I personally prefer the frizzy hair.…

I personally prefer the frizzy hair.



About this episode, I like where the characters got. Hye Jin got a well deserved apology, Shin Hyuk setting it up for people to not stall anymore and actually take action, Ha Ri, though still torn between friendship and love, seems is getting to the point of realizing how stupid she'd been. Sung Joon realizing what an unfair person he can be at times and unprofessional.



Alright half way through the drama and I feel I've got a lot to say. First lets start with how work is presented in here. This isn't the first time I see this in kdramas, but it still gets me speechless. You have the heroine taking an entry position in a company. While newbie and inexperienced, somehow she gets to do the most important jobs which the company's reputation/survival is at its stakes, or you have them responsible for the most important part, that is the centre of everyone's work. And all the responsibility falls on the shoulder of said employee, while really any failure would should be the responsibility of the one delegating the tasks (the manager). I know working environment isn't perfect, and not always ethical (as in where I work right now). There are some basics that makes the whole situation beyond unreasonable, but along the lines of unbelievable.



That is just something I had to let out. Next is my view of all 4 leads.



Sung Joon: I still find his initial interaction with Kim Hye Jin distasteful, and I find him wayyy too obsessed about his childhood love. Otherwise I enjoy the way the character is presented. Rather than naturally cool, you can tell it's someone who wasn't always confidant but had to fake it until he made it. This has nothing to do with him being overweight as a kid, but more about his clumsiness that still hasn't left him to this day, and the way he tries to hide it. Someone naturally cool would laugh is off, but he really takes it seriously, which makes it even funnier. As a professional, I get his point and so agree with him, but the way he tries to get it across, lets just say, sucks. He's just not good at being a people manager. If he wants to lead, he needs to stimulate his employees, and treat them like capable, because motivation is key for any organization to work. He only mentions the bad and brushes off the good as "the least to be expected" which just brings people down.



Ha Ri: She got a lot of hate for her actions and I understand it, but I don't see her as the worst, even if her actions are border line nasty. The thing is, I actually believe in her friendship with Hye Jin, and never found it manufactured. I don't this the "befriending the uglier friend" applies here. They've been friends from Hye Jin's pretty days. I think not "teaching her friend to dress up in an attractive way" or stuff like that isn't because of some conspiracy from Ha Ri, but from the usual writers going overboard with Hye Jin not being "attractive". So if her friendship with Hye Jin is real, what did she do this? Because she was abandoned by her dearest people and hasn't learned how precious such relationship is. Now is that a valid excuse? Of course not! I also think pursuing Sung Joon itself isn't wrong, because really, since when does childhood love give claims of one person over another when there is really no such relationship in the present. If only she'd at least told Hye Jin about it, it would've made all the difference. Besides, it's such a stupid lie. The more time passes, the deeper she's digging her grave :P



Hye Jin: I get it, she has a good heart, is hard working, does what is told to do, been out of touch with fashion for a while now, and is very expressive and loud. The way though everyone treats her like an ugly duckling doesn't make much sense. So what her hair is frizzy and she has natural blush? Truth is she's still pretty. And if in Korean standard that's not pretty, and if she really believes in those standards, a little bit of straightening and foundation would've done the trick. That's coming from the laziest person on this planet when it comes to those things. Like who doesn't wear makeup when they go out anyway? If not for looks, overall, even the way she dresses isn't bad, but it's just very casual and not professional, which makes her look out of place in the office. Basically I find the way they drew her persistently "natural" and all, this whole sudden change in style just doesn't make sense. It's just that, if that was her biggest problem, why the hell wait until now to change? I don't have a problem with the way her character is interpreted, but more the way the character is treated by all, as if it's all normal.



Shin Hyeok: No complaints, just perfectness! I just love how upfront he is about everything (weird since he's actually hiding the biggest secret). I love that his feelings for Hye jin came one step at a time, and how he notices her good heart and falls for that. I also love how he's still easy going and fun despite the complicated situation he found himself in. It's also understandable that he feels both frustrated by people now being as upfront as he is, but can't do anything about it. It is their problem after all and him revealing things is not his place and wouldn't solve the problem.

