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dangermousie
Mmmm, this week's eps might be my favorite yet.
My first thought of seeing the flashback of how Shunji and Kang To met was that the world of Gaksital is such a horrible horrible world - to see those students beating up KT for no reason other than he has dared to stick his non-Japanese face in a Japanese environment, eeeek. And to see KT so servile and desperate - even worse. But it explains so much - it doesn't just put the kendo scene from ep 1 with Shunji and KT in a new light - it also shows why KT cannot and won't give up Shunji. It's not just a 'oh, he is fun to hang out with' - he owes Shunji a huge debt - Shunji taught him when nobody would - he gave him a means to have his present livelihood (though this livelihood came close to destroying him - he was nowhere near the violent mess in the flashback than when we meet him in ep 1) and treated him as a person.
I love how Kang To stands there, listening to this new, horrible Shunji with the face of one in a nightmare, with this lost look on his face. What I loved about Shunji before now is gone - if not at the beginning of this ep, then certainly by the end - he has learned the dark undercurrents of the world and the good person is shattered for good, about to be replaced by the son Kimura would be proud of.
I love the scene with the two of them and how it looks like old Shunji is not quite dead, and KT's relief.
And Shunji still wants to help Mok Dan, even if his methods are unorthodox (though, Shunji, stop borrowing KT's 'nooo, I didn't do it for you' methods of confessing your feelings. Not a good way), so it's great to see real Shunji in there, even if he's getting crowded out every minute. This job is going to leach out his humanity like it did Kang To's (compare KT who was asking to be taught kendo to KT of ep 1) and, unlike with KT, there will be nobody to bring it back.
The comment the journalist makes that this is a dying era is somehow encapsulating and explaining of so much in this drama. And I love how KT put on his happy, player face as yet another layer of concealment, though with KT's straightforward passionate nature, it will be hard to keep it up for long.
Gaksital strikes again! And I love how Kang To is interrogating about his own whereabouts.
I have just realized something - Damsari and his fellow rebels all address each other as 'Comrades.' Ummmm, they are all Communists. Thus, even if they survive the occupation, they are all doomed - they will either get executed/imprisoned in the South, die during the Korean War, or end up in the North and probably get purged there. Great.
This is here for the awesome Korean Matsujun haircut. Mmmm, Joo Won, why so sexy? Also, smart and entertaining and being undercover and everything.
Ahhh, the irony of Mok Dan's father wanting to work with Kang To as Bridal Mask, seeing that Kang To as Kang To caught him and was going to have him executed by the Japanese. Also, about time you learned your wife is dead. Husband of the year you are not!
I believe the part of the story where she hates KT but is in love with Bridal Mask is about to start, yay!!!!! And he won't be able to resist not just because he loves her, but because he has no closeness or warmth in his life except for what she offers. (Also, is it me, but does he look absurdly happy and young here?)
Yeah, KT arrests Shunji's father on Konno's orders. This will go well.
For Rie fans. Hmmmm, I think it's about time for Kang To to have an angsty shower, n'est pas?
Kang To wants to know why Kimura Taro hates him, and gets a lesson in loyalty and patriotism from Kimura, of all people. But that, of course, means a Korean person is doomed either way - if he doesn't join the Japanese, he is beaten down, if he rebels, executed, but if he joins, someone like Kimura despises him as a turncoat.
Seeing Kang To arrest his Daddy over internal police politics on Konno's orders finally extinguished the remnants of old Shunji. How ironic that this happened, and KT and Shunji are now enemies not even because of Gaksital but because of internal imperial politics. Of course Shunji chose his family - his impartiality and sense of what's right, has been slowly corroding as he joined the force - being an officer will destroy him. Shunji is slowly becoming a true Kimura - both the former best friends chose their families above all and the results are disaster.
Buh-bye, Shunji I liked! Seeing Shunji join Kishokai is the nail in the coffin. Two questions - why is Kishokai secret? You'd think the Japanese would be all for a secret society dedicated to helping the Emperor? That's like making a secret 'we like cake' club in grade school. Second - why does everyone in this show loves to write in blood? First Mok Dan, now Shunji - what, the ink supplies are low or similar?
And here begins my hatred of Shunji. Oh dude, seriously. You are now the son Kimura can be proud of, scheming to mistreat some Koreans so as to lure out Bridal Mask. DIAF, please. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Koreans are, unknowingly, toasting to Kang To - ahhh, the irony, seeing how they hate KT when he's not behind the mask. It's interesting, I never hated Kang To, even at his worst - it was because through everything, Kang To still had all those (sometimes excessive) feelings, all that emotion towards those he loved, but Shunji is fundamentally cold - he turned off his friendships and loves like a tap. But of course, Kang To, who owes him so much, still thinks of Shunji as a friend. Even if Shunji did just freeze him out of the case and ordered to guard Mok Dan as a lead to Bridal Mask, 24-7 (mmm, thank you, evil Shunji, for helping my ship).
