Swallow the Sun: when sexiness happens

[dangermousie]

I had a nice long post summary for eps 10-11 of Swallow the Sun ready but it's going to have to wait. Because I was skimming my downloads to see that they joined correctly and then I came across this in some later ep:



Another reason to love the crew who made this drama (and also IRIS, Lobbyist, All In et al) - not only do they give us strong women and tough men but in the kdrama world of being terrified to show kisses where mouths move even a millimeter and grown-ups behave like 10-yr-olds when it comes to touch, they realize that adults in love = physical intimacy happens. And sometimes there is nudity and tongue. And yet the Universe does not explode and kill us all.





























He runs out to buy food to cook her breakfast. EEEEE!











Side note: due to trailers at the end, I realized that the drama after StS was You're Beautiful (talk about a change of pace :P) YAB aired opposite IRIS. So what that means is that last year one could go directly from the awesomeness of StS to the incredible awesomeness of IRIS.

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

** is finally interested ** You see, though I understand why you like the dramas you mentioned - IRIS, Lobbyist, All In are all pretty decent dramas, the thing you like, namely "abundance of plot" is not something I like in dramas because:
1) I prefer dramas (or any other fiction) to be more psychologically-inclined than plot-inclined
2) the plots in all these dramas usually somewhat remind me of USA or UK shows , only with added naivety and bad English ("gansta" so to speak)
3) My brain can't cope with so much plot anyways

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

ETA: OMG, I am STILL on a Chuno high. I think about that ending and totally randomly grin during the day.

I have yet to see an 'abundance of plot' take over character stuff in a kdrama - mainly because at 16 eps at the very shortest they do have a lot of character interaction stuff but it's hard to make a plot-driven thriller that long. Now, sometimes that character stuff is stupid and useless (A Man Called God is just trashy all around) but it's there.

But yes, I like the more plotty dramas - when a drama has very little plot (the way fluffy dramas have it - YAB, Sweet 18, Lee Pyung Kang etc), no matter how well it may be made, I check out (Now that the heat has passed I can acknowledge that YAB was excellently made - but the fact remains that this particular fluffy subgenre does not work for me at all).

I think it also has to do with two other things - for some reason in the recent years I have gotten more and more impatient with 'cutesy' - cutesy characters, cutesy plots, even cutesy dramas. (I wonder how I'd take Goong now if I rewatched). It doesn't mean I won't like a drama because it has cutesy stuff in it but sometimes I do get annoyed with it. The more serious dramas (whether they be melodramas like Christmas or revenge stories like Green Rose or period dramas like Chuno) are a lot less likely to have cutesy stuff.

And the second thing is - the kind of heroes I prefer (someone tough with a gun/sword and getting horribly tortured) don't normally appear in a romcom - I mean, can you imagine? :)

Also, I don't really watch US shows (not any principled reason or anything - I just can't get into stories that don't have a set number of eps and so a set arc - for some reason scifi is the only area of exception) so the similarities (which are undoubtedly there) don't bother me.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

ETA: OMG, I am STILL on a Chuno high. I think about that ending and totally randomly grin during the day.

me too. I also was recced a way to watch viikii, so I watched all the eps up to 23 yesterday (ep. 24 subs should be ready today) - the stuff that is going on between DG/TH in the last episodes is most awesome . I actually truly wished that we could have had more of their interaction - I finally really understood where both characters are coming from. DG totally makes TH snap out of "I am a soldier, there in more honour than to die in batterfield" and TH - the way he says to DG "Ever blamed the world for bad things that happened?" ? And DG says "Don't we all?" . I weeped here, and it was only a passing comment.

And yep, I get the differences in drama-watch likes. I like fluffy from time time , when it is well done as in YAB (jokes, music, all such stuff has value by itself), but I do get overloaded with it easily.

My faves are usually in a middle - like "Slingshot" or "Mawang" or "cHuno", where a lot of psychological stuff is going on as well as some interesting (and preferably original) plot, with romance added as a bonus. I think I am particular keen on psychological stuff.

And yes, I do watch a fair amount of US/UK shows.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's interesting - looking back I can pinpoint precisely when my love for YAB went to unhappiness with it - it was right around the time I realized that it was never going to have a more complicated plot or ratchet up the angst than what it was at that moment. Before all the things that bugged me (like the fact that the heroine wasn't my type of heroine at all) - I noticed them but they weren't an issue until I realized I wasn't going to get what I want plot/angstwise. I like fluffy bits as long as I am guaranteed a bucket of angst with it (if My Girl didn't have eps 14-16, I would have liked it but it would have never been on a favorite list).

I think part of the reason I like IRIS/All In/etc so much is that for me they combine everything I like in Western shows (guns and fights, men and women being in bed with each other, general vibe) but add a certain kdrama melodrama sensibility. So for me it's the best of both worlds :)

"Ever blamed the world for bad things that happened?" ? And DG says "Don't we all?" .

Oh. Oh. OH.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

It's interesting - looking back I can pinpoint precisely when my love for YAB went to unhappiness with it - it was right around the time I realized that it was never going to have a more complicated plot or ratchet up the angst than what it was at that moment.

You see, this was clear for me from the word go - it looked like that type of drama that will never go plotty or too angsty.

I think part of the reason I like IRIS/All In/etc so much is that for me they combine everything I like in Western shows (guns and fights, men and women being in bed with each other, general vibe) but add a certain kdrama melodrama sensibility. So for me it's the best of both worlds :)

I understand how this can work - but for some reason I have two standards , one for Western shows and one for dramas. The things I easily accept and like in dramas (cheese, etc. ) - I would never accept them in Western shows. My favourites there tend to be free of all this - "The Wire", "Generation Kill", first two seasons of BSG, things like that.

I guess may be why sageuks work so well for me (the good ending ones :D)- they really don't have too much of similarity with anything out there.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You see, this was clear for me from the word go - it looked like that type of drama that will never go plotty or too angsty.

But I've seen other dramas that started fluffy and ended up angsty (even other Hong Sisters dramas). And there was this potential - she's an almost nun, the parents' thing - they could have even believed they were half-siblings, or went the Coffee Prince route where he thought he was attracted to a boy.

I craved my angst :)

I understand how this can work - but for some reason I have two standards , one for Western shows and one for dramas.

That makes sense - I don't have that with dramas but I have the dual standard with Bollywood. When they go artsy I compare it to American movies (with mixed results) but a big silly song-and-dance extravaganza? I never do and take it on its merits.

Btw, if you want to see a really BAD action drama (by any standard, Western OR Korean), check out A Man Called God - I tried watching it and nearly died from horror.