KevinToronto

I hate to be the contrarian here, but this has gone from a "watch as new episodes drop" to a "wait until all episodes are released". I will admit, I was hoping for something approaching the quality of One Spring Night (which is one of my favourite programmes).

One of the things I really love about Korean dramas is the willingness to highlight societal problems/issues and address them head-on. For example, here we have a single parent stepping back from career progression to spend time to help his daughter; A daughter who is struggling emotionally. Also, we see the issue of workplace bullying by bosses. Although, it is presented as a big negative in the ML's case (his boss is the bully), but is tolerated (ignored) in the FL's case (she is the bully).

However, in the these two episodes, there were many parts of the story that raised red flags for me. Here are some of my observations.

Kang Ji-yoon:
- Complete professional and one of the best when it comes to being a headhunter.
- Way less than professional, bordering on incompetent, as a CEO. [See bullying comment above.]
- Life outside of work is disastrous.
- Pops sleeping pills like candy. Apparently, she has been taking them long-term. How does she get them? No reputable physician would merely prescribe powerful drugs without regular check-ups and some sign of progress.
- Collapses at work, goes to the Emergency Room, and magically is okay after an I.V. The ER doctor is able to "diagnose" brain overload, along with a detailed list of symptoms. All, apparently, after reading an MRI scan of the patient's brain.
[For the record, my daughter is a general surgeon, a good friend is a senior ER physician at a large downtown hospital in Toronto, and another is Head of Cardiology in another Toronto Hospital.]
- Her back story seems to be of her being the child of a single parent. Her father promised to stay by her side for ever (huh?), but then runs into a burning apartment building and dies. [The scene shows many other people around but no firefighters, even though the building is completely engulfed in flames.]

Yoo Eun-ho
- Highly competent at almost everything. Although, he totally failed with understanding the engineer who left for China.
- A single parent, who took a year off to look after his daughter. While Korea allows for 1 year of parental leave (soon to be raise to 18 months), I am not certain that it can be taken when the child is in pre-school/kindergarten.
- Has promised to stay by the side of his daughter forever (see above).
- Has the ability to leave work at 4:00 in order to pick up his daughter, but also stay in office until late organising the mess that is the CEO's office and work schedule.
- Is a great cook, who can whip up a magical breakfast for his daughter and a huge spread for his college friend and wife, all while working and looking after his daughter.

I must say here that I cannot fathom why the FL has to have the same family background (daughter of a single parent, father) as the ML? The difference being her father did not keep the promise whereas the ML seems have done so. Is this some sort of father-figure healing romance? Yuck.

I will not comment on the surrounding cast of characters because it would take too long. What I will say is that the writers and producers seem to have included almost every one of the cliched characters. At this point, I would not be surprised to see the White Truck of Doom make an appearance.

Apologies for the lengthy comment, but it reflects how disappointed I was after watching the two episodes.

As I posted below, episode 4 and its dark turn saved the show for me; it was unexpected. I hope the show continues to explain what happened and why, while allowing the current day couple to re-build their relationship.

I do not think that we have reached the point where that is explained. So far, we know that the FL had major depression due to 4 different tragic events, and that the ML was in the background trying to protect her.

I am anticipating an explanation of why they "can't stand each other" this weekend, and will not be surprised if the ML's father was involved. Going to Dubai must have been for a reason.

I agree that it is extremely rare for such closure but I will hold out hope. Given how it was part of the reason for the FL's downward spiral, I would not be surprised for this story thread to be resurrected.

Episode 4 (especially the ending) rescued this drama for me. After 3 episodes, I was ready to give up on it. There seemed to be no direction to the story and the SML came across as the typical spoiler immature secondary love interest, intended to drive the OTP together.

Now, we know that his connection (love/infatuation) is based on his belief that the FL saved his life. No matter how misguided that might be, it is understandable, as is his desire to be closer to her.

We have also found out why the FL is such a "flat, dour" character. Within 4 or 5 months of graduating from university, she suffered four devasting events, any one of which would have sent most people into a depressive state: Losing her job; sued for liable; finding out her father was an embezzler; and losing both parents.

We have also seen that the ML did not give up on her, and he was in the background, trying to "protect" her. We have yet to find out why he ended up going to Dubai, but I would not discount it being due to something his father threatened.

Right now, I am wondering if there will be any resolution of the sexual assault case. It has been left with the assaulted woman taking the "bribe" and heading to the U.S., while throwing her colleague under the proverbial bus. I do get the feeling that this event has some connection to the ML's father. Is it connected withe Dubai decision?

Thanks for the information. I am not on X, so did not see it.

Where did you see that? I just checked and I could not see anything on the website. Mind you, the URL was asianc.co, not a dramacool one. Annoyingly, there are redirects which I cannot prevent as I am using duckduckgo as the browser and cannot add an ad-blocker extension.

I would agree that you have to be in the right mood/frame of mind to enjoy the show. It seems that the different themes are backdrops upon which the relationship and romance is built. For me, it was a lovely example of two characters finding comfort in each other, and building on that. In my opinion, the success was purely the result of the two actors, who showed a friendship and trust that clearly extends beyond merely "reading" lines.

This is the first drama with Ma Si Chun, so I cannot comment whether the "dressed weirdly" is her style or just coincidence. However, my daughter is a surgeon and her "dress style" is very similar to Mi Ka's. My daughter will leave dressed in scrubs (with her hair in a bun or pony-tail) and returns similarly attired, albeit looking a lot more tired. As for the non-working style, it is a comfy sweat shirt and yoga pants, with Birkenstock sandals.

Needless to say, I found the character's dress style to be realistic and I actually appreciated that they did not make her too glamourous and showy.