Bwahahahaha, the bit where Abe said he and KT will take responsibility (another term for marriage) and the circus lady pointed out there are a lot of women in the circus and Abe blurted out that Kang To is very skilled - ahahahahahahaha. But meanwhile, Kang To sees Mok Dan, who's slipped out to try to get a message out to the resistance! Ahhhh, their interactions make me flail because he's so in love and grinny and she is so puzzled by it and she can't stand him as KT but crushes on him as both her first love and Bridal Mask and see - all the secret identities inhibit your love life, KT! Also, he takes her hand!!!! And carries her laundry bundle for her! Heeee!
LOL. When he tells the clerk he shouldn't mistreat Koreans and the clerk's boggled face. Heee.
Awww, he's almost crying when he sees her knife, and she looks up and you see her wonder. (Also, Kang To, stop with the 'I'll kill you' method of professing your love, though thankfully, those statements are getting so hard to swallow that even Mok Dan rolls her eyes, pretty much).
OMFG, he washes her clothes!!!!! This bigwig bad imperial officer! Mok Dan must think he's gone insane!
I love the look on his face as he drinks her in doing the most mundane things.
Gosh, half the characters have some sort of secret underpinnings - nice to see the madam of the club is in the resistance. And doesn't care if they plan to kill Kang To, her faaaavorite customer. Mmmm. (Also, how ironic. Damsari plans to kill Kang To and wants Bridal Mask's help for it).
Ahh, look who's rolled up - it's Mr. Newly Psycho himself. Kang To is so jealous but he shouldn't be - Shunji didn't have a chance even before he went to the dark side. I get that this bizarre visit was Shunji's excuse to see her, but he is joining Kang To's club for the emotionally disturbed.
She is grieving for a good man and a friend lost, but to Kang To it must look as if she's grieving for a lover. (Also, love that distorted image of Shunji in the mirror - just as the original, decent Shunji has been distorted).
He lets her escape to see his Gaksital self. I love the mindfuck.
Oh, God, this scene - where she is all concerned and tells him he knows he is her first love and all this other stuff. Meeeeeelting. Also, the rescues she thanks him for were his brother, which must be messing with his head.
Oh, messed-up, messed-up woobie! And I love Mok Dan and Daddy being so excited about possibly getting Bridal Mask to help without realizing who it is.
This is just a pretty shot. I find it fascinating - Rie's desperation not to go to being Korean. Ahhh, everyone in this drama needs therapy.
OK, by now Kang To is a quadruple agent or something. Seriously, I love him. He makes a much better Bridal Mask than his brother not just because of his position of greater access, but he is awesomely street-smart.
Shunji recognized Kang To but thankfully thinks he is just investigating Bridal Mask against orders. You know, Shunji is a 100 times more effective and scary than his dead brother because Kenji was an evil idiot but Shunji is very smart. And yup, that's the official end of the friendship. I love Kang To's order to Shunji to not hesitate if he sees KT holding a knife to his father's neck - even if Shunji doesn't know, we know he doesn't mean it as KT-follower-of-Konno, but as Gaksital.
I love every scene with Damsari and his fake wife and the count and his wifey.
I love all the cat-and-mouse and also thank you, period dramas, because Joo Won looks so damn fine here.
Ah, Shunji, chip off the old block, you and Daddy are OK with your unsuspecting ally dying. Gaksital is a LOT darker than City Hunter in his methods - remember Yoon Sung's desperate desire not to kill? But then of course who could Gaksital turn them over to? This is not the civilized society of 2010s.
OMFG, the preview made me hyperventilate, with Mok Dan deciding to seduce (not with sex, I suppose, just being sweet) Kang To, to get him on her side. And Rie figuring out Kang To likes Mok Dan (the man is hopeless at hiding his feelings). And Damsari beginning to wonder if Kang To is Gaksital and so Mok Dan wondering too and eeeeee! Also, the comments Kang To makes in the preview make it clear that he is being Gaksital as penance to his brother - he wants to do exactly what his dead brother would have done. Cannot wait!
You get a prize for wading through all that! And now A Gentleman's Dignity awaits!
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 05:34 am (UTC)And what you wrote about Mok Dan's crying in that scene was spot on. People were wondering if she had a little bit of affection for Shunji but I disagree and it's just like what you said.
