HdL#7 To borrow from CS’s words this week the beauty saddens me.
The intro scene… seeing MW so happy and free for the first time in a millennium… only to have it all yanked away.
The look on her face at the end of the episode was just heartbreaking.
R#13… Why is the punishment for taking revenge worse than the original crime?
Those monsters get to be reborn while the victim is turned to ashes…
How is that fair? I cried with CS for the injustice of it all…
Poor intern getting caught in the crossfire…
(MG#4 is scary) also, looks like someone stole bellboy’s identity…
So everyone in the hotel has been greatly wronged by someone in the past (MW included); what they are really waiting for is some form of justice.
Will the rest of the show at least give them that closure?
last time MW said that Sanchez is so so stupid – knowing MR for what she is, but still sending her off to wreck their date means that I now have to completely agree.
[and he actually knew all along MW was CS’s boss?!!?]
Is it silly to say that I miss MW and CS this episode? I miss their bantering and exchanging thoughts without words… not enough of them being… them
Rather than taking revenge, it may be because of some “higher” law dividing the world of the dead and the living. She was turned to ashes because she interfered with that law. I presume.
Bellboy’s story is also going to be painful to watch. His sister lived most of her life with a fake oraboni. There might be a just ending, but I don’t see a happy ending to his story.
And As for justice … Mago isn’t in the justice business.
And what is with the “MW daring to test (judge) god” story line? One way to read the revelation of police investigations and such is that if the ghost in room 13 had just waited, she would have seen justice done. A more cynical read would say that the revelations just show the powerful CEO was just keeping a lid on the whole mess when he was alive, and justice would never have been done. Other than as a blunt message to MW to behave or else, what was the point of that tragic life and permanent death?
HdL random thoughts:
-CS’s answer to her ‘do you love me?’ really took forever… the fact that he can’t say ‘yes’ just yet, but ‘no’ does not feel right either… and that hint of disappointment in her eyes just after… that scene was very well done.
– I thought it interesting that he was missing her appearing in his dreams, even if he did not quite acknowledge it even to himself… I wonder is the one he’s falling in love with the MW of old? his feelings for the current MW seem a lot more complicated…
-It’s kind of crazy, but MW and CS don’t feel like a new love, but rather a really old one – when you already got used to the other’s foibles and quirks and you can nag as much as you protect and care for them… the point when you’ve grown fond of each other’s imperfections… I guess it’s this old married couple dynamic paired with them slowly awakening to their feelings that I love them for…
-they feel responsible for one another. MW was entrusted with his safety. CS made himself responsible of taking care of her, and making her happy (the idea that she is his responsibility was first planted by Mago but he fully embraced it; and he was already half-way there on his own anyways).
-sending off del Luna customers feels lonely ‘because you won’t get to see them again’… when she said to CS not to be lonely sending her off, was a tiny bit of that her hoping to see him again in her next lifetime?
-and given how much he nags her about begin nice so when he meets her again it’s not as an animal… did he pick up on that? Feels like he’s planning multiple lifetimes of them together…
HdL#6
– the confession was lovely – understated and bittersweet
– captain’s moves are a bit too smooth for my tastes*; I strongly prefer CS, with his ‘told-you-so’s, his car selling, and autograph chasing ways
– did not expect the ex story, she seems intended on clinging to CS but at least he has zero lingering interest (minus her paying back the debt)**
– MW’s reaction to hearing about the gf, including the whole ‘is she pretty?’, ‘not that I’m interested… but if you really want to tell’ conversation with Sanchez, was hilarious
– bellboy and intern are unexpectedly sweet together
– the earrings: so very Hong sisters to have meaning-infused baubles
– I knew room 13 would end up causing trouble (though I can’t muster much pity for her victims); i like that the creepy elements remain strong even as the story progresses towards the romantic section
– the hilarious meta when referencing the crowned clown
Notes:
* he’s referring to himself as her 오라버니 – the old-speak version of ‘oppa’
** as expected for a Hong sisters second female lead: I detest her on sight
HdL#5This is not the kind of show that will make you fall in love with the main actors, but I am falling hard for the characters — individually and even more so together. This understanding without words that they have going on when it comes to what is important… how they talk about everything — from her attempt to drive him mad to his dreams and their consequences. I like that while there is this affinity between them, paired with a fair dose of attraction, their relationship does not steer into the outright romantic yet. Although the petty jealous bits are highly entertaining (like MW grumbling about CS carrying the ghost bride to her room when he brough a cart to carry her, or freaking out about the news he was getting ghost-married). Feelings are developing (how many minutes did it take CS to answer ’no’ to her ‘do you love me?’) and they both know it… it’s just nice for them to take their time about it.
The continuation of the kiss was very cool: him catching on right away that it did not have romantic connotations (while still kind of enjoying it), and the ghost picking up on these feelings and using them to call him back. His save was as adorable as it was completely unnecessary – even MW thought so (saw that tiny smile walking after him, can’t fool me). The talk after was even better – the ‘why are you asking me things you already know the answer to’ whenever she does not want to admit to her feelings. The honesty of it all. The ghost of the day story was also fun, from all the reveals upon reveals, to its heartwarming conclusion…
Despite his famed Harvard degree, CS is refreshingly average, yet adorable in his imperfections. He is simply a warm, thoroughly decent guy and that is what she (and us, the audience) falls for. The fact that he can empathize with everyone’s struggles, that he cares enough to do something about it is slowing changing her – after 1000 years of detachment, he draws her into his schemes and forces her to care not only about him but also about the customers coming their way. I wonder if it’s this trait of his that will end up saving them in the end: the fact that he does not follow the set path, but instead opens a better one.
I wonder about MW all of a sudden appearing resigned to her fate. When she shot down all of her employees’ suggestions for getting rid of him, I thought she had a scheme of her own going on. Maybe using CS having feelings for her to get him to stop his mission on his own. But maybe deep down she is also tired of it all and does not have the energy to go against the gods. Seems a bit out of character, but maybe she got too caught up in the past this time… I think the ghost bride’s “if you truly love someone you need to set them free to be happy without you” meant something personal to her. And that at least for a moment she was shaken. And it’s testament to how much her opinion of CS has changed that she chose him to be the one sending her off in the end.
One thing that kind of freaked me out: why is no one looking for the missing guest from room 13? It it safe to let her roam the city? We went from “this is a super scary ghost”, to “ups, I think she ran away”, to… nothing. (???)
I don’t look forward to the second female lead’s appearance; in Hong sisters dramas this slot is usually filled by bitchy, irritating, one-track girls that never add anything good to the story; please prove me wrong.
IMO, CS is no average guy. Yes it was unnecessary for him to run to save Man Wol, but he did it despite being the scaredy-cat that he is, that courage means more than it seems and Man Wol felt it when he was trembling like a massage-gigye.
He was also very perceptive how he got set up. Did you see him passive aggressively threatened the housekeeper to be nice to him?🤣
‘average’ is maybe an overstatement. he is smart and has an unusually high EQ, but he is also kind of awkward and wimpy and not at all alpha. he does not feel like your average kdrama genius lead — and i mean that in a good way.
Since it’s too long until the next episode, here’s some HdL cleverness I detected while procrastinating today:
There’s a hidden meaning behind the cards sequence in the intro:
the queen of diamonds (MW): a powerful figure, a negative woman trying to force her will on everyone and everything; in the material world, also means quick enrichment through controversial means.
the ace of clubs (CS): a binding contract, marriage. Also his name (찬성) means ‘agreement’ (yay-sayer?).
[Her name literally means ‘full moon’]
So basically from the very first minute she’s labeled as the badass who does whatever she bloody pleases (ideally while keeping the champagne flowing), while he is her steady companion, who follows her around bound to her by agreement. Gender role reversal complete.
That’s some impressive attention to detail.
