Eleison

Yeah, I think you're right! Both women are going to help each other in ways they need, I just hope the ghost singing ends soon cause it stresses me out; it was this sort of lying that made me enjoy Start-Up a little less.

Kdramas = *Cliches and tropes

*Just have to decide which ones are to your taste and which you can't stand 😂

I think it's Park Eun Bin? That's what I've been seeing everyone saying on this thread, at least. I haven't researched it myself, but that's what I've heard.

I think they were showing in the scene between Ran Joo and Seo Joon that she has unhealthy patterns of being used by him. She knows that going to him is like "eating the horse chestnuts" again (like Mok Ha talked about when she was on the island), but she's desperate, lonely and depressed about becoming a "failure."

I haven't enjoyed a drama this much in a long time, either. I thought the premise sounded the worst out of all this screenwriter's dramas (it sounded more like a hokey premise like you find in Park Ji Eun dramas, even though they're still always good), but I have loved all her other dramas and was relieved to find she didn't disappoint.

Since I discovered Kdramas, I was so strategic in finding the classics and the dramas I was confident I'd like that I feel like I've watched my way through most of the good ones 😅. Now I rely on new releases and they are, as I'm sure you know, very hit and miss. Here's hoping this one continues to go smoothly!

Happy to share. :) I hope you enjoy it!

I figured it'd be back (I assume it was removed by mistake?) because this writer has romance in every drama she's done except MAYBE Page Turner and that one was abnormal as it's only three episodes.

I'll have to try some of these! Penthouse I haven't seen because I don't usually love makjangs.

Dr. Romantic 2 is also in my top 5. It's so good. I like character growth dramas and Seasons 1 and 2 have really awesome character arcs for the leads. Dr. Romantic is awesome but I liked Season 2 a bit better because the male lead is more likeable sooner. 😏 But both have their charms! I will say the two main leads in Dr. Romantic do have one of my favorite romantic scenes of any drama I've seen and their chemistry is very good.

P.S. Did anyone else notice that Bo Geol, despite fussing about Mok Ha getting an email, ended up sending the flash drive with Woo Hak to deliver to her? Once again, he's shown being thoughtful; his thoughtfulness is just packaged in prickles.

Also, it still bothers me that there is no young male actor listed for Ki Ho's brother. How will we get flashbacks? And in Woo Hak's memory that returned, it's clearly the voice of the actor who played young Ki Ho. These are literally the only two things that make me think Woo Hak just might be Ki Ho. If there is not another child actor who could be Ki Ho's brother, than Woo Hak's memories must indeed be Ki Ho's memories since he must be the only one with the dad...

Yes, same here. Park Ji Eun (Crash Landing) is probably my second favorite, and Kang Eun Kyung (Dr. Romantic) is up there, too. Sometimes I like Kim Eun Sook but she's much more hit and miss. I can respect her for writing hits and can see why her dramas are popular. They're just not always to my taste. Goblin was probably her best but I hated the ending, haha (Mr. Sunshine, too. I know it's a story set during war, but I thought all those deaths were so unnecessary).

Yes, I considered that it could be Woo Hak who answered the door but Ki Ho was in the room or nearby and said that which is why we hear his voice? It's still puzzling, though!

And now that they added the romance tag back (which I figured would happen since this screenwriter hasn't written a drama without romance of some kind), we know Bo Geol is endgame due to the cast list. And that's why I want him to be Ki Ho so that they end up together, but I'm trying to keep an open mind, just in case. It's hard, though. 😅 I do trust the screenwriter, but after Start-Up, I'll admit, I am a BIT nervous about being messed with.

And yes, the dad definitely has a screw loose. Clearly a messed up dude.

Yes, we'll see about this one! I'm enjoying it so far. She has all the same heartwarming characters and interactions characteristic of all her dramas, but Start-Up was just so stressful. 😅 While You Were Sleeping and I Can Hear Your Voice are intense and a bit far-fetched at times but also so cozy and endearing at the same time. I think she gets that characters have to grow to be interesting, and is amazing at showing that growth. I just think Start-Up was kind of a miss in emphasis; I preferred the lighter love triangles and I think she does a better job when the female leads take a more prominent role in the story itself. While Suzy was obviously front and center in Start-Up, her character fell kind of flat for me because she had so much less character growth than the two male leads. Everything revolved around her, but the story didn't really end up being ABOUT her, as opposed to WYWS which balanced perfectly between the FL and ML and IHYV was most definitely about the FL. Happy to find another Park Hye Ryun fan! :)

If Bo Geol is Ki Ho, I still can't get over how he is treating Mok Ha. I have no idea how they'll successfully explain his behavior away. 🤯

Why does Woo Hak have Ki Ho's memories? 😬 That was 100% our young Ki Ho actor's voice in the background of the flashback.

