Julie Knott

What is it about the rich in K dramas. They are often depicted as quite vile. In this series it continues with all the rich families parents manipulating their kids' futures for the sake of the company. The ML's father is the worse. He is a terrible husband and an even worse father. I have no idea why a young attractive woman, like the ML's mother, would want to wake up next to this old guy! Who sends their 15 year-old son to another country to fend for himself? This is not an historic series, but they depict the male/female relationships like it is in the Joseon era. The women are paid for & need to be 'protected'. It's offensive. Why does the ML's mother have to be locked away & the other wife given the status? This is just ludicrous even in 2013 when it was made. It takes a while to understand the family dynamics as keeping 'face' is the most important thing. The school atmosphere is a whole new horror story. There is over-the-top bullying & violence. These kids are supposed to be 18 but are stressed out so much about their social standing. They talk about stocks & conglomerate marriages. Schoolwork seems to be secondary. I do not understand why the 2 male leads would be fighting over the FL. She is always so glum, so downtrodden. She's depressing. I did not get how the bad boy suddenly is attracted to her to try & protect her. He is seriously dysfunctional in his relationships. But then his father is the win-at-all costs type of guy. Lee Min-ho as the ML gave the best he could with the material he was given. A lot of the young cast went on to have good careers with better scripts. It was far too long & the last episodes just dragged. Instead of bingeing I staggered each episode.

I watched this initially because of Park Min-young. I have watched her in a couple of K-dramas already & enjoyed her performances. I must say she does have the same mannerisms & quirks even though she is playing different characters. And that walk - very distinctive! The plot does entertain at first but, what I find with many K-dramas, they lose my interest towards the end as they drag the storyline out to fit 16 episodes. There are a number of problems with the the believability of the plot. How was she married to Mr Pension for 5 years but able to marry many others? Why didn't people find out quicker about what she was doing as so many Koreans seem to do background checks? Why didn't Jamie divulge the evidence she had on tape earlier? Why did the Mi-Ho character have such a presence as she was like a hoarding, bag lady? There are many more but, with K-dramas, you just have to accept it is escapism. The ML I didn't quite understand whether he was neuro-diverse or traumatised? He seemed fine when he was younger. I found his interpretation a bit irritating. The actor was more endearing, but what was it with the cat! Again, his family was portrayed as this manipulative chaebol bunch who should never reproduce. Dining is central to this story & I amazed at how much food is a part of any K-drama. You have to love a culture that slurps their way through a mountain of noodles each episode! Drinking alcohol is also prevalent & it seems like this is not a great concept to push through TV series. It seems acceptable to get drunk with co-workers, friends & families to the point of unconsciousness. This is not cute! The last episode was very disappointing. The dinner to celebrate their wedding was bizarre - very few people who are supposedly loved ones. I would give them 2 years before she comes to her senses & realises he is just boring!!

Kim Woo-Bin steals the show here. You can imagine he is the charismatic superstar that he portrays. His physical & dramatic presence is way above the rest. The lead female, Bae Suzy, is not of his calibre. Both of them had to contend with some inconsistent writing as the characters ricocheted from sweet to horrible & back again so quickly.. There was a lot of crying but both did that incredibly well. There must be a school in Korea to teach actors how to cry. It's great to see males as well as females being emotional on screen. The second male lead, Lim Ju-hwan, was the other extreme. He did not show a wide spectrum of emotions. He was quite robotic. His character was absurd as the ML worked out he wasn't who he said he was after being with him for a very short time. Why didn't the others? Now we come to the mothers! OMG what is going on with motherhood in Korea. The poor mum was so aggressive & just kept hitting everyone. Why would she ostracize her son for being a successful actor? The back story was unbelievable. The rich mum was truly a 'monster'. One minute she was this frail thing in hospital & the next she was using her power to go to any lengths to keep her position. Both were people you wouldn't want in your life. I thought the ending was not the happily ever after as in most Kdramas which was good. I thought there was no ambiguity in what happened to the ML. I felt the Ji-tae character, saying he would wait for his psychopath ex-fiancée, did not make any sense. Maybe they were made for each other as both were emotionally stunted!!

It is now 15 years old this series but it holds up well. You have the usual super rich guy who is dysfunctional in the social manners sense. You have the poor female, but this time she is a stuntwoman! As in many other scripts to come later, they are fated to meet & fall eventually in love. She is a bit grating at times so I do not know why he persists at time but that will all be revealed. This is a 20 part series so it is a bit long but they had the fantasy section in to flesh it out & it gave some humorous moments. Hyun Bin really shines in this section. I like the supporting cast even though Oska seems to scream a bit too much at times. For a singer you would think he would save his voice! The Oska/Yoon Seul relationship seems to meander on to distract from the main event. Why are the rich mothers always portrayed as scheming shrews who have no sense of motherhood? Lee Phillip, the director of the martial arts school, and Lee Jong-suk, as Han Tae-sun the musical prodigy, give some of the most wooden performances I have seen in Kdrama. The ending was fun. Not everything was tied up neatly. Most, but not all.

I sit in Australia & watch PBS Newshour at 1pm. It is important to know what are the main issues in other parts of the world & after watching a number of American news outlets I found PBS tried to present the most impartial viewpoint. They do not have any fluff pieces. Their special reports usually go into great detail about a subject & I feel I have always learnt something new that day. I miss Judy, but the present two presenters also have slotted in quite well. It was a hard act to follow. I am afraid, that after the 2024 elections, I will be shutting off all US news outlets. I do not want to go through another 4 years of listening to the chaos that will be inflicted on a nation that once was a world democratic leader. Good luck to you all.

The stranger exposes secrets but by the end of this it was no secret that this didn't make sense. There are so many flaws it is hard to know where to start. Why does Adam run another investigation parallel to the police? Doesn't he belong to a law firm so why does the office never seem to contact him to see where he is? He hangs around a football club a lot. Why does the Katz character leave such a mess in his wake? He is a trained police officer. You would think he could cover his tracks better. Why was murdering the cafe owner the only way to locate the stranger? How can so many people in a small English suburb have so many secrets that can lead to such death & destruction? The whole rave thing was just a weird distraction. The girlfriend was a nasty piece of work so I didn't understand why she was so popular. She was pretty!! The ending was such an anticlimax. Why did Adam have to do as he did to Tripp? Tripp wasn't being aggressive & had given Adam what he wanted. And the behaviour of the police woman was just so out of character. I couldn't have cared less about any of them in the end. No, that's not true, I felt bad about the alpaca!

I watched the first 2 seasons. Progressively, I got frustrated with it. If this reflects a well-to-do town in the USA, they sure do have problems with teenage sex & drinking. What are these helicopter parents doing in respect to supervision? All the teenage problems seem to be aired - self harm, bulimia, depression. It's an epidemic of mental health issues. I find the Georgia character more & more flawed with the only excuse being 'that I have done this to protect my children'. Boo-hoo! Murdering 2 people is not justifiable. She is just money hungry. The mayor needs to think less through his penis & more as an elected representative. Why do all these men fall for her? And what about the coincidence with Joe. A bit far-fetched. The gun incident with the young boy is indicative of what happens in a society where guns are so freely available. Think that 2 seasons were enough for me.