All right, just so you know, because of how long this got, I’ll continue in the comments. Yes, I kind of went off on a tangent. No, I’m not sorry. I had some things to say.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this adaptation. Hell, I looked forward to it because I thought it was promising despite my initial reservations about the leading actors. Admittedly, I did have high standards since I watched the South Korean drama first. However, please note the usage of the past tense ‘liked’. In fact, I might even go so far as to say I loved it. IN the first half. Er, most of the show until the big reveal.

Now, I understand that comparing the South Korean original drama and the Filipino adaptation is highly irrelevant and unwarranted, however, I justify a comparison by the effects of one party. With the message that this adaptation is sending, I now have a reason to see the differences and which I prefer between the two.

You know what, I’ll start off with the good stuff and then slowly rip the bandaid off because that’s what it felt like the show was doing. After they ripped the bandaid off, they smashed salt against my wounds. Why do I use this analogy? Because slowly, the show became excruciating to watch. The episodes began to drain me and I just found myself wanting to watch the South Korean one because I felt it gave me that feeling of payoff I was searching for here.

Okay, here, I’ll actually start with the good stuff now. I love that this adaptation changed and made certain aspects their own. Like, instead of a corporation group like Yumyung Group in the South Korean drama, it’s a pharmaceutical company called Prime Alpha. Instead of Brandon being oblivious to Kim’s pollen allergy, Brandon is aware and it actually looks like he doesn’t want her anywhere near flowers (e.g. when Kim willingly went out to get flowers for Brandon’s ‘girlfriend’). Do you see what I’m trying to get at? They changed a couple of things that I ended up liking and added new elements I also liked. The addition of Jordy and Steph’s relationship and the creation of Sir Walter’s character are some examples.

However, with these changes, it teeters between remarkable or, to put it bluntly, ridiculous. Overdramatised, if you will, or unrealistic. And yes, I understand that it’s fiction and fiction can be unrealistic but I’ll explain why this is a big deal to me later when I get there. The production changed the fundamentals of the kidnapping. In the South Korean drama, Young-joon and Mi-so were kidnapped by a woman who was the mistress of some random man, got pregnant, lost her baby, and had a mental breakdown. That’s just it. No ulterior motive. Here, Brandon and Kim were kidnapped because a woman had a mental breakdown after Prime Alpha fired her husband, had a heart attack, and died. Because of this, she targeted Brandon and kidnapped him as revenge.

Here’s my problem with this: the South Korean drama’s version didn’t involve some revenge plot. Young-joon and Mi-so were just two unfortunate children who were kidnapped. No reason whatsoever. It wasn’t because of Young-joon’s wealth or some history with his family’s company. The woman just saw these children, kidnapped them, and made them ‘her children’ while also confusing them for her lover’s children. I say it’s realistic because it’s something that could very well happen in real life which then made me raise my eyebrows at this adaptation’s version. Sure, I was entertained but it’s because I think that’s just the Filipino in me who grew up watching these teleseryes that had catfights and revenge plots and everything we liked to see but acknowledged might never happen in the real world.

That leads me to my next point: The Troy Sebastian subplot was unnecessary. I don’t think he served much purpose because after his purpose had been fulfilled, he was gone. In the South Korean drama, Park Byung-eun was just Mi-so’s blind date. Here, she has known Troy Sebastian since childhood. The South Korean drama and Filipino adaptation share the plotline that Mi-so and Kim asked Byung-eun and Troy for help in looking into their kidnapping. However, this drama has a tendency of overdramatising what is originally a simple plotline. What is a normal, if slightly awkward but cordial relationship between Mi-so and Byung-eun was turned into this unfair, cruel relationship with Kim and Troy. The show introduced Troy as a goofy, lanky, almost comic relief character whose armpits are always dripping with sweat until it began to antagonise him, painting him out to be a cutthroat, determined reporter who would stop at nothing to get his scoop. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that but eventually, the antagonisation became too blatant, almost telling us that we shouldn’t like him because of what he’s doing.

Eventually, Troy does expose a big secret of Brandon’s family and he loses his job. After that, we no longer hear from him. Was all of this really necessary? What was so wrong with a cordial relationship and a guy who just willingly helped a friend who asked that they thought it was better to complicate things?

