noor1
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Posts posted by noor1
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I loved the first 2 episodes, the town, the characters, the sport, the mystery, the politics and gossip, the 4 childhood friends, and Jang Dong Yoon, who is perfect as Baek-Du.
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Park Seo Joon is great as always. Han so Hee is fine as is the rest of the cast. The 'creature' is cool and CGIs are good. One-on-one fight scenes are well-done.
The basic premise is pretty frightening (all those experiments and missing people and creation of an indestructible biological weapon).
The story gets dumb around Ep. 3 or so, when:
Spoilerthe 'creature' can be neutered through nitrogen gas but is left to roam 2 levels - killing plenty of Japanese soldiers along the way even though guns don't work on it, before the 'commander' tries to do another experiment by having the 'creature' kill its own daughter! I mean for a Japanese commander to keep using a so-called 'biological weapon' in such a careless manner and that too at the cost of one's own soldiers!!!! Not to mention the cavalier way in which he 'stored' the virus serum and its cure-tonics, and the creature.
Plus, the 'Joseon'/ 'Koreans' trapped in the prison cells are slow to run anywhere! That truck scene at the end of Ep. 7 took forever, not 10 minutes. And the rebel who knew the location of dynamite (to be used for 'revolution') was an irritating figure. I wanted the creature to get him! Instead he lived! Someone should've punched him atleast.
And the 'painter' Sachimoto keeps the horror trope alive by not disclosing early on what 'creature' the basement / building contains!!! (or who it is) and the same goes for every prisoner who had seen the effects of the 'anthrax' droplets. Nobody warns anyone about anything.
The leads talk too much or wait too much in key scenes where time is of essence without looking at their surroundings as any normal person would in a similar situation.
To go on for a day or two without food and still have energy and wits to run and fight in a building, having been shot, thrown about, cut and taken to every floor imaginable is a feat in itself!
Everyone kept ribbing Tae-Sang (PSJ) about how he only looked after his own interests - as if he owed anyone else anything! And the poor rich guy had to sacrifice again and again just for a girl and 'greater good'!
Anyways, Part 2 should be a ride too. Part 2 should be watched just to see Park Seo Joon, how Joseon / Koreans rescue themselves from the Japanese AND the 2 creatures, the connection between Lady Maeda and the heroine's mother, and the kiss scene between the leads (which was teased in the trailer but is not here).
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Well, it's the first and last sageuk I'll watch. It is a classic, well-made, well-performed melodrama with well-sketched out and memorable characters, beautiful BGMs and cinematography, and even though it's tragic throughout, I did not mind the tears.
The attention to detail and tragic-comic aspects in showing the lives of court ladies and sisterhood, court politics, intrigues and controversies, the grandfather/King's dementia, the longing of the ML (CP, later King) for this 'lowly' woman (who would've been otherwise forgettable in a sea of 700 available women and girls, and noble consorts), and the FL's resolution to 'stay in her place' and have a bit of freedom (especially since she could never be equal to the CP/King), all made sense.
Considering that this was a fictionalized version of a true story where the King asked a court lady 3 times in 14 years to be a consort and she kept rejecting him (without repercussions), but became the concubine after he chose her officially by issuing an order/command when both were in late 20s. He lived with her as the only woman in his life for 6 years before she died. Who knows whether this is actually true or merely how the King wanted his 'favorite' concubine to be remembered, but since this kind of longing was unheard of for rulers, is what makes this retelling - as embellished and mysterious as it may be - worthwhile.
It made for a great drama, tears and joy and fear. Everyone and everything (including that CGI tiger) made sense.
But the drama should've shown ML/King interacting with his next-born heir (with the 'selected' concubine who came after FL's death). They showed everyone except his next 'family' who outlived him.
The FL's life as his favorite concubine was shown to be a bit miserable like 'Raise the Red Lantern' though I wished she'd transcribed or done something meaningful with her time.
The King's dream / hallucination on his death bed of reuniting with the FL and her 'openly loving' him by showering him with hugs and kisses which she never initiated even as his consort was IMO just his wishful thinking and longing to be openly loved by her like he did, because he always remained unsure of her true feelings - it was the kind of hallucination people get right before dying / in coma. It certainly wasn't the afterlife because FL would've probably chosen everyone else and her freedom over being with him forever in her afterlife. Just like it was mostly a one-sided love, it was a one-sided dream / hallucination from his death bed/ right before death.
Most of the drama was morbid, dire and hopeless with comic warmth brooding over it. But whatever it was, as painful and wistful as it was, it was great to watch it.
