and loss and pain and hurt and dancing it out .... stomping it all out....

and lamenco is quite easy to dance, it is NOT an athletic dance... there is more technique and attitude... and it doesnt require any expensive stuff except shoes... the skirt, the top, the shawl, you can wear on the street..... the dance itself requires just a tiny bit of space so you can dance it in your cramped tiny apartment...

the music and lively and EMOTIONAL and the dance moves are EMOTIONAL, you get to express EMOTION as much as you can - totally go over the top...

so it makes perfect sense that this woman took up to flamenco

GOOD CHOICE!!!!
If she picked Latin like salsa, ballroom or tango -- which all require male partners and are overly sexualized; or belly dance - which is solo but in a room with just other women - those dances are easy to do and would fit her fitness level and she COULD realistically dance it - but then we would call her ranchy lewd and the plot of this drama would suffer....
,
if she picked jazz or swing or soemthing more lively like that then it would be unrealistically aerobic and athletic for a middle aged woman starting from zero....

If she picked zumba at the local community center or senior center LOL then it would be too adjuma lackluster.....

If she picked something very cultural, like hula or Tahitian dance or African dance then it would introduce a whole new layer of dealing with that foreign culture and tradition..

lamenco is often danced as a universal dance, many total strangers teach it as totally unrelated to the culture, solely as "exercise" ... so...... it is PERFECT for the drama

FLAMENCO WAS A PERFECT DANCE CHOICE! wow I am impressed :)

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Great fun for 6 or so episodes and then becomes a trashy evil melodrama. Watch Moon Sang Min

SUMMARY: 2024 kdrama Wedding Impossible is so fun for the first 6 episodes, Moon Sang Min is a great great actor and comedian..

and then the drama tanks and becomes a toxic trashy melodrama, double evil, stupid ML and stupid FL bailing out at the first inconvenience... VERY stupid drama.

Moon Sang Min is a great actor though for acting "as if real life." And he is a great comedian too, he knows when to exaggerate just enough at the right time to make it a great comedy.

From ep 6 on, if you watch just his scenes, that is enough, the plot and everything is just junk. Too bad. It had a good start and then just FLOPPED
==========

WRITTEN AFTER WATCHING EP 1:
I just saw episode 1, it is Jan 2026.
I am watching bc ML actor is also ML in To my Beloved Thief 2026 historical drama. He is such an excellent actor and a fabulous comedian that I decided to check this drama out too. Omg. I love it. The script is tight, the dialogues are great, and the acting is stellar. WELL DONE DRAMA. I love FL character such a strong honest woman, and I love the acting of that actress

and yeah it is a smart drama and so the rating is so low ... MDL ratings are useless :) This is an excellent drama

===it is great UNTIL EP ... 6 or 7? BC THE DRAMA DRAGS THE SELFISHNESS OF THE GAY MAN WHO JUST WANTS TO GET MARRIED TO GET RID OF CLOSET GAY PROBLEMS. WHAT A JERK!!!
AND FL TURNS INTO A LAZY GREEDY JERK TOO AND JUST GOES ALONG AND KEEPS LYING
trashy script... very boring...
THEN.... the other brother goes off deep end and breaks with the love of his life...
THEN... she too dumps him.... !!!!!! IDIOTIC!!!! and it is totally unclear WHY except that it is two little kids..

What started well, has gone totally off the deep end. The script became trash. The drama is about 3 spoiled teenagers, well JiHan is least spoiled, but his bro is a snowflake slimey jerk, and FL is ... immature .... and then we have Grandpa CEO who is a super bad businessman, showing his conglomerate into hands of De Hon who does NOT want it. Grandpa has not learned ONE thing in all those years, and is a CONTROL FREAK to the point of being mentally ill.

The gay brother is a total complete monster jerk, soooo slimey selfish, it is ... well... pathetic. Then we have the dumb FL who helps that PARASITE. The parasite has an art studio in Korea, an art studio in NYC, lives his life with lots of money - as long as he keeps it secret that he is gay. Then he uses FL to marry her and camouflage himself and blackmails her she has to do that for him. WOW MORON.

SO overall, ... the drama is ... a story of 2 kids, their kid brother and a nasty grandpa trying to control them. But really most time in the drama is 2 or 3 kids on the screen.

And ML FL kids keep promising to each other there is no secrets, and NOBODY ever is saying hey the groom is gay. Common.... no secrets, ha?
And if you are a girl, you gotta be a midget and be up to the navel of the guys. What the heck is that, to make all females look like children???

then... the non-gay brother admits publicly he was chasing FL and then he DISAPPEARS, breaking up with her "to protect her".... ??? wtf??? what was that about??? I didnt not even understand this idiocy.... HOW is he "helping her"???? excuse me... ??? WHAT IS GOING ON in this drama?????

Then... this chick DUMPS HIM.... !!!!! wtf? ... what kind of plot is that.. ???

THIS IS A ***VERY STUPID**** TEENAGE DRAMA after ep 6or 7....

ep 9,10, 11 are IDIOTIC SCRIPT .... FL "doesnt want pain" and keeps bailing out and dumping her true love..... IT IS COMPLETELY STUPID.... and that guy - why did he dump her first... ???? WTF IS EVEN REASONING IN THIS DRAMA???

The actor I wanted to watch, Moon Sang Min is doing a great job of acting in this mess. He is the brother of the closeted gay and he wants his bride... who is too ... dumb....and lying... and sooo weak... and he too.. he dumps her... then she dumps him... then he comes to get her back... REally really DUMB toxic script... He is acting well in a script that is stupid...

So this year 2024 drama THAT IS THE SAME as old dramas where you have a super weak woman making dumb choices all the time to save her as# or to "help people" and TAKE EASY WAY OUT and in tthis drama, her true love ALSO makes such choices, so you have TWO DUMB PPL

In other words, this drama is totally evil. FL IS DUMB AND WEAK, AS USUAL, AND KEEPS CREATING STUPID PLOT PLUS HER MALE PAIR IS STUPID TOO,.... !!!!!

COMMON!!!! YEAR 2024 WITH YOUNG ACTORS!!!! WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS???? Well millenial bullshit... Snowflakes..

And FL gives it voice over - how in life we CANNOT BE HONEST bc we lie to cover our cowardince and clumziness. WTF.... WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE IS THAT!!!!! for year 2024!!!!!!

---
The only adult in this drama is the 2FL, the "top 10 Forbes" female CEO. She is really worth her high position.

