Episode 1 is absolutley horrible. Very very very poor direction. Over-acting or flat out bad acting by virtually the whole cast. And a story that doesnt know where to start. Slow, boring, even with heaps of low-rent special effects, nothing saves this awkard overly dramatic mess...
This doesnt look or feel like a 2021 Korean production...it reminds me of clips I've seen of Chinese fantasy or old school 2000s Korean.
The editing is slipshod and hectic with weird vocal overdubs of sighs and moans or groans over the action taking place on screen.
Maybe the last 5 minutes of the entire 70 minute episode sets up anything we are going to deal with moving forward...and should have been the opening of the show and episode. A human sacrifice of a little boy to make it rain that goes awry as a zealot prince releases a trapped deamon god back into the world. EVERYTHING else is backstory wondering slog.
This is giving B movie stright to Redbox DVD vibes in the worst ways possible.
It was a different present timeline not the present timeline we are in now.
There are now 4 different "present" timelines Taesung standing in front of the building happened in the 2nd present I believe. So not this one.... so there is no knowledge of who he was (meaning in that present he may not have been a cop) or why he was there becuase the show gave us this moment and then never went back to it and gave us no knowledge of the scene beyond this one moment or anything regarding Taesung in that timeline.
Also the cigarette would NEVER have happened. Again Sol was mousy and a pushover. She did not have the grit nor moxy to verbally abuse and pick a fight with bullies, smokers, and criminals...
That is adult Sol. And adult Sol only wnet into the past to save SunJae and ran into the smokers watching SunJae for protection. However...that entire timeline is ERASED.. As 1 ) she has never been paralyzed nor kidnapped...2) She was never watching for or protecting SunJae in this timeline but outright avoiding him at all costs....3) She erased their entire history together...from the point of him meeting her with the yellow unbrella and everything after. So this "smoking interaction" her even being in the location of it happening. Are impossible.
Now in all other timelines she only has limited time in the past and then must come back to the future. Are you claiming that she relived her entire youth all over again....unlike all other timelines....and thus Sol was always a brassy strongwilled girl cause the true Mousy Sol has been gone from the moment of the yellow umbrella reversal to never return....
And then at some point in the past, completely unrelated to SunJae, adult Sol, now fully living her life for a 2nd time, ran into kid smokers again with Taesung at some other random time and the exact scene and words used happened again....to which he is now refrencing.....
um...ok.
Cant argue against a coulda, maybe, why not, because sure, what if, you never know.
I don't find her being friends with him a problem...however, he did reference the scene in the past where she was watching SunJae at the gym and ended up fighting smokers....in the present when they were sitting at the table together he mimics the line she used on them and refrences this memory. If Sol and SunJae were not intertwined in the past...then this scene would not have happened. Just like it had never taken place until she in episode 2 went back in time and changed the scene in the first place. Cause in the opening timeline (paralyzed) she never had done this. As her highschool self was mousy and pushed around. It is her adult self that mouths off to the kids and that only happened cause she went into the past...
But this timeline is the one inwhich Sunjae and her never had met, there wasnt a kidnapping or killer. No paralyzed. No love affair. And no gym watching.
Her youthful self was obsessed Taesung. So they would have still had interactions regardless...but how it moved from infatuation to an adult friendship we will likely never know. And while i originally pegged Taesung as becoming a cop like his dad...now that all the weird murder, kidnappings, and the like didnt happen to them (though still in the neighborhood but not to him and his friendgroup) Im not sure what the catalyst was to move him from a punk teen to a detective...it made sense in the other timelines...
However, there is also never an explanation of like 8 episodes ago where in the present Taesung was standing outside Sol and her families highrise in a hoodie...and caught by the security guard. Why was he there in that timeline?
The characters are endearing and the team has great chemistry. The development of the relationships between the cast felt honest. The episodes have a lot of fun packed in them and the director actually gave it a bit of style instead of it feeling run-of-the-mill.
However, the cases at times seemed silly and even more the way inwhich many of them are solved is extremely far fetched, comical, and a few just beyond believability. This hurt the overall validity of the show and some of its stories. While the fun was great, the show had trouble grounding it in realty.
7.5 from me, Shows its flaws but remains strong. Likely to be enjoyed.
