First-date dramas
by javabeans
I was thinking how I’ve been watching lots of first episodes of dramas these days, but haven’t found anything to dive into since the end of Who Are You? It’s starting to feel like going on a string of disappointing first dates — measuring up expectations versus performance, anticipation versus letdown, etc.
You know, there’s that date you’re really looking forward to, so you get dressed up and put on your heels and makeup and count down the hours, and he turns out to be a total dud. Or the date you agreed to because it was easier to give the guy your number than to try to invent an excuse not to because those excuses always come out embarrassingly half-assed — like you say you don’t have a phone and then it rings, or something — but then you end up having a good time.
I didn’t exactly intend to go off on an extended metaphor, but when I thought about all the recent dramas I’ve caught, they all seemed to fit (more or less).
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Iljimae is the date your friend set you up with, assuring you for weeks in advance that the guy is so hot, so popular, SO the perfect catch, and then you meet him and you’re like, “Him?” Your friend then assures you that everyone else loves him, but all you can do is keep looking and wonder, again, “Him?” |
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Three Dads, One Mom is what happens when the class clown asks you out, and you think this should be a fun night out. He takes you to some place casual like a carnival, or bowling, and although it’s hardly romantic, you enjoy yourself thinking that even though your conversation is pretty shallow, all people have hidden depths and you’ll get to see his at some point. But you’re wrong. Some people really don’t have hidden depths. |
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On Air is the date I actually had with some random guy who spent the entire night telling me what a dick he was (seriously) and how he used to be an asshole to his last girlfriend (seriously) and expected me to be charmed anyway. Instead of recognizing his actions as problematic, he seemed pretty proud of himself, and when he suggested we follow coffee with dinner, I practically blurted “No” straight out and ducked away to safety. |
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The Last Scandal of My Life is the date you hesitated to accept because he was a little older and you thought you probably don’t have much in common. But it turned out he’s actually really young at heart — he might even be younger at heart than you, like he’s a semi-regular skydiver, or parasailing expert — and you get on smashingly well. He’s the date that turns into a long-term relationship. |
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La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) is the date you admire for being smart, albeit somewhat humorless, but after a while you get really tired of his Pinot Noir-swilling, Foucault-spouting crowd, and you’re like, “I need someone who knows how to converse about things other than Darfur and Sudan and drinks beer occasionally and doesn’t make me feel ashamed for knowing how many kids Angelina Jolie has or for watching reality television — hey, some of it’s really entertaining!” |
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Why Did You Come To Our House is the guy you had a pretty fun time with, and intended to call back to meet again, but when you got back home you totally forgot. You remembered several weeks later, but by that point it would have been more awkward to call him back, so you figure he wasn’t The One anyway and promptly forget about him again. (Hey, it’s not like he couldn’t call you, either.) |
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Tokyo Showers is the date who’s kind of old-fashioned and sweet, but you just have nothing to say about (or to) him. Thankfully, he knew from the start that this was going to be a short relationship and just faded back afterward, unobtrusive and undemanding. |
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Rivals is the dude who thinks he’s George Clooney but he’s really more like Owen Wilson. Or Jack Black. As in, he’s fun on his own terms, but he keeps thinking he’s more deep than he ought to. And apparently he can’t make up his mind about who he likes, which is so frustrating to the two people he’s stringing along. |
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I Love You is another date I actually had, this time with the cute guy whom I really wanted to like. He was interesting, funny, and likable in an everyday sort of way. He was a great catch and kept asking me out, but I wasn’t attracted to him (I tried!) so we parted ways and I figured he’d make some other girl happy. |
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Spotlight sounded good on paper, if a little dry. Probably a workaholic. But then he showed up and bored you to tears and you called your friend to stage the fake-emergency date extraction phone call. You felt kind of bad for doing it, but he never noticed. |
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Hong Gil Dong was the date who was tons of fun — maybe a little shallow — over drinks and appetizers, but halfway through dinner he got up and switched places with his twin brother because maybe they have some kind of weird grown-up Parent Trap thing going, only it doesn’t work so well nowadays because Twin #2 is just so dire and tragic. You want to leave too, but you feel so bad for him that you stay and in the end he kills himself. Or, like, passes out in a drunken mess after dessert. |
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Bulhandang / Robbers is the date that started off tentatively until the guy suddenly started tearing up and told you he had just been diagnosed with a terminal disease, which totally brought to mind how your last blind date went awry and that guy kicked the bucket too, which makes YOU feel all teary-eyed, and now the both of you are just a blubbering mess of tragedy. |
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Who Are You? is the date that almost never was, because at first you thought he was kind of goofy in a lame way, but then you cut him some slack because maybe he was just nervous asking you out, you know? And then you have a wonderful date and he’s a lot more interesting than you gave him credit for, and you’re simultaneously glad you decided to go on the date but also ashamed that you weren’t initially going to. But all’s well that ends well. |
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Yi San is the date that would never end. Every time you’d near a natural point to end the night and go home, he’d barrel over the conversation and extend it, ordering more courses, suggesting additional rounds, and generally wearing out his welcome. He’s a pretty decent catch, so maybe he figured you would want more of him and was happy to oblige. You could’ve had four other first dates in the time it took you to get through one with this guy. |
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Extending the metaphor to an older drama: Coffee Prince is the date with whom you hit it off so well, so instantly, that before long you were swept up in a whirl of happy romance and hormones. But about twelve dates in, you started to realize that you didn’t have as much in common as you thought, and that you were held together more by attraction and endorphins than anything else. In the long run, you’ll probably outgrow each other, but boy, did you have fun while you lasted. |
And what about dramas that have yet to air?
