The original writer wrote it based on Phj. He was chosen from nation wide voting. His scenes was cut out so much…
understandable. It took me 3 tries to finish it. I kept dropping because of reading comments/reviews and the fact that it's really hard to get hooked into it, it's hard to tell where the story is coming from at first and where it's going.
The original writer wrote it based on Phj. He was chosen from nation wide voting. His scenes was cut out so much…
Yes. It's not enough to totally ruin the show, but it's noticeable. It's like the 2FL and 2ML are both expressive and easily fall into a habit of overacting. Their looks are overtly gorgeous.
Then you have the ML/FL and they are both have a very natural, subtle acting style that lends itself to complex characters better. They are both kind of passively gorgeous.
This ends up clashing. It's so korean for a drama to be hesitant about going too dark. The ML is giving a dark performance, and the FL is following his lead beautifully. The 2ML/2FL are "lightening up" the drama when it's not needed. I don't really think they grasped soonkki's brand of humor. But anyways. The darker the ML gets, the more they interject the show with the 2ML and 2FL. It's sort of incomprehensible why they did this, it really does seem like the director/producer were TRYING to ruin what makes the show good. Like the drama was fighting against itself. It's weird.
But there was something cool in the way that Seo Kang Joon started toward the end, to match Park Hae Jin's level of acting in the scenes they shared. He just mirrors whoever he's acting against at their pace and their tone. But that just ended up making things seem even more jumbled up and confused, as you can see by the insane amt of people complaining that the 2ML syndrome was so bad for them they hate the drama now, or dropped it.
Aigoo.
If you watch it, you are just going to watch Park Hae Jin play this incredible character that unfolds slowly in layers. The end of the drama has nothing to do with the relationship with the FL, nothing to do with the plot or the side characters. They ended it where they ended it because they had finally peeled back ML's last layers and you see him for who he truly is. But when you go in thinking it's a pure romance, and that it's about this relationship, then you get let down at how they ended it with the openness and abruptness that they did.
I can't think of anything that deserves a remake more than this story. Maybe even like 3 or 4 or 5 remakes, like BoF :P It would take a lot of talent for an actor to portray the character well, and the FL is really cool, any actress would want to play her.
i honestly would not consider him a red flag, considering the fl is scared of him because she misunderstood him…
>He’s grey, he’s sick, he’s in a sense mentally not well.
Okay, now that's a good point, and makes me wonder, if I rewatched it, if he does ANYTHING red-flag when it's not snowing outside, and I dont' think he does, right? So I think it's possible that if the behaviors only happen when it's snowing, then maybe he's not red-flag.
>And not once he tried to interfere with FL and ZZ’s relationship. At best, he cooked a banquet of sour food to let her know he’s jealous but he didn’t force her to eat it all.
The original writer wrote it based on Phj. He was chosen from nation wide voting. His scenes was cut out so much…
Oh man, this was like 30 dramas ago for me, i freakin forgot! It must be some kind of open ending. I remember that I didn't hate the ending, but didn't like it either. I remember he like can't stop manipulating people and just express his feelings, but he says he's working on it.... or something. But it's cool how at the end, he's still pathological about it when it comes to other people, but with her he achieves a level of honesty that she draws out of him. The way he plays the character, even at the end, is totally cool. This was such a unique drama because the storyline isn't much to write home about but the CHARACTERS are so so awesome. Soonkki is the shit. There is no other ML like this in dramaland that I know of anyways.
I'm on ep 5 of A Journey To Love.... I hope it's good because I fell 1000% in love with the 2ML Hao Du in The Long Ballad, he just rocked my socks off.
i honestly would not consider him a red flag, considering the fl is scared of him because she misunderstood him…
>are you saying that if by doing it as an one off, to get her over her fear, it is still a bad thing?
mmm..... in RL, yes. In dramaland, idk. Obvs there have been more red-flag ML's than him. I mean it's not like he faked her medical records to make her think she had 6 months to live (coughcoughwellintendedlovecoughgocu) or kidnapped her and chased her through the woods and stockholmed her (coughcoughilovemypresidentthoughhesapsychocoughcough). But there have to be better, healthier ways to convince someone you're not going to kill them just because they dreamed about it. And how come his strangling thing isn't red-flag? Why is it chinese ML's always get a pass on that one. If a Korean ML put his hands around his womans throat in a fit of anger or frustration, it'd be a huge scandalous thing, but because he's chinese, it's like oh well whtvr.
