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dangermousieWhy no posts today?
Because I spent all the time I wasn't outside the house (hanging out with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
filmi_girl and Mr. Mousie, or going to the Superbowl Party) watching Beautiful Days and to post would mean interrupting my marathonning. I am up to ep 21 now, and first of all:
the toy Minchul (Hero) wins for Yon-Soo (Heroine) is exactly the one I bought in Flushing's Chinatown last year. EEEEEE! I named it Gong-Chan but I think renaming is in order. Heh.
Also, if I didn't know this ends happily, I'd probably be freaking out about now, what with break-ups from hell, 'perfect last day together' and leukemia. Yeah.
Just to get it out of the way, first: Ugly Brother continues incredibly annoying. For one thing, he seems to think it's good timing to ask a girl out who had not only just been dumped by her fiance, but who is also in the hospital severely sick. Yeah, that's going to put a girl into a romantic mood! Or the scene that really made me want to punch him, when Hero tells him he can do anything he wants to/with Evil Father, but please to give Hero some time to get Hero's Troubled Sister out of the way first. Because HTS can't deal well with things. And UB is all 'can't think of anyone else at the moment.' Ugh.
One of things that so gets me, and that so dooms Ugly Brother in my eyes is that Hero, with all his flaws (and he is a very difficult person, no doubt) is a grown-up. He is an adult. While Ugly Brother just comes across as a brat.
But how much do I love everything else about BD! I think it's really because however melodramatic plot turns get (Hero's dad is murderer of Ugly Brother's Dad! Heroine has leukemia! Eleventy!) the reactions and relationships ring true.
I love all the scenes of Hero with his sister. It's my second fave relationship in the drama after the OTP. Whether it's his asking her if she wants to go far away to study, while she is lying there and he is stroking her hair (and they do leave the house, taking not a cent of Evil Father's money), or his trying to restrain her once she finds out about Evil Father, or the cute scene in their new threadbare apartment where she is griping that ironing shirts is so complicated and he says he will take over and she is all 'nope, I am your aide, no way.' They are just...so awesome together.
Or Hero's relationship with his father, all the disdain and loathing and bitterness (I love the scene where Evil Father is all 'I am going to kill myself' and Hero replies 'if you had any guts you would have done it years ago, you won't' and walks off, or when he talks to his stepmom's memorial that Evil Father didn't even grieve like this when Hero's Mum died. Yeah, so many issues). But ultimately when Evil Father is shunned and ostracised, he and his sister do end up taking care of Evil Father, and you can tell that mixed with loathing and hate there is a bit of 'OMG, at last we are getting our Dad's attention.'
Even the bits with Ugly Brother make sense, even though I prefer to mute him out. I love the bit where Hero gets UB to beat up on him. No drama is made any worse through any self-loathing on part of its hero.
But my favorite stuff is still the OTP stuff. I love their break-up. Because it totally devastates him to leave her, but he does because he thinks he can't give her a family now, but also because he is a proud man, and he doesn't want to drag her down with him. And I love even more that when truth comes out, it doesn't fix anything magically. They are still broken up and he basically explains why they can't be. The best thing about the OTP? They talk to each other.
But I love that this doesn't stop them loving each other (also, I love Heroine's no holds barred approach to love. She is not weak, but she has no shame where loving him is concerned and won't put on a false front of not caring). And we get all these awesome scenes where they are drawn to each other no matter what, no matter how they try to lie to themselves:
(1) The scene in the airport, when Hero and HTS are leaving for Paris for good and Heroine comes to say good-bye to him and he runs looking for her. And they have yet another 'goodbye' conversation and it's gorgeous and painful.
(2) When she redrew his portrait from memory and is touching it and it cuts to her memories of the physical him. Mmmm.
(3) The whole bit with him watching her from across the street and not being able to help it and following her and then she sees and runs after him and he hides but she collapses and so he can't help but come out and they have that 'oh, it means nothing, it means nothing' meeting in the cafe.
(4) When she finds out she has leukemia and she goes to him and asks him for a pretend day as if they didn't break up and he can't help it, he gives in, and they go drinking, and he carries her piggyback, and wins her a toy, and then they take the bus back and she is asleep on his shoulder so because he can only let himself do it when she won't know, he strokes her face. And then when he drops her off, she asks him to say ILY but he won't so, she kisses him (first!) and walks off.
(5) The bit in the gallery where they meet and she runs off to the elevator and closes the doors and cries (because she just lied and told him she forgot him) and he sees the elevator is still stalled so he gets the doors open and he can't help it, he just hugs her and holds on for dear life, because oh, they can't fight it any more.
Oh, and then she runs off anyway and Narae (Heroine's Best Friend) tells Hero the truth, i.e, Heroine's leukemia and he wanders around like a zombie (and I love how fractured the shots look during this).
Did I mention there was an earlier scene where he piggybacked her into the hospital? YES.
And then I stopped because there is only so much angst I can take at a sitting.
In other awesome drama news, we watched eps 7 and 8 of Hong Gil Dong. Yes, I do mean 'we.' HGD is the only drama Mr. Mousie ever expressed active interest in, and in fact, given a choice between HGD and the Star Wars Family Guy parody, opted for the former.
I love HGD more and more each ep. I think it will become one of my favorite dramas.
You know, no matter how serious, and even heartbreaking, HGD got so quickly, I love that the drama never forgets its humor, whether it's the competition for the most corrupt minister or the greek-chorus-like street dwellers. But HGD has this awesome ability (that all of Hong Sisters dramas do) to turn from hilarious to heart-wrenching and back on a dime.
And I came close to crying in eps 7 and 8.
HGD's father and brother I think win the competition for worst kdrama family hands down, and it's a tough, very competitive event. But that whole scene, where his brother gloats to HGD that father knows the truth about robberies and murders but is happy to frame HGD for it to let his legitimate son off the hook? And Yi Nok (who is so adorable!) overheard, and she comes in, and she is so mad for him, and is all 'why didn't you hit him' and GD is 'perhaps because I am his slave?' o_O and she tells him he should cry and nobody will see, not even her, and she makes a shield for him with her hands? I got kinda incoherent. But yes, they are both both both scum, and that final scene with GD and his father, where his father is OK with GD's plan for GD being killed and GD has to blackmail him into not killing more workers, and father tries to use calling him 'son' as emotional blackmail? *stab*
Or the whole anger and horror he feels when he sees these innocent workmen executed. And that is why I love Gil Dong but the Prince evokes only an irritation: Gil Dong's reaction is passionate hate of this, and desire to remedy, to save people, even when he knows to do so he must die (and I love his anger and his decency, in his meeting with the Prince, when he asks him why Prince should be next King? is it just because he is legitimate son of the King just as Gil Dong should be a slave because his mother was one? LOVE THAT SCENE). The Prince, unlike Gil Dong, has army, has money, has means, but he does nothing, just feels bad. UGH.
This drama is fast making me loathe everybody in it above a certain class (except Yi Nok, who was brought up as and believes she is a peasant), including Secondary Girl, who is not even evil, as much as shallow and solipcistic (she doesn't love Gil Dong, how can she? She doesn't know him, and he is too 'low class' to her, at base, however much she'd like to slum for a night :P But she leaves him instead of clearing his name, and when she finds out he is alive, she won't tell Yi Nok. UGH).
But all the stuff with Yi Nok is adorable adorable ADORABLE. When she runs around trying to tell him 'I love you' in English and he has no idea what she is saying, or when he asks her to go to China with him and she is so excited and he is smiling to himself and is 'I don't know what I would have done if you said no.' And he gives her his sunglasses (because she is too embarassed to say mushy stuff otherwise) and just...
I have no words for how adorable they are together. And she gets earth for him from his mom's grave (and that is what stops the arrow when he is shot).
And when she finds out he is being hunted, she runs and wants to save him at the cost of her life, but he won't let her and knocks her out. And even though he survives and becomes this awesome Robin Hood type person (HGD? Seriously best Robin Hood story ever filmed, I swear) he won't let her know he is alive because she is reckless and almost died for him once and he wants to protect her. But she won't believe he is dead so he gets his master to give her the bag with earth and blood etc and OMG the scene of YN breaking down, and Gil Dong watches and he almost goes to her because he wants to so much but can't...
*wail*
I need to see more ASAP.
Because I spent all the time I wasn't outside the house (hanging out with
filmi_girl and Mr. Mousie, or going to the Superbowl Party) watching Beautiful Days and to post would mean interrupting my marathonning. I am up to ep 21 now, and first of all:the toy Minchul (Hero) wins for Yon-Soo (Heroine) is exactly the one I bought in Flushing's Chinatown last year. EEEEEE! I named it Gong-Chan but I think renaming is in order. Heh.
Also, if I didn't know this ends happily, I'd probably be freaking out about now, what with break-ups from hell, 'perfect last day together' and leukemia. Yeah.
Just to get it out of the way, first: Ugly Brother continues incredibly annoying. For one thing, he seems to think it's good timing to ask a girl out who had not only just been dumped by her fiance, but who is also in the hospital severely sick. Yeah, that's going to put a girl into a romantic mood! Or the scene that really made me want to punch him, when Hero tells him he can do anything he wants to/with Evil Father, but please to give Hero some time to get Hero's Troubled Sister out of the way first. Because HTS can't deal well with things. And UB is all 'can't think of anyone else at the moment.' Ugh.
One of things that so gets me, and that so dooms Ugly Brother in my eyes is that Hero, with all his flaws (and he is a very difficult person, no doubt) is a grown-up. He is an adult. While Ugly Brother just comes across as a brat.
But how much do I love everything else about BD! I think it's really because however melodramatic plot turns get (Hero's dad is murderer of Ugly Brother's Dad! Heroine has leukemia! Eleventy!) the reactions and relationships ring true.
I love all the scenes of Hero with his sister. It's my second fave relationship in the drama after the OTP. Whether it's his asking her if she wants to go far away to study, while she is lying there and he is stroking her hair (and they do leave the house, taking not a cent of Evil Father's money), or his trying to restrain her once she finds out about Evil Father, or the cute scene in their new threadbare apartment where she is griping that ironing shirts is so complicated and he says he will take over and she is all 'nope, I am your aide, no way.' They are just...so awesome together.
Or Hero's relationship with his father, all the disdain and loathing and bitterness (I love the scene where Evil Father is all 'I am going to kill myself' and Hero replies 'if you had any guts you would have done it years ago, you won't' and walks off, or when he talks to his stepmom's memorial that Evil Father didn't even grieve like this when Hero's Mum died. Yeah, so many issues). But ultimately when Evil Father is shunned and ostracised, he and his sister do end up taking care of Evil Father, and you can tell that mixed with loathing and hate there is a bit of 'OMG, at last we are getting our Dad's attention.'
Even the bits with Ugly Brother make sense, even though I prefer to mute him out. I love the bit where Hero gets UB to beat up on him. No drama is made any worse through any self-loathing on part of its hero.
But my favorite stuff is still the OTP stuff. I love their break-up. Because it totally devastates him to leave her, but he does because he thinks he can't give her a family now, but also because he is a proud man, and he doesn't want to drag her down with him. And I love even more that when truth comes out, it doesn't fix anything magically. They are still broken up and he basically explains why they can't be. The best thing about the OTP? They talk to each other.
But I love that this doesn't stop them loving each other (also, I love Heroine's no holds barred approach to love. She is not weak, but she has no shame where loving him is concerned and won't put on a false front of not caring). And we get all these awesome scenes where they are drawn to each other no matter what, no matter how they try to lie to themselves:
(1) The scene in the airport, when Hero and HTS are leaving for Paris for good and Heroine comes to say good-bye to him and he runs looking for her. And they have yet another 'goodbye' conversation and it's gorgeous and painful.
(2) When she redrew his portrait from memory and is touching it and it cuts to her memories of the physical him. Mmmm.
(3) The whole bit with him watching her from across the street and not being able to help it and following her and then she sees and runs after him and he hides but she collapses and so he can't help but come out and they have that 'oh, it means nothing, it means nothing' meeting in the cafe.
(4) When she finds out she has leukemia and she goes to him and asks him for a pretend day as if they didn't break up and he can't help it, he gives in, and they go drinking, and he carries her piggyback, and wins her a toy, and then they take the bus back and she is asleep on his shoulder so because he can only let himself do it when she won't know, he strokes her face. And then when he drops her off, she asks him to say ILY but he won't so, she kisses him (first!) and walks off.
(5) The bit in the gallery where they meet and she runs off to the elevator and closes the doors and cries (because she just lied and told him she forgot him) and he sees the elevator is still stalled so he gets the doors open and he can't help it, he just hugs her and holds on for dear life, because oh, they can't fight it any more.
Oh, and then she runs off anyway and Narae (Heroine's Best Friend) tells Hero the truth, i.e, Heroine's leukemia and he wanders around like a zombie (and I love how fractured the shots look during this).
Did I mention there was an earlier scene where he piggybacked her into the hospital? YES.
And then I stopped because there is only so much angst I can take at a sitting.
In other awesome drama news, we watched eps 7 and 8 of Hong Gil Dong. Yes, I do mean 'we.' HGD is the only drama Mr. Mousie ever expressed active interest in, and in fact, given a choice between HGD and the Star Wars Family Guy parody, opted for the former.
I love HGD more and more each ep. I think it will become one of my favorite dramas.
You know, no matter how serious, and even heartbreaking, HGD got so quickly, I love that the drama never forgets its humor, whether it's the competition for the most corrupt minister or the greek-chorus-like street dwellers. But HGD has this awesome ability (that all of Hong Sisters dramas do) to turn from hilarious to heart-wrenching and back on a dime.
And I came close to crying in eps 7 and 8.
HGD's father and brother I think win the competition for worst kdrama family hands down, and it's a tough, very competitive event. But that whole scene, where his brother gloats to HGD that father knows the truth about robberies and murders but is happy to frame HGD for it to let his legitimate son off the hook? And Yi Nok (who is so adorable!) overheard, and she comes in, and she is so mad for him, and is all 'why didn't you hit him' and GD is 'perhaps because I am his slave?' o_O and she tells him he should cry and nobody will see, not even her, and she makes a shield for him with her hands? I got kinda incoherent. But yes, they are both both both scum, and that final scene with GD and his father, where his father is OK with GD's plan for GD being killed and GD has to blackmail him into not killing more workers, and father tries to use calling him 'son' as emotional blackmail? *stab*
Or the whole anger and horror he feels when he sees these innocent workmen executed. And that is why I love Gil Dong but the Prince evokes only an irritation: Gil Dong's reaction is passionate hate of this, and desire to remedy, to save people, even when he knows to do so he must die (and I love his anger and his decency, in his meeting with the Prince, when he asks him why Prince should be next King? is it just because he is legitimate son of the King just as Gil Dong should be a slave because his mother was one? LOVE THAT SCENE). The Prince, unlike Gil Dong, has army, has money, has means, but he does nothing, just feels bad. UGH.
This drama is fast making me loathe everybody in it above a certain class (except Yi Nok, who was brought up as and believes she is a peasant), including Secondary Girl, who is not even evil, as much as shallow and solipcistic (she doesn't love Gil Dong, how can she? She doesn't know him, and he is too 'low class' to her, at base, however much she'd like to slum for a night :P But she leaves him instead of clearing his name, and when she finds out he is alive, she won't tell Yi Nok. UGH).
But all the stuff with Yi Nok is adorable adorable ADORABLE. When she runs around trying to tell him 'I love you' in English and he has no idea what she is saying, or when he asks her to go to China with him and she is so excited and he is smiling to himself and is 'I don't know what I would have done if you said no.' And he gives her his sunglasses (because she is too embarassed to say mushy stuff otherwise) and just...
I have no words for how adorable they are together. And she gets earth for him from his mom's grave (and that is what stops the arrow when he is shot).
And when she finds out he is being hunted, she runs and wants to save him at the cost of her life, but he won't let her and knocks her out. And even though he survives and becomes this awesome Robin Hood type person (HGD? Seriously best Robin Hood story ever filmed, I swear) he won't let her know he is alive because she is reckless and almost died for him once and he wants to protect her. But she won't believe he is dead so he gets his master to give her the bag with earth and blood etc and OMG the scene of YN breaking down, and Gil Dong watches and he almost goes to her because he wants to so much but can't...
*wail*
I need to see more ASAP.
