ItsAMe

1) There is no rise of cheating. Men and women have cheated on each other for millenia. That's common knowledge among people who had at least a moderate education.

2) Men sell their bodies too. That's not just common knowledge but also part of this drama.

3) Prostitution and drugs are illegal in many countries. Nevertheless, there isn't any country on this planet where prostitution and drugs do not exist. A quick research on the internet, which took me about 5 seconds (including switching the tab), gave me the name "Mia-ri". In Korean crime/action dramas, these things are almost always part of the story.

4) If want to see the ugly side of Korea anyway, you could watch Korean crime/action dramas. These things are almost always huge topics in those dramas, especially in the action genre.

I accept your apology, and I want to make clear: My previous comment referred to the "low opinion part" only, not to your arguments.

What you wrote in your other comment sounded to me as if you actually agreed with what you quoted but you didn't seem to realise it.

I agree with you in regards to the story which is about strict beauty standards and how it affects basically everybody. This wasn't the topic of my first comment in this thread, though. We shared our opinions about the casting only and complained because an actually beautiful actress would have been better to convey the message of this drama.

Well, I've just completed this drama, and I see the positive aspect: That Mary Sue character suited her limited acting skills. It would have been a great disappointment for me if she had ruined a good character.

Yeah, the FL actress is not suitable for this role. She plays both the female and the male part exactly the same: looking pretty or looking like a deer in the headlights. I have to admit that I'm a bit spoiled because of "The King's Affection" where the actress (not this one here) put a lot of effort into behaving like a male.

I don't blame FL for everything, though, because she probably didn't decide on the make-up, and the director probably didn't care that FL wore feminine make-up all the time.

Reading skills are not your strongest skills, are they?

Slakito claimed FL was chosen because she's ugly (compared to other actresses). I argued that she was chosen to promote the (botched) surgery look, not because she's ugly. Why do I think that? Because there are hundreds of actresses who do not look as if they had botched surgery, and who are prettier than FL.

Since you are an expert in Korean society, you know how big the beauty industry is in Korea. And you also know that the Korean government invests a lot of money in certain industries. K-beauty is known for a reason. People from all over the world go to Korea to update their look via plastic surgery. Due to your extensive researches, you also found newspaper articles stating that the Korean government also invests in K-dramas and sometimes gives instruction what is supposed to get promoted.

Nobody here talked about the appearance-based nature of the Korean society. The topic was something else: Compared to other actresses who had plastic surgery, they could have used someone who doesn't look "plastic" but beautiful. Your low opinion of Koreans probably does not reflect reality because if a Korean woman wants, for example, a "smaller face", she doesn't mean that she wants to look like Miss Piggy. She wants to look like, for example, Park Min-young.

However, since plastic surgery is expensive, the botched surgery look is still fine because even if you look "plastic", people see that you were able to afford it. They perceive you as rich, which is important in a society that was extremely poor just a couple of years ago. Or why do you think are Koreans obsessed with expensive luxury most of them cannot afford? Just because?

Ugly and poor is not desireable. This is true in basically all societies on this planet. Ugly and rich is fine, though. Or do you really believe that instagram "models" and their fans really love to look as if a bee had stung them right in the face? They invested a lot of money in that look, so they HAVE to call it beautiful. Everything else would mean that they made a mistake and regret.

And since you are an expert in Korean society, you know that Koreans do almost everything not to lose face.

Wow, I cannot believe it's the same guy I recently saw in "Shadow Detective". He looks like a completely different person with long hair. It looks good on him.

No romance, and the ending is a happy one for the protagonists.

They didn't _make_ FL the worst looking. The actress looks like that. Maybe the Korean government once again sponsored a drama to boost some industry. By telling insecure people that (botched) surgery is desirable, people probably feel the need to look the same. Koreans (and other people) love to imitate the main leads in dramas and movies because being the main lead means you are successful.

There was a time in the West when a certain "botched surgery look" was exclusive for rich people. Then they started to aim for a more natural look. Nowadays, instagram is full of dinghy lips, and average people in their 20s looking like people in their 50-60s trying to look like they were around 30-40 years old.

It's not a bad show. Or let's say: It's not Cha Eun-woo's fault if/that this drama is not the best out there. He portrays a nice, good-looking guy with basically no personality. Acting skills were not needed for this role. He fits the role. The actual story happens between the female characters, anyway, and the actresses are doing a good job, in my opinion. Of course, it's okay not to like this drama.

