K-dramas I've finished + pilots
Jan. 17th, 2017 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I have been watching a bunch more K-drama. :D
The only problem with watching K-dramas is that I can't multitask; I have no idea WTF is going on if I'm not reading the subtitles. (That said, it kind of explains why I am sometimes lost with my English-speaking shows; I think I am successfully multitasking when in fact I am only moderately successful.)
Anyway, I finished One Fine Day. It was one of the more maddening shows I've ever seen, even though the two leads were good and I liked the main storyline. What I DIDN'T like, however, far overshadowed those things.
1) They don't actually develop the growing romantic feelings between Gun and Ha-neul that well. You see the flashbacks of them as kids, and you understand that they were close then, but they were little kids. They weren't in love; or at least, that is certainly not what I got from them. As adults, Gun spends most of the first half planning to use his connection to Ha-neul for money, while Ha-neul gets pulled from one disappointment to the next.
2) The series really showed its age with regard to almost everything to do with Ha-neul. She seemed not to be able to make any move on her own. The males in her life, from her would-be rapist stepbrother (who, grossly, ended up being her half-biological brother, which HE KNEW), to her manipulative father, to her would-be boyfriend (the second lead), all were able to (sometimes forcibly) make her do things, and she just had to put up with being pushed around, rather than standing up for herself. The second lead, who was the most decent the most often, STILL managed to come across as a douchebag once, after he told her that what she'd done was wrong (because she had dated him while trying not to have feelings for Gun). Like, what? STFU. You knew she had feelings for Gun; you WANTED her to give you that chance. Other series from around this time period don't seem to be quite this bad, so maybe it was just that Ha-neul was an especially passive heroine, even by K-drama standards.
3) I pretty much hated all the characters other than the two main leads and the second lead. The dude who played Ha-neul's father couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Her mother was a fucking freak, pretending that Ha-neul was Ha-won (her dead daughter). Obviously the rapey stepbrother was an asshole of the highest order, though of course, as predicted, nothing happened to him -- AND SHE KEPT TRYING TO HELP HIM, AFTER THAT. Gun's adopted family were all so annoying and bizarrely righteous about his having feelings for Ha-neul, despite the fact that they AREN'T EVEN BLOOD RELATED.
4) The writing was very uneven. Characters would just do whatever the plot necessitated they do, even if they had a turning point in a previous ep. Suddenly they would be right back to where they were before.
5) I know K-dramas are known for doing the 2-3 year "break" between when the story ends and when the epilogue begins; this was one of the WORST INSTANCES OF THAT EVER. It wasn't an epilogue! The story didn't actually FINISH until after that 3-year break, and it was so dissatisfying and dumb.
6) I now get to the WORST PART of the drama, which I saved for last. And that is the character of Hyo-joo, Gun's adopted sister. They are the ones who actually grew up together, after her father adopted him, except she's in love with him and is super pushy and annoying about it, even though other than in one confusing instance, he's made it clear to her that he views her as a younger sister. Still, he's not THAT firm about it, which I find bothersome, especially when she's at her most annoying. Hyo-joo has a heart condition that she needs surgery for, though for most of the drama she does not behave as if she has any kind of heart problem at all. This is the reason why her father, brother, and Gun all participate in shady activities, so that they can get the money for her surgery. It's also the impetus for his going back to Korea to try and get money off of Ha-neul and her new wealth.
So of COURSE Hyo-joo checks herself out of the hospital in Australia and follows him to Korea, where she creates scenes and gets in the way of his budding relationship with Ha-neul and all that. Eventually, she realizes that Gun has fallen in love with Ha-neul, and in HER ONLY SELFLESS ACT ON THE SHOW, meets with Ha-neul to tell her to never leave Gun, because Ha-neul is the first thing he's ever wanted for himself. And you think, "Finally. This character's arc is complete because she's finally had the character growth we've been waiting for this whole time." Nope. IN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE, she falls ill and ends up hospitalized. She checks herself out, worrying Gun and her whole family, and she tells him that she wants to go back to Australia and walk on the beach with him. Then she implores, "As you've always done, can't you just let me have my way, one more time?" Which, if she were literally going to die because she can't be saved, then that's one thing. BUT ALL SHE NEEDS IS THE SURGERY. THAT'S IT.
Gun's adoptive father then goes to Ha-neul and begs her to leave Gun, because his daughter Hyo-joo is giving up on life due to wanting to be with Gun, who won't leave Ha-neul. So basically, he's asking Ha-neul to give up HER love, in order for spoiled brat Hyo-joo to be able to have him instead, regardless of the fact that Gun doesn't love her in that way. And again, it's not like Hyo-joo ISN'T DOING THIS TO HERSELF!!! Fucking call her bluff! She was constantly threatening to not take her medication, not eat, etc., if she didn't get her way with Gun. It was so fucking immature, manipulative, and annoying!
