Yuri Hana

It was a pretty satisfactory enough ending, wrapped up the characters arcs very nice. Maybe the time jump was a bit surprising but hey, at least it's not only 10 mins of happiness in the last episode. The final episode is like an epilogue dedicated to all the characters going on their own paths.

Aww thanks! Makes typing all that worth it lmao though I do like to imagine an alternate universe where FL was just a lawyer who thought he was a spoiled brat idol and she just defended him for fame/money! probably would take an even longer time for them to like each other though. then again we already have that enemies to lovers storyline with So I Married the Anti-fan (which was pretty good!)

That's too bad! I was a tad bored during ep 4 until the last 20 minutes coz it seemed like he was finally catching feelings lol

He was annoying for like 4 eps, is that most of the show? he becomes so much more likable from ep 5 onwards no?

unless ur talking abt the time he was upset at her lying. and even then it only lasted one episode. I was glad it didn't last long BUT now that the show is over, I realize the only visible yearning was in episode 7 when they were separated. the yearning after they got together happened off-screen during the 1 year time skip which was disappointing.


Personally I won't say it shouldn't be watched as a romance. This show I think is for people who usually love romance as a subplot or subtle like me. Not overly romantic to the point it gets cringe or overly sweet. Where they kiss again for the umpth time. Scenes where they actually try to get to know each other like him suddenly curious about her becoz she never talks about herself, asking her hobbies or going to his school for a nostalgia trip coz she doesnt know him beyond what he presented to the media, felt very real. That's how most people bond. In such a simple way.

It gets to a point that you wonder if their romance doesn't happen, like a will they won't they. Even though kdramas once it tagged as romance, the couple is usually endgame. But these two had that jdrama subtle romance feels (where the couple is left on an open ending). Even with the heavier romance from ep 10, you also kinda wonder if they won't last (coz ethics, and they both have their issues, Sena's retrial and him overcoming the murder charge and the aftermath).

So yeah it's not romance of the century! But I think the buildup was simply heartwarming enough to be believable despite the unbelievable circumstances of murder.

I would have preferred she was anti-fan so it's enemies to lovers but I think what warms me about this drama is that, even though she likes him, it was in a parasocial way. because her fantasy was shattered seeing him curse and lose his temper, when he had always put on this angel persona (he even said he would never date to his fans rip). she didn't like him for the REAL him.

she had no greed to get close to him at all. I thought it was admirable that she only wants to love him from afar. she even said she was even happier that way in ep 4. hence why I dont believe she liked the guy romantically and was just hoping he would return her feelings.

she helped him in a lot of ways sincerely without expecting anything in return. now, if she were a fan and helped purely because she wants to defend her bias against all costs with hopes she could get close to him, then she would have had so many ulterior motives and made her love beyond pathetic. but she defended him purely because she believes in the human do raik and the investigation clearly was sloppy (plus his bad acting).

And the result of that sincerity is the ML falling for her because all he ever wanted was someone who could see him for who he truly was. He was burdened becoz he kept lying to the world abt himself, worried that ppl refused to see anything beyond what he presented. And when FL was honest that, it wasn't so much that she believed in him, it was that she believed in herself who believed in him. I think that honesty showed her sincerity. Coz who would trust someone they barely knew right?

And while I would have loved them being complete strangers to each other, this show's main message had always been the relationship between idol and fan (the good and the bad). so many fans have gained strength from music, during their lowest time. realistically, most people become fans during their teenage years, when they develop love for music outside of their parents preferences. so even tho I also hate the childhood connection trope, I think it works in this drama. 1. because they didn't just randomly meet by "fate" and liked each other becoz they once shared the same popsicle or sth. he saw her by chance and CHOSE to follow her. and they didn't meet again "by fate" after so many years pining for each other from memory only. She saw news of his debut and followed his career. which is how most fans follow their faves. there's agency in that, not just the script forced them together and it was a "coincidence/fate"

I mean if it was about the relationship of two people, one who's an idol and one who was just a lawyer, I don't think the show would be called "Idol I." It wouldn't hit the same if she just met him, and she never knew him as an idol, and started liking him for who he truly was. The growth for the FL seeing him as just a fantasy idol to just human was kind of admirable to watch. Especially initially once she let go of the idol image, she saw ML as two separate beings. It makes you understand why she was mostly calm the entire time her idol was at her house.

Then he said he liked her, so she was understandably confused. because she had separated the two this whole time, and never let herself be delusional into thinking she could be his love interest.

Basically, her restraint is the reason why this couple doesn't seem pathetic, cringe and unrealistic. She's just being her sincere self and that made him fall for her, which felt very rewarding (to me) as a viewer.

I thought ep 4 was a tad slow too until the last 20 minutes. he's trusted her completely after finding her note that she believes he's definitely not the culprit. and they finally start to have nice bonding moments in ep 5. his character growth has been the best in the show looking at the finale comparing to when he first showed up

Idol I also climbed back to #9 on Netflix Global ranking (Non-English) with 800,000 views! I'm glad it managed to climb back on it's last week airing. 4 weeks in the top 10 is not too bad.

need a season 2! This time Sena starts getting a girl crush on an actress/idol and has to defend her! I think defending a woman would be even harder. Even though Raik was charged for murder, I think he still had a lot of shooters in the beginning, even if they were quiet. But a female actor-dol? The witch hunt would be INTENSE.

And she's also working on her dad's retrial too! Loving support from Raik who said he's gonna always be there for her from now on. And besides his role supporting Sena, him navigating being CEO to his own company and leader for his now trio boy band. More dark side of the idol industry. Him almost getting caught up with shady things, things higher ups of entertainment companies inevitably face. His gf is a lawyer though, no way he can do anything shady. But his company is also growing with junior artists under him. Something like that?

The time between his friends murder 25.5.2025 and his 2nd indictment 24.6.2025 in episode 10 was just a month. Do YOU get over your best friends' death from murder that fast?

Agreed! Story-wise is very simple (and maybe mid) but the acting and likability of the characters is so high, it's enough for me to enjoy this drama lol

Are you here almost everyday to tell people it's boring? I've seen your boring comments from days ago too. You can move on from this page now if there's nothing new to discuss.

Personally I came for the murder mystery defending idol premise, then stayed for the blossoming romance I thought would be hard to believe happening given the circumstances! Slow burn was so good imo, I felt like it needed another 2 episodes for more yearning lol like I wished the ML came back to the FL because he missed her, not because of Jaehee's accident. He was so close to just coming back because he missed her. And I wanted the FL to take more time thinking about her feelings actually lol but it did well for 12 episodes.

Usually couples get boring after they get together but maybe because these two got together a bit late, only ep 10 and 12 were fully dedicated to mutual romance so they never felt boring, rather they made me crave them more lmao

I think the fangirling later became more subdued because the FL was starting to see him as just a guy, rather than an idol to be worshipped, which was necessary for her growth. But even so, the fangirling was the fun part of her character and I noticed she was kinda losing herself. Like she didn't smile as much, because she had to focus on her job almost full time since hiding her identity from the ML.

I thought maybe she should find a different hobby after the MLs case is settled.

So I was happy that just because she became his gf, she didn't have to let go of fandom culture because she was truly happy as a fangirl. And this time, knowing the real him and still loving him, instead of the angel persona she had believed in.

Usually I prefer my romance subtle so the leads delivered REALLY well in that, then slowly I realized their chemistry was so much better than I imagined and then I'm left being greedy for more romantic scenes!

I personally felt the spark and tension! I'm usually an enemies to lovers fan, so it was refreshing to (eventually) feel romantic chemistry from these two leads that sort of started with a friendship beyond lawyer/client. They definitely grew on me. I wonder if it's becoz the actors themselves said they purposely didn't get too close in order to get in character. But I definitely felt the chemistry after episode 4. That could be when the actors eventually got close.

I think it's just because their romance started off very subtle, that you can easily say it's platonic. Scenes where they were physically attracted to each other weren't as many as where they bonded and comforted each other emotionally.