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Review of books 1 and 2 and the TV series:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5903767751
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5903770326
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The first 9 episodes are very good - the love story, the twists and the guess game of what is really going on, who ends up with who, and who did what, etc. keep you glued, but the killer reveal is ridiculous (and doesn't make sense even in a time-traveling, multiple time-lines genre), the killings are even more ridiculous: the only way the killings could've occurred is after Cha-Hui travelled 25 years later back to 1998 and acted on his killer impulses - which he hadn't acted on for 25 years!!!!! - and which were groomed by his older self (in older brother's body) in the first place, he kills 2 women (as his older brother, in 1998), and then does not kill again in any timeline ever again!!! - and then kills Si-Heon 25 years later 2 seconds after traveling back 25 years in time to attacked Min-Ju, and wants to kill Jun-Hee!! So the only reason the killer existed is because the lead couple existed, and they only existed because Min-Ju had been killed! (who was only killed back in time after the lead couple had been together 16 or so years, with Cha-Hui as their friend!). It would've been better if the killer was a fellow student from 1998, who then goes on to kill again in college, university etc. and be a constant threat in the lives of the main 4 students. But this killer reveal made no sense and neither did his motivation. I started fast-forwarding after Ep. 9 till Ep.12 because the drama got ridiculous and nonsensical.
Plus, after 9 episodes, there was zero growth in any character or their common sense, Si-Heon could've changed some future (as could Min Ju, or In Gyu or even Jun Hee) just by learning and forwarding information gleaned from past timelines but no logical thing happened. Si-Heon could've better watched and warned his best friend In Gyu over his suicidal thoughts, he just sits around for 20 years. And we are just supposed to feel sorry for the leads for the heck of it, all of the troubles of 9 episodes mean nothing in the end, the 3 deaths of Si-Heon, all the time jumps, "i'm alive" reveals, did not add up to any progress in story or characters or justice for the killings.
Especially disappointed in the attitude of Min Jun who could see the other girl Jun-Hee act and change people around, be a positive influence even in her family by standing up for herself, and yet Min Jun didn't learn anything. Her suicidal thoughts were shoddily handled in the drama and frankly extremely unprofessionally: a boy is not a cure; she needn't major counseling and therapy. In fact, it would've been better if she had gotten rid of the killer herself, by getting courage and trying to make changes in her life or seeking help. But, no, she had zero growth and self-awareness. And when everything disappears in the end, I'm sure she went back to trying to kill herself, and In-Gyu went back to having one-sided love, and Si-Heon went to U.S., with 11-year old Jun-Hee having a crush on 18 year old Si-Heon. So what have we been watching the drama for? Growth and progress, of which there was none.
And to top everything off, when the main couple see each other in the end in 2011 fresh timeline (as 31 year old business owner Si Heon and 24 year old Jun-Hee, who have no memory or connection in the new timeline) we are not shown THEIR relationship progress, I mean, it would've been better if we were shown what they would've been like without the baggage (and past/future connection that steered them towards each other), how fun and energetic they were as a normal couple in 2011. We are not told what happens to the second leads (In-Gyu, Min-Ju) nor the cafe 27 uncle, or where killer wannabe Cha-Hui and his older brother Cha-Yeong ended up, or are doing; Where is In-Gyu? Si-Heon's best friend who he looked out for across every timeline, is not mentioned nor seen in the end! It was shocking that Si-Heon is not shown at least talking to him on the phone! No flash-forward of where Min Ju's brother and mother ended up. No mention of Da-Hyeon (the other killed girl). We also did not see the future end of the gay couple: the real Yun-Jun and Tae-Ha, if they die in the fresh timeline too, at least it could've been shown.
All that investment in the characters and their issues, and then in the end the show could not inform how all of them were doing and living life unhindered by any Jun-Hee invasion/time-traveling in 1998? It would've been better if the main leads ended up having a cup of coffee in the uncle's barista, with In-Gyu joining too or something! Or one of the comic books having the time-travel love story that Si-Heo then publishes or something.
The biggest irony is that Jun-Hee in the end in 2011 fresh timeline (the college-going 24 year old) is not the firebrand, confident Jun-Hee we've seen for the entirety of the drama, she's like a flat dull squid quietly standing in the middle of the road waiting for some stranger to talk to her. She used to be a live wire, where did all the spunk vanish? Even Si-Heon, 31 years old, who as a high-schooler was outgoing, happy and positive, seemed like a lame duck. It looked like Min ju and In Gyu had overtaken their bodies! Why were they both gloomy when they had no reason to be so in fresh 2011 timeine/the real time?!!! What is the tragedy in this couple's life for them to be this robotic? Meeting someone new for the first time is supposed to be exciting. The ending was awfully written and done.
