JayBird

I'm wondering what the in-story time gap is going to be between seasons 1 and 2. Personally, I'm thinking roughly 1 year. That would mirror the year that passed during season 1 and would also mean that just enough time would have passed for things to have changed while still being familiar enough for viewers to immediately connect to the stories again.

Although for all I know the writers could just troll me and season 2 could start 5 seconds after season 1 finishes.

Whilst I still really enjoyed this episode, I would probably say it's my least favourite alongside episode 1. Like episode 1, it felt more like a stepping stone in a journey, rather than a destination in itself (which makes sense because it's the penultimate ep and, like ep 1, it has a whole lot of set-up to do).

Whilst I'm not sure that we'll get them by the end of this season, I do think there's a chance they'll continue into the next. At the very least, I'm almost certain JW won't become a priest in the end, mainly because of the conversations they had about pediatric surgeons. JW has always been selfless, indeed that's the reason he wants to be a priest. That conversation, however, framed his wishes as selfish instead. I think that, aside from his feelings for Dr Jang, there's a lot of other things in his way that will ultimately make him reconsider. He might make it all the way to Italy, but I don't think he'll take the position in the end (although we may only find out about it in Season 2).

I will admit, the main plot just isn't doing much for me, it's not quite serious enough to be action but it's also not quite goofy enough to be comedy. I'm also not a fan of the lead couple and every scene they have together has me reaching for the skip button (although I'm pretty sure there's some misdirection going on there so it's not all bad.... I still wish they'd tone it down a little though). Still, despite my very lukewarm feelings towards this drama, there are two things that are stopping me from dropping this:

1) Woo Won and Ye Eun, whose relationship and storyline (so far) are absolute gold and almost feel like they could support their own drama if it wanted to. I'm surprisingly invested in what's going to happen next with them, and I want to see the end of their story.

2) Mi Soon, who's oddball scenes are everything I'd hoped for when I started this drama. Watching her go about her everyday life and fumble her spy work is also a nice counter to Chan Mi (who is technically supposed to be an amazing agent but who has the impulse control of particularly angry cat).

Anyway, at the halfway point I can safely say that this drama is not for everyone and is probably going to be a hit or miss depending on what you want from it. Don't expect an action drama, don't expect a comedy, just aim for somewhere in between.

They put a cardboard cut out of him next to the cast for their first press conference, it was actually kind of hilarious XD

I hope you enjoy it!

On a personal level, it worries me a little when I see some people's reactions to JY. I /know/ kids like him and I hate to think people might say the same things about them. JY is such a painfully, beautifully realistic depiction a child who is dealing with trauma and I wish, rather than just hate him because he doesn't act like an adult or make the 'right' choices all the time, people engaged with him on that level and actually considered what his character has to say about the real world.

I mean maybe but also I dunno. It depends on when Netflix became involved in the project and how involved they are. Their Neflix orignal kdramas seem to have a sliding scale, some (like Kingdom) are entirely theirs and they have a lot of say in how those are made; some (like the Arthdal Chronicles) seem to be split between Netflix and the Channel the show airs on and they seem to have varying amounts of creative control in those cases (I guess it depends on who's doing most of the financing); and then others are literally just titles they bought exclusive airing rights to and they have 0% say in how those are made (but still get to claim them as originals which is really dodgy imo). Idk which case it is here but given what happened the last time tvn gave Netflix power over a series they produced, I would hope they'd not sign another contract where Netflix gets a lot of say in how the drama is made.

Nope, it's not business as usual (large gatherings like concerts are a no-go and schools are closed) but most things are still open and people can still go out to cafes and restaurants and stuff.

Korea's not really in lockdown though so whilst I do think it's a factor, I don't think it's anywhere near being the biggest one. After all, there are other dramas which aired during the same time period and some of them also broke records.... For lowest viewership ratings on their respective channels.

It was a case of wrong place, wrong time from what I remember/understood when I watched it.

I certainly don't like what netflix is trying to do with multi-season dramas but I don't particularly think it's what's happening here. The duo have already made a multi-season drama to a certain extent (the reply series) so this feels much more like they're just exploring a more tightly knit version of what they've already done. Just from the pacing and storylines, as well as previous projects, this feels much more like an artistically driven choice than one forced on them by netflix.

I'm 99. 9% certain he committed suicide. It just looked like other people were involved.

I agree with everything you said, I wanted to throttle so many characters and DK's parents are honestly some of the most terrifying and repulsive characters I've come across in a long time.

As for JY, I think his reaction at the end stemmed from 2 things:

1) he'd just seen his dad try to commit suicide after he'd rejected him, he was probably feeling a lot of guilt associated with that.

2) perhaps more importantly, he also realised that this would never end. He couldn't cut his ties with his father, his parents would never be able to cut ties with each other, and worse still the stability he'd finally regained in his life proved itself to be a facade. He realised that the source of his pain would always be with him and he couldn't cope with that. It was definitely an extreme reaction, but taking into account everything else he'd been though, it's also one that makes sense especially if you consider how badly he coped beforehand.

It's quite open so may disappoint a little if you like neater endings with more closure. Personally, I thought it was the ending it needed and one it built up to over the course of the show.

Hmmmm, maybe? But I'd be surprised if they had a massive overlap in audience.... They're very different shows about very different things.

Still there probably will be a few more people who give this a go.

When I am less likely to burst into tears, I want to write in depth about Joon Young, what he did throughout the drama, why he did it, and the realism of his portrayal.

Not now though, right now I'm a wreck.

I mean, as long as you're not planning to marry Tae Oh, you should be okay :P

I didn't watch the British version but from what I can see I would assume it was a coping mechanism. He had the most important things (a sense of stability and his family) taken away from him by the divorce so a) wanted to fill that void by hoarding 'precious' material items and b) maybe also wanted others to experience a sense of loss as well.

Furthermore I'd imagine it gave him a sense of agency and control, something that he was definitely lacking for most of this drama and very desperate to get back.

Personally, I don't think even he fully understood why he was doing it, a lot of kids who go through trauma exhibit extreme behaviours as an unconscious response to the stress and emotional turmoil they're feeling. Their coping mechanisms are often not very logical and can be destructive in some way, in part because it's a physical manifestation of their pain.

Priest: I now declare you married.

Me and the wife enthusiastically high-fiving: heck yeah bro.