3GGG

Happy ending :)

I know! This is one of those rare shows that stay amazing from start to finish. I am sad that it's over, it even felt so short!

It was indeed cut, so some of the plot points were left hanging. However, the ending is a happy one and focuses on wrapping up the main lead's romance.

And let's not forget Poong brushed the teeth of both (at different times), lol.

But I really liked the talk he had with Chil Seung prior to the competition at the hotel. I mean Chil was ready to open a restaurant for Poong and eat his food for the rest of his life.

Funny that they had a lot of romantic scenes XD.

Thank you! I also read yours and I didn't know that two episodes were cut until you mentioned it. That probably did have an impact.

I also agree with shipping the 3 main leads. I kept thinking Dae Woo and Chil Seung should just share Poong lol.

8/10 for the abandoned plot points. The story was saved by the cute romance and the three main leads, who were very lovable.

So sad about the abandoned vet girl plot, since i really liked where that was going.

Agree with you that them flirting with Seol Ja in the middle was hilarious. I wished the Mom's character had been given growth or at least some redemption. As it stands I hated her to the very end.

Overall I give it an 8/10 just for the messy story and lack of development of some characters. The romance was cute, though. So it was an entertaining ride indeed.

Exactly and that's because physical strength doesn't automatically = a strong character. In fact, a well-written character doesn't necessarily mean the character is strong.

Perhaps the easiest way to determine whether a character is strong or not is first to establish if he/she is passive or active. Meaning, are things happening to him/her vs si he/she making things happen?

A strong character is almost always an active participant in his or her story. Of course, his or her participation needs to contribute to the story (even better if he or she resolves the main issue).

In that respect, Nak Won is a strong character despite what happened to her because:
1. She didn't break down, instead, she succeeded in her career despite her backstory (active).
2. She's able to accept what happened and understand that Na Moo is not his father. On top of that, she offers him needed comfort in his time of need (active).
3. She makes the conscious decision to be happy (active).
4. She faces her problems rather than go into hiding or wait for someone to resolve them for her. (active)
5. When a reporter offers to help her out, she thinks about what the consequences and decides not to accept for fear of something happening to the reporter (active).

So once you start to break down everything she does, you quickly realize that she's actively participating in the story. She's making decisions (and following through with action), she's weighing out consequences and she's taking care of those around her.

Thank you for sparking the conversation with your article :)

The highlight of episode 36... when Chil Seong refers to Poong as his baby brother! <3

Now if only Sae Woo's mom could be taught some maturity...

Agreed with you completely and was just thinking about those two plot points this morning (the point about the horse, although valid, I didn't think about until now lol).

I think this article just brushes the surface and simplifies the complex subject of deciding whether a character (the female character in this case) is strong or not. Everyone has a different way of categorizing characters. I'll share mine.

First off, I don't think of strength as only physical (can she fight or not). Instead, we must open our minds to characteristics that are considered strong in the real world and analyze the characters as if they were real people. To that end, l'll share some common ones:

Selfless | Emotionally Health | Empathy | Open-minded | Physical Strenght | Smart | Wise | Charismatic | Brave | Bold | Assertive | Ambitious | Focused | Kind | Gentle | Nurturing | Cunning | Witty | Funny | Hard-working | Honest | Risk-taker | Fast Learner | Outgoing , etc.

Now, it doesn't matter if a character has strengths they aren't being utilized/implemented when it matters. Meaning, if we're told a character is proficient in hand-to-hand combat at the start of the series, we expect to see her taking care of a fight or two without needing to be safe. If instead, she can't break away from a man's grip despite her "supposed skills" then the character becomes inconsistent. An inconsistent character is a weak one in my books.

Sadly, often times I've found that the story (writers) decide to strip female characters of their supposed strengths when it's convenient. Therein lies the need to search for strong female characters.

