1) Nice to see Ji Chang-wook having a laugh and a bit of banter here with a co-star, about their love lives. Good to know that they have them.

2) Being a very recent convert to BTS (ie March this year), I have wondered many times about the hate they received earlier in their career. They wrote about it a lot in songs, and it’s not that I doubt them, that it was bad, but was just unfamiliar with what it was like. What I did see was Namjoon and Yoongi being taunted and humiliated by fellow rappers early on, and a camera recording it all – that was pretty bad.

However just in the last few days, since Yoongi apologised for being drunk in charge of a scooter, I have started to see how toxic these haters are. It would, of course, be fair enough to say he was irresponsible and shouldn’t get special treatment because of who he is. I think no-one would deny that, least of all him.

These haters (whether they just hate BTS or are fans of other groups), however know exactly where BTS’s vulnerabilities lie and they are exploiting those to the hilt. The way I see it is this: BTS’s strengths are their love and unity as a team, and their very loyal two-way relationship with ARMY. These haters try to undermine both these things by committing vicious pranks and pretending they were done by ARMY – the online drink-driving “challenge”, the wreaths outside the Hybe building designed to drive a wedge between Yoongi and the others.

I just hope the messages of support I have been seeing on social media get through to Yoongi and to all of them. I hope Yoongi’s family (after slapping him around the head, which family would do after you do something stupid) will back him up and stop him from sinking low. In a shame culture like Korea’s, I can imagine it would to all to easy for him to feel like he’d brought shame on himself, his family, BTS and even the country as a whole, given his profile.

I don’t know exactly what these toxic people and media websites actually want to achieve. Would it make them happy if BTS broke up? Do they think it would mean more love and attention for the groups they favour? I suspect the opposite would be true – if the worst happened, it would seriously undermine the kpop industry; global support for it would plummet, and the toxic nature of Korean fan/media culture would be despised by millions of heartbroken BTS fans.

Am up to episode 5 of My Liberation Notes, and I like everything about this show. The only actors I knew beforehand were Kim Ji-Won and Lee Min-ki, but I like them all. The whole thing could be rather glum, but I find so much humour in it.
Just one example, the three oddballs at work who refuse to join a club, being lined up like naughty schoolkids in front of the headmistress. Then when the “liberation club” has its first meeting, they are all lined up looking out café windows in exactly the same way.
To me, this show feels like a love song to introverts. It seems to sympathise (as I do) with people who don’t want to be forced to talk, or join a club or gossip with the girls. Hilariously, Lee Min-ki’s character is driven mad by an endlessly gabbling colleague, and he endlessly gabbles in the same way to his buddies about her.

I do concede that at least some of the introversion in this story is meant to be dysfunctional. But it’s also a vital part of the tension of the show. The siblings’ father barely says a word, so when we can see he is building up to say something, the tension is palpable.
And at the centre of the introversion spell is, of course, the mysterious Mr Gu, who works and drinks, and works and drinks, and makes his empty soju bottles into a massed army in the spare room. He says so little, we are desperate for information about him.
Mr Gu has a relationship with everyone in the family, even though he says nothing. The parents clearly value him highly, love him even. They tolerate his drinking and fret if he doesn’t eat; and it seems not only because he is a solid worker. He silently repays their loyalty, using who knows what threats to get their money from a recalcitrant customer.
Meanwhile, Lee Min-ki’s character sees Mr Gu’s self-contained alcoholic silence as being wreathed in cool and wants a bit of that to rub off on him. (The conversations between him and his hometown buddies about their failures with women and life just crack me up – they seem so real to me, sad and funny.)
As for Mr Gu and Kim Ji-Won (and I’m only up to episode 5 so please don’t spoil me!!), every time there is some development between them, I am leaning back on the sofa and grinning with pleasure and saying “holy shit”. It just backfoots me every time.
I even like the annoying older sister. She’s grouchy and flailing about in wildly inappropriate ways to ease the ache inside, but I find her endearingly vulnerable (and not half so annoying as, say, the sisters in Welcome to Samdalri).
The repetitive slice-of-life aspect is done so well, the relentless commute, repeated again and again. City, train, bus, and the walk in the dark up the country road. My Gu carrying his clanging bottles of drink in a plastic bag. The family eating silently round the table.
I’m not going to look at the recaps, because I am desperate not to be spoiled. I am enjoying this so much.

