THE STRANGEST K-DRAMA I'VE EVER SEEN
This would have to be the oddest K-Drama I've seen, hence I am compelled to share my bewilderment with you & contradict all the positive reviews. Sorry !And by the way, this show is the worst for a viewer in one way : a rubbish one can be dropped after an episode; a great one ( like "Hotel del Luna" ) satisfies all the way through; this type sucks you in until you realise it's going down the toilet at roughly the half-way point, but you've invested your time & feel trapped into staying with it in case the ending redeems it. So you simply want to get it over with. Sigh.
The set-up seemed predictable, yet I wondered how clever the writing would be : dour, emotionless but handsome IT guy ( Lee Min Ki ) with an apartment/big mortgage needs a roommate for the rent. Homeless, adorable, attractive assistant K-Drama writer ( Jung So Min ) needs a place to live. So they draw up a contract which includes a fake marriage-of-convenience, since his Dad is pestering him on that topic.
We naturally assume that once the odd-couple frostiness is over with, they'll gradually warm to each other & love will blossom & triumph as it always does. Because K-Dramas are renowned for their happy endings, regardless of the tragedy/tears along the way. I won't reveal the finale, but there are two important sub-plots which I found to be more satisfying than the main couple. JSM has a couple of girlfriends : Lee Som is a corporate worker who is plagued by sexual harassment & struggles to commit to her BF ( Park Byeong Eun ), while Kim Ga Eun struggles to drag her partner of seven years to the altar.
Back to the main course, because that's the reason for my frustration/befuddlement. For around 60% of the run time, we have to endure the obligatory torture of the poor woman. It's painful but follows the standard template of the aloof man being mean/cold to a person we want to constantly hug & who doesn't deserve it. HOWEVER....something really & surprisingly romantic occurs at this point so I breathed a sigh of relief in the hope that things would be improving. Ha ! Silly me ! Because this is when all trace of logic or common-sense goes flying out the window ! All the normal actions you might expect from a couple with feelings for each other do not apply & other odd events further complicate the situation. For example, a significant act of violence occurs which directly concerns JSM, yet she's never told about it. Another time, a supporting character offers second-hand information about the ML's feelings, though the ML can't make those feelings known. In fact, the two leads are frustratingly consistent in their inability to convey how they feel towards each other & that, of course, leads to misunderstandings. Yes, they have emotional baggage & that will obviously inhibit communication to some extent, but what transpires is just relentlessly illogical. "Talk" is what normal people, no matter how damaged, would do if they're in love with someone & don't want to lose them.
I understand that the writer wants the viewer to ponder the various angles on marriage, & that's good. The sub-plots enhance that, as does JSM's omnipresent & often pessimistic voice-over. It's also great to have the issue of sexual harassment explored & this aspect of the plot is done well & with humour too. Japan is perceived as the worst place for this, though East Asia in general seems in need of major re-education. There's also some insight into the "private space" which is essential even for a loved-up couple, as well as a look at the filial demands placed on women in Korean society. So the script has things to say, which I heartily endorse.
The cast are good too. JSM has a range of emotions to convey & does it well, while her hapless co-star LMK has clearly been directed to be a robot most of the time. Lee Som is a real firecracker & a nice match for the passionate PBE ( & what a contrast to the comatose ML! ). KGE as the woman who desperately craves marriage makes a big impression with her big emotions, while the rest are uniformly effective.
Which leads me inexorably back to the "S" word, a key part of the "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back" situation I'm confronting here yet it isn't what you might expect. I do admit to a bit of a sarcastic tirade recently when reviewing "Romance Is A Bonus Book", & if that's the way K-drama is going then we'll soon see the lead couple bowing to each other with all kissing banned. What makes BTIMFL doubly infuriating is that it's actually quite daring in some ways ! A young unmarried couple not only live together ( !! ) but jump into bed with the explicit purpose of "doing" it ( as you do when you're young ! ). Another unhappy character reads a book about sexual frustration ! Oh, so shocking ! I'm wondering though whether the crucial back-flip is due to interference from the "suits". They always think they know best ( I have personal experience ) so maybe they saw the early footage, wet their pants & decided to dilute the second half.
There's a reason for the success of the excellent film "Parasite": despite the sub-titles, people who aren't film buffs EMPATHISE with the poor families. They understand about respect, & the age-old gulf between the have's & the have-nots; they might know someone who's struggling financially or it could even be them. Writers of K-Dramas know this sort of empathy includes that most universal of emotions : love. The joy of falling into it, the pain of falling out of it. But when it comes to that other dreaded universal starting with "S", the shutters go up. Again, they know the subject very well; they know that if a boy likes a girl, he won't be able to keep his hands off her because it's human nature the world over. Yet Christianity is well established in S Korea so I must assume that the usual religious repression of the "S" word & the female body as "offensive" and "indecent" etc applies. In fact, I've been watching an amusing K-drama lately & a scene by a swimming pool was sadly indicative of the conservative mind-set : a beautiful young woman dives in, & she's wearing shorts & a top which completely covers her arms/torso. Faintly laughable in the West, but the sight of her in a bikini would obviously cause any Korean child who might be watching to have nightmares.
Which brings my penetrating analysis ( haha ) to HBO. Like them or not, their sexually explicit shows have been game-changers for TV in most countries. And one of the reasons audiences respond is the empathy I've referred to. Young males ( make that ALL males ) with raging hormones lap up the nudity/fornication & competitors like Netflix etc have heeded the message. These sorts of audiences aren't interested in a camera pan to a window as a couple get naughty; to them, "Less is More" is absurd because they subscribe to "More is More". The bar, then, has been permanently raised ( or lowered, depending on your opinion ).
So Professor, I hear you asking, what is the solution ? As I've suggested in previous reviews, the answer is simple & doesn't mean K-Drama actors having to strip off & "do it" en masse ( though I notice Kim Tae Ri from "Mister Sunshine" did some full-on lesbian cavorting in "The Handmaiden" & the sky didn't fall in; ditto Kim Go Eun from "Goblin" being naked in "A Muse" ). Humour is the key, & the typical lust-fuelled frenzy of a male in love offers endless scope for laughs while depicting that lust with honesty. Let's not forget that the "S" word is absolutely natural, universal & apparently pleasurable, & I'm available to consult with any Korean TV suits ready to enter the twenty first century.
And we can't neglect the "H" word. As in "Hallyu", the so-called "Korean Wave" designed by their Govt to sweep the globe & establish Korean culture/media as important/influential. Well chaps, here's the thing : if you want K-Drama to escape the niche ghetto of chick-flick devotees, come on up to 2020 & let the content reflect the real world. Do you really want the Japanese to set the pace ? Because right now their TV is light years in front regarding the "S" word, & they also have no problem with featuring gay couples. There's already a running gag out there concerning the typical finale of a K-Drama revealing that all the romantically entangled adult kids are related to each other thanks to convoluted love affairs & births outside of wedlock. Will Hallyu benefit from being seen as some sort of weird, unreal freakshow bereft of connections to relatable human behaviour ? True, the deserved success of "Parasite" will please the Govt suits ( though its exposure of Korean poverty less so ), but a Korean film won't be winning "Best Picture" every year.
Will the Korean Wave morph into the Korean Joke ? Because for K-Drama, it's half way there.
PS - Sorry for the epic length, & no, I'm not trying to break the record for longest IMDb review. I just get passionate sometimes, & as a Crusader For Common Sense, felt I had to vent. Thank you !
score 6/10
lyntonadam 18 February 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5492514/14590 Thanks for the review
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