MattPeddlesden

Yeah there was a big queue of articles to release - I wrote this on 9th June but Cho Na put images of the relevant bits in the article so that it wasn't completely off the wall by the time it came out :) It is something I need to think about for future round-ups though now that i've done this one and seen how the process works and how things go :)

Thanks for the comment!

End Scenes...

1. The Yeon ho and Seon jae are standing at the tunnel having waved off Gwang ho - they turn to leave and Yeon ho gets a flash of memory as the time changes catch up and as she looks up there standing behind them are Yeon Suk and Gwang ho, now as their 60 year old selves. Happy embraces as they are re-united and we're not left with this sad state of Yeon ho without her parents in the present.

2. Armed with all this knowledge from the future, Gwang ho is able to quickly apprehend the killer in the past and thereby save the lives of everyone murdered by him in the future.

As I say, I don't think anything is really damaged by the omission of something along these lines, but these were two elements I was hoping would be addressed in some form that weren't.

I had forgotten about the diary, totally get what you're saying now. A time loop seems inevitable doesn't it.

"were married at some point" ... - or... WILL be married at some point. I see animosity from her to him, which is leading me to think that folloing he originalo timeline, thye got married at some point, he probably screwed it up and now she's back under the guise of surviving but actually with alterior motive of protecting him knowing what he's up against?

"detected with a device" ... I suspect that either through the process of uploading OR the mere fact of being from the future means that people are somewhat radioactive, certainly seems to be some kind of geiger counter he's using but they might just be using the effect of it and looking for something else I guess? My money is on a radioactive future. Or if not radiation specificaly, then something similar.

"it seems this isn the first time" - oh intersting i hadn't noticed that, where are you getting that from?

"deformed people" - I wondered if they were assassin clones or something. grown for a specific purpose kinda thing.

I thnk it's just what they want to bring back with them - whether it's to allow them to live, i.e. things to sell or use as currency, tech or personal keepsakes. You get one item of luggage and every one that we've seen so far has had different stuff inside ranging from lots of tech to just nothing but ramen :)

Yeah I always enjoy watching her characters, she's a unique actor that brings her own style to the drama!

Guilty. Never dropped a drama since I started. I've paused them and come back but never dropped. In fact one of the first dramas I watched is still on pause because when I started it I wasn't into KDrama at all (I shudder at the thought of my uneducated, uncultered history and apologise for it) - but it's not dropped because now that I *am* hooked on KDrama (yay!) I want to watch it... but... TOO MANY TO WATCH. :)

When dramas have dry bits I'm often on the other monitor googling something or chatting on various discords.

So far though, I don't recall any dramas i've actually wished I hadn't started, they've all kinda got somewhere in the end - OR - they didn't actually tank until the last episode or two when either they ran out of time, budget or... ideas, and blew it in the last moments. You know what i'm talking about... where story suddenly falls into an abyss or the writer goes all twinkle twinkle on the plot.

Guilty, and I don't feel bad :) I need to do this watch challenge at some point and at least try to convince myself its for a noble purpose, or, something...

This is like a top 5 of great dramas to watch :) Great article, thank you :)

Really enjoying this one - it's a different format and style to the normal show that is unusual and unique and I think it's working well. Reminds me somewhat of "The Producers" and how they tried the fly-on-the-wall thing except this time it's working more successfully. (I really enjoyed Producers, to be clear, I just heard that the format didnt work well with Korean viewers)

Interesting characters with interesting situations and human in how they badly resolve them.

I like all the characters - not sure where the hate comes from but I guess it's got everyone talking about it and that's no bad thing :)

For anyone hanging around wondering if its worth a shot, I'd definitely say yes - definitely worth a shot, but just keep in mind that characters layers are being peeled off and back stories explained as you go, so just sit back and enjoy the ride :)

I thought it was quite in character for the mum to do that tbh - she tends to go over the top in whatever she does, her reactions are usually in the extremes so rather than a careful sensible measured response she went nuclear with the plastic surgeon :)

So end episode 14... and I am gonna take this a different way to most of the comments i've read here so far - I think the writer is just taking us all for a ride. They've done it before, remember when everyone had the harsh reactions to the posting of Joo Gyung's video on the bulletin board and it looked very much like Su Ah was every bit as shallow as the rest of them - but was actually just really disappointed that her best friend hadn't confided in her, I thought that was quite well played. This writer likes to tease and play with the viewers and dropped in something to make sure *everyone* is posting on forums and comment threads like this one to build up the excitement for the finale of the show. Seems to have done the trick? :) Not gonna hold it against them :)

I think Su Ho and Joo Gyung are still dating remotely, OR not even - perhaps Su Ho is already back in Korea busy with some other commitment. Seo Jun is their friend and he's there to look after his friend, that's all.