If the preview got you hyperventilating, then you may want to see this. *spoiler warning*. Cuts of scenes of future episodes(hopefully next week, or my face is going to distort more than the Count) taken from chinese fan forum. credit baidu http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1695366058 (scroll down to bottom)
Btw, I am thankful Rie is not my boss. She has a funny way of punishing her subordinate for failing to deliver his KPI and I am not talking about the slap. No wonder Jun fails and if she keeps this up, I am sure he will be totally useless
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Date: 2012-07-01 08:59 am (UTC)One thing I loved: That Kang To is considering helping Dam Sa Ri and the rebels *only* because of Mok Dan for now. He chose to wear the mask to avenge his family and continue the work of his brother but I don't think he had any intentions of being the Robind Hood type of hero Kang San was, at least not after his revenge is complete.
He's always been all about protecting his loved ones and it makes complete sense that the first shift towards "herohood" is because the girl he loves begged for his help. That's totally in character.
One thing I'm less happy about: Shunji's coldness towards Kang To. I like the parallelism of both men choosing their families above everything but Shunji spiralling out of control is happening way too fast to be credible and I hope the writers have an ace up their sleeves. The bromance between the two was so strong that I find it competely unbelievable that Shunji would shut out Kang To so fast for so little. I mean, yes, he arrested daddy. But it was on Konno's orders and in a room full of bigwigs. Shunji knew Kang To didn't have a choice. What was he supposed to do? He's shown many times before that he wasn't blind to his family's faults. His character would have been all the more complex if they'd shown him siding with his family out of duty but still being conflicted about it. The full "evil mode" could have come afterwards, when more things have been added to the slate. So I'm hoping that next week Shunji will turn to Kang To again and come out of his Kenji redux personna for a little while.
I think it's too early in the drama to have a definitive rift between the two friends. It would be more effective to have them reconcile (even if it's somewhat strained) before Shunji discovers the two things that will definitely drive a nail in the coffin of their friendship: that Mok Dan loves Kang To ( and vice-versa) and that Kang To is the Gaksital who killed his brother. The angst potential is astronomical. If those two things happen while they've been cold to each others for many episodes, the emotional impact will be lessened because the sweet bromance scenes will be a faraway memory to the viewers.
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Date: 2012-07-01 09:45 am (UTC)IMO Shunji is trying to save both Mok Dan and Kang-to by essentially removing them both from the Gaksital case. He knows everyone expects him to go all out psycho on Gaksital, and his father expects him to cut all ties from his nice guy life - especially these two. He knows he'll be forced to go against them one way or another (and has already promised his father absolute obedience), so he pretends to end their friendship on his terms: by forcing them to deal with each other. Both think they've gotten the worst deal: KT thinks he's been benched for personal reasons, and for MD, it seems that Shunji has finally turned on her. It's perfect, putting the two out of the game, at least as far as Shunji is concerned, and giving MD the best protection he can provide: his best friend.
This is my headcanon until proven otherwise.
That said, Shunji's evil Kenji grin is creepy. I wish he'd stop doing that.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 01:34 pm (UTC)I like the contrast between the way Kang To is looking at her, from his new perspective and understanding... while from her perspective it's totally creepystalkery. Since like Kishokai, he's got the power in that setting.
I'm really looking forward to 11.
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Date: 2012-07-01 02:36 pm (UTC)Re: helping Damsari. I agree that the fact that Mok Dan asks for help is a huge huge part of the reason he agrees/considers agreeing to help. He's not a patriot - he's a grieving man seeking to atone and avenge for his family. But I think another part of it is he's trying to act the way Kang San would (this is where atonement comes in) and he thinks KS would have helped.
Re: Shunji. I think you are going to get your wish - Shunji is asking for KT's help in the previews. But I do think it makes sense that even if he's not completely evil yet, this job and the Kishokai and his psycho Daddy are slowly corrupting him and he's well along on the way - he's come a long way from teaching Korean kids - now he plans to oppress Korean merchants. He only has his father (and, whatever else, Shunji treasures his family) and, unlike KT's family, he is not trying to stop the darkness but actively add to it. This job is such a soul-killer - remember KT when he passed the exam? He was nothing like the KT we met.
The bigwig arrest thing, Shunji probably could have shrugged off if he didn't know KT was pro-Konno.
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Date: 2012-07-01 02:38 pm (UTC)I think she is not even thinking he's a creepy stalker, but that he's lost his mind - because she is not afraid of him but she cannot comprehend why on earth she's grinning etc. :)
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Date: 2012-07-01 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 02:44 pm (UTC)I feel so horrible for Shunji - he was such a gentle good guy and the world is stripping it from him in a very effective fashion.
It's pretty clear to me that between her memories of Young Master and hero-worship of Gaksital, Mok Dan has no room for Shunji in her heart.
