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dangermousieI have powered through the first five episodes of A Million Stars (there is no way I will be typing out that long name every time).
It is SO good.
I find all of it interesting (though I confess the detective brother is the least interesting part of it, for me), but what really draws me in are the interactions Ryo has with Yuko. He tells her, at one point, that when he is with her, everything feels faster, and in a way, that is true for the audience as well: when they have scenes together, the screen bristles with chemistry and with damaged warmth (the only time Ryo shows it, really) and energy. And they connect from the first, don't they? Which is all the more amazing considering how shuttered down Ryo is...how unfunctional as a normal person he is. I think, in a way, it's Yuko's strength and abrasiveness that creates that. She is not a woman slavering over him (like the creepy obsessive gf) or 'easy prey' like that naive, useless Rich Girl who is a character I feel sorry for in the abstract, but impatient with in reality. Gal, I know he is Kimura Takuya, but he is someone who made no bones about scamming you for $$$ and who you know nothing about and whom you've met three times? And you are willing to give up everything and have sex with him on the kitchen counter? More importantly, you are willing to pin your future on him? She comes across as so sheltered she never felt life.
Side note: this drama has more kissing and making out in the first five episodes than I've seen in any other ten dramas put together. And Kimura has such chemistry with all the ladies (but then I think he is one of those actors who have chemistry with a stone post) and seems to know how to kiss (well, I hope so, seeing he is married with kids, but I mean on-screen kissing...)
Anyway, but with Yuko it isn't meaningless or a game because she is not a pushover but she is also emotionally honest, and she can read him so well: see the scene when he shows his burn scar and is all 'this is great, ladies love it when I take off my shirt, I get pity etc' and her comment about the reality of the burn (significantly, she has a burn as well) is spot-on and pierces through the snide comment leaving him all vulnerable. She sees the real him (the mess that is the real him) and she is not needy but her own person.
Ryo strikes me as someone desperate for love (which would tie in with him being brought up in an orphanage) but who is unable to connect and finds safety in this. But with Yuko, she gets through without even trying. He is human with her. Their interactions are when he is without masks: they are half sexy, half uncomfortable, but genuine. Scary Crazy GF can tell that, even when all they are doing are eating dinner together: Yuko is different from the whole string of Ryo's women.
My favorite scene so far? The one that closes ep 5. She has caught the bird he has in his apartment that escaped (long long post on symbolism is appropriate, but I am tired). And though he never has anyone in his apartment (which looks unlived in, like Joo Ji Hoon's in Mawang) she is there automatically, and he doesn't even think about it. And he tells her her brother suspects him of murder and what does she think, and she pauses and touches him and tells she believes what she sees for herself and kisses him lightly, on tiptoes. And there is a pause (OMG, is it possible to be more intense than Kimura when he wants to be?) and he tells her it's not an answer, and then he leans in and kisses her and it's this incredible, swoonworthy kiss, that is all loss of control on both of their parts, and they can't break apart and they are turning and turning against the bars in his house (once again, symbolic), devouring each other (thank you for proper kisses in this drama, TPTB!) and then they stop and he asks her to stay and she points out that he wants her to stay because he is experimenting: he feels when she is around so he wants/needs to see if he will continue to feel if she stays.
Oh, God.
Oh. God.
This is so excellent.
And seriously, Kimura Takuya is amazing. I keep saying it, but you know...he is. Ryo is not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, and very likely a killer. He is damaged almost beyond repair. And yet, just like the women in his life, even like Yuko who sees clearest the mess he is, you can't hate him...you are drawn in, even as your brain tells you that you are insane.
Seriously, go watch!!!!!
Now!!!
(And all this even with my subs being slightly dodgy).
I need more Kimura icons...
It is SO good.
I find all of it interesting (though I confess the detective brother is the least interesting part of it, for me), but what really draws me in are the interactions Ryo has with Yuko. He tells her, at one point, that when he is with her, everything feels faster, and in a way, that is true for the audience as well: when they have scenes together, the screen bristles with chemistry and with damaged warmth (the only time Ryo shows it, really) and energy. And they connect from the first, don't they? Which is all the more amazing considering how shuttered down Ryo is...how unfunctional as a normal person he is. I think, in a way, it's Yuko's strength and abrasiveness that creates that. She is not a woman slavering over him (like the creepy obsessive gf) or 'easy prey' like that naive, useless Rich Girl who is a character I feel sorry for in the abstract, but impatient with in reality. Gal, I know he is Kimura Takuya, but he is someone who made no bones about scamming you for $$$ and who you know nothing about and whom you've met three times? And you are willing to give up everything and have sex with him on the kitchen counter? More importantly, you are willing to pin your future on him? She comes across as so sheltered she never felt life.
Side note: this drama has more kissing and making out in the first five episodes than I've seen in any other ten dramas put together. And Kimura has such chemistry with all the ladies (but then I think he is one of those actors who have chemistry with a stone post) and seems to know how to kiss (well, I hope so, seeing he is married with kids, but I mean on-screen kissing...)
Anyway, but with Yuko it isn't meaningless or a game because she is not a pushover but she is also emotionally honest, and she can read him so well: see the scene when he shows his burn scar and is all 'this is great, ladies love it when I take off my shirt, I get pity etc' and her comment about the reality of the burn (significantly, she has a burn as well) is spot-on and pierces through the snide comment leaving him all vulnerable. She sees the real him (the mess that is the real him) and she is not needy but her own person.
Ryo strikes me as someone desperate for love (which would tie in with him being brought up in an orphanage) but who is unable to connect and finds safety in this. But with Yuko, she gets through without even trying. He is human with her. Their interactions are when he is without masks: they are half sexy, half uncomfortable, but genuine. Scary Crazy GF can tell that, even when all they are doing are eating dinner together: Yuko is different from the whole string of Ryo's women.
My favorite scene so far? The one that closes ep 5. She has caught the bird he has in his apartment that escaped (long long post on symbolism is appropriate, but I am tired). And though he never has anyone in his apartment (which looks unlived in, like Joo Ji Hoon's in Mawang) she is there automatically, and he doesn't even think about it. And he tells her her brother suspects him of murder and what does she think, and she pauses and touches him and tells she believes what she sees for herself and kisses him lightly, on tiptoes. And there is a pause (OMG, is it possible to be more intense than Kimura when he wants to be?) and he tells her it's not an answer, and then he leans in and kisses her and it's this incredible, swoonworthy kiss, that is all loss of control on both of their parts, and they can't break apart and they are turning and turning against the bars in his house (once again, symbolic), devouring each other (thank you for proper kisses in this drama, TPTB!) and then they stop and he asks her to stay and she points out that he wants her to stay because he is experimenting: he feels when she is around so he wants/needs to see if he will continue to feel if she stays.
Oh, God.
Oh. God.
This is so excellent.
And seriously, Kimura Takuya is amazing. I keep saying it, but you know...he is. Ryo is not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, and very likely a killer. He is damaged almost beyond repair. And yet, just like the women in his life, even like Yuko who sees clearest the mess he is, you can't hate him...you are drawn in, even as your brain tells you that you are insane.
Seriously, go watch!!!!!
Now!!!
(And all this even with my subs being slightly dodgy).
I need more Kimura icons...
