Gyebaek

[dangermousie]

Blame meganbmoore, but I am currently obtaining all the available episodes of Gyebaek for a crazed marathon.

Hey, she posted this:

And said this: For a bit of context, where I am now, he was just freed after spending 5-10 years as a slave forced to fight against his country while all but catatonic from a severe case of post-traumatic depression, and she's the only one who can touch him without risk of his completely flipping out [and isn't afraid of him at all] and he doesn't really know how to initiate non-violent physical contact.

If you know me, you know I could no more resist it than a lemming could resist a jump off a very high cliff.

It doesn't hurt that Lee Seo Jin is one of the very few actors who can do no wrong in my eyes.

I kinda feel like rewatching Lovers now. Or Damo, but I need my heart intact.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's not my fault sageuks are shameless.

I actually really dislike how he grabs her and basically forces her to turn around, but given his past, I can see how it's a lot of progress for him.

BTW, the younger versions of the leads plyed the younger versions of Ki Ha and Cheoro in Legend. I recognized her right away, but had to look him up.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Kdramas do have good younger actors.

I don't know about the grabbing scene - in a modern romcom, it may raise my eyebrows, but in a period drama, I sort of operate from your assumption.

[once-a-weaver.livejournal.com]

He's wonderful, and now I realize that I haven't seen him in anything but Damo, and this scene.

So I'm used to him with a beard and this is... odd.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

He has a beard later. (It's one of those where the first scene is set way later in the series, and then flashes back to the beginning.) Right now, they're trying to convince us that Lee Seo Jin can pass for his early 20s.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Is it like Legend where everyone was trying to pretend Bae Yong Joon was 17? ROFL. I adore Lee Seo Jin but that man will never see 30 again and looks it (which is part of my attraction).

They do it so much in sageuks (remember Jumong?) that when they do get a teen to play a teen (see Yeo Un in WBDS) it feels unnatural and wrong :P

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The "they're 17!" part of Legend never should have lasted as long as it did. I don'y know hoe long the current ages will last in Gye Baek, but it seems to follow the format where the adult part spans 10-20 years and has consistent aging throughout, insead of casting everyone so that they only fit a few episodes agewise.

Wuxias do the same, save that they don't span years usually. TBH, it does make a fair bit of sense. You don't want to recast every 5-10 eps, and you want a performer with the gravity and presence to carry a series period drama, not to mention the fight scenes.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The only way I got through the '17' part of Legend was to pretend they were saying '30' every time because BYJ and the actors who played Kiha and Ho Gae as 17-yr-olds was ludicrous.

It's like Giant, which is a drama I love, but had Lee Bum Soo, who won't see 40 again (and looks it) as an angry young man for the first half and I just couldn't see it.

It sort of have to be a balance - mainly by not announcing the wildly inconsistent age every ten minutes :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Gye Baek has kindly not mentioned age.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank God.

[once-a-weaver.livejournal.com]

"You don't want to recast every 5-10 eps, and you want a performer with the gravity and presence to carry a series period drama"

Yeah, it's easier for me to suspend disbelief with an actor's age than with changing actors of varying ability. I guess because then it's a consistent performance, a believable emotional arc, with the same actor. As long as I'm enjoying the story, I can accept a lot.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I may be biased (in fact, I am pretty sure I am) but I think he looks gorgeous without a beard too:

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

But he has much more suitable hair there. (Really, as far as "make him look younger!" sair, the hair in Gye Baek isn't bad at all and would be pretty good if they did something about the floppy bit in front, he's just had much better hair in other dramas.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Well, they didn't have modern mobster stylists in ancient Silla :)

I just realized that I don't think LSJ ever did a romcom. I can sort of get it because his vibe would sort of rampage through a romcom and leave it for dead, but still - odd.

[once-a-weaver.livejournal.com]

I think I can happily accept him with whatever facial hair choices he makes.

[kainee.livejournal.com]

Wait, what series is this?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Gyebaek. It's airing right now on M/T

[kainee.livejournal.com]

OMG, you and ockoala are so bad on my spare time. I've been watching dramas left and right instead of writing like I've been meaning to. LOL although I can still milk the whole being sick as a reason for why I'm procrastinating.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Am unrepentant :P

So, which ones are you thinking of checking out?

