castawaydivas

Style of the show

The beginning was absolutely ridiculous in a sort of good way? It was mostly comedy for the first few episodes, but like I told my friend, it felt a bit overstimulating. There would be a lot going on visually, resembling the intro sequence at times. I think I honestly would have dropped it fast if I wasn't watching with my friend due to this but I kept watching and just hoped things would calm down as the show went on, which it did! I don't think the humor would be for everyone, since it truthfully feels a bit dated even for a show that just came out this year.

The more the characters backgrounds would be revealed to the show and to each other, the more serious and heartfelt the show got. I really do think the friendships in this show were more important than anything else.

Characters

Do Hyeonjung (Lee Junyoung)

He is over the top til the very end, everyone who knows him knows his entire spiel of how you can do anything since he can do anything as a person who was born under 1.5kg or whatever and became a muscle man like him. His introduction is bizarre as we see Lee Junyoung's face edited on a bodybuilder's body as he competes for the David (referring to Michaelangelo's David) title, which is where bodybuilders show off their bodies in order to win (something I wasn't aware that was a thing until I watched this show).

He's very honestly very rude and unlikable at first. He's blunt to a fault. But as the show goes on, the less he cares for exercising as much as he does at the start and the rude things he says become less and less (such as stating what he thinks people's weight and height are when he first meets them and his famous 'what the fat!' catchphrase). He's initially too pushy and often cares way too much about his clients and what they eat. It seemed like a risk for Miran to even take a chance with him since he was so intense.

I think his character understandably puts off people at first and the show explains his behaviors here and there and doesn't always justify them, but sometimes it still raises a bit of question marks in my head as to why they'd do some things such as the 'what the fat!' catchphrase. He eventually explains that it's not because he's calling them fat but he would be appalled by the amount of 'useless' body fat they would have and can't believe someone would be so unhealthy or something similar to that, I can't entirely remember but even then, the show points out that it's still a hurtful thing to say so it is self aware. It does show that he surrounds himself with the gym lifestyle so much that he forgets to act appropriately outside of it. It's so good that he mellows out in the end because it does negatively affect his relationships and hurts people's feelings in the beginning. It was hard for him to initially see other perspectives since he was so caught up on himself, his body and his own views but eventually he opens up his heart and mind.

In the end I did end up liking him as a character. He's very silly and goofy throughout although that haircut is atrocious and I wish kdramas would quit it with those haircuts. He's extroverted and he's not afraid to be himself. He tends to avoid others when he's in crisis, ending up isolating himself most of the time which stresses the others out often. His abandonment issues are very apparent from the start, so he often struggles relying on others. He ends up helping out almost everyone in need of help at the gym and builds a close connection with the people of his gym often, sometimes too close at times which I imagine would be inappropriate in real life but this is a kdrama so...

He also says some good things about exercising throughout the show. It slowly gets revealed more and more throughout the show that his main focus isn't even about body image, but about health and taking care of onself. Such as when they do a photoshoot at the very end and Park Duhui (Hong Yoonhwa's character) asks if she really can be in it since she's bigger than the others and he assures her that the point isn't about their looks although they look perfectly fine as they are, but the fact that they take care of themselves as they work out at his gym. Hyeonjung asks why they'd even need a selfie area when going to the gym is about health. But even with this in mind, he learns that not everything can be fixed through exercising and ends up being less strict about working out with others and himself as well.

Lee Miran (Lee Eunji)

Miran is very self-conscious at the start, the whole kdrama is her going through a self-love journey which I love. In the beginning, she is often crying about how no man loves her especially the way she has wanted them to, the inciting incident of this kdrama being her boyfriend at the time rejecting to have sex with her and her feeling unlovable due to this. She always assumed it had to do with her looks and thus starts going to the gym.

She has a lot of ups and downs throughout the show. Her first win throughout the show was when she finally sized down enough to fit into a dress she liked. It was a cute moment and you couldn't help but be happy for her. Since her main reason for beginning to go to the gym was her ex she unfortunately struggles to continue to keep going when something new arises up with him, which is a reality for a lot of women.

In the end, she finds out that her ex-boyfriend didn't reject her out of disgust of her body but because he has a receding hairline and couldn't be honest with her and he truly did love her. This causes her a lot of happiness and realizes she was her own problem. I don't particularly like this being the cause of her realization, but I do think they only added that to make the receding hairline part a joke they could add in (not particularly a big fan of that joke either) and they would have added that part in regardless of whether or not that was his truth anyway.

