Farscape, kdramas, and trashy 1920s novels
I continued with my Farscape watch. Thoughts on
The thing that strikes me the most about ‘Picture If You Will’ is how insignificant Maldis is in the scheme of things, how despite his power ‘unscary’ in comparison with other monsters in the Farscape world.
So much of the show (for me) is really about how Crichton is gradually broken in every way possible: physically, mentally, emotionally. Ground to dirt and yet being able to go on again and to find peace and restore some of his innocence by the end of TPKW. This is also very true about S2 which is all about driving its protagonist (literally) to insanity.
So ultimately Maldis is small fry, compared to what Crichton goes through because of Scorpius, compared to what his love for Aeryn puts him through.
Maldis has no subtlety. Maldis is a five year old pulling wings off flies. His threats are crude. He can kill but he cannot truly torment because he is incapable of understanding anything not soulless. Yes, he gets a reaction out of Crichton by threatening Earth, out of D’Argo by threatening Jothee etc etc but it’s a very blunt sort of intrument he is wielding. Because his power is so great he’s never had to be creative. Crichton at the end of ‘Die Me Dichotomy’ or ‘Liars Guns and Money Part 3’ or ‘Different Destinations’ or ‘Constellation of Doubt’ or [insert name of ep here] is on a whole different level of anguish than what Maldis (who is ultmately only interested in dinner with a spot of revenge) can ever give him.
I also find it interesting that Aeryn is not one of the people trapped by the painting. True, she is needed elsewhere for story reasons but I wonder how it would have affected John if Aeryn was also trapped there. He’d probably be a LOT more on edge.
This ep also reinforces the fact that Chiana, for all her experience of hard knocks, is quite young. Young enough to get excited over silly trinkets, young enough to be really scared.
You know what I love so much? The big brother-little sister relationship both John and D’Argo have with her (though with D it eventually develops inot more). When she is freaking out, afraid of being burned because the painting shows it as the future, she is hysterical, demanding to be locked in the freezer. Zhaan (understandably) thinks it’s stupid, but I love John’s reaction. He doesn’t care if it is. The little sis is freaking out and needs to be made better, however irrational what she wants is. It’s this innate caring in John that I love so much (and the caring that I think draws the other Moyans to him). It gets more and more curtailed as the time goes on, but no matter how few people it becomes limited to (basically just the crew), it’s always there.
And of course, in the saga of John and Aeryn, there is that gorgeous, brittle pained scene after Chiana’s ‘death’ where he is lashing out (remembering her earlier thoughtless comment that it would be good to have Chiana off the ship. That first interaction is funny and not lashing out, but there is an edge even there, hiding under the humor) but it’s also underlaid by his own worry that she views him the same way. It’s the hangover from the bitterness of the events of ‘Crackers Don’t Matter.’
I know it’s not a fave ep for a lot of people (and I agree there are plothooooooles), but I like it.
I have also continued with Something Happened in Bali. Total love. It’s actually very different in a lot of ways from other kdramas because the four main characters are kinda hard-bitten and not sweet and I don’t think even ‘good people’ whatever that means.
But I have actually found myself warming up to both Ha Ji-Won’s character and Jo In-Sung’s. Still time to go on So Ji-Sub and the fiancee girl (I am blanking on her name). In fact, three eps in, I am more than warmed up to Jo In-Sung's character. Is he a great individual? Probably not. But intense and messed up bad boys? Oh such a lovely fictional kink.
The thing with Ha Ji-Won is her character is hard-headed, in fact much too much, and mercenary and everything else. But because it’s HJW, somehow she still possesses this almost childishly immediate enthusiasm, and this fragility, that just makes you want to hug her and make it better. I can get why both guys are going to fall for her. There is this scene where she is in In-Sung's office and he doesn't remember her and she is wearing this tacky cheap outfit that she thinks is expensive though it's anything but and he (not unreasonably) refuses to give her a job...I felt bad for her (and eee! so did he later and called her back even though she is woefully unqualified. He has the makings of a decent person, if he ever was in a different environment).
And with JIS, I could pinpoint the exact moment I realized I rather liked his character (though would still stay 12 feet away from him in RL). It was the moment when his older brother, jockeying for position within the family and thus wanting to ‘overthrow’ his younger brother, brought SJS back to the main office to be his brother’s underling (the older brother realized that SJS was JIS’s fiancee’s lover). And JIS chased after his sibling to tell him he doesn’t want the guy, to which the older brother was very very bland and then at the end walked off and told him not to call him ‘bro’ at work.