FL is a trashy cheap INSECURE weak looser who keeps making promises bailing out.
ML is a spoiled insecure brat.
Gay brothere was a slimey parasite and luckily quit that at the end.


====
So overall, this is worth watching for the first 6 episodes or so. It is fun and seems to be moving along.
Moon Sang Min is a great actor and a great great comedian.
He is super cocky and keeps advertising himself as good looking with a great voice, and sure you have to notice he is cute, bc he is such a good actor. He really acts well and cathes all comedy moments, he is hillarious.

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Fun true love story, lighthearted warmhearted and uplifting

This is not one of those masterpiece movies, it is rather simple and lightweight, BUT it is also rather profound. Simple is beautiful :) The story is about true love - the dude does everything to help her, lets her go and lets her come to him on her own.

The plot is fun, the actions are righteous, and the resolutions lead to everyone growing up and changing for better... So, I say, this is one movie to watch.

The only problem with this movie is that the FL has done NOTHING for her character growth except to go away to fulfill her dreams and then come back to him. She is oblivious to everything that happened LOL
ML did all the work.... as usual in most kdramas :(
The second most of the emotional work and growing up was done by the "demon" LOL who luckily responded to all the work of the ML. FL's dad and sisters stayed consistently great.

As for technicalities:
Hm, FL lead got an acting award for her role here... "The 29th Chunsa International Film Festival was held on December 23. Lim Yoon A, who played the lead character Jung Seon Ji in the film Pretty Crazy, released this past August, received the Best Actress award for her movie role. "

I saw the FL aka this actress in question in King the Land and in Bon Apettit your Majesty and she acted THE SAME in both - exact same facial expressions and body language..... It was OK in Bon Apettit bc it fit the ML acting style and the two of them did some great comedy together. She has a talent for finding comedic moments.

But ... the point is, she acts the same every time.... And she acts that SAME as the Daytime FL in this movie too. The only difference is acting crazy at night. She did that part fine, but anyone can act that... acting crazy is easy.... and .. even some of those demon faces are repeats of her SAME "angry look" from all other dramas.
So ... why did she get the award... ? bc her dramas brought in a lot of money and had lots of viewers?

So that's why I gave 9.5 for acting. Bc FL is the same old repeated herself. I really dont see different characters when she acts.

The Dad - that famous actor - should get an award for his role, he is great...

ML in this movie is great and should get an award for acting too.

This is the first time ever I saw ML actor. I was pleasantly surprised.
ML is incredibly handsome! Esp since he doesnt look like a "plastic flower boy" but like a real person, he even has wrinkles from frowning, had real color in his face, clearly he was not indoors all the time, and he is a genuine healthy athlete, not just a couch potato lifting weights, and he has genuine black hair. So refreshing!

So many models taking up acting and being terrible at it.. like... ML in Would you Marry Me, etc etc etc. Many cannot even smile, or have artificial "gym" bodies, like ML in Dynamite Kiss... Many are so pale, it is clear they have not been outdoors forever, like... ML in The Real Has Come or ML in Spirit Fingers (at least they acted very well there, but a pale bloated face is just .. not a healthy sight.)

After writing this, I read the bio of ML actor and found that I was correct, he is a gold medal boxer. Ok, I got that! I am an athlete myself so I could tell he is an athlete and moves correctly from the core. All right, score in investigation, inspector megre!
But I know nothing about plastic surgeries.... so... am I correct that this is not (at least not big) plastic job? Maybe I can only detect only huge distorted plastic looks, like... Cher, mom of FL in Graceful Liar, etc.

In any case, ML is one handsome guy who looks like a real guy to me and is a real athlete, and also acts well. Wow refreshing!

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Old time sexism on steroids aka PRINCESS FANTASY FOR LITTLE GIRLS AKA A GREAT BUSINESS SWINDLE

I was wondering - has Netflix really made something along the lines of a real kdrama... ??? Where was the catch... ? And sure enough LOL this is a smelly pile of script..

So the first part is mostly about virtual dating, where the princess girl gets a big house, lots of dresses, shoes, jewelry, and any guy she wants - and she wants pretty guys :) with nice bodies :) That's THE ONLY criteria :)
The FL actress is acting so well, she is confident enthusiastic hot girl going on dates with several virtual guys and having fun... FL is rather selfish and immature... but at least NATURAL... and ML actor is on screen just a tiny bit as her colleague in her real life.

THEN THE SECOND PART IS DATING IN REAL LIFE - and this lovely young lady goes into the 1950s mode of trash kdrama sexism - she is prudish, child-like clutz woman-child. OMG!!!! in year 2026!!!!! we see a grown, professional woman behave like a little school girl with boys.... Not even kids behave like that today... !!!!! And... she sticks with her virtual boyfriend too :)

AND THE DRAMA TAKES A NOSE DIVE AND BECOMES SUPER BORING **** C R I N G E **** Basically you get the Practical Guide to Love, FL and ML....

THIS SCRIPT IS TRASH!!!! and consequently, the acting of FL goes down the drain and for the second half of the drama, she is a mentally disabled dumbo and a very weak immature loser.. chick... A WOMAN-CHILD ... using men

INCREDIBLE!!! this is a real ... jester job... ENTIRE DRAMA IS ABOUT SHOPPING FOR PRETTY BOY TOYS AND GETTING A GREAT SERVICE
it is like ... going on dates with a bunch of escorts... who are all dying to take care of FL...

THIS IS TRULY ... A CON JOB.... and a very successful one, women are paying to see many men without a shirt on, and seducing, and kissing as# and doing whatever the woman says, and the woman can be as awful as she wants... or, to be more precise, as she IS.

WOW THIS IS CONSUMERISM TAKEN TO A NEW LEVEL... SHOPPING FOR A PRETTY BOY TOY!!!! and it is all planned!!!!! bc sooo many dramas have one chick trying zillion guys, or dating 2 at a time.... wooow...

So this is like female Epstein files, allowing women to do what men have always done and women complained about. Instead of becoming better people who are equal, this drama is along the lines of becoming equal in being murky selfish people and using each other.

======

The first part is the satire of all the tropes that kdramas use to grab female audience. It is such a great ridicule, a great jester comedy!!!! The most fun and most sad part is that so many women will not realize that they are being made fun of, and they will be too busy admiring all the good looking guys... And the whole point is to show how immature women fall for those tropes.

I am sorry to male actors, their roles were so ridiculously simple and actually - demeaning - they had to act out some delulu immature chicks fantasy. Well - just like they do in real dramas :) too often.... I realized - the male roles are to be an ESCORT ....