Other Gym staff - Rosa (Lee Mido) and Alex (Lee Seungwoo)

Rosa - I really loved her initial coworker beef with Hyeonjung, it felt like so many of them disliked him being the director because he was so pushy with clients. Her background isn't entirely explained but I do love her so much. She deals with ageism as she isn't as young as the other female bodybuilders and her main conflict is about whether or not to participate in the competitions. She ends up doing it and overcomes her fear and wants to participate even further.

Alex - I wasn't expecting him to have a backstory for some reason, but I do love him as a character. Although I didn't necessarily like that they used a fatsuit for him (and the fact that he couldn't kill himself because of him being too heavy), I like his background story overall. I couldn't imagine the horror having to become a doctor just because your mom is the director of a hospital then finding out the sight of blood absolutely terrifies you, that must have felt like the end of the world to him. It's relatable for people to binge out on their feelings and feel worthless due to it, so I'm glad he managed to pull himself out of it. Instead of succumbing to the pressure of being a doctor to his mom, Hyeonjung helps him out and he stays as a gym trainer. It's something he chooses to do.

The Three Witches (Park Sungyeon, Lee Jihye, and Hong Yoonhwa)

Initially I thought they were in the show for comedic effect, but eventually it was shown that they all care for Hyeonjung! I thought the dynamic between them and him was cute, especially the main one, Seongim! I knew by the time Hyeonjung was in trouble when the public's opinion that these ladies would have his back. Although some of their behavior did confuse me at times, I know they love eating but it really does seem so unhygienic to eat in the locker room?

Kang Sol (Park Haein)

MY SOLLLLL!!! She deserved so much better. I didn't think I would have loved her so much but I got so attached to her. Even with her vague (maybe cancer?) diagnosis I thought that they would have ended her storyline with her overcoming her illness. She was so sweet despite being hurt so severely by Hyeonjung and only wanted the best for him and Miran and even wanted them as a couple! They also did that thing where you would think she wanted him back but actually likes Miran 'as a friend' (🤨) so much more.

Roy (Kim Kwon)

He really only served to be antagonistic to Hyeonjung and the show didn't seem to know what to do with him once he started to become softer for Hyeonjung (gay). I still don't completely understand him by the end, they didn't explain much about him, his backstory and his relationship with Hyeonjung. We only know his real name is Bungwon or something like that and that he hates being called by it.

Kim Yejin (Nam Kyuhee)

I understand that in the end, they wanted everything to end smoothly but there was no point ever in the series where it felt like she liked Miran in any capacity. Each interaction of theirs felt like she was coming from jealousy and hatred and I don't understand how she's supposed to have liked her all this time. Just like Roy was supposed to antagonistic to Hyeonjung, her only purpose was to be antagonistic towards Miran and they really should have left it at that. She never softened until the very end.

The relationships

Hyeonjung and Miran

They're quite cute overall, their heart fluttering moments here and there always had me in anticipation but I think their actual relationship ended up being a little anticlimactic since it only occurred for an episode or so. They built so much of a friendship and it was obvious to everyone in the show they'd end up dating. They're definitely the best couple. Initially her gym trainer, he really pushed his relationship past professional so many times which was alright since she at the very least seemed to consider him like a friend for the most part anyway throughout the whole show, especially considering she took him as a guest to a wedding very early on in the show.

They're both so crazy in their own ways, in one of the episodes both of them were losing it and it was hilarious because they're both so dramatic. She couldn't eat one of her favorite foods and he was tired of constantly doing lunges as he would do them as he'd take care of one of his client's toddler and it was the only thing that would soothe him. I was convinced they were going to straight up become hospitalized but eventually they both figured out a solution in their respective situations.

Hyeonjung always pushed Miran to come back to the gym, believing it would help her out in every situation that upset her. She often pushed back but she seemed to trust his word although he was often so pushy and truthfully annoying at times, if I was in her position I don't think I would have tolerated someone pushing me to come back so much.

Miran always returned the favor in her own special way too though, like I said before he had a tendency to isolate when in crisis so she would seek him out and beg him to come back as well. She'd often said that she misses him and was never afraid to be direct about her feelings with him, especially when she realizes she has feelings for him and wants to tell him directly right away (until Jiran rejects this idea).

It was also surprising to me how much better he did for Miran than he did for Sol. But that could also be explained that Miran knew all of him better than Sol did and he had opened up more to her than he did for Sol by the time they started dating. He skipped his scheduled protein times (something he'd never do for Sol), he didn't break up with her even when they knew they'd become LDR (something everyone else thought they'd break up over), and it seemed like all of the worries she had when she worried about the relationship they'd have if they got together were all for nothing to begin with. He seemed to love her the way he never did for anyone else and she received the love she could have never imagined she would ever get before.

