Polo749

Ugh it's killing me. I really want to know what PHR was planning before she had to change the ending. I'm still going by the @Jeonggal_ twitter theory in which it’s suggested that at some point SDM was going to walk out of HJP's life but then fate would bring her back. I’m wondering how exactly this was meant to play out. How would she have walked out of his life?

Initially, I thought it would be because she’d choose NDS then regret her choice and end up with HJP but I was never fully convinced by this because it would’ve been too out of character. Then I thought the separation from HJP would be caused by her going to America but that didn’t happen. Not only did it not happen but she chose NDS before he left for America so I went back to my first guess. I don't know if anyone else spotted this already but there's a little motif that appears in every 'goodbye' scene. SDM’s dad has a stripy handkerchief when he dies and in SDM's last scene with HJP she's wearing a stripy scarf. Earlier in the drama a stripy scrunchy falls out of her hair in HJP's car but then it ultimately ends up with NDS. At first I paired this with the @Jeonggal_ twitter theory, or more specifically the shoes theory as I’ll refer to it from now on. I believed that the scrunchy foreshadowed SDM saying goodbye to HJP to be with NDS but then leaving NDS and going back to HJP. However, the scrunchy ending up with NDS wasn’t necessarily meant to mean that she would leave NDS for HJP, only that her feelings for NDS would come to an end. I think that when the scrunchy is with HJP it's symbolic of the present (her feelings have shifted to NDS) but when it's with NDS it's foreshadowing the future (her feelings for him will also come to an end). If you look at it like that and separate the scrunchy theory from the shoes theory, then SDM wasn't necessarily going to end up with NDS when she initially walked out of HJP's life. Meaning she also wasn't going to leave NDS for HJP. I think she was meant to not choose either of them at first but then ultimately choose HJP. That still doesn’t explain how she was meant to walk out of HJP’s life though. I mean where would she have gone?

Any thoughts? Unless your thoughts are just that I'm too obsessed. I know that already.

It honestly surprises me that anyone prefers NDS or likes the ending. I can only assume it's a physical attraction to the actor, maybe not in all cases but for the majority. I guess that's fair enough, I've probably been guilty of preferring a character for only that reason on occasion as well.

Thanks! I think I'll check out 9 end 2 outs. I also like best friends to lovers. I'll let you know how I get on.

Can you recommend any please?

I have fairly low standards to be honest. I can forgive the odd plot hole, mediocre acting, or a dumb premise, so long as there are good characters to become emotionally invested in and the drama basically makes sense narratively. That being said, it's hard to imagine falling for HJP anywhere near as much if he had been played by a mediocre actor. KSH certainly helped a lot.

The general outline of what this story was meant to be is so appealing that I so wish we had not only got the right ending but that all the other problems with it, including the acting and some plot details, were smoothed over. It could have been the best modern love story I've ever seen. The general outline I'm referring to is this:

An 18 year old orphan is thrown out of the orphanage he grew up in and is taken in by a kind old woman who asks him to be her granddaughter's pen-pal. Many years later he meets them again and starts mentoring his old pen-pal in business. In the process he falls in love and yearns after her, finally marrying her in the end.

The way the premise was executed was a little silly because it didn't make a lot of sense. I think that part could've been done better. I also think the dramatic tension should've come more from the business side of things rather than a love triangle. I'm sure business is a tricky enough world to get some drama out of it but you'd have to know the ins and outs (that's the only thing stopping me from writing a fan fiction). I do like the idea of keeping the main couple apart until the end but it's tricky because you'd need to avoid coming up with increasingly convoluted ways of doing so. All that being said, I'm sure there was a way to do this right.

PHR was probably a bit salty at having to change it which explains why she made zero effort to prioritise NDS over HJP even after the shift. Whenever they clashed, HJP always came off better. At least she allowed him to stay 'good boy' to the very end.

This drama's rating definitely went down. If people were leaving multiple reviews with fake accounts then it's good that the admin team got on that. That's the only reason why the ratings would go down.

This whole mess has given me such a low opinion of the K-drama industry. It's ridiculous that even when the audience love a character as much as this the writers don't have the freedom to deliver an ending that was meant to happen anyway.

Yes, I'm trying really hard not to blame NJH but I can't help thinking his presence had something to do with why we never got what we were waiting for. I suspect it's more on his agency than him though, if anything. I suppose it's possible that it was just the whim of the writer and she changed her mind along the way but I find that hard to believe given how much she set it all up. There may be some other explanation that we wouldn't be able to guess.

I thought I was over it but I've just had another moment of despair. I SO want see the scene we were meant to get in which SDM and HJP finally get together. I'd love to know how it was meant to play out. Call me delulu all you want but I'm certain it was meant to happen. I can only speculate as to what got in the way but I'm sure there was something.

I remember a comment I saw on reddit that the kiss scene in episode 7 was shot a lot later than the rest of the episode. It seems like they were backtracking after the fan reactions came out and they added the kiss scene so that everyone would get on the "right" ship (lol).

The irony is everyone was on the right ship, it's just that something happened that meant the wrong ship sailed.

Am I going overboard? No pun intended.

Yes I'm confident that at some point HJP was the planned endgame. It's obvious from the plot and symbolism. There are only two questions, when was it changed and why?

I like IU but I would actually prefer Kim Tae Ri for KSH.

Ah, OneAjhussi we meet again. Sorry I'm not going to take the bait.

I really need KSH and Yeo Jin Goo to star in a drama together. Bromance. No love triangle. They should each get their own love interests.

LOL

SDM's theme also played in her scenes with HJP.
NDS doesn't have his own theme that only plays in scenes that he is in.
Both HJP and SDM do have their own separate themes that only play in scenes that they are in, whether that's with each other or with another character.

Thanks! I'm glad to be back and yes, I also lean towards my first theory.

Well I don't really know what to make of it all. Fan theories and analyses aside, why do you think only HJP and SDM had love themes? This may be outdated info but last I checked NDS didn't have one. I believe it was always SDM's themes that played in her scenes with him but the same themes also played in her scenes with other characters. I don't think NDS had one that only played in his scenes. HJP did. I'm also wondering about the colour coordinating of SDM and HJP. I find it hard to believe that those two things were accidental. They're the kind of things that people in production are responsible for making consistent with the overall story. I also find it hard to believe that it was deliberate misdirect because it could easily be missed. I wouldn't have noticed myself, I just got this from other comments.

Agreed, it was the actor and the character coming together that really gave this drama life.

Yes, I've always been annoyed with how the K-drama industry works but this drama has really highlighted everything wrong with it. I may not be 100% right about what happened but I do strongly suspect that the ridiculous ending we got has something to do with how greedy and lacking in integrity this industry is. Anyway, I have to bow my head to you as in a previous disagreement we had, you argued that the behind the scenes factors were a big indicator for where the drama was heading and you turned out to be right. Due to all the fan theories and analyses I believed that the narrative was pointing another way so I dismissed all the behind the scenes stuff. I still stand by the fan theories and analyses, the only question for me is whether the story came across the way it did as a result of incompetence or because the writer tried to tell her story but was interrupted and had to end it another way. I lean strongly towards the latter because there are too many factors that pointed to HJP, it's hard to believe it was accidental.