But call me crazy, their behind the scenes had way more spark. Which would be wrong because the lead actress is in a public relationship for 14 years. Idk it could be that Kim Jae-young really sells the acting where he's in love with her.

The characters are supposed to be the same age BUT Sena was born in February and Raik was born in September. So she is older technically.

And even though in real life, Kim Jaeyoung is older by 2 years, if you watch their interviews, Sooyoung does sort of treat him as if she's the older sister in their friendship. Maybe their real life dynamic blended into the characters a bit. Doesn't help that Raik is intentionally an immature ML (Idol Ai can also be translated as Idol Child) mostly due to his idol upbringing, most idols seem childish, being used to everyone else handling things for them. Meanwhile Sena didnt have anyone after her parents died, just Chungjae so she was forced to mature early.

I don't usually like noona romance but these two sold it for me, despite technically not being one lol but that's just my opinion.

For me, I came for the mystery, but as soon as I figured out the murder mystery seemed more like a subplot (after episode 4) I began to appreciate the developing relationship more and stayed for that. You're right the investigation was lacking though. Seems like "mystery" is the bigger genre. Not so much murder mystery, but mysteries related to all the characters that could have been involved the murder.

If he gives you SML vibes, then that could be why I like him. I tend to get 2nd ML syndrome lol. Maybe it's coz of his puppy-like aura towards the end? Prosecutor Kwak could have been the cold ML that was changed or saved by love or sth lol

I agree with everything you said except for the killer. She was always one of the suspects, and we were purposely made to believe she wasn't related to the case because Raik asked Sena to keep his ex away from it, coz he wanted to protect her. And so after Sena threatened the prosecutor not to interrogate Hyejoo anymore becoz they had no solid evidence she was related, yet they interrogated her for over 6 hours, the prosecution/police didn't look into her anymore.

I did suspect her coz she may have had motive (she literally almost ran him over that night) but thinking logically, I thought it wouldn't be possible for her to kill Woosung with how small she was, also the way he was killed was apparently so precise, as if someone very skilled was hired to do it. And they said there was no struggle! But in the reveal there actually was! That's what annoyed me the most.

Tbh I thought the investigation wasnt take seriously becoz the prosecution was just too caught up with trying to find evidence that Raik is the killer instead of the actual truth (at least that's what I tell myself to be less annoyed lol). The earring should have been mentioned during the initial investigation. I hoped that they mention the investigation was purposely done poorly by Hyejoo's dad coz corruption and all, that would have been acceptable than just purely incompetent fools that failed to do their job.

I don't think the story about the contract was a waste of time tho, even tho it seemed like it was just a red herring to blame it on the CEO, but it also breathed life into Woosung's character despite dying in the 1st ep so we actually (or I actually) cared about him. Plus, the contract story was also a decent mini mystery plotline to make us wanna find out more about the victim AND sheds a bit more on the kind of things idols go through. At first I thought the awareness of idol struggles seemed limited to the first episode, with the sasaengs and whatnot, but turns out idol struggles really was a theme that spread out over the course of the story, not just ep 1, 2, and 5 like I initially thought. Stories about renewing contracts and stuff, I found interesting probably coz I'm an idol fan sooo

I don't think the mom was let off easily, I just take it as it was Raik's probable final attempt at giving his mom a chance to be better for the one good thing his mom did. We're shown she seemed a bit remorseful but other than that, it didn't seem like she came to the concert. So it's not like she was actually redeemed.

I think this show was never meant to be some kind of revenge or justice story (if it was, we would have gotten details abt Sena's father and watching the downfall of Prosecutor Kwak's dad, Raik's mom...but we only got it for Hyejoo and even then, she didn't end up in jail, just a mental hospital). The theme seemed to be healing all along, and it seemed like all the characters (except for Hyejoo) got their form of healing and closure which was nice to see.

Disagree, the ML really looked like a veteran idol. You do know most veteran idols are nearing their 40s right?

Agree that CSY deserved a better script, but she was great with what she was given.

I get you're a Kim Jaeyeong fan, but you don't need to be so harsh on CSY. Really ruins the experience for new fans like me who want to watch more of his projects.