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Salmon Kulebyaka Tokuzo Style

Loved this episode!! I wish they stretched this period of his life longer but, that being said, the last 5 minutes were the strongest in the episode and that ending really got me curious.



My heart really breaks for Shintaro, the same way it does for nii-yan. It is just so hard to see hard working individual with such aspirations to not see the fruits of their effort for whatever reason.



Oh and Tokuzo matured so much, but in such a believable rate. He keeps reminding himself of his past mistakes which is a great character trait. He is both lucky and gifted, and like his mother said, lucky people need to work even harder! I also like his taste in women, which is mostly character over looks. He shows so much honesty and faithfulness while still thriving for his own dream, as selfish as he may appear.



I particularly liked the way his relationship with the "french" girl went. I love how they were pushing each other to reach their respective dream. I love how she speaks Japanese to him while he replies in french, showing so much openness and respect to each other's culture. But deep down I still hope he gets back to his first wife, as unlikely as it may appear. She lived all her life in sacrifice, and I wish she can live a life getting something back to herself. Her case is a complete mystery at this point. all I say is I wish her the best.

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Dragging

This drama became a burden to watch for a couple of reasons:

-There's no focus on the mystery to keep the interest;

-We still don't know what REALLY happened between the 2 to break it off;

-Her relationship with 2nd lead feels forced;

-Jo Sung Gyeom couldn't be any more boring.



I don't know if the issue is with the character or with Nam Goong Min himself, but I don't but seeing him on my screen bores me out so I find myself skipping his scenes.



I find Sang Hyo very abusive of Hae Young. She keeps on hitting him all the time for being pissed off at her situation. I think the wedding was her choice. She decided to sacrifice herself for the hotel's reputation. I'd never do that for my job but she cares about her job and her career enough to do that. He didn't ask for his bride to run off with another guy, he didn't even have the guts to do that himself. Yea I wouldn't be happy to be in her place but that's no reason to keep hitting him like that. I also think if they keep hiding from us the reason of the break up and don't go anywhere with where they're at now I'll lose interest in their relationship too.



The only thing that's keeping me is Hae Young but I don't know if thats gonna be enough.

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We judge ourselves the most!

First off, Hae Soo's revelation at the beginning of the episode explains a lot. Her character makes much more sense to me now. Even her reaction to her mother makes more sense. This whole time, the one person she was judging and was troubled with wasn't her mom but herself. I still think if I had met her in real life I'd avoid befriending her, but this revelation made her relatable, and more real as a person.



Then comes Jae Yeol who just isn't capable with living with this much guilt. It's funny that when you look at it from afar, you'd think Jae Bum took the blame while his family went off living their life while the opposite is the truth at this point. Jae Yeol took all the blame and the guilt from both his mother and brother while Jae Bum survived on his hate towards Jae Yeol and his goal to kill him. He got the perfect opportunity to blame him for everything that went wrong in his life. While he did face injustice (a lot of it) we can't deny the fact that he was always violent and is selfish. I do feel sorry for him for feeling betrayed by his own family but his situation just fed his selfishness even more.



From these 2 leads I get the conclusion that the person the burden us the most and judges us the most is none other than ourselves.



Oh and wasn't Soo Kwang the cutest these past 2 episodes?



Last but not least, ogh GOD the acting was so good here. Even when I hated Hae Soo I admit Gong Hyo Jin was doing great with the character, so different from previous character she portrayed, and so on spot she is here. As for Jo In Sung I'm actually not that familiar with him but he was amazing in this episode.



There's only 2 episodes left and I wish this happened but earlier and we'd follow on his process of getting better (I'm sure thats the writer's intentions right?) :P

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Honest Effort

"Look, I don't think it's the where that's important for people. It's what they do. Wherever they are, those who can will make it, and those who can't won't. Don't you think the right thing to do first is to show what you can do by making an HONEST effort?"



