Hello packmule3

There are several comments on the risky humor thread – me GB and WE I think that belong here for episodes five and six.

Thank you

I watched, ep 6 is better about pace.
It continues with sound-effects on every gesture. Facepalm::
It happens they do that in first episodes then cancel it, but not here.

I comment a bit randomly:
Last scene about drunk people waking up in the bed, and in subtext the fact they could had done more, and there is another guy (Han) in the bed.
As I understand you could dislike that because it’s bad and Pm3 often posts about how and why this kind of scene are terrible, here my problem is more related to the comedy, as it’s supposed to be comedy.

We get first all the people drinking with a classic-music in background for comedy effect. And already now, it’s not funny and cheap. But when it turns into the bed scene it’s worst. First because it’s so cliché that it can’t be funny anymore, but the scene ends with them screaming, and people screaming isn’t what makes a scene funny. There is also a baby sound effect when Ahn appears in the bed. I can’t laugh about that, it’s like the writer put nothing in it than the first degree of a vulgar gag.

Alas, it’s the modus operandi of the whole drama. Writer overloads the drama, and for me it’s “not funny comedy” all the way. What’s make I drop that.

I tried to find better scenes, and could have missed a few good lines, as it was drowned in the bad content.

There was a scene in ep6 when the two leads have an argument. And just after, Ji Uk continues to speak to her, as if she was here in the car. And I was thinking “what a pathetic guy”. But surprise! She was really in the car, just the seat was down. I was surprised so I liked it more about comedy. Then, they are about to kiss, and while I was quite sure they would do, it’s a miss. Again a good point.

There was a lovely cat, but alas we didn’t see her since episode 3.

There was also a romance starting with the erotic novel writer and the CEO. Here too a good scene. Just as she wishes him to die, the guy is almost killed by a white truck. She faints. But while I could have a sincere feeling for this romance, the scene ends with grotesque comedy and killed that felling. Anyway, still a good idea to bring in this white truck at this point.

Else, I talk about overload. The writer just want to turn everything into comedy or almost. At the first occasion, put cheap effects, artificial comedy, and it makes that painful to watch. I mostly feel the writer takes me for a dumb.

EPISODES 1-6
I was thinking about Hae Young feeling wronged as a child with a mother who kept fostering children.

She did not like her mother fostering children non-stop because she lost out to the foster children. In her mum’s eyes, the foster kids had a higher priority than she did. Some had been abused and traumatised (we see the case of Ja Yeon).

Far from gaining anything extra although she was the real daughter, we find that HY did indeed lose out. Her mother does not remember her but can remember her foster son, Ji Uk. It’s quite a loss… not just no gain but a loss. And yet HY still maintains contact with the 2 foster girls, and she has learnt to read the signs of children who were being abused. She has demonstrated generosity of spirit and even has her mother’s desire to help the less fortunate little ones.

It’s not surprising that she thought JU had reported her… it was a natural conclusion from hearing that he was the supposed victim. It was also natural for her to not trust him completely since her own mother had failed her. She could hardly expect that a stranger who agreed to become her husband in exchange for cat care might be more trustworthy.

I like that in the last episode we had HY threatening JU that she’d hold his real funeral for him if he slipped up and let people know they were married, while in this episode the funeral in HY’s mind, we find, is for HY as HU closes the imaginary coffin lid.

However as usual, HY’s imagination is off target and it’s JU who comes to her rescue, risking his job in the process, since spouses should not work with each other.

I liked the conversation leading to the trust fall that almost failed because JU had walked away, but had returned in time to catch HY. So now at the halfway mark, our couple has established that they trust each other. The way is paved for their romance.

@GB As usual your comments are enlightening.

I was bothered at first by the title and the meaning of her name. I do not see her As being grasping and calculating, which is how she is initially presented. I am glad she can use her mind
to try to get her needs met. She may be off track at times but I applaud her for
Not conforming.

It almost feels like the writers set her up to be disliked. I wonder if this is part of the satirical take on tropes. She has a lot of heart and is not cold and calculating. She needs to learn how to communicate in a way that allows her to have her needs met.

@GB I like your description of their relationship becoming more trusting.

I also did not think she was far off In assuming he had reported her when they identify him as the victim in the “hearing”

My previous comment that got lost was about how she is not really calculating and cold in the way the drama is initially presenting her. I wonder if presenting her this way is also a comment on certain k drama characters. I was initially put off that they presented her this way because I see her calculating nature, If one sees it that way,as important To her success in a world that is Against women’s success. I like seeing her presented as non conformist.

