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Please note everyone, this is the Episode 7 and 8 thread!!! And not the 5 & 6 thread.

@pkml3 will probably rename it later when she notices it. 🙂

I shouldn’t laugh, but the comments are as funny as the clip.

Hi, @Growing Beautifully. I hope you are well.

@Welmaris, I hope it’s simply a lack of caffeine for @packmule3 and not the dreaded Covid brain fog!

@packmule3, hwaiting! 🤒/☕☕☕

@agdr03 I’m excited too! The preview hints at them doing more cohabiting and having to be a ‘couple’ even on weekends.

In future i’m not going to read the prime video synopsis of the episode. It makes it sound really boring and not even the show.I am watching😁

I am only halfway through the episode and I am not very engaged.

I will reformulate my thoughts about the kiss. The drama was trying to satirize kdrama kisses And/or She was kissing him because someone was watching and she wanted to show They really are a couple.

I think the main couple is doing a good job.But we need more about their relationship And his back story.

@MM, perhaps I should have guessed from the foreshadowing clue, since this Show is turning out to be a showcase of things salacious, but I didn’t guess what would be presented next in terms of unconventional XXX relationships.

Then again, I recall the harem and wonder how it’s not so shocking in a harem but more so in modern day romances.

What next, I wonder… and there are 5 episodes more.

So in that polyamory threesome, if guy Tae Hyung wants to marry Hui Seong but she does not want marriage, will Tae Hyung just marry Min Ji instead? If Hui Seong does agree to marriage would Tae Hyung have gone for bigamy? I found out that there are different kinds of polyamory but haven’t researched that.

So far the writer girl, Ja Yeon, who writes erotic web novels, is about the most experientially innocent of the bunch… and it seems appropriate that she’s paired up with equally innocent, strait-laced Gyu Hyun. They make a cute couple.

I was at X, looked at posts for episode 8.

Queen!!! Please watch it for Bruno and Chris. They’re like Rachel and Samantha. 🤣

I was totally lost because they covered it with hearts but I saw without the cover. 😂

@GB I did not think of the what next That seems to be what is being presented in episode eight. Let’s see what happens With that.

My notes on episode 8

We get some JY backstory and a real kiss between JU and HY. We also see him starting to get into the first kiss when she stops it. He gets angry that she can kiss him when supposedly she has no feelings for him. They are cute decorating his rooftop room, shopping for a bed and committing to wait until the time is right. JU tells her mother that she ignores his confessions and becomes excited to share with HY that her mom is remembering her and then realizes that would let the cat out of the bag.

I did not think Ahn catching on was done very interestingly. I also did not appreciate the bathroom humour.

Coincidentally JY’s father just happens to be walking down the street when she is with Bok. They do a rather long slow mo run-the second one already ! I did like the song he sings to her_ Breathe (Jungkook, LeeHi), I think.

I thought the snipping scene was funny.

I am wondering if SY was looking at her calendar in a bewildered way because her period is late. I sure hope she was not using rhythm birth control.

Epilog of JU preparing to help out the “helpless woman” was funny, based on an Internet video on how to get back in her good books.

I am enjoying KYD much more in this drama than in Moon in a Day.

The PPL for the sandwich shop was cute when she was trying to hide behind the wrapper. LOL BWS has become PPL.

@agr3 I have read that there are 2 or 3 versions of this drama(or maybe it is 2 or 3 different subbed versions.) X does seem to be where this is being discussed.

@MM
Yes, I thought having a threesome was already pretty crowded, but then to hear that there was at least a 4th party involved and that they had allocated weeks to date!!!

I wonder if JU is right, ie that HY knows he likes her but is pretending to not know. I did like how her mother suddenly remembered her name. A short lucid moment in dementia. It gives us a bit of hope that before the end of the episode, she’ll know (at least momentarily) who HY and JU are and give them her blessing or something like that to give us some closure over her being left on the side during their relationship.

