Kate

The story itself was phenomenal, you cannot predict anything < this makes me sad. I think I would loved the show if I did not suspect the dementia from like episode 3. Because of that, the reveal just did not hit me at all, I was ready for it.

I think this is my favorite performance from Nam Joo Hyuk from all the titles I saw him in.

However, it gets to a point where that I think the constant barrage of melodrama honestly detracts from the message, and borders on comical (unintentionally) at times. < exactly. To be honestly there was so much angst, melo and sadness, the closing narration in the last episode just did not do it for me. It felt flat after all that suffering the characters went through.

"the slow pace of life shown reflects the actual message from the series - life is quite mundane and ordinary most days, but we must find the beauty and meaning from it where we can." < really like how you summed it up with this line.

Nam Joo-hyuk did sooooo well in this role. I'm honestly not crazy about him, and the first time I liked his acting and role was in 2521, but after watching this right after, I think he truly aced the role.

"While 12 episodes is short I felt they should have condensed it further to 8 and I would have probably appreciated the story more. " < I have to agree. There were some scenes and plot lines that were either unnecessarily detailed or overall unnecessary. I think the show would flow a little bit better if it was shorter.

"The romance didn't feel fleshed out enough and I struggled to route for the characters." I did not even think about it myself, but now reading it in your review... it make sense and I agree. I get that we observed the romance as just part of the memories she still has mixed with reality she created, but it was not grounded enough. Their romance, be it past, the fantasy she created, or just memories, a big part of her journey, but it seemed really underdeveloped.

did you rate it? Or will you just keep it out of the completed list forever? 🤣

i knew there will be plot twist, predicted what it was on episode 3.
When it was officially revealed in the drama, was extremely disappointed and it just did not have much impact on me 🙃

If you know there will be some kind of plot twist, it's rather easy to see what it is early on.

Listen, I don't trust my judgement. I can turn shit into gold with overanalyzing hahahaha

I see a lot of people saying Da Un was not developed enough, but for me the way they presented his character makes perfect sense in the context of the story.

The same way we are bombarded with information about Si Won, since his personality is more open and he also opens fast to Da Un (episode 2 exactly, when he talks about his insecurities when he is drunk), we only get to know Da Un's thoughts in the last episode with sudden addition of his internal narration - because for him opening up was a slow process, hence the way his character was presented was also a slow process.

sure they play with expectations, but here they were rather clear about the fact these two did not end up together 🤣

Moreso, the writer created an illusion alluding that YJ was still present in HD life < yeah but I'm not buying that. If he was still in Hee Do's life, her daughter would know about him. For me it was more of a symbolism that she hold the memories dear to her heart, bot that he is truly still in her life. Everything went against that idea.

How can people say the drama writers played with viewers and kept the hope for happy ending till the end when from the start we know Hee Do's daughter had Kim surname, she does not know who Yi Jin is and does not recognize him from the photo?

I see your comment twice hahaha it did not disappeared hahaha

Different perspective.

1. There is a difference between being poor and ridiculed by others and seeing massacred dead bodies on daily basis for weeks/months and talking with people who lost their loved and ones family members for hours a day for your work. This is not something anyone could get mentally prepared for. Especially since Yi Jin is extremely empathic person with how he always picks others over his own needs. He got too emotionally invested to what was going on and the pain of others. It makes perfect sense.

2. He did not communicate with Hee Do about his struggles since day one. He was protecting her from all the negativity, taking it on his shoulders. That was also fitting the character. Since there was no positivity in his life when he was in US, he struggled with communicating with Hee Do and keeping in touch since he had nothing he could share with her. He only talked to het when he was able to overcome whatever difficulties he had, he always told her how she helped him with this and that, but it was after he handled whatever was happening. His priority was protecting Hee Do, while her priority was them being partners - no matter the situation.
Him applying to New York relates to his sense of responsibility. He was not sure he will get the job, but he felt the need he has to do it - he felt like he needs to help these people to tell their stories. He acted the same with pervious situations. Just because they were smaller issues, the consequences also were smaller. Here it was a big deal, but it was fitting his character anyway.

3. The issue is - Hee Do wanted a completely opened communication. Yi Jin did not want to share the negative with her. In how intense the situation was at that moment, he could not change in a day, and she was too emotionally exhausted hoping he would change soon. We know he ended up well, they didn't at that moment. He was drinking a lot, had to use meds to sleep and still had nightmares, from how the showed it, he was in simply depressed. It's not like they could stay close to each other and work it out.

4. Can't comment on this one. I just was not impressed with the whole present time line. It was mess, not executed well, barely developed and I did not really like the acting of the adult Hee Do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What i noticed tho - this rather impulsive break up between characters who were struggling and suffering in the relationship for months is seen as too much and making no sense. At the same time when people were making theories leading to happy ending even makjang shit like Hee Do having amnesia from car accident that's why she does not remember Yi Jin well, or Hee Do's daughter being adopted and being a child of Yu Rim who died made perfect sense and people were prising them. From the start the ending was there - Hee Do's daughter had no idea who Yi Jin is. I fail to see how them being together would make sense, unless they met again in the present timeline. If Yi Jin was in Hee Do's life in the present time, her daughter would have known who he is.

Great review, as always.

Personally, I "enjoyed" episode 15 quite a lot, even through the pain it caused. I loved the closing scene and for me, the past story could have ended on that, granted adding the closure for the present time line too. While I'm not mad about the outcome of the last episode, the execution of writing there was just too messy.

I regret not doing that hahaha

How can they make it happen as an end game with Hee Do's daughter from the start having no idea who Yi Jin is? Just that made it clear this is not an end game type of scenerio. There is no logical reason she would not know who he is if they were married and she was their daughter.

Even with the idea of her being adopted after Yu Rim died (one of the more popular theories fans had), she would have seen the photos of Yi Jin, she would have hear stories since Yi Jin was a huge part of Yu Rim's past too. If Yi Jin was in any meaningful way still present in Hee Do's adult life, her daughter would have know him or at least about him.

Chances are when they got married he was not travelling and did not have to do that with work. Maybe as he got promoted etc he started to be away more. She also grew up and became an adult, so she learned how to cope with it better. Hee Do in her 20' is a different person than Hee Do in her 40'.

We don't know the whole context. And it was not just him travelling that they broke up. It was about him not communicating his struggles and pain, him trying to shied her from the negativity and her looking for something else in a relationship at that time of her life.

It was obvious from the beginning that they will not be the end game tho. From Hee Do's daughter not knowing who Yi Jin was, not recognizing him on the photo, to her mother saying she saw Yi Jin not long time ago, as if he met an acquaintance she has not seen for a long time.

They were amazing couple in the past story line and many people desperately wanted them to have a happy ending together, but that does not mean the drama baited or cat-fished for a fairytale ending a happy ending.

People were literally killing off other characters so their theories about the daughter would make sense etc. But there was nothing in the show itself that would lead to that conclusion. It was just what viewers wanted to see, coz they adored the characters together that much.

It's fine to feel sad and disappointed with the outcome, but to say they cat-fished a happy ending is just not true.