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Post by rine on Nov 22, 2005 23:36:46 GMT -5
wow....i really have to agree with your list. and probably more...i mean, i like the drama. but it's kind of lagging and lacking....and i coudln't have said it more clearly as you so eloquently did. i find myself watching it when i have really nothing to do....
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Post by mikey on Nov 23, 2005 10:35:52 GMT -5
. . . in the original opening titles, Jin-ah is shown smiling next to a young man, who never appeared, even though they gave the actor's name. Oh, yes! I recall Soju pointing that out a while ago, and indeed that never was explained! That also reminds me of another possible red herring I’d overlooked in my previous go-round: Why do brother Ki-joon and sister Jin-ah have different generational names? Was that ever explained? I guess, in Korean family situations, it’s not something that’s actually mandatory, but it sure is unusual – a real red flag, to me at least, that something’s not quite right there (same mother, different fathers)? But, when Jin-ah high-tailed it for America, I guess it became a moot point anyway. To me, it seemed almost as if the screenwriter had set something up that she could use later in the story, and then she (or a higher-up) decided to abandon the idea down the road without any explanation. I think if the drama kept to the original story, it would be much more thrilling? Like I read somewhere about the drama synopsis before it came out that In-young would get pregnant AFTER she married Jae-min. . . . Yes, I heard something along those lines, too. And, as Soju noted above, they’d even filmed (apparently) a number of scenes that never aired. It’s almost as if (as Teresa suggests) the screenwriter had come up with a pretty good storyline, but that once the filming got underway, some big-shot came along and ordered that everything be done differently! If that’s really the case, then I sure feel bad for the show’s screenwriter ( Park Jung-ran). Who knows: “My Sweetheart” might have become another “Yellow Handkerchief” had those guys just left her screenplay alone!
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Post by Soju on Nov 23, 2005 13:25:14 GMT -5
Another thing they made a big deal of and then dropped was In-young's mother and Ok-jin being from the same home town, and Grandpa remembering her. I expected some sort of back story to be revealed, possibly involving "What about Ki-joon's father?"
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Post by Lovely on Nov 23, 2005 16:46:05 GMT -5
I also wondered about Ki-joon and Jin-ah...I thought since they were brother and sister, they should have one syllable of their name to be the same? Even if it did turn out that they had a different father, shouldn't they still have a same syllable in their names? Like in Yellow Handkerchief, Min-joo and Sun-joo had the same father, but different mothers yet both half-sisters still had the -joo in their names.
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Post by mikey on Nov 24, 2005 11:10:10 GMT -5
You’re right, so I guess it’s optional either way (remember how in “One Million Roses,” half brothers Min-jae and Hyun-kyu didn’t share a generational name).
In the wonderful MBC comedy-drama “My Name is Kim Sam-soon” (a.k.a. “My Lovely Sam-soon”) Sam-soon was the third of three daughters. The first two daughters shared generational names, but when the third daughter was born, the old-fashioned grandfather (who was expecting a grandson) angrily insisted that the third daughter be named “Sam-soon” - essentially, “Third Daughter”.
In this case, the writers did make it a point to explain why Sam-soon had a different generational name than her two older sisters (and why Sam-soon hated her name so much)! So, I was looking forward to an explanation as to why Ki-joon and Jin-ah didn’t share generational names.
However, all I really know about this fascinating Korean child-naming tradition is what I’ve learned from watching K-dramas, ;D so please don’t take me for any kind of authority!
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Post by Lovely on Nov 25, 2005 11:57:24 GMT -5
Min-jae and Hyun-kyu weren't half-brothers. They were step-brothers. But they shared a younger half-sister, Eun-ji. But her name was different from her half-brothers as well.
I wonder if Ki-joon and Jin-ah could be half-siblings? I don't see them as being close at all. Like when Jin-ah got engaged, Ki-joon did show up for the luncheon to meet the in-laws, but he showed little interest in his sister's engagement. He didn't put on the big brother act and ask any questions to the man that was going to marry his little sister.
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Post by ovaridedis24 on Nov 27, 2005 17:07:25 GMT -5
Shoot, if I had a little sister like her, I'd say, "Just take her!"
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Ken
Junior Addict
Posts: 197
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Post by Ken on Nov 28, 2005 19:14:09 GMT -5
Shoot, if I had a little sister like her, I'd say, "Just take her!" ;D :)No kidding! Mikey, I normally agree with you, and I love your list, but I would go so far as to say that this show IS bad. Not only bad, but irritating to the point where we're limiting how many K-dramas we watch now because K-irritation is cumulative. The Screech Mom and Inyoung and Kijoon are the three most annoying and maddening characters ever (a hat trick of irritation), and we even get a reprise of the most irritating aspect of OMR for good measure! Wait, I forgot the irritating over-the-top guy at Inyoung's office. That's got to be a new record for annoyance. I had considered Precious Child to be the worst show so far, but it actually got to be pretty funny how bad it derailed and we still liked Jinkook and Heesoo. This one is so bad, that after a re-evaluation, we have a new winner! Listening to Kijoon and Inyoung actually punishes the viewer for thinking! It isn't just me - check this out: koreandramas.bishsite.com/topic_635.htmlA show I would put in the "disappointing" category would be Winter Love Song. The opening episodes were very strong and there was no warning that after #10, Yujin would be incapable of answering a straight question and the plot would go from intriguing to ridiculous (memory replacement, are we brother and sister, etc, etc), and I wanted to like WLS! After it ended, I thought it was a bad show, but now realize that it had so many goodnesses, that it was more that I was disappointed that it didn't live up to its promise. Another addition to your list is the "Dreaming Swan" connection between Inyoung and Jaemin's wife, and consequently, Jaemin as well. I think that was a more powerful and interesting mystical connection than Inyoung and Kijoon meeting at a reunion. No mention of the Dreaming Swan connection anymore - too bad. I guess the real question is: why do we keep watching it? Frankly, OMR and PC were both pretty weak, but they had that sort of "watching a train wreck" fascination - you can't look away even if you wanted to, so we figure, how much worse could this one be? For me, even though I hope Inyoung and Kijoon take an ill-fated car ride through the mountains (along with Inyoung's annoying coworker), what keeps me going with the show are the elders' relationships and the fact that Yang Mi Ra (Mijung) is the prettiest actress (next to the lovely Chae Rim) I've seen so far. Even with the Mijung and Inchul plotline, though, Inchul gets on my nerves and they're supposedly the comic "relief". The funny thing is, in a few months, we may end up missing it...or not.