I dont want to defend the ml but:1. Not 100% sure, but in korea you are underage until 20-21 yo so it means that…
Nothing is black and white that is not lost on me. However, circumstances also do not wipe clean or forgive the choices and actions taken. Also, you keep giving the ML credit while demonizing the FL, which as I stated in my original post..is hilarious. Everyone keeps empathizing with the cute seemingly nice male, excusing everything he does becuase of his situation, and saying he has remorse. While in the same breath cutting the FL no slack, holding her responsible for everything, tearing apart her character as a paerson and making her the bad guy.
When it comes to both of them they are opposite ends of the social spectrum, yet both drowning. The professor even blatantly states this. He was pushing them together because he saw how much alike they were and how they needed each other. People just think not having parents (ML) is worse than abusive neglectful and hurtful parents (FL). She also has money while he does not...thus automatically he is more deserving of his actions. When this isn't the case...and the show is trying to show this, and prove this, but the audience ignores it.
As for him being a pimp or a security provider it's moot. He hides behind the security tag only for the first half. The second half he recognizes that yes, he is a criminal and a pimp. He even again states this and calls himself such by the end. It is him comming to terms with who he is. But some in the audience ignore this, because it turns him into the awful guy he is, and they like him and defend him. So they ignore even his own revelation.
As for the comparison to his dad. It is spot on. His father has lost his family, still gambles. Has lost everything in his life, still gambles. And every moment he gets money...he gambles it under hopes of having more. He destroys himself for money, and for the hope and dream of having more money.
Our ML is doing this himself. While not gambling, he is becoming a criminal to get more money. He loses it all to his father...but then goes back to his criminal activities to make more. Only to by the shows end...again lose it all and have nothing...again. in the process he is losing his grades, his future, and possibly even his life...again just like his father.
There are a lot of nuances in the story between characters which no one talks about. They only give the ML credit and slack and throw the FL u Der the bus without connecting all the dots.
As for the prostitutes, I don't consider them victims, we'll not the fully realized adults who choose this life for themselves. But a girl in high-school who is broken and lost...yeah, I do think of her as a victim. And the show again uses a lot of small moments, tidbits of her backstop, and nuance to show how much a victim she is. It is not as simple as her getting g mo ey for her bf. She doesn't live with her mom and dad, but extended family. They never see. Worried for her behalf, even when she is gone all night and missING for days. Her own boyfriend tells her the only reason. He is with her is her money and looks. She has no true friends, and she is a poor student. She is lonely, lost, moneyless, young, and stupid. She latches on to the bodyguard because he is the only person in her life who gives even the smallest shit about her. And his death destroys her. She is also the only o e who cares about his loss of life and by the end is willing to tell the whole world she had been a sex worker to bring g those to justice for taking his life....but peoe just look at her like a girl who is getting g money for her boyfriend...which is not at all what is happening.
Speaking of which, her ,bf who the whole show is nothing short of an ahole and awful person...is also a foil to our main lead. As our ML comes across as kind and quiet...while he is loud, and hateful. But when everything goes to crap, he goes after those who hurt his girlfriend and used her. And tries to get revenge for her when she is hurt. Showing he still has a heart and a part of him cares. While our ML "the nice guy with remorse" has left all those around him for dead, save our FL. Again nuance.
As for our ML not forcing people, this is surface true. Trickery, and gaslighting, as well as coercion are used by him. Again, back to the Idol. When he does what he does, our FL asked him, how did you know to do this. His answer is, its not my first time here. Meaning he has done this entrapment on others. One of the large flaws of the show is never showing how his business came to be. He designed an app and found muscle, but how did he find both prostitutes to work for him and the John's that he sets up for them? It's just an app, how do people know to download it and use it for sex work? How did he come into the small group of girls he had from the begining? Well this scene seems to give some clue but the show doesn't delve further.
In the end, our ML is given multiple chances and opportunities to stop what he is doi g, come clean, help those that are hurt around him, and change his future and self, but every time he chooses the path of self destruction and crime...This is the point t of the stairwell ending. He can stay, die, or be arrested. Or he can flee, remain a criminal and live to do it all again. His dream of being a civil servant over. The screen splits showing us these two choices...and his "evil" self wins...he chooses to become leave the stairwell....
There is more to say about him, and things he does...but it's pointless. Whatever remorse he has, guilt, anything do not matter when his choices are always to continue in this path. The one time he tries to live with a normal job, is just not enough...and this would be true even as a civil servant. It was just a dream, but he would likely have never been happy and always wanting more...by this point, the money and life being a criminal was addictive and couldn't be beat by any job save maybe a ceo. And he has learned what type of person he is, what lengths he is willing to go through and lines he is willing to cross in order to make that money.
