blu22

Not an innocent virgin that is easy-going and cheerful LOL!!!!! Grey characters done right (and acted professionally) can be totally iconic he he...

I may get harsh comments on this, but I'm so tired of all this green flag/red flag stuff. It's like people (characters) are now neatly boxed into those two teams. Feels like we're not allowed to be (faulty) humans at all. Either they have to be quite good (kinda perfect) or they're soon labeled as red flags. Feels like nobody is allowed to be grey characters anymore. Grey characters = red flags for sure. 🙄🙄🙄

We're all a work in progress and agree re: being our own worst critics. 🥰 Thanks for sharing your story. Learning to be our own cheerleader is a long and winding journey. Been there myself until one day I got tired of beating myself up. Turned out, not beating myself up doesn't mean I become an asshole/bitch hehehhhh...

It's definitely (more) difficult when you're surrounded with so many things that may trigger your trauma (like what Kang Hee experiences whenever she's back at her hometown or even when she's with ML). Before they were about to kiss at the hotel during Christmas, she was about to let her heart take the lead...but then they got interrupted by the phone call from his mom and then her logic kicked back in as memories from her past flooded her brain. I like this drama 'coz it stirs up so many layered emotions. ACKKKKK...my heaaarttttt he he he...

Yes, very truuueeee...she felt guilty about snapping back/talking back for the first time to the toxic family member, but I APPLAUDED her for taking that action heheeehhhh...

Toxic (manipulative) family members do have the tendency to drive their victims into feeling unnecessary guilt (which is understandably very difficult to shake off).

In conclusion, though, I APPLAUD you too for having grown your claws and sharpen them over the years he he he...I'm happy for you! :-)

Daaaannnggg, that was tough! Felt like everybody was your spy. I'm glad your mom made your dad move the family to get away from all that gossip. Phew!!! Thanks for sharing your story btw. :-)

I agree with you, too. I also didn't like that part about the weight loss and the glasses. Also his reply that he would gain weight again and put on his glasses. It doesn't sound healthy at all (more like codependency?).

I'm not rooting for them to be together, you know? Just simply immersing myself in her emotional roller-coaster (trying to see where she's coming from regardless of whether I think it's right or wrong).

Most dramas I root for the main couple to be together, but for this drama I would be happy if they can be happy without each other, too (either with the 2nd leads or other people in the future).

I'm glad you can get my POV. I love the way Lee Se Young portray those conflicted feelings. I started this drama because of her and she doesn't disappoint he he...

She still has to deal with some toxic people from her side of the family, but at least she doesn't have to deal with the money grubbers now. She's now learning to talk back to her side of the family, 'coz as you said: not everyone has the luxury to walk away and sometimes it takes yearrrsss to sharpen your claws/weapons. Either you (learn to) talk back to toxic people or cut them off your life: these are better choices than being a doormat.

Agree.

Yeppppp, heartbreaking.

Exactly. The environment is really toxic.

SAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE he he he...

Now that I have more time to think about today's ep, I begin to see how ML is more important to FL than I initially thought. I forgot that even during the toughest times in her life in Seoul, she kept visualizing him in her mind. His image is like a safe haven for her, her safety net that could propel her to move forward when the going gets tough.

With her difficult environment growing up, I get why it's hard for her to completely let go of him. Logically she knows it's a bad idea to hold on to him, but the heart wants what the heart wants. No matter how much you know logically something is bad to you, the heart is a separate being, so to speak. Been there, done that.

She is experiencing roller-coaster of emotions now that she sees him with another girl (a decent and adorable one at that, with the same profession who can definitely be there for him during his whole career). If she didn't have to grieve too much over the loss of this dear person in the past after that Christmas encounter at the hotel because they lived apart and she was focusing on her work (new career), now she has to go through that RAWWWWW grief experience.

I sure didn't expect FL's drunk scene in that restaurant LOL LOLLLLLL!!!!!!! It gave me a good laugh, esp. as the two BFFs swiftly excused themselves. And 2ML convo with the policeman also made me LOL!!!!!

Small town behavior is reaaaalll, man, even abroad! I live in Europe now in a small village and word of mouth do spread SO quickly here as most people know one another (esp. the locals). Case in point: I had been working in a store for a while and then one coworker of mine quit and moved to another workplace. Lo and behold...a few of my regular customers came by after that coworker of mine quit and they were surprised at seeing me still working there. They asked me, "I thought you had quit and moved to work at X." I was like...huh? Who the hell spread that kind of wrong gossip? So for me personally, the way that gossip morphed (about the 2ML being a gambler etc.) in a small town mentality is pretty realistic.

I teared up during the father-daughter heartfelt moment. When they pretended not to know each other and still he acknowledged her pain by saying, "It must've been hard for you to come all the way here." DAMN, that line punched me in the gut! Also the flashbacks to the sweet moments between father and daughter and the fact that she remembered his dream and now she's about to fulfill that dream.

I also love the way they zoom in on her face every now and then to show her subtle freckles, as if to remind the viewers that she looks different from the others due to being a mixed race person.

Also: the look on Lee Se Young's eyes as she was crouching down next to the ice-cream counter. SO many feels! I love her acting!

Yepppppp. She's doing OK now after cutting off almost all contact with the sis-in-law. She's still in touch via text at times with sis-in-law's firstborn daughter (which is probably the only decent person in that household), but otherwise they don't meet up anymore 'coz the parents-in-law are both passed away now.

Yeah, some circumstances can def be downright ugly.

Yeah, setting clear boundaries from the get go is very important and necessary at times. And yes, having seen clear examples of those types of dysfunction/toxic behaviour, it's clear why FL is like that.

It wouldn't help, either, if the richer parents keep on helping out the money grubbers (like in the case of my first friend mentioned here). When her husband passed away at a young age, not long after the funeral the sis-in-law came over to her house, demanding that she was given money. She claimed that she had lent money to her brother (my friend's husband), though it wasn't true. How could she have lent him money when she didn't have that much money in the first place? He and my friend were always the ones who had to give sis-in-law some money. UGH...how dare ask money from a grieving woman who had just become a single mother? Crazy!

And I can see the craziness from ML's mother. Trying to sell a building that's NOT hers, claiming that what her son owns = what she owns. YIKES! So scary!

I haven't come across a case like what you mentioned, though. When the parents turned a blind eye towards the daughter's problems like that. Aigooooo...

Yeah, that smirk and the whole outfit/make-up was DA BOMB he he he he...

But FL doesn't know Shengyi's family is like that. We only saw the scene where Shengyi was talking about her younger brother who loved her, so FL had told (promised) her that once they had more money, Shengyi should come back to meet with her beloved younger brother again. She assumed Shengyi's family would be happy for her success in doing business.

Oh damn, why didn't I think of this? I just thought she looked cool, but you're right. All the townspeople had been gossiping about her all her life.