purplebass

I'm also following this and I like how things are developing because there are many subplots and things to consider. It's a bit predictable sometimes, but what's important is that unlike many dramas, there's realism in the interactions between the characters that make the drama relatable. They all struggle to follow their dreams and succeed, but it's hard. Like you I'm biased towards Jang Hyuk, and here he's finally playing a character who also shows a goofy side. Despite the boxing posters that make people think it's only about boxe, the drama is about Ji Cheol's career but it's also about the meaning of family and the everyday life of families and their problems - in fact the other posters contain the other two main characters of the drama besides JH's, his wife and his daughter.

I love this drama and I wish there were more like this. Jang Hyuk aside who I already have on my favorite actors list, I think every actor is good playing their role on this drama. The plot is complicated and full of WOW moments that each week find me speechless and hungry for more. So if you love melodrama with some makjang elements and great actors and great acting and plot, you should DEFINITELY not miss this.

Yeah, I agree with you. The good thing about Mo Hyun is that she looks naive, but she isn't. She values herself and doesn't seem like the type that would go to any length to satisfy her greed; she'd rather live with nothing than with something she knows she gained with illegal means. The parallel between MH/MR is interesting. In this case, the illegitimate son (Pil Joo's position) is of Ha Joon, because like you said, MH would never cross the line and betray BC with PJ like this because she has more dignity than Seo Won and Pil Joo would never forgive himself if he loses control and lets his feelings ruin Mo Hyun, because he cares for her well being. Maybe, if they ever make their relationship real and not platonic, they'd go there after MH divorces BC. But you know, at this point I don't think she'd divorce him that easily since being married with him ensures that she can live at Mooshimwon and find who pushed her father to hurt himself. Who knows, maybe she could divorce BC after she finds out the marriage is "fake", but even then I can see her keep on staying married to get revenge on the Jangs and on Mal Ran who wants her out of this union. Or maybe, since Pil Joo already offered her protection if she ever wants to end this, she may let him help her but at the same time, she'd also help herself. She looks like a damsel in distress but she is not, this is why Mal Ran despises her.

You know what I'm thinking? That now that Mo Hyun is finding out things about Boo Cheon, she'll lean towards Pil Joo and the romance will start. Maybe they'll even have a love story behind the scenes in secret and she may get pregnant (although I'm not sure this may happen since maybe it's too American tvshow drama and not in line with Korean's culture/dramas). To me, this scenario is possible because I also think Boo Cheon's son Ha Joon is not even his real son. I'm thinking Seo Won wanted to ensure herself a future, but did they ever test the DNA of her son with Boo Cheon? Since this is a drama full of illegitimate sons, Ha Joon could be a fake as well. And maybe BC has even problems at procreating, and not the other way around. Maybe Mo Hyun miscarries because of him, not because of her. Anyway, the scenario with Pil Joo/Mo Hyun having an affair is a story I'd like too see but I realize that's a big line to cross in kdramaland.

I agree with you that they have a "mom/son" vibe but also a "lovers" vibe in a twisted way: Mal Ran is obviously touched by Pil Joo's attentions towards her, yet she thinks about her position and doesn't let her desires to own him to the bone true. Pil Joo is great at manipulating her feelings. It's one of his ways to avenge his family, because he is aware that Mal Ran isn't really the strong woman she makes other see, and her "infatuation" with him it's Pil Joo's golden ticket somehow, because he can use it to his advantage. Feelings can ruin people and he knows it. He knows that no matter what he'll do, Mal Ran will always (or until a certain limit) forgive him because she is attracted to him.

Even in the last episode you can tell that he's still trying to manage his social anxiety. They tried to show you how he is trying to work on himself to overcome it instead of showing that he changed all of a sudden :)

I watched Sorry I love you, but honestly it made me angry more than cry because it's contrived.

Yes :( I had high hopes and the first two episodes seemed to satisfy them. But going forward, they messed up the storyline and I didn't feel it anymore. I wish they could do a Korean adaptation of this!

Yup well almost in her thirties :O Thank you ^_^

Sorry for the late comment but I didn't check the section for a while! hehe. I’ll be spoilery about the manga, which IMO is worth a read, it’s only 10 volumes long and very emotional. 
The R-Rated scenes that happened in the manga are quite A LOT :O the images were graphical, they showed the act and didn't hint (ofc they didn’t show everything tho XD). In the manga Hokuto used sex in order to control Chiwa and release his stress and kid himself that he needed just that part of the marriage deal besides the contract itself, to be satisfied. Every time Chiwa tried to get him to talk about his past or confront his sad or good feelings, he practically lead her almost all the times in the bedroom. Sex was his copying mechanism. In the drama they had them in the bed with Chiwa willingly going to him and all, but in the manga, it’s Hokuto who had the upper hand and some times the sex could look as if it happened without consent.
And the revenge plot!!! Oh, the revenge plot. That was a good one. -___- In the manga Hokuto isn’t really Seji’s son because he is sterile. He adopts Hokuto after his family tried to kill him and kills his mom (who was really Seji’s first love), and he always treated him like a son despite he wasn’t his son. Hokuto does some investigations of his own to try to look for the culprit, who tries to harm both him and Chiwa (the stabbing scene was actually Chiwa getting stabbed to protect Hokuto and not the other way around). In the end Hokuto arrives at the top to destroy the company and then resigns from the position, divorces Chiwa and disappears for a long time to look for more proofs to get the truth out. In the end he finds out who killed his mom and creates a new business and gets back to his surname before he got into the Mamiya family and gets married with Chiwa once again.
:)

Thank you for the list, I've watched some of these dramas already because I love contract marriages! eheh. Regarding a J-Drama with a contract marriage, Happy Marriage?! which is currently airing deals with a storyline like this.
Other K-Dramas containing contract marriages are also Mask, Bride of the Century and Lie to Me :)

Loved the manga and read it several times, I wondered how they would put the smut parts in it since they were not deemed for a large audience. Of course they could only show kisses and imply the intercourse, but most of those scenes censored were one of the main things that showed Hokuto's personality, which is shown here but more subtly. They have sped up some things such as the marriage revelation (that is mostly hidden in the manga besides from the side of Hokuto's family). I would have preferred the marriage to remain secret to create more misunderstandings and whatnot, though. Hopefully they won't make too much of a love quadrangle because it's a simple and annoying plot to resume every time in every live action.

Yes, please!

The drama that I can consider my favorite is Hotel King. I know I am in the minority, perhaps, but I have a strong attraction towards melo and makjang dramas full of secrets and with a one-of-a-kind story and the main couple is faboulous, they have such a great chemistry! <3

Can't wait to see this new drama because I am a fan of JKH and I am pleased he will be acting alongside JNR... It is an interesting match because they are able to do comedy and drama very well.

I am also watching this. It is not a romcom, but it isn't a melodrama either. Like you said, it has a good balance with relatable characters. While I watched this I thought how I could not hate anybody like it happened in the past, and the answer I could give myself is that this drama shows different kinds of people and goes deep in their lives episode after episode so that traits that may be annoying come out later. I can't even hate Yi Seul's mother despite she is indeed, annoying. I feel like the writer did a good plan for this drama, and I find myself thinking about a lot of stuff going on there. Hopefully it won't have a flat ending that blows up all the build up so far. I like the characters and how there's meaning in every action they do, as you can see from the cute and emotional flashbacks of young Haeng Ah and Ri Hwan.

Liked him since My Girl and then in Hotel King I loved him even more (you can tell by my icon!).

It's amusing how everything is so intrigued and complicated in this drama. Psychological manipulation at its best. So far the only drama in 2015 that hooked me to the bone. Can't wait for the last two episodes, I wonder how they will solve the plot because it's a big mess.

Just finished the manga and from the trailer the movie looks cool! I think the actors fit the manga characters :D

I advise you don't watch PTB if you don't like triangles... I dropped it because of this. The comical stuff was enjoyable, but not when repeated over and over again. It was a style similar to Hong Sis' dramas and I agree with you, they tend to play on triangles/quadrangles and whatnot too much. I am NEVER satisfied with their dramas and their endings, it always feels there is something unresolved in the plot and that doesn't seem logical, and it makes me cringe. I have watched three dramas by them (My Girl, Greatest Love, Master's Sun). Even though I am obsessed with the couples of MG and MS and loved them because of the Hong Sis dramas they played in, I felt blah blah blah after I finished watching those. It feels like the emotions change depending on the episode, the main leads are never too sure of their love and it's annoying! lol.

I also agree it depends on the writer if the timing of the blooming romance is okay or not. For example right now I am finishing A Gentleman's Dignity. On this drama the main lead falls one-sidedly in love after a few episodes, but unlike other dramas, it didn't feel wrong or rushed - it felt proper. I think that is due to the writing. So far I had never watched a drama where things looked so realistic with no love triangles, or annoying secondary characters. I would like to watch more stuff like this; if you have something else to suggest me. ^^ I'll check out the drama you mentioned above, hopefully I can find it online to watch. :)