I dont want to defend the ml but:1. Not 100% sure, but in korea you are underage until 20-21 yo so it means that…
The overall story of the program is truly and honestly about the main character coming to terms with who and what he truly is. He sees himself as a good guy. Someone who is goal oriented, grounded, intelligent, kind, and industrious. He buys into the very points you just made in your response to me. That is, that he doesn't force people to do the work, he isn't a pimp, and he even calls his app and work model a security service...multiple times...to which the female lead scoffs and laughs at him over...(the horrible cell pho e stealing girl).
However, none of this is true. He looks at his father as a lowlife thief, only for himself to follow in the same footsteps. And the show gives his father and the circumstances of his upbringing and life as an excuse and catalyst for his actions. But in the end...that is all they are...and empty excuse for a way to make quick money just like his dad is always trying g to make quick money....and at the EXPENSE of others...just like his father.
To say he doesn't force people or prey on them is laughable. The whole reason they couldn't get the Judo hunks is because he knew they wouldn't need him. They could take care of themselves. They needed people vulnerable who couldn't defend themselves....Also, to say he doesn't force people...again look at the whole storyline of the wanna be idol. They catch him when he is broke, losing his dream, becoming a failure, and needing anything to stay in Seoul and with the company. Then when the idol can't go through with it, he calls him up and placates the situation and smooth talks him into going for it...only for us to then be notified, that it isn't even a true John. That our ML hired a female hooker to guarantee she would be young and attractive, and also to be kind and make it seem easy and enjoyable. This way he would guarantee a continued sex worker in the idol after his first go. That is, the ML was tricking a desperate man into the work, creating a fake environment to make it seem easy, and then investing in future money from him...as our ML was paying both the idol and the hooked he hired to play as his john...meaning he was losing money...but knowing he would make it back....and he didn't ever refuse taking the idol on...he refused the judo guys...
Also, as the stakes in the show increased, so did the awful things he was willing to do...including murder. When his walls got torn down, and the protection of his anonymity and cell phone were exposed, it made him face that yes, he was pimp, yes he wanted money more than he cared about people, and yes he was not a good person but a criminal than used others for his own gain. Even his own classmates without them knowing.
As for the age, it's 20 in Korean age, which can be 1 to 2 years (depending on when you born in the year) older than international age. This is one of the reasons SK is doing away with Korean age, the confusion when it comes to things such as this. However, for his crimes he would be considered an adult a d tried as such. As for his female classmate of which we don't know her age, she would be considered a minor...as she is still a school student. Also, he had been doing this for a while before we met him, and she had been a John for at least a year prior as well....so we are splitting hairs....
While the FL ends up as horrible a person as he is, maybe worse, he still was a horrible person from the first frame of the show. He was just in denial and willfully blind to his own actions, just as many commenters and defenders here seem to be. However, this story taught him who he really was and in the end, he came to terms with how amoral and awful he truly was, and how he was an active agent in destroying people. It just seems many here didn't seem to understand that was his journey, and instead say the ending sucked or was confusing, or awful....it was as it was for this very reason.
The lake (or pond), said in a flashback ep8. A family disappeared 20 years ago. Ki Ho family took their names.…
None of what Ive written about has anything to do with who is the real Ki ho...
I thought that was handled well.
The plot points I brought up have to do with the rest of the story, other charcaters, and added mysteries the creators and woven into the fabric of the show...
The lake was creating a bit of terror. We knew it was connected to the family...we didnt know how...and the show was leaving it as a growing threat, which was setting up an explosive reveal. One that seemed would reveal where the psyho cops family was and send him to them....
But instead the show just tells us what is hidden and the psycho cop finds the family on his own through mak ha and is verified that he found them by Ki Ho suddenly revealing himself and trying to lead him elswhere...thus the growing terror of the lake imploded and has no use to the story any longer...Except as i said, to maybe force the family to start using their real names....
The mystery of the old lady was making veiwera have fear that Ran Joo would betray Mak ha or vice versa. That there was going to be a great fall out. Also made it seem Ran Joo would lose and not get 50% of the company. This strange woman seeming to be from the future, with voice overs of knowledge of how it all went wrong, adding a layer of mystery to the story...and fear.....again a sublot...onlyfor it to be a bait switch in this episode...where all of her voice overs meant nothing and her storyline became nothing and was simply a false herring to try and insert drama where there was none...
