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Dramaworld: Episodes 7-10 (Final)

girlfriday: Wait, so I’m pretty sure Episode 6 ended with everyone dying, but now they’re all miraculously better. Claire climbs up from the ledge of the building, and Joon has a wee little bandage where he was shot with the arrow that put him in a coma.

javabeans: Well, it’s Dramaworld, where deaths are mostly plot conveniences. Claire barges into the florist shop run by Seo-yeon’s friend and eyes him suspiciously, eventually deeming him too minor of a character to be the killer. Off she goes to the makeup shop, where the employee gives her a PPL makeover, killing two trope birds with one stone.

girlfriday: Claire is understandably confused to find out that Seth bought the restaurant, but he convinces her that it’s all in service of the happy ending between Joon and Seo-yeon.

javabeans: Seth is acting suspicious with his restaurant fixation, but I’m adding Mom to the list, since she’s awfully fine with Dad having killed himself to hand his position over to Joon. Has she never heard of the concept of abdication? Meanwhile, all the lovelines are getting screwy with Seo-yeon suddenly making moony eyes at Seth, her savior from the fire, and Joon doodling Claire’s name idly.

girlfriday: I don’t like how Seth saves her once from a burning building and Seo-yeon magically forgets she’s in love with Joon.

javabeans: Yeah, tropes should be fun to riff on, but shouldn’t make characters seem brainless. I like this concept of Dramaworld having a magnetism for certain actions and reactions, but these characters have to have free will or they aren’t really aren’t people.

girlfriday: I think you could make the argument for Joon and Claire, because it was at least developed in some way, but the Seo-yeon/Seth loveline confuses me.

Episode 7:

Source: Viki

javabeans: One thing I’m wondering is if this Dramaworld world — the events happening right now, including Claire’s sleuthing — is airing on TV somewhere out in the real world, and how much of it is making it to broadcast. Because obviously when Claire was just a fan, she didn’t know about Seth, only the main storyline. So are we to think that people are watching these developments and… just… accepting them?

girlfriday: Maybe it’s like that drama Aurora Princess, with the crazy writer who just killed people off on a whim.

javabeans: But Claire’s a real character now, and she’s talking to Seth very openly about the trappings of Dramaworld and its laws, and how does that work in the final product? I’m so confused. I don’t know if I should think harder about this or less hard.

girlfriday: Less. Definitely less. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to think that Taste of Love is off the rails right now, though yeah, it’s totally confusing.

javabeans: Claire says that things have gone askew (as more earthquakes rumble through) and she points out that a murder mystery has no place in the sixth episode of a romance drama. BUT IT SHOULD BE EPISODE THIRTEEN. We started the show when Taste of Love was on Episode 12! I thought she was a fan. Shouldn’t she know better?

girlfriday: Whoops, yeah that’s an oversight.

javabeans: So Claire gets drunk and Joon drops by and they have A Moment, and Claire is very aware of the meta implications of having Moments with the drama hero, and gets all handsy with his face.

girlfriday: She starts babbling about how this is all her fault and he wasn’t supposed to save her, because she doesn’t matter.

javabeans: Meanwhile, sneaky second lead Ga-in gets increasingly upset with Seth, because their deal is going awry. Seth killed Dad and meant to shoot Claire, so that Ga-in could have the hero and Seth could have the heroine. She demands that Seth make it happen the way they planned.

girlfriday: Joon finally picks up on some of Claire’s drunken rambling and realizes that she started the fire, and gets angry with her for taking away the restaurant and shouts, “I almost fell in love with you!” Um… who says that? That’s a confession?

javabeans: Ack! I’m so bad with these confession scenes, they make me cringe, ack stop the intimacy stoooop. Maybe that says more about me than the show. Admittedly, don’t dramaland confessions tend to be all roundabout and angry like that? I remember Joo-won making me swoon with his “I don’t want to be jealous of a dead man” in Yong-pal, so ha.