Japanese dramas tend to be very preachy, so that was nothing new. What can differentiates the drama is how the lesson is put, in what context, and the dialogs. I find it was effectively used here. Maybe it is just me, but I'm going through a phase in my life where I really needed to hear it. Honesty in the effort you display is key here. I understand Tokuzo's frustration, but he mostly exhibits impatience, and an easily inflated ego, which comes hand-in-hand with teenage hood. The curious thing he is that he doesn't manifest the typical Japanese boy of that era, that is polite and doesn't talk back to elders. Tokuzo in a way feels very much a modern teenager. That may be the reason I could pass off his mistakes as silly and understandable while his family see it as absolutely unacceptable. What I like in this drama is that he keeps repeating the same mistake, falling into the same trap, in different ways, until he finally found honesty and resolve, and calmed down his ego.



Oh man the brotherly bond in this dorama kills me. Every time I see the older brother I feel my heart getting warm and ALMOST get tears into my eyes. They are apart but keep worrying about one another. It proves that love isn't about being next to the person you care about, but you can be as far away as possible, and push each other to be their best. I also have to mention is ex-wifey. She is the same. She loves him to the point of wanting to let him go. I usually loathe noble idiocy, but in the context of this drama, I find it very understandable. I just wish she starts treasuring herself more.



I hope we see more of the guy from Kazoku Kaikan who keeps envying Tozuko, played by Emoto Tasuku. I'm not envious type (at least I hope not :P) but his character is the one I connect with the most. He's hard working but not particularly gifted. He tries his best, but doesn't have the energy to put more than the 100% that he has. He's not loud and does anything he is asked to. He's not too demanding either. He just gets easily forgotten and feels like no one notices his hard work. He feels unworthy and incapable compared to one that has what he doesn't. I wish to see his character mature as well.



All in all fun episode, nice subtle touches on character development and great dialog!

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This was truly the strongest episode so far.

This was truly the strongest episode so far.



The confrontation between Mi Ryung and So Hyun was beautiful to say the least. Full of conflicted feelings yearning, love, distrust, anger, vengence, you name it. We finally understand the whole situation between the two. I still find Mi Ryung dangerous though, but the prince is indeed the one responsible for what she has become. The moment when he was like "I missed you" I lost hope for the princess. I'm liking both female leads here more and more, not really preferring one over the other.



I like that we see the reaction about Mi Ryung's revelation by the princess and Dal Hyang at the same time. Both understand his feeling and recognize his pain. It was touching.



I also found Dal Hyang particularly cool this episode, specially the scene he handed Kim Ja Jum the letter.



And last but not least, the plan they employed was BRILLIANT!

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So this episode didn't feel as draggy as the…

So this episode didn't feel as draggy as the previous one, and I appreciate some of the themes touched upon. One quote that I found really memorable was said by none other than Soo Ah after facing what may be the first difficulty in her life



"There are manners even when breaking up"



From the little we got this episode, I found Sang Hyo and Hae Yound were both immature seven years ago and didn't give the relationship from themselves as much as they should've. Both were starting up their careers and were too selfish to look at the other's hard work. I'm sure they could've worked around it if they had the maturity to try harder. Then why does Hae Young take all the blame? Obviously because he's the one that left. Leaving like that shows lack of respect to the other person, no matter what the reason is.



Another theme touched upon is that love alone is not the ingredient that makes a relationship work. We see how it went with Sang Hyo and Hae Yound and we're seeing how it's going with Soo Ah and Ki Ho. You don't necessarily need to give up yourself but you have to be considerate of the other, and be willing to change at least a part of their life style to be able to live together.



I think Sang Hyo's main issue is that she needs to talk it out with Hae Young and her running away like that will not solve all her unresolved feelings and help her move on.



I still find manager Jo boring and is what dragging this drama down for me.



On the mystery side, we get an interesting revelation, also 1 other person has been crossed out as a suspect but nothing big.

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Amusing

I am a big fan of the original materialThe Three Musketeers I've read the original BOOK, I grew up watching the anime version and different movies and TV movies. I just love the era, setting and the characters. Now that this is out of the way, I gotta say I was impressed.



