Congrats!!! 🥳
Although, I hope you’re ready for the arduous journey ahead of the Errand Boy (Girl/Person) 💪🏻💪🏻
Many of us have already been where you are now, so don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions!! I promise, we don’t bite 🥰😘
Black Out OR The Village That Sent To Prison The Only Person Who Didn’t Commit a Crime
I confess… I might have read the original Schneewittchen muss sterben a long while back. I don’t remember any of it.
Secondary Voice
I was about to say again that my memory is like a gruyère. But, it turns out that what I was calling gruyère is a flipping emmental.
Third Voice
Whatever the cheese, it’s meant to be eaten… That would probably explain why I had no recollection of the crime novel despite finding the book in its original German version at the back of my bookshelf.
Fourth Voice
Perhaps this is a blackout, and I am about to be arrested for all the crimes my neighbours have committed and pinned on me? It wouldn’t be surprising. The lady next door looks shifty AF.
Anyway… Back to Jung-woo.
So, I have some thoughts. When I say thoughts, I mean mildly passionate rants. When I say some… I’m not too sure how many I mean (and how many of those will make it past my innate laziness and make their way onto the screen).
DON’T TRUST ANYONE
I really liked the fact that you very rapidly discover that you can’t trust anyone from the village. I will make an exception for Sim Dong-min (Bo-yeong’s dad, and if I remember to actually explain why, I might even provide an explanation).
From the few first scenes when Jeong-woo comes out of prison, fake friend turned very real stalker Na-kyeom is the first to raise a whole bunch of red flags.
Seconday Voice
There are good and loyal friends… and then there’s Na-kyeom who already looks all shades of insane devotion from the start.
Third Voice
My general impression of adult Na-kyeom from the first 2 episodes:
I can’t say the rest of the episodes have particularly changed my impression.
So, while I was glad that Jung-woo wasn’t on his own, I didn’t want to trust her. Well done me; she’s proven to be completely deranged as the show progressed. Go Bo-gyeol has truly mastered the art of shifty sweetness. She’s been sending so many subtly suspicious vibes long before we finally knew why we couldn’t trust her character.
But the more we got to see, the more we knew we couldn’t really trust what anybody said in that village.
But there are precisely 3 exceptions in my eyes:
Transferred cop Noh Sang-cheol
Medical student/temporary restaurant aid Ha Seol
Dong-min
By exceptions, I don’t mean that I would trust their judgements on the situation. One walks around preaching that every criminal should be treated like a spawn of Satan, one doesn’t know anything but is still willing to jump on all the gossip stories, and the last one has been taking his grief and anger onto Jung-woo’s family ever since. As judgements go, those are pretty lousy.
But I certainly trust that they didn’t have anything to do with the murders and that they don’t know anything about them either. So, as such, these are the only characters who don’t seem to hide any truth from the start.
SOMEONE TURN THAT WAREHOUSE INTO AN AIRBNB RENTAL
Just imagine how much money Jung-woo’s family would have made!
The warehouse is the main crime scene. Not entirely in the case of Bo-yeong, because she is at the receiving end of multiple criminal offences and the one that ends her life takes place in a car boot. But still, the crime that gets her in the boot in the first place happens in the warehouse.
Secondary Voice
See how tactful I am here? That’s not tact. I’m not spelling out the crime in case that specific word is forbidden territory when posting on here.
Da-eun got wrenched in the warehouse by Professor Park. In all good Cluedo game fashion, though, Professor Park still holds most of the cards, including the murder weapon, courtesy of Na-kyeom (who is not just a sweet psycho but also an astute blackmailer)
For Cluedo fans, here’s a young Tim Curry teaching you how to solve a murder.
Anyway, everyone has been using that warehouse to do their little business, whether it is sex or death.
Secondary Voice
In true Eddie Izzard’s fashion, this should be the new motto for Church of England: Sex or Death?
Third Voice
Someone’s been misreading the Church of England pamphlets again. It’s not AND, it’s OR. Bunch of illiterate, those villagers.
Interestingly enough, it turns out that the Church of England launched all its sex and death marketing campaigns on the same night.
Secondary Voice
Kids, don’t drink like Jung-woo. You’ll end up missing all the fun.
Yet, eleven years later, I note that there still was not a single church of England in there. They don’t seem to run that strategy anymore, though, so let’s hope they found a more impactful way to talk about the body of Christ without cultivating corpses all over the place. Not that I care, I’m not religious myself. I just don’t think that the sex or death is really going to catch on.
Nevertheless, if Mama and Papa Jung-woo had set up a rental service to manage their warehouse, they would have been able to resolve those murders way sooner!
Also, they’d have been even richer, given that it seems to be everybody’s favourite random spot for suspicious activities.
Got a suicide party planned? Dial 1-800-warehouse to book. Free rope included.
Need to sexually assault a schoolgirl? 1-800-warehouse, press 2 for more options.
Looking to cheat on your wife and murder your mistress? No problem, our team is here to help at 1-800-warehouse.
BLAME: DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT
This section will be a series of completely inaccurate lines said by the different characters. I didn’t write those lines down, but if memory serves, the general idea should be vaguely correct.
Seconday Voice
Did I, emmental memory girl, just say “if memory serves”?
Third Voice
Don’t trust anything I write here. I might be inventing half of those and not even notice.
***
Dong-min pushing Jung Geum-hee (Jung-woo’s mum) off the overpass: “It’s all your fault that your murderer child is out and alive and mine is dead.”
Dong-min, aiming a gun at Jung-woo, the alleged murderer of his daughter and NOT shooting.
Now, that’s interesting, because we see later on that he doesn’t hesitate to shoot to avenge his daughter. But he doesn’t shoot Jung-woo.
Was Dong-min somehow, in the back of his alcohol-soaked brain, still not 100% convinced that Jung-woo was the murderer?
Secondary Voice
But he still threw Geum-hee off the overpass for lols?
Third Voice
Dong-min, that isn’t what people mean when they say to cover all your bases.
***
*
***
Jae-hee (Dong-min’s wife) to King of Crooked Cop Gu-tak: “We killed Bo-yeong.”
Ahem… Jae-hee, let me explain it to you briefly, girl.
On the one hand, you have an affair with Gu-tak.
On the other hand, Bo-yeong gets assaulted by school friends before the parent of one of those friends explodes her skull with a shovel.
See the logical connection here?
No, me neither.
Secondary Voice
Logic games are not Jae-hee’s forte. She probably sucks in escape rooms.
Third Voice
Stop being an overdramatic git, Jae-hee.
***
*
***
Min-su blaming Byeong-mo for assaulting Bo-yeong: “I tried to stop him.”
Secondary Voice
The hell you did
“He made me do it”
Secondary Voice
Do you mean he forcibly gave you an erection, overpowered you and then shoved said erection into Bo-yeong? Because unless this is exactly what happened, he did not make you do it.
***
*
***
Geon-oh (one of the twins sent to the US) in his suicide letter left to Gu-tak: “This is your fault I die”
I don’t want to clean Gu-tak of his many faults and crimes. But this one is not entirely on him. Geon-oh is shown to be autonomous. In fact, he is autonomous enough to have lived in the States for 11 years. You’d think he’s probably physically and mentally able to reach out to a police station to explain the situation.
But Gu-tak is abusive and manipulative towards him when he tries to go and confess. Sure. He’s the only one with the brain cells in the family, so it’s easy to be abusive. Geon-oh doesn’t seem to have found one phone or email to get in touch with the SK police during the 11 years he spent in the US. He could have reached out to the authorities one level above Muncheon City to get the case reopened or at least voice out his concerns.
Secondary Voice
Here’s a man who doesn’t know about modern technology.
Third Voice
No wonder it took him 11 years to come back; he probably tried to build a raft and sail by himself.
Geon-oh, there were other ways… You didn’t even try to explore any of them, you silly twat.
***
*
***
Kim Hee-do somehow implying that Gu-tak manipulated him into concluding the investigation with Jung-woo as the main culprit:
Secondary Voice
Hee-do, I’m going to hold your hand when I say that: Your investigation sucked so much, Gu-tak didn’t even need to do anything.
[MORE IN COMMENTS]
Hee-do has been single-IQ-digiting his way through life and the police force for at least the past 11 years, hanging onto his wrong conclusion like a drowning man onto a brick.
***
THE LOCAL AUTISTIC CRIME FANATIC
There are two people who know almost exactly what happened 11 years ago. One of those is Hyun Su-oh, Gu-tak’s son and Geon-oh’s twin brother.
The other one is Na-kyeom, who seemed to have a talent for crime management services on top of being creepily sweet.
Su-oh sat not just through one crime at the warehouse, but two, the same night. I can’t say I’m surprised he prefers to spend his time in the greenhouse now. It may not be entirely corpse-free, but there’s definitely a lot less going on.
How fast would things have been resolved if someone had paid a little more attention to Su-oh? Mind you, it’s not that nobody is paying attention to him. They’re just using his drawings as an easy blackmailing device, threatening each other with a piece of drawing.
“Su-oh drew you there”
“Uno Reverse: Su-oh drew YOU there too.”
But what I find somehow endearing about Su-oh is his corpse book club. If you’re new to it, it’s fairly easy to set your own club up:
Find a corpse (or make one; every crime dream comes true in Muncheon City
Keep your corpse safe in a cold space
Read books together
Secondary Voice
Sounds pretty fun to me, especially the implied bit that you don’t necessarily need to have a pretend-smart debate about the book when you’re done.
Third Voice
Corpses aren’t renowned for their opinions on books.
I’d also like to know what Su-oh’s mum thought she was doing when she built him a secret basement.
“Here, son, for all your future corpse needs.”
But, perhaps, the most moving part of Su-oh’s arc is that he ends up under Geum-hee’s care once the case is concluded. Geum-hee, as we are shown, runs a restaurant. And we all know what that means: A fancy cold room! Perfect for fresh and less fresh meat conservation. So, I’m really pleased that Su-oh has everything he needs to start a new corpse book club. It’s nice to have hobbies.
SANG-CHEOL, THE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DETECTIVE
Sang-cheol is one character who needs a lot of time to warm up and move past his prejudiced mindset…. But that is probably part of the fun because otherwise, they would have solved the whole case in an episode. So, I’m giving him the benefit of the narrative. He needs to be a prejudiced dickhead because plot.
However, there are some truly beautiful little scenes once Sang-Cheol remembers that he doesn’t need to be a dick to Jung-woo 24/7.
[ALMOST DONE]
For a start, he is someone who doesn’t trust anyone, and that includes the rest of the policeforce. He questions and challenges literally everyone. In a way, it’s surprising he doesn’t come to the conclusion the initial investigation was flawed sooner.
Secondary Voice
Cecee, stop messing with the plot.
My favourite moment, perhaps, is when Sang-cheol decides to take Jung-woo to a safe place before telling him that Geon-oh is dead.
Secondary Voice
Here’s the glimpse of emotional intelligence we were all waiting for.
The next thing you know, Sang-cheol is cooking ramyeon and sharing his murder board with Jung-woo.
Secondary Voice
Sorry, your friend’s dead. Don’t be sad, though; you’ve got more friends who are dead. Check my murder mood board.
Third Voice
Here lies the EQ glimpse.
Fourth Voice
Also murder board and ramyeon, those are really mixed messages, Sang-cheol!
It really felt like the 3 “kids” came into fame without any support system.
Are they all dead? I thought Bridges/Willis Jackson was still alive? Not sure though 🤷🏻♀️
Reminds me, just today I saw a short with some Tuber who build her cat an outside … a big cage, after finding out that all those little dots on her window was from that cat pressing her little nose longingly against the window all day while the owner was away at work and other animals were outside.
(I once knew a woman who had her whole garnde enclosed with chicken wire so that her seven breeder cats could play outside. They were Assyrian and Somalian. Since there is allergies in my family, I’ll probably never get a cat, but if I could, I dream of having an Assyrian. I love cats, but the Assyrian cats I have met are the most beautiful and loving ones . 😍😍😍😻😻😻).
Sorry! I mean Abyssinian! Those shorthaired, lioness-coloured, sphinx-slim, sliding-into-your-DMs “Hello, I will be your cape for tonight” cats.
… Cape for tonight because the first Abyssinian I met after asking for consent (Paws on my lap … is this okay – yes. Paws on my shoulders, carressing head to head … is this okay? Yes. ) … climbed onto my shoulders and found a position like it was an inflatable airtravelpillow around the back and sides of my neck and stayed there for some hours.
I briefly needed to scroll back to what I said. We’ve built a similar big chicken-wired cage with climbing and lounging bits for the same reason! Only accessible via a window, which means I and my non-existent fluff freeze throughout the winter while Hector (and his same-age brother Albert) enjoy a casual game of pigeon-watching in their little catio (like a patio but for meows)
Abyssinian cats are gorgeous! I’ve got standard black and white British shorthair cats, except they are taller than I expected. (Hector is a full meter long if you include the tail, which helps him to be anywhere and everywhere at the same time)
Oh, I so want my very own fluffable air travel pillow-cat (is this a pilmeow?) Did you not get some neck pain in the end?
We all came here with different life experiences, and I am always amazed by my fellow beanies’ knowledge and wisdom, from whom I’ve learnt so much, and in whom I’ve found kindred souls and drama buddies, who accepted me and loved me for who I am. I know I’m lacking in many things and I am always willing to change when the chance comes. Despite the differences in background and life experiences, I believe in the end, kindness is what matters the most. You are a kind person, Cecee ❤️
Thank you Cecee for you and all your voices. I have always enjoyed reading your views and hope to continue to do so. I cannot express it any better than Claire. Just like you have always been – be strong, be brave – and know that you are not alone. ❤ Hwaiting!!
1/4
You are a kind person…
This is funny, I don’t even know why I find it so triggering. First of all, thank you. This is appreciated. Can you believe how nice it feels to hear/read it? Probably not. You might imagine it, but it’s a lot more than you think.
But at the same time, one of my other voices rebels against it. I’ve always been a kind person. If anything, I’ve never stopped being kind. I’ve also never stopped being me. And that is precisely where the problem is.
I don’t even know which of the voices is talking today. All of them. They’re all feeling at the same time and they are exhausting me today. They are tearing me apart in all directions and frankly, I wish they’d take a little break for a while. They don’t, obviously, for the voices are bitches.
By the way, I call them the voices. This isn’t schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder. It’s always me, all of me(s), all the thoughts that come and fight to be on top of all the other ones, always at the same time. Because thoughts do not wait in line politely. Thoughts are the antichrist of the British queue. And down they go, each opening a new drawer in the infinite chest of drawers of my consciousness. I may be used to the noise, but today I’d like some peace.
Should I apologise to indy? I wondered. But at the same time, I felt immediately under attack. I share which dramas I’m watching and why, and this must have been triggering for her because she immediately loaded the bazooka. And the thing is that it was mindless. There was no mindful interaction with anything written because mindless is exactly what it was: a kneejerk reaction that is done without justification or care for the consequences. It was as if my liking the drama was a good enough reason for a passive aggressive attack.
Did I call her response mindless screaming? I did. She did mention screaming in one comment and it felt accurate. From where I sat, it was exactly that. I say I like something, just like other Beanies in the thread before, I share my highs and lows, and then out of the blue someone pops out of nowhere and cyber screams at me. I even tried to calm things down a little by asking her not to put words into my mouth that I hadn’t said. But she was dead set on forcing the words and perhaps all the insults she might have heard in her offline life from others into my mouth… and nope. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be blamed for that.
Do you know why? Well obviously because those aren’t my problems.
Also because it is tiring. It’s exhausting to have to constantly defend yourself when people have decided to misinterpret what you say or to take your thoughts like a personal attack against them.
It probably sounds like I’m whining or waving any excuse to play the victim. Maybe it would have been a lot easier not to answer and stay off DB. Initially, this is what I wanted to do. But I kept stupidly coming back and checking, hoping that someone would understand me, would hear me.
2/4
The hardest thing about being neurodivergent is that you don’t have a voice of your own that people truly hear. Perhaps that’s why I call all my thoughts the voices, in an effort to give myself at least one voice. This is stupid.
This is not self-pity. I’m not playing my imaginary violin to move the cyber crowds. Why should the cyber crowds care anyway? Because as you say, you’ve found people who have accepted you for who you are. I somehow convinced myself that I had. Not accepted necessarily. It’s not like I’m a walking red flag who can only bloom when she’s touched by love. What is in me that would be so unacceptable? Apart from my fucking brain that cannot, despite all my efforts and all those excruciatingly painful years of faking normalness, see the norm. What is the norm anyway? I don’t know precisely, but I can define them by its absence in my life. The norm is where the majority of thinkers converge. It is a subtle understanding that others share. Norms are what every scriptwriter refers to when they create a character who can read people’s minds just by observing their body language, for example. They’re just stating the commonly accepted norm. The scriptwriter writes that the FL crosses her arms to express her disapproval, and the viewers know exactly what is going on. But if you don’t relate to those norms, you can see a million other reasons for crossing her arms. She might be cold. She might be lost in thoughts. She might feel overwhelmed because her environment is too loud and she’s trying to self-hug. She might feel self-conscious because she thinks she looks fat in that top. She might be trying to hide a coffee stain she’s got on her blouse. This might be her comfortable resting position. She might find her arms heavy when they hang loose. All those would be acceptable reasons to me. This is my normal, and I find that my normal is not part of the accepted norm. Is it less valid? Well, I guess in the great scheme of things, we have to think democratically. We can’t constantly listen to the minorities, right? So, of course, my normal is less valid. I’m outnumbered. My 99 possible norms are the problem because they diverge from the one majority norm.
I’m pitiful when I put it like that. Not that I want to be pitiful. I’m still not playing my imaginary violin. What’s the point of playing it? It’ll only sound fake. You only play the violin if you know there’s someone who relates enough to be moved by your music. Otherwise, you just shut the fuck up and carry on. Carry on trying to explain yourself and your perception, and how you are not lying about what you saw and felt. But this is ironic. The more I explain sincerely, the less people believe me.
When I said “accepted me”, I was only talking about myself. It’s like when you enter a forum about Math, you should at least be good at Math, right? If you enter that forum purely out of your passion for Math without a sufficient background on Math, to be able to communicate with you, your team-mates would have to be more patient, and give you time to catch up with them. I’m not saying that anyone doing anyone else a favor here, but when your team-mates keep coming back to chat with you and lead you into interesting (Math) games, it means they appreciate you for who you are. I should have used appreciate instead of accept, but that was just another time I wasn’t good with words, nothing surprising here (it’s just a fact, I don’t want to be pitiful either).
So I see myself on DB like that. And I would have remained a lurker if not for those who heard me, understood me and encouraged me to voice my thoughts.
3/4
The more I try to share the full depth of the consciousness drawers, the more people assume I’m making up excuses or playing the pity card. You may also believe so, and I realise that the more I try to show you otherwise, the more it’s going to play against me. Am I fooling myself? Am I so deep into my chest of drawers-thoughts that I don’t even realise I’m the absolute opposite of a kind person and that you told me I was kind to bring me back to the right path? Am I that? I don’t see it. But maybe my brain is the arsehole and I’m the only one who doesn’t know.
In one of those times I came back to DB (how vain, Cecee, why did you check back? Did you expect a white knight to stand up for you, you pathetic git?), I spotted Indy’s post on her wall. It reminded me of that time I was working in an agency and all my coworkers were only communicating with me by email. I was sitting in the same room as them, literally at the desk directly next to them, but they never talked to me. They just sent emails with various questions and tasks. I complained about it in my one-to-one. I explained it made me feel isolated and excluded from the group. But I was told I was imagining things. And perhaps i was. So, the next time a coworker sent an email asking what the latest trends in the industry were, I replied with an email too: I listed a few informative articles for her to read about those trends and a few case studies to show how said trends were being applied in areas that were relevant to her. She stood up and ran dramatically to the toilet, leaving behind her a trail of 200db sobs. She complained that she felt hurt by me not talking directly to her, and then HR blamed me for it. My email was, as far as I could tell, friendly, polite, and extremely helpful. I was actually convinced that I had done a good job. I’ll never know why my complaints were ignored while hers was heard. But I suspect it’s got something to do with whoever can hurt the loudest. Somehow, the post made me think of that girl sobbing loudly in the toilet after receiving a list of carefully curated articles. I made the mistake of not being loud enough. For some reason, they assumed that me being quiet meant that 1) I didn’t hurt (despite having mentioned it) and 2) I was to blame.
Should I apologise to Indy? I really don’t want to. I didn’t want to hurt her, though. But I didn’t want to be bazooka’d and villified for no fucking good reason. I still don’t want that. And yet, I never get what I want. I don’t get to be heard either. I wasn’t the first one to cry loudly. I didn’t learn anything from that time at the agency. I’m always the quiet one who doesn’t realise that something is going wrong until it’s too late. I’m always the anti-norm, and believe me, I try. I try all the time not to be that. And whatever I do, things end up still a little fucked up.
I think highly of both you and Indy. Both of you have made DB a more amazing place because of your insight and wisdom. I’m sad to see things turn out this way. My selfish self would keep wanting to read your thoughts about shows, but my rational self hopes both of you are at peace wherever you are. Do what you see fit, I trust you.
4/4
Why the hell am I overreacting? Calm your tits, Cecee, this is just a few online comments on a K-drama portal. But even though I keep telling myself that, I still don’t believe it. It’s another time where I’m not heard. It’s another time where I felt attacked first and I didn’t understand why, but everybody else seemed to understand and agree with the attack.
I’ve got all those voices, and nobody really gives a shit about hearing them because, no matter how entertaining they might be, they don’t speak words that seem worthy to listen to. I’ve got all those voices and today, they are screaming non stop and they feel scared, and alone, and beaten, and rebellious. One part of me was always looking forward to coming to DB, reading and sharing whenever I had the time. One part of me genuinely thought of DB as a great big world of chingus because it felt safe. Another part of me is laughing at the naivety of it all. Cecee, what the hell were you thinking? Why are you overreacting like an imbecile? The other part of me replies “because I am an imbecile”. And the many thoughts continue to fight in my head. And I just sit here and cry like an idiot. And I hate myself for it. And I hate that I initially wanted to explain my perception because it just made me sick to not be able to explain myself… but I also hate that I couldn’t let go of it. Somehow, I hate I have to do all that just to ease the cramps in my stomach. I also fear that I have ruined my safe place. I wanted just one person to see my side, but is it even possible? Besides, is my side actually worth seeing or caring about? Is there even a side? Am I making a mountain out of nothing? But it’s not the nothingness of it that matters. It’s the fact that it’s another nothing to add to the list of nothings where it feels nobody hears what I say, but only what they want to hear.
I’m tired of explaining. I’m not even sure it makes sense to anyone else. It does to me, but just because it does, does it make it understandable and worth sharing?
Part of me is absolutely terrified posting this because how will people react? Will they hate me for it? Will they just think I’m making it up? How can they know how sincere I am when all you see is my words on screen? Will they care? Should they care? But I wanted to empty those drawers so I can put more thoughts in my chest of consciousness. There are overwhelming unpleasant thoughts at the moment.
I want to keep my voices to myself for now. This is too tiring.
It makes sense to me and I appreciate you sharing it. I admit I was waiting for it.
I’m not neurodivergent. But being the youngest in the family and with a not very bright mind, I had the whole youth having my opinions not really appreciated by my family, and even friends. My family love me, and they wanted me to get good grades and get into a good college, like the expectation of the kids by the parents in “Midnight romance in hagwon”. Getting good grades was all I needed to do, but unfortunately I wasn’t really good at that tbh. And because I wasn’t very good, I made peace with the fact that my opinions didn’t really matter. I guess it took me longer than many of my friends to let go of the insecurities to get to where I am now. Again, nothing grand, but at least I now know my place in the web of all the relationships I have in life. And (no preaching here, I’m just talking about myself) that’s why I often talk about how I’m willing to learn and to change, because I know I’m still uninformed in so many things, and I never refuse a chance to change that. But at the end of the day, I always think this is who I am at this point in time, I can’t offer anyone anything I don’t have at the moment, so don’t expect more from me, you may not love me, but don’t judge me or call me by a wrong name. That’s my thought, and that’s (I think) why I used the word accept.
There is so much in the word accept. There is the hope that you (this is a generic you by the way) are heard. There is the desire to fit in among a group of peers you value. There is the need to be seen as an equally valued individual (as much as you value them). There is the dream to be liked, or as you put it, appreciated, because who doesn’t want a little bit of love (whether platonic, intellectual, or whatever, there are so many types and we don’t need to get naked for most of them; also I’m cold, I want to keep my clothes on). There’s the demand to matter as much as others. There’s the cry to be allowed to be truly yourself without shame or mask, to come as you are like in the Nirvana song. So I sit right here with you, hoping to have all those boxes ticked all at once.
I didn’t know I was ND for a long time. I just thought I was broken. Now, obviously, I know that the “being broken” comes with a fairly useless diagnosis. it’s like explaining why I’ve always been working so hard and failing every single time at fitting in, but at the same time making sure I know that there’s nothing to be done because I’ll just continue failing at it. I didn’t even get a glittery sticker for it! But I can relate to what you say. I wasn’t heard for different reasons. And this is so frustrating because you feel like you have to do something to deserve being heard. I absolutely hate to admit it but I think I too constantly need to improve… It just takes me forever to spot the things I need to change… and it’s so so sooooooo tiring to make it better. But I like your thought. “this is who I am at the point in time”. I like it. I like that it also implies somehow that the greatest part of accepting comes from within. And frankly… just how? how do you do it? how do you even begin to walk on that path and embrace the thought that perhaps, right now, it’s still okay to be who I am and that welcoming a chance to change is not the same as hating myself who not being perfect…?
I’m going to figuratively dive into the pink BTS area and go “come be my teacher”
I might also die my hair grey to look like the halmoeni I sometimes sound like…
There is so much in the word accept. There is the hope that you (this is a generic you by the way) are heard. There is the desire to fit in among a group of peers you value. There is the need to be seen as an equally valued individual (as much as you value them). There is the dream to be liked, or as you put it, appreciated, because who doesn’t want a little bit of love (whether platonic, intellectual, or whatever, there are so many types and we don’t need to get naked for most of them; also I’m cold, I want to keep my clothes on). There’s the demand to matter as much as others. There’s the cry to be allowed to be truly yourself without shame or mask, to come as you are
You’ve explained that word so beautifully, which I couldn’t. I guess it was somewhere in the back of my mind that wasn’t clearly forming a shape.
how? how do you do it?
I can’t claim to be an expert in this because I’m not, but I’m still sharing with your my experience. I’m truly blessed to be surrounded by people who love me and care about me. My perspectives are often different from theirs, but they are all good and honest people, my family, my friends, my colleagues. I can’t really tell at which point I started to stop hating myself, probably a little bit when I stopped regretting failures in the past (because if not for them, how could I have learnt to be humble and empathetic – that was my rationale), a little bit when I stopped dwelling on humiliation in the past (when I came to learn that when someone is rude to me, they reveal who they are rather than who I am), a good deal when I realised my kids love me unconditionally, a little bit when I realised I can make others smile and I can contribute. And if I have to pick a turning point, it must be when I came to think that I didn’t need others to understand me anymore, as long as I understand myself. This probably sounds impractical and cliché, but people can agree to disagree, they just need to do it in a civil way. Love and good relationships are rare and precious, and I hold onto those. Other than that, I choose to back off, I avoid confrontation when I can. Others can think of me as resigned and cowardly, that’s ok, because I don’t think it’s cowardly, and resigned is not a bad thing. I mentioned kindness, because I believe if kindness underlies everything, then all is good.
Dear Cecee, forgive me for being so late. You had been so kind to me last year as a new-ish beanie, yet I couldn’t get back to you sooner. First of all, I believe you. And I believe I am not alone, WE believe you! We believe in your right to freely express yourself here – all your opinions and emotions. And I believed in that right when you aired that opinion that day. I also believed in your right to defend your opinion. And while shock and emotional turmoil at the unexpected challenge you received might have led you to make a knee-jerk reaction, that reaction was human. Few words may have failed you, but we believed in your spirit. WE believe in the Cecee spirit! Your spirit reassures us that it is OKAY to have conflicting emotions about drama or life itself, and that it is okay to give all our different voices a space at the same time, that having multiple voices doesn’t make what we say less valid, it makes us more human.
Forgive me if I seem not be understanding what those voices mean to you (I think I will never be able to fully do that). Your voices seem beautiful to me, but it seems they also cause you a lot of pain and confusion. I am sorry that they did so this time. I am sorry for leaving you alone with them. But believe me, WE look forward to having those voices back in the same spirit that we have been used to for so long 🥳. We say this with understanding (whatever little we have) and belief for your voices! Thank you for sharing your emotions! They are as important to us as any other human emotions on this diverse wall are ❤❤❤
Cecee, I care about you, that’s why I commented. I understand you (call me arrogant, but I do), that’s why I said you are a kind person. I said that because a kind person never means harm to anyone. I love to read your thoughts about the shows, because they are abstract, they discuss ideas, they don’t discuss people.
I said you are kind because that what I think about you. By no means did I mean to bring you back to the right path, because you don’t need that, and who am I to do that to anyone? I said that to let you know that you were heard and were understood. Nothing grand here because I’m just another beanie who isn’t even eloquent enough to fully express what she thinks, but even if it doesn’t mean much, I wanted to say I heard you and understood you.
Ceecee, I read every word that you typed and I appreciate your honesty and point of view. I hear you!
I wish my thoughts were as clear and eloquent as yours. Most of the time, I don’t understand my own thoughts or actions.
I’m not equipped with the ability to take away your pain and stress. I wish I could.
