Eleison

I'm not a fan of BL, so I'm hesitant to start this since I'm reading similar things on this thread to the thread for The Devil Judge where people insisted it was not a BL; I'm noticing those who usually enjoy BLs also seem to love this (and so with Devil Judge) and see this drama as a decent substitute for a BL.

While it wasn't overt, I felt undertones of romantic tension between the MLs in The Devil Judge and did not agree with those who said what they shared was just friendship. I'm trying to avoid venturing into another drama that feels like a closet BL.

And anyone able to comment on the feel of the chemistry shared by the leads rather than just the overt words and obvious interactions between them? I'm looking for the camaraderie and connection of friendship, not subtle, romantic subtext bubbling suggestively beneath the surface.

Do you know if Zhao Lu Si did her own dubbing for Hidden Love and Love Like The Galaxy? Her voice seems the same in both.

What did you think of the rest? 😏

Is that supposed to be Jang Nara in the poster? It looks nothing like her?

So it sounds like the two personalities described here are not so much two personas that the ML displays intentionally when being his Crown Prince self or his hidden identify self, but more the Kill Me, Heal Me and Bad and Crazy route where the alternate personality spontaneously surfaces and controls the character? I'm curious about the distinction because while I could stomach this type of dual personality in Bad and Crazy due to the way it was portrayed, I couldn't make it past the first episode of Kill Me, Heal Me. Am I right about the distinction in how the two personalities are portrayed? And for those who have started this: of the dramas I mentioned in comparison to it, which of them feels most similar to this drama in its portrayal of a dual personality?

Loved Park Ji Hoon in everything else I've seen him in, though. :)

Yes, maybe a bit naive; my impression was she got where she was because she was genuinely good at what she did (at least as they portray/write her), so her hard work eventually paid off after many years of showing excellent work and improving in her craft and attracting the attention of the right people through the quality of her work rather than networking her way to the top; the way things go down with the scandal indicates she maybe wasn't actually super adept at the networking, angling and whining and dining required to maintain her status and success. If this is true, the premise that she reaches these heights through her merits may not be realistic to industries like hers; I imagine it's usually more complicated than just becoming successful because you're objectively the best at something? That said, you probably still have to have good skills of some kind to make it in a cutthroat industry (you can't survive long on just "who you know" or being in the right place at the right time--at least, I hope? Maybe I'm too idealistic 😂), and Eun Joo revealed she didn't have the skills.

Whether or not Sam Dal's road to success was realistic, it remains true that cutting corners never pays off. When the time comes for you to deliver on the person you've projected yourself to be (and you haven't done the work to become that person), you won't be able to. And the time of reckoning will come: you will be exposed for the fraud that you are. *shudder* I can't think of many things more genuinely humiliating than that...

Ah! Huh, I didn't get those vibes, but maybe you're right. My impression was that Baek Du and Jin Su will move past their frenemy stage to become closer and understand each other better; just my prediction!

I think they've established that the fixer was the coach who died (or committed suicide, still unclear if he was murdered or not).

Yes! I anticipate Yong Pil's going to be livid that he went through 8 years of unnecessary heartache because of his dad, and not because he did something wrong and not because Sam Dal had issues with him. So infuriating!

When I think about it, sometimes it's refreshing to have villains who are not morally gray at all. And thinking Eun Joo is a bug is at least ONE thing everyone on this thread can agree about. 😏

So glad Yong Pil knows why she broke up with him now. His dad's going to regret showing all his cards...

I wonder if this dialect is Gyeongsang satoori? Based on what I could understand of the article (my Hangul is still pretty limited 😂), that would be my guess.

He even seems to have changed his gait/the way he walks for this character!

I do think this show would land more convincingly if they had the leads 10-12 years younger... Thankfully so many of the side/support characters are likeable that they balance out the time with the leads. I don't mind the leads, but so far they're definitely not up there with my favorite lead couples, to be sure.

The FL was introduced so strangely in Episode 1, I agree! It was kind of driving me crazy how mysterious she was, but it gets better and clearer in Episode 3. :) I like how odd she is; she stands out among FLs (as does the ML in this).

Ooh, thanks for all the tips!

I used the app since I don't go on my laptop much. :) It's not terrible, but it does have some quirks and bugs from time to time.

Thanks! 👍

It definitely feels a bit similar in that they both take place in small towns near the sea, and there's that gossip-y element where characters can never get away with things without being noticed.

There were some characters in HCCC that I got bored with if they focused on them, but in this drama, they spread time well over all the characters and I like everyone's stories. I don't think the main leads have as much of that "falling in love" pizzazz as HCCC because it's really awkward for the leads in WTS for much of the first half since they're exes. And that's the other big difference, in HCCC you felt like you were discovering the small town alongside the FL; in this drama, you feel like you're getting a window into a world where everyone already knows each other and they're healing past relationships, starting over, etc. You're coming into something that already has past momentum, unlike in HCCC. Hope that helps.

P.S. It also feels more like a PSA for living outside Seoul and getting married and having children. 😂 For instance, in the way they portray the FL with her two sisters is darling, and they aren't shying away from showcasing Jeju's charms, either.

Maybe more cozy and comforting than interesting. The characters are portrayed well by the actors and the pacing is good with virtually no filler somehow. I'm still blown away that this drama managed to spend so many episodes on basically one plot, two characters, and very few tumultuous events; even the dramatic parts felt tame compared to most dramas. Episodes 12-15 were my favorite. Episode 13 had some romantic writing I've never seen before (the way the ML pursues the FL once he knows he likes her is unique, in my opinion), oh, and the leads' chemistry is 🔥. No discussion, it's unrivaled in my experience of 100+ dramas.

I started to really enjoy the drama after Episode 8, but you do kind of need the earlier episodes to set up stuff that happens later and connect to those earlier episodes. Some get weirded out by how young the FL is at the beginning (she is older than she looks, and they use the same ML for the earlier episodes and later episodes which throws people off, I think), but NO romantic feelings develop on the ML's part for the FL until she's in college.