[Drama 2020] Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol, 도도솔솔라라솔

[whome]

1 hour ago, RobinM said:

There really needs to be a workshop or seminars to teach aspiring Drama writers To be able to produce logical closed endings. It’s a huge bizarre failing theirs 

 

This x 100000000!!!! 

[JenL]

15 hours ago, RobinM said:

There really needs to be a workshop or seminars to teach aspiring Drama writers To be able to produce logical closed endings. It’s a huge bizarre failing theirs 

 

This is so true. There's been so many dramas where I really, really wanted to fix something very obvious in the ending and I just couldn't see why or how they thought the whole thing was a good idea! ....Also where are the editors for these scripts??? I would be so harsh as a editor. I'd be like, "No, this is an ending that will ruin the entire feel of the drama!"

 

It's sad because DDSSLLS's ratings across a lot of drama rating sites have fallen so much since the ending aired. I think people could accept the age twist, but it's been much harder to swallow the ending twist. 

[multiloverssss]

18 hours ago, JenL said:

 

Yep, well, it's definitely one of my theories that the original story was planned to be Jun's death, but was told to add him back in. The other theory is that the writer wanted both death and life together, but using a technique which involved no explanation/ logical flow. I think a lot of people think the writer made this ending accidentally by messing themselves up or writing too many twists or running out of time.  But I believe the opposite.  I'm pretty sure the writer made a clear choice to end the drama with as little explanation as possible in both of my theories, whether they were pushed to add Jun back in and thought to do it ambiguously or whether they wanted to use Deux Ex Machina and make the story a bit more like a traditional dramatic tragedy-comedy play. 

 

Why do I think this? Well, it's pretty obvious that they were writing a good script - quite a dramatic story that subverted a lot of tropes the whole way through, so it's not like they're a bad writer who doesn't know how to solve twists. Even if things seemed a bit ambiguous, they would add an epilogue. So the writer knew an epilogue could add the desired 'missing' information and they did it for most of 15 episodes. They just didn't do it for this episode.  I doubt they would 'forget' about this writing technique after doing it so often  I also think they had enough time to write the script s- it's been awhile since her last script and covid gave this drama more of a delay than others (time to change things). This writer just likes to use "smart" devices as you can tell with her subversions...but it may have alienated the average drama watcher who did not sign up for shakespeare or Greek literature! 

 

 

I think I like my second theory better too. There is a feel that this writer wanted a very overblown dramatic story line which is what a lot of Shakespeare and Greek plays were. Actually, when I watched the first episode, I remember feeling overwhelmed because I felt the pacing to be too crazy and I wasn't keen to keep watching (And that is always how I've felt about about Shakespeare's stories when I was made to read them - too much was going on!)...but then DDSSLLS slowed into a calmer pace by episode 2 and I was charmed by both the leads and Eunpo in general and with each episode I was more and more swept away!  So maybe in hindsight, I should have seen an overly dramatic ending coming since it started that way. I just thought it would be in the way of a third wedding, rather than a death.

 

 

I think your explanation about Jun's life in reverse is an interesting and beautiful and hopeful one.  I do think he learnt to actually live a life in Eunpo and can see why the drama was considered healing in that respect when you look at both Jun and Lala's recovery once they found Eunpo and choose to make it their homes. It's clear throughout the drama that he loved Eunpo and his heart and soul belonged there with Lala  When put in this light, I agree that the words of nostalgia Jun says at the very end of the drama would be more literally just a reflective thought of what got him through all the bad days of his illness.  

 

In many ways, I haven't theorised that much about Jun as a character. I think a lot of people were upset by Jun's actions in the story (ie. how could he cut off Lala for 5 years without word). For me, while I was distressed about that, I was more upset about the outside world events that lead to this. After all Jun's actions don't exist in a void- they are controlled by the writers of the drama. How could the writers play such a dirty trick (Jun's death and return) and not fill us in with explanations (Why did the writers not fill in the gaps?) 

 

But if I had to try and grapple on a theory for Jun's actions as a character, maybe being sick was so painful and miserable that he needed to break away from everything he loved and use it as a motivation for recovery. Still not an ideal explanation and yes, selfish, but I suppose if he really suffered, he might think that he didn't want people to suffer along thinking about him suffering for a long time....like it would literally drain the happiness right out of Eunpo and he didn't want that for everyone  But he also knew he couldn't hide it for 5 years, so he took the stress out by just killing himself off. I suppose if you're dead people are devastated, but time heals all after 5 years...they turn into a distant, fond memory. However, if someone is sick for 5 years, you're constantly stressed and worried for them and suffer in that respect. I would still prefer a different ending...but this is the best I can do to justify Jun within the story.

 

 

I guess because Koreans do treat dramas as their versions of fairytales. Fairytales for adults.

 

It's interesting because I guess fairy tales are not always that clean and happy either despite what Disney has told us  I studied fairy tales as part of my English major and there's always a lot of throwaway darkness on the side. And there are A LOT of gaps in fairy tales....happy endings often come suddenly with no logical explanation either. So maybe another way to get over this is to think of it as some kind of fairy tale. 

 

 

Yep, the shock ending through 'an unlikely event without explanation' (ie Deux Ex Machina) does subvert the trope of all disease dramas. People don't just get seriously sick and then get better so easily. People also don't just die and suddenly come back to life. But if using the plot device mentioned, they can and you don't even have to explain it!  It's so bad. I'm someone who likes to analyse things and I love the logical flow of stories  - endings don't always have to be happy for me to like it, but they have to work with the genre, style and pacing of the drama. And they have to make sense. For example, I liked the sad ending of Hotel Del Luna  because as a ghost story and story about the afterlife, it was inevitable that the ending would be somewhat bittersweet. But his is the first time I've technically gotten "a happy ending" (Jun lives and returns to Lala) and I've felt so abused by it because of the lack of information and logic in getting there!! 

