Meru

Second Couple saves the show

Don’t get me wrong, the story was quite unique, sad yet beautiful. The characters were intriguing and the music was hauntingly beautiful.
Still, there were some things I didn’t like about this drama so that’s why it is not a full 10/10 rating.

1. The obvious age gap and the controversy of grooming being romanticized was too much for me to handle sometimes. I tried to overlook it at the beginning by telling myself that she just wanted to have a person to love after loosing her parents at a young age and being stuck with an evil aunt and cousins. She was craving for love and a family basically after being so lonely and unloved for years. It really broke my heart so I could somewhat understand her desire to marry someone and become the Goblin’s bride. And when we found out towards the end that she would have to pull the sword out and kill the evil ghost, I was relieved: At least, we didnt see a marriage between people with an almost 20-year age gap. He can die in peace and she will forget everything and live a happy life. That scene was incredible tho! The filming, the acting, the atmosphere!!!! Kim Go Eun carried that scene!!!! I absolutely believed her!!! What an incredible actress!!!! Her as an actress alone gained this drama a lot of bonus points. So yes, I cried a lot in this scene and here comes reason no.2 as well…

2. I didnt understand why they had to bring him back just to make her die at the end again… it was literally zig-zagging back and forth, I got tired of it… And in the end, just by coincidence they all die or leave and he is all alone… Also wtf happened to Deok-Hwa at the end??? We didn’t see that!!! That was quite disappointing.
If they were gonna be reborn anyway, they should have just skipped the marriage part and made everyone come back after dying at some point… like idk it was unnecessary for me…

3. It was also Very slow and a bit boring at times. It took me almost 2 months to finish.

Luckily there were many good points too. My faves were DEFINITELY the Grim Reaper and Sunnie!!!! In my opinion they stole the show!!! I was quite happy how they both turned out to be actors and police officers 😂😂😂perfect match!!!

I loved it when they mentioned BTS too 😂😂😂

In general the drama dealt very intensively with grief and death which is always so well done in K-Dramas and especially in this one.

All in all it was a good drama. I kinda get the hype. However I would not watch it again.

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Deliciously Dangerous

This drama was so much better than I had imagined!!!!

I had only ever seen Yoon A in King the Land which was a very cringey show for me and I didn’t enjoy watching it at all, so before starting this drama I was doubting Yoon A’s performance but she was amazing! Hilarious in funny scenes and cute in some as well. Lee Chae Min was a new actor for me but I think his acting was phenomenal. My highlight in terms of acting was Kang Han Na as Mokju!!! Her acting was top-notch!!!

So far for the plot, I liked it. The end felt a bit rushed. Although I did enjoy the cooking battle, they could have shortened the scenes there a bit and added one more episode in the end, when the main leads meet again in the modern times.
I had the same questions as everyone else for the end about how he managed to get to modern times (I assume it was the one page that fell on him), and did he have money? (Maybe he sold his sword 😂). I would have loved to see his journey. I am sure it would have been very entertaining to watch 😂😂😂

I guess my theories for the end came true! I rather thought they would go back together instead of seperately and then meeting by surprise. But eventually he came as himself and not as a descendant like all the other characters 😍☺️☺️

Now I want a season 2 showing their lifes in modern day Seoul

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One of the best Underdog stories in K-Dramas

I seriously loved everything about this drama from beginning to end!!! It kinda reminded me a little bit of Itaewon Class with the revenge story, the dads being involved and the ML’s dad actually dying from the beginning, the unconventional beauty of the female lead, the group of people they’re working together with and building a found family with them… just sooo many similarities, there was absolutely NO WAY I wouldn’t love this drama! 😍😍😍

First of all, it starts off with Tae-poong leading this carefree life, always wearing the hottest clothes, dancing in Apgujeong Clubs like an idol (that he is in real life 😂), and getting into fights with his arch enemy Hyun-Jin 😂😂😂
His look in this first half of the drama was among the hottest looks I have seen in a K-Drama actor! I was seriously obsessed with his blond highlights, silver bracelets and leather jackets, it still lives rentfree in my head 😂😂😂

Then the next part of the drama, basically the majority happens after his father dies. That part I would divide it into 0 + 4 parts, based on the products they sell and with each product they earn another one of their former colleagues to join them again.

Part 0: Everyone is still together and they still have the fabrics that they had ordered before the father died I think. This was also before Tae-poong lost his home. Basically, this story arc shows how everything slowly crumbles: the work, and his home.

