Carla

just my personal theory based mostly on the audiodrama and novel, take with grain of salt
Ep 7: Ming finds out the back he fell in love is actually Joe's
Ep 8: Wut and and Sol finds out about Joe's real identity + Joe learns of his 'death'
Ep 9: Ming learns of Joe's identity and spends the entire episode begging and crying.
Ep 10-12: Ming chasing Joe while encountering his own family conflict. There are hints of an additional plotline with Joe getting into an accident so it should fit in here somewhere.

All in all, I don't think 4 eps of Ming chasing Joe is too little, perhaps the series could benefit from a bit of longer runtime though. But I'd rather they keep it close to the novel than dragging it out by shoving in some random murder mystery, human/drugs trafficking/break up time skip plot. So far without any second lead couple, I think the series has benefited quite a lot on being concise and lead couple-centric.

As a novel reader, I think the pacing is honestly just right with the novel. The only thing is that each episodes should be a 5-10 minutes longer if they wanna be more detailed and closer to the novel. I can give some guesses on when the parts will show some based on my experience reading and listening to the audio drama.

SMYM team had their first meeting on June 1 (Sammon tweet). Tor recently said SMYM filming will take place in the next 2-3 months (so it's most likely will be filmed from July til September) source: https://twitter.com/nattypro/status/1796235206200017300?t=zSftLneL895cFoqvj5yx0w&s=19

Don't worry, what you describe is basically the plot for ep 9-12 arc I'm sure. I don't think there will be much substantive plot other than Ming begging for Joe's forgiveness in the last quarter of the series (purely guessing based on what I read and how the series has been structured so far). Although I'm sure the series will adapt it faithfully, if you're ever interested in the novel, the complex emotions of Joe are very well written and described in chapters 87-102 (especially MingJoe confrontations/talks in chapter 90 and 91 which address a lot of the issues many people seem to have with the series) https://rosyspell.wordpress.com/rebirth-the-unique-substitute/

Yes, if you think the two leads getting together at the end is happy. Ming proves his love to Joe and Joe accepts Ming.

https://rosyspell.wordpress.com/rebirth-the-unique-substitute/

completely forgot. i just edited tks

For extra reference: events of ep 6 is exactly from chapter 50-59.
So most likely they'll do it like this since MSI has 12 eps and there are 120 chapters in the novel.
Chapter 60-69: EP 7
Chapter 70-79: EP 8
Chapter 80-89: EP 9
Chapter 90-99: EP 10
Chapter 100-109: EP 11
Chapter 110-121 (might even include the 2 extra/epilogue chapters): EP 12

Most likely episode 9 (if they're following the exact same pace they're doing right now which is 10 chapters/ep) because the reveal/mingjoe confrontation happens around chapter 87/88

thank you for your permission to repost. i've share your comment here and i added some gifs i made to illustrate your excellent points
https://www.tumblr.com/clairedaring/751341100068962304/why-is-ming-such-an-interesting-character-a

wahhhhh have you posted this anywhere else? like on tumblr/reddit/wordpress? i'd love to share your long essay so it doesn't get lost in the mdl comments section forever. you put my exact thoughts into words so beautifully i completely agree op

Tor said his lakorn with Yaya is wrapping around mid year this year and will start filming SMYM right away after My Cherie Armour so I think filming will start around June/July depending mostly on MCA

Can you share the link of the special episode on Youku. I see everything else but not the special one?

No ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

SANG SOOT TAI -> FIRE BOY -> CHEEWIT YUNG KONG SUAY NGAM !??!!?!?! whoever directed the music for this series deserves a real raise

Yea. Tong is really the kind of lazy actor who probably only show up for his closeup shots and make Joe do all the hard work 😂 reminds me of some hollywood actors really

I think that is kind of the beauty in this tragedy is Ming's stupidity and his stubborness to realize who is the real person in his heart, his idealized fantasy of Tong or the real kind Joe who treats him well

Imagine if you watch a film and all the action scenes you see in a film has closeup shot of an actor whereas stuntman/stand-in actors are often not first bill, second bill, not even to the level of supporting characters, they are hidden, their faces are not supposed to be shown. How would a young high school Ming even know the existence of a stunt actor named Joe 😅 I think it's easier to understand it if we think of it like having a crush on an action movie star, you'd like the actor because of all the beautiful action sequences he stars in but does anyone really care if that actor is the person who do the action scenes or did someone else do it for them

hehe glad to be of help! i think the series is already trying their best to make ming more palatable and digestable to a wider audience while at the same time retain the most classic traits of a bad boi male lead in the novel. i hope you keep watching because in the second half of the series, ming will have to do a lot of trying to win back joe's love

sure thing! it'd have to be a whole essay but in to summarize it in briefest terms
novel ming: VERY BAD temper, VERY arrogant, very cold, has god-like beauty and is wayyyyyy more beautiful than joe who is average looking in the novel, does not give any regards to anyone else in the world other than his precious brother in law tong

series ming: still hot temper, more spoiled brat than cold, series ming doesn't emphasize his attractivenesss and beauty, is shown to be more complex in terms of relationship with his family, has a loving bond with his sister (different from novel where his sister is kind of a bitch and they dont care about each other at all), is generally more considerate to joe after they have spent 6 months living together

-> i think series ming is more humanized and he feels more realistic than novel ming, novel ming is like... the kind of over the top bad temper typical arrogant ceo male lead who verbally use female lead like crazy yet fl still like them that you often see in soap operas if you know what i mean

novel joe and series joe are basically the same except novel joe is more emphasized to be more mature, coax ming A LOT more whenever novel ming gets illogically jealous about sol and the age gap is more visible bc of ming's childlishness temper in contrast with joe's maturity in the novel. i do think series joe falls in love a little bit quicker than novel joe, but personality-wise they're the same. novel joe is shown to be more experienced tho (he gets invited to a threesome and turned it down before ming calls joe up for their first dinner together) even tho the series make joe seem a bit naive and golden retriever innocent.