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Post by galacticchick on Mar 12, 2004 12:16:28 GMT -5
Tonight’s preview looks great. Did you all see the look on Inhwan’s face when he realizes that his potential investor is Aunt Rainbow?
Also, it seems that Keumja might have more trouble getting divorced than she thought. I can’t believe the gall of her husband though. When he said, “What did I do so bad that I deserve to be divorced?” I nearly jumped out of my seat and if I would have had him in front of him I would have b**ch slapped him. How can he say that he didn’t abandon his family? If Keumja takes him back, which I am desperately hoping she won’t, I’ll be really disappointed and angry.
Nope, definitely no match for YH!
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Post by Lucy on Mar 12, 2004 12:42:46 GMT -5
I had the same reaction to Tae-il's gall. When he said that, I mentally answered the TV screen, "(1) You ran a woman over and left the scene of the accident; (2) You incurred a huge debt and skipped the country to start a new life, leaving your wife and children burdened with said debt; (3) While over there you never contacted your family to see if they were OK, let alone remitted any payment. Does that answer your question?"
So why doesn't Mr. Wonderful offer to take back the debt as his own responsibility now and let poor tiny Kum-ja spend more than two hours at a time in bed?
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Post by JadeEyes on Mar 12, 2004 14:18:06 GMT -5
I had the same reaction as you 2 did. Not only did TI ask what he did that was so bad it deserved his wife divorcing him, but he actually claimed he never deserted his family. He said something like, "I had to serve a jail sentence and then when time was served, I couldn't call and had to leave the country." Words to that effect. It's right in there with the kind of rationalizing you hear from men who run around on their wives all the time and/or slap them around. They end up minimizing all of it and excuse themselves from taking any responsibility for their own bad behavior and the natural fallout from that.
Not only that, but wasn't it TI who first asked for the divorce when Keum-ja came to see him and plead with him to return to China and never come back? I'm sure TI told her he wanted a divorce. Now she serves him with papers and he says he won't give her the divorce and wants a second chance.
I second the hope that she'll hold firm and stick to her demand for a divorce.
One thing that's starting to irritate me is the same thing that began getting on my nerves w/ the people in YH...the passivity in too many things.
Why is that Hyung-kyu can't tell his family that his engagement is broken off, if for no other reason than to spare himself the pain of hearing his family talk about Hye-ran as though they were still getting married, and Hye-ran the pain of hearing from his grandmother, advising HR to "give in"? For that matter, why can't HR tell the grandmother when she calls that it's not a quarrel...HK broke off the engagement and says he doesn't love her anymore? Why is she obligated to maintain politeness when the grandmother continues to call w/ the misinformed notion that the engagement is still on and it's just a lover's spat? At this point, the grandmother needs to come up to speed as does the rest of the family and if HK isn't going to do it (when he's had plenty of time), HR has the right to protect herself from the hurtful, unwelcome intrustion.
Another thing: why does Yu-jin continue to push herself and MJ on the crabby grandma when grandma couldn't make it more plain that she wants nothing to do with them? Staying there for the holidays when the grandmother has said they're not welcome there and she doesn't consider them family. Inviting them all to dinner when it's obvious Nasty Grandma won't come. It's one thing if she enjoys banging her head senselessly against a wall over and over. But each time she sets up opportunities for Grandma to snub them, it's a fresh insult all over again to MJ who has endured it for 20 years and moved out of the house to spare himself the ongoing insults. If YJ loves him so much, as she claims to, how can she set up situations over and over that insure this kind of abuse continues? It's more than foolish...it's inconsiderate to her husband.
And I'm fed up with the martyr and glutton for punishment that Soon-young has become. I have lost all sympathy for her. Why does she have to stay home to keep that old crab company, missing an important dinner w/ her son and new DIL? The old crab doesn't want her company and the old crab isn't a baby... she's an able-bodied adult and is capable of spending the evening at home alone. And like Yu-jin, she seems to seek out opportunities for Nasty Grandma to slap her in the face over and over. She's constantly saying things that anyone w/ 2 working brain cells could predict will result in insult. Why does she offer to host Aunt Rainbow when it's so obvious Grandma will seize the opportunity to rub it in her face once again how hurt everyone was when In-hwan married Soon-young after the saintly first wife kicked the bucket? It's at the point where I must assume Soon-young is trying to invoke the insults so she can wallow in the twisted satisfaction she seems to get in having her teeth kicked in 20x/day.
I can't muster any respect or sympathy for a person who looks for chances to be a doormat and take abuse. After seeing it enough times, I say to myself, good, you deserved that...if you enjoy being a martyr and taking abuse, then you deserve everything coming to you.
