I've been contemplating a lot on this episode, specifically how well I thought they played Gorya breaking things off with Thyme WITHOUT making it noble idiocy.
She's completely and utterly exhausted physically (all-nighters studying to keep her scholarship and making money to keep her family afloat) mentally (she spent the entire episode reading up on the dead billionaire and trying to figure out what any of it means) and emotionally (she likes Thyme but isn't able to be in a relationship with him; she likes Lita and has to factor in her feelings as well).
So when she breaks things off with him, it is absolutely for herself just as much as it is for Thyme.
Another thing that I really liked about the setup to Gorya breaking things off was how Thyme NEVER talked to her about what was going on. Like I said before, she spent the whole episode trying to figure out what was going on with the dead billionaire, yet Thyme never said a word to her about it. Kavin talked to her. Ren talked to her. But Thyme just brushed her aside with a "be patient" and nothing else.
But the thing is, that's not realistic for anyone.
Gorya scoffs when Thyme mentions "smooth sailing" because she sees how ridiculous a statement it is.
The catalyst for the drama in episode 9 really wasn't Lita's engagement as much as it was the death of some random rich guy. It is inconceivable to Gorya how or why this was affecting everything to such a degree (and, again, Thyme wasn't talking to her about it even a little). So from her perspective, Thyme's world isn't just full of people who treat her like shit, people who treat her family like pawns, and people who will never respect her as a valid person .... it's also full of landmines that look like rocks. How can she trust that there aren't other unknowable dangers to come? She can't. Thyme can't promise there won't be either, and it's naive (and a little unintentionally hurtful and invalidating) for him to act like he can.
So really, she made the right move for herself and I love her for it.
That isn't to say that circumstances won't change, and I'm hella looking forward to when it does, but for the moment she deserves a lot of respect for her efforts and her decisions imo.
I hate that anyone is jumping on Gorya for how she behaved in this episode. The 1% people are freakin' terrifying…
Me too for sure. I can't help but hold a slight flame for Talay (even though I know what's up) because I just relate to him irl and love the idea of him and Gorya doing odd jobs together lolol
I hate that anyone is jumping on Gorya for how she behaved in this episode. The 1% people are freakin' terrifying…
When Gorya tells Thyme, "With Lita, you don't have to struggle." I fully believed that she was talking about herself just as much as about Thyme. To me, it isn't that she's making a Noble Sacrifice and letting him go because there is now someone "more qualified" than her. It's more like she spent the entire episode struggling and just couldn't help but see how much easier it would be if she didn't have the burden of Thyme's feelings for her.
I need to gush about Gorya and Glakao. I'm sure everyone was already taken in by the Glakao/Thyme bromance (<3<3<3) but oh my god I love this sibling dynamic so much.
When Gorya breaks things off with Thyme, Glakao overhears and is heartbroken too, but he also knows how hard it was for his sister to do it. He doesn't lash out at her for hurting Thyme or pushing him away, or anything like that whatsoever. He just is sad. For himself and for his sister and for Thyme. He seems to have an extremely high EQ and it is so nice to watch him be so personally affected but also so empathetic to Gorya's feelings at the same time.
The scene with him and Gorya crying together at the train station is probably my favorite scene of any episode so far. It's so poignant.
You know what’s sad? it’s Thyme trying to fit and understand her world because he love her that much. Even…
Oof unkind take.
Gorya has been working her ass off to make any kind of money for her family to live (she literally pulls an all-nighter studying and working) is taking care of her brother and has put in so so so much emotional labor to make things work with Thyme (hello episode 8).
In comparison to Thyme, who can waltz into a neighborhood by buying a house, who is beloved by Goryas family, etc. the contrast is stark.
Gorya has put in so much work and all she can see is more exhaustion and confusion and hurt.
Hi! As a new viewer and first time watching the adaptation of this Manga, I am curious on the changes frm the…
A thought about Mira and story changes:
In the Japanese version, the reason the FL gets angry enough to attack the ML is that he has taken her fancy lunchbox (lovingly packed with barely-affordable food by her parents) and has demeaned the intentions behind it.
This scene is mirrored in F4T with Gorya's shoes. Thyme destroys the shoes and demeans the love and intention behind them, and it sets Gorya off.
Both scenes are nicely done imo, but beyond a doubt the storytelling in F4T is superior.
By changing that "Oh no you didn't!" moment from a lunchbox to shoes, the show was able to create a shoe motif. Which, in turn, gave us an instant connection to Mira when she echoes the same "good shoes/good places" idea as she gives Gorya the heels. We can tell that Mira isn't just a cool, nice girl giving advice to a younger student. She's actually someone who we can trust, whose perspective is closer to Gorya's family than Thyme's, and who emboldens Gorya to never think that she doesn't deserve something.
