JayBird

'Isn't' and 'bringing' sorry for typos, I'm still half asleep ????

Exactly this. The problem isn't that JH is poor, because he's not, it's that his family is, to quote JA mother, 'a mess'. JA mother has been and continues to be obsessed with the 'quality' of peoples' families and judges them almost solely on what connections said family has. JH has no such connections, his mother is dead and his dad ran off to Canada to start a new family. He could be as well off as he likes but, because his family is your 'traditional' kind of family, JA's mother will struggle to see him as a worthy match for her daughter and will see him as bring shame into her own family.

Family is important in Korea, more important than I think many non-koreans understand. It was once a highly Confucian country and still is in many ways, hence the whole age hierarchy and the emphasis on filial piety. Jin Ah has been raised to respect and obey her parents, to put their wishes above her own and to allow them to have a say in most of the decisions she makes in her life. Yes, she may be in her 30s, but that doesn't grant her the independence many would expect, especially as she is the daughter and will be expected to look after her parents for the rest of her life.

She is a weak character in some ways, but to label her relationship with her family one of the reasons is to ignore a lot of the background culture the show is clearly trying to explore and criticise. Family ties and the hold they have over you is one of THE central themes to this drama so, honestly, it makes perfect sense she's so dependent on her family because that's kind of the point.

I mean I don't think there were ever that many but if you're looking for more I'd suggest Secret Love Affair and Reply 1988 which are both great for noona romances ????

I'm very pissed right alongside you (and also worried about how netflix trying to shoulder in might affect the smaller/more specialised streaming sites in the future).

I actually have Netflix and will be watching it there when it comes out in my region so 5$ or whatever that is in pounds isn't too much for me. That being said, I know some people who can't really afford to pay for all the streaming sites and have to make choices about which ones they can pay for and Netflix is definitely one of the pricier options so I can understand their hesitance. Plus, what other stuff is available on Netflix varies from country try to country and some places have a pretty rubbish selection, not going to lie, and the Netflix subscription fee isn't always worth it if that's the case. But yes, you can definitely cancel it afterwards, which is a plus.

In my case, I'm genuinely happy to pay for my dramas, whichever site I watch them on, I'm just not keen on Netflix's model as a whole and I can understand people being unhappy with a Kdrama being exclusively on Netflix, particularly with the extended wait times taken into account.

I'd say another issue people have is that they just don't want to get Netflix. I know you said there's other great stuff on there but what if you don't want the extra stuff? Then you're paying $5 a month just to be able to watch a really small number of dramas which is a rip off of epic proportions when other channels have them in much larger quantities.

Plus, and this is just for me personally, I'm not actually all that keen on Netflix's subs as they tend to be too literal for my tastes and end up cutting out some of the nuance. People and companies have different styles when it comes to translation and Netflix's isn't to my tastes, perhaps because it's a little too professional if that makes sense.

Also, again just my opinion here, it feels a bit like Netflix is moving in on k-dramas so it can continue its monopoly on the TV series of the world, with is not something I'm particularly keen on supporting.