UnaSpenser

But was there a war in the original timeline? If not, how did he go from lowly artist who can’t make a buck to man with enough power and resources to send a nuclear mission back in time and force a war that never occurred in the first place?

If there wasn’t a war, in the original timeline, how come Future Seo Hae doesn’t know that?

I watched the last scene several times. And, whoops, did mean to put the spoiler tag on. My bad.

I don’t understand why anyone thinks Tae Sul is alive in the final airplane scene. He shot himself and died. All future trajectories were erased with action. We see everything reset to a concrete present, with no war. The future is now unknown, as people move forward. He didn’t leave them the uploader, so here couldn’t be more time travel after that.

Tae Sul is basically Sisyphus, who finally realizes that the only way to finally stop pushing the boulder uphill is to take himself out of the equation.

None of this explains, though, why the original war had anything to do with him or Sigma. In all the scenarios the uploader isn’t even created until the day before the war. So, how could it have been the catalyst? Sigma didn’t exist in the original timeline.

So, if you’re going back to prevent a war from killing 50mil people, shouldn’t there have been some research into what the original cause was? Time machine or not, something caused the launch of a nuclear conflict on the Korean Peninsula. That seems more important to figure out than whether HTS creates the uploader.

Though, I will note that if we assume that everyone was lying about who set off the first nuclear missile, there may be a link between Sigma and the war.

If we assume that the uploader was created without a war happening, but that, somehow, Sigma got enough power to send that nuclear missile back in time....

But, I don’t see how the loser artist dude would have achieved enough success to be capable of that. (I saw someone suggest that he ends being the one to develop the uploader, but that makes no sense. All the most brilliant scientists couldn’t do it with without Tae Sul. So, I’m tossing that theory aside,) So, we’re back to needing to figure out how the original war started.

Because, really, the existence of time travel wasn’t the core problem. It was the death of 50mil people.

How did the first war happen? That is the biggest plot hole in the story. Because the original war happened without Sigma. It had nothing to do with him. So, getting rid of him doesn’t change that.

It’s also not clear that it had anything to do with the time machine. Seems like the thing was invented days before the war.

If I were going back to figure out how to stop the war, I’d want to know the original cause. Yet, not once does anybody bring that up.

I also found it eye-rolling that they blamed nuclear disaster on N Korea.

While I completely get the anger over Chinese appropriation of Korean culture, I'll never understand the worship of monarchs. And to be upset that some historical monarch is not represented the way you think is historically correct in a fantasy fiction?

Why are people so enamored with authoritarian figures? No matter how relatively "progressive" you think that person may have been (and, let's be honest, history is documented and passed down by those in power, with a vested interested in presenting their ruling in the best possible light), he was still an authoritarian ruler. He didn't represent egalitarianism. He still followed the concept that his family should be in the seat of power.

Also, its one thing if the drama is presented at all, as though its factual. But, hello! Zombies and vampires. I don't think anyone would mistake this for a history lesson.

And to ruin the career of people over it. wow.

Though, I will say, that having Chinese sponsors influence the production and bring an overly Chinese representation to a Korean period piece is utterly offensive. Utterly. I hope no other Korean production company makes this mistake.

Still.... it.is.fiction. And it promised to be one of the more interesting stories to come out of S Korean TVland in a while. So. Sad.

I won't sign the Netflix petition, though, out of respect. I'm not a S Korean citizen and its their capitalist and nationalist history that they're speaking to. I'll leave that to them. I can just be sad.

Highlight of Sunshine of My Life.

Wow. That’s fascinating. Without that reference her character makes no sense. I wish they’d figured out a better solution if they were going to completely remove the context.

Do we know that he actually got married? Or just that his mom tried to force a marriage? Maybe it didn’t get past the parents forcing an engagement?

It may be her real voice, it it’s dubbed and you can tell. There is a weird cadence to all the voices. No sentence just flows. They have these pauses which make it feel unnatural.

Also, the dialogue is poorly written. They also often sound like they explaining to the audience rather than having a real conversation.

Go Ahead is an exception. Definitely worth the watch. Some very interesting storytelling of a sort of blended family made out of trauma and tragedy, how they coped, bonded, loved and healed.

Story of Ming Lan
Untamed
Joy of Life
Ancient Detective

(I find they do costume dramas better than contemporary ones.)

I don’t mind the slow burn. What’s making it hard for me to get through is the stilted dialogue and the constant posing. It all feels staged and not natural. This is one where I really wish I could have heard the actors’ voices as they were doing the scenes rather than the dubbing.

Trying to enjoy it because at least the FL is somewhat smart and doesn’t have a baby voice going on.

One more note: writing the FL that way is one thing. Okay, we’ll go with it. But, no self-respecting person would then want her as a partner. She’s selfish and unreliable. Her lack of discernment means a lot of potential for harmful people to mess with your life. For someone like the ML, with a high profile, highly responsible position, he can’t afford to have someone like that in his life. And the ML character is written as someone who brushes off people who are problematic. He’s imminently capable and serious about his life’s pursuits. So, from an internal story integrity standpoint, it doesn’t work that he’d keep pursuing this woman who could be a time bomb for his life, with her lack of discernment.

Such mixed assessment of this drama. I like that they start with the stomach-churning tropes and then nip them right in the bud,

The ML is warm and competent and, though he takes his time (which lets things fester), he’s firm and direct and no one can manipulate him.

It’s been rare to see a CDrama or KDrama with the very relaxed type of affection that they have the ML showing to his girlfriend. (Though, I’m not a fan of the thing where the men pet the women on the tops of their heads as if they’re pets or children.)

The nasty girl isn’t given much leeway here. Even her supporter has his limits with her ridiculous behavior. So, we see her toxicity, but she doesn’t get far with anything.

