(no subject)

[skygiants]

I still find it kind of hard to believe that Chicago Typewriter is a show that really exists, and that I didn't just make up in my head out of a combination of all the weird tropes most specifically targeted to bring me joy.



The three main characters of Chicago Typewriter are:

- Han Se Ju, the Korean equivalent of Steven King





- Jeon Seol, his biggest fan, a former Olympic sniper who had to quit because of inconvenient past life murder flashbacks and made a career switch to become a vet/deliverywoman/fanfic BNF who invented the genre of literary RPF in Korea





- the ghost who lives in Se Ju's typewriter and occasionally possesses his portrait of Eugene O'Neill





(Eventually Se Ju has to give Eugene O'Neill little paste-on sunglasses to stop his eyes from creepily following him around the room. It's these little details that make for an amazing viewing experience.)

ANYWAY, a past life, they were all 1930s Korean revolutionaries who loved each other very much but came to a tragic end! which none of them quite remember!!








Yes, this is a revolutionary conga line, and yes, it's one of the greatest things to ever happen on television.

I should point out that in her past life, Jeon Seol was a NIGHTCLUB SINGER BY DAY and a CROSS-DRESSING SNIPER BY NIGHT.








(The drama is by the same person who did Capital Scandal, and 'spot-the-writer's-id' would be a really great drinking game. Conveniently a lot of that writer's id is also ... my id ....)

Anyway, over the course of the story, they attempt to disentangle their complicated past-life relationships and figure out who murdered/betrayed whom and whether these things can be forgiven, while also dealing with important contemporary kdrama problems, like plagiarism and murderous stalkers and writer's block and ghost roommate contracts.





Important side characters include:

Joon Seol's best friend, an aspiring writer in her own right:



Her best friend's mom, an irritable psychic:




Se Ju's overinvested agent:



Se Ju's foster brother nemesis:



A very beautiful dog:




Chekhov's karmic murder deer:




This show delights me so much and it delights me ESPECIALLY that it ended
Favorite things about the ending include:

- the fact that risking an entire revolutionary organization to rescue one person ... actually backfires in the entirely expected ways that usually fiction does not show
- Past Jeon Seol going on a straight-up murder rampage
- which suddenly made us understand much better why her reincarnated mom was like 'NOPE, TOO AWKWARD, HER DAD'S RAISING HER NOW'
- Se Ju brandishing their roommate contract to get Yoo Jin Oh to stay and live with him
- Se Ju writing Yoo Jin Oh into his romance novel!!!
- AND DEDICATING IT TO HIM
- the final message that messing up bad in your past life does not mean there's no hope of doing better in your present life; maybe there was some murder and betrayal last time BUT IT'S FINE NOW, ghost threesome forever!
- (the ending definitely means Yoo Jin Oh is coming back to the present after regaining his strength in romance novel-land for a while for eventual ghost threesomes, and nobody can convince me otherwise)

My only regret is that it didn't end up doing more with explicitly writing-as-revolution in the backstory; that kind of got dropped with the reveal of Past Se Ju as leader and I wish it had been a bigger strand. BUT ONE CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING.

...well, ok, my other regret is WE NEVER GOT CLOSURE ON THE CAT.

Comments

[shati]

I want to point out three important things:

It is literally established through dialogue that Jeon Seol is a BNF who invited literary RPF fanfic, it was not a humorous extrapolation on our part.

Once added, the pasted-on sunglasses for Eugene O'Neill are faithfully included in every single shot of that painting until the end of the show.

"Who would it be most awkward for you to give birth to the reincarnation of" is now a standard icebreaker question.

[skygiants]

Composing this entry was extremely difficult because I spent the entire time like, "I KNOW people will think I'm exaggerating when in fact I am if anything UNDERSTATING-"

[kass]

Your vid for this fandom for the last Vividcon was gorgeous. Thank you for it.

[kore]

Ohh my God where can I see this?

[skygiants]

It is available to stream for free on Viki! GO FORTH

[aella_irene]

Well now I know what I'M doing when I'm not listening to Thrilling Adventure Hour!

[skygiants]

YES EXCELLENT >:DDD

[davidgillon]

Boggle!

[skygiants]

IT WAS WRITTEN EXPLICITLY FOR ME

[sovay]

- the ghost who lives in Se Ju's typewriter and occasionally possesses his portrait of Eugene O'Neill

SOLD.

Se Ju's overinvested agent

That's a very well-chosen screencap.

[skygiants]

THE GHOST TAKES THE NAME 'YOO JIN OH' AFTER EUGENE O'NEILL. The Easter eggs throughout are honestly amazing.

I didn't have to work that hard to find it because that dude is honestly making that face for a solid 50% of his appearances on the show.

[rachelmanija]

This sounds amazing. Where can I find it.

[skygiants]

There are explicit Steven King references! Se Ju is incredibly wrong-genre-savvy and spends the first two episodes convinced he's about to get trapped in Misery. You can find it on Viki. :D

[lokifan]

WHAT. THIS SOUNDS AMAZING. I didn't read the bit about the ending because I'm 10000% watching this.

[skygiants]

GOOD, EXCELLENT, WORTH NOT BEING SPOILED

[meganbmoore]

I thought it dragged a bit at times, but gosh, I still cannot believe this is a show that actually exists and that I got to watch.

(And oh boy, you certainly could tell who the writer was in the last few episodes.)

[skygiants]

Yeah, there was some weird filler in the middle that should have been thematic backstory stuff instead, but a.) ghost shenanigans were consistently hilarious and b.) the ending was so good!!!

[alasse_irena]

Suggestions on where I can find this thing? From a brief skim of this post it seems a looooong way up my alley.

[skygiants]

You can stream the whole thing on Viki! :DDDDD

[troisroyaumes]

Hahaha, oh my gosh, her name is literally Legend? (What Jeon Seol means.)

This drama sounds great! I'm a sucker for reincarnation storyline. I will have to check it out.

[skygiants]

"She's a legendary fanfic writer AND a legendary deliveryperson AND a legendary sniper!" HER FRIEND GLEEFULLY RECOUNTS.

[elle_white]

I am very, very intrigued!

[skygiants]

WRITING AND THE REVOLUTION

[china_shop]

*happy sigh*

My face is still tear-stained from the finale, but I finally get to read your write-up post. \o/

[skygiants]

HE WROTE HIM INTO HIS ROMANCE NOVEL!!! I'm sorry, I'm still not over this. *__*

[kass]

Your vid for this show totally rocked my socks at Vividcon; it is gorgeous; I am intrigued and want to learn more. Thank you!!