I love the Ceecee kdrama rants and I can’t wait to see those again.
Best regards from Your biggest fan
DB-sunbaenim @attiton: I’ve finished On the Verge of Insanity and it’s been so much fun (including a creative rage pork belly strangulation)
This is my reminder to write about it at some point!
Fabulastic rants are going unnoticed and it fills me with sadness on their behalf. Those baby rants came into the world full of dreams & hopes. Don’t break their little ranty hearts.
If you’re talking about your own rant, it was pushed off of the Beanies page less than an hour from the time of your posting and was pushed off the entire first page of the Fan Wall within six hours.
It is harder these days for folks to see any individual Fan Wall post, and most posts (not all) don’t engender much interactive conversation beyond agreement with the OP. It’s a different world, becoming much more like tumblr in both look and feel.
How? What? Where do you get all those statistics, Db-sunbaenim?
Tagging helps, but I also feel that for some people, it might get overwhelming to be tagged on everything that’s ever posted by all beanies. We’ve all got feathery nephews and nieces to watch, so there’s only so much attention span we can give! So I steer clear of tagging as much as possible unless it makes sense to.
I know, I sometimes have to scroll back through all the posts to catch up (and if I don’t do it, it’s lost forever) I still live in my imaginary world of engagement, but seriously it does take time to get one and watch enough so I get something vaguely intelligent to say. By the way, I haven’t forgotten that software engineer K-drama! Just need to get to it now
I just looked at your timestamp and counted :). There are three Fan Wall posts at a time on the Beanies page and around 20 on the first page of the Fan Wall itself. Always in descending chronological order.
I don’t think tagging necessarily helps, although Cecilie would be the bellwether there.I directly check people’s individual Fan Walls sometimes to make sure I didn’t miss something. Also, sometimes folks aren’t in the mood or don’t swing by on certain dates because they know that a particular show will have taken over. Also there are times of day when the sun is over one of the oceans and folks don’t check much too…
On the Verge of Insanity will be there when you need it…no rush on my part. Feel free to tag me if you like, but I’ll almost certainly see your post on my own 😉
I agree with Seon-ha that there have been so many fan wall posts lately that individual ones are getting less attention. It’s disappointing when we’ve put a lot of time into the post, but for now I’m still enjoying the process of creation. And I do love all the creativity and insight from fellow beanies. But I get where you’re coming from.
And now, please allow me to elaborate on my deleted comment to your recent post…
When I starting reading this post the other day, I had been scrolling the beanie fan wall feed. Coincidentally, the post immediately above yours had created the very reaction you were talking about in the first few lines of your post, which caused me to laugh even harder at both posts and myself. I too work from home and many days it’s the beanie fan wall feed that keeps me going.
I’m also one of those people who has windows open all the time (even in winter), so my loud cackling is no doubt now known throughout my neighborhood as I’m not the only one who works from home and our houses are pretty close together and we’re often out walking as well, and … phew! LOL.
Also at said moment, I was distracted by something and left my desk. When I came back to my computer, I needed to get back to work and decided to delete my comment rather than providing this lengthy explanation of my reaction to the beginning of your post. Also, I didn’t want you to feel like I only liked your post because I was laughing about the previous one.
You see where I’m going with this, right?! 😂😂😂
I really enjoy your multi-voiced rants and will be sure to comment more thoroughly with the next one 🤗
Awwww sharing the manic cackle with the neighbours! I have a similar issue: we’ve built a giant enclosure for the cats so they can go outside without killing the wildlife or getting run over. The only problem is that they can only get into their catio (patio for cats) through my office window, so said window is open most of the day all days. I share my cackle too. 🤣 I also freeze to almost death because I am not equipped with the same fluffiness as my cats
Psychopathic musing from a sleepy head… and why everybody should think about psychopaths when they’re at work
No, seriously, don’t think about them when you’re at work.
Secondary Voice
Except if, like me, you work alone from home and are free to cackle away like a mad person.
Third Voice
*laughs and coughs and laughs some more and coughs some more in good old Psychopath Diary way*
Or maybe, seriously, do think about psychopaths because perhaps they don’t get half the love they clearly deserve crave. Who knows? I’m not a psychopath myself.
Secondary Voice
It’s okay, Cecee, if you work hard, one day, you too can become a good little psycho.
Third Voice
Don’t mind me. I’m just packing my imaginary little bag before heading to psycho school.
Have you noticed how popular the psychopath trope is? There’s always one, lurking somewhere with his little gloves and his cute little hair to go out and indulge in his little hobby deathing.
I demand gender equality in psychopathy
Don’t we all want little children to see representation in the gender they identify the most as? So, there is definitely one thing that hits me with all those psycho killers… The majority of those I’ve seen are male.
I’m saying the majority because there are some borderline psycho female characters in K-dramas.
See grandma of evilness, Kim Hae-sook, in Revenant strategically flexing her sociopathic tendencies. She is not a psychopath. She does have some form of guilt for her actions, and that’s precisely why she’s living in terror locked inside her huge manor house. We also see her explode and yell on the phone when under pressure. Now, a good little psychopath is someone who has nerves of steel, not nerves of brittle sugar glass, like Kim Hae-sook’s character.
The absolute best yell in the history of awkward phone conservations. It goes approximately like this: Kim Tae-ri: Hello
Kim Hae-sook: AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
*hangs up*
Secondary Voice
Personally, I’ll be stealing that trick for the next time I get a scam call.
Third Voice
If you can’t cause emotional damage, at least go for eardrum damage. Kim Hae-sook way all the way, preferably at 200 decibels for best results.
Anyway, what was I saying before I got rudely interrupted by Kim Hae-sook?
Yes, we don’t get to see a lot of female psychopaths. I also strongly suspect that we have another one in the Memorist with Hwang Pil-seon, queen of i-am-bored-who-can-i-kill-today mindset. She’s played by Lee Hwi-hyang, who you might have spotted in Live Your Own Life. She’s also mastered the look of I-am-smiling-but-I-could-be-a-fucking-psycho-and-you-wouldn’t-know, so this probably makes her evil Mc Baddie of Evilness character in the Memorist 100% credible. And in good psychopath queen that she is, she knows no guilt, no shame, no stress, and she is absolutely delightful to be around, assuming you can ignore all the death threats. But what’s a little death threat and proxy strangulation between civilised haute society people?
Secondary Voice
Proxy violence is when you get yourself a butler who goes and physically half-strangles people when you’ve got your nails done and are waiting for them to dry. And she’ll still smile at you while the butler squeezes your throat. Psycho Queen with class
Third Voice
Where are the feminists when you need them? Hwang Pil-seon is working overtime to prove that even girls can be psychopaths! Round of applause!
Frankly, we don’t see enough female psychopaths. We see some pretty nasty female bullies, but it’s not the same thing. So, I did some digging—a whole 12 seconds on Google— and it turns out that there are female psychopaths and that they may not be as rare as we think, aka rarer than their male counterparts. They’re just better at avoiding detection. Also, unlike the typical psychopath drama trope, they are not all out there murdering from dawn to nightfall or nightfall to dawn, depending on their schedules.
Secondary Voice
Not that I’ve got anything against it. By all means, ladies, go and slaughter to your heart’s content if it makes a good K drama.
Third Voice
Cecee, chill out, we don’t encourage murder here.
Actually not all psychopaths go around knifing the life out of everything and everyone. They are destructive and favour self-gain. But, in K-dramaland, they do kill and their sole and entire purpose is to kill. So, please, bring out more psycho ladies. I’m ready for them.
Some of those psychos are not even real psychopaths
To quote any untrained university professor with a fake diploma, Deatho ergo psychum. He deaths therefore he psychos.
I don’t know about you, but this is a little too easy for me.
There are so many reasons to increase the body count in K-dramas, starting with plot holes and trucks of doom. But pinning a happy little psycho badge on the first murderer we come across feels lazy.
Secondary Voice
For a start, those trucks of doom would collapse under the weight of decades of accumulated badges.
Third Voice
Perhaps we can do a stamp card system instead? Your 6th corpse is free or something like that? I mean, those poor guys are working overtime just to get the plot moving, so a little consideration would be nice, I feel.
The one thing we know for sure about psychopaths is the absence of guilt and remorse. I’d be the first to admit that this is hugely practical if you want a career in murdering. No guilt, no nightmare, no problem. You might have 99 problems, but none of them are about your deathing hobby. And, if you’re a true psychopath, the count of problems shrinks as fast as you wave your blade. You might have had 99 problems when you started, but, hey would you believe it, you’re already down to 90 and the night is still young. Well played, my friend, well played. I hope you’ll continue all that well playing far away from me.
I am no expert, of course, but I don’t think that every black-hatted knife yielder is a psychopath in disguise.
And one who I think is not a psychopath, despite neat little Psychopathy Diary is Seo In-woo.
Seo In-woo and the never-ending childhood trauma
I’m not going to pretend he’s a nice guy. Yes, despite the cheeky wink. But there are some aspects of In-woo’s personality that don’t quite add up to the psycho portrait the drama paints.
First of all, if we think about it, psychopathy is part of the neurodiversity spectrum. You’ve got autism, ADHD, and settling comfortly between sensory overloads and executive dysfunction, there’s a charming chap with a little double-barrelled riffle.
Secondary Voice
Not my weapon of choice but you do you, In-woo, and you don’t let the nasty people make fun of you.
Third Voice
Never make fun of the guy with the big gun, kids.
Ultimately, psychopaths deviate from the expected social and cognitive behaviours. They don’t do it knowingly (at first) but because their brains process information differently… Not quite saying that a psychopath is an autist with a gun, but they do have some traits in common. I said some, do not make me say what I haven’t said.
Now, what does this have to do with childhood trauma, Cecee?
Secondary Voice
Thank you for asking, I was getting to it.
Third Voice
I’m lying. I was about to get distracted again.
Neurodivergence refers to the way the brain develops. If it’s neurodivergent, it’s not developing the way neurotypical brains do. What’s interesting about it is that, while we think a lot of it is not preventable, there are some cases where it could have been prevented.
For example, we believe that some individuals with ADHD-like symptoms may have developped this way as a result of a childhood trauma. Sure, it’s not a case of childhood trauma making you ADHD, but both trauma and ADHD can have a lot of common symptoms.
Now what about childhood trauma and psychopaths? We don’t know for sure, but an Italian study found that a large number of criminals who scored high on the psychopathy test also had a traumatic experience in childhood.
The few bits we’ve seen from In-woo’s childhood indicate that dad was less of a parent to him and more of an affection-denyer. Already when In-woo was young, dad made it very clear that little bro would always be the favourite and had every right of dethroning In-woo from any of his benefits.
We do see a young In-woo trying to strangle baby bro, but what we don’t see is everything that drove him to this decision. So, if he was deprived of affection as radically as the flashbacks imply, I’m happy to bet on childhood trauma.
There are some instances where In-woo’s behaviour, a…[Read more]
This would be one of the few times I manage to post something without completely screwing up the formatting.
Except for the links. I just left I had to disclose the seriousness of it all rather than hiding them in the text.
So, yay to me! Well done Cecee, you did not fuck it up
*pats self on shoulder*
Congratulations? 😉 Sorry you had to leave the comfort and safety of the underwear drawer and get flung out into the cold, hard world. Being a dramaland grown-up comes with all sorts of unexpected situations. You can do it!
I do that sooo often on WhatsApp. Half way through typing a prosy answer and my stupid finger goes on and presses enter.
Most people wait patiently for the furious “…” to disappear so they can receive the second half of my answer.
Most people except my mum who will send a billion 3-word questions while I feverishly try to finish my answer. Drives me mad.
Congratulations on levelling up. It won’t be long before you are running Errands with the rest of the gang so see this time as the warm up for the running about.
Hang on a second: Who’s actually watched Strangers From Hell?
I’m asking this because last time I posted something about Seo Moon-jo’s vibrant and completely caring personality (sorry, I mean absolutely not vibrant personality but there’s an element of care even though it is a little misplaced), I came across a long list of comments dissing the poor guy’s attempt at artistic dentistry (more on this later) and explaining that they haven’t watched the drama.
Baes… are you the same people who voted that you would rather live with your abusive in-laws rather than with psycho Lee Dong-wook in a run-down dorm? And you have no idea what Strangers From Hell is about?
Welcome to team “let me tell you all about that K-drama I have not watched”. I’m not watching Queen of Tears so, as you can guess, nobody is better prepared than me to diss the Hongs, and especially Hae-in whom I can not defend one bit… I know all my facts from not watching said K-drama so you can guess how useful they are.
Secondary Voice
All of my best opinions are completely and intentionally uninformed.
Third Voice
IMHO, information always ruins the whole opinion thing. I do not need my opinion to be based on facts. I want it to be based on the visceral feeling I get from an unrelated and contextless 0.1-second-long gif spotted somewhere online.
Fourth Voice
I hear you, and I hear myself too, but at the same time, my mind’s fixation is holding onto Strangers From Hell facts like a hungry dog on a bone. I will not let myself have a free-spirited opinion in peace. I am my worst enemy.
So anyway… let me bore you a little longer with some random facts that you did not ask for. I voted to share a dorm with Seo Moon-jo, aka psycho Lee Dong-wook. Not necessarily for the Lee Dong-wook-ness of it because the most interesting thing about Moon-jo is not being a lanky eye candy. That’s just the cherry on top. As it happens, I did watch Strangers From Hell so for once, I knew half of the facts, which is a lot more than usual.
It was a horribly exciting watch.
Not one single tear was shed.
Let me introduce to you, SFH, or to fit in the current title trend, Queen of Spears. Technically, there isn’t a single spear in it. But, somehow queen of the small dental extraction pliers, which would be more accurate, doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This was a fiery pit. A dreadful one… made by strangers
Doesn’t look like a safe and happy K drama
No. It’s not. It’s anything but.
But that’s what’s great about it. Originally, SFH is a webtoon, and it’s something you get to guess fairly quickly from some of the camera angles. Not that all webtoon-inspired K dramas turned out well but they tend to have a slightly more solid plot.
Secondary Voice A Good Day to be a Dog is a fantastic example of how to fuck things up. Solid webtoon, tragic K-drama transcription.
Third Voice
At the other extreme of the scale, there’s Perfect Marriage Revenge which lost the plot halfway through the webtoon and got rescued by writer-nim Im Seo-ra’s commendable narrative power. Writer-nim, I’ll be looking for your next projects.
So, if you are going to give SFH a try, be prepared to know that there is a storyline and that it is fairly solid.
If, like me you found yourself at some point in your life reading philosophy books (forcibly in my case, but it still counts), you’ll appreciate the reference to Sartre’s “Hell is other people”. And SFH does a great job at putting in gritty images what Sartre put into a play.
Yet, don’t be fooled. Hell does not hide just inside the Eden goshiwon alongside everybody’s favourite 80s-born eye candy and his little scalpel. No. Hell is everywhere and in almost everyone our main character, Yoon Jong-woo (eye candy number two, but more pocket-sized than LDG) gets to meet.
By the way, “Hell is other people” is the literal translation of the webtoon and K-drama title. 타인은 지옥이다 (ta-in-eun ji-og-i-da, if you want to read it aloud). Other people is hell itself… and yes, after struggling through a lot of poorly written K-drama plots, 타인은 지옥이죠 indeed. I have a little list of names if anybody wants to discuss hellish writers with me.
The plot
We follow Jong-woo, aspiring writer, as he moves to Seoul to start a seriously underpaid internship at a former classmate’s business and get closer to his girlfriend, who already lives and works in Seoul.
Jong-woo ends up picking the most affordable place for his budget, Eden dorm. There is absolutely no secret as to why the rent is so cheap, cue to the mould on his bedroom wall and ceiling. The neighbours are not exactly the friendliest either. They’re creepy and they set you on edge as soon as you look at them.
But there is one friendly neighbour who appears the most normal of the lot and who shares common interests with Jong-woo, Moon-jo.
It’s not so much the fact they may share a favourite writer. What’s interesting is the fact Moon-jo immediately sees himself in the new dorm-mate.
And this is where things get interesting. Moon-jo has zero interest in killing Jong-woo. He wants to make a mini-me. He’s also got a good sense of Jong-woo’s natural potential, and we find out more about it as the story progresses.
New tenants who join the goshiwon are not there to become new preys for Moon-jo. They become students that he nurtures. Just saying, if you were to share a dorm with psycho LDW, you wouldn’t necessarily end up at the pointy end of the knife.
Also, can we just admire the glorious camera angle here. This almost feels like a scene out of a love story. They slowly turn toward each other. A pause. A soft line spoken in a soft voice. ”You are like me”, he says. It just needs a kiss to be perfect. The romance you didn’t know you needed.
Moon-jo has got some fantastic lines that sometimes sound like he’s stolen them from a romantic K-drama.
Jagiya
Enough said.
If you need only one reason to watch SFH, let this be LDW jakiya-ing everyone in sight in it in the most unsettling way.
For some reason, this tickles my funny bone.
The cast
Aside from the main leads, we’ve got a lot of known faces. I’m only going to show some of them because there are only so many gifs one wants to make.
Secondary Voice
It is rather distressful to admit that I can get bored of too many gifs… I am ashamed to admit it.
Third Voice
But that’s not the case here. I’m just getting lazy. I just wanted to pretend I had a grown-up excuse.
Yes, she just went for it and slapped his ass. She’s the “friendly” landlady. You don’t want to go to a karaoke bar with her.
Mr. Not Creepy At All. Another dorm tenant. I was about to say you don’t want to go on his bad side. But he’s got no other side.
Ahn Eun-jin policing away and also dealing with a toothache. Guess who her dentist is…
Award of the worst fashion for Hyun Bong-sik who is doing his absolutely best to make this atrocious shirt work. I’ve also researched a little about him… Would you believe it if I told you Lee Dong-wook is actually older than Hyun Bong-sik?
The dental artistry
Look at him. Look at him making little friendship bracelets out of teeth.
Isn’t it top-level cuteness in a slightly psycho way? But this is true to Moon-jo’s personality. He describes what he does as art, and this is his present for his (unwilling) pupil.
But, more to the point, the story is not and will never be, about Moon-jo going on a killing rampage in his dental clinic. He doesn’t go around slaughtering his patients. We do get some glimpses of his day-to-day work and there is nothing here that screams manic killer. So, I appreciate the typical horror story about dentists may be at the front of your mind, but this isn’t the plot here.
So, if you’ve seen too many scary films about mad dentists, you can relax. This has got nothing to do with it.
Not saying Moong-jo is a well-balanced gentleman, because he fucking isn’t. But the story doesn’t wander around gore and blood-splattered dental clinics.
That being said, he does collect human teeth. But not those of his paying patients. When I say he makes friendship bracelets, I’m serious about it. There is in his mind a clear bond with Jong-woo, and the entire story is about Jong-woo trying to escape a bond he doesn’t see.
You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t, for once, ruin it by revealing the end. I’m just going to say that if you are familiar with Hobbes’s work, you may have come to the same conclusion yourself.
Hell is other people because we are all inherently bad.
I leave it to you to finish the Hobbesian thought and find out how SFH concludes it too.
I appreciate this isn’t exactly a K-drama for everyone.
But then there is no such thing as a K-drama for everyone.
And as much as I can’t bring myself to watch too much of Queen of Tears, I realise that those gritty, atypical stories where nobody wins seem to be my cup of tea.
I have watched some of Strangers from Hell but I am not (unfortunately?) someone who finds much enjoyment from stories where no one wins and it’s hard to even find anyone to cheer for. I actually found it sort of boring for this reason, and ended up dropping (I think it was my first drop ever actually) and finishing off the story through the recaps on here. Cause I wanted to know what happened, but not, like, five-more-hours-of-my-time-wanted-to-know.
However, I love that there is no kdrama for everyone! I love reading your takes and I hope I can still participate in the friendship bracelets and snacks.
I get what you mean. The first time I tried watching it, I gave up after 3 episodes. I wanted to know what happened and I also couldn’t find a hook to it.
I needed to go through a few infuriatingly bad dramas to find my motivation again. My second time around, I was so pleased to spot all the narrative hooks around the goshiwon & around Jong-woo. Not sure how I managed to miss all of them the first time around. I think I was expecting a different kind of drama 🤷🏻♀️ Now, I’ve finally reached the point in my life where my soul is as dark as Eden goshiwon, and everything falls into place neatly 🤣
I would read the CRAP out of your actual take on the plot of QoT without you having seen a single episode. I would also participate in a community-writing prompt to narrate this show, something created solely by those of us with ZERO actual experience with the drama.
“I’ve not watched QoT but let me tell you AALLLL about it: The Fan Wall Post,” it’d be called. Preferably illustrated solely with gifs we steal from other content creators and opinions cribbed from MyDramaList.
I’m starting to think we should let those who have not watched the drama write the recaps. I want completely unhinged recaps based on the gifs posted by other Beanies.
It’s all about putting the drama back in K-drama.
“We don’t know what we’re talking about but that’s not going to stop us. Watch us recap that drama we know nothing about.
Enter carnage.
OMG, I love it. I love it so much. Imagine the amount of dramas I could recap rather than wasting my time watching them?
Serial clueless recapist
I want it on a t-shirt. It’s going to be my new job title now.
I would choose the Hongs over any character in Strangers from Hell, but I really liked the show (SFH). And I recommend it too!
And I’m pretty sure I would’ve liked A Killer Paradox too. I really wanted to ignore what bothered me and just finished it. The little I saw was really fun.
It would be nice to have more shows like that. I think what we need is OCN back.
I read Beanies’ comments before I started to watch so I was ready of it and I completely focused the absolute disengaged look on his face throughout. That’s what I kept from it: Whatever the fantasy going on in his mind, he doesn’t engage emotionally with it (it’s got mental disorder warning red signs all over)
Nope. I don’t think I got that far. It was the flashbacks from the FL as a kid.
The entire “mistreating the child to make them stronger” thing isn’t my style. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was trying to let it pass until the uncle did something to her that made me go “nope, f that dude”. 🤣😂 But before that it was fun.
In a recent “Would You Rather”, DB team got us to vote between living with a psychopath or living with our in-laws, comparing Strangers from Hell to Queen of Tears.
The vote resulted in a resounding NOPE for Seo Moon-jo, everybody’s favourite psycho dentist from the darkest corners of Seoul. My heart breaks for the guy. What has the poor man done to deserve such distrust and hate? I feel he is completely misunderstood and I have made it my mission to jump to his defence.
Secondary Voice
Cecee, forever the defender of the widow- and orphan-maker
I hear you.
Secondary Voice
No, I don’t. I only hear what I want but I like to pretend that I am well-adjusted.
Third Voice
Technically, I should say “I don’t hear you and I can barely hear myself from all the side voices I keep interjecting for no reason” but for the sake of argument let’s pretend otherwise.
What would you even defend Moon-I-am-going-to-steal-your-teeth-jo, Cecee?
Well, this is a fantastic question and I am glad you asked.
So, let’s head back to @DaebakGrits’s WYR question. This specific WYR doesn’t require you to become Moon-jo’s new best friend. You just need to “Share a dorm with Lee Dong-wook but he’s psycho”. Of course, you’ll want to become his new bestie for reasons I’ll explain in a bit, but first, here is why Moon-jo is a great dorm mate.
He will fix you up for free
Look at him. There he goes, completely taking it upon himself to stitch up an unconscious and beaten-up Jong-woo.
How selfless is this guy, I ask you? No questions asked, no judgement, he just rolls up his sleeves and gets you fixed.
He is hard-working and diligent
He even keeps a dentist’s chair in the dorm so he can bring work home.
Isn’t it praiseworthy?
Surely, you’d want your roommate to be a professional, hard-working guy rather than someone who lazes around and may not be able to pay the rent next month.
We always admire hard workers and nobody is paying attention to Moon-jo’s around-the-clock dedication to dentistry work. Moon-jo works hard and I think this deserves a round of applause. …from a safe distance and preferably behind several layers of concrete and locks so he doesn’t get to work on you too soon.
He gives you hand-made jewellery
Not quite the friendship bracelet vibes I grew up with, but we have to live with our times. In modern Seoul, I hear teeth bracelets are the new hype.
I think if you ask kindly, he might even engrave each tooth with a name. How cute, totally bestie behaviour.
He believes in sustainable recycling
Nothing goes to waste, and Moon-jo understands the importance of reducing carbon footprint. So, he only chooses the best, most sustainable ingredients for his snacks.
And frankly, who wouldn’t like a green-thinking dorm mate in 2024? We need to look after the planet, and Moon-jo is right at the forefront showing us the way.
He believes in you
He believes you’re special and he is ready to put the effort in so you can see it too.
And we all want to feel special from time to time.
Maybe not that special, but one can’t blame the guy for trying! At least, there’s someone out there who thinks we’re special, and that must count for something, right?
Have I managed to convince anyone to go and live with Moon-jo?
No? 자기야, how would you like to be killed?
Must say you’ve made me sway towards considering Seo Moon-jo as a viable option too. So rather than deciding myself I’ll let Lee Dong-wook from both the dramas slug it out themselves to decide who gets to live with me. Win-win.
I didn’t know he was a dentist! LOL 😆 Now I must watch it, although I am not into the psycho murder thrillers. I get the jewelry jokes now. So funny!
Being one and around many dentists I refuse categorically to be around one! So I still am with the insufferable in-laws, they are less insufferable than dentists if you ask me. 🤣🤣🤣
If we are to play devils advocate we could also argue that makjang Mother in Laws are just as psychotic (if not more so) than your average serial killer, so there isnt much difference really
Moon-jo works hard and I think this deserves a round of applause. …from a safe distance and preferably behind several layers of concrete and locks so he doesn’t get to work on you too soon.
You had me here. I am still laughing. 😂
I don’t want to be special. I am very hapy being very common 😂 I will consider this ‘watched’ from this post on your fanwall.
Tbh, I just like the Hong family. Soo Cheol as my bro in law would be hilarious. And his son is adorbs! The only kids I want to have in my life are nephews and nieces.
The Hongs are the perfect choice, tbh.
Yeah…not convincing enough. Given the many times I’ve already spent feeling “special” in dentist’s chairs, I’ll stick to being not special with the in-laws. 😂😂
I applaud you for your effort ro convince us to choose rhe pyscho dentist, Seo Moon Jo. As good looking as LDW may be, I prefer the insufferable in-laws in a mansion. I get to keep my teeth and no freaky teeth bracelets too. Thank you very much.
If it was another LDW character, I may not think twice to choose him. Lee Yeon in Nine Tailed or Kwon Jun Rok in Touch Your Heart would be a yes.
I keep trying to go back to K dramas I’ve discarded just for them to prove me right. Partners in Justice making the point that prosecutors are both incompetent & unprofessional in every ep 🙄
I got through Season 1 of that, and I don’t even know how. It was a mess near the end and even Noh Min Woo’s brilliant villain introduced at the drama’s latter half could not do the drama justice. It was just the writers pulling at teeth trying to make things happen and trying to make a season 2 happen, in which case, I guess they succeeded, since a season 2 did materialize
Same… I struggled through season 1 and did not want to even attempt season 2. And years passed. I thought that perhaps some of my absolute complete and utter rage at it was due to being new to K dramas at the time. So I attempted season 2 and urgh. I now just want to ring the writer’s door bell and kimchi slap some flipping sense into her.
I didn’t even research the writer’s name but a lot of the cases and completely unprofessional, unnecessary over-the-top emotional ridiculousness feels heavily female-coded. I realise this is extremely sexist, but it happens to be written in the most stupidly sexist way, so I’d happily reject the blame.
The written takes a stance against sexual harassment in the workplace at some point at the start of season 2. But, interestingly enough, we get a case of a female employee stabbing herself to death with no witnesses and accusing her male harasser before eventually passing away. The forensic team demonstrates at multiple occasions and via a dozen of different techniques that the accused never stabbed her and that it was self-inflicted.
But our queen of incompetence prosecutor still concludes that the man is responsible because of his previous behaviour. So, the guy ends up in jail. Bearing in mind that he was on trial for manslaughter, which he has not committed, and that the prosecutor in her last statement at court decided that he should definitely be imprisoned for this charge regardless of how the death actually occurred … I get what the writer is trying to say, but fucking hell, no girl. One is sexual harassment, the other one is homicide. Completely different crimes and you definitely can not swap crimes just to get the bad guy behind bars.
At the same time, there’s a new member of staff in the forensic team and she wants into Boem’s (grumpy forensic guy, the only person with a brain in there) pants… interestingly enough, what that woman is doing is exactly what we saw the man from the case of the day doing… except that her aggressive borderline harassing approach is totally excused and even celebrated by the writer, while the same writer condemned a man for doing the exact same thing.
So, this is why I’m thinking that the writer is female. The double standard that condemns men but forgives women for the same crime (and wrongly at that, because the guy goes to jail for the precise crime we know he didn’t commit)… I’m completely ready to buy the cheapest kimchi I can find, let it rot, and go slap that writer with it. For fuck’s sake, if you’re going to make a point, be coherent!
And this is also why I’m stopping again, content in the knowledge that the problem doesn’t lie with me.
Would you fight to get Eunsang University Medical Centre in Ghost Doctor?
I may be late to the party with Ghost Doctor.
Secondary Voice
But I don’t care.
It just takes ages before some dramas become available to the main streaming platforms. And with the arrival of Ghost Doctor on Netflix, I want to ask a very pertinent question about the plot. Why would anybody be interested in plotting to win Eunsang University Medical Centre and its board?
So, we get an executive Director and the son of of chairman working and conniving together to get fancier chairs in their respective environments. This is the basic plot line.
