MiHnn

I never said she's a paedophile. I was only mentioning that this storyline cannot be compared to Goblin because a 9 year old and a 15 year old are completely different ages even though a lot of people like to loop them into the same category.

Besides, my main criticism is the lack of consistency about the FL's characterisation.

The irony is that fantasy fans are BIG on logic. The best fantasy series of all times are ones that have clear magical rules. Forums are full of fantasy fans dissecting the lore because it has to make sense. If it doesn't make sense, it's just not good fantasy.

Episodes 5 and 6 were an improvement for me, but still barely good. My suspicions were proven correct, that when they stop focusing on the badly established romance and more on her relationship with her family members of her past lives, as well as the mystery regarding her retaining her past life memories, it's way more interesting.

For me, the clearly weak aspect of this drama is the writing. We are half way through and we still don't know much about her previous lives. We don't know all the skill sets that she possesses and why this particular child made her want to live again. - I would understand if he was her first love in her first life and she felt a connection etc.

The correlation between her current life and her previous lives are barely there. Imagine how cool it would have been had we known ALL of her previous lives. And she utilized some aspect from each life in her daily skill set. It would be like watching constant easter eggs. It's been touched on briefly rather than making it her whole personality. We just got the intro where it was utilised, but not in her daily life as the show progressed. What a waste of a good concept.

I just feel like this story could have been developed better. As a fantasy fan, the lack of well thought out characterisation is a let down.

How is Lies Beneath My Garden? I've been on the fence regarding watching it.

Exactly my point. She has to be one of two things. Either a child who was assaulted by previous memories and is now facing the trauma of it all or a child who is now mentally a new, adult personality because she is a combination of all the lives she has lived up to this point. The show has said over and over again that she is the latter. So knowing that, her falling in love with a child is super weird.

Basically, it's bad writing.

The Goblin comparison makes no sense...? If he fell in love with a 9 year old, then the comparison would have made sense.

I'm watching this CDrama right now that changed aspects of the story from the novel to make it less problematic.

Eg:- They reduced the age difference from 7 years to 5. They aged up the girl by 2 years when she met the guy, but saw him purely as a brother until she was 16 and started falling for him. The guy only sees her as a kid until he meets her in her 20s and they start interacting independently.

Likewise, the writer could have easily shown both the male and female leads as 12 year olds when the accident happens, which wouldn't have affected the story at all.

And finally, there is a massive difference between falling in love with a child (someone under the age of 10 - Which let's face it, not even 12 year olds fall in love with 9 year olds) and someone falling in love with someone who is 15 like in Goblin (which is adolescent age).

One is a child, one is a teenager. I don't understand why they are being compared, but there is definitely a bigger distinction when you compare both. Goblin is waaaaaay better written than this drama.

If you remember, in Episode 1, while she was in her 19th life, she was suddenly assaulted by all the memories of her previous lives when she was 10 or 11. She mentioned that she remembered everything. Every life, every death etc. And within seconds, her personality changed. The way she talked, the way she acted. It was of a mature person. She spoke like an older woman when she hunted down the niece from her 18th life and didn't act like a child at all. Everything from how she carried herself to the words she spoke, was that of an adult.

To double down on this, in her 18th life, her mother told her friend that she felt like her daughter wasn't her daughter. That she seemed like an adult. That she was a child one day and overnight she started talking/acting like an adult.

So, this is the canon the show has established. The show said that when she got the memories of her previous lives, she got all the skills, all the knowledge, and as a result, she was more confident than anyone else etc. All four episodes she mentions how she's mentally older than everyone.

The show has said this over and over, many times.

I'm not saying she's pedo because as a 12 year old she fell in love with a 9 year old, I'm saying that I understand where people come from when they said it feels hard to believe that someone who remembers being an adult several times over (again, established by the show), finds a 9 year old attractive. - It honestly feels wrong. And if the sexes were reversed, it would have been seen as predatory.

If they were both 12 years old, this issue would have never come up.

Love among children is pure. It involves holding hands. As they grow older, love starts to include attraction (unless they are asexual), which means kissing all the way to sex.

Even as a 12 year old, her temperament wasn't that of a child. The SHOW made mention of this several times and made it canon that she is mentally older. Saying that she was wiser than her years. The show also mentioned that in several (if not most) of her lives, she lived until adulthood. She has experienced everything. Which means, she would have also had the memory of not only living as an adult, but the temperament of an adult, which includes grief, joy, and sex... of an adult.

(This could have easily been sidestepped if she had always lived until 12 years old and therefore, her mind is that of a 12 year old who had never experienced anything sexual etc.)