Part 1: Now it is only Kang Tae-Poong And Mi-seon and they decide to sell the work shoes they found in Busan and how they are getting involved with the Busan Gang members and save the life of the man who invented the shoes. This was one of my favorite parts of the drama. I still wonder if the shoes arrived at their destination and what happened to the guy 😂 They didn’t really show him at the end anymore. Also the video they made was phenomenal 😂😂😂super 90s coded!!!

Part 2: This part was my favorite part!!! the helmets that they sell in Thailand!!! 🇹🇭 😂😂
Go Majin joins them and lands in prison 😂😂😂 I was sooo annoyed with him in these episodes tho!!! He was being a misogynistic idiot and he treated Mi-Seon so rudely I was actually happy when he landed in prison 😂😂😂 And the measures they took to get him out with the pictures and all and then Mi-Seon DROPPPPPPING it all into the rivvverrr!!!! I was SOOOO MADDDD!!! I was screaming at her actually 😂😂😂
AND THEN OMG!!! Junho singing at that party!!!! omggg!!! And ofc their kisssss!!!! GYAAAAHHHH!!!! I was swooooooninnggggg sooooo hardddd!!!!! 😍😍😍 What a smooth talker!!! and the way he said “how lucky you are to have a guy like me crushing on you” omgggg i would have melted and then slapped him for saying that and then melted again 😂😂😂 we need more men like that in our lives!!! Thailand arc was just superior!!

Part 3: The glovessss!!!! In this part So many things happened. Mr Bae went to Indonesia, there were a lot of scenes at the government office, Tae-poong and Mi-Seon were in a church trying to get one of the former workers to come back. A lot was happening in this arc. The promissory note with Mrs. Cha spying on them was also happening here. And on top of that the fire broke out!!! It was CRAZY!!! a crazy arc!!! But I enjoyed every second of it.

Part 4: The last part was shorter compared to the others and it led to the finale. They got involved with Mr. Bae’s father and tried to sell security cameras. In this arc they also found the promissory note and before that Hyun-Jin started acting like a REAL asshole! The actor did such a good job at playing one of the worst villains in K-Dramaland. Also, it was funny how Hyun-Jin’s English was so much better than that foreigner Alex’ English 😂😂😂 I didn’t understand ANYTHING he said in English 😂😂😂

The end was a bit different than what I had imagined. I didn’t expect Tae-poong to save Mr. Pyo. And then for Mr. Pyo to go and lock up his own son!!! Wow! Crazy but I can understand since Hyun-Jin was a danger to so many people around him. Definitely an unexpected ending!

I loved seeing all the office workers together at the end walking down the road! it warmed my heart! A perfect ending to a great drama!!!

Other things I liked were:

1. Mi-ho and Nam-mo’s cute little relationship! 🥰 Mi-ho legit looked like a supermodel from the 90s!!! And their wedding at the end was so cuteee!!!

2. Tae-poong’s mom 🥹🥹🥹 Such a sweet woman!!!

3. Mi-Seon’s family 🥹🥹🥹 The grandma was soooo funnyyy!!! sometimes she was so senile, mixing people from the past up with people from the present 😂 but then sometimes she would say the wisest things hahahah 😂😂😂 Like when Mi-Ho was crying over Nam-mo and the halmoni was like “Why would you cry over a man?” or sth 😂😂😂 That was one of my favorite scenes!!! And Beom in his Taekwondo suit 😂😂😂He was the CUTESTTTTT!!! CHUBBIESTTTT!!! SWEEEEETEST KDRAMA BOY EVVVERRRRR 🥹🥹🥹I swear he looked like he could be Sunwoo’s little brotther from Reply 1988 😂😂😂 The way he always grinned melted my heart I wanted to cryyyy!!!! 😭😭😭

Things I didn’t like:
Nam-mo’s mom PISSED me off when she suddenly was against Mi-ho dating her son!!! I seriously didn’t get her point! Did she thing her son was a chaebol or a prince??? and she the Queen? Like she acted like they were soooo rich!!! In reality they had no money either!!! Mi-ho’s family lived in a bigger house than they probably did… I was so fed up with her 😖

All in all, I loved this drama and would recommend it to everyone!

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A drama with an identity crisis

Finished this tonight and it was definitely one of the weirdest dramas I have ever watched! It was not terrible. There were some scenes and episodes that were fine and actually the side characters literally saved this show (old and young grandma, and the bestie Minji). There was also some hugeeeee character development towards the end. Especially Suzy crying in the dessert was pretty sad and showed topnotch acting. As well as the genie from the past when he was holding her dead body. Also very heartbreaking. The very end was a bit strange tho. Also the unnecessary violence felt a bit off and added to the identity crisis this drama had been having since the beginning: is it Fantasy? Comedy? Drama? Romance? Action? Historical? Crime thriller? It was trying to be all of that at once!!! It was too much!