Then, on top of that, Rain becomes a suit-wearing coma ghost who shares both his golden surgeon’s hands and appalling bedside manners with Go Seung-tak, aka a cocky Kim Bum (the best kind of Kim Bum, I’d venture) who knows how to read Wikipedia articles but can’t apply any of his theoretical knowledge to real-life skills.
We’re also cursed with some random female non leads (definitely the opposite of leads, and in the case of one of them, she’s so annoying to the plot that I’m tempted to call her the writer’s burden, written there to serve the forever-growing emotional big eye quota but completely devoid of any plot-relevant purpose).
So, I’ll ignore the female non-leads for now (they may have their own rant later if they’re nice). Let’s focus on the actual plot points.
Han Seung-Won (executive Director of Eunsang University Medical Centre) and Jang Min-ho, chairman’s son and brother of our emotional big eye quota girl, joining hands to sabotage the chairman’s surgery and land themselves into even comfier and more expensive director’s armchairs. Everyone seems obsessed with being a member of the board that runs Eunsang University Medical Centre. That obsession, paired with the inability to delegate their little criminal jobs to the right person, will also get Cha Young-min (Rain) in a coma and Chairman Jang in his own super VIP coma room (because if you’ve got to be asleep for the major part of the drama, at least, do it in a cosy bed).
At this point, I think we can all agree that if both Seung-won and Min-ho had taken the time to have a good look at Eunsang hospital and its board of clowns, they probably wouldn’t have even bothered with their unmastermind-like plan in the first place.
What makes Eunsang hospital such a bad place, you ask.
Secondary Voice
Seriously, bae, have you watched the drama?
Third Voice
More to the point, try comparing Eunsang to Yulje Medical Centre (the one from Hospital Playlist) and you’ll notice one key difference. Yulje hospital insists on hiring real, trained doctors. At Eunsang, your actual medical skills are less of a concern.
Fourth Voice
Which is ideal, because I too want to cut people open for fun. I have fantastic keyboard skills and massive round eyes, so I tick all of Eunsang’s recruitment boxes.
Me performing surgery at Eunsang Medical Centre.
We don’t have the skills here
If you haven’t watched the drama, stop reading. Here’s how most of the EMU patient admission scenes play out:
Ambulance staff who has not contacted the hospital before delivering yet another patient: Ladies and gents, here’s some dude that fell from a height onto a spike that perforated and crushed really important bits in his heart area. He’s totally going to die if you don’t operate right now on him.
EMU doctor 1 with 25 years of experience: Oh no, what are we going to do?
EMU doctor 2 with 18 years of experience: We legit don’t have the skills man.
EMUnurse 1 with 30 years of experience: I don’t even know what the heart looks like. I only administer aspirin.
EMU nurse 2 with 12 years of experience: We’re all on lunch break so nobody can operate on him.
Wife of the patient who’s still covered in pig’s blood from her last satanic ritual: Please doctors, save my husband!
Ambulance staff: Are you going to accept it? I need a photo for proof of delivery.
EMU doctor 2 and nurse 1 do the V fingers pose for the photo.
EMU doctor 1: No, we can’t operate on him. Take him to another hospital.
Wife of the patient: Oh no, he’s going to die!
EMU doctors 1 & 2: Sorry, you have to take him away. We can’t help him.
First-year resident with absolutely no real-world medical training: I’ll do the surgery.
EMU doctors 1 & 2: He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Let’s trust him.
It’s at the point where neither the writer not the actors are bothering pretending that the many EMU patient scenes are different and independent aspects of the story. They all permanently replay the same scene with the same level of inaccurate gusto. I aspire to the same dedication in my life as their dedication to carefree unrealism.
Permanently understaffed
Can this hospital manage to run at least one surgical procedure? Nope. Believe me, they would if they could. But unfortunately, their head surgeons are all out on a conference every day. All of them. Every single time.
I can only imagine that they’re really bad at scheduling floor presence. Nobody is here. They are more cleaning staff than doctors. This is truly a ghost doctor inside a ghost hospital.
However, everyone’s favourite emotional big eye quota is here to explain this interesting mystery. At one point, she rushes from her cosy little office with a bed to another floor just to give one patient CPR.
Secondary Voice
Admittedly, Rain’s using the only bed in the room.
Third Voice
After careful consideration, I don’t see why that should stop her. Go, sit on him, Jang Quota. It’s not like he’s going to mind. He’s in a coma anyway.
So, this (by which I mean the CPR bit, not the not-siting-on-Rain bit) baffles me at so many levels.
Why is Jang Quota (that’s the name she’s earned for being a pile of uselessness from start to finish) rushing when there are trained nurses all around the patient? You’d assume that patient care is a basic nurse’s duty. Surely, that is what the nurse training is about? Unless the Eunsang’s nurses are trained to look cute in their pink little uniforms, and this is all it is about.
In the meantime, Jang Quota is sitting on top of a patient (who looks nothing like Rain so this is a completely missed opportunity on her part), having tackled down 12 nurses on her way there so she could be the one planting her pointy heels into the patient’s sides while she gives him CPR.
Secondary Voice
Whatever floats your boat, you freak.
Third Voice
She’s also giving him that blank tearful eye she’s giving everyone else inthe show just to make sure he doesn’t feel too special.
There you have it. The hospital is not understaffed. Doctors are doing nurses’ job, and then there are only ghosts left to do the doctors’ job. And while we have plenty of ghosts, we’ve got only 2 who are medically trained, so this limits considerably the number of surgeries at Eunsang ghost hospital of ghostiness.
Anyway, learn your CPR, kids.
We may be called at any moment to replace a nurse at Eunsang. We need to be ready.
Magnificent no skill display
I’m giving Seung-tak a break on this because, as a first-year resident, he is not supposed to have any particular skills. He’s here to learn.
No, I’m talking about the experts Eunsang Medical Centre is so immensely proud to have acquired.
One of those experts is Jang Quota, a much respected neurosurgeon GENIUS. I’m not saying she is a genius. That is what the show is trying to make me believe.
There goes Jang Quota, cutting a skull open to treat someone’s condition. (the same someone she stabs with her pointy heels to give him CPR). But the patient doesn’t wake up after surgery and she needs a cleaning lady/ghost to diagnose the issue. Bearing in mind that even if the cleaning lady is inhabited by a ghost at that specific moment, the only medical ghosts we know are cardiothoracic surgeons… So when you random ghost who has not been performing medicine for over 20 years and has not kept up to speed with medical science is able to diagnose the problem with your neurological patient, I’d say it might be time to consider a career change, Jang Quota.
Secondary Voice
Can’t be too nasty to her, otherwise she’ll cry with those big eyes of hers.
Third Voice
I’m sorry I meant every word I said Jang Quota.
Another fantastic example is Jang Quota, again, demanding to be the doctor looking after Young-min while reaching out to her colleague in Seattle to have him do most of the looking after and investigating because, as per usual, she was too busy looking distressed and crying to do her actual job.
The permanently emotional neurosurgeon because the skill we know all successful surgeons have is tearing up like a melo main lead.
Actual footage of neurosurgeon mid-operation
I have no difficulty believing that to Eunsang Medical Centre’s standards, this is pure genius.
😂😂😂 I just recently watched this, too, and you’re right about preferring to end up in Yulje rather than Eunsang – if need be! Granted, the triceratops (?) skeleton is a serious interior boost to the “waiting”/“ghost consultation” area… but it certainly cannot beat the Yulje table tennis tournament (plus impromptu warm up dance session). 🥳
Ps: that CPR dance clip is as educational as it is cringey! 🤣 cannot unsee… which might be a good thing…
I was born with a congenital dislike for pretty much all medical dramas (yes, including that one you love–죄송합니다!!!!), but could watch those silly actors dancing in scrubs all day.
…also just that like that one you have, @sonai, of Ju Ji-hoon dancing backwards into the apartment doorway. I think I watched it for a full five minutes one day.
I absolutely love that little show they did after Hospital Playlist… 3 meals a day, or something.
The sheer level of friendly chaos just trying to plan cooking throughout the day 🤣
What did I say about K-dramas’ best nan? Here we go, The Midnight Studio proving my point by casting Kim Young-ok just to kill her character. The number of deaths she’s played over the years!
Kim Young-ok would be amazing in it. I spotted her promoting British breakfasts in her best clothes but I can’t, for the life of me, find it again. She looked so classy, witty, and beautiful… she’d be the perfect Miss Kim-Marple sshi 👌
I don’t think I’m the only Beanie to have desperately stuck with Queen of Divorce in the hope that Kang Ki-young could, for once, bag the girl and all the credit for saving the day.
Secondary Voice
It turns out his character, Ki-joon, didn’t manage to do any of it, even though he did not stop trying throughout 12 painful episodes. Ki-joon sshi, 화이팅, my good man.
Third Voice
Ki-joon sshi, just a friendly suggestion: how about you just try dating someone else? This may well be the right solution for you.
Fourth Voice
I’m tempted to start an online petition for someone to write Kang Ki-young a proper main lead role. Pretty please.
Look at him, writer, LOOK AT HIM! The script’s so bad you made him cry.
Whose fault is it?
So, first of all, Beanies, let me spill the tea.
The director is Park Jin-seok (Jin-suk in some sources because nobody can agree on how to romanise Korean names). The same guy who directed Sell Your Haunted House.
The writer is Jeong Hee-seon (or Hee-sun because see above). I can find only one other work under her name, Drama Stage Season 3: Big Data Romance which I have never watched.
If you’ve watched any of those other works, please feel free to judge whether it was a case of poor directing or poor writing. My opinion is that you need characters who are appealing and meaningful on paper first to make it work on screen.
I watched SYHH and enjoyed it, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the actual filming style and direction, which comforts me in the belief that everything starts with the writer. The director can only amplify the story.
But, it may also be a case of both the director and the writer not clicking together well enough to make Queen of Divorce work. I don’t know. I want to blame Jeong Hee-seon, but she did not make me watch every week. I did that to myself.
Well. Shit.
Darts & problem-solving skills
So, if you came across the drama’s poster or if you had time to read the hangeul on the credit, the Korean title is: 끝내주는 해결사.
Looks cute, right? It means something along the lines of “great problem solver”, which I can only assume relates to either:
Kim Sa-ra
The Solution
In any case, this reminds me of the first time I tried playing darts.
random story time
The scene plays in a dimly lit pub in the British countryside. I am here on holiday and this is my first time going to a pub. I am old enough to order and pay for my own drink and this is precisely what I do. I proudly order myself a ginormous pint of pineapple juice. I even have to repeat the order twice because the guy behind the bar keeps insisting they have a fantastic choice of locally-brewed beers. Pineapple juice juseyo, dammit!
There’s a group of young people my age and they have no difficulty spotting me because I’m not local. They do the normal socializing thing of talking to me. I politely stop slurping my juice to answer.
Do I want to play with them? OMG, is this my chance to make chingus? I absolutely want to play with them!
They take me to the dart game board.
It’s easy, one of them says. He shows me. And I get excited at the thought of finally being able to socialize like a normal person. I grab the dart and hold it like my social life depends on it. I go back and forth with the dart between my fingers, like you do with a toy car to build up some speed between releasing it.
Except that the toy car will always go forward. The dart, as it happens, flies behind me and ends its erratic course planted nose first into a wooden table, just in front of a plate of food that someone was about to consume.
I didn’t just miss the target. I threw the dart away from it even though I thought I was aiming at the target. Bye-bye social life. It was nice to imagine you existed.
Anyway, I have a feeling that the great problem solver’s script has missed its target with the same level of over-excited inaccuracy as me.
After 12 episodes, we all know that the only thing that is great about The Great Problem-Solver is that it’s finally come to an end.
The problem-solving aspect remains questionable.
Secondary Voice
Oh no, I don’t have custody of my son since the divorce. What could I do? I know, I’ll remarry my ex and then proceed to throw everyone in jail.
Third Voice
What’s stopping you, Kim Sa-ra? Fight for LGBT marriages to be legalised in South Korea and propose to your former mother-in-law. As per the Solution’s principles, the less practical and sensible approach is deemed to be the greatest problem-solving.
Kim Sa-ra, the strong but weak, sensitive but cold-headed, confident but unsure, alone but surrounded by friends, emotionally unavailable but loved by all, fragile but indestructible, smart but stupid woman
People don’t make sense.
I want a group of friends as loyal as Kim Sa-ra’s but I hate socializing. (even when there’s no dart involved)
I want to lose weight but I want to eat all the cake.
I want a close relationship with my mom but I don’t want to confide in her.
So, I can get behind the idea that Kim Sa-ra may have contradictory traits.
But not to the point where she is a walking meaningless anomaly. Writer-nim, you can’t tick all the character’s traits. You need to choose!
One of my favourite I-am-a-walking-contradiction moments from Kim Sa-ra:
She spends a year in jail, training herself to become more badass. She’s practised so much, she can probably put hair gel on her foot and high-kick style her hair every morning. That high kick was fire. But, do you think she could have learned how to use basic moves? Nope.
Cue to Kim Sa-ra being trapped inside a flat on fire and all she’s got to dig her way out is a hammer. She does what every great problem-solver would do: She rushes to faint as neatly as possible in a corner, ready for Ki-joon to find her.
Secondary Voice
Why can’t you release that high kick power into a low kick, aimed at the glass panel on that bloody front door? Kim Sa-ra, the fierce fighter who can only hit obstacles that are suspended 1.8m off the ground…
Third Voice
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that she doesn’t want to hurt her foot. If only the glass panel could be destroyed with the swing of a hammer… Not a chance, we all know all fragile those Korean hammers are. They can crush your skull, as per Killer Paradox, but they are obviously defeated by a glass panel.
I’m not even going to mention that lousy hit at a plank of wood before she collapsed. Kim Sa-ra, you didn’t even try.
The only explanation I can come up with is that Kim Sa-ra has never watched The Shining. I got all my best door-destroying moves from it.
We’re all mad in here
The lack of character consistency is painful to watch, to say the least, but it’s not just a case of Kim Sa-ra being irrational. Nobody is rational at any given time.
Noh Yool-seong is perhaps the most logical character out of this range of complete maniacs. And still, he has the consistency of a takeaway delivery service. Some days, you get everything you’ve ordered. Others, everything’s wrong and you’re missing half the items, and you don’t even know why.
For someone who’s got a hefty amount of blood on his hands (whatever floats your boat, Yool-seong sshi), he has that permanent expression of surprise on his face when he accidentally offs or attempts to someone. It’s like me ramming cake into my face while knowing I was going to do it anyway, saying “Omo, omo, what is happening?” all the while cutting the next slice. I’m not even kidding myself, and I’m ready to bet this is the same for Noh Yool-seong. But this gets even funnier when you notice how blaséd he is about any death (and particularly the ones he keeps accidentally or intentionally orchestrating).
Secondary Voice
Honestly, I’m with you, Noh Yool-seong. Murder is cheaper than bribery.
Third Voice
But bae, it stains more. Think of the dry cleaning invoice.
Noh Yool-seong’s logic is that kidnapping and threatening his ex-mother-in-law on a roof is all part of a normal, non-threatening, perfectly friendly conversation. Can we truly blame him when his former MIL fell off after he shook her like a prune tree and dangled her on top of a building?
Secondary Voice
The writer is trying to pass it as an accident… So perhaps the shock on Noh Yool-seong’s face is him wondering where the accidental Truck of Doom is.
Third Voice
The writer responded to your ToD prayers in a later episode, Yool-seong.
For someone who is so quick to eliminate people, I really don’t get why he hasn’t tried to remove Sa-ra. His way of getting rid of her is to sit her comfortably on a chair inside a shipping container to Senegal.
Secondary Voice
Yool-seong, I expected better from a pro. Just get it done, don’t ship her.
Chairwoman Cha, the mother of our dragon in suits, is the strongest shade of weak I’ve seen in a long time. We are introduced to a powerful woman who seems to cast a long and never-…[Read more]
🤣🤣
I didn’t watch this show, but I really appreciate you taking the time to write all this. Your essays always enlighten me and give me so much joy reading. It’s a pieace of entertainment on its own. Thank you !!
I was thinking king of watching this because of my steadfast love of that first guy who’s name I never remember and I can only vaguely point at and say, hey! It’s that guy! From that thing! I love him!
But….I think I’ll pass?
I would pass. In fact, I wish I did pass. It makes no sense from start to finish, and I think @attiton is right in saying they were counting on the star power to hide the plot holes. The problem is that this is just a giant hole with not enough plot to have any of the actors shine briefly on screen. It feels very awkward for everyone.
Thank you, I laughed so much. 🤣🤣🤣
Now I almost want to see it so I can laugh more when I re-read this comment!
And yes, I agree, we should have an end of year article with the worst writers.
We got a relationship that could have been an email.
Dead, Cecee. Dead from the truth of it. 💀.
And thanks for the shout-out to my commentary, although I in no way deserve the august title you gave me (tho when I read it I said, and I quote, “Squee!”).
Now, to (snail) meat of the matter, I take your point about Yul-seong not being able to be both villain and ML as that, in and of itself, doesn’t make any sense (although by ML I had sort of meant more specifically that he was the guy who we were meant to care the most about–and that was definitely our villain).
And I even agree that you could consider Sa-ra to be both ML and FL, but, in a very real sense, wasn’t she just horrible at being both of those characters? You could just as well have called her son (eeew) the ML, rite??
In the end, I decided that the whole show was supposed to rest on star power to distract us from the holey plot. And many did tune in for KKY, including me–and it sounds you.
PS: I’m watching Sell Your Haunted House now, and the direction seems juuuust fine.
I know someone who has never written a TV drama shouldn’t cast stones, but … how can writing be so bad? I feel like it’s actually more work to create such inconsistent, frustrating characters and drop them into hole-filled, irrational plots. Is there an honest belief on the writer’s part that it’s a quality script? Or just lack of trying and a belief the audience will show up regardless?
I think you’re onto something. It feels like it’s more work indeed!
I am wondering if it’s more a case of not having enough time to develop a strong idea, and then there’s no foundation for the rest of the story. I can’t believe a writer would willingly come up with a holey plot, so I’m looking for an excuse!
Sometimes, I also feel like “seasoned” drama watchers–as the three of us certainly are 😋–can tell that the issue was that a 16-episode drama got shortened to 12…but I definitely didn’t get that impression here. Y’all?
It’s like it was poorly written to start? I mean I hesitate to say this, but maybe someone has to admit it so that we can discuss: Maybe KKY isn’t actually up to carrying a traditional-like ML lead?? He certainly didn’t hold a candle to Oh Min-seok’s charisma here. You know you’re in trouble when the good guy totally loses out pretty much every drop of attention to a triple-murderer who clearly doesn’t give a rats’-ass about his own freaking son (@hacja ‘s still fuming about this in his underground lair, I bet)!!
We need someone to write KKY into a proper rags-to-riches ML story or any form of tale where the underdog truly wins out, gets the girl, makes it big, defeats all the baddies (they tried to do that here, but faiiiilllled…probably because Lee Ji-ah needed to take top, top billing, wouldn’t you say)?
I would have been happy with Ki-joon and Yool-seong being both solid characters… but honestly, the drama made murder more appealing than the fight for justice!
I’m rewatching Terius (Terrius?) at the moment and I really liked KKY’s character in it. Not a ML role but it was a gender-reversed role; stay at home dad who’s friend with all the other housewives. The writing is much stronger but all the interactions between the moms and him are so sweet and natural.
So I’d be happy having him in a life ensemble story, like Hospital Playlist where friendship takes the lead over romance (so Hospital Playlist minus the coupling) – so a story with no underdog.
But I’m also buying rag to riches plots when they work. The character nobody takes seriously and who somehow wins because he never gives up?
Last thought of the day: A more “mature” romance, and I don’t mean in terms of age but in terms of behaviours. The man’s 40; perhaps age for new awakening after separation or early widowhood.
Or, hear me out: a spirit story perhaps? A man who’s plagued by spirits since having a near death accident; he dreams of the last thing the dead see but he get the vision 24 hours before they die and doesn’t realise what it is until he spots a pattern in his dreams.
I realise I can’t control myself. I said “last thought” earlier on and I’m still trying to bring further last thoughts after the last thought 🤦🏻♀️
It feels like the problems went beyond episode length. I didn’t get a sense the writer knew who the characters were, let alone what made them tick. It’s like someone said: Let’s get on the female revenge trend, failed marriages are popular so — she’s the revenge queen of divorce! The enemy? A chaebol of course. The plot? Let’s not resolve things too quickly — so she’ll have to put herself and others in danger lots of times to up the dramatic factor.
As for KKY’s character, he needed a chance to be capable at more than saving the FL from ludicrous moments of danger and being loyal in order to be a legit ML.
I’m pretty much immune to to Oh Min-seok’s charisma, and Kang Ki Young did as good a job as he could given his character. But lets face it: the real problem was Lee Ji-ah. While its my lifelong mission as a caped commenting crusader to emerge from my lair to heroically defend female leads and second female leads and the actresses that play them, she was awkward in every aspect of the role. She was badly dressed, she moved stiffly, she delivered her lines badly, she didn’t know how to act as a loving Mom, when she formulated and announced her ridiculous plans, she looked condescending and smirky, and even in dire circumstances she acted like she knew the director was about to call “cut” so that when her character was rescued by KKY of course she didn’t show the gratitude that most characters would feel. So I didn’t even bother to have Alfred, my butler, fire up the snark-mobile for this show.
I mean, I know why @indyfan suggested it and she’s almost never wrong, but I think she might be trying to bring more people to rearrange boat chairs on the Lusitania or something.
I’m 20 min into the first episode and I think even I would have done a better job at editing all the scenes together. This is Tiktok level of editing. Not a flipping transition and flat direction all around.
What am I even watching? Lee Jae-wook sent his acting skills on a break and is actively using no acting whatever in every scene. He’s just here as a bad fashion model, and as much as I appreciate the dedication to low action high cheap fashion sense, who hurt you bae?
I’m sorry @indyfan, I can’t even make it to the end of the episode!
😂 This is why I thought you’d be great. Some of us had hopes at the beginning, minimizing the red flags, but you saw the disaster-in-making within minutes. I think in one of the more recent recaps we even thought they’d placed a cutout of LJW with a hidden voice recording; he was that immobile. Gorgeous, tho.
But yeah, it’s better for you not having watched it tho we would have enjoyed your takes. Our paths will cross on a better show, inshallah.
I still like this show, and am used to putting large missteps like this aside, but there was also a significant “what about the men?” component to this divorce-of-the-week that had my eyes rolled all the way back into my brain socket.
I am still watching because for once we got KKY as a main male lead (ok, sort of, but nevertheless as the second name in the credits). So, I appreciate that, just to help him shine a little more, Lee Ji-ah decided to play it lowkey with the realistic emotional range of a porcelain doll (equipped with massive shoulder pads, but the expressiveness of the porcelain doll nonetheless – not that she isn’t pleasant to look at, mind you)
There’s an 1980s A Team element to it – full of good intentions and completely unrealistic resolutions, absolutely insane coincidences, and baddies that are about as threatening as a really sharp thimble. And massive shoulder pads. Where do they get all those shoulder pads from?
Anyway, this is a rant for another day.
Yes, I am confused by that case… They did take the wife’s case, and ended up siding against her with the husband? Is that even an authorised move in the legal field? I’m glad that for once they tried to show abuse against the husband rather than the wife, though. But they made him so helpless. I can’t think of anybody of his age in a wheelchair who wouldn’t be able to drag themselves back into their wheelchair (surely, the poor man goes to the toilet, or shower, or even sleep outside of his wheelchair? You know, basic dragging oneself in and out of it? It’s not like he lost use of his arms or brain too)
I really hate the ponytail-plus-huge-side-bangs look so popular among female characters in Korean dramas as well as in Jane Austen adaptations. Don’t really know why, but I always am thinking…either put your hair up, or leave it down! Why have the worst of both worlds where your hair is pulled back off your neck but still bothering your eyes and ears!?!
I had too. many other qualms to think about that one, I admit.
Wouldn’t be a personal choice though. It would be far too bothering, like you say. And so fucking impractical. I’d be spending most of my day accidentally stirring my drinks with my oversized side bangs anyway
I’m still going to tune in for KKY (and try to repress the growing amount of rage each time I watch one episode of it) but not enjoying it at all. I want to enjoy it. I really do. But I rage because the writing/direction (not sure who’s to blame) makes everyone feel and look a little off. And we’ve seen some of these actors nailing it in other projects, so we all know what they can do.
In other news: I’ve binge-watched Killer Paradox and completely loved it. (which seems to be an exception in the DB community, so as usual, I’m going against the trends without even noticing it)
Been loving Semantic Error: The Movie as well. Watched it after @ceciliedk reminded me it existed. I appreciate it’s classed as BL, but I thought the story would fit any type of romantic relationship. All characters were so superbly fluid and natural. Lee Ji-ah permanent goldfish expressiveness (expressive-less-ness) and emotionless kiss of doom (it’s like a truck of doom but worse because it’s supposed to be good and, OMG, it was so bad) could learn a few tips from the cast.
Aaaaah so much stuff to write about, so little time!
OK, now that I have caught up on the next 2 episodes, the kiss of doom was indeed just designed to be a fake kiss of doom with no contact what-so-ever. Okay, Kim Sa-ra, you are forgiven this time.
Is everyone else mentally calling other Beanies chingu or am I the only deluded one here? Not that it would bother me. As they say on social platforms delulu is the solulu (I cringe just typing that)
No not just you, me too sometimes! and HAHAH i love the delulu is the solulu ‘movement, it’s my official 2024 motto (I say official because that’s unofficially how I’ve been living through the last couple of years) 😂
Forget Attorney Woo, Han-eul might be the new neurospicy character for 2024
Ok, I take it slightly back. Do not forget Attorney Woo. But ignore for a brief moment the hyper cliché-isation of autism.
Don’t get me wrong. Attorney Woo is great.
Secondary Voice
Especially her cardigan and Playmobil haircut.
But relatable, she is not. I hear you. Cecee, she has autism. She shouldn’t be relatable. She exists to show a new perspective of how life is neurodivergent demographics. I get your point but I will completely ignore it because it’s much easier than having to come back with an intelligent argument.
Third Voice
If anything, I am profoundly honest about my dishonesty. It’s the level of ambivalent feelings I aspire to.
I strongly suspect that Ha-neul is coming in strong to deprive Attorney Woo of her neurospicy crown. But there are also a million other points I’d like to make so this may end up being a little messy.
Ha-neul and the magical neurospices
First of all, Han-eul only got a pinch of neurospices, unlike Attorney Woo who got the whole bucket along with the mandatory haircut.
Secondary Voice
I don’t even know why I’m making fun of her hair. She’s cute.
Third Voice
Probably because you can, Cecee, you evil, cold-hearted monster. Ah well… Nevermind.
There are a few instances during the past 6 episodes (and especially episodes 5 and 6 because the thought didn’t occur to me before) that could have pointed towards the neurofun direction. So, I’d put Han-eul as someone with autism too, but she doesn’t have as much difficulties functioning in a neurotypical society as others.
I give you exhibit A: A very closed social circle.
There are essentially 4 people in Han-eul’s life: Her mom, her uncle, her annoying brother, and her just-as-annoying-but-in-a-different-way friend.
This is followed by exhibit A.2: She’s not always very good when it comes to reading social cues. She does not pick up on Jeong-woo’s fear at the sight of blood or when he froze during CPR because she does not recognise the feeling. But her social circle is too small for her to have come across anything similar.
We also see her not making friends at school and completely failing to understand that the little kids in her primary school may not want to spend time solving maths problems.
Following on with exhibit B: She has very focused hobbies.
She loves reading dissertations (and frankly, this turns up to be useful, but there are some more popular hobbies out there). She does not just research and read dissertations out of intellectual curiosity. She is truly passionate about it because she is able to recall information she read out of the many many texts she’s been consuming over a period of years.
We’ve got another little nugget when she plays at the arcade. She only wants to play Tetris, and when she goes back to play alone, she also picks Tetris. Not that everyone with autism will prefer Tetris, but playing only one game is very much the neurodivergent fixation. Like when she rehearsed only one song.
Exhibit C may be a little surprising but bear with me on this one: She’s high masking.
What is masking? Essentially, the clue is in the name. It’s about putting on a facade to fit in as much as possible. In which ways is Han-eul masking?
I believe she is masking to blend in with her co-workers. She does not fit in as we notice on a few occasions before she quits. The team dinner makes the point clear. On the one hand, you could see it as Han-eul being isolated because people, and especially her Professor, are taking advantage of her. And it is completely correct, they are. But there’s more to it.
Neurodivergent people, especially those on the autism spectrum (but not just them) are more likely to be taken advantage of in the workplace because they take your word at face value. So, when we see the Professor appear in the first scene we already know he is a coward little shit. We’ve watched K dramas before, we know what those people look like. Han-eul is just coming to this conclusion after years of witnessing it.
But we know she has come to realise that people are using her with no intention of ever helping her. Neurodivergent people tend to have a high sense of justice. They may not notice that people are taking advantage immediately, but the day they notice they will most likely explode. Explosion, as it happens, does not necessarily look like the typical roll-on-the-floor-screaming meltdown. Han-eul internalises a lot of things because I think she doesn’t know how to talk about it in a neurotypical way.
To me, this is the reason why she accepts most requests because it is socially easier in terms of interactions to say yes than to refuse. If she is a masking neurodivergent, she will be prone to avoid difficult social situations, such as setting boundaries.
So, I think that when she kicks her Professor and resigns, it’s her explosion. She can’t hide anymore and refuses to take it in. But because she’s been masking up until now, it’s not just about the surgery incident but it’s about everything.
