Deminia

For those of you who have been skipping or pausing until the story gets good again, I can recommend eps 37 and parts of 38 as worth watching. I cheered at 2 points in the story and even cried twice. Jia Lin is one smart girl and I love where her story is going, despite the cutsie pie baby talk stuff. I really liked how XY handled things and LOVED how Jialin stood up to her parents. Other parts of the story were just meh for me.

Yes, Koreans dramas of the past were far less conservative. So many of them are hard to rewatch (or watch for the first time through 2024 eyes.)

For me, despite Jia Lin being childish at times and throwing fits, the lawyer-sister storyline is the only one I became fully invested in and continue to want to know the ending of. They are the only couple that I am rooting for and the ones ones who have shown emotional growth. I feel like the other couples have a lot of major issues that won't resolve themselves just because of an apology and a kiss.

JC is the one I feel bad about the most, as he has had so many upsetting things to deal with and has been trying to be a good person throughout.

There were a lot of questionable parts of the story in the Korean version. The acting was great and so was the base story, but it was really hard to take some of the elements.

Many things are the same as the Korean version, but they did change some details. I have seen the Korean version and it has not aged well - many things that were meant as humor would be frowned upon if it were part of the story today. I respected the acting and the basic story from the original, but have been happy with some of the changes made in this new version.

Seriously. How would a little kid who has lived his entire life in another country seek out the house of a man he has met once or twice? It was nonsense.

They are really broken up as of today's episodes. Prior to this, XX said she wanted to break up, ran away, and refused to speak to ML or hear any explanations. However, the ML was able to convince her to reconsider, so they didn't fully break up. So of course the very next time the ex called and needed help, he dashed off instantly. After that incident, they both agreed to break up - XX can't trust him and he feels like there is nothing else he can do to convince her. The previews for tomorrow's eps look like the breakup is still ongoing, but the previews have been a bit misleading each time so who knows.

Exactly - he never should have answered her call in the first place. He also should not have accepted babysitting her sick kid, even though XX said it was OK. She never should have gotten any other 4 buddies involved whom she have literally cut off contact with for 6 years or so. She is a professional single mother and she needs to be responsible for her child. If I had lost my own child in a public park, I would not have called my ex but alerted the security on site immediately.

The Korean version even had a very questionable part when the ex comes back and all 4 buddies are unsure which of them could be the father of her son. I am glad this part of the story was heavily altered in the Chinese version.

Yes it appears to be, although with some changes.

Oh I agree that she has been very unreasonable towards him previously. She is far too quick to assume things and reacts poorly. This was really the only time where her getting mad made sense, even after he explained. But she jumps to "let's break up" instead of "I am mad and I am letting you know why. Give me some space to calm down a bit, we'll talk tomorrow" or whatever.

The next set of episodes yes.

XY has never followed up his words of rejection with his actions .... for years. He accepts all of her gifts, food, tolerates her behavior, etc. In the most recent episodes, we once again see her pampering and fawning over him, he tells her to stop as usual... but when she leaves the room we see him smiling and almost giggling. He likes her that way (don't ask me, ask the writers). He just couldn't accept her due to guilt.

I think XX was a bit justified to be upset this time though. Breaking up is a bit much, but I agreed with her getting angry. I doubt this will happen, but I'd almost rather they stay broken up and find new people.

Yes, exactly that.

The kid is NOT his. Definitely not his. Explained fully.

ML and FL really break up. ML did not waver, but he did once again dash off to help his ex when she was too busy to watch her son while taking pics in a public park (in what is to her young son a foreign country) and he goes missing. The reasonable response would have been to call the police, let XX know that he wanted to help find the kid (she might have even offered to help knowing XX), but instead he tossed her flowers into a trash can and ran to save the ex in distress. XX has been unreasonable in the past, but I'd be mad at him too this time.

XL and JL get together. JC is shown to be angry about it in the previews.

So today's episodes answered a few of the big questions we have had. I will spoiler tag as a reply to this.

Jia Lin's story and the friendship scenes of the 4 main guys are the only parts of the story I am currently interested in at this point. A lot of people don't like her character, but her story with the laywer is the only one I really feel like learning about.

In the Korean version, the ML was sleeping with other women while still trying to convince the FL to be with him. It made a lot of sense for the FL in that version to be so upset when the ex showed up because the guy had been such a player in the past. It seems like they kept the FL doesn't trust the ML part but changed the ML so much from the original, so it doesn't really make sense for her to distrust him immediately like that..

I feel like 40 episodes is far too many for this show. I would love to see an edited cut of just all of the short interview intros showing the buddies, which have all been entertaining. All of the dramatic elements that keep getting tossed into the script are getting frustrating.... and I had been enjoying it. However, by episode 30 onward, I am starting to get really tired with certain parts of the story. It was better as a more slice of life story, but it has become more melodramatic.

I had been enjoying this drama until around episode 30, which is when things started to get draggy for me. I watched the most recent episodes mostly with my FF button engaged during most of the work related talk and the 2ML's mother scenes. I did have a loud chuckle and almost spilled my coffee after the lawyer walked into the cafe wearing a shirt that said "Hypocrite" in huge letters on the back right after his previous scene giving BS excuses to the cafe guy. Even the costume designer was getting fed up with the script. Lol.