[Drama 2018] My Mister, 나의 아저씨 - Best Drama at 2019 (55th) BaekSang Arts Awards

[africandramalover]

On 6/30/2018 at 1:18 AM, sadiesmith said:

I finished rewatching episode 6 last night and guess what @africandramalover?  At the end of the episode, Dong Hoon was sitting in his living room watching TV when Yoon Hee came home from one of her meetings with JY (where he asked if she was still in love with DH).  She asked DH if he saw the information on bank loans and interest rates that she sent him earlier, but at this point he already knew about her affair and gave her a very short two-word grunt.  The atmosphere was so suffocating that she opened the window to catch a breeze (the word for breeze in Korean=word for affair).  Guess what song I heard playing faintly in the background?  It's another Simon and Garfunkle's song The Sound of Silence. 

 

Awesome!! There's so much detail in the littlest things!

 

I decided to Shazam anything musical in this drama after finding the Simon and Garfunkel song. I have found that the tunes used in the drama have been named very carefully. by tunes I mean the soundtrack without lyrics.

 

Spoiler

 

 

around 9min - Sorry for Myself by Lee Yun Ji - JA is visiting her grandma and reads what she wrote to DH in the notebook. DH is in the cleaning microvan in the  parking lot as the rest play football. He recalls the conversation with YH when he finally had to deal with the adultery.

 

around 12 min - Feeling Guilty by Jeon Se Jin - As YH talks about the adultery (If you want to keep quiet about this for your mother and Ji Seok, I'll do that...I'll do whatever you want) and DH says "I don't want to make you miserable just to make it easier for me."

 

Around 13:51 - An ordinary day - as DH sees JA standing on the street when they stop at the traffic sign. That was not an ordinary day!!

 

around 20.59 - My self in my heart - When DH returns to the office to help his subordinates finish the report. JA is also there...

 

around 24:40 - The truth is revealed by Lee Ruri - when the photograher comes into their subway car as JA and DH discuss her confession. JA tells DH that the dude has been taking photos of DH. DH confronts him. The photographer runs away.

 

around 33:21 -My Family by Lee Yun Ji - as JA says thank you to the gang when they walk her to her door. She's kind of bowled over by the closeness of the gang, even that they know her Landlord, who they ask to watch out for her.

 

around 40:51 - Background check by Lee Yun Ji - when JA's gaming buddy informs her that the auditors have found compromising photos. JA looks over at DH, calls YH and goes out to meet her.

 

around 43_13 - A thousand years by David Molina - when YH and DJY meet on the roof top, then JA meets up wth them. YH sets him straight about her regret in wasting her time being with him.

 

around  55:45 - Realism by Bon Choon Koo  - when Sang Hoon is speeding the microvan, intending to take that curve at high speed. KH screams at him to stop. He gets out of the van and goes off to confront the Director who's giving Yoo Ra hell.

 

around 1:04:00 - Their Way Of Love by Lee RuRi - as Yoo Ra and KH discuss the parameters of their relationship (I'll kill you if you break up with me). The other neighbourhood men tell DH about how YR was hitting KH, and how he just took the hitting, which is unlike KH.

 

around 1:08:00 - But You don't care by Mi-Sex - When Jung Hee is going to give DH his ringing phone, only to see the caller as Monk. She then responds to his texts as DH.

 

around 1:11:00 - dangerous Kid by Jeon Se Jin - when the evil director changes the name of the charaver witnesses to include JA. JA is then called to the board room for DHs interview.

 

around 1:13:18 - Trap by Seo Yae Rin - when JA is asked by the evil director, "So, you like him?" She replies Yes.... then elaborates and the evil  director's  side look stupid.

 

around 1:15:24 - My Family by Lee Yun Ji- as JA talks about how DH has made her feel comfortable in the company, that as she passes by and feels a sense of pride in working there.

 

 

The subway also makes an appearance in this episode, when JA, DH and the staff run to catch the last train. JA and DH catch the train as the others miss it... Subway = danger and excitement for the normally sluggish DH, and JA confesses yet again, without prompting. 