While this korean version owned the story with its own setting and characters, it still retained its original feel of it that I always feel when watching any version of this story. Honestly I was as amused my it as Lee Jin Wook's character Prince So Hyeon was.



Also even Jung Yong Hwa who is lacking in many ways, can be fine here, since his character is more straighforward. Its always been the way "D'Artagnan's" character has been portratyed as the country bumpkin and it works, although in the original BOOK I always found him less innocent (and gaining Miladi's wrath lol I always found him silly tbh).



My favourite in the book and what looks to be my favourite here is Prince So Hyeon. I just love how he handled things here and I mostly love his interaction with Heo Seung Po (Yang Dong Geun). I feel that his character includes both Porthos and Aramis. I feel that Jung Hae In is just too young for the role and his character Ahn Min SEO too serious.



This episode is more about introducing us the characters and did so successfully since I already like them and they're already bringing me onbord ;) Can't wait till Jo Mi Ryeong's character shows up :D

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This episode made me realize it's been a while…

This episode made me realize it's been a while since we've seen the girls hang out like that. So refreshing!



I love the YingyingxXiaoxiao friendship so much! They go at each other at the same level, are extremely frank with each other, and at the end of the day are capable of having fun together. I actually realized Xiaoxiao is only really herself when she's with her neighbours at the 22nd floor. She doesn't show her vulnerability to her parents or her other friends. Guanguan is getting more and more outspoken. She's very mature there's nothing to fear about her.



Both Sheng Mei and Xiaoxiao got humbled down over the course of the last couple of episodes. As for Sheng Mei I find she is able to find peace with herself and think clearly. As for Xiaoxiao it was just the first time things don't go as she wants, and she's helpless to do anything. She realizes her limitations and how she cannot hide them.



As for Andy, I really think she should re-evaluate her relationship with Mr. Wei. Why does she insist something is wrong with her? I mean yea she has issues, but some of it could be as simple as her admiring him as a friend and not a lover? I don't know. The younger girls are right about when it comes to getting into a relationship.



That scene with Dr Zhao running away is sooo funny! LOL

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The whole Fan-jie story really frustrates…

The whole Fan-jie story really frustrates me. I guess because of my past experience with friends, seeing someone self-destruct and unable to think clearly, and too stubborn to reflect is the thing I can't handle most. It's only because I care about her character that I can't stand her treating herself like that.



Although I found the way Andi tried to handle the situation and "help" was the worst way possible. In these situations I feel like Andi is such a kid. She's still my fave and I understand her most. On one hand she feels she has so do something, on the other, she feels there's nothing she can do.



Weiwei... there are some things about him I'm starting to discover and dislike. Basically he's pretty judgemental of women, and for him they can screw themselves over for all he cares. For him it seems like it's to each his own. If someone isn't as smart and capable even though they are trying, he acts like he's nice to them but in reality he looks down on them (Yingying).



That brings us to Yingyins and Xiaoxiao. I'm loving their friendship. I guess what I love most is their frankness to each other. Yingying might be dense and not smart, but I she has factors that totally redeems her. She's optimistic, accepts criticism and reflective. She's also very committed. Even though she's not bright, her mind is like a sponge ready to absorb and grow. Xiaoxiao is the best at pushing her to the right direction with her blunt and honest criticism. And I can see that despite what she initially thought of Yingying she's starting to change her mind. I hope I'm right.



As for Guanguan.. she's got no chance. I mean he even finds Andi boring (how dare you!! :P) I think it's more of a fantasy, as she's realizing that person isn't what she initially thought of him before.

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Strong come back

THIS was a particularly strong episode. It manages to connect with me on different fronts. The dialog itself was very carefully used to an effective way.



I don't know what people thought of Ling's reaction, but I totally get where he's coming from. The most frustrating thing is seeing someone putting themselves through hell with their own free will, and fee incapable of doing anything. Or worst, that person doesn't let you help them.