Another thing that makes me believe she is high-masking is because she struggles with depression and burnout, which is fairly common among high-maskers. How would you not exhaust yourself when you spend your entire life pretending to be someone else?
Exhibit D: Han-eul feels genuinely at a loss when she stops working
I don’t think it is only because she overworked herself. I think she’s been masking so much that she doesn’t even know who she truly is.
Exhibit E: She prefers to deal with her problems alone
Han-eul does not share her emotions with her family until after she’s reached the point when she can’t bear to ignore them anymore. And this is quite emblematic of many neurodivergent individuals.
Firstly, because they are not always sure of their own feelings. Han-eul doesn’t realise she is depressed. She doesn’t know that there’s something wrong with her. This isn’t just a neurodivergent trait, but it is more predominant among autistic people and high maskers because they try to repress so many emotions at the same time that they are not even in touch anymore with their feelings.
The other reason why she doesn’t share her emotions could also be because she doesn’t know how to. She has never needed to as a result of masking.
Exhibit F: She can be blunt if needs be
We’ve seen teenage Han-eul suggesting to her mother that they go to Seoul.
We also get to see Han-eul bluntly asking Jeong-woo if he’s got PTSD. Tact was not part of this conversation. But she was so concerned for his health that she did not let her social shyness and awkwardness get in the way (like she’s been doing on other occasions)
Exhibit H: Jeong-woo is more socially and emotionally aware than Han-eul
I put this one down to being a social butterfly with an EQ that isn’t negative, unlike dear Han-eul.
And I think this is key to establishing their connection because it is his ability to read everything that Han-eul doesn’t express openly that creates the sense of trust and comfort between them. For Han-eul, he is the first person who recognises her struggles and verbalises them (when he first lets her know he overheard her conversation with her mom and shows immediate understanding and respect for the diagnosis, when he reminds her that she is allowed to take a break, when he voices out the crushing feeling of failure she had for not getting in her preferred university, etc.) I believe one of the reasons why he rapidly becomes one of her favourite persons is because he can show her truly what she feels and help her process. And this is also something that is common in neurodivergent-neurotypical relationships and something we see as well in Attorney Woo.
Anyway, here are my thoughts of the day, written in a hurry with barely any time for all the voices and all the gifs. But you get the idea!
I empathized quite a bit with her not being able to stop talking about her feelings once she started articulating them and seeing that he could accept them…and I low-key loved Jeong-woo for following suit, quite quickly telling her that he had feelings for her as well, but then also saying, “But I’ll really say it later,” which pulled back the pressure of response. Some might say, “Didn’t you just SAY it? Why would you say it again later??” I felt it was truly kind and caring of him.
Absolutely – I love this about him. He is, thankfully, emotionally astute for both of them.
And I love that they both carry each other through showing & owning their vulnerabilities. It’s an eternal mirroring bond in a way.
Even when they first cry together, even though it might have been designed as a funny scene, Ha-neul starts and because she leads the way, Jeong-woo tears up too.
She first confesses her feelings, and he mirrors her too (and I love the way he does it and admits that she is as much his comfort and healing as he is hers).
On this point, btw, I get it, it’s a rom-com, so this has to be love. But honestly, just a healing friendship, and one that seems to be the first mutually beneficial, understanding and accepting friendship they’ve ever had, would have been beautiful enough.
Exactly. On this point, there’s another thing I really liked about both of their emotional statements: They are each very ambivalent (a term I am frankly impressed that this show has defined accurately as feeling two ways at once, rather than “flip-flopping”) about how they’re feeling and neither of them want to commit to the fact that this is “love” like a rom-com would have it. It could be friendship; it could be mirroring attachment; it could be sexual attraction; it could be (even) a childish search for unconditional love…they’ve both stated that they’re neither of them sure. He, because he’s all distracted and caught up in this other more pressing trauma, and she, because she appears not to be used to interpreting the signals her body and mind are creating as emotions/affect rather than simply physical sensations. At least, that seems plausible to me!
Same to me. I get that given the drama it will need to be love, but it doesn’t have to be. At that point, they are acting as each other’s life-saving jacket and I really like the way they constantly stand up for each other because I really see it as a mirroring phenomenon. “I’m being there for you because nobody was for me.” And there is no expectation that the other should help in return, but the other mirrors their needs and desires to care for someone the exact way they would have needed someone to care for them.
That was a beautiful thing you wrote there. If I was one to easily cry, I would’ve.
***
And as in most K-dramas where autistic traits are represented, I don’t think we will be hearing about a diagnosis.
Also, usually there is not as much masking – and also, it is rarely a woman, Woo being of course a prominent exception to that rule.
I’m half suspected they ended up writing a hyper realistic autistic and relatable character by accident. It’s almost as if they never realised the character was autistic and that is all the most realistic to me, because it makes perfect sense to me that Ha-neul would not even know she is neurodivergent. How would she know when her entire life was focused on being the best rather than being herself (she can be both, naturally)?
How would she know if the writers didn’t even know?
But also, lots of people don’t know it, if they manage at all. They may know they are different – e.g. friends are a really difficult thing – but otherwise, they are just seen as a little different – and difficulties will be seen as half laziness by others.
Laziness, naughtiness, arrogance, … whatever it looks like if you don’t know about it.
I really love this Cecee, thank you for sharing 💕! I wish I had something intellectual to add, but alas I’m coming up blank but I had to come here to say that I very much enjoyed reading this take, and all your observations that came with it. Makes me want to go back and watch scenes again to appreciate the dynamic between Jeong-woo and Han-eul!!
I shall! 🙂 (seriously, I’m too lazy to look for emojis when I’m writing on laptop – well technically a computer, but saying computer does sound like I’ve just come from the 1980s — sorry for the old-fashioned smileys)
Not sure if you wrote about it and I have missed it, but there are instances when Ha-eul says something that is somewhat insensitive and brutally honest, but does not reflect her personality. e.g her snoozing when Jong-woo goes on his speech about being in debt or telling Hong-rang that she is not interested in Hong-rang’s dating life. I am nearly sure those are to some degree autistic traits as well.
As for the Attorney Woo, I think I once made a post on how autistic characters in media are always portrayed as variations of Rain man, by being at the highest point of the spectrum and having the traits of a genius. *eye roll*
Yes, brutal honesty. I mentioned the bit where she just blurts out to Jeong-woo: You’ve got PTSD (which would be the absolutely last thing to say to someone who has PTSD but she’s so focused on sharing it that she doesn’t even notice how blunt it comes out)
She can also be brutally blunt with her aunts (especially as a teen) or even when she tells Hong-rae to leave her alone so she can have peace.
And totally agree with you, those seem to be autistic traits to me too. They are more prominently shown in Attorney Woo (who is unmasked to be point of being terrifyingly unhinged at times), but we get some glimpses with Ha-neul when she is either mentally exhausted by her surroundings and cannot mask anymore or when she is feeling more confident with the person.
And I do like Attorney Woo because she’s insanely cute. But I think she is the most unrelated autistic person you could get (or Rain Man like you say) *joins you in the eye rolling competition*
Ha-neul feels much more realistic, especially nowadays where so many undiagnosed high functioning autistic people are struggling like her without even knowing why. I really like Ha-neul.
One of the best things I have read in a long time @Cecee. I wrote my thoughts on the recap page (just to keep them in one place, I get lost when I open DB and have 55 notifications to leaf through) but everything you said is pure gold.
So looking forward to your analysis of Ha-Neul after episodes 7-8 dropped this weekend. What’s a guy to do without his “candy in a salty pond” or “bracken & chocolate”? (Good thing for Ha-Neul that the HS classmate, aka cameo by Lee Sung-Kyung, has come and gone!)
Wondering what other issues of Ha-Neul will be revealed in 9-10….
I might wait another week so I have a little more material to review in order to further confirm or simply reject the hypothesis.
The end of Ep 8 (only caught through social media feeds so far) feels more “normal” for someone with depression and little to none sense of self-worth (which is great because it briefly felt like the drama forgot about her mental health) but I haven’t seen enough to make the neurodivergent call yet!
My bad, I misread and put my words instead of yours… I intend to spend many happy days showing off my new fancy Goblin’s pants. It was the level I aspired to the moment I realised it existed (because why not? If you can be anything, be pants — new life goal unlocked)
Congratulations on leveling up to not pants but, in the vernacular of kdrama, panties! 🩲🩳🩲
I couldn’t believe when Chaebol Lawyer MIL yelled at FL for no longer ironing her husband’s panties in QofD1 🤦🏼♀️
Please Marry My Nutella-Sandwich Bearing Husband Because Seriously I Fucking Can’t
I’ve learned one thing from my Latin classes at school. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes , in other words, don’t trust the Greeks even (and especially) when they bring a giant horse-shaped present.
Timeo virum meum et Nutella ferentes I fear my man even when he’s bearing Nutella.
I’d love to take screenshots or gif the scene
Secondary Voice
I’m lying, I’d hate it.
… but I haven’t figured out how to capture Amazon Prime screen on Mac.
Third Voice
When my 0.12 second Google search didn’t give me a pre-made solution, I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to do it
But if anybody is looking for a good gif, please let me direct you to @attiton, @ceciliedk and @cera who know and can be bothered to do all the ins and outs of giffing. Although I am not sure they have gifs of said Nutella and egg sandwich proposal of doom, but they’d certainly put more effort into making a gif than me.
(@ceciliedk – how come it isn’t on Amazon Prime by you? What a horrible tragedy)
Anyway, I’d have definitely rejected that particular proposal… But there is a Nutella sandwich here. There was an effort made. Ji-won, he made you a Nutella sandwich! We all know Nutella is the modern-day cure for all life’s ailments. Eat that little nutty beast to soak up the disappointment of a lame proposal.
Secondary Voice
Notice I didn’t say accept the proposal. You can munch in the meantime.
Third Voice
Given Min-hwan’s antics, I’d have suggested making him a necklace with the kitchen table. Slam it in his head and run. But eat that Nutella sandwich first.
Anyway… As lame goes, in the right circumstances, this would have been a perfectly sweet proposal. We are just told to hate it because we know Min-hwan is anything but a nice person. But, I’d argue that the same proposal in the hands of another character in another drama would have swayed more than one heart stomach.
Secondary Voice
Minus that bitch of an egg sandwich, of course. What sick mind imagines an egg sandwich will give them a free pass into someone’s pants?
Third Voice
Launching the worldwide campaign “Et tu, egge sandwiche?” where we are strongly encouraged to stab egg sandwiches viciously because they stab you first. It’s self-defence, and this is precisely what would have saved Caesar’s backside in the days. Proof that you can’t trust an egg sandwich, especially if its name is Brutus.
Is Min-hwan an egg sandwich too? No, Min-hwan is just the uncooked egg before it gets into the egg sandwich. He doesn’t even have the advantage of pretending the slices of bread are his spine. He’s a viscous little thing you wouldn’t want to touch with the sole of your shoes.
But is he really the psychopath Marry My Husband wants us to believe? Does he wear a black cap? Nope. Then he’s not a psychopath because we all know what psychopaths look like. Black mask. Black hat. Acting outrageously over the top sexy for their own knives. Or whatever they’ve got in the psycho toolkit box.
Min-hwan needs to get his villain act together. I was curious about whether his drama self differs much from the webtoon. So, I look for an English version of it online (for science). For what I’ve read so far, he seems fairly similar. Ji-won describes him as a psychopath. But, @manichan described him perfectly to a T.
Min Hwan is the classic entitled and spoiled only child who is also a son. He has never been called out on anything and thus rationalises everything that he does.
So, we’re not up against a fearsome monster. We’re up against a self-entitled dickhead.
Secondary Voice
I’ve got an uncle like that. His entire personality is purely built on self-entitled dickheadness.
Third Voice
Will Min-hwan ever get better? My uncle hasn’t. He’s only older and therefore can’t dedicate as much energy as he used to to being a dick. Min-hwan’s main quality by comparison is that revenge is coming for him.
Admittedly, his dickheadness is paired with Soo-min’s own brand of sick nastiness. She’s a much more interesting adversary because she is smart enough to manipulate those around her to her advantage. While Min-hwan doesn’t really need to manipulate (and when he tries, he has the subtlety of a masonry brick) because Mother Dear made sure he’d always have anything he wants. Min-hwan doesn’t need much brain to get what he wants (because it is usually served on a golden platter for him), and he makes it more than obvious. Cue to him celebrating sleeping with Soo-min at the gym, describing the deed as “hitting a homerun” openly with no further thoughts on the possible consequences on his reputation.
Secondary Voice
It’s more of a hole-in-one, Min-hwan…
So, it’s an interesting difference and one that seems to explain why Soo-min is such a formidable villain bitch because she, essentially, has to “work” to get what she wants. And frankly, she is phenomenally good at it.
The webtoon gives more insights into her thoughts but it is pretty obvious what she thinks and wants from any scene she’s in in the drama. But that borderline psychotic scene where she systematically erases Ji-won from every photo made me smile. Perfect representation of Soo-min’s mental age, which is somewhere around 15. Well done girl for staying young, not only in appearance but also in maturity, or more precisely lack of. Slow clap with a little punch in the middle of your face. Do I hate her? Absolutely not. There wouldn’t be any drama if she wasn’t there.
But nevertheless, that hair pulling scene with Ji-won still got me wishing for better action on the battlefield.
Secondary Voice
Ji-won, you can fling people. What the hell are you doing?
* chants FLING HER FLING HER FLING HER until it happens *
Third Voice
Honestly, by that point, I don’t care if Ji-won has got a sophisticated plan. Flinging Soo-min head first into the dirt would be immensely satisfying for viewers. Think of the ratings!
I’m actually surprised the company can get away with this completely insane nature workshop. When you think about it, it is anything but a success.
Employees are made to literally hunt and fight for the right to sleep comfortably at night. This is what those flags are for.
Secondary Voice
U&K, this is the opposite of a team-building event. It’s a team-destroying event.
Third Voice
Fastest way to get me to resign from any role. Tell me I’m going tok spend a weekend in nature with my coworkers and I might get to sleep in a tent if I’m lucky… Nope. You’d have never seen a resignation letter written that fast.
They planted a flag in the middle of the water, and I love how panicked they are to realise that it may be dangerous.
Secondary Voice
No shit? You think?
“The water is deep. People shouldn’t go.”
At that point, if you need to tell them, they are probably not mentally fit to work in an office either. But it doesn’t matter because Ji-won is determined to kill herself before Soo-min and Min-hwan can get to her, so she jumps into the water.
Secondary Voice
Thankfully, Ji-won is working overtime to prove that Darwin’s theory of natural selection can also apply to her.
How can you drown in a metre of water, Ji-won? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!
Third Voice
More importantly, why did you dress like a psychopath on the loose? Black hat, black clothes… Ji-won, who did you kill?
Yet, she is saved once again by — would you believe it? — Ji-hyuk, who should send her an invoice for his personal bodyguarding services, given that he’s saved her approximately a million times already.
She is grateful to him, and she also reminds him that she doesn’t need anybody’s help because she’s not Soo-min. Don’t be silly, Ji-won.
Secondary Voice
You’ve drowned in a shallow body of water. You need help, girl.
The conversation goes approximately like this:
“Ji-won, exactly how stupid are you? How can you even manage to drown here? Do you need basic standing classes on top of the judo lessons?”
“I am not Soo-min!”
“Yer, I know. She’s too busy flirting with your future killer to drown in puddles.”
* shakes Ji-won violently to see if her contact lenses fall off. They don’t. *
Third Voice
Ji-hyuk, I am as frustrated as you.
Did she seriously come back 10 years into the past to play in puddles? Yes, she did. Puddles are all part the plan. Because, Ji-won has a plan. She’s got one hell of a plotting mind.
And, what’s more surprising, is that she seems to be naturally gifted at the whole plotting thing. She can see several moves ahead, which as a time traveller she’d be able to do anyway, but she can also figure out how the changes she is making to her timeline will affect her preys. Apparently, a part of her plan was to wear a white/cream skirt at an outdoors camping outing.
Secondary Voice
Someone’s got faith in their washing machine.
Third Voice
This probably confirms what her choice of outfit for the flag fishing revealed. Ji-won has…[Read more]
Omo. 😂😂😂 I think this is my favorite Cecee post yet. I am wiping away tears of laughter. And so on point. If we were to ever have an official drama roast, you would be my choice to headline it. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I see you accidentally clicked on Kidnapping Day again. 😊
Nutella is chocolate after all (we hope) and therefore irresistible (we hope some more) but this was the weirdest use of Nutella on an open / deconstructed sandwich.
Ji-won’s revenge of course is going down the boiled turnip road it seems. Sigh, after that promising start we had hopes!!
The Amazon Prime interface on the PS is one of the worst things known to mankind!
I landed on Zombie for Sale in another accident (which I don’t regret because this was the funniest zombie film I’ve seen so far, with Kim Nam-gil, Park In-hwan, Jung Jae-jung, Jung Ga-ram, Lee Soo Kyung, and Uhm Ji-won and many other famous faces)
Ji-won has not yet moved to the boiled stage of the turnip saga, ha! She’s taking a more active role in the revenge… but at the same point, why does she have to make it slow and long-winded?
Well Amazon is always having some sales and this 1+1 combo in dramas is a good deal!
Maybe if she has her revenge in the next episode what will we do for the remaining episodes so yes … seems she is letting then stew for a while.
Just cured my For-Fuck’s-Sake-Who-Wrote-That-Crappy-Script-itis by accidentally stumbling upon The Odd Family:Zombie On/For Sale and I have been happily cackling since 🙂
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 8:38 AM
Oh, I’ve stopped being falsely accused!
Midnight
October 10, 2024 at 9:18 AM
Congrats!
Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
October 10, 2024 at 9:19 AM
Congrats!!! 🥳
Although, I hope you’re ready for the arduous journey ahead of the Errand Boy (Girl/Person) 💪🏻💪🏻
Many of us have already been where you are now, so don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions!! I promise, we don’t bite 🥰😘
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 9:26 AM
Thank you! I’ll pack my little socks and my little shoes ready for all errands of boyhood… whatever that may look like!
HopefulRomantic 🦋 Tigermoth 🦞
October 10, 2024 at 11:36 AM
Woohoo!!! Congratulations!!!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
October 10, 2024 at 12:28 PM
🩷🥰 Congratulations!! 🥳 Here is your scooter 🛵 to run errands and a notepad 📝 to keep track of them.
Healer’s
October 10, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Congratulations 💐
I was about to ask if we would start to hear your different voices again then I scrolled a little down and saw your other post 🙂
korfan
October 11, 2024 at 2:16 AM
Yay! Congratulations!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 8:35 AM
Black Out OR The Village That Sent To Prison The Only Person Who Didn’t Commit a Crime
I confess… I might have read the original Schneewittchen muss sterben a long while back. I don’t remember any of it.
Secondary Voice
I was about to say again that my memory is like a gruyère. But, it turns out that what I was calling gruyère is a flipping emmental.
Third Voice
Whatever the cheese, it’s meant to be eaten… That would probably explain why I had no recollection of the crime novel despite finding the book in its original German version at the back of my bookshelf.
Fourth Voice
Perhaps this is a blackout, and I am about to be arrested for all the crimes my neighbours have committed and pinned on me? It wouldn’t be surprising. The lady next door looks shifty AF.
Anyway… Back to Jung-woo.
So, I have some thoughts. When I say thoughts, I mean mildly passionate rants. When I say some… I’m not too sure how many I mean (and how many of those will make it past my innate laziness and make their way onto the screen).
DON’T TRUST ANYONE
I really liked the fact that you very rapidly discover that you can’t trust anyone from the village. I will make an exception for Sim Dong-min (Bo-yeong’s dad, and if I remember to actually explain why, I might even provide an explanation).
From the few first scenes when Jeong-woo comes out of prison, fake friend turned very real stalker Na-kyeom is the first to raise a whole bunch of red flags.
Seconday Voice
There are good and loyal friends… and then there’s Na-kyeom who already looks all shades of insane devotion from the start.
Third Voice
My general impression of adult Na-kyeom from the first 2 episodes:
I can’t say the rest of the episodes have particularly changed my impression.
So, while I was glad that Jung-woo wasn’t on his own, I didn’t want to trust her. Well done me; she’s proven to be completely deranged as the show progressed. Go Bo-gyeol has truly mastered the art of shifty sweetness. She’s been sending so many subtly suspicious vibes long before we finally knew why we couldn’t trust her character.
But the more we got to see, the more we knew we couldn’t really trust what anybody said in that village.
But there are precisely 3 exceptions in my eyes:
By exceptions, I don’t mean that I would trust their judgements on the situation. One walks around preaching that every criminal should be treated like a spawn of Satan, one doesn’t know anything but is still willing to jump on all the gossip stories, and the last one has been taking his grief and anger onto Jung-woo’s family ever since. As judgements go, those are pretty lousy.
But I certainly trust that they didn’t have anything to do with the murders and that they don’t know anything about them either. So, as such, these are the only characters who don’t seem to hide any truth from the start.
SOMEONE TURN THAT WAREHOUSE INTO AN AIRBNB RENTAL
Just imagine how much money Jung-woo’s family would have made!
The warehouse is the main crime scene. Not entirely in the case of Bo-yeong, because she is at the receiving end of multiple criminal offences and the one that ends her life takes place in a car boot. But still, the crime that gets her in the boot in the first place happens in the warehouse.
Secondary Voice
See how tactful I am here? That’s not tact. I’m not spelling out the crime in case that specific word is forbidden territory when posting on here.
Da-eun got wrenched in the warehouse by Professor Park. In all good Cluedo game fashion, though, Professor Park still holds most of the cards, including the murder weapon, courtesy of Na-kyeom (who is not just a sweet psycho but also an astute blackmailer)
For Cluedo fans, here’s a young Tim Curry teaching you how to solve a murder.
Anyway, everyone has been using that warehouse to do their little business, whether it is sex or death.
Secondary Voice
In true Eddie Izzard’s fashion, this should be the new motto for Church of England: Sex or Death?
Third Voice
Someone’s been misreading the Church of England pamphlets again. It’s not AND, it’s OR. Bunch of illiterate, those villagers.
Interestingly enough, it turns out that the Church of England launched all its sex and death marketing campaigns on the same night.
Secondary Voice
Kids, don’t drink like Jung-woo. You’ll end up missing all the fun.
Yet, eleven years later, I note that there still was not a single church of England in there. They don’t seem to run that strategy anymore, though, so let’s hope they found a more impactful way to talk about the body of Christ without cultivating corpses all over the place. Not that I care, I’m not religious myself. I just don’t think that the sex or death is really going to catch on.
Nevertheless, if Mama and Papa Jung-woo had set up a rental service to manage their warehouse, they would have been able to resolve those murders way sooner!
Also, they’d have been even richer, given that it seems to be everybody’s favourite random spot for suspicious activities.
Got a suicide party planned? Dial 1-800-warehouse to book. Free rope included.
Need to sexually assault a schoolgirl? 1-800-warehouse, press 2 for more options.
Looking to cheat on your wife and murder your mistress? No problem, our team is here to help at 1-800-warehouse.
BLAME: DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT
This section will be a series of completely inaccurate lines said by the different characters. I didn’t write those lines down, but if memory serves, the general idea should be vaguely correct.
Seconday Voice
Did I, emmental memory girl, just say “if memory serves”?
Third Voice
Don’t trust anything I write here. I might be inventing half of those and not even notice.
***
Dong-min pushing Jung Geum-hee (Jung-woo’s mum) off the overpass: “It’s all your fault that your murderer child is out and alive and mine is dead.”
Dong-min, aiming a gun at Jung-woo, the alleged murderer of his daughter and NOT shooting.
Now, that’s interesting, because we see later on that he doesn’t hesitate to shoot to avenge his daughter. But he doesn’t shoot Jung-woo.
Was Dong-min somehow, in the back of his alcohol-soaked brain, still not 100% convinced that Jung-woo was the murderer?
Secondary Voice
But he still threw Geum-hee off the overpass for lols?
Third Voice
Dong-min, that isn’t what people mean when they say to cover all your bases.
***
*
***
Jae-hee (Dong-min’s wife) to King of Crooked Cop Gu-tak: “We killed Bo-yeong.”
Ahem… Jae-hee, let me explain it to you briefly, girl.
On the one hand, you have an affair with Gu-tak.
On the other hand, Bo-yeong gets assaulted by school friends before the parent of one of those friends explodes her skull with a shovel.
See the logical connection here?
No, me neither.
Secondary Voice
Logic games are not Jae-hee’s forte. She probably sucks in escape rooms.
Third Voice
Stop being an overdramatic git, Jae-hee.
***
*
***
Min-su blaming Byeong-mo for assaulting Bo-yeong: “I tried to stop him.”
Secondary Voice
The hell you did
“He made me do it”
Secondary Voice
Do you mean he forcibly gave you an erection, overpowered you and then shoved said erection into Bo-yeong? Because unless this is exactly what happened, he did not make you do it.
***
*
***
Geon-oh (one of the twins sent to the US) in his suicide letter left to Gu-tak: “This is your fault I die”
I don’t want to clean Gu-tak of his many faults and crimes. But this one is not entirely on him. Geon-oh is shown to be autonomous. In fact, he is autonomous enough to have lived in the States for 11 years. You’d think he’s probably physically and mentally able to reach out to a police station to explain the situation.
But Gu-tak is abusive and manipulative towards him when he tries to go and confess. Sure. He’s the only one with the brain cells in the family, so it’s easy to be abusive. Geon-oh doesn’t seem to have found one phone or email to get in touch with the SK police during the 11 years he spent in the US. He could have reached out to the authorities one level above Muncheon City to get the case reopened or at least voice out his concerns.
Secondary Voice
Here’s a man who doesn’t know about modern technology.
Third Voice
No wonder it took him 11 years to come back; he probably tried to build a raft and sail by himself.
Geon-oh, there were other ways… You didn’t even try to explore any of them, you silly twat.
***
*
***
Kim Hee-do somehow implying that Gu-tak manipulated him into concluding the investigation with Jung-woo as the main culprit:
Secondary Voice
Hee-do, I’m going to hold your hand when I say that: Your investigation sucked so much, Gu-tak didn’t even need to do anything.
[MORE IN COMMENTS]
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Hee-do has been single-IQ-digiting his way through life and the police force for at least the past 11 years, hanging onto his wrong conclusion like a drowning man onto a brick.
***
THE LOCAL AUTISTIC CRIME FANATIC
There are two people who know almost exactly what happened 11 years ago. One of those is Hyun Su-oh, Gu-tak’s son and Geon-oh’s twin brother.
The other one is Na-kyeom, who seemed to have a talent for crime management services on top of being creepily sweet.
Su-oh sat not just through one crime at the warehouse, but two, the same night. I can’t say I’m surprised he prefers to spend his time in the greenhouse now. It may not be entirely corpse-free, but there’s definitely a lot less going on.
How fast would things have been resolved if someone had paid a little more attention to Su-oh? Mind you, it’s not that nobody is paying attention to him. They’re just using his drawings as an easy blackmailing device, threatening each other with a piece of drawing.
“Su-oh drew you there”
“Uno Reverse: Su-oh drew YOU there too.”
But what I find somehow endearing about Su-oh is his corpse book club. If you’re new to it, it’s fairly easy to set your own club up:
Secondary Voice
Sounds pretty fun to me, especially the implied bit that you don’t necessarily need to have a pretend-smart debate about the book when you’re done.
Third Voice
Corpses aren’t renowned for their opinions on books.
I’d also like to know what Su-oh’s mum thought she was doing when she built him a secret basement.
“Here, son, for all your future corpse needs.”
But, perhaps, the most moving part of Su-oh’s arc is that he ends up under Geum-hee’s care once the case is concluded. Geum-hee, as we are shown, runs a restaurant. And we all know what that means: A fancy cold room! Perfect for fresh and less fresh meat conservation. So, I’m really pleased that Su-oh has everything he needs to start a new corpse book club. It’s nice to have hobbies.
SANG-CHEOL, THE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DETECTIVE
Sang-cheol is one character who needs a lot of time to warm up and move past his prejudiced mindset…. But that is probably part of the fun because otherwise, they would have solved the whole case in an episode. So, I’m giving him the benefit of the narrative. He needs to be a prejudiced dickhead because plot.
However, there are some truly beautiful little scenes once Sang-Cheol remembers that he doesn’t need to be a dick to Jung-woo 24/7.
[ALMOST DONE]
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 8:37 AM
For a start, he is someone who doesn’t trust anyone, and that includes the rest of the policeforce. He questions and challenges literally everyone. In a way, it’s surprising he doesn’t come to the conclusion the initial investigation was flawed sooner.
Secondary Voice
Cecee, stop messing with the plot.
My favourite moment, perhaps, is when Sang-cheol decides to take Jung-woo to a safe place before telling him that Geon-oh is dead.
Secondary Voice
Here’s the glimpse of emotional intelligence we were all waiting for.
The next thing you know, Sang-cheol is cooking ramyeon and sharing his murder board with Jung-woo.
Secondary Voice
Sorry, your friend’s dead. Don’t be sad, though; you’ve got more friends who are dead. Check my murder mood board.
Third Voice
Here lies the EQ glimpse.
Fourth Voice
Also murder board and ramyeon, those are really mixed messages, Sang-cheol!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 8:37 AM
FINALLY DONE!
For some reason, there was no “read more” available.
alasecond
October 10, 2024 at 9:27 AM
Different Strokes!!!
He was so cute..
A few days back was reading on how everyone on that show met a horrible death… it was such a nice series
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 9:40 AM
It really felt like the 3 “kids” came into fame without any support system.
