Full House Episode 1 Thoughts
Feb. 18th, 2010 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI learned of this series when I saw a picspam for the main character Han Ji Eun and I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.
• I love Han Ji Eun already. I think the actress Song Hye Kyo is excellent and I will definitely be looking to see what else she’s been in. Plus she is really pretty. Rain as Lee Young Jae is also fairly good looking which is really nice. I’ve actually heard of him before but this will be the first time I’ve seen him in something but so far I’m enjoying him.
However while this is only my third kdrama (it feels like it should be so much more) I can already see a very distinct pattern happening. Young Jae is definitely analogous to Gu Jun Pyo in Boys Over Flowers and to Shin in Goong and I wonder if it’s just the dramas I’ve chosen to watch or if this is how most of them go? Because once again we have the slightly stoic, temper-impaired hero who doesn’t at first get along with the heroine but then falls for her and the nicer guy who does get along with her and then falls for her and in the end she chooses the hero. Is this as common a trope as it appears? Do the nice guys never win in kdramas? I’m hoping for my sake that they don’t make Min Hyuk and Ji Eun/Min Hyuk too rootable and enjoyable like they did with Ji Hoo and Ji Hoo/Jan Di because I like it much better when my couple ends up together.
• I mentioned it above a bit but I really love Ji Eun thus far. The things I loved in this episode include: her cheerful personality and smile, how enthusiastic she is, her goodbye with her friends at the airport which was adorable, her being suspicious of the whole free trip (and the show description calls her naive but I don’t think it fits in this case because these were her friends that she loved and trusted and that is the only reason she accepted which I don’t think is naive), her confronting Young Jae about how if she had dated Min Hyuk what he’d did was actually really horrible and how she turned the conversation around on him, her reaction when he loses his temper (not intimidated at all but pissed and aggressive, her head-butting him in the face (it made me laugh) and just generally what a great person she is. The number one reason: Ji Eun conning Young Jae into giving her money via acting and lying which also made me laugh and was pretty awesome. And she was so good at it too! The fact that she manages to act her way into fooling Young Jae, who’s an actor himself, and he bought it just makes it all the better.
• I was hoping that the dinner would have actually play out differently. That the entire dinner would have passed without Young Jae realising that Ji Eun and Min Hyuk didn’t actually really know each other and that the series would continue with Young Jae believing that Ji Eun and Min Hyuk really had dated each other seriously in the past. That would have added so many interesting dimensions between the various characters as time passed – especially as Min Hyuk and Ji Eun actually did become friends, and he perhaps even falling for her, while Young Jae unexpectedly finds himself falling for Ji Eun and being so jealous about the relationship he thinks they have.
• Also this is fairly random but I think her house is gorgeous. I mean some of the finishings aren’t to my taste but it’s big and light and airy with huge windows and a large open and seemingly private yard (with beach access?) and is just really nice.
• Now for all that I really enjoyed this series it is pretty much all because of the characters and the actors (especially Song Hye Kyo who I really am finding myself loving a ridiculous amount) and not because of the plot. That is because the plot of this story has some serious plot holes, in fact the entire basis of the show is about these ridiculous contrivances, and they should drive me absolutely crazy and to an extent they do but mostly I find myself rolling my eyes at them and ignoring them. I’m just enjoying the show so much that I find I’m a lot more tolerant of the issues. Also I think that it being a Korean drama actually helps in that regard – my ability to ignore issues.
• But despite this ability to wave off the ridiculousness of how the plot is moved forward it is all still very ridiculous and I still find myself wondering ‘wtf’? Various issues:
- How the hell could they have sold her house, without her knowledge or permission? That makes no sense! No way that I look at it does it make any sense and at least thus far no explanation is given. Plus I’m really wondering about what the hell they did with all her things – not only her furniture and utensils and clothes and such but also personal items like school papers and mementos? It really bugs me. I’m choosing to believe that they packed everything up and placed it in storage – perhaps selling the electronics/some furniture to cover the cost because if they actually sold everything they could and threw away everything else I would... well, I wouldn’t be able to forgive that and I definitely wouldn’t want or enjoy watching Ji Eun forgive them. Their betrayal at this point is already so great but we see their guilt and that they do love Ji Eun so I feel like they could make it up to her still. But getting rid of all her belongings? No.
- Then we have them cleaning out her bank account but that makes slightly more sense to me. After all identity fraud is a serious issue and if they had a copy of her card and her information I can see them pulling that off (especially since they both worked at her bank). But that actually leads into another of the show’s contrivances and an issue I have – why the hell didn’t Ji Eun get some money from her account while in China? I’m sure there is some way she could have – the hotel would have helped and there is the South Korean embassy. Plus despite it supposedly being an all-expenses paid trip surely she would have brought money for things like shopping and sight-seeing?
- The fact that Young Jae is going to China to shoot a movie at the same time as Ji Eun leaves on her vacation and then they return at the same time (a week later or so) is also ridiculous. That was the shortest shooting of a movie ever. I mean if it was a short role that would work but the way he talked about it in interviews made it sound like he had the lead role. Perhaps they only went to Shanghi to location shoot for a week?
- Then there the question about how did Ji Eun know to ask Young Jae about Min Hyuk? Min Hyuk never told her who he was visiting. I could see her making a guess if she knew somehow that he’d come from the penthouse but Young Jae didn’t appear to be in a special room. So it actually rather bugs me that she knew to ask him about Min Hyuk.
- I can’t believe it took someone else bringing it up before Ji Eun thought to go the police. I do however sort of buy her reason for not turning in her ‘friends’ over what they did, or at least in relation to everything else. She’s been betrayed and feels it, she’s in a really difficult position now because of them and yet she can’t find it in herself to punish them by sending them to jail, even if it means getting her life back, because it’ll mean taking away their child’s parents. It’s very empathetic and sweet of her, too much even, but I can go with it as an excuse for things to play out as they do.
- Finally there is a rather shallow WTF at Young Jae’s clothing choices which are kind of insane. And ugly. Hopefully he gets better clothing as the series goes on.
• I love Han Ji Eun already. I think the actress Song Hye Kyo is excellent and I will definitely be looking to see what else she’s been in. Plus she is really pretty. Rain as Lee Young Jae is also fairly good looking which is really nice. I’ve actually heard of him before but this will be the first time I’ve seen him in something but so far I’m enjoying him.
However while this is only my third kdrama (it feels like it should be so much more) I can already see a very distinct pattern happening. Young Jae is definitely analogous to Gu Jun Pyo in Boys Over Flowers and to Shin in Goong and I wonder if it’s just the dramas I’ve chosen to watch or if this is how most of them go? Because once again we have the slightly stoic, temper-impaired hero who doesn’t at first get along with the heroine but then falls for her and the nicer guy who does get along with her and then falls for her and in the end she chooses the hero. Is this as common a trope as it appears? Do the nice guys never win in kdramas? I’m hoping for my sake that they don’t make Min Hyuk and Ji Eun/Min Hyuk too rootable and enjoyable like they did with Ji Hoo and Ji Hoo/Jan Di because I like it much better when my couple ends up together.
• I mentioned it above a bit but I really love Ji Eun thus far. The things I loved in this episode include: her cheerful personality and smile, how enthusiastic she is, her goodbye with her friends at the airport which was adorable, her being suspicious of the whole free trip (and the show description calls her naive but I don’t think it fits in this case because these were her friends that she loved and trusted and that is the only reason she accepted which I don’t think is naive), her confronting Young Jae about how if she had dated Min Hyuk what he’d did was actually really horrible and how she turned the conversation around on him, her reaction when he loses his temper (not intimidated at all but pissed and aggressive, her head-butting him in the face (it made me laugh) and just generally what a great person she is. The number one reason: Ji Eun conning Young Jae into giving her money via acting and lying which also made me laugh and was pretty awesome. And she was so good at it too! The fact that she manages to act her way into fooling Young Jae, who’s an actor himself, and he bought it just makes it all the better.
