LA_Drama Fan

I THINK the final draft of the script is usually delivered about a week before filming starts - Lunkera would know better. But these shows do use cue cards to help the cast in case there is not enough time to learn their lines.

I know it's tough, but at this point we need to let go and let it crash and burn.

The problem is that for TRHC it's pretty discernible that it died at Ep33 (air date 7/15) but we don't know when that episode was filmed. For AOME, what date did it go south? It's always been a mess. SJ "dies" in Ep 78 (air date 7/14), she returns in Ep 101 I think, (air date 8/18). But a daily is written and filmed on a different schedule than a weekender so I'm not sure how it works out.

They keep telling us KS is a good father. I take issue with that. He is too kind and considerate with JD as he is with everyone else. As a Dad, he is too reactionary. He only gets involved and puts his foot down AFTER things go to crap. Otherwise, the things he does on his own for her are fun things: I made you xxx for lunch, I washed your clothes, let's go shopping, etc. He doesn't take the initiative to keep her in line, and she pretty much runs free until he HAS to step in. He's abdicated too much to HD and let the grandmother spoil her as she did with SJ. A Dad's job is to say NO at times. He fails that test. And has let it go so long that at 15 years of age, she's probably a lost cause. Has she EVER been grounded???

He is the single most frustrating ML I've ever seen. As a man, he embarrasses me.

To address Sher's point below, I hope SJY's next role is something REALLY different - even a villain, just to get the taste of Geum Kang San out of everyone's mouth.

Since KS can't protect MR, where is CR to step in and do so for her daughter??? If I'm her, I'm begging her to leave him and the country and get away for a while. This is so unfair for her. I feel truly terrible for MR, the only character here that makes me feel that way. She's a victim caught in the crossfire. GET OUT, MR!!!!

OH GAWD, Sher!!!!

Oh brohter........

I like it!!!!

One last post to irritate the Long Post Police, and for some closure here. I'll put the 2nd half of this in the REVIEWS section when I can figure out what overall score to give this mess.

POST-MORTEM

“What Could Have Been”

I want you to imagine a situation where Writer A gets his concept for a weekender green-lighted by KBS. Except he learns the network wants to stretch it to 50 episodes. UGH! He can’t handle that! So he reaches out to his college buddy, Writer B. “Bro, I can’t handle 50 eps! How about I do the first half and you take over the 2nd? I’ll pay you as long as we keep my name on the credits?” “Sure, dude, can do! I can use the cash! Just let me know when I should start, bud.”.

And we’re off and running….
Writer A’s first part of the series is fun, clever, and sweet. And so fast-paced that it was praised by all! We watch our leads progress quickly from enemies to friends to almost-lovers. Our leading man is doing great in his comeback role. Even those bitchy fans on MDL are cheering them on! We’ve got JM/HW trying co-parenting while brining in potential love interests, Uncle & Hee trying to get back to their younger days, and DW/YM sparking too! The 2FL's plots to break them up all fail hilariously! And a Shaman giving us crazy scenes of the future!

Except the problem is Writer B isn’t paying that much attention to the first half (Writer A’s work) and has his OWN ideas for the 2nd half. So he begins writing his scripts to fit the show's loose outline he’s been given. He follows his own agenda, anyways, plus, he notices some things in the show so far, that need to be addressed:
• KJH actor is a really good-looking guy with high approval rate among women. Need to emphasize him!
• The lead couple has poor chemistry. Need to reduce situations that exacerbate this.
• The lead actress seems increasingly distracted and cold. Need to minimize her lines.
• There are too many secondary couples. Need to minimize some of these characters.

So writer A taps out….either voluntarily or under pressure from KBS seeking a re-vamp; take your pick of conspiracy theories. And here comes Writer B. He looks at the arcs for the characters he's left with and says, “NAH! This doesn’t fit my vision, so I’ll just write out some of these characters, or simply pretend meaningful events in the first half didn’t happen.” This is HIS show now and he’s going to appeal to the fans by making KJH a lead character and bringing some DRAMA to this series, because ratings will spike for sure!!! And he’s got about 20 episodes left to go, so he can take his time, and stop all this fast-paced stuff.

And this, my friends is what we are left with. Two completely different shows featuring the same(ish) characters which are grafted onto each other. The first half is GOLD: A bright new series that promised to make us forget the previous 2 weekenders that ended up failing. And it’s a comeback vehicle for both ML & FL. For 30-ish episodes we bask in the fun we’re having here. The second half unfortunately is MANURE. Slow-paced, filled with a conveyor-belt of angst for the leads, who grow increasingly awkward and characters who suddenly disappear. And the new series revolves around the 2ML – he is the catalyst that moves the script.