I am glad I saw Undercover High School ML, he was so fun in that drama... This role was waaaay too simple for him in this drama.... he was like a robot escort... ... ML actor is also wasted, he is such a great actor and this role is super simple and dumb...

Then the 2nd part starts and ... gosh this is the classic old time sexist kdrama... AGAIN!!! where FL is this clutz immature weak woman-child... WHO WANTS HER AS@ KISSED AND GUYS WHO ARE ALWAYS THERE FOR HER... like robots .... And... her behavior with ML is just... CRINGE childish... she is portrayed as a total moron for personal life , sooo immature and weak... and such a consumer, eating up guys who dote on her... AND YET ANOTHER IDOL WORSHIPER OF PRETTY FACES ... gosh... such a dumb chick ...
So again, the drama makes fun of such women-children and again lures them in with a "pretty face guy"

AND ML CHARACTER PLAYS INTO THIS TROPE OF LOYAL DOTING GUY, he liked her for so long and didnt pick anyone else - although she never deserved his liking her. So that is the old sexist kdrama trope - this fully dedicated man although the woman is super flawed, stupid, childish, and very crude to him and in general... in general, just a dumb immature snowflake... .

So right now I am starting ep 6 and I SO BADLY WANT TO SEE REVIEW BY OPPA_ if that person wrote a review on this...
Bc I am suspecting there is a catch with this drama...

I like that FL actress is a great actress. IN THE FIRST PART ONLY. After ep 5 or 6, when the real guy steps in, the FL actress is clearly acting fake bc the script is trash cringe. She is having difficulty acting the immature cringe..... BC IT IS NOT A NATURAL BEHAVIOR to behave like an elementary school girl. YET THAT IS WHAT KIDRAMAS EXPECT. this is the classic classic kdrama sexism... !!!!! What FL did here, is EXACTLY how all those FLs behave ... Practical Guide to Love is an example of that ..... woooow....

That FL chick is totally undeserving of ML's attention, she always treated him badly, then he confessed and she avoids him and rejects him, non stop and he keeps coming back.. .... AND SHE IS AFRAID TO LOVE BC IT WILL END, SO SHE KEEPS REJECTING HIM AND DUMPING HIM.... ... omg what a loser coward ... and he keeps coming back ...... omg what a loser coward.

WOW this is the recipe for every trashy rom com.... YUCK!!!! how did a great actor like the ML end up doing this? Does Netflix pay very well... ???? I do hope he has better scripts to choose from..

THIS SCRIPT IS TRASH!!!! and consequently, the acting of FL goes down the drain and for one half of the drama, she is a mentally disabled dumbo and a very weak immature loser.. chick... A WOMAN-CHILD

WOOOOOOWWWWW THIS IS A SCAM!!!!! THIS DRAMA IS A SCAM!!!! THIS KIND OF SCTRPT SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IN YEAR 2026!
or ... it should be... ? bc there are so many lonely women with money who will pay to watch this smelly piece of script...

I really like that actors are not super skinny skeletons :) FL got nice legs :) ML also looks like a normal athletic guy. So at least the drama has a healthy look. I really like that ML has naror and slanted eyes, not plastic surgery big eyes.

I dislike that such a great actor like the ML actor is put into this overly simple role. But then... I realize... all typical male roles ARE this... omg... this is like seeing the whole mechanics of dramas... This is like seeing the swindling behind the scenes...

Wow who was it who thought of selling this idea of reverse polygamy and/or decadent lewd behaviors by women - basically everything rotten that men used to do? Great busines mind. So many - most? - new kdramas are based on such women.
Our Universe, Practical Guide to Love, Climax, A Graceful Liar, etc etc etc etc etc ...

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1950s values - shallow/blinded women competing. doormat women doting on stoic parastitic guys

The first few episodes while they are bus conductors are cute and ok and even powerful social commentary. That part shows young ppl putting in effort to move forward in life, and "UglyFriend" as a powerful force in social change and worker's rights. BUT THEN THE CHARACTERS NEVER GROW MUCH IF AT ALL.
After the time gap, this drama went totally trashy and promoted 1950s relationship between YR the doormat and JP the entitled male brat

The ONLy good part was the MrQueen King actor, he was awesome, and Sang Cheol taking Single Mom on a honeymoon and saying he will do his best to bring home a honeymoon baby. And scenes of him and Mr Kim the driver talking about handing off the fatherhood and Mr. Kim peeking at the church. The rest... forget.

The rest was trash - the narcissist JH and her abuse of YR being mean etc, YR as the naive baby girl doormat sucking up to JP, and JP as a robotic poker face using YR and then playing with JH

YR is somehow supposed to be good for being a naive immature doormat who taks cute like a little girl and thinks cute like a little girl and crawls on the floor FOR YEARS to catch any sign of polite and cold kindness of the fat as@ Jae Pil, who finally bestowes his princely charms because he realizes he needs YR as a personal servant for free the rest of his life.

The characater of JH is immature, mean, shallow to the max, and the most disturbing thing is how many of the audience found her charming and angelic and even accused YR of backstabbing her. All the narcissists in the world love JH ....

OVERALL THE DRAMA IS ABOUT TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS THAT DO NOT ADVANCE AT ALL BC PEOPLE DO NOT CHANGE

IT IS HOPELESS
and that is very western. This is Netflix. THe drama is about ordinary toxic ppl doing toxic things and not fixing their messes. It is a study in toxicity. REading the comments and reflecting on the drama should be a required homework for every psychiatrist, psychoilogist and social worker.

THIS IS JUST 10000% TOXIC

and worth watching just to analyze all the shades of it
The acting is good so you get to see how real life plays out

TERRIBLE, DISAPPOINTING, HOPELESS, NO CHARACTER GROWTH, JUST TOXIC, **** DEAD END ****

YR, JH and JP are very realistic toxic characters from real life. And that is why it is so frustrating to watch YET ANOTHER character like that for 12 hours. Nuff already. We saw it all. We see it every day. We do not need to see that anymore! We need to see the solutions.

This drama skillfully and cunningly endorses "1950s" type of people and relationships as commendable, so in fact it promotes the status quo in sexism, catering to men, women competing and backstabing each other for men, shallow ambition of being in a peagant, shallow ambition of waiting around a guy, women not thinking further than their nose, men ennjoying privileges and personal servants for free, etc. This drama could have been set in Goreo or Joseon or before, and it would be the SAME plot.
And that dead-end just stating problems and never showing any hope for any solution is the trademark of western media.
For a piece of art to be truly a piece of art, it has to give some ideas for solutions and has to show some transformation.

