Waverlyroot

Agree with almost everyone on your list except for Choi Jin Hyuk. He's a hunk, but cannot act (see Rugal). :)

Keep them coming :) - thx.
Must say, I have never been so engaged with the message board for any other drama, and there are many dramas that are superior. So polarizing, a makjang of another flavor. Love/hate ALL of the characters. (I love, love the professor's daughter and son, and can tolerate the doctor's daughter).

Sorry, but do you know me? I don't dislike BHR because she's bad-tempered and I'm not "happy" that her husband cheated. And if she wants to marry up for money, go for it. I'm reminded of my younger self, actually (temper, not desire for money).
I simply think she's shallow, judgmental and vain. Not something I'd want to spend my life with. And yet, she seems to be a good friend and would love to have a friend like that go to bat for me if my partner cheated. So like I said before, I would love for BHR to have a happy ending, which doesn't seem to be babies with PSH.

I love spoilers. Thank you for sharing that link. I am sad for her. Nobody deserves that, not even smug people like her.

Just started watching Woman of 9.9 Billion as I wait for ep. 8. Within the first 20 minutes, the husband is physically abusing his wife calling her "trash", dunking her in the shower and locking her on the balcony. He probably doesn't realize that she is having an affair with her friend's husband. Trash? I think we should be more careful about how we categorize other women. Let's not commit sororicide when men are usually the ones to initiate and much more likely to be perpetrate domestic violence.

Yeah, Sa Pi Young's dance made me cringe. Kim Bo Yun, on other hand, is an incredibly sexy woman. I know I'll get brickbats for saying this, but she is 10x more attractive than her daughter in law, and I think her character is despicable. Cannot wait to see how she'll react when she finds out that her beloved has been two-timing her too.

Agreed. And so is Hye Ryung.

Thanks! I feel lonely on this thread :)

I admire Song Won. I wish I had her self-possession. If this happened to me? Sure, I would be upset, act out, eat my emotions, talk shit about them, want bloody murder and all of that, but after certain length of time, I'd accept it and move on. I'd like to think that I would reflect on my own part of the breakdown. I would never trust that ex-husband again, but I wouldn't want to wish them harm or ill will. Life is hard. Why take on such bitterness and enmity on top of everything else?

The best revenge is living well.

I would love to have a loyal friend like BHR and a partner like Song Won.

Yes, I agree with you. Ideally, people should talk out their problems. And many a plot line is driven by poor communication.
I think for many people, though, we don't know what we want until we're forced to choose or give up. We muddle along through life and then something happens that forces us to make a choice and sometimes we make the wrong choice.
SPH - wasn't really happy with his life, but thought this was normal. By the time he met SW, the marriage was probably not salvageable, but not so bad that he and his wife would have agreed to therapy.

I agree that infidelity and divorce are difficult ant painful topics. I didn't know anything about the writer before this, and people are saying that she courts controversy. I don't think she's exploiting a family's pain so much as exploring both sides as realistically as possible.

Mental illness (It's Okay), poverty (many), child abuse (Mother, Children of Nobody) are difficult ant heavy issues, and they're finally getting serious treatment. Perhaps sexual abuse is - I don't know of a drama, though. I enjoyed Mine for its sensitive treatment of homosexuality.

But sure, I watch K dramas to escape the real world, and I'm happy with fluffy rom-coms too.

Always appreciate your thoughtful posts. Agreed that the lawyer did not think it through and by giving her the ring only made things worse. BHR will probably see that and flip out more. Everyone should have agreed to end the marriage and the expectations for BHR to get pregnant. SPH should have apologized on his hands and knees for causing her ulcer.

Perhaps I assumed too much because BHR has an active social life. Is she only going out with her single friends or her co-workers? I would that think her life as an announcer and musician would bring her into contact with many men, and that socializing is part of her job. And that shouldn't be a problem, except that she doesn't seem to put that kind of energy into her marriage.

I guess I'm drawing from my own experience working in a fairly large department (almost 1000 people) in a municipal government. Some male colleagues have become friends. I don't have romantic dinners with them, but lunches? Text conversations? Sure. (BTW, the rumor mil in my workplace is ferocious, and I have heard about so and so's illegitimate baby or favoritism on the job b/c the woman is dating the manager. Sadly, this happens. But those friendships are the only reason why I would want to come back to the office in person instead of telecommuting).

Maybe I haven't watched enough Kdramas to anticipate the last minute plot twist that everyone else is predicting for Song Won. I just think that the writer has her hands full with the ghost/Dong Mi subplot, suicidal Ah Mi and her mystery father, Sa Pi Young and her mother (and MIL and her asshole husband). the mysterious PD and his brother - way too many threads to tie up in the remaining 9 episodes. Maybe SW and SPH will get a break and find some happiness.

When you put it that way, I concede that the in-laws are two-faced. I think the mother at least would have preferred them to get divorced. But since BHR said she wanted to try again and get pregnant, then yes, the in-laws should support her. And the marriage shouldn't be contingent on whether BHR conceives or not, but at this point, what else is keeping them together? BHR spends less time at home than before.

My daughters are not married yet. If one of them had an unplanned pregnancy, I wouldn't be thrilled, but my first thought would be the baby, not who was right or wrong. The baby would be more important than the in-law relationship.

I think this was aimed at me. I think he did attempt to talk to her, but she's not an easy person to talk to, like the time he clumsily tried to suggest she tone down the makeup.

SW got drunk and they wound up sleeping together. In no way did she set out to seduce him. I must have missed the scenes in which they continue to sleep with each other after the one time.

The point is, we all waver. We make promises and some we have to break, painfully. We would not be human if we didn't at least pause and wonder if we're with the right person.

Are you a parent? If so, doesn't it make sense to accept psychological, emotional and financial help from the father's family to ensure that your miracle baby has everything he/she needs to thrive? Refusing that offer would be cutting off your nose out of spite, stupid and unnecessary. We are wired to protect/extend our progeny. That's why the in-laws are helping, and that's why she's receiving their help.

You make an excellent point about SW continuing to play with fire even after having been married herself, and only knowing the surface of HR's temperament (unlike us, the viewers). I'll walk back my glowing assessment of SW a little. But she remains the most interesting of characters, and the second most sympathetic one after the writer.

In the beginning, she seemed different and cool because she was a drummer - he told her that. He didn't care for women like her friends, shallow people wanting to land a rich husband. His desire to be a father grew before he met Song Won. The co-workers talking about their kids planted the seed. Have to hand it to BHR that she held out against social pressure as long as she did to remain childless - that is not easy in a society like Korea.

People marry against their parents' wishes all the time and that doesn't make them criminals.
I do feel bad that his parents sided with Song Won over their daughter-in-law, but their reasons are understandable too. We are human first and foremost and husbands/wives/parents, doctors, lawyers, etc. second. In the way that a lot of people on this board are cheering BHR for losing it and pulling SW's hair and threatening her with a sharp edge because "it's in character", why wouldn't it make sense for the in-laws to prefer someone who's solicitous, enjoys the kind of food they do, without pretense or airs?