While I agree with much of what you said, you REALLY haven't watched many K Dramas if the alcohol consumption in this one seemed excessive. I don't drink alcohol at all, and have often ranted about K Dramas toxic depiction of Korea's sadly very real toxic alcohol problem, but this Drama was at the low end of the scale. After all, this is a culture where a Drama called "drink now, work later" was such a success it got a second season. If you think this Drama was bad, I both envy you for not having seen so much worse yet , and feel sorry for you, knowing that you WILL see very much worse
We don't know the details of the story. From what I read, Hong Rang is the fake one, so no incest.
I was not confused by the use of despite. I was troubled by it, but s1234's explanation is EXACTLY the same as the one I gave in both my posts. It seems most likely that the biggest problem with the plot summary is the aggravating conflation of STEP-sibling with HALF-sibling. There's a world of difference between looking for a half-sibling with romantic intent to looking for a step-sibling with romantic intent.
We don't know the details of the story. From what I read, Hong Rang is the fake one, so no incest.
Yes, I assumed the writer was not an L1 English speaker. Which annoyed me even more. I am annoyed, not at the writer of the article, but at MDL, which has basically buried/killed off the editorials that made it unique and instead replaced them with regurgitated 'news' articles that MDL can't even be bothered editing/proof-reading. Article contributors spent countless hours crafting their pieces, and that included spell-checking etc, but now MDL just dumps poorly written aggregator-style 'news' articles on its front page. Very disappointing.
We don't know the details of the story. From what I read, Hong Rang is the fake one, so no incest.
Yes, that';s why I said fauxcest. But fauxcest also requires the illusion of incest, and if she knew, there is no illusion. That's why my comment was more about the clumsy writing in the article. The phrasing and word choice was poor, especially using the word "despite". In most L1 English variants, that implies she actually INTENDED to fall in love with her real half brother, but fell in love with the fake one DESPITE him not being her actual sibling.
"Jo Bo Ah will play the role of Jae Yi, she actively looks for her half-brother Hong Rang. Jo Bo Ah falls in love with Hong Rang despite her suspecting that the Hong Rang who returned is fake. "
This phrase sounds SUPER icky. She is is actively seeking her HALF-BROTHER and falls in love with him? That's incest.
If he's not her half-brother that's fauxcest, but the article says she falls in love with him DESPITE suspecting he's not her half-brother. That would mean she knows he's not, and that means there's no fauxcest either. The use of "despite" is unfortunate here, as it is unclear and suggests she wishes the person she fell in love WERE her half-brother. Yuk!
So happy to hear that. It's indeed a very well-written drama. I've mentioned before that this feels like a WOWOW…
Thanks so much for subbing this! I have just started it and after a few minutes I looked for the network logo because I thought it might have been a WOWOW Drama 😊
I watched this back in 2014, seems like a lifetime ago. I actually watched BECAUSE of Choi Ji Woo. If want to check out more of her work, I'd recommend Suspicious Housekeeper, which also starred the always reliable Kim So Hyun
EXCELLENT review, very detailed and balanced. I agree too that the age gap was overplayed, definitely made out to be much more a THING than it would be irl.
On the stalker girl, one positive for me was that the FL's handling of her in their climactic showdown was superb.
I also like rewatching dramas, usually I rewatch the cute fluffy ones so my list would probably mostly be cdramas…
There's quite a bit of darker stuff, but I'd say the ratio is at least 60/40 sweet to bitter. And crucially, the sweet is VERY, VERY sweet (the tiptoe kiss is just 😍😍) and the ending is happy, properly happy not "wussy wan smile" kind of happy.
I loved this show, despite saome of flaws others have noted. For me, it's the ultimate bromance thriller, and the scene with the SD card is genius, pure genius.
I didn't know ariel was the fl in the original wow I'll add it to my ptw thanks
I saw your feed post about ISWAK and thought you might be another Ariel fan 😍 I mention ITWY and TKA in my rewatch list https://kisskh.at/list/1NkjKZjL
I see your number 27 is the K remake of "In Time With You" - if you haven't seen the original yet, please do. One of Ariel's BEST, imo. The J remake is pretty good too
"the South Pacific island of Kuala Lumpur"? SERIOUSLY? No relation to the sprawling capital city of Malaysia that is also called Kuala Lumpur?
I've lived in the South Pacific my entire life and have friends from many different parts of the Souh Pacific and I have NEVER heard of a "South Pacific Island of Kuala Lumpur"
Thank you for such an incredibly detailed and well-structured analysis. I am in awe of the time and effort that went into creating it. I'm also grateful for the confirmation it provides -confirmation that my tastes in PRC movies is not widely shared here on MDL. Seeing that my all time favourite PRC movie and the only film in my "10+" list, Soulmate (10.5/10 for me), managed only one passing reference in the entire list was a nice reminder of my contrarian status :)
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That's why my comment was more about the clumsy writing in the article. The phrasing and word choice was poor, especially using the word "despite". In most L1 English variants, that implies she actually INTENDED to fall in love with her real half brother, but fell in love with the fake one DESPITE him not being her actual sibling.
This phrase sounds SUPER icky. She is is actively seeking her HALF-BROTHER and falls in love with him? That's incest.
If he's not her half-brother that's fauxcest, but the article says she falls in love with him DESPITE suspecting he's not her half-brother. That would mean she knows he's not, and that means there's no fauxcest either. The use of "despite" is unfortunate here, as it is unclear and suggests she wishes the person she fell in love WERE her half-brother. Yuk!
On the stalker girl, one positive for me was that the FL's handling of her in their climactic showdown was superb.
I've lived in the South Pacific my entire life and have friends from many different parts of the Souh Pacific and I have NEVER heard of a "South Pacific Island of Kuala Lumpur"