tsutsuloo

I'm loving VINCENZO too. I'm a huge fan of the director Kim Hee-won. I most recently enjoyed her directing for CROWNED CLOWN (2019) and MONEY FLOWER (2017-2018). Coincidentally, she directed 2014's FATED TO LOVE YOU, penned by *this* show's writer. (She's on a upward trajectory; writer-nim, not so much.)

I'll tolerate a lot if I like a particular story arc. But I really hate getting trolled by trailers. Last week's trailer for Ep. 7 was quite misleading. Moves like that feel cheap and will likely to anger the few fans still watching this show.

I've wondered if I'm missing something culturally relevant about the dynamics and joys of "it's raining MEN!!!" It seems endemic to k-dramas and feels very "soapy" to me.

Writer-nim's last drama was 2020's LONELY ENOUGH TO LOVE. You couldn't pay me to watch this but it looks like a 2-men-1-woman cohabitation scenario. Does dramaland have actor quotas where they've got to cast a minimum number of leads?

@jjonghaos — Agreed. It's absolutely possible to like or even two or people at the same time. There's no denying the deep (until now non-sexual) love and trust Joo-in has towards her best friend. And I absolutely feel the growing affection for the new man in her life.

I respectfully disagree with viewers who feel she's doing wrong by either men. She's her own peson, she hasn't broken any oaths nor is she in actual romantic relationships with either men. What she IS doing is being frank about liking them both—and she does this fairly quickly.

I respect Joo-in for initially telling Bi-soo that she needed time to consider her feelings. What I find so tiresome is the ramped up pressure from both men pettily competing for her affections. I laughed at Bi-soo's couch trick (what a dork) but I'm also SO over the juggling-multiple-lovers trope that kdramas love to shove down our throats. We don't need it!

That said, the mothers' entwined story line is beautiful and I'm all in for them.

Okay, this had me cackling. I initially gave OH! MY LORD credit for gently subverting tropes but Ep. 7 (and the Ep. 8 trailer) had me slapping my forehead.

Yes, let's add a SFL but give her prosopagnosia (face blindness) or mysophobia (fear of germs).

After surviving the TOD (Ep. 1, 16:21), Bi-soo saw and heard a man dressed in white. That figure later appeared in the lobby at work warning him to make the most of of his limited time (Ep. 2, 15:14). Hasn't appeared again up to this point (Ep. 6).

You've sold me and I moved BIRTHCARE CENTER from "plan to watch" list to "watch now!" I didn't realize Jang Hye Jin (PARASITE) was in it and Uhm Ji Won was hilarious in SPRING TURNS TO SPRING too. Being only 8 episodes is very appealing too. Thank you for this excellent write-up!

@Kay—Excellent recommendation. (I'm a lifelong supporter of PBS too.)

I had a similar experience when I was in 7th grade. Was riding in the car with my mother when she started singing along to a synthpop song, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" sung by Naked Eyes. "How the heck do YOU know this song?!" I asked. Turns out it was a cover of a song that was popular when she was in her 20s!

Thank you! You've given me two more reasons for me add MING LAN to my watch list. I didn't have the mental bandwidth for it when it aired in 2019. I've heard it's a very compelling FL and a satisfying love story (played by real-life spouses!)

I'm watching on iQIYI, whose translations feel a bit robotic. (What the heck is a "tyre"?)

Also try dramac**l.vc (asterisk = o)? You gotta have all your ad blockers on for that site, though. I recommend uBlock Origin chrome browser extension.

(1) The camera cut at least twice to a kitten hiding under furniture in the room where Wang'er labored. CATS ARE THING. When delivering babies at home, the French obstetrician Michel Odent observed that feline family members were always present in the birthing room. I experienced the same, before we went to the hospital. On the day my son was born, our cat stuck to me like glue several hours before I went into labor.

(2) I commend the film crew for using a live human baby for the childbirth scene. But considering all the efforts put into production value, it was HILARIOUS to see the nanny pull out clean, very large newborn with no umbilical cord. Ha!

