The thread is now open for guilty pleasures and fun analyses.
BTW, I read from the Viki comments that the drama deviated from the webtoon in that Episode 6 scene when Suho took JK’s wallet from the bullies. It was supposedly SJ who found the wallet.
lol. PPT? Doesn’t PPT mean Power Point presentation?
hahaha. At least, he said lottery number. It would have been worse had he said “math problem.” He shouldn’t be guessing math problems.
She’s always running away before he could say anything a word to her.
Let’s enjoy the show!
Thanks @pkml3. You’re certainly on top of things!!
That’s interesting about the deviation. This probably works out better for a short series. Rather than having more delay and conflict with JK being grateful to Seo Jun, we immediately have Suho repaying her good deeds and ‘hard work’ towards him. And we get a nice half jacket hug from the ML and less 2nd ML issues.
Looking at the GIFs … my thoughts:
I’m wondering why JK ran off immediately upon delivering whatever Suho asked for. She was not always in the middle of something that she had to rush back to, after all.
Perhaps her having been bullied before had taught her those default reactions, ie quickly jump up to appease/serve with alacrity, and then quickly get lost so that they won’t continue to pick on her?
– maybe JK, like a parent with a brat, considered Suho as just an annoying kid she had to silence so that she could get on with her life?
What bothers me about JK is that she too readily gives power over herself to others. She becomes overly subservient at a drop of a hat. It’s probably her unfortunate upbringing by an unsympathetic, bullying parent that got her into this pattern of lying down to be trampled on.
Eating Together
It was great to finally have a scene where JK and SH could sit like civilised people and have a meal. It’s telling that SH didn’t think the food would taste good. Does that mean he never tried the food that the Cleaning Ahjumma had left for him? She may have been tasked by his father to not only clean but provide a meal. Perhaps he rejected her food because he rejected his dad.
The other way of looking at it is that the food only tasted good because JK was there. She had mixed the ingredients and her friendly presence improved even the taste of the food.
I didn’t see why SH suggested the audition to her. Why should auditioning for the talent show have anything to do with her ending her part of the contract, unless SH was going to audition with her and needed her help. Didn’t make sense to me. What was his purpose in getting her to audition if it had nothing to do with him?
Pretty Talk
That was one of the most sincere conversations that they had at the bus stop. They were just being themselves without masks and said what came to their minds. Of all the things to upend and ruin, it is a shame that it was this one assurance of Suho’s that would have made all the difference in giving JK confidence. Linking being nice, like saying she’s pretty, to his pitying her was the worst thing. I’m glad that she wasn’t broken by it.
This is (if I recall correctly) quite different from the other Cha Eun Woo show, My ID is Gangnam Beauty (similar premise, similar role) where Do Kyung Seok always was affirming. The only difference was that he was supposed to be in college then, whereas here he’s in high school.
Anyway, back to this show: of all the things to take back, taking back the truth and replacing it with a lie, taking back that she’s pretty as she is, that she needs nothing added to be worthy of regard, was one of the worst things Suho did.
I watched Ep 7 raw and we’re at the stage where it’s one step forward and 2 steps back. A new factor is added to the mix and we get a quadrangle of sorts, which I don’t think is necessarily better than the triangle, but at least, it’s a little different from the usual tropes. It gets JK to admit that there’s someone she likes, which is a nice counter-weight because Suho also admits to a girl that there’s someone he likes. Until they tell each other who their someones are, there’ll just be the usual misunderstandings.
We have another Extraordinary You cameo this time from Do-Hwa as baseball player crushing on JK.
And another instance of a girl two suitors elevator breakdown showdown LOL.
DoHwa????!!!
Okay (tapping my foot) Where’s Rowoon? I want Haru to make a cameo, too with DanOh.
DoHwa was one of my favorite character in EY.
RoWoon is busy with SunbaeDon’tPutOnThatLipstick change title to SheWouldNeverKnow LOL but KimHyeHyoon was making a cameo while making SnowDrop so there’s still a chance 🤣
I think Rowoon is filming another drama so it’s unlikely he will have a cameo.
I had a lot of thoughts on this show. The positive ones, I believe most of us watching will guess. However I’ll leave those for later. I have actually found that I made a list of ‘Lousy Adults’ whose talk and actions have made my blood boil.
My List of Lousy Adults – Unfairness and justification based on fallacies
This is long and so I’ll post it in parts. I found myself with blood boiling and gritting my teeth so many times as I watched his drama that I’ve ended up writing out my frustrations.
Big grouse of mine: adults/older person who instead of protecting and guiding their offspring/young people, are the perpetrators of violence against them and using totally faulty logic to condemn, denigrate, blame and threaten them. As if there’s not enough bullying everywhere else, kids have to face it at home from parents or adults who have power over them.
Unfortunately this is probably a sad reflection of real life where the young person’s/children’s worth is tied to their success, clean slate, grades, and most unfairly, to their ranking in a cohort, which is something beyond their control.
Lousy Father – From Episode 6 -Soo Jin’s Father
Poor Soo Jin will never be able to please her father, because he won’t accept anything except first place. His reasoning is faulty, and one wonders how he can be a doctor but not be smart enough to figure out how stupid he sounds.
Anything less than first place, to him, is ‘losing’ and he considers losing a bad habit that Soo Jin should just kick. She must go to the best medical school. Her wishes are not consulted and her hard work not acknowledged.
Fallacies:
1) He considers being not first is losing. – Far from ‘losing’, 2nd place is actually fantastically good. There is no winning or losing in studies, it’s about how one progresses.
2) He thinks being number 1 is winning – It’s not. It is just a position that can be overtaken at any time, and there’s no way one can guarantee getting or keeping the position.
3) Losing is not a habit – it’s the results of a competition.