This is a possible scenario. However, while the actual Kang Bit Na might not be supposed to be in Hell, she was murdered. Will she be resurrected ? Or just sent to Heaven as would appear to be the intended destination? At some stage, her murder and the murderer will covered. Perhaps as the last "story"?

That is possible. However, an alternative I thought of is that Justitia is the final unrepentant killer. She has been a "judge" whose sole task has been to kill and brand murderers before sentencing them to a very long time (eternity?) in hell. The first episode showed that she had no remorse or regret in what she did.

Perhaps her punishment (reward?) will be to live as a human?

Several weeks ago, I said that I was enjoying this programme because it was a gentle, light, easy-going story, and I stick to that. I finished the last episode with a smile on my face. And, yes, this will be on my "re-watch" list when I am in need of some quiet, relaxing watching.

One thing I have noticed is that quite a few people have said the second lead couple were much more fun and interesting. I would say that this is true only because of the contrast with the main couple.
Main couple -- long standing(ish) relationship built of deep love and respect that is going through an existential crisis.
Secondary couple -- nominally married couple, but completely unknown to each other, who discover they actually like each other and who go through the cliched, trope ridden brand new love sequences.

Personally, I think that if the secondary couple were given their own series, there would be a large number of complaints about how the story is so much like many other programmes.

With Gehenna branded on its forehead.

And so ends an interesting 5 weeks. I, like many others, have enjoyed the journey and am sad that it has come to an end. I was looking for nice, gentle story that evolved over the 10 episodes, and the show delivered.

What was important to me was the fact that this was an established relationship with a depth of love for each other that only comes with time. This was mirrored against the second leads first blushes of romance, even though they were married.

And, I cannot praise the writers too highly for having two sibling relationships that were both positive and supportive.

Obviously, some people did not like it and made their opinions known loud and clear. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but sometimes the criticism went a little too far, which was disappointing.

Now it is time to find the next series to watch. See you "there".

First, the way she found out he is actually a rich guy was shown in the first ep, I don't know if you missed it,
-- Clearly I did miss hat, so I will specifically look again this weekend.

you are actually asking if my soulmate is a stalker/psycho, would I go back to him? Or if my soulmate cling on me like the ML did here would I consider going back and be a Cinderella?
-- Nope, you equated Ju Won to a stalker/psycho with the following: "I've never seen someone that clingy without being borderline Psycho or a stalker." Then, compounded that with "if a rich handsome soulmate stalk me, I'd be scared cause I'm too sane to romanticise talking/obsession."

However, looked through a different lens, his actins could/should be viewed as those of someone who wants to get his soulmate back, and that is how I have viewed things. My question was to what lengths would you and others go to get back together with the one person you consider your soulmate?

That being said, we will have to agree to disagree.

Whether it is a regular Cinderella story or a "reverse" Cinderella story, it is still a fairy story.

From my perspective, this story is built around the "what happens next" concept. The traditional story has Cinderella run away from the Ball at midnight because the facade that the Fairy Godmother had created disappeared. The Prince then hunts for her, finally finds her and she lives happily ever after in a big castle with the future King and all the trappings that comes with that.

This story asks the question of what is the actual reality 2 hours after the ball has ended?
-- Cinderella is back in the place she was before.
-- CInderella has known only hard labour in a household where she is disdained/hated.
-- She cleaned, washed, cooked, and was at the beck & call of the stepmother and sisters.
-- She has never had any training in the etiquette of being a woman in "high" society.
-- Would the King truly accept such a person for a daughter-in-law and future queen?
-- Would the court accept her?

In this story, it is not Yun Seo who was hiding behind the facade; it was Ju Won. We have not been told how his real identity was revealed and what was Yun So's reaction. We know the consequence: she took the Chairwoman's money.

Nor is Yun Seo a naive downtrodden girl who has no experience of the world. She is an extremely brave and tough woman who has forged her own career while protecting her younger brother.

You might consider Ju Won to be a borderline psycho or stalker. I wonder far you, and other critics of this scenario, would go to get back together with the person you consider your soulmate?

If you skip the main leads' scenes, how can you say they are so boring?

"With every single episode being the exact same" -- Can you tell me wherein episodes 1 to 6 someone found out that that one of their parents had died? I seem to have missed those scenes.

Having read quite a few comments, it seems to me that some have forgotten/overlooked the story's premise of flipping the Cinderella (and traditional RomCom) story on its proverbial head. Many RomComs (regardless of language), including the sanitised Cinderella, start with the first meeting, progress with the predictable lovey-dovey ga-ga scenes through a break-up until there is the climactic ending where love triumphs and all barriers and troubles are swept aside.

This story begins 18 months or so into the relationship, so the lovey-dovey ga-ga phase is over. At this point, Yun Seo has (recently) discovered that Ju Won is in fact the "Prince" in disguise, and has to deal with the consequences of that. [I wonder how the King, in Cinderella, reacted when he discovered that Cinderella had grown up cleaning floors, toilets, doing laundry, and cooking, etc., and had no training or experience in high society circles?]

Now many are "falling" for the second couple because of their chemistry and (as one person wrote) "how they have a good communication and understanding." What?
--This is a couple that got married and spent several years living on different continents;
-- A 13 hour blind date on a flight from Seoul to Paris being the longest period of being together;
-- She did not tell her husband that she was coming back and would be living in the apartment;
-- She hired two maids and disposed of his "toys" and drank his booze, all without telling him;
-- A tennis game between the two turned out to be nothing more than a product placement;

Now they have discovered that they may actually like each other and have entered the initial relationship lovey-dovey ga-ga phase, despite them having married for a while. This is a counter-point to the more mature relationship between Yun Seo and Ju Won.

Please step back and re-assess based on the basic premise and try to recognise that this is a quite clever and subversive story.

As the thing that is painfully and obviously missing from their lives. 😊Difficult to recognise something when you have no experience of it.