Rebuttal #1: If heroine alienates core bread-n-butter audience, drama is a dud, even if a few misguided males beg to differ
by javabeans
Gauntlet, thrown and accepted!
Well, see now, I think there are a few misconceptions I’ve got to clear up right off the bat.
First off, this idea that I somehow have good taste. HA! Have you seen my drama ratings? Second, that there’s such a great divide between the “elite literati” and the common folk when it comes to drama watching.
My taste is completely average, and I am pretty much your drama anti-snob. Yes, I enjoy high-quality, artistic offerings and I love throwing in a mania drama here and there into the mix, but I like ’em mainstream, commercial, and popular, too. The whole idea behind running Dramabeans arose out of a desire to give commercial dramas more weighty discussion, as their more serious and top-shelf counterparts regularly merit. (The critics who are likely to write intelligently about Korean dramas tend to turn up their noses at the popular stuff deemed unworthy of critical analysis; I wanted to fill that void.)
All this is to say — (1) Sneaky Samsooki, don’t try to discredit me by saying my taste is too “high-end” to appreciate My Love Patzzi, ’cause I’ve got the low end soundly covered! and (2) I should really be the perfect person to write a lengthy defense of Patzzi.
If only it — and its lead character — weren’t so… ANNOYING.
Hey, I enjoyed Patzzi. There’s enough to find entertaining about it, if you watch with your brain turned halfway off, as I did. I suspect that’s why I enjoyed at all, because I wasn’t getting hung up on how Kim Jae-won was like a cute block of wood or how Jang Nara‘s supposed good-hearted nature wasn’t coming through because she tended to place herself in situations that got herself into trouble. The second female lead (Hong Eun-hee) was a prime example of the one-note Hallyu villainess and completely unconvincing as a character. Kim Rae-won‘s character is likewise pretty flat, only he made up for that with an abundance of warmth and personal charisma (perhaps TOO much!).
You do need to watch with one eye closed to logic and plot holes, because we have plenty of those, but it’s not without its appeal. I will, however, challenge the idea that Patzzi is somehow deeply meaningful! I will paraphrase the irrefutable wisdom of one Cher Horowitz to say, “Trying to find depth in My Love Patzzi is like searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.” As much as I hate this phrase, I find it applicable here: It is what it is.
Why do I consider Patzzi a lightweight? For one, it doesn’t have any emotional or dramatic heft. For all the trumped-up drama wrought by the villainess, there’s no real risk here, no real stakes to our heroine’s problems. We can’t get all worked up about the quandaries she faces because she’s never in real danger of anything, and we can’t really get hot-n-bothered about the love triangle except to lament that the wrong guy got cast as the so-called lead. This drama is so good-natured that doesn’t actually DO anything with the conflicts it establishes. Song-yi is bailed out of trouble by the people in her life, and the villainess essentially gets let off the hook to preserve the upbeat tone.
This drama is supposed to hinge on the twist of the Korean Cinderella story, painting the evil stepsister as the protagonist and the Cinderella as a scheming two-faced liar. Thus Jang Nara’s Song-yi is supposed to be some great subversion of the stereotypical Korean heroine — she’s loud, uncouth, and bad-mannered — and her redeeming quality is that she is an open book. The problem is, she doesn’t really DO much, other than suffer as the victim of the evil girl. She’s supposedly feisty, but submits herself to the evil girl’s manipulations like a spineless doll. In making the “Cinderella” so malicious, we’re not really twisting a classic fairy tale so much as we’re shoving it into a standard kdrama framework: the good girl gets two guys fighting over her, and evil girl is evil.
Worse yet, despite the misguided rantings of my esteemed colleague before me, the Song-yi character tends to turn off a huge chunk of its core audience. And not because she is loud and unladylike, but because she strings along two adorable (if milquetoast-y) guys, ultimately makes no decision, and still ends up with the adoration of both. And when the people you depend on to root for your so-called plucky heroine are instead compelled to slap her upside the head for her indecisiveness, well, you’ve dug yourself into a hole.
Sorry, Samsooki buddy! You have every right to find Jang Nara (and/or Song-yi) cute — but you can’t convince me of it.
