Sang-Doo and Sming Pasta. Yup, I am still as obsessed as ever.
Sang-Doo, Let's Go to School is wonderful. Heck, I have a nasty fever and I am still loving it. Sang Doo and Eun-hwan are such an OTP but I don't see it ever ending well, not with their baggage. The dorama is still funny (it has very funny bits) but it's getting darker and angstier and more romantic and that is how I like it. Ep 3 was what turned me from 'I like it' to 'must marathon like there is no tomorrow.' I really think doramas remind me a bit of Bollywood. They take a plot that on the sufrace is completely unworkable and make it stick. When summarized, the plot of Sang-Doo sounds insane: a young gigolo joins a high school as a student to complete his interrupted education in order to be close to his only and first love who is a teacher there. Insane, right? But somehow, with Sang-Doo, it works. Works works works works.
I really really love Sang-Doo and Eun-Hwan as an OTP. It's clear they never got over each other and it's equally clear they have so much baggage. In fact, part of the reason they never got over each other is because they associate each other with the innocent, happy, pure time in their life, the last time something in their life was perfect.
Whenever we get flashbacks to their life in Namhwon, the colors are extra lush, greens are everywhere, and the place looks like an idyll. And I am sure it's a charming place but I think we are seeing it in such a gorgeous light because we are seeing it through the filter of their memories, before everything went so horribly wrong. Before everything got wrecked. It's especially stark in the case of Sang-Doo: Eun-Hwan's surprise that he doesn't have a college degree tells its own story. He clearly was a bright kid on track to being happy and successful and having a good life. And look what he is now. And though Eun-Hwan made it out of the wreck better (she did go and finish her education and is now a teacher blah blah), she is still haunted by the past and she is dating a wonderful guy who she is not in love with and I think a part of her fell asleep since her mother ran off with them and never woke up until she met Sang-Doo again.
And the contrast between then and now is always rather sad. Like Sang-Doo, who's been told off by EH's younger brother that he is nothing, who is he to even look at her, remembering the brother as a small child who he carried on his shoulders and who thought he was the most wonderful thing in the world (the brother doesn't recognize him now. Btw, I want to smack that brat from here to next Sunday).
But the thing is, they can never go back, not really. It's a sort of paradise they've been cast out from and it's barred to them. I love how Eun-Hwan gets drunk and comes to find Sang-Doo at his guard post and asks him to go 'home' with her. And how she was remembering her last day in town, where she showed up at Sang-Doo's house, even though her and her mother are on the run, and she is calling out over and over 'Sang-Doo, let's go to school!' and she doesn't want to leave and her mother has to drag her away, but of course she doesn't know that Sang-Doo isn't here but is probably in the police station because he was trying to get her father's grammophone back for her from the neighbor and pushed him and the man fell on a stone and cracked his head open and that's it for Sang-Doo's future. Yeah.
And so EH is drunk and her barriers are down and what she really wants (to be able to go back, to be with Sang-Doo) come to the surface. And I love that he comes with her, not out of any desire to see the town (later he makes clear he'd rather die than go back) but to take care of her. That whole scene with them on their 'trip' is by far my favorite in the four eps so far. I love how they try to catch a taxi, how she ends up making him sing their school song with her. And then she comes out on the bridge because she's sick (as she really is terribly drunk) and she basically passes out on the side of the bridge so he picks her up and slings her over his shoulder and carries her.
And through that whole sequence, the thing that really kills me is the way he looks at her. OMG. It's so intense. Earlier, he was looking at her while working and forgetting everything else and vice versa, even the students noticed but it's different here. He can look at her unobserved and it's all so full of tenderness and longing and desire and a bit of confusion.
And she tells him how much she loves him and the look on his face! And interestingly, he cannot blurt it back out.
