Musings of the Obsessive Kind
She's a mite whimsical in the brainpan.
Musings of the Obsessive KindShe's a mite whimsical in the brainpan. |
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| Oct. 18th, 2009 @ 07:39 pm Dangermousie's kdrama rankings post, part 3. With summaries, reasons, pics and vids | |||
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This is the latest in my series of "Dangermousie ranks all the kdramas she has ever seen" posts. I have seen over 70 kdramas and, being addicted to ranking, have decided to rank them all. (For previous posts go here.) Below the cut are dramas ranked 50-41: these are entertaining dramas worth a look: they are flawed but a nice time investment nontheless. All the dramas behind the cut are dramas I like. Some of them I like a lot. Once again, I have either finished these dramas entirely or finished enough to make up my own mind. complacent( Generals, gigolos, gangsters and gun runners under the cut: my 52-43 dramas ) Until next time, amigas! | |||
| Oct. 1st, 2009 @ 03:59 pm Today's Topic: Men who get hurt | |||
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1. Exhibit 1: contentThis short preview from Next Stop Happiness. Yuuuuuuuum. Is it Sunday yet? 2. Exhibit 2: The makers of Lobbyist show they haven't stopped with their hurt/comfort fixation in their latest, Swallow the Sun.  ( Brought to you by a kdrama maker with a fixation on having his leading men bleed like a vampire dinner ) 3. Exhibit 3: Posters from IRIS. No blood on the posters themselves but I am sure a drama about spies and assassins will have plenty of that.  ( Have gun, will travel ) | |||
| Sep. 25th, 2009 @ 12:53 pm Clearly, Asia is where it's at if you like your men wounded while shirtless | |||
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A new teaser for IRIS is out (thank you to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} clairiere for the heads-up):October 14 cannot come soon enough. Also, Is that Lee Byung Hun getting tortured? Why do I not have a Lee Byung Hun icon btw? As as we are on the topic of dangerous shirtless men, here is eye-popping poster for the upcoming Bollywood flick Kurbaan, featuring the stars (and real-life couple) Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Click to enlarge.  Taken from wasabi_girl1. | |||
| Jun. 30th, 2009 @ 11:29 am Rambliness... | |||
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I decided to give it another try and watched ep 4 of Lawyers of Korea as per  chipperambergold's instructions. It was very hilarious. While the insane flashback which both makes me hate Min Gook the Rich Guy and makes no narrative sense (seriously - they do not interact in any way consistent with that flashback - none of the three main characters!) pretty much guarantees this drama won't make it into a favorites list and also precludes me shipping the Heroine with Rich Guy, it's funny enough to watch for at least a few more eps. I am just going to pretend for the next few eps I watch that Min Gook is sleazy but well-paying client that enables her to gain experience and nothing more and that she and Lawyer Byun get together at the end - except for his walking out without a word years ago (I'll handwaive this as he left a message she didn't get. It's easier than handwaving Min Gook into a good person) he is pretty darn awesome - supportive and alpha at the same time, funny and with chemistry with the heroine. Also not a serial cheater, which is more than I can say for the leading man. Yes. Still bitter. This scene with Lawyer Byun and Ya Kyung was gorgeous, though.  Sail on, my undaunted uncanonical ship! This ep is so funny it even features a "guy protecting girl from beating with his body" scene that is hilarious! I literally LOLed. Sadly for LoK, I prefer the angsty-serious take on this such as in (leaving aside the pinnacle of this that is Hana Yori Dango/Meteor Garden) 'A Love to Kill,' (the best one - he is her bodyguard and his side job with thugs goes wrong and they are slowly beating him to death. She walks by and sees it and tries to stop it, one girl against a horde of violent criminals - telling them she is a famous star (she is) and so they can't hit her without getting in trouble and covering him with her body. But they don't care and start hitting her and he rolls over, barely conscious, shielding her with his body. They end up in hospital with serious injuries for a while and I end up in love), 'Tree of Heaven' (he begs on his knees for his enemy to stab him because otherwise the guy will go after his OTP), and 'Lobbyist' (he covers her with the last of his strength). I have to say Lobbyist, despite the happy ending is, hands-down, the most hurt-comfort drama I have ever seen. I don't think there was a single episode where Song Il Gook's character was not seriously, and sometimes horrifically, mistreated. I am still amazed he made through it with all his limbs