Some more thoughts on HdL in response to other beanies’ comments
About IU looking too fragile and immature for a highway bandit: to me that is part of the point, and part of the tragedy; she was just a young girl who had to do things to survive, but that life is not something she chose. Given how tiny she is — MW does a pretty decent job of it. I think she is beyond everything a survivor. The kind of person that goes on no matter what, making do with whatever cards she has been dealt. Even when it means drinking champagne instead of properly atoning for her sins. It’s this combination of girly, somewhat amoral, and core of steel that makes the character interesting in the first place. And IU’s portrayal of that is pretty amazing imo: like in the old time line when she is wounded and a perceived enemy attacks — she has this feral cornered-animal look, paired with the determination of making it out alive no matter what; or when CS tells her that he prefers her not liking him as long as she feels stuff (‘is bothered’)… she looks shaken and plain scared at the possibility of feeling again; that layer of softness and vulnerability is all more impressive when contrasted to her usual cynical detached no-nonsense self. The only thing I find hard to believe is her being a foodie… the way she eats has me thinking that IU has never not been on a diet her entire life. But that’s a pretty minor quibble …
Yes, it’s ridiculous, kdramas and their obsession with pretty girls eating a lot and being absurdly skinny. Well, at least she has manners while eating.
I agree with all your points! I still think they did a perfect job on casting IU as Man-wol. She is really good at being this soft tiny girl who uses the glamourous lifestyle and tough demeanor to act and look strong in order to survive the punishment that has been given to her.
I have little problem with her being a bandit or thief. I question how she became a leader of thieves commanding a small platoon of fearless men. They need to give that reason, otherwise it’s not convincing.
So I went back to the full list of Hong sister dramas to do some statistics:
*Sassy Girl Chun-hyang (쾌걸 춘향) — don’t remember many details but I think I really liked it at the time
*My Girl (마이걸) — I don’t know if it was actually any good or if I just had a crush on LDW
*Couple or Trouble (환상의 커플) — this one was just fun, liked the original EN story so no surprise there
*Hong Gil-dong (쾌도 홍길동) — obsessed about it, only to then hate the ending, major SLS
*You’re Beautiful (미남이시네요) — obsessed about it, slumped towards the end
?My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox (내 여자친구는 구미호) — started off very fun, disliked the last quarter The Greatest Love (최고의 사랑) — dropped very early, have little to no recollection as to why (especially since I love GHJ) Big (빅) – dropped in first half, felt like my brain was rotting as I watched
*Master’s Sun (주군의 태양) — loved the characters, the last stretch was less bad than usual Warm and Cozy (맨도롱 또똣) — dead bored by mains, but liked the secondary couple A Korean Odyssey (화유기) — dropped on ep.4
❤️ Hotel Del Luna (호텔 델루나) — up to date and obsessing
* completed
? may have just read recaps for some bits
Conclusions: When at their best, they create some of my most beloved characters in a k-drama, but the last quarter is consistently weak; I wonder if this is a weird consequence of the Korean live shooting thing, that they have a lot more time to build the setup than to plan the ending… Or (probably) they just don’t care.
What does this mean in terms of how I approach watching Hong sisters dramas:
1) if I don’t love it by the end of the second week – there’s no point watching.
2) just enjoy to the max the bits that they do right and skip the bad/stupid bits (something that I’ve recently learned from watching c-dramas, where I often love the initial setup and world building, but almost always dislike where the stories end up going, and more often than not completely detest the endings). This is best done by analyzing the heck out of the characters with a group of clever like-minded friends. Sad that there has been so little opportunity for that with HdL.
Their genius is in inventing unique characters, dialogues, meta jokes and puns. I have rewatched all of their works many many times although I don’t particularly like any of the storylines, but it’s still worth it for the characters and the jokes.
The Hong sisters look like they finally have a potential winner on their hands… in times like these I really miss dramabeans and girlfriday; so much fun lost in translation… 🙁
I am reasonably well informed – after all, I have seen (though not necessarily finished) all of them. Imo this one echos some of their very best early work… but they rely heavily on play of words, double meanings and clever banter. You need a native speaker’s point of view to appreciate half of it. And the HdL translations that I’ve seen so far are mediocre at best.
And then the final two episodes will have people running around doing nothing, basically killing time because they have no idea how to end their story. And then there will be a time jump and everything will be resolved offscreen.
And I will be sitting here with popcorn waiting for the meltdown.
I’ve seen quite a few Hong sisters’ dramas, and I think there hasn’t been a single one that didn’t have an annoying time skip. For no reason whatsoever.
Also, even though I’m enjoying HdL so far, I’ve already spotted some of their more troublesome traits.
@midnight
I know a lot of people didn’t like Hwayugi’s ending but I didn’t hear the howls of outrage I did over other Hong’s shows. Master’s Sun is another one.
HdL#4 Now that’s more like it!
– the little dog got to me
– love how quickly we went from her forcing him to stay and him in the “no way!” camp to her doing everything she can to send him away and him insisting on staying.
– the let’s sleep together setup was comedic gold, i rarely laugh out loud when watching stuff but I did several times this ep.
– I love how he treats her: from the nagging and exasperation to the caring and the handsiness; this sharing of memories thing brings a level of intimacy between them that I find very appealing.
– despite her cynical outlook on the world, she admires him for seeing the best in people (or in this case ghosts); more importantly, he sees the best in her (’no matter what happens – you’ll protect me’) and she can’t help but want to be that person for him.
– I am a bit confused about her attitude towards the tree awakening: when sending manager Ho away I thought she resented being in this frozen time state, and that she would welcome the change. But now that it’s happening she’s resisting it… What is she afraid of? Is it dying or living?
Dropping WWW again: these people spend sooo much time talking about their relationships that they barely have time left in the day to be in a relationship (not to mention work); the girl power is waning down and I don’t care at all for the corporate politics. I’ll still watch gifs of the not-exactly-fan and her actor-bf, but otherwise I’m done.
I really like the mood of HdL. I love IU’s portrayal of JMW and Yeo JG is slowly growing on me as GCS, despite the fact that I expected the pairing would not work at all. And I already miss manager Noh…
Structurally, the story is very promising: the past time line, the main theme of heroine completing her stay in purgatory, the fated connection plus the ghost of the week format is promising – there’s enough meat to make 16 eps without needing to tread on water or useless idiotic behavior in the later half. Now if only the Gong sisters would actually put in the effort…
The editing and CGG look like a lot of work and I worry that the quality of the visuals will deteriorate over time (this type of stories should ideally be pre-produced or at least start filming way way in advance to maintain quality )
Overall surprisingly invested already despite remaining wary of developments. I’ll keep the expectations really low and maybe I can be pleasantly surprised
The only other thing that I am watching is Watcher. Like the team, and the individual characters — likable, but with enough complexity when it comes to motivations and backstory … enough to keep things interesting; the old murder of KYG’s mother as the starting thread for a large conspiracy with procedural elements really works for me though I might wait for it to finish airing and watch it in one go.
I really like the conversations in WWW, but yeah, if we wanted to mimic real life to the t, we wouldn’t have watched dramas. I’m still watching, mainly for Puppy, but without them I’d have dropped it. And Watcher is sooo good! Doesn’t it remind you of Forest of Secrets? It’s so tense and complex! I hope the intricate plot is indeed intricate and not become nonsensical later.
Ahh. I am in love with Watcher, I just feel like I have to throw that out everytime someone mentions they are watching it It will be my reward for working tomorrow,
What a difference a couple of weeks make: Boy for rent went from OMG I love them to this is rubbish and I’m too angry to explain why. WWW: from nothing is worth the frustration of that light and filters to Scarlett = ❤️ ; also her relationship with her actor is the cutest, and the female-female interactions are rich enough to press play regardless. [It is disturbing how well I am able to recognize some parts of Tammy in myself – and even more so the fact that I can\’t get myself to love her because of that].
Dan, only love: My thoughts when starting this show “This is another show that lives and dies by the chemistry of the leads. LYS and Dan together are a hoot and my main reason for watching. SHS\’s acting is exceptional – I am emotionally right there with her through thick and thin. And Dan is just fun. Everything else I blanket-dislike: the creepy second lead, the needy too-nice-to-be-true Nina, and all the other awful (badly written/acted/unidimensional at best) human beings populating this universe… The angel feels very immature and completely asexual in a way that I can\’t see them as anything other than bickering siblings. Curious if i\’ll get over it as the story progresses.” remain surprisingly true after watching the finale. I did not mind the end episode as much as others seem to — because I had zero expectations that the writer would produce a \’greater plan’ to make the story make sense as a whole (that would take a lot more skill than 작가님 is capable of). LYS was the only truly good thing about this, Dan remained emotionally immature by comparison (could have been better in the hands of a more skilled actor, but the main problem was the illogical writing) and I never could completely buy their love (although I loved LYS enough to wish she’d get whatever she wanted — even if that was a kind-of-wimpy angel) Beyond the love story, I consistently disliked almost everyone else minus Mr Jo and Lady butler. And what was the purpose of KW as a character anyways?
