Manda

I wish this drama had spent more time during the 'spring', when JY was in college and YJ was a part-timer. I liked those parts of the drama the most. It would have been lovely to watch a relationship developing properly over time from that moment instead of time-skipping around and using character suffering/illness/disability/death to sticky tape those times together.

I will make sure not to watch that drama then lol

Was this pre-produced? If not, I wonder if the ending got changed because of public response. I feel like the writers thought this ending would be 'safe'.

I love your review, it's a perfect summary of everything I want to say but am too clumsy to express. There are many lines in this that particularly make me nod, such as:

"Due to lack of direction many viewers started to search for hidden meanings between these dialogues, purpose of these characters. I call it "rise of conspiracy creators". Maybe who knows from 15 min talk one line was important or it was just expression. This created huge contradiction - is this drama is artful or actually realistic? I lost what I am watching and what I should expect."

I was one of those people - I was searching for symbols, hidden meanings. I was sure the 'serial killer' that kept getting mentioned would play a part later on because he was getting brought up so often. The show didn't seem to know who to focus on, who to give importance to, and how to control what those characters were saying to find the line between realism and relevance. With limited time on screen, and with a short-sighted story, what happens and what is said should stay within reasonable boundaries of being important to the story.

"It was fun to discuss, read comments, but something important was lost - reason to continue to watch this drama (except "I will finish only because I like actor or actress"). Suddenly drama became very dark, sad and worthy of tag "tragedy". Drama became kinda a joke - "I will see how will writers clean this mess".

This too. I spent a lot more time discussing this drama than enjoying it. I discussed it not even out of a place of appreciation, but out of frustration. I started the drama for SKJ, and finished it for both him and morbid curiosity.

"And ending oh my... This is not even open ending. They did not define their happiness, it is even open for interpretation that makes them happy. What values left unchanged or changed during these third charms? After 16 episodes actually I do not know nothing about main characters for certain. Such ending made viewer further away from main characters rather than closer."

I took the ending negatively. I was destined to not be happy with the ending no matter what, because I developed so much frustration and fatigue during the drama. I disliked FL, and even started to get annoyed with ML though it had less to do with his character and more to do with his forced responses to the stupid directions the story was going in. I liked SFL and felt very bad that she got caught up in such a hideous mess. I never liked SML much. None of these characters seemed to change or develop, ever. They simply had life circumstances heaped on them. It's like applying patches to the top of old clothing. The characters stayed the same but were forced to react to new situations.

I never saw enough development to think that that ending meant anything more than that they would go out, make the same mistakes over again, and package it like that's 'fate' and 'romantic'. While I didn't want the leads to be together, and see this ending as being better than forcing them into an outright romantic ending, this ending doesn't suggest they learned any lessons or grew up at all. It was left blown wide open to please everyone, I think, because the feedback they received was so complicated. I wonder if the ending is different to what was originally planned.

I'm glad that JY and SE split if only for her sake, but I'm bitter at how her character got treated in all of this. So much tragedy and ridiculous drama got thrown in purely to attract sympathy, manipulate viewer opinion and give the leads something to cry about. I'm still mad about JR's unnecessary cancer plot line.

You don't sound bitter, you sound logical and like you're based 100% in real life. Love is nice and all but it also comes in different types. Passionate love becomes comfortable love, and any love can change. That's why I'm trying to figure out why the writers want us to think JY still loves YJ in spite of everything.

Maybe you're right. Obsession would make sense. And also make this story that much worse for me.

"Reality bites really harder than love.. soon realize that there are so many things more precious in life than love. " I think I'm in love with your comment.

The trailer and the premise I saw on websites totally threw me, I did not expect this. If I'd known the characters would have all kinds of misery and drama heaped on top at all times, I would at least have approached this with different expectations.

I hope she has learned, though I haven't seen that yet. The show focuses on how unhappy she is now, in contrast to how happy she was with the Doctor, so we don't see much about how she's changed as a person over the years.

It's hard to tell if she even regrets how things went with JY or if she's just pining for his comfort at this low point in her life. I don't know if it's the writing or Esom's acting, but the character is too vague to suss out her motivations. That's why it's easy to feel like she just wants to use JY for comfort instead of regretting their past or her still having feelings for him.

I saw on another website a theory that they will both go back to Portugal separately and reunite there. YJ's child is buried there, and JY already mentioned to SE that he's interested in moving back to Lisbon. If this happens a few years into the future, after YJ has healed a little and JY has separated from SE, maybe that would be when the writers put them back together.

Yep, I did read your comment, and I get what you're saying. Her needing him and being depressed and suicidal does not mean a relationship should happen, though I don't doubt the writers will make it this way. JY would just be a crutch. And who's to say she won't feel 'guilty' again for how much he gives her, like before, and peace out as soon as she feels like it?

"And she wasn't swayed by him as I've already told you based on her "own" dialogue. " Your tone seems aggressive here and it's unnecessary. From the subtitled version of the episode I saw, she said to Doctor "I was swayed but not by you". So...swayed by what? If you squint, she seems to be saying she was swayed by something, but not by him romantically. Which is why I thought she must mean that she liked his lifestyle, because what else would she be swayed by?

