I didn’t even know they had their own version. Full disclaimer, I’ve not seen the original either but I’m aware of the story. I’ll watch the Thai one first to give it a fighting chance and then I’ll check out the original version (at long last 😅).
Can anyone recommend to me some good Thai dramas with straight couples. I thought this one was ok but reading from the comments you’d think it was the worse thing ever made. I’m assuming this is because the commenters know of much better options out there. If so, please drop some recommendations.
Personally, (although not fantastic) this is the first non bl Thai series that I’ve watched that feels like a ‘solid’ mainstream production. The ones I’ve seen in the past are so bad, so much of a shambles quality-wise, that I always wonder how much money goes into them because they feel cheap and amateurish. But again, if anyone knows of any good ones by your standards, please do comment them here.
Starting to hate kdramas releasing on OTT. I mean what's the reason you can't drop entire episodes in one go?…
I assumed it was because the second half hasn’t finishes filming yet but I wonder why they didn’t just wait to finish all the filming before releasing. 🤔
Especially ‘found’ family, which is what all the leads’ desires boiled down to. Mok-ha wanted to be a star (the “and then bit”) because she wanted a family life that was just happiness and not full of fear and pain. Ki-ho wanted to runaway from his father because he wanted a family life that was happy and not full of pain. Ran-joo left her small town to make it big because she wanted to make a good life for herself. She later realised what she was wanting was love and people who she could trust. They each found this in the form of the Kang family. Their own self-made family which served as a healing place for each of the leads.
Let me preface what I’m about to say by saying this drama is REALLY good. 9/10 so far.
But I couldn’t help but notice:
This feels like propaganda/psa for the high Korean su*cide rate by labeling the victims as selfish who should have been able to endure it.
The lady who plays death is clearly a very capable and talented actress but the direction they’ve given her for the character feels at times like they’re trying too hard to make the character seem menacing. I can’t help but think that with a different direction (maybe have her be more mysterious/face hidden) would have achieved the sinister, ominous tone that illustrates her authority without coming across as trying too hard to sell it to the audience.
The anthology style with each character’s life requires you to become invested in each character quickly and be able to move on quickly to the next character as the previous character’s story is wrapped up. I found I wasn’t always able to do this even though the supporting cast is excellent in their roles. For example, that mafia fixer guy’s story was hard to get into for me and was over before I could get invested.
These are minor things though because the series IS excellent. The two main characters do a really good job. Especially the ML who inhibits the character(s) completely and keeps you hooked.
It’ll be interesting to see where they take the final 4 episodes in the new year. The premise is really engaging and unique and I have a theory about how all the stories tie in to the main character aside from the obvious link to the company he interviewed for. I think the school bully who went to prison will have a huge part to play in his final body/story.
I also noticed that the first episode mirrors another series I’ve watched previously that also involved corruption at the company the ML interviewed for but I can’t remember the name of the series.
Unpopular opinions to follow (don’t come for me 😅)
As much as I was not a fan of Wahl’s character or how much they used him to drive the plot, I did like the chemistry between the actor who plays him and the actor who plays Guy. Especially in the first episode when we didn’t know where this was going. I’d like to see them in a bl together.
I think the chemistry between the main leads is fine and the pairing is fine but I can’t help but think they both could have even better pairings. For example, the actor who plays Tew has a similar energy/demeanor to the leads in KinnPorsche. He needs a partner who is similar to him in the same way the leads in KinnPorsche are quite similar to each other in aesthetics and demeanor. This doesn’t always work but I think in this case it does.
They may have a case of the OhmFluke where their potential is better with other people. For me OhmFluke are too quiet/underwhelming together because Ohm is kind of like Keanu Reeves in acting style - wooden and really out of place unless he has a role that fits this style and has a lively energetic partner to off-set this. Fluke gets typecasted as the shy quiet type when he’s with Ohm and it just makes the pairing seem dull overall. I think Ohm’s current partner in that cooking show is able to off-set Ohm’s reserved style with his livelier demeanor. Fluke alongside Singto and other’s in Shadow gets to show off his acting chops as well as bring a different energy different from the shy ‘damsel’ type he always gets cast as.