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Post by Lovely on Nov 28, 2005 19:41:49 GMT -5
The opening credits from a while back with Jin-ah.....didn't the guy with her look different from the guy that she became engaged to? I thought the writer(s) could have done more with Jin-ah's character. It would be awesome if Jin-ah stayed in the show to have a horrible mother-in-law and sister-in-law....just so she would get a taste of her own medicine.
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Post by TheBo on Nov 29, 2005 16:37:37 GMT -5
Teresa may (almost) have hit on the nail on the head, here, guys. Many of us have discussed before that in Korea, when people (viewers) don't like what is happening on a drama, they call/write/email the film company and demand that changes are made, and the company makes them. Even the wonderful Dae Jang-geum fell victim to this public bullying tactic. I suspect Koreans found out about the "after marriage baby" complication and made angry demands, the film company caved, and whoever "fixed up" the drama just butchered it in the process. I also suspect that "fixer-upper" person was NOT the original writer, because (with YH as evidence) I think she would have done a heck of a lot better job of it, not made this unsatisfactory mess.
Bo
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Post by Soju on Nov 29, 2005 23:08:26 GMT -5
Sounds like a good explanation. Public outrage does seem to weigh heavy in durama land. I noticed that when we here were due to see the "Slap" episode of 'Old Miss Diary', it was skipped over. That one I wouldn't put at KBC's door. but KBS's.
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Post by mikey on Nov 30, 2005 13:18:29 GMT -5
Mikey, I normally agree with you, and I love your list, but I would go so far as to say that this show IS bad. Well, "My Sweetheart" did turn out to be a bit of a turkey, I'll sure agree with you there. But, "My Precious Child" was different in that it started out so strong, and then ended up so pathetically. After having raved about MPC for the first 30 episodes, I came away feeling like a fool when I realized that I’d been cheering a drama series that was actually a total dud. MSMD irritated me in a different way, in that it never really seemed to get going. In the end, I guess, I didn't *dislike* MSMD quite the way I disliked MPC. And whatever happened to everybody affectionately calling In-young’s aunt “Mrs. Hen?” I thought that was cute – and so descriptive of her behavior! Initially, I also thought Mi-jung was strikingly attractive (though, perhaps, an unorthodox kind of way) but her short-cropped early hairstyle really ruined it for me. And this went double for chipmunk-cheeked Hee-joo’s hairdoo, too. Yuck. Mi-jung’s current hairstyle is better (still a little old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy looking for me) but I have to say that Hee-joo is lately looking like a whole new woman. Who would have guessed that I might actually begin to find Hee-joo rather good looking! Just to add some additional thoughts: I was also disappointed with how poorly the major characters were developed in MSMD. Except for Mi-jung, who started out as a petty, spiteful girl, but ultimately grew into a level-headed young businesswoman (and, perhaps, Hee-joo, too) there really isn’t any difference between the characters we saw in episode #1, and the same characters we’re seeing now in episode #150. Kinda disappointing, since good character development so often spells the difference between an “okay” drama and a real good one.
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Post by Lucy on Dec 5, 2005 16:53:41 GMT -5
Oh, dear. Such is the annoyance created in me by this show that I am actually getting sick of Jae-min as well. I am tired of his mooning over someone who doesn't deserve it. He has put all his eggs of happiness in the basket of In-young, if you will--and she's apparently incapable of doing anything with it. Except letting it hang listlessly at the end of her fingertips, along with her purse, as she mopes distractedly through life.
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Post by ovaridedis24 on Dec 5, 2005 17:58:28 GMT -5
Oh, dear. Such is the annoyance created in me by this show that I am actually getting sick of Jae-min as well. I am tired of his mooning over someone who doesn't deserve it. He has put all his eggs of happiness in the basket of In-young, if you will--and she's apparently incapable of doing anything with it. Except letting it hang listlessly at the end of her fingertips, along with her purse, and she mopes distractedly through life. Yes, that's right, even the nice guy is getting annoying, I swear, I've never seen a show where almost every character gets on my nerve.
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Raven
Junior Addict
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Posts: 160
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Post by Raven on Dec 7, 2005 17:51:30 GMT -5
It's so true someone needs to give him an old school slap upside the head so he wake up from dreamland and open his eyes already.
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