So because Gun and Ha-neul are both good people, they go on one last date together, and at the end, Gun tells Ha-neul what she already knows, that he has to go away for awhile. And she's like, 10 days? And he says it will probably be a little longer than that.
Then we come to "3 years later," and Gun is still living in Australia with Hyo-joo!!!! And Ha-neul is waiting for him in Seoul!!!!!!!! The show finally ends when we see a healthy, new-hairdoed Hyo-joo walking away, narrating a letter she left for Gun, freeing him to go back to Korea and Ha-neul. I MEAN, SERIOUSLY. She basically got to call the shots for the ENTIRE FUCKING SHOW, and dictate the lives of both of these people! What, so if she never left him, Gun would just live with her in Australia forever?!?! I mean, what?! OMG it was unbelievable.
So yeah. While I really did enjoy all the stepsibling angst and Gong Yoo, I enjoyed almost nothing else. I would really like to find a stepsibling drama that's actually good now.
jade_okelani and I also finished a watch of High School King of Savvy, which is still one of my fave dramas of all time, due almost entirely to how amazing Seo In-guk is in it. <3 Jade liked the overall story of Oh My Ghostess more, but preferred the ending of HSKOS, which manages to have one of the most satisfying endings evar.
In a bid to see which drama we'd watch next, we went through six pilots this weekend. :D We each picked three dramas that interested us, and then we let the Decider Machine determine the order.
1) Master's Sun: I watched the first seven or eight episodes of this when it was airing, and I enjoyed the pilot more than I remembered. Possibly it's because I grew to like So Ji-sub from Oh My Venus, so he didn't bother me at all, and of course I now have the added bonus of totally loving Seo In-guk, who I'd forgotten was even in the drama. What's funny about that is that when I read an old email thread between me andakscully, I actually said a lot of nice things about him, including the fact that I liked his posture (which is really funny, because it was something I noticed about him in HSKOS, too!!) and how I never liked the second leads but I really liked the second lead on the show. LOL. As A. said, my heart knew before my head did! Hahahhaa. We had a good laugh about those emails. The only thing that bothers me about both So Ji-sub and Seo In-guk in this drama is their hairstyles. So boy band, lol. I think it bothered me even then! (Also, it's funny/amazing that SIG played the leader of a security team on this show, then two years later convincingly pulled off being a high schooler in HSKOS.)
2) Shopping King Louis: You'd think the Decider Machine was just me deciding, given that it started with the two SIG shows on the list, lol. I thought the pilot for this was... okay. Not as good as I wanted. SIG is still hot, of course, but ... I don't know if it's his hair coloring or the way it's filmed ... he just seems a little pale/washed out, not as attractive as usual. I'm also a little meh on the female lead right now, and have less than zero interest in who I think is the second male lead.
3) 1% of Something: I really enjoyed this one.adelagia, I remember you saying that you gave this one a shot and you lost interest; I can't remember how many episodes you watched or why, specifically, you weren't into it, but just based on the pilot, I could get into this one.
4) School 2015: So many unanswered questions from the pilot, lol. Is bullying a huge problem in South Korea? Because it seems like every high school drama has some extreme element of it, lol. Anyway, even though I had more questions after watching the pilot than before, I still enjoyed it enough to keep watching for the answers.
5) Boys Over Flowers: If Jade can get through it, I'd love for her to watch this one, just because it's such a seminal part of K-drama lore, lol. Plus she would finally get to experience the joy of Ga-eul/Yi-jeong! There's a lot about it that she'd have to just suck up and take about it, though, which is harder to do in 2017 when there are so many other drama choices out there. Especially since one of those things is the main pairing. :)))
6) Goong: Another seminal show from that time period. I wasn't 100% behind it after I initially saw it (whichadelagia has never let me forget), but it really grew on me, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which I also wasn't all that into the first time I saw it. But my brain kept going back to it, enough that it made me want to watch it again, and the second time I just found it really charming, and I was less hard on it. It's not a perfect drama by any means, but it's a fun, GP drama where I shipped the leads. Sometimes that's all you need. :)) Anyway, it's been YEARS since I saw it, so it's practically new again.
