InspectorMegre

I like this drama a lot. ML and FL are pretty equal, have great communication, and messages of the drama are very positive. Acting is pretty good, pace and script are pretty good.

It is a twist on old time kdramas. This drama often starts with an old trope, but then ends it with a totally new age ending. So old timers are probably confused - the FL starts weak and irrational... and quickly turns out very strong and helpful, there is communication and teamwork between ML-FL, it is an equal relationship between two people, he happens to be CEO and she happens to be a manager, there is no dragging of "anio!" lying and cheating plots..... whaaaat??! LOL all new stuff...

and westernized audience is left in the dust LOL bc there is no skinship or violence or "excitement" like that, drunken one night stand is considered an embarrassment and not "ok we are already familiar" LOL LOL LOL which to old times is obviously shady morality, and to these new timers, is normal.... LOL Then these new timers also expect some plasticized 20 yrs old to be the main leads LOL LOL LOL as if romance does not exist for any other age.... !!!!! what a limited world view... ! Think the famous movie Harold and Modd, or 40 Year Old Virgin....

In this drama, everything gets resolved fast, as ML-FL work well as a team, and the drama is really about them building their team trust and operation. By ep ... 10? is it 10 now? They are a well oiled successful team, and a great great couple. I really like this drama.

The drama does start with the doormat passive FL - as usual - that is the signature sexist ploy of most if not all kdramas (and cdramas and possibly others - I dont know bc I dont watch them) - but again, it metamorphoses into a relationship of equality. They help each other and they COMMUNICATE about everything.

So I think this is one of those revolutionary dramas that sets the tone for the new era. I think it is very deep, constructive and positive.

It does have some flaws, FL is dragged out as passive too long, so we missed on her varied and excellent acting of more than just that, and there is not enough COM out of rom com
But the lack of that is made up with great love scenes and chemistry between the leads, and a very tender and dear portrayal of new parents.
ML - FL PAIR IS CUTE!!!! they are just so cute!!!

Overall, I like this drama a lot. It is on the right track. It shows a new age family. A very nice way to be a family. Yay!!!! times are a-changing!

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So... I am gonna act as a cultural and ettiquette translator and explain how to read the room.
So: ML / FL met at a drunken one night stand. They were kinda total strangers when they met. That one night stand - and esp a drunken one - is an EMBARASSING situation and THEY ARE STILL PRETTY MUCH TOTAL STRANGERS. And ashamed to look like mating dogs to each other.... AND HE IS HER BOSS.

This is not a situation of two singles having fun. She is risking being a single mom or accepting this total stranger into her life to support her baby. Those are huge changes. These two lovebirds need to make a nest first before they can have fun. Just having fun is INAPPROPRIATE.

Now, this world view totally clashes with the Western idea promoted by Western media, where one night stand is totally ok, and you become familiar with a total stranger just by sharing your private parts. Well... some other cultures would call that ... insufficient LOL I would actually call it crude :)

Bc, to really get to know someone enough to feel ffamiliar and comfortable, it takes time and effort and involves a LOT of things to share - your mind, heart, and soul, .... and yeah eventuallly the private parts. Here we also have an employee and boss... a wrong move, and single mom loses her livelihood. DONT YOU THINK THE SITUATION IS DELICATE AND REQUIRES CAUTION AND BUILDING TRUST FIRST?

But this idea seems "childish" to so many ppl here who are ranting about it in a very loud way. Please remember, you come from the Western promiscuity standards. Not everyone in the world has those standards, and certainly, they are not obliged to follow YOUR standards :)

So those of you who expect ML/FL to be suddenly super comfortable and familiar with each other in every way after a drunken one night stand .... aren't you showing ... a certain lack of sensitivity? Calling ML/FL "chaste teenagers" or something like that. Isnt't that very crude?

If you want explicit s.x skinship etc - then go watch something Hollywood. You didnt come to kdrama to watch that. You came to watch a MEANINGFUL STORY.

Western audience expects ML/FL to jump on each other instantly bc "they already had s.x so they re already familiar" but ... to a person with integrity, it happens ONLY when you get to know someone enough to feel comfortable around them. That takes time. And, these two started from an embarrassing situation of a drunken one night stand... AND, HE IS HER BOSS.... and first things first, does she keep the baby... ? esp with her mother trauma... Then... he plans to just plop into her life and support the baby... WOW that is a huge change... Who is he??? and, what happens at work???

