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Uncontrollably Fond: Episode 1

Uncontrollably Fond has been one of the more buzzed-about projects of the year, and it finally premiered—to a strong start, upending the Wednesday-Thursday pecking order and claiming the top spot. (It grabbed 12.5% ratings, while Wanted drew 7.0% and Lucky Romance dropped to 6.6%.)

I went into Uncontrollably Fond with cautious optimism, not wanting to expect too much on one hand, and also not wanting the hype to stir that perverse contrarian streak inside, where you want anything that’s overhyped to fail. (Some things that are hyped are good! We can’t let other people’s expectations ruin our enjoyment of things! Don’t let them win!) Perhaps it helped to consciously avoid the buzz, because I was able to go in with a pretty clean slate, and found this premiere engaging and surprisingly moving. Also curiosity-stoking. Next episode, please! *holds out hand expectantly*

But fine, first let’s get to this one:

 
EPISODE 1 RECAP

In an empty church, a young couple grips hands tightly, wearing solemn faces. The groom starts to recites his wedding vows and promises never to let his wife’s hand go from this moment on.

Then he turns to face her, cupping her face tenderly in his hands.

Before he can seal the vow with a kiss, the doors of the church burst open, and gangsters pour inside. The leader accuses the groom of stealing his hyungnim’s woman—the groom counters that she was his woman from the start—and then orders his thugs to kill him.

The ensuing fight puts the groom at a grave disadvantage, and he’s soon bloody and battered despite doing his best to fight them off. It doesn’t look good…

His bride’s scream supplies the groom with renewed energy—he fights better and faster now, dodging attacks and delivering blows. A blow to the head doesn’t even slow him down, and he fights on.

Then the boss takes out a gun and shoots him—right in the heart.

The groom stands still in shock as he registers his wound. A tear falls from his eye.

He steps toward his bride, and bang! He’s shot again. But that doesn’t faze him, and neither does the next gunshot. By the time he snatches the gun away from the gangster, everyone looks puzzled.

“I don’t want to die,” the groom says matter-of-factly. And behind the cameras, the crew gapes: They’re on a drama set, the groom is actor SHIN JOON-YOUNG (Kim Woo-bin), and this is the big climactic finale.

The director points out that his death was written in from the start, but Joon-young says he changed his mind: “I can’t die this way, director.” He requests a script change and walks off.

Joon-young’s team is at their wits’ end, with the scriptwriter refusing to edit the ending. The finale airs tonight and they’re in danger of missing the broadcast; rumors of the discord have hit the internet and Joon-young is taking a netizen beating for his arrogance.

But things become clearer when Joon-young shows up at a hospital and speaks solemnly to his doctor, unable to wrap his head around the diagnosis he’d been given. How can he be so healthy and fit and be dying of an incurable disease that gives him less than a year to live? (What! Nobody told me we were in a terminal illness drama. My heart is not ready for this.)

He asks if the doctor could have mistaken his condition, or confused him for his fated-to-die drama character, but the doctor remains assured of his diagnosis. Joon-young asks with a touch of defiance, “What if I say I won’t die? How can you know when I’ll die? What if I refuse to die, then what?”

As he sits in his car afterward, Joon-young’s agency president pleads with him to just die—the drama has filmed everything else, and if he would just agree to die, everything would wrap up smoothly. His eyes fill with angry tears, not wanting to give in even to this fictional death.

On to a rainy field at nighttime, where a woman sets up a camera while talking to a friend on the phone, who sobs loudly into her ear. She’s NOH EUL (Suzy), and she’s stunned silent when her friend wails, “Shin Joon-young died!”

And then her friend clarifies that he died in the drama’s finale, and Eul relaxes.

Just then, Eul spots a truck pulling up in the rain and gets down low to the ground, her camera recording as several men do something with large metal barrels. Suddenly, her camera gets shoved aside as one of the men glares down at her threateningly. Whoops, caught.

Eul ends up locked up in a corporate conference room, and bangs on the door loudly until a middle-aged executive joins her inside. She pegs him (and his company) as a routine offender of illegal wastewater dumping, a charge he refutes readily. He’s identified her as a producer and returns her confiscated camera to her—with its memory wiped, of course.

She’s not fussed, though, saying cheerfully that she has plenty of footage already, from the other nights his company dumped their waste. The man’s composure flags, and he asks what she wants, ready to make a deal. Eul is offended when he pushes a thick envelope of money at her, yelling that he dares to think he can cover the truth with money.

