Kannadin

Yeah QoT is also tvN... I'll watch it at some point but It's also one of the reason why I still haven't started it...

The impeachment vote for the president has been delayed to this Saturday so I honestly wasn't expecting any drama to air... but given the fact that it's still on the program and based on the "arrow" thing, my guess is, it's gonna air as planned UNLESS there's some unexpected real life drama that happens the likes of what happened at the beginning of this week when almost all parliament members from the President's party left to avoid voting his impeachment.

Err... I think you spent a bit too much effort on the random nobody that I am but it's your time after all you do what you want to do with it. I don't really see the point of keeping this conversation going, so that will be my last message on this particular topic. You disagree with my opinion. I get it. I don't disagree with everything you said, but I do disagree with most of it. However your opinion about me doesn't matter, nor do negative opinions, I'm not seeking any validation from anyone, I'm just expressing my opinion. I don't ban people who disagree with me, I ban people who are insulting, hence the fact that I still see your comment.

I do tend to write reviews about shows I disliked true (though I've just checked and you're being unfair, I do insist on negative aspects but all reviewed shows are not rated badly).... But if you've really spent as much time as you said on my profile, you've seen the number of shows listed and I do have a fairly good share of shows I've liked otherwise I wouldn't be here. I don't even know why I'm writing this since I honestly don't care if you or anybody else agree or not.

Ok that's it. I'm just tired.

You know at the end of the day, it's just a matter of taste. As mentioned, I tried to watch the King: Eternal Monarch 3 times. I even went as far as episode 9 before definitely giving up. It looked amazing for sure, but the story wasn't it for me. I wouldn't say other stories got inspired by it, the parallel universe trope existed before and after. If you enjoyed it that's great for you, I'm not here to invalidate your opinion, but not enjoying a show says nothing about understanding or not understanding it ( also I'm a huge SF/Fantasy book lover so your comment is honestly a bit off the mark but ok).

It's annoying to see people are always seeking approbation for their opinion. An opinion is an opinion and everybody is entitled to it. People liking a show that is universally like doesn't necessarily mean the show is flawless or even good and liking a show most people dislike doesn't mean you're stupid/immature or whatever for liking it.
By the same token, hating a show universally disliked doesn't mean the show deserve all the backlash it got and hating a show universally liked doesn't mean people have no valid reasons for disliking it.

An opinion is just an opinion, it doesn't say anything about a person except for the fact that what resonates with you doesn't necessarily resonates with somebody else.

I personally don't care much for actors in general. I'd argue most Korean actors do a good job onscreen - though I have my favorites of course, I have only two South Korean actresses in mind that I don't watch because they suck acting wise... but both of them have literally disappeared for K-tv.

However, when actors repeatedly take on projects I dislike I tend to start being wary and Lee Min Ho fits the bill. It's not a matter of him acting well or not, its a matter of him choosing projects that I usually don't enjoy. It's a bit annoying having to always re-explain myself since people have this tendency of running away with their own ideas without bothering to READ what people write but since you're polite, I'm re-explaining. I still want to check this one out, since it's not everyday you get a series set in space, so regardless of my doubts regarding the plot, I'm still gonna give it a try.

Also, side note. I watched my first K-drama and my first J drama both in 2005... That will be exactly 20 years of Asian drama watching in a couple of months so I'm VERY aware of how the system works there having seen how the broadcast system as well as story tropes have evolved over the years.

Oh... There's a limit?
I didn't know >_< ( They should lift it) For the messages though, nope not gonna bother.
The whole point of banning people is to have a good time on this website ^^ Not to see things that don't deserve neither my attention, my time or my nerves 🙄

Thank you ^^ Well no need to feel bad for me though ^^
I saw one answer from a very rude person who I immediately banned. I'm guessing you're referring to people who commented below that person... except that since I've banned that person, I can't see neither that person's comment nor the others directly below. So I have absolutely no idea how many answers there are (nor do I care for that matter since if you've read my profile, I don't bother reading whatever's written if the person is rude. Rudeness = Automatic ban).
I'm making very good use of the ban function on this website, makes my time on MDL so much more agreeable, only interacting with civilized people :D

Hope they stick to that... Even better, they should air both episode 5 and6 on the same day because we're sure not gonna get an episode on the 14th given the impending vote.

So... I heard in a video that new episodes will resume on the 21st of December.
The impeachment vote for the President has been rescheduled to the 14 of December so I'm not really optimistic for this week as well... Does anybody has any clear information?

Can't rely on Netflix ( on one of their page they wrote When the Phone Rings wasn't not even based on a book. Seriously.) for accurate information...

Cute show... But ultimately not much is happening。 I think the story would have been better with a shorter number of episodes。
Started to really get boring once both characters got together... Most of the episodes felt like long fillers with very tiny bits of relevant things happening。
Dropped in the middle of episode 9.

