I read comments blaming everybody and I found that quite interesting, I mean, they are characters that are supposed…
But isn't that what happens in real life too? People do blame people in real life for unlikeable course of actions, decisions and humanly mistakes. Blaming and disliking is a very humanly reaction to something destructive and selfish. I think there's nothing wrong with that since the plot is aiming for that. The plot did make us understand why they made or are making those mistakes and I think people fairly liked that approach (the first 6 episodes) but the plot isn't making the characters progress (for very understandable reasons) further which, to be fair, should create feelings of dissatisfaction and angst (hence the blaming). I think the upcoming character development and arcs are worth the angst but I'm fairly scared by the tendency of kdramas to ruin the last 4-5 episodes. Hopefully this drama will be different like it has been in its approach towards characters and plotlines.
The SML, to be very honest, is someone I would dislike in real life (which I think puts me in the narrow corner of loneliness amongst the viewers) but I truly have reasons for that and not just a grudge regarding him for interfering with my preferred relationship. He's someone I would call "shallow". Shallow in handling feelings (envy, romantic and platonic feelings), relationships and overalls shallow in his priorities of possibilities and efforts to make something (which is most likely his fantasy and he knows it but still is driven by envy and unrealistic romanticism) at the cost of something more. Let's first analyse his feelings for the FL. I FEEL nothing between them. Usually I understand and genuinely relate to a SML's longevity, both in efforts to win someone he genuinely sees a future with and in being left alone at the end of the journey without inner peace and satisfaction but here I feel the SML is more driven by envy coupled with his childish tendency to be selfish mixed with blatant disregard of people's situation and feelings. I can understand the envy (the ML can very effectively invoke that in someone) but what I don't understand is his disregard for people and relationships except a relationship that's built on nothing more than a fantasy fueled by nonsensical romantic feelings and envy. I mean the guy had a crush on the FL (understandable) but to carry that for that many years with the same intensity, which is unrealistic and boringly uncharacteristic for a plot like this, and be willing (almost) to destroy a relationship with ML he has built for decades for a crush, that still is very much in love with his best friend (which he sees clearly), makes him shallow and a one dimensional character with unlikeable characteristics. Someone who can comfort himself with very faded and rusty satisfaction of having a very narrow possibility with someone, at the expense of beautiful relationships built up throughout many years, is someone I would find unlikeable in real life. His feelings for the FL seem to me more crafted for plot purposes to carry forward the main relationship than an addition to his character traits. Anyway I still have hope for him to burst out of that bubble and experience what life has to offer without having to leave and shunn people who care for him for nothing. Which brings me to the question. Why do people like him so much or more accurately why are people interested in his relationship with the FL when we have a more nuanced and carefully cultivated relationship of the FL with the ML through the years? No offense, I'm genuinely curious.
Since I sense some massive hate coming on FL (or did it happen already?). Here's a very good character analysis…
The thing is that all that you've explained about her character screams a selfish and self caring prespective. She doesn't analyse why DS has no obligation to respect her kissing him (a kiss she initiated and he didn't) and even worse reciprocating it in the form of a confession or whatever she wanted him to accept or explain. She has the baggage of the past (for very understandable reasons and very messed up situations which I fully sympathise with) but letting all that define how she should treat a person (who always treated her with respect, helped her and understood her when no one did) isn't justifiable or something a person like DS desreves (no matter what she thinks). The fact of the matter is that people deserves to be treated with respect and the basic human courtesy; not treating them like shit (if you can't with care) for no obvious fault of their own. Everyone has a sob story and everyone has trauma of some kind but should that affect how you should behave and treat a fellow human being (who also have life full of tiredness, frustration and a sob story of their own)? No, it shouldn't.
Now do I hate YHJ? Hell no! I think those flaws makes her human and more relatable especially when she's the protagonist of the story (hence we are supposedly being set up to appreciate her character development with a clear differentiation of what she was and what she is) and most likely will not have the same values or ideas throughout the story. But does all that excuse her shitty behaviour and ground flaws? No.
We can criticise a character for their obvious flaws and that doesn't mean we hate the character. It just means that we dislike her flaws and we are equally (or even more, in my case) interested in DS and would like to for him to get what he deserves (which isn't the treatment he gets from her for obviously no fault of his own). I can appreciate her flaws for the purpose of her humanly characterization but also criticise them for the purpose of right and wrong. It's just a relative prespective. Some sees things one way (which isn't anything bad) and others see the same thing a different way. Both are equally right and justified.
