strawgal

What I loved about this is that it knew what it was and went with it without trying to add stuff to cover everything else. IMO comedy works best when it is played seriously, what ever is going on the reactions must be not exaggerated, and with no stupid sound effects.
My only wish is perhaps the 2ML story was just an add on that had no depth and the resolution made no sense.
One thing is for sure, Pond looks good in a suit, and its hard to believe Phuwin ever played a dork. I think they have perhaps more acting range than most of the present couples.

I first watched this a long when it came out, and sometimes I flick through it because some parts of this really work well and others not some much but it has elements that are very real, if you have ever had to share a bedroom with a sibling you will know, I can almost smell the bedroom, and nothing is truly your own.
I some respects it stands up well against the newer dramas because it has a clear premise in the script, its funny at times, the supporting characters are just as well rounded as the main one, but of course the ex girl friend has to be the annoying plot device.

The positive of this is it tried to tackle the subject of obsessive fandom, intrusion in to public figures private lives and the pressure of being in a business that judges your performance from a young age, where you have to be seen to be perfect all the time.
As someone who obsession when I was a teenager was horses and competition riders, I used to spend hours at competitions watching them warm up and then in the competition, I think I was more in love with the horses, and grew out of it by the time I was sixteen, its hard for me to comprehend why an adult women who be spending money on mass produced merch for some group. So the premise of the FL just makes me think WTF, get a train set, or a dog, find something mind numbing but useful to do if you want to de stress.
Most of the time I enjoyed it but it had to fall back of two tropes which are so over used which is a complete shame, and the last episode was just scapes barely held together.
With two other actors this could have been complete dross, and it was held together by their skill.
Not funny enough for a rom com, and not dark for a proper thriller, with a very simplistic formula end.
I have given it an 8 for the bits that worked well, but the script needed to be better.

This for me was just irritating. Interesting idea but not delivered well.
I think we are past the point that a couple can be cute to hold a story together. It was directed very flatly so what ever the acting you were watching it was mainly either a reaction shot or a long shot, so it was more like watching a play with a few close ups.
Its 2026 do we really need any more caricature females plot devices who are literally deranged in a very obvious way, like they have a huge arrow pointing over their head, with over made up gurning faces. ( there are competitions for gurning)
The end was just, park you brain and do not think about it too much because it makes no logical sense.
Some one needs a red pen.

So you kill off part of the most interesting couple, for no reason.
In real life people die unexpectedly, but in 2026, if you have your seat belt on and the car is modern unless the car is crushed you can walk away because they now have air bags ,which never seem to go off in dramas, and side protection bars. That car in terms of my husbands head on crash, then spin into another car, had a dented bumper. My husband ended up with two bruises on his arms, although the Kia's front and side was a crushed mess.

Then there is the complete fiasco where after not pinning the ML to the wall and and not allowing to move until he says why he was dumped, and stringing us and him along for weeks, he shrugs and goes that's ok, I love you.
Is anyone such a twit that they would accept you were dumped not only because your ex didn't believe/trust you but they treats you like sh!t for weeks just because he does want to talk about it, because you friend tell you he is at fault.
Let's remember these are supposed to be adults, and the plot is a slow as a slug on concrete in hot sun, going now where
Not the fault of the actors, they need a better agent.

Who wrote this sh!t.

Whew, I finished it. I do not watch at plus speeds but if you did you wouldn't miss much.
I watched out of curiosity because I had seen the ML in something else. The script and story were terrible, I honestly think if you watched the first five eps ad the last five you wouldn't have missed much. There was a lot repetition, and reuse of the same plot device.
The over use of fake white fur, the white faced make up and the obvious direction the the FL should have a blank expressionless face 99% of the time didn't help. For comparison I found another drama the FL was in and she is capable.
It left me thinking that actor playing the 'bad mad' daughter got the best shake of the stick acting wise, although it was completely OTT.

It was a couples watch and I think if you are expecting an plot that has some social commentary and common sense its a fail. If you what some fairly good fight scenes and special effects it ticks that box just put the critical thinking part of your brain in neutral, because some of it makes no sense at all.
Its not The Boys, which pushes the idea of super heroes their effect on society and themselves to the point of look away distaste.
Its more like a live action cartoon, with two very annoying female main characters as the stock antagonists.

I would agree she has an emotional deficit, by having known friends and worked who have had MH issues, unless they are seriously depressed to the point they are not washing and neglecting themselves most have some insight in to what they are doing and what they need to do something, if they still functioning at that level.
The only reason I can find for their mutual attraction, if that is what it is, is they are both on the neuro divergent spectrum, and the ML thinks that is what a relationship should look like, a bit like the ML in Itaewon Class.
The solution from the script writers POV will be they will fall in love and everything will be OK.

I suppose what really bugs me is she spends her time going poor me, when really she has choices, she just doesn't want to make them. This is not some twenty something, she is in her thirties, with no children and even if she hasn't got cash she has resources, and she is intelligent, but she wallows.
I have lived around wealthy people and there is support system that most people do not have, because your friends support you at no real cost to themselves
The ML is just something else to prop her up, so she doesn't have to make a choices. She spends her time not making real plans, and she takes no thought about what she did to him and why he cares. He sister is not much better, have a problem, pass it on to someone else. She has left to when she can be perhaps least effective to tell her mother not be abusive to her own daughter, when a golden child she had some power.

I think the ML is just a prop, he has the worst times without her and as a parent you know you can not stop them, but I would be sick to my stomach.
He has never been the FL's choice, treated as a convenience, nice to have but not essential. My worry as a parent is who would save him, because she is paddling her own boat, and has only been with him when times were good, and still didn't chose him. He will always be an alcoholic and may have liver disease in the future, which is not pleasant.

