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Synopsis: Won is a crown prince of Goryeo. He has a pretty appearance, but he also has a lust for conquest. He is best friends with Wang Rin who comes from a royal family and is his bodyguard. Beautiful Eun San appears in front of the two young men. She is the daughter of the richest man. The three become good friends, but things change after Wang Won and Wang Rin both fall in love with Eun San.
Cast: Im Siwan, Yoona, Hong Jong Hyun, Park Hwan Hee, Oh Min Suk
Director: Kim Sang Hyub
Writer: Song Ji Na
Network: MBC
Episodes: 40
Release Date: July 17 - September 19, 2017
Runtime: Mondays & Tuesdays 22:00 (35 minutes each / 2 episodes per day)
Watch Here: Viki Dramafire
Source: AsianWiki
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Date: 2017-08-23 10:39 pm (UTC)Siwan is doing such a good job, then you notice more Jong hyun clueless expressions.
I dont know how Eun San feels but HATE when they make the lead reject someone for consideration of another woman.
the kings need to get together. the queen is everything and I want a story of her life.
Won is getting lost and angry, and Rin and San I think they would make them end game
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Date: 2017-08-23 11:35 pm (UTC)Though I did also like the talk between San and Won in the cell at the beginning of that ep and the one between Rin and his sister.
Tuesday's episode I was really into. There was so much going on and I was so excited that stuff was really amping up.
I find myself really fascinated by how Won's behavior changes from one persona to other and how they are all him in the end. The difference between the prince version of himself that was trying so hard to keep the peace vs his king-to-be self currently and there's also the contrast to his commoner/bodyguard persona.
While he's now allowing himself to express his anger he no longer has any restraint when he needs it. He's becoming overwhelmed by his passions (the way he talked about San in these episodes was nagl at all D:). We see that he can still think rationally enough to make good moves like at the end of this weeks episodes (well done Won) but I feel like he's going to end up tearing himself into pieces if he doesn't learn how to manage the aspects of his life.
I really enjoy Won as a character but these episodes made his future look all sorts of bleak for me :(
Also I got a kick out of finally seeing the scenes that were used in the promo images. I'm glad these kids still get their happy moments from time to time (though this will probably be the last).
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Date: 2017-08-24 01:03 am (UTC)I'm now of two minds whether I want to see Won lose himself. I'm not sure I trust the writers to handle it in a way I'll enjoy as a viewer. It wouldn't be the first Kdrama to fall apart in the second half. The "who San loves" question is officially no longer cute, and I feel like we're soon going to run out of time to show proper character motivations and plot movements toward a good finale.
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Date: 2017-08-24 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-23 11:42 pm (UTC)It was interesting to see his network~ of people this week and how they can be used for intel.
He convo with the Queen was interesting too. I never really thought as to why she didn't just destroy the list herself before then so it was insightful.
Oh and it looks like kristinl356 will get her wish next week based on the preview I saw.
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Date: 2017-08-24 12:08 am (UTC)I know! Finally some accountability for Rin. I am holding onto this hope, especially since I found this week's episodes underwhelming.
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Date: 2017-08-24 12:30 am (UTC)It has to come out eventually so if that preview was misleading I'm going to be pissed.
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Date: 2017-08-24 01:50 am (UTC)The show made so little deal of Rin knowing his brother was part of San's mother getting killed that I beginning to think it was just a plot hole that would never be touched on again.
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Date: 2017-08-24 02:19 am (UTC)Yeah I can see that being the case cause if he didn't present himself that way everyone would be wondering why he wasn't doing more.