This particular drama is useful as a study in toxicity because you can dig through the layers and you can see the comments of the audience and realize the toxicity in the society and the false beliefs.

**** So this drama is useful like a dissection class at the medical school. **** But someone needs to start producing art with solutions, ie. some healing ideas and solutions.

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Interesting :) Lots of smoke and mirrors and a puppy-eye serial killer turned hero

This drama is very western concept in some ways bc it addresses "rare" "special" pepple, a high level diplomat who becomes a President of a country (FL) and Paik San Ho, a man with a very shady and for-most-part-unknown past....

Paik San Ho was a professional assassin, he was a cold blooded killer, and he still kills people like moskitoes, to the very end of the drama. YES.
Yeah he was a strong silent type and he fell in love with FL. And she too. AND million women in the audience, all swooning over him.... puppy-eyed assassin who works for you is apparently a great turn on... !!!!!

But in this drama, we saw Paik transform into someone in love - not only to the woman, but to the PRINCIPLES of peace and unity that the woman stands for. And he vows to help her accomplish that, and puts his skills and his life on line to help her accomplish that.
.
In this drama, paid assassin and bodyguard Paik was used as a vehicle to bring peace to the world. He turned out to be a hero who saved the world from nuclear holocaust. And that is an interesting message...

The ending? You have to decide. The ending looks like an open door to possible season 2. Maybe... and also looks like an advertisement for Catholic church. The entire drama is...

This drama has cat and mouse game that is really really really intricate, if you are going to watch it, you have to pay attention to every detail, the twists, the games, the betrayals are out of left field, all the time.

The drama is very western as it feels like whiplash, they are always in life danger and everything is so hyper, your adrenaline will be severely tested...

So there is some character growth but it happens in midst of chaos... This drama is CHAOS

The real fun part is commentary on the state of the world and the politics. The drama is worth watching for those 2 minutes.

The ending is of course a very artificial happy ending. In real life, FL and ML would have been dead by ep 2 or 3, the latest.

PS - So this drama is 100% different than Ms and Mr Smith american movie, those two were assassins and stayed assassins... for the sole purpose of lining their own pockets.

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Had potential but failed

>>>>> Written after ep 68:
Started as not a cheap makjang but a deep psychological drama, with some great acting by loan shark Nan Suk and villain Chairman. FL was terrible so I kept waiting for the plot and FL to improve but ... the drama kept getting worse and I dropped.

FL is written badly, and the actress cannot act so it is best to sideline her. Her lines and her acting are THE EXACT SAME from ep 1 to ep 68. Finaly in ep 68 her dumb entitled behavior has consequences and she ends up in a coma - where she should stay until the end, imo bc that actress cannot act.

Other characters also do not change. Everything is just about outsmarting and outdoing each other with clever schemes

Bc of no growth in characters, and the only good guy Ha Neul regressing to be a bad guy, I dropped this drama after about ep 52 and occasionally come to take a peek.

The end of the drama became a smelly pile of script as the characters engaged in decadent sick behaviors, you did not know who was sleeping with whom, who was killing whom, and whose child was who, it was total Kardashians-like cesspool, and I was DISGUSTED. I stopped even coming in to check if the drama finally made it back on track. It was TOTALLY derailed.

============================

>>>>>Overall impression Written after ep 52:

The story is a chess game of manipulations and lies between ppl who are acting on their greed and complacency. Supposedly good characters turn corrupt, there are all kinds of messes... and eventually it seems some bad characters turn complex and some even redeeming. Or not LOL

The main purpose of this drama is to make the audience question where the line is. Are you supposed to go on a rampage spree and destroy people so that you can "revenge" that you were poor and powerless, or is there a better way.

Our female lead started as poor and powerless and exploited, but then she turned in an evil character who made so many people suffer needlessly - and DID NOT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING EXCEPT KILLING HER FATHER .... and dragging the only moral and sane person down to her level of low cheap TOXIC dirt.... ... so now in th second half of the drama, she is starting a little differently but still with the same basic TOXIC ideas... and it is not going to end well :)

The main plot here is based on a woman - FL - doing revenge against her mother and another woman (YC). The revenge is based on GREED and BITTERNESS and BLINDNESS. She went after YC for good and proven reasons, but in a way that is .. wow destructive to sooo many ppl, including killing her father and emotionally wrecking her husband, whom she used for the revenge... and the audience found that entertaining and justified... If anything, this drama exposes the nasty in ppl.. .
And the way FL went after her mother is super ... blind.
And the way she went after the money is ... exposing the most nasty possible in every human being.

FL is pretty bad at acting and that is a real problem of the drama... and MLs are not acting too convincingly so that dampens the drama - why are drama ppl using "young and supposedly hot and popular" actors regardless of their ability to bring their character to life .... ???

I referred to Ha Neul as the ML :) I was shocked to find that SH is supposed to be ML. SH is not much on the screen, and it is pretty much flat and very ... simple character... and quite boring character and acting. We do not know anything about him!!! he is more like a tool on the side rather than a participant in the actual plot

luckily there are other characters who do pull the drama - the main ones are Chairman and Nan Suk - and

after ep 50, side characters are brought up to save the show, and it helps a lot. Hopefully the script will bring them out too - we need to see who they are.

We still got only ONE glimpse of who FL's husband really is... YC is still pretty much one-sided stupid brat ....
FL's mom was made more interesting by showing her greedy nasty side :)
the henchmen are now "waking up" etc

_____ A LOT OF INSIGHT INTO THE DRAMA CAN BE FOUND IN COMMENTS BY OPPA_ BELOW. I WILL QUOTE SOME OF IMO THE KEY POINTS:
THIS IS OPPA_COMMENT THAT SUMMARIZES THE DRAMA:
=== begin comments by OPPA_:
"In this drama, the FL didn’t choose the right or difficult path — she chose the easy one. And that’s the core of my point. Her actions weren’t empowering or revolutionary; they were simply convenient. Success without dignity or honesty doesn’t feel like success to me, and it definitely doesn’t make the character admirable or justified."