But the next thing you know, Eul is depositing the cash into an ATM (minus one bill, which she keeps for herself). She calls her loan shark, “Grim Reaper,” to let him know of this payment. (She still owes roughly 27,000 dollars.)

That night, Joon-young gets a call from his attorney about his request to track a certain woman down. Asked how much detail he would like to know about her, Joon-young replies that he wants to know where she lives, what she does, whether she went to university, whether she’s married. His face darkens a little as he adds, “And if she’s married, what her husband does.”

And yet, he doesn’t want her knowing he was looking her up—nor does he even intend to meet her.

Eul walks home that night, and comes upon a donation bin, where she slips the last bill she’d kept. She looks up at a large screen mounted on the side of a building, her eyes wistful at the sight of Joon-young’s face in an advertisement.

Morning finds Joon-young in his huge, fancy mansion, where he’s awoken by his extremely well-behaved dog. The dog turns up its nose at the bowl of dog food he pours out, and Joon-young tells him that “after I’m gone” the dog will probably go to his manager hyung, who won’t feed him fancy food or do everything Joon-young does.

Joon-young cooks a pot of ramyun and takes a bite, then puts down his chopsticks and sighs that he got sick because he ate ramyun all the time instead of rice.

Eul tries to do chores and sweet-talk her landlady into not raising her rent, but the ajumma refuses to budge. Eul sighs that she has nowhere else to go.

Joon-young sits in his car outside a restaurant and watches (wistfully, perhaps) a table of customers and the ajumma who waits on them. He heads inside with his face covered up by a huge hood and sunglasses and orders a hundred bowls of the restaurant’s specialty, spicy beef soup.

She informs him coldly that she won’t sell soup to him, which makes Joon-young insist louder and louder that he wants some. Finally he shoves aside the hood and takes off the glasses, continuing to insist as the other diners recognize him and start filming him on their phones.

An ajusshi jumps in to smooth things over, and Ajumma barks at him to sprinkle salt after Joon-young leaves, like he’s some kind of bad energy needing cleansing. Joon-young hands over a card to the ajusshi asking him to approve his hundred bowls of soup, then pauses to ask a table of diners for just one spoonful.

Eul lays out on her rooftop platform, looking up at the sky and sighing over her nearly empty bank account, when she has to feed, clothe, and educate her younger brother.

Then she gets a snappish email from the production company where she works, telling her not to come in anymore: “We don’t need trash like you at our company.” Ouch.

After Joon-young leaves the restaurant, Ajusshi scolds Ajumma for being so harsh—to her very own son. Whoa. That’s some mother-son baggage we’ve got going on here. Ajusshi tells her that celebrities these days are worlds apart from entertainers of the past (considered vulgar professions), and that Joon-young makes much more money than he would as a prosecutor or judge (which is what she wanted for him). He argues that she can’t just ignore or look down on Joon-young, and if she keeps this up, her son may turn his back on her. Mom, however, is unmoved.

Joon-young returns home and declares today another failure, sitting with more ramyun as he asks his dog if he should just tell Mom he’s going to die soon. At least then she’d let him eat her soup.

His manager hyung Gook-young comes in to complain that he’s dropped projects that are extremely lucrative, and reminds him that his refusal to die in the drama is still a fresh blot on his image. Joon-young’s voice sharpens as he reminds Gook-young that he did die, as they wanted, and warns, “From now on I won’t do anything I don’t want to do.”

Eul bursts into a meeting at her production company job, armed with specialty drinks and a sickening amount of aegyo, pouring on the charm. Her boss, the company CEO, barks at her that she’s been fired, but Eul breezes right past that, telling them of a great scoop she’s working on.

Her sunbae interrupts, charging her with taking hush money while working on a number of past stories that she then dropped. The CEO asks derisively, “Don’t you even have a conscience?” and orders her out.

That knocks her down a bit, but Eul takes a moment and comes back as sunny as ever, reminding her CEO and sunbae of all the payoffs they’ve taken—even bigger sums for even bigger corruption scandals. They fidget uncomfortably, but cling to their righteous outrage as she pleads for one more chance.

Eul adds cheerfully (and possibly shoots herself in the foot) that this time she’ll do a really good job… of not getting caught, like her CEO and sunbae managed.