None of this ahs anything to do with which one or who was Ki Ho...
The lake (or pond), said in a flashback ep8. A family disappeared 20 years ago. Ki Ho family took their names.…
But the pond was a mystery of how it would affect the story. Would it reveal them to the ev8l dad. Would it cause massive conflicts...would it be the families undoing...what exactly was in the pond....
Again....this was a mystery subplot being built....and this eoisode fully answered it all...and deflated the mystery....
Who cares what is in the lake...everyone in play knows everything now...so it isnt hiding anything anymore....
Meaning the only thing it seems to be used for is to force the family to start using their real names again...It is anti climactic story telling...which i stated in my original post.
Ki Ho makes smart choices: he uses the two guys from the resto on the island. Because he knows they are snitchers.…
Yes, that wasnt stupid of him. What was stupid is his sudden doing it in the first place...
My first thought when seeing him enter the restraunt, is this is going to show his dad that hes following the right person....Mak Ha.
To do this out-of-the-blue....when he has been hidden so long and after the father making himself known to Mak Ha.....was very very very stupid.
And that is exactly what it did for tha dad...verified his hunches of who was who....
The response given to Ki ho from the father/son team shocked and scared him, thus forcing him to make more stupid choices which lead to the ending cliff hanger...
The stupid part was going in the first place and choosing to use the father and son to begin with.
Episode 8 was the first episode of the series to sorta let-me-down. It felt slow and fill-ery. I don't like how they used Ran Joo's mother. How she started ranomly appearing in previous episodes out-of-nowhere to try and create a foreboding mystery only to then reslove it with a bait and switch in this episode. It felt cheap and un-needed.
Watching Ki Ho make super stupid choices seemed very out-of-character. He has always been strong, smart, resourceful, and a great planner. But he just wakes up and chooses stupid...here.
Why doesn't anyone in the comments talk about how awful the son and dad team from the island are. Everytime they are on screen they are selfish aholes who screw up everything for our main cast. In-truth, the entire problems of the show (save Ran Joos storyline) is the fault of these two.
Now that everyone knows everything, what is the point of the emptying lake? Even the cop/psychopath father has sniffed out the truth and then, of course, the end scene of episode 8 blatantly revealing who-is-who....the threat of the lake and what may be hidden there seems to just have evaporated....oh the pun. Will it simply be used to give the family back their true names in the end....thus not a threat at all?
I'm still hooked, and still love this series, but the directions taken in episode 8 and the choices the creaters have taken to resolve and deal with subplots and issues are anti-climactic. Also, the first 3rd of the episode was just a replay of episode 7 with more backstory. Then the middle a filler camping trip, with the story and plot progression being held for the end of the episode right b4 a cliffhanger to next week....it's a let down format that other kdramas use and I wasnt happy seeing it here.
war ain't a joke or something simple that could be easily avoided after a son-to-father conversation, or killing…
Sorry, but as she even asked him, if you wanted to die, just die then....he didnt have to go through with what he did on the battlefield and could have given his life instead....but he CHOSE not too...and then just feel crappy about it after.
Also, he didnt have to pull her mother and swhonhe thought was her from their home and publicly execute them...
They werent royalty, her dad was just a general. Also, unless things were different than what other shows represent, the women have no power, and any offspring would be from other men and not the generals lineage. And normally they were kill the boys or men of the family but not the women....
His current enslavement of her as a servent in his home is much more appropriate of how women were treated...or banished...
So im sorry. She does have an absolute case for hating him and wanting revenge....that is as long as you feel revenge is even a valid option for a person.
He on the other hand is a walking mess of contradicition, hate, anger, self loathing, arogance, and victimhood. And he has absolutely no claim to his wanted revenge or murder to move on....
Though, I did not like Dong Wook at all...typical rich pretty good at everything walking trope who treats everyone around him like sh+t because he thinks hes allowed to...and people still want him anyway....and they tried to humanize him by giving him insomnia.
But I like how our other lead, ultimatley, calls him out on it...only to immediately fold adterwards..
7.5 = B, 3 3/4-Stars. Shows its flaws but remains strong, likely to be enjoyed.
