Pride: thoughts on eps 10-11
Jul. 18th, 2008 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThe end of Pride always turns me into a ridiculous fangirl. I am literally making gibbering noises at the screen and half-grinning, half-snifffling.
Oh Halu. Oh Aki.
Side note of shallowness: Halu exercising like a maniac in a prison cell? Thank you very much, makers.
I love the letter Yamato sends to Halu, when Halu is in jail, locked in his little private bit of self-loathing. In a way, this is the one thing that could have pulled Halu through. Because it's not just from his best friend, but from another hockey player, someone who is as fanatical about Halu's passion, as Halu is. And someone who is also facing odds (and odds that make Halu's not look so bad). So...go Yamato!!!! I love the friendship between Halu and Yamato almost as much as I do Aki/Halu. They really work together. No wonder Yamato is the one person who Halu has see him off, when he goes to Canada.
Oh, Aki, you are amazing. She basically trades her freedom and happiness for Halu's freedom and ability to pursue his passion. Because clearly ScumBF is fixated on winning: he does not want to feel as if he's lost to Halu. And if he gets the woman Halu loves and almost wrecked his life for, then he 'wins.' And I love how Aki does it with no fuss, and denies to Mrs Coach that this is why she did it. Aki, you are amazing (but it breaks my heart how hard she tries to justify to herself that ScumBF isn't awful, even if she doesn't believe it herself.)
And Halu is out, and one of the two things he wants is within his reach (hockey) but the other (Aki) is not. I love the scene where she overhears him tells Yamato that he thought a woman was more important than hockey but she is not and he was wrong. He only says it out of hurt and loss, but of course Aki believes it and his face when he sees she heard! And she tells him he never tried to love her and slams her door and his face breaks my heart and he just stands by her door, leaning, as if he is not able to move. And she is weeping inside.
I think, in a way, he fixates on hockey again so much not just because he is a hockey maniac, but because he doesn't have anything else.
But Tomo (love him!!!!!) and Chika manage to convince ScumBF to break up with Aki. EEEEEE! It's clear he doesn't want her, he is just jealous because he thought nobody else would want her. I love the scene of Aki running to the Championship match and screaming 'Halu.' EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Oh, and I am total idiot. I never noticed before, that for Halu the Ice Goddess is Aki. OMGOMGOMG. I don't know where my brain was...this is huge.
And it proves that Coach Hyodo, who I've never warmed up to, was wrong: women are not a distraction. Loving someone, wanting to win for them and sharing a life with someone is a source of strength. That's basically what Halu says in an interview after the time jump, isn't it? That you need someone to love and being alone is not liberating but instead doesn't allow you to reach your full potential. Thank you for becoming adjusted, Halu.
The scene in the hospital, with Aki and Halu and eyes and hands (he offers his hand to shake and she takes it, and he pulls her close and just holds her. OMG. That was so hot, I almost combusted) is one of my favorite scenes in the whole drama. I love that she let him go, never said anything about restarting: this makes him free to pursue his dream of NHL. And it allows them time to grow as people (as opposed to jumping into a relationship immediately after the ScumBF fiasco) and decide that the other is what each really wants. I love that Halu does not have her make a promise to wait for him, he is not binding it the way ScumBF did. And it shows such a huge trust in her, doesn't it: a promise is a form of binding after all, which is what ScumBF did. But Halu trusts Aki: trusts her with his heart, utterly. Such a huge change from the damaged Halu of the beginning of the drama. And Halu doesn't necessarily believes he has the right for her heart when he gets back: all he trusts is that she will be always worthy of it, if it makes sense. Whatever she does (wait for him, marry another etc) will be Aki-like and honorable. I love that he carries her photograph everywhere with him (and he took the lightbulb, eeee!)
And the amazing, gorgeous ending: the empty skating ring and Aki looks up, and there is a puck and Halu is there, and there is grinning, and teasing, and intense staring and his marriag eproposal, and her grin and 'Maybe' and his correcting her 'Must be' and not breaking eye contact and that amazing kiss...OMG.
This drama is perfect to the end.
Next up, either Love Story or A Million Stars Falling From the Sky. Probably the latter.
Oh Halu. Oh Aki.
Side note of shallowness: Halu exercising like a maniac in a prison cell? Thank you very much, makers.
