Firstly, the contract is senseless. Why MM had to fulfill a birthday wish in the first place ?? Secondly the conditions…
Thanks for clarifying - now I get your take on it a lot better. Personally, I love stories where there ends up being an unexpected catch in something that's already been agreed upon (which is probably pretty obvious from what I've already written, haha), but I get why that can be a frustrating plot device for people.
Firstly, the contract is senseless. Why MM had to fulfill a birthday wish in the first place ?? Secondly the conditions…
And my comment was directed at what you wrote to Suzy about the magic system 🙂 Setting restrictions or a formal set of established laws is not a necessary part of the setup for a fantasy story, as countless mythological and fantasy stories have shown us for centuries - from Greek and Norse mythology to Harry Potter and beyond. It seems more like what's going on with what you wrote is that you're trying to make the story fit into narrowly defined terms and expectations you have instead of accepting it on its terms. And there's nothing wrong with that - almost all of us do that to some extent. The only reason for my previous comment was it seemed like you were mixing up personal preference with an objective view of things, so I was giving an example of a well-known collection of stories that demonstrate setting up restrictions/laws in the starting framework isn't neccesary for what is considered "good" fantasy storytelling 🙂
Excellently written article. You have managed to make me want to know more about Chongqing and watch a bunch of movies I haven't seen all in a period of five minutes. Oh, and now I'm craving hotpot, too...... 🙂
Firstly, the contract is senseless. Why MM had to fulfill a birthday wish in the first place ?? Secondly the conditions…
That's actually just what you want the story to do for you, not necessarily what it has to do to be considered proper storytelling. Let's take Norse mythology, for instance - a lot of the rules and limitations about what Loki can or can't do are never clearly defined (or for most of the pantheon of Norse mythology, for that matter). Loki constantly uses deceptive practices and plays tricks on other characters in Norse mythology (ask Baldur about that) without those stories pre-establishing rules for the audience's benefit to govern his behavior. And, even when he does set up rules for himself within a story by making a promise or claiming he can't do something, he will quite often break those rules by circumventing them in ways not previously introduced in that story. Yet, this is still considered good (and proper) storytelling by an untold number of people - the longevity of Norse mythology as a whole and the character of Loki specifically can attest to that. Just because the story isn't being told the way you want it to be told doesn't mean it's objectively inferior, it just means that you personally don't like it.
there was no written signed contract. she basically signed it when she took his hand at the end of episode 1.…
Actually, she will live if she doesn't wish for the world to end - it's the person she loves most that will die as the penalty for her not dooming the world.
Unfortunately, the internet has helped to pretty much erase the idea of "innocent until proven guilty" from people's consciousness, with, at times, incredibly damaging results to those falsely condemned by the court of public outrage. I don't really know who this actor is, and I definitely have no clue if he's guilty or not. But, it's not my job to figure out if he's guilty or not. Seeing as how the article says he's involved in a legal battle over the allegations, it's up to the legal system to decide that. Witness and victim testimony backed up by conclusive evidence are deciding factors in determining guilt, not internet outrage.
As far as this drama goes, it looks like it might be interesting.
The fact that only a few of us in this comment section understood the contract kind of shocks me because I thought…
I will likely not finish the long reply I mentioned earlier. I mean absolutely no offense in saying this, but I think we're approaching the way we see the story from such opposite directions that chances are good we won't have much mutual understanding, no matter how hard we try, and what is now pleasant debate over the story will likely turn frustrating at some point for both of us. I do want to thank you for the interesting conversation we've had so far, though - it's been enjoyable talking about story points, and I actually made a connection with a scene serving as an analogy to a larger part of the story from writing my unfinshed longer reply, so that was pretty cool :) Thanks!
The fact that only a few of us in this comment section understood the contract kind of shocks me because I thought…
The contract became non-binding because neither of the parties involved with it remembered it. It returned to its binding state when their memories returned. If they had continued to not remember each other, the contract with MM would have been void due to absence of interested parties and TDK would have died like she was supposed to. Of course MM died when they remembered each other and the contract became binding again - nothing in that goes against any of the rules this story has set up for itself.
