MiyamotoMusashi

Funny since i recently criticized the same problem for "When the weather is fine", Korean writers either feel the need or are getting pushed into featuring circumstances or plot points that are completely removed from normal lives. Even if the tone is down-to-earth, there are always aspects that normal people can´t sympathize with since it is so far removed from daily live and an outlandish event or circumstance. And i felt that way with the whole spying thing in My Mister, though it´s not as bad from what i remember as you put it, might be wrong though since i watched it when it came out. And to be fair, we have to see all the episodes of Lost to claim it´s different, even if so far it has been far more introspective.
It feels like the writers are too afraid to be "too real".

Just shows his dedication. Steroids or not, it´s extremely hard to be that buff and shredded. Plus usually, Korean stars do not really build muscles, they just cut fat, so that their abs become visible, so it´s a huge risk for the Korean scene.

Just learned about this, while still scandalous, i have seen a few Korean stories about romance between teacher and student (in both gender constellations, though nothing with gay characters).
Wonder if they will have the courage to really push it, maybe even towards sexual stuff.
Anyway, good choice of actors, Lee Do-Hyun was impressive in 18 again (and his small amount of scenes in Beyond Evil), and Im Soo-Jung is a household name.

Seriously, if we are supposed to think he is alive, then it is badly done. It was literally one second of his backside shown.

Another fantastic episode, if they can keep this up, this is gonna be a masterpiece worthy of 10/10.

- The actions scenes (NGM as John Wick), the suspense, the revelations, everything is top-notch and movie quality.

- NGM seems so stoic, but knows when to show a minimalistic expression to highlight his feelings.

- I hope Park Ha-Sun´s character will get more layers to her other than being a bitch.

- Ye Ji was excellent in this episode, actress did a good job.

I might be wrong but from what i gathered, he is either the first NIS officer to die in North Korea, hence Han´s team was sent there, or, more likely, he was one of the agents that was killed after the list of agents got leaked after Han´s disappearance one year ago, what they call Bloody Friday incident, in which all agents in North Korea and China were lost. I think it´s likely that her father was one of the agents.
Hence why she wanted to work with Han Ji Hyuk, because after his disappearance and the death of his two subordinates, the list of the agents got leaked, so people assumed that Han might have been the one to leak the agents.

I think it´s a nice setup since ultimately, we do not have to doubt her intentions anymore, and she will ultimately work with Han in the end after finding out he is not the one to leak it, and they have a common enemy, the traitor in the NIS.
My guess is either Lee In-Hwan or Kang Pil-Ho, the former is played by a veteran actor (though a pig due to him Weinsteining an underage actress), the latter would be a good twist due to playing the big brother type character.

His legs and ass literally became too thick.

Just finished it within a week. Really great and underrated show with real characters throughout, and not just plot devices. And a show that, for the most part, had a clear theme and showed different aspects of it, namely the significance of communication with the people you care about in any capacity, whether it´s family, blood or not, friends or romantic partner. You can only give warmth and care if you share and if they share back, your feelings, your thoughts and intentions, people can´t magically read them. The characters are not perfect, they learn, and will continue to learn and ponder even after the show, since we only got a glimpse at their lives. It´s not a conclusive ending, but something that hints at what they might see and do in the future. And all this in a very realistic and understated tone that draws you in. The drama is not about the loud moments, but the quiet ones, a glimpse on their thought, a metaphor, a story, or even just two people looking at each other yearning.

I have two main criticisms that i think stem from conventions and clichés in K-Dramaland that writers and directors feel they need to feature, though it has gotten far better in the recent years, but still puts shackles on such an unconventional narrative like this show, which seems unfitting:

- I think K-Dramas and people who produce them feel the need to always feature very extraordinary circumstances for their characters, something that possibly would not happen to "normal" people and should i guess entice interest. In this story it´s the murder/manslaughter/self-defense, and the mountain beast narrative. Even in normal settings, i think dramas are expected somewhat to include plot lines that are far beyond what normal people would experience, and thus stretch the circumstances to extreme lengths. Abuse is normal enough, but no, it had to be about murder, trial, switcheroo. Someone feeling reservations about being adopted and not completely revealing themselves to their family is normal enough, but no he had to be regarded as symbolical mountain beast. It´s not a big point admittedly, since these things did not distract from the main point, but nevertheless, i would really welcome writers just dealing with everyday stuff and underlining that there is a lot to tell even for seemingly ordinary people. And note that i am somewhat projecting my experiences with other shows onto this one, since it was not so bad, but even similar shows with healing theme and realistic story do this (My Mister with the spying part for example, something that is obviously featured heavily in dramas, but not really applicable for real life).