intact. I am rather looking forward to 'Swallow the Sun,' another mercenaries drama from the same team - I am curious to see if they can top Lobbyist. (I wonder why SIG has a thing for getting roughed up in his drama - other than Lee Jun Ki's 'Time Between Dog and Wolf,' the only drama to offer some competition to Lobbyist is another SIG drama - Kingdom of the Winds.) And that was a heck of a digression. Also, after watching various Seoul 1945 vids on youtube, I now ship Lawyer Byun and Ae Ri just because that OTP seemed awesome in S1945. That drama is very much up my alley - gritty period epic - and I would have watched it a long time ago if it wasn't so dratted long - 70 episodes! I am sure the topic of WW2 and Korean War is worth that many, but I have the attention span of a gnat. Watching the youtube vids led me to discover (through 'similar vids' feature) a drama I really want to check out (also starring Lawyer Byun): 18 vs 29. It sounds adorable and I need a fluffy drama in midst of all the serious ones. The heroine is a 29-yr-old woman who married her highschool sweetheart (someone she hated in school at first but then fell for). However, things haven't been going smoothly and she has decided to file for divorce. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for the drama), on the way to the courthouse she gets into a car accident. It being a Korean drama car accident, her injury is loss of any of her memories after age 18. It is up to her almost-ex-husband to care for her. Can they fall in love all over again? Cute MV: ETA: Found this "justification" on soompi for Min Gook being a bastard to Ae Ri after her miscarriage: "I have this feeling that HMK thinks that maybe AR have other man before their marriage. So, he is angry that she have difficulty keeping babies." Oh yes. That would be such a lovely justification. "Hey, whore, you stretched yourself out with other guys and because of it now can't keep my kids!" Forget medically unsound - that would be even sicker than what the drama has. Sometimes fans drive me up the wall. 'Tis a pity Min Gook such a bastard because occasionally he comes across as hot.  Pity. ETA2: reading soompi, I found out the reason why Lawyer Byun left that first time. AWWWWW. Lawyer Byun, I forgive you. It's official, I want you to get the girl you like because you are a good guy. | |||
| May. 7th, 2009 @ 01:11 pm When a man does it, it's woobiefying. When a woman does it, she's a bitch. Ahhh, fandom! | |||
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I am not one to cry "double standard" very often, but why are people not cutting Kyung Ah (a major female character in Slingshot) the same slack they would cut a male character in the same circumstances? crankyI've seen that above attitude before. It always crops up when the heroine is cynical, morally grey, and not falling over herself to be redeemed by the hero no matter how much cause she has to be this way (see Lobbyist and people's Maria hate). Men are allowed to get cynical and elitist and bitter if they had a screwed-up life and fandom jumps all over them and proclaims them as woobies. But Kyung Ah is totally unworthy of our hero because in an untenable situation she basically sold herself into sexual slavery but ended up being really good at her "chosen" profession and instead of allowing herself to continue a victim, seized the opportunity and became powerful and valuable within that world. And she actually doesn't repent hourly but enjoys the money and luxury that comes with it. Gee, I wonder if it's weird her life made her hard-as-nails and cynical? The latest entrant in the "Kyung Ah sucks" attitude is the reaction I've seen to her telling the hero (who is her ex-boyfriend, actually) to back away from his revenge scheme against the antagonist because he doesn't belong in the rich/powerful world. Oooooooh, she is condescending and elitist! Really? Or maybe she is just trying to protect someone she still has lingering feelings for? The antagonist (who is her current sugar daddy, actually) is plenty capable and ruthless. Also, I can't say her entry into that world (as a sex toy to the rich and powerful, oooooooh, enviable!) was something to be considered pleasant and something she'd recommend to others. But you know what? Even if all of this was not the case and she really just said it because she is now elitist? Guess what? I don't care! She has certainly earned the right to be bitter and dark! I hasten to add these are people's reactions to the drama, not the drama's view of Kyung Ah in the least. That is why I love the writer. Yes, you know, women can be allowed to be more messed-up or darker then the men. Thank you! | |||
| Mar. 12th, 2009 @ 02:40 pm Thee different but awesome kdrama women | |||
