Beans of Wisdom, with a side of carbs

by javabeans

The Beans of Wisdom are awfully starchy this week, but only in the best way—the drama news has been carb-loaded, and it’s only fitting that the comments follow suit.

Of course, there are a good mix of other comments too, but why describe when you can read? Without further ado…

“EXO’s Suho stars in fantasy romance drama” was all about a drama titled How Are You Bread and a magical bakery that makes pastries that grant wishes. I’d say the jokes just write themselves, but really, that’s you guys.

shinayame kicked things off in comment #2.1:

Great, now someone needs to cast Yoon Doo Joon in a drama as the Overlord of Rice and we’ll have all the major carbs covered.

Heh, imagine that, the Noodle God, Bread Master, and the Rice Overload, trapped in an eternal battle to find the supreme Ruler of Calories!!!

Why, yes, I have been watching too many superhero crossovers.

Followed by YY in comment #5:

You might want to check out some other new dramas:

Descendants of the Bun
Goodbye Mr Black Toast
Jampot

Then the drama added a cast member (“Lee Se-young stars opposite Suho in fantasy drama”). Here’s Wag_a_Muffin in #12:

“How are you Bread?”
“Rising to meet the day. How are you eggs?”
“Cracking good, Gromit. How are you fish?”
“Swimmingly. How are you jelly?”
“Life’s been a bit sticky lately. How are you. . .?”

I picked risa’s comment in “Spill the beans: Language appreciation, real world escapism, and cat blaming” (at at #1.1) because the story was very cool, and because I agree that these stories are wonderful ways to connect with each other:

I always love reading these stories and finding more points of connection with my fellow Beanies. I also really love that many of the stories are filled with poignancy and/or humor. The story about Bob (clever name for a cat, btw) is now one of my favorites. It sure does seem that Bob is one very wise cat who knew exactly what Cathy needed.

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

Here’s acciodramas in “One More Happy Ending: Episode 10” at comment #36:

Time of death: 12:36a.m, Tuesday, April 19.
Cause: Conan O’Brien popped out of nowhere in a Korean drama. IN A KOREAN DRAMA. (Said user has watched a lot of Conan O’Brien interviews on YouTube. May have a slight interest on aforementioned Conan O’Brien. Definitely still in shock and is experiencing bouts of unsuppressed laughter after she rose back to life.)

sparkzy had some good insights in “Running Man: Episode 294” at comment #6.2:

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I just really miss the straightforward nametag eliminations.

However, I do think one of the challenges with RM now is that the cast members are getting older, and may not be able to physically keep up with the original premise of the show. In the newest episode (the one that came out yesterday), they do address this issue and have a pretty frank discussion about it.

It does bring up a good point– is the magic of variety shows in the format, or is it in the chemistry of the individuals? I know most will say that it’s both, but the history of variety shows seems to conclude that the format tends to be more important (see 1N2D with several seasons w/ cast change-ups, return of superman going through several families, Rules of the Jungle going through several casts). On the other hand, Infinity Challenge is a show that is more individual and character based, although they have gone through some minor cast changes. I just think Running Man is at that point now where they’re going to have to decide if this will be an individual/character based show, or a format-based show.

Andrea said in “Drama Hangout: Ms. Temper and Nam Jung-ki” in comment #57.1:

“Everyday feminism”, that’s a great descriptor! I really appreciate that too.

I also really appreciate that our male lead is a big departure from most male leads. You could almost say that Nam Jung-gi has a lot of “stereotypically female” traits: he’s timid, he’s sensitive, he is patient and kind, he’s hard-working yet under-appreciated, he has warm family ties, he’s affectionate, caring and empathetic. I love seeing a man like this get screen-time — leading man screen-time, nonetheless!

Lindy12 shared a cool historical fact in “Chae Soo-bin up to play Park Bo-gum’s princess in Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” at comment #6.2.1.1:

I recently read excerpts from a book called Women in Korean History which describes a young woman who was chosen to be the queen on King Injo’s son, Crown Prince Sohyeon. I guess her family was pleased about it but she was so determined not to be queen that she showed up at court behaving like a madwoman, displaying horrible manners and making herself as unpleasant as possible. It worked, she was sent home and later married another man. The king later realized he’d been tricked and acknowledged he’d been cleverly out-maneuvered. Has this story ever been dramatized? Because this is one drama I would love to see.

Itenoria in “Jackpot: Episode 8” at #7:

I think this drama needs a name change. We should start calling it Transferred. There’s transferred aggression on the part of In Jwa who can’t kill the king so he goes after his sons (the big bully!), transferred guilt on the part of Dam Seo who knows she’s partly responsible for the little girl stealing and getting killed and instead places the blame on Yeoning, transferred anger on the part of Jin-ki who’s angry at the king and would blame it both on the alcohol (seriously, what did that innocent drink do to you?) and Chae-Gun (where flashback has shown that they used to be close. What else did he expect the guy to do? He’s a member of the royal guard for crying out loud. Was he meant to just stand there when you were going after the king? *confused) and transferred motivation on the part of Chae-Gun who has decided that he’s now going after the same king he’d sworn to protect because what? The man had had Jin-ki arrested for trying to get him killed? Isn’t that a good thing considering he could have just beheaded the guy immediately? And then there’s Dae Gil with the transferred skill set who seems to believe getting better at swordsmanship would make him a better gambler. Pfft. He should just admit that he wants to better his chances of actually cutting In Jwa (seeing that nobody has been strong enough to do so yet. Seriously show? A wooden sword subdues a metal one? What is it? Did the metal sword have a blunt blade?)

As far as I’m concerned the only one without the transference is the king. Wait a minute. I think I’m wrong. He transferred kingly power and all its responsibilities and troubles to one son and gave military might to the other so he can stand guard and be his bodyguard with the magical excalibur that would destroy all his enemies. What do you mean the sword isn’t excalibur? What else would it be? How else would Yeoning, the man who couldn’t defeat a wooden sword be able to take on the assassins coming for the king? It has to be excalibur!

Here’s Lindy12 again in “Entertainer: Episode 1,” comment #23:

I was pleasantly surprised by Entertainer as well. I love the fact that Soek-ho is the architect of his own doom. Sure he’s stabbed in the back by people he trusted (if trust is the right word because people like Soek-ho don’t really trust, they manipulate) but their betrayal is understandable. He doesn’t listen to what people are saying to him, doesn’t give them credit for seeing through his bs so it’s easy for them to be disloyal. Even the slimy tactic of keeping him in jail via a phony insurance claim is probably a trick the manager has learned at the feet of Soek-ho himself. This makes a refreshing change from the usual poor, innocent naif brought low by unrelenting forces of evil and then have to follow the iron k-drama rule of spending the rest of his or her life exacting revenge.

It’s great to see him brought low because he is such a jerk who thinks other people are as venal as he is. But there is a principle in screenwriting called “saving the cat”. This comes from a 1940’s movie in which a contract killer in town for a job, not a nice guy at all, is first introduced to the audience when he rescues a tiny kitten in peril, feds it milk and arranges for its care. So he’s a killer for hire but he likes kittens so we like him. Soek-ho is like this; he has a real relationship with Min-joo and he’s attached enough to Jinu to cry when he’s abandoned in the chatroom. I loved Namgoong Min’s character in Remember – Son’s War but I wished I could have also liked him if you get the difference.

ObsessedMuch has an optimistic approach to watching something that perhaps isn’t quite what was hoped for in “Entertainer: Episode 2” (#10):

This drama is everything you could predict but it also has something that makes me listen to my heart which wants me to keep watching it, instead of my head which says there is nothing new here.

What is that ‘something’? Maybe it is Ji Sung. Maybe it is Min Hyuk. Or maybe it is the songs.