4) No matter what a child does or fails to do, slapping the child is abuse and wrong, and it does not enable the child to get a better grade. In fact the stress caused by her father’s abuse is the likely cause for Soo Jin’s drop in the ranking.
The frustration is that no one stands up to the abusive father for Soo Jin. I’m touched that Suho offers to help.
But the greater parenting fallacies held by Soo Jin’s father from his own words:
–
a) Fallacy of believing that he has a right to treat his offspring like chattel or an investment. That he does not need to respect her.
b) Fallacy that offspring owe him a specific or any return on investment.
Toxic attitude based on fallacious assumptions and a degree of stupidity:
a) It’s more likely that Suho’s family has the same status as Soo Jin’s and it would be a mistake to look down on him.
b) He belittles Suho when he is actually smart and well to do. His father has set him up in a very expensive apartment and has a successful career.
c) Even if there had been a difference in status, status is not a determinant of being smarter or of being consistently successful.
Lousy Mother – From Episode 6 and 7 – Ju Kyung’s mother
JK’s mother illogically links bad grades with her spending time on makeup, without ever finding out the root cause for her bad grades or why she needed makeup in the first place.
She punishes her unfairly for not rising in the ranking by 30, which is ridiculous because there is no way that JK can ensure the rest of her class will do worse than her so that she can be ranked higher.
As a wife, she is totally not life giving at all. Instead of acknowledging that her husband is trying to earn money and be useful, she denigrates him for making a loss.
I’m glad that JK blew up at her mother for once and told her off for not knowing why makeup was important to her. The irony is that it is not her parent but Suho who says the words she needs to hear :
Lousy Adult – Episodes 1-6 – Suho’s Father
Suho’s father did not care for him when he was younger and does not care much for the young charges belonging to his entertainment agency. I wonder what makes him suddenly want to befriend his son after ignoring him for maybe around a decade.
Se Yeon’s suicide seems largely to have been because Move Agency did not support or defend him, but instead kicked him out. This would have made him look guilty, even though he wasn’t. Seo Jun had been training as an idol as well, but had left the Agency, possibly in protest and possibly because his mother had been sick.
Lousy Adults – Episode 7 – The Discipline Master and the Vice Principal
I shake my head at the implicit and explicit bias the Discipline Master has – he hears that there was a fight involving students from the school at the Karaoke place and he rounds up the usual suspects but they are actually innocent. However they are unfairly punished and not believed when they protest their innocence.
Then I laughed at how the guilty ones stepped forward to take the blame (very nice of them) from the most obvious and likely culprits like Seo Jun to the least likely, like Soo Jin and Suho. I liked how shocked Teacher Han looks each time it’s kids from his class who come in to be punished. In all fairness to the Discipline Master, he’d probably have punished Soo Jin and Suho as well, and they did have to write the long apology, but the Vice Principal came around.
I shake my fist at the hypocritical, two-faced Vice Principal who just gives Soo Jin and Suho a pass because they are the top students and Suho’s dad is a celebrity. His blatant favourtism and brownnosing is annoying.
And all this time, the adults never once asked why there was a fist fight, which would have explained, and to an extent, justified the kids’ actions in the first place. It’s annoying that they generally believe the worst of the kids, punish immediately, and never ask the reasons why.
Lousy adult/older person – Episode 7 – Pitcher Ryu and his Targeting JK for a girlfriend
Ryu seems to still have belonged to a school but he looks like an adult and he is definitely older than JK. I dislike how it’s accepted that just because he likes someone, he has the right to pressurise them into accepting his attentions. I blame also the rest of the on-lookers like Soo Ah and the Baseball Team for putting JK in a difficult position, when it was none of their business.
Because of them, JK could not reject Ryu’s attentions outright, and immediately. No one asked JK for her opinion and whether she wanted the attention or not. In the way that she protested her mother’s treatment of her, she needs to slowly become more assertive and stand firm against the tide. However I still don’t like all this kind of unwanted pressure placed on her.
Ryu’s turning up at JK’s school was also out of bounds behaviour. He wanted to force her to go to the his Final Game by insisting that she hold on to his lucky baseball. I really hate coercion of this sort. It is not romantic.
And by giving her the baseball, she had to spend money to send it back to him by parcel post. He did nothing for her except embarrass and inconvenience her. Not romantic at all.
Title of Ep7 is “Mutual Feeling of Love”. Off to watch it now.
Episode 8 had many frustrating moments, but fortunately some very sweet ones as well. Going camping should always be this fun, and with a real ghost to boot! The quadrangle looks like it has turned into 2 triangles and old romances are renewed. I really like Tae Hoon as a friend to Suho. I worry about the girls’ friendship and hope it won’t be badly impacted.
What’s up with SuHo’s dad? First he wants an album, then he doesn’t and gets Ju Kyung’s sister transferred to another department to make it not happen? Why doesn’t he just say to her that as a project it was too difficult and would be dropped? I’m pretty sure that the elusive songwriter Leo is SuHo. Did his dad find that out and for good reasons or bad want to stop the release of the album because of that?
I think the crush JK’s brother has on Seo Jun’s sister is funny. It’s clear that he isn’t too bothered by her face without make-up, so there’s potential if he can just get over himself.
Mr Prince and Ju Kyung’s dad seem to go way back. Ha.
@GB, yes, that camp looked like good fun. The teacher knew all of the tricks for hiding alcohol, didn’t he? Even the beds looked reasonably comfortable. ‘What bird?’ Hahaha. Yes, Suho needs a friend like Tae Hoon.
I’ve had a bit of difficulty getting used to Soo Jin’s personality change in regards to Suho. It will probably cause some problems, but I hope not. I don’t want to see her become horrid. So many complications and miscommunications, but we got there in the end, at least for now.