And then they end up in the love motel and she is all passed out and I love the way he ends up looking at her neck and then he calls in the desk clerk to undress her because her clothes are all ruined and ends up sleeping on the floor. Not that there is not enough room on the bed, but I just love that bit, very chivalrous (and heh, I bet he wants her pretty badly so better remove temptation). It's interesting, because in some ways he is very hard boiled (hello, gigolo!) but with her he can revert to how he was before his life got so screwed up, to who he could have been if everything went differently. He is generally not too keen on his life. Love how he whispers to sleeping Bori that he has to do 'disgusting things' to take care of her so she has to get well (btw, huge points for him for taking care of Bori. Not that many people would be so keen on taking care of a kid who is a product of a drunken one-night stand). Or when he lets that husband of one of his clients beat on him. Yeah. I can only imagine the fireworks when EH finds out about his real history. OUCH. After all, her doctor bf knows now that Bori's dad is a gigolo. And he saw EH touch his face in the hospital. But he doesn't know yet that Bori's Dad=EH's first love and the guy in her school she is checking out. I wonder what will happen when he does. I like him as he is very nice (and a better matrimonial prospect than Sang Doo) so I hope he gets a HEA as long as it's not with EH.
The morning after is very funny and the way he teases her is even funnier and OMG, I love fanservice of Rain in the shower (this show is good with the fanservice, in general :P)
And then he joins the school as a student since he cannot be a guard and now he is in her class. Heeeeee. I kinda like that the school girls think he is hot. Because come on, duh. I also love how she is watching him run laps (hello, fanservice again) and I know it's supposed to be a punishment for fighting but I don't think she is fixating on that part of it.
Also, am currently watching ep 3 of Smiling Pasta (a Taiwanese drama about which I wrote more on my LJ here and oh my. He Qun is definitely my dorama boyfriend. In fact, he is the kind of character who would normally be the good sweet guy who loves the heroine but at whom she never looks twice and he is left alone as she ends up with the bad boy (in this case it would be Ah Zhe I suppose).
But not here! Here he is the lead! He is not Prince Charming on a white hourse, so perfect he is unreal. Nope. And I love him. He is just a genuinely nice, sweet, decent, laid back guy. I love the bit where they are in the car and she is grumping at him for stealing her first kiss (long story) and he grins and asks her if next time he should just wear an Ah Zhe mask and it would make it OK (Ah Zhe is his younger bad-boy brother and someone she has a crush on). And it's not said meanly or anything, but as a joke and it gets her grinning.
I love their easy camraderie. I love the fact that he's visited her house for a second time because she asked, that he genuinely loves her wacky family (because it's such a contrast with his distant one. Honestly, why his Dad is not super keen on him is bizarre. He's a son most Dads would like even if he is carving his own path. But of course, his Dad is all about reputation and career. And prefers Ah Zhe).
He Qun has the unenviable (and potentially dull) position of the well-behaved elder son. Ah Zhe gets the leather studs and the rebellion and knocking people off motorcycle and gf trauma of his OTP who died. What problems does He Qun has? A lot more realistic ones. Crappy relationship with his father. The fact that the girl he dated for years ditched him, and for his brother too. And how telling is it that he doesn't throw a huge scene with Rita despite her being such a bitch, but just quietly accepts it even as he misses her and is devastated. And fancy that, he isn't dull at all! He is just genuinely a sweetheart.
I love the scene where they are prepping to go for some event and Xiao Shi gets the requisite make-over. And he looks at them both in the mirror and his hands go to her hair and he corrects one lock that was out of place and extends his hand. I love it. Because while he is liking her more and more (he has fun when she is around and it's not something he seems to have a lot of. He also doesn't seem to have many friends) he isn't yet in starry eyed love with her. But he is sweet and decent and polite to the heroine even though he just likes her in a casual way but has no flaming passion. Because, OMG, treating people nicely is a good thing to do.
OMG, and I think they are falling for each other for real. They have all those lovely small moments. But then Rita trips at the premiere and HQ instinctively goes to save her, even pushing XS out of the way. Whoa. And the press converges like sharks and XS saves the day by saying it was her idea for Rita to come over to the premiere because she herself can't stay. And she is such a sweetie and she is doing to to protect He Qun and I love that she is miserable and grumpy and doesn't realize why. And I love that He Qun keeps flashing back to her white lie that saved him and he gets up and tells his manager to take care of Rita and goes in search of XS.
I hate hate hate Rita. She's a bitch and I hate how she tries to haze Xiao Shi with her nasty little friends even though she isn't into HQ herself and was the one who ditched him.