One timeline has to be constant, either the uncle, or the killer or the hero or the heroine's timeline. None were constant and in actuality, none of it mattered because everything is wiped out after the heroine (Jun-Hee)'s connection to 1998 (and Min-Ju, Si-Heon and In-Gyu) is removed and she's just an 11 year old in 1998 once again. So what have we been invested in the characters and their romance or death for? To see figaments of our imagination play out and then get wiped out and then play again?
I had no problem with anyone's acting, but I did have a massive problem with the wig (or whatever mop and 'mustache' lead actor had on for those 20 limp years timeline). Did he forget to get his haircut and shave because he was sad or because he was lazy?
I fast-forwarded the last 3 episodes. The killer reveal, ending of the drama, and characters are not handled well. Could've been so much better.
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Verdict on Ep.s 9-10-11-and most likely 12:
I don't care what ratings it's still getting, the drama has lost its mojo and track, and lost it big, it has sunk in a hole it cannot get out of no matter what rabbit is pulled in Ep. 12.
The van problem in Ep. 9 and then the 'suspects' from Ep.10, and the '1 year later' from Ep.11 were all fillers and waste of time. And totally not required.
This is not the 'high' finish promised when they cut the episodes from 14 to 12!!!! God, nothing is tight in this drama anymore, and nobody's actions make sense either and it isn't even all that much 'fun'.
I had a hard time understanding why Mari Baek reminisce about losing CJH after working with him on only 3 cases? And why the manager Sa-Mu Jang not confront CJH about all the money he had and not giving SMJ a penny for work? (apart from not paying rent to poor street women), and why was CJH so dramatic about the murderer when he knows he can get him and the JQ CEO through legal means, like he always does. And what about Min Hyeok's proposal ambitions? A year passed and nothing changed? Why was the 1-year jump required if not for the fact that the writers lost the plot and didn't know how to move forward?
Just bad bad bad episodes one after the other. Ep. 11 didn't even have the urgency of a second-to-last episode. I watched Ep. 11 three days after it aired, that is how much I've lost interest in this drama.
The drama just couldn't decide what it wanted to be or how to take everything forward with these really great 3 lead characters.
Prediction: CJH will be arrested for the knife guy's murder. And CEO JQ will live on for season 2, in which Mari Baek will represent CJH at trial. Either way, I don't expect anything from this drama anymore.
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6 hours ago, larus said:
I think they reduced the episodes with the idea that they will make the second season. I am sure that there will be the second season. Time will tell if I am right.
I wanted the show to continue so it'd be great to have a second season. I'm just bummed out over reduction of episodes because it was a well-made show. They probably didn't have any ideas on how to fill up the story in Ep.s 13 & 14 without resolving / revealing the 'justice/revenge' bit on his dad/fiance'.....( could it be that there's a huge behind the scenes scandal they are not disclosing which necessitated the closure of the program?!!)
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12 hours ago, brenda08 said:
I think this was ruled out after the lady prosecutor asked Baek grand daughter if she was interested in JH and denied it. The lady prosecutor then said good and she had reason. I'm glad there will be no romance cause clearly JH is not over JY's death by still running her lawyer business and wearing her engagement ring.
The thing is, CJH is not himself in the present, this happy-go-lucky crazy avatar is not his 'normal' personality, it's probably a disguise / persona to seem like he's not a threat to anyone while investigating the 2 deaths.
FL thinks of him as this weird goofball which he isn't.
I want ML and FL to get together romantically by the end and for the series to go on beyond one season. I don't think the robotic CJH was even in love with LJY, he just liked her because she was ballsy and had consoled him when he was practically unapproachable. He didn't do anything for her or with her besides proposing her! Plus, I didn't like her. Taking revenge / justice for her murder is not the same thing as being in love with her. I hope he understands that and moves on with FL (or FL decides to stick with him).
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Ep.s 7 & 8: Wow.
P.S.: 1. Though I can't help but crib LJY could've just whatsapped the entire doc in a min. telling CJH on the phone the stranger she'd bumped into, and made a dash for it.
2. Did dad really jump or was he thrown overboard?
3. Is Min Hyeok really such a nice dumb guy or is he just acting dumb? After all, he got hold of the number plate which led CJH to his dad as recipient of CEO's slush fund (making dad the fall guy - no pun intended). And CEO was being represented by MH's dad's partner law firm (Baek Law Firm). And the 'file guy' and 'phone guy' are the same guy, who was leaving Baek Law Firm via elevator when he collided with LJY! So yeah, I think MH and his dad are villains (and maybe so is the cute grandpa Baek).
4. So CJH is technically LJY's first client (by paying 1000 won fee) and co-legal partner who took up her murder case to solve it (as well as his dad's). And he'll be doing this legal aid stuff for 10 years, like her original plan was? Well, he looks like he's in total nervous breakdown Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde mode OR is this new colorful avatar a disguise for his 'batman' crusade? Is he going to turn robotic again when he finds the real killers/villains?