Are they all dead? I thought Bridges/Willis Jackson was still alive? Not sure though 🤷🏻♀️
alasecond
October 10, 2024 at 9:54 AM
older brother is alive.. the girl had a horrible life, reduced to being a p*rn star.. our cutie pie died with cancer or sthg..
interesting fact/weird rather.. almost everyone from bewitched set died of cancer.. its like jinxes do exist
🌸 Seeker 🌸
October 10, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Very happy to see Cecee rule the Fanwall with all her voices. Welcome back my dear. We love reading your posts. 😊😘🙏
Cecee is done DramaQueening
October 10, 2024 at 1:39 PM
😊 awww thank you
Cecee is done DramaQueening
August 22, 2024 at 3:30 AM
I’m back. I missed it.
Healer’s
August 22, 2024 at 3:38 AM
Yay, welcome back 🩵 💐
I’ve missed you.
Isa is always time travelling
August 22, 2024 at 3:53 AM
Welcome back! 🤗
🌸 Seeker 🌸
August 22, 2024 at 5:39 AM
Thank you!! 🤩 *warm hugs* 🥰 🤗❤️
Cecee is done DramaQueening
August 22, 2024 at 8:40 AM
☺️🤗
Anne18
August 22, 2024 at 6:47 AM
Is there a black spot on your kitty’s (what’s his/ her name btw) nose 👀?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
August 22, 2024 at 8:40 AM
Yes! his very own beauty spot (correction, beauty smudge)
This is Hector. He is everywhere you don’t want him to be.
Anne18
August 22, 2024 at 8:56 AM
The picture is too small, but I think I can also see a mischievous smirk on Hector!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
September 2, 2024 at 6:31 AM
Reminds me, just today I saw a short with some Tuber who build her cat an outside … a big cage, after finding out that all those little dots on her window was from that cat pressing her little nose longingly against the window all day while the owner was away at work and other animals were outside.
(I once knew a woman who had her whole garnde enclosed with chicken wire so that her seven breeder cats could play outside. They were Assyrian and Somalian. Since there is allergies in my family, I’ll probably never get a cat, but if I could, I dream of having an Assyrian. I love cats, but the Assyrian cats I have met are the most beautiful and loving ones . 😍😍😍😻😻😻).
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
September 2, 2024 at 6:38 AM
Sorry! I mean Abyssinian! Those shorthaired, lioness-coloured, sphinx-slim, sliding-into-your-DMs “Hello, I will be your cape for tonight” cats.
… Cape for tonight because the first Abyssinian I met after asking for consent (Paws on my lap … is this okay – yes. Paws on my shoulders, carressing head to head … is this okay? Yes. ) … climbed onto my shoulders and found a position like it was an inflatable airtravelpillow around the back and sides of my neck and stayed there for some hours.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
September 2, 2024 at 10:32 AM
I briefly needed to scroll back to what I said. We’ve built a similar big chicken-wired cage with climbing and lounging bits for the same reason! Only accessible via a window, which means I and my non-existent fluff freeze throughout the winter while Hector (and his same-age brother Albert) enjoy a casual game of pigeon-watching in their little catio (like a patio but for meows)
Abyssinian cats are gorgeous! I’ve got standard black and white British shorthair cats, except they are taller than I expected. (Hector is a full meter long if you include the tail, which helps him to be anywhere and everywhere at the same time)
Oh, I so want my very own fluffable air travel pillow-cat (is this a pilmeow?) Did you not get some neck pain in the end?
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
September 2, 2024 at 12:53 PM
I did not get any neck pain from that very special pilmeow. I got a little heartache, though, falling for those cats. 😉
Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔
August 22, 2024 at 7:38 AM
Are all the voices back too?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
August 22, 2024 at 8:32 AM
All there, just biding their time for a good drama rant
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
August 22, 2024 at 5:17 PM
Welcome back☺️
korfan
August 23, 2024 at 12:33 AM
Welcome back!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 3, 2024 at 3:12 AM
You don’t deserve my voices if you force your words into my mouth and blame me for it
Healer’s
July 3, 2024 at 4:43 PM
We all came here with different life experiences, and I am always amazed by my fellow beanies’ knowledge and wisdom, from whom I’ve learnt so much, and in whom I’ve found kindred souls and drama buddies, who accepted me and loved me for who I am. I know I’m lacking in many things and I am always willing to change when the chance comes. Despite the differences in background and life experiences, I believe in the end, kindness is what matters the most. You are a kind person, Cecee ❤️
🌸 Seeker 🌸
July 3, 2024 at 7:44 PM
Thank you Cecee for you and all your voices. I have always enjoyed reading your views and hope to continue to do so. I cannot express it any better than Claire. Just like you have always been – be strong, be brave – and know that you are not alone. ❤ Hwaiting!!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 7:07 AM
1/4
You are a kind person…
This is funny, I don’t even know why I find it so triggering. First of all, thank you. This is appreciated. Can you believe how nice it feels to hear/read it? Probably not. You might imagine it, but it’s a lot more than you think.
But at the same time, one of my other voices rebels against it. I’ve always been a kind person. If anything, I’ve never stopped being kind. I’ve also never stopped being me. And that is precisely where the problem is.
I don’t even know which of the voices is talking today. All of them. They’re all feeling at the same time and they are exhausting me today. They are tearing me apart in all directions and frankly, I wish they’d take a little break for a while. They don’t, obviously, for the voices are bitches.
By the way, I call them the voices. This isn’t schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder. It’s always me, all of me(s), all the thoughts that come and fight to be on top of all the other ones, always at the same time. Because thoughts do not wait in line politely. Thoughts are the antichrist of the British queue. And down they go, each opening a new drawer in the infinite chest of drawers of my consciousness. I may be used to the noise, but today I’d like some peace.
Should I apologise to indy? I wondered. But at the same time, I felt immediately under attack. I share which dramas I’m watching and why, and this must have been triggering for her because she immediately loaded the bazooka. And the thing is that it was mindless. There was no mindful interaction with anything written because mindless is exactly what it was: a kneejerk reaction that is done without justification or care for the consequences. It was as if my liking the drama was a good enough reason for a passive aggressive attack.
Did I call her response mindless screaming? I did. She did mention screaming in one comment and it felt accurate. From where I sat, it was exactly that. I say I like something, just like other Beanies in the thread before, I share my highs and lows, and then out of the blue someone pops out of nowhere and cyber screams at me. I even tried to calm things down a little by asking her not to put words into my mouth that I hadn’t said. But she was dead set on forcing the words and perhaps all the insults she might have heard in her offline life from others into my mouth… and nope. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be blamed for that.
Do you know why? Well obviously because those aren’t my problems.
Also because it is tiring. It’s exhausting to have to constantly defend yourself when people have decided to misinterpret what you say or to take your thoughts like a personal attack against them.
It probably sounds like I’m whining or waving any excuse to play the victim. Maybe it would have been a lot easier not to answer and stay off DB. Initially, this is what I wanted to do. But I kept stupidly coming back and checking, hoping that someone would understand me, would hear me.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 7:09 AM
2/4
The hardest thing about being neurodivergent is that you don’t have a voice of your own that people truly hear. Perhaps that’s why I call all my thoughts the voices, in an effort to give myself at least one voice. This is stupid.
This is not self-pity. I’m not playing my imaginary violin to move the cyber crowds. Why should the cyber crowds care anyway? Because as you say, you’ve found people who have accepted you for who you are. I somehow convinced myself that I had. Not accepted necessarily. It’s not like I’m a walking red flag who can only bloom when she’s touched by love. What is in me that would be so unacceptable? Apart from my fucking brain that cannot, despite all my efforts and all those excruciatingly painful years of faking normalness, see the norm. What is the norm anyway? I don’t know precisely, but I can define them by its absence in my life. The norm is where the majority of thinkers converge. It is a subtle understanding that others share. Norms are what every scriptwriter refers to when they create a character who can read people’s minds just by observing their body language, for example. They’re just stating the commonly accepted norm. The scriptwriter writes that the FL crosses her arms to express her disapproval, and the viewers know exactly what is going on. But if you don’t relate to those norms, you can see a million other reasons for crossing her arms. She might be cold. She might be lost in thoughts. She might feel overwhelmed because her environment is too loud and she’s trying to self-hug. She might feel self-conscious because she thinks she looks fat in that top. She might be trying to hide a coffee stain she’s got on her blouse. This might be her comfortable resting position. She might find her arms heavy when they hang loose. All those would be acceptable reasons to me. This is my normal, and I find that my normal is not part of the accepted norm. Is it less valid? Well, I guess in the great scheme of things, we have to think democratically. We can’t constantly listen to the minorities, right? So, of course, my normal is less valid. I’m outnumbered. My 99 possible norms are the problem because they diverge from the one majority norm.
I’m pitiful when I put it like that. Not that I want to be pitiful. I’m still not playing my imaginary violin. What’s the point of playing it? It’ll only sound fake. You only play the violin if you know there’s someone who relates enough to be moved by your music. Otherwise, you just shut the fuck up and carry on. Carry on trying to explain yourself and your perception, and how you are not lying about what you saw and felt. But this is ironic. The more I explain sincerely, the less people believe me.
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 8:13 AM
I believe you, there’s nothing to not believe.
When I said “accepted me”, I was only talking about myself. It’s like when you enter a forum about Math, you should at least be good at Math, right? If you enter that forum purely out of your passion for Math without a sufficient background on Math, to be able to communicate with you, your team-mates would have to be more patient, and give you time to catch up with them. I’m not saying that anyone doing anyone else a favor here, but when your team-mates keep coming back to chat with you and lead you into interesting (Math) games, it means they appreciate you for who you are. I should have used appreciate instead of accept, but that was just another time I wasn’t good with words, nothing surprising here (it’s just a fact, I don’t want to be pitiful either).
So I see myself on DB like that. And I would have remained a lurker if not for those who heard me, understood me and encouraged me to voice my thoughts.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 7:09 AM
3/4
The more I try to share the full depth of the consciousness drawers, the more people assume I’m making up excuses or playing the pity card. You may also believe so, and I realise that the more I try to show you otherwise, the more it’s going to play against me. Am I fooling myself? Am I so deep into my chest of drawers-thoughts that I don’t even realise I’m the absolute opposite of a kind person and that you told me I was kind to bring me back to the right path? Am I that? I don’t see it. But maybe my brain is the arsehole and I’m the only one who doesn’t know.
In one of those times I came back to DB (how vain, Cecee, why did you check back? Did you expect a white knight to stand up for you, you pathetic git?), I spotted Indy’s post on her wall. It reminded me of that time I was working in an agency and all my coworkers were only communicating with me by email. I was sitting in the same room as them, literally at the desk directly next to them, but they never talked to me. They just sent emails with various questions and tasks. I complained about it in my one-to-one. I explained it made me feel isolated and excluded from the group. But I was told I was imagining things. And perhaps i was. So, the next time a coworker sent an email asking what the latest trends in the industry were, I replied with an email too: I listed a few informative articles for her to read about those trends and a few case studies to show how said trends were being applied in areas that were relevant to her. She stood up and ran dramatically to the toilet, leaving behind her a trail of 200db sobs. She complained that she felt hurt by me not talking directly to her, and then HR blamed me for it. My email was, as far as I could tell, friendly, polite, and extremely helpful. I was actually convinced that I had done a good job. I’ll never know why my complaints were ignored while hers was heard. But I suspect it’s got something to do with whoever can hurt the loudest. Somehow, the post made me think of that girl sobbing loudly in the toilet after receiving a list of carefully curated articles. I made the mistake of not being loud enough. For some reason, they assumed that me being quiet meant that 1) I didn’t hurt (despite having mentioned it) and 2) I was to blame.
Should I apologise to Indy? I really don’t want to. I didn’t want to hurt her, though. But I didn’t want to be bazooka’d and villified for no fucking good reason. I still don’t want that. And yet, I never get what I want. I don’t get to be heard either. I wasn’t the first one to cry loudly. I didn’t learn anything from that time at the agency. I’m always the quiet one who doesn’t realise that something is going wrong until it’s too late. I’m always the anti-norm, and believe me, I try. I try all the time not to be that. And whatever I do, things end up still a little fucked up.
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 9:08 AM
I think highly of both you and Indy. Both of you have made DB a more amazing place because of your insight and wisdom. I’m sad to see things turn out this way. My selfish self would keep wanting to read your thoughts about shows, but my rational self hopes both of you are at peace wherever you are. Do what you see fit, I trust you.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 7:10 AM
4/4
Why the hell am I overreacting? Calm your tits, Cecee, this is just a few online comments on a K-drama portal. But even though I keep telling myself that, I still don’t believe it. It’s another time where I’m not heard. It’s another time where I felt attacked first and I didn’t understand why, but everybody else seemed to understand and agree with the attack.
I’ve got all those voices, and nobody really gives a shit about hearing them because, no matter how entertaining they might be, they don’t speak words that seem worthy to listen to. I’ve got all those voices and today, they are screaming non stop and they feel scared, and alone, and beaten, and rebellious. One part of me was always looking forward to coming to DB, reading and sharing whenever I had the time. One part of me genuinely thought of DB as a great big world of chingus because it felt safe. Another part of me is laughing at the naivety of it all. Cecee, what the hell were you thinking? Why are you overreacting like an imbecile? The other part of me replies “because I am an imbecile”. And the many thoughts continue to fight in my head. And I just sit here and cry like an idiot. And I hate myself for it. And I hate that I initially wanted to explain my perception because it just made me sick to not be able to explain myself… but I also hate that I couldn’t let go of it. Somehow, I hate I have to do all that just to ease the cramps in my stomach. I also fear that I have ruined my safe place. I wanted just one person to see my side, but is it even possible? Besides, is my side actually worth seeing or caring about? Is there even a side? Am I making a mountain out of nothing? But it’s not the nothingness of it that matters. It’s the fact that it’s another nothing to add to the list of nothings where it feels nobody hears what I say, but only what they want to hear.
I’m tired of explaining. I’m not even sure it makes sense to anyone else. It does to me, but just because it does, does it make it understandable and worth sharing?
Part of me is absolutely terrified posting this because how will people react? Will they hate me for it? Will they just think I’m making it up? How can they know how sincere I am when all you see is my words on screen? Will they care? Should they care? But I wanted to empty those drawers so I can put more thoughts in my chest of consciousness. There are overwhelming unpleasant thoughts at the moment.
I want to keep my voices to myself for now. This is too tiring.
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 8:49 AM
It makes sense to me and I appreciate you sharing it. I admit I was waiting for it.
I’m not neurodivergent. But being the youngest in the family and with a not very bright mind, I had the whole youth having my opinions not really appreciated by my family, and even friends. My family love me, and they wanted me to get good grades and get into a good college, like the expectation of the kids by the parents in “Midnight romance in hagwon”. Getting good grades was all I needed to do, but unfortunately I wasn’t really good at that tbh. And because I wasn’t very good, I made peace with the fact that my opinions didn’t really matter. I guess it took me longer than many of my friends to let go of the insecurities to get to where I am now. Again, nothing grand, but at least I now know my place in the web of all the relationships I have in life. And (no preaching here, I’m just talking about myself) that’s why I often talk about how I’m willing to learn and to change, because I know I’m still uninformed in so many things, and I never refuse a chance to change that. But at the end of the day, I always think this is who I am at this point in time, I can’t offer anyone anything I don’t have at the moment, so don’t expect more from me, you may not love me, but don’t judge me or call me by a wrong name. That’s my thought, and that’s (I think) why I used the word accept.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 9:11 AM
There is so much in the word accept. There is the hope that you (this is a generic you by the way) are heard. There is the desire to fit in among a group of peers you value. There is the need to be seen as an equally valued individual (as much as you value them). There is the dream to be liked, or as you put it, appreciated, because who doesn’t want a little bit of love (whether platonic, intellectual, or whatever, there are so many types and we don’t need to get naked for most of them; also I’m cold, I want to keep my clothes on). There’s the demand to matter as much as others. There’s the cry to be allowed to be truly yourself without shame or mask, to come as you are like in the Nirvana song. So I sit right here with you, hoping to have all those boxes ticked all at once.
I didn’t know I was ND for a long time. I just thought I was broken. Now, obviously, I know that the “being broken” comes with a fairly useless diagnosis. it’s like explaining why I’ve always been working so hard and failing every single time at fitting in, but at the same time making sure I know that there’s nothing to be done because I’ll just continue failing at it. I didn’t even get a glittery sticker for it! But I can relate to what you say. I wasn’t heard for different reasons. And this is so frustrating because you feel like you have to do something to deserve being heard. I absolutely hate to admit it but I think I too constantly need to improve… It just takes me forever to spot the things I need to change… and it’s so so sooooooo tiring to make it better. But I like your thought. “this is who I am at the point in time”. I like it. I like that it also implies somehow that the greatest part of accepting comes from within. And frankly… just how? how do you do it? how do you even begin to walk on that path and embrace the thought that perhaps, right now, it’s still okay to be who I am and that welcoming a chance to change is not the same as hating myself who not being perfect…?
I’m going to figuratively dive into the pink BTS area and go “come be my teacher”
I might also die my hair grey to look like the halmoeni I sometimes sound like…
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 10:01 AM
You’ve explained that word so beautifully, which I couldn’t. I guess it was somewhere in the back of my mind that wasn’t clearly forming a shape.
I can’t claim to be an expert in this because I’m not, but I’m still sharing with your my experience. I’m truly blessed to be surrounded by people who love me and care about me. My perspectives are often different from theirs, but they are all good and honest people, my family, my friends, my colleagues. I can’t really tell at which point I started to stop hating myself, probably a little bit when I stopped regretting failures in the past (because if not for them, how could I have learnt to be humble and empathetic – that was my rationale), a little bit when I stopped dwelling on humiliation in the past (when I came to learn that when someone is rude to me, they reveal who they are rather than who I am), a good deal when I realised my kids love me unconditionally, a little bit when I realised I can make others smile and I can contribute. And if I have to pick a turning point, it must be when I came to think that I didn’t need others to understand me anymore, as long as I understand myself. This probably sounds impractical and cliché, but people can agree to disagree, they just need to do it in a civil way. Love and good relationships are rare and precious, and I hold onto those. Other than that, I choose to back off, I avoid confrontation when I can. Others can think of me as resigned and cowardly, that’s ok, because I don’t think it’s cowardly, and resigned is not a bad thing. I mentioned kindness, because I believe if kindness underlies everything, then all is good.
Anne18
July 4, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Dear Cecee, forgive me for being so late. You had been so kind to me last year as a new-ish beanie, yet I couldn’t get back to you sooner. First of all, I believe you. And I believe I am not alone, WE believe you! We believe in your right to freely express yourself here – all your opinions and emotions. And I believed in that right when you aired that opinion that day. I also believed in your right to defend your opinion. And while shock and emotional turmoil at the unexpected challenge you received might have led you to make a knee-jerk reaction, that reaction was human. Few words may have failed you, but we believed in your spirit. WE believe in the Cecee spirit! Your spirit reassures us that it is OKAY to have conflicting emotions about drama or life itself, and that it is okay to give all our different voices a space at the same time, that having multiple voices doesn’t make what we say less valid, it makes us more human.
Forgive me if I seem not be understanding what those voices mean to you (I think I will never be able to fully do that). Your voices seem beautiful to me, but it seems they also cause you a lot of pain and confusion. I am sorry that they did so this time. I am sorry for leaving you alone with them. But believe me, WE look forward to having those voices back in the same spirit that we have been used to for so long 🥳. We say this with understanding (whatever little we have) and belief for your voices! Thank you for sharing your emotions! They are as important to us as any other human emotions on this diverse wall are ❤❤❤
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 9:18 PM
💙💙💙
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 7:41 AM
Cecee, I care about you, that’s why I commented. I understand you (call me arrogant, but I do), that’s why I said you are a kind person. I said that because a kind person never means harm to anyone. I love to read your thoughts about the shows, because they are abstract, they discuss ideas, they don’t discuss people.
I said you are kind because that what I think about you. By no means did I mean to bring you back to the right path, because you don’t need that, and who am I to do that to anyone? I said that to let you know that you were heard and were understood. Nothing grand here because I’m just another beanie who isn’t even eloquent enough to fully express what she thinks, but even if it doesn’t mean much, I wanted to say I heard you and understood you.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
July 4, 2024 at 8:01 AM
🥹 thank you and sorry for misunderstanding
Healer’s
July 4, 2024 at 8:16 AM
❤️
Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔
July 6, 2024 at 12:16 AM
Ceecee, I read every word that you typed and I appreciate your honesty and point of view. I hear you!
I wish my thoughts were as clear and eloquent as yours. Most of the time, I don’t understand my own thoughts or actions.
I’m not equipped with the ability to take away your pain and stress. I wish I could.
I love the Ceecee kdrama rants and I can’t wait to see those again.
Best regards from Your biggest fan
Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔
July 6, 2024 at 12:18 AM
One more thing: your beanie level seems oddly accurate right now
Cecee is done DramaQueening
August 22, 2024 at 3:29 AM
Fuck yes!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
July 21, 2024 at 7:31 PM
Hi Cecee! I took a stroll around and found your wall all black and sad. So I have this for you
🦜🎵🎶🌼🌺🌸🌻🌻🌻💐🌹🌻🌻🌻🥀🌷🌹🪷🪷💐💐💐🎈🎞️🎂🧁🥧🍩🍪🍨🍧💃🏻🪭🪩🕺🏻
and also
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
July 22, 2024 at 4:43 AM
Also, in answer to another comment, about Dong-hee and the colour of her dress:
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1589744/#acomment-1589752
🙂
Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔
August 6, 2024 at 10:56 AM
I miss all of those little voices
Cecee is done DramaQueening
June 4, 2024 at 8:28 AM
DB-sunbaenim @attiton: I’ve finished On the Verge of Insanity and it’s been so much fun (including a creative rage pork belly strangulation)
This is my reminder to write about it at some point!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
June 4, 2024 at 8:29 AM
Not just the strangulation, I mean writing about the whole drama!
Seon-ha
June 4, 2024 at 1:14 PM
LOLOL. YAYAYAYAY! I very much look forward to your writing!!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 15, 2024 at 3:50 AM
Fabulastic rants are going unnoticed and it fills me with sadness on their behalf. Those baby rants came into the world full of dreams & hopes. Don’t break their little ranty hearts.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 15, 2024 at 3:53 AM
No never. Your posts are the stuff of dreams. I live to hear your many voices and see which drawer in the chest you’ve opened today.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 15, 2024 at 4:32 AM
*melting in a puddle of shy gratefulness*
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 15, 2024 at 4:47 AM
♥️😍
Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
May 15, 2024 at 10:19 AM
THIS ^
Seon-ha
May 15, 2024 at 6:14 AM
If you’re talking about your own rant, it was pushed off of the Beanies page less than an hour from the time of your posting and was pushed off the entire first page of the Fan Wall within six hours.
It is harder these days for folks to see any individual Fan Wall post, and most posts (not all) don’t engender much interactive conversation beyond agreement with the OP. It’s a different world, becoming much more like tumblr in both look and feel.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 15, 2024 at 6:22 AM
How? What? Where do you get all those statistics, Db-sunbaenim?
Tagging helps, but I also feel that for some people, it might get overwhelming to be tagged on everything that’s ever posted by all beanies. We’ve all got feathery nephews and nieces to watch, so there’s only so much attention span we can give! So I steer clear of tagging as much as possible unless it makes sense to.
I know, I sometimes have to scroll back through all the posts to catch up (and if I don’t do it, it’s lost forever) I still live in my imaginary world of engagement, but seriously it does take time to get one and watch enough so I get something vaguely intelligent to say. By the way, I haven’t forgotten that software engineer K-drama! Just need to get to it now
Seon-ha
May 15, 2024 at 6:29 AM
I just looked at your timestamp and counted :). There are three Fan Wall posts at a time on the Beanies page and around 20 on the first page of the Fan Wall itself. Always in descending chronological order.
I don’t think tagging necessarily helps, although Cecilie would be the bellwether there.I directly check people’s individual Fan Walls sometimes to make sure I didn’t miss something. Also, sometimes folks aren’t in the mood or don’t swing by on certain dates because they know that a particular show will have taken over. Also there are times of day when the sun is over one of the oceans and folks don’t check much too…
On the Verge of Insanity will be there when you need it…no rush on my part. Feel free to tag me if you like, but I’ll almost certainly see your post on my own 😉
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 15, 2024 at 6:40 AM
I read your comment. Upvoted it. Read again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. And then went to upvote it again… Talking about short attention span…
zindigo
May 15, 2024 at 7:53 AM
I agree with Seon-ha that there have been so many fan wall posts lately that individual ones are getting less attention. It’s disappointing when we’ve put a lot of time into the post, but for now I’m still enjoying the process of creation. And I do love all the creativity and insight from fellow beanies. But I get where you’re coming from.
And now, please allow me to elaborate on my deleted comment to your recent post…
When I starting reading this post the other day, I had been scrolling the beanie fan wall feed. Coincidentally, the post immediately above yours had created the very reaction you were talking about in the first few lines of your post, which caused me to laugh even harder at both posts and myself. I too work from home and many days it’s the beanie fan wall feed that keeps me going.
I’m also one of those people who has windows open all the time (even in winter), so my loud cackling is no doubt now known throughout my neighborhood as I’m not the only one who works from home and our houses are pretty close together and we’re often out walking as well, and … phew! LOL.
Also at said moment, I was distracted by something and left my desk. When I came back to my computer, I needed to get back to work and decided to delete my comment rather than providing this lengthy explanation of my reaction to the beginning of your post. Also, I didn’t want you to feel like I only liked your post because I was laughing about the previous one.
You see where I’m going with this, right?! 😂😂😂
I really enjoy your multi-voiced rants and will be sure to comment more thoroughly with the next one 🤗
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 15, 2024 at 9:51 AM
Awwww sharing the manic cackle with the neighbours! I have a similar issue: we’ve built a giant enclosure for the cats so they can go outside without killing the wildlife or getting run over. The only problem is that they can only get into their catio (patio for cats) through my office window, so said window is open most of the day all days. I share my cackle too. 🤣 I also freeze to almost death because I am not equipped with the same fluffiness as my cats
zindigo
May 15, 2024 at 4:57 PM
Now that’s dedication to the fur babies! 🐈💕
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 13, 2024 at 10:38 AM
Psychopathic musing from a sleepy head… and why everybody should think about psychopaths when they’re at work
No, seriously, don’t think about them when you’re at work.
Secondary Voice
Except if, like me, you work alone from home and are free to cackle away like a mad person.
Third Voice
*laughs and coughs and laughs some more and coughs some more in good old Psychopath Diary way*
Or maybe, seriously, do think about psychopaths because perhaps they don’t get half the love they clearly
deservecrave. Who knows? I’m not a psychopath myself.Secondary Voice
It’s okay, Cecee, if you work hard, one day, you too can become a good little psycho.
Third Voice
Don’t mind me. I’m just packing my imaginary little bag before heading to psycho school.
Have you noticed how popular the psychopath trope is? There’s always one, lurking somewhere with his little gloves and his cute little hair to go out and indulge in his little hobby deathing.
I demand gender equality in psychopathy
Don’t we all want little children to see representation in the gender they identify the most as? So, there is definitely one thing that hits me with all those psycho killers… The majority of those I’ve seen are male.
I’m saying the majority because there are some borderline psycho female characters in K-dramas.
See grandma of evilness, Kim Hae-sook, in Revenant strategically flexing her sociopathic tendencies. She is not a psychopath. She does have some form of guilt for her actions, and that’s precisely why she’s living in terror locked inside her huge manor house. We also see her explode and yell on the phone when under pressure. Now, a good little psychopath is someone who has nerves of steel, not nerves of brittle sugar glass, like Kim Hae-sook’s character.
The absolute best yell in the history of awkward phone conservations. It goes approximately like this:
Kim Tae-ri: Hello
Kim Hae-sook: AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
*hangs up*
Secondary Voice
Personally, I’ll be stealing that trick for the next time I get a scam call.
Third Voice
If you can’t cause emotional damage, at least go for eardrum damage. Kim Hae-sook way all the way, preferably at 200 decibels for best results.
Anyway, what was I saying before I got rudely interrupted by Kim Hae-sook?
Yes, we don’t get to see a lot of female psychopaths. I also strongly suspect that we have another one in the Memorist with Hwang Pil-seon, queen of i-am-bored-who-can-i-kill-today mindset. She’s played by Lee Hwi-hyang, who you might have spotted in Live Your Own Life. She’s also mastered the look of I-am-smiling-but-I-could-be-a-fucking-psycho-and-you-wouldn’t-know, so this probably makes her evil Mc Baddie of Evilness character in the Memorist 100% credible. And in good psychopath queen that she is, she knows no guilt, no shame, no stress, and she is absolutely delightful to be around, assuming you can ignore all the death threats. But what’s a little death threat and proxy strangulation between civilised haute society people?
Secondary Voice
Proxy violence is when you get yourself a butler who goes and physically half-strangles people when you’ve got your nails done and are waiting for them to dry. And she’ll still smile at you while the butler squeezes your throat. Psycho Queen with class
Third Voice
Where are the feminists when you need them? Hwang Pil-seon is working overtime to prove that even girls can be psychopaths! Round of applause!
Frankly, we don’t see enough female psychopaths. We see some pretty nasty female bullies, but it’s not the same thing. So, I did some digging—a whole 12 seconds on Google— and it turns out that there are female psychopaths and that they may not be as rare as we think, aka rarer than their male counterparts. They’re just better at avoiding detection. Also, unlike the typical psychopath drama trope, they are not all out there murdering from dawn to nightfall or nightfall to dawn, depending on their schedules.
