Viajero

She has very good reasons for wanting to keep their relationship a secret since she has everything to lose if it gets out. He's also never given her any reasons to trust him with the rest of her life, given his constant belittling and controlling behaviour. It's very clear that while he has the hots for her, he never really grows to fully respect her. Even the FL can tell this this guy is a huge big red flag. If you want a ML who is a true green flag, then go watch Love Between Lines and compare that guy to this jerk.

I couldn't agree more and given that you are perceptive enough to see all this, I doubt your opinion is going to change even after 24 episodes. Especially once he starts becoming jealous and super possessive, while still acting extremely inappropriately in other ways.

All very nice in theory. But I couldn't disagree more. It's all about whether the relationship is public or not. In the end it comes down to the fact that he had nothing to lose by announcing their relationship to the world (a lot of guys even love to brag about the pretty young things they are screwing), while she had absolute everything to lose. I've been working in the corporate world for a long-time and have seen this scenario over and over again. The woman is always the loser as soon as the relationship is discovered.

Perhaps I'm not explaining well enough. But this woman does a very good job of explaining what I've been trying to say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L66EZsi69w4

I actually agree with you on this. I'm have no patience for overly wholesome romances featuring the perfect green flag leads. But for me, this guy crosses the line between a generally decent guy with some realistic imperfections to a guy who I would not want my daughter to date under any circumstances.

I don't hate the show at all. Its extremely well made, the acting is superior, and this couple has the best make up sex on TV. I think this show does a superior job of delving into a dysfunctional workplace relationship. What I can't understand is actually liking the lead characters themselves or thinking this is some great romance. It's a very good drama with a lot to say, but certainly not a good romance.

I didn't hate the ending. I thought it was fitting. But I'm still not sure I would consider it a happy ending given that this couple never resolved all the toxicity and dysfunction that plagued their relationship for years. There was nothing in that ending that would cause me to be optimistic about their future together. But if ending the series on a high note within their endless cycle of ups and downs makes you and many other viewers happy, then I guess it served its intended purpose.

No. Unless you think a toxic marriage between two people who are going to go through life making each other miserable (in between bouts of passionate love making) is a happy ending.

I wouldn't compare the two. Shine on Me has much more likeable characters (both leads are definite green flags while the leads in this show are about as red as you can get). But they do have a lot more chemistry in this one and the pacing of the story is also better as Shine on Me really begins to drag towards the end.

The you shouldn't watch the series because he remains a A**hole for all 24 episodes.

The FL wasn't trying to keep the relationship a secret because of her insecurity. It was to protect her career (and she said as much). If the word got out when she was still working under him, she would have been out on the street as its the woman who always loses in those situations. He of course went along, not because he really cared about her career, but because it gave him more leverage to continuing manipulating and gaslighting her.

"She also deliberately avoided the typical kabedon/wall-pinning scenes because it can create the feeling of a woman being trapped or restricted."

What is she talking about. They kept repeating those wall-pinning scenes over and over again throughout the season, including several times in the finale.

I went back and rewatched the last 2 episodes because I had dozed off and missed a big chunk of episode 23 the first time around. People kept on insisting that Luke had improved his behavior by the end of the season and I figured I must have missed something. But all this did was make me more pissed off at both lead characters and the writers. Luke stepped over the line so far and so repeatedly in those episodes that any self-respecting woman would have thrown him out and refused to speak with him again. Maybe it’s a cultural difference, but most of the women I’ve dated in my life would never have put up with that kind of behavior in such circumstances and I hadn’t even spent years and years repeatedly insulting them and proving they couldn’t trust me. It also shows that for all the effort Luke puts into winning her back at the end, he really hadn’t changed his stripes. He goes all out when he thinks he might lose her and then tramples all over her whenever he feels like he can get away with it. The fact that this FL ends up taking him back despite it all is plain ridiculous and shows that deep down she remains the naïve insecure girl from the beginning. These two just keep going in circles without ever getting anywhere. Nothing gives either the FL or us viewers any confidence that Luke is going to keep all those final promises any more than he has during the rest of the season. As a result, the “happy ending” feels completely unearned.

They were very different shows. This one was much more character based while Agent Kim was more action oriented. Makes it hard to compare.

Agent Kim is very good, but Flower of Evil is a masterpiece.

I thought both were among the best shows this year, but would actually give a slight edge to this one because it does a better job of developing all of the subplots and characters.

The rating deserves to be even higher. One of the few kdramas this year that starts out fairly good and just keeps getting better throughout the entire season.

This remains my all time favorite c-drama

But this series does it better than that movie

I thought those were among the best things about the show.

Half the male leads in these series also look like weaklings who couldn't hold a stick. But no one complains about them.