happymess

It is a bit bizzare, but I’m loving it. I will say, while I enjoyed eps 1-2, it wasn’t until after ep 3-4 I started to love it so maybe give it a few more eps and if you’re still not feeling it, might just not be for you.

I actually think the writer is doing a great job with Tae-jun’s character, provided that they are planning to have him finally address his issues with his family by the end (I can’t see how they can’t with things so bad between them).

In a lot of ways, Tae-yang changed his life and made him believe in himself. I think him fighting for a chance to put himself first was/is his character trajectory, but his own family curbed his development when they wouldn’t even consider hearing him out and that left him feeling defeated this week since he had hope that they’d at least care about his feelings.

This was his “match of his life” and now he feels like maybe he was wrong to believe he was ever “worth” enough to win it, because his family, yet again, put his sister first, no questions asked. I think this has left him feeling defeated and in a state of regression, which is a very real stage that usually occurs before true growth can be reached. I am worried about how the last 4 eps are going to truly get us there for real, but am too invested in his character’s trajectory to give up now, since the payoff could be really satisfying for me, if they manage to get it right.

I swear normally I’d get annoyed and I’d be lying if I’m not frustrated at times for all the crying, but mostly I just feel very protective of her. Must be that the acting and writing does a good job in helping me to understand her.

The actual official title in Korean and on Disney+ is Going to You at the Speed of 493km, which I prefer since it captures the pace of the romance very well. I relate to this show as someone who had to quit my passion at certain points due to mental/physical setbacks like the characters here, but I am hoping things will amp up soon. For me, these past 3 episodes captured what it’s like to be in a slump and the lack or loss of development in badminton felt very intentional on the show’s part so hopefully last 5 or 4 episodes will resume focus on it.

I’m so glad I’m not the only one live-watching this gem. Has anyone else watching live caught the lovely little opening before the show? It rivals TKA’s opening. I’m hoping they’ll include it in the Blu-ray even though they left it out over on viki.

Not me anticipating my next fix of this drama more than my own birthday lmao. Rather I should say the episode we’ll be blessed with today has me giddy on my bday for the first time in a long while. After being in a slump for most of the year, I’m really happy to have some nostalgic, cracktastic dramas again, this one being the clear standout among those.

There are those of us that think criticism of one’s character/behavior is always warranted, but never one’s looks. And we’re gonna believe we’re right about that for good reason. I don’t love how everyone looks visually, but I also love when that happens. I like that people have different beauty standards so why waste my breath sharing my negative opinion about someone when I know that there are plenty with more positive opinions to share that will make them happy. An opinion like that offers nothing, no growth, unlike if your criticizing someone’s behavior. Obv, I don’t think everyone needs to find everyone else attractive, but I do expect people to have the decency not to use their own standards of beauty just to bring others down. At the very least, reserve shallow opinions for when you want to make someone feel good about themselves.

I’m really enjoying this so far. At first, I was pretty worried about the writer, Jung Hae-ri, being the same as Ruler: Master of Mask, but just learned that she was most likely not the main writer of that drama. Of the 2 writers of that drama, Park Hye-jin is the one that most consistently receives credit for it across platforms, while Jung Hae-ri’s name occasionally isn’t even mentioned. Obv, doesn’t mean she didn’t have any creative control of that drama, but it’s still encouraging news for me. I’ve actually watched her Drama Specials long ago and remember enjoying them.

Unfortunately, I discovered all this because, Park Hye-jin, the main writer on Ruler, will be the writer of Seo In-guk’s next drama. Here’s to hoping Ruler was a fluke for both of them!

Major spoilers for ep 3 above, btw!

Hahaha that was such a fun and clever way for her to find out. Of course, with her already avoiding looking at him, he should have been more concerned about hiding his reflection.

Even without a lot of interactions between the OTP, this episode was pretty engaging. Can’t wait for their moments next episode, especially now that she knows and their relationship can start building in earnest.

Also, just to add: a lot of time there’s a lot of smoke-and-mirrors with fantasy dramas, an over-saturated universe with all these different beings that can take away from the main conflict of the leads when they rely too heavily on it (Hwayugi, Goblin). Here, the conflict between the leads is actually really compelling for me and it doesn’t need to rely on other things. That said, I do sort of wish this was a 45-min 12–ep drama. Would have been much tighter that way. I’m definitely a little bit nervous about ep 10 so I’m enjoying the afterglow of ep 9 for a bit longer, haha.

I’ve only watched ep 9, not ep 10 yet (I’m saving it for when I can actually enjoy it) and am just diving in here to post my thoughts for ep 9 and leave before I get spoiled, haha.

I enjoyed episode 9 a lot. While both of the leads seem determined to die, which definitely added an air of meloncholy to this episode, I appreciate how it all felt more because of their own personal stake and development.

In MM’s case, fighting for a life other than his own is a point of growth for him. After being resigned to his fate, finally he has a possibility that he can finally succeed in keeping something from disappearing. What began as an effort to let himself disappear has revealed itself to be a reaction to his true source of strife, that is, watching everything disappear and not being able to do a thing about it. With DK, not only is he finally experiencing compassion and love for the first time, he is being given his first chance to save someone and doing so through succeeding in what he always wanted — disappearing.

