OK. I just started this.. And I am going to RAVE about it.. ALREADY.....AND.... Ask a question about something which is getting in the way immensely and ANNOYING me hugely.
I don't want spoilers.. But can someone who watched the show just answer my query with a YES or NO.
Am going to tag Spoiler and ask the question below.
The show has its good moments. But I'm having issues with the writing. The biggest fail was when they made the…
👀👀
How am I not surprised??
This writer-producer duo have great teamwork when it comes to doing the least amount of work and stuffing Drama with microfill / thermocol to pack a kernel of an idea so well in fluff that you can't even find it.
I can't believe I went through your entire comment....lol..... It was fun reading your pov.....I can't wait till…
🤓🫣😲😶🫢😑
I think PHS / PSH it is... We have watched them in such good strong dramas that it's amazing to see how terrible a choice then made to be stuck in this contract 🙈
Plus it just might be a case of rubber-necking while crossing / passing a bloody wreck of a road kill.
DISCLAIMER :OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER ..So those who will…
And YES @Kevin Toronto YES.
This space on MDL is all about "expressing" one's thoughts about ALL or as many eps of a Drama one watches.. 😁
It is not only a space for writing "dissertation" level love notes to a show (I've done that too.. Full on biased effusion of love for a show) but also criticism of what doesn't work.
It's free choice and each person's prerogative to avoid reading it, to skip it.. AND / or write a eulogy about it.
DISCLAIMER :OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER ..So those who will…
Hi @Kevin Toronto
Really sorry to hear about your personal experience of such an intimate level and private nature which you generously shared on a Drama Discussion platform.
There is no denying the serious nature of mental health issues specifically those which might lead to serious self harm.
My take above was NOT on "medical treatment / advise / expert medical knowledge" but on the Drama per se; how flimsy the vehicle for exploring such serious topic was.
I doubt one should be watching this Drama for life-lessons or "self - help" or any sort of "medical reasons" or even any shred of Real Life (slice of life) resonance.
There's plenty of honest to goodness effort and research which has gone into making films / serials / documentaries out there which have been crafted with care and caution.
This drama makes a mockery of mental health reducing it to a farce.
Dangerous for those who have no experience of it and take this as "reality"
DISCLAIMER :OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER ..So those who will…
DISCLAIMER : OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER .. So those who will get triggered advise you to not read any of the above.
Those who haven't watched Episode 1; TRUST ME its LITTERED with SPOILERS!!!
This is for ALL those who DROPPED the show at Ep 1 - 2 for various reasons .. and some of them might be same as mine :-D In the name of Free Speech here go I ;-p
DISCLAIMER : OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER .. So those who will get triggered advise you to not read any further.
Those who haven't watched Episode 1; TRUST ME its LITTERED with SPOILERS!!!
This is for ALL those who DROPPED the show at Ep 1 - 2 for various reasons .. and some of them might be same as mine :-D In the name of Free Speech here go I ;-p
SPOILER-Y comment below :
Sometimes I just cannot make sense of MDL ratings - ha ha ha - the raving that's going on here.. I made a rapid exit at first; saving my behind from the yapping snapping, were I to be honest here.
Disclosure : I have dropped PHS and PSH (was that an intentional casting? Pick letters and see who matches) and don't plan to torture (PMS-like ache) my way through it ~ especially since AaSoL awaits, for a long weekend's binge-like plunge into its plush seductive core. (LOL ~ SORRY but I do carry this blind, faith-laden love for Wu Lei because of all the roles and dramas he's done. If I can trust the previous shows Wu Lei has chosen to feature in, I am 90% on the mark for AaSoL to be a winner).
Anyway I digress from DS : things that left me high (only to drop me) and things that left me dry (like desiccated paste that was scraped up and powdered) follow, not in any strict chronological order appearance on drama.