Jin emerges…
As a very newly minted ARMY (I didn’t know BTS from Adam until March this year, and no, I haven’t officially signed up to anything but I consider myself a serious fan), I’ve been watching Jin emerge from his military service. And:
• Men look so good in uniform, even ordinary guys. Special guys look amazing.
• Namjoon with his saxophone!
• No mistaking the burly guy with the tats!
• I understand Yoongi is there, but didn’t come out, which leads me to…
• The privacy of such an occasion. Clearly this has been stage-managed for fans with the permission of those concerned. But I wonder if Yoongi didn’t come out because he wanted to reunite with his old room-mate in private. So much of their life they have voluntarily shared with fans, firstly as a way of creating fans, then staying connected with them. But for their own sanity, they surely keep a chunk of their life actually private.
• One important part of the the BTS charm, for me, is their intense camaraderie. Army service will change all of them. How they relate to each other will surely change too. Fans may be nervous of this, but I’m sure they are too!

Serendipity. Dramabeans posts a post on why I should watch Just Between Lovers just as I am watching it. I’m somewhere in the middle of it – watched a couple of episodes in the wee hours of this morning after waking up at 2am. Cried profusely. My cat was sitting on my knee and she got all worried and gazed up at me anxiously with her dark, dark eyes.

I’ve been a bit jaundiced on k-dramas lately, but this one has got the goods. It’s often quite unclear to me why one drama will have me bored or rolling my eyes, and another will be stabbing me in the heart. One thing is clear though—Junho is very, very good, all working-class angst and bravado.

Sometimes I think the difference between good and average dramas is in the little details – how much you linger on a scene, when you pull back and underplay it. Tight writing too makes a big difference. Spare me from long scenes which tell me nothing.

And I want a proper story. The romance has to fit into a world where things are happening, rather than just cliched stumbling blocks to fulfilment. OF course there are exceptions to this, but the writing and humour and acting has to be topnotch to get away with not-much-plot.

I don’t know how this happened…
Over the last few months, I have been somewhat blah about k-dramas. Nothing has grabbed me. I’m usually watching back catalogue, but tried one of the new ones, Queen of Tears. Got bored after three episodes.

I went back to western dramas, trying out Emily in Paris and The Witcher. I have now given up on both of those. Henry Cavill has a morose charm, and a nice horse, but I became irritated and my attention started to drift after three episodes. As for Emily in Paris, it was like junk food, extremely easy to consume, but started to make me feel pretty ill after a while. Halfway through seaon 2, I decided that I despised Emily and hated all the other characters too. So that was an end to that.

What I did do, starting two months ago, which has proved much more satisfying, was that I “discovered” BTS. (That’s me, 10 years too late, but no matter – they even have empathetic words for me on that issue: “It doesn’t matter if you only discovered us today. The day you discovered us was the day we debuted.” Or some such thing.)

Let’s just say, I have found them WAY WAY more interesting than I could possibly have imagined. (They’ve even got me writing things in capitals…). I approached them two months ago completely blind. I knew none of their music, hadn’t heard of any of the members. All I knew was they were big, as in globally big.

It’s quite the rabbit hole. And so far, I have only nibbled round the edges of their musical catalogue and all the masses of material featuring them online. Learning about them has been an organic process. I am writing about it, to post here.

Without saying anything more at this point, if you said “BTS rap line” to me two months ago, I would have answered “Huh??” Now I have a picture of them on my phone. It’s very strange.

Finished WHERE STARS LAND: Lee Je-hoon is a bit of all right, and I liked Chae Soo-bin very much in I Am Not a Robot, so I thought I’d give this romantic story a try. I’ve never seen LJH be anything else other than tightly wound, so I did enjoy him unbending shyly to admit his feelings.

