This is a conventional weekend kdrama, I mean, as funny and twisted options 2-4 are, I don't think they're going there... but I want Damo to hire somebody to kick the stepmom, just on principle.
LOL, true. Though if this was a period cdrama, n4 is exactly how it would end, minus the stds :)
If I ever hear swingers mentioned in a kdrama in any capacity, I will probably faint :p
Re: stepmom. Well, she may not get a beating, but now that Damo knows she was such a bitch to Saran, any hope of her cozying up to her rich upper-crust son in law is gone. I am pretty sure he'll tell her exactly what he thinks. And once Saran finds birth parents, she won't even ever need to see that awful fam (though hope she continues to meet with stepsis who will become her cousin in law if she keeps up with SJ)
I had no doubt in my mind that we'll eventually get our Saran/Damo conclusion... until I read that stuff on Soompi about NTOG being based on a novel where Saran's character (or well, the character she was based on) ended up becoming the head of Buyonggak after Oh Hwa Ran gets throat cancer or something. Because didn't she regularly get check-ups with Geum Eo San because of a nodule in her throat? My reaction to that: OMGPLZNO.
I read that too (and also that in the book the CEO does raise Saran's hair) but I am still not worried because the book doesn't have any birth secret ffor her (thus no anxious and status-appropriate parents) but there is also apparently no Damo or Damo-like character, either.
I am sure there will be a ton of obstacles (we are only on ep 28 of 50 ep drama after all and if D/S hook up for good before mid 40s eps, I'd be much surprised, but I am sure they are the endgame.
Just as well, Saran would be awful at running gisaeng house - she's nowhere near practical or hardheaded enough.
Re: stepmom. LOL. Well, during Saran's confession to him of her birth circs, Damo found out stepmom was cruel to her, so I think any chance for that awful woman to cozy up to him for money or status (once he and Saran are married) is gone. Damo is not the type to have any hesitation to tell someone he dislikes to GTFO.
Re: no Damo in the book, true that. It'd be very strange of Im Sung Han to bother spending 28 episodes developing his romance with Saran only to hand her over to a guy twice her age. Even if it was for the sake of angsty melodrama, it wouldn't happen midway through the drama, LOL.
Ditto, I doubt they'd hook up any time before the late 40s at least. A lot of people seem to be hoping for Saran/Damo to marry a good deal before the ending so that they'd go through a new series of problems as a married couple, based on the fact that this happened to the main couple in Assorted Gems, but that was totally different. There were also Kyle/Ruby, Sanho/Kangji and Hobak/Kkeutsoon to work with.
Saran wouldn't be able to teach anything useful to the gisaeng girls anyway - she's so bad with guys/people herself. Can you imagine her becoming an entertainer? I like her, but good god she can be a sourpuss. Zero people skills.
I hope stepmom and stepdad gets run over by Ra Ra's sports car, seriously. Stepdad more so, actually. Stepmom was bitchy and never tried too hard to hide it, but I cannot believe how spineless stepdad is.
Yes, exactly. Especially since this isn't really the nitty-gritty kitchen sink realism drama. Sure, in rl, Saran's quest for self-destruction would result in her sleeping with the CEO and losing Damo, but rl this isn't.
Saran makes a bad gisaeng imo, even with her beauty and singing/dancing skills, because she's barely holding it together. As a head gisaeng, that place would shut down in 2 months! I adore her, but she is aloof on the best of days - heck, Damo would make a better gisaeng than she would because he's 10 times more extraverted (she really is the ultimate intravert even without her current depression). Plus, he looks good in drag :)
Yeah, there are really no other otps here except for them. Well, stepsis and her guy, but they are not a major ship which can sustain drama's shippy conflict load once main otp has been resolved. Not to mention, this otp seems to have way more obstacles. But we'll see.
Re: stepparents. Yeah. At least Saran was never in doubt of what stepmom felt. Stepdad professed to love her and spilled the beans on something traumatic and is ok with her being groped for a living. I hope once she marries and finds her true parents, she never sees the awful twosome again.
heck, Damo would make a better gisaeng than she would because he's 10 times more extraverted
LOLOLOLLLLLLLL. Omg, I am not sure I wanted to be reminded of him being in drag.
