Minimus

Yeah, it was only I guess.

Watching that scene in the fried chicken place, I thought YC had never met her, but that he fell in love with her after hearing her back story.

Could be Ms Tak as well, but she has been working at the company for 5 years (albeit on a contract basis), so that does not fit the whole sobbing story and big company thing.

The back story sounded more like Lee Tae Ri, but the camera work etc. directed to Ms Tak. I think it is one or the other. Cannot imagine another person. As this week is episode 7 and there are only 12 episodes. Episode 7 will likely be about YC and the three interns getting demoted/suspended/fired after the ruckus they caused at the end episode 6. Would be difficult to slip in another storyline afterwards.

But it am excited to see what will follow next. I think YC and the three interns are done in the company. The female executive, the chairman and his son are genuinely bad people, so I do not see them return. Perhaps they will invent a new ramen with their whole trip in episode 7 and start their own company.

I guess the curly girl is Lee Tae Ri. She had kinda pink curly/wavy hair in the beginning, right? It sounded like her back story. The chef said that she was always sobbing because she could not find a job, but now does not come anymore, so he guesses that she must be at a big company. The only person I can think of who would eat her pains away and who could not find a job is Lee Tae Ri.

I think there is/was also something going on with Ms Tak and YC.

What difference does it make. They could change the captain of the Titanic, but if you are so far gone... you can only pray and hope. It does not help that TVN and JTBC are launching rockets at your ship, whilst it is sinking...

Sometimes you need to salvage your losses and stick with your original plan, but TKEM did the opposite. They made it more difficult and introduced even more side stories, hoping one of the plots would stick. Also, introducing a new director is the worst thing you can do. It is like writing a book with multiple people, but without any communication. So the end result is a pot of ideas of various people. This alienates the watchers even further.

TKEM is like the New York Knicks. It has by far the most potential, but due to bad management it is one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Sure, I am not saying that the writer is not wrong at all. I am only saying that it was never intended to be a masterclass in math and philosophy.

Both KES and the director are like the inventor of gunpowder to me. The inventor was supposed to find the elixir to let the emperor live into eternity, but failed miserably and found quite the opposite of a life potion. Nonetheless, gunpowder is now seen as one of the 4 Great Inventions of Ancient China. But if you know the background, the product is rather one of the Biggest Fails of Ancient China. TKEM has the same effect to I-fans. They see it as a great invention and attribute all sort of wisdom to it, but this was never intended by KES and the director.

KES just scribbled some scattered thoughts on a piece of paper, but the director does not have the creativity to effectively showcase the story on film. The director is also too lazy to do some field research and instead copies some nice buildings that he thinks fits that era. His laziness causes a big backlash in Korea and a drop in ratings. As a remedy, KES incorporates some easy elements to pull back the crowd. She tries to feast on the anti-Japan sentiment for example. But the director screws up again with the CGI and there is more backlash. The ratings drop further and they have to incorporate more PPL to still get the returns. But this further detracts from the story and we have one shitty drama with many plotholes.

It is then funny that I-netizens start to quote all philosophical and mathematical ideas to explain some bad writing and directing. Were they aware of the severity of the mistakes (which they are not due to missing the cultural baggage), they would realize how sloppy the drama is.

But that is just my theory. I think that the main mistakes are that KES did not finish her story in advance and that the director has zero vision. The actors are also not good enough to cover up any flaws in the drama.

I enjoy the passion of the fans, but we are talking about Kim Eun Sook. Someone who majored in creative writing, not in philosophy, math or even literature. I have a hard time thinking that she is polished enough to write a critical piece incorporating all those theories and stylistic elements. That is too far from her bed. She just watched another show or went to some science exhibition, took inspiration from it and let her creative juices flow.

But if she really intended to write such a critical masterpiece. Why did she hire a newbie director? She needed a Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) or Park Chan Wook (Old Boy)- calibre director. Since these directors do not direct dramas, she should have gone for someone such as Kim Won Seok (the guy from Arthdal, Misaeng, Signal or My Ahjussi). A complicated story requires a director that can do justice to the story, not some newbie that does not even recognize a Japanese flag on a Korean warship.