Secondary Voice
Not that I’ve got anything against it. By all means, ladies, go and slaughter to your heart’s content if it makes a good K drama.
Third Voice
Cecee, chill out, we don’t encourage murder here.
Actually not all psychopaths go around knifing the life out of everything and everyone. They are destructive and favour self-gain. But, in K-dramaland, they do kill and their sole and entire purpose is to kill. So, please, bring out more psycho ladies. I’m ready for them.
Some of those psychos are not even real psychopaths
To quote any untrained university professor with a fake diploma,
Deatho ergo psychum.
He deaths therefore he psychos.
I don’t know about you, but this is a little too easy for me.
There are so many reasons to increase the body count in K-dramas, starting with plot holes and trucks of doom. But pinning a happy little psycho badge on the first murderer we come across feels lazy.
Secondary Voice
For a start, those trucks of doom would collapse under the weight of decades of accumulated badges.
Third Voice
Perhaps we can do a stamp card system instead? Your 6th corpse is free or something like that? I mean, those poor guys are working overtime just to get the plot moving, so a little consideration would be nice, I feel.
The one thing we know for sure about psychopaths is the absence of guilt and remorse. I’d be the first to admit that this is hugely practical if you want a career in murdering. No guilt, no nightmare, no problem. You might have 99 problems, but none of them are about your deathing hobby. And, if you’re a true psychopath, the count of problems shrinks as fast as you wave your blade. You might have had 99 problems when you started, but, hey would you believe it, you’re already down to 90 and the night is still young. Well played, my friend, well played. I hope you’ll continue all that well playing far away from me.
I am no expert, of course, but I don’t think that every black-hatted knife yielder is a psychopath in disguise.
And one who I think is not a psychopath, despite neat little Psychopathy Diary is Seo In-woo.
Seo In-woo and the never-ending childhood trauma
I’m not going to pretend he’s a nice guy. Yes, despite the cheeky wink. But there are some aspects of In-woo’s personality that don’t quite add up to the psycho portrait the drama paints.
First of all, if we think about it, psychopathy is part of the neurodiversity spectrum. You’ve got autism, ADHD, and settling comfortly between sensory overloads and executive dysfunction, there’s a charming chap with a little double-barrelled riffle.
Secondary Voice
Not my weapon of choice but you do you, In-woo, and you don’t let the nasty people make fun of you.
Third Voice
Never make fun of the guy with the big gun, kids.
Ultimately, psychopaths deviate from the expected social and cognitive behaviours. They don’t do it knowingly (at first) but because their brains process information differently… Not quite saying that a psychopath is an autist with a gun, but they do have some traits in common. I said some, do not make me say what I haven’t said.
Here’s a fun read if you are interested in precisely where they both overlap and where they don’t.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9709037/
Now, what does this have to do with childhood trauma, Cecee?
Secondary Voice
Thank you for asking, I was getting to it.
Third Voice
I’m lying. I was about to get distracted again.
Neurodivergence refers to the way the brain develops. If it’s neurodivergent, it’s not developing the way neurotypical brains do. What’s interesting about it is that, while we think a lot of it is not preventable, there are some cases where it could have been prevented.
For example, we believe that some individuals with ADHD-like symptoms may have developped this way as a result of a childhood trauma. Sure, it’s not a case of childhood trauma making you ADHD, but both trauma and ADHD can have a lot of common symptoms.
Now what about childhood trauma and psychopaths? We don’t know for sure, but an Italian study found that a large number of criminals who scored high on the psychopathy test also had a traumatic experience in childhood.
Fun fact, one of the guys who co-wrote the paper is called Vincenzo C. I don’t think he’s got ties with the mafia, but one can certainly hope.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871837/
The few bits we’ve seen from In-woo’s childhood indicate that dad was less of a parent to him and more of an affection-denyer. Already when In-woo was young, dad made it very clear that little bro would always be the favourite and had every right of dethroning In-woo from any of his benefits.
We do see a young In-woo trying to strangle baby bro, but what we don’t see is everything that drove him to this decision. So, if he was deprived of affection as radically as the flashbacks imply, I’m happy to bet on childhood trauma.
There are some instances where In-woo’s behaviour, a…[Read more]
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 13, 2024 at 10:43 AM
This would be one of the few times I manage to post something without completely screwing up the formatting.
Except for the links. I just left I had to disclose the seriousness of it all rather than hiding them in the text.
So, yay to me! Well done Cecee, you did not fuck it up
*pats self on shoulder*
zindigo
May 13, 2024 at 10:56 AM
Comment was deleted
Isa is always time travelling
May 13, 2024 at 11:00 AM
Great article!! It was fun. As the drama which inspired it 😊
Btw, I see your point and I agree.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 7, 2024 at 2:18 PM
Omo, I have lost my precious Goblin’s pants🩲!
*falls on ground screaming* Andwae!
Since when have I been a fugitive on the run for a crime I didn’t commit?
*orders running shoes from amazon*
zindigo
May 7, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Woohoo! Congrats!!
bbstl 🧹
May 7, 2024 at 6:03 PM
Oh my gosh, Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉
And, RUN!
Healer’s
May 7, 2024 at 6:48 PM
Congratulations, Cecee 💐
You would need a lawyer too 🙂
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 3:29 AM
I found one for only 1,000 won!
Healer’s
May 8, 2024 at 3:38 AM
Is he the one who received Baeksang yesterday?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 4:08 AM
Yes-yo
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 4:10 AM
Please don’t bring him along for lunch. He gets a big box nicely wrapped in pink silk cloth which is totally empty!! 🙀
Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
May 7, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Congratulations? 😉 Sorry you had to leave the comfort and safety of the underwear drawer and get flung out into the cold, hard world. Being a dramaland grown-up comes with all sorts of unexpected situations. You can do it!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 3:51 AM
And there I go, running aimlessly without my precious comfy pants. Life in dramaland is tough.
korfan
May 7, 2024 at 10:18 PM
Congratulations! Have fun on the run! 🙂
emsel
May 8, 2024 at 2:11 AM
There’s a wanted picture of you posted by Kdrama writers for picking apart their works and questioning their logic 🤣🤣 So, yeah fugitive on the run.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 3:26 AM
*runs away while cackling manically*
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 2:28 AM
Somebody’s rather happy that you have leveled up.
If he was the one chasing me, I’ll totally let myself be “caught” by him.
Let’s meet up when you’re free. I’ll treat you to a hot meal.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 3:27 AM
Thank you chinku!
Should I let Dong-wook oppa catch me first so I can bring him too?
I’m sure, if we ask nicely, he’ll correct our grammar for us.
Healer’s
May 8, 2024 at 3:39 AM
Dongwook oppa’s rule of thumb: put “요“ at the end of everything 🤣😂
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 3:54 AM
Yes please bring him along. Lee Dong-wook surrounded by three pretty girls Cecee, Claire and Cera is a good look!!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 4:07 AM
amen-yo to that-yo
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 4:22 AM
On another note, I feel myself salivating just looking at the tteokbokki gif…
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 4:51 AM
Same. 😂 And what is
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 4:53 AM
Contd/
* tteokbokki if not shared with friends.
Sorry pressed send before I could type tteokbokki. 🤣
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 8, 2024 at 5:01 AM
I do that sooo often on WhatsApp. Half way through typing a prosy answer and my stupid finger goes on and presses enter.
Most people wait patiently for the furious “…” to disappear so they can receive the second half of my answer.
Most people except my mum who will send a billion 3-word questions while I feverishly try to finish my answer. Drives me mad.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
May 8, 2024 at 5:30 AM
I contemplated deleting the first (incomplete) comment. Then went with having to type tteokbokki twice.
And thanks for your patience. 😘
HopefulRomantic 🦋 Tigermoth 🦞
May 8, 2024 at 3:23 AM
Congratulations on the level-up, Cecee!!! 🥳
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
May 8, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Congratulations on levelling up. It won’t be long before you are running Errands with the rest of the gang so see this time as the warm up for the running about.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
May 9, 2024 at 2:12 AM
*orders a second pair of running shoes in preparation*
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
May 20, 2024 at 5:39 AM
I am sure you are wearing those pants while on the run. Refugees need underwear too.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 24, 2024 at 10:11 AM
Hang on a second: Who’s actually watched Strangers From Hell?
I’m asking this because last time I posted something about Seo Moon-jo’s vibrant and completely caring personality (sorry, I mean absolutely not vibrant personality but there’s an element of care even though it is a little misplaced), I came across a long list of comments dissing the poor guy’s attempt at artistic dentistry (more on this later) and explaining that they haven’t watched the drama.
Baes… are you the same people who voted that you would rather live with your abusive in-laws rather than with psycho Lee Dong-wook in a run-down dorm? And you have no idea what Strangers From Hell is about?
Welcome to team “let me tell you all about that K-drama I have not watched”. I’m not watching Queen of Tears so, as you can guess, nobody is better prepared than me to diss the Hongs, and especially Hae-in whom I can not defend one bit… I know all my facts from not watching said K-drama so you can guess how useful they are.
Secondary Voice
All of my best opinions are completely and intentionally uninformed.
Third Voice
IMHO, information always ruins the whole opinion thing. I do not need my opinion to be based on facts. I want it to be based on the visceral feeling I get from an unrelated and contextless 0.1-second-long gif spotted somewhere online.
Fourth Voice
I hear you, and I hear myself too, but at the same time, my mind’s fixation is holding onto Strangers From Hell facts like a hungry dog on a bone. I will not let myself have a free-spirited opinion in peace. I am my worst enemy.
So anyway… let me bore you a little longer with some random facts that you did not ask for. I voted to share a dorm with Seo Moon-jo, aka psycho Lee Dong-wook. Not necessarily for the Lee Dong-wook-ness of it because the most interesting thing about Moon-jo is not being a lanky eye candy. That’s just the cherry on top. As it happens, I did watch Strangers From Hell so for once, I knew half of the facts, which is a lot more than usual.
It was a horribly exciting watch.
Not one single tear was shed.
Let me introduce to you, SFH, or to fit in the current title trend, Queen of Spears. Technically, there isn’t a single spear in it. But, somehow queen of the small dental extraction pliers, which would be more accurate, doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This was a fiery pit. A dreadful one… made by strangers
Doesn’t look like a safe and happy K drama
No. It’s not. It’s anything but.
But that’s what’s great about it. Originally, SFH is a webtoon, and it’s something you get to guess fairly quickly from some of the camera angles. Not that all webtoon-inspired K dramas turned out well but they tend to have a slightly more solid plot.
Secondary Voice
A Good Day to be a Dog is a fantastic example of how to fuck things up. Solid webtoon, tragic K-drama transcription.
Third Voice
At the other extreme of the scale, there’s Perfect Marriage Revenge which lost the plot halfway through the webtoon and got rescued by writer-nim Im Seo-ra’s commendable narrative power. Writer-nim, I’ll be looking for your next projects.
So, if you are going to give SFH a try, be prepared to know that there is a storyline and that it is fairly solid.
If, like me you found yourself at some point in your life reading philosophy books (forcibly in my case, but it still counts), you’ll appreciate the reference to Sartre’s “Hell is other people”. And SFH does a great job at putting in gritty images what Sartre put into a play.
Yet, don’t be fooled. Hell does not hide just inside the Eden goshiwon alongside everybody’s favourite 80s-born eye candy and his little scalpel. No. Hell is everywhere and in almost everyone our main character, Yoon Jong-woo (eye candy number two, but more pocket-sized than LDG) gets to meet.
By the way, “Hell is other people” is the literal translation of the webtoon and K-drama title. 타인은 지옥이다 (ta-in-eun ji-og-i-da, if you want to read it aloud). Other people is hell itself… and yes, after struggling through a lot of poorly written K-drama plots, 타인은 지옥이죠 indeed. I have a little list of names if anybody wants to discuss hellish writers with me.
The plot
We follow Jong-woo, aspiring writer, as he moves to Seoul to start a seriously underpaid internship at a former classmate’s business and get closer to his girlfriend, who already lives and works in Seoul.
Jong-woo ends up picking the most affordable place for his budget, Eden dorm. There is absolutely no secret as to why the rent is so cheap, cue to the mould on his bedroom wall and ceiling. The neighbours are not exactly the friendliest either. They’re creepy and they set you on edge as soon as you look at them.
But there is one friendly neighbour who appears the most normal of the lot and who shares common interests with Jong-woo, Moon-jo.
It’s not so much the fact they may share a favourite writer. What’s interesting is the fact Moon-jo immediately sees himself in the new dorm-mate.
And this is where things get interesting. Moon-jo has zero interest in killing Jong-woo. He wants to make a mini-me. He’s also got a good sense of Jong-woo’s natural potential, and we find out more about it as the story progresses.
New tenants who join the goshiwon are not there to become new preys for Moon-jo. They become students that he nurtures. Just saying, if you were to share a dorm with psycho LDW, you wouldn’t necessarily end up at the pointy end of the knife.
Also, can we just admire the glorious camera angle here. This almost feels like a scene out of a love story. They slowly turn toward each other. A pause. A soft line spoken in a soft voice. ”You are like me”, he says. It just needs a kiss to be perfect. The romance you didn’t know you needed.
Moon-jo has got some fantastic lines that sometimes sound like he’s stolen them from a romantic K-drama.
Jagiya
Enough said.
If you need only one reason to watch SFH, let this be LDW jakiya-ing everyone in sight in it in the most unsettling way.
For some reason, this tickles my funny bone.
The cast
Aside from the main leads, we’ve got a lot of known faces. I’m only going to show some of them because there are only so many gifs one wants to make.
Secondary Voice
It is rather distressful to admit that I can get bored of too many gifs… I am ashamed to admit it.
Third Voice
But that’s not the case here. I’m just getting lazy. I just wanted to pretend I had a grown-up excuse.
Yes, she just went for it and slapped his ass. She’s the “friendly” landlady. You don’t want to go to a karaoke bar with her.
Mr. Not Creepy At All. Another dorm tenant. I was about to say you don’t want to go on his bad side. But he’s got no other side.
Ahn Eun-jin policing away and also dealing with a toothache. Guess who her dentist is…
Award of the worst fashion for Hyun Bong-sik who is doing his absolutely best to make this atrocious shirt work. I’ve also researched a little about him… Would you believe it if I told you Lee Dong-wook is actually older than Hyun Bong-sik?
The dental artistry
Look at him. Look at him making little friendship bracelets out of teeth.
Isn’t it top-level cuteness in a slightly psycho way? But this is true to Moon-jo’s personality. He describes what he does as art, and this is his present for his (unwilling) pupil.
But, more to the point, the story is not and will never be, about Moon-jo going on a killing rampage in his dental clinic. He doesn’t go around slaughtering his patients. We do get some glimpses of his day-to-day work and there is nothing here that screams manic killer. So, I appreciate the typical horror story about dentists may be at the front of your mind, but this isn’t the plot here.
So, if you’ve seen too many scary films about mad dentists, you can relax. This has got nothing to do with it.
Not saying Moong-jo is a well-balanced gentleman, because he fucking isn’t. But the story doesn’t wander around gore and blood-splattered dental clinics.
That being said, he does collect human teeth. But not those of his paying patients. When I say he makes friendship bracelets, I’m serious about it. There is in his mind a clear bond with Jong-woo, and the entire story is about Jong-woo trying to escape a bond he doesn’t see.
You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t, for once, ruin it by revealing the end. I’m just going to say that if you are familiar with Hobbes’s work, you may have come to the same conclusion yourself.
Hell is other people because we are all inherently bad.
I leave it to you to finish the Hobbesian thought and find out how SFH concludes it too.
I appreciate this isn’t exactly a K-drama for everyone.
But then there is no such thing as a K-drama for everyone.
And as much as I can’t bring myself to watch too much of Queen of Tears, I realise that those gritty, atypical stories where nobody wins seem to be my cup of tea.
I also enjoyed A Killer P…[Read more]
Unaspirated
April 24, 2024 at 10:26 AM
I have watched some of Strangers from Hell but I am not (unfortunately?) someone who finds much enjoyment from stories where no one wins and it’s hard to even find anyone to cheer for. I actually found it sort of boring for this reason, and ended up dropping (I think it was my first drop ever actually) and finishing off the story through the recaps on here. Cause I wanted to know what happened, but not, like, five-more-hours-of-my-time-wanted-to-know.
However, I love that there is no kdrama for everyone! I love reading your takes and I hope I can still participate in the friendship bracelets and snacks.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 24, 2024 at 3:23 PM
I get what you mean. The first time I tried watching it, I gave up after 3 episodes. I wanted to know what happened and I also couldn’t find a hook to it.
I needed to go through a few infuriatingly bad dramas to find my motivation again. My second time around, I was so pleased to spot all the narrative hooks around the goshiwon & around Jong-woo. Not sure how I managed to miss all of them the first time around. I think I was expecting a different kind of drama 🤷🏻♀️ Now, I’ve finally reached the point in my life where my soul is as dark as Eden goshiwon, and everything falls into place neatly 🤣
zindigo
April 24, 2024 at 12:28 PM
THIS is why I love you Beanies SO much!!!
I laugh my *ss off every time I visit DB. EVERY. TIME.
*bows* to @DarkCc
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 25, 2024 at 7:20 PM
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 25, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Cecee ♥️👏💪
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 2:31 PM
Comment was deleted
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 2:33 PM
I would read the CRAP out of your actual take on the plot of QoT without you having seen a single episode. I would also participate in a community-writing prompt to narrate this show, something created solely by those of us with ZERO actual experience with the drama.
“I’ve not watched QoT but let me tell you AALLLL about it: The Fan Wall Post,” it’d be called. Preferably illustrated solely with gifs we steal from other content creators and opinions cribbed from MyDramaList.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 24, 2024 at 2:56 PM
How amazing would it be? I can already picture it!
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 3:01 PM
It would be content for the ages.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 25, 2024 at 4:40 AM
I’m starting to think we should let those who have not watched the drama write the recaps. I want completely unhinged recaps based on the gifs posted by other Beanies.
It’s all about putting the drama back in K-drama.
“We don’t know what we’re talking about but that’s not going to stop us. Watch us recap that drama we know nothing about.
Enter carnage.
OMG, I love it. I love it so much. Imagine the amount of dramas I could recap rather than wasting my time watching them?
Serial clueless recapist
I want it on a t-shirt. It’s going to be my new job title now.
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
April 24, 2024 at 10:16 PM
I would choose the Hongs over any character in Strangers from Hell, but I really liked the show (SFH). And I recommend it too!
And I’m pretty sure I would’ve liked A Killer Paradox too. I really wanted to ignore what bothered me and just finished it. The little I saw was really fun.
It would be nice to have more shows like that. I think what we need is OCN back.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 25, 2024 at 4:44 AM
Was it the weird sex fantasy from the start?
I read Beanies’ comments before I started to watch so I was ready of it and I completely focused the absolute disengaged look on his face throughout. That’s what I kept from it: Whatever the fantasy going on in his mind, he doesn’t engage emotionally with it (it’s got mental disorder warning red signs all over)
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
April 25, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Nope. I don’t think I got that far. It was the flashbacks from the FL as a kid.
The entire “mistreating the child to make them stronger” thing isn’t my style. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was trying to let it pass until the uncle did something to her that made me go “nope, f that dude”. 🤣😂 But before that it was fun.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 18, 2024 at 7:50 AM
Strangers from Hell – In Defence of Seo Moon-jo
In a recent “Would You Rather”, DB team got us to vote between living with a psychopath or living with our in-laws, comparing Strangers from Hell to Queen of Tears.
The vote resulted in a resounding NOPE for Seo Moon-jo, everybody’s favourite psycho dentist from the darkest corners of Seoul. My heart breaks for the guy. What has the poor man done to deserve such distrust and hate? I feel he is completely misunderstood and I have made it my mission to jump to his defence.
Secondary Voice
Cecee, forever the defender of the widow- and orphan-maker
I hear you.
Secondary Voice
No, I don’t. I only hear what I want but I like to pretend that I am well-adjusted.
Third Voice
Technically, I should say “I don’t hear you and I can barely hear myself from all the side voices I keep interjecting for no reason” but for the sake of argument let’s pretend otherwise.
What would you even defend Moon-I-am-going-to-steal-your-teeth-jo, Cecee?
Well, this is a fantastic question and I am glad you asked.
So, let’s head back to @DaebakGrits’s WYR question. This specific WYR doesn’t require you to become Moon-jo’s new best friend. You just need to “Share a dorm with Lee Dong-wook but he’s psycho”. Of course, you’ll want to become his new bestie for reasons I’ll explain in a bit, but first, here is why Moon-jo is a great dorm mate.
He will fix you up for free
Look at him. There he goes, completely taking it upon himself to stitch up an unconscious and beaten-up Jong-woo.
How selfless is this guy, I ask you? No questions asked, no judgement, he just rolls up his sleeves and gets you fixed.
He is hard-working and diligent
He even keeps a dentist’s chair in the dorm so he can bring work home.
Isn’t it praiseworthy?
Surely, you’d want your roommate to be a professional, hard-working guy rather than someone who lazes around and may not be able to pay the rent next month.
We always admire hard workers and nobody is paying attention to Moon-jo’s around-the-clock dedication to dentistry work. Moon-jo works hard and I think this deserves a round of applause. …from a safe distance and preferably behind several layers of concrete and locks so he doesn’t get to work on you too soon.
He gives you hand-made jewellery
Not quite the friendship bracelet vibes I grew up with, but we have to live with our times. In modern Seoul, I hear teeth bracelets are the new hype.
I think if you ask kindly, he might even engrave each tooth with a name. How cute, totally bestie behaviour.
He believes in sustainable recycling
Nothing goes to waste, and Moon-jo understands the importance of reducing carbon footprint. So, he only chooses the best, most sustainable ingredients for his snacks.
And frankly, who wouldn’t like a green-thinking dorm mate in 2024? We need to look after the planet, and Moon-jo is right at the forefront showing us the way.
He believes in you
He believes you’re special and he is ready to put the effort in so you can see it too.
And we all want to feel special from time to time.
Maybe not that special, but one can’t blame the guy for trying! At least, there’s someone out there who thinks we’re special, and that must count for something, right?
Have I managed to convince anyone to go and live with Moon-jo?
No? 자기야, how would you like to be killed?
Tagging everyone who joined the debate toothy friendship bracelet vs. super mega rich and insufferable in-laws @attiton, @welh640, @aunttim @minniegupta1@jerrykuvira @ceciliedk @emsel @britney @soyesterday @kodra @lordcobol @gikata @marysadanaga @pogo1 @seeker @jls943 @kdrama-bunny @jillian @enriquequierecagar @lapislazulii @nefret @lillamy @goyangi @asianromance @romanticidiot
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 18, 2024 at 7:52 AM
Also adding this here for fans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK0mATjoyk
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 18, 2024 at 8:30 AM
Oh ! I’m totally on the living with the psycho vote … only I choose the psycho smachon from A Shop for Killers. 🤣
https://www.dramabeans.com/2024/04/would-you-rather-39/#comment-4183721
Must say you’ve made me sway towards considering Seo Moon-jo as a viable option too. So rather than deciding myself I’ll let Lee Dong-wook from both the dramas slug it out themselves to decide who gets to live with me. Win-win.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 18, 2024 at 9:03 AM
Any Lee Dong-wook is good to take!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 18, 2024 at 10:58 AM
Of course yes!! 😍
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 18, 2024 at 8:31 AM
Thank you forbthe tag Cecee
^^ @minniegupta1 @jerrykuvira
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 18, 2024 at 8:59 AM
Ah thanks for retagging! Why did some of my tags fail? 🤷🏻♀️
🌸 Seeker 🌸
April 18, 2024 at 10:59 AM
No space or comma in-between. 😊
Kodra aka Qanon something
April 18, 2024 at 8:33 AM
I didn’t know he was a dentist! LOL 😆 Now I must watch it, although I am not into the psycho murder thrillers. I get the jewelry jokes now. So funny!
Being one and around many dentists I refuse categorically to be around one! So I still am with the insufferable in-laws, they are less insufferable than dentists if you ask me. 🤣🤣🤣
jerrykuvira
April 18, 2024 at 9:23 AM
Wait. So he’s a dentist? The farther I’ll go away from Seo Moon-jo will be way wider than the sunrise is from the sunset.
Soyesterday
April 18, 2024 at 9:33 AM
A compelling and convincing argument indeed.
If we are to play devils advocate we could also argue that makjang Mother in Laws are just as psychotic (if not more so) than your average serial killer, so there isnt much difference really
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 18, 2024 at 10:39 AM
The friendship bracelet wins for me
Minnie🫘👩🏻🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻🏫🌱🏹
April 18, 2024 at 10:27 AM
@darkcc
You had me here. I am still laughing. 😂
I don’t want to be special. I am very hapy being very common 😂 I will consider this ‘watched’ from this post on your fanwall.
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
April 18, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Tbh, I just like the Hong family. Soo Cheol as my bro in law would be hilarious. And his son is adorbs! The only kids I want to have in my life are nephews and nieces.
The Hongs are the perfect choice, tbh.
Goyangi and the Camel Crickets
April 18, 2024 at 1:42 PM
Yeah…not convincing enough. Given the many times I’ve already spent feeling “special” in dentist’s chairs, I’ll stick to being not special with the in-laws. 😂😂
jillian
April 18, 2024 at 3:04 PM
I applaud you for your effort ro convince us to choose rhe pyscho dentist, Seo Moon Jo. As good looking as LDW may be, I prefer the insufferable in-laws in a mansion. I get to keep my teeth and no freaky teeth bracelets too. Thank you very much.
If it was another LDW character, I may not think twice to choose him. Lee Yeon in Nine Tailed or Kwon Jun Rok in Touch Your Heart would be a yes.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 3, 2024 at 10:57 AM
I keep trying to go back to K dramas I’ve discarded just for them to prove me right.
Partners in Justice making the point that prosecutors are both incompetent & unprofessional in every ep 🙄
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 3, 2024 at 11:16 AM
Ah Partners for Justice I think it’s how the title goes in English
Nessa (Bebe) 🌹
April 3, 2024 at 11:41 AM
I got through Season 1 of that, and I don’t even know how. It was a mess near the end and even Noh Min Woo’s brilliant villain introduced at the drama’s latter half could not do the drama justice. It was just the writers pulling at teeth trying to make things happen and trying to make a season 2 happen, in which case, I guess they succeeded, since a season 2 did materialize
Cecee is done DramaQueening
April 4, 2024 at 2:39 AM
Same… I struggled through season 1 and did not want to even attempt season 2. And years passed. I thought that perhaps some of my absolute complete and utter rage at it was due to being new to K dramas at the time. So I attempted season 2 and urgh. I now just want to ring the writer’s door bell and kimchi slap some flipping sense into her.
I didn’t even research the writer’s name but a lot of the cases and completely unprofessional, unnecessary over-the-top emotional ridiculousness feels heavily female-coded. I realise this is extremely sexist, but it happens to be written in the most stupidly sexist way, so I’d happily reject the blame.
The written takes a stance against sexual harassment in the workplace at some point at the start of season 2. But, interestingly enough, we get a case of a female employee stabbing herself to death with no witnesses and accusing her male harasser before eventually passing away. The forensic team demonstrates at multiple occasions and via a dozen of different techniques that the accused never stabbed her and that it was self-inflicted.
But our queen of incompetence prosecutor still concludes that the man is responsible because of his previous behaviour. So, the guy ends up in jail. Bearing in mind that he was on trial for manslaughter, which he has not committed, and that the prosecutor in her last statement at court decided that he should definitely be imprisoned for this charge regardless of how the death actually occurred … I get what the writer is trying to say, but fucking hell, no girl. One is sexual harassment, the other one is homicide. Completely different crimes and you definitely can not swap crimes just to get the bad guy behind bars.
At the same time, there’s a new member of staff in the forensic team and she wants into Boem’s (grumpy forensic guy, the only person with a brain in there) pants… interestingly enough, what that woman is doing is exactly what we saw the man from the case of the day doing… except that her aggressive borderline harassing approach is totally excused and even celebrated by the writer, while the same writer condemned a man for doing the exact same thing.
So, this is why I’m thinking that the writer is female. The double standard that condemns men but forgives women for the same crime (and wrongly at that, because the guy goes to jail for the precise crime we know he didn’t commit)… I’m completely ready to buy the cheapest kimchi I can find, let it rot, and go slap that writer with it. For fuck’s sake, if you’re going to make a point, be coherent!
And this is also why I’m stopping again, content in the knowledge that the problem doesn’t lie with me.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 26, 2024 at 6:48 AM
Would you fight to get Eunsang University Medical Centre in Ghost Doctor?
I may be late to the party with Ghost Doctor.
Secondary Voice
But I don’t care.
It just takes ages before some dramas become available to the main streaming platforms. And with the arrival of Ghost Doctor on Netflix, I want to ask a very pertinent question about the plot. Why would anybody be interested in plotting to win Eunsang University Medical Centre and its board?
So, we get an executive Director and the son of of chairman working and conniving together to get fancier chairs in their respective environments. This is the basic plot line.
Then, on top of that, Rain becomes a suit-wearing coma ghost who shares both his golden surgeon’s hands and appalling bedside manners with Go Seung-tak, aka a cocky Kim Bum (the best kind of Kim Bum, I’d venture) who knows how to read Wikipedia articles but can’t apply any of his theoretical knowledge to real-life skills.
We’re also cursed with some random female non leads (definitely the opposite of leads, and in the case of one of them, she’s so annoying to the plot that I’m tempted to call her the writer’s burden, written there to serve the forever-growing emotional big eye quota but completely devoid of any plot-relevant purpose).