They've spent too much time repairing the relationship between Su Ho and Seo Jun for a simple thing like this to suddenly change it, let alone the build-up between Su Ho and Joo Gyung.

I also just think that having spent 14 episodes building up a relationship to go one way (with Su Ho) it'd be a bizarre twist to suddenly say "and 2 years later... it all changed! boom!" I mean not impossible, sure but...

I think what you're going to see here is that two years later on you have some much more mature and grown up young adults starting their careers and finding their place, amongst friends who support each other. It's kinda been a bit of a theme.

Just to be clear... I'm not team one or the other - I'll enjoy the story however the writer makes it, as long as it makes sense.

Soo Jin is the one thread that I want them to make sure they wrap up. She's a complex character with a lot going on and turning up the following day with a cut lip, I was glad to see Joo Gyung go after her and I'm hoping that in our two year leap forwards we now see a positive conclusion to her story arc over the final two episodes.

Hee Gyung and Jun Woo - Gonna go even further out on a limb here... married, one child, and he's more the stay at home father, supporting her running her own talent agency of which Seo Jun is now a member.

I'm glad they've done the two year jump at the end of episode 14 - we now have two glorious hours to get back into this groups lives and see how they are and how they've got on :)

However it plays out, I am excited to see the rest in a few days, it's been a fun drama to watch!

Agree with all of these! Also Evy's note about the second couple in Run on, I'm definitely watching them *atleast* as much as the main couple, watching the second female lead develop her affections and open up has been really enjoyable.

On the "The Producers" one where Kim So Hyun's character spends the entire time pining after one girl while IU's character likes him - I am actually kinda glad they didn't just flip a switch on his feelings because it would have trivialised it (both his feelings for the other girl and for Cindy's) I think, while i'd love to have seen more of them exactly as you note, I also really liked how it was handled, it was the right way to do it I think unless you were going to add another 4 or so episodes to not rush it.

I find my favourite dramas often have a strong second couple in them - because then when things are running a bit dry on the main story, you've got the backup going on keeping you interested for more - and if they're both good, then it's all good! :)

I don't believe it's possible to write a review without being subjective and throwing your opinion in there - there are going to be technical issues e.g. bad script, bad acting, bad production etc but even then one persons bad script is another "quirky script" or a script where there were big holes but... the overall plot or delivery of it is what sold it to them.

I guess what i'm saying is... don't be afraid to say what *you* thought about it because certainly when I read reviews i'm looking to see what the reviewer thought and why, because if I get the impression that the reviewer might have similar tastes to me in certain areas then it makes it easier for me to determine how that review relates to me more than others.

I think it's important to touch on all the areas that mattered to you but for example if the music was just "there" and didn't stand out as either good or bad to where you don't even realise it's there (i've watched a couple like that) - I often won't make more than a sentence remark on it if that.

There's a saying, "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing badly". Sounds like an odd saying doesn't it, and flies in the face of the more common "worth doing well" version - but the point is, if a job is worth doing, and reviews ARE worth doing, your opinion IS worth sharing - then it is better to do a poor job than to not do anything at all. I know when I read reviews i'm not "reviewing the review" as I go, i'm not scoring it for english, grammar, punctuation or other technicalities (i'm hardly one with any right to do so.. :) ) I just want to know what you thought :)

[Bad Guy arrives] "Booooo! Hisss!!!" :)

This is a great article, and it articulates many of the thoughts that go through my head when I'm writing a review.

I am often forming the review as I watch the show, at least in terms of key highs and key lows, nice touches, general trends of who's doing well or what plot lines im enjoying more so that when the show ends I can try and pull some kind of semblance of thought together in some coherent fashion.

