Dear Hyeri: Episodes 11-12 (Drama Hangout)
by DB Staff
Welcome to the Drama Hangout for ENA’s Dear Hyeri where offbeat heroine Shin Hye-sun lives two very different lives.
This is your place to chat about the drama as you watch.
Beware of spoilers! This thread is for discussing the entire series.
RELATED POSTS
- Dear Hyeri: Episodes 9-10 (Drama Hangout)
- Dear Hyeri: Episodes 7-8 (Drama Hangout)
- Dear Hyeri: Episodes 5-6 (Drama Hangout)
- Dear Hyeri: Episodes 3-4 (Drama Hangout)
- Dear Hyeri: Episodes 1-2 (First Impressions)
- Premiere Watch: Dear Hyeri
- Shin Hye-sun’s Dear Hyeri confuses Lee Jin-wook
- News bites: September 8, 2024
- Shin Hye-sun faces old and new love in To My Hae-ri
- Shin Hye-sun wishes happiness for To My Hae-ri
- News bites: August 19, 2024
- Shin Hye-sun clings to dreams instead of love in To My Hae-ri
Tags: Dear Hyeri, Drama Hangout
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1 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 28, 2024 at 3:32 PM
I was waiting throughout the entire episode for some problem at work, for the real Hyeri to turn up as one of the guests on that quiz show or a grandmother to die. It was going too well with two episodes to go for this drama with its tendency for sorrows to not explode. It was too minor that Mr annoying and not needed character had not changed his number, blocked the numbers or switched his phone off. It was typical that Ms annoying was not letting the poor man grieve in peace. So the beautiful sunset was of course the perfect scene to marry with the expected woe😬
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 28, 2024 at 3:40 PM
How sweet to see the sunbae finally defend and praise his team member.
How funny the family photo and meal scenes. All that pain for no reason like we all called it, she was more than fine with the grandmas.
This show has been such an enjoyable watch will it end with a second lead getting the girl and annoying girl dropping a bomb that publicly calls out the sexism on her way out the door 😮
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 11:19 AM
Well, she did talk about "Girl Love". It's nice that there's a chance of gender balance at least in how many news anchors you'll see on screen, but it is weird that it's like there needs to be a sexual energy in the studio.
Otherwise, I'd love to see the news delivered by Eun-ho and another woman. SFL, if she could get just a little bit more hold of herself.
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owl 🦉 🫰
October 31, 2024 at 11:15 AM
Was there a writer switch for eps 19-12? That's my theory for the different tone at the end from the first 9 eps filled with mystery, intrigue, and a little spook. The last 3 eps were mych more boring.
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2 Becky
October 28, 2024 at 6:47 PM
I have been enjoying this drama. This episode was no exception until that last scene. Ugh.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 1:56 AM
That was really surprising and out of character for this drama ... I just have to assume they have an interesting plan for this and do not just finish the drama this way: "They had a dysfunctional relationship, but now he's dead, so ... sorted! You're welcome."
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too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 5:57 AM
I do not think they should make literally everything terrible for her again just to see Hyeri pop out. That's just so stupid. Although....she got the Hyeri personality because of her grief and shock over her sister. Couldn't she get a Hyun-oh personality out of this? Then she'll be able to help all her friends stop smoking and clean their apartments? And she'll be promoted as an announcer because of her jawline and twinkle?
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Becky
October 30, 2024 at 6:39 AM
Thankfully it was a fake out.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 6:56 AM
Yes. A cruel one, but a fake out! It also gave us a chance to have Eun-ho comfort Hyun-oh when he was panicky.
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3 too_much_tv
October 28, 2024 at 7:09 PM
@db-staff I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be the page for hangout for episodes 11 and 12. Can the page title be edited, or will we lose the comments?
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 28, 2024 at 10:46 PM
Good catch I didn’t notice because I was just waiting eagerly for it to appear to have a space to put my thoughts down. There are few dramas that evoke such interesting discussions and I am so pleased that we have had weekly hangouts that beanies have engaged in with such enthusiasm.
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jerrykuvira
October 29, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Dear Hyeri sure evokes those discussions. Sadly I couldn't meet up with it live each time. I had to save mine for WWW for the most of the 6 weeks. And, I fear I might have to wait till I see beanies reactions to consider whether this will be an episode 8 drop or I'll just watch episode 12 only and consider my bean earned. It was fun while it lasted. I really loved the conversations and topics it sparked.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 12:29 AM
I think watching episode 12 will be worth it regardless of how it ends because it was such a unique drama in so many ways.
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jerrykuvira
October 29, 2024 at 1:49 AM
Dear Hyeri is a unique drama. That, just as you said, I am sure of. It has been the only drama I've consistently followed and watched in the past month, save for Iron Family. It just annoys me to hear and read it deteriorate in an infuriating way in the penultimate week.
Had I watched last week's installment, I'd be fuming across the comment section.
WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 3:42 AM
It's a drama I feel emotionaly engaged, maybe be not DID but at least psychology and personnality switches. Also feel close to characters and understand their journey. So of course I'll watch to the end, and continue taking notes about episodes.