Will Gourmet be a romantic fine-dining experience, or will he be the guy who took you to the fancy restaurant just because he couldn’t think of someplace more original to take you? And Chil Woo looks to be a quick summer fling — will that be all frosty mojitos and sunset strolls, or a cold day on the beach? While it aims for hard-edged swagger, will East of Eden come out more James Dean or Jimmy Dean? How about Beethoven Virus, When Night Comes, Lawyers of Korea, or Painter of the Wind?
Got any more first-date scenarios to offer for comparison?
Tags: 1 show to rule them all, Bulhandang/Robbers, Coffee Prince, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Iljimae, La Dolce Vita, On Air, Rivals, Spotlight, The Last Scandal of My Life, Tokyo Showers, Who Are You? (MBC), Why Did You Come To Our House, Yi San
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101 favoree
August 1, 2008 at 1:11 AM
Even if late- it's great!!!
You have to start writing scripts for dramas and sell them.
I discovered this blog only a week ago- but all I can say is just BIG thank you!!!!!
I feel like I am living well.
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102 sang hee
September 9, 2008 at 10:49 AM
great great great!! need i say more? however, the date i probably had the worst on my list would be Bittersweet - no offense but i love Lee Dong Wook from My Girl & this Bittersweet drama I'm sorry to say is a big disappointment for me as an LDW fan! I hope he'll do another project to redeem himself! I was so looking forward to this until when i saw the first few episodes & dropped my date with him! I still love him though & he's one of my best K-actors on my list!
Yes out of the topic but I liked Shin Dong Wook as well! Thanks for your excellent writing!
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103 Bored..
September 11, 2008 at 5:17 AM
@ sang hee:
agreed. I am also like you....can barely understand La Dolce Vita. LDW said himself that he does not really know what the story is about. So gonna watch Last Scandal. And yeah HGD was damn boring
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104 shubi
August 28, 2009 at 11:37 AM
I want to add my experience with "A Love to Kill".
You have liked this guy for a really long time and wanted to go out with him. You finally manage to get a date with him. You are really excited about the date. But then it turns out to be really really boring. But since you have waited for so long you hold it in and decide to stick it out. Then he shows you his vunerable side and there is a lot of emotions swirling. Then you realize that he agreed to the date because he wants to get some kind of revenge about something that you did and forgot or something like that. But he has fallen for you during the course of the date. So he is confused whether to stick with the revenge plan or just get a honest start with you. While you are confused about what the hell did you do that required him to be revengeful. So things get dark and melodramatic and angsty and too much and yet you stick it out because he deserved a happy ending coz he is so pitiful and you want a happy ending coz you put so much effort into it already. Then Just as things seem like it might turn out to be better and you might finish the date with a smile and a next date, he drops dead. Leaving you sad, confused, tired and just blank.
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105 autumn93
October 2, 2009 at 7:03 PM
This was great, witty and hilarious!!!
