wanderee

Some people aren’t ready to let go of the annoying kdrama clichés, and it shows.

Before you start attacking me: EAW is also pretty tropey, but it strayed away from some common tropes.

The clichés:
(1) A painful backstory for the lead
(2) A jealous antagonist who has a sob story
(3) A breakup before the last week
(4) A healthy workplace
(5) Attempting to ship the lead to another country
(6) A lead’s helper betrayal
(7) A parent who chose power over his child and lover
(8) I love you so I’m letting you go
(9) Enemies to lovers
(10) People disapproving the relationship with incoherent reasons
(11) The unsuccessful lead frame up
(12) A sudden sickness
(13) People falling for the bad guy
(14) The lead is a hero who saves the day

The not clichés:
(1) A romantic interest who doesn’t have a traumatic background
(2) A romantic interest who isn’t mean
(3) A boss who isn’t power abusive, greedy, and biased
(4) A second female lead who isn’t an evil love rival
(5) The lead doesn’t always win
(6) The lead sometimes defend the bad or wrong side
(7) The lead isn’t self-righteous
(8) There’s no overly cringey moment to push the attraction of the couple
(9) There isn’t a petty case that involves the lead
(10) There’s no dumb misunderstanding that led to excessive jealousy
(11) The lead wasn’t on the bad side who switched to the good side as the story progressed
… and both lists continue endlessly.

I’m not saying clichés are bad and the others are good. Clichés can work under the right execution, the same goes to the things that went against the clichés. They don’t always work, especially if the execution is forced and dumb. In the drama’s case, some worked and some didn’t. But it’s best on capturing the people’s hearts which paved the way to its huge success.

I once heard someone says that if you would look at the show’s premise, it’s really nothing impressive. It’s just about an unusual attorney who works, and her life outside work. However, it highlights the attorney so well that it doesn’t feel like she’s just a fictional character. It’s seems like she’s a real adorable person who’s acquainted to us.

I think you missed the whole point of the romance since you can't see its essence, especially in the later episodes. What happened migh be a bit forced, but its purpose is clear and very inclined with the story.

I just finished reply 1988 yesterday, and the obvious representation of the romance is just the production's choice. It's not a standard that the writers must always follow. They're allowed to be creative with their works.

See Law School for example, the romance is almost non-existent but it still managed to gather many couple fans.

I personally believe it does have substance starting from ep9.

The show wanted to touch the highly discussed topics about the spectrum. That includes romantic relationships of people with ASD. I think that's the purpose of the romance.

I thought you are talking about the attorneys' logic, my bad. But still, I don't think the client paid for trip, instead the firm sponsored it as Minwoo stated. For a low stake case, it's ridiculous to charge the client an incredibly high price, just because the whole team worked on it. His fee was probably still in the normal Hanbada rate. Besides, the client didn't request that many attorneys, it was solely the decision of the senior attorney. So the client cannot be held responsible for that.

Notice how the CEO discouraged Atty. Jung from going. Because the trip was a waste of money for the firm. Thus, he replied that he would bring more lucrative cases.

Again, the case was very basic, so there's no room for sensitive secrets. The client and the attorneys knew that. If it was a different case, Rami and Hairy wouldn't be allowed to tag along. It worked because they had that kind of case.

Can't they tell that Junho fell for Youngwoo by closely observing her?They are always together working on cases and being in the same office. Also, his eyes are literally glued to her, he was already intrigued from the start. He is able to see her charms through that. Btw that's close proximity, a kdrama trope, but it wasn't excessively used here.

Do they need Junho to catch Youngwoo while tripping in a super slowmo shown in 37 angles? Or do they need Youngwoo to save Junho from going to jail by solving a ridiculous frame up? Yeah things like that...

If that's not their point, then they are people who would frown on neurotypical-neurodiverse relationships irl. Because love actually happens naturally that you wouldn't usually notice it. Bet your friends are dating each other and you're still clueless.

hairy boss knew their boundaries. remember when he was preparing dinner and he told rami to be quiet. they were giving the attorneys enough privacy.

again, the case was pretty straightforward. so they can't be any secrets. atty. jung knew that, otherwise he won't take the case since it was already tricky by itself. is it actually logical that the old man would lie on a 3000won case while spending his money on the expensive commission fee?
the old man's statement could also be easily validated by tracing the route to his jeju house, if he actually passes through the road.

the attorneys weren't crazy to let rami and hairy join their private meetings with their clients. im sure they left the two out.

the trip was actually a vacation disguised as a business trip, intended by atty. jung. he wanted his hoobaes to have a breather, and it was like an apology to his overworked younger self. that's why. he took that many hanbada employees.

a little correction there: the ones that must be confidential are the private talks with the clients and their secrets. so rami and hairy tagging along isn't a violation. since the monks are the opposition not the client. and the visit wasn't a private meeting but a case investigation.

case investigations, if revealed anything favorable, are bound to be public because they're submitted as evidences to the court.

in their case, going to jeju won't reveal anything confidential or unfavorable to the client, because what happened was so simple, there wasn't any mysterious thing that could possibly put the client in a difficult spot.

Thought dumping:

So I heard my mom recommending this to a relative. She described this as an autism representation in the legal world. That hit me.

Ultimately, everything, literally everything, revolves around Youngwoo. All happenings, strange or not, are put there for her growth overall.

Atty. Jung's cancer - Because of his severe sickness, he'd temporarily leave the office. She would have to work under the not-so-kind senior attorney. She'd be in the new and unwelcoming environment. This would contribute to her development career wise. Because the reality is that workplaces aren't usually kind to you.