- And another convention, the run time of the show. Especially for a cable network like JTBC, i think fitting the usual runtime should be irrelevant. tvN in the recent years also does not care much, especially starting with the Reply series (but others as well now), and i think JTBC should do the same. There were a lot of interesting characters in the show that had a lot of potential, and a lot of dynamics between the characters that could have been addressed far more than it was in the end since it is only 16 hours. I think the run time should fit the setting and narrative of the show, not the other way around, i know it´s somewhat idealistic, but confining your plot is never a good thing.

Nevertheless, i give it a 8.5-9/10.

Think about how Nazis or Russians are used in Western movies. For Chinese and Koreans, that´s Japanese.

We are talking about the rating, you say some people might not have liked it and hence dropped or put on hold. If they did not vote, what do they matter for the topic at hand?

I think it´s about projection and like you said, how easy it is to watch it, hence why i used the term mature since dramas like Lost tackle mature and realistic topics, and not just serve a fantasy or eye candy, hence my initial post.

I disagree, the bar for "good" romance is much lower for the teenage audience, hence you see high ratings for shows like CLoY, Go Ahead, It´s okay not to be okay, weightlifter, strong woman.....

People who dropped it or put it on hold should not be able to vote imo because you can only judge something correctly if you actually have seen it.

Sure, shows that have under 8.5 on this site, so some people might not know them:

A Wife´s Credentials (7.8)
Secret Love Affair (7.7)
Flowers for my life (7.6)
Love Shuffle 8.0
Money Flower 8.2
Nine 8.4
Padam Padam 7.7
Tree with deep roots 8.2
History of the Salaryman 8.2
Marriage not Dating 8.2
A Beautiful Mind 8.2
A Gentleman´s Dignity 8.2
God´s Quiz 8.2
Memory 8.3
Secret Investigation Record 7.5
The Good Wife 8.1
All about my romance 7.6
Familiar Wife 8.1
On the verge of insanity 8.0

Many more.

Second was a masterpiece as well, it just put the focus on something else. Season 1 had the murder mystery, it was more personal and the world was smaller.
Second season expanded it far more, but still had the same themes.

https://buzzkpop.com/stranger-season-3-release-date/

Girl K

That´s part of it yeah. To significantly simplify, there are two audience types on this site, young and mature audience. The former, once they see something they like and fawn over, mostly pure and cutesy romance, immediately rate shows with either 1 or 10, whereas the latter judges a show completely, and uses the full spectrum of 1-10. Hence the discrepancy of ratings.

That´s not the really true, i am not exaggerating here, if you truly grasp the intricacies, Yi Bang Won is one of the best anti-heros in fiction period. The moral, political and personal implications of the plot are so far-reaching, without trying to sound snobbish or elitist, but i think it goes over the head of the average drama watcher.

Watched the first two episodes, it´s ok i guess. It´s obviously the Lee Honey show, and she deserves all the roles and attention she can get, one of the rare people who transcended being the "beautiful girl" to become a real actress. She once again delivers here, but the entire premise is pretty weak, and every scene with her in-law family is just so infuriating, they are just comically evil without any redeeming qualities.
So people who liked Extreme Job or Fiery Priest, especially Lee Honey in those projects, they might like this as well, but only her scenes.

This site is mostly used by teenagers who prefer cutesy and pure romance stuff.
There are a lot of incredible and mature dramas with a 7 or lower 8 rating on this site.

Only saw the first episode so far, to be honest i do not want to be too hyped and then get disappointed, but holy hell, that was a almost perfect first episode. Except a few minor details, everything was spot on, NGM´s acting, the setting, the atmosphere, camerawork, premise and so forth.