I go on a Jo In Sung binge..

[dangermousie]

My next angsty kdrama?

PianoPiano involves a really messed-up extended family. Older Gentleman I am not interested in (Gangster) is a gangster who discovers he has a son when the kid is 10 years old (grown-up kid will be played by Go Soo). He also falls in love with Older Lady I Don't Care For Either (Old Gal). Old Gal used to be part of a happy,

Comments

[walkwithheroes]

I don't want to spoil it for you. But, he's character starts off on my 'you need a slap' list. Him and his sister, because of the way they treat their poor stepdad, who, unlike most kdrama parents, really love them and want them to call him 'Dad', etc. I mean, for most of the series, his character is just such a jerk toward the poor old man, saying things like, 'Don't even say my name.' He also gets into a lot of trouble and there is angst. BUT, during the early episodes his younger half-sis is about eight or so and there is cuteness with their scenes. He only really smiles around her (side note: the actress looks so familiar, but I can't play her), and he clearly loves her very much.

Later on in the series, he has cuteness with a little boy, who is the son of his 'semi-girlfriend'. There is much angst, as he really wants to love them, but due to his own issues and past, he has a hard time letting the girl in and showing his affection for them. There is much jerkiness from him toward girl. I wanted to slap him several times.

Sadly, his story (aside from the Dad issues) is secondary, so there was some rushing of his 'family/romance' storyline.

I could spoil you further, but that would be rude.

[dangermousie]

Spoil me, spoil me, spoilllll meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

[walkwithheroes]

Ok, ok.

His character starts off being played by a kid for the first three or four episodes. He's a boy who used to be upper middle class and is now poor. Clearly, he can't handle it. When his very sweet mom remarries an ex-con, he and his older sister act like little a-holes and more or less ignore stepdad and stepbro or are just really stuck up and rude toward them. Awful, kids needed a slap. Mom and stepdad have a little girl, then mom dies in an accident. Kids tell stepdad its his fought.

Seven years later:

He and older sis have moved out somewhere along the line. He's always getting beaten by the local mob scene, as he cannot stay out of trouble. Stepdad spends most of his time trying to win them back, but they are complete and total a-holes toward him, stepbro. However, he's very cute with his little sis, even finding stupid reasons for her to leave when he feels a huge fight coming on - he, his sis, stepdad, and stepbro tend to fight a lot.

Finally, he does something totally stupid and stepbro saves him. Stepbro goes to jail, and he leaves the city. See, he feels he nows owes stepbro (who goes to jail for a bit) something and that is the last thing he wants. So, he disappears for at least eight years.

During this time, he gets deeper and deeper into the underground, become someone who is often beat up and who often is a woobie with his angst. One day, he come across stepbro's bratty high school girlfriend, whose become a hair dresser. She remembers him and invites him back to her place for a drink. Waiting there is her small son, whose stopped speaking. She invites him to drink with her, to talk about the old days. For no real reason, she tells him how she followed stepbro around, even after he went to college. But, then someone started chasing her, so she went with him. Only, this new guy - the son's father- drunk, gambled, and beat her. Before, dying by being hit by a car. She's likeable, having grown up over the last seven or eight years. And, though she's attracted, she's not about to just sleep with this guy. However, she does invite him to spend the night (most likely out of loneliness), saying she'll sleep in her son's room.

He takes this in a way that's either being jerky, but more like a 'don't get close to be' defense, and 'attacks' by pulling her to the ground. She pushes him off and in a low blow, reminds him that he's not his stepbro. (Ow.)

Time passes, (I guess. The timeline toward the end of the series gets slightly confusing and like I said, their storyline is second) and he, the girl, and the son spend a day together. Cuteness. He has to stop himself from being overly fatherly toward the kid, and the kid allows his mom to speak for him, though she's really saying what she feels - 'He wanted to see you.' is code for 'I wanted to see you', etc.

He and the girl end up spending the night together (though, they don't even show a kiss. :( ). But, the next morning, he tells her that with his life (the angsty man!pain/underground life) there is no room for a woman.

Later, in between his mobster scenes (which there are a lot of), he and the girl meet up and he gives her a huge jair of suckers to give her son (the boy then spends the rest of the series sleeping with the jar and eating the suckers), and tells her he's going back to his home town.

Girl and her son have fallen in love, so they follow.