#When the phone rings

[kdramalovergirl]

UPDATE: he's being a Moron AGAIN

What he means: if I let you go, your psycho mother will marry you off to someone truly awful.

What she hears: you are trapped by me forever mwahahahahah

What he means: or my psycho family will bury you alive.

What she hears: I only care about power and you are a prop.

What he means: that way you are safe and protected from bad guys and tabloids and everyone else.

What she hears: I am ashamed of my unworthy wife.

FINAL GRADE FOR FAMOUS HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR AND LEGENDARY COMMUNICATOR:

[mirambles]

I’m not able to move onto a new Kdrama cause brain is still stuck with Saeon /YuYeon and HeeJoo. Yoo Yeon Seok and Chae Soo Bin had insane chemistry. This pairing is now on par with my favourite pairing of all time Ji Chang Wook and Nam Ji Hyun. Sorry Lee Seung Gi and Lee Se Young, you guys have to drop down a spot now.

[captainjoongki]

feeling so normal and absolutely fine 👍🏽

[kdramalovergirl]

paik sa eon will leave his wife for 6 months without a word but he will still wear his wedding ring and i respect that

[kdramalovergirl]

is that why he never ate the food she made before 💀💀💀

Your ring is so pretty.

When the Phone Rings (지금 거신 전화는) 2024

[cococassey]

Kdrama: When the Phone Rings

My Rating: 9/10

No major spoilers:

That is so satisying. When The Phone Rings' premise needs a LOT of suspension of disbelief...but who cares right? Those kisses(omg!) alone make it all worth it. We get a delicious male lead, a heroine we can root for, an 'it's complicated' marriage in the midst of it all, with a bit of psycho killer mystery and endless taboo family secrets thrown in.

Yoo Yeon Seok's looks are not typically what I go for as male lead, but he is amazing as Paik Sa Eon, who is the epitome of what all kfangirls go weak for---dashing 24x7 in a suit, each strand of hair meticulously arranged, so competent, ruthless, and unbothered, until you threaten his wife (yup, the one he's supposed not to care for). Then he goes all bonkers. Chae Soo Bin equally embodies vulnerable yet strong-willed Hong Hee Joo well, whose life has all been about sacrifices because of her selfish mother.

Someone likened this couple to the Flower of Evil dynamic, and I see the likeness. There's something delectable about watching a dysfunctional marriage, where they clearly care about each other, but all the secrets and miscommunications are on the way.

Spoilers:

Where else can you see a distant couple who can only communicate their deepest secrets and repressed feelings behind a kidnapper's burner phone? Where a wife blackmails her husband to divorce her for 20 billion won?

I like it that Paik Sa Eon doesn't dwell too much on his hurt on Hee Joo's betrayal, he knows he wronged her a lot too, and he understood right away the reasonings behind her actions. Oftentimes it's easier to communicate behind the phone, things we cannot tell the other in person, and it was wondrous to see these two slowly fall more for each other as they open up their feelings.

Since childhood, Sa Eon found a kindred state with Hee Joo, amidst all the affluence surrounding them, they felt suffocated in a gilded cage, living a life forced upon them. There were probably some shortcuts so the story can fit into 12 episodes, so now I'm excited to tackle the webtoon and the source novel material. Undoubtedly, this is an easy recommendation, for those looking for a different spin on the 'dysfunctional marriage' trope, which I'm getting way addicted to.

[kdrama-movies-more]

언니야..너무 고생했고 최고였어!!! 함께해서 행복했어!! "Eonni-ya...You worked so hard and were the best!!! I was happy to work together with you!!"

[thataddylady]

This. Dude was like "Well it's clearly not her fault, she's an angel, so what happened?"

funny thing i noticed: saeon can only stay angry with heejoo for a few hours.

he found out she can speak? he was mad when he went to the party, but by the time he was about to sleep that same night, he was already regretting it, realizing she's not in her safe zone where she can be herself.

he found out she is the blackmailer? he was angry with her in the morning, but as he backtracked their conversations later in the office, he learned what pushed her to do this. he also instantly knew she and the real kidnapper were not acquainted.

this level of self-reflection is only possible when one is willing and really intends to understand the other person—not to answer your own questions, but to know the other person's questions and help her find the answers. he understood her during these shocking circumstances not because he needed to, but because he's simply wired this way.

in his mind, he probably asked a lot of "why would she do this to me?" instead of "why would she do this to me?"

i found that sweet. even in the most bitter situations, he was able to understand her from miles away, without any arguments or even conversations. he did it just by carefully recalling what had happened.

[freshlyprinted]

From urging Heejoo to talk to him directly:

To avoiding her for 6 months instead of talking:

Basically:

[guiltymepleasures]

Three years has been too long.

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

https://www.tumblr.com/dear-ao3/771959208935669760?source=share

it’s giving When The Phone Rings

source

Yes it does!

[lavenderdreams3]

Eh? That must be the first scene ever where he doesn't have his wedding ring on!

When all of this is over, I will propose to you.

[sansitty]

It should have been 16 episodes.

The last episode looked like a TikTok edit of a Tumblr fanfiction

[captainjoongki]

First weekend wo WTPR tomorrow how are we feeling 😒

can another contract marriage drama start airing immediately i can’t live like this

[kdramalovergirl]

hee joo (baby, loml) driving her car off a cliff only for him to ghost her: 🤡🤡

[kdramalovergirl]

I was like this idiot is so disappointing, hee joo pls date me instead. But then he got all cute about it and my determination withered like hers did 😂

ALSO remember in the first few eps we were like "Why hasn't this man tried to learn sign language, they've been married for three years???" and now that they've finally started dating he's practicing full stop so he can have loved dovey secret conversations with her at work........................... he wasn't an ass he was just 100% dedicated to keeping his distance and now that he doesn't have to anymore all things go it's Baek Sa Eon at 10000%!!!!!!!!!!!