Kimsamsoom

JTBC knew what they are doing, using controversy to sell their drama. They knew that using this particular timeline would cost controversy, giving them literally free publicity.

Imagine a writer wrote a romanticization of Tiananmen square, and saying "Oh, that's controversial?"

I believe these writers/director knew exactly what they are doing. It's sad really.

In kdrama land these days, controversies are being used to sell. So if the controversies succeeds in making people find ways to watch the drama with the absence of Netflix and Disney+, then they win, and prove that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I would like to weigh in on this situation. Political opinions aside, it really disgust me what the writers, directors and JTBC are doing here. And I am sure they are 100% aware of it.

I have gotten weary of these Korean dramas using controversy to sell their dramas. If a drama is written well, with great acting, chemistry, and plot, it would not need to cheapen itself by gaining buzz through controversy. In some of the dramas I've seen lately, controversy seems to be a great marketing tool to get people against the drama and for the drama to watch in droves to prove their ephemeral POV's.

The fact that the director/writer has used this marketing technique to sell their drama, has really left a sour taste in my mouth. I refuse to believe that they could not create a well written drama during that era, without adding the political landscape to the love story. Many stories and dramas from many different cultures have used controversial era's and backdrops, as simply a backdrop, to give the viewers a mental note of the political landscape at the time of the story. Snowdrop on the other hand, allowed the political landscape to not only undermine the love story, but allowed it to dominate the minds of even the most casual of viewers. It's almost as if we are unable to enjoy the drama without subconsciously choosing a side.

With regards to the distortion of history. I personally feel, the writers should have Fictionalized the story even more, similar to how Mr. Queen added a body switching fantasy to it's plot to alienate it further from the history it was trying to romanticize. But for Snowdrop to quite closely stick to the actual events of history runs the danger of it being seen as more of a biographical drama than a completely fictional one.

I personally will attempt to watch the drama, and try to enjoy the drama on it's merits. But it certainly won't stop that thought in the back of my mind, how the writer/director attempted to use sadistic controversy to get buzz to sell it's drama.

I am almost sure it was a fake prop baby lol!

I've seen it go both ways to be honest.

But of course I respect all opinions. And you don't owe me an answer of course.

I only ask because the things you may not like, I may agree with you.

I always respectfully talk to both spectrum of commenters.

And if I dislike a show, I have asked people what they like about it as well. Maybe I am more unique that way.

As much as possible I try to be subjective.

I think the problem may lay with the average MDL fan's understanding of ratings. MDL ratings has really lose a lot of it's value in my eyes. With the rise of the golden age of Netflix KDrama, the rating system has become less uncertain.

But based on the ratings system in MDL, 7.5 is not generally speaking "An Okay Drama". I would think an 8 or 8.3 would be considered "An Okay Drama". And I believe this is where the confusion may have come from. MDL kind of dropped all the numbers in between and ratings lay in the .5 increments now, which really screws up the rating systems even more.

But in the ends it's a culture of placing too much importance to ratings which I don't personally subscribe to anymore.

Nothing wrong with asking why a particular person doesn't like a show, it's what forums and rating websites are for.

The question posed could easily be "why are you rating this show so high". Personally for me, I enjoyed the show, and I certainly could write and defend my position, and have no problem debating the merits of the show.

I believe then it can go both ways, if I can defend a show I enjoyed, a person should also be able to defend the reasoning of why they didn't enjoy a show, don't you agree?

Otherwise the comment section would just be full of.

"It's 10/10 and amazing!"

or

"This show is boring!"

These type of comments does nothing to further our understanding of the show, or why people either liked it or didn't. I am always a fan of back and forth conversation.

You said you didn't enjoy it, which parts did you not like? You are entitled to your opinion, and I am very curious to hear it if you would not mind sharing. After all debate is in essence the cornerstone of a thriving forum.

I enjoyed reading this review, but there are a few things I do disagree with.

Hometown Cha Cha Cha, in my opinion, never pretends to be more than what you see. Even the plot twist, as little as they were, are telegraphed quite early via the "Gongjin Mysteries". Viewers looking for something edgy, nouveau, or noir, will find non of that in this drama.

What this drama tries to achieve instead is to appeal to the nostalgia of your average Kdrama fans, by presenting a very formulaic plot in a refreshing new way.

