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dangermousieMy best and oldest friend is coming for the weekend so chances of watching more Family Honor this weekend seem dim. I probably need a break so my eyeballs will thank me, anyway.
One quick thought - I started thinking this an ep or so ago, but when my flisties confirmed to me that Kang Suk is overcompensating for his sister, it really is hitting me how this so makes sense in light of his behavior with his parents.
He's pretty much the world's most ideal son, to the degree that it is not natural. Fine, his business practices meet with his Dad's approval - that's not particularly odd. But then his parents decide they want to sell the profitable company asap and open some harebrained resort business and what does the super alpha (LOL at the scene at the amusement park), hardcore businessman Kang Suk do? He does not make a peep, he finds a person to sell it, and the salesman is all "this is a bad idea, this is a bad time, blahblahblah" but KS is all 'sell it anyway.' He always covers up for his Dad's sort-of filandering and talks his Mom out of her fits, he is chasing that ridiculous genealogy which he thinks is worthless because they want it. And he never ever ever EVER until ep 19 when, significantly, he tells them to leave the sister alone and be satisfied with him being the ideal son, ever says or even thinks to himself a cross thing. The impatient, no-nonsense KS? When his parents are often nonsensical and always vulgar? Fine, he loves his parents, but like this? Nobody is like this naturally - that's the way a robot behaves, not a son.
So yeah, his comment in ep 19 pretty much gives away it's not natural to him but a role he is making himself play. But it's a big part of his identity, even if he does it to protect his sis. So I wonder how is it going to go once he decides he wants to marry Dan Ah (assuming he can even convince her heart to leave the grave) because I am pretty sure his parents don't want her for a daughter-in-law - she's a widow and all. I mean, I am not even sure he knows how to oppose his parents, so I think this will be good for him - repressing all natural impulses is not good as Dan Ah might attest to. Btw, I don't think her family will be thrilled either though I think they will be much better about it, if for no other reason that this would mean she's finally ready to rejoin the living. Still - they might not care he is not upperclass, but they don't like him personally, not that he's given them much cause to.
One last note - everyone kept telling me I'd hate College Hottie by now, but I don't. I don't ship him with Dan Ah because it's clear she is incapable of opening up to/with him and he cannot thaw her (plus, the fact that he is a dead ringer for her hubby would keep her mired in the past and dysfunctional forever). But I like him - he's a nice kid and it's not as if Dan Ah is madly in love with Kang Suk and he's effectively butting in - she is not and he is not (I don't think he's capable of being effective like that).
So yeah, that's my dissertation.
One quick thought - I started thinking this an ep or so ago, but when my flisties confirmed to me that Kang Suk is overcompensating for his sister, it really is hitting me how this so makes sense in light of his behavior with his parents.
He's pretty much the world's most ideal son, to the degree that it is not natural. Fine, his business practices meet with his Dad's approval - that's not particularly odd. But then his parents decide they want to sell the profitable company asap and open some harebrained resort business and what does the super alpha (LOL at the scene at the amusement park), hardcore businessman Kang Suk do? He does not make a peep, he finds a person to sell it, and the salesman is all "this is a bad idea, this is a bad time, blahblahblah" but KS is all 'sell it anyway.' He always covers up for his Dad's sort-of filandering and talks his Mom out of her fits, he is chasing that ridiculous genealogy which he thinks is worthless because they want it. And he never ever ever EVER until ep 19 when, significantly, he tells them to leave the sister alone and be satisfied with him being the ideal son, ever says or even thinks to himself a cross thing. The impatient, no-nonsense KS? When his parents are often nonsensical and always vulgar? Fine, he loves his parents, but like this? Nobody is like this naturally - that's the way a robot behaves, not a son.
So yeah, his comment in ep 19 pretty much gives away it's not natural to him but a role he is making himself play. But it's a big part of his identity, even if he does it to protect his sis. So I wonder how is it going to go once he decides he wants to marry Dan Ah (assuming he can even convince her heart to leave the grave) because I am pretty sure his parents don't want her for a daughter-in-law - she's a widow and all. I mean, I am not even sure he knows how to oppose his parents, so I think this will be good for him - repressing all natural impulses is not good as Dan Ah might attest to. Btw, I don't think her family will be thrilled either though I think they will be much better about it, if for no other reason that this would mean she's finally ready to rejoin the living. Still - they might not care he is not upperclass, but they don't like him personally, not that he's given them much cause to.
One last note - everyone kept telling me I'd hate College Hottie by now, but I don't. I don't ship him with Dan Ah because it's clear she is incapable of opening up to/with him and he cannot thaw her (plus, the fact that he is a dead ringer for her hubby would keep her mired in the past and dysfunctional forever). But I like him - he's a nice kid and it's not as if Dan Ah is madly in love with Kang Suk and he's effectively butting in - she is not and he is not (I don't think he's capable of being effective like that).
So yeah, that's my dissertation.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 02:26 pm (UTC)I mean...to me, his filial piety had been proof all along that he was a good person underneath? Probably because filial piety is the foundation for virtue, to paraphrase Confucius. Also, the way Gang-seok behaves towards his parents reads as very masculine to me; I mean, he supports and takes care of them like the eldest son is expected to, which makes me think, "Wow, that's a real man." I don't know, a lot of this interpretation may just be due to cultural values. In any case, I certainly don't think Dan-a would ever criticize Gang-seok for doing what his parents say or think it's abnormal--given her upbringing and her strongly Confucian values, she would probably do the same in his position.
Heh, my big beef with Hyeon-gyu is that he doesn't know how to take no for an answer, tries to act paternalistically towards her when she's older than him, and really manhandles Dan-a when he starts to get jealous. I did like him better once he accepts Dan-a's relationship with Gang-seok.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 08:35 pm (UTC)To compare it to Gloria, this writer's other long drama I've seen - the hero in that one is very dutiful but I never got the sense he was incapable of independent thought about it or was subsumed into it.
I am not saying KS should yell at his parents but he's in his thirties and we've never seen him even mentally roll his eyes at anything they say/do/want in the privacy of his own room. Nor does he ever push back unless it has to do with his sister, however deserved push-back would be. That is not natural, especially it's not as if they are some sort of paragons. You can still be dutiful while maintaining your own opinions and desires.
In Gloria, one of the things I liked was that the hero learned how to say no (granted, that family was fucked up). I am not saying KS should throw his parents into the snow, but he needs to stop acting so slavishly/robotic. I just find it unnatural and I never find dutiful characters in kdramas unnatural as a rule.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 09:48 pm (UTC)I think you could make the argument given what he says about his past that Gang-seok feels a lot of guilt towards his parents and thus is extra careful to not defy them, and I'd concede that having such guilt is unhealthy, but I would still think that it's a conscious decision on his part, not him being robotic.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-13 02:34 am (UTC)I do wonder why he has such a 'they can all go die' attitude about everyone outside the family. He's not actively malicious or anything, but he wouldn't care if everyone outside his family spontaneously combusted. Now that I am on ep 20, he's falling for DA so he's expanding his circle of care to DA, but it's not changing his general attitude of indifference towards humanity and that is odd.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-13 03:41 am (UTC)Completely agreed about how he still doesn't care about the outside world even when he starts to fall in love with Dan-a. From what I remember, it takes him a loooong time, with plenty of angst, to admit why he feels that way. But Dan-a can do anything! Gang-seok's emo manpain is no match for her awesomeness. XD