chickfactor
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Such deeply sad news.
Coming to this thread to talk about My Ahjussi with all of you was such a wonderful experience. We experienced a beautiful piece of art together, and it was special.
I learned about his death on CNN. Since My Ahjussi aired, our ahjussi had gone on to become a globally famous actor.
Aside from My Ahjussi and Parasite, he'd also given many other great performances on TV and in movies. A Hard Day. Coffee Prince. So many others.
I wish everyone a great 2024. Be well.
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I love this show. It's definitely a quality production with a great story.
But the presentation by Disney+ (Hulu in the U.S.) is awful. They really do not know how to market K-dramas.
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It's possible that Hae-yi's mom is in town after having seen her on the internet broadcast. By reading about the "scandal" she probably already knows that Haeng-seon's "romance" is with a famous hagwon teacher.
I really hope Hae-yi wakes up to tell her mom off.
Also to tell the truth about Mr. ji. That will be important, too.
As far as Seon-jae's mother goes - she's pretty awful to her kids, but I really hope she gets it together. I hope she comes clean about what she did, accepts consequences, and becomes a better mom to both her kids. I hope her husband becomes her stable support.
I think that Su-ah's mom won't do anything until Su-ah reaches a crisis point and completely cracks up and burns something down.
Or maybe learning about Mr. Ji's backstory will be the wake-up call everyone needs. Stop pushing your kids too hard, they will commit suicide or murder you, then become a serial killer.
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That was weird.
Now that it's over, I think this is a love story - between Bada and Eun-kang. I guess those posters with these two holding hands or embracing were the clue.
And the second couple is Nam-cheol and his father-in-law. He had no emotional reaction to returning to his wife, but cried in the arms of his father-in-law. Haha, WTF. That's the real love story.
I think it's also worth pointing out that both relationships are the classic "master-and-servant" relationships, where the servant can never fully leave because of Stockholm Syndrome.
A lot of Korean netizens are upset that the adulteress got a happy ending with the husband she seduced. I didn't think I would have a strong reaction to that, but even I thought that was kind of... yuck.
If they were going to end with a happy adulterous couple, I think Nam-cheol and Eun-san would have been slightly easier to root for.
Ultimately the story is about wealth vs. poverty.
(1) Nam-cheol was welcomed back into the Ko house because without him, they'd lose the junkyard company and all their wealth - so they have to keep him at all costs.
(2) And Geum-ah and her decades-long passionate love for Dae-geun evaporated the moment she saw his poor homelife. There was just no way that she would be with him after that. And they both knew that.
(3) Eun-kang's behavior was ultimately blamed on her poverty. Once Bada saw her home, she realized that Eun-kang suffered from a "sense of deprivation." So she could ultimately forgive Eun-kang, at least enough to stop the lawsuit and prosecution. So being poor is the reason she seduced her best friend's husband, so that is understandable? Hmmm-kay.
She even defended Eun-kang to her mother saying, "If she was born into a wealthy family like me, she wouldn't be like this."
I don't know what to make of this except that this writer in her last three dramas has made this into her theme. Being poor is the reason for all the crappy things her characters do. "Don't blame them! They're poor!"
==
I read a funny analysis of the show online. Basically, this drama is a story about Dae-geun, and the main story is about his revenge:
- Dae-geun is an evil mastermind. He is getting revenge on Mr. Ko for brutally beating him 20 years ago.
- Both his nieces grew up to seduce his son and his son-in-law.
- Dae-geun is also the biological father of Mr. Ko's grandson, Woon, who stands to inherit the junkyard business one day.
- Dae-geun wins.
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I really enjoyed both seasons. It's an easy watch. Sweet and mostly angst-free.
Kim Min-jae + Woo Do-hwan = Tempted reunion. Not that anyone bothers to mention that because no one liked that show. HAHA. But no one blames the actors for what a mess that was.
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I'm glad for Hye-ju. This is her story.