So this drama takes 1-2 months of drama time and so these 2 people just figured out that:
- she is ok with being a mom and she is keeping the baby and her job
- he seems responsible and wants to stay
- he is a safe boss and she is not an exploitative employee
- he is good enough to be allowed to stay and hang around,
- she is good enough to handle the demands of his position i.e. she is strong enough to be a CEO's wife and handle all the gossip, politics, publicity, and official functions that goes with it
- they like each other
- their families are ok and so a marriage is ok
-- OK!!! so the "nesting permit" is obtained.
They have built enough trust in each other and are just starting to date and handling all the emergencies that happened to them.
***I think their actions match. the situation.

I think they are just starting to become a team, just starting to date, so the NEXT step would be to see them holding hands, whispering on a pillow, hugging on the sofa and going to a room. But we are not there yet.

But CAN YOU ALLOW that this is THEIR TIMELINE and that not everyone jumps on each other so fast like you see in Hollywood movies - and maybe in your own lives... ????

Well please refrain from applying YOUR standards on other people. Maybe you will learn something :)

Or else.. you gonna be stuck in Waikiki, which has NOTHING to do with Hawaii, it is just San Francisco or LA on a nice tropical beach instead of cold windy foggy beach... basically, you havent left your home at all - so why bother to travel then.... ????

==== WHY HAWAII? =====
I think I am seeing a clash of standards here, and ppl who are here to watch kdramas for their storytelling and sophistication, are trashing what they came for...
Like Hawaii -
everyone comes to Hawaii bc it is PERFECT climate and quiet green and natural, and when they get there they want 30 min hot showers, A/C, restaurants, cars, crowds, etc and basically are recreating San Francisco or LA where they ESCAPED from to rest and rejuvenate in lovely quiet natural Hawaii..... ... And so - yeah, shove all those snowflakes into Waikiki, the ghetto for tourists, and the real people go see real Hawaii.

So right now, I see people who came to sophisticated, meaningful, creative, story oriented kdramas ..... and expect Hollywood cesspool skinship etc.

I think it would be better to stop being an ignorant tourist and to actually ENJOY THE NEW LAND YOU ARE IN, ENJOY IT AS IS, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MAKE IT INTO SOMETHING YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH - AND BORED TO DEATH WITH

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Generally, I forgive some amount of cringe in a drama LOL Why? Because it is to be expected :)

First: characters in a drama/movie/any story MUST START "LACKING", with flaws and/or problems lol - it has to be like that, bc there has to be serious flaws, lacking, ommissions, misdeeds, previous trauma, ongoing attack and/or misunderstandings etc etc etc etc to create the story :)
and then the drama/movie/story consists of overcoming that ....
So it is to be expected that some cringe will happen, and heavily at the start... then it should start resolving and disappearing.... (and in some cases, never be totally gone LOL )

WHERE do you draw the line how much is "dragging the cringe phase" ? That is a very personal thing. To you, this drama dragged it too much. To me this drama passed the test.

Second: it is also personal what kind of cringe the audience is willing to tolerate LOL Lazy scriptwriters like to use tropes and stereotypes, bc they are sure the audience will can accept that particular type of cringe and the drama will "sell".

Third: A common cringe in asian dramas is a weak dumb irrational loser MARGINALIZED AND POOR AND POWERLESS woman who is KIND, and an overbering controlling cold wounded RICH POWERUL man who gets healed by her kindness.... this is the cringe that Asia is willing to tolerate ... this cringe is based on sexism and women as "lesser ppl" - so you get lots of scenes of FL in confused anxious state, yelling, doing stupid things, crying, etc and ML with a poker face saving this damsel in distress from HERSELF!!! ....
(Sexism is a global disease, so in the western version of this trope, the woman is broke, pretty and willing to lay down, and you get to see a lot of s.x - related scenes and a lot of push up bras and cleaveage and car chases.)

Fourth, Asian dramas are too often sexist and use stupidity of women, esp FL, to create the plot. That is asian drama #1 fundamental flaw :) and luckily is slowly going away
It is ok to start like that, and it is great that 99.9% of kdramas have a transformational ending.

