The Bride of Habaek
Dec. 29th, 2023 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaEpisodes 1 - 14
Been marathoning through this over the last couple days and overall I like it enough that I've kept watching.
+ The first scene that really got me with So-ah/Habaek was in episode 4 when she realised saying food made his stomach gurgle and she took immediate and ruthless advantage in using it to tease him. It made me go 'awww cute'. Another cute moment - Habaek showing off his new ability to write. In general I've liked their relationship and how it's grown and changed over the series.
+ I loved the scene of So-ah slowly walking beside the old man. That was such a genuinely lovely kind moment. It made me like her so much more. But unfortunately we don't really get any more moments like that. We get a lot of talk of how kind and caring she is but I want more show (with moments like these).
+ So-ah is really not very good at her job at the beginning nor does she seem very interested in actually being a psychiatrist. She is so disconnected from her job and her 'patients'. She's stressed about the business failing but it's not about the patients or a calling to help at all. It makes sense that she's checked out of her job, she seems pretty checked out of life in general in a lot of ways. And yes, this does change a bit towards the latter half of the series. She decides to start being proactive and takes on a more positive and determined attitude. Yet I still felt like I needed more seeing that she's actually a really good psychiatrist.
+ Habaek's warning that So-ah couldn't trust Biryeom would have had a lot more oomph to it if she actually did trust him. Or liked him. Or cared about him in any way. But she doesn't because despite having an unexpected shared past they have literally no relationship nor do they seem to want to. Meh. Imagine how much more impact if So-ah and Ahn-bin had been actual friends and then upon their reunion he kidnaps and then tortures her in the circle storm, and then them having to come back from that. Oh well.
+ Habaek asking an uncomfortable High Priest where God babies come from was hilarious.
+ Namsuri really is the sweetest.
+ I feel a lot of indignation over So-ah realising how uncomfortable Habaek's bed is and bringing him a blanket and pillow - and apparently never once thinking of Namsuri. Who is sleeping on a wood bench outside! At no point does he get a blanket/pillow, or like maybe a cot. WTH, So-ah! She gets called caring a lot but she really didn't show much care towards Namsuri.
+ Mura being against the creation of the gods' servants because she felt it unfair to the humans is a really interesting character reveal that ends up not really being brought up again and I am disappointed.
+ Poor poor Hu-ye! What a horrible completely undeserved fate. Just complete wtf towards the king of the gods. That is literally the worst, most evil thing you could have chosen to do! I felt bad for Hu-ye even before learning in full about his past. The hostility from the gods only made the situation worse in forcing Hu-ye to have to struggle to control his powers in the face of their attacks when he really only wanted to be left alone. To see what he suffered in his past and how far he's come in pulling himself into being a good person, into having a life, only makes me want him to have a hug and happiness forever all the more.
+ I find it very hard to believe Shin Hu-ye left a thousand years of hell trapped in a cave growing/dying/being reborn and ten years later is this well adjusted.
+ I also liked the reveals over the Hu-ye/Jugeolrin relationship. Jugeolrin staying in the cave all that time with Hu-ye, reluctantly coming to love him, and then banishing himself to Earth because he couldn't stand to be there unable to help anymore was a nice little backstory. I loved their interactions.
+ I also in general ended up liking Jugeolrin.
+ I LOVED the reveal over the cause of Biryeom's rage towards Hu-ye and anger/disdain about Habaek. I honestly did think it was mostly his jealousy over Mura and her connections with them (plus hatred of what Hu-ye was). So the reveal that Hu-ye accidentally killed Biryeom's favourite person Mo-myung while Biryeom was trying to do Habaek a favour rather then romantic drama was excellent. So great, so tragic. Love it.
+ I really don't get how Mo-myung's death is Habaek's fault to the point everyone seems to blame him, including himself. He was one move in a bunch that led to tragedy and really not the most important one. Him starting a relationship with Nak-bin was a starting point but he wasn't to blame for her betrayal, for her running from the consequences and hiding in the cave, nor for the fact that his father stuck poor Hu-ye in that cave in the first place. He didn't send/take Mo-myung there. He didn't send the guards. I just can't blame him here.
+ Are we supposed to assume that Hu-ye is the son of the King of the Gods, aka Habaek's father, or simply that the King intervened upon his birth to quarantine him? Cause I was getting the former but no mention was made of Habaek and Hu-ye being brothers. That would be a twist! But with so few episode and the possibility not being brought up I'm guessing it's the latter. Curious about what God his father is otherwise.
+ So-ah talking to a broken Hu-ye was a really great scene and one of the few times I was like she is good at her job. I thought it was lovely all around. I loved this back hug. I loved her promise.
+ So-ah is with a still visibly upset Hu-ye and has just finished telling him that she will be there for him, that she will be his god to tell him he's doing good - and then Habaek interrupts Hu-ye about to talk by storming in, telling her 'you're leaving' and then dragging her out, except it's not really dragging because she accepts it and leaves with him without saying a word to Hu-ye. WTF?! So-ah, seriously?
+ There was such a tonal whiplash here going from the dramatic/emotional Hu-ye breakdown to Habaek/So-ah making out in the aftermath. I loved the finger-entwining in the car, the making out was hot! But it didn't work for me as well as it could have because I was still feeling affronted for Hu-ye.
+ It bothers me that So-ah goes along so easily with Habaek dragging her away from Hu-ye. Her obvious amusement over his jealousy is all well and fine but there's a time and a place! Abandoning a hurting patient (regardless of how she got there) is not okay and especially not when he's maybe a friend. Leaving her office when she's supposed to be meeting her new landlord who literally saved her business is also super unprofessional! It mainly left me feeling very annoyed with both Su-ah and Habaek.
+ I wish instead of Habaek being jealous of a romantic relationship possibility (which at this point exisits only in Hu-ye's needling) Habaek was jealous of them having a real connection made up of bonding over their shared childhood traumas and sharing secrets.
+ I enjoy Biryeom/Mura a surprising amount. I like that he knows exactly what she is like with all her faults and harshness and yet it's all a part of what he loves about her. He knows, he accepts her for who she is. It's great. But it's also returned because she knows all his faults too and gets exasperated but in the end accepts him as well. I like their concern for each other, his jealousy, his pining. They feel like a good match.
+ At the beginning I feel like we were supposed to take it as read Mura->Habaek was a thing. I did. But as the show has gone on, and at the point we're at now, I find myself having changed my mind. I don't think it was ever romantic. I think Mura loves Habaek. She also feels responsible for him. She's protective and doesn't want a repeat of the first time he fell in love. It was never about jealousy for her.
Been marathoning through this over the last couple days and overall I like it enough that I've kept watching.
+ The first scene that really got me with So-ah/Habaek was in episode 4 when she realised saying food made his stomach gurgle and she took immediate and ruthless advantage in using it to tease him. It made me go 'awww cute'. Another cute moment - Habaek showing off his new ability to write. In general I've liked their relationship and how it's grown and changed over the series.
+ I loved the scene of So-ah slowly walking beside the old man. That was such a genuinely lovely kind moment. It made me like her so much more. But unfortunately we don't really get any more moments like that. We get a lot of talk of how kind and caring she is but I want more show (with moments like these).
+ So-ah is really not very good at her job at the beginning nor does she seem very interested in actually being a psychiatrist. She is so disconnected from her job and her 'patients'. She's stressed about the business failing but it's not about the patients or a calling to help at all. It makes sense that she's checked out of her job, she seems pretty checked out of life in general in a lot of ways. And yes, this does change a bit towards the latter half of the series. She decides to start being proactive and takes on a more positive and determined attitude. Yet I still felt like I needed more seeing that she's actually a really good psychiatrist.
+ Habaek's warning that So-ah couldn't trust Biryeom would have had a lot more oomph to it if she actually did trust him. Or liked him. Or cared about him in any way. But she doesn't because despite having an unexpected shared past they have literally no relationship nor do they seem to want to. Meh. Imagine how much more impact if So-ah and Ahn-bin had been actual friends and then upon their reunion he kidnaps and then tortures her in the circle storm, and then them having to come back from that. Oh well.
+ Habaek asking an uncomfortable High Priest where God babies come from was hilarious.
+ Namsuri really is the sweetest.
+ I feel a lot of indignation over So-ah realising how uncomfortable Habaek's bed is and bringing him a blanket and pillow - and apparently never once thinking of Namsuri. Who is sleeping on a wood bench outside! At no point does he get a blanket/pillow, or like maybe a cot. WTH, So-ah! She gets called caring a lot but she really didn't show much care towards Namsuri.
+ Mura being against the creation of the gods' servants because she felt it unfair to the humans is a really interesting character reveal that ends up not really being brought up again and I am disappointed.