I applaud her "rip off the band-aid" approach to solving this dilemma. Many people would not have made the decision she did. But she recognized that hiding ugly truths is not for the greater good after all - and made the decision to be an example to her daughter.
The other end of the spectrum is Woo-jae, who was all about hiding secrets for "the greater good," and ended on committing a terrible, immoral act - for which there is no earthly punishment, but he has to live with himself. And the viewer saw how things can go very wrong once you start making excuses and turn a blind eye to the truth.
Joong-do was certainly on his way to being this way. But I'm glad his wife helped him see the error of his ways. The damage has been done, but at least his soul was saved.
I loved seeing the final photo of Subin, Hye-ju, Yeo-jin, and Yun-seo. The animated opening sequence shows four figures, and I wondered who they were - and realized that it is the four women, the four survivors.
I loved that Hye-ju laid down a fresh piece of paper in her workshop, signifying the turning of a new page. It felt impossible, but people can heal and move on if they do the right thing.
For those wondering if they shoud watch Trolley - I thought it was a good drama. But it wasn't a very fun watch.
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I think Jeong-dae killed Ji-hoon. Just my guess.
I think Ji-hoon went back into the ocean to fetch the drugs because it had something to do with saving Su-bin, somehow.
I think Yeo-jin stayed in this house because she really cares about Hye-ju. I think she wanted Hye-ju to never find out what a monster her husband is, and if Yeo-jin left, Hye-ju would wonder why and ask questions. Or maybe she wanted to protect Hye-ju from Joong-do - she didn't want to leave Hye-ju alone in that house with her monster husband.
I think that's why she lied and told Hye-ju that she was having an affair with Joong-do. Because even though that is horrible, the truth would be worse.
A lot of k-netz are complaining about this show - that it doesn't pay to be a good person like Hye-ju because people just take advantage of you and betray you. However, I think we will also eventually see that the people she treated well - Yeo-jin and Su-bin - will be the ones in her corner at the end.
Not that that fixes any of the awful things that have happened so far. But I'd like to think that the final message is: being a good person is still rewarding and worthwhile.
But who knows? This show has really messed with my head for sure.
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I agree that Eun-kang groveling is pretty weird. I notice that it's all directly related to the parents (Chan-won and Bada's) wanting to meet her parents. Like, she'll beg and grovel just to prevent that. Not that she is actually sorry.
In comparison, Eun-san is better. At least she's not groveling. "Better" of course, being relative.
I don't know how this will end but I really don't see these broken marriages ever being repaired.
I guess I enjoyed Bada ripping Eun-kang and Chan-won a new one in that cafe, but, it seemed so... well, it just went on and on and on... I guess I'm impressed that the actress memorized all those lines, basically. Sort of funny that the biddies at the next table were clapping. Surprised that no one took videos on their phone. I expected everything to end up all over the internet.
I was screaming with laughter when Nam-cheol was hiding from Eun-san with his hand clasped over his mouth. SERIOUSLY, that was hilarious. They shot this like a melodrama from decades ago. But it's just so absurd.
Also pretty funny was when Old Man Go forced Chan-won and Nam-cheol to go into the lake in the mountains. Is this a martial arts movie? WTF.
This writer is just really good at creating degenerate characters. I really hate everyone. (Except for the kids.)
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On 2/1/2023 at 8:02 AM, Blizzardistkaputt said:
Can someone get Goo Soo to cut his hair?
HAHA, I agree.
He kind of pulled it off. But he still looks much better with shorter hair.
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Episode 14 was just so much "OMO, OMO, OMO
!!!"
What the... ugh.
I guess I'm happy to have been proven wrong about Joong-do murdering his own son. And I'm also happy to know that Woo-jae isn't a killer.
But wow, I'm really sad.
Why did Yeo-jin stay in this house? My guess is that she wanted to protect Hye-ju from the truth. Or just protect her from Joong-do. And when confronted, she "admitted to the affair" because that's actually better than the truth.
