Chair54

Unfortunately, Zeng Qing Jie now credited as Executive Producer here at MDL. A different person, Zhang Ming Zuo, now credited as Director. Hopefully, they will do a good job for this drama, but I'm sorry we couldn't have ZQJ direct this cast.

Thanks for the information.

I have watched up to Ep. 31
Overall, I like the show, but I have some issues with the writing.
First, why does Chairman do such a change? First, he tells to Kwang Sook that he wants to be friends and get to know each other. Then the next episode, he changes and makes a demand that she must decide to date him within 10 days. That was bad writing, in my opinion. So now, he apologize which is good but he still not really paying attention to Kwang Sook and just tell her he will do everything (whether she agree or not). This is after he say that he been a widower for 15 years and now ready for new relationship. I don't understand why he not give Kwang Sook more time to heal since she been a widow, for what, 6 months? Shouldn't he understand her not being ready for new relationship? 15 years versus 6 months is a big difference. I wish writers could have just gone with the first option of friends-to-lovers storyline, but oh, well.

Se Ri and Professor Storyline: I not like the Student-Teacher plot, so I have issues with it. At least wait until she not his student anymore before going this road. But no. Then everyone telling Beom Soo that he in love with Se Ri. It feels very forced and not a natural progression. It not feel organic, but rather just for the sake of the script. Anyway, I like they touch on the ethics a little bit, even if everyone in family disregard them.
Can someone please tell me why Se Ri have to stay with her family and not able to search for a job and move out to her own apartment? As I understand, she have a BA in Economics and pursuing an MBA. If she have a batchelor's degree, why can't she get a job? Once she have a job then move out of parent's house and get her own place to live? But she not looking for a job or even talking about moving out. The writing make it seem like the girl have no skills and is unable to live on her own.

I do like that the conflicts are resolved quickly in this show. We don't have to wait for 10-15 episodes to see a resolution. I hope that continues.

Kang Soo father was construction worker (I think) who died in an accident 3 days before Kang Soo was born. Mom said she planned to marry the father but not say why they didn't get married when she got pregnant. Mom was afraid of the hardships KS would have being raised by single mom. She knows Eagle Family is kind, and left baby KS on the doorstep. Eagle Family adopt KS. Later Mom comes to Brewery lookin for a job to be near KS. Eagle Father give Mom job as an accountant. The Mom also babysit KS as often as she can. I think she also look after Beom Soo as well since those two are the youngest, and he look about 4 years old in the flashback. Anyway, Dogo Tak not the father of Kang Soo. He is father of Se Ri only.

That's a good question. What motivates these people to go on these reality dating shows? JM obviously likes it since he has now signed up twice for this type of experience. Normally, I'd say most of the participants sign up because they want the publicity, and if they happen to find real love along the way, that's a bonus. But the most important thing is to get exposure for themselves. This motive is clear for some the contestants. Chan Hyeong needs publicity for his start-up business, Ha Neul and Sang Yoon needs publicity to get more modeling/acting/dance jobs, Woo Jae to get publicity and sell his art, Jae Yeong to get publicity/clients for her law firm. For the others, they don't need publicity for their careers so the motivation is less clear. With Ji Min, it's hard to say he needs exposure since he already has a good job with top company. I'm sure everyone gets paid an appearance fee for being on the show, but he probably doesn't need the money since he has such a good job at a top company. He could be a person that likes celebrity and so joins because of that, hoping to gain more fans and fame that could lead to other opportunities in the Entertainment Circle.
If he is truly looking for a spouse, the set up of the show could be very appealing to him. 20 day commitment, so a relatively short time frame to work into your schedule. Free 5 day trip to Italy included. Living accomodation will be high quality in a good neighborhood. Guaranteed all contestants will be beautiful and most probably have solid education backgrounds and careers, as well as everyone most probably be of same social class. So here's a chance to meet 5 beautiful and smart ladies, most likely with similar backgrounds to his. Living together in same house means an intensive dating experience with opportunity to spend a lot of time together in an immersive way. The downside is being filmed all the time and possible embarrassing footage being broadcast to the world. But as I said, JM may enjoy being on-camera and chance of fame, and so it's worth the risk of possible embarrassing moments if true love could be found.

