#bbg text

i said before this is the real k-remake of itwy, and this is another reason why: in the original itwy i felt like li wei exuded all the things that would typically make a lead male. he was tall and handsome and expressed sexual desire, and he had typical macho charisma, and all the other things we expect of romantic heroes. he was dressed in the romantic hero’s robes. and you qing was truly in love with him. i’m getting the same feeling from bubblegum, that suk joon has the makings of a romantic hero--strong, silent--and haeng ah truly feels for him. i’m wondering if this show will contrast who looks like a romantic hero with who actually is one, like itwy did, or if it will do something totally different. it kind of feels like the type of show that won’t have anyone be a villain, and will give all its characters a comfortable ending.

i also love that ri hwan says that, that he says he agrees with his grandfather. not because it’s cool for men to be telling women what to do with their bodies, but because it shows that he can think of his mother outside of her relationship to him--she didn’t have to have/keep him, she could have made another decision, she could have chosen another life. he isn’t self deprecating, he really does, like, excuse himself, or remove himself. (i need a better word for what i’m trying to say.) ...he doesn’t make himself the focus.

i’m really loving how their friendship is being shown. in the first ep haeng ah was hiding from ri hwan cause she knew he’d be able to tell something was wrong and she was too embarrassed to let him know she was in love with someone who didn’t make time for her (that she was the one who “loved more”), and now he’s hiding from her because he went over the top and confronted her ex in his apartment without even getting what he went there to for in the first place. like, this is the thing with best friend to lovers, there aren’t these huge crises that can derail those relationships, because they’ve already established paths of communication and interaction. so their avoiding each other isn’t a sign of a problem, a sign that they ~won’t get together~, but just them *being* in their relationship. how many times has ri hwan done something stupid and embarrassing that he doesn’t want haeng ah to roll her eyes and be mad at him for?  the only crisis in the friends to lovers trope, really, is when one of them realizes they’re in luuuuuurve.