Eleison

She is quite flawed, maybe the most flawed after the two villains, but don't worry, since she's a lead, she'll get an arc. We're going to watch her grow. 😏 One of my favorite things about Kdramas is how the best ones do this really well. They take a character who's unsavory, unpleasant, lame, selfish or pathetic and turn them into someone we can root for.

Agree wholeheartedly. And I love that this drama is optimistic, and just because it's optimistic doesn't make it childish or unrealistic. It shows there's hope on the other side. Just because you've experienced great darkness does not mean your whole life has to be forever enveloped by it and you can never escape. And this drama doesn't diminish suffering because it shows joy despite the suffering faced. The best stories inspire us to live better in the here and now, not make us dread facing it. I'll stop now 🤣

What helps me not get bothered by stuff like this is remembering that Kdramas are not real life, nor do they try to show real life. They are escapism (as all or most entertainment is, right?), and have their own forms of creating artificial realism. Viewers just have to discover if this kind of artificial realism is their thing, and if so, which forms they can stomach, like the genre of books you prefer to read which others might depise. Kdramas create this artificial realism around formulas, tropes and cliches which we can expect like a familiar morning routine. That said, I think they can say real or beautiful things about life, relationships and people, but they still never pretend to speak about how life really is. Maybe the type of articifical realism created by this Kdrama is just not your thing? 🤷‍♀️ I don't know if that helps!

Not sure if there will be a love triangle, but there will be romance eventually. 😊

I'm having more Start-Up flashbacks... 😅

I also loved the way he popped his head up and blurted "No!!" when Woo Hak suggested they go to the police about the father chasing Mok Ha in Episode 5. It was so cute and boyish.

But there's a lot about Ran Joo and Mok Ha, and with them together? Episode 3 wa almost entirely them. I also think the Ki Ho plot will continue to be important to the Mok Ha becoming a diva plot!

I think the two plots are related, possibly beyond just the connection between the main leads from childhood. This writer had a "main focus" but it's usually heavily intertwined with other plots/stories. I think Ki Ho/Bo Geol will be a big part of her becoming a "diva," and I think they want to show Mok Ha fall for Bo Geol, only to find out he's Ki Ho. That might make their reunion even more special! I'm also wondering if we'll ever get Ki Ho's perspective with voice overs like in Episode 1?

Do you mean nothing definite about Ki Ho's adult identity? But did you see they showed the flashback of Ki Ho getting protected by his brother who then had amnesia due to his injury? The details also aligned with Woo Hak's memory. Ki Ho's voice was in the flashback because both boys were in the closet together. The only reason the flashback we saw might not be definite is if Bo Geol made up the flashback details or changed them in his narrative, which I highly doubt. I also think Mok Ha becoming a singer will somehow still be tied up with Ki Ho/Bo Geol's story and the mystery surrounding his family, though it's not clear how just yet. We're only half way, and there is still a lot of story to roll out and details to be developed for all the characters. Also, this screenwriter usually has some element of mystery and and always has reveals that unfold over the course of the drama. It's kind of her thing, and while she never has random, unrelated side plots/characters that feel squeezed unnecessarily into the story like a lot of other Kdramas, she never just has one plot and one set of characters whose stories we follow; I like the variety of moving parts and stories intertwined. I wouldn't be too interested in the Ran Joo/Mok Ha part by itself since I'm not a huge fan of Ran Joo yet. But that's just me! :)

Thankfully the writer isn't JUST writing about Mok Ha and Ran Joo and even from the get-go set up more relationships, characters and connections than just those two. I don't agree that the brothers plot is boring, but to each his own.

You might have a point about Bo Geol keeping the father's whereabouts a secret; if he's Ki Ho then he has even more people to protect than before and I have wondered since the beginning why he (and his mom, who I think should also be responsible to some extent) hasn't involved the police. Maybe it's because his own dad was a policeman and he now distrusts them all in general? 🤷‍♀️ Someone as perceptive as he is, though, shouldn't let that stop him since it's not very sensible. But I suppose it remains to be seen. As long as the reasoning works in the context of a Kdrama story (even if it's not ultimately realistic, because Kdramas are many things, but we all know that "realism" is not one of them; making a story FEEL real is the closest we get to reality in Kdrama land 🤣), then I'll be content. Also, this screenwriter always makes the main characters in her dramas flawed. They all make mistakes of some kind and have to learn from them. This potentially selfish behavior might be Bo Geol/Ki Ho's mistake/flaw to overcome in this story. 🤷‍♀️

That's true, it's been her pattern. That reminder makes me feel better, because this childhood connection is by far my favorite so far of all her dramas!

Ah, I guess so. I already figured that was probably true, but it didn't really help clarify anything else for me that I really wanted to know about; just opened things up for more questions, haha.

I have a feeling they might give an explanation and more backstory for the way Ki Ho's father is acting. In I Can Hear Your Voice the screenwriter made the villain very multi-layered, so I wonder if there's more to this villain's story, too? Why hasn't Bo Geol had his dad locked up before now? I feel like if he really wanted to, he could have. Did Bo Geol tell Woo Hak not to tell the police about the dad only out fear for his family or also to protect his father in some way? Obviously some tough experiences the father faced wouldn't make his behavior acceptable or in any way okay, but it might make him more than just a psycho domestic abuser, and might account for why Ki Ho/Bo Geol is not as vindictive towards him as I'd expect for all the hurt and pain he caused. I could be wrong, though!

Also, at this point the story seems heavily focused on Ki Ho, his family, and the mystery of Ki Ho's adult identity; I wonder how they will narrow the focus on Mok Ha and how Mok Ha, Ran Joo and Ki Ho's fates will continue to be intertwined since this is a story about Mok Ha, after all (and Ran Joo, really, too. The Castaway Diva title could 100% refer to her as well (though more metaphorically as the artist everyone "threw out"; someone insightfully pointed that out in the comments at one point), and she is even listed before Chae Jong Yeop which means these two women are front and center in the story).

Why isn't anyone (Bo Geol included) worried about the father recognizing Woo Hak? He already met him when the father dropped off flowers for Mok Ha, but dad didn't even bat an eye. I thought that was weird. Maybe it's because the dad really has no idea his other son is still alive?

Right? It might make me more nervous than the "Who is Ki Ho?" mystery. It's scary when movies or shows show old people in flashbacks... alone. Nope, nope, don't like it.

Why would the writer do that? Kill off the entire main cast 15 years later? Sorry, but this makes no sense. We're not watching Mr. Sunshine.

@Candy241 I don't think you have to worry about that because Chae Jong Hyeop is listed as the ML in the cast list; the main question is just whether or not he's Ki Ho. 🤨

That sounds reasonable!

Yeah, she's kind of crushing it so far.

I think they're already showing Mok Ha picking up on the possibility that Bo Geol is Ki Ho as she gets to know him better. He warmed up to her a lot in this episode (after chewing her out for being reckless, he softened a lot), and she can see that he's on her side. Even if he's not Ki Ho, I think they're planting seeds for her to fall for him. She seems to see Woo Hak as a friend or even brother and an ally, but not as a love interest.