I've long been interested in how childbirth is portrayed in film and television. I would be thrilled to see more realism—show women pacing, panting, on their knees, squatting, leaning. Down get me started on the whole lying down thing. But a couple details from Wang'er's childbirth scene are worth noting:

Are you certain the nectar caused the miscarriage? I grimaced when Liu E accepted the stranger’s nectar but it angers me if we’re meant to directly connect that to the pregnancy loss. Blargh! {EDITED after Ep. 37: Oh crap, you were right.]

Knowing the historical Liu E’s childless status doesn’t lessen the pain of our fictionalized Liu E’s suffering. It hurts!

We’ve all grasped the importance of securing male heirs. But PALACE OF DEVOTION is unusual in how it elevates female suffering & resilience within the ever-present cycle of jealousy, pregnancy loss, maternal death and childhood death and … not being male. I didn’t expect such an unflinching look at harem life.

I dropped the show after 3 episodes because I couldn't stand the frenetic editing. But after reading the positive "it gets better after 10 episodes or so" comments below, I randomly dipped into a selection of episodes. HOLY COW. Once they stop chopping up the show, the story flows beautifully.

It's tragic and hella brutal but also FASCINATING in its doggedly unromantic depiction of royal family life. The emperor's Pyrrhic victory in battle (Ep. 18-19) nearly undid me. Alas, I'm not sure I have the emotional will to stick with it but I urge new viewers not to judge the series by the first ten episodes. It's REALLY well put together once the show finds its footing.

@ECOTVsubs—Thank you SO MUCH making the effort to accurately transcribe formal and informal speech! I wish Korean drama translators followed your example. Years ago when I started watching kdramas, I was baffled by captions displaying proper names when characters actually said "noona", "sunbae" and other honorifics.

I did watch the entire series and appreciated how the actors shifted their voices and body language.

I felt Takahashi Issei's portrayal of Ayako extraordinary in how he was slightly more feminine than Ayako was in her own body. Before the first body switch, Ayako moved through her male-dominated world with armor. Once she was trapped in Hidaka's body, she was much more raw and vulnerable. Ayase Haruka as Hidaka-san mastered that creepy smile and contained body language. She didn't even swing her arms when she walked! What was so unexpected (and delightful) was how Hidaka-as-Ayako so relished being in her body.

Thanks again for your hard work!

FORMALITY
At the beginning of the series, Yamaki immediately detected Mochizuki Ayako was suddenly speaking more formally.
• Did Hidaka-as-Ayako continue to speak extra formally to colleagues or did that shift as time passed?
• Given their intimacy, did Hidaka-as-Ayako speak more intimately with Riku?
• By Ep. 9-10, was there any shift in formality between HIdaka and Ayako? I don't think they ever used first names. (In contrast, Riku and Ayako used first names, both when thinking about each other or speaking to each other.)

GENDER
I recall Ayako-as-Hidaka accidentally referring to herself as "watashi," the first-person pronoun "I" normally used only by women. (The 2016 animated film YOUR NAME had a charmingly awkward moment with the girl-in-the-boy's body running through a list of pronouns before landing on the correct "boku.")
• Did Hidaka-as-Ayako ever make the same mistake?

CLOSING SCENE ON THE BRIDGE
In the last line of Ep. 10, are there linguistic clues about who's REALLY speaking the last line?

I don't speak Japanese but I'm aware of the contextual complexities of Japanese pronouns and honorifics. I've got questions about the closing scene and need help from Japanese speakers. See below in spoiler.

I watch that every Christmas! So cute and satisfying, like a Japanese Hallmark. *chef's kiss*

I second the recommendation for Watashi ni Unmei no Koi Nante Arienaitte Omotteta (2016). Viki et al. list it as MY LONG AWAITED LOVE STORY. It's a 90-min. TV Christmas special and very easy (and cute) to watch. He plays a CEO software developer who learns how to romance his office crush (and become a better man) with the help of a female video game character designer played by Tabe Mikako (who's the perfect combination of cute and crabby).

You can guess what happens. Both leads are wonderful at showing those flickering moments of affection. The show is also amusing for its meta commentary on tropes; it unapologetically champions the value of fantasy and romance.