Episode 8:

Source: Viki

girlfriday: True, true, but usually it happens after like 7 HOURS of screen time, not 30 minutes, so there’s that.

javabeans: Then Seth shoves Ga-in off the roof and happily continues his plan to take over Dramaworld. Ha, Episode 8 starts off with Seth charging into a sageuk set (or I guess world, here) and a whole rap-dance sequence kicks off. Yang Dong-geun time!

girlfriday: LOL, this is so random.

javabeans: Rapping Magistrate Yang Dong-geun, how odd is that? He’s so perfect though, with his rapping background and the fusion K-pop sequences in his last drama, Three Musketeers, which I thoroughly enjoyed. He was so awesome in that drama. Too bad more people didn’t watch it.

girlfriday: Oh yeah, where he was the nose-picker! This is definitely the best cameo though, by far.

javabeans: Remember how he was at the Dramaworld premiere and the party, and we were all, “Let’s go say hi”? And then we didn’t even though he was sitting alone, because I could see the scene playing out in my mind, where we’d go up to him, say, “We love you! You’re great!” and then just smile awkwardly and wonder if we could slink away without making things uncomfortable for everyone involved.

girlfriday: I don’t know how anybody talks to famous people. I will never forget his shiny pants though. So back in the contemporary Dramaworld, Seth continues to act suspicious at Ga-in’s funeral, and draws attention to the fact that Joon isn’t there. Joon loiters outside his old restaurant, and suddenly starts… seeing ghosts? That’s not the kind of drama this is!

javabeans: I suppose we could be in Taste of Who Are You Ghostess now. Seth’s manipulations are totally blurring the rules here, so that could explain all the genre-mashing. Like how at the funeral, some spy-like person tries to deliver a secret-filled briefcase to Claire.

girlfriday: Pfft, is Joon doing his father’s memorial rites with frozen dinners? Back at the funeral, Claire wonders if it’s really possible that Joon is the killer, and goes to confront Joon about it. It’s the strangest scene — they’re yelling at each other, with her accusing him of being a killer, and they’re pelting each other with frozen foods the whole time.

javabeans: It’s tonally interesting, in that the emotions are running high but there’s this layer of farce over it. Like Joon crying in front of his altar of frozen foods, and the long shot makes me laugh even though obviously he’s not trying to be actively funny.

girlfriday: It makes no sense, until the food fight escalates and Claire slaps Joon across the face with kimchi. Oh, they did all that to do a parody of the daily drama Everybody Kimchi?

javabeans: Is that… a thing? The food-throwing definitely seems weird.

girlfriday: The kimchi-slap is a scene from a daily drama and I only know it because it keeps getting parodied, like on SNL Korea and stuff.

javabeans: In an American show they would’ve capped that angry food fight with a makeout session, but this is a K-drama(ish show) so they end up drinking soju. They start to have this talk about why he broke it off with the other girl, and Claire tries to stop him from making his confession. Hilariously, part of his confession is “Even when I hated you more than anything…”

girlfriday: I like this confession scene much better than the last one. It’s just more believable. Claire puts the brakes on the romance though, because now she knows that if Joon isn’t the killer, someone else is.

Episode 9:

Source: Viki

javabeans: And then to explain everything, she… shows him his drama? Dun dun dun! You gave him the red pill without his consent!

girlfriday: Ack, is the world going to implode? It doesn’t though, and by morning Joon is still holding the phone. Did he marathon his own drama all night?

javabeans: Hey, maybe it really is addicting. I love his outrage: “I’m a… television character! And kind of a jerk!”

girlfriday: Hahaha.

javabeans: Don’t you kind of think Claire is being cavalier with his meltdown? He’s totally freaking out that he’s not even a real human person, and she’s like, “Eyes on the prize, the show’s ending soon, chop chop.” Like he should be fine with the idea of waking up in a new drama, with his memory wiped blank again.

girlfriday: Yeah I think this is an existential crisis of epic proportions, from his point of view. Plus I’ve always found the memory-wiping part super creepy.

