I was almost baited by Jin-young standing by Nadine but I knew that would make the ending too obvious. Still a shame because I really think he hit it off with Nadine at first, but their second scene left too many question marks.
Soooo happy for Jong-woo’s W. My reaction was pretty much Da-hee, just breaking up in tears. I almost thought that Seul-ki expressing her last words to him second after Dong-woo meant he lost, but I was so shocked because I thought Jin-young had it in the bag. But I respect Jin-young a lot more now after this seeing how he was thinking of his future with a student, when at first he seemed like kind of a player. He also admitted being too unclear about his feelings toward Seul-ki right to the end.
The producers really know how to play with our hearts. A lot of it is definitely scripted but all-in-all a really spicy season compared to the first.
This love triangle between Seulki, Jinyoung, and Jongwoo just confirms to me that I will never understand how…
Yeah, I feel the same as a guy. Honestly it’s a bit worrying because Jong-woo reminds me of myself and how I’d treat a girl, whereas I can’t relate to Jin-young much at all. The fact that Jin-young wants his relationships to be uncomfortable was kind of a red flag too, not that he’s obligated to pick Min-su. Jong-woo makes some mistakes too (timing on the book was off) but ultimately seems like the more considerate guy. I feel like calling him a simp like what many say here is kinda overboard.
I’d be curious of a breakdown of who people prefer (JY or JW) based on gender. Lots of girls seem to prefer JY I’ve noticed.
The prettiest last year for me was yea won , and this season . Park se joon .Someone please save park se joon…
Yea-won and Se-jeong are both sleepers of their respective seasons. Both are some of the most athletic of their groups and look incredible, but not quite as fitting to the normal Korean beauty standard, so they are barely given any attention.
I'm surprised Yoong-jae teamed with Jin-young against Jong-woo in that game. Jin-young has always went to paradise unlike Jong-woo. Not to mention Jin-young is the strongest of the men. Jong-woo's win is a big deal because he managed to barely win even being ganged up by the buffest guys in the show. This is his last chance to win over Seul-ki, when he goes to paradise with her (it's pretty much guaranteed that he'll chose her, right...?). But I feel the show might make a dramatic turn again and not end up how he wants, because Seul-ki still seems much more attracted to Jin-young... so much to think about.
Addicting to watch but also frustrating, especially the first half of the last episode. Until the very last episode Yeong-jae treated Ji-eun like trash and refused to admit his feelings to her until their backyard camping. I could understand him hiding his feelings in the first half of the drama, but after he went out of his way to return from being a monk, it made no sense for him to propose again but still continue the "pity marriage" charade and keep on harassing Ji-eun. Their suddenly becoming lovey-dovey after his confession didn't seem earned. He acted like a manchild for the whole drama, kept seeing his childhood friend on the side, yet Ji-eun still managed to fall in love with him for the few times he did something good. A lot of the interactions made no sense in general.
But somehow, I still wanted them to be together no matter how much better Min-hyeok seemed to treat Ji-eun.
Am I the only one who was uncomfortable with how the ML never revealed he had no gf until the end of ep 8? Like in the eps leading up to it, both FL and ML were getting comfortable with each other as if they were a couple already (more than just childhood friends). ML stated he wanted to set boundaries but their actions looked otherwise. I mean ofc I rooted for them but it came off as if he was "cheating" already
I enjoyed it overall. First half definitely felt stronger when the focus was on the main leads discovering who the culprit is; felt a bit draggy when it started covering the culprits' background which I didn't care for as much, honestly. There were also a few unresolved plot points / red herrings that threw me off (one of the policewoman having the same ringtone, Xiao Heyun's worsening condition, why they were even in a loop in the first place?). Captain Zhang seemed too perceptive for his own good, and it felt like they were setting him up to be important in some way (like initiating the time loop or something), but he ended up just being a normal police officer who happened to be very good at interrogation.
Acting was great though, and I liked the natural chemistry that developed between the leads for a non romance-focused drama.
Wow Chinese dramas are surprising me more and more , it's a very well done drama from the story line ,plot twists…
Re: the romance, I think meeting someone in a dangerous situation makes it more likely to fall in love. I thought it was believable. There are a few moments of physical contact that kinda clue us in throughout the series.
I had mixed feelings about the timeskip. The whole studying in Beijing thing and the separation could have been handled a lot better with just a little more communication from the leads. Instead they decide to cut each other off for three years, and when Jiang Chen comes back he's acts more like a jerk, getting more touchy with Xiaoxi as if nothing happened and doing petty things like the fake girlfriend thing. Only near the end he apologizes. I get his personality is supposed to be passive-aggressive but it left a bit of a sour taste. The second-to-last episode kind of redeemed it as we finally see why he acts the way he does from his POV.
Other than that though I still got quite attached to the characters and enjoyed it overall.
