itwillneverbefar

cool

I would guess the majority of people who hate love triangles actually hate love triangles that are thrown in lazily for fake drama, like where the second lead is clearly not even in the running yet keeps getting in the way cause the writer can't think of anything more creative.

If this show is actually about a woman who is drawn to two men for different reasons and throughout the drama grows by unpacking her attraction to them, it could be a dynamic that's interesting to explore. Ideally they all become friends and it's less about who she chooses and more about all their different interactions together.

That's a big "if" tho.

I liked the drama but too many characters were underutilized and too much of the plot was resolved before it got to go to the depths it could have. The set up, the overall plotlines, the backstories of the characters were so well drawn out, but the execution was shallow and disjointed. I enjoyed it well enough but it's not a drama I will be thinking about next week, and it dosen't stand with the greats of the sageuk genre.

Same tho. I've never watched a C drama live but I think I'll make this my first

She was soooo good in Tempted, she was an awful person yet I could not hate her and was riveted by her in every scene, the FL could not hold a candle to her. Exquisite is the right word. She is wasted on all these innocent, plucky, upbeat characters. I wish she had been cast as the lead in Dear X, she needs a role like that.

I love watching two assholes with a heart of gold out-petty each other this is going to be fun

This feels like it's going to be everything I wanted King the Eternal Monarch to be

This is going to be the hit of the year. IU is on an amazing streak of dramas. Amazing director. BYS chose this very carefully as his followup to lovely runner. The synopsis sounds intriguing with strong characters. Wish we knew more about the writer,. Musta been a strong script tho for all the above to get on board.

Dynamite Kiss that the ultimate opportunity to subvert the trope and make it a fake love triangle that woulda been hilarious but they chose the lazy path yet again

I had the exact same thought, I thought it was a different actor at first. Maybe it's the lighting/makeup, I hope he didn't get work done as he looked perfect already

Why even bother coming here to write a coment?

This show has really gone downhill from such a promising start, I'm disappointed. It's silly in this day and age to have both male leads entire personalities revolve around loving the FL soooo much that they will die for her. And even the 2FL's entire personality is loving the ML/FL, she literally just pops up out of nowhere to fuss over the two of them and has no existence outside of that . Eun Jo is the only one with a full personality including dreams and goals of her own that don't revolve around anyone else.

Man all these characters seemed so good on paper. A cold hearted bastard noble son having a change of heart because he learns the power of kindness and wants to honor the integrity within himself--love it. A prince too afraid to be ambitious suddenly deciding to boldly fight because he can no longer stomach the injustice of the common people --SO interesting . But that's not what we get. We get a couple dudes who happen to do good things cause of the girl they're both obsessed with. Neither of them get any real goal or dream of their own except "protect eun jo." IT's just so superficial and bland. Add in the cliche super evil sociopath minister, the cruel and ineffectual king--both one dimensional stereotypes we've seen over and over again. These characters are so boring at this point even Eun Jo or the romance can't save them.

There is still such a missed opportunity for a romantic pairing with the second leads and here's why. Jae Yi's fascination/obsession with Eun Jo is driven by his own self loathing. Because of this he will never be able to truly see her as a person in her own right, he will only be able to see her as another illegitimate child, a dark mirror of his own inner shame.

Eun Jo is also someone whose kindness and compassion to others is driven a lot by her own experience with suffering, and so she tends to zero in on those who are the most helpless and in pain, and lead with a sense of pity (not in a negative way). Jae Yi is someone who views self pity or others pitying him with disgust, and it triggers his feelings of shame.

He needs someone who he can't justify treating terribly because they're illegitimate like him. And he needs someone who views him as a peer or kindred spirit, and who is kind to him not just out of pity.

Who else but Hae Rim? She is a naturally open and understanding person, with a keen ability to see outside her own perspective, who just has a naturally kind soul (remember how Jae Yi called her a "saint" early in the show?). She is just as warm as Eun Jo.

Jae Yi was cold and dismissive to her, but he would never have slapped a noble woman who he was engaged/married to, he would never drag her around or insult and taunt her, because he wouldn't ever view her with the same loathing he does himself like with Eun Jo. And he wouldn't idealize her, either, for the same reason, so he could see her kindness and good heart for what it was, and see her for who she is.

I'm soooo hoping the writer shifts for the last four eps. Both her and Jae Yi are currently both stuck in an unrequited love, and they could find some sort of solace in each other over that even if they don't like each other like that at first. If they are for some reason forced to get engaged again or actually marry I could see her totally catching him off guard with her kindness and understanding, and him not being able to dismiss her as just a low class woman he doesn't need to respect, and him having to deal with someone being kind to him not out of pity but just out of general goodness. And suddenly realizing that what he felt for Eun Jo was obsession and not true admiration or love.