javabeans: Seth gets into his creepy romance-hero mode with Seo-yeon, and asks if she doesn’t feel a familiarity with him. Ha, then we cut to a bunch of her past dramas with Joon, where Seth is always the extra in the background. Did you laugh at the alien spaceship romance?

girlfriday: Hee, I love the progression. Seth is disappointed that she only remembers him from this drama, while he’s carried a torch for her for who knows how long.

javabeans: At least she doesn’t seem to be that into his attentions, which suggests she’s not entirely without a mind of her own. I laughed when she tried to cut into her steak and couldn’t do it, because I thought they were going to parody how drama heroes always cut up the steaks for their ladies, like women can’t manage to cut a damn steak on their own, but it turns out Seth is a terrible cook and the steak is still frozen.

girlfriday: Claire takes Joon to Seth’s apartment, seeking his help (I’m amazed she still doesn’t suspect him, but okay), and Joon is dumbstruck at all the drama stills on the wall from his past shows with Seo-yeon.

javabeans: It’s kind of cute how he’s just openly flirting with Claire now, since there’s no point denying it I guess. She says how she’s invisible in her own life, and he gets all swoony saying, “I’m looking at you right now.” Claire forces her attention back to their mystery, and finally connects the dots, recalling how Seth has always been so into Seo-yeon… just as Joon discovers Seth’s secret room with the serial killer wall and the portal into sageukland.

girlfriday: In the restaurant, Seo-yeon finds it weird that no one else has arrived for their shift, and Seth says creepily that he’s got something special planned. Under his breath, he mutters, “Because today is the last episode…”

javabeans: Enter his random sageuk army! Ooh, interesting revelation: Joon wonders what happens if Seth’s coup as the leading man is successful, and Claire realizes that if Seth usurps that role, the next drama will have Seth and Seo-yeon as the leads… and no Joon. That’s a great twist! It should’ve been a cliffhanger.

girlfriday: I know! So while Seth has Seo-yeon held captive in the restaurant with his army of sageuk officers, Claire and Joon enlist the help of the second lead, who naturally jumps at the chance to help Seo-yeon. Seth stops beating about the bush and just has Seo-yeon tied to a chair, and tells her that he loves her before leaning in for a kiss. But then an arrow comes flying in to interrupt them just in time.

javabeans: Aha! I guess we know the answer to Joon’s question earlier, about whether being a master archer in a past drama would mean he’s still got the skills.

Episode 10:

Source: Viki

girlfriday: Seriously, this is Dollhouse!

javabeans: Crossed with the Matrix! Joon asks Claire what her world is like, and she says it sucks because you never know how things turn out. I’m pretty sure he interprets that differently than she means. They burst into the kitchen for a confrontation, and the boys fight while Claire gets kidnapped. Seth rages about how he can totally work his way up to leading man, arguing that the girl loves him back, ignoring how she’s thisclose to throwing up in her own mouth at the thought.

girlfriday: Joon bursts in like the big hero to stop him, but somehow Seth can control him by introducing a new trope. He snaps his fingers and starts the karaoke machine, and Joon can’t stop himself from standing there and singing a song. THIS IS SO WEIRD.

javabeans: He literally just sings while Seth forces a kiss on the girl, and she spits in his face, and then there are earthquakes as Dramaworld is imploding… what the hell is going on. I mean, it’s hilarious, but also really really weird. Seth gets angry that this world isn’t cooperating, and decides that if Dramaworld is just as crappy as the real world, then it can just be destroyed already.

girlfriday: Joon looks distraught while singing, like he can’t control his own body, but when Claire asks him to fight for her, he manages to snap out of the trance and gets back into the action.

javabeans: Claire urges him to kiss Seo-yeon and make the ending happy, and frankly I don’t see how this forced “true love’s kiss” is any different from Seth’s, but she’s insistent that this is the only way to save the world. The world keeps quaking, and then Joon bypasses the heroine to kiss Claire instead. Yay-noooo-yay! Did they save the world? Or destroy it?