I also wonder if it was Sec Jang or GH’s mum Seong Ah or his dad who revealed that JU is also a Bok.

If it was Jang, it was in revenge for the Boks treating him like a minion and throwing him away so easily (I heard him say he lost his job?), so he has nothing to lose by revealing it all to JU. His advice to be a lion when entering the lion’s den is not bad, but is it the right thing for JU given his personality? Or he might be a lion in a very different sort of way?

If the one who revealed it was Seong Ah, then she’s wrecking her husband’s plan to threaten Gyu Hyun. She may also take action against HY as the wife of JU.

If it was Chairman Bok himself, then he’s threatening Gyu Hyun to become the CEO he wants him to be or risk losing his position to the illegitimate son.

In any case, poor JU is being used by someone or other to further their own interests/take revenge, etc. Even HY is using him, but openly.

I like the tropes of the man being the one to help the weak woman … open the jars, fix the light, etc all turn into a joke. It was JU who manipulated stuff to get attention, but it backfired on him, and we see HY totally not needing a man for that stuff.

JU seems to think, probably from HY and another ex-bf’s buying of condoms fiasco???? … that in order for HY to get into a relationship, the physical aspect was important? If not for Gyu Hyun’s unexpected arrival, we would have gotten a nice kiss!

@MM, I’d think those toys in the box were given to her by Hui Seong.

I am thinking about a comment @GB made about the distinction between trope and cliche. A very brief look online suggested that the distinction is that a trope is a narrative device(a common story element) that when it is overused becomes cliche. This may be too simple a distinction, I think.

I am wondering about this because I find this show very uneven. Because the main couple is appealing, some cliche, to me , is more acceptable. But that can be boring. There are many efforts to spice up this show with salacious (I like that word, @GB) scenes.

This show is a big mix(mess?) of elements. I would like to see a spinoff of the romance between the lead couple. That is where I feel shortchanged but I am hoping that will change now.

I am reminded of your comment @GB that this drama is mixing the strands well. A big task, in my eyes, to keep the story appealing and coherent.

I have, a number of times, wondered if I want to keep watching and then we get an episode like episode 8 and I am in until the end now I think.

The chaebol/king trope has been useful for a long time in Asian drama.

Both this drama and the Asian drama I am watching-Love of Nirvana, I think, will have these tropes play out differently.

I’ve gone back to Episode 2 and note that Yi Lin is supposed to have been friends with Gyu Hyun because their mothers had been close. That explains why she’s in HR but turns up for the Chairman’s lunch.

I’m also noting that when HY first started planning her fake wedding, Hui Seong had told her that to marry only for congratulatory money, when there was no love was fraud. Looking back now on Hui Seong’s own situation where she’s been in love with and dating the same guy for 10 years but does not want to get married begins to sound a bit like fraud too, but at this stage we did not know that she’s dating more than 1 guy.

The Sleazy guy who calls JU, ‘Convenience Store Boy’ suggests that JU take on a role-playing job that earns a lot of money from women (being a gigolo?). In the end JU does play a role as fake husband, but he does not do it for money. Hence, it’s not fraud.

HY brings up the idea that she may not be lovable as she’s so calculating, even in a relationship, and hence had little hope of being able to be married out of love. She’s partly rushing the fake wedding because she wants her mum to be able to attend it.

HS and Ja Yeon speak about this as they pass by the convenience store and JU happens to be outside and hears them. He probably knows that they are also speaking of his foster mother and HY, since they keep patronising his store.

This comment is for EPISODE 9 so I’ll avoid major spoilers.

I found it interesting that a short series, meant to be (I thought) a rom-com, has interwoven intrigue and changed tone somewhat.

I like that HY puts JU’s comfort and feelings first.

And this is confusing but the fictional Yeon Bo Ra’s novel ‘Spice Up Our Love’ is supposed to become a spinoff show in itself???

https://www.soompi.com/article/1690032wpp/lee-sang-yi-shines-as-the-ideal-protagonist-in-han-ji-hyuns-web-novel-in-no-gain-no-love-spin-off-drama-spice-up-our-love

I was wondering if this was truth or fiction, but it seems it’s true. There’ll be just 2 episodes of Ja Yeon and Bok Gyu Hyun, with her trapped in her own web novel LOL.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2024/09/19/no-gain-no-love-to-air-two-spin-off-romance-episodes/

@GB and @monmor , I was totally clueless about the gift in the box and was only left with the comment of ‘this is how you travel the world’. I was so confused. LOL! I really had no idea. But I thought it was funny when I finally saw what it was. hahahhaha

@GB, I actually didn’t mind the sound effects here. I actually like it. 🙂 I’ll watch the spin off because JY and GH make a cute couple too.:)

I read that there were complaints about the polyamorous relationship in the show. This was the first time I’ve heard of it and it’s definitely not the normal kind of relationship. That’s all I can say.

I really liked it when JU asked Mr Jang if he can keep the car because his wife likes it. 🙂 I liked how JU was showing HY how they can show that they’re a real couple. I liked that he really kissed her. But lucky HY torn that apology letter where he swore to never kiss her again. LOL!

I thought it was nice that the ‘sisters’ treat him well too. It was nice that he was honest with HY’s Mom about falling for her. But he really should tell her soon.

I think this was the first time that a PPL made me smile and made me enjoyed it. I liked how JU folded the Subway wrapping paper to show HY’s face. 🙂

I thought it was good how HY wanted to start their relationship. It will start when everthing is clear and not hidden.

I find that the substitles are better at other sites than Amazon Prime. So I’ll watch episode 9 and 10 again before I come back here. 🙂

@MM and @agdr03,
EPISODE 9
I was somewhat intrigued by the interpretation / re-intepretation of a situation, starting from whether the kids were playing football or dodge ball. Whether GH was doing volunteer work as punishment or as a reward. What the demotion or the ‘divorce’ signified.

I also liked what JU said about wanting to be useful but not wanting to be used, and really felt for him. I’m glad that HY was immediately able to see things from his point of view and that she was a real partner for him.

I like how blowing bubbles might be seen as blowing away the bad stuff which disappear in a while, and how it comforted JU and HY because they were blowing bubbles together. It’s only now, long after their wedding, and when they are facing hardships, that ironically, they are having their great dates.

Yes, I liked the confession in Episode 8 and the little peck kisses in Episode 9. They were appropriate.

@GB

Prime keeps tossing me out of subtitles So I only made it part way through the episode.And now I have to wade through all the ads to get to where I was.

So far I like the horse.

There were some nice scenes and there was some good acting , but the show is just too discordant.

@MM
It occurred to me too that we might get that kind of trope ending … the separation before the final reconciliation thing. HY is so hot-tempered and full of fight (as a defensive mechanism, probably), that she might not be able to forgive easily.

There was one Show (“Call it Love”) where it really did work well, because there was nothing to stop the couple being together except the emotional barriers of people around them. Once time passed, those people had come to resolve their hurts/loss or whatever, then the couple could peacefully reunite with everyone’s blessings. That was an appropriate use of that separation thing.

I like some of the OSTs in this drama, and some camerawork choices. The melodic pieces like ‘Falling into You’ and ‘Someday’ are easy to listen to and have a note of pathos in them. In Ep 9, that aerial view of Gyu Hyun outside and Ja Yeong inside the gate, with the garden wall and gate separating them was nice. They stood facing almost opposite directions, a sign of the great divide.

One of the themes is how much control one should allow another person to have over one’s choices (the metaphor of the horse and rider). Both Gyu Hyun and Ji Uk were making choices based on what they’d been told to do or promised to do. The people in power in this manhwa are the women, Jeong Ah and Hae Young who are proactive and calculating. This battle will between these 2, I feel.

