I know people want happy endings, but after episodes 5 & 6. The answer is no. Absolutely not. Jung Woo (Jang Eui…
In short, what the premise of the show set-up and eluded to from the get go is the truth. Jung Woo's character was specifically hired to work with our ML Do Gun for X amount of time and learn how to make all his dishes, and then kick him out of the kitchen. The owner and Jung Woo planned it together knowing that he could replicate the menu that garnered the Michelin star because of his unique set of skills in reproducing other's dishes. The only reason the contest is even happening is so Jun Woo can have the time needed to learn to copy the existing menu so the restaurant won't lose its core customers or Michelin star. Do Gun has been technically "fired" or replaced from the get go, and its all been a duplicitous act in which Jun Woo seduced him to gain his favor and the favor of the kitchen staff as well as learn the main chefs techniques and actually get lessons from him to make him better at replicating the menu.
Do Gun should have walked out from the start as a large swath of commenters in the beginning pointed out. In no world would a fully accredited trained chef who had brought a restaurant a Michelin star EVER EVER stand for another chef to enter his kitchen for any type of contest to keep his job. He could leave and walk into almost anywhere and be handed the kitchen on a silver platter.
What is worse, is that Jung Woo has already signed the head chef contract knowing that NO MATTER WHAT he will win the food tasting and be handed the kitchen. AFTER doing this, he then takes Do Gun on a romantic day in which they "confess" their feelings and have a cardboard, UN-passionate, awful "kiss."
Does he have remorse and regrets and pause before signing the head chef contract and even briefly ask Do Gun to NOT do the contest...yes. Does he even ask Laura if they really have to fire Do Gun, knowing this was always the plan....yes. (What does he expect Do Gun to be Seuss-chef in the same restaurant he took to Michelin Star status? Seriously? How would she pay for having two chefs in the kitchen?) He went into it all knowing what he was going to do and what the outcome would be but didn't think his cold, caviler, user self would actually become attached to his mark.
However, he has become attached. But even though he has developed some sort of feelings, he still forges ahead anyway. He still signs his name. And he DOES NOT tell Do Gun what is actually happening. Showing that he remains duplicitous and will take over the restaurant even though causing Do Gun pain and stealing his livelihood. Will he hurt himself, yes, but that is less than gaining the Michelin star spot, pay, and respect he wants. He said it was his dream to have a Michelin star, and he is stealing it instead of earning it. And as much as he might like Do Gun, he doesn't care or like him enough NOT to do this to him.
That he makes himself feel better by going on a romantic day date with Do Gun after literally screwing him over behind his back, makes him even more Machiavellian and despicable. He selfishly gave himself the happiness he wants with Do Gun for 1 day before he turns around and destroys him. Jung Woo knows he will lose Do Gun, and he knows his actions are wrong and amoral. But he does them anyway, and I'm guessing over the money he paid back from episode 1 or 2 he can't back out. Because then why did that scene ever happen? It really is awful.
I don't want them together in the end. I want some of the kitchen staff and/or restaurant staff to walk out with the main chef and go open the restaurant at the beach. I think that is where our ML will end up regardless as this episode eluded that was his true dream, I just hope some staff is loyal to him. But I doubt it. I wish they would do a future jump in which Laura's goes under or is stripped of its Michelin star and both Jung Woo and Laura end up being losers. And I hope that our ML has maybe a closing shot in the arms of someone else he has met along the way so we know he finds happiness.
Jung Woo, you have no respect from me.
I don't want the show to put them together and Do Gun come to terms with Jung Woo running the restaurant and forgiving him. I don't want fake warmth just to make shipper happy endings. AND I really don't want Do Gun to just accept that Jung Woo's dishes were better and won so he accepts leaving when it was all a set-up from the start. Do Gun deserves better.
The only hope left is that Jung Woo ultimately can't live with himself and confesses his actions and plot to Do Gun BEFORE they are meant to compete. Instead they both walk out, leaving together, and leaving Laura high and dry...that could work, with a little time off between them where Do Gun comes to forgive him and Jung Woo works hard at regaining his trust. I might still stand for that.
And if Jang Eui Soo has chosen this to be his last BL because he doesn't want to do "gay stuff" anymore even though it has garnered him fame and popularity and allowed him to be a Joseon Guard, a low man Body Guard, and evil Head Chef while also performing comedy, drama, romance and a little action (Or short, a wide range of characters and roles (a dream for actors)) then fine. His kiss scenes are awful anyway, no matter how attractive and talented he is. (He can really act, its not just looks. I admit it.) I'm fine with him leaving, I'd rather support actors that don't look at these stories as a gay story or bl and nothing else. All those straight stories are just repeating the same characters as well with the same plots, so whatever. Sad that he ends it with such an awful character when he began with one of the most beloved.
I know people want happy endings, but after episodes 5 & 6. The answer is no. Absolutely not. Jung Woo (Jang Eui Soo) character is despicable. If they spout off some back story nonsense in the end to try and make-up for what hes done and give an "excuse" for it, I will not buy it. I'm tired of characters being forgiven and let off for the horrible things they do. While this pops up in stories around the world, K-dramas (BL or Not) especially have a really bad trend of letting characters go without recourse, repercussions, or responsibility for their actions during the series for the sake of plot and warm feels. People gush and accept it all because they are hot, handsome, rich, have a crying scene, or they do 1 good deed at the very end that helps the "good guys," or Main Lead and oh, all is forgotten, forgiven, and friendly now.
It wasn't a "crap role." It was to be 1 of the 3 lead males in a NETFLIX series called Bloodhound based on a webtoon. It is expected to have an 18+ rating due to violence and profanity. He would have been playing a person loaded with debt and the extreme things they would due to get out from under it. The roles are being picked up by other actors at least as big as him or arguably bigger. So there is something more to the story. Possible scheduling conflicts of the main role with other roles he is doing or wants to do because his agency said he had multiple offers on the table, couldn't agree on money terms, or other things in the contract like maybe being forced to do 2 or 3 additional projects in x amount of time (which is done a lot) etc.
Or yes maybe he just didn't like the character. Netflix is a global company and thus would offer him the largest spotlight. But, I'm not sure. He very much seems to be attracted to roles that are morally grey. My ID is G Beauty the only role I've seen so far where he was an actually solidly "good" guy. Even his bit role in Its Okay to Not be Okay was of a mentally unstable rich kid who purposefully acted up and did "bad" things to go against his family. So the role in Bloodhound seems to be in his wheelhouse, and would be attractive to him.
Maybe he could simply want a long career as "character" actor that is recognizable but never the star and can chameleon like move into any role at any time and refrain from lead syndrome or type casting. It is less profitable but artistically more fulfilling a lot of the times. Also actors who work like this normally have very long careers comparative to those who always must stay in A status or be considered over. This could be his goal and thus star roles are not what he is interested in.
Or maybe he has things in his past that he doesn't want brought up and as long as he stays 2nd string he can have a long career with lots of fans but never become the focus of a great leading man and worry about the scandals that can come along with it. it could also be he wants to live his current life more freely and not deal with all those "can't have girlfriend" be open in public yadda yadda weird Koren star fantasy contract stuff. Korean cancel scandal culture is ridiculous.
There are a lot of possibilities and unless we are him, his agency, or those in his close circle, we won't know why he made his decisions unless he chooses to tells us.
1) What happened to Soo-A? Did she bleed out and die? I mean she is stabbed, but a medical team was called and last we saw her she hadn't yet walked towards the light.
2) What about all the other murders...so they have the big bad admitting to the reporters father's death 16 years ago, but if Soo-A is dead (I'm guessing so) and they haven't shown nor have sufficient evidence to prove the big bad ordered the deaths of the others, (Which they didn't have before and he did not admit to on the video) then does that mean their cases go unsolved or prosecuted? The show seems to say that everyone was caught and justice was served. How?
3) In what world would they allow the bad guy's SON to be anywhere near his prosecution, trial, arrest, or anything else? There is unquestionable BIAS. In the US this is illegal, and the defense can get basically everything thrown out. I couldn't image South Korea allowing this.
4) Are you saying that OUR MAIN LEAD selectively didn't recall that he raced and caused a multiple car pile-up that killed 3 people and destroyed 2 families? Seriously? No really, Seriously? A case that takes up the entire last half of the season, that everyone is digging into, and they he is actively retracing and finding evidence for...and yet...yet...yet...HE DIDN'T REMEMBER HE CAUSED THE WRECK???? No really, again, seriously...this is the plot? And what about all that hanging out with the 2nd lead as a kid in the hospital and finding evidence to clear the dad and all of that "jazz?" Our main lead doesn't recall why he was there or what his connection was. This was just fucking outrageously ridiculous and stupid.
5) How is the prosecutor still employed? He actively sidelined cases, dropped evidence, obstructed justice, and worked to free guilty parties. He tried to keep his father out of hands of the law, when he himself is supposed to be the law. The police know he did this, and our ML actively goes up against him over it at times during the series. YET, he has ZERO, NADA, NONE, repercussions for any of his actions. Not a thing. Why, cause in-the-end he helps bring down his father? That absolves him of everything? That isn't how the world works. Maybe he lost the friendship and respect of the FL...maybe.