I think that was the scene that finally made me realize what made JIS tick. That is why he is so sceptical about emotion and love and anything but just skimming the surface: his whole family is a bunch of sharks, so growing up in that environment really would warp you. Everyone in this drama seems to come from a not too good a family. SJS’s Mom isn’t even glad to see him when he gets back after months but is busy entertaining other men (and she is a former abused wife and you see this whole thing is killing SJS). Ha Ji Won seems to have no family but a brother who leeches off her. And JIS’s family is composed of older brother who’d totally run over his corpse for free gum (to use a Veronica Mars type expression. The reason Ha Ji-Won gets into JIS's office in the first place is because older bro thinks she is one of his whores so it would cause embarassment for him) and a father who is constantly disapproving and intimidating and also abusive. I don’t really think you should hit your grown up son on the head with a golf club (or any other objects that happen to be around). Yeah, he doesn’t break his head or anything, but the guy is constantly sporting band-aids and things like that. JIS seems to be pretty afraid of Daddy with good reason. He really is totally intimidated by him, and seriously? Abuse? Not good.
My fave scenes so far? As I mentioned to alexandral, There is this awesome scene in ep 2 where the heroine helps the drunk hero to his hotel room. At that point she thinks the rich guy is someone else but while she doesn't like any of the other three characters, she's sort of clicked the best with him (because he's not the 'rival' like the girl, and not 'target' like the other guy) and he is kinda amused at her mistake (she was asking him for info on 'Pax Group's second son') and you can see him watching her when she doesn't notice and getting a little caught.
But anyway, she gets him to his room and he asks her, how much for her to stay the night (!!!) And he tells her he'll pay her however much she's made up to now. And unlike a normal Korean heroine who'd kick him in the face and walk out, you see her totally nerve herself and then she goes 'You are a real jerk...[pause] are you going to pay before or after?'
I nearly fell off my couch.
So he throws some money at her and tells her to leave because this isn't fun any more and to buy herself a new pair of shoes (her heel is broken). And yeah, she takes the money and leaves and then starts crying in the hallway.
And the scene where JIS takes SJS out for drinks and they exchange alpha-male rivalry stuff about fiancee while passing a liquor bottle back and forth, tension and hostility almost crackling in the air.
Last but not least, I continued my persusal of trashy 1920s novels and came across Shadow of the East by EM Hull, the same lady that wrote the Sheik. Whoa. This is a plot that makes a Korean melodrama sound prosaic. Our hero, edowed with the sexy name of Barry (heeeeeeee, how tastes change) starts the book by discovering that his haf Japanese mistress, is pregnant! And the same evening he discovers that she is his…*da dum* half sister. He freaks and runs off and when he comes back in the morning, she’s killed herself (she didn’t know about the connection and just thought he abandoned her).
Yup. I love a romance novel where the hero is the guy who impregnated a sibling :D Barry attempts to kill himself and is only saved from doing so by his faithful servant and the fact that he is supposed to take guardianship of a daughter of some acquaintance. He thinks the girl is 10 but she is actually grown-up. Her name is Gillian and they enter into an arranged marriage to please his dying aunt. And grow to lurve each other :D. And he actually explains the whole ‘before you, my girlfriend was my sister’ thing and being a lonely (or verrrrry understanding) lady she is all ‘mmmm, fine, sexy. Now smoochies?’
Wholesomness rocks.
Mr. Mousie's reaction when I recounted this to him? 'For God's sake, man. Just get out of the house! I know it's before internet dating, but place an ad in the paper. Go to a bar. The sin's not lust but laziness.'
Of course, when I also pointed out that the book starts out set in Japan but the author knows as much about Japan as I do about Mars, he told me 'Of course you know about Mars. It's all about pretty boys riding motorcycles.' Heeeee.
Oh, and in awesome news. Apparently someone picked up Takki's Romeo & Juliet for subbing.
ETA: Have you seen the newest Veronica Mars promo pics? I threw up a little.
ETA2: Last but most important. HAPPY BIRTHDAY miss-dian!!!!!!
ETA3: vieraan45, there are some SDK spoilers through vol 12 in replies.
The thing that strikes me the most about ‘Picture If You Will’ is how insignificant Maldis is in the scheme of things, how despite his power ‘unscary’ in comparison with other monsters in the Farscape world.
So much of the show (for me) is really about how Crichton is gradually broken in every way possible: physically, mentally, emotionally. Ground to dirt and yet being able to go on again and to find peace and restore some of his innocence by the end of TPKW. This is also very true about S2 which is all about driving its protagonist (literally) to insanity.
So ultimately Maldis is small fry, compared to what Crichton goes through because of Scorpius, compared to what his love for Aeryn puts him through.
Maldis has no subtlety. Maldis is a five year old pulling wings off flies. His threats are crude. He can kill but he cannot truly torment because he is incapable of understanding anything not soulless. Yes, he gets a reaction out of Crichton by threatening Earth, out of D’Argo by threatening Jothee etc etc but it’s a very blunt sort of intrument he is wielding. Because his power is so great he’s never had to be creative. Crichton at the end of ‘Die Me Dichotomy’ or ‘Liars Guns and Money Part 3’ or ‘Different Destinations’ or ‘Constellation of Doubt’ or [insert name of ep here] is on a whole different level of anguish than what Maldis (who is ultmately only interested in dinner with a spot of revenge) can ever give him.
I also find it interesting that Aeryn is not one of the people trapped by the painting. True, she is needed elsewhere for story reasons but I wonder how it would have affected John if Aeryn was also trapped there. He’d probably be a LOT more on edge.
This ep also reinforces the fact that Chiana, for all her experience of hard knocks, is quite young. Young enough to get excited over silly trinkets, young enough to be really scared.
You know what I love so much? The big brother-little sister relationship both John and D’Argo have with her (though with D it eventually develops inot more). When she is freaking out, afraid of being burned because the painting shows it as the future, she is hysterical, demanding to be locked in the freezer. Zhaan (understandably) thinks it’s stupid, but I love John’s reaction. He doesn’t care if it is. The little sis is freaking out and needs to be made better, however irrational what she wants is. It’s this innate caring in John that I love so much (and the caring that I think draws the other Moyans to him). It gets more and more curtailed as the time goes on, but no matter how few people it becomes limited to (basically just the crew), it’s always there.
And of course, in the saga of John and Aeryn, there is that gorgeous, brittle pained scene after Chiana’s ‘death’ where he is lashing out (remembering her earlier thoughtless comment that it would be good to have Chiana off the ship. That first interaction is funny and not lashing out, but there is an edge even there, hiding under the humor) but it’s also underlaid by his own worry that she views him the same way. It’s the hangover from the bitterness of the events of ‘Crackers Don’t Matter.’
I know it’s not a fave ep for a lot of people (and I agree there are plothooooooles), but I like it.
I have also continued with Something Happened in Bali. Total love. It’s actually very different in a lot of ways from other kdramas because the four main characters are kinda hard-bitten and not sweet and I don’t think even ‘good people’ whatever that means.
But I have actually found myself warming up to both Ha Ji-Won’s character and Jo In-Sung’s. Still time to go on So Ji-Sub and the fiancee girl (I am blanking on her name). In fact, three eps in, I am more than warmed up to Jo In-Sung's character. Is he a great individual? Probably not. But intense and messed up bad boys? Oh such a lovely fictional kink.
The thing with Ha Ji-Won is her character is hard-headed, in fact much too much, and mercenary and everything else. But because it’s HJW, somehow she still possesses this almost childishly immediate enthusiasm, and this fragility, that just makes you want to hug her and make it better. I can get why both guys are going to fall for her. There is this scene where she is in In-Sung's office and he doesn't remember her and she is wearing this tacky cheap outfit that she thinks is expensive though it's anything but and he (not unreasonably) refuses to give her a job...I felt bad for her (and eee! so did he later and called her back even though she is woefully unqualified. He has the makings of a decent person, if he ever was in a different environment).
And with JIS, I could pinpoint the exact moment I realized I rather liked his character (though would still stay 12 feet away from him in RL). It was the moment when his older brother, jockeying for position within the family and thus wanting to ‘overthrow’ his younger brother, brought SJS back to the main office to be his brother’s underling (the older brother realized that SJS was JIS’s fiancee’s lover). And JIS chased after his sibling to tell him he doesn’t want the guy, to which the older brother was very very bland and then at the end walked off and told him not to call him ‘bro’ at work.
