RiyaNakr

It has some funny moments but I agree the pairing is visually uncomfortable. The characters are maybe supposed to be closer in age, but the FL can pass for 20s (if you squint :) and ML is clearly 50s.

If it was reversed, aka a noona romance, the age gap would be endlessly discussed: their coworkers would gossip, the FL would doubt herself, the family would be beside themselves. The mom in SITR still gives me nightmares. LOL.

The ending of Witch's Romance mentioned here wasn't a HEA but a happy for now. It is as much the FL would allow herself to imagine with a much younger bf. It was a little melancholic. I'm pretty sure the age gap won't even be mentioned in this drama. But also, that's how society works. Hello, the 45/47th. LOL. Really, gendered ageism impacts women IRL. Kdramas are a little fantasy worlds that we escape into.

How old was the 2FL when they dated? Probably in her 20s? Are his leading ladies going to stay in their 20s while he ages? Do we have the next Leo? LOL.

If FL dies, is he going to romance the next actress in his movie to get over his next trauma? After all, his heart must go ooooon… 🎶 😂

Thanks. I don’t think I will watch past Episode 1 (esp. after reading some of the comments on subsequent episodes). But I hope you enjoy. Anything close to Darcy and Elizabeth should be fun.

Oh gosh, coming back after reading the comments, which are a whole another drama. 😂 But I'll say, many of us getting P&P vibes are the result of marketing and the marriage setup, not necessarily because we're new or unfamiliar Chinese history or media. Raise the Red Lantern is my first love. But costume dramas come with a whole another set of expectations.

My favorite currently airing drama, going from strength to strength. Here's hoping the chaebol machinations and the childhood trauma connection won't derail it. Fighting!

Color me surprised along with so many of you how good this premiere was. Let's pray to the drama lords this stays the course. I can't tell if I'm sad this is only 8 more episodes, or grateful as that might keep it tight and fewer chances to muck it up. 😅

Just watched Ep 1. Thanks to the Netflix trailer, I thought I'd get something like Pride & Prejudice mixed in with some female self-empowerment. But what the heck? Now I want to wash my eyes out. LOL. Dropped.

Episode 1 was average, but Episode 2 was so funny. Love Rowoon's ridiculous character. And the "old maids" are gonna be a hoot.

I haven’t watched the ending yet but I think this was required as a workaround by censors unfortunately.

“I can neither have the woman, nor the man I have a crush on, but they’re together now, so I’m really happy.” Same, same Ding Liu.

It’s a puppet! I did not guess. But that makes so much sense.

This is the only drama I’ve seen where I don’t know if I love the female lead, the male lead or the Rooster more. 😂

I hope our OTP gets to live happily ever after with their pet Rooster.

Yup, it's a drama. It's escapism. I get that. I thought I'd just state my opinion, move on. And others can keep enjoying. But people keep commenting and DB keeps notifying so here I am, again!

Also, I wasn't referring to you re punches. Sorry. You just have to look upthread a little. You learn early on, you won't win against a mob, a man with a knife/gun, or anyone cray-cray. Get outta there. LOL. So some convos, even I'm done with.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all. She one-ups him. He has a revelation. They fall in love. Or something like that.

I just prefer not to romanticize these relationships that parallel so many problematic ones in the real world. It would have been a good show without that and ofc if it had tried just a wee bit harder to be more real about the boxing part. That made me cringe.

I can see tho lots of people don’t feel the same as me at all. But I’m a big girl. I’ll keep taking the punches. In the ring, and online apparently. LOL.

Oh, um, wow, this is wild. I tried rereading your comment, and I still can’t follow the logic line that starts with denial of the problems women in sports face and ends up blaming them for male serial killers.

I know better than to respond but just in case anyone else reads this and buys it… Childhood trauma is linked to criminal behavior (all kinds, not just serial killers) and women can indeed be the perpetrators. And that is the problem with patriarchy. It prevents us from seeing women as wrongdoers, men as victims. All genders suffer. However, women remain a fraction of the total of the perpetrators. And if we look specifically at the data on male serial killers in the US, sexual trauma is a relatively small percentage and that committed by mothers much, much smaller still. The research is freely available on pubmed.

I think I will stop my engagement now. This is a good reminder for me not to enter the darker corners of the Internet. However, it does reinforce that my discomfort with the show is valid. I’ll keep not watching it; you can keep enjoying it.

I see. An insult crafted from your observations. In general, I think it's better to debate a person's position than attack their personhood, but that's just me.

But, anyway. I don't see the relevance of dating culture in India, nor the experience of male European footballers to the problems I see caused by the unequal dynamics between young female athletes and the powerful, older men that surround them.

If anything does apply from India, it is the advantage powerful, older men in sports took of female wrestlers most recently, but also in the past of hockey players, weightlifters, etc.

Okay then! It's hard to dialogue with someone who opens with a personal insult. Very mature indeed.

I think this is a fascinating experiment on story structure. You're right in it that it fleshes out a present timeline before abandoning it and diving into the past. Now for some, who have become invested in the present arc and characters, it may be a huge disconnect. So I get your reaction.

But for me, as I was already piqued by the strongly written adult characters (who is this desperate mother and how did she get here, for example) and breadcrumbs (who was this missing father flying to console his child), I was able to easily transition. What's even more interesting is that the writer styled Episodes 8-9 almost as a standalone movie in a markedly different style. Here, I think the week-long break of kdramas helped a lot. It might have jarred for me otherwise, as it did for you.

Then, in Ep 10-11, the story flashes even further back for Joo-Won (a bit gory for my taste at the expense of story and character), in yet another film genre style!, before coming forward in time this week to meet and continue the story from Ep. 8-9. Phew.

It is quite complex. While the writers pulled it off for me thus far, it definitely won't work for everyone. But I also generally love experiments (pink filter anyone, lol).

Have you read Meander, Spiral, Explode? It has a very interesting take on non-traditional story structure. It's a risky gamble actually. Not the linear arcs people usually play safe with.

Also, I'm not a troll people. Pls spare me.

No, I have dropped it now. Too many other great live dramas tbh that I can simply enjoy. I am following the real life drama of the Spanish footballers, Indian wrestlers, etc play out in the news. I follow many women's sports including boxing. That is why my take might be different from some. I'm also following the Michael Oher saga, which is too messy right now to form a judgement, but will probably shed some light on these contracts. Yeah, they sign them but the circumstances...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show. We all enjoy different things. And there are things we all let slide in different dramas as our priorities and values are different.

No, not offended. It’s the Internet after all. Just don’t like my position being misstated. Then again, this is the Internet. And wouldn’t you say she was unfairly exposed by him and when cornered made the best deal she could under the circumstances? The specifics will vary, but stories of young athletes with exploitative agents abound.