Saran's the type of girl I adore in principle (and on-screen) because she's stunningly beautiful, talented, dignified, etc. But IRL I probably would never even speak to her, let alone be friends with her, because she's so closed off that you'd have to make an extraordinary effort just to get her to even speak to you like you're a human being. It's funny that she isn't actually arrogant, but she comes across as such because she seems downright unwilling to make human contact.
There seems to be a lot of fandom love for Gong Joo/Son Ja, but I actually have zero interest in them. I like them individually, but together they're pretty bland - maybe because both of them are so grounded that they're not likely to go through bouts of depression, LOL. Son Ja's about 20 times more mature than Damo is.
What I'd like to see is Saran to cease providing for her stepparents, or at least don't send back more than a couple quid (for a show of filial piety). They're awful, and I hate that general prevalent thought in Asian society where you're DOOMED to continue supporting parents/family members no matter how ridiculous their behaviour is, how badly they've treated you and how regularly they ruin your life. Seriously, I'm Asian myself, but I think there's a limit to these things; if they cast you out of the house and send you to work at a GISAENG HOUSE, for heaven's sake, why must you provide for them? Meanwhile, stepparents are living in luxury.
That's probably the part I liked best about Assorted Gems; while I wouldn't endorse this at all generally, Bi Chwi & Co. throwing out their parents actually made me cheer because of what they put the siblings through.
What, I thought he made a cute girl :) maybe the gisaeng house should bexpand its clientele.
I like GJ and SJ and their future kids will be lucky to have two such well-adjusted parents, but I am not interested in their story at all. As you said, no conflict.
Re: Saran. Yup. She comes across as stuck-up, but she isn't, just very reserved. She has no close friends at all and even someone as persistent as Damo took a while to get inside her walls (and if it wasn't for their insant, very powerful attraction, that probably wouldn't have happened). Yes, she could be a classical dancer (though much as she loces dance, I don't think she's driven. If she was, she'd keep striving for a slot - upon finding out she was adopted/being dumped/etc, she'd concentrate on that and not being a gisaeng. Just as well, that means she can be a happy housewife with munchkins who does her dancing on the side as a hobby). A bar girl gisaeng? I can think of few heroines whose personality is less suited.
Yup, if your parents are pimping you out, time to put your foot down and say enough. Oh how I long for Damo to unleash some of his caustic personality on them.
On the whole, the gisaeng girls' lives don't seem that bad, either. Okay, sure, they're unable to date and have to chat with disgusting old men night after night, but at least there're no sexual relations. Obviously it's still not ideal, but I think it's actually good for Saran to do something a little out of her comfort zone; maybe it'll dent her shell a bit. Bring her off her high horse, so to speak, because even though she's not really arrogant, she was able to keep harping on about her pride because she was still living relatively comfortably and hung around with rich people all day. On one hand I admire her poise, but on the other, I can see how some people might be offended at how withdrawn she is.
Oh, Damo's caustic personality. ♥ That's what I was most disappointed in him about, actually! Back when he dumped Saran and went all "But I have to please my PARENTS!" on her. What happened to the guy who'd do whatever he thought was right, regardless of what his crazy parents thought? If he could take Andre out and then sneakily return him instead of bringing him to the ski resort, I'm sure he could "accidentally" get married to Saran. At worse, move out and buy his own apartment! Problem of angry father/mother-in-law abusing Saran = resolved.
I didn't really mind her pride thing, precisely because she's surrounded by rich people who can buy her family 10x over, so she has to maintain it as a form of self-defense. Especially since the main one she does that with is Damo and he has such a strong personality, that if she didn't, he'd probably run all over her and not even realize it.
Gisaeng lifestyle sounds awful to me. Sure, they aren't hookers or strippers (unless a guy pays a lot of cash and makes them a mistress, that is) but that is about the most I can say about it. It's degrading and bad for your health (all that drinking cannot be good for you), and dead-end and pretty much ends all hope of societal respectability and acceptance.
