Colouring oppression pink doesn't make it go away

I'm just going to make a review because this drama was sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, so this is a political message (even more than all other art that isn't directly sponsored by branches of government) that needs to be dissected so we understand where we're at and what's happening and what we can do with the information we're provided.

Branding and marketing are tools of capitalism to convince us to buy shit we don't need and clean the image of very dodgy people and businesses. So branding is about manipulating the truth and straight out lying and that's what they did with this drama to sell us South Korea as a place with wholesome business and work practices.

The South Korean president is a conservative right wing politician who has worsened the labour conditions for Koreans and foreigners working in South Korea. Companies are places of work, they're not families or kind and friendly. Selling that image tricks workers into thinking they're more than just numbers in a spreadsheet. Currently, they have a 52-hour workweek and the government wanted to increase it to 69 hours just last year. This year, they loosened the labour laws which has already resulted in the death of several workers, korean and foreign. Just last week there were news of a 19 year old who died on the job in South Korea. You can't sell bosses and CEO's as friendly and close to their workers when this is the reality of your work culture in your country.

Working hard in this economy is not a moral trait, it says nothing about your character. It's very much representative of our collective exploitation as members of the working class. Trusting companies is a fallacy. There's no such thing as an ethical billionaire, as there is no such thing as ethical major companies. Companies will do what benefits their profits the most.
Our ethical marketer, in the form of the FL, pushed the idea that cooperation with big companies is a way of helping small businesses. That's not what happens in the real world. In the real world, big companies buy small companies off and profit from their labour, turning the market into an oligopoly where eventually they are able to control the market and, in the long run, the consumers because competition no longer exists in oligopolies. That's what was going to happen with the candle business and that is what would happen with the motor business. They marketed charity as a way to clean one's image and that's what charity ultimately does, it doesn't change anything and it offers temporary patches to issues that require structural solutions to have any kind of impact.

It's the same with representation. I'm glad there was a lot of representation and there was an effort to show the drama as inclusive and progressive. That could have been great because we should be portraying the world we ultimately want to create. It's not so great when you pair representation with a push to abide by conformity, like changing the image of the sex toy shop CEO. You can't break taboos and non-conformity by conforming.

Representation that isn't free isn't representation and charity isn't social justice.
This is the main message I want to leave here after having watched this drama because I feel it's important to remove the rose coloured glasses to have a sense of what they're really selling us.

This is a worldwide trend of softening the image of the entities that oppress us, we see that with companies that pretend to treat us like family by providing company dinners but refusing to pay livable wages and with yt women occupying the leadership of fascist parties. That's not justice or liberation, it's branding.

About the story:
It was a fun drama. It had good pace and good acting. It was a bit theatrical in some representations but I can live with that, it was fun anyway. I'm a bit disappointed they chose a basic villain with not much of a story except a thirst for power in the form of a higher place in a company, it's not even to own the company. It seems like a very basic and low stake motivation.

I liked the representation and the not shying away from talking about taboo themes, even considering what I said before. Most of the characters were unlikable and I still have doubts about the redemption of some of them but they were fun, nonetheless.
I don't know how the mains fixed their relationship, it wasn't a topic that could have been glossed over very easily. I'm deciding not to analyse that. I've already over analysed the premise of the drama. Anyway, go watch it, it's fun but don't let yourself be fooled by propaganda.

Leia Mais

It lacked conviction

I'll start with what's more obvious for me, they're very incompetent for those who are praised to be the best detectives. The mystery solving part of the drama was very lacking and that's what annoyed me the most.

A lot in this drama lacks conviction and commitment. Deciding to trust someone just because they're supposed to be your friend but had hidden important information from you doesn't seem very sensible for someone in the middle of an investigation. Even when things are blown out of proportion like FL's expulsion, the train of thought associated with everything around it doesn't make much sense.

I couldn’t finish it all, I just watched the last episode. The ending also lacks conviction. It feels like lukewarm water when you're trying to take a shower on a winter day. It's not satisfying

Leia Mais

The fox could redefine its diet

I really liked this. My biggest issues were the pacing, that was too slow for the issue and that was frustrating - but, perhaps, that was the point, and the main take away, the moral of the story, let's say.

They had the opportunity to do something fantastic and help redefine sex. They almost did that, because they redefined the relationship and gave us a fulfilling relationship that is what it is in their own terms. But they could have gone farther to the actual point and the point is that sex isn't penetration alone. They did have a sex life and a fulfilling one where both of them got to orgasm. How many relationship do you have where (mostly) women don't orgasm at all? It was a fair and purposeful relationship. Nothing was missing, except communication.

Sex isn't love and love isn't sex, but sex also isn't penetration. Sex is any sexual activity with the purpose of, hopefully, reaching an orgasm. There's no such thing as foreplay. It's all play! It's all sex! Penetration shouldn't be the "holy grail" of sex because, in heterosexual sex, 75% of women don't reach an orgasm through penetration alone. Any man who only relies on their chinpo is absolutely useless to most heterosexual and bisexual women.

