JoJo

It lacked conviction

I'll start with what's more obvious for me, they're very incompetent for those who are praised to be the best detectives. The mystery solving part of the drama was very lacking and that's what annoyed me the most.

A lot in this drama lacks conviction and commitment. Deciding to trust someone just because they're supposed to be your friend but had hidden important information from you doesn't seem very sensible for someone in the middle of an investigation. Even when things are blown out of proportion like FL's expulsion, the train of thought associated with everything around it doesn't make much sense.

I couldn’t finish it all, I just watched the last episode. The ending also lacks conviction. It feels like lukewarm water when you're trying to take a shower on a winter day. It's not satisfying

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How about the journey?

I hate how kdramas depict capitalist struggles and the stoicism they attach to it. Suddenly the struggle gets 100 times harder than it already is without the stoicism.
I hope, as a global community, we can all go to the root of the problem so we can move forward as a healthier and more humane society. We're not made for capitalism and we're social animals, we need community, we strive in community.

I don't believe the FL had low self-esteem. Not relying on other people is usually a symptom of trauma. It's usually experienced by people who have, throughout their lives, found out they don't have anyone they can rely on. Having to pay back every help you were offered, means you have had many people let you down and know there are no free lunches. Failing to build trust and friendships as a result is what she would have to overcome. It doesn't make much sense that she can't seem to rely on anyone since she has a very supportive mother and she had received help from a friend. She doesn't seem to know how friendships work. It would have been better to end at episode 5 instead of painting the issues with the relationship in such superficial terms.

The male lead suffered from something very typical of heterosexual men. They don't listen or pay attention and do as they please. Not listening to something someone with trust issues says or goes through furthers the trust gap. Where there's no trust, there can't be a healthy relationship.

Capitalism in action, where your worth is dictated by what you do and how much money you have, will certainly interfer with a normal relationship. A fragile relationship will certainly suffer even more. But, all the money in the world can't get a man to start listening and paying attention. He did, however, show maturity when he proposed to communicate instead of ignoring the issue.

Camiño de Santiago is seen as a spiritual journey and a journey of faith, very closely linked to the Catholic religion and the spiritual struggles of being a Catholic. It felt like they treated the journey as a vacation, we didn't get to see the impact, we saw all the problems solved but we don't even know to which extent. Did she relent all control? Did he start to listen?

It seems weird that she goes on a journey of self discovery with company. I honestly don't understand the message. Is there a message?

Anyway, it made more sense than the first one. I know shorter dramas can be challenging to adequately portray a story. It was a good and fun, at times, drama to watch.

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Capitalism is the problem

It's one of those dramas where everyone's an asshole.
Probably Ari's brother is the one that is not actively an asshole, but he was hardly in the story.

They chose to go for an anonymous hater, with no real motive who represents the working class, instead of addressing the real issue with this stratification of society. Calling someone with depression and someone who clearly sees the disparity in society a nut job is dismissive, offensive and villainizing. It was a choice to make her a hater. It was a choice not to go to the root of the problem.

Their self-importance remains unchanged in the end. They didn't learn anything.
I do know there are a lot of online haters and trolls but social media is only a reflection of society. If we cared for the people and solved the disparities there would be a lot less hate. Many people are mad at the disparities and don't have the tools to figure out why they're mad. This drama made it seem like a jealousy problem instead of the real issue, which is inequality, that derives from some having access to privilege and also from salary theft.

The love interest (I can't consider him a male lead. He wasn't a lead in the story) said if it wasn't for him his workers would be unemployed, so he doesn't mind providing them with undignified work because, for him, he's being charitable. We don't need charity, we need proper salaries and proper jobs and we need the rich to pay a fairer amount of taxes that will support a strong network of social services. Then no one needs to die because they can't afford food, healthcare or even a house.
We all know millionaires and billionaires don't provide for more work or for more money to be in circulation, they are hoarders of wealth. Trickle-down economics doesn't work, and there's no such thing as an ethical rich person, just like we saw, those rich influencers weren't ethically created as well.

