Kate

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟕 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Seo Joon be like: I heard half of your conversation, I made my own theories what happened in the 2nd half, goodbye.
Me be like: oof ma dude. you are 🤡 yourself now.

Here's the thing. Even if they won't end up together, I don't think it will have a tragic ending, or at least it won't feel like it. Couples break up and that's close to never the end of the world, even if it might feel like it at first.

I honestly get Ji Woo. At some point it must have felt like he was living for Seo Joon, like he was not Ji Woo, he was just Seo Joon's boyfriend. All his life has been completely changed because of that relationship. He was staying late to meet Seo Joon for an hour, he gave up "normal" structured life he was so used to. At the same time, even tho he knew Seo Joon was doing his best to spend as much time with him as he can, it was never enough, coz how could it have been? One or two hours? With him going to sleep for a little bit because he is tired? So he felt guilt with how much Seo Joon was scarifying to see him, at the same time feeling like it's not enough and he wants/needs more, AND feeling like he becomes Seo Joon's shadow. Such a conflicting emotions could drive anyone mad.

I love the addition of the new characters. People have other people in their lives than just their romantic partners. I would hate if this show was bullshit like them just being locked in their house acting all cute. For me adding more characters, be it female or male is a good thing. It adds depth and layers to the main characters. They interact different with different people, we learn more about them thanks to these conversation. They say things they would not say to each other, that are important to understand their inner struggles and thoughts.

I LOVE Da Kyeong. The way she defended Ji Woo and her whole speech. Especially this line "We, young people, have our own weight that we struggle to carry.". I love her. She was always supportive, she seemed like a good friend, she cares for people around her.

Yoooo the editing of that fake village cooking restaurant show makes me want to watch it lol

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟖 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

I feel Ji Woo so bad. I'm not one to talk or show when I'm hurt or sad. I either pretend it's nothing or laugh it off, but when shit piles up, anything can set you off. Dude tried to be strong, and now it's just all crumbles down.

Also DAMN the scene with the phone. Him going through all the unread messages was him finally confronting the consequences of his decision, of him running away in the first place and shit slapped him across the face bad.

How much I love this season 😭 How much I love how mundane the break up was in terms of reason. It was not some external shit that broke them up, it was Ji Woo inner struggle. People break up even tho they love each other a lot. Just loving each other is in most cases not enough.

Military is such a scary and awful place. The issue with mandatory service (I understand that for Korean it's greatly needed with North Korea there) is the fact NOT everyone should be in the military. You need to have a specific set of personality treats to 1. Survive without any major mental issues, 2. Not become a psycho with little regards to human rights.

And it's not even about being "mentally weak", there's more into it. For example I have a strong sense of personal morality, so for me the idea of "following orders no matter what because the person above me knows better" is just something I could not take long term. For someone who analyses situations and social issues, I know there are bad people in positions of power, so I would not be able to blindly follow instructions of someone simply coz they over-rank me.

I think D.P. shows quite well how psychologically devastating the military service can be for someone who does not posses the needed traits and motivations to be there...

Great review! 🥰

it’s somehow predictable but overall, the drama is entertaining < I feel like it's the case with many shows. As long as the predictable story is well presented, it can easily be entertaining. Easy to follow plot makes it easier to appreciate other aspects of the action genre like fighting scenes, training montage that shows the growth of the hero, the relations between the characters. Realistically speaking, most people don't watch action movies/shows for the plot, but for the action 🤣

it will punch you in the stomach without any pity for 10 hours straight. < spot on description.

About the cases not being on the same "level" of the shock value and intensity - I do think it's a good thing. This makes the drama more realistic, and not just over the top caricature of the justice system and the topic :)

"Juvenile Justice" 's production, as far as the directing is concerned, isn't one of Netflix's top-notch and artistic ones, but still, it's great and gives the drama the right tone and atmosphere, making the drama very decent and beautiful. < this again I feel like it's a good thing. The fact it's more low-key in terms of "aesthetic" shots. Personally I dislike when a show with such a serious topic is shot in a highly aesthetically pleasing way - I feel like the visuals might be distracting from the plot in these cases. As you said, this one was not over the top, but still well balanced and shot is a good way 😊

Truly a great review that describes all the important aspect of the show 🥰

Fatty and Emo Magic Boi as just a duo were fun too 🤣

Objectively speaking, it's hardly a review, more like an opinion piece 🤣

Dude just went after the one what in his eyes has the biggest chance to win, but still playing it safe until it's a done deal. That's why he was "working with QD", but the moment Gye Won presented him an idea of removing her prom position, he took it, since he knew Gye Won will win one way or another. Motivation wise, value wise - he picked no sides. He did not react to the "bad things happening" long enough until it was obvious who will win, and only then he joined the winning side. So he was both neutral for a long period of time, and opportunistic close to the finish line.
Kind of like US in the history 🤣

I appreciate how the show twisted the typical plotlines and how, truth to be told, there was no hero in this show. Which is a bold move, since then the audience has not make their own choices on who to root for, and many audience member will not take the time to analyze the scenerio enough to make that judgement.

The whole Gye Won's family was the best thing that happened to this drama. I loved the 3 of them so much.