It’s almost as if the 2nd half was a spinoff of the first half, which would have been OK, if they had actually made it a separate show that we’d have the option to ignore. Also, if the first half had been given a logical conclusion. But no, we got this hodgepodge.

In prior k-dramas, I’ve loved to go back and watch old episodes and relive some past meaningful scenes. We’ve all done it….it’s FUN. But I can’t do that here. Because every time I try to watch something in Episodes 1-30 I get sad and think ‘what could have been”.

That’s the theme of this show: “What could have been”. This could have been a great series that lived up to its hype of resurrecting the weekend family drama. That could have made the most of its strong cast. That could have held us through 50 episodes, from the beginning of Spring thru the end of Summer. That could have kept us laughing and cheering on our leads as they try to keep up their farce of a fake marriage and the pitfalls of continuously lying to their parents.

So, for the new viewers asking if this show is worth watching, be forewarned. You can approach it as a limited edition series and watch from 1-32. But you’ll have to accept the fact that the show is essentially unfinished. 33-49 is basically No Mans Land: DO NOT WATCH. If you wish, you can watch Ep 50 for the finale and wedding. But be warned that the FL does not act as you expected her to from the first 20 episodes or so. And that some characters are missing. If you use the FF button, you can just enjoy the wedding and call it a day.

But really, there are better options for you. If you’re looking for a romantic series, this ain’t it. And it loses it on the comedy front at Ep 33. Sure, there are some funny moments, but they are awkwardly placed amongst the angst prevalent in the balance of each episode. There really isn’t a niche the entire series fits into, because it’s 2 series back to back.

Finally, there is a reason there are over 17,000 comments here. YLAG, one of the most polarizing weekenders that REALLY pissed off its audience generated 8,800 comments. Think about that for TRHC: Seventeen THOUSAND! Since a high comment counts equals an aggrieved audience, this series 17K can give you an idea of what’s going on with the fans here.

When you clicked on this page, you saw the comment count. It stands as a silent warning: BEWARE TO ALL WHO WATCH THIS.

Thank you to all here who made watching this more tolerable than it would have been without you. We can now relax and take comfort that we'll never have to deal with this storyline again.

I think the Shaman's message, though unpopular I guess with the domestic audience, was broad enough that it could still have been fulfilled. I still think that Uncle was HongJun's father - that was they way the script should have gone, which would fulfill the "your child will seek you" element of the prediction. Then Hee, an unfit mother would beg CM/SooJung to adopt the kid, which they would and this would fulfill the 2nd part of the prediction "The child will have 2 fathers". I do believe this would have been the intent of the original writers, but was dropped, along with some many other elements after Ep33.

That's a good point. But I also have to wonder how much of that is part of YD's personality? Once she's done with you, that's it. You've been ghosted. Outside of her work, we never really saw her have any friends.
But you know, we're reading too much into this, because it's more probably just another oversight by the writing team. We expend more braincells trying to figure out what is going on, than the writers did putting this script together.

Thank you so much! I wish the same for you and your family. I'm hoping the next series leaves us all much calmer and happier.

Yeah, I just don't think she wanted to kiss the guy. Something just wasn't right between them, it seems.

In the comments for the prior daily "The Love In Your Eyes" you'll see us bitching about the lousy kissing between leads (all 2 kisses they got). Their first kiss was almost chilling, it was so bad. The ML would then say that he couldn't be romantic because he was a newlywed and they just had their first kid (words to that effect). It's in the comments there. SMH...

It isn't a bad episode, with some FF it can be an 8/10. But it is just disappointing.

No, not at all. It is tough to do so, but if you go back and watch the first few eps, you'll remember just how good this series was. It held true until the Great Purge around Ep 31-33.

And they deliberately let us know, too.

I also liked BN's face of disapproval/disgust when Hee was introduced to her by DS.

Ep 50 "It ends not with a bang, but a whimper"

We made it. And thanks to the epilogue at the end showing TK/YD's early moments, this episode fittingly shows us how far we've come (strayed) from the genesis of the series, back in the Spring, when the weather was cool and Hope Sprung Eternal.

All the writers had to do here was wrap up their loose ends and 70 minutes should have been enough time. I'll give them this much credit: They stuck to their guns and kept the characters consistent thru to the end (more on that later).