I watched half of Episode 7 and realized, heck! I missed a lot of these heart-fluttering moments back in high school!!! Like sitting on BF’s shoulder as he cleaned the dog poop 💩 off my shoe (how come I never thought of that?!), or getting BF to put a hair clip on my hair.
The only thrilling moments I could still vaguely remember were activity-oriented: debate team, cheer, sleepovers, skating, homecoming, prom. 😭 I wuz robbed!
Oh to be 17 years old* again!
*Without the acne and PMS.
First kiss in ep8!!! I’m glad JK is bare-faced here. Finally, the confession is executed and sealed with a kiss 😘
Heh! @pkml3 I remember the confusion and heartaches of those teen years but not the fun heart fluttery moments… *sad sigh* Maybe the guys around didn’t know how to flutter hearts LOL. Or I’m just a cold bitch.
★~(◡△⊙✿)
@Fern
Episode 8 – I was thinking that JK’s brother’s words of warning on taking care not to lose friendship is a foreshadowing of what may happen in the next episode.
My thoughts on Suho’s dad is that he doesn’t want to have Se Yeon’s songs out in public, and/or does not want to rake up more public discussion about him. In the former case, the unpublished songs seem to be still with Suho. I’m not sure if the father knows. There’s no hint of it yet, but I wonder who owns the songs then if Se Yeon dies and leaves them: they could get ‘stolen’.
The other reason might be the father knows Suho is involved and wants to keep him out of the limelight or father knows he’s going to face backlash from people like Seo Jun if the album goes out and he does not want Seo Jun to make a fuss in public and point fingers at him and his agency as ‘killers’. We see from the interview between SJ and Hee Kyung that he was adamantly against the company doing the memorial album.
The as yet unanswered question is why the father is out to reconcile with Suho. He might have dastardly intentions or he might genuinely want to get back with his son. I’m waiting for development on that end.
I kind of understand and empathise with Soo Jin. She’s been lonely with her secret and she’s known Suho for ages. He’s generally not paid her much attention at all, but he is suddenly kind to her in her moment of need and she is much cheered. As usual the ‘crowd’ like Soo Ah will keep on harping on how good she and SH look together, what long term friends they are and that they look like they’re dating etc. So the idea of them as a couple, would have repeatedly come to her head. She was probably hopeful after his attentions and letting her keep the cap (the same cap!!) he was open to being with her.
I feel sorry for both her and JK. It’s always the way in these teen shows that the 2 lonely girls who get on, find themselves in the love triangle over the same guy. We have to see if Soo Jin has a better nature that overcomes being selfish or mean. I believe I have seen instances where the girls who are rivals remain good friends. Boys as rivals will usually just fight it out and then may let it go.
Wasn’t the fight scene in the tall grass the ‘most amusing’ and cringe-worthy false fighting scene ever? I didn’t know whether to take it seriously. Maybe it was meant to be a farce. It almost looked like they were kids playing pounce-on-me or they were just dancing. LOL.
😂 You should have told me that the kids happened in the last minute! 😂😂 I went through an hour and 3 min of misunderstandings and faraway-longing-stares just to see that kiss. I can’t believe it. It was the closer!
I take it back. I don’t want to be 17 again!
But I’ve to give it to Suho. He gets a trophy 🏆 for patience and doggedness.
Hahaha! Sorry PM3, those were
My exact sentiments, too. I was getting frustrated on this confession already and I thought they will be interrupted again. So whew! Finally.
Is the sageuk version of them at the beginning part of the ghost story? The guy (SH) ran away after seeing her face on their wedding night. And the epilogue, the ghost was there and hopefully had closure by finding a person who does not judge by looks alone.
👍 Janey. I like how the ghost story tied in with the rest of episode. It wasn’t a filler.
Am waiting for nrllee to tell us the title of this episode. Is it “Don’t judge a book by its cover”?
When the camera zoomed out of our kissing couple, I half-expected SuJin to be watching our couple from afar. That would have been a bummer for her. Was relieved to see that it was only the Ghost. I hope she would finally stop haunting the camping ground bec a girl like her found a guy who appreciated her despite her appearance. Suho was literally on “high ground” while the other guys were in the shallow ravine.
@Packmule3 title of Ep 8 is just “Misunderstanding”. I guess why use 7 words when you can just use 1? 🙄. Ep7 was “Mutual Feeling of Love”
I thought Sujin understood Suho’s feelings when she gave back the necklace. It wasn’t for her and he ran away. He asked many times where was JK during the trip too. She’s very smart, so shouldn’t she have understood the situation for now?
@Sayaris, yes this thing about the smart person being clueless… on the one hand, we might give Soo Jin a pass in that 1) she’s book smart but maybe not relationship smart? 2) she’s inexperienced in dating and may not know how to read the signs well.
(On the other hand, show might make Soo Jin dumb or mean *suddenly* as it suits them, because we know that drama needs to create conflict to fill out the whole series, so there’ll be ups and downs until the final episode!)
I recall as a kid, I too was not always sure what actions meant. Better if the intentions could be spoken loud and clear, but it is usually too risky for us kids to speak up and lose face.
It’s only on hindsight (and from YT videos LOL) that I understand that guys will only pay special attention to girls they like. Their signals are pretty clear, but I only got to know that as an adult!!!
However I’m glad that Soo Jin gave back the necklace without question. Some annoying 2nd leads will grab the other girl’s gift and assume it’s for them and the guy will be too ‘nice’ to protest. That already happened with Suho’s cap, actually. When Soo Jin wore it, JK interpreted it to mean that Suho had passed the cap to Soo Jin because he liked her.
Both Suho and Soo Jin did not know that JK laid special meaning upon the cap. I think that if Suho had known how JK treasured being allowed to wear it as a sign of his liking her, he’d not have let Soo Jin have it.
