Beans of Wisdom: Killer pilots and modernization

by DB Staff

This week in Beans of Wisdom…

Sue writes in “Beans of Wisdom: Reformed trucks and sassy titles” comment #16:

After reading all these posts about KDrama addiction (it’s real!) I’m wondering if we should start a KDrama anonymous. Hello, my name is Sue and in the past I’ve been know to watch up to 12 dramas at a time. I’m down to six, would prefer to be down to 3-4 dramas. I knew I had a serious problem when I went to my daughter’s PTCs and ended up spending an hour talking about Kdramas with her Spanish teacher. My daughter had told her about our Japan-Korea summer trip and she had waited to talk to me about it. She told me she has no one to talk to about dramas and I could feel her pain. Thank God my daughter was doing well in Spanish and talking about her school work only took five minutes of our time. At least I’m not as bad as a lady my mother met at her doctor’s. She told the receptionist that she was watching a Korean drama on our local PBS channel and she was adamant that she HAD to be done by a certain time because she HAD to watch her drama. Of course I would never do that, but then again I watch my dramas on the Internet. Will I ever be really free? Who knows, maybe a white truck of doom will hit me or amnesia will strike before that happens.

In “Fantasy romance Goblin secures main cast and PD,” JC talks about prickly reapers (#39 ):

Of course reapers are all grumpy. Their job requires them to do something nobody wants them to do, except for suicides and those are probably even more depressing. They are like the IRS for the soul. You try doing a job for multiple centuries where all of your clients hate you and see if you don’t end up just a smidge grumpy and cynical.

Plus they have really hectic schedules.

seehorce writes in “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo: Episode 1” comment #2:

*jumps in pool. waits for eclipse* *crosses fingers, bring on the water man brothel…*

Yoyo replies:

It was a good way to drown.

Chiisan adds:

Children, do not try this at home.

Blueribbon

No wonder she thought she was dead when she emerged. Looking at all those shirtless guys she probably thought she was in heaven. XD

While Zoe writes about the heroine in “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo: Episode 2” comment #17.1:

Honestly, I think less than lack of smarts, it’s mostly that she hasn’t adjusted to the situation or understood the whole idea of royal status, which is understandable imo. I would imagine she’d, especially in her anger, would view the situation as the equivalent of a high school boy spying on the girls’ changing room or something and confronts him in the same manner (especially when you think that Ha Jin is probably older than them.) Like she knows they’re princes, sure, but I’m not sure she truly gets the idea of consequences till that talk with her cousin. I found it v. realistic that she realizes at that moment that her actions have consequences because she kind of feels like she’s in a dream world, which isn’t really reality per se or as she knows it, and is treating it as such. That’s what came across for me, that her headiness has something to do with how she’s sort of convinced she’s invincible. And that’s what changes when she sees those men getting killed and gets captured herself and has a sword to her throat and realizes “I’ll really die,” as if it’s something she hadn’t realized till now.

And Ren writes about the hero in “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo: Episode 3” comment #28.1:

LJK’s character is actually a pretty uncommon romantic lead as far a kdramas go. I mean he just massacred a bunch of people at this point he is seriously unhinged and damaged. Like he’s way beyond the angst of a typical kdrama hero with issues at this point.

On the other hand they’ve also made him comically emo, with the black clothes, the hair covering half his face and the ugly phantom mask. I laughed at the scenes where all the princes sit around and moan about how much of a downer 4th Prince is and LJK enters to room dragging his feet being all like ‘eugh no one understands my pain..’

In the same post, Okdramas asks (#31):

Am I the only one concerned about the real Su? What happened to her? Where did she go?
Is she in her own rom-com drama about a Goryeo girl who travels forwards in time and must adjust to the 21st century ways of life while navigating the waters of modern dating with the present-day Lee Jun Ki?

Maybe she’s also decided to live out her life in the future because hello, electricity and cars and better make-up and lack of assassins.

pogo replies:

And indoor plumbing and easy access to painkillers (for period cramps), and if you catch the attention of the wrong boy at least you don’t risk dying.

(assuming she managed to avoid Ha-jin’s creditors and hasn’t been loan-sharked to death)

Okdramas:

Let’s not forget the difficulties of modern day life.

Maybe she’s struggling to tie her shoelaces and confused about how to open a zipper.

Also the whole get a job, make money, and no more slave girls thing has got to be confusing.

Poor real Su.

Nutini’s comment starts a discussion on the pros and cons of Goryeo life. In #77, Nutini asks:

I wonder how would a person feel suddenly being in different time, like no tooth paste, no running water and who knows what toilets looked like, at least people usually go back in time to be princes or nobles, so ay least get the best lifestyle available at those times

Hye Mi:

Ikr, what I appreciate most out of watching historical drama is that I am born into this era.

