Eleison

I briefly felt the hypocrisy of TY telling the vice principal, "She said she doesn't want to," when the vice principal tried a second time to suck up to her. As if KS saying that ever stopped TY from persisting! That said, what makes these scenarios different is that the vice principal made KS think he liked her THEN capitalized on their relationship. TY was up front from the start and never deceived her about his intentions when he was trying to win her over to choose him as her agent. Also, knowing TY did that because he doesn't want his mom to die made me feel more compassion for his poor recruiting methods but less so for the entitled, gaslighting bum the bf ended up being.

I agree that this can be a tiresome trope in most dramas, but I agree with @ninadophin that in this case, it makes more sens than other versions of this trope I've seen. This is not a stupid reason for distancing himself, but I agree it's still a tad bit frustrating. That said, I don't think it will last long. We only have four episodes left, so they can't stretch it out for too much longer. 😏

I love the screenwriter who wrote Start-Up (since several of her other dramas are my all time favorites), and while I still think it was a very well done drama (I think the themes are powerful), I can totally see why it was controversial and so polarizing. It wasn't a binge-able drama, that's for sure, but Kim Seon Ho very much steals the show.

I thought about him going to the police, too, but I think from his perspective his hands were tied in a few ways. If he had gone to the police, his mom could have been in danger and he didn't know how far the syndicate's reach was. He also would have tanked his career as well as his friend's, and even more than caring about his own job I think he would have hated to ruin HW's chances.

The way TY talked about the game fixing from the start made me think of the way a high school student (who mostly follows the rules) might see other kids doing drugs at school; even though they don't do it themselves and would never participate if they had the choice, they won't tell an adult (i.e. the police in this drama) it's happening because that's snitching and goes against a "code."

@8325183 Are you saying the ML was wrong because he humored the game fixers (by agreeing to pay HW's debt) rather than reporting them and/or his friend when he knew his friend might move forward with it despite ML's warning? He technically had nothing to do with the game fixing, and only got involved insofar as he is paying his friend's debt since his friend backed out of his part of the deal at the last moment.

"Jerk persona" is a good way of putting it. 😅 And yes, a good example is Secret Garden. After watching 14 or 15 episodes of Hyun Bin playing a handsome jerk, I finally thought, oh THIS is why people think this is a beautiful romance? Not quite sure how I made it that far, but yeah, never again. 😂

Yes, both leads are really interesting and organically fleshed out over the course of the episodes. I love how you can't pin down when and where the leads start falling for each other; their affection for each other sneaks up on us. Also, the actors and those making the film have managed to build chemistry and romantic tension between the leads without having to do lots of obvious, clunky movements to create romantic tension that doesn't require subtlety from the script, filming and acting. These characters in their decisions show they are beginning to like each other (script), even in the way they banter and talk (actors). It makes the development of the relationship so much more compelling!

Tae Young's role (with the subtlety as played by Sang Yeob) feels reminiscent to me of Kim Seon Ho's role as Han Ji Pyeong. He's not quite as noisy and belligerent as Tae Young, but a character that could have easily been just a jerk (as opposed to a hurting man who makes a lot of mistakes but is impossible to dislike) in a less capable actor's hands.

I was confused about all this, too. The game fixers made it sound like HW could solve the debt issue that HW came to realize had been shouldered entirely by Tae Young. The scenes we saw implied HW took them up on their offer, but what did he do exactly? Did they make him kill himself? But if so, I don't understand how the game fixers gained by his suicide? Or did he do something that he regretted (which has yet to be revealed) that caused him to take his life afterwards?

And if they wanted to scare Tae Young, why kill HW rather than his mother? I suppose to keep their leverage over him?

And another thing: why would HW try to protect TY when TY did nothing wrong? He was the one trying to talk HW out of the game fixing the whole time. I get that TY'dTY's career as an agent is jeopardized if he works with game fixers, but he was actively trying to keep then at bay and remain honest, yes?

Definitely feel like there's stuff that has yet to be explained!

I would also like to echo the sentiments of others on this thread about how good this is so far (and join the wonder around why it's not more popular). I know nothing about game fixing so I was pretty confused about what was going on at first, but I now get enough of the idea to track with the significance of what occured.

I've only seen Sang Yeob in Signal and While You Were Sleeping as a villain, so I love that in this drama I get to root for him! He's doing a fabulous job and bringing layers of nuance to his role; he's such an interesting character to watch develop and progress. I love how Kdramas take characters who start out unlikable and make us love them by the end. I love to watch stories about kind of awful people growing to become better versions of themselves (either by coming to realize there's more to them than we originally thought, or because characters do actually grow before our eyes as the story progresses!). I think this is partly why romances like Boys Over Flowers and Pride and Prejudice are so popular.

I also love that Kwon Suk can be tough and stand up for herself but is also be feminine and girly, gentle and sweet. She's compassionate and kind but doesn't let people walk all over her, either. For instance, I love the scene where she acted liked Tae Young to pull him out of his grief. She's very human, rather than merely stereotyped in the tropey ways she could have been portrayed as a female athlete (her portray reminded me of Weightlifting Fairy).

Do you think Tae Young wants Kwon Suk to keep boxing (and so changed his mind from what he had originally promised her) because he actually thinks she likes it and so his change in resolve is due to care for her, or is it out of greediness and realizing he needs more money and could get more out of her? The fact that he was turned off by the bf's fame/money-mongering attempt makes me hope he's now acting out of true care for Kown Suk as much as his responsibility to his debts (i.e. protecting his mother) will allow.

