I’m liking Destined with You so far! Jo Boa is delightful, and Rowoon’s eyebrow game is so on point, I cannot look away from them for even one moment when they are on screen. I’m also loving the vaguely “spy movie” quality to the OST.

That said, I don’t know how this drama is going to progress and I surely don’t know if it’ll betray us or delight us in the end, but one thing I very much do know: Even Rowoon can’t pull off a sleek black suit paired with fluffy, white, house slippers.

PS: During that hilarious video call about opening the box, did anyone else note that the PPL actually missed a feature placement opportunity? I know from plenty of other shows that this Samsung phone can do video while bent in half, which would have meant that our FL did NOT to need to prop her phone up so precariously against that beer can! I actually got distracted by the fact that she didn’t know she could do that. I mean, if I know the phone can do this and would have made her life easier…well, maybe I’ve watched more than 20 k-dramas 🙃

Thanks, @unit, for the weecap!!!

... Fighting for my life over here, Rowoon-ssi. Do I want to laugh at you or throw you out a window. Haven't decided yet.

He’s channelling a dozen other actors who do this kind of role and style of acting far, far better, and more effortlessly, and he is trying so hard, so, so hard to be the aloof cynical cursed male lead (🙄) and trying even harder to not be Rowoon, that I can tell he's trying and when he slips up; his acting is so intensely telegraphed, it's not natural at all. He looks like he has to school his face into position before every scene. (It's unnervingly forceful and Not Good. 😂)
On the other hand, this probably why I haven't felt too much like punching him. Yet. (The Smarm is being forcibly suppressed but still manages to peek through at times, like a possessed bloody hand…)

Jo Boah is CUTE, but the writing is clichéd (not in a good way).

I'm also dreading the Love Potion shenanigans. There better be a twist. And like. A good one. *looks through fingers*.

.
.
.

HRH Sicarius The Queen of Melonia
Schedule for the Day
AD 260823 in the 6th Year of Her Reign

The queen crumples up the schedule and stares sulkily out the window at the rain.
The Hat Monster makes a note in the daily proceedings.

Well, well… well.
I am here for the sensual, gracious, creepy, sexy and ragey bloodied red hands. I hope it’s not a cameo or a guest role.
Also, is Jang lawyer cheating on his GF with red hands?? Who came first?

The first episode was bumpy but I quite enjoyed the second episode. The female lead is a little too cute and naive for my liking but I can get on board with it. I also didn’t know how to react to her wanting to cast a spell on a man who clearly rejected her. It just didn’t feel right. It would have been interesting if she cast a spell to make friends. I get that she is lonely but her colleagues are the last set of people she should try to befriend. They are awful. No amount of redemption will make me forgive them. Of course, they will all become friends. Who am I kidding?

I am curious about this love triangle because there is a history of our FL stealing her friends boy friend. Will it repeat again? Will he fall for her first or she? I am sure this is going to get messy and I am looking forward to it.

I don’t see any chemistry between the leads yet. But it’s better since he is actually taken for now. I want a slow burn romance.

@unit thanks for the recap! Well well well. I like it!! Not really sure what's up with the ML, but it's working so far! It's fun that he's bitter and weird because of a curse. And the FL is really relatable - I was worried she might be annoying, but she's fun. Being introduced to the concept of the ML and saying "I hate him already," and then that one-person dance party, were moments that made me really like her. I also chuckled throughout the first two eps, which I wasn't expecting. Random observations: I think they have chemistry already. Excellent. And I also appreciate that in their moments of non-antagonism, the drama wasn't pushing the sparkly ✨️romance✨️ vibe immediately. I'm not even going to touch the hand thing, except to wonder - whose hand is that?? Jo Boa's?? Also - is it weird that I fixated on how awesome her couch cushions are???

Ah I think I needed to be in a very different mood while watching this because I didn't find it easy to sympathise with our FL at all. It's like she was designed from a kdrama checklist - hardworking but ostracised by colleagues, parent(s) deceased, beautiful but never been on a date 🙄...

