irmar

She was not the one to start the tragedies. The disgusting letcherous king started it all, and his son who confined her for ten years and killed her young son. They started the cycle and the two lovers were swept by it and made terrible mistakes because of their grudge and despair.

Didn't you watch the whole episode? He was summoned to the palace to transfer duties to the new Inspector General. And yes, he took the opportunity to also have a couple of meetings while there. But we have also been told in a conversation between the king and crown prince (I think in last week's episode?) that he wants to leave him some freedom so that he can expose himself so that they can gather evidence against him and also find out who are the ones helping him.

Yes, I am like you, I like the concept and the vibe, and that's why I am watching Samdol-ri, although there are some subgenre tropes that seem too much like a repetition of other dramas (for instance Jeju, the haenyo world, from "My Blues", a wonderful drama with stellar actors).
Samdol-ri won't ever go into my "best of" list, but I'm enjoying it.
Whereas I didn't enjoy Summer Strike that much, although it was also a Cha Cha wannabe. Despite it featuring my beloved Im Siwan.

In the past few years, JCW hasn't been lucky with his dramas. Except for one, "If You Wish Upon Me", where he really really shone. The others were meh or worse (Remember "Melting me softly"? What a train wreck that was!)

Yes, there is no comparison to Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.

And I'm not a fan of the excessive drinking. Especially the three sisters.

If you want to see his range, watch "If You Wish Upon Me". It's a good drama, and he shines there.

I thought Cha Cha Cha a much better drama. And of course it was a trailblazer, the first of the "heal from big city trauma by going to a small seaside village where there's a simple but gorgeous and college-educated man waiting for you". Whereas all the others are trying to copy it and bank on its success.

They didn't break up. She just said she doesn't want to see him "right now" because she was exasperated and in a turmoil. We do say that sometimes even to our closest friends or family or significant other. She wanted to process things alone and his stance irritated her. But after that, she went to wait for him under his home and they had a nice discussion. There was never talk of breaking up, just a little unpleasantness for a short while.

Yes, he's certainly pissed at her, and also insecure, after all he just made a big change after 20 years of teaching. And he doesn't really know how to navigate those waters, how this new career will go, if it was a good choice or not. He must be very scared. (If he knew how that world really is he would be even more scared!)

The FL didn't have the information we viewers had, so it's very natural that she was confused. She hadn't seen all the scenes where his co-workers bashing his method and even the non-teacher telling him how to teach. She hadn't seen him accepting the post at the other hagwon.
But it's not only that. Many characters are discussing what happened all over the episode, and finally also in the final scene between ML and FL.

Frankly I couldn't care less if a drama character is or isn't a virgin since it has no bearing on the plot, really. But I do value civil conversation in discussion forums.

I would have to see a video of all celebrities going up, and in that video, I'd have to see white people lingering for pictures with nobody objecting, for me to believe that only those three were "rushed". Until I see such a video (it might be available on YouTube) I cannot give credibility to this article.

I know, I know, and historically speaking you are perfectly correct. I am speaking now from the point of view of someone who is neither Korean nor Japanese, and sees this name on the map, and is trying to think of what would be fair to both countries.

Good point, ha ha! But let's say that it's actually in the north of Europe, the most Northern sea before the Arctic. So it's north of most countries in the world, if you think of it.

There are many different editors, so of course there might be some examples of overlong notes, I cannot vouch for other people.
As for "things that need more explanation", this can vary according to how much of an old-timer you are in dramas. For instance, the usual Korean appellatives like "nuna" or "hyeong", we usually explain them with a note just once, the first time they appear in the drama, for the newbies. Then after that, we assume they will remember. Of course, for someone who has watched hundreds of dramas, it's unnecessary, but we do have to think of the new people who might get confused otherwise.

His point was obvious. It was a confession, but not a love confession. A confession of defeat. And a promise that now he will start to function in "hagwon-mode". The whole thing was explained many times during the episode, and a last one at the end, so I don't see how people are confused.

He didn't say it's her fault he felt embarrassed in front of his colleagues on that day. Watch the scene again. He says that their confrontation had a more general impact. It got him thinking about what hagwons are doing, how they approach teaching.
In fact, not only him but also his colleagues felt that they have to take hagwons into account, But their encounter changed his outlook and that of the others, and he couldn't teach as he taught before. We saw his colleagues bullying him and driving him to function in a hagwon-like manner. When until then he was teaching regardless of anything else, only according to what he thought was good for his students.
Something along these lines.

Saying "wake up" to me is condescending and rude.
You're the one who is not considering the previous work of these creators. They are definitely not like the rest of k-dramas.

I loved episode 10. It showed very clearly the difference between an idealistic teacher who cares about culture and the current trend, powered by parents and students, that only gives worth to grades, results and admission into top universities. An old-fashioned teacher who cares about instilling real culture has no place in this modern world - be it at a school or at a hagwon. But maybe in a school he would have partially survived if it were not for his confrontation with Ms. Seo. After that, other teachers made his life hell, and he also started to question the efficacy of his method.
He was not an angel, of course. A stubborn, arrogant person, who didn't treat her well in that incident. But he was a valuable teacher nevertheless, and his students liked him.
Their scene was really beautiful, meaningful and suspenseful. I really loved it. He poured his heart out and made her realize all that was going on in his life since their first meeting.
It's very natural that she felt guilty and, in turn, questioned her own values.
Lee Jun Ho had made her question them in a previous episode, but she taught him that only results matter. He had seemed a bit disappointed but followed her lead. Then came the "private" lesson to the gifted student Si Wu and his words about how this lesson impacted him, making him like literature for the first time. This made her remember the ideals she had when she first started teaching, before adapting (too successfully) to what the market wants. She understood that the exam-oriented education she had been giving was a betrayal of her old self. That's when the crisis started. And then the conversation with Mr. Pyo confirmed that not only she had sold out, but she had caused the person who still was a real teacher to ruin his career and sell out too.
To top it all, the 3rd incident, the scene with the Grey Witch. She went with the wild hope of turning things back (of course that wasn't possible). But the clever older woman made her realize that she cannot have one foot in the cutthroat market and one foot in idealistic ideas about a teacher's mission, and that it was hypocritical of her to think that she can have her cake and eat it too.
On top of it all, Lee Jun Ho showed her that he had accepted to follow her lead, starting to become like her, get into the logic of the cutthroat competition. This, just when she had started disliking this side of herself. It was very natural that she was appalled by this. Of course the poor guy had no idea, he thought about the whole thing superficially, as she had taught him to think in the past few months, and he thought he was following her lead, unaware that she had been changing internally in the meanwhile.
It's good that they had an explanation afterwards. Some healthy sex would have helped her relax much more and fall asleep more easily than ocean sounds, but oh well, it's a k-drama after all, people who want sex are "animals"!!!