A bit of a rant
Jun. 3rd, 2008 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieOk, so Powerful Opponents ended.
You know what else ended? My brief attempts to watch dramas as they air.
I dislike it and it always comes back to mess me up. PO would be only the third drama I have ever watched as it aired all the way through. The other two were Hana Yori Dango 2 and Hong Gil Dong. This experiment has officially failed because I get RAGEFUL at endings 66.7% of the time. I love Iljimae but I will wait until completion.
Of the three, the only ending which made me happy was Hanadan2, and what do you know? I already knew how it ended because I read the manga so not too surprised Domyouji didn’t off himself with a machine gun.
The end of HGD gave me a heart-attack, even if storywise it made perfect sense. I liked HGD ending narratively, but I think I would have preferred to know that ending going in. And now PO! While HGD ending made narrative sense and I don’t have a problem with it, other than on a deeply emotional level, the completely open ending of PO pisses me OFF!!!
I have loved some rather controversial endings in the past with total love (Bali, HGD, Legend) and I have certainly adored dramas which had endings of varying degrees of openness (Dog/Wolf, QSS, Robbers, Capital Scandal).
But that is the point! The ending has to both be in character and make narrative sense even if it’s controversial! The ending for HGD made sense seeing it was set in a world with “horrible fixity of aristocratic privilege” (tm lesbiassparrow) and HGD was a rebel bucking that system. The ending of Legend was brilliant (and actually also rather open-ended :P) because it addressed issues of humanity and free will and determination that ran through the whole drama. As to Bali, yes, I would have loved for Jae-Min and Soo Jung to get a small hotel in Bali and a heck of a lot of therapy, but it was pretty clear that with a cast of users and abusers around them, and their own severe traumas, it would end nowhere good.
And open endings are usually (a) not entirely open, but with hints for the future (b) conclude the narrative arcs of the story!
Look at Legend! It concludes the entire story that went on! It gives one room to imagine things that happened as DD’s reign continued after the events, but the story is done. Or Capital Scandal! Obviously, seeing that it is the 1930s and Korea doesn’t get liberated until 1940s, not every dot is crossed, but those personal stories are concluded…Or Dog/Wolf, most open-ended of the bunch: Su Hyun is too messed-up to be with his OTP when the story proper ends, but there is hope for the future, and the story of his revenge and demons has been dealt with. QSS ends with a new beginning. Robbers ends with a character who is ill but enjoying new life with his new family. All the stories are narratively concluded with a little hope and/or hint for the future.
PO was 16 eps going nowhere! And I thought the ending of MLP sucked. PO is worse because I actually liked the characters...
You know what else ended? My brief attempts to watch dramas as they air.
I dislike it and it always comes back to mess me up. PO would be only the third drama I have ever watched as it aired all the way through. The other two were Hana Yori Dango 2 and Hong Gil Dong. This experiment has officially failed because I get RAGEFUL at endings 66.7% of the time. I love Iljimae but I will wait until completion.
Of the three, the only ending which made me happy was Hanadan2, and what do you know? I already knew how it ended because I read the manga so not too surprised Domyouji didn’t off himself with a machine gun.
The end of HGD gave me a heart-attack, even if storywise it made perfect sense. I liked HGD ending narratively, but I think I would have preferred to know that ending going in. And now PO! While HGD ending made narrative sense and I don’t have a problem with it, other than on a deeply emotional level, the completely open ending of PO pisses me OFF!!!
I have loved some rather controversial endings in the past with total love (Bali, HGD, Legend) and I have certainly adored dramas which had endings of varying degrees of openness (Dog/Wolf, QSS, Robbers, Capital Scandal).
But that is the point! The ending has to both be in character and make narrative sense even if it’s controversial! The ending for HGD made sense seeing it was set in a world with “horrible fixity of aristocratic privilege” (tm lesbiassparrow) and HGD was a rebel bucking that system. The ending of Legend was brilliant (and actually also rather open-ended :P) because it addressed issues of humanity and free will and determination that ran through the whole drama. As to Bali, yes, I would have loved for Jae-Min and Soo Jung to get a small hotel in Bali and a heck of a lot of therapy, but it was pretty clear that with a cast of users and abusers around them, and their own severe traumas, it would end nowhere good.
And open endings are usually (a) not entirely open, but with hints for the future (b) conclude the narrative arcs of the story!
Look at Legend! It concludes the entire story that went on! It gives one room to imagine things that happened as DD’s reign continued after the events, but the story is done. Or Capital Scandal! Obviously, seeing that it is the 1930s and Korea doesn’t get liberated until 1940s, not every dot is crossed, but those personal stories are concluded…Or Dog/Wolf, most open-ended of the bunch: Su Hyun is too messed-up to be with his OTP when the story proper ends, but there is hope for the future, and the story of his revenge and demons has been dealt with. QSS ends with a new beginning. Robbers ends with a character who is ill but enjoying new life with his new family. All the stories are narratively concluded with a little hope and/or hint for the future.
PO was 16 eps going nowhere! And I thought the ending of MLP sucked. PO is worse because I actually liked the characters...
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 04:43 pm (UTC)I dislike it and it always comes back to mess me up.
!!! So there with you. I noticed you're only on ep 4 of BSG, and I still haven't seen ep 3 myself. I need to just wait for the season (or half season) to end and marathon them. I get bored/annoyed with the plodding pace and filler eps.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 04:45 pm (UTC)So what actually went down in PO ending? No OTP whatsoever getting together? :/
On a happier note, S1 of Life on Mars just wrapped up in Finland and I watched it at my friend's house and almost friggin' died. !!!! This show officially owns me now. I so have to get the DVD's.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 05:35 pm (UTC)Absolutely nothing happened. Nothing romantic got resolved or even hinted at resolution, whether she got really high up in her career didn't get resolved etc etv they all continued with their lives...the drive of narrative story just collapsed in on itself
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 07:30 pm (UTC)That's great. -.-
I haven't even checked Soompi yet, I was waiting to read it here. *speechless*
That it soo disappointing.
And I thought this was going to be one of the best dramas of the season.
Again, ugh.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:19 pm (UTC)Btw...I love your icon so much! Love ALTK!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:32 pm (UTC)and I haven't even finished it lol, I'm still on ep. 12. I have to gain the courage to watch the last episodes :D, I read some spoilers and it was clear that it was gonna end in tragedy anyway, but I cannot bear all that pain.
Oh, teh angst.
And besides the plot, I think ALTK is one of the best shot drama I ever watched; it's got its flaws, it's not perfect, but.. dunno, you just can't help falling totally in love with every single frame.
and Rain was SOOO good, I didn't expect that at all.
*there are probably TONS of mistakes but I'm too tired to check lol. Sorry :D*
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 05:23 pm (UTC)* Of course, I defined 'screwed over' as 'ending I didn't like.'
So, what happened?
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 06:39 pm (UTC)As far as endings go, I really try to avoid knowing them in advance, though I can often guess them. I'm more worried about whether it makes sense in context than if it's the ending I would have wanted. I've seen some tacked on "happy" endings that made no sense and ended up making me think less of the property, even though it meant everyone I cared about was happy.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:19 pm (UTC)I've seen some tacked on "happy" endings that made no sense and ended up making me think less of the property, even though it meant everyone I cared about was happy
I don't mind misery if it makes sense (no way was Mawang or A Love to Kill going to end well) but prefer happy endings :)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 06:43 pm (UTC)I'm with you about endings having to make sense narratively. I don't mind if everyone dies if it fits within the story as a whole. I'll cry myself silly of course but that's neither here nor there. Mawang was perfect because there was no other way for it to go and Resurrection ended with hope of a new beginning.
Ah, I feel like I've been majorly cheated. I go and hit something now....
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:20 pm (UTC)Exactly. I can take a bleak ending but there has to be one. This just seems...ugh! Have some guts, writers! Make up your mind, whichever way!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 07:00 pm (UTC)Honestly, I can live with the open ending, I think! It is better than the ending I would not like. i can always imagine one for myself.
Thank you so much for letting us know!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 08:44 pm (UTC)Shucks.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 12:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 12:40 pm (UTC)SO FREAKING MAD!!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-04 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 11:07 pm (UTC)But the ending...GRRRRR.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-14 08:27 am (UTC)