kestonis

The only thing I do not like here. It is not XiXi father, but reaction to him by other characters.
His character is actually work of genius. Follow my reason. At first he seams just innocent irresponsible father with best intentions but actually he is manipulative beast in higher order who is selfish and actually never cares about daughter. I would be afraid to meet such person in real life. Here a list of his manipulations as of 18 ep.:
- slides in dinner table after 10+ years missing like nothing happened, so his daughter would be uncomfortable show her true emotions near elder people she respects and must accept being near him.
- first mention of daughter in conversation, is that soon he will force his adult daughter to live with him in Africa. It is so outrageous and smart move, because he changes topic. It becomes not about past but future and she has no right to question whether he should be in her future life at all
- plays pitiful as he has no place to sleep
- makes trouble at home to force daughter's attention to him. As daughters starts to speak he never lets her to express her pain. He shifts situation that daughter would be angry and not talk about past
- as he is out of tricks starts beating himself, so daughter leaves anger and has no other choice but accept him

In short he manipulated daughter into anger and then he made that anger dissipate so that would not need to hear about her pain and he does not have to heal that pain. He never apologised to her.

As he forced into her life. Follows:
- tries to manipulate daughter into conflict with her adoptive family, so she should be greedy and ask company shares.
-tries to manipulate daughter into conflict with her love interest.

It is disgusting when everyone around XiXi forces her to accept father just because of blood relations.

In latest episode XiXi best friend says that father fights for her. No he does not. He takes zero actions towards daughters benefit. He just forces her fight own battles, the ones she probably lose. He helps her nothing.

First ever realistic business oriented Asian drama (saw almost all Korean, Chinese and Thai business dramas, do not know about Japanese). Usually it was about schemes, revenge stories or struggle or fright poor vs. rich. Business is about connections and maintaining them. Business is about making choices from unlimited possibilities (not like A or B, A - separate from your bf/gf B - go bankrupt).

Here are so many excellent moments then leads try maintain connections in circumstances there is no one in control. Secondary characters are realistic businessman, not just some one dimensional characters written just to make leads suffer and they do not have illogical lifegoals like make ML kneel before him or smth.

Saw "Love Designer" as good writing, but this one is miles better.

Brainwashing means that you follow someone's logic steps (drama narrative) leaving all the context and without seeing big picture do not take whole facts as a sum. I challenge not person or his opinion, but that they might be missing/ignoring facts.

If you see from historical context can you explain why this married couple do not have sex? Also is it possible to exchange wifes between royal family members (except king), like one divorces and other marries that divorcee? Why Prince An still is in picture of love triangle?

King does not have only one son. If one of them made such "mistake" he would not forgive him so easily and return back general position. What is this charade - marriage and then few months later divorce. Like king forgot why did he agreed to this marriage in the first place. And now he changes his decision. From historical context, man changing own decisions is insult to yourself. Everything you say would be correct of if marriage edict would be before Duke Su mishap. This could be reason for divorce. Either king should never agree to this marriage, either he should pressure from other aspect. Kings first priority would be save the face, not to choose right person for position of general of guards.

That you say about political things they all correct. But you missed important peace - he is prince, not just some political figure. What seems political suicide, might be win in long term. If prince has too much political power then he is in the game of being crown prince. Then this becomes life and death scenario, if he does not become next king. So for prince most important to have invisible political power, not being on frontline in political disputes. Therefore in first episodes he was not happy to having position of general as soon as he returned to capital. Being in official position is better target for his enemies. As military official he knows that (Sun Tzu war idealogy). Also he never shows interest in political games nor does he want political power.

>stop making things up
in first synopsis they said in the end he and rong will retire from capital and leave peaceful life. Later synopsis was changed. So he is never in play for crown.

In my opinion, this drama is excellent minus Prince An character. This is so nonsensical character. Either he should be written as evil, either he should be not the main mastermind. From other comments, in the original novel he is little of importance character, not like in drama. As in second half producers shift focus to this character it greatly decreases quality of this drama.

I strongly voice this opinion so early, because if someone from producing team will hear (zero chance) maybe they correct mistakes and focus less on Prince An and his backstory.

Seems you are brainwashed like writers and producers intended to. There was time there he was not general of guards (actually whole marriage). Did he was unhappy? No. Did he complain? No. Did he was sent somewhere? No. Did he tried to get that position? No. For a half series it was not a problem and suddenly it is his identity, like he could not live without it.

> deep down Fu Rong knows that they can get back together.
Does viewer fell that it will be happy ending, or character knows? Where was no sleep-prediction to indicate that she knows.

Here are more points to know that in this drama brainwashing happens:
Leads love each other and do not have standing misunderstandings, and are not ill and still they do not consummate marriage. Because writers intend to bring back Prince An into the game of love triangle. And there will be mental gymnastics to reason that. Something like "Brother, I as Prince An must marry ex-concubine Rong so that Duke Su could forget her, please make emperor edict". Emperor "Ok". Prince An " Please marry me that Duke Su would chose to marry Princess of Xihe in order to rise up in ranks". Rong "Ok I will marry you, because deep down I know in the end I will get back together with Duke Su" Will you still find this reasonable??

Another thing is writers never connects Prince An to the thousands innocent people he murdered. They mention it in the details, but never connects, because to show that he is not very evil and he will have decent redemption ark.

What is this nth level mental gymnastic to make their separation semi logic? Can anyone explain how it is related whom general is married to trusting him by army? Is general supposed to not save his family then it is in danger, because that army will be afraid of? If he marries another woman he will not try save her?

How Fu Rong can interpret this as sacrificing? He never said that being general of guards is his life goal and he is f*cking prince. To make analogy in todays time, she divorces him - a billionaire heir so that he can fill up some position in the company that he did not want.

I understood that at last writers created couple who can communicate, understand and respect each other and therefore have no idea how to separate them. Like they do not have ability to create complex characters and their reasonable conflicts when both sides are right. Furthermore couple "must" separate because it is standard and writers have no flexibility.

It is so fake...

Asian standard -> First half of drama = focus on leads (protagonists) = entertaining part -> Second half drama = focus on evil people (antagonists) and their sick illogical reasoning = unentertaining part. Result = many people like me drop second half

Who don't know, it should be -> second half drama = still focus on leads in different circumstances displaying their character growth and more complex nuances. When will they learn?

Disgusting to watch. FL is so unprofessional in her work. As a psychologist, she flirted with the client from the very first session, while ML was total jerk and behaved like child with undeveloped EQ.

Terrible script. Acting level of school play. Seems it was filmed with the phone but worse quality than Tik Tok videos and in between scenes added shutterstock videos. Holly trinity - script, acting and production. Drama is worth to be representing 2020 year.

How in the world somebody picked up to translate this crap while so many definitely 100x times better are untouched?

Backstory is traditional for revenge drama. And usual victim of it here is 2ML, instead of ML. To do that writers turned 2ML into coward and it was very disappointing for me.
After big reveal in ep 12 turns out that ML father is lawyer and betrayed 2ML father by changing sides after getting all evidence from 2ML.
What irks me most what 2ML does not do anything to lawyer and does not include him into his revenge plan. Instead he chooses only to shoot messenger which is ML. Like he has no hate towards ML's father, never mentions him.
Also for revenge plan he chooses some random girl near ML who works only month in company. Obvious choice for revenge target would be 2FL, which is business partner.

I never saw so poorly written backstory comparing to overall drama quality.

ML should be comically not normal, but it is actually realistic. I do not know if it happened intentionally or it was writers screw up. Drama title confuses, because, apart first scenes with FL, ML uses white lies many times and is just typical jerk under disguise of honesty. All the scenes there he is "honest", he could say in different tone and everything would be alright. But he uses language which makes feel everyone is beneath him. So main theme of honesty vs. lie is poorly executed. But it made characters more realistic and more likeable to me.

Although I really liked 12 episodes, I am gonna drop this, because I think second half will be too concentrated on disastrous backstory and poor writing will make this drama unwatchable.

From 12 ep my biggest surprise, the most likeable, that FL remains assistant with limited capability. Not like in other dramas suddenly secretary turns into business genius and uses high EQ which saves the company. She does not know better than CEO or anyone else in company. It is more realistic scenario.
It is another jerk CEO and poor girl drama, but it is most realistic one and done in high quality. I like it. Minus backstory between ML and 2ML. It is executed poorly.

Yeah I was. It was shock to me at the moment. After watching about 20 of them, I accepted as a norm and became brainwashed like everyone else. Now I am just disappointed that in the world exists country there raping on national television is a norm and it is beginning of love story. I would strongly suggest every thai parent who births a daughter emigrate from that country.

I will put on hold to see, because these "surprising turns" are far more disappointing than resolutions. Usually writers put very cheap ridiculous things - f.e. there was kidnapping in family drama out of nowhere. As here both are medics, probably will put some serious disease, life and death situation with scene on operation table or even brain tumour. Because of these situations everything is forgiven and forgotten. I would not call it life lessons.

Yeah it is really weird. I saw few dramas raise double in laws problem but never in the end both couples were married at the same time. Most funny for me, that problem is only about titles, they would not know how to call each other. They cannot figure hierarchy who could whom speak down/abuse. As outsider, I see Korean culture problem, how they are ok abusing people, whether at work or at home. It so hundred years behind other developed countries. It happens here too, but we at least not say that this is ok.

To analyse character's dynamics deeper.

NH's is emotionally dense and her ideal partner is who constantly pushes her out of comfort zone, makes look at the world less serious. Which was GJ. But she took him for granted and never appreciated his efforts in their relationship. Therefore she never took this opportunity to grow, became more comfortable with herself and more ignorant to other people emotions. It reflects especially with her colleagues, because she felt safe do anything because her husband worked there too. These relationship were very unfair to GJ. And then miscarriage happened. GJ blames her not for miscarriage but for relationship what were before that. As situation changed GJ behaviour remain the same, he tried to push her out of comfort zone, make jokes to uplift the mood. But this was not what NH needed. Therefore these relationship became very unfair to NH. GJ continued sacrificing himself, but not letting himself grief, and NH could not grief because GJ always tried uplift the mood. This led to their divorce.

This sounds very complex and interesting buildup for the story. Idea is that NH's seriousness and GJ's playfulness makes them ideal pair. After loss they should not find solace in themselves instead they should go to their extremes separately - NH more serious, and GJ same. NH should find serious male friend with similar experience, more mature than her. Through him she could achieve grief faster. GJ should interact with child, more playful than him. Then after going to these extremes they should see their partners in new light, reconcile and make relationship even stronger than before, just the question whether remain romantically together or not.

But execution of such idea is beyond terrible. At first they wrongly cast both actors who express emotions over top. Their fighting scenes are funny, commercial appeal and trailers are good, suitable for comedy. But then they chose character arcs where most of screen time they are separated, totally forgetting initial selling point. Then to use actress strengths, they make her character bitchy over the top. GJ's character alone has no place in the story, so they use screen time to maintain status as "main" make him miserable. Also to maintain drama status as comedy they concentrated on zealousness and over top interaction between leads when they find new lovers. Every decision of producing team is train-wreck. Seems they did not get that story is about grief, not relationship between leads.

I do not get why so much discussion over simple matter. I cannot remember any korean family drama where ends with double-in-laws, unless one of them had birth secret. Best case scenario one pair gets open ending.
Drama gets hate just because writers chose wrong pair as main and viewers hate open endings.
Here DH and YJS definitely will end up together and resolve family issues just by having different personalities from NH and GJ. Seems it will pave a way to reconcile other pair by removing evil-mother-in-law obstacle. But it will be too late.

NH's character's arc - not understanding self-emotions, low EQ. When she will realise, GJ will be already moved on. Then she will grow through this pain and transform her personality and achieve success in career. It will be in last few episodes, as usual for such arc. Sadly such arc dictates the pace for main pair.
NH gets hate not because "strong woman", but because she is clueless in emotions, especially self, has zero empathy and comes around as jerk. Male version of such characteristics - typical cheating husband character.
NH gets love, not because "bitchy personality", but because actress is expressive comparing to asian dramaland and audiences love that. I think it is bad casting to chose actress which is good at showing emotions over top for character with low EQ. So if you watch drama more logically you hate her character, if you watch drama more emotionally you love her character.

GJ's character's arc - never serious, high EQ. Usually such arc gets playboy husband or best friend who is only friend. This is something new. His growth will be then he gets serious and moves on from NH. Only then he will get attention from NH, as she only wanted from him getting serious. Until then he will look divorce as a game, which will make him miserable. Female version of such characteristics - optimistic uneducated housewife character.

We are more used to see NH's and GJ's characters in different genders. This role reversal sounds interesting but execution is terrible. Sticking to character's arcs is everything wrong in this drama. Main couple's story is most boring in this drama. Sadly, they touch very interesting topics - how to heal after miscarriage/child loss, how to grow from bad communication, misunderstandings, how to change focus from weaknesses into strengths of your partner, how to reconcile. These topics are amazingly interesting and I would watch every drama on them. Just here these topics are only filler to character arcs and do not impact story anyhow. It is impossible to develop these topics within these character arcs.

I am looking at this bundle of actor's cast and character arcs and main story. No matter from what angle, these do not fit at all. I am rolling eyes - what writers and producers where thinking from very beginning to bring such disaster together?

I am skipping main pair scenes, as other couple's stories are hundred times interesting. It is unusual for me. Minus main pair it is such excellent drama.

I rewatched last episode again. Su A real daughter is largest shareholder and remains till the end. She only delegates shares to Chea Rin - means she can make decisions in Su A name but actually does not own shares. It is pathetic ending for Chea Rin.

I think it has to do with the name of drama. I thought it was another food drama and did not started watching straight away. One day I was bored and thought to skip it through, just to see what about it is. Unexpectedly it is not another food drama. I am happy that found this gem.

Good point. I was not aware till reading your comment. I think it will be revealed how he met them in second half, but it will be just it, he will not have own story. They only chose him to be a gay, that he is not involved in any love triangle. I think removing his character would make drama better, but it would be harder job for writers, to think more natural ways for main characters interact. They used him as cheat code to make their jobs easier.

First part of drama is genius work minus antagonists characters. I know second half drama will go downhill, because it is always about revealing antagonists story. What I saw in ep. 8 I really did not liked it, no empathy for these exes. They are so inhumane, comically bad.

First half was perfect, even though it is slow paced comedy and there is no story happening.
-many interesting and funny secondary characters, especially that homeless guy. Plus their interactions. And many one sentence jokes from them.
-amazing acting between leads, they are so deep in character. Their scenes seems had many takes, as every sentence of their dialogues are meaningful and comes natural. Felt like watching quality movie. I watched 200+ kdramas, it is the first one, which has so detail oriented scenes. It is done on international level. In their scenes they able to translate such complex emotions, be so vulnerable. I am amazed.
-bravo for producers. Each episode has its own hidden theme. F.e. in one episode was full of goodbyes. But instead goodbye had meaning that new friendships are forming. It kinda woke me it is the best way to display warm and nostalgic feeling of meeting interesting person.
-amazing soundtrack

One thing - it is the name of drama and synopsis. I was expecting many food scenes and be food oriented. I think they lost huge part of audience by choosing wrong name for drama.

Another kdrama there koreans unable to write evil character. eff... had high hopes for drama. Dropped in the middle of 12 ep. After FL regained memory every step became illogical. First thing she should go to police and then meet lawyers. The last thing sane person would do to go alone to negotiate with super powerful person who tried to kill you numerous times. (at ep 11). I gave pass as bad writing and continued watching. Writers surprised how bad they can be and I thought ep 11 was FL character lowest point. But noo.. In ep. 12 she managed to discuss her love life with this psycho and take advice from him.

I looked for comedy but got only melodrama. In beginning there few funny scenes at first, but melodrama took over quickly. It had FL character superconfident because she is super rich and it was interesting how it reacts in usual scenes of poor girl, but quickly her character turned into usual brainless girl in love.
For all main characters parents hold all the cards and power but there was no normal human being between them. All older generation were antagonists and evil minded, as it was melodrama it became too much.
For final episode it is zero emotional intellect.
Why person with terminal illness has green light to inflict the pain to other people. And it is portrayed as she was "good". She was same evil just on the next level. She did not want marry him at all. She just wanted to inflict the pain to him by separating his love and washing away all the blame because she stopped at the last minute. It is like mafia boss gives the gun to his underling to shoot himself, but last minute stops. It is psychological torture. And ML was not strong enough psychologically and took the bait.
I do not understand why such ending cliche still exists in 21st century? Because it is total nonsense.

Leads romantic story projection is - enemies, frenemies, friends, lovers. Usually most satisfying part of such projection and emotional peak is their realization of their own feelings and it takes at least few episodes. Here it does not happen till last episode and lasts comically about 10 seconds. I could not stop laughing from such absurd.
Everything would be perfect if it was 45 episode drama not 31