I love the letter Yamato sends to Halu, when Halu is in jail, locked in his little private bit of self-loathing. In a way, this is the one thing that could have pulled Halu through. Because it's not just from his best friend, but from another hockey player, someone who is as fanatical about Halu's passion, as Halu is. And someone who is also facing odds (and odds that make Halu's not look so bad). So...go Yamato!!!! I love the friendship between Halu and Yamato almost as much as I do Aki/Halu. They really work together. No wonder Yamato is the one person who Halu has see him off, when he goes to Canada.
Oh, Aki, you are amazing. She basically trades her freedom and happiness for Halu's freedom and ability to pursue his passion. Because clearly ScumBF is fixated on winning: he does not want to feel as if he's lost to Halu. And if he gets the woman Halu loves and almost wrecked his life for, then he 'wins.' And I love how Aki does it with no fuss, and denies to Mrs Coach that this is why she did it. Aki, you are amazing (but it breaks my heart how hard she tries to justify to herself that ScumBF isn't awful, even if she doesn't believe it herself.)
And Halu is out, and one of the two things he wants is within his reach (hockey) but the other (Aki) is not. I love the scene where she overhears him tells Yamato that he thought a woman was more important than hockey but she is not and he was wrong. He only says it out of hurt and loss, but of course Aki believes it and his face when he sees she heard! And she tells him he never tried to love her and slams her door and his face breaks my heart and he just stands by her door, leaning, as if he is not able to move. And she is weeping inside.
I think, in a way, he fixates on hockey again so much not just because he is a hockey maniac, but because he doesn't have anything else.
But Tomo (love him!!!!!) and Chika manage to convince ScumBF to break up with Aki. EEEEEE! It's clear he doesn't want her, he is just jealous because he thought nobody else would want her. I love the scene of Aki running to the Championship match and screaming 'Halu.' EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Oh, and I am total idiot. I never noticed before, that for Halu the Ice Goddess is Aki. OMGOMGOMG. I don't know where my brain was...this is huge.
And it proves that Coach Hyodo, who I've never warmed up to, was wrong: women are not a distraction. Loving someone, wanting to win for them and sharing a life with someone is a source of strength. That's basically what Halu says in an interview after the time jump, isn't it? That you need someone to love and being alone is not liberating but instead doesn't allow you to reach your full potential. Thank you for becoming adjusted, Halu.
The scene in the hospital, with Aki and Halu and eyes and hands (he offers his hand to shake and she takes it, and he pulls her close and just holds her. OMG. That was so hot, I almost combusted) is one of my favorite scenes in the whole drama. I love that she let him go, never said anything about restarting: this makes him free to pursue his dream of NHL. And it allows them time to grow as people (as opposed to jumping into a relationship immediately after the ScumBF fiasco) and decide that the other is what each really wants. I love that Halu does not have her make a promise to wait for him, he is not binding it the way ScumBF did. And it shows such a huge trust in her, doesn't it: a promise is a form of binding after all, which is what ScumBF did. But Halu trusts Aki: trusts her with his heart, utterly. Such a huge change from the damaged Halu of the beginning of the drama. And Halu doesn't necessarily believes he has the right for her heart when he gets back: all he trusts is that she will be always worthy of it, if it makes sense. Whatever she does (wait for him, marry another etc) will be Aki-like and honorable. I love that he carries her photograph everywhere with him (and he took the lightbulb, eeee!)
And the amazing, gorgeous ending: the empty skating ring and Aki looks up, and there is a puck and Halu is there, and there is grinning, and teasing, and intense staring and his marriag eproposal, and her grin and 'Maybe' and his correcting her 'Must be' and not breaking eye contact and that amazing kiss...OMG.
This drama is perfect to the end.
Next up, either Love Story or A Million Stars Falling From the Sky. Probably the latter.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 07:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 09:05 am (UTC)You didn't? That was the first thing I picked up in that weird scene (besides wondering if Takuya's lips will get stuck to the ice that is the way he lay there) :D
Pride was my first ever JDrama and thank goodness for that because it not only made me love (and prefer) jdramas over tw- and kdramas, it also made me fall for Takuya and discovering SMAP :D
no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 12:52 pm (UTC)By kissing the ice, was he making out with Aki in public? :)
Pride wasn't my first or even second jdrama but it's definitely the favorite. It's just...I can't think of anything about it that I'd change or improve.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 05:09 pm (UTC)I loved Yamato so. I never truly warmed up to Yuri but I was OK with her because I wanted Yamato to have whatever made him happy.
Re: Tattakoi. I really really dislike Kou - he'd hideous and twitchy and weird. I ffed through all his scenes. So I was glad Yuko got out :)