Social media is a way to numb the working force and to make sure we don't organise and create a fairer world. They kept saying throughout the drama that life is unfair. Yes, life is unfair, but knowing the root of the issue helps us create a fairer world. If you were going to talk about inequality, you should have gone to the root cause. I believe art has the power to conduct change and this drama could have been a spark in that direction.

It was a good mystery drama. It was annoying, especially for someone who doesn't care about influencers, like me. It was a good social commentary, but it will go over people's heads if they aren't aware of the root causes of our social imbalance. With all the fascist propaganda going around, I'm assuming that it will be a lot of people.

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Not just summer, a strike of a lifetime, hopefully

Why did you kill Halmeoni?!!?!?!

Now that that's out of the way, let's get into the review.

I find the dramas and films with the most dreamy posters tend to be the most traumatising and yet again it was proven true.
Besides the trauma, the drama was peaceful, purposeful and exciting. I loved that the main couple decided they didn't want to live up to anyone's expectations and did their thing. I'm hoping that's what I'm doing too, so it was relatable and inspiring. I wish I were that brave sometimes.

In kdrama world we're often bombarded with a work ethic that is unhealthy and inhumane, it's refreshing to see someone realising exactly that and going the other way.

The romance was inevitable since the leads are two of a kind. I would love to see it being developed more but I know they're shy and that's part of their charm. Still, you robbed us of a kiss IN THE RAIN and I'm never going to forgive that.

I found the solving of the mystery sloppy, it could have gone horribly wrong. It was probably the most fictional part of the story. The mystery was important but wasn't as interesting as the more mundane parts of the story.

The vibe was good, the place was beautiful. I wouldn't mind moving there too. I hope one day I can live by the ocean.

One last thing, there's no need to follow harmful Disney stereotypes. You don't need to have dogs growl at bad people. Dogs can't measure morality, that's a harmful stereotype for people who can't get along with dogs for whatever reason and that doesn't make them bad people. It didn't even make the ones in the drama bad people. Whenever you think that's a good way of telling people's intentions, please remember Hitler had dogs that loved him.

I'm still not over Halmeoni. I cried so much watching this drama. Note to self: don't trust dreamy posters.


15.02.2024
I rewatched the show again (except the Halmeoni part) and I've been listening to the soundtrack since yesterday too. Summer Strike has, indeed, turned into one of my comfort shows. The theme, the ambience, the characters, the struggles, the simplicity in the way of life they enjoy and pursue are what mainly draws me to it.
It's the definition of contentment and that's my ultimate objective in life. To feel content. To feel like nothing is missing and I can simply enjoy every second of all that life brings.
Friends, food on the table, time to oneself, a fulfilling and paying job I can do from wherever, a calm city by the ocean, access to art materials and the internet and health and energy to enjoy it all.
It does seem like the perfect life. A life of enjoyment and contentment. A goal and, hopefully, not just a dream.

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Healer or Ji Chang Wook always delivers

It's a good drama but, naturally, it has its flaws.

The story was interesting and engaging up until episode 15. This could have easily been a 16 episode drama. The back story was sometimes confusing.

What put me off the most was the increasing eagerness to make Chae Yeong Shin afraid and/or repulsed by Seo Jung Hoo. She was the one who believe in his good side from the start, even before she met him, it makes absolutely no sense that she would be afraid of him after knowing him. It didn't seem natural to the character and so it made absolutely no sense to me to lead the story that way.

I liked the yearning, that's something I find myself missing in the dramas I've recently watched.

The OST is of its time, you can definitely tell it's an older drama because of that. It's very cringy at times but the start of the main theme and ending theme still get me excited.

Driving people to change for someone else will lead to resentment. I'm glad they put the parallel between being a journalist and a truth seeker, it's something that is missing in journalism today, they report without informing and without putting the truth above all else. Maybe watching this drama could inspire some journalists.

