metrikfire

Honestly, I think my expectations were way too high. At ep10 I can just feel the ennui setting in as the show starts checking off all the typical tropes, from the toxic cliche, to the infantile machismo between ML and SML, the female protag who is basically a modernized cute little Mary Sue. Why is her self esteem so bad? Why couldn’t she find work? Throughout her 20s?! She seems very adept at work?who knows why Da Rim is the way she is or why she does things. And the romance… fuelled and sustained only by Jang Ki Yong’s excellent Byronic Hero style pining and very little else.

It’s not ~bad~ but I think I was way too excited to see JKY be in another romcom after My Roommate is a Gumiho, but that show was on a whole other level. Like, this show doesn’t even compare.

Ok plot hole or not it was supremely entertaining and most importantly, non-toxic. I didn’t come here for a tightly written narrative, I wanted all the right feelings at the right time and they did that really well. Sit back, relax, turn your brain off let the feels wash over you.

Wow episode 9 really loses any sense of plot coherency LOL

I guess the emotional thread kinda sorta follows through? Idk I’ve divested from my attachment to any and all characters in the show so I don’t think even the emotional aspect really holds any water.

Hello! I wrote an analysis for Weak Hero and some themes I thought were relevant to the show. Please have a read! : D Please note: its an analysis so they were will be spoilery bits. Although I don't think its too revealing.

https://candidllama.tumblr.com/post/788474424443715584/weak-hero-and-the-language-of-violence

I honestly love PBG and I tried so hard but I can’t take cop dramas seriously, nor the glorification of state sanctioned violence. I just couldnt turn my brain off enough to enjoy it. Why can’t we have police dramas where the police are just happy to help people find their wallets or cross the street? Idk. ACAB forreals

Thank you! I enjoyed writing it! : )

I wrote a review but I also wanted to share a comparison I did and an analysis of the tropes prevalent in both Hongrang and Mr. Plankton! I thought they were super fun to compare so please enjoy reading it : )
https://candidllama.tumblr.com/post/786288763610578944/dear-hongrang-mr-plankton-and-a-new-age-teen

PS: Please note, there are spoilers.

I was hoping she was preggo at the end too. They really should have given us that emotional send off at the very least. I was mildly disappointed by the end ngl.

I'm not one to say this often but this series would have benefitted from a 16 ep run. The editing/directing to get the plot moving at the pace they needed to made the whole experience really janky. Despite all that though, I love it. Even the slightly messed up pseudo-sibling love romance but I love me a messed up forbidden romance, so it's really an acquired taste. The OST is stellar, the mood and lighting is absolutely sublime. My only issue was the pacing.

This comment made me laugh so hard. Thank you.

None of these are questions lol

Nah. Eve is going to abstain because sex without marriage would be improper, but they’re going to magically steal her eggs anyway because that’s what they do now. Steal eggs and sperm and somehow that is not a human rights issue with anyone else. THEN they’re going to bungle it up and suddenly Kang Kang Su’s sperm and Eve’s egg will make a baby which will end up in Dr. Na’s uterus which then she will be forced to carry to term because women should give birth as nature and god has willed it.

I had this thought too! Once again, I think this has been peddled by some very rich pro-lifers so Eve being Eve in space checks out.

They literally made her feel bad, look like a shitty human for following the baseline ethics in science.

I recommend you do some reading into this as I won’t be able to condense all the information very well into a MDL comment section lol.
But generally speaking, it’s a bunch of people who believe that fetal cells are human and ab0rti0n is morally wrong, regardless of the circumstances in which the fetus was conceived. On the other side of the pro-life spectrum is Pro-Choice, which honors women’s rights and their choice in giving birth or not. It’s a very nuanced debate, highly controversial and this show absolutely has NO nuance and NO critical thought. I mean, tbh, I would not be surprised if the Vatican sponsored this drama to push their agenda lol.

So I’m not going to write a review because I don’t plan on finishing this series.
I just finished watching episode 6 and I was actually upset at the trajectory of this drama. Like, physically, felt the anger. Gritting my teeth sh*t.
I really wanted to like this show. I really like GHJ and LMH as actors. And I thought perhaps the show was just earnestly trying to highlight Ryong’s persistence, but after…..

[ SPOILER ]

Eve gives him a speech about breaking ethics on HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION and he has the guts to call her a murderer because she disposed off under developed fetal cells that could literally be a threat to their mother, let alone all of humanity…

[/ SPOILER]

I knew that this was some bullsh!t pro-life agenda parading around in a space suit.
Eve is the voice of reason here and she manages to do the ethical thing, but she is painted as a bad guy.

What is the message here, people?
Kang Kang Su who impregnates his girlfriend without her consent is painted as some inevitable love interest because he’s more “interested in her” than Ryong, who saved her life from an ectopic pregnancy!
Above all, the very concept that a billionaire is allowed to have IVF, WHILE BREAKING SPACE AND SCIENTIFIC ETHICS, by the MMC Ryong nonetheless, who is a doctor himself, calling his commander a murderer for honoring the bare minimum that is required of a scientist, is absolutely appalling. Disgusting. Yuck. No. Get some class awareness. F**k billionaires.

THEN final nail in the coffin was when the rest of them ALL GET IN ON IT because Ryong BLACKMAILS THEM WITH A LOTTERY TICKET LOL. God.
This is some MAGA level pro-life propaganda. Unbelievable garbage.

Are you telling me you expected Hee Joo to end up putting up with abusive behavior and Sa Eon to remain reticent about talking to his wife? Lmao ok. We’ve been watching very different makjangs. The downward spiral is not the same as a status quo. But I guess what you’ve been trying to tell me is that’s what you enjoy, and that is the caliber of viewership expected from this drama. Duly noted.

I also honestly want to say that it’s OK to enjoy a shitty drama and accept that it’s a shitty drama. Two things can be true at the same time. You don’t have to defend it tooth and nail but I do appreciate that you’ve taken the time to do so.

Not disagreeing with you but just so you know, it’s not “reality” people are looking for, but character development. Which was completely undone in the last two episodes. Looking for ‘reality’ in TV is not the same as wanting a satisfying narrative completion.

I see what you’re saying, but I took that thriller tag to heart and assumed that’s what we were getting. Also, BEFORE HeeJoo fell off, the logic and plot were working fairly tightly. There were no major gaps in the universe or believability. We assumed that plot hole or not, the character arcs were going to have completion. Which was not the case because what we learned was that Hee Joo will continue to tolerate borderline abusive behavior if she loves the person and Sa Eon still can’t talk to his wife.

The problem is not that it’s a makjang. The issue is that it started of as a thriller romance. Which is what Netflix categorizes it as. It ended as a makjang which is false advertising so you’ll see the issue that people are having is in feeling betrayed, not in the show being a makjang

idc if it’s in the web toon. I’m watching a drama, not a web toon. If I wanted to READ a web toon, I’d READ it , not watch a half a$$ drama.