Depends on what a boyfriend and best friend are to a person. The best case scenario would be to separate two different relationships and not weigh them against each other. Every meaningful relationship matters.
I seem to be the minority to expect more of character journey than the romance. Don't get me wrong, I like the romance here (something I rarely like) but I am more excited and waiting to watch the characters, their backstory, their journey through the story and possibly a good character development. I'm especially intrigued by HDS (he's someone I can't be and I can't understand him properly with logical reasoning but I'm still invested in his character emotionally). There's a lot of "whys" and "whats" of his character that we've yet to explore. I just hope that the writer pulls a convincing and impactfull exploration of his character without overshadowing it with romance. He's at times troubled and confused but still clear and at peace (atleast from the outside). He seems to be someone who's trying to be someone else or maybe someone better. Maybe he has succeeded, maybe he's still in the process or maybe he can't escape his past. YHJ is comparatively simple and easy to analyse and understand. Her character development in just 4 episodes is impressive and good writing. It didn't take away anything from the believability or impact of the plot or the character arc. I'm just hoping that it won't turn into a mindless and the painful cliche of the so called overused plot extension tool; love triangle. The leads have interesting characters and their chemistry is top notch, so I don't see the point of including the most cliche writing tool in history to elongate the story or make the romance more believable and interesting(a misconception used by writers and accepted by viewers; that a third party could make the romance better which most of the time is contradictory to reality). I hope we get a more flushed out and realistic 2nd ML who actually has a story to tell and a character to explore rather than a plot device to make the leads end up together and overall expendable and unimportant to the actual plot.
I started to get an intrest in surfing just prior to watching this show but now it has almost convinced me to actually engage in it.
Honestly, i don't think humoral or comedic treatment of the serious issues (sexual assault, death etc) takes away anything from the reality or the weight of the issues under discussion. Humor, as I see it, is treatment of issues in a comedic way to ease the pain and carry on with a proper and rational psychological and emotional state. Comedy shouldn't be treated humoral only in tones of exaggeration, sarcasm, self deprecation or self defeating. The egos and psychology of human beings often refuses to be stressed out and pained by the provocation or exposure of reality especially when we live in a reality where chances of finding out something terrible about it is more a matter of "what" and "how" not "if" and "when". Now the pain and anguish of the terrible and horrible about reality is a serious issue to be fixed and must be treated by punishment and hopelessness but taking in that pain and anguish to amuse or humor yourself or others to maintain a stable, healthy and efficient psychological and emotional state is nothing wrong or belittling of the issues. Dark humor is often a tool used to bear and face the trauma and pain of the reality which most of the times is hard and cruel; something that most likely will ruin someone's emotional and psychological health. A little humor in a situation of great seriousness, accountability or evil isn't anything that lessens the weight or the appropriate punishment of the crime committed, it's just a way to cope with the evilness and cruelity of reality which is disappointing and painful. The show's depiction of sexual assault and its way of treating it with a little humor and much seriousness (the ML physically assaulted the prick and was arrested for his crime and most likely will get the punishment he deserves) isn't contradictory or belittling of the reality of the issue under discussion but just an effory to make it humoral enough for us to digest it without becoming a psychological and emotional mess (which would have been fine if we were watching a show completely about the topic and having a detailed and honest depiction of victims and their pain but HCCC isn't that. It still tried its best and it served a purpose and left the message they were aiming for).
I just think that it's a misconception and misunderstanding that humor lessens the weight and consequences of subject of great consequences and weight.
Well i don't think the ratings are unfair or biased. 8.5 is still very good considering the 3 episodes that's aired. It's an 8.0 for me but i can see why people would rate it higher and lower.
I understand the logic and reasoning behind the idea that HDS is a too good to be true and perhaps an unrealistic character. Why wouldn't he think and work for himself? Why can't he help himself too while helping others? Why is he leading a mediocre life when he can be someone successful and important? What will all this bring him in the future when he isn't able to do all this? Why can't he be a realist who accepts the concept of impossibility and improbability rather than unrealistic optimism and hope that most likely will only result is expectations that will remain unfulfilled?
I have a lot of answers to all those questions but I'll keep it to myself for now. I'm enjoying the story so far but it's nothing too extraordinary. It's a simple story about interesting characters (especially HDS) but maybe that's its own charm; simplicity rooted in intriguing story and explained through interesting characters. Let's see.
Why are you assuming that all women (50% of the population) sticks up to your idea of what 'women' should be or…
-"Not all woman needs Rich Chaebols to save us. Some of us actually like experiencing the satisfaction of self accomplishment." And you proceeded to say that after acknowledging the character traits of In Jae. The drama never portrayed ALL WOMEN like DM. The writing chose to be diverse and realistic in its portrayal of women who (spoiler alert) aren't always strong, capable and independent (same with DS who's dependent and weak when it comes to his personal and emotional interactions). The writing portrayed realistic instead of lying about a gender and stereotyping them into a box of what you find appreciable in women. The MLs were the same; DS being an emotional mess (deciding and working with emotional weight rather than logical and critical mindset), HJP having abandonment issues and the lack of self esteem. There's nothing wrong with having characters like DM like it's not wrong to have characters like In Jae. A show shouldn't be burdened with the weight of morality and teachings. It's not a fucking school or parenthood. The writer is free to write whatever the hell she wants to write and you have the choice to not watch what you don't agree with (which in itself is not progressive). The writer chose to write about reality of different people and I absolutely appreciate that. Don't label everything you don't like as sexist because it frankly demishes the weight of the actual phenomenon. Reality isn't sexist but a matter of facts and figures.
Why are you assuming that all women (50% of the population) sticks up to your idea of what 'women' should be or…
Portraying some men as that isn't sexist but portraying all men as cheaters is. There's a difference. Stereotypes and generalisation is bothering but that's all your original comment is based on. Your generalising women according to what it encapsulates based on your opinion. When you use the word "we" as a stating point of reference in an statement about a whole gender, it better be based on facts or it's just another fantasy where diversity in human beings is nonexistent and heavily delusional.
The drama never followed the stereotypical way of portraying a gender but brought a wide range of diversity in it. We have In Jae, Saha and the grand mother as women who are strong, capable and dependable but also have flaws (which make them human and relatable) but DM was the more on the spectrum of receiving and not much capable when it came to her career. That's not stereotypical but diverse and true depiction of reality. Not every women around the world is strong and capable career wise and the effort to basically not include them in a drama rooted in reality would be hypocritical and a nonsensical attempt at gender politics.
WTF! I never said that portraying a strong and capable female in a drama would be boring or unrealistic. "What did you want to see? All the women involved to strong, independent and perfect? That would be boring and unrealistic as hell." Is what I wrote; ALL WOMEN INVOLVED. I'm not a fucking sexist as you assumed I am. I never once felt that about strong women but I also am a realist who appreciate reality which brings diversity depicted in a drama more than brainless gender politics aimed at unrealistic and boring approach of stereotypical portrayal of a whole gender. The stereotype that women are all perfect and strong is nauseating and a blatant lie in reality.
You basically generalised a whole gender in your original comment which was repulsive to say the least.
What are you talking about? DM never was shown as capable and independent as you claim her to be even in the beginning. She never would have had a career if it wasn't for DS (atleat not what she achieved at the end) and HJP. That's who DM always was; dependent. She literally shut herself to having a relationship based on having a few letters she wrote whe she was a freaking teenager. She built a fantasy of a boy who she saw through the letters and chose to embrace that fantasy for 15 years without even making an effort to either develop a new relationship or search for the one she fantasised about!
She did succeed because of the male leads but that's not the only thing that let her succeed. She put in an effort (to the best of her abilities) too. Neglecting all that just because you wanted to see her be a solo-genius in a career that strongly demands team efforts is ignorant. She wasn't as capable as the MLs and that's was fine because our MLs had many other flaws she didn't. She serves her position with fairness and ability in the later episodes. She learned things and moved forward (that's appreciable).
Yes the writing was mediocre at best. I didn't like it. The characters were weak (including the MLs) in general and the plot I came for (business, character development and complexity) was nonexistent and was mushed into a stupid love triangle.
So DM not developing as a person is DS's fault? Are you fucking kidding me! DM is a grown ass woman who never was forced or influenced negatively by DS for her to not develop as a person. DM always lacked the drive to change and MLs served as a knights who protected her. Now is it her fault for lacking the will, ability and the effort to never try a change or is it the knights who protected her because they chose not to point out the apparent weakness she had? I will go with the former.
FYI, a woman's dream is not to have a man who will baby them like Dosan. It is to be successful in her own right,…
Why are you assuming that all women (50% of the population) sticks up to your idea of what 'women' should be or as you stated, (based on nothing more than your ideas) are? Are we pretending that there aren't any women around who uses others to get up the ladder of success even without having the qualification to survive? If yes than it's nothing but a delusion of yours that says nothing about reality. To state that portraying realistic characters (however weak and dependent they may be) is sexist doesn't even make sense. There's no prejudice or discrimination in portraying reality. The writer also had someone like In Jae who was more independent and capable, so i don't know why you're rambling about sexism here. What did you want to see? All the women involved to strong, independent and perfect? That would be boring and unrealistic as hell. You may be a woman exactly like what you stated women are (which is something to be proud of) but assuming that everyone who share a gender with you would stick to your ideas of what being a woman encapsulates is incredibly narrow minded and doesn't allow the necessity of individualism based on different values. Frankly i don't think there's anything wrong with DM benefitting from the male leads only because the men were willing to do that for her. Receiving help from a willing party isn't something to be ashamed of or for. They always were a team and did things through helping each other. Neither DS nor DM could have succeeded if it weren't for their team effort. Sure DM was on the spectrum of receiving more but she did contribute to the team throughout. Not all women are geniuses who could do all by themselves (as are men) and it isn't fair to judge people for their will to survive even at the price of being dependent. They are human beings who are born to be creatures of dependency and weaknesses. Maybe someone like DM has more of those as compared to someone like you but it still can be a trait of a character. Stop protecting your ideas onto characters that aren't perfect but flawed. To label everything flawed and weak in a character as sexist because of specific gender is nonsensical and frankly takes away from the term itself.
While it's interesting to see strong female characters, it's disrespectful and ignorant to state that women playing…
Yeah it requires a genuine effort to write a genuine and honest story. Anyway, before i get annihilated by romance lovers for hating the genre i should just shut up. Anyway i loved "it's okay, that's love" and "master's sun" among the few romantic shows. They were genuine and so much more than just a love triangle and misunderstandings.
While it's interesting to see strong female characters, it's disrespectful and ignorant to state that women playing…
Well i kind of hate romantic genre as the main them in a show (i can bear it in a movie). Most of them (I'm being generous here) are cliche, boring and unrealistic portrayal of a relationship between two individuals. Now i don't have any qualms against cliches or unbearable boring plot of nothing more than misunderstandings and understandings of certain individuals but to sit 16+ hours watching only that, mixed with a stupid love triangle (i hate 2nd MLs) and stereotypical family or friends, is a punishment non desreve. Well atleast it is that for me. Now the concept of introducing toxic characters into an already unidirectional plot and character arcs without any prior understandings or explanation is something only placed for the purpose of plot elongation. I like complexity of characters that may sometimes breed toxicity but only when there's a reason and proper understanding of why the character is the way it is. I think that's honest portrayal of human emotions and psychology. It may not be justifiable but it is understandable. Unfortunately now the characters are toxic just because they can be. While that also exist in reality, it's boring and hateful as hell. Anyway, i think cinematic experience shouldn't be burdened with the weight of morality but an opportunity to view and understand different characters. Morality is subjective to people but moral relativism is viewable and understandable only when the plot allows you to understand the why, what and how of the individual's motivations and goals. Good plot is coherent with multi-dimensional characters but we don't get that often ("Devil judge" is enjoyable so far).
I'm not a fan of romance (i hate it most of the times in dramas) but this seems intriguing and has a huge potential to fail my expectations. I'll watch it based on your recommendation.
While it's interesting to see strong female characters, it's disrespectful and ignorant to state that women playing…
Ahh, i understood your statement as general labelling of men with undesirable characteristics but it seems you were talking about certain men with undesirable characteristics. It's fine if it's directed towards as*holes who are served by women even when they don't desreve any kind of service. I'm glad i haven't watched a drama like that so far.
Fabulous recap and extremely empowering! The drama sounds curiously intriguing too. We need more of such productions…
While it's interesting to see strong female characters, it's disrespectful and ignorant to state that women playing house and cooking food for the family is weak or not inspirational. Every human being has their own motivations and struggles, to state that a certain motivation or struggle dictates a weakness is illogical if not stupid.
BL? No, i didn't feel a romantic tension between the two MLs. I'm kind of repelled by the obsession with it. There's a certain way people expect two males to behave and deviance from those expectations generally is a assumed a valid point to labell someone with a sexual orientation. We know why KYH feels attached to KGO; he sees his brother in him. We were made clear to believe that from the first episode. KYH is abused, abandoned, misunderstood and alone in the world. His only source of comfort and sense of belonging was his brother when he was physically and psychologically abused by the world and his as*hole father. Now when KYH is comforting himself by misguided sense of revenge against the corrupt and ugly, someone like his brother shows up. They are practically strangers but to KYH, KGO is another chance at having what he lost. Ofcourse he would be protective of him, ofcourse he would care for him and that doesn't require us to corner all those feelings as something sexual (it's so much more). It can be brotherly and intimately friendly. These gender stereotypes regarding how to males should behave is unnecessary and illogical. Just let the characters and story unfold in its own unique way without having to assume something about its uniqueness.
People do blame people in real life for unlikeable course of actions, decisions and humanly mistakes. Blaming and disliking is a very humanly reaction to something destructive and selfish. I think there's nothing wrong with that since the plot is aiming for that. The plot did make us understand why they made or are making those mistakes and I think people fairly liked that approach (the first 6 episodes) but the plot isn't making the characters progress (for very understandable reasons) further which, to be fair, should create feelings of dissatisfaction and angst (hence the blaming).
I think the upcoming character development and arcs are worth the angst but I'm fairly scared by the tendency of kdramas to ruin the last 4-5 episodes. Hopefully this drama will be different like it has been in its approach towards characters and plotlines.
He's someone I would call "shallow". Shallow in handling feelings (envy, romantic and platonic feelings), relationships and overalls shallow in his priorities of possibilities and efforts to make something (which is most likely his fantasy and he knows it but still is driven by envy and unrealistic romanticism) at the cost of something more.
Let's first analyse his feelings for the FL. I FEEL nothing between them. Usually I understand and genuinely relate to a SML's longevity, both in efforts to win someone he genuinely sees a future with and in being left alone at the end of the journey without inner peace and satisfaction but here I feel the SML is more driven by envy coupled with his childish tendency to be selfish mixed with blatant disregard of people's situation and feelings. I can understand the envy (the ML can very effectively invoke that in someone) but what I don't understand is his disregard for people and relationships except a relationship that's built on nothing more than a fantasy fueled by nonsensical romantic feelings and envy. I mean the guy had a crush on the FL (understandable) but to carry that for that many years with the same intensity, which is unrealistic and boringly uncharacteristic for a plot like this, and be willing (almost) to destroy a relationship with ML he has built for decades for a crush, that still is very much in love with his best friend (which he sees clearly), makes him shallow and a one dimensional character with unlikeable characteristics.
Someone who can comfort himself with very faded and rusty satisfaction of having a very narrow possibility with someone, at the expense of beautiful relationships built up throughout many years, is someone I would find unlikeable in real life. His feelings for the FL seem to me more crafted for plot purposes to carry forward the main relationship than an addition to his character traits.
Anyway I still have hope for him to burst out of that bubble and experience what life has to offer without having to leave and shunn people who care for him for nothing.
Which brings me to the question. Why do people like him so much or more accurately why are people interested in his relationship with the FL when we have a more nuanced and carefully cultivated relationship of the FL with the ML through the years? No offense, I'm genuinely curious.
The fact of the matter is that people deserves to be treated with respect and the basic human courtesy; not treating them like shit (if you can't with care) for no obvious fault of their own. Everyone has a sob story and everyone has trauma of some kind but should that affect how you should behave and treat a fellow human being (who also have life full of tiredness, frustration and a sob story of their own)? No, it shouldn't.
Now do I hate YHJ? Hell no!
I think those flaws makes her human and more relatable especially when she's the protagonist of the story (hence we are supposedly being set up to appreciate her character development with a clear differentiation of what she was and what she is) and most likely will not have the same values or ideas throughout the story. But does all that excuse her shitty behaviour and ground flaws? No.
We can criticise a character for their obvious flaws and that doesn't mean we hate the character. It just means that we dislike her flaws and we are equally (or even more, in my case) interested in DS and would like to for him to get what he deserves (which isn't the treatment he gets from her for obviously no fault of his own). I can appreciate her flaws for the purpose of her humanly characterization but also criticise them for the purpose of right and wrong. It's just a relative prespective. Some sees things one way (which isn't anything bad) and others see the same thing a different way. Both are equally right and justified.
YHJ is comparatively simple and easy to analyse and understand. Her character development in just 4 episodes is impressive and good writing. It didn't take away anything from the believability or impact of the plot or the character arc.
I'm just hoping that it won't turn into a mindless and the painful cliche of the so called overused plot extension tool; love triangle. The leads have interesting characters and their chemistry is top notch, so I don't see the point of including the most cliche writing tool in history to elongate the story or make the romance more believable and interesting(a misconception used by writers and accepted by viewers; that a third party could make the romance better which most of the time is contradictory to reality). I hope we get a more flushed out and realistic 2nd ML who actually has a story to tell and a character to explore rather than a plot device to make the leads end up together and overall expendable and unimportant to the actual plot.
I started to get an intrest in surfing just prior to watching this show but now it has almost convinced me to actually engage in it.
The egos and psychology of human beings often refuses to be stressed out and pained by the provocation or exposure of reality especially when we live in a reality where chances of finding out something terrible about it is more a matter of "what" and "how" not "if" and "when". Now the pain and anguish of the terrible and horrible about reality is a serious issue to be fixed and must be treated by punishment and hopelessness but taking in that pain and anguish to amuse or humor yourself or others to maintain a stable, healthy and efficient psychological and emotional state is nothing wrong or belittling of the issues. Dark humor is often a tool used to bear and face the trauma and pain of the reality which most of the times is hard and cruel; something that most likely will ruin someone's emotional and psychological health. A little humor in a situation of great seriousness, accountability or evil isn't anything that lessens the weight or the appropriate punishment of the crime committed, it's just a way to cope with the evilness and cruelity of reality which is disappointing and painful.
The show's depiction of sexual assault and its way of treating it with a little humor and much seriousness (the ML physically assaulted the prick and was arrested for his crime and most likely will get the punishment he deserves) isn't contradictory or belittling of the reality of the issue under discussion but just an effory to make it humoral enough for us to digest it without becoming a psychological and emotional mess (which would have been fine if we were watching a show completely about the topic and having a detailed and honest depiction of victims and their pain but HCCC isn't that. It still tried its best and it served a purpose and left the message they were aiming for).
I just think that it's a misconception and misunderstanding that humor lessens the weight and consequences of subject of great consequences and weight.
I have a lot of answers to all those questions but I'll keep it to myself for now. I'm enjoying the story so far but it's nothing too extraordinary. It's a simple story about interesting characters (especially HDS) but maybe that's its own charm; simplicity rooted in intriguing story and explained through interesting characters.
Let's see.
A show shouldn't be burdened with the weight of morality and teachings. It's not a fucking school or parenthood. The writer is free to write whatever the hell she wants to write and you have the choice to not watch what you don't agree with (which in itself is not progressive). The writer chose to write about reality of different people and I absolutely appreciate that. Don't label everything you don't like as sexist because it frankly demishes the weight of the actual phenomenon. Reality isn't sexist but a matter of facts and figures.
The drama never followed the stereotypical way of portraying a gender but brought a wide range of diversity in it. We have In Jae, Saha and the grand mother as women who are strong, capable and dependable but also have flaws (which make them human and relatable) but DM was the more on the spectrum of receiving and not much capable when it came to her career. That's not stereotypical but diverse and true depiction of reality. Not every women around the world is strong and capable career wise and the effort to basically not include them in a drama rooted in reality would be hypocritical and a nonsensical attempt at gender politics.
WTF! I never said that portraying a strong and capable female in a drama would be boring or unrealistic. "What did you want to see? All the women involved to strong, independent and perfect? That would be boring and unrealistic as hell." Is what I wrote; ALL WOMEN INVOLVED. I'm not a fucking sexist as you assumed I am. I never once felt that about strong women but I also am a realist who appreciate reality which brings diversity depicted in a drama more than brainless gender politics aimed at unrealistic and boring approach of stereotypical portrayal of a whole gender. The stereotype that women are all perfect and strong is nauseating and a blatant lie in reality.
You basically generalised a whole gender in your original comment which was repulsive to say the least.
What are you talking about? DM never was shown as capable and independent as you claim her to be even in the beginning. She never would have had a career if it wasn't for DS (atleat not what she achieved at the end) and HJP. That's who DM always was; dependent. She literally shut herself to having a relationship based on having a few letters she wrote whe she was a freaking teenager. She built a fantasy of a boy who she saw through the letters and chose to embrace that fantasy for 15 years without even making an effort to either develop a new relationship or search for the one she fantasised about!