Angel-poop loveline - Suyeon would knock some sense on Minwoo. That directly affects Youngwoo's professional life. Although I see that as lazy writing.

I'm not defending the show's writing. I also wish that it could have been executed better. Like to discuss other characters' stories, they should have picked relevant cases, and made commentary connections with them. Because it's hard to digest the backstories and side plot lines since they were dropped abruptly and simultaneously.

Exactly!! They aren't long term yet. They were still on honeymoon stage before the breakup, even their status wasn't confirmed. In that relationship stage, it's hard to always be honest with your partner, since you're very conscious of his perception of you. Oftentimes, one would think of the worst ones. Because they still don't completely understand each other.

It's Youngwoo's first relationship and their first major argument. It's normal act immature since they are still testing each other's reasoning and emotional workflow. They are currently finding their middle ground.

Those who are skeptical about the breakup, please read this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/wljzzs/extraordinary_attorney_woo_episode_14/ijvdg32?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

It has some untold thoughts of the characters. :)

But Youngwoo is a logical adult. She knows Junho isn't a thing she can claim whenever she wants to. She loves Junho and acknowledges that he deserves to pursue happiness, even though it's not with her. I think she has been the happiest with him. And it terrifies her that she may not had the same impact on him. Besides, Junho has never told her that he's happy with her, and miserable without her. Everytime Junho professes his love through words (since it's difficult for her to read the intended actions, she mostly rely on words) it's about devotion and struggling while loving her. Nothing was mentioned about his own happiness. Thus, it is understandable he didn't know Junho is really happy with her.

Junho is still a human. He can't be sensible at all times, especially when she broke up with him with no proper explanation and then she suddenly started to talk about work like nothing happened. He still gets swamped by his surging emotions. I also don't want him to baby Youngwoo everytime. Because that's not him being a boyfriend but a care giver.

The way I see it her bluntness has limitations. It's hard for her (or for everyone else) to say something that hurts her the most. Like in ep4, she never mentioned why she resigned. It was difficult for her to say that people always prioritize her disability than her abilities. If not for junho's comfort words she wouldn't be able to talk about it.

Even for normal people It's difficult to say, "I cannot make you happy so I'm letting you go. " She was unable to say this because saying it out loud is like confirming this, a kind of self-destruction. It also implies that she heard his sister which would definitely lead to a fight between siblings. She might not want to wreck his familial bond. With that, I can't blame Youngwoo for keeping silent.

Remember that Youngwoo still has emotions and feelings. Her being frank on other things is only possible because those things are not related to her or she isn't bothered by them. But the issue with Junho is so important to her. It directly affects her emotions and life. She just can't be nonchalant about it, just like others in the same situation.

i think what the commenter wants to say is that junho was secretly dissatisfied with their dates, but he chose to not make an issue over this to make their relationship “smooth sailing”. junho being dissatisfied with their dates and youngwoo pointing out that she also made sacrifices, means they are not on the same page yet. both can’t express their true feelings in uncomfortable situations. like youngwoo can’t reject junho’s invitation of visiting his sister. she clearly wasn’t ready. junho can’t say he was not having fun with their dates. these little issues could lead to some big problems if not immediately resolved. therefore, the breakup is heartbreaking but necessary.

in this alone time, they could think about things. if they are really ready to accept and understand each other’s worlds, preferences, lifestyles and insecurities. this time, their feelings aren’t the deciding factor but their will to go through the coming struggles together. if they’re willing, they would always meet in the middle after every problem they would face. but if they aren’t willing, it’s better to separate since they would eventually destroy one another.

why does wednesday seems so far away??? ;;

this definitely deserves more than 8.1 rating!!

that’s kinda gross. accusing jang gang as a womanizer is unfair. dude was so inlove with dohwa and was obsessed with magic and sorcery. he literally had no time for that.

about the limited skinships, i think daeho is just pretty conservative because it’s still an ancient country. choyeon and danggu are a couple for a while now, but they still haven’t hugged and kissed.

Yes, the writer picked the worst case scenario. But there wouldn’t be a case if the discrimination wasn’t that strong so 🤷‍♀️

I think it’s unfair that ep12 is being called for its feminist propaganda. That’s not even its main themes. Ep12 is about workplace sex discrimination in SKorea. I watched many dramas and there are really common. Some examples are:

My father is strange - the boss gave less work (to the point that he was disregarding her) to the newly pregnant woman. she desperately wanted to prove her worth that she overworked herself that led to her miscarriage.
Forecasting love and weather - the insults on the FL are more harsh about their failed engagement
Once again - male doctors hate nahee just because she’s very competent (okay plus she’s blunt)
Itaewon class - second fl vs ahn bohyun

My point is workplaces in SKorea are more cruel to women with no apparent reason. That’s the message the writer wanted to convey in this episode.

If this ep is really feminist, then atty. ryu should have won the case. But she didn’t. Because as cruel as it is, the policy was still legally binding. Hence, this episode only wanted to spread awareness on clever workplace sex discrimination in SKorea.

Now you would mention the comradeship of the women. This scene was supposed to showcase the difference on working in big and small law firms. Hanbada clients don’t care about their attorneys after their cases are resolved, compared to the friendships that atty. ryu built with her clients. Also, the danger that comes with handling big cases/names.

agreed with you. big mouth and adamas. i watch them 2x speed. they’re entertaining but they can’t catch up with my short attention span. so i watch them 2x speed so that my brain would be forced to focus hahahaha