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dangermousie
I continue adoring AatM. I am seeing more and more complaints about the pace but it works fine for me - I think meandering and atmospheric go well together (though I actually don't think it's meandering - we are given more and more questions and answers each episode and Arang and EO are progressing as characters - well, at least EO is, Arang is quite static) and I really don't care when (if ever) we'll get anywhere. My ideal ending would be Arang getting to keep her body (hopefully fully human, but this new one is fine too), getting together with Eun Oh, and then both of them staying in Miryang, which is plainly a Korean Sunnydale, with his being a magistrate and the two of them being a supernatural crime-solver team.
EO looking for Arang. LJK was born for roles like these, with his aristocratic features...
Get that arm fixed!
Everyone finds the servant amusing but he annoys the hell out of me and I want him off my screen.
Awww, Eun Oh is pacing a groove into his front yard, worrying for Arang.
Demon Mother! Heh, is Eun Oh a sageuk version of John Taylor from the Nightside books? (A crime solver with a grumpy attidude, supernatural abilities, and the world-destroying demon for a mother?) Also, it's been established she wants Arang because the latter is immortal (oh, Jade Emperor, you bastard, you sent her as bait!) and thus she won't need humans any more and would never die. Which begs to wonder - does she plan to do that by somehow consuming Arang's essence or is the demon a body-swapper who takes on new shape every x years when the body is worn out and thus Eun Oh's birth Mom is not a demon but a demon is now using the body? Hmmmm.
Poor Eun Oh, still frantically looking for Arang, despite his busted arm.
Every time I see Joo Wal within 100ft of Arang, I get the shivers. Especially since in this ep, despite his 'I won't give her to Demon Lady until I know her intentions,' he was all ready to bring her over when Demon Mama spoke and now will try to seduce her on Demon Mama's orders. Ugh.
Eun Oh finding out the bone tomb has been filled. Throughout the episode, you see EO get angrier and angrier at injustice and indifference until he finally snaps and assumes his magistrate duties at the end, going head-to-head with Lord Choi. It's pretty clear that EO's mask of indifference is just that, a mask, put on because he does have a tendency to care and feel and get hurt. But that mask gets pretty much broken by now.
The confrontation between our three. I especially love how hurt and jealous Eun Oh is that she is fine and with JW and never bothered to tell him, while she is mad he never told her JW was her fiance back when she was Lee Seo Rim. (umm, I thought she knew and in any event, why that matters at all is beyond me so if anyone can explain...)
Their fight continues back at the house and I love that they are talking about two utterly different things - his about her spending the night with Joo Wal (awww, you are so far gone, dude! But I love that it turns out he was mad worried that she wouldn't reincarnate and didn't show back home because she genuinely died. AWWWWW) and hers about him not telling her JW was her former self's fiance (I never thought I'd ever type that particular sentence!). Hmmm, is she mad because she thinks he didn't tell her because he thought it would interfere with her helping him to find his mother and she feels betrayed? That's all I am getting and it still makes no sense - I can see why she thinks he would put finding mommy above all, but why does she think he would think not telling her would further anything? Bizarre. But then I didn't puzzle too hard because Arang herself is not a favorite of mine - Eun Oh is a complex human being but she is not, especially since she seems to be not just fairly one-dimensional but with no character development. I like her place in the story, but as a character, she leaves me cold more often than not.
EO learns the flunkies burned the bodies, too. In the face of such monumental callous indifference, his own cannot stand. I think Lord Choi has started something he might not want to finish!
She is still mad. Awwww, Eun Oh, explain to her! (It's clear he didn't mention JW=fiance for reasons that had nothing to do with Momster. I think he actually thought she knew (I certainly did)).
I'd laugh at her going off on a date with Joo Wal and Eun Oh (in magistrate robes finally!!! Eeee!) jealously fuming (good, he'd never realize his feelings except for this), except I am too busy freaking out at Arang going anywhere with the dude. I mean, worst taste in men ever, y/y? It's not every day you hook up with a serial killer for a demon, who's killed you before!
EO facing Lord Choi! EEE!
The preview makes me gleeful! They clearly made up! And Lord Choi's men attack him but he's holding his own but then Arang is threatened so...I need to know!
Some official stills I love:
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-08 11:05 pm (UTC)Haha, I hated his character in My Girl- the last drama I watched him in. I know he's a sold actor and really good looking but it wasn't until drama that I finally get to enjoy his work.
I'm with you about Arang. She's a bit of a one-note character for me. She moves the plot along and all but the only time I felt sorry for her was when they showed how she went from being a naive ghost to learning how to survive tooth-and-nail as one.
Also, your Faith MVs are gems! I suck at finding good ones so I'm glad you posted them!
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:55 pm (UTC)Yes, Arang is pretty flat (and also very much like SMA's character in Gumiho). I just am not invested in her, the way I am in EO, and that's a pity.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 11:53 pm (UTC)Yea, I wasn't too interested in Gumiho- it wasn't my cup of tea- at least not something I could watch from start to finish.
Arang ends up being unique and independent but falls flat in gaining my sympathy. Essentially because while she often accuses of EO of using her to find out about his mom- she ends up using him more. I'm just indifferent to her outside of her relation to EO.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 02:48 am (UTC)I love that drama!
Yes, I pretty much only care about Arang as a plot catalyst and insofar she is in relation to EO.
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Date: 2012-09-10 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 06:48 am (UTC)The character development does get a bit left behind with progressing the overall story though. Arang is a perhaps a bit too plot driven atm and I hope tehy'll balance that in the coming episodes. EO seems to be moving on now though. Yes, I think he's probably too emphatic by nature both in human and supernatural sense, so closing off has been a coping mechanism. He needed some sort of incentive to kickstart himself into action and this is it. I suspect he is more sensitive to the supernatural in general than he likes to admit so it'll come handy with this job. :)
Arang herself is kinda boring now and I actually think that her character has sort of gone backwards as she isn't nearly as kick ass as in the 1st few episodes. Where's the feisty girl who fought all the other ghosts and was able to hold her own?
This may be quite off mark but I wonder if EO isn't the heavenly duo's equivalent of a 'hunter', only he doesn't know it. Arang is clearly the bait.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:57 pm (UTC)I think Arang is still fairly kickass, especially when you consider that she has bodily limitations now (her rescue of EO was pretty epic and I don't blame her too much for freaking out about the ghoul now that she's human-ish). My problem isn't that - she's had no emotional/character development at all and that would be fine if she was complex to start with but she has the complexity and maturity of a starfish so it gets a bit wearying...
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 10:13 am (UTC)But I'm with you in this: the pace is just fine and the romance is not the main point. And Arang should grow up a bit too (maybe she'lll change if/when she realizes she has feeling -maybe- for EO?)
The romance between Dol Swe and the mudang is hilarious (especially with the use of slow motions) IMO. Though Dol Swe is a pain with EO.
Emma
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:53 pm (UTC)I wish I liked Arang herself, as a person, a bit more - as I said, she's entertaining and she is very important in the story but as a person she's...blank. I mean, I ship EO/A but mainly because I love EO and because they are pretty together - it would be fun to love both characters in a potential couple.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:40 pm (UTC)I'm pretty sure when Demon Mama was talking to Joo Wal about why she needs Arang she mentioned that she needed her body because it couldn't die. Therefore, I believe that those of us that thought that EO's mother had been taken over by something are correct. That something's going to turn out the Death Angel's sister, I know it.
I also didn't understand exactly why Arang was so ticked off at the end of this episode. It'll probably remain one of those kdrama mysteries I have no hope of understanding. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:50 pm (UTC)The thing about the demon possessing bodies makes sense - though poor Eun Oh cannot win either way - either his mom is the source of all evil or she's been taken over by a demon and thus is dead.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-13 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 06:48 pm (UTC)In other news, how is it possible that LJK gotten even hotter when he put on the magistrate robs? Excuse me while I go swoon.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 02:44 am (UTC)Mmmm LJK! Is always hot.
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Date: 2012-09-10 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 03:59 am (UTC)