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Episode 13

 

Another cryfest episode. An episode focusing on two old ladies, one who was sheltered throughout Japan's invasion and the other who sufferred the worst being a comfort woman. The show has toned down on the atrocity faced by the comfort women. I'm sure there are worse. I'm reminded of the movie "I Can Speak" as well, which I thought was a comedy ended up being about a grandma wanting to learn English so she could tell her story to the world. 

 

Episode 6 paid tribute to the war veterans. Episode 13 paid tribute to all the brave women who survived and speak up about their experience in the WWII. I knew about comfort women but was oblivious for the "Returning Lady" during the Qing invasion of Joseon. There were very little information on this on the internet as well. I think it might be lesser known mainly due to the history being much older than WWII, as well as deliberate censorship (the info in English was straight forward whereas info in Chinese didn't specifically mentioned about what exactly happened to these Joseon women).

 

Other than being part of the rebels who fought against the Japanese in his past life, Joon Woong once again represents the audiences — reminding us that we shouldn't forget what happened in the past because it's what the government of these countries want.

 

I am having mixed feelings and emotions at the moment from different aspects/angles. Along with what I've read about Returning Lady, it is upsetting that women were being treated so harshly and disrespected by society. Angry at politicians (be it the past or present) for instigating war and harming innocent lives. Aside from this being a matter between two countries (whether it's Japan vs Joseon or Qing vs Joseon), the core issue is really how men mistreat women, no matter the nationality.

 

Episode 14 New stills

 

 

2022.05.15 FNC Naver Update on Rowoon

 

Edited by mademoiselle
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I honestly don't know if I can stand another cryfest, especially on the topic in ep 13. As a woman, I already feel battered and bruised given the history of how women can be so little valued. And, what happens to women in war zones is appalling for which neither recognition nor restitution are ever made, much less any apologies.

 

Maybe I'll wait for the finale and then binge them all later when I feel that I can deal with it.

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11 hours ago, ktcjdrama said:

I am at ep.4 now... Somehow the stories/cases are not captivating me enough... hmm.... should I continue or not...

Yes. Episode 6 is good. Episode 5 is a kinda good for me too. Personally, it's more interesting if you resonate with the topic discussed. So some people feel more than the others is what I'm reading online.

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Episode 14

 

I was mad before this episode aired mainly because I didn't know Qing did exactly the same thing Japan did to women in the WWII. But after watching this episode, the emphasis wasn't on what Qing did to the Joseon women but on how Joseon people turned on themselves. I feel angry, upset and sad all at the same time. These women tried so hard to survive and return to their homeland but their homeland rejected them! How disappointing and devastating this must be for these women? I can't imagine the pain and suffering they had to endure in those times. How does the Jade Emperor expect these women to stay strong and live on if they are literally not accepted by the society? The culture and teaching shaped the society. They were forced to suicide, these women doesn't deserve going to hell. It should be those who run their mouths and throw rocks at Ryeon them all that should be punished in hell.

 

I do wish there were more scenes and interactions between adult Ryeon and Joong Gil before they separated and pain consume them. Nonetheless, their tragic story is very touching (although I didn't shed a tear). Ryeon basically took her own life so that Joong Gil can stop killing people whereas Joong Gil started killing in the first place because he wants to protect Ryeon.

 

Now I'm super curious how Joong Gil live on without Ryeon. Did he perhaps take on a new wife as his mother wishes? I don't think he kill himself, so did he die in a battle? Now I want to know why he doesn't remember Ryeon at all. Was he so heartbroken that he fell sick and lost this memory of her because it was too painful? So many questions! At least this confirms why he despised people who chose suicide.

 

I hope they still have a chance to mend their broken relationship, and that being grim reapers is the good virtue they can collect for their next life and mend that broken fate.

 

Edited by mademoiselle
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Hahaha, I think this series has made me love Rowoon 10 times more :heart: I'm only on Episode 11, but had to tell you all that I suddenly felt like he was super cute at the start of the episode when he sticks up for his work mate against those gossiping reapers! :smile: Don't ask me what did it for me, but I think his hair is also extra cute along with his character personality...but I already adopted him at the eye candy level durng Extraordinary You....but I feel he's moved up to midtier since I've been watching this series. :idk:

 

I want to write a mega post of my feelings for the cases soon! I always feel so strongly for these episodic series where the characters have different experiences that reflection the challenges of being a human :MewHi:

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Oh mannn I just watched the Comfort Woman episode and it actually made me cry! :letalQQ:

 

I was fine with the other episode though they were sad/ bittersweet...as you know I'm mostly a stone. BUT THEN I SAW THIS EPISODE. I think it's because I recently watched a documentary about comfort woman and I was so extremely sad and angry on their behalf at what they had to suffer. The torture was forced upon these girls for something like 15 hours a day in real life. When I heard about it, I felt so sick and horrified. I think seeing an imagined story for one of the girls brought out the feelings of the documentary. Also, I guess I'm more likely to cry when I'm angry.