So it’s no wonder that the next time we see Eul, she’s drunk and babbling, not very repentant over taking bribes; rather, she feels unjustly punished when everyone else got off scot-free. She mutters about everybody in the world being bad, just as she’s joined by a stern-faced man, CHOI JI-TAE (Im Joo-hwan), who shakes his head at her. She wails that it’s unfair to be the only one fired, but upright and principled Ji-tae says it’s good that she got caught now, before becoming even more corrupted.

Ji-tae declines to drink with Eul tonight, and even the waitress unni clucks disapprovingly, asking what her dead parents would think to see her like this. Ji-tae tells Eul to reflect on her wrongs tonight and leaves.

Eul gets dramatic and declares that she’ll do just that, and then die. She’s making such a ruckus that a nearby diner calls out for her to die later, because he’s going to die over his dinner first. Manager Gook-young is at that table, trying to soothe ruffled feathers with the drunk PD, who’s fuming over Joon-young reneging on his contract.

At that name, Eul listens in with interest, while Gook-young speaks up in defense of Joon-young. He argues that they ponied up the contract breach fees, but the PD wails that it hardly compensates—not after how hard they worked to shoot that documentary about Joon-young.

Ah, and a light bulb goes off for Eul.

Drunk PD has to be assisted out of the restaurant, and Eul approaches the group outside to ask, “Shall I try persuading him?” She knows which documentary they were working on and explains that she can convince Joon-young to do the project.

They dismiss her confidence as mere bravado, but she makes a proposal: If she succeeds, they hire her. She swears to work honestly this time, without taking any bribes.

At a bit of a distance, Ji-tae hears the exchange, not having left yet.

Over at another lavish mansion, a girl reads a blog post and gets offended on behalf of “our Joon-young” at the gossip-mongering. She’s CHOI HARU, avid fangirl and Ji-tae’s younger sister. Ah, so the righteous oppa is super-rich. Haru’s father asks if she loves Joon-young that much, and the girl practically hugs herself and begs to marry him.

Dad is a former prosecutor and now assemblyman (Yoo Oh-sung), and his wife nags him not to work so hard. Assemblyman Choi sends the housekeeper out for privacy, and Mom thinks he’s going to scold her for nagging, only to have him hug her warmly. He thanks her for being his wife, and she smiles happily.

Meanwhile, Joon-young’s mother preps ingredients at her restaurant, and a headline from a newspaper she’s been using as placemat catches her eye: It’s Assemblyman Choi. She looks down at his picture with sad eyes and holds hand to heart, and uh, is this going where I think it’s going?

The sound of breaking glass draws Mom out of her thoughts, and she finds Restaurant Ajusshi with a collection of side dishes and ingredients. Ajusshi is a terrible liar and insists that all this food is totally not for Joon-young; it’s for his son’s friend. (Ah, Restaurant Ajusshi is manager Gook-young’s father. This premiere has too many characters!)

Then Ajusshi gets indignant, asking why it matters if he did give food to Joon-young, who has picky taste and only ever eats ramyun and kimbap. He wonders how Mom can be so cold, and all she says in return is “Then you be Joon-young’s mom.”

Eul shows up at Joon-young’s front door, and the sight of her face in the monitor makes him gape in surprise, or maybe even shock. Eul declares that she’s not a crazy person or rabid fan, calling herself a nice, law-abiding citizen.

Manager Gook-young recognizes her and is surprised that she actually came; he explains to Joon-young how she claimed she would persuade Joon-young to do the documentary.

Gook-young says she seemed slightly crazy, but Eul replies that the manager ought to be on her side, reminding him that he had a lot of complaints about the star too. She lists his complaints, and Gook-young swears to Joon-young that he never said those things.

All the while, Joon-young just stares fiercely at the monitor. When she says he can chase her away if he deems her crazy, he interrupts and says, “I’ll chase you away now,” and shuts off the monitor.

Eul rings his doorbell repeatedly, but Joon-young’s already walking away. She turns to go… and then spies the security camera mounted in the entryway.

So when Joon-young flips to the security camera channel on his TV, he spots Eul standing in front of his door, holding a notebook up to the camera. She flips through it, Love, Actually-style: “I know you’re surprised. Please take your time continuing what you were doing. If you change your mind, please call me. Until you open the door, I’ll be waiting here quietly. ^^ ♥”

So Joon-young goes about his business, bathing his dog (named Pororo, which is absurd and adorable) and watching TV. All the while, Eul sits outside in the cold, even when it begins to snow. But when she calls her brother and suspects he’s skipping meals, she finally gets up to go—and leaves a tiny snowman in her stead, with the note: “I will be back.” Joon-young sees it in the camera monitor late that night.

