bloomingtide

Tropes are just a narrative device to use in a story, but writers also tend to overuse and not subvert them enough. Thus a good narrative can slip into clichés quickly when it utilized in an inorganic way that does not suit the narrative. And EAW is definitely the latter, which does not NEED them to tell a good story as proven before. Hence why i hope for a course correction in the resolution of the two-part arc tomorrow.

Rule no.1 when watching kdrama: Never believe the previews. They are lying liars who lie 🤣

-- We never saw the diagnosis given to Jung, so him being so wistful and looking back on his life.... is never a promising, good thing regarding his future health narrative-wise. Prayer Circle that we don't go the typical route here as well and make this terminal. Sadly all points in that direction right now and i hate it. Like, giving him a health scare would have been enough to get the message of work life balance being important across, seriously. Hope to be wrong and the hints thrown at us here are a fakeout.

-- I hate hate HATE that they suddenly wanna pair up that asshole minwoo and sunshine Soo Yeon. While the episode humanized him a bit, he remains to be a giant dickwad toward YW and i still wanna punch him. SY deserves so much better. Like the chef is... RIGHT THERE? Alas he made another food pun and probably lost all remaining credit, lol. Still, there is no buildup, nor development of SY liking MW, bc not only sometimes but very often, disliking someone doesn't mean you wanna date the other person. But alas this is kdrama, so i guess here are no exceptions? Ugh.

-- I actually had expected for the family meeting to go south and for their relationship to be not all smooth sailing. And it is sadly realistic how they react, so i just can hope, seeing this is a two-part arc, that they face the difficulties together and work it out, instead of going the kdrama late stage breakup route that is so overdone. I get why the writer did it, but i am also tired of this mandatory kdrama breakup shit. Instead give me more of working thru difficult times together, this is as interesting, if not even more, as choosing to break up your main couple to create narrative tension.

Welp, we have reached the (typical) almost mandatory angsty part of the story in a kdrama with these episodes now, i see. The only good thing i can say is that it is build up as a two-part arc, so i hope and expect a lot of things to resolve in tomorrow's episode, to make it less doom and gloom.

Oh no problem. Hope you will enjoy it. I finished it in two days, so for me it did (almost) everything right to keep my attention in an iron grip like that ;)

saaaaame, watching it right now and the melancholic undertones in scenes focused on Jung make me scaaaaaaared tbh

Paralegal, so he is doing investigative work, aka gathering info/intel on clients/cases, aid the attorneys with preparations for court etc/client visits, lotta paperwork basically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralegal

i think they (the network) changed it and gave the show four more episode a week or so before it started airing

I mean it takes place in the japanese colonization time period for nearly half of the story, so you can expect some gunfights, chases/tailing and the like in a beautiful 1930 setting. It is not an action-y title per se, tho, but all about the characters and their story that gets revealed more and more in time. So it is quite slow at times, but never boring imo. Very much worth a watch.

Aww it is what he (atty jung) deserves after the last week's episode 😆💕

It is still not clear if this is junho's family tho. The 30 second preview was not sufficient to determine that tbh. We will see 😉

Edit: seems to be the case after all, according to Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kdramatreats/status/1557159188371247104?t=czEZBSGIWOLFzASqJq4ePg&s=19

So yeah prayer circle lol

Aaaaand done, for all my qualms with ML in the beginning this was a drama i definitely could not put aside and held my attention. Plus ML ended up showing sufficient growth and stopped being a petty, paranoid manchild (and it was not the adorable/amusing kind of petty either) tho as said before i wished it had happened more organically instead of one (key) experience changing his whole character/demeanor. Oh well. He became quite mature and sweet even, in the end. So there is quite the development happening with him, and i loved how they influenced each other to become better versions of themselves.

Outside of this, it was very enjoyable and well written, particularly the focus on the three friends and their counterparts in the present is what made me love this drama. Highly recommend if you want to watch a drama that portrays the bonds of friendship and love transcending (life)time. Very touching and quite sad at times but always with a lot of heart and care writing-wise for its characters, despite the hiccups in the starting episodes.

I'm not terribly invested in it (yet) but it is a good, watchable drama to pass some time in an entertaining way.

well it is the same FL actress (Park Eun Bin) at least, so it happens, no biggie ;)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is great for this too, btw :) Since it is a light, warm slice of life drama with interesting cases, and social commentary.

Told ya ;) Joke aside, i am happy you came to enjoy it <3 🐳

He definitely got better in the episodes after that, but i hate when it feels like someone flipped a switch instead of glimpses here and there before into the warmth and heart underneath all the abrasiveness. Feels less organic than in FNOS, for sure, but i still enjoy the characters and their story very much and how it all comes together. And now eps 12, we have also got the ball rolling regarding the romance, at last. They felt more like siblings before but now there is a clear distinction. Feel sorry for my guy Yoo, for several reasons. His poor ghostly heart aww.

She is great in the king's affection too, aka the show which threw me down the kdrama rabbit hole 🤭

episode 6 and ML is still annoying and rude af. That guy needs not only one psychotherapist, but twelve. Geez, talk about having a shitload of issues that are meant to make the viewer empathize with him, but for me it falls flat since he is just an asshole all the time. I love the FL a lot however and how she is taking none of his many shits thrown at her. I love that she tells him exactly where to shove it, has common sense, pride and self-worth. Far from being a doormat that fawns over the ML just for existing. Quite the opposite and i love her for this.

In comparison, FNOS' Chawoong is way better written, since he has nuance, heart and warmth under all the air of uncaring bluster. I sorely miss this with this ML and while he seems to slowly catch feelings, i have a hard time seeing how a romance between them could work, with him being so callous, abrasive and borderline abusive all the time. At least both ML's of the dramas share a ghost-seeing ability, heh. Speaking of, that character is what keeps me watching, outside of FL. I love him and his ghostly shenanigans, hehe.

So eps 2 and i read so many comments here on how the FL is "annoying" which proves to me once again that people just hate on FL's by default, no matter what. Ugh. Because honestly the only one who is annoying right now is the rude af ML.

That aside i already like the drama, as i had been searching for a good past life/love story after From Now On Showtime did it so, so well. It is quite nice how they intersperse the scenes from the past into the present from the get go. And it has appropriate spooky vibes too. Only hope ML improves soon tho, bc the rude jerk archtype is so overdone and i am tired of it. FL deserves better for saving his sorry ass, tbh.