selmUHMM

i second everything u said, very well written!! i hope that they still manage to have some smaller cases for the PM team, bc there has also been a lot of good social commentary!

also the thing about a woman directing! yessss!! i also immediately thought that women must be behind both the directing and writing. noh kijun truly seems like a character written by a woman lmao, and so does joo in-ah! i think she has to be one of my favorite FLs yet. they balance her soooo well!! in the beginning u think, oh here we go another cold girlboss character, for them to show how she’s both warm, assertive and funny. i have also seen a lot of complaints about her styling lmfao, but to me (as someone from scandinavia) she just looks like a really well-dressed scandinavian, and i think we do fashion well😌 it’s not for everyone tho, as it’s def not that feminine! i do agree w other comments that some of the shoe choices are a bit meh, but i love that they look comfortable!!!

i think this is something they all should have come out as a team to apologize for together (except the actors, i have NO IDEA why IU and BWS were expected to apologize or came out to apologize).

it’s not a single person’s fault, it’s the entire production’s fault. i cannot pretend i understand the feelings this mistake brings up in koreans considering korea’s relatively recent and brutal occupation, nor their expectations held to people making dramas.

however, i just find the handling of this entire situation weird. they were probably pressed on time and didn’t bother bringing a historian on to double check the facts and really capture those historical nuances. lazy and sloppy in something that is so clearly a very high budget production? FOR SURE!! does it make this ill intended? no! i can also imagine how stressful working on such a huge production must be, and that this simply just slipped, bc at the end of the day they’re not history experts. so i wish the main ppl responsible for this drama came out in a joint statement signed tg. i feel like that would have been more ideal! but honestly what do i know about public scrutiny in korea, except that it seems intense, unforgiving and brutal.

aww, thank u💗 i hated his behavior for sure!!! but the scene itself worked really well, i think

i hate that they had to do that to her character tbh. i wish she could have just stood on business with the vice chairman, aka be honest about her feelings, and then move on like a mature adult. and THEN focused on being an ally and friend to kijun. honestly, imagine what kind of person he is for his ex to be comfortable (in terms of pride) to come to his door w a suitcase at her lowest. i just wish this was repaid by her in terms of her supporting him. we need more entirely platonic M/F friendships, and i was so excited about this bc that shit is never shown!! and now she is sabotaging the woman that he’s in love with??? out of literal spite and pettiness. infuriating

i have seen this trope endless times as well, and i agree with u. however, i feel like its done differently in this show! she has expressed her true feelings in the only way that she knows how. for someone like her, she was extremely vulnerable when she said those things in the car, that was basically a confession for someone as avoidant as her. as someone else said, it’s a character flaw. and bc she was paired with the ML who has the qualities that he has, he was able to figure that out and take the leap towards her which will hopefully make her feel safe. aren’t the best relationships where one is able to create a safe haven for each other to grow as people and see beyond the character flaws? it’s not like in-ah is unaware of this being a problem for her, and considering how her own father rejected her in front of her face and shunned her mother, her sometimes annoying to watch behavior makes total sense. i generally feel like this show is very good in terms of staying uniquely true to its characters without stretching it for plot. for me, nothing feels OOC up until now. however, im a bit worried how this will play out going forward, but i def feel like ppl are being too harsh on this episode!

it had def been a while, but suddenly i was hit w three airing shows that have had me counting down the days every week. this one, filing for love and perfect crown

i think the scene while playing football were he was acting all competitive and "let me win the match so i can win the girl", was nice bc we got to see some of his negative sides as well. everyone has them, and nobody’s a constant green flag. that behavior is also entirely consistent w his characterization. he wears his heart on his sleeve, he’s straightforward, a bit impulsive and def has an ego, so when pushed in the right way it makes sense for this to come out. i like that in-ah gave him a reality check and it was used as a situation that brought them closer together by actually highlighting how that was stupid. also if she did not get the ick after those shenanigans on the football pitch, she must be REALLY into him😭😭

hye-jeon???? i wasn’t familiar with ur game??

i just generally think there’s a bit too much black and white thinking here in general😭😭 but there are also a lot of nice people to discuss w, like u😌


well, i don’t know. as someone who is born in norway to parents who are not norwegian, i don’t identify as a foreigner in norway and i would be quite offended if someone called me one or equate me with a tourist. norwegian culture is my own more than the culture of the country where im ethnically from, although that is also important to me. i don’t really think what ur describing about being proud of one’s culture, history, people and traditions is anything that opposes not being an ethnically homogenous country. i’m proud of norwegian culture and traditions, and i know a lot of both first generation and second generation immigrants feel the same way and identify as norwegian. when im abroad or talking to foreigners, i always hype norway lmfao. i don’t think norway’s losing its uniqueness just bc people have immigrated here. there is also A LOT of uniqueness in the meeting of cultures that create its own culture. while Korea might now have a lot of ethnic diversity, it is still heavily influenced by foreign cultures, especially Western, and they don’t even live in the country in big numbers. look at how many english words there are in the korean language (i always thought i heard wrongly when i first started watching kdramas lmao). also KPOP? heavily inspired by especially Black American music and aesthetics.


independent of cultural homogeneity, i think it would have been a much much better show, if they understood their limits and acc hired a middle eastern studies professor as a consultant for a couple of days. would have made such a difference, but im guessing it wasn’t thought about at the time bc the average korean viewer would not notice it.

did u write a review or only rate?? i acc ended up dropping it. it was a relatively slow show, and im kinda in a rut rn (bc i loved Mr. Queen sooo much) so couldn’t see myself getting back into it🥹🥹

i agree that very few dramas are actually a 1. my lowest rating for a completed drama is 3.5, and hated it a lot.