No one could stop him from going back to her. But viewers who are concerned can hope that he doesn't, and worry about their future if he does. If they want a realistic drama, they should be aware that they've now introduced mental illness and grief into a story that already had many other complications. And in a realistic world, these things will have huge impact on even solid long term relationships, let alone this messy back-and-forth JY and YJ have.

I'm not against them getting together further into the future, after she's had therapy and both she and JY are in better places. JY won't have been little more than her crutch who is obligated to heal her or otherwise be responsible for her death. YJ will be taking charge of her own health and life, being proactive in her recovery. They will be different people, more mature, and less raw. It will be like a whole new relationship with new people involved, better people hopefully. If they're making them be together, a time skip would be a great idea.

I'm with you. I also wish the tags for 'fated love' and 'makjang' or whatever had been added so I could have avoided this altogether. I wasn't expecting it to be completely light but the premise I read in articles sounded far better than what I've struggled through each week.

If you have legitimate issues with this drama, down vote away - you might save someone else's time. I'll wait for the last two episodes to make my rating, but I can pretty much guarantee it won't be a high one. I will also avoid these writers for the future. How they think this is a good relationship to support in this story is beyond me.

1. Not being over someone doesn't mean a thing tbh. There are people I'm still in love with, maybe always will be. I'm still swayed by them. It took me a long time to realise that I was better without them, because even though I feel intense love I was also suffering and life was not happy. Love is not a magical cure all that will make everything else irrelevant. It's ultimately JY's choice whether he will risk it regardless. But as a viewer who cares about him, I hope he doesn't confuse love for what's ultimately healthiest and right for him. And I hope he learns from the past.

2. A relationship should NOT happen just because one side will die without the other. That is messed up - he'd be like her hostage or her life support machine. That is NOT love. He is not obligated to save her life, nor should he have that sort of pressure put on him by anyone, let alone YJ. They are no longer involved with each other, even if he has lingering romantic feelings and she's decided he'd make a great pillow to cry on.

I'm sorry but that's a truly terrible reason. Am I sympathetic to mental health issues? Absolutely. Do I think other people should be obligated to step in, make sacrifices and potentially harm themselves in the process? HELL NO. I keep seeing comments on sites where people feel like JY HAS to go back to her to save her life, what a scary perspective and that will 100% not end happily for either of them without terrible bull**** writing. With her mental state as it is, it's actually the biggest reason why them getting together again would be a the worst idea right now.

3. She didn't cheat on JY, and her dialogue was that she was swayed but 'not by you'. I took that to mean that she was attracted to Doctor's lifestyle, since she herself wants riches and fame in the cosmetics/beauty industry. Through JR's speech we have to read between the lines and assume that YJ also wanted to focus on herself, advancing her career for those riches she wanted, and didn't want the fuss of having to put effort into a serious relationship. Doctor had a similar attitude, to the point that his first marriage broke apart.

It wouldn't be a hardship for her to marry someone so similar minded, but I don't think it was as simple as that. My theory is that she slept with him, got pregnant, and they married for the sake of the child. Either way, that it was the DOCTOR she chose to sleep with will always affect JY. He worried about it, and even if the circumstances weren't cut and dry, she did have a child with the Doctor and marry him. It's like confirmation of his worst fears, cheating or not.

He now has lingering eyes towards YJ while SE bubbles with insecurity. He's the YJ of this relationship and SE's the JY...and he really IS pining for someone else, like he thought YJ was. His perspective is not going to be good, no matter how much he's grown up.

If I'd known that fated lovers would be part of this story, I never would have started it tbh. It's like an excuse for writers to mess up as badly as they want, produce unhealthy characters and cram them together because 'fate said so'.

Exactly. And joke's on me too, ugh. Actually I don't normally post so much online or I wait until a show is over to comment, but this drama made me angry with its janky writing. I'll finish it because I'm already close to the end (and I'm genuinely enjoying SKJ's improved acting, his expressions are wonderful) but I feel a little bitter that I stuck to it so far.

If you've got characters as you intended with actors you're happy with portraying them, why feel the need to resort to cheap tricks? I don't like YJ as a person but as a character she's unique. Why feel the need to 'compensate' for public opinion by throwing in some of the worst tragedies people can experience? And all to try and make sure people are happy that she and JY go back to a relationship that many people expect would be toxic?

...not to mention, I DESPISE any trope that suggests only your true love/romantic partner can heal you.

I didn't fall for it either, and although they're pulling these tricks, I really don't think they're clever for it. I think they're not confident. If they wanted YJ to be as Esom was portraying her, they should have just rolled with it unapologetically. I wouldn't have liked it because I don't like YJ, but I'd respect it more than making the woman's life a living hell in this way.

This idea that the main leads should end up together no matter what is not synonymous with a happy ending, I wish people would get that. I wonder if what they're after is more the 'first and last lover' idea of true love, without painful grown up complications in between.