I think they decided to try and capitalize on The Marvels...Netflix is hoping worldwide audiences and especially…
You're not wrong, that is their plan, but the release timing of both the show and trailer are to capitalize on the male lead and his Marvels connection. Netflix will not miss the marketing opportunity. It is good publicity for free. It isn't a coincidence.
Also they already have a show they are using as The Glory....Sweet Home Season 2 and 3. Season 2 also drops in December with season 3 waiting for next year. It already has a huge built in audience, and is highly anticipated. And Season 1 was the largest Korean hit Netflix had before Squid Game came along.
Dropping two possible massive hits in the same month the same way is wasted opportunity except for the Marvel connection. Also, it shows their strategy for what they think will be big hits moving forward...the multiple season breaks over months to keep viewers from "the churn" of only having an account the month the show they want drops so they can binge it in one go and jet.
She isn't in any of the images so far released either.
I have a feeling they b killing her off early. Hope, I am wrong. I really like her as an actress and also liked her character from season 1. But she has gotten kinda big and already had a Netflix show all her own this year, plus is in Squid Game 2, and of course the "Dog" show currently airing not on Viki...so she is busy
Mokha is pitiful but sometimes she annoys the hell out of me. Just for her ego of finding Kiho, she endanger the…
Also, she doesn't and didn't know any of her actions would have this effect. She doesn't know what the audience knows and didn't know....until todays episode...that the boys and their family had any connection to her or Kiho, their past, or the psycho father ...
So how can she be held responsible for endangering people she didnt even know where in any type of danger....cause they were simply the nice family that found her on an island.
And I agree with others....she has never shown herself to have an ego or be egotistical....in fact Kiho was always trying to support and motivate her in the past....because she was giving up on herself and her future and thought she was nothing...
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2 
This doesnt look or feel like a 2021 Korean production...it reminds me of clips I've seen of Chinese fantasy or old school 2000s Korean.
The editing is slipshod and hectic with weird vocal overdubs of sighs and moans or groans over the action taking place on screen.
Maybe the last 5 minutes of the entire 70 minute episode sets up anything we are going to deal with moving forward...and should have been the opening of the show and episode. A human sacrifice of a little boy to make it rain that goes awry as a zealot prince releases a trapped deamon god back into the world. EVERYTHING else is backstory wondering slog.
This is giving B movie stright to Redbox DVD vibes in the worst ways possible.
Lets see if episode 2 is any better...
There are now 4 different "present" timelines Taesung standing in front of the building happened in the 2nd present I believe. So not this one.... so there is no knowledge of who he was (meaning in that present he may not have been a cop) or why he was there becuase the show gave us this moment and then never went back to it and gave us no knowledge of the scene beyond this one moment or anything regarding Taesung in that timeline.
Also the cigarette would NEVER have happened. Again Sol was mousy and a pushover. She did not have the grit nor moxy to verbally abuse and pick a fight with bullies, smokers, and criminals...
That is adult Sol. And adult Sol only wnet into the past to save SunJae and ran into the smokers watching SunJae for protection. However...that entire timeline is ERASED..
As 1 ) she has never been paralyzed nor kidnapped...2) She was never watching for or protecting SunJae in this timeline but outright avoiding him at all costs....3) She erased their entire history together...from the point of him meeting her with the yellow unbrella and everything after. So this "smoking interaction" her even being in the location of it happening. Are impossible.
Now in all other timelines she only has limited time in the past and then must come back to the future. Are you claiming that she relived her entire youth all over again....unlike all other timelines....and thus Sol was always a brassy strongwilled girl cause the true Mousy Sol has been gone from the moment of the yellow umbrella reversal to never return....
And then at some point in the past, completely unrelated to SunJae, adult Sol, now fully living her life for a 2nd time, ran into kid smokers again with Taesung at some other random time and the exact scene and words used happened again....to which he is now refrencing.....
um...ok.
Cant argue against a coulda, maybe, why not, because sure, what if, you never know.
But this timeline is the one inwhich Sunjae and her never had met, there wasnt a kidnapping or killer. No paralyzed. No love affair. And no gym watching.
Her youthful self was obsessed Taesung. So they would have still had interactions regardless...but how it moved from infatuation to an adult friendship we will likely never know. And while i originally pegged Taesung as becoming a cop like his dad...now that all the weird murder, kidnappings, and the like didnt happen to them (though still in the neighborhood but not to him and his friendgroup) Im not sure what the catalyst was to move him from a punk teen to a detective...it made sense in the other timelines...