+ Poor poor Hu-ye! What a horrible completely undeserved fate. Just complete wtf towards the king of the gods. That is literally the worst, most evil thing you could have chosen to do! I felt bad for Hu-ye even before learning in full about his past. The hostility from the gods only made the situation worse in forcing Hu-ye to have to struggle to control his powers in the face of their attacks when he really only wanted to be left alone. To see what he suffered in his past and how far he's come in pulling himself into being a good person, into having a life, only makes me want him to have a hug and happiness forever all the more.
+ I find it very hard to believe Shin Hu-ye left a thousand years of hell trapped in a cave growing/dying/being reborn and ten years later is this well adjusted.
+ I also liked the reveals over the Hu-ye/Jugeolrin relationship. Jugeolrin staying in the cave all that time with Hu-ye, reluctantly coming to love him, and then banishing himself to Earth because he couldn't stand to be there unable to help anymore was a nice little backstory. I loved their interactions.
+ I also in general ended up liking Jugeolrin.
+ I LOVED the reveal over the cause of Biryeom's rage towards Hu-ye and anger/disdain about Habaek. I honestly did think it was mostly his jealousy over Mura and her connections with them (plus hatred of what Hu-ye was). So the reveal that Hu-ye accidentally killed Biryeom's favourite person Mo-myung while Biryeom was trying to do Habaek a favour rather then romantic drama was excellent. So great, so tragic. Love it.
+ I really don't get how Mo-myung's death is Habaek's fault to the point everyone seems to blame him, including himself. He was one move in a bunch that led to tragedy and really not the most important one. Him starting a relationship with Nak-bin was a starting point but he wasn't to blame for her betrayal, for her running from the consequences and hiding in the cave, nor for the fact that his father stuck poor Hu-ye in that cave in the first place. He didn't send/take Mo-myung there. He didn't send the guards. I just can't blame him here.
+ Are we supposed to assume that Hu-ye is the son of the King of the Gods, aka Habaek's father, or simply that the King intervened upon his birth to quarantine him? Cause I was getting the former but no mention was made of Habaek and Hu-ye being brothers. That would be a twist! But with so few episode and the possibility not being brought up I'm guessing it's the latter. Curious about what God his father is otherwise.
+ So-ah talking to a broken Hu-ye was a really great scene and one of the few times I was like she is good at her job. I thought it was lovely all around. I loved this back hug. I loved her promise.
+ So-ah is with a still visibly upset Hu-ye and has just finished telling him that she will be there for him, that she will be his god to tell him he's doing good - and then Habaek interrupts Hu-ye about to talk by storming in, telling her 'you're leaving' and then dragging her out, except it's not really dragging because she accepts it and leaves with him without saying a word to Hu-ye. WTF?! So-ah, seriously?
+ There was such a tonal whiplash here going from the dramatic/emotional Hu-ye breakdown to Habaek/So-ah making out in the aftermath. I loved the finger-entwining in the car, the making out was hot! But it didn't work for me as well as it could have because I was still feeling affronted for Hu-ye.
+ It bothers me that So-ah goes along so easily with Habaek dragging her away from Hu-ye. Her obvious amusement over his jealousy is all well and fine but there's a time and a place! Abandoning a hurting patient (regardless of how she got there) is not okay and especially not when he's maybe a friend. Leaving her office when she's supposed to be meeting her new landlord who literally saved her business is also super unprofessional! It mainly left me feeling very annoyed with both Su-ah and Habaek.
+ I wish instead of Habaek being jealous of a romantic relationship possibility (which at this point exisits only in Hu-ye's needling) Habaek was jealous of them having a real connection made up of bonding over their shared childhood traumas and sharing secrets.
+ I enjoy Biryeom/Mura a surprising amount. I like that he knows exactly what she is like with all her faults and harshness and yet it's all a part of what he loves about her. He knows, he accepts her for who she is. It's great. But it's also returned because she knows all his faults too and gets exasperated but in the end accepts him as well. I like their concern for each other, his jealousy, his pining. They feel like a good match.
+ At the beginning I feel like we were supposed to take it as read Mura->Habaek was a thing. I did. But as the show has gone on, and at the point we're at now, I find myself having changed my mind. I don't think it was ever romantic. I think Mura loves Habaek. She also feels responsible for him. She's protective and doesn't want a repeat of the first time he fell in love. It was never about jealousy for her.
