itwillneverbefar

I hate him but he's soooo good at being terrible

When a Korean production company issues a press release that an actor is considering a role it's because there has been an informal handshake or discussion behind the scenes and they feel confident enough to publicly mention it, and 99% of the time the person is cast. So if a popular actor then decides not to sign onto an interesting role in an anticipated show that is noteworthy.

This is one of those dramas that doesn't do everything well, but the things it does well it does SO well.

Normally after the couple get together in a drama it starts to feel stale , but I love watching these two, they have such natural chemistry and just feel so right for each other. When Mechoori came in after the dinner feeling sad and she was there to give him a warm hug and support my heart felt so full and happy. They both deserve to be loved like this.

I def low key hate Ye Jin's mom, but then I also remember she did try and take the fall for Yejin before the fallout with the hush money. She just is so self focused she can't really see things from her daughter's side still. I would really love to see her publicly acknowledge Ye Jin, then I could feel happy about them re-establishing their relationship.

I love that we're back to the absurd comedy--Gwang Mo modeling the brown suit had me rolling. And I love every time Mechoori gets petty about Mr. Neighbor, and the two of them battling for the dad's attention. I don't mind the love triangle at this point because we've known for a while that Eric has ZERO chance with her, and it has given us some great comedy moments.

Ohhhh, you're right because we never actually heard the CEO who died say he was the one who had switched out the ingredients. UGH I HATE CHANG HO. I was so happy they'd all reconnected. Freaking snake. Can't wait for him to go down. with that b-- michelle.

Idk.. I feel like another actor could have made Eric more interesting despite it all. I don't think it's only the writing unfortunately. I like Kim Bum but he seems to be phoning it in with this one.

Nah. This goes too far. Consent is important, and an important issue to me, and you're actually making light of it by trying to force apply it here.

You said all of those what ifs, but none of them apply, so you can't then use those as evidence that it's red flag behavior. It's not problematic AT ALL for a boyfriend to surprise his girlfriend when they had already mended their relationship and moved forward, she straight up said she slept better when they were together, they were already comfortable living in the same space, he has never ONCE remotely crossed the line physically or romantically, and he was confident she'd find it a sweet and romantic surprise. AND we all know if she said she wasn't comfortable with it, he would have turned around that very second and left with no argument.

Saying that he is now a red flag for doing something like this because SOME WOMAN SOMEWHERE might not be totally comfortable with it, even though the woman he did it to is TOTALLY comfortable and happy with it, is a really unfair expectation of men.

The scene in the park was so well done, it reminded me of that scene in Good Will Hunting where Sean (Robin Williams's character ) tells Will over and over again "It wasn't your fault" until Will completely breaks down and just sobs in Sean's arms.

I am really liking this drama and I relate a lot to the struggles of the characters. Being neglected and abandoned by a parent and being the one to find a friend's dead body is so traumatic, and this show honors what those experiences can do to a person, how self destructive and self-sabotaging it can make them.

In the end they both provided the one thing that the other needed but couldn't give themself--Yejin gave him grace and he gave her devotion. I really loved how the writer wove in both the revelation of the contamination and insomnia phone calls subplots into their growth arcs.

And they really are mirror images of each other. She never lets herself slow down so she doesn't have to face her pain, he never let's himself vibrantly live so he doesn't have to face his. She obsessively vets products to try and atone for her imagined sins, he obsessively serves other to atone for his. They both took on the blame of a parent figure as a way to not have to fully mourn the loss of the ideal they had of them. I could go on!

It's far from perfect but the core story of the main couple is very compelling and beautiful.

He needed someone who had suffered from the contamination to forgive him so he could forgive himself, and she subconsciously called that number in a desperate attempt to reconnect to someone who was never truly there for her, only to find someone who was always there for her. That's beautiful.

The drama is a dissertation on human nature and power, with the fall arc of Bang Won as its core. It was never a story celebrating people staying true to their morals till the bitter end. It's a realistic look at human nature, at how power corrupts, at the true price of upholding an "ideal." In reality, people who hold to their ideals no matter what more often than not get crushed by those who are willing to compromise them (esp in any era but the most modern). There are characters who held their ideals and ended up dead so we didn't even get to see the end of their story. There are those who tried to compromise and ended up miserable. There are those who abandoned their morals and lost themselves completely. The show does not "push the message that the end justifies the means" it actually pushes the opposite. It shows how those who believe this end up as no better than the villains that they were first trying to take down.

This message was shown even in the very beginning of the show with Bang Won finding out about his father's betrayal and then killing those two students under the guise of righteousness, and then later with Sam Bong claiming he was starting a utopia only to manipulate and use those in power to do it. The fact that you didn't realize this shows the brilliance of the show. You saw them all as good guys at the beginning because you want to believe in good vs evil. Boon Yi and Moo Hyul were both fascinating takes on what can happen when you value the ideal you imagined more than the reality in front of you.

Like.. this is a very complex story with complex characters that you wanted to be simplified so it would make you comfortable. But it's supposed to make you uncomfortable.

Nooooooooooooo T.T

I wish they would have made the mask bigger. Like if it was over both his eyes that would be believable and hard for her to recognize.

My only hope is that even in the 4 eps so far the drama has gotten pretty dark at times (like the opening itself, the rain scene when she first arrived, the stuff with her grandma, the stuff with the dog and the CP) but managed the tone shifts perfectly and it hasn't dragged it down, and on balance is still a lot more fun than not.

She said at one point "I've never looked up at anyone in my life" but was a palace maid at one point so idk if she just kinda threw off that part of her when she became a concubine?

What I don't get, then, is why she doesn't recognize Se-gye. Like that 1/4 face mask is not enough to keep her from recognizing him in the modern era.

How do episodes that haven't even aired have ratings? People really taking time to go in and pre-rate episodes with low scores. Mydramalist is utterly broken.

Does anyone know a site where the ratings are more accurate? Like where hate brigaders don't downvote any drama that doesn't have their fav oppa or whatever? I'm feeling done with this site tbh.

I always look at the episode ratings vs the main rating because those more accurately reflect the quality. Hate raters don't bother rating each episode, it's usually the viewers who are actually invested in the drama and will fairly rate it.

I am hoping the writer subverts the trope, as they have done many other times in this drama. And we see that her motivations were complicated, not just out of spite or pettiness.

And I share your pain. I can't remember the last drama I watched that was good beginning to end. ISTG the better they start the harder they fall. Maybe it's rushed schedules or pressure or something, because drama writers seem sooo lazy and unimaginative in how they ramp up tension. Anytime they need to add more drama in the second half they'll toss in a forced, sudden breakup from a misunderstanding that could be entirely cleared up with one honest 2 minute conversation.

OMG, I was just thinking like why is this office worker also so dedicated to the gym. Like my guy looks AMAZING.

We def getting a shirtless spicy bedroom scene and I for one welcome how it will unravel me