5. ML acts/cries really very well.
6. I guess this backstory rules out a love track between ML and FL......
7. The happy/crazy trailer for Ep.9 is jarring after 2 back-to-back tearjerker episodes!
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Ep. 6: Rant: It's fine if the drama wants to show a star-crossed love story between opposing lawyers in a high-profile case, where Lee Chung-Ah got to bear severe consequences because of machinations of Baek grandpa and/or CJH's father (if at all).
BUT puhlease, spare me the sob story of a VERY expensive hot shot defense lawyer aka Lee Chung-Ah who has worked very hard to get to Baek Law Firm and has worked cases of other high-flying conglomerates, but is shown (pretending) to be an idealistic doe-eyed beauty who just wants 'justice for all' and sincerely wants the prosecutor to win the case over her! Give me a break on her miss-good act, hypocrisy meter! I don't believe her for a second!
What is she doing working for Baek Law Firm if her 'blood boils reading CEO's charge sheet'???? That's like having her (rich) cake and eating (a humble justice pie) too. I don't like her one bit. I also don't trust her.
Confusion: Why did she go in the men's bathroom btw? I didn't get that. Was it some kind of power play or did she want to check CJH out or unnerve him? I also don't understand her proposing a date to CJH during a trial, like coming on to him as opposing counsel, which is unethical (and she/he knows it).
Also, I don't think Min Hyeok could sit in on the trial as prosecutor since his father was part of the counsel representing the defendant (direct conflict of interest).
Prediction: CJH's father became a scapegoat in the trial against corrupt CEO and is dead. CJH was visiting his grave. Baek Ma-Ri will ultimately side with CJH against her own grandpa Baek and bring on his downfall.
Verdict: Still a cool, fun, watchable, drama. Plus good BGM and soundtrack.
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I'm liking this show. It is fun and the leads have chemistry (in fact everyone is good, including the 'office manager') and even though they have the usual cute crying kids for dramatic hijinks, it's nice to see the ML being great and natural with kids. So, I don't care how many poor people they show crying their hearts out over their miserable (unjust) lives, as long as the ML remains witty, and FL snappy and show remains quick-paced.
The dress design for the ML is amazing (and FL looks like she likes OTT outlandish styles too - that bright pink suit on 1st day as legal trainee in a sea of black!)
And since FL has an opportunistic, gold digging suitor, I'm looking forward to her getting closer to the ML.
This is off to a very promising start of a nice fluffy 16 episode serial.
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I loved the Jdrama, including the fling that screwed up the leads romance. The drama worked on 3 levels:
1) the unconventional romance between a deaf hermit guy who can only speak in sign language (and through paintings) and a friendly young woman who of course can talk and live a relatively normal life.
2) romance between a somewhat middle-aged man and a younger woman
3) a successful painter and a struggling actress.
The Jdrama version showed the difficulties of 'making such a relationship work', even though FL and ML rocked the silent part, she was comfortable learning and using the sign language and understood his paintings and their sex life was shown to be instant and good, but the FL had to make a LOT of adjustments, and frankly, sacrifices, and started to see the relationship as a dead-end/ deadbeat downer, ML didn't make any changes in his life and was extremely struck in his ways, and because she was young and had friends and was working towards a career, she gradually became frustrated and distant and then had that one-night stand and ML-FL relationship ended.
That's why the ending was the way it was and I was disheartened by how short the end scene was. Their relationship had ended not because the girl couldn't be with the deaf guy anymore or didn't understand him or love him, but it was all too suffocating, they literally had nothing in common other than the unspoken understanding, and in the ending they showed the girl was now a bit more grown up, and had a successful career (was getting regular parts) and was more open to being with him than before. The guy hadn't changed much which wasn't a good thing. The ending was too brisk and unsatisfactory for me, but at least it ended on a hopeful note.
The Jdrama actors were perfect and really worked very hard (learning sign language, they looked their parts, etc.)
For the Korean version, though I'm excited that Jung Woo Sung will essay the middle-aged man / deaf painter (I hope they don't turn him into some usual K-drama childish prude robot, dumbstruck at every thing), but 'Shin Hyun Bin' is too old / mature for the role, unless they change the story from a happy-go-lucky positive naive girl who jumps at everything excitedly. I don't see why or how or should an actress in her mid-30s can look and act childish or naive. I would expect someone of her age to get into a relationship with a deaf guy with her eyes (and ears) wide open. So I don't know if this drama will work or be adultish.
So 50-50 hopeful that it will be a good romantic realistic treat with less of the usual Kdrama schtick.
