skygiants | (no subject)

Since it's Valentine's Day, I might as well write up a romantic kdrama I have been meaning to talk about for ages!

So these are the leads of Queen In-Hyun's Man. In case you are wondering why our hero Kim Boong-Do's hat looks like it has tons of hair stuffed up inside it, that's because Kim Boong-Do usually looks like this:

Yes, this is a TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE.

The basic premise is that Kim Boong-Do -- a mild-mannered scholar deeply involved in political intrigue based around restoring the deposted Queen In-Hyun to power -- has come into possession of a magical talisman that conveniently shoots him three hundred years into the future whenever he's about to die.

Meanwhile, he bumps into Choi Hee-Jin, a rookie actress who has just gotten her big break in a historical TV series where she plays -- guess who?

Hilariously, while Hee-Jin thinks her possibly-delusional time traveling friend is super foxy from the get-go -- and is totally happy to make up BS "futuristic customs" about kissing, because lady's got needs, man -- Boong-Do is politely incredulous that Hee-Jin could be considered as much of a beauty as she claims to be until he actually sees her styled like a lady of his century. Suddenly, he gets it! BECAUSE STANDARDS OF BEAUTY CHANGE IN 300 YEARS.

In general, while I came for the wacky acting hijinks -- of which there did not actually turn out to be that many -- I stayed for the AMAZINGLY well done time-travel. The first two episodes were a bit slow for me, but after that it picked up fast and fantastic.

Kim Boong-Do is, hands-down, the smartest Past Dude In The Future that I've ever encountered in fiction! No comical flailing and lulzy misunderstandings for this guy; as soon as he sees people wandering around in pants and sweatshirts, he ditches the robes, finds an appropriate hat, and is off to observe the customs of this new place without attracting attention. It takes him all of like ten minutes to figure out that he's in the future, and then it's off to the LIBRARY to determine exactly the best way to use this to his advantage. It's not that the show ignores the significant cultural differences between past and present, because it totally doesn't -- it's just that Kim Boong-Do is very intelligent, and very adaptable, and it gives him a huge intellectual thrill to realize how much bigger the world is than he'd thought.

One example of just how smart Kim Boong-Do is: once he has mastered time travel rules, he allows a political enemy to exile him across the country, then TIME TRAVELS to the future, TAKES A PLANE back to the capital, time travels BACK, and then cheerfully pops in to pull a political coup on his totally unsuspecting enemy. The coup de grace is when he reminds the bad guy that if he tries to tell anybody what just happened, Kim Boong-Do has the best alibi ever: he was seen across the country yesterday, and he'll be back there tomorrow, and as everyone knows, it's not humanly possible to get back in less than like three weeks!

SMARTEST. TIME-TRAVELER. EVER.

Hee-Jin is also really great; it takes her a little while to get used to the situation, but she's super charming and funny and playful, and she knows what she wants and is not at all afraid to go after it. And their romance is adorable, full of sweet mutual trolling. It is, also, like, the only kdrama romance that I have ever seen that eschews the Standard Kdrama Romantic Wrist-Grab! (At least from the hero; I think Hee-Jin's Jerk Ex might use it once or twice, but, I mean, he's the Jerk Ex.) Kim Boong-Do continually respects Hee-Jin's agency and never acts like a controlling douche ever at all! IT'S AMAZING.

But I also really appreciate that the appeal that the future has for Kim Boong-Do isn't just rooted in romance. It's not a story about Boong-Do wanting to GIVE IT ALL UP FOR LOVE. There's this great moment when he's explaining that after being in the future, and reading the history, the past feels like the past to him now; he feels trapped by it, he wants to live without that artificial knowledge. And -- yeah. Of course it would.

REALLY SMART TIME TRAVEL is so rare, guys. I mean, I feel like it's rare, anyway, I dunno. What are your favorite time travel stories?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've been so skeptical about the spate of time travel shows, but you may have convinced me to watch this one. XD

Re: wrist grab...one of the reasons I loved Arang and the Magistrate was that the female protagonist wrist-grabs the hero and drags him after her! Unfortunately, I think he also engages in the same behavior, but it was nice to see the role reversal all the same.

IIRC, she typically took him to task for it snd wasn't afraid to yank it back.

Nod, that's what made it okay for me, but it would be even better if Euno hadn't engaged in the behavior in the first place. (Granted, given Euno's personality, I feel like he's the type to grab anyone's wrist and pull them about, regardless of gender or position...)

This is the one I've generally seen recced as being the most well-done overall! I've only watched half of one of the others -- Faith< which I do intend to someday finish, and which I did enjoy a lot while watching, but I don't think was as well-crafted? But I can't really say one way or the other I guess until I actually finish it.

HAHAHAHA I LOVE ARANG! Er, both the show and the character. I'm only four episodes in but she is the GREATEST for some of that very reason. I mean, to be honest, the wrist-dragging behavior doesn't actually bother me all that much, I think because I've just gotten so used to it I don't actually register it -- but that just makes it all the better when it isn't there!

I watched the first few episodes of Rooftop Prince but bailed because I got so tired of the usual gags: oh look, the Crown Prince is so inept at adapting to modern life, ha ha ha. So it is really intriguing to hear that Queen In Hyun's Man doesn't fall into that trap!

I LOVE ARANG TOO! <3 She is awesome in every conceivable way. XD

The wrist-dragging actually really bothers me; I don't remember it being so prevalent in the 90s but at some point it became a thing, and now it happens all the time!

I was so expecting that trope, tbh, and then I was SO DELIGHTED when it was completely averted. He watches and intuits stuff from observation! He makes effort to acquire a guidebook!

The only dramas I've seen have been relatively recent, which probably skews my perspective. I may be watching Sandglass soon, though!

Have you seen 1% of Anything? It was one of the first kdramas I saw, and it seemed to go out of it's way to point out the wrist grabbing as Not Ok. (Basically, the heroine bruised easily and the hero didn't realize how hard he was grabbing until someone went DUDE NOT OK and his response, IIRC, was pretty much YOU ARE RIGHT I SHOULDN'T BE DOING THAT I WILL THINK MORE CAREFULLY ABOUT MY ACTIONS IN THE FUTURE.)

Thanks for the rec! I am all for people objecting to wrist-grabbing.

I was really into Faith when it was airing and then I had a subs burnout for a few months and can't work up the energy to get back into it. OTOH, I was less into Arang at the same time, but dove right back in with gleeful sounds. (I think Faith is one of those that relies on momentum. If you make it all the way through on the initial momentum, you love it forever, but if you lose the momentum, that's it.)