Ditto for the ML. Plus he made me SO mad when he intervened in the conversation between Hong-jo and Na-yeon with zero context! The show got fun for me only when the FL showed some spirit against the ML and also took matters into her own hands with the love potion. It'll backfire for sure but at least it'll be interesting.

I was laughing through the first 15 minutes because all the cameos made it look like the show had mashed in everyone who's ever been in a show with any of the leads - a Korean equivalent of “Six Degrees of Separation.”

That online photo of Jae-kyung rejecting Hong-jo - would an item titled “9th-Grade Civil Servant Dumped” really get any clicks? I can’t be the only one who finds this particular flavor of social media humiliation unlikely. I guess we'll find out who took it and how they know what the two were saying; my bet is on the girlfriend.

I’m waiting for the inevitable scene of Rowoon holding something up over his head and Jo Bo-a jumping for it like a terrier.

So ML is quite the ass. Why he is so rude to her especially when he wants something from her is baffling. FL is needy, poor girl, she just wants to be liked. I really wish they wouldn't go the love potion route, it just smacks of assault and I don't like it. That being said I liked the rest of the episodes and look forward to the rest.

Jo Boa's FL has better dance moves, interior decorating and wardrobe than a typical Candy, and I like how diligent she is about her work, even if one of her primary motivations is impressing her toxic boss.

However, I'm worried about the love potion plot. Not my cup of tea (or magic) to force someone to "love" you with no regard for their free will, so I hope the writer does something to make this storyline less creepy.

I too find Rowoon's face both mesmerizing and distracting. Can't figure out if it's the symmetry, the lack of pores, the eyebrows or a combination of all three. I'm glad our OTP's relationship is mainly antagonistic for now. It'll be all the more satisfying when the ML has to depend on the FL in a karmic power reversal.

I love this so far. It's making me feel things, and I'm really rooting for the FL. I feel so badly for her.

I like Hong-jo and her character and find her very sympathetic, but Shin-yu has my Attention. Such an interesting character! If that was the only thing I liked about the show, that would be enough to make me continue. As it is, I’m totally hooked, so this is just a bonus. He can be such a jerk but then he has these little moments where he subtly softens, like when Hong-jo drops those devastating lines about not having anyone to eat with and getting too excited when someone shows her kindness. I loved that he stood up to that waste-of-space of a client and resigned over the mistreatment [read: assault] of his coworkers. It’s obviously a very privileged thing to be able to do, but it was such a good window onto his values.

His sense of humor totally works for me, like his absolutely deadpan asking his girlfriend to make sure she hangs a flag above the bed and when he asks Hong-jo for taxi fare when they get to her house. His relationship with the curse/bloody hand is so interesting - he talks to it like he might to a needy girlfriend - at once annoyed and intimate and resigned, someone he can’t let go of but who isn’t good for him. I laughed so much when Hong-jo thought he was a grim reaper (what a fun nod to his previous show!) but also I’m not sure I would have made a different assumption in that setting. He looked the part in a big way, and was very cool all in black and lit by the lightning. He’s definitely making some assumptions about Hong-jo because of his girlfriend (it’s a pretty big leap from “she dated the guy I liked” to “she stole my boyfriend”), but I don’t think he can help feeling sympathy even as he’s trying to be contemptuous. And it’s fun to see Rowoon in a role where he’s not the default goofball.

I think this genre might just be my genre. I find fantasy romances so fun, whether they are set in Seoul or Daeho or somewhere in between. The stakes are so high, the OTP is so fated, the circumstances are so tragic, the soundtracks are so epic. I was loving this show from the very beginning, and I’m excited for next week!

I don’t have much to add beyond what was said on the hand wall. Episode 2 was technically an improvement on the first. The two halves (Boah’s PG 13 candyland and Rowoon’s I-don’t-what but certainly more Mature) began to blend together. But somehow #1 was so bizarre it was more interesting. Still, for its long-term prospects it’s probably better they fixed that.