6) While a man is coding and a staff of six are trying to revive him, they allow random people into the room to watch? I mean our main lead would have looked like he was having a mental breakdown as he talked to no-one, doused himself in water and flailed around in the background...No one pays the least bit of attention. Then in walks some random woman who has some crazy conversation with the now wet and hunched over ML, that causes him to wail and then go bat shit finding things in the room to hurt himself with to draw blood....I mean guys this is what really happened...while they are reviving a patient. I mean how much reality am I supposed to suspend?
7) Can anyone sue the stylist that had their hands on Kim Seon Ho in the show. I mean really, NEVER, and I mean, NEVER let them near you again. That pixie haircut,....ugh, dyed orange...why? Have you seen how pale you are, orange is not a good look. And those combat boot shoes with skinny jeans. I mean is he goth? It was just so horrible to watch. Thank God you can act so well and smile so large...cause I needed the detraction from your "look" this time round.
Whisper one more line Jo Jung Suk. Do it! I dare you. I swear, it gets even worse when he is trying to be sensitive or relay bad news. I screamed at my tv STOP FUCKING WHISPERING AND TALK!!! USE YOUR FUCKING VOICE MAN!!!! God it was irritating.
BTW, can we rename this from Two Cops to The Turtle Neck Stories? Or The Turtle Neck Crime Gang? Or maybe Precinct Turtle Neck?
Jo Jung Suk, I'm sorry, but I can't handle the way you deliver your lines. The whole last half of the show Ive literally been cringing. Everything is a soft whisper. Your eyes are always darting around like your thinking really really hard (or reading a teleprompter) as you smooth talk every revelation as if your are on a pod cast or Ted talk.....I've actually had to pause scenes cause I couldn't take it and needed a break. I had to skip the scene where you and the nun talk to each other in front of the mural when the killer has just been revealed. The nun delivers her lines in the exact same way you do, and it was like you were speaking to a female version of your self. Everything slow and drawn out like you are reciting Korean poetry to each other in lustful tones instead of having a conversation about a killer. The actress annoyed me in the other show she was in where she was a corrupt mayor because of how she talked....Ugh.
And of course....even though our FL has been investigating and been in the mix the entire series and in almost every other case....now that they are all dealing with a case that actually INVOLVES HER, everyone forgets that shes a part of the show. Now, she shows up once an episode basically to tell information to the bad guys and hinder what everyone else is doing. And then she just moseys off non-the-wiser....why, because even though everyone else in the show is on the same page and knows whats going on and is investigate the culprits....no one bothers to tell her anything...because apparently it will hurt her fragile female feelings....what the hell......and suddenly she isn't a hard hitting reporter who is always showing up where no one wants her too, but now she is just sitting at home waiting for all the boys phone calls.....Its effing stupid and frustrating.
AND CAN EVERYONE STOP TALKING OUT-LOUD TO NO ONE????!!!!!!
It is really really really poor writing, but it seems to be the norm in Asian television. So I normally just keep my mouth shut about it, swallow, and ride out the Telemundo soap opera speaking thoughts to no one ridiculousness. BUT this show is really really overdoing it. I mean every other scene someone is telling plot points to thin air. You watch the action of the show, and then have a character narrate what information you as an audience member should have taken away from the scene, its so condescending and irritating.
I get it, telling peoples thoughts is hard when dealing with the screen. It is the main obstacle when converting novels to screen plays. Voice over is the big cheat on how to accomplish this easily while not disrupting the action on screen. The actor ACTS, which is 1/2 of the work, to convey how they feel about things and then the voice over (or other devices like reading or writing in journals, or having specifically designed conversations that relay these thoughts and feeling to the audience between characters etc.) are used to slyly get the needed information to the audience...BUT HERE NOPE, just say it out loud while looking sideways.
In the west it is a CARDINAL SIN to have a character tells their thoughts, motivations, and feelings on what is happening out-loud to no one...because it breaks the 4th wall and shows that is is a drama and not really real people doing these things. WE DON'T WALK AROUND DOING THIS IN THE REALWORLD...so why are your characters doing it?
Why did Jung Suk whisper his lines the entire episode? It drove me up the wall. I hate when actors and characters do this. Normally its reserved for the old male villains, which at least one of the villains in this show does do this. Anyway....I couldn't stand it, especially in the interrogation room. I wanted the scenes to end so badly, just because of how he was delivering the scene.
I like the main character more when he is possessed. His normal personality is banal, simple, arrogant, and filled with machismo. It is dull to watch and represents a very archaic mindset of male characters. While, he is supposed to represent a great detective and an exemplary solid cop...he sure has some MIGHTY BIG blind spots for not recognizing bad guys, ignoring evidence, and refusing plausible scenarios (that have been right by the way).
For now the 2nd or 3rd time he has gone directly to people that are suspects and laid out his designs. You can claim its to judge their reaction, but who cares when you are telling them your plans. And so far, because he does this, the bad guys are staying ahead. He's literally keeping them free. Its so stupid.
And now this episode shows that when a cop goes corrupt every one around him will do what they can to cover it up. And our main lead....he just doesn't acknowledge it or believe it. Because that's always a good character trait to see in a detective, straight-up denial. And then out of the blue our 2nd Male Lead decides to help in the cover-up too even though he isn't even a cop, but just generally likes the guy. Even worse, KSH character knows who the killer is, how the crime was committed, how the bad guy is bribing an officer, and which officer it is, yet he doesn't tell any of it to the main character, and instead talks him into letting him possess him instead.
I like the show overall, nothing amazing or anything...but this episode is the pits and highlights all the bad qualities that keeps the show from being something great.
Just finished Episode 7 and it made me very angry while rolling my eyes in frustration. I'm tired of KDramas not…
So, I'm heading into the final episode....
The 2nd ML, and my KSH, made the right decision after episode 10. In what made me pleasantly happy, he saw the wrong path that he was walking and quit. While, I don't understand his shocked reaction to what the CEO did, nor do I understand how he didn't understand why she was willing to get him out of prison and do the job that he was. She was very straight forward, date my daughter, get her to fall for you and marry her. Destroy the Ox Soup restaurant and then open the grand food court and put the food Alley out of business. While he felt like the carpet was pulled out from under him, and realized that the evil CEO did not back him, but was using him for their own means....he immediately quit....
However, I am still bothered by the fact he was willing to put the lady out on the streets and put her business under. He was also willing to let the entire Alley go under with him as the head of the new Food mall, as long as it was done his way......
However, he does go on live on the streets, and well, really does hit rock bottom, and gives up everything. He admits to himself, sitting under the bridge, that it was greed. He was being greedy and not that he was actually proving he was a capable leader. And then yes, the last few episodes he was done what he can to help the "good guys" and joined their team.
So...this story ended up actually have him lose a lot, and ask for forgiveness, and suffer due to his actions, and come to his own self realizations, and then he changes his ways. So I'm on board. (I STILL THINK HIM GETTING OFF SCOTT FREE FOR THE ACTUAL CRIMES IS A PROBLEM AND STILL STAND BY THE EPISODE 7 SWEEPING FORGIVENESS WHICH HE DIDN'T EARN, But the second half of the series actually makes him work for it.)
The story has done that whole, penultimate episode thing where everything has fallen apart. If the finally really wraps everything up nice and neat, I will be disappointed, because it will be fake and forced. There is no way in the real world, this can be easily solved at this point.
Worst character in the show is his orphan best bud that hes known for 20 years. People told him his whole life not to hand around him. And those people were right. Not only was he the one to ensue violence against the ML wishes, that act of violence is what got our ML in prison and his now being used again for blackmail. And it works. The orphan screws over his best friend and ML royally for the 3rd time during the course of the series. And this time is HUGE. He has plaid a critical blow to the utter destruction of his lifelong best friends business, livelihood. There was no greater betrayal. He is trash and has shown it multiple times.
I do kind hold the 2nd Female lead a bit responsible. While I like that she has struck it out on her own, she didn't do it because her family was corrupt and ran horrible businesses. She did it because she didn't want to be controlled by her mom anymore. She stands by and watches everything her family does to everyone, and never helps them. And though, I get, its not directly her fault. She could be much more helpful. Here's hoping she goes to her dad and gives him an ultimatum in the final episode that causes some issue for the Evil CEO.
i lost some respect for the ML, him just riding off on the train. I get it. He has been a bastion this whole time. He is great guy. He made a few stupid decisions along the way, AND ONE REALLY MORONIC ONE (The fake confession), but he has been a role model and extremely great man. And everything and everyone has turned against him and destroyed everything he tried to do. And so he is walking away. However, he didn't need to turn his back on the FL. He didn't need to sneak off into the night. And he didn't need to leave the few that were still standing beside him in the cold. It does make me lose respect.
But I have almost lost respect for everyone else already. I do not want him to save the alley. They have shown not to deserve it. And everyone who worked with him at Strong Deliveryman left him as soon as waters got rough...except our 2nd ML, the FL, and really I suppose 3rd ML.....but he teetering.....
I will say, the show lags a bit after episode 10 but has sparked again here near the end.
Just finished Episode 7 and it made me very angry while rolling my eyes in frustration. I'm tired of KDramas not…
Just finished Episode 10 now and......
