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Post by galacticchick on Jan 25, 2005 10:41:02 GMT -5
I caught this episode yesterday and I was so disappointed. I expected bigger reactions, stronger emotions, a kiss or two, but no.
Yujin's reaction to MH telling her he is Joonsang was so disappointing. I thought she would at least consider it a little bit instead of just blowing it off.
MH's reaction to his mom just baffled me. What, you replaced my memories because I was a problematic child? Okay, let's hug and have no more discussion about this. He didn't even cry! I think that's what I expected, for him to cry--out of frustration, fear, confusion, loneliness, etc.
That SH is setting up for a major downfall. How could Yujin not see how transparant his plea for her to stay w/him was. "Yujin, he's lying to you--he's not Joonsang, but by the way swear that if he coincidentally didn't die, you'll still stay by me."
And her mom. Grabbing hold of her skirt! I'd be fuming if I were Yujin.
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chi8
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Post by chi8 on Jan 25, 2005 14:58:16 GMT -5
Let's not get our hopes up too high for Yujin and Joonsang--they may be half siblings, remember? Will they find that out? Will JS's mother find out about Yujin and fess up? Or will it turn out that Joonsang and Minhyuk are half siblings? Hang in there, we have four more episodes to go.
Yujin reminds me of the girl in The Phoenix--caught between two guys who both want to marry her (one of whom is already her ex-husband) and she just can't decide and lets the guys determine it for her. Until she finally gets her wits about her and asserts herself and makes a choice (her ex). And the other one goes to the US and comes back in five years and everybody likes everybody.
By the way, am I the only guy watching this (other than my boyfriend)?
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Post by Alexa on Jan 25, 2005 15:04:17 GMT -5
Let's not get our hopes up too high for Yujin and Joonsang--they may be half siblings, remember? Will they find that out? Will JS's mother find out about Yujin and fess up? Or will it turn out that Joonsang and Minhyuk are half siblings? NNNNOOOOOOO, they can't be brother and sister that would be so sad. Hang in there, we have four more episodes to go 4 more episodes. I thought it was 24 or 26 episodes long?
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Post by Lovely on Jan 25, 2005 17:27:35 GMT -5
4 more episodes. I thought it was 24 or 26 episodes long? There's 20 episodes for this drama. I wish it would be longer though (more drama for us ), but that might also mean the whole Joon-sang, Yu-jin, and Sang-hyuk love triangle would take longer to resolve too.
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Post by cannedcats3 on Jan 26, 2005 0:01:29 GMT -5
..."Hang in there, we have four more episodes to go" ..."I thought it was 24 or 26 episodes long?" ..."There's 20 episodes for this drama. I wish it would be longer though (more drama for us ), but that might also mean the whole Joon-sang, Yu-jin, and Sang-hyuk love triangle would take longer to resolve too." Knov1 told me the WLS is 20 episodes but that the edited KBC version is 26 episodes. (Spoiler Thread 01/01/05) Although it will be interesting to see just how far Sang-hyuk's desperate actions will go (it's like the story of the little Dutchboy with the d**e in Holland - running back and forth trying to plug the leaking holes in his wall of lies and deceptions); anticipation for the two lovers is becoming a living entity.....
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alanna
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Post by alanna on Jan 26, 2005 3:39:30 GMT -5
Let's not get our hopes up too high for Yujin and Joonsang--they may be half siblings, remember? Will they find that out? Will JS's mother find out about Yujin and fess up? Or will it turn out that Joonsang and Minhyuk are half siblings? Hang in there, we have four more episodes to go. Yujin reminds me of the girl in The Phoenix--caught between two guys who both want to marry her (one of whom is already her ex-husband) and she just can't decide and lets the guys determine it for her. Until she finally gets her wits about her and asserts herself and makes a choice (her ex). And the other one goes to the US and comes back in five years and everybody likes everybody. By the way, am I the only guy watching this (other than my boyfriend)? You described perfectly the malaise of K-dramas. One of the problems foreigners notice in K-dramas is that it's the similar plot over and over again, a love triangle followed by another person to lend a shoulder to cry on for the third "loser". That's why Taiwan where K-dramas are most common warns that unless Korea comes up with some refreshing plot the demand will significantly diminish within few years. By the way, the last phrase "everybody likes everybody" seriously reminds me of Dae Jang Geum at the end. ^_^;;; p.s. Umm....what do you mean you have a boyfriend when you're a guy..? If it's any comfort to you, my dad started watching and my friend's dad too after hearing how it went big in Japan. But my dad kinda squirms in his seat when a scene gets a little draggy. There were also Japanese men who confessed that they were very much reminded of their first love and other good memories in the past.