"FL did succeed in deceiving people long enough to manipulate her way into marriage with a wealthy man who would’ve never even looked at her if he knew her real identity. That’s the kind of “success” built entirely on lies. "

"those fancy outfits and that money don’t come for free. They come with anxiety, constant fear, and the pressure of maintaining a lie that grows bigger every day. Once someone chooses that easy, unethical path, they keep going deeper because turning back means facing consequences they are terrified of. It becomes a point of no return — submit to the dark side or let the truth destroy everything. And most people who choose shortcuts never plan to deal with the fallout… until it’s too late."

"there was nothing noble or romantic about Ha Neul behavior. It didn’t feel like love; it felt like pure lust and infatuation. He wasn’t protecting truth or doing what's morally right — he was driven by desire, not principles. "
==== end of comments by OPPA_ =====

>>>>>Written after ep 7 by me LOL:
This drama is so well done. The complexity makes it interesting, and the fact that FL is not a clutz as typical. FL actress is doing a great job portraying the complexity, which is also rare.

I think the description of the drama has to be changed bc it does not really fit the vibe. This is not a cheap makjang but a very serious deep psychological drama (and social commentary).

The acting is great. There are a lot of characters and they are all... shady to some degree LOL the best one is the Ha Neul but even he is shady, hiding secrets and wrongdoings of FL...

I think HN story is TOXIC AND DESTRUCTIVE...
NL story is a very toxic plot and toxic relationship with FL... He started as someone with brains and intergity, and then dragged himself down into her mud bc he "loves" her.. Capul... he does not love her for real.. it is rather ... codependent relationship... ... it is a very toxic relationship and plot...
He dragged himself down into her mud... It is like falling in love with an addict and enabling them... HN enables wrongdoings of FL and it leads into tragic outcomes..... for so many ppl. HN betrayed his best friend, enabled killing of FL's father, etc etc etc

======
A typical kdrama FL is a clutz clueless loser who is taken advantage of in some way and/or lacks the skills to navigate life and is always on the bottom, taken advantage of. These losers are usually "good" characters, who are naive, insecure, etc and in fact acting as indirect villains i.e. enablers, because they allow the real villains to wreck chaos, unchecked :) So their path of redemption is to stop being enablers... and to still stay good LOL I think this plot was suitable for housewives in 1950s... or abused women...

In this drama, the FL is not an enabler :) She starts as a good but insecure naive character who is capable and keeps trying to win her life in proper ways - but there are objective obstacles to it and she lacks the luck and the know-how to move on forward - and then.... makes a bad decision out of greed and complacency, and then goes further down the easy glam shady path LOL
and then she has to return :) her redemption will be to make her designer dream come true and make money that way and leave the impersonation
I think this plot is applicable to many contemporary working woman today :)

======
WRITTEN AFTER EP 52:
FL actually turned to be a very small wounded child who did all this out of greed, and justified it with revenge against her bio mom, and then blindly like a raging bull, without any thought or reason, went in to INTENTIONALLY HARM people.... And caused death of her father... and emotional breaking of her (spoiled snowflake chaebol) husband...

It was pretty pathetic.... FL has so much to grow... and the actress is not good in acting...

The plot is a real chess game of ppl playing manipulation games with each other. HOPEFULLY it results in some character growth. So far... not really :)

The characters turned out interesting... bc ... Chairman actor is so good at his camouflaged serial killer role... so sweet and polite... and then horrifying.. He added an element of a horror movie... Truly!!!!!! Although I totally admire his acting, he is scary to watch. Like watching a hungry lion monster in your face, sniffing you quietly. He is suuuuper good at his role. It does not get so much screen time bc he is one sided psychocrazy serieal killer camouflaged as a sweet loving charming person, but he steals the show as he sets the tone. HE SETS THE BASE TONE AND THE BACKGROUND FOR THE WHOLE DRAMA.

And the main villain Nan Suk actress is so good at acting and so fun to watch and listen to. The script makes her say aloud what she is thinking, so we got to "know her" and she has masterfully brought that character to life The drama is alive bc of *her*. I love watching her. That actress is so masterful in acting. Also, she is pretty and acts a lot with her face and body language and voice, and has amazing flashy wardrobe and jewelry and makeup, so she is really really really fun to watch. She is a complex character.....
So I would say these two actors carry this drama.
They made their characters totally REAL and ALIVE.

FL's dad was such an unpleasant redneck, but it turned out he was the only relatively sane and moral character... He is gone now. And it is ok. He and the acting was not enlivening the drama...

But the rest of the characters are far from moral or sane... This drama is about so many ppl making severe mistakes out of greed and/or complacency....
Now the side characters are starting to get more time and it is getting more interesting.

The only other "good" character - well USED TO BE good - Ha Neul - and I call him ML bc he is the true love interest of FL - and the actor listed as ML is doing very little - well he is a very shady one too. Out of cowardice and complacency, he stood by FL as she was doing all kinds of crimes. So he started as a moral and upright person to end up at the pit of being a pathetic partner in crime... It is a very toxic relationship as he stands by FL as she does one stupid thing after another... So now we have TWO little wounded kids collaborating in revenge... I am not sure what will happen. but.. And this actor is young too and not quite capable of showing the complexity of this character. The script too has to help him.

The "official" ML has so little screen time and is shown as one dimensional flat moma boy snowflake, and the acting is really mediocre. But perhaps could be better, there was ONE scene where he did not have any veneers (the shower scene with YC trying to seduce him) and that is the only scene where he was uncensored himself and acted well.

The drama ppl try to help these young male actors by showing them in the shower, and that is a lot nicer self therapy than getting drunk and a lot more fun to watch LOL and leads to better plots... but I think the guys should ACT more and rely less on the shower. The shower scenes are not what we are here for. It's ok to have two so far but let us work on acting.

Actually, the amazingly handsome dudes are the henchman. One is obviously some kind of heavy duty athlete and looks stunning in his business suit, and both are excellent actors as finaly they are being brought from the background and acting and more alive as as human beings. Ep 52 the heavy athletic one is shown eating and moving around .... in his business suit ... and yeah that dude has a body!!!! But what is more important, it is a body of a character that is shown ALIVE, SMART AND CARING, the ***acting*** makes it wow.

So it was fascinating to see how a totally dead character - a henchman killer just standing there stiffly with a poker face in every scene he was in - suddenly turned alive ... and now we see a PERSON! a person who physically looks amazing and has lots of feelings. That actor is amazing.

And then two shady henchman characters who helped in all kinds of murders etc turned out to be a little bit humane .... The other one is comical... but that one at least did not kill anyone that we know of so far,,,

Side note but imporatnt - this new fad of demanding that female actresses be SO THIN to the point of looking like a skeleton... One thing it does, it makes their bones be weak and their legs esp under the knee look like an O...
so putting a mini skirt on that looks hideous while walking, as the knees look so gnarly and the bones clunk around... boots make it even more visible...