 

The scene with the office gang running is replayed later at Grandma's funeral when JA and the neighbourhood gang run to the bus.

 

_______

 

I have been reading through the forum once again ( I'm on page 75) and I have come to the conclusion, finally, like the director said, that this was a healing drama. Anything else was extra. Everyone's story line  is working towards Healing as the overall theme. Yeon Hee's backstory and the reason for their poor marriage is not explored in too much detail, so as not to detract us from the healing between DH and JA. They kept a lot of things ambiguous on purpose to achieve this.

 

So now, I am good with the whole handshake ending. It's not the kiss I wanted, which would have been the most amazing kiss in dramaville, but I'm good.

 

Let's look at the drama as they said it is, a healing drama.

_______

 

@seungshin ,  you really need to be here and watch this drama. I though that there wouldn't be a drama that would come close to SLA for another 20 years, but My Mister proved me soooooo wrong!!

 

@rellea , Japan got a DVD for Secret Love Affair while the rest of us were left high and dry. there had been a campaign to get a DVD out, but they said the numbers were too few.... Japan are so lucky!!

 

[justamom]

8 minutes ago, africandramalover said:

So now, I am good with the whole handshake ending. It's not the kiss I wanted, which would have been the most amazing kiss in dramaville, but I'm good.

 

Let's look at the drama as they said it is, a healing drama.

 

I'm with you. Around episodes 13-14 I said I would have been content with a hug...but that was before watching the most passionate love confession in K drama history in episode 15!!!!!

 

You can't give us that soul deep connection...and just leave us with a hug and a handshake??

 

My only conclusion is the writer decided, due to the controversy, to give Dong Hoon some privacy and let everything else happen offscreen.

 

And, I need that SLA DVD...Japanese is fine. I must have rewatched that show at least thirty times! Half of those times just to listen to Yoo Ah In playing the piano. Rewatch count for My Mister: 2, but that's because it's a so much heavier watch

 

@akhenaten the My Mister DVD team has gone quiet on social media. The only special they confirmed was the scripts.

 

 

 

 

[akhenaten]

9 hours ago, sadiesmith said:

 

  Unbelievable!!  But what are those polaroid pictures though?  Wish @tiger457_stv were still around and we can send him to the other side and bring back little goodies like these.

 

Are Japanese viewers a lot more open when it comes to age-gap romance?  Does anyone think the Japanese edition might have scenes that were omitted/cut to suit Korean viewing?

 

@sadiesmith  they might be.  Don't the Japanese manga, anime and even live drama often portray romance between an older man (often someone of authority, like a teacher or a professor) and a much younger woman (his student or apprentice)?  I've seen several anime and live dramas with that kind of a storyline and they're well-accepted.  Pretty much similar to the way the Westerners react to age-gap stories, like what I mentioned in my previous post.  

 

Speaking of Western age-gap romances, one of my all-time favorite films along this line is "Sabrina", both the original version starring Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, and the remake starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond.  Now that I think of it, Linus Larrabee is a lot like Park Dong Hoon in personality and temperament.  And like Park Dong Hoon, he was a prisoner of expectations from his family and society.  I remember there was a line at the end of the movie (the remake version) when Linus went after Sabrina and finally confessed to her.  He said something along the lines of "I've been walking in footsteps all my life" and he asked Sabrina to save him from that life because she was the only one who could do so.  That line, in a nutshell, is Park Dong Hoon's life as well before Lee Ji An came into it.  I just wish My Ahjussi had the same passionate kiss that Linus and Sabrina had at the end of the film.  But, like what @justamom said, the writer and director decided to leave all of that offscreen to avoid further controversy.  Too bad.  I'm sure LSK and LJE would have given us a kiss for the books.  Good thing their chemistry was such that, even without any kiss, we still knew the depth of feeling and passion that they had for each other.  So, hurray still, coz it gave us fodder for our fanfics.      

[widala]

2 hours ago, akhenaten said:

@sadiesmith  they might be.  Don't the Japanese manga, anime and even live drama often portray romance between an older man (often someone of authority, like a teacher or a professor) and a much younger woman (his student or apprentice)?  I've seen several anime and live dramas with that kind of a storyline and they're well-accepted.  Pretty much similar to the way the Westerners react to age-gap stories, like what I mentioned in my previous post. 

