Reading this feels like I have watched another show, The way I see Yi Jin is the opposite of what you wrote. He…
This is true. I don’t disagree. It’s why I think Hee Do and YiJin are allowed to grow apart and find peace elsewhere. The timing isn’t right and their emotional state is not aligned. :,/ it happens and it’s natural. What makes me the most sad is that from the preview it seemed like they weren’t in each other’s lives at all. I think that’s the most upsetting part.
I feel heartbroken to say this but I've kind of accepted that Yijin and Hee Do won't be OTP. Although up until now that seems ridiculous with how much screen time they've invested into those two, my theory is that they're going to spend ep 15 and 16 building up the Beginning of the End, showcasing how they start to fall out, which seemed to begin with the moment Yijin fell in love with being a reporter after watching HeeDo's mother. Hee Do points out to Yijin, the flaw in his logic when he suggests that "would it be ok if I was 2nd?" and she insists that that isn't the point.
I also think they've built up Yoo Rim x Ji Woong in contrast to Hee Do and YiJin because Ji Woong is so firm and optimistic. He's determined to keep that connection between them and his approach to life is simple enough that Ji Woong wouldn't find himself getting mired with overly convoluted ideas about relationships. He's straightforward and pursues his desires with sincerity and honesty, while Yi Jin beats around the bush. It's not an age thing, Ji Woong is younger than Yi Jin. Although Yi Jin has a lot of responsibilities he shoulders, aside from his sad backstory, we can see that Yi Jin has trouble setting boundaries with Hee Do, he has trouble being clear with his intentions and he gets stuck in between a rock and hard place all the time. He could have insisted that they wait to date until he can request a transfer, but he couldn't prioritize his feelings for Hee Do over his desire to excel at his job. His lack of confidence in himself and his relationship with Hee Do is why I feel like it's okay to let them go as OTP. In fact, more than his shame at disappointing Yoo Rim. Yi Jin is afraid that he'll do the same to Hee Do, which means.... you know what it means.
Anyway, Hee Do deserves better than a half-ass relationship. Someone who seems to want to protect her but can barely sort out his own priorities. Yi Jin couldn't even bother to make his own apartment a home 2 years after moving in there, with newspapers still stuck on walls and no furniture. I think this is all reflective of his priorities and motivations. So there we have it. As beautiful and cute NJH and KTR have been so far, I think it would be doing right by her character for her to have lived a truly full life the way she wanted to, rather than have to fight and coddle another reporter in her personal life.
Rewatching again, the kite flying scene is not logical. According to Deok Kim, it takes two hours at running speed…
A large part of Korean landscape is extremely mountainous and roads were mostly walking paths back then. Just to go up a very short hill here in Nara, Japan (where I live) takes about an hour because it is an extreeeemly steep incline. At the top of the hill, you can see the entire city of Nara and from the base of the mountain, you can see the peak of the mountain, so if Deok Im was at a vantage spot, the CP would have easily been able to see the kite. Additionally, dark charcoal ink on a paper kite flown against a clear blue sky stands out quite starkly. It's meant to be that way, hence why they don't use colour paper. Moreover, I'm not sure if anyone else saw, but there was a body of water dividing the spot the kite was flown from and the palace, so they might have had to wend their way around to get to a bridge point.
In conclusion, there's a much higher possibility that Deok Im and Mama Nim were not actually far in distance, it's just that the beach they were at might have been a pain in the a** to hike to, wearing a hanbok and traditional shoes.
This may not be popular opinion and it may seem unwarranted considering he’s not even ML but I do not support Min even in the slightest form. I don’t want him around Hae Ryung and I don’t even want to witness any part of his story unless he goes through a few character arcs of his own (without any kind of romance with Hae Ryung). I hate that the defining moment when I think of him is when he throws Hae Ryung in as fodder for the bigots under his own employ by publicly humiliating her in some twisted form of power play all to decry it by stating his “belief” in her.
