Fight for My Way Spoiler-filled Discussion Thread
Added 2021-12-28 17:59:48 +0000 UTCWe have someone in the group who has a mighty need to discuss this drama. And that’s what we are here to enable! Please note that this thread is going to be spoiler city so proceed at your own risk…mkay?
Comments
Have you seen Because this is my First Life? This for me was a slightly more mature RomCom, slightly off centre but I really enjoyed it. Also You are my Spring is a romance drama with serial killer mashup, slower and mature - a underrated gem for 2021 IMHO
Sarah @afternoonaasks
2021-12-30 20:02:45 +0000 UTCI wonder if you'd like Run On. While the characters are semi-young, they didn't come across as immature and it's definitely a slower paced drama.
Megan Erickson
2021-12-30 14:56:16 +0000 UTCThe cultural nuances and trying to understand it from such a radically different cultural viewpoint were possibly the highlights of both of these dramas for me
Elizabeth-Claire
2021-12-30 10:49:15 +0000 UTCI have also given the thought of a "beta hero" some consideration ... its a good point ... getting people to root for a beta hero is a much bigger ask than a hero who is hitting all the buttons we expect them to hit. And even great writers don't manage to pull it off - look at Marianne and Eleanor Dashwood's beaus in Sense and Sensibility - Edward Ferrars worked but to many Colonel Brandon will forever remain a damp squib of a compromise. As a beta hero Dong Man did work for me I confess. But did I want to spend 16 episodes seeing him quietly evolve? Possibly not. Mind you - his urge to fight is slightly at odds with the beta concept but well ... it gave him some "spice". Thank you for the chat!
Elizabeth-Claire
2021-12-30 10:48:16 +0000 UTCI loved them (Something in the Rain and One Spring Night) both ha ha ha!! I think I am beginning to see a type for me - I like dramas that seem to portray "real life" from a curiosity point of view, I like dramas where the themes are more mature because .. well .. I am "more mature" and it rings more bells for me. I also seem to be rather partial to a slower pace (although burst of action are fine) simply because it feels more like reading a book. But most of all I am very very reassured that the not liking something you previously thought would be a shoe-in is a thing and I am not the only one! I blame the Afternoonas to be honest - they made it sound soooo good in their podcast !!!!!! xx
Elizabeth-Claire
2021-12-30 10:42:45 +0000 UTCI thought I commented but can’t find it now. I loved Fight for My Way but am baffled every time I see this pink poster. What alternate reality of this drama is it advertising? The leads didn’t look like that and the mood/theme is so far off base!
Lorna
2021-12-29 23:51:28 +0000 UTCI LOVE first half of something in the rain. Like absolute top tier love. Then…I don’t know. I hate it but still like it. It’s hard. There are def some cultural nuances that come into play that also are the source of my anger so I am trying to acknowledge that In how the plot goes — but also just gah
Megan Erickson
2021-12-29 17:27:29 +0000 UTCI was thinking about watching Something in the Rain bc of raves from some people here. Good to know in advance that it has issues. I also definitely love some really bad kdramas for the actors/certain scenes/depictions of situations that speak to me. I think we all are willing to forgive different problems in different dramas for totally subjective things we love about them :)
Grace
2021-12-29 17:24:51 +0000 UTCI recently recommended Something in the Rain to a friend that I got into Kdramas, warning her that it has some of the best parts but is the worst Kdramas I've seen. She started it, hated everyone and everything, and dropped it like a hot potato.
Hannah
2021-12-29 03:34:04 +0000 UTCI think I had the same problem - it sounded so good when the afternoonas talked about it! I found it fine and watchable, but I also know people like the leads, who have been stymied in life, so it both felt realistic and hopeful. And I couldn't get past episode 5 of Itaewon Class, so to each their own! Always fun to find things you like and hopefully learn something about MMA from those you don't.
