Hey there! So i've noticed a lot of folks expressing their opinions about the current season being not as good…
S1 had a great balance of character development, comedy, action and storyline. If you are going to do a S2 ideally you want retain the strengths developed in S1 and build upon them or at least don't lose them. Taxi Driver - was a good example of this.
So far S2 has been ok, the villains are definitely better but it hasn't manged to retain the blend of characters, comedy, action and storyline in the way I had hoped. I've said before S2 seems likes its almost trying too hard.
There's still time, hopefully the balance I was looking for will materialise
Without necessarily intending too the scriptwriters/director have done the exact opposite of what I think these two episodes were supposed to accomplish.
These episodes were supposed to focus in on DZY as a driven meticulous general who is the central character of this drama. Whilst they do make her the central character they diminished her by making her actions about fear and and about anger. The character deserves better.
These episodes were supposed to justify LMX actions, but by providing this justification they gave him an out for his choice. They needed a reason to save him that would be acceptable. This again diminished his character - he has always been true to his beliefs, why did he need to change now.
I am left with mixed feeling after episode 33 and 34. We got some half assed explanations to the events in the…
A half decent scriptwriter and director could have delivered theses same scenes simply by making the reasons why DZY did what she did different.
Retaking city - retrieving Anning body and saving innocent people - the exchanging the city for LMX life was contrived for emotional impact.
Mustering the Di Troops - revenge, cold blooded revenge on MB. If you want some anger directed at HY as well that would be ok but don't make it the focus of her actions.
What a twist! Turned out that LMX was not that dumb and Hanye was even smarter to figure out that it was Anning…
I disliked so much in these 2 episodes but HY was great - he really is the true mastermind of this drama. I loved his scene when a tear fell onto the letter he was writing about Annings death. Gong Ju was great here.
Ep 33 and 34 were awful in both story telling and execution.
The only time i genuinely felt moved across both episodes was thanks to Anning. It wasn't her death scene, it was the letters she wrote and the emotional impact it had on HY and DZY. Both leads were excellent here. The tear of HY falling onto the letter he writing was,.... perfect for that moment.
Anning you deserved so much better, your death sequence didn't really have the impact it should have - I felt numb watching it, in part because MB was still acting like a comic book villain.
As far as everything else was concerned it was a mess of contrived actions to somehow service the overall plot. This might have worked if the execution had been better.
I get this this is a drama and logic doesn't always apply but there are so many flaws
DZY (in isolation) called LMX choice to assist her not Anning a mistake. She can't call this a mistake it was a choice.
DZY exchanging the city for LMX life again, this isn't remotely logical and how did her army leave the camp without anyone noticing?
DZY and MB fight sequence - seriously they ended it by having HY catch DZY like a frigging baseball!
What was done with LMX was pure manipulation. They needed to give a justification for why he did what he did. This just weakens the story.
Last time I checked HY is the CP. He would be DZY superior and yet this is completely ignored.
Every time we need to advance the story a f**king secret letter appears. How can they be secret because everyone gets one!
There are other moments that also didn't make sense but i will be here all day if i list them all.
this drama would be as good as love like the galaxy (the drama was a very close/perfect resemblance to the novel)…
I don't know about anyone else but before watching this drama I was expecting to see something like LLTG. I don't necessarily mind an adaptation that doesn't stick to the source material faithfully, I actually almost expect that they won't. As a drama LLTG had well written characters, consistent story telling and didn't require leaps to make the plot work. TLOA has some strengths but overall too many of the characters were underdeveloped and with the exception of the ED, the so called villains remind me more of schoolyard bullies than actual characters to be feared. This could have been so much better.
Hypothetically, if this was a romantic relationship and not a parental one, wouldn't most people view Eun Mi and Jin Hee relationship as toxic? But because it is a parental relationship this is somehow more acceptable? I just don't see it..
I am surprised that commenters are surprised/dismayed at Eun-mi's latest antics because I think they are fairly…
For me, as someone who has struggled with Eun-Mi from early on. it wasn't even jumping back into the relationship again. Its the complete disregard for her daughters feelings. She is shameless in her overall behaviour so whilst it is consistent its not endearing either. There are two moments that have not sat well with me. Firstly, the airport scene, I got the sense of a certain smug satisfaction from Eun-Mi. like this was some sort of victory over Jin- Hee. Secondly, the running "joke" that Mi-Jung is actually the real mother to Jin-Hee. Again I just felt a sense of pride from Eun-Mi that she had tricked Mi-Jung it do it and her only role was giving birth.