Re: Damo's dumping her. I don't know, it made sense to me - marrying someone unsuitable is a huge thing and fundamentally different from his other acts of rebellion. But even that was less of an issue, imo, than the fact that he didn't just do it to sate his parents' prejudices - he did it because he shared them (which is unsurprising seeing that is the view of his entire class). Only after losing her did he realize they mattered less than his feelings. I think he also temporarily really lost it because he got so terrified he was falling and not able to control it and reacted by break-up - I am sure that fed into it, he's pretty into self-control of emotions and Saran breaks that into bits. I bet he never had a strong feeling for anyone before, let alone a feeling he couldn't control (guy should have known it was game over when he was ready to kneel in dirty street so she'd forgive him all the way back in ep 5 or so).
From dramaok's explanation on Soompi, actually, doesn't the "raising the hair" thing still not automatically mean "mistress" in a sexual sense? I thought it just meant they had exclusive access to said gisaeng; i.e. that gisaeng will only entertain them, not other men. The whole issue is confusing.
As for the quality of lifestyle, when I mentioned positives, I meant it only in a companionship sense. :P For someone desperately lonely like Saran, being around girls who are less guarded might actually be a good thing. She can never open up to people like Ah Mi and Joo Ah because they're so rich that they can't possibly understand what she's going through, but gisaeng girls who're not in great positions themselves would be different. They also seem to live comfortably enough, they get lessons in useful things like English, and they're not forbidden from leaving.
Damo's such a confusing character. He'd do things that convinces me that he actually thinks surprisingly deeply about issues, but then he'd turn around and do something that's about as intelligent and subtle as a 5-year-old.
Except she isn't getting any closer to other gisaengs because she's depressed and beccause they are either bemused or annoyed by the whole bf thing.
Re: hair. Surely buying her an apartment and giving assets is a bit much for an esclusive drinks-pourer. Nor would it narratively make sense seeing as it's been built up into this huge thing as it wouldn't be a big enough deal for otp angst to ratchet 10x. Traditionally I believe it meant becoming someone's exclusive mistress - something like with the geishas. The whole "and it's a gisaeng take on marriage" would also bear it out.
Re: Damo. Well, he's smart but he is not the most mature person - he will understand things deeply if he gives himself enough time and incentive to think but the problem is he doesn't always allow himself that time.
What I was most bothered it is the chosen actor for the role! C'mon we have lots of sexy harabugi in Klala land - half of them played in QSD (Jung Sung Mo-b 1956 , Dok GO Young Jae b 1953, or Lee Jae Young ( it would be a ton of jokes about his wig/hair transplant but all of them look at least presentable -errmm he has daughters at home - let's go with older brother from Midas and the papa in 49 days - to bring on the sleaziness in the front - a daughter the same in a current movie would have some impact) - but please not that actor - he looks gross to me - in a way he portrays the typical client for gisaengs on the other hand let DaMo to suffer a bit more - so in the middle of the night he could wonder if she likes the guy or she does it coz this is her job - and to make the shipper in me wonder which will be the end ( at least I wouldn't go to throw up after the ep ends even I know that a guy like that is most probably to meet in such a house)
The thing is, I actually like that he's sleazy-looking and unattractive - he's not really there as a bona fide rom$antic rival. An obstacle -yes (and I do think it would be worse for Damo to think the woman he loves and did all that stuff for rejected him purely for screwed-up, material considerations, than if she did really like the rival. That way, in Damo's mind, he's not even worth as much to her as a man she feels nothing for.)
Also, old dude looks perfect as a candidate to reflect Saran's martyrdom kick/worthlessness feelings/depression. It would be less bad for her if he was some hot older dude any girl could get a thing for.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-04-26 03:01 am (UTC):DDD
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Date: 2011-04-26 11:59 am (UTC)If I ever hear swingers mentioned in a kdrama in any capacity, I will probably faint :p
Re: stepmom. Well, she may not get a beating, but now that Damo knows she was such a bitch to Saran, any hope of her cozying up to her rich upper-crust son in law is gone. I am pretty sure he'll tell her exactly what he thinks. And once Saran finds birth parents, she won't even ever need to see that awful fam (though hope she continues to meet with stepsis who will become her cousin in law if she keeps up with SJ)
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Date: 2011-04-26 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 11:55 am (UTC)I am sure there will be a ton of obstacles (we are only on ep 28 of 50 ep drama after all and if D/S hook up for good before mid 40s eps, I'd be much surprised, but I am sure they are the endgame.
Just as well, Saran would be awful at running gisaeng house - she's nowhere near practical or hardheaded enough.