Hannah
2021-12-29 03:32:23 +0000 UTCTo me I do really like this screenwriter but he has only done a few dramas—this and Camellia being honestly only ones where he is lead writer. Camellia worked WAY better for me and I felt like he ironed out pacing mistakes that he made here in FFMY. Overall I enjoyed the centering of a beta hero and always am here for non toxic masculinity but some of the plot threads just felt really underdeveloped to me. I didn’t mind the second leads although I can absolutely appreciate how they might grate. The main lead chemistry worked well imo so I forgave them a lot. I def didn’t love it and won’t make it a rewatch but I give a solid 3.5/5 probs —Lia
Megan Erickson
2021-12-28 22:28:48 +0000 UTCoh also I'll add the screenwriter is the same as Camellia and I had similar problems with this too - loved the characters, but just found the pacing draggy - and disagreed with the Noonas on this drama in that I didn't LOVE this - though I did solidly liked. So for me, it just might be a mismatch with this screenwriter
Sarah @afternoonaasks
2021-12-28 19:51:37 +0000 UTCYou're not alone, I didn't really rate Fight for My Way either and found it quite slow and a little dull in the pacing. Individually I liked the characters, for me, altough for me the FL Ae Ra was a great character, full of feistiness and spunk, and I liked the dumb jock thing of Dong Man too. If it helps, this is my review, which I put up on my Instagram (@kdramathis) Things I liked: The heroine - Ae Ra kicks ass. She is brilliantly written, and excellently acted by #kimjiwon & I just loved how ballsy and resilient she was. The hero - Dong Man is just a lump of a hero, honest and authentic and again brilliantly played by #parkseojoon who is miles away from the “aura” CEO of Secretary Kim - in a good way. He does sports jock with a heart so well! Their relationship - I loved their banter, bickering and the child versions of themselves and how they would always fight each other’s corner The setting - I liked that the hero and heroine hung out in sweats for most of this drama & the story of the 4 of them just eking out their dreams in Nam Il villas and no chaebol in sight. Their dads - both dads made me cry in the scenes they had with their kids 😭😭 I love KDrama dads that make my heart melt 🥰 Things I was meh on - I think I’m more of a fan of friends to lovers trope than I perhaps actually am… this was actually a great example of this trope but it just didn’t do it for me, making me think the problem is me and this trope rather than the way this KDrama did this trope…. But overall I’m happy they are together in some alternate KDrama universe but their romance didn’t give me the feels I wanted. Some of Ae Ra’s behaviour re: Dong Man wanting to overcome his decade long trauma and fight was annoying - I find ultimatums so selfish generally & I wanted her to understand how important this was to him as his BFF - the second leads. I generally found their story boring until they broke up and she got a backbone. But even then, MEH. I find myself a surprisingly big fan of office dramas thanks to KDrama - I’ve loved the office people in Touch your heart and what’s wrong with sec Kim - but these guys. BORING. I think I’d have preferred if they split up… - the whole mysterious landlady thing. It took up quite a lot of screen time but wasn’t interesting enough to merit it. Could have done more with Nam Il character - the ex girlfriend. Just annoying. And even more annoying they tried to make her redeemable… - I also didn't really like the way Dong Man ordered Ae Ra to not wear a short skirt, this kind of slightly paternalistic tinged way of controlling your gf's I don't find cute or desirable
Sarah @afternoonaasks
2021-12-28 19:45:43 +0000 UTCSo I think first of all, it's totally okay not to love Fight For My Way and there isn't anything wrong with you! It was a very character-driven drama, so if the characters didn't appeal to you or you weren't rooting for them, then for sure it would be a slog to get through. One thing to note is that I don't think they were portraying young people starting out in life, but those who had lots of dreams and their lives didn't turn out the way they wanted... and as they were approaching thirty felt compelled to change their directions of their lives. And I, uh, didn't like Itaewon Class, lol, so it's totally okay to have different feelings on dramas! -Megan
Megan Erickson
2021-12-28 19:41:16 +0000 UTCWell thank you so much Afternoonas for responding to my SOS message asking for help understanding why exactly I just did not get on with FFMW. What on earth could be wrong with me!!? Possibly I set myself slightly up for failure in that I had listened to the podcast episode first and was really inspired by your chat to move onto FFMW as my next drama. I do also love Park Seo Jun (I've watched Secretary Kim (not bad and funny) Itaewon Class (totally absorbingly excellent) but honest to goodness, Fight for my Way was Hard. Work. The characters didn't appeal to me - the female lead was fairly mean - for sure the emphasis on actual fighting was not to my taste (I dislike violence in dramas on the whole) and I couldn't understand why they were on the one hand portraying supposedly young people starting off in life yet it was also clear that they were all approaching/in their 30s. The one word to sum up my feelings as I watched each episode was "frustrated" - frustrated that it was not better, that I didn't like it more, that it was soooo dreary in terms of a story! Please Help! What is wrong with me!!!??? (gateway KDrama was My Husband Oh Jack Doo about 18 months ago .. no idea what made me click on that in my netflix suggestions - so I am aware that I am bucking the trend for not having been lured into Kdrama through the wonderful CLOY!)
Elizabeth-Claire
2021-12-28 19:13:49 +0000 UTCDoes anyone else think the poster is totally wrong for this series? And the photo completely unrelated? Btw, I LOVED the drama.
Lorna
2021-12-28 18:21:10 +0000 UTC
