Bridal Mask ep 23 and Arang ep 3

[dangermousie]

Bridal Mask ep 23 was amazing. Not that this is news.



I know I keep saying it, but I love how steady and comforting they are with each other. I love their quiet stolen moments.





























This scene gave me chills, with Shunji yanking KT's chain about Mok Dan and KT freaking out but not able to do anything.

















He tries to warn her but she decides to stay to avert suspicion. The woman has ovaries of steel. As she proves in her confrontation with repulsive Shunji.

















They are such darlings - he was so worried for her and she reassures him and even those brief moments in a public place bring them so much peace.























I've also watched Arang and the Magistrate ep 3 and it's official - I am in a tiny perverse minority who is not smitten by this drama. Don't get me wrong - it's gorgeously filmed and it's interesting enough, but I lack any emotional connection or involvement in it at all. My care for this people is nil. I keep reading that people were so moved by Arang's arc in ep 3 and I felt nothing. Nothing at all. I also keep spacing out during the celestia;. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it quite a lot - I just don't really love it, the way I thought I would. Hopefully it will change though.



I do like his growing feelings for her - the way he looks stunned when he sees her dressed up, the way he defends her from other ghosts, the way he tries to protect her from seeing her own dead body. He is much more emotionally involved than she is, at this point.

Comments

[khanh bui (from livejournal.com)]

I totally understand where you're coming from. Arang has everything that I expected from it-- gorgeous cast (I'm a big fan of Lee Jun Ki, and I adore Shin Min Ah) coupled dazzling cinematography and a compelling storyline. Honestly speaking, I think it surpasses Faith in many aspects. Despite all that, my heart, which apparently has a brain of its own, decided to south and fell in love with Faith while remaining unaffected by Arang. It's just ironic and I can't fathom the reasons. With Faith, I'm not yet at the point where I'm literally hoping up and down for new episodes, but I can see it coming soon once the romance between Choi Young and Eun Soo is heated up. I can't wait to see more interactions between them which were definitely lacking in episode 3 and 4. Eun Soo by herself is just hilarious, I heart her antics and have already imagined my own scenario of how she would respond to Ki Chul's accusation of her being a shape-shifting monster. If I were the scriptwriter, I would totally let Eun Soo gear up and fire back at him with some smartass comments along the line that believing in ghosts and demons is just as ridiculous and absurd as believing in a heavenly doctor, and just rub it in his face to swipe of that annoying smug. I should stop here, my imagination is running wild.

Back to Arang, I hope episode 4 will be a turning point for me because with all the potentials it has, I desperately want Arang to sweep me off my feet or blow my mind, which ever it prefers to do.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for whatever reason, Arang is just not clicking for me, the way Faith and Bridal Mask are. It's a well-made drama, but it just doesn't touch my heart. I think the issue lies in the characters. It's hard to be invested in celestial beings or ghost hunters, Choi and his son are clearly evil but in not any particularly specified way so I can't hate them or some other strong emotion, the servant and the shaman aren't prominent enough to feel anything about, so it leaves our two protagonists - LJK's magistrate is entertaining but I am not emotionally invested in him. Part of it is that we haven't seen him truly serious for more than two minutes, and part that I am not sure I have a grasp on the inner man. I don't need both (though I'd like it), but I need at least one of these to be present. SMA is also excellent in this but a combo of her being wacky/cooky very often (what's period kdrama equivalent of manic pixie dream girl?) and being a ghost, keeps me at a distance.

I can see falling for the characters in the future, once LJK gets more emotionally involved or SMA becomes more relatable and the story will get interpersonal relationships going, but for now, not feeling it.

[inge-mares.livejournal.com]

It amuses me that you and Koala are like polar opposites when it comes to dramas. People just have drama quirks that work for them.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. And that is why the world is big :)

I think the polar opposites thing works only on kdramas though. She and I have fairly similar tastes in twdramas/jdramas.

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can undrestand that. That's how it was with me and Bridal Mask. I just couldn't feel anything towards the characters no matter how much I tried and in the end everything else started irritating me like hell so I dropped it. Just one of those things I guess. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I never can predict when something will click for me or not.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Arang and the Magistrate is beautiful and our leads are doing well in their roles. They have chemistry, too. The cinematography dazzles and writing is setting up a compelling story. BUT, I'm just not feeling it in the same way I'm feeling The Great Doctor/Faith. I don't know, it's like something is missing. Maybe when some of the secrets come to light (like what is up with the Choi men?) or when our leads start the romance, it will be better?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I mean, leaving Faith out of it because I am obsessed with it, even the little fluffy teenfest that is Hana Kimi kdrama is making me feel more. And that's not good.

[usisblog.livejournal.com]

I really love EP1+2 of Arang but now I'm feeling bored somehow. Maybe because the story is too smooth and the characters too perfect.
I never was a fan of these "criminal cases" Dramas where everything is connected. It gives me headaches.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am going to keep watching but I noticed it's always the last of W/Th dramas I get to - it's just blah.

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

Count me in on the Arang/Faith perversity. I watched ep 3 of Arang and was all "meh, this drama's going nowhere, and that wirework is so cliché" and then was shocked to read the enthusiastic recap on dramabeans and all the squee on Soompi. And I am totally loving Faith, it speaks to all my kinks (and some I didn't know I had).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just don't get the love. It's not bad or anything but it's like a postcard - pretty and about as important.

[wayfares.livejournal.com]

I adore Mok Dan/Kang To and how happy they always seem in each other's company, but the fact that she still calls him Young Master makes me slightly uneasy. It's like she fixates on him and raises him to this pedestal due to the fact that he's her childhood hero AND because he's Gaksital, and I want her to see him as Lee Kang To, see all his flaws, sigh. What is your take on them calling each other by Young Master/Boon Yi?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think I like it - this is who they were before life forced them to take other identities, after all. Also, almost nobody else uses these names.