Yeah, this is what I thought/hoped

I also suspect a long con on Ran-Joo's part here. She moved back in with him and she's being SO nice. She has to be up to something under his nose.

That makes sense and I hope that is what happens. So far the show has been good about not leaving me scratching my head and wondering “what in the name of poor eggless seagull is the point of this!”

I didn't think of that at all but I SEE IT 🤯 !! I hope you're right!!

Ooooh great point, I hope you're right!!

I feel like Ran-joo could probably open a new agency (her mom gave her a key to something) but this time, she would have full creative control and because this drama is a modern fairytale, creativity and sincerity will win in the end.

You're right he did! He said he wanted to throw his name into the mix too and added his card to her growing pile.

Ah, yeah, I'd forgotten about that

Knowledge of baseball is not required 😀
Anyone who has not watchedHSL , make room on your schedule .

I agree, I absolutely love this drama but there have been some baffling choices in terms of physicality (lack of eye contact, the way she holds her arms, etc) that remind me of Attorney Woo

ok, so there isn't new information about this. '

as far as I remember, she has always been really vague about coming back for a season 2 while the production company was the one to put statements about it as if it was confirmed. eunbin has always spoken fondly of EAW, but never avoided talking about how tiring it was, from the preparation, worrying about doing a respectful job, to the actual shoot. I always got the impression she didn't want to outright say she wouldn't do it again, but that's what she was implying. since then I haven't read anything new about this possible season 2.

of course I don't know her inner thoughts, but I think she moved on and it's not looking to do a season 2 at all.

Yes!! Beautiful voice, excellent actor.

I am with you on this, that noble idiocy was annoying. There were many solutions to this problem other than telling Do-san those harsh words on his birthday

Yeah precisley!! She's just a very ardent fan, but as a consequence, I can't help but compare her relationship with RJ to her connection with Ki-ho and feel like it comes up short or lacking a little 🤷‍♀️

Based on the previews it looks like we're getting something on the Bo-gyeol/Ki-ho and Mok-ha front, but as an unashamed fan of Woo-hak, in general but also as a love interest, I'll be quietly hoping - possibly in vain - that what you said at the end happens (disclaimer: not to start any sort of shipping fight, just me picking favourites 😂 , Ki-ho is obviously fantastic too because 15 years of care and devotion is wow!).

You are right. The show isn't going to make them lovers, but the action of the drama is about Mok-ha's relationship with Ran-joo. Ran-joo is her first love, the symbol of all her ambitions, and both more fun and more difficult than Ki-ho.

Don't get me wrong. She's going to wind up with Ki-ho. He's way too wonderful for her not to do that. There are no hints of anything else. But it's in her relationship with Ran-Joo where all the interesting growth is for Mok-ha's character.

I agree here. The traditional romance has always sort of taken a backseat to the warmth and made family love so far. I could have done without the drama making a couple in 12 episodes, unless it’s a “5 years from now” scene. It’s not enough time really.

I agree, it had always been obvious to me, too. On MH's part, it is expressed via those shoes. She couldn't let go of it, her most prized possession - symbolizes what Kiho meant to her after all those years.

@jingbee Yes! And the scene where MH asked KH if he'd ever had a moment where his heart felt about to burst just from thinking about something and he said "no, not until today," I think that showed he was developing feelings for her.

Maybe me struggling to see it could be to do with how I'm defining romantic love in my own books - and as you said there's a lack of traditional tropey scenes, skin-ship which maybe I consider markers in my love-language dictionary - but I also just wanted to say that it's really lovely that you feel that way about this drama!

Although I personally may not be convinced on the romance front (I can see KH/BG's love but Mok-ha is the question mark for me), I've still really enjoyed the deep connection that BG/KH and Mok-ha share, as well as the love and warmth between BG, WH and their parents too 💕

So true! Ki-ho gave her courage to run away from her dad and that skinny boy took a beating to give her a chance to escape. He waits 15 years for her and even started an island cleaning club. For MH, KH's shoes were so precious to her that she kept them after she got new ones and she couldn't have a restful night not knowing what happened to him. She had her idol make an announcement on tv to find him and was crying from joy when she thought those bait flowers were from him.

