King of the Heart

I'd watched a few more Shopping King Louis over the weekend while we were all home sick and the boys were playing Terraria. It was a good antidote to the angst I was feeling over my (justified) fears that Where Stars Land was going to end badly. I'm through episode 8 now, the halfway mark, so I thought it would be a good time to get down my thoughts a bit and then do another post at the end (or at such a point where I can't help myself anymore).

Yes, that's Louis covered in pain relieving patches. He's running home to be with Bok Sil because he's just heard that their apartment was the scene of a triple homicide and omo! he wasn't going to leave her there alone. He didn't even stop to put on some clothes and ran there the whole way, even though he's not remotely athletic (in the show...in real life, Seo In Guk's gotta be, because you don't look like that if you do nothing). It's bizarre little moments like this that really make the show.

It's pretty darn adorable. I was worried it was going to go too dark--after all, it appears that his Uncle tried to have him killed--but the "bad guys" i.e. greedy family members (the aforementioned Uncle who is now in line to inherit the business and his beautiful but morally questionable daughter Ma Ri and the hapless but innocent Auntie) are generally so incompetent that it hasn't gone very far down that path. Don't get me wrong -- there was an attempted murder where Uncle's go-to guy got accidentally brained by the un-friendly neighbourhood serial killer (the reason Bok Sil and Louis got the apartment so cheap was because three people had been killed in it...). And there's whoever died in the car wreck in Louis' place (which I'm hoping wasn't Bok Nam, though it very well could be...except that this show seems to err on the more happy than not side, so who knows, maybe Bok Nam went back to the mountain or something to explain where he's been all this time).

The character growth arc for Louis is really nice. He was never a bad guy to begin with...just spoiled...but he's really starting to come into his own and trying to be a better man. He just never knew how to be one before. Well, a normal one, anyway. He was always good. Just clueless as to how the real world is. Bok Sil has also had some growth as her confidence grows, though I wouldn't say she's changed as much as Louis has. Their relationship has progressed at the right pace -- they just shared a kiss at the end of this episode and while in some shows that would feel really late, it was good timing for this one. It's first love for both of them and they're both a bit like puppies in that regard. It's nice. Organic. Doesn't feel forced.

I am, however, feeling bad for Joong Won. They've even slowly morphed his hair into something less atrocious as we've learned more about his character and come to appreciate him. He's a good guy, even if he really, really needs to shave. He's obviously got a thing for Bok Sil, though I think he's not even sure why. It just is. Well, let's face it, she's very different from all of the other women around him. I can't blame him. And he's not super fond of Louis, feeling (somewhat rightly, let's be honest), he's just taking advantage of Bok Sil. He's been an encouraging (though tough) boss and has consistently been on her side. But he's got no hope. We all know she's gonna wind up with Louis. We know it. Heck, he knows it. When Louis flat out asks him if he likes Bok Sil, he thinks about how the two of them are together and denies it. He can see the writing on the wall. And he's a nice enough guy to not fight it. We'll see what happens with that once Louis finds out who he really is (previews indicate it will be the next episode).

Based on the cover image, etc. I wonder if they're going to stick Joong Won with Ma Ri at the end. She'd be okay with that as he was her second goal after Louis died/disappeared. But I'd feel really bad for him if that's the case. She's not evil or anything but she isn't particularly nice and she's shallow as a half-dried up puddle.

My one complaint is that I don't understand why Joong Won doesn't recognise Louis at all. I mean, he went to his funeral. Where there was a big picture of him. No one else at Goldline recognises him either and I can't imagine that his picture wasn't in news articles or anything. Sheesh. Nowadays, the first thing I'd do was run a reverse Google image search...but yeah, I know, you gotta have some suspension of disbelief or else shows like this don't work. Joong Won is the weird one though. Even the Director/Uncle thinks he must have some angle because he assumes that Joong Won knows who Louis really is. (Small Edit: the explanation for this was that no one had ever seen him. Not totally buying that in this day and age, but, eh, whatever. The rest of the show is grand so I'll roll with it).

As for the other characters, I'd like to see more of Butler Kim. And I rather like the hapless Auntie. She really does mean well, which is why her sort-of evil husband never tells her anything. He knows she'd never be down for it...nor would she be able to keep the secret. Which is, I suspect, how Louis finds his family in the next episode. Because the too-hot to have a small part cop that's been helping Bok Sil and Louis just paid her a visit. It was a shiny halo oh hello there moment for Auntie. I think this will be the undoing of Uncle/Director's plans. Which is kind of fitting. All those near-misses and this is what does it.

Shing!

Looking forward to the next episode tomorrow. Gotta go to bed tonight. Will try not to post anymore on this show until the end. Stuck at home tomorrow waiting on a delivery and only have about an hour of work to do (waiting on everything else) AND still sick with the flu/plague, so it's a good day for the fireplace and Shopping King Louis.