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Nov. 23rd, 2016 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsIt has taken shati and me over a year to watch Sandglass after my surprise-kdrama-fan colleague dropped it on my desk one morning in 2015. I'm honestly not sure if it's great or terrible timing that it worked out so that we finished it right after the election, but here we are!
Sandglass aired in 1995, and focuses on the political oppression and corruption of 1970s and 80s Korea. It's notable for:
- interpolating archival footage of significant events, most significantly the Gwangju Uprising, in with footage shot for the show
- breaking a fifteen-year media silence about said significant events
- influencing the prosecution of the former president responsible for aforementioned significant events, who eventually ended up jailed for the abuses committed during his regime
- being one of the most overwhelmingly popular dramas in Korean history
- launching the career of the beautiful and impressively eyebrowed Go Hyun-jung, previously seen on this blog as Seju Mishil, ruthless aspirant to the throne of Korea!
Sandglass focuses on three people who find themselves involved in the era's political turmoil and corruption.
Woo-suk is a stand-up guy who wants to go to university and become an honest prosecutor for the people! He likes studying and thinking serious, earnest thoughts.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that lands him in the army right as it's about to come down like an iron fist on a bunch of civilians protesting the oppressive regime.
Tae-soo is a bright kid with a chance to make it in a legitimate career, especially after Woo Suk starts tutoring him! He likes glowering and wearing denim jackets.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that ends him in a gang hired by corrupt politicians to attack opposition parties and peaceful protesters.
Woo-suk and Tae-soo love each other very much, and are definitely at their most interesting when they are demonstrating this rather than brooding into space about their own manpain.
Tae-kyung is one of Woo-suk's two friends. The other one is Hye-rin, the daughter of a fabulously wealthy and corrupt casino owner, who like many a college student is trying to ditch her parents and follow her own dreams: drinking, getting in barfights, and participating in idealistic student activism.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that requires her to take over from her father, dominate the casino industry, and dive neck-deep into political corruption!
I loved Hye-rin (of course I was going to love Hye-rin, I am genetically programmed to admire Go Hyun-jung), but neither Woo-suk nor Tae-kyung were among my favorite characters most of the time.
The honor of first-favorite went to Jae-hee, Hye-rin's bodyguard/secretary/right-hand man, master of the quietly supportive and quietly judgy expressions.
We were never quite sure whether his feelings towards Hye-rin were romantic or maternal, but either way we called him Sweater Mom because of his habit of turning up unexpectedly to make sure that Hye-rin was adequately wool-clad.
(Me: He's definitely a much better romantic choice than either of Hye-rin's theoretical actual love interests!
shati: I mean, I agree, but I don't know if I actually ship them romantically. You may love your sweater very, very much, but it's still a sweater.)
Also deeply beloved was Reporter Shin, who turned up halfway through the show when everyone else was already elbow-deep in corruption to be a beacon of idealism and stick-to-it-iveness! At one point she got her own amazing Newsies subplot.
She also proposed to Woo Suk like two days after meeting him, then, when he bemusedly rejected her, cheerfully admitted that her parents were pressuring her to get married but what she was really looking for was a stay-at-home wife, so, you know ... you do the math.
Third-favorite character: Sun-young, Woo-suk's landlady and eventual other love interest, a sweet and deeply socially awkward young woman who enjoys lurking around corners and wearing blood-red work gloves.
Run away with Reporter Shin, Sun-young! She needs a good wife!
Rounding out the cast are a bunch of loyal puppy-like gang members who love Tae-soo, a bunch of corrupt middle-aged men who hate Hye-rin, and the quirky cast of Woo-suk's brief Law and Order spinoff when he wanders off from the main plot for five episodes to set up his own prosecutor's office.
We would probably have had an easier time keeping the corrupt middle-aged men straight if we had a better knowledge of this period of Korean history, and the whole arc of the story didn't really coalesce for me until the last two episode. Admittedly it would have probably helped if we'd watched it ... faster .....