The good bits were barely enough to earn me a bean. Glad to forget all about it asap.
I am trying really hard to avoid doing some writing/admin this weekend and any excuse for procrastination will do… so I’ve written some pages-long comments on my current favorite on screen couple (yes, I know that also counts as writing, but it’s neither serious nor high stakes), made a fan mv, spent some time on DB (despite saying I’d take the summer off), and finally organized my thought on the shows I’ve seen so far this year, as a mid-year review of sorts. I’m sharing it below should anyone be interested.
In chronological order: Encounter fell in love with the mains, but overanalyzed it as it went; the one show where discussing it with DB people worsened, rather than improved, my viewing experience; in retrospect, the SongSong divorce news puts her choice of return drama in a very different perspective… Children of nobody aka Red moon, blue sun cleverly constructed, though the way it wrapped up was not quite as satisfying as I would have liked; amazing acting from Kim SunAh Her private life swoon worthy; beyond that I had very little to say about it, KJW as Ryan Gold was memorable; his off-screen chemistry with PMY was even more convincing than on screen The secret life of my secretary cuties being cute (but also kind of dumb). Veronika Park was a definite highlight Dan, only love several things drive me nuts, but LYS is enough for me to hang on \’til the bitter end
*I’ve picked the first 2 because of the synopsis, the last 3 because of comments shared by beanies.
Overall, none of the k-dramas I\’ve watched this year hit the right spot. Very unusually for me, this year I managed to finish several romcoms. Less unusually, I did not completely love any of them. Turns out that nice, healthy, respectful relationships, though the only kind I look for irl, are kind of boring on screen; I was happy to cheer for the couples, but could not get all that emotionally involved in their journey. In need something darker, more layered and edgier than kdramas can offer.
Further musings on Charlie’s weird drama tastes:
What makes me obsessively love a show is the ability to get into the head of characters and live in their skin for a bit. I love making sense of the complex mess of their motivations and how it reflects in their actions. Unhealthy, ethically gray and conflicting characters are a lot more fun for me, for that reason. This is a tricky request because I also need to be able to like them despite their faults (individually and together); also I absolutely can’t handle some faults, e.g. stupidity or lack of self esteem. The only pair that satisfied my weird set of requirements for 2019 were the Badz-Smile couple in Thai youth drama Boy for rent (as evidenced by the deluge of BS posts on my tumblr blog). I guess this makes me weird and getting weirder.
I love Encounter very much, I could watch and rewatch it even without skipping scenes. It’s my favorite now. But I think the most healthy couple is the one shown in Her private life, together with one of the most likeable male lead. To me the drama was a little ruined by the last episodes, with the unbelievable story of Ryan’s mum, Deok-mi’s memory loss and the child’s death.
Agree about Children of nobody. One of the best mystery I have ever watched, but I really disliked the use of hypnosis.
I’m not watching the other two.
Aren’t you watching Search:WWW or One spring night?
The frequency of non sequiturs in this week’s episodes is mind boggling. Can’t decide if the fact that what comes out of the mouth of pretty much all characters makes almost no logical sense is on purpose or if the writer needs to go back to school to study logic 101. Trying to figure out which is my only reason for still planning to watch the show tomorrow.
Ho’s ‘angels are observers they are not allowed to interfere with humans and their fate’ is rich given that he had done just that less than a day before. Also… ever heard of ‘guardian’ angels?
KW’s angels are useless anyways, you can’t stay with her I the human am by far the better choice – conveniently ignoring the can’t actually die so he’s not human either part. Not to mention that he has done nothing to protect LYS himself except for exacerbating Nina’s craziness and showing off in front of her family.
Runa’s \”people kill each other for no good reason at all – it’s no big deal\” nonsense had me scratching my head
Don’t get Nina and old ballerina logic either
LYS’s you don’t love me episode was also kind of weird and nonsensical. Sure, it’s ok to want him to trust you with the truth but he clearly was worried sick about you; if he withheld information it was obviously with the best intentions in mind. Her reaction felt disproportionate and out of character somehow.
Dan somehow ended up the voice of reason in all this. And that’s not a reassuring thought.
Also that ending
WTH?
Otherwise:
TSLMS ended harmlessly enough. Bean counted although I’ll probably forget all about it in a couple of weeks’ time. Zero interest in any other airing k-drama (liked the first week of Aide but I can see this going to dark and hurtful places and I liked the characters too much to see them destroyed by dirty politics. Yeah I know I don’t make much sense either). Lost any motivation to restart www… Only thing I am excited about is a silly Thai youth drama (Boy for rent: B&S4ever). I think I’ll take a summer holiday from db until I find something relevant to gush about. See you all back in the fall!
Secret life of my secretary
Last week I thought I needed a major reckoning from DMI. But then it did not happen and I was pleasantly surprised. The boy is 100% puppy – he just doesn’t have it in him to be mean or to stay mad. It felt very much in character somehow.
The fish cult: on paper they are cool but in fact I find little sympathy for their lot. secretary lee unapologetically orchestrated the destruction of an innocent bystander; it’s hard to claim you fight for the little guy when you show so obvious disdain for human life.
Also: Veronica Park rulez. She made me overcome my initial dislike for the bland and poorly acted second lead. Whatever she wants she should get – come to think of it, I can now see how a wild jobless man would make useful bf material.
Dan, only love
LYS is my spirit animal – love her to bits and just want her happy. I like what the writer is doing with Dan’s character as well, even if it does not always completely come together acting wise. But I wish there was some rhyme and reason to the rest of the characters, as their actions make very little sense to me. Fake jerk director making a U-turn with his \”I love LYS\” confession… after treating her as a pawn, seeing her just as a substitute for his dead gf for the entire series – that was plain ridiculous (he does not love anyone but himself, not sure he even gets the basics of the concept, but he urgently needs a \”no means bloody NO\” lesson). Angel sunbae’s ‘brilliant’ solution of dumping LSY to KWS because she would be loved shows zero understanding of anything. The aunt and co are as extreme and impossible to understand as usual and the uncle and NiNa are veering into the unredeemable as well. I know that there are way too many episodes to go, but would it be possible for the bad guys to not always be so many steps ahead? We are entering serious serial killer territory and no one seems to care.
WWW
Did not resume watching but I find the idea of wrecking the property of irritating jerks with a baseball bat strangely appealing.
must be one of my short fuse days…
Dan, only love
I still think that the drama is moving a bit too fast for its own good, but it’s at least going to interesting places. LYS steals the show as usual, but I also like how they are constructing the parallel between KW’s and KD’s love: the selfish vs selfless, the love that makes you happy vs the happiness of another as a precondition of you own, the us2-4ever and to the hell with the rest vs accepting that pain is an unavoidable component of any human love even the happiest one. Dan already won the competition when he decided that what ultimately matter is LYS’s happiness. But the lesson from the old couple showed him that ever afters are not everything. I just want them to figure out a way to cherish whatever amount of time they have together.
Side note: It is both ironic and strangely satisfying to see auntie starting to fear the evilness of her own progeny.
I loved today’s episode. It was so sad 💔 And we finally got more of Dan’s backstory! I hope we find out next time how he ended up being an angel.
Totally agree with your side note. I thought this whole time that the aunt was the bad one but it looks like it’s actually the cousin 😱
Secret life of my secretary: I liked this week a lot better than the last one. Although maybe not for the most obvious reasons. What I loved most were the female-female interactions: GH and Veronica make the cutest best buddies and the scenes with GH and mum were strangely moving. I am glad that the truth is finally out and that the fallout is as bad as it is. Because I was starting to completely lose respect for GH; at least she finally realized exactly how much the lie hurt him. Eventually he will see that her feelings are real despite of it but I don’t want DMI to forgive her too easily. Her deception did exactly what he told her it would: made him completely lose trust in humanity. She will need to work hard to restore that faith. Still… I loved that he got a chance to chose her for her first. And most of the cuteness it ensued (minus the soap scene: I found the use of hospital best practices for hand washing inspired but I disliked the execution, especially GH’s face expressions). All in all: enough interesting developments to tune in again next week.
