A good scene

[JadeEyes]

In the earth-shattering revelation of yesterday's ep, I was struck by an interesting scene, though fairly brief, that I thought stood out, especially by contrast, and was particularly effective.

It was the scene of SM going in to the president's office to give him feedback on the work he's done so far. This follows on the heels of getting hit w/ devastating news from his doctor and walking the streets in complete shock and desolation. In spite of it all, and w/ him being in the job only a few days, he's able to completely shut off the horror of the bombshell just dropped on him, jump into professional mode and crank out for his boss an intelligent and cohesive analysis of the work recently before him and deliver advice on strategies for successful development. He does this all in a calm and professional manner, giving not the slightest hint of the inner turmoil engulfing him.

Had that been me given that news by my doctor, the boss would not be able to find me the same day. Not sure what I would do, but it's probably along the lines of going off somewhere in a catatonic stupor and being unreachable by phone or visitor for at least 24 hrs. I think it would be that way for most people.

But it's completely in keeping w/ SM's character that he could and would do what he did, which is why I think it was a great example of excellent writing. It shows the incredible self-control and discipline SM has, along w/ his intesive work ethic and how good he is at what he does. That he could come on board the way he did, put together an insightful analysis and strategic plan after only a couple of days on the job, and be able to deliver it to his boss on command in a calm and intelligent manner, in the midst of the devastation only just befallen him....that is very much the strength of Lee Sang-min.

If only he could manage the personal apsects of his life w/ equal competence and sense of ethics, how different things would be for him. He wouldn't be handling a terminal cancer diagnosis totally alone, w/ no loving family to support him, and would not be guilty of causing such turmoil and grief for many other people, including his own beloved daughter.

Jade

[TheBo]

Thanks for that cogent analysis, Jade. Unfortunately, my VCR went crazy yesterday morning and I wasn't able to watch any of it, but I can imagine the whole thing from your narrative.

You're right about S-M--his self-discipline on the job IS his strength. I think that's what attracted M-J in the first place. I imagine he reminds her of her father. (And wasn't that scene of the four women at the grave amazing?) He seems to display some of that strength in dealing with Yuna, too. There is a lot to admire about the character. I find myself saying when he's on the screen in those meditative moments--"Change your mind. Change your mind. It's the right thing to do." After all, he is trying to do the right thing for Ji-Min. It's just that the thing he's decided to do is NOT the right thing.

Bo

[little mameha]

I am also very impressed with the quality of SM's acting he is so beliveable it seems like he is suffering in silence through this just like with the divorce lunch date, and I can't think of anybody but Yuna who does'nt want him to fall off the face of the earth. I must also point out the library scene when the camera caught him at the bookshelves, he seemed to look more hopeless with each shot as the reality of everything began to sink in. I think that he should tell everybody about his condition so that he can spend as much time with Yuna and Ji-min as possible, because if this goes south Yuna will be devastated since he is the only father she has ever known.

My VCR went stupid yesterday too (conspiracy?) so I had to wait for the morning broadcast.

[glow=red,2,300]GO CUBBIES!!!!![/glow] squish those fish

[JadeEyes]

I agree that Kim Ho Jin, the actor who plays Sang-min, is awesome...he's an amazing actor...very convincing in any scene he plays and has tremendous range. And I do agree that the scene in the office w/ SM talking business to his boss in that totally "no-nonsense" delivery is a great example of what I'm talking about.

But beyond the ability of the actor, which is noteworthy, I was commenting more on the writing in that scene. It's the kind of care and attention to tiny detail that distinguishes outstanding writing...something you don't see commonly on US drama serials. How many writers would bother w/ that scene? Bother to show SM returning to the pressures of a new job and deliver a cohesive analysis and plan to his boss in the wake of receiving the worst news a person can get?

But showing that scene gives us a glimpse of who SM is and how he functions...someone who is really very strong emotionally, w/ extraordinary ability to focus, even under extreme pressure...and someone very good at what he does. It's also completely consistent w/ what we know about him so far. But the only reason to show that scene is a) give the viewer a sense of what he has to deal w/ on top of the news he's just been given, and b) to flesh out character, giving him added depth and realism. That's a mark of exceptional writing.

That's why I say it was an especially excellent scene.

Jade

[Luvz]

Two thumbs up to tonight's episode! The writing AND SM's performance were excellent! He has done things to make him a hated character on YH, but tonight, when I saw him facedown on his bed, crying his heart out, I was touched!

[jenny]

Even I was moved by SM's puking/weeping spell. This poor jerk has really hit rock bottom. Who'd have thought that SM would become the most pitiful character on this show?

