ForeverFanatic

rewatched it and you're right... but I is still confused.

It can vary per person but here is my general answer for people with this question.

"Honestly if you liked KES previous works it's definitely worth a try.

In my opinion pros are
- Music
- Special effects
- aesthetics (architecture, outfits, scene composition etc)
- the secondary cast
- a good character arc every now and then
- very easy to laugh at

You might not want to watch if you are opposed to:
- Neglected side characters
- Wasted characters
- Inconsistent characters
- Useless plots just to fill time, easily dealt with and have no consequences
- Obsessive, Possessive 'romance'
- Underwhelming villain with a convoluted plan that thus far has done nothing for him
- Excessive unsubtle product placement (I personally thought it was hilarious)
- MC's who are portrayed as perfect despite doing a lot of crappy stuff, See also: mary su/gary stu
- Cliches and tropes that lead to predictability.
- very easy to laugh at


PS: there are also a bunch of tiny errors, but as long as that stuff doesn't bug you I don't see it being a big deal."

No there is the mom and than there is weird unexplained girl in the apartment.

So I've been thinking about things again recently and can't for the life of me remember what exactly is going on with the lady Lee Rim is keeping prisoner... what's her deal again?

If you need any help I'd love to, I don't have enough time to do it on my own but could spare time to co-write or just help in the brainstorming and continuity department.

I don't want a PM redemption arc, I want her to become a legitimate bad guy instead of the lackluster minor antagonist they wrote her as. Also I like Lee Rim in his first few scenes, but as i watched he got boring, doing the same things and not really getting very far. shadow lurking, mustache twirling, villian.

I've always said romance as a genre is like kimchi: it's a good side dish, goes with everything but should never be the main course.
I've realized I have more to add to that, it takes time to mature. XD

This actually seems more like they are trying to boost morale, rather than attempting to profit off of the pandemic.

I have similar feelings for this show that I get from Harry Potter, tons of wasted potential, but the fans can easily pick up the writers slack and create deeper content through conversation.

Sorry to any HP fans, don't kill me XD

80% of the characters are shallowly built. I've curated a skip through viewing for 2 of my sibs and the only characters I showed 100% of were Shin Jae, Jo Eun Sup/Yeong, and JangMi.
Noh, Buyeong, and PM were all on my 'skip unless other character' list.

I've killed my ability to cry and you have to either crush my soul or stress me out for weeks to get me to cry. Kdrama's can sometimes draw that emotion from me but almost any of the character's can die and I wouldn't care. some of them (prince buyeong included) I'd laugh if/when they die just because it'd be absolutely ridiculous.

Nah I'm probably harsher than you are. But this show takes itself way too seriously for the level of depth it actually provides.

Yeah! I didn't even have to watch city hunter, he's literally the only cast member with a prominent nose arch XD

I missed that scene in the first ep cause I was talking to my sis, but caught the flashback ep 6 and was kinda upset they thought we're blind.

Portraying the japanese government and soldiers as incompetent is a bad move. A victory in the confines of a story is only satisfying when it was well earned. Portraying Japanese people as idiots didn't make KOC look stronger, it just made it look like they defeated some school yard bullies.

OMG I forgot about LG's 2 minute break down cause it was so insignificant and his solution to it was to go cry kiss his GF.

They tried to show that he had a relationship with his uncle by having them talk a few times, but it was so shallow cause all they ever did was talk. No shared activities, no seemingly similar interests, no chemistry through humor or demeanor.
The closest thing was when LG gave his uncle 개성주악 (korean traditional donuts), but this was immediately undermined by him saying that Lady Noh made a heck ton of them.
It would have been easy to circumvent this issue by having his breakdown involve a flash back revealing he had made them, but was conflicted about his respect for his uncle due to insecurity about his uncle's political stance. Doing this would fill the scene with regret and grief, showing he did care for his uncle but chose to be cautious about expressing care for anyone in his kingdom, a weakness that could easily be exploited.

although rewatching this seen, it was supposed to indicate a deeper affection between Lady Noh and hint at her ties to the north... but this wasn't really effective.

I still can't believe prince buyeong was even a character because of how he was treated. He sacrificed living with his family to stay by the princes side and literally nothing came of it... they just killed off the character for cheap sympathy.
I was so taken a back by his death because they kept teasing that he might hold power later, but in the end those were just red herrings. Even if he ultimately sided with Lee Gon, showing him use his political power to help Lee Gon would have made more sense than saying one guy killed his whole staff then him for..... reasons.
I've heard people say it was to shake LG's character or political power, but I don't even remember which episode this was in cause it was an open and shut issue and had no real negative ramifications on our main characters. The one person who actually seemed to be affected was Lady Noh but... why does that even matter? Her being grief stricken in bed didn't seem to have any real effect on LG either.

I actually think it would be more beneficial to not bother with twists and instead start tying up loose ends and telling a solid story. Twists aren't fun if they are out of nowhere and don't really fit, or are incredibly predictable for the wrong reasons.

I don't think that'd be a good move since they had min hyeon and shin jae be identical, but real shin jae definitely wasn't born to LR's doppelganger.

Also whether it was built up or not, will it add anything important to the story, or sour the taste of a good character arc?

Honestly if you liked KES previous works it's definitely worth a try.

In my opinion pros are
- Music
- Special effects
- aesthetics (architecture, outfits, scene composition etc)
- the secondary cast
- a good character arc every now and then
- very easy to laugh at

You might not want to watch if you are opposed to:
- Neglected side characters
- Wasted characters
- Inconsistent characters
- Useless plots just to fill time, easily dealt with and have no consequences
- Obsessive, Possessive 'romance'
- Underwhelming villain with a convoluted plan that thus far has done nothing for him
- Excessive unsubtle product placement (I personally thought it was hilarious)
- MC's who are portrayed as perfect despite doing a lot of crappy stuff, See also: mary su/gary stu
- Cliches and tropes that lead to predictability.
- very easy to laugh at


PS: there are also a bunch of tiny errors, but as long as that stuff doesn't bug you I don't see it being a big deal.

Why is it a good theory?

So I just read about the fan theory that SJ is LR's illegitimate son, and I can kinda of see where people are coming but I'm really hoping this drama doesn't sink that low....

Reasons it shouldn't be that way:
1. Shin Jae looks the same in both universes.

I might look into it later!

if you like parallel universes I've heard 'welcome 2 life' is good, though I haven't had the chance to watch it myself. Also OCN's 'Train' starts in early JUL. Nightmare teacher also was listed in that category but I've hardly hear of it so I'm not 100% sure on that one.

Welcome 2 life:
https://kisskh.at/33670-living-two-lives-anyway

Train:
https://kisskh.at/52351-train

Nightmare teacher:
https://kisskh.at/15646-nightmare-teacher

Yup, the actor is so great that this is such a waste.