So, I’ll ignore the female non-leads for now (they may have their own rant later if they’re nice). Let’s focus on the actual plot points.
Han Seung-Won (executive Director of Eunsang University Medical Centre) and Jang Min-ho, chairman’s son and brother of our emotional big eye quota girl, joining hands to sabotage the chairman’s surgery and land themselves into even comfier and more expensive director’s armchairs. Everyone seems obsessed with being a member of the board that runs Eunsang University Medical Centre. That obsession, paired with the inability to delegate their little criminal jobs to the right person, will also get Cha Young-min (Rain) in a coma and Chairman Jang in his own super VIP coma room (because if you’ve got to be asleep for the major part of the drama, at least, do it in a cosy bed).
At this point, I think we can all agree that if both Seung-won and Min-ho had taken the time to have a good look at Eunsang hospital and its board of clowns, they probably wouldn’t have even bothered with their unmastermind-like plan in the first place.
What makes Eunsang hospital such a bad place, you ask.
Secondary Voice
Seriously, bae, have you watched the drama?
Third Voice
More to the point, try comparing Eunsang to Yulje Medical Centre (the one from Hospital Playlist) and you’ll notice one key difference. Yulje hospital insists on hiring real, trained doctors. At Eunsang, your actual medical skills are less of a concern.
Fourth Voice
Which is ideal, because I too want to cut people open for fun. I have fantastic keyboard skills and massive round eyes, so I tick all of Eunsang’s recruitment boxes.
Me performing surgery at Eunsang Medical Centre.
We don’t have the skills here
If you haven’t watched the drama, stop reading. Here’s how most of the EMU patient admission scenes play out:
Ambulance staff who has not contacted the hospital before delivering yet another patient: Ladies and gents, here’s some dude that fell from a height onto a spike that perforated and crushed really important bits in his heart area. He’s totally going to die if you don’t operate right now on him.
EMU doctor 1 with 25 years of experience: Oh no, what are we going to do?
EMU doctor 2 with 18 years of experience: We legit don’t have the skills man.
EMUnurse 1 with 30 years of experience: I don’t even know what the heart looks like. I only administer aspirin.
EMU nurse 2 with 12 years of experience: We’re all on lunch break so nobody can operate on him.
Wife of the patient who’s still covered in pig’s blood from her last satanic ritual: Please doctors, save my husband!
Ambulance staff: Are you going to accept it? I need a photo for proof of delivery.
EMU doctor 2 and nurse 1 do the V fingers pose for the photo.
EMU doctor 1: No, we can’t operate on him. Take him to another hospital.
Wife of the patient: Oh no, he’s going to die!
EMU doctors 1 & 2: Sorry, you have to take him away. We can’t help him.
First-year resident with absolutely no real-world medical training: I’ll do the surgery.
EMU doctors 1 & 2: He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Let’s trust him.
It’s at the point where neither the writer not the actors are bothering pretending that the many EMU patient scenes are different and independent aspects of the story. They all permanently replay the same scene with the same level of inaccurate gusto. I aspire to the same dedication in my life as their dedication to carefree unrealism.
Permanently understaffed
Can this hospital manage to run at least one surgical procedure? Nope. Believe me, they would if they could. But unfortunately, their head surgeons are all out on a conference every day. All of them. Every single time.
I can only imagine that they’re really bad at scheduling floor presence. Nobody is here. They are more cleaning staff than doctors. This is truly a ghost doctor inside a ghost hospital.
However, everyone’s favourite emotional big eye quota is here to explain this interesting mystery. At one point, she rushes from her cosy little office with a bed to another floor just to give one patient CPR.
Secondary Voice
Admittedly, Rain’s using the only bed in the room.
Third Voice
After careful consideration, I don’t see why that should stop her. Go, sit on him, Jang Quota. It’s not like he’s going to mind. He’s in a coma anyway.
So, this (by which I mean the CPR bit, not the not-siting-on-Rain bit) baffles me at so many levels.
Why is Jang Quota (that’s the name she’s earned for being a pile of uselessness from start to finish) rushing when there are trained nurses all around the patient? You’d assume that patient care is a basic nurse’s duty. Surely, that is what the nurse training is about? Unless the Eunsang’s nurses are trained to look cute in their pink little uniforms, and this is all it is about.
In the meantime, Jang Quota is sitting on top of a patient (who looks nothing like Rain so this is a completely missed opportunity on her part), having tackled down 12 nurses on her way there so she could be the one planting her pointy heels into the patient’s sides while she gives him CPR.
Secondary Voice
Whatever floats your boat, you freak.
Third Voice
She’s also giving him that blank tearful eye she’s giving everyone else inthe show just to make sure he doesn’t feel too special.
There you have it. The hospital is not understaffed. Doctors are doing nurses’ job, and then there are only ghosts left to do the doctors’ job. And while we have plenty of ghosts, we’ve got only 2 who are medically trained, so this limits considerably the number of surgeries at Eunsang ghost hospital of ghostiness.
Anyway, learn your CPR, kids.
We may be called at any moment to replace a nurse at Eunsang. We need to be ready.
Magnificent no skill display
I’m giving Seung-tak a break on this because, as a first-year resident, he is not supposed to have any particular skills. He’s here to learn.
No, I’m talking about the experts Eunsang Medical Centre is so immensely proud to have acquired.
One of those experts is Jang Quota, a much respected neurosurgeon GENIUS. I’m not saying she is a genius. That is what the show is trying to make me believe.
There goes Jang Quota, cutting a skull open to treat someone’s condition. (the same someone she stabs with her pointy heels to give him CPR). But the patient doesn’t wake up after surgery and she needs a cleaning lady/ghost to diagnose the issue. Bearing in mind that even if the cleaning lady is inhabited by a ghost at that specific moment, the only medical ghosts we know are cardiothoracic surgeons… So when you random ghost who has not been performing medicine for over 20 years and has not kept up to speed with medical science is able to diagnose the problem with your neurological patient, I’d say it might be time to consider a career change, Jang Quota.
Secondary Voice
Can’t be too nasty to her, otherwise she’ll cry with those big eyes of hers.
Third Voice
I’m sorry I meant every word I said Jang Quota.
Another fantastic example is Jang Quota, again, demanding to be the doctor looking after Young-min while reaching out to her colleague in Seattle to have him do most of the looking after and investigating because, as per usual, she was too busy looking distressed and crying to do her actual job.
The permanently emotional neurosurgeon because the skill we know all successful surgeons have is tearing up like a melo main lead.
Actual footage of neurosurgeon mid-operation
I have no difficulty believing that to Eunsang Medical Centre’s standards, this is pure genius.
sonai
March 26, 2024 at 7:48 AM
😂😂😂 I just recently watched this, too, and you’re right about preferring to end up in Yulje rather than Eunsang – if need be! Granted, the triceratops (?) skeleton is a serious interior boost to the “waiting”/“ghost consultation” area… but it certainly cannot beat the Yulje table tennis tournament (plus impromptu warm up dance session). 🥳
Ps: that CPR dance clip is as educational as it is cringey! 🤣 cannot unsee… which might be a good thing…
Seon-ha
March 26, 2024 at 9:29 AM
I was born with a congenital dislike for pretty much all medical dramas (yes, including that one you love–죄송합니다!!!!), but could watch those silly actors dancing in scrubs all day.
…also just that like that one you have, @sonai, of Ju Ji-hoon dancing backwards into the apartment doorway. I think I watched it for a full five minutes one day.
No, no life. I have none. Nope.
sonai
March 26, 2024 at 10:33 AM
You’re welcome 😂
Tis hypnotizing!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 26, 2024 at 10:45 AM
I absolutely love that little show they did after Hospital Playlist… 3 meals a day, or something.
The sheer level of friendly chaos just trying to plan cooking throughout the day 🤣
Ghost of Tim (eccentric observations from a male perspective)
March 26, 2024 at 10:09 AM
Yes, I had to suspend logical thinking much more than usual while watching this one. That was one messed-up hospital.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 26, 2024 at 10:45 AM
Not one thing that works there… except perhaps the over zealous ghosts
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 20, 2024 at 5:22 AM
What did I say about K-dramas’ best nan? Here we go, The Midnight Studio proving my point by casting Kim Young-ok just to kill her character. The number of deaths she’s played over the years!
zindigo
March 20, 2024 at 7:50 AM
I wonder if other older actors aren’t willing to play those roles but she is?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 20, 2024 at 9:42 AM
I think so.
They should go for something different. Make her a killer like in Arsenic and Old Lace for a change!
zindigo
March 20, 2024 at 9:48 AM
An Agatha Christie style k-drama would be amazing!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 20, 2024 at 10:52 AM
Kim Young-ok would be amazing in it. I spotted her promoting British breakfasts in her best clothes but I can’t, for the life of me, find it again. She looked so classy, witty, and beautiful… she’d be the perfect Miss Kim-Marple sshi 👌
zindigo
March 20, 2024 at 11:13 AM
Love it! This definitely falls under the hashtag #ifbeanieswrotekramas 😉
🌸 Seeker 🌸
March 27, 2024 at 9:11 AM
This is just so perfect. Thank you, you both. I love this idea.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 15, 2024 at 11:28 AM
Kim Sa-ra or the Snail of Fate
I don’t think I’m the only Beanie to have desperately stuck with Queen of Divorce in the hope that Kang Ki-young could, for once, bag the girl and all the credit for saving the day.
Secondary Voice
It turns out his character, Ki-joon, didn’t manage to do any of it, even though he did not stop trying throughout 12 painful episodes. Ki-joon sshi, 화이팅, my good man.
Third Voice
Ki-joon sshi, just a friendly suggestion: how about you just try dating someone else? This may well be the right solution for you.
Fourth Voice
I’m tempted to start an online petition for someone to write Kang Ki-young a proper main lead role. Pretty please.
Look at him, writer, LOOK AT HIM! The script’s so bad you made him cry.
Whose fault is it?
So, first of all, Beanies, let me spill the tea.
The director is Park Jin-seok (Jin-suk in some sources because nobody can agree on how to romanise Korean names). The same guy who directed Sell Your Haunted House.
The writer is Jeong Hee-seon (or Hee-sun because see above). I can find only one other work under her name, Drama Stage Season 3: Big Data Romance which I have never watched.
If you’ve watched any of those other works, please feel free to judge whether it was a case of poor directing or poor writing. My opinion is that you need characters who are appealing and meaningful on paper first to make it work on screen.
I watched SYHH and enjoyed it, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the actual filming style and direction, which comforts me in the belief that everything starts with the writer. The director can only amplify the story.
But, it may also be a case of both the director and the writer not clicking together well enough to make Queen of Divorce work. I don’t know. I want to blame Jeong Hee-seon, but she did not make me watch every week. I did that to myself.
Well. Shit.
Darts & problem-solving skills
So, if you came across the drama’s poster or if you had time to read the hangeul on the credit, the Korean title is: 끝내주는 해결사.
Looks cute, right? It means something along the lines of “great problem solver”, which I can only assume relates to either:
In any case, this reminds me of the first time I tried playing darts.
random story time
The scene plays in a dimly lit pub in the British countryside. I am here on holiday and this is my first time going to a pub. I am old enough to order and pay for my own drink and this is precisely what I do. I proudly order myself a ginormous pint of pineapple juice. I even have to repeat the order twice because the guy behind the bar keeps insisting they have a fantastic choice of locally-brewed beers. Pineapple juice juseyo, dammit!
There’s a group of young people my age and they have no difficulty spotting me because I’m not local. They do the normal socializing thing of talking to me. I politely stop slurping my juice to answer.
Do I want to play with them? OMG, is this my chance to make chingus? I absolutely want to play with them!
They take me to the dart game board.
It’s easy, one of them says. He shows me. And I get excited at the thought of finally being able to socialize like a normal person. I grab the dart and hold it like my social life depends on it. I go back and forth with the dart between my fingers, like you do with a toy car to build up some speed between releasing it.
Except that the toy car will always go forward. The dart, as it happens, flies behind me and ends its erratic course planted nose first into a wooden table, just in front of a plate of food that someone was about to consume.
I didn’t just miss the target. I threw the dart away from it even though I thought I was aiming at the target. Bye-bye social life. It was nice to imagine you existed.
Anyway, I have a feeling that the great problem solver’s script has missed its target with the same level of over-excited inaccuracy as me.
After 12 episodes, we all know that the only thing that is great about The Great Problem-Solver is that it’s finally come to an end.
The problem-solving aspect remains questionable.
Secondary Voice
Oh no, I don’t have custody of my son since the divorce. What could I do? I know, I’ll remarry my ex and then proceed to throw everyone in jail.
Third Voice
What’s stopping you, Kim Sa-ra? Fight for LGBT marriages to be legalised in South Korea and propose to your former mother-in-law. As per the Solution’s principles, the less practical and sensible approach is deemed to be the greatest problem-solving.
Kim Sa-ra, the strong but weak, sensitive but cold-headed, confident but unsure, alone but surrounded by friends, emotionally unavailable but loved by all, fragile but indestructible, smart but stupid woman
People don’t make sense.
I want a group of friends as loyal as Kim Sa-ra’s but I hate socializing. (even when there’s no dart involved)
I want to lose weight but I want to eat all the cake.
I want a close relationship with my mom but I don’t want to confide in her.
So, I can get behind the idea that Kim Sa-ra may have contradictory traits.
But not to the point where she is a walking meaningless anomaly. Writer-nim, you can’t tick all the character’s traits. You need to choose!
One of my favourite I-am-a-walking-contradiction moments from Kim Sa-ra:
She spends a year in jail, training herself to become more badass. She’s practised so much, she can probably put hair gel on her foot and high-kick style her hair every morning. That high kick was fire. But, do you think she could have learned how to use basic moves? Nope.
Cue to Kim Sa-ra being trapped inside a flat on fire and all she’s got to dig her way out is a hammer. She does what every great problem-solver would do: She rushes to faint as neatly as possible in a corner, ready for Ki-joon to find her.
Secondary Voice
Why can’t you release that high kick power into a low kick, aimed at the glass panel on that bloody front door? Kim Sa-ra, the fierce fighter who can only hit obstacles that are suspended 1.8m off the ground…
Third Voice
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that she doesn’t want to hurt her foot. If only the glass panel could be destroyed with the swing of a hammer… Not a chance, we all know all fragile those Korean hammers are. They can crush your skull, as per Killer Paradox, but they are obviously defeated by a glass panel.
I’m not even going to mention that lousy hit at a plank of wood before she collapsed. Kim Sa-ra, you didn’t even try.
The only explanation I can come up with is that Kim Sa-ra has never watched The Shining. I got all my best door-destroying moves from it.
We’re all mad in here
The lack of character consistency is painful to watch, to say the least, but it’s not just a case of Kim Sa-ra being irrational. Nobody is rational at any given time.
Noh Yool-seong is perhaps the most logical character out of this range of complete maniacs. And still, he has the consistency of a takeaway delivery service. Some days, you get everything you’ve ordered. Others, everything’s wrong and you’re missing half the items, and you don’t even know why.
For someone who’s got a hefty amount of blood on his hands (whatever floats your boat, Yool-seong sshi), he has that permanent expression of surprise on his face when he accidentally offs or attempts to someone. It’s like me ramming cake into my face while knowing I was going to do it anyway, saying “Omo, omo, what is happening?” all the while cutting the next slice. I’m not even kidding myself, and I’m ready to bet this is the same for Noh Yool-seong. But this gets even funnier when you notice how blaséd he is about any death (and particularly the ones he keeps accidentally or intentionally orchestrating).
Secondary Voice
Honestly, I’m with you, Noh Yool-seong. Murder is cheaper than bribery.
Third Voice
But bae, it stains more. Think of the dry cleaning invoice.
Noh Yool-seong’s logic is that kidnapping and threatening his ex-mother-in-law on a roof is all part of a normal, non-threatening, perfectly friendly conversation. Can we truly blame him when his former MIL fell off after he shook her like a prune tree and dangled her on top of a building?
Secondary Voice
The writer is trying to pass it as an accident… So perhaps the shock on Noh Yool-seong’s face is him wondering where the accidental Truck of Doom is.
Third Voice
The writer responded to your ToD prayers in a later episode, Yool-seong.
For someone who is so quick to eliminate people, I really don’t get why he hasn’t tried to remove Sa-ra. His way of getting rid of her is to sit her comfortably on a chair inside a shipping container to Senegal.
Secondary Voice
Yool-seong, I expected better from a pro. Just get it done, don’t ship her.
Chairwoman Cha, the mother of our dragon in suits, is the strongest shade of weak I’ve seen in a long time. We are introduced to a powerful woman who seems to cast a long and never-…[Read more]
Kurama
March 15, 2024 at 12:01 PM
Waow, I don’t think this drama deserved your writing!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 15, 2024 at 12:15 PM
It definitely deserves my poor formatting though 😭
Healer’s
March 16, 2024 at 4:16 AM
🤣🤣
I didn’t watch this show, but I really appreciate you taking the time to write all this. Your essays always enlighten me and give me so much joy reading. It’s a pieace of entertainment on its own. Thank you !!
isa: I'm not a serial killer I'm just really passionate about things
March 15, 2024 at 12:31 PM
I was thinking king of watching this because of my steadfast love of that first guy who’s name I never remember and I can only vaguely point at and say, hey! It’s that guy! From that thing! I love him!
But….I think I’ll pass?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 15, 2024 at 1:38 PM
I would pass. In fact, I wish I did pass. It makes no sense from start to finish, and I think @attiton is right in saying they were counting on the star power to hide the plot holes. The problem is that this is just a giant hole with not enough plot to have any of the actors shine briefly on screen. It feels very awkward for everyone.
Kodra aka Qanon something
March 15, 2024 at 1:01 PM
Thank you, I laughed so much. 🤣🤣🤣
Now I almost want to see it so I can laugh more when I re-read this comment!
And yes, I agree, we should have an end of year article with the worst writers.
Seon-ha
March 15, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Dead, Cecee. Dead from the truth of it. 💀.
And thanks for the shout-out to my commentary, although I in no way deserve the august title you gave me (tho when I read it I said, and I quote, “Squee!”).
Now, to (snail) meat of the matter, I take your point about Yul-seong not being able to be both villain and ML as that, in and of itself, doesn’t make any sense (although by ML I had sort of meant more specifically that he was the guy who we were meant to care the most about–and that was definitely our villain).
And I even agree that you could consider Sa-ra to be both ML and FL, but, in a very real sense, wasn’t she just horrible at being both of those characters? You could just as well have called her son (eeew) the ML, rite??
In the end, I decided that the whole show was supposed to rest on star power to distract us from the holey plot. And many did tune in for KKY, including me–and it sounds you.
PS: I’m watching Sell Your Haunted House now, and the direction seems juuuust fine.
♡Peach_Mochi♡
March 15, 2024 at 1:55 PM
I know someone who has never written a TV drama shouldn’t cast stones, but … how can writing be so bad? I feel like it’s actually more work to create such inconsistent, frustrating characters and drop them into hole-filled, irrational plots. Is there an honest belief on the writer’s part that it’s a quality script? Or just lack of trying and a belief the audience will show up regardless?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 15, 2024 at 2:32 PM
I think you’re onto something. It feels like it’s more work indeed!
I am wondering if it’s more a case of not having enough time to develop a strong idea, and then there’s no foundation for the rest of the story. I can’t believe a writer would willingly come up with a holey plot, so I’m looking for an excuse!
Seon-ha
March 15, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Sometimes, I also feel like “seasoned” drama watchers–as the three of us certainly are 😋–can tell that the issue was that a 16-episode drama got shortened to 12…but I definitely didn’t get that impression here. Y’all?
It’s like it was poorly written to start? I mean I hesitate to say this, but maybe someone has to admit it so that we can discuss: Maybe KKY isn’t actually up to carrying a traditional-like ML lead?? He certainly didn’t hold a candle to Oh Min-seok’s charisma here. You know you’re in trouble when the good guy totally loses out pretty much every drop of attention to a triple-murderer who clearly doesn’t give a rats’-ass about his own freaking son (@hacja ‘s still fuming about this in his underground lair, I bet)!!
We need someone to write KKY into a proper rags-to-riches ML story or any form of tale where the underdog truly wins out, gets the girl, makes it big, defeats all the baddies (they tried to do that here, but faiiiilllled…probably because Lee Ji-ah needed to take top, top billing, wouldn’t you say)?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 15, 2024 at 3:13 PM
I would have been happy with Ki-joon and Yool-seong being both solid characters… but honestly, the drama made murder more appealing than the fight for justice!
I’m rewatching Terius (Terrius?) at the moment and I really liked KKY’s character in it. Not a ML role but it was a gender-reversed role; stay at home dad who’s friend with all the other housewives. The writing is much stronger but all the interactions between the moms and him are so sweet and natural.
So I’d be happy having him in a life ensemble story, like Hospital Playlist where friendship takes the lead over romance (so Hospital Playlist minus the coupling) – so a story with no underdog.
But I’m also buying rag to riches plots when they work. The character nobody takes seriously and who somehow wins because he never gives up?
Last thought of the day: A more “mature” romance, and I don’t mean in terms of age but in terms of behaviours. The man’s 40; perhaps age for new awakening after separation or early widowhood.
Or, hear me out: a spirit story perhaps? A man who’s plagued by spirits since having a near death accident; he dreams of the last thing the dead see but he get the vision 24 hours before they die and doesn’t realise what it is until he spots a pattern in his dreams.
I realise I can’t control myself. I said “last thought” earlier on and I’m still trying to bring further last thoughts after the last thought 🤦🏻♀️
Seon-ha
March 15, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Now, I’m always gonna say yes to a romance that includes people over 40. Sometimes it happens you know? 🤣😆🥹
♡Peach_Mochi♡
March 15, 2024 at 5:02 PM
It feels like the problems went beyond episode length. I didn’t get a sense the writer knew who the characters were, let alone what made them tick. It’s like someone said: Let’s get on the female revenge trend, failed marriages are popular so — she’s the revenge queen of divorce! The enemy? A chaebol of course. The plot? Let’s not resolve things too quickly — so she’ll have to put herself and others in danger lots of times to up the dramatic factor.
As for KKY’s character, he needed a chance to be capable at more than saving the FL from ludicrous moments of danger and being loyal in order to be a legit ML.
hacja
March 16, 2024 at 8:08 AM
I’m pretty much immune to to Oh Min-seok’s charisma, and Kang Ki Young did as good a job as he could given his character. But lets face it: the real problem was Lee Ji-ah. While its my lifelong mission as a caped commenting crusader to emerge from my lair to heroically defend female leads and second female leads and the actresses that play them, she was awkward in every aspect of the role. She was badly dressed, she moved stiffly, she delivered her lines badly, she didn’t know how to act as a loving Mom, when she formulated and announced her ridiculous plans, she looked condescending and smirky, and even in dire circumstances she acted like she knew the director was about to call “cut” so that when her character was rescued by KKY of course she didn’t show the gratitude that most characters would feel. So I didn’t even bother to have Alfred, my butler, fire up the snark-mobile for this show.
Seon-ha
March 16, 2024 at 9:42 AM
** Stands and stares in stunned silence for the second time today at @hacja **
First a hilarious meme…and now a reasoned and accurate criticism of Lee Ji-ah?
You feeling OK, man?
indyfan
March 16, 2024 at 12:11 AM
You had me in stitches. I’m so glad I spent the time not watching QoD reading your write-up. (Tho I didn’t drop till #4.)
If you’re looking for another disaster for your epic posts, I invite you to The Impossible Heir.
Seon-ha
March 16, 2024 at 4:35 AM
Oh no, oh no, Cecee. Don’t do it. You’ll blow an actual gasket. Please. Jebal. 제발. No.
indyfan
March 16, 2024 at 5:08 AM
While I could already see Cecee’s penknife glinting under the cold blue light of their screen, I admit, it may be a risk to their health. LOL.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 16, 2024 at 7:55 AM
Muahaha, is it that bad?!
Seon-ha
March 16, 2024 at 9:39 AM
I mean, I know why @indyfan suggested it and she’s almost never wrong, but I think she might be trying to bring more people to rearrange boat chairs on the Lusitania or something.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
March 16, 2024 at 10:19 AM
I’m 20 min into the first episode and I think even I would have done a better job at editing all the scenes together. This is Tiktok level of editing. Not a flipping transition and flat direction all around.
What am I even watching? Lee Jae-wook sent his acting skills on a break and is actively using no acting whatever in every scene. He’s just here as a bad fashion model, and as much as I appreciate the dedication to low action high cheap fashion sense, who hurt you bae?
I’m sorry @indyfan, I can’t even make it to the end of the episode!
indyfan
March 17, 2024 at 4:33 AM
😂 This is why I thought you’d be great. Some of us had hopes at the beginning, minimizing the red flags, but you saw the disaster-in-making within minutes. I think in one of the more recent recaps we even thought they’d placed a cutout of LJW with a hidden voice recording; he was that immobile. Gorgeous, tho.
But yeah, it’s better for you not having watched it tho we would have enjoyed your takes. Our paths will cross on a better show, inshallah.
indyfan
March 17, 2024 at 4:40 AM
@attiton Ha! The ship has already sunk, there’s no rearranging the chairs, it’s asking to folks to join us in a watery grave.
Seon-ha
March 17, 2024 at 8:22 AM
I must say, as someone who really loved the first two episodes, that I’m surprised by your reaction @darkcc ! I only jumped ship this week.
Maybe I just found our MLs too attractive to notice the issues straight away, though. I’m definitely not above being distracted by ze bee-au-tay.
And, @indyfan, I hope this turns into a beautiful hate-watch for you. I can find those cathartic when they happen in just the right way (Not Others).
indyfan
March 18, 2024 at 12:29 AM
@attiton Am I embarking on my first pure hate-watch? Hmm, I didn’t think of it like that. But you might be right. Something to ponder on.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 4:02 AM
Queen of Divorce handling domestic violence against men with the level of sensitivity I expect from this show
Look at that poor crippled man who’s beaten and abused by his wife and is asking for a divorce in front of the cameras.
What he truly needs now is
time to heal,privacy,a compassionate therapista boozy party!Kang, Kiyoung-sshi, my good man, that was the perfect time to utter a much-needed:
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 4:05 AM
And here goes everybody’s favourite Playmobil head, and even she does the whoa whoa. Even she knows it booze and abuse was a bad idea
Seon-ha
February 16, 2024 at 4:40 AM
I still like this show, and am used to putting large missteps like this aside, but there was also a significant “what about the men?” component to this divorce-of-the-week that had my eyes rolled all the way back into my brain socket.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 5:35 AM
I am still watching because for once we got KKY as a main male lead (ok, sort of, but nevertheless as the second name in the credits). So, I appreciate that, just to help him shine a little more, Lee Ji-ah decided to play it lowkey with the realistic emotional range of a porcelain doll (equipped with massive shoulder pads, but the expressiveness of the porcelain doll nonetheless – not that she isn’t pleasant to look at, mind you)
There’s an 1980s A Team element to it – full of good intentions and completely unrealistic resolutions, absolutely insane coincidences, and baddies that are about as threatening as a really sharp thimble. And massive shoulder pads. Where do they get all those shoulder pads from?
Anyway, this is a rant for another day.
Yes, I am confused by that case… They did take the wife’s case, and ended up siding against her with the husband? Is that even an authorised move in the legal field? I’m glad that for once they tried to show abuse against the husband rather than the wife, though. But they made him so helpless. I can’t think of anybody of his age in a wheelchair who wouldn’t be able to drag themselves back into their wheelchair (surely, the poor man goes to the toilet, or shower, or even sleep outside of his wheelchair? You know, basic dragging oneself in and out of it? It’s not like he lost use of his arms or brain too)
Seon-ha
February 16, 2024 at 7:34 AM
I really hate the ponytail-plus-huge-side-bangs look so popular among female characters in Korean dramas as well as in Jane Austen adaptations. Don’t really know why, but I always am thinking…either put your hair up, or leave it down! Why have the worst of both worlds where your hair is pulled back off your neck but still bothering your eyes and ears!?!
Just me? Probably.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 9:56 AM
I had too. many other qualms to think about that one, I admit.
Wouldn’t be a personal choice though. It would be far too bothering, like you say. And so fucking impractical. I’d be spending most of my day accidentally stirring my drinks with my oversized side bangs anyway
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 9:57 AM
with bonus punctuation in the middle of a sentence…
Healer’s
February 16, 2024 at 6:48 PM
I haven’t started but have crossed this show out of my to-be-watched list.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 20, 2024 at 8:45 AM
Ouch … sad for KKY.
Healer’s
February 21, 2024 at 1:53 AM
I wanted to watch this for him but it doesn’t look like something I would enjoy.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 21, 2024 at 1:56 AM
It hurts to say I won’t like to recommend it. 😳 These kinds of dilemmas always remind me of Meatloaf and what he would do for love. 😭
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 21, 2024 at 1:57 AM
Watching a drama that isn’t fun definitely won’t be it. 😂
Healer’s
February 21, 2024 at 2:17 AM
No we won’t do that 😂
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 20, 2024 at 8:45 AM
Watching something you like Cecee? Seems like you can’t catch a break. 😳
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 21, 2024 at 3:16 AM
I’m still going to tune in for KKY (and try to repress the growing amount of rage each time I watch one episode of it) but not enjoying it at all. I want to enjoy it. I really do. But I rage because the writing/direction (not sure who’s to blame) makes everyone feel and look a little off. And we’ve seen some of these actors nailing it in other projects, so we all know what they can do.