I was taken by the scene where he reveals himself to her, stripping off his shirt to show the bionics/machinery keeping him on his feet — because she’s freaking out, thinking it’s a sexual reveal which she’s not ready for! Nicely done. And I LOVED the no-nonsense female boss — too many workplace dramas are just unrelieved bullying and toxicity, when all it takes is one good manager with integrity and guts (thin on the ground everywhere, I’d say) to make a difference.

However the end of this show was such shite that I had no interest in the leading couple any longer. He was supposed to be dying of toxic inflammation from the brace, so we’d be justified in expecting him to keel over any moment, and for her to INSIST on him taking the brace off, but he just wanted to be a big boring shame-filled martyr (and be useful to the plot by becoming the Hulk at the climax).

Despite his extremely fragile state of health, all we saw was the odd nose-bleed and dizzy spell. AND, at the climax, he became a blur of miraculous hulk energy, downing a whole tribe of bad guys, AND saving his brother with a feat of strength AND feeling OK for a cozy reconciliatory chat with his brother. This completely destroyed the dramatic tension, and I was rolling my eyes at double speed. (I actually thought it worked well to find out that both brothers had actually been looking out for each other in their own way. BUT.) Only then does he have to have a bit of lie-down, and the obligatory year-long disappearance.

The fact that the reunion DIDN’T EVEN SHOW HIS FACE, made me think that LJH couldn’t bear to be part of this stupid ending and had exited long before. Not only that, but we got a repeat of the lame robot vacuum-cleaner joke.

GOBLIN: Taking advantage of my new Viki sub to finally watch this. Am up to about ep 6. All the main cast are wonderful. Lovely atmosphere that combines epic with whimsical. Beautiful design — the Goblin’s bedroom, with its barrel-shaped roof and conservatory windows, has filled me with envy. Also, best use of a hat. And for once, a male lead’s ambivalence about pursuing love is utterly justified. This can’t end well!

Haven’t quite figured out why some living humans can see dead people and some can’t. Touched by grace? Or have I missed something? I always miss lots on my first watch.

The Reaper trying to do romance is hilarious – his obsession with having a business card! So glad to see Yoo In-na delightfully playing the mysterious cafe owner who quite likes the look of this sad-sack dead-man. Happily she is erasing for me the only other character I’ve seen her play– the worst passive-aggressive 2nd female lead ever in You From Another Star.

I’m braced for tears with this. But getting laughs too. Actually one of the scenes that got to me the most was set in a hospital waiting room. (It went something like this…) Lee Dong-wook is hanging out there with a group of Reaper colleagues exchanging professional chitchat. One assumes they are there for patients who are about to die.

A crash team led by a desperate ER doctor are trying to revive a man in cardiac arrest. It doesn’t look good for the patient. The Grim Reaper, suitably hatted, walks over. But what’s this, the Reaper is addressing the doctor, looking him in the eye, giving him the formal speech, saying “… died of overwork…”

The doctor asks plaintively, “Am I dead?” The camera moves over to him lying on a stretcher – yes, he is dead. Meanwhile the patient is alive and reviving. The camera then shows one of the crocs has fallen off the dead doctor’s feet. The croc is overturned on the floor – the heel worn way down to the inner.

That’s it. So low key. Beautifully done. On to another scene.

For the cross-over Buffy fans:

I understand Rowoon is a big star these days, but due to my bonding experience with About Time, I\’ll never be able to see him as anything other than Lee Sung Kyung\’s dorpy little brother…

I found the offending word: once I \”corrected\” it to \”specialize\”, changing the \”s\” to a \”z\”, all was well.

Hello, Viki
Last night on the spur of the moment, I signed up to Viki, and immediately started watching Personal Taste. Lined up next will be Red Sleeve and Goblin! (Netflix has been my only source up until now.)

At the start, I found Personal Taste mannered and dorky, and Son Ye-jin’s character deeply irritating. Everyone else was only slightly less irritating. People’s professed relationship tactics were from the Dark Ages.

