Shopping King Louis--Fin

Oh, I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. While it did a lot of "typical" things, it also managed to surprise me with the choices it made. Things that would normally be drawn out and out and out were resolved quickly (like when Bok Sil is kidnapped by the stooge by accident, when he thinks he's grabbing Ma Ri to blackmail the Chairman for more money) and it generally always took the happier route which, I'll be honest, I love.

I don't watch these things to get drawn into tons of stomach-twisting angst. I can watch other things for that. Hell, I can watch the news. I really love that they didn't do a lot of the things I expected them too...like their brief separation wasn't because of the rich family saying "oh no, you're too poor for our Louis" and it always took the lighter path -- Chairman hadn't wanted to kill Louis, just a little bump big enough for Grandma to want to send him away again. Shoot. The two rich ahjummas even gleefully adopt the former janitor ahjumma as one of their own and I don't think you'd see that in another chaebol drama. They really are all one big happy family by the end.

And it was a joy that the writer actually sprinkled little stuff in throughout the show and then USED it. Bok Sil's mothers dress, the thieving granny, the dog named Gobosi (and I'll even forgive them for doing the childhood meeting thing, as it least it was tied in so nicely to Bok Sil's dead parents), the documentary, the ⭐ ratings Louis gave out...seriously, it's so nice. I hate it when things are just thrown in and then not used. They managed to tie just about everything up.

If I had a complaint at all, it would be that Bok Sil stays pretty stagnant through the last half of the show and becomes a character to whom things happen, rather than an actual player on the board. But, as this is really more a story about Louis, I'm okay with it overall.

Sure, it ended quite openly without an exact resolution (other than for Butler Kim and Butler Heo, who got married). But that's kind of life and at least there are hints as to what will come. Joong Won meets a straightforward girl that's obviously going to take Bok Sil's place in his heart (though you know he'll always support her--his last act is to give her books to study for college). Ma Ri may like Joong Won a bit, but somehow you suspect she might wind up won over by the ridiculous Jo In Sung (they almost have to, after having shared two of the most ridiculous poop/fart related jokes I've ever seen in any show short of South Park). She's even finally started to grow as a person by the end. And while Louis and Bok Sil aren't married at the end, you know they're going to stay together forever. Bok Nam...well, hopefully he'll graduate some day. He's pretty hopeless, but at least he has a good heart.

Just Louis' daydream, but you know it'll happen.

Actually, that sums up the show. It had a good heart. I really enjoyed it. Am I glad I watched it? 100% absolutely. There's actually very few shows I would say that about. Would I watch it again? Yeah, I think I would. Maybe even with the little dude because there were some jokes that he would fall off his chair over. Not right away, but in a year or two when I need a pick me up. This one's a keeper and I SO needed it after the disappointment that was the ending of Where Stars Land.

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.

Falling Stars

Welp. I watched the final episodes of Where Stars Land this morning. It was mostly a disappointment, though there was one thing they handled far better than I thought they would, so I'm thankful for that. And at least it had what was meant as a happy ending.

But, it was a very rushed ending and news on Twitter and the Internet seems to indicate that they ran out of time (and some people had originally thought it was going to be 40 episodes and not 32? so that could explain some of that too). It definitely felt like they rushed it though, at the same time, there were bits of it that felt like filler.

Let me back up. First off, they finally resolved all of the gangster nonsense (mostly), though I still never felt like it made much sense. How had this been going on for 10 years with his step brother? What was on the stupid hard drive that nothing ever happened with? Did Director Jo really get away with a slap on the wrist? Was all of that nonsense really just about privatising the airport? Did the brothers ever really reconcile? You never see them together again. Also, the older brother's redemption arc really kinda only picked up at the very end. There should have been more hints early on.

Then...still up until the very freaking last second, Seo Yeon is holding on to his potential martrydom with a vengeance. It's SO Me Before You. I really didn't like that Mr. Jang gave Yeo Reum the gadget that would disable Seo Yeon's robotic arm/leg, leaving it up to her to decide whether or not to go against Seo Yeon's idiotic oh noble me, I won't burden you, I'd rather die wishes. The only saving grace for that is he did come around at the very end and pushed the button with her. It would have been a very wrong character arc for her to have pushed the button for him.

Though...hello, plot holes. What was the point of the gadget anyway? Why even bother to have to push it? It was supposed to be an emergency measure if his arm malfunctioned again. RATHER THAN ALL THAT USELESS DRAMA, HE COULD HAVE JUST TAKEN OFF THE DEVICES. They were just sitting at home. No reason for the button. That's all that Mr. Jang was trying to get him to do before. Just NOT WEAR THEM. Until he healed. Seriously. WTF.

AND THEN they do a useless one year time jump FOR NO GOOD REASON other than (probably) trying to make up time in the production schedule or something. And do the lazy, artificial angst-y thing of him going off to America and NOT ONCE contacting her in any way while he's gone. AT ALL. Apparently, not even an update from Mr. Jang. Even Rowoon's character (the perennially friendzoned lovely dude) was, like, that's ridiculous in this interconnected day and age. (Yes, yes it is.) THEN ten minutes (maybe more) of that last episode is spent on random airport shenanigans.

Dear Writers/Producers: we don't care about seeing Im Won-Hee selling wifi to a bunch of confused elders at this point. Actually, at no point would I have cared about that, but I would have rolled with it in the first 10 episodes. Not now.

And then...about another 5 minutes is spent, maybe more, on Yeo Reum realising Seo Yeon is in the airport and running around trying to find him...she finally does...and the entire ending of the show is her running to him and hugging him, tears, etc. and not once do they show his face at all. I'm guessing it might not have even been Lee Je Hoon (the actor). Like they had to shoot something and he couldn't be there and so they found someone who had a similar head shape. Otherwise, I cannot think of a single reason for them to have made that choice.

You're crying? Me too. The ending sucked rocks.

The story is arguably more his story than hers AND THEY DON'T EVEN SHOW HIS FACE at the end. He says nothing. Not even in a voiceover. Oh, so pissed about that. The pacing was annoying and the plot bits they left hanging were, like, GAH, but this really feels unforgivable. So lazy and insulting to the viewers.

Also finding it a bit meh that their solution to the whole thing is that he's obviously still wearing the devices and it's just all better now.

The other big thing that has bothered me all along is that Yeo Reum was SO useless to no purpose in the beginning and you have no clue why until more than halfway through when the bully from her high school shows up. That bit of story should have been moved up significantly.

Am I glad I watched it? Ermmmmm, maybe 60%? I did like all of the actors, especially the leads. They did a really good job with what they were given. Lee Je Hoon was particular effective, but Chae Soo Bin was also very good, even when she was really annoying. I'll be on the lookout for them in other things. The secondary romance characters were really well done and so very sweet and enjoyable to watch. Hope to see them in more things too. Rowoon was entirely too cute and sweet.

Would I watch it again? No. Partly because I'm kinder on a first watch than a re-watch and somehow I imagine all of the plot ickiness would bug me even more the second time around.

I suppose the most galling thing was that it didn't have to be this way. I can think of at least three ways this could have been written that would have worked so much better than what they wound up with. Yes, armchair quarterback and all that, BUT, hey, as a writer, YES, I could have done better.

Also, I'd really like to smack the people that write up the show blurbs.

Is it possible to do well in a job when you know it’s not exactly the job you had in mind?
Lee Soo Yeon (Lee Je Hoon) dreamed of becoming a pilot, but his poor vision squashed that dream. He goes to work at Incheon International Airport in the general planning department but harbors a secret that makes him keep his distance from his coworkers.

Han Yeo Reum (Chae Soo Bin) is a bubbly new passenger service agent at the airport who is eager to do her best. But her clumsy nature makes her a threat to herself and the passengers.

Can Soo Yeon clean up the messes that Yeo Reum creates on the job?

How does that description have ANYTHING at all to do with what the show was actually about? I went into it thinking it was probably going to be some kind of meet-cute thing.

And a five, six, seven, 8!

I am...

on my 7th box (8th?) of Kleenex since this flu/plague started. Poor hubby got it on Friday, the day before he was supposed to fly off to Vietnam and he canceled his trip. I feel guilty, but I don't know that there was anything I could have done. I mostly avoided him as much as I could. Little dude had a small fever yesterday, but he did go to school today (not that he wanted to). He hasn't called yet, so hoping it hasn't really hit him. At least my fever seems to be gone, though I'm still randomly dizzy. My voice wavers between only a whisper to the depths of a gravel pit.

I went back to sleep after dropping him off at school and then woke up to have lunch. So, yeah. Batting a 1000 today. Had some ramyun (and was inordinately pleased to find that the Korean kimchi one from the pack comes in a round shape that exactly fits our smallest pot -- it's kismet kimchi) and watched an episode of Shopping King Louie. Won't write about that here -- will do another post later after I've watched another episode or two. 

So tired but I'm worried if I go back to sleep now that I won't wake up in time to pick up the little dude. He's skipping golf today, so that means he gets out at 4:25. So I think it'll be another episode of Shopping King Louie in front of the fire for me, punctuated with elephantine blows of the nose. 

Sigh. I look like Rudolph.

ARGH. It's gone all Me Before You.

I honestly don't know what I'm feeling about Where Stars Land now. I'm about to start episode 29. Over the last, eh, I dunno, 5 episodes or so, it's been suggesting a Me Before You type storyline. Or at least something reminiscent of that.

