[Drama 2010] Smile, Dong-hae / Smile Again 웃어라 동해야

[Guest aeka]

But what i found over the top is Do Jin's hatred

But whenever i see Dojin's angry face at Donghae and his misuse of authority, it just freaking pisses me off. Can he just have a little bit of professionalism? He's the manager, he should treat customers better (when DH haven't work in the hotel) and should be fair in treating his employees even though he had some beef with him.

At the very least, his character has been consistently poor in terms of actions and motives. Even from the beginning, he had no "reason" to like SaeHwa just as he has not "reason" to hate Dong-Hae. He accounts for both by claiming he has some gut feeling or intuition on the matter. Maybe he should change his profession to fortune-teller as his managerial capacity would obviously get him fired in the real world.

Surprisingly, Sae Hwa's revelations have been coming in fast and furious and quite frankly, while in the beginning, I thought her character and motives were set up really well, the sudden character assassination in the last few episodes was completely uncalled for. The only thing it does for the story is to try and bring Anna and James together. At least, that's how I understand it from watching the end of today's episode. A poor excuse considering there were more plausible ways to develop her greedy ambitions. Now, rather than witnessing a dramatic fall, I have a feeling the writers are going to shortchange her and force a contrived situation where she'll fall into some boring pitiful character instead.

Other than that, at the pace this show is going, there isn't really much happening. No doubt Anna and James won't really meet until after episode 50 (the half-way point) to drag out the first part of the series as long as possible. I do think it's funny that the few times we've been seeing SaeYoung and TaeHoon in the last week or so was literally showing their faces as they come into a room. Why do the writers have to remind us that their characters still exist on the show like that? We already know, sheesh! Move on already.

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest aeka]

I get her initial reasoning for dumping DongHae but after things turned south on her (due in part to her own greed/stupidity) she's been turning into a such a horrible character.

Yeah, I really don't understand. I mean, nothing is really getting in the way of getting what she wants except for her mother's antics, but neither DongHae nor Anna have done or is really doing anything that affected SaeHwa to turn into this monster. And this was BEFORE she found out they were still in Korea. She was downright mean and spiteful to BongYi and her family for no reason. The 'cold-shoulder' would suffice and it's a pretty nasty thing to do to your inlaws in the the first place, but she really went out of the way to hurt/threaten BongYi. Knowing DongHae and Anna is in Korea, why she lost her levelheadedness is beyond me. Her actions scream of insecurity and panic. Definitely not calculating anymore. No doubt, the writers are going to use this as a lame excuse in later episodes to show "she really cared for DongHae all this time". Right.

With regards to the latest episode, what was the deal when Bong Yi & Dong-hae went to lunch and ran into Do Jin and Sae Wa? I got the feeling the conversation had very little to do with eating and more about running into each other as often as they do that or some lame little thing about them eating in the hotel instead of where they (Do Jin & Sae Wa were eating). Addition to that little scene there was a scene just after the two couples sat down when Sae Wa gave Bong Yi the "evil" stare there was a bit of internal monologue, any idea as to what that was?

Apparently, the "best" place to eat Korean food was that one and only restaurant - at least that's what BongYi and DoJin claim. *insert groan*

DoJin was accusing BongYi and DongHae of playing around during work hours. BongYi said they were on their break and came here so DongHae can experience the true authentic Korean taste (since he has to pass a cooking test coming in a month to stay at Camelia). DoJin is all, "yeah fine, you do that...but if you don't know what authentic Korean food is like now, there's no way you can properly make chungukjangjigae from scratch in a month's time, nyah!"

SaeHwa inner monologue is all, "yeah, we'll see if you even make it till then or go back to the US because I scared Anna, mwahaha!"

EDIT: So apparently, not a month - looks like the test (which is two fold) will happen tomorrow (or the day after). I'm confused.

[Guest rhesus]

EDIT: So apparently, not a month - looks like the test (which is twofold) will happen tomorrow (or the day after). I'm confused.

Sadly there's very little that's not confusing about this show with its haphazard characters (Do Jin & Sae Wa specifically), overly drawn out storyline, and the crazy birth secret/family secrets.

