• FL will think love and passion are the same thing and question whether they still love each other, since passion isn’t what used to be. • At this point, the ML would be preparing to marry her, despite knowing there’s a elephant in the room now (denial is a river in egypt). • They will have the talk: she will tell him there’s no spark and she will sound surprisingly convincing. • ML starts to second guess everything, he is now in the Truman Show. • She will grow increasingly insecure and conflicted… the SML will notice this somehow and capitalize on it, not sure about the chronology here. • She sees he is shaken by the junior… he sees her looking at the lawyer in a way she simply doesn’t look at him, the questions rises: “do i still have her?” or “should i let her go?” • Starts considering SFL, she is new… like FL was once, he knows better to confuse that with love (he is the one making the point about things naturally changing after 10 years), but feels shaken too: his partner of 10 years is second guessing their relationship while “swooning” over another guy, meanwhile here’s the junior with her puppy love and sunny eyes, oh so certain about it all. • Shit has hit the fan, she is now more confused than ever and fragile, he was certain she was the one but now is also hella conflicted, so he proposes a truce: let’s take a break and explore how we feel (which is why they are shown living separately). • He expects absence to make the heart grow fonder (it doesn’t), instead it opens up imaginary possibilities for both (finally excitement!): suddenly now the hot lawyer or the sunny junior are a actual possibility. • She will get increasingly more involved with the lawyer (insert legal plot that forces them to interact here) while he will have a more tame ambiguous puppy love with the junior and everybody will pretend they are the same. Because this is kdrama so the male lead will be a punching bag of the plot, the audience, female lead and the SML (SML seems pushy and i already felt like punching him in the teaser alone). • Jealousy is a bitch, and he will become our source of angst… she will be fairly okay, perhaps conflicted but HE? Oh… he will be a mess for sure (again: male lead = punching bag).
From this point. things can go multiple ways:
1- Run against time to win the FML over again (most likely). 2- Let her go, the damage is done. 3- Increasingly fall for the sunny junior. 4- Realize she was right and the relationship was already done long ago.
It's annoying that comment section will be like this.BUT I'd rather that, than another recent kdrama being BLAND…
I can see what you mean… i think some ideas are harder to portray than others and the more high you aim the harder the fall.
Audiences bring in context… and they are increasingly opinionated and political too.
When these type of plot gets done good thought… ITS GOOD. When it doesn’t land it feels almost like a betrayal of your time.
I don’t usually like these kind of plots… but drive my car (japanese) WRECKED me, stayed with me for weeks… nevertheless on the other hand i dropped with a genuine hate in my heart lol
My friend had this happen--his wife, who had grown up very religiously conservative met and developed very strong…
Open relationships tend to work better when they begin open…people who are assumedly non-monogamous already work with a robust framework (know two couples like that)
For monogamous couples, the act of opening the relationships is often (not always) the first signal that something really profound is not aligned, and they tend to not survive the compartmentalization because non monogamy is also a skill: you don’t wake up one day knowing how to handle it.
I think if they go that route it has a lot of potential, the route of watching a car crash and then showing why it didn’t worked that is… and it’s realistic too.
Because there’s a incentive for it… it’s that simple and that obvious. Most of those dramas are written…
Also, we can contest whether or not women like this kind of plot… but we can’t contest the fact that the majority of the audience is women (for romance and melodrama that is)
If we assume this kind of plot is disliked by a relevant portion, than that raises the question of why these type of dramas are so common.
People are talking about westernization as a possible cause in the comments, i just think it sells
Because there’s a incentive for it… it’s that simple and that obvious. Most of those dramas are written…
People are more likely to engage through negative emotions than positive ones, so critique is more likely to appear than praise.
I am not sure about the ratings as i think dramas meant to release on streaming platforms or globally area different can of worms entirely… but i genuinely think the pattern you are seeing is a extreme symptom of something larger which are the incentives i commented, it wouldn’t happen for no reason or be as common if it was that bad of a choice
This is not a serious republican drama. the plot is like those reel shorts type shows and focuses on the romance…
You missed my point… i never said this was a good drama (in fact i said the opposite), what i am saying is that high mainstream television rating + script that requires intense emotional acting = casting directors attention. How much of that can be capitalized is another conversation, but is good exposure nevertheless
Something that most of you are not understanding: with the new cracking against celebrity status and stardom by the government… chinese television is going through a divide:
You have cult dramas that focus on raw acting, atmospheric scripts, unglamorous roles that don’t really care about your pretty looks and brand status but that can really bump up your artistic prestige.
And you have the celebrity lane that focus on visual allure, massive fanbases, high IP fantasy/romance and brand strength… great for fanbase and brand building, not so good for critical prestige.
This is a massive win for both leads no matter how bad the drama is (which it IS bad), because from a commercial and acting point it allows them to show their appeal towards actual cult works in a broader, mainstream stage:
I am talking about Reset, The Bad Kids, The long Season, Angels wear white etc.
Those are dramas produced by actual high art production houses (think A24 films for a western example) with huge critically praised names behind it, the kind of work that gets you award and builds legacy, not just money and branding.
So don’t think the two leads here picked this shit show just because: they are trying to secure future works by showing their action chops with a intense and dramatic script
There’s seems to be a new influx of dramas that are slowly perfecting fighting action in the resemblance of Ip man or The Night Comes for Us… or even kill bill. All while introducing in the storytelling korean sensibilities and tropes (like chaebols as villains).
Agent Kim is a good addition to this roster.
Not perfect by any means but strong in what is proposed.
