Reviews

What a jackass! — whiplash behaviour, crossed lines, and protection mode

Episode 4 had me stressed on the FL’s behalf, because she’s trying so hard not to blow this gig when she doesn’t even know how long her career will last — that’s the brutal reality of the business. And then we get the co-star… and honestly, he’s a giant jerk.He rescued her on the red carpet and clearly felt something, so the complete 360 into being openly unhappy about being paired with her is giving me whiplash. From the moment he stepped on the plane, his mood was obvious, and the producer choosing not to warn the FL only made it worse — because their first proper meeting turns into him being unnecessarily mean to her.What’s especially infuriating is how everyone keeps mixing the FL up with her character, like she’s not a real person with real feelings. When the FL finally learns the truth behind what’s going on, she’s devastated in her own quiet way. Her inner voice is screaming “throw a rock at his head,” but in reality she doesn’t have that luxury — she has to swallow it and keep going.The silver lining is that the ML’s protective instincts kick in hard. He’s watching, he’s clocking everything, and it’s obvious he cares. Which just leaves the big question hanging: if he cares this much, what exactly is holding him back?Side note: the first country they visit is Canada, and it looks absolutely stunning.

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a sign of more romance to come?

I feel like I keep repeating myself in these reviews because I keep saying "good episode", but listen, it was a good episode? I did actually gasp out loud during one of the scenes, and that was when Si Woo expressed his intentions to switch hagwons directly to Director Choi Myung Sun's face. Even though we, as the audience, already knew that he'd switch -- it was still a surprising moment for him to say so out loud to a character that's been established to be very intimidating and scary, especially since Si Woo seems to be the kind of student who is very polite and listens to the adults around him. I also gasped at the end of the episode preview, but that's for the next episode.Hye Jin really is my favorite character of this series. She's just so cool and extremely refreshing in a society where women are instructed to downplay their achievements and exhibit modesty at all times. She's also not written in a "grrl power" kind of way, where her superiority is constantly talked about or displayed without any real meaning or build-up behind it. The story's done a fantastic job at establishing that she's a confident person with the intelligence and talent to back up what she says. The line when she tells Jun Ho that she wasn't shocked by Choi Myung Sun's offer because she believed that she deserved that kind of offer was a banger line. Of course, I also enjoyed at how she shared her troubles with her lawyer friend about how she doesn't know if she wants to take this offer, and her own hesitance is so strange to her. We can tell that part of that hesitance is because of her attachment to Jun Ho, but I wonder if she a.) realizes that or b.) has realized that but is slowly coming to terms with it.The other characters kind of recede to the background during this episode, which is fine because it is undoubtedly Hye Jin's episode. It is Hye Jin who has to deal with the consequences of their special lecture failure, it's Hye Jin's history with the hagwon that makes her punishment feel so bitter to us as the audience, and it's Hye Jin's emotions and decisions that control the flow of the events in this episode. For example, it's essentially Hye Jin who gives Jun Ho his first student, because she decides to step aside for him. The best thing a drama can do is keep the audience wanting more, which I definitely felt when this episode ended. I'm curious to see if Hye Jin will leave Daechi Chase, and I'm curious to see how Jun Ho will try to either convince her to stay or the reasons why he'd let her go.

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Breaking Point — episodes, exposure, and a walking contradiction

Episode 3 feels like a breaking point for the FL. After nearly taking a tumble on the red carpet, her strange episodes become more frequent and more intense, and you can feel how scared she is that she’s losing control.At a complete loss, she bumps into the ML and pours her heart out, convinced she’s going crazy. The ML takes her to a doctor and becomes her interpreter, which means the FL has to explain everything she’s going through — every fear, every symptom, every humiliating detail — through him just to be understood. The doctor prescribes medication and tells her to see a doctor again when she returns home.It’s hard not to feel for her. She’s embarrassed, exposed, and emotionally raw, and with her heart and soul basically on display in front of the ML, she blurts out that she never wants to see him again.Of course, that doesn’t happen. She ends up on the same gig as the ML, and the pressure only intensifies. Stressed and trying to push forward, her world feels like it’s slowly falling apart. When one of her breakdowns is witnessed by the crew, it becomes painfully clear she might lose this opportunity — because the industry loves a “perfect image” until someone’s humanity becomes inconvenient.The ML has his own reasons for wanting to leave, and we learn more about what’s been weighing on him: the upcoming wedding is his big brother’s — the father’s illegitimate son — and that family situation is clearly complicated. It adds a whole new layer to the ML’s guarded behaviour and the emotional walls he keeps putting up.What makes the ML frustratingly interesting is that he knows the FL’s darkest secrets and seems to want to understand her, yet he keeps insisting they should keep their distance. He’s a walking contradiction — and I loved that the FL actually calls him out on it.

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I recommend

I screamed with laughter, I'm smiling like an idiot the whole series..., that's just how it's supposed to be! The series was funny and exceeded all expectations... the actors gave great performances, the chemistry between them made our hearts race, there were also touching moments, a tear dropped... perfect cast of all the characters, a great plot and finally the "cherry on the cake"... I believe that many of Mr. Thee's quotes will go viral! We will even see a special episode (he has 5 chapters in the novel...). I'm looking forward to it! I will definitely watch the series again and enjoy it again in one go....

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