I don't know if it's because we have similar taste, or just really good luck, but we actually both enjoyed all the pilots and were willing to watch all the shows. We did, however, need to decide on one to watch through, so we each picked two from each other's selections, then of that four made the Decider Machine choose the one we should watch. The winner was Goong, so that's what we're on now!
On my own, I've also been watching What's Up Fox?, another show from 2006. It would seem that the leap from 2006 to 2007 was HUGE, because from 2007 onward, dramas all seem a step up in terms of writing, filming, directing, etc. Anyway, I've liked this one more than I thought I would.
Synopsis:
Byung-hee was initially kind of annoying, mostly because she seemed to cry in every scene in the first two episodes, but after that has been really hilarious and charming. Chul-soo also grew on me, though I don't find the actor particularly attractive. The character is sweet and amusing, and I like the relationship he and Byung-hee develop, even though I don't feel like the actors have a ton of sexual chemistry.
The thing I find interesting about the show, too, is that it explores various kinds of relationships, including one between Byung-hee's superficial 25-year-old model sister, who slowly starts to appreciate a 42-year-old man who initially doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. There's also Byung-hee's relationship with her BFF, which gets tried mightily when it's revealed that Byung-hee and Chul-soo have romantic feelings for one another. And there's their mother, a real estate agent who hires a younger man to work with her, and his temperament is the opposite of hers. It's not clear that she's falling in love with him, exactly, but she clearly values his companionship -- yet is unable to accept Byung-hee's desire to be with nine-years-her-junior Chul-soo.
I can't say that the show is good enough to actually recommend, but it has surprised me in a lot of ways, and I've enjoyed watching it. I don't think I'll be bummed when it ends, though.
The only problem with watching K-dramas is that I can't multitask; I have no idea WTF is going on if I'm not reading the subtitles. (That said, it kind of explains why I am sometimes lost with my English-speaking shows; I think I am successfully multitasking when in fact I am only moderately successful.)
Anyway, I finished One Fine Day. It was one of the more maddening shows I've ever seen, even though the two leads were good and I liked the main storyline. What I DIDN'T like, however, far overshadowed those things.
1) They don't actually develop the growing romantic feelings between Gun and Ha-neul that well. You see the flashbacks of them as kids, and you understand that they were close then, but they were little kids. They weren't in love; or at least, that is certainly not what I got from them. As adults, Gun spends most of the first half planning to use his connection to Ha-neul for money, while Ha-neul gets pulled from one disappointment to the next.
2) The series really showed its age with regard to almost everything to do with Ha-neul. She seemed not to be able to make any move on her own. The males in her life, from her would-be rapist stepbrother (who, grossly, ended up being her half-biological brother, which HE KNEW), to her manipulative father, to her would-be boyfriend (the second lead), all were able to (sometimes forcibly) make her do things, and she just had to put up with being pushed around, rather than standing up for herself. The second lead, who was the most decent the most often, STILL managed to come across as a douchebag once, after he told her that what she'd done was wrong (because she had dated him while trying not to have feelings for Gun). Like, what? STFU. You knew she had feelings for Gun; you WANTED her to give you that chance. Other series from around this time period don't seem to be quite this bad, so maybe it was just that Ha-neul was an especially passive heroine, even by K-drama standards.
3) I pretty much hated all the characters other than the two main leads and the second lead. The dude who played Ha-neul's father couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Her mother was a fucking freak, pretending that Ha-neul was Ha-won (her dead daughter). Obviously the rapey stepbrother was an asshole of the highest order, though of course, as predicted, nothing happened to him -- AND SHE KEPT TRYING TO HELP HIM, AFTER THAT. Gun's adopted family were all so annoying and bizarrely righteous about his having feelings for Ha-neul, despite the fact that they AREN'T EVEN BLOOD RELATED.
4) The writing was very uneven. Characters would just do whatever the plot necessitated they do, even if they had a turning point in a previous ep. Suddenly they would be right back to where they were before.
5) I know K-dramas are known for doing the 2-3 year "break" between when the story ends and when the epilogue begins; this was one of the WORST INSTANCES OF THAT EVER. It wasn't an epilogue! The story didn't actually FINISH until after that 3-year break, and it was so dissatisfying and dumb.
6) I now get to the WORST PART of the drama, which I saved for last. And that is the character of Hyo-joo, Gun's adopted sister. They are the ones who actually grew up together, after her father adopted him, except she's in love with him and is super pushy and annoying about it, even though other than in one confusing instance, he's made it clear to her that he views her as a younger sister. Still, he's not THAT firm about it, which I find bothersome, especially when she's at her most annoying. Hyo-joo has a heart condition that she needs surgery for, though for most of the drama she does not behave as if she has any kind of heart problem at all. This is the reason why her father, brother, and Gun all participate in shady activities, so that they can get the money for her surgery. It's also the impetus for his going back to Korea to try and get money off of Ha-neul and her new wealth.