Relationships don't have to follow a formula and neither does sex. We're all individuals with our own issues. One of the most important parts of life is finding our people. Finding someone who likes us and respects us and sees us as the person we are with all our quirks and shortcomings. They made their journey, they grew together, they filled the gaps that were driving them apart and I believe that's beautiful.

Leia Mais

It doesn't make sense

Wishful thinking shouldn't bring back your loved ones even in a fantasy story. This is a time travelling story which has absolutely no rules to the time travelling and breaks the very few ones it has when they find it convenient. The maid being left in the future is ok, while changing any other aspect affects the course of history? Such a proficient maid, with so much action in the story, would certainly affect the course of the story.
You never truly know the device or the set of factors that make them travel through time. At times, it seems like it's the watch, or the magical lady, or the water, or the tree. In the end, it was his wishful thinking. It doesn't make sense.
It also doesn't make sense that everyone has their corresponding person in the future, except for the FL and the maid. And the only person important to the action who isn't in Joseon is the ML's secretary.
They also couldn't decide if the ML was a completely different person or a reincarnation of her Joseon husband. If he truly was a reincarnation of her husband, like it's suggested several times, her not loving her original husband once she got back doesn't make any sense, since she loved him from the start.

I don't mind the evil grandpa, it was a good twist, but, again, it lacks consistency. If the stepmother wasn't evil and was trying to protect the ML in the present, that should have been mirrored in the past, since they repeated countless times that the past was repeating itself.

It could have been a better drama if they had dealt with the inconsistencies.

Leia Mais

A hit and a few misses

"Choi Yoo Jin was once an innocent girl too, wasn't she? And it's only after girls grow up, they become witches."

The moment women don't allow to be messed with, they become witches. A powerful woman they can't touch is a witch.
Once you manage to see the patterns it becomes clear, they prefer snow whites because they usually prey on their innocence and lack of experience. Women are pawns that become evil once they can no longer be played with.
This is not a fairytale, it's like real life, only we're told witches are evil, we accept that men are necessarily evil but that's a good thing because it means they're strong, and at the same time, every woman should strive to be snow white. They forget the witches are, many times, a consequence of their doings, once the snow whites learn how to fend for themselves.

Instead of having a snow white, however, we got a child (which maybe isn't very far off from who snow white really is). I understand that she was sheltered in a convent but she still got her development as a person as we all do growing up. The innocence they thought they were portraying turned into nothing. She barely was a character, she could have been a pen drive with sensitive information and the story could have been the same.

There was no story between the leads, there was no chemistry, there was no sense, there was no spark, there was nothing. I don't believe it's due to Yoona's acting skills, I believe it was a direction and writing decision.

They tried to find parallels between them but we don't necessarily fall in love with people who share our story or our quirks, there has to be something there other than that, like seeing the person for who they are. Go Anna didn't know anything about the K2, how can you love someone you don't know? Do you love the shell or do you love the person?

Now, if we're talking about the real lead of this whole story, she did a great job! Song Yoon Ah was fantastic and Choi Yoo Jin was a complex character that deserved a better ending. Everyone seems to agree that there was chemistry between the K2 and Yoo Jin and that would have made this story into a 10. Fairytales should be put to rest. We need stories of strong, complex women we can relate to. She seemed like the evil witch yet she was so much more, a true Queen!

It would also have been extra interesting to see a relationship between Choi Yoo Jin and secretary Kim. They had great chemistry and the whole time I thought there should be something more in that story. Also the actress who played secretary Kim is absolutely amazing, she should be given so much more credit than she does.

To sum it up, it was a great drama in terms of action and mystery, it would have been better if they left out the romance part. It was definitely not a romance drama. The fight scenes were fantastic and the political plot was engaging. The music should have stayed in 2010, in a drama like the Secret Garden, where it belonged.

Leia Mais

True BS

OK, now I'm angry!
Utilising the memory of the Holocaust to justify vanity, pettiness and revenge is simply inconceivable. This is especially gross now that we're witnessing another holocaust, and constantly see men, women and children starved to death with no access to anything, not even rainwater. I know this was written before what we're witnessing in Palestine, but it still wouldn't sit well with me before, anyway.
I can't even finish this drama now. I already had my doubts this was going somewhere once Trump was cited as a "successful businessman" (the man is a fascist war criminal, as are most US presidents), but this usage of a Holocaust reality is beyond tone-deaf. She's comparing basic hygiene and dignity in an oppressive situation to dolling up to get a man so she gets revenge or doesn't stay single, as if being single is worse than being a victim of genocide.
Equating being single to something you need to survive as if a holocaust is ignorant, ridiculous and infuriating. I thought that at some point the story would turn around and show some sort of redemption but that's just how the writer and everyone involved in this drama see people. After this, there's no possible redemption. I'm trying very hard not to insult anyone right now. I know the team has apologised for the insensitive use of the holocaust but I don't accept the apology. The rest of the drama I've watched so far tells me it's not an incident, it's a default. I don't think I have rated a drama so low but this is just how angry I am.