I think Yeo-jin was able to go on and pretend nothing was wrong for years until Joong-do decided he was going to make "justice for sexual assault victims" his key issue. Yeo-jin probably choked on the outrageous hypocrisy and couldn't take it anymore.
That's my guess, for now, anyway.
The show did a pretty good job keeping us guessing. So who knows what finale week will bring.
The actor who plays Ji-hoon is very well cast. He looks so much like Park Hee-soon, the actor who plays Joong-do.
(I also really hate Seung-hee. Please just shut up.)
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One other thing. All the episodes have titles and Episode 13 is 부정 (不貞) which means "infidelity."
They usually flash the episode number and title near the beginning of every episode. For this latest one, Ep. 13, they showed only the episode number at the beginning of the episode.
Then they showed the episode number and the title in the final scene, where Yeo-jin and Joong-do are standing facing each other in their living room.
You can already see what the episode titles are because Netflix lists it in their menu. But I thought this was impactful. Mostly because at the end, I was totally gobsmacked. "What??!? WHAT?!???? WHAAAATT???!!???"
All I can hope is that Hye-ju will just start kicking a$$. She knows the truth now, she's smart, and she's much more proactive than she's been shown so far.
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I bow down to your sleuthing skills, @nrllee !
You are right, it's not definitively proven that Yeo-jin and Joong-do are actually having an affair. They're hiding *something* from Hye-ju, but that's all we know for sure so far.
And like you, I also hope that maybe it isn't true. Because... AWFUL.
I also like your theory that Su-bin's motive for moving into Joong-do's house was to try and find something (evidence?) about what Joong-do did. Ji-hoon wasn't the father of her baby, but they definitely had some kind of friendship or relationship.
A couple more thoughts:
(1) It really broke my heart to hear Hye-ju's voice mail to Su-bin. Hye-ju obviously wishes that her son wasn't a rapist. But she also wants Su-bin to not be a rape victim. Because she cares about Su-bin, and because being a sexual assault victim is a lifelong wound. Which she knows everything about. Ah, so sad.
(2) It also really broke my heart when Yun-seo kept asking her mom if she lied about being sexually assaulted to extort money. Yun-seo seems like a normal middle school student, but she acts strangely strident and insensitive. Like when her friend confided in her about her father's cheating. And again, when her mother is obviously suffering.
Again, she is a child and we should be forgiving, but I feel like the show is deliberately showing her to be a certain kind of person. Someone who can stab someone and twist the knife to get what she wants. Her father's daughter, basically.
Anyway, it occurred to me that she wanted her mom to go on TV and talk about her assault to help her father's political campaign, and that she was manipulating her mom. And it worked, too. After making her mother break down and weep, in the end, she agreed to go on TV.
(Well, probably not anymore.)
No matter what happens from now on, we definitely know that Hye-ju has been lied to and used by the people closest to her. And it's just a real bummer, because we can see that she is a genuinely good person who has only ever been good to her family. But she's been betrayed by her loved ones, and we still don't know to what extent.
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One thing I love about this show is that it all began with an act of kindness - Haeng-seon's mom feeding Young Chi-yeol. She showed him love and grace when he badly needed it, and he never forgot it. It's really wonderful.
I am so upset with the SKY moms, especially Su-ah's mom:
12 hours ago, Shimmery-summer said:My biggest concern is hae yi's aunt losing her business and customers due to bad rumors, that's freaking sick. As of su ah and her mom, I mean the way we see abnormal competition and all such kind of societal norms will only nurture pyscbopaths like su a and her mom who would think to get to top they should eliminate competition instead of improving themselves.
Yes, exactly! Remember that the "all care" class began earlier than originally scheduled all because Su-ah needed to have an advantage over Hae-yi. And when Hae-yi was accepted into the class, too, Su-ah's mom needed to kick her out somehow.
