marinated crab + more Answer Me 1997
Feb. 1st, 2017 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
Tonight I made ganjang-gejang, raw marinated crab, Korean style. I've had it in restaurants and enjoyed it, and I've even made it once before, but I've never used Maangchi's recipe so I'm giving it a go. I cut my palm on one of the sharp crab shells, but I'll accept it as my due for being a crab killer. :(
I've just finished episode 10 of Answer Me 1997, and I wanted to get some of my thoughts down before I finish the whole thing.
- Men, women, and animals all being in love with SIG makes perfect sense to me.
- I have never found SIG hotter than when he was playing Starcraft. South Korean players are known as the best in the world... even the best players in other countries can't even get onto a South Korean server because they basically get played off immediately.
- I'm not sure why Yoon-jae is considered "cold." Other than being logical, he's not a particularly cold person. He's warm with his friends, and especially Shi-won. Zhi-shu from It Started with a Kiss, now that guy could accurately be described as cold.
- But it does remind me of ISWAK where the hero is tops in his class and good at sports, while the heroine is at the bottom of her class and is all heart and no head. :))
- The whole thing with the puppy was so freaking adorable and ridiculous. Who buys a DOG YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFE for someone as first gesture of love? LOL. Particularly a high school student? That's just giving her PARENTS a dog. Honestly.
I did really, really like that Yoon-jae ended up not giving her the dog, but Shi-won ended up with it anyway, just by finding it on her own, and ON HER OWN, named it Yoon-jae. That actually means way more than Yoon-jae forcing a dog named after himself upon her, lol.
The dog was so, so cute, omg. What was the point of the switcheroo that happened at the end of... I think it was ep 9? Was it so that the little girl would get her real dog back, while Shi-won would get the "real" Yoon-jae back? I wasn't really sure what happened there, or know which puppy was which, but I'll just think that's what happened, because it makes me happy.
- I'm really impressed that they have a gay character on the show. It's literally the first time I've ever seen a gay character on a K-drama, I believe. Asian guys seem way more secure with their masculinity than western guys, particularly as it relates to other guys. They're fine with touching one another casually, sleeping in the same bed, etc. And it's really cute!
- And not just a gay character, but fanfic! Slash fic at that! AHAHAHAHA. This show has it all.
- I love the way Yoon-jae and Shi-won are constantly sharing food and utensils. <33333
- I'm kind of unhappy with the way the romance between them is working out so far, though. Similar to Goong, there is WAY too much /Other, particularly with Shi-won, who by the end of ep 10 doesn't even have an inkling of romantic interest in Yoon-jae yet. I mean, I ASSUME he's the one she's supposed to end up with, but HOW??? Currently it makes zero sense. All he's done is pine (cutely) over her for the entirety of the series, while she's just been obsessed with H.O.T. and is now quasi dating his brother.
- The whole thing with the brother rubs me the wrong way, but it's also slightly better than I feared. One thing is that Tae-woong didn't know Yoon-jae liked her when he told Yoon-jae that he liked Shi-won. Then again, it should have been perfectly obvious, and he should know his brother better. Secondly, Tae-woong was never HER teacher specifically... right? He was the boys' teacher? I don't know/remember. Anyway, if in fact he never was, that's slightly better. The other way I can look past it is because of the fact that they've known each other for far longer than their relationship as teacher at school/student at school. What I can't get over is that he once had her sister, and now he has her -- like, greedy much? Also, are you just trying to substitute one for the other? Bleh. That part, I can't get over.
- I really liked the story of how Shi-won and Yoon-jae's parents met and fell in love... them all being such good friends really makes sense of how comfortable they all are around each other, and why Yoon-jae's parents would treat him like their own son. I actually cried at the end when they took that dual-family photo. :(
- I really, really hate all the band obsession and the stupid fights over the bands. I guess it's because I was never that obsessed with any band -- NKOTB comes the closest -- but I find it super boring, and the immature way Shi-won acts about it makes me dislike her, even though I like her in just about every other way.
- I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the "one couple announces their engagement at the high school reunion" wasn't Shi-won/Yoon-jae. Because this happens 14-15 years after the events of the show! Assuming we get any kind of happy ending for SW/YJ by the end of the past events, why would it have taken them 14-15 freaking years to finally get engaged?
- Instead, Shi-won is at the reunion with her mystery husband, and is even preggers. That makes me happy. <3 If it's Yoon-jae and not Tae-woong. It better be Yoon-jae. Or IMMA CUT A BITCH.
- At this point, I'm not sure what has to happen to make Shi-won believably realize that she likes Yoon-jae. Is it his pulling back more and more, and refusing to put up with her antics anymore? (It was so adorable how brow-beaten he was before.) She doesn't seem to care that other girls (and boys) are interested in him; will it take him actually going out with one of those people? (Though I really hate for him to do that. I've liked that he's turned down every girl who's ever approached him.) I hated seeing Zhi-shu go out with someone he wasn't really interested in, and I'll hate it here, too. Will he get into some terrible accident and nearly die, spurring her to realize what she'd lose? This is the Anne Shirley move. ;) I just don't know how they're going to do it, and whether I'll be into it when they do, or whether I'll just accept it as something that had to happen, because that's the pairing they've been aiming for this whole time, but it isn't that believable or interesting. I GUESS WE'LL SEE.
- I read on Wikipedia that episodes 1-14 were ~30 minutes long, while episodes 15 and 16 were closer to an hour. However, I've noticed that some of the middle episodes are quite long (40-50 min). I know that at some point they released a director's cut... I wonder if the DramaFever version of the show is that director's cut?