I love how you pointed out MH's line to KH about whether you've had a moment where your heart felt about to burst. It's one of my fave lines moment in the drama. That line encapsulates how I feel about seeing all those touching moments in this drama.

@asianromance yes! That line is exactly how this drama makes me feel, too 🥰

That is all so well said! I completely agree that the lyrics of Mok-ha's songs are all about her story, and especially her relationship with Ki-ho. I think part of the reason I love Castaway DIva is because of the music and how it ties so much into the story (I'm a huge musical theatre buff)

I agree that Ki-ho's feelings are more obvious, but I think Mok-ha's are clearly there if you look for them. The shoes, the intense emotional reactions she has to stories about or reminders of Ki-ho, the fact that she agreed to Ran-joo's ethically sketchy plan just to find Ki-ho, the fact that the second she was released she went to Chunsam (a place with a LOT of horrible memories for her) to look for him. And, like you said, her song lyrics. Not to mention, she is IMO drawn to Bo-geol even before she knows who he is. She is shy and flustered around him, whereas with WH she is not.

I've read people saying that MH and KH come across like siblings. All I can say is that my brother has NEVER looked at me like Ki-ho looks at Mok-ha, lol

I like his hair too, but that's because Chae Jong Hyeop as our brave, sweetheart Ki-ho is wearing it. He makes it adorable! If one of the terrible guys from Live Your Own Life wear it, I would shame them to oblivion.

I don't mind his hair. It was a bit weird in some earlier episodes as it was growing out but now I think it's fine. I mean he can pull it off.

Very unpopular opinion and I'm probably the only one who's thinking this. Please don’t kill me, but I just can't stand Kang Woo-hak.
 
Sometimes he acts like a big brother (not even a gentle one, he kept yelling at his brother and never offered any comfort whatsoever), sometimes he throws tantrums like a child (KH was the one who got beaten to the pulp, but he’s the one stomping up the stairs like he’s the wronged party). Maybe because he lost his memories, so his maturity is a few years behind?

Everybody feels sad for him during that scene where he sobs about how he suppressed his feelings for MH, but my cold dead heart just sits there questioning "Why do you act like a child?" At one point he wanted MH to stop being a singer to keep their family’s secret, then he couldn’t bring himself to tell that to her face, and then he yelled at his brother for letting her go being a singer. So, which is it my dude??
I already have it up to here with him lurking in the background looking sad *everytime* MH and BG were having a moment. It’s like the show trying to tell me: “Sure, enjoy your OTP, but don’t ever forget how much the poor heartbroken 2ML has to sacrifice for this to happen”. The self-pity party after MH’s gone is really the last straw for me. The show rubbed his "misery" in my face way too many times, that by the time he was sobbing in ep 10, I could not find in myself any sympathy left.

In normal circumstances, I would probably feel bad. One-sided love has never been fun. But in this drama, there's his younger brother right there, who has been silently carrying it all by himself for 15 years, who doesn't even have the luxury of sobbing over daddy’s shoulder, and still gets yelled at by his older brother after everything. My memory must have failed me because I cannot recall if WH has ever once asked BG if he's okay, or how he's feeling after all those years. 

I talk a lot about not ever liking PHR's attempts at love triangles, but at least those in her previous drama make some sense (even in Start-Up). The rivals really stand on level ground. This time it doesn’t, the show only pretends that they are. The fact that the show somehow thinks WH's 15-day-old crush is comparable to BG's 15-year-old efforts is just laughable. He knew her for a couple of months at most. Why does the show act like he's having his heart ripped out of his chest?? I just don't understand?? I get that you can't measure and compare people's misery. Everyone is valid in feeling hurt and pain, but the show attempting to overemphasize WH's sadness while underestimating BG's sacrifice is bothering me to no end.