Unfortunately, once actors become famous, they don't seem to touch BL projects anymore. And if they do, the BL gets censored once it's getting "too hot". See, for example, "The Devil Judge". :(

I have nothing against people who have done too much plastic surgery. Looking like a walking walk socket does not automatically make somebody a bad person. Some people are born fairly ugly, so I understand their desire to improve their look. It's great that plastic surgery exists to improve people's lives. I just cannot unsee the botched plastic surgery, especially on young people. Sometimes, it makes me sad because most people with botched surgery looked fine before.

Almost no K-dramas are realistic, so I don't have any expectations in this respect. To be honest, I'm not that interested in realistic dramas. I'm just interested in a good, consistent and plausible story (without any pedo romance or stupid character which are supposed to be perceived as smart). ML's character was underwhelming but I think the actor did a good job anyway. It's not his fault that the writing was lacking. I also don't blame the FL actress.

I liked ML in "Fated to Love You" (certainly not the best drama out there but, at least, it had a few "crazy" ideas, and ML had a great chemistry with FL), and "Tell me what you saw" (not realistic either but I found it entertaining; FL wasn't stupid either).

I'm putting "Money Flower" on my watchlist now. I hope it's available on Viki in my country. :)

The funny thing is: In every other drama, the handsome ML actor showers at least once while the camera is panning over his hot half-naked body. We almost never see any relevant skin of an actress but IF we see some skin, it's basically full nude porn (see, for example, The Handmaiden). Koreans don't seem to know any nuances.

I didn't criticise the age gap per se but the fact that FL looked and behaved like a teenager. Personally, I'm not into pedo dramas. SFL looks like a grown-up woman and closer ML's age. SFL also has a stable job. She is an established doctor while FL does not even have any experience in her own job as a police woman. Despite the visible age gap, SFL would have been a more appropriate love interest, in my opinion.

Despite the many cliches and predictability of the story, I found this drama quite entertaining. Probably because I haven't seen any dramas taking place in the 1930s (or something like that) yet. Just the romance felt forced down my throat. FL and ML basically spent no time together, they were mainly busy surviving and fighting, so their love was not developed but "just there" out of the blue. I wished they had explored a bit more of the side stories instead of the "romance".

(1) FL's mother was portrayed as a monster, and the only thing that was able to make her human is her daughter. In all those episodes, she killed everybody but her daughter. For this reason, it made sense to me that she also attacked ML.

(2) We don't know if it is "the" parasite or whether there are multiple parasites inside Seong-sim's body. We also don't know what happened after that scene. It's called an open ending. Open endings are often used to make people excited for another season.

(3) We don't know whether the cup contains the parasite. This was obviously a scene with an unanswered question to increase suspense (and excitement for season 2).

(4) In one of the earlier episodes after ML landed on the pile of bones, he walked through the corridor. The camera showed an oddly shaped hand print on the wall that ML touched a few seconds ago. In the last episode, his neck looked somewhat odd as if he had a surgical scar. We can assume that he is infected. Whether he is immortal, is not answered in this season.

If you found that ending confusing: It's an open ending leaving many questions (for season 2).

Omg, he finally got a picture that looks like the guy in the dramas, not like some drug abuser pulled out of the sewer.

Not as well as the winners of the oppression olympics. Unfortunately. ☹

Most celebrities behaved well. There wasn't even any relevant incident with Yoona. If you watched the video, you certainly noticed that Yoona obviously made a mistake, the female guard communicated the rules in a way that is universally understood, and Yoona moved on. That's how most guests who made the mistake behaved because that's how "decent people" behave in Europe. Other guests simply moved on because they very likely knew that one is not allowed to pose on the stairs, so there was no need for the guards to usher them.

Only certain individuals made a scene.

Since you asked: In most places in Europe, there are strict rules for bigger events because, in the case of an accident, fire and/or terrorism, the place must be cleared as fast as possible without a stampede. The fire brigade tell the organiser in advance what to do, and they check if all requirements are met before the event starts, and they also check during the event. If the requirements are not met, the event might get cancelled, and the organiser might also have to pay a hefty fine. In the worst case, people get injured, and the insurance will not pay because rules were not enforced. Or maybe the worst case is a preventable accident in which somebody dies. It depends on who you ask.

One of the most important rules is that nobody may stand, pose or sit on stairs.

An example: In many European universities, students are not allowed to sit on the stairs in the lecture theatre even if there are no free seats anymore. That's not because those students are Black™ or celebrities but because of security requirements.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know that France will host the Olympic Games this year.