dangermousie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dangermousie) wrote2012-05-31 12:04 am
dangermousie) wrote2012-05-31 12:04 am
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Bridal Mask - initial impressions
So, the first episode of Bridal Mask (also known as Gaksital and Doll Mask) is out. It was my most anticipated of the year, even narrowly edging out Song Ji Na's Faith. When I started watching the first episode, I literally muttered a quasi-prayer under my breath for it not to be bad.
An episode in and I am giddy with anticipation for more - I haven't felt that same inner buzz since Shut Up Flower Boy Band or, more aptly, City Hunter.
First off, a word or two of warning because I believe in putting my biases out there in plain sight so anyone can have an easier time making up their mind if my rave means they will give it a chance. I love the (too few) dramas set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, I love superhero/masked avenger stories, and I love Joo Won. So I am already more predisposed towards it than someone who is neutral or negative on any of these three. Plus, I would love this drama if for no other reason than it's about the undisputable bad guy slowly becoming the hero.
(First off, apologies for cap quality. I am still getting 720p but they are taking forever so this is the regular HANrel caps and they aren't great).
The drama starts in entertaining broad stokes (masked avenger slicing through funeral flags, Joo Won screaming at the crowds to weep at the propaganda funeral of the collaborator, making them do so at swordpoint) but as the episode proceeds, those broke strokes slowly recede (and I don't mind somewhat broad brushes in what is pretty much period Batman anyway) and the surprisingly nuanced and moving story emerges.
Joo Won, as the protagonist is suitably magnetic (sometime he overdoes a bit on the rage, but it's a superhero story, so I think the operatic vibe suits it, and he's impeccable in quiet scenes).
This drama is not very much like Chuno at all (interestingly, I've heard the role was offered to Jang Hyuk and he turned it down), but it reminds me of it in one way - when we start the first episode of Chuno, we see Dae Gil as this inhuman fighting machine, but by the end of the episode, we discover that our protagonist is no monster but a very damaged human being who's had almost all noble impulses beaten out of him by life. And the same is true in Gaksital - like Chuno it takes someone where our default reaction is to despise them (in Chuno, a slave hunter, in Gaksital, a Korean collaborationist with the Japanese, killing rebel leaders and rising through police ranks) and make us understand them, pity them, and yearn for their redemption.
Kang To, Jae Won's character, isn't someone who joined the police force due to some deep-seated belief in Japanese superiority or inherent desire to lackspittle. No, he is someone who saw, from childhood, the price the fight for independence exacted on his family - father's death, loss of family wealth to pour funds into the cause resulting in poverty, his older brother's torture and subsequent descent into imbecility, not to mention that little flashback when he was being hunted by sword-wielding killers when he was a small boy - you can tell that somewhere along the way he finally snapped, full of rage against the cause that took so much from him (his winning over independence fighters is oddly personal for him - watch him at the trial of a famous revolutionary leader), and decided that the best way to have a good life was to join the Japanese (and, tellingly, it is not just about good life for himself - he is clearly a good brother and son). The thing is, he doesn't fit in either world - Koreans fear and/or despise him - his own mother kicks him out and there is that scene with the car (the urchins being fascinated by the car, but when he rolls the window down to offer them sweets, they see who it is and run screaming away) but he will never be Japanese, never be truly accepted anything other than second class by the Empire, no matter how many legendary rebels he catches.
It is obvious what will give the push to Kang To to switch sides - his older brother. But much as I love their relationship, I confess to being more interested in his relationships with Shunji (Park Ki Woong's character) and with Mok Dan, our heroine. Shunji is the one person Kang To seems to open up to, in part because neither one comfortably fits into the proper profile - Kang To is a Korean working for the occupying force and Shunji is a Japanese man dedicated to teaching in Korea.
I don't normally slash but I confess to thinking I might go that way for once after all the sword-fighting practice:
Oh, and full body hugs and the SLEEPOVERS the two engage in :)
And there is Mok Dan. I love her already - any heroine whose introduction is a fight scene is exactly up my alley. She also seems to possess the optimism our hero has long forgotten in addition to a metric ton of guts.
Also, it is clear that Kang To is the boy from her memories, the one who led the pursuers away from her at the risk of his life (one of the things I love is that it's clear Kang To had an enormous capacity for self-sacrifice at one point. It has been erased by intervening events, and it will be wonderful to see it come back).
And yet when they meet as adults, he is chasing her for desecrating the funeral cortege, he slaps her to get information and he shoots at her repeatedly, as she's riding away, missing only by the grace of God.
And later they engage in hand-to-hand as she is fighting to liberate her father. This could be...interesting.
Overall, this is like a darker cousin to Capital Scandal - hero whose idealism has died under past trauma but who will find it awaken again. Revolutionary movement heroine. Gorgeous and complex assassin.
If this is anywhere as good, I will be in seventh heaven.
An episode in and I am giddy with anticipation for more - I haven't felt that same inner buzz since Shut Up Flower Boy Band or, more aptly, City Hunter.
First off, a word or two of warning because I believe in putting my biases out there in plain sight so anyone can have an easier time making up their mind if my rave means they will give it a chance. I love the (too few) dramas set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, I love superhero/masked avenger stories, and I love Joo Won. So I am already more predisposed towards it than someone who is neutral or negative on any of these three. Plus, I would love this drama if for no other reason than it's about the undisputable bad guy slowly becoming the hero.
(First off, apologies for cap quality. I am still getting 720p but they are taking forever so this is the regular HANrel caps and they aren't great).
