Syskid

Nope, haha, just lived in an area where a lot of them frequented.

I used to live in southern California and celebrities were everywhere. I mean, I lived across the road from one of Paul Newman's camps. When it opened Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher attended the celebration. Cameron Diaz filmed a movie down the street from me and the movie crew had their trailers parked there for a couple days. The newspapers reported on every celebrity sighting - so and so was seen at this restaurant, Brad Pitt just dropped off clothes at this thrift store... Because they were so close and so common, I lost the sense of them being special. When I lived far away they seemed unreachable and glamorous. Now they were just neighbors and regular people. And now, when I see gossip magazines it makes me really angry at the intrusion into these people's private lives. Maybe interacting with the public isn't so much the problem as the image that is being portrayed in that interaction. Because in these fan meetings and so forth they are still acting and showing a facade that gives them some sort of special status.

Thank you for saying this. I was afraid of saying anything because Japan-bashers can be extremely vicious in my experience. Human beings are all the same. There is not one race or nation that is better or worse than another. Certainly not the Chinese, Korean or Japanese who are so closely genetically related--we all came from the same gene pool! We all have good and evil in us; everyone, placed in unimaginable situations, can end up doing things they never imagined themselves capable of. I am 1/4 Japanese and 1/4 Korean. I also have an American grandfather who was wounded fighting the Japanese in Guadalcanal. He was from the South; his ancestors owned slaves and fought in the Confederate army in the Civil War. My grandma is from the North; her ancestors fought on the Union side. So I am a mixture of all these parts that are antagonistic to each other. If I am told I must feel guilty, I must apologize for my ancestors' role in history, which I had nothing to do with, which part of me should apologize and make reparations to the other? I am a product of people who did not hold grudges, who put the past aside and loved each other and made a family together.

I found this excerpt from the novel posted online:

The anger that possessed me at that time was directed at myself.
And at the same time, not myself alone.
A long period of time flowed inside me, us, him and me, his time in Japan and my time in Korea.
Those words you would never have said when breaking up with your American, British or Chinese lover.
"You Japanese."
It was the shadow of a long history that could never be concluded, tolerated, or ultimately reconciled.
The shadow spread its large wings like a bird and descended between him and me.

It's interesting to read everyone's perspective in the comments because they clearly reflect the cultural clash that is destroying Hong and Jungo's relationship, and if you don't know what the cultural differences are, you aren't going to see it.
The most telling is when Hong says, "I want you to tell me you love me," and Jungo laughs in embarrassment and says, "That's hard!" It's just not something the Japanese do, in general. They're stoic and pragmatic. It doesn't mean they love you any less, they just express it differently. In Jungo's mind he is expressing his love by working hard to support the two of them. He's not so much a bad boyfriend as a typical Japanese man, and from a Japanese point of view she comes across as selfish and demanding. Hong shot herself in the foot by moving in with him if she expected him to continue courting her like a girlfriend, because he's already transitioned to treating her like a wife, expecting her to understand him, support him in everything he does and patiently wait for him at home.
This brings back memories of my Korean grandfather calling us grandkids and demanding that we tell him we loved him. My Japanese cousin actually dropped the phone as if it had burned him. Hysterical.

The dress was nice but felt incomplete without a veil. Like she didn't finish getting dressed. Maybe that was the intention? Because she then asks for more time.

Here is a synopsis of the novel in Japanese - just have your browser translate it. https://dorama9.com/ainoatonikurumono-netabare/

It is also available in Japanese but that doesn't help much if you need it in English.

1. Ah Rim's real father was Jae Won's ex-boyfriend who drugged her and raped her without her knowledge.
2. Watch episode 14.
3. Her erstwhile best friend, clearly, because of envy.

Was killing off Son Ho Jun's character intended from the start or did they have to adjust because he suddenly had to leave the show for some reason? It feels so abrupt and out of left field. It's like I'm suddenly watching a different drama.

The issue is that Korean film and TV is not private and independent. It is heavily subsidized, monitored and censored by the government. So they can make all the demands they want or else the actors don't get paid.

I hope his lady is happy with that bare white space he calls home. Or else I hope he's able to compromise! It certainly won't stay bare and sterile for very long if babies arrive!

It's cold and dark outside. No thanks.

What you're saying makes so much sense, and yet.... I suppose we couldn't have a story about mature adults who are capable of maintaining boundaries and perfectly balancing their professional and private lives, because that just wouldn't be a story.

I'm not understanding the conflicts they are presenting us. Why can't Heedo and her friends understand Yijin's duties as a reporter? This issue also supposedly destroyed the friendship between Heedo's mother and her coach, when they were young. They seem to take it as a given that this will always be the case if someone tries to have a personal relationship with a reporter. Are reporters really forbidden to have personal relationships with people they meet and interview? Does anyone really care? "A reporter fell in love with a fencer he interviewed and they got married." I think most people would say, "Oh how cute!" and never think twice about it.

It all depends on how much you personally enjoy the drama. I was always surprised when the episodes ended. The story would suck me in and then stop when I wasn't expecting it.

I meant to rewatch it as soon as it was done airing so I could get through all the episodes without the weekly breaks--but I was so emotionally drained after watching it the first time that I just can't. I felt exhausted and lethargic for a week afterwards. It kind of reminded me of the way I felt when my grandmother died. It 's rather disturbing that the death of a fictional character could affect me that much. :/

I think they would know Youngro did not have the password. Sooho took the secret of the password with him to the grave. Except I don't think he actually had the password either. Kang Cheongya merely told him it was the date of the night they spent together in the snow. He's a man. He's not going to remember such things.
Realistically, despite the fact that Sooho sacrificed his life in an effort to save both Youngro and his sister without having to choose between them, his sister is already doomed. He failed his mission, and any NK spy who fails their mission is killed along with their entire family. But he not only failed his mission, he betrayed his country. Whether he made it back to North Korea, or stayed alive in the South, he couldn't have changed his sister's fate.
I've decided that Cheongya managed to secretly extricate Sooho's sister from North Korea in a final act of love and loyalty to him, and took her to Europe where they lived on the money she had taken.

It actually sounds like they're breaking the fourth wall and leaving a message for us the viewers.

Except I didn't like either of the leads in Mr. Sunshine or the story itself particularly. I dropped that drama in fact. I loved the characters in Snowdrop and couldn't help rooting for them.