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Post by Soju on Feb 4, 2004 22:19:58 GMT -5
Boy, tonight's episode was one of the best so far. Hye-sung and Yu-kyung get engaged. As we were talking about in an earlier thread here, courtship moves along fast on these shows. And, was that a LIVE octopus HS was eating? I know seafood has to be fresh, but. . .
Then Tae-ho finds out Sun-ok will be his in-law. He seems to still be using her, but how long until something else develops? The scene where TH and HS can't sleep, but tell each other, "No, nothing's bothering me" was hilarious.
But then Granny suggests to Min-jae that he leave Joyland. HISSSSssssss!
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Post by redstone911 on Feb 4, 2004 23:07:57 GMT -5
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Post by JadeEyes on Feb 5, 2004 6:25:50 GMT -5
Is there anyone more full of hate, almost on principle, than that toxic old grandmother? She makes the practice of hating her daughter-in-law (and those connected directly to Soon-young but not to her) almost a fanatic religious experience. It must wrankle every nerve ending in her poisonous old flesh and bones that Min-jae made a "good match" while her precious grandson, the center of her existence, is marrying the daughter of the family's former maid (who opposed the union for a couple of weeks w/o jumping for joy at the notion of her daughter latching on to the "fabulous" Hyun-gyu).
In today's ep, there was a long take of her sitting alone in her bedroom before Soon-young came in to talk to her, and she was just sitting stock still, fuming silently. You could almost feel the waves of hatred rising from her like waves of heat from a Nevada dessert in mid-July. When I saw that, I couldn't help but LOL, the sight was so hilarious.
Does this character have *one* redeeming feature?? She can't even fake her way through an obligatory minute of Christmas cheer and say something nice about the tree-trimming. Instead she tosses out that same old line of who knows how many years are left to her? My foot! Nasty old bags like that outlive everyone else. They're too mean to die.
And on the subject of Christmas in Korea --- how long will this one go on? Seems like it's been Christmas Eve there for about 2 months.
Jade
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Post by nsheldon on Feb 5, 2004 9:28:48 GMT -5
Jade... This has to be the meanest ol' granny I've ever seen on a show... But how sad that she chooses to live her life wallowing in hate. The saddest truth of all is that she hurts herself far more than she hurts her family. How sad and pitiful that she wastes so much time & energy on hate. Her long suffering daughter in law seems to truly love her though & continues to make attempts at getting thru that cold stone heart. But who in the world would want to just sit in your room, staring at the wall, consumed with hate? Because this is a K-drama (that normally end happily) I hope we can all assume that, before this drama has ended, mean grandma will have a change of heart.
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Post by JadeEyes on Feb 5, 2004 12:21:39 GMT -5
Sheldon, you are right in what you say...the person who hates hurts him or herself much worse than anyone at whom the hate is directed could ever suffer. I've met people like this, and as unpleasant as they are, I can only sorry for them.
I think you're probably right that mean ol' granny will reform before the end of the series. Or she will be run over by a bus. I hope it will be one or the other at least. LOL!
I don't think that was live octopus Hye-sung was eating. I think he was putting noodles in his mouth and he was so stunned and taken by surprise at Yu-kung's proposal, he couldn't stop the noodles dribbling from his mouth. Whatever, a most unattractive sight, I must say. That she would still want him after seeing this shows it must be true love, LOL!
Btw, I'm curious what others thought about the interview of HS by Mal-bong. What kind of an impression do you suppose he made on her? Can she possibly approve? Of course, she doesn't know who his mother is, and I can only imagine how she'll react when she finds that out (I have to assume she will find out!). But she can easily tell he's not what a woman like her would consider star son-in-law material. If she had a big problem with Min-jae, I would imagine she won't be any happier with HS -- even more so if she learns he's MJ's good buddy -- and in spades when it comes out he's the son of her maid.
OTOH, maybe a divorced mom has such poor prospects in Korean society, parents are grateful for anyone w/ only one head who is "willing" to hook up with a woman w/ that kind of "baggage".
Jade
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Post by WinterBallad on Feb 5, 2004 16:05:47 GMT -5
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Post by Soju on Feb 5, 2004 21:33:25 GMT -5
Well, I swear I saw those "noodles" moving around on their own!
