AnnitsAnn

Thank you. I felt like the ending, though happy, didnt live up to how great the rest of the drama was. And that scene just made me disappointed further. Watching the bts made it feel better though

Can anyone explain? When they met at the staircase again after three years, he said something along the lines of “I didn’t want to repeat that. When i regain my health and I could convince you too, I wanted to return then.”

What exactly didnt he want to repeat? Him not speaking to her for three years? Him being sick?

This for me was the scene that made or break the drama. I was expecting him to explain it so that I could understand whyyyy he chose not to contact her all those years. I felt like there was something missing from his explanation of why.

If the reason was because he’d realised how scared he actually was when he was finally facing the uncertainty of life and the possibility of death, I wouldve got that message better if they conveyed it clearer. I felt like I couldnt fully accept his explanation as he didnt really answer Si Young’s burning questions.

I still love the drama but I just need to be able to accept that part better lol. And fingerscrossed for a second season - hopefully with more cases and less subplots to be able to explore each plot and expand on them better. I really like how they opened up different conflicts and issues in this but they definitely needed more episodes for each of those to have proper closure.

Oh! I totally forgot/ glossed over the fact that her father being taken off the ventilator was a big thing in this drama. Honestly, Ive been listening to the osts over and over UNTIL the ending. They didn’t seem to have the same meaning they held in the first half of the series. I think it’s because theyve jumped around so many plots too much. Too little episodes to cover everything. I didnt know a happy ending could make me feel so frustrated. I kept feeling there was something amiss. And its totally that weird effect the timelapse have caused. I felt like it was sooo unnecessary. When Yo Han finally showed up in front of Si Young, I felt a bit frustrated that she didn’t seem mad. I wanted her to lash out or just let it show she’s mad... and for him to be the one chasing her this time.

I feel frustrated because I thought this drama could’ve been more. The writer had it in her/him and it showed in the first half. Granted, with so many other subplots introduced, we’d totally veered away from the main plot which is euthanasia.

Im so annoyed at why they chose to portray Si Young as the ‘Crazy Kang’. It felt so out of character and didn’t stay true at all to the person she was the rest of the episodes. I cant put together someone who’s supposed to be so empathetic and this now ‘crazy’ doctor as one person. I felt confused and didn’t know how to feel about the two main leads.

Yo Han was ofcourse, striking and charming. I did understand his reasons of not showing up for three years but I fail to thoroughly agree with it. For someone who says that his last prescription for pain would essentially be to have someone by your side, he definitely failed to live by his own words. Well hopefully he makes up for it by having Si Young by his side from now on, whether it be good, and most especially, in the bad days.

The doctor said about using steroids for the treatment. And apparently, Because of his CIPA, steroids is a no no as it weakens his immune system.

Ah I guess we’re in the part where the hinted at plot is going to surface, finally. Great show and Im rooting for our main leads to be together. I kind of wish I started this after all the episodes are out but at the same time, I can’t imagine not seeing this show earlier. Those eight episodes especially, flew by really quick.

And our main lead are sooooo fire together. I was literally replaying ep 7 and 8 because those scenes were just on point. And then episodes 9 and ten.

Cannot wait to see more of them. But lets just not talk about Si Young’s hair. I dont think they even thought of that as a big deal, zero effort on making it look natural. Lol

Right. I just wanted to pause right in the 3/4 of episode one to check if this has a romance genre.

Because damn that chemistry ???? . If you guys wanted to see Shin Se Gi 2.0, I think we found the drama for you. And Lee Se Young’s very nuanced acting - soo promising and impressive.

Im not even through the 1st episode yet but Im already loving this one. Great job from the director, with the editing and the script so far.

I dont want to speak too soon but Im so excited for whats to come!

Yes it basically turned into a snooze fest by being unnecessarily depressing throughout most of its episodes. But for what cause? I loved the couple of episodes and thought it had more stuff going for it before Mr Jo died. I really loved him being there but after he died, it was just Yeon Seo being stuck on a loop of tragedy after tragedy happening to her without much solid plot or direction.

A shame really.

Honestly by this point I just want to see how they end it. Be it sad or tragic, I dont actually care anymore. Like a commenter said, this one had all the elements that youd want in a kdrama but the execution makes it boring and tedious to watch. I loved this earlier on and thought it would be something unique until they dropped the childhood relation plot.

It just became... mediocre from there. And there’s no actual progress. Ji Kang Woo was the most promising character in terms of development but we still see him sitting on the sofa without the much anticipated something from his story. He was just built up to be mysterious and I expected more but what we found out about his background isnt exactly mind blowing or out of the box.

