I’ve been working up some light MLL prognostication over on the Fan Wall thanks to the patient reading and listening offered by @lapislazulii and @mmmmm. Here’s how it’s going. @mistyisles and my Fellow Beanies, see what you think.

What if the progression of this drama ends up having been:

**4 episodes of set-up in which fans patiently waited for Minhyun to take off that freakin’ mask already and show his face more.
**6 episodes of a drama called My Lovely Liar which was a really sweet show about a Liar Hunter (who has interesting and often very funny cases that we get to see and experience) who falls in love with a star K-pop song writer. This song writer, in turn, grapples with his relationship to his most prominent star singer, because she reminds him of a terrible ex-girlfriend, and is also working through his business dealings with a struggling owner of an entertainment company, a man he grew up with but who has secrets to hide. The Liar Hunter, it so happens, had also been engaged to a very nice policeman in the past who now wants her back, and so we get to see her weighing relationship choices that seem to represent her youth as well as her current, slightly more seasoned, age.
**3 episodes of CSI: Lies at Hakcheon Beach in which our 2ML glares at our ML even more intently than he did in My Lovely Liar because he is being shown actually doing his police job.
**3 episodes of My Lovely Idol Drama in which Do-ha leads Atlantis to the top of the charts.

If this is how it's gonna be, then I'm still in! Well, I’d have also been in for 16, well, 12 episodes of the show described in the second bullet point. I might have even been ready for 12 episodes of Minhyun idol drama, who knows!!

What I am sad to say is that I don't particularly relish the thought of four more episodes of scowling (2ML), emoting-disguised-as-confused-blank-staring (ML), prevarication (FL and all the moms), "Antonio Banderas Bee Sting Face" (self-explanatory), and slimy fraternal behavior (our sus crime bros). Perhaps the Stars Hollow [Gilmore Girls] comic relief trio might consider whipping the rest of the cast into shape, maybe by allowing Cassandra to scream in all their faces Goblin-style until they each get...with...the…program ;)

I’m still really enjoying this show. We’ve spent some time establishing the adorable relationship and trust between our leads and now they can take on the mystery together. And with five years and a whole lot of lies between them and the truth, I’m so glad they are working together on this. Do-ha certainly needs all the help he can get, and Sol-hee is pretty uniquely positioned to be useful!

I could use a little more from Eom-ho. He seemed to be making some progress in the past few episodes as Do-ha dropped a few truth bombs and then helped him evade capture. Do-ha is totally right that even though he feels responsible, he’s not the only one who should feel responsible, and it seems clear that at least some of Eom-ho’s violent anger is really anger at himself - blame that he’s projecting onto Do-ha to keep himself from feeling the brunt of it. But then that just seemed to evaporate in episode 11 with the discovery of her body, and he went right back into stalk-and-attack mode. I get it - if you think your sister’s murderer is living a carefree life it makes sense to be mad, even more so if you don’t think the police did a good job in the initial investigation (and it’s looking more and more like they didn’t), plus the added stress of her body finally being discovered - but we were starting to get some nuance from him and I feel like he’s taken some steps backward this week. I’m still interested to see where he ends up.

Last week there was some talk about the murder mystery in this show, and how it isn’t as interesting as it might be because we don’t know enough of the backstories of our suspects and how they might be connected to the situation or each other. I was in pretty solid agreement with those sentiments, but this week I feel like the drama answered that a bit. Rather than being exciting because they’ve laid out all the evidence and allow us to pick the things we think are significant, this mystery is exciting because we get to experience the reveals with the main characters and as they find out new info. From that angle, I really like that we don’t know exactly how Deuk-chan and Shady Brother are connected to the whole situation. It makes sense that they would have known Eom-ji because they knew Seung-joo, but we have no idea what their relationship with her was. I like that we keep seeing more of how Do-ha/Seung-joo’s mom might be working stuff behind the scenes, but only little by little. And I like that we can see Deuk-chan getting more and more desperate as his life spirals out of his control, but we don’t know if there is more than bad publicity at stake for him as more of the truth gets revealed. I’m having fun holding the tension along with our leads, and it makes every lie reveal from Sol-hee really impactful!

The OTP continues to be adorable together. Kang=min needs to learn a thing or two about communication from them, and then can we please get him a nice girl of his own?

Watching Deuk-chan unravel is stressful. And, uh-oh, little bro had a crush on Eom-Ji. Both these things open up new perspectives, and bring up new suspicions.

The parents in this drama continue to be horrible people, especially the mothers. The Jury's out on Sol-hee's dad. He seems cool enough, but he also doesn't seem to be a part of her life, so not off to a good start.

