kitty10

You and me both. I'm pretty disappointed that all clues are leading to Ok-nam ending with Geum, which I just can't... he looks like her kid brother! I can't buy him as the husband, and there's something a bit annoying about him that I don't like. I don't think he's as innocent as he looks. Like, he played sabotage in ep 8 to stop Ok-nam from going to Prof Jung's house.

Much prefer Ok-nam with Prof Jung, would have been nice for her to fall for him regardless of whether he is her husband.

Vaguely remember watching Tokyo Raiders before but wasn't impressed. Tony Leung has had better works.

Always nice to see a Kurosawa film mentioned.

I was rooting for the sensei, haha.

Thanks for adding more Japanese content on MDL. We definitely need more coverage of Japanese stuff here.

Oguri Shun looked nothing like a high-schooler in Nobunaga Concerto though.

Isomura is doing quite decently in Suits and has some potential. Shirahama was stiff and meh in Hirunaka no Ryuusei though.

Aww, Ok-nam would end up with Kim Geum? I thought she was destined for Yi-hyun. I agree Kim Geum and Jeom Soon are cuter together.

Agree with what you've said. They twisted themselves into knots trying to get out of the incest angle. To the extent that nothing else made sense. The brother had no good reason to stab, so he just looked desperate and irrational. Squinty lacked depth and was just annoying. The double death was silly as well.

It's just how it is when some k-drama fans love the lead couple and want a happy ending regardless of plot and tone. Like, in this case, the brother was seen as an obstacle to "twuu wuv" because they removed the incest angle so he had no reason to do what he did, unlike in the original where he actually had a reason to stop Ryo and Yuko from being together.

The remake had no balls, and spent 16 episodes trying to twist itself out of the incest plot. The double death makes zero sense in the context of things.

Agree. They really did the brother character a huge disservice by making him like this. Kanzo really cared about Yuko, but here, Jin-gook just seemed irrational. Once the remake decided to get rid of the incest angle, it just spent 16 episodes twisting itself into knots trying to get out of that angle. That cop-out in ep 15 was hilarious! And pretty disgusting to do it that way. As a result, character motivations seemed even more illogical, with Jin-gook being one of the chief casualties. Squinty's character also got watered down big time, thus losing a lot of the moral struggles that characterised Ryo. And the rubbish that is the other killer... who probably didn't even have enough motivation to kill an ant. So hilariously, it all comes back to the "evil chaebols". It's never about the characters themselves, but the chaebols. Totally missed the themes of the original, but what's new, right?

PSW was decent, as he always is. Squinty lacked depth and substance to carry off even this watered down role. He and JSM didn't have chemistry. They did look like siblings though!

It's just a cheap trick to wring viewers' tears and angst.

Done!

Please, I know stars is in the original title. And you call this toxic? C'mon. You haven't seen toxic.

The stars are probably the fireworks for a happy ending, since the remake chickened out of the incest angle, and likely also the double death bit. Well, we knew they didn't have the guts, and they proved it.

Wow, what a cop-out!

See, they chickened out after all. What a disgusting tactic to use to trick viewers.

See, ultimately she has a right to know because it concerns her too. People slam the detective brother for not telling her anything and trying to protect her in his own way, but then excuse Squinty for hiding it from her. The double standards...

he could tell her the truth, ffs. but well, gotta draw out the makjang.

this is a k-drama after all, so of course a happy ending for the cutesy main couple is always appropriate.

There are so many ways and 2 hours for them to wriggle out of the incest and death storylines, what with this "love will save us" rubbish the director was apparently spouting. In the end, even if they had the balls to go with the original ending, the fact that they dragged out an 11-episode story to 16 episodes means they watered down everything, added a bunch of filler crap, took away the impact of key revelations and just made it a cutesy melodrama with a bit of suspense here and there. There's no depth to Squinty's character, for one, and the others just don't cut it. The acting and chemistry are below par.

People just aren't realising the themes behind the original story. But what's new? korea always butchers the Japanese original in the arrogant belief it can one up the original.

5++ episodes of filler, is what happened. And giving away plot twists in the press conference and first couple of episodes.