In a similar way, pairing up the actor who plays Guy with someone else will allow him to break out of that ‘damsel’ role also. His dynamics with the Wahl actor in episode one was not damsel so I think a bl with these two actors would do him good in breaking out of that typecast.
The chemistry was amazing between the lead couples, but the second couple was not needed nor wanted in my opinion.…
I do think they could have been redeemed but the more they went in-depth into their relationship, the more you realise how much worse the betrayal was as likely he’d been cheating or emotionally cheating on the FL for longer than the audience thinks. He robbed her of so many good years of her life by stringing her along knowing he was never gonna marry her. And the writers’ attempt to make it seem like he loved and cared for the FL for 15 years just doesn’t ring true. It seems to me like he was in love with her friend for a good part of those 15 years and never made a move because she was fat but swiftly drops the FL as soon as the friend becomes skinny. Which is no issue if they called him out for being the douche that he is but instead they keep trying to convince us that he’s a ‘good’ guy. I don’t know what message we’re supposed to take from that.
A few things feel a bit weird to me but they don’t stop it from being an enjoyable drama to watch.
1. The accepted treatment of the stepmom and the stepbrother whom you can argue were the only truly selfless characters in this whole thing. I get traditions and I get cultural differences but this could only sit right if they didn’t have this moral message running throughout. It seems the writers were prepared to address some things (the toxic beauty standards and dieting) but not others (the so called good characters not saying anything about the treatment of the stepmom and stepbro, the notion that ML had no value and had to be hidden if he showed any outward flaw, how f-ed up it really is to act like the wronged party should not make an issue over someone cheating/betraying them and should just move on and not make the cheater’s life difficult).
2. The second couple. Set aside the cheating part for a moment. I want to ask; what is the deal with Korean dramas (and even Asian dramas broadly speaking), always doing an ‘alls-well-that-ends-well’ thing where they feel like they have to give everyone a happy ending or make every character ‘good’ by the end of the drama? I have no problems with redemption arcs but they always seem to skip over that part and never have the character acknowledge the hurt, the fallout or atone for the bad thing they’ve done. It’s always suddenly in the final episode(s), everyone’s cool with everyone. This leads me to my next point.
3. The evil uncle is an even worse example of this as the character is brought back into the fold just to give everyone a happy ending but is he still evil? Nobody knows. Just smile and watch the credits roll.
In my opinion this seriously undermines the story and the emotional journey of main characters whenever writers/showrunners do this and is probably why so many k-dramas that do this exact same thing are not ‘loved’ by audiences. I don’t think these things dampened the enjoyment of this series but it’s something that definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth and has me wondering why some creators do this.
This goes to show that mainland audiences are k-drama’s worst audience. There’s also a conversation to be had about tv viewership in general. Imagine if shows like The Glory weren’t premiered on Netflix. So many of these dramas appreciated by international audiences get panned in South Korea because the demographic that’s usually watching tv there is skewed towards an older traditional-leaning audience.
Not BL? Okay I figured so I'll drop this instead of watching the rest. I'm sure its good, but I don't watch non-BL…
It’s labelled bl because there are a few queer characters but the lead himself is straight or maybe even bi (unclear). I agree that they need to be clearer with their marketing/categorisations because they know what viewers are expecting but they did not technically lie.
1 
Personally, (although not fantastic) this is the first non bl Thai series that I’ve watched that feels like a ‘solid’ mainstream production. The ones I’ve seen in the past are so bad, so much of a shambles quality-wise, that I always wonder how much money goes into them because they feel cheap and amateurish. But again, if anyone knows of any good ones by your standards, please do comment them here.
I’ve learned my lesson before.
I like the comment but why hood?
But I couldn’t help but notice:
This feels like propaganda/psa for the high Korean su*cide rate by labeling the victims as selfish who should have been able to endure it.
The lady who plays death is clearly a very capable and talented actress but the direction they’ve given her for the character feels at times like they’re trying too hard to make the character seem menacing. I can’t help but think that with a different direction (maybe have her be more mysterious/face hidden) would have achieved the sinister, ominous tone that illustrates her authority without coming across as trying too hard to sell it to the audience.