Re Rowoon. He was a little flat but certainly looked model-esque strutting the corridors esp with that scowl. He was gold with the Red Hand. I think he should try his hand at playing a villain, or something kinky. Am I allowed to say that?

Solid premiere, and gorgeous intro sequence! I hadn’t watched the trailers or teasers so putting together what was going on was a TRIP and a half. I was so ready to give episode 1 more leeway in terms of expectations but honestly didn’t even have to TRY to maintain interest/attention, it was set up well to reel me in within the span of a few minutes.

Tonally it was a little bit jarring. But I didn’t hate it, I quite liked it because it kept me on my toes? I jumped a little when that guy fell and sliced his head or something, because right before that we had the standard office rom-com-esque scene of the FL lamenting her work woes - so some dude getting killed Final Destination style immediately after was the last thing I was expecting. And the FL’s troubles being ostracised at work seemed a whole world apart from the red hand of horror that’s tormenting the ML. I think the tonal dissonance is working to keep that uncanny undercurrent alive though - maintaining a taut balance between gothic, fantasy and mundane.

I’m VERY intrigued by Shin-yu. Rowoon is doing great so far, and I’m hoping this role gives him a chance to explore a different range from his usual. I like Jo Bo-ah but Hong-jo isn’t piquing my interest as much, and that’s probably because there’s more of a mysterious and dark aura attached to the ML in comparison to the FL who was mainly just having a tough time at work and now is turning into Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I found myself struggling to proper actualise her character for most of the first episode - she was just a little abstract and I couldn’t find like an emotional grip to latch onto if that makes sense? UNTIL the end of episode 1 when she starts crying, that’s when I felt the first pang of aww and her character started to materialise a bit more in my mind as episode two went along too (does any of this make sense?!).

Also Rowoon has really pretty eyes, aparently I’m only just really noticing now.

I'm sorry but the bloody red hand caressing Rowoon out of nowhere takes me out every. single. time.

I hope that this isn't gonna be another case of poor lonely FL gets bullied by everyone and anyone. I'm getting Kokdu flashbacks tbh. Like, ma'am, ik you're lonely and desperate but atp give up being friends with your toxic ass coworkers*

Bro could have just paid her to get the page on curing diseases. Also ik he's a cold, rude jerk who works for the bourgeoisie, but he's fixing your light for free 😭😭 no need to be mean right then. Anyways, I'm interested to see how they go from bickering to a couple, as always.

I already know she never stole the SFL's crush in HS, it's all a misunderstanding 🙄 I'm surprised that she really did report her asshole new boss for fraud or whatever, but still, that old man needs to let it gooo

* altho what's a kdrama without a toxic workplace tbf 😍😍

I'll be honest. I have great hopes for this show. Not because of the show itself but because of who is participating in the recap and comments on Dramabeans. (all in top form, may I say!) @unit, @attiton, @elinor, @indyfan, @sicarius, @kafiyah-bello. -sorry I can't include everyone, but it really is an all-star group. This show could be the insightful commentary laugh-fest that Behind your Touch could have been if it wasn't so toxic.

Anyway, I don't have much to contribute given the quality of this commentary lineup, except to say that I'm in a really comparative mood, thanks to an overdose of romantic fantasy. So on another equally intellectual discussion board, I echoed the DB feature "would you rather" and got into a vigorous and profound discussion with @jillofalltrades about whether it would be preferable to be caressed by a bloody hand or grabbed in the butt. She made the important point that harassment is harassment, but I believe I had a good counter argument, that unlike the fondling of the behind, the hand makes its presence known well in advance, and further, contrary to the violence of grabbing, the hand actually strokes the face, albeit causing some veins to bulge and the skin to go translucent.

In any case, I hope we will be seeing more of this breakout star, the bloody hand, throughout this drama. Also, I'm looking forward to the commentary!