I think that was the scene that finally made me realize what made JIS tick. That is why he is so sceptical about emotion and love and anything but just skimming the surface: his whole family is a bunch of sharks, so growing up in that environment really would warp you. Everyone in this drama seems to come from a not too good a family. SJS’s Mom isn’t even glad to see him when he gets back after months but is busy entertaining other men (and she is a former abused wife and you see this whole thing is killing SJS). Ha Ji Won seems to have no family but a brother who leeches off her. And JIS’s family is composed of older brother who’d totally run over his corpse for free gum (to use a Veronica Mars type expression. The reason Ha Ji-Won gets into JIS's office in the first place is because older bro thinks she is one of his whores so it would cause embarassment for him) and a father who is constantly disapproving and intimidating and also abusive. I don’t really think you should hit your grown up son on the head with a golf club (or any other objects that happen to be around). Yeah, he doesn’t break his head or anything, but the guy is constantly sporting band-aids and things like that. JIS seems to be pretty afraid of Daddy with good reason. He really is totally intimidated by him, and seriously? Abuse? Not good.
My fave scenes so far? As I mentioned to alexandral, There is this awesome scene in ep 2 where the heroine helps the drunk hero to his hotel room. At that point she thinks the rich guy is someone else but while she doesn't like any of the other three characters, she's sort of clicked the best with him (because he's not the 'rival' like the girl, and not 'target' like the other guy) and he is kinda amused at her mistake (she was asking him for info on 'Pax Group's second son') and you can see him watching her when she doesn't notice and getting a little caught.
But anyway, she gets him to his room and he asks her, how much for her to stay the night (!!!) And he tells her he'll pay her however much she's made up to now. And unlike a normal Korean heroine who'd kick him in the face and walk out, you see her totally nerve herself and then she goes 'You are a real jerk...[pause] are you going to pay before or after?'
I nearly fell off my couch.
So he throws some money at her and tells her to leave because this isn't fun any more and to buy herself a new pair of shoes (her heel is broken). And yeah, she takes the money and leaves and then starts crying in the hallway.
And the scene where JIS takes SJS out for drinks and they exchange alpha-male rivalry stuff about fiancee while passing a liquor bottle back and forth, tension and hostility almost crackling in the air.
Last but not least, I continued my persusal of trashy 1920s novels and came across Shadow of the East by EM Hull, the same lady that wrote the Sheik. Whoa. This is a plot that makes a Korean melodrama sound prosaic. Our hero, edowed with the sexy name of Barry (heeeeeeee, how tastes change) starts the book by discovering that his haf Japanese mistress, is pregnant! And the same evening he discovers that she is his…*da dum* half sister. He freaks and runs off and when he comes back in the morning, she’s killed herself (she didn’t know about the connection and just thought he abandoned her).
Yup. I love a romance novel where the hero is the guy who impregnated a sibling :D Barry attempts to kill himself and is only saved from doing so by his faithful servant and the fact that he is supposed to take guardianship of a daughter of some acquaintance. He thinks the girl is 10 but she is actually grown-up. Her name is Gillian and they enter into an arranged marriage to please his dying aunt. And grow to lurve each other :D. And he actually explains the whole ‘before you, my girlfriend was my sister’ thing and being a lonely (or verrrrry understanding) lady she is all ‘mmmm, fine, sexy. Now smoochies?’
Wholesomness rocks.
Mr. Mousie's reaction when I recounted this to him? 'For God's sake, man. Just get out of the house! I know it's before internet dating, but place an ad in the paper. Go to a bar. The sin's not lust but laziness.'
Of course, when I also pointed out that the book starts out set in Japan but the author knows as much about Japan as I do about Mars, he told me 'Of course you know about Mars. It's all about pretty boys riding motorcycles.' Heeeee.
Oh, and in awesome news. Apparently someone picked up Takki's Romeo & Juliet for subbing.
ETA: Have you seen the newest Veronica Mars promo pics? I threw up a little.
ETA2: Last but most important. HAPPY BIRTHDAY miss-dian!!!!!!
ETA3: vieraan45, there are some SDK spoilers through vol 12 in replies.