GUYSSS this isn't my usual type of drama -- not a big fan of crime drama or horror but I just binged all 8 eps of this in a few days cause it seemed like people were liking it and it's SO GOOD. Now I'm just sad I have to wait for eps. PSH is absolutely slaying this role, and it's such a breath of fresh air to have an aggressive and morally gray female character as a protag, I love how she doesn't ever capitulate on her own version of morality and justice, even as she's gaining more humanity she is still staying true to herself. I've never seen KJY in anything but where tf has this man been my whole life? He is such a great actor, deftly handling the romantic, comedic and esp the emotional scenes well. Their chemistry is amazing, I love every single scene between them. The writing is great and really focused, I feel like the writer knows exactly where they are going with the story, which makes me excited. And the direction is really good too, as well as great editing. People don't mention it a lot but good editing can make a big difference and this editor does such a great job with pacing of scenes and making sure all the right emotions hit as they should. WOW. I haven't like a drama this much this year yet. So happy I checked it out.
Ok but that trailer was AMAZING! It looks so fun but also meaningful and the chemistry is KILLER. I feel like I've been waiting for this for YEARS my precious DoHwan. Finally a date! I'm so excited!!
Alright, maybe I’m a bit ruthless here, but if they hit us with that “Surprise! It was a misdiagnosis the…
I am hoping either he does end up dying (which would be so sad but so poignant) or that we know from the beginning it's not actually terminal but HE doesn't. Cause in that case it's really enjoyable to watch
OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS WEB SERIES!!! I didn't know it was getting made into a show. I am SO EXCITED. I wouldn't have picked Min Ah as Navier, but I also think she is a great actress and have no doubt she can carry a drama like this.
Guys, hear me out tho. Lee Yi-kyung as Heinrey. He would destroy this role and have such good chemistry w Min Ah.
I want to see Moon Ga Young as Trashta. She hasn't played a bitchy character since Tempted but she's soooo good at being a brat that you love to hate.
Ok so the description on asianwiki adds soooo much more detail:
Nobody loves Hae Jo (Woo Do-Hwan), because nobody, including Hae Jo, knows who is his real father. This makes people think he is like an impure substance among them. One day, he hears news that will change his life. He decides to go look for his real father. He happens to have Jo Jae-Mi (Lee Yoo-Mi) accompany him on his journey.
Jo Jae-Mi always wanted to have a family. She is going to marry Eo Heung (Oh Jung-Se), who is the successor in the Eo Family. The Eo family, including their mother Beom Ho-Ja (Kim Hae-Sook), run a food company. They don't like Jo Jae-Mi as Eo Heung's wife, but accept her because Eo Heung told them that she is pregnant. On the day of their wedding and before the wedding ceremony starts, Jo Jae-Mi disappears with Hae Jo.
I'm happy to see CHW moving away from teenager roles already, I remember when LJW did this when he was about the same age and it's served him well. CHW has always had that "old soul" vibe to him, and he can play harsh characters as well as sweet ones, and in whatever role he's been in he's made an impact on screen, so I think he has the charisma to pull off this character. Him pared with MKY is SOOOO nice, she has a very playful vibe that will match him so well, and she also has a young spirit so I don't think the age gap will even be noticeable. I really think they will both have a blast filming this and will have fantastic chemistry. Can't wait
First of all the first ep was SO funny, legit this writer knows how to do comedy.
Other than that, tho there were cute moments, the series and esp the second ep fell so flat because we already saw a love story between these two that can't be topped in a short spin off. LSY as HJ was essentially just a watered down version of LSY as BGH, so it was like watching a kinda bland fanfic (the writing itself was not bad, but it couldn't overcome the premise and plot no matter what).
It was a mistake to have so many scenes between her and LYJ at the beginning, because I was actually disappointed when we jumped out of the Spice Up Your Love story after the first 15 mins since I thought YS and LYJ had great chemistry as the main characters from the novel, different from their characters in the OG. And I honestly would have been happier just watching those two as the MCs of the OG webnovel for 2 eps.
This is a great premise but would have been so much better as like a 12 ep drama with brand new characters.
Some people asking is cheating justified in this drama? Bro No , nothing Justified cheating no matter the situation…
It probably seems nice to think you have everything "figured out" and to imagine that people are so easy to judge and what they do is so easy to judge as bad and wrong, but the more you allow yourself to live life in an authentic way (including parts of yourself you reject or don't allow expression or think are bad and wrong) and allow others to do the same, the more alive you will feel and the more love you will have to give the world. This show is a beautiful exploration of this topic, with no "good" or "bad" characters, just quite realistic people in situations that test who they are and what they believe in, and they make choices that are both freeing and destructive, cruel and loving, and their motivations or the outcome won't ever be as clean and easy as you wish the world was, as the world is not black and white. I hope you can realize that one day and come back and enjoy this beautiful work of art with a more mature emotional understanding.
Almost every single character in this drama is morally corrupt.
Art is alluring on one hand, yet makes you very uncomfortable on the other, because it forces you to examine the unreconcilable contradictions of the truth about life and people (yes, including yourself, even if you're not willing to go there yet). Whereas entertainment makes you feel good and safe. There's nothing wrong with the latter, it has its place, but don't confuse the two. This is art.