Some messages of the drama were really nice tho: being greedy is sth that will come and bite you back, being helpful and kind but not to put other before yourself was kind of the message to live by that this drama was trying to convey.
I liked the different themes of mental illness and lgbtq+ visibility. It was very refreshing and sth that is rarely shown openly in KDrama like this.

For me the drama was a bit of a rollercoaster.
The first episode was quite messy. I didn’t know what to think of the main leads at the beginning. Genie’s hair freaked me out a bit as well 😅 Also, the grandma slicing up Ka-young’s hand to teach her a lesson was a bit too much imo. Luckily their relationship has improved over the years and Ka-young has grown into a good person.
After the first episode it gradually got better. Some things that happened on the way towards the end were a bit too much like the unnecessary use of violence and gory got me questioning whether that was needed for the style and genre this drama was going for 🤔
The old guy reflected in the mirror in khalid’s body also creeped me out a lot!!! Again, what is this drama trying to be???

One of the highlights was Song Hye Kyo as Jinniya 😍😍😍How frigging gorgeous can someone be??? She is my absolute favorite actress!!!

All in all I can recommend this drama only if you dont mind messy concepts and are in for sth on the lighter side that is easy to watch.

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A fun and heartwarming story

I absolutely LOVED this drama!!!! It started off lightheartedly and funny, almost even silly with her hiding her real identity and her Private life from everyone. Towards the end it actually got deeper and sadder. One of the dramas I cried the most!!! It broke my heart sooooo much!!!! Seeing the final picture that was missing with the boy aka Yun Jae on it, Duk-Mi’s story of loosing her brother and her memory at the same time and just how they were all connected since their childhood. Of course, very unrealistic like what are the odds of that happening? But that’s such a popular K-Drama trope and tbh it’s one of my favorites 😂😂😂

The side characters were also all super cool especially her bestie and Eun-Gi. I was annoyed a bit at him for a while especially when he was trying to break the main couple apart but I quickly went back to liking him! However, his romantic feelings towards Duk-Mi were not neccessary. I wish they would have kept him as her fake brother and given him another second female love interest (which I hope is NOT Hyo-jin 😰😰😰)
I was definitely rooting all for Ryan Gold 😍😍😍 I was whipped for him the second I saw him at the auction!!! omg!!! Yes I want it!!! 😂 Kim Jae-Wook is so hot and his acting is superb!!! his dreamy eyes and the voice omg!!!

Some critique point was the amount of accidents used as a cause for tragedy in both sides: Yun-Jae’s mom getting into an accident and not making it to pick up her son and then Duk-Mi and her brother getting into an accident and Duk-Su dying… That was a bit too many accidents for my taste…

But all in all really amazing drama with beautiful quotes, music and characters!!!

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Only a KDrama can spark my interest in Rugby ?

I really NEVER expected to like this drama that much!!! From the characters, to the setting, it was quite well done. I liked how all the Rugby boys had such very different and unique characters. Also, unlike Racket Boys, it was not all just Badminton but for example the girls were in the shooting team. So I learned a little bit about shooting as well and wow it does look like a very cool sport.
I also really likes the othet adult characters. The intrigues school politics and all the unfair things going on really fired me up even more and made it harder to stop and take a break.
I just really love a good underdog story! And KDramas about sports usually don’t disappoint.

The only downside and critique about this drama I have is how powerless everyone was, including the president of the school. It was a bit too much for me seeing those two annoying men do whatever they wanted and acting like they owned that place. Tbh it seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Also, Bae I-ji was so mad at Garam at the beginning but where was that anger towards that disgusting Shooting Coach? He was way more terrible to her than Garam ever was… That was another thing that pissed me off.

Everything else, including the amazing Soundtrack, was really a good watch! Finished it in less than a week 😂

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It will make you hungry!

After watching Culinary Class Wars I have been interested in food-related shows. So this drama came intrigued me from the get go.

The beginning of the drama was tbh a bit slow. It started to get interesting when they had the food festival competition. After that a lot of interesting things happened that kept me wanting to watch the next episode. I liked the Sapporo episodes too although the fight in the hospital scenes were a bit too much!!!! But after the recipes got stolen I was a bit disappointed and mad. I imagined it to turn out totally different. I had wished Beom-Woo would have told the Diamant judges that the recipes were stolen and created a showdown. Instead he just started to sulk. He couldn’t even properly tell Yoon-Joo that it wasn’t him who stole the recipes!!!! IT WAS FCKING YU-JIN!!!!! Like just the fact that this whole Yu-Jin mess was not clarified, also with Choon-Seung and how he got locked up, made me feel really mad and frustrated.