It disappointed me a little that they went with such tropes as asking the father for permission to date. Their meaning of being normal turned out being boring. You can be interesting and exciting without committing crimes. At least I'd like to think that I am. lol

I know he's supposed to be somewhat the best at everyhting but it didn't add up him being bedridden without any strength to push her out the door and in the next moment they have what seems to be hours of intense love making. He could barely open his eyes! Be for real! It took away the supposed "magic" of the moment.

Some other things don't add up but we'll leave it at that. It was a good watch nonetheless. The action was fantastic, Ji Chang Wook is one of the best in kdrama land.

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Love in times of a global pandemic

Ok! The word baby has been redeemed! I don't mind if someone calls me like that anymore! Hehe

It's cute, real, a bit cheesy sometimes, a bit sad as well, fun and heart fluttering.

Love in times of a global pandemic.
Or what a relationship is probably like all the time for me! Lol

The whole series has several layers of relatability. Besides showing what living is like during a pandemic, it shows life stories that I can recognise even in my own life and it shows the dynamics of relationships and dating long distance.

It's a rollercoaster most times but we all have those phases in life. It seems like nothing really happens for a long time and all of a sudden the whole world falls on you.

Their jealousy quarrels made me feel very uncomfortable because I lived that. It was pointless and frustrating. I don't think I can see a way out of the circle an argument like that creates. I didn't seem to see a solution in what they presented and in real life that would have resurfaced once again.

We'll see if it carries to season 2. (Hopefully not because I really hate jealousy!)

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Anti-Climax

It started well, it was fun and engaging and it had a good starting point.
The main problem I believe is the storytelling. The notion of show not tell is completely lost on this K-drama. The last episode, with the children's play, is a true representation of that. They show us the story we just watched and include the story we just watched again. It's like saying the audience isn't smart enough to take a hint.

A lot of the plot points were too forced. Everything was conveniently placed or things conveniently happened, like FL having to enter the dating show. I didn't mind that if it continued to be fun but it wasn't.

There seemed to be no romance outside of the love triangle. Once the love triangle stopped, the romance turned into a friendship.

The most important part was the emphasis on mental health and the importance of being honest with oneself.
I believe it was mostly a story about how harmful stoicism is and its implications for our mental health and our relationships with ourselves and the ones around us. So, don't bottle it up and don't go through hardships alone. We can be trees but we're also a forest.

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I guess there was a reason I waited so long to watch this. It did disappoint me a lot.

The theme is great and the relationship is mature and those were the only positive sides for me.

At the beginning it's all extremely silly, instead of it being a comedy, it turns into just silliness. The soundtrack didn't help with that at all. I do understand this drama is adapted from a webtoon but sometimes they forget the adaptation part.

Then there's a point when the main actors don't seem to be acting anymore and everything turns into a melodrama we can guess how is going to turn out that we've seen time and time again. The magic that was barely there (except for the scene at the writer's house) disappears and the overconfidence and comfort appear but that just left me uncomfortable. It was like I wasn't invited to the story anymore. It disengaged me completely.

Everyone keeps talking about the chemistry between the leads but I couldn't feel it. There wasn't any spark in their eyes and they didn't manage to put one in mine.

In the end, it was extremely boring to me. My love for the leads wasn't enough for this drama to leave a positive memory in me.

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Just because it's common, it doesn't mean it's the best for everyone

If this is the type of propaganda the South Korean government is making to fight the "marriage crisis", I can see why it's not working.

I wasn't expecting much from it. It goes along what's to be expected from a web drama. It was maybe more well produced and not as obviously reliant on "in your face" advertising, which made it easier to watch.

I don't agree with the plot. I believe it's forced and doesn't make sense. The woman who didn't want to get married is the only one who ends up married. That's not a plot twist because it goes against what she wanted for herself. It comes from an ultimatum. Both situations are ultimatums. The only way you can get women to do what men want is through ultimatums and social pressure and not through their own accord.

The woman who was taking in information that made here weary of marriage was the one who only had the choice of either getting married or breaking up with someone she was only seeing for a year. They obviously had different goals in life, she was still figuring out what she wanted and was made rush a decision against her instinct.