girlfriday: I’m happy that he kissed Claire instead of Seo-yeon, but I’m so confused about the rules of this world. I don’t think they destroyed it, because they look over, and Seo-yeon is kissing the second lead. O-kay?

javabeans: I liked Florist Boy so that’s fine with me, but I’m confused about the mechanics of what this all does to the world and its trappings. I think we’re supposed to stop asking questions now, though.

girlfriday: Lol, the four of them sit down to a nice dinner with Seth tied up in the corner. What?

javabeans: What happened to all the sageuk fighter boys? Were they really necessary? Claire gets choked up thinking that the drama is over now and everyone will forget what happened but her. Joon says she can stay here or he can go to her world, but the best she can do is say that maybe he’ll remember her. Then the credits to Taste of Love start rolling on her phone, and the background music blares over their conversation. They can barely hear each other, and Joon shouts, “I love you!” just as his drama ends… and Claire and Seth get zapped back to the real world.

girlfriday: Where Dad socks Seth, making him scurry away in fear. Apparently only a night has passed in the real world, but Claire hugs Dad tightly and says she missed him.

javabeans: Then life resumes as normal, with Claire working in her sandwich shop with Dad, watching Joon’s drama on her phone as he runs across the screen in a tux… and then bursts into her front door? What?

girlfriday: What the heck? He says that Dramaworld needs her, and then belatedly realizes that he’s in the real world… and faints from the shock.

javabeans: Annnnnd scene! It must be an open/cliffhanger ending to set us up for a potential sequel, and given the richness of the world, I’m sure they could make another series out of the idea. It would have to be an entirely different premise, of course, but you could use the worldbuilding to keep going, for sure.

girlfriday: And have the other Dramaworlds crossover with this one.

javabeans: Given where we started out, I was surprised at how complex the plot got, with all the contortions and manipulations, but as a web format, it worked pretty well. The constant twists were well done and well-timed as episode cliffhangers, and I liked the general length of 15-minute episodes. I’ve seen web dramas where the episodes were much shorter, and wasn’t really satisfied with 5- or 8-minute lengths, and going any longer could feel like it wasn’t written for the web format. (I’m thinking Splish Splash Love, for instance, which was outstanding as two hourlong episodes, but didn’t really feel like the 10-episode cuts did much for it.)

girlfriday: Yeah I do want more web dramas to write to this length, and make each episode have a clear ending, instead of taking content written for TV and chopping it up in increments.

javabeans: For sure, comedy with mystery is a great genre for it — you need that extra something to suck you in and keep suspense high, and I liked Dramaworld’s tonal sensibility (most of the time): tongue-in-cheek, sometimes deadpan, self-referential. There were parts that had me cringing from the cheesiness, but overall I thought it was a pleasant surprise. And I do think it feels like the production values were very high, even though from the director’s comments at the premiere, it sounded like they actually managed on quite a limited budget.

girlfriday: Yeah I think the twists kept it fresh, and I liked that each episode packed in a lot of story. And of course, the meta-upon-meta was fun for fans too.

javabeans: And if they do make a sequel, I think I’ll much prefer Joon being a funny sidekick/partner than a stoic object of affections, because even though I know his character was supposed to be that stiff cliche of a chaebol, I only started to like him when he started getting dorky toward the end.

girlfriday: Maybe his big crisis is that he woke up in a drama where he was the second lead!

javabeans: Dramaworld 2: How the Chaebol Got His Groove Back?

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I think it's the drama where the second lead shift to main lead because of viewers demands (?)

haha lol forget it

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hahahaaa that's funny. Does he require a piano in that case?

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Park Joon's Choice, aka Kiss Claire if You Dare?
Okay, so no Yoon Eun-hye, but at least there's still a leading lady with crazy red-blond hair? I wished they'd played up the second male lead a bit better, with more scenes like the goofing around together in the florist shop. "Oppa" is not Yong Hwa, but still cute in his own way.

