Blue

Thank you so much for reading my post. I was afraid that people will not read it because my post was very long. To be honest, at first I really wanted for Lee Soo and Wooyeon to be together because that's the recipe for a good rom-com. But right now, I'm more invested in their character growth. Initially, I was expecting this to be just a fluffy heart-fluttering but comedic drama about friends turned to lovers, but turned out to have more angst between them than I thought was necessary. For me, the vibes of the behind the scenes of this drama were more of what I thought this rom-com could have been. You could appreciate the chemistry of the main leads more on those.

I suggest that you watch the first few episodes and decide for yourself. For me he is not a jerk as some of the people in this comment section perceive him to be. Don't rely also on summaries because as I've observed they could be somehow flawed and can tend to be skewed into seeing a certain person more positively.

The key in understanding this drama is to see the small details in the acting and the objects they emphasize. Sometimes certain details and taking note of the chronology of the events will make you see things differently.

After watching episode 1 and 2 for the first time, I found that the male lead, Lee Soo, is not a total jerk as the drama wanted to paint him to be. I didn't see Lee Soo as a jerk because I felt that his actions were understandable. It might be the case that I'm biased towards him because I empathize with him out of all the characters. I actually see a part of myself in him. I might be a female version of Lee Soo.

Like Lee Soo, I tend to avoid romantic relationships. In high school, when girls my age are excited to be in love, I was awkward when it comes to that topic. Whenever I hear a guy like me or might like me, I tend to friendzone them right away. It's not that I don't want to be in love, but I have this fear in me that the guys who approach me might just be in love with the idea of having me as a girlfriend without really getting to know me. I'm actually afraid that they just like me for my physical appearance and my good traits without knowing who I really am. I'm afraid that maybe once they got to know me, they'll get to know my not so beautiful side and be fed up with me and say that being in a relationship with me was a mistake. I think this way because I already understand that being in a relationship is not just experiencing the heart-fluttering moments but of going to struggles and overcoming them. 

Being in love with someone is not just because you find them attractive or that they were nice to you and made your heart flutter. Being in love with someone requires accepting that person for who he is. I tend to avoid romantic relationships because I know myself. I don't know if someone can fully accept me for who I am and be okay with it. I have these thoughts because like Lee Soo, I also saw my parents fight. My parents were always fighting about their differences and that they can't stand each other. They threaten to get a divorce every so often, but fortunately they haven't done it yet. They always fight about their differences and even say hurtful words to each other. Their fights usually made me emotionally drained and I didn't want to experience that. Because of this, romantic relationships didn't become my priority. I know I can be a difficult person to love and might be a little bit weird, so my priority is to find someone who can really accept me for who I am with all my quirks. As Lee Soo said, "Don't try to change yourself for others. No matter what you do, those who want to leave will leave, and those who will stay will stay." I sort of stood by this. There were guys who were offended when I friendzoned them and they left. But there were guys who understood and remained as my friends till now. Reflecting on how I acted before and until now, I watch movies with a guy friend, I have already had lunch or dinner with a guy friend or accompanied a guy friend wherever he wanted to go. I did all of those with just me and a particular guy friend and it's clear between us that it's nothing but friendship. Am I a jerk then who led them to believe that we were something more? They had feelings for me, but they stopped once they understood me and accepted me for who I am and accepted that friendship is all I could give. I'm still friends with those guy friends until now, some even have married already. Nothing changed and they didn't ever accuse me of leading them on. I'm not saying that Wooyeon should have just stopped her heart from liking Lee Soo, all I'm saying is that it's possible for a guy and girl to  be close and sweet to each other and have nothing but a platonic relationship. 

Friendship was my priority because being in a romantic relationship is different than being in a friendship. There are different demands and struggles that one goes through in a romantic relationship/marriage than in friendship. 