WARNING : FULL on SPOILERS here onwards
~ A super cute beginning Classic comedy (bit OTT with the fight and fisticuffs at dinner, dish-chucking, food flinging while PSH blithely works her way through her school textbook). Reminds me of the shweet, light-touch comedic beginning of the classic Go Soo starring Drama, "Will it Snow for Christmas?" the unfurling the banners celebrating a town's top student etc. There is the intro of new topper student in school trope - OK love it.. Never gets old nor bores me.. She snaps at flocking classmates like a turtle with a sharp bite. Badass FL set up? Am loving it. Curious, polite but jealous ML set up.. Not bad.. So we have one hardworking-to-the-bone, ambitious, addicted to studying, super achiever, admired by her Busan milieu FL; the other a seemingly, step by step planner(he needs to write ALL the steps of his math problem to get a solution VS her magicking it all in her head), an easygoing, paley, narcissistic, smooth-sailing achiever ML. LOVE IT. Am all eager for some dramatic scenes that work ON this contrast.. Only to be given a "silly race" which ends in a "goofy faced, heart-eyed" FL putting her hand into ML's and then jumping over him, while he stamps his feet (cringe-cringe stamping that I did not wish to see PHS doing .. isn't he the cool dude who would shrug off the slight, not throw a 'girly huff'). That's pretty much it for drama of the opposite temperaments.
~ OK fine let's assume that it was a brief drama slip up. We have gone past worse (in DramaLand) and persevered. Cut to the scene of a HUGE, I mean National-Conference HUGE, gathering, purportedly there to watch PHS receive an Award. Is he the only one getting the award that day? ((he's the ONLY one we see getting an award and giving a TY speech). If he's the guy of the moment .. well .. No one even notices him when he walks in (we by then learn he is a YouTube - ok ok NeoTube - Celebrity with a million plus viewers and there are no reporters? No cranking out questions with mic thrust into face? I mean, how used to are we, watching dramas with celebs with million plus viewers wearing a mask and hoodie, wading through a tide of people .. incognito .. or entering through backdoors. Fine, Drama is upto some witchery .. But then no one in the gathering inside even greets him, no one walks up to him, or even turns to look at him.. Except his teeny coterie around a table? (I haven't seen Yoon Park in such an 'overacting' role before .. he is usually pretty subtle and did well in the few shows I have seen him in, mainly as a guest or support act.)
The SLIDE is beginning but I am still holding on the rails and hoping it will stabilise.
~ There was a belly-holding PSH who stumbles out of the hospital and falls to her knees in the middle of the street while the truck of doom comes rushing at her .. NIIICE dialogue, about the "3 minute moments of life" .. Drama is holding out poetic beauty in OST and camera work .. I am SO HOPEFUL .. this is style! There is PHS' terror-struck eyes as he tries to save a blood spewing patient on the OT .. Table death? (Now, I KNOW Table Death - it's a big shindig - being a hard core medical Drama viewer who rated all seasons of Dr Romantic 10/10 and Hospital Playlist an equally hot number) .. Ooooo .. so our ML meets our FL at the OT and?? Our mind is in a flurry of possibilities right at the get set go line ..
~ Ah no .. false(tto) alarm going off here .. It's Lady from Macau. As someone who has watched ENOUGH dramas about the gangs of Macau and the grisly business that oozes out from those islands, my excitement is rising once again .. this beauty with the suited muscles around her is going to stir up the hornet's nest .. Ah? Wait a sec .. usually there is a don, by now, or his henchmen who have a scene here .. a word or two with the head of the Clinic (our award winning ML) that ups the ante about what's at stake should this surgery fail. No? OKAY .. ALL that muscle is bypassed; and we are looking at a flatliner. Hmm.
~ Fine, now can we get some action? No?