Ep 7 thoughts
– ahh all the flutters of guessing if that someone likes you or not. 😂 The daydreams. JK is the cutest. ❤️
– The study cafe scene where they were filmed in the background through the fish tank in the foreground. Does it remind you of Romeo and Juliet? The Baz Luhrman modern version with DiCaprio.
– DoHwa from Extraordinary You is the star baseball player. 😂. He’s speaking with a country accent? I only picked it up because KyungHo from HP had to practise his country accent. 😂. So cringey his falling in love at first sight. But I couldn’t stop laughing. So over the top it has to be a parody of sorts.
– 😂 @Packmule3 when she sits on him after stepping on a worm? That’s what the subs say… O to be young and innocent again.
– I was initially a bit frustrated with JK’s sis and her Lit teacher’s romance but I think it was @GB who mentioned it was a subverted male-female courtship? And with those filters on I can now see the funny side of it. She’s doing everything the typical male lead does in a drama. The umbrella. The kiss. The courtship. The flowers. Showing up downstairs at his apartment and him rushing to get dressed to hurry downstairs. The hand on the wall? 😂
– and the 2 boys grab her in the lift and the door closes on her? Potentially halving her so each boy gets one half of her? 😂
– game on at the end with the face off between the 2 boys – I like her too! 😂.
Honestly this drama is so over the top straight shooting that it’s just a fun ride.
I will try to catch Ep8 tomorrow.
Nrllee, Yes, my first thought with the fish tank was Leonardo DiCaprio and the fish tank in Romeo and Juliet!! 😂😂 That was iconic too.
So I’ll do both: Romeo and Juliet for the fish tank, and Extraordinary You for sleeping on the desk. (Thanks, @grace) Although I’m sure that sleeping on the desk/dinner table was from Goblin, too. 😂
What do you mean? ” @Packmule3 when she sits on him after stepping on a worm? That’s what the subs say… O to be young and innocent again.”
Where was “O to be young and innocent again” written? Was that a subber’s note?
Yes, the sister and teacher romance is a trope reversal. That’s why she changed the TIRE of the car when the car was OVERHEATING. 😂 Didn’t you notice? The tire wasn’t even flat. 😜 (Ep 3 at 28:20)
Lol. That’s when I realized that the relationship was a subversion. That there’s more to it than typical dating style.
The teacher was being timid in the courtship when his opposite male, Suho, was the take-charge-of-the-situation type of guy. The “guy” in the teacher’s relationship is the sister. (She didn’t wear the pretty pink outfit, right? It was still in a box and JK borrowed it for her date.)
But the sister’s actions come out like a comedy, like a parody, or a bad script, because the “masculine” elements are without context.
Take the tire incident. Yes. I wouldn’t mind a girl knowing how to fix a tire as long as the tire needed fixing. 😂
But I’ll write about the sister’s trope separately.
To balance out my grumbling about lousy adults, here are the nice moments, mostly in Ep 7.
Teacher Han’s words:
These words about seizing the opportunity is the running theme for episode 7, and to an extent episode 8, as we see Seo Jun and Suho seizing or not taking the opportunities to draw near to JK.
In this area, I’d say Hee Kyung and Ju Young (JK’s sister and brother) are really pros. They grab every opportunity presented to them. And of the 2 guys, Seo Jun is better than Suho in seizing his opportunities, especially when there’s a competition, and the rival is Suho. Of course, Seo Jun has also broken the ‘bromance rule’ ie, guys shouldn’t steal the girl that they know their friend likes.
The Sweet/Thoughtful Moments
Suho not only rescuing JK from the Karaoke place but bringing her home in a taxi and comforting her with a hand on her clenched fist. It was nice of him not to take advantage of her when she was feeling weak, so not exactly a missed opportunity.
Suho successfully pressuring the culprit, Lee Sung Yong into apologising, so that JK could rest easy and have a good night’s rest every night.
Suho wanting to study with JK to help her and to spend time with her. He messes this up, though, by scolding her for sleeping ie over-compensating for staring at her, when the rest of the kids come in. This is the pot calling the kettle black since it had been he who was sleeping. Missed opportunity
Bonding between JK and Soo Jin was nice to see.
Tae Hoon putting 2-and-2 together first with SH and then with JK and figuring out that they liked each other, he helps out. So many drama couples need a friend like him.
Suho bringing Tae Hoon to the game to meet the girls. Almost could have seized the opportunity except that Soo Ah and the Ryu guy were in the way.
Tae Hoon giving Suho good dating advice to be clear and a straight shooter like Ryu. He noted that SH was jealous over Ryu and gave JK all the drumsticks (“That’s true love, you see.” LOL). “Why haven’t you told her how you feel?. If you take too long, someone like Ryu Hyung Jin will snatch her up.” The rest of Tae Hoon’s advice was rather over the top, though, especially the pushing the girl up against the wall part.
Suho being the warmest we’ve ever seen … comforting JK in Prince Comics and giving her more ramyeon from his bowl. And acknowledging that she had worked hard, and done well and he was proud of her. He even asked her if he should buy her cosmetics. She notes that he’s warm this time, when he’s always so cool in tone. And he looks her in the eye to ask: “Do you not like guys who are cool? What do you like?” Great job of seizing opportunity
Mother finally showing some concern for JK.
SH cleaning her shoe for JK and not minding that she sat on his shoulder. Then placing a hair clip in her hair. Another great job of seizing opportunity
Suho reserving a seat for JK, although she refused to sit near him and Soo Jin. Can’t blame him for losing the opportunity this time, because had tried his best but JK acted on a misunderstanding.
The Jacket Motif Again
Once again, this time in Ep 8, the trusty jacket (our side character) makes its appearance. Tae Hoon hands Suho’s jacket to JK, to give her the opportunity to return it and thus meet Suho. It’s also the means by which JK showed her generosity, when she decided, painfully, to let Soo Jin have it.