[TheBo]

jenny said:

Who'd have thought that SM would become the most pitiful character on this show?

Actually, Jenny, now that I think about it, maybe we SHOULD have seen that he would be hit with a huge comeuppance. These series--at least, the family dramas--that I have watched so far are distinguished by their strict morality and close attention to story. Everything comes full circle. I think this is part of the really good writing and storytelling that Jade is talking about here. I also think this is why they are so very satisfying to watch. I hope he confesses all to Min-Joo (the look on her face when he fell against her, drunk, at the end of #145 was priceless) (and I won't know until this evening when I watch the episode I taped this a.m.--so I have to stay off this board the rest of the afternoon so no one tells me! ). I hope the theme of forgiveness represented by the Yellow Handkerchief extends to these two miserable creatures. I don't know why. It just seems right.

Bo

[mikey]

TheBo said:

Actually, Jenny, now that I think about it, maybe we SHOULD have seen that he would be hit with a huge comeuppance.

Yes, almost from the very beginning I’ve been expecting some kind of karma to kick in, reminding both Sang-min and the viewers that there are consequences to be faced for one’s poor behavior in life.

Actually, I thought I had it all figured out by about episode #50: Sang-min’s aggressive expansion plans for Sierra Park would fail, throwing Min-joo’s company into bankruptcy, and they’d lose everything. I was imagining a truly glorious final episode scene, where we’d see a happy Young-joon, Ja-young, and Ji-min cruising around in that gold SUV of his, and driving right past the financially ruined Sang-min and the Jo family who are now living under a bridge somewhere in Seoul and holding up signs saying “Will Work For Food.” Ha, justice at last!

Of course, that nice theory went down the tubes when Min-joo divorced Sang-min, opening up a whole new range of sinister opportunities. Sang-min the rat, abandoning the sinking ship just as it’s going down, and leaving Min-joo with the awful realization that her ex had brought her father’s company to ruin. Suitable karma for Min-joo, of course, but phooey on Sang-min, the rat who always escapes the trap and probably goes on to marry some woman even richer than Min-joo.

Well, THAT nice theory got shot to pieces when Sang-min was diagnosed with cancer. Wow, so karma decreed that the penalty for Sang-min’s selfishness and mistreatment of Ja-young would be . . . death? I guess karma can be pretty harsh in Korean dramas.

But that leaves us with so many new possibilities. Will Sang-min, facing his own death, turn his life around, try to make good with Ja-young and Young-joon, and then be able to die with some measure of redemption? Or, will he die bitter and angry, and perhaps, in one last moment of complete selfishness, even sign the documents making Ji-min a Lee? Or, will choose to try the treatment, and then sincerely attempt to turn his life around in his final days, and then BOOM, the anti-cancer chemicals start to kick in and he recovers to live a whole new life of virtue and decency? Who knows?

Well, I sure don’t know, for even though we’ve only got something like 8 episodes left to go in L.A., the series is still charging ahead full throttle as if there’s no end in sight.

Boy, what an amazing drama! I’m sure gonna miss this one when it ends . . .

Mikey

[mikey]

JadeEyes said:

But it's completely in keeping w/ SM's character that he could and would do what he did, which is why I think it was a great example of excellent writing.

Oh well, I thought I’d just add another two cents worth. This thread presented so many good observations that it took me a couple of days to chew on it before I was able to get all my thoughts together.

First, I have to admit that I initially had precious little regard for the actor who played Sang-min in the early stages of YH. He was cold, unemotional and robotic, and I thought to myself “That actor’s not so great. Heck, even *I* could play that role.” But recently, as the writers have lengthened his leash a bit, I have to admit that he’s really taken advantage of his newfound freedom and he’s proven himself to be a MUCH better actor than I had given him credit for (I guess that means that I have to take back all the disparaging things I said about him earlier).

Still, Jade Eyes is right: ultimately, it is the WRITERS that make or break a drama. Put a couple of Academy Award winning actors in a really crappy movie and you still get . . . a really crappy movie (those who doubt me should try renting “Ishtar” some evening). And, I think, it is the depth of characterizations that help separate the really good dramas from the marginal ones.

Everybody remember the KBS series “On the Green Prairie?” It was fun, and I enjoyed it, but the characters were all pretty one-dimensional. Tae-woong was always the good guy, his girlfriend Yon-ho was always the scatterbrained girl, and his brother Tae-man was always the tough guy with a heart of gold. After a few weeks of watching, any one of us could have easily predicted how they will react in any given situation. It really would have been a no-brainer.