There's is no such rules. The average length of a K drama is 1 hour. There are countless ORIGINAL tvN shows that remain within a normal length of 1 to 1h and 15 minutes. However tvN deliberately makes the choice of having episodes that exceed 90 minutes on its bug budget shows on a regular basis. A very bad habit they took since "Answer me 1988" for that matter which length were almost 2 hours per episodes.

Also when tvN launched years ago ( for historical context, I don't remember the exact year but private channels weren't allowed in South Korea for years, you only got the big 3 - KBS, SBS and MBC), ALL of its original series had length between 40 and 55 minutes. Same with the number of episodes. There is no rules for it except practices by channels.
Most dramas had a length of 55 to 1h on the big channels but for some unknown reason they started to lengthen the episodes to an average of 1h and 15 minutes at some point.

I suspect it's because Korean legislation changed and even public channels got allowed to air adds in the middle of a show, something that was only allowed on private channels. The transition period was pretty weird in terms of numbering the episodes but that's another story.

Having ridiculously long episodes is a deliberate choice by tvN.
From what I've seen they're the only one doing it - at the cost of tight story telling - when most other channels stick to an average length of 1h to 1h and 15 minutes for their longest episodes.
I don't mind longer episodes on occasion, but it has to be occasional, otherwise imho it's at the cost of good storytelling.

You too ^^

Yeah... I'm not really a good example for that... Personally I know that if you don't like a show you should drop it... I have a personal rule of watching a show up to a 3rd of the series, and if I still don't like it, I drop it... BUT sometimes because lots of people loved it I stick to it ( and regret it immensely) or let's say I found a very good show but the last few episodes are meh....I know I should drop it but since I'm near the end I can't bring myself to do it. I know it's stupid, but truth is... lots of people are like that no matter how illogical it is. I've gotten better though... particularly since I'm lacking time but still.

I get what you say though. Personally it really depends from show to show... Other people's opinion rarely taint the image I have of a show but I do have to admit that I tend to be muchmore cautious when shows are heavily criticized... such as this one. Ultimately you can be pleasantly surprised. 2 years ago I stumbled upon a BL that had very poor ratings on MDL... But I loved both leads so I still gave it a try. Not my favorite, but still gave a, 8.5 since I really did enjoy it when the overall ratings on MDL was just 6.XX at the time ^^

I think you've got the best attitude... Can't bring myself to do it though ^^
Also again. Personally I'm not interested in people saying "it sucks". Explain WHY you think it sucks without going into personal attacks over actors looks or whatever (except if their looks just don't fit the role... such as the actor supposedly being "ugly" and looking like a stud). Judge the performance not the person. Judge the drama not the people watching it and EXPLAIN.

"It sucks" is completely useless. On this I think we're on the same page. I don't mind people saying they love a show without necessarily explaining themselves... But I do mind when people are negative about said show and don't explain themselves. I just see it as spreading negativity uselessly though I wouldn't ban a person for that. I only ban rude people, who go into personal attacks.

I think there's a phenomenon of collective hysteria on MDL. When a show is praised, people voicing a different opinion are ganged up against even when being polite. I don't count the number of times, I've been called a "hater" simply because I didn't like a show and expressed my reasons why without insulting anybody for that matter, people telling me to leave the comment section, insulting me right left and center as if I had insulted their mothers.
When a show is disliked, people who like it are directly insulted and people say they're immature, this or that. Seems that some people just like to start wars in comment sections over nothing.

Personally I like to read constructive criticisms. Sometimes you come accross a comment of a person that explains to you why they didn't like the show in details and you might see that these reasons would be valid reasons for you to drop said show as well. One such recent example for me was "The Judge From Hell". Everybody was raving about it but after 2 episodes I just couldn't get into the show especially because of the violence. Wondering if I should keep on watching or not , one viewer encouraged me to keep on going since it would get better starting from episode 4. Didn't see the improvement. After episode 6, I was lucky enough to see a comment from somebody who had finished the show and disliked it immensely. Reading that person's comment, she basically listed all the reasons that made me disliked the show, mentioning that the show stayed like this up to the end. Thanks to her, I didn't waste more time on the series and dropped it. There was another comment from a viewer on a chinese show I was planning to watch... and I decided against it because she explained that while she enjoyed the show, she really needed to be in the mood since the show was "too sugary" (she detailed more obviously). I recognized myself in her comment, and decided to watch it only I'll feel like watching that type of shows.

Anyway, I totally get why you avoid reviews and comments... Personally if a show really interests me, I don't care much for reviews and/or comments... but if I'm hesitating between starting a show or not, I do rely on them with some reservations.

