The Real Thing Appears (2023)

Legal Rommates

THRC was “supposed” to be a story about a upcoming star instructor who got pregnant and entered into a marriage contract with a guy and later they fall in love. 100% of everyone who tuned in to this expected that kind of story. Instead we got a rising young instructor who gets pregnant enters into a marriage contract and then becomes the second lead because her baby daddy and his nonexistent issues came first.

This show had potential. If only the writer hadn’t gone and smoked that cheap ass pot or whatever it is they smoke. To come up with one of the most stupid nonsensical stories ever. So many storylines were started and like magic they abracadabraed out of existence.

Examples:
-Yeon Doo’s career before and after the baby
-The shared baby between her uncle and TaeKyungs brother & sister-in-law (shaman’s vision)
-SeJin’s revenge on the Gong family for making her family feel like shit
- SooKyum’s mom’s absence for majority of her life
- BongNim and SeJin’s dad possible romance
- The weird resemblance of YuMyeong’s ex Jay and DongWook which was extremely weird I might add

ummmmm I think I’m forgetting something else……what is it?????Oh yes!! The relationship/chemistry between Yeon Doo and Taekyung.


It very clear that this writer caught some form of amnesia or writers stroke cause they clearly opened more plot lines than a DC Comic TV series and forgot to close them.


Another thing that got on my nerve was that as a writer you’re supposed to not be biased and not have favorite’s. Clearly this writer missed Writer’s 101 class. That wretched character Kim JunHa became the main lead over night and everything that was done worked in his favor. With the way he was written you’d think this writer hated happy endings.


As the weeks went by TRHC went from a show that solved problems by episode 2 or 3 to a show that dragged issues out for the next 5-10 episodes then solve then either 2 minutes into the show or right before it ends.

And don’t get me started on the lack of chemistry between the main leads. Their marriage progressed from fake to real and only stayed real on paper. For the entire series they were roommates. The most intimacy they’ve had can be counted on one hand. You’d think that for a show based around fake marriage there’ll be loads of lovey dovey I’m falling for you stuff.

I’ve seen my fair share of weekend dramas and honestly after YLAG (Young Lady and Gentleman) I’d sworn off them. But I’ll rather take the amnesia plot lines in YLAG than this crap show. The only character that I liked was Haneul. She made the show better.

To any future watchers of this circus freak of a mess show…..please I beg of you with everything that exist DO NOT watch this show! Even if you’re curious pick any show…better yet take a deep dive into the comments and you’ll see for yourself what I mean. We all hated it with a passion.

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Backwards, outdated and downright misogynistic. AVOID.

(PSA: This is a rant rolled up as review bc i could not keep my cool writing about this cesspool of a show. Thus it contains some swear words. Just as a head's up.)

For a family drama written in 2022/2023, TRHC is oddly stuck somewhere in Joseon era, or 1970 if we are feeling generous. Worst of all is that all of these backwards views of the writer is covered under a mantle of pseudo LOOK HOW MODERN WE ARE progressiveness at first. But you always get glimpses of his true views here and there, those bits of misogyny, how a woman is not allowed to exist without a man and husband, can't do anything without a man. Or his obsession with bloodline superiority portrayed by the grandmother at first who feels like a writer mouthpiece of his own views in hindsight.

Because for a show supposedly about how family is chosen and that chosen family is just as valid as bloodlines, he does his damnest to portray adoption in the worst light. As something lesser and THE fatal flaw a person can have. Later on ML is also CONSTANTLY ridiculed for wanting to take over the father's role for FL's baby because he is not the true blooded father, not valid nor good enough and every character lets him know so. While the literal shithead of dna giver of the child is elevated to the writer's favorite pet the narrative tries to manipulate you into feeling sorry for a literal stalking, harassing, cheating, blackmailing, threatening and gaslighting abusive bastard who made the leads life hell for 30 eps plus. But he is the "father" of FL's child so he has a "i can do what i want" permit of the writer who seems to sympathize with abusive men treating women like shit and objects to possess waaaaay too much, if you ask me. Yikes. But of course none of the stalking and domestic violence is ever addressed or SML held accountable in any way or form, nope. Of course not. It was just there for shock value and to show you that this poor poor man just did all this because he was lonely, had a bad childhood (???), and was upset of not seeing his child or something. Awwww. F-- OFF. The trivialization of abuse (that starts not just at physical, mind) is staggering and super disgusting, but totally in line with this writer's overall misogynistic views.