I loved this drama's concept, and now, after having watched W, I wish W had taken itself a little less seriously at times -- not outright campy, as this series is, but not getting so tangled up in its own dramaworld rules that it no longer makes any sense at all. Still, the casting was a bit too off here. Sorry, but Sean Dulake really didn't have that magnetic male lead pull until too far into the drama. And while Claire is supposed to be an ordinary K-Drama obsessed fangirl, she still felt wrong in that role (even if that's how it should be).

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Poor Joon's actor (in the show-veres, not Sean) is off in Korea wondering what the heck is happening to his career.

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I laughed so hard when the gratuitous shower scene kicked in (it had to, it was in the book ;) ). And the Sageuk dance party. And soulful karaoke (what the what?). And the everything--this whole show was a party, I'd totally be down for another season.

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When Claire made the comment about the murder mystery not belonging in episode 6 of a romance, I assumed she had been referring to the murder of Joon's father, figuring it was back in episode 6.

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I was just about to say this!

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Yes!

Also I think people got confused because we see Joon's dad murder scene in eps 12 when Claire watch Taste of Love in her phone. So they thought it's happened in eps 12. But it could also be just flashback sequence of all episode because the drama entering last part of the story.

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I can't help but think about the actual viewers of Taste of Love back in the real world. I bet they're like WTF, screw this writer.

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Haha somewhere there is a blogg for those viewers to complain about the writer and PD doing unlogical things and ruining a good drama.

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Lol their own soompi and dramabeans!
With people cussing out the director and writer
To people saying they think was 'fine', they do not get why people are complaining
To those who come up with theories about how it may not have been the PD's fault... Higher powers wanted the non-lead girl to become lead

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... because she has a "sponsor" LOLOL

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They brought her in to appease the "international viewers" so it could be sold over there!

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That sounds like another drama. Was it Piano of Love, by any chance? It also sound like Taste that Cheese.

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In the end, the biggest twist of Dramaworld would be that Claire is in fact from a drama of her own. (or her own drama within the drama if you will).

I mean look at her own cliches:
-girl bored with repetitive life ends up sucked into a device to save "the drama".
-ends up trying to help, screwing everything up
-unites with the characters to fight the "evil intruder" to set the story right.
-ends up back in the real world, just to re-meet the hero.

I'm sure I saw more than one movie following this plot progression. Besides, was it ever established how the portals between different dramaworlds actually worked? Or how Joon could then end up in the real world?

(I think my brain hurts from overthinking this....)

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Ack! How does she know she's back in her world or just trying to "close" another dramaworld?

O____O

Dammit, viki! I still haven't figured out Inception. And now you give us this ending???

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Exactly! She could have just been dragged from her own "dramaworld" into another one, where her role changes. like Seth following around as an extra. Except, Claire was the hero of her own world, thus she was always doomed to end up messing with the loveline.

While Seth was an extra with a crush (also not an uncommon plot point of the cameo of a girl/guy to add tension/sprk o jealousy to a love line). He could have always had that role, but then become more and more aware of "dramaworld" leading him to try and take the hero's place, because that was the role he originally had

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Right! I totally walked away from this drama trying to figure out how the "Inception" plot-line worked. And then felt worried about how far I fell down the k-drama hole... Because I think there should be a reasonable limit to how much time I put thinking into the last twenty seconds of any show... Or maybe not, the drama gods own my sole, I should just accept it.

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The last episode was the best Joon-wise.

I wasn't buying his apparent chemistry with Claire all the way through the series...and then that look he gave here when they were at Seth's Wall of Past Lives....I found myself involuntarily biting my lip and thinking 'hubba huba!'

Where was that dude for the last 9 episode, huh??

But overall, I agree - the shorter episodes made them feel action packed and made me eager to know what happened next.

Loved Crazy Seth. That's what I would be like if you put me in a drama:
"YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM! HERE, GIVE ME THE POWDER BLUE SUIT OF LOVE, YOU INGRATES! I'll take it from here..."

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Did anyone else wonder why Joon sounded so weird talking korean?

