Meru

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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