So much potential but gone to waste. The songs are amazing but I heard them too much and too often theyre starting to lose their effect. Its just basically scenes after scenes of them finding out something even worse than what they already know could happen to them.

But lets see what happens with the last two episodes.

Yes! I feel like it was an extra special experience for us who watched it whilst it was airing. Just for the fact that we were able to share our thoughts with others in time with the drama and actually able to flesh out what each scene meant.

I do get the people who skipped some scenes thats why im so happy and thankful I was able to look at the variety of forums and blogs whilst watching this when it was airing. It definitely made for a better viewing experience. I didn’t realise how significant each details were and would have disregarded them without giving them second thought had it not been for those analyses and observations shared.

Ah. Those times were amazing.

Hahaha. I guess we’re at least going somewhere.

Have they finally found their footing?

As many people have said, this started out messy in execution. Followed on by a somewhat confused and all over the place direction in the next episodes.

But later on as I kept watching, there are actually really nice bits here and there that made me keep watching.

True enough for the latest episodes , 7 and 8, the story felt a bit more solid. Like they’re not jumping around to and from a plot. The story seems to have more of a direction now and a place it wants to go to. These latest two episodes had me unknowingly hooked and I am looking forward for how the rest of the story will unfold.

Got to say the romantic parts are very nicely done and made my heart flutter. That ost fits soooo well.

If you are hesitating to watch this but leans more towards the go ahead part, this is really nice and worth checking out.

Judging from the first few episodes, it doesn’t seem so promising but now that the writing seems more certain, it is becoming an enjoyable watch.

Wow this movie was amazing! I was hesitant to watch it because I watched pretty much all the adaptation of this story. And to find out it was in movie form? I was wondering how theyd be able to fit everything in.

First half an hour was a bit shaky for me and I couldn’t see myself liking this or even coming close to being as good as the others. But the rest proved otherwise.

I love the portrayal of Xiang Qin and Zhi Shu here. ISWAK and ISWAK 2 are basically my top classic favourites, ever. Even including Korean dramas and other Asian dramas. No other portrayals have come close to the emotional level ISWAK 1 and 2 delivered until this. I even thought (guiltily) that I liked this better than ISWAK. and that’s saying a lot! Ive watched those again and again - theyre part of my childhood and the fact that I was eagerly waiting for the third season despite it being over a decade already proves just how good that version is.

In this version, though there were a lot of scenes that were cut because of the movie length, everything else was perfect. The leads’ portrayal was brilliant. I love Xiang Qin’s character in here, we know she’s not very intelligent but she had common sense. Its refreshing to see that she could do menial tasks such as prepping coffee and doing simple things mostly right.

And Zhi Shu like always was so loveable. That confession scene in the end has got to be one of the best scenes out of any of the adaptations Ive seen. It was sooooo sweet.

Basically everything - the pacing, the script, the acting - they nailed it. I was so satisfied with what I saw and despite it being incredibly shorter than others, it captured the characters’ journey and growth perfectly that when they flashed back to them being high school students again I could actually feel the time difference.

The wedding scene was cut and even though jt was really sweet, I actually feel that what they showed us ticked all the boxes leaving me overly satisfied.

Such a nice nice surprise.

For the first six episodes this really showed so much potential, especially with the leads. But I just can’t anymore with those super cliched, formulaic scenes. Honestly, I cant help but cringe - thankfully the leads make them slightly better. You realise it’s too much though when even with the leads you start losing interest.

I feel like they capitulated so much on the couple’s chemistry compromising on the story. What couldve been a simple and genuinely sweet scene becomes too drawn out and overly done.

Argghhh. Hopefully it gets better and actually focus more on the fangirl arc rather than the meddling of the second leads. And know that a romantic scene doesn’t need to be overly dramatic to make us feel their chemistry. It’s not doing them a favour at all and does the opposite effect.

Hoping we see the story moving along and actually get an idea on where it wants to head to.

I really adore Si An and Ryan’s friendship. And how cute and adorable Kim Bo Ra is in this role.

There’s a reason why I love My Ahjussi so soo much up to this day. Im so happy they got what they deserved ???? Congrats on Best Script and Best Drama Award. Forever number one.

This would’ve been 10/10 for me but the ending spoiled it a bit. What was that with Gi Seok and Jae in suddenly becoming okay and Gi Seok returning to his old bubbly self? Just wasnt believable. Overall, the ending just didn’t give justice to the amazingness of the rest of this drama. It was a let down for me.