I took it as a badly executed attempt to convey that she was feeling turned on by the hand washing. Whether it was due to mis-direction or a misguided attempt to keep a FL from appearing too sexualized, the acting between the two was not in sync.
Do you think that rather then being excited by it, she was really REALLY uncomfortable?
I’ve had to take courses on that kind of hand washing and I don’t remember 6 steps – but at least scrubbing between the fingers and both sides of the hands for at least 30 seconds.
Though I did have an experience at a road side cafe in Mexico years ago where the man I was with helped each other wash our hands with a pitcher of water. It was not sexy – but more a very intimate experience for the both of us. So this scene reminded me of that.
WWW
Was curious about the deluge of positive response on db and decided to give it a quick peek.
Only watched ep1. I like aspects of it, but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as everyone else seems to.
I am in awe at how female centric the show is and really like BDM and CH. Still, I struggled to buy into the world. It may be a case of doctors not being able to watch medical dramas… while I would love the world to be ruled by woman as cool as that, the reality of the matter is that gender discrimination is still rampant in IT. Having women in leadership positions is very rare and even when they get there they don’t last long. I wonder if the choice of field was on purpose…
The other thing that really bothered me was the light and camera work. I am usually not one to comment on such things but here it veers into the absurd, to the point where it takes me out of the story. For the entire first meet with Morgan I was wondering about the source and intensity of the light and could not pay attention to anything else. The style of the shots feels familiar although I don’t recognize the director. I did like the OST at least. On hold for now, might give it a go during my August down time.
On the point of gender discrimination in IT, I have to agree with you that what they’re showing in the show is very far-fetched. But I appreciate it nonetheless. I’m a bit bored of watching corporate dramas and workplace politics revolve around men in leadership positions as they invariably seem to. Case in point: the much beloved My Ahjusshi. I’m sure others can name 20 dramas where women were in leadership roles, but nope, those 20 are an exception.
With that in mind, I WANT fiction to portray a different reality every once in a while. Fiction can influence our own perspectives, and this is a perspective I wish was given to young girls and women more often. Bae Tae Mi and her sunbae remind of the women lawyers I see in action in the Courts, and a few, rare women I came across in law school. These are not women I encountered before this, and it never even occurred to me to be fierce until then. I learnt by watching others, and am still learning, and love what this show is doing with its women. American media may have more of it, but as someone from an Asian country, this is not a representation of women I see often in my media.
The lighting is terrible. I cannot defend the show on that count.
I agree, but in a way I feel it negates and to some extent disparages the true struggles of women in the field. Showing the female leaders as an exception rather than the rule would be more realistic. When you show all people in leadership positions for the top two search engines in Kr as being female I am struggling to take the story seriously.
I do completely get what you mean. 🙂 It’s a solid point. I’m just in agreement with @wapz on this – I like seeing this alternate reality. It’s like the show us trying to make a point. Of course, it has to keep this up for the whole duration for it to successfully do so. Haha
I thought it was sort of strange that ALL the leaders were women. However, I noticed that Bae Ta Mi said something about having worked there for 29 years but it shows her being hired in 2006, 13 years ago. So it seems like the show is set sometime in the near-ish future. It seems like they’re trying to show what they want the future to look like.
I don’t think the show is trying to be real either. It is a fictional story just like chaebols falling in love with candys. I personally think the writers made it a point that this show will stand the Bechdel test. They just wanted to turn the world the other way around and show women as bosses and the driving force of the drama with the man only being a romantic interest.
Dan, only love: I went in for the cute bickering and fell in love with LYS on the way. But the show is swerving into overly dramatic and depressing too early in the game for me. Most characters are just too extreme in their faults: everything KW does screams Pride with a capital (you\’d think I’d be team Lucifer given the backstory but somehow he rubs me the wrong way and I don’t manage to muster even the smallest amount of sympathy for him), the aunt and elder sister are in your face GREED (If they took a fraction of the brains and energy they use for destroying LYS and put it into something constructive, they would be just as rich and almost human).
Narratively I feel like we got to Dan’s conflict too soon in a way that makes me wary of the rest.
Secret life of my secretary: I know it’s in the title but they are building the main dramatic arc around her lie; the fact that he still does not know makes me lose interest: one one side her continuing to lie despite everything he said/did makes her almost impossible to trust; him not noticing all the loopholes makes him impossibly dim. As a story of how lies snowball out of control it would work, but if I am expected to still like any one character at the end of it all then it does not.
After being burned twice I’ll just wait for WWW to finish before deciding if to give it a go.
Maybe I’ll check out season 2 of PfJ since crime procedurals don’t require much emotional investment.
Zero interest in prehistoric power struggles, sextoy robots and whatever else is on these days.
Over and out.
Your critiques of both Dan and My Secretary are absolutely spot on. I feel the same way. I’m gonna keep watching the latter because at least it’s cute. I’ll take fluffy shenanigans over depressing chaebol family drama any day.
CHARLIE
August 3, 2019 at 10:18 PM
HdL#7 To borrow from CS’s words this week the beauty saddens me.
The intro scene… seeing MW so happy and free for the first time in a millennium… only to have it all yanked away.
The look on her face at the end of the episode was just heartbreaking.
R#13… Why is the punishment for taking revenge worse than the original crime?
Those monsters get to be reborn while the victim is turned to ashes…
How is that fair? I cried with CS for the injustice of it all…
Poor intern getting caught in the crossfire…
(MG#4 is scary) also, looks like someone stole bellboy’s identity…
So everyone in the hotel has been greatly wronged by someone in the past (MW included); what they are really waiting for is some form of justice.
Will the rest of the show at least give them that closure?
last time MW said that Sanchez is so so stupid – knowing MR for what she is, but still sending her off to wreck their date means that I now have to completely agree.
[and he actually knew all along MW was CS’s boss?!!?]
Is it silly to say that I miss MW and CS this episode? I miss their bantering and exchanging thoughts without words… not enough of them being… them
greenfields
August 3, 2019 at 10:41 PM
Rather than taking revenge, it may be because of some “higher” law dividing the world of the dead and the living. She was turned to ashes because she interfered with that law. I presume.
FlyingTool
August 3, 2019 at 10:45 PM
Bellboy’s story is also going to be painful to watch. His sister lived most of her life with a fake oraboni. There might be a just ending, but I don’t see a happy ending to his story.
And As for justice … Mago isn’t in the justice business.
And what is with the “MW daring to test (judge) god” story line? One way to read the revelation of police investigations and such is that if the ghost in room 13 had just waited, she would have seen justice done. A more cynical read would say that the revelations just show the powerful CEO was just keeping a lid on the whole mess when he was alive, and justice would never have been done. Other than as a blunt message to MW to behave or else, what was the point of that tragic life and permanent death?
CHARLIE
August 1, 2019 at 9:11 PM
HdL random thoughts:
-CS’s answer to her ‘do you love me?’ really took forever… the fact that he can’t say ‘yes’ just yet, but ‘no’ does not feel right either… and that hint of disappointment in her eyes just after… that scene was very well done.
– I thought it interesting that he was missing her appearing in his dreams, even if he did not quite acknowledge it even to himself… I wonder is the one he’s falling in love with the MW of old? his feelings for the current MW seem a lot more complicated…
-It’s kind of crazy, but MW and CS don’t feel like a new love, but rather a really old one – when you already got used to the other’s foibles and quirks and you can nag as much as you protect and care for them… the point when you’ve grown fond of each other’s imperfections… I guess it’s this old married couple dynamic paired with them slowly awakening to their feelings that I love them for…
-they feel responsible for one another. MW was entrusted with his safety. CS made himself responsible of taking care of her, and making her happy (the idea that she is his responsibility was first planted by Mago but he fully embraced it; and he was already half-way there on his own anyways).
-sending off del Luna customers feels lonely ‘because you won’t get to see them again’… when she said to CS not to be lonely sending her off, was a tiny bit of that her hoping to see him again in her next lifetime?
-and given how much he nags her about begin nice so when he meets her again it’s not as an animal… did he pick up on that? Feels like he’s planning multiple lifetimes of them together…
CHARLIE
July 29, 2019 at 12:29 PM
Rewatching HdL again. can’t get myself to press play on anything else. strange mood.
