@Fern and @Kate, I’m opening this thread for you so you can discuss the drama here.
Fern was saying…
Hello, Kate. I’ve caught up with Love is for Suckers. I am interested in the friends’ reactions to the ML and FL’s problems. The wife, Oh Hye Jin, thinks it’s too soon for a new relationship, but the husband, Park Dae Shik, thinks Jae Hoon should be proactively pursuing Yeo Reum while she is vulnerable. Once she has definitively turned Jae Hoon down, he would have Jae Hoon date the girl who likes him. It seems like a Mars and Venus thing, but the husband is correct that the timing is bad.
I’m having difficulty believing that Yeo Reum would think it’s morally okay to ask Jae Hoon to kiss the other girl, when he has recently confessed to HER. It’s insulting and sleazy imo. I would have believed it of Chae Ri, but not her. I don’t care if it’s to save the show. I’m not keen on the 2FL, but she’s being humiliated, too. It’s clear to me that Yeo Reum will need a big kick before she understands and can act upon her feelings.
On a what-if tangent: I do find it frustrating that Yeo Reum can’t say to Jae Hoon, ‘Let’s continue this discussion when the show ends.’ Or that he doesn’t just leave, now that he thinks she has friend-zoned him completely. He came on the show as a favour to her and he could figure out a way to get out gracefully. But then we wouldn’t have a story. I can see that the insecure girl taking pills might need some medical help later. I also don’t think we’ve seen the end of Ji-Wan’s past sexual trauma – I don’t trust her date or Producer Kang Chae-ri.
Kang Chae-ri is playing fast and loose with the timings in her editing, but I have to say that while she is diabolical, she really does know her audience. I dislike her moral stance on things, but I begrudgingly admire her initiative and intelligence. I can see why her shows succeed. I wonder what she will learn from Yeo Reum and visa-versa.
In the flashback section of episode 7, yes, it’s strange to see Yeo Reum dressed like a young teen. If she is written to be similar to my daughter, possibly because she stands out visually, she is trying to dress like the other girls in her school; to fit in and not be fashion-forward in any way. We also hear that she had to repeat courses; so at that point she was in class with a younger year group. But she had figured out a career, so she has a motive and a trajectory.
Kate’s response:
Hi @Fern,
Yes agreed the request is a big kick in the teeth for Jae Hoon — I think the show softens that by making her action one of self-sacrifice to protect a vulnerable person – a Faustian pact with Kang Chaer-ri.
At the same time it is a complete slap in the face for poor Jae Hoon.
And it also creates that scene with the powerful kiss behind a screen because Jae Hoon is having none of the request to kiss someone else.
Agreed too that the lack of communication is a pain… and as you say it drives the story forward also! In real life our hero would have walked out … but of course he is supporting YR and protective too towards our second FL.
I like your interpretation of YR’s clothing and style… signaling being stuck in a younger age group and stage than she should have been. So, some of the awkwardness is her as ‘fish out of water.’
Anybody else interested in this kdrama? Join @Fern and @Kate here.
gifs from seawherethesunsets’ tumblr
So…he’s way more into her than she’s into him?
The drama began in the present time then immediately jumped into an earlier time period. We were supposed to trace back exactly when, where, and how the lead characters became PD and cast member of the show she’s producing.
If I remember correctly, the male lead was called a “shuttle” by their friends. They said that he never outgrew being the female lead’s “shuttle” (or “shyeoteul” in Korean). To me, that was a red flag in their relationship.
A “shuttle” can be translated as a gofer, but the connotation is a bit more unfair, unjust. I’ve heard this term used in high school kdramas. A “shuttle” refers to a classmate who’s:
a) bullied,
b) low on the social totem pole,
c) ordered around to run errands for the “in” group in class.
There’s a power inequality, and willingness (or brazenness?) to exploit this inequality.
Now, that’s how “shuttle” is used in high school, but our main leads have long past this stage. While it’s worrisome that the male lead continues to see himself as her peon (I saw it as a sign of his inferiority complex), it’s more troubling that she thinks that she’s entitled to use him as her “shuttle” all these years. Has she no shame?
To me, it’s a red flag because if she’s been spoiled by him for 20 years, then it’s unrealistic to expect her to suddenly snap out of her selfish ways, and begin to shower him with the same care and consideration he’s given her, in the course of the drama. A bad habit is hard to break.
I would want a flash-forward to 20 years from the present time to see if she’s still sweet on him. That’s the only way I’ll be reassured of their true happy ending.
Enjoy the show!
@packmule3, thank you for this. I hope that you are well and have had a successful time overseas.
You have hit the nail on the head; Yeo Reum has been spoiled by him and she doesn’t respect his feelings. Within the relationship Jae Hoon has been inferior. What she has seen as simple affection has always been more than that on his side. But outside of the relationship, she is the one who has had the inferiority complex. Not a good student, living in black and white instead of colour (which I took to mean not included in normal teen activities). He was there for her in many ways and that has continued.
I don’t think it was entirely one-sided. She helped him out of his PTSD, but it was out of affection and friendship. In the previews for the next episode, it seems that part of his past will return. I wonder if it will be she who protects and supports him, or if her rival will take on that role. If she weathers his storms consistently from this point, I won’t need a 20-year flash-forward.