In the morning, he packs up his outdoor gear, gets in one of his many fancy cars, and pulls out of his driveway… and the second his gate swings open, Eul dashes inside and blocks his car. He screeches to a stop, and she gets right in and wishes him good morning. He’s obviously uncomfortable with her presence, but she chatters along and says that although she expects that he’ll be feeling annoyed and confused, her business is urgent.

Joon-young gives her three seconds to get out of the car, which she blithely ignores, and then he peels out at high speed. He drives recklessly, swerving violently through traffic, giving Eul palpitations. But when he gives her the opportunity to get out at a red light, she declines, and prepares a firm grip on the car.

He shoots off into traffic once more, and swerves into the opposite lane to pass a car—right into the path of an oncoming truck. He swerves out of the way in the nick of time, but it’s too much for Eul, and she’s forced to vomit at the side of the road.

Joon-young tosses a few bills at her side and tells her that’ll cover her treatment, adding that they ought not see each other again. He gets back in the car and drives off.

Eul lies down in the road right then and there, looking up at the snowy sky, tears slipping from her eyes.

Joon-young drives on as the snow flurries grow stronger, and turns on the radio to a news announcement of an accident: A truck slipped on the road and hit a twentysomething woman, on the very road he’s traveling now. Joon-young recalls passing by an ambulance a short time ago and can’t shake his unease as the woman’s injuries are described as severe.

He makes a U-turn and heads back to the spot where he’d pulled over, but finds no sign of Eul.

Joon-young resumes his drive, and takes a call from his attorney: He’s located that woman. Joon-young replies, “So have I.”

He pulls over the car, and looks off in the distance: A woman trudges along the side of the road, wobbling unsteadily on her feet. He drives closer and runs up to Eul, staring down at her intently.

She stares, too, then breaks into a smile. “Have you changed your mind?” she asks. “Is that why you came back?” She explains that she’s not doing all this just to score a job for herself. She says the documentary will do a lot to improve his rude image, and earn money…

He cuts her off, speaking in banmal: “Don’t you know me?” She replies that everybody knows who he is, but he cuts her off again, saying her name with intensity: “Noh Eul. Don’t you know me?!”

“I know you,” she answers, dropping to banmal. “You son of a bitch.”

 
COMMENTS

Ah, interesting. Although I do my best not to let background knowledge of a show (from promos and teasers) affect how I watch the actual show itself, I didn’t except for Uncontrollably Fond to dive right in to the present day without some sort of flashback or reference to the past, because we were told ages ago that they were first loves who somehow got separated, and reunite again as adults. But the episode was fairly withholding about background information, and I accepted the plot as the show presented it, wondering when we’d be given more clues. And things kept unfolding, and Joon-young betrayed nothing about possibly knowing Eul, and Eul kept speaking to Joon-young in polite speech, as though he were a stranger.

It gave the episode a dose of tension and energy that I wasn’t expected, but really appreciated. It kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting for somebody to break first, to acknowledge each other, to fill us in on what must be pretty epic backstory.

I suppose the wait had the same effect on the characters as well, because Joon-young kept feigning ignorance until it came out in an angry outburst, and her answer was a lot stronger than her behavior leading up to that point would have suggested. So now I’m dying to know what happened, which means that as a premiere, it did its job. Curiosity piqued, mission accomplished, I’ll be back tomorrow.

I was afraid that Joon-young’s mix of charm and aggression would make me hate the character—and more to the point, hate Kim Woo-bin, after losing a lot of affection for him post-Heirs. (So charming, but so aggravating!) But Joon-young was a lot more than some spoiled, rich move star, and I found myself going absolutely all-in with him and his painful loneliness. As soon as the show told me he was dying (how can the show kill him), it shifted everything; what seemed like annoyingly smug flirting in the promos now makes sense with a ticking clock, and it pulls strings in the heart that I wasn’t expecting to be pulled.

I suspect that similar layers are going on with Eul’s character, but those weren’t played out as much—or perhaps they were, but you just can’t compete with Dying Hero. In any case, I like that she’s cheerful to an almost offensive degree; she’s not just cheerful, she’s cheerful as defense mechanism, maybe even sometimes as offense mechanism. She’s shameless and willfully cheerful, so much so that it makes her tone-deaf, yet that hints at more stuff going on beneath the surface and I’m curious to know what that is.

More than anything, I’m glad and relieved to see writer Lee Kyung-hee back with moody, melancholy romance; I am such a fan of some of her work, but not all of it, and I didn’t know which style we’d get. Her intense, classic melodramas (I’m Sorry, I Love You; A Love to Kill) were what made her name (as well as the flashier Nice Guy), but I much prefer her lighter sentimental melos, like Will It Snow For Christmas and Thank You. I find the romantic, pensive touch of this drama a refreshing change of pace, and also appreciate that when it occasionally lightens up, it doesn’t turn into a different kind of drama by pouring on the comedy. So far the show is giving me the sense of a sentimental, bittersweet romance with a strong current of emotion balanced by a dash of lightness, and that speaks to me. A lot.

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I liked the 1st episode not a big fan of Suzy's past dramas couldn't finish one episode of Dream High and her character wasn't memorable in Gu family. I think both the leads acting has improved looking forward to the 2nd episode.

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Okay but one thing I'm really hung up on is that No Eul could've asked for money to repay her WHOLE debt? like that corrupt company could've given her that much? Why didn't she just ask for $27000 more lol

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Right? And the guy who bribed her even told her to say it when she wants more, so why doesn't she ask for more. Bribery is bribery, no matter if it's 5000 or 50k, makes no sense.

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okay - fatal illness trope. I'm like an ostrich when it comes to stories that even hint at sad endings (couldnt watch Marriage Contract). I will wait this out and see how it turns out.

Thank you JavaBeans for doing the hardwork just so i can continue to stick my head in the sand and pretend that all endings are HEA.

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Surprisingly I enjoy the 1st episode- love the dog and his house- wow all expensive cars. Suzy's acting is not bad, kwb I find a bit wooden. Sad to know he is going to die. Wonder why his mum and him don't get along.
Also for a rich guy, he eats unhealthy food like ramen, if his mum won't sell him food, he should get someone to buy for him since he is so rich

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Enjoying the drama so far don't care what people say. Good drama after DOTS and great actors And it's the first Ep Lol

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The first episode doesn't really get my attention right away with the storyline and acting,
but damn, the view and the soundtrack was really beautiful.
The director is doing a really good job in giving a bittersweet feeling in the drama.
I guess I'll keep watching for it, and hope that the story gets better since I'm actually a sucker for melodrama if done well.

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well, i dont think i'd like the pilot episode, but then i'm surprised that i managed to finish it. it's not wholly perfect, but it's really a nice start.

"DO YOU REALLY NOT KNOW ME??????"
"I know. You scumbag."

cant wait for tomorrow.

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KBS and media has been hyping about the drama for more than a year. But the end result is not something as expected. Even though kim woo bin looked like he was playing youngdo again and suzy looked like a kid shouting out the dialogues from a book in the teaser..I thought it would do better in ratings and also because lee kyung hee dramas have the ability to make the actors shine. So was waiting for it to actually premiere. But it fell so short.

Kim woo bin has been getting a free pass all this time because of his bad boy youngdo image but even my adoration for him cannot make me like it. I thought his acting would be servicable at best considering suzy but it wasnt. And even after all these yrs,suzy hasn't shown any improvement and still remains bad. The drama is not gripping enough, That's a new for a lee kyung hee drama.

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Aigoo he looks so freakin healthy to be terminally ill. Please writer give me a good diagnosis. Is it incurable brain tumor or aneurysm. ?. Give me a realistic storyline in order for me to enjoy the drama.

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Thanks for the recap JB! It's always a treat to come here and relive the ep by reading your review. I personally love both leads so of course I'm more inclined to like the show. The first ep was well done imo. In the span of one hour I was able to really feel JY's loneliness and NE's burden of responsibilities. A lot of little details fleshed out their characters already (NE taking taking a bill to donate leaving none to herself and JY living alone in a huge mansion talking to his dog, to name a few). On top of that, I felt the sparks of their chemistry just in this first ep. I have high hopes for them now lol. Can't wait to see how JY's relationship with his mom will play out, child/parent storylines always get to me. Also the osts are awesome????? Cinematography is super nice too. Something feels so quaint and nostalgic about the shots. Overall I really enjoyed the pilot episode and look forward to the rest!

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I am a sucker of a good melodrama. So despite of reluctant to watch this due to the leads, I cannot say no to this writer. Her past work like Thank You and Will It Snow for Christmas are my all time favorite melodrama.

