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sungkyunkwan scandal (part 2)
3 Apr 2016 08:46 amThe previous post was getting too long, so I thought I'd leave the rest of my babble in another post.
Moving onto the characters - I admit I've always been someone who preferred side characters to main characters, but there's something particularly...uninteresting about the courtship between Dae-mul and Ga-rang, even in spite of how natural the relationship seemed to be. In fact, each character, on their own, are quite interesting and well-written, even Dae-mul (except in the previously mentioned moments where male characters are required to be Knight in Shiny Armour). Dae-mul and Ga-rang, when with other characters, are perfectly interesting to watch...but when it came to Dae-mul and Ga-rang together...I don't know how many times I hit skip. I suspect it's also a K-drama thing, but they spend so much time staring at each other with tears in their eyes for no good reason that...skip.
Dae-mul
Dae-mul reminds me quite a lot of Kou Shuurei, in good ways and bad. They're exactly what the plot requires them to be, cute, strong, kind, vulnerable, smart, reckless, to the point their characters have everything but also nothing. Everyone loves them, except those who unjustifiably (or for selfish reasons) despise them. Park Min-young does a decent job - she makes Dae-mul cute and likable, but never convincing as a male (except in the rare moments where the script allows her to be cool), but I suspect that's a directorial decision rather than poor acting.
Ga-rang
Ga-rang is a rather bland character amongst all the interesting people surrounding him, but there is comic relief in the juxtaposition. Not much expression is required of Yoochun, which is not to say he did a lazy job, because I felt he was still on point for most of the scenes. His character arc is the most straightforward, and as a result, the least interesting, which is a real shame. He's not a flat character, and he's the sort of person we should all aspire to be (though preferably with better people skills). He is principled and fiercely defensive of the same, and though he is someone who rarely speaks up in public, when he does he can tear people to shreds. In real life, he would make a terrible politician but an excellent public prosecutor, and maybe that's the sort of story where he could have really shone.
Geol-oh
The two seniors - Geol-oh and Yeo-rim were (to the detriment of the 2 main characters) the highlight of the piece. Geol-oh's character is written in a way that makes it very hard to dislike him. At first he appears to be just your typical burly and surly guy who is anti-authority, with more brawn than brain, but as things progress you find he's surprisingly caring and perceptive, has surprising mastery of literature, and is surprisingly conservative and "proper" in his conduct. Once all that is taken in consideration with his gruff appearance and curt words and his rare but really quite boyish smiles...I think he hits the "moe" button for a lot of girls. I'm not sure Yoo Ah-In was good at portraying the actual character, but he certainly gave Geol-oh enough charisma to make him everyone's favourite big brother rather than just creepy. Having a secret identity is definitely brownie points for any character, and when his secret identity drives the political plot and the main tension of the series, that certainly makes the audience more interested in him than the budding romance of our two leads. I particularly liked the bit where he pours alcohol on his clothes before going into the room he shares with Dae-mul and Ga-rang - he was introduced as a violent drunkard, but the more we see of him the more layers we find...and that's the sort of character you want to act.
Yeo-rim
Song Joong-ki's Yeo-rim, on the other hand...I'm not sure what to say. I concede he's extremely pretty, but never (at least not for me - though everyone's tastes differ) to the point of cringeworthy girliness, but his mannerisms are so flamboyant and effeminate that...what I said prior to the comma doesn't matter. I somehow can't be convinced that he's a playboy, because seriously his mannerisms are girlier than some of the girls. I mean...in a way, I don't think Song Joong-ki is too pretty for the role, I think appearance-wise he's perfect (hey, I could look at that face for hours XDDD). But at the same time...when he's not smiling, he naturally looks vulnerable and helpless (this was a problem in Descendants of the Sun as well), so his Yeo-rim always seems a little less assured and less...expansive than I feel his character should be. Yeo-rim's character is interesting, but a bit messy. He's the perpetual prankster, but also someone who's clearly more perceptive and intuitive and aware than everyone else, which makes it difficult to understand how he could risk Dae-mul's reputation (sad fact: in ancient Asian societies, the virginal reputation of a woman can be more important than her life) by all his pranks, especially after he joined their friends circle. I feel Yeo-rim is a very popular character because (apart from his face, ahem) of his very high EQ and IQ, as well as his penchant for having fun at other people's expense. I like both these sides of Yeo-rim, but unfortunately I cannot be convinced that they're compatible with each other.