Still some few points I don't like on long run, too slow pace, too many secondary characters. Flashbacks can also be excessive and slow down real events.
I'm disappointed that in Ep11, we don't know why HyeonO never said to her about grandmas. Last chance to get that in Ep12.
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4 Bunny Sonaki
October 29, 2024 at 12:33 AM
What is the bullshit that we got on the ending scene! Is the writer out of her mind to blend in a completely unnecessary and infuriating sequence like that!
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 12:36 AM
Are you referencing the epilogue or the last scene of the episode?
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Bunny Sonaki
October 29, 2024 at 2:41 AM
the last scene when ML got attacked
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Kurama
October 29, 2024 at 1:24 AM
For a moment, I wondered if it happened before and he was in her imagination during the drama. But his character had too many interactions with other characters...
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 1:53 AM
Even if I have put myself behind the wheel, https://dramabeans.com/activity/p/1645469/#acomment-1645504
because I really don't like the ML and especially not their relationship, it was a really weird ending, just finishing it off like that instead of adressing all the feelings and entanglements. It was very unlike this drama, and while I was so happy the FL finally agreed with me (also giffed) this is a a very abrupt non-solution.
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 3:33 AM
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 3:36 AM
I find that a good surprise, and excellent about the story of EunHo. She's now on cloud-nine, with feeling to have heal her personnality disorder. All of that seems too magical, and relies a lot on her happiness with ML. Presence and support of a loved one can do a lot, but maybe not all. And so, depending of how dramatic will be the resolution of the Ep11 cliffhanger, she should now face her inner trouble for a great final fight.
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Bunny Sonaki
October 29, 2024 at 4:14 AM
I can see your point of view. But according to what we got so far, I doubt that was the writer's intention but just a cliffhanger for shock value. Still, we have to wait and see where the drama goes with this.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM
You know what I would love?
If the ToD was really just symbolic of her feelings for him, just like with the computer.
- It doesn't work. Maybe because she hasn't had it turned on for so long.
- The love for him must die, because he has harmed her too much.
- And she is healed, because apart from normal problems - and normal reactions to missing her sister - she was under a lot of pressure from his constant gaslighting. Being with a partner that goes icecold when you talk about marriage, and on the spot just leaves you like a first-time Tinder date, A partner who livens up when you have a breakdown. And who won't come to a romantic spot even after the unlikely circumstances he put up have come true, because "he is too famous" (I mean, it's not like he is attacked by hordes of violent teenage girls when he steps outside, is it?).
That issue that the therapist talks about in the epilogue, that's him.
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too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 5:51 AM
When I saw the TOD, I thought of you immediately, @ceciliedk but also all the other people I know loathed the main lead. I thought a lot of people were going to be saying, "Ugh, no, not like THAT. Just break them up nicely."
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 7:30 AM
I like your ideas about hidden messages, like the computer. I'll just watch next episode to find out.
About break-up scene, people often forgot how it starts, then need to rewatch: it's when she implies her relationship is transactional. It's her way to do, as we get the idea in a previous scene (flashback) when she doesn't want to live at grandma, because she doesn't want to have a debt. Coming then Hyeri disagrement, seeing love out of selfishness or accountability.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Why would they have the strangely non-functioning computer there if not to show that something else was broke?
That he had repaired it and was darn smug about it, that was then what they decided to put in the show. But I really would have preferred if they did not end up together, even if the ML actor was really good and even almost made me forgive him when he had his anxiety attack. But you don't get over gaslighting like that, woopty! He has shaken her belief in her own perception especially about feelings, for more than a decade. I cannot condone her being with him.
5 DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 1:59 AM
That irritating guy, now hiding under everybody's table, he took it a couple of levels up from "very annoying" to "completely bonkers" this episode. It made me dislike him less, maybe also because he didn't say mean things to people but was more like begging for help and visibly confused.
I had not expected the story to go where he was completely right that they were out to get him - not just shout angrily at him.
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 3:31 AM
I had a good laugh when he emerges from behind the table first time. LOL!!! Then, the fact he appears more in the episode makes sens with the end, as he triggers the cliffhanger.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 4:35 AM
Also, he seemed insane (and okay, the way he acts is not how I would react to a death threat) but he is not paranoid, is he? He was totally right in being scared. And if the list of things he had done including giving his savings to that man were true, then he ought to have been left alone some time ago.
I was half expecting the Bagel Baker to turn up with delicious bakeware and ask him to eat one "on air", finishing with "mmmh" and the name of the bakery.
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too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 5:47 AM
We kicked off Hyeri and Joo-yeon's relationship with an elderly female onion farmer chasing him with an ax, right? (Was it an ax, or another sharp farm tool?) It seems like angry viewers are a visceral threat to news announcers!
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 7:33 AM
It's a dangerous job in fantasy world of kdramas. ^^
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 11:11 AM
Yes, and it's not the mafia or the dark side of rich and powerful men that are dangerous; it's wrinkled old onionettes and drunk Bagelors!
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 30, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Probably some pick-axey thing. I believe there's something about putting the onions a little further into the ground when the first come up, for them to grow a little more.
