ShortCircuit

Now you can finally understand this masterpiece summary of the story :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrVNMEcPXws

ETA Also, MDZS Q exists to heal us all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0z1ZK-Nls4

I don't care, he's still cute.

And the character is supposed to be kind of emotional in secret, too, so that fits.

It's a HEA with plenty of steamy extras.

Both of them are doing an amazing job. Poom tearing up when hearing Ming rejecting Joe again over Tong, Up when finally learning the truth about who his first love really was...

Both of them are feeding off each other and really making this drama a great experience. Their chemistry is chemistrying, LOL, as they say.

... And while I never warmed up to novel's Ming... I have to admit that Up is cute enough to almost make up for it, LOL.

Read the novel. They're following faithfully.

I'm only wearing heel-less shoes anyway.

And what if new Joe wasn't old Joe but that random other Joe and Ming had his way with HIM... Nope, he's scum through and through and doesn't deserve old Joe anyway. No sale for me!

So now we know one more reason why Joe couldn't have gotten the money he needed from Sol - Sol is a WAY better actor than he is a singer, LOL. I wonder what kind of idol he would've made in SK. Maybe he was supposed to be visuals only, LOL.

For someone HIGHLY suspecting that the shaman is telling the truth and the new Joe IS the old Joe reborn... Ming sure is acting stupid. So he realised he loved him and that this new come Joe is his old lover... and STILL orders him around and treats him like a servant and basically starts raping him if Tong wouldn't have come to throw a wrench in his plans... and HE's the one acting all hurt and emotional when he finally finds out the truth about old Joe and his back profile, LOL.

I mean seriously, Ming used to be so shallow that he fell in love with a man's back and then used that excuse to make a plaything out of the very man because he can't just use his words and communicate. He's such a scum.

(Oh and drama watchers, if you think he'll start changing, don't hold your breath. That is, unless the drama team decided to finally change some things and have him become more likable than he's in the book.)

I quite like how they're setting up the bone find, too - so that reservation old forest will definitely turn out to be the very place where Joe's body is lost in, and they'll dig it up just as the drama comes closer to the end :D

I wish I would've waited til this one was done airing, this is magnificent and way, way better than what I ever hoped for an actual danmei live-action!

Legend says Ming cried for so long he woke up cadavers LOL.

I'd sit through a whole movie of just Joe interacting with Other Joe's mom and Joe interacting with Wut. Precious!!! I'm so glad they're doing this so well, I wish (for so many) other danmei novels got treated like this, can we have that please!!!!

PS oh, and the BGM made such a great addition to the scene where Ming is getting jealous in the hotel... That little sad theme hit so powerfully. I'd love to listen to it more. I hope they do release the OST eventually.

TBH... Qiang Jin Jiu (Bring in the Wine), written by Tang JiuQing, is THE most romantic danmei ever written and translated into English. And I do love MDZS to death... but there's no defeating QJJ. It's also getting TLed officially into English by SSE, first volume coming in June, under the official title of Ballad of Sword and Wine.

If you can get a copy of the fan TL, get it. That is the BEST enemies-to-lovers and actually HOT and quite out in the open romance in danmei I've ever read... and since TU aired, I've read hundreds.

They put the doppelganger book in there to make it seem like they - DeukPal and YiHeon - are basically the same soul in different people. I think if/when DP is gone, his memories of being in SYH's body will remain, and also his physical prowess and whatnot.

If SYH is also in there (as he seemed to be when DP was unconscious) then he's witnessing everything and learning.

I quite like Bong JaeHyun's acting in this - he came through as totally afraid of his character's father, and then immediately became overprotective for SYH. Why didn't he want SYH to learn that JaeMin knew and was involved in the kidnapping attempt, though?

So this drama should be called - ex-gangster (who is dead in body anyway) comes to school and teaches everybody to be friends and sing kumbaya together, LOL. Despite HJM being a slow learner, that is.

PS that moment when CSK tested SYH to see if he's still allergic to pineapple made me shiver. He was straight-out telling him what he actually DID to the first CSK, and I really hope there's something stronger linking them so that they can get past that...

LOL @SeKyung calling JaeMin dumbass with such a perfect accent and contemptous tone, hahaha~

And CSK got to ride shotgun too, LOL.

The novel is worse. Ming is the definition, the poster child and the gold standard for SCUM VILLAIN of the irredeemable kind. And he doesn't change even through the HEA.

On the bright side, it's easy to love to hate him.

Sol doesn't have 5 million baht to just lend him, and neither does Wut. Even if Joe came to them, it'll be too outlandish a request and he'd also never be able to pay it back. And Joe knows their respective problems, so he doesn't even dare be so troublesome for them, knowing they cannot actually give him what he needs.

Ming, on the other side, is loaded - or his family is. It's a big lump of money, but not too great to spend on one of Ming's fancies. Joe is betting he can't slip and reveal the truth because it's too strange to believe anyway, so he's only selling his body for a year in exchange for his mom's health.

Little does he know... :D

I seriously don't remember a chara like Secretary Jim but they're probably there. I won't go back to the novel since SCUM Ming remains SCUM, dammit, but I'll trust the team they're following the story close, as they did so far.

Can't wait for the moment Joe's former friends find out he's come back :D

And finally - just as I had hoped, Joe and mom and also Joe and Wut are GREAT together. Those were the best parts of the novel, too, IMHO.

It is my unprofessional opinion that from now on, all danmei novels should be licensed outside the mainland so that people who know what they're doing and are not forced to censor the story down can do this kind of magic with them.

I loved Poom's acting this ep - he's really pouring his soul into this. Ming, as usual, is Ming (and that's also kudos to Up.)

But Secretary Jim, you have thoroughly disappointed me. You're just as much a scum as Ming. No wonder, birds of a feather...

What episode 9/8?!

Also, this was sweet sometimes but completely pointless.

I think you're right about JGY, maybe I'm misremembering since I'm mostly rewatching the drama and donghua and less re-reading the book, LOL.

I am one of those who doesn't even start a drama too-high rated until LONG after the hype went down... if ever.

Don't mind the ratings too much - MDL and any other sites that help you commune with drama watchers are supposed to give you a community, not an echo chamber. Or at least that's how I view them, LOL. Let people just enjoy what they enjoy, so what if the general ratings don't reflect that? It's all immaterial after all.

First episode is actually quite good. It doesn't even look like a low budget production, as some comments imply. The ongoing rating hovers around 8, what the heck is it with the 4.7 currently shown rating?!

Did this just get flamed over some perceived slight?!

Gddmnit, I guess I'll just have to watch and enjoy it for myself with no more coming here to find some companionship among the viewers.