I actually view the majority of this drama as having very good writing and being quite well thought out. For my viewing experience, I've thought it's set up its own rules pretty well and adhered to them, with only a few exceptions. But, I also seem to be approaching this from a completely different perspective than you, and that's okay - no story will please everyone (except possibly My Mister...)
As far as the deity, they do superficially present her as not being that powerful, but it also keeps being restated that she "pretends not to know" even though she knows everything. The same seems to be true about how she approaches her power over the world - in the first episode, MM says she could easily pluck out the "poisonus plants" from her "garden", but she chooses not to do that, just like she pretends not to know. Yes, she is superficially presented as being weak - even going so far as to portray her physical form as that of a sick, frail girl - but the dialog informs us that she is, in fact, incredibly powerful, if not actually all-powerful, at least as much as she can be in the imagination of the humans that created her. So, it doesn't seem it's so much that she doesn't have control over events, it's that she chooses not to exercise that control - she's made it clear that things are more interesting and rewarding for her when she takes a "hands off" approach. She's obviously trying to free MM from his misery and self-pity, but doing it in a way where he earns that freedom for himself. She wants to see how the plant grows on its own and has decided to extend her painful life to see how that turns out :)
The fact that only a few of us in this comment section understood the contract kind of shocks me because I thought…
Yep, I think you're starting to answer your own questions and catch on to what's happening in the drama. The deity did live up to her part of the bargain and change their fates a little bit, along with everything else she promised, even if the effect of those actions only lasted temporarily. She performed the action TDK agreed to. But, just like with MM, TDK didn't know that the deity would also do additional things other than what TDK agreed to - things that would draw TDK and MM back together if they were so inclined. The deity may have good intentions, but she has proven throughout the entire course of the drama that she's is not above tricking both MM and TDK into following a course that fits her agenda. (Actually, "tricking" may be too strong of a word for most of her actions - it's more like she's nudged them very hard onto a certain course without either of them realizing how she's been manipulating them.)
Before disappearing, MM said that he'd take away all TDK's pain and suffering...then does it mean he took away…
Yes, you are correct. The terms of the contract were that if she failed to wish doom upon the world by the time she was destined to die then the person she loved most at that moment would die in her place. Hooray! She's gonna live! 😃
The fact that only a few of us in this comment section understood the contract kind of shocks me because I thought…
To put it another way, if you think of the deity and MM more like Odin and Loki, respectively, from the MCU movies it might be easier. These are not impeccable, straightforward, or (in the case of MM) altruistic characters - both the deity and MM started the drama off with their own agendas and did whatever they could to realize them.
The fact that only a few of us in this comment section understood the contract kind of shocks me because I thought…
She didn't lie, she actually did what she said she would do. But she did it in a tricky way that benefitted what she wanted in the end - I've written more about this in the other reply, but both the deity (to some extent, although with what she views are good intentions) and MM (to a large extent at the beginning, and with selfish motives) follow the trickster archetype that's been found in storytelling for pretty much as long as people have been telling stories :)
As far as this drama goes, it looks like it might be interesting.
I actually view the majority of this drama as having very good writing and being quite well thought out. For my viewing experience, I've thought it's set up its own rules pretty well and adhered to them, with only a few exceptions. But, I also seem to be approaching this from a completely different perspective than you, and that's okay - no story will please everyone (except possibly My Mister...)
As far as the deity, they do superficially present her as not being that powerful, but it also keeps being restated that she "pretends not to know" even though she knows everything. The same seems to be true about how she approaches her power over the world - in the first episode, MM says she could easily pluck out the "poisonus plants" from her "garden", but she chooses not to do that, just like she pretends not to know. Yes, she is superficially presented as being weak - even going so far as to portray her physical form as that of a sick, frail girl - but the dialog informs us that she is, in fact, incredibly powerful, if not actually all-powerful, at least as much as she can be in the imagination of the humans that created her. So, it doesn't seem it's so much that she doesn't have control over events, it's that she chooses not to exercise that control - she's made it clear that things are more interesting and rewarding for her when she takes a "hands off" approach. She's obviously trying to free MM from his misery and self-pity, but doing it in a way where he earns that freedom for himself. She wants to see how the plant grows on its own and has decided to extend her painful life to see how that turns out :)