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1. Is anyone else excited for just started period kdrama Princess Ja Myung Go? I am so excited, I can hardly wait! The only thing better than a Korean period drama (I have yet to see a bad one) is a woman-centric Korean period drama and this is it! chipper PJMG stars Jung Ryo Won as the title character, Park Min Young as her sister, Princess Nak-Rang, and Jung Kyung Ho as the object of both their affections and heir to an enemy kingdom, Prince Hodong (yes, that Hodong- the son of Song Il Gook's character from Kingdom of the Winds, which if you haven't seen btw, what are you doing, go watch!) According to legend, 2000 years ago, the Kingdom of Nangang possessed a magical drum which would warn of invaders. But in this story, the 'drum' is the Princess Ja Myung - one of two daughters of the King. One daughter has been prophesied to save the kingdom and one to bring destruction, but which is which?  Watch PJNG to find kickass, strong women, awesome battle sequences and fights, and the most star-crossed forbidden love story since...I was going to say Romeo & Juliet, but let's face it, since the last angsty period kdrama! With the alternative title being 'The Story of Self Destruction' don't expect a happy ending though! This can serve as a pretty awesome trailer: 2. I found my favorite scene from Lobbyist on line: Maria digging a bullet out of Harry with just a knife and a bottle of alcohol. Lobbyist was a flawed drama that I really liked overall: Harry was a strong man who'd nonthelss sacrifice anything for Maria (the guy got hideously tortured for her, among other things!) and Maria was an even stronger woman, who could fight, bargain, and deal with the best of them. Oh, and the drama didn't view her as a slut for sleeping with a potential customer or supplier if that was what needed to get the deal - just hardbitten. 3. If you like your women without fighting abilities and somewhat more traditional but nontheless strong and awesome, how about the heroine of one of my favorite romantic dramas, Save the Last Dance for Me? This shippy MV is so wonderful: StLDfM is a drama that always always always makes me feel better - it's deceptively simple but so pitch perfect - in its romance, in its angst, in its happiness. And it's impossible not to love the two lead characters who are just such good people. Mmmm. Also, take note: an amnesia story done right, for once! The whole plot about them being in love and then his forgetting her and their life together, but slowly and almost unwillingly falling in love with her all over again? I cried. I squeed. I bawled and laughed and acted like a maniac throughout. So, you go, awesome kdrama women! | |||
| Jun. 17th, 2008 @ 12:45 am MISA and Lobbyist: I love tough angsty guys clearly... | |||
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First off, in an attempt to get more of my flisties to check out Sorry I love you (aka MISA), I bring you these awesome MVs of it. content( Another two ) MISA is totally one of my favorite dramas now, and the whole story is about a young thug who has a limited time left to live and comes to Korea in search of his birth mother, only to discover he was 'thrown away' by a rich woman, and decides to wreak revenge on her and her family, but finds himself totally derailed by slowly falling in love with a girl who is good but quirky, odd but sweet. So he learns not just to let go of vengeance but how to be a good human being, actually...But of course it all has a fairly quick expiration date... How could you not love a plot like that? MISA is apparenly a huge thing drama-wise and rightly so, IMO. But, a word of warning: it is one of the saddest kdramas I have ever seen (but OTOH I think if you have seen/liked Tree of Heaven, A Love to Kill, Bali, Damo or Snow Queen, MISA isn't any more depressing. And I think Taiwanese drama Silence is still champion for the angstiest. It's the only drama I was never able to finish because of angst). Anyway, please watch. I want to talk about it! In other news, I finished Lobbyist!!!! Happy ending!!!! EEEEEEE! EEEEE!!!! I also loved that Maria went back to her good-hearted self. And the end with her being a teacher and Harry being there. I died. But that last phone call made me sniffle like mad ('You are my present, Harry.') And I love that she was the one to save him and sacrifice her liberty to get him away. He saved her so many times, it was only fair. I ffed through all the business/weapons/lobbying, I confess, but still overall I'd totally rec the drama (with judicious ffing if politics stuff isn't your thing). Song Il Gook is beyond gorgeous and a great actor, the story is complex and unusual, and the gender reversal of roles fascinating. | |||
| Jun. 15th, 2008 @ 08:14 pm Still Lobbyist... | |||