Example of inconsistent (therefore weak) female characters (there's many, but I'll just pick two):
Secret Garden: FL is a stunt woman. All day long, she trains in different martial arts skills. So not only should she be physically strong, but she must also be very athletic. YET, the ML (who is a rich CEO we never even see training except once or twice) grabs her by the wrist and FL becomes unable to break free.

Boys Over Flowers: We're told the FL wants to be an Olympic swimmer. Almost every episode, we see her training. Yet, when the day comes and she takes part in a swimming competition against a guy (slim, short and rather skinny guy, I might add, who is not a devoted swimmer) she doesn't win. To add salt to injury, later on, she falls into a fountain, gets a foot cramp and has to be rescued before "drowning". It's been a while since I saw it, but I think she also had to be rescued from drowning in a shallow ocean... so why have her be a swimmer at all?

Examples of consistent (therefore strong) female characters:
Emotional strength and a capacity to nurture/support shouldn't be seen as a weakness. The female lead of "Come and Hug Me" & "Lawless Lawyer" comes to mind. They are both strong in their capacity to keep their feelings under control. That doesn't mean that they don't have moments of vulnerability, but that they manage to overcome them and lend the MLs a hand when their emotions run rampant.

In Fight for My Way, the FL is as protective of the ML as he is over her. Every time an opportunity was stolen or she was cheated out of something, she took a moment to lick her wounds and tried again. And you know what they say, strong is she who stands up after failing, than someone who has never failed at all. She's as strong as strong can be.

In Strong Woman Da Bong Soon: we're told that she comes from a family where women have super strength... so, of course, when it comes to a fight nobody can beat her. That doesn't mean she doesn't rely on the ML for help, but they tackle the antagonist together as a team. Whatsmore, even though the ML made the first move on her, she was an active participant in the relationship. Meaning, he wasn't just leading her around. Instead, she lead him around as well.

Lawless Lawyer, Strong Woman Da Bong Soon, Come and Hug Me, While you were sleeping and, to an extent, Suspicious Partner fits the bill. Those shows have strong, assertive, un concern by their looks, confident leads.

Strong Woman Da Bong Soon does show sistermance (that's what I call it lol) between FL and her best friend. To the extent that when the main antagonist messes with FL's best friend, he ends up waking a monster.

Suspicious Partner also develops a sistermance between the FL and another girl that starts off as antagonist towards her. By the end she is even friends with the 2FL.

Though I agree that you will be hard press to find as many sistermance relationship (well developed and with the same screen time as bromance) in dramas.

Agreed!

Whenever Heo Join Ho steps into a scene I get the chills. He is such an imposing man, then couple that with the music, the acting and the story and you get the perfect recepie for blood curdling horror.

I was even more disappointed when the dad turned out to be the same. When Mom asked those two to stay (because their dreams don't matter, she's gotta eat!) I'd hope her husband would chastise her about her selfishness... But no luck there.

Great article with very valid points. I agree with everything you wrote here. One of my biggest peeves is when you encounter action without consequences.

Boys Over Flower (a show I dropped before finishing the last 5 episodes because I couldn't deal with it anymore) is a perfect example of character inconsistencies especially when it comes to the FL. After going through what she did, it would be impossible not to change, not to fear your surroundings and def. she wouldn't want to be around Min Ho.

On the other hand, in that same series, Min Ho might be the most consistent character (though I still detest him). You can't really 180 your basic nature. Min Ho is cruel. He was cruel from the beginning and he remains cruel throughout. He gaslights the FL because he's emotionally stunted (unhealthy), he manipulates her, he doesn't communicate with her properly and, to top it all off, he's violent (think of the scene where he punches the guy who badmouths FL). Regardless of the reason, violence is never the answer and I couldn't help but see the relationship between the leads as toxic (and abusive).

Now that I'm caught up, I guess I overestimated the writers. 12 episodes later, the connection between the two situations is now gone. The writers dropped the ball for me by not allowing a wonderful opportunity for character growth to slip through their fingers. Oh, well, it's still a good series so far.

That would be awesome. If not, having the cutting part from the other team to jump ship would also be quite epic.