The ML is one of my favorite leads thus far in a Kdrama. No, he isn't the hottest, or the most charismatic, or the richest, BUT he is one of, if not the, nicest and kind. Coming here from HometownCha, and KSH as one of my favorite leads, this character is at least on the same level, and without the arrogant side that Chief Hong has in the beginning. (I still love Chief Hong, don't get me wrong). But I do not understand why everyone here on the message boards throws the ML under the bus. I wish more dramas (especially K dramas) featured actual nice and kind leads. Everyone seems to only like them if they are the mean assho&le who secretly loves the FL or is a 2nd lead where you don't really learn much about them but they are funny.
While the "secondary" couple might be funnier than the main, they are hardly developed thus far. The 2nd female lead is cute, but empty and there just for laughs....I liked her more in the beginning when she was just blatantly on our ML side with a crush, compared to now.
Also KSH character is still the bad guy. Above, you got my rant about all the episodes up to 7, and I still stand by it....wholeheartedly. And it was what happened. Episode 8 ,everyone is all friends with each other as if all that stuff never happened, just like I knew it would be. Our 2 MLs even go off drinking together...and at least KSH is coaxed into an actual apology....bad as it was....
However, there is now a "friendly" competition regarding the Ox Stew restaurants.....a great analogy is used in the show with the ML saying to the 2nd ML, you think this is fair, It is an adult competing with a child. In short, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with multiple franchises up against an Old women and her single shop. It is fixed in ones favor from the start, and not a true competition. To this, our KSH as the 2nd ML, just says believe what you will, I guess we don't see eye to eye.
Now I've used Amazon as much as anyone, and I even eat at chain restaurants at times, so I am not on a soapbox saying corporate businesses are bad. That depends on the corporation and how they conduct business on if they are bad or not. And well his corporation is one I would call bad, AND HE KNOWS IT.
THE POINT IS, our 2nd ML KNOWS that his company is there to purposefully put the ox soup store under (event though he claims otherwise in episode 9). He also knows its is just the 1st store and their goal is to level the entire areas businesses and replace it with their own food and shopping district. He also knows he has a time-frame to make it happen, and if successful, he gets to RUN it all as the District Head once his company replaces all the stores.
He knows this will displace and put every-single person he talks to and has known or met since the show began out-of-work. Now, he only cares about the FL so he is trying to give her the money she needs to leave Korea, and she wont take him up on it...but everyone else can rot for his success including the "friendly competition" and our ML. Remember the old lady was the grandmother of the boy that was in the coma because of him and is also the one that forgave him and got everyone on his side...but ya know...her lively hood doesn't mean anything compared to his. He rationalizes his actions in THE SAME WAY he has since the shows beginning. It isn't his fault, he is just trying to prove himself. The company is doing this, just like when he closed off a road for a race, his didn't know that people would be affected by it...blah blah blah.
In short, it is all for him. His money, his status, his job titles, and what makes him successful. Remaining as selfish, self centered, and yes villainous as he has been from the start.
Yet the show treats him as not the villain, with funny happy music when hes on screen, comedy sketches with the 2nd FL. Conversations with the ML and hand shakes back pats...etc so forth and so on.
And of course our ML has now sunk his life savings into opening a business to keep his friends employed while lowering costs for the neighborhood.....which is going to be directly in the way...and thus destroyed likely. It will be I guess the straw in the end that makes the 2nd ML finally see his evil ways and come up with a way to fix everything after he destroys it all....I hope I'm wrong, because that is unrealistic and I'm also tired of it being the story of all these shows. And it will honestly keep me from being able to forgive him.
HOW MANY CHANCES DO PEOPLE DESERVE? He is actively working against everyone in the show....
Yet, people here on the comments LOVE HIM. LOVE the 2ndary couple. and Dog on the main ML...and it is fu&king aggravating. This is why the world actually works like this. That people still revere these utter assho$es and overlook their actions and behavior.
Just finished Episode 7 and it made me very angry while rolling my eyes in frustration. I'm tired of KDramas not making anyone earn their forgiveness. I'm a KSH fan, infact it's the only reason I'm watching this. And I gotta tell you I hate him here. I've wrestled with dropping the series because I despise his character so much.
But with that said, I get the point of his character, redemption.
But here we are episode 7 and the series just handed it to him.
He has so far evaded arrest, assaulted police, lied, blocked off roads for personal use, illegally raced, and degraded or insulted almost every character on screen...
Then when he is finally at the point of confessing for his sins and taking punishment. He takes the easy way out with moneyed connections under the pretense that he will run all the businesses in the area under making everyone, including the FL he claims to like, lose their jobs. While also told to dupe the moneyed savior's daughter (2nd FL) into marrying him so they can combine their wealthy families....
And he claims this him living a true life. Being not worthless and succeeding. Seriously?
And along the way he gets our ML arrested and thrown in prison for attempted murder, and when confronted with the truth out-loud says he doesn't give a f+_k and will make everyone pay for embarrassing him keeping the ML locked up guilty or not.
While doing all this he still shows up and acts like a good guy to the FL. Just moseys on by to her work, waits for her in his car, and actually degrades the ML in front of her on the street then turns to her all, Ill see you later, and the only thing making her mad is that hes trying to give her the money he promised......AGAIN REALLY????? That the part pissing her off?
And then granny comes along and sheds some tears. And in a 10 second moment everyone on the show forgives him for all of this..yep, just whoooshes it all away. Without him ever having to do anything for anyone or repent, or take punishment, and while remaining a selfish, self serving, arrogant di+k, his slate is wiped clean...
I can't take this BS anymore guys..this is like the 4th or 5th Kdrama in a row where the bad guy gets a pass. I just finished Chief Kim...and wow I mean the egregious crimes and utter awfulness that gets wiped away for the 2nd ML is incredible, (and this character only goes "good" when he's backed in the corner and the company turns on him. Making him the fall-guy) NOT BECAUSE HE ACTUALLY HAD A CHANGE OF HEART AND REMORSE. It makes this seem like child's play in comparison. But at the heart it's the same problem in story telling....
No one has to actually ask forgiveness and repent and take the punishments of their wrong doing..they are all just let off for the sake of plot and good-feels...and it doesn't make me feel good at all..it makes me furious!!!!
Meanwhile our ML, who I've been rooting for (finally a just good guy and not flawed anti-hero) admits to a crime he doesn't commit and takes charges of attempted murder...because he has guilt over fighting with his comatose friend...SERIOUSLY?
This is what the show does to the good guy versus the bad guy...I mean this made me sorta hate the ML. There is a difference between being a good person, a stand up guy, and emotional compared to just being a fuc+ING moron....
It isn't as simple as the question is it okay or is it not.
In the East, as I understand it based on the research I have read, traditional family is still very much the norm. I say "traditional" because the "nuclear" family is a western term that didn't originate until the 20th century and, though is the common family body found in Europe, became mainstream due to its Americana use after World War II during the Baby Boomer Generation.
However, the East was never really part of the nuclear family ideology nor subjected to its White Anglo Saxon Christian Protestant 4 person unit belief and design like America and Europe. Asia, like most of the rest of the world, has traditionally used an extended family unit body. Many times multiple generations living in the same household.
Incest, interestingly enough, was a common practice worldwide. The Bible even has it as normal. Royal families and upper crust elites around the world practiced it for centuries to keep bloodlines "pure" and wealth secured. Frowning upon sibling romance is generally a more modern concept and is not actually illegal in large portions of the world. People talk about cousins marrying but that is also country dependent. In the US for example it is illegal. You must be second cousins or more to legally marry. Thus at this point, you have already mostly diluted the blood relation. If you want to get truly technical, everyone on the earth is to some degree your cousin, so no matter what your sleeping with family.......
Regardless, my personal feelings on the subject are case specific.
I feel it is very different having 5 year olds, 2 year olds, 7,8 year olds bonded as brothers and sisters through marriage or adoption ect. compared to having 15 year olds, 17, year olds or teenagers in general. Young children brought into a household together and raised as siblings through their formative years, for all expected purposes, have the same rearing as blood siblings. Thus, I do, personally, subject them to the same rules of blood siblings. The act of being actually blood related is moot. They are siblings.
Thus, in your examples given Liar X Liar, My Brother Loves Me Too Much, and Go Ahead are all stories that fall into this category, and for me are stories of incest. Whether people know or not that they are adopted or step siblings does not matter. That they were raised from young childhood and treated as siblings and know nothing of life outside of this being their family unit, means they have incestual feelings towards one another. (Note I have not seen them and thus am going solely on your write-up.) It does not mean I won't watch the shows/films, as I have watched incest romances previously, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers comes to mind off the top of my head. It is just this is my view based on the stories being told, they are practicing incest.
Teenagers brought together and those that are even fully adult through the marriage of their parents, etc...are not subjected to the same rule set. These people could know each other before through school or social groups, already have blossoming feelings or what not, that won't stop just because mom and dad got hitched. Likewise, those used to being a certain family size and roster that suddenly have additions based on parental decisions, does not mean that those children will view each other as siblings. Adults who become family based on their parents marriage will likely never look at each other as siblings. Thus, there is a developmental time-frame that signifies the expected behavior.