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Started as a pretty good fun drama - but no character growth whatsoever for FL

This started as a fun drama, explores some deep issues and questions about The Will of God versus our own will, our karma, our karmic duties, and what happens when we do not cooperate with the Divine ....

The main issue is that FL is 100% immature and coldly selfish, cold closed heart, and she STAYS like that until the very end. A total waste of drama...

It could have been a 10 star drama bc the actors are great and just were not utilized properly.

The ML and FL are not shown liking each other. Either the actors just didnt feel it, and/or the director didnt force them to act it... but .. it is already Feb 18, I think ep 8 finished? and there is only 12 episodes and we havent seen enough of the romance or friendship ....

Sure they start as total strangers, then she tortures him and ruins his life and of course he is not gonna like her, however, that part of that drama DRAGS TOO LONG. She tortured him bc she was intrigued by him and kinda "owned him" and explored him and found reasons to keep appearing to him. But the drama doesnt explore that. It seems like she is just a mean person. But the fact is, she likes him and wants to make sure he noticed her - and she is using wrong methods for that. Sure, she is not aware of her feelings yet - but we the audience arent either!!!! bc the drama showed it, in a few seconds here and there. It was not enough to create tension and to convince the audience there is something romantic going on. We saw her being confused bc her hear flutters but the drama never explored that...

Lomon is really good at acting romantic scenes. ANd FL is also cute when she tries to flirt with him. That should have happened a LOT sooner.

First it should have been accidental blopers - since she liked him first and tortured him to get his attention, there should have been a LOT more "accidental" hitting on him too - WE HAD TO SEE THAT SHE WAS SOMEHOW SATISFIED THAT SHE HAD A REASON TO KEEP HANGING AROUND HIM "TO SHOW HIM" WHAT SHE CAN DO - and then it should have increased to the point where they became cognizant of their attraction, by the middle of the drama (ep 6) they should have been kinda together already

It was just too slow of a burn, and also while they didnt like each other, it was too harsh. She kinda hit on him and suggested dating, but it was so ... scientiically cold... and he just ... didnt feel anything bc she was so harsh, her tinny screaming nagging criticizing voice was irritating even to me... LOL LOL LOL

So perhaps, if they started being more friendly earlier, that would have saved the drama. This way, they are kinda jumping from enemies to lovers kinda overnight. So I think a little less of episodes on how she was misbehaving - we got it!!!!! omg we got it!!!! she was just obnoxious!!!! gnarling fox, so unplesant!!!! and he so cold and hurt.... SO LESS OF THAT - and more episodes about the two of them... I am not a script writer so I cannot say anything official, these are just some ideas.

The ending was terrible as FL just regressed back to how she was at the beginning... Ouch... !!!

So overall, if the plot/acting was a tad bit softer and their FRIENDLY INTERACTION and then naturally evolving into romance started earlier, it would have been a much better drama.
But - each couple is different, some jump from enemies to lovers into romance fast. If the script writer wanted to portray that, then I am not sure what kind of tricks they could use to squish the number of episodes while they are enemies, and/or to show more "cracks" in how they are officially not on the same page but are feeling attraction.

Their attraction happens just too fast and sudden and unnatural, and TOO LATE in the drama
That is a sad loss of talent, bc both actors CAN act very well.

And the drama would be worthwhile if FL changed and opened her heart by the end. SHE NEVER DID.

We the audience really do not care to spend the entire drama watching two people quarreling and bickering and learning all there is to know about their character faults and personal issues... That can be shown quite well with a few selected scenes... . We want to see THE PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION and we want to see THE RESULTS of that process.

So the old kdrama format - 1/4 for context and issues, 1/4 for starting romance, 1/4 for overcoming challenges to being together, 1/4 about putting it all together - did I get this right? I think this is usually the recipe. Sometimes it is pushed bc Part 1 is too long so putting it all together is too rushed at the end, but.. This recipe generally is a pretty good recipe that leaves the audience satisfied.

DON'T DRAG THE PAIN
SPEND A LOT OF TIME SHOWING TRANSFORMATION
is my advice here

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Lesson in karma. Spiritual equvlnt of "don't drink and drive or else bad things will happen to ya"

This drama is about absolute stupidity of ppl who do NOT listen and who think certain things are a joke or some kind of fun, and who utter wishes which are totally ... inappropriate, and who make actions that are totally inappropriate - and then cause unnecessary trouble like crazy

For example: the shaman's daughter wishing that her mother dies. then getting soooo mad about the talisman that she publicly ridiculed her friend; the "pretty boy" who beat up the friend; and then friend wishing they all die and hurting herself. THOSE ARE VERY DUMB STUPID ACTIONS

This drama is really a lesson on karma and what not to do. It is spiritual equivalent of "dont drink and driver or else you will get in trouble."

The drama is quite cringe and totally Hogwarts kind of stuff for young ppl

BASICALLY THE MESSAGE OF THIS DRAMA IS TO STAY CALM, PAY ATTENTION, NOT GO TO PLACES THAT FEEL WEIRD, NOT HANG OUT WITH PPL WHO FEEL WEIRD, AND NEVER WISH OR SAY OR BEHAVE IN WAYS THAT ARE LESS THAN EXEMPLARY

the whole drama is about the law of karma
and the demonic forces that help to execute punishment for creating bad karma

Also, it is notable that most kids got in trouble for sheer curiosity, stupid needless joking, as well as perceived "needs" such as grades, and asking to get it without any effort, i.e. the kid was delusional in their thinking. Also notice that no kids wished that the app be deleted forever, they all were too self-centered and did not see beyond their own little issues in front of them - and that allows the evil to propagate.

Notice that only kids who had the courage and intergrity to HONESTLY TALK about what happened to them survived. Kids that believed some bs and never asked to clarify it, did stupid stuff and died/got stuck.

Also notice that all key players actively contributing to the evil app were somehow connected to evil and/or had a propensity for it. For example:
Shaman's daughter GENUINELY wished her mother to die, publicly ridiculed her friend, did not stop the beating of her friend by the "pretty guy", wished to create the demonic app - she was truly the daughter of her mother whom she so hated - her mother was a black shaman, capable and willing to harm others...

the friend kept hanging out with the shaman mom and wished death to others;
Na Ri was a chronic liar and deceiver/manipulator/backstabber, grabber, club goer/drinker and an entitled rich kid; I would think she would end up as a drug addict and/or a major nasty figure of authority

and the weird Discord kid who reactivated the app was taking pills and giving them to HJ; he read the online manual for the app; and he knew for sure that HJ died and the app kills - YET he listened to what the demon wrote online and went to retrieve the phone and reactivate the app. That kid was off the rails somehow...

