Farewell to You're Beautiful
So, I tried ep 15 of You're Beautiful (when I am 2 eps close to completion, I like to finish a drama) and...nothing.
I mean, I can watch it, but I find myself opening other windows and doing other things while reading subtitles. I am so very emotionally detached from it all (and a little impatient).
It's funny - YAB, for example, is much better written than Boys Over Flowers (the second half of which was a trainwreck of epic proportions) but I had no problem finishing BOF's 25 eps and actually having fun while doing so (even if some of that fun was to rant). I wasn't emotionally invested in either Jandi or Jan Pyo by the end, but I guess they still could entertain me? Or maybe the wacky makjang plots kept me hooked? Or F2 amusingness? (Emo Potter Boy and Gangsta Woo Bin, ILY!) or Ji Hoo's pretty pretty hair or Yuki's awesomeness? Who knows.
As long as you don't mind its particular brand of heroine (which my dislike of is a subjective personal preference - naive and meek is a deadly combination for me), YAB is a drama that hangs together very well - it's competently written, there is no doubt about that, it's funny in many a spot, it moves fast, it's shiny, and the acting fits the roles (you will not see a soul-searing performance in YAB but it would be as out of place in it as Hamlet at a wedding party). I've loved many a drama which was much worse made (ummm, Nine-Tailed Fox? The fantasy/scifi plot makes not too much sense, and the leads are not walking away with Oscars any time soon. Yet I love it.) But YAB just - I really enjoyed it in the beginning but then it's as if a switch flipped off and I became bored - maybe because it started out as this delicious fluffy trifle and somewhere by the middle I realized that this was all it was ever going to be - a well-done trifle about nothing much, with no huge character payoff or heft and little to none plot or conflict to speak off. I like a bit of deliciously fluffy trifle but not if there is no more to the drama than that. (Compare YAB to e.g. Hong Sisters' previous hit My Girl - there is fun aplenty, but that drama is complicated, with tension, and a huge emotional storm of a payoff).
YAB is so very lightweight compared to even the rest of Hong Sisters' output, not to mention my usual favorite fare - epics, and angsty melodramas, and revenge sagas, and redemption stories, and the rare-but-brilliant slices-of-life. Even romcoms I like tend to have its smattering of angst and conflict (My Girl, Chunhyang, Last Scandal), not to mention feel more grounded in reality. There is nothing wrong with being lightweight, per se, everyone loves different things (I know many people get really ansty with my beloved angstfeasts), but in order for me to enjoy 16 hours I spend on a drama, I want something else - angstier, plottier, darker. It's not a case of a bad drama as much as wrong audience. I am absolutely the last audience for YAB, which is the least angsty kdrama I have seen by miles and miles. Not to mention that I think I am just too old - just as with Nobuta wo Produce or a myriad school dramas, I find myself too far removed from that area of concern to care about them. I want to pat A.N.JELL guys on the head and feed them, and tell them not to forget to wear their coats if it's cold. I think YAB finally confirmed to me that in a modern setting, drama protagonists have to be over 20 for me to care, with some limited exceptions.
YAB is a funny pastiche which I would have liked as a mini-drama, maybe 6 eps? For 16, my attention starts to wander - it always does when I am indifferent to the characters.
Oh well, at least I tried.
I mean, I can watch it, but I find myself opening other windows and doing other things while reading subtitles. I am so very emotionally detached from it all (and a little impatient).
It's funny - YAB, for example, is much better written than Boys Over Flowers (the second half of which was a trainwreck of epic proportions) but I had no problem finishing BOF's 25 eps and actually having fun while doing so (even if some of that fun was to rant). I wasn't emotionally invested in either Jandi or Jan Pyo by the end, but I guess they still could entertain me? Or maybe the wacky makjang plots kept me hooked? Or F2 amusingness? (Emo Potter Boy and Gangsta Woo Bin, ILY!) or Ji Hoo's pretty pretty hair or Yuki's awesomeness? Who knows.
As long as you don't mind its particular brand of heroine (which my dislike of is a subjective personal preference - naive and meek is a deadly combination for me), YAB is a drama that hangs together very well - it's competently written, there is no doubt about that, it's funny in many a spot, it moves fast, it's shiny, and the acting fits the roles (you will not see a soul-searing performance in YAB but it would be as out of place in it as Hamlet at a wedding party). I've loved many a drama which was much worse made (ummm, Nine-Tailed Fox? The fantasy/scifi plot makes not too much sense, and the leads are not walking away with Oscars any time soon. Yet I love it.) But YAB just - I really enjoyed it in the beginning but then it's as if a switch flipped off and I became bored - maybe because it started out as this delicious fluffy trifle and somewhere by the middle I realized that this was all it was ever going to be - a well-done trifle about nothing much, with no huge character payoff or heft and little to none plot or conflict to speak off. I like a bit of deliciously fluffy trifle but not if there is no more to the drama than that. (Compare YAB to e.g. Hong Sisters' previous hit My Girl - there is fun aplenty, but that drama is complicated, with tension, and a huge emotional storm of a payoff).
YAB is so very lightweight compared to even the rest of Hong Sisters' output, not to mention my usual favorite fare - epics, and angsty melodramas, and revenge sagas, and redemption stories, and the rare-but-brilliant slices-of-life. Even romcoms I like tend to have its smattering of angst and conflict (My Girl, Chunhyang, Last Scandal), not to mention feel more grounded in reality. There is nothing wrong with being lightweight, per se, everyone loves different things (I know many people get really ansty with my beloved angstfeasts), but in order for me to enjoy 16 hours I spend on a drama, I want something else - angstier, plottier, darker. It's not a case of a bad drama as much as wrong audience. I am absolutely the last audience for YAB, which is the least angsty kdrama I have seen by miles and miles. Not to mention that I think I am just too old - just as with Nobuta wo Produce or a myriad school dramas, I find myself too far removed from that area of concern to care about them. I want to pat A.N.JELL guys on the head and feed them, and tell them not to forget to wear their coats if it's cold. I think YAB finally confirmed to me that in a modern setting, drama protagonists have to be over 20 for me to care, with some limited exceptions.
YAB is a funny pastiche which I would have liked as a mini-drama, maybe 6 eps? For 16, my attention starts to wander - it always does when I am indifferent to the characters.
Oh well, at least I tried.