On the surface, your assertion of it being a very clichéd plot, with a VERY predictable direction is spot on. But as they say, "the devil is in the details". There are many factors that make this stereotypical plot more than it seems. An example of this is that the provinces are usually considered very backward in technology, and very backward in terms of societal understanding and pressures. And yet, here we have a city like Gongjin, where there is a very clear matriarchy, where the women are actually the ones who seem to be knowledgeable, career oriented, and are the driving force in the relationship. All except for Dusik. Although we are led to believe that he is the one that is in the driver's seat, as each episode unfolds, we realize that if Dusik continues to drive, he and Hye Jin would end up in a terrible accident.

And as much as I agree that Hye Jin's story arc was not fully fleshed out, we need to think about reality. If Hye Jin herself is not mentally fit or stable, how can she be the rock that Dusik so desperately need? If the writing were to complicate her issues to give her depth, there would be little room to support Dusik.

Although I agree the pacing started to dither after Ep. 10, I felt the drama had created so much goodwill between the main couple and the supporting cast, that the weaker back end of episodes were more forgivable.

If you watch Hometown Cha Cha Cha as merely a backburner romance that you can just distractedly watch, then I believe you will not experience the drama to it's fullest. One of the biggest problem the drama faces is the rating system on MDL. Because it's rated an 8.9 or 9, people have their expectation set way high, looking for some plot twist or some incredibly complex tale, something Hometown Cha Cha Cha never claimed it is.

I personally wanted to rate this drama an 8.7. But MDL doesn't have that option anymore, everything is in increments of .5 now.

My heart is torn about KSH controversy... Not sure if I have the heart to write a review now...

It's a ROM com, so I was hoping The FL would have a bigger role in his healing. Her being there for him is good, but I was hoping for more.

I didn't get a strong feeling she gave him the courage. It wasn't portrayed well enough imo. She was a shoulder to cry onz but I was hoping there would be more introspection between the main couple.

It wouldn't be realistic if Dusik was suddenly so touchy feely and lovey dovey. Right now, he is going through huge trauma, that will take some time to heal. He needs time to start reciprocating properly Hye Jin's love.

I also felt a Gam Ri death would be the plot device to allow Dusik's trauma/emotions to resurface. But with Doha in the picture, her death became unnecessary. All it does is makes Dusik completely alone, opening the door for Hye Jin to be his only family.

The mom or Doha didn't know the dad's close relationship with Dusik, so it's not surprising they just lumped Dusik with all the other greedy corporate fat cats.

She's a single mother, if she wants to blame Dusik for her husband's death, it's her right to be honest. If being able to blame someone is what helped her climbed back into sanity, she has that right.

Was an unnecessary scene. The guilt Dusik bore was more because of the wife blaming him rather than the brother IMO.

I have to agree here, that epilogue just didn't stick nor was it necessary, especially after she just surmised that "Gongjin saved Dusik", but it seemed rather Hye Jin was the one who did. One of the few weaker episodes for Homecha I am afraid.

We don't know how hard her life became when her husband passed away. So I can't blame her for saying it.

Agreed

I am a big fan of this series. After an amazing Ep. 13 and 14. I felt Ep. 15 was not its strongest episode. Lots of unnecessary plot points and scenes that didn't contribute to the plot point.

As amazing of an actors KSH and SMA is, I felt the most emotion I felt were watching the scenes of I-jun and Cha Hui's confession more than the scenes of KSH grieving for his traumatic past. The reveal of his past trauma felt too predictable, and the sudden emergence of Doha as a pivotal player felt too forced at this point. Also the episode felt way too sad, with very little bright points. They should have toned down the melo a whole notch. The scene with Jeon U just appearing didn't feel particularly strong and moving.

The episode would have benefited more from showing Dusik leaning more heavily towards Hye Jin for support instead of spending too much time dwelling on the past.

The closeness that I was hoping to see between Hye Jin and Dusik felt colder than I had anticipated. It felt more like Dusik healed himself, rather than Hye Jin being the one who can save him from his torment.

I feel the writing slipped up here in Ep. 15. And now with the unnecessary death of Gamri, there seems to be even less time for a clean ending. But even if the ending is not the strongest, I would probably still rate this drama a solid 8.7 for all the good work it did in the first 14 episodes. And now I actually want to revisit the Aegyo Ep. 11 and 12 for some good vibes.

I will admit, homecha didnt' focus too much on those heart wrenching scenes as much as other slice of life dramas did. But I was still enthralled by the amount of emotions the actors and script were able to evoke from such a simple story. The mature style of realistic writing, and the fiery chemistry (subjective of course), has kept me watching and wanting more.

it's ok for people not to like the same dramas :)