All the kids who helped the evil had some major problems and evil streaks
and some looked so cute ... those girls with long hair, so pretty like dolls... but ... killers
The discord kid definitely looked weird and behaved weird

So the bottom line is - be someone exemplary, live a clean decent life, and do not indulge in things that are overboard, shady, etc communicate honestly,
and that will be your "wash your hands before you eat and dont drink when you drive" kinda protection mechanism.

>>>>> The drama has some very deep messages that most of the audience might miss while watching the glitz special effects :) <<<<<

For those messages, I give the drama 10/10.
The gory details and shocks are kinda cringe cheesy so that's why overall lesser rating.

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A fun mini cooking class and intro to military life, with a star-studded cast, UNHINGED

The actors in this drama had a blast, it was visible they really enjoyed horsing around, as most of them usually played villains and here they were good guys having fun with food. It was nice to see their commaraderie it was nice to see positive messages about trusting yourself and doing your best, honestly, and ppl helping each other, and... the drama was a miniature cooking class lmao

The drama was a lighthearted, warm and bright advertisement for the military, but it was also realistic in some ways and showed military faults that everyone knows about - corruption, rank dominance, bullying, red tape, etc.

The military corruption was showed only on the low level, and resolved in a ... rosey way ... but ... why not. The drama did not attempt to bite more than it could chew. The problems were appropriate for the situation - a new military cook in a far outpost.

The drama focused on showing something really important - military as a place for broken/poor people to receive training, gain work skills and perhaps even life calling, and a community.
ML was a depressed grieving young person and this cooking job in the military gave him something to do and led him to discover his life calling. He also made some connections and friends. That has always been one of the major draws of joining the military and ... still is :)

Food is definitely one of the major tools for bonding ppl, and esp in military, it is something to look forward to and it definitely boosts the morale and makes better teams.

But the drama showed that by portraying the military as a place for gourmet meals, as if the military were a vacation with 5-star food service, and all the high ranking officials being gourmets lmao eating gourmet every day in the officer's cafeteria..... eating French 5-star cooking in officer's cafeteria... So if they go to war... what will they eat? lmao

The drama pushed 5-star cooking too much as if that food is to be expected in the military but ... after all.. why not?

For the soldiers who are there bc they have to be there, imo it is ok they eat gourmet stuff and get fat, since they are not really going to any war any time soon - well we hope, since there was 350,000 Korean troups in Vietnam war. Korea had most soldiers there after the USA.

But sure, this might be a solution to world peace - all military globally should be eating luxury gourmet 5-star food and being fat and happy, and refusing to go to wars etc bc they couldnt eat such nice food.
Everyone will be happy staying in their barracks and living a good life, eating well and having fun. Why not. I think we found the solution to world peace :)

Also, when those well fed and happy soldiers take down their uniform, they will be healthy enough to make some babies, which S Korea so desperately needs, since it is so fashionable to be super skinny frail and sickly tired looking, which is one of the reasons why S Korea has globally lowest birth rate. Who is interested in s.x when they have not eaten properly for ages and are constantly on some diet and/or plastic surgery tricks. LET US FORGET THOSE AND START EATING WELL AGAIN.
Even dramas as recent as 2018 have a lot healthier looking people with more meat aka muscle on them.

So.. this plan about fattening the soldiers with good food seems to be ideal on so many levels ... I am all for this plan. Start now!

=== As for food: ======

Personally, imo there was too much cooking scenes, so I had to fast forward although I am a passionate cook. I am not really interested to LOOK at food. But there was some useful stuff that will help me cook :) I am interested in a cookbook with recipes from the drama. The last dish was awesome.

and yeah -
Ah finally someone puts French cooking where it belongs - in France.
Korean food is amazing, so nutritious and healthy and yummy, produces lean and healthy ppl, and I am glad the drama got to celebrate it.
Imo the real French cooking is the French village cooking. and that ... resembles Korean food in so many ways... all kinds of stews and soups, lots of veggies.... and that is the kind of stuff good to eat.... and is NOT served in French restaurants bc it is "too plain" lmao . The French restaurant stuff shown in this drama is for the show lmao Those pastries look like they are gonna clog your intestines in an instant. That's why French eat so little of that "French cooking"

I got tired of kdramas peddling foreign stuff. it is ironic that both in kdramas and cdramas the military had to step in to remind ppl of their roots :) But someone had to stop some French restaurant or fried chicken, sandwich or whiskey shop etc sponsoring a product placement ... (in cdamas, the military reminded ppl that men shouldnt wear too much makeup i.e. look like anorexic teenage girls with tons of makeup on. Right on, Chinese military!)

So the proper salute to Korean food and the fact we learned to cook rice properly and to assemble a Korean dish is enough to make me feel satisfied, pun intended.

KSJ got his lady - and he was a lot more ... suave and experienced than real KSJ should have been lmao
The commander finally stepped out...
and it all ended well, with an entry to Season 2. Yay.

But I think the next step is to have that KANGLIN COOKBOOK with recipes in digital form with all the scenes from the drama. This drama was a miniature cooking class. I am interested only in the Korean recipes :)

=== As for Support Roles: ====

The character of the commander portrayed by Lee Sang Yi was
a perfect "spice ingredient", without him the drama would not be it. Each drama needs AMAZING support roles or else it doesnt work. So he is that in this drama. He is portraying a super complex character with total mastery and conviction. The plus is his "beautiful" well kept sleek-urban baby face, which adds to totally convey the absurdity of that character. HE IS PERFECT IN THIS ROLE.

His role is that theoretician, that sofa general without common sense and skills, that someone who wants to get promoted no matter what happens to soldiers, that suave as# kisser, that someone who pretends to stick to the books yet does NOTHING and then takes all the credit, that someone who hides behind the "rules" to do nothing and throw soldiers under the bus.
He is portraying it *perfectly*.

****** His role is calculated, greedy, ambitious, cruel nasty SLIMY henchman and indirect-villain on one hand, and on the other hand, a naive little good boy***** Someone willing to do anything to benefit himself, and delulu enough to convince himself it is ok bc the superior said so; someone who HAS some compassion for his comrades but does not move a finger to help the situation. Someone who puts HIMSELF FIRST regardless of the post and soldiers, while not being a truly bad guy.