Like others have said, it could be the editing choices. There may be more interactions between SY and JY that producers are deliberately Not showing because it doesn't fit the narrative that they want to push this season. of a love triangle for Je Yeon. Who will she choose? They did same in HS4 where the narrative was focused on who will Ji Yong choose? And they push a love triangle between Ji Young and 2 guys. Meanwhile, one of the guys Min Gyu was clicking with the new girl, but you'd never know it by the footage they showed. Min Gyu and New Girl became a couple after the final episode. Everyone was like "What?" because we never saw any interest at all in the footage.

You are welcome. I also hope the production team will give more equal time to all contestants in the second half of the program. There were some promising couples formed and I'd like to see more of their interactions. Hopefully, it will be worth a binge watch at the end.

Totally agree.

You're welcome. To be fair, there are some very nice and sweet moments in the show, and the first 5 episodes take place in Italy, so there is nice scenery and some touring of Tuscany and Florence. They get you interested, but then around episode 8, the focus starts to shift toward JeYeon and her choices. The other couples get less screen time. It becomes frustrating in Ep. 9, where Je Young is definitely the favorite. and has the majority of screentime. Perhaps the best thing is to wait until all episodes are posted. Then you can just binge it and fast forward through any parts that are frustrating and kind of speed watch. We are only at the halfway point, so there is a hope that the production team will change and start giving more equal time to all the contestants and couples. But, yes, save yourself the frustration of waiting each week and just wait to binge all episodes if you decide to check it out later.

All the males are not giving just one girl attention. They are using the old Heart Signal 4 trope of focusing the narrative around one person and giving the majority of screentime to them. For Heart Signal 4 it was Ji Young. For Heart Pairing, it's Jeyong. The show is now Jae Young's Pairing. She had over 60% of screentime in Ep. 9, and the other 8 contestants fought for the remaining 40%. We are not seeing a more equal time given to the other couples dates or the other contestants. Once again, the producers are crafting a K drama -like narrative where one person is the FL and focusing the show around her. The others get much less screentime. If you like JaeYeon and want to see her and all her dates, then you will be happy. If you are interested in seeing all the contestants and all the couples, then it will be frustrating. Others commented that Ji Won and Woo Jae were seen coming back to the house together, in Ep. 9 obviously from a date, but that date was not shown at all. Stuff was shown in Ep preview that was Not in the episode. So footage is being cut and manipulated to focus on Jae Yean.

So true! It's extremely frustrating to see the same, tired tropes that made HS4 so bad used again when we were promised a new direction.

I loved Heart Signal 6 China. There were multiple couples that were followed. I don't know if it was more realistic, but I liked that there were multiple couples and a more even coverage of contestants, It wasn't a focus on just one person or one couple. I also liked that they showed more of the friendships between the contestants, In Heart Pairing, we don't see much of any friendships. Panel was better, too.

Yes. Unfortunately, they continue making the same mistakes that made HS 4 so bad. The sad thing is it would truly be a better more interesting show if they had more even coverage of all couples. I continue to hope we will see more equal coverage of all the contestants, but i have doubts.

You are so right! It's beyond frustrating. I was hoping that we'd see changes for Heart Pairing, but it's basically Heart Signal 5. Why even bother changing the name?

You are not alone. I agree it's unfair to focus majority of screentime on just one person. I really wish the show would give equal time to all the couples and contestants.

I agree; so frustrating. I was hoping things would be different this time, but the show is continuing with the same, old, Heart Signal tropes of focusing on one person and crafting the show around them. This time its Jaeyeon. Who will she choose? Will it be Ji Min? So the whole show focus on JaeYeon and Ji Min date. I wish we could see more equal time spent on All the couples.

True!

Yes, I'm sure it was not easy to watch things get cut from the script. Yes, I enjoyed thus drama, too.

Thanks for your insights. It is unfortunate that this drama had to deal with the censorship issues. In spite of all the issues, I think this drama was a good one with a nice plot and good acting by the cast.

Second to Last Love (2016)