Really nice list overall, but I gotta disagree about Just Between Lovers, I think people will be mislead thinking there is "no breakup" I will put more details in a spoiler comment. It's one of my absolute fav dramas, totally worth a watch, but people may get frustrated watching it if they see it on this list and go in expecting that.
Really nice list overall, but I gotta disagree about Just Between Lovers, I think people will be mislead thinking…
There is SO much withholding of love for both, they bounce back and forth for the entire drama, esp the second half, with one of them closing out the other, and giving love only to completely pull back and put up a huge and painful wall to block the other out, and abandon each other at different times. One of them literally blindsides the other by leaving the city out of the blue, only to come back and finally give his heart, then to have the FL suddenly cut him off, abandon him, and tell him to get out of her life. I -do- think it's realistic portrayal of love between two traumatized people, but they break up and make up SO many times.
I have such a good feeling about this drama. WDH is absolutely in his element, he can carry both comedy AND emotional dramas, the rest of the actors are also top tier, the writer delivered one of the best dramas of 2020, it's on Netflix so will have a lot of potential viewers. I really think this one will be a big hit. Even if people don't tune in right away it'll start to get a buzz and will end up being big. I'm excited
This ended up being a really moving drama for me, I was really touched by all the relationships between the characters and appreciated that they were all allowed to have weaknesses and sometimes be contradictory, as all humans are. I feel every character really grew as a person and that growth felt realistic to me. I especially loved having a FL who was flawed but also mature overall. She had her issues but at the end of the day she took full responsibility for her choices and her own life, which is so rare for FLs.
My only issue is that I didn't feel Ji-uk got his moment to really shine at the end of his arc, it was nicely set up with her pointing out that he'd spent his life caring for others, and not wanting him to just fall into another care-taking situation. I would have rather spent the second half of the episode following him and watching him maybe learn to be more selfish and express his needs with his family or something, and then have them reunite after that. It felt cheap to have him pop back 6 months later and suddenly he's ready, even though I couldn't tell that he had really changed other than living on his own for a bit.
So something that has really bothered me is that the whole point of a forced marriage trope is that strangers/friends are forced to live together and act like a married couple, and you end up getting lots of scenes and interactions and awkwardness between them that slowly builds to them being an actual couple. But the writer has been resisting all that, and even now 8 episodes in he's finally in the house with her but still lives on the rooftop almost like they're in separate apartments. Despite them almost getting found out numerous times now.
We could have had the same exact romantic story essentially if he was just a part-timer who rented out her roof and happened to start working at her company, like they'd have had all the same interactions essentially. So what was the point of having the fake marriage trope if it's not really forced them to have more contact than they would have if he'd just started as an employee?
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Guys, hear me out tho. Lee Yi-kyung as Heinrey. He would destroy this role and have such good chemistry w Min Ah.
I want to see Moon Ga Young as Trashta. She hasn't played a bitchy character since Tempted but she's soooo good at being a brat that you love to hate.
Nobody loves Hae Jo (Woo Do-Hwan), because nobody, including Hae Jo, knows who is his real father. This makes people think he is like an impure substance among them. One day, he hears news that will change his life. He decides to go look for his real father. He happens to have Jo Jae-Mi (Lee Yoo-Mi) accompany him on his journey.
Jo Jae-Mi always wanted to have a family. She is going to marry Eo Heung (Oh Jung-Se), who is the successor in the Eo Family. The Eo family, including their mother Beom Ho-Ja (Kim Hae-Sook), run a food company. They don't like Jo Jae-Mi as Eo Heung's wife, but accept her because Eo Heung told them that she is pregnant. On the day of their wedding and before the wedding ceremony starts, Jo Jae-Mi disappears with Hae Jo.
Yooo this makes it sound even better.
Other than that, tho there were cute moments, the series and esp the second ep fell so flat because we already saw a love story between these two that can't be topped in a short spin off. LSY as HJ was essentially just a watered down version of LSY as BGH, so it was like watching a kinda bland fanfic (the writing itself was not bad, but it couldn't overcome the premise and plot no matter what).
It was a mistake to have so many scenes between her and LYJ at the beginning, because I was actually disappointed when we jumped out of the Spice Up Your Love story after the first 15 mins since I thought YS and LYJ had great chemistry as the main characters from the novel, different from their characters in the OG. And I honestly would have been happier just watching those two as the MCs of the OG webnovel for 2 eps.
This is a great premise but would have been so much better as like a 12 ep drama with brand new characters.
My only issue is that I didn't feel Ji-uk got his moment to really shine at the end of his arc, it was nicely set up with her pointing out that he'd spent his life caring for others, and not wanting him to just fall into another care-taking situation. I would have rather spent the second half of the episode following him and watching him maybe learn to be more selfish and express his needs with his family or something, and then have them reunite after that. It felt cheap to have him pop back 6 months later and suddenly he's ready, even though I couldn't tell that he had really changed other than living on his own for a bit.
We could have had the same exact romantic story essentially if he was just a part-timer who rented out her roof and happened to start working at her company, like they'd have had all the same interactions essentially. So what was the point of having the fake marriage trope if it's not really forced them to have more contact than they would have if he'd just started as an employee?