Odds and Ends: Rescue ninja

by javabeans

javabeans: Thanks to our readers, we have some questions to use as jumping-off points for this edition of Odds and Ends. Which question shall we tackle first?

girlfriday: I like this really open-ended question: If you were a heroine in a drama, what would you do? Um, do about what?

javabeans: Like, in general?

girlfriday: That’s the question.

javabeans: Hm. Well, I suppose I would start by eating a healthy breakfast before heading out on my day of rotating part-time jobs. Was that not what the question was asking?

girlfriday: I would make sure not to tie my shoes, so that I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to trip and kiss-fall on the handsome chaebol who rides my bus.

javabeans: And I would make sure to end my day by getting rip-roaring drunk so that I could get piggybacked home by the handsome chaebol who is moonlighting as my taxi driver for market research purposes.

girlfriday: I would make sure that I had no doppelgangers.

javabeans: And how would one ensure that? Does this involve murder? Because I have a tip for that.

girlfriday: Maybe? That tip doesn’t come from Gap-dong, does it?

javabeans: What, is the murderer going to get all uppity about where her help comes from? Do you want to go to prison, or do you want freedom and kisses?

girlfriday: These are my options? What about the amnesia loophole? I’ll take that and a twelve-years-later reunion with my first love instead.

javabeans: How about this question: Are there shows where you thought the ending was actually better than the beginning? That’s not as common as the reverse, but I know it’s been known to happen. Say with Dream High, which ended up a lot more heartfelt and sweet than I’d expected going in.

girlfriday: GAKSITAAAAAAAAAL. That ending just wins.

javabeans: Miss Korea? The difference isn’t as drastic in this case, but I did think it progressed on a slow but steady incline.

girlfriday: Ooh, ooh! Return of Iljimae! Because it kind of starts out weirdly, and at first you’re like, who’s this weird narrator chick?

javabeans: And then she turns into the highlight because she’s so witty and snarky.

girlfriday: Yes! I loved her! She was my favorite thing about that drama (other than Iljimae, obviously) and I’ve never seen another drama where the narrator had so much presence and narrative power to make me laugh or care.

javabeans: Another one for me is Who Are You too, the older one with Go Ara and Yoon Kye-sang. It starts cute and goofy but rather uneven, but by the end I was SO emotionally invested and gripped by these characters and totally overcome with the poignancy. I do think the opposite question of which dramas tanked in the end is way easier to answer. But maybe that’s a question that doesn’t require us to answer.

girlfriday: Yeah it’s much more fun to come up with the rare examples where a drama goes out on a higher note than when it came in, since we’ve all lived through our share of tepid, careless, haphazard, or totally nonsensical endings. That’s not even counting the ones that make us angry.

javabeans: I’m so insulted when the dramas clearly just give up. If YOU couldn’t care enough to put together a decent ending, why should I care to watch it?

girlfriday: Right? Except it comes at the end, so you don’t know you’ve wasted 20 hours until that last hour comes around.

javabeans: Oh I haaaate when one bad episode sours the entire watching experience retroactively. You might think one bad hour is just one bad hour, but if that ending is where you were heading all this while, then I feel duped for having faith in you, God’s Gift.

girlfriday: Or, you could go the way of My Sassy Girl 2 and create a sequel that negates the premise of the universally beloved rom-com classic of your generation. You could do that.

javabeans: Aghhhhhhhhhhh why would you do that why why whyyyyy. I mean, it’s bad enough to create a sequel that will almost assuredly not live up to the original. That’s bad enough. But if you give Cha Tae-hyun a NEW sassy girl to fall in love with?! You’re ruining both the new movie and the old one! You have pissed in your own pool right from the start so ain’t no way I’m swimming there.

girlfriday: Is this really happening? Are they going to make this movie?

javabeans: Maybe it could work? Maybe it won’t be terrible? Maybe it will even be better than the original?

girlfriday: Maybe someone knows a ninja we can hire to break into the producer’s office, wipe every hard drive, and light every copy of the script on fire? Anyone up for the job?

javabeans: Not me, but I’d give money to that Kickstarter.

 
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