Entertaining for the most part
Of all the numerous flaws this show is clearly endowed with, I have chosen to focus on and criticize just one. I decided to overlook the ridiculously unrealistic and shallow representation of redemption and forgiveness, the fallacious portrayal of brain cancer & surgery. I could even try to forget the nonsensical idea that someone would go to a hospital claiming to be the guardian of an amnesia patient, yet the hospital didn't care to make any enquiries or verify this fact. What I cannot, and will not overlook, however, is the toxic, sickening relationship between Hae in & Hyun woo, that fans, for some reason, romanticise.
Hae in is a spoiled brat, a downright horrible person. Hyun woo is a weak, indecisive, inconsistent hateful man. They're both terrible people whose aesthetics have managed to blind the world to this fact. One treats her husband like trash, & the other wishes his wife would die. People mistake Hae in’s poor behaviour for her simply being a badass. But one should not have to put down another in order to elevate oneself. When a woman likes a weak man, it's not because she's attracted to his abs, or cos he looks cute when drunk. It is because she is attracted to that weakness, because she seeks to control and lord over him. A wm who berates her husband in public shouldn't be idolised; see shouldn't even married. That's already the wrong dynamic for any relationship. I believe the writers made Hae in’s personality this stuck up & overbearing so it would be easier for the audience to picture why their marriage fell apart. But nice, normal people have marital issues too. And if the writers were actually interested in creating characters of substance, they would have written a real, in-depth human who made human mistakes & whose relationships have suffered for them. Instead, during character building, they focused more on her closet & catwalk. She's just a shallow girl boss with a brain tumor.
As for Hyun woo, he's no better. I want to believe there was a time he wasn’t so weak, that there was a time he wouldn’t wish death even on his worst enemy. I truly believe that being married to Hae in & her family broke him. Still, that doesn’t excuse the role he played in stinking up this show. First, dude went from crying in the streets to taking charge of situations in an instant. It’s like he flipped a switch and rewrote his entire character in the second half of the show. And I was left wondering if I had missed something.
Both their characters are just bad, but together their relationship is shit. First, we don’t even know the factors responsible for the breakdown of their marriage. We know they lost their baby, but this still leaves much to be explained. We know that Hae in’s family must have caused a huge strain, but I’m sure they were both well aware of her family’s disapproval prior to their marriage.
And the way they went about with fixing their marriage is just wrong. These two should have had long, difficult, & open discussions. And I would’ve been invested in that. Cos that’s real. A past love interest that magically shows up at the brink of your marriage’s collapse? That’s not real. They used Hyun woo’s jealousy to reignite his past feelings for Hae in & make him treat her better, simply because there was competition.
This approach doesn’t work for one reason. Hyun woo rejoiced at the thought of Hae in facing a painful, gruesome death. He was even scared of the possibility that she could survive & recover. He hated her. His heart was black towards her. That kind of hate doesn’t go away by introducing competition. In fact, such competition should be met with utter nonchalance.
Such hate only goes away through hard work & the determination to fix things. Instead, they chose the easy way out so as not to betray the aesthetics of the show & their characters. Because god forbid these supermodels show even an inkling of relatable human emotions that can't be depicted in an aesthetically pleasing all-out crying scene. If your goal is aesthetics, then ease go do a photoshoot and leave storytelling for the people who actually have a solid story to tell.
And finally, the icing on the cake to really show how generic and underwhelming the writers wanted this story to be: the gates lovers who met as children trope. Can I just ask, why is this trope still a thing? It's never been done right, but writers don't seem to get that. It didn't work in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, or anywhere else because it's shabby & unnecessary.
It's a cheap move used to convince the audience of a love story that should speak for itself. Meeting as kids is not a prerequisite for compatibility, couldn't have done without the storyline altogether, & every show that leaves it out is all the better for it.
Simply put, QoT is a show that’s all packaging and no substance. I wont lie and say that I wasn't entertained, though. I was. I will say this, though, the actors are capable of much more with the right material. Sadly, when swoon-worthy dialogue & expensive outfits are the priority, the story is often neglected.
Hae in is a spoiled brat, a downright horrible person. Hyun woo is a weak, indecisive, inconsistent hateful man. They're both terrible people whose aesthetics have managed to blind the world to this fact. One treats her husband like trash, & the other wishes his wife would die. People mistake Hae in’s poor behaviour for her simply being a badass. But one should not have to put down another in order to elevate oneself. When a woman likes a weak man, it's not because she's attracted to his abs, or cos he looks cute when drunk. It is because she is attracted to that weakness, because she seeks to control and lord over him. A wm who berates her husband in public shouldn't be idolised; see shouldn't even married. That's already the wrong dynamic for any relationship. I believe the writers made Hae in’s personality this stuck up & overbearing so it would be easier for the audience to picture why their marriage fell apart. But nice, normal people have marital issues too. And if the writers were actually interested in creating characters of substance, they would have written a real, in-depth human who made human mistakes & whose relationships have suffered for them. Instead, during character building, they focused more on her closet & catwalk. She's just a shallow girl boss with a brain tumor.
As for Hyun woo, he's no better. I want to believe there was a time he wasn’t so weak, that there was a time he wouldn’t wish death even on his worst enemy. I truly believe that being married to Hae in & her family broke him. Still, that doesn’t excuse the role he played in stinking up this show. First, dude went from crying in the streets to taking charge of situations in an instant. It’s like he flipped a switch and rewrote his entire character in the second half of the show. And I was left wondering if I had missed something.
Both their characters are just bad, but together their relationship is shit. First, we don’t even know the factors responsible for the breakdown of their marriage. We know they lost their baby, but this still leaves much to be explained. We know that Hae in’s family must have caused a huge strain, but I’m sure they were both well aware of her family’s disapproval prior to their marriage.
And the way they went about with fixing their marriage is just wrong. These two should have had long, difficult, & open discussions. And I would’ve been invested in that. Cos that’s real. A past love interest that magically shows up at the brink of your marriage’s collapse? That’s not real. They used Hyun woo’s jealousy to reignite his past feelings for Hae in & make him treat her better, simply because there was competition.
This approach doesn’t work for one reason. Hyun woo rejoiced at the thought of Hae in facing a painful, gruesome death. He was even scared of the possibility that she could survive & recover. He hated her. His heart was black towards her. That kind of hate doesn’t go away by introducing competition. In fact, such competition should be met with utter nonchalance.
Such hate only goes away through hard work & the determination to fix things. Instead, they chose the easy way out so as not to betray the aesthetics of the show & their characters. Because god forbid these supermodels show even an inkling of relatable human emotions that can't be depicted in an aesthetically pleasing all-out crying scene. If your goal is aesthetics, then ease go do a photoshoot and leave storytelling for the people who actually have a solid story to tell.
And finally, the icing on the cake to really show how generic and underwhelming the writers wanted this story to be: the gates lovers who met as children trope. Can I just ask, why is this trope still a thing? It's never been done right, but writers don't seem to get that. It didn't work in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, or anywhere else because it's shabby & unnecessary.
It's a cheap move used to convince the audience of a love story that should speak for itself. Meeting as kids is not a prerequisite for compatibility, couldn't have done without the storyline altogether, & every show that leaves it out is all the better for it.
Simply put, QoT is a show that’s all packaging and no substance. I wont lie and say that I wasn't entertained, though. I was. I will say this, though, the actors are capable of much more with the right material. Sadly, when swoon-worthy dialogue & expensive outfits are the priority, the story is often neglected.
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