Re: stepmom. LOL. Well, during Saran's confession to him of her birth circs, Damo found out stepmom was cruel to her, so I think any chance for that awful woman to cozy up to him for money or status (once he and Saran are married) is gone. Damo is not the type to have any hesitation to tell someone he dislikes to GTFO.
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Date: 2011-04-26 12:05 pm (UTC)Ditto, I doubt they'd hook up any time before the late 40s at least. A lot of people seem to be hoping for Saran/Damo to marry a good deal before the ending so that they'd go through a new series of problems as a married couple, based on the fact that this happened to the main couple in Assorted Gems, but that was totally different. There were also Kyle/Ruby, Sanho/Kangji and Hobak/Kkeutsoon to work with.
Saran wouldn't be able to teach anything useful to the gisaeng girls anyway - she's so bad with guys/people herself. Can you imagine her becoming an entertainer? I like her, but good god she can be a sourpuss. Zero people skills.
I hope stepmom and stepdad gets run over by Ra Ra's sports car, seriously. Stepdad more so, actually. Stepmom was bitchy and never tried too hard to hide it, but I cannot believe how spineless stepdad is.
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Date: 2011-04-26 12:38 pm (UTC)Saran makes a bad gisaeng imo, even with her beauty and singing/dancing skills, because she's barely holding it together. As a head gisaeng, that place would shut down in 2 months! I adore her, but she is aloof on the best of days - heck, Damo would make a better gisaeng than she would because he's 10 times more extraverted (she really is the ultimate intravert even without her current depression). Plus, he looks good in drag :)
Yeah, there are really no other otps here except for them. Well, stepsis and her guy, but they are not a major ship which can sustain drama's shippy conflict load once main otp has been resolved. Not to mention, this otp seems to have way more obstacles. But we'll see.
Re: stepparents. Yeah. At least Saran was never in doubt of what stepmom felt. Stepdad professed to love her and spilled the beans on something traumatic and is ok with her being groped for a living. I hope once she marries and finds her true parents, she never sees the awful twosome again.
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Date: 2011-04-26 01:07 pm (UTC)LOLOLOLLLLLLLL. Omg, I am not sure I wanted to be reminded of him being in drag.
Saran's the type of girl I adore in principle (and on-screen) because she's stunningly beautiful, talented, dignified, etc. But IRL I probably would never even speak to her, let alone be friends with her, because she's so closed off that you'd have to make an extraordinary effort just to get her to even speak to you like you're a human being. It's funny that she isn't actually arrogant, but she comes across as such because she seems downright unwilling to make human contact.
There seems to be a lot of fandom love for Gong Joo/Son Ja, but I actually have zero interest in them. I like them individually, but together they're pretty bland - maybe because both of them are so grounded that they're not likely to go through bouts of depression, LOL. Son Ja's about 20 times more mature than Damo is.
What I'd like to see is Saran to cease providing for her stepparents, or at least don't send back more than a couple quid (for a show of filial piety). They're awful, and I hate that general prevalent thought in Asian society where you're DOOMED to continue supporting parents/family members no matter how ridiculous their behaviour is, how badly they've treated you and how regularly they ruin your life. Seriously, I'm Asian myself, but I think there's a limit to these things; if they cast you out of the house and send you to work at a GISAENG HOUSE, for heaven's sake, why must you provide for them? Meanwhile, stepparents are living in luxury.
That's probably the part I liked best about Assorted Gems; while I wouldn't endorse this at all generally, Bi Chwi & Co. throwing out their parents actually made me cheer because of what they put the siblings through.
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Date: 2011-04-26 01:43 pm (UTC)I like GJ and SJ and their future kids will be lucky to have two such well-adjusted parents, but I am not interested in their story at all. As you said, no conflict.
Re: Saran. Yup. She comes across as stuck-up, but she isn't, just very reserved. She has no close friends at all and even someone as persistent as Damo took a while to get inside her walls (and if it wasn't for their insant, very powerful attraction, that probably wouldn't have happened). Yes, she could be a classical dancer (though much as she loces dance, I don't think she's driven. If she was, she'd keep striving for a slot - upon finding out she was adopted/being dumped/etc, she'd concentrate on that and not being a gisaeng. Just as well, that means she can be a happy housewife with munchkins who does her dancing on the side as a hobby). A bar girl gisaeng? I can think of few heroines whose personality is less suited.