Based on your description all of the other stories fall into this category, and there are many more that I can already think of off the top of my head that you haven't brought up. These are just tales of people falling in love. The "sibling" is just a hurtle for the relationship to work through for dramas sake, but the relationship is not truly that of a brother/sister design, and those in it do not have the bother/sister bond towards each other. Only the title of sibling is used.
Taboo yes, all of it is taboo, and thus it is why it is watched. We as a species have a very odd sexual dynamic with family. From Oedipal complexes, to daddy issues, to twin fantasies, sexual family bonds are strongly present in society and story telling over ions. People are always pushing the envelope. The Brazilian film From Beggining to End is about two half-brothers falling in love. The Shipper is a Thai show where one brother ends up kissing the girl he loves whose spirit is inside his brothers body. But to an onlooker is just two brothers making out. I already mentioned The Dreamers which is the story of a sister and brother seducing and having a polyamorus relationship with a third man. The American show the Fosters is about a completely adopted family with Lesbian mother's whose oldest Male and Female children fall for each other.
Of course, there is, well Porn. Which has entire libraries of family incest fantasies in every combination you can imagine. These dramas that we are speaking, and you are giving as examples, are just more mainstream, non x rated fare to provide the same titillating taboo of exploration into the sexual dynamics of familial relationships.
I do prefer the non-college scenes, in the house, the dorm etc. Over the typical college setting. I knew that college would be a part of it, but I don't know why I thought it would be more backdrop than the typical engineering hoopla. Unfortunately, Engineering Vs X faculty lives to tell another tale. Oh well.
Ohm just can't quit with those short shorts....and I'm loving every spread eagle...sorry not sorry for saying it.
With the hiatus, and almost complete collapse of the BL industry in the second half of 2021 due to covid, GMM could have likely released anything and I would have tuned in....well, almost anything (I couldn't sit through Bite Me. Hell No) so I guess there was something they could have released that would have had me walking away.
But after the disappointment that was Fish Upon the Sky, I'm leery of GMM comedy/BL schlock. They keep trying to recreate 2gether and its vibe, but it just doesn't work. That was what it was and its not gunna happen again.
For a first episode this was much much stronger, though I thought FUTS was okay in the beginning as well, but that early 2021 drama fell fast for me. I do hope Bad Buddy is the opposite and just gets stronger with each episode. The director has a good track record of productions, and I am a Ohm fan, so there is that going for it.
Do I get a whiff of some type of depression or something with the Pran character? All the smiley face, frown face decorations and that notepad of "How do you feel today?" plus the fact he has been off somewhere else for a while and just returned, makes it seem like maybe some foreshadowing of some emotional problem backstory....which would add great depth and I'd be all for exploring.
Wait, hold up MJ. Don't set-up expectations, you'll just get disappointed...
Anyway, so far so good, I will be tuning in next week, and am unhappy I can't just binge it, so that is always a great thing!!
THE ENDING CREDIT THO! Made me very excited for the future of the series based on the sample of scenes that play while the credits roll. Shows that there is a lot to look forward to seeing.
What was this shows stance on anything that it was portraying?
It seems to be Pro-Plastic Surgery, while also Anti-Looks matter. Seems to say personality is true beauty, while also showing pretty people have it best. It seems to also state Pretty people have their own problems ugly people can't understand, while also showing a cadre of over-the-top perks to pretty peoples lives and never a single perk to being ugly. It seems to be Pro-Feminism, while also forgiving all male transgressions and their characters. (except one) I could go on.
In short, I have very mixed emotions on what I just watched and what it was trying to get across to me.
If I put this as just another simple love story. Then it is fine. Nothing to write home about, nothing amazing, nothing that makes it special. But serviceable enough with an attractive cast. However, that only makes up about 4-6 whole episodes and would be utterly forgettable against other Kdrama competition. The rest of the time the story is focusing on all the other stuff.
If it wants to just be a love story, then for what reason is the other 75% of the content there?
The end of the series decides to never take a true stance on ANY of the topics it brings to the surface. It also never gives any ideas on how to change anything about the society that is operating in this vein superficial way. Then again, it seems to never acknowledge if this is a damnable offense of society or simply just the way the world works and always will, thus it never needs to promote change. It is almost offensive in its ability to bring up such topics and then try to be as inoffensive to all sides of the topic as possible.
Instead the last few episodes are our ML and FL being a couple unto themselves with the rest of its remaining runtime dedicated to creating a subplot to redeem the most heinous character of the story. Where they successful in this redemption, for me no, it was a waste of screen-time. I did not forgive or like this character any more than if the entire subplot hadn't happened. Why this was the decided path to follow, especially for the end of the series, I can't really understand.
I'll end this by saying maybe it was a cross cultural issue in storytelling; a cop-out for bad storytelling, I know, but it gives the series more credit.
P.S. As for the cross-cultural differences, episode 6 was very hard for me to get through. I'm a guy, and I have never been in a room where guys talked to women as they did. Especially when there were 3 times the amount of females present compared to the men in play. Maybe it was the girls I hung around with, but they would NOT have put up with that and stayed silent. Maybe it is the guys I knew, but they would not be so brazen. Possibly they'd be these assholes in private when it was just them, but I'm gay so I wasn't ever invited to the locker room talk. Publicly in mixed forum that would never fly. And if I had ever witnessed such, you better believe I probably would have left the room with a black eye from fighting.
Yeah, started decent enough, had a nice core mystery, but the ending....ohhh the ending....
After the first episode, I didn't understand why people were hating on the FL. She was quirky, funny, strong, out-of-the-box, and determined. I was like, do people just hate strong women? But then the series continued, and she becomes one note. Extremely selfish, self-centered, and driven to a fault, what in the beginning was a winning breath of fresh air becomes a suffocated stale sauna of overly dramatic backstory, over-the-top-acting, and poor decision making.
Our ML is funny, cute, and a wimp. At least in the beginning. I really liked him as a person, and found him charismatic, but I hated him as a cop. Wimping out, passing-the-buck, and playing it safe at all times, made him come off as actually a really poor example of a detective. We learn a reason for this, which I still don't agree with. However, ultimately its moot, because he learns he doesn't agree with his own reasoning either and changes his tune a little over half way through. Love, wakes up the truth in him.... Thus, I could finally fully enjoy his character for the last half, when he stopped being an asshole that used every rule he could find to shut down every investigation that passed their way.
Kim Seon Ho shows that he has been ready for the spotlight for some time as the ML. While not the most knee weakening character, Seon Ho is most definitely at his cutest in this show. Constantly oscillating between comedian, action star, drama major, and romantic lead. This role had all of these components, and he pulls it off seamlessly. Also, I have never heard the word "avacado" said so cute by anyone ever as compared to him and his puckered lips....I wish I could make a sound byte.
However, how the story shakes out in the end, becomes unrealistic, which the show was-mostly-up to this point. The last few episodes drag the final climax out sooooo long, that is becomes boring. The writer tries to lay trap after trap, with secret reveal after secret reveal, until it is tiresome. You just want it all over ad done already. Of course, then we get a final episode with so many endings that I thought it would never end. Flashbacks to Return of the King and me trying to leave the theater, over and over and over again. Also, suddenly you find the last episode to be in a whole different series seeming to better fit a romantic drama than a cop comedy mystery......
Oh well....It still wasn't bad......just not good....If Kim Seon Ho wasn't in it, I probably would have moved on.
Netflix has once again openly stated that they have not made a decision, I.E. the same stance they took with the leaks that said Sweet Home 2 was renewed and planning on filming in December that broke back in July of 2021. Netflix has again reiterated this same stance for this new story by jtbc.
I do think casting is the main reason there hasn't been an officially announced renewal of this series. Song Kang is going into his 28th year, and has yet to serve in the Korean Military, meaning 2022 is the year he will be called. Song Kang is also currently filming another series, in fact, MOST (Not All) of the cast, have been fully booked for 2021 and can't really do this until next year.
If they cannot get the stars to align in 2022 to film this before Song Kang enters the military, then it would be on hold for another year and half as they wait for his duty to finish. This is also something they have to consider if they were planning beyond season 2, again, the down time while he is doing is compulsory service between a season 2 and 3, unless they kill him off or move on from his character, or recast him now...... Because that would be at least a 2 year hiatus if not longer between those seasons.
Not to mention Lee do Hyun has been filming Melancholia, and is in current talks for The Glory, but has apparently declined the Netflix Bloodhound offer, though I can't find an article stating as such just commenters on that shows MDL page saying as much. But his schedule is easier to solve than the Song Kang issue because of the ending of season 1 and what they can easily decide about his character.
Ultimately, if they do move forward with the series they may be forced to recast, but I get the feeling Netflix doesn't want to and has been holding off renewing the project because of this. It might be better to let it die on the vine as they move on to other Korean dramas considering the casting issues, cost of original production, and 8 month original shooting schedule. Yes it was popular and until Squid Game, had been the only Korean title to enter in the US top 10 viewing list....but....it was expensive with a long production schedule. Now when adding the problems with casting...and other Korean shows being just as successful and some even more successful, Sweet Home may just become a really liked 1-off series that fans can re-watch at will.
