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But if the drama spent a huge amount of time focusing in detail on every step of her adapting to modern life, would most viewers actually enjoy that?

People are usually more interested in seeing how a historical character interacts with the modern world once the basic adjustment phase is over, not watching her learn how to use phones, money, or transportation step by step.

At some point, the story and character dynamics need to move forward. If the show tried to make the adaptation process completely realistic, the pacing would become painfully slow and many viewers would probably lose interest early on.

Understanding technology and abandoning a lifetime of royal identity are two completely different things.

She learned how the modern world functions, but that doesn’t mean she’d instantly stop thinking like royalty. Knowledge changes faster than identity.

Even in real life, people keep the habits and mindsets they were raised with long after their environment changes. Even modern-day royalty would realistically struggle to completely abandon that identity overnight, so someone raised in an even more rigid class system would obviously have an even harder time.

Honestly, it would be far more unrealistic if she suddenly started acting like an ordinary modern person overnight just because she learned how modern society works.

The whole comedy comes from that contrast.

Imagine a scene where Hwang Dong-man is told something that essentially invalidates his life, a “hunger” signal appears on his emotional watch, and he returns home and eats in a frantic, uncontrolled way. Now imagine the same scene, but with him eating calmly and properly instead. It might look more “polite,” but it would fail to convey the shock and emotional collapse he is actually experiencing.

In that scene, messy eating isn’t really meant for comedy or as a comment on manners, but as a way to show a character’s psychological state. Rapid or uncontrolled eating usually suggests emotional strain or a loss of self-control, not “bad manners for laughs.” It works because eating is a basic human action that can reveal internal states without dialogue. The point of the scene is character expression rather than comedy.

It’s “IT’S ART” by PSY.

As far as I know, in Korea you have to complete four years of university, pass the teacher certification exam, and (for men) serve about two years in the military, so becoming a teacher at 18–20 just doesn’t work time-wise, no matter how much of a genius he might be.

I really appreciate how Korean dramas still manage to create this level of depth and complexity in storytelling.

I couldn’t understand Hwang Dong-man’s obsession with weather-themed dramas—until the ending of this episode made things a little clearer.
It was never about the weather itself. It was a quiet longing for both him and his brother’s hearts to finally clear, like skies after a storm.

By the end of the episode, Dong-man meets Eun-ah, who truly understands him, and he also begins to find a new sense of purpose through the process of searching for his niece. From then on, even when he climbs the mountains, he no longer shouts his name out loud.

Yes, that’s basically the idea. Jin-man’s point is that poetry (and meaning in general) isn’t fully understood just by reading it superficially — you need to internalize it, even “memorize” it, to really feel its depth. It also connects to the theme of looking deeper to recognize true potential, like Dong-man.

It’s “IT’S ART” by PSY.

I thought the directing worked well and the flow felt natural to me, but I guess it really comes down to personal preference.

I really enjoyed your review. This drama reminded me of Reply 1988 and My Mister — both have that same emotional depth and realism. Honestly, it feels like they all belong in the same tier of storytelling.

That’s not my point. It’s not about preferences or romance—this happens across all genres. Even widely praised shows tend to have relatively low scores, so the ratings don’t always reflect the overall reception. That’s why, especially with Korean dramas, I don’t pay too much attention to the ratings anymore and just check them out for myself.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but lately, Korean drama ratings seem to be coming in lower than expected, regardless of genre or cast. They often come out low—even for dramas that are widely praised. Of course, that might just be my impression, but the ratings don’t always seem to reflect the overall reception.

I think it’s less about him struggling to let go and more about Weather Man as a metaphor. The show keeps linking the state of the world to whether there’s “weather” or not — a world without movement or response — and it reinforces that idea through how it defines what it means for the world to be “alive.”

That feels closely tied to Dong-man’s life, where nothing ever comes back to him — no response, no acknowledgment. So it’s not just a script he’s holding onto, but something that reflects his whole experience.

I think the timing might be off here. We Are All Trying Here airs around 10:30 PM KST, not 8:40. So it actually comes on after Perfect Crown, not before.

end game.

If criticism is allowed, disagreement should be too — that’s how discussion works.

And maybe that’s also why the title is We Are All Trying Here — because it’s not just about the male lead, but about everyone in that group slowly trying to grow and move forward in their own imperfect ways.

I don’t think it’s as simple as the male lead being “bad” or his friends being “mean.” It feels more like a group of people tied together by a long, unresolved history where boundaries were never clearly set.

He lacks awareness and crosses lines, while they tolerate him out of history and obligation rather than genuine comfort.


It’s not really a “just cut him off” situation — it’s more like a dysfunctional dynamic held together by years of shared experience, where no one really knows how to step out cleanly anymore.