ABETTERTOMORROW

I thought that it is actually the opposite of sexism. First of all, the corrupt and powerful people are all female (which is definitely not the case in masculine Japan, where men are occupying all the important positions). Second of all, what makes the male character a great judge is the fact that he is emphatic - normally a more female trait. The FL is actually too much like a dude (playing office politics, being robotic etc.) which is why she sucks as a judge. The ML is teaching her to embrace her more human and caring side in order to become a better judge - these are female traits. In my opinion, the toughness of the topic (shaken baby syndrome) of the second episode shows very clearly that this show is not sexist.

These are not rumors. SYJ did fabricate her education. In interviews, she said multiple times that she studied at Complutense and that the professors discriminated her.

Do you know why I compared it to the origination of kimchi? Because similar to her education, both are facts. It is verifiable. In fact, it is even easier to verify your education than the origin of kimchi. If you find it disgusting that the Chinese netizens have the balls to bend facts, then surely you must find SYJ's fabrication of her education also disgusting. To be fair, I am okay with the fact that she lied about studying at Complutense. I can forgive her for that, but to claim that the professors were racist against her, whilst you never attended one single class... That is very low.

To be fair, I think the text scandal is rather the least credible, because it is not complete. I take severe issues with the fabrication of her educational background. It shows a certain boldness that is incomprehensible. To me, it is at the level of claiming "kimchi is Chinese", because you are basically bending facts. You either graduated or not. It is as simple as that. Doubling down about getting discriminated by your professors, whilst you never attended and only got accepted... is just... too much...

We are going in circles, but believe me when I say that Yoon Eun-hye was definitely bigger than Seo Ye-ji is currently. She was also in Baby V.O.X., which topped all the Chinese charts with "I'm Still Loving You" in 2003. Outside of Coffee Prince (with Gong Yoo), she was also in Princess Hours (Goong), which put her and Ju Ji-hoon from Kingdom into absolute stardom. Ju Ji-hoon's star faded due to a drug scandal, but in 2006 he was THAT guy. Seo Ye-ji only has only one hit vs two by Yoon Eun-hye, who was already hugely popular due to Baby V.O.X.. She also received a Baeksang for Best Actress for Coffee Prince, but that has less to do with popularity.

Can you clarify something? What is the first, second and third wave? Because they differ on who you ask, my personal take is more like this:

- First wave around 2000s: Winter Sonata, My Sassy Girl, The Classic etc. The actors that became famous around that period: Bae Yong-joon, Won Bin, Jun Ji-hyun, Song Hye-kyo, Kim Tae-hee etc. etc.

- Second wave: Coffee Prince (Yoon Eun-hye drama), Princess Hours (Yoon Eun-hye drama), My Love From A Star, Boys over Flowers, Heirs, Goblin, DOTS. The most prominent actors that became famous around that period outside Jun Ji-hyun, Song Hye-kyo: Gong Yoo, Yoon Eun-hye, Park Shin-hye, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Jong-suk, Kim Go-eun, Lee Min-ho. Ju Ji-hoon etc. etc.

- Third wave (post 2017, when THAAD was installed): CLOY, The King, It's Okay Not To Be Okay.

If I list it like that, do you really believe that the actors from the second wave are less famous than the third? Personally I agree with you that Seo Ye-ji is arguably more popular in South East-Asia, but definitely not in China and Korea... In my opinion, YEH's fall from grace is more painful than SYJ. A Hallyu-hit such as My Love From A Star was streamed 14.5 billion times in 2013-2014 in China. Those numbers cannot be achieved by kdramas nowadays... Even in kpop, outside BTS, the third generation is less successful than the second. EXO, TWICE and Blackpink definitely did not leave a mark comparable to SNSD, Big Bang, Super Junior and TVXQ. And then there is still a whole bunch of slightly less successful acts left such as Wonder Girls, KARA 2NE1.

There are always two sides to the story. Here is the other side:
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3129818/seo-ye-jis-4-biggest-scandals-explained-accusations-its
It is up to the people to judge which side is more credible.

Yeah, but tell Sady that. I explained to her that China is a no-go zone, if she ever intends to go back to Korea. But she does not believe me. The only thing I can see her do, is to commit herself fully to China like Park Hae-jin mostly did. That would actually not be a bad idea. Money is better in China and she most likely will not reach the same level of her current popularity in Korea even if she came back.

Lee Jin-wook and Kim Ah-joong are good examples. Both got embroiled in a scandal and never achieved their original fame anymore. Although LJW was allowed to star in Sweet Home, I do not think that it will get a Season 2.

The only actors that I can think of that made a successful comebacks after a scandal are Lee Byung-hun, Ju Ji-hoon and, ironically, her ex Kim Jung-hyun.

Yoon Eun-hye plagiarised a Korean designer (Yoon Choon-ho) and not a Chinese designer, but she received flak in both countries. Also she became popular before THAAD when kdramas were at its peak in China. Kdramas are very much banned in China right now. Seo Ye-ji is not a big star in China. I do see some potential for her in South-East Asia or Taiwan/HK, but Japan and China... No way.

We clearly have a different opinion, but I clearly stand by my opinion that China is more patriotic than ever and tensions will certainly not subside.

I wish Seo Ye-ji the best, but I do not see her making a comeback.

Note that I was not talking about the Chinese audience. I am talking about the Chinese Communist Party. Lee Jong-suk's Chinese drama is still boycotted and will not air anytime soon due to the scandal of his co-star. They will do the same with Seo Ye-ji. First, because she is Korean and second because she does not fit the clean image that the CCP wants from their actors. The only Korean actor that is allowed to freely act in Chinese dramas is Park Hae-jin.