But if we make it to the end of 2021 with no official announcement, then it has been an entire year without a renewal, which starts to make its chances of a renewal pretty slim. If nothing is stated by, at the latest, the end of 2022 1st quarter (March), then I am sure Sweet Home Season 2 is just not happening.
However, rumors do end-up many times coming true. So possibly Netflix has been leaking information to sources to see how the fandom and public react to a complete recasting, or taking the series in a new direction and focusing on secondary characters from the 1st season, and of course throwing what is left of the webtoon out the window. Who knows.
One can hope for a complete reboot in a five years or so if the show just ends up canceled or forever in undecided limbo.
So, just got done with this, watched it entirely in 2 days. Yep, liked it that much.
Here is the thing, this had been recommended to me since I watched While You Were Sleeping (Same writer, and FL) months ago by MDL. Recommended again to me after watching Strong Woman Do Bong Soon ( ML). It was also recommended to me in like 5 or so different categories on my Netflix, including top picks for me with like 90 something % match.
But, the commercial on Netflix wasn't that catchy and then it only has an 8.1 here on MDL which is basically one step away from the dreaded 7's. So, I kept putting it off, and saying there is enough to watch I'll eventually get to it. Instead, I was focusing on all the dramas that had 8.5+ rankings and especially 9+ here on MDL.
Then over the weekend I watched Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and it popped AGAIN for other (ML) Which, I really enjoyed in that drama.
So, I was like its time. See what its all about.....and well. Why the hell did I put it off so long, and why the hell was I putting myself through the pain of all those 8.5 and 9+ shows here on MDL?So far only a select few of those I have ended up liking or rating equally. Most have ended up being really bad to absolute messes.
And then here is this one with its 8.1 and actually awesome!!!
I see here in comments that it just won a bevy of awards as well this year!!! Kudos to it and its cast that won!!!
I'll do a full on review, just for myself hahah, but I'll write it up. Its not perfect and I'll cover its flaws as well as praises (One of which is subverting your expectations. Normally these Kdramas are so paint-by-the-numbers.) But, I do, overall, think its undervalued compared to its counterparts.
1 
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Do Gun should have walked out from the start as a large swath of commenters in the beginning pointed out. In no world would a fully accredited trained chef who had brought a restaurant a Michelin star EVER EVER stand for another chef to enter his kitchen for any type of contest to keep his job. He could leave and walk into almost anywhere and be handed the kitchen on a silver platter.
What is worse, is that Jung Woo has already signed the head chef contract knowing that NO MATTER WHAT he will win the food tasting and be handed the kitchen. AFTER doing this, he then takes Do Gun on a romantic day in which they "confess" their feelings and have a cardboard, UN-passionate, awful "kiss."
Does he have remorse and regrets and pause before signing the head chef contract and even briefly ask Do Gun to NOT do the contest...yes. Does he even ask Laura if they really have to fire Do Gun, knowing this was always the plan....yes. (What does he expect Do Gun to be Seuss-chef in the same restaurant he took to Michelin Star status? Seriously? How would she pay for having two chefs in the kitchen?) He went into it all knowing what he was going to do and what the outcome would be but didn't think his cold, caviler, user self would actually become attached to his mark.
However, he has become attached. But even though he has developed some sort of feelings, he still forges ahead anyway. He still signs his name. And he DOES NOT tell Do Gun what is actually happening. Showing that he remains duplicitous and will take over the restaurant even though causing Do Gun pain and stealing his livelihood. Will he hurt himself, yes, but that is less than gaining the Michelin star spot, pay, and respect he wants. He said it was his dream to have a Michelin star, and he is stealing it instead of earning it. And as much as he might like Do Gun, he doesn't care or like him enough NOT to do this to him.
That he makes himself feel better by going on a romantic day date with Do Gun after literally screwing him over behind his back, makes him even more Machiavellian and despicable. He selfishly gave himself the happiness he wants with Do Gun for 1 day before he turns around and destroys him. Jung Woo knows he will lose Do Gun, and he knows his actions are wrong and amoral. But he does them anyway, and I'm guessing over the money he paid back from episode 1 or 2 he can't back out. Because then why did that scene ever happen? It really is awful.
I don't want them together in the end. I want some of the kitchen staff and/or restaurant staff to walk out with the main chef and go open the restaurant at the beach. I think that is where our ML will end up regardless as this episode eluded that was his true dream, I just hope some staff is loyal to him. But I doubt it. I wish they would do a future jump in which Laura's goes under or is stripped of its Michelin star and both Jung Woo and Laura end up being losers. And I hope that our ML has maybe a closing shot in the arms of someone else he has met along the way so we know he finds happiness.
Jung Woo, you have no respect from me.
I don't want the show to put them together and Do Gun come to terms with Jung Woo running the restaurant and forgiving him. I don't want fake warmth just to make shipper happy endings. AND I really don't want Do Gun to just accept that Jung Woo's dishes were better and won so he accepts leaving when it was all a set-up from the start. Do Gun deserves better.
The only hope left is that Jung Woo ultimately can't live with himself and confesses his actions and plot to Do Gun BEFORE they are meant to compete. Instead they both walk out, leaving together, and leaving Laura high and dry...that could work, with a little time off between them where Do Gun comes to forgive him and Jung Woo works hard at regaining his trust. I might still stand for that.
And if Jang Eui Soo has chosen this to be his last BL because he doesn't want to do "gay stuff" anymore even though it has garnered him fame and popularity and allowed him to be a Joseon Guard, a low man Body Guard, and evil Head Chef while also performing comedy, drama, romance and a little action (Or short, a wide range of characters and roles (a dream for actors)) then fine. His kiss scenes are awful anyway, no matter how attractive and talented he is. (He can really act, its not just looks. I admit it.) I'm fine with him leaving, I'd rather support actors that don't look at these stories as a gay story or bl and nothing else. All those straight stories are just repeating the same characters as well with the same plots, so whatever. Sad that he ends it with such an awful character when he began with one of the most beloved.
Or yes maybe he just didn't like the character. Netflix is a global company and thus would offer him the largest spotlight. But, I'm not sure. He very much seems to be attracted to roles that are morally grey. My ID is G Beauty the only role I've seen so far where he was an actually solidly "good" guy. Even his bit role in Its Okay to Not be Okay was of a mentally unstable rich kid who purposefully acted up and did "bad" things to go against his family. So the role in Bloodhound seems to be in his wheelhouse, and would be attractive to him.
Maybe he could simply want a long career as "character" actor that is recognizable but never the star and can chameleon like move into any role at any time and refrain from lead syndrome or type casting. It is less profitable but artistically more fulfilling a lot of the times. Also actors who work like this normally have very long careers comparative to those who always must stay in A status or be considered over. This could be his goal and thus star roles are not what he is interested in.
Or maybe he has things in his past that he doesn't want brought up and as long as he stays 2nd string he can have a long career with lots of fans but never become the focus of a great leading man and worry about the scandals that can come along with it. it could also be he wants to live his current life more freely and not deal with all those "can't have girlfriend" be open in public yadda yadda weird Koren star fantasy contract stuff. Korean cancel scandal culture is ridiculous.
There are a lot of possibilities and unless we are him, his agency, or those in his close circle, we won't know why he made his decisions unless he chooses to tells us.
2) What about all the other murders...so they have the big bad admitting to the reporters father's death 16 years ago, but if Soo-A is dead (I'm guessing so) and they haven't shown nor have sufficient evidence to prove the big bad ordered the deaths of the others, (Which they didn't have before and he did not admit to on the video) then does that mean their cases go unsolved or prosecuted? The show seems to say that everyone was caught and justice was served. How?
3) In what world would they allow the bad guy's SON to be anywhere near his prosecution, trial, arrest, or anything else? There is unquestionable BIAS. In the US this is illegal, and the defense can get basically everything thrown out. I couldn't image South Korea allowing this.
4) Are you saying that OUR MAIN LEAD selectively didn't recall that he raced and caused a multiple car pile-up that killed 3 people and destroyed 2 families? Seriously? No really, Seriously? A case that takes up the entire last half of the season, that everyone is digging into, and they he is actively retracing and finding evidence for...and yet...yet...yet...HE DIDN'T REMEMBER HE CAUSED THE WRECK???? No really, again, seriously...this is the plot? And what about all that hanging out with the 2nd lead as a kid in the hospital and finding evidence to clear the dad and all of that "jazz?" Our main lead doesn't recall why he was there or what his connection was. This was just fucking outrageously ridiculous and stupid.
5) How is the prosecutor still employed? He actively sidelined cases, dropped evidence, obstructed justice, and worked to free guilty parties. He tried to keep his father out of hands of the law, when he himself is supposed to be the law. The police know he did this, and our ML actively goes up against him over it at times during the series. YET, he has ZERO, NADA, NONE, repercussions for any of his actions. Not a thing. Why, cause in-the-end he helps bring down his father? That absolves him of everything? That isn't how the world works. Maybe he lost the friendship and respect of the FL...maybe.
6) While a man is coding and a staff of six are trying to revive him, they allow random people into the room to watch? I mean our main lead would have looked like he was having a mental breakdown as he talked to no-one, doused himself in water and flailed around in the background...No one pays the least bit of attention. Then in walks some random woman who has some crazy conversation with the now wet and hunched over ML, that causes him to wail and then go bat shit finding things in the room to hurt himself with to draw blood....I mean guys this is what really happened...while they are reviving a patient. I mean how much reality am I supposed to suspend?