She does need to grow to be able to communicate.Her needs in a way that they can be met. The two of them may make this work. Although she said she will trust him and he leaves the rooftop and
She only accidentally falls.He is still there to Catch her.

The Laundry
The washing of dirty laundry may have several meanings attached. Offhand I remember the English idiom of not washing dirty laundry in public (as is the case of Chairman Bok) and then there’s the crime of money laundering, but in this show it’s not money but appearances that get laundered (as in the case of the Art Gallery lady who appeared at the orphanage to get positive press).

GH was able to wash away his ‘sin’ of being a hater, by doing community service and earning JY’s forgiveness, but he finds out that JU was also labouring under the shadow of a ‘sin’ that could not be erased. He regarded his own existence as wrong or the kind of dirt that could not be washed away.

This might explain why JU is so much into doing good works, volunteering with the police, befriending strays, and even protecting HY (whom he despised at that time) from the sleazebag who wanted to ‘marry’ her.

JU is so often called an angel, but in the face of GH’s incredulity, JU is called Lucifer by the orphanage lady. This is also partially apt and something that made me sit up since Lucifer (meaning ‘bearer of light’) was really an angel who chose the dark side and became a devil. However, whether JU will be Lucifer or a good angel to GH and Chairman Bok remains to be seen. He’s certainly an angel towards his foster mum and grandmother.

@MM I like the turning of tropes on their heads too. The laundry hung up to dry by possible half-brothers was cute. They each had laundry to wash and things to hide. It was interesting to see their roles and the role reversal.

In the orphanage, JU was the boss who taught GH how to hang out the clothes, while in Kkulbee, GH is the boss and JU is the new recruit.

@MM, I may have read your comment on HY not being calculating. I can’t find it now either. I see her as putting up a tough front because she’s felt that she’s always treated as second best to her mother. She appears cold and fault-finding, but Hui Seong (or Hee Sung) and Ja Yeon know her and love her.

Now that JU is getting to know her better, we find that he starts to warm up to her as well. Even in the past, although he didn’t have a reason to like her, it seems that he might have been more considerate than expected.

HY realises that she never had any trouble buying the popular mustard mayonnaise tuna kimbap when JU had manned the convenience store, but now finds that it is always sold out. The penny drops for her, and she asks him again why he bought the ring. We don’t get to hear his answer, so I wait with bated breath. However, we know that JU knows HY from his foster stay at her home. For some reason, she cannot recognise him…maybe she had gone away to university at that time and was hardly home.

It’s likely that out of respect for his foster mum, he had taken a bit of extra care of her daughter and had ensured that she got the kimbap she liked. But HY is likely to misread his intentions as romantic ones.

I was thinking that JU might have liked the idea of having a family of his own, aside from his grandmother who was tough with him, the mother who abandoned him and the father who refused to acknowledge him. Hence, he had bought the wedding ring to keep as a sign of being married and having a family of his own. He might be embarrassed to admit this, hence his hesitation in replying to HY.

When before the press conference JU wants to tell HY about the possible ‘birth secret’, HY thinks he wants to talk to her about the ring and asks if she’s part of the reason he bought the ring. JU looks a bit surprised and has to think fast. He realises that she thinks he likes her but decides to ask carefully: “What if you are?”

Her reply at this stage tells him that their relationship is not the top priority with her, but rather it’s her job and position, and that she wants to shine in front of her bosses. This will inform the kind of response he might choose to make about the ring.

At the same time, when HY tells him that if what he says is not important, then don’t tell her… it was a mistake in that she was not prepared for the kinds of personal questions that Chairman Bok asked her. In other words, what JU had wanted to tell her was indeed important for her meeting with the Chairman and his wife.

I find that poor HY seems to make these kinds of mistakes. She’s quick witted, but not always in the right direction. Instead, I like JU’s quick thinking. On catching that Ex bf Ahn was trying to get him to justify why he was with HY who was calculating, he treats that trait of hers as a strength that spurred him on to love her rather than the opposite. I applaud that highly!

I also laughed at how he dissed his ‘father’ in the same breath by indirectly calling him an a**h*le to his face in front of his wife and son LOLOL.

I got a good laugh from your last comments about GH.