But it’s improved as it’s gone along – I say this from my position of reaching episode eight. People have started developing all sorts of shades of grey, and complicated emotional tangles. I think Lee Min-ho has limits to his acting talent, but he has magnetic male presence, and one of the best smiles on the planet. Seeing him in white jeans is a sight to behold. He comes alive when there is humour to be had.

I’ve only seen Son Ye-jin in this and two other dramas. She seems to specialize in a particularly irritating kind of female fragility. In Crash Landing on You, however, this was balanced out by bucket loads of guts and gumption. As for Something in the Rain, the less said the better, as I am still brooding over what I think of it.

Favourite Son…
I don’t pay much attention to top-level football – bunch of overpaid primadonnas. However South Korea’s captain, Son Heung-min, seems like a great guy, worshipped at home, and well-loved by Spurs fans in England as well. I had to laugh when he was asked in an interview what his favourite restaurants were in England, and he said nothing was better than his mother’s cooking. Good Korean boy.

Just wrote a fairly innocuous post and tried to put it up. But it wouldn\’t post: apparently I used an \”inappropriate word\”. I have no idea which word has caused the problem.

Just started watching Taxi Driver, and spent the first half hour going: “Now what have I seen him/her in?” and now I have them all sorted. The one I couldn’t immediately place was the mechanic with the awful wig and the gorgeous grin – of course he was the lovely Mr Bang in Suspicious Partner.

We’re only on to case number two, and honestly I am a major sucker for the vigilante mindset. The abuse and bullying, and the inability to get redress, absolutely turn my stomach, and I am itching for Lee Je-hoon and his squad to get in there and DO them.

I have to say Lee Je-Hoon does intense and taciturn with the best of them. And I don’t think anyone else can park a car like that.

About Time

Although by no means the best kdrama I’ve watched, About Time still holds a special place in my heart for being the first I ever saw. I stumbled on it purely by accident.

I signed up to Netflix early in 2022, mainly because the Russians had just invaded Ukraine and I was intrigued by Vlodomyr Zelenskyy. Who was this comedian who played a history teacher who becomes president in a satirical TV show, and then makes it happen in real life? And when Russia invades, tells the Americans who offer to evacuate him: “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.”

The first season of his show, Servant of the People, was on Youtube; the 2nd season also, but it had no subtitles, and I was very keen to see it, and knew it was on Netflix. So I signed up (decades after most people, but, you know, what’s the rush). Servant of the People is an extraordinary show, not only because life imitated art so powerfully, (and not only because its opening credits are so wonderful) but also for the insight into everyday life in a culture I knew nothing about. Of course, this is also one of the reasons kdramas are so appealing to me.

After I finished this show, I was a bit lost about where else to go on Netflix. I watched one American series, the Lincoln Lawyer, which was pretty good. But none of the other much-touted western shows grabbed me. I googled “best movies on Netflix” and one that was recommended was called About Time, a nice little British romantic comedy. I searched that on Netflix, and found “About Time” but when it opened up, it wasn’t what I’d anticipated… I didn’t really know what it was. But I dived in…. and haven’t been heard of since!

I’ll confess at this point how little I knew about Korea 20 months ago! I knew about the Japanese occupation and the comfort women, the Korean war and the division of the country, that it had a hi-tech economy. I knew there was kpop (none of which I’d heard, except for Gangnam Style), and kdrama, which I’d never seen. That was it. Oh, and the Kim dynasty and their military threats. So, not much.

Even my geography was vague. Down that Pacific coast of China, I knew there was Taiwan and Hongkong and Japan and Korea but I certainly wasn’t clear what order they were in. I sure am now. I can point out Jeju Island straight off too. And in 2022, I’d never heard of it.

When I first started watching About Time, I was confused. Was this Japanese? No, the programme notes revealed it was Korean. Ah, so this was kdrama. There were many things that struck me very quickly.