The other couple was obviously very immature, even if they had been together for longer. It doesn't make sense to break up because she's doing an internship in another country, especially after he was in the military and they didn't break up because of that. It was good that he came to his senses and didn't try stopping her from pursuing the career she wants. It doesn't make sense breaking up because you're trying to better yourself as a person. A relationship is supposed to be common growth and shared growth as well. It must be an Asian ideal I don't think I'll ever understand.

The single girl didn't make sense in all of it. Why would she intentionally mess with a taken man? She wasn't even in love with him, she just wanted to get married and she thought they were a match because he wanted to get married as well. It's really grim when basic manners are perceived as affection or even love. That should be the basics of human relationships.

In conclusion, this show makes it seem as if every woman wants to get married and to a man. The truth is that more and more women are choosing to be single. A recent study showed that single women are the happiest and most satisfied demographics. Maybe we should start reflecting that in our media instead of trying to push an outdated model that doesn't server and wasn't designed to serve women at all.

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I still don't know why her

It was exciting for a little bit and then it was just meh.
It was very predictable from the start but predictability is OK so long as the right decisions are made and the interest is kept. That's not what happened.

Some decisions were ridiculous, others infuriating. The ending is anticlimactic.

I still had some fun and enjoyed some of the secondary characters. There was too much emphasis on Oh Soo Jae. I know she was the main character but there comes a point where you can't have so many secondary characters and they simply disappear or are simply plot devices. Even the male lead wasn't a lead, he was a secondary character.

Still, I couldn't figure out why her. It's very random that this all happened to her.

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Insecure men are the most dangerous

This was a really nice watch. It had real people, in real settings. There was actual storytelling. It didn't feel like they were trying to sell me something, be it beauty or products to get me to be a standardised beauty, be it regular products, clothes, cars, cosmetics, jewellery - I'm not buying anything!!! It was nice not to have a single packet of kopiko throughout the whole show. I do know there are production costs but the type of dramas like this one prove you can actually tell a story without it turning into a commercial.

I have to say, I hated Min Gi so damn much! They were mostly losers, all of them, but he was a straight up incel. He calls Seol Ha 1 a bitch because she doesn't love him back. He then will spend his whole life chasing after this lost illusion of love because, in his mind, it's a game he lost. That's also why he tries and fails to finish the marathon, instead of dealing with the rejection like a normal person.

Insecure men are the worst kind of men.
Min Gi fell in love with a manic pixie dream girl and that obviously has no cure. He thinks he isn't superficial for not being attracted primarily to looks but he assigns a story and a personality to his romantic interests, instead of getting to know them and then gets angry and frustrated when they turn out different from his imagination. He doesn't like the women, he likes the idea of them and how they make him feel. They like him for his cuteness and effort but he then gets hung up on what he thinks it's important, even if the women say it's not or it's what they want or expect. That's what happened with the shoes, instead of listening to her, he felt his ego bruised and tried to fix that instead of focusing on his relationship.

All of the male leads have very obvious shortcomings, I believe that's the purpose of the drama. Even if the males have the main roles in this drama, the women's characters are more rounded and overall they're stronger and more complex and the men. They know what they want, they don't hesitate and they exist on their own, not in the vicinity of these men.

The one who got the girl was the one who actually did some growing. He didn't simply do his own thing, he put thought into what the girl liked and the talks they had together, the fun, the care. When she raised the issue that they didn't really know each other, he actually did the work to get to know each other. He saw her as a person. He seemed the most vain and yet was the deepest.

Kwon Gi Hyeok let his insecurities win. He took action but probably too late. He chased after her but she was long gone.

So Ju Yeon is probably still waiting for No Jun Seok to take action and will have to wait all her life. His hangup isn't clear. Probably the friendship they have shared all their life but we see he got scared when he saw that he had to spend the night on the trip to the beach with her. His insecurity will throw her again into the arms of another man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to say it. It says a lot that he valued the bro code over his friendship with the girl he loved. I can't forgive him not saying anything to her when he caught her boyfriend cheating. That's not the action of a friend and even less the action of someone in love. He didn't protect her. At the end, she is frustrated with him and that's honestly fair. But that's apparently who he is.