 

Recently, I watched a Japanese movie about teacher-student romance, My Teacher (Ikuta Toma, Hirose Suzu).

It was a sweet story about a highschool girl who had a crush on her teacher.

Spoiler

The teacher also liked the girl, but he denied her because of their status. 

Until, finally the girl told him in a heartfelt monologue that she decided to give up on her feelings for him.

Hearing that, it seemed he couldn't contained his feelings anymore, and kissed her!

I know it was supposed to be a touching and sweet moment, but my reaction was screaming to the screen : "Park Dong Hoon wouldn't do that! Learn how to be a responsible adult like Park Dong Hoon!"

Silly I know 

I guess PDH had set the bar too high...

 

[t123han]

In my desperation to watch some skinship by LSK I watched few of his movies .. he definitely has no qualms venturing into risqué territory and some of his roles were quite scandalous. 

But i am not satisfied because what I wanted was skinship from park Dong Hoon and not LSK. Would it have hurt to show some skinship between him and his wife at least. They were so specific not to show any forms of closeness with his wife and choose to in turn highlight his relation with his jian.

Is it weird for me to be obsessed over wanting to see some form of physical intimacy on behalf of a fictional character .. damn PDH why you have to be stoic and uptight !!! 

[sadiesmith]

2 hours ago, widala said:

 

Recently, I watched a Japanese movie about teacher-student romance, My Teacher (Ikuta Toma, Hirose Suzu).

It was a sweet story about a highschool girl who had a crush on her teacher.

  Hide contents

The teacher also liked the girl, but he denied her because of their status. 

Until, finally the girl told him in a heartfelt monologue that she decided to give up on her feelings for him.

Hearing that, it seemed he couldn't contained his feelings anymore, and kissed her!

I know it was supposed to be a touching and sweet moment, but my reaction was screaming to the screen : "Park Dong Hoon wouldn't do that! Learn how to be a responsible adult like Park Dong Hoon!"

Silly I know 

I guess PDH had set the bar too high...

 

 

You are very funny.  Talking about teacher-student romance and age gap, does anyone remember if there was any objection to Park Shin Hye and Kim Rae Won's in Doctor from the Korean audience?  But I guess the difference there was only 9 years and the drama got very high ratings.

[justamom]

7 minutes ago, sadiesmith said:

 

You are very funny.  Talking about teacher-student romance and age gap, does anyone remember if there was any objection to Park Shin Hye and Kim Rae Won's in Doctor from the Korean audience?  But I guess the difference there was only 9 years and the drama got very high ratings.

 

OMG I remember that show. The Soompi thread went to a thousand pages. I wasted 16 hours of my life watching it. The premise was actually good but then it changed completely by the second or third episode. But I kept watching it cos the leads had great chemistry...until they kissed. Omg worst onscreen kiss ever.

 

Does anyone else think Kim Rae Won and Lee Seon Gyun look a leeetle bit alike? The face shape. Personality wise they seem completely different of course.

 

You know I was thinking about my conversation with @mymister31 earlier.

 

1. Does discrimination against women in S Korea exist. Yes.

2. Does S Korea have a patriarchal culture? Yes.

3. Does this make S Korean feminists a bit crazier? Yes.

4. Does My Ahjussi reflect patriarchy? Mmmm....... I’ll have to sit on that one. I think it authentically reflects the state of affairs in S Korean society, which is (1), (2) and (3)

5. Does this hinder my appreciation of the show? No!!!!

6. Does this make the love between Dong Hoon and Ji An wrong??

Hello what are you talking about. Just because patriarchy exists doesn’t mean a much older guy can’t fall in love with a much younger girl. In what way is that a patriarchal relationship  and Dong Hoon is in no way the dominant male here. In fact he is the complete opposite.

 

so what I’m trying to say is, there’s a major logical fallacy going on here!

