Beans of Wisdom: Blessings and curses

by mary

[You may recognize mary’s name around these parts, since she’s been a longtime reader, commenter, and Song Jae-rim’s most prominent ambassador of appreciation — and also frequent wise bean contributor. So we’re happy to bring her onboard the Dramabeans team, where she’ll be doing a lot of her magic behind the scenes, though you’ll see her around in posts as well. And now, for the comments of the past week! –javabeans]

 
This week in Beans of Wisdom… it’s mostly about luck, prayers, and curses as the fickle Drama Gods play with our hearts and OTPs.

Kender starts the week with her theory on what’s special about the lead pairing of Beautiful Gong Shim. In “Drama viewership ratings for the week of May 16-22, 2016” at comment #5.1.12, she writes about Namgoong Min’s Ahn Dan-tae:

He’s such a weirdo, too, which I love. Usually Kdrama leads are either cold with a gooey center or rough but with a heart of gold, but he’s just so strange and different, he’s absolutely hilarious to watch.

Gongshim is similar, for that matter; she may think she’s normal, but the truth is that she’s super weird, too. And I love her for it.

I CANNOT WAIT until our two weirdos get together, let me tell you!

Well, I’m sure that when the leads get together, Kender will be the first to know because Gong-shim’s crew is filming right in her neighborhood. Lucky her. Can we call this Beans of Jealousy instead?

Meanwhile, I’m sure this is a problem faced by many fans who haven’t gotten Namgoong Min’s murderous characters out of mind yet. loophole said in “Beautiful Gong Shim: Episode 1,” comment #31:

I don’t know, but I keep looking at every corner and any secret door at Namgoong Min’s house. Can’t help but think he might have someone locked up again.

In “Mirror of the Witch: Episode 3,” Ikhh connected some old dramaland dots at #4 between Yoon Shi-yoon and his hateful stepmother character:

I felt so weird watching takgu’s beloved mother became jun’s evil stepmother

jomo:

I thought the same thing!! She LOVES him, why is she sooo mean?
They probably loved doing those scenes together, too.

earthna:

Yes! They loved each other so much in Takgu so when she’s being evil to Jun here, I scream at my screen “No! He’s your son!!”

Dramaland likes to toy with our emotions, don’t ya know?

Learn from the cautionary tale of MistyIsles. In “Mirror of the Witch: Episode 4,” she wished for more curse action in comment #6, but forgot to specify how much.

Drama: I will kill everyone you love.
Me: ooh, fun stuff. Love a good curse.
Drama: *enacts curse.*
Drama: *kills (almost) every side character I love.*
Me: wait no.
Me: I didn’t think you meant literally.
Me: auugh stooooop!!!
Drama: *stabs both leads with arrows for good measure.*
Me: *cries over (spoiler redacted) for days.*
Me: who do you think you are? Gaksital?
Despite it tearing my heart out, though, I am absolutely loving this show. It’s shaping up to be exactly the sort of dark fairytale I was hoping for.

Please stop tempting the Drama Gods, MistyIsles.

Speaking of blessings, you know you’re lucky when your only problem is what to call a two-episode extension for a show you like, as shown by the discussion in “Oh Hae-young Again climbs in ratings, gets 2-episode extension.” Started by (in my Unbiased Opinion) the wisest beanie ever, mary, in comment #4:

So are they calling eps 17-18 Oh Hae Young Again Again?

to which Lime Chilli replied:

Or “Oh Hae Young Again, Still”

followed by Lola:

Another Another Miss Oh.

and a final option by Alessar:

Another Oh Hae Young Again!

In “Drama viewership ratings for the week of May 16-22, 2016,” risa notes (#10.1.1) in reference to Oh Hae-young Again and tvN:

Yes, the drama landscape has been so much better since they cam along. I’ve come to think of tvN as “tv for Noonas”.

Jokes aside, Oh Hae-young does generate a lot of insightful discussion on love and life. In “Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 7,” Miranda gives us a good analogy on why our Oh Hae-young’s relationship with Do-kyung is more complete than his previous one with Noh Hae-young. In comment #14.2.3:

The problem with DK and Pretty is that while they connect on all other levels, they SUCK at communication.