Are there other instances of him manipulating her, icr i'd have to rewatch. Ive seen 3 dramas since I watched this and my brain is swiss cheese about it.
To me, strangling and stabbing qualifies as red-flag. It's just that to me, that's not a negative thing, I love red flag ML's. But if some third-wave feminist wants to watch this, they might get all upset over stuff like that. Not me, idc.
I love this debate, you're fun to chat with. Some people get so offended when you don't share their exact same opinions and then you can't even have a good conversation. Sigh.
Go to "community" and the go to "forums" and ask for reccs there. Why would you come into the comments section…
if you're on your mobile, go to the three-lines at the top right of the home screen, to the right of where it says "Log in"
A new menu will appear that says "Hide ads, Calendar, Lists, Feeds..." etc. Select the one that says "Forums" and scroll through the different forums until you see the one that says "Reccommendation Forum".
If this still doesn't work for you, you can get there by going to duckduckgo (or your search engine of choice), and typing in "Mydramalist reccommendation forum" and it will be the first link in your search results.
Go to "community" and the go to "forums" and ask for reccs there. Why would you come into the comments section…
"I don't go to any forums"
On this site, see the header that says "MyDramaList - Home - explore - community - calendar"? Those are drop-down menus. Go to the "community" dropdown menu, and select "Forums" and you will find a list of forums, including a "Reccommendation forum" where people go specifically to ask eachother for various reccs. That would be the appropriate place for your comment. You'll probably have better luck there since it's a place for anyone to ask whatever question they might have, instead of asking in the comments section of an unrelated romance drama you didn't like.
"...this was the only japanese series..."
Except that this is a chinese drama.
Being extra nice to you isn't a requirement for public interaction with other adults on the interwebs. Crazy, I know. I wasn't mean to you. What you're perceiving isn't me being mean to you... it's my annoyance at seeing your comment in completely the wrong spot for it, and at your obliviousness that it's not good form to come into the comments of a well-loved drama, say you didn't like it after dropping on ep 4, and then ask it's viewers for reccs on gore and horror.
What you just did there is generally accepted on MDL as bad form. What would have been meaner is to not tell you and let you keep making the same faux pas in the future while being totally oblivious to it. Honesty is a form of kindness.
I'm actually trying to send you to the right place so that people will be nicer to you and give you more of what you're looking for. If we were in public and you were picking your nose, and I said "Hey! Quit picking your nose that's gross" would you say "quit being mean to me" and just keep your finger jammed up your nose? I'm trying to help you.
Nothing linked to this series but I want to expand my knowledge so I am looking for recommendations on Chinese…
Go to "community" and the go to "forums" and ask for reccs there. Why would you come into the comments section of a sweet fluff-romance you didn't like to ask for reccs on gore?
i honestly would not consider him a red flag, considering the fl is scared of him because she misunderstood him…
When the goal is to create an emotional impact on a person through self-inflicted violence.... then the effects are much the same. Show me any relationship counselor or psychologist who thinks it's emotionally healthy to stab yourself in order to gain trust from another person.
It's manipulative. And ML shows in a lot of his words and actions that he is manipulative by nature, not just with her. But he even basically says it himself when 2ML says "she's an independent person, you can't control her," and ML responds by cynically saying "Really?" His meaning being 'yeah? are you so sure you really can't control her?' So by his own admission, he is manipulative of her.
Lots of people up in these comments saying how SWEET this drama was. And I agree it was sweet. But just for people reading comments to see if they want to give this a try: I don't even like sweet dramas. I don't care if a drama is sweet. All I care about is if it's HOT. And this was HOTTTT.