either way, i think we can agree that there are a lot of extreme ratings on both sides of the scale!

when it comes to rating low because of not understanding korean culture or because it goes against personal morality or beliefs, i can def agree with u if we are thinking about the same thing. for example, i don’t drink because of my religion and im very against the korean work culture as a leftist (and how the drinking culture interacts with the work culture is awful to me). does this influence my drama ratings? not in any way, i find it can add a lot to a drama, and i find it interesting to learn about these kind of aspects from all cultures in the world. however, another example that didn’t make me rate a drama low, but that made me put it on hold is in descendants of the sun. loved a lot of things about it, but the incredibly lazy world building that surely must have been influenced by Korea being such a homogenous culture ethnically (esp at that time, they’ve become much better now) is a "cultural aspect" that would have knocked at least one point of my rating because it influenced the storytelling for me

"forcing yourself" was a bit of an exaggerated word choice by me; being bored through longer parts of it would have been more correct to say

omfg i’m such a yapper, sorry all🥹🙏🏼

I think it’s totally okay for u to give this show 2.5 stars even if I love BWS and IU. For example, my most hated drama is a KDrama classic, and I have elaborate reasons for disliking it even if it has one of my favorites in it lmfao. That’s why I find it a bit frustrating that u don’t mention your reasons for disliking this show this much. It just feels like you gave it 2.5 to grab attention to make a point about ratings on MDL being skewed (which I completely agree with btw, it’s like people forget it’s a 10 point rating system and not only 7 to 10).

Some of my favorite dramas have been thrillers so I acc really recognize ur frustration, however, I also LOOOVE a good escapist rom-com like this one. I don’t think it’s necessary to be condescending towards people like me who enjoy watching something that’s fairytale-like and fun. It has nothing to do with loneliness, but rather it’s as simple as it being nice with an emotional and mental break. I don’t scroll a lot, for example (which a lot of people use as their form of escapism) and when I read books or audiobooks I mostly only read classics or literary fiction that describe the human condition. It’s just a matter of preference, and for TV I like the silly and light romcoms a lot!! Meanwhile, I really do not enjoy reading romance or romantasy, but i don’t think it’s difficult to understand why people do???

When it comes to the show, I think this one has just gotten better and better with each episode after the fourth one, and I also think BWS’ "minimal" acting in the opening episodes (if we shall put it nicely) and IU’s exaggerated one was like getting whiplash everytime they had a scene together. Episode 2 and 3 really had me doubting if this would be good, so I really understand your negativity towards the show. At the same time, I saw there was potential for chemistry there, and I’m happy that I stuck it out cuz I feel like they both have really grown into their roles. While BWS’ acting is still not the best, he has genuinely surprised me a lot the last two episodes (positively).

Regardless of IU and BWS’ acting, there are also a lot of other elements to a drama (as I’m imagining u would know) that can never make this a 2.5. There are people tirelessly working on set design (A+++), cotumes (which have been great) and editing; the production value is actually insane. The score is amazing and so is the OST. The world building they managed to do in such a short amount of time while also making it believable that they have fallen for each other was better than I thought it could be.

Although, you have the right to rate this show as low as you wish, I would have loved to hear your opinions on why it’s a 2.5 and not for example a 5 or 6. Ofc, it would have been better if it was based on more of the show, but the reason someone drops a show can ofc also be an important review factor!

was contemplating whether to give this a shot, and the "behaving like adults" part of ur comment had me sold. it’s too rare fr😭😭😭

frrrr, its 100% the goatee

i think in every drama i hav watched her in previously (3-4) she has often played brilliant, but morally corrupt (euphemism for evil lmfao) women. i have loved her in those roles and she really stands out in supporting roles. so it was super nice to see her as a warm and caring no-nonsense character in in your radiant season!!

age gap? between two grown people? what is their to overlook? i always find it so weird when people comment age gaps of only 10 years between people who are well above 30.

it negates the effect of calling out actually problematic and weird age gaps, like people in their 20s or 30s dating teens (which is disgusting) or even people in their late 20s to early 30s dating early 18-22 year olds. bc what would they have in common with people that age?? meanwhile, when u are both above 30, u can both be at a similar stage in life and want the same things despite a significant age gap. both ppl also usually have enough life experience so that there is nobody taking advantage of the other’s naïveté

omg don’t talk to me about dynamite kiss and ESP our universe. i have to mention that in the latter i def appreciated the uni friend’s kindness even after he knew he couldn’t have her. it was very nice and refershing to see a man NOT becoming an evil demon after being rejected. what i did not enjoy was the execution of the entire thing. that character was stale af. and it was unreal how much screen time they had and how much time they spent on it. when the main couple eventually got tg it was like all stakes were gone in that dragged out love triangle and i just thought that’s whatever. they could have introduced a third love interest in the last episode for all i cared at that point

i def do agree the original comment was very poorly worded, and that they could have expressed their opinions in a muuuch nicer way if it was simply the actors they didn’t care for or sum

I think people on MDL are too generous with their ratings (and airing shows should not include reviews posted while it was airing on the final score), so it’s nice to see a drama that deserves a low rating to get one. I’m part guilty of it too, w a 1-10 scale, it’s like I forget 1-5 exist😭 but if u had to force urself to finish something, surely it has to be below a 5?? Or?

when i think about how MDL is not a very nice and inviting community to participate in, this is what i mean. yall are so mean to each other🥺wouldn’t it be easier to just… not be mean and harsh and to interpret each other’s posts/comments in good faith? idk