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Ep.1: It's Ji Sung's drama, production design is very good, direction is slick and spooky and scary, but the story looks like the same old "convicted is not the killer, it's the big conglomerate tycoon who wants to rule Korea by setting up his own PM, so let's get justice and overthrow the corrupt." The big reveal of diamond knife as murder weapon and 'Adamas' was underwhelming. So script is not looking original.
Ji Sung's twins aren't really that different: the prosecutor twin was shown to be meticulous and disciplined, and neat-freak, but he ate the burger rudely and the jam eating was also sloppy, in fact I'm thinking that the prosecutor is the one inside the tycoon's building and ghostwriter is the one ghosting in the law office.
I also thought the twins would work together, but no, they are apart, and may be working separately, so fun element isn't there.
The 2 actresses are boring and lacklustre, and have less than zero chemistry / spark on their own or with Ji Sung. Why can't Ji Sung get good cute actresses to work with him nowadays? Or do big actresses not want to work in a Ji Sung vehicle where he is in every single frame and they would just be hanger-ons?
And btw, where are all the Korean actresses whose faces move?
I also thought that the scene where the reporter with her paper clippings tells Ji Sung that the killer may be innocent was naive writing. Surely, a prosecutor would have the entire record (even the one not made public), but he is convinced just by looking at average newspaper clippings!
I will say though, the guy playing tycoon has got a great gig going on: he's always the bad guy, he's always dressed to the nines (in sharp suits), and he always winds up in jail alive by the end. He's really a non-actor just sleep-walking through lines, but he is in every other drama as the main villain!
Will check out Ep. 2 to see if something unpredictable happens. Will fast-forward the scenes with the actresses. The drama needs to up its game plot-wise.
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I kind of agree with a few other commenters here. This drama may have been written by the one who wrote the classic 'My Mister' but the problems here are superficial, contrived and self-serving. DH was a boring but good-natured middle-aged salary man disrespected and humiliated by the jealous boss who was having an affair with his wife. LJA was a young, cold poverty-stricken survivor taking care of her grandmother with no chance of advancement in life or kinship. DH and LJA had lost hope and brought great changes in each other's lives. And the sexy way their scenes were framed and filmed just added to the are they-are they not kind of heated debate even on soompi even though there was a 20+ age difference between the two! And the rest of the cast and their stories and emotions were just perfect and inspiring too. Had great OST too. It was a great all-round production team work that made 'My Mister' what it was - not just the writer.
In 'Liberation Day', you have 3 adult siblings living with their parents cribbing about their love lives. That's it. Their parents own the house and land they live, farm and do carpentry work on. The siblings all have had an education and have 9-5 office careers. They are not poor or disabled and parents are healthy too. They have had relationships too. All 3 could've rented a place in Seoul if they really wanted to! They are still fed by and are dependent on their parents!
So how does one relate to three self-absorbed lame-ducks with self-esteem issues that they blame the hometown on! Sanpo is not the reason they are boring unlikeable people nobody wants to be with!
The eldest and the loudest, GJ, is a tramp and looks like it. The wimpy son CH aims for girls who want a higher status than he has or can afford. The youngest, MJ, is a quiet woman who gave money to a boyfriend who frankly she hasn't seen since forever and now is in debt over her own stupidity. Her boss nitpicks her work but it is unclear whether he is bullying her or if she is really that bad at work.
All three are one-dimensional superficial characters and have neither the work ethic nor the grace or sense of their parents. Their problems lack urgency of life or liberty frankly.
The only interesting thing / person in the drama is Gu, who is hot as hell - which is the only interesting thing about him (which is a very superficial thing to say, I know).
And even though there are red flags around Gu: a stranger in a small town paying a year's rent on a house to do menial work next door, with an old couple who have lunch with Gu every day, but neither they nor anyone else in the town has asked him his background or his family or why he is in Sanpo. He keeps to himself, that would make people more curious. People in small towns have all the time to make up stories about strangers and to talk about them, but this family and neighborhood have just taken this stranger at face value. He could be a criminal running away from the law, or wants to get away from the stress of 5 kids and a wife, or is drunk over grief / blame over something. No one has tried asking him either. It's unrealistic.
I thought MJ telling Gu to 'worship' her was sexual harassment AND laughably ridiculous: technically he is dependent on her parents for work and food, so the power dynamic is unequal, and she came across as desperate, pathetic and horny. Plus, he's just too hot and sensible to say yes.
Clearly he'll be the siblings' guide and teacher who propels them to make better choices and gets healed himself, but what a waste of a perfectly good hot specimen.
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Ep. 4 was snail-pace boring, didn't move anything forward. After a wait of a week, it was a disappointing episode.