So of COURSE Hyo-joo checks herself out of the hospital in Australia and follows him to Korea, where she creates scenes and gets in the way of his budding relationship with Ha-neul and all that. Eventually, she realizes that Gun has fallen in love with Ha-neul, and in HER ONLY SELFLESS ACT ON THE SHOW, meets with Ha-neul to tell her to never leave Gun, because Ha-neul is the first thing he's ever wanted for himself. And you think, "Finally. This character's arc is complete because she's finally had the character growth we've been waiting for this whole time." Nope. IN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE, she falls ill and ends up hospitalized. She checks herself out, worrying Gun and her whole family, and she tells him that she wants to go back to Australia and walk on the beach with him. Then she implores, "As you've always done, can't you just let me have my way, one more time?" Which, if she were literally going to die because she can't be saved, then that's one thing. BUT ALL SHE NEEDS IS THE SURGERY. THAT'S IT.
Gun's adoptive father then goes to Ha-neul and begs her to leave Gun, because his daughter Hyo-joo is giving up on life due to wanting to be with Gun, who won't leave Ha-neul. So basically, he's asking Ha-neul to give up HER love, in order for spoiled brat Hyo-joo to be able to have him instead, regardless of the fact that Gun doesn't love her in that way. And again, it's not like Hyo-joo ISN'T DOING THIS TO HERSELF!!! Fucking call her bluff! She was constantly threatening to not take her medication, not eat, etc., if she didn't get her way with Gun. It was so fucking immature, manipulative, and annoying!
So because Gun and Ha-neul are both good people, they go on one last date together, and at the end, Gun tells Ha-neul what she already knows, that he has to go away for awhile. And she's like, 10 days? And he says it will probably be a little longer than that.
Then we come to "3 years later," and Gun is still living in Australia with Hyo-joo!!!! And Ha-neul is waiting for him in Seoul!!!!!!!! The show finally ends when we see a healthy, new-hairdoed Hyo-joo walking away, narrating a letter she left for Gun, freeing him to go back to Korea and Ha-neul. I MEAN, SERIOUSLY. She basically got to call the shots for the ENTIRE FUCKING SHOW, and dictate the lives of both of these people! What, so if she never left him, Gun would just live with her in Australia forever?!?! I mean, what?! OMG it was unbelievable.
So yeah. While I really did enjoy all the stepsibling angst and Gong Yoo, I enjoyed almost nothing else. I would really like to find a stepsibling drama that's actually good now.
jade_okelani and I also finished a watch of High School King of Savvy, which is still one of my fave dramas of all time, due almost entirely to how amazing Seo In-guk is in it. <3 Jade liked the overall story of Oh My Ghostess more, but preferred the ending of HSKOS, which manages to have one of the most satisfying endings evar.In a bid to see which drama we'd watch next, we went through six pilots this weekend. :D We each picked three dramas that interested us, and then we let the Decider Machine determine the order.
1) Master's Sun: I watched the first seven or eight episodes of this when it was airing, and I enjoyed the pilot more than I remembered. Possibly it's because I grew to like So Ji-sub from Oh My Venus, so he didn't bother me at all, and of course I now have the added bonus of totally loving Seo In-guk, who I'd forgotten was even in the drama. What's funny about that is that when I read an old email thread between me and
akscully, I actually said a lot of nice things about him, including the fact that I liked his posture (which is really funny, because it was something I noticed about him in HSKOS, too!!) and how I never liked the second leads but I really liked the second lead on the show. LOL. As A. said, my heart knew before my head did! Hahahhaa. We had a good laugh about those emails. The only thing that bothers me about both So Ji-sub and Seo In-guk in this drama is their hairstyles. So boy band, lol. I think it bothered me even then! (Also, it's funny/amazing that SIG played the leader of a security team on this show, then two years later convincingly pulled off being a high schooler in HSKOS.)2) Shopping King Louis: You'd think the Decider Machine was just me deciding, given that it started with the two SIG shows on the list, lol. I thought the pilot for this was... okay. Not as good as I wanted. SIG is still hot, of course, but ... I don't know if it's his hair coloring or the way it's filmed ... he just seems a little pale/washed out, not as attractive as usual. I'm also a little meh on the female lead right now, and have less than zero interest in who I think is the second male lead.
