⬆️⬆️⬆️ AKA me after the first few weeks of school. Not really watching too much this season.
Hito wa Mitame ga 100 Percent / HitoPa is a ticket to the chuckle bus. The drama has a habit staying on a comedic beat for a liiiiiittle too long, but it’s whatever. What I don’t understand is that they’re telling me NO ONE will even glance at Kiritani Mirei… are you kidding me? She’s cute. Mizukawa Asami is gorgeous. And the only thing tragic about Blouson Chiemi is her eyebrows. Suspension of belief is 100% required, but it’s still lighthearted and fun. — Episode 3
Currently (cont.)
Save Me (or Rescue Me) / This is one of those shows you watch every week and think, “will this get better?” and… it doesn’t. Sang-mi can’t seem to ever catch a break and her circumstances just get worse no matter how much she tries to fight back. That’s not to say it’s bad, it is very good and I’ve been intrigued by it since I saw teasers… I mean, what a concept! I’ve never seen anything like this in k-drama, and if there’s anywhere I can trust to pull off a story like this, it’s Korea lol. If there’s one thing I admire about her though, it’s her ability to withstand all the hurt that she’s gone through, especially because she now realizes that she has to be strong for her mother. SI just love the way she was written. It might be repetitive to see her always telling the Guseonwon parishioners that everything about this church is a lie, but I think she’s doing it to keep herself afloat among the sea of utter crazy. It would be so easy to give in, but she’s stronger than that. Sang-mi never seems to lose her agency, and now that she and the boys realize that hardly anyone outside is to be trusted, this is the opportunity for her to play at Guseonwon’s game and I cannot wait.
(You know what else I’ve realized? OCN’s bread and butter is man pain, but now that we have a drama that has coincidentally veered away from that formula I’m liking it a lot. Seriously, I haven’t enjoyed anything since Vampire Prosecutor, although My Beautiful Bride was good for the first 6-8 episodes…)
Dong-chul is the second most sympathetic character in this show after Sang-mi. I don’t quite understand what Rescue Me is trying to pull with the gangster storyline, but I’ll never complain about seeing more of him. And while it is very easy to say that his character is very easy to sympathize with simply because of his personal tragedies, Woo Do-hwan as an actor has a certain pathos that makes it so much than it is on paper. To that end, I also feel like it was a narrative misstep to create this very compelling secondary character and make Taec the first lead. Would I have liked Han Sang-hwan more if Woo Do-hwan were playing him? Who knows.
Putting aside the fact that Taec has the emotional range of a woodblock*, Sang-hwan fits the mold of a second lead much more (because he is so lacking in depth and is more “princely”, despite having his own issues RE: home life). I can’t really hold it against him, because he seems like an upright guy who wants to right his wrongs… he just doesn’t grab me as much. Meanwhile, every time Sang-mi and Dong-chul look at each other my heart aches, haha.
Love, love, super love the directing. The sound cues are on point, love the way scenes cut off just so, and watching Sang-mi’s dad pray fervently is just as frightening as Disciple Jo getting up close and personal. Even the first moment viewers were introduced to jailhouse hyung (I don’t remember his name) was iconic and reminded me so much of that totally wild dance sequence from Ex-Machina; only this show has the guts to pull something like this off!
One more thing: Detective Lee is trash. This guy is fooling himself into believing he is the shit, some hotshot city detective who could be doing so much better than wasting his time in Muji. He really does get off on having power, and in a lot of ways he reminds me of Adachi from Persona 4…
* I like 2PM and I like Taec, but there’s a reason why I try not to watch dramas with members of idol groups/singers I like (with obvious exceptions like 2PM Junho and HIGHLIGHT’s Doojoon). — Episode 10
Complete
Obviously I finished Forest of Secrets in July and made good on my promise to take a break from dramas. I’ve been spending a lot of my time watching 1N2D these days. It is the best variety show! Even the “boring” episodes! I just love the cast so much.