1) Not being used to Korean beauty standards, I was struck straight away by Lee Sung-kyung’s extraordinary doll-like beauty. I’d really never seen anything like her. She really held the camera. But she was no shrinking violet, or clothes horse — she was the heroine and she had charisma, dignity and agency.
2) I was confused by the tone of the thing. Was it aimed at teenagers, I asked myself? There was an atmosphere, a way of people relating, that felt really unusual to me, slightly child-like or naïve. Or maybe lacking in western-style irony/cynicism.
3) What I now know as kdrama cliches were quite fresh and exciting to me:
* the hitting (all by women) which shocked me (I don’t doubt Korea is just as full of male-on-female domestic violence as anywhere else in the world, but the very specific hitting and kicking of their menfolk by kdrama women just does my head in)
* the toxic chaebol family,
* the sexless love affair which had me really confused about what sort of relationship it really was,
* the bowing and bullying and harsh hierarchy
* the razor-edge fashion (particularly on Im Se-mi)
* the childhood connection of the lead characters
* the female lead diving into the water and rescuing the male lead who makes no effort to save himself and just drifts helplessly downward
* noble idiocy – in particular the passive-aggressive kind where you don’t even say “I’m leaving you for your own good” – rather you’re just mean and rejecting and lie through your teeth
* and, very powerfully: the intense and unabashed romanticism.

The romanticism was beguiling to me, partly because it was so un-ironic – there was a purity to it. Not because the characters were pure in any sense, but because the intent was not to mock it. I was astounded by scenes which would close episode after episode, of Choi Mika and Lee Do-ha just gazing into each other’s eyes – and that tableau would be frozen on the screen and little hearts and birdies would be fluttering round the edge of the picture (well, almost!). And the music would swell. And then we’d get four different camera angles of the same.

The first time I saw this sort of scene (and of course there were many of them), I didn’t know whether to laugh (from my cynical western perspective) or sigh with pleasure. I probably did a bit of both. And not only the romanticism, but the words to express romantic feelings were quite new to me – “making my heart flutter”, “staying by my side”. And how “I like you” actually means “I really really LIKE you”.

As a drama, About Time is not one of the greats. One critic put it on her list of the worst kdramas of all time. That’s unfair. Though the bit near the start where the action is diverted to some holiday resort in China is pretty tiresome. And I have little interest in the kind of bland musical theatre which is central to the plot.

But I loved the introduction to the kdrama world, and to Korean life (though of course, I could not tell how realistic a portrayal it was); I thought Lee Sung-kyung was great (which led me to Weightlifting Fairy, and from there to follow Nam Joo-hyuk to his other dramas, and on and on…).

I was also introduced to a couple of other actors who I have really enjoyed in the many places they’ve popped up: Jung Moon-sung, who plays Lee Do-ha’s dying half brother; and also Kim Hae-sook, who plays her vivacious older friend Lady Oh.

Those two in particular are wonderful in Hospital Playlist, Jung Moon-sung as the much put-upon, but loveable resident doctor who is a gorgeous foil to the icy Jung Kyung-ho. And Kim Hae-sook as the irascible matriarch, desperate that her youngest and best son won’t be stolen by God, like all the others!

It was interesting to me to discover that the way I watched About Time would become something of a pattern. I watch about a third of a show, then get bored and irritated at the meandering progression of the story and go and watch something else. Then I come back and watch the whole show again and enjoy it a lot more. I need time to commit to characters, but once I do, I can watch a show two or three times.

Anyway, thank you, About Time, for showing me the way…

Horrible news about Lee Sun-Kyun. Wonderful actor. Is this the unforgiving scandal culture hounding someone beyond their tolerance?

Still re-watching W: 2 Worlds, and am increasingly fond of Lee Jung-suk. This led me to discover a Dramabeans feature I didn’t know existed: the Featured Actor, which seemed to run in 2018-19. I thought they were a good read. Any chance of revival?
Weightlifting Fairy was one of my very early favourites in my kdrama-watching career, and I watched it repeatedly. But I never really “got” LJS’s cameo, aside from him being a friend of Lee Sung-kyung. Now, of course, I do get it – so brief but so funny, both on the meta level, and for the quality of banter with Kang Ki-yung, who just adds so much wherever he is cast.