And it was a great metaphor when Suho rejected it when Soo Jin tried to return it to him, because it was just the outer covering, whereas the person behind it was what mattered.
In Ep 8 the Sageuk JK hid her face under her outer coat and modern day JK hides her face under the bedsheet. Of course she’s chased by the boys who call out “Catch the ugly spirit!” so that we know that the parallel with the ghost story, is being played out.
However all jackets are off and SH kisses the un-made up JK, cos he knows “what’s inside the pot is more important than the pot itself.”
@Ella the elevator scene reminded me of something LOL! At least this one is cute and funny.
@GB Agree with the Lousy Adults list. When I first started watching this I told myself I won’t take if seriously and will just enjoy the HS love story (I have no idea about the Webtoon so no expectations) but the adults are so irritating.
@Diane
I wish I’ve watched more shows or have a better memory, but each time I see a scene like the elevator scene or hear the music change such as when Soo Ah and Tae Hoon reunited at the Treasure Hunt, I’m wonder if it’s a meta or not LOL. I’m hopeless.
Well, I’m hoping that even some of the adults (like the mother!) will grow a bit before show’s end. 🙂
The baseball cap.
But it was SooJin who grabbed it from Suho before he could do anything about it. Suho didn’t want her wearing it because he took it off her head at the end of the session.
I think he attached special meaning to his hat too so he wouldn’t just let anybody borrow it.
But I could see how SooJin would get mad with JK and feel betrayed. All this time, she had been “monitoring” JK’s close relationship with Suho (like the math tutoring) and JK denied anything special was going on between them.
It was going on right under her nose and she’d feel blindsided by her closest friend and childhood friend.
Ugh! I hope, however, the writer doesn’t prolong the frenemies trope. I’m not in the mood to watch a catfight between two girls over Suho. Watching two boys fight over JK in Ep 8 already strained my patience. The writer carefully steered away from depicting the second male lead as a “Total Loser,” then I hope she doesn’t paint SooJin as a “Mean Girl.”
Mean Girl = for second female leads
Total Jerk = for second male leads
If writer spared the second male lead, I think it’s only fair to show the second female lead in a positive light too. 🙂
@Diane,
😂 Same. The elevator scene reminded me of Start-Up.
Yeah @pkml3, it’s true that Suho didn’t expect Soo Jin to appropriate the cap twice, when he wanted it back. Well he could have stood firm, I guess, and told Soo Jin not to take it, but he was being the nice ‘friend’ to her, since she’d been crying. It’s likely then, that he might only have wanted JK or himself to have that cap.
As for Soo Jin feeling betrayed … yeah, that particular path has been paved for that already. However show has portrayed Soo Jin as all along not interested in Suho except as a rival in studies, and so I’m not sure that she was deliberately monitoring SH with JK.
However, she’d definitely be miffed that they ‘deceived’ her, as if they did it deliberately.
The preview of the next episode has SH saying to JK that they break up. My conjecture is that it could be due to Soo Jin, her plight with her dad, the state of her hands/mind, maybe she also gets suicidal… so SHh who’s sensitive about self harm would back down or sacrifice his own happiness or something. I would hope that Soo Jin’s character has a nicer arc though, than to merely end up as JK’s adversary.
If there’re going to be catfights, I’ll be using the super speed FFD button to get past it all.
Yes the treatment of 2ML and 2FL should be fair and even. However we’re only half way through the series, (I feel that 12 episodes should have been enough), and so much more strife and ups and downs are likely in store before we get our nice happy ending.
༼ ᕤ◕◡◕ ༽ᕤ ୧༼◔益◔୧ ༽ ~(=^‥^)_旦~ [^._.^]ﾉ彡
@PM3 Even the Swarovski scene reminded me of SU again. But why was there a real ghost? LOL!
@GB I get what you mean. I keep telling myself to stop overanalyzing or connecting things and just watch the show as it is but it’s hard! Haha!
They just kissed and they are breaking up already in the next episode?! Well, I guess more scenes with the 2ML. I like him more tbh.
Ref the sister and teacher romance, it looked to me like the brake pads were smoking, so I wondered why she was looking at fixing the tire. But I think they are funny. He is so demure and she is such a warrior (Like JK’s fantasy, but more actual). -Complete reversal of the cliché. I was going to call her ‘bloke-y’ but I thought I might get into trouble. When they sort of tumble-kissed up the stairs, I was half expecting to see his mother open the door. Then there was the interesting discussion about his finances. He was paying his loan off, living VERY modestly and saving until he could afford to date, i.e., could afford marriage ultimately. She asked his age at that, which was reasonable, and then praised him for his diligence in saving as much as he did.
I think in a way they are shadowing her parents’ relationship with the dominant mother working and the father being a house-husband, famous for his financial woes and yet forbidden to even sell his home-made candles. I hope it won’t go so far as to mirror the parents.
And then Tae Hoon’s overly dramatic suggestion that Suho pin JK to the wall was actually enacted by JK’s sister and finally repeated in a more gentle way when SH kissed JK while sheltering her behind the boulder.
Small snippet of my thoughts
Ugly Duckling
That’s why episode 8 is focused on the ugly duckling. People probably brushed it off, but clues were pointing to it. Kyung calls her self the ugly duckling, and there’s an ugly vengeful ghost who wasn’t loved because of her looks by her husband that is out to find a new face to cover up her ugliness. It’s not the fairytale of the ugly duckling that matters, but just the mental anguish in the tale the ugly duckling suffered from because of being seen as different and ugly. It’s the same fears and pain that Kyung goes through this episode. She regresses from believing that Suho could possibly view her as a love interest because of Soo Jin being in his life. Soo-Jin is the pretty one, is the worthy one because she’s just as smart, rich and good looking as Suho. She ends up going through the same anguish that both the ghost, ugly duckling go through feeling disappointed, hurt, frustrated with the people around them because of how they view themselves. Both the ghost who ends her life because she’s felt rejected and brutally treated because of how she was born, and the ugly duckling who gets rejected, hurt, bullied and pushed away almost to his own mental death are symbols of how Kyung views her self, and what she was the most frustrated about when she cried to Suho.