Notable Moments:
All right, let's get the whole SeJin arc out of the way. After 49 episodes of having to deal with her rottenness, she finally has a heart to heart with her dad, where she accuses him of hurting her plans. GOOD FREAKING LORD! Like I said, at least she's consistent, in trying to paint herself as a victim. She finally reconciles with him, after he nearly croaks in her arms, and leaves the country. For some reason, she's heading to Chicago, like they don't have enough problems there. Look out, Windy City, there's trouble coming!

Hee/DS/SooJung gets their arc dealt with and closed out with the Gong's paying for the kid's medical bills and his 'recovery' (though they never said how? Was there even a marrow transplant?). Oddly, he had no speaking role here, it looked like he was going to say something, but they cut away. That was really weird. In 2025 DS & Hee open a second branch of the chicken franchise because I guess they needed something to do? (just what BN needs, more competition & she loses her chef). Did they marry? What happened to the kid? Who knows?

YM/DW/SK gets NO closure and the writers continue to torture the few of us who were attached to this couple. He fights to get her back, as much as his simple brain will allow and when he has the guts to announce to the families that they are a couple, she shuts him up. SIGH. And still, one year after the time skip (it's now September 2025!) they are STILL dating in secret! This makes NO SENSE, as they saw first-hand how keeping secrets from their parents came back to bite YD/TK hard. Doesn't anyone learn anything in this show? I had hoped that SK would spill the beans at least!

And if it's now 2 years in the future, WHERE ARE THE FLYING CARS WE'VE BEEN PROMISED????

CM/SooJung gets their arc screwed over. The writers punished the one couple who SHOULD have had a child by taking away any opportunity for them to have one. And to make matters worse, they drive that point home twice, once in their bedroom and again at the hospital where SooJung must accept her fate to not be a mother but to be a helper to other moms. This was just cruel. You're telling me that after all that, THIS couple can't bring themselves to adopt?

And finally the wedding: Instead of seeing YD try on wedding dresses, we get the brothers at the tailor with their new suits (what's with the 3-piece suit thing in SK?) and then they meet the girls to try on casual golf attire at one of the company's stores. TK/YD couldn't look more uncomfortable and this theme carries on thru the balance of the episode. The wedding comes and goes and is topped off by another one of their awkward kisses (just STOP, already) and DS getting the bouquet (huh? You were supposed to toss it to YM!!!) And for all the sharp-eyed viewers, was Mr. Kim (the chauffeur) attending the wedding?

And as stated before, this team of writers stayed true to the characters. When TK/YD walk thru their floral path at the end, they stop and he gives her a small bouquet and gives her a heartfelt thanks for being with him. She says nothing in return, (not even the slightest apology for all the pain and grief she brought him) and instead of what should have been a kiss under the sun to End The Show.... they hug. Just perfect. Sheesh! I should look on the bright side: We were spared another cringe-worthy attempt at kissing, at least.

I don't care what all the BTS videos of the cast show; there is something going on with the two of them, at least with her. They were never all that close anyways, but this got ridiculous. I don't even know why they share a bed, given their distance from each other, they should just have separate beds....really! Maybe it IS her personal life's issues, but she's a PROFESSIONAL actress. ACT LIKE YOU LOVE HIM. We keep making excuses for her: She's a victim of bad directing, bad makeup; bad wardrobe; bad hairstyle, bad writing; bad character development, etc. That doesn't mean you can't kiss him. At some point, she has to wear it and take responsibility. AJH has seemingly done his part, his co-star can show the same level of effort.

So that's it. Over 17,000 freaking messages!!!! My GAWD. We've been through a lot together and have collectively written a far superior story than this brain-dead coalition of "writers" was able to. I will greatly miss interacting with all of you, be it arguing, laughing, agreeing or just wallowing in our mutual misery. I've got just enough snarkiness left for a post-mortem on this series either for here tomorrow or the REVIEWS section, but if you haven't read Naebyeol's review, please do so, as she has said everything I could have thought of. It's excellent.

Oh, and what was "The Real"? I guess, although let down by subtitles, it was from BN's speech at the end, where she compares the "real feelings' of the couple compared to when they were faking it. At least, I guess that is what it is. The writers let us down here too.

Have a good afternoon from the West Coast of the US, folks.

that was great, after coming from the grannies who bugged Bong Nim about the guy who tried to steal her baby. I didn't recognize the 3rd nurse, tho. TK is like, "take your seats inside, OK?" LOL