However, there is also never an explanation of like 8 episodes ago where in the present Taesung was standing outside Sol and her families highrise in a hoodie...and caught by the security guard. Why was he there in that timeline?
However, the cases at times seemed silly and even more the way inwhich many of them are solved is extremely far fetched, comical, and a few just beyond believability. This hurt the overall validity of the show and some of its stories. While the fun was great, the show had trouble grounding it in realty.
7.5 from me, Shows its flaws but remains strong. Likely to be enjoyed.
When it comes to both of them they are opposite ends of the social spectrum, yet both drowning. The professor even blatantly states this. He was pushing them together because he saw how much alike they were and how they needed each other. People just think not having parents (ML) is worse than abusive neglectful and hurtful parents (FL). She also has money while he does not...thus automatically he is more deserving of his actions. When this isn't the case...and the show is trying to show this, and prove this, but the audience ignores it.
As for him being a pimp or a security provider it's moot. He hides behind the security tag only for the first half. The second half he recognizes that yes, he is a criminal and a pimp. He even again states this and calls himself such by the end. It is him comming to terms with who he is. But some in the audience ignore this, because it turns him into the awful guy he is, and they like him and defend him. So they ignore even his own revelation.
As for the comparison to his dad. It is spot on. His father has lost his family, still gambles. Has lost everything in his life, still gambles. And every moment he gets money...he gambles it under hopes of having more. He destroys himself for money, and for the hope and dream of having more money.
Our ML is doing this himself. While not gambling, he is becoming a criminal to get more money. He loses it all to his father...but then goes back to his criminal activities to make more. Only to by the shows end...again lose it all and have nothing...again. in the process he is losing his grades, his future, and possibly even his life...again just like his father.
There are a lot of nuances in the story between characters which no one talks about. They only give the ML credit and slack and throw the FL u Der the bus without connecting all the dots.
As for the prostitutes, I don't consider them victims, we'll not the fully realized adults who choose this life for themselves. But a girl in high-school who is broken and lost...yeah, I do think of her as a victim. And the show again uses a lot of small moments, tidbits of her backstop, and nuance to show how much a victim she is. It is not as simple as her getting g mo ey for her bf. She doesn't live with her mom and dad, but extended family. They never see. Worried for her behalf, even when she is gone all night and missING for days. Her own boyfriend tells her the only reason. He is with her is her money and looks. She has no true friends, and she is a poor student. She is lonely, lost, moneyless, young, and stupid. She latches on to the bodyguard because he is the only person in her life who gives even the smallest shit about her. And his death destroys her. She is also the only o e who cares about his loss of life and by the end is willing to tell the whole world she had been a sex worker to bring g those to justice for taking his life....but peoe just look at her like a girl who is getting g money for her boyfriend...which is not at all what is happening.
Speaking of which, her ,bf who the whole show is nothing short of an ahole and awful person...is also a foil to our main lead. As our ML comes across as kind and quiet...while he is loud, and hateful. But when everything goes to crap, he goes after those who hurt his girlfriend and used her. And tries to get revenge for her when she is hurt. Showing he still has a heart and a part of him cares. While our ML "the nice guy with remorse" has left all those around him for dead, save our FL. Again nuance.
As for our ML not forcing people, this is surface true. Trickery, and gaslighting, as well as coercion are used by him. Again, back to the Idol. When he does what he does, our FL asked him, how did you know to do this. His answer is, its not my first time here. Meaning he has done this entrapment on others. One of the large flaws of the show is never showing how his business came to be. He designed an app and found muscle, but how did he find both prostitutes to work for him and the John's that he sets up for them? It's just an app, how do people know to download it and use it for sex work? How did he come into the small group of girls he had from the begining? Well this scene seems to give some clue but the show doesn't delve further.
In the end, our ML is given multiple chances and opportunities to stop what he is doi g, come clean, help those that are hurt around him, and change his future and self, but every time he chooses the path of self destruction and crime...This is the point t of the stairwell ending. He can stay, die, or be arrested. Or he can flee, remain a criminal and live to do it all again. His dream of being a civil servant over. The screen splits showing us these two choices...and his "evil" self wins...he chooses to become leave the stairwell....