OMFG pics!
LOL: re Rie.
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Date: 2012-07-01 03:13 pm (UTC)And I do think it's time that Kang To bathed with rose petals. Everyone else seems to be doing it.
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Date: 2012-07-01 03:20 pm (UTC)Seriously - kdramas thrive on showers of manpain, but a rosepetal bath would be even better,
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Date: 2012-07-01 03:49 pm (UTC)If you guys are scripwriters, I am sure the ratings and the rating will shoot up the roof
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Date: 2012-07-01 03:53 pm (UTC)The only problem is that any screenplay I am involved in would give the censors coronaries :p
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Date: 2012-07-01 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 09:55 am (UTC)Wasn't it in the preview for episode 11 that KT says that his hyung would have helped if he were still alive? That rings a bell. The transition to herohood is happening smoothly: a prod from Mok Dan and then thinking about what his brother would do. The next stage is fully believing in what he fights for.
One thing I'm really looking forward to is the Rie/Mok Dan situation. I wonder what Rie will do with the new piece of information she got about Kang To being in love with Mok Dan. Will she try to put her in a tight spot to see how far kang To would be ready to go for her? Or will she just mostly keep tabs on them for now?
I'm kind of bummed the ratings aren't stellar. I'd hoped the drama would have reached 20% by now and do at least as well as The Princess' Man. Knowing that all the crew is still filming, I can't hep but think about how they must all feel. I'm sure they were hoping for better ratings. They surely deserve it. It's not like the other two dramas airing are taking all the viewers either. Bridal Mask is in the lead. People don't seem to really watch dramas on wednesdays and thursdays these days.
At this rate, I don't know if we will get the extension. And the more they delay the decision, the worse it will be for the storyline. That's what happened for The Moon Embracing the Sun. The writers thought they were going to get an extension and started putting some storylines in place and changng the pace around episodes 10-13 but then it didn't happen and they had to make do with what time they had left.
Only 48h until episode 11. I've been making my first MV in years to occupy myself (I've run out of Joo Won dramas to watch or rewatch). Time ticks by so slowly when you're waiting for something.
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Date: 2012-07-02 10:45 am (UTC)BTW I just saw this in the news:
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Date: 2012-07-02 12:00 pm (UTC)I think it's the stuntman cuz the mouth and chin does look like Joowon's but I dont understand why. Cuz so far, Joowon has been doing a lot of the scenes himself including stunts. So much that i fail to spot the stuntman even once unlike when Kang San was Gaksital, I could always tell. And this is not a difficult scene, so why use stuntman? May have wait and watch to know
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Date: 2012-07-02 12:27 pm (UTC)Look at this YT video of Joowon in the latest episode of 1N2D - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMlmvKAeyg
Sometimes, we have to be careful of what we wished for. And it looks like this green pants of his, though far from tight, is also terribly distracting(and I don't mean the colour).
Who else wants to complain?
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Date: 2012-07-03 12:01 am (UTC)I confess I am rather over Rie. Her character has been done with much more nuance in Capital Scandal. She's fine as deeply supporting but I don't really need much more of her. I'd love to see more of Damsari and his fake wife and the madam of the club though.
The ratings are very good for a drama set in the 1930s. That era is usually an utter ratings killer, for some reason (well, I am not talking about Eyes of Dawn but that was in 1992). I think as long as it's higher than its competitors, it's doing well. (I think this season there aren't any super hits. Even A Gentleman's Dignity with an insanely A-list cast is getting only 20% or so).
I hope they will decide the extension soon. I don't mind whether we get it or not, but I agree, it can affect the drama if they don't know (they are shooting ahead though, so maybe it will be mitigated). I am shocked Moon/Sun didn't get extended btw - it wasn't really my thing, but the ratings were insane.
Oooh, MV, where?????
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Date: 2012-07-03 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 12:16 am (UTC)You can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_khCcXRgc
It's a gen vid. Since I'm translating the drama into French, I wanted to give potential viewers an idea of what it looked like so I didn't focus too much on the romance (although I managed to throw some in there because it's an integral part of the plot)
I didn't know dramas set in the 1930s were such a huge risk rating wise. I understand why a Japanese public might be a bit touchy but I thought in Korea at least it would be accepted the way movies/tv series about WWII are accepted in both France and Germany.
Re-Moon/Sun I think the problem came from both the actors' schedule and the fact that the production company was about to air a new drama and didn't want it to tank opposite Moon/Sun. MBC was all for adding episodes but it didn't happen.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-03 12:37 am (UTC)I think 1930s is such a dark period, it's a sensitive topic and maybe that's why the ratings don't do well.
That MV is beyond amazing!