Episodes 7-8 of Memories of Alhambra Stays Ratings Steady as Jin Woo’s Quest Remains the Central Focus

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• Hi Ms.Koala, I'm confused and wondering if you really watched this drama carefully that you are now mistaking the name of Hyun Bin's character - Yoo Jin Woo - not Jin Hyuk. LOL
  And one more thing I have to say that also in ep 8, Jin Woo admitted that Hee Joo's tears is meaningful for him.

  • True, lol. But happy holidays anyway!

  • LOL Jinhyuk is Encounter's male lead, maybe thats why.
    And yeah in episode 8 it was Jin Woo who proactively went to look for Hee Joo, and told her he misses her. So I wonder why can't they be OTP.

  • lol i agree with you anyway EPISODE 8 was the best episode so far and JW and HJ are definitely an otp i am rooting for !

  • Sorry, super jet lagged but fixed now! I did watch the whole drama carefully, just totally swapped male lead names when I was writing the post lol.

    • Merry Christmas and New year koala!!!

    • OmG I feel you Miss koala... We share the same thought no one can bring the beast out of Hyun Bin like Ha Ji Won did when comes to having chemistry with him. I know you're not into this drama as all Sega fans too. All these people are weird and bias. Secret Garden is his best works and best couple that's why people always shit talk about Ha Ji Won.

• I'm drolling at secretary seo car.

• I like Jin woo’s attitude that “in a crazy game (world), you survive the crazy way” I completely get him abt why he went for days without rest at the game to level up. The need for a gun is real.
  I’m watching this completely for Jin woo and his arc
  Similarly to you, I don’t feel for the OTP
  Perhaps Hyun Bin can win me over slowly for the romance (as long as Hee Joo stop crying for goodness sake) because those eyes he makes and the vulnerability he’s showing just makes me feel anyone should just hug him. I actually squee when the little sis hug him and he smiled. He does really need some love. These are small moments - the little sis doesn’t get a lot of screen time but she makes every second work for her character - Great job for a young talent!

• We need sign a petition to the writers. For god's sakes, Hee-joo, STOP CRYING and DO something to find your OWN damn brother. Utter disgust here for this wasted wasted screen time. What is going on? Aren't most of the viewers women, or does the game aspect (HELLO - "I am working on an R rated version of Emma," comment.) bring in more boys?

  I do love the fact that the secretary is playing, too. He is not a hard core gamer, and may be regretting his option to stop sitting in the car and join in.

  I love PSH, but it's time for her to die on screen and make her the reason for JW to triumph just like the olden days of hero yore. She serves zero purpose right now. Being pretty/sweet is over.

  • I think aside from the AR experience, the writer is trying to go deep into jin woo's life. This isnt only about the game. It's also about the the lead's struggle to find love. Actually she has served the very purpose her character was created,for jin woo to experience the kind of love he needed. Her tears meant a lot to him because someone truly cared about him,unlike his first two wives who betrayed him. As we can see Jin woo's character doesnt need a partner for the quest. What he needed was someone who had the love he truly wanted from a wife. I wouldnt know anyone who would marry the second time if he never felt the need for love.

    • Phew! At last I’ve found someone who has the same mindset as me! I totally agree with you! This PSH certainly did the purpose & that is to see HB ‘fighting’ all the way for himself & for her too... hopefully, they’ll end up together...

    • Agree. I think the writer is trying to send a message through Jin-woo's messed up life about game addiction.

  • Agreed.

  • yaa i think so too that the purpose of PSH character hee jo is to let Jin woo feel genuine care and love from someone not because of his status and money but because someone truly cares for him. Maybe she is the one thats keeping him sane and grounded after all the craziness he is experiencing because of the game.

• I love both episode though it's a bit slow and dragging because I'm one of the few who's not in for the romance. I'm in for the AR game and the action. Jin Woo is enough to take me on a journey in this drama. That little exchange line with Hee Ju "I missed you" is enough to make my heart jump so no need for a kiss scene or anything else. Hehe I surely died!... Hyun Bin look too dreaming and his voice is so soothing. He's finally level 90 so hopefully next week episode is full of more adventure and mystery. Pro Cha and Director Park look so fishy. They're on to kicking Jin Woo out.

• Ep 7-8 was better than ep 5-6. I like that the game is explained a bit more. SJ is still lost though.

  I do feel that HJ does not serve any weight to the story as of ep 8. If her character is not there, the show can still go on. JW can just focus on finding SJ to reveal the mystery of the game or to free himself from zombie cha's attack. No need for the 'i will find your younger bro for your sake' arc.

  I like minjoo. She makes JW happy. His face lights up when he is with her. If they went the other route and made this an ahjusshi-school girl partnership, playing the game to find big bro, that might be kinda cute.

  Until now, i have no idea why zombie cha keeps popping up. Even more clueless that even secretary seo can see zombie cha and feel real pain from his attacks. The writer better come up with good reasoning for zombie cha's existence.

• I feel differently.

  Ep 8 is the turning point for me for Hee Joo and the potential romance.
  Unlike the earlier epidodes, Hee Joo's tears in the latest ep is justified (for Se Ju) and believable.

  Right from ep 1, she is a crybaby and her friend Sang Beom even commented that she's weak in that way in the early epidodes:, so at least this characteristic is consistent.