I do like that we got a little more back story this week, and that we're learning things along with the characters. I didn't like that Eom-ho went back into violent rage mode again, after it seemed he was beginning to self reflect. He really is a character in an incredible amount of pain.

Thanks for the weecap @mistyisles

Did everyone know there was a convenient grave in the mountains that could be used to bury a new body without arousing suspicion? That whole scene was weird and came out of nowhere for me.

I think Jaechan was a sore loser, he loved Eomji he thought he could swoop in when she was upset because she was rejected by Doha and when he was rejected again he killed her maybe accidentally e.g. she fell and banged her head trying to escape his advances.

The Scooby doo amateur investigation over something so important makes no sense as anything Solhee and Doha find will easily be seen as harassment or manipulation. I can see Kangmin coming to the rescue (again) and this time getting hurt as it will be third time unlucky.

Doha’s mum is a piece of work, I can’t understand how she is still in the politician’s office negotiating with those higher up in the system. They would have removed her from the building asap and potentially sued her for the impact she had on the party image.

Solhee’s mum is a joke, she is a perfect over the top mother in law from a bad weekender, I do not understand why is she being played so over the top; trashing the room one week, walking in the office screaming at Solhee to reject Doha the next. Her presence literally grates on my nerves. The actress has played unlikeable characters many times more realistically, so I don’t understand why they chose her then made her act in this way. They should have just gone with Kim Sunyoung who is the queen of shouty mum’s (maybe they tried her first and she turned it down to save her voice for once).

Also hermit dad, what’s the point of his existence? Why does he maintain a minimal relationship with his daughter through pictures without words? There was another drama where a dad decides to step away from society and live in the wilderness, I think it was Monthly magazine. I wonder how realistic this character is within Korean society.

I like that DoHa and SolHee got each other's back regardless of whatever ia happening around them. They remain cute and adorable together.
I do not like any of their parents though. One is a screechy mess with an absentee ex-hubby and the other is an emotionally absent politician that only makes her son more suspicious with her meddling.

4 episodes left. I hope DoHa will help Ethan and his brother with their careers. Maybe start his own music label away from Deuk Chan.
I sure hope we get to see more of SolHee's cases or maybe a career shift?

Psych meds, even ambien, don't work that way.

I feel like if it was Eom-ji's father 1) the brother would have suspected him first and 2) he would have left evidence that she was dead

Do-ha's mom is like Mayor Quimby bribing the jury with Freddy Quimby in that episode of the Simpsons, lol

The side couples are cute but honestly I can't keep the neighborhood folk straight

I am still liking this, and yes the OTP is sweet. Pained eyes 2ML is still a red flag in my book, even if I am glad he is there to do some decent police work. Him planting doubts about the sleeping pills (a stretch), and then guilt-tripping the ML thus goading him to his noble idiocy philosophy is annoying. Glad that it did not last and the OTP decided they will work together after all.

I was also not surprised about the discovery that it was ex GF body. This turning to dark is also not a surprise, the show had telegraphed this from episode 1.

My thoughts this week are small and scattered, mainly because I’m not particularly invested in anything but the OTP at this stage:

* Sol-hee was not my favourite person in ep 11 - I’ve been lukewarm to her tendency to lie quite a bit, purely because ok sure who doesn’t lie (Kim Doha apparently) BUT I really thought she could’ve given Do-ha the heads up about the body and just been honest about what was on her mind when he asked. But Ep 12 Sol-hee was much better - which makes me think that maybe I was just finding her eh when the script wasn’t giving her much to do, because the minute she started being less passive and more active I re-found her likability!

* Can Kang-min teleport?? That was like a few minutes between Sol-hee calling him and him appearing to take down Eom-ji’s brother, and he didn’t even take the elevator!

* Okay so I think I get what’s going on now - Deuk-chan’s brother killed Eom-ji and Deuk-chan helped him cover it up and they both used it to manipulate Do-ha for their own gains. Though few dozen holes in that theory including, wouldn’t they bet better off if they just let Do-ha take the blame? Why bother providing him with an alibi?

"the one who looks like a shiny boiled egg" - what a great description of Hyun Min LOL
Jazz club Ahjussi showed up! Yay!
So DH's big plan was to throw Eom Ji's dad to the ground and ask him if he killed Eom Ji?
For a change I am actually liking the murder mystery in the middle of the romance.

...and dropped...and why should anyone care? LOL. Have fun Beanies.
I'll check in at the end, and if it wraps up well, I'll go back and finish during a drama lull. Just too many exciting dramas on my plate and too little time, ya know. Who else is looking forward to Netflix and binge this weekend?

I still am having a good time watching this show week after week. I never liked murder mystery drama, but I seem to have to problem with this one. I guess it's because the crime is at the forefront of the whole drama -the ML as the prime suspect, and the FL's extraordinary ability to detect lies. So to me, the theme of the show has been consistent from the beginning (though I thought it would have taken the lighter and more fun road). There are some more boring parts here and there, but to me the show doesn't take itself too seriously (even when it has the crime as the core), and that makes it a fun watch still.

My only gripe is that I don't like explicitly violent scene. I think I'm old-fashioned, but the knife should have been blurred. It doesn't add anything to the story to see that very sharp and scary knife being held by a man who has been on a killing spree.

I think I believe that every character in this show plays nothing in the overall story. So I'm holding on to the belief that the townspeople will have a part to play when it comes to the big unravelling of the crime and the general public's sentiment towards Do-ha. This is why I don't have any problem with these supposedly minor characters. I don't think how blatant the townswoman is, but she doesn't seem like a bad person. Perhaps, just seemingly a bit rude. The townspeople (apart from the baker) might not look like the best group to hang out with, but they are surely better than the ones that have been close to DH and SH; their family members, sadly, included.

Do-ha is so utterly likable so him constantly blaming himself and feeling bad for things he cannot control-

@mistyisles

Thank you for the recap.

It has become very difficult to root for Deuk-chan's character as of now. Very aptly put "If he’s not the killer, I am going to feel so incredibly sorry for him".

"Do-ha and Sol-hee’s relationship is built on communication and trust". K-dramas are great at relationship counseling.

The skeleton still hold together on the table 😅

I’m not particularly invested on any of the side characters, specially the romance between salad girl and bar owner. Maybe I’d like them more if they weren’t so annoying in the beginning? Rooting for Shaon’s egg fan though even if I still don’t like Shaon. But, I still need to know the song in the bar concert scene and who actually sings - not sure it’s the actress.

Never been a fan of SML even though he ironically reminds me of one of my kpop biases 😔. This week is his worst with the victim blaming. He is so unprofessional. 😒

Thankfully, OTP continues to be adorable even without a lot of “grand moments” between them like in other dramas. I love the scene where Doha closed the door to protect Solhee but I can’t for the life of me understand why he didn’t go inside too 😫 I adore their beach scene though and LOVE the Minhyun OST that came with it. 🥹 Solhee got cooler again too!🥰

Murder mystery — still love this drama but I’m not invested in girl’s case too. She was pitiful but super toxic. I just want it to end (murder case part only) so that our leads will get happier moments the rest of the remaining episodes. My money is on Deuk Chan’s brother!!!

Thanks for the recap!

This week's episodes recaptured my attention. I think for me, the attraction of a show like this is the characters acting within the specifications of their characters or powers. If we have a FL with the power to detect lies, and a ML who feels deceived, every moment where she listens to him, believes him, or detects that others are lying to him, is very satisfying. On the other hand, the ML's special power is his music, but that's not especially interesting as a plot point. His secret power over the FL that he's driven to be very honest. He's also good at recognizing and supporting others' talents. Every moment when he is using his music to connect with others and support their talents is a satisfying moment for her and for the audience.

Which is why, even though I know you all hate murder mysteries in romances, I am finding the process of solving the murder mystery the most satisfying aspect of this drama. There was never a question about whether they liked each other. In fact, they liked each other in the prequel to the whole story, when they met on the bus. But there is some tension and question about how each of them will work out their issues, and it's satisfying to see them do that.

Ik this week was trauma and angst time, but I didn't expect to be kinda bored tbh. It was just the worst possible ppl being, you guessed it, the worst.

Even when psycho bro was back at it again, the only reaction I had was "ugh, here he goes stabbing again 🙄"

I think a lot of the momentum was lost when they a) got together as a couple b) shared each other's tragic backstory. it would have been better if this drama was 12 episodes and equally focused on Sol-hee's own adventures or something.

Praying for the day Sol-hee cuts off her mom 🙏 also for her poor dad to find himself a baddie and live in peace

P.S. did this oppa teleport to their building or something? How did he arrive so fast to stop the stabbing?

I loved the scene on the beach when Sol Hee meets Do Ha. She's literally there for him, at the place where he feels most sad and lost, to hold him and help him to know he's not alone. As others have commented, I'm also very glad this couple is not going the noble idiocy route, they talk with each other. How novel.