Which is why again Suho without knowing or meaning to shows up to show Kyung he cares for her, for who she is, and he sees her the opposite of how she’s been made to feel about her self. He buys her the swan necklace. And something touched my heart when I saw it. Like it’s just like him to do that when focusing on Kyung feeling and telling her self she’s the ugly duckling worthless, and below others, actually, Suho sees her as the swan, he knows who she really is, he likes he for who she really is, and he’s there to remind her that the ugly duckling wasn’t ugly at all but was a different species and was beautiful once he matured. He was always meant to be a swan.
And Suho buying that necklace symbolises his thoughts towards Kyung, what he does for her is just remind her that even without makeup she’s still worthy and she’s above the rest to him. It’s the same things he’s done the whole episode 7-8; he fights to show her she’s meant to be respected, meant to be loved (when her mum doesn’t show her that), meant to be valued and meant to be seen for who she is. That’s why he was always going to be the one to end up with her by the end of this episode.
I really loved how Suho showed up for JK in episode 7 and 8 despite his coldness at the start annoying me. I also agree with the subversion trope with the sister and teacher they’re mirroring Suho and JK even her mum and dad mirror them too a bit differently.
What are you all thinking about the ship wars. Personally I don’t care about either side.
At the current time, I do feel for Soo Jin. She’s busy protecting others and keeping things on an even keel for her school mates, but who is going to protect her? Her mother seems pretty useless; semi-blaming Soo Jin by asking if she was distracted; asking rhetorically why someone would hit a girl in the face — as though it’s okay to hit them somewhere else? It seems to me that she is complicit in the abuse. Soo Jin says to SuHo that she will call the police if becomes worse, but it may be too late.
I don’t think that she has always ‘liked’ Suho except as a close childhood friend. But when he offered sympathy and assistance instead of his usual stare after she complained that he is annoying and asked why he doesn’t transfer to another school, she starts to tip towards deeper feelings. He said that he was aware of the abuse before then, too. It’s ironic that JK may have reawakened that caring, involved side of Suho, but it has affected Soo Jin, too.
@Beingwritten, I didn’t know that there were ship wars, other than the usual preferences. Sheesh.
I like what you wrote about Ugly Duckling and Suho’s actions. At the camp, when she was crying to Seo Jun, he said something about ‘Crying makes you look ugly, so don’t cry.’ To be fair, he was probably trying his best because he didn’t know JK’s history, but it was the wrong thing to say to her. And he could have told her that Suho did, in fact like her, but that is probably too heroic an ask.
Agree.
To me, SooJin has “friend-zoned” Suho bec he never showed interest in a girl. But she is considered the “expert” on anything Suho bec they’ve known each other longest.
She knows his likes and dislikes (e.g., girls taking photos, going to the afterschool study hall) and she fusses over him (e.g., offering him plaster or something when he came to school sporting a scratch after a fight, texting him when he was absent). She notices his moods (e.g., when he smiled at JK’s text) and calls him out when he does something wrong (which is a sign of familiarity).
So even if they’re just friends, given their age and maturity, she will be “possessive” of him should he start dating JK. That’s going to be a shift in their dynamics and at that age? with those hormones? with those insecurities? and no trusted adult to confide in? it’s going to be a perfect ⛈ storm for SooJin.
There’s going to be rough days for JK and SooJin. But I hope the writer won’t let us down and will give us sisterhood al the way.
There’s ship wars? Really? But why?
The outcome here is decided.
I heard the webtoon is still unfinished and right now, JK’s dating SJ and SuHo is out of the country helping his dad with business or health issues or something.
But the webtoon writer has indicated that the endgame is Suho.
Quote from the writer’s fan site:
In response to whether she was Team Suho or Team Seojun, Yaongyi said that “if I were Jugyeong, I think I would always consider my first love more important!”
Also, screenwriter of this kdrama is someone else. I mentioned this in my First Impressions. I wouldn’t have started this kdrama otherwise. 😂 It’s the same screen writer as “Top Star Yoo Baek” — which I found funny.
I don’t mind 16 episodes if that means seeing the kids as adults.
But if there’s a fast-forward, then it’ll probably involve a big misunderstanding about something trivial so our couple will break up. 😂 As they say, we can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.
Agree. SooJin becoming suicidal would force Suho to break up with JK and put love on hold. I’m trying to remember if this trope was used in Extraordinary You… 🤔
Yep Fern thank you and yes he could have. People acting like he’s some kind of selfless hero and because of that Suho is a monstrous toxic character. Like no. Yes there are ship wars, on tumblr the whole tag is full of Suho hate and Seojun praise. It’s the same energy as start up tbh only difference Seojun is a good second lead.
“ Where was “O to be young and innocent again” written? Was that a subber’s note?”
@GB that was me – voice over 😂. I just find MGY and her antics cute. Even when she puts on her kiddish voice and has a silly grin on her face when thinking of SuHo. I did think it was weird that HeeKyung changed the tyre when it wasn’t flat 😂. I thought it was an error in the writing. It was only when you mentioned subversion that all those moments “made sense” 🙂😂. In a way the teacher was also hiding like JK (he was embarrassed that he had no eyebrows 😂). And it was makeup that gave him confidence to part his fringe. But HeeKyung saw him for who he was – and still liked him.
Are there fan wars? Actually the second ML has also got his legion of followers so maybe that’s why. And he is a nice friend to her. But JK likes SuHo so it’s going to be him in the end? They’ve had too many deep connections for it to mean nothing.