Let's be honest. I didn't watch that stupid Me Before You movie. I boycotted it. Because I knew what it was about. You could call it the movie where "rich dude in wheelchair offs himself even though he's in love because he doesn't want to live disabled." FFS.

Okay, I'm not disabled. Or differently abled or whatever other term you want to use these days. But stories like that suggest that your life is worth LESS than a "normal" (please note the quotes because yeesh) person. Yes, life is harder. But that doesn't make it not worth fighting for. I had a few YEARS where I had trouble walking (or not able to walk at all) and was in constant pain (trigger point injections, steroids, too many drugs to combat the pain, physical therapy, etc. etc.) And I know how that might make you feel like giving up sometimes. But sweet jesus on a cracker, storylines that bow down to that are just so frustrating.

So...yeah...Seo Yoon continues to keep wearing the robotic/whatever arm and leg even though wearing them is actively killing him. In his head, he seems to want this "one perfect month" and then he's out. Done. Where's Yeo Reum in his plans? Just remembering him? Love should make you want to LIVE.

There's other frustrating stuff going on too, but this is the thing that's stuck in my craw. It's lazy. It's what this article describes as "disability death porn" and it totally is. A snuff film.

As it is a Kdrama and they usually tie things up fairly neatly/happily, I'm hoping for the best. But I'm still kinda pissed. If I'd known this was where it was headed in the beginning, I doubt that I would have watched it.

Secondary romance

As with a lot of the other Kdramas I've watched, I find myself enjoying the slow burn of the secondary romance between the two security guards in Where Stars Land as much (if not, sometimes, more) as that of the main leads. Maybe it's a bit of a timing thing -- I feel like the writer(s) start ramping up the secondary character romances (say, like in Secretary Kim as well) around the time the main characters are experiencing their biggest difficulties. Also, the secondary stories tend to not have quite as much angst in that there's usually not as much depth to the coverage of them -- so it's lighter and it offers some much needed cuteness when everything else is, well, kinda going to hell in a handbasket.

It's not something I've ever done in a book, but I think there's a few reasons for it...you've got time when you've got a drama that spans 30 odd episodes. Not so much in a book for teens where the focus needs to stay more on the main characters. It's not impossible, but with only 60K to 85K words to work with, there's not generally enough space. Would be easier to do in adult books or epic fantasies (hello, George R.R. Martin and your plethora of characters). They need the padding in a drama. Space to fill.

Maybe I also enjoy it because they tend to the "awkardness" of dating/love vs. the angst of it all. You can't make a main story out of that, not really, as you've got to have obstacles to carry the story forward, but it's nice in the side plots.

Though...there is kishōtenketsu in classical Chinese, Korean and Japanese writing where the thing that drives the plot forward isn't conflict, but exposition and contrast. It's explained really well on this blog. I wouldn't say Kdramas follow that; they definitely operate on conflict! But I do sometimes wonder how a story would be to write that way. It's not the way my mind normally works when plotting out a story -- I've, perhaps, been too indoctrinated in the normal 3 or 5 part structure -- but I have thought it would be an interesting exercise. Not really one I have time to pursue, at least not yet. Too many projects in the pipeline (edits on book 1, writing book 2, planning book 3, and the Death book to start with and hopefully, perhaps, a book 4 or 5 in the series if things go well). Maybe someday. Though I think I'd need to read more in it first. Have I ever really read a story in that style? I don't know.

Probably should file this under things I think about when I'm too sick to write and spending my time watching Kdramas in front of the fireplace...

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.
...
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.

A special kind of tired

It's before 10 AM. I am desperate tired. I'm not entirely sure why. I was up a bit late last night but not super late. We'd gone out to dinner with friends we hadn't seen in probably 10 years (or more) and had a bit of wine, but not too much. Up at 6:30. Boy to school. Petrol in the car. Grocery store for dinner. Coffee. But somehow I am the dog end of tired like I haven't slept for two days. And it's chilly out and I want to just curl up in bed.

But there are things to do.

The dog isn't helping. He's over in the corner snoring.

Pushing the button

So. Just finished filling out the paperwork to renounce my citizenship and scanned all the documents and filled out the email and...pushed the button. Sent.

It's a bit surreal.

The mid-term elections were held yesterday in the US and tons of my friends on FB and Twitter are all posting about their I Voted! stickers and the results (good, bad, ugly, etc.).

But, for me, this is the first time that I didn't vote. I knew I was going to fill in all the paperwork and give up my rights. Sure, I could have voted as I'm still a citizen at this point, but it kinda didn't feel right to do it when I knew I was a short timer. Maybe I should have anyway, though my vote would have been in Florida and I honestly don't think it would have made a difference. I know, I know, every vote counts.

But.

I think I thought it would feel weirder pushing the button and sending it off into the ether. But I had my cry about it when I debated it and now it just kinda feels...empty.

Is empty the word? Maybe not. It is what it is.