Exactly. I'd rather a healthy relationship with a slow building love than throw myself into love that has no stable foundation. SE actually did a lot less than JY did (he even ran background checks on HC which is surely an abuse of police resources), I can only guess he's either a hypocrite or very sensitive towards her fragile state.

The worst thing I've seen online is people saying that SE is too 'comfortable'. Uhhh...what? I'll take a comfortable relationship over whatever he had with YJ any day, even if it's less passionate and heart-racing.

I hate the way they're taking this. That last scene in episode 14 was ridiculous. Especially because of her co-opting Joo-Ran's terrible news and making it all about her. Am I supposed to feel warm that in a dark moment, JY was the one that she called? I don't. I feel like he's standing in the path of a bullet.

This element of 'fate' too, it's so freaking pointless. Whenever they try to sell me 'fate' in a non-fantasy, it feels like they're doing it because they can't convince people that the couple are a good match in any other way. No thanks. I'll struggle through the last episodes but this drama was a wreck.

"Most disgusting moment was then doctor met JY and friendly asked him to sit down. Like they were best friends and he did not inflicted any harm to him. " That part made me so mad. It actually felt like he was trying to pass her back to JY somehow? Ugh. I have to face it that the writers are determined to push the main couple back together no matter how stupid and unhealthy it is.

I wondered too if he shouldn't be more understanding, especially because all he does is project nostalgic drama out of his eyes at every opportunity, which would unsurprisingly make ANY girlfriend insecure. I think it's just that the whole thing felt a little icky, since YJ's clearly depressed and as far as JY knows it's due to her divorce, so arranging a blind date probably seemed insensitive more than SE having petty jealousy.

As for Ho-Chul, didn't his first marriage go bust due to him being more married to work? He seems similar to YJ, so maybe he was all about the career and he liked to keep his personal life relatively free and easy. The death of the child and YJ's subsequent depression was probably too much baggage for him to handle, plus his own grief would be hard to deal with. It sounds shitty but when you're struggling with grief, dealing with other sad people can be tedious and frustrating.

I wonder if he was YJ's rebound, and they got married because she fell pregnant. Shotgun wedding kind of thing.

I'm legit upset about Joo-Ran, my heart hurts for her. I feel a little miffed by YJ's call to JY like 'everyone I love gets sick'. She's in a dark place, sure, but I hate how she's making this horrible life changing news for JR all about her. It's just like when SJ lost his legs and even he was all 'ahhh it was so hard for YJ'.

There should be no distractions from the fact that this is about JR. And what a beautiful and sad scene at the salon. She seemed masterful and graceful, very dignified, even while clearly suffering. I'm scared for her.

I wonder how/when SE found out that YJ was his ex, or did she know it all along? If she didn't know and just did the set-up thinking it was a nice gesture, it's still pretty brain- dead but not malicious. If she knew all along though, that's not good. She's the JY of this relationship and her jealousy and insecurities are starting show.

I like the female second lead in this drama, but despise the male second lead for maybe the first time ever. I've honestly never avoided SLS before until this.

I'm dreading what will happen with Se-Eun. If she's not endgame, then I bet something ridiculous will happen to break her and JY up to avoid him looking like a jerk. Either SE will break up with him to 'free' him, or something about her will come up that will let JY separate from her and ride off on a moral high horse.

For myself, I think there's nothing wrong with choosing a comfortable relationship with familiarity and stability as its foundation. All these comments that feel like the passion and whirlwind he had with YJ are superior make me side-eye . In real life, the passionate and nostalgic choices do not automatically equal the best choice. Some of the people I still feel strongest about are also the ones I'm glad I don't see any more for my own good.

But if he's swayed to the point where we get all of these long teary stares and annoying background music, he should absolutely leave SE for her own good, but not because a relationship with YJ is 'the better choice'. Team JY-with-no-one at this point!

I'm not sure how shows work tbh, if writers or producers or whatever keep an eye on public sentiment, but if they do then I wonder if YJ was made so miserable to try and create sympathy for her. In episodes before 12 I saw a spike in anti-YJ comments and wishes for the main couple not to end up together.

After 12, it went back to being more 50-50 with most people feeling sorry for her and wishing for 'happiness' no matter what form it takes. Basically, even if it's to JY's detriment, they're happy for him to back to YJ for as long as the magic d can make her feel better.

I also saw some translated comments from Korean watchers, and a lot of them were very against YJ. Maybe writing these horrible tragedies for her are a way to try and get people to soften towards her to prepare for the inevitable 'happy ending'.

I really don't want them to get together, if for no other reason than this is a terrible foundation to restart a relationship on. Their history has been complicated to put it nicely, and there must still be resentments all around.

If the writer really, really has to have them end up together, it needs to be even further into the future after JY has lived more of his life and YJ has had time to heal and get therapy. But truthfully even then I wouldn't really be satisfied with this show. I'm only continuing instead of dropping it because it's so close to the end anyway.