It is especially well done, because in episode 8 when Ren can see that Gorya is struggling with feelings of self-worth, he actually re-ups Mira's words, reminding Gorya that there is no such thing about not being right for something. It reminds Gorya that her self-worth isn't determined by Thyme's mother and it reminds us that Gorya is being influenced, and is influencing, all the characters in the story.
Hi! As a new viewer and first time watching the adaptation of this Manga, I am curious on the changes frm the…
One of the most interesting things about F4T is how subtle many of the changes are.
Take the red card game for instance. This is the same set-up in the manga, the Japanese, and the Taiwanese versions (only the Chinese Meteor Garden changed it). Yet, in all those versions, it's pretty 1-dimensional. ML is unhappy, angry, sad, or whatever, and so he lashes out brutally because he can. He stops more because he no longer needs to displace those emotions, rather than any kind of character growth.
But in F4T, the red card game is more like a symbol of Thyme's mother's power over him. She uses a red card analogy in the first episode when discussing ruthless business practices. She makes it obvious that she doesn't care what game Thyme plays or who he hurts as long as he has command over the school, etc. In the end of episode 7, Thyme ends the game. In the beginning of episode 8, Thyme confronts his mother. Up to this point, they have seemed inextricably linked.
I honestly felt a bit of a gut punch in episode 1 when the mother is giving the interview and used the term "red card". In that moment, I remember thinking it was such a subtle, but brilliant, change to the story and I've only been more and more impressed with the way they keep deepening the meaning to each and every thing.
I'm really loving MJ's character in this. In the previous verisons, his character barely spoke and if he did,…
For me, the scene when he jumped out in front of Gorya as she was coming down the stairwell really sealed the deal. He had the most radiant smile on his face and great goofy energy, and even though it was the shortest of scenes, it was such a real moment of instant connection. I believed that him telling Gorya something like, "you aren't still afraid of us are you?" would lead to her having feelings of friendship with him because I've also had moments damn close to this in my life.
So it pretty much won me over into thinking that he wasn't just another background extra this time. From there, they just kept building little moments into his character that really make him shine.
Another favorite moment: When he tells Kavin to give Kaning the phone, then tells Kaning to take Kavin's ass over to where Gorya and Ren are. He's such a sheepdog.
Hello. I've seen many comments about how great the "monkey" character was. I don't remember that. And yet I've…
I can't really argue for her (or most characters) in any of the other versions. F4 stands out so far among the crowd because the characters have such meaningful reasons for being in the story that don't really exist in the other versions (look at Hana and MJ for the obvious).
But as for why I still enjoy her character in the other versions? I always found her just super likeable and enjoyed how forthright she was.
For people who haven't watch other versions, what do you think Talay's role in the show? Like what do you think…
I always ask my partner what his predictions are (since he knows nothing of other versions) and his guess is that Talay is an agent sent by Thyme's mother and is playing the long con to undermine Gorya and Thyme's relationship from the inside.
None of my friends have the slightest idea what a Hana Yori Dango is. So I’m trying to sell a Thai teen drama…
Haha, I also made my bf watch with me. I tried telling my friends that even he was enjoying it! but no dice.
He doesn't ever watch dramas with me either (I've showed clips from BOF and MG but nothing more than a few minutes - he finds it interesting for the contrast with F4, but not interesting enough to spend too much time watching it lol)
She's completely and utterly exhausted physically (all-nighters studying to keep her scholarship and making money to keep her family afloat) mentally (she spent the entire episode reading up on the dead billionaire and trying to figure out what any of it means) and emotionally (she likes Thyme but isn't able to be in a relationship with him; she likes Lita and has to factor in her feelings as well).
So when she breaks things off with him, it is absolutely for herself just as much as it is for Thyme.
Another thing that I really liked about the setup to Gorya breaking things off was how Thyme NEVER talked to her about what was going on. Like I said before, she spent the whole episode trying to figure out what was going on with the dead billionaire, yet Thyme never said a word to her about it. Kavin talked to her. Ren talked to her. But Thyme just brushed her aside with a "be patient" and nothing else.
But the thing is, that's not realistic for anyone.
Gorya scoffs when Thyme mentions "smooth sailing" because she sees how ridiculous a statement it is.
The catalyst for the drama in episode 9 really wasn't Lita's engagement as much as it was the death of some random rich guy. It is inconceivable to Gorya how or why this was affecting everything to such a degree (and, again, Thyme wasn't talking to her about it even a little). So from her perspective, Thyme's world isn't just full of people who treat her like shit, people who treat her family like pawns, and people who will never respect her as a valid person .... it's also full of landmines that look like rocks. How can she trust that there aren't other unknowable dangers to come? She can't. Thyme can't promise there won't be either, and it's naive (and a little unintentionally hurtful and invalidating) for him to act like he can.
