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Dal Ja's Spring Episodes 2 - 4 Thoughts
Episode 2 ‘Can Love Be Hired?’
So I wasn’t sold on this show after the first episode. There were things I liked but it also kept hitting my embarrassment squick and it just didn’t click with me. However, I loved this episode. It still hit my embarrassment squick on occasion but it also made me laugh, I loved what they did with Dal Ja’s relationships with Seon Joo, Sae Do and Tae Bong, and there were several moments dealing with gender I loved. So, I’m sold on the series now.
• Dal Ja’s fantasy sequences are one of the things I liked from the first episode. I find them very amusing. Also I adore that Dal Ja’s ring tone is Dancing Queen by ABBA. I find that really delightful.
• I loved when they played the ‘Pretty Woman’ song over Dal Ja taking Tae Bong clothes shopping. It was both appropriate and utterly hilarious. It made me laugh out loud when it started. Also I think how it was played was perfect – with Dal Ja sitting on the couch and assessing his clothes and basically playing the rich and older ‘sugar daddy’ role. I love how it turned the genders around. (That’s number one.)
• I loved how the show played the whole Dal Ja/Sae Do/Seon Joo situation. I mean it was practically drama free and even though Sae Do and Seon Joo were in the wrong in this situation and really were pretty shitty to Dal Ja they weren’t made to be the bad guys. We got Dal Ja being angry and humiliated and wanting revenge, and then instead of continuing that path TPTB had her grow and evolve and actually had her seeing the good in both of them and let go of her anger. I wasn’t expecting it at all and I loved it.
• “Do you think that woman’s rivals are women? I’m just asking because I’m curious. Oh, Dal Ja. You are all good but you don’t have an eye on how to see people. You try so hard to look good in front of people when you really don’t need to. Stop living so hard. Life is short.” – Seon Joo. I really like how Seon Joo came off this episode. Yes, she started dating a guy she knew was ‘dating’ someone else, someone she appears to think of as very innocent and a good person. That is pretty indefensible. But from there TPTB went in an unexpected direction by not making her bitchy, or have her hate Dal Ja or see her as a rival. Instead they kept having her react to Dal Ja with sympathy. I loved the taxi cab scene. I liked Seon Joo saying that Dal Ja is ‘easy to read’ and Dal Ja thinking that Seon Joo is ‘so hard to read’. I liked Dal Ja acknowledging that there was more to Seon Joo and her appreciation for Seon Joo’s part in helping to save the day. How awesome would it be if they actually became friends? I’d love that. (That’s number two.)
• Does Seon Joo know, from what she overheard in the bathroom, exactly what is going on between them? Does she know that Dal Ja is paying Tae Bong to pretend to be her boyfriend? I’m not certain.
• I love that Dal Ja forgiving Sae Do and deciding to be friends with him was all about her and her growth as a person, and that it wasn’t her playing games.
• I really enjoyed the Dal Ja/Tae Bong interactions at the end. I loved their conversation outside her work very much and that it just made him like her all the more. I loved them laughing as they ran away from the debt collectors. It made me smile. I loved TPTB turned things around and making Tae Bong the one pursuing Dal Ja by him being the one to push for her to keep their deal.
• I loved Dal Ja explaining to Tae Bong that while she doesn’t have a boyfriend and is just a manager at her company, she tries hard and is happy and satisfied with that so why shouldn’t she be confident in herself? I also liked her being all philosophical at the beginning of that conversation about her revenge plan and considering the loss of the money as an expensive life lesson.
• I love that in Dal Ja’s kissing fantasy she imagines herself as the aggressor and not her being swept off her feet by him. That was unexpected and awesome. (That’s number three.)
Episode 3 ‘A Romantic Inquiry Into a Fateful Encounter’
Ack, this episode was actually worse than the first one as far as embarrassing goes. I ended up fast-forwarding through much of it.
I liked the Dal Ja/Tae Bong scene at the laundry mat, especially him picking her up and sticking her on the dryer. I like the advice he gave her. His line about a man always finding ways or creating opportunities to talk to the woman he liked was also a good line.
I was very confused about how and why Dal Ja went from hanging out with a bunch of girlfriends in her twenties to spending most her time alone in her thirties. I enjoy her friendship with her ‘unni’ and I like that she’s fine being alone but I don’t understand why she no longer hangs out with her old friends?
Episode 4 ‘There Was a Prince Indeed, However...’
• Cinderella breaks her broom and symbolically saves herself from her bad life, and then is the one to go to the prince and bend him over for a kiss. Snow White eats apples after apples and while Dal Ja narrates that she was saved by her prince what we see is a Snow White who doesn’t need to be saved, and who once again is the one to bend the prince back for a kiss. I love her fantasies. I feel like this is who she truly wants to be – not what she narrates/says or what the myths say, but rather what we see. A woman who is aggressive in love, confidant, self-reliant and who doesn’t need a prince to come to her rescue but who’ll be happy to have him anyway. Perhaps this is showing us what will happen over the series – Dal Ja finding her way into being her fantasy self and getting the prince she wanted, but in the end didn’t need, anyway.
As for the episode itself it was back to being good.
• I like that Dal Ja and Sae Do have become actual friends and have discovered that they’re a lot alike.
• Tae Bong continues to give Dal Ja good advice.
• I loved how happy Tae Bong was to get Dal Ja’s message thanking him for the plant. He was just all smiley as he re-read the message – he is so falling for her and I am finding it adorable.
• Soo Jin’s glee at Dal Ja’s men situation amused me.
So I wasn’t sold on this show after the first episode. There were things I liked but it also kept hitting my embarrassment squick and it just didn’t click with me. However, I loved this episode. It still hit my embarrassment squick on occasion but it also made me laugh, I loved what they did with Dal Ja’s relationships with Seon Joo, Sae Do and Tae Bong, and there were several moments dealing with gender I loved. So, I’m sold on the series now.
• Dal Ja’s fantasy sequences are one of the things I liked from the first episode. I find them very amusing. Also I adore that Dal Ja’s ring tone is Dancing Queen by ABBA. I find that really delightful.
• I loved when they played the ‘Pretty Woman’ song over Dal Ja taking Tae Bong clothes shopping. It was both appropriate and utterly hilarious. It made me laugh out loud when it started. Also I think how it was played was perfect – with Dal Ja sitting on the couch and assessing his clothes and basically playing the rich and older ‘sugar daddy’ role. I love how it turned the genders around. (That’s number one.)
• I loved how the show played the whole Dal Ja/Sae Do/Seon Joo situation. I mean it was practically drama free and even though Sae Do and Seon Joo were in the wrong in this situation and really were pretty shitty to Dal Ja they weren’t made to be the bad guys. We got Dal Ja being angry and humiliated and wanting revenge, and then instead of continuing that path TPTB had her grow and evolve and actually had her seeing the good in both of them and let go of her anger. I wasn’t expecting it at all and I loved it.
• “Do you think that woman’s rivals are women? I’m just asking because I’m curious. Oh, Dal Ja. You are all good but you don’t have an eye on how to see people. You try so hard to look good in front of people when you really don’t need to. Stop living so hard. Life is short.” – Seon Joo. I really like how Seon Joo came off this episode. Yes, she started dating a guy she knew was ‘dating’ someone else, someone she appears to think of as very innocent and a good person. That is pretty indefensible. But from there TPTB went in an unexpected direction by not making her bitchy, or have her hate Dal Ja or see her as a rival. Instead they kept having her react to Dal Ja with sympathy. I loved the taxi cab scene. I liked Seon Joo saying that Dal Ja is ‘easy to read’ and Dal Ja thinking that Seon Joo is ‘so hard to read’. I liked Dal Ja acknowledging that there was more to Seon Joo and her appreciation for Seon Joo’s part in helping to save the day. How awesome would it be if they actually became friends? I’d love that. (That’s number two.)
• Does Seon Joo know, from what she overheard in the bathroom, exactly what is going on between them? Does she know that Dal Ja is paying Tae Bong to pretend to be her boyfriend? I’m not certain.
• I love that Dal Ja forgiving Sae Do and deciding to be friends with him was all about her and her growth as a person, and that it wasn’t her playing games.
• I really enjoyed the Dal Ja/Tae Bong interactions at the end. I loved their conversation outside her work very much and that it just made him like her all the more. I loved them laughing as they ran away from the debt collectors. It made me smile. I loved TPTB turned things around and making Tae Bong the one pursuing Dal Ja by him being the one to push for her to keep their deal.
• I loved Dal Ja explaining to Tae Bong that while she doesn’t have a boyfriend and is just a manager at her company, she tries hard and is happy and satisfied with that so why shouldn’t she be confident in herself? I also liked her being all philosophical at the beginning of that conversation about her revenge plan and considering the loss of the money as an expensive life lesson.
• I love that in Dal Ja’s kissing fantasy she imagines herself as the aggressor and not her being swept off her feet by him. That was unexpected and awesome. (That’s number three.)
Episode 3 ‘A Romantic Inquiry Into a Fateful Encounter’
Ack, this episode was actually worse than the first one as far as embarrassing goes. I ended up fast-forwarding through much of it.
I liked the Dal Ja/Tae Bong scene at the laundry mat, especially him picking her up and sticking her on the dryer. I like the advice he gave her. His line about a man always finding ways or creating opportunities to talk to the woman he liked was also a good line.
I was very confused about how and why Dal Ja went from hanging out with a bunch of girlfriends in her twenties to spending most her time alone in her thirties. I enjoy her friendship with her ‘unni’ and I like that she’s fine being alone but I don’t understand why she no longer hangs out with her old friends?
Episode 4 ‘There Was a Prince Indeed, However...’
• Cinderella breaks her broom and symbolically saves herself from her bad life, and then is the one to go to the prince and bend him over for a kiss. Snow White eats apples after apples and while Dal Ja narrates that she was saved by her prince what we see is a Snow White who doesn’t need to be saved, and who once again is the one to bend the prince back for a kiss. I love her fantasies. I feel like this is who she truly wants to be – not what she narrates/says or what the myths say, but rather what we see. A woman who is aggressive in love, confidant, self-reliant and who doesn’t need a prince to come to her rescue but who’ll be happy to have him anyway. Perhaps this is showing us what will happen over the series – Dal Ja finding her way into being her fantasy self and getting the prince she wanted, but in the end didn’t need, anyway.
As for the episode itself it was back to being good.
• I like that Dal Ja and Sae Do have become actual friends and have discovered that they’re a lot alike.
• Tae Bong continues to give Dal Ja good advice.
• I loved how happy Tae Bong was to get Dal Ja’s message thanking him for the plant. He was just all smiley as he re-read the message – he is so falling for her and I am finding it adorable.
• Soo Jin’s glee at Dal Ja’s men situation amused me.