But perhaps Patzzi’s greatest transgression is the ending, which shows just how wishy-washy this drama was because it couldn’t pick a side and stick to it. It tried to satisfy all sides and therefore disgruntled them all instead. This probably came because Kim Rae-won had so much charm that it almost ruined the drama by completely derailing the OTP — that is to say, the established lead pairing of Jang Nara with Kim Jae-won. But for the drama to end on such an ambiguous note shows a lack of confidence in its story. My Love Patzzi is ultimately so benign that it neuters itself.
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Tags: Jang Nara, Kim Jae-won, Kim Rae-won, My Love Patzzi
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1 belleza
January 19, 2010 at 3:14 PM
This is the greatest debate since Sarah Palin threw down with Tina Fey.
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2 snow
January 19, 2010 at 3:17 PM
ah, javabeans has responded! i enjoyed reading that. i never quite got into My Love Patzzi because of its bland storyline, and the ending certainly didn't help.
looking forward to dahee fanel's post!
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3 samsooki
January 19, 2010 at 3:19 PM
Well written! Still, I have to say:
Jang Nara's character DID make her choice:
SPOILER:
She chooses Kim Rae Won's character, in a stunning upset against viewer's lazy expectations. KRW did in fact upset the space-time-k-drama-continuum and was able to bend Song Yi to his will by sheer gravity of his charm and personality.
And that's why it is a good drama. It flips the script on everything.
In the fairy-tale, Kongzzi gets the prince, and Patzzi gets nothing.
In the drama, Patzzi passes on the prince, picks up an assistant seal trainer, and Kongzzi ends up in a better place than ever. Everything is flipped, and that's how life is sometimes.
END SPOILER.
As benign as My Love Patzzi is, that's partly why I like it.
As some of those who participate in Open Thread might remember, I had mentioned on occasion that I was a bit tired of every drama having life and death issues, whole families disappearing in the crush of a chae-bol intra-family conspiracies, bullets in the brain, parents dying in car accidents, single / double / and maybe even triple humidifier comas.
*WHEW* PLEASE! Let me breathe! Give me something less ponderous, less of an anchor on my free spirit!
And then came My Love Patzzi, where the issues were as they are. And I was happy for it.
=)
Then again, if I read JB's post carefully, is javabeans making the allowance for her giving My Love Patzzi, say, a +1 / +1 on to make it 8 / 8 on her drama ratings?
If so, I accept the compromise and will sign the peace treaty....
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4 amhrancas
January 19, 2010 at 3:20 PM
@ belleza:
Seconded. *munches popcorn*
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5 vicsky
January 19, 2010 at 3:21 PM
peace people!!! just respect each other's opinion pls....
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6 reluctantbutaddicted
January 19, 2010 at 3:28 PM
@ JB "But perhaps Patzzi’s greatest transgression is the ending, which shows just how wishy-washy this drama was because it couldn’t pick a side and stick to it. It tried to satisfy all sides and therefore disgruntled them all instead. This probably came because Kim Rae-won had so much charm that it almost ruined the drama by completely derailing the OTP — that is to say, the established lead pairing of Jang Nara with Kim Jae-won. But for the drama to end on such an ambiguous note shows a lack of confidence in its story. My Love Patzzi is ultimately so benign that it neuters itself."
I had NO IDEA KJW was supposed to be the lead male and OTP. NO IDEA AT ALL. I'm stunned. I watched MLP early on in my k-drama watching, came to it with no fore-knowledge and few expectations, and only b/c it had Kim Rae Won in it (I'd seen him in My LIttle Bride, but that was it). Honestly, it never occurred to me for a second he was not supposed to get the girl. And I was little annoyed by how much screen time KJW was getting. I couldn't understand how the ending, the OTP consummation with KRW, wasn't stronger. Wow. I'm just stunned.
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7 tisyamey
January 19, 2010 at 3:28 PM
@4 vicsky... know that these peeps are friends and just like to toss around their
opinions out there... this is done for fun... and I'm having a blast reading y'all's post!
thanks for uplifting my dreary afternoon... too much rain and so I'm pretty much trapped @ home...
