Saturday, November 17, 2018

Where Stars Land, Part Deux

Decided to do a new post instead of continuing on the old one. Why? I dunno. It's Thursday. Anyway. Just finished episode 6 and finally saw a glimmer of hope for the female lead. It's the first time she wasn't utterly useless.
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And...had to do some other stuff and have now also watched episode 7 and 8 while I was on the elliptical at the gym.

Kinda wish I had finished writing up what I was going to originally as now my thoughts are a little more evolved. In episode 6 you finally get also get a glimpse at what's up with Soo Yeon and why he's the way he is -- a motorbike accident while he's chasing after his big brother (another stiff dude at the airport that I haven't really liked since his first appearance). And you get this:

Whoop! There it is.
Er...what? He's got a freaking steampunk arm! I dunno what's up with that. I was expecting maybe a robot arm or something, not some odd steampunk thing. So I am intrigued by this in a WTF sort of fashion. It just seems out of left field. And is the dude that fixes his arm also Yeo Reum's father or does he just look a bit like him (...I'm too lazy to go back and locate the scene that shows the dad, so I guess I'll find out later)?

Anyway...episodes 7 and 8...this show really does have a different rhythm to me than a lot of Kdramas that I've watched so far. We see that Soo Yeon, who had been set up to be the rather taciturn, no expression trope of a dude, is interested in Yeo Reum, far before she really has any particular interest in him beyond friendship and curiosity. Even though so much screen time is given to the female lead, I find his story more compelling and interesting.

However, it does fall into the "how many disasters can happen to one person" thing. The last couple of episodes have literally gone from escaped passenger denied entry into country desperately attacks Soo Yeon to Yeo Reum's mother coming in on a flight THAT SAME NIGHT and the engine catches fire, probably from a bird strike.

Statistically, this is utter bollocks. Forbes says:
Of the roughly 87,000 flights per day in the United States, on average only one or two experience significant enough engine problems to cause the pilots to shut down one engine. In all cases today, commercial planes are capable of continuing to fly on one engine over land.
And this from The Telegraph:
When a bird flies, or is sucked into, the engine of a plane, the poor critter usually disintegrates. However, in incidents with larger birds there can be extensive damage to the engine. “Losing one engine is not going to cause an aircraft to crash because they are designed to fly with one engine down,” said Landells.
Assuming that's pretty typical across the world, the chances of all of this happening on this particular flight are so astronomically slim. Anyway. I know. I should suspend disbelief. It just bugs me when shows pack one disaster after another all in a row (and remember, this is a 1/2 hour show). At least give me a montage to show a passing of time. Something.

But, overall, I'm enjoying it. I like Soo Yeon and the growth he's already shown. There's hints of a love triangle developing that I'm not sure about (Yeo Reum's friend who also works at the airport) but, yeah, okay, I guess you gotta thrown in some angst other than what Yeo Reum's bad luck/attitude cause.

Edit: Okay...barrelled on through a number of them and am up to episode 19. Like pretty much every Kdrama I've watched so far, it's got the "oh, look, it's a random coincidence. Really!" thing happening. And, while you kinda feel like a lot has happened in the last ten episodes or so...in some ways, not really much has actually occurred.

I'm not gonna do a play by play because I'm sick. Fever. Chills. Sore throat. Nose I can only breathe out of 1/2 of. Which is also why I'm so much farther along. Can't think to do anything else. Have no energy. Can't breathe at all when I lay down. 

Anyway. I guess I'm overall still liking it. I have quibbles. Mostly, why is the step-brother (half brother?) such a complete wanker? I don't get his motivation? It seems to be "your existence inconveniences me, so I want you gone"? And why are the prosthetic devices such a huge secret? Besides the whole, why would people care if it got out, wouldn't they be a huge medical advancement? Why the secrecy exactly? Not sure I'm buying the reasoning behind all of that, which is kinda hard when so much of the drama/angst is based entirely on him needing to hide it.

But I do like Soo Yeon. And the friend guy. Feel kinda bad for both of them, to be honest.

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