And I heard the japanese version didn’t have a romance. There was definitely an inkling of something there between the leads in the beginning but it seems like to follow with the original version and to maybe satisfy the viewers who watched the original, they chose to sweep that storyljne under the rug, so to speak.

However, it didn’t help the drama along the way whatsoever in terms of character development. Im all for a drama not having romance but cutting it out just to ‘stick’ to the original doesn’t make any sense.

I could really feel it stalled the growth their characters, especially the leads were promising to have for the sake of not having that chemistry between them explored further. And that time skip felt weird and just doesn’t fit well into what the drama had been all along.

Jae In seemed so detached from Tae Rim more than you’d expect especially knowing theyve worked together and knew more about each other. Tae Rim on the other hand felt like a character who needed a bit more exploring. I feel like we didn’t get to see in depth the other side to his character just yet.

He felt a bit distant to me by the end and more mysterious because the reasons behind the person he’s become felt lacking in terms of making the viewers see it from his point of view.

Ahhhhhh. I just felt disappointed by that and again suddenly reminded me of how kdramas could leave a bitter taste in your mouth with unsatisfactory endings/resolves.

But I AM HOPING FOR A SEASON TWO. The main characters need more justice to them and there’s more in the drama that needs to be explored. One of the best out there minus the ending (and Kang Gi Seok for me - sorry but by the end he just felt like such a lost cause. I couldn’t buy into that friendly meeting between them in the end.

Just finished this drama. One of my favourites. Ive watched this for a duration of about two months because I didn’t want it to end. I would watch just one episode a night or even just part of an episode. Each scene was brilliant and really, one of those hidden gems that are so underrated. Who would’ve thought the leads’ pairing would be amazingly good?? This was so well written. Jin Goo nailed this role. Wow

And I want to add how this have been reminding me of that one lesson in my English class back at school with this topic. I never really knew then that there are different kinds of camera angles and how intentional they were. So amazing and effective.

I really admire your efforts in these series of posts. That’s such a massive content and obviously a lot of thought, research anf hard work went into this. I can only imagine how long this took you to finish.

Hello. I was quite confused with your question but Ill answer in the way I understand it.

I did find there was another person who shared the same sentimentswith you regarding Nara’s acting. However, for me though, because I have the same problem she has in the drama (anxiety) I could totally see past all that and just saw it for what they wanted to portray. Because I was able to understand the reasons behind her actions - I really empathised with her. Though ofcourse with anxiety, every person’s case might be different thus not everyone will be able to relate to her. I did.

And with IU’s acting, this would go on too long if we dissect each parts. I have to agree with you that at first, I did find her a bit shaky in terms of I guess expressing her character at the beginning. But I do think it was more because we didn’t know where the story was going yet and which light they were trying to paint her in making us feel wuite unsure of what to feel about her, at least at first.

I guess if you look at it technically, there would be some parts youd think she could’ve done this like this or expressed it this way instead of that.

The only thing I could really think of regarding us loving IU’s acting despite the flaw youve mentioned is that she managed to deliver when it really counted the most.

And also it’s not even that there’s a cathartic moment that builds up before it blows up. The drama consisted of those small moments youd think are insignificant but actually rounds up the whole drama after watching it through to the end.

Ji An is the Lee Ji an we loved because it’s IU. She brought something to the table that was so uniquely her and her utmost sincerity to the role truly shined and overpowered those ‘imperfections’.

And again, also one of the reasons why Lee Sun Kyun is so underrated. With another co star she might’ve not reached her full potential but because Lee Sun Kyun was so understatedly phenomenal in his role, he helped her reach that stage where they fully complemented each other. Plus the writing, directing and the whole ensemble really just lifted this drama up to its own level altogether.

Id like to ask if you finished watching this or have dropped it altogether? Because youll see a lot of people, including me, who really found the first few episodes slow going and wondering where this drama is really going?

So I cant fully understand the opinion about IU because she really did a complete turnaround towards the middle and end of the show. For a lot of us, she truly embodied Lee Ji An and it was in those steady moments of her character that we see cracks revealing who she truly is inside that elevated her acting to that of a proper actor.

So hopefully that kinda helped. I love this show so much as you can probably see but as always to each their own and thats totally fine.

P.S. just a reference for those analyses I mentioned is this website where pretty much all those written about it are included - https://givemeslippers.wordpress.com

Id really love to see an article about that - it will spark up an interesting debate for sure.

Thank you