The drama favors dramatic reveals < this, at first when they used it for the first time I was fine. It was not a big, long term plot line, just one episode for Yoo Jung deciding to stay in the palace. But all the rest "reveals" were a complete miss to me, especially the "Lee Tae is not in a coma and is the mastermind behind it all".

Truly a great review! 🥰

thank god you did not read it 🤣
I was actually excited to see Lee Joon too lol
but then I was not as excited coz... I did not exactly like his character hahaha

That ending tho 🤣
Lee Tae having the out of ass change of heart was just painful to watch

Guys, hide your comments under spoiler if you talk about the ending.
People who have not seen the show yet also check the comment section.

I just had a lot of thoughts hahahaha
I think the essay reactions I did after every episode added to me wanting to just combine it into a one piece.

I honestly feel Park Gye Won shares a more convincing adversarial dynamic and partnership chemistry with the FL, when they aren’t even a couple, and also in his relationships with both the Queen Dowager Choi and his own wife. < this! Honestly speaking, in terms of dynamics Yoo Jung and Lee Tae were just boring and bland...

What can I say, you always deliver amazing reviews! :)

Wait, you read it before watching? NOOO hahahaha
It would be far more fun to form your own theories and speculate about the characters motivations etc

I honestly don't think they took enough time to figure out what the king character is even suppose to be...

Not sure. i think lee tae and gye won might die, and we get a time jump or something with lee tae's son being the benevolent king, since Yoo Jung raised him to be one...

He has a victim mentality, so he is able to justify any actions he takes for himself. His goal is power. That's it. He has no real plans on how to use it when he achieves it. Now that he has technically the most power in the court and he did achieve what he wanted (strengthen the royal power), his next goal is what? More power. His sole purpose is the gain unlimited, absolute power. Yoo Jung said it right - the moment Sarim starts to threaten his power, he will side with others to eliminate them. He will always just remove people who disagree with him, as even people who want to advice him for a good cause, but are even slightly against his personal ideas, he sees as a serious threat.

xinya explained it well. The confusion for you seems to come from the idea Gye Won's priority is Queen Dowager, because he loves her, when his priority was and will always be the country. What he gains is Lee Tae will be unable to kill Queen Dowager, which is seen as one of the greatest sins that will lead country to ruin (so protecting the county) and will allow Yoo Jung to have more power in influence in the court as she is the daughter of the late leader of Sarmin, which will make it easier for her to control Lee Tae (again, the goal is protecting the country).

I've been doing some thinking and I feel like Lee Tae and Yoo Jung (both as a couple and individuals) are an idealistic version to Gye Won and Queen Dowager, who are more "realistic" in the presentation.

Yoo Jung and Gye Won are quite alike. For both of them their primary motivation is the people/country. Yoo Jung is more idealistic as in she still thinks all things can be solved by negotiation, but that's because she never came across someone she thought to be completely gone. On the other hand Gye Won did - the tyrant king - he was in fact someone impossible to negotiate, as any signs of defiance were met with execution. That's why, even tho Yoo Jung sees Gye Won is not completely wrong in him trying to keep the royal power in check, she cannot trust him, because he did in fact commit acts she cannot see herself doing.

What's more - both know when to stop and put their personal feelings aside. Gye Won was willing to support Yoo Jung the moment she showed she is worthy of ruling (by caring about her people more than herself), he stopped fighting against her, but rather worked with her, negotiating moves and allowing her to make decisions for herself. Later he was willing to retire and allow Lee Tae to slowly gain more royal power as he rules the country with Yoo Jung as his queen. Yoo Jung was willing to give up her revenge if it meant saving her people. Countless times she put her own needs aside.

Then we have Lee Tae and Queen Dowager. Again, same egocentric motivations. Lee Tae wants unlimited power for himself with no care if in the process innocent people die or the country will be in danger (and don't even try to tell me he does care coz he protected Yoo Jung people. The only reason he did was because they were her people, and he knew if they died because of his ploy it would be it for their relationship. He did not care about anyone who was no directly related to her), Queen Dowager wanted Gye Won's love, she wanted him to put her as his priority, before his family and the country he serves. She was willing to kill innocent and put the country in danger just to serve he personal revenge.

And then the romances. Both Lee Tae and Queen Dowager were willing to tweak their plans to protect their loved ones. But the moment they truly started to become threat to their plans, they did tell them they will also be their enemies and be eliminated.

Then both Yoo Jung and Gye Won tried to reason with their lovers, tried to explain to them how their actions are wrong, but the moment they saw how Lee Tae's and Queen Dowager's actions are crossing the line, they did decide to stop them. And again, Yoo Jung went more idealistic way - she still hoped that she can change Lee Tae, as she saw the good sides of him. Her plan of stopping Lee Tae was focused on slightly limiting his power at that given moment, to give her more time to reason with him. While Gye Won went more realistic - Queen Dowager is fixated on her plan, she will never stop, she is too far gone. The only way of stopping her is striping her of all the power she has.

I love him too, but it makes sense for him to die by the end. I just hope he will achieve his goal by scarifying his life, and he will get that noble king he wished for to rule the country.