JayBird

Yeah, it seems unlikely. Honestly one of my favourite storylines because it actually showed that Chanyoung really did care about Heesu in webtoon and he wasn't just brushing him off.

Seung-won comes to Heesu for help in approaching his crush and Heesu is too much of a people pleaser to say no to him in the end (he does try because he doesn't like being the school match-maker). A lot of the webtoon centres around Heesu learning to put himself first and the way in which his relationship to both Seung-won and how he feels about helping him plays a key role in that journey.

I'm not going to lie. The thing that makes me the most uncomfortable about the adaptation isn't the straight couple (it always felt like the possibility was there in the webtoon) but the fact that the webtoon was always about the normal, everyday lives of teens, whereas the show decidedly isn't.

Why does Ji Yu have to be a secret musical genius (especially when it's not buyable, I'm sorry, if she's a music genius then so am I)? Webtoon Ji Yu was awesome enough as it was and probably one of my favourite characters in the series. Why does Chanyoung actually have to be a suppressed tennis star? Yeah in the webtoon he was super athletic but, again, at the end of the day he was just a normal high-schooler. Why on earth is Heesu being stalked??? What is that adding to the original story other than a feel-bad factor???

Like yes, I guess it can be argued these changes add "complexity" to a fairly basic storyline but, in that case, why not explore the emotional complexity of the everyday romantic, platonic and familial relationships already there instead of adding things that, currently at least, seem to run counter to the one of the webtoon's core messages.

TLDR: The webtoon said "you don't have to be exceptional" and the drama said screw that.

I'm refering to Back Ho and Hui Jin, they seem 100% comfortable with each other and 100% uninterested in each other. The brother and the best friend will definitely be a couple by the end of the drama if not earlier (they're basically going out already let's be honest, they've just not acknowledged that fact).

If Potato Lab wants to give me a proper male/female friendship without a hint of romance I will happily take this new development ~

Seems like there's a middle child who's not living with them

I'm having fun with it 🤷‍♀️

Some of it is, definitely, but I wasn't a fan of Moving (which in concept is right in my round house) or Light Shop (admittedly less in my round house) either. I'm not quite sure what it is, but his way of storytelling just doesn't seem to work for me.

Also this is my second k-drama in a month that seems to have decided to rely almost excessively on internal monologues to get points across or even tell the story.

I'm willing to accept most of my issues with this drama are down to my own tastes but I will riot if this becomes a wider trend because it sucks.

I think The Witch is confirmation to me that I just don't get on with the stories Kang Full wants to tell or the way he wants to tell them.... A shame but at least I came away having learnt something.

As for dramas that are actually good but are rated 7.9 or less:

Pretty much anything directed by Ahn Pan Seok. His dramas really aren't aimed at an international audience (or a young audience for that matter) and it's reflected in the MDL rating. There's quite a few other dramas in the same boat too.

Perhaps it's better to say "never trust am MDL rating on a drama that's still in its early run" because, in general, they're either unrealistically high or unrealistically low. Once it's aired for a little longer/been off air for a few months the ratings tend to be a bit more representative, or at least trustworthy enough to help inform your own tastes 😋

Again I agree that the show does /tell/ us show that he repented and showed remorse and that it's also /told/ us that Ja-Yeon didn't have to forgive him.

That being said, I don't think the show did a good job of /showing/ us those same things. Likely because it's only 12 episodes and primarily a comedy (which is fine), but to me it didn't feel like Gyu-Hun ever really had to sit and confront he'd done (the blame has even been shifted somewhat onto Ha-Jun). Ja-Yeon also moved on to the forgiving phase very quickly, before it felt like Gyu-Hun had actually done anything to earn it.

The leads other foster sister is in a polyamorous relationship with her boyfriend.

I definitely agree that that's the messaging that they want the audience to take from it (and it's not a bad message either, it's one I support). That said, given Korea's very real issues with online harassment (especially towards women) it feels a little off to me because "the person who sent you hate comments was actually misguided and is really very nice and you might actually love him"... Probably not the most common experience nor the message you want to accidentally be pushing.

The writing is definitely a little wonky (I'm really not sure what message I'm meant to be getting from the second couple other than date your hate commenters and there have been developments in the main couple's relationship that make me feel like I missed a few scenes) but it's a fun watch and I'm still enjoying it.

Let's see how it deals with the polyamory plotline, I feel like that's what's going to make it or break it for me.

Jaehan has continued to speak openly and positively about his role in Semantic Error in interviews and has also played another gay character, this time in a mainstream drama. I'm not entirely sure how you can claim that he is distancing himself from gay roles in this case.

Not only this, but currently K-QLs are small budget and often have limited distribution, they are not a stable source of work (although hopefully that will change soon). Jaehan is, first and foremost, an actor and he is allowed to want to progress his career into bigger roles and dramas as well as try out a variety of characters. In no other career would anyone argue that someone needed to stay where they started out of "respect" or "gratitude".

Sure, it's understandable that fans of his performance in Semantic Error are disappointed that he's not going to be taking on a similar role but what is toxic is the entitlement threaded through claims that an actor is "ditching" a genre or "betray[ing] fan support" just because they've taken on different roles. All he's done is do his job, and if he'd started out in a different genre, no one would be saying anything of the sort.

Finally, I find the argument that "[actors] are public figures whose decisions have impact on fans and the cultural landscape" incredibly disingenuous. Representation is indeed important but the attitude and allyship displayed by an actor OUTSIDE of the drama is far more important and Jaehan, outside of his projects, has done a pretty good job of showing his support to the LGBTQ community and his desire to continue challenging peoples' prejudice. He may not be doing BLs anymore (for now even) but he's definitely still working on changing to cultural landscape.

One spring night, Something in the Rain, Secret Love Affair, My Unfamiliar Family, Our Blues.

It was still a very subdued colour pallet though, as was SITR/SLA in comparison to other K-dramas.

I suspect though, that the reason it's emphasised here is that hagwon business is night-time business, both for the students and for the teachers who work in them. It's a soulless world of shadows, both literally and metaphorically.

It's the director's style, no? SITR and SN were the same as was Secret Love Affair.