I wish people would behave on the Internet like they would in real life. Sometimes we disagree, but in normal conversations IRL, you don't insult the person you're discussing with for having diverging opinions on dramas/books/movies etc.

At the end of the day, we're here to relax and enjoy ourselves, and sharing opinions is part of it whether positive or negative...

Personally the ban button has become my best friend. I've banned a bit less than 10 users so far (which proves it's only a minority that is extremelly rude) but that has made my MDL so much more agreeable. If I see an insulting comment, I just automatically ban the user without bothering to even read the whole comment.

Honestly, there were times I used to no longer come here except to keep my personal list, since I like to keep track of things, but since I've learned to make good use of the ban button... I've started to interact a bit more in the comment section.

"(...)so I'll be waiting to see what they've got before passing judgment."

Not particularly excited by the budget... Dropped the King: Eternal Monarch definitely after having tried to watch it 3 times. Big budget is only great if the writing is good in the first place, so I'll be waiting to see what they've got before passing judgment. Not a particular fan of these two either, their choices of dramas for me are hits or miss, the only project Lee Min Ho led that I truly enjoyed was City Hunter (2011) .... and my GOD it's been a while. Same for Gong Hyo Jin, first project I saw her in was "Thank You" (2007)... Still one of my favorite show... and the only one I liked of hers. I dropped a countless number of dramas she starred in and the few I finished, I didn't like. Nothing against her personally，it's just that all the dramas she chose were dramas I disliked.

However, I hope I'm mistaken but I doubt it, EVERY TIME tvN brings out LOTS OF CASH for a show either because of star power and/or special effects or whatnot, they always go with these looooooooooooooooong aaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss episodes of 90mn sometimes even almost 2 hours and it ALWAYS drags the show down.

Please tvN for the love of all drama gods, past, present and future, keep these episodes with a reasonable length. Longer is not better.

Well no surprise here. Given the fact that South-Korea barely escaped being a dictatorship and the political turmoil that logically ensued, I was expecting them to cancel this week's episodes. Then they still released a prerelease for episode 5 and I was just baffled but I thought 'Good for me' I guess... I'm sure they released the previews and pre-releases because it was already scheduled that way and they probably forgot to remove them since err... there have better things to do such as you know... reporting the state of the country to their people?

Have to remind you guys that SBS, MBC and KBS are all public channels. Even if it's available on Netflix, shows on these channels are bound to the schedule (and policy notably regarding nudity or violence) of these channels. I haven't checked but apart from jTBC, tVN, ENA and so on, I don't think any of the big 3 are gonna air their dramas this weekend.

Anyway, good luck to the Koreans. I'm still pretty hyped about the series, but having flipped through the novel and knowing some of the things that are supposed to happen ( though lots of changes have been made for the drama and I do think it makes the story better so far), I'm not as obsessed as some viewers here. Knowing a bit too much goes a long way to cure one's obsession so I'll be sticking with other shows.

I found this series completely unrealistic but pretty enjoyable nonetheless, so I'll be tuning it.

To answer you... It's pretty much a romance. Without comparing it to the novels, both actors have said in a common interview that the start of the series is more thriller-like but that as the series progresses there's going to be more romance compared to the thriller aspects.

Basically it's more a Romance with thriller elements than a Thriller peppered with a bit of romance.

Hmm... Seems to me that most of the elements that makes this show so addicting is not working for you... For the lingerie thing, having flipped through the novel, the drama is actually pretty tame. As for Hee Joo, she's supposed to be pretty innocent and hapless so making stupid decisions is definitely in line with her character.

Personally I'm loving all the cringy/clyché, wattpad moments. That's what makes this show so fun in the first place.

Some plot elements will be revealed later so I personally don't get why you're mentioning them now... but again, if so many elements bug you, you're bound to ask yourself about all the rest... That's the domino effect.

For Hee Joo talking in the hospital though, the guards weren't with her and Sa Eon wasn't even supposed to know the dad was in this hospital. Basically nobody knows her there so it makes sense that she is able to speak there without fear.

The question is more... Do you think you're still enjoying this show in spite of all the elements you mentioned or does it bother you to the point of no longer enjoying it? If it's the latter, don't push yourself: many dramas available that will fit more to your taste...

If it's the former... Well, my advice would be, either to turn your brain off and just enjoy the ride OR, maybe put this drama on hold and try to watch it at another moment. Sometimes, enjoying a drama is just a matter of timing. If you're not in the mood to watch certain shows, even if it's flawless, you just won't enjoy it.

5 episodes in and this show is just hilarious especially the writer-CEO-Secretary storyline... I just can't with their nonsense and wild imagination 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nothing new under the sun though, so I'll probably rate this 8.5

Perfect show to lift one's mood in these turbulent and depressing times ^^