And how that Hae-yi became top student, they hire a private investigator. This is just insanity. Stop spending all that time obsessing over someone else, and maybe study some more?
Seriously, opening other people's bags and stalking them at their home? These are crimes. What kind of example is this mom setting? They all need to be shamed out of town.
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Goodness gracious. This show!
I mean, it was a sloooow burn for quite a long time. And somewhat frustrating to watch. The show really kept its secrets "close to the vest." And now the bombs are dropping. One more week to go.
SpoilerI had guessed that Joong-do killed his son last week. My guess was that Ji-hoon thought his father was not a good man, and wanted to stop him from being a politician. That's why he caused trouble and bought drugs. And Joong-do/Woo-jae decided that they needed to get rid of him "for the greater good."
Now I realize that Joong-do needed to silence Ji-hoon because he was going to tell the world about his adultery. With Yeo-jin! The woman who lives in his house! His wife's best friend!
I was NOT expecting that. Wow.
My prediction is that Gi-yeong will finally come through and help clear Hye-ju's name - that she was really sexually assaulted by Seung-ho. Seems like he's already done with his wife and horrible mother-in-law for good. Hye-ju will not need to go on TV to save her reputation.
But honestly, that seems like the least of her problems. She's lived her whole life being deceived by the people she trusted most. She must feel like the bottom fell out of her entire self. I can't even imagine.
I really hope that by the end of this show, Hye-ju finds peace. And Soo-bin. I really hope Soo-bin is saved from all the terrible people in her life. Because now, her life is in danger, from multiple directions.
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I really don't understand Bang Su-ah and her mother. What the heck is their problem?
So Hae-yi did well on her last set of exams. And they're going to hire a private detective? The heck? What do they even think they're doing? How is this helping Su-ah get into college? Teaching her to become a stalker? So crazy.
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I agree that Bada does care for Eun-kang. But I'm not convinced that Bada really cares for Eun-kang as a person. I think she cares about Eun-kang as her friend/slave.
It is true that Eun-kang did it all willingly. But Bada also made sure to shoo away any potential decent boyfriend that Eun-kang could get, so she would stay single and be available as her friend/slave.
I'm definitely not saying that seducing her husband is payback that Bada deserves. If Eun-kang is dumb enough to spend the last 25 years of her life being Bada's slave, that's on her.
Anyway, Eun-kang is in trouble. Stealing jewelry designs is apparently a crime in South Korea? (Interpol? Really?) And Eun-san embezzled money from the company to pay rent for that apartment. Aside from all the adultery, these ladies could end up in jail. And I will not mind seeing these two behind bars.
It will be pretty fun to see everyone find out about each other:
- Geum-ah finding out that -> the love of her life's two nieces are Eun-kang, the one who slept with her younger brother, and Eun-san, the one who slept with her husband.
- Go Mul-sang finding out that -> his cook is his favorite taxi driver's wife, who is the brother of that guy he nearly beat to death for dating his daughter 18 years ago
And Kwon Tae-gi and his punchable face is still hanging around. Ugh.
So I am interested in seeing how this makjang mess ends. Everyone will end up in some screaming, hair-pulling brawl. And I guess somehow, balloons will be involved.
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While I'm obviously super-excited about Jo Seung-woo, I'm also really excited about Jung Moon-seong as well. He was so good in "Good Detective 2." He really brought gravitas to his role. And I was simultaenously watching him in "Stockstruck" in which he was so funny. He really throws everything into his role. Looking forward to this drama!
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Eun-kang took photos of Bada's jewelry design and gave them to someone else. They made cheap copies of her design and sold them on the street for cheap prices. So the customers returned their jewelry purchases, and Bada has to refund the home shopping company all the money she earned. Her reputation as a jewelry designer is probably ruined, too. It's a huge betrayal.
I was laughing so hard when Dae-geun and Geum-ah embraced each other over their bowls of jja-jang noodles. HAHAHA, these two crazy kids. He's a low-key grifter, and she's been living under her parents' thumb her whole life so she doesn't know how to do anything on her own. But they didn't commit adultery, so that automatically makes them paragons of virtue in this s**tshow full of trash people.