CHARLIE
July 28, 2019 at 1:37 PM
HdL#6
– the confession was lovely – understated and bittersweet
– captain’s moves are a bit too smooth for my tastes*; I strongly prefer CS, with his ‘told-you-so’s, his car selling, and autograph chasing ways
– did not expect the ex story, she seems intended on clinging to CS but at least he has zero lingering interest (minus her paying back the debt)**
– MW’s reaction to hearing about the gf, including the whole ‘is she pretty?’, ‘not that I’m interested… but if you really want to tell’ conversation with Sanchez, was hilarious
– bellboy and intern are unexpectedly sweet together
– the earrings: so very Hong sisters to have meaning-infused baubles
– I knew room 13 would end up causing trouble (though I can’t muster much pity for her victims); i like that the creepy elements remain strong even as the story progresses towards the romantic section
– the hilarious meta when referencing the crowned clown
Notes:
* he’s referring to himself as her 오라버니 – the old-speak version of ‘oppa’
** as expected for a Hong sisters second female lead: I detest her on sight
CHARLIE
July 27, 2019 at 11:57 PM
HdL#5This is not the kind of show that will make you fall in love with the main actors, but I am falling hard for the characters — individually and even more so together. This understanding without words that they have going on when it comes to what is important… how they talk about everything — from her attempt to drive him mad to his dreams and their consequences. I like that while there is this affinity between them, paired with a fair dose of attraction, their relationship does not steer into the outright romantic yet. Although the petty jealous bits are highly entertaining (like MW grumbling about CS carrying the ghost bride to her room when he brough a cart to carry her, or freaking out about the news he was getting ghost-married). Feelings are developing (how many minutes did it take CS to answer ’no’ to her ‘do you love me?’) and they both know it… it’s just nice for them to take their time about it.
The continuation of the kiss was very cool: him catching on right away that it did not have romantic connotations (while still kind of enjoying it), and the ghost picking up on these feelings and using them to call him back. His save was as adorable as it was completely unnecessary – even MW thought so (saw that tiny smile walking after him, can’t fool me). The talk after was even better – the ‘why are you asking me things you already know the answer to’ whenever she does not want to admit to her feelings. The honesty of it all. The ghost of the day story was also fun, from all the reveals upon reveals, to its heartwarming conclusion…
Despite his famed Harvard degree, CS is refreshingly average, yet adorable in his imperfections. He is simply a warm, thoroughly decent guy and that is what she (and us, the audience) falls for. The fact that he can empathize with everyone’s struggles, that he cares enough to do something about it is slowing changing her – after 1000 years of detachment, he draws her into his schemes and forces her to care not only about him but also about the customers coming their way. I wonder if it’s this trait of his that will end up saving them in the end: the fact that he does not follow the set path, but instead opens a better one.
I wonder about MW all of a sudden appearing resigned to her fate. When she shot down all of her employees’ suggestions for getting rid of him, I thought she had a scheme of her own going on. Maybe using CS having feelings for her to get him to stop his mission on his own. But maybe deep down she is also tired of it all and does not have the energy to go against the gods. Seems a bit out of character, but maybe she got too caught up in the past this time… I think the ghost bride’s “if you truly love someone you need to set them free to be happy without you” meant something personal to her. And that at least for a moment she was shaken. And it’s testament to how much her opinion of CS has changed that she chose him to be the one sending her off in the end.
One thing that kind of freaked me out: why is no one looking for the missing guest from room 13? It it safe to let her roam the city? We went from “this is a super scary ghost”, to “ups, I think she ran away”, to… nothing. (???)
I don’t look forward to the second female lead’s appearance; in Hong sisters dramas this slot is usually filled by bitchy, irritating, one-track girls that never add anything good to the story; please prove me wrong.
korfan
July 28, 2019 at 12:13 AM
Heh! I was also wondering if anyone was going to go look for the Room #13 guest.
sph_7
July 28, 2019 at 12:31 AM
Maybe later. I’m fine with taking her in smaller doses.😬
sph_7
July 28, 2019 at 12:27 AM
IMO, CS is no average guy. Yes it was unnecessary for him to run to save Man Wol, but he did it despite being the scaredy-cat that he is, that courage means more than it seems and Man Wol felt it when he was trembling like a massage-gigye.
He was also very perceptive how he got set up. Did you see him passive aggressively threatened the housekeeper to be nice to him?🤣
CHARLIE
July 28, 2019 at 2:46 AM
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CHARLIE
July 28, 2019 at 2:51 AM
‘average’ is maybe an overstatement. he is smart and has an unusually high EQ, but he is also kind of awkward and wimpy and not at all alpha. he does not feel like your average kdrama genius lead — and i mean that in a good way.
CHARLIE
July 26, 2019 at 2:19 PM
Since it’s too long until the next episode, here’s some HdL cleverness I detected while procrastinating today:
There’s a hidden meaning behind the cards sequence in the intro:
the queen of diamonds (MW): a powerful figure, a negative woman trying to force her will on everyone and everything; in the material world, also means quick enrichment through controversial means.
the ace of clubs (CS): a binding contract, marriage. Also his name (찬성) means ‘agreement’ (yay-sayer?).
[Her name literally means ‘full moon’]
So basically from the very first minute she’s labeled as the badass who does whatever she bloody pleases (ideally while keeping the champagne flowing), while he is her steady companion, who follows her around bound to her by agreement. Gender role reversal complete.
That’s some impressive attention to detail.
CHARLIE
July 23, 2019 at 5:01 PM
Some more thoughts on HdL in response to other beanies’ comments
About IU looking too fragile and immature for a highway bandit: to me that is part of the point, and part of the tragedy; she was just a young girl who had to do things to survive, but that life is not something she chose. Given how tiny she is — MW does a pretty decent job of it. I think she is beyond everything a survivor. The kind of person that goes on no matter what, making do with whatever cards she has been dealt. Even when it means drinking champagne instead of properly atoning for her sins. It’s this combination of girly, somewhat amoral, and core of steel that makes the character interesting in the first place. And IU’s portrayal of that is pretty amazing imo: like in the old time line when she is wounded and a perceived enemy attacks — she has this feral cornered-animal look, paired with the determination of making it out alive no matter what; or when CS tells her that he prefers her not liking him as long as she feels stuff (‘is bothered’)… she looks shaken and plain scared at the possibility of feeling again; that layer of softness and vulnerability is all more impressive when contrasted to her usual cynical detached no-nonsense self. The only thing I find hard to believe is her being a foodie… the way she eats has me thinking that IU has never not been on a diet her entire life. But that’s a pretty minor quibble …
Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
July 23, 2019 at 5:17 PM
“never not been on a diet” 🙂 Quite possible.
Lixie
July 23, 2019 at 5:17 PM
Yes, it’s ridiculous, kdramas and their obsession with pretty girls eating a lot and being absurdly skinny. Well, at least she has manners while eating.
liar song #PuppyNotPuppyLeeJaeWookIsBack
July 23, 2019 at 5:21 PM
I agree with all your points! I still think they did a perfect job on casting IU as Man-wol. She is really good at being this soft tiny girl who uses the glamourous lifestyle and tough demeanor to act and look strong in order to survive the punishment that has been given to her.
sph_7
July 23, 2019 at 6:55 PM
I have little problem with her being a bandit or thief. I question how she became a leader of thieves commanding a small platoon of fearless men. They need to give that reason, otherwise it’s not convincing.
CHARLIE
July 23, 2019 at 8:48 PM
Comment was deleted
CHARLIE
July 23, 2019 at 7:46 AM
So I went back to the full list of Hong sister dramas to do some statistics:
*Sassy Girl Chun-hyang (쾌걸 춘향) — don’t remember many details but I think I really liked it at the time
*My Girl (마이걸) — I don’t know if it was actually any good or if I just had a crush on LDW
*Couple or Trouble (환상의 커플) — this one was just fun, liked the original EN story so no surprise there
*Hong Gil-dong (쾌도 홍길동) — obsessed about it, only to then hate the ending, major SLS
*You’re Beautiful (미남이시네요) — obsessed about it, slumped towards the end
?My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox (내 여자친구는 구미호) — started off very fun, disliked the last quarter
The Greatest Love (최고의 사랑) — dropped very early, have little to no recollection as to why (especially since I love GHJ)
Big (빅) – dropped in first half, felt like my brain was rotting as I watched
*Master’s Sun (주군의 태양) — loved the characters, the last stretch was less bad than usual
Warm and Cozy (맨도롱 또똣) — dead bored by mains, but liked the secondary couple
A Korean Odyssey (화유기) — dropped on ep.4
❤️ Hotel Del Luna (호텔 델루나) — up to date and obsessing
* completed
? may have just read recaps for some bits
Conclusions: When at their best, they create some of my most beloved characters in a k-drama, but the last quarter is consistently weak; I wonder if this is a weird consequence of the Korean live shooting thing, that they have a lot more time to build the setup than to plan the ending… Or (probably) they just don’t care.
