We Are All Trying Here

For All The Reviews Where I Criticized the Writing

If you've ever criticized a Kdrama saying the writing was bad....well here is a drama showing you the torturous lives of these writers. Whether its being pressured to just write it so its finished, working through extreme writer's block, taking the blame from everyone (but especially the actors) for bad reviews, trying to be creative when you have to work to pay the bills.......this drama gives an inside view of the lives of entertainment writers in the movie and TV biz and they are by no means glamorous.

I couldn't help but feel a little guilty (how many reviews have I written that stated "just couldn't finish it, the writing was that bad"?)) as I saw the agony these tortured souls go through in doing their craft. I wondered if Park Hae Young , frustrated at criticisms on Kdrama writing, decided to show the viewers the reality of being a writer in the Korean entertainment industry. Is she guilt tripping us??

Whether my musings are true or not, the story is so much more. This Kdrama does not fit any of the usual Kdrama tropes, nor does it have any Kdrama memes. It stands apart from the genre as it is a realistic take on the ups, the downs, the successes, the failures, the excitement, the sadness, and even the very ordinary-ness of being an entertainment writer.

What I liked about it the most is how real the characters were, how easy it was to relate to them, and how real the storylines were. A lot of the drama was about attaining and/or maintaining success. Success is subjective because even a successful person by society standards can, in reality, be oh so miserable in their personal lives. Success can be fleeting, can be slow, can seem to never happen even if someone is working their butt off. Success isn't fair. It can happen to one person right out of the gate, while another works and works without anything to show. The entertainment industry can be cruel. You can work hard on something that another person takes credit for. You can constantly come under fire doing your job well because it doesn't fit your supervisor's narrative. This drama does not sugar-coat the industry, but gives a relatable look at people traversing a not-so-friendly professional world in pursuit of career success.

When all is said and done, the story is about perseverance in the face of failure, always stay true to yourself, and know that relationships with family and friends are the most important even if you aren't always getting along. This is absolutely one of the best Kdramas I've seen. Definitely my #1 pick for 2026 so far.

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Man, what a good piece of art

I rarely give anything anything above 8, but this one deserves it.

Complex, well-written characters. Heavy topics tastefully mixed with lighthearted comedy.

Beautiful cinematography, well-matched music, great acting from everyone. Editing enhances overall atmosphere of the show.

So why only 8.5 and not more?
Pacing and conclusion some threads.
The overall pacing of the drama can appear slow. For me it is fine. I like to dive deep into characters and overthink what the author had in mind, so slow pacing works for me. (it is psychological drama in the end). But for some viewers it might be too slow. Last episode is at the same time faster than the rest, but also holds slow tempo of the rest of episodes. But overall everything is concluded gracefully.
There are some plot threads that I have problem with, because they are concluded with bare minimum.
Mainly ML's brother's thread could have been slightly more complex (not much) and better spread out throughout episodes instead of concluding hurriedly in the last episode.

Generally I recommend this show. It is well-written and good from technical side. The story is coherent, complex and enjoyable to watch.

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" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅"
- Hwang Jin-man

I love this side of Korean movies or drama's where they deconstructs and explores the complexity of human psychology. This drama is a one kind .Not everyone gonna watch it or they will love it. But if you just give it a watch it will make you realize so many things. Not in same situation but you could understand each character (Eun-ah, Dong-man and even Park Gyeong Se)

All the casts did a great job as they are all great artists. Hope to see them again in this type of genre.

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What is your Purpose in Life