But people aren’t one-dimensional. Even the nicest people sometimes do selfish or thoughtless things, and sometimes even the rottenest among us inexplicably exhibit an act of raw kindness. And people also change: good people can turn bad (or were they always that way, except that we never noticed it)?

And that’s what’s so wonderful about Yellow Handkerchief: the characters are so believable because they have the same human faults and characteristics that we real people have. Consider Ja-young, a kind and unselfish woman if there ever was one – yet she callously broke poor Young-joon’s heart. And Young-joon – a Mister Nice Guy for sure – was acting pretty creepy there for a while when he was out there stalking Ja-young in the countryside. Meanwhile, Sang-min – the most hated and reviled character imaginable – shows up at his business meeting and coolly and competently reels off his business report to his superiors, even though we viewers had already seen his human side as he faced the awful news that he’s likely only months away from death – and even the most hard-core Sang-min haters among us are suddenly feeling sympathy for him. And who can forget Sang-min’s father, who started out as a big ol’ lovable teddy bear and is now unimaginably mean, cruel, and selfish – would any of us have recognized him like this six months ago?

Rarely, I think, do writers attempt to bring this kind of depth to their characters. Probably, it requires just too much hard work – and maybe more ability than many writers possess. But when they can pull it off, it can raise the level of what might have been a good drama to the level of a GREAT drama. And Yellow Handkerchief, I think, reasonably qualifies as such. I’ll sure miss it when it ends.

[HumbleStudent]

TheBo said:

(the look on her face when he fell against her, drunk, at the end of #145 was priceless)
Bo

It really was... there was actually a -rapid succession- of facial expressions from Choo Sang-Mi (MJ) in that scene, ranging from startle-reflex, to fear, to irritation ("Now I have a drunken ex-husband cuddling me, how tedious, what a day I am having"), to - for a moment - pity and compassion, and then, instantly, to irritation with herself and anger at SM ("No, I can't let him make me have feelings for him again, the rat!").

She is as skillful as Kim Ho-Jin (bear in mind that she is by all accounts a sweet and lovely person - the reptile woman persona is acting She is so cute in that "Happy Together" clip (if you don't know what I'm talking about, see the discussion in the "General" Forum under the thread "Show w/ people getting very wet"), bravely and hopefully singing the opening line of the song over and over, refusing to display any fear that Ho-Jin is once again going to drop the cookie tray on her head.. )

In addition to praising the actors and the writer we should also put in a word for the director. The direction of this show is generally very good, but among other merits it is often very skillful and subtle when it comes to facial expressions.

This is off the topic of the thread, but I think the best moment on this whole show, a moment of just superb artistry, was in the scene where Young-Joon was in the airport waiting to go to Bangla Desh. It was the last scene of the episode; he is in anguish, standing by a pillar, alone; the camera circles around him, just as his own conflicted thoughts swirl around him; he remembers JY's words to him the previous night, trying to understand them; and then, JUST as the episode ends, as the KBS website information appears on the bottom of the screen, there is a fraction of a second when his expression changes, as something clicks in his mind and he has the beginning of a moment of epiphany. That was excellence. Not only did it have to be directed right, but the scene had to be cut at exactly the right instant and so on. That doesn't happen by accident.

The original screenplay ended the episode with YJ coming back from the airport in a taxi (with the scene that was actually moved to the beginning of the next ep.). What they actually did was so much better.

This whole YH team is really a bunch of artists.

[TheBo]

HumbleStudent said:

In addition to praising the actors and the writer we should also put in a word for the director. The direction of this show is generally very good, but among other merits it is often very skillful and subtle when it comes to facial expressions.
...
This whole YH team is really a bunch of artists.

I'm finally caught up to show #148 so it's safe for me to come back here...

It's funny, I was just thinking about the excellent direction myself. All the shots of what's going on with Sang-Min fading into what's going on with everyone else, and the way the classical music fades in just before you go to the Cucina Bella. Also the overlays of SM reflecting as he types the letters to Yuna, and the shot of his hands on the steering wheel just before they swept up his tears from his face... I also especially liked the shot where he goes (drunk) to M-J's and sees that she has taken down the wedding photos, and he sees it and she knows he sees it, and they're not looking at each other but they're both in the shot, but he doesn't mention it--it's the subtlety that makes it heartbreaking. I agree with you that the airport scene was truly brilliant and that the direction is generally very fine. (I could have maybe done without MR and TY singing at the karaoke place, but perhaps it would have seemed touching with the words translated for me.);D

Bo