And then they had a cook-off in the end which was rather underwhelming…
The mother was really annoying too. Even the cold-hearted brother Sun-Woo changed into being good in the end but the mother was still being a heartless sucess monger.

So to sum up, The beginning was slow, the middle was fast-paced and exciting, the end was a let down.

My favorite scene was when the actor from Lovely Jogger enters the restaurant (played by Park Ji-Hoon aka the main lead of Weak Hero Class) And Choon-Seung goes like “Wait a minute, which high-school did you go to? 😂😂😂😂 It was SUCH an obvious reference to Weak Hero Class I was cracking upppp!!!! Best scene in the drama for sure!

I think it’s a nice little watch with only 10 episodes.

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An ode to female solidarity

This movie has actually surprised me quite a but ngl! It had a lot of nudity and sex which I have never seen so much of in KDramas so far 😂 and shockingly, it was set in the 80s??? I feel like people were wilder back then than they are today it seems.

In general I really liked the setting of the 80s in the drama. Since watching Reply 1988 this era has interested me a lot about Korea and its history.

The main theme of the drama is misogyny and the exploitation and objectification of women especially in the entertainment society. I am sure that the traumatic things we saw that happened to the young women in this movie are definitely not something that only happened in the 80s in Korea (the P.Diddy case for example is still very recent).
I loved so much how the two female actresses turned from enemies to besties in this movie.
Also, because this drama is all about female solidarity we had no attractive male leads that played the love interest of the women, obviously since the women were just so sick of all the men objectifying them and treating them badly that they just gave up on falling in love with them.
I did hope that there would be more of a romantic connection betweenJu-Ae and her friend who looked like a guy (tbh I still think they were in love with each other and was wishing for them to kiss at the end when she runs after her car).

And then, the scene where Ju-Ae rescues Hee-Ran on her horse was EPIC!!!! (sadly the traffic cgi was kinda lame 😅).

I definitely liked this drama a lot and totally fell in love with the main actress who played Hee-Ran omg who is that woman? I definitely gotta watch more of her dramas!

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So much better than expected!!!

I loved this drama!!!! I love how it portrays difficult family dynamics and how the certain behaviour of people comes from deep pain, sorrow, grief, or trauma.
In general I love how things got resolved in the end, not in a fairytale, unrealistic way but it showed how you have to put in some effort in order to succeed. Things won’t change for the better just because you want to.

I want to go through each character that I liked or had certain thoughts of:

1. The twins Miji and Mirae:
I definitely liked Miji more and also could relate to her much more. She was bubbly, energetic and loud. She took care of her grandma and did all kinds of jobs and her dark past made me sad and I could also relate to her a bit.
Tbh Mirae seemed like a very pale character next to Miji, almost boring. Throughout the majority of the drama I really disliked her. When the harrassment happened at work, I tried to feel sorry for her but I was annoyed again!!! like WHYYYY did she suggest to forget about what he tried to do???? Idk but that was soooo strange and kinda unrealistic!!! as a woman, if my colleague starts to harrass me I would cancel every contact with that person, even consider leaving the company!!!! And she just wanted to move on like nothing happened??? I got SO mad at her!!!! The only thing I liked about Mirae was her relationship with Han Sejin, the strawberry farmer 😂

Which brings me to the next character!

2. Han Sejin aka the strawberry farmer:
I loved this guy!!! I already saw him in Lovestruck in the City where he plays an author and I already liked him a lot in that drama! He was actually one of my favorites 😂 And hos character in this drama was amazing too!!! Definitely one of my faves!!!

3. Lee Hosu:
I know he is the Male Lead but somehow I liked the Second Male Lead much more, again 😂 Le Hosu was just ok. I felt sorry for him at some parts especially when he was younger. I didn’t like how he treated his mom, so there were some scenes when I got really annoyed with him because I really liked his mom! She was my favorite character! So I was happy when I watched the scene when his mom comes to Seoul and hits him and then they hug and cry and I cried so much in that scene too!!!! 😭😭😭

which brings me to my next character:

4. Bon - Hong aka Hosu’a mom:
I LOVED this woman so much!!!! Everything she said and did was so touching and sweet and I loved her fighting with Ok-hui 😂😂😂 idk if I am biased or not because she is a Reply 1988 actress but I genuinely loved Bonhong so much!!! Her quotes were my favorite 😂

