I swear, I would not post this much about dramas if you guys weren't encouraging me
Okay, not to brag on my show or anything, but
Sungkyunkwan Scandal has definitely hit the we all love and hate each other, I wanna cry every time I see you because you are so beautiful and equally impossible ALSO you betrayed me stage
[WHOA Yeorim. I still ship you and Minister of War's daughter, but man.]
And the reason this show is awesome is because unlike almost any other show, the WAH!angst of it is completely counterbalanced with how much I like the characters, feel like they're doing their best, and am interested in how each storyline unfolds.
The gisaeng lady Choseon (a geisha, basically) proves herself as a woman who's seen a lot of the world, though I thought they may be taking her circumstances a little lightly, not just in turning [spoiler, but those of you who know YES WOW] but in seeing through a situation as a savvy person, and also doing some misdirection so as not to make it worse.
Which is what a woman like that would do.
Yeorim is a recognizable type, but the most nuanced version I've ever seen. Geol Oh as well. When he laughs at Kim Yoon Shik/Hee's response to the Red Messenger, an person of the intelligensia who also knows the flip side of living as a commoner and woman, he surprised me, in a good way.
***
This by way of trying to redeem the fact that I'm blogging about K-Drama again, but this is what I want to be making, when I write.
Something that is gripping, but not only that, is compelling so the hard things the characters go through hardly registers against how much you want to be with them, to follow them through the story.
That's what's priceless about Howl's Moving Castle. What helped me make it through the Sevenwaters Trilogy.
What I'm fighting with while not writing The Archivalist...yet.