AshesandDust

Rewatching it again in 2026
Man i forgot how awesome this was! The non romance drama having the most romantic couple...reminded me of the east palace in that sense.

People see their favourite actor and immediately just hyper focus on them and want them to end up with the girl. Watch the show for the characters they are portraying, not your crush on an actor

Some people want second lead syndrome just for the sake of it...it's literally not applicable here when the ML is such a green forest

I want to watch this drama because i think given certain things that have happened in my life, i might be able to understand it in ways that resonate deeply within. But i want to know how explicit it is and which episodes so that i can avoid those scenes (its a personal preference ). I usually stay away from shows that have already been tagged as having mature scenes but there's something about this story and my life's problems that make me want to watch it so I'd appreciate the help

I need someone to make a drama with this concept. So many dramas out there, and none of them tried to this concept 🥲 the recommendations that show up aren't even close to similar

That being said, i think my mister is still park hae young's best work till date but what i love about her scripts is that she takes normal, daily life instances and molds them into something...so much more. It's like a plain piece of pottery but when its in her hands you can suddenly see intricate patterns and then you can't look away. I will look forward to her next work, as always. For now my ranking would be:
My Mister 10/10
My liberation notes 9/10
We are all trying here 8.5/10

That episode in which hwang dong man bullied the loan shark 🤣🤣 especially when he said: "you're dead if you are wearing a gold chain" and the way that poor guy looked so harassed 🤣

So ive finally completed all 29 episodes and it was nice watch but i think my favourite episodes were definitely the ones before they got together. After the leap, i think the episodes were rushed, and not enough attention was given to zhou wan as an individual. Her trauma wasn't addressed the same lu xi xiao's was. Almost like he was more affected by the whole thing more than zhou wan was. But if you look at it from her perspective, she wasnt rich enough to afford therapy, watched the love of her life take knife for her and had to live with the knowledge that she had to leave him when he had done something this huge for her, was abandoned by her mom, unwanted even, found out her mother was indirectly implicated in the death of her grandma and father. That's a lot to unpack. I think post leap it was all about how LXX was dealing with all of it. Zhou wan should have been equally explored and both should have been shown experiencing the hurt and pain. It was glossed over, in my opinion. Made Zhou wan seem shallow when pre leap she was an incredible character. Overall I'd rate 8/10

I wish we could see a return of this concept in kdrama world. Such a good drama and s2 was excellent as well..watched it back in 2019 and loved every moment. Recent action dramas like teach you a lesson and agent kim reminded me of this gem

For those who liked this and teach you and lesson, they should definitely watch Bad Guys. Both seasons. Its old but soooo good

I need him back in a drama similar to Kairos!

Perfect crown being higher up on the list than shows like scarecrow, we are all trying here and agent kim reactivated is insane 😶 i love IU and byeon woo seok but come on. The script was extremely shallow and basic.

I saw this on the recs page for Queen mantis. I loved that so i think I'll watch it.

I will watch this because this director did NOT disappoint with black out and queen mantis. Plus the cast has park hae joon

I think i agree with you, but to a certain extent. When she started thinking she was undeserving of lu xi xiao, that she was a bad person, it made sense that she kept things from him. But before that when she had first seen her mother and lu xi xiao interact, she could have joined hands with him to take her down. Its only later when she accepts that she loves lu xi xiao that she tries to let go of her hate for mother. Before that she still had a highschool crush on LXX but was focused on money and revenge. Would have made more sense if she had asked LXX for help especially since she found out about his family dynamic pretty early on.
But i understand that's the plot. They could have shown a more gray FL who then chooses a different path from her mother. Gray characters like klaus and damon from the originals and the vampire diaries, lee ji an from my mister and kaz from six of crows are genuinely gray. They dont constantly have attacks of conscience. But eventually they soften and choose a different path. That's why they are gray. That's what i thought the FL was. But she's actually not, which is fine because i understand the drama needs to have twists and misunderstandings to progress, even if a little illogical

You should watch sell your haunted house. It also had ML who wasnt your typical hero

Kingdom is already mentioned in the recs section here. I was trying to add titles that people might not have heard of

For people looking for similar dramas:
The guest (same screenwriters)

Sell your haunted house (the chemistry in a non romance drama always hits hard)

The revenant

Strangers from hell

Happiness

Search

The Ghost Detective

Bring it on Ghost

Dark hole

Im midway through episode 7 and here are my thoughts:
Before I start, I'd like to say a few things about me as a viewer. I very rarely watch romantic dramas. I'm talking about dramas where romance is central. I used to watch romance dramas in my early 20s but for the last 7 or 8 years it has been mostly thrillers. Gore, fighting, horror, action (the bloodier the better) are my go to genres. However every now and then i listen to that small part of me that wants to watch the occasional romance drama. That streak consists of 2 or 3 back to back dramas before eventually i go back to thrillers, blood and guts. Hey we all have our "comfort" genres okay, for me nothing is more comforting than justified violence hehehe 😊
The point of this intro is that, i understand why certain plot points are necessary in romantic dramas but do not exist in thrillers. Im able to separate the two.
So coming to this drama, the romance loving part of my is enjoying the angst and forbidden love aspect. But at the same time i think in order to truly make the FL gray, the makers should have shown her to be entirely uncaring towards the ML. Zhou wan is too nice to be truly gray. She is cornered and is surviving but if i compare her to lee ji an from my mister, there's definitely a difference. Lee ji an was only concerned with making money. Zhou wan is also worried about hurting lu xi xiao. Which is why its a little illogical that she isnt telling him about her "situation". It is obvious that lu xi xiao hates that person as much as she does, so....why not take him into confidence? Why not keep their friendship a secret and join hands to trick that person? There's no logical reason as to why she cannot tell him. Look I love gray female leads. They are extremely rare so when i come across one, i always enjoy it. But zhou wan isnt gray. She's just making strange choices that have no reasoning behind. They would have been logical only if she truly did not care a whit for lu xi xiao but started falling for him much later when things had already gone out of her hands. Right now i find her choices hard to understand. But who knows how one would behave when they are 18 and trying to survive a cruel world? The romance loving part of me is telling the logical part to shutup and enjoy the angsty love story so that is what i am going to do.
I also especially loved the part in ep 7 where zhou wan asks lu xi xiao what he would do if she ever hurt him. His simple answer "nothing" gave me more butterflies than any other cute scene so far. 1000/10 for chemistry!
I also really liked the attention to detail regarding medical conditions. I was impressed when they showed the skin changes that uraemia causes. As a doctor it's rare to come across medical accuracy and so i make sure to praise it when it happens

I just started watching the show and what i don't understand is, why was agent kim's wife just left all alone in OT? As a doctor i can assure you that even if a patient's breaths are numbered, even if we know nothing can be done, as long as they are alive and conscious, we will be doing everything in our powers to save them. She should ideally have been shifted to an intensive care unit. There was no scene where doctors discussed whether agent kim wanted them to resuscitate his wife if she collapsed. Did he want her to receive vent support or not? This wasnt a cancer patient with a terminal illness saying their goodbyes. This was a young woman who was post op. It seems like negligence. It was a very strange scene. Is it elaborated on later?