 

 

[sadiesmith]

24 minutes ago, justamom said:

 

OMG I remember that show. The Soompi thread went to a thousand pages. I wasted 16 hours of my life watching it. The premise was actually good but then it changed completely by the second or third episode. But I kept watching it cos the leads had great chemistry...until they kissed. Omg worst onscreen kiss ever.

 

Does anyone else think Kim Rae Won and Lee Seon Gyun look a leeetle bit alike? The face shape. Personality wise they seem completely different of course.

 

One thousand pages?  What was there to talk about to fill 1000 pages?  We're already crawling here at only a quarter of that and I would think My Ajusshi has a lot more in the way of substance?  I haven't seen any drama with KRW, but I guess I can see some facial similarities.  

[akhenaten]

32 minutes ago, t123han said:

In my desperation to watch some skinship by LSK I watched few of his movies .. he definitely has no qualms venturing into risqué territory and some of his roles were quite scandalous. 

But i am not satisfied because what I wanted was skinship from park Dong Hoon and not LSK. Would it have hurt to show some skinship between him and his wife at least. They were so specific not to show any forms of closeness with his wife and choose to in turn highlight his relation with his jian.

Is it weird for me to be obsessed over wanting to see some form of physical intimacy on behalf of a fictional character .. damn PDH why you have to be stoic and uptight !!! 

 

@t123han hahaha. I'm definitely sure you're not alone in your obsession. 

 

Park Dong Hoon is the sort of character that you want to see broken,  meaning,  you want to see him reach his breaking point because he's always so controlled. Yet you know there's this wellspring of violent emotion underneath it all.  If the way he gets angry is any indication, he's probably intensely passionate in love.  It's just that Yoon Hee probably never inspired that level of passion in him.  He loved her but wasn't deeply in love with her. Ji An,  on the other hand,  was everything that he never expected his temptation to be so he never put up any defenses against her in the beginning. So the powerful emotions she awakened in him really caught him offguard. Watching Park Dong Hoon being all stoic while you can sense all that smoldering emotion in his eyes and the way his voice breaks is the stuff of legendary fictional romantic heroes.   So we can only imagine how it would be if he lets himself loose and actually initiates intimate contact with Ji An.  Girl had better be prepared.  

[sadiesmith]

7 hours ago, justamom said:

You know I was thinking about my conversation with @mymister31 earlier.

 

1. Does discrimination against women in S Korea exist. Yes.

2. Does S Korea have a patriarchal culture? Yes.

3. Does this make S Korean feminists a bit crazier? Yes.

4. Does My Ahjussi reflect patriarchy? Mmmm....... I’ll have to sit on that one. I think it authentically reflects the state of affairs in S Korean society, which is (1), (2) and (3)

5. Does this hinder my appreciation of the show? No!!!!

6. Does this make the love between Dong Hoon and Ji An wrong??

Hello what are you talking about. Just because patriarchy exists doesn’t mean a much older guy can’t fall in love with a much younger girl. In what way is that a patriarchal relationship  and Dong Hoon is in no way the dominant male here. In fact he is the complete opposite.

 

so what I’m trying to say is, there’s a major logical fallacy going on here!

 

Exactly!  And this must have really frustrated the team behind this production that they inserted this little meta:

 

In episode 7, Dong Hoon comes home from crashing JY and chairman's camping trip.  Yoon Hee tells him that Ji Seok needs him to send over a recording of DH performing a special skill, and she suggests magic trick.  The next scene we see him and his brothers talking about this.

 

 

SH: Magic trick? I don't understand people who are impressed by that.  An old woman goes in, but a young woman comes out.  It's only magic if that were actually real.  They just do a little switcheroo, so how is that magic?

KH: Why do you cry when you watch TV shows then?  It's all just acting. 

SH: But they're so good at it.  I get deceived into thinking that it's real.

KH: The same goes for magic.  People fall for it because it's so convincing.

 

To me personally, it sounds like Show is telling the audience (or the feminazis, to be more specific) to chill.  Yes, we are all amazing, the actors, PD, writer, everyone else; we actually make you think that the characters are real people.  But really, it's just acting, we're just telling a story.  Yes, there are indeed some people living like this, but we're not telling you what to think or do.  If you say that we are fulfilling old men's fantasies, think again.  If you believe that there is suddenly  a young girl ready to fall in love with every ajusshi out there, that they can now magically swap out their old wives with some young pretty girls, well, who's really the one easily deceived here?  