It feels so weird seeing HJP walking side-by-side with the main couple at the end as if he's completely fine. Again, he's set up to essentially act as someone to keep supporting SST/Cheongmyeong with his company actually investing in them. This, plus the fact he's decided to keep in contact with Halmeoni means he'll never be able to avoid DoDal, which doesn't feel right considering how much time he spent trying to get over Dal Mi.
If HJP was going to keep in contact with her family, I think it would've made sense to hint at an In Jae ship a bit earlier on instead of doubling down on his feelings for Dal Mi. They would've been a power couple for sure.
I think many are focused for me on insignificant aspects, and that they do not want to understand what the writer…
I can't believe I didn't consider the twins being behind the ransomware. That would make a lot of sense especially with the Apollo and Artemis thing you mentioned. Nice catch! DoDal is pretty much set in stone, so I'm hoping HJP still gets a good ending.
This is the first time I analysed a kdrama so much that I can say what key events happened, complete with quotes,…
Absolutely lol. Objectively the drama has been flawed in recent eps, but calling it a trainwreck is kinda overreacting. Some missteps don't overwrite the many things it has going for it. Even if I'm disappointed in the way some events play out, it still manages to keep me glued to the screen for every episode because I genuinely care about what happens to these characters, whereas there are a lot of times in other dramas where I just space out. I don't have a ton of time to invest into entertainment, but I happily binged this one and have spent hours looking at others' comments.
If it was truly irredeemable, there wouldn't be this many people talking about it. I say it's a success if the writer manages to get the community to have numerous discussions, theories, and reactions to the events of their story. We are approaching 18k+ comments, and I only see that getting way bigger once the last two eps air.
can i complain about Yong San the character, not the actor, for a second? He had very few character traits; he…
"literally any dev in the world would backup their work NATURALLY, especially those devs under her who had worked with her and Injae for 3 years. super fake moment"
This is something that the SST guys literally point out, that they should've backed up their stuff. It's not unheard of for smaller companies to forget things like this. Also, those devs under In Jae were looking for an excuse to get out anyway since they're established to basically be job-hoppers, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were intentionally careless in their work while they were trying to build up deals with bigger companies resulting in them getting poached by Morning Group.
- HJP is logically the stronger lead who "deserves" SDM, but I prefer SDM and NDS's chemistry and still think they should end up together. Logically, I should be preferring HJP, but I still do think NDS is nice and thoughtful in his own ways (the entire inspiration for NoonGil being Won Deok is a big plus). He does drop off a lot for me during that forced fistfight with HJP. That was kinda cringe-worthy. But I actually liked the crying scenes despite what others say and found them well-done; there's nothing wrong with a dude crying. I find his "underdog" genius story refreshing and want to see him succeed. Him being seen as a genius back then, but still not being the most successful due to lacking ambition, having to work his way back up with imposter syndrome, and also being a coder is very relatable, personally. I guess I'm also naturally inclined to root for the main lead because I like the feeling of it being the "canon" happy ending. But I do agree his development is a bit lacking in comparison to HJP, and I hope HJP is able to find his own happiness. Judging from how things are going it doesn't seem like there is anything good coming for him which is a shame.
- SDM's attraction to NDS needs to be better justified for sure, but some people put too much importance on the letters, and if HJP gets with SDM, it shouldn't be because of that, but because of what he's done for her and SST in real life. People can act so much differently than what you would expect based on their writing style in a letter. Won Deok also helped with the letters, so they're not entirely HJP's thoughts. Yes, they help create a connection, but at the end of the day, real-life interactions with obvious romantic intent matter so much more. HJP straddling the fence in his interactions with SDM and letting NDS take charge hurt his chances early on when they were still trying to keep the secret. I also think SDM is flawed in initially breaking up with NDS just because he wasn't the guy who wrote the letters, but she did hint that she didn't truly mean everything she said. HJP not capitalizing on the three-year gap to fully win over SDM also makes me feel like he friend-zoned himself. If next ep's preview is anything to go by, we'll finally see why SDM truly likes NDS other than the "big hands" thing, though it is a little late. My point being that if SDM likes NDS for his personality, it would help justify their relationship more.
- Liking what they're doing with WIJ and how she handles her father and brother, and how she and SDM seem to be on better terms instead of dragging on the weird "my choice was better" plot point. Though it does seem to undermine the "underdog" story for SDM as she's now working under her.
I understand I'm in the minority preferring NDS but I wouldn't have any strong feelings whatever the result becomes. I don't really care for ratings and still enjoy the drama for what it is. The business/tech focus is intriguing for me seeing all the references to tech terms and coding tools. It keeps me interested and makes up for the shows flaws even if the love triangle aspect could be better executed.
Interesting. Kairos and Start-up both have 8.2 MDL rating right now. Yet Kairos has not given anyone any heartache.…
Likely because Start-Up was seen as really fresh and clever at the time, and a lot of initial hype inflating the score. But now people are disappointed by the love triangle focus. It evens out to being just a good drama to people.
Soooo happy for Jong-woo’s W. My reaction was pretty much Da-hee, just breaking up in tears. I almost thought that Seul-ki expressing her last words to him second after Dong-woo meant he lost, but I was so shocked because I thought Jin-young had it in the bag. But I respect Jin-young a lot more now after this seeing how he was thinking of his future with a student, when at first he seemed like kind of a player. He also admitted being too unclear about his feelings toward Seul-ki right to the end.
The producers really know how to play with our hearts. A lot of it is definitely scripted but all-in-all a really spicy season compared to the first.
I’d be curious of a breakdown of who people prefer (JY or JW) based on gender. Lots of girls seem to prefer JY I’ve noticed.
Jong-woo's win is a big deal because he managed to barely win even being ganged up by the buffest guys in the show. This is his last chance to win over Seul-ki, when he goes to paradise with her (it's pretty much guaranteed that he'll chose her, right...?). But I feel the show might make a dramatic turn again and not end up how he wants, because Seul-ki still seems much more attracted to Jin-young... so much to think about.
But somehow, I still wanted them to be together no matter how much better Min-hyeok seemed to treat Ji-eun.
Acting was great though, and I liked the natural chemistry that developed between the leads for a non romance-focused drama.
Other than that though I still got quite attached to the characters and enjoyed it overall.
If HJP was going to keep in contact with her family, I think it would've made sense to hint at an In Jae ship a bit earlier on instead of doubling down on his feelings for Dal Mi. They would've been a power couple for sure.
If it was truly irredeemable, there wouldn't be this many people talking about it. I say it's a success if the writer manages to get the community to have numerous discussions, theories, and reactions to the events of their story. We are approaching 18k+ comments, and I only see that getting way bigger once the last two eps air.
This is something that the SST guys literally point out, that they should've backed up their stuff. It's not unheard of for smaller companies to forget things like this. Also, those devs under In Jae were looking for an excuse to get out anyway since they're established to basically be job-hoppers, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were intentionally careless in their work while they were trying to build up deals with bigger companies resulting in them getting poached by Morning Group.
- HJP is logically the stronger lead who "deserves" SDM, but I prefer SDM and NDS's chemistry and still think they should end up together. Logically, I should be preferring HJP, but I still do think NDS is nice and thoughtful in his own ways (the entire inspiration for NoonGil being Won Deok is a big plus). He does drop off a lot for me during that forced fistfight with HJP. That was kinda cringe-worthy. But I actually liked the crying scenes despite what others say and found them well-done; there's nothing wrong with a dude crying. I find his "underdog" genius story refreshing and want to see him succeed. Him being seen as a genius back then, but still not being the most successful due to lacking ambition, having to work his way back up with imposter syndrome, and also being a coder is very relatable, personally. I guess I'm also naturally inclined to root for the main lead because I like the feeling of it being the "canon" happy ending. But I do agree his development is a bit lacking in comparison to HJP, and I hope HJP is able to find his own happiness. Judging from how things are going it doesn't seem like there is anything good coming for him which is a shame.
- SDM's attraction to NDS needs to be better justified for sure, but some people put too much importance on the letters, and if HJP gets with SDM, it shouldn't be because of that, but because of what he's done for her and SST in real life. People can act so much differently than what you would expect based on their writing style in a letter. Won Deok also helped with the letters, so they're not entirely HJP's thoughts. Yes, they help create a connection, but at the end of the day, real-life interactions with obvious romantic intent matter so much more. HJP straddling the fence in his interactions with SDM and letting NDS take charge hurt his chances early on when they were still trying to keep the secret. I also think SDM is flawed in initially breaking up with NDS just because he wasn't the guy who wrote the letters, but she did hint that she didn't truly mean everything she said. HJP not capitalizing on the three-year gap to fully win over SDM also makes me feel like he friend-zoned himself. If next ep's preview is anything to go by, we'll finally see why SDM truly likes NDS other than the "big hands" thing, though it is a little late. My point being that if SDM likes NDS for his personality, it would help justify their relationship more.
- Liking what they're doing with WIJ and how she handles her father and brother, and how she and SDM seem to be on better terms instead of dragging on the weird "my choice was better" plot point. Though it does seem to undermine the "underdog" story for SDM as she's now working under her.
I understand I'm in the minority preferring NDS but I wouldn't have any strong feelings whatever the result becomes. I don't really care for ratings and still enjoy the drama for what it is. The business/tech focus is intriguing for me seeing all the references to tech terms and coding tools. It keeps me interested and makes up for the shows flaws even if the love triangle aspect could be better executed.