JayBird

He's going to have to have a moment to process (and regret) everything he's ever done and said to TJ :P

They'll both be like that spiderman meme XD

Watching Junghwan dig himself a deeper and deeper hole every time he unknowingly pisses off his ex-girlfriend's little brother.... I don't know why but I find it a hilarious dynamic XD

Definitely agree that s-o-l dramas are some of the hardest to pull of because they rely so much on the characters being able to hook you in. They can't just be tropes, they have to be highly developed and multi faceted.

I've actually been thinking about what I've found "off" about this drama and I think it's ultimately down to the character writing (at least imo). I don't feel like I know the characters, 2 of the 3 main characters can be summed up by their circumstances (illness/adoption) as opposed to the multitude of traits a s-o-l character should be and little has been done to develop them past that point. (Idk if that makes sense 😅)

I don't know how else to express it but it feels like this drama is telling me I should feel things without actually making me feel those things. Like I know I should feel sad for Chan Young, I know that, what's happening to her is terrible and the drama keeps letting me know that but... I just can't feel it at all, there's something missing and I can't quite put my finger on what because the acting is good and the dialogue isn't terrible either.

It's a shame because it's such a good concept and I normally like this genre of drama but I think I'll have to accept it's not for me and step back... I might keep watching it just for Joo Hee though, because she's the only plotline the sparked for me and boy did it spark bright, I love her very much despite her lack of screentime.

For people wondering why S1 is only 8 episodes long and why this is suddenly down as S2. Tracer is taking a 3 week break because of the Winter Olympics so Wavve decided to label the first half as S1 and the second half as S2 instead of keeping it as 1 season. All S2 episodes will be released together on Wavve 3 weeks from now.

I see a lot of people asking about subs.

Tracer is airing on MBC and streaming on Wavve (a Korean streaming site) which doesn't do English subs. Like a lot of Wavve dramas, Tracer hasn't been picked up buy an international stream service yet so there aren't any subs available (sites like ki5sasian and dramac0ol pull their subs from legal streaming sites, they don't generate them themselves).

Our best bet for subs (aside from relying on fans, which is a big ask as it seems to be a tricky drama to translate) is to ask a streaming site like Viki to pick it up (which you can do here: https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034633713-Request-a-TV-Show-or-Movie)

Given that that's the one thing Yeon Su wanted to hear from him the first time they dated, I'm pretty sure they'll have it as a big moment for them.

As for why he hasn't said it (and didn't say it before), my guess is that it stems from his trauma of being abandoned as a child and that now he's opened up about that to Yeon Su he'll eventually reach a point where he feels like he can say it. I don't think they'll break up again, that would be incredibly cruel on the part of the writers given the breakthrough he's just had.

Literally all I am asking people to do with my original comment is:

1) Consider how fiction CAN and HAS affect people's view of the world and history

2) Treat the issue with the respect and empathy due to a sensitive topic that is still, in some sense, on going.

People can feel how they want about it, people can feel nothing about it, people can hate it, people can enjoy it, that's not up to me. All I'm asking is that people think critically (as in critique, not criticism) about the media they're engaging with when it's about something so delicate.

You are entitled to watch a film and have no feelings for it AGAIN that is not my point. If you watch something and feel nothing that just means it's a poorly done film drama and that's fine BUT if it is well done people are going to feel things when they watch it because THAT IS THE POINT OF ART.

I'm literally not telling you how you should feel when you watch something (you can feel HOWEVER you want including nothing if it's an average/rubbish film), merely stating that if it is good art (which is what some people are using to defend Snowdrop against criticism), it will make the watcher feel SOMETHING.

Please stop twisting my words to mean things am literally not saying. Everyone can interact with a film/drama however they want, everyone will react differently depending on their situation and context, that is how these things work, the point is that they will REACT IN SOMEWAY (by feeling nothing/something/boredom/joy/whatever) because that is how we interact with media. Even thing "god that was boring" or "well that was fine" is a reaction.

Less anti snowdrop (which I've been keeping an eye on since I heard about it) and more anti making bad arguments against the criticism it's facing. You can argue against the criticism without using either of the 2 arguments discussed in my original post by acknowledging that, yes, it's fictional and, yes, may change things/potentially distort what actually happened and countering that by going on to learn about the actual the history itself so that you can still engage with the drama but just from a more informed standpoint.

Edit: my issue is less that this drama exists (as I said I'm not in a position to say if it should or not) but rather that a lot of people here are ignoring/dismissing both the power fiction can have on an uninformed audience and the very real reason as to why this is such a sensitive issue. Some of the comments I've seen have been incredibly insensitive about the actual events and that's not something I'm comfortable with no matter how I personally feel about the drama.

(and that, in reacting emotionally, to be influenced by those emotions is also a natural human response)

I mean that if you watch something and experience absolutely NO emotions what-so-ever (liking a character, disliking another, crying/laughing at a scene etc) then that's not a very normal way to interact with media. It's literally just stating that humans are emotional being and we react emotionally to things we watch, that to react emotionally is the natural human response.

