ItsAMe

When I'm writing sarcastic comments, I'm well aware that the people I mean don't understand it. I'm fine with that. Based on the context, with common sense and a bit of prior knowledge, one can usually tell apart sarcasm/irony from non-sarcasm/non-irony. In some cases, sarcasm/irony is based on in-jokes, so it can be difficult to understand the underlying joke. But you are right. Unfortunately, not everything we see on this platform or elsewhere is meant sarcastic, even though I wished it was. (If you read the comment section of dramas with popular good-looking actors, especially male actors, you know what I mean.)

Regarding other people's opinion, I feel the same. Before I watch any dramas, I usually read the comment section to figure out if the drama could be interesting for me. There are so many dramas out there, I won't live long enough to watch them all, so I'm always glad when people elaborate because "don't watch this mess" or "best drama ever" is not helpful for me.

@Kelekat Yes, what I wrote about the pupil is obviously sarcasm. Nobody in his right mind believes that babys were born with higher skills. Otherwise, one would have to argue why those lazy babies don't produce art/ music/ movies/ architecture, and so on. All normal people know that those people who they admire were bad at some point. And even the best don't produce good things all the time.

If you read something online that sounds overly ridiculous, it's save to interpret it as sarcasm, irony or cynism. If the user meant what he wrote, interpret it as a joke anyway because, in the end, it does not matter. ;)

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Yes, the writing of this drama sucks. However, there were quite a few interesting ideas. I feel like most K-drama producers just read the synopsis and think: "Sounds good. Let's do that. We have Park Min-young. Fans will watch this drama even if it's not as good as it sounds."

The first few episodes were quite entertaining. The characters were interesting, especially Woo Gwang-nam who is fairly untypical for a non-BL drama because he's gay but not gay-gay, which is even untypical for Western dramas.

Unfortunately, at some point, many of those interesting ideas got dropped/ forgotten, or there were ridiculous explanations. The rest was just romance stuff, which doesn't need any story.

If the writers had explored the characters a bit more, this would have been a nice drama. All in all, it was an underwhelming watch for me but definitely not the worst.

The problem is very likely that you expect to convince people of your personal opinion. Most people know that there is something called 'personal preference'. And most educated people know that something can be objectively good while one personally does not like it. And educated people also know that one can still enjoy something that's objectively not good. And by objectively good/bad, I'm referring to established rules of story telling, which are basically the same in all cultures.

Roddib wrote what he felt was garbage. Funnily, those things were exactly what I enjoyed most in this drama. I don't care that he calls them 'garbage'. If he doesn't like them, that's fine. If I had read his comment before watching this drama, I would have binge watched it in a day. His comment would have been very helpful for me.

Nobody watches or does not watch a drama because some random stranger on the internet spammed 'garbage'. However, people watch/ do not watch dramas because random strangers shared what they liked/ didn't like.

Personally, I find the ML the most promising character because, as you said, he does lots of immoral things. I don't like romance and angel-like characters with artificial flaws.

After episode 1, I wanted to drop this drama but I read in the comments that the drama would be different as of episode 3, which was true. I was positively surprised by the action, the murders, the brutality, so I was very willing to ignore the cheesy romance. With a selfish ML, one never knows what will happen next, which is great. Even FL surprised me because I thought she would be one of those Mary Sues every man wants to marry. I like that she's as selfish as ML. I also like the younger male who seems to be in love with the ML. I hope his character will get explored more.

It's one of my favourite dramas BECAUSE of the things you regard as 'garbage'. If you want to warn other people, the word 'garbage' is way too vague because 'garbage' is not a synonym for 'immoral ML' or something like that. One man's garbage is another man's treasure. ;)

I doubt that you don't understand why people care about other people's opinions. You are engaging in this discussion yourself, aren't you? ;)

Personally, I read comments before watching a drama, and after watching a drama. Sometimes, I read them while watching a drama. I want to know what other people think about certain details.

I watched "Awaken" a couple of weeks ago and recognised ML's acting in "My Dearest". In this drama, he doesn't have a lollipop but the same way of speaking and acting. I was pleased to see basically the same character again in this drama, just without the lazy plot twists this time. I also tried to watch "One Dollar Lawyer" but that wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not a fan of any actor. I just watch to watch a bunch of entertaining dramas, and that's it.

OP didn't simply write that he had not liked the drama. He asked a question: "8.8 for this garbage?" He didn't even provide an explanation such as "I found this dama cheesy and boring", which would have been fine because most of us are grown-ups who are able to accept other people's opinions. In the context of this website, "8.8 for this garbage?" is not about engaging in a discussion or sharing one's opinion but rather trolling. If we want a toxic environment, we would discuss on twitter or tumblr, wouldn't we?

I think you are able to tell the different between OP's question and your own comment below. While I personally enjoyed this drama and liked the acting (I'm not even a fan of the main lead), I was interested in your opinion because I felt that you wanted to be understood.

I agree with you in this respect. The story and the characters are improveable, and there are many flaws in this drama. However, I disagree that the writer does not deserve another chance. I don't think that she tried to scam anybody. If she keeps writing bad dramas everybody ignores, nobody will hire her anymore. As long as there are people who enjoy her dramas, she "deserves" to write stories (for money).

I was referring to "the makers/koreans are so far behind the west when it comes to equality and all that comes with it" in my comment, not to the fact that Asian shows have their flaws too.

