Solie

Thanks for this insight! It's always good to know the back story. People who think that culture is free from any political influence (especially in this case) are simply naive (which is only understandable if they're actually kids or teens). The fact that they're pushing this drama so strongly is definitely intersting.

Thank you for putting this together so eloquently! I hope that many people here will read it to understand why there are even issues with this drama and stop blindly defending what actually happened. I was bashed a bit while saying that we should respect Knetzs opinions as it concerns their history. In my opinion, we cannot satisfy our freedom just to limit the freedom of others without respecting it.

As you also mentioned in another comment - the producers had the chance to avoid any complications with the drama but they decided to ignore public opinion and now they are paying the price. It's not like they were unaware of what could happen.

I'm not canceling anyone here - I'm just saying that we should respect each other views and feelings when taking about such sensitive subjects. When you decide to watch a Korean drama (or a tv series/drama/movie from any other country) you should take into consideration all cultural (and historical - in case of a historical production) implications, because in many situations they're the key to understand the plot, characters' motivations and used props.

I'm fully aware of this fact, but we also cannot ignore what they showed us in the episode 2, which indicates that ML is a NK. He doesn't have to be a bad person - I don't think he actually is, but he has definitely some hidden agenda. And that's also where problem lays here. I hope to be wrong and there is a twist as I wouldn't like to completely write this drama off, but as it's not referring to history of my country I cannot say whether it's wrong or not.

That's also what I think! I'm not here to bash the drama. I just think when you decide to cover such a serious and sensitive issue it should be done carefully.

May I ask you where are you are from? I'm from Poland and anyone who knows even bits of history knows that ours was quite turbulent.

I think you did not understand my comment. My main point was that it is Koreans who should decide what to do with this drama as it concerns their history and we are not in a position to judge them. Moreover, I only referred to the other people's theories about NSA - as I clearly stated for me it's a fact, not a theory, not an assumption. We don"t have to agree as that's the whole point of discussion.

I don't think you have understood my first comment at all...

Please read this thread: https://twitter.com/gatamchun/status/1471206711386345472?t=b3UZxqweMGX72anu459cRA&s=19

I don't know if this is 100% true as you cannot be sure of anything nowadays. I wish we coukd also receive some korean input here as it'd be very useful

I watched two first episodes out of curosity as I was aware of the ongoing controversies and I have to admit I'm with knetzs on this one. I read about that period of Korean history a bit as I got interested after watching the movie "1987" and I understand where the problem lays. I think as this is not a history of our country, the opinions of Korean citizens should be respected. If they consider this drama as distortion of their history and feel uncomfortable while watching it (many people who survived these events are still alive), then we should just accept this. It should not be romanticized in any way and used for entertainment out of respect for them.

First, they didn't have to make the ML the NK spy (for know it seems that he's a one) considering that young students back then were accused of being NK spies, then brutally tortured and killed. Second, as I'm aware of history, I know while watching this drama, that NSA are obviously bad guys. But I've seen many comments online that viewers have no idea what NSA was (and what is really happening from political point of view) and they have "theories" that NSA could be villains (because it wasn't explicitly showed that they're bad - it was too vague). This should not be considered as "theory" as it is a fact. And that's also shows how this show could be considered as problematic - it shows foreign viewers not aware of history something that is not true and not everyone will actually open a Wikipedia page and read about these events after watching an episode.

Obviously, what we are now commenting on is a drama (of 2 episodes) which is FICTIONAL, but the producers chose to set the drama in such a sensitive historical period - they were not forced and they should have been prepared for any repercussion for historical inaccuracies. Koreans are very serious about issues like that and they still feel very hurt about these particular events. The producers were supposed to eliminate the problematic elements before airing date but for now it's difficult to tell if they will be able to salvage it. Personally, I'm against censorship, because it limits people's freedom, but I still think that Koreans views should be respected.

I think it's easy for me to symphatize with knetzs on this as in my country we also had to deal with difficult times which influenced our current lives immensely and I wouldn't like to watch a movie or a drama that portrays these events unnaccurately.

Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon acting as crazy is genius! I laughed every time I saw Wi Ha Joon appearing on the screen.

This drama is really entertaining and gives me a bit of a Taxi Driver vibes (but it's obviously crazier).

Nope, that's way they are playing the same character lol

This show is crazy but in a good way. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but the first episode was great - intense, full of action and well-directed.

Wi Ha Joon is seriously so handsome - I cannot help but think that when I'm watching him on the screen haha.

This is a truly powerful cast! I hope they will also cast other awesome support actors - the premise of the show looks interesting.

It's great news! She's an amazing actress and I liked all her latest projects!

This! Cannot agree with you more. We all too often forget that all people are different and have their own struggles which they do not have to advertise for other people to approve of them.

This drama gives me the same butterflies as HomCha.

I really like the characters and how they portray their emotions. There is so much to uncover in the main leads story and I am so curious abouth what really went wrong between them as it is certain that both hurt each other being actually unaware of the hurt they caused the other person. I hope it will stay as real as it is until the end. I actually don't need them to get together? I just wish they would understand each other's struggles without jumping down their throats.

I find Choi Woong really charming (apart from him being a fool at the same time)? I guess Choi Woo Shik is doing a great job. Kim Da Mi is also one of my favourites - it's difficult to ignore her charisma. Her character seems difficult to approach at first, but I think it's pretty obvious that she's actually quite unsure of herself and is protecting herself constantly. Her dismissive/distant/confident attitude is just an act - I think she'll finally crumble and it's going to be really sad.

This drama is so underrated. It's such a shame because it's pretty great. I enjoyed it a lot. One of the best idol dramas I've seen.

It's a 10 for me without the doubt. I've enjoyed it and that's the most important thing while watching a drama.

This drama amazingly depicts how differently humans behave in face of crisis, danger and death (we also got a perfect example of different gorups of society). I also find it very telling that those who were humane enough were not hurt at the end. The people should not be blamed just for a simple fact that they got infected, especially if it was possible for some of them to withold the thirst and have a clear state of mind.

What I also liked is that there were not that many characters, but every one of them was enough to leave an impression. We were also watching them in the same surroundings almost all the time, but it was not boring at all. The scenes were intense and exciting.

The only thing that was a bit underwhelming is that we did not see all characters getting closure.

This changes things as I missed that! I like that theree are so many detail-oriented viewers who could share their insight!

I get that - I'm not really negative about this much (I would filmed the scene differently, but that's just me 😅). I really liked how they were running towards each other.