UncreativeName

I'm really struggling to score this show. It was a fun watch for me: a musical genre is very unique when it comes to Kdramas and I appreciated that a lot. For a musical, I thought the songs were great, but not spectacular, and I don't think any were memorable to me in that I can't really hum the tunes or remember what the song was for. Still, it definitely hooked me and I watched it all in one sitting. I appreciate the message the story was trying to tell, but I felt there were some holes in the plot at times. I appreciate that the story has an ending, and I've heard it matches the Webtoon but I still prefer that the story were a bit more conclusive.

To be fair, Choi Woo Shik's character straight up died in Part 1...so there's an actual story reason for that...

I find the general sentiment to this drama fascinating. During the first two episodes, it seemed so unpopular, both domestically (by the Nielsen ratings that they record) and internationally (by the scores/lack of recorded watchers on MDL) - I feel like I saw a lot of people say it is too boring or too depressing. But now that we're past the midpoint of episode 9, the domestic viewership has only increased slightly (1%) but the international sentiment seems to have increased a lot - it seems like there's a lot of chatter for this show and the MDL score has increased a bit.

I can't help but wonder: what changed to attract more people to this? For me, I've been enjoying it the whole way through and it hasn't really seemed too different to me. I think it's also interesting because it seems like the whole drama is pre-produced/already shot (based on the interviews they have, it seems like shooting is also done) - meaning there doesn't seem to be an intentional changing of the story due to audience feedback (like how older dramas were done)

I think it's an accident. It literally says "sinks" with a transliterated spelling.

I lost it when one of his responses was that Korea was liberated in 1945

Yeah, it's destined to be a cult classic. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it but...

It's missing star power: add Lee Min Ho, Kim Soo Hyun, IU, etc. and the ratings would skyrocket even if the series turned out to be hot garbage. Certain names capture either the Korean audience, the international audience, or both. I think this has none of those "super power names."

It's not a straightforward romance: apparently there's a huge preference for romantic comedies, especially for international viewing. I find that even melodrama romances are a hard sell. There seems to be a huge preference for Makjang in Korea (World of the Married, 3 seasons of Penthouse). But a sort-of slice of life, sort-of depressing melodrama is an impossible sell.

It's weird. I can definitely see the art in this one. Unless they really botch the development/ending, this is a strong candidate to be one of my all time favorites. But I don't think most people want to watch this show

I feel the same as you do. IMO, their job doesn't end up all that important...I think it's more of a plot device to explore their relationship with each other and other people.

Yeah, I like Bandi Books. They have a pretty good selection.

I'm assuming you know some baseline Korean since you're talking about learning, so just wanted to throw out a tip: shipping from Korea is $$$$, so look for a local Korean bookstore -- I would especially look in communities where there's a lot of Korean people. I live in the US, and in the past, I've bought a drama script book set from a bookstore in my state and the shipping was way, way more affordable - for me, the bookstore has a website, so I just used computer translation + my ability to navigate baseline Korean to order it and is a pretty smooth process.

Enjoyed her acting in Extraordinary You. Sign me up for this one.

For what it's worth, same...I tried re-watching the series like...3 times or something before I actually finished it the whole way through. But when I finally did it became one of my favorites.

It's tough to say "when it picks up." If you were to ask me what I remember, I would say the first noteworthy thing is there's a memorable (maybe famous-ish?) scene that happens in Episode 4. But this is a slow burn through and through: there are some "major events" that happen later in the series, but all in all, the pacing is deliberately slow: characters are developed and things happen every episode, but it's not like a heartwrenching cliffhanger each time.

You probably know yourself best: if you've enjoyed other slow burns, I would stick through it. If you hate them as a rule, this is probably also a pass.

Honestly....I think people are overthinking this one. I think Mi Jung's monologue explained herself pretty well. A word is just a word: 추앙하다 - we can translate it as "to revere, to worship, to admire." I think it would have had the same effect if she had walked up to a stranger and said "Love me, only me, because you have nothing better to do and I want to feel better about myself"

She straight up explains her logic: Mr. Goo is just going to feel like trash if he drinks so if he has nothing better to do, he might as well dedicate himself to her, because she doesn't feel whole. The drama showed pretty clearly she has reached her breaking point and doesn't feel like love in particular is worth anything (because she's only dated/met a-holes, conceivably also the guy who asked her to get a loan).

Okay, so I'm a guy who is not well versed in makeup (I don't wear it myself), so I need to ask this question and hope it's not offensive: is it simply my imagination or are they intentionally toning down the makeup to make the actors/actresses look less pretty? I notice in a lot of close up shots of Kim Ji Won, Lee El, etc. they seem more "average looking to me" compared to interviews of them in real life which I think fits the setting of the drama. Their clothes are still those $$$$ brands so I have doubts.