7) Can anyone sue the stylist that had their hands on Kim Seon Ho in the show. I mean really, NEVER, and I mean, NEVER let them near you again. That pixie haircut,....ugh, dyed orange...why? Have you seen how pale you are, orange is not a good look. And those combat boot shoes with skinny jeans. I mean is he goth? It was just so horrible to watch. Thank God you can act so well and smile so large...cause I needed the detraction from your "look" this time round.
Whisper one more line Jo Jung Suk. Do it! I dare you. I swear, it gets even worse when he is trying to be sensitive or relay bad news. I screamed at my tv STOP FUCKING WHISPERING AND TALK!!! USE YOUR FUCKING VOICE MAN!!!! God it was irritating.
BTW, can we rename this from Two Cops to The Turtle Neck Stories? Or The Turtle Neck Crime Gang? Or maybe Precinct Turtle Neck?
Who was in control of the wardrobe here?
And of course....even though our FL has been investigating and been in the mix the entire series and in almost every other case....now that they are all dealing with a case that actually INVOLVES HER, everyone forgets that shes a part of the show. Now, she shows up once an episode basically to tell information to the bad guys and hinder what everyone else is doing. And then she just moseys off non-the-wiser....why, because even though everyone else in the show is on the same page and knows whats going on and is investigate the culprits....no one bothers to tell her anything...because apparently it will hurt her fragile female feelings....what the hell......and suddenly she isn't a hard hitting reporter who is always showing up where no one wants her too, but now she is just sitting at home waiting for all the boys phone calls.....Its effing stupid and frustrating.
AND CAN EVERYONE STOP TALKING OUT-LOUD TO NO ONE????!!!!!!
It is really really really poor writing, but it seems to be the norm in Asian television. So I normally just keep my mouth shut about it, swallow, and ride out the Telemundo soap opera speaking thoughts to no one ridiculousness. BUT this show is really really overdoing it. I mean every other scene someone is telling plot points to thin air. You watch the action of the show, and then have a character narrate what information you as an audience member should have taken away from the scene, its so condescending and irritating.
I get it, telling peoples thoughts is hard when dealing with the screen. It is the main obstacle when converting novels to screen plays. Voice over is the big cheat on how to accomplish this easily while not disrupting the action on screen. The actor ACTS, which is 1/2 of the work, to convey how they feel about things and then the voice over (or other devices like reading or writing in journals, or having specifically designed conversations that relay these thoughts and feeling to the audience between characters etc.) are used to slyly get the needed information to the audience...BUT HERE NOPE, just say it out loud while looking sideways.
In the west it is a CARDINAL SIN to have a character tells their thoughts, motivations, and feelings on what is happening out-loud to no one...because it breaks the 4th wall and shows that is is a drama and not really real people doing these things. WE DON'T WALK AROUND DOING THIS IN THE REALWORLD...so why are your characters doing it?
Why did Jung Suk whisper his lines the entire episode? It drove me up the wall. I hate when actors and characters do this. Normally its reserved for the old male villains, which at least one of the villains in this show does do this. Anyway....I couldn't stand it, especially in the interrogation room. I wanted the scenes to end so badly, just because of how he was delivering the scene.
I like the main character more when he is possessed. His normal personality is banal, simple, arrogant, and filled with machismo. It is dull to watch and represents a very archaic mindset of male characters. While, he is supposed to represent a great detective and an exemplary solid cop...he sure has some MIGHTY BIG blind spots for not recognizing bad guys, ignoring evidence, and refusing plausible scenarios (that have been right by the way).
For now the 2nd or 3rd time he has gone directly to people that are suspects and laid out his designs. You can claim its to judge their reaction, but who cares when you are telling them your plans. And so far, because he does this, the bad guys are staying ahead. He's literally keeping them free. Its so stupid.
And now this episode shows that when a cop goes corrupt every one around him will do what they can to cover it up. And our main lead....he just doesn't acknowledge it or believe it. Because that's always a good character trait to see in a detective, straight-up denial. And then out of the blue our 2nd Male Lead decides to help in the cover-up too even though he isn't even a cop, but just generally likes the guy. Even worse, KSH character knows who the killer is, how the crime was committed, how the bad guy is bribing an officer, and which officer it is, yet he doesn't tell any of it to the main character, and instead talks him into letting him possess him instead.
I like the show overall, nothing amazing or anything...but this episode is the pits and highlights all the bad qualities that keeps the show from being something great.
The 2nd ML, and my KSH, made the right decision after episode 10. In what made me pleasantly happy, he saw the wrong path that he was walking and quit. While, I don't understand his shocked reaction to what the CEO did, nor do I understand how he didn't understand why she was willing to get him out of prison and do the job that he was. She was very straight forward, date my daughter, get her to fall for you and marry her. Destroy the Ox Soup restaurant and then open the grand food court and put the food Alley out of business. While he felt like the carpet was pulled out from under him, and realized that the evil CEO did not back him, but was using him for their own means....he immediately quit....
However, I am still bothered by the fact he was willing to put the lady out on the streets and put her business under. He was also willing to let the entire Alley go under with him as the head of the new Food mall, as long as it was done his way......
However, he does go on live on the streets, and well, really does hit rock bottom, and gives up everything. He admits to himself, sitting under the bridge, that it was greed. He was being greedy and not that he was actually proving he was a capable leader. And then yes, the last few episodes he was done what he can to help the "good guys" and joined their team.
So...this story ended up actually have him lose a lot, and ask for forgiveness, and suffer due to his actions, and come to his own self realizations, and then he changes his ways. So I'm on board. (I STILL THINK HIM GETTING OFF SCOTT FREE FOR THE ACTUAL CRIMES IS A PROBLEM AND STILL STAND BY THE EPISODE 7 SWEEPING FORGIVENESS WHICH HE DIDN'T EARN, But the second half of the series actually makes him work for it.)
The story has done that whole, penultimate episode thing where everything has fallen apart. If the finally really wraps everything up nice and neat, I will be disappointed, because it will be fake and forced. There is no way in the real world, this can be easily solved at this point.
Worst character in the show is his orphan best bud that hes known for 20 years. People told him his whole life not to hand around him. And those people were right. Not only was he the one to ensue violence against the ML wishes, that act of violence is what got our ML in prison and his now being used again for blackmail. And it works. The orphan screws over his best friend and ML royally for the 3rd time during the course of the series. And this time is HUGE. He has plaid a critical blow to the utter destruction of his lifelong best friends business, livelihood. There was no greater betrayal. He is trash and has shown it multiple times.
I do kind hold the 2nd Female lead a bit responsible. While I like that she has struck it out on her own, she didn't do it because her family was corrupt and ran horrible businesses. She did it because she didn't want to be controlled by her mom anymore. She stands by and watches everything her family does to everyone, and never helps them. And though, I get, its not directly her fault. She could be much more helpful. Here's hoping she goes to her dad and gives him an ultimatum in the final episode that causes some issue for the Evil CEO.
i lost some respect for the ML, him just riding off on the train. I get it. He has been a bastion this whole time. He is great guy. He made a few stupid decisions along the way, AND ONE REALLY MORONIC ONE (The fake confession), but he has been a role model and extremely great man. And everything and everyone has turned against him and destroyed everything he tried to do. And so he is walking away. However, he didn't need to turn his back on the FL. He didn't need to sneak off into the night. And he didn't need to leave the few that were still standing beside him in the cold. It does make me lose respect.
But I have almost lost respect for everyone else already. I do not want him to save the alley. They have shown not to deserve it. And everyone who worked with him at Strong Deliveryman left him as soon as waters got rough...except our 2nd ML, the FL, and really I suppose 3rd ML.....but he teetering.....
I will say, the show lags a bit after episode 10 but has sparked again here near the end.
The ML is one of my favorite leads thus far in a Kdrama. No, he isn't the hottest, or the most charismatic, or the richest, BUT he is one of, if not the, nicest and kind. Coming here from HometownCha, and KSH as one of my favorite leads, this character is at least on the same level, and without the arrogant side that Chief Hong has in the beginning. (I still love Chief Hong, don't get me wrong). But I do not understand why everyone here on the message boards throws the ML under the bus. I wish more dramas (especially K dramas) featured actual nice and kind leads. Everyone seems to only like them if they are the mean assho&le who secretly loves the FL or is a 2nd lead where you don't really learn much about them but they are funny.
While the "secondary" couple might be funnier than the main, they are hardly developed thus far. The 2nd female lead is cute, but empty and there just for laughs....I liked her more in the beginning when she was just blatantly on our ML side with a crush, compared to now.
Also KSH character is still the bad guy. Above, you got my rant about all the episodes up to 7, and I still stand by it....wholeheartedly. And it was what happened. Episode 8 ,everyone is all friends with each other as if all that stuff never happened, just like I knew it would be. Our 2 MLs even go off drinking together...and at least KSH is coaxed into an actual apology....bad as it was....