Overall, it was a great drama! It was fun and it reminded me of 20 or so years ago. It wasn't a heavy drama, which was refreshing but I must be traumatised because I was expecting the Korean truck of death or any other thing to happen at the most random times. I'm glad it didn't go that way.

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Sun in the day

Sun in the day would have been a more accurate title.

I did like this drama. The story was captivating but the storytelling was dreadful.
The constant back and forth between the past and present could have been done better, this way it feels like we're watching the same scenes over and over again. There isn't anything new to show when you have to watch the same scene, sometimes from various angles or in different lengths. That wasn't good storytelling.

The Kdrama industry could stop adapting webtoons without fundamentally changing them. They're different medias, what works in a webtoon doesn't work in a kdrama. It's not really an adaptation when you don't ADAPT it to the media as well. Webtoons aren't storyboards, or they shouldn't be. This isn't a problem with this drama alone. From a decade watching kdramas, this is my diagnosis. Please, fix it!

It's a very interesting story but I feel like it just scratched the surface.
The characters are interesting but a bit unaware of their circumstances, even when they're entirely known to them and to us. This way, we get a warrior who doesn't face the fact he was a killing machine at the will and profit of his father, only to continue the killing to protect his love, sending that same love over a cliff for that same reason.

I would have loved to watch this story if done with more courage and less loose ends and that's the reason for my high score. It's a story that makes you think about their motivations and decisions. It's too bad the writers didn't make the characters think as much about that as well.

It's also sad that a story about such courageous characters could be so mild in its storytelling. If they filmed all the blood and swords so why didn't they show it? The story lost a lot of strength due to the age restriction. I don't understand why they decided to have such an explicitly violent drama toned down like this. It's not that I like gore but it did reduce the impact of the story and the strength of the characters.

The past and present personas are obviously different. The past characters are more interesting than the present ones. Capitalism has done a number on us, we're viewed as vapid and shallow. The firefighter stereotype is what bothers me the most. Firefighters are some of the most messed up people in the world, you have to be to be able to deal with so much trauma and pain. A delicate flower like FL doesn't seem to have what it takes to be one. She's not as complex as her past self and she keeps on saying phrases from the past that don't have the same meaning in the present. Them falling in love doesn't make much sense under that perspective. Her value for life comes from her profession and not from the connection she has to ML.

A lot of the solutions and clues are all there, everyone can see them. The characters can see them and we can see them. The characters not being able to put 2+2 means that they're daft or that the writers think the audience is daft.
For 1500 and 18 reincarnations the ghost never found it odd that FL died very single time before her 30th birthday? He had to be a good strategist to be such a good warrior, so that also doesn't make sense. In FL's dream, the father explicitly puts a curse on her and she still doesn't realise the source of it all. I would have liked it if they went deeper into what went wrong in their life together and how the father is the source of their misfortune. It's not that he didn't kill the father (though that solved it), it's not that she didn't trust they could have a life together after so much killing, it's not that she didn't love him enough. He lived his whole life for his father and then he lived his life for her. He didn't develop a sense of self and couldn't even do it as a ghost since his reason for existing was to protect her. She lived to die at the hands of a vindictive father that was angry at the person who stopped his plans and his life. Her purpose was to take the place of the ML in the father's sadistic quest. It makes sense that such a self-serving person would hold a grudge about that. To break the cycle, they had to end the source of the curse. It just feels a bit lacking. It could have been more to it.

The ending doesn't make sense. There's too much inconsistency to what happens to ghosts in human bodies. It doesn't make sense that Han Jun Oh came back and the CEO didn't. They had said that his soul had passed and that's why the ghost was able to possess the body and that makes sense. It can also make sense that the ghost has access to a lot of the memories because they are stored in the body. It doesn't make sense that Han Jun Oh comes back and the health problem that didn't have a solution suddenly has one. He wasn't there anymore, we saw that when the ghost's spirit was ejected by that yellow talisman the monk placed on his chest. The ghost was out of the body and there was no pulse, Jun Oh was not there anymore. He shouldn't have come back. It would have been devastating to see the face and shell of the man you loved everywhere, over a lifetime. A constant reminder of the love you couldn't live. I'm glad they could meet in another life. That part was a good ending.

