Windchime

I feel like more than half of the viewers actually watched this drama for the exact same reason XD

It really bothered me how they dumbed-down Xiao Tan in this season, she has never been super smart or anything to begin with, but at least she was reasonable and used to have common sense.

Meanwhile, in this season she—who's literally from the future—forgot what gender equality even means when she made EVERYONE in her manor switch their jobs just because women being guards and men doing house chores was 'too weird' for her to handle. The ml had to explain to her that a meaningful reform should be appointing people based on their merit rather than their gender, which is true gender equality, but it was really occ of him since he used to have slightly sexist beliefs and was nagging at her about how men are supposed the handle serious affairs and women should take care of kids in the beginning of this season, I could've taken it as a character development if they had shown him changing rather than gaining such 'profound knowledge about gender equality' out of nowhere just to educate the ~oH sO nAiVe~ fl again. In my opinion, it actually should've been Xiao Tan to educate him on gender equality and him finally trying to understand women's struggles (in his original world, not this one) for it to make sense.

In previous two seasons, Xiao Tan was pretty easy-going yet ambitious and unashamed of her 'shallow' desire to be rich (as she should) but in this one all she cares about is Cheng Cheng so I can't help wondering, did the writers have something against the fl in this season? Or they're just biased towards the ml? :/

I just had too much time on my hands the day I made this list tbh. XD

Yeah, I do remember he's actually Moo Young's son but he's believed to be the real prince so.

Btw I agree that it was unnecessary to give him the throne because Joseon needed a wise and responsible ruler more than ever, I get that Lee Chang wanted to investigate the cause of zombies himself but what can a child even do? Alright let's just assume, they thought zombie apocalypse finally ended when he was made the king, but how's he supposed to deal with the aftermath? Joseon's economy has probably collapsed by now, lack of resources is inevitable, more than half of the population is homeless and many soldiers died while fighting the zombies which would overall increase the chances of other nations eying Joseon. There's no way a kid can handle this all by himself.

If Lee Chang wanted to keep the baby alive, he could've had lied that he did turn into a zombie thus was killed, then give him away to Seobi and replace him with some random baby corpse they found at the Queen's place. At this point, it's kind of making me laugh how Joseon didn't have a zombie king just once but TWICE. XD

Ikr! I think when so much effort is used to come up with a meaningful title for a drama, they're bound to not slack off when it comes to plot and character development, maybe that's why they're often good.
Hope you'll like 'Come and Hug Me' though, Happy watching!

First, I'd like to clarify that it's completely alright if you don't share the same opinions as me, I respect this and let's just agree to disagree with each other and move on whenever this convo starts getting heated up, since I love discussions but I'm not much fond of arguments.

Second, here's how I saw her character:

↪She turned her villagers into zombies purely because she, as a child, couldn't accept their deaths. It wasn't her intention to use the method for keeping them 'alive' as a weapon for revenge, until she had no other choice but to resort to this since the country she was counting on for revenge turned out to be her own enemy.

↪The reason behind becoming a slave of Joseon was a mix of her desire for revenge in a 'fair' manner and aspiration to be like her father. Her father had a huge influence on her and also plays a part in why she chose to stay loyal to Joseon, since she fully believed the country her father lived and died for could bring her revenge. Young Ashin saying that she's willing to wait for years or even decades for revenge after her whole village got massacred, clearly showed that she's a human being just like everyone else, whose decisions are not always fueled by rage but other emotions like trust and helplessness too.

↪She wasn't always evil. She did had a shred of humanity left in herself and cared about the living, judging by how she never fed humans to her zombie villagers (of course, except during the ending). She wanted revenge only on those she thought were the sole reason for her family and village's massacre, if she had unleashed her zombie villagers on them it would result in other people also getting hurt (since it's not like she can fully control where an whole army of zombies would wander to) and the zombie villagers getting burned or lost when her wish was to accompany them forever. But In the end, she just became numb to it all and no longer cared about the living, whether they're her enemies or not, after getting betrayed by the authorities and realising that she has actually been helping her enemies during these years.

Many characters in Kingdom are like this, they change and grow just like everyone else. For example, Moo Young was the kind of person to never betray Lee Chang/the crown prince yet he did, because he was forced into the corner by his difficult situation; Lee Chang wanted to be the king and kill the little prince thinking he has turned into a zombie too but he suddenly changed his mind and gave up the throne after finding out that the little prince was 'disinfected' (and let's be honest, it was really kind of him but not exactly logical either). Ashin went from running away from a wild boar to fearlessly and mercilessly shooting it, there's no reason to believe her character wouldn't make any further development/changes that are far different from her past aims and moral values.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I absolutely love your username. It's really cute.