The fact that Bo Geol went to Mok Ha's rescue means he is either Ki Ho or Ki Ho is someone he wishes to protect, and he's clearly in the know about everything regarding Mok Ha and Ki Ho. Also, I think Mok Ha recognized Ki Ho's father's face, which is why she got so terrified? And maybe the part about her saying "Desperation makes us fools," was not only about Ran Joo but also about herself; that maybe she should have known Ki Ho was trying to avoid his dad? I love that she's still plucky and smart, and she totally picked up on how awful Ran Joo's CEO was. She's inexperienced but also quite perceptive. She's clearly been through a lot, but like her middle school self, she puts on a brave face in the presence of hardship and adversity.

I am nervous about Ran Joo and the ghost singing; I don't think Ran Joo is planning on doing anything but helping Mok Ha, but I am afraid of the fallout from their deception.

If Ki Ho's dad is such a psycho, and he potentially hurt not only Ki Ho's mom but also whoever Woo Hak ends up being, why isn't the guy in prison? How did he get away with all this garbage?

Does the fact that we see a recent memory of Ki Ho's dad mean Woo Hak met him to collect the flowers? If so, the dad clearly didn't recognize Woo Hak or think he was anyone special. That seems telling considering Bo Geol later tries very hard to hide his face from the dad when rescuing Mok Ha.

I know there are no answers to these questions right now... but I still have them. 😭

@gugulucas If I may chime in, too. While You Were Sleeping and I Hear Your Voice are excellent. Far more enjoyable to watch than Start-Up. I liked them better than Page Turner and Pinnochio, too, but all of this screenwriter's dramas after Dream High are stellar. I Can Hear Your Voice's filming does feel a bit dated, but once you get past that it's so poignant and lovely. While You Were Sleeping has the higher production value, with excellent acting from the entire cast, as well as the good writing (which all her dramas have in common. :)).

She succeed in getting you invested, if nothing else! 😅 Did you make it through the whole drama? I find she's quite good at making you care about characters and their stories, even if the direction she takes things is not to everyone's taste. If you haven't already, try While You Were Sleeping. It's a classic (so far I think it's her best and most "typical" Kdrama-wise while still being artistic, heartwarming, funny and clever) and very light on the love triangle.

Nam Do San was endgame just from his placement in the cast list. Why did people who watch/are familiar with unspoken Kdrama rules think it would end differently? 🤔 I loved watching both male leads grow, but boy was the process painful. To me, both are deeply flawed, but because of that they felt so human.

I found this a difficult drama to get through (I had to watch it in short bursts), not so much because of the ML or SML debate, but because of the lying. This drama showed (albeit in a more convoluted/unrealistic way than would exist in real life because in real life people communicate better) that even the most well-intentioned lies/dishonesty come back to haunt you. It speaks powerfully to the torment of duplicity and its devastation on relationships. The message is crushing, but SO true. Can there be forgiveness, healing and reconciliation after deceiving/hurting those we love? Definitely possible (though not easy!). Will we have life-long regrets and consequences from our duplicity that we can never escape or fix? Without question.

If you can't normally handle long, drawn-out reveals for lies told, this drama may not be for you.

I can see why you'd think this, but I don't think Ran Joo is Mok Ha's mom. The ages and timeline don't check out. In Episode 1 we see that Mok Ha is in her early teens, and we hear Ran Joo is in her twenties. Even if Ran Joo was 29, that means she would have had to have Mok Ha in her early teens, which seems extremely unlikely, and there's no way she would have been married at that age either.

Yeah, some dramas have lovely little BGMs that don't even get listed at all, even in an official release, so you can't even find them on YouTube. For instance, I remember this beautiful, short piano melody that shows up maybe three times in Crash Landing On You and it was NOWHERE to be found. 😭 I was so sad! And if I want to listen to it again I have to find the spot where it played in the episode. 😑 But I can't play THAT in the background when I drive my car!

Oh, thank you! And thanks for sharing! And yes, I usually am more likely to know the name of the composer of a score in a film than know who all the actors are. 😅 It is too bad the composers don't get more recognition. Some of the BGMs are as lovely as western scores for films and they get so much more recognition and notoriety than can be had from the "Various Artists" designation. And I was originally confused by the distinction between BGM and OST; I was always so puzzled as to why the songs with lyrics popped up whenever I typed in a drama title and "soundtrack" after it on Spotify and none of the music I was actually looking for was listed. 😂 I eventually figured it out. 😏

Whoops, sorry! I should have marked it as a spoiler. Didn't mean to offend.