The Real Thing Appears (2023)

Dire. Sorry. The Real Has come was all over my FB shorts listings, looking interesting, so I thought I'd have a butchers. It's a moderately interesting premise with the potential to explore some topics unusual in Kd, especially in romcom.
First - it turns out to be 50 eps long (I never thought to check first, bottoms!) If it were condensed to about 16 eps it might be a much stronger story, ditching many of the crap characters and focussing instead on the real dilemmas faced by ML and FL.
Second after 4 eps, Every. Single. Character - apart from about 4 of them - is apparently toxic, manipulative, weak, selfish or a narcissist - or a combination of all of the above. Faced with the prospect of 46 more episodes of this, I am absconding.
Third - already I am FF through all those sections not directly involving the ML or FL.
Fourth - I'm not usually affected by poor production values, but most of this looks like it has been done on the very-very-cheap. Not saying that sets actually wobble, but some of them look very close to that.
Fifth - even though I really like the ML, FL and some of the individual characters close to them who display anomalous traits of emotional maturity and honesty, I can't see me putting up with this cliched and trite writing for much longer.
Sixth - There is humour, but it all seems to hang on the atrocious behaviour of those toxic and conniving characters, and as a result I find it deeply unfunny.
Seven - it occurs to me that perhaps the reason this has been all over my FB feed is that it is just rubbish. I feel desperately bad for the actors - many of whom are just great!
So ... NO. I really don't think that with this drama the Real HAS come at all, and nor do I think it will arrive any time soon. Unless you have a particularly masochistic streak, just don't.
Of course, if it's your cup of tea, then that's OK. We're all different.

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SO outdated and clichéd

Dreadfully dated.
Bad soap opera feel to it, with cheap looking sets.
Outdated characters ~ supposedly 'hicky' working class family, with the usual debts caused by parents, reliant on the one sensible, more successful family member, who is pressured and leeched off; money grabbing mother of status seeking daughter, with long suffering father in another family; slapping of faces; class distinction (based on wealth, certainly not 'class'); controlling grandmother of wealthy family who seems sweet, but is cruel and callous; bitchy females; jealousy and vindictive characters; ffrom what I heard, a forgetful ost.
Just dreadful. I could not watch past ep4. The acting is so hammy, stiff and forced ~ almost farcical.
What was Ahn Jae-hyun thinking? I was so looking forward to seeing his first drama in too long, but whilst he isn't dreadful in it, sadly also not fabulous enough to make me stay. I hope he was paid well.
Anyone who loves soap operas, OTT characters and behaviour, with clichés by the bucket load ~ this will not disappoint. Sadly not for me at all.

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I'm far from finishing this. I've only started it yesterday and am currently watching the fifth episode. And I am writing this simply because I do not now where else I should get rid of all this frustration. I mean, of course this is like a soap, so lots and lots of drama. Thats not the problem. In that regard this fulfills everything a true soap lover desires. And I'm not here to complain about the series at all, but i am here to complain about what the hell is wrong woth the characters. Slapping people here and there, having world views that make me sick to the stomach. On one hand it's perfect if you want to be really really upset about conservative values and want to feel like kicking some butts. On the other hand I do not know where to go with all this pent up frustration. I'm not going to spoiler anything here, so I'm not going into any details. If you wanna feel how I feel, go ahead and watch it. As I said, theres a ton of drama. It scratches that guilty-pleasure-itch of watching overly dramatic soaps perfectly. Have fun getting mad at fictional stories (with probably and sadly some true backgrounds)

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Soap Opera, Farce, or just too melodramatic?

Or maybe all of those. This is a mess so far, awful writing, very misguided directing, with hit or miss acting. The ml is great, fl is fine though written badly, the ml’s mother is a wonderful veteran actress, the rest are a mess. Mostly the problem seems to be intention- the writing and directing seem to want this to be like some of the worst soap operas of the 90s and 00s. If so, a SHORT, smart and witty drama might have worked. But this is a very long, dumb and boring one mostly. There is also zero romantic energy between any characters so far. I will updates as more episodes become available if I can make myself watch more.

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lost interest at minute 21

I don't usually watch long k-drama. Rarely able to go through more than 3 episodes. The only ones I found quite good were My Golden Life, Five Enough & My father is strange. I want to give this a shot because it's Ahn Jae Hyun first drama after hiatus. Unfortunately I immediately lost interest after the writer made the FL (a top teacher, supposed to be extra smart right?) mistakenly ruin ML car because she didn't bother to see a car license plate. Who in this time of day, thinks that only your boyfriend have that kind of car, I give it a pass if it's a super expensive sport car or some special painted car, but it's a white suv? c'mon....

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