 

Tomorrow succeeded in breaking me down :lettalKWA: Let me catch up on episode 14 and then I'll write my thoughts on the other episodes

Edited by JenL
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Currently watching: Doctor Slump // Queen of Tears // The Impossible Heir

Current Obsessions: ❤ Lee Jae wook // Park Hyung Sik // Yoon Park

Podcast: These Dramatic Days

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2022.05.19 New stills

 

Joon Woong has leveled up tremendously compared to the beginning! :laugh:

Alternative link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cduy8WrtHa7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

20 hours ago, JenL said:

Oh mannn I just watched the Comfort Woman episode and it actually made me cry!

@JenL :yoongibtscheer: Oh woah, a drama that made you shed tears!!! I'm happy you've made it this far... @Tofu has been threatening to drop it for weeks. But I'm glad that I think I'll have you two watching it to the end... I hope. :SquirtleWonderfull:

Yeah, as a woman, I can't not feel sad and angry on their behalf. I cannot imagine the suffering they had to endure and how strong some of them have been to survive through the rape and torture. I've read that each girl was raped 7-8 times everyday. Their private part would burn and tore. Just the thought of this horrified me. They don't receive proper medical treatment either. I don't know how some of them were able to get married after the war, because I'd be so scared and traumatised just from being touched by men after such experience. :cry:

 

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Kim Hee Sun, SF9’s Rowoon, Lee Soo Hyuk, And Yoon Ji On Bid Sweet Farewell To “Tomorrow”

 

The lead cast of MBC’s “Tomorrow” has shared farewell messages ahead of the drama’s grand finale!

 

Based on the hit webtoon of the same name, “Tomorrow” is a fantasy drama starring SF9’s Rowoon as Choi Joon Woong, a mortal who gets into an unfortunate accident while struggling to find a job. As a result, he crosses paths with grim reapers Goo Ryun (Kim Hee Sun) and Lim Ryoong Goo (Yoon Ji On), who work together to save the lives of those who are contemplating suicide, and he winds up joining their team in the underworld as their youngest member.

 

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Spoiler

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First off, Kim Hee Sun, who shined with her acting skills as the chic and charismatic grim reaper Goo Ryun, remarked, “I was happy because there were many people who recognized the good messages I wanted to convey through ‘Tomorrow.’ It seems that more people sympathized with the topic of suicide because it is something that isn’t only in Korea but also around the world. The time I lived as Goo Ryun was very precious.” Then she expressed her gratefulness to the cast, crew, and viewers and added she was able to complete the drama because everyone worked on it together.

 

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Rowoon touched hearts with his role as the empathetic mortal Choi Joon Woong who joined the Crisis Management Team, and he commented, “I worked on this drama in hopes to be a positive me who can accept the pain that makes me suffer as a new stimulus. I think I realized and learned a lot through ‘Tomorrow.’ I’m happy to meet this great project.” Then he, too, shared his gratefulness to the staff, actors, and fans.

 

Spoiler

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Lee Soo Hyuk added tension and romance to the drama as the cold-hearted Park Joong Gil of the Guiding Management Team. He stated, “I still can’t believe it’s over. The director, writer, staff members, and actors worked hard, and I’m grateful to them. Above all, I’m thankful to the viewers who watched our drama and cheered and sympathized with us. Because of you, I was even happier to play Park Joong Gil.”

 

Spoiler

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Spoiler

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Yoon Ji On captivated viewers as the logical and level-headed grim reaper Lim Ryoong Goo, and the actor especially displayed excellent bromance with Rowoon. He said, “It was a set where I received a lot of love from the director, cast, and crew. I had a lot of fun filming, so I’m sad that it’s already over. I want to thank everyone for taking good care of me.”

Then he added, “The drama ‘Tomorrow’ is over, but the webtoon ‘Tomorrow’ will continue, so please show lots of interest and support. Thank you for loving the drama ‘Tomorrow’ and Lim Ryoong Goo.”

 

The final episode of “Tomorrow” will air on May 21 at 9:55 p.m. KST.

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Episode 15-16

 

Episode 15 touched on an idol who was the reincarnation of Ryeon's servant. She's a hard-working idol that unfortunately has many antis and was being framed for bullying and sleeping with married man. Netizens/keyboard warriors were having a field trip with this and that pushes Cho Hui to the edge.

