Has there ever been a case where a mini series was adapted into a longer full length one? Coz this drama deserves that with the exact same cast lol...such a random find for me and I mean, how is it that a mini drama of all the full length ones has such a unique plot with such refreshing dynamics?
I'm not sure if this drama is working so well for me because of the short length itself with no unnecessary fillers like those 40 episode shows, but my God are the dialogues landing and the chemistry between the leads is out of this world.
The lead actors, especially the FL definitely has a bright future ahead. She is beyond expressive and so sincere with her performance. Such a well directed show so far. So rare to find something with this quality in the mini drama genre that's usually diluted with horny content and the same script and heavy breathing instead of moving dialogues from the leads in every episode...
Now that I think about it, the first part was a melodrama at it's core with a lot of action sprinkled on top. It's why Park Ji Hoon's performance worked so well in bringing Siyeon's repressed rage and loneliness to the surface. So despite all the crazy action moments, it felt a lot more heavy than the traditional action movies/shows I'm used to watching. Definitely not something I could watch while trying to wind down after a long day, but something I'd need to keep for when I can handle all the emotional weight. I wonder what tone the sequel will have...
Finally a male lead who is supposed to be a general and does *not* look malnourished.
Truly an underrated drama. All the characters had individual arcs that worked out in the end. I see this with a lot of shows adapted from novels. They all get the characters right and the writing has great depth as a result. Saw many reviews mention the ending was rushed and the slowburn was frustrating. But I personally think this is a case of wanting and expecting something to be one way when in reality, it was never meant to be that way. I thought the pace fit the story well, the frustrating characters making them only more real and less caricaturish, and was glad they didn't drag out the climax any longer. End it when it's still good sort of thing. If anything, I think more shows need to follow this format.
I'm sure this drama would've been way more popular and gotten high praise if a typical pretty boy was cast as the male lead. Have seen lots of dramas with half this quality get overwhelming praise for no reason other than pretty privilege. But I'm glad the makers went the unconventional route and chose this cast. They've made a great show with some truly memorable scenes that I will remember for a long time.
In an ideal world both could coexist. But considering how cynical I've become of everything, this just sounds like another industry waiting to be ruined by artificial intelligence and strip writers and other creators of autonomy and oppportunity...*sigh*
Only here to say that I wish there would be a spinoff about hye yeon and ju yeon's story from hye yeon's perspective...the only two characters I cared about in the whole show and watched the whole thing for. Their story had such lead potential, I wonder why kdrama writers don't use this dynamic more. And SML especially is such a unique character, a prototype that rarely appears in shows.
The show itself is a huge let down but the second leads had something brewing but the creators never really explore it satisfactorily, and the leads were a snoozefest imo
Actually Mary Sue type characters have been done to death and so passe today. Besides, it's a comedy and having…
No on the contrary i actually like grey characters. Just not okay with how the prototype "strong and ambitious" female lead has become the unempathetic type who uses and discards people to their liking for their goals without any regard for the feelings of others. I liked the FL and was overlooking her manipulative behavior even with the other characters in the drama until she began using the Prince knowingly leading him on without being honest with him.
As someone who has been following this situation from the start, this is the first time I'm witnessing this phenomenon of public hysteria and mass execution in the times of social media. You have a bunch of information thrown at you and people willing to jump at you for even mildly questioning their take based on logical reasoning because *obviously* you are on the "bad" side if you even slightly question the illogical parts in their take that don't align with their narrative.
I've been confused about this entire situation from the beginning. I'm not a kim soo hyun or kim sae ron fan. Haven't watched any of their content except sae ron in Bloodhounds. So I can afford to look at this situation objectively. And what I've seen so far is how the same people who publically executed kim sae ron are now doing the exact same thing to kim soo hyun...really strange times we're living in...
So far in my perspective the only mistake (and the only one soo hyun needs to apologize for) is dating a minor (if he did, since he and his agency continue to deny it). Though from the texts that were leaked between them when sae ron was a minor, there seemed to be flirting so he should apologize for that anyway, regardless of dating her or not.
Now about the name-callling and public lynching soo hyun is receiving, this is where looking at things based on context is extremely necessary. SK's laws on the legal age for dating have been outdated and strange and have apparently only changed in recent times (from 13 to 16 I think?). This means that until the point this was the case, the law allowed it and so obviously regardless of what's moral or ethical, SK's dating culture would've evolved to be an environment where neither gender, male or female, or even the adults in their lives, had any idea how dangerous it is to allow a 13 year old to freely date someone a decade older than them, unless someone was a free thinker or someone progressive in their own perspective. Think about it. If today the government in ur country banned alcohol, wouldn't that create an environment where over time, everybody who used to consume it when it was legal became the minority and the majority that didn't would start persecuting someone who did even if it was in the past? This is why it's pointless and almost like punching an empty sandbag to look at incidents that happened a decade ago from today's lens of what's politically correct and the norm now.
This is why people that are quick to throw around terms like "groomer" and "p*dophile" need to take a step back and read up about what these terms actually mean for the perpetrators and victims to actually comprehend what they are even labeling another person through the lens of today's social media echochambers.