Yup, if your parents are pimping you out, time to put your foot down and say enough. Oh how I long for Damo to unleash some of his caustic personality on them.
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Date: 2011-04-26 02:23 pm (UTC)Oh, Damo's caustic personality. ♥ That's what I was most disappointed in him about, actually! Back when he dumped Saran and went all "But I have to please my PARENTS!" on her. What happened to the guy who'd do whatever he thought was right, regardless of what his crazy parents thought? If he could take Andre out and then sneakily return him instead of bringing him to the ski resort, I'm sure he could "accidentally" get married to Saran. At worse, move out and buy his own apartment! Problem of angry father/mother-in-law abusing Saran = resolved.
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Date: 2011-04-26 02:43 pm (UTC)Gisaeng lifestyle sounds awful to me. Sure, they aren't hookers or strippers (unless a guy pays a lot of cash and makes them a mistress, that is) but that is about the most I can say about it. It's degrading and bad for your health (all that drinking cannot be good for you), and dead-end and pretty much ends all hope of societal respectability and acceptance.
Re: Damo's dumping her. I don't know, it made sense to me - marrying someone unsuitable is a huge thing and fundamentally different from his other acts of rebellion. But even that was less of an issue, imo, than the fact that he didn't just do it to sate his parents' prejudices - he did it because he shared them (which is unsurprising seeing that is the view of his entire class). Only after losing her did he realize they mattered less than his feelings. I think he also temporarily really lost it because he got so terrified he was falling and not able to control it and reacted by break-up - I am sure that fed into it, he's pretty into self-control of emotions and Saran breaks that into bits. I bet he never had a strong feeling for anyone before, let alone a feeling he couldn't control (guy should have known it was game over when he was ready to kneel in dirty street so she'd forgive him all the way back in ep 5 or so).
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Date: 2011-04-26 04:29 pm (UTC)As for the quality of lifestyle, when I mentioned positives, I meant it only in a companionship sense. :P For someone desperately lonely like Saran, being around girls who are less guarded might actually be a good thing. She can never open up to people like Ah Mi and Joo Ah because they're so rich that they can't possibly understand what she's going through, but gisaeng girls who're not in great positions themselves would be different. They also seem to live comfortably enough, they get lessons in useful things like English, and they're not forbidden from leaving.
Damo's such a confusing character. He'd do things that convinces me that he actually thinks surprisingly deeply about issues, but then he'd turn around and do something that's about as intelligent and subtle as a 5-year-old.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 04:46 pm (UTC)Re: hair. Surely buying her an apartment and giving assets is a bit much for an esclusive drinks-pourer. Nor would it narratively make sense seeing as it's been built up into this huge thing as it wouldn't be a big enough deal for otp angst to ratchet 10x. Traditionally I believe it meant becoming someone's exclusive mistress - something like with the geishas. The whole "and it's a gisaeng take on marriage" would also bear it out.
Re: Damo. Well, he's smart but he is not the most mature person - he will understand things deeply if he gives himself enough time and incentive to think but the problem is he doesn't always allow himself that time.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 08:31 pm (UTC)C'mon we have lots of sexy harabugi in Klala land - half of them played in QSD (Jung Sung Mo-b 1956 , Dok GO Young Jae b 1953, or Lee Jae Young ( it would be a ton of jokes about his wig/hair transplant but all of them look at least presentable -errmm he has daughters at home - let's go with older brother from Midas and the papa in 49 days - to bring on the sleaziness in the front - a daughter the same in a current movie would have some impact) - but please not that actor - he looks gross to me - in a way he portrays the typical client for gisaengs on the other hand let DaMo to suffer a bit more - so in the middle of the night he could wonder if she likes the guy or she does it coz this is her job - and to make the shipper in me wonder which will be the end ( at least I wouldn't go to throw up after the ep ends even I know that a guy like that is most probably to meet in such a house)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-26 08:43 pm (UTC)Also, old dude looks perfect as a candidate to reflect Saran's martyrdom kick/worthlessness feelings/depression. It would be less bad for her if he was some hot older dude any girl could get a thing for.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-27 07:45 am (UTC)but you are right