#and we're expected to believe they grow closer because of the romance plot

[wiggles-mcgee]

THIS

I can’t stand forced romance in media. You’re telling me this man and woman who’ve barely spoken to each other, have not flirted at all and have barely been together for three scenes are in love??? Like am I just too aroace to see it?? I always feel so surprised

[iamacolor]

Writing wise, do you think junho is a good male lead? I saw lots of comments saying he needs more depth or needs a short arc lol what do you think?

hello anon! oh that's a very good question. the short answer is yes! the long answer is when it comes to him having his own arc i think it's important to remember that in eaw, youngwoo is the only real main character and although junho is the male lead he's not of the same importance as youngwoo, it's not his story, he's a secondary character. a lot of dramas that focus more on romance as the main relationship have a female lead and a male lead who are both as important to the plot and who both need to go on a journey for the plot to move forward and even for the plot to start (alchemy of souls which is currently airing is a good exemple of that, it is the story of mudeok and of jang uk, equally, and they depend on each other - other dramas like this are the king's affection and run on that also star park eun bin and kang tae oh) whereas in eaw, because it's a different genre, it is 100% youngwoo's story and junho happens to be a part of it. he's not "necessary" to the story, although he's a big part of it, in the sense that without him there would still be a story, a different one but it would still hold. so that means that his arc is to be in relation to hers (and he still has to confess, to tell minwoo he likes youngwoo etc so that's an emotional arc) and i think that's fine because none of the other secondary characters have their own arc, it's all linked to youngwoo. it's very clear when i watch the show that although all the characters have their own little particularities they're still meant to serve youngwoo's story, it's not a real ensemble show.

as for his characterisation it's true that we don't know a lot about him but i don't think it's a lack of depth and i don't need to know everything about him for the romance to be believable. i've got a few points to explain: a) so far i don't think youngwoo knows that much more about him than we do and we mostly follow her - she likes him for who he is and how he is with her and she isn't really the kind to ask people questions about themselves at work (and it seems clear to me that junho is a bit shy about himself even if acts of service come easily to him)- i do hope that as they grow closer she will grow more curious about him because i think it's a necessary step in her journey to see her experience a new type of relationship and a new interest (and it would make a good parallel to when she told him she had nothing to talk to him about than whales - but they're not there yet so there's been no occasion for him to share details about himself - but also aside from whales i don't think she's told him a lot about her life and you don't need all the details about someone to like them) so until they spend more time together on things that aren't work (and i really hope that time grows quickly lol) we're not going to get much more b) i don't think we're ever going to get nor do we need his entire backstory - what i really need is for him to tell youngwoo what he feels and what he wants and to talk about what they are to each other because i do think it's important for their relationship to feel balanced and equal and also because if conflict/tension happen between them i think it's more likely to be because they have different expectations or ways of dealing with things if that makes sense? and it's talking with youngwoo about themselves and spending time with her that's what will give him depth in our eyes like it will in youngwoo's - and we still have 8 episodes left to do that so hopefully the writers also consider it as an essential step lol c) compared to the other characters you can already tell that junho is a little more special, i haven't rewatched all the episodes but i'm pretty sure junho is the only secondary character we've seen outside of work without youngwoo (i mean we've seen minwoo with him but that's just because they're roomates, we never see anyone else than junho on their own) yes all his scenes are linked to youngwoo but it's already a big difference. for exemple we don't see sooyeon outside of work and aside from the fact that her father is in law too we don't know much about her but it doesn't stop me from appreciating her friendship with youngwoo because her actions and her evolution are clear to me. we see more of geurami's private life because that's how she's connected to youngwoo so that kind of makes her an exception.