Robbers is charming and Hyang-Dan is pretty...

[dangermousie]

Take One Spunky Widow. Add One Desperate Conman. Toss in some cool secondary characters, and neat art designs. Stir. What do you get? Robber.

A couple of eps in, and I find this drama quite awesome for a variety of reasons:

Robber has a very very cool heroine. Lee Da Hae's heroine, Dal Rae is a widow who is neither beaten-down, weepy, nor childishly cute. She is charming yet not demure, but is someone who is outspoken and someone who knows her own mind and is quite happy with her life the way it is now: living with her five-year-old daughter and her mother-in-law. She is actually a rare heroine I could see happy without a man.

I also find myself very interested in Oh Joon (the titular character, played by Jang Hyuk, who seems to be carving out a small niche playing men who fall in love with women with moppets). He is not an admirable person in the least, seeing that he is a man who seduces women out of their money. But not only is he rather fun to watch regardless, there is something more to him. In part, it's his sheer desperation (he owes money to some pretty nasty people who will off him if he doesn't pay off), but it's something else too, maybe the fact that he is a bit dorky.

In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment Robber went from 'enjoyable' to 'oooh, must see more' for me: when it is hinted that the reason for his choice of job and running after money was to take care of his Noona (which means older sister, but I am not sure if in this case it's a courtesy title and they are not blood related). I suppose it's like Rain in Sang-Do. Just as in a Bollywood movie, no heroine is allowed to be a whore unless she has a sick mother to support, in a kdrama, no male lead can be a gigolo unless he has some pressing, altruistic reason for such an activity.

Heh.

I also like all the secondaries, and all relationships between characters, especially one between Dal Rae and her mother-in-law.

Most importantly, I can smell potential for angst the way shark can smell blood in the water, and I can tell this is going to pay off, big time. But then, it makes sense. No matter how light it started, a drama whose protagonist is a male prostitute who scams his victims, is unlikely to be Sweet-18-light.

Bring it on, say I.



Saying bye to one of his marks:





Most pleased with himself:



Dal Rae with her mom in law:



Dal Rae is adorable:



As I said, dorky:



Working:



Mom in law and gangster who is sweet on her:







They are awesome together:





Having worst day ever:





But still trying to ply his trade:



Hiding from his Noona, not sure why:





With kid:



Desperate:



These characters (older guy who wants to marry his son to DR) are hilarious:



She is decidedly not interested in him:



With kid:



And because I had them, some shots from the beginning of Hyang Dan

Comments

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

These characters (older guy who wants to marry his son to DR) are hilarious That reminds me of the part where the old man went on the match making date for his son and he was screaming at Dal Rae the whole time. That scene had me laughing so hard i was crying. :D

Re: at smelling the angst, i think it gets even more obvious in couple next episodes. The promo pictures itself doesn't paint a happy fluffy story in the first place but I'm still curious how this will end up..hopefully with no death. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Re: angst. Personally, I'd be shocked if male lead escaped jail-time. Also, there is the worrying tendency of his to throw up. Hmmm, terminal illness? I hope not, because it would be mean to have LDH lose two guys she loves. But then, it's kdrama...

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for all the coning he's doing, he's bound to end in jail. I have feeling he has terminal illness..especially with the constant/bloody nose. I feel like he has some sort of brain tumor, lol. It would be really sad for her but yes i agree after all it is a kdrama. :P I'm still hoping maybe they will still surprise us..

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

for all the coning he's doing, he's bound to end in jail.

This is making me think about Sang-Do a lot. That started light too, and ended...well *bawl* would describe it.

feeling he has terminal illness..especially with the constant/bloody nose.

Maybe his brain is leaking out of his nose? :P Seriously though, seeing that his character in Thank You miraculously escaped either dying or having his OTP die against all drama odds, he is about due for some keeling over on screen. Still, I hope poor Dal Rae gets some happiness for once. I guess she could always marry the nerdy one, with the loud father.

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

Oh you're right it reminds me of Sang-Do too! LOL, perfect description. I guess all we can do is prepare ourselves with big box of tissues. :P

LOL! I didn't finish watching Thank You (i gave up after couple eps) but wow he manage to do all of that? O_O I hope Dal Rae will have some happiness too. That's true that would be funny but I still want her with Oh Joon. Poor guy is so lonely and messed up. I want him to have happiness too. :P

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Sang-Do did have that very trippy postcript ending which I still haven't gotten the meaning of (are they dead, is it reincarnation, alternative reality, whaaaaat?)

Re: Thank You. I haven't watched it yet, but I have it on my list, so I needed to know the ending first. I mean, I am pretty sure the little kid is toast at some point (I didn't check, but it wouldn't surprise me) but yeah, he ended up with the single mother at the end. Yay! I like being pleasantly surprised (same with Beautiful Days. I still can't believe the heroine gets leukemia and lives.)

Poor guy is so lonely and messed up. I want him to have happiness too. :P

He did cheat those women out of $$$ so he deserves some punishment, but yeah, a couple of years in jail ought to cover it. Then he should come out and be happy with Dal Rae. Sort of like Loveholic, only hopefully less boring.

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

LOL, Sang-Do's ending was really messing with people's minds. I would like to think they are in heaven and all happy. :)

Yeah, i don't see exactly how the little kid would survive (even though it is kdrama lol). I'm surprised that he ended up with her and i guess in that way it is a happy ending. :) Re: Beautiful Days: leukemia and lives thats really a first. I'm bit curious about that drama but im trying to avoid terminal illness for now. It's not healthy for sap like me to cry that much. :P

Yeah he does deserve the punishment. That does sound good. :) Did you see the newest ep yet? The ending of it was amazing! That's all i'm saying^^

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Re: little kid. I guess she just isn't dead yet at the end (and with modern medicine you can live a very long time even with HIV).

e: Beautiful Days: leukemia and lives thats really a first. I'm bit curious about that drama but im trying to avoid terminal illness for now

That must be the only drama in existence that has the leukemia heroine live :) Don't worry about crying though because heroine does enough of it for everybody in the audience. I didn't know human body had that much moisture!

Did you see the newest ep yet? The ending of it was amazing! That's all i'm saying^^

Haven't seen it but read spoilers and saw caps and it did look wonderful. Still, my kdrama spidey sense is tingling. I would be shocked if he got to live at the end.

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about crying though because heroine does enough of it for everybody in the audience. I didn't know human body had that much moisture! LOL! That sounds like an overwhelming amount of weeping. :P

Still, my kdrama spidey sense is tingling. I would be shocked if he got to live at the end.

I agree. I was thinking of dropping this drama because it felt bit too doomed but the way episode 6 ended I need to watch more. *Grrr*

Oh yes, I never said why I was on break from the depressing dramas. Over winter break i saw Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003 with Fujiki Naohito. That why even now i feel like i can't see him going blind yet. :P I really fail at pimping dramas but I think you should try this out when you have a chance. It's pretty dark and twisted drama but so wonderful at the same time. Here's it at dramawiki: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kou_Kou_Kyoushi_2003

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an overwhelming amount of weeping. :P


It is. The Hero must really love her a lot to put up with it.

Re: KKK. I really want to watch it. I started dling first ep but some of the links were broken so I got sidetracked. But I looked around and found a new source. I'll watch HnH first though :)

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

I had the same problems with dling it. I ended up watching the whole thing on crunchy roll. It wasn't the best quality ever but it was so good I couldn't stop. :) Yes, you should watch Hotaru first since it's much more happy/fun. :)

[saturnhime.livejournal.com]

I'm really curious as why he ran away from his sister... (even if it is Shin's mom from Goong o_o) And the dad and son? They made me laugh so much..

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's Shin's mom in Goong???? OMG.

But yeah, I wonder what the deal with the sister is.

[autumn-yaar.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about whether or not to start Robbers after this week.. Lee Da Hae never lets me down, and I really liked Jang Hyuk from Thank You.

I think I shall!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Couple of eps in, it's very cute.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

I'm up to episode six in Robbers, (Or five. However many have been subbed) and I love it. The leads have a nice chemistry and play off one another well. Plus, everyone is enjoyable.



BTW: his 'noona' is is older sister by blood. I won't go into spoilery details, but. . . he could be working for her.




Oh, and I have this awful feeling in the back of my mind that Lee Da Hae's dead husband will magically come back.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Robbers is quite quite lovely. I am just worried that Oh Joon might die at the end and am tempted to hold off until I make sure he doesn't keel over.

BTW: his 'noona' is is older sister by blood. I won't go into spoilery details, but. . . he could be working for her.

Yeah, I thought so. Poor guy, he seems remarkably messed up.

Re: dead husband. Oh no!

[stagnated.livejournal.com]

Ahaha~ I remember the old guy (with her mom) from Great Inheritance~ I was thinking about watching this drama, but I'm not one to watch series with a lot of the same actors/actresses with a few exceptions.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's a fun drama so far, though.