I could talk about all these inconsistencies all night but I'll end it here. It was an interesting story anyway and I enjoyed the time I spent watching most of it.

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No Starch

I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that this was written by the same person who wrote Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, one of my most favourite Kdramas. It's true, people are entitled to try to write something light and unserious, however, there's no excuse for writing nonsense. I honestly thought I was watching a webtoon adaptation the whole time, I just checked who the writer was after I finished.

The main issue for me is the "webtooness". The reactions are too frequently over the top, which makes it seem insincere instead of funny or light. If you're going for light, you can't take serious issues and treat them as if they're a discussion about favourite colours. The storytelling seems lazy, things seem to miraculously succeed one another out of the blue, in some sort of magic trick. "uh, we need more potatoes and are now looking for all we can have so we can put the leads together now that they're mad at each other. Uhh the youngest team member is an agricultural silver spoon, so he'll magically solve the issue that isn't needed anymore to make the leads solve a life destroying issue with two words and a sorry".

If they were aiming for something light, they shouldn't have brought up heavy or complex subjects that they didn't intend to respect. There are many examples of this, starting with the elephant in the room, FL forgiving everyone who betrayed her and fucked up her life without a single reason to do so. There's no drive for forgiveness to be granted other than mild regret and tears. A LOT OF TEARS.

She was betrayed by her boyfriend, not only that, he was planning a wedding with another woman while still dating her. She was bullied and lost her job because of that. The person who had NOT ONLY gotten her fired, also had gotten her bullied and discredited was, again, firing her and calling her incompetent.
Her best friend and basically twin, the person who was almost her extension, knew her boyfriend was not only betraying her but planning a whole wedding behind her back was incapable of letting her BEST FRIEND know because then she would be the one to blame for their break up?!?!?!?! WHAT SENSE DOES THAT MAKE?!?! They're presented as soulmates and she was afraid of a mild rage for telling the truth and getting her friend out of a fucked up situation? It doesn't make any sense. That's not lightness, that's lazy writing and stupid. She wasn't an acquaintance, she was her soulmate, she would be the first person to have her back, how could she not have her back in such an important situation? That's a level of betrayal that shouldn't be overlooked. And she only came clean 6 years after! That could ruin a relationship or at least warrant more than some tears and mild regret followed by instant reassurance.

On the same line, you can't say a person who was abandoned and became and orphan at an age that they remember that they don't know what it's like to lose someone. They're the epitome of loss. He had a mother who abandoned him at a train station. He though they would come back for him but they didn't. He lost a whole family and became an orphan. He knows what it's like to lose someone. Even if you don't have a parent, you learn early in life what it feels like to be lacking something everyone else seems to have. Once you're in contact with the world, the world will make sure you're lacking and there will be a hole there that will never be filled. He knows loss.

You can make a drama light but you have to make it make sense. Please!

The main reason I'm making this review is the propaganda. The potato famine was a deliberate strategy by the UK government towards Ireland with genocide as the intent. It wasn't a famine, it was a genocide. On Wikipedia we can read "Large amounts of food were exported from Ireland during the famine and the refusal of London to bar such exports, as had been done on previous occasions, was an immediate and continuing source of controversy, contributing to anti-British sentiment and the campaign for independence. Additionally, the famine indirectly resulted in tens of thousands of households being evicted, exacerbated by a provision forbidding access to workhouse aid while in possession of more than one-quarter acre of land." It wasn't because of a potato infection, it was due to policies that deliberately removed other sources of food from the Irish because, according to the British, they lacked moral character. That is genocide and not famine. The same way they called what happened in Ireland a famine, they're now calling what's happening in Gaza a famine too. It's the same strategy and we can't keep repeating the same propaganda and the same mistakes if we want a just world.

I know this is supposed to be a light drama but don't mention or pick heavy subjects if you want to keep it light.