 

To my dismay and surprise, Park Joong Gil chose to use his "contract" with Ryeon by interferring with Ryeon's magic she used to save Cho Hui. Cho Hui was thus being hit by the car. Arrghhh waeeee, Joong Gil ah! Her servant protecting her and was stoned to death had always pained Ryeon so she wanted to make sure in this life, she is living well. This causes Ryeon to go rogue as anger and guilt consumed her. In this instance, we see her in Joong Gil's shoes beating up the people to quiet those who hurt Cho Hui. Ryeon's actions broke the Jumadeung's rules so some villain looking guy from Hell came for her.

 

Joon Woong being Joon Woong did what he had to do to stop Ryeon (although was later revealed to be orchestrated by Jade Emperor). He antagonises Joong Gil enough to look into his nightmare and finally remember the past he's forgotten. We also learnt that Joong Gil had previously reincarnated twice before becoming a Grim Reaper, and requested Jade Emperor to seal his memory, which is why he didn't remember Ryeon but the pain of losing her wounded his soul. Aww. You two... seriously!!

 

Joong Gil was able to stall villain from Hell and protect Ryeon this time. He was punished for a month all tied up (poor thing but look so beautiful though), and downgraded to ordinary officer for 6 months. I couldn't ask them to act like husband and wife again since Grim Reaper Joong Gil isn't really the Joong Gil anymore. But that "Ryeon-ah" at the end really got my shipper's heart swooning. I really really like the ending bit where he appeared beside Ryeon and they smile at each other (lovingly). It doesn't matter if their red thread of fate is broken in the living world, they can continue it in Jumadeung as Grim Reapers! :heart:

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Another surprise is the red thread of fate revealed between Joon Woong and Cho Hui. :shocked: I so did not expect ma boy having a loveline! But luckily it's just hinted (and could be just a red thread connecting them as idol and fan) and not played out. Phewww~ hahaha! Though many have mentioned online in the webtoon, Joon Woong is supposed to have an idol girlfriend.

 

There are some really important quotes from the finale (some through replay of other episodes). The first one that stood out for me was from Joon Woong to Ryeon that she herself have to be happy before she could save the others, which made her realised the mission Jade Emperor gave her was designed to save/help herself through saving others. At the end of the day, we are the ones that must first choose to be happy and want to change for the better before anyone could help us. Another one that hit hard on me was Joon Woong telling his colleague to start with "appreciating the little happiness" in life. These are things we technically know, but often forget when we're too blinded by our hardship. It really does serve as a reminder for me, especially this week, where work have been quite stressful.

 

It is a pity the drama suffers low ratings. The topics discussed are relatable as they are current affairs/problems in society. Some hit me harder than others. It is each to our own for certain episodes. It's on the heavier tone but I appreciated nonetheless that there is a drama addressing these issues. The drama doesn't necessary give us a solution because there just isn't really one right at this moment, but it serves its purpose by raising more awareness and gives us encouragement and reminders of the goodness in life.

 

Sigh. I am now Rowoon-less again @Tofu:cry:

wo4pst

 

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I have successfully finished a Rowoon drama!! 

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I wished they didn't wait until the end to show us the story between Joon Gil and Goo Ryeon, but after watching the last two episodes, I guess it was a nice way to end the series. We knew Joon Woong was not going to remember them, but I was a little sad watching that scene. I'd imagined Joon Woong running up to the three of them and giving them hugs while they all back off denying him of the hug. Haha! 

 

Regardless of the ratings and the fact that I almost dropped this, I still enjoyed it.

 

Here @katakwasabi, here's a video of them for you to watch since you mentioned you stopped watching. Haha!

 

 

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So I finished this drama and I loved it :heart: Sorry I haven't been as active on this thread as I would have liked to be :letalQQ:

 

I think this might be my favourite Rowoon project yet, which is weird since I really liked Extraordinary You and The King's Affection...but when there's a good second lead alongside him, I really cannot resist the second leads *coughLeeJaeWookNamYoonSucough* :laugh: But I think what I liked about this series was that it was a non-romance and we got to see him do something different. I felt charmed to see him more as a character that's dopey, but also super empathetic and playful. I guess he was that way in The King's Affection as well, but there's something about seeing him do it for strangers rather than just a girl that really did it for me.  He has advanced in the Tier system...and who knows @mademoiselle...maybe one day I will also be on the same level as you in worship :lol:

 

The show itself felt like it had a lot of good stories and I loved the range of topics they covered from pets to elderly vetrans, from eating disorders and social expectations to failures and feeling like a burden to someone else. The only thing I felt was lacking in some episodes was the resolution of the issue - the path to recovery for things like eating disorders and sexual assault wouldn't be that smooth...and so I feel like they missed an opportunity to advocate for things like therapy or starting to change your mindset with a support group which would have been more realistic. But all in all, I still found the show meaningful and I think it's important to show things that allow for conversations about topics like mental health and daily life struggles :heart:

 