I think the idea of loving someone and being essentially selfless for someone is a bad idea to promote , most of the people I have know who have had bad relationships have tied themselves in knots trying to make someone care, and been treated really badly, left with no money and children to look after. Sometimes life is more extreme than any C drama with no neat ending.

This reminds me of Call It Love, adults stuck in the past and a muddle of their own making, very well made but depressing. The redeeming feature of Call It Love that they were all characters you could sympathise with even if they need a damn good shove.
The ML in this perhaps worth the time in another situation but the FL is just a waste of screen time, and manipulative, not even in a good way.

Its more realistic than most drama plots,The idea that you do not date multiple people when you are young, hopefully not at the same time, is just a fantasy and really part of normal emotional development,
When you look at some of the experiences from dating apps, and its a war out there and the sooner you learn to protect yourself the better, The only place you get to try out relationships face to face now is when you are young, what ever your sexuality.
Three of these are playing by the same rules, and one doesn't even know he is even part of a game, and with the brother he has is that realistic?

Not sure I buy the detective story part, it may be it's how it has been directed. I know they have tried because the at least in pathology they are all covered, down the disposable hat. If you have ever been in a mortuary/pathology department if its not the smell from the occupants that get you its the stuff that use to cover up that smell that clings to you.
The flirting is so funny, I think they work best at comedy.

I do hope they keep this dark and real and not sugar coat the reality of the Korean entertainment industry. It takes courage to bite the hand that feeds you.
Too many have been lost to it, to make the subject candy floss.

The two things that almost revolutionary are her make up, flawless but it looks like a real person not a white balloon face. The fact that women can be childlish in their enthusiasm for some things, but its doesn't mean they are childlike or not capable of serious thought or behaving professionally. Her suits are just amazing.

I started watching this mainly to see the actors who I had seen in old urban romance drama, and I love a detective story.
All the acting is amazing especially the FL, I found her reactions very relatable and human . Its beautifully filmed with a real sense of place, and set dressing that makes every thing looked live it, like to old computors and chairs that are bit battered in the office. The make up minimal so they look like real people
What spoiled for me is they division of the story, the why was given two much time in flashbacks. Now I know they had a top tier ML who was being cast against type but that story took up too much time, and just basically giving a reason for him being an awful human being on many levels. It was a bit like a lecture. If they had halved that part in would have been an 8.5 , but I have given it a 7,5, just because it was structured poorly so it meant there was no dramatic tension.
The dog and the baby stole every scene.

Good spot.

The men I know follow sport or gaming, they support a team or join a group to go to matches or game over the internet. They can be a bit geeky about merch, cards and character toys but never really about personalities. The nearest they get IME is going to the big gamer/comicon events. I just can not imagine any of them obsessing like women do. Most are just too glued to their chairs.
My husband likes to fall a sleep in front of F1, although we have been to the GP races in the past.

What age are people supposed to act like adults now, because I can not even begin to understand why someone over the age of sixteen being obsessed over any entertainer of any sort.
I have met some very famous people in passing, its like looking at someone you know vaguely, then it clicks, ah that is why they are in films. The most funny thing was being stood behind a member of a super group at an event and thinking he gets dragged to things he has no interest in by his wife like anyone else.

The thing I like most about this drama was nearly all the female characters were not portrayed as brainless selfish idiots, but not saints either.
Jiang Yi Di has to be one of my favourite characters because she seems to me more like the women I know, just trying to do their best, but flawed.
I liked the fact they discussed fertility and gynae issues for women realistically, that its painful and it effs up your body.
I got bored towards the end, just a plot line I lost interest in. I not sure I like how all the man were portrayed, yes men do tend to get tunnel vision about work and life in general, but they are not all aholes and unfortunately the pressure for success and status is even greater in Asian countries.

I think the only person FX lied to was himself. He didn't know what love looked like, and because he couldn't appear weak he needed a tough shell and something to hide behind to explain his actions.He lives in a pecking order and he has to maintain an image.
When he was confronted he froze because, suddenly he realised the game he was playing was not a game. He was literally speechless under a tide of recriminations. Its a common trait in men when they are confronted IME.
I think he not deliberately bad, and dangerous to know, just a product of an environment where if he seen as weak prey, he can see no other alternative.

SL spends time worries about what other people think, he is 'kind' and consolatory because he gains peoples approval, even if its grudgingly, he is a dog waiting to be kicked. I think his whole reaction was about losing control, he picks partners who are convenient and where he is in control, where his goodness is a trade. FX he thinks he has no control over, because FX needs nothing from him The relationship is a risk, because FX is young, rich and very smart. So when he thinks he has been tricked he reacts blindly, When he beats FX and is cruel to him FX never retaliates, what SL sees as control is a misguided attempt to help. He doesn’t the actual effect, only that he doesn't want it even if it's of actual benefit to him, cutting off his nose to spite his face.
I do wonder if SL after a while gets a bit of a kick from it, after the initial anger.Everyone admires his ex and he dumped him first, he didn't actually get dumped. he can be as mean as he likes and FX comes back for more. He only gets upset again when FX says he will not contact him and he knows he means it. I think at that point he is actually realising truly what he losing because FX is
completely on his side. unconditionally, someone he doesn't need to trade care for respect if not love.
As a drama I find the writing and direction is complex and layered. I know my interpretation is perhaps different from other peoples, but that's the beauty of good writing and characters that are three dimensional.