5. Ok-hui aka the twins’ mom:
At the beginning and throughout the whole drama I was SO annoyed with her!! Her talking aggressively ALL THE TIME put me so much on edge!!!! She is mean to everyone literally! To Bon-hong, Miji, her mother, just everyone!!! I got so fed up with her until the scene she cried on the floor with the real Miji and then cried at the hospital in her mother’s lap. Her story was maybe one of the most heartbreaking and although I still dislike her aggressive side, I got to like her in the end…

7. Kim Rosa aka Sangwol:
Her story was one of the most impressive! I cried so much! The way she protected her friend gave me goosebumps!!! When women love and help each other they can move mountains!!! Her story was such a story! I was so happy she got a happy end so quickly! 🥰 It was so heartwarming!

8. Tae-i and his sister:
I cant really say much about his sister, but I really loved Tae-i!!! As a very minor character he was very well done! I would have liked to see more of him!

9. The grandma:
Once again, a drama with a grandma plot can never disappoint!!! One of my favorite Korean words is the one for Grandma, (halmeoni) because some of my favoritr dramas are the ones that have a kind grandma starting (e.g. Start-up).

I would say this is it for the main characters!
I just love this drama and lowkey want a season 2 just to see Mirae get together with Sejin. Also I feel like the twins are both the main characters but it felt more focused on Miji. So I wonder whether there shouldn’t be a part 2 which focuses more on Mirae 😍

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The first and only hospital drama I’ve watched

I am usually not a fan of medical / hospital dramas or should I say, they never sparked my interest enough. However, I have heard really good things about this drama and since the writers are from my favorite drama ever (1988) I decided to give it a try! And I didn’t regret it!!!

Of course, it doesn’t even come close to the greatness of reply 1988! Still, it is a very nice and heartwarming drama. Seeing the daily lives of doctors was very interesting, and I also learned a lot of things about surgeries, sicknesses and the systems and hierarchies of hospitals and medical workers.

The best thing about this drama however are the characters! Not only the main characters but also the side characters, like the residents, interns and assistant doctors. It’s funny how relatable each character is! That’s definitely the strength of this drama!

And of course the point that makes this drama different and unique from other medical dramas is the fact that the main 5 characters who have been friends for decades, also play in a band and the music they play is just AMAZING!!!! Every track was a banger and soooo beautiful!!!

Sadly, there were some things I didn’t quite like. The main reason was the fact that they explicitly showed the surgeries!!! It was seriously too graphic for my taste!

And in general, some scenes were too sad and heartbreaking for me that it was hard to handle it.

But in general it is definitely a well-made drama!

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A drama that challenges your morals

This drama has destroyed me! There are so many dark themes that will leave you devastated.
This drama is a story about the love-hate relationship between two best friends who practically grew up together. It’s also about being human, making mistakes, forgiving, and the importance of self-love or self-hatred.

What really impressed me about this drama was how we as an audience felt the exact same things as one of the main leads Ryu Eun-jung. We see the story of the two girls becoming friends and growing up together in 4 parts of the drama:

1. Their childhood in elementary / junior high school. She loves her friend Cheon Sang-yeon first, then at school she wants to hurt her, then they become friends, E.J. also loves S.Y.’s family members (mom and brother). S.Y. becomes like a second family to her. S.Y. however develops jealousy and hatred towards E.J. during these years because she gets all the attention from her family members that she rarely gets but craves. They fight over sth again but rekindle when S.Y. runs away from home and hides in E.J.’s house. She starts feeling warm motherly love from E.J.’s mom. The scene in which she eats her noodles and cries into her bowl broke my heart. These childhood scenes were so important to further try to understand S.Y.’s behaviour.
Then, her brother dies and the only person who is really there for her is E.J. The latter starts feeling pity for S.Y. which adds to their already complicated relationship of seeing each other as rivals (in E.J. eyes S.Y. has everything she wants aka money, wealth and a big house, and in S.Y.’s eyes E.J. has everything she wants aka a loving mother amd people in general loving her).