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Am on ep 16 of Lobbyist. complacentAmused to report that the trend of having Harry mistreated in every episode continues. Seriously, writer, must you really put your ID so visibly on the screen? In other news, Maria/Harry is still totally awesome. Though... What kind of an insane woman, when she has the undying devotion and complete dedication of a man who looks like Song Il-Gook goes sleeping with VIPs for access and influence? Maria, you should get a sanity check up. Seriously:  But joking aside, I really love their relationship: it's incredibly grown-up. Not to mention I am a sucker for unspoken but acknowledged love. They both know they love each other, but they don't really talk about it and they live and act separately because things are too much a minefield otherwise (mainly for Maria, but I think even for Harry things might get difficult because he is too entangled with Mob Lady's business to let go easily). He knows she sleeps with high-placed men for influence and access and he hates it, but he doesn't throw tantrums with her (in fact, aside from once mentioning to her that he hopes she wouldn't lose herself entirely, to which she bitterly replied 'I have nothing left to lose' he doesn't raise the topic of her manipulations at all). She doesn't scold him or throw fits because he is working for a rival, even though he doesn't really explain to her why, and even though she offered him a job. In a way, despite all the issues, there is something healthy about them because they don't love an idealized image of a person, but they know full well what the other person is and love them, flaws and all. When he brings a bottle of champaine over to celebrate her success, even though he knows full well she got it because she slept with the guy (and was at the meeting this got thrown at her face)...loved that. It's interesting, because it's clear Harry loves her so totally, but he is not a pushover or weak. He is just OK with as much personal space as she needs, even if he loathes it. I wonder if it stems from a deep-seated belief in unavailability of happiness for himself, or lack of belief that he can be truly loved? Oh, also loved Mob Lady telling Harry to bribe President's Son and Harry saying this wasn't fair play (that is why I love Harry. He really does have his morals straight, or as straight as he can be allowed in that environment) and Mob Lady replying 'that is fair play in the Republic of Korea.' | |||
| Jun. 15th, 2008 @ 11:28 am Lobbyist: even I am feeling 'enough with torturing Harry already' | |||
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Clearly, nobody wants to talk about Robbers. Too bad :) Once I get back, I plan to marathon it, so brace yourself. contentBut for now, I am continuing with Lobbyist and have just finished ep 13. OK, first: this has to be the first drama to max out even my capacity and like of h/c! Seriously. This makes Time between Dog and Wolf seem like nothing. Even I have gotten to the 'this is just making me want to look through my fingers' stage. I mean! It also makes me wonder whether the TPTB who made it have some worrying issues. So far, I have seen 13 eps and there hasn't been a single ep without Harry being mistreated (often, more than once per ep). And by mistreated, I don't mean something mild like 'punched in the face a few times.' In ep 13, the bad guys caught him and Maria again and hung him upside down and whipped him, and then dunked him in a tank of water, and then hit him with the butts of their rifles, with Maria screaming for them to stop as an accompaniment. I mean... I know Song Il-Gook is unbearably gorgeous but you don't have to punish him for it :P The drama continues to be awesome, and I like that we see Maria slide more and more into hardness and cynicism. Not 'like' as it makes her a good person, but it's an interesting story and one they don't often give to the heroines. But of course it makes sense. After that bit in Tortureherostan, she believes Harry is dead, and he was the last person who connected her not just to her past, but to her softer emotions, to her feelings. She loved him, true, but more importantly, he was the one person she allowed herself to be vulnerable with. And after that, the shell is closed completely. She joined arms dealing to get power to avenge her sister, but somehow, the process became all...and now she loves the power and the danger and manipulation and the games. I really think that Harry is by far the more grounded of the two, despite the fact that his life was way worse (hello, abusive foster parents!) because he always had his little sister Su Ji to take care of, and to ground him. I think being a protector of his little sis and a caretaker, too, didn't just ground him, but also led him to become a caretaker for Maria...in a way, that is a mode he falls into automatically. Also, did I mention hugging on horseback? Yum. I hate all the powerful/influential people in this one: Secondary Guy's family/prospective in-laws, Maria's boss, Harry's ex-boss (mob lady). I do love Harry and like Maria. I love Su Ji and her dorky, sweet, adorable boyfriend (how Mob Lady produced someone so nice and well-adjusted is a mistery) and want them to have a happy ending. I also like Secondary Guy who sort-of-kind-of likes Maria, mainly because she reminds him of Eva, her dead older sister (and Maria manipulates it, unsurprisingly). And I love tertiary characters, like Harry's goofy friend or the hotel bellboy etc. So yes, fun. | |||