This is a complex role. And Lee Sang Yi is so good at it!!! it is fun to watch him! he portrays so many layers of this role.

His role is not just a comedic element. The commander is a satire on such military... ppl who went to military school but have no aptitude for it, and enlisted ppl who try to climb higher. Why did that soldier decide to become a commander, is a good question. He is certainly a fish out of water - however, he is there, chasing some fame honors and ranks, and the soldiers are stuck with him.

The drama is clearly portraying some core issues with the military - the corruption of stealing food supplies, the pecking order, the bullying by rank etc, lack of women, etc etc and Lee Sang Yi's sofa general character is one of chronic military problems.
The sofa general problem is a huge problem for military bc a sofa general is TOTALLY incapable of solving anything and only causes problems.
In this case, he let soldiers starve under the previous chef, he had no idea about bad food supply, in the mock battle he was useless, in a real battle he would cause deaths of millions of people. He is ... a clumzy naive dumb greedy guy in a wrong job.

Plus they let Lee Sang Yi keep his sleek urban look. So... the commander's manicured perfect baby face is a visual of what he stands for :) His face is like the visual signal from the drama as to who this character is :)
In the same way they picked the ML actor bc he looks so young, feeble, frail and vulnerable, a skinny tiny guy
Also, Lee Sang Yi's character face provides a stark contrast to the other guy in charge of the barracks, the big fat guy with the round wrinkled face who always plays villains and here plays the typical "rat" soldier who goes against the rules, keeps eating everywhere, and keeps cutting corners, while maintaining alliances with people he needs to be friendly with to continue going. In this drama, he turned out to also be someone who actually cares to do something to help when the times are rough. The visual for that soldier, the actor's face and body, are also picked to visually signal what kind of character he is.

The complexity in Lee Sang Yi's character - and thus the MASTERY of the actor in portraying many layers of it and thus the FUN of watching him in the role - is that he is not a bad evil guy, like the guy above him who is the master mind of stealing food supplies and who used that other soldier - The Inspector - for his purposes.
He is a naive genuinely decent honest guy but a COMPLACENT guy and also a GREEDY guy, SO HE ACTS LIKE THOSE 3 MONKEYS - no see, no say, no hear -
a pion who feels kinda helpless and also super ambitious. So, he deludes himself that everything is all right as long as it comes from the top. So he deludes himself that the lower level guys are justly scorned.
--> So he actually cares about the female Platoon Leader, but on the other hand, keeps shutting her up and going behind her back and doing things that harm the soldiers... He is concerned that the food is bad but he says nothing and even scolds ppl who bring it up .... he does NOTHING ever to help anyone, although he sees them suffering and even feels some concern - but it does not matter to him - bc HE WANTS TO GET PROMOTED.

He is too dumb to think about what he is seeing and to think ahead
and he is smart enough to see what he needs to do to get ahead
and he is slimey enough and ah so eager to please so that he gets promoted, so he is totally willing to ENTHUSIASTICALLY act as an umbrella and fit into the as@ of his commander and then open inside and never come out... He keeps bowing down and obeying blindly and ENTHUSIASTICALLY, no matter what
He is naive enough to believe his superior
He is evil enough to just throw the soldiers under the bus so that he can get promoted
He is slimy enough to delude himself that everything is ok bc the superior said so

And he is good enough and smart enough to remember what happened to Major Lim and to feel bad about it, and native enough to ask questions and dumb and naive enough to believe the answers

So he is like a babe in the woods, like a Little Red Riding Hood meeting the Big Bad Wolf - but the complexity is, he is also Little Red Riding Hood who willingly jumped into the wolf's mouth and willingly burned grandma's house bc the Wolf said so

And so this commander is a PERFECT example of what really exists esp in the military - a similar type is common to every hierarchy/red tape organization and big corporation, but in the military bc of ranks and order to blindly listen to superiors it is even worse.

Military has to take in essentially everyone healthy enough to qualify, bc they need meat in numbers, so then they are stuck with so many ppl being below par, and so the whole situation is quite tricky... and this ineffective sofa general commander realistically exists in that environment bc SOMEONE has to watch over the post and a few soldiers. That is why military is ok with losing ppl here and there .... as it is impossible to ensure quality everywhere.... and so ppl are just numbers.... This is a sad and realitic quagmire of military... Companies lose money but military loses lives... . So it is in their interest to somehow ensure that proper people are commanders - but ... as you can see in this drama, it does NOT always happen...
and esp when some evil dude realizes how much space there is for personal benefiting and then starts exploiting the system... e.g. the Pentagon's $14,000 for individual 3D-printed toilet seat lids and $1,280 for single utility cups... the higher commander here who steals money on food supplies... and a lot lot more a lot bigger amounts..... This drama is only about essentially petty stealing...

Lee Sang Yi is a perfect example of such a sofa general commander, he really brought it to life, made it real.
So, imo, without Lee Sang Yi, the drama would have been so bland. He spices it up ah so well.

And the ending is actually quite a fantasy low probability event, but heck, this is a drama, why not :)

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Again a weak FL and a stupidly caring man

The first few episodes are some nice storytelling of a by-chance first love, nice cinematography, and I love acting of ML actor.
it is a mismatch between a shallow, weak, dumb girl and a smart, dedicated, deep boy.

Then... they grow up and really cannot continue, she dumps him brutally bc it is convenient to her, but he is still stuck on her.

So, I dropped. I am tired of watching a grown man going after taking care of a woman-child.
FL is no match for the ML and he should NEVER try to come even close to her.

FL IS A WOMAN CHILD WHO IS NOW TWO TIMING
AND ML KISSES HER AS#.

How boring.

FAREWELL!

Again, FL who is immature, weak, lacks focus, and wants some boy toy when it is convenient for her
and ML who chases her, loves her and takes care of her bc he is ah so pure and dedicated.

The fact is, she is a sleazebag, and he is a moron, and the two should never be together. LET GO OF IT ALREADY

So many dramas like that lately - Surely Tomorrow, Our Universe, Practical Guide to Love, etc etc etc etc

DROPPED WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT

THIs DRAMA IS FOR VERY DUMB WOMEN TO FANTASIZE OF CAPTURING ATTENTION OF A HIGH QUALITY GUY FOREVER AND DOING WHATEVER THEY WANT AND HE WILL STILL ALWAYS BE THERE

HECK NO

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