Well, it looks like I'll be watching My Love from Another Star, which won the reader poll for my next drama in an absolute landslide. I still have a few episodes left of Nine, but once I'm done, I'll get started on your MLFAS. I hope you all chose wisely....
More importantly, I started my simulcast for this round of dramas with You're All Surrounded. Having seen episodes 1-4 so far, here are a few thoughts:
Overview
You're All Surrounded is an action/thriller/ensemble buddy cop show starring Lee Seung Gi, Cha Seung Won, and Go Ara. Eun Dae Gu (Lee Seung Gi) enters the police force as a rookie under the celebrated detective Seo Pan Seok (Cha Seung Won). He has a chip on his shoulder and a secret in his past. He is joined on the rookie squad by a handful of other misfits, including the hardworking Eo Soo Sun (Go Ara). Can Detective Seo turn this ragtag band into real detectives? (Answer: Yes, obviously.) Is Detective Seo a villain in disguise? (Answer: Probably not.)
Initial Reactions
I'm clearly the wrong person to ask about this show because I won't even pretend to be unbiased. I love action comedies. I love any show where things might blow up at some point. I love ragtag teams of misfits. I have seriously considered naming my firstborn child (male or female) after Jason Statham.
"Statham, honey, you clean your room RIGHT THIS MINUTE!" Source
I know that action thrillers are already kind of passé with the saturation from last drama cycle, but I opted for the romantic comedies in the last round of shows, so this drama is actually a nice break for me.
Is the plot groundbreaking? No. I (think I) can see where this thing is headed from a mile away, but I don't even care. I thoroughly enjoyed it from the second the comic book intro started.
The one thing that has surprised me so far is the tone of the first two episodes. It started out quite a bit darker than I anticipated, setting heavy emotional stakes from the start. I though this was a smart move before getting into the workplace hijinks. Otherwise, the inevitable tone shift later in the show would have been completely jarring. I will say that the drama seems more effective than the comedy up to this point, but I would rather have a show with some emotional core than a slapstick laugh riot any day.
So far, it's everything I want it to be. In the first few episodes, the casting is divine. I can't think of anyone better for the leading men, and while I have heard some complaints about Go Ara's casting, I actually think that her brand of quirkiness works pretty well for the character.
The veteran/rookie setup is pretty typical for a cop show, but an unexpected bonus is that it allows for different types of romantic relationships. While Dae Gu and Soo Sun are headed down the well-trodden Kdrama pathway of over-the-top hatred slowly blossoming into puppy love, Seo Pan Seok and Kim Sa Kyung (Oh Yoon Ah) have space for a more adult relationship. We haven't seen much of their relationship yet, but the sexual tension sizzles off the screen every time they're together, almost as if to say, "Move over kiddos; we'll show you how grownups fall in love."
Even though I'm a sucker for cop shows, I'm also a sucker for strong female leads, and in that regard, I'm withholding judgment for now. Soo Sun seems like the typical bumbling female lead in many ways. I was definitely rolling my eyes when her lover-to-be kept calling her "Bird Brain," but I still like her, and I'm hoping she'll prove her strength of character in upcoming episodes. Based on the promos for this show, I assumed that it would be all about the boys with a girl tossed in for good measure, but I really appreciate the focus the show has placed on her character so far. Allowing her to narrate the conclusion of episode 4 was a positive sign that maybe her narrative arc matters in this drama, and I'm hoping she grows throughout the series instead of becoming a convenient romantic prop.
At least she isn't a docile, wilting little flower.
Overall, I have high hopes for this show. Then again, I have high hopes for every single new entry into the Transporter franchise, so I really can't be trusted. Who's watching with me?
Sometimes, real life intrudes on my K-drama watching/writing schedule. An unexpected trip out of town + catching up on work as a result of going out of town = finally catching up on a few reviews that I've had on the shelf for weeks and weeks. I'll get around to reviewing I Need Romance 3 someday (...maybe), but for today, let's talk Let's Eat. This show wasn't even remotely on my radar until multiple readers asked for reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I'm all about underrated, quirky dramas, and Let's Eat had quirkiness in spades, for good and bad.
What It's About: Lee Soo Kyung (Played by Lee Soo Kyung--how convenient for her!) is a divorced woman who lives alone. She loves her adorable dog, Barassi (a play on the Korean pronunciation of Che Guevara), and she really, really loves food. Over the course of the series, she gets to know her neighbors, and everyone eats a ton of food.
At its heart, Let's Eat is a pleasant, fluffy drama that doubles as food porn. And when I say food porn, I mean that very literally. Upon hearing the various eating groans, my husband came into the room more than once to ask "What on earth are you watching?" On the one hand, the Food Network lover in me really enjoyed seeing bowl after bowl of amazing food. On the other hand, some episodes literally featured fifteen full minutes of slow mo eating. That's not an exaggeration.
Then there's the murder side plot. Did I mention that there's murder on this show? No? That's because it's tossed into the story as an afterthought. This is how I imagine the murder plot evolving:
Cable executive: I know that you wanted to do a show about food, but this script already involves 30 minutes of people eating. What are you going to do for the last 10 minutes? Writer: .....Murder?
The central romance also felt a little haphazard and forced at times. Based on the first ten episodes of the show, they could have gotten away with no romance at all. Then, suddenly, the romance charges ahead with full steam. There were very cute moments, but I just didn't see much chemistry between the leads.
If all of this sounds like I didn't enjoy Let's Eat, that's not the case. When the show focused on the four lead characters and their growing friendships, it worked really well. Goo Dae Young (Yoon Doo Joon) was a tough character to figure out at first, and that's what kept me interested. I get tired of traditional male leads from time to time, and the friendly insurance salesman who wears a tracksuit and leaves all of his clothes at the dry cleaner's was an interesting break from the mold. Doo Joon did really well for an idol-turned-actor.
I didn't fully connect with Lee Soo Kyung's character, but after watching both Emergency Couple and Sly and Single Again, it was nice to see a story about a divorcee that didn't revolve around some long, drawn out backstory. The drama just treats it as a matter-of-fact part of her life.
Barassi clearly takes the cake as the best side character in the entire show, but Kim Hak Moon and Yoon Jin Yi round out the cast nicely. Once again subverting drama stereotypes, Jin Yi might be the sweetest second female lead of all time, and Hak Moon starts with a haughty first lead exterior, only to reveal an adorkable goofy side.
Conclusions It's an uneven drama, and some of the extended eating scenes are borderline uncomfortable to watch, but if you love food shows and light noona romances, this might be the drama of your dreams! Just don't watch on an empty stomach.
Warning: This review is pretty spoiler-y. We can't keep our mouths shut. You've been warned!
Vivi: I’m really glad that Coco and I both watched Emergency Couple because I was waaaaay more invested in it than I had any right to be, and I needed someone to text about it in the middle of the night.
Coco: And I needed someone to talk to about how cute baby Gook was! Seriously, was he not the CUTEST baby in the world?
Vivi: YES. But I thought you were going to say you needed to text someone about how cute Chief Gook was. Because that happened too.
Coco: I’m pretty sure that was YOU. Although I do agree that he was very cute, it was you who did most of the second male lead pining.
This happened every week. Multiple times a week.
Vivi: Yeah, I did. I don’t understand how you were able to watch it without rooting for the second male lead. Are you even human?
I’m serious. Are you a robot?
Coco: A Choi Jin Hyuk-loving robot!!! I admit that I was on on the first male lead’s side the whole time. That largely had to do with the behind the scenes footage I saw of him laughing and joking with Ji Hyo. They were so freakin adorable together (as cute as the Monday Couple comprised of Ji Hyo and Kang Gary on Running Man, I dare say!) So I was patiently waiting for his character to grow up and act like a man and for her character to finally settle into her confident self.
Vivi: And my love of Chief Gook was mostly tied to his scruff and the fact that he was socially awkward and emotionally constipated. In other words, if I had a Kdrama patronus, it would be him. You’re right about the character growth, though. A lot of people complained about the leads at first, but I appreciated that they had plenty of time for gradual growth.
Coco: Yes, I was pleased with the growth of these characters. It felt natural, and they all became legitimately awesome people.
Vivi: Yeah, everything felt pretty natural, except for the last few episodes. Song Ji Hyo suddenly baking fortune cookies from scratch and throwing herself at the man made me throw up in my mouth. (And if you run up multiple flights of stairs, of course your heart will be beating hard. You're a doctor! Pull it together!) Also, “I hate divorced people?” It’s like they suddenly realized they only had three episodes left and finally noticed that all sane people loved the second lead.
You know what else was a well-developed character? This cat poster. Behold its glory.
Coco: My complaint at the beginning of the drama was that the female lead was too passive and incompetent for me to love her, but she quickly proved herself and developed the self confidence that had been drained out of her after her terrible divorce. The male lead also gradually stood up for her and came to respect and admire her for real reasons, unlike many other Kdrama characters where I continually ask myself, “Why does he/she like him/her?” (Kim Tan and Eun Sang in Heirs, I’m talking to you). Vivi: Completely agreed about the respect. I was thrilled that she didn’t stand for it when he tried to force himself onto her, and they included a few episodes where he had to learn to take the relationship on her terms. Unlike you, I liked her from the beginning. She wasn’t really incompetent. From the very beginning, she would do things right, but no one else took her seriously. I think the fact that the character was played by Song Ji Hyo also helped. She as a person doesn’t really strike me as a wilting flower, so I was willing to wait for plot development. I don’t watch Running Man, but I might start.
Coco: Running Man is the best btw. But yes, I love that he had to figure out how to have a mature relationship, and it was too bad that she went over the top in trying to convince him that she truly loved him back at the end. It is sad that they kind of threw the “I hate divorced people” at the Chief as a device to make him less of a good match, but I did really like him with Ji Hye. I just loved her from the beginning with her cool and collected demeanor. I was happy that they alluded to them ending up together, although I wish they would have done more with it than the awkward airport scene. I mean, if I were her I’d be like, “That’s it? A ‘come back sometime’ is the best you can muster during a dramatic airport scene?”
Vivi: I actually kind of loved that. It was so fitting to his entire personality. If the writers had done more with that relationship earlier, I might have expected more, but if he had run to the airport and suddenly started making out with her, it would have been weird. Like sexytimes CPR weird. Or clown music during a hostage scene weird.
Coco: Sexytimes CPR was one of the most awkward scenes of any Kdrama ever. Especially since it fell on a commercial break so it immediately repeated and made it twice as long. Eww.
Vivi: Seriously. It was like I couldn’t stand to watch it, but I couldn’t look away, either. MAKE IT STOP! Speaking of that scene, this show wins for most fakeouts ever. I’m not happy about it, show! If you show someone moving in for a kiss, you’d better mean it! Coco: But wouldn’t it have been sadder if he actually did kiss her and then she rejected him? At least their relationship didn’t progress that far. But why did she go visit him at his cabin? That was kind of a mean trick when she already knew she wasn’t done with her ex-husband.
Vivi: That was a big complaint for me. It was like the show wanted to pretend that he never even confessed his feelings. Every time I thought they might let the relationship go, they just kept adding in something heartbreaking like that stupid cabin and stabbing me in the heart. And hello, letting him see them making out at the bus stop???? I hate them.
Coco: Ok, can we talk about the side characters for a minute? I totally love her sister and brother -in-law. Yes, she was a total pain in the butt at first, but the way they kept intervening with their relationship was really funny. And they spawned the cutest, funniest creation on God’s green earth, Gook.
Vivi: I wasn’t crazy about any of the parents, but I did enjoy the sister and her bumbling husband (Except for her terrible advice at the end. "Your body knew you were in love"? Nope. Your body was drunk.), and the other people in the hospital were fine. I mean, I can’t say that I was hanging on to every word Ah Reum said, but it was okay.
Coco: Yeah, I didn’t know what to do with Ah Reum. I hated her smug face so much at the beginning that even though she turned into a good person surprisingly quickly, I could never sincerely wish for her happiness. I’m glad that Yong Gyu ended up getting the girl because he was sooo adorable and sweet, but they’re kind of an odd match.
Vivi: They are a perfect match because Ah Reum’s only job was to look hot and smile, and Yong Gyu just wanted a hot girlfriend. Boom. Match made in heaven.
Coco: That’s true. Plus, she really did show that she was a good person many times over. What about the newly married couple and the pregnancy plotline? Something that did strike me over and over again in this drama was the theme of female empowerment. It was fantastic to see so many strong women in typically male positions in this drama.
Vivi: Absolutely. That storyline felt a little underdeveloped and thrown together, but between that, the double standard for divorce, and Ji Hye as a single working mother, it was a show that largely revolved around the problems women face. And at the end of the day, none of the women had ideal lives, and none of them were pushovers.
Coco: It’s so nice to see a Kdrama, or a show in general, that addresses those issues realistically and doesn’t primarily focus on the issues surrounding modern women and sex and romance like in I Need Romance and Sex and the City. Yes, sex and romance are struggles for modern women, but there’s much more than that in their struggle for equality.
Vivi:I Need Romance 3 also had an unwed pregnancy plotline, which was probably the most interesting part of the whole show (which I still need to review someday). I do like to see the emergence of more nuanced shows, though. Wait, did I just call Emergency Couple nuanced? Scratch that. There were definitely rough patches, too. Some of the tone was bizarre. Some of the plot elements jumped forward at the end. The mother drove me insane. But even with the stuff I didn’t like, I was waiting for each new episode, which is something that hasn’t happened in a while.
Coco: True, is had its struggles, and sometimes it seemed a little slow (mostly because I don’t love medical dramas so I would rather fast forward through those scenes), but I was also waiting for new episodes and sometimes got way too excited and then sad when I realized it was actually Thursday and not Friday like I thought. Overall, I highly recommend this drama for its talented and fun cast and their great chemistry, not only as couples but as an overall ensemble as well.
What did you guys think of this show? Did you stick with it past the rough start? Comment below!
Until last year, we swore we would never watch currently airing dramas, but now that we've started, it's kind of addicting. While you don't get the benefits being able to marathon the whole thing or knowing if a drama is going to fall apart halfway through before you begin (*cough*Prime Minister*cough*), there is a fun sense of community you get from chatting about current shows as they air, even if they're terrible.
So that brings us to the latest batch. We've been sampling bits and pieces of a few of them, but to be honest, none of them are looking like they're going to break into our favorites any time in the near future. Here are some quick thoughts so far:
Bride of the Century
What it's about: Lee Hong Ki (aka Jeremy from You're Beautiful) plays--what else? A grumpy chaebol heir with a sad past. Newcomer Yang Jin Sung plays--of course--a poor, hardworking girl who happens to look exactly like the heir's fiancee. When the fiancee disappears, this girl agrees to temporarily step into her place. Oh, and there's a ghost who kills the first wife of anyone marrying into the family.
Vivi's take: Everything about this drama--the sets, the styling, the characterizations, the soapy acting, etc--feels very reminiscent of early- to mid-2000s dramas like Full House or Boys over Flowers. Whether or not that's a good thing entirely depends on how you feel about that generation of dramas. For me, I enjoy them as classics, but I can't say that I've ever actually uttered the words, "Man, you know what would be awesome? A Boys over Flowers knockoff! But with a ghost added in!" If that's your jam, though, this is the drama for you!
If it's possible, I think she just out-Jan Di'd Jan Di herself.
While I'm okay riding the old school vibe for what it is, I have a much bigger bone to pick with the first four episodes of this drama. Given the rich chaebol jerk lead, it's not surprising that there are wrist grabs and some forced kisses. I hate it, but it's pretty typical fare for this brand of show. Bride of the Century, however, takes sexual intimidation to a whole new level:
In almost every episode, Kang Joo backs Doo Rim up against a wall or pins her on a bed against her will, and instead of doing it because he wants to be near her, he does it to intimidate and to punish her. Even though she fights back, five minutes later, she's falling in love with him. I just can't root for that.
Then again, the second lead is falling in love with someone who looks just like his sister--wait, sorry, half sister. Gross.
Two saving graces so far: 1. I'm cheering for the sassy ghost to win. I love her. 2. Lee Hong Ki makes some excellent facial contortions.
Sly and Single Again/Cunning Single Lady
What it's about: A man (Joo Sang Wook) and a woman (Lee Min Jung) divorce after years of financial hardship. Years later, he has become a successful businessman, and she wants to win back back and exact her revenge.
Vivi's take: Man, I must have taken grumpy pills before I started watching or something because I'm not really feeling this one, either. Episode 4 started to move into some character development, but mostly, almost allof the characters seem petty, bitter, and mean spirited so far. I wish that the secretary and Seung Hyun would run off and form a spinoff buddy comedy instead.
You're welcome, MBC. I've just made you a surefire hit!
If Sly and Single spends some time making the characters more likable (and maybe kills off all of Na Ae Ra's family), it could have potential.
P.S. For those of you watching Emergency Couple, I was gradually weaning myself off of my love for Jin Hee/Chief Gook, but after episode 13, you will have to pry this relationship out of my cold, dead fingers before I will let it go.
Coco's take: While I love Emergency Couple now, I wasn't the biggest fan at first because I was expecting it to be more playful and over-the-top based on its behind the scenes and advertisements. I feel like Sly and Single Again is exactly what I initially wanted Emergency Couple to be. It's definitely more in the romantic comedy genre than Emergency Couple, which seems to be more in the romantic drama category. This means that if you are in the mood for something light and ridiculous then Sly and Single Again may be the new series for you. Yes, the main characters aren't that likable yet, but isn't that the point? I'm expecting some major character growth from them, and I think they'll get there with plenty of hijinks along the way. Plus, Joo Sang Wook has me on the hook! (see what I did there?)
Which new dramas are you guys watching? Are you loving something that we haven't started yet? Convince us to watch with you!
I already did a halftime review of Miss Korea, and pretty much everything I said there still holds now that I've seen the rest of the series. I'll just add a few more thoughts now that the series is done. As I said before, Miss Korea threw me for a loop at first. I didn't really know how to categorize it in my mind, and I eventually realized that it had a documentary-like feel to it. That feeling held out until the end of the series. I never felt like it was moralizing or forcing us to interpret characters in a specific way. Aside from a couple of side villains (the Ba Da Cosmetics guy, the elevator girl supervisor, and the gangster overlord), the characters all felt fleshed out and real. This is a slice-of-life drama if there ever was one, and once I settled in for the ride, I quite enjoyed how thoughtful and quiet it was.
What surprised me most about Miss Korea was its strong feminist undercurrent. For every drama watcher who cringes at wrist grabs and shouts at the screen at wilting female leads, this is the drama for you. At its core, this show is about a woman who has lived her entire life surrounded by men telling her what she should and shouldn't do with her life and her body. From her well-meaning male family members to her boyfriend to her boss at the mall, her life is dominated by male figures pulling her in different directions.
None of your business if she farted or not!
While the Miss Korea pageant--filled with absurd standards of beauty and femininity--might be an odd place for Ji Young to take her stand, it actually works because it's the opposite of what everyone expects from her. Her family members drool over the pageant, and yet they insist that it would be improper for her to enter the pageant. Her elevator boss doesn't believe that she deserves to be Miss Korea. It's Ji Young's chance to choose what she wants to do for herself, and if that means becoming Miss Korea, it's her choice.
That's not to say that the male characters become sad doormats, either. I found the Ji Young-Hyung Joon relationship refreshingly balanced for a Kdrama. If you watch it, you'll notice the number of times Hyung Joon asks Ji Young, "Is this what you want?" After he starts to move away from his initial jerk phase, he starts to focus his actions around supporting her in her quest for independence. Similarly, she supports him in his hardships, even when he tries to refuse her help.
Possibly my favorite moment of the whole thing was her response to his noble idiocy. He tried to leave her for her own good, and she was just like, "Okay, sure. Try to leave me, but I'm not breaking up with you, so too bad." I might have done a little fist pump of victory in that moment.
FINALLYYYYYYYYYYY!
I could go on and on and on about all of the minor characters in this show. I really liked all of them, from the fashion directors to the contestants to the Vivi team. I eventually warmed up to the Hwa Jung/Teacher Jung relationship, but Teacher Jung always made me feel just a little uncomfortable the whole time.
Does this mean that Miss Korea was a flawless specimen of Kdramas? Not at all. It was a quiet drama, but sometimes "quiet" can be code for "boring." Sure, it was refreshing to have a drama filled with real things that could happen to real people instead of ending every episode with an absurd cliffhanger, but after watching both Miss Korea and Pasta, I think these writers need to understand their limitations a little bit better. If you're going to write slice-of-life dramas, do it in a more concise manner! Frankly, I had a little bit of a crisis around episode 15 when I realized I still had five more hours to watch. Sixteen episodes would have allowed them to pick up the pace at the beginning and the end of the series without sacrificing much.
That being said, I found the last episode quite satisfying. The final scene was the perfect way to wrap up what easily became my favorite series of the last drama round, in spite of a rocky and confusing start.
Miss Korea definitely won't be the right drama for everyone, but if you're looking for something sincere, realistic, and full of heart, look no further.
So, we actually managed to cover most of our Heirs-related feelings in our finale commentary, but we figured we should probably give a more thorough (and serious) analysis of the show as a whole. After all, it has consumed so much of the kdrama community for the past 2+ months that it deserves some parting words!
Here's the one-paragraph overview: Heirs started out kind of ridiculous. Then it became a train wreck, but also the most boring train wreck I have ever seen. Then it somehow improved for the last handful of episodes. Is it worth watching for people who skipped it while it was airing? I give it a decided meh overall, bordering on "Is it over yet? What about now?"
Let's start with the positives. Many of he the secondary characters were interesting, funny, and charming. It took a while to get invested in some of them (like Hyo Shin) just because we were jumping back and forth between so many people, but the side friendships and romances were often a welcome relief from the main couple. The two superstar couples of this show were Chan Young/Bo Na and Ki Ae/Hee Nam (the two mothers). In both cases, I didn't particularly like the characters at first, but they gradually grew on me until I smiled every time they entered the scene.
The second positive is Kim Woo Bin as Choi Young Do. Wait, you already knew that Coco and I are completely and totally biased in favor of Young Do? How ever did you figure it out?
I know I'm not the only one who started this show feeling a little guilty that I found Young Do more interesting than Kim Tan in pretty much every scene. My theory is that Young Do had to be disturbingly cruel and violent at first to at least give people a fair shot at favoring the intended main couple. Even then, the early episodes were a mental tug-of-war where one side said, "But VIVI, you should never favor bullies! It's despicable!" while the other side said, "I can't help it! He's so fascinating! Plus, Kim Tan is about as interesting as watching cement dry!" It also helped that we knew from episode 1 that this guy would never actually get the girl, so it's not like we were really advocating abusive bully boyfriends anyway.
Even when I couldn't really like Young Do because he was too scary, he was always interesting to watch, and full credit there goes to Kim Woo Bin for making every facial expression in every scene meaningful. He has won a few new fans over here for sure.
And now...the bad.
Really, most of the problems in this show boiled down to the central couple. There was very little romantic scaffolding at the beginning of the show to indicate why Kim Tan would be so obsessive about Eun Sang, and there especially wasn't any strong reasoning for Eun Sang to return his affections. The male lead was already asking "Do I like you?" in episode 2, which pushed the show into the "romantic obstacles abound" phase before it had time to develop the romance in the first place. That's also probably why the middle of the show felt so draggy--we skipped ahead to freeze frame love triangle standoffs by episode 5. What options did they have by episode 10 but to repeat this standoff for the twentieth time? Oh, wait, they could always go for the sad drive-by ignore walk. I counted five of those in one episode alone! FIVE! Sure, there was some cute banter in the last few episodes, but it was a little late by then.
Without this romantic scaffolding in place, we just kind of had to trust the writer's word for it that this couple was madly in love. I remember that I talked a little about internal versus external kdramas in my review of Nice Guy. If that drama was internal, this one was a step beyond external. These characters didn't even look like they were in love. Eun Sang looked horrified every time Kim Tan invaded her personal space (over and over and over again), and yet, the words "I like you" suddenly came out of her mouth. If the dialogue says it, it must be true!
He just confessed his feelings. She's literally trembling with fear.
Doesn't that face say "I'm so happy you kissed me"?
Yup, suuuuuper happy right now. Ah, young love!
"It only looks like you're hurting me against my will! And this struggling is struggling for joy!"
This kind of forced feeling plays into a bigger theme on Heirs, and that theme is that it's all about Kim Tan. I finally realized that Kim Tan's obsession was never even about Eun Sang as a person--it was always about Eun Sang as his personal symbol. He chased her down obsessively, but that relationship was still very self-focused. Here are some examples:
Kim Tan's dialogue often focuses on himself rather than Eun Sang: "Do I like you?" "Why don't you ever listen to me?" (Uhhh, because you've been ignoring everything she says?) "I'm going crazy because I want to hug you." (Followed by a hug. Against her protests.) "But I like you!" "Just do as I say!"
He instigates violence against Young Do time after time after time, and he almost always uses Eun Sang as an excuse. (Fun fact: In four out of five fights, Tan gets physical first. Young Do only hits Tan first when he's trying to sober him up.) But if you look at the most troubling of these scenes (where he kicks down the door while shouting "I'm gonna kill you!"), his first thought isn't to take care of Eun Sang's safety (while "bad guy" Young Do does manage to shield her). Instead, his first thought is to punch Young Do and hit him with a chair. It's not so much about protecting Eun Sang as it is about his own rage against Young Do.