What does this mean in terms of how I approach watching Hong sisters dramas:
1) if I don’t love it by the end of the second week – there’s no point watching.
2) just enjoy to the max the bits that they do right and skip the bad/stupid bits (something that I’ve recently learned from watching c-dramas, where I often love the initial setup and world building, but almost always dislike where the stories end up going, and more often than not completely detest the endings). This is best done by analyzing the heck out of the characters with a group of clever like-minded friends. Sad that there has been so little opportunity for that with HdL.
Midnight
July 23, 2019 at 9:05 AM
Their genius is in inventing unique characters, dialogues, meta jokes and puns. I have rewatched all of their works many many times although I don’t particularly like any of the storylines, but it’s still worth it for the characters and the jokes.
CHARLIE
July 23, 2019 at 9:07 AM
Comment was deleted
Midnight
July 23, 2019 at 9:25 AM
Ditto. I’m dreading starting HdL with no commentary from JB and GF. It is such a pity.
silentbeluga
July 23, 2019 at 4:00 PM
“I don’t know if it was actually any good or if I just had a crush on LDW”
Saaaaaaaaaaaaame!
CHARLIE
July 22, 2019 at 9:06 PM
It’s been a while since I made a fanMV for a korean drama… Must be obsessing
Ally
July 23, 2019 at 3:44 PM
That was gorgeous.
CHARLIE
July 23, 2019 at 5:35 PM
thanks. easy to do when the cinematography is so pretty… and I have a whole set of spooky songs that go with the show’s mood. Color me inspired. 😛
CHARLIE
July 22, 2019 at 12:58 PM
The Hong sisters look like they finally have a potential winner on their hands… in times like these I really miss dramabeans and girlfriday; so much fun lost in translation… 🙁
sph_7
July 22, 2019 at 1:09 PM
Be warned, all of their dramas seemed like winners.
CHARLIE
July 22, 2019 at 1:19 PM
I am reasonably well informed – after all, I have seen (though not necessarily finished) all of them. Imo this one echos some of their very best early work… but they rely heavily on play of words, double meanings and clever banter. You need a native speaker’s point of view to appreciate half of it. And the HdL translations that I’ve seen so far are mediocre at best.
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
July 22, 2019 at 1:31 PM
And then the final two episodes will have people running around doing nothing, basically killing time because they have no idea how to end their story. And then there will be a time jump and everything will be resolved offscreen.
And I will be sitting here with popcorn waiting for the meltdown.
Cloggie
July 22, 2019 at 1:43 PM
I’ve seen quite a few Hong sisters’ dramas, and I think there hasn’t been a single one that didn’t have an annoying time skip. For no reason whatsoever.
Also, even though I’m enjoying HdL so far, I’ve already spotted some of their more troublesome traits.
Not that this stops me watching it of course…
Midnight
July 22, 2019 at 8:46 PM
I didn’t like the semi-final episode in Hwayugi but I really liked the last episode, the time jump and the ending.
LT is Irresistibly Indifferent and reminded of the slow march of death
July 22, 2019 at 8:56 PM
@midnight
I know a lot of people didn’t like Hwayugi’s ending but I didn’t hear the howls of outrage I did over other Hong’s shows. Master’s Sun is another one.
CHARLIE
July 22, 2019 at 2:10 PM
probably — but I’d rather complain about my current problems than worry about future ones.
CHARLIE
July 22, 2019 at 4:16 PM
not ‘dramabeans’ — i actually meant ‘javabeans’… but the two remain synonymous in my book.
CHARLIE
July 21, 2019 at 10:39 AM
HdL#4 Now that’s more like it!
– the little dog got to me
– love how quickly we went from her forcing him to stay and him in the “no way!” camp to her doing everything she can to send him away and him insisting on staying.
– the let’s sleep together setup was comedic gold, i rarely laugh out loud when watching stuff but I did several times this ep.
– I love how he treats her: from the nagging and exasperation to the caring and the handsiness; this sharing of memories thing brings a level of intimacy between them that I find very appealing.
– despite her cynical outlook on the world, she admires him for seeing the best in people (or in this case ghosts); more importantly, he sees the best in her (’no matter what happens – you’ll protect me’) and she can’t help but want to be that person for him.
– I am a bit confused about her attitude towards the tree awakening: when sending manager Ho away I thought she resented being in this frozen time state, and that she would welcome the change. But now that it’s happening she’s resisting it… What is she afraid of? Is it dying or living?
CHARLIE
July 18, 2019 at 6:13 PM
Dropping WWW again: these people spend sooo much time talking about their relationships that they barely have time left in the day to be in a relationship (not to mention work); the girl power is waning down and I don’t care at all for the corporate politics. I’ll still watch gifs of the not-exactly-fan and her actor-bf, but otherwise I’m done.
I really like the mood of HdL. I love IU’s portrayal of JMW and Yeo JG is slowly growing on me as GCS, despite the fact that I expected the pairing would not work at all. And I already miss manager Noh…
Structurally, the story is very promising: the past time line, the main theme of heroine completing her stay in purgatory, the fated connection plus the ghost of the week format is promising – there’s enough meat to make 16 eps without needing to tread on water or useless idiotic behavior in the later half. Now if only the Gong sisters would actually put in the effort…
The editing and CGG look like a lot of work and I worry that the quality of the visuals will deteriorate over time (this type of stories should ideally be pre-produced or at least start filming way way in advance to maintain quality )
Overall surprisingly invested already despite remaining wary of developments. I’ll keep the expectations really low and maybe I can be pleasantly surprised
The only other thing that I am watching is Watcher. Like the team, and the individual characters — likable, but with enough complexity when it comes to motivations and backstory … enough to keep things interesting; the old murder of KYG’s mother as the starting thread for a large conspiracy with procedural elements really works for me though I might wait for it to finish airing and watch it in one go.
dokutokunaneko
July 18, 2019 at 7:47 PM
I really like the conversations in WWW, but yeah, if we wanted to mimic real life to the t, we wouldn’t have watched dramas. I’m still watching, mainly for Puppy, but without them I’d have dropped it. And Watcher is sooo good! Doesn’t it remind you of Forest of Secrets? It’s so tense and complex! I hope the intricate plot is indeed intricate and not become nonsensical later.
Katrina
July 18, 2019 at 9:39 PM
Ahh. I am in love with Watcher, I just feel like I have to throw that out everytime someone mentions they are watching it It will be my reward for working tomorrow,
outofthisworld 不愧是我 🏍
July 19, 2019 at 6:31 AM
I am watching Watcher but would benefit from recaps, there’s sadly none. It’s even harder to follow than FOS.
Does anyone know if there’s some kind of recap or overview of the episodes so far?
CHARLIE
July 12, 2019 at 11:51 AM
What a difference a couple of weeks make: Boy for rent went from OMG I love them to this is rubbish and I’m too angry to explain why. WWW: from nothing is worth the frustration of that light and filters to Scarlett = ❤️ ; also her relationship with her actor is the cutest, and the female-female interactions are rich enough to press play regardless. [It is disturbing how well I am able to recognize some parts of Tammy in myself – and even more so the fact that I can\’t get myself to love her because of that].