Straight cut to court scene .. A half-baked defence and prosecution (with nary a vein throbbing, heart rate is 60 bpm) that looked more like a play at school assembly written by primary school kids AND bada bada bing "here's the anti-coagulant bottle from the trash can with his fingerprint" .. Guilty!! Done. Oops. Did I fall asleep in the middle? Did Episode 2 begin and I missed half of Ep 1? Where did all the 'work' that should have gone into establishing some minimal 'belief in the way things are done,' some coherence to the fact that PHS is the boss of 10 clinics countrywide and would have returned to work to speak with his deputies and top staff; gotten on and off a non-stop vibrating phone . I mean isn't he the most adored BOSS of the masses AND of his staff (three of those coffee chugging bottom of the rung staff told us that he is a GREAT Chief). Ah; I see there are some 'goon-ish' shareholders (?) Or are they the typical loan sharks of Kdrama? Or their official debt-collectors? They are waiting at a street side eatery where "Boss" walks in; desultory, wearing a vague expression (director didn't know what face PHS should wear at that moment?) and a fight ensues IN shadow play (why? because it costs a lot to choreo a real fight? LOL). Why doesn't PHS have the habit, the wherewithal to drown his heart out at a pish-posh resto-bar? Which one expects to be his watering hole? No? Too much? He's a narcissistic show off who likes to lurk at cheap street stalls? Where is his man-Friday Secy? Don't they all have one .. they should have given him one (a good Supporting actor) who sits next to him on that bar stool .. while he's wracking his brain wondering what next? A 10 Billion Won Business is wiped out? HOW? Was this all built on Nigerian Scam money? I am losing it and skiing down fast.
~ PSH? Why has her personality altered this much? Short of being diagnosed as 'bipolar' (or being possessed by a ghost) there is no other link to tell us why in less than 6-7 years (how long does it take to be a resident / full time doctor in Korea?) she's gone from badass snapping turtle with sky-saluting confidence to under the doormat, abuse-hurled, lost waif??
Who IS that caricature of a Professor (would he be less effective if not drawn with such cardboard cutout flair) .. and BTW do we need more than one, identical, scene of throwing papers at PSH to establish he's toxic and she is beaten and defeated?
She is at a random hospital, facing random anger from a Toon Proff. How can I not recall the 'mean docs and proffs' from other dramas (recall Fireworks of My heart toughie HOD who made FL's life quite pathetic for a while .. even the evil doc of Dr Romantic had more comic radiance if that's what DS is going for, or even in DOCTORS .. PSH had her evil Doc in that too, more organic than this cut and paste role).
~ Am I watching a spoof of several Kdrama genre tropes? Then the scene by the river .. PHS laments to the river, the sky and his friend (?) about the 10 billion won .. then STAMPS his feet (OH CRINGEY stamp again); I mean who at that age and position in society and maturity enough to handle a vast chain of clinics throws a tantrum akin to a 13 year old who's just lost a match!!
SO yeah I am almost at the end of my tether .. No, the show didn't auto roll into Ep 2 .. I am still in Ep 1 medley .. wondering NOW what? Will they meet? What event will bring these two face to face again? Ah .. just climb up to your roof with beer cans .. do a little 'drama-tripping' balance loss trope (for what purpose god knows because she hasn't yet opened a single can); spot someone behind the billowing white sheets after more white sheets (does her mom run a laundry service?) .. No it's not Empress Ki style Ji Chang Wook spotting Ha Ji Won to the swell of OST and dreamy camerawork .. It's, VOILA .. PHS in flannel, with slimmed down for this drama, jawline?? The scriptwriter found the shortest, least troublesome way to bang the two leads together again .. I might as well b watching a short puppet show. They are hammy-acting their way through the "surprise" .. hey you .. the last I saw you was under the cherry blossom.
~ Those beer cans?? When was the last time a "clinically depressed" human at the verge of suicide, and total breakdown, sprightly, cheerily, declare to the world, "Rubbish, I ain't ill .. I can fight this." (She almost does a Miss Eliza Doolittle feet tap with a sparkle in her eye, and tooting "with a little bit of luck" I can get over this!!) Now this song will stick like tape under your shoe even if try you flick it away.
~ It's a stretch to imagine that a medically trained doctor has NEVER heard of what constitutes clinical depression (PSH is all layperson, round eyed, disbelieving, a neophyte to the concept), even school kids these days know all about mental health; suppressed anger, guilt, therapy and medication. Is the drama not set in this century's 20's?? She's a qualified doctor for Heaven's Sake .. that too a bona fide, SCHOOL's Ace Student. Who knows an Ace Student who is illiterate in basic GK about such issues, far less a qualified doctor of medicine? / surgery? Lemme tell you .. from experience .. doctors KNOW the basics, PSYCH 101 Anyway .. I am flogging a dead horse here.