There are women who hate men because they were, for example, raped by a man. ML has been stalked by various females for many years. Those fans also try to harm people around him. He can never know who's a crazy fan and who's just "a nice woman". I have gained many bad experiences with other types of people. While I don't actively hate them, I avoid them whenever possible. It makes my life easier and the lives of people I like less dangerous.

Absolutely. Next time, I see a child who draws something I don't like, I will tell him that I hope nobody will ever give him a pencil again because his drawing is an insult to all the skilled artists out there. We must never allow anybody to improve his skills by gaining experience! Skilled people are born with their skills! Period.

Well, there are not many people who are able to tell apart irony, sarcasm and cynicism. Everybody who knows the difference is able to interpret the message in my previous comment as it was supposed to be interpreted. I hope that answers your questions.

He was away? I thought 'The Red Sleeve' was his comeback. But maybe you are right. Romance is a safer and more popular genre.

But there wasn't anything to discover left. The characters were one-dimensional. Nothing interesting happened anymore. Or do you think that the forced 'Oh, we have to separate out of the blue cuz daddy' felt natural? The characters didn't even pretend to feel desperate or angry or anything. After they got together again, everything was exactly as before after like 2 seconds. The dad looked annoyed for 3 seconds. Or the ridiculous 'Oh, by the way, I need my own hotel, which I never mentioned before but which has totally been my lifelong dream and I have also thought about it a long time'! That was just a sequence of random information. You can easily see that by replacing or removing scenes, and nobody would even notice that. If the story or maybe just the romance had been properly developed, it would not be possible to swap anything because it would have been a sequence of consequences, not of random information.

Jfyi, you can enjoy a drama while simultaneously acknowleding its flaws. At least, I can.

The fact that you write "The progression of them getting to know each other, talking and building connection with each other is the plot" shows that you either didn't read or understand my comment. Read it again, and you'll notice that I complained about the lack of progress in the second sentence.

ML and FL are a couple after a few episodes. After that, there is absolutely no 'getting to know each other' anymore because they already know everything about each other. There is no progression anymore because they are already in love, already a couple, had sex already. If you don't agree, let me know about the relevant progressions I missed after the main characters became a couple. Don't forget that, according to your definition, 'relevant' refers to the characters' progression only, not to any events. Thanks in advance.

I sometimes suspect that the writers suddenly change something in the script or that the actors do not get the whole script in the first place. I mean, the synopsis sounds entertaining, and the first few episodes were entertaining as well, in my opinion. :/

One of the very few dramas I watched twice. Yeo Jin Goo did an excellent job. When I watched this drama the first time, I thought that the two kings were portrayed by two different actors who just happened to look very similar. When I checked the casting list, I was surprised that it was the same actor because the characters felt so different.

Kim Sang Kyung was also fantastic. He and Yeo Jin Goo had a great chemistry making the relationship between their respective characters extremely interesting.

The only scenes I didn't enjoy were the romantic scenes with the queen. They felt fairly forced and lenghty.

This sageuk is all about politics. ML somehow has to survive because everybody either wants to use or to kill the king.

No, you're not the only one. They had a great chemistry, and their relationship was so intriguing because we knew that they would never be a couple or a Happy Ending for them.

Well, I think that most of us do know and expect that the relationship is the plot. However, there is absolutely zero progress as of episode 4 or 5 regarding that relationship. The leads are a couple, they are in love, and that's it. No real conflict. And sometimes the writers insert some struggling which feels forced and which suddenly ends.

The FL's friends had way more exciting stories with actual problems but they had way less screentime. Personally, I would expect the main leads to have the most exciting stories and problems to solve.

No worries. If you cannot stand the bullying, that's fine. Nobody expects you to watch any drama to feel miserable. Most of us watch dramas to feel entertained.

You are right about the hierarchy in Korea. It is very obvious there because the social hierarchy is part of the language while in Western societies it's usually not. In Western cultures and languages, disrespecting somebody is less obvious unless you call them names or openly bully them. We Westerners also tend to openly lie to give certain people the illusion of being respected (especially in advertising) while it is an open secret that we actually don't like them.

You see the bullying in dramas because Koreans suffer from it and want to feel good/better when watching their dramas. The K-dramas are simply "honest" in this respect, and we non-Asians/non-Koreans should not forget that K-dramas are mainly produced for Koreans living in Korea. Asian dramas are not race-swapped Hollywood movies/series. Koreans in Korea are telling their own stories just like everybody else on this planet except for US-Americans. US-Americans cry for rich people in Hollywood.

Western media, especially Hollywood, tend to paint a very wrong picture of our Western societies. "Hey, it's me, the poor student living in this poor people loft" is a very typical "poor people" character. Nowadays, we are even taught that the actors/characters in Western media were representations of something, and fiction was actually reality. And if our lives are not as seen in the movies, that's, of course, the fault of [insert a political/ethnic/religious/ideological/social group you don't like].

The reason why I currently prefer Korean dramas is that even the most ridiculous dramas contain relateable characters. Average people are usually poor or at least not wealthy. And poor people in K-dramas usually work hard to get a better life. We see them struggling, and their struggling is relateable because we experience exactly the same in our everyday lives.

Many K-drama fans (like I) look for relateable characters but we are also looking for new stories we haven't watched/heard/read a million times yet. At the moment, Korea is providing those exotic stories.

I felt the same. The main couple is adorable, the friends are cute, there are a few funny and romantic moments but the story is lacking which is particularily obvious in the last few episodes. This drama is great if you just want to see good looking people eating tasty meals and saying cute things to each other but it's a waste of time if you expect any progress or surprises.