I've not watch episode 33 yet but I can imagine it doesn't show a lot of improvement on Dong Hae and Bong Yi's overall storyline nor does it probably involve any kind of parental reprimand over Sae Wa's actions (regarding Anna and/or Dong Hae).

I'd be willing to bet there will be some kind of "issue" or manmade havoc that arises either prior to or just after the start of this "test" Dong Hae has to do. Then again isn't it a little early in his employment to be going through some kind of cooking test? I mean he already made one or more dishes that seemed to impress one of the chefs or is this just some self gratifying test that Do Jin is making Dong Hae go through?

[Guest crzyblue4]

I'd be willing to bet there will be some kind of "issue" or manmade havoc that arises either prior to or just after the start of this "test" Dong Hae has to do. Then again isn't it a little early in his employment to be going through some kind of cooking test? I mean he already made one or more dishes that seemed to impress one of the chefs or is this just some self gratifying test that Do Jin is making Dong Hae go through?

I've yet to see 33 or 32 but even if Dong Hae made one (or was it two?) dish, it doesn't mean he can easily qualify. It just says that he knows how to make that specific dish well, he needs to prove himself that he can cook overall. After all, I can make awesome fried pork but I can't really cook anything beyond that.

is this just some self gratifying test that Do Jin is making Dong Hae go through?

Yes. Partially. Mostly. Do Jin hates Dong Hae, for who knows what reason, so to make him feel better he'll make Dong Hae suffer.

Luckily for me, I'm not the only one that thinks the characters are a little off. For me I've never really liked Do Jin. His character has no character(well most of the characters are like this) and he just feels blah... I liked him only for the that short time when he kind of stalk Sae Wa in the beginning because it was the only time where you actually could somewhat relate/understand in a sense (some weird sense). His crush on Sae Wa was alright, but how it grew into love that fast and being the only one he's ever loved is kind of weird to me.

Now Sae Wa, I had loved in the beginning. I saw that her character had a lot to her and that it could work, but now I really don't like what I am seeing in the previews. They are trying to hard with her character now! One moment she has what she needed and everything is all good, next thing you know she is the worst. I mean the way she dumped Dong Hae was not bad, but now what is going on with her? Tsk, tsk, tsk. I favorite character has turned ugly....

[Guest aeka]

I wish they hadn't made SaeHwa out as a such a two dimensional villain now. It's such a misogynistic portrayal of ambitious working women. I mean it's to the point where they're trying to counter the point with BongYi's all devotion all caring attitudes to how much better is it NOT to use your brain. This subversiveness of instilling these patriarchal korean values though the context of the show, quite frankly, is wrong. They're trying to make it come off as cute and charming but I can help but feel this really negative agenda coming from the show.

SaeHwa character could still have the dramatic plots lines, and pit falls and come-up-ins without having this poor caricature of a villain take the place of the original. I mean, they really did have something going on there in the first 15 episodes, albeit totally at the expense of all the other characters, but now everyone is just...ugh...

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest lj3k99]

@semi:

1)all the above

2)when dong hae met her outside of the office, she told him she would do anything to make sure he leaves after he tells her he knows she ruined his beans

3)do jin was equally suprised, but still forces everyone to acknowledge dong hae failed and that he was not able to create equal portions for everyone

4)did not catch the whole conversation, but it seems like they were plotting

[Guest aeka]

4. Anything special about the conversation Sae Wa was having with Sool Nyeo on the rooftop?

She came to warn SaeHwa that Dong-Hae is vying to enter in the cooking competition. SaeHwa is also trying to get the hosting gig for that show. Sool Nyeo is convinced that DongHae and BongYi has it in for her (SaeHwa) and promises to do whatever she can to make sure that doesn't happen, and that she's going to try and get DongHae kicked out of BongYi's house.

...the lady really needs to take her meds. Hyperventilating and overly stressing out that much...her blood pressure must be soaring through the roof. Hmm, maybe we will see a contrived cardiac arrest scene to account for this? Lol, this will bring Sool Nyeo and Pil Jae together. Being both ridiculous (what with his stealing of DongHae's underwear and trying pathetically to convince everyone that it belongs to him), they're perfect for each other.

EDIT: semi...so is it Karl, or Carl? Why can't they make up their minds? (and as a side note, why can't he pronounce his own name properly - I mean, for 26 years, has he and Anna been mispronouncing it as "Kahl" all this time???)