Continued …

Mr Jang
For all that Jang has to follow orders, he has at least tried to stick to some principles. I liked that he secretly contacts JU to give him a heads-up and advice. This is so rare in kdramas that Jang’s character stands out suddenly.

Hence I don’t know whether to find the re-appearance of Jang with the horse to be overly contrived a scene, to highlight the concept of who one should allow to take the reins of one’s life, or not. He is supposed to be out of the picture by now, so his sudden reappearance is startling.

He seems to be speaking like a father, but he also claims to be only a few years older than Ji Uk. It feels like the Writer needed to insert a scene to start JU thinking of breaking free, before HY herself gives him similar advice or a scolding, calling him a doormat.

Well there are 2 more episodes to go for the overall resolution of who gets the company, whether the girl gets the guy, and whether there’ll be a new baby in the ‘family’. It might be nice if there was a place in all that for Mr Jang, but we are likely not going to see him again.

This may be rather far fetched but it dawned on me that the mother’s so called dementia might be more of a trauma response with depression and (wait for it) amnesia.She does not remember her daughter but remembers the foster child she took in after her husband’s death.?

The lovey dovey bits between our 2 main leads were interrupted at the end of the last 2 episodes by something related to the second couple. Is this a clue to what will happen or what needs to happen in the last 2 episodes?(trying to make sense of the dissonance).

@GB Yes Mr jang is an interesting character. Perhaps he has more to say and will be back.

Another trope that could emerge is the trope of the 2 families of the lead being connected in the past by betrayel in business settings. I don’t see any evidence of this and can’t remember if we know anything about her father?

Will we have renewal with the birth of a baby with 2 parents (or more?)

I am searching and hoping that this show will ge a coherent finish.

@GB I may need to listen to that last conversation between the two of them again. Again as I was going about my daily routine.I am having more thoughts about this drama.

The way they entered into marriage Blurred the expectations they could have of each other.

In the type of relationship they have, He may have wanted her to hold him and tell him she loved him.But was that the kind of relationship they had?

All 3 couples started their relationships in a very unusual way. And the associated issues are coming home to roost.

It is interesting that I have found myself watching two other korean dramas about three couples and rather non traditional trajectories And similar themes.

One is Dalja’s Spring(mid 2000s)And the other is Because this is my First Life.

I am looking forward to the last two episodes. As you said @GB This show is not boring. I am very curious as to how the drama will wrap up.

@MM I have no clear idea still, but I have a conjecture.

Conjecture… after re-watching Ep 5 I see that JU says he had to take the position in Kkulbee because he’d made a promise to his grandmother. Later we see him with HY’s mother and he says: “Don’t worry, I will keep my promise.”

I started to wonder if the secrets he keeps are due to these 2 women (grandma and foster mum) and whether to hide that they are the ones with influence over him, he calls one or both of them his ‘Professor’. There’s no proof of this and it’s a long shot, but I’m wondering now what other promise he made to foster mum.

Maybe he promised to be nice to HY no matter what and not to let her know that her mother asked him to be good to her? Or maybe he had promised not to tell HY that he had been a foster child of her mum too.

Grandma (before she died) might have insisted that he try out for a proper job some time or other, and so he went for the interview, but attributed it to a ‘Professor’. We’ve until now, seen no signs of a professor or of the school he attended.

When he does go in as a new recruit to Kkulbee, he was ‘threatened’ into it. It appears like he was happy to be a part-timer forever until someone forced him to look for permanent full-time employment.

I like the scene transition and the irony in Ep 5. Not sure if I mentioned them before.

@monmor , I’m not sure as to who the professor is as well. We just know that the neighbourhood knows him because he’s helped them a lot.

I hope we get to hear what he promised to HY’s Mom.

I wouldn’t like a long separation for HY and JU. Hopefully it’ll won’t be like that.