HOW HIGH CAN YOU GO

Just thought I’d share a few words on a deeply significant topic. Given that I often fall a mindless victim to Youtube’s algorithms, it was no surprise I clicked on a video promising vital statistics on the physical height of kdrama’s top male stars.

I thought I’d jot a few names and make one or two (deeply significant) observations. Let me state from the outset that I am a 5ft10 female, so that gives you an idea of what I look up to and down on (physically of course, not morally or aesthetically).
There was quite a list of them, so I only jotted down the few that I was both familiar with and interested in, and where I’ve seen them:

5 foot 9
Proof that great things come in small packages:
• Kwak Dong-yeon (Taec’s abused little brother in Vincenzo)
• Yoo Seung-ho (wonderful star of I Am Not a Robot)
• Jang Hyuk (lovelorn gangster in Greasy Melo)
• Lee Je-hoon (Signal)

5 foot 10
I’m eye-to-eye with these gorgeous leading men.
• Song Joong-ki (Vincenzo, Descendants of the Sun)
• Lee Jun-ho (King the Land, Greasy Melo, 2pm)
• Jung Hae-in (Pretty Noona, One Spring Night, Tune in for Love)

5 foot 11
• Wi Ha-joon (Pretty Noona, Romance is a Bonus Book)
• Kim Bum (Boys Before Flowers)
• Lee Sun-Kyun (Coffee Prince)
• Kim Soo-hyun (You From Another Star, It’s OK to not be OK)

6 foot
• Yoo Yeon-suk (Hospital Playlist)
• Choi Tae-jun (Suspicious Partner)
• So Ji-sub (Oh my Venus)
• Gong Yoo (Coffee Prince)
• Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha Cha Cha)
• Ji Chang-wook (Healer, Empress Ki, Suspicious Partner, et al)
• Park Bo-gum (Love in the Moonlight)

6 foot 1
In these last two sections we’re really getting into our towering alpha males.
Most of these guys look really tall and I wasn’t suprised to learn their height. Lee Jong-suk looks exceptionally tall, partly because he’s so lanky. And Taec towers in 2pm. The exception was Kim Young-dae who I have only ever seen in Shooting Stars, who I tended to think of as small. Then of course I now realise he was acting with Lee Sung-kyung who is a very tall, slim model/actress, and he’s definitely taller than her. I think it was his off-duty persona that made him seem small, all hunched up and vulnerable in his over-sized sweats. And that lawyer towered over him.
• Ok Taec-yeon (Vincenzo, 2pm)
• Kim Young-dae (Shooting Stars)
• Lee Jong-suk (W Two Worlds, Romance is a Bonus Book)
• Park Seo-jun (What’s Wrong With, Itaewon Class, Fight for my Way)
• Hyun Bin (Crash Landing)

6 foot 2
Up where the air is clear.
• Kim Woo-bin (Heirs)
• Nam Joo-hyuk (Weightlifting Fairy, 25 21, Start up, Bride of….)
• Lee Min-ho (Boys Before Flowers, Heirs, King Eternal Monarch, Legend of the Blue Sea)

Halfway through ep 2 of Welcome to Samdal-ri, and I\’m impressed now. Everything about it is making me laugh or feel really tense, waiting for…

OK, so I’ve watched the first episode of Welcome to Samdal-ri, and have a few comments which I will endeavour to make as nonspoilery as possible, so keeping it vague!

Not too sure about our leads yet, aside from the fact that we have seen both of them indulge in excessive drama queen behaviour in particular scenarios. Not sure with her whether it’s just this situation that’s sent her on a binge or whether it’s a habit. His seems pretty unprofessional but I’m sure we’ll get some back story.
The revenge that her mentee took on her did seem pretty inspired – but can reputations really be ruined that easily in Sth Korea?
Am keen to learn more about the women’s diving trade – is it abalone they’re diving for? Loved the mellow and affectionate Dad with his chin on his wife’s shoulder as they rode home. And that final scene was great! All of them there!

Just finished I Am A Robot – it was one of the most moving romantic stories I’ve watched in a long time. Amazing performance by Yoo Seung-ho. What else should I watch him in?