The idea of writing notes as you watch is a good one, and given I already spend most of my KDrama time with wikipedia and google earth open to research the people and places that are mentioned or referred to in some way, I am kicking myself for not already thinking of it, so thank you for shining the light on that :)

I write reviews really for two of your purposes in some way...

a) because I either need to vent because it was so bad (or some aspect was so bad), OR because it was so good, I want to stay in that world for a little while longer and think about it in some proactive constructive way.

b) because I want to provide a review score, but feel that any review score needs some kind of consideration to explain it. I don't always do a great job of this but I try to improve. Is this a drama to watch? I like to quickly scan some reviews when i'm considering dramas that don't have other hooks (e.g. cast members) to try and see what it might be. So if my reviews help someone decide to watch (or not to watch) something, then hopefully that's been helpful to someone.

The third, really requires spoilers to discuss particular elements and I really try to avoid spoilers as I think reviews aren't a great place to discuss things like that - forums and comments are are much better. I did once add a spoiler-tagged comment because I specifically wanted to make a comment about a shows ending, and noted in the review that was what the spoiler comment was for - so that nobody was tempted to click to see it without full forewarning.

I try to write a review for every show I watch, but have been failing on that recently due to work pressures, but, over Christmas break I have started doing them again and once again found the joy in doing so, so I hope to continue :)

In terms of negativity - i'm fortunate, either nobody reads my reviews or nobody has been particularly upset by them, I've had a couple of people *disagree* with my views, but that's great - I'm delighted to have that conversation and learn other peoples views and see how they understood aspects of the dramas differently to me. Nobody has been at all nasty about it though, very constructive and I am thankful for that. For anyone who does receive nastiness, I think your advice is spot on.

My only problem... as is apparent in this comment... is that I write too much :) Brevity and being concise have never been strong points of mine!

Thank you for the article I hope it encourages more to write (both articles, and reviews) :)

Thanks! Yes i really enjoyed it :)

Be Melodramatic is AWESOME. My favourite scene out of all dramas just about where they have the raging silent argument, it's class! Brilliant, watch it immediately :)

Your article echos some of my own thoughts - I had been swayed against (or at least, swayed into postponing) some dramas purely because I found the descriptions uninspiring at best and utterly dull at worst. Then, for whatever reason (often, I saw one of the cast in another show and wanted to watch more of that actor) and without fail, 100% of the time, I have been glad I watched it and its been clear just how poor the blurbs often are.

Writing blurbs is intensely difficult - so don't take this as criticism of that effort, as much as it might sound like it - how do you get someone enticed enough to watch something without actually giving it away? Plus half the time I think the blurbs sound more like the elevator pitch for the show rather than an actual sales blurb.

Bottom line for me is that I look at the cast, and I judge whether I want to watch a show based on who is in it combined with the general genre/theme of it - e.g. I almost never watch Revenge dramas because I don't like that, after watching three I concluded they were not my cup of tea at all. Cast, and tags. I don't look at other peoples comments before the show, because everyone has their own (very valid) view that may or may not match with mine and until i've seen it I can't validate which feedback I feel is in line with my own, can I?

Means I end up watching a lot of dramas.. but... oh no. how terrible. :)

Thanks for the article :) Couple there i'd been thinking about and will now make sure they're on the sooner rather than later list like Stove League :)

Like all the best dramas this has a great deal of complexity and is creating conversation (perhaps more animated than it needs to be :) ) and discussion - it's challenging us all to debate the rights, wrongs, the lefts and rights (because not all things are right and wrong) and putting two people who are genuinely nice people up in the love triangle - there's no clear winner it all depends on your perspectives, personal experiences and biases, which I think makes it a really great mirror to ourselves.

To me, that's what makes some of the best dramas. I don't want to spend my time watching it considering time spent with the "obvious" second to be wasted, in this case I find I genuinely don't mind which way it goes at all - I'm really enjoying the ride and really enjoying the characters. The writers and directors are doing a fantastic job in my view, and the number of comments and the passion and sincere feelings being put forward in each are a testament to the success of this one.

Love thy neighbour folks, at the end of the day this is just a drama and once it's all done we can all still be friends eh?

Great article, as thought provoking as the drama itself :)

I was the same with Jang Na Ra - I have absolutely no idea why but dramas with her in I kept pushing down my list... then I decided to watch one and now she's in my top 5 favourite actresses without a doubt, possibly my all time favourite. I need to learn from this and keep expanding my horizons :) Happy weekend :)