The drama starts in entertaining broad stokes (masked avenger slicing through funeral flags, Joo Won screaming at the crowds to weep at the propaganda funeral of the collaborator, making them do so at swordpoint) but as the episode proceeds, those broke strokes slowly recede (and I don't mind somewhat broad brushes in what is pretty much period Batman anyway) and the surprisingly nuanced and moving story emerges.
Joo Won, as the protagonist is suitably magnetic (sometime he overdoes a bit on the rage, but it's a superhero story, so I think the operatic vibe suits it, and he's impeccable in quiet scenes).
This drama is not very much like Chuno at all (interestingly, I've heard the role was offered to Jang Hyuk and he turned it down), but it reminds me of it in one way - when we start the first episode of Chuno, we see Dae Gil as this inhuman fighting machine, but by the end of the episode, we discover that our protagonist is no monster but a very damaged human being who's had almost all noble impulses beaten out of him by life. And the same is true in Gaksital - like Chuno it takes someone where our default reaction is to despise them (in Chuno, a slave hunter, in Gaksital, a Korean collaborationist with the Japanese, killing rebel leaders and rising through police ranks) and make us understand them, pity them, and yearn for their redemption.
Kang To, Jae Won's character, isn't someone who joined the police force due to some deep-seated belief in Japanese superiority or inherent desire to lackspittle. No, he is someone who saw, from childhood, the price the fight for independence exacted on his family - father's death, loss of family wealth to pour funds into the cause resulting in poverty, his older brother's torture and subsequent descent into imbecility, not to mention that little flashback when he was being hunted by sword-wielding killers when he was a small boy - you can tell that somewhere along the way he finally snapped, full of rage against the cause that took so much from him (his winning over independence fighters is oddly personal for him - watch him at the trial of a famous revolutionary leader), and decided that the best way to have a good life was to join the Japanese (and, tellingly, it is not just about good life for himself - he is clearly a good brother and son). The thing is, he doesn't fit in either world - Koreans fear and/or despise him - his own mother kicks him out and there is that scene with the car (the urchins being fascinated by the car, but when he rolls the window down to offer them sweets, they see who it is and run screaming away) but he will never be Japanese, never be truly accepted anything other than second class by the Empire, no matter how many legendary rebels he catches.
It is obvious what will give the push to Kang To to switch sides - his older brother. But much as I love their relationship, I confess to being more interested in his relationships with Shunji (Park Ki Woong's character) and with Mok Dan, our heroine. Shunji is the one person Kang To seems to open up to, in part because neither one comfortably fits into the proper profile - Kang To is a Korean working for the occupying force and Shunji is a Japanese man dedicated to teaching in Korea.
I don't normally slash but I confess to thinking I might go that way for once after all the sword-fighting practice:
Oh, and full body hugs and the SLEEPOVERS the two engage in :)
And there is Mok Dan. I love her already - any heroine whose introduction is a fight scene is exactly up my alley. She also seems to possess the optimism our hero has long forgotten in addition to a metric ton of guts.
Also, it is clear that Kang To is the boy from her memories, the one who led the pursuers away from her at the risk of his life (one of the things I love is that it's clear Kang To had an enormous capacity for self-sacrifice at one point. It has been erased by intervening events, and it will be wonderful to see it come back).
And yet when they meet as adults, he is chasing her for desecrating the funeral cortege, he slaps her to get information and he shoots at her repeatedly, as she's riding away, missing only by the grace of God.
And later they engage in hand-to-hand as she is fighting to liberate her father. This could be...interesting.
Overall, this is like a darker cousin to Capital Scandal - hero whose idealism has died under past trauma but who will find it awaken again. Revolutionary movement heroine. Gorgeous and complex assassin.
If this is anywhere as good, I will be in seventh heaven.
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(Anonymous) 2012-05-31 04:42 am (UTC)(link)This drama and Arang are the two that I've been looking forward to the most. Watching the first episode with my fingers crossed chanting "please don't suck!" seems to have worked! I loved it and am ready for MORE! :)
trixicopper
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This is so good. Though you can tell this isn't ending well ever....
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(Anonymous) 2012-06-03 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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Bit too 'shouty' at the beginning but yeah, I liked it. :) Although it remains to be seen what level of 'liking' it'll be in the end as it wasn't an instant OMG, Love! either. The era is definitely an interesting and little portrayed one so I'm very much looking forward to seeing what they'll make of it.
The cast seems to be pretty damn good though.... And I think I've developed a soft spot for Shunji, heh. Such a pity that not getting the girl will eventually make him turn to the dark side. Someone give Park Ki-woong a leading role already!
Gah, no time to watch ep 2 today (or either one of QIHM). My weekend is going to be super busy trying to play catch up and still manage to do all the domestic stuff usually left for Sat-Sun. Sigh. I'm kinda happy that QHIM is ending next week.....
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Poor Shunji :) Maybe he and Kang To can just share on alternate days? :) I like PKW but don't see him as a leading man though. Too quirky.
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The romance is definitely going to be interesting. Besides capturing her father, shooting at her &c. in episode 1, he even has her tortured in episode 2. It's a good thing they're childhood sweethearts otherwise I don't know how she would ever get over that. Still, she's going to be pretty disappointed when she finds out who the boy she's been looking for all these years has turned into (as for me, I'll be enjoying the angst ;). I also like the friendship between the two guys; I hope Shunji doesn't turn evil, but I have a bad feeling about it. Already impatient for next week's episodes (this is why I don't usually watch airing dramas)!
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I am madly curious as to how the romance is going to be because, as you point out, it's kinda hard to get over torture and attempted execution. I want to see him suffer a LOT before I even consider him worthy of hooking up with her.
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