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dangermousie
I kept thinking about Gisaeng at random intervals all day (which is why I am posting this and not watching 49 Days, for example). You know, even though Saran is pushing her happiness away with both hands (as everyone is telling her), I cannot blame her for it. Her choice to stay in the gisaeng house instead of leaving with Damo is not a rational one (because, even if she didn't love him, and she does, it's better than her current occupation) but she is not currently in any state to be rational - she found that everything about her very identity has been a lie, including things like her proper name and birthday. To make matters worse, it came right on the heels of Damo telling her he never cared for her. Not only did she find out her existence is a lie, she learned in short order that people closest to her and ones who acted as if they cared the most for her (her parents, her boyfriend), lied and lied and lied. It's as if there is nothing she can trust and everything can change without a second's notice. No wonder she doesn't want to come out of her self-imposed cocoon - she's given up expecting happiness so that she won't get her heart broken and she doesn't want to risk anything again. She tells Damo that she's barely holding it together as is and she couldn't take anything else. I think Damo does get it, too - even if she didn't enter gisaeng house because of him, it is partially his fault - she would have never learned the truth about her parentage if he didn't leave her (because stepmom would be so happy about her marrying up, she'd treat her as a queen) and even if somehow she did, she would have some support.
I love his response to her question about whether the price of having dating her is not too high (entering gisaeng house, looking for her parents, going against his own etc) and he replies: "No, that is the price for betraying you twice." I looooove that scene. (I presume by 'twice' he includes back in ep 5 (???) when he propositioned her, though I am not sure how it's a betrayal. Crass maybe, but a betrayal? Though I suppose he means betrayal of her expectations in him). Btw, I really loved the scene where she told him if he wants to be with her he can raise her hair (it's a gisaeng thing where he can make her his official mistress and get her an apartment and accounts). It's such a reverse mirror of that early scene where he propositioned her and she was so offended and appalled. And now she's the one offering her body and he's the one telling her to forget it, he'll marry her properly or nothing. Just as well, Saran must really not be thinking at all - how does she think it will work? His parents would have a fit if he married an orphan gisaeng, but does she think they'd have less of a fit if their only son (and an unmarried one at that) set up an official mistress? Yeah, right.
Oh, and this scene totally cracked me up - he tells her working all these menial tasks made him really get into perfect physical shape so they should get married asap so as to take advantage of that. Ahahahahaha. Damo is just so oddball sometimes.
Hey, his parents seem to be dead-set on grandkids, so clearly his future wife's n1 job will be to basically stay in bed with him forever and be very diligent about it, which doesn't sound too bad :P
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Date: 2011-04-25 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 01:04 am (UTC)It's very very addictive.
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Date: 2011-04-25 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 01:14 am (UTC)I am so addicted!
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Date: 2011-04-26 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 01:13 am (UTC)She is bound to snap out of it at some point, but the problem is by then it may be too late and she would have given up possibility a good career, her good name, and a chance at happiness in love. And screwed herself up further by selling herself as a mistress.
I do like that Damo begins to understand with these eps that she isn't doing this to punish him, or even because she doesn't believe his feelings, but because she's too hurt and scared to try anything at all again. I also like that, unlike in a typical drama, even though it's not her ex who broke her like that but her family issues, but he is in part responsible - he may not have been the final push but he contributed a hell of a lot. Damo is learning that actions have consequences and I like how this is making him grow and mature and do the right thing. By the end of the drama he is going to be a husband worth having, not just a very hot manchild with the maturity of an onion. If someone told Damo of the beginning eps, where he was all "I just want a wife who's pretty and entertains me" (the fact that she's of the right class goes without saying), a la a wifey kind of gisaeng, that he is going to be working as a servant to win the heart of a nameless penniless gisaeng, he would have probably been too boggled to even be offended. With his father as a role model, prior to all this stuff, he'd have made a pretty lacking husband.
I also loved that we got so many episodes of normalcy earlier - both in the relationship and in Saran's life in general. That way we know that fatalistic martyr is not her normal baseline and that Damo and she are very compatible, so once the stressors are gone, they'll be very happy together.
I really really want for Damo to believe Saran put up her hair for the CEO because I am interested how he'd react.
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Date: 2011-04-26 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 05:42 pm (UTC)Plus reading your recaps is really refreshing. It's really hard finding some proper fangirling that doesn't just look like "omg squeeeee!" and full of spelling mistakes.
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Date: 2011-04-28 02:02 am (UTC)Joking aside, I really do think you can discuss and meta but also squee at the same time.