2. part is a fast forward to uni life, E.J. is at uni, happily studying and dating a guy with the same name as her first love aka S.Y.’s brother who died. Soon S.Y. also joins the uni, as we later find out not because of E.J. but because of her secret crush on E.J.’s boyfriend that she has had for many years when they met in a chatroom. Seeing how again E.J. has the person that S.Y. is so desperately craving for, leads to her eventually trying to manipulate Kim Sanghak (the boyfriend) into helping her while keeping it secret from E.J. As viewers, we see whats happening and although we feel sad and pity for S.Y. because she does want to find out about her brother by using S.H. we also do notice that she is using her brother as an excuse to get closer to S.H. and create a drift between E.J. and S.H. sth that a best friend should not be doing.
In the end, it comes to a huge showdown of E.J. breaking up with S.H. because of S.Y. and a huge fight between the girls when S.Y. refuses to accept the apartment money from E.J. because of her pride. A pride that eventually might be the reason for her loneliness and for pushing people away. In that scene I felt really mad at S.Y. because her mother was dying too and she could have used the help from E.J. since she was also like someone from the family. But probably S.Y. did it on purpose because she really did NOT want E.J. to be part of her family under any means. She didn’t even tell E.J. that her mom was gonna die which made me even madder.

Then the 3rd part of the show is them as adults, now working in the film industry. The scenes here really made me the angriest about S.Y. She has become totally spiteful and emotionless after her mother’s death. She shows up at E.J.’s office as a co-producer and we also see Kim Sanghak joining. He still has feelings for E.J. and S.Y. still has feelings for S.H. or she is more like obsessed with him in an unhealthy way. We see her confessing her love to him but he of course denies her. She breaks down and ends up getting drunk at some point, when she pleads E.J. to not date S.H. because she loves him but can’t have him so she doesn’t want her to have him either. That scene just blew my mind!!!! And E.J. did tell him that she can’t date him again, just for S.Y. because I do feel that she was actually thinking about rekindling that love. But her pity for S.Y. was so inherently deep, a feeling she had to live with all her life since her childhood. But then, what does S.Y. do??? She steals E.J.’s project and her director and founds her own company because she wants to see E.J. destroyed just like she is 🤯🤯🤯 She can’t live with the fact that she is fine… I was so shocked and hated her as much as E.J. did.

The last part of the show is the current situation of S.Y. coming back into E.J.’s life. She has terminal cancer and wants to end her own life in switzerland and asks E.J. to help her and accompany her to the facility in Switzerland.

This last part of the drama was the hardest to watch. Again, as viewers we do feel pity for S.Y. but we also remember what she did to E.J. so we can understand why she acts so dismissive towards her. This drama challenged my way of thinking in many ways: Is pity enough to love someone? No, it isn’t. The love between the two girls goes deeper than pity. It’s them seeing themselves reflected in each other. It is also envy, and striving to love oneself that they see in each other.
Can you really love someone again and again despite them hurting you? Yes, you can. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting. It means remembering especially well what they did to you and why they did it. Especially childhood friends have a huge significance on us, almost as if they are our family. They shape us in our formative years so loving them is almost unconditional.
The way that E.J. forgave S.Y. is almost like empathizing with a villain who had a very tough life and is now trying to become a better human being, but eventually will have to die. So this is your last chance to say goodbye.

Now for the other characters, apart from Eun-Jung, Sangyeon and Sanghak, E.J.’s mother was one of the most important characters. She was the epitome of unconditional love. She saw right into S.Y.’s heart and how much she was in pain and how much she strived for love and affection. She didn’t see SY for her actions but for her pain and struggles. EJ later says “My mom thinks that not everything bad is all bad.” I think this quote says it all.

And then ofc we have SY’s mother and her importance in EJ’s life and how she showed EJ what she herself couldn’t see in her: That she is talented as well. She also helped her replace her pain over her deceased father br creating something beautiful. It seemed that SY’s mother was showing more affection to EJ than to her own daughter which added to the viewers feeling sadness and pity for SY (because EJ’s mother treated SY nicely but she also treats her daughter well). I think the relationship between SY and her mother was one of the most complicated ones. It made me really sad: How she didnt show to her daughter at first, and then how SY pushed her suffering mother away after her brother’s death and even blamed her mother for his death, how then her mother got sick and also died and SY felt regret over wasting her time with her mother on blame, pain and resentment… Her mother has always loved SY but she just wanted her to become a kind human and that’s why she was so strict with her as a child.

One of the messages of this drama might be: We are not perfect, we are human. Humans have faults and humans make mistakes even if they’re aware of those mistakes, even if they keep doing the same mistakes again and again without any effort of improving, even if they hurt others with it; we are all just humans who will have to live through a cycle of suffering endlessly…

I am sure I could write more about this drama and its characters as it was so challenging to read all the emotional struggles they were all going through. Definitely worth a watch but I could never rewatch this!