Thanks, @Fern, for the clarifications.
I’m still “overseas,” I won’t be back stateside till a few couple more weeks. It’s the weekend though and I don’t feel like investigating the city today with the others. I’m staying in the hotel, ordering room service, catching up on kdramas/cdramas, and getting ready for next week’s meetings.
@Packmule3 – thank you for this thread!
@Packmule3 and @Fern
Thank you both for your analyses of the dynamic between our leads.
I had forgotten the back story to their relationship and the ‘shuttle’ role played by JH. That casts a fresh light on what is going on at the moment.
There was also a point in the drama – I may be misremembering so I will go back and check – where I thought she was testing him out for his interest in her. This may have been when her first love returned to Korea and she had started to recognize what she had with JH. He wasn’t in the right frame of mind at that point. So the direction of travel has not been entirely one-sided.
Back later having checked.
Near the beginning of Episode 4, YR asks JH if she should marry her ex fiancé who has just sailed back into her life. She wants to know what he thinks and at that stage it felt to me as if she was asking JH to give her a reason not to, in other words express his interest in her.
They debate it hotly. But she is under the impression that marriage and dating are ‘a nuisance’ to him and she doesn’t perceive his interest in her and desire for her not to marry another man.
This episode has a number of points where things could have gone another way. She is about to have an evening get together with JH when her ex-boyfriend shows up with a cuddly teddy bear and she chooses to go off with him rather than meet up with JH. Ex boyfriend is still providing the prospect of the romance they once had and she can’t see beyond that to what JH is offering.
But JH has so disguised his interest in her that she could be excused for missing the signals he is giving her now…
Moving on to the later episodes… the great thing about the reality show context we are now in is that YR gets to see JH in a new light and on a new platform.
She has taken him for granted and been too close to him for some of her life to really be aware of or experience attraction.
Instead, as Fern pointed out… she has been in a place where her attraction has been for unhelpful relationships – presumably fueled by uncertainty and tension.
Annyeong 🍁
I’m watching this so i appreciate this thread @pm3
I see what you’re saying about how he’s more into her. but i remember when they were on top of her bed and were about to kiss. she closed her eyes and waited. He was the one who up and left. weirdo. that was his chance! but i guess the show is going the longer route. where she gets her 2nd heartbreak and we get this angst during the “kingdom of love” taping.
@fern, re: flashback to their youth – i thought them playing their younger selves was eecky haha. well, maybe it’s her outfit. too bad they didn’t get real younger actors to play their roles. sigh.
i am curious how all these will end, but am enjoying the dynamics in making a reality show. the choices you make as a minion vs as a PD. but YR is a good PD compared to CR. gosh. i like how YR takes care of her people. and she’s not afraid to get down and dirty – like when she went for that drone stuck in the muck. She leads by doing (servanthood).
@ kate, i agree that being in the show means YR gets to see a different JH. which is cool. HE’s cool. He’s a gentleman. i hope YR realizes all he does for her and she will have to stand up for him one day, in a major way.
i’m not into the bachelor-y type of shows… but i am enjoying this one 🙂 rooting for our OTP.
Annyeong
**spoiler alert**
ep 9 is so sad/heartbreaking to get the backstory of his depression episode and his role in his father’s death. so hard to be a doctor. wow. this is kind’a the same backstory with the ML of “may i help you” show. so glad that’s all cleared up. but what a dilemma indeed. if i were in his shoes, i would totally rescue my dad first. but to actually be beyond recognition? so so sad that his dad passed all by his lonesome. but his dad knew the right thing to do. he gave him his approval even though JH didn’t realize it then.
i really wished it was only YR that showed up at the beach lodge to find JH but CR is so cunning to think of the show first and bring the production crew along. ngeh. and that scene at the beach that was just YR’s imagination – too bad. JY has to take all the credit for bringing JH back to the show. ngeh.
i think it was pretty cool for the guy JH saved to become a doctor. how he felt bad that he got the better end of the stick. i like the way he’s giving back. perfect timing. and i liked how JH chose to forgive the guy who started the rumor. what a big man!
i feel bad when JY got to JH first with some chamomile tea. YR walked away with her two cups of coffee. waaah.
just wanna say, i enjoyed ep 10 HAUNTED HOUSE date night. so funny. i’m not a fan of haunted houses… but this one was entertaining haha. and that ending. how sweet of JH to come to YR’s rescue. wow. this is like the pool rescue he did for Ji-yeon.
CR is interesting… how she CRAVES JH. and i feel that she’s testing YR in coming out and fighting for her feelings for JH. i don’t like the preview for next ep 🙁
@PackMule3, hope you are enjoying your trip and that you are staying safe and healthy!
Hi Fern, Kate, HK Lady,
Glad to join this discussion with you. I like how this show is about people who are in their late 30s and not a noona romance or romance about people in their early 20s. I liked how our FL and ML are best friends, but when the reality show part started I wasn’t as interested since the YR uses the JH (well, guess the PD “forced” her but she did agree) to be on the show to keep her job.
I find it hard to believe that the day after she is the runaway bride she needs to go back to work. Couldn’t she have taken time off for herself? If she had gotten married, wouldn’t she have had wanted to stay an extra day or two off and/or gone on a honeymoon? Too bad the JH confessed to her so soon, it was really bad timing and she was not in a state to get into a relationship.