  As for the romance (or lack of it), fine for me as in the circumstances that HJ and JW are in, I don't expect to see overt romantic interest from either or expect them to even fall in love. athe pacing is right. I think their common quest to find Se Ju will bring them closer and the romance will develop.

  I hope Hee Joo will join in the game but not as a damsel in distress though.

  • just to add that I also like that Hee Joo is sharp enough to suspect that something's amiss with her brother and suspect that the emails could have been sent by Jin Woo.

• What ever, this k drama is excellent in every aspect every one share great in acting their roles.

• After what we have seen so far, I think that the romance will be subtle. Hee Joo's purpose in the story seems to be a reminder to Jin Woo of what love and human warmth is, something to long for and maybe pursue after he's out of this mess.
  Too sad that we will not see Park Shin Hye turning into an action hero in the AR game and save everyone...but what was I expecting? This is a kdrama after all... Anyway, I'm finding this show and Jin Woo's struggle quite engaging, I feel his pain and root for him to win and get out of the game.

  • i agree with you i am anticipating that PSH will have action scenes playing the AR game with HB but my hopes were not that high anymore. She's good in her action scenes in Doctors and Black Heartened.

• As someone said, Hee Joo first time cried for an actually valid reason in episode 8. The script writer is a woman but there is not even one single female engineer, game developer, marketing manager or otherwise in a position where academic expertise and experience would play a role. All we’ve seen is an ex-wife who dumps Jinwoo for unspecified reason just to go fuck with Jinwoo’s bestie (ex-bestie) and become pregnant and then crying throughout.

  Then we see Hee Joo who cries for the most dumbest reasons just to give Jinwoo’s character some growth and leverage. The line ’’your tears meant a lot to me’’ was so gross, like the whole existence of Hee Joo is there to make him change. I won’t criticize Hee Joo for being emotional because there’s nothing wrong in showing emotions. Her character is just so damn inconsistent and lots of things don’t make any sense. Since when did she start to notice that Se Joo is missing and an impostor is writing those e-mails? Any sane person would have started doubting, wanted to talk on phone or video call but she fucking moved back to Korea without her barely 18 yeas old brother. Wtf is wrong with her?
  Then we see another ex-wife, a typical actress diva who sheds a few stereotypical fake tears and sleeps around with her manager and plays a saint old wife. Why would Jinwoo marry her? This is not consistent either. We also get to see how professor Cha talks disrespectfully to his wife by shutting her up in the church with no respect. Professor Cha also implies that Jinwoo’s first ex-wife is a slut and she just quietly takes all the insults and predisposes her baby to his shitty behavior, babies can sense when they are loved or hated you see. Song Jae Jung is the biggest disappointment of the year when it comes to writing female characters. Forget about writing female game developers, engineers or gamers. The women in this drama didn’t have to be any of those things. But all of the female characters have been weak, unprofessional and absolutely every single one of them have revolved around ONE dick. How pathetic is that kind of writing? I kept on giving this drama chances but we’re already half way through, episode 8, and we see absolutely no signs of character growth. Hee Joo has grown some balls but she’s still acting helpless, she’s clueless, she lets Jinwoo and that insufferable Sang Beom oppa call her naive and dumb, she breaks down every now and then. All she is in the game is a pretty npc and even the ugly game developer wants to dress her in R-rated clothes. Like really? Was that supposed to make Hee Joo sound sexier for the viewers? Not arousing at all, more like creepy. There has not been even one single episode where she hasn’t been crying. Quite frankly, it’s irritating as hell, I know PSH could do better but I don’t understand why she chose this drama? They could have put literally ANY actress here to act Hee Joo and it still would have turned out the same.

  Hee Joo and Jinwoo have no chemistry -thank goodness because their entire relationship was based on a damn lie and they just are not compatible. I don’t even understand why Jinwoo was written to be sexually experienced, successful business man turned into a jaded drug and alcohol abuser but still looking just like he used to look like and still being the CEO while Hee Joo is implied to have no dating experience (Like really? The bitch is 28 already, lived in Spain), gullible as hell although she’s been managing the entire family for years.

  And now suddenly after 1 year finally when Hee Joo start asking about her own damn brother, a thing she should have done the day he didn’t come to Granada as he told he would, Se Joo sends a message to Jin Woo. Arghh the sheer stupidity of this drama is irritating. I could have let this foot logic pass but the way EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS is written is outdated, sexist and pure bullshit. Song Jae Jung has NO EXCUSE for writing this kind of bs in 2018. Mark my words, she’s going to make PSH do a deer in headlights kiss. I thought PSH wanted to get rid of that melo image? Why did she choose this shit then? She should take some notes from her contemporaries who are choosing characters that are not candies and decorations. Hyun Bin.. he doesn’t know to play anything else but CEOs and chaebols. Who cares about the CGI when the story falls short? I guess this drama has its audience, those who care about visuals and those who care about what happens in the game. Unfortunately for those who wanted to see an actual plot will have to get disappointed. And PSH fans, before you jump on my throat, I’m still not shitting on your PSH, HB fans, learn to take criticism. PSH’s crying is quite overacted and over the top too because she cries for the smallest reasons. If you remove PSH’s character, the drama would actually be better. When people said that this drama was like Love O2O before it aired, they couldn’t have been more wrong. Zheng Shuang was actually proactive, an intelligent female character who didn’t serve as a prop who cried every now and then. She was an intelligent gamer herself. Pity that Song Jae Jung screwed up in writing female characters.