Dan, only love: My thoughts when starting this show “This is another show that lives and dies by the chemistry of the leads. LYS and Dan together are a hoot and my main reason for watching. SHS\’s acting is exceptional – I am emotionally right there with her through thick and thin. And Dan is just fun. Everything else I blanket-dislike: the creepy second lead, the needy too-nice-to-be-true Nina, and all the other awful (badly written/acted/unidimensional at best) human beings populating this universe… The angel feels very immature and completely asexual in a way that I can\’t see them as anything other than bickering siblings. Curious if i\’ll get over it as the story progresses.” remain surprisingly true after watching the finale. I did not mind the end episode as much as others seem to — because I had zero expectations that the writer would produce a \’greater plan’ to make the story make sense as a whole (that would take a lot more skill than 작가님 is capable of). LYS was the only truly good thing about this, Dan remained emotionally immature by comparison (could have been better in the hands of a more skilled actor, but the main problem was the illogical writing) and I never could completely buy their love (although I loved LYS enough to wish she’d get whatever she wanted — even if that was a kind-of-wimpy angel) Beyond the love story, I consistently disliked almost everyone else minus Mr Jo and Lady butler. And what was the purpose of KW as a character anyways?
The good bits were barely enough to earn me a bean. Glad to forget all about it asap.
CHARLIE
June 30, 2019 at 4:56 PM
I am trying really hard to avoid doing some writing/admin this weekend and any excuse for procrastination will do… so I’ve written some pages-long comments on my current favorite on screen couple (yes, I know that also counts as writing, but it’s neither serious nor high stakes), made a fan mv, spent some time on DB (despite saying I’d take the summer off), and finally organized my thought on the shows I’ve seen so far this year, as a mid-year review of sorts. I’m sharing it below should anyone be interested.
In chronological order:
Encounter fell in love with the mains, but overanalyzed it as it went; the one show where discussing it with DB people worsened, rather than improved, my viewing experience; in retrospect, the SongSong divorce news puts her choice of return drama in a very different perspective…
Children of nobody aka Red moon, blue sun cleverly constructed, though the way it wrapped up was not quite as satisfying as I would have liked; amazing acting from Kim SunAh
Her private life swoon worthy; beyond that I had very little to say about it, KJW as Ryan Gold was memorable; his off-screen chemistry with PMY was even more convincing than on screen
The secret life of my secretary cuties being cute (but also kind of dumb). Veronika Park was a definite highlight
Dan, only love several things drive me nuts, but LYS is enough for me to hang on \’til the bitter end
*I’ve picked the first 2 because of the synopsis, the last 3 because of comments shared by beanies.
Overall, none of the k-dramas I\’ve watched this year hit the right spot. Very unusually for me, this year I managed to finish several romcoms. Less unusually, I did not completely love any of them. Turns out that nice, healthy, respectful relationships, though the only kind I look for irl, are kind of boring on screen; I was happy to cheer for the couples, but could not get all that emotionally involved in their journey. In need something darker, more layered and edgier than kdramas can offer.
Further musings on Charlie’s weird drama tastes:
What makes me obsessively love a show is the ability to get into the head of characters and live in their skin for a bit. I love making sense of the complex mess of their motivations and how it reflects in their actions. Unhealthy, ethically gray and conflicting characters are a lot more fun for me, for that reason. This is a tricky request because I also need to be able to like them despite their faults (individually and together); also I absolutely can’t handle some faults, e.g. stupidity or lack of self esteem. The only pair that satisfied my weird set of requirements for 2019 were the Badz-Smile couple in Thai youth drama Boy for rent (as evidenced by the deluge of BS posts on my tumblr blog). I guess this makes me weird and getting weirder.
Back in summer off mode.
Karmen ~ 🍜🏢🎭 ~ 📚☔🦋 ~ 🪂🌱💘 ~ ✨🍊💫 ~
July 1, 2019 at 4:41 AM
I love Encounter very much, I could watch and rewatch it even without skipping scenes. It’s my favorite now. But I think the most healthy couple is the one shown in Her private life, together with one of the most likeable male lead. To me the drama was a little ruined by the last episodes, with the unbelievable story of Ryan’s mum, Deok-mi’s memory loss and the child’s death.
Agree about Children of nobody. One of the best mystery I have ever watched, but I really disliked the use of hypnosis.
I’m not watching the other two.
Aren’t you watching Search:WWW or One spring night?
CHARLIE
July 1, 2019 at 4:51 AM
Comment was deleted
Karmen ~ 🍜🏢🎭 ~ 📚☔🦋 ~ 🪂🌱💘 ~ ✨🍊💫 ~
July 3, 2019 at 2:18 PM
Me, too…
CHARLIE
June 26, 2019 at 3:25 PM
Dan, only love #21-22
The frequency of non sequiturs in this week’s episodes is mind boggling. Can’t decide if the fact that what comes out of the mouth of pretty much all characters makes almost no logical sense is on purpose or if the writer needs to go back to school to study logic 101. Trying to figure out which is my only reason for still planning to watch the show tomorrow.
Ho’s ‘angels are observers they are not allowed to interfere with humans and their fate’ is rich given that he had done just that less than a day before. Also… ever heard of ‘guardian’ angels?
KW’s angels are useless anyways, you can’t stay with her I the human am by far the better choice – conveniently ignoring the can’t actually die so he’s not human either part. Not to mention that he has done nothing to protect LYS himself except for exacerbating Nina’s craziness and showing off in front of her family.
Runa’s \”people kill each other for no good reason at all – it’s no big deal\” nonsense had me scratching my head
Don’t get Nina and old ballerina logic either
LYS’s you don’t love me episode was also kind of weird and nonsensical. Sure, it’s ok to want him to trust you with the truth but he clearly was worried sick about you; if he withheld information it was obviously with the best intentions in mind. Her reaction felt disproportionate and out of character somehow.
Dan somehow ended up the voice of reason in all this. And that’s not a reassuring thought.
Also that ending
WTH?
Otherwise:
TSLMS ended harmlessly enough. Bean counted although I’ll probably forget all about it in a couple of weeks’ time. Zero interest in any other airing k-drama (liked the first week of Aide but I can see this going to dark and hurtful places and I liked the characters too much to see them destroyed by dirty politics. Yeah I know I don’t make much sense either). Lost any motivation to restart www… Only thing I am excited about is a silly Thai youth drama (Boy for rent: B&S4ever). I think I’ll take a summer holiday from db until I find something relevant to gush about. See you all back in the fall!
RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚
June 26, 2019 at 3:50 PM
Have a good summer!
CHARLIE
June 20, 2019 at 7:52 PM
Secret life of my secretary
Last week I thought I needed a major reckoning from DMI. But then it did not happen and I was pleasantly surprised. The boy is 100% puppy – he just doesn’t have it in him to be mean or to stay mad. It felt very much in character somehow.
The fish cult: on paper they are cool but in fact I find little sympathy for their lot. secretary lee unapologetically orchestrated the destruction of an innocent bystander; it’s hard to claim you fight for the little guy when you show so obvious disdain for human life.
Also: Veronica Park rulez. She made me overcome my initial dislike for the bland and poorly acted second lead. Whatever she wants she should get – come to think of it, I can now see how a wild jobless man would make useful bf material.
Dan, only love
LYS is my spirit animal – love her to bits and just want her happy. I like what the writer is doing with Dan’s character as well, even if it does not always completely come together acting wise. But I wish there was some rhyme and reason to the rest of the characters, as their actions make very little sense to me. Fake jerk director making a U-turn with his \”I love LYS\” confession… after treating her as a pawn, seeing her just as a substitute for his dead gf for the entire series – that was plain ridiculous (he does not love anyone but himself, not sure he even gets the basics of the concept, but he urgently needs a \”no means bloody NO\” lesson). Angel sunbae’s ‘brilliant’ solution of dumping LSY to KWS because she would be loved shows zero understanding of anything. The aunt and co are as extreme and impossible to understand as usual and the uncle and NiNa are veering into the unredeemable as well. I know that there are way too many episodes to go, but would it be possible for the bad guys to not always be so many steps ahead? We are entering serious serial killer territory and no one seems to care.
WWW
Did not resume watching but I find the idea of wrecking the property of irritating jerks with a baseball bat strangely appealing.
must be one of my short fuse days…
CHARLIE
June 13, 2019 at 10:02 PM
Dan, only love
I still think that the drama is moving a bit too fast for its own good, but it’s at least going to interesting places. LYS steals the show as usual, but I also like how they are constructing the parallel between KW’s and KD’s love: the selfish vs selfless, the love that makes you happy vs the happiness of another as a precondition of you own, the us2-4ever and to the hell with the rest vs accepting that pain is an unavoidable component of any human love even the happiest one. Dan already won the competition when he decided that what ultimately matter is LYS’s happiness. But the lesson from the old couple showed him that ever afters are not everything. I just want them to figure out a way to cherish whatever amount of time they have together.