In the drama during both times that Wooyeon confessed, Wooyeon wasn't being led on by Lee Soo, it was actually Wooyeon's friends (Jinju and Younghee) that led her to believe that Lee Soo was just doing those things because Lee Soo likes her and is going to confess to her. Her friends twist Lee Soo's actions as something that is linked romantically. It's as if they can't believe that a guy is nice to a girl just because they are friends. But the truth is Lee Soo approached her because he thought that she has no other friends because her so-called friends (the one before Jinju and Younghee) were just using her and were saying things behind her back. In order for Wooyeon not to go back to being friends with those girls, Lee Soo presented himself as a friend. During the year when Lee Soo went back to renew his visa, Lee Soo said that he just wants to see more of Wooyeon, her friends automatically assumed that he wants to date her or sleep with her because there is no point in seeing her if not for those. Lee Soo's actions might seem that she's treating Wooyeon in a special way, but you have to see that the only friends that he considers in his life are Jin Sang Hyuk and Wooyeon. For all we know, that's just how he treats his friends because he has close to none. When Wooyeon asked during high school why Lee Soo was being nice to her, he answered that it was because he felt sorry for her. It wasn't because he pitied her, but it was more of kinship. Maybe Lee Soo saw himself in her or that Wooyeon resembled someone dear to him that he wanted to protect. Lee Soo never overly became nice to Wooyeon. He was just there always when she seemed to be in trouble. Even during the early scenes in Jeju, Lee Soo never insisted on being around Wooyeon without her consent. He kept on asking her if she's uncomfortable with him around and Wooyeon kept on saying that she's not uncomfortable. It was only during the ending scene when Lee Soo insisted that he will keep on seeing Wooyeon. This for me was sort of his turning point that was fueled by the scene wherein Wooyeon saved him from the falling ladder. 

There were parts that I actually feel sad for Lee Soo. Wooyeon was a nice girl but I didn't feel that Wooyeon thought of him ever as a friend. It was either she always felt that they were something more or they were not friends because he thought Lee Soo was a jerk. It was just either that. When Lee Soo went abroad and Wooyeon dated, she often drunk calls Lee Soo and appears that she still is hang up on her failed confession. She even revealed to Lee Soo that she dated those guys even though she didn't have feelings for them and even blamed Lee Soo for all the misfortunes she had in her failed relationships. If people see Lee Soo as a jerk, then Wooyeon at a certain point was a jerk too.

I tried to watch the first two episodes again and my thoughts remained the same. For me, I don't see Lee Soo as a jerk. I think he is a sweet but aloof person. More than a jerk, he is more of an awkward and confused person who goes through life with coping mechanisms that he thinks will protect him from the harsh realities in life that he might have encountered or observed from other people. He seems to be very careful not to get hurt. He might seem arrogant and a narcissist but I see this as his attempt at self-love or his way of people to pay attention to him. His playfulness and seemingly carefree attitude can be his attempt to make things lighter because he had too much drama when he was young. For me, the only fault of Lee Soo is that he is very upfront with his words that he might not realize the effects of his words to others. What he says is not wrong, it's more on he needs to improve on how he says his thoughts.

To those who think that Lee Soo just needs to go to therapy for him to get over his trauma doesn't know what they are talking about. People like myself who have trauma and have tried therapy know that it's not as easy as people think it would be. I saw some who belittle Lee Soo's trauma and think that he is too old already for it to still affect him. But that is reality. Some people even if they are in their late 20s still haven't figured life out. Actually, Lee Soo's trauma might not be just because of his parents divorcing and staying friends. The fact that Lee Soo can't sleep with the door closed means that he wants people to let his presence known. I think Lee Soo grew up thinking that his parents didn't care for what he felt when they broke up. I think Lee Soo just wants to feel that someone cares for him not for his looks nor for his talent in photography, but to just actually see the real Lee Soo. 