You need to give this drama like 10 episodes to start to get GOOD... like addictive. And if you are like me, and not really a big fan of "sweet", it might test your patience to sit through 10 eps of nothing much going on. But it is worth the investment. The payoff is incredibly good.
I don't think I will be able to watch any other drama after watching this masterpiece I tried to watch other dramas…
Story of Kunning Place totally rocked, imo. I think HL and SoKP are about equally good. TOTALLY different from eachother, but equally good.
My Fated Boy was not as good as HL, but it was close. It was pretty dang good, and it was similar in tone to HL. Very fluffy and sweet type of drama. Might take your mind off your post-HL depression, for a little while anyways.
I dropped this, but I am giving it another try. I will see how it goes...
With this drama, PATIENCE = PAYOFF It took me 10 episodes to finally feel like it was going somewhere. But think of that like a roller coaster slowly ramping up... up... up....
I wish I could konk myself out with a cast iron frypan and get amnesia so I could watch it for the first time all over again.
It finally hit me toward the end of the drama: My theory is that Gao Jian Hong is gay and in love with Li Xun and just refuses to admit it to himself. It's the only thing that truly explains his behavior.
Finally finished it. Best modern drama I have seen. I don't know why dramas like Hidden Love take precedent over…
I felt pretty much opposite. I watched HL and gave it a 9 because it rocked my socks off. Then I watched My Fated Boy, which also was pretty good, I gave it an 8.5... Then I saw SoKP with the best ML I've seen in a long time and a pretty decent story, and gave it a 9. Then I watched this because some people just adore it... and it felt dull to me. I gave it a 7.5
To me, in HL everyone put everything they had into their performances. I don't even generally like Rosy, but I was amazed at how incredible her acting was for HL. Victor Ma omg. The plot is fluffy in a way I generally hate. Yet somehow they made it so so so fiery, and it was such a good slow burn with a good gradual ramping up of the fire between them.
This one was not bad, for sure it was not bad. But what was so great about it, I didn't see it. I mean, first you see him get out of jail and you think "yassss this is going to be badass!" but then no, you get to watch them in their college days pre-jail for like 10 episodes. Then in the college days once youre finally absorbed in the story, ML and FL finally get together, and bloop! it's ripped immediately away from you and you're supposed to just imagine that they were together for 3 years between. A 3 years they never reference in the story. It makes no sense, and it's mean to do that to your viewer. They finally get together at the end, and the kisses were okay... he's kissing, she's not really but they weren't that bad... but do I care anymore, after 10 episodes of all-business plot and no romance plot happening? There wasn't any logical overarching order to the emotions they put you through. They built a plot-crescendo at the expense of a romantic crescendo that should've happened but didn't.
The best I can say for this drama is that it DID take my mind off of SoKP for a little while.
Just finished it. I can see how some people would think this is like the best thing ever, but it just didn't really do it for me. There are just so many things wrong with it that bother me. One, the time-skipping of the storyline sequence is awkward. Two, he's a hot blonde but only for a few episodes. Why do this. There was no need. It would not have changed the story in any crucial way to let him be blonde through over half the show. They gave him a really hot look for just a few short episodes and then yanked it away from me and dulled him down deliberately for the whole rest of the show. Not cool. Three, the characters - and this show's brand of romance - just didn't speak to me. The ML's kind of a dick. The FL's kind of self-righteous. I don't readily identify with them or their attraction to eachother. Four, not enough passion in that romance. I mean it was okay. But I go for romances that portray really extremely hot fiery chemistry and this was just sort of a medium on that scale.
Lots of things about this show weren't bad at all... but just weren't over-the-top good either. I'd call it much better than mediocre, but nowhere near as good as some of the best dramas I've seen.
i honestly would not consider him a red flag, considering the fl is scared of him because she misunderstood him…
I love this drama a LOT and I love this ML a LOT, but if you don't think grabbing a female you care deeply about by the throat is a red flag, then idk what to tell ya... on top of that, he used her hand to stab himself in the guts to prove himself to her. I have been in a relationship before where he attempted suicide to get me to stay when I wanted to break up. So I stayed for a long time after that. I didn't realize that that's actually extremely toxic.
