kathleentheturtle

I feel the exact same way, friend, with all of us here in our small discussion. JJY is gorgeous, and there is no denying that. But the chemistry with the actress and the way they were able to make her look so beautiful despite her scar is amazing. And they really could have ran with her as the female lead with a scar. I would love see more heroines like this in the dramas in the future, because it truly embodies the idea of inner beauty because of one's heart and soul. Are you still planning to watch? I still plan to continue because the plot is intriguing right now. I am not a huge fan of JJY, but I know the actor for the male lead truly is a great actor. (Hoping ZHHZ will be able to able to come back as a female lead in another drama maybe even with him.)

Yea, the original YCW was striking to me with her scar. It's been a while, if ever, where I saw a character who can be female lead with a scar (not your traditional beauty). I hope someday, we'll see more female leads who are strong in their own right, despite not being accepted by society. Would make a very compelling story.

I agree. I feel one of the risks of some dramas is dragging it out when they can tell a solid, and tight story if done well. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Think of it as a soul swap, and it might be easier. Scar face girl is the one the male lead loves. JJY plays the villain character who is obsessed with the male lead, and would do whatever it takes to marry him. JJY's character then swaps soul with the scar face girl. When scar face girl married the male lead, her soul is not the good soul anymore. She's the evil soul obsessed with male lead. But then she gets killed.

Then scar face girl's soul (the good soul) is now in the body of the beautiful JJY's character. And this is where the love story unfolds where we as the audience knows the girl is the one the male lead loves, but he doesn't know it's her soul in the body of JJY. He still sees JJY's character as the crazy, obsessed person.

I got so busy that I couldn't continue our discussion, but I absolutely love the small group of us talking about the potential of the story, the theme of inner beauty, and being able to look beyond the surface level of someone's appearance. I am also deeply floored by your kind compliments of me being a writer. That is actually something I aspire to do, so this whole time, I was wondering how someone could fix the story and still keep the essence of what the original idea is, while keeping the female lead with her scar, and rising against traditional standards of beauty. (It's just baffling to me that the drama talks about inner beauty, yet chooses one of the most gorgeous actresses to portray the character.) I felt the original actress had so much chemistry with the male lead in all of their scenes together, and I even screen captured the moment they were sitting in the carriage together, where he did not give a care about what other people thought of her. I thought that was so immensely sweet, and in a way, I knew it was going to essentially be the last time we got to see that actress with him in the drama. Here's continuing the story and hope it's still at least decent.

Totally. Really shows that he'd find her in whatever form no matter what :')

Right? It's easy to say inner beauty when someone's outer appearance is already gorgeous to begin with.

Yes totally regarding the inner beauty, but again, it is easier to love someone who is good and beautiful. Which I feel makes a stronger story if they chose to showcase a female lead who is not from a non traditional beauty standard.

I felt so very sad the moment the switch happened. The chemistry was so different to me. They really could have written the drama where they flip the script itself. Maybe the girl the male lead loves is a normal girl. And it's actually the ugly scar face one who is obsessed with him. She uses all awful means to try to switch bodies to change her fate. And then at first it succeeds, but then it backfires where the soul of the evil one ends up in the body of the pretty girl, but then she gets killed. Then you have the good soul in the ugly-scar face girl... And here is where the male lead is able to love and spot her no matter what form she is in, and they can keep the scar on the female lead. And the female lead can still be plucky, smart, practical, and still suspect the male lead, wondering if the male lead wanted to kill the bride on the wedding night. That would still move the drama the same way but add in the theme of inner beauty that he strongly has believed in, and that love does not care for physical form if it's the soul that loves each other. *sigh*

Yesss. Everything to what you said because it would be quite a breath of fresh air to go against the beauty standards by showcasing this story of how it's truly inner beauty that matters. But the drama sadly took this away. I too adore ZHHZ here, and this is my first time watching this actress. I think she looks striking with her scar and wished the drama ran with this for her. We'll see how the rest of this drama pans out, but I do enjoy the plot so far too so I might stick to it despite the change of the actress.

I was saying this to some friends too! I believe we're in the minority of the female lead, but I absolute adored ZHHZ as the first YCW. Her scar was so unique and really spoke of her survival.