I could feel her tension, she didn’t want to lose her best friend after all that had happened, but she didn’t need to be so mean to him and reject him so harshly twice. She could have said something like, “I’m confused right now and am not ready to get into another romantic relationship. Can you be my friend now, and when the show is over let’s discuss this more? Right now I really need to pull myself together and focus on my job. I appreciate you so much for being on this reality show, it means a lot to me.”
Episode 10 was tough to watch since I started to like our YR more and more. How can she keep betraying their friendship, “use” JH and let him misunderstand her without clearing things up? If he wasn’t picking up her calls she could have texted him and let him know what she was really thinking. The worst was when she brought the cameras to his safe place without getting consent from him.
I almost want to drop this show and wait to see what the ending will be before I invest more time into watching it, since I am rooting for our OTP but YR needs to redeem herself and have some character growth since she has no backbone now and gets the award for worst friend ever.
The SFL is manipulative (showing up at the ML’s workplace right after they meet and showing him her boobs to try to get him to lust after her). In episode 10 she does kind of apologize for her desperate ways but she seems like the controlling type, threatening YR if she (YR) has feelings for JH she (SFL) will leave the show.
I want to see the backstory of why the mean PD is the way she is (what’s her relationship with her mom?) and see her character grow and show redemption as well. Maybe she will be the one that will take YR off the show so she can properly date JH (my wish!). Glad she is forcing YR to acknowledge her feelings and hope she will somehow help them get together.
Found it cute that Siwon could so easily recite the Lord’s Prayer (at the beginning of the show). I didn’t notice how handsome he was but he sure is one fine man. His voice is soothing and he seems like a dedicated, humble, hardworking gentleman in real life.
Because of this show, I went and watched some of his interviews and learned he has stayed with the brands he represents for many years, spends a large portion of his time being the East Asian representative for UNICEF, has his own business endeavors, lives a simple life, and is humble and kind. He seems ready to get married and talked about being jealous when he attended his cousin’s wedding, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear his wedding announcement in a year or two. I’m guessing he will marry a non-celebrity since he seems to prefer a low-key lifestyle.
This is the first drama I’ve seen Lee Da-Hee and she is portraying her role well, but I can’t stand the crop tops they have her wear. I understand if it’s one or two outfits like that, but having her wear crop tops in nearly every single outfit she is in is a bit much.
Now I’m rooting for the webtoon artist and the chef–she enjoys his food and is unfazed, while he soaks up in her admiration of his cooking skills. She can “protect” him yet praise him at the same time.
Glad this show is touching on bulimia and IVF, the first I’ve seen in K-dramas. Wonder if one of the female contestants on the reality show has depression or other mental health issues since we’ve seen her pop pills a few times already. I hope we won’t get a strange plot twist like suicide or murder.
I was hoping for a fun, light rom-com but right now there is too much angst. In episode 11 it looks like JH will give our SFL a chance. Wonder how long that will go before YR confesses her true feelings to JH There are still six episodes to go, so there will probably be more misunderstandings and tropes until things get resolved. I hope our OTP get together before the last episode and that we can see them being sweet and romantic best friends again soon! 🙂
@Hatlady – Great! I had lost the rhythm of showing here and didn’t realise new episodes of this were available.
Excited.
I’ll watch tonight and then read your comments and off mine!
@Hatlady and @Kate, I will try to do the same to catch up. I sort of dove back into ‘Forever and Ever’ since people were writing about it.
@Fern,
Super!
[I’d love to know too what you are thinking re F&E – at your leisure of course!)
Episode 11
Very entertaining as ever. I love the pace and feel and colourful look of this drama.
But what are the contestants doing with mobile phones on the set of a reality show? That doesn’t happen usually! Am I wrong here? And they are wandering around off set in between and going to work or is that just our ML who has been granted leave because he came in at the last minute?? When does that happen in a reality show like this one?
Also, the actor Si Won needs to cut back on the hair grooming habit…raking his hands through his hair on every occasion…is it a a nervous thing? A boy band/ ex boy band thing? It looks self-conscious rather than cool.
Puckish director Kang Chae Ri – the relentless manipulator – is played very well and they are showing signs of some human weakness too in this episode… although they are making her somewhat two dimensional here.
There is, of course another Producer Director, our FL, so they are fighting a good versus evil battle over the lives of the reality show contestants. The contestants themselves reveal their true motivations – are they innocents or manipulators?
I liked the running scene with ML and (hope springs eternal) Hanh Ji Yeun. Here, she is being far more natural and attractive and less manipulative in her conversation with the ML. She had no further ‘down’ to go in terms of public humiliation so is making good use of the need to accept and rise above the situation by being yourself. I hope she hasn’t been coached to say all this by malign KCR. Is our ML warming up to her because of being pushed away by our FL?? Or is he wanting to give her a chance out of compassion for her in that situation and respect for her newfound chutzpah?
Things are very raw now between FL and ML. It all hangs on ongoing, poor communication. Why hasn’t our FL explained to the ML about the way nasty KCR took the decision to expose their kiss?
