The Crane vs The Drum

[BungalowDweller]

Something tells me that we WILL get to see that great final showdown of dancing between Jini and Booyong. Jini doesn't give this a thought but it's of great importance to Booyong to be officially acknowledged as the best! (Which she WON'T be, of course! ;D)

Besides, that Drum dance is Nothing next to the Crane. Remember when Jini was lecturing Baekmu about the need to FEEL the pain of the crane? Now Jini has enough pain of her own to understand the female crane at her nest. It will be an inspired performance.

[zorro]

This "dance off" was what I was waiting for the whole series, to see the Crane Dance in it's entirity, performed by the only dancer who could perform it, Jini. After Baekmu's tragic death, I thought Jini would keep her dream alive and make it her duty to preserve the Crane as the finest example of Chosen's art. I also wanted to see the look on Booyong's, Maehyangs, and the visiting troupe leaders' faces after her flawless performance. That would have been the crowning achievement, and the perfect ending to this story.

Instead, watching the final episode was a huge letdown. Earlier in the series, Jini was captivating in her moves and costume, but in the final contest she was late, plain, and completely uninspiring. Her dance consisted of shuffling forward and backwards a few times and some spins. Big deal. Nothing any of the other competent dancers couldn't do.

Writers seemingly continue to want to push implausible concepts through the final episodes, leaving viewers to somehow come up with their own explanations. The idea that the musicians would be moved to play (in complete unison with Jini to a dance they never saw before), and the visiting troupe leaders would be won over by such a simple performance is nothing short of a "Festivus Miracle". A too convenient and contrived mechanism to try and fit all the pieces together to end the series. I have no problem with Booyong as troupe leader. She deserved it, but I would have been happier if Jini had run off with the Minister and her baby if I had known this was the ending they had in mind. Maybe then her mother wouldn't have died… another unnecessary concept so prevelant in these dramas.

Comments on the "Final Episode" thread are well thought out and have merit, but it just didn't work for me. A very disappointing end to what had been an enlightening and visually elegant drama.

[kathleen34]

Letdown. That is exactly the way I felt as well. As a final episode I thought it was ... well, disappointing.

The Crane Dance... was hailed throughout this drama as something so very unique. And we never saw it in its entirety. I thought for certain that Jini would have followed her teacher's inspriation.

But you're right zorro, she did lots of twirling and stepping around. No big deal. And frankly I thought her mindset at best, was diminished

I do love the opinions that were written about the final episode. As I read them I figured I didn't have the spirit of an artist.

[gpaul]

Wow, Zorro, you must be reading my mind. I just watched the last episode this morning and I was totally disappointed. Your thoughts are mine almost exactly, I loved this drama but the ending was a let down. Jini's dance was uninspired but then so was Booyong's. Booyong deserved to be troupe leader just because of her determination to get the position. Jini didn't want it. I had hoped that she would have put on her beautiful white floaty dress and do a magnificant crane dance. At the end she is has given up the troupe, her beautiful clothes and she is dressed plainly, dancing for the townspeople. Nice idea, but how is she to make a living dancing for poor people.

[BungalowDweller]

I, too, was disappointed with the ending. The ending was unexpected, but not what I would have desired. It seemed to me to be an ending that more or less thumbed its nose at the viewer. And unbelievable as Jini's newly "enlightened" view of dance was too modern to be plausible. The ending I would have preferred was to see the Crane performed in all its magnificence in that beautiful hanbok. Could they have chosen this type of ending because the choreographer was concerned that the actress didn't have the technical ability to do the final scene that we all desired and expected? Zorro said it best--a disappointing ending to a beautiful program.