Everything else about him grooming her, the public vitriol of throwing around terms like p*dophile, digging up old clips of him saying dumb things that were completely normalized and enabled during the times he said it (watch the kind of variety shows that used to come out from SK during the early 2000s and I bet 90% of your faves would've done or said something that would be considered wildly inappropriate in 2025), blaming him for her passing, her debt and basically dumping everything related to her and whatever else they want to now dump on him...it's complete executionary behavior from a crowd that's just waiting for another prey.
It's what they did to lee sun kyun, it's what they did to kim sae ron, and the cycle continues with kim soo hyun.
I see a lot of people complain about soo hyun not taking questions from the media today, but how can he? Everything and anything he says will obviously be used against him. Will anyone take a moment to assess the situation based on context and without the need to earn clickbait for their websites?
Since new information comes out every other day, I'd suggest anyone who wants to think for themselves to mentally check out from the toxicity until things settle a bit so you can form ur own conclusions about this situation instead of having faceless people on the internet tell you what you should believe and if you question them, you automatically become "the bad guy".
The FL is thoroughly selfish and manipulative. Dropped. Hopefully drama writers realize you can have an ambitious female lead who is also a good person.
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I'm not sure if this drama is working so well for me because of the short length itself with no unnecessary fillers like those 40 episode shows, but my God are the dialogues landing and the chemistry between the leads is out of this world.
The lead actors, especially the FL definitely has a bright future ahead. She is beyond expressive and so sincere with her performance. Such a well directed show so far. So rare to find something with this quality in the mini drama genre that's usually diluted with horny content and the same script and heavy breathing instead of moving dialogues from the leads in every episode...
Truly an underrated drama. All the characters had individual arcs that worked out in the end. I see this with a lot of shows adapted from novels. They all get the characters right and the writing has great depth as a result. Saw many reviews mention the ending was rushed and the slowburn was frustrating. But I personally think this is a case of wanting and expecting something to be one way when in reality, it was never meant to be that way. I thought the pace fit the story well, the frustrating characters making them only more real and less caricaturish, and was glad they didn't drag out the climax any longer. End it when it's still good sort of thing. If anything, I think more shows need to follow this format.
I'm sure this drama would've been way more popular and gotten high praise if a typical pretty boy was cast as the male lead. Have seen lots of dramas with half this quality get overwhelming praise for no reason other than pretty privilege. But I'm glad the makers went the unconventional route and chose this cast. They've made a great show with some truly memorable scenes that I will remember for a long time.
I've been confused about this entire situation from the beginning. I'm not a kim soo hyun or kim sae ron fan. Haven't watched any of their content except sae ron in Bloodhounds. So I can afford to look at this situation objectively. And what I've seen so far is how the same people who publically executed kim sae ron are now doing the exact same thing to kim soo hyun...really strange times we're living in...
So far in my perspective the only mistake (and the only one soo hyun needs to apologize for) is dating a minor (if he did, since he and his agency continue to deny it). Though from the texts that were leaked between them when sae ron was a minor, there seemed to be flirting so he should apologize for that anyway, regardless of dating her or not.
Now about the name-callling and public lynching soo hyun is receiving, this is where looking at things based on context is extremely necessary. SK's laws on the legal age for dating have been outdated and strange and have apparently only changed in recent times (from 13 to 16 I think?). This means that until the point this was the case, the law allowed it and so obviously regardless of what's moral or ethical, SK's dating culture would've evolved to be an environment where neither gender, male or female, or even the adults in their lives, had any idea how dangerous it is to allow a 13 year old to freely date someone a decade older than them, unless someone was a free thinker or someone progressive in their own perspective. Think about it. If today the government in ur country banned alcohol, wouldn't that create an environment where over time, everybody who used to consume it when it was legal became the minority and the majority that didn't would start persecuting someone who did even if it was in the past? This is why it's pointless and almost like punching an empty sandbag to look at incidents that happened a decade ago from today's lens of what's politically correct and the norm now.
This is why people that are quick to throw around terms like "groomer" and "p*dophile" need to take a step back and read up about what these terms actually mean for the perpetrators and victims to actually comprehend what they are even labeling another person through the lens of today's social media echochambers.
Everything else about him grooming her, the public vitriol of throwing around terms like p*dophile, digging up old clips of him saying dumb things that were completely normalized and enabled during the times he said it (watch the kind of variety shows that used to come out from SK during the early 2000s and I bet 90% of your faves would've done or said something that would be considered wildly inappropriate in 2025), blaming him for her passing, her debt and basically dumping everything related to her and whatever else they want to now dump on him...it's complete executionary behavior from a crowd that's just waiting for another prey.
It's what they did to lee sun kyun, it's what they did to kim sae ron, and the cycle continues with kim soo hyun.
I see a lot of people complain about soo hyun not taking questions from the media today, but how can he? Everything and anything he says will obviously be used against him. Will anyone take a moment to assess the situation based on context and without the need to earn clickbait for their websites?
Since new information comes out every other day, I'd suggest anyone who wants to think for themselves to mentally check out from the toxicity until things settle a bit so you can form ur own conclusions about this situation instead of having faceless people on the internet tell you what you should believe and if you question them, you automatically become "the bad guy".