My current theory is simply that the crazy Ghost mama is removing all possible threats to her son's (Sae Ha's) life, in past and future. Basically she got the ability to foresee future and time travel, and then went on a rampage to ensure that her son lives / survives all killers and environmental situations. Maybe the janitor was a genius scientist who wanted to destroy the world and harm SaeHa so she intervened? And her re-emergence after 20+ years is simply because she is dying and wants to make sure her son remains safe.
She is saving the serial killer because of his pivotal role in a key moment in time from future. Basically it's a bit like did the chicken come first or the egg. She instigated everything but she only did it because she could see the future and wants to prevent a big disaster and her son's life.
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Episode 1 is pretty good.
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Ep.s 10 & 11:
I'm watching it as a time-pass just to see scenes between the lead PYTs, the series itself is illogical, ridiculous and OTT with irritating characters, so I skip everything else.
That tape recording is ML's love confession and goodbye. There's no way he's surviving this, and he knows it. Saving hostages, spies and agents will be direct violation of NK's orders, and he is only going back to NK so that his sister does not get killed. He will be killed by NK, even if he survives in SK. If NK doesn't kill him, it will be one more illogical thing in an already contrived drama. After all, SK will have fair and free elections and ruling power will be dismantled and that is not what NK wanted either! NK government will never change. So his days are numbered. Faking his death is also not an option because he'll live in fear of his life that someone may still recognize him and he will never endanger FL's life by being with her (after putting her in danger as a hostage!). And even if by some sheer luck, he stays alive, he'll never see her again.
Right now, it's headed towards a 'Titanic'-like ending.
ML has had a choice every step of the way: to be in someone's way or out of it. He is the well-traveled, well-trained spy sent to SK to do missions. His lack of choice in becoming an agent or who his adopted father is or his beliefs do not matter. Once in SK, he is the one who pursued the FL after the first meet-up and gave mixed signals and has decided every course of action and reaction to his own benefit, in complete disregard of others. He could've said one sentence to FL during hostage situation for e.g. 'I like you but this is the job I was hired to do and there's nothing I can do to change it, so kindly forgive me and listen to my orders!' Instead he demeaned and humiliated her and had nothing nice or sensible to say to her, just saving her from bullets and his fellow agents!
FL has served as his 'comfort woman'. She is the hope of a life he'll never have. FL is shown as the epitome of the virginal, pure-hearted, understanding heroine, a bit of a doormat, who fell for this guy - her first love/ crush - and tried to do the right thing by being nice and is now okay with everything even though she knows he's a killer and manipulator and she has zero future with him! She is the one adjusting herself to his needs. All. The. Time. She has gotten nothing from this guy other than sadness, lies and confusion, and never will. In fact, in a way, this girl is much braver than the guy, because she has been open and honest and un afraid of her feelings and bold in standing up to aggression, unlike him. She also hasn't used any excuses for her actions.
The intention of the writer may have been to show 2 lonely young (pretty) people from 2 Koreas, with different personalities, being exploited by their own families and countries, against impossible life and death odds, but it has failed both leads despite their good performances. The ratings speak for themselves.
We have not been told what the original mission for ammunition was, which was being retrieved by the ML when he ended up in dorm by mistake and started the hostage situation, because the original plan was not to go to the dorm and take hostages. So what was the ammo for originally?
The OST songs 'If You're With Me' and 'Wishes' are great and spot-on.
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HNY to everyone here!
Watched Ep.1-5 and then the cliffhangers of 6 and 7:
Loved the production quality and the nostalgic, sad atmosphere, the dorm and the set pieces, FL has acted very well in her role and ML is pretty and extremely fit, and acts as per his role too., though his role is half-baked / not fully developed. To that degree, the drama is fine, BUT for the love of god, this will end with either the ML's death, both getting killed in that attic upstairs and haunting the hostel forever (!) or FL looking back on this turbulent time years later as an old lady ala 'Titanic' with that necklace around her neck (hopefully married with someone else and with kids).
Frankly, unless something drastically changes in the story, it doesn't even matter whether the ML lives or dies because his character fails to generate empathy or sympathy, he is a cold calculating spy/assassin doing his job, FL is just starting out in life and her 'relationship' with him was alll based on a lie (or zero truths), she ignored all red flags, he did not share anything about himself except for a one-liner about his sister, and thoroughly has taken advantage of everyone, and that's understandable, because he is an NK agent on a mission, maybe he has a soft spot for this girl, or thinks it's an impossible love that he discovered at the wrong time and place, but he showed not even an iota of decency when he tied up that old caretaker who actually had helped safeguard him, or the girl, or anyone else.
ML is the stuff nightmares are made of. So many people have died because of this one guy (let's start with the NSA agent's 'partner' in Berlin, and all the soldiers who died during standoff), and all FL is thinking about is satisfying her own ego and anger and whether he has 'feelings' for her! Grow up girl!