I remember learning that people from a region famous for it's onions were called "Die Bamberger Zwiebeltreter" , "The Bamberg Onion Steppers" for that reason.
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6 TwoCentsWorth
October 29, 2024 at 4:18 AM
Episode 11 was magic. Eun-ho's DID? Poof, disappeared. Workplace problems? All sorted. Long broken relationship? Snap, back on as if nothing ever happened. Hyun-oh hiding his family for 12 years? Lickety-split, he's cool now. But Truck of Doom? Ain't no magic that can stop that.
I assume it's mean to be sunny skies for Eun-ho before it all comes crashing down. But I'd hoped for better. Let's see what writer-nim has planned for the finale.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 4:40 AM
Some things were different, like EUn-ho saying Hyun was a poop when you were in a relationship with him, and also the fact that now he was the one begging her to confirm that he was a good boyfriend.
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 7:35 AM
That line was funny. Kind of shameless thing can say, like nothing, people in long term couple.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 4:41 AM
And maybe the fact that she got at least somewhat angry when he didn't want to keep his promise of going to the sunset hill with her.
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 9:35 AM
It's a detail, but it's funny how people take it in different ways:
- She's abusive to ask something he doesn't want, like if she was obsessional and leading the couple only where she want to.
- He's abusive to refuse such an obvious demand, about a place important for them.
There, I just see a natural couple dynamic, as they lived many time. The girl insisting on something, somewhat cute. The guy refusing, but finally ok. And I see it as natural, as I could witness in many couple. You can say: don't need to sell it to me, I just like it and find it sweet.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 11:25 AM
SHe had been wanting to go there for a long time and see the sunset. . He promised to go there if she got to anchor the 7PM news. SHe did. He didn't intend to keep his promise because he was so extremely famous.
You saw how crowded the place was, when she walked around, lonely as a cloud, in the beautiful sunset.
He prioritised going to talk to some bagel baker for a guy who wasn't even a friend, and was surprised that the sun actually went down and couldn't wait an hour or two, til he had the time.
He cannot get out of the habit of keeping her on a string.
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WEnchanteur
October 29, 2024 at 12:12 PM
See the glass half full or half empty.
As you want.
7 too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 5:42 AM
I watched episode 11. I am incredibly annoyed with the writers of the show. Are we going to solve the problem of the ML's deficiencies as a partner by 1. giving him miraculous insight into his own behavior against all logic and then 2. killing him off? The answer had better be no. He'd better survive this accident to give the FL more choices.
But also, it's somehow like the writer does and doesn't believe that DID is a real mental illness or syndrome? Are we really saying that there was only one split, in her thirties, and that the personality was just reintegrated with no problems? We're also kind of fuzzy about whether Eun-ho remembers her time as Hyeri. Somehow she has the same level of affection for the people Hyeri did but she's not Hyeri at all? Is that supposed to be reintegration? It's confusing. Shouldn't there be some backstory of trauma from before her parents' death?
I am frustrated that we have this really complete narrative of Hyun-oh's childhood and a very thin explanation of Eun-ho and her sister's lives. Eun-ho is the one with a mental illness that's rooted in childhood trauma! Figuring out what happened is important to her character.
Figuring out why Hyun-oh was such a bad boyfriend is less important. As I said last week, the writers are replicating her workplace's focus on the man. I know they want him to be a bad boyfriend but really good at heart so we'll be sad if something bad happens to him.
Also, what was up with Hye-yeon? Are they setting up a suicide attempt, or is she about to resign from her job? Can't we cut Kang Joo-Yeon some slack here?
You'd better believe I'm going to watch the last episode.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 3:06 PM
The diappearance of OG Hye-ri made Eun -ho very fragile, but it was a decade of gaslighting that made her go crazy, and lose control also of the thing that started as a kind of memorial for her sister, with the secret parking lot job.
And yes, yes, poor Hyun-oh, but not poor him enough so that Eun -ho should sacrifize her sanity on his altar. I really did not like them together.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 3:07 PM
(diSappearance).
WHat I wanted to say is that her childhood was less covered because the main cause for her problems started when she was young, not a child.
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too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 6:08 PM
I guess I am still annoyed that they gave her DID and not every other character who had similar traumas. Which is most of the characters whose backstories we know! Ah, whatever. I enjoyed the show. It was a fantasy in every way, not excepting the the lead couple's relationship.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 29, 2024 at 11:30 PM
Well, casual use of diagnosis aside, they didn't get ill because they hadn't been dating a gaslighter for 8+ years.
too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 2:18 PM
@ceciliedk But but but... that makes no sense, you know. It's as silly as him just suddenly snapping out of his toxic behavior. He could damage her a lot, but I don't get how she would just, four years after the breakup, suddenly sprout another self. I just don't get how, even as awful as I found him, he could be the source of her second personality.
I think If I'd written this, the body in the truck would have been the trigger. It's serious. Also, Hyeri wouldn't have been the only alter. Also, both boyfriends would have been part of her personality who needed to be reintegrated. (Ha ha ha! But seriously.)
8 Kurama
October 29, 2024 at 12:16 PM
The final :
I liked the last episode. Finally, people were feeling happy :)
For the drama, we got 2 very wounded people who fell in love. Their relationship was very codependent, she needed to hear that she was loved and he needed to be needed. From an external point of view, their relationship looked kinda toxic. But from their point of view, they were very happy together and very unhappy when they broke up. Because neither of them wanted to talk about their family, they ended by having communication issues. I think Hyeri's apparition forced them to be honest with each other and be a couple again.
Hyeri could read Ju-Yeon and he helped him to open. It's sad that Hye-Yeon had to leave for him to understand how important she was. She was a great character and she deserves someone who loves her and is active in their relationship!
Hyun-O and his siblings became announcers to be recognized by their mothers, it worked. But their grandmas were what they really needed.
I'm still sad for the real Hyeri, not knowing what happened to her.
This drama was kinda weird sometimes, but the actors were good and the direction was really meaningful and beautiful.
Kang Hoon looked great! Definitely my favorite part of this drama :D
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 10:00 PM
‘I'm still sad for the real Hyeri, not knowing what happened to her.’👈🏾Yes that is an open loop for me too.
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WEnchanteur
October 30, 2024 at 1:46 AM
Realistic disparition. People dead in the wild. No one will find them, or maybe a squeleton by chance, 50 years later, when a hunter pass by.
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Becky
October 30, 2024 at 6:47 AM
Or a missing boot. Yes. I think it was okay that we never knew what happened. It makes what Eun Ho dealt with all the more tragic. It's the not knowing.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 2:40 AM
Real Hyeri was my favorite character. It's really sad she died.
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WEnchanteur
October 30, 2024 at 1:45 AM
Hye Yeon is his consolation prize. lol.
I think he noticed that Eun-Ho wasn't a woman he could love.
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Kurama
October 30, 2024 at 2:37 AM
But at least, Hye-Yeon knows she derserves better. So he will have to convince her.
He always knew he didn't love Eun-ho but Hye-ri.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 2:43 AM
I'm with you: he realized he didn't like Eun Ho when he knew her better. And it's understandable.
But I think Hye Yeon is not the kind of girl he can love either.
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Becky
October 30, 2024 at 6:48 AM
I'm rooting for them. At least she brings sunshine with her. She has that quirky personality, similar to Hyeri's. He just couldn't see it before because of the depression he was dealing with.
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9 Mr Everything
October 29, 2024 at 5:12 PM
This ending didn't resonate with me emotionally at all. I would love to hear a Korean person's perspective because as an American, I don't see exactly why Hyun-oh was so hesitant to marry Eun-ho or introduce him to his family. Was it really so difficult to take care of the grannies and her at the same time? Was it really so difficult for him to be honest with her?
Also, it seems like the writer's perspective on love is that it makes all the difficulties of life worthwhile and if you are sad, love can magically heal you. Is this a commonly held perspective in Korea?
Furthermore, what is this love? It seems like the writer has reduced it to mutual positive feelings toward someone else. It is expressed even more bizarrely when Joo-yeon feels upset that he has been blocked and that itself is sufficient to change his entire opinion on someone who he barely tolerated. According to this logic, none of the characters should hope that love will last or expect anything in the future. However, this cuts completely against the romance of the two main characters.
This last week has been completely inconsistent with the rest of the drama. I got off work early just to finish this. I should have stayed at work.
This ending reeks of conflict between the production and the writer and a compromise ending that just filled the contracted time. I would love to see what was left on the cutting room floor because at times this drama was interesting.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 9:43 PM
I agree with your comment that the impact of being blocked was the most bizarre approach to portray a change in his perspective. All that was needed was a scene with him apologising for not explaining that what he meant was the work contact was irrelevant to him because he had assumed they would remain in contact outside of work. However, that whole situation did not make sense because he rarely initiated conversation with her and he did not seem to be interested in her specifically or anyone in general because he was just existing rather than living his life.
The love cures all approach is standard in K-dramaland but it was odd to use it in a drama where they had actually chosen to show the use of a therapist and medication.
I also agree the last two episodes were out of synch with the rest of the drama. They should have just ended with episode 11 with them being happy together and back working. They could have eliminated 9 o’clock news guy, his personality and story arc as they had enough angst without the drama of the near death experience which was ‘not that serious’ even though he was in intensive care. How come he had no family member who could stay with him rather than a work colleague?
Was the bullying scene included to demonstrate that the announcers will unite as a pack to attack whoever they chose to in order to keep them inline and focused on the job in hand?
What was the point in the mum scene? She finally saw Hyunoh on the news and what was her reaction? I do not understood why in K-dramaland leaving a relationship means cutting off contact with the children of that relationship. What is worse is they often go on to create a new family with a decent partner and somehow can bond and be a great parent to those children without any sense of guilt or remorse. In this case Hyunoh’s mum does not seem to be living a better life.
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Mr Everything
October 29, 2024 at 10:12 PM
And, then, to confirm his personality change, while he is studying for his interview, he calls her until she picks up and then hangs up just to check that he is unblocked.
