Olive4213

Well, up until a few weeks ago (before our election) I would have said that this kind of thing couldn't happen in the US. (We pride ourselves on being orderly. Ha ha.) But now I think we're (I'm in the US) sort of reaching a weird tipping point, too. We have a lot of foreign influence happening in the US, which is driving up a huge amount of trouble and division, and the really rich in our country are exploiting that and making money from it. It's a very, very stupid situation here where billionaires are encouraging the poor to vote against their own interests.

That's what I think, anyway.

Same.

The discussions about Trump, Ukraine, etc. don't belong in this thread, but it seems like the planet is politically very unstable right now, and I think this fear and insecurity is refusing to stay as compartmentalized as we might hope.

This was a massive event which is likely to affect the kdramas that are scheduled, taped, produced, written etc. going forward.

How (and why) to avoid mentioning something here that's so important?

Please knock off this insulting language.

I think that's the guy who advised Yoon to roll the dice. Egad. A dangerous fool.

It's a staggeringly bad read of where his country is right now, that's for sure. Hard to believe he thought he could pull it off, but maybe he thought he'd have the country in his palm, and since he's now a dictator, he can do whatever he wants. Or else, as someone suggested downthread, he was buying time so that he could do something else.

Some of his Cabinet, too, I think I read.

Oh, yeah. S. Korea's going to come for him with pitchforks.

I'm speculating, but I think a couple of things were happening: first, he was mentally in a place of desperation, with a sense of trying something BIG to change things--public opinion, ward off a possible coming impeachment, stop (permanently) any investigation into his family's corruption. He felt pushed, in other words, to take a very, very large and dangerous gamble.

And secondly--and this is just as important: he listened to a close advisor who told him it was a good risk (we have an idea already about who that was, and his political career is over now, too) for his own, personal ambition.

Yoon, his Cabinet, his advisors--anyone closely associated with him--all will have to resign.

I like a second chance romance, too, especially if there's a redemption arc. But not if the ML is an unrepentant shithead. Then, he needs to die a slow, miserable, painful death.

The idea of a 1yr marriage contract is weird. Marriage is principally an economic institution designed to protect property. That's what makes the idea of a 1yr long contract such an interesting idea. Why one year? How does this length of time benefit the people in the contract? I wish the show had explored this a lot more.

Agree completely.

Ultimately, not even Gong Yoo could save this. It either needed to be more of a thriller, or more erotic, but as it stands, it's just sort of--I dunno, blah maybe?

I wish it had leaned more into the 1yr marriage contract idea. So much potential there to write something that was edgy and forward. Instead, the idea is just sort of plopped into the story like it's the laundry, doing very little to service the plot.

Wasted opportunity, really.

Gong Yoo will still be beautiful when he's 90. That's all.

It's a short term marriage contract. She's a wife for a year. How does that make her a prostitute?

Also, and I should've mentioned this above, why does the camera take shots of shoes so often? Are they sponsored or something? Director never misses a chance to take a picture of the actors' feets.

I like it. It's slower than necessary, but honestly, that's almost okay if it means I can watch Fan Zhi Xin for longer.

But holy shit with the background music. Why is it so annoyingly loud and invasive?

ooch. Micro dramas are almost always really, really terrible, but this sounds like it's worse than that. Thanks for the heads-up!

Agree, but this is rot, and the rot starts at the head. Agencies treat their clients like they're commodities, not human beings. Their interest in their clients is to treat them like cash machines, with no right to have even the most basic of private lives. Add to this the tolerance for this shit throughout South Korea's culture, in spite of some restrictive laws that govern on-line harassment, stalking, defamation, etc. and it's no wonder that celebrities are finding that suicide is the only exit.

Pull up your fucking socks, South Korea.