elpis

nope couldnt find it.

The first half treaded the line and I was fine with it. But the plot twist turned things upside down and I could still make sense of it. His grief, his guilt.

Shiori's advances towards Shibata on his return was to be expected - after all she does tell him back in one of the early episodes that she loved him. But we never do see Shibata's thinking or may be I missed cues. Was it always Shiori - and Kahori was just a cover/convenience? It would fit because he connects with Shiori first and it only later that he is swept away by lust by Kahori. The deep grief for Kahori... what was that then? Or did he develop feelings for Shiori after their parting in the island?
I could not deconstruct Shibata and that affected my viewing. Why does he insist on going back into prison. Was it to cut time while he waited for Shiori to become of age? Was it as punishment for himself for loving Shiori 'that way'? It basically felt like he was directionless and threw away his life on the altar of the mother -daughter pair.
One big problem was Yamada Maiko's acting. Absolutely no soul in her performance so the drama largely lost me in the latter episodes. Anyway. the acting of the others - Toyokawa Etsushi , Natsukawa Yui, Sano Shiro and Nagasaku Hiromi - was superb enough to keep me going.

Maybe Im too pragmatic to get it. Regardless, the stunning scenic shots of Japan were in itself worthy of a watch.

I love that J-doramas are fearless in what they explore and usually look forward to their unusual plots but I have to say this didnt work for me. Largely because it did not made sense to me. I may be called too 'uptight' for saying this but the way it ended felt weird. Trust me I usually love complicated plotlines. More under spoilers

This turned out to be a surprisingly good watch! We have a genuinely well-written FL , a charming ML with his own arc, a lovely sismance of three friends.

I found the FL abrasive and rude esp in the early episodes, but it gets toned down in a bit and even though her character growth is minimal she does get better in the end. What I did love was the character remains well defined till the end - she is strong, confident and smart even if a little too brash. The ML is well-matched and they make an awesome team after they join hands in the 2nd half. Fantastic chemistry and I thought their banter was great fun. NGL, would have liked more skinship - what we saw was yummy. I anyway love Wang Yang so I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Zhi Qiu's arc was the other one I quite enjoyed. I really liked to see the couple navigate very normal marital issues and their love & support was just lovely. Her personal growth story was also welldone.
XuanXuan drove me batty - I skipped most of her aegyo scenes as the character & the actor got annoying. The cheating husband was predictable but the takedown was fun. Her character growth was significant but still just ok to watch.

Lots of focus on business part which I had nor problems with - the plotting was solid so it felt cohesive and all the bits nicely linked together right to the conclusion (very rare in dramas) which kept things consistently interesting.

Overall, a recommend watch for those looking for 30+ business + mature romance drama

QH ends with 11.7% rating, pretty decent I think. This was my first airing daily and the first time I actively participated in discussions. All in all, a very enjoyable watch - thanks to the QH team and you guys here!

Thanks so much for the recs. Ive heard of a few but only had Yellow Boots & Two Mothers in my PTW. Adding the rest. I really wish I could find Yellow Boots somewhere in high res. Im dying to watch it but only DC used to have in 360p, even thats gone now. :(

Yes this has been a great watch even with its flaws.

I have only watched 3 other dailies other than this one (have dropped a few I tried out) and all have been good makjangs. I loved Promise, my first daily which I only picked up because I adored Lee Yu Ri in My Father is Strange. I marathon watched Miss Mermaid earlier this year (246 eps, with lots of FF) - Jang Seo Hee is outstanding & the first 100 eps were an amazing watch.

The third one Sunny Again Tomorrow is actually by the same writer as QH (Tae Ho starred in it as SML) and was quite an enjoyable watch though Seol In Ah was a bit raw in it. It was not as intense as QH and I would recommend it for someone looking for a light-ish makjang.

Im now wondering if I should watch the upcoming drama ( Lee II Hwa is great) or pick up Vengeance of the Bride that Im seeing mentioned often!!! Im hoarding Temptation of Wife :)

Thanks for the link - you saved me a search. Really nice song

Obviously more folks in SK are tuning in for the juicy revenge take down scenes. QH's rating for 16 Sept was 11.9!!!

Why is it that Im feeling a wee bit sad for GC - he doesnt deserve it one bit!

This actually had a proper melo/makjang plot but didnt ultimately work. It might have been a good drama in better hands in my mind,. a proper Korean writer/director/cast team. And needed to be around 20 eps max. The romance had scope be angsty and heart fluttering, may have been captivating even this script but with better actors. Dont even get me started on the awful kisses.

The leads had no chemistry and both lack acting skills, though the ML is trifle better than the FL. By the time I reached the end, I was thoroughly done with the FL as a character & actor. Lin Wo felt like she was an interesting, genuinely strong minded FL at times but the terrible acting plus repeatedly making prejudiced judgements first about her Pa then about Gao Shan became so annoying.

The first half was still interesting but once the original plot got resolved it devolved in utterly irritating mess.

What I did love: the second couple and their romance, particularly Su Yuan. What a cute character. Both SLs were miles better actors than the leads.

OK I loved the latest episode: I dont think the writer properly developed the route to GC's feelings of loss, regret and guilt that we see but still even tho it does not feel organic, I like where we are in that regard. Its been done well in this episode - he is shown in so many different ways realising what he'd lost. The actor's done a fine enough job. I can see why he's a staple in dailies.