The controlling rich mother is being handled.

The work partner who feels entitled to romance gets shut down pretty readily. Her attempt to coerce is called out for its lack of integrity and she gets nowhere with it.

Yay for all this.

I can’t stand the way the FL character is written. She’s very self-centered. Feels way too young. (Can CDramas please stop having young women talk and behave like young children?) All of her relationships are about how people are helpful to her. She doesn’t reciprocate. Her relationship with her brother is summed up by the fact that she bullied him, as they grew up and she thinks that’s okay, but the fact that he cursed her under his breath over it as unacceptable.

The most stark example is her best friend from college. They are in the same publicly aired TV competition, with time limits for their assignments. She gets her friend to give her an inordinate amount of time helping her create some batik fabric. How does the friend have time for her own project? And why doesn’t she offer to help, in return? It never occurs to her.

Then, when dating, she is well aware of another man’s attentions. Several people have pointed out to her that he has romantic interest. Her BF asks her to keep her distance. The BF has known him since childhood and says he’s not trustworthy. He also admits that it bothers him that she’s giving so much attention to another man. Minutes after promising to keep her distance, she goes into the other man’s apartment and eats a meal with him.. Her BF learns of this and is upset. She’s mad at him for not trusting her. She has zero consideration for his feelings. Which is consistent with her character. It makes her unlikable. Also, she doesn’t get that she basically showed her own lack of integrity. Her words cannot be trusted, And she has no discernment or boundaries.

The writers seem to have her learn. To be seen. There are a lot of episodes left. What can be left in the story to fill up all those episodes? The mystery about Fang’s sister. But the only other piece of the story to fulfill is the central relationship. As a romance drama, they can’t have more than half of it not be about that. This suggests that we’re in for more tensions as she makes more selfish choices. Also, that she’ll be manipulated by the 2nd ML into a dark impression of the ML before we know the whole story of the sister.

Hopefully, I’m wrong. The strength in this drama is that the actors are pretty good and the story doesn’t let the common toxic tropes take over. But, what can fill the remaining 27 episodes? They seemed to have sacrificed the idea of a decent FL character for the sake of generating drama, because they couldn’t come up with anything better.

Maybe I’ll find out that there’s actually some interesting news aspect to the story. Fingers crossed.

Lastly, one trope they seem to want to stick with is this idea that someone is completely daft about another person’s romantic advances. In the beginning, the CEO of a large company is doing little things for all the time. He’s engaging in warm and playful conversation, He’s giving her nice gifts. Yet, she has zero idea that he is romantically interested? Even after her brother suggests it? And her best friend directly tells her that all these actions on his part can only indicate that? Not buying it,

And the brother is the same? He could see that his inter was kind to someone’s interest, but then he’s even more blind? Hen they are spending all their time together? And she’s cherishing the meals he makes for her? In a culture where people don’t invite opposite gender friends into their home, she has repeatedly done so. He hasn’t accepted and is avoiding encountering her family. But, to suggest that at this point he would still be oblivious is so unrealistic.

This is a trope that has some validity. Some of us can be oblivious, at first. But, CDramas take it way too far and it becomes laughabl and infuriating. It feels insulting to waste the viewer’s time and emotional investment in the story with this. I hope they learn to tone it down. Way down.

I think the age gap is bigger. I thought somewhere it is mentioned that he’s in his thirties. Or is 29, going in thirty. But the gap is more than years, too. He’s far more worldly. And there is a social power gap. So, they seem almost a generation apart, even though it’s probably just 7 or 8 years.

It’s not just the style (though CDramas do seem to infantalize their female leads with childish stying.) Her total inability to recognize cop a clue about the ways that anyone is with her. First, after the most obvious displays of interest, she somehow doesn’t know, even after her friend told her, that the ML liked her? I’m not buying it. Then, this guy stalks her and harasses her and is so obviously manipulative, but she maintains that he’s a friend. He’s a narcissistic user. And to not understand how it would be a problem to give her all her time to that guy when her bf, who lives in another country, is here on a short visit? To equate a coworker, that he has to see with a stalker “friend”? She’s so immature. If I were the ML, I wouldn’t trust her. She sets no boundaries.

This is definitely not romance-centered. The main plot is about solving her mother’s murder. There are subplots in the family and elsewhere. How those are resolved is where we see the slowly building marriage partnership. It’s really not all that romantic, as the FL takes about 28 or 29 episodes to even begin to consider changing her original plan of solving her mother’s murder and then leaving for an independent life. Also, eventually, the subplots are tied into the main plot.

The most tedious piece of the story is the worn out trope of the unrequited love, who feels entitled and when she doesn’t get what she wants is constantly scheming and murderous. It was a relief to get her out of the mix. Other than that, it’s an entertaining enough story.

My personal note on “70 episodes of harem”.

I can’t stand harem dynamics and avoid it. MingLan was different, somehow. The way it was done was a bit mesmerizing. It was like being a fly on the wall, it felt so intimidate. Also, the MingLan character was so smart and not vengeful. The story portrayed one of the healthiest romance/partnership developments I’ve seen. I never once felt mired in the drudgery of harem politics, though, in the beginning that is what her life is about.

I find it’s more the way the character is written than the actress herself. While she’s smart, even as the teen she is, she’s kind of boring. Even her interest in an independent life, which set her apart from most noble women, is getting erased in the name of romance (which she is completely lacking in any sensuality for. She’s a young woman with no hormones? It’s weird that they’ve written her to have no response to his overtures. Even if she wants to deny them, because she has her own agenda, she would still have physical reactions. But there’s nothing. As if she’s not a hormonal teen and is oblivious to physical relations. She also has no sense of humor or playfulness. She’s pretty one-dimensional. And that’s written that way.she has nothing to work with.