Please post more of these first date drama reviews in the future!! :)
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106 Jennifer
November 4, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Boys Before Flowers - Is the guy that every girl fawns over. He is so popular and good looking. And you only hear nice things about him whenever you ask someone. So when he asks you out, you are all for it. Because of the hype you do not even mind that the start out of the date is kind of mediocre. And that he has moments were he is really really dumb. But somehow the date becomes a rollercosterride. One moment he is incredible charming and fun and seriously cute and suddenly he turns and you have to ask him three times about his hobbies because he doesn't understand what you mean. Additionally he talks a little to long about his past relationships. But the end of date is again really nice and while you know that you probably never meet again you sometimes look at some pictures you took and are happy that you went out with him. Even if his looks made this date more fun than it would have been without
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107 Xen
December 3, 2009 at 11:51 AM
I enjoyed this a lot. Can't help laughing at the metaphoric phrases! lol
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108 nattacatta
May 29, 2010 at 2:29 AM
I'm incredibly late with this comment (which is a total credit to your blog, if I am bored I just sift through old posts and always find something uber entertaining) but I thought I would add my analogies cause i love the ones you wrote
You're Beautiful:
The date that you highly anticipated because you'd met the guy a few times before and thought he was really cool, and decided to go out with him. He took you out to this incredibly fun place, an amusement park perhaps, and he made you laugh so much, but he also was really sweet. Before you knew it you were absolutely in love with him and were going to the night time supermarket together and going out at all hours of the night on your birthday with him to find seaweed soup. Granted, at times he was a little lame and man did he love a few phrases and pieces of clothing but he was so much fun and so funny that you forgave him totally. You look back on that time and want to relive it over and over again.
Woman who still wants to marry:
You weren't planning on going out with him but your friend told you he was really sweet and quirky so you gave him a go. He was very different from other guys you'd dated (which weren't many), and had really worthwhile things to say. You related to him so much. He was cute, and he knew how to leave you wanting more. You're really glad you dated him.
Personal Taste:
Oh man, you heard about this guy and he sounded so cool so you automatically went out on the date. You had fun, but he got a bit annoying at times, which was such a contrast to when he was fun. He was crazy sexy at times and crazy cute at others; he could have been so perfect. But he had some deep issues that he just didn't deal with and on top of that he went through a massive personality change so you had to break up with him and reminisce on what could have been. You look back on the experience and think about many individual fun and cute things, but you can't love him as a whole just because of that.
Cinderella's Sister (I still love this show so I think my first date will be a little different to many other's):
You had heard a bit about him but weren't planning on going out with him cause you don't usually go out with guys like him. But then you spoke to him a bit more and he seemed AWESOME. The perfect mix of light and dark in a person; he was funny and deep. You got serious really quickly, you looked forward to seeing him and was completely engaged when with him. But then he sort of got boring. You still utterly loved him and didn't even consider breaking up, cause he was everything to you. Even if he did the same thing over and over, you loved it while you were there cause he was doing it. However, lately he's been acting really cool again and you have absolute hope that he'll regain his former self.
Wow, that was long. What a fun way to talk about dramas- thanks jb!
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109 junaly
September 18, 2010 at 2:20 AM
haha JB you are totally right!! i agree with all (that i have watched).
Maybe GF should right some too.
@108
wow, those were really good.
here's some of mine:
Beethoven Virus:
He's the guy that I've heard a lot about, so I decided to try him out. Sometimes he was really funny and hard-working, but other times he yelled a lot and made me cringe. But then I knew what he was really feeling and tried to understand him. When we parted ways, I wondered what would happen in his future.
Three Brothers:
Sometimes he made me depressed, and sometimes he talked about things I didn't care about. But I remembered all the times I laughed and stayed up late to be with him. This guy was like Yi San: he would never let you leave. In the end, I had to ditch him. But there were tons of other people who liked him, so I don't feel bad.
Goong:
I enjoyed being with him at first. He was full of cute moments and drew a lot of emotion out of me. Towards the end of our relationship, he became boring. When it was time for us to part ways, he had nothing to say.
I know that these aren't really good, but I hope you can understand them! they are nowhere as good as javabeans' though!
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110 noi
October 13, 2010 at 6:51 PM
i really love the metaphor! funny way to sum up dramas. keep writing javabeans!!! :D
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111 Connie
July 10, 2012 at 1:12 PM
awww i love articles like these! hope you can write more =3
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112 kotowel
April 1, 2013 at 10:01 AM
You write so well! Good composition and always with a great sense of humor.
I am currently watching Yi San ... like too many "popular" dramas, the quality decreases as the number of episodes increases. Oh, well, more money coming in never hurts anyone (although it may hurt the final rating).
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