natyok9378

There's no romance in this.

The way I initially thought that So-baek was shady, Jang-gang was a normal guy, and that Jin-pyo's mother genuinely didn't know... I was so wrong.

Anyway, I thought this was very good. Fantastic acting, a solid story, important messages, and of course a great meaningful friendship at the heart of it all. There may be some pacing issues, and the full-on triller turn towards the end will probably be divisive (I didn't mind), but those things are certainly not enough to derail the drama I think.

Also, this ended way happier than I thought it would, so I'm certainly not going to complain about that.

Well, that was anti-climactic. Much like in episode 11, everything just felt really convenient, and not really all that satisfying. Like, Yeong-ran didn't even do anything except give some speeches and find a camera? Like, I'm sorry, but when your main protagonist is barely involved in taking down the main villain, there's probably something wrong.

The last half hour where they were just wrapping up everything was fine though, even if it was maybe a bit by the numbers. That being said, that big romantic scene at the end feels a bit tacked on. She barely even confessed, but instead he just kissed her? It's like they did that because they really wanted a kiss scene (that wasn't even good), even if something more open-ended probably would've been more fitting.

I honestly lost count of how many times I said "well, that's just convenient" during episode 11.

Bringing up valid and constructive criticisms is bullying now? Like, you don't have to agree with the criticism, but constantly dismissing it as "bullying" or "whining about a love triangle" (in the case of AHM) isn't adding anything to the discussion.

It's good that you loved this and all, but can we stop dismissing all the criticism as just whining about a love triangle? Believe me, I wish I was just whining about a love triangle.

Well, that was a shitshow, right up until the end. Honestly, I kid you not, I almost threw something when we got to the one-year time jump. I can't believe I actually thought for a second we'd get satisfying resolutions, reconciliations, and proper conversations. But nope, we get a time jump instead. That whole ending feels so hollow and unsatisfying, because yet again, the drama skipped over all the important stuff to make it satisfying. What's the point of all the angst if you can't actually write a proper ending to it?

It's like having a romance drama where you never actually see the moment where the couple reunites after the big conflict, because it settles for a time jump instead. Would that feel satisfying? Because that's literally what the drama did here, except it's for the friendship.

But, hey, it's not like this is the first time the drama does this, so why am I even surprised at this point? God, I'm glad this is over.

Techically they gave you all the closure... by having all the important stuff take place off-screen, yet again. It feels unsatisfying because instead of properly closing out the storylines, it just took a time jump instead.

That moment pissed me off so much. And I hate how that just never gets resolved or called out. Instead we're just supposed to believe everything's fine now because of the time jump.

Episode 11 felt way too long honestly. Like, the only scenes I thought were great were the Jung-boon/ Ho-sook scene and the Young-rye/ Jong-hee scene in the rain (and that's more on the acting and not the writing). Everything else felt like the drama was just dragging stuff out.

It's funny how the plot is about Miss Korea now, yet the drama can't even properly show us how Young-rye actually won Miss Seoul. Then again, this drama does love skipping over stuff it doesn't know how to explain, so at least we're consistent?

This drama had so much potential, even with the love triangle, yet it somehow managed to squander pretty much everything thanks to lazy writing and poor development. Like, what are we even doing at this point?

Really liked the first episode, though I do hope future episodes delve a lot more into Ayumi's pov, as she barely had any screentime so far. Though I do like how she's not just sitting around waiting for Katsuo to change and is actively living her life. She looks so free. This story definitely has a lot of potential. He's willing to change, but will that be enough?

I mean, it's not like Jae-pil is any better. The drama needed to explicitly spell it out for him to finally do something. At least Jong-hee has an excuse, as she was gone for 7 years (and I'm pretty sure Jeong-hyeon was overseas too for a while).

You know what, I think we've lost the plot. And I don't mean the romance plot, because that plot was never good to begin with. Sorry not sorry, but for a drama that wants to be about a love triangle, why does the love triangle just feel so unconvincing and poorly developed?

And Jae-pil's confession wasn't even good, I'm sorry. It honestly feels like a "you've always been by my side, so now I'm obviously in love with you" situation, and that doesn't really convince me of his feelings. Like, not being able to live without somebody does not mean you need to be in a romantic relationship, I'm sorry. His second half of the confession was slightly better, but all around, this wasn't it.

And what little other plot there is: why does it feel like Young-rye is now getting a plot that really should've been just about about Jong-hee? Why does Young-rye literally have no plot of her own aside from the romance? Did the writer just forget about her dream? Or did the writer just want to throw more conflict at the friendship?

Not people trying to paint Jong-hee as the bad guy here. The heck did she even do wrong? Asking Young-rye to help her get back with Jae-pil? Sure, maybe, but did she actually know for sure if Young-rye still had feelings for him? Like, to me, it seems like she was making her feelings clear, while also trying to find out once and for all if Young-rye had any objections to that. It's about honesty, and both were honest in that moment, as they were mostly just trying to ignore the elephant in the room before that moment. Jong-hee's response actually says it all: saying it's up to Jae-pil. That's the mature response. There's no malice there, and I find it ridiculous how people act like there is.

I don't even care about this love triangle, but putting that aside, I'm not about to dislike a character because they did one thing that may or may not be flawed, especially when the whole situation is just a mess to begin with.

Well, the tone totally did a 180 compared to the first two episodes. Like, it's a total comedy show now, but at least it's a funny one? This'll probably prove divisive though (as will the comedy).

Though based on the character chart, Dong-min's friend might end up having a crush on Hye-ji, so maybe I'm wrong. Kinda disappointed, because I actually love her dynamic with the lawyer.

I can totally see Hye-ji and the attorney ending up together. It literally feels set up that way. Both have their quirks, but I don't really see either of them betraying Young-ran honestly.

I'm not arguing that it doesn't make sense, or that it's illogical. I know 7 years passed, and things changed, but the problem remains that in those 7 years the relationship between Young-rye and Jae-pil changed drastically, and we saw none of it. We are supposed to believe that these two have a deep relationship, despite having seen none of that. Their relationship is entirely carried by the chemistry and the fact that they look cute together, and not by the story the drama is telling, because that story is litterally missing. This drama needs to show us these things instead of merely telling us. The writer already made the mistake you described by not doing this in episode 7.

Yes, suddenly, because their entire dynamic did a 180, and we saw none of it. That is sudden. You can explain it all with logic, but the problem remains that the entire development of these two happened off-screen. They had all of episode 7 to fill in the gaps, but instead of doing that they were too busy speedrunning through clichés to make it obvious this was still a romance.

Here's the problem with that: none of that happened on-screen.

Last time we saw him before the time jump, he was head over heels for Jong-hee, and when we see him again after 7 years he's suddenly besties with Young-rye and may or may not have feelings for her. Their dynamic did a whole 180, and there's a huge part of development missing here because we just did not see it. It's no wonder people don't believe this, or care about him all that much, but the drama brought it upon themselves.