It was not a romcom. It was totally heartbreaking with a whole ost of heartbreaking music. It was presented more like an art film than A K drama. The
Ending is obvious. But I am thinking I might rewatch it now. SMA Plays a very innocent character as I recall.

The couple that shows up after the orphanage scene Are from “her private life” I think by the same script writer As this drama. I read elsewhere that they even have the same names as they did in that drama And that there was something about a money Laundering scandal In that drama.

@MM, it’s interesting your comment about the women being non-conformists. What are the ways you’d describe them as being non-conformists? I thought them ‘normal’ in today’s age of the strong, independent woman.

I’d say that all the women are interesting. The men seem like mere pussies, lousy beings or weak by comparison. The only exception is JU because he’s the ML. I guess that 2nd ML GH will grow to become more of a man towards the end of the series.

The Women
GH’s mum is a fan of erotic web novels but at the same time a fierce wife and mother who will fight for her son, even attacking her fave novelist in the process.

Said novelist can navigate seas of negative comments but cannot take violence in writing or physical attacks after the trauma of childhood abuse.

Hee Sung/Hae Seung is committing quasi marriage fraud by not telling her boyfriend of 10 years that she does not want to get married. However, that boyfriend is probably not faithful to her either.

HY’s mother was an angel without wings.

HY herself is more like her own mother than she is likely aware. She continues to nurse a resentment at being ‘neglected’ compared to the foster children, but she does not abandon her mother. I hope she gets a chance to heal by the end of the series, when her mum finally does recognise her.

HY is also a grey character. Lying/faking the marriage to feed her ambition is not exactly the kind of behaviour to look up to. It seems that this fraud of hers may end up being rewarded (and viewers will want it to be rewarded!) by a true love relationship with a good man. I guess the only way to save her from losing her job over the fraud is to make the marriage true and not fake.

Ultimately, JU might also be seen as HY’s mother’s gift to her. Because he had received love from his foster mother, he was able to give his love to her daughter.

@MM I’d really like it if kdramas never become like Western dramas of now, but keep the ‘old world’ vibe, attitudes, values. I hope that not only the older but also the younger people watch these shows and appreciate them.

@packmule3 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♀️🤾‍♀️🤼‍♂️🧘‍♂️🧘‍♀️🧘🏋🏋‍♂️⛹️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️🚵‍♂️🏊🏊‍♀️🏋

GB Suggested I capture your attention this way.

I am wondering if you are able to move some of the comments about episodes five and six from the episode two risque thread to this thread. sept 9 and 10

Thank you for juggling all these threads.

Upon Rewatch of Ep 1
I rewatched Ep 1 and realised that what JU said then actually came to pass. HY had asked him if he’d get a proper job after working as a part-timer for so long and he had retorted that he would when she got married. It was just that he didn’t know then, that he’d be the groom, or how he’d choose to leave his parttime job.

Even after 6 episodes, we have not found out what JU meant when he said that he only went for the job interview at Liter Electronics because his professor put him up to it. He had also said that he was not desperate for the job and that he was doing something nobody knows about. Unless he was referring to his parttime job, we do not know what else he might have meant.

However, for a part-timer, he seems to have had enough money to buy up all the Mustard Jellies that HY liked… and to have afforded to buy the ring for himself as well. He still seems to be a mystery to me (or should I say to us?)

I just realised that the Mr Bok, the new recruit who is in Kkulbee now and in the same team as JU was one of the fellow interviewees for Liter Electronics. He seems to have followed JU to Kkulbee. No wonder he reported HY for abuse. It was because JU had stood up against the interviewers when they had harassed the interviewees. That’s why Mr Bok wanted in return to be brave like JU, to report that HY had harassed JU.

In the epilogue of Ep 1, JU had overheard a drunk Ahn ask HY if she was the only one who could take care of her mother. JU’s expression changed when he heard that, and now we know why. It’s because he cared about HY’s mother. That’s why after this, when he saw her sitting alone outside, he passed her a cigarette and lit it for her. He had always known whom HY was, and despite not really liking her, he had a special consideration for her as the daughter of his foster mother.

Hence, she had always had her favourite triangle kimbap available for her in the mornings that he manned the store.

@PM3

TY

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Hi @pkml3, I trust you’re back from your trip, all safe and sound.

Please open a thread for No Gain, No Love Episodes 9 and 10. Much thanks!
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