There's a lot of Geol-oh X Yeo-rim going around, so I thought it was actually a thing, and I think towards the end, the fandom made into such a thing that the series felt like fanservice was deserved. To be honest...maybe my gaydar is broken? The interaction between Geol-oh and Yeo-rim is certainly some of the cutest stuff that brings a smile to your face even if Yeo-rim is cringe-inducing in his exaggerated PDA, and I suspect that's why they're a more likable couple than the main one, which had a lot less love. But I don't feel there's anything beyond friendship, even if Yeo-rim gets dangerously close into Geol-oh's personal space. Sometimes their relationship seems a bit unequal, because Geol-oh rarely acknowledges Yeo-rim, even though Yeo-rim does so much for him...but then you realise Yeo-rim's good intentions is the only one that Geol-oh wouldguiltlessly easily accept. When Ga-rang stepped out for Geol-oh, Geol-oh told him to never do it again ("Or I won't talk to you again" - LOL srsly you in kindergarten?), but Yeo-rim tidies up after him time after time, saving him when he's wounded, hiding him despite threats from Ha In-Soo, etc...and Geol-oh doesn't even bother thanking him. Their give-and-take relationship just seems so natural for Geol-oh that I'm surprised that Yeo-rim always gets a 受寵若驚 face when Geol-oh acknowledges anything he does.
I think theirs...and their relationship with Ga-rang is a nice friendship, the sort where you just let your friend find their own way and do what they believe in, and when they fall, pull them back on their feet, and maybe help bury the dead body.... It's the same sort of relationship between Dae-mul and Cho-sun. If only the author/scriptwriter could have kept that in mind that that is how friendship works when writing their storylines involving Dae-mul...rather than make the 3 other guys keep having to jump out to protect her.
Others
To cut the rest of the babble short, the other characters are all surprisingly well-rounded and...surprisingly, no one was purely evil. I even have a soft spot for baddie Ha In-Soo and his unwavering adoration for Cho-sun, but again that relationship bothers me because how could he accept Cho-sun being a prostitute and not turn his anger on his father until the end...?
I particularly like how there were no evil female characters in this one. I feel, in drama particularly, women are greatest enemies to each other, sometimes for the weakest reasons. I liked how silently supportive Cho-sun was - to be honest, her personality was more manly than a lot of the guys. I suspect she knew Dae-mul was female somewhere around the middle of the story, so she didn't look surprised when she was told in the end. I liked how she just quietly rooted for Dae-mul from the sidelines, not interfering, not helping (except at the end when Dae-mul's life is on the line), but also not striking out because Dae-mul was female.
Similarly, Ha In-Soo's sister was amazingly naive, and for the first time, I can call use this word positively. She had the purest adoration for Ga-rang, and she chased after him with all the innocence of a girl who didn't know a thing about cynicism. She wasn't needlessly jealous, and in the end when she realised she had lost, she didn't try to make Dae-mul or Ga-rang pay for her own unhappiness, and instead tried to help them out.
The characterisation and relationships really brighten the story, and as I said previously, the themes and underlying class conflict creates enough tension and thoughtfulness to make this more than a silly school comedy. Unfortunately, the central relationship is too bloated and the central premise too protected by its own tropes, and in the end the sum is much less amazing than its parts.
Moving onto the characters - I admit I've always been someone who preferred side characters to main characters, but there's something particularly...uninteresting about the courtship between Dae-mul and Ga-rang, even in spite of how natural the relationship seemed to be. In fact, each character, on their own, are quite interesting and well-written, even Dae-mul (except in the previously mentioned moments where male characters are required to be Knight in Shiny Armour). Dae-mul and Ga-rang, when with other characters, are perfectly interesting to watch...but when it came to Dae-mul and Ga-rang together...I don't know how many times I hit skip. I suspect it's also a K-drama thing, but they spend so much time staring at each other with tears in their eyes for no good reason that...skip.
Dae-mul
Dae-mul reminds me quite a lot of Kou Shuurei, in good ways and bad. They're exactly what the plot requires them to be, cute, strong, kind, vulnerable, smart, reckless, to the point their characters have everything but also nothing. Everyone loves them, except those who unjustifiably (or for selfish reasons) despise them. Park Min-young does a decent job - she makes Dae-mul cute and likable, but never convincing as a male (except in the rare moments where the script allows her to be cool), but I suspect that's a directorial decision rather than poor acting.
Ga-rang
Ga-rang is a rather bland character amongst all the interesting people surrounding him, but there is comic relief in the juxtaposition. Not much expression is required of Yoochun, which is not to say he did a lazy job, because I felt he was still on point for most of the scenes. His character arc is the most straightforward, and as a result, the least interesting, which is a real shame. He's not a flat character, and he's the sort of person we should all aspire to be (though preferably with better people skills). He is principled and fiercely defensive of the same, and though he is someone who rarely speaks up in public, when he does he can tear people to shreds. In real life, he would make a terrible politician but an excellent public prosecutor, and maybe that's the sort of story where he could have really shone.