So basically I could either decide to watch this as a "farce" / as a "Spoof" just as a time filler .. OR find something else to play with.
Trust me .. this is horrific a train-wreck in slow mo - of course only for those whose Drama Lens is set like mine ROFL. I'd love to return to read what ya'll have to say at the end of this (bwa ha ha ha) ..
I in the meantime will mess around with some old faves in bits and bites of rewatch .. until the weekend .. and MEET up with AaSoL .. It's a date .. and then I shall join that AaSoL Board on MDL
And I leave a deep KOWTOW to those who felt mocked and hurt .. please don't be .. we all have had experience of a precious drama of ours morphed to slime with wands of resounding arguments against it.
It's OK .. we will live to enjoy other dramas in unison :-D
The chemistry in AASOL is different. Both leads in AASOL make it so real. I loved Jing Boran in Road Home and…
Oh MY MY MY you have now so upped the ante for me on AaSoL :-D I am delectably eyeing it.
My ONE prayer is that I hope to find the FL smart, mature and strong in her own self .. I have had it upto here with the aegyo / infantile / pouty faced cringe actresses and characters!! I have no idea how they get such HIGH ratings.
I am rewatching ROAD HOME and finding so much I had missed or glazed over in the first watch. Sometimes the first watch is too fast .. because you are dying gulp your way through ROFL and turn pages too fast .. Now we know what the highlights are .. so the second watch is all about savouring and looking for details and giveaways. A GOOD DRAMA always has lovely things to pick up on the second round.
Watching Amidst a snowstorm of Love made me miss this series & so I found myself rewatching this again. The ML…
Hey Hi,
I just started my rewatch of Road Home.
It's interesting to note just how many people who are enjoying AaSoL / plan to watch AaSoL / have heard of AaSoL are here watching or plan to watch rewatch RH.
😅😂
Because I am in that category too.
Somehow landed up with a rewatch if RH.
Am storing up AaSoL for a good binge some free weekend because I am 💯💯 sure Wu Lei chooses his dramas with lots of care and he blows you off your feet with his talent each time.
You can try watching his film Upcoming Summer also at some point of time.
I also hope to see the talented Mr Jing Bo Ran in a solid new role.
The chemistry in AASOL is different. Both leads in AASOL make it so real. I loved Jing Boran in Road Home and…
Hi Twinty.. There you are.. We haven't met on this drama thread before 🤣😂🤣
Such a pleasant shiver of joy to see you warmly praise this drama and Jing Bo Ran.
It's a drama right up my alley. I watched it last year Aug I think.
I just wanted to return and relish by rewatching something of quality since the many new dramas I had on PTW list ended up being dropped by me..like I tasted half a dozen in the last two weeks... All in the bin. 🫣
Then I decided to watch Ep 1 of Road Home to see if it was a momentary weakness in the early days of my Cdrama life or it still holds up as one of my TOP dramas of all time 😅
And now I have been pulled into a rewatch.
Magical!!!!
Worth a rewatch I realize.
So here I am.
P.S. I did watch a small gem of a show that I am 💯💯certain you'll enjoy "Fake it Till you Make it".
I've watched tons of dramas but it's the first time I watch leads that have such amazing chemistry. Although the…
Ditto - it's a slice of life portrayal of a relationship in micro-detail.
It's a show for older audiences with enough life and love experience and ups and downs to be able to notice all the layers the drama team created for the show.
For a few reasons : ~ It's cuts to the bone (in its realness). And I have to make a mood for it I realized.
~ the actress who plays the FL role comes across as "ditzy" and infantile, which was not the case in the KDrama, almost like she has some developmental issues (maybe I got it all wrong).
The KDrama actress personality and acting (and interpretation) was organic..
But I also know that since it's a "mood" issue..once I go back to watch it maybe the FL character will make more sense or I'll get used to it as the way the show wanted to present her.