Also, the actors. KGE aside, most actors are not known to portray difficult stories. I would have expected to see more people from Korean film (Chungmuro) in this show. People like Jeon Do Yeon, Yoo Ji Tae, Kim Hye Soo, Sori Moon, Lee Je Hoon, Lee Hee-Joon, Lee Sun Kyun, Bae Doona, Ju Ji Hoon, Yoo Ah In or veteran actors we see in Sky Castle and TWOTM. Instead they cast actors such as Jung Eun Chae. They are not doing a bad job, but I find it odd that they do not cast critically acclaimed actors if the story is actually meant to be complex. It happens with other shows. For example with Arthdal Chronicles with Jang Dong Gun, Song Joon Ki, Kim Ok Bin, Kim Eui Sung, Park Hae Joon and Choo Ja Hyun. Same with Signal, Kingdom, Mr Sunshine and even less complex stories such as Vagabond, CLOY and Legend of The Blue Sea contain A-list actors. The most acclaimed actors want to be in a big production, even as support...

Finally, why did she decide to broadcast it on SBS on a Friday or Saturday? To me, SBS always broadcasts the kdramas with the least depth. Their stories almost never have an extra meaning, unlike JTBC and to a lesser extent TVN, OCN and even KBS2. And why do they broadcast it on a Friday and Saturday pitting it against variety shows and weekend dramas? Fridays and Saturdays are always the time slot with shows that are light in nature (unless you are JTBC at 11pm).

This is my opinion and you can disagree with it. TKEM was meant to be the big Lee Min Ho show on a big public channel at a popular time slot. Kim Eun Sook thought she did not necessarily needed a top tier, veteran director because the story was not intended to be so confusing. However, the newbie director screwed everything up and made everything confusing in the first few episodes. I hear many people say that when they re-watch the first episodes that there are many details that they have missed. So apparently Kim Eun Sook did incorporate it in the script, but the director just massively screwed up. Thanks to his awful directing, people did not notice the subtleties and nuances. Since then, Kim Eun Sook, Lee Min Ho and the rest of the cast have been correcting the mistakes of the director to make it appealing again, but it is getting more difficult as they progress. It is like being in a car race with two flat tires caused by the director. It is super difficult to finish, let alone to also win the race. I am pretty sure there will be no second season, but if there will be one... You will see that season 2 will be much clearer. They will certainly not hire this director again...

Wait, so Dumb and Dumber was not about dystopian values in an unchanging world?

Haha, it is the opinion of 90% of the people here (myself included). But you can predict the quality of the drama based on the secondary actors. People like Oh Jung Se and Kim Joo Heon are never in absolutele trainwrecks. According to my personal experience, it is more reliable to select dramas based on the secondary characters than on the main actors. All the good dramas always use the same group of supporting veteran actors. My Ahjussi, CLOY, When The Camellia Blooms, Sky Castle, Dr Prisoner, TWOTM, Hospital Playlist, Designated Survivor, Fiery Priest, Hyena etc. all use the same supporting cast that I never see in low-quality dramas.

This show is beautifully layered. It is not black or white. It is about seeking a middle ground. Initially I despised Man Shik's ways, but his methods are not fully wrong. YC is also not totally right.

This drama mixes lavatory humor and chaos with very serious topics: ageism, workplace/sexual harassment, power tripping, office politics, office romance, mental health and basic human ethics.

Also, I love Man Shik's proud attitude. I am not sure he is aware, but he is on the brink of creating a cult following for the ramen by handing all his purchases to local businesses. I also like Tae Ri's strong personality. The other intern is also cool, as he is a genuine nice person.

I do not exactly know who started it, but one of the worst ones was indeed that person you are referring too. And thousands, if not millions, followed him in his hate campaign.

There were various cases of Koreans forging their credentials in 2007. So there was already a witch hunt going on. But Tablo's whole resume gave ammunition for haters. He obtained both his bachelor AND master in 3.5 years. A normal US person would obtain their bachelor's in 4 years. Since it is Stanford, most of the students (even the scholarship athletes) are smart and cannot accomplish what he did. It turned out that he was actually that brilliant. But the saying goes: "When there is smoke, there is fire".

