FreshKicks

Shin must be what Togawa was like in high school. 😁

He’s even pursuing a guy who’s 10 years older! haha

Finished it, loved it, and will compare other college dramas to it for the rest of my life

I always forget that I have to click on the link that takes me to the next set of episodes. They should just put them all on one page like iQIYI does.

This is both my expectation and my fear.

And really, if someone told you that they never liked you from the very start, what is there to forgive unless you cut yourself down in the process?

But, Kdramas love their redemption arcs.

My feelings exactly! In too many series the victims of the "mean girl" just keep getting rolled. Ji Min has a backbone.

- Such a great series! I like that they aren't holding all the revelations until the end.
- One early revelation is Min Ho making it very clear that he likes Joo Ah as more than a friend. I think it's a stretch for her to act surprised since they had that drunken evening when he confessed to her. She told him they should forget they ever had the conversation but we all know that could never literally happen.
- Too many of the series that I watch starring idols don't give them a chance to perform while in character. At the most you hear it as an OST playing in the background. I'm happy to see that this one is different.
- Jeong Jae Hyun's performance is aces, and I agree with everyone else that it's all the more impressive because it's his first acting gig.
- Park Hye Soo is also terrific. She's giving us a dorky FL who doesn't grate on the nerves. That's not an easy balance to strike. It's really too bad about the issues with her private life.
- The fact that Moon Joon has a goddess-class gf from another school should not have been a surprise, but it was. Still, I can look back on his interactions with Joo Ah and see how they could be viewed as a big brother being good to his little sister. I won't be surprised if he tells Joo Ah that his "official" gf is for the sake of his father's expectations. Whether that would be true is another matter. He's an interesting character in that he seems like a nice guy who easily gets pressured into bad choices by trying to impress his dad. I sense it is going to be his downfall.
- Something about Ban Yi Dam seems off. (I'd like to be wrong because the character has such a fresh and winning personality.) I hope the reconciliation between Ji Min and Ha Neul is not because she discovers something awful about Yi Dam and goes running back to Ha Neul. I'd rather it be because Ha Neul finally sees the light about Ro Sa.
- But speaking of Ji Min, I think she's being too harsh on Ha Nuel regarding their breakup. She should realize that he is as much a victim of Ro Sa's manipulation as she herself was.
- But also speaking of Ji Min, I love how she shows strength during her biggest confrontations with Ro Sa. Ro Sa thinks she's said something that will devastate Ji Min, but then Ji Min turns the tables and has the last word, knocking Ro Sa on her ass.
- Ro Sa looks more and more pathetic as she struggles to get Ha Neul's attention. I relish every brick wall she's slamming into as she tries. I'm not counting on that to last, though.
- The identity of M seems almost irrelevant now.

Quick thoughts on Eps 7 and 8 below:

Prem is HILARIOUS. The styling perfectly suits his character, screaming red hair and all, because it speaks of the bad choices he's made in his life. I expect that once he finds love and settles down it will be back to its natural color.

Only one episode in? Fasten your seat belt. You'll be ready to strangle her soon.

I think that's something both the fans and detractors can agree with you on!

Which is the incest couple? Are you referring to the two guys who were fencing?

It seems Khim's older brother Rain will be paired with the family servant's son Phayu, but then Rain's friend from the locker room might have something to say about that.

(Gosh, it seems I'm already more interested in the side couples. Well, I'll give the series more time.)

I'd say when reconciling after a year of separation where one partner treated the other horribly, an apology should visit those things and acknowledge the hurt they caused and say it won't happen again.

I'm not asking for Old Testament "eye for an eye" or restitution, just an open discussion that shows that JW has learned from what happened. Otherwise, how could SJ feel secure in the thought that something similar won't happen again?

But you see, the plot holes and unconvincing characterizations that you are willing to explain as SJ and JW being "human" is what many of us think is just poor screenwriting. We're not lacking empathy, because of course if a friend was struggling we'd be there for them -- we just expect better storytelling from this source.

I think an apology should be in proportion to the wrong that was done.

If I'm riding a bike and get sideswiped by a car, for the driver to call out "Sorry!" to me as he drives away is completely inadequate.

An apology is also about accountability, or "taking responsibility" as I hear so often in Asian dramas: "I'm sorry for this, I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry for the other thing too, and I promise I won't do any of it ever again."

By stating what you're sorry for you acknowledge what had the negative impact on the other person -- in other words, you show that you have empathy and that you yourself learned from your transgression, and it won't be repeated.

The fact that SW did not require this kind of apology for what JW did, and that JW didn't offer it on his own, makes me think they're just setting themselves up for more problems down the road.

Did someone really complain about no cute moments?

The main complaints I've seen (and share myself) all have to do with the screenwriting. The acting and directing were great, but the story was built around a Ji Woo who didn't exist in S1.

I've seen a lot of handwaving that says JW was exactly the same in S1, like how he walked out on SJ on SJ's birthday out of fear of being in a relationship, but if you take JW at his word (as scripted), he left because he didn't want to be part of the extortion plot that his restaurant partner had just revealed to him. He even told SJ "If I stay with you I'll only get into trouble".

He was antisocial and prickly in S1 but that was mostly played for laughs, since his "grumpy old man" behavior was almost always in response to SJ's celebrity and sense of entitlement. As viewers it was fun to see that get skewered.

I don't think a S2 was planned when they produced S1, and I believe that the JW of the second season didn't come to life until S2 got the green light and the story conferences began. I think the darker theme came first and then JW's character was reshaped to fit the bill. And yes, that HW was no longer a grumpy old man -- he was an asshole.

I'm enjoying this. The storylines are all interesting and intersect believably, and even though there's a typical female meanie who hatches evil plans better than a Bond villain, for some reason it doesn't irritate me as much. At least she's not one of the FL's roommates, and, unlike many similar scenarios, the FL's friends (and the FL herself) catch on to what's going on pretty early.

I'm curious to see if Ro Sa, like many such characters, will get a last-minute redemption at the end. If this series follows the formula then she will. After the house of cards falls around her she will tearfully repent and be forgiven, then likely transfer to another school so that she's conveniently out of the way for everyone else's HEA.

About midway through the series I imagined what I'd say if a friend were to confide in me about his partner doing to him what JW did to SJ -- sudden, inexplicable breakup; year-long disappearance; shit treatment once boyfriend is finally located, etc.

If I were like most of the fans on here I would have said "Oh! I love the angst! Tell me more!"

This was pain porn dressed up for people who imagine themselves as arbiters of cinematic taste. They'll tell you that the roots for everything in S2 are in S1, but it's all a bunch of handwaving. I guarantee that S1 was not written with any concept of S2 to come, and that when S2 got the green light, that was when they had a story conference and the traumatized, lonely JW was born.

It's so cynical, and so sad that people have fallen for it.

My brother from another mother.

As soon as the wisp of a thought like "I wish they'd had a big kiss at the end" entered my mind, I remembered Togawa's thumb in Nozue's mouth in Episode 4, prying his lips apart, and I decided any series that can deliver that kind of kiss is allowed to rest on its laurels.

Plus, the hug of joy and relief from Togawa after he accepted Nozue's confession moved me to no end. I don't think I'd trade that for a kiss.

I made cupcakes. Couldn't eat them until the last scene, though. It was killing me!