Which perfectly shows in the complete obliteration of FL Yeondoo's personality in the second half as well, Because except for her apologizing and cowering to everyone no matter what and why, if she is allowed to speak at all, she does nothing, is allowed nothing. In latter eps you even have ML, her then legal husband, speaking FOR her even if she is directly addressed by others and yikes. Not to mention how her career fell sideways and was forgotten about in favor of her letting it housewiving out till the writer remembered she once was a star instructor five minutes before the very end. Which okay if a stay at home mom is what she wants there is no problem, but there was NEVER any discussion about her future, nor what she wants to do going forward. The complete lack of agency while two men have the worst written, and factually and law-wise incorrect, custody battle over HER child, for whom she is the sole custodian parent, is more than appalling. It is downright sexist. (In fact, no female character is allowed to exist or act without a man in here, again yikes.)

While the show was airing, we have talked at lengths in the comment section why the romance is not romancing, especially of the leads who are like roommates raising a baby together, post timejump. A lot of it comes down to this writer and simply baaaaaad directing, but there is more to that. It is the pure dislike of the writer for romance in general. Watching this, you get the clear impression that he always found romance and calm scenes boring, and not just in regards of the leads. Every romance subplot we had in the first half was dropped after the worlds worst and most unneeded timejump, and forgotten about. The singular one we had aside the leads (romance, what romance?) with the youngest couple was a trashfire of circular on/off nonsense going nowhere. But oh well that fitted into the rest of the repetitive narrative dragging on to the point of complete suffering. Which, coincidentally was THE motto and theme for the last quarter of TRHC. Joy was killed as was the lead's romance before it could ever fully bloom and develop by this hack. And it got replaced by a onslaught of perpetual misery piled on misery, especially for the leads. Whose actors looked progressively more exhausted the longer this overwrought, pointless drama dragged on, reflecting the audience perfectly. It feels from eps 1 to 50 AJH and BJH have aged several years, and with this abysmal script and dialogue they were forced to follow i am not surprised. Because for the viewer aka myself, it was also just pure suffering and exhaustion to watch the backyard bin Iteration of Groundhog Day with everything repeating over and over, down to what i would call the worst written drama in recent years after Woori The Virgin.

So, in case you are insane enough to still want to watch this trainwreck on top of a flaming pile of garbage... my advice is still to run away and find something better to do with your time. Like take a walk, work out, pet a dog. So much that you can accomplish in 50 hours that is not watching this dungfilled, backwards ass mess. Failing that however, you best watch eps 1-33, mentally slap a one year timejump under it and go to eps 39, watch that. Then jump to 41 to see the leads register their marriage and then go DIRECTLY to eps 50 for closure. Do not stop at start and look at the mUh bLoODliNEs Kim Junha writers pet show this drama becomes in the last ten eps. I repeat: DO NOT STOP AND GO DIRECTLY TO THE ENDING EPISODE and thank me later for having spared you ten hours of your life as nothing of value happens in there. Except a lot of pointless bs and abusive man apologia but that is right in line with this wreck of a writer. AVOID.

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REAL Exhausting!!!

The series started with two strong individuals that found themselves in unique situations at the same time and respected each other enough to want to help the other. But in the end, it became two individuals with no backbone that go through a constant obstacle course of abuse and torment with no peace in sight. Messy and sloppy scripting. Inconsistent character development. Over exaggeration of torment and relational links. Extra ineffective and unnecessary side storylines which makes the torment drag even more. Chemistry between the leads is nonexistent when considering what they had to endure 'in the name of commitment and love'. The 'villains' continue to have an unrealistic connection to continue tormenting the leads with everyone knowing. Are these the only 2 families in the city? This is not what anyone wanted to see. Even when the ML and FL have a 'moment' of happiness it is lack luster and more of a relief than swoon worthy. Even for a soap the script isn't clean enough to see. STAY FAR AWAY from this MESS on FILM!

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*sigh* Oh the wasted potential!!

*I tried to write down my thoughts in an orderly way but I think it all came out as an incoherent rant so I apologize!! *

WOW! Just WOW! This writer is just amazing and deserves to teach a class on how to create and cast the perfect ML (AJH was so perfect for this role), a FL that was strong and fisty and between the two develop one of the best and most healthy relationships , and as a new day/age Nero set it all in flames and watch it burn to the ground as the viewers watched and screamed in horror!!

In the first episodes I was amazed as to how much I was enjoying a weekend drama!

