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MZ = millennial + gen z! I've seen it used on Korean forums like Nate Pann etc. I figure most of that demographic gets their news from online, especially since SK is considered to be the most connected country in the world

If I were at SBS I would've asked for citations about the 1% ratings.. like literally reference namuwiki lol. Daily dramas have a cult following and while the ratings will obviously pale in comparison to Netflix dramas, MBC and KBS1/2 clearly aren't bothered by the ratings since they keep making dailies. If the ratings were truly as bad as the union is arguing, the other networks would've pulled the plug 🙃

Btw: Seeing you describe the exact times the soaps lead into the news makes me so nostalgic for when I'd spend time at my grandparents house 😭 my grandmother was a big fan of bold and the beautiful and she was even an extra on there (because my uncle played drums in one episode 😂)

I was never a fan of the Yoonchul/Minjeong storyline but now that we're in the heat of things (Yuna got caught lmao) things like seeing things Woojoo "auditioning" Yoonchul as a step dad surrounded by fugitive!Yuna and Junho's investigation completely take me out the drama. I love fast forwarding!!

OMG!! I hope that gets confirmed as true. I love her villainous acting

And yes I love the setting! I can't really think of any other dailies that were set around the fine art world (I know the two sisters, Hyewon owned the gallery but not it wasn't to the extent that is drama is going for)

Okay....
Just finished the movie and I'm unsure of what the plot is. IMO it seems like this was just an excuse for what we call "trauma porn". This movie is not for the weak. There's rape, prostitution, adultery, extortion and bullying... and btw these characters are all minors / high school aged. But the gag is none of these things really added to the plot... pure shock value.

Like don't get me wrong, I like dark stories (The Glory) but there needs to be some kind of resolution or retribution dished out to the main characters to make it count. But Park Hwayoung misses the mark on that ... big time. So I'll try my best to explain the plot:

It seems like Hwayoung was abandoned by her mom so to compensate for that she acts as her "friends" mom. All her friends address her as 엄마. Her "friends" are basically made up of iljins and runaways. As the summary above says they congregate at Hwayoung's house where Hwayoung makes ramyun, lets them smoke and have sex in her house. Hwayoung is heavyset and is the butt of jokes/target of bullying amongst the group. Except for Mijeong. Mijeong is an idol/actress trainee and she is dating Youngjae.

I agree with the other reviewer where it's never really explained why Youngjae doesn't like Mijeong hanging out with Hwayoung. Don't get it twisted, Youngjae doesn't dislike Hwayoung because he sees that she hangs around bad company... because Youngjae himself is bad company..But know that Youngjae really hates Hwayoung going as far as to spit on her, threaten her into eating food off the floor, ash his cigs on her, hit her (and it's pretty graphic) etc

From what I could see Mijeong is also a runaway so she sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other trainees, who are Gangnam girls. They make fun of her for having cheap shoes, so Mijeong starts selling her panties and pads on the Internet and there's a ridiculous scene where Mijeong and Hwayoung allow these middle schoolers to kiss and touch them for like... $60. Hwayoung beats the Gangnam Girls up in the bathroom and that's the end of that subplot.

Then there's Sejin's subplot... which also ends without resolution. Sejin is another runaway who is living with Hwayoung. Youngjae is cheating on Mijeong with Sejin... and Sejin gets pregnant. Hwayoung assaults her kicking her in the stomach and then that's the last you see of Sejin. There's no resolution given..like did she have a miscarriage? Was the baby even Youngjaes? Sejin also has a tendency to offer herself up to johns, and then the iljin squad will then extort the the johns. Admittedly I only really watched this for Lee Yoomi so her being taken out of the story so abruptly kinda killed my enjoyment lol

The climax of the movie is... Youngjae beats the shit out of Hwayoung and pressures Mijeong into beating up Hwayoung. Youngjae breaks up with her and Mijeong engages with a john in an attempt to get Youngjae to save her. Things go to the left when the john tries to rape Mijeong but Hwayoung runs to her defense and gets raped. THEN Youngjae arrives, and beats the john to death. Mijeong joins in as well and for whatever reason, Hwayoung decides to call 911 on herself because Mijeong convinces her. Youngjae + Mijeong literally get away with murder.

We get a scene at the end where it seems like Hwayoung is back to playing the "mom" role but with different women... who don't seem to respect her. The sad thing about Hwayoung's character is her catchphrase "What would you do without me?"... this question never gets answered as all of Hwayoung's relationships are one-sided.