| Jun. 10th, 2008 @ 04:47 pm Lobbyist: angst and kissing. How much better can it get? | |||
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chipper Caps from second half of ep 11. This drama owns me. ( Lobbyist prettiness here: h/c and kissing ) | |||
| Jun. 9th, 2008 @ 12:50 am Damo: eps 1 and 2 meta and picspam | |||
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There was KISSING at the end of ep 11 of Lobbyist. Caps of that and many other moments of awesomeness coming.  bouncyBut this post is not about that. This post is about Damo.  DAMODAMODAMODAMODAMO. I started showing it to filmi_girl and, once again, its awesomeness hit me like a ton of brick: the prettiness, the emotional intensity, the strong heroine, the the the everything.( Behind the cut are caps and meta on eps 1 and 2. Not spoilery for anything beyond the first two eps ) | |||
| Jun. 8th, 2008 @ 09:19 pm Lobbyist: so much hot manpain should be illegal. It's bad for my health... | |||
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 busyfilmi_girl came over and I started showing her Damo. We watched two first eps and, my God, I've forgotten how incredible this is. This definitely belongs in my Top 5 kdramas. Prepare for meta and caps (am dling eps for capping right now).But this post is not about that.  LOBBYIST LOBBYIST LOBBYIST. I love episodes 10 and 11 more than chocolate ice-cream. What do I love? Maria being tough as nails and successful and aggressive and this not being portrayed as a bad thing. That girl is Hard-Core: she can fight, she can bargain, she can think. YES. What else do I love? Harry's deep humanity. In a way, he is totally unsuited to his life, the way Maria is not. Maria has a hard edge to her a mile wide. But Harry? He can be incredibly tough, true, but he is a total softie under all that. I loved the scene where the guerilla leader sends him some anonymous young woman to 'take care of his needs' and he just gently buttons up her bra for her, and ends up talking to a mercenary, who thinks him foolishly soft-hearted, that she is too young and he has a sister her age. What do I love more than those put together? WHEN THE GUERILLAS CAPTURE MARIA AND TIE HER TO A POST AND FORCE HARRY TO SHOOT HER OR ELSE THEY WILL KILL HIM AND KILL HER ANYWAY. Yes, this deserves caps. OMG. I sort of forgot to breathe. That whole scene, and Maria's steadiness, and Harry's desperation and just...GUH. And how he promises to take care of her (later) and how they escape and how he is shot protecting her and just... MY FAVORITE SCENE IN THE DRAMA HAPPENS THEN. ( Come see my favorite scene behind a cut, full of hurt/comfort and OTPness ) | |||
| Jun. 8th, 2008 @ 12:12 pm Lobbyist: now with 200% more awesome | |||
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*meep* Lobbyist. cheerfulNow I know which scene my icon came from! And it's AWESOME. ( spoilers through ep 8 ) ETA: Am now watching ep 9, and it's official. This has finally replaced Time between Dog and Wolf as the most hurt/comfort drama I have ever seen (well, technically, only 'hurt', as both this and TODAW are mighty short on comfort). I never thought anything could beat TODAW but oh boy...Whoa. Also, TANGO. I approve.  | |||
| Jun. 7th, 2008 @ 12:27 pm Holding true to pattern... | |||
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That's it, I am officially certifiable. embarrassedI had absolutely no interest in Eva's (Maria's sis) fiance at all (he is the Other Guy, the Third Main Character). None. Zero. I'd ff all the scenes with him and Eva or him and other people. The fact that he was a military guy who recruited Eva to steal an important piece of info for him from US government didn't get me interested in him either. HOWEVER. The moment he was arrested, when he landed back in Korea, because TPTB knew he'd go nuts if he found out Eva was not protected and cared for (and I assume eventually brought to Korea) like they promised him but instead blown up in her car? And he is fighting the people dragging him away to jail and then the really high up military guy tells him the truth, i.e. Eva is dead, don't do anything stupid, you are in here for your protection, and he is falling apart and literally begging High Up Guy to let him out so he could go to Eva's funeral and beg forgiveness etc etc and no deal and he is all sobby and frantic and rageful? INTERESTING. Now he is methodically banging his head against the bars of his cell while wearing a crisp white shirt and all of a sudden HE IS HOT TO ME. Heeeeeelp! I am clearly insane and predictable. ETA: Not related to any of the above, but Song Il Gook has the prettiest mouth I've ever seen on a man. I sort of fixate on it. Seriously. Sample (from Jumong as don't have Lobbyist pic handy)  | |||