[t123han]

11 hours ago, akhenaten said:

 

@t123han hahaha. I'm definitely sure you're not alone in your obsession. 

 

Park Dong Hoon is the sort of character that you want to see broken,  meaning,  you want to see him reach his breaking point because he's always so controlled. Yet you know there's this wellspring of violent emotion underneath it all.  If the way he gets angry is any indication, he's probably intensely passionate in love.  It's just that Yoon Hee probably never inspired that level of passion in him.  He loved her but wasn't deeply in love with her. Ji An,  on the other hand,  was everything that he never expected his temptation to be so he never put up any defenses against her in the beginning. So the powerful emotions she awakened in him really caught him offguard. Watching Park Dong Hoon being all stoic while you can sense all that smoldering emotion in his eyes and the way his voice breaks is the stuff of legendary fictional romantic heroes.   So we can only imagine how it would be if he lets himself loose and actually initiates intimate contact with Ji An.  Girl had better be prepared.  

 

Guess how much of fodder that will provide for passionate scenes in fanfic.( no pressure but nudge... nudge ... amazing writers for fanfic !!! ) 

i am watching earlier episodes and it kind of hurts that PDH does not speak at all to his wife at home. Even when she asks him something basic his replies are one line and generally he ignores her. He looks zoned out half the time he is in same space with her. 

And it’s not that he is not a man capable of passion , it’s just that he has fallen out of love.

In contrast, whenever he is near jian desk in his office , during his coffee break he always looks at her and wants to speak. You can see him sipping his drink and trying to figure out how to initiate a conversion.He is hesitant but always manages to ask some pretty  random ques - how is your grandma? Are you ok ? .what does your name mean ?...

But oh man the fire in his eyes when it comes to jian is unreal. The fight with Kwang , the lovers quarrel when jian ignores him , the sadness when he came to know that she actually stole money. He gets sad, angry, shy, uncomfortable, hesitant, passionate, warmth, love .. he is seeing plethora of emotions that he might have not know he was capable of showing. It’s heartwarming  for us viewers to watch him navigate through all his and find  zest in his life again !!! 

[sadiesmith]

47 minutes ago, t123han said:

 

Guess how much of fodder that will provide for passionate scenes in fanfic.( no pressure but nudge... nudge ... amazing writers for fanfic !!! ) 

i am watching earlier episodes and it kind of hurts that PDH does not speak at all to his wife at home. Even when she asks him something basic his replies are one line and generally he ignores her. He looks zoned out half the time he is in same space with her. 

And it’s not that he is not a man capable of passion , it’s just that he has fallen out of love.

In contrast, whenever he is near jian desk in his office , during his coffee break he always looks at her and wants to speak. You can see him sipping his drink and trying to figure out how to initiate a conversion.He is hesitant but always manages to ask some pretty  random ques - how is your grandma? Are you ok ? .what does your name mean ?...

But oh man the fire in his eyes when it comes to jian is unreal. The fight with Kwang , the lovers quarrel when jian ignores him , the sadness when he came to know that she actually stole money. He gets sad, angry, shy, uncomfortable, hesitant, passionate, warmth, love .. he is seeing plethora of emotions that he might have not know he was capable of showing. It’s heartwarming  for us viewers to watch him navigate through all his and find  zest in his life again !!! 

 

@t123han, plenty of mature fics have been written!  Have you seen these?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793044?view_full_work=true 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813768?view_full_work=true

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14733446

 

This one imagines DH to be a Greek god:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14936711?view_full_work=true

 

Contact:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713524?view_full_work=true

 

And plenty more here:

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/나의 아저씨 | My Mister (TV)/works

 

 

 

 

[rellea]

HOLY richard simmons WHAT. WHAT. I NEED ALL JAPANESE SPEAKERS IN HERE STAT!!

@justamom and whoever else!!!

I LOVE YOU, JAPAN. GOD BLESS YOU.