Before calling qingyi a simp did you even tried to undertsand him and why he is the way he was? 🥲 qingyi said…
I mean, yeah… but this is we injecting context as audience. It’s not like the drama is making social commentary on trauma or exploring psychology… this is not it’s okay to not be okay lol
If i felt compelled by the writing to take this specific aspect seriously… i probably wouldn’t call him a simp.
After episode 20, I just want to toss everyone in Qingyi's life in the dumpster! His egg donor and sister need…
For real… dude is miserable.
If he doesn’t get any resemblance of happiness after all of this then his purpose in the narrative was just to be a sandbang and a buffer to the whole revenge plot.
• FL will think love and passion are the same thing and question whether they still love each other, since passion isn’t what used to be.
• At this point, the ML would be preparing to marry her, despite knowing there’s a elephant in the room now (denial is a river in egypt).
• They will have the talk: she will tell him there’s no spark and she will sound surprisingly convincing.
• ML starts to second guess everything, he is now in the Truman Show.
• She will grow increasingly insecure and conflicted… the SML will notice this somehow and capitalize on it, not sure about the chronology here.
• She sees he is shaken by the junior… he sees her looking at the lawyer in a way she simply doesn’t look at him, the questions rises: “do i still have her?” or “should i let her go?”
• Starts considering SFL, she is new… like FL was once, he knows better to confuse that with love (he is the one making the point about things naturally changing after 10 years), but feels shaken too: his partner of 10 years is second guessing their relationship while “swooning” over another guy, meanwhile here’s the junior with her puppy love and sunny eyes, oh so certain about it all.
• Shit has hit the fan, she is now more confused than ever and fragile, he was certain she was the one but now is also hella conflicted, so he proposes a truce: let’s take a break and explore how we feel (which is why they are shown living separately).
• He expects absence to make the heart grow fonder (it doesn’t), instead it opens up imaginary possibilities for both (finally excitement!): suddenly now the hot lawyer or the sunny junior are a actual possibility.
• She will get increasingly more involved with the lawyer (insert legal plot that forces them to interact here) while he will have a more tame ambiguous puppy love with the junior and everybody will pretend they are the same. Because this is kdrama so the male lead will be a punching bag of the plot, the audience, female lead and the SML (SML seems pushy and i already felt like punching him in the teaser alone).
• Jealousy is a bitch, and he will become our source of angst… she will be fairly okay, perhaps conflicted but HE? Oh… he will be a mess for sure (again: male lead = punching bag).
From this point. things can go multiple ways:
1- Run against time to win the FML over again (most likely).
2- Let her go, the damage is done.
3- Increasingly fall for the sunny junior.
4- Realize she was right and the relationship was already done long ago.
ETC… i am hoping i get several of these wrong
Audiences bring in context… and they are increasingly opinionated and political too.
When these type of plot gets done good thought… ITS GOOD. When it doesn’t land it feels almost like a betrayal of your time.
I don’t usually like these kind of plots… but drive my car (japanese) WRECKED me, stayed with me for weeks… nevertheless on the other hand i dropped with a genuine hate in my heart lol
For monogamous couples, the act of opening the relationships is often (not always) the first signal that something really profound is not aligned, and they tend to not survive the compartmentalization because non monogamy is also a skill: you don’t wake up one day knowing how to handle it.
I think if they go that route it has a lot of potential, the route of watching a car crash and then showing why it didn’t worked that is… and it’s realistic too.
If we assume this kind of plot is disliked by a relevant portion, than that raises the question of why these type of dramas are so common.
People are talking about westernization as a possible cause in the comments, i just think it sells
I am not sure about the ratings as i think dramas meant to release on streaming platforms or globally area different can of worms entirely… but i genuinely think the pattern you are seeing is a extreme symptom of something larger which are the incentives i commented, it wouldn’t happen for no reason or be as common if it was that bad of a choice
Most of those dramas are written to appeal to the female gaze and women’s sensibilities in a really generalist way.
So sorry to yuck on your yum but the male lead (or script) you are looking for is a exception… not the rule.
Probably a skip for me personally, we will see… certainly not going to watch on the release regardless.
You have cult dramas that focus on raw acting, atmospheric scripts, unglamorous roles that don’t really care about your pretty looks and brand status but that can really bump up your artistic prestige.
And you have the celebrity lane that focus on visual allure, massive fanbases, high IP fantasy/romance and brand strength… great for fanbase and brand building, not so good for critical prestige.
This is a massive win for both leads no matter how bad the drama is (which it IS bad), because from a commercial and acting point it allows them to show their appeal towards actual cult works in a broader, mainstream stage:
I am talking about Reset, The Bad Kids, The long Season, Angels wear white etc.
Those are dramas produced by actual high art production houses (think A24 films for a western example) with huge critically praised names behind it, the kind of work that gets you award and builds legacy, not just money and branding.
So don’t think the two leads here picked this shit show just because: they are trying to secure future works by showing their action chops with a intense and dramatic script
Not really invested in the couple yet, but she captivated me enough to stick around.
Agent Kim is a good addition to this roster.
Not perfect by any means but strong in what is proposed.
Solid watch
Seeing him slowly turning into a morally grey character while still being in love with her i mean.
If i felt compelled by the writing to take this specific aspect seriously… i probably wouldn’t call him a simp.
The main couple was really badly written too…
This one is fast paced… it locks into a pattern fairly early
Its good for watching a couple episodes a week, for binge probably not.
If you want a good writing in a republic drama this is not it (recommend mr sunshine in that case)
This is fast entertainment…
If he doesn’t get any resemblance of happiness after all of this then his purpose in the narrative was just to be a sandbang and a buffer to the whole revenge plot.