In other news: I’ve binge-watched Killer Paradox and completely loved it. (which seems to be an exception in the DB community, so as usual, I’m going against the trends without even noticing it)
Been loving Semantic Error: The Movie as well. Watched it after @ceciliedk reminded me it existed. I appreciate it’s classed as BL, but I thought the story would fit any type of romantic relationship. All characters were so superbly fluid and natural. Lee Ji-ah permanent goldfish expressiveness (expressive-less-ness) and emotionless kiss of doom (it’s like a truck of doom but worse because it’s supposed to be good and, OMG, it was so bad) could learn a few tips from the cast.
Aaaaah so much stuff to write about, so little time!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 21, 2024 at 4:15 AM
KKY deserves so much better as a ML. The Kiss of Doom 🙊 omo … quelle horreur.
I didn’t see the Hangout but I though The Killer Paradox was er, … killing it. 😳
I watched Semantic Error when it released and loved it. I usually see Thai BLs which I love.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 21, 2024 at 4:37 AM
killing it is the right way of putting it haha
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 21, 2024 at 5:07 AM
⚔
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 26, 2024 at 2:04 AM
OK, now that I have caught up on the next 2 episodes, the kiss of doom was indeed just designed to be a fake kiss of doom with no contact what-so-ever. Okay, Kim Sa-ra, you are forgiven this time.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 26, 2024 at 8:00 AM
Ah well … 🤦♀️🤷♀️
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 13, 2024 at 4:04 AM
Is everyone else mentally calling other Beanies chingu or am I the only deluded one here? Not that it would bother me. As they say on social platforms delulu is the solulu (I cringe just typing that)
sonai
February 13, 2024 at 4:39 AM
I’m totally doing that. 😂
Healer’s
February 13, 2024 at 5:31 AM
Me too 🙂
lapislazulii
February 13, 2024 at 6:36 PM
No not just you, me too sometimes! and HAHAH i love the delulu is the solulu ‘movement, it’s my official 2024 motto (I say official because that’s unofficially how I’ve been living through the last couple of years) 😂
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 13, 2024 at 7:00 PM
💃 … what you ask that “after” accepting my ring!!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 14, 2024 at 12:39 AM
Don’t be mad at me, ring chingu!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 14, 2024 at 7:44 AM
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 19, 2024 at 3:22 PM
Sometimes. But mostly our lawn mower.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 12, 2024 at 12:08 PM
Forget Attorney Woo, Han-eul might be the new neurospicy character for 2024
Ok, I take it slightly back. Do not forget Attorney Woo. But ignore for a brief moment the hyper cliché-isation of autism.
Don’t get me wrong. Attorney Woo is great.
Secondary Voice
Especially her cardigan and Playmobil haircut.
But relatable, she is not. I hear you. Cecee, she has autism. She shouldn’t be relatable. She exists to show a new perspective of how life is neurodivergent demographics. I get your point but I will completely ignore it because it’s much easier than having to come back with an intelligent argument.
Third Voice
If anything, I am profoundly honest about my dishonesty. It’s the level of ambivalent feelings I aspire to.
I strongly suspect that Ha-neul is coming in strong to deprive Attorney Woo of her neurospicy crown. But there are also a million other points I’d like to make so this may end up being a little messy.
Ha-neul and the magical neurospices
First of all, Han-eul only got a pinch of neurospices, unlike Attorney Woo who got the whole bucket along with the mandatory haircut.
Secondary Voice
I don’t even know why I’m making fun of her hair. She’s cute.
Third Voice
Probably because you can, Cecee, you evil, cold-hearted monster. Ah well… Nevermind.
There are a few instances during the past 6 episodes (and especially episodes 5 and 6 because the thought didn’t occur to me before) that could have pointed towards the neurofun direction. So, I’d put Han-eul as someone with autism too, but she doesn’t have as much difficulties functioning in a neurotypical society as others.
I give you exhibit A: A very closed social circle.
There are essentially 4 people in Han-eul’s life: Her mom, her uncle, her annoying brother, and her just-as-annoying-but-in-a-different-way friend.
This is followed by exhibit A.2: She’s not always very good when it comes to reading social cues. She does not pick up on Jeong-woo’s fear at the sight of blood or when he froze during CPR because she does not recognise the feeling. But her social circle is too small for her to have come across anything similar.
We also see her not making friends at school and completely failing to understand that the little kids in her primary school may not want to spend time solving maths problems.
Following on with exhibit B: She has very focused hobbies.
She loves reading dissertations (and frankly, this turns up to be useful, but there are some more popular hobbies out there). She does not just research and read dissertations out of intellectual curiosity. She is truly passionate about it because she is able to recall information she read out of the many many texts she’s been consuming over a period of years.
We’ve got another little nugget when she plays at the arcade. She only wants to play Tetris, and when she goes back to play alone, she also picks Tetris. Not that everyone with autism will prefer Tetris, but playing only one game is very much the neurodivergent fixation. Like when she rehearsed only one song.
Exhibit C may be a little surprising but bear with me on this one: She’s high masking.
What is masking? Essentially, the clue is in the name. It’s about putting on a facade to fit in as much as possible. In which ways is Han-eul masking?
I believe she is masking to blend in with her co-workers. She does not fit in as we notice on a few occasions before she quits. The team dinner makes the point clear. On the one hand, you could see it as Han-eul being isolated because people, and especially her Professor, are taking advantage of her. And it is completely correct, they are. But there’s more to it.
Neurodivergent people, especially those on the autism spectrum (but not just them) are more likely to be taken advantage of in the workplace because they take your word at face value. So, when we see the Professor appear in the first scene we already know he is a coward little shit. We’ve watched K dramas before, we know what those people look like. Han-eul is just coming to this conclusion after years of witnessing it.
But we know she has come to realise that people are using her with no intention of ever helping her. Neurodivergent people tend to have a high sense of justice. They may not notice that people are taking advantage immediately, but the day they notice they will most likely explode. Explosion, as it happens, does not necessarily look like the typical roll-on-the-floor-screaming meltdown. Han-eul internalises a lot of things because I think she doesn’t know how to talk about it in a neurotypical way.
To me, this is the reason why she accepts most requests because it is socially easier in terms of interactions to say yes than to refuse. If she is a masking neurodivergent, she will be prone to avoid difficult social situations, such as setting boundaries.
So, I think that when she kicks her Professor and resigns, it’s her explosion. She can’t hide anymore and refuses to take it in. But because she’s been masking up until now, it’s not just about the surgery incident but it’s about everything.
Another thing that makes me believe she is high-masking is because she struggles with depression and burnout, which is fairly common among high-maskers. How would you not exhaust yourself when you spend your entire life pretending to be someone else?
Exhibit D: Han-eul feels genuinely at a loss when she stops working
I don’t think it is only because she overworked herself. I think she’s been masking so much that she doesn’t even know who she truly is.
Exhibit E: She prefers to deal with her problems alone
Han-eul does not share her emotions with her family until after she’s reached the point when she can’t bear to ignore them anymore. And this is quite emblematic of many neurodivergent individuals.
Firstly, because they are not always sure of their own feelings. Han-eul doesn’t realise she is depressed. She doesn’t know that there’s something wrong with her. This isn’t just a neurodivergent trait, but it is more predominant among autistic people and high maskers because they try to repress so many emotions at the same time that they are not even in touch anymore with their feelings.
The other reason why she doesn’t share her emotions could also be because she doesn’t know how to. She has never needed to as a result of masking.
Exhibit F: She can be blunt if needs be
We’ve seen teenage Han-eul suggesting to her mother that they go to Seoul.
We also get to see Han-eul bluntly asking Jeong-woo if he’s got PTSD. Tact was not part of this conversation. But she was so concerned for his health that she did not let her social shyness and awkwardness get in the way (like she’s been doing on other occasions)
Exhibit H: Jeong-woo is more socially and emotionally aware than Han-eul
I put this one down to being a social butterfly with an EQ that isn’t negative, unlike dear Han-eul.
And I think this is key to establishing their connection because it is his ability to read everything that Han-eul doesn’t express openly that creates the sense of trust and comfort between them. For Han-eul, he is the first person who recognises her struggles and verbalises them (when he first lets her know he overheard her conversation with her mom and shows immediate understanding and respect for the diagnosis, when he reminds her that she is allowed to take a break, when he voices out the crushing feeling of failure she had for not getting in her preferred university, etc.) I believe one of the reasons why he rapidly becomes one of her favourite persons is because he can show her truly what she feels and help her process. And this is also something that is common in neurodivergent-neurotypical relationships and something we see as well in Attorney Woo.
Anyway, here are my thoughts of the day, written in a hurry with barely any time for all the voices and all the gifs. But you get the idea!
Seon-ha
February 12, 2024 at 2:56 PM
I empathized quite a bit with her not being able to stop talking about her feelings once she started articulating them and seeing that he could accept them…and I low-key loved Jeong-woo for following suit, quite quickly telling her that he had feelings for her as well, but then also saying, “But I’ll really say it later,” which pulled back the pressure of response. Some might say, “Didn’t you just SAY it? Why would you say it again later??” I felt it was truly kind and caring of him.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 12, 2024 at 3:53 PM
Absolutely – I love this about him. He is, thankfully, emotionally astute for both of them.
And I love that they both carry each other through showing & owning their vulnerabilities. It’s an eternal mirroring bond in a way.
Even when they first cry together, even though it might have been designed as a funny scene, Ha-neul starts and because she leads the way, Jeong-woo tears up too.
She first confesses her feelings, and he mirrors her too (and I love the way he does it and admits that she is as much his comfort and healing as he is hers).
On this point, btw, I get it, it’s a rom-com, so this has to be love. But honestly, just a healing friendship, and one that seems to be the first mutually beneficial, understanding and accepting friendship they’ve ever had, would have been beautiful enough.
Seon-ha
February 12, 2024 at 4:22 PM
Exactly. On this point, there’s another thing I really liked about both of their emotional statements: They are each very ambivalent (a term I am frankly impressed that this show has defined accurately as feeling two ways at once, rather than “flip-flopping”) about how they’re feeling and neither of them want to commit to the fact that this is “love” like a rom-com would have it. It could be friendship; it could be mirroring attachment; it could be sexual attraction; it could be (even) a childish search for unconditional love…they’ve both stated that they’re neither of them sure. He, because he’s all distracted and caught up in this other more pressing trauma, and she, because she appears not to be used to interpreting the signals her body and mind are creating as emotions/affect rather than simply physical sensations. At least, that seems plausible to me!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 13, 2024 at 12:56 AM
Same to me. I get that given the drama it will need to be love, but it doesn’t have to be. At that point, they are acting as each other’s life-saving jacket and I really like the way they constantly stand up for each other because I really see it as a mirroring phenomenon. “I’m being there for you because nobody was for me.” And there is no expectation that the other should help in return, but the other mirrors their needs and desires to care for someone the exact way they would have needed someone to care for them.
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 12, 2024 at 3:02 PM
That was a beautiful thing you wrote there. If I was one to easily cry, I would’ve.
***
And as in most K-dramas where autistic traits are represented, I don’t think we will be hearing about a diagnosis.
Also, usually there is not as much masking – and also, it is rarely a woman, Woo being of course a prominent exception to that rule.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 12, 2024 at 3:57 PM
I’m half suspected they ended up writing a hyper realistic autistic and relatable character by accident. It’s almost as if they never realised the character was autistic and that is all the most realistic to me, because it makes perfect sense to me that Ha-neul would not even know she is neurodivergent. How would she know when her entire life was focused on being the best rather than being herself (she can be both, naturally)?
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 12, 2024 at 5:45 PM
How would she know if the writers didn’t even know?
But also, lots of people don’t know it, if they manage at all. They may know they are different – e.g. friends are a really difficult thing – but otherwise, they are just seen as a little different – and difficulties will be seen as half laziness by others.
Laziness, naughtiness, arrogance, … whatever it looks like if you don’t know about it.
lapislazulii
February 12, 2024 at 4:52 PM
I really love this Cecee, thank you for sharing 💕! I wish I had something intellectual to add, but alas I’m coming up blank but I had to come here to say that I very much enjoyed reading this take, and all your observations that came with it. Makes me want to go back and watch scenes again to appreciate the dynamic between Jeong-woo and Han-eul!!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 15, 2024 at 8:10 PM
^^ 💯 that!! 😊 Please read this comment as mine too. 😉
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 12:49 AM
I shall! 🙂 (seriously, I’m too lazy to look for emojis when I’m writing on laptop – well technically a computer, but saying computer does sound like I’ve just come from the 1980s — sorry for the old-fashioned smileys)
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 16, 2024 at 1:06 AM
🫰
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 16, 2024 at 3:48 AM
First voice: Saranghaeeeeeeeeee (just like Lee Seung-gi here: https://youtu.be/X69sanBRckg?si=u3i4FZ5gtsv4Fy1E)
Secondary voice pipping in: -yo (in the voice of Lee Dongwook, politely grammar-nazi-ing his fans)
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 16, 2024 at 4:35 AM
😘 and 🙉 also thank you for the PSA that neon green and silver does no one any favors even if you are a “living anime”.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 13, 2024 at 12:57 AM
Aaaah, Ha-neul not Han-eul but bonus point for effort in keeping her name constantly incorrect throughout the text. Fecking hell
nerdy
February 13, 2024 at 4:44 AM
Not sure if you wrote about it and I have missed it, but there are instances when Ha-eul says something that is somewhat insensitive and brutally honest, but does not reflect her personality. e.g her snoozing when Jong-woo goes on his speech about being in debt or telling Hong-rang that she is not interested in Hong-rang’s dating life. I am nearly sure those are to some degree autistic traits as well.
As for the Attorney Woo, I think I once made a post on how autistic characters in media are always portrayed as variations of Rain man, by being at the highest point of the spectrum and having the traits of a genius. *eye roll*
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 13, 2024 at 4:55 AM
Yes, brutal honesty. I mentioned the bit where she just blurts out to Jeong-woo: You’ve got PTSD (which would be the absolutely last thing to say to someone who has PTSD but she’s so focused on sharing it that she doesn’t even notice how blunt it comes out)
She can also be brutally blunt with her aunts (especially as a teen) or even when she tells Hong-rae to leave her alone so she can have peace.
And totally agree with you, those seem to be autistic traits to me too. They are more prominently shown in Attorney Woo (who is unmasked to be point of being terrifyingly unhinged at times), but we get some glimpses with Ha-neul when she is either mentally exhausted by her surroundings and cannot mask anymore or when she is feeling more confident with the person.
And I do like Attorney Woo because she’s insanely cute. But I think she is the most unrelated autistic person you could get (or Rain Man like you say) *joins you in the eye rolling competition*
Ha-neul feels much more realistic, especially nowadays where so many undiagnosed high functioning autistic people are struggling like her without even knowing why. I really like Ha-neul.
Minnie🫘👩🏻🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻🏫🌱🏹
February 13, 2024 at 8:19 AM
One of the best things I have read in a long time @Cecee. I wrote my thoughts on the recap page (just to keep them in one place, I get lost when I open DB and have 55 notifications to leaf through) but everything you said is pure gold.
TurtuallySarcastic
February 13, 2024 at 6:45 AM
Haneul, you say? Oy, Cee, not nice calling me out like that! 😉
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 13, 2024 at 9:16 AM
Sorry Haneul-sshi
Qingdao: likes scented candles
February 18, 2024 at 5:18 PM
So looking forward to your analysis of Ha-Neul after episodes 7-8 dropped this weekend. What’s a guy to do without his “candy in a salty pond” or “bracken & chocolate”? (Good thing for Ha-Neul that the HS classmate, aka cameo by Lee Sung-Kyung, has come and gone!)
Wondering what other issues of Ha-Neul will be revealed in 9-10….
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 19, 2024 at 12:50 AM
I might wait another week so I have a little more material to review in order to further confirm or simply reject the hypothesis.
The end of Ep 8 (only caught through social media feeds so far) feels more “normal” for someone with depression and little to none sense of self-worth (which is great because it briefly felt like the drama forgot about her mental health) but I haven’t seen enough to make the neurodivergent call yet!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 2:01 AM
No more a chaebol’s poor doppelgänger… Finally, I have risen to be a pair of pants. Mother will be so proud.
korfan
February 2, 2024 at 2:23 AM
Congratulations!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 2, 2024 at 2:28 AM
Congrats on levelling up🥳 enjoy your rest in the pants drawer.
Midnight
February 2, 2024 at 2:36 AM
This was the only level I did everything in my power to rise from😆
Congrats!
Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
February 2, 2024 at 2:43 AM
That’s really funny🤣
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 3:04 AM
Understandable. Why wish for anything else when I can be the Goblin’s pants? My life is complete
Midnight
February 2, 2024 at 3:27 AM
Um… Rise “from”… Not “to”… I thought maybe I should clarify 😆
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 4:45 AM
My bad, I misread and put my words instead of yours… I intend to spend many happy days showing off my new fancy Goblin’s pants. It was the level I aspired to the moment I realised it existed (because why not? If you can be anything, be pants — new life goal unlocked)
Isa is always time travelling
February 2, 2024 at 3:17 AM
Congratulations!! 🥳
Seon-ha
February 2, 2024 at 4:07 AM
**dons pointy boots**
Go, Cecee! We have superhero names to decide still…yes? What are you currently thinking from your new vantage point?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 4:43 AM
I think we need the wear our pants on top, like a proper super hero.
**immediately puts pointy boots on and practices super hero stance**
Admittedly, not a high vantage point for now… These rooftop dwellings are still far away from me!
Seon-ha
February 2, 2024 at 6:04 AM
**untucks pants**
Thanks for the tip! I’d like to be the “[SOMETHING] Avenger.” Like the SLS Avenger. That’s probably it, isn’t it 🙄🤣
bbstl 🧹
February 2, 2024 at 7:54 AM
Congratulations on leveling up to not pants but, in the vernacular of kdrama, panties! 🩲🩳🩲
I couldn’t believe when Chaebol Lawyer MIL yelled at FL for no longer ironing her husband’s panties in QofD1 🤦🏼♀️
Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain
February 2, 2024 at 9:53 AM
Congratulations! We already knew you’re strong and stretchy! (But I hope no one makes a song about you, or at least not like that one.)
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 11:31 AM
omg, please do! haha I’m still trying to finish work (it 7:30pm here) and a song about how my stretchiness would definitely lift up the mood
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 2, 2024 at 12:47 PM
minus how
Eazal
February 2, 2024 at 1:47 PM
Congrats!!
🌸 Seeker 🌸
February 3, 2024 at 11:42 AM
Ooooohhh! **screaming on the top of my lungs**
CECEE Congratulations to you and ALL your voices. Have a blast!
DK-Drama 🫘 Giffing n Space Cadetting🍉🌱
February 6, 2024 at 2:48 PM
That’s when I made that lot of gifs for all the Gong-yoo thirsty beans out there.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 6, 2024 at 3:24 PM
Perfect gif excuse
Qingdao: likes scented candles
February 22, 2024 at 5:09 PM
Congratulations! I caught up to you on February 8th. Wonder how long we’ll be in the Goblin’s underpants? Isn’t this a fun place for Kdrama fanship?
Cecee is done DramaQueening
February 23, 2024 at 1:06 AM
Congrats b ack to you! I hope to keep them for a little while. They seem comfy enough 🙂
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 9:43 AM
Please Marry My Nutella-Sandwich Bearing Husband Because Seriously I Fucking Can’t
I’ve learned one thing from my Latin classes at school.
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes , in other words, don’t trust the Greeks even (and especially) when they bring a giant horse-shaped present.
Timeo virum meum et Nutella ferentes
I fear my man even when he’s bearing Nutella.
I’d love to take screenshots or gif the scene
Secondary Voice
I’m lying, I’d hate it.
… but I haven’t figured out how to capture Amazon Prime screen on Mac.
Third Voice
When my 0.12 second Google search didn’t give me a pre-made solution, I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to do it
But if anybody is looking for a good gif, please let me direct you to @attiton, @ceciliedk and @cera who know and can be bothered to do all the ins and outs of giffing. Although I am not sure they have gifs of said Nutella and egg sandwich proposal of doom, but they’d certainly put more effort into making a gif than me.
(@ceciliedk – how come it isn’t on Amazon Prime by you? What a horrible tragedy)
Anyway, I’d have definitely rejected that particular proposal… But there is a Nutella sandwich here. There was an effort made. Ji-won, he made you a Nutella sandwich! We all know Nutella is the modern-day cure for all life’s ailments. Eat that little nutty beast to soak up the disappointment of a lame proposal.
Secondary Voice
Notice I didn’t say accept the proposal. You can munch in the meantime.
Third Voice
Given Min-hwan’s antics, I’d have suggested making him a necklace with the kitchen table. Slam it in his head and run. But eat that Nutella sandwich first.
Anyway… As lame goes, in the right circumstances, this would have been a perfectly sweet proposal. We are just told to hate it because we know Min-hwan is anything but a nice person. But, I’d argue that the same proposal in the hands of another character in another drama would have swayed more than one
heartstomach.Secondary Voice
Minus that bitch of an egg sandwich, of course. What sick mind imagines an egg sandwich will give them a free pass into someone’s pants?
Third Voice
Launching the worldwide campaign “Et tu, egge sandwiche?” where we are strongly encouraged to stab egg sandwiches viciously because they stab you first. It’s self-defence, and this is precisely what would have saved Caesar’s backside in the days. Proof that you can’t trust an egg sandwich, especially if its name is Brutus.
Is Min-hwan an egg sandwich too? No, Min-hwan is just the uncooked egg before it gets into the egg sandwich. He doesn’t even have the advantage of pretending the slices of bread are his spine. He’s a viscous little thing you wouldn’t want to touch with the sole of your shoes.
But is he really the psychopath Marry My Husband wants us to believe? Does he wear a black cap? Nope. Then he’s not a psychopath because we all know what psychopaths look like. Black mask. Black hat. Acting outrageously over the top sexy for their own knives. Or whatever they’ve got in the psycho toolkit box.
Min-hwan needs to get his villain act together. I was curious about whether his drama self differs much from the webtoon. So, I look for an English version of it online (for science). For what I’ve read so far, he seems fairly similar. Ji-won describes him as a psychopath. But, @manichan described him perfectly to a T.
So, we’re not up against a fearsome monster. We’re up against a self-entitled dickhead.
Secondary Voice
I’ve got an uncle like that. His entire personality is purely built on self-entitled dickheadness.
Third Voice
Will Min-hwan ever get better? My uncle hasn’t. He’s only older and therefore can’t dedicate as much energy as he used to to being a dick. Min-hwan’s main quality by comparison is that revenge is coming for him.
Admittedly, his dickheadness is paired with Soo-min’s own brand of sick nastiness. She’s a much more interesting adversary because she is smart enough to manipulate those around her to her advantage. While Min-hwan doesn’t really need to manipulate (and when he tries, he has the subtlety of a masonry brick) because Mother Dear made sure he’d always have anything he wants. Min-hwan doesn’t need much brain to get what he wants (because it is usually served on a golden platter for him), and he makes it more than obvious. Cue to him celebrating sleeping with Soo-min at the gym, describing the deed as “hitting a homerun” openly with no further thoughts on the possible consequences on his reputation.
Secondary Voice
It’s more of a hole-in-one, Min-hwan…
So, it’s an interesting difference and one that seems to explain why Soo-min is such a formidable
villainbitch because she, essentially, has to “work” to get what she wants. And frankly, she is phenomenally good at it.The webtoon gives more insights into her thoughts but it is pretty obvious what she thinks and wants from any scene she’s in in the drama. But that borderline psychotic scene where she systematically erases Ji-won from every photo made me smile. Perfect representation of Soo-min’s mental age, which is somewhere around 15. Well done girl for staying young, not only in appearance but also in maturity, or more precisely lack of. Slow clap with a little punch in the middle of your face. Do I hate her? Absolutely not. There wouldn’t be any drama if she wasn’t there.
But nevertheless, that hair pulling scene with Ji-won still got me wishing for better action on the battlefield.
Secondary Voice
Ji-won, you can fling people. What the hell are you doing?
* chants FLING HER FLING HER FLING HER until it happens *
Third Voice
Honestly, by that point, I don’t care if Ji-won has got a sophisticated plan. Flinging Soo-min head first into the dirt would be immensely satisfying for viewers. Think of the ratings!
I’m actually surprised the company can get away with this completely insane nature workshop. When you think about it, it is anything but a success.
Employees are made to literally hunt and fight for the right to sleep comfortably at night. This is what those flags are for.
Secondary Voice
U&K, this is the opposite of a team-building event. It’s a team-destroying event.
Third Voice
Fastest way to get me to resign from any role. Tell me I’m going tok spend a weekend in nature with my coworkers and I might get to sleep in a tent if I’m lucky… Nope. You’d have never seen a resignation letter written that fast.
They planted a flag in the middle of the water, and I love how panicked they are to realise that it may be dangerous.
Secondary Voice
No shit? You think?
“The water is deep. People shouldn’t go.”
At that point, if you need to tell them, they are probably not mentally fit to work in an office either. But it doesn’t matter because Ji-won is determined to kill herself before Soo-min and Min-hwan can get to her, so she jumps into the water.
Secondary Voice
Thankfully, Ji-won is working overtime to prove that Darwin’s theory of natural selection can also apply to her.
How can you drown in a metre of water, Ji-won? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?!
Third Voice
More importantly, why did you dress like a psychopath on the loose? Black hat, black clothes… Ji-won, who did you kill?
Yet, she is saved once again by — would you believe it? — Ji-hyuk, who should send her an invoice for his personal bodyguarding services, given that he’s saved her approximately a million times already.
She is grateful to him, and she also reminds him that she doesn’t need anybody’s help because she’s not Soo-min. Don’t be silly, Ji-won.
Secondary Voice
You’ve drowned in a shallow body of water. You need help, girl.
The conversation goes approximately like this:
“Ji-won, exactly how stupid are you? How can you even manage to drown here? Do you need basic standing classes on top of the judo lessons?”
“I am not Soo-min!”
“Yer, I know. She’s too busy flirting with your future killer to drown in puddles.”
* shakes Ji-won violently to see if her contact lenses fall off. They don’t. *
Third Voice
Ji-hyuk, I am as frustrated as you.
Did she seriously come back 10 years into the past to play in puddles? Yes, she did. Puddles are all part the plan. Because, Ji-won has a plan. She’s got one hell of a plotting mind.
And, what’s more surprising, is that she seems to be naturally gifted at the whole plotting thing. She can see several moves ahead, which as a time traveller she’d be able to do anyway, but she can also figure out how the changes she is making to her timeline will affect her preys. Apparently, a part of her plan was to wear a white/cream skirt at an outdoors camping outing.
Secondary Voice
Someone’s got faith in their washing machine.
Third Voice
This probably confirms what her choice of outfit for the flag fishing revealed. Ji-won has…[Read more]
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 9:48 AM
@bbstl – the giant office boulder was so disturbing that it made it to my random collection of thoughts. Who needs a pet mountain at home?
indyfan
January 26, 2024 at 10:07 AM
Omo. 😂😂😂 I think this is my favorite Cecee post yet. I am wiping away tears of laughter. And so on point. If we were to ever have an official drama roast, you would be my choice to headline it. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 10:51 AM
I want this printed on a t-shirt 🙂
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 4:34 PM
🫰
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 10:29 AM
I see you accidentally clicked on Kidnapping Day again. 😊
Nutella is chocolate after all (we hope) and therefore irresistible (we hope some more) but this was the weirdest use of Nutella on an open / deconstructed sandwich.
Ji-won’s revenge of course is going down the boiled turnip road it seems. Sigh, after that promising start we had hopes!!
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 10:51 AM
The Amazon Prime interface on the PS is one of the worst things known to mankind!
I landed on Zombie for Sale in another accident (which I don’t regret because this was the funniest zombie film I’ve seen so far, with Kim Nam-gil, Park In-hwan, Jung Jae-jung, Jung Ga-ram, Lee Soo Kyung, and Uhm Ji-won and many other famous faces)
Ji-won has not yet moved to the boiled stage of the turnip saga, ha! She’s taking a more active role in the revenge… but at the same point, why does she have to make it slow and long-winded?
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 11:06 AM
Well Amazon is always having some sales and this 1+1 combo in dramas is a good deal!
Maybe if she has her revenge in the next episode what will we do for the remaining episodes so yes … seems she is letting then stew for a while.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 11:07 AM
* them stew
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 2:21 AM
Just cured my For-Fuck’s-Sake-Who-Wrote-That-Crappy-Script-itis by accidentally stumbling upon The Odd Family:Zombie On/For Sale and I have been happily cackling since 🙂
bbstl 🧹
January 26, 2024 at 9:16 AM
Oh my gosh, what a hilarious concept (and comment on our obsession w youth) 😝
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 9:45 AM
cabbage-eating zombie is the new dermal filler.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 10:32 AM
Cool!! Isn’t eating raw unwashed cabbage damaging to the brain or some such.
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 10:53 AM
Question: Should a zombie look after his brain? lol
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 11:02 AM
Er, … does a zombie have a brain. Never mind, with the right BB cream even a zombie can be gainfully employed as a detective. 🥳
Cecee is done DramaQueening
January 26, 2024 at 11:12 AM
lol, I was genuinely thinking: Ok, when will they get him some makeup?
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 11:28 AM
I do believe his secretary, the FL used to get him the BB Creams.
🌸 Seeker 🌸
January 26, 2024 at 11:30 AM
Isn’t this drama on Amazon… duh!!
cozybooks
January 26, 2024 at 7:14 PM
Oh my gosh my husband and I watched this movie. It was hilarious!!