And I want to smack Ah Zhe badly. Get over your trauma. Whatever your issues (and honestly, get over them already), that's no excuse to be an asshole to everyone, either He Qun (who, face it, is not at fault) or everyone else, none of whom had anything to do with that story whatsoever. I do like it when he and XS have their quasi date, after he's seen her tell the press she is the one who asked Rita over and she does it because she wants to protect HQ. He's been a uniform jerk to her before (OTOH, her making lunch for him every day is excessive) but I think after he witnesses that unobserved, he is rather touched or feels sorry for her. There is also a flashback to when his OTP Xiao Rou was alive and he got along well with HQ blah blah. Much more normal then. Btw, if it was a Korean drama, I'd be betting Xiao Rou is alive somewhere with amnesia, but here who knows ;)
I really really love Sang-Doo and Eun-Hwan as an OTP. It's clear they never got over each other and it's equally clear they have so much baggage. In fact, part of the reason they never got over each other is because they associate each other with the innocent, happy, pure time in their life, the last time something in their life was perfect.
Whenever we get flashbacks to their life in Namhwon, the colors are extra lush, greens are everywhere, and the place looks like an idyll. And I am sure it's a charming place but I think we are seeing it in such a gorgeous light because we are seeing it through the filter of their memories, before everything went so horribly wrong. Before everything got wrecked. It's especially stark in the case of Sang-Doo: Eun-Hwan's surprise that he doesn't have a college degree tells its own story. He clearly was a bright kid on track to being happy and successful and having a good life. And look what he is now. And though Eun-Hwan made it out of the wreck better (she did go and finish her education and is now a teacher blah blah), she is still haunted by the past and she is dating a wonderful guy who she is not in love with and I think a part of her fell asleep since her mother ran off with them and never woke up until she met Sang-Doo again.
And the contrast between then and now is always rather sad. Like Sang-Doo, who's been told off by EH's younger brother that he is nothing, who is he to even look at her, remembering the brother as a small child who he carried on his shoulders and who thought he was the most wonderful thing in the world (the brother doesn't recognize him now. Btw, I want to smack that brat from here to next Sunday).
But the thing is, they can never go back, not really. It's a sort of paradise they've been cast out from and it's barred to them. I love how Eun-Hwan gets drunk and comes to find Sang-Doo at his guard post and asks him to go 'home' with her. And how she was remembering her last day in town, where she showed up at Sang-Doo's house, even though her and her mother are on the run, and she is calling out over and over 'Sang-Doo, let's go to school!' and she doesn't want to leave and her mother has to drag her away, but of course she doesn't know that Sang-Doo isn't here but is probably in the police station because he was trying to get her father's grammophone back for her from the neighbor and pushed him and the man fell on a stone and cracked his head open and that's it for Sang-Doo's future. Yeah.
And so EH is drunk and her barriers are down and what she really wants (to be able to go back, to be with Sang-Doo) come to the surface. And I love that he comes with her, not out of any desire to see the town (later he makes clear he'd rather die than go back) but to take care of her. That whole scene with them on their 'trip' is by far my favorite in the four eps so far. I love how they try to catch a taxi, how she ends up making him sing their school song with her. And then she comes out on the bridge because she's sick (as she really is terribly drunk) and she basically passes out on the side of the bridge so he picks her up and slings her over his shoulder and carries her.
And through that whole sequence, the thing that really kills me is the way he looks at her. OMG. It's so intense. Earlier, he was looking at her while working and forgetting everything else and vice versa, even the students noticed but it's different here. He can look at her unobserved and it's all so full of tenderness and longing and desire and a bit of confusion.
And she tells him how much she loves him and the look on his face! And interestingly, he cannot blurt it back out.
And then they end up in the love motel and she is all passed out and I love the way he ends up looking at her neck and then he calls in the desk clerk to undress her because her clothes are all ruined and ends up sleeping on the floor. Not that there is not enough room on the bed, but I just love that bit, very chivalrous (and heh, I bet he wants her pretty badly so better remove temptation). It's interesting, because in some ways he is very hard boiled (hello, gigolo!) but with her he can revert to how he was before his life got so screwed up, to who he could have been if everything went differently. He is generally not too keen on his life. Love how he whispers to sleeping Bori that he has to do 'disgusting things' to take care of her so she has to get well (btw, huge points for him for taking care of Bori. Not that many people would be so keen on taking care of a kid who is a product of a drunken one-night stand). Or when he lets that husband of one of his clients beat on him. Yeah. I can only imagine the fireworks when EH finds out about his real history. OUCH. After all, her doctor bf knows now that Bori's dad is a gigolo. And he saw EH touch his face in the hospital. But he doesn't know yet that Bori's Dad=EH's first love and the guy in her school she is checking out. I wonder what will happen when he does. I like him as he is very nice (and a better matrimonial prospect than Sang Doo) so I hope he gets a HEA as long as it's not with EH.