I was happy that Kim Tan finally realized the impact his rampaging tactics had on Eun Sang's life, and I guess his decision to stop chasing after her was some twisted kind of selflessness, but he followed it up by going on that absurd bender of violence and pouty tears. Was he only sad about Eun Sang, or was his inability to "protect" Eun Sang mostly emblematic of his powerlessness against dear old daddy-o?
I saw Kim Tan progressing in some ways (like self-confidence and less family neediness), but for the most part, he wasn't much better at the end of the show than he was at the beginning. While Young Do apologized to the kid he bullied, I wasn't convinced that Kim Tan wouldn't just punch someone else in the face if they got in the way of what he wanted. Is that kid who broke down the door and grabbed the chair gone, or was he pacified because everyone changed around him? His brother supported him, his dad had a stroke and caved, and even his mommy troubles came to an end. What bad habits did Kim Tan abandon in all of this?
In the end, though, I'm glad I watched Heirs. Even the painful music and the ridiculous styling were fun to mock! Love is the moment, guys. Never forget. Or is love my pain? Or is the moment my pain?
One more terrible styling choice for the road, okay? The caked on face makeup in this scene kind of makes it look like his face is melting, like a Barbie that got left in the sun too long.
Guys, this is it. For all of its ups and downs, Heirs was a fun community experience. Even when it was a complete train wreck in the middle, at least we all got to laugh at the train wreck together! Because we live blogged the Heirs premiere, we thought we would round out some of our thoughts on the final episode in the same way. Here we go!
00.10 V: This show has turned me into Pavlov’s dog. I hear the Young Do theme song, and I’m already clutching my heart at the computer screen. CURSE YOU AND YOUR CHARISMA FOREVER, KIM WOO BIN!
I can’t help but wish, though, that they had just consummated this bromance with one last round of “Love Is the Moment.”
6.05 C: Did Young Do’s dad just make a joke? What? It’s a little late for father/son camaraderie don’t you think?
V: Yeah, waaaay too little too late. You can’t just give people strokes or send them to jail in the last episode to make us feel sad!
C: But I did feel sad though. When Tan’s dad reached out to fake little Tan….FEELS
V: Me too. Stroke + small child flashbacks? I can’t resist. But I still felt manipulated the whole time.
C: Agreed. Those writers are pulling every trick in the tear generator book.
8.10 C: Aww, Young Do is trying to make his peace with the world! Now he’s bad-boy-turned-sad-boy-turned-rad-boy, but still kind of just sad-boy, FOREVER.
9.11 V: LSKJDFFSKHLJFSJLSDFJKLFSDJKL I’m never ever going to recover from Young Do-itis.
C: Me either. They better do him right by the end of this! I FORGIVE YOU YOUNG DO! (and please marry me).
9.50 V: It wouldn’t be Heirs without some unintelligible English, would it?
C: Funny how it’s all coming full circle, even the engrish.
V: Does this mean we might get a closing cameo from Tan’s surfer drug addict thief friend?
C: PLEASE dear drama gods, YES!
11.40 C: NO YOUNG DO! Don’t do it! They better not make him commit suicide. THIS IS NONSENSE!!!
Also, poor little rich kids. Boooo hoooo. Go cry me a river that I know you’re just going to make your servant clean up.
V: Yeah, yeah, we get it. Everyone is sad except for Eun Sang.
C: What? She’s sad for like 19 of the 20 episodes. I thought she only knew how to make one face.
V: Is that why she’s text message rubbing it in that she’s the only non-sad one now? Oh, wait, she’s STILL making her cry face.
18.40 C: It’s making me nervous that Young Do is traipsing all around trying to make amends. He better not die! And if he’s not going to die, then is this just the writer’s evil plot to make us fall even more in love with him so it sucks that much more when he NEVER wins?
V: I can’t even talk about him anymore because it hurts my heart too much. I’m just going to listen to his theme song on repeat instead.
C: That will do you no good. Nothing good ever comes from listening to K-drama theme songs on repeat. Trust me, I did it with Master’s Sun and it wrecked me, like a wrecking ball, that’s how it came in.
V: Well, the writer will just have to take responsibility for any Miley Cyrus happenings around here, then. She’s the one who wrote a male lead with the personality of a potato and matched him against this guy!
C: Yes that was so shortsighted, or genius. Not sure which, but I’m in love so I don’t even care! Young Do *V*! (*V*= the emoticon for FIGHTING!)
21:43
V: The chairwoman is wearing a Snuggie to an important meeting. Hey, at least she dressed it up with her best neck bow, right?
C: I wonder if I can pick one up at Walgreen’s. My mother would love to have one to watch her K-dramas in.
V: I don’t know, Coco. This one appears to be her most formal snuggy. It might be too fancy for casual Kdrama viewing.
C: Are you saying my mom is not classy? You know what happens when people diss each other’s mothers. We’ve just witnessed 20 episodes of it!
V: Don’t hit me with the chair, Coco! I take it all back!
C: Ok, 4 year feud averted.
V: I’m just glad I won’t be forced to rock angry Elvis hair for the foreseeable future.
C: Yes, and I am glad that I won’t have to wear 20 different ugly sweaters. Wait, why do you get to be Young Do?
V: Because Kim Tan is always the one getting his feelings hurt over “your momma” jokes.