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Great Joseon-era drama filled with hot men

First of all, this was my first, full Joseon-era drama I have ever watched so I was really impressed with the production quality, costumes, and the beautiful sets that were chosen.
The storyline was so well-thought of, from beginning to end with so much drama and intrigue, as well as romance, comic relief and sadness!
The cast was star-studded and there were so many hot male characters I didn’t know where to look at! 😂😂😂

The characters/actors:
I love Park Eun-bin and she naturally did not disappoint in this role either. The way she played the King was remarkable! She proved once again that she can take any role. When I first saw the adult version of the King played by Eun-bin I was like “Oh wow she is sooo handsome!!” 🤯
As the character of the King, she initially displayed her cold, heartless side but slowly softened up throughout the drama. Sometimes it was so sad to watch her long for her femininity whenever they went to the market places 🥺

Then there was Ro Woon!!! I now understand the hype around him! This was my first drama of his I watched and omg I have definitely been missing out!!! He is so handsome like how!!???? as if an artist drew him! I am seriously obsessed with the way his face looks like 😍😍😍 also he looks a bit like Taehyung from BTS.
As for his character, Jung Ji-un he was such a cuutie!!!!! From his first appearance on he was interesting! His love for the king and his friendship with Jaeun and the other scribes and teachers was very funny to watch. I loved to see how he was behaving when he realized he had feelings for the king without knowing that he was a woman 😂 I just loved the fact that he was the male lead.

Next, Lord Jaeun aka Hyun was my favorite character of the series 😍 He was so kind and smart and respectful to everyone, quite literally my dream man. It was a bit strange tbh that he was in love with his cousin 😅 But he realized that his feelings were wrong and acted accordingly which was again very remarkable. Also, I did not expect him to become the next King at the end of the drama. Actually, I thought he was gonna die while protecting the King or sth but I am really happy that he survived ☺️ I just wish he had a girl fall in love with him because he is HELLA FINE!!!! 😍😍😍

And of course, two of the most important characters, Court Lady Kim and Eunuch Bok-Dong were the pillars of this drama and the female lead. They might seem like mascot characters at the beginning but they actually had very crucial roles. Court Lady Kim was like her mother she never really had and the Eunuch was a replacement of her dead twin brother 🥺 They both gave her the warmth and support of a family she never experienced since her own family was just cold and distant all the time.

I really grew to like Kim Ga-on as well. At the beginning he was very misleading and we all thought he was a bad guy. But I love how he turned out to be the most loyal and skilled warrior to the King. And his little love story with Ju-Un’s friend was soooo cuteeee omg!!!! 🥹🥹🥹

One of the villains with a redemption arc was Commander Jung aka Ji-Un’s ruthless father. He was the roundest character of this drama! His character development and decisions were very unexpected. He reminded me of Snape in a way. Up until the moment Commander Yoon died partly because of him he was this evil commander doing all the dirty work for Lord Sangheon. But after his old friend’s death he started to change. His last scene with Ji-Un were sooo heartbreaking, I cried so much 😭😭😭 I an glad he got a redemption arc because he was a very skilled warrior that benefited the King greatly in the end (although they lost the battle).

And last but not least, Seo-un and Ha-Gyeong were quite interesting too. I loved how Seo-Un realized that Ji-Un had feelings for anothet and just how she could not marry the King for these reasons, she understood exactly how Ji-Un must be feeling. It was still very sad to see her suffer and hurt at the end and she cane to become one of my favorite characters as well.
Ha-Gyeong was so cute when she first fell in love with the King not knowing that she just fell in love with a woman 😂She was a little bit naive and clumsy at times but I really loved her character. I kind a wish she had more screentime or actually I was hoping she would fall in love with Jaeun but that did not happen sadly.

These were my favorite characters. Of course Lord Sangheon and the rest of the royal family were important too but I didnt really care about them. Sangheon was just an evil, manipulative old man who should have died earlier! I wish Ga-on had assassinated him earlier!
And then the Late King aka the father of the female lead was a character I don’t have much to say about. Him and the Queen Dowager were quite insignificant for me tbh. And then the most annoying characters were Lord Changun aka the uncle and Lord Wonsan aka Jaeun’s evil brother. I HATED them!!! especially the uncle!!!! They were probably even worse than Lord Sangheon.

As you noticed the characters in this drama were amazing! No character was abundant or useless. Everyone had a purpose even the very small minor characters. Loved how they were utilized to strengthen and keep the storyline moving.

Some pros and cons:

Pros:
1. Characters
2. Storyline
3. Soundtrack
4. A lot of handsome men
5. Sword fight choreos were on point
6. The ending was beautiful

Cons:
1. The episodes with the Ming guy were a bit strange and I still don’t know how that fit into the general plot.
2. Some things were left uncleared in the end for example what happened to Lord Wonsan, or whether Jaeun found out that the King was the twin and how they ended up switching their lives.