However, what made the ending of ep 9 bittersweet was that, after being so ready to die for so long and, on some level, still being at peace with disappearing, MM has finally something to “go towards”, something to be happy about, something he holds precious, for the first time ever. Just when his time may be running out, his time has become precious because he actually has a person he wants to share it with. Essentially, MM finally has something to live for.

In DK’s case, she’s learned that living happily is much more important than just surviving, day by day. She also has come to terms with the fact that, though she has had it hard, she has much to be thankful for. I know that some felt that the set-up for DK was a bit heavy on the misfortune. But I always felt that we just met her when she had reached her lowest point, something necessary to support the fact that, for just a moment, she could wish for doom on the world.

As someone who has had moments when I’ve felt like the universe has been conspiring against me, before getting a reality check that instructs me in the fact that I really have it very easy and have so many things to be thankful for, I feel like they’ve been capturing just this sort of energy with her character/trajectory. The last few episodes have shined a light on the fact that she has actually had a lot to be grateful for, especially in light of the strife that MM and the goddess have to deal with throughout eternity. As she realizes this, she has grown both more comfortable with the fairness of her death, has even reached genuine acceptance of it, instead of the resignation she felt at the start.

However, with all the new happiness and peace she is feeling in all aspects of her life comes the bitter realization that it feels even harder to leave it all behind now that she is treasuring it for all it is worth. And, most importantly, she has become aware that it is impossible for her to actually put anyone she truly loves at risk, which leaves her and MM at a very difficult impasse. Consider how it must be from DK’s perspective, after all the tragedy he’s clearly had to deal with, to finally see him experience happiness. There is no way she can simply let him die for her, no matter how much it might mean to him to stop her from disappearing.

The rating should have gone up on this drama after completing, not down. What a shame. Though it was a 9.5 overall for me, I'm giving it a 10 now because the characters were 11/10. Truly the characters I miss the most this year.

There is much more to this drama than that, but you'd never be able to see that from jumping in and out of a random episode with no context. I hate all of the things you mentioned, but, for me, this drama is one of a kind.

PSH's character doesn't try to look attractive, but that's part of his charm for me. Personally, he becomes more handsome the more I see him. His voice, on the other hand, has always been exceptionally attractive to me, so I guess to each their own then?

It's one of the best dramas this year and probably one of my favorite of all time!

I can't remember the last time I've been so weirdly attached to a drama. This just might be my OTP of the decade. Literally the phrase "words don't do them justice" doesn't do them justice. Sorry to be extra about it, but that's just how it is. That's all I have to say.

I disagree about the ML. His character is the only part I enjoyed at times and, overall, I felt bad for him. He actually buys them candy, not cigarettes, and told them to quit smoking. It doesn't say it explicitly, but you can see the girls spitting out the candy he gives them.

A lot of projection is required to condemn him for his stunned response (which is how it read for me). It gets into victim-blaming territory for me, since not everyone "fights" in response. Some go into shock. Yes, he is the adult party, but he's the victim and doesn't really deserve criticism for not knowing how to properly deal with her behavior. I don't think he really "gave his number" so much as he was so stunned by her behavior that he automatically answered when asked. When he came to his senses, he regretted the slip and wanted her to delete it. This whole interaction is played for comedy though, which I hated. His character seemed very uncomfortable to me. He may not have handled the situation in the best way, but only deserves criticism for being a tad incompetent, not for being a pervert. That said, the show's creators are a completely different story.

Agree about everything else. Though I personally enjoy Ji Chang-wook in this character, everything else is problematic for me.

This is what I'm thinking too. They have mentioned Heung-shik's father on several occasions and Hyang-mi called whoever she was with ajusshi. The voice at the end of ep 9 also sounded older.

As someone who loved the slow-burn and actually liked the first half of ep 8 (Deok-mi struggling with her feelings was hilariously adorable & felt super realistic), I'm definitely bummed with what went on with the 2nd leads in the second half. I agree with a comment below, Eun-gi is low-key gas-lighting her at this point and I'm starting to wonder whether he's been doing it their whole life. The show is at least aware of how pathetic Da-in was being, but hopefully they set Eun-gi straight eventually.

Because of all the discouragement she got, I'm not that upset with Deok-mi. When you start getting caught up in new feelings for someone it becomes harder and harder to read what the other person is feeling. And it becomes harder to communicate when you are too focused on protecting your own heart. The ups and downs she experienced because of the mutual deception they have going on about her fangirling life were actually depicted well. I hate it more that the ending had to be motivated by 2nd lead meddling, not just by Deok-mi's own fears. I kinda hope by missing out on his confession, she has to be the one to take initiative next week, after trying and failing to tamp down her feelings.

The one thing I do like about the show is it doesn't dwell on things for too long. Now that both leads are aware of their feelings I doubt it will spend too much time in this stage since it has more fun stuff to focus on like the reveal that Ryan is an undercover fanboy/knows her secret. More than ep 8 dragging, I just felt it got annoying right towards the end, but if it dwells too much on this issue next week than I'll feel differently.

This was another positive change from the webtoon, and made the conflict of the episode a little less heavy-handed in execution. It's good to still show moral diversity amongst the boys so it feels less like a blatant boys vs. girls situation. It worked in the webtoon, but I'm glad they toned down the revenge arch and that they weren't as extra with the punishment too, because they made their point without stooping to their level. In the webtoon, the guys really do go out and serve in dresses. In comic form it works, but here it might have been a little much.

And yeah I pretty much adore this guys little loveline with Tae-hee. They're too cute.