MarieAli

That’s exactly how I saw it. She’s really trying to understand what’s going on and how it relates to Thyme. She does research on her own, she asks him several times, but he just brushes her off. She even tells Lita, she wants to understand if it’s going to impact your whole life. I’m sure she would have found the strength to look past all the other drama if he’d just shown her that he wants her to navigate his world, wants her to be his equal partner.

Only he doesn’t at this point. He enjoys coming back to her house and destress from work, complaining about his ‘wife’ to his mistress. The way Lita and him find her ‘poor lifestyle’ amusing and refreshing, made me mad. Sure, they mean well and yes he tried to navigate her world very hard but who helped him? Gorya, to the point of exhaustion.

I feel like a lot of people expect this show to be about falling in love, but it’s actually about building a relationship at this point. It’s a lot more mature in its themes than other versions and I, personally, relate to it way more. There are no easy fixes. You will have to work for it.

He means well, but it is childish to think he can just seperate his world from hers if they really want to share a future together. Plus, he kind of wants to have his cake and eat it too. Wanting to be able to visit her in her little loving family house whenever he’s exhausted from work and politics, almost like a king visiting his concubine, or a husband visiting his mistress.

Exactly! The funeral was such a powerful way of showing the F4 in all their might. Gorya enters Thyme’s world for the first time and it’s not him, who invited her, it’s Kavin who makes sure she gets to understand how their world works. (I have a lot of thoughts about him and Kaning that deserve another post.) As much as Thyme tried to enter her world and understand it, he did little to help her understand his. So far his friends are playing that part.
They could also reframe the maid subplot, in which Tia and auntie Yu help Gorya learn all the details of life in his social class enabling her to walk in both worlds and not feel out of place.

Every week, this show just excels in distilling the most poignant conflicts and making them as impactful as possible. Episode 9 was a punch in the gut.

When Gorya said she’s just too exhausted to keep going, I felt the whole weight of it. Ever since she met Thyme, she’s constantly been in survival mode and add to that everything she went through only in this episode. She had to face Rosalyn’s public humiliation, babysit Lita and Thyme, while the teasing and bullying at school starts once more. We see her anger at those mean girls, but she bottles it up inside because she’s all out of energy. 

Then the funeral happens and all the emotional drain of self-doubt, confusion and jealousy, while she’s still mustering up compassion for Lita. She comes home in the middle of the night, but she’s not allowed any rest, she goes right back to work waiting in line as a stand in for rich people. It’s especially cruel, because Lita gifted her a dress of that same brand saying you would normally have someone wait in line for this. Gorya accepted that dress as a gift, but in the end, she will still have to do the work herself. There are no shortcuts for her. 

Once she’s finally home, Thyme is already there, always near her, always invading her space, never allowing her to figure out who she is without him. He means well, but she desperately needs time to herself, finding out what she wants in life. Thyme has his family’s legacy, what’s there for her? 

I wonder which profession Gorya will ultimately choose. It’s different in all the versions, and they could use it as a means for her to enter his world on her own terms and become more of an equal partner to him. That’s a very important part of these sort of stories, her not only acknowledging her own worth, but ascending to his level by her own means. Think about Jane Eyre and how in the end, she becomes wealthy, while he comes down to her level. This goes all the way back to the myth of Eros and Psyche, in which she literally becomes a goddess in her own right. I really hope they finally resolve this power imbalance, because none of the other versions ever did and it’s such a missed opportunity.

I’d actually be interested in a British version. I don’t trust American remakes, sorry. Haha. Also, Sex Education was very good!
Thyme could be an actual prince or earl or something. And there they have those super creepy elite boarding schools... it could work.

I have to admit though, he slept through most of Meteor Garden… haha.

When I was watching HYD, he would sometimes join me and laugh so hard at Tsukasa, like “What’s wrong with this dude? Why is he always punching strangers?”

Makes me wonder how many partners are currently being forced to watch F4… but it’s all to their benefit!

None of my friends have the slightest idea what a Hana Yori Dango is. So I’m trying to sell a Thai teen drama based on a manga and it’s a tough sell…
At least I got my boyfriend to watch it with me and he loves it. We already watched Meteor Garden 2018 and he agrees that F4 plays in another league.

Same!

Yes, that would work! I mean it would require a lot of misunderstandings, but it could work. Still, why would she try and seduce Thyme then? I mean assuming that’s what she does in the trailer… Because her parents pressure her to seal the deal? Hmm

Yeah, as much as I’d like that kind of twist and think that the fiancée has always been a bit queer coded, unfortunately it wouldn’t really make sense plot wise. Plus, we already know that the ‘naked scene’ will happen, which means Lita will eventually develop desperate feelings for Thyme.
Nevertheless, there was definitely a little spark between her and Gorya. So maybe they just have a girl crush on each other and become good friends or Lita may be bi and try to date both of them… I mean who could blame her?

How can they cram this many ridiculously hot people into a single show? It’s so hard to focus on the dialogue…

I will sometimes randomly remember the outrageous ppl in Meteor Garden and laugh out loud all by myself…
The best one was the furniture mascot that delivered her new table! Iconic!

You’re right! In this it’s pretty smooth. I even enjoy those weird ads dubbed by that female voice in the beginning. 😅

Yes, that’s my hope too. And I had the exact same impression of Kavin’s genuine smile/laugh! We need more of it, and some tears too.

I’m just not sure what that teddy bear is supposed to symbolize…. He looks cute but is a beast at the core? Does it relate to the whole “doll” conversation, seeing people as objects? Hm…

Yeah, they are definitely not right for each other at this point. Kavin needs his own redemption arc and she needs to be less naive to be his equal. But they are already setting them up as unlikely friends, which I appreciate.

Oh, interesting… I get what you’re saying. They somehow give off melancholic vibes, although they look so colorful together. But this might also be, because they are just at the beginning of their journey? I don’t know.
I feel like Kavin‘s arc has to be, that he finally allows himself to care about other people again. MJ even calls that out during their fight. And falling in love with Kaning would be the perfect resolution for what they’ve set up. I totally trust them to somehow give the whole reformed playboy trope a glow up and make it more meaningful… at least that’s what I’m hoping for.

Please, can we talk about Kaning and Kavin? Like, what are your predictions for their storyline and his backstory? What are you most looking forward to? Are we getting a kiss?
Those two are constantly on my mind…

I thought about this a lot and I think from a storytelling perspective it might have felt redundant to have him apologize again. We already know he‘s someone who does apologize when he did something wrong, because he did so almost excessively after the Hana incident. But apologies are pointless once the person doesn’t acknowledge their faults and promises to make up for it (think non-apology). And that’s the part we get at the end of the episode.

I laughed at that same tweet!
And I don’t think you’re giving the show too much credit. They are doing an amazing job at updating this story.
In making Gorya and Thyme dual protagonists they are telling this story as it should be told. He is on a redemptive journey, but also a healing one and his healing equals letting go of his bullying ways for good (amongst other dysfunctional coping mechanisms). So, the message is ultimately hopeful: everyone can change, everyone deserves a second chance.
And they hammer that point home by showing us so clearly how society (patriarchy, capitalism, toxic gender roles) created the monster that he is.
And if, like me, you have the luxury of not getting triggered by the violence in this, there is nothing wrong with enjoying this story!

I’m sure they’ll get at least an open happy ending. They know we all ship them like crazy! <3

I totally agree with you! I hope we get to see Kavin his darkest at some point. I’m just thinking about the Korean version and they had him go pretty dark when confronting his father with Kaning’s character.