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Post by jenny on Feb 5, 2004 22:12:31 GMT -5
I have seen people eating live squid on a travel tv show about Korea, they dip it in sauce. It's called something like "san nak chi" (forgive me if I just wrote something bad in Korean - that's just what it sounded like to me! ) I didn't notice what Hye-sung was eating, but it probably was that. Just a guess!
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Post by redstone911 on Feb 6, 2004 7:04:13 GMT -5
Btw, I'm curious what others thought about the interview of HS by Mal-bong. What kind of an impression do you suppose he made on her? Can she possibly approve? Of course, she doesn't know who his mother is, and I can only imagine how she'll react when she finds that out (I have to assume she will find out!). But she can easily tell he's not what a woman like her would consider star son-in-law material. If she had a big problem with Min-jae, I would imagine she won't be any happier with HS -- even more so if she learns he's MJ's good buddy -- and in spades when it comes out he's the son of her maid. I believe the issue was partly resolved in eps. 58. Dong-pyo and Mal-bong are more open-minded when it comes to accepting Yu-kyung's new love, first of all, because Hye-sung convinced Mal-bong that he was sincere about his love for Yu-kyung (unlike Yu-kyung's first husband), and he also made a good impression! Also, Yu-kyung was in an arranged marriage before and it appeared that she never dated anyone before she met her first husband...of course, the parents probably feel a little responsible for what happened then, since they approved of that scumbag..... hmmm...my ex-gf, also Korean, is divorced and has two kids. I had no problems with the kids...but their mom drove me crazy sometimes....
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Post by galacticchick on Feb 6, 2004 12:56:24 GMT -5
And, was that a LIVE octopus HS was eating? I know seafood has to be fresh, but. . . I happened to record that episode because I wasn't going to be able to catch the complete episode and sure enough when I paused it it was an octopus (or squid, I couldn't tell the difference) . You could see the tentacles and those little suction cups. I don't think they were alive though, because in a later shot you see Yu-Kyung twisting the tentacles around in her chop sticks so she can feed them to Hye-sung. I think he was just spitting them out because he was so taken aback by YK's proposal.
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Post by nsheldon on Feb 6, 2004 13:09:52 GMT -5
When I looked at the scene with him eating the squid a 2nd time it certainly looked as though two of those legs were moving on their own ....
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Post by Lucy on Feb 6, 2004 14:40:10 GMT -5
It was so heartbreaking to see the expression on Min-jae's face as Grandma did her best to kick him out of the family once and for all, wasn't it?
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Post by Lucy on Feb 6, 2004 14:47:44 GMT -5
I know she's behaving terribly by most standards, but I can kind of understand her. She's a very stubborn woman, and, having made her choices as to what is and is not acceptable for her family, she tries at every turn to poison the atmosphere so that things will go her way. She knows nothing of yielding or understanding, and she would rather have everyone around her miserable than let go of her principles.
Let's face it, she is not a motherly woman and probably never was. She is a political creature, and her realm is that house. In her mind, I think, there is no question of "mean" or "unkind"; she only understands what her due is and how she's not getting it. I think she's not very smart, and it shows a lot of character for the rest of the family to continue to try to behave honorably and respectfully, even though she's never going to appreciate it. That's their duty, in their world, as I see it.
(Having said that, shame on her for treating Min-jae so badly. How she could have hurt him like that starting from when he was just a little boy, I simply don't understand.)
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Post by Soju on Feb 6, 2004 21:26:19 GMT -5
Well, tonight we saw Granny showing a human side. But, to a dead person. When she was back amongst the living, talking to Sun-young, she was as ornery as ever.
I hope that, via flashbacks, they explain more about why Granny got so attached to In-hwan's first wife. I presume it was more than just pity for her being in a loveless marriage.
I wonder, do they have 'Sweeps Weeks' in Korean TV? The past three days, there have been so many plot developments: Hye-sung and Yu-kyung getting engaged (and Kum-ja finding out!), Mal-bong accetping (provisionally) Min-jae, and Tae-il's return to Korea, not to mention the continuing story of Sun-ok and Tae-ho.
Makes me glad there's no subtitles for 'Sang-do! Let's Go to School!' I need some free time to sort out all these dvelopments!
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Post by livesfreely on Feb 8, 2004 11:41:42 GMT -5
In the last episode there are implications that Grandma feels guilty toward her first daughter-in-law. She forced her son into the marriage and hungyu's mother was miserable...then, she died having seen no happiness in he marriage. That is part of the reason why she cannot let go and why she cannot like her current daughter-in-law.
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