Potato the cutie

Or it turns out that all of this is not real and they show us So hoo waking up from a fever dream after being sick or something and going to Young ro to tell her about his crazy dream, it would make soo much more sense tbh. Honestly tho, the route this drama took is just mind boggling, and not in the good way.

Your analysis is very logical, but there are some points that I don't agree with. I personally am not feeling the whole spy/thriller direction they're trying to take because of the way they presented it. They're trying to create conflicts left and right to try and cover up for the plot's shortcomings. The whole deal with the north and south is becoming so messy and so illogical I can't figure out who's working with who anymore. The three officers/spys are a bit of a gray area for me, I like their dynamics and the actors are doing great, but their loyalties are confusing me, one is following his father and another is following someone else's orders while the third is just there, it's really not making much sense to me, I also wanna point out that I don't see the bromance you mentioned lol, I can see them having a great sense of closeness but nothing further than that. As for the romance, I think it definitely failed to deliver a logical love story. The pacing and development of their relationship felt really unnatural and out of the blue it's basically just there for the sake of attracting a certain audience. I don't see much hope for their relationship going forward but the writer is definitely gonna try to shove her pairing in our faces one way or another and to be fair, there is still some time, although limited, to make this couple work, but I feel like they won't go for what makes sense and they'll just turn them into another boring stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb couple in this otherwise unromantic/unnatural setting.
Now onto a very important part, character development (or undevelopment in this case) and specifically Han na's. Her character went from one of the most interesting characters to the most useless in the span of 10 minutes, they took away all the interesting elements and left us with the impulsive illogical female who's sole purpose in this life is to follow her love interest, congratulations writer, you made a terrible decision. Young ro's character makes the least sense so far, you can't tell if she's smart or just plain stupid, one minute she's this very smart and witty character and then in the next 20 minutes or so she's the thickest girl in this whole damn world. The writer is really trying to force this "FL is a smart compassionate kind and caring lady" agenda, but despite that, I think jisoo is doing fine so far, I mean sure, her acting is not Grammy worthy, but it's still better than some other first timers. I personally don't like the way each character is being presented so far, it's not the fact that they're trying to force their characters and their relationships, it's the fact that the characters are just so inconsistent you don't know who's likeable and who's not. These characters are gonna suffer from a huge transition which will end up just being tragic, I can already feel it. So in conclusion, the plot doesn't know where it's going, and neither does the writer, but despite that, I still find it quite likeable, and I can already feel someone coming to attack me for being a "hater" lmao.

They didn't seem all that cruel while interrogating gwang tae, sure he was slapped but they didn't beat him up nor did they appear all that bad, so that just further solidifies the fact that they're trying to paint them in a better light.

While I agree with your comment, I should mention that this series was filmed in the midst of the pandemic, specifically when everything and everyone were under lockdown. Most of the venues they had booked were shut down and they were left with not much to work with so they had to make do with what they had and salvage what they could. I heard that the plot was going to be quite different from what they actually presented to us as the final product, but because Thai dramas have the habit of releasing episodes without the show being completely filmed, they encountered such a hurdle and thus, we ended up with this version of Why R U.
Also, I gotta agree, Saint's growth as an actor is really great, I honestly liked him as Tutor way more than him as Pete.

I beg to differ, 4 episodes in, and they have really tried to paint the ANSP in a better light, true the higher ups are shown to be as very corrupt people, but they haven't done much to show the true colors of the ANSP save for the mentions of them being bad people here and there, not to mention that they haven't actually done anything to show how terrible and problematic the government back then was, they're just throwing in words here and there in hopes of the controversy going away. As for Soo ho, they haven't done anything for him really, they only revealed that he's the son of a very influential person and that he's working under the order of his father, we still have no idea of what's actually going on in here.

Well, to be fair, I thought about turning my brain off and just continuing this ride without paying any mind to the issues surrounding it, but even then, I feel like I still wouldn't like it that much because of the messy plot and the wobbly pacing, specifically the main leads' romance and it's pacing, it's just so illogical and out of nowhere it's kind of a turn off for me, despite that, I think I'll probably watch the entire thing just to satisfy my curiosity and to see how their love story would end, regardless of the initial plotline. I actually read some of your comments and I like how you analyze what you're watching. Honestly, I agree with most of what you mentioned about this drama