I think the workplace bullying (which is a recurring theme) is there to show that life is hard and facing pressure alone is hard, or scary as the translators put it. But, love solves everything even workplace bullying.
IMO the mom was only there because they foreshadowed her early on and this is just a kdrama cliche. They did absolutely nothing with it and as you say abandoning a child is kinda a big deal.
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Mr Everything
October 29, 2024 at 10:16 PM
Regarding abandoned children, they were all the rage in western fiction, but our culture of abandoned children has went away. I think maybe with a lot of orphans and abandoned children after the war, it is more in the current consciousness of Korea than in the west.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 10:37 PM
I agree the abandoned child is not unique to K-dramaland but it’s the way it’s done so coldly. They also take latchkey kids to another level with children literally living alone while still attending school while parents work in other parts of the country or late into the night.
The more we see of the effects of the wars, and poverty on the entire nation the more it makes sense that older generations struggle emotionally in all their relationships and this is being passed on to subsequent generations.
WEnchanteur
October 30, 2024 at 1:50 AM
"a compromise ending that just filled the contracted time."
Your words are my exact feeling. I even had the impression actors were bored and no one could do that seriously.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 2:46 AM
"It is expressed even more bizarrely when Joo-yeon feels upset that he has been blocked and that itself is sufficient to change his entire opinion on someone who he barely tolerated".
__________________
Hundred per cent agree.
That sudden change in SML makes no sense at all.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 7:09 AM
I don't think he barely tolerated her. I think he liked her as a friend all along. She was almost the only person he spoke with, and he always addressed her in a familiar way, and (I thought) sweetly. He was just not interested in her as a romantic partner. He was shutting down her flirting. When that gross manager hit on her at that meal, he got upset. When he was upset by the idea that Hyeri has another boyfriend, he went to her and she had a drink with him.
She was also being victimized by unscrupulous men in her sex life, which was made most obvious when she blurted out that she was having an FWB relationship with a coworker who was dating someone else.
The difference between the SML and the SFL is that she always thinks it's possible/ethically OK to have sex with people if she wants to. He is, as far as we know, a virgin who had some make-outs and fun dates with a girlfriend who was someone's alternate personality. And even that dating relationship was initiated by Hyeri. He was shocked that anyone liked him!
So it's going to take awhile for those character to change gears from annoying younger sister/hoobae and oppa/sunbae to anything approaching a romance.
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Mr Everything
October 30, 2024 at 10:38 AM
I don't agree. He never initiated any conversation and mostly blew her off except when his mental was weak because of his first breakup. And, even then, he didn't initiate the conversation. In fact, his colleagues were surprised that he even cared that she left. To me, he barely tolerated any of them.
I also don't see why you think she was being victimized. She seemed to be a willing participant with her male partners and she easily walked away with no consequences.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 5:41 PM
I do not think she deserved bad consequences for having sex with men. It seemed, from the scene of her phone convo with her FWB, that the sex itself was a "consequence." (Sometimes people say "consequence" when they really mean punishment.)
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 30, 2024 at 11:36 AM
I totally agree on the "He is her friend, and has no romantic feelings for her".
Their final romantic future was completely drawn out of the blue air, just to have something to cheer up the audience. Their mutual half-ghosting was cutely executed, but it had nothing to do with whom we had been shown hitherto, especially not him.
I kind of liked her, but not as *his* girlfriend.
And I did *not* want the main couple to end up together, even if the ML actor was so good I almost, almost forgave him when he was really, really scared and needed help. It was not enough to change the fact that they have been together for 8 years and continued some weird relationship some years more, and that it all was build on him making her insecure and breaking her down. Their chance of being together in a good way has been used up, even from the time they were still only getting to know each other and he didn't talk to her for 6 months.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 5:37 PM
I thought the point was that he was depressed before he met Hyeri. Then he found out that Hyeri was someone's alternate personality! That's kind of crushing. He walked around crying all the time for days.
In the 12th episode, he comes to terms with what he learned from the dating relationship and reconciles with his mom. So he kind of--wakes up? He has the best possible resolution.
There is a possibility that the SML and SFL characters could date, sure. But it's almost more exciting that he starts to be interested in his career and to have opinions and care about things and so on. Both of the second leads changed and grew. Who cares if they get together or not?
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 30, 2024 at 5:46 PM
I cared, because
1) I wanted him to be with FL because he wasn't a gaslighter, and also, those eyes.
2) I did not like that the 2Ls were suddenly set up to be a couple when he had had no sort of romantic interest in her at all until then.
too_much_tv
October 31, 2024 at 7:34 AM
I was happy that the second leads ended the show on the way to becoming better friends, because for both of them it was a sign of growth. They both start taking their careers more seriously.
The problem with making realistically acted trauma a feature in a rom com is that it's hard for the audience to root for people to get together. The entire premise that romance is healing is a little... suspect. If romance is so healing, how come the main leads had such a toxic relationship for 12 years?
I still don't get why rescuing someone who is stuck in a refrigerator truck with a corpse is a sign you are still in love.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 31, 2024 at 9:18 AM
I had more or less forgotten about the refridgerator.