It was absolutely worthwhile (if occasionally grim) watching, though. There's a reason it's historic.
shati and me over a year to watch Sandglass after my surprise-kdrama-fan colleague dropped it on my desk one morning in 2015. I'm honestly not sure if it's great or terrible timing that it worked out so that we finished it right after the election, but here we are!Sandglass aired in 1995, and focuses on the political oppression and corruption of 1970s and 80s Korea. It's notable for:
- interpolating archival footage of significant events, most significantly the Gwangju Uprising, in with footage shot for the show
- breaking a fifteen-year media silence about said significant events
- influencing the prosecution of the former president responsible for aforementioned significant events, who eventually ended up jailed for the abuses committed during his regime
- being one of the most overwhelmingly popular dramas in Korean history
- launching the career of the beautiful and impressively eyebrowed Go Hyun-jung, previously seen on this blog as Seju Mishil, ruthless aspirant to the throne of Korea!
Sandglass focuses on three people who find themselves involved in the era's political turmoil and corruption.
Woo-suk is a stand-up guy who wants to go to university and become an honest prosecutor for the people! He likes studying and thinking serious, earnest thoughts.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that lands him in the army right as it's about to come down like an iron fist on a bunch of civilians protesting the oppressive regime.
Tae-soo is a bright kid with a chance to make it in a legitimate career, especially after Woo Suk starts tutoring him! He likes glowering and wearing denim jackets.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that ends him in a gang hired by corrupt politicians to attack opposition parties and peaceful protesters.
Woo-suk and Tae-soo love each other very much, and are definitely at their most interesting when they are demonstrating this rather than brooding into space about their own manpain.
Tae-kyung is one of Woo-suk's two friends. The other one is Hye-rin, the daughter of a fabulously wealthy and corrupt casino owner, who like many a college student is trying to ditch her parents and follow her own dreams: drinking, getting in barfights, and participating in idealistic student activism.
Too bad about the unfortunate turn of events that requires her to take over from her father, dominate the casino industry, and dive neck-deep into political corruption!
I loved Hye-rin (of course I was going to love Hye-rin, I am genetically programmed to admire Go Hyun-jung), but neither Woo-suk nor Tae-kyung were among my favorite characters most of the time.
The honor of first-favorite went to Jae-hee, Hye-rin's bodyguard/secretary/right-hand man, master of the quietly supportive and quietly judgy expressions.
We were never quite sure whether his feelings towards Hye-rin were romantic or maternal, but either way we called him Sweater Mom because of his habit of turning up unexpectedly to make sure that Hye-rin was adequately wool-clad.
(Me: He's definitely a much better romantic choice than either of Hye-rin's theoretical actual love interests!
shati: I mean, I agree, but I don't know if I actually ship them romantically. You may love your sweater very, very much, but it's still a sweater.) Also deeply beloved was Reporter Shin, who turned up halfway through the show when everyone else was already elbow-deep in corruption to be a beacon of idealism and stick-to-it-iveness! At one point she got her own amazing Newsies subplot.
She also proposed to Woo Suk like two days after meeting him, then, when he bemusedly rejected her, cheerfully admitted that her parents were pressuring her to get married but what she was really looking for was a stay-at-home wife, so, you know ... you do the math.
Third-favorite character: Sun-young, Woo-suk's landlady and eventual other love interest, a sweet and deeply socially awkward young woman who enjoys lurking around corners and wearing blood-red work gloves.
Run away with Reporter Shin, Sun-young! She needs a good wife!
Rounding out the cast are a bunch of loyal puppy-like gang members who love Tae-soo, a bunch of corrupt middle-aged men who hate Hye-rin, and the quirky cast of Woo-suk's brief Law and Order spinoff when he wanders off from the main plot for five episodes to set up his own prosecutor's office.
We would probably have had an easier time keeping the corrupt middle-aged men straight if we had a better knowledge of this period of Korean history, and the whole arc of the story didn't really coalesce for me until the last two episode. Admittedly it would have probably helped if we'd watched it ... faster .....
It was absolutely worthwhile (if occasionally grim) watching, though. There's a reason it's historic.
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Date: 2016-11-24 03:03 am (UTC)