polothesecond

TV writers are at the mercy of the producers, directors, and even the cast who could drop out or change their contracts at any time. TV just doesn't work like publishing, with the latter being just between the editor and the writer. I think that's why things can sometimes go catastrophically wrong. Sometimes it's 100% the writers/show creators. I think the ending to How I Met Your Mother was really dumb, and as far as I'm aware it's what the creators were planning all along. But then there's Downtown Abbey, which suffered due to actors dropping out before the series ended. I personally think they should've just recast. Western dramas also suffer from being too long, and the show runners never knowing when to stop. They want to make money so they milk it for all it's worth. In an ideal world, the scripts would be complete before production began, and everyone would go into it knowing exactly what they'd signed up for. Unfortunately, TV is a lot more chaotic than that. I think that's why some of the best TV shows are adaptations of books.

For people still confused by the lack of support for the main couple, let me explain what I think it comes down to. For the first 9 episodes the story is centred around two things: a case of mistaken identity and SDM's journey as a CEO. HJP was her real pen-pal/first love and he's also SDM's business mentor. As both the real writer of the letters and the person who helps her navigate through business, HJP is more relevant to the plot than NDS. NDS simply served to 'get in the way' of her and HJP and to provide a company for SDM to 'hijack' (the writer apparently preferred to use a shortcut rather than show SDM starting from scratch). In a drama about the female lead's journey as a CEO, her relationship with her business mentor was always going to be more important than her office romance with a guy she believes is someone else, especially when that someone else is none other than the aforementioned mentor. If this is really lost on you then I don't know what else to say.

I love that you think I haven't binge-watched all of KSH's other work already.

Mr Queen was funny at first but it's not making me laugh anymore.

I see what you mean by eye candies in True Beauty but I personally don't find them that attractive. They're too boyish and feminine at the same time and for whatever reason I don't really like that. I guess KSH is also boyish and feminine but somehow he has a slightly more mature look as well. It's probably due to his age. Thanks for the recommendations but I'm a hopeless case.

I've tried Run On but couldn't get into it. If I'm honest, I don't like any of the actors and I never really liked Korean rom-coms. I can only get into them if I really like the actors and the characters. Start-Up is a case in point; I only continued watching for HJP and KSH. I've also watched all of KSH's stuff. I've even watched every episode of 2D1N. I can't believe how little time it took to get through it. No, I'm done for until his next drama. I just hope his character is well written.

It's definitely insecurity. I almost feel bad for them. It must be tough being on the side of such a hated character. Dodal ship seems kind of weak in stamina though. They've probably already moved on. Ah I envy them. I've tried a few other dramas but nothing has held my interest. I'm not even remotely interested in trying True Beauty. Sometimes I'm just not feeling it. Meanwhile, I still re-watch HJP clips on YT. Is it possible to fast-forward to when Mr Hong starts airing?

I still find it weird to see HJP referred to as the second male lead. I mean I know he is technically the second male lead but he's one like no other. He just doesn't quite fit into that category. I liked what someone said (I'm sorry I forget which user it was) about this being "male lead gone wrong syndrome", but if you take off the syndrome that could easily be referring to NDS, so I don't think that works either.

Thanks for the advice. It's been nice talking to such an understanding empathetic human being like yourself. You've certainly made me see the error of my ways by being so careful and thoughtful in your comments.

I wasn't calling her out. I was calling out people like you who overreact and misunderstand.

Yes I'm being judgemental. Judgement is a useful tool in life I suggest you learn how to use it.

Did I say that calling people out for judging prematurely is wrong? No I didn't. Read my comment again and you won't find those words. I said accusing people of hate just because they say something negative that you don't agree with is wrong. The fact that she auditioned doesn't mean anything as it could've just been a formality. Obviously her agency is smart enough to realise that if they say she got the part without auditioning that would look bad. She may end up being good but even good actors rarely get to take shortcuts. Even if her acting is good, she was most likely hired for her idol status. I don't have anything against her personally; I see it as a problem with the industry, not her. Besides, I don't even see people going after her. I see people rolling their eyes that an idol has been cast instead of an experienced actress and saying they'll give it a miss. It's not because they hate Ji Soo but because they don't appreciate having their intelligence insulted. Whoever cast her probably thought that an idol would bring in more viewers than a talented actor (this is irrespective of whether or not Ji Soo has talent, please read this bracketed part carefully so that you understand I am not saying Ji Soo is talentless).

I liked Won Jin Ah in Just Between Lovers but I'll only be watching this drama because of the poster.

I didn't judge her acting. I acknowledged that she might end up being good. Read properly before responding.

Thanks!

Yeah I've decided to leave it. Either they're very young (early teens) or they're sociopaths. Then again, I may be doing an injustice to teens and sociopaths. I might finally have to figure out how to block people.

No idea but even if she auditioned that doesn't prove anything to be honest. It could've just been a formality.

I just had a look at the Snowdrop comment section. Oh boy. I left a comment of my own but I'm thinking of deleting it just because I can't be bothered with the backlash it might get.

Please don't accuse people of hate just because they said something negative that you don't agree with. Not all negativity is hate and pretending that it is just makes you seem unreasonable, vicious and underhanded.

People get disappointed when an idol is cast in a first lead role while a more experienced actor/actress is cast in a second lead role because it shows the lack of integrity with which this industry operates. Most actors have to go through a bunch of supporting roles before they get cast as a main lead in a big drama. Just compare Ji Soo's page to that of the other actors in this drama. She might surprise us but she'd have to be really damn good to completely overcome the criticism that she got this role because of her idol status and not because of her acting skills. It's not wrong of people to want K-dramas to be as good as they can be. It's a shame fans of K-dramas care more about the quality than the people responsible for making them.

I've given in to the fact that I'm not moving on any time soon. I won't be able to until I've found a "rebound". I hope a character comes along who's just as good if not better than HJP but I doubt that will happen. I just can't believe that TVN robbed the best male lead ever and gave his love-line to the worst second lead ever. I mean of course it had to be this drama didn't it? How does this industry work so that an extremely popular character can get demoted like that? It just blows my mind. That's partly what makes it so hard to move on. I feel like I've not been able to finish watching the drama I signed up for except it's worse because instead I got a really bad alternate ending. It's like being one of the readers of the Song of Ice and Fire series; they may never get the proper ending as it's quite possible he'll never finish the books so all they've got is that dreadful final season. Actually their situation is worse; they've been waiting for years and ASOIAF is arguably a bigger loss since the story is a much more sophisticated work. At least we weren't waiting for Jidal to happen for 30 years.

I did like the scene in which she discovers HJP at the birdhouse though. I thought it was really well shot. That scene is one of the many reasons why I think Jidal was meant to be endgame. The cinematography, the music score, the build up; it all just seemed too significant for a scene between FL and SML.

If NDS stayed in the USA but SDM came back and joined her sister at Sandbox that would explain why NDS didn't have a Sandbox card in his posters. That twitter theory is like my Jidal bible. I think the person who came up with it was probably correct in thinking that SDM would walk out of HJP's life at some point but then come back. That's why I think she was meant to go to America with NDS. I have wondered if SDM wasn't meant to find out when she did and I was surprised that her finding out had nothing to do with the software they developed at the hackathon. I guess we'll never know.