But I can say in all honesty that when I debate whether I want to watch a drama, the more feminists are seething in the comments section of a drama about red flags and toxicity, the more I want to watch it. So I could say for all the toxic ML lovers out there: Hell yes he's a red flag, now go and watch it MYOW!
1 
1 
1 
1 
ya gotta be in the mood for it, I think.
Then you have the ML/FL and they are both have a very natural, subtle acting style that lends itself to complex characters better. They are both kind of passively gorgeous.
This ends up clashing. It's so korean for a drama to be hesitant about going too dark. The ML is giving a dark performance, and the FL is following his lead beautifully. The 2ML/2FL are "lightening up" the drama when it's not needed. I don't really think they grasped soonkki's brand of humor. But anyways. The darker the ML gets, the more they interject the show with the 2ML and 2FL. It's sort of incomprehensible why they did this, it really does seem like the director/producer were TRYING to ruin what makes the show good. Like the drama was fighting against itself. It's weird.
But there was something cool in the way that Seo Kang Joon started toward the end, to match Park Hae Jin's level of acting in the scenes they shared. He just mirrors whoever he's acting against at their pace and their tone. But that just ended up making things seem even more jumbled up and confused, as you can see by the insane amt of people complaining that the 2ML syndrome was so bad for them they hate the drama now, or dropped it.
Aigoo.
If you watch it, you are just going to watch Park Hae Jin play this incredible character that unfolds slowly in layers. The end of the drama has nothing to do with the relationship with the FL, nothing to do with the plot or the side characters. They ended it where they ended it because they had finally peeled back ML's last layers and you see him for who he truly is. But when you go in thinking it's a pure romance, and that it's about this relationship, then you get let down at how they ended it with the openness and abruptness that they did.
I can't think of anything that deserves a remake more than this story.
Maybe even like 3 or 4 or 5 remakes, like BoF :P It would take a lot of talent for an actor to portray the character well, and the FL is really cool, any actress would want to play her.
Okay, now that's a good point, and makes me wonder, if I rewatched it, if he does ANYTHING red-flag when it's not snowing outside, and I dont' think he does, right? So I think it's possible that if the behaviors only happen when it's snowing, then maybe he's not red-flag.
>And not once he tried to interfere with FL and ZZ’s relationship. At best, he cooked a banquet of sour food to let her know he’s jealous but he didn’t force her to eat it all.
Hmmm now that is a very good point.
All right, maybe he's gray. idk.
I'm on ep 5 of A Journey To Love.... I hope it's good because I fell 1000% in love with the 2ML Hao Du in The Long Ballad, he just rocked my socks off.
mmm..... in RL, yes. In dramaland, idk. Obvs there have been more red-flag ML's than him. I mean it's not like he faked her medical records to make her think she had 6 months to live (coughcoughwellintendedlovecoughgocu) or kidnapped her and chased her through the woods and stockholmed her (coughcoughilovemypresidentthoughhesapsychocoughcough). But there have to be better, healthier ways to convince someone you're not going to kill them just because they dreamed about it. And how come his strangling thing isn't red-flag? Why is it chinese ML's always get a pass on that one. If a Korean ML put his hands around his womans throat in a fit of anger or frustration, it'd be a huge scandalous thing, but because he's chinese, it's like oh well whtvr.
Are there other instances of him manipulating her, icr i'd have to rewatch. Ive seen 3 dramas since I watched this and my brain is swiss cheese about it.
To me, strangling and stabbing qualifies as red-flag. It's just that to me, that's not a negative thing, I love red flag ML's. But if some third-wave feminist wants to watch this, they might get all upset over stuff like that. Not me, idc.
I love this debate, you're fun to chat with. Some people get so offended when you don't share their exact same opinions and then you can't even have a good conversation. Sigh.
A new menu will appear that says "Hide ads, Calendar, Lists, Feeds..." etc. Select the one that says "Forums" and scroll through the different forums until you see the one that says "Reccommendation Forum".
If this still doesn't work for you, you can get there by going to duckduckgo (or your search engine of choice), and typing in "Mydramalist reccommendation forum" and it will be the first link in your search results.