C: Ah, ok. Fair enough.
26.00 C: Not the DOUBLE single tear! One single tear rolling down two people’s cheeks at the same time?!? This is getting real!
V: Seriously, people, you’re killing me here! I’m thinking of starting a coffee table book entitled The Many Sad Faces of Young Do. Any takers? And it’s a TRIPLE single tear if you count the one slowly rolling down my cheek.
C: Oh no, then that makes it a QUADRUPLE single tear for my little tear running down my little cheek too!
V: It’s really hard to gaze pensively into the distance and watch the show at the same time.
C: That’s true, but this is Young Do we’re talking about, so if anyone deserves quadruple single tears, it’s him.
29:55 V: FINALLY, a Rachel and Hyo Shin scene! I have been waiting for ANYTHING that doesn’t have to do with stupid boring people and their stupid boring companies.
C: Yes! As much as I hate Rachel, I do want to see her happy. It’s only kind of her fault she’s such a heartless rich girl. Tan did her wrong, there’s no denying that!
I'd say she got the better consolation prize.
42.36 V: I feel like I should be more sad about Won’s breakup. Too bad I can’t even remember this girl’s name. I’ve just been calling her Whazzerface Orphan Lady.
C: Yeah, their relationship never felt particularly real and gripping to me. But I am sad for Won. Did he learn nothing about reckless love from Tan?
V: Well, lest we forget, everything is always all about Tan. If Won had done the same thing, they would have lost that vote (52% to 44% is close!). We can’t have poor little Tanny losing all his stuff, can we?
C: True. Someone has to take one for the team, and apparently Won chose to bear the weight of the power and greed crown!
V: One advantage of this show ending is that we never have to hear anything more about crowns or weight ever, ever again.
45.42 V: Has Young Do been carrying that bandaid around in every pair of pants since he got it? Or has he just never changed his pants? Gross.
C: I knew all the men in this show were strangely stalkerish and obsessive, but that does take the cake.
50.30 C: WTF? Nothing changed? Another shot of Tan and Young Do long walking past each other without looking up? WAE? What was the point of Young Do’s character if he ends up with NOTHING? No girl, no best friend, no company! *throwing table over*
V: Maybe he can go for the new chicken delivery girl?
C: I thought that was what was about to happen and got really angry for a second. Like, that is not an ok cop out last minute.
V: You’re a party pooper. At least Young Do wouldn’t be forever alone, but let’s face it, we all knew this was coming from the first time he showed up. That’s why they started him out SO evil.
C: But every other male lead starts out evil and gets the girl. Just look at Jun Pyo!
V: Or, dare I say it, Kim Tan? Oh wait, he starts out kind of nice and goes downhill from there.
C: How dare you?! You’re right. He’s kind of a controlling and violent maniac.
V: Remember how in Episode 19 he said that he loves to be obsessive? Because I do.
54:27 C: KISS, KISS, KISS! And I mean a real one now! I just really need for a normal, lovely, kiss where no one looks like they’re in pain or being forced to happen.
54.39 V: I LITERALLY LOLd at that ridiculous (and slightly creepy) lip bump.
C: That was NOT a real kiss! That was a freeze frame so that Park Shin Hye doesn’t have to ever learn how to kiss on screen.
V: At least PSH was smiling! Also, are they getting married? Also also why are they living in Tan’s childhood bedroom ten years down the line?
56. 35 V: I can just imagine the writer saying, “You know what we all need here? A recap of EVERY TIME Kim Tan and Eun Sang cried at each other!” You know, in case we forgot.
C: No, I’m pretty sure that was the abridged version. A whole recap would take 10 of the 20 hours.
V: But, you know, eighteen, and pain and stuff. So that makes it okay.
C: Oh to be young! Young Do! Our favorite part of this whole experience.
V: And Bo Na/Chan Young! (Why couldn't we cut half of the boring company stuff for more of them in the finale?)
If I had a time machine, I would go back in time and hang out with Leonardo da Vinci for a while. Once I was done, I would go warn the writers of Marry Him If You Dare (aka Mirae's Choice) not to ruin their show. This thing was so promising at first. I gave it a lot of leeway because hey, at least it wasn't the train wreck that Heirs was, right? Well, while Heirs has gradually been improving, Marry Him If You Dare gradually got worse. And worse. And worse. And then the finale felt like someone vomited into a paper sack, lit it on fire, and put it on my pillow. But more on that later.
Positives
The first few episodes of Marry Him If You Dare were really great. Yoon Eun Hye's ridiculous styling was kind of distracting, but otherwise, it had all of the pieces of an engaging romcom.
Where does one even find a train conductor's hat for casual use?
Most time travel dramas involve someone from the distant past coming to the future, so I liked the switch-up with the traveler coming from the future. It was kind of like A Christmas Carol--if, instead of telling Scrooge what would happen to him over the course of one night, the ghosts kept dropping vague hints for weeks on end for maximum dramatic impact.
The cast was really strong as well. Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Gun created some solid chemistry in the initial stages of the relationship that made me anticipate the progression into passionate love.
I also liked the initial characterization of the second leads. Park Se Joo was kind and thoughtful like a typical male lead, but he wasn't afraid to voice his feelings. He wasn't a complete emotional doormat like other second male leads, which was really refreshing.
