sulkytofu

I think you're right; I also enhanced the photo and realized that I guess this wasn't an ad (it's hilarious though because the watch shape is so iconic to Casio that it's honestly extremely hard to just see it as a regular watch instead).

I'm going to post around the Casio subreddit (LOL) and see if I can get any responses, and come back here if I find any new information. I've been dying to get my hands on one after the drama, and have been looking everywhere (thanks again for your hard work finding this one!)

Thank you so much! I don't think it's this one; the general shape looks the same but the one that Seon Jae is wearing has the G-Shock lettering on it in red. I definitely think it's one of the higher priced ones (the F91W is the $15 ~ $30 price range) but can't find the colourway or the model anywhere!

I'm really, really excited about this one; those who have been fans of Uhm Tae Goo for a while know that he is so timid, shy, and an absolute cinnamon roll in real life, especially when watching the (few) promotions that he does for his roles. He's someone who is completely devoted to acting and it's crazy to see the switch between his personality and the character he's playing, especially when a lot of his industry friends like Jo In Sung and Nam Joo Hyuk mention that he's "weak in body and spirit" due to his social anxiety. Of course, it doesn't help that he has the most distinct husky and low voice, and I'm so happy that he's finally in a rom-com!

Hoping this one is fluffy, sweet, and cute, and knowing that Sunhwa and Tae Goo have already worked together before is already a charming point of the show!

Alright, calling all eagle-eyed fans: Does anyone know the exact make of the Casio watch that both Seon Jae and Sol wear? I've been trying to find the name of the specific version everywhere but haven't had any luck so far!

I have to say not only do Hye Yoon and Woo Seok carry the chemistry hard throughout the show, but so many of the other members of the writing and production team did a fantastic job.

The stylists are amazing at making each phase or arc of their lives together visually very distinct; from the clothing to the hair, you genuinely believe that they're high schoolers/college students/mature adults based on their clothing and their attire.

Scriptwriter Lee Shi Eun also made so many incredible changes to the original source material; it's extremely clever that the story has been modified from simply Sol's pursuit to save Seon Jae, into a story about a power couple whose love for each other attempts to overcome time and space.

And of course, director Yoon Jong Ho and Kim Tae Yub put so much thought, time, and care into the details of the drama. There's been some discussion on how different the kiss in Episode 8 is compared to Episode 10, and the behind the scenes clips also show how that was a deliberate directing decision by the production team.

It's shocking that the drama was in a production slump for several years and almost couldn't cast a male lead actor; but instead has become a dark horse for one of the most noteworthy dramas of 2024. The blend of thriller, angst, and hilarious rom-com is so well done, and like everyone else I'll be sitting here waiting eagerly for Mondays and Tuesdays with our Soljae couple!

Hye Yoon has been in other variety shows before, but I'm not sure why her promotion right now hasn't been as extensive as some of her other works. I'm hoping that they can both show up together, but the fact that she isn't on Running Man with Woo Seok despite the fact that she already knows many of the cast members makes me keep my hopes extremely low.

I actually think that Hye Yoon was referring to the wave of popularity that Woo Seok received as Ryu Si Oh in Strong Woman Nam Soon! I think he was already gaining quite a lot of attention through Record of Youth, SWNS, and 20th Century Girl, although I completely agree with others that Lovely Runner really catapulted his popularity this year.

From looking at their other interactions, honestly Woo Seok is extremely considerate with all of his female costars, and he's well known for being called someone very kind and attentive to others by many of his other friends in the industry. But my delusional self of course just loves seeing the Soljae couple together and can't help watching all of the BTS clips with eagle eyes!

From my understanding, Artist Company (which Hye Yoon signed on to in April 2024) is the agency that used to be co-owned by Lee Jung Jae and Jung Woo Sung, but it was then bought over by a visual effects studio (I believe none of the actors are directly involved in CEO/managerial positions anymore although they may hold some form of ownership in the company). Oddly enough they only have Instagram highlights for these two actors, they don't even seem to be really promoting their other roster of talent as well. I'm not sure why she decided to sign with them especially as AC doesn't really seem to be actively on social media (and Hye Yoon herself is pretty private and rarely posts on social media).

Conversely, I think Woo Seok's Varo Entertainment has been doing an absolutely fantastic job at riding the wave of his popularity (especially even announcing a first Asia fanmeeting, as well as showing up on Hong Seok Cheon's Youtube show, Running Man, You Quiz on the Block, etc.) which may make Hye Yoon's lack of appearances and promotions seem sparse compared to his. I will say there were some BTS clips where Hye Yoon did want to be careful about her interactions with Woo Seok (especially with his growing popularity, and understandably, his growing fanbase) and that could also be a reason that she may have turned down/was not interested in joining him on variety shows (when usually both actors of popularity shows show up together).