There is more to say about him, and things he does...but it's pointless. Whatever remorse he has, guilt, anything do not matter when his choices are always to continue in this path. The one time he tries to live with a normal job, is just not enough...and this would be true even as a civil servant. It was just a dream, but he would likely have never been happy and always wanting more...by this point, the money and life being a criminal was addictive and couldn't be beat by any job save maybe a ceo. And he has learned what type of person he is, what lengths he is willing to go through and lines he is willing to cross in order to make that money.
However, none of this is true. He looks at his father as a lowlife thief, only for himself to follow in the same footsteps. And the show gives his father and the circumstances of his upbringing and life as an excuse and catalyst for his actions. But in the end...that is all they are...and empty excuse for a way to make quick money just like his dad is always trying g to make quick money....and at the EXPENSE of others...just like his father.
To say he doesn't force people or prey on them is laughable. The whole reason they couldn't get the Judo hunks is because he knew they wouldn't need him. They could take care of themselves. They needed people vulnerable who couldn't defend themselves....Also, to say he doesn't force people...again look at the whole storyline of the wanna be idol. They catch him when he is broke, losing his dream, becoming a failure, and needing anything to stay in Seoul and with the company. Then when the idol can't go through with it, he calls him up and placates the situation and smooth talks him into going for it...only for us to then be notified, that it isn't even a true John. That our ML hired a female hooker to guarantee she would be young and attractive, and also to be kind and make it seem easy and enjoyable. This way he would guarantee a continued sex worker in the idol after his first go. That is, the ML was tricking a desperate man into the work, creating a fake environment to make it seem easy, and then investing in future money from him...as our ML was paying both the idol and the hooked he hired to play as his john...meaning he was losing money...but knowing he would make it back....and he didn't ever refuse taking the idol on...he refused the judo guys...
Also, as the stakes in the show increased, so did the awful things he was willing to do...including murder. When his walls got torn down, and the protection of his anonymity and cell phone were exposed, it made him face that yes, he was pimp, yes he wanted money more than he cared about people, and yes he was not a good person but a criminal than used others for his own gain. Even his own classmates without them knowing.
As for the age, it's 20 in Korean age, which can be 1 to 2 years (depending on when you born in the year) older than international age. This is one of the reasons SK is doing away with Korean age, the confusion when it comes to things such as this. However, for his crimes he would be considered an adult a d tried as such. As for his female classmate of which we don't know her age, she would be considered a minor...as she is still a school student. Also, he had been doing this for a while before we met him, and she had been a John for at least a year prior as well....so we are splitting hairs....
While the FL ends up as horrible a person as he is, maybe worse, he still was a horrible person from the first frame of the show. He was just in denial and willfully blind to his own actions, just as many commenters and defenders here seem to be. However, this story taught him who he really was and in the end, he came to terms with how amoral and awful he truly was, and how he was an active agent in destroying people. It just seems many here didn't seem to understand that was his journey, and instead say the ending sucked or was confusing, or awful....it was as it was for this very reason.
I thought that was handled well.
The plot points I brought up have to do with the rest of the story, other charcaters, and added mysteries the creators and woven into the fabric of the show...
The lake was creating a bit of terror. We knew it was connected to the family...we didnt know how...and the show was leaving it as a growing threat, which was setting up an explosive reveal. One that seemed would reveal where the psyho cops family was and send him to them....
But instead the show just tells us what is hidden and the psycho cop finds the family on his own through mak ha and is verified that he found them by Ki Ho suddenly revealing himself and trying to lead him elswhere...thus the growing terror of the lake imploded and has no use to the story any longer...Except as i said, to maybe force the family to start using their real names....
The mystery of the old lady was making veiwera have fear that Ran Joo would betray Mak ha or vice versa. That there was going to be a great fall out. Also made it seem Ran Joo would lose and not get 50% of the company. This strange woman seeming to be from the future, with voice overs of knowledge of how it all went wrong, adding a layer of mystery to the story...and fear.....again a sublot...onlyfor it to be a bait switch in this episode...where all of her voice overs meant nothing and her storyline became nothing and was simply a false herring to try and insert drama where there was none...
None of this ahs anything to do with which one or who was Ki Ho...
Again....this was a mystery subplot being built....and this eoisode fully answered it all...and deflated the mystery....
Who cares what is in the lake...everyone in play knows everything now...so it isnt hiding anything anymore....
Meaning the only thing it seems to be used for is to force the family to start using their real names again...It is anti climactic story telling...which i stated in my original post.