When he confessed, it was very sweet how he said that as a trainer all he would focus on was her body and how she could lose weight as that's what she wanted and that was his job, but he felt bad doing that now as he thinks she's cute with weight on her. So it's apparent that looks never mattered to him, especially with the women he likes.

Jiran (Lee Daeun) and Dan (Lee Sangjin)

I wish they did not end up together! I don't know how old Jiran and Dan are supposed to be especially since she's Miran's little sister but their relationship seems to be way too messy for two adults. I didn't care much for them to begin with but it bothered me endlessly that they got back together when he assumed that she would be better off if they broke up when he had to go enlist, where's the commmunication!!! What's wrong with them!!! I'm also unsure what she even does all day, it kind of seems like both of them just freeload off of Miran? Maybe if they had jobs and other friends, since it seems like all they do is spend time together, they would have broken up by now.

Rosa and Roy

I don't particularly like her ending up with Roy, I would have preferred her to be single instead of ending up with the closest man to her besides Hyeonjung and Alex. She's so strong, cute and independent on her own. The relationship came out of nowhere and he didn't even seem to reciprocate any feelings she had until the end where he offered her a director position at a new gym he'd open up for her. Not the worst relationship I've seen, but it doesn't make much sense to me.

Hyeonjung and Sol

I just wanted to say again how crazy how it is that Sol deserved so much better and Miran got it. He was such a bad boyfriend to Sol, never giving her the proper love and attention she deserved.

When she comes back to ask him to help her to work out despite her illness, she seems like she's still weight down a bit by how poorly he treated her but even then she treats him with kindness although it confuses him.

People's (probable) issues with the show and more

I understand how a lot of people can have issue with the show, especially given the popular 'what the fat' statement that Hyeonjung throws around a lot at the start. Despite this, it covers more about health than looks. It's understandable of people to be weary of a show like this when it covers such an important subject especially since typically South Korea's beauty standards are very harsh (it's obvious to me especially since I'm a k-pop fan). This show and the topic is so complex and at times contradicts itself in a way, I think it was trying to not take itself too seriously but with the topic at hand it's hard not to take it so seriously.

Miran's self views, the fat shaming and her mom

Miran is very unhealthy, described as 'overweight' in the show and I can see why people have issue with this. Apparently Eunji gained weight for this show and lost it throughout the show to compare how her character would actually look as she lost weight, but it's not very noticeable to people to be honest. At the same time she would eat unhealthily and wouldn't move around too much, even avoiding a simple 10 minute walk. More often than not I wished the show treated her as someone skinny than someone who's overweight, as it would have shown that even skinny people who are unhealthy should strive to also be healthy for their health's sake.

Miran from the start views herself as unattractive, she wears a lot of baggy clothes (which a lot of girls with body dysmorphia tend to do) and eats a lot. People do make jokes of her eating too much but she's never phased by it too much, she continues to eat as much as she likes despite the jokes even though they do bother her. Her only breaking point was with her mother's criticism (which admittedly I think her mom's character was handled poorly). I think this show really benefits from having a strong minded character like this because she's insecure but can still push through the insecurity to get where she wants to be physically and eventually mentally too, although I wish they treated the jokes towards her as things they shouldn't be saying whatsoever.

Miran's mom seemed to favor Jiran, although she does criticize both of them to a degree. Telling them to wear this and that and to eat this and that. She's overbearing and she doesn't keep her opinion to herself. In the end, she talks about Miran, her ex and her weight so much that she ends up frustrating Miran who ends up lashing out. Miran's mom ends up saying that Miran was unhealthy when she was born because she struggled to eat during her pregnancy with Miran and thought the way Miran overate was her fault, she cried and everything. Miran felt bad and understood and I somewhat understood as well, but it felt like that was maybe a conversation she could have had way before she made her feel bad for years on end about how much she ate. They justified her way too much for my liking and she should have been more apologetic.

'What the fat!'

I'm not particularly fond of the phrase when it's exactly phrased like that, but it does become funnier when he and others start using it in other scenarios (ex. what the soooju). It for sure catches people's attention and I'm actually not sure if fat was substituted for a different word when it was first introduced it would have stuck with people as much unfortunately. It does obviously offend people within the show, so it's not a surprise when it offends people in real life too so I don't blame anyone for having issue with this. Although like I said earlier, he does claim he's using it in a health manner and doesn't direct it to others after a while from what I remember so I'm glad that this behavior seemed to change.