Pretty much everyone in the Jo family are trash, and the same goes for the Go family.
In the Jo family, you have the idiot parents bonding over scamming the Go family, then the two adultery sisters are who truly next-level trash.
And you've got the Go family. The parents are basically evil greed monsters who are truly ignorant. While their children aren't evil, they are definitely suffering from their idiot parents' dumb decisions.
I don't know why I expected this writer to create some interesting, multi-dimentional characters this time around. She truly has a talent for creating debased characters. She's known for writing shows that you "love to watch while cursing at the characters." Indeed.
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1 hour ago, Shimmery-summer said:
Guys who is the woman who meets sun jae's mom at office, his teacher? Whk was they were discussing about and what was it in the first place? What has happened? Who assaulted whom?
I think her child was accused of bullying/assaulting someone as part of a group.
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You know, I'm not that squeamish about adultery in dramas. Because it's fiction. So I'm interested in seeing how the story develops. I don't default to "These adulterous creatures need to immediately burn!"
So I watched the story develop, and... "These adulterous creatures need to... *&^%&$#!!!" Haha, I don't even know. It's getting ridiculous and everyone's just in such a MESS all of their own making. What a trainwreck!
TL;DR everyone sucks!
Was I the only one laughing when Eun-kang was lecturing Eun-san about breaking up a family by having an affair with a married man? Excuse me? IS SHE SERIOUS? Maybe she has multiple personalities and only one of them is committing adultery? That's the only rational explanation. The self-righteous way she's acting was really something else.
Really sad to see Dae-geun's backstory. He was beaten really badly by Old Man Go for dating Geum-ah, and he's still suffering trauma and pain from his back injury.
Again, not okay with Nam-cheol cheating on his wife, but he really has such a tragic backstory, having been brainwashed into being an indentured servant for decades. Old Man Go really did a number on both of these men, and I feel like his terrible deeds are catching up with him now.
And what's really hilarious is - this family can't kick Nam-cheol out even after his affair is found out. They have to try and keep him in the fold because he is so essential to them. Maybe they shouldn't have treated him like doo-doo all these years, but haha, no one on this show is making good life decisions.
What I think will happen:
1. Eun-san's behavior is "Fatal Attraction" at this point. And now his kids are getting hurt. No, that's not okay. She didn't have to do that. Obviously she's already doing bad things by having an affair and even confronting his wife. But involving the kids? That is seriously crossing the line.
I feel like Nam-cheol is in love with her now, but he will eventually see that she's actually unhinged and dangerous. At the very least, see that she is unstable and their relationship is not good for either of them.
He might even divorce Geum-ah, but he might just end up alone and not with Eun-san.
2. Eun-kang's behavior is also pretty psychotic at this point. Chan-won finally is attracted to her, but he will eventually find out about all the deceitful things Eun-kang did.
For example, it seems like Bada's jewelry business is messed up. Perhaps because Eun-kang sent some of her jewelry designs to her business rival. I think Chan-won will find out about this eventually, and find that he doesn't really love Eun-kang.
So basically, I think the sisters will be successful at breaking up these marriages. But they still won't get what they want because of all their crazy behavior.
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For those in the U.S. this will be on Hulu.
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Comparison between Red Balloon and Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) and their status as "Adultery Dramas" - When it came to "Love," there wasn't any rhyme or reason why the adulteries happened. The wife could be beautiful and devoted, smart and accomplished, the husband appears happy, and yet they betray their vows. In fact, they spend quite a bit of time showing just how wonderful these marriages are, at least on the surface.
In Red Balloon, you see clearly *why* this happened. The married couples are having serious problems. And the older husband (Nam-cheol), he barely even has a marriage as far as we can see. His most important relationship is with his father-in-law.