After watching episode 32, I just realize that the main antagonist of this drama is not Gu Yunning or the Left…
What's worse is that the drama never really developed his character. When they did do something with him in ep32 they turned him to cartoonish villain. If anyone watched ep 32 in isolation would they have picked him as the mastermind?
As we get close to end of this drama, I've started to try and get a sense of how i feel about it. Try and assess it as whole. TBH I'm a bit all over the place with this now. There's clearly been some good points, but equally some missed steps as well. Yesterday's episode was awful which after a succession of strong episodes was a huge let down. Do the remaining episodes need to "save" this drama? Does it need to be saved?
I'm left with the sense right now unless i get a really great remaining episodes this drama will be consigned to "Meh, it was ok but" category.
From the comments I've seen today there is a lot of anger and frustration out there regarding todays episode and the overall adaptation of the novel. I'm only going touch on one aspect of todays episode -
LMX did exactly what I expected so I'm going to leave that one alone.
My biggest issue today is Mo Bei. I genuinely want to know why it was necessary to do this to the character. Wasn't it enough to make him smart, manipulative, a meticulous planner, shrewd etc... Throw is some genuine and even one-sided love for Anning and you've got Northern Qin's version of LMX. He can be the "bad guy" , but a smart villain that is feared and respected would be far better than what I watched today. Today he was turned into pantomime villain who not only totally misread Anning but also allowed a good portion of his plans to fall apart. He basically was turned into a obsessed, foolish sex pest/stalker and what's worse, there was no reason to do this. Doing this adds nothing to the story!
This felt that after the first draft of his character was written it was decided he just wasn't evil enough, but by trying to make him hated more, they actually have made him stupid. Based on what I watched today Mo Bei couldn't find a way out of a paper bag with a flashlight and a map. This was lazy story telling and gives no credit to the audience and that we are capable of recognising who's bad and who's good without it being hammered home. This was not a good episode to kick off the final arc of this drama! "Stupid Mo Bei, stupid scriptwriters" I mutter to myself whilst shaking my fist at the screen,,
I went into this drama hoping to watch a quirky, funny emotional journey with some realism thrown in and TBF some of that might still materialise. I recently watched Mad for Each Other and got many of those things. Episode 6 was hard for me to watch and after reflecting back on it, Kim Eun Mi isn't quirky or funny. She is basically a narcissist. She is full of her own self importance.
I previously posted that Kim Eun Mi is not a bad mother but she is not necessarily a good one either. I got this wrong - she is a bad mother and funny or quirky moments can't mask this. I do expect that there will be some sort of "redemption arc" before were finished but that doesn't excuse what i watched today
The relationship between mother and daughter is a trainwreck and that has a certain entertainment value, but this was sooo not the show I was expecting to see.
Apologies for the rant.. maybe the mothers behaviour has touched a nerve.
We share so many similar thoughts. 💖 but you had me laughing with the Anning comment. I mean seriously, did…
I couldn't help myself on the Aning & MB thing... It was stupid so I responded accordingly LOL...
MB would likely be a creepy stalker in real life because Anning just smiled at him once, its actually bad writing to turn him into this at this stage of the drama.
LMX is getting a lot of anger in a lot of the posts I've seen and maybe i just felt his actions were in keeping with his character. Perhaps I'm in the minority on this one. It was an extreme change to what he's done previously and that has caught people off guard, maybe like HY and the public execution did?? Again better writing would have given us more hints at this side of his behaviour. Maybe they were going for shock value?
This is the first time in any drama that I've seen the dad give absolutely no fucks about the daughter after finding…
What makes it worse is both mum and dad surprising their daughter on this trip together! Given that both parents know she's having a tough time with the whole "surprise this is your dad" thing... they decide the best course of action is to have a surprise trip away ..... Hmmm, see you by the pool anyone???
1 
Out of interest, in the novel what was the motivation for DZY to muster the DI Troops?
So far S2 has been ok, the villains are definitely better but it hasn't manged to retain the blend of characters, comedy, action and storyline in the way I had hoped. I've said before S2 seems likes its almost trying too hard.
There's still time, hopefully the balance I was looking for will materialise
These episodes were supposed to focus in on DZY as a driven meticulous general who is the central character of this drama. Whilst they do make her the central character they diminished her by making her actions about fear and and about anger. The character deserves better.
These episodes were supposed to justify LMX actions, but by providing this justification they gave him an out for his choice. They needed a reason to save him that would be acceptable. This again diminished his character - he has always been true to his beliefs, why did he need to change now.
Retaking city - retrieving Anning body and saving innocent people - the exchanging the city for LMX life was contrived for emotional impact.