So far they've shown how everyone sees him as greedy and cutthroat, and yet we have also been gradually seeing that this view of him has come to exist because his awful personality masks his true intentions and care for his athletes. His extremely pragmatic side seems to demonstratively outshine his care so people don't see it unless they look closer.

I loved how Tae Young eventually can't help it and points out that the vice principal got interested once he started realizing how famous she was. I loved that Tae Young already picked up on this but had been keeping it to himself cause he didn't want to completely squash her puppy love (it showed us he did want to support her despite all his incessant nagging to the contrary, and the nagging might have also been to protect her from this icky dude). I also like that Kwon Suk can see past his nagging, and realized it's his personality and that there's more that motivates it than what appears on the surface.

I think he has brains in the sense that he's intelligent, but he's impulsive and reckless because of the deep emotional connection he has to everyone he touches. He feels what they feel, suffers with them, and lets his passion to right their wrongs and the desire to eliminate their pain override his judgment and common sense. Hence, the charging into everything without thinking first. He gets so carried away, and once those near him understand WHY he's like that, they defend and protect him. How can they not become endeared to him once they see his very simple, earnest desire to help people, even at the expense of police protocol and his own safety?

Though there's no denying he's a bull in a china shop, for sure! 😅

I am enjoying this (almost done), but it is VERY dark, and shows some extremely awful humans doing truly horrific things. It felt much darker than other notoriously dark dramas like Beyond Evil, Flower of Evil or Hello Monster, etc.

Dong Baek and Seon Mi do seem to be able to get away with the wildest stuff, and these two departments seem to be the only policemen in Korea, haha, but what confused me and threw me for a loop at the end (more than the reveal that the Eraser was Dong Baek's sister), was that the NIS (which is supposed to PROTECT the country, yes?) probably knew all along who the Eraser was (they were monitoring her, too?!? Why didn't they tell Dong Baek he had a sister who could do what he did?!?) and just let her kill dozens of people and let the police force run around like chickens with their heads cut off when the whole manhunt could have been concluded so much more quickly, and saved everyone so much grief (especially after they knew another Eraser was involved besides Dong Baek). Seriously? Maybe they were trying to show that the NIS was deeply messed up, but it still made no sense to me. How could they let so much go down without lifting a finger to stop it? I'm a quarter of the way through Episode 16, so maybe it will explain? But if it doesn't... smh

I did love the moment between Dong Baek and his sister when she kept trying to convince him to become a murderer like her and he refused, maintaining that protecting the weak and the innocent (and preserving our humanity through devotion to goodness and justice) takes more strength than just eliminating the people who hurt us and others. The easy way out of suffering (by resorting to what FEELS like the best way to deal with our anger and frustration) is not the human/humane way; in fact, it separates the monsters from the humans. Preach, Dong Baek!

I read someone's comment or review who said that the temporary separation at the end wasn't for superfluous or illogical reasons like other dramas that include this trope, and I couldn't disagree more. I found it extremely unnecessary, and it made the poor guy's already miserable life even more miserable and didn't even have to happen! I couldn't get behind the FL's "reasons" at all.

I liked the book club a lot and all the different ages (it reminded me of the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!), and I enjoyed the love of books, reading, poetry and literature as an end in itself quite refreshing for a Kdrama! Such activities in most dramas are usually portrayed as necessary evils which you use in order to get ahead at school or in work.

I kind of wanted Eun Seob's sister to win over the guy she had a crush on at school. I thought she was so cute, and it kind of annoyed me they made her fickle at the end instead. At least they could have left his response open ended! I liked her character too much to be left with, "Oh, actually, she's just super boy crazy and that's where her persistence came from, not from any real attachment cause she's not steady enough for that." 😔

I hope not; there is no logical reason for Sol Hui to have this ability in a way that can be explained outside something supernatural or magical. It would be lame to get rid of something supernatural or magical with something ordinary and commonplace and completely detached from an other-worldly explanation. 🤨

I think you made a great point, but might want to mark this as a spoiler...?

I think the plot twist launched this drama into a different genre. Feels more like a twist a makjang would have.🤔 Which is generally why I don't watch them...

But Deuk Chan's actions (which were so confusing up to this point) make a lot more sense now. I guess I couldn't put the pieces together because I didn't think the drama would go there, but it did, and I think it was not what I was hoping for as the solution to this mystery. They went more for shock value than good mystery writing which doesn't have to have the shock value to be interesting and an effective reveal. Bummer! Cause I was enjoying this lighthearted romp! 😭

NERD NOTE: I think extensive reading of Agatha Christie novels should be required before writing a mystery. Before attempting, please be properly schooled by the G.O.A.T.

Yes, which might be why several characters (Do Ha's mom, CEO, CEO's brother, etc.) who the viewers are suspecting (each of whom could have buried her!) seem to think Do Ha is guilty. They didn't murder her, or see Do Ha murder her, but found Eom Ji dead and panicked, all the while suspecting Do Ha who acted guilty and very suspect right after it happened. His behavior probably confirmed their suspicions; also, no one seemed to communicate well about covering up the supposed murder since everyone saw only a portion of what really happened.

I think at first glance they do! Min Hyun is more angular than Eun Woo, though.

Yes, because some people accidentally unearthed her body (did a DNA check on her bones) near the beach where Do Ha and Eom Ji had their altercation.

So, actually, I guess it's not completely clear she was murdered, but she was definitely buried by someone. That's at least what I remember from earlier this week when I watched the most recent episodes. 😅

Yes! The only development with his character/story has been to show the audience how his life is falling apart, and he feels the pressure to keep it all together for those around him even though most of them are letting him down. I'm curious what the build-up of all this will lead to from him and how it will affect his decisions moving forward!