So really, she made the right move for herself and I love her for it.
That isn't to say that circumstances won't change, and I'm hella looking forward to when it does, but for the moment she deserves a lot of respect for her efforts and her decisions imo.
When Gorya breaks things off with Thyme, Glakao overhears and is heartbroken too, but he also knows how hard it was for his sister to do it. He doesn't lash out at her for hurting Thyme or pushing him away, or anything like that whatsoever. He just is sad. For himself and for his sister and for Thyme. He seems to have an extremely high EQ and it is so nice to watch him be so personally affected but also so empathetic to Gorya's feelings at the same time.
The scene with him and Gorya crying together at the train station is probably my favorite scene of any episode so far. It's so poignant.
Gorya has been working her ass off to make any kind of money for her family to live (she literally pulls an all-nighter studying and working) is taking care of her brother and has put in so so so much emotional labor to make things work with Thyme (hello episode 8).
In comparison to Thyme, who can waltz into a neighborhood by buying a house, who is beloved by Goryas family, etc. the contrast is stark.
Gorya has put in so much work and all she can see is more exhaustion and confusion and hurt.
In the Japanese version, the reason the FL gets angry enough to attack the ML is that he has taken her fancy lunchbox (lovingly packed with barely-affordable food by her parents) and has demeaned the intentions behind it.
This scene is mirrored in F4T with Gorya's shoes. Thyme destroys the shoes and demeans the love and intention behind them, and it sets Gorya off.
Both scenes are nicely done imo, but beyond a doubt the storytelling in F4T is superior.
By changing that "Oh no you didn't!" moment from a lunchbox to shoes, the show was able to create a shoe motif. Which, in turn, gave us an instant connection to Mira when she echoes the same "good shoes/good places" idea as she gives Gorya the heels. We can tell that Mira isn't just a cool, nice girl giving advice to a younger student. She's actually someone who we can trust, whose perspective is closer to Gorya's family than Thyme's, and who emboldens Gorya to never think that she doesn't deserve something.
It is especially well done, because in episode 8 when Ren can see that Gorya is struggling with feelings of self-worth, he actually re-ups Mira's words, reminding Gorya that there is no such thing about not being right for something. It reminds Gorya that her self-worth isn't determined by Thyme's mother and it reminds us that Gorya is being influenced, and is influencing, all the characters in the story.
Take the red card game for instance. This is the same set-up in the manga, the Japanese, and the Taiwanese versions (only the Chinese Meteor Garden changed it). Yet, in all those versions, it's pretty 1-dimensional. ML is unhappy, angry, sad, or whatever, and so he lashes out brutally because he can. He stops more because he no longer needs to displace those emotions, rather than any kind of character growth.
But in F4T, the red card game is more like a symbol of Thyme's mother's power over him. She uses a red card analogy in the first episode when discussing ruthless business practices. She makes it obvious that she doesn't care what game Thyme plays or who he hurts as long as he has command over the school, etc. In the end of episode 7, Thyme ends the game. In the beginning of episode 8, Thyme confronts his mother. Up to this point, they have seemed inextricably linked.
I honestly felt a bit of a gut punch in episode 1 when the mother is giving the interview and used the term "red card". In that moment, I remember thinking it was such a subtle, but brilliant, change to the story and I've only been more and more impressed with the way they keep deepening the meaning to each and every thing.
So it pretty much won me over into thinking that he wasn't just another background extra this time. From there, they just kept building little moments into his character that really make him shine.
Another favorite moment: When he tells Kavin to give Kaning the phone, then tells Kaning to take Kavin's ass over to where Gorya and Ren are. He's such a sheepdog.
"For people who haven't watched other versions..."
And
"...knows nothing of other versions..."
These comments are pure speculation.
But as for why I still enjoy her character in the other versions? I always found her just super likeable and enjoyed how forthright she was.
He doesn't ever watch dramas with me either (I've showed clips from BOF and MG but nothing more than a few minutes - he finds it interesting for the contrast with F4, but not interesting enough to spend too much time watching it lol)
I pushed it on them hard and sent them links, but at the end of the day I'm not sure if any of them are even going to try episode 1. Their loss!
I can't judge them (who among us didn't start F4 expecting cringe?) but I'm sure they'd love it if they actually watched it!
At a certain point though, a fully grown woman trying to push others to watch a drama (even if it is this good!) looks a little deranged, lol.