On this site, see the header that says "MyDramaList - Home - explore - community - calendar"? Those are drop-down menus. Go to the "community" dropdown menu, and select "Forums" and you will find a list of forums, including a "Reccommendation forum" where people go specifically to ask eachother for various reccs. That would be the appropriate place for your comment. You'll probably have better luck there since it's a place for anyone to ask whatever question they might have, instead of asking in the comments section of an unrelated romance drama you didn't like.
"...this was the only japanese series..."
Except that this is a chinese drama.
Being extra nice to you isn't a requirement for public interaction with other adults on the interwebs. Crazy, I know. I wasn't mean to you. What you're perceiving isn't me being mean to you... it's my annoyance at seeing your comment in completely the wrong spot for it, and at your obliviousness that it's not good form to come into the comments of a well-loved drama, say you didn't like it after dropping on ep 4, and then ask it's viewers for reccs on gore and horror.
What you just did there is generally accepted on MDL as bad form. What would have been meaner is to not tell you and let you keep making the same faux pas in the future while being totally oblivious to it. Honesty is a form of kindness.
I'm actually trying to send you to the right place so that people will be nicer to you and give you more of what you're looking for. If we were in public and you were picking your nose, and I said "Hey! Quit picking your nose that's gross" would you say "quit being mean to me" and just keep your finger jammed up your nose? I'm trying to help you.
smdh
It's manipulative. And ML shows in a lot of his words and actions that he is manipulative by nature, not just with her. But he even basically says it himself when 2ML says "she's an independent person, you can't control her," and ML responds by cynically saying "Really?" His meaning being 'yeah? are you so sure you really can't control her?' So by his own admission, he is manipulative of her.
He's still hotter than a 5 alarm fire.
You need to give this drama like 10 episodes to start to get GOOD... like addictive. And if you are like me, and not really a big fan of "sweet", it might test your patience to sit through 10 eps of nothing much going on. But it is worth the investment. The payoff is incredibly good.
SO FIRE.
My Fated Boy was not as good as HL, but it was close. It was pretty dang good, and it was similar in tone to HL. Very fluffy and sweet type of drama. Might take your mind off your post-HL depression, for a little while anyways.
...sigh.
It took me 10 episodes to finally feel like it was going somewhere. But think of that like a roller coaster slowly ramping up... up... up....
I wish I could konk myself out with a cast iron frypan and get amnesia so I could watch it for the first time all over again.
To me, in HL everyone put everything they had into their performances. I don't even generally like Rosy, but I was amazed at how incredible her acting was for HL. Victor Ma omg. The plot is fluffy in a way I generally hate. Yet somehow they made it so so so fiery, and it was such a good slow burn with a good gradual ramping up of the fire between them.
This one was not bad, for sure it was not bad. But what was so great about it, I didn't see it. I mean, first you see him get out of jail and you think "yassss this is going to be badass!" but then no, you get to watch them in their college days pre-jail for like 10 episodes. Then in the college days once youre finally absorbed in the story, ML and FL finally get together, and bloop! it's ripped immediately away from you and you're supposed to just imagine that they were together for 3 years between. A 3 years they never reference in the story. It makes no sense, and it's mean to do that to your viewer. They finally get together at the end, and the kisses were okay... he's kissing, she's not really but they weren't that bad... but do I care anymore, after 10 episodes of all-business plot and no romance plot happening? There wasn't any logical overarching order to the emotions they put you through. They built a plot-crescendo at the expense of a romantic crescendo that should've happened but didn't.
The best I can say for this drama is that it DID take my mind off of SoKP for a little while.
Lots of things about this show weren't bad at all... but just weren't over-the-top good either. I'd call it much better than mediocre, but nowhere near as good as some of the best dramas I've seen.
But I can say in all honesty that when I debate whether I want to watch a drama, the more feminists are seething in the comments section of a drama about red flags and toxicity, the more I want to watch it. So I could say for all the toxic ML lovers out there: Hell yes he's a red flag, now go and watch it MYOW!
Sexiest red-flag romance I've seen since TTEOTM.