Mustering the Di Troops - revenge, cold blooded revenge on MB. If you want some anger directed at HY as well that would be ok but don't make it the focus of her actions.
Ep 33 and 34 were awful in both story telling and execution.
The only time i genuinely felt moved across both episodes was thanks to Anning. It wasn't her death scene, it was the letters she wrote and the emotional impact it had on HY and DZY. Both leads were excellent here. The tear of HY falling onto the letter he writing was,.... perfect for that moment.
Anning you deserved so much better, your death sequence didn't really have the impact it should have - I felt numb watching it, in part because MB was still acting like a comic book villain.
As far as everything else was concerned it was a mess of contrived actions to somehow service the overall plot. This might have worked if the execution had been better.
I get this this is a drama and logic doesn't always apply but there are so many flaws
DZY (in isolation) called LMX choice to assist her not Anning a mistake. She can't call this a mistake it was a choice.
DZY exchanging the city for LMX life again, this isn't remotely logical and how did her army leave the camp without anyone noticing?
DZY and MB fight sequence - seriously they ended it by having HY catch DZY like a frigging baseball!
What was done with LMX was pure manipulation. They needed to give a justification for why he did what he did. This just weakens the story.
Last time I checked HY is the CP. He would be DZY superior and yet this is completely ignored.
Every time we need to advance the story a f**king secret letter appears. How can they be secret because everyone gets one!
There are other moments that also didn't make sense but i will be here all day if i list them all.
As a drama LLTG had well written characters, consistent story telling and didn't require leaps to make the plot work. TLOA has some strengths but overall too many of the characters were underdeveloped and with the exception of the ED, the so called villains remind me more of schoolyard bullies than actual characters to be feared. This could have been so much better.
Firstly, the airport scene, I got the sense of a certain smug satisfaction from Eun-Mi. like this was some sort of victory over Jin- Hee.
Secondly, the running "joke" that Mi-Jung is actually the real mother to Jin-Hee. Again I just felt a sense of pride from Eun-Mi that she had tricked Mi-Jung it do it and her only role was giving birth.
I'm left with the sense right now unless i get a really great remaining episodes this drama will be consigned to "Meh, it was ok but" category.
LMX did exactly what I expected so I'm going to leave that one alone.
My biggest issue today is Mo Bei. I genuinely want to know why it was necessary to do this to the character. Wasn't it enough to make him smart, manipulative, a meticulous planner, shrewd etc... Throw is some genuine and even one-sided love for Anning and you've got Northern Qin's version of LMX. He can be the "bad guy" , but a smart villain that is feared and respected would be far better than what I watched today.
Today he was turned into pantomime villain who not only totally misread Anning but also allowed a good portion of his plans to fall apart. He basically was turned into a obsessed, foolish sex pest/stalker and what's worse, there was no reason to do this. Doing this adds nothing to the story!
This felt that after the first draft of his character was written it was decided he just wasn't evil enough, but by trying to make him hated more, they actually have made him stupid. Based on what I watched today Mo Bei couldn't find a way out of a paper bag with a flashlight and a map. This was lazy story telling and gives no credit to the audience and that we are capable of recognising who's bad and who's good without it being hammered home. This was not a good episode to kick off the final arc of this drama! "Stupid Mo Bei, stupid scriptwriters" I mutter to myself whilst shaking my fist at the screen,,
Episode 6 was hard for me to watch and after reflecting back on it, Kim Eun Mi isn't quirky or funny. She is basically a narcissist. She is full of her own self importance.
I previously posted that Kim Eun Mi is not a bad mother but she is not necessarily a good one either.
I got this wrong - she is a bad mother and funny or quirky moments can't mask this. I do expect that there will be some sort of "redemption arc" before were finished but that doesn't excuse what i watched today
The relationship between mother and daughter is a trainwreck and that has a certain entertainment value, but this was sooo not the show I was expecting to see.
Apologies for the rant.. maybe the mothers behaviour has touched a nerve.
Mum is like Peter Pan, she has never wanted to grow up.
MB would likely be a creepy stalker in real life because Anning just smiled at him once, its actually bad writing to turn him into this at this stage of the drama.
LMX is getting a lot of anger in a lot of the posts I've seen and maybe i just felt his actions were in keeping with his character. Perhaps I'm in the minority on this one. It was an extreme change to what he's done previously and that has caught people off guard, maybe like HY and the public execution did?? Again better writing would have given us more hints at this side of his behaviour. Maybe they were going for shock value?
The trip scene - just made me angry