To me, nothing he did until ... no, actually, nothing he did was a sign of love. The moment he had the epiphany that he had caused her a lot of pain, that was the most promising moment for him, but after that, the best he should have done was really just to help her in an emergency, of course, I mean, like a human being, (and maybe also as someone who knows she has trauma and knows the triggers) and then get out of her way. Prefereably leave the number of her therapist and a few guidelines to parking lot friend, maybe her superior at work (?), and maybe his rival with the soulful eyes.
Since he is the main reason to her trauma, staying around is not helpful.
I like a romance, and I think with some other nice guy, preferably Kang, but admittedly mostly because I stan him, she could be getting better in the hands of someone who could be hesitant and loving without being dominating and gaslighting her.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 31, 2024 at 9:19 AM
I mean, not miraculously be free of problems, but like, healing, bit by bit, with someone who was in awe of her like a normal person.
too_much_tv
October 31, 2024 at 2:34 PM
OK, I don't think I've said this yet. It's 100% valid to stan Kang Hoon. He is a wonderful actor--really great at conveying emotion--and I love his pretty face.
In real life, I would never tell someone who got out of a bad relationship to get back into a relationship with the same person. Even though people change and it's quite possible that they don't have the same problems anymore. Between the people who had the toxic relationship in the first place is the memory of the bad behavior and the habit of acting that way. Better for them to find others, and be happy to see the other finally flourishing.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 31, 2024 at 4:29 PM
Exactly that, Too Much-tea. The risk of falling back into old toxic patterns is something near 100%.
Mr Everything
November 1, 2024 at 2:28 PM
@toomuchtv and @ceciliedk. I don't think the drama showed enough of Eun-ho when she was happy before the breakup to say whether his toxic behavior negatively affected her. But, I do agree Hyun-oh is not the kind of partner that I would seek out. And, I do agree that she was really cute with Joo-yeon. But, TBH I kind of like her happy with Hyun-oh. I love the boomer talk, her free behavior and her creative chaos. I am entertained by her.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
November 1, 2024 at 3:24 PM
It's true that we didn't see much of how Eun-ho was before her relationship with Hyun-oh, but we saw their first encounter (the one that mattered, anyway) and we saw a good deal of glimpses from their early days. And in those, she reacted normal teenagey, normal insecure and normal coy, while he swapped between saying things that sounded like he liked her or even more, while abruptly acting cold and brushing her off. It was clearly behaviour that was perfectly fitted to make a girl very insecure and to need extra reassurance, because she had experienced that what normally goes for a sign that someone likes you would be followed by immediate icecoldness.
I actually know a woman who was very close to end up with a guy like that, and when I heard it I comforted her but also said that she really dodged a bullet, because she was close to making some life decisions based on how he had been nice to her, so his sudden coldness towards her was a big red flag just in time. Eun-ho was too young and too alone to spot the red flags Hyun-oh wore as his everyday suit.
10 too_much_tv
October 29, 2024 at 7:39 PM
I got to watch episode 12. It was fun to watch even though I was angry about a lot of things in the narrative arc of the show. Did the writer tell us that the therapist was new and inexperienced because...Eun-ho didn't really have DID?
But I also want to say, every single person on the show grew past trauma and became better integrated and more self-respecting and honest about their motivations. Not only the FL and the ML, who unrealistically quickly experienced healing when they dreamed about each other, but also the foster brother and sister, Hyeri's friend from the parking lot job, Grandma Loan Shark and the side-kick grannies too, Joo-yeon, and even his mom.
I learned a Spanish expression from the comments on the Viki website, "ni chicha ni limonada," after one of the scenes that was most jarring. Let's say this: they couldn't decide where they were going, but the actors and the cinematographers were determined they should go there in style. Since I got to go wherever that was with all of you, I am pleased that I watched. If the ending was imperfect, it's still always a treat to see Shin Hye-sun's pretty smile.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 9:56 PM
I honestly think the drama just wanted to stand out in their portrayal of trauma so chose the DID diagnosis just as Castaway diva chose an island as a way of separating their lovers. Neither worked well because of the unrealistic elements they added in.
In this case they didn’t think through how wheeling a therapist in and out at key points would not authenticate the diagnosis but only lead to us questioning it more.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 6:48 AM
@reply1988 I was so much less annoyed by the island premise of Castaway Diva! It was stupid in a lot of ways, but it was internally consistent. But I guess these are two shows with a lot in common. Korean actors are quite simply the greatest, ready to rise above a lot of stupidity to deliver real emotional beats.
You are so right about how the therapy sessions made the DID seem less and less likely. Do we not know about using the internet to look up the Wikipedia entry about the illness of the week? Hmm?
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 30, 2024 at 5:55 PM
I agree very much that the therapist was very different from the island in Castaway Diva.
The Island in Castaway Diva was totally symbolic - as symbolic as when she was drowning in the music company building because the manager or CEO or what he was said that she was too old to have a breakthrough. The hall filled with water and she floated helplessly in its depths.