Both leads are mediocre for now, let's see if the writer and PDnim were able to enhance their acting. But, Suzy's drunken scene is among the worst I have ever seen.

Pororo was a scene stealer in the first episode. They will not make this cutie pie sick and die right?

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Nooooo why did you say that :(

The owner can go die if he wants but Pororo shouldn't die! The dog doesn't know it's in a melo!

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I am more scared for Pororo. Dogs hardly ever make it to the end of Korean movies...hopefully dramaland is more animal friendly

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Since javabeans says we should be positive, I say at least everything looks pretty and the dog is cute. Makes me want a dog too.

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Episode 1 wasn't that bad. I'll try for 3 more episodes to decide continue it or not.

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Yeah, I would not call it bad - I just have not decided if it is good or not yet.

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My long awaited time have gone n here the drama begins.
Hope this drama get more n more ratings.
The lead actors are just adorable. ....no more words for comments.

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Is it just me or does KWB look like Mr.Healer in the screencaps? ?

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maybe i'll check it out, i was interested before, but man this drama is getting thrashed by the knetz and not getting good reviews.

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The drama is well-directed, the plot is excellent (melodrama is my favourite genre), Suzy is very beautiful, Woo Bin is quite attractive (actually, I used to think he looked like a beast but I seem to have changed my mind after this drama)...but the acting of the two actors was terrible. It was an absolute embarrassment. Forget about conveying emotions, but Suzy couldn't even pronounce the words thoroughly and, strangely, I didn't feel anything for Woo Bin's character when I found out that he was going to die (that hospital scene should have been very emotional and it managed to leave me cold - I kept waiting to see some emotions on his face). What a waste of a good melodrama! The second disappointment after Mirror of the Witch this year!

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Hospital scene - LOL, the way he kept squinting/squishing his face, for a moment there I thought it was possibly related to some brain tumor that resulted to a tic ..and then I realized it just might have been the actor's way of emoting haha. Because it didn't seem significant in other parts of the drama.

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I had no idea what to expect going in and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm curious to see where the story goes and I also love the idea of Suzy's character being a struggling documentary PD who will probably have to work with Woobin's character. I think that is a nice twist. Also, as cliché the "terminal illness" trope is in melos, I like how this one was presented from the get go to not only gain our sympathy for the main character, but also to help us understand him instead of being used later on solely for the sake of angst. Also, it doesn't hurt that the whole drama is pretty to look at. If the first episode is any indication, it looks like the fact that it was pre-produced has allowed for the story to be paced better. I am looking forward to tonight's episode!

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"(What! Nobody told me we were in a terminal illness drama. My heart is not ready for this.)" I had the exact same reaction when I went to check on the drama!! I don't know if I'll watch the drama or wait till I know how it will end (I like Kim Woo Bin and I want to see him playing the main lead so please don't kill his character off, please!!) but I'll read your recaps for sure!! thank you for the recaps!! :)

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Geez people can tell a drama is horrible in the first episode! I at least give most dramas the first two installments. I've given most of them at least 4 episodes before I decide "it sucks". Then I just drop out and don't bother with it again. I've even dropped a couple of popular dramas. I can tell you why but there's really no reason to get twisted about it so I don't. I stopped watching one the biggest dramas from last year, Kill Me Heal Me.

So, this was an OK first episode. I have no preconceived notions about Suzy since I've never seen her act before. Kim Woo bin I love. He's a big old handsome devil that can do anything including be funny. I'm not a fan of terminal illnesses because young people dying makes me especially sad. But I'm in.

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Omomomomo. When I watched this show, I kept getting WISFC vibes from it. I kept thinking, wow... the nostalgia!!! It was what made me loooove WISFC (for the first 10-11 ep anw), but it wasn't until I read your recap that I realised it was by the same writer. No wonder!! I'm so in then, even though I know we're bound for heartbreak. But hopefully, if this writer is consistent, it will be more of an understated sadness, then outright makjang tears.

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thanks for thr recap jb

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I don't know if it's because I had low expectation on this or because I really love the cinematography but i think it isn't as bad as everyone saying, in fact it wasn't even bad. the first episode totally makes me want to watch the next one and that is a good start right..

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I didn't feel emotionally pulled in until the last couple minutes but the episode still went by pretty quickly. I saw some negative reviews before going in but didn't think Suzy's acting was as horrible as people were making out - she's not Seo Hyun-Jin but I think this is definitely watchable. Fingers crossed for now...(pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease be good).

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I didn't have high hopes in this one even though it got all the hype.
After I finished watching the first episode, I could say that honestly, the acting from both the leads should have been better (they're the leads and not just extras) and I've been wondering if the writer was stuck from the 90's era coz that's the kind of writing that I could see. They all need improvement.
I'll stick to the second episode before I decide if I'll continue this drama or not.

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I thought the first episode was just okay. Not great or captivating by any means, but not bad either. I was unimpressed by the plot, I had the feeling of "been there, done that", but because of the actors, I'll stick with it a little longer to see how it unfolds. I like Suzy's acting. So far, she's holding her own.

I understand the commenters who found the first episode boring, although I didn't. I think the slow pace must've contributed to it. Well, into the next episode...

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Terminal illness.
Birth secret (?).
Past relationship.

Bah, all combine in one drama.
Usually i avoid this kind of drama, esp with overly-hyped news on Woobin and Suzy.

Initially, i want to fast forward the eps but...the pretty pictures and pretty face allured me very well. I sit down and watch full ep without subtitle, dilligently.

*sigh

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I'm one of those who never got the appeal of Kim Woo Bin and Suzy so I came into this drama with no expectations at all.

And liked it. A lot.

I may not think KMB is goodlooking, but I certainly recognize his skills as an actor.

Storywise, the show did a great job making me want to know what went on between them. It did give away a lot of things like she was probably in some sort of an accident that caused some kind of memory loss that caused him to go all noble idiot ... And that she's raising a younger brother on her own, buried in debt, hence, the loan sharks ...

Also, i like that it isn't as fluffy as i thought it was going to be. The early reveal of his Parkinsons changed everything. Now an ending that might not be so happy is on the table and I can't wait for the rest of the story to unfold.

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I love this writer's work and I'm a little sad that this drama was surrounded with so much hype and negativity. Imo a good writing and directing can make just anyone a decent actor. Anywho, glad you're recapping it, curious whether it keeps the vibe we're getting from the first episode.

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I have not seen the episode nor been aware of the hype but I am hooked just from reading your recap. Thanks! :)

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I'm riding the pleasantly surprised train!

From the drama description, first teaser trailer, and actors, I thought the show would not interest me and the characters would be too unpleasant/shallow for my taste. I found it delightful! Intriguing, aesthetically beautiful, and with refreshing characters/acting. I usually won't touch terminal illness dramas with a ten foot pole, but I'm going for it!

Plus, Pororo (and Joon-Young's interactions with him) win the world over! I believe I caught some dog food product placement in there so hopefully we'll see a lot more of that handsome devil - Pororo for the win! <3 <3 <3

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Pleasantly surprised with Woo Bin and Suzy, even loving the terminal illness, estranged mother/son relationship, moody broody actor...add a tiny snowman with a sticky note and I fell for the 1st episode!

Woo Bin and In Guk in two different kdramas at the same time and I'm happily wandering through kdramaland. Maybe these two should open an acting school for wayward idols.

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It was very hard for me to press the Play button, because I was honestly very anxious to disappoint me with what was to be seen, but it was not, what I have seen so far I REALLY LIKE.

In this premiere we saw damaged relationships we do not understand, but curiosity about what happened between these characters leads us to wanting to see moorrreeee.

By the way, I loved that acid end of this episode ❤❤❤

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I'm confused. How can he not recognize her at first when they are supposed to know each other?

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I think the drama made it clear that they recognized each other, they just pretended they didn’t know each other.

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Trust the DB loyal fans to find one random but interesting thing (also lovable) in a drama - Pororo is lyfe! :D

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Ono. A Love to Kill? MiSa? And that first episode? Ono.

Please let me survive the heartache.

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The only melodramas i invested my heart into was Will it snow for Christmas and Nice guy. Cant really remember much of other melodramas that I cared the slightest.
This first episode wasn't love at first sight but it certainly came from a writer that I can swallow melo from.
Perhaps some of us (javabeans and koala included) are just in a mood for a melodrama to wring our hearts and make us cry in the best way.
Out of all her k-dramas it does seem to feel the most like Will it snow for christmas(maybe the snow and soon-to-be epic childhood portion), which also happens to my favorite from her, despite the story going into convoluted mess towards the end. But that's also the drama that put kim soo hyun on the radar and exposed me to the future mega star.

I think i read someone saying that there was a lack of bgm. I think we're so used to korean dramas having a bgm for literally every scene that it just feels "quiet" when it's not playing a song. those can be some of the most powerful moments, guys.

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I started off with this thinking, just going to watch the first minute only and see how it grabs me. Didn't really plan on going far with the premiere episode but wow, before I knew it I'd watched the episode halfway.

Still yet to finish it but have to say, Woo Bin is a very compelling lead actor and I'm glad to have him on my small screen again. Suzy is holding up well, hope she gets more comfortable in her role and kills it. I'll be following this drama, it's well thought out.

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Kim Woo Bin is on it so I'll stay tune for a while hoping it gets better, KWB is not just hot but a good actor as well, his facial expression speak louder than words, his bold & has a bright future as an actor, while Suzy is a famous pretty face with 2 facial expression smile and pout. I blame the director for not seeing the flows. she's so flat, deadpan, stiff , wooden horrible actress.. sad but true.

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OMG !!! can't wait for the next ep !!
i really should be studying LOL

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This drama is going to literally give us everything in the Kdrama Bible and I'm so ready for this. Also, this is just my thought, but doggie friend Pororo is going to be the true breakout star of the show.

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What a great first episode. I dont understand why people bashing it. The scenes are wonderful,beautiful and mesmerizing. And though it is kind of a bit slow at the first ep but i find it kinda ok. I love it. I am not a fan of suzy,and the moment i hear she is cast on this drama,i did not put high hopes on her. But i can see she has improved a lot in her acting. I can accept her acting skills in this drama and fyi, i am really critical on actors acting. And i can see this drama will portrays a very good plot. And to those who bashing really hard on this drama, i can bet that you will regret not watching it or bashing it.

That last scene is really great. My heart flutters seeing both of them.

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it's sad, but I don't have a lot of time to watch dramas. I do most of my "watching" here.

Thanks for watching and recapping. This is how I unwind from stress since I don't have the time to actually just watch a drama.

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Suzy is always pretty and cute! I think the actors look really cute together

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very beautifully written....since m bored with my holiday...reading this was special....#LOVE_WOOBIN_AND_SUZY
CUTE

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already got hooked into this drama and sooo happy JB is the recapper of this show :")
UF is better than my expectation.. and Kim Woo Bin and Suzy are my ultimate OTP ! too bad i can't ship them in real life :D UF Fighting JB. Fighting !!

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Hi!! I was just wondering if you know the title of the song used in the scene where the snowman -the one Suzy made- appeared? Thank you! :)

Ps. Thanks for the recap btw! We appreciate your effort :)

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Woot! So happy to see JB recapping! ^^ Thank you~

This series was sorta on my radar as part of my to-watch list since I like KWB, but admittedly it wasn't a must-watch cuz there are so many other dramas coming up that I plan to watch for sure. XD So, I didn't pay too much attention to the promos and teasers. All I got going in was that two first loves became estranged and one is a big star whereas the other is a poor PD.

For ep. 1, I thought it moved along at a steady pace and it kept my interest. Definitely had to keep track of the many characters and this recap helped clarified some of those relationships, which weren't obvious to me.

When JY asked his lawyer to look for a girl, I knew it was Eul. So, their behaviour that followed only indicated that they were pretending not to know each other. This makes me very curious what happened in their past and what's the misunderstanding that has yet to be resolved.

One thing's for sure. Both have a lot of baggage over the years that they've been carrying. While JY is a megastar, he's lonely and had some kinda falling out with his mom that he can't even get a proper meal. Eul has to take care of her younger bro and even resorts to taking bribes multiple times to pay back loan sharks. I wonder if this is part of the life she's led due to her parents' passing.

I'm definitely hooked and wanna know what happened to these two. P.S. Pororo is so cute!!

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I'm hoping to love this drama as much as the recap. I'm excited about the possibilities and they definitely got my attention when like 10 minutes in he had a terminal illness, didn't see it coming. However, I have a weird question. The actress playing kim woo-bin's mother, who is she and what have I seen her in??? I'm having trouble finding her info. I'm hoping someone can help so I can quit asking myself and enjoy this drama. Thanks.

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She's been in a lot of dramas. But I remember her most in Nice Guy, Good Doctor and It's Okay, That's Love.

Here's her profile page: http://asianwiki.com/Jin_Kyung

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Thanks so much!!!

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She was also in Pinocchio as Park Shin Hye's mom. She was in Blood and Oh My Venus as well. ^^

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