I just started this.. And I am going to RAVE about it.. ALREADY.....AND.... Ask a question about something which is getting in the way immensely and ANNOYING me hugely.
I don't want spoilers.. But can someone who watched the show just answer my query with a YES or NO.
Am going to tag Spoiler and ask the question below.
Tell me about it.
It might just not happen.
This is too much of a tease for Bae Suzy KWB shippers!!!!
Goodness first time after Uncontrollably Fond
It was worth it then .. the hour I spent on delineating my thoughts in detail.
:-D
How am I not surprised??
This writer-producer duo have great teamwork when it comes to doing the least amount of work and stuffing Drama with microfill / thermocol to pack a kernel of an idea so well in fluff that you can't even find it.
You said it buddy..
Glad to see you got "likes" for that from folks who dare not tread here with anti-love words 😅😅
I think PHS / PSH it is...
We have watched them in such good strong dramas that it's amazing to see how terrible a choice then made to be stuck in this contract 🙈
Plus it just might be a case of rubber-necking while crossing / passing a bloody wreck of a road kill.
This space on MDL is all about "expressing" one's thoughts about ALL or as many eps of a Drama one watches.. 😁
It is not only a space for writing "dissertation" level love notes to a show (I've done that too.. Full on biased effusion of love for a show) but also criticism of what doesn't work.
It's free choice and each person's prerogative to avoid reading it, to skip it.. AND / or write a eulogy about it.
Thanks for reading it though ☺️
Really sorry to hear about your personal experience of such an intimate level and private nature which you generously shared on a Drama Discussion platform.
There is no denying the serious nature of mental health issues specifically those which might lead to serious self harm.
My take above was NOT on "medical treatment / advise / expert medical knowledge" but on the Drama per se; how flimsy the vehicle for exploring such serious topic was.
I doubt one should be watching this Drama for life-lessons or "self - help" or any sort of "medical reasons" or even any shred of Real Life (slice of life) resonance.
There's plenty of honest to goodness effort and research which has gone into making films / serials / documentaries out there which have been crafted with care and caution.
This drama makes a mockery of mental health reducing it to a farce.
Dangerous for those who have no experience of it and take this as "reality"
Thanks..
No, I dropped it.
If I didn't have a large bank of Dramas to try out I might have kept venting-giggling my way through the "ass-written" (🤣 what an apt phrase) Drama.
Time sink is an important factor in deciding "to watch or not to watch" / how long a rope to give a drama?
This one I couldn't give more than 1.5
Had to come up for air 🙈🫣😅
OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER ..
So those who will get triggered advise you to not read any of the above.
Those who haven't watched Episode 1; TRUST ME its LITTERED with SPOILERS!!!
This is for ALL those who DROPPED the show at Ep 1 - 2 for various reasons .. and some of them might be same as mine :-D
In the name of Free Speech here go I ;-p
SPOILER-Y comment above
OK I am Late to the DS Party .. and OFFICIALLY declaring myself a PARTY-POOPER ..
So those who will get triggered advise you to not read any further.
Those who haven't watched Episode 1; TRUST ME its LITTERED with SPOILERS!!!
This is for ALL those who DROPPED the show at Ep 1 - 2 for various reasons .. and some of them might be same as mine :-D
In the name of Free Speech here go I ;-p
SPOILER-Y comment below :
Sometimes I just cannot make sense of MDL ratings - ha ha ha - the raving that's going on here.. I made a rapid exit at first; saving my behind from the yapping snapping, were I to be honest here.
Disclosure : I have dropped PHS and PSH (was that an intentional casting? Pick letters and see who matches) and don't plan to torture (PMS-like ache) my way through it ~ especially since AaSoL awaits, for a long weekend's binge-like plunge into its plush seductive core.
(LOL ~ SORRY but I do carry this blind, faith-laden love for Wu Lei because of all the roles and dramas he's done. If I can trust the previous shows Wu Lei has chosen to feature in, I am 90% on the mark for AaSoL to be a winner).
Anyway I digress from DS : things that left me high (only to drop me) and things that left me dry (like desiccated paste that was scraped up and powdered) follow, not in any strict chronological order appearance on drama.
WARNING : FULL on SPOILERS here onwards
~ A super cute beginning
Classic comedy (bit OTT with the fight and fisticuffs at dinner, dish-chucking, food flinging while PSH blithely works her way through her school textbook).
Reminds me of the shweet, light-touch comedic beginning of the classic Go Soo starring Drama, "Will it Snow for Christmas?" the unfurling the banners celebrating a town's top student etc.
There is the intro of new topper student in school trope - OK love it..
Never gets old nor bores me..
She snaps at flocking classmates like a turtle with a sharp bite. Badass FL set up? Am loving it.
Curious, polite but jealous ML set up.. Not bad..
So we have one hardworking-to-the-bone, ambitious, addicted to studying, super achiever, admired by her Busan milieu FL; the other a seemingly, step by step planner(he needs to write ALL the steps of his math problem to get a solution VS her magicking it all in her head), an easygoing, paley, narcissistic, smooth-sailing achiever ML.
LOVE IT.
Am all eager for some dramatic scenes that work ON this contrast..
Only to be given a "silly race" which ends in a "goofy faced, heart-eyed" FL putting her hand into ML's and then jumping over him, while he stamps his feet (cringe-cringe stamping that I did not wish to see PHS doing .. isn't he the cool dude who would shrug off the slight, not throw a 'girly huff'). That's pretty much it for drama of the opposite temperaments.
~ OK fine let's assume that it was a brief drama slip up. We have gone past worse (in DramaLand) and persevered.
Cut to the scene of a HUGE, I mean National-Conference HUGE, gathering, purportedly there to watch PHS receive an Award. Is he the only one getting the award that day? ((he's the ONLY one we see getting an award and giving a TY speech).
If he's the guy of the moment .. well .. No one even notices him when he walks in (we by then learn he is a YouTube - ok ok NeoTube - Celebrity with a million plus viewers and there are no reporters? No cranking out questions with mic thrust into face?
I mean, how used to are we, watching dramas with celebs with million plus viewers wearing a mask and hoodie, wading through a tide of people .. incognito .. or entering through backdoors.
Fine, Drama is upto some witchery .. But then no one in the gathering inside even greets him, no one walks up to him, or even turns to look at him..
Except his teeny coterie around a table?
(I haven't seen Yoon Park in such an 'overacting' role before .. he is usually pretty subtle and did well in the few shows I have seen him in, mainly as a guest or support act.)
The SLIDE is beginning but I am still holding on the rails and hoping it will stabilise.
~ There was a belly-holding PSH who stumbles out of the hospital and falls to her knees in the middle of the street while the truck of doom comes rushing at her ..
NIIICE dialogue, about the "3 minute moments of life" .. Drama is holding out poetic beauty in OST and camera work .. I am SO HOPEFUL .. this is style!
There is PHS' terror-struck eyes as he tries to save a blood spewing patient on the OT .. Table death? (Now, I KNOW Table Death - it's a big shindig - being a hard core medical Drama viewer who rated all seasons of Dr Romantic 10/10 and Hospital Playlist an equally hot number) ..
Ooooo .. so our ML meets our FL at the OT and??
Our mind is in a flurry of possibilities right at the get set go line ..
~ Ah no .. false(tto) alarm going off here .. It's Lady from Macau.
As someone who has watched ENOUGH dramas about the gangs of Macau and the grisly business that oozes out from those islands, my excitement is rising once again .. this beauty with the suited muscles around her is going to stir up the hornet's nest ..
Ah? Wait a sec .. usually there is a don, by now, or his henchmen who have a scene here .. a word or two with the head of the Clinic (our award winning ML) that ups the ante about what's at stake should this surgery fail. No?
OKAY .. ALL that muscle is bypassed; and we are looking at a flatliner. Hmm.
~ Fine, now can we get some action? No?
Straight cut to court scene .. A half-baked defence and prosecution (with nary a vein throbbing, heart rate is 60 bpm) that looked more like a play at school assembly written by primary school kids AND bada bada bing "here's the anti-coagulant bottle from the trash can with his fingerprint" ..
Guilty!! Done.
Oops.
Did I fall asleep in the middle?
Did Episode 2 begin and I missed half of Ep 1?
Where did all the 'work' that should have gone into establishing some minimal 'belief in the way things are done,' some coherence to the fact that PHS is the boss of 10 clinics countrywide and would have returned to work to speak with his deputies and top staff; gotten on and off a non-stop vibrating phone .
I mean isn't he the most adored BOSS of the masses AND of his staff (three of those coffee chugging bottom of the rung staff told us that he is a GREAT Chief).
Ah; I see there are some 'goon-ish' shareholders (?) Or are they the typical loan sharks of Kdrama? Or their official debt-collectors?
They are waiting at a street side eatery where "Boss" walks in; desultory, wearing a vague expression (director didn't know what face PHS should wear at that moment?) and a fight ensues IN shadow play (why? because it costs a lot to choreo a real fight? LOL).
Why doesn't PHS have the habit, the wherewithal to drown his heart out at a pish-posh resto-bar? Which one expects to be his watering hole? No? Too much? He's a narcissistic show off who likes to lurk at cheap street stalls?
Where is his man-Friday Secy? Don't they all have one .. they should have given him one (a good Supporting actor) who sits next to him on that bar stool .. while he's wracking his brain wondering what next?
A 10 Billion Won Business is wiped out? HOW? Was this all built on Nigerian Scam money?
I am losing it and skiing down fast.
~ PSH? Why has her personality altered this much? Short of being diagnosed as 'bipolar' (or being possessed by a ghost) there is no other link to tell us why in less than 6-7 years (how long does it take to be a resident / full time doctor in Korea?) she's gone from badass snapping turtle with sky-saluting confidence to under the doormat, abuse-hurled, lost waif??
Who IS that caricature of a Professor (would he be less effective if not drawn with such cardboard cutout flair) .. and BTW do we need more than one, identical, scene of throwing papers at PSH to establish he's toxic and she is beaten and defeated?
She is at a random hospital, facing random anger from a Toon Proff.
How can I not recall the 'mean docs and proffs' from other dramas (recall Fireworks of My heart toughie HOD who made FL's life quite pathetic for a while .. even the evil doc of Dr Romantic had more comic radiance if that's what DS is going for, or even in DOCTORS .. PSH had her evil Doc in that too, more organic than this cut and paste role).
~ Am I watching a spoof of several Kdrama genre tropes?
Then the scene by the river .. PHS laments to the river, the sky and his friend (?) about the 10 billion won .. then STAMPS his feet (OH CRINGEY stamp again); I mean who at that age and position in society and maturity enough to handle a vast chain of clinics throws a tantrum akin to a 13 year old who's just lost a match!!
SO yeah I am almost at the end of my tether ..
No, the show didn't auto roll into Ep 2 .. I am still in Ep 1 medley .. wondering NOW what?
Will they meet?
What event will bring these two face to face again?
Ah .. just climb up to your roof with beer cans .. do a little 'drama-tripping' balance loss trope (for what purpose god knows because she hasn't yet opened a single can); spot someone behind the billowing white sheets after more white sheets (does her mom run a laundry service?) ..
No it's not Empress Ki style Ji Chang Wook spotting Ha Ji Won to the swell of OST and dreamy camerawork ..
It's, VOILA .. PHS in flannel, with slimmed down for this drama, jawline??
The scriptwriter found the shortest, least troublesome way to bang the two leads together again .. I might as well b watching a short puppet show.
They are hammy-acting their way through the "surprise" .. hey you .. the last I saw you was under the cherry blossom.
~ Those beer cans?? When was the last time a "clinically depressed" human at the verge of suicide, and total breakdown, sprightly, cheerily, declare to the world, "Rubbish, I ain't ill .. I can fight this." (She almost does a Miss Eliza Doolittle feet tap with a sparkle in her eye, and tooting "with a little bit of luck" I can get over this!!) Now this song will stick like tape under your shoe even if try you flick it away.
~ It's a stretch to imagine that a medically trained doctor has NEVER heard of what constitutes clinical depression (PSH is all layperson, round eyed, disbelieving, a neophyte to the concept), even school kids these days know all about mental health; suppressed anger, guilt, therapy and medication.
Is the drama not set in this century's 20's??
She's a qualified doctor for Heaven's Sake .. that too a bona fide, SCHOOL's Ace Student.
Who knows an Ace Student who is illiterate in basic GK about such issues, far less a qualified doctor of medicine? / surgery?
Lemme tell you .. from experience .. doctors KNOW the basics, PSYCH 101
Anyway .. I am flogging a dead horse here.
So basically I could either decide to watch this as a "farce" / as a "Spoof" just as a time filler .. OR find something else to play with.
Trust me .. this is horrific a train-wreck in slow mo - of course only for those whose Drama Lens is set like mine ROFL.
I'd love to return to read what ya'll have to say at the end of this (bwa ha ha ha) ..
I in the meantime will mess around with some old faves in bits and bites of rewatch .. until the weekend .. and MEET up with AaSoL .. It's a date .. and then I shall join that AaSoL Board on MDL
And I leave a deep KOWTOW to those who felt mocked and hurt .. please don't be .. we all have had experience of a precious drama of ours morphed to slime with wands of resounding arguments against it.
It's OK .. we will live to enjoy other dramas in unison :-D
I am delectably eyeing it.
My ONE prayer is that I hope to find the FL smart, mature and strong in her own self .. I have had it upto here with the aegyo / infantile / pouty faced cringe actresses and characters!! I have no idea how they get such HIGH ratings.
I am rewatching ROAD HOME and finding so much I had missed or glazed over in the first watch.
Sometimes the first watch is too fast .. because you are dying gulp your way through ROFL and turn pages too fast ..
Now we know what the highlights are .. so the second watch is all about savouring and looking for details and giveaways. A GOOD DRAMA always has lovely things to pick up on the second round.
I just started my rewatch of Road Home.
It's interesting to note just how many people who are enjoying AaSoL / plan to watch AaSoL / have heard of AaSoL are here watching or plan to watch rewatch RH.
😅😂
Because I am in that category too.
Somehow landed up with a rewatch if RH.
Am storing up AaSoL for a good binge some free weekend because I am 💯💯 sure Wu Lei chooses his dramas with lots of care and he blows you off your feet with his talent each time.
You can try watching his film Upcoming Summer also at some point of time.
I also hope to see the talented Mr Jing Bo Ran in a solid new role.
There you are.. We haven't met on this drama thread before 🤣😂🤣
Such a pleasant shiver of joy to see you warmly praise this drama and Jing Bo Ran.
It's a drama right up my alley. I watched it last year Aug I think.
I just wanted to return and relish by rewatching something of quality since the many new dramas I had on PTW list ended up being dropped by me..like I tasted half a dozen in the last two weeks... All in the bin. 🫣
Then I decided to watch Ep 1 of Road Home to see if it was a momentary weakness in the early days of my Cdrama life or it still holds up as one of my TOP dramas of all time 😅
And now I have been pulled into a rewatch.
Magical!!!!
Worth a rewatch I realize.
So here I am.
P.S. I did watch a small gem of a show that I am 💯💯certain you'll enjoy
"Fake it Till you Make it".
It's a show for older audiences with enough life and love experience and ups and downs to be able to notice all the layers the drama team created for the show.
Exquisite.
For a few reasons :
~ It's cuts to the bone (in its realness).
And I have to make a mood for it I realized.
~ the actress who plays the FL role comes across as "ditzy" and infantile, which was not the case in the KDrama, almost like she has some developmental issues (maybe I got it all wrong).
The KDrama actress personality and acting (and interpretation) was organic..
But I also know that since it's a "mood" issue..once I go back to watch it maybe the FL character will make more sense or I'll get used to it as the way the show wanted to present her.
More soon.
Probably the ONE rare and ONLY Xianxia that RULES the roost