The anthology style with each character’s life requires you to become invested in each character quickly and be able to move on quickly to the next character as the previous character’s story is wrapped up. I found I wasn’t always able to do this even though the supporting cast is excellent in their roles. For example, that mafia fixer guy’s story was hard to get into for me and was over before I could get invested.
These are minor things though because the series IS excellent. The two main characters do a really good job. Especially the ML who inhibits the character(s) completely and keeps you hooked.
It’ll be interesting to see where they take the final 4 episodes in the new year. The premise is really engaging and unique and I have a theory about how all the stories tie in to the main character aside from the obvious link to the company he interviewed for. I think the school bully who went to prison will have a huge part to play in his final body/story.
I also noticed that the first episode mirrors another series I’ve watched previously that also involved corruption at the company the ML interviewed for but I can’t remember the name of the series.
As much as I was not a fan of Wahl’s character or how much they used him to drive the plot, I did like the chemistry between the actor who plays him and the actor who plays Guy. Especially in the first episode when we didn’t know where this was going. I’d like to see them in a bl together.
I think the chemistry between the main leads is fine and the pairing is fine but I can’t help but think they both could have even better pairings. For example, the actor who plays Tew has a similar energy/demeanor to the leads in KinnPorsche. He needs a partner who is similar to him in the same way the leads in KinnPorsche are quite similar to each other in aesthetics and demeanor. This doesn’t always work but I think in this case it does.
They may have a case of the OhmFluke where their potential is better with other people. For me OhmFluke are too quiet/underwhelming together because Ohm is kind of like Keanu Reeves in acting style - wooden and really out of place unless he has a role that fits this style and has a lively energetic partner to off-set this. Fluke gets typecasted as the shy quiet type when he’s with Ohm and it just makes the pairing seem dull overall. I think Ohm’s current partner in that cooking show is able to off-set Ohm’s reserved style with his livelier demeanor. Fluke alongside Singto and other’s in Shadow gets to show off his acting chops as well as bring a different energy different from the shy ‘damsel’ type he always gets cast as.
In a similar way, pairing up the actor who plays Guy with someone else will allow him to break out of that ‘damsel’ role also. His dynamics with the Wahl actor in episode one was not damsel so I think a bl with these two actors would do him good in breaking out of that typecast.
A few things feel a bit weird to me but they don’t stop it from being an enjoyable drama to watch.
1. The accepted treatment of the stepmom and the stepbrother whom you can argue were the only truly selfless characters in this whole thing. I get traditions and I get cultural differences but this could only sit right if they didn’t have this moral message running throughout. It seems the writers were prepared to address some things (the toxic beauty standards and dieting) but not others (the so called good characters not saying anything about the treatment of the stepmom and stepbro, the notion that ML had no value and had to be hidden if he showed any outward flaw, how f-ed up it really is to act like the wronged party should not make an issue over someone cheating/betraying them and should just move on and not make the cheater’s life difficult).
2. The second couple. Set aside the cheating part for a moment. I want to ask; what is the deal with Korean dramas (and even Asian dramas broadly speaking), always doing an ‘alls-well-that-ends-well’ thing where they feel like they have to give everyone a happy ending or make every character ‘good’ by the end of the drama? I have no problems with redemption arcs but they always seem to skip over that part and never have the character acknowledge the hurt, the fallout or atone for the bad thing they’ve done. It’s always suddenly in the final episode(s), everyone’s cool with everyone. This leads me to my next point.
3. The evil uncle is an even worse example of this as the character is brought back into the fold just to give everyone a happy ending but is he still evil? Nobody knows. Just smile and watch the credits roll.
In my opinion this seriously undermines the story and the emotional journey of main characters whenever writers/showrunners do this and is probably why so many k-dramas that do this exact same thing are not ‘loved’ by audiences. I don’t think these things dampened the enjoyment of this series but it’s something that definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth and has me wondering why some creators do this.
THIS ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️ 💯 percent this. ⬆️⬆️⬆️