Characters like Jae Yi do not change overnight, it's one step forward, two back. He's been doing this all show, he'll be a little nice to Eun Jo and then insult her and pull away. He stands up to his father and calls off the engagement only to then become an inspector that does his father's bidding. Same thing this week--he warned the prince about his father, but then went and rescued him anyway. The only way Jae Yi had any safety growing up was pleasing his father and being who his father wanted him to be. It's terrifying for a person who has lived their entire life only feeling "safe" in one way to do the exact opposite. It would be so unbelievable if one day he woke up and suddenly acted the complete opposite way he's used to survive for decades of his life.

It's time for him to move on from Eun Jo tho. He will never truly reform or have solid character development if his only reason for treating people with basic decency is because he cares about Eun Jo. We saw that with the plague village--he didn't burn it down only because he didn't want eun jo to get hurt, but is that really a change of heart? Is that really compassion? Did he apologize cause he really cared or because he wanted eun jo to like him more and see him as a good guy? He is stuck right now as a character and I really hope the writer lets him have a deeper internally-focused and driven growth starting now.

The king is sooooo upsetting because you can tell he has it in him to be a great king, he is intelligent and he can play the game of politics when needed, he can be ruthless when needed, he does understand things like integrity and what really matters, but he doesn't want to make the hard decisions and sacrifices to get there. He would rather escape into pleasures and unchecked power than do the hard work required of a king. The actor is doing a really good job with the role and it makes me hate him even more because he's not just some loser psychopath who just needs to go, the man just refuses to do anything king-like.

I really loved the pathetic cycle of him kicking out the first minister just to let him back into power because the king realized that he doesn't actually want to rule, he just wants to enjoy the perks of being a king while letting others do the hard work.

Enemies to lovers doesn't have to mean one person has to start out a monster, it means the two people have completely opposite values or goals and eventually come to understand the other, which naturally leads to intimacy and love. It's lazy writing to make two people "enemies" cause one treats the other with contempt, or views the very core identity of the other as disgusting. Who wouldn't be enemies in that situation? And it's pretty empty when we're supposed to buy that they make a great pair suddenly when all that's changed is one simply starts viewing the other with basic human decency.

If you're just watching this for easy entertainment (which we all need some of, so that's valid) then I can see why they seem to have such great chemistry romantically. But I find it superficial and silly and am so frustrated with them dragging on and on what amounts to him having his first teenage crush. He's like an abused puppy/duckling who attached onto the first person to show him basic kindness, he sees her with 1/100th of the insight and depth that the ML and even 2FL sees her with, he is merely obsessed with his ideal of her as a stand in for the parents who never loved him. And she views him as a wounded animal or a child to pity and be a little extra nice to cause no one else is. It's fascinating on a platonic level (and has been from the start to me) but frankly boring and silly to me on a romantic level. I want chemistry that means something, that isn't exciting because it's toxic, I want chemistry that won't fizzle out the second the two get together and you realize the "will they won't they" was the only thing about them you actually cared about because they actually make a terrible couple.

And I want more for Jae Yi. He deserves a better storyline than pathetic lovesick puppy. it's fine if his crush on her woke him up to viewing the world and people differently, but I want him to change and grow because he realizes what really draws him to eun jo is that he wants to treat HIMSELF like she treats him, he want's to accept himself as a lowly bastard, not her. I'm so tired of second leads entire storyline revolving around being obsessed with a female lead they can never have and don't actually really want anyway.

I hope Ryeo Un can handle this role. He's been good in everything Iv'e seen him in, but never been the standout, and this role seems very challenging and like the whole drama will hinge on how well he does. Hoping for the best from him!

Dude, he is selfish too. All he cares about is her liking him, he's being manipulative and wierd by making his team lose for her, and failing the test for her, and continuing to pursue her when she has made clear she isn't interested AND when she was mature and asked him point blank if he liked her he insulted her instead. But yeah, only call out se jin.

oh my gawd, you guys are so ridiculous. Calling him Evil Han Geyol is like her pet name for him at this point. They're obviously friends, you all are soooo hard on her just because sh'es a girl. If their characters were swapped genders you all would be SWOONING so hard at the tsundere

I've legit lost trust in MDL ratings, this show has been consistently good every week, and while there's drama and conflict it's not ridiculous or drawn out.