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest lj3k99]

they were first talking i think about dong hae/carl, but then also talked about the whole situation between do jin's family and tae hoon's family( james ended up reporting that tae hoon's fathers kimchi business was bad and caused their bankruptcy even though it was later proved to be false)that is why they excluded tae hoon.

i guess for me so far i love the dong hae and kj moments...

[Guest taugeh07]

I'm liking the drama so far, watching it because of all the actor and actresses from The Three Suspicious Brothers. Especially watching because of Oh Jieun.

Awesome drama!

[Guest sudu1won]

EDIT: semi...so is it Karl, or Carl? Why can't they make up their minds? (and as a side note, why can't he pronounce his own name properly - I mean, for 26 years, has he and Anna been mispronouncing it as "Kahl" all this time???)

There's no distinction between Karl and Carl in Korean actually Both are spelled as 칼. So that's why they just pronounced it the way it is in Korean...which is why you thought they don't properly pronounce the name. Anyway, the actors are just acting to be Korean-American so I suppose they don't really pay attention to this detail. By the way, Dong-hae 'official' name is 'Carl Laker'

Actually I may be mistaken about the name. I swear I've heard him being called "Kyle" on numerous occasions when it could simply be everyone mispronouncing the name Karl. I don't really mind if his name is Karl/Carl though I think if they're going to have the name repeated time and again then "Karl/Carl" should be able to pronounce his own name, like you've said it's been his name for quite some time.

Hmm do you remember the exact episode where he was called as 'Kyle' because I've been following this drama for sometime now, I don't recall hearing anything like this lol

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest sudu1won]

In my opinion, Do-jin character is substantial because... well, simply because of Dong-hae. It's the classic case of yin-yang; rich well-to-do boy versus poor, problem-ridden boy. Albeit most viewers would know the outcome but that's how Korean dramas are made of, there has to be some kind of balance

And with Sae-wa, I find it quite funny yet interesting because Koreans fans here are hating Park Jeong-ah instead of her character Sae-wa because in their words, "Her expressions are all the same, her accent is off- how did Sae-wa become a 'newscaster' in the first place?, reduce her airtime or remove her completely.." lol the KBS official page is full with comments like these saying that Sae-wa character is not believable enough, not evil enough...

Anyway these are just my ten cents..

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest aeka]

There's no distinction between Karl and Carl in Korean actually

I was recalling (though not exactly where...maybe on their website?) that they used both Karl and Carl written as his name. That was my comment, not in the pronunciation, but the actual spelling of his name in English - difference in K and C. I figured it was their Engrish editors at play.

EDIT:

As for the message board I have to wonder what it would take for the fans to see her as believable or evil?

They probably don't care for realism. Looks like they are looking for gratification in exaggerated scenarios versus relatablility in the narrative. Certainly a different audience, a different cultural perception.

[Guest Nickorific]

is there no new episode today? I was really looking forward to seeing what was going to happen : ( can anyone please tell me what is going on? I can't find any of my normal Tuesday shows that I watch from Korea.

[Guest aeka]

is there no new episode today? I was really looking forward to seeing what was going to happen : ( can anyone please tell me what is going on? I can't find any of my normal Tuesday shows that I watch from Korea.

Just a guess, but I suspect because of North Korea's recent shelling incident on the Yeonpyeong Island, I doubt people are paying attention to anything else. Wouldn't be surprised if no one recorded today's episode...or maybe the next few...I'm very nervous for my family there, and no doubt the people in Korea are preparing for the very real threat of something more

EDIT: Almost makes the debate over how evil SaeHwa is insignificant...

[Guest Nickorific]

Just a guess, but I suspect because of North Korea's recent shelling incident on the Yeonpyeong Island, I doubt people are paying attention to anything else. Wouldn't be surprised if no one recorded today's episode...or maybe the next few...I'm very nervous for my family there, and no doubt the people in Korea are preparing for the very real threat of something more

EDIT: Almost makes the debate over how evil SaeHwa is insignificant...

I completely agree with you I do not like what the North is doing to South Korea. Just like you I have friends over in South Korea who I really care about and talk to on the Internet and I fear for their safety. My prayers go out to South Korea during this very difficult time.