She did succeed because of the male leads but that's not the only thing that let her succeed. She put in an effort (to the best of her abilities) too. Neglecting all that just because you wanted to see her be a solo-genius in a career that strongly demands team efforts is ignorant. She wasn't as capable as the MLs and that's was fine because our MLs had many other flaws she didn't. She serves her position with fairness and ability in the later episodes. She learned things and moved forward (that's appreciable).
Yes the writing was mediocre at best. I didn't like it. The characters were weak (including the MLs) in general and the plot I came for (business, character development and complexity) was nonexistent and was mushed into a stupid love triangle.
So DM not developing as a person is DS's fault? Are you fucking kidding me! DM is a grown ass woman who never was forced or influenced negatively by DS for her to not develop as a person. DM always lacked the drive to change and MLs served as a knights who protected her. Now is it her fault for lacking the will, ability and the effort to never try a change or is it the knights who protected her because they chose not to point out the apparent weakness she had? I will go with the former.
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Are we pretending that there aren't any women around who uses others to get up the ladder of success even without having the qualification to survive? If yes than it's nothing but a delusion of yours that says nothing about reality.
To state that portraying realistic characters (however weak and dependent they may be) is sexist doesn't even make sense. There's no prejudice or discrimination in portraying reality. The writer also had someone like In Jae who was more independent and capable, so i don't know why you're rambling about sexism here. What did you want to see? All the women involved to strong, independent and perfect? That would be boring and unrealistic as hell.
You may be a woman exactly like what you stated women are (which is something to be proud of) but assuming that everyone who share a gender with you would stick to your ideas of what being a woman encapsulates is incredibly narrow minded and doesn't allow the necessity of individualism based on different values. Frankly i don't think there's anything wrong with DM benefitting from the male leads only because the men were willing to do that for her. Receiving help from a willing party isn't something to be ashamed of or for. They always were a team and did things through helping each other. Neither DS nor DM could have succeeded if it weren't for their team effort. Sure DM was on the spectrum of receiving more but she did contribute to the team throughout. Not all women are geniuses who could do all by themselves (as are men) and it isn't fair to judge people for their will to survive even at the price of being dependent. They are human beings who are born to be creatures of dependency and weaknesses. Maybe someone like DM has more of those as compared to someone like you but it still can be a trait of a character.
Stop protecting your ideas onto characters that aren't perfect but flawed. To label everything flawed and weak in a character as sexist because of specific gender is nonsensical and frankly takes away from the term itself.
Anyway, before i get annihilated by romance lovers for hating the genre i should just shut up. Anyway i loved "it's okay, that's love" and "master's sun" among the few romantic shows. They were genuine and so much more than just a love triangle and misunderstandings.
Now the concept of introducing toxic characters into an already unidirectional plot and character arcs without any prior understandings or explanation is something only placed for the purpose of plot elongation. I like complexity of characters that may sometimes breed toxicity but only when there's a reason and proper understanding of why the character is the way it is. I think that's honest portrayal of human emotions and psychology. It may not be justifiable but it is understandable. Unfortunately now the characters are toxic just because they can be. While that also exist in reality, it's boring and hateful as hell.
Anyway, i think cinematic experience shouldn't be burdened with the weight of morality but an opportunity to view and understand different characters. Morality is subjective to people but moral relativism is viewable and understandable only when the plot allows you to understand the why, what and how of the individual's motivations and goals. Good plot is coherent with multi-dimensional characters but we don't get that often ("Devil judge" is enjoyable so far).
I'm glad i haven't watched a drama like that so far.
We know why KYH feels attached to KGO; he sees his brother in him. We were made clear to believe that from the first episode. KYH is abused, abandoned, misunderstood and alone in the world. His only source of comfort and sense of belonging was his brother when he was physically and psychologically abused by the world and his as*hole father. Now when KYH is comforting himself by misguided sense of revenge against the corrupt and ugly, someone like his brother shows up. They are practically strangers but to KYH, KGO is another chance at having what he lost. Ofcourse he would be protective of him, ofcourse he would care for him and that doesn't require us to corner all those feelings as something sexual (it's so much more). It can be brotherly and intimately friendly. These gender stereotypes regarding how to males should behave is unnecessary and illogical.
Just let the characters and story unfold in its own unique way without having to assume something about its uniqueness.