I'm very conflicted about this drama. On one hand, the cast is doing absolutely fantastic (save for jisoo, who I think still needs to improve, no hate to her of course, she's doing quite well for a first timer), I should also add that the soundtrack and the production are just mind blowing. HOWEVER, the plot is really not doing great. Jtbc said in their statements that the coming episodes will clear up all the confusion and rumors regarding this controversy, but all I'm seeing is farther evidence to prove these accusations. I'm really starting to doubt that they changed anything from the initial leaked script, and the fact that all of this is set in the year 1987 really solidifies these speculations. The script writer said she had been working on this script for 10+ years, meaning she had ample time to rethink her original plot through and retell it, but what I have gathered is the fact that this is very obviously the work of someone who does not care for the consequences that such work would bring upon it's team. I'm really trying to see their point of view, but they're really not helping their case, the next 2-3 episodes should reveal if we're gonna draw the line here or not although I'm really starting to lose hope in this being saved now. I don't want to end this comment on a bad note so I should mention that the styling for this drama is really beautiful, although I must say, it's not very time appropriate and the only character who could be considered an exception is hye ryong(?), her outfits definitely scream 80's and I'm very much pleased with how she looks.

Alright, I'm very much shocked by the amount of ignorant people in the comments and I'm very much concerned by it. I'm not asking you to stop supporting the cast nor to stop watching, but put yourselves in the shoes of the ones concerned, many students were killed in the protests that took place in the 80's with the excuse that they were north korean spies, the NSA has committed many crimes against koreans, romanticizing them is wrong. Things are not looking great right now, especially since quite a lot of sponsors have withdrawn from the drama. As I have said before, I as an outsider have no right to speak on behalf of anyone nor is my opinion that important in this matter, but I can at least see that this is very wrong and hurtful towards these people, so I can at least show some sympathy for them. I'm willing to watch a couple of episodes more, just to see how this will play out and how jtbc are going to get themselves out of this situation, but if this act of historical revisionism and ignorance continues then I can no longer support this drama nor the the company. This series could really damage the casts' careers if this goes on, so I really hope that jtbc has an explanation and a plan b for this mess.

I'm pretty sure a 20 y/o would be old enough to distinguish between right and wrong, and no, 20 is not a kid, they're young yes, but not young enough to be clueless.

Naive doesn't necessarily mean reckless. And I don't think that first love is enough to lead you to make these types of decisions. I am taking into consideration the time period this drama is set in, and I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with decisions like hiding a suspicious person who just happened to be wanted by a certain organisation, and as I said before, these were my observations, no one is forced to take them to face value so I'm sorry if I offended you in some way.

Ok, wow, I must admit, I'm honestly pleasantly surprised. To be honest, I didn't have much hope for this series, especially considering the controversies surrounding it, but the first episode might have been exactly what I needed to invest in this drama. Before I get into my comment, I should say that I'm not korean, so anything I say will always be from the perspective of an outsider, I should also point out that these are my opinions/observations, so you don't have to take them too seriously.
So, from what I have seen, the series heavily relies on the fude between the south and the north, furthermore, this will be touching on some sensitive topics, like students' protests, political schemes, some police brutality....etc, so the people petitioning for its cancellation will be monitoring its every little detail, I as an outside perspective however, enjoy watching a show with realistic dark undertones, so I think (emphasis on think) I'll like where this is going, unless it takes a very offensive turn of course, but yeah, now that we've got that out of the way, let's proceed with the actual comment.
First of, I'd like to say that the acting is quite good so far, not too sure about the script tho. They seem to portray Young Ro as this very naive, smart, good girl, but honestly, a lot of the things she does don't make sense. I get that this is the first episode, but I can already tell that the writing for her character is a tad bit weak, like, why would she just suddenly decide to hide a heavily injured, snuck in Soeho when they've only met once? And even on their first meeting, he was acting very suspiciously. I can see now why they added "impulsive female lead" in the tags. Honestly if they had met in a slightly different setting I wouldn't have commented on this, but because they met through a blind date and bumped into each other again that same day, it irked me a bit to watch her immediately take his side, but on a brighter side note, Jisoo seems to be holding up quite well in this role so that's a plus. Now for our other guys, Kang Moo and Han Na, there seems to be some history between these two, and while I am intrigued by them, I can't help but feel like these two are gonna be a bit of a headache for me, also, the fact that Kang Moo seems to blame the death of his comrade on Seoho really bothers me, like, YOU jumped from that train to follow him and YOU made your buddy jump shortly after to follow you, so shouldn't it be YOU who is responsible for his death? Another thing that confused me is the whole political scheme going on with the higher ups, but I guess I'll need to wait for things to unravel bit by bit to understand what's going on. I realize that I haven't said much about Seoho BECAUSE they haven't shown much of him yet, so I don't have much to say about him yet, although he does strike me as the type who'll lie a lot to accomplish his goals, but we'll see what direction his character will take. Some of the side characters have definitely piqued my interest, specifically Jeong min I think her name was? Not sure, but I really find her interesting.
Moving onto the soundtrack, I personally LOVED the OST, the old 80's sounds are really selling it for me, it's also definitely giving me Disney vibes, I'm digging the color palette and the mood this series is setting too, and I must admit that I laughed out loud at the girls running back to their dorm, that scene was well shot and it was pretty funny ngl.
So in conclusion, the first episode, in my opinion, turned out pretty good, and if you're unlike me not looking into the series too deeply, then you'll definitely enjoy it, I personally liked it, save for some minor details, but I won't nit pick that much, especially since this is the first episode, but yeah, for the time being, this gets a solid 8/10 stars from me.