However, there is now a "friendly" competition regarding the Ox Stew restaurants.....a great analogy is used in the show with the ML saying to the 2nd ML, you think this is fair, It is an adult competing with a child. In short, a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with multiple franchises up against an Old women and her single shop. It is fixed in ones favor from the start, and not a true competition. To this, our KSH as the 2nd ML, just says believe what you will, I guess we don't see eye to eye.
Now I've used Amazon as much as anyone, and I even eat at chain restaurants at times, so I am not on a soapbox saying corporate businesses are bad. That depends on the corporation and how they conduct business on if they are bad or not. And well his corporation is one I would call bad, AND HE KNOWS IT.
THE POINT IS, our 2nd ML KNOWS that his company is there to purposefully put the ox soup store under (event though he claims otherwise in episode 9). He also knows its is just the 1st store and their goal is to level the entire areas businesses and replace it with their own food and shopping district. He also knows he has a time-frame to make it happen, and if successful, he gets to RUN it all as the District Head once his company replaces all the stores.
He knows this will displace and put every-single person he talks to and has known or met since the show began out-of-work. Now, he only cares about the FL so he is trying to give her the money she needs to leave Korea, and she wont take him up on it...but everyone else can rot for his success including the "friendly competition" and our ML. Remember the old lady was the grandmother of the boy that was in the coma because of him and is also the one that forgave him and got everyone on his side...but ya know...her lively hood doesn't mean anything compared to his. He rationalizes his actions in THE SAME WAY he has since the shows beginning. It isn't his fault, he is just trying to prove himself. The company is doing this, just like when he closed off a road for a race, his didn't know that people would be affected by it...blah blah blah.
In short, it is all for him. His money, his status, his job titles, and what makes him successful. Remaining as selfish, self centered, and yes villainous as he has been from the start.
Yet the show treats him as not the villain, with funny happy music when hes on screen, comedy sketches with the 2nd FL. Conversations with the ML and hand shakes back pats...etc so forth and so on.
And of course our ML has now sunk his life savings into opening a business to keep his friends employed while lowering costs for the neighborhood.....which is going to be directly in the way...and thus destroyed likely. It will be I guess the straw in the end that makes the 2nd ML finally see his evil ways and come up with a way to fix everything after he destroys it all....I hope I'm wrong, because that is unrealistic and I'm also tired of it being the story of all these shows. And it will honestly keep me from being able to forgive him.
HOW MANY CHANCES DO PEOPLE DESERVE? He is actively working against everyone in the show....
Yet, people here on the comments LOVE HIM. LOVE the 2ndary couple. and Dog on the main ML...and it is fu&king aggravating. This is why the world actually works like this. That people still revere these utter assho$es and overlook their actions and behavior.
But with that said, I get the point of his character, redemption.
But here we are episode 7 and the series just handed it to him.
He has so far evaded arrest, assaulted police, lied, blocked off roads for personal use, illegally raced, and degraded or insulted almost every character on screen...
Then when he is finally at the point of confessing for his sins and taking punishment. He takes the easy way out with moneyed connections under the pretense that he will run all the businesses in the area under making everyone, including the FL he claims to like, lose their jobs. While also told to dupe the moneyed savior's daughter (2nd FL) into marrying him so they can combine their wealthy families....
And he claims this him living a true life. Being not worthless and succeeding. Seriously?
And along the way he gets our ML arrested and thrown in prison for attempted murder, and when confronted with the truth out-loud says he doesn't give a f+_k and will make everyone pay for embarrassing him keeping the ML locked up guilty or not.
While doing all this he still shows up and acts like a good guy to the FL. Just moseys on by to her work, waits for her in his car, and actually degrades the ML in front of her on the street then turns to her all, Ill see you later, and the only thing making her mad is that hes trying to give her the money he promised......AGAIN REALLY????? That the part pissing her off?
And then granny comes along and sheds some tears. And in a 10 second moment everyone on the show forgives him for all of this..yep, just whoooshes it all away. Without him ever having to do anything for anyone or repent, or take punishment, and while remaining a selfish, self serving, arrogant di+k, his slate is wiped clean...
I can't take this BS anymore guys..this is like the 4th or 5th Kdrama in a row where the bad guy gets a pass. I just finished Chief Kim...and wow I mean the egregious crimes and utter awfulness that gets wiped away for the 2nd ML is incredible, (and this character only goes "good" when he's backed in the corner and the company turns on him. Making him the fall-guy) NOT BECAUSE HE ACTUALLY HAD A CHANGE OF HEART AND REMORSE. It makes this seem like child's play in comparison. But at the heart it's the same problem in story telling....
No one has to actually ask forgiveness and repent and take the punishments of their wrong doing..they are all just let off for the sake of plot and good-feels...and it doesn't make me feel good at all..it makes me furious!!!!
Meanwhile our ML, who I've been rooting for (finally a just good guy and not flawed anti-hero) admits to a crime he doesn't commit and takes charges of attempted murder...because he has guilt over fighting with his comatose friend...SERIOUSLY?
This is what the show does to the good guy versus the bad guy...I mean this made me sorta hate the ML. There is a difference between being a good person, a stand up guy, and emotional compared to just being a fuc+ING moron....
Ugh!
In the East, as I understand it based on the research I have read, traditional family is still very much the norm. I say "traditional" because the "nuclear" family is a western term that didn't originate until the 20th century and, though is the common family body found in Europe, became mainstream due to its Americana use after World War II during the Baby Boomer Generation.
However, the East was never really part of the nuclear family ideology nor subjected to its White Anglo Saxon Christian Protestant 4 person unit belief and design like America and Europe. Asia, like most of the rest of the world, has traditionally used an extended family unit body. Many times multiple generations living in the same household.
Incest, interestingly enough, was a common practice worldwide. The Bible even has it as normal. Royal families and upper crust elites around the world practiced it for centuries to keep bloodlines "pure" and wealth secured. Frowning upon sibling romance is generally a more modern concept and is not actually illegal in large portions of the world. People talk about cousins marrying but that is also country dependent. In the US for example it is illegal. You must be second cousins or more to legally marry. Thus at this point, you have already mostly diluted the blood relation. If you want to get truly technical, everyone on the earth is to some degree your cousin, so no matter what your sleeping with family.......
Regardless, my personal feelings on the subject are case specific.
I feel it is very different having 5 year olds, 2 year olds, 7,8 year olds bonded as brothers and sisters through marriage or adoption ect. compared to having 15 year olds, 17, year olds or teenagers in general. Young children brought into a household together and raised as siblings through their formative years, for all expected purposes, have the same rearing as blood siblings. Thus, I do, personally, subject them to the same rules of blood siblings. The act of being actually blood related is moot. They are siblings.
Thus, in your examples given Liar X Liar, My Brother Loves Me Too Much, and Go Ahead are all stories that fall into this category, and for me are stories of incest. Whether people know or not that they are adopted or step siblings does not matter. That they were raised from young childhood and treated as siblings and know nothing of life outside of this being their family unit, means they have incestual feelings towards one another. (Note I have not seen them and thus am going solely on your write-up.) It does not mean I won't watch the shows/films, as I have watched incest romances previously, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers comes to mind off the top of my head. It is just this is my view based on the stories being told, they are practicing incest.
Teenagers brought together and those that are even fully adult through the marriage of their parents, etc...are not subjected to the same rule set. These people could know each other before through school or social groups, already have blossoming feelings or what not, that won't stop just because mom and dad got hitched. Likewise, those used to being a certain family size and roster that suddenly have additions based on parental decisions, does not mean that those children will view each other as siblings. Adults who become family based on their parents marriage will likely never look at each other as siblings. Thus, there is a developmental time-frame that signifies the expected behavior.
Based on your description all of the other stories fall into this category, and there are many more that I can already think of off the top of my head that you haven't brought up. These are just tales of people falling in love. The "sibling" is just a hurtle for the relationship to work through for dramas sake, but the relationship is not truly that of a brother/sister design, and those in it do not have the bother/sister bond towards each other. Only the title of sibling is used.
Taboo yes, all of it is taboo, and thus it is why it is watched. We as a species have a very odd sexual dynamic with family. From Oedipal complexes, to daddy issues, to twin fantasies, sexual family bonds are strongly present in society and story telling over ions. People are always pushing the envelope. The Brazilian film From Beggining to End is about two half-brothers falling in love. The Shipper is a Thai show where one brother ends up kissing the girl he loves whose spirit is inside his brothers body. But to an onlooker is just two brothers making out. I already mentioned The Dreamers which is the story of a sister and brother seducing and having a polyamorus relationship with a third man. The American show the Fosters is about a completely adopted family with Lesbian mother's whose oldest Male and Female children fall for each other.
Of course, there is, well Porn. Which has entire libraries of family incest fantasies in every combination you can imagine. These dramas that we are speaking, and you are giving as examples, are just more mainstream, non x rated fare to provide the same titillating taboo of exploration into the sexual dynamics of familial relationships.
I do prefer the non-college scenes, in the house, the dorm etc. Over the typical college setting. I knew that college would be a part of it, but I don't know why I thought it would be more backdrop than the typical engineering hoopla. Unfortunately, Engineering Vs X faculty lives to tell another tale. Oh well.
Ohm just can't quit with those short shorts....and I'm loving every spread eagle...sorry not sorry for saying it.