I'll still be looking forward to this writer's next drama, anyway.

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I don't know

It took me a long time to finish this. The episodes aren't long but they're also not engaging.
The story is full of holes and nonsensical at times and the storytelling is sloppy. I didn't dislike the acting but it's also nothing special. ML was his usual self. FL was very stoic. I'm getting the feeling they don't hire real people to act, they seem to all have to fall into these standards that make them seem plastic or unreal. I guess we can blame Asian beauty standards for that. They're destroying people's uniqueness and beauty.

The last scene makes absolutely no sense and seems like it was made by a 10 yo obsessed with getting married and being a wife.
THEY WERE ALREADY MARRIED!!!

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Colouring oppression pink doesn't make it go away

I'm just going to make a review because this drama was sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, so this is a political message (even more than all other art that isn't directly sponsored by branches of government) that needs to be dissected so we understand where we're at and what's happening and what we can do with the information we're provided.

Branding and marketing are tools of capitalism to convince us to buy shit we don't need and clean the image of very dodgy people and businesses. So branding is about manipulating the truth and straight out lying and that's what they did with this drama to sell us South Korea as a place with wholesome business and work practices.

The South Korean president is a conservative right wing politician who has worsened the labour conditions for Koreans and foreigners working in South Korea. Companies are places of work, they're not families or kind and friendly. Selling that image tricks workers into thinking they're more than just numbers in a spreadsheet. Currently, they have a 52-hour workweek and the government wanted to increase it to 69 hours just last year. This year, they loosened the labour laws which has already resulted in the death of several workers, korean and foreign. Just last week there were news of a 19 year old who died on the job in South Korea. You can't sell bosses and CEO's as friendly and close to their workers when this is the reality of your work culture in your country.

Working hard in this economy is not a moral trait, it says nothing about your character. It's very much representative of our collective exploitation as members of the working class. Trusting companies is a fallacy. There's no such thing as an ethical billionaire, as there is no such thing as ethical major companies. Companies will do what benefits their profits the most.
Our ethical marketer, in the form of the FL, pushed the idea that cooperation with big companies is a way of helping small businesses. That's not what happens in the real world. In the real world, big companies buy small companies off and profit from their labour, turning the market into an oligopoly where eventually they are able to control the market and, in the long run, the consumers because competition no longer exists in oligopolies. That's what was going to happen with the candle business and that is what would happen with the motor business. They marketed charity as a way to clean one's image and that's what charity ultimately does, it doesn't change anything and it offers temporary patches to issues that require structural solutions to have any kind of impact.

It's the same with representation. I'm glad there was a lot of representation and there was an effort to show the drama as inclusive and progressive. That could have been great because we should be portraying the world we ultimately want to create. It's not so great when you pair representation with a push to abide by conformity, like changing the image of the sex toy shop CEO. You can't break taboos and non-conformity by conforming.

Representation that isn't free isn't representation and charity isn't social justice.
This is the main message I want to leave here after having watched this drama because I feel it's important to remove the rose coloured glasses to have a sense of what they're really selling us.

This is a worldwide trend of softening the image of the entities that oppress us, we see that with companies that pretend to treat us like family by providing company dinners but refusing to pay livable wages and with yt women occupying the leadership of fascist parties. That's not justice or liberation, it's branding.

About the story:
It was a fun drama. It had good pace and good acting. It was a bit theatrical in some representations but I can live with that, it was fun anyway. I'm a bit disappointed they chose a basic villain with not much of a story except a thirst for power in the form of a higher place in a company, it's not even to own the company. It seems like a very basic and low stake motivation.

I liked the representation and the not shying away from talking about taboo themes, even considering what I said before. Most of the characters were unlikable and I still have doubts about the redemption of some of them but they were fun, nonetheless.
I don't know how the mains fixed their relationship, it wasn't a topic that could have been glossed over very easily. I'm deciding not to analyse that. I've already over analysed the premise of the drama. Anyway, go watch it, it's fun but don't let yourself be fooled by propaganda.

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