I was feeling for our FL so much in the misunderstanding etc and then she sat on that bench, wearing that lovely greenish-turquoise top and up comes the ML – hoorah!… they finally connect at the right level…. And then he disappears… we discover she has imagined that conversation! I am disappointed. But why is it so difficult for her to see what he means to her?
A nice surprise segment when vain Chef gets the appreciation he craves for his food from the webtoon writer who is not one of the glam girls in the show. Will that story go anywhere I wonder?
Then the story takes a very serious turn and we hit the ML’s backstory and the traumatic thing he went through as a neurosurgeon.
He decided against surgery on his own Dad – not recognizable following a gas explosion and lying in the emergency room. Our ML has to make the call between three victims and who got the surgery.
Absolute trauma when he realizes. I can’t imagine the devastation…Very well acted Si Hoon! The story is very well told in this section. He remembers the man disfigured by burns waving his hands at him and then he runs off to perform surgery on the person he prioritized, unknowingly at the expense of his Dad.
Sorry that was Episode 9!
@Kate, I’ll write about F&E in the What are we watching thread.
I’ve watched up to episode 10 of Love is for Suckers, so I’m waiting for the next 2 now.
Episode 10
Episode 10
Unexpectedly powerful stuff with ML reliving his Dad’s death and his own missed opportunity to save him. Although his Dad’s hand gesture and the hands flopping down after that may suggest that his Dad died at that point. We can see how Jae Hoon, our ML, has stood back from costly commitments and not been able to move back into the life or death responsibility of a surgeon. ‘My Father passed away because of me’ – he can’t let go of the thought that he could have done something to save his Dad.
He’s having to relive all of this trauma in the public glare with the media pursuing him. Because he decided to help out his friend, the woman he ‘liked’, the FL.
Like @Hatlady I am wondering what our FL is thinking – bringing nasty director and the film crew to the ML’s seaside hideaway. Now, she is wanting him to tell his side of the story… but in the context of what ML thinks her priorities are … only the reality show and at his expense … her actions don’t land well with him. She is doing a very bad job at getting her actual thoughts and feelings across to him. Good emerges though and there is a healing encounter with a young man who has felt guilty about being chosen for surgery.
The ML-FL dynamic is frustrating at the moment. I don’t think that she doesn’t deserve him but I do find her sadly negated at the moment – lacking confidence and in denial of her response to him as a woman and accepting the situation as if she has to.
Hoorah hoorah there is an ML FL romantic rescue encounter at the end of this episode… hoorah…
@Hatlady – yes, it’s a real mix of a show when it comes to mood and topic. All these different layers and these two episodes – 9 and 10 – erred on the heavy side.
I really hope our ML doesn’t open up to the 2FL. I think although he is hurt and angry, he wants the FL and only wants to give a chance to the 2FL.
I hope we get an unexpected pairing between vain chef and webtoon writer and I also agreed it was good to raise the issue of bulimia. The strikingly attractive contestant is less and less attractive to us as we get to know her more isn’t she?
I loved the way KMR simply stood there and stared as our ML explained that he didn’t want a public apology from the rumour spreader. She is intrigued by him and can’t use her verbal dexterity in the same way she usually does!
I am pretty confident of a happy ending to this series.
ps point of clarification – the contestant who starts off looking strikingly attractive is utterly self-absorbed and no fun at all. I am not saying that having bulimia per se makes you unattractive – but rather that her single-minded commitment to her appearance makes her show up in multiple ways that block the attraction in the end. She doesn’t enjoy her time with the chef or appreciate his food because she has to go off and purge. He then finds unexpected consolation in the comments of the webtoon artist who relishes his food in an unselfconscious way.
I’m joining this late Ladies. 😊
I’m liking this show because of the main leads. Though YR annoyed me with her ‘I didn’t feel anything with the kiss’.
I want to know what JH was thinking when he turned away from her after she said that.
Anyway I want her to grovel when she finally realises that she likes JH after all. I feel like getting archaeopteryx to ask YR if those years of friendship, she really never had feelings for JH. 😂
I’m loving the second couple here too. The guy looks like my cousin so whenever I see him I’m like awww. ☺️
@agdr03,
I was annoyed too after that soul shaking kiss! YR can’t afford to the luxury of that type of comment!
Yes to your suggestion re the archaeopteryx!
I wonder why she says that her feelings for JH are the most complicated of all. What have we missed in the plot? Or is it that she can’t yet ‘see’ because he has been so close to her? I am frustrated too …although there is an element of ‘every woman’ about her faulty man ‘picker’ when he is right under her nose!
I hope RH hangs on in there. The more we learn of him the more loveable he is.
@Kate, I totally agree that JH is more and more loveable, the more we know about him. I just love his honesty now. I don’t mind him trying to get to know JY more.
Maybe YR is only seeing JH now as a man that she can love, and not as her closest friend. She’s starting to see it like you said and hence it’s complicated now. I just wish she didn’t outright said to him that he’s not meant for her. She could have said she’s not ready. It was a soul searching kiss. Love it!
I wonder if later in the show she will have to fight against PD KC and JY for JH. hehehe
I was laughing at the ghost date. LOL!
Can’t wait for this weeks episodes. 🙂
@agdr03,
Yes, perhaps the confusion is down to the long-standing friendship or perhaps the show will reveal something that prevented the friendship blossoming sooner and she has guarded her heart since!