The hostage crisis was thoroughly avoidable and unbelievable - and silly to watch. Neither NSA nor NK agents have any experience handling hostage issue. There are plot loopholes such as how did FL's brother get killed when shooting from a height at 2 men in a boat below! or how 3 men holding 70 women as hostages for days without bathroom breaks or food and water and not a single woman in need of a period-pad! And ML still looks damn good / hot.
Women in power are shown to be mean and petty, while men in power are shown to be narcissistic buffoons. Girls are shown to be horny. Not a single one in that dorm is resourceful or accomplished.
The most irritating character is Bun-Ok.
What the drama does get right is the corruption of leaders and their disregard for human life and how they make everyone a pawn to their interests. Maybe 'Snowdrop' signifies the fresh start that South Korea got in '88 with elections and a democratic set-up. Maybe the only revisionist history at play here is that this hostage crisis in a fake dorm led to the end of autocratic rule in South Korea. But it certainly doesn't signify a happy end for the leads together, and I don't think there should be one.
Awesome BGM.
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My problem with this drama is simply this: 1) Unless 'Jae-Guk Yoon' is an adopted brother or cousin or close friend of Sun Woo Yoon, it is an extremely cheap drama trope to use 2 brothers as lovers of a woman, and highly unlikely that a woman wouldn't know the family or vice versa (even if it was a secretive / forbidden relationship 10 years ago), or for her to fall for 2 brothers and have a relationship with each, and also, highly improbable for the relationship to be okay for everyone, especially parents. This is ridiculous and unnecessary drama trope and hopefully JGY and SWY are not really related.
2) The 'my heart is broken because the love of my life never showed up - and I thought he dumped me' trope is unrealistic and laughable because people have various ways of communicating with each other, and if he is that great a love, why wouldn't a reasonable and sensible woman contact him or his family to find out where he is. How can a woman not know the friends of the 'great love'? So I hope everyone including her knows he's dead and that her problem has simply been she loved him too much and no other man has measured up to him.
3) If she slept with JGY because he reminded her of SWY, then the drama is even more cheap, because that means she sees the dead guy in the 'brother' / relative of the dead guy!
4) The FL actress SHK has been working for a very long time, and is very famous, and is pretty, but frankly, is a robot, expression-wise, and so is the ML. But ML is filmed as extremely hot and SHK looks old and frigid. The 10 year age gap is not mentioned either. Why would a young successful guy go after someone that middle-aged just over a one-night stand and then get fixated because he was friends or family of her dead lover?
This drama is looking like an attempt to sell clothes and merchandise by showing PYTs going through a simulated hard-to-believe forced tragic-romance. And since it's SHK's first come-back drama after divorce, she is bound to make money on and off screen from this one. Even if she remains as wooden as the first frame.
6) I think this faux-drama is more about the FL breaking up with the ghost of memory of the 'great' love of her life as opposed to any break-up with the new guy. I think it's supposed to be a healing / progressive relationship for both because both have commitment issues in their own way. But I have a problem watching this drama if the ML is the dead guy's brother and FL doesn't know dead guy's family, and if the mechandise-placement is too much and too obvious, all the time.
7) OST is very good.
Taylor Swift's song 'All too well and 'Pablo Neruda's line 'love is short, forgetting is long' comes to mind.
To think this faux-tragedy drab-fest money-maker follows One The Woman!
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This is the best show on TV right now, the FL (Honey Lee) is unbelievably awesome, the ML is good and Mr. No is also hilarious like everyone else - except of course the humor-less iron-willed sinister daughter of Hanju group (whose ruthlessness and ambition is understandable)! The romance, the best friend and even the new 'un-connected' lawyers are fun.
The chance encounter between the leads in the hospital as teenagers seemed a bit forced to me - she had just lost her grand-mom and goes and chats up to a bereaved-looking boy spouting a nonsense line like 'ER is the warmest place!!!' Like seriously?! They should have kept it as an encounter between the actual Min-A and ML. It didn't seem like something FL Yeon Ju would say or do.
This show has such great pace, and the FL is just so catty-funny and straight-forward in her responses. I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face around her! Love it. Very well-written, directed and acted.
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The series is slow, episodes take forever to get to the point, some actors' actions are dumb, and frankly by now (i.e. Ep. 6) it is clear that the cult members think Kyung-Ho is the 'guru' while he thinks guru is someone/thing else. For a while there I thought, 'guru' must be the investigating officer Hyung (because he was an 'overseas investigation unit member' who had suffered short-term memory loss and it would be a great shock to him if he turned out to be a mass murderer!, not Kyung-Ho) but now I think the root of all evil is Kyung-Ho himself. He and his sister were abused as kids in the 'welfare centre' run by detective's wife's father, he developed skills of hypnosis and has used them to his benefit to manipulate people ever since then. BUT the 'ghost in the tape' killer is something he got from the ultimate 'guru' / someone in japan, and that ghost is used to get rid of people who have outlived their utility, so some kind of black magic / voodoo crap.
