Monday, April 5, 2021

Touching Kdrama Characters by Kim Kyung-Nam & Tang Joon-Sang & Kim Jung-Hyun

 It has been a while since I blogged. I also haven't been studying much Korean since I found out my office was closing. Work is busy with liquidation, and I'm exhausted when I get home. Still managing to get resumes out though, since I need a new job.

At any rate, I figured that if I blogged, maybe it would guilt me into studying some more. Aside for some vocab and some review, I've done nothing for about a week.


Come and Hug Me

Of course, I'm still watching kdramas and checking out kpop stuff. I started Come and Hug Me quite a long time ago, but it felt like it was dragging. I got bored about about 8 hrs in, and I stopped watching it. I intended to get back to it though, and I have.

Thus far, the character I'm most drawn to is the ML's older brother. He is just as much a victim of their father as anyone. Perhaps moreso. He has been so manipulated and emotionally abused that he tries to be violent to make his father proud... but it isn't in his nature. 

Look at his face when he stabbed his little brother (above). He is so shook. I feel so bad for him. I'm already sure that it won't be a very happy ending for his character. I feel bad about that. I also like the actor, Kim Kyung-Nam, who played a security officer in Where Stars Land as well:



Crash Landing on You

I wanted to watch something light while watching Come and Hug Me. So I went with Crash Landing on You. I forget that Netflix even offers kdramas, to be honest. So I've been trying to watch some here and there.

The story was fine. As mentioned before (Run-On & Kdramas: The Found or Chosen Family), one of my favorite things in dramas is when the characters make their own family. The best part of this drama for me was the bond the FL created with the North Korean soldiers. They were so sweet.








Romance is romance, but her relationship with the boys was so much more heartwarming and sweet in my view. The tough soldiers were all so soft for her, and she loved them so much. It was by far the best part of the drama, and I wish the drama had showed them somehow getting messages to each other too.


Another Best Part - Tang Joon-Sang
The character played by Tang Joon-Sang melted my heart completely. He did so well as the kid who had just joined the military and would be away from his family for a decade. The others looked out for him, but he seemed to be child-like. In North Korea, he looked sad almost always. So it felt like everyone tried to protect him.

I never cry in real life, but he had me crying throughout this drama. I mean, almost every time I cried, it was because of him. I have real trouble with themes of lost innocence and things of that nature. And this character just... got me.


First, they all went shopping for new clothes in Seoul. He didn't see anything he really wanted. Then he saw some kids his age wearing school uniforms and busking at a park. And he watched for a while before getting serious and saying that was what he wanted to wear. I don't even think it was supposed to be as sad as it was. But it was.


Second, everyone was upset at a pivotal point in the drama where the FL was in trouble. I didn't care really. Until he started crying and hid his face against another soldier. Man, he got me.


Third, when he is shown satellite images of his home town and started describing how pretty it is there and getting excited about each thing he saw. Then he saw his house and got teary asking if he could see his mom. I cried so much.

Now, full disclosure here. I haven't seen my mum in 9 years because we live so far from each other, and I don't think that's why I cried... but might be part of it. But I think most or all of it is the actor. He just killed his role.






Mostly though, I was just super sad for him. He got to be a regular teen for a while, playing games at the internet cafe and having fun. Then he had to go back to the no-fun life of a soldier. He said he could still see the video games on his ceiling when he got in bed at night, and that no longer having the internet was a "new hell". 

Of everything that happened in the drama, I was most touched by this character. I felt bad for him. I still feel bad for him. He had such joy and wonder... and lost it all.


And Another Part - Kim Jung-Hyun
I won't get into this one as much because this blog post is already super long, but I think Kim Jung-Hyun did an amazing job in this drama. His character seemed like a suave rich boy who could get just about any girl he wanted. Sort of... sleazy charm.



But as the drama continued, his character became so much richer. He truly was a sympathetic bad guy turned good guy, and I felt almost as bad for his character as the kid Tang Joon-Sang played.



I won't get into details here, but I sobbed my eyes out over him at least once in this drama too. Umm... maybe more than once. What can I say? I love a not-so-bad guy character I guess.

파이팅!


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