It might just also be the belief that if a hero (/ anti- hero) started so low in our likeable scale, the only way forward is the way up. I am looking forward to how Shin Seok Ho changes for the better and helps himself and people around him. Basically, I am in for the ride because I can see the potential here. And things can only get better now.

So here is to optimism. Looking forward to next week.

P. S.- It also helps that Ji Sung’s character looks like a cross between Shin Se Gi and Perry Park from Kill Me Heal me.

At #20 in the same recap post, Cozybooks said:

So, I’m really actually liking Entertainer so far, but for different reasons than I first thought I would (ie Ji-sung in all his glory). In both episodes now I can’t help but think about the Youths Over Flowers Iceland recaps, when they would talk about how hard it was first starting out and everything they did to get going in their career. How much someone has to love music to do that. And that’s really the vibe Entertainer gives–that here is a band of people who love music, who are willing to go to great lengths to surround themselves with it, and the struggles they go through to share it. It makes me wonder how many people there are in the world right now struggling to do just that. Maybe I’m just romanticizing, but I’ve got believe some people think this way–otherwise we would have hallyu stars reminiscing about it on top variety shows.

And then we’re back to carbs! This time we move from bread to noodles, and really, I wanted to link to this whole post because you guys were on a tear. In “Friends, noodles, and revenge in Master–God of Noodle’s teasers,” I’d noted that the title of the drama was God of Noodle, as in one noodle. You guys rose to the occasion, and here are just some of the excerpts.

pogo got right to it at comment #1:

One noodle to rule them all, one noodle to find them….

andromeda_kia:

One Noodle to bring them all and in the Broth bind them

mary:

in the Land of Dramas, where the ramen lies.

YY:

With a WHOOSH the wok comes to life
“I will get my reven-” the noodle cries
His last words before he splutters and dies

Just a bit farther down, Kaybee said at comment #10.1:

How bad do I want to watch a drama called Rise of the Planet of Noodles now? I’m sure it would be ramyazing.

But how would a noodle get revenge? Choke someone to death? I’m pretty sure it would die in the process. The Noodle must be one tough cookie to go for a suicide mission like that.

andromeda_kia:

Ugh, that got me thinking more and I had to get it out of my system.

The Noodle then travels to Slimido( the Noodle version of Silmido) and then gets trained by this limp noodle who was once a strong noodle. You could even include 100 dips in soup broth in the training routine.

In the end you have an Anaconda style noodle to get revenge.

YY:

The noodle’s way of getting revenge is to split himself up into more noodles: 6 to be precise. The Six Flying Noodle Doughgers will whisk through the air and lodge themselves into the enemy, that is, if they do not dry up midway.

Kaybee again:

My mind is now busy imagining an Anaconda Noodle Hydra. Cut off one bit and and two more will grow – it’ll be the longest Revenging Noodle the world has ever seen!

Maybe who Noodle really wants revenge on is Pasta? You know, for stepping on it’s turf and all? Maybe Noodle is really insecure, somewhere deep down in it’s noodle-bowels, and is afraid that it’ll be replaced? Or maybe it’s jealous of Pasta’s status? The Noodle is such a complex character.

Still in the “Friends, noodles, and revenge in Master—God of Noodle’s teasers” post, museofmanymasks said in #25:

Jo Jae-hyun is a culinary master who created a noodle empire/restaurant chain, murdering our hero’s father along the way for his secret recipe. Chun Jung-myung, who once shunned the way of the noodle, must get close enough to kill him by becoming his protege. This requires rigorous training because Jo is elitist scum, and Chun’s noodles not only have to be delicious but also have to disguise the taste of the specially brewed poision that will take Jo Jae Hyun’s life, for “those who live by the noodle will die by the noodle”. (Bonus points if Chun has a logic-defying, comic-inspired immunity to the poison.)

If I’m right, do I get a prize?

And Alex at #26:

His noodle brings all the boys to the yard!

He could teach you, but he’d have to… bring down his enemies in an inferno of vengeance that will shake the very foundations of the hospitality industry.

(Damn right it’s better than yours!)

Bravo, everyone.

 
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