I was so happy to see two mature people grow organically and get closer, have distinct personalities and for almost 30 episodes have the best communication! Since the basis of their relationship was a contract, both were so open with each other and communicated well. They always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else, especially the villains, and that as a viewer was so satisfying to watch! But around episode 30 the show changed completely! It seemed like the writer only had material for 30 episodes and after that he was grasping at straws so much so that the show and the characters personalities did a 180 and changed completely. He took a loving mother-in-law and turned her into this screaming shrew, he turned what was once a fisty, strong independent FL and reduced her to nothing more than a weak, unopinionated pawn having two men fighting for something she should have total say in and made Haneul feel like a prize for two men to be won!!

There were so many storylines to be explored:
• How YD met JH
• How JH met SJ
• YD going back to work
• TK and SJ history
• TK and Gramma bonding time – I mean during the unnecessary time jump they could have kept in touch and maybe continued the Hangul lessons!
• SJ & CW road to parenthood (writer gave up on this mid-way). They could adopt, they gave up on that at the beginning based on how Granny treated TK but at the end I think they could revisit the option! I HATED that they did not baby at the end!
• Granny’s history with SJ and her family
• SK and DM and her birth mother

But instead, we got JH’s bloodline ark!! I mean towards the final 3rd of the drama it felt that we were watching The Joon-Ha Show and everyone else was a supporting character to his story, including the 2 main leads.

Another thing this writer does not know how to execute is redemption and story arks in general!! The two main antagonists deserved no redemption, but they were given one none the less! And not just that but at the end they were collecting apologies and thanks for just doing the bare minimum to fix what was their fault to begin with instead being at their knees asking for forgiveness!!!
JH is probably one of the most toxic drama land characters out there. That sad excuse of a human never apologized for anything but still we were supposed to feel sorry for him because the writer loved him!

He was probably redeemable at around episode 30 but after that he was just the worst, but somehow they threw him a pity party and Ohh no, poor him, he is crying, lets forgive him,.. but thankfully (most) viewers didn’t buy that! And get pity for what??

At first we were led to believe that he is an orphan and he grew up alone and was self-made, only to find out that he was actually adopted (and he didn’t even know that) into a loving family, loved more than the actual biological daughter of the family and he was orphaned at what.. age 16?? If anything, TK went through everything the writer wanted us to believe JH did! Raised poor by a single mother, adopted at age 16 by a family that hated and bullied him and worked hard to become a doctor and he never relied on that family for money!

I kind of see where the writer was headed towards the end but you cannot just have someone going around cheating, bullying, threatening and harassing everyone and then just with a scene or two expect everything to be ok! That was some lame ass excuse of a redemption!

The only character that had steady development and good character ark was Yeon Soo Jong, the sister-in-law of TK. She went from an “antagonist” to one of the main couple’s most loyal supporters than never wavered! With the exception of the two Main leads, she was the only one I cared for and wished for her to get what she most desperately wanted and I was so annoyed that they did not! I mean I would have loved for her and her husband to at least be Haneul’s godparents, but I could not expect from that horrible writer to have thought of that! Other than that, no other character had a clear development (not even the Male and Female lead) nor any story ark was completely and clearly explored, leaving viewers with a sour taste in their mouth!

I also never saw a writer that hated his 2 main leads that much! He seemed to actively want to put distance between them. I mean they always spoke to each other using honorifics and their names. Not one single Yobo, chagia.. nothing!! HW and JM were a couple that at the beginning was going through a divorce, at some point decided that it would be ok to see other people but still called each other yobo and chagia! At first, I got it they didn’t know each other and had an “expiration date” so they used it to put some distance between them, but after they got back together, and they got married it made absolutely no sense!! We got almost zero scenes with them being a happy, in-love and affectionate couple. It was like he thought that if they spent more than 5 minutes being happy or affectionate the world was going to come to an end.

I would have rated this lower but at least the acting was good and consistent throughout the drama no matter how horrible the writing got and I honestly really did enjoyed and loved the first 30 episodes, before the writer had a mental breakdown and people around him didn’t stop him from writing.

As mentioned above AJH was the perfect choice for this. I loved watching him in NJTTW and the variety show with Na PD in Na PD’s YouTube channel, but I was never blown away with his acting. Here he proved me wrong. He ate the role of TK up and left no crumbs! He also looked heathier than ever, and it made me so happy to see! I really hope he is back for good! Another plus for me was how comfortable the baby was when he was holding her. I have been around many babies to know that that is not a given!

Drama MVP YD’s uncle. The only consistent and logical character in this mess of a show!