The morning after is very funny and the way he teases her is even funnier and OMG, I love fanservice of Rain in the shower (this show is good with the fanservice, in general :P)
And then he joins the school as a student since he cannot be a guard and now he is in her class. Heeeeee. I kinda like that the school girls think he is hot. Because come on, duh. I also love how she is watching him run laps (hello, fanservice again) and I know it's supposed to be a punishment for fighting but I don't think she is fixating on that part of it.
Also, am currently watching ep 3 of Smiling Pasta (a Taiwanese drama about which I wrote more on my LJ here and oh my. He Qun is definitely my dorama boyfriend. In fact, he is the kind of character who would normally be the good sweet guy who loves the heroine but at whom she never looks twice and he is left alone as she ends up with the bad boy (in this case it would be Ah Zhe I suppose).
But not here! Here he is the lead! He is not Prince Charming on a white hourse, so perfect he is unreal. Nope. And I love him. He is just a genuinely nice, sweet, decent, laid back guy. I love the bit where they are in the car and she is grumping at him for stealing her first kiss (long story) and he grins and asks her if next time he should just wear an Ah Zhe mask and it would make it OK (Ah Zhe is his younger bad-boy brother and someone she has a crush on). And it's not said meanly or anything, but as a joke and it gets her grinning.
I love their easy camraderie. I love the fact that he's visited her house for a second time because she asked, that he genuinely loves her wacky family (because it's such a contrast with his distant one. Honestly, why his Dad is not super keen on him is bizarre. He's a son most Dads would like even if he is carving his own path. But of course, his Dad is all about reputation and career. And prefers Ah Zhe).
He Qun has the unenviable (and potentially dull) position of the well-behaved elder son. Ah Zhe gets the leather studs and the rebellion and knocking people off motorcycle and gf trauma of his OTP who died. What problems does He Qun has? A lot more realistic ones. Crappy relationship with his father. The fact that the girl he dated for years ditched him, and for his brother too. And how telling is it that he doesn't throw a huge scene with Rita despite her being such a bitch, but just quietly accepts it even as he misses her and is devastated. And fancy that, he isn't dull at all! He is just genuinely a sweetheart.
I love the scene where they are prepping to go for some event and Xiao Shi gets the requisite make-over. And he looks at them both in the mirror and his hands go to her hair and he corrects one lock that was out of place and extends his hand. I love it. Because while he is liking her more and more (he has fun when she is around and it's not something he seems to have a lot of. He also doesn't seem to have many friends) he isn't yet in starry eyed love with her. But he is sweet and decent and polite to the heroine even though he just likes her in a casual way but has no flaming passion. Because, OMG, treating people nicely is a good thing to do.
OMG, and I think they are falling for each other for real. They have all those lovely small moments. But then Rita trips at the premiere and HQ instinctively goes to save her, even pushing XS out of the way. Whoa. And the press converges like sharks and XS saves the day by saying it was her idea for Rita to come over to the premiere because she herself can't stay. And she is such a sweetie and she is doing to to protect He Qun and I love that she is miserable and grumpy and doesn't realize why. And I love that He Qun keeps flashing back to her white lie that saved him and he gets up and tells his manager to take care of Rita and goes in search of XS.
I hate hate hate Rita. She's a bitch and I hate how she tries to haze Xiao Shi with her nasty little friends even though she isn't into HQ herself and was the one who ditched him.
And I want to smack Ah Zhe badly. Get over your trauma. Whatever your issues (and honestly, get over them already), that's no excuse to be an asshole to everyone, either He Qun (who, face it, is not at fault) or everyone else, none of whom had anything to do with that story whatsoever. I do like it when he and XS have their quasi date, after he's seen her tell the press she is the one who asked Rita over and she does it because she wants to protect HQ. He's been a uniform jerk to her before (OTOH, her making lunch for him every day is excessive) but I think after he witnesses that unobserved, he is rather touched or feels sorry for her. There is also a flashback to when his OTP Xiao Rou was alive and he got along well with HQ blah blah. Much more normal then. Btw, if it was a Korean drama, I'd be betting Xiao Rou is alive somewhere with amnesia, but here who knows ;)