As someone who absolutely loved the original novel, I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one, and I think it's because of how high my expectations were.

One major change is that in the original novel, there was a lot of tension before the moment that Sheng Sheng and Qing Cheng meet in person together — there's a bit of time where you always feel like they're so close to knowing each other, yet they just miss crossing paths, and a sense of excitement and anticipation over their first encounter. I was quite surprised that their first meeting in the drama is in episode 4 of a relatively longer-length contemporary romance drama, and I wish they had stretched out a bit more of this tension instead of reserving so much time for the side couples and other partners.

Tan Jianci is a fantastic actor, and is someone who has been in the entertainment industry for over a decade before finding mainstream success. Surprisingly, however, I found his performance as Qing Cheng to be much warmer than the character in the original novel — he's actually quite sweet to all of his friends and his peers around him, but in the novel he's much more introverted and generally speaking quite cold to everyone other than Sheng Sheng. However, I also think in some ways he was also well-casted because of his experience as a vocalist (I wish Zhou Ye had also sung her parts as well), and I think he did a great job changing his normally higher speaking pitch to a huskier tone for the drama. I still have a lot of mixed feelings about some of the characterizations, and really wish that more focus could have been on song lyrics as they were such an important part of the original novel, but also understand that this may have been done to revise the show to fit a 33 episode series.

I also wish there were many more scenes of the characters actively voice acting scripts, even though I recognize there are likely time and budget restrictions around this. There was a lot of opportunity to really play around with the cast and their skills here, and I wish that instead of focusing on side characters there was more time devoted to the industry and experiences being voice actors. Of course, the original novel also didn't have this — it's a purely fluffy novel and doesn't delve at all into any angsty topics or issues about personal struggles. However, after some of the work Mo Bao Fei Bao did editing the script for Go Go Squid to further flesh out some of the characters, I wish this one had some of the same treatment.

Alright, for those who are watching, can someone give any suggestions or expectations that one should have before watching this, with as little spoilers as possible? I've kind of read bits and pieces of the novel and even though it is a happy ending, there is a LOT of angst (ML & FL kind of torture each other emotionally and lots of miscommunication everywhere). Is this a sweeter, fluffy drama, or is it one where we're going to need lots of tissues?

It's really great! A lot of people were turned off by the series initially because it basically deals with local politics, but it's actually a very sweet and healthy romcom, and the politics is pretty easy to follow/not complicated. He basically plays the complete opposite character in Into the Ring, and the FL and ML in that drama have one of the healthiest and realistic romances ever! I definitely recommend it!

I'm a huge fan of Park Sunghoon, and it really shows how amazing of an actor he is and how much range he has through his works. You can hate him to death here because of his arrogance, narcissism, and sheer disregard for the people around him; he does an amazing job at making Jaejoon selfish and insufferable. And then you watch Into the Ring (2020) where he plays the main love interest who is extremely introverted, does things by the book, and absolutely hates drawing attention. It's like whiplash seeing these two different characters, and they really did an amazing job selecting all of the characters for this show.

I need a really honest opinion about the change between Jung Somin and Go Yoon Jung; although I know that this debate has already occurred countless times, is the transition between both FLs seamless, and how do people feel overall about the switch in actresses? From what I've tried to read without spoilers, it seems like they've almost ended up with completely different personalities? I stopped midway through the first season after hearing that they were no longer going to recast Jung Somin since I've never watched a drama where they've changed FLs in this middle, and although we all know this is Naksu, it is visually jarring to see this transition. Would love to hear if the drama is still enjoyable despite the change in FL, and if the change logically makes sense for the series!

I agree with your thoughts; I generally prefer romance works written by women authors, especially because sometimes male authors have certain writing tropes (e.g. on women's anatomy, on experiences of women's issues, on treatment of sexuality and consent, etc.) that can be jarring to read. However, Wang Xiongcheng has done an amazing job at really delving into the emotional bonds, lapses, disagreements, and conflicts amongst people. He really lives to flesh out his characters; particularly by showing how they are multi-faceted and complex, and both align to and subvert certain tropes in characterizations at the same time (e.g. your comments on Zhao Xi's role as a CEO). I think he's excellent at drawing attention to nuances and feelings in his scripts, and while not all of his dramas have been a hit or up to my own personal tastes, I love how he incorporates poignant social issues in his work while folding them into the personal lives and experiences of his characters.

