Knavery

Decent cast, story is okay so far.

Hey, at least it's no Merry Marriage and they actually like each other and are honest and talk about it though I suspect the moms will be obstacles.

And I really like these two as actors, hopefully they can get some main roles in their futures.

It's not worth it, she's truly a supporting character who does not get much screen time. I did find her page on MDL - "Joon Hyung". Only a few supporting roles, last one in 2015.

I don't mind the concept of the male lead eventually finding love with a supporting character but it was too rushed.

As for Dan Su I wish they'd find another character for him to fall in love with. Even if he ends up with Gong Hui on Episode 120 they need to have him move on from her first. The problem is this show can't develop any character or plot story so I don't have high hopes.

You can see the problems child actors face in the West. Think about the Home Alone kid who became addicted to drugs. But you combine that with the social pressure of South Korea and you get stories like this.

The alcohol problems leading to a DUI and then relentless bullying, the financial problems of losing all her contracts/sponsors... it's sad.

Yes something similar has happened. Do not read further if you do not want to be spoiled.

Again - don't read further.

If you're still here - Passionate Love is not similar but almost identical and aired in 2013.

Male lead is the golden boy heir. His "half-brother" and that half-brothers allies (I think I put half brother in quotes because one of the directors is actually his father and he's not related to male lead as a brother) essentially 'steal' the company from the male lead's family.

Not only that but the second male lead, that 'half brother', gets the female lead pregnant and marries her.

The male leads romance is literally crammed into the very last episode. A supporting actress clearly likes him but he doesn't reciprocate at all. Second last episode she's about to leave "to go abroad" as the cliched plot line works in Korean shows. The male lead's mom meets her and begs her to stay because the male lead doesn't like the female lead, it's "guilt". The final episode starts and she forces a kiss on the male lead. 10-15 minutes later the next scene is the male lead back in the old family home having purchased it after beating the half-brother and his half-brothers family and re-gaining control of the family company. The supporting actress is there, his mom and grandmother are there. He tells them he bought back the house. As the mom and grandmother look around the house, he asks the supporting actress to live with her. That's it. That's the romance. The show ends with the female lead, her child and the male lead tracking down and finding the second male lead to reunite those 3 as a family. I'm not joking. That's it. The male lead essentially doesn't have a romance beyond "will you live in this house with me?" and the supporting actress saying "are you proposing to me?" then smiling and kissing him and he's a bit more into the kissing then he was 10 minutes earlier in the prior scene.

I'm writing so damn much. I will say I did like the supporting actress. I thought she had talent but they didn't give time to that romance story maybe because they got cut short due to low ratings. I kind of wish I could find more dramas she was in but she shares a name with a sitting politician and a dozen other famous people so she has no dedicated page on MDL or even Korean websites like Namu. Apparently she married the son of a family that designed "Korean monopoly" or whatever. It's too bad. She had a lot of talent and I liked her in Passionate Love despite the poor storyline she was given. I was hoping she'd become a star.

I'm excited for this show.

Han Bom seems like she might latch on to Gang Su who is an earnest and helpful guy but clearly has a bit of a phobia talking to women. Han Bom might not give him the choice to walk away from her. I suspect Bom's brother might help her out given he seems to think extremely highly of Gang Su and knows his anxiety when it comes to dealing with women.

Despite it being incredibly early I like the two leads - the widows and how they've grown to respect each other. The show has done a good job of building them up as characters and showcasing they're both empathetic, caring people who try to do the right thing but who do make mistakes. And I want to see them succeed and eventually find love with each other.

I like Chun Su his wife and kids abroad with his marriage falling apart, losing his job. He's having a mid-life crisis that's not of his own making. But he stumbles across Mi Sun who he can empathize with. Her husband and kids are not with her where she runs a shop to provide for them. Her marriage is also falling apart. I think they both realize there is a lot of difficulty in a long distance marriage and realize they're both struggling.

Beom Su and the daughter of the nouveau-rich family in Se Ri seems tough to handle if that is going to be a romantic plot line. I think they both have a bit of an arrogance to them but outside of that Beom Su has a baby he's raising and is established professionally... he also seems to act like he is the guy who is responsible for his brothers and sister-in-law. Se Ri is a pampered university student of a rich family. We'll see.

Heung Su and Ok Bun are probably my least favorite by a wide margin. I don't dislike them but they're kind of crass. Both of them. Like they're caricatures of what a rich person would think a working class person is. But I really like the actress who plays Ok Bun so I'll wait and see. They just both seem so crass and shameless.

I think you gave some important context. CEO Han Dong Seok is shown as being a no-nonsense person. When Se Ri's mom came to flatter him in episode 1 he shut that down fast.

I'm guessing Han Bom didn't want to stand out so she has made choices to not stand out... like Se Ri's mom is trying to stand out and getting shut down by Dong Seok. I suspect Han Bom has picked up on these awkward interactions her father has with Se Ri's mom and with other people and so Han Bom has decided not standing out is how to behave.