Watching this was a fairly smooth ride. Of course, there were a few bumps along the way but those bumps were tolerable. When I got to the big reveal of the kidnapping, everything went downhill from there. There’s a reason I’m always willing to go through so many hour-long episodes just to get to this reveal in the South Korean drama. Because after waiting that long, guessing and wondering, we get the big payoff, this feeling of satisfaction. Like, “Finally, after we see Sung-yeon treating Young-joon like crap, we finally get to see him get angry at him and no one would be there telling him to stop” and “Finally, we see Mi-so, Chairman Lee, and Madam Choi telling Young-joon he isn’t alone after years of enduring his trauma alone”. It’s a lot of finallys that I waited for so long to say and I always have this satisfaction when saying it.

Clearly, it wasn’t the same experience. Kim completely invalidated Brandon’s trauma after she discovered he lied about being Ninja Boy, telling him that he deceived her. She told everyone that he deceived her which, in itself, isn’t a lie but the problem lies in the fact that she totally overlooked his reason for doing it. She jumped over him saying he suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and insomnia and he doesn’t want that for her and immediately told him to leave. The end doesn’t justify the means and, yes, despite his intentions, she was still hurt. I’m not saying she should just ignore all of that. What I’m saying is to understand why he did it. What I found worse than that was, after accepting him into their family, Kim’s family turned their backs on him so quickly, going all, “You have the nerve to show up here!” when Brandon stayed with Kim at the hospital after she fainted. And I just sat there, thinking about how this all seemed like an overreaction, that if they took the time to understand why he lied to her, maybe they’d shut up. Instead of the big payoff, I was just drained and a little betrayed.

That isn’t the only time they invalidated his feelings by the way. Kim has comforted Cyrus for his mistakes, telling him he should stop blaming himself but when it comes to Brandon, she pushes him away because he tried to protect her. She took the time to listen to Cyrus while she didn’t want to hear Brandon out. How unfair could this get?

Oh God, Cyrus. I haven’t even talked about him. I don’t know which one was worse: Sung-yeon or Cyrus. Okay, no, at least Sung-yeon mixed up his memories with Young-joon out of extreme guilt for what he’d done. Meanwhile, Cyrus, out of jealousy because everyone was paying attention to Brandon (rightfully so, I mean, the kid was kidnapped), wrote an essay about how HE was the one who was kidnapped.

All right, fine, they reconciled. We pick up from there. It’s all fine, going okay, until the damn wedding planning happens. Because of a job offer she got, Kim decides she wants to meet Gladys Mallari, the daughter of her kidnapper Dina. Brandon goes with her but he is reluctant because, well, the woman traumatised him. He sees her picture which triggers him and he runs out in a panic. Kim doesn’t chase after him. When she does finally go out, she just stands there, watching sadly while he full-on sobs. Okay, why didn’t you just go to him immediately? Why stand there? If you love someone, surely you wouldn’t be able to handle seeing them break down. You’d comfort them instantly. And in this wretched scene, the show decided the best message would be: “I have to go through this myself” and that is wrong and harmful in many ways. You go through difficult situations with a support system because if you go through them alone, you’ll be walking down a road that leads to self-destruction. Not only that but they’re pushing another lesson: “Forgive them because it will only make things harder for you.”

Because of Cyrus and Dina Mallari and the Filipino people’s insistence on family and forgiveness no matter what, Cyrus is at the forefront of the lesson taught to us since childhood: “Forgive them no matter what they did because they’re still family.” On the other hand, Dina represents “Forgive them no matter what they did, otherwise, it will weigh on your conscience.” No one can take the moralistic high ground on this. We shouldn’t force forgiveness on people because that’s their choice to make. Who’s to say forgiveness will even help them? Forcing forgiveness won’t fix a situation, it might even make things worse. Forgiveness is done willingly but it isn’t mandatory.

That isn’t just it. That’s not everything. Brandon always does things for her but she never does anything for him. He gives her the option to postpone their wedding because she’s stressed out but what about him? He was stressed too. He chose to elope with her because she wanted a simple wedding but what about what he wants? It’s his wedding too. He chooses to move to Korea with her because she got a job offer there but what about his life? He has a life in the Philippines with a job that demands priority. I know, I know she’s cooked for him and other things because he wanted to but I’m talking about the big things. Relocation, weddings, those things are big and requires input from both parties. As far as I remember, Kim hasn’t done anything big for Brandon. We can argue that she spent nine years as his secretary but that’s a professional relationship and there’s a difference between that and a romantic one. A relationship takes two but in this case, I suppose it only takes one end pouring in all the effort. Sense the passive aggression? Yeah, sorry, I can’t help it.

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS.