My Neighbor, Charles - Ep.18

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

- Ep.18: Italian chef of 20 years, Samuel, and Hyojin run a gelato shop. Hyojin is scolded as she learns the work through Samuel who is thorough and precise. Emma was adopted to the U.S. from Uganda. He’s married to Park Geurim. They raise a bi-racial baby and they worry about the discrimination and how it will affect the child.

KBS World TV

at this point, i honestly don't know why samuel is on this show. he has no in-laws to have cultural clashes with, he appears to know enough korean to get around and do business without struggle, he gets along perfectly with his girlfriend's daughter... aside from one hiccup of not being able to pay in installments for a scooter and having a low limit on his credit card because he's a foreigner, his section is more like a generic human condition episode.

on the other hand, my heart hurts for emma(nuel), bennaia/taeho and geurim. i think the entire running time should just be dedicated to them tbh. the poor child can't even escape colourism from his own grandfather, it will be a miracle if he doesn't grow up with a complex.

Comments

[asth77.livejournal.com]

Well I personally do understand why Samuel is on this show, he's a foreigner and the goal is to tell the story/struggles of a foreigner in SK, and he is in an unusual situation, with a girlfriend who has a daughter. I 'm very curious as to how his relationship with his gf's child is going to belike, the way others' perceive them, and what kind of role he'll have in her life, as a (foreign) father figure...?
It's always interesting to give voices to foreigners who decided to quit their country to live in another country, even 30 years later, there are still things to say for any migrant imo, and each experience will be different.
Anyway what interests me greatly is definitely Emma's family. I actually saw Emma's wife on Lily's channel I think, I remember this little baby now in the same daycare nursery or whatever that was! Although I unsubscribed to Lily's channel cause she was weird with the black-guy fetishism, and stereotypes and all that, it was still nice to see her, esp the fact she usually doesn't show the bad sides of her daughter's lives when it comes to discrimination.

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

i thought the show was supposed to be about non-korean's lives and struggles to adjust to life in korea, and samuel (currently) feels like an odd choice because none of his depicted struggles are particular to do with being a foreigner. that could change in later episodes, but for now it didn't seem to fit with the stories of all the other students on the show.

the fetishism is disappointing to hear about, i've only watched the videos about her daughters, so i missed that

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

She has a video called how to get a black man. The video and the comments are racist

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

...fucking hell