What was real was
1) domestic violence
2) being "late" for life for matters outside of your own control (like trauma, or having to hide)
... and then stuff like alcoholism and problems with data privacy, especially regarding the police, which was a refreshing view on some of the civil rights that are often mocked in K-drama copaganda.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 6:49 AM
Or maybe they thought showing the level of trauma at a young age that a person would have to have to dissociate that much was too much of a downer.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 2:53 AM
"Ni chicha ni limonada" 😂
(Nor meat nor lemonade).
We use it to say something is too bland, unsatisfactory, or when we are quite dissapointed on something.
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too_much_tv
October 30, 2024 at 6:16 AM
I thought I was only going to be learning Korean from this, so I got a little dopamine jolt from having to look up that phrase. ♥ I usually don't bother with the Viki comments, but some of those scenes were so weird that I wanted to know others' reactions right away!
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Mr Everything
October 30, 2024 at 10:43 AM
meat? At least where I'm from, chicha refers to something like a fruit water (fruit, sugar, water) or a fermented corn drink. So, the saying is neither fruit water nor lemonade which means it's bland water and not a refreshing drink.
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Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 1:46 PM
In Spain "chicha" is a very informal way to say "meat", and that expression is very common here (in some regions it's pronounced "limoná", instead of "limonada").
But I don't know where that expression comes from.
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tabong
November 1, 2024 at 1:05 PM
LOL this made me ask my mom because there's even a song called like that here.
Chicha is an alcoholic drink.
So it would be that it's neither strong nor refreshing, as in "it's not this, and it's not that either" Or something like that.
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Mr Everything
November 1, 2024 at 2:12 PM
Are you talking about the song by Victor Jara?
tabong
November 1, 2024 at 2:41 PM
Nope. It's a salsa by Grupo Niche.
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 31, 2024 at 3:17 AM
In Denmark we say "hverken fugl eller fisk"/"neither bird nor fish".
When you are in a dilemma betwwen two bad things, we say we have to choose between
"pest eller kolera", meaning "the plague/Black Death or Cholera"
Which made me coin an expression for a dilemma of good things, "fest eller opera", meaning "party or opera". Only I use that, but it ought to be widespread, because it's fits the bill exactly.
Danish Nerd tag: @enriquequierecagar @turtuallySarcastic
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11 spazmo
October 29, 2024 at 10:21 PM
my fav moment was when min young (parking attendant) was eating and then her expression changed when she finally said " i don't want to say goodbye..."
in a split second i was bawling... so sweet, so genuine.
but for most of the episode, i'll have a agree -- i was thinking WTH is going on, we're going to peter out like this after all THAT??? it got wimpy, but i still liked the ensemble characters! i'd say they held up the drama, cuz the couple dynamics were rather weird and to say the least... very trying to have to watch?
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12 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 10:26 PM
This drama was very unusual so thanks to all the hangout crew who shared the journey, it was fun🥰
The drama did not end as I expected it too but they consistently tried through the storyline and the way it was presented to give us an interesting drama and they were definitely successful in achieving that.
I know that it’s a drama BUT are they really trying to show us that if the main announcer is unavailable they don’t have a pool of announcers who can cover their spot? That amount of pressure on someone who had witnessed a traumatic event just so the show can go on was abusive. Announcers get ill and go on holiday all the time in real life, surely the co announcer could have covered it on her own if there really were no other options.
I am glad the 7 p.m. announcer was called out for her inadequacies it was just a shame it was not in front of all of her peers to show her what it was like when she did that to Eunho.
I am glad the grandmas got their screen time without having to go through another death scene. I feel for the older actors in
K-dramaland they are regularly being killed off or portrayed with dementia. I wish they had chosen a different type of quirky element for the spitting grandma as it was so gross not funny at all.
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spazmo
October 29, 2024 at 10:39 PM
in a sense, it felt like they tried to tackle too many issues all at once. it was a sweet drama, actually, but it took a long time to figure that out?
the acting was good, i'd have to say. even the crazy choco-banana milk guy... they somehow managed to introduce KOOKY characters (dislikable) and made them likeable, right?
*looking at YOU, baek hae yeon*
: )
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 29, 2024 at 10:56 PM
Unfortunately, I didn’t grow to like any of the quirky characters 😟
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spazmo
October 29, 2024 at 11:01 PM
aww, okay. i'm kinda weird in this way... at first i really disliked them. but somehow they "redeemed" themselves in my mind. admittedly, they did it in a corny way... i'm old fashioned i guess.
: D
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DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
October 30, 2024 at 6:02 PM
The world's quirkies thank you.
🖖🏻❤️🫡
TwoCentsWorth
October 30, 2024 at 5:01 AM
"thanks to all the hangout crew who shared the journey, it was fun"
Same. This has been the most engaging comments section. I better go hang out with Iron Family crew now. : )
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
October 30, 2024 at 11:33 AM
I hope you have fun there too😊
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13 Bunny Sonaki
October 29, 2024 at 10:41 PM
Some thoughts on the finale
The accident turned out to be just a cliffhanger for shock value without holding any significant impact except for getting ML to temporarily fill in for the other news anchor.
Honestly, I didn't find SML and SFL flirting together exciting. Rather, it would have been better to leave it at both of them moving on from their past woes.
