Eleison

But much of Ji Hwan's arc is him working up the courage, self-esteem and confidence to pursue Eun Ha. Isn't his jealousy and fear he'll lose Eun Ha to another guy how he gains the courage? I struggle to see how Ji Hwan's arc could progress without the 2ML acting as a catalyst for action on our ML's part.

I'm not saying romances always need 2MLs to be good, I'm saying that for this drama, the 2ML seems integral to the plot and development of our leads.

It did bother me that the English translation said the ex-cons' dog was a bulldog, but it's obvious to anyone who knows anything about dog breeds that the dog is a Frenchie; true, the full name is a French Bulldog, but a no one ever calls them "bulldogs," at least not in English. 🤔

When did he lie to her? Keep watching, he'll tell her he's not the guy she was hoping he was.

He's very persistent, but he's not evil or bad; it's just that Seo Ji Hwan has so many Victorian damsel, "I don't deserve her," "I am too dangerous for her to love," etc. complexes as well as ZERO experience pursuing a girl he liked, that he needed some stiff competition to kick him into gear.

Also, after all this stuff about children and their soft spot for them ... they need to show our MC with some of their own. :)

It sounded like something you'd like! Another good one. :)

Also, the drunk playground scene...

I nearly died!

That little hoarse squeak Ji Hwan makes as he walks across the play rope bridge with his arms stretched out...

🤣🤣🤣

Cute, hilariously unexpected, endearing--gosh, never seen anything like it!

Well, he hasn't really done many dramas recently, not compared to most actors his age.

In Episode 5, when Eun Ha is brought home with Seo Ji Hwan to be the ex-cons' tutor, it feels reminiscent of Peter Pan presenting Wendy to the Lost Boys as their new "mother." 😂

Darling.

I remember while it was airing, the responses were mixed. Many thought it was a masterpiece, and just as many thought it was overrated. I can see why people feel both ways about it. I was pretty motivated to watch it until the revenge got too intense for me. I just couldn't watch some of the scenes at the end. They left a bad taste in my mouth.

Well, it's from a similar era.

Haha, when Kdramas go hard on the COM in rom-com, they can feel super cheesy. Once I accepted it was just a part of the genre, I enjoyed them much better. I've also slowly curated my exposure to older dramas, and those tend to have way more of the cheesy humor and misunderstandings, so I'm grateful that at least rom-coms these days aren't cheesy AND low budget. 😂

That said, there's still something cozy about the old dramas, though. They're just different than the more recent dramas, and they have their own charm.

It does have a very serious theme once you get farther into the movie. It can be a bit disturbing, but the friendship still has a very amateur buddy-cop feel to it which pervaded even the darker stuff so I still enjoyed it.

Haha, oh dear, we keep misunderstanding each other because once again I'm super confused. Oh well, it happens! 💁‍♀️ No need to explain; I'll let you figure out for yourself if you'll like it or not without doing any more consulting, haha. Cheers!

Have you seen Reply 1988? I think you'd like that one, too. A lot about the joy of youth, too, but more poignant and realistic than LR.

Yes, had the typical slow spot, unfortunately. A common Kdrama pitfall. 12 episodes would have been perfect.

It's also related to her fan club name, "Carry/Kidnap Sun Jae and Run!"

Yes! And sometimes this sort of thing is cleverly revealed after the ML confesses, and through flashbacks we see them overlay the ML's perspective onto scenes with the ML and FL where we only got HER perspective originally but now we get HIS; either way works, I just like when it's done. 😂

Yes, your descriptions of Wanning and Fang Fei were on point! I really liked the way revenge was portrayed in this drama. (Well-put!)

Yes, instead of trying to focus on hurting those that hurt her, like a typical revenge story might, she focuses on helping others who were wronged and exploited like herself. She didn't go about if perfectly, but she had so much compassion on those around her, and it was just SO fun to watch her use her brilliance (which she never really tapped into when she was married to Shen Yurong, I think) to win allies and, by triumphantly championing the downtrodden, revenging herself on her enemies.

I see, then that makes sense! One consolation for you: there will be no 2MLS in this. :)

Your response was so lovely! Thanks for responding so thoughtfully in return. I hope you know I wasn't trying to school you or scold you, because I see what you were trying to say, but it worries me that people are using the pain they suffered as excuses for their own damaging behavior, and I think it's a serious issue. I get so into things like this, and then I go on and on 😂.

Isn't it interesting that Wanning exploited Shen Yurong sexually, just like she was exploited sexually? I had a friend who fantasized about bashing in his dad's head with a golf club one day because he'd grown up being abused physically by him.

My friend didn't follow through, thank goodness, but he realized, horrified, that his hate towards his own father could very well turn him into the sort of person his dad was: a man who would get violent when angry and bitter, and hurt those closest to him in the process. It was learning to forgive his dad that changed his story (and stopped the cycle of abuse in his family). It wasn't a fast process. It took him time and being a part of a loving support system that helped him learn to forgive, but he now has freedom from his hate.

Now, I will admit, I don't think evil that we've experienced can be forgiven on our own. It's not really something we can accomplish by "trying" really hard at. My friend could only forgive his father once he experienced forgiveness from others for ways HE (my friend) had messed up. Because my friend had to realize that even though he was hurt in traumatic ways by his dad, he was far from an "innocent" himself.

ALL of us hurt those around us through our selfishness (especially those closes to us), even if we're not as extreme as rapists or murderers or domestic abusers; we ALL do things that hurt and exploit others for our own gain (i.e. we try to control them and turn them into people we want them to be, we discourage them because we're angry at them, belittle them, make them feel less than, call them names and "punish" them through our behavior, we withhold good things from them or hold back showing love to get them to change, etc.). All of us are perpetrators of some form of evil, and it's necessary for us to own up to it.

Csuse, what if we do these things to them over, and over and over again? How about over a lifetime? In this sense, haven't we hurt others, too? Once we realize this, how can we point fingers? And what if we receive love and forgiveness from those we've hurt, despite hurting them? What if they don't hate us, but continue to want good things for us and love us despite the way we've hurt them and used them? If we can be forgiven for our mistakes, how can we not forgive others for theirs?

I think such a realization can empower us to forgive (and maybe even love) those who have hurt us. Forgiveness is not reconciling with the person who hurt us, necessarily, but it is releasing our hatred of them and not allowing it to have power over us. So, so, so hard, but it's the only way I think change and transformation can occur, and cycles of abuse and wickedness can end. It's only possible if we've been loved first, despite our brokenness (like Fang Fei; she could become a different person because she was loved and valued (by her family, by Jiang Li, who sacrificed her life for her) and even though one of those people she loved turned on her in a horrible betrayal (her first husband), she didn't let her hate and bitterness turn her into a Wanning; instead, she chose love and gratitude, and let (real) Jiang Li's sacrifice and selflessness propel her towards championing the good and the just).

I don't know if they wrote forgiveness into Fang Fei's arc, but they showed that what she accomplished was only possible through selfless, unconditional love, and I think THAT is at the heart of all forgiveness, healing and transformation.

Wanning's tragedy is that no one showed her the way of love, because (as far as we could see) no one loved her. What a heartbreaking reality to experience!