 

Edit: I ran it through the ol' google translate and using my limited Japanese I finnagled out what the questions were. Might not be completely accurate:

Is there any line or scene from the drama that touched you?

Have you seen any of the director's other works? How is this drama different from them?

The OST is quite nice. Was there a particular song that you liked?

To LSK: What was it like working with Lee Ji-Ah (the actress who played PDH's wife)?

To LJE: What was it like working with Jang Kiyong (the actor who played KI)?

Is there any particular place in Korea you would recommend to the female readers of Marisol fashion magazine in their 40s?

 

Bums me out that they asked about YH and KI but didn't ask them how it was working with each other.

Doesn't seem like there was much substance in this interview, sadly. Maybe they're being careful to avoid the same issue there was in Korea in Japan. They're selling the drama pretty hard as a "human story" there from what I saw.

[t123han]

32 minutes ago, sadiesmith said:

 

@t123han, plenty of mature fics have been written!  Have you seen these?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793044?view_full_work=true 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813768?view_full_work=true

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14733446

 

This one imagines DH to be a Greek god:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14936711?view_full_work=true

 

Contact:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713524?view_full_work=true

 

And plenty more here:

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/나의 아저씨 | My Mister (TV)/works

 

 

 

 

 Yes that’s the only fanfic site and I have devoured all the content like a hungry ghost!!!! 

 

And OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks at these two  together ..... my eyes can’t take it . Japanese audience are lucky ... how bad we were waiting for a pic of them together. 

How can you call it human story and put that pic where they look SO DAM CUTE !!!!

forget it ... I will just have to learn Japanese now  

 

 

[sadiesmith]

33 minutes ago, rellea said:

HOLY richard simmons WHAT. WHAT. I NEED ALL JAPANESE SPEAKERS IN HERE STAT!!

@justamom and whoever else!!!

I LOVE YOU, JAPAN. GOD BLESS YOU.

 

Edit: I ran it through the ol' google translate and using my limited Japanese I finnagled out what the questions were. Might not be completely accurate:

Is there any line or scene from the drama that touched you?

Have you seen any of the director's other works? How is this drama different from them?

The OST is quite nice. Was there a particular song that you liked?

To LSK: What was it like working with Lee Ji-Ah (the actress who played PDH's wife)?

To LJE: What was it like working with Jang Kiyong (the actor who played KI)?

Is there any particular place in Korea you would recommend to the female readers of Marisol fashion magazine in their 40s?

 

Bums me out that they asked about YH and KI but didn't ask them how it was working with each other.

Doesn't seem like there was much substance in this interview, sadly. Maybe they're being careful to avoid the same issue there was in Korea in Japan. They're selling the drama pretty hard as a "human story" there from what I saw.

 

 I had my hopes up there for a few minutes.  I thought the Japanese audience is a little more open minded when it comes to age gap romance, so I wonder if there was pressure from some Korean entity to keep things the way the Koreans like it.  Nevertheless, I am rather shaken to realize that the lack of interviews (LSK and IU) post drama was not because they were busy with their new projects.  

[mylovelystar]

 

Pics uploaded to imgur

 

Credit

 

https://twitter.com/marisolstaff/status/1014299779222949889

 

[berny]

@mylovelystar
 

 

Is that an edited photo of them??????

 

How come the Japanese media can bring them together in a photo??

[mylovelystar]

17 minutes ago, berny said:

@mylovelystar
 

 

Is that an edited photo of them??????

 

 

Oh I saw the above link on on tlist. So uploaded them to imgur. The source was posted above. 

 

Edit: just saw @rellea posted the link as well on this page from a different twitter account 

 

I saw this artwork on my tlist. Credit Joo and the date of artwork was July 2, 2018

 

[andius]

OMG!!!! Thank you so much @rellea @mylovelystarfor discovering that gem! I'm silently freaking out at work here..

I think there is hope for more revealing/interesting interviews and materials from the Japanese side in the upcoming weeks. After all, the drama has just aired over there and it's understandable if the interviewers don't want to discuss their relationship yet, since it's more developed towards the end.

[mylovelystar]

More pics