I'm sorry if I sound too bitter and heartless, but for some reason, KWH's character and the way the show's portraying him really rubbed me the wrong way and I need to vent.

Ahh! Poor Woohak really got a lecture, there!! 😅

I agree with some parts of your comment, some others a bit less.

It's true that he's known MH for only a few weeks, but all the time he thought he was her long lost friend probably didn't help him in developing a normal relationship with her..he was right when he said to dad that they should have told him the truth from the start 😅

His feelings are valid even if there's BG beside him with his much heavier baggage when it comes to MH and everything that happened in the past.

Yes, I guess this is a love triangle, but at the same time I can't consider it one, because in my mind we have Mokha and Kiho/Bogeol and their 15+ years of history, plus Woohak on the side with his one-sided feelings for MH. He never told her he liked her, never told BG or fought with him about it (their disagreements were about family business), so I don't see it as others do...does this make any sense?? ><

In my parallel world story, Siren’s Song, Woo-hak is in a long term courtship with Mo Rae, who is also a big fan of Mok-ha.
This writer has no imagination, aigoo.

I actually agree with you re Woohak. I think the show is hardselling the SLS here but nobody is buying or at least I am not buying. Kiho's devotion since middle school which is now fully revealed and Mokha's concern and desperate need to protect Kiho leaves no chance of that. So during his crying scene, my reaction was : " Bo-hoo.. sorry not sorry for you. You have not sacrificed anything and all of your actions supposedly to help MH, is actually trumped by KH prep which you spoiled by your hero complex. So, yes, cry then move on but I don't pity you. "

I admit to being irked at the way the marketing team STILL is asking what team viewers are on. As for the show itself, you're right that a 15-day unrequited crush is nothing compared to a 15-year connection. I mean...everything Kiho has done for that girl is just...no words. And I don't think it's unreturned, either. She spent all of her moments trying to find him as soon as she got off the island, she was obsessed. And then when she found him, she was willing to even run away and give up her career to protect him and his family.

It's not entirely unreasonable for Woo Hak to have a crush in the situation he was in. But (despite the marketing and maybe a little of how the show is trying to lean into a love triangle), I just don't see that holding up as the MAIN main point here. Like, yes, he has a bit of a crush, but his sadness is not just due to "she likes my brother, not me." I think what's really undoing him is suddenly realizing just how much the rest of the family has kept from him. They had a 15 year secret, and meanwhile...he was left out. They are all guilty of identity theft...and he isn't, because he didn't know about it. (Not that anyone in their right mind wants to be guilty of identity theft, but again, it sets him apart.) Crush aside, he saw someone in need and took considerable efforts to help her, both materially as well as to be there emotionally and make her part of their family. And then she just...left. And he didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. There are just a lot of really heavy things the family is dealing with, things that affect him, too, but in their haste to protect him, they're also leaving him out. So it's much more complex that simply, I have a crush and she doesn't like me back, boo hoo. It's more that that's the final straw of a much larger issue--he feels left out by the whole family. They did it out of love, but what he really just wants is to be included.

In the first episodes I found WH extremely exhausting and childish (I still can't believe he's supposed to be the older brother). But now I'm growing fonder of him.

I don't dislike Woo-hak, I like him as a character, especially when he's acting as a true big brother. I agree that his emotional breakdown when Mok-ha is leaving stems from a series of recent incidents impacting him. In that crying scene, I feel his sadness - not simply because it's about unrequited love, but more due to the cumulative effects of various incidents that have made him feel like an outcast within the family.

But yes, I'm annoyed by the way they keep showing his melancholic expressions in the background of the happy OTP moments. When people cry for him, I personally don't shed tears over his emotional state. Sure, he was distress, being the big brother covering for his younger brother and memory lost. I sympathize with him, but my sympathy doesn't extend to weeping over his sadness. I just dislike the repeated emphasis on his one-sided love. He's more capable than a simple secondary male lead for the sake of a love triangle. They really need to avoid unnecessary love triangles in K-dramas.

I hear you. The love triangle with Woo Hak mooning over someone he's known for a minute has been the worst part of the show for me. I don't care about his heartbreak over Mok Ha, when I thought the show had traces of a very nice friendship between them and could have just kept it platonic.

I also had the same thought about how he was lacking as a brother after Ki Ho returned from their bio dad's place. Where was the concern and affection that the supposedly close brothers should share, why was Mok Ha the only one upset over Ki Ho rather than just fuming in silence? I think the writers did a disservice to the character by making him fall in love with Mok Ha, because he actually has some great moments otherwise.

His bonding with his adoptive father, the way he tries to protect his family and went looking for resources and solutions, his moments of friendship with mok Ha were all very nice. The lovelorn nonsense is just jarring and irritating to me, I don't feel sorry for him for his unrequited love, I need him to get over it and be a good brother and friend.

Oh god, that made me SO mad. WH is so immature. BG also told him multiple times that he was NOT KH, but WH was just all "well, now I'm gonna believe it even MORE" I didn't like him from the beginning because he's so oppositional and childish.

Bitches over Dramas also has a good write-up on WH and what makes him the 2ML vs. being the ML. He assumes that he knows what KH would have done (he thinks he would have taken her to Ran-joo) when BG actually does know and does it (gives her shoes). He assumes that he would have done a better job protecting MH when, probably, he would have done not only better but probably a worse. There's also the scene where WH gives MH his number and says "don't call me a lot, I'm busy," when we know KH and even later BG tells MH to call him any time. And, then, of course, KH/BG is later able to find MH when she runs away whereas WH walks right past her.

I know a lot of this is not his fault, just his fate as a 2ML in a drama by this writer. I think in real life he wouldn't be as hung up on her, so it's grating to watch. I wish they'd stuck with "I thought I liked her because I thought I was KH," not that "I actually liked her."

I agree not a woo hak fan, he has a sense of entitlement. He was lucky he lost his memory, his younger bro had to carry the burden of their shared painful past, not to mention his grief over not finding Mok Ha for 15 years. It would have been so refreshing if there was no love triangle, a supportive big brother who is there for his family that would have been beautiful to watch and he would have won all our hearts.

But please remember that Chae-ho actually did protect his brother by jumping in front of a blow meant for him. It seems immature and ridiculous that he was fantasizing about protecting MH by being KH, but his brother knows what he doesn't. He knows that Chae-ho actually did that FOR HIM, and almost died.

At the beginning of the series, he just echoed what a lot of people who do backseat driving observations would say (and I admit that I do this too), which I found amusing in a wry sort of way.

No-memories Woo-hak was spoiled and immature, but I can see that to KH's family, those traits are a blessing since Chae-ho, as the oldest son, would have felt extra responsible for his abused mother and brother.

I wish there were more successful matches in K dramas. You might get a 2L pairing. If lucky a man servant or maid get a match in a sageuk.
More happy endings for characters in 2024 ! 🥰
Too many shows struggle just to get the OTP together by the last episode.😟

I’m still hoping this will happen, in the end. I loved their dynamic during the camping trip, when Woo-hak and Mok-ha seemed to be joking around and just hanging out, and then when he sat both her and Bo-geol down for a talk of “you can’t call him Ki-ho all the time”. I liked that he gave big brother vibes for both of them. I felt a bit sorry for him this week during his crying scene, but more because I sort of felt like he was crying for lots of reasons, and not just because of Mok-ha. His whole life has been upended at this point, he had to give up a job he really liked because of something that he had no say in and doesn’t remember. And I think Mok-ha having to leave was just his breaking point. It’s the thing he articulated to his dad, and I think it was the thing the most at the surface, but I think he was breaking down about all of it.

Good question. He doesn't behave rationally.