Same here with Kkondae. A relatively small issue can turn into big headlines. Also remember that East-Asian cultures value collectivism. So whenever a certain product/person is "cancelled", the general public will follow suit because of the herd mentality. So I am not surprised that a cockroach in a bag of ramen can cause a full meltdown at the company.

Apart from this herd mentality, you also have to wonder whether there is a production flaw/hygiene issue. One cockroach might lead up to more cockroaches in other packs.

Yes, that is true. But the reason why the defamation laws are so strict is because Koreans absolutely go berserk with the witch hunt for even the smallest things. Tablo's case is a very good example, where the Koreans doubted his Stanford degree. This is ridiculous in its own right, because even if he lied, it would not really matter as he is a rapper (and does not perform a job that requires professional qualifications). Also, whether he graduated from Stanford does not impact anyone's daily functioning in life. So you can see that Koreans can be quite petty.

BTW, even if you are critical... I would have accepted it. It is your opinion ;-)

The guy was unemployed and obsessed with Tae Ri. I do not think he is rational enough to understand that it is a bad move from his side.

Furthermore, this is Korea, a culture where they do not mind naming-and-shaming (the power of the netizens). If people were so scared of all the financial ramifications because of potential defamation lawsuits, there would be way less defamation cases in Korea in the first place (because people would abstain from sharing a "wrong" opinion). The reason why we always read about these cases, is because netizens do not care and love to write whatever they want. For example, check out Tablo's (the rapper of Epik High) Stanford-case for fun and read about how far Koreans are willing to take it: https://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-persecution-of-daniel-lee. People are not afraid to start witch hunts without facts or attack powerful people such as celebrities and politicians.

On the other hand, it is also a culture that takes hygiene very serious. If you have ever been to a supermarket in Korea, you notice how serious they take this topic. The supermarkets are squeeky clean and when they hand out food samples they wear mouth covers and gloves.

The script is also written by a Korean and not an adaption from a foreign show. Although there are comedic elements, they will never write a script that is so unrealistic that the Koreans have a hard time understanding the humor.

She is alive and kicking. He called his mom as soon as he got out of the room and assured her that the scandal was no big deal. It is the scene just before he chased Man Shik in the cafeteria,

I have the feeling that the chairman's son is not a bad guy at all. Instead the chairman seems to get fishier by the day. First, the actor playing the chairman always plays the bad guy. Second, Lee Man Shik asked his old classmate (the executive and lapdog of the chairman's son) during their get-together drinks whether the chairman is really trustworthy. Seems like an omen to me. The female executive is also slowly changing into a bad person as she is spying on YC.

They are most likely also the ones that fired Man Shik over the whole ransomware thing. I do not think that the chairman's son pulled one on MS as he thought it was a brilliant move by the geezer to screw YC with the ransomware thing. I also do not think the chairman's son knows that MS was the one that came up with idea to hire the forensic cockroach experts, so he has no particular reason to cut MS loose.

Man Shik's firing gives him a common enemy with YC. I predict that they will work together to bring down the chairman and the female executive. In fact, I think the chairman's son might join YC's team as well.

All in all, this drama is very good and underrated by MDL.

It was a tongue-in-cheek joke, so I was not expecting for you to actually make the poll.

But were you to make such a poll, you will see that The King will actually not get that many votes, but Maximus will. Thereby debunking the TKEM hater group theory of Maximus. This comments section is not necessarily about TKEM, but rather a big-swinging contest between various members. It is a proxy war where TKEM is used as an excuse to attack each other

Wait a minute. If we cannot comment on how bad/good a show is or how bad/good an actor is, how can we judge a show?

Can't you make some poll on this website where we can vote on the following question:

Who do we hate more?
A. The King: The Eternal Monarch
B. Maximus from Netflix, Inc.

I think I can predict the winner

I am less tolerant to Maximus than a lactose intolerant person is to the milk in a Deerioca from The Alley

It is not nice to call Lee Min Ho a horse and Kim Go Eun a candlestick

I have never seen Lee Ji Hoon in a non-obsessed role. LOTBS, Woman of 9.9 Billion and now this one...

Well, Jae Hyuk was there. Since they work together he can bring it back to her the next day. But it is a bit odd. Same with Hae Kyung. He also left his flip-phone in the restaurant when he chased Do Hee at the end of episode 3