Thank you, I try 😂💚 but seriously, the official subs make it 20 times weirder, and every time kiyoi calls hira disgusting I have to physically stop myself from yeeting my phone outta the window. Like maybe, just maybe, consider phrasing the translation differently? No hate to the translation team of course, cuz they're doing god's work for us clueless international viewers. I didn't know what bothered me exactly when it came to the subs but then I saw someone point it out and I couldn't help but agree with them.

Ok so far, I think that I don't have any thoughts whatsoever regarding this series. I went in fully expecting this to go how it usually goes in these types of bls (disclaimer, it does) and considering my history with Japanese mangas a couple of years back, this is literally the most cliche type of plotlines out there. Is it necessarily a bad thing? Depends on how you look at it. On one hand, it's predictable, ridiculous and every bit weird. On the other hand, if you don't take into consideration common sense, what's realistic and what's morally right then you could say it's funny, somewhat cute and maybe slightly romantic. I personally don't like these types of relationships, and I don't think that they're healthy or in anyway acceptable, HOWEVER, considering that this was made in japan and that it's fictional, I can turn a blind eye to these flaws just for the sake of my enjoyment and keeping my self-proclaimed objectiveness intact. So, after this freaking long rant, my initial thought on this particular show is that I'm gonna keep it neutral untill the last episode airs, unless something happens and I drop it completely of course, but yeah, for now, no opinions on this one. On a brighter note, the acting is phenomenal in this series, no overacting or unnecessarily over exaggerated lines and facial expressions so far, but I'm gonna rate this series a 7.5/10 simply because I'm not a fan of the script/plot.

God, coming back here after toy's scandal is just really heart wrenching. I must admit that I never liked his character nor his role and I would always skip his scenes, something about him just rubbed me the wrong way and I can see why now. Ik that this is a bit old now but just seeing some people still support him infuriates me to no end. I mean, more than 20 freaking stabs? How ruthless can you be to commit such a heinous crime amd just straight up lie and say she "committed suicide" and blame it on her mental health issues? How could anyone still support him after all he did? This is first degree MURDER and I'm soo disappointed in those trying to justify his actions by saying it's "self-defense". RIP to such a beautiful soul, and may her family find peace and closure.

Ok, Ik that this is new and refreshing and wattpad-like and yada yada, but like, can we talk about Ameer Sanchez playing "miss becky" for the third freaking time??? I get that they're trying to include the drag community (I guess) but like, have y'all ran out of name ideas or something? Ik this is such a silly thing to point out and Ik that I'm nitpicking here but like seriously bro? This is literally the third series that I've seen with him playing as "miss becky"

That is unlikely from what I have seen recently. The new company is releasing teasers and is promoting the series so it might not be cancelled after all.

Yes gameplay left the cast. As for who will be occupying his role there hasn't been any info on that so far.

I'm sorry, what? Where in my comment did I blame the author? I have never spoken ill of her nor have I blamed her so please, can you tell me where in my comment did you read that? I request that you don't put words in my mouth. Second, I was not trying to correct you, I simply added my comment to elaborate more on this situation for the others who might not be up-to-date with what's going on, I wasn't trying to take away anything from your comment or discredit it. I apologize if I offended you somehow, but please read carefully next time, I didn't mean anything when I wrote my comment. Hope you have a nice day/night.

I'm not sure if you've heard but another company is in charge of it now. Filmania already dropped this so the changes are not completely related to the budget and if any changes happen, it's because of the difference in the team working on it. Just to clarify a little more, some of the cast left because of the issues with the author and because of their schedules not aligning with the show's scheduled filming dates, so the actors leaving isn't completely related to their financial plan . As for the budget cuts, the previous company was going all out with the budget but because of the fallout that happened with the writer and some other issues arising they decided to discontinue the production, but because of how well the trailer did and the high demand from the fandom for the filming to be resumed, the series was picked up again by a company called Be On Cloud if I'm not mistaken, so the current company probably will limit the amount of money spent on making it, hence the budget trimming.

I mean, even those barely show anything of her acting but yeah, I guess they do count lol.