bloomingtide

Also my thoughts re: love triangle, (not so) minor spoilers so read at your own risk in case you have not watched all eps yet:

Yeah i noticed that. It has too many mundane scenes that could be cut for a tighter storytelling. Some may find the uneventful things charming and the appeal of the drama, but for me it only triggers my ffw finger. I tend to skip a lot of these scenes and are basically only watching for mr. Gu's romance with the one sister at this point. (put it on hold for now until it is released in my countries' netflix next month tho, since i fell behind with my other ongoing dramas and this had always been only a low priority backburner drama for me)

Huh. I seem to be vibing more with the underrated airing kdramas than with the popular ones. For example I liked 2521, but never got the hype for it (second half was a drag and bit of a narrative mess) Same with My Liberation notes now, which is nice, but so slooooow that i am unable to watch it on anything less than 1,5x speed and only in small doses or i start to zone out, lol)

Doesn't mean i am speshul or better than others of course. It is just something i noticed how i am more drawn to the "hidden gems" than the big popular drama shows. (First Crazy Love, now FNOS, which both have become big faves of mine)

Exactly. Also my biggest pet peeve in SML's and also IRL is when guys suddenly act territorical only when they feel threatened in their prior comfortable position of doing fuckall for years and years on end. It seems motivated by his pride of him not wanting her to be with anyone else than really loving her tbh and i find that really skeevy. The worst case of that in a drama was actually in A business proposal, where the guy was a friend for years and aware of her feelings for him and he liked that as a pride thing. He only approached her (while having a gf, at that) AFTER she started dating ML and suddenly was no longer at his beck and call and swooning over him. And the cop, nice guy or not, gives me the same shitty vibes😒

Have we watched the same drama? She does not hate him, like???? They bicker a lot, due to Taesung spending the majority of the last years teasing and pranking her... which brought on a certain annoyance and jadedness on her part. Aka her expecting the worst whenever they meet. So now where he is doing or rather trying to do nice things for her, she understandably does not trust him to be sincere. Hell Han Byeol even thought that his confession was a prank as she tried to talk herself out of it, so our boy has really lived a bad life regarding her xD (which he finally recognizes in eps 8, yay for char dev)

But Han Byeol does not hate him, or else the confession would not have affected her as strongly as it has. She was spacing out for the better part of a day and his confession was replaying in her head over and over again. This is not the reaction of someone who despises the other's guts, tbh. Quite the opposite, i feel she has liked him all along but never allowed herself to let him get close again after he broke her heart with the (fake) dating incident. Thus her animosity toward Taesung is a defense mechanism, not hate. Not by a long shot.

Also i think that she has never thought Taesung could like LIKE her in this way EVER, and it is a theory supported by the eps 9 preview where she asks him if he is serious with his confession. She IS a badass in her job but gives me the impression of lacking confidence when it comes to the matters of the heart. They suit each other here, as i don't think TS has ever dated either and is only suave on set with the camera's rolling xD They indeed ARE both the personified idiots in love trope.😂 (I mean just look at how it took GTS a decade to actually realize his romantic feelings for her that had been there from the start actually.)

Happy you found it, it is sadly so underappreciated while being one of the best i have seen this year.

Yeah. Previews are ALWAYS misleading so i would not interpret too much into it. The dialogue lines are (almost) never matched with the actual scenes in them, and more used to entice viewers to tune in. So here is hoping, lol.

no surprise here, as it is both the same screenwriter ;) But yeah i love how much of a MPUB vibe is in this drama. Same quirky characters and situations with heartfelt moments, evil spirits and fated love. The pacing is much better with FNOS tho. Mystic Bar started quite slow, but picked up speed later on as more and more backstory and plot was revealed. Which is similar to how the writer is handling it here, tho it all feels more refined, aka a Mystic Pop Up Bar 2.0 😆

Oh you are welcome. Hope there is something to your liking here <3 (or if not, that you will find something else you like ;) )

Thanks. I just want to spread the love for the kdramas i have enjoyed tbh. Normally i would not be amiss to somehow put mr. queen into the list, but as i noticed OP already watched that so yeah 😂

Oh yes, hard same. It was such a good time and active comment section. I miss the crazy lovers crew, ngl😭

And bringing them back together is the solution to all their troubles at that, which is a nice inversion of the popular dOomEd lOvERs, mUsT sePArAtE thEm foR thE GoOd oF AlL idiot trope, ngl. Operation general matchmaker Choi go go go 😂

On the flipside this could mean that the romance will start only (very) late, sigh. (what little there was in MPUB was also late-ish) But we will see.

General Choi is so fucking extra i love him 😂 The grim reaper was the least threatening collector of the dead ever too. Those quirky characters give me total Mystic Pop Up Bar vibes (I know same writer, and it shows)

Sigh, not a fan of how they build up an actual love triangle now instead to let sunbae cop fade slowly into the bg. But i guess Seul Hae needs the "obstacle" to come clean with/aware of her feelings for Chawoong??? Right now it feels pretty one-sided still, which was noticable in the hotel bed scene. Chawoong was flailing and utterly distracted by her closeness (that "stay cool do not panic face of his hahaha) whereas she just said "I don't lie here with you bc i want to." Ouch, emotional daaaamaaaage.

