MarkWasHere

An enjoyable drama, but it fell well short of its potential. The novel is excellent, but unfortunately this drama didn't match its quality. But the GL scene in Thailand is still very new, and production companies are making these shows (often) with inexperienced actors and very limited budgets. So, I want to give them some grace, while hoping that as the years pass, the quality keeps going up and up.

Specifically, the mean girl's BF got fired for being intimate with another employee in the office, which was captured on CCTV. So not only was mean girl wrong, her BF was also cheating on her.

Rin was worse in the novel. She had no feelings at all for Khem, but just really liked the sex. At least in the drama, Rin starts developing feelings for Khem early on, even though she's still hung up on Kwanrin.

She was a nude model when she was 12 years old, when there weren't any child pornography laws in Japan.

I recommend :
"Blossoms in Adversity" https://kisskh.at/749431-the-story-of-hua-zhi
"The Double" https://kisskh.at/736749-di-jia-qian-jin

1.) The issue of So Baek Ho discrediting Kim Mi Gyoeng with rumours to force her out of the company 6 years ago wasn't adequately addressed. This to me was a MASSIVE issue and it is inconceivable to me that any woman would ever forgive someone who did that to her. When Kim Mi Gyeong quizzed So Baek Ho whether he still was the sort of person who would do that (i.e. destroy an innocent person), he said "yes" and admitted he was a "cold" person because he had to fire a lot of people. But there is nothing inheritantly wrong with firing people. It's not a pleasant job, but someone has to do it. BUT the issue here is NOT that. So Baek Ho DIDN'T fire Kim Mi Gyeong 6 years ago, rather the transferred her to another department and spread false rumours about her so she would be persecuted by her work colleagues and then voluntarily quit, which she eventually did. It was an extremely cruel, unprofessional (and probably illegal) act, and any person who would do this is a total piece of shit, and just saying "sorry" doesn't even come close to being enough to earn redemption. If So Baek Ho really is still a person who would behave like that, then my advice to Kim Mi Gyoeng is to run.
2.) Yun Hui Jin was never told that Kim Mi Hyoeng was the woman who's fiancé she was fucking. Discovering that information could have resulted in some interesting and emotionally impactful drama. But rather, the subplot just fizzled out, with Yun Hui Jin escaping condemnation for being a mistress and being deprived of the opportunity to receive forgiveness (from Kim Mi Gyeong who, as we have seen, is happy to forgive pretty much any wrong done against her). This choice by the writers deprived us viewers of an emotionally satisfying conclusion to that subplot.

A mostly fluffy rom-com, but like many Korean dramas I've watched, it started better than it finished. The first few episodes were hilarious, but from then on the humour decreased as the "serious" plot became the focus, and the quality declined (in my judgement). However, I mostly enjoyed the drama, but did find myself skipping some bits in the last few episodes as my interest waned.
There were two things in the drama that I didn't like that I'll put in the spoiler below ...

I disagree. I enjoyed the Korean version more than the Chinese version, even though both were very good (I scored them both 9)

I enjoyed this remake slightly more than the Chinese original, although both were very good. Being shorter, the Korean version didn't have the draggy middle episodes that the Chinese version had. Also, the Korean version didn't have the creepy non-consensual kissing that the Chinese male lead was guilty of.

A well made drama with Park Bo Young showing that she is an exceptional actress. Overall, it was quite a serious drama, touching with some darker themes. It's certainly not a light watch, and wasn't a drama that I could binge. 8.5/10

Just in case you are unaware, there has been an "extended" version released that does not delete Riwon. It's basically the show we should have been given instead of the one we got. It also contains the pool party.

An excellent drama that makes you think about life and death. It is quite emotional in places, especially in the final episodes. I guess it is technically a sad ending, but we've known from the earliest episodes how it was going to end up. It is certainly worth a watch for anyone who enjoys realistic melodramas. Landy Li's acting was phenomenal and I was also very impressed with An He Gui's acting. I thought the ending was also very well done.

I do however have two criticisms - well really two examples of the same criticism. Good writers don't need to bash us viewers over the head with a sledgehammer, when subtlety would have been better. Here are the two examples:

1.) Lin Tuo initially had a hard time at his work place. Better writers could have shown this without turning his boss, Wei Hai Yang into a sociopathic parody of a real person. And the fact that Wei Hai Yang instantly went from an irrational bully with anger issues to Mother Teressa, willing to bend over backwards to help Lin Tuo was not very believable.

2.) Lin Tuo understandably didn't want to cause An Zhi Que to suffer as a result of his disease. But again, better writers could have achieved this without turning Lin Tuo into a cruel, thoughless piece of shit for several episodes. Lin Tuo was a mature, decent young man, and having the writers turn him into a selfish, immature dick was frustrating to watch and inconsistent with who he was as a person.

If there was ever a comment that needed the spoiler box ticked, it is this comment.

Park Bo Young's acting is top notch.

As far as I can tell, the answer is "no", at least in terms of English translations. There are the special chapters available, which I guess is an extension to the original story and not a new novel: https://en.mebmarket.com/index.php?action=book_details&book_id=361337&page_no=1

Is the uncut version on gagaoolala.com?

I've finished it now. If I had to sum it up in a few words, I'd say it was good, but not great. It (mostly) kept my interest, although it is extremely difficult to keep up the momentum of a story when you've got 58 episodes to fill. I say this about most dramas - a shorter, tighter story have been better. 58 episodes is just too many for me. I think it had the potential to be a much better drama than it ended up being - although this is only my opinion, and an MDL score of 8.8 says a lot of people loved this drama a lot.
I haven't watched a lot of Chinese historical/fantasy dramas, but of those I have, I really liked "Blossoms in Adversity" and "The Double", which (again, in my opinion only) were much better than "Eternal Love".

I quite enoyed this take on the time travel / alternative universe trope, although it did leave me with some unanswered questions. I think with dramas like this its best to not over-analyse them.
8.5/10

The TV series does have a happy ending. The ambiguity is in the fact that the ML's face is not shown in the final scene of the series. BUT, there is a post credit scene in the movie version that shows the final scene from the series, and does indeed show the ML's face, clearling up the ambiguity.

No. I suspect it will take quite a while (if ever) for the uncut version to be picked up by any of the unofficial streaming sites. As of right now, the only place to watch it is on the "Lemon" app.