I agree re the 2nd couple, by the way,… they are a great counter balance to all the ‘fakery’ of the ‘reality’ show! YR wants what they have but doesn’t know how to get there.
The ghost date was funny!
I am remembering the start of the show where JH appears to be about to get married on tv and not to YR. So, I wonder what missteps got them both there and what YR will do at the eleventh hour… Yes to YR having to fight off the competition and things having to be desperate for her to do that!
I’ve just seen Episodes 11 and 12. Worth watching. Still very enjoyable.
Ep 11 briefly contains some darker toned drama. The results of this are a change in filming plans and the upshot of that is that ruthless PD KCR feels pushed to new heights of machination in the next episodes…
There are some lovely moments between an unexpected (but not really) new pairing on the show.
And a very satisfying development in Episode 12.
How’s that for an intriguing write up?!
A little theory from the romantic part of me…
Our Choi Si-Won who plays the leading male, said in an interview that he was very keen to do this drama, partly because of the writer and partly because of the proposal for Lee Da Hee to be the lead actress. She was a strong reason for him accepting the part. He said that this meant they had to wait for her to complete filming for another role and he was happy for them to wait. He is, as far as I know, single.
Fellow Super Junior singer, the happily married and absolutely charming, Cho Kyu-hyun, was on the panel of a relationship reality show last summer, alongside Lee Da-Hee. She was also fun and charming and sweet on this show and at times shared her thoughts on relationships.
Could it be that Kuy-huyn having got to know LDH in that context, wanted his colleague to meet Lee Da-Hee for possible romance?
Please indulge me in my fantasy deduction! Wouldn’t it be lovely if something blossomed with Kuy-hyun as one of the catalysts?
Waaaaaaaaaaa! That was some kiss! 🥰 Darn! I wanted JH to not give in straight away but I can’t blame him.
I’ll indulge you @Kate 😉 Why not if their both single? I honestly like this pairing. ☺️
I’m up to episode 12. I’ll try to watch 13 so I’m up to date then I can go to May I Help You. ☺️
@agdr03 —- it WAS! I didn’t want to spoil the surprise for you. I watched a few times…
Thank you for your kind indulgence @agdr03! BTW, his Super Junior ‘team mate’ seems to be a sweetie and I hope that this goes for Si-Won also… may have imagined it but I think he said that his romances didn’t tend to go well. So my theory is that his happy, grounded and understated colleague has been doing what good male friends do behind the scenes…
Yes, May I Help You looks good. I am lured away tho’ by the new SJK drama and have a number of C-dramas to complete.
I’ve watched it a few times too. 🙊
I can imagine Kuy Hyun to be doing just what you said @Kate especially if he knows that Siwon would like to have a happily married life too some day. ☺️
I heard that the SJK drama had an awesome first episode. I’ll watch it too but I’m not in a rush because I’ll be watching MIHY now.
I was crazy to think that episode 13 was up. That kiss made me crazy. 🤣
I’m not watching any cdramas for now but I wanted to watch Forever and Ever too.
Laughing here! I was about to look for ep 13… But we had to wait so long for that kiss … even though there was the soul shaker kiss … this one had her acknowledging her feelings!
Glad the theory resonates with you… let’s see what happens…
I’m starting Reborn Rich later today and I am also STILL planning to reprise the final few eps of the wonderful LLTG. I just need to be in the mood for the latter.
@Kate and @agdr03, I am a fan of Kyu-hyun. He has absolutely one of the best voices in the k-music business. Wouldn’t it be lovely if he was instrumental in starting a friendship, at least, between Si Won and Lee Da Hee?
I’ll watch what I’ve missed tonight.
Very wet here. We finally turned the heating on, on Thursday night 🥶➡️😊. On Saturday morning we had a proper frost.
@Fern,
That is so interesting re Kyu-huyn… I only know him on this one show. I must go off and listen to some of his stuff! It would be lovely indeed if he were instrumental!
Yes, re heating (national obsession at the moment eh?)… mine is now on fully for a similar amount of time. I have been putting it on and switching it off after a few hours for the past few weeks. It’s a relief to switch it on and forget it!
@kate, here you are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZymRLulW0
I think he does musical theatre, too.
@Fern – this is lovely – what a voice and what a performer!
Oh dear…I am disappointed…this looks more like friendship than the beginning’s of romance.
Si-Win and Da Hee talk about their kiss… and the focus is on the roughness of his chin due to bristles …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZLmFb_NYds
Oh, I’ve seen that. He said that he has to shave a lot. Despite that, they seem very comfortable together. Kate, there’s hope yet. Personally, I like me a bit of 5 o’clock shadow, but it may be rare in the Korean entertainment industry.
I’m up to date now. I have to agree with you and @agdr03 – that kiss was very convincing. Nearly as good as her kiss with Lee Jae Wook in the subway lost and found in ‘Search: WWW’. If you haven’t seen it, it’s at the end of this video:
Oh that is a good kiss – a very natural one! I saw the show but didn’t remember this…makes me want to watch the show again @Fern!
Yes, let’s hope there’s still hope. Thank you @Fern! When she joked about him shaving for his ‘future wife’ and he talked about hair as ‘a gift from the almighty’ when she suggested he had some removed (not the most tactful thing to suggest!) it felt – I may be overthinking – that they were both drawing lines in the sand. My guess is that he fancies her but not the other way around.
