Of the three mothers I can't stand Jin Hyuk's mom the most. The other two are at least not making any excuses about their own egoism. Jin Hyuk's mother on the other hand tries to sell her own selfishness as worry for her son.
Don’t understand why the rating is so low. This is honestly really good. Only thing I didn’t like was how Kyung Joon’s and Rin Yi’s story line is somewhat left hanging in the open. I really enjoyed the documentary/interview format - new and refreshing.
This is a solid 10/10 for me. I seriously loved all the characters. There wasn't a single character that felt left out or underdeveloped. There is drama, but not to the point were you would roll your eyes at how absurd it is. I liked the pacing and how mature and 'realistic' the development was. There were no black/white kind of characters, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, made mistakes and tried to fix them. The acting was on point, the whole cast did such a good job. And, to fish it of the cinematography and ost were amazing! I've never felt so satisfied and fulfilled after watching a drama. There is seriously not a single thing I would change about this. Really happy right now, but also a bit sad that it's over.
Season 2 is a spin-off. Time wise season 2 starts before season 1 (though it's quite confusing because of time…
Yes, their relationship is only implied in season 1. Eg. HSY mentions near the beginning of s1, how DT only cares about things related to Ai Qing. Also, they have a few scenes together, but nothing explicit. (I believe they hug like once in the 1st season?) It's mostly some gazes between the two that could be interpreted as them being interested in each other.
Overall I think it's a very enjoyable drama, I liked both leads and the acting was really well done. The OST is awesome and by itself makes the show worth watching imo. The story was well written and interesting, especially the backstory of team Solo was great. I only would have wished for the romance to get a bit more development. Also, imo the ending was a bit rushed and rather lackluster.
By the way, in case anybody is interested, I found a video of a real CTF event in China, to get an impression of how these competitions actually look like.
it’s not clear how this is related to go go squid. Can someone explain the setting of the drama? In the other…
Season 2 is a spin-off. Time wise season 2 starts before season 1 (though it's quite confusing because of time skips and major story points being changed). Apart from the rough base story line I would say that both seasons are pretty much standalone dramas with a few overlaps. By the way, Ai Qing's past is pretty much the same in both seasons and in season 1 it was also implied that she was in a relationship with DT.
The amount of stupidity concentrated in the royal palace is simply astonishing. It's a miracle the empire was able to last that long. In addition, the spitefulness of certain characters is just disgusting.
The writers really tried hard to make the sister's pregnancy as dramatic as possible. Probably to get the viewers to feel some sympathy for after all the crap she pulled. However, personally I found this whole situation just hilarious. It felt so goddamn fake that I couldn't take it serious at all. Also, I still hate her, just as I hate the rich brat, for being a stupid, spoiled crybaby who doesn't take responsibility for his own actions.
I hope these two will end up together, so they can make each other miserable. They certainly deserve it.
I dropped it. And most of the critical reviews have a valid point. It's something I see as an issue as well. I…
You're right, the rich guy, poor girl trope is so overused, it's getting annoying. Unfortunately, Asian drama productions like their generic plot devices to which they stick as if it's their holy canon.
In addition, there is the chronic belittlement of women. In 9 out of 10 dramas the FL is some kind of damsel in distress, needing the ML to save her. It's such a cheap way to sell the romance and I'm sick of it. Also, considering that most if not all romcoms target a female demographic I'm really confused as to why they stick to this scheme. I would think that the female viewers in the dramas' countries of origin would criticize this archaic representation of women.
Finally, like you I'm also pretty inconsistent with regards to rating dramas. Sometimes I'm annoyed by a certain plot device while in other dramas I don't mind it much. Everyone judges dramas on a case by case basis I guess. A drama could "objectively" tick all the right boxes and I might still not like it.. :D
For those who are curious how bad the product placements in TKEM actually are: Watch the first 5min of "Because this is my First Life" to get an impression of what you're potentially getting yourself into :D
I dropped it. And most of the critical reviews have a valid point. It's something I see as an issue as well. I…
The reach and importance of gossip is generally very absurd in K-/C-Dramas (I don't really watch J-Dramas so dunno about that). In reality most people don't care about people they don't know. For gossip to spread through a whole college it would need an incident of massive proportions.
However, this happens in various shows, for example gossip about the love life of some company's management... As if someone would care enough about this unless it's an illicit relationship with a minor, people probably wouldn't even care enough to gossip if some CEO cheated on his wife. But Asian dramas always blow this kind of stuff up to epic dimensions, dunno if it's really like that in Asian countries, but in Europe nobody would care enough to write an article about it. Maybe some gossip magazines, but the mainstream newspapers?? No way!
Now about your second point. In my opinion the topic of beauty standards in every K-Drama I've seen is an absolute farce. I don't even take this story point serious anymore. If they really wanted to address this properly they should start by casting some average looking people. Making a drama about how looks are not all that matters while having a cast that could appear in any major fashion magazine makes a mockery out of a serious topic. Same with casting some gorgeous actress for a character that is considered 'plain/ugly'. Young girls lacking self confidence see this and get the impression that this is the 'average' beauty standard they have to live up to. If the production companies can't be bothered to do any good at least they should try not to do any damage.
Anyway, the solution in every other K-Drama to most life problems is to be good looking and preferably rich as well. Moral of the story: Don't take any important life lessons from a drama.
About your last point, I agree. I don't know how far you've watched, but she kinda gets a slap on the fingers which leads her to change. Still, she was let off way too easily.
Btw, though I've been ranting I still enjoyed watching the drama. It wasn't anything special, but in my opinion most of its flaws are rather common in K-Dramas therefore I usually don't let them ruin a show for me. Most of the time I ignore them. Overall I thought the show was alright, definitely have seen much worse.
What you described sounds an awful lot like the recent trend in C-Dramas: Sweetness overload without any conflict,…
That's unfortunate, though I've also noticed this in quite a few recent productions. It really sucks when a drama has a promising premise or setting, but the potential is wasted because plot lines aren't properly developed .__. I find this such a shame, because someone obviously put in the time and effort to come up with something fresh and innovative just for it to get ruined by cutting corners or taking the easy way out during the writing process.
By the way, in case anybody is interested, I found a video of a real CTF event in China, to get an impression of how these competitions actually look like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S_TXaGYD8E
I hope these two will end up together, so they can make each other miserable. They certainly deserve it.
This looks like it’s going to be a painful ride...
In addition, there is the chronic belittlement of women. In 9 out of 10 dramas the FL is some kind of damsel in distress, needing the ML to save her. It's such a cheap way to sell the romance and I'm sick of it. Also, considering that most if not all romcoms target a female demographic I'm really confused as to why they stick to this scheme. I would think that the female viewers in the dramas' countries of origin would criticize this archaic representation of women.
Finally, like you I'm also pretty inconsistent with regards to rating dramas. Sometimes I'm annoyed by a certain plot device while in other dramas I don't mind it much. Everyone judges dramas on a case by case basis I guess. A drama could "objectively" tick all the right boxes and I might still not like it.. :D
Watch the first 5min of "Because this is my First Life" to get an impression of what you're potentially getting yourself into :D
However, this happens in various shows, for example gossip about the love life of some company's management... As if someone would care enough about this unless it's an illicit relationship with a minor, people probably wouldn't even care enough to gossip if some CEO cheated on his wife. But Asian dramas always blow this kind of stuff up to epic dimensions, dunno if it's really like that in Asian countries, but in Europe nobody would care enough to write an article about it. Maybe some gossip magazines, but the mainstream newspapers?? No way!
Now about your second point. In my opinion the topic of beauty standards in every K-Drama I've seen is an absolute farce. I don't even take this story point serious anymore. If they really wanted to address this properly they should start by casting some average looking people. Making a drama about how looks are not all that matters while having a cast that could appear in any major fashion magazine makes a mockery out of a serious topic. Same with casting some gorgeous actress for a character that is considered 'plain/ugly'. Young girls lacking self confidence see this and get the impression that this is the 'average' beauty standard they have to live up to.
If the production companies can't be bothered to do any good at least they should try not to do any damage.
Anyway, the solution in every other K-Drama to most life problems is to be good looking and preferably rich as well. Moral of the story: Don't take any important life lessons from a drama.
About your last point, I agree. I don't know how far you've watched, but she kinda gets a slap on the fingers which leads her to change. Still, she was let off way too easily.
Btw, though I've been ranting I still enjoyed watching the drama. It wasn't anything special, but in my opinion most of its flaws are rather common in K-Dramas therefore I usually don't let them ruin a show for me. Most of the time I ignore them. Overall I thought the show was alright, definitely have seen much worse.