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The writers just had no idea what to do to finish it off

The show was good for 25 to 30ish episodes, in that time it was a fairly solid show that kept me interested enough to come back each weekend. But this where the good times ended and every nonsensical thing that could have happen happened. Every character's reasoning ability went out the window and logic or common sense no longer meant anything. It was just about getting to the end and filling up time with random fill ins or drawn out plot lines. I know 50 episode drama have a notable amount of filler to eat up 50+ hours of drama time but there was so just so much filler that I was fast forwarding for maybe 80% of an episode. Sucks a bit because for the first 10 episodes I was really drawn but end up more focused on my fast forward button than the drama itself. I really only got through it just to see how it would end, even though it was predictable.

Yeon Doo and Tae Kyung's chemistry wasn't terrible for me but it felt like it just fizzled away end in the back half. At times they were great to watch and at times you couldn't tell that they any feeling of love for the other and weren't just robots. It just seemed like they weren't so much lovers as they were legally contracted roommates (I saw the first review say this and I don't think it could have been more spot on).

There was a few nit-picky things that left for bad taste at the end of the drama like the continuously introducing things to try and spice up the drama and then never acknowledging them again. Yeon Doo's career as an instructor being ended prematurely and not even having her fight to try to her career back and just forget about it until the end where she they just had her end up as an instructor again with no build up to fighting her way back to that position?? The crazy amount of trauma Se Jin and Joon Ha did every episode that all it took was a sorry to forgive them? Felt pretty light for someone who actively tried to ruin their life for months even to the point of where Yeon Doo almost miscarried from the amount of stress. Never really understood why family dramas for whatever reason usually tend to let the villains of a show get off pretty much unscathed with an apology and just saying they'll leave to give the main leads peace. Felt like a slap in the face make it for the audience to hate them for 50 episodes and just give em' a slap on the wrist..

Overall started good but just couldn't figure out where it wanted to go and just kept trying to introduce shock value to keep the audience's attention. When the reason you come back each week is just to get to the end and see what the writers could ending up coming up with (not in a good way) you probably aren't watching the drama because it captivates you. So 50+ hours is a big commitment and if you want to use those 50+ hours on this show get ready for the randomness. Godspeed to the fast forward button!

First half: 8/10
Second half: 4/10

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My thoughts on TRHC!

I think its such a cliche, not in a bad way ofc.The grandma wants her grandson to marry someone she likes(or atleast knows) and the grandson doesn't want to marry at all.

Other kdramas like inheriters have a similar plots which always pull me in,but TRHC isn't like all the other kdramas with that similar plot.

So far its really enjoyable. I miss the felling of yelling and laughing at a character when they do something stupid, that frustration(and desire for more humorous scenes) is what makes me eager to see the next episode(TRHC makes me feel that way).


The fact that I haven't watched a kdrama like that in a long time makes me really exited to see what the future holds for TRHC!

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A fifth of the series includes flashbacks

The plot is terrible & the scenario is awful, dialogues boring, characters silly & weak, acting bottomrock poor, 101 level, but the worst thing is that nearly a fifth of the series is made of flashbacks.
Overall the series makes the viewer feel stupid. Then why do I watch it?
I started watching it thinking it's an interesting plot, a fun series. The first two episodes were ok. But then it started to get boring & insulting to the intellect of the viewer. The families depicted in the series don't exist. They're totally unrealistic. The characters are unrealistic too. Such people don't exist.
Why am I still watching? Because I got hooked up on the nonsense & this addiction keeps me away from my daily worries. This is modern day fairytale not a soap opera or a Cinderella drama. If you want to kill time, & you can afford it, then you can watch it. It let's your gray cells tell you how watching this series can do wonders leaving worries behind, works much better than getting drunk or stoned high. Cheaper too.

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Full on telenovela levels of cheesy melodrama

Wow! I can't quite yet believe I made it to the end of the full 50 episodes.

Was this show good? Not really. The acting was subpar, the main couple exuded this overwhelmingly awkward energy every time they had to get close to each other, the sets were cheap-looking and the outfits most characters wore were some of the ugliest clothes I think I've ever seen. On top of that, the writing wasn't very good either. The character's personalities and motivations were inconsistent and the melodrama was so over the top and ridiculous, at times I found myself laughing my ? off during scenes that were meant to be tense and serious.

