Of Swords and Parasols

So, most of the dorama portion of my f-list seems to be doing "top 10" lists.  calixaand lesbiassparrowtold me to, so I shall, though it's possible that several I hope to watch soon will shake it up. No pics or MVs from me though, I'm afraid.

Despite the fact that a giant chunk of the last episode seemed like unneccessary dragging to fill up an hour of angst(which, frankly, is the case with every modern kdrama I've seen, so I'm not holding that against it) this remained good to the end, even though I called most plot developments well in advance.  It had every element of kdramas that I dislike, but instead of my having to handwave and look past them, a la My Girl and Spring Waltz, they actually made them work, primarily in regards to the traditional kdrama love square, and the secondary characters.  A lot of what I'd say about the leads, romance, and overall plot, I already said in other posts *points to tag* so instead, I'm going to focus in a couple things I touched on, but want to go into more now that I've finished it.


Short version:  Very good drama, both as a romance and a relationship drama.  It has its share of flaws, but most of them I got past without any hand waving.  

I shall try Lovers in Paris shortly, and we shall see if kdramas work better for me now than they have in the past, or if I just lucked into two of the rare ones that do work for me.

That said, looking at the elements of various kdramas that I HAVE enjoyed, I've realized that while the drawn out melodrama and love squares and the manipulation into disliking characters don't work for me, comedy in kdramas works very, very well for me .  Even Goong, which I have far more issues with than I'll ever get into in LJ(most of which have never made it to LJ, comments, post or otherwise) because I'd rather spend the typing time praising something, was borderline brilliant when it dumped the drama and went for comedy(I may have liked it as a comedy, actually) and has one comedy scene that's possibly my favorite kdrama comedy scene ever.

...that Jason Bourne needs to go to Korea for driving lessons.  According to kdramas, men there know how to drive while angsting without creating 20 car pileups, driving over cars, driving cars off bridges, off buildings, up stairs, etc.

Really, I'd feel safe being on the streets with a kdrama man at his angstiest.  I wouldn't want to be on the same planet Jason Bourbe was driving a car on at his mellowest.

(Meanwhile, the heroine of Lovers seems to think almost getting kissed by the hottest man in Korea is cause to break down and sob in sorrow in front of a building...either it's the "Almost" part, or she needs to work on her priorities.)

Hmmm...where  are all my Hwangbo Yoon icons?  I'm watching a Lee Seo Jin drama and need them.  *figuratively tosses icons left and right*  Ah well.

Lovers is about the reincarnated Hwangbo Yoon  a mobster named Kang Jae. Kang Jae's girlfriend apparently recently dumped him for being a non-good mobster or something, so now he spends all his time showering her with expensive gifts.  I think she's holding out for the one that's really sparkly and fits on your finger, though.  Smart girl.  As a result, Kang Jae spends a lot of time angsting about how how empty his refrigerator is(no, seriously, someone asks what's wrong and he starts talking about the contents of his refrigerator) while fishing.  Because he's played by Hwangbo Yoon Lee Seo Jin , he randomly provides fanservice by jumping in the river,  lifting weights, and standing around sweating with white shirts plastered to him. 

His girlfriend's neighbor is a plastic surgeon named Mi Joo.  Mi Joo, so far, is fun and spunky and doesn't take anything from anyone, and when people try to talk down to her about being a plastic surgeon, she starts dumping wine and water and whatever else is on hand over their heads.  One of Mi Joo's clients recognizes a  keeper when she sees one and is determined to land her as a daughter-in-law.  Her son, Sae Yeon, is an irresponsible playboy.  I suspect I will like him in the end, but want to smack him a lot.  I am sad to say that our into to him was him looking rather pasty and unappealing in a bubble bath.  While he looks much better with clothes on, I fear the first impressed is unfortunately emblazoned upon my brain.

There is some sort of brorherly rivalry or something between the men...probably a "your my daddy's righthand man and he likes you better than me" thing.  I don't know.  It was explained while Lee Seo Jin was standing around straightening his business suit or had a white shirt plastered to him or something.  I was distracted.

Mi Joo and Hwangbo Yoon Kang Jae meet when she goes looking for her pregnant sister's deadbeat boyfriend, and she mistakes Kang Jae for him.  I have to say, while I admite her gumption in confronting him, the scene was a bit much for me and she irritated me a bit there.  I'll forgive it, though, as she was only being rabid because she thought he was the scum who dumped her pregnant sister.  Once things are sorted out, he and his right hand man beat the *whistles* out of the real boyfriend and basically tell him to shape up or die.

There also seems to be some mob conspiracy thing to get her father's land, which she actually owns.  The result is that she has Lee Seo Jin showing up on her doorstep with roses and a card.  If she resists, she's a stronger woman than I.

In all seriousness:  I like it, so far.  The heroine is actually a woman instead of a girl, and she seems strong, though I can already tell I'll find her "spunk" grating from time to time.  It doesn't look like the show will be going out of it's way to manipulate us into hating either secondary, unlike most modern kdramas(period kdramas actually go out of their way to make you like the secondaries) and there are no evil parents in sight yet.  And the hero is played by Lee Seo Jin, the rare dorama actor who not only can act, but also manages to be extremely good looking(without being pretty) while still looking like he could snap you like a twig if he wanted.

But really, without Chae-Ohk there to supervise, Hwangbo Yoon turned out a mobster...that says something, don't you think?