Side note: It is both ironic and strangely satisfying to see auntie starting to fear the evilness of her own progeny.
RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚
June 13, 2019 at 10:18 PM
I loved today’s episode. It was so sad 💔 And we finally got more of Dan’s backstory! I hope we find out next time how he ended up being an angel.
Totally agree with your side note. I thought this whole time that the aunt was the bad one but it looks like it’s actually the cousin 😱
Katrina
June 13, 2019 at 11:51 PM
The cousin is straight crazy. Hard telling what she will do next
CHARLIE
June 12, 2019 at 7:07 AM
Secret life of my secretary: I liked this week a lot better than the last one. Although maybe not for the most obvious reasons. What I loved most were the female-female interactions: GH and Veronica make the cutest best buddies and the scenes with GH and mum were strangely moving. I am glad that the truth is finally out and that the fallout is as bad as it is. Because I was starting to completely lose respect for GH; at least she finally realized exactly how much the lie hurt him. Eventually he will see that her feelings are real despite of it but I don’t want DMI to forgive her too easily. Her deception did exactly what he told her it would: made him completely lose trust in humanity. She will need to work hard to restore that faith. Still… I loved that he got a chance to chose her for her first. And most of the cuteness it ensued (minus the soap scene: I found the use of hospital best practices for hand washing inspired but I disliked the execution, especially GH’s face expressions). All in all: enough interesting developments to tune in again next week.
RenOIshi
June 12, 2019 at 7:13 AM
Yes about that hand washing thing. I was a bit thrown with her expressions too! Did she dislike it? Lol. It was sizzling though!!
egads aka Dame Maggie
June 12, 2019 at 7:20 AM
I took it as a badly executed attempt to convey that she was feeling turned on by the hand washing. Whether it was due to mis-direction or a misguided attempt to keep a FL from appearing too sexualized, the acting between the two was not in sync.
stpauligurl
June 12, 2019 at 7:31 AM
Do you think that rather then being excited by it, she was really REALLY uncomfortable?
I’ve had to take courses on that kind of hand washing and I don’t remember 6 steps – but at least scrubbing between the fingers and both sides of the hands for at least 30 seconds.
Though I did have an experience at a road side cafe in Mexico years ago where the man I was with helped each other wash our hands with a pitcher of water. It was not sexy – but more a very intimate experience for the both of us. So this scene reminded me of that.
egads aka Dame Maggie
June 12, 2019 at 7:42 AM
Maybe? Whatever was happening, it was very intimate, and like @charlieblue17 I thought the idea was inspired, but it didn’t quite work.
CHARLIE
June 9, 2019 at 6:03 AM
WWW
Was curious about the deluge of positive response on db and decided to give it a quick peek.
Only watched ep1. I like aspects of it, but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as everyone else seems to.
I am in awe at how female centric the show is and really like BDM and CH. Still, I struggled to buy into the world. It may be a case of doctors not being able to watch medical dramas… while I would love the world to be ruled by woman as cool as that, the reality of the matter is that gender discrimination is still rampant in IT. Having women in leadership positions is very rare and even when they get there they don’t last long. I wonder if the choice of field was on purpose…
The other thing that really bothered me was the light and camera work. I am usually not one to comment on such things but here it veers into the absurd, to the point where it takes me out of the story. For the entire first meet with Morgan I was wondering about the source and intensity of the light and could not pay attention to anything else. The style of the shots feels familiar although I don’t recognize the director. I did like the OST at least. On hold for now, might give it a go during my August down time.
greenfields
June 9, 2019 at 6:26 AM
On the point of gender discrimination in IT, I have to agree with you that what they’re showing in the show is very far-fetched. But I appreciate it nonetheless. I’m a bit bored of watching corporate dramas and workplace politics revolve around men in leadership positions as they invariably seem to. Case in point: the much beloved My Ahjusshi. I’m sure others can name 20 dramas where women were in leadership roles, but nope, those 20 are an exception.
With that in mind, I WANT fiction to portray a different reality every once in a while. Fiction can influence our own perspectives, and this is a perspective I wish was given to young girls and women more often. Bae Tae Mi and her sunbae remind of the women lawyers I see in action in the Courts, and a few, rare women I came across in law school. These are not women I encountered before this, and it never even occurred to me to be fierce until then. I learnt by watching others, and am still learning, and love what this show is doing with its women. American media may have more of it, but as someone from an Asian country, this is not a representation of women I see often in my media.
The lighting is terrible. I cannot defend the show on that count.
CHARLIE
June 9, 2019 at 7:21 AM
I agree, but in a way I feel it negates and to some extent disparages the true struggles of women in the field. Showing the female leaders as an exception rather than the rule would be more realistic. When you show all people in leadership positions for the top two search engines in Kr as being female I am struggling to take the story seriously.
greenfields
June 9, 2019 at 10:49 AM
I do completely get what you mean. 🙂 It’s a solid point. I’m just in agreement with @wapz on this – I like seeing this alternate reality. It’s like the show us trying to make a point. Of course, it has to keep this up for the whole duration for it to successfully do so. Haha
Playstore, Okay Or Not Okay
June 9, 2019 at 8:06 AM
lighitng and angle is terrible. I’m only putting up with it cause of Jang Ki Yong.
RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚
June 9, 2019 at 9:39 AM
I thought it was sort of strange that ALL the leaders were women. However, I noticed that Bae Ta Mi said something about having worked there for 29 years but it shows her being hired in 2006, 13 years ago. So it seems like the show is set sometime in the near-ish future. It seems like they’re trying to show what they want the future to look like.
CHARLIE
June 9, 2019 at 9:44 AM
Comment was deleted
greenfields
June 9, 2019 at 10:49 AM
29 years? My translation said maybe 15 years or something. It fit the timeline so I didn’t notice anything was off.
RaOnAh loves Jay B 💚
June 9, 2019 at 11:52 AM
I mistyped. I meant 20.
wapz
June 9, 2019 at 7:07 AM
I don’t think the show is trying to be real either. It is a fictional story just like chaebols falling in love with candys. I personally think the writers made it a point that this show will stand the Bechdel test. They just wanted to turn the world the other way around and show women as bosses and the driving force of the drama with the man only being a romantic interest.
CHARLIE
June 7, 2019 at 4:20 AM
Back in a slump.
Dan, only love: I went in for the cute bickering and fell in love with LYS on the way. But the show is swerving into overly dramatic and depressing too early in the game for me. Most characters are just too extreme in their faults: everything KW does screams Pride with a capital (you\’d think I’d be team Lucifer given the backstory but somehow he rubs me the wrong way and I don’t manage to muster even the smallest amount of sympathy for him), the aunt and elder sister are in your face GREED (If they took a fraction of the brains and energy they use for destroying LYS and put it into something constructive, they would be just as rich and almost human).
Narratively I feel like we got to Dan’s conflict too soon in a way that makes me wary of the rest.
Secret life of my secretary: I know it’s in the title but they are building the main dramatic arc around her lie; the fact that he still does not know makes me lose interest: one one side her continuing to lie despite everything he said/did makes her almost impossible to trust; him not noticing all the loopholes makes him impossibly dim. As a story of how lies snowball out of control it would work, but if I am expected to still like any one character at the end of it all then it does not.
After being burned twice I’ll just wait for WWW to finish before deciding if to give it a go.
Maybe I’ll check out season 2 of PfJ since crime procedurals don’t require much emotional investment.
Zero interest in prehistoric power struggles, sextoy robots and whatever else is on these days.
Over and out.
Midnight
June 7, 2019 at 6:14 AM
Comment was deleted
Midnight
June 7, 2019 at 6:15 AM
I’m loving The Nokdu Flower.
moana
June 7, 2019 at 6:26 AM
Your critiques of both Dan and My Secretary are absolutely spot on. I feel the same way. I’m gonna keep watching the latter because at least it’s cute. I’ll take fluffy shenanigans over depressing chaebol family drama any day.
Hope you make it out of your slump soon!