Park Shi-hoo is not the right example, because he is a dude. Yoon Eun-hye has a less severe scandal (plagiarising a fashion design on a Chinese variety show) and she hit rock bottom until this day. She was arguably a bigger star than Seo Ye-ji is right now.

Yeah, but you are thinking too simple about it. Ji Chang-wook and Park Min-young are not embroiled in a scandal. Seo Ye-ji is. If she also goes to China, then she will definitely be done with the Korean general public. She will be seen as a traitor.

Also her marketability will be very low in China, the CCP loves cancelling even more than the k-netizens. They will do everthing in their power to boycott Seo Ye-ji because of her reputation.

US can be an option, but I wonder how many international fans she has left. And whether that amount is enough to break through in Hollywood.

The reality is that she is done and needs to eat a lot of humble pie and hopefully she will be able to return in 2-5 years.

If she goes to China, she will never be able to come back... China and Korea hate each other right now... That would be like selling herself to the devil.

From my understanding, it was unclear whether her bullying scandal was real or fake. Apparently her high school classmates could not recognise her anymore due to the plastic surgery and were not sure if it was her. Now that they know it was her, the witch hunt started again. But again, not sure whether this reading of the situation is correct. The floodgates just opened and there are a lot of negative articles written and potentially made up by the tabloids, so it is hard to distinguish between credible and fake news.

There is actually more to the story. I think her possessiveness regarding her ex did not agitate the netizens to the point to be cancelled (else they would also cancel Goo Hye-sun). It was only the start. People also found out that she lied about her education (she never graduated from a Spanish university, which she claimed in Knowing Brothers). Koreans take education very seriously and if they discover that you lied about it or there is a hint of lying, they will start a witch hunt. See Tablo's case (although he in fact graduated from Stanford). She also treats staff badly, who wrote whole blog posts about it (albeit it is not confirmed to be real). She also has a iljin/high bullying-scandal against her and apparently she has done plastic surgery (although I do not understand why doing PS would awaken so much hate from the GP). Finally, I personally think that her character in IONTBO ruined it for her, because people think she is the same as the character she played. It paints a vivid picture in people's head, which might totally different from the truth.

Regarding the masks, I think they are actually not meant for show. I think they wear it only when they cannot control the environment. So they wear it around the extras, but not with the main cast. Probably because the former are not tested and the main cast is.

I am not that familiar with the budgets of WOWOW, but the 2007-version was so grand. It reminded me of a Japanese version of The Godfather - great, dramatic music, great wardrobe and great acting. I think it is very hard to surpass the original or even match it.

Thank you for your article. This puts into perspective how much AIB actually outperformed Sweet Home. Remember that kdramas are very popular in South-East Asia, whilst jdoramas are not. Remember also that AIB has only 8 episodes, whilst Sweet Home has 10. So per episode AIB managed 2.25 million viewers, whilst Sweet Home managed 2.2 million. So a jdorama without the South-East Asian base managed to outperform a kdrama.

To put into comparison how astonishing this feat is. Compare this with BTS or Blackpink versus let's say AKB48 or Arashi. The least popular BTS or Blackpink video will do 500 million viewers at least on YouTube, whilst AKB48's top video has 199 million. Imagine this scenario: if AKB48's new video does 250 million, whilst BTS's new videos does 270 million... Who did better? On paper, it looks like BTS outperformed AKB48, but in reality it is more complicated. AKB48 outperformed their old record of 199 million, whilst BTS underperformed massively, because their worst video is already doing 500 million. This is the same argument that can be held for AIB versus Sweet Home. Sweet Home is not compared to AIB, but is pitched against The King, CLOY, IONTBO, Itaewon Class. Even The World of The Married when it was exclusively on VIU (so they did not have the scope of Netflix) managed to get more viewers. But even pitched against AIB directly, they underperformed per episode (albeit not by that much).

The argument that Netflix probably uses is: AIB is extremely popular for a jdorama and Sweet Home is doing okay for a kdrama.

To be fair, fans of Alice in Borderland are also badmouthing Sweet Home and giving it an 1.0, so it is mutual. That said, why would any Alice in Borderland-fan care? Netflix renewed AiB, but it becomes more likely by the day that they will not renew Sweet Home. So Sweet Home-fans can diss this show as much as they want, but Netflix does not seem to agree. And they are the ones that matter.

Arisu would also not be unemployed, but rather the youngest doctor in a hospital with a Phd in Mathematics from Seoul National University on the side. Usagi would be the damsel in distress from a poor family. Oh yeah, and the games will take place in Subway.

Exactly. Look, as much as I like Sweet Home. The actors are hoovering around B-tier, max A-tier.

Compare this with Hellbound, which is an upcoming Netflix original with a high budget and SH's cast is simply lacking star-power. Hellbound will bring in Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Park Jung-min and Won Jin-ah. The director is from Train to Busan. The budget for Hellbound is as far as I know still lower than SH.

I hope so, but I think they will have to work with a lower budget. I do believe that they can deliver a good quality s2 even with a lower budget. Quite honestly, I do not understand what they did with the budget in the first place. The CGI is okay and the actors are not the biggest stars requiring high pay such as the actors of Kingdom or something.

What a jump in rating. I already knew something was wrong with the rating. If you toggle to the live rating, you see very similar numbers to Sweet Home, so the rating must be similar.