 

Still, I've had time to think and think and write and write and it's helped me to process the ending in a way that I'm not so angry anymore. I still don't love it, and sometimes something will remind me and bring back that very, very uncomfortable feeling of dissonance between my love for the first 12 episodes and my disappointment for the last 4. But overall, I loved Go Ara and Lee Jae Wook's chemistry and since there's nothing I can physically do to change the ending, I have to make peace with it as much as I can. I'm thankful for your post @Raynaa in reminding us of all the lovely things about Jun and Lala and Eunpo!  

 

I do have something else I wrote about the series which might help you all on the thread to process the ending if you still feel like you need to read an alternate ending and go through all the things that could have changed and all your feelings of unfairness about the ending, but this response is already long, so I'll post it tomorrow!

when i read your review, i feel better about the endings....this drama hold a soft spot in my heart.It truly healing drama...

When i think again, i did not think the writer out of idea but she purposedly choose this endings.

[Rilabear]

I agree. I also think the writer has always wanted Jun to come back. I have spent a few days thinking about the ending, and I think I am okay with it now. It’s not perfect but at least we got our reunion.

 

A lot of fans are upset because it wasn’t the finale we asked for. I wanted them to get through Jun’s illness together, and I was expecting to see a wedding. Instead we had 55 minutes of separation and lies. I was devastated when they said Jun died. The way the writer went about episode 16 was just really bad. But if you look at the final few minutes, it’s actually really beautiful on its own.

 

 

I stopped watching kdramas for a long time due to lack of interest, but this show was too good and sucked me back in. Like Jun, I will never forget the time I spent with the people of Eunpo. It has brought me too many good times that I can forgive the writer dropping the ball in the last few episodes. At the end of the day, Jun and RaRa got their happy ending and that makes me happy. 

[multiloverssss]

1 hour ago, Rilabear said:

I agree. I also think the writer has always wanted Jun to come back. I have spent a few days thinking about the ending, and I think I am okay with it now. It’s not perfect but at least we got our reunion.

 

A lot of fans are upset because it wasn’t the finale we asked for. I wanted them to get through Jun’s illness together, and I was expecting to see a wedding. Instead we had 55 minutes of separation and lies. I was devastated when they said Jun died. The way the writer went about episode 16 was just really bad. But if you look at the final few minutes, it’s actually really beautiful on its own.

 

 

I stopped watching kdramas for a long time due to lack of interest, but this show was too good and sucked me back in. Like Jun, I will never forget the time I spent with the people of Eunpo. It has brought me too many good times that I can forgive the writer dropping the ball in the last few episodes. At the end of the day, Jun and RaRa got their happy ending and that makes me happy. 

you right....i repeating hear the last narration by jun and i got better.the ending actually so beautiful. eunpo family always in our heart. Like rara and jun healed, we also healed by watching this. This drama after all, it okey to be ended like that.

[JenL]

As I'm watching some new series now, I just wanted to say Thank you to all you guys on this thread for making it fun to discuss this series through all the good heart fluttering moments and those less likeable ones - it was your ideas, interests and reactions that made it fun to discuss this series.

 

I'm just gonna tag a few names I always ended up talking to and who maybe tagged me at times from memory, but everyone was lovely! Hope to see you all on other threads here.

 

@Nodame @multiloverssss @Rilabear @B8lle @Raynaa @nona88 @inaho101 @LeftCoastOppa @Just_Me @fyEkz @Wendy123

 

Thanks @larus also for starting this thread! 

 

I have to say almost a week after this series has ended I've made peace with the ending now. I think they could have done so much better, but I'm no longer upset about it and I can accept the beauty of the show. I definitely don't regret watching it for Go Ara and Lee Jae Wook's great chemistry, both on-screen and off. It actually took me the whole weekend to process (I went out a lot this weekend and was busy doing things...but when I got home, had to write a lot of thoughts to get rid of the sad feeling!) But if anyone still feels sad or uncomfortable about the series....this is a collection of thoughts and processing that might make you feel better about why you invested in this drama.

 

There was a lot of processing, so it is a long opinion piece that probably covers a lot of things I wrote in different spaces...but I think it can help since I still see lots of comments of outrage here and there from people who don't how how to make those feelings go away  And boy did I understand those feelings!  

 

https://thesedramaticdays.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-i-made-peace-with-ending-of-do-do.html

 

 

At the end of the day, I really came to watch these 2 and to support LJW's first lead role...and then the beauty of Eunpo sucked me in! 

 

Anyway, a thing to leave everyone is the collection of selecas that Go Ara shared of her and LJW during filming. I think a lot of stars are rather reserved...so it's funny that GA reminds me of LaLa in that she shares a lot! With the weird feelings of the ending, I think some people might have missed these pretty pics. Here's all of them together:

 

https://thesedramaticdays.blogspot.com/2020/11/instagram-updates-go-ara-posts-more.html

 

[JenL]

Oh right, If you loved Lee Jae Wook and Go Ara and wanted to vote for them at the KBS Drama Awards at the end of this month, I made a guide since a few people have asked me for it. Sharing it here in case people want to help these two get an Award for their great chemistry in this drama (I think someone from here asked me for this guide, so hopefully this helps!)

 

https://thesedramaticdays.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-to-vote-for-lee-jae-wook-and-go-ara.html

 

 

[larus]

Congratulations to #YeJiWon (Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol), for winning Best suporting actor at KBS Drama awards 2020

 

 

Red carpet

 Lee Jae Wook

 

 

 

 

 

[larus]

Congratulations to Lee Jae Wook (Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol) for winning Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries