Dorama cornucopia
Sep. 5th, 2006 02:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI've had a day where I tried out a lot of doramas.
I've watched the beginning of Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang which seems funny (and the heroine is spunky and the hero is cool) but which I will watch properly later.
I've watched the first half of ep 10 of Tokyo Juliet which was excellent. Oooooh, the uber-creepy ex of Liang's (well, gf from middle school). Everyone seems to know about Liang's hair fetish, hmmmm. I do love the way Liang and Sui interact as a couple. They have that horrible row once ex shows up and says she is the arranged fiancee (and much as I am on Liang's side there, as he says it wasn't his arrangement and he never agreed and he never saw her since middle school, and after all, what can he do but proclaim he prefers Sui, I can understand why Sui is so 'unreasonably' upset. That's a big thing to swallow.) And the skank girl tries on the wedding dress Liang made for Sui (talk about evil) and Sui says some horrible things about how she doesn't want it now. But what I really like is that they always make up and apologize. Because not only does Sui (despite her fight with Liang) tells skank girl that she will keep Liang, so hands off (heeee, they will compete over design and I love that they mention that Liang likes capable women), but I love the scene where she comes home late, drunk (and Liang is all worried) and she says some mean things and tells him she was drinking with guys (because I guess she wants him to be jealous too as she is) and she goes upstairs and talks to the wedding dress that 'I really really like you, I just wish I wore you first' and you see him quietly come up behind her and put a blanket on her. But next morning, she apologizes and she tells him she wasn't drinking out with guys but with her gf and what I absolutely adore is that he says 'I know. You are not the type to go with other men' and then she continues that she said horrible things last night and she is sorry. And he says he can understand and he is going to redo the dress as he is also upset someone else wore it. Basically, they just really work as a couple. That's how normal couples act, no weird dragged out stuff.
And he tells skank girl that he only loves Sui and that Sui is the girl from his childhood he always wanted to meet again. YAY!
I've also watched the first six eps of It Started with a Kiss. Too fluffy and angst free for me to watch in huge doses, but in small doses, very fun. I am so totally into Zhi Shu. The bit where where he sets the bait with homework (and teaches her after all) is adorable. He is such a tease. So funny and so adorable. He is aloof and a bit puzzled by her enthusiasm (love that he is envious of it) but he really has come to rely on her attention: you can tell by his face. He always gets annoyed when it looks like she will stop. Heck, their first (hilarious) kiss comes in the middle of her declaring she won't like him any more. I just love that kiss. So funny and adorable and the startled look on her face. And then he sticks his tongue out at her.
But he is touched by her niceness and rather addicted to her: he is wistful about her being enthusiastic, she bosses him into teaching her whole class, he is totally moved that she got him a gift she had to work hard for (to earn money), he lets her know he doesn't want to go to uni (why?) and when she tries to run away, he stops her and admits how much he likes unpredictable things that happen when she is around. I love the it where he is tired and she makes him something to drink and he goes 'it's not coffee' and she replies that it's oatmeal to help him sleep because he'd be wound up on coffee. And I think that really sums up why he falls for her.
I love the scene where she collapses from an infection and he carries her to the hospital. EEEEE! But seriously, Zhi Shu, with his amusement, and teasing, and a certain aloofness=katnip.
I also watched the first episode of Sang Doo, let's go to school, a K-drama starring Rain (yes, I am addicted, why do you ask?) as the titular character, who is a young gigolo with a small sickly daughter who meets the one true love of his life (a girl he loved in high school but who moved away and then he went to jail long story) again and their feelings are still there. It's excellent, excellent, excellent. I highly recommend. In addition to Rain, to whom I am apparently a hopeless dorama slave, it's beautifully shot and the story itself is rather delicately lovely. There is this one scene where he comes out in the rain and sees her asleep in the car, and just the look on his face, watching her through the window, is worth the price of the DVD. I also love how it keeps flashing between their innocent golden past (where they rode on bicycles through idyllic green fields and sat looking at fireflies by the river, and where he was the smart, confident and popular boy) and their tattered present (where they are in a dingy city environment, and he is a overburdened young father with no prospects and a seedy and desperate career as a gigolo and con-artist).
There is this one heart-breaking scene in the flashbacks (that parallel the story throughout) which is the exact moment both of their lives fall apart: her mother has borrowed money from the neighbors she can't repay and ran off leaving the kids so the neighbors are taking the stuff and also yanking at the heroine. And you see Sang-Doo stand by the gate (and the girl doesn't see him) and the red rose he picked for her sort of crumples in his hand and he runs off after the neighbor and asks him to have the phonograph back (it was her father's and she really wanted it) and says he will buy him a better one but the neighbor shoves him and SD shoves him back and the man falls into the shallow pond, hitting his head on some stone, and that is the end for SD's life as he knows it. And you see him look at the body and you see he knows his life is over. And of course meanwhile her mom comes back and they all run off and so the girl never knows about any of this. But now of course they meet again. And I cannot wait to see what happens, as she is engaged to a wealthy, good-looking, sweet young doctor, but it's clear she never got over SD. Only in a dorama would a woman who has a choice on one hand between a: weathy kind handsome doctor beloved by her mother on one hand and a gigolo ex-con with a small daughter on the other pick the latter. But hey, it's Rain, looking unbelievably smooshable (and hot in suits), so who can blame her?
But ultimately, this Labor Day, my heart belongs to Love Contract a Taiwanese dorama starring Mike He and Ariel Lin. I've only watched a little bit (the credits, which are beyond gorgeous) and the ending, but I am going to fall madly in love with it, I can tell. Mike He is unnaturally gorgeous, and I've discovered this already in Devil Beside You, but here, where he has normal hair, has naturalistic acting, and a boatload of angst? He is a weapon of mass female destruction. Just take a look:
And I like Ariel Lin more and more with each dorama I watch. And it's all very pretty.
I will post picspams and more meta on both Sang Doo and Love Contract, but for now, time for bed.
I've watched the beginning of Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang which seems funny (and the heroine is spunky and the hero is cool) but which I will watch properly later.
I've watched the first half of ep 10 of Tokyo Juliet which was excellent. Oooooh, the uber-creepy ex of Liang's (well, gf from middle school). Everyone seems to know about Liang's hair fetish, hmmmm. I do love the way Liang and Sui interact as a couple. They have that horrible row once ex shows up and says she is the arranged fiancee (and much as I am on Liang's side there, as he says it wasn't his arrangement and he never agreed and he never saw her since middle school, and after all, what can he do but proclaim he prefers Sui, I can understand why Sui is so 'unreasonably' upset. That's a big thing to swallow.) And the skank girl tries on the wedding dress Liang made for Sui (talk about evil) and Sui says some horrible things about how she doesn't want it now. But what I really like is that they always make up and apologize. Because not only does Sui (despite her fight with Liang) tells skank girl that she will keep Liang, so hands off (heeee, they will compete over design and I love that they mention that Liang likes capable women), but I love the scene where she comes home late, drunk (and Liang is all worried) and she says some mean things and tells him she was drinking with guys (because I guess she wants him to be jealous too as she is) and she goes upstairs and talks to the wedding dress that 'I really really like you, I just wish I wore you first' and you see him quietly come up behind her and put a blanket on her. But next morning, she apologizes and she tells him she wasn't drinking out with guys but with her gf and what I absolutely adore is that he says 'I know. You are not the type to go with other men' and then she continues that she said horrible things last night and she is sorry. And he says he can understand and he is going to redo the dress as he is also upset someone else wore it. Basically, they just really work as a couple. That's how normal couples act, no weird dragged out stuff.
And he tells skank girl that he only loves Sui and that Sui is the girl from his childhood he always wanted to meet again. YAY!
I've also watched the first six eps of It Started with a Kiss. Too fluffy and angst free for me to watch in huge doses, but in small doses, very fun. I am so totally into Zhi Shu. The bit where where he sets the bait with homework (and teaches her after all) is adorable. He is such a tease. So funny and so adorable. He is aloof and a bit puzzled by her enthusiasm (love that he is envious of it) but he really has come to rely on her attention: you can tell by his face. He always gets annoyed when it looks like she will stop. Heck, their first (hilarious) kiss comes in the middle of her declaring she won't like him any more. I just love that kiss. So funny and adorable and the startled look on her face. And then he sticks his tongue out at her.
But he is touched by her niceness and rather addicted to her: he is wistful about her being enthusiastic, she bosses him into teaching her whole class, he is totally moved that she got him a gift she had to work hard for (to earn money), he lets her know he doesn't want to go to uni (why?) and when she tries to run away, he stops her and admits how much he likes unpredictable things that happen when she is around. I love the it where he is tired and she makes him something to drink and he goes 'it's not coffee' and she replies that it's oatmeal to help him sleep because he'd be wound up on coffee. And I think that really sums up why he falls for her.
I love the scene where she collapses from an infection and he carries her to the hospital. EEEEE! But seriously, Zhi Shu, with his amusement, and teasing, and a certain aloofness=katnip.
I also watched the first episode of Sang Doo, let's go to school, a K-drama starring Rain (yes, I am addicted, why do you ask?) as the titular character, who is a young gigolo with a small sickly daughter who meets the one true love of his life (a girl he loved in high school but who moved away and then he went to jail long story) again and their feelings are still there. It's excellent, excellent, excellent. I highly recommend. In addition to Rain, to whom I am apparently a hopeless dorama slave, it's beautifully shot and the story itself is rather delicately lovely. There is this one scene where he comes out in the rain and sees her asleep in the car, and just the look on his face, watching her through the window, is worth the price of the DVD. I also love how it keeps flashing between their innocent golden past (where they rode on bicycles through idyllic green fields and sat looking at fireflies by the river, and where he was the smart, confident and popular boy) and their tattered present (where they are in a dingy city environment, and he is a overburdened young father with no prospects and a seedy and desperate career as a gigolo and con-artist).
There is this one heart-breaking scene in the flashbacks (that parallel the story throughout) which is the exact moment both of their lives fall apart: her mother has borrowed money from the neighbors she can't repay and ran off leaving the kids so the neighbors are taking the stuff and also yanking at the heroine. And you see Sang-Doo stand by the gate (and the girl doesn't see him) and the red rose he picked for her sort of crumples in his hand and he runs off after the neighbor and asks him to have the phonograph back (it was her father's and she really wanted it) and says he will buy him a better one but the neighbor shoves him and SD shoves him back and the man falls into the shallow pond, hitting his head on some stone, and that is the end for SD's life as he knows it. And you see him look at the body and you see he knows his life is over. And of course meanwhile her mom comes back and they all run off and so the girl never knows about any of this. But now of course they meet again. And I cannot wait to see what happens, as she is engaged to a wealthy, good-looking, sweet young doctor, but it's clear she never got over SD. Only in a dorama would a woman who has a choice on one hand between a: weathy kind handsome doctor beloved by her mother on one hand and a gigolo ex-con with a small daughter on the other pick the latter. But hey, it's Rain, looking unbelievably smooshable (and hot in suits), so who can blame her?
But ultimately, this Labor Day, my heart belongs to Love Contract a Taiwanese dorama starring Mike He and Ariel Lin. I've only watched a little bit (the credits, which are beyond gorgeous) and the ending, but I am going to fall madly in love with it, I can tell. Mike He is unnaturally gorgeous, and I've discovered this already in Devil Beside You, but here, where he has normal hair, has naturalistic acting, and a boatload of angst? He is a weapon of mass female destruction. Just take a look:
And I like Ariel Lin more and more with each dorama I watch. And it's all very pretty.
I will post picspams and more meta on both Sang Doo and Love Contract, but for now, time for bed.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:53 am (UTC)Thanks! Look forward to your reviews on Sang Doo. Btw is it just me or is Rain more muscular in ALTK compared to Full House, LOL. His haircut is a little strange for me though (once he becomes ES's bodyguard) - liked it better in Full House =)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 07:00 am (UTC)Yeah, he is more muscular in ALTK (uber YUM!). I like his haircut better in FH, but I find him hotter in ALTK because buffer and older :)
And he is so incredibly adorable in Sang Doo!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 07:01 am (UTC)ALTK is downloadable as well. I really rec dling them because I really loved the dialogues...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 07:31 am (UTC)sigh...I think my list of doramas grew by at least a third today, before this post.
Dmo, I think, is at the top of my "to get" list, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:21 am (UTC)Hee! I love the first kiss in ISWAK, because it's super-cute and fluffy, and he looks SO SURPRISED with himself that he actually did it - I think he was more shocked than she was! But, he certainly does not like her talking about finding other guys, and he got all jealous. He always acts like he's so hard done-by to have this girl obsessed with him, but he really doesn't go out of his way to discourage her. He's on my list of imaginary boyfriend, for sure.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:47 pm (UTC)The first kiss in ISWAK is LOVE. I know, he looks so startled. But what kills meis that he sticks his tongue out at her afterwards :)
I think if she really did get interested in someone else (however mildly), he would be quite jealous and very unreasonably upset.
He's on my list of imaginary boyfriend, for sure.
Oh yes. When she is in his room and finds a XQ observation diary with those cartoon drawings? ROFL.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 04:08 pm (UTC)Wasn't that the little brother's handiwork? Because the boys share a room.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 12:50 pm (UTC)I'm such a sucker for that stuff.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:44 pm (UTC)Re: TJ. Oh yeah, the fashion thing is ridiculous (just you wait and see what kind of fashion those supposedly genius designers come up with) but I view it as a complete gimmick in order to throw Liang and Sui together and give them angst. And they are SUCH an OTP.
P.S.
Date: 2006-09-05 02:59 pm (UTC)And the neck kissing.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 10:26 pm (UTC)Not only that my friends thought me weird when I started watching Bollywood movies 15 years ago, and then took up watching Korean thrillers .... Noooo, now I have fallen into your evil trap of teenie doramas.
:D
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 10:38 pm (UTC)Wait, there is kissing in the rain in ISWAK? I was wondering which to watch this evening, and ISWAK it is now...
Love Contract, as gorgeous as it is, will have to wait :)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 07:35 am (UTC)i want Love Contract now!!!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 09:33 pm (UTC)Shouldn't he have been sticking out his tongue when he was till kissing her? :P
no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 05:43 am (UTC)Shouldn't he have been sticking out his tongue when he was till kissing her? :P
AGREED!