She has stolen the show for me. She's a guest star, but I absolutely adore her character so far. I wish the drama writers could have woven the story to keep her as the female lead. "In Blossom" absolutely missed out on a great opportunity in being able to tell a story where the female protagonist is able to achieve so much because of her heart and intelligence, despite her physical features of an "ugly face". And how progressive and lovely for a drama to show a male lead (who already has deep feelings for her, and they truly have wonderful chemistry in the scenes they're in together) who loves the female lead truly for who she is beyond the physical features, scar across her face be damned. How beautiful would that be to have such a feminist story of a female lead whose face, shunned by society, still is a heroine in the own right? But nope, the drama falls into the awful stereotyping at the end of the day, where the evil girl is ugly and the beautiful girl is the good one. That's just sad. I hope the stars align for this actress so she can play a leading role one day.

I'm the same. Was hoping for an awesome scar faced female lead and felt the guest star actress stole the show for me. I guess we'll see how it all pans out.

I'm the same. Was hoping for an awesome scar faced female lead and felt the guest star actress stole the show for me. I guess we'll see how it all pans out.

I just came to say that I watched her in the drama, "In Blossom", where the actress is the guest star in the drama, and she has stolen the show for me. She's a guest star but I absolutely adore her character in the 2 episodes she was in. She packed a powerful punch and left many of us rooting and wishing for her to be the female lead because she did a great job in her delivery of her character (spunky, intelligent, resilient) and has wonderful chemistry with the male lead character there. I wish the drama writers could have woven the story to keep her as the female lead. "In Blossom" absolutely missed out on a great opportunity in being able to tell a story where the female protagonist is able to achieve so much because of her heart and intelligence, despite her physical features of an "ugly face". And how progressive and lovely for a drama to show a male lead who loves the female lead truly for who she is beyond the physical features, scar across her face be damned. How beautiful would that be? But nope, the drama falls into the awful stereotyping at the end of the day, where the evil girl is ugly and the beautiful girl is the good one. That's just sad. I hope the stars align for this actress so she can play a leading role one day.

I'm feeling the same with the minority of our numbers in loving the original/1st actress who plays YCW. The drama missed out on a great opportunity in being able to tell a story (vanity is still such a big issue) where the female protagonist is able to achieve so much despite her physical features, and show a male lead who loves her truly for who she is beyond the physical. How beautiful would that be? But nope, it falls into the awful stereotyping at the end of the day, where the evil girl is ugly and the beautiful girl is the good one. That's just sad.

Same! I think he's a great actor, and he's so handsome, but the dramas he has been in has been a struggle for me too.

the comparison to "come down the slide or die" HAHAHAHA

the metaphor to "come down the slide or die" HAHAHAHA

It truly would have been better if he was selfish from the get-go and had character growth. Like the story could have totally worked with him going through what he did to have a change of self. Instead, it truly was lazy writing. And I absolutely agree about the sudden, audience-being-blind-sided by the love triangle. I felt the drama couldn't decide to keep them friends or not, and kept going in between, because at the beginning, it seemed like Tae Sang and Lady Maeda were friends, then she seemed jealous, and then afterwards, the conversation Lady M had with Tae Sang was weird, like "stay with me and be my friend, or die" so...were they trying to build tension because it didn't work for me. Did the drama want us to believe they're good friends, or has Lady M harbored an unrequited love for so long? *sigh*

I love your analysis because I feel the same disappointment from what you mentioned with concrete examples. I am too lazy I think at the moment to delve deeper into this, but I was just talking to a friend about even the characterizations of Tae Sang and Chae Ok. PSJ's character of Jang Tae Sang (JTS) felt a bit all over the place. There was one scene I remember where JTS's mother-figure character told everyone that the rescue was JTS's idea all along. It felt cheap to me because there really wasn't much character development because all they did was show us that JTS just has a facade, but he really has a great heart underneath all that. Because the character, Na Wol Daek said that anyone who came to JTS for a favor would always be helped...so then that now undermines the part where they tried to play it off as someone who doesn't care about anything but his wealth initially. All this cheapened the possibility of his character growth to me. And then Han Soo Hee, whom I have no issues with, but her character here had me rolling my eyes as Yoon Chae Ok (YCO). She is supposed to be this really intelligent sleuth, and yet the first moments we see her tailing JTS and becoming hostile, when she's the one who needs help, made no sense to me. Throw in their romance together, even more lack of sense to me. It's as you mentioned, suddenly the show wants to use love that is the catalyst that changes JTS? So is he or is he not someone who cared from the start because of his own backstory? And why the heck would the show just reveal everythingggg at the start? Makes me wonder if they thought they'd have their budget cut, but that is not an excuse for lack of great storytelling. This drama had potential, but I was so disappointed ultimately how things were executed.