We’ve seen that DK’s default is stoic silence, even when it would be much better to say something. We’re a little blind to it because our OHY tends to goad him into action or speaking, so we get a practically chatty version of him. When you think that stoic DK was paired with superficially bright Pretty, who likely actively avoided any sort of negative conversation, you end up with two people completely unprepared to handle a conversation about the nature of pity within love.

I think it’s especially interesting that Pretty claims she smiles through tears because DK doesn’t like her crying. That’s not something we’ve seen in his interactions with our OHY – he silently tends to her and sits next to her, but doesn’t offer any overt comfort. Maybe Pretty is so hyper attuned that she read that as rejection, whereas our OHY seems to know exactly what it is: sympathy and care taking.

If you envision a relationship as a sphere, it feels like DK’s natural setting is to only color in a small portion of his half. Pretty seems to have filled her half and expanded into his to make up for the gaps, but our OHY basically insists that DK color his own damn half in. She is not afraid to point out his flaws and his shortcomings, and I think Pretty’s instinct was to cover DK’s shortcomings. That a good trait when presenting a united front as a couple; it’s not so good when it’s happening inside the relationship, because then it’s fragile and can be easily shattered.

Then in “Oh Hae-young Again: Episode 8,” Callie shares her thoughts on how to love (and cross the road) in comment #24:

Ugh, such a bittersweet conversation. He’s so close but he’s still too afraid of what he’s feeling to admit it. And she won’t accept it until he meets her halfway. Both the instances of her walking into traffic and him being unable to cross because of the bicyclists felt so symbolic of their relationship. He wants to go to her, but he just can’t, there’s too many obstacles in between them. Even when the bikes were gone, he remains on the opposite side of the path.

Meanwhile, Jackpot beanie Itenoria is having an epiphany in comment #11 of “Jackpot: Episode 18”:

I think we’ve been had. Dae Gil isn’t the lucky one with the jackpot fate. That honor belongs to In Jwa. Get imprisoned but not tortured, Jackpot. Get almost beheaded, but Choi Sukbin dies and the messenger gets to the execution ground in time, Jackpot. Yeoning almost beheads you anyway, but is stopped by his guard, Jackpot. Almost get sentenced again but Sukjong collapses, leaving the crown prince to make the decision, Jackpot. Almost get cut down by one of the best swords master in Joseon but the girl whose father you killed and who you raised on lies, hatred and revenge sacrifices herself, Jackpot. Almost get cut down anyway, but the one man who should wish your death the most, who you’ve tortured and broken every bone in his body, whose father you’d kept imprisoned all the while making him think he’s dead, whose life you’ve gone out of your way to make miserable, suddenly has the epiphany that the girl he’d declared he wasn’t going to marry due to her connection with you, the one he’d pushed on to his little brother, died for you and therefore you mustn’t die, Jackpot.

In Jwa, you lucky you. Truly, your very essence is a Jackpot.

Bashful83 thinks it’s not luck that’s helping the villains but a general lack of competence and budget mismanagement:

But palace security ALWAYS sucks in EVERY sageuk – regardless of which dynasty is in power.

I mean seriously – most of the palace guard should be attending disciplinary meetings for failure of duty. Continuously.

Just think of the money which could have been saved by not having any walls.

But wall or not, bmore predicts the exact moment when lucky In-jwa will fall. Just read comment #22:

Not sure what is worse, her and the entire waste of her character, or the repetitive and highly predictable inability of anyone to stop Lee In Jwa. I detest these kind of characters and these kind of scenarios in kdrama and sageuk is rife with them. Episode after episode of him being smarter than everyone else, smirking his way through every scene, until episode 23.5 when he is suddenly not smarter and some nonsensical out of the blue solution to defeating him happens.

Some shows like “Dear My Friends: Episode 4” are blessings in themselves for giving us a better appreciation of other people. As Purple shares in comment #8:

I cried while watching this episode, it contained so much feels.

I’m used to seeing the actresses as mothers and grandmothers in other dramas, and it’s a welcome change to see them being their own person, and having their own stories here.

In the same episode, wise beanie Gina reminds us that our bodies may grow old, but our hearts can stay young forever:

I love this drama. How it portrays the older generation is by far the best I’ve ever seen, anywhere, anytime, from any culture.

I’m much closer in age to the older set of this drama than the young ones. No matter how long we’ve walked the planet, we possess same heart we had when we were 20-something, just a tad more complex because of the decades piled on.

Well said, Gina. We’ll keep those precious words in mind (and heart)!

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