I don't see love anywhere in this drama. I see grift, ridiculousness, over-the-top unnecessary drama and a whole lot of cringe. They even go as far as simulating a suicide as if it's some kind of joke! ffs
She never loved her boyfriend, she wanted a marriage, a status and she was manipulating her way into it and teaching everyone around her how to manipulate their relationships. She did see through people who had no connection to her but was incapable of minor self-reflection. That being said, it's not her fault that her boyfriend cheated on her and remained in a relationship he no longer wanted. Her whole grift isn't about love, it's about fulfilling an image inside a box society carves for women at the expense of their own self.
Everyone here seems to be an a-hole and they don't learn from their mistakes.

Bora's actions after the break-up are completely out of character and make no sense as a 30 yo with a solid career. Making her go through this drama and destroy her whole career, image and finances to justify working for people who have badmouthed her is basic. All because of an a-hole she didn't even love and who cheated on her?! The worst part is that she doesn't even learn anything from her mistakes and doubles down on the bad takes, manipulation and petty drama. The ML has seen her at her worst and helped her, he picked her up when she made a fool of herself in front of her ex. Why should she be ashamed of peeing on the street, when he didn't even see her do it, to the point of refusing to meet him, talk to him and even faking an illness? It makes absolutely no sense.

Instead of learning from that, she then doubles down when it comes to the kiss. It's so pathetic that it gets too uncomfortable to watch. The kiss had no chemistry. It looked like it was made to make the FL look like a beautiful statue more than anything.

The other relationships portrayed are no better. Her friend finds out her husband doesn't see her as a woman and doesn't even want to have sex with her and she accepts it as if it's normal. There's not even a level of companionship, they're roommates and that's it. That's not a marriage. They're not honest with each other, don't spend time alone, don't like each other's presence. It's as if she proposed because it's the next thing to do and he accepted because that's the way it is. If feel like someone made them get married and they didn't want to. It also plays the stereotype that married couples hate each other. Just get a fcking divorce and go be happy on your own!
She works, she should have her own money, even if she is married. Why does she have to make such a fuss about buying a bag? Why should she want to buy such an expensive bag? Bags aren't a form of investment, they're accessories and should be treated as such. I don't understand this type of consumerism. It makes no sense. Her husband has a "man cave" that is completely hidden from his wife. He's not even doing anything "illegal" there. He just wants to escape and be alone (meaning without her). Why are they even married? Because society says so? Because that's the path everyone has to take? Is it really? Is that really a life?

Her sister's relationship is no better. She's involved with a guy who only saw her once and is infatuated with her, saying he loves her when he doesn't even know her. Instead of trying to get to know her, he drills her with catchphrases and accepts all the bullying he gets from her. It's normal to be infatuated with someone, it's not normal to treat that as love. I know they're young but that's no excuse.

Insinuating a relationship between a man in his 40s or 50s and basically a baby! that girl is a baby! is so extremely problematic. She's not going to fix his commitment and communication issues. She's not the solution to a man baby. She should be living her life and meeting people who are in the same stage in life as she is and not putting herself in a relationship with such obvious power dynamics that won't work in her favour. Besides being as old as her father, he's her boss. No good thing can come from that relationship. Deciding to make her the pursuer in this relationship is also a choice since most women in their late teens and 20s are the ones who are typically approached by men in their 40s, 50s and beyond because they want someone whom they can control and won't demand accountability for their actions or lack thereof.

Anyway, I'm not watching any more of this. I'm not wasting my time on people who have nothing of importance to say. And it's not even fun. It's annoying and over-the-top cringe.
Of course, not every drama needs to cater to the same audience, but they need to abide by basic human decency and that means not demeaning important events and treating people as equal human beings. That's just basic.

Leia Mais

This drama is simply awful.
I should start by the promotional poster. A stethoscope on her head? Is this supposed to be funny or is it telling us she's an air head while he is the one using this instrument in a wrong way. I don't get it.

About the story:
She becomes a nurse because she has a crush on a guy she sees once.
A completely normal decision. /s

She becomes a nurse because he's a doctor (gender roles must remain the same /s)

She's inept and confesses to him the first time she sees him.
Because all women lack skill and can't do anything other than caring for babies and cooking and cleaning at home. The other skills have to be bullied in with intense training./s
He's the best doctor ever (because men are always skilled professionals /s) and a complete asshole who treats everyone (except his patients and small children) like garbage. Treats her even worse and bullies her to give up on nursing which turns out to be one of the many episodes of negging we'll probably see in this drama.
Oh yes, such a lovable guy /s.
A true love story.
A true misogynistic, domestic violence leading "love" story

I thought we had enough of these.
Why are we still making them in 2020?
We don't need to bring every manga to life.

Not even my admiration for Sato Takeru will make me watch this.

Leia Mais