| Jun. 7th, 2008 @ 01:16 am Yup, still Lobbyist... | |||
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Surely I can't be the only one whose mind went straight to the gutter when Hary offered to sell himself to Lady Mobster for $30K? chipperRight, I thought so. When she was sitting there, pondering whether she wanted to take an offer from a desperate guy with clenched hands, I wanted to climb into the TV and tell her to take the offer! I mean! She could sell him to fangirls as soompi for three times as much! | |||
| Jun. 5th, 2008 @ 11:37 pm "To me...a gun was the only way to save my sister." Lobbyist continues to rock with its film noir | |||
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Ahem. bouncy *chokes a little* The publicist for Lobbyist either deserves a firing or a raise. I have not decided which. In other news, any drama which has the grown-up OTP meet when he is hired to kill her? WINS AT (drama) LIFE. So yes, ep 3 is very excellent. ( Ep 3 ramblings ) Shallowness aside, Song Il Gook is good, you guys. I mean, really really good. You can totally feel his fear and rage and attempts at determination and complete desperation. I've forgotten how amazing he was in Jumong but this is certainly reminding me. | |||
| Jun. 5th, 2008 @ 12:02 am "If I wanted to live, I had to kill my beloved with my own hands." Opening narration FTW | |||
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bouncy Oh...Lobbyist is total LOVE. Just watched the first two eps... I don't care if nobody else on my flist except for miss_dian is interested...I will be sharing anyway. The drama opens in medias res and then flashbacks, one of my favorite ways to start a drama, as you try to figure out who these people are, what their relationships are and what brought them to this situation. The drama opens in Nowhereinparticularstan, a dusty place full of unpleasant men with guns who don't believe in through shaving or much of a haircut. We see a man and a woman in the back of a truck (I know they are our protagonists, Harry and Maria): they are blindfolded, bloody, and with their hands bound behind their back. It seems a hostage exchange is under way, with them as hostages. The hostage exchange goes horribly pear-shaped, of course, and Harry (who earlier told Maria to just run, and he will slow their pursuers down) is shot down, as he tries to protect her escape route. Everything goes silent as he collapses and she screams in horror, desperately trying to get to him. CREDITS. And it gets even better! We flashback a bit, and see Maria tied to a post somewhere, staring straight ahead as Harry voice-overs: "If I wanted to live, I had to kill my beloved with my own hands. Or with the guns I had been planning on selling. While my heart was heating up and my head was cooling down...that's what weapons are like." Clearly, we are going to have the best of both worlds: the moral that weapons are bad AND a lot of explosions. For sheer 'knowing and doing what Dangermousie likes' this opening is hard to beat. And then we go into flashback proper. Harry and Maria grow up on an idyllic small island that gets inflitrated by North Koreans. There is a submarine! Harry's Dad is killed in the ensuing battle, and he and his sister, total orphans, are to move with their aunt and uncle in Philadelphia. Harry and Maria had become fast friends and childhood love (any kdrama worth its salt has to have childhood love by hook or crook). Maria's family, meanwhile, decides to move to New York. Did I mention that I love that the drama establishes straight from the bat that Maria is tough: she is the school trouble-maker and can outfight boys. Mmmmm. YES. Anyway, Maria and her family find out that their immigration papers have been forged, get to live in a hovel and get crummy jobs, and be picked on at school for being Korean (WTF? If they moved to Ruralsville, Iowa, maybe, but New York? Oh well, it gives Maria a chance to be her awesome tough self, so OK). Eventually, her Dad gets shot by evil American robbers, as people usually are, when driving his bus... Meanwhile Harry and his sister are not faring at all well. Their poor aunt married a drinking-moonshine-straight-out-of-the-j I am willing to cut them slack on the Philly-as-rural thing, actually, as it can be one of the far away areas around it, and to a person in Korea, especially since Harry is what 10? 