Sol and her limits

I haven't seen too many people talk about this but it does seem so odd that despite being ill, Hyeonjung who's focus is always for people to be healthy to agree to help her exercise. She always seemed to be at her limit quite easily since her illness fatigued her easily.

Eating habits

More often than not, the show focuses on eating and how Miran should eat healthily. It doesn't leave much room for her to have a sweet treat here and there initially. It eventually loosens up a bit when Hyeonjung starts eating tteokbokki with her, enjoying food like that for the first time in his life and only because it's with her. He even has a crisis because he's not as fit as he used to be and his shoot for a fitness magazine is coming up. Eventually he gives up the shoot, giving up his 100% fitness mindset and trading it with a more comfortable life of eating more loosely and dating Miran.

They don't go overboard and don't talk about or reference EDs

Miran and all the other characters never go overboard on purpose in any capacity, whether it be exercising or dieting. Any accidents within the gym are never repeated and swiftly corrected, such as when Alex would push Dan too hard at first and Dan asked Alex if they could just take it slow since he has a very fragile body so then Alex corrected his behavior and their sessions were presumably safe since then. Hyeonjung is harsh and yells a lot to motivate Miran, but it's very clear early on that Miran likes the push since she tried to switch gyms but her sessions felt empty without him pushing her.

I wouldn't exactly advise people with EDs who can be easily triggered to watch this, as I can see how it would be hard for them to grasp on some of the information without taking it too far. It's definitely tough to watch especially in the beginning. With that said, none of the advice in general is negative necessarily. Even in the show the characters assure one another that it's okay to take breaks from exercising and diets if it's giving more stress than it's worth.

Even Hyeonjung, who loves exercising like nothing else, would be too tired to continue exercising for the day and he would not push his body's limits on purpose after he realized this. Earlier I mentioned there was an episode where both Miran and Hyeonjung were going crazy, Miran was going crazy because she was cutting out carbs and essentially all her favorite foods were carb-based, towards the final day of her diet Hyeonjung told her it's fine if she breaks the diet, 'she earned it' although he'd still carry out the punishment he planned out for her although it wasn't harsh either way (a little dance she ended up doing on a livestream for work that fit the vibe in the end).

Different issues people in the show have

Losing weight - Of course, Miran is the main girl and she wants to lose weight because she thinks she will be desirable as she feels vulnerable after her break up with her ex-boyfriend, but the show covers different topics that many people don't often think about when going to the gym.

Gaining weight - There was an episode about skinny guys going to the gym, as they're often too skinny and weak to carry themselves. It's very much played as a funny scenario initially as these skinny guys were brought because they're known as guys who get blown by the wind but they spend a whole episode surround on how to help a single guy work out. He even gets frustrated because he's not seeing and feeling results as quickly as he'd like but Hyeonjung is patient and doesn't give up on him.

Stamina - There's an episode about a mother (who's not single although she probably should be), who struggles to take care of herself and her son all at once. He has so much energy and she doesn't. In the end, they open a small section so they can help the children exercise so their energy will run out faster and the moms can have more time to themselves.

Appearance

In both appearance and personality, both sides are very comparable. Sol and Eun are the taller, stoic and more 'masculinized' part of their duos and Jiwan and Yeji are the more typical girls who are shorter, cutesy and more feminine overall.

Dynamic

Both of their friendships could be seen as codependent, as Sol and Eun struggled on their ends since Jiwan and Yeji both tended to be a bit clingy. Sol would even hide the fact that she was offered to study abroad from Jiwan as to not scare her. Eun on the other hand always seemed to have Yeji frustrated with her for being so involved for the rest of the girls in Belle Epoque and would always try to reassure her that she was in it for the mystery note she found and nothing else, which initially was true but even as her friendship with the other girls escalated she would keep saying this.

With Sol and Jiwan though, it was always mixed signals with the way they often hung out together and the things they'd say to one another. But Eun and Yeji never had a dynamic like that, of course Eun loved Yeji but it never seemed to be the same amount with those two.

Men in their lives

Sol and Eun seemed to be developing something with men initially, although that wasn't the case for Sol. For Sol, she knew she liked Jiwan too much even as a friend to divert her attention elsewhere. Eun, on the other hand, for certain liked her love interest Junghan, the landlord of Belle Epoque's grandson and eventually dated him in the show.

