EP 16!!!HOLD ME that amnesia plot came faster that I expected! wow!! this episode made me cry ngl I really tried…
didn't Anna Kim already say she had felt "suffocated" with her life and wanted independence and freedom in the first episode? she said she wanted to build her career and stuff so she left and went abroad
First daughter and now niece my poor babies 😭😭😭 on a side note, I've watched the scene where he plays with his hair an UNHEALTHY number of times why is he so HANDSOME??!! 🙈🙈😍
Introducing a bajillion characters within the first 2 episodes was a bit much for me, a lot with little to no…
this is a weekend drama...it's budget is lower and it's easy to follow. don't bother trying remember all the characyers because they'll slowly introduce them to you later on :)
ohhhh thanks for the info! I'm relatively new to j-dramas, and all the kdramas I've watched are either on NF or Viki 😬 I didn't know that about Dramacool. As a fansubber myself, I understand now.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and your perspective as well as complementing the article😃. I think the…
Ahh now I understand where you're coming from 😅 But honestly, don't most marriages have that problem? Forget marriages, Dramaland and real life have millions and billions of relationships and interactions fraught with miscommunication. Understanding another person does not seem to come easily for humans. Either we just don't care what the other thinks, or we're only used to our own thought processes and can't comprehend or fathom the other person's perspective. Isn't that where most, if not all, conflict starts?
In Go Back Couple, it was grief. Neither handled their grief properly. She wanted him to talk and comfort her. He wanted to comfort her, but he thought the way to do it was by putting up a happy front. Instead of together, they tried to fight their battles alone, all the while expecting the other partner to understand and do something. In 18 Again, it was regret. The what-ifs and could-have-beens clouded everything. Again, they started to try fighting their battles on their own, expecting the other to change to suit them more.
Then comes the "I do this much, you don't do anything" argument. Both think they're doing all the work, putting in all the effort, and the other is slacking. Or the "What you do is wrong. You keep doing wrong and I keep forgiving you. You don't ever treat me the way I need to be treated." But the person never tries to tell the partner what they actually want. Again, they can't see from the other person's perspective.
Of course, this doesn't hold for every couple on earth. Miscommunication isn't the only problem. There are quite a few dramas in which things were not redeemable.
Great article! You made some really good points. About this part: "it seems to convey the idea that couples who get divorced just don’t try enough." I disagree. Sometimes, some things just aren't considered. Miscommunication brings in a lot of problems, and it's hard to get over that wall. Sometimes people just forget to look at things from another person's perspective. In Go Back Couple, I remember being so genuinely surprised at myself for not considering that ML really loved his mother-in-law and he was hurting almost as much as FL was. I just never thought about things from his perspective because it was FL's mom.
You can try your hardest to break down a wall and get to the other side with your bare hands, but it won't help you. It's not a question of trying hard. They were hitting against the wall without seeing the door a few steps away. You know, thinking that if you try your hardest to "just hold it all in and bear it with a smile".... it won't get you very far. You have to confront and talk it out. Holding it all in just builds self-righteousness in one partner and complacency in the other. The c-drama "The Bond" illustrates that very well.
I don't mind short and sweet, but I feel that with many j-dramas, the relationship progression and character growth is weird. I understand that they're trying to fit a lot in less time, but it's quite unsettling. So though I find the characters cute, I don't really FEEL for them, because I don't really know them. Eg: Shanai Marriage Honey. They get married without even knowing who the other is. The same night, they make out. I didn't even know they actually liked each other. I also don't like it when the actors act like they've jumped out of a manga(Love Lasts Forever). Again, it's unsettling.
I like shows where the writer makes you fall in love with the two leads individually, so you are completely on board with the couple even before they become a couple. I like getting to know my characters. In Young Lady and Gentleman, the writers make you love the ML and FL and the kids before starting their journey as a couple and a family. We start shipping them like crazy BEFORE they actually become a couple. I'm not constantly going "Wait, WHAAAAT? Why are y'all so close? Did I miss a few eps?!"
With j-dramas, I find myself drawn to dramas where one of the partners is different - either disabled or has some out-of-the-ordinary condition. Only then do the writers focus on the individual characters properly. Eg: Perfect World(paraplegic ML), Koi Desu: Yankee-kun to Hakujou Garu(amblyopic FL - partial blindness), Marry Me!(antisocial FL) and Overprotected Kahoko(overprotected FL)
this was such a cuuuuute drama! short, sweet and very fluffy! I LOVE the FL's smile. She is soooo adorable!
I always hate it when a contract marriage trope has those annoying situations where the ML is in love with the FL while she is constantly resisting him even though she likes him. The constant "Don't touch me!" "Don't do this!" or situations where the ML is a control freak or treats FL like garbage are sooo frustrating. Thankfully, this drama steered clear of everything. The two of them were awkward with each other but neither was a brat. Both tried their best and it was so cute and heartwarming to watch them slowly take steps toward each other.
The FL actually managed to be adorable and innocent without being irritating or stupid.
also UGH I hate the way the real gold-diggers go around happily in their gold-digging ways while poor DD gets so much garbage thrown at her 😭
on a side note, I've watched the scene where he plays with his hair an UNHEALTHY number of times why is he so HANDSOME??!! 🙈🙈😍
and Lee Won Geun as a psychopath?? 😭😭 noooo I'll never be able to get over the big baby he was in Jugglers!
But honestly, don't most marriages have that problem? Forget marriages, Dramaland and real life have millions and billions of relationships and interactions fraught with miscommunication. Understanding another person does not seem to come easily for humans. Either we just don't care what the other thinks, or we're only used to our own thought processes and can't comprehend or fathom the other person's perspective. Isn't that where most, if not all, conflict starts?
In Go Back Couple, it was grief. Neither handled their grief properly. She wanted him to talk and comfort her. He wanted to comfort her, but he thought the way to do it was by putting up a happy front. Instead of together, they tried to fight their battles alone, all the while expecting the other partner to understand and do something. In 18 Again, it was regret. The what-ifs and could-have-beens clouded everything. Again, they started to try fighting their battles on their own, expecting the other to change to suit them more.
Then comes the "I do this much, you don't do anything" argument. Both think they're doing all the work, putting in all the effort, and the other is slacking. Or the "What you do is wrong. You keep doing wrong and I keep forgiving you. You don't ever treat me the way I need to be treated." But the person never tries to tell the partner what they actually want. Again, they can't see from the other person's perspective.
Of course, this doesn't hold for every couple on earth. Miscommunication isn't the only problem. There are quite a few dramas in which things were not redeemable.
About this part:
"it seems to convey the idea that couples who get divorced just don’t try enough." I disagree. Sometimes, some things just aren't considered. Miscommunication brings in a lot of problems, and it's hard to get over that wall. Sometimes people just forget to look at things from another person's perspective.
In Go Back Couple, I remember being so genuinely surprised at myself for not considering that ML really loved his mother-in-law and he was hurting almost as much as FL was. I just never thought about things from his perspective because it was FL's mom.
You can try your hardest to break down a wall and get to the other side with your bare hands, but it won't help you. It's not a question of trying hard. They were hitting against the wall without seeing the door a few steps away. You know, thinking that if you try your hardest to "just hold it all in and bear it with a smile".... it won't get you very far. You have to confront and talk it out. Holding it all in just builds self-righteousness in one partner and complacency in the other. The c-drama "The Bond" illustrates that very well.
I like shows where the writer makes you fall in love with the two leads individually, so you are completely on board with the couple even before they become a couple. I like getting to know my characters. In Young Lady and Gentleman, the writers make you love the ML and FL and the kids before starting their journey as a couple and a family. We start shipping them like crazy BEFORE they actually become a couple. I'm not constantly going "Wait, WHAAAAT? Why are y'all so close? Did I miss a few eps?!"
With j-dramas, I find myself drawn to dramas where one of the partners is different - either disabled or has some out-of-the-ordinary condition. Only then do the writers focus on the individual characters properly.
Eg: Perfect World(paraplegic ML), Koi Desu: Yankee-kun to Hakujou Garu(amblyopic FL - partial blindness), Marry Me!(antisocial FL) and Overprotected Kahoko(overprotected FL)
I always hate it when a contract marriage trope has those annoying situations where the ML is in love with the FL while she is constantly resisting him even though she likes him. The constant "Don't touch me!" "Don't do this!" or situations where the ML is a control freak or treats FL like garbage are sooo frustrating. Thankfully, this drama steered clear of everything. The two of them were awkward with each other but neither was a brat. Both tried their best and it was so cute and heartwarming to watch them slowly take steps toward each other.
The FL actually managed to be adorable and innocent without being irritating or stupid.