@Kate, thinking about it, I think that you are right. If she’s turned off by a beard, though… Do men really have their beards removed in S Korea?
@Fern… I don’t know. I think I read that he is ‘an hairier man’ than the usual smooth Korean man! I am reminded of a sketch here…
Apparently she has very sensitive skin and was left with red blotches over her face after the first kiss!
@Fern
He suits a beard! Oh my! He looks twice as good…
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/485333297326527901/
Hi Ladies,
Just chiming in my two cents here. The interview you are talking about with Lee Da-Hee and Siwon gave me “friends-only” vibes. I don’t think they are into each other and seem to be just good friends. Siwon doesn’t look at Da-Hee with dreamy eyes the way Hyun Bin gazed at Son Ye-Jin when they were doing the Crash Landing on You interviews. I think they have amazing chemistry on-screen but off-screen they seem to be just friends.
I’ve watched another one of Siwon’s interviews and he said he wants a wife that understands him and will pray for him since he is very busy. I’m not sure if Da-Hee has faith in God, but Siwon seems to be very devout and is dedicated to sharing and living his faith publicly and openly. On his YouTube channel he even narrates the whole Bible in Korean. Even if I don’t understand Korean I can listen to him read the Bible for hours…his voice is very soothing.
I also wonder if Siwon has been singing some of the OSTs, the male voice sounds like his. For someone being born with “a silver spoon” he has worked hard, stayed humble, and become successful on his own accord since his parents wanted him to be independent (or so he says) when he chose to be an artist. Now I want to watch My Fellow Citizens (2019) he starred in as well, but don’t feel like upgrading my standard Viki subscription to Viki Plus.
As for this drama, I’m really rooting for the chef and webtoon artist. She understands and accepts him, and he appreciates her kind personality and her “pretty words.” He can be himself around her and not worry about trying to impress others. I forsee their ship sailing soon!
As for the SFL, she really needs to move on. She asked him to “use her” and is whiny and pouty when he doesn’t give her his full attention. She cries when she doesn’t get her way. She needs self-respect and move on to preserve her dignity. C’mon, they’ve only met for a few weeks and she hardly knows anything about how, why is she so smitten by him?
Siwon posted a picture on his Instagram account today from the show, and it looks like the SFL will throw a cake in his face this week, maybe when he tells her he loves Da-Hee and is treating her with respect only for the show, nothing more.
I’m enjoying this show even though it’s not what I expected. I didn’t expect the drawn-out kissing/bedroom scene though I do admit they had a nice, long kiss and I could understand what they did since YR and JH have known each other for so long, they didn’t need time to “warm up” and get to know each other. They already knew almost everything about each other and practically lived together for a few years already, they just went one step ahead and consummated their “love.”
Kind of wish one day a Kdrama will make characters who are physically attracted to each other decide to *wait* (gasp, yes!) until they get married though, to let people know that it’s a choice you make. You don’t need to sleep with someone right away just because you are sexually aroused.
Look forward to our episodes this week and hope they won’t break up for some random reason. Writer-nim, please give us a happy ending!
@Hatlady,
Such a good comparison to make with the HB SYJ interviews before they went public. Agreed. Gold standard comparison.
I only discovered over the weekend about Si-Won’s being a very confident Christian voice in a number of areas. o it makes sense that he has a particular type of woman in mind. I hope he finds her.
Did you enjoy ‘Revolutionary Love’? I thought he was fab in that show.
I find myself resonating with so much of what you wrote in your post. I am liking the rapidly improving chef and the lovely webtoon artist too.
On the consummation topic … I do find C-dramas drawing this line more and being written with plotlines that support the waiting process (obstacles, distance, vows etc). Do you agree?
I am now thinking rapidly of K-dramas where the plot involves waiting until marriage.
My feeling was that the kiss was great. We’d all been waiting for it. I was also surprised in some ways that JH went straight in for the kiss. It felt a bit like a standing start emotionally even though she had poured her heart out.
Erratum – you were probably too polite to point it our but Kyuhyun is not married – he is the proud uncle to two delightful nephews!
@Fern, you have me listening to his music and to the KRY ensemble songs too…love Yesung’s voice too.
@Kate, @Fern and @Hatlady 👋🏻
I haven’t seen the latest episodes but I will tonight.
That video of SiWon and DaHae are cute. I thought it was very honest of her to say that about his beard and really, they’re very comfortable with each other. Look at her rubbing her face on his shirt. 😄
It’s all friendship but maybe they can follow their character in the drama. 😂 I’m happy they’re not awkward. SiWon seems like he’s a good man. ☺️
After I watched the video about the beard, I saw this. It’s so cute and his niece is funny. 😂
https://youtu.be/blaFAbPyQRg
@agdr03, I think that the little niece may be funnier than he is. She is really smart, too. They are good playing off each other.
@agdr03, @Fern,
Yes, she is very sharp! He adores her. Heart-warming dynamic. I enjoyed the panel too!
On a relates topic…I was reflecting last night on just how good LDH’s acting is.
Do people agree?