12? it would all be Philly. But still...moonshine-drinking, unshaven, abusive, gun-wielding redneck with a hatred of Korean food? LOL. Anyway, Mr. Redneck not only makes poor Harry and his little sister work like slaves on his horse farm, he uses his fists and whip and whatever else comes to hand on Harry and his wife, and basically life generally sucks. A point to the writers for two things: (1) you see Harry eye his Uncle's gun, he clearly is beginning to associate it with power, which is something he desperately wants as he is totally powerless; and (2) if his life is so hellish now, no wonder he will later fixate on his happy time at the island... Anyway, so far so good. Apparently Lobbyist was rather a flop for SBS which poured scads of money into it, only end up with mid-teens rating, which might be respectable for an average drama, but not for a specially-nurtured ‘baby’ this was supposed to be. Couple of eps in, my verdict? While not as mind-shatteringly awesome as other underperformers of last year, The Devil and Capital Scandal, this drama is pretty darn good and enjoyable. It’s a pity it didn’t do better, but clearly, viewers of Korea aren’t as fixated on seeing SIG suffer and fondle guns as I am. OTOH, my tastes and the tastes of the intended Korean viewer don’t necessarily always align. I mean, millions and millions of Koreans adored Love Story in Harvard but I thought it could serve as a sleeping aid, so clearly, there is an ‘intended audience’ gap here… I suppose Lobbyist proved that the viewers of Korea remain mesmerized by Song Il-Gook only if he has a sword. I, however, am not nearly so picky. | |||
| Jun. 4th, 2008 @ 04:24 pm Lobbyist-induced incoherency | |||
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Current Mood:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG they are in Washington, DC!!! envious They being the leads of the drama I am starting tonight, Lobbyist with Song Il Gook and Jang Jin-Young. You have no idea how hyperventilationy this makes me. Final push for me to start this tonight (I had it at the front of my drama queue for ages)!!! Also, how can I refuse when the website gives me such yummy summaries for the leads: Harry lived a dangerous lifestyle as he worked as a personal secretary for Madame Chae, who is the wife of the lead gangster. It’s during this time he comes across a childhood friend, Maria, and saves her from the gang when she encounters trouble with them. Many years ago after his father's death he moved to America- Philadelphia to be exact. There, he grew up in an abusive environment where love didn't exist. However, one thing remains after all these years, his absolute faith toward Maria and his vow to protect her. Now, while he couldn’t be more than happy to meet her again, he can’t help but feel uncomfortable with the current situation they are in… Maria has endured a significant amount…especially after witnessing her father and sister’s death. She works as a bus driver in place of her father, and her sister (before she died) used to work for the U.S. Navy Intelligence department. However, things go awry and her sister ends up being chased by the FBI and eventually dies. After Tae-Hyuk, her sister’s boyfriend, ignores her sister’s death, Maria vows to seek vengeance. Later, she is saved by Harry as she finds herself in trouble with the gang. While there are potentially some feelings between the two she doesn’t have the freedom or the time to deal with them… So there. So there. Horrid childhoods! Americans and bad Engrish! Girls with Guns! Abused mob-working hotties with undying devotion to their OTP...*sigh* Could it get any better?  | |||
| Jun. 3rd, 2008 @ 03:09 pm Dangermousie’s Top Dozen Most Surprising Drama Happy Endings | |||
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Current Mood:
Since Powerful Opponents made me think about drama endings. Now, we all know about those infamous ‘last minute unhappy endings’ which seem to be tacked on to inflict utmost misery (Glass Slippers’ infamous ending, I am looking at you) or those dramas which would pretty clearly end happily as are giggle-fest or unhappily, as they involve hot people with terminal illnesses.  coldBut how about that rare yet delightful category of dramas: surprising happy endings. Not ones that could have gone either way (Smile Again, QSS) but ones you did not expect at all. Behind the cut are Dangermousie’s Top Dozen Most Surprising Happy Endings. ( My Dozen Here ) | |||
| May. 21st, 2008 @ 09:44 am Oh, I didn't know they did that... | |||
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Current Mood:
After I finish The Devil and Bara No Na Hanaya, my next drama is Lobbyist which I have been meaning to watch for ages. busymiss_dian loved it, it has an unusual storyline (about arms munitions dealers), the main characters are all total adults, and oh, the fact that Song Il Gook is the male lead doesn't hurt either. And, there is tango! I have no idea what is going on, or even at what point in the story this is, but I just love that Maria (the heroine, and I think she is actually the main character, right), wants to dance for some particular, non 'I love dancing/you are hot' reason, and SIG's character obliges. Mmm. YES. Plus, they promise me things from my icon. | |||