@BeingWritten O I see. So much like the ship wars in Start Up and Cheese in the Trap. Where the second ML is the “supportive friend in need”. It’s all about the FL’s preference though? It’s clear that JK likes SuHo and not SJ. She turned down the baseball player whom everyone was enchanted by? She will likely do the same to SJ.
I see the ship wars happening, all the SuHo hates, also people comparing SeoJun and jp 🥴
Do these people on some kind of let’s hate male leads club or something?
When JK sat on SH’s shoulder, I got a major second hand embarrassement 😆
Ep8 was a staring contest between our players LOL.. I really hope they don’t turn SooJin into jealous evil second lead.
@pkml3, @Fern, @Beingwritten
@Fern Yes, I believe you’re right. The Hee Kyung and Teacher Han relationship is there for ‘compare and contrast’. HK and Han are more like Hee Kyung’s parents. That’s probably how Mum and Dad got together too, and fortunately Dad is such a saint with a domineering wife like that.
I laughed when I saw that HK was enacting the dating advice of Tae Hoon. On top of that, the subverted shoe trope has cropped up. She buys him shoes (usually it’s the other way around) and tells him to walk to her.
Your insight into Soo Jin’s romantic awakening is likely right. If not for JK, SH might have remained the cold fish towards Soo Jin forever, and no romantic feeling would have emerged in her for him. But when he became more considerate, he inadvertently awakened the interest in Soo Jin. I do also feel for her, because although she’s been abused at home, and is lonely, she’s also been a good person so far. She’s stood up for those who were badly treated, she’s been consistently reasonable, truthful and a friend to Soo Ah and JK.
@Beingwritten, That’s a good one about the Ugly Duckling and the Swarovski Swan. Sounds right. He was assuring her that he didn’t see her as the Ugly Duckling but had gone past appearances, to whom she really was: the Swan.
Yes, he validates her when the bullies and her mum put her down. They are definitely the endgame so ship wars don’t make sense. I don’t bother to read other sites on this show. I shall remain happily ignorant about how the wars are going on.
I feel that ‘commenters’ (to put it nicely) get some kind of perverse rise out of hating and warring. I’m thinking that to them it’s not the show that’s the main event, but the opportunity it gives for them to gang up and fight, for fighting and nastiness sake. All the more reason to stay away from many Social Media platforms.
Update on the webtoon as what I see on twitter and youtube.
Seojun and Jukyung broke up because SJ is now an idol; and to protect his career as well as him and herself, Jukyung called the relationship quits. And now Suho is back from abroad I think. But then there’s this another guy now with Jukyung so another love triangle I guess.
Which brings me to this appreciation as someone who don’t watch but still updates herself on the drama because she admires the actor playing the 2nd ML. It’s really brilliant that the screenwriter/s and staff decided on solidifying the story so that SH is established as the ML and that there’s really no competition to begin with between the 2 MLs. They avoided the unnecessary heartbreak of the SJ-JK breakup due to SJ being an idol. The story is about JK and SH afterall. Still, the webtoon readers who are JK-SJ shippers are pissed about this “change”.
Now I am not aware of the 2 FLs fighting for the ML. So I don’t have that much of an opinion about it.
Fun fact: Hwang Inhyeop, our 2nd ML, went to high school and college here in the Philippines 😂. His english name (at least the one he used here) is Ryan Leon 🤣. According to his hs yearbook, he dreamt of being a fashion designer and had majored and graduated in fashion design in college. He’s active in school as a student council member and was actually the Mr. Intramurals 2008 in his school here 🤣.
It’s really crazy to know these informations. Just knowing the fact that he experienced the Philippine school life is crazily amazing and funny and amusing. He was an achiever too 😂
Now more fans would be in his legion. So prepare with the onslaught on the shipwars, you know how PH fangirls are like.
Oh! Is he Korean-Filipino? I don’t mind if you share pictures or YT clips. Is he part of a boyband?
Thanks for the heads-up on the fanwars. Here we go again… lol.
Yes, I was just telling somebody (or was it here on the blog??) that the wallet scene was different from the webtoon. In the drama, it was Suho who took back JK’s wallet from the bullies and gave it back to her. On the webtoon, SJ got the wallet.
As for the 2 FLs, I read somewhere that SooJin was different too. She’s nice in the drama but mean on the webtoon.
The screenwriter is different from webtoon creator. That would explain the different direction. I told you that a webtoon is normally messy. The plot isn’t going to be tight because the main goal is to extend its run by pleasing the fans. The story can be never-ending with more side stories and /or backstories added, or new characters added, or last-minute plot twists added and so on. Everything can branch off from the main storyline.
Oh well…
Oh, how True Beauty makes my heart flutter so much, imperfections and all.
The drama has deviated from the webtoon so much already that at this point it’ll be foolish of me to nitpick all the little details that I wish they didn’t change. Nonetheless, I am enjoying the show so much and I look forward to my Saturdays when I finally have time to watch it. Haha.
I do like how the drama made it really obvious that Suho will be endgame. I love how he’s always so considerate of Jukyung, and though he obviously finds Jukyung pretty with or without makeup, he understands why she cares so much about it and helps her in sticky situations.
My only real gripe is how it’s already episode 8 and Seojun and Suho still haven’t made up, and how Seojun is fighting strongly head-on with Suho over Jukyung’s affection. Then again, the drama writers probably had to do what they had to do for the ratings. Can it really only be shipping wars that can drive a drama’s popularity?
While I still like drama!Seojun (i terribly like him in the webtoon), he has done quite a lot that displeased me in the past episodes:
1. Not saying sorry to Jukyung for getting her dragged along with his fight with the bully
2. When Jukyung was sick, pulling her closer and having her lean on him when he saw Suho coming *sigh*
Though after seeing Jukyung cry and confess that she likes Suho, I hope Seojun realizes that he’s being a jerk both to Jukyung and Suho.
I didn’t immediately like Moon Gayoung in the drama, but now I found her so adorable that I’m sometimes cooing at my screen when she’s all happy and smiley. Jukyung’s so adorable! Just want to wrap her from the blanket and keep her safe.
(Also, It’s already episode 8 and the adults in the drama are still terrible. I just want to skip all of Jukyung’s mom’s scenes at this point.)
@LeeDale9198 That’s an awesome fun fact! (I’m from PH, too) I can imagine him being Mr. Intramurals with that smug Seojun look hahaha
He’s full Korean. Someone shared photos of him including his hs and uni yearbooks and they circulated on twitter (most likely coming from his classmates). I can’t find the photos anymore. The fans initiated to take the photos and videos down because predebut photos are supposed to be private and all that.
Here are some of the tweets containing the photos.
https://twitter.com/Kharymalangi/status/1346854675232956416?s=19
https://twitter.com/PenanoShiela/status/1346911532735553545?s=19
Again, it’s so bizzare knowing that a korean actor who’s popular right now experienced what you experience as well 😃😆
@jinyangie he never look like the smug Seojun at all 🤣. He looked just like your typical pinoy/tsinoy teenager/highschooler 😂 which makes it even more awesome and amusing.
Imagine him asking for 1/4 sheet of paper or borrow an HBW ballpen and be mad if someone would not give them to him 😂🤣. Someone said he did got mad of this but like I’m not gonna trust that comment.
Btw, where are you in PH?
@packmule3
These shipper fangirl don’t care who the designated lead is. And the fanwar started getting ugly ala StartUp, mostly bashing on SuHo, just saw someone name calling SuHo ugly 🤣 in what world does ChaEunWoo ugly?
Based on the preview it seems that the mystery songwriter Leo is SuHo and SeoJun know about it.
I also love that the first kiss happened when JK is bare face. SuHo likes the real her not the made up one that everybody else see.
JK’s confronting her mother, does no one in her family knew she was bullied? that voice mail JK left for her mother was never addressed in the show.
@Ella, I was wondering about the voice mail to the mother, too. Did she just delete it? Did she just think it was a teenage rant? Another thing that’s missing is the Mr Choi dinner that seemed so traumatic. We got no insight into that.
I completely understand the appeal of Hwang Inhyeop and his acting is so great in this drama. I really liked the look on his face when JK insisted on putting lipstick on him in the department store. But he’s clearly not the end game.
@GB, yes, JK’s dad is so positive despite being bullied by his wife. He’s still totally in love with her. I liked how he defended her about the client’s eyebrows. The meal, serenade and dance was great.
Shoe trope! I didn’t clock that. I thought it was just in reference to his philosophy on shoes and relationships!
@Ella @Fern yes I was wondering about that text. Her mom threw her phone at the dad when she found out about HSK failed business venture that resulted in them having to move. And that was that? So strange that her mom never read that text. Maybe the writer is saving it as a light bulb moment for her mom later so she finally realizes how much pain and bullying JK endured because of her “ugliness”.
I still find her mom overbearing and unappealing. There’s very little grace in her character. Perhaps she’s there as a foil? Hyperbole? Still it’s hard to watch. I liked the kiss at the end of Ep8. I guess high school romances are tumultuous? The ups and downs (hot and cold) between couples make it unnerving but I guess it’s part and parcel of all those raging hormones? 🤔. Did anyone watch Rookie Historian? I keep wondering if the beginning scenes in Ep8 were a nod to his character there. The swing. The chance meeting. The wedding 😂.
And how can anyone say CEW is ugly? What? They need to get their eyes checked. 😂
@Fern
I really like HwangInYeop too 🙂, and SeoJun’s appeal, his okey dokey animal print underwear dance will remain one of the most iconic scene in TB.
On JK’s parents, from her mother’s perspective, not sure how old JK’s sister is but let’s say she’s in her mid-20s it means that for the past 25 odd years she’s been the main provider for the family. I can understand her distrust on her husband every time he wants to start a new business.
Since Ep 1 we saw that when her family called JK ugly that jab was also aimed at JK’s mom. Everyone are fawning over her husband’s look (beat me I don’t know why he’s considered that handsome), she wants to make sure that JK has her place in the world by being smart which for her meaning having good grades.
And JK’s makeup is like JK’s comic book, for her mother it’s a hindrance for her in achieving good grades, if JK spend less time applying her make up she has more time to study.
I’m in no way excusing her poor behaviour but I can understand her because I saw her in my aunties 🤣
On JK’s father, he took his wife’s bullying way in stride because he recognize his lacking. He loves his wife and his family. I’m sure by the end of the series he will find his way.
JK’s mom need to get over her baggage and JK need to open up to her mother. I also think they would learn to communicate better later on.
I watch all these highschool and university shows and agree with packmule3 that I was robbed 😂 My love life was never this exciting. And literally just this week I remember saying to myself that I thought the Korean education system is tough, how do these children have time for this?! Lol😂
Great list on lousy adults @GB!
About fan wars, I’m seeing a lot of Han Seo Jun fans and someone mentioned it’s because Suho lacks personality. I remember posting in an earlier episode thread that a CEW fan came at me when I tweeted about his bland acting. So I’m glad that people are noticing what we’ve said here that CEW isn’t doing the character justice but I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason to insist Seo Jun is the one for her. True Beauty is another drama where I feel like I must be watching something completely different to the rest of the world. How are people rooting for HSJ? Compared to Suho, JK barely has a relationship with him! Other than the day they spent at the mall I can’t think of another time they actually spent time together and hung out as friends. Do they even have any interests in common? I feel like once again the story has clearly established what the endgame is but people are watching with an unnecessary bias.