What we call "bad dramas" drag the transformation too long... And "good ones" resolve it fast. And practically all of them are a lot better than something western. kdramas at least have creative stories and plot and unique characters, and are usually about positive lifestyles and messages. So... Ii take some cringe in a kdrama rather than something meaningless, lewd and violent. So... I have to forgive some flaws in my chosen form of entertainment LOL but never give hope that it can be even better :)

Fifth: kdramas have various acting styles and means of conveying the message, and they heavily rely on comedy and making things light and making fun of various situations so that we can see what is really going on - that makes kdramas so fun - and that comedy can be very sophicated and dry, can be super polite and subtle, can be face/body language, something said, a funny camera angle, .... ... can be in so many forms, all the way to recklessly silly and exeggarated theatrical behaviors, to make sure to convey the message LOL
The point is that the auduence gets the message :) So - we the audience go along with the ride :) we watch the story presented to us and we think what is it trying to say....?

Sixth: amateur audience always wants to redo the drama they want it but it is not possible. The script writer had their own ideas. Also, the drama picks the most important points, it is NOT the real life. We do not get to see every single detail as if in real life. So chill out and allow it.

So if ML/FL were hiding and looking back - was it one of those exaggerations... or a cringe... I will check :) Also, you may have never done that, but other ppl might do that :) so it might not be unusual... Then I see you complained about not seeing a bump, etc. THAT was not importnt to the drama.. and the drama is about the first 1-3 months so realistically, there is no bump to show... I also thought with the amount and stress and anxiety, she would have miscarried five times LOL but ... it is a drama... that was not important... so ..... who cares :)

I also thought that it was abusive to ask her to drink and silly that she could not stand up to it - but I also understand that it is actually how it is in real life... ... drinkers HATE those who do not drink, the boss was super abusive to the "nobody" FL .... ... - and FL is trying to be on the friendly side of her colleagues and boss, and keep her job and a good work environment.... It was educational to see how the boss changed when she realized FL has backing.... Those are actually important and realistic messages..

This drama uses the well known tropes - the insecure weak blind loser FL ("I am gonna have a baby all on my own and keep my job and I dont need anyone") and petty controlling ML ("give me all tthese reports back on Monday") - ....... BUT IT DID NOT LAST LONG. AND IT WAS NOT TOO BAD. IT WAS REALISTIC, many ppl would go through such a phase LOL and these drama characters luckily quickly overcame it.

Imo this drama is a pioneer in gender equality and rational thinking ability and communication ability ..... it often starts with a trope - bc the audience is so used to it - but then twists it into something totally new and different, rather fast. So there was no dragging and being stuck. The development moved along really fast and it was interesting to watch for us, imo.

At the start of this drama, FL was professionally competent and had some personal cringe to start with - not too much- and pretty fast was shown as a competent strong CEO's wife material who talks things through, rationally, and helps her darling in many ways... ML was a petty spoiled arrogant brat but quickly got wiser and softer too....

In this drama, QUITE FAST, ML and FL formed a strong team in clear honest communication. THAT is precious :) ML started already from like ep 2... and FL totally turned around by ... ep .. 5? I forgot.

I dont know how many kdramas or cdramas you watched, but FL *could* have started and stayed almost to the end as a loser... and never really became strong... like in dramas Would you Marry Me, Dynamite Kiss, etc...

I remember seeing some cringe scenes like that at the start of this drama, but luckily ... this FL was totally not bad :) She got very wise very fast :) And ML too :)


So I would like to know which scenes bothered you because that will tell me where your personal line is. Everyone has a different personal line..
Like in Our Universe drama - someone saw 2-3-4 episodes, wrote a super bad review how ML is a man child, etc , and dropped the drama, all angry..... . But the man-child was used at the start for comedic and real life effects, spoiled selfish man not interested in children... BUT it got quickly reversed and by ... ep 4 or 5 for sure. ML was a very caring father figure and connected to the baby. But that bad reviewer wasnt willing to risk waiting for it LOL

So .... where you draw the line of how much cringe is too much, and how much you are willing to tolerate to get to the good stuff - is YOUR CHOICE
Btw, it is a gamble, bc sometimes good stuff just does not happen, like in Dynamite Kiss,..... and sometimes the development is so mature and wonderful, like here where she becomes true CEO's wife material and he becomes softer AND stronger