Started watching for Ji Chang Wook, stayed for Wi Ha Joon😩 Mann, why are villans so captivating?? Now imma…
Even though Little Women was a flawed project (the last two episodes annoyed the heck out of me) he was fantastic there. Really hot. The best character in that crazy show.
I honestly wish the husband, Capt Gu wasn't such a downright piece of rubbish from first to last. The guy is a hopeless cause but then he was the interloper in that relationship anyway. Besides, only an out-of-the-box thinker like Jang-hyeon can love and understand a courageous woman out of time like Gil-chae. I'm glad she went back to Joseon and saw for herself firsthand what an unreliable man she married.
Ryang Eeum is frustrating the heck out of me. It's one step forward and two steps back. It feels like he and Manchu Princess are cut from the same cloth at the moment. It's kind of odd thinking to me too that when a man is willing to cross the sea, climb mountains, be a pincushion for the woman he loves -- apparently she's the problem. Somehow she's a curse? Isn't a good thing that a man is happy to lay down his life for the woman he loves? Isn't it a sign of commitment? What about individual agency? So the time Ryang Eeum was tortured or got into trouble because of some hairbrained scheme of Jang-hyeon -- by the same logic, is Jang-hyeon is a curse to him too? I know it's jealousy and spite talking but someone needs to take the lad aside and give him a good kick in the backside.
Episode 15 theme: Love is finally in the air Firstly, I knew Jong Hong wasn’t dead. Secondly, I’m glad that…
I think Jang-hyeon needed to be honest with Gil-chae too. He was playing mind games with her. It goes both ways. She didn't know what the heck was going on.
While I wouldn't call this a masterpiece I enjoyed the ride from start to finish. I came here for Ji Chang-wook and Wi Ha-jun and I wasn't disappointed. I don't think it was a gangster story as much as it was a morality tale featuring cops and gangsters with a drug cartel angle. There were a number of ways the show could have ended but I think the one they went with was generally consistent with the themes. Could the show have done better? Sure. Were the women necessary to the story? It was for the story they wanted to tell. In the final analysis it is a cautionary parable of two men with similar backgrounds but making completely different choices.
It's the first Ji Chang-wook drama I've been able to finish since Suspicious Partner -- I consider that a win.
I am genuinely surprised that anybody thought that Gi-cheul would come out of this situation unscathed and drive off into the sunset with the girl. There's no way that would ever happen in this story. He'd gone too far. He was unrepentant to the last sadly and only saw himself the victim of betrayal.
I remember Ning Li from Ordinary Greatness. He was really good there as Zhang Ruoyun's mentor and also good here. His voice is so soothing to listen to.
It's the ending I expected but not in the way I expected. If that makes any sense. :P
I was uneasy about Eui-jeong's part in this but the ending proved that it was deliberate -- she was written as a double-edged sword. To both men she was a lifeline and held out the possibility of redemption. On the other hand, to both she became a stumbling block, confusion and a downfall. She tried to save two men and couldn't hold on to either. It's very very subversive. And dark. Not to mention a brutal overturning of the first love trope.
A tragic and melancholy tale of evil lurking in every soul. I liked it.
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Besides, only an out-of-the-box thinker like Jang-hyeon can love and understand a courageous woman out of time like Gil-chae. I'm glad she went back to Joseon and saw for herself firsthand what an unreliable man she married.
Ryang Eeum is frustrating the heck out of me. It's one step forward and two steps back. It feels like he and Manchu Princess are cut from the same cloth at the moment. It's kind of odd thinking to me too that when a man is willing to cross the sea, climb mountains, be a pincushion for the woman he loves -- apparently she's the problem. Somehow she's a curse? Isn't a good thing that a man is happy to lay down his life for the woman he loves? Isn't it a sign of commitment? What about individual agency? So the time Ryang Eeum was tortured or got into trouble because of some hairbrained scheme of Jang-hyeon -- by the same logic, is Jang-hyeon is a curse to him too? I know it's jealousy and spite talking but someone needs to take the lad aside and give him a good kick in the backside.
It's the first Ji Chang-wook drama I've been able to finish since Suspicious Partner -- I consider that a win.
More thoughts under spoiler tags.
I was uneasy about Eui-jeong's part in this but the ending proved that it was deliberate -- she was written as a double-edged sword. To both men she was a lifeline and held out the possibility of redemption. On the other hand, to both she became a stumbling block, confusion and a downfall. She tried to save two men and couldn't hold on to either. It's very very subversive. And dark. Not to mention a brutal overturning of the first love trope.
A tragic and melancholy tale of evil lurking in every soul. I liked it.
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/my-week-in-dramas-25-october-my-dearest