Not that many cons at all and very small minor ones.

Definitely a 10/10 watch for me!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

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Amazing start, Best games, disappointing ending

So basically, Squid Game 3 started off with a bang! The first two games were probably the best games in the Squid Games so far!!! especially the Hide and Seek Game has destroyed me!!! Not only because of the set up of the game which required the red players to kill the blue players, actively!!! basically, in order to survive, they had to commit murder!!! which was quite sick!!! And then the fact that so many crucial characters died in this game (we all know who we are the saddest about… 😭😭😭), and then the baby coming was just like “what?? seriously??” Tbh I still have mixed feelings about the baby but I will share my theory later.
One scene that was horrific as well was when the old mother had to kill her son!!! I guess most people will not understand the reason behind this but for my part I could totally understand her… first of all, no mother would want their children to become the murderer of a new mother. She probably thought that “instead of him killing someone else, I will free my son from this burden by killing him.” This aspect of the drama has shocked and intrigued me a lot!!! this point of view was insane and something I have never seen in any other movie or drama before. One of the most crucial scenes in this drama I think…
One tiny little thing I didn’t like about the Hide and Seek game was the fact that Gi-hun killed Dae-ho!!! He was mad at him and hunted him down bcs he thought his friend died bcs of Dae-ho. I felt really sad because in the end he just got scared which is a very humane reaction. I wish Gi-hun had killed the old greedy entrepreneur instead…

The jump rope game was crazy too!!!! not to mention the song omgggg!!!! Squid Game songs are always such bangers!!! And they kept getting better and better too!!!
Mingle in S2 was already great and ngl it would have been way mess fun without Thanos dancing to it 😂😂😂 But the jump rope song was next level!!! Kudos to the music producers of this season!

And, well the games and music are about it when it comes to the things I liked in this season!!!
After the junp rope game everything went downhill!!!

From the finalist to the end of the last game, everything was disappointing and left us feeling like “that was it?”

First of all, I hated the final players!!!! Idk why nobody could kill that old greedy fart!!! And apart from Minsu and player 333 who tf were the other guys???? They weren’t even that important!!! Why were they in the final???? I just don’t get it!!! I wish Thanos had not died but made it to the final game omg how fun that would have been!!!

Second, the fact that the police officer Junho doesn’t get any answers to his questions frustrated me soooo muchhhh!!!! Like, I understand that Gi-hun had to die and I do feel like his death in order to save the baby was symbolic. But I wished there was more of a conversation and exchange between the brothers aka Junho and the Frontman! And also I am still curious in what relationship the former Frontman, Il-nam stood to the new Frontman In-ho.

Then, what was that ending in America with Cate Blanchett as the new recruiter??? It definitely hinted on an American version of Squid Game coming up!!! and idk if i like it or not!!! And tbh, I genuinely feel like Squid Game might have had a different ending initially, before the success was so overwhelming and before netflix asked the director to split season 2 to two parts. I honestly think that the director was asked by Netflix to change the ending in a way that it still leaves room to play in case they want to film another version. And I guess thats why the story between the brothers was unresolved!

One thing at the end that I did like was No-Eul’s arc and how she rescued the father of the girl and then it even showed how she met them outside at the theme park again. That was a slightly happier moment from the otherwise depressing end.

I am also curious about what will happen to Junho and the baby and Gi-hun’s daughter.
If they make an American version, I assume that the frontman and Junho will be the only Korean characters from the original series, continuing their dispute in the American version… that’s my prediction…

My theory as to why the baby brought in to the games and why it survived is probably because of the following reasons: It could have a biblical / religious / spiritual meaning, highlighting the importance of new life and how it is worth risking so many people’s lives for a new life. Also, it showed the evilness of some or most of the remaining players and how the majority of them was ready to kill off an innocent baby instead of dying showed how the majority of the world, especially roch, old greedy men do not care about newborns, or children whatsoever and the reason why society is crumbling and why we do not have enough children on this earth anymore… Another point that was proven right by the frontman: greed as the driving motivator for the majority of humans when it should be the appreciation of new life. And I assume thats also why Gi-hun’s death was so symbolic! He who has also been driven by greed before he joined the games has realized that unlike himself, most people will never stop to be greedy for money. Although he did change, he realized that that’s not the case for the majority of humans…

In general it’s a good watch but the ending is very messy and disappointing…

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