I personally like the sudden dash of love angles, a nice change of pace. As I said before I love Tae Ho's introduction and I surprisingly enjoy his - fake or real interest - in Jae In. The actor, and so the character, has the screen presence and vibe to face off GC and so we get somewhat electric scenes like the last one today. Sadly Do Yun does not have that sizzling presence
I also loved the scene where TH tells Se Ri to die if she wants....finally someone brutally telling off Se Ri .

The end game is on, just a couple more reveals. We have a week more, and its gonna be action packed. my guess (im often wrong tho!) - the truth about Ji Ho is gonna be out soon. After that shock, GC's gonna be diagnosed with some terminal illness (cancer?) so that will likely cause him confess/repent. And then possibly kill off SR to protect Jae In. The End. Lets see,

Lots of good stuff in today's episode! We had Take 2 of GC beseeching JI to get back together,and this was not any better than the previous one. The scene should have been filled with zingers making it satisfying and heart wrenching, we got barely 1 or 2.

The only 2 scenes so far that got me emotionally invested are both by SW - one where he calls MR "eomma" and today when he tells JY she'll always be his mother. The actor's turning out to be good in emotional/melo scenes, more so than in the comedy ones.

Killing a man randomly in your own house is nuts - her simplistic thinking: everything is solved by killing off people and deny she has anything to do with it. I hope this time she'll get caught red handed

I was busy/travelling this week, so just got caught up over the weekend. Had to put down a few thoughts::

- I think the basic plotting per se of the show pretty good. Its fast pace and quick resolutions has kept fatigue minimal and things interesting. I love Tae Ho's introduction and how his plotline is coming together for the big reveal. I have seen this actor before in Sunny Again Tomorrow and quite liked him there. He's quite good here as well. I wish he'd been one of the leads. Decent chemistry with HEJ. Unfortunately neither of the present MLs have chemistry with HEJ.

Other nice touches are the fake Oh Seong romance for revenge, the way SW is getting accepted and accepting his "new son" status and Gi Man's regression. Although I still cant understand why Ja Young is allowed to keep going off alone, but I do like how her dementia has been used to show her soft side and mellowed things between her and SW. Of course, Mi Ran time and again being faced by how awful she;s been to Jae In is music to my ears. I literally applauded when DY's mom tells Oh Seung her being so cruel to her own family shows her character hasnt changed.

- The biggest issue with this drama is that the writer & director have repeatedly fluffed big confrontation (& reveal) scenes. The scene between Jae in and GC was one of the better ones. But it could have been far more moving and emotionally hard hitting. The only touch I liked there was when GC calls her the intimate way Jae In-ah 재인아, and Jae In reacts violently (although that screaming thing didnt work for me - Se Ri also does it when mad).
The dialogues are just not emotionally impactful. Not just here but all confrontation scenes. A major failing for a makjang imo.

-Which also brings me to GC's character development. This is another weak area - so far we have repeatedly seen he is motivated only by self interest so where is this sudden love for Jae In coming from? From what I can make of the timeline, he seems to have been two-timing from the start, so he never did love her truly. So why this rush of emotion? We have never heard from him on his true emotions around Se Ri or Jae In, esp in early days when he chose to "keep" two houses. I remember thinking in early episodes that GC does love JI in some way but we never saw it explored.

- The character of Se Ri is written to be rather one dimensional - though her being a pathological liar is interesting. The actor makes it worse with her subpar performance imo.

We are almost there. Just 10 more eps, with all its flaws, I'll miss it when done.

You can try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8koaeq3B9k&list=PLKvQf7JNnWS1yNr5bkbuMOpTLMB7nI3Hl

She jumped up the ladder by virtue of being hired as Designer L. Her contract terms ensure she heads the design function. So she can participate the executive meetings. Though how she got into the board meeting is a good questions - I figured because she still has her father's shares?

Just 10 more eps, so 2 weeks more, wow we are almost done here! No wonder we got a confession thought it seemed a bit out of place imo. GC being there and the whole jealous ex angle itself feels a bit forced to me but ok, the writer wants to make GC regret everything.
The revenge is going along fairly well (though with lot of plot conveniences). Seems like all threads will be wrapped up without rushing. I just hope AT LEAST by the end Jae In will appoint a caregiver for her mother!

Persevered 8 episodes thinking it'll improve plus I thought the chemistry quite good for a c-drama - but dear god, there is zero plot - practically every scene is either the FL chasing the ML or making flirty eyes at him OR talking to someone about the ML.

I mean I get that both are at loose ends career wise & so have nothing else going on ....but still! If the drama had at least chosen the Slice of Life approach with creditable side character arcs and a peek into small town life, it would have had some appeal, but this got boring fast. We just get some random scenes about his trauma to mix things up but no real depth.

Watched some nice kisses in Ep 8 and called it a day to save my sanity.

PS: Why does the FL have caked on white make up when she seems naturally attractive?

Where did you watch this - i only saw it available years ago on DC with very poor resolution so did not watch it then.

The idea was solid but the execution felt poorly done. The first 15 episodes focuses only on fluffy romance and then we suddenly get a break up. The aftermath if well written would have made the drama really interesting . But we get half baked treatment of FL's reactions/responses, and her final reversal, a SML who vanishes as suddenly as he popped up, and repeated crises for ML while FL plays second fiddle. The last 10 odd episodes really dragged

It is made worse because imo the leads had no chemistry whatsoever. The performances per se - neither Arthur Chen nor Sabrina Zhang impressed me, but they werent terrible. In all, a very lukewarm show but not a bad watch if you want something light with a "message".

Lastly, the OST is pretty nice - I liked both theme songs as well as the one by Liu Yuning