My headline stood out for me? there are many parts that stood out but that question never ceast to amaze me, especially the answers to them. Not the regular I want to be successful or famous but an answer that assure you, you do not need to be all that, simple but yet relieves you, only you know what the answer meant to you, sth you do not think about but want to be defined as, I want to be a little less embarassing, no one knows how embarrased you felt for you to want to be that, you don't need to make it like boom, I want to be a strong woman and mother, you must have had a past that makes you feel it would have been less hurtful if you have somebody like that in your life, I want to be somebody that is not ashamed of those closer, I want to be that guy with the humour, you never want to loose your spark and live life like it is not stressful, those answers are so humane, not the regular i dream to be an astronaut or doctor, you do not need to be impressive man, what is the kind of person you want to be. The answers to the question is screaming you do not need to fogure it all out, infact the movie is screaming we are all work in progress, all of us, nobody is perfect or made, this can be seen in Hwag do man's friend that has debuted but still trying to figure out life. Now makes me also think, what is my purpose in life, and I think I want to be who can make mistakes and take responsibilities.
I did not cry though my friend told me I will, infact I laughed right from the beginning and I spoke out loud many times, Hwang, you just crazy but is craziness is screaming out sth, I don't want to loose myself, I simply don't want to loose myself. Many suffers brunt of his actions which he realise later, and to some others, they deserve what he gave them,
If I scream out my name, all that it reaches belong to me, that I can hear my own makes me feel I am still fighting, I am still in the game, I don't want to fail, I don't want to dissepear like smoke in the air, I don't want it to seem like I never pass through what I pass through.
And oh my God, when Hwang do man named the unknown emotion, I was deeply touched, infact, if i think about it, i should have cried many times in the film but I was touched instead, I think about it deeply as it is but not attach it to someone, maybe if i had thought, oh, sb is there at this point in life, I definately would have bawled my eyes out. When he said Help me, I saw that little girl who made her gimbap herself sitting in that middle of the class while every other thing is goin on with blood oozing out from her nose, and I said help me, yea, that is what she is screaming, more than being abandoned, she is screaming help and no wnonder her step grand mother who took her in, means her world. Help me, help me, i have seen myself in that shoes many times, too bad there was no one around to ask, like Eun a, not that we cannot ask, but we never even knew what the emotions was, if only there was sb that could have figure that out and step up to help without ever asking, if only there was hwang do man that is deeply affected by sb else trouble for him to reflect and say, your emotion is asking for help, Help me
Be with sb in their hardest, oh my God, while I said so many parts are words that should touch, no, it would touch you at that point in you, If one had one during one's hardest period, it would never leave such a wound that is to painful to bear, the wound that deepens your heart that you will almost feel, oh, I am not breathing, and sorry to say, some ppl are just mean, not the regular thrash talks to make them on top or feel alight, they will bring one totally down with some mean harsh words to face their own reality and those words touch, those words hurt, be it the truth or some just careless talk.
People are masses of emotions, yea yea, we are, in as much as we cannot define one by one emotion biut we can define one by a type of emotion at a point in time, and I am trying to experiment it, if this peson was an emotion, what would the person be right now... so many.
if I could craete a type of weather right now, I wonder what I will create, I am wondering too, if that weather can be created forever, a very cool weather that does not give room for worries at all, why can't life be just easy
Okay, so I have been ramming on and on, you can watch it to know what my ram is all about, this movies makes me reflect, that kind of deep reflection when I watch you and everyting else. If you are not scare to navigate through emotions, you should heck this out. And yes, I must mention, the actors ate thier role, and to interprete their roles: Hwang is a bit self centered, and he does not even know when to stop, his chaos gives him luck at times, but it is totally wrong trolling people's hardwork right on their face, he is struggling, he does not want to loose himself, whatever all his excuse was, it was not right, cause other people were also trying to figure out their life, and even in their small wins, there were crumbs of doubt and a bit of, I am scared, I wan to figure out what next. Eun a, personally, I tell people don't define the extent of how people should showcase their pain when you cause them that pain but the pain she holds onto is breaking her, it hurts her, it tied her down, it depresses her, she hold onto that pain for so long that even when the pain want to heal, she still wants to hold on to it, the pain gave her survival but the pain should not be why she is breathing. But, yes, that is what make her the human, I don't know, I have no answer, and some of the conversations she had with Hwang do man, start making her reflect and slowly, she was healing so yea, I hope we all found that person that we both resonate. Jin man, Hwang's brother , ohh, He was so suicidal, I get he is tired of life and he did not want to die truly cause if he wants to, he will try suicide somewhere far away, not where he can easily be save. He was living before and he stopped living, he cannot bare himself living, happy when his daughter whereabout his unknown, that reason his so lame, the question is what did you do for your daughter. Seeing him, I thought, ohh, so lofe can be like that, you can just be tired of everything for a long time, but I am telling you all if ou ever find yourself in that situation, don't be like him that is not willing to accept help or wants to be healed like Do man and Eun a. No wonder Do Man predicted help me, so easily, in a way, he is also saying help me in his brother's place, I like it when I hear sth like I want to live, I want to be save, I do not want to die, in those gloomy state, at the worse of sb's life, if you want to live then absolutely nothing can end you, you will see the dawn of the day and perharps you will say, ohh, so the world is not only at night, darkness is not all there is, and if you live like living and not just life glacing through you but you glacing through life after all that, when you get to enjoy life, and show it is worth living, trying to figure it out all the time, those simple small moments, then you are a story to be told not that you want to be told but because of the countless lives you will save out there. What Eun a is trying to figue out, her mother figured it out, since her childhood was not rosy but she was ale to get out of there while still being in there. It is worth your time, watch it, if I go on and on, my writing will continue to be here and ther, I am sorry about that.

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Here is My Unpopular Opinion

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

Yes, I know this is going to be a very unpopular opinion. I started watching this fully understanding it was going to have some heavy topics. It had some strong ideas, but I wish the script was better. I understand they were trying to set the overall tone, but something was just lacking with the main storyline development. Although they could have done a better job introducing it, the watch aspect was interesting. However, this felt more like a gimmick instead of an integral part of the script. The romantic storyline was ok. It just had some aspects that were awkward and a little weird. The dialoged often directed towards Hwang Dong Man did not help. Although many of the characters were somewhat interesting and likable at times, this gave me very little to keep me invested in them or their storylines. The main positive aspect was the excellent cast. They actually did an outstanding job making what they had work. The other positive aspect was the amazing cinematography.

Random Note:

I almost dropped this after the first episode but there were two separate scenes towards the very end that gave me some hope. I gave it my usual 3-episode chance after sleeping on it and decided to give it a shot. I end up dropping this because the script was just not working for me.

******Potential Spoiler Alert******

Unfortunately, the watch aspect gets forgotten until they connivingly need it.

The various lines directed towards Hwang Dong Man about how he needs to get a girlfriend or fine a woman really annoyed me. This was basically saying you will be fixed if you’re in a relationship.

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One narcissistic loser and his enabler friends

Besides all the other idiotic things going on in this show, including the main character that’s utterly unbearable, the most annoying thing about this show is how passive this friend group is. They hate the main character but they just sit there looking uncomfortable. Say something! Just freaking tell him to leave. And they keep bring him back into the group!!! Why? So the show can happen.

“You almost died but I’m so happy because I’m not crazy and destructive”. WTH. Narcissism at its finest.

This writer seems to think that being depressed is some type of privilege. They can act like @$$holes because they have crappy lives and it’s ok.

Tell me something funny = worship me. Hahahahaha.

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