Same, I often watch dramas for their titles too! A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower, Am I The Only One With Butterflies?, Beyond Evil, Everything and Nothing, Ever Night and also Come and Hug Me are one of the few I can remember right now, but I can never be more glad that their thoughtfully chosen titles introduced me to such great dramas. ^^

Btw 'Come and Hug Me' had one of the best chemistry and most healthy relationship between the main leads, you'll surely enjoy it.

I usually don't like dramas from Republican Era (not that I hate them, I just prefer costume/historicals) but I'll surely be missing out big time if I didn't watch a drama with such an amazing cast and intriguing plot.

This drama still has one of the best osts to this day, like there's not even a single ost that sounds unpleasant to ears or have hastily done lyrics.

Oh they're pretty dedicated to trolling I see. Now I regret wasting my time by arguing with someone whose whole purpose is just to pick fights with strangers.

It's a prequel of kingdom series that's mainly focused on Ashin's backstory, it isn't a standalone and the reason behind zombies was explained in both previous seasons. You wouldn't have been disappointed If you had read the synopsis, as it's clearly stated "A SIDEQUEL from Kingdom season two and a BACKSTORY about the mysterious character Lee Chang's group encountered on their journey north to discover the origins of the infected. ASHIN WILL UNVEIL THE MYSTERY BEHIND HER IDENTITY. The new story will detail what had happened to Ashin in the past in the northern region and how the two characters' fates intertwined.'" which makes it obvious that it wasn't supposed to be watched by itself. It's really weird how you're once again complaining without any knowledge about this special.

Can't believe you're really asking 'Why bring zombies?' when it's a zombie special/movie. What's next, it's 'pointless' when historical clothing is being used in an historical? Or there's romance in a rom-com, crime in a thriller, lawyers in a drama about law, and fantasy elements in a fantasy drama? There's nothing wrong if a movie or drama isn't your cup of tea, it's also fine to blatantly state why you disliked it in the comment section, but AT LEAST check the genre, tags and synopsis before complaining.

Yeah. Not to mention, she was so broken yet pieced herself back together and still got her revenge ALL BY HERSELF. Kingdom has such brave and strong female characters, I absolutely love it. I hope she would get a good ending (along with all the good guys) even if her plan to destroy Joseon doesn't work out.

Exactly, some commenters are acting like she did that for no reason at all. Meanwhile, I didn't even hear a word against the characters who caused her whole village to get massacred, used her loyalty and raped her. It's weird how seeing a female character's suffering instantly makes them think it's an attempt to 'collect sympathy' I bet nobody would act like this if it was a male character with this kind of backstory. Male antagonists with a sad backstory are considered 'complex' but females are just 'overreacting' if their immoral actions are caused by their past. Sad how it works.

Bruh, I love him too and don't really agree with this sentiment but you do you.

I've never seen a character who has gone through more pain than Ashin. I don't think I'll be able to hate her even though she's the antagonist.

Edit: Is there a reason why some users are having a hard time expressing their opinion respectfully by making a separate comment instead of replying under mine, despite knowing my views are different? I'm not going around replying to those who don't like Ashin, so why are some people trying to start an argument with me?

Also, may I add that just because an antagonist is given a sad backstory, it doesn't necessary mean that it's an attempt to collect sympathy or to make their actions seem valid (I mean, they're called 'antagonist' for a reason lmao) it's only supposed to show what caused/lead upto them making such decisions. Nobody wakes up one day and think 'Oh I want to destroy the world' so some depth in a fictional character is needed, whether they're good or evil; a character's flaws are there to make them more humane, rather than to sugar-coat their actions. It was indeed wrong of Ashin to bring innocent civilians into her revenge on the corrupted authorities but this movie is about what, why & how she did this, it wasn't supposed to make her actions seem moral.

In his recent weibo post, Kris Wu said if Du Meizhu's phone was taken he'd willingly go to jail himself, then the police confirmed that his party organiser did confiscate the girls' phones. Kris wu, come on stay true to your words, just walk yourself to jail already~

Loving the sudden infestation of his rape apologists in this comment section, I hope they'd go as far as tattooing his name on their foreheads and then thoroughly entertain us with their mental breakdown once he steps into jail. That'll be such a beautiful sight. ^^

Ps: Dear roaches, feel free to reply and wail under this comment too, though I'm not even going to bother sending you the info related to this case that's everywhere but you willfully ignore, I'd love to see how brain dead a human being can get. Come, bring out the idiocy inside of you! For every word you say, I've an well-deserved insult ready for your rapist fave. ♡

For me it's haoyixing. Both dramas are one of my most anticipated danmei adaptions and I absolutely adore their original novels so it's not like I'm biased or something, it's just that Winner is King mostly has winter scenes (judging by the leaks I've seen so far) and I know it's weird... but I personally find winter-themed dramas really comforting during actual snowy days, because it's like you can feel the atmosphere from the drama you're watching. So it'll be better if WIK released during winter imo. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