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Date: 2017-08-24 01:48 am (UTC)The return to fluffy goofy stuff these last episodes hurt me. While it wasn't unfun to watch them plot and scheme and San was real cute pickpocketing that Yuan envoy, it was a return to the show being watchable/not terrible as opposed to it being actually good and kind of crashed the momentum the show had been building towards being something dark and interesting and unique. Also, half that plot didn't even make sense. Why go through the trouble of pickpocketing the key from the Yuan envoy only to try to guilt him into destroying the scroll later and then revealing that you already have it? Does that not expose your play on his empathy as a setup? Won being supposedly confined to his palace but then leaving it all the time with neither difficulty nor consequences. I'm starting to get confused too about Song In's blatant flaunting of power. He said he arrested Minister/Lord Eun (what the fuck is his actual title???) but then it wasn't an official arrest. Is he doing this with the King's authority and if not, would the King be mad to know Song In is running around arresting people? Obviously, the King's a prick but still he should be mad about people overstepping their bounds. And then they arrested/captured/ whatever San and were going to use her as a witness against Won but then she escapes/Rin gets her back and seemingly everything is back to normal??? Shouldn't the King be raging that his witness is gone? What the fuck is happening?
Sidenote: It has occurred to me that I have been shorthanding 'romance' for light fluffy stuff and 'politics' for basically everything else and that that is unfair to romance. Half of my favorite scenes are Won being heartbroken which is romance so it's not so much that I hate the romance, but that I hate the weird fluffy tone the show sometimes takes (most often with the romantic scenes) and I hate all the focus on who San's gonna get together with, I DON'T CARE.
The Queen barely got to be awesome this week which is a tragedy. Most of her scenes were her sitting in the background while scheming took place. This is bullshit. How dare you. (But the ankle grabbing line was great.)
It was nice to see San get to be a badass again after spending so much time being everyone's captive (and after that ridiculous stint of being unable to walk more than five feet without falling down but thank god there's a dude there to catch her and stare meaningfully into her eyes).
I was happy to have it confirmed that Won was indeed playing the King when he riled him up at the end of last week's episode and thrilled to watch him finally go off on the King (truly, King, why didn't you accept your son when he was playing nice and dumb for you? why dig yourself into that hole?) but the payoff of forcing the King to mentor him was kind of weak. I'm hoping that there will be more fallout when the Yuan envoy gets back and the Emperor finds out that the King hit Won in the face in front of servants and tried to send away the Queen's only friend. I feel like the guy who plays the King is either not great or not great in this role. Having just watched The Merciless (there are English subs now!!!!!!!), I couldn't help but imagine Sol Kyung Gu as the King and the King having some kind of nuance instead of just being a blatant moron. What if the King had a little more menace? What if he didn't look like a toddler could out-think him? What if we saw him acknowledging that Song In and Jeon and the Royal Secretary were blowing smoke up his ass but going along with their schemes anyway because they served his own goals/desires? What if I didn't hate literally every second the King was onscreen? Just what if, y'all.
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Date: 2017-08-24 01:48 am (UTC)I'm really interested to know how what actually was going on in the movie lined up with what
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Date: 2017-08-24 05:14 pm (UTC)(Also, I think I read that another version of the script, or maybe just director's wishful thinking, was more homoerotic. How great would it have been if Siwan's character had manipulated Sol Kyung Gu's physical attraction to him? An interesting spin, no?)
- The movie moved around a lot in time, during and before and after prison, but I think remained clear thanks to hairstyles and outfits.
- Siwan was an undercover cop sent to prison to get in with Sol Kyung Gu's gang.
- SKG was a crazy motherfucker with an awesome hyena laugh.
- SKG's boss outside was Lee Geung Young and they all had dealings with Russian gangsters.
- Kim Hee Won was also in the gang as a pathetic kind of guy, who didn't like Siwan getting favored over him. Yay for Misaeng reunions!
- Siwan's boss lady really wanted to get them and didn't care what kind of effect it had on Siwan.
- Siwan got SKG's attention in prison by acting like a crazy motherfucker, foiling an assassination attempt, and blackmailing a prison guard.
- SKG went medieval on a tough sunbae who had taken his position as top dog, by pouring boiling oil on him. During this scene I said to myself, "Yep, this is a Korean movie, all right."
- Siwan's mother was sick and got hit by a car while he was in prison. He was sad and made me sad. Also amused that even mean scary prisoners could respect the grief of losing his umma.
- Siwan's boss lady wouldn't let him out to bury his mother -- to maintain his cover?
- Siwan took his frustrations out on SKG by picking a fight, but SKG seemed to understand.
- Somehow SKG got the blackmailed prison guard to let Siwan out for the funeral.
- Siwan started to feel loyal to SKG, and then SKG cemented their bond with some kind of personal sharing, and Siwan revealed he was a cop.
- Turns out tho that SKG already knew because Kim Hee Won had photo evidence. And SKG had arranged to kill Siwan's mother -- to get back at him or fool him onto his side? Either way, haha, they were playing each other!
- Except that SKG seemed emotionally affected by Siwan coming clean. Boy got under his skin.
- After prison, unbeknownst to boss lady, Siwan was really working with/for SKG, and kinda liking it. The gang won brawls, dealt Walter White's blue product, and clubbed with Russian gangsters.
- Siwan let SKG beat up a cop because Siwan implied the cop was a pervert -- I guess to fool the cop into thinking Siwan was still undercover (mmm, twisty!).
- Even so, SKG still didn't quite trust Siwan. Or he just really needed to grope him in an elevator to (re-)stake his claim.
- Boss lady was super pissed and abducted Siwan to give him a stern talking to with gasoline and a lighter, which made him even more super pissed.
- SKG and Siwan kept bonding and even went for a date on the beach, with phallic fireworks play.
- They set up boss lady by staging a fake drug deal and making her cocky self look foolish.
- SKG killed his boss Lee Geung Young, so he became top dog.
- Siwan let SKG shoot him twice, I guess to maintain his cover of his cover. Another excuse for him to be shirtless, fine with me.
- In retaliation, boss lady told Siwan that SKG killed his mother. He got even more pissed off at her and it got physical.
- Siwan agreed to set up SKG with the cops. Unclear how much SKG suspected, but for some reason he decided to kill Kim Hee Won.
- In the big shoot out scene at the end, Siwan was like, "I can't with any of you, so I'm just gonna sit here," and let SKG kill all the cops.
- SKG couldn't kill Siwan, and flashbacked to their good times in voiceover, which I didn't understand but assumed it was meaningful. Because his attention was divided, he got run over by boss lady.
- Siwan came outside where SKG was lying on the ground dying, shot boss lady and smothered SKG. He was sad about offing SKG, but not sad enough not to frame him by putting the gun in his hand!
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Date: 2017-08-25 03:05 am (UTC)So you're basically like 98% right which is impressive. Like you said, basically just missing motivation and nuance. I don't know how much more I should say until after you've seen it again, I guess, but man, does Siwan keep devastating me. My beautiful sad baby.
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Date: 2017-08-24 04:11 pm (UTC)This week's episodes were definitely a slowdown in the plot pace, and therefore some of my own enthusiasm for the show has slowed. It's not that I need events to be hurtling at breakneck speed or anything, but there was just a feeling of things backsliding (San getting captured twice, as
That said, I liked seeing Won's manipulations of the generals and the Yuan envoy. I just want more and more of him showing that he can rock this intrigue shit. I tried to get some discussion going at Soompi about Won as a political animal playing baduk with people's lives and how I interpret him as playing his mother and Furatai. But no one wanted to pick that up, sadly. :D
It's a little frustrating reading the comments at Dramabeans right now. The majority seem to hate Won as a romantic figure (due to the birdcage stuff and "oh, why can't he see the RinSan and just step back!" as if he's a mind reader or something) and don't really have much else to say about him. It's so flipped around from the viewers of Cheese in the Trap, which to me had a much more unlikable male lead in a romantic relationship with disturbing undertones, but plenty of people wrote freaking novels of character analysis every week. I guess there isn't much overlap in the viewers/commenters for these two dramas despite the similarities, and that's a shame because good discussion can really help my viewing experience when a show is lacking.
I know what you mean about the romance vs politics divide. I'm not sure I can express this very well, because while I'm generally not here for shipping in the way that fandom tends to do it, I do love romance and can squee and sigh happily with the best of them. It's just that in this show, I can't find anything to squee over -- but that's not to say I dislike the romance. It's complex for sure, or at least has the potential to be, and could be really interesting, if the show would stop spinning its wheels and get a move on already.
It's like I think of the couples/ships as separate from the individual characters' experience of the ships. Won is in love and it's portrayed in a way I enjoy watching: he's a mess, and he's conflicted, and his heart will probably get broken, and he knows it. Rin is in love and I'm curious to know how that will play out, although I still don't have any real feeling for him, probably because that kind of stoic perfect self-sacrificing facade has yet to be messed with (high hopes for next week though!). San is...who even knows? I kind of like the interpretation that she loves "Han Chun" more than "Wang Won" but also has feelings for Rin -- but after so many episodes, how she really feels still comes off like a huge blank space in her character and it makes me think none of us really know her. So I only feel for her at a distance.
But do I care who any of these people actually end up with, in terms of rooting for a particular couple or whatever? Not really. I just want to know more about how each individual character is experiencing their corner of the triangle, and how their feelings and actions affect the triangle. The fact that we STILL haven't had much change in the status of the 3 this week (San's feelings still unknown, Rin's feelings still unspoken, Won still obsessing) is another major reason the plot pacing feels off, I think. Show, PLEASE SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT, you feel me?
Anyway, I've typed enough and I still have a lot of words to unload about The Merciless, so onto the next comment! :D
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Date: 2017-08-25 02:11 am (UTC)I looked at the soompi forum for like 3 seconds and was immediately enraged by someone saying they can't see Siwan in a romantic light because he's too short. Like people are short?!?! Lots of people?!?! Only tall attractive people deserve love I guess. This hurts my heart (and not just because my ass is short too). 1. Does charisma count for nothing? 2. Siwan is BEAUTIFUL????? The most beautiful child I have ever seen. Even his teeth (http://68.media.tumblr.com/dcdd4be71e69b8a00a5b60732e9751cf/tumblr_ohl96kRc191qaz1b4o1_1280.jpg) are cute?!?! And he can do handsome/sexy too. Not like I need to tell you, you just watched the fucking Merciless. You know. Ugh. Make them leave my short, beautiful child alone.
Backsliding is the perfect way to describe this week's episodes. Even if you completely disregard plot, the tonal backsliding killed me. You don't necessarily need to surge forward (I have loved a number of shows people complained about for being too slow) but you need to at least maintain speed. If you take out the pieces with Won and the King, the rest of the episode could basically taken place in the second or third week of the show. It's more annoying since episodes 19-20 were a lot of action and relatively emotionally shallow which I was fine with as the setup for this week but then this week was even worse.
I liked seeing that last week was him manipulating his father/the envoy but I didn't enjoy it as much this week mostly because it lost all subtlety (and parts of it didn't make sense like I said in my last comment). Him goading the King into hitting him looked completely natural. Him working the Queen and Furatai looked completely natural. (Personally, I think the flagpole speech was manipulation too as he started to sense that he was losing Rin. Stay or risk me losing it in a fashion that will not only do me in, but because of my position put basically an entire country in the crossfire.) Him laying in bed pretending to be sick, San pretending to be the Queen's only friend? Might as well have had giant neon signs over their heads saying 'I'M ACTING.' They were as subtle as that Royal Secretary guy I hate so much. The bare bones of the plan were great; the execution was terrible. You don't directly tell the envoy the things you want him to know. You let him overhear them in the corridor. You meet with him and pretend you are trying to look strong/save face in front of him while actually being sick. You make it look like he's discovering these things himself. All of the stuff they did worked within the fluffy tone of the episode, but don't elsewhere and I can't even feel good about Won being an evil mastermind because he took a good plan and executed it in the stupidest way possible.
This is an unpopular opinion and I feel like I have been saying or at least thinking it for years, but the extreme shipping culture that fandom seems to be moving towards is ruining the way we watch tv. It's focus on the destination, who someone ends up with is completely overlooking the journey the character takes which is the part you are ACTUALLY WATCHING. It IS the worthier part. Like I know it sucks when a show bites the ending but very rarely is it so bad that it completely invalidates an otherwise good show. Whereas a shitty show with a good ending is only worth revisiting via fanfic or some other thing that adds to an otherwise lacking story. By focusing on whether Won is a worthy boyfriend or whatever the fuck, you are missing out on all the parts of him and his story that are interesting. His loneliness and his desperation to connect to San and Rin, his inability to let them go. The fight he had with Rin resonates so much for me. Won would literally rather be kicked in the face than have Rin keep him at arm's length but even if he can convince someone to treat him like a person instead of the Crown Prince, there are others (the guards) there to remind them of their place.
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Date: 2017-08-25 11:14 am (UTC)I do agree that shipping culture is ruining the fandom. It is to the point where fans admit not finishing dramas because their ship didn't get together. Also I've noticed a lot of shippers either don't pay attention or just plain don't watch other scenes. They end up with a very warped view of the plot and insisting things that are not at all factual. They also tend to trash the female lead character if she doesn't choose their favorite.
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Date: 2017-08-25 02:53 pm (UTC)BTW, I can't recall if you know much about ZE:A, but there's a wealth of Siwan being adorable and beautiful in all of that stuff. He actively worked and promoted with the group in public from like 2009-14, and afterwards did various variety/talk show appearances with individual members. You can see him grow up from a scrawny little dude with a pretty face hidden under terrible hair and outfits (sometimes cross-dressing and dancing girl group routines!) to the Siwan of today, clean-cut acclaimed actor and so well-spoken that even Yoo Jae Suk thinks he could be an MC. Plus there's a lot of sweet brotherhood between the members, a few of whom are as famous as Siwan, and they're like a cute pile of puppies guaranteed to boost your mood. :D I can provide links!
You're totally right about the cartoonish lack of subtlety with the envoy plan compared to the others. I wonder if that's also because the show played out the timing like an Ocean's 11 heist, instead of revealing afterwards that there had been a plan. We got to see the trio working together as a team and each of them contributing their skills to the outcome, which I suppose hyped the happy good times side of their relationship. But it definitely came at the expense of logic and tone.
About shipping ruining fandom, SING IT SISTER. My experience is primarily in Western media -- I've been all over and seen it all. Or so I thought. I only got into Korean media this year and it's my first time being in a fannish space where the shipping is on complete overdrive. Like I get whiplash seeing people already declaring diehard ships within the first episode of a show. Or from the promo material before the show even airs. How can you ship characters you don't even really know yet, who don't even really know each other yet? It's very much about endgame over journey, as you said.
I wonder if it's because Kdramas are so trope-y that people just map those patterns and models onto every couple they ship, instead of enjoying the characters and relationships as uniquely individual entities and letting the show sell the ship(s) over time? I've seen people talking about Won as yandere/tsundere and while yes, character archetypes are a thing, that doesn't mean you know the whole story or can predict the character's arc. Otherwise, why bother watching?
Also, I tried to ask the Soompi thread about the whole second lead versus lead issue -- many viewers just assume male lead gets the girl and will RAGE when they perceive a show going against that expectation. My feeling is that TKL will be one of those and that to my Western eyes, Rin is like 90% a lead in his own right because of the (atypical) screen time and focus he gets. I think there were varying responses about that, with some thinking Rin is still unequivocally second lead but that Won will end up alone. If that happens, I don't know how TKL will slot into the overall canon of Kdramas in terms of breaking viewer expectations and being an exception to familiar patterns. But I could be talking out of my butt because I haven't watched much sageuk and I don't know what patterns that category has to begin with.
Re: your comment below, I want to reply more but running out of time. I've always felt the WHY of the triangle romance is too thin, but tbh I'm used to that from Kdramas. :D It does seem accelerated even by that standard, tho. I get having an initial crush and attraction, but they went to full-blown "love so strong it makes you sacrifice yourself" so quickly. I think your theory of Won compartmentalizing himself vs Han Chun, and therefore also San vs So Hwa, is on the money -- I hadn't thought of it like that but these last episodes spelled it out.
LMAO at handsome dog Rin. I see him as a greyhound: sensitive, loyal, elegant, and too chill for his own good. Please let next week shake him up!
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Date: 2017-08-26 05:33 pm (UTC)I've seen a little bit of his ZE:A stuff but I only watched Misaeng last year so by the time I knew who Siwan was, the ZE:A fandom was basically dead. I know Hyungsik from (hate)watching SWDBS and I can recognize a couple of the other ZE:A members but that's it. You should definitely pass those links along.
I don't know about the whole main/second lead thing. Second lead syndrome is definitely a thing so I feel like it's pretty common for the second lead to at least start out swoonier than the first (especially if the main lead is one of those jerkass characters kdramas love so much), it's just that he's assumed to not end up with the girl at the end. With this show it just seems to be that people (or I should say ifans?) seem to like Rin so much more romantically that they're not paying attention to the main lead when he's not participating in fluffy romance scenes (the fluffy romance scenes being where his character is the least interesting). It's also interesting that there seems to be a strong divide on the shipping stuff based on where you are. From what I've heard, Chinese fans are WonSan (no surprise), ifans are RinSan, and kfans are more in the middle. Trying to decide if ifans preference for Rin is because he's less jerky than Won was at the beginning or because HJH better adheres to Western standards of male attractiveness. I have a lot of thoughts on this.
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Date: 2017-08-26 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-26 11:58 pm (UTC)I'm curious to know the makeup of ifans watching this show, because I detect a lot of ESL in the various places I frequent. Obviously Western male beauty standards can apply even in Asia and other non-white majority areas, so it'd be interesting to get some demographic data to figure out the roots of the height bias. But Siwan himself has talked about envying Hyungsik's height -- does that come from the West or is it more a general stereotyping of masculinity that's probably found across many cultures?
I also would have thought his youthful facial features would be a negative for some shippers, but I haven't seen any comments about that and in fact, I think he looks older as Won than he has in any other role.
Re: your other comment, I know what you mean about feeling like a WonSan shipper by default. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Siwan play a more traditional romantic lead role one day with the HEA and all of that. I'm happy for this not to be that role, because I think it would be truer to the story they seem to be telling. But I have to admit that if the show did end as WonSan, a part of me would be satisfied that the more complex, flawed, and most importantly the atypically non-ideal character gets to "win" the girl over the swoony perfect second lead (or whatever Rin is). That would be a bold storytelling choice in its own way.
[EDIT: Of course, this does happen in Kdramas a lot. And sometimes I hate it because healthy relationships should be promoted! I think I'm just reacting against all the people who think Won's flaws automatically make him the worst choice for San. When really, that's up to her, and if the show wanted to sell a problematic ship in an interesting way, I'm down for it.]
And sometimes I just find shipper meltdowns hilarious. ;)
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Date: 2017-08-27 06:56 am (UTC)I would say height is probably more of an everywhere thing but I was referring more to facial features. I would consider HJH to have a "manlier" face than Siwan.
I'm not sure how I feel about him in a more traditional romantic lead role just cause those seem so boring most of the time and it feels like he could do more/better but that seems kind of pretentious of me. It's not like I don't enjoy a good romance now and again.
Maybe it's just the dramas I've seen but I feel like more often the lead is non-ideal (usually in the jerkass kind of way) and the second lead is really sweet/nice but less charismatic and loses the girl once the lead learns not to be an asshole directly to the girl he likes (somehow it never matters if he's an asshole to everyone else, I don't know why). Nothing women in kdramas like more than teaching a shitty dude how to be a person, I guess.
I feel like the weirdest part of me watching this show is that I am actively rooting for Won to become a monster. Never have I wanted a male lead to be jealous/possessive/prone to fits of rage until I got the chance to watch Siwan do it. I usually hate this with such a passion. But I guess one of the reasons I hate it so much is because it gets treated as okay/romantic instead of fucked up/what's wrong with you. As long as the show is acknowledging that this is bad behavior, I guess I'm okay with it? I just wanna watch Siwan have range.
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Date: 2017-08-27 12:12 am (UTC)A good thing for ifans is that the oldest member, Kevin, was raised in Australia. He helped the guys practice their English, and Siwan was particularly good at it (Eric Nam also helped him after ZE:A guested on the first After School Club). So you get some cute stuff like:
- Siwan introducing himself as "16 -- no, 26!" and don't forget part 2
- the legendary "Don't touch my ass!" and "Butt baby!" (link goes directly to timestamp)
I referenced the cross-dressing and girl group routines, but they can be cringe-y if you're new to the group. So I'll give you the guys in regular "boy" clothes. The main takeaway is that they're freaking good at these dances, Siwan especially:
- Siwan shows up in the second batch of 3, with longer hair and wearing pink suspenders, and then at various spots throughout
- Fancam focused on Siwan
I also mentioned how scrawny Siwan used to be, but he's always been strong:
- pushups and handstands (look for pink sneakers)
- doing a terrific job on Dream Team here and here
Here's a random assortment of cuteness:
- Have you seen Siwan with a Rubik's cube? This whole video is great for good singing and cute moments, but I've linked directly to the timestamp.
- The guys playing "rip the paper your teeth" and Siwan is, well, you just gotta watch it.
- Siwan on helium here and here
- B-roll footage for the MV they were filming from the first helium video -- this is cute puppy pile stuff but especially Siwan at the end, OMG
- Siwan dropping to casual speech with Gyuri from KARA while the guys hoot and holler (turn on CC for the subtitles).
- Siwan being king for a day in Japan -- unfortunately not subtitled, but you can get the gist of things, and it's basically Siwan at the spa, hot tubbing and getting a massage
I haven't seen any of Hyungsik's dramas yet -- talk about babyface being off-putting -- but he and Siwan are definitely the closest of all the members and it's cute that Siwan basically treats him as an equal even though HS is younger. I have a soft spot for Kwanghee all by himself, so I'm predisposed to like his dynamic with Siwan because it's this hilarious "Siwan is my same-age rival and I'm so jealous of him, but also I love him why won't he love me baaack!" routine that everyone knows is just for the cameras. But it brings out all these long-suffering prickly reactions from Siwan which is amusing.
- Hyungsik's episode of Healing Camp with Kwanghee and Siwan -- obvs focused on Hyungsik, but Siwan joins around 16:30 and it's great to see the crowd reaction for him, and also the dynamic btw the 3.
- Kwanghee gets schooled in acting by Lee Sung Min and Siwan.
The above 2 videos are also nice because they're post-Misaeng, so he's still riding that high.
Aaaand it's now dinner time and I need to sign out. That's probably enough to start with anyway. :D
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Date: 2017-08-27 07:15 am (UTC)I LOVED him on Dream Team. He was so determined. I really wanted him to make it all the way to the end, his little legs just weren't long enough to lock all the way around.
Something happened to Hyungsik a year or two ago I think and he got real hot. Obviously he got a less dumb haircut but I swear something else happened, like he got dental work done maybe? I've seen his old pictures and whenever he smiles I just think he's got tiny, little baby teeth. I can't really describe it. But he was very swoony in SWDBS which is the only thing I've seen him in. Him and Park Bo Young were both good but the rest of that show was terrible (and so homophobic!).
Somewhere there's a video of Siwan and Kwanghee (I think it's Kwanghee, I forget) doing the game where you have to pass the piece of paper mouth to mouth and Siwan is having none of it. He keeps trying to blow it at Kwanghee instead. It's hysterical. From what I've seen, Siwan's general vibe with the ZE:A members was 'why does everyone keep touching me? please stop touching me' and I enjoy Siwan as a crotchety old man before his time. Though I also never thought he really seemed the type to want to be an idol. It didn't seem like he had the right temperament? I never got very much energetic puppy from him which seems to basically be an idol requirement.
I will probably have more to say about this when I finish watching the rest of the videos but I need to get the hell to bed.
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Date: 2017-08-28 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2017-08-27 06:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-25 02:11 am (UTC)Honestly, I'm kind of laughing at the people calling him a spoiled brat. Growing up in such a toxic environment, it's kind of a miracle he came out as well as he did. His parents are terrifying. One basically wants him dead, the other one loves him but has kept him on a pedestal since he was a literal infant and cares more about his success (I don't know that this is the right word but I can't think of anything better) than she does for his well-being. I'm pretty sure it's only through Rin's influence and deep, deep compartmentalization (Han Cheon) that he's managed to maintain any kind of sanity/normalcy at all and even that seems tenuous. I mean he is basically suicidally reckless at the beginning of the show. He should be held together with shoestring and bubblegum at this point so the fact that we're only seeing hints of troubling characteristics and cracks in his facade is frankly impressive.
It's hard to squee for the happy romance portions of the show because they have been awful, all cliche and no substance. The only time the romance plotline has any emotional depth is when its sad. Like I guess them frolicking in flower fields or whatever is cute but that's basically it (also how the fuck old are they?). There's no emotional resonance. For the life of me, I don't really know what they see in each other because they've never really shown it. Their romance falls entirely under the premise of one time they looked at each other and now they're in love. At least with Won I can sort of guess at the why. San as So Hwa treated him as a completely normal person, moreso even than Rin does, and I can see why that would be attractive to him. So Hwa was the only person who wasn't afraid of him/his status because she didn't know it. It's also why he's so disappointed in that prison scene with her where she treats him like a prince. He tells her she needs to figure out how to be So Hwa again, which is in itself telling in that Won doesn't actually want her, he wants this idea of her. Rin likes San because... I guess they tried to backstory that a little with that comment about how he saw her crying seven years ago and wanted to hold her, so like a desire to help? Guilt? His friendship with Won also started when Won was crying. Rin just likes sad people, I guess. San likes Rin because...he's less annoying than Won? He's shown the least amount of personality of all of them. He's just kind of blandly good. Stable, competent, takes commands well. Like a handsome dog?
I feel like I have a better grasp on how they feel about each other than why they feel how they feel about each other. Won likes/is fascinated by San in an obsessive way. Rin is trying not to like San but failing. San likes Rin but isn't sure how he feels/is frustrated by his inability to come out with his feelings. San cares for Won, especially since she found out he was the Prince, but in a non-romantic way (still kind of laughing about her basically friendzoning Won to the Queen) and it is largely built on pity. Any romantic attraction she has towards him is rationalization at best, recognition that he cares enough about her to have made all these sacrifices for her, and that she should feel something for him. She's been very gentle (I would say overly so) with his feelings in return which some people are reading as evidence of her liking him but obviously I don't. Won sees more of Rin and San's feelings for each other than he lets on or can actually confirm but is trying to ignore it. Even his very early talks with Rin about San had some staking-your-claiminess to them, like when he asked Rin to bring San to him and said something like he was asking this as a man to another man. Every time he brings up San with Rin he sounds vaguely territorial. He's constantly reminding Rin that San is/he would like San to be his woman.
Ships I am rooting for: Won/darkness. The King/painful death. This has been teased a little in the show and is a plot point in the novels but I really want San and/or Rin to fall in with the rebels. Watching Won process an actual betrayal would be amazing and UGLY.
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Date: 2017-08-25 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2017-08-24 02:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 02:49 am (UTC)He killed like a dozen people in the first episode!!?!?! What the fuck is Song In being unlawful gonna look like?
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Date: 2017-08-24 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-24 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2017-08-24 04:12 pm (UTC)