3GGG

That is extremely sad and interesting at the same time. I think many (me included) would assume the source material to be just as shallow and week, so i am glad you pointed out the difference. I do hope the webtoon doesn't suffer (gets a bad rep) because of a lazy written show.

Mind you, i am still surprised at the rating, it should be lower haha. At this point i will just finish it for completion's sake.

I highly recommend Save Me & Save Me 2.

Exactly, in fact some of the traits she exhibited (selfishness, ambition, recklessness, charisma, popularity, being rich) are part of almost all k-drama male leads. The difference is that Gyuri was written complex and balanced, for every strength she had a weakness. Gyuri wasn't perfect but she was memorable. And it was her flaws and her ambition that made her interesting for me.

In contrast, Ji Soo exhibited traits often given to the female leads (he's shy, socially awkward, smart but a loner who craves comfort and support. He also lives a difficult life and is hardworking. But he detests risks and would rather reach his goal in a slower but safe way).

So when things got tough, it was Ji Soo who asked Gyuri for help. And it was Gyuri who ended up making the bolder decisions to save both of them.

A fantastic drama which I binged watched during the weekend. I know Gyuri gets a lot of hate and I didn't like her at first, but I appreciated her character a lot and she's one of the most active, consistent and interesting female leads in K-drama land.

Here's the thing... a month or so from now I may forget many of the characters, but not Gyuri. She's a character who made things happen (even if those things were messy and dangerous). She was uncontrollable and unpredictable. Every time she was on screen you prayed that in an effort to blaze her own path in life, she didn't end up burning everyone around her.

Highly recommend this show and would love it if there was a season 2 (though I doubt it)!

I'm surprised the rating for this show is still above 7! I guess a lot of people are still enjoying it regardless of the messy plot and 2D characters...

I must say, though, this is one of the WORST cases of "Gary Sue" ML I've seen and, as such, it's really hard to ignore! Just think about how everything revolves ONLY around Gang/Kang Gi Bum and all key characters are written to function in relation to him:

> He gets the best rugal enhancement (eyes) which somehow still give him extra strength (don't ask me how because even the writer doesn't know).
> He gets a sob story at the beginning with the death of his wife... only for her to be alive so she can die a second time. This causes everyone to worry about him.
> Tae Woong is the leader and, arguably, the strongest fighter at Rugal... but Gi Bum quickly managed to keep him on his toes in a one-on-one fight. What's more, they become close for reasons unknown.
> Gwang Chul quickly grows to loves and respect Gi Bum almost from the start.
> Bradly doesn't just like Gi Bum, he wants to become his sidekick and gives Gi Bum the secret to the eyes because... he likes Gi Bum.
>Deuk Goo doesn't hate Gi Bum, he actually likes and respects him. One could say he's even obsessed with him.
> Helping Mi Joo one time was all it took for the mistress of Argos to fall in love with Gi Bum (or at least somehow and somewhere grew to care for him). Why? Because... reasons! And of course it just so happens that Mi Joo was loved by both Deuk Goo and Min Joo. But in the worlds of Gary Sues, all women should have feelings for Gary Sue, especially if other males have feelings for said women.
> Which of course brings us to Min Ha, who is loved/is the crush of both Tae Woong and Gwang Chul... but who to no one's surprise seem to have developed feelings for Gi Bum. Not only that, but for reasons unknown (and not at all practical) her implant (which we later learned didn't provide her with robotic strength even though the sound effects told us otherwise) is tied with Gi Bum's eyes. So that whatever he's feeling, she feels as well. Because why get only one fighter emotionally compromised when you could have two fighters compromised!
> I know there's a connection with the Chief too (just saw the episode with the big "reveal" but I honestly zoned out haha).

I also hope he becomes more central to the plot. I would love to see his reaction to the other world. Or at least, we should get to see his counterpart!

I love him and Shin Jae! The only sad thing is that they don't have enough scenes. Especially Jangmi!

TBH I wouldn't recommend this show unless you're looking for eye candy AND have time to kill where there is simply no other show available. The writing here is very lazy (alla "tell, why show?" rather than the better: "show, don't tell"), the characters aren't well developed and lack depth/complexity and the plot seems to target a really young audience considering how simple it is.