For a comment that says no offence at the start this comment is very strongly worded and you also seem to have missed my point.

At no point did I say I was judging you for how you feel about a drama, character, or film all I said is that it is a normal human reaction to feel SOMETHING (positive or negative) about these things and that it is also normal for that influence how we feel about other things.

I'm not saying everyone who watches something like JoJo Rabbit and enjoys it is a horrible person (personally I think it's a good film so there's that) or that they're all unable to separate fiction from reality (fortunately the topic JoJo Rabbit deals with is very widely known) but rather that the defense of "it's fiction and therefore has no influence" shows a misunderstanding of how fiction has and continues to work within history and culture.

Also at no point did I say you shouldn't watch it or that it makes you a horrible person, in fact I said it's up to you.

The issue isn't
his nationality itself, the issue is the fact that he's North Korean seemingly draws on the justifications the NSA used to persecute innocent people for inspiration.

It deals with a very sensitive topic and there's debate about whether or not it engages in a form of historical revisionism that corresponds with the justifications given by the perpetrators of the atrocities it depicts (and, as such, whether it should be allowed to continue airing/whether people should be watching it).

Also if anyone wants examples of how fiction has influenced our views on history and historical figures, personally I'd suggest looking into the Shakespeare effect, especially with regards to his historical plays and his depiction of Richard the 3rd. Because of ONE very popular play that withstood the test of time and is still performed to this day, the majority of people in the UK (and probably the world) unquestioningly believe that this is an accurate depiction of history. Not because they're stupid (they're not) but because it's become so deeply ingrained in their cultural understanding and (because they're busy people with lives to live and other interests) they don't care enough about it to question it.

I came to check out whether I would be watching this drama and all I can say is I'm pretty concerned by some of the attitudes I've seen in the comment section and no closer to being able to decide whether or not I should give this is a go. Please bear in mind that, as such, this comment isn't going to be a value judgement on the show OR a discussion about whether it's actually act of historical revisionism or not but rather a critique of some of the (tbh rather worrying) comments I see here.

1) "It's just a drama/it's just fiction people won't use it to inform themselves about the actual history" - This is a pretty poor defence against the criticism currently being levelled against the show because it shows a lack of understanding of how fiction has (for thousands of years) been used to influence/has influenced our view of history. Yes, it's a drama, so what? If it's a good one it will get you emotionally invested in the characters. If this happens it WILL influence (even if it's just slightly) how you view the history because you will feel like you have a personal stake in it and because you are not a robot. (Good) fiction creates feelings, feelings create bias (whether it's "good bias" or "bad bias" is beside the point). If Snowdrop truly doesn't end up influencing how you view the historical events it's deals with (again this could be in a positive or negative way) then either it is a truly terrible drama or you're not human.

Also an additional note on this argument: while a lot people will hopefully use this drama as a starting point to learn more about the actual history the behind the drama (and good for you if you do), there will be many who won't/won't know to make that effort. To some of them, it may well become their understanding of what happened. Which brings us to:

2) "I still don't care. I just want to enjoy the drama" - That's great, but you SHOULD. The historical events that inspired this drama (whether accurately depicted or not) were horrific, brutal, and scarred a generation, many of of whom are still alive. Furthermore, many of the perpetrators of these atrocities have never faced justice for what they did and lived the rest of their lives in comfort (and often perpetuating the same rhetoric that they used to justify their acts). Furthermore this issue is still hotly debated in some circles and there are still many who support the justifications given by the perpetrators. I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH that to many this isn't a historical issue, this is still very much CURRENT.

Whether or not such delicate topics should be the subject of a drama is another matter and whether art should be censored for a (potentially) poor and twisted depiction of contentious events is an even more complicated one but PLEASE, at the very least, engage with the very really history and pain and anger behind this drama and treat it with the respect it's due instead of saying you don't care. You're better than that.

(Also saying you don't care acts as further justification for those who want this drama cancelled. If their arguments is that it's a distortion of the truth and you say you don't care if it is or not, you just want to enjoy it, you're not detracting from their argument in their minds, you're justifying it because of point 1)).

Anyway, I'm not (currently or potentially ever going to be) in a position to say whether this drama "deserves" all the criticism and controversy it getting and whether or not you decide to watch it is up to you. But please, whatever you chose to do, think more critically about the role fiction can and does play on our lives and PLEASE treat the discussion of the actual history behind it with the respect it deserves.

I've been looking forward to this for ages and I'm glad to see the subs are being done quickly for it too! I trust both the leads and it's definitely an interesting story to tackle ☺️

My guess would be the potential "competition" with some dramas airing in a similar time slot/with a similar premise (historical)..... That or some people feel like they somehow have enough to base a rating on after reading the synopsis 😅