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chi8
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Post by chi8 on Jan 26, 2005 11:53:51 GMT -5
For anybody who's interested, and I don't think many are except Alanna, I'm a GWM WASP (gay white male white Anglo Saxon Protestant (too many Ws?), 65 years old, discovered Korean dramas only a few months ago, have been with my boyfriend for over 37 years and have enjoyed Age of Warriors, The Phoenix, Damo and now WLS and The Immortal Yi Soon Shin. My boyfriend is half Polish and half Philippino, we have traveled to China and the Philippines, enjoy Asian culture and I am now entranced with Korean culture (as if the soaps of any country can give one a true measure of that country's culture--think American soaps).
I take it that gay culture in Korea is not as open as it is in America, although I know some gay Koreans here in Chicago. In any event, I take Alanna's question as one of curiosity and am not in any way offended by it.
By the way, did anybody see Will and Grace about 6 weeks ago when Will and his boyfriend organized a book reading at a beloved book store that was in danger of closing. It did not go very well, and Will ascribed the reason for the poor turnout to the fact that all the gay guys were home watching Korean soaps. I about fell out of my chair, having discovered Korean dramas only shortly before.
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Post by Lucy on Jan 26, 2005 12:09:23 GMT -5
WOW!! So there you go, chi8! I never imagined there could be niche demographics even within the US Korean-drama-watching population.
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Post by galacticchick on Jan 26, 2005 12:09:31 GMT -5
By the way, did anybody see Will and Grace about 6 weeks ago when Will and his boyfriend organized a book reading at a beloved book store that was in danger of closing. It did not go very well, and Will ascribed the reason for the poor turnout to the fact that all the gay guys were home watching Korean soaps. I do remember that, I can't believe I forgot. That was a hilarious episode.
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alanna
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Post by alanna on Jan 26, 2005 20:01:45 GMT -5
For anybody who's interested, and I don't think many are except Alanna, I'm a GWM WASP (gay white male white Anglo Saxon Protestant (too many Ws?), 65 years old, discovered Korean dramas only a few months ago, have been with my boyfriend for over 37 years and have enjoyed Age of Warriors, The Phoenix, Damo and now WLS and The Immortal Yi Soon Shin. My boyfriend is half Polish and half Philippino, we have traveled to China and the Philippines, enjoy Asian culture and I am now entranced with Korean culture (as if the soaps of any country can give one a true measure of that country's culture--think American soaps). I take it that gay culture in Korea is not as open as it is in America, although I know some gay Koreans here in Chicago. In any event, I take Alanna's question as one of curiosity and am not in any way offended by it. By the way, did anybody see Will and Grace about 6 weeks ago when Will and his boyfriend organized a book reading at a beloved book store that was in danger of closing. It did not go very well, and Will ascribed the reason for the poor turnout to the fact that all the gay guys were home watching Korean soaps. I about fell out of my chair, having discovered Korean dramas only shortly before. I'm sorry. I apologize for any discomfort I caused you. I was expecting to hear some other humorous excuses with a typo and didn't mean to barge into your privacy like that. Thank you for your calm and reasonable answer. Yes, gay issue is still a tad bit sensitive in Korea than in the U.S. In fact as you might have noticed, Korean TV is still very much stuck in conservative state in which just airing themes like affairs out of marriage (for woman) or passionate kissing is quite limited. Viewers are bad enough. If you try to put one bed scene you'll get calls from YMCA people or others that point out it's bad for children's mentality or something. Granted, nobody expects to see steamy bed scenes in WLS or other Korean love dramas. So far there's only one gay actor (Hong Seok-chun) who boldly revealed his sexual orientation and one transsexual (Ha Ri-su) in TV. But not surprisingly more gays are "coming out" in Korea these days boasting their unique skills at work. TV cable has more freedom to air foreign dramas US, UK mainly) so that's where we get more cultural insight. It will change, yes, but it's taking too much time. One more thing, although there's a limit to understanding one country's culture through soaps, I do believe it works somewhat. The overall atmosphere of home drama especially, is very real (-though love at first sight and recurring events are very much a fantasy). For my part, I experience some very refreshing view points on Korea that I'd never get from my friends here.
