hyeristorm

So people got mad because KSH didn’t end up with the SL in School 2015 & people still mad she ends up with the SL here. Lol poor girl can’t win...

Haha! I had a more tragic ending in mind but I thought at least this takes away gu rem’s meaningless death. And how they tried too hard to drill in zi oh as a ‘bad guy’ with minimal development. Therefore I had in mind an ending above for further development.

In fact, it doesn’t even need a whole new season. Just a couple more episodes to wrap it up! Then maybe I would’ve written both leads dying...

here's how i would've written the ending (please note this is just a bit of fun and it's an attempt to redeem a bit of the trainwreck characterisation and episodes. not to completely solve it!):

- zi oh and gu rem would have one final confrontation about their outlooks, values and hone in on the nature vs. nurture argument

- instead of gu rem dying a meaningless death, zi oh would sacrifice himself, reiterating how gu rem and her dad saw zi oh as human

- gu rem shoots cheol soo dead, and before zi oh 'dies', he tells gu rem to run and take their baby away.

- 7 years later, we see gu rem and her daughter living in the same countryside house gu rem and zi oh lived in. end scene on her daughter's eyes flashing blue

- epilogue (post credits scene): pan to a dark warehouse and we see the shadow of professor ryu kwon, and the created babies. he says 'this is the beginning' to a mysterious figure.

as the mysterious figure steps out into the light, we see it's zi oh. he hasn't died but experienced heavy memory loss and the professor has healed him back.

- my idea for it to continue: their daughter grows up and one day sees someone like her. she starts investigating (like her mother) and has to battle the organisation and finally know her origins.

I have to agree! Both had a similar human experimentation premise but LUCA had a more promising start and exploring themes that Awaken couldn’t do. Although Awaken had its flaws there was at least some sort of consistency that LUCA couldn’t maintain.

I agree with you! The romance was a breath of fresh air in the way it was executed. The constant 180 turns in the storytelling is a jarring experience

This is the first drama I’ve noticed where the characters are wearing face masks and reflecting current times. That and how they did temperature checks in Vincenzo lol.

i think they wanted to create a multi-layered show by showing both sides of the story. often the cheating is depicted in a one-dimensional way. however the way it's executed is backfiring on them! could they not mix up the present with the flashbacks? like the one reason why i stayed was the element of mystery of who's cheating, who's not, who are these women lol.

im not even sure if revenge is in the works (i'm watching the penthouse at the moment, which at least excels in the makjang genre ha). there's no clear message or deeper meaning to this show despite the way it's directed. it's definitely about cheating, they got that right lol

at its best, it gets into the meat of looking into why cheating might happen and the devastating consequences. for example, this was shown amazingly through shi eun's children taking a stand/ the daughter really going for it! i loved how they showed the impact on the rest of the family and not just the wife.

i think there was a premise with potential at the start but lost its way by deciding to drag on in flashback mode and not letting the characters deal with the conflict? or at last show it to the viewers. the comments here theorising about potential twists is way more interesting than the blatant unsympathetic portrayal of its characters.

the way this show can bring it back is by focusing on the 3 FLs coming together in friendship and showing how they deal with the breakdown of their marriages. but then, that's just wishful thinking isn't it!

Only this show can make it plausible to let Min Seol Ah come back as a ghost. And that hit me in the feels as she visited Ro Na!

The cast gelled so well together! I also remember the theories about the show when it was on live. It was so fun reading people’s thoughts and trying to work out myself. Kept me guessing for sure! Your post also shows how there can be so many different interpretations, so even if the ending didn’t quite work as well I’m glad they experimented and made this show.

Thank you for making this, this was awesome to read and watch! I much prefer this ending and I have to agree the opening episodes were one of the rest. The acting was excellent and I loved trying to work it all out. The ending didn’t quite hit the right notes but it’s made up with your wonderful post :)

have you watched the penthouse? it's one of the rare ones where they already planned in at least 2 seasons. and now been confirmed to be a third, although from what i gather at the episode count, it looks like they've broken up the second season into 2 parts.

they've taken makjang to a whole new level and extreme, and very well done i'd say! it's like they've revived old-school makjang with a modern twist.

big exceptions i can allow ;) are OCN dramas! they tend to be fairly 'standalone' e.g.) Voice. the female lead is the link but i feel like with crime procedurals, it's hard to get wrong aha. dr romantic also worked with two seasons.

i think with netflix buying more kdramas (which is great for international watchers like me!) it also means there's more money feeding into multiple seasons. (although there are a couple of exceptions)

signal is an example that comes to mind that i know the crew have talked about a second season but with clashing schedules it's hard getting them together! the way the industry works, it seems better to have singular seasons for a lot of practical reasons!

Sometimes, trashy shows has their place ;) for me it’s fine to not always have something deep or intense to watch. Considering it’s a low key channel, the ratings have done well!

I’m not against sequels but I’ve if the things I really value about kdramas is they don’t go endlessly like many western shows. I like knowing it’ll finish in a 12-20 episode season and it’ll still be of quality. As opposed to 10+ seasons and it drops horrifically lol

it may be lacking in some weird editing choices and sometimes the dialogue is questionable. but it sure makes up with creating intrigue and getting the audience to investigate what's going on!

i saw a rumour there being a second season but i hope they won't be cliffhangers lol

@ponnu very well said! and i agree with all you've said! for me personally, things were explained like halfway through bong hwan's soul + so young's soul 'merged'. so it was this fusion soul thing going on. it's plausible to me how so young's feelings became both dominant and mixed with bong hwan.

also i loved how this whole series is a play on history- the real story is way more tragic and cheoljong was used horribly as a puppet king. so it's satisfactory to me how they gave them a happy ending. especially since we saw so young's suffering earlier on in the palace.

of all the endings i've seen in other kdramas, this is by far not the worst- i'd say one of the best. the characters' journeys come full circle and i think it's a case of people having extraordinary expectations that do not match up with the overall narrative planned!

@ponnu that doesn't surprise me! it probably would have made a lot of sense to film all of choi jin huk's scenes in one go (schedules depending and i can imagine sagueks are a huge thing to film etc)

i think in a lot of ways it was good they had a roadmap of the story- too often there are dramas that randomly switch halfway through depending on how the audience reacts. sometimes it works but often the endings leave me confused haha.

this ending may not have satisfied all, but for me it has made sense even if not preferred!

@Ladymeow2020 well said! it did very well balancing the more emotional scenes with the comedy. also didn't get too convoluted or wrapped up in the politics without diminishing its comedic tone or characters. this is one of the rare ones where i felt acting was excellent across the board and they managed to flesh out wonderful supporting characters too!

it was tragic how bong hwan got pulled back into the future like that, but it was touching how he went straight to the history books to find out what happened!

i'm going to miss this show, it's been a while since i've this excited in my overall experience.

pi young's mum is always a good bet ;) honestly i'm watching on because i wanna find out who the mistresses are/ aren't.

shi eun's kids were brilliant in that confrontation with their father- i so often feel divorce in the k-drama world never deals with the repercussions on the children so deeply.

I loved these mini-sodes. Super cute with a great cast and it’s just something little bit extra to fill a Mr Queen hole.