...or is this all my imagination and they look like they normally do?

I like these kinds of shows but I think the problem is that most people do not. My observation is:

Most international fans want something romance-based with their favorite stars (stick Kim Soo Hyun into a romantic show and watch its popularity skyrocket). IMO, there is a slant towards comedic stuff (Business Proposal), but romance helps a lot.

Domestic Korean viewers also love their Makjang (World of the Married and Penthouse - Penthouse doesn't have a high score but it's on Season 3. I think that says a lot).

To be clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with romance (I enjoy it a lot) or Makjang (I don't enjoy this as much but I would never say it's "bad" unless it's actually bad).

This show is neither of those: it's an exceedingly depressing ON PURPOSE. I'm pretty sure I will watch it to the end, but I also expect it never to be popular (ratings wise, I'm pretty sure it's on the low end of the competition of airing shows).

Honestly, you hit the nail on the head. She is both reasonable and unreasonable. She wants to be wanted but she's also extremely picky about who SHE wants. They are both problems in their own way: it's not right for her to settle but it's also not right for her to have super, super, super strict standards - I think most of us agree that her judging the single father was "wrong"

I honestly don't know what to think of these first two episodes. On the one hand, it's so eventless and dismal. On the other hand...that's exactly the point.

I'm hoping it builds into something good like My Mister.

We can agree to disagree. To me, the need to "interpret" parts of a show is a sign of its weakness: if we don't naturally come to the same conclusions, to me it means the show failed at "showing" or even "telling us" things.

So, I've seen this argument before and I agree that it's evidence that he's not the father which turns out to be true BUT I take issue with the fact that it's not DEFINITIVE evidence. It's like this: imagine you have a crush on someone and it's painfully obvious: EVERYONE knows this, even the person themselves. The object of your affections is INCREDIBLY flirty with you and they NEVER reject you/make things clear with you BUT they know in their own heart they have absolutely no interest in you. In "the end", they start dating someone else: obviously they were stringing you along. That's the one of the problems I have with this show: it strings us along for no reason other for ratings/etc -- I argue that this stringing along added nothing to the actual content of the show.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE AMERICAN MOVIE 500 DAYS OF SUMMER JUST AS FAIR WARNING

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There are other ways the show could have handled it. If you've ever seen the movie 500 Days of Summer, I think that is one example of how I think it was wonderfully executed: the movie initially doesn't tell you anything other than it's a story about "boy meets girl" but it very quickly shows the audience two characters who are incompatible with each other and establishes that they are obviously going to break up due to fundamentally different core beliefs -- the movie's narrator straight up calls this out at some point. But the fact that you know it's a sad ending doesn't lessen the impact of how wonderful, realistic, and beautifully executed the movie is - in the end, it's clear for us, the audience, that the two main characters could never ended up happily ever after with one another. In fact, one of them is even engaged, but the identity of her fiance is irrelevant and never brought up in the story of our two leads - but we accept that it makes sense - she broke up with someone that wasn't right for her and found someone new that did. And in the end, we actually see the male lead finally accept that and move on...because honestly, he was just kind obsessed with the "idea of her" rather than her, herself.

I don't feel any of this for 2521: it feels like I was strung along to keep my interest and then force fed a sad ending that doesn't match the character development. For example, to me, there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that both of them are in a better place -- we even have a defacto long-distance marriage with Hee Do's spouse (How is that different from what would have happened with Yi Jin basically?). Moreover, the final epilogue with the password reset implies that Yi Jin never got over Hee Do - I didn't feel it as "oh it was a happy memory of a first love" but "of a regret that I never fixed." And that's not...satisfying to me - their breakup was calculated rather than rash (they actually ran to each other to say goodbye). If you regret something calculated...that's not realistic at all -- you would have called the other person up to express yourself, even if it ended up being "we need to break up."

I agree. I notice all the top "helpful" reviews are always the ones the review the show 1-2 episodes before the finale. Some will even retroactively edit their viewing after the show concludes. I honestly find it all annoying...but I posted on the feedback forum before and nobody cares. So I think this early scoring/reviewing is here to stay.

Personally, it's annoying to me because I'm trying to use scores to filter shows worth watching but most of them are just episode 1 impressions or mega fans/mega haters.

Anyways sorry for the long rant. It's my one gripe with this site. But it's the best we got I guess.

I still don't understand why series can still be rated before they're completed...but I guess nobody else feels the same way...