And while previews are always lying liars who lie (tm) I still rolled my eyes at SML being so much in the picture. Dude you had years to confess but now where another guy is threatening your comfortable "keep her at arm's length" bs dogma, you suddenly feel the urgency? Ugh. Also I don't want our magic bean's heart broken😭 Especially not after he made such strides in his development and opened up to other people. (His drunk talk with Choi about how helping others makes him feel good was the best thing😭) And we are halfway through the drama now so just let my fated ship finally sail, dammit.

I think From Now On Showtime has a strong Mystic Pop Up Bar Vibe which is not surprising as both drama's have the same writer. And while it is more somber in tone often, they both share the same energy in quirky characters, absurd situations and supernatural worldbuilding.

That being said, i adore how well they mix the genres from one minute to the other in this drama. Never a dull moment indeed.

Oh I second Dali And The Cocky Prince. One of my favorite kdramas with a really cute, healthy and emotionally mature romance to boot. ML is like a puppy which barks a lot but does not bite. And the actor excels in playing the ML as an adorable idiot in love and, again, part time diva. (there is a trend in ML's I notice haha)
(https://kisskh.at/687131-dali-and-gamjatang)

From Now On Showtime: Along with this drama, the best currently airing romcom kdrama no one knows or watches for some odd reasons. It has it all: mystery, the bestest ghost crew, a bit of creepy supernatural stuff, heartfelt moments, romance, crime and oh, the comedy. Never a dull moment. Bless. Also a ML who is equally a doofus as our boy taesung, aka very proficient in his job, but outside of it a big awkward baby and part time diva with a soft core underneath all the bluster. FL is just as awesome and badass and their chemistry is lit. Drama is fast-paced and funny with many layers underneath the comedy. Like sh**ting stars it has 8 episodes out so far. ( https://kisskh.at/699445-showtime-from-now-on)

Eulachacha Waikiki: While more comedy than romance, it also has a surprisingly wholesome, slow burn romance as well with one of the ML's (ensemble cast) who is another lovable doofus played by Mr. Queen's Kim Jung Hyun. All the more the comedy is rapid fired twenty gags a minute and the ultimate therapy when having a bad day. THE comedy kdrama. Gwenchana, gwenchana 😂
(https://kisskh.at/26644-eulachacha-waikiki)

Crazy Love: Enemies To Lovers done right with adaquate slow burn development from hate to love, as well believable character development. Uses and parodies almost all kdrama cliches there are and sprinkles in other genres to spice up its romcom identity. Was my to go to drama while it aired. bc it has done the genre mix, craziness and shift to something softer later on so well. Misunderstandings are cleared up almost immediately, bc unlike in other kdramas the leads communicate like adults. Very healthy, supportive relationship once they have committed to each other. Look forward to the ladder kiss (tm) bc daaaaamn🔥 Sadly an undervalued kdrama since disney+ sucks in promotion/distribution and will probably never change that, ugh. (https://kisskh.at/706923-crazy-love)

Sure if you have some feel free to do so, as i don't know any good ones tbh :D (I know of Jealousy Incarnate and Radio Romance, but have yet to watch them. Run On, maybe too?) You can also use the rec tab of this drama's page for that, so it does not get lost in the comments. My list above is about the enemies to lovers trope only however and has nothing to do with the entertainment industry.

Enemies to lovers is a hit or miss for me, so my list is quite short lol, but these dramas have done the progression beautifully and believable. Particularly the first two-three dramas:

-Mr. Queen (If you hesitate due to it being a sageuk, don't. Let it be the singular exeption to a possible "no historical drama" rule, you won't regret it. They literally go "I cannot stand your face/ you tried to kill me" to "You are my comfort" in a very believably written slow progress, and lots of wacky humor in between. And the Aaaaaacting/chemistry, daaaamn. It is frikkin A+++ game)
-Crazy Love (slow burn development at its finest and the name of the show is really its content haha)
- From Now On Showtime (more bickering than enemies but probably the best currently airing show sadly no one watches. Also ML is quite similar to our boy taesung here, aka proficient in what he does but outside of it a big, awkward bby and part time diva xD)
- Angel - Last Mission Love (Shin Hye Sun slays in (every) this role. perfectly selling the trauma and pain of her caustic character slowly warming up to the titular angel in human form tasked to find love for her but ending up falling for her instead. Really a (bitter)sweet drama, so beautiful.)
- I'm Not a Robot (Wonderful healing drama of finding trust again)
- Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (a classic, lol)
- Doom At Your Service (plot is rather thin, but i loved the actors and romance, they really sell the us against the world/fate lovestory, while starting out disliking each other)
- Seventeen Going Thirty/ Still 17 - They are not really enemies but ML is really closed off to ppl due to a past trauma and it takes a lot of time for him to get less caustic toward ppl. Probably the best, realistic depiction of PTSD/Trauma and slowly, ever so slightly moving on from it i have seen in a kdrama. Lots of warmth, found family and heart.)

Hmm, in this case i sadly don't know (m)any outside of what is already recced above. Record of Youth is quite good in that part but rather meh and draggy in others. So I married the anti fan comes to mind too, but other than that i dunno, sorry. I know more recs regarding enemies to lovers tbh😂

Shit as in shit the stars produce the pr team has to clean up, and wordplay on the korean word of shooting star which is a compound word of "star poop star." So very apt title.

Gosh she is even prettier in a hanbok. 정말 예쁘다 😍😍😍