JoyBells replies:

Lol yeah. Better to land up in a nobles house as opposed to a slave i guess. I was thinking about how i would feel if i was transported back in time and my first and foremost concern would be non-availability of feminine hygiene products. Time of the month and i’m assuming they used clothes. Sigh….nope.

pogo:

My uterus is contracting in sympathetic horror at the thought of going through menstruation without the things we have now to get us through it.

I could handle the wonky family relationships, polygamy, and cumbersome clothes all right, but not even for Lee Jun-ki would I go back to a time before OTC painkillers and flush toilets.

loophole adds:

Honey, no number of Lee jun Ki can get me to choose that life. Because that’s saying no laptop, no feminine products, no wc, hanbok all the time. Thinking about it is even making me dizzy.

IvoryLight disagrees:

Oh I don’t know. LJK could be worth all that hehehe, he’d just have to convince me-and by that I mean probably breathe in my direction, say two words to me in that lovely melodic voice and stare at me for two seconds before I’d pack my bags and move to Goryeo.

Zoe has another point for Team 21st Century in comment #33:

I absolutely loved that scene when Su asked Wook to also sleep with the metaphorical lights on, because he may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. And how sorry she is that he had to kill for her, and he’s so startled that anyone would ask or care. I like it when elements of modern sensibility creep in so unnoticed in scenes like that. Especially because Wook deflects initially, and there’s the realization that just because they didn’t have a definitive name for it back then, doesn’t mean that people didn’t suffer or feel the same way even a thousand years ago, that killing or love or attraction or rejection didn’t affect them the same way. The scene with Eun, as comedic as it was, drove home the same point. I like the idea of human emotion as the unchanging constant.

CC101 reacts to Shin Sung-rok’s casting in “Liar Game rivals reunite in a love triangle in On the Way to the Airport” comment #1:

Once I find out who is going to be flying the plane I would return my ticket, leave all my luggage and try to get away from that airport as fast as I can without making any contact.
You know a actor is amazing when a character he played years ago, still has such a strong impact.

drivebyknitting has similar sentiments in #7

That last picture should be captioned “So many people to murder, so little time.”

While HeadsNo2 asks everyone’s question (in #6):

Why is this not news for Liar Game 2. WHY.

Alessar:

Because we didn’t save the country in a past life. \(;_;)/

mk says goodbye to a great show in “Age of Youth: Episode 12 (Final)” comment #11:

Age of Youth is about the hurts that haunt us. Wounds don’t magically get better because we stitch them up, it takes a lot of time. Sometimes they leave scars. We might forget what those scars are from but we know we went through something painful to get them.
[…]
Age of Youth leaves us with that sharp, cruel reminder that traumas aren’t overcome in days. It can take years, it can take lifetimes. But we’ve seen how healing comes with love and the people around us. We leave Yeeun on a terribly bitter note but we know from the other girls’ stories that eventually we can overcome. After all, Yeeun isn’t the same as she was in the beginning of the show. She isn’t alone. None of us are.

Amy adds:

I completely agree! The ending was perfect for me because of how (some might say painfully) realistic it was. Life isn’t going to be perfect for these girls just because the hidden drama cameras stopped running, it simply goes on with all its ups and downs. I just want to add on to your comment as well that this is exactly why the ending with the landlady and the song “Je ne regrette rien (I regret nothing)” was so perfect. The landlady reminds us that the girls will continue to live, grow, experience happy times and sad times, but will ultimately be okay. Whether times are happy or sad, life goes on. We can only move forward.

neener writes in “W–Two Worlds: Episode 12” comment #39:

Every epsiode really feels like an ending. That’s why I’ve stopped speculating what the ending would look like.

siesta points something out in “W–Two Worlds: Episode 13” comment #32:

face off. thank God for seat belts. but apparently the PPL does not include airbags

Michykdrama replies:

Because airbags would have gotten in the way of the acting and they would be shooting at the airbags rather than each other

Sancheezy adds:

I assume the airbag sacrifice itself for the good shot and action
“it’s not my time” whispered the airbag softly

siesta:

maybe it should join hands with Truck of Doom and they could like, build their own agency for rehabilitated plot tools

You mean this Truck of Doom?

In the same post, beanie writes (#56):

Am I the only one who thought that gun showdown between KC and the Killer was actually heartbreaking?

Like, he just murdered someone. He had killed that guy after a few shots, but he just kept on firing… even after the gun chamber was empty, he kept hitting the trigger. And then, after the gun was empty, he realized that he just killed a man.

There’s been such an emphasis this whole show on how he’s not a murderer — both dad’s plan and his involves someone else killing the Killer. He kills himself the first time he thinks he’s killed someone. And now in this episode, in his rage and grief, he just slaughters this guy in a raining hail of bullets.

That seemed like such a tragic moment to me. And with the music that was playing, it didn’t seem triumphant at all. It felt like he just lost.

Feel free to share the beans of wisdom you found in the past week in the comments below!

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