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Jan. 18th, 2009 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiants. . . I was going to make this a general media catch-up post, including a reaction to last night's BSG. But then I got sidetracked writing up what turned out to be an EPIC REC POST for the kdrama I finished this week, which filled me with joy and, let's face it, joy is exactly what you need after watching last night's BSG. So . . . that will probably come later. For now:
What little time I have had to watch TV during this past month of running around like crazy has been mostly taken up with devouring Capital Scandal, which is ridiculous and addicting and AWESOME; I just finished the sixteen-episode series this week and it hits all my entertaining-cliche buttons. Check it: it takes place in Korea in the thirties under the Japanese occupation, and all the theme music is SWING DANCING! Our main characters are
a.) A grumpy wannabe revolutionary girl who runs a bookshop, stalks around in clothes that are fifty years out of style, and likes to kick guys in the shins and occasionally punch them in the FACE
b.) A rich playboy who works for a gossip magazine and wears the most ridiculous clothes ever (pink fedoras! snazzy argyle vests! This show would be worth the time watching just for the giggle-value of his outfits alone).
c.) A beautiful and famous courtesan who is secretly a REVOLUTIONARY ASSASSIN with a GUN COLLECTION AND A MOTORCYCLE
d.) A calm, stoicand super-hot guy who works for the Japanese police force and for most of the first half of the show switches between approximately three super-hot expressions: the 'of course I can see right through you but I'm letting you get away with it because it's funny' half-smile; the 'I'm not getting angry about this because it's really sort of ridiculous when you think about it' half-smile; and the 'this totally touches on my secret backstory angst, but I'm too stoic to give into it!' super-stoic half-smile. Oh, and pointing guns at people.
Of course, the grumpy girl and the playboy are thrown together in traditional romantic comedy style through a serious of Hilarious Misunderstandings followed by the traditional Playboy Makeover Bet, which, okay, I'm easy sometimes, the inevitable series of events wherein she consistently beats him up, steals his clothes, and holds him at gunpoint and he reacts by spazzing out over and over, storming off, shouting at his friends that he's giving up on the bet, storming back, and trying to read her epic poetry would be enough to entertain me. BUT! On the flip side, you also have the SUPER-HOT ANGST of the IMPOSSIBLE LOVE between the COURTESAN SECRET REVOLUTIONARY ASSASSIN and the POLICEMAN FOR THE JAPANESE. It's kind of like Moulin Rouge with bonus assassinations!
All of which, once again, makes for awesome melodrama TV. BUT, where the show earns actual objective kudos from me is in the non-romantic relationships - because the two main female characters bond, and the revolutionary courtesan becomes a mentor to the tiny bookstore owner, and it's adorable and awesome! And equally adorable and awesome is the completely platonic BFF relationship between the courtesan and the playboy; he hangs out at her house! She makes up ridiculous poetry to mock his romantic affairs! And spends about a third of her time being like, "eh, I'm bored and the revolution doesn't need me for anything today, let's fuck with Woo Wan's love life again." (Um, in case you could not tell, I love her kind of a lot.)
If I was going to talk seriously about this show, I could point out some interesting ethical and moral questions that I'm not quite sure what I think about how the show handles them, but I am not going to talk seriously about this show, because: epic doomed angst juxtaposed with romantic comedy juxtaposed with REVOLUTION! Who needs to talk seriously about anything when you have this.
Or, instead of reading all of my babblings, you guys could just watch this vid, which captures many of the things that hooked me. Including the female lead beating up the male lead, the other female lead being crazy hot and ridiculously badass, lots of guns, and swing dancing!
What little time I have had to watch TV during this past month of running around like crazy has been mostly taken up with devouring Capital Scandal, which is ridiculous and addicting and AWESOME; I just finished the sixteen-episode series this week and it hits all my entertaining-cliche buttons. Check it: it takes place in Korea in the thirties under the Japanese occupation, and all the theme music is SWING DANCING! Our main characters are
a.) A grumpy wannabe revolutionary girl who runs a bookshop, stalks around in clothes that are fifty years out of style, and likes to kick guys in the shins and occasionally punch them in the FACE
b.) A rich playboy who works for a gossip magazine and wears the most ridiculous clothes ever (pink fedoras! snazzy argyle vests! This show would be worth the time watching just for the giggle-value of his outfits alone).
c.) A beautiful and famous courtesan who is secretly a REVOLUTIONARY ASSASSIN with a GUN COLLECTION AND A MOTORCYCLE
d.) A calm, stoic
Of course, the grumpy girl and the playboy are thrown together in traditional romantic comedy style through a serious of Hilarious Misunderstandings followed by the traditional Playboy Makeover Bet, which, okay, I'm easy sometimes, the inevitable series of events wherein she consistently beats him up, steals his clothes, and holds him at gunpoint and he reacts by spazzing out over and over, storming off, shouting at his friends that he's giving up on the bet, storming back, and trying to read her epic poetry would be enough to entertain me. BUT! On the flip side, you also have the SUPER-HOT ANGST of the IMPOSSIBLE LOVE between the COURTESAN SECRET REVOLUTIONARY ASSASSIN and the POLICEMAN FOR THE JAPANESE. It's kind of like Moulin Rouge with bonus assassinations!
All of which, once again, makes for awesome melodrama TV. BUT, where the show earns actual objective kudos from me is in the non-romantic relationships - because the two main female characters bond, and the revolutionary courtesan becomes a mentor to the tiny bookstore owner, and it's adorable and awesome! And equally adorable and awesome is the completely platonic BFF relationship between the courtesan and the playboy; he hangs out at her house! She makes up ridiculous poetry to mock his romantic affairs! And spends about a third of her time being like, "eh, I'm bored and the revolution doesn't need me for anything today, let's fuck with Woo Wan's love life again." (Um, in case you could not tell, I love her kind of a lot.)
If I was going to talk seriously about this show, I could point out some interesting ethical and moral questions that I'm not quite sure what I think about how the show handles them, but I am not going to talk seriously about this show, because: epic doomed angst juxtaposed with romantic comedy juxtaposed with REVOLUTION! Who needs to talk seriously about anything when you have this.
Or, instead of reading all of my babblings, you guys could just watch this vid, which captures many of the things that hooked me. Including the female lead beating up the male lead, the other female lead being crazy hot and ridiculously badass, lots of guns, and swing dancing!
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Date: 2009-01-18 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 08:49 pm (UTC)