Jiwan and Yeji reacted differently to these men. For Jiwan, she would act as if she wanted Sol to date men as she would often date them herself. In reality, none of them ever satisfied and understood Jiwan the way she knew Sol could, so they never lasted long. For Yeji, she would act possessive but in the end she knew she couldn't do much if in the end Eun decided that she would go for Junghan.

Tension / Conflict

As Eun grew closer to the rest of the girls in Belle Epoque, Yeji and her would have disagreements and get more distant which eventually led to their separation. For Sol and Jiwan, their friendship turned into romance. Despite the men interested in Sol, Sol always kept a distance and seemed to keep hope in the fact that something might happen between her and Jiwan. She eventually couldn't keep it in anymore and basically confessed to Jiwan after Jiwan's drunken spiel about how Sol is her favorite person. That caused some tension in-between them for a hot minute, until Jiwan confessed too and they finally ended up together.

Appearances

It's important to note that throughout the season, Eun very explicitly states she likes men to the girls and to the audience. She's tall and has a k-pop boy-esque hairstyle, so she more often than not was masculinized by other girls as she didn't fit the traditional mold of a girl. She also was very monotone in the beginning, as she was struggling emotionally and was closed off from everyone but Yeji at first. On the other hand, we had Yeji, who was a seemingly average height for a girl, had long hair, and was pretty upbeat most of the time. They're very opposite but since they had known each other longer than anyone else, they were used to one another.

Conflict

The longer the show progressed, Yeji grew more and more obsessive and clingy with Eun as she observed how more involved she would become with them. Eun only initially joined Belle Epoque as she wanted to find out the mystery behind the note she found in the library, but she eventually and unexpectedly grew attached to the girls. To both Yeji and Eun, it was unexpected for her to like these girls but the way they handled it was different.

Yeji would become upset and irritable the more Eun grew fonder of the girls, her jealousy was evident and transparent as she was always one to wear her heart on her sleeve. Eun initially didn't want to believe she ended up liking the girls, but the way she stayed in Belle Epoque even after finding out the mystery behind the note was clear that she was going to consider these girls as friends from now on.

Even more detrimental to their dynamic and friendship, Eun developed a crush on Janghun, the landlord's grandson who moved into the basement of the residence in the beginning of the season. Jiwan would often tell Janghun that Eun was hers.

Ending

In the end, when they separated it was obvious that they both missed one another but they outgrew each other. Eun couldn't handle how much Yeji wanted them to be so tight-knit and close together all the time and Yeji was tired of caring so much about someone who couldn't reciprocate what she wanted.

Even in the end, Yeji was seen hanging out with another girl. She never seemed very interested in men, only interested in Eun. It was just a friendship for Eun and although it was her best friend, it wasn't the same for Yeji and it couldn't go further due to this. I truly do think Yeji had strong feelings towards Eun, but Eun didn't reciprocate and thus nothing could occur between them. She even would deny that her and Yeji were together.

(photo credit: whispersoftheworld)

My issue with the ending

In a way, their ending both works and doesn't work for me. I would have appreciated a lesbian couple in a show that I consider to be my all-time favorite, but at the same time I can acknowledge they were also trying to surpass these expectations.

The show tried to diverge from the norm in some ways. Yeeun, who was a very typically upbeat and popular girl before her PTSD, ended up with Hochang, a nerdy and seemingly autistic (?) guy. Jinmyung from the start was always assumed to be cold and monotone, but she cared for the girls and in season 2 she cared for the ex-idol Jingwang more than she should have after his group's disbandment despite the fact that she's so heavily career oriented. Jiwon went through intense character development in season 2 after unpacking some trauma, going from a carefree and extremely extroverted girl to someone who has to deal with her very heavy and buried past.

Due to this since Eun's appearance is labeled 'masculine' one, it would be feeding into the stereotype that same-sex couples have to reflect hetero ones although I do know butches and relationships like that exist, it's clear that Eun is not a butch in any form and she doesn't want to present herself that way. Eun's character is made to show that even if she seems so masculine, she's still cute and feminine in her own way even if she wasn't able to grow out her hair at the moment. She's also there to show off the dynamic of a tall girl and a short guy with Junghan's involvement, which isn't often seen.

Do I believe they would be a couple if this show was made today? I'm kind of 50/50 on that. I do like Eun as a character as she is and the dynamic between her and Junghan was cute to me, but again I do see romantic feelings happening at least on Yeji's side so I could have seen Eun having some feelings as well if that's the way the writers chose to go instead.