With the hiatus, and almost complete collapse of the BL industry in the second half of 2021 due to covid, GMM could have likely released anything and I would have tuned in....well, almost anything (I couldn't sit through Bite Me. Hell No) so I guess there was something they could have released that would have had me walking away.
But after the disappointment that was Fish Upon the Sky, I'm leery of GMM comedy/BL schlock. They keep trying to recreate 2gether and its vibe, but it just doesn't work. That was what it was and its not gunna happen again.
For a first episode this was much much stronger, though I thought FUTS was okay in the beginning as well, but that early 2021 drama fell fast for me. I do hope Bad Buddy is the opposite and just gets stronger with each episode. The director has a good track record of productions, and I am a Ohm fan, so there is that going for it.
Do I get a whiff of some type of depression or something with the Pran character? All the smiley face, frown face decorations and that notepad of "How do you feel today?" plus the fact he has been off somewhere else for a while and just returned, makes it seem like maybe some foreshadowing of some emotional problem backstory....which would add great depth and I'd be all for exploring.
Wait, hold up MJ. Don't set-up expectations, you'll just get disappointed...
Anyway, so far so good, I will be tuning in next week, and am unhappy I can't just binge it, so that is always a great thing!!
THE ENDING CREDIT THO! Made me very excited for the future of the series based on the sample of scenes that play while the credits roll. Shows that there is a lot to look forward to seeing.
What was this shows stance on anything that it was portraying?
It seems to be Pro-Plastic Surgery, while also Anti-Looks matter.
Seems to say personality is true beauty, while also showing pretty people have it best.
It seems to also state Pretty people have their own problems ugly people can't understand, while also showing a cadre of over-the-top perks to pretty peoples lives and never a single perk to being ugly.
It seems to be Pro-Feminism, while also forgiving all male transgressions and their characters. (except one)
I could go on.
In short, I have very mixed emotions on what I just watched and what it was trying to get across to me.
If I put this as just another simple love story. Then it is fine. Nothing to write home about, nothing amazing, nothing that makes it special. But serviceable enough with an attractive cast. However, that only makes up about 4-6 whole episodes and would be utterly forgettable against other Kdrama competition. The rest of the time the story is focusing on all the other stuff.
If it wants to just be a love story, then for what reason is the other 75% of the content there?
The end of the series decides to never take a true stance on ANY of the topics it brings to the surface. It also never gives any ideas on how to change anything about the society that is operating in this vein superficial way. Then again, it seems to never acknowledge if this is a damnable offense of society or simply just the way the world works and always will, thus it never needs to promote change. It is almost offensive in its ability to bring up such topics and then try to be as inoffensive to all sides of the topic as possible.
Instead the last few episodes are our ML and FL being a couple unto themselves with the rest of its remaining runtime dedicated to creating a subplot to redeem the most heinous character of the story. Where they successful in this redemption, for me no, it was a waste of screen-time. I did not forgive or like this character any more than if the entire subplot hadn't happened. Why this was the decided path to follow, especially for the end of the series, I can't really understand.
I'll end this by saying maybe it was a cross cultural issue in storytelling; a cop-out for bad storytelling, I know, but it gives the series more credit.
P.S. As for the cross-cultural differences, episode 6 was very hard for me to get through. I'm a guy, and I have never been in a room where guys talked to women as they did. Especially when there were 3 times the amount of females present compared to the men in play. Maybe it was the girls I hung around with, but they would NOT have put up with that and stayed silent. Maybe it is the guys I knew, but they would not be so brazen. Possibly they'd be these assholes in private when it was just them, but I'm gay so I wasn't ever invited to the locker room talk. Publicly in mixed forum that would never fly. And if I had ever witnessed such, you better believe I probably would have left the room with a black eye from fighting.
After the first episode, I didn't understand why people were hating on the FL. She was quirky, funny, strong, out-of-the-box, and determined. I was like, do people just hate strong women? But then the series continued, and she becomes one note. Extremely selfish, self-centered, and driven to a fault, what in the beginning was a winning breath of fresh air becomes a suffocated stale sauna of overly dramatic backstory, over-the-top-acting, and poor decision making.
Our ML is funny, cute, and a wimp. At least in the beginning. I really liked him as a person, and found him charismatic, but I hated him as a cop. Wimping out, passing-the-buck, and playing it safe at all times, made him come off as actually a really poor example of a detective. We learn a reason for this, which I still don't agree with. However, ultimately its moot, because he learns he doesn't agree with his own reasoning either and changes his tune a little over half way through. Love, wakes up the truth in him.... Thus, I could finally fully enjoy his character for the last half, when he stopped being an asshole that used every rule he could find to shut down every investigation that passed their way.
Kim Seon Ho shows that he has been ready for the spotlight for some time as the ML. While not the most knee weakening character, Seon Ho is most definitely at his cutest in this show. Constantly oscillating between comedian, action star, drama major, and romantic lead. This role had all of these components, and he pulls it off seamlessly. Also, I have never heard the word "avacado" said so cute by anyone ever as compared to him and his puckered lips....I wish I could make a sound byte.
However, how the story shakes out in the end, becomes unrealistic, which the show was-mostly-up to this point. The last few episodes drag the final climax out sooooo long, that is becomes boring. The writer tries to lay trap after trap, with secret reveal after secret reveal, until it is tiresome. You just want it all over ad done already. Of course, then we get a final episode with so many endings that I thought it would never end. Flashbacks to Return of the King and me trying to leave the theater, over and over and over again. Also, suddenly you find the last episode to be in a whole different series seeming to better fit a romantic drama than a cop comedy mystery......
Oh well....It still wasn't bad......just not good....If Kim Seon Ho wasn't in it, I probably would have moved on.
I do think casting is the main reason there hasn't been an officially announced renewal of this series. Song Kang is going into his 28th year, and has yet to serve in the Korean Military, meaning 2022 is the year he will be called. Song Kang is also currently filming another series, in fact, MOST (Not All) of the cast, have been fully booked for 2021 and can't really do this until next year.
If they cannot get the stars to align in 2022 to film this before Song Kang enters the military, then it would be on hold for another year and half as they wait for his duty to finish. This is also something they have to consider if they were planning beyond season 2, again, the down time while he is doing is compulsory service between a season 2 and 3, unless they kill him off or move on from his character, or recast him now...... Because that would be at least a 2 year hiatus if not longer between those seasons.
Not to mention Lee do Hyun has been filming Melancholia, and is in current talks for The Glory, but has apparently declined the Netflix Bloodhound offer, though I can't find an article stating as such just commenters on that shows MDL page saying as much. But his schedule is easier to solve than the Song Kang issue because of the ending of season 1 and what they can easily decide about his character.
Ultimately, if they do move forward with the series they may be forced to recast, but I get the feeling Netflix doesn't want to and has been holding off renewing the project because of this. It might be better to let it die on the vine as they move on to other Korean dramas considering the casting issues, cost of original production, and 8 month original shooting schedule. Yes it was popular and until Squid Game, had been the only Korean title to enter in the US top 10 viewing list....but....it was expensive with a long production schedule. Now when adding the problems with casting...and other Korean shows being just as successful and some even more successful, Sweet Home may just become a really liked 1-off series that fans can re-watch at will.
But if we make it to the end of 2021 with no official announcement, then it has been an entire year without a renewal, which starts to make its chances of a renewal pretty slim. If nothing is stated by, at the latest, the end of 2022 1st quarter (March), then I am sure Sweet Home Season 2 is just not happening.
However, rumors do end-up many times coming true. So possibly Netflix has been leaking information to sources to see how the fandom and public react to a complete recasting, or taking the series in a new direction and focusing on secondary characters from the 1st season, and of course throwing what is left of the webtoon out the window. Who knows.
One can hope for a complete reboot in a five years or so if the show just ends up canceled or forever in undecided limbo.
Here is the thing, this had been recommended to me since I watched While You Were Sleeping (Same writer, and FL) months ago by MDL. Recommended again to me after watching Strong Woman Do Bong Soon ( ML). It was also recommended to me in like 5 or so different categories on my Netflix, including top picks for me with like 90 something % match.
But, the commercial on Netflix wasn't that catchy and then it only has an 8.1 here on MDL which is basically one step away from the dreaded 7's. So, I kept putting it off, and saying there is enough to watch I'll eventually get to it. Instead, I was focusing on all the dramas that had 8.5+ rankings and especially 9+ here on MDL.
Then over the weekend I watched Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and it popped AGAIN for other (ML) Which, I really enjoyed in that drama.
So, I was like its time. See what its all about.....and well. Why the hell did I put it off so long, and why the hell was I putting myself through the pain of all those 8.5 and 9+ shows here on MDL?So far only a select few of those I have ended up liking or rating equally. Most have ended up being really bad to absolute messes.
And then here is this one with its 8.1 and actually awesome!!!
I see here in comments that it just won a bevy of awards as well this year!!! Kudos to it and its cast that won!!!
I'll do a full on review, just for myself hahah, but I'll write it up. Its not perfect and I'll cover its flaws as well as praises (One of which is subverting your expectations. Normally these Kdramas are so paint-by-the-numbers.) But, I do, overall, think its undervalued compared to its counterparts.