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Also like @Tofu I wanted to know Koo Ryeon and Park Joon Gil's story earlier. I really liked their bittersweet love story. And while I think it makes sense that it didn't go back into a love story because their destiny's have been seperated, a tiny part of my fan girl heart really wanted them to be together again :laugh: ME: But...they're soooo close....yet so farrr......:letalQQ:

 

Megapost of microthoughts on all the episodes

 

Arc 1 School bullying - I thought this episode was so terribly ironic with the bully making her fame from a webtoon about a victim of school bullying. I liked that Rowoon and KHS's characters both came from different angles but highlighted important things - you do have to be empathetic to victims, but I think you also have to teach someone to help themselves raher than ruminate in their traumas or they're not able to move on.

Arc 2 Jun Woong's depressed friend - This one was funny in that the fried chicken and time travelling car made me laugh. Also the fact that the grim reaper's programed others to see Jun Woong as an older uncle. :lol: But poverty is such a horrible experience and so is failing over and over again. I felt pretty bad for the friend, but again laughed when it turned out that nostalgia made that fried chicken better than it actually was - I feel like that happens a lot when I try things I thought were amazing as a kid.

Arc 3 The couple with the guy who thought he caused everyone to die - This one was really sad in that he wasn't the guy's fault at all, but he just kept getting met with bad luck.  I don't know how I felt about the relationship though because honestly, it felt like the girl fell for him after he gave her an umbrella one time. And I didn't like what he did when he tried to push her away. But their meeting where she comforted him was sweet and sad. She was like the ultimate dream girlfriend. 

Arc 4 The War Vetran- I really liked this episode because I think so many people feel like their lives are meaningless or wasted and sometimes that's because something happened to you outside your control. But I loved that they made him see that he did make a difference to someone's life :letalQQ:

Arc 5 The eating disorder office worker - I thought it was interesting to show the girl with the body confidence even though she was shamed contrasting the girl who was always self concious with an eating disorder. And  I thought it was a good deep dive into eating disorders...but I found the ending to be a bit lacklustre because I think it's NOT as easy as just deciding to eat cake again :nervous:

Arc 6 THE DOG STORY :wow: This story WAS SO CUTE AND SADDDDD. I can't believe this dog story didn't make me cry @mademoiselle (since I feel like the very few times I cried in a movie or drama was because of dog stories), but it made me think about whether my dog thinks he's a burden to us and made me be more attentive to my dog. I thought it was cute and a bit different to have an animal story, even though I don't know how other people felt about it. But there must be other animal loving drama people. 

Arc 7 & 8 Sexual assult case and Ryung Gyu's mother's story Sexual assault makes me so angry on behalf of the viictims and these 2 cases were both equally horrible, both because of what was done to the women by men who abused their powers, but also because of the victim blaming by people close to them. I don't understand victim blaming, but I'm glad this show called it out and showed how toxic it was. I wished these episodes also showed what society needs to do to change this way of thinking. :MewHi: 

Arc 9 - Comfort Woman story - Probably the saddest of them all, but I wrote about it above 

Arc 10 Ryeon + Jung Gil's story Again I felt so bad for how women always take the blame if they're possibly sexually assulted (and it didn't even happen). This was such a sad love story, one that pierced my heart a little. And I was thinking, damn, must have been super torurous seeing your husband from your past life for thousands of years but him not knowing your history together :lettalKWA:

Arc 11 Ryeon's friend who is an idol - I thought it must have been so ironic for all the celebrities especially someone like Rowoon who might be able to relate to having haters or people using you or blackmailing you. Also thought it was good once again to show the darker side of the idol industry to show that idols are people too. 

 

Anyway, I have more thoughts which I'm putting on a late podcast episode which I guess I'll share when I'm done :) But these were my main mircothoughts :heiboi:

18 hours ago, Tofu said:

I have successfully finished a Rowoon drama!! 

 

Hahahaha have you never finished a Rowoon drama before?! :shocked2:

 

18 hours ago, Tofu said:

We knew Joon Woong was not going to remember them, but I was a little sad watching that scene. I'd imagined Joon Woong running up to the three of them and giving them hugs while they all back off denying him of the hug. Haha! 

 

Hahaha I know right! It would have been so cute if he assulted them with his usual hugs. But I do have to say even though this was one of those series where he didn't remember them because he got the old memory wipe, I liked how they handled it in that the conversation was still so playful. And like Ryeon said they only really have to wait 50 years until he becomes a Grim Reaper for reals, so not that sad of an ending in my mind :love:

Edited by JenL
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Currently watching: Doctor Slump // Queen of Tears // The Impossible Heir

Current Obsessions: ❤ Lee Jae wook // Park Hyung Sik // Yoon Park

Podcast: These Dramatic Days

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