And the mistress-sisters have extremely low self-esteem. Eun-kang, in particular allowed herself to be used for years by her friend Bada. It's bad for Bada to treat her like her servant, but Eun-kang certainly let her, and never complained. And she stayed for 4 years with that awful boyfriend. Again, he's terrible, but she's the one who stayed in that relationship and took his crap for so long.
And Eun-san certainly has her own problems. She's young, pretty, and seems really smart and confident. She can easily find a single guy to date, not some sad-sack ahjussi who is married. You see pretty clearly that both sisters just do not know how to value themselves and be in good relationships where they are respected by their partner.
So about Nam-cheol, I thought it would be a huge disaster when father-in-law finds out he is having an affair. But what was kind of surprising is that Nam-cheol actually holds all the cards, he just doesn't know it. The whole family is so dependent on Nam-cheol continuing to work at the junkyard that if he decides to leave this marriage, they're the ones who will lose out.
Anyway, I predict that both sisters will get what they want, in the end. As in, they will successfully break up these marriages. AND??? It will be miserable. Because a relationship forged in deception and betrayal can't end happily. At first they will be in a sex haze and think their dreams came true, but reality will come crashing down. They will be dealing with endless scorn and devastated children... so yeah, it's going to be MESS. In addition, I don't believe the husbands themselves will be happy with how things turn out.
But I honestly feel like it's *well-observed* mess. Yeah, no one is behaving well, but at least you understand why. It really isn't just a random bunch of grotesque people like her previous two projects (Liver or Die, Revolutionary Sisters) that were just an endless parade of WTF-WTF-WTF.
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I am watching this show and enjoying it. It's so makjang, but it's not making me angry!
I truly hated this previous writer's work: Revolutionary Sisters. It is awful. And I hate-watched all 50 episodes of it. So it's self-inflicted pain, but it was really terrible.
Imagine the grotesque Tae-gi, and imagine that the entire show is full of characters like that, but worse. You get the idea.
Anyway, I was lured by Seo Ji-hye, not knowing who the writer was. But when I noticed a bunch of Revolutionary Sisters actors in the cast, I looked up the writer (Moon Yeong-nam) and began having trauma flashbacks.
The things I like:
- Seo Ji-hye. She's so beautiful and elegant that she looks like she doesn't really belong in this drama. Even dressed like a frump, she's so pretty.
- Only 20 episodes.
The things I dislike:
- The relationship between Nam-cheol and Eun-san. Every time I see these two getting lovey-dovey, I cringe. Wow, what a trainwreck.
Anyway, both sisters are headed for trouble, and I want to know how it ends.
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6 hours ago, CarolynH said:
I still think that SB had/has a crush on NJD. That would explain the heart on the card.
That's what I thought at first, but I think the heart on the card was because she stole it from Yun-seo (the daughter)'s wall.
My theory about Su-bin is that she will help clear Ji-hoon's name eventually - that the drugs in his pocket were not his.
- I am assuming that Hye-ju had her photos printed and sent to her house. But she didn't notice anything missing when she looked at the photos later. Perhaps someone stole the photo she took of Su-bin in her workroom.
- I do think Su-bin's intentions were shady. She probably seduced Ji-hoon because he was an Assemblyman's son. After his death, she decided to use her pregnancy and move into his parents' home and... steal? Or she's possibly a mole for one of his political enemies. It's also possible that she's being forced into doing this by "JD."
But other than that, this show is so inscrutable that I can't guess what's coming next. It's really good, though. It's the best show I'm watching right now.
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!!!"
[Drama 2023] Tell Me That You Love Me, 사랑한다고 말해줘
in k-dramas & movies
Posted
I just started watching this, and it is really good.
Jung Woo-sung is so good at expressive acting. His gorgeous face just says so much.
Call It Love was one my favorites this year. This one has a similar vibe - and even a similar title - a very thoughtful love story.
These are nice bookends for this year.
I hope everyone has a great 2024!