Mijeong and Hwayoung's relationship gives codependency on Hwayoung's end but besides a few flashforwards (where we also see Hwayoung's awkward relationship with her actual mother,) it's not really explained why Hwayoung is willing to go so far for Mijeong. Mijeong herself seems like shes using Hwayoung. They meet in the future and things are a bit awkward. Oh yeah and the flashforwards don't make it obvious - I had to read the movie summary on Namuwiki, because originally I thought they were flashbacks.

All in all, this movie was pure trauma porn with a weak ass excuse for a plot. I think.... I would've liked this better if there weren't so many loose ends and instead of getting scenes from "Iljins Gone Wild" the characters were a bit more developed. I don't think I'll be watching this again. Can't say I recommend it either.... The one good thing about this movie? It made me want ramyun lol

3/10

Also, Hwayoung yells A LOT. it gets a little grating lol

wtf am I watching

tubi if you're in the US!

I'm going through this show at the speed of light... Appreciating that Yeonhee is stepping into the driver's seat when it comes to exposing Yuna.

It's funny how neither Junho or Jaekyung are Haneul's bio parent but they are both better parents to him than Yuna... Yuna's reaction to Haneul's depression is disgusting.

Yuna really doesn't care about anything but Lala like?! It's going to be funny when she gets exposed... she's the acting CEO now but you know what they say, the higher you rise, the harder you fall...!

Summary because Google translate isn't cutting it:

Based on the article from Mediaus, here is a summary of the situation regarding SBS's potential revival of daily dramas:
The Issue
A controversy has erupted within South Korean broadcaster SBS over allegations that its major shareholder (the parent company owner) is interfering with programming and production. Specifically, following a sharp decline in ratings for SBS's flagship evening news program, 8 News, an order was allegedly passed down to revive and schedule a daily drama right before the news slot to act as a "lead-in" to boost viewership.
The SBS Labor Union’s Stance
The National Media Workers' Union SBS Branch heavily criticized the directive, calling it an outdated and financially reckless move.
Financial Strain: The union points out that producing a daily drama for six months costs at least 10 billion KRW (approx. $7.5 million USD). This heavily contradicts SBS's recent emergency management efforts, which barely saved 2 billion KRW.
Outmoded Strategy: The union notes that competitor stations (KBS and MBC) are currently getting abysmal ratings (under 1%)* for their daily dramas, proving the format is no longer effective in the current media landscape.
Political & Management Blame: The union argues that the real reason 8 News ratings collapsed over the last couple of years is due to biased, pro-government (Yoon Suk-yeol administration) reporting that alienated viewers, rather than a lack of a drama lead-in.
Interference: They accuse the major shareholder of violating the "separation of ownership and management" agreement by repeatedly meddling in content production and scheduling.
SBS Management’s Response
SBS Management (the Management Committee) strongly refuted the union’s claims, calling them an exaggerated "frame."
No Forced Orders: Management denied claims that the SBS President was urgently summoned by the shareholder while on vacation.
Just One of Many Ideas: They clarified that broadcasting a daily drama ahead of the news was merely one of 3 to 4 competitive strategies discussed during a July management meeting to counter MBC's scheduling tactics.
No Final Decision: Management stated that the daily drama idea has many variables to consider and accused the union of taking fragments of a standard brainstorming meeting to spin a narrative about "shareholder brainwashing" and "interference."

*I'm not sure what daily dramas the union is referring to but none of them have pulled 1% viewer ratings... even the "worst MBC daily of all time" WWSTS's lowest rating bottomed out at 2.8% but the average seems to be in the 4-5% range

The lead-in tactic is a good idea ... Literally the only time I watch local news broadcasts is if there's a hockey game on and it ends (local news follows right after...) and that's what the big three here (ABC, NBC and CBS) do with their morning/afternoon soap operas... they lead into the noon/5 o'clock news. It's a smart idea as well because I imagine those demographics have overlap - I feel like MZ Koreans get their news from the Internet...

If they bring them back they need to keep everyone who worked on Phoenix 2020 FAR away... besides the story being a shit show I definitely noticed how they used expensive ass Teslas as their sponsored vehicle. That probably put them in the red and the low viewer ratings did very little to help offset that cost....

They need to go ahead and do it! I know SBS, KBS and MBC are all stakeholders in KOCOWA. there's no way that SBS hasn't noticed that KBS and MBCs dailies always end up in the top 10 hot category ... and even domestically KBS domestic drama ratings have been trending upwards. I hope they keep fighting for their revival I have SBS bringing back dailies on my 2020s bingo card

UMMM!!? Junho slapping Junhee?! I'm SHOOK

How does it end? 👀 I know the ML and the 2FL get written out in the second half

As for WWSTS, between that and the first man I'm hoping that Family Relation Certificate is good... the last MBC daily I actually liked enough to finish was Meant to Be lol

Guess who's back with more casting news! Four new characters have been revealed so let's get into it:

First we have Seong Yieon, who will be playing Lim Jihoon. He's the head of the Korean Arts and Culture Center and is described as a kind yet cold person with excellent piano skills. He also has emotional scars stemming from childhood.

