Have I watched a different show than everyone else? I don't like commenting negative stuff but I am genuinely so perplexed as to why this show is so highly rated. I was insanely excited when I heard about the premise of this show. I thought that this is something new and fresh and maybe (just maybe) even bold. NOPE. It was a very typical story full of cliches. It was an alright, nothing to write home about sort of story, at least for me. But it might be because I've been watching dramas non-stop for 10 years now. So I am genuinely curious if this drama is also so loved by people who'd seen a lot of Kdramas. Bcs I don't believe it's just me that thought it was really nothing special.

Or rather that it would be nothing special except for one very big issue. That this light vaguely nonsense story was set in North Korea. You know the actual hell on earth, a dictatorship with prison camps, and no regard for human rights. I HATED how it was portrayed. There were many instances where I cringed at how tone-deaf it was . One example would be the opening sequence of a bird flying over the demilitarised zone with almost magical music playing over it. I was so taken aback by this that I showed it to my friend without any context and asked what she thinks. She said: "This is totally like the Harry Potter scene with Hedwig flying over the castle."... IN NO SHAPE OR FORM, NORTH KOREA SHOULD EVER BE FRAMED IN THE SAME WAY AS HOGWARTS.

Framing is powerful. Framing is key. Even if you do all the research right, to get some small details correct it will all crumble if you don't portray it as what it is: a nightmare.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that the main plot on the North Korean side was about a corrupt evil dude within the system. Which any other time would be great and we've gotten many like that in the Kdrama world. However, the situation changes when the system we are talking about is the North Korean military. In this case, making a story about a corrupt man abusing a system for his evil doing ... helps to maintain a status quo by suggesting the man is evil, not the system. To some extent, I can understand it...South Korea is trying to maintain a good relationship with the North so a drama really digging into the topic could have been an issue for them. Before it aired I was really curious how it will go down on the political scene. Clearly for nothing since this drama refrained from making any meaningful commentary keeping it in the unrealistic Kdrama World.

Sure one can say "it's not that deep" just enjoy a cheesy romcom. And normally I agree with that. It was boring for me but sure was a cute romcom. But the creators really stepped on a minefield choosing to set it in North Korea.

Idk maybe I missed something important since in the later half of the show I just started skipping since I got too board.