- Random question: What was with Shi-won trying to take Yoon-jae's underwear at some point, because he was ranked no. 1 in the school? It's clearly some kind of superstitious thing, but I would like to know more about this practice. :)))
I've just finished episode 10 of Answer Me 1997, and I wanted to get some of my thoughts down before I finish the whole thing.
- Men, women, and animals all being in love with SIG makes perfect sense to me.
- I have never found SIG hotter than when he was playing Starcraft. South Korean players are known as the best in the world... even the best players in other countries can't even get onto a South Korean server because they basically get played off immediately.
- I'm not sure why Yoon-jae is considered "cold." Other than being logical, he's not a particularly cold person. He's warm with his friends, and especially Shi-won. Zhi-shu from It Started with a Kiss, now that guy could accurately be described as cold.
- But it does remind me of ISWAK where the hero is tops in his class and good at sports, while the heroine is at the bottom of her class and is all heart and no head. :))
- The whole thing with the puppy was so freaking adorable and ridiculous. Who buys a DOG YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFE for someone as first gesture of love? LOL. Particularly a high school student? That's just giving her PARENTS a dog. Honestly.
I did really, really like that Yoon-jae ended up not giving her the dog, but Shi-won ended up with it anyway, just by finding it on her own, and ON HER OWN, named it Yoon-jae. That actually means way more than Yoon-jae forcing a dog named after himself upon her, lol.
The dog was so, so cute, omg. What was the point of the switcheroo that happened at the end of... I think it was ep 9? Was it so that the little girl would get her real dog back, while Shi-won would get the "real" Yoon-jae back? I wasn't really sure what happened there, or know which puppy was which, but I'll just think that's what happened, because it makes me happy.
- I'm really impressed that they have a gay character on the show. It's literally the first time I've ever seen a gay character on a K-drama, I believe. Asian guys seem way more secure with their masculinity than western guys, particularly as it relates to other guys. They're fine with touching one another casually, sleeping in the same bed, etc. And it's really cute!
- And not just a gay character, but fanfic! Slash fic at that! AHAHAHAHA. This show has it all.
- I love the way Yoon-jae and Shi-won are constantly sharing food and utensils. <33333
- I'm kind of unhappy with the way the romance between them is working out so far, though. Similar to Goong, there is WAY too much /Other, particularly with Shi-won, who by the end of ep 10 doesn't even have an inkling of romantic interest in Yoon-jae yet. I mean, I ASSUME he's the one she's supposed to end up with, but HOW??? Currently it makes zero sense. All he's done is pine (cutely) over her for the entirety of the series, while she's just been obsessed with H.O.T. and is now quasi dating his brother.
- The whole thing with the brother rubs me the wrong way, but it's also slightly better than I feared. One thing is that Tae-woong didn't know Yoon-jae liked her when he told Yoon-jae that he liked Shi-won. Then again, it should have been perfectly obvious, and he should know his brother better. Secondly, Tae-woong was never HER teacher specifically... right? He was the boys' teacher? I don't know/remember. Anyway, if in fact he never was, that's slightly better. The other way I can look past it is because of the fact that they've known each other for far longer than their relationship as teacher at school/student at school. What I can't get over is that he once had her sister, and now he has her -- like, greedy much? Also, are you just trying to substitute one for the other? Bleh. That part, I can't get over.
- I really liked the story of how Shi-won and Yoon-jae's parents met and fell in love... them all being such good friends really makes sense of how comfortable they all are around each other, and why Yoon-jae's parents would treat him like their own son. I actually cried at the end when they took that dual-family photo. :(
- I really, really hate all the band obsession and the stupid fights over the bands. I guess it's because I was never that obsessed with any band -- NKOTB comes the closest -- but I find it super boring, and the immature way Shi-won acts about it makes me dislike her, even though I like her in just about every other way.
- I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the "one couple announces their engagement at the high school reunion" wasn't Shi-won/Yoon-jae. Because this happens 14-15 years after the events of the show! Assuming we get any kind of happy ending for SW/YJ by the end of the past events, why would it have taken them 14-15 freaking years to finally get engaged?
- Instead, Shi-won is at the reunion with her mystery husband, and is even preggers. That makes me happy. <3 If it's Yoon-jae and not Tae-woong. It better be Yoon-jae. Or IMMA CUT A BITCH.
- At this point, I'm not sure what has to happen to make Shi-won believably realize that she likes Yoon-jae. Is it his pulling back more and more, and refusing to put up with her antics anymore? (It was so adorable how brow-beaten he was before.) She doesn't seem to care that other girls (and boys) are interested in him; will it take him actually going out with one of those people? (Though I really hate for him to do that. I've liked that he's turned down every girl who's ever approached him.) I hated seeing Zhi-shu go out with someone he wasn't really interested in, and I'll hate it here, too. Will he get into some terrible accident and nearly die, spurring her to realize what she'd lose? This is the Anne Shirley move. ;) I just don't know how they're going to do it, and whether I'll be into it when they do, or whether I'll just accept it as something that had to happen, because that's the pairing they've been aiming for this whole time, but it isn't that believable or interesting. I GUESS WE'LL SEE.
- I read on Wikipedia that episodes 1-14 were ~30 minutes long, while episodes 15 and 16 were closer to an hour. However, I've noticed that some of the middle episodes are quite long (40-50 min). I know that at some point they released a director's cut... I wonder if the DramaFever version of the show is that director's cut?
- Random question: What was with Shi-won trying to take Yoon-jae's underwear at some point, because he was ranked no. 1 in the school? It's clearly some kind of superstitious thing, but I would like to know more about this practice. :)))
