Thoughts on Resurrection eps 1-2, and some other stuff
1. I am about half an ep into Summer Scent and it's official: I really really like it. I doubt I am going to be bawling my eyes over any of the characters as the premise is so OTT from the start - Heroine has received a heart transplant from Hero's dead fiancee - when fate throws them together, what will happen? It's a kdrama, love is what will happen. I am hopefully not old enough to be middle-aged but it's the third seasons drama I like! (I adored Spring Waltz and liked Winter Sonata). It's beautifully shot and, speaking of beautiful things, stars Song Seung Heon. Shut Up! Even without army muscles and with bleached hair (what is with the seasons people and bleached hair? First Bae Yong Joon, now SSH!), he still looks yummy enough to eat. I have never claimed to be not shallow.
2. On the other side of the spectrum is a drama I plan never to watch unless a highly targeted strike deletes every other drama in existence: Cinderella Man. I guess it proves I am not 100% shallow as I love Kwon Sang Woo and here he plays double. HOWEVER. I tried watching the first episode and was bored to exhaustion. OMG. So mediocre. It wasn't even bad so I could have fun mocking it. Knowing that some dramas start slow, I tried watching the last ep and oh God - so deadly dull - it did not improve one bit. Why, KSW, why?
3. As Resurrection was the winner of the poll with a large margin (go Uhm Tae Woong fangirls! Of which I am one!), I have started it and watched the first two eps.
The verdict? I love it to bits!
(unspoilery below)
Resurrection, by the makers of The Devil (thus it is Devil's predecessor) is also a revenge story. It stars Uhm Tae Woong in a double role. UTWs are twins who have been separated in childhood under very very shady circumstances (suffice it say, so far it seems plain, their father was killed in order to keep unsavory secrets of his 'friends'). UTW 1 has grown up with his mother and her new husband and is an icy businessman while UTW 2 who has witnessed his father's murder and does not remember his childhood as he's repressed the horror, has been taken in by a lower-class man who runs a food stall. Now UTW 2 is a rough-and-ready cop. There is also a love interest played by Han Ji Min (SQUEE) - she is UTW 2's quasi-sister, being the biological daughter of the man who adopted him. The story starts when a seemingly unexciting suicide of a middle-aged man happens. UTW 2 thinks it might be murder but little does he knows where this might lead...
I really really like it. Interesting, there are a number of Devil riffs in it - once again, there are rich icy professional and rough cop - only this time they are played by the same person and probably won't be fighting each other. I always thought that in Devil, lawyer and cop were both different sides of the same coin and here it's made literally true by them being twins. There is also the theme of revenge - where you are surrounded by past history and might not even know that - a conspiracy with connections not clearly seen at first (here even UTW 1's stepfather seems involved). The storytelling pattern seems also have the same touches - unlike a lot of revenge stories where everything is revealed at the start here, as with Devil, we are piecing it together.
Oh, and then there is the girl. Han Ji Min has the same purity of character that Shin Min Ah did in Devil - both women seem to be the one spot of sanity and happiness in the dark world - here it starts even earlier as when UTW 2 is brought bleeding and barely conscious into the house of Han Ji Min he is a child and she is the first thing he sees. But, even better, I loved the love story of Devil - it was secondary to psychological games and futility of revenge, of course, but it was so ridiculously powerful. And it looks like it will be here. UTW 2 and Han Ji Min clearly love each other but he will never admit it to her because that would bring her so much societal opprobrium - in the eyes of the world he is her brother - the way she pushes (because she does not care about societal strictures) and he pulls away is - guuuuuuh. Their confrontation when he lies that he views her only as a sister and then has to run himself literally to exhaustion in order to supress everything repeating to himself "You've done well" over and over as if trying to convince himself? My heart broke.
And of course, I can't conclude without mentioning Uhm Tae Woong. It's funny because I don't think he is very good-looking (he is pretty average if looked at objectively) but he is so magnetic and intense, I do not care a bit!
This is SUCH a good drama! I am so glad it got picked!
2. On the other side of the spectrum is a drama I plan never to watch unless a highly targeted strike deletes every other drama in existence: Cinderella Man. I guess it proves I am not 100% shallow as I love Kwon Sang Woo and here he plays double. HOWEVER. I tried watching the first episode and was bored to exhaustion. OMG. So mediocre. It wasn't even bad so I could have fun mocking it. Knowing that some dramas start slow, I tried watching the last ep and oh God - so deadly dull - it did not improve one bit. Why, KSW, why?
3. As Resurrection was the winner of the poll with a large margin (go Uhm Tae Woong fangirls! Of which I am one!), I have started it and watched the first two eps.
The verdict? I love it to bits!
(unspoilery below)
Resurrection, by the makers of The Devil (thus it is Devil's predecessor) is also a revenge story. It stars Uhm Tae Woong in a double role. UTWs are twins who have been separated in childhood under very very shady circumstances (suffice it say, so far it seems plain, their father was killed in order to keep unsavory secrets of his 'friends'). UTW 1 has grown up with his mother and her new husband and is an icy businessman while UTW 2 who has witnessed his father's murder and does not remember his childhood as he's repressed the horror, has been taken in by a lower-class man who runs a food stall. Now UTW 2 is a rough-and-ready cop. There is also a love interest played by Han Ji Min (SQUEE) - she is UTW 2's quasi-sister, being the biological daughter of the man who adopted him. The story starts when a seemingly unexciting suicide of a middle-aged man happens. UTW 2 thinks it might be murder but little does he knows where this might lead...
I really really like it. Interesting, there are a number of Devil riffs in it - once again, there are rich icy professional and rough cop - only this time they are played by the same person and probably won't be fighting each other. I always thought that in Devil, lawyer and cop were both different sides of the same coin and here it's made literally true by them being twins. There is also the theme of revenge - where you are surrounded by past history and might not even know that - a conspiracy with connections not clearly seen at first (here even UTW 1's stepfather seems involved). The storytelling pattern seems also have the same touches - unlike a lot of revenge stories where everything is revealed at the start here, as with Devil, we are piecing it together.
Oh, and then there is the girl. Han Ji Min has the same purity of character that Shin Min Ah did in Devil - both women seem to be the one spot of sanity and happiness in the dark world - here it starts even earlier as when UTW 2 is brought bleeding and barely conscious into the house of Han Ji Min he is a child and she is the first thing he sees. But, even better, I loved the love story of Devil - it was secondary to psychological games and futility of revenge, of course, but it was so ridiculously powerful. And it looks like it will be here. UTW 2 and Han Ji Min clearly love each other but he will never admit it to her because that would bring her so much societal opprobrium - in the eyes of the world he is her brother - the way she pushes (because she does not care about societal strictures) and he pulls away is - guuuuuuh. Their confrontation when he lies that he views her only as a sister and then has to run himself literally to exhaustion in order to supress everything repeating to himself "You've done well" over and over as if trying to convince himself? My heart broke.
And of course, I can't conclude without mentioning Uhm Tae Woong. It's funny because I don't think he is very good-looking (he is pretty average if looked at objectively) but he is so magnetic and intense, I do not care a bit!
This is SUCH a good drama! I am so glad it got picked!