I think they made him retake his lines off camera and put it in there because his voice sounds really off in every scene, like he's not really in the same room with the same echo...right?
Maybe Sean (That's the actor right?) actually sucks at sounding fluent in korean and had to rehearse and retake it again. Well I guess he's also just a gyopo struggling to do his best. Fighting Sean Dulake!

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I think he really is just not that fluent in Korean. His Korean is like the English spoken by most of the Korean actors - you can understand it but you know that they don't speak it as a first language.

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He sounded like he had a cold when he was speaking in English. Maybe he did and that threw his accent off?

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They gave this show... a Super Mario Bros Movie ending!! WTH!

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Thought that too lol

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Siwon was the best thing about this drama. Close second was Seth's rap and Joon piggybacking a random girl.

You would think those were the over-the-top moments but in reality the rest of the show - especially Claire becoming the leading lady and having "moments" with Joon - was too much. I cringed several times, although I will say there was a tiny emotional payoff when Joon learns he isn't real. But that part was crazy, because Claire blatantly ignored the rules - I guess she's one of those all or nothing types. If I'd been forced into a corner like that I maybe would have revealed a secret - like Joon's father's murder - just to get Joon's head back in the game but just basically telling him he's a drama character and that he HAS to make sure the drama ends on a kiss. *shakes head* As ignorant as he was about apologizing, Claire was equally ignorant about his identity crisis after that. I don't know. I guess all her "knowledge" about korean dramas - or the one kdrama in particular that she was facilitating - didn't help her very much. I feel like she couldn't see the forest for the trees because she was so obsessed. It was up to Joon - our main lead - to save the day after all!

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Read the recaps before watching the series because... I'm a teeny bit shallow and I didn't like the way Claire looked when she came across my Netflix screen.

Anyway. Sounds a bit like a Never Ending Story, Pleasantville, Truman sort of thing.

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omg are you me?

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The recaps were great and elevated the show a bit.

The one big takeaway I have from this is:

I want a K-drama remake of Dollhouse. It could be a perfectly executed techno thriller, and planned for 3 distinct seasons. (The original show tried to set itself up to be a 5-6 year show with 20+ episodes but when it got cancelled they just crammed everything into 2 seasons. But 3 would be perfect!) The basic premise of the world's leading medical technology company using their advanced MRI to scan people's brains and catalog their memories so as to create programmable humans who can supplant government figures and eventually technology to mass brainwash the populace set in Korea with all the implicit North/South spy tensions as well as Chaebol empires would be fannnntastic.

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This needs to be made. Immediately.

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I wouldn't be surprised if Seth made up some of the drama world news.

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I think they included just enough trope material to give people an idea of what Dramaworld as a series could be. I mean, when Joon rushes in at the end, I'm thinking, "Hellsyah, on to the spy drama!" It's a mash up, but it was definitely made from a place of love. I hope they do another season, and I hope the next one is spy/action, such as right after he pulls her back in to Dramaworld and tells her a little bit about what is going on with a secret plot (maybe...Seth? or Mom, who felt way underutilized with the whole Dad suicide/murder angle), he HAS to get dramamnesia. Sorry, y'all, KDrama rules. Didn't happen in the first season, so it's gotta happen in the second. Also backhugs.
So, now Claire has to find a way reintroduce herself to him and trigger his memory, all the while figuring out the plot of this new drama. I think Seth's machinations should have paid off just enough to alter some of the characters hero/villain narratives, including Joon's (which is activated with the amnesia). Him having a morally murky or super agent style character would be a swing in the opposite direction from the first season. There'd still be that element of romance, but having it veer toward A Love to Kill or City Hunter could definitely be fun!

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I loved this. I was more than willing to take the cheesiness, the weird food fight, the gratuitous shower scenes, and even the rapping sageuk. When Park Join ran from his spy drama into the real world, I was like, "Let's go!” I'd hoped that Seth would have earned his place as not a leading man, but a villan and have his mind wiped as he became the villan in drama after drama. Also, I believe Park Join passed out because the restaurant looks just like The Libertine. I laughed so hard from beginning to end.

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