I haven’t seen any ‘duff’ ‘wooden’ moves in this show so far. She seems to inhabit her role naturally and unselfconsciously. My only problem with her role was the retrospectives back to her college days where they had her dressed in a girly way I don’t think she would have dressed.
Will watch and comment over the weekend too – Eps 13 and 14.
Ep 13
Enjoying more romantic time together for our couple in Ep 13
Enjoyed their prequel karaoke session and they clearly did too!
Loving the ballad (from 3’.45’’) on in this episode. It seems to be their song. I can’t find the title or the artist.
It’s rather an open plan apartment, isn’t it? She is lying in bed watching him prepare breakfast…
The sudden kiss across the outdoor breakfast table… I liked it! He’s keeping her on her (romantic) toes. Then the ‘I love you’ as she recovers her composure. So nicely timed.
Neglected contestant, So-Yeon, is starting to unravel even more. I remember thinking when the Kingdom of Love began to be filmed that she looked like very much like one of the participants on a K reality show last year. I wonder if this was on purpose.
Date selection and the dance of uncertainty between Chef and Webtoon artist… he is so conflicted about being stuck with the glamorous contestant to whom he is no longer attracted. Webtoon cutie takes a shy initiative.
YR talks about everything she has put JH through… her confession that he has always played such a vital role in her life.
Unexpected behaviour from KCR who is beginning to unravel within the dynamics of her own making.
Ep 14
We get more background on our apparently hard-bitten PD, KCR… and the abandonment and rejection she has experienced. Her Kingdom of Love has as one of its drivers the fact that she doesn’t know what love is.
Things on the show are imploding.
So-Yeon talks about all the trolling she gets and that she is described as ‘cheap looking’. I wonder if this is a reference to the reality show contestant I mentioned who was slammed by netizens for wearing cheap knock off designer gear?
JH loves taking care of our FL. How romantic to come back to an apartment that JH had cleaned, swept and furnished for her with furniture in her style! More romantic gestures… lovely…
But trouble is brewing … I wonder if the person secretly filming production team indiscretions is our second FL who is humiliated and seeking revenge.
Hi Ladies! 🙂
Did anyone notice the cable on SoYeon’s scene with YR? It was on YR too when she fell over. Then the overhead microphone while KC and writer were discussing things and at the hospital with YR and JH?
Was that part of the story or sloppy editing?
I’m with you @Kate about that jam toasty kiss. I thought it was extra sweet. Pun! 🙂 I like that JH was just outright honest about his feelings and really he was always like that given the chance.I’m glad YR said her I love you back too.
I’m liking the Chef and Webtoon Artist couple as well. You can see he wanted to ask her but PD KC has a good hold on him.
You’d think that SFL will be over JK after slapping him with the cake but if she’s the one that’s secretly taking photographs of them then she’s gone crazy.
I’m looking forward to the last 2 episodes. 🙂
I wanted to join you and @Fern in watching She and Her Perfect Husband but I don’t want to over watch dramas now especially it’s December and I do get awfully busy. I love Xukai in The Legends with Bai Lu. I remember you liking it as well. 🙂
@agdr03 – I also love the fact that he is vocal and standing by his feelings for her. You can tell from her face that he is blowing away every final question and doubt.
I didn’t see the cable – you are very observant.
See how you go with ‘She and Her Perfect Husband’ – it will be interesting to know what you think anyway even if you get it to it next year. I know I keep repeating myself but it does warm up a lot from around the end of Ep 3 and onwards… I’m on Ep 10 at the moment.
I loved Xu Kai in The Legends – that was quite a show! He was also great with Bau Lu in ‘Arsenal Academy’. Then there have been shows where I don’t think he has been as well directed or the script was a bit ‘flat’ for him. I suspect he’s bringing his ‘A’ game for Yang Mi – who is so wonderfully seasoned as an actress (not keen on her voice but aside from that…).
@agdr03 and @Kate, I just watched episode 14 and yes, the cables are really out there. 😮😣 -As is the microphone boom in the hospital scene. I initially thought the cables and then the microphone boom were part of the Kingdom of Love filming, thought up by the ‘evil’ and unstable director for dramatic effect, but it never came out as that. I can only think that someone has messed up enormously in the editing and in RL will have to quit or apologise to everyone, as Sang Woo did when he deleted the footage in the drama.
It’s probably just me, but if someone was going to jump and I had hold of them on that balcony, I would just lean backwards to drag them off the edge, even if it meant me falling on the floor behind and that bottle of wine breaking. Also, was one of the writers/assistant directors actually complaining about the woman’s bipolar disorder (when they knew about it but cast her anyway)? Yeesh. Unless it’s just poorly subbed, that’s the way it sounded.
@Fern and @agdr03 – glad I didn’t notice these things – would have been distracting.
Just caught the last 2 episodes … I have one or two thoughts about them but will wait until people have had a chance to catch up.
The most mysterious thing to me is that we didn’t return to our original opening scene in Ep 1 which is where everything started and the narrative was meant to be heading towards and explaining. Unless it was YR’s dream??
Let me know your interpretations… But I have had that at the back of my mind for the whole show.
More comments anon…
@Kate, do you mean the wedding scene where scene with Jae Hoon seems to be marrying the 2FL? Yes, I’ve wondered about that the entire time. I’ve finished the series now. The final episode, imo, was a lot of mopping up, with no actual marriage between anyone. I FFd it a bit because I was bored.
I was happier with the chef and webtoon writer at the end than with any other characters. I wanted the nasty guy who filmed the PD and then tried to blackmail her to get a comeuppance. I felt that he got off too easily. He used people right and left and was still advocating it at the very end, unrepentant, by trying to get the 2FL to make trouble for Jae Hoon and Yeo Reum.
@Fern – yes! It set up all sorts of questions about how the story would get to this point etc etc I am sure we are not alone in having that running at the back of our minds as the show progressed.
Yes, great re chef and webtoon writer. That was a fresh plot – he was the one with 100s of meaningless flings who found out that a food lover to whom he could show his real background and enthusiasms…was the one who rang all the bells for him. I loved their evolution – I think we would all have liked to see more eh?
Agree re nasty contestant.
Yes, some of the steam had run out in some ways… I enjoyed the show and watched it all through but some steam had evaporated by the end. I also thought we might see an FL-ML wedding.
Glad the 2nd FL raised her game at the end and a new story began for her… I’ve read that people were concerned about the fact that her suitor had seen the show… but… come on… he saw the show – so what! He wasn’t stalking her – the meeting at the art gallery was a coincidence… no evidence to the contrary.
Glad that JH recovered his confidence as a neurosurgeon. Happy for him.
Then there was this final ode to the ordinariness of happiness at the end. That has been a quiet theme hasn’t it? Under the surface of the plastic reality of the reality show were ordinary human needs and concerns, hurts etc
And ordinary happiness was in contrast to the FL’s romantic aspirations for her first love.
So there was some messaging and resolution.
I just finished it today and I agree that the ending was underwhelming. True, what happened to the wedding scene in episode 1? Weird.
I think I was more happy with the Chef and Webtoon Artist in the end. LOL. I thought it was so romantic/proud for him to say that JY makes him go crazy even if it was cheesy. 🙂
I mean I’d like to think that YR at 37 would want to settle down and finally get her happily ever after but it seems their happy just like that. I guess I’ll just accept it too.
The resolution for our bestie couple was nice too, to finally be pregnant.
Over all it was an ok drama. I’d love to see LDH and CSW again in another drama though.
@agdr03 – JY makes him go crazy – I loved that! Especially because his complaint with YR and other women was the lack of something special – chemistry or something.
I love the fact that JY was making him go crazy while they were on the show and he was having to keep his game face on for the ‘public story’… good romantic tension eh?
Agreed with you on all this.
I think a lot of people were touched by the Chef-Webtoon writer ark… here is a review with nice pics on Dramabeans which captures some of the main moments: https://www.dramabeans.com/2022/11/love-is-for-suckers-episodes-11-12/
I did notice that they never kissed. Now, none of the secondary couples kissed, except for KCR and her one night stand – so I guess that was in keeping with the level of intimacy for second level stories. Was there any nervousness though about a tall stereo-typically K-drama handsome male kissing a shorter, plumpish pretty female who was not the usual K-heroine look?
I may be over thinking this…
Ok… here is one of my Love is for Suckers favourite OSTs … loved this! … and that disappearing introductory sequence!!
https://youtu.be/dnoAtZibvZI
Hi, Kate. Thank you for the update from Dramabeans which included the scenes with Chef John and Ji Wan. I have to agree that the scenes when they open up to each other outshone most of the ML and FL scenes. Chef John (Jun) from that point seemed to have been woken from a bad dream of his own making. I haven’t seen the actress who plays Ji Wan before – Son Hwa-Ryeong – but she managed to say the sweet, perceptive and even sad things without seeming melodramatic. She seemed real. I haven’t seen Park Yeon Woo, the actor who played Chef John before either. He managed to capture the anxiety of a person who has to act a certain way in public but wants to be different.
Yes… she has played supporting roles and nothing that I can remember. Park Yeon Woo apparently who got noticed in “When the Camelia Blooms” – I can’t remember him in that. He’s more of an up and comer on the acting scene. Perhaps she will have new opportunities now.
I like the way you phrased that awakening on the part of his character.
Thanks for that @Kate 🙂 I enjoyed those scenes of getting to know each other between Chef and JW. 🙂
Their smiles said it all. I especially liked that he said she’s pretty. 🙂
@Kate, this is my fave OST from this drama. ☺️
https://youtu.be/JUAL1Gms2tc
@agdr03 – lovely, listening now!
Every woman who doesn’t think she measures up wants to hear those words. An important story ark.
So true @Kate! ☺️
I think it would be fun to have a one-episode continuation of Chef John and Ji Wan. We need something like that. And not have her transform into a gorgeous starlet with diet and surgery. Just my opinion.
I’d love this @Fern. They looked good together. 🥰
Agreed!
For @Fern and @agdr03
I enjoyed this article about the newly discovered (for me!) Kuyuhyun:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/super-junior-kyuhyun-is-embracing-his-next-season
And this song is a ‘grower’ – I love it!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNVgQXlPaV8
ps laughing at my mis-spelling of his name! I just can’t get it right…
Ah, he has such a pleasant voice. Thank you!
@Kate, thank you for that! I have a new appreciation for KyuHyun because of his wonderful voice. There’s something about his voice that sucks you to listen to it. 🙂