3) 1% of Something: I really enjoyed this one.
adelagia, I remember you saying that you gave this one a shot and you lost interest; I can't remember how many episodes you watched or why, specifically, you weren't into it, but just based on the pilot, I could get into this one.4) School 2015: So many unanswered questions from the pilot, lol. Is bullying a huge problem in South Korea? Because it seems like every high school drama has some extreme element of it, lol. Anyway, even though I had more questions after watching the pilot than before, I still enjoyed it enough to keep watching for the answers.
5) Boys Over Flowers: If Jade can get through it, I'd love for her to watch this one, just because it's such a seminal part of K-drama lore, lol. Plus she would finally get to experience the joy of Ga-eul/Yi-jeong! There's a lot about it that she'd have to just suck up and take about it, though, which is harder to do in 2017 when there are so many other drama choices out there. Especially since one of those things is the main pairing. :)))
6) Goong: Another seminal show from that time period. I wasn't 100% behind it after I initially saw it (which
adelagia has never let me forget), but it really grew on me, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which I also wasn't all that into the first time I saw it. But my brain kept going back to it, enough that it made me want to watch it again, and the second time I just found it really charming, and I was less hard on it. It's not a perfect drama by any means, but it's a fun, GP drama where I shipped the leads. Sometimes that's all you need. :)) Anyway, it's been YEARS since I saw it, so it's practically new again.I don't know if it's because we have similar taste, or just really good luck, but we actually both enjoyed all the pilots and were willing to watch all the shows. We did, however, need to decide on one to watch through, so we each picked two from each other's selections, then of that four made the Decider Machine choose the one we should watch. The winner was Goong, so that's what we're on now!
On my own, I've also been watching What's Up Fox?, another show from 2006. It would seem that the leap from 2006 to 2007 was HUGE, because from 2007 onward, dramas all seem a step up in terms of writing, filming, directing, etc. Anyway, I've liked this one more than I thought I would.
Synopsis:
Go Byung-hee (Go Hyun-jung) is a 33-year-old woman working as a reporter for a third-rate magazine, but with the heart of a 24-year-old virgin girl. She frequently finds it hard to cope with the unexciting aspects of her life. She dreams of someday working for a company that she can be proud of, and of finding the man of her fantasies: someone her age who has a good educational background and is financially stable, who'll provide warm support when she needs it, and who'll go with her on a world tour in a campervan. One day, she gets into an accident with her friend Seung-hye's younger brother, Chul-soo (Chun Jung-myung), and begins to see him in a new light. Park Chul-soo is a 24-year-old high school graduate working as a mechanic at a car repair shop. Although Chul-soo does not seem to have much, he is filled with maturity and enjoys life by doing the things he loves: working as a mechanic and traveling. How many people actually find the love they dream of? Until they realize that true love is just around the corner, this couple continues to pursue this unique romantic relationship of "dating a friend's brother" and "dating my sister's friend."This synopsis leaves out a lot of detail, for no good reason that I can see. The show is surprisingly risque for a K-drama. The "third-rate magazine" that's mentioned is a Penthouse-type publication, and what Byung-hee does for it is WRITE SMUT! She doesn't just have the "heart" of a virgin girl; she IS a virgin. The "accident" she gets into with her BFF's younger brother is that they HAVE SEX! She's drunk and has just been given news that she has a non-cancerous growth in her uterus, so she's all freaked out, while he's harbored a crush on her for a long time. It's amazing that in a K-drama the two leads actually sleep together, and that the female lead is a smut writer. Especially since this is from 2006!
Byung-hee was initially kind of annoying, mostly because she seemed to cry in every scene in the first two episodes, but after that has been really hilarious and charming. Chul-soo also grew on me, though I don't find the actor particularly attractive. The character is sweet and amusing, and I like the relationship he and Byung-hee develop, even though I don't feel like the actors have a ton of sexual chemistry.
The thing I find interesting about the show, too, is that it explores various kinds of relationships, including one between Byung-hee's superficial 25-year-old model sister, who slowly starts to appreciate a 42-year-old man who initially doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. There's also Byung-hee's relationship with her BFF, which gets tried mightily when it's revealed that Byung-hee and Chul-soo have romantic feelings for one another. And there's their mother, a real estate agent who hires a younger man to work with her, and his temperament is the opposite of hers. It's not clear that she's falling in love with him, exactly, but she clearly values his companionship -- yet is unable to accept Byung-hee's desire to be with nine-years-her-junior Chul-soo.
I can't say that the show is good enough to actually recommend, but it has surprised me in a lot of ways, and I've enjoyed watching it. I don't think I'll be bummed when it ends, though.