I’ve encountered people like those and they are not helpful. They could mentor you, challenge you and elevate you with empathy but instead they treat you differently by stating that them making your life just a little bit more harder is the “fair way” when they know that if Hae Ryung was a man, they’d never treat her the same way - even if he was inept, privileged and corrupt. I hate that by ‘mentoring’ her in this twisted form of patriarchal messiahship, he’s claiming a stake in her success when all he’s being is another hurdle, another emotional burden for her to overcome on top of the added discriminatory practices against her as well as crippling societal expectations.
Min is the worst kind of protagonist because people think that being cold, calculating and manipulative is a form of support but it’s really just him being cold, calculative and manipulative. I hate that she’s even giving him the time of the day beyond passing respect.
This drama has cute moments but it is sssslllllooooooowwwwww AFFFFF I mean nothing needs to HAPPEN but like, let's see some character growth or something. Maybe Hye Ja is learning new things and changing her perspective. Getting less naive, judgemental and annoying or something. Nothing is changing rn! I don't even know what the conflict is currently at ep 6 other than the fact that she's gotten old. Grandma Hye Ja is fully mobile and cognizant so she's not grappling with mobility issues, instead of coming to understand herself, her new (old) body and trying to understand and learn new things, she's still chasing Joo Ha blindly and antagonizing him from the sidelines with ignorant, judgemental crap. Hye Ja's character is not 25, she's behaving like she's freaking 15. 25 is not THAT young that she'd be this irresponsible and brainless.
PS: I'm going to update with a full review if it gets better so hopefully this picks up. At ep 6 though, idk. Lookin' bleak
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I also think they've built up Yoo Rim x Ji Woong in contrast to Hee Do and YiJin because Ji Woong is so firm and optimistic. He's determined to keep that connection between them and his approach to life is simple enough that Ji Woong wouldn't find himself getting mired with overly convoluted ideas about relationships. He's straightforward and pursues his desires with sincerity and honesty, while Yi Jin beats around the bush. It's not an age thing, Ji Woong is younger than Yi Jin. Although Yi Jin has a lot of responsibilities he shoulders, aside from his sad backstory, we can see that Yi Jin has trouble setting boundaries with Hee Do, he has trouble being clear with his intentions and he gets stuck in between a rock and hard place all the time. He could have insisted that they wait to date until he can request a transfer, but he couldn't prioritize his feelings for Hee Do over his desire to excel at his job. His lack of confidence in himself and his relationship with Hee Do is why I feel like it's okay to let them go as OTP. In fact, more than his shame at disappointing Yoo Rim. Yi Jin is afraid that he'll do the same to Hee Do, which means.... you know what it means.
Anyway, Hee Do deserves better than a half-ass relationship. Someone who seems to want to protect her but can barely sort out his own priorities. Yi Jin couldn't even bother to make his own apartment a home 2 years after moving in there, with newspapers still stuck on walls and no furniture. I think this is all reflective of his priorities and motivations. So there we have it. As beautiful and cute NJH and KTR have been so far, I think it would be doing right by her character for her to have lived a truly full life the way she wanted to, rather than have to fight and coddle another reporter in her personal life.
In conclusion, there's a much higher possibility that Deok Im and Mama Nim were not actually far in distance, it's just that the beach they were at might have been a pain in the a** to hike to, wearing a hanbok and traditional shoes.
I’ve encountered people like those and they are not helpful. They could mentor you, challenge you and elevate you with empathy but instead they treat you differently by stating that them making your life just a little bit more harder is the “fair way” when they know that if Hae Ryung was a man, they’d never treat her the same way - even if he was inept, privileged and corrupt. I hate that by ‘mentoring’ her in this twisted form of patriarchal messiahship, he’s claiming a stake in her success when all he’s being is another hurdle, another emotional burden for her to overcome on top of the added discriminatory practices against her as well as crippling societal expectations.
Min is the worst kind of protagonist because people think that being cold, calculating and manipulative is a form of support but it’s really just him being cold, calculative and manipulative. I hate that she’s even giving him the time of the day beyond passing respect.
PS: I'm going to update with a full review if it gets better so hopefully this picks up. At ep 6 though, idk. Lookin' bleak