Geol-oh
The two seniors - Geol-oh and Yeo-rim were (to the detriment of the 2 main characters) the highlight of the piece. Geol-oh's character is written in a way that makes it very hard to dislike him. At first he appears to be just your typical burly and surly guy who is anti-authority, with more brawn than brain, but as things progress you find he's surprisingly caring and perceptive, has surprising mastery of literature, and is surprisingly conservative and "proper" in his conduct. Once all that is taken in consideration with his gruff appearance and curt words and his rare but really quite boyish smiles...I think he hits the "moe" button for a lot of girls. I'm not sure Yoo Ah-In was good at portraying the actual character, but he certainly gave Geol-oh enough charisma to make him everyone's favourite big brother rather than just creepy. Having a secret identity is definitely brownie points for any character, and when his secret identity drives the political plot and the main tension of the series, that certainly makes the audience more interested in him than the budding romance of our two leads. I particularly liked the bit where he pours alcohol on his clothes before going into the room he shares with Dae-mul and Ga-rang - he was introduced as a violent drunkard, but the more we see of him the more layers we find...and that's the sort of character you want to act.
Yeo-rim
Song Joong-ki's Yeo-rim, on the other hand...I'm not sure what to say. I concede he's extremely pretty, but never (at least not for me - though everyone's tastes differ) to the point of cringeworthy girliness, but his mannerisms are so flamboyant and effeminate that...what I said prior to the comma doesn't matter. I somehow can't be convinced that he's a playboy, because seriously his mannerisms are girlier than some of the girls. I mean...in a way, I don't think Song Joong-ki is too pretty for the role, I think appearance-wise he's perfect (hey, I could look at that face for hours XDDD). But at the same time...when he's not smiling, he naturally looks vulnerable and helpless (this was a problem in Descendants of the Sun as well), so his Yeo-rim always seems a little less assured and less...expansive than I feel his character should be. Yeo-rim's character is interesting, but a bit messy. He's the perpetual prankster, but also someone who's clearly more perceptive and intuitive and aware than everyone else, which makes it difficult to understand how he could risk Dae-mul's reputation (sad fact: in ancient Asian societies, the virginal reputation of a woman can be more important than her life) by all his pranks, especially after he joined their friends circle. I feel Yeo-rim is a very popular character because (apart from his face, ahem) of his very high EQ and IQ, as well as his penchant for having fun at other people's expense. I like both these sides of Yeo-rim, but unfortunately I cannot be convinced that they're compatible with each other.
There's a lot of Geol-oh X Yeo-rim going around, so I thought it was actually a thing, and I think towards the end, the fandom made into such a thing that the series felt like fanservice was deserved. To be honest...maybe my gaydar is broken? The interaction between Geol-oh and Yeo-rim is certainly some of the cutest stuff that brings a smile to your face even if Yeo-rim is cringe-inducing in his exaggerated PDA, and I suspect that's why they're a more likable couple than the main one, which had a lot less love. But I don't feel there's anything beyond friendship, even if Yeo-rim gets dangerously close into Geol-oh's personal space. Sometimes their relationship seems a bit unequal, because Geol-oh rarely acknowledges Yeo-rim, even though Yeo-rim does so much for him...but then you realise Yeo-rim's good intentions is the only one that Geol-oh would
I think theirs...and their relationship with Ga-rang is a nice friendship, the sort where you just let your friend find their own way and do what they believe in, and when they fall, pull them back on their feet, and maybe help bury the dead body.... It's the same sort of relationship between Dae-mul and Cho-sun. If only the author/scriptwriter could have kept that in mind that that is how friendship works when writing their storylines involving Dae-mul...rather than make the 3 other guys keep having to jump out to protect her.
Others
To cut the rest of the babble short, the other characters are all surprisingly well-rounded and...surprisingly, no one was purely evil. I even have a soft spot for baddie Ha In-Soo and his unwavering adoration for Cho-sun, but again that relationship bothers me because how could he accept Cho-sun being a prostitute and not turn his anger on his father until the end...?
I particularly like how there were no evil female characters in this one. I feel, in drama particularly, women are greatest enemies to each other, sometimes for the weakest reasons. I liked how silently supportive Cho-sun was - to be honest, her personality was more manly than a lot of the guys. I suspect she knew Dae-mul was female somewhere around the middle of the story, so she didn't look surprised when she was told in the end. I liked how she just quietly rooted for Dae-mul from the sidelines, not interfering, not helping (except at the end when Dae-mul's life is on the line), but also not striking out because Dae-mul was female.
Similarly, Ha In-Soo's sister was amazingly naive, and for the first time, I can call use this word positively. She had the purest adoration for Ga-rang, and she chased after him with all the innocence of a girl who didn't know a thing about cynicism. She wasn't needlessly jealous, and in the end when she realised she had lost, she didn't try to make Dae-mul or Ga-rang pay for her own unhappiness, and instead tried to help them out.
The characterisation and relationships really brighten the story, and as I said previously, the themes and underlying class conflict creates enough tension and thoughtfulness to make this more than a silly school comedy. Unfortunately, the central relationship is too bloated and the central premise too protected by its own tropes, and in the end the sum is much less amazing than its parts.