Park Solra plays Do Dohee, a Western-style painter (probably specializes in an art style that's popular in europe ie impressionalist art) and influencer. She has a "glamorous lifestyle" and "sensual image" BUT she grew up in an environment where perfection was expected of her. However she has an "honest yet unpredictable charm"

Seo Doyoung is playing Cha Seunghyun, who is a 7th degree postal official (a mailman?) he's described as responsible, willing to sacrifice for his family and has a gentle and sincere personality.

Last but not least, Jeon Seungbin plays Cha Seungwoo. He is a broadcast PD of a channel's liberal arts department (???) ... and has a charm that only his family sees. Despite that he has drive and is considered to be the "ace" of the broadcast station. He also has a "sophisticated sense". I'll say there's a 99% chance that he is the brother of Cha Seunghyun

Source: https://m.entertain.naver.com/home/article/408/0000309223

So far I'm liking how this daily seems to revolve around the arts world!

LMFAO you know you're in a revenge arc when the FL and ML have a conversation that pretty much amounts to "I can't focus on romance right now happiness is a luxury to me" 😭

YEONHEE IN THE FITTED SUIT LET'S GOOOO revenge incarnate mode... Activated!!!!

I cannot stand the side couple of Yoonchul and Minjeong *Regina George voice* stop trying to make them happen they'll never happen!! I would rather watch Seowoo and Hyungjin's co-parenting and I mean that. Hyungjin's willingness to still be involved in baby Pureun's life makes him likeable and it kinda saved his character in my eyes. I'm hoping Mingoo and Hyejin are able to accept him in the end but for now their reactions are believable. I DO hope Mingoo gets his lick back regarding Yuna threatening to out Hyungjin....

Honestly? I agree with one of the reviews; the side characters take up too much of the story. After Jaekyung and Yeonhee become a couple, they kinda fall back until about episode 75 - which I think sucks because I actually like Yeonhee and Jaekyung as a couple lol. But Hyungjin's subplot with Seowoo and Yoonchul's romance subplot take over the story... as well as Yuna finding new ways of being human trash. But luckily it seems like episode 80 (I'm on ep 84 as I write this comment) is the turning point. Now let's see what Yeonhee is cooking...

I swear once I get more things off my watch list I'm going to finish that and Two Sisters 😭 I think those two + Woman Who Swallowed the Sun are the considered to be worst dailies of the 2020s 😭

YouTube! On MBCs channel. They leave comments on the previews for the next episode. Some are shocked by the manner that Hwayoung killed Seorin, some are annoyed that no one is stopping Hwayoung and a lot of people want Junho to die. The majority of the comments want the show to be cancelled lmao

I dont know what to think ... Seorin faking her death would be quite the emotional roller coaster lol

AWWWW HEEEEELLLL NOOOOO!!!! Yuna just crossed a line she should not cross. Soonboon 😭😭😭

Yeonhee better make this bitch cry tears of blood I SWEAR

I swear fans of unorthodox female leads just can't win 😭

Well guys ... that was a great final episode! see you in the comment section of the next MBC/KBS2 daily drama! Adding this to the list of Seo Hyunjoo dramas I dropped 😭 my beef with her continues!

Who am I kidding... I'll be lurking and "watching" through the comments. The only way I see myself tuning back in is if I hear Sukhee goes full revenge incarnate and brings Hwayoung to her knees. But this is a Seo Hyunjoo drama and as we see, she sucks at writing revenge!

You can tell the exact moment when the "extension" storylines were written in (zero follow up for Baekho's "habit" of touching his ear/the ma family crest, Hwayoung purposely switching the chairman's meds to kill him with nothing happening, Sukhee being the chairman's daughter....) and that's exactly where this drama went off the rails. Time to finish one of the many dramas I'm watching instead...

ETA: got curious about the domestic audience's reaction to today's episode and it's very negative. I wonder if this will impact viewer ratings in the long run

Yuna blackmailing Mingoo with Hyungjin's sexuality to secure Junho's promotion is actual insane behavior. Like damn you want Lala Group THAT badly? This b!tch has no morals... holy shit namuwiki was NOT exaggerating when they said she is the most villainous 2FL to come out of an SBS morning drama. Now when is Yeonhee going to jack her up?!