Why did Kyung-Ho put himself in a jail cell for 10 years when there was no evidence to suggest he was responsible for the station gas attack. He turned himself in for what reason? I am even unsure whether he did the station gas attack himself. i think the gas attack was done by the detective Hyung under hypnosis.
Also, why was there a need to get rid of people in the original photograph? i.e. the woman and her leg-less husband and the mother and her girl. The murder of jail warden is simple: Kyung-Ho didn't like him or maybe thought he had outlived his 'utility'.
I'm getting irritated at the aura and entitlement Kyung-Ho exudes around other people (the warden. the psychologist, the police, etc.) This guy would be fresh meat in a real prison!
His interview is boring. The psychologist interviewing him will be killed off by the cameraman, she is so obviously playing into his mumbo-jumbo instead of getting to the point, and he has used both hypnosis techniques of tapping and fire during the interview.
Detective Hyung's chief Wae-Tak is 'Mr. Proxy.'
The end game is poisoning the entire hometown - basically a mass murder / suicide - through the water system, by a cult of brain-washed hypnotised members, to punish the hometown, so that a new 'pure' generation can live there. And why does Kyung-Ho hate the town? Because it didn't do anything to stop the abuse at the welfare child centre!
Of course, that means the gas attack was just Kyung-Ho's way to experiment with his abilities to control people before launching a Jonestown-like mass suicide/ murder.
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Loved the first episode, but I would like to see FL end up with the friend prosecutor second lead. ML can find truth of his father's death just like FL needs to know about her grandmother's hit and run culprit, both get their revenge, and go live separate lives. The way ML was casual when he heard about the disappearance of his 'first love' (chaebol heiress) shows he didn't really care about her, so I don't want to see the golden gutsy funny FL with him. Second male lead is perfect.
Also liked the fact that the chaebol daughter-in-law got out of that toxic environment (before someone had the chance to get rid of her). I hope she's living quietly at some seaside and is not kidnapped / hostage! She obviously didn't care about money or inheritance and both sides of her family were abusive. But FL and heiress have to be separated-at-birth sisters right?
Good start.
Edit: Watched Ep. 2, fine, the love story, if any is between ML and chaebol heiress not the feisty FL. That's fine. I just want FL to kick everyone's behind, find out who tried to kill chaebol heiress with that car, who killed the entire Yunmi family, who hit and ran over her grandma, who set the factory fire, where her sister is, and get that painting slush fund thief. And of course get her memory back sooon! This drama is good fun.
Edit: Watched Ep. 3 & 4: FL rocks, ML and everyone else is good too. Binge-worthy fun show.
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As much as I was looking forward to watching it, the first episode bored me to death. This drama is obviously trying to copy My Ahjussi's dark vibe and tale of two random (May-December) people helping each other overcome loneliness and obstacles, while everyone questions whether they are romantically involved. My Mister is a classic. The problems, the roadblocks, the humiliation and the dead-end life all felt real. This drama for me is a dud. JDY's problems (marital, loss of child, work) all seem forced to me, like a sham midlife crisis where she is just unhappy for the sake of being unhappy. I don't see what is so bad about her life - she made certain choices in life, some worked in her favor, some did not, nothing was forced on her, somethings like death are beyond her control, and she has the money and knowledge to seek counseling. As for the 27-year old young man, other than a limited career, I fail to see what is bugging him (though that bad hair cut should). He has his whole life ahead of him but is acting as if it's all over. These two people are not hard-up in life in any way, financial or moral or in terms of support. Very fake, vanity project.
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Ok, I'm dumping this drama, it has tested my patience with a weak script, illogical storylines, irritating characters and arcs (except for Yo Han) and seems like a starring launch pad vehicle for the GOT singer-turned-actor, considering how much focus is on his role, and he is not worth investing 3 hours of my weekend on. Bad robotic acting by all, except for Ji Sung. Ep.s 7-8 were meh. I'll check out what Ji Sung stars in next year. See you all on some other thread!
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[Drama 2018] My Mister, 나의 아저씨 - Best Drama at 2019 (55th) BaekSang Arts Awards
in k-dramas & movies
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Aggrieved to say the least. What a voice - put to such great use in My Ahjussi - and a fairly decent actor. Too bad. Prayers for his family, the excellent actress-wife and kids etc.
I wish he had the will, support and environment to live through this crisis: just like the lesson we all got by watching this classic: