Pick the Stars - rant on our 'hero'
Jan. 19th, 2010 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI have watched ep 5 of Pick the Stars (the viikii subbers are insanely fast) and I do so love that drama. It's funny, I only checked it out of boredom and liking the female lead in a different drama - I did not expect much from this but I ended up loving it a lot and it's actually the only season's kdrama I am actively following aside from Chuno.
Pal Kang is actually amazing - she is the soul of this drama, just as her 5 little siblings are its heart, but what is all the more remarkable is that I adore this drama despite disliking its putative hero - the icy lawyer Kang Ha - and not being particularly keen on secondary guy Jung Ha, either. Luckily, both men are quite secondary to Pal Kang and her brood.
That's the thing - I think the scene in the nightclub in ep 5 basically sealed the deal for my dislike of Kang Ha - no, he is not obligated to help Pal Kang find a new job or a new apartment, and he is not actively evil (he is far from tying heroine to train tracks or similar). But his breed of cold indifference to suffering right in front of him is all the more appalling to me precisely because it is so realistic - Domyouji sending in a goon squad to do God-knows-what to Makino or egging the school on to cover her in flour is manga-level exaggeration - safely removed from everyday.
While Kang Ha? There are dozens of them you probably walk by every day - he is competent in his job, I am sure pays his taxes on time, has probably never shoved a woman out of the way to get to a departing train and yet - he is a selfish, useless monster.
The situation is this - his new live-in housekeeper has just lost both her parents tragically. She is left with 5 small children to take care of and no place for them to live. It is winter, she has no money for a new lease etc. I don't particularly blame Kang Ha for being disgruntled to have 5 small kids in his house. I don't even blame him for not wanting this as a long-term arrangement. I don't even blame him for booting out Pal Gang - she is a grown-up and her troubles are not his. BUT. It's freaking winter! There are 5 small kids! She has to provide for them!
His actions? He gives her a week's notice. Thus effectively putting her and five small children out on the winter streets. He doesn't particularly feel bad about it either. Yes, I realize, it sucks to have inconvenience in your life - tough, that's part of living. The decent, human thing to do is give her at least a month - so she can look for a place, or maybe even help her find a place or put her in touch with a charity that deals with these issues. Seriously. You = big rich powerful knowlegeable lawyer. She = desperate woman with 5 small children.
He knows she is fired from her day job (that basically happens in front of him) and forget pity - he has little interest and does not withdraw his edict either. Heck, he sees her work as a hostess in a nightclub, being pawed by the disgusting drunk uncle twice her age - he KNOWS it is because she needs to make money for rent now she is being kicked out and lost her job - he doesn't even acknowledge her or bother to at least draw her away from the lecher. Nor does he feel like giving her at least another week. He even snaps at his brother that he shouldn't waste his time on pity. (Side note - brother is much nicer but I am impatient with him too - stop telling your brother he is wrong and actually do something about it for a change).
By the end of the episode, the bastard is driving home in his car, sees her sitting out there in the freezing cold with an infant and does not even offer her a ride even though as his housekeeper, they are obviously going to the same place.
It leads to good things for the drama - Pal Kang's matter-of-fact and open disdain for him is wonderfully soothing to see (she is not some saintly heroine making excuses for a loser, or starry-eyed girl in love with a jerk). And it means that what she achieves (getting her job back, for one) is entirely on her own merits.
But the problem is - I know she is supposed to eventually hook up with him and I DO NOT WANT THAT. I think he is total scum and not worthy of any woman who is not a monster of selfishness herself (Jung Ha's comment about his brother and Secondary Girl being a match made in heaven is spot on). I am sure he has some sort of background trauma but honestly - I don't care. I don't care what his trauma is, there is no excuse for being heartless with a woman and five small children. Comparing it to Chuno (the other kdrama I am watching) - the escaped slave protagonist of that may have a truly tragic background (too long to explain but suffice it to say that it makes whatever could have happened to Kang Ha a child's play) and yet helps fellow runaway slaves to escape even if they were awful to him, and despite being so wounded as to be borderline unconscious, he saves a complete stranger from a sexual assault. Past tragedy does not equal present soullessness. Look at Pal Kang!
Yes, oooooooh - at one point he flashes back to her being groped in that nightclub - does he *gasp* feel bad for a milisecond? So what. Not enough. He is still a selfish jerk who is kicking her out and doesn't even stop to pick her up in his car so the baby won't be exposed to the cold.
Let me put it this way - Chuno's slave hunter protagonist (yes, a man who makes his living hunting slaves - clearly a stellar member of society) takes in a runaway hooker because he knows that if he does not she'll be forced to go back to 'work.' Kang Ha? Is kicking out a woman and 5 small kids to freeze to death and doesn't care if his actions lead her to sell herself. If you are losing a moral competition with a slave hunter - well, you better just off yourself and stop wasting oxygen.
This said, viikii's commenters rage is a delight and balm to my soul.
Pal Kang is actually amazing - she is the soul of this drama, just as her 5 little siblings are its heart, but what is all the more remarkable is that I adore this drama despite disliking its putative hero - the icy lawyer Kang Ha - and not being particularly keen on secondary guy Jung Ha, either. Luckily, both men are quite secondary to Pal Kang and her brood.
That's the thing - I think the scene in the nightclub in ep 5 basically sealed the deal for my dislike of Kang Ha - no, he is not obligated to help Pal Kang find a new job or a new apartment, and he is not actively evil (he is far from tying heroine to train tracks or similar). But his breed of cold indifference to suffering right in front of him is all the more appalling to me precisely because it is so realistic - Domyouji sending in a goon squad to do God-knows-what to Makino or egging the school on to cover her in flour is manga-level exaggeration - safely removed from everyday.
While Kang Ha? There are dozens of them you probably walk by every day - he is competent in his job, I am sure pays his taxes on time, has probably never shoved a woman out of the way to get to a departing train and yet - he is a selfish, useless monster.
The situation is this - his new live-in housekeeper has just lost both her parents tragically. She is left with 5 small children to take care of and no place for them to live. It is winter, she has no money for a new lease etc. I don't particularly blame Kang Ha for being disgruntled to have 5 small kids in his house. I don't even blame him for not wanting this as a long-term arrangement. I don't even blame him for booting out Pal Gang - she is a grown-up and her troubles are not his. BUT. It's freaking winter! There are 5 small kids! She has to provide for them!
His actions? He gives her a week's notice. Thus effectively putting her and five small children out on the winter streets. He doesn't particularly feel bad about it either. Yes, I realize, it sucks to have inconvenience in your life - tough, that's part of living. The decent, human thing to do is give her at least a month - so she can look for a place, or maybe even help her find a place or put her in touch with a charity that deals with these issues. Seriously. You = big rich powerful knowlegeable lawyer. She = desperate woman with 5 small children.
He knows she is fired from her day job (that basically happens in front of him) and forget pity - he has little interest and does not withdraw his edict either. Heck, he sees her work as a hostess in a nightclub, being pawed by the disgusting drunk uncle twice her age - he KNOWS it is because she needs to make money for rent now she is being kicked out and lost her job - he doesn't even acknowledge her or bother to at least draw her away from the lecher. Nor does he feel like giving her at least another week. He even snaps at his brother that he shouldn't waste his time on pity. (Side note - brother is much nicer but I am impatient with him too - stop telling your brother he is wrong and actually do something about it for a change).
By the end of the episode, the bastard is driving home in his car, sees her sitting out there in the freezing cold with an infant and does not even offer her a ride even though as his housekeeper, they are obviously going to the same place.
It leads to good things for the drama - Pal Kang's matter-of-fact and open disdain for him is wonderfully soothing to see (she is not some saintly heroine making excuses for a loser, or starry-eyed girl in love with a jerk). And it means that what she achieves (getting her job back, for one) is entirely on her own merits.
But the problem is - I know she is supposed to eventually hook up with him and I DO NOT WANT THAT. I think he is total scum and not worthy of any woman who is not a monster of selfishness herself (Jung Ha's comment about his brother and Secondary Girl being a match made in heaven is spot on). I am sure he has some sort of background trauma but honestly - I don't care. I don't care what his trauma is, there is no excuse for being heartless with a woman and five small children. Comparing it to Chuno (the other kdrama I am watching) - the escaped slave protagonist of that may have a truly tragic background (too long to explain but suffice it to say that it makes whatever could have happened to Kang Ha a child's play) and yet helps fellow runaway slaves to escape even if they were awful to him, and despite being so wounded as to be borderline unconscious, he saves a complete stranger from a sexual assault. Past tragedy does not equal present soullessness. Look at Pal Kang!
Yes, oooooooh - at one point he flashes back to her being groped in that nightclub - does he *gasp* feel bad for a milisecond? So what. Not enough. He is still a selfish jerk who is kicking her out and doesn't even stop to pick her up in his car so the baby won't be exposed to the cold.
Let me put it this way - Chuno's slave hunter protagonist (yes, a man who makes his living hunting slaves - clearly a stellar member of society) takes in a runaway hooker because he knows that if he does not she'll be forced to go back to 'work.' Kang Ha? Is kicking out a woman and 5 small kids to freeze to death and doesn't care if his actions lead her to sell herself. If you are losing a moral competition with a slave hunter - well, you better just off yourself and stop wasting oxygen.
This said, viikii's commenters rage is a delight and balm to my soul.
