Humorix

Uh huh. I got that. I have nothing against cheesy junk food romcoms...as long as they have a modicum of a teeny weeny string of a story. But I do wish you enjoyment with the show. I will just shift attention to how much "Meet You in my 19th Life" deviates from the manhwa and drop this. Have fun.

So the writer started with "Back to the Future" redux, only, 'let's get my parents to not marry' instead of 'getting my parents to marry', with a serial killer thrown in! And by the 14th episode had exhausted all red-herrings and didn't believe in plot twists so was out of resources to carry forward with two more episodes. What to do? There was no convenient lightning which would strike to aid time travel. So we have 2 final episodes of dragging the feet and trying to cover some plot holes, but the blanket of story was so short that the effort to cover plot holes left even bigger plot holes exposed. But, hopefully, the audience wouldn't mind all that, cos by 14 episodes they would have been exhausted enough to flush down their intellect. :) This is one entertaining series which no fan of "Back to the Future" should see. The consolation is...everyone lives happily ever after. Even the plot holes!

I was not comparing tastes. Cos, each of us are definitely entitled to our likes and none of us can stand in judgement of it. I was comparing technicalities, for which, admittedly, I have a 'taste', cos I like a crafted story. Which, to me 'Business Proposal' was. Despite a weak ending. And here, 'King the Land' doesn't even have a start. Just good looking stars who have been given sympathetic character portraits to get audience to root for, but no story. But then again, to each his/her own.

OK. I will accept it as junkfood, cos that is exactly what I have been stating. It is junkfood with not much thought put to it. ANd it is such a waste given the rest of the talent working on the story, especially the stars. It seemingly had all the right ingredients and the premise had such promise. It was another chaebol romance set up to run its course. It could have even sailed through on autopilot, with all its cliches IF it had even a semblance of a story beyond its just some happenings put together.

I wouldn't mind some variety from him, even though I know I can't expect it out of him. Given that I am watching/watched "My Perfect Stranger" and "Delightfully Deceitful", I have had a tough time trying to find any differentiation between the two characters. It's the same cardboard cut out placed as a placeholder for a role, with the same facial expression copy pasted across the two dramas. Now, in My Perfect Stranger, Jin Ki Joo offers the perfect pairing, cos there there's an equal restriction in the gamut of acting. But, in 'Delightfully Deceitful', Chun Woo Hee, who is equally the epitome of stoicism literally mops the floor with him, unleashing her gamut of portrayals.

See, this is where what you think to be a 'story' differs from what a 'story' is to me. In the same manner that I don't classify all 'hot water' as being a 'soup', even if the two can be used interchangeably to create pithy aphorisms? To me, soup is a product of a greater process serving a larger variety of purpose than 'hot water'. :)

Hmm, I'd think the opposite could equally apply to you? That you are making the drama appear better than it actually is? Cos, if I were to further distill your argument, it boils down it 'it's good, cos there are worse drama out there!'. Umm sure, but I don't make it a point to go seeking out the worst. :) If there are others that do, they are definitely entitled to. As much as I am entitled to my expectations and whether or not they are met?

I am OK with you putting the differences down to taste. I must admit that my 'taste' DOES run towards appreciating a well crafted story as opposed to the lack of one. Being that crafting of a story is a major draw for me towards Kdrama and a lack of which a major let down.

@DramaTime333
OK. Let me see if I have the logic being offered here, down pat?
Say, you see advertisements of a grand lunch buffet and you buy into it and go to the hotel to savour it...and you wander all over the ground and first floor (since most restaurants and eateries of a hotel are located there) and you find no buffet there. BUT there are cut outs of food and tables and chairs and carpet etc thrown about. Even some cutlery. But NO buffet. Then, to appease your curiosity, you even explore the 2nd floor. Still, a lot of furniture, cut out of food items, cutlery, chair, chandeliers and carpet...but no buffet. Then you observe 'Hey, But there is no Buffet!' and then you are told that. 'Hey, but it is OK. Why are you whining? After all there are 16 floors to the hotel, how do you know that the buffet isn't there somewhere within the next 14 other floors (cos, one can even paradrop on the rooftop, to make an entry...so what if it is the wrong rooftop!)? Cos, after all, it's 'King the Hotel!'? Chincha?
Did I get the logic being offered right? Daebak!

This is definitely the better of the two dramas which came out together, "King the Land" and "See You in My 19th Life ", though the elements are seemingly common. viz, Hotel romance, FL and ML connected since kids, etc. However, having come to this drama from the Manhwa, I don't see the drama having added anything to the story in comparison to the Manhwa. The manhwa is richer story telling. And, I must admit, I have some reservations about how the characters have transposed themselves from the Manhwa to screen. Shin Hye Sun and Kim Shi Ah shines as Ban Ji Eum, as does Jung Hyun Joon as young Moon Seo Ha. That's about it for me. I hope those who read manhwa do check out the original in comparison to the series. It is going to be a very tight squeeze trying to fit the rich Manhwa into 12 episodes.

The current rating doesn't do justice to the series. It has a taut, tight and creative script and some great acting by the FL. Wrt ML, I guess Kim Dong Wook can't be anything else other than a study in stoicism?

2 episodes down and I am still desperately looking for the story. It's only when one comes as across as dead a drama as this series that one truly begins to appreciate "A Business Proposal" and its script writer so much more. Surely just stacking up cliches and tropes doesn't amount to a story?

Goes to prove that Ratings can be bought?

Goes to prove that Ratings can be bought?

With a hero who wants to end life by having something pulled out of his heart which no one else can see...other than the heroine, a heroine who is a cinderella who wants to escape her prison of existence...why is AoSS2 seeming so much like Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, redux? Does it portend to similar ending? 🤔

Hi folks. Thanks for the conversation. I completely agree that it is a subjective take and that every one is entitled to have their take. I should have qualified my review by qualifying the audience who should give it a miss.

IF you are just looking for light hearted comedy, not really bothered about plot, plot progression, arcs, plot holes and are there for the few gags and corniness, then this might be entertaining enough a drama for you.

IF you treat the time you spend on the drama as an investment of attention and are looking for the smoothness of the plot arc, ratcheting tension, twists, a reasonable and plausible progression, and might get bothered about when story arcs are ditched to accommodate a sudden episodic tale and then swerve back to the story arc and then leave the arc in a limbo and do a sudden time jump (without the time jump affecting the tale in any way), prop up the theme (of whether one chooses a loved one over one's principles) and then drop it as a non happening, build up the antagonist and then vacuum suck his role...then it might be good for you to give this series a miss. Why? Cos ALL the promise and the built up is there, the potential to lead the promises to successful completion is there, exemplary cast is there...but someone, high enough, feels that NONE of the above are important as deliverables and just pissing on the story in the name of comedy is completely acceptable.

IF you find such behaviour of story tellers as untenable, it MIGHT make sense for you to give this series a miss.

If you have just started watching this drama, I'd recommend that you give it a miss. Why? Cos after a great set up, which progressed the story smoothly up until the 8th episode, the ending of the story is willfully botched up by who (the network or the producers or some 3rd party) remains a mystery, but they literally put a hatchet to work on the story and have massacred all its potential. It started going downhill from episode 9 and episode 11 was possibly the worst of the lot. It could have been a great and entertaining series. It isn't. Save yourself from the disgust you might feel at how they could roger an otherwise strongly built tale.

@knkg I do find that the opinions seem to be divergent based on the gender of the person watching? The women mostly seem to think it is OK. The men seem to be thinking that it is a degradation. I might be generalising here, cos I don't know all the commentators. But it does seem to be the bent of things. I am left questioning, what if it was the other way around? What if it was the male casually cheating cos of life pressures? Would the relationship seem as acceptable? If so, the ending of VIP must prove to be disappointing for that same audience? Is it so?

This isn't an issue about punishment. Cos the divorce is equally punishing to both parties. Nor is it a function of 'Evil'. 'Evil' in any way is a caricatured presentation of more nuanced factors. It's a question of the bulwark of trust which upholds all relationship. IF trust isn't there, is there a relationship or a transaction of convenience? Let's forget cheating. IF a person was to casually steal, just cos the person was bored, and was a friend, would you maintain the same level of intimacy with that person and allow that person into your secure compounds? Unless there was a convenience which you were expecting which overrides the risk? Wouldn't that be transactional? Is transactionality what is being proposed here as evolution?

The ending effectively ruined what was turning out to be a very IFFY experience for me from the 4-5th episode. Contrary to the female viewers.

Now, this series COULD be aimed primarily at female audiences. Thus, showing a weak hero within the premise might be satisfactory to some. However I did find the ending most disappointing. In fact it becomes disappointing much before midway. How and why so? Is it cos I am a male? I wouldn't like to think so, cos the philandering male is justly punished and that was satisfactory.

Irrespective of however 'realistic' some might find the drama to be, in real terms any narrative has to fulfil the dramatic needs of drama mechanics. By which we as audience make a purchase into the drama. The premise is possibly the best part of this drama. A man discovers a message which seems to indicate a ticking time bomb in his otherwise perfect domestic life. It could be true. It could be a misinterpretation. Couple that with a reddit like discussion happening in real time, sets up a unique spin. This sets up a novel engrossing story engine which, I thought, would readily propels the narrative forward.

However, even in this, the male protagonist, essentially on whom the show is based, comes out as a whimpering pansy. Now, there's nothing to suggest a person CAN'T be a whimpering pansy and will NOT deserve the audience's sympathy. ONLY, such a person is rarely a protagonist. WHY? Cos for the audience to purchase into a tale, the protagonist, whether male or female, HAS to be proactive and willing to take on the curveball life or circumstance throws in his/her way and through that grow from it. This gives the person a character arc.

We see this same arc being enacted in VIP, in The World of the Married, etc. You might not like the curveball sent your way, BUT you accept it for what it is and instead of pining for the past, grow, evolve into a better perspective, understanding, change of personal pattern and leaving the past behind, grow from it. None of this happens in this drama. It is essentially a tale of the person slinking back to a past in the future glossing over what happened. One might argue that he evolves to becoming more compassionate and attentive. BUT, an abrasive person becoming attentive and compassionate is a growth curve. A self indulgent wimp becoming 'attentive and compassionate' is degrading from one delusional self aggrandisement to another, without addressing the core factor of wimpiness/indecisiveness. Of being reactive to life instead of embracing change for all its pain and becoming proactive. in THIS factor the drama, despite its very promising set up, gloriously fails.

Most of the Korean Script writers are women. The characters tend to be nuanced and deep, the premise interesting and novel, the story non-linear, the drama involved and intense. The issue is, when the adulter is man, he's invariably cast away or lives to repent AFTER being divorced. In this same drama, the lead story, the guy finally ends up not being able to leave his cheating wife. BUT, if the adulterous one is woman, then the man either can't live without her or goes on to commit a greater crime. In one of the dramas, in the B story, when the guy is the adulter he ends up being discarded, divorced, penniless, repentant...you name it. Take MISTY as an example. I am left wondering, is this some nascent sexism which is evolving in series narratives?