Solo Dodo

Ooh! They could zip forward and backwards across time, collecting rare ingredients & recipes, and cooking delicious meals for various world leaders, solving international crisis through delicious cuisine!

It was good to see on Lee Chae Min's page that the actor left Gold Medalist for VARO when his contract expired last month. I suspect KSH's studio is too busy this year with damage control to properly serve the needs of their clients. I hope more of them will likewise soon be able to transition to other agencies and pursue successful careers.

I'm glad he got away from GM (even though they took their cut for BAYM before he left for VARO). I suspect GM is too preoccupied with damage control this year to properly serve their clients.

Update: It is alleged that Gold Medalist (Lee Chae Min's former studio, which is owned by the family of falling star Kim Soo Hyun) embezzled much of its talents' earnings, including this actor's wages from the production of Bon Appetit, Your Majesty:

https://www.koreaboo.com/news/kim-soo-hyun-gold-medalist-agency-weird-finances-accounting-suspicious/

That's what I thought. But last week someone posted a spoiler here (without checking the spoiler tag) claiming the webtoon ending had her recovering in the hospital after the plane had crashed. It also said that the world had totally changed as a result of her time travel (eg. no Korean War with the peninsula always unified). I was very upset by that spoiler and am relieved that none of that was reflected in this ending, even though what we did get was lacking exposition. I still don't know how the manhwa actually ends, but I no longer care.

Insulated leather handgrip maybe? 🤔

The OTT streamers (Netflix, Prime Video, D+, Apple+) are the biggest reason behind the shorter seasons. Their accountants have dertermined this to maximize value (return) for their investment. The OTT originals are all 10 episodes (derived from premium cable standards originating at HBO, Showtime, etc.) and as a result of this pressure, the licensed Domestic Networks' (MBC, TvN, etc.) shows have been reduced to 12 episodes from the previous standard of 16. The money derived from licensing series to OTT streamers is so great that the domestic networks cannot avoid catering to their demands.

Previously, Netflix and Prime Video had experimented with splitting the previous-standard 16-ep seasons into two 8-episode seasons (e.g. The Glory, Death's Game, etc.) but this backfired due to unsatisfying endings of the first "season" (which ended with a cliffhanger or abruptly) which in turn lead to low viewership of the second, concluding "season".

Typhoon Family in this same timeslot next week

KSH is a major owner of GM and the CEO is his half-brother (and whose own sketchy background has resurfaced during the fallout from KSR's tragic demise.)

That said, if KSH truly deserves exoneration I hope he gets it.

Oh, good for him. Distancing himself from Gold Medalist is not a bad thing. I suspect they must be too preoccupied with KSH this year to give their other talent proper attention.

He rode his horse off a cliff at 88MPH while zapping it with 1.2 Gigawatts of power from her taser.

Yep. I sigh thinking about how many hours I've wasted watching dramas when only a tiny percentage ever reach near-perfection.

Maybe it's all an illusion and they were already dead in Joseon Hell, but managed to ascend to heaven?

Sure. And they still got great ratings. Lots of people watched it (and will watch it). The TvN advertisers got great value for their investment and all the businesses involved can consider this to be a great success regardless of any lingering criticisms (many of which I also share.)

And I strongly suspect they signed the contract while accepting limitations which would not exist had the content owners been more lenient with the adaptation.

While I am not inherently critical of adaptations, I firmly believe that only original teleplays rise to the highest quality level of scripted entertainment.

I agree with your take (previously shared) that the two shows are different and can be enjoyed on their own merits. But I think MQ has an advantage insofar as it was an original teleplay whereas BAYM is adapted from an earlier source material.

The MQ script is really tight. I think it could be taught in writing schools for its craft excellence. This series was IMO somewhat restricted by the source material, but I think the production did an admirable job adapting it. We don't get to see the contract terms stipulating what changes are allowed vs disallowed, so it's unfair to criticize the production over issues over which they may have zero control. What is important is that both series have been and will continue to be enjoyed by many, as evidenced by their high ratings.

This is not an original script. They may not have had the rights to alter the story from the source material. It is my opinion that the production did the best they could considering what they had to work with.

It's better than revealing the plane crashed. People would be arguing over whether she went back in time or went to hell or a parallel reality or whatever. I think this ending is so much better than the original and the production made a smart choice to avoid all that nonsense, even if this is unexplained. They may not have even had the rights to add a different ending from the source material.

Less is more; any more would be too much!

I seriously think the *waving hands* non-explanation is so much better than had they adapted the whole manhwa ending. The writer made a smart choice. Nothing distracting was introduced. Nothing of value was lost.

I skipped the violence in ep 11 and most of 12, but watched the ending from when she woke up in the hospital. The production was wise to alter the ending from the Manhwa (assuming those spoilers previously posted in this forum were accurate). I'm glad that millions of lives were not affected as a result of her time-travel. The series deftly avoided all the messiness of having her return to an altered reality. Having her familiar royal kitchen chefs reappear was fun, despite having reminded me of Dorothy waking up from OZ. Overall, nicely done!