His mother and stepdad are who worked and plotted to get them free of their father...and did so successfully.
Makha has proven she will give her dream to protect the family.
His brother is shrewd and steong willed and even almost died and took a head injury protecting him.
Yet, no he he goes making these stupid horrible decisons all alone and hiding it from everyone.
It is stupid for stupids sake and just to cause drama and conflict. And as I said....it is very out of character.
My first thought when seeing him enter the restraunt, is this is going to show his dad that hes following the right person....Mak Ha.
To do this out-of-the-blue....when he has been hidden so long and after the father making himself known to Mak Ha.....was very very very stupid.
And that is exactly what it did for tha dad...verified his hunches of who was who....
The response given to Ki ho from the father/son team shocked and scared him, thus forcing him to make more stupid choices which lead to the ending cliff hanger...
The stupid part was going in the first place and choosing to use the father and son to begin with.
Watching Ki Ho make super stupid choices seemed very out-of-character. He has always been strong, smart, resourceful, and a great planner. But he just wakes up and chooses stupid...here.
Why doesn't anyone in the comments talk about how awful the son and dad team from the island are. Everytime they are on screen they are selfish aholes who screw up everything for our main cast. In-truth, the entire problems of the show (save Ran Joos storyline) is the fault of these two.
Now that everyone knows everything, what is the point of the emptying lake? Even the cop/psychopath father has sniffed out the truth and then, of course, the end scene of episode 8 blatantly revealing who-is-who....the threat of the lake and what may be hidden there seems to just have evaporated....oh the pun. Will it simply be used to give the family back their true names in the end....thus not a threat at all?
I'm still hooked, and still love this series, but the directions taken in episode 8 and the choices the creaters have taken to resolve and deal with subplots and issues are anti-climactic. Also, the first 3rd of the episode was just a replay of episode 7 with more backstory. Then the middle a filler camping trip, with the story and plot progression being held for the end of the episode right b4 a cliffhanger to next week....it's a let down format that other kdramas use and I wasnt happy seeing it here.
Also our fl is matching the wrong people together and not seeing it, or noticing true matches before her.
Also, he didnt have to pull her mother and swhonhe thought was her from their home and publicly execute them...
They werent royalty, her dad was just a general. Also, unless things were different than what other shows represent, the women have no power, and any offspring would be from other men and not the generals lineage. And normally they were kill the boys or men of the family but not the women....
His current enslavement of her as a servent in his home is much more appropriate of how women were treated...or banished...
So im sorry. She does have an absolute case for hating him and wanting revenge....that is as long as you feel revenge is even a valid option for a person.
He on the other hand is a walking mess of contradicition, hate, anger, self loathing, arogance, and victimhood. And he has absolutely no claim to his wanted revenge or murder to move on....
Not Blueming like at all....even a little bit.
It is very much trope cliche typical BL
BUT done well.
Though, I did not like Dong Wook at all...typical rich pretty good at everything walking trope who treats everyone around him like sh+t because he thinks hes allowed to...and people still want him anyway....and they tried to humanize him by giving him insomnia.
But I like how our other lead, ultimatley, calls him out on it...only to immediately fold adterwards..
7.5 = B, 3 3/4-Stars. Shows its flaws but remains strong, likely to be enjoyed.
Also they already have a show they are using as The Glory....Sweet Home Season 2 and 3. Season 2 also drops in December with season 3 waiting for next year. It already has a huge built in audience, and is highly anticipated. And Season 1 was the largest Korean hit Netflix had before Squid Game came along.
Dropping two possible massive hits in the same month the same way is wasted opportunity except for the Marvel connection. Also, it shows their strategy for what they think will be big hits moving forward...the multiple season breaks over months to keep viewers from "the churn" of only having an account the month the show they want drops so they can binge it in one go and jet.
She isn't in any of the images so far released either.
I have a feeling they b killing her off early. Hope, I am wrong. I really like her as an actress and also liked her character from season 1. But she has gotten kinda big and already had a Netflix show all her own this year, plus is in Squid Game 2, and of course the "Dog" show currently airing not on Viki...so she is busy
So how can she be held responsible for endangering people she didnt even know where in any type of danger....cause they were simply the nice family that found her on an island.
And I agree with others....she has never shown herself to have an ego or be egotistical....in fact Kiho was always trying to support and motivate her in the past....because she was giving up on herself and her future and thought she was nothing...