Lilli_

Thank you for the link!

It's possible to fly to Korea but you need to do a 2-week mandatory quarantine upon arrival whether you have symptoms or not. So it doesn't really make sense to go there now unless you plan to stay for a longer time. But there are still a few months, so maybe things will change until then and the quarantine won't be needed anymore. If you already are in Korea it's definitely possible to go watch a play, you just have to wear a mask.

Oh, good to know. But I still refuse to give up my last little bit of hope lol.
I really want to know where people get all this info about the filming and so on from. I have no idea where to find it but I'd love to follow such stuff if I knew where to look for it.

Dindin and Yeon Jung Hoon from 1N2D sent a coffee truck to the set of Start-Up with the line "Now is the start-up of Kim Seon Ho's life". I feel this pretty much sums up the drama, lol. If the writer isn't going to surprise us in the end, this will be the only thing I'll remember the drama for later on.

To all new Kim Seon Ho fans: Just curious, is anyone living in/visiting Korea next January-March and planning to go watch the play he's starring in?

Thank you for the info! This is great news, I'll be looking forward to it. I hope that next time both Nam Joo Hyuk and Kim Seon Ho will be able to star in different projects that do them justice respectively.

To be fair, I don't think Nam Joo Hyuk (or his agency) is to blame for choosing this role, he was most likely just unlucky. I don't know the exact details since I'm not an industry insider, but from what I've heard and collected so far, the script is rarely already finished when the casting begins. In the case of famous writers, they might even already start casting with just an outline of the plot and characters. So, he probably at most read the script for the first few episodes before agreeing to do this project, and the first episodes were very good. It's the development in the latest episodes that is questionable, but the actors couldn't have known that beforehand.

I also wonder how much say actors actually have concerning the script. Most actors will probably just have to portray what they get, but I wonder if actors with high status would be able to ask for things to be changed if they're not happy with the writing.

Oh no, you're not, I really liked Jealousy Incarnate too. And I agree, the characters and the cast in this drama were just right, which I sadly can't say about Start-Up (unless the writer is really deceiving us all and Ji Pyung is actually the first lead).

Very well said, I couldn't agree more. Btw, I loved Nam Joo Hyuk in exactly those three projects you mentioned as well! Such good dramas.

I agree that one can see that as stalking and I didn't particulary like that scene either, although I get why the writer included it since she somehow had to make Ji Pyung and Grandma meet again. Those stalking scenes are a common problem in Kdramas and somehow Kwriters don't seem to see it as stalking but as a way to show interest/a romantic act.
The problem with Do San's stalking scene though is that Dal Mi clearly told Do San she wants to be left alone and he just plainly ignores it. It's not about the stalking itself.

I agree. Ji Pyung begging Dal Mi for forgiveness would be totally out of character. He is a very rational person after all. One could argue that he could still have included a calm "I am sorry" and I do agree. But as we see from his interactions with Grandma when he was young, he has a lot of pride and it's hard for him to apologize to others. He'd rather punish himself than admit it. Thus, not saying sorry to Dal Mi is perfectly in line with his character.
Now, if someone doesn't like Ji Pyung for this trait of his character, than that's their right. I personally prefer his rational explanation of the situation (even if he doesn't include "I am sorry") to emotional whining and begging for forgiveness, but other people could see it differently. And Ji Pyung not being perfect makes me like him even more. If he'd been the one-dimensional perfect guy, we Ji Pyung fans wouldnt't have fallen so hard for him in the first place, so I don't get why some people are assuming Ji Pyung fans think Ji Pyung is 100% perfect and Do San is 100% imperfect. That's clearly not the case, both have their good and bad sides.

I agree with you on that. The actors have done nothing wrong and don't deserve to be critized for the way their characters are written.

I don't know what Instagram fans are doing since I don't follow it, but concerning the fanbase here, I think you misunderstood some points.
Nobody discredited Nam Joo Hyuk's works. I actually personally do like him and some of his works are among my favorite dramas. It's not about the actor and has never been. The problem is how the characters are written and there would have been the same outrage if they were played by other actors. I think the reason why you probably misunderstood that is that some people (including me) have been praising Kim Seon Ho for his acting chops. He is a very talented actor and because he portrays his character so well, it makes us fall even harder for Ji Pyung. If his character were poorly written though, this wouldn't be the case. Furthermore, praising one actor doesn't mean that we think lowly of the other one. I believe the drama makes Kim Seon Ho stand out more due to their respective roles but I've never considered Nam Joo Hyuk as a bad actor here. He is doing a great job, I only have a problem with the character he portrays.

You should really try! I love your articles! You could use WordPress for example (there are also other platforms but I only know this one). It's free and you can just use a template and directly start writing. There's no need to create a page design on your own and stuff like that. And don't worry too much about social media, great content will naturally attract followers over time :) If you're not trying to turn it into a business and aiming for millions of followers, I see no need to care about social media.
Furthermore, you already have a little fanbase here that would certainly gladly follow your blog!

I couldn't agree more. That confession was a real highlight and I think it's even the best one I've seen in dramas so far. At least I can't think of one that I liked even more right now. Sometimes simple is the best :)

Oh me too I'm glad I'm not the only one haha. I'm so invested in the discussion here that I stayed up the whole night because I spent too much time here and still had to do my homework.
Actually, this is my first time commenting on MDL, I used to be a silent reader only. But I felt so strong about the drama that I wanted to add my two cents and now I'm really enjoying sharing and reading opinions.

Oh, you really wrote a lot of articles, thanks for sharing your insights with us! And Come and Hug Me is one of my all-time favorites, I'll read your article right away :)
Btw, I think you should make your own blog, I bet it would be super successful!

I agree with you. If we just look at the drama itself without considering anything else, Ji Pyung should be the endgame. Do San just wouldn't make sense. And I still want to believe in the writer since I really liked her previous works, so I hope she'll prove us all wrong with our fear that it's Do San.

Now the reason why everyone thinks the endgame will be Do San is, firstly (like someone already pointed out) because of the way the drama was being promoted, and secondly, because Kim Seon Ho's popularity before the start of this drama could in no way compare to Nam Joo Hyuk's. And considering that Korea values seniority so much, it's very unlikely they would make an actor with a higher status (in terms of his achievements so far and popularity) the second lead and someone who's basically just started to gain a little bit of attention the first lead.

My last little bit of hope is that the production team did all that on purpose because they wanted to surprise us viewers with the big twist of making Ji Pyung the endgame.

Btw, I agree with the others here that I really like how you wrote your post! Do you have some background in film? You seem to catch so many things I never would and it's so interestig to read about them.

I really hope you're right. Whether Ji Pyung is the endgame will really make or break the drama. I think the reason why everyone feels so frustrated is because we're all convinced that Do San is the endgame. If it were more like a guessing game, things would be very different I believe. I hope the writer really positively surprises us in the end.

You're right, whoever casted him really did a great job. I just had in mind that his character is written so attractively that it really makes people notice Kim Seon Ho as an actor.