Lastly, has no one in the Suh family ever heard of lawyers? We know they have them in S. Korea because there were a couple of characters on YH who had the moxy to actually consult one here and there. Instead of begging Joo-ho to let Yu-kung raise her daughter and trying to reason with him, why doesn't one of them think to contact a lawyer to find out what legal options the mother might have? It's obvious Joo-ho doesn't care about being reasoned with...he's looking to punish Yu-kung for having the audacity to remarry (though he denies it) and isn't going to come around no matter how much they plead or try to get him to see how illogical or unfair he's being.
Dong-pyo comes home and says there's no point in taking it to the courts because the father has all rights regarding his children. But has he even talked to a lawyer about that? No, they just give up and don't even try.
We know the laws in Korea have changed some in that regard in recent years because they talked about that in YH. Young-joon assured Ja-young that SM couldn't take Ji-min away from her, though at one time custody to the father was automatic. He told her now the courts are not so unyielding that way, and won't take custody away from the mother unless she's shown to be unfit. But here's the Suh family with money and prestige and education and none of them think to even call a lawyer about what's going on to see if she has any legal options.
Once again, too many plots depend on people not doing the most obvious and sensible things, but remaining as passive as possible to insure they're victimized. And that begins to try my patience w/ a drama.
Jade
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Post by HappyCamper on Mar 12, 2004 17:11:11 GMT -5
Jade, I agree with everything you said and I could't have said it better myself. Thank you for saying what many of us have been thinking.
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Post by TheBo on Mar 12, 2004 18:00:13 GMT -5
Jade, I agree with everything you said and I could't have said it better myself. Thank you for saying what many of us have been thinking. Well, in addition to everything else, Jade's assessment is hilarious. I have had exactly the same thoughts at various times during the series. These characters display a perverse desire for martyrdom. Why doesn't everyone just ignore mean grandma and do what they know and believe is right? Let her sit in her room and sulk--why is she treated like a queen instead of the troll she really is? Why is the youngest child in the family (Eun-ji) being put in the position of peacemaker? I just about got sick when she was trying to convince grandma to come to dinner. Instead of making the relatively pacific (though true) remark to Kwi-boon that even a stranger would wish the newlyweds well in their new home, I thought In-huan should have asked his wife and daughter to go out to the car and say he'd bring out the grandmother, then when they left, read KB the riot act, tell her she could just sit and drown in her own spleen if she felt so righteous, and go out and drive away without listening to Mrs Wishywashy's efforts to remain home and be kicked. Well. That felt good. Bo
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Post by JadeEyes on Mar 12, 2004 20:33:05 GMT -5
LOL! I know what you mean about feeling good to get it out, Bo! I didn't realize how much had built up inside until I spilled it all out in a post and saw how long it went on after it went up on the board! LOL! I feel better, too. ;D I really like your suggestion, too, on how to handle Grumpy Grandma. I realize Confucion culture takes a very diffferent approach to politeness, tact and honor of elders than our own Western view on things, but even so...this woman pushes the baton to the max. Even Hyung-kyu is trying to mobilize everyone into joining together to force better behavior out of the old toad, or just ignore her. I wish Soon-young would get a little of the fire her sister shows. I'm disgusted that In-hwan would let his wife ruin her evening and her son and DIL's evening to play nursemaid to his taciturn old mother pitching a hissy fit. I like your idea about telling the ladies to wait in the car, then when alone w/ the old toad he reads her the score and lets her stew alone in her own bitter juices to thinkthings over for a few hours. When they cater to her nasty brat behavior, they only encourage and enable it. This is one thing about this family...they are mostly nice as individuals w/ many good and decent individual traits. But they are hopelessly embroiled and enmeshed in a severely dysfunctional family system that feeds off itself and feeds each other to continue in the dysfunctional cycle. They serve as enablers and co-dependents of each other's worst weaknesses and neurosis. I can only imagine what Dr. Phil would do with this group if he had a chance at them! One thing I've been pleasantly surprised w/ is Mal-bong's emergence as a much nicer, more likeable and admirable character. I think the slap in the face she took from granny was the wake up call she needed to take a closer look at some truths she was avoiding...both about the old bat as well as herself. It's nice to see her character growing and developing. Jade
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Post by TheBo on Mar 15, 2004 10:41:15 GMT -5
Amen, Jade. I liked the look on Yu-jin's face when Hyun-kyu asked her to move into the loony bin. You know, "You want me to move into the loony bin? Uh, no." Unfortunately, now she looks like she's considering it. That girl thinks too much. And I agree about Mal-bong, too. She's definitely reformed, and it's been fun watching her do it. If we can only get Keum-ja and Ki-soo together, her dreams might come true... Bo
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Post by galacticchick on Mar 15, 2004 12:33:28 GMT -5
Friday's episode was a perfect example of why I don't like Hyunku, I remember there was another discussion where we mentioned that he always seems to be butting into everybody elses business.
Does he not see how Grandma treats MJ? It's beyond me why this witche's approval is that important. I would just use Grandma's classic line "We're strangers."
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