The drama is made in such a way that the viewers will empathize with Wooyeon and will think that Lee Soo is a jerk. But maybe that was the intention of the drama? Because all this time Wooyeon is just misunderstanding Lee Soo most of the time. If this is the case, then maybe the drama is doing it's job well since I could see a lot of viewers hate Lee Soo and think of him as a jerk. But if you look closely, the misunderstandings are largely due to the difference in how we perceive things. We perceive things differently because we were raised differently and by different people. If you try to look closely at Lee Soo and Wooyeon's interactions and conversations, they have different sets of beliefs and personalities. But another thing that you should notice is that they are slowly both changing and it's the influence of one another.
The plot of the drama is very cliche, but the beauty of this type of drama is not in its novelty or extraordinariness of it's plot. It's the way they can capture an audience by viewers having someone to relate to. Maybe a lot have experienced one-sided love that's why they related more to Wooyeon? But this drama is not all about love there are a lot of other things the drama is injecting to the viewers which are thoughts about friendship, career, family and the many realities in life. This drama actually reminds me of the drama "Because This Is My First Life."

For me, more than finding out who ends up with Wooyeon, I'm actually looking forward more to their interactions and their conversations. One can pick up a lot about life, career and relationships through it. The characters have good lines. I hope Lee Soo and Wooyeon will try to really communicate with each other and have a good friendship so that they continue to understand more of each other. I actually don't care if Lee Soo doesn't end up with Wooyeon. I just hope that the scriptwriters of this drama wrap up the storyline nicely. 

I actually have a lot more thoughts about this drama and I don't know why I am taking this drama seriously. I hope the viewers will give this a try and not just rely on the summary of other people. To understand this drama, one must look more closely at the details. There are actually a lot of symbolism. I might be wrong with some of my assumptions, but I'm willing to give this drama a chance and maybe learn a thing or two on how to overcome my aversion to romantic relationships.

Just finished watching Stranger 2 last night and I hope there's a Season 3. I just felt the ending was kinda rushed and wanted to see more of the interactions of the cast. Like season 1, it's an exceptional mystery/crime/thriller drama drama that gets you hooked in finding out what really happened to the cases and who the mastermind was, but the overall feeling I got was it falls a bit short for me compared to Season 1. I just didn't feel the same complexity and the interconnectedness of the events that I felt in Season 1 happen in Season 2. I guess I just felt that there were scenes that made me think were important but were just there to confuse viewers on what really happened.

Nevertheless, I still liked this season. It's special on its own. It showed more about the humanness of the characters and the realities in life. It showed the morale dilemma that we encounter in our daily lives and explained the struggles why we have to choose a certain way of doing things. What I unexpectedly liked in this season was the small interactions of Kang Won Chul x Hwang Si Mok. He wasn't directly supervising Si Mok anymore, but I was happy to see that he's still always there when Si Mok needs guidance. I also liked Seo Dong Jae x Hwang Si Mok. I didn't like Seo Dong Jae that much in season 1, but I really enjoyed the scenes were they were investigating together. I was rooting for Seo Dong Jae to be found alive when he was missing. I hope that Seo Dong Jae will play a big part in Season 3 if it pushes through. Hope to see more of Han Yeo Jin and Hwang Si Mok!! :)

I'm still in episode 6 of this drama but I think this drama will join the list of the dramas that has a special place in my heart. First, I really liked the opening part of each episode. I have the option to skip it, but I just watch it each episode. The graphics and the music just makes you feel there is something different in the production of the drama.

So far, the acting from the cast was really done well. It's my first time to watch a drama with Seo Ye Ji, but because of her portrayal of Moon Young, it makes me want to watch her other dramas. For Kim Soo Hyun this is actually my only second drama from him and basing from what I watched so far, he really is a good actor. (First drama was You Who Came From The Stars which I only watched recently too. His acting was okay there but I just felt that the drama was hard carried my Jun Ji Hyun.) I was pleasantly surprised also to see that the actor who played as Kim Soo Hyun's only friend in You Who Came From The Stars is in this drama too. Oh Jung Se did great too. I wanted to watch his other dramas too especially since he won the Best Supporting Actor in Baeksang this year.

But what really made me become attached to this drama is Episode 5, The Zombie Kid. I was really able to relate to it and cried my eyes out in this drama. I was really emotional watching this but I didn't get really sad from it. It made me felt understood and it made me feel hope.

I'll go back here to review the drama after I finish watching this.