I agree; it's really the element that made me give the show a higher rating than I would have, had the drama not shown this romance!

I actually had a really, really difficult time rating this drama precisely because of this issue. If you (1) dislike extreme slow burns, (2) are not convinced at all of the chemistry between the main characters, and (3) want an action-packed mystery with some crime, this drama will be ranked very low. The plot definitely has a lot of issues, and I think the writing could have really been tightened given all of the interesting build up they had at the start of the drama (which started to struggle during the latter half of the series). There are also some elements that could have been used to create more narrative tension; it would be so delicious for example had ML and Xu Youning been twins/have the same appearance, etc. Not sure why they didn't take the mystery even further and extend the angst, given how the number of episodes (38) is relatively solid to work with.

I would honestly only recommend this if you like seeing Cai Wenjing and Peng Guanying together, and also if you are prepared for the fact that this drama (despite being a mystery with crime elements) moves on at a snail's pace. If not, however, it would be best to drop this one because I agree with you on your comments about the writing issues.

I would consider it to be a very adult romance, with older characters, a very slow-burn romance where they are attracted to each other but distrust each other, and also an ML who has a villain/"bad guy" dynamic where you know he is lying about his identity to her. In some ways it is a dark romance; in real life this would be a huge lawsuit and a total betrayal of people's feelings; however in the drama because of the way it's filmed you realize just how much the main characters love each other. I admit that I am generally someone who leans towards fluffy light-hearted romances, and honestly I think this drama definitely can be categorized as a romance one (at least far more than a crime one).

It was exciting and wonderful to be able to watch this with all of our fellow commenters! I know that this was an underrated watch; but it was a delightful surprise and I had so much fun chatting about theories, the chemistry between our leads, and always being kept waiting to discover what would happen to our main couple!

As I mentioned in my review, honestly the actual plot, the crimes, how they were staged, etc. is a bit lacking. I think the motivations of the criminals and their goals were underdeveloped, and I felt Xu Youning's character was (ironically) underused even though the whole story surrounds his death. However, I also mentioned that I find it difficult to categorize this as a crime drama. Yes, the business aspects and financial crimes are the overarching story and what compels our leads to get together, but honestly this is a story about the female lead and the male lead; about how Ruan Zhenzhen goes stronger and moves on from the death of her husband, about their amazing chemistry and how they come to love each other through their experiences. Also, there are some things that are unclear about the relationships between people (specifically ML's old profession and history, etc.) that are glossed over a bit despite their importance. Whether this is because of subtitling or just the writing itself I'm unsure, but this is not a drama that features a masterpiece of human strategy or psychological manipulation; the legal cases and the way our characters handled things really requires some suspension of disbelief.

I also think this is in some ways a love letter to The Confidence; given the fact that our leads there did not (and probably should not) have a relationship in that drama, in a way this drama seems like an alternate universe, another version of their love story. I'm glad that we eventually found our happy ending for our leads, and I really can't think of anyone else other than Cai Wenjing and Peng Guanying to be the main actors. Both of them did an amazing job portraying their characters, and I stand by Peng Guanying's performance as hitting a lot of the villainous male lead tropes that I really enjoy.

As for the ending, I mentioned before I am satisfied regardless of whether it's a happy one or a sad one. I'm pleased to say both of them find their happiness; although I admit that I wish we had a couple extra scenes of their domestic life together and how they rebuild from this experience. Those scenes where they were living, eating, and sleeping in the same house together warmed my heart deeply; knowing that they have each other for refuge in the midst of their troubling pasts is one of the most memorable aspects of the drama.

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful comment section; it's been lovely watching this drama together and cheering for our Zhenzhen and our male lead during this time. Until the next amazing show that captivates our attention ~

I love how the show actually plays with the viewer's emotions. It leaves us some information, and then it completely twists our belief in that information in the next episode. Who do we trust? Can we even trust Ruan Zhenzhen? Can we trust Guo Jun? It's so wonderful how the drama complicates our theories and what we think about the leads. The only thing I think all of us agree on is the amazing chemistry between our characters, which has kept me hooked on every episode!

I like too that he definitely looks older; I think what I enjoy about this drama a lot is a focus on adults who are BOTH in their late 30s, who go through different life experiences, career changes, are developed in their relationships. It's really refreshing especially given the predominant focus on actors in their late teens and 20s instead (again, nothing wrong with this too, but just that it's very nice to see a drama that focuses on a different type of couple dynamic).