So, having the memories of everything, of being attracted to others etc... Her falling in love with a child is the problematic aspect of this.

(Again, the show could have fixed this by saying she wanted to look after him, she felt like she owed him, she felt guilt dying in front of him, and then they get to know each other and fall in love. - But instead, she stalks him (what she did falls into that definition), constantly hangs around him and says "I like you, I like you, I like you," on repeat. There are a lot of red flags in her interactions, even though it's being portrayed as romantic.

And again, in Goblin, he falls in love with a 15 year old and 15 year olds are considered adolescents. Like I said, you can't compare both. In this drama she falls in love with a child, in Goblin he falls in love with an adolescent.

Actually, paedophilia means being attracted to children. (Ages from 1 - 10)

Hebephilia is being attracted to pubescent children. (Ages 11 - 14)

Ephebophilia is being attracted to late adolescents (Ages 15 - 19)

And like I said, in this drama, she falls in love with a child, and in Goblin, he falls in love with a 15 year old. Not the same.

I've seen people compare this drama to goblin and I don't understand that comparison tbh. If the 1000 year old goblin fell in love with a 7 - 9 year old child, then it would be similar and worthy of comparison.

Yep. I understand. I feel like this is a waste of great actors. The writing is just not good.

I know the story is fantasy, and the actors are two of my faves who haven't disappointed me in their drama choices previously, but the love story between them is just not convincing. And you have to believe in that love story for the rest to work.

The pace is slow and draggy, and the lack of chemistry is a disappointment. I'm going to give it until episode 6 to decide whether I want to drop it. I want to give this a chance purely for the actors. But as of right now, there is no improvement.

I think the unbelievable aspect is that a 12 year old fell for a child after living 17 lives until adulthood. That's the main difference between the dramas you mentioned and this one. It would be different if she fell for someone older, mature, etc. But after living 17 lives, in a 12 year old's body, to have a crush on a child is not believable because there was nothing outstanding in their interactions. Forget mental age, most 12 year olds have crushes on teenagers, not children.

I get that. I just wish she wasn't pursuing him for purely romantic reasons. She works her entire life to get close to him, first episode, she asks him out on a date and by episode 3 she told him she likes him. She's not vindictive or anything, but I wish she was hanging around him for a more noble reason than puppy love.

That's what I don't get... Out of 17 previous lives where she lived until adulthood, a child triggers this kind of thinking for her? To make her feel alive? It's not believable to me. He wasn't fully developed as a human yet. Maybe I missed something, but their connection is very bland and has nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't like she was starving and he looked after her. It wasn't like she was abused and he protected her. Maybe it's the lack of information regarding her previous lives to show exactly how outstanding this child truly was. I don't know.

I would have preferred it if she had actively tried to move on and then bumped into him later in life rather than following him (let's face it, stalking him) for years whenever she can.

I never thought he was in any danger, I was focusing more on the stalking aspect of it. And I know that as a small woman she can't do anything physically to him... except drug him. I don't expect her to be forceful, but I don't like using different rules for men compared to women. If it's not okay for a man to do it, it shouldn't be okay for a woman to do it.

I don't understand this drama. Am I the only one who thinks that the female lead's character is obsessive? Putting aside the problematic aspect of a 12 year old with the memory of 17 lives had a crush on a child (which, honestly, doesn't make sense to me since most 12 year olds have crushes on older people, not younger), the fact that she keeps showing up and declaring her feelings to someone who clearly doesn't feel the same is intrusive. If the sexes were reversed, people won't find this behaviour cute at all.

This drama reminds me of that real life instance where a woman married her stalker because he was constantly around her all the time. Because that seems to be the female lead's goal.

I wish she had sought him out purely to look after him (because she felt like she failed her niece in her previous life and wants to make up for it), and they get to know each other and gradually fall in love.

The way she has made her entire life about him is kind of creepy.

I have great respect for the characters Lu Si chooses to portray. Usually, with age difference dramas, the girl, especially, is depicted as a klutzy, hopeless mess when she interacts with the person she has a crush on, and this drama is refreshingly different.

I love that the main character is sweet and smart. I love that she tries to actively move on when she thinks that he doesn't have feelings for her. I love that she doesn't blurt out how she feels regardless of his feelings, because she's impulsive. It's nice to see a female character act normal in this kind of situation.

Seriously regretting not waiting until all the episodes were released so I could binge watch it. While on the other hand, so glad this is a CDrama where I get episodes everyday.

It was sad to say goodbye to these characters. I think they wrapped it up well, by showing most of the old members coming back, with Master Kim realising his dream... It was perfectly wrapped up.