The breakout star of the whole thing, though, was Han Chae Ah as Seo Yoo Kyung. In the first few episodes, I thought I would despise her, but then she became delightfully funny and complex. Even when the rest of the show became a gigantic mess, she continued to shine in her scenes.
Let's just make a show about her and skip everyone else.
The other character who went from hatred to love was the brother. He seemed overly overbearing at first, but by the end I was begging for more of his love/hate relationships with both Kim Shin and future Mirae.
Awwww, oppa surrounded by his two sisters (or, to be more accurate, his one sister twice)! So heartwarming!
Where It All Went Wrong
As I said, those first few episodes bought Marry Him If You Dare a lot of time before I suddenly came to the realization that I wasn't enjoying it anymore and that I hadn't been enjoying it for a while. The sad reality is that Marry Him If You Dare is boring. Not typical kdrama draggy middle episodes boring, either. It's stab-yourself-in-the-arm-just-to-make-sure-you-can-still-feel boring. Thinking back, I can remember maybe three scenes from roughly episode 7 to episode 15. It all blends together into a hazy mush that you could feed to people as a tranquilizer.
As if being boring wasn't bad enough, the writers completely tanked 3/4 of the main love square. Seo Yoo Kyung was consistent, but the other three leads were infuriating. What began as a backbone in Se Joo turned into relentless nagging as he wouldn't let Mirae go even after it became clear that she would never love him. Kim Shin did all kinds of logical contortions to make his consistent noble idiocy seem like it made sense. Instead of building his relationship with Mirae, we watched them run away from each other episode after episode (after episode after episode after episode...).
And then, stuck between these two men who inexplicably loved her, we have Mirae. The alternative title of Mirae's Choice suggests that the entire premise focuses on the balance between fate and choice. At several times throughout the show, I applauded when Mirae announced that she wanted to take control of her own life and make decisions independent of other people. That kind of talk struck me as good ground for a strong kdrama heroine. But even as Mirae's words said one thing, her actions consistently said something else. Every time someone offered a reason why she shouldn't date the man she wanted, it put her totally out of emotional commission for the rest of the episode.
Your mouth says "strong female," but your face says, "I have a bad case of motion sickness."
By the end of the series, we are supposed to believe that Mirae has made the right choice to lead her into a future of happiness that her original path wouldn't have held. The big problem, however, is that I'm not convinced that Mirae actually changed in significant ways from the beginning of the series to the end. Yes, she became more confident and found fulfillment in her job, but that wasn't the part of her life that led to the tragic future in the first place. The debt was the outside stressor, but it was Mirae's building resentment over their hardships that caused her to lash out at Kim Shin in the end. In the final few episodes of the altered reality, that stressor is gone, but Mirae still doesn't know how to cope with her trials. She cries over things like office gossip, she strings Park Se Joo along because she doesn't have the communication skills to make her feelings clear, and she becomes tearful and irate when things don't go her way. That doesn't sound like resilient character development, does it?
Ultimately, I didn't like or empathize with Mirae, and that was one of the biggest weaknesses in this show. She was upbeat, positive, and strong in her professional life, but in her personal life, she came off as self-centered and petulant.
The Ending (MAJOR SPOILERS)
If I still cared about Mirae by the end of the series, this is how I would have felt about the finale:
It's like the writers realized that they had squandered the last ten episodes, so they had a contest to see who could make the most disastrous choices for the finale. Let's have a heart-to-heart about that pile of pig excrement they called a last episode, shall we?
If we're talking about "selfless" moves gone wrong, Mirae's breakup with Se Joo takes the cake. Your "gift" to him is doing what you want and telling him to try again later? You're not fooling anyone, Mirae.
The ONLY good thing here is that Yoo Kyung didn't end up with Se Joo. This whole time, I've been wondering why switching one event changed his entire love fate, but apparently nothing can change Mirae's fate to love Kim Shin. Weird, right? Well, Yoo Kyung deserves someone better than this guy anyway. Why did he have to turn into such an obsessive crazypants?
So Mirae only wants to date Kim Shin if he's not in debt anymore? What kind of life lesson is that?
Remember how it was an ENORMOUS deal that future Mirae's timeline couldn't change, regardless of what past Mirae did? And then, in the very next episode, past Mirae is like, "I'm gonna put stuff in a box for you to dig up in the future!" AND IT WORKS? I know that narrative logic isn't your strength, dear drama writers, but this just feels lazy.
Speaking of lazy writing, future Kim Shin is suddenly alive? How did his wife not know this? No takesies backsies on suicide, guys!
Aaaaaaaaaaaand then that freeze frame at the end. I'm not always opposed to ambiguity, but again, this feels like random laziness more than purposeful writing. In a show called Mirae's Choice, MIRAE NEVER ACTUALLY MAKES A CHOICE. Then again, the way the show developed over the last few episodes undermined either choice anyway. The obvious pick would be Kim Shin, but even that option felt sour by the end of episode 16. Poor Kim Shin. He deserves better, too.
Yoon Eun Hye didn't kiss a single person in this entire series. What a waste.
Overall
This series is just a pity. It could (and should) have been so much better, but it just wasn't.
If you want to watch Marry Him If You Dare (but seriously, why would you?), you can see it here:
