skygiants | (no subject)

I have never yet watched a kdrama where I shipped everyone so nearly indiscriminately as I did in Mr. Sunshine. Part of this is the overall Les Mis doomed revolutionaries vibe, part of it is the extremely attractive cast, and part of it is just the fact that everyone is just constantly flirting at each other over deadly weapons? I don't know what to tell you.

The show is set around the time period that ends with the occupation of Korea, so you know from the start that in the broad scheme things aren't going to end well; however, the show does the thing that I most love in resistance shows, where you have a HUGE cast and literally every single minor character gets a small arc of their own in which the show is like 'I see you and respect you, French bakery owner! YOU, TOO, ARE A HERO TODAY.' Also, I don't think there's a woman in the cast who hasn't murdered somebody by the end of the show? Good job on the murder, women of Mr. Sunshine.

(I mention this not because I believe All Women Should Murder but because I've never encountered a kdrama in which even the most heroically murderous women were not narratively required to die by the end, and astoundingly, despite Mr. Sunshine's incredibly high body count, here that is just not true! AT LEAST TWO MURDEROUS WOMEN LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY.)

Also, everyone's journey towards tragic heroism is really impeccably styled with UST radiating wildly out in twelve directions? LET'S MEET THE CAST

LEADS

LADY GO AE-SIN: raised by a strict but righteous grandfather after the death of her valiant revolutionary parents; now the town's favorite virtuous Korean noblewoman by day and a revolutionary sniper assassin by night; understandably obsessed over by the entire cast; A Dreamboat

HOBBIES: sharpshooting, murder, stealing her fiance's extremely sharp suits, collecting sad words in the English alphabet, devouring pastry, staring people coldly down over her extremely elegant noblewoman's finery, staring people coldly down over the barrel of a rifle

TARGET SEXUALITY: mostly Eugene, whom she meets when both of them turn up to assassinate the same target while wearing the same outfit; however, many of her scenes with Hina have a powerful lesbian energy

EUGENE CHOI: former Korean slave who escaped to America after the tragic deaths of his parents; now a member of the American military and Determined Not To Care About Korea's Fate (Except When It Impacts The Multiple Nice And/Or Hot People He Has Befriended There BUT OTHERWISE)

HOBBIES: listening to medieval chart-topper 'Greensleeves' on repeat, sashaying to the rescue of strangers with a long-suffering air, turning down job offers from the king, accidentally adopting young revolutionaries, popping round to the house of his parents' former owners to intimidate them with his epaulets, learning to write Korean very badly

TARGET SEXUALITY: somehow manages to successfully romance not only Ae-sin but also all his hypothetical rivals for her affections; he and sulky swordsman Dong-mae 'just happen' to find themselves drinking every night despite being hypothetical enemies, and Hui-seong, the apologetic son of his parents' former slaveowners, is constantly attempting to worm his way past Eugene's reservations into his room and also his heart. Also, his superior officer, on which more anon.

HUI-SEONG: Ae-sin's long-absent fiancee (and the aforementioned son of Eugene's former terrible slaveowners) who swans back into the story around episode four, bringing with him sparkles, glamor, and more homoeroticism than you can shake a stick at; eventually embraces his inner Newsie and starts a revolutionary broadsheet, to our very great delight

HOBBIES: apologizing for the bad behavior of his parents and grandparents, politely having men's suits made up for his revolutionary fiancee just in case she has to sneak into his bedroom For The Cause and break out of it in a different outfit, cadging drinks out of dangerous men before attempting to seduce them under the cherry trees, trying his best to use his enormous amounts of privilege for good

TARGET SEXUALITY: constant desperate flirting with Eugene and Dong-mae, both separately and together; really just wants Ae-sin to step on him. Really just wants Eugene and Dong-mae to step on him too, actually. Really just a very sweet, unilaterally thirsty child.

KUDO HINA/LEE YANG HWA: glamorous Korean who unwillingly married (and then, it is heavily implied, murdered) a wealthy Japanese man; now owns the fanciest hotel in town and the best wardrobe to go with it; probably a spy? BUT FOR WHOM

HOBBIES: giving her guests the wrong room keys for fun and profit, breaking into her evil dad's house, wearing at least three different beautiful outfits per episode (you can admire a fraction of them here) but that is really just a SMALL fraction), fencing with French twinks, fencing with the entire Japanese army

TARGET SEXUALITY: we're told she has a crush on Eugene but all her real solid romantic scenes are reserved for Dong-mae and Ae-sin. (We thought maybe also Hui-seong but now we're pretty sure they're just excellent fashion pals a la Woo Wan and Cha Song Joo.)

anyway here's some Hina outfits from just the one episode I happened to be capping at the time