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chi8
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Post by chi8 on Jan 26, 2005 22:28:48 GMT -5
"I'm sorry. I apologize for any discomfort I caused you. I was expecting to hear some other humorous excuses with a typo and didn't mean to barge into your privacy like that. Thank you for your calm and reasonable answer. " Thanks. Your grace is immeasurable (Oops! Wrong story.) No apology necessary. No discomfort on my part, so there shouldn't be any on your part. I think we are all grateful to have you as someone "on the other side" to help us understand the Korean culture we see portrayed on the screen. I had noticed there was no passionate kissing (as a matter of fact, I can't think of any kissing at all), at most only rather stiff hugs, and didn't know whether that was in the Korean nature or whether it was merely constraints imposed by blue noses on what can be shown on TV.
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alanna
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Post by alanna on Jan 27, 2005 9:08:06 GMT -5
Thank you again for understanding and your appreciation. (However I still recoil at my bad grammar whenever I re-read my writing)
Back in school, one my English lecturer who's half-Hawaiian and half-Korean pointed one interesting aspect of Korean people. He said, according to his American friends in Korea, Korean people remind much of America back in the 50s.
At first I was slightly offeneded by that remark (hey, we're not THAT backward- we make the best LCDs and PDPs blah blah blah...) but then the lecturer explained that in Korea women tend act too feminine and man too masculine compared to America. That got me thinking. Do you think that's very expressive in K-drama?
What was U.S. home drama like back in the 50s? Is that when they featured black and white comedies like "Bewitched" and "Mr. Ed"? Was U.S. soaps as mushy as present K-dramas? Just wondering ^_^;;;;
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Post by TheBo on Jan 27, 2005 11:03:25 GMT -5
What was U.S. home drama like back in the 50s? Is that when they featured black and white comedies like "Bewitched" and "Mr. Ed"? Was U.S. soaps as mushy as present K-dramas? Well, here's something different about America and Korea, alanna! We don't like to be told we might be old enough to remember stuff from the 1950s! (I'm only teasing you. Although, it's true, we do not respect age, I know that you are not saying we're elderly.) ;D Anyway. Not that I remember it personally or anything, but yes, in TV land, anyway, women were women and men were men. However, the father was usually portrayed as a buffoon (just like now on USA TV); the wife usually had all the sense and solved the problems. Of course, there were many exceptions, but there were not many of the strong, totally respected fathers you see in Korean daily drama. I think "Bewitched" and "Mr Ed" were early 1960s, however. Shows from the 50s would be "Father Knows Best" (a wonderful show), "Leave it to Beaver" (ran over into 60s), my personal favorite, "The Burns and Allen Show" (now there, the woman was a ditz, but a loveable one), and many others I think people here might remember and post. But these shows were not soap operas; they were weekly comedies. Soap operas were mushy, but they told stories about people's lives, something that a lot of people miss in American soaps these days. Now, they tend to concentrate on mob connections, or on wild plots that depend on people losing their memories or being "reprogrammed"--hmm. Sounds familiar, but I can't think why... Bo
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Post by BungalowDweller on Jan 27, 2005 15:57:14 GMT -5
In response to chi8 and others about the kissing, etc. What I like about Korean drama and this show in particular is the lack of it. I find that the sexual tension created is forceful and appealing. (Much like the old Hollywood films of the 40s.) It also lets me allow my 11 year old daughter to watch the program. We watch very little conventional tv because frankly I'm fed up with seeing everyone in the sack or on the way there. Add lascivious looks, filthy jokes and innuendo and "ho wear" and American "mainstream' tv has little to offer.
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Post by TheBo on Jan 27, 2005 16:26:54 GMT -5
In response to chi8 and others about the kissing, etc. What I like about Korean drama and this show in particular is the lack of it. ... A lot of people feel the way you do, BD. I'm not terribly offended by sexuality or nudity--I find violence far more offensive--but it is overdone on American TV and it is usually not in any way connected with the plot. It's just there because everyone does it. This lack of, or holding off on, demonstrative affection adds an extra layer of charm to the dramas, and your comparison with 1940s movies is apt. I do wish in some situations, however, that someone would just give the other person a hug. They seem so distant and lonely at times. Knov1 has noted to us that the dramas we see are from a company that is very conservative, even by Korean standards, and that the other Korean television companies do make racier fare; we just don't see it. However, I say, as long as it's well done, it's worth watching. Another thing we've discussed here before is that people are shown going to work and actually WORKING there, instead of throwing each other down on the desk and, well, you know. It's so refreshing. And they still manage to have conversations that move the plot along. We should send American soap opera writers to Korean soap school. Bo
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