• I was hoping that the dinner would have actually play out differently. That the entire dinner would have passed without Young Jae realising that Ji Eun and Min Hyuk didn’t actually really know each other and that the series would continue with Young Jae believing that Ji Eun and Min Hyuk really had dated each other seriously in the past. That would have added so many interesting dimensions between the various characters as time passed – especially as Min Hyuk and Ji Eun actually did become friends, and he perhaps even falling for her, while Young Jae unexpectedly finds himself falling for Ji Eun and being so jealous about the relationship he thinks they have.
• Also this is fairly random but I think her house is gorgeous. I mean some of the finishings aren’t to my taste but it’s big and light and airy with huge windows and a large open and seemingly private yard (with beach access?) and is just really nice.
• Now for all that I really enjoyed this series it is pretty much all because of the characters and the actors (especially Song Hye Kyo who I really am finding myself loving a ridiculous amount) and not because of the plot. That is because the plot of this story has some serious plot holes, in fact the entire basis of the show is about these ridiculous contrivances, and they should drive me absolutely crazy and to an extent they do but mostly I find myself rolling my eyes at them and ignoring them. I’m just enjoying the show so much that I find I’m a lot more tolerant of the issues. Also I think that it being a Korean drama actually helps in that regard – my ability to ignore issues.
• But despite this ability to wave off the ridiculousness of how the plot is moved forward it is all still very ridiculous and I still find myself wondering ‘wtf’? Various issues:
- How the hell could they have sold her house, without her knowledge or permission? That makes no sense! No way that I look at it does it make any sense and at least thus far no explanation is given. Plus I’m really wondering about what the hell they did with all her things – not only her furniture and utensils and clothes and such but also personal items like school papers and mementos? It really bugs me. I’m choosing to believe that they packed everything up and placed it in storage – perhaps selling the electronics/some furniture to cover the cost because if they actually sold everything they could and threw away everything else I would... well, I wouldn’t be able to forgive that and I definitely wouldn’t want or enjoy watching Ji Eun forgive them. Their betrayal at this point is already so great but we see their guilt and that they do love Ji Eun so I feel like they could make it up to her still. But getting rid of all her belongings? No.
- Then we have them cleaning out her bank account but that makes slightly more sense to me. After all identity fraud is a serious issue and if they had a copy of her card and her information I can see them pulling that off (especially since they both worked at her bank). But that actually leads into another of the show’s contrivances and an issue I have – why the hell didn’t Ji Eun get some money from her account while in China? I’m sure there is some way she could have – the hotel would have helped and there is the South Korean embassy. Plus despite it supposedly being an all-expenses paid trip surely she would have brought money for things like shopping and sight-seeing?
- The fact that Young Jae is going to China to shoot a movie at the same time as Ji Eun leaves on her vacation and then they return at the same time (a week later or so) is also ridiculous. That was the shortest shooting of a movie ever. I mean if it was a short role that would work but the way he talked about it in interviews made it sound like he had the lead role. Perhaps they only went to Shanghi to location shoot for a week?
- Then there the question about how did Ji Eun know to ask Young Jae about Min Hyuk? Min Hyuk never told her who he was visiting. I could see her making a guess if she knew somehow that he’d come from the penthouse but Young Jae didn’t appear to be in a special room. So it actually rather bugs me that she knew to ask him about Min Hyuk.
- I can’t believe it took someone else bringing it up before Ji Eun thought to go the police. I do however sort of buy her reason for not turning in her ‘friends’ over what they did, or at least in relation to everything else. She’s been betrayed and feels it, she’s in a really difficult position now because of them and yet she can’t find it in herself to punish them by sending them to jail, even if it means getting her life back, because it’ll mean taking away their child’s parents. It’s very empathetic and sweet of her, too much even, but I can go with it as an excuse for things to play out as they do.
- Finally there is a rather shallow WTF at Young Jae’s clothing choices which are kind of insane. And ugly. Hopefully he gets better clothing as the series goes on.