Exact same thing happened to me with TGTZ. Although, mind you, i kept watching that one because i wanted to know how it ended. This one is really badly written but i keep watching because i can't go out anymore during the weekends.

Btw, if you haven't watched 365: Repeat the year, i highly recommend it. It's a really good show overall which never dragged and with complex and interesting characters.

As to K:EM I'm waiting to get to the halfway mark to see where it's going. As of now, it's the lightest show i am watching so it helps to balance out the darker and more dramatic shows

Yes, "You" basically portrays a toxic romance as what it is, toxic. But it's very interesting because he does sweet things, but it's his thoughts (provided through internal dialogue) which gives the deeds a toxic, creepy twist. That and the director adding appropriate musical cues and using the camera in ways to showcase that his "worry" towards the FL is really an obsession (where he stalks her like prey).

However, we also get insights into the ML's background which makes him an interesting character. He is morally ambiguous, so at times you find yourself forgetting that he's actually a psychopath. Just give it a try. I believe you'll get hook from episode one.

You'll also see a bunch of k-drama like tropes except, like a mentioned, with the appropriate twist. Making it clear that both the writer and director are aware of what they are doing.

If you haven't watched Netflix "You" (2 seasons) i highly recommend it. It's really interesting, with a ML who is psychopathic and confuses obsession with love. It's top notch in production, direction and writing. The toxicity is never desaguised as anything but creepy and the overall feeling is really dark. Highly recommend it!

I once tried a Thai Larkon and couldn't finish it lol.

Fair enough, we are all different so it's good to always have choices. Understand, though, it's not the morally ambiguous characters that i dislike, it's the toxicity being portrayed as romance by the director that i have problems with.

Well that... and the flat female lead character + the tell don't show of the writing.

Fair enough and that's the beauty of choice. I am usually not very tolerant with toxic romances, i would rather there was no romance at all.

I am hoping this show's writing gets at least better. The concept is interesting, but i get annoyed when the writers tell me things rather than show me things. It's lazy. Movies get away with it because they don't have time to properly flesh things out, but dramas shouldn't do this (Rugal is also doing it so much).

I dont know, so far only the crime aspect is interesting while the romance aspect is disturbing (in an old-school toxicity depicted as romance by bad writers kind of way).

If you are looking for crime + romance i can think of several better ones (with healthy romance) such as:
-Possessed
-While you were sleeping (also has the benefit of having some comedy)
-Age of Legends
-Catch the Ghost
-Lawless Lawyer
-Come and Hug me

That would've been a fresh concept. It kind of reminds me of the psychopath diary lol. The antagonist really seemed like he'd fallen for the ML in that one lol.

So far this show has raised so many red flags that I'm tempted to drop it if the writers don't get better.
⚑ Female Lead who apparently lives in Lala Land... where rather than ask for proof regarding the claims that someone she's met is a psychopath, decides that she should "experience" the truth of the statement for herself (I doubt she realizes what that means).
⚑ Male lead is that kindergardener who believes pulling on the pig-tales of a girl is a claim of love...
⚑ Writers decide that we are too dumb to think for ourselves, so they want to shove it down our throats that what they are depicting isn't toxic, it is romance!
⚑ Lazy writers also decide that the Doctor from this episode should be a closeted psychic. In that way they can spoon feed us the information that the ML (even though he's a jerk) is actually already so very in love with our Lala Land FL. So much so, "he went against his instinct to survive." (<-- I cringed at the scene so hard).
⚑ Incoming cat-fight. Because a love triangle is not enough, let's add a second one! Who doesn't love a vicious female character whose only role is to claw at our FL...?

Exactly. I don't understand how at this day and age, jerkiness and disrespect is portrayed as frigging romance.

Agreed, Park Sung Woong is one of my favorite actors because he's so versatile. He's the only one who seems to be acting, despite how 2D his character is!

At this point I'm not even curious about the story. I think I'm still watching mostly for the convenience of being able to watch it on Netflix (on my TV as opposed to my computer).

Oh, the cringe fest continued with the latest episodes. Especially with a scene involving their leather jackets (which I assumed were product placement).