And the CEO's personality might have something to do with losing his wife and being a widow. The CEO being a widow means Han Bom lost her mom somewhere around the age of 6-10 years old. She's a graduate student as we found out in episode 6 and we learned her mom passed away 15 years ago. She was young when her mom died. Her mom would have been the main 'feminine' influence in her life especially for things like style, jewelry, clothing.

And you can see the loss of her mom, her dad being incredibly direct and practical in relationships trickle down to her relationships. Se Ri is a friend but in episode 6 we see 3 more of her friends - all male. She seems like she does better around men... or at least she did before the stalker incident though it seems she's less afraid of men and more afraid the next person texting her or surprising her from behind is going to be the stalker.

Anyways, I think it's a deliberate choice by the director to highlight the Han family dynamic and the fact Han Bom spent the majority of her childhood and teenage years without a mom.

Her style is a deliberate choice by the director in my opinion.

I like how they drop papers just standing there but they can fall, nobody hits their head and they manage to hold on to all the papers.

The first 2 episodes are a bit of a jumbled mess for me but I started to like the show by the 3-4. If you don't mind giving something ~5-6 episodes I'd wait for this weekend and make your decision after watching the first 5 or 6 episodes because episodes 5 and 6 should be the "found its rhythm" moment for the show.

They are here now

So they're going full soap opera in that episode 47 preview, lol. I'm down to go with it.

Yeah... I gave it to Episode 15 but I'm out. This is a dropped show for me.

The Li family and sisters earned their rumored reputation despite them claiming in the first few episodes they were being unfairly targeted with the rumor. Shameless, self-centered, petty hypocrites.

And outside of listening to the sisters talk each other into knots with their own hypocrisy about how they are right and everyone else in the world is wrong... nothing much has happened in this show.

Maybe I'll read reviews after it's over and if there was any other plot beyond the men throwing away all self-respect to be doormats for their wives... I'll finish it.

So far the first 5-6 episodes were fine. The last 4-5 were a bit confusing and frustrating but I'm hoping with the ending to episode 10 it will start to settle into a rhythm. Feels like they haven't explored 4th sister's motivations and life at all so I'm curious what will happen with her.

Unlikeable characters who do not make good decisions and are too reactive, too prone to self-pity... and the show has no engaging story to distract from the unlikeable characters. I understand that Gong Hui and Dan Su aren't bad people but I don't feel sorry for either one at this point. At a certain point you have to be willing to help yourself and overcome a rejection or some family pressure. And neither one seems capable of that.

They are stretching believability. So Sang Ah's dad has told no one that she has been suspended and she keeps showing up at work? And now she locked an employee in a dangerously humid room for hours and hours and the first call isn't to police to arrest Sang Ah when multiple witnesses can provide statements Sang Ah lead Seon Ju to that room?

Oh well. It is a family drama. At least now Seon Ju is going to compete with her work instead of being a punching bag. She'll start throwing punches back.

Sang Ah's birth secret looks like it could be over or maybe the writer/director are trying to deliberately mislead. Maybe it is as simple as her biological mom died and her step-mom stepped up. But then again what was with the weird almost-kidnapping like scene a few episodes ago with the baby? And why does the mom not want the dad to meet Seon Ju? Maybe he had an extramarital affair at the time? Or maybe there was some funny business at that hospital?

From the mom's perspective - the woman was pregnant, Sang Ah's dad was in love with that woman. She wanted to use Sang Ah as a baby to get closer to him.

Maybe some context is missing in the translation but it's possible Sang Ah's dad loved the woman and wanted to protect her child even if it was not his child.

The latest episode makes no sense. So her dad suspended her and she's ignoring his order and nobody is saying anything?

They emphasized Soo Woo is an orphan this episode through his former mother-in-law. I wonder who he's a "lost son" for...

My gut still says Seon Ju is the daughter of Jung Bae and the ending will be Soo Woo running the company with Seon Ju as his wife and Jung Bae being a happy grandfather to the new couple and their kids.

I'm surprised at the rapid pace of the show. Sang Ah bullied Seon Ju for a little over half an episode and by the end of episode 40 it looks like she'll be working as an assistant designer for Soo Woo?

We're 1/3 of the way in at this point and we've made progress on the cheating and it is essentially resolved. The two leads are determined to march forward into their (separate for now) futures. But what can they tell for the story in the middle third and ending third?

Sang Ah's biological family (or at least mother)
Soo Woo being an orphan, will his biological family get brought up?
Seon Ju is she Jung Bae's daughter? Why doesn't Jung Bae's wife want him to meet Seon Ju?
The little sisters and their car spat
The little sisters and their romance with the soap opera actor
The romance between the leads
The major company project
Sang Ah and Jeon Nam Jin trying to restore their careers

While this seems like a lot I'm not seeing 80 episodes. Let me know if I'm missing anything.

Not a major criticism here. I think overall for a daily soap opera they've gone at a solid pace, they've resolved certain secrets and stories. I am wondering where they go from here.

All the characters are interested in protecting each other. But who is looking out for us, the audience? Nobody. Shameful.

Sang Ah's little sister likes to stir the pot with everyone including her own family, lol.

You can't tell her anything, she always spills the beans.