I loved the talk he had with Daye. There was lots to reflect about. We really got to know what is going on his his mind. When you're young full of dreams and idealism, people sometimes look at you like some heretics, abnormal and needed to be "brought down to earth". I feel as we grow older, we just become numb to the craziness of the world, and treat that craziness as normal. People always tell me "aren't you too old for this? Shouldn't you dream more realistically? Shouldn't you settle down by now?". Ling is look at the same way by society. His dream is treated lightly, and he's looked down on for not conforming and still going for his dreams. It's what makes him so colourful and full of life.



The ending though... LOVE IT! Qi Luo, You kick ass!



You can say the way the situation is handled is as unsatisfying as life can be, and as unfair as life can be. However I love the severity the drama is dealing with the situation. I love the way they demonstrate how modern society is still primitive when it comes to dealing with it. There is one think her mom said that made things clear: She didn't say "I believe i him" but "I choose to believe in him". It really shows how disgusting and weak she is!



One small thing annoyed me this episode was the "red herring" about something Ling did. Otherwise REALLY great episode that made all the difference for me in the entire drama.

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Not sure where this is going

Let me start with the ending. It was Awkward and weird, a total fail. First of all the guy in black is usually very fast and ruthless, but waits for Dal Hyang to move the furniture and goes down before he moves? When Dal Hyang found them it looked like they were posing and waiting to be seen. I think the ending would've been much more intriguing by ending it at the two meeting up.



Other things that I didn't find logical was the servants reason for betraying them. Also she was able to follow Mi Ryung better than the prince's servant? I'd think the servant would've had more experience in following people around. Jung Yong Hwa's acting (or lack of) doesn't bother me the most but that scene when he discovered the hidden room, it really looked like someone telling him "now open your mouth and act surprised". He opened his mouth but the acting wasn't there :P



Of the things I liked is Kim Ja Jum. He turned out to be not merely a power hungry villain, but with a vision. This certainly adds more danger to his character because a villain with a vision, unlike a greedy one, knows no fear.



Seung Po continues to be my fave but seems to be underused. I want to see more of him! I like the princess and how her relationship with growing with So Hyun. I like how they're using her past with Dal Hyang. This reminder the prince has that she has a man who kept her in his heart for 5 years and went through so much trouble to be worthy of her keeps him more alert of her feelings. That he finds himself always one step behind Dal Hyang when it comes it her is amusing. I don't know what so say about Mi Ryung other that she plays the mysterious part quite well. I like her facial expression at the meeting, full of sadness, resentment and, for the first time, fear.

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Heartfelt

We were all waiting for this moment when the siblings will have to demonstrate what it is to be there for each other.Honestly my favourite moments in the episode weren't when all the brothers decided to beat Asahi (although he deserved it :P) but in the small sweet moments.



First one is Asahi and Hikari when she was pushing him and beating his head. The scene when they got back home to find the others' surprise and how they all thought alike was adorable. the scene between Asahi and Azusa when he invited her to that small concert was cute, sweet and heartfelt. The ending scene was the most hilarious but also the most endearing. No matter the method of communicating, Asahi and Satoru's arguments will always end up being the same. The scene at the concert was also nice to watch. I loved how we could feel Azusa's tensity at first then loosening up bit by bit. I like Aoi Yu's performance here ;)



As for Asahi's boss, I still think he should be sued. They're making him all human but I think I wouldn't be able to forgive him and look at his face. It may be that it's my way of thinking since growing of in the west that makes me feel this way. Although I know even in the west we have to let go of a lot of sh*t our bosses do but it sits heavy in my heart. The only reason I can let it go a bit is that kick Asahi gave him earlier on in this dorama.



As for the Ototo's story, I still think they tried to resolve their issues too soon. I do think that the issues between each other can be resolved with them becoming so involved with Asahi's daughter and all, but Kasumi hanging out with them so fast is hard to believe. I understand they're running out of time though :P



All in all sweet episode. I just wonder how they will handle the situation that came up at the end of the episode. I wonder how much Takako will be able to help them :S

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