The writer of Legend strikes yet again...
I am so in love with the kdrama Story of a Man (also known as The Slingshot) it's not even funny.
But not surprising, seeing that it's written by the same person who wrote Legend, my favorite drama ever. I am through ep 5 and I am so in love I am not even reading spoilers for any future eps, which if you know my spoiler love is huge.
I know a lot of people are all about the antagonist Do-Woo, and I admit his character of a clever sociopath who knows he is desperately lacking something in not feeling a single thing about anyone, and who doesn't have some sobby backstory to explain his "condition" is very interesting (and the actor is damn good). But for me, I am all about Park Young Ha's (relatively) "good" protagonist Shin. What can I say? If you give me someone good at base but beyond messed-up and good at planning revenge? I am in. Plus, I can't believe I am saying this about pudgy whiny fiancee of Choi Ji Woo from Winter Sonata, but the boy grew up FINE.
This drama deserves a lot of meta and I could meta for ages about the twisted family dynamics and importance of family bonds, or the issue of debt, or camaraderie that Shin's "team" develops, or anything else. But instead I want to mention two things.
First is that I love the women characters in it. Shin's sister-in-law, a weak and good woman is interesting. And so is Do-Woo's younger sister Eunsoo, who seems to have inherited all the goodness Do-Woo does not have (Do-Woo mentions they are unbalanced, themselves). But I am all about the "heroine", Park Shi Yon's tough-as-nails Kyung Ah. I love her pragmatic toughness, her lack of sacrifice-as-everything defining her life. Shin/Kyung Ah are so my OTP of the season. Come on? Former lovers who are now a former prisoner out for revenge and the highest paid bar girl/hooker in Seoul.
I love that while she signed up to her line of work because she wanted to protect Shin's family (when he was in prison), she genuinely likes it - she might not like having to put up with gross men for it, but she loves the lifestyle: the luxury, the fact that men value her so much as to pay that much for her time. When Shin is out, and tells her he will spend his life repaying to buy her from that place (oh God, that scene! When she is so cold but her hand is shaking. And his intensity), she does not run to hug him or anything. The most she can offer him is to be her "kept man", so to speak - her guy on the side, as she earns her living from other men. She is not offering it to drive him away or anything. It's genuinely the most she is willing to agree to, even if she loves him - she does not want to give up her comfort for love. I love when he walks away without a word. And I love that he is neither mad nor blames her. How could he?
How ironic. He is the one who unwittingly put the idea of that job into her head when he was trying to drive her away to protect her before he went to jail (so loan sharks wouldn't come after her). The scene where she visits him in jail and tells him she took on his debt and she will live in a different world now and he is literally scrabbling at the glass separating them, as if trying to get to her and screaming "it's all my fault" but she cannot hear him because he's dropped the phone? And she walks off? My favorite so far.
Or maybe not. I adore the scene in ep 5 where he shows up at her club with a million won (long story how he got it). Because she told him earlier that is how much he will need to spend the night with her! OMG. Love. And when she asks him what he wants to do with their night, he says “Hold you, kiss you, have sex, hold your hand, and sleep. Then we’d wake up and I’d hold you again, and kiss you.” (dramabeans' translation). OMG. But she walks off because she knows they are unworkable as a couple. Eeeee. I guess everyone can buy her except for him.
Did I mention that Phillip Lee is one of Shin's revenge teammates?
(all caps courtesy of dramabeans)
I am so lucky with the spring drama season. I am following five dramas and there is not a weak one in the bunch, they are all excellent! (If you want to know my order of liking, it's Black & White (1), Story of a Man (2), Smile (2 tie), Princess Ja Myung Go (4), ToGetHer (5) but they are all wonderful).
But not surprising, seeing that it's written by the same person who wrote Legend, my favorite drama ever. I am through ep 5 and I am so in love I am not even reading spoilers for any future eps, which if you know my spoiler love is huge.
I know a lot of people are all about the antagonist Do-Woo, and I admit his character of a clever sociopath who knows he is desperately lacking something in not feeling a single thing about anyone, and who doesn't have some sobby backstory to explain his "condition" is very interesting (and the actor is damn good). But for me, I am all about Park Young Ha's (relatively) "good" protagonist Shin. What can I say? If you give me someone good at base but beyond messed-up and good at planning revenge? I am in. Plus, I can't believe I am saying this about pudgy whiny fiancee of Choi Ji Woo from Winter Sonata, but the boy grew up FINE.
This drama deserves a lot of meta and I could meta for ages about the twisted family dynamics and importance of family bonds, or the issue of debt, or camaraderie that Shin's "team" develops, or anything else. But instead I want to mention two things.
First is that I love the women characters in it. Shin's sister-in-law, a weak and good woman is interesting. And so is Do-Woo's younger sister Eunsoo, who seems to have inherited all the goodness Do-Woo does not have (Do-Woo mentions they are unbalanced, themselves). But I am all about the "heroine", Park Shi Yon's tough-as-nails Kyung Ah. I love her pragmatic toughness, her lack of sacrifice-as-everything defining her life. Shin/Kyung Ah are so my OTP of the season. Come on? Former lovers who are now a former prisoner out for revenge and the highest paid bar girl/hooker in Seoul.
I love that while she signed up to her line of work because she wanted to protect Shin's family (when he was in prison), she genuinely likes it - she might not like having to put up with gross men for it, but she loves the lifestyle: the luxury, the fact that men value her so much as to pay that much for her time. When Shin is out, and tells her he will spend his life repaying to buy her from that place (oh God, that scene! When she is so cold but her hand is shaking. And his intensity), she does not run to hug him or anything. The most she can offer him is to be her "kept man", so to speak - her guy on the side, as she earns her living from other men. She is not offering it to drive him away or anything. It's genuinely the most she is willing to agree to, even if she loves him - she does not want to give up her comfort for love. I love when he walks away without a word. And I love that he is neither mad nor blames her. How could he?
How ironic. He is the one who unwittingly put the idea of that job into her head when he was trying to drive her away to protect her before he went to jail (so loan sharks wouldn't come after her). The scene where she visits him in jail and tells him she took on his debt and she will live in a different world now and he is literally scrabbling at the glass separating them, as if trying to get to her and screaming "it's all my fault" but she cannot hear him because he's dropped the phone? And she walks off? My favorite so far.
Or maybe not. I adore the scene in ep 5 where he shows up at her club with a million won (long story how he got it). Because she told him earlier that is how much he will need to spend the night with her! OMG. Love. And when she asks him what he wants to do with their night, he says “Hold you, kiss you, have sex, hold your hand, and sleep. Then we’d wake up and I’d hold you again, and kiss you.” (dramabeans' translation). OMG. But she walks off because she knows they are unworkable as a couple. Eeeee. I guess everyone can buy her except for him.
Did I mention that Phillip Lee is one of Shin's revenge teammates?
(all caps courtesy of dramabeans)
I am so lucky with the spring drama season. I am following five dramas and there is not a weak one in the bunch, they are all excellent! (If you want to know my order of liking, it's Black & White (1), Story of a Man (2), Smile (2 tie), Princess Ja Myung Go (4), ToGetHer (5) but they are all wonderful).