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14 WEnchanteur
October 30, 2024 at 1:42 AM
I didn't like last episode. It's a flop. Boring.
Writing had more flaws than usual flaws I could notice.
Zero dramatic. And touching moment barely hitting.
So, it's a closure episode... after a closure episode?
In a 12 episodes drama??!!
I can't stand it, when I put it in the context that drama was already on a slippery slope of slowness, and we got less and less good scenes.
As a whole, this drama didn't had enough meat to put on the table.
Was maybe ok for a 8 episodes drama.
Or it needed to develop more ideas, more dramatic moments.
Writer didn't dare to catch a HyeonO death or coma.
But it was maybe too late at Episode 11 to go on that?
I was ok for anything, even tragic ending. But not boredom.
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Becky
October 30, 2024 at 6:56 AM
I agree that episode 12 was overall boring. Especially the drawn out situation with ML being the only one who could fill in for the kooky 9pm anchor. And the hospital scenes. The dinner scene and ending scene were good. But I definitely wasn't as captive as I was with the rest of the episodes.
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15 Isa is always time travelling
October 30, 2024 at 2:33 AM
I wish I could say I loved this drama from start to finish, but I can't.
The last episodes were so weak, so cringey, such a disappointment... The script was a mess, the humor didn't work (why did the ML turn suddenly into an annoying clown?), the scene of "goodbye to Hyeri" was a nonsense, SML and SFL relationship (or whatever it was) was shoehorned...
It's a shame because this drama had a lot of potential, I was hooked when I binge-watched the six first episodes, music was good, cinematography excellent, there were theories and mysteries... The comments were always interesting to read.
I thought I would give it some beans but now I don't know what I'll do.
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TwoCentsWorth
October 30, 2024 at 4:59 AM
Count me among the disappointed as well. I always had mixed feeling about the drama, but my interest always exceeded the negatives till these last episodes. Sigh.
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WEnchanteur
October 30, 2024 at 6:03 AM
Hey, I sign for the same team as you two. Sadly.
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16 Mr Everything
October 30, 2024 at 6:32 PM
Regarding Joo-yeon's character arc, he blamed himself for the death of his brother and he wanted to live his brother's life for him. But, that also meant giving up his own life in the military. He meets Hye-ri who appreciates him for who he is and helps him to realize that living is a blessing. They break-up by going on a series of break up dates to have a good break-up. It helped him to realize that break-ups are good to move on with life. So, he breaks up with living in the past. He turns off his movie loop about the life he had and regrets losing. He confronts his mom and asks her to move on from her trauma with him. And, he moves forward with his broadcasting career by studying for his interview. Without the weird secondary romance, it is actually quite satisfying.
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17 spazmo
October 30, 2024 at 7:43 PM
the sound editing was horrid. ambient sounds that stop when dialog starts (over dubbed), then comes back between sentences. i had a hard time listening to the conversations...
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18 late as always
October 30, 2024 at 9:06 PM
Wow. I am still figuring out what to make of this drama. It was stunningly beautiful to look at. Loved the camera work and direction. And for the first part the storytelling and the visuals matched. But then in the last 3-4 episodes the story became more standard melo. I still liked it--maybe even liked it more because it didn't make me work so hard--but it did lose some of that special quality that it had at the start.
I'm still struggling with how it's possible that Eun-ho and Hyun-oh dated for EIGHT YEARS and didn't know so many basic things about each other. How does that work? Did neither of them ever say to the other, hey, when am I going to meet your family? Also, I'm fuzzy on the timeline of Hye-ri's disappearance. I think she disappeared 10 years ago, and I think EH and HO started dating 12 years ago, so HO must have known about her disappearance, right? It must have happened while they were a couple? And surely he must have met Hye-ri, since she was so dependent on EH. What if anything was his reaction to her disappearance? How did he support EH, since supporting (admittedly, in a kind of messed up way) the people he loves is his thing? This may be the story mystery that bothers me most. Closely followed by EH having NO IDEA that HO lived with 4 grannies and a bunch of other strays and waifs.
Well, interesting. Loved the cast, one and all. Although I found the 9 cringy o'clock news anchor to be horrible in all ways, in every scene. Seriously, how did that man ever get a job in media? I think saying he's on the spectrum is a cop-out. He could be cogent and smart about other people when he wanted to. I didn't get him as a character, and if he was meant to be comic relief it didn't land, at least not with me.
Actually, I think Hye Yeon was my favorite character overall. Smart, funny, self-aware, and not very concerned with how anyone else saw her. She was the real gem of the series.
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Favour
November 5, 2024 at 3:55 PM
But my question is what actually happened to the real hyeri did she die or she still hasn't been found
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late as always
November 7, 2024 at 5:31 AM
I was okay with her not being found/her fate not being known. I felt it sort of fit with the overall tone of the drama, which was not so much about definitive answers as about exploration. That's part of what threw me about the last couple of episodes, though--they were more definitive than I was expecting.
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19 parkchuna 🍉
November 4, 2024 at 4:43 PM
What the frick did i just watch 😩
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