But, the sheer cringiness and messiness were what made this show addictive and entertaining. It was so bad, in the end, it was kind of good LOL

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What Could Have Been, but wasn't

I want you to imagine a situation where Writer A gets his concept for a series green-lighted by KBS. Except he learns the network wants to stretch his 16-episode concept to a 50 episode weekender. UGH! He can’t handle that! So he reaches out to his college buddy, Writer B. “Bro, I can’t handle 50 eps! How about I do the first half and you take over the 2nd? I’ll pay you as long as we keep my name on the credits?” “Sure, dude, can do! I can use the cash! Just let me know when I should start, bud.”.

And we’re off and running….
Writer A’s first part of the series is fun, clever, and sweet. And so fast-paced that it was praised by all! We watch our leads progress quickly from enemies to friends to almost-lovers. Our leading man is doing great in his comeback role. Even those bitchy fans on MDL are cheering them on! We’ve got co-parenting while bringing in potential love interests, one couple trying to get back to their glory days of youth, and a growing love plot between 2 unlikely characters! The 2FL's plots to break them up all fail hilariously! And a Shaman giving us crazy scenes of the future!

Except the problem is Writer B isn’t paying that much attention to the first half (Writer A’s work) and has his OWN ideas for the 2nd half. So he begins writing his scripts to fit the show's loose outline he’s been given. He follows his own agenda, anyways, plus, he notices some things in the show so far, that need to be addressed:
• KJH actor is a really good-looking guy with high approval rate among women. Need to emphasize him!
• The lead couple has poor chemistry. Need to reduce situations that exacerbate this.
• The lead actress seems increasingly distracted and cold. Need to minimize her lines.
• There are too many secondary couples. Need to minimize some of these characters.

So writer A taps out…either voluntarily or under pressure from KBS seeking a re-vamp; take your pick of conspiracy theories. And here comes Writer B. He looks at the arcs for the characters he's left with and says, “NAH! This doesn’t fit my vision, so I’ll just write out some of these characters, or simply pretend meaningful events in the first half didn’t happen.” This is HIS show now and he’s going to appeal to the fans by making the 2ML a prime character and bringing some DRAMA to this series, because ratings will spike for sure!!! And he’s got about 20 episodes left to go, so he can take his time, and stop all this fast-paced stuff.

And this, my friends is what we are left with. Two completely different shows featuring the same(ish) characters which are grafted onto each other. The first half is GOLD: A bright new series that promised to make us forget the previous 2 weekenders that ended up failing. And it’s a comeback vehicle for both ML & FL. For 30-ish episodes we bask in the fun we’re having here. The second half unfortunately is MANURE. Slow-paced, filled with a conveyor-belt of angst for the leads, who grow increasingly awkward and characters who suddenly disappear. And the new series revolves around the 2ML – he is the catalyst that moves the script.

It’s almost as if the 2nd half was a spinoff of the first half, which would have been OK, if they had actually made it a separate show that we’d have the option to ignore. Also, if the first half had been given a logical conclusion. But no, we got this hodgepodge.

In prior k-dramas, I’ve loved to go back and watch old episodes and relive some past meaningful scenes. We’ve all done it….it’s FUN. But I can’t do that here. Because every time I try to watch something in Episodes 1-30 I get sad and think ‘what could have been”.

That’s the theme of this show: “What could have been”. This could have been a great series that lived up to its hype of resurrecting the weekend family drama. That could have made the most of its strong cast. That could have held us through 50 episodes, from the beginning of Spring thru the end of Summer. That could have kept us laughing and cheering on our leads as they try to keep up their farce of a fake marriage and the pitfalls of continuously lying to their parents.

So, for the new viewers asking if this show is worth watching, be forewarned. You can approach it as a limited edition series and watch from 1-32. But you’ll have to accept the fact that the show is essentially unfinished. 33-49 is basically No Mans Land: DO NOT WATCH. If you wish, you can watch Ep 50 for the finale. But be warned that the FL does not act as you expected her to from the first 20 episodes or so. And that some characters are missing.

But really, there are better options for you. If you’re looking for a romantic series, this ain’t it. And it loses it on the comedy front at Ep 33. Sure, there are some funny moments, but they are awkwardly placed amongst the angst prevalent in the balance of each episode. There really isn’t a niche the entire series fits into, because it’s 2 series back to back.

Finally, there is a reason there are over 17,000 comments here. YLAG, one of the most polarizing weekenders that REALLY pissed off its audience generated 8,800 comments. Think about that for TRHC: Seventeen THOUSAND! Since a high comment counts equals an aggrieved audience, this series 17K can give you an idea of what’s going on with the fans here.

When you clicked on this page, you saw the comment count. It stands as a silent warning: BEWARE TO ALL WHO WATCH THIS.

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