DONG-MAE: despised member of the Korean underclass turned leader of the local Japanese gang; an absolute trash fire, but so deeply aware of his own levels of trash fire that it wraps back around to endearing (most kdrama heroes walk away from even the worst attempts at romance with a smug air like they really think they've nailed it; Dong-Mae, on the other hand, enters every scene with Ae-sin with the expression of a man haunted by foreknowledge of his fuckups, and leaves with the expression of a man who will be replaying the scene of his complete verbal annihilation in his head for the next full month)

HOBBIES: calling everyone 'Sir' with the smiling sneer of a Shakespearean villian, cutting down twenty ninjas at a time, switching sides for no reason, thinking about the ONE SINGLE time he got a good comeback off at Ae-sin and smiling faintly to himself, ignoring the sage advice of his extremely loyal henchmen, fakeout dying

TARGET SEXUALITY: EVERYONE. Just truly off-the-charts chemistry in all directions. Obsessed with Ae-sin, who saved his life once when they were both children and justifiably disapproves of every life choice he's made ever since; gives Hina piggyback rides every chance he gets; as aforementioned, he and Eugene and Hui-seong really have something special

GUNNER JANG: Ae-sin's very supportive gunnery instructor; likes revolutions so much he's ready start ANOTHER revolution inside the ongoing revolution; gets a full half the first episode dedicated to his tragic backstory, so I'm counting him as a lead because he earned it

HOBBIES: giving Ae-sin solid romantic advice, dreaming about killing the series villain, dreaming about killing the king, volunteering for missions that nobody trusts him to go on in case he goes rogue and kills the king

TARGET SEXUALITY: fellow resistance member Hong Pa; eventually, also and inevitably, the king

SOME INTERESTING SECONDARY CHARACTERS

MAJOR KYLE MOORE: our good friend General Hospital from Descendants of the Sun, here playing Eugene's extremely supportive American superior officer; a distinguished soldier who lost a limb in battle, a fact so irrelevant that we completely forgot he had only one arm for the middle 22 episodes of the show.

HOBBIES: picnicking in the Korean countryside, going on road trips with his staff, cheerfully backing up Eugene when he decides to create major diplomatic incidents, cheerfully helping Eugene smuggle Korean revolutionaries out of the country, writing poetry ABOUT Eugene

TARGET SEXUALITY: I mentioned 'writing poetry about Eugene'?

AH BEOM AND MS HAMAN: the servants who raised Ae-sin from a baby; in most shows would be hapless comic relief, in this one are in proud ownership of their own senses of humor and treated with a refreshing degree of narrative respect.

HOBBIES: riding the train like a fun-park ride, menacing Ae-sin's love interests, organizing the murders of household traitors

TARGET SEXUALITIES: on a dangerous mission, in the second-to-last episode, finally admit that maybe they kind of want to hold hands with each other. TRAGIC REVOLUTIONARY PINING FOR EVERYONE.

HONG PA: thriving independent businesswoman with a restaurant, a boathouse, and a secret sideline shooting arrows for the resistance

HOBBIES: archery, giving our leads the side-eye

TARGET SEXUALITY: Gunner Jang; an excellent choice, he's handsome and very huggable

THE KING: the king. Very stressed.

HOBBIES: attempting to recruit the main cast, apologizing to the main cast, watching Korea's future slip through his unfortunately ineffectual fingers

TARGET SEXUALITY: Gunner Jang; an excellent choice, he's handsome and very huggable

YOO-JONG: Dong-mae's second-in-command.

HOBBIES: 75% of this man's dialogue is just the word "BOSS!" cried in tones of anguished respect.

TARGET SEXUALITY: Dong-mae, wholeheartedly and devotedly. We respect a henchman who commits.

IM JUNG-SOO: The American legation's translator, in this recap standing in for the whole of the interesting way that this show highlights the importance of translation work in international diplomacy (first thing the villains do is attempt to suborn all the translators!)

HOBBIES: hanging out at Translator Club, hugging Eugene

TARGET SEXUALITY: he does hug Eugene a lot

LADY CHO: Ae-sin's very respectable, very tired aunt

HOBBIES: ladies' archery tea parties, in a plot point that took ages to pay off but when it did it was EXTREMELY WORTH IT

TARGET SEXUALITY: no sexuality. only targets.

YOON NAM-JONG: Ae-sin's English school study buddy; eventually becomes a stylish reporter in an entirely offscreen but clearly amazing arc

HOBBIES: listing her favorite English words, sassing her newspaper boss

TARGET SEXUALITY: apparently, her newspaper career??

SU-MI AND DO-MI: plucky urchin siblings adopted by the entire cast

HOBBIES: passing secret resistance messages (Su-mi), breaking into the American consulate until they just hire him to point out all the places people can break into the American consulate (Do-mi), plucky revolutionary cross-dressing (Su-mi), teaching Korean literacy with a surprisingly strict attitude towards linguistic pedagogy (Do-mi)

TARGET SEXUALITY: they are children, this question will not be relevant until the inevitable sequel series about their adult adventures in the revolution