Just had a 'tornado warning' and this is Garden Grove, CA...
what the heck is going on?!?!??!
Samsooki & Javabeans, Hwaiting!!!!
Hmmm, soooo....what's next to argue over?
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8 Saris
January 19, 2010 at 3:30 PM
I like watching good debates. I love well written, thought out, snarky debates on pretty much anything. Thanks for some very fun reading this afternoon. Since it's titled Rebuttal #1 can I expect 2 more from the others to whom the gauntlet was thrown? Please say yes...
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9 nabi
January 19, 2010 at 3:33 PM
To watch or not to watch. Is MLP somewhat similar to My Sister-in-law's 19 which KJW also happens to be in?
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10 momosan
January 19, 2010 at 3:34 PM
@3 samsooki
I'm still with you on this one. She clearly picks KRW and everyone stays friends.
And to agree with a comment in your post....seriously people - KRW! I'd listen to him read the phone book.
Jang Nara's annoying antics aside they made a dramatic contrast to the evil girl.
I still hold that while this is never going to make anyone's top 10 list, neither should it make anyone's bottom ten. It's a bucket of popcorn and a rainy weekend at the beach.
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11 Kender
January 19, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Oh good, I'm not the only one who was confused on the whole OTP thing. The initial setup definitely made KJW seem like the primary male, but then KRW started getting more screen time and it's like the drama lost what little decisiveness it had.
@Samsooki
How does she choose KRW? I never watched the ending, but everything I've ever read or heard about it says that she's indecisive and doesn't pick either of them. Do you have concrete evidence to support your claim?
@9 momosan
To be sure, MLP doesn't warrant a spot on the same bottom-10 list as, say, One Fine Day (THAT is a hideous mess of a drama, with the only redeemable quality being the darling, thankfully spine-having secondary male, whom I would gladly marry in real life), but that doesn't mean I'd recommend it to anyone, even for a rainy weekend at the beach with a bucket of popcorn. Perhaps if it was the last drama on earth, but if that were true I'd be too busy crying my eyes out and then trying to fix that situation than to bother rewatching MLP.
MLP would probably be on my bottom-20 list, though.
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12 ockoala
January 19, 2010 at 4:01 PM
Ending sequence, let's all watch and decide what *really* happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMctTp3jUvI&feature=related
BTW, the subs en espanol are hilarious!
All through the entire drama I thought the OTP was JNR and KRW, only later here at DB did I realize it was the other way around. Weird chemistry.
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13 E
January 19, 2010 at 4:04 PM
I have to semi-agree with you. I thought the ending was complete shit...I actually said...why the hell did I watch this then? It's a pet peeve of mine when endings are well...open-ended. I actually thought Jang Nara was ADORABLE in the beginning of this but then she just got stupider... >.< It was something I enjoyed watching but I don't think I could ever watch it again.
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14 Kristen
January 19, 2010 at 4:11 PM
"(1) Sneaky Samsooki, don’t try to discredit me by saying my taste is too “high-end” to appreciate My Love Patzzi"
As much as I enjoy My Love Patzzi and appreciated Samsooki taking up its banner, I was pretty disappointed in this choice of a leading argument. I mean. We're the debating the merits of a drama. Was it really necessary to throw barbed comments like that into the mix? So, good on you, javabeans, for not letting that one slide.
Folks seem to be up in arms about your choice of the word "lightweight" and its implications. Myself, I think I enjoyed it as much as I did *because* of that quality--because it didn't have some do-or-die situation hanging over anyone's heads, there wasn't some all-encompassing dire event to angst things up unnecessarily. (Well, except for that illness thing at the end. It probably says a lot about my drama-viewing attitude that I could only sigh and roll my eyes and say "Well. I guess they couldn't let one slide by without doing *something* like that.") Maybe I liked it so much because I happened to come into MLP direct from a creepy-as-all-get-out angst-fest emotional rollercoaster and found it a nice opportunity to catch my breath. Or maybe I liked it because I felt like the tone and toned-down events of the drama fit well with the main characters, who I felt were played with a deft touch of honesty and naturalness. Or maybe I liked it because I appreciated the ending not consisting of a hugely stressful build-up followed by a somewhat satisfying "Oh wow, that was tense, but now it's okay, and at least they're paired as they should be, so oh well, the end." The ending, I mean to say, felt in-line with the rest of the show--somewhat laidback, nothing to get worked up about, but here are the people and here is how they interact with everyone and each other, and isn't this nice, we can all get along and there is no bloodlust or overwhelming jealousy or obsession and we're all moving on like normal, well-adjusted adults do.
At any rate, it happily happened to be a good fit for me.
But enough about me.
You know what I'd really like? I'd really like for this debate to end as casually as cutely as My Love Patzzi did. Maybe Mrs. Samsooki can fling her arms around your and Samsooki's shoulders and you all can laughingly and nicely tease one another and agree to disagree, to a fade-out for the credits to roll.
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15 Biscuit
January 19, 2010 at 4:17 PM
@Kristen:
"Was it really necessary to throw barbed comments like that into the mix?"
I think you read that in the wrong way. JB and Samsookie have a good relationship with eachother. That statement JB made to Samsookie was much lighter than how you're reading it.
---
Well we sure don't get these types of posts on Dramabeans often, lol. I wonder if we'll be getting more debate posts on Dramabeans often?
Anyways, sorry Samsookie, but I'm on JB's side. MLP is the type of drama you can watch only if you have a remote control in your hand to FF.
It doesn't matter who Jang Nara picks, the ending was utterly unsatisfying.
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16 momosan
January 19, 2010 at 4:18 PM
@Kristen
We are waiting for the flanking action by dahee in this battle. (Thank all we hold holy that he didn't throw down on Thundie as well - as the Axis generals learned, a 2 front war is bad enough, a 3 front war .....well, that's worse than a 3 humidifier heart transplant needing birth secret cheabol twin with pneumonia and amnesia).
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17 Kender
January 19, 2010 at 4:18 PM
@11 ockoala
............................................I could barely sit through those 10 minutes. D:
I'm going to wait for Samsooki or someone fluent in Korean to give me their interpretation of that scene, because my minimal Korean still leaves me with the impression that she's indecisive and obnoxious and doesn't deserve either of them.
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18 anna
January 19, 2010 at 4:20 PM
I've realized how some of these so-called "strong" female leads are only obnoxious and mean (whether it's unintentionally or due to a misunderstanding) to their one true ally, and always fall pray to the real evil ones. I find that most of characters like that turn out really annoying instead.
Uh.. I have no reason to be here really. I have never watched this before. LOL Nor am I planning to.
Pointless comment is pointless.
Kind of make me wonder which drama changes forever the future OTP of kdrama? Prince charming never gets the girl.
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19 Javabeans
January 19, 2010 at 4:26 PM
I will flat-out contest the point that Jang Nara picks Kim Rae-won.
SPOILER? ALTHOUGH AT THIS POINT, NOT REALLY
She chose to stay in Korea rather than leave with Kim Jae-won, but she was "with" Kim Rae-won ONLY in a platonic sense... They never dated and she said that she wasn't ready to leave him yet, but not that she was going to accept his romantic affections. By the time Kim Jae-won came back, it was like, "Oh, now we're a happy threesome? Wait, is she really not going to pick? REALLY? WTF?"
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20 fizzle
January 19, 2010 at 4:28 PM
See, this is why I read your site religiously! :)
I've gotta say, though, I'm with Samsooki on this one. Jang Nara won me over in Patzzi and besides the blah ending that left a bad taste in my mouth, I enjoyed the drama.
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21 MEIKO**** ^-^
January 19, 2010 at 4:31 PM
mmm.....good Samsooki vs Javabeans debate!!! ^_^
I kinda like this drama for it's light funny atmosphere...
I like JNR, is so adorable! and both male actors are cute...^_^
But I have to agree with Javabeans... JNR's character gets annoying sometimes, the ending isnt really great either.... there are loopholes...but over all, the drama is entertaining enough for me to watch...
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22 lst
January 19, 2010 at 4:33 PM
Awesome throwdown, looking forward to the next installment.
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23 momosan
January 19, 2010 at 4:34 PM
JB, I beg to differ!!!!
She's clearly with KRW - they are sitting on the bench and KJW asks "Does he treat you well?" and she says "you saw us - I'm going to change his rotten temper." And then KRW shows up and they start joking around. Including at the end the 2 guys walk off, KRW saying "I'll lend you to her for a month." "no, I'm such a busy man!" KJW saying "sorry I left you to this horrible fate." and KRW saying "are you sure you don't want her back...."
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24 Kay
January 19, 2010 at 4:35 PM
I'm with you Java, thanks for the post!
Now, waiting for Dahee answer, this is quite interesting!
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25 Penn
January 19, 2010 at 4:46 PM
LOL...I am loving this debate!!! We should have more of these. How about "Full House" as your next topic because I think it's overrated.
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26 soysauce
January 19, 2010 at 4:49 PM
I'm not interested in MLP as a whole and probably will never watch it, but I did enjoy both posts *waiting for dahee's* and thank you for putting this argument out. I really like it and hope that you guys can "battle" it out more often? :)
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27 kaedejun
January 19, 2010 at 4:50 PM
wow - so is dahee up next?
if it's true that boys tease the girl they like, and i (THINK) girls also tease or fight or hit the boy they like, then it seems that jang nara would end up with KRW
however, looking at the last scene, it looks like they all stay friends...
and i think if they all stay as friends, THAT upsets the usual kdrama trope where the girl ends up with a guy (or any guy)
i felt that in Hotelier, the lead girl (forgot her name) doesn't end up with the main guy, which i think is kim seung woo. instead, she ends up with bae yong joon, who seems to be more like second fiddle to me
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28 Javabeans
January 19, 2010 at 4:56 PM
Trust me, I LOVE Kim Rae-won so I was watching closely to see if he would get the girl... and was vastly disappointed when he didn't officially. The ending doesn't say she's NOT with him, but it never says that she IS. Hence the frustrating ambiguity, although it leans more to saying nobody is together romantically.
The key isn't so much in the last ten minutes but in the scene when Jang Nara decides not to go with Kim Jae-won. She comes back to Kim Rae-won and explains, "When you see me, do you get flustered and feel butterflies? I don't think I'll feel that with you, but right now I like being with you better. You told me to choose what's more important. I don't know if this is love or friendship, or a mix of them. But I like talking and fighting and being with you, so I didn't go."
A year later, their relationship is exactly the same as it has been the whole series, and there are no overt romantic overtones. Just the same old buddies as always. When she hears Kim Jae-won's coming back, she's excited and "feeling butterflies" which makes Kim Rae-won grumble, "Why does he leave and then come back, making you waffle back and forth?" Her reaction is not one of someone who is already going steady with Kim Rae-won. Also, she jokes that she can't cut herself in half, so she'll spend her time alternating between them -- again, not something she'd say unless she were single. Then the guys both get up and leave jokingly, saying she's too mean so they'll let her be single, which again would not make sense if she were actually dating Kim Rae-won.
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29 glencorajane
January 19, 2010 at 4:57 PM
I haven't watch this so I can't comment, but I will find it somewhere and watch it to check it out.
We should just accept that everyone has different taste in dramas. For some of the highest ratings drama in Korea didnt appeal to me at all.
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30 ColleenF-H
January 19, 2010 at 5:02 PM
Honestly, I have not sat through this drama, for some reason Jang Nara's acting style bothers and annoys me to no end. Whenever, I see Jang Nara in the cast no matter how interesting the plot I simply can not watch it, I find her that annoying. I tried watching because I find KRW completely endearing as an actor and lets be real he is awfully nice to watch.
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31 sophia
January 19, 2010 at 5:09 PM
LOL JB, samsooki, you guys made a very epic debate :D although, i'm sorry to say samsooki, i agree with JB. i'm a drama lover and i honestly don't have high standards for dramas, but i think My Love Patzzi wasn't that good. I liked it, but it didn't really leave an impression on me...
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32 momosan
January 19, 2010 at 5:12 PM
JB, I'll invoke the Shin Woo Law of the Airport - if the girl doesn't get on the plane with you, you've been dumped for the other guy.
I've expended my meager supply of Korean on the ending (patiently waiting reinforcements in the language department), but I contend that if the second guy asks "does he treat you well?" then you are, de facto, with the first guy. And as far as I can tell, KJW is asking that before KRW shows up at the bench.
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33 Susa
January 19, 2010 at 5:15 PM
I started watching MLP only last week...solely on the recommendation that it was a watchable romantic comedy (nothing else). I lasted five episodes before I skipped to the end. I could not stand the lead actress. As much as I love Kim Rae Won, he barely shines. And the ending, I actually thought, "Wow, the guys are a more likable couple together than either of them with the lead girl."
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34 Gems
January 19, 2010 at 5:22 PM
0_o I always thought KRW was the main lead in My Love Patzzi.
Today is just filled with revelations! I was so shocked that Samsooki is a male and married that I didn't even know how to proceed. My space and time continuum is greatly affected.
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35 ockoala
January 19, 2010 at 5:22 PM
@ momosan
"Shin Woo Law of the Airport – if the girl doesn’t get on the plane with you, you’ve been dumped for the other guy"
Word. Except it was worse in YB, Shin-woo got PWNED by a pig-rabbit, which as we all know, regardless of its uber-cuteness, is in fact an inanimate object! Which is what SW was at times anyways, so it was a fair fight.
As to the MLP ending - she picked Rae-won, but only as a punching buddy (did you see her wailing on him left and right), but Jae-won still made her heart flutter and she flirted with him. Ergo, she didn't pick, and if the drama gods have any sense of justice - the Kim Wons should go off together, as they sorta did in the ending.
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36 dee
January 19, 2010 at 5:23 PM
SPOILER
@kender: I know you addressed the question to samsooki but on my own opinion jnr chose krw when jnr chose not to join kjw abroad but stayed in Korea (or in the amusement park) :)
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37 Javabeans
January 19, 2010 at 5:26 PM
Did Jang Nara pick Kim Rae-won? Yes.
Was it romantic? No.
Are they dating? No.
Will they date in the future? Maybe, maybe not.
Will she date Kim Jae-won in the future? Maybe, maybe not.
Therefore, did she really "pick" one guy over the other? No.
Is this a satisfying ending? HELLS NO.
(The fact that this is a matter of debate just shows how frustrating the ending was, no?)
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38 yelibean
January 19, 2010 at 5:31 PM
LMAO!
I thought Kim Rae Won was the lead all along!
He wasn't???
I couldn't even get through half the drama because her character was so obnoxious. The same happened with her older drama, "Successful Story of a Bright Girl."
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39 koalabear
January 19, 2010 at 5:32 PM
loved the debate guys ^^ anyway I remember watching My Love Patzzi way back and though at first I didn't liked Jang Na-ra's character at all since I found her annoying at first but at the end I started to like her because she's true to herself and really speaks what she wants...sorry I can't give a reasonable comment since I haven't rewatched this in years, I've seen it way back when I was still watching Nonstop2 with Jang Na-ra as well...didn't also realize that Kim Rae-won was the second male lead here, I think it's because Kim Jae-won was more in demand then before Kim Rae-won rose to fame via Attic Cat (that's another story anyways)...but I think the drama is enjoyable, to me that is..
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40 momosan
January 19, 2010 at 5:32 PM
@ 35 ockoala - Jan 19, 2010 at 5:22 pm
>Word. Except it was worse in YB, Shin-woo got PWNED by a pig-rabbit, which as we all know, regardless of its uber-cuteness, is in fact an inanimate object! Which is what SW was at times anyways, so it was a fair fight.<
Well, belleza still owes me a screen, now you owe me a keyboard. That'll teach me to drink Dr Pepper while reading here. Snuck that one up on me, you did!
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41 ar
January 19, 2010 at 5:40 PM
i wonder if there were production issues. I realized that MLP is a pretty short series for a korean romantic comedy series...only 10 episodes. I wonder if it was cut because 1. lack of $$ or 2. bad ratings? or maybe it really was written with 10 episodes in mind..?
anyways, I didn't know Kim Jae Won was supposed to be the lead! I thought it was Kim Rae Won.
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42 more
January 19, 2010 at 5:40 PM
THE PROBLEM with Patzzi. was that all the charterers where 1 dimensional.
That makes for a boring drama
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43 Sere
January 19, 2010 at 5:42 PM
Huh. Now I'm tempted to watch it. XD
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44 hjkomo
January 19, 2010 at 5:52 PM
Sorry, Samsooki -
but I'm going to have to go with Clan MacJAVA on this one.
JNR did not end up with either guy (in a romantic sense).
@ momosan
"as the Axis generals learned, a 2 front war is bad enough, a 3 front war …..well, that’s worse than a 3 humidifier heart transplant needing birth secret cheabol twin with pneumonia and amnesia"
LMAO!!!! :P
@ JB
"My Love Patzzi is ultimately so benign that it neuters itself.
ROFL! :P
*note to self* - gonna have to work that one in on a future OT as OTLofW ->
"____ is ultimately so benign that it neuters itself." Hahaha
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45 rainerust
January 19, 2010 at 5:58 PM
Completely agree about the ending of MLP - it wasn't the first drama I watched KRW in, so like everyone else, I was expecting him to get the girl - except I realised, midway through the drama, that...KJW was supposed to be the OTP.
Still, I had hopes that KRW would eventually flip it around and since that never happened (and JNR NEVER MADE A CHOICE ARGH) I was, well, unsatisfied. I really thought they should have just both walked off and not stop for her. (The ending made me a little spiteful. Sorry.)
That said, MLP was an easy watch, even with the frustrating ending (although you will NEVER convince me to pick it up again). I do like JNR, especially in some of her other dramas (she did a cross-country one with China & Taiwan, which I enjoyed) and I love both KRW and KJW, but I don't think MLP is one of their best offerings.
Certainly, I could point out more than a few dramas in which they've (individually) acted in that have more depth (and sometimes, more comedy, fun, and romance) in them.
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46 tinysunbl
January 19, 2010 at 5:58 PM
this debate really brightens the gloomy weather here in Philly. It's just way too amusing to see JB and SK throwing glares at each other (in a good-natured sense) while some fans were poking in, being so confused "who is the lead of this drama?" LOL
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47 Taohua
January 19, 2010 at 5:59 PM
LOL! I was also one of the many people who thought KRW was the lead until someone mentioned it in passing on an OT or some other post long ago that KJW was the lead. Definitely WTH? moment. Was the drama for the most part enjoyable? Yes. But the ambiguous ending was frustrating (I was like that can't be the end right?) and so was JNR's character. I just couldn't connect with her emotionally and her back and forth relationship w/the guys was annoying. I was like pick somebody already!
On Sweet 18...I would actually rate that a much better drama than MLP because HJH and LDG had really good chemistry IMO. Sure it dragged and was somewhat cliche. But there wasn't heavy melodrama and how the relationship between the two unfolded was cute. I also wonder whether people's preference for MLP might correlate with when they watched it during their kdrama viewing lifespan. I know that if this had been one of the first kdramas I've seen, I wouldn't have had as many issues with it and probably would've enjoyed it more.
Thanks for the rebuttal JB!
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48 reluctantbutaddicted
January 19, 2010 at 6:00 PM
@ 32 momosan
"JB, I’ll invoke the Shin Woo Law of the Airport – if the girl doesn’t get on the plane with you, you’ve been dumped for the other guy. "
LOL! Perfect, and very true. The airport moment is the Moment of Truth.
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49 Celest
January 19, 2010 at 6:02 PM
Oh gosh. I feel bad now because I actually like this drama...
Sure it's no Coffee Prince but it had this weird charming, addictive pull for me. This was like a kdrama crack that I reveled in. But don't forget that this drama was made like what? 8 years ago? It's not a high budget piece either. Even now, MLP to me gives off that nostalgic feeling of an old romcom in which it was more com than rom.
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50 reluctantbutaddicted
January 19, 2010 at 6:05 PM
@ 34 Gems -
"Today is just filled with revelations! I was so shocked that Samsooki is a male and married that I didn’t even know how to proceed. My space and time continuum is greatly affected."
Deep breath. And don't eat/drink while reading (as Momosan points out above)--dangerous! It's a rollercoaster of emotions here.
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