[kainee.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to catch up on my KDramas so considering Warrior Baek Dong Soo (Like the concept and also I like the actors as they've impressed in their previous dramas), Princess Man (been waiting for it to finish airing so I can spoil myself on the ending and then prepare myself accordingly), City Hunter (yes so bad of me but in my defense, I got sidetracked by Bu Bu Jing Xin). I also am getting on another idol drama kick so I might have to check out Sunshine Angel. Also, recently found out about some idol dramas made with Tang Yan and I'm thinking of checking out 2 with Tang Yan and Roy Qiu. Also, looking forward to the FengMi stuff as well. Actually, FengMi was a gateway drug for me as well. It doesn't help that they're so damn prolific in their appearances due to both of their workaholic natures. >_<

But I've been mostly watching CDramas since they're the easiest for me to finish off since I don't need to wait for subtitles so it's a lot quicker for me to just get the raws. I've gotta admit that Mainland China has really upped the production value of their TV series so I am definitely getting over my bias against mainland series. I think my bias against them other than for historical dramas is that as recently as a decade ago they didn't have the infrastructure to produce something with as high a production value as they are now. Also, it helps that I'm a lot better with reading simplified Chinese subtitles and the dubbing mostly overcomes whatever regional accent problems I have with understanding what's said. I still prefer traditional Chinese subtitles though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am only checking out the modern FengMi drama is they are the endgame and he's not her dead first love, which is what I heard rumored.

I am dying to watch Unbeatable with Hu Ge and Tang Yan out of modern cdramas, but need subs.

CH is amazing, watch ittttttttttt!

[kainee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm debating whether I should watch it via Netflix to show my support for further licensing of KDramas or the usual way which is more comfortable for me which is with Chinese subtitles. It's kinda strange because I started out watching everything non-Chinese with English subtitles but then once I started picking up some of what they were saying in Japanese or Korean, it made more sense to watch it with Chinese subtitles since due to the Chinese influence, the Chinese subtitles captured the feeling of what the original language said better than the English ones, at least to me.

Just saw the synopsis for that series but I'm working on the Waking Up Love series with Tang Yan since it's a retelling of Prince Who Turned Into A Frog, which I'm hoping will be better since I think Roy Qiu is frankly better and Tang Yan's crying ability equals Chen Qiao En's crying ability. I wish I could subtitle Unbeatable for you but OMG, I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of work needed to do subbing, much less actually do it!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The thing about languages makes sense. I much prefer to read French things in Russian translation because I think those feel better and more organic to me.

Thanks for the offer but don't worry :) withs2 may sub it :P

I dislike Ming Dao, so no disagreement there.

[kainee.livejournal.com]

LOL, just realized this entire comment is kinda off topic since it discusses anything else but Gyebaek. Also, I'm interested in the King Sejong drama that might be airing soon. So it looks like I will soon be looking at your problem of having too many dramas to watch. Although since holiday season is coming up, it might make a good winter-y day activity indoors as I huddle up in my bed-cave. :-P

I don't actively dislike Ming Dao but I never saw the big deal with him. I feel a bit bad for him because I could tell he was pretty earnest in trying hard in the BTS of Zhong Wuyan but he just has really bad taste with his series and he seems to have plateaued with his improvement. I share the same opinion as you about his Xiang Yu series that reunites him with Joe Chen. I just think it's too bad that his Prince Into A Frog co-star Sam Wang doesn't get more roles since I felt he had a lot of potential but that might be the 2nd lead syndrome speaking in me.

So yeah, hopefully the Mainland adaptation will be better for me although it might suffer from being a remake... But I didn't really want to tackle the other Tang Yan series with Roy Qiu which is really 2 series since it's an original series of 40 episodes with another sequel of 40 episodes. I might end up watching it though. Who knows.

[gurlygirl10.livejournal.com]

what episode is this in???

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

No idea - somewhere btw eps 3-11 but I haven't seen it yet so meganbmoore is the lady to ask :P

Isn't it amazing though?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it's around ep 14~? I couldn't find clips of the scenes in the earlier eps, except a couple movs about the more cheerful bits of the teen part.