We have battened down our hatches for Hurricane Sandy - both Mr. Mousie and I have had our work close tomorrow and Baby Mousie's preschool is shut as well. Me being me, that means I need to pass the suddenly-freed time with a drama, preferably one I can binge on, as opposed to waiting for a slow slow drip of weekly eps.
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(Some gorgeous shippy caps and a bunch of thoughts)
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my newest marathonning obsession - last year's melodrama pa excellence, A Thousand Days Promise, starring Kim Rae Won and Soo Ae as the Universe's most deliciously dysfunctional and doomed lovers. I have just finished the first episode and just had to pause and come and gush. I was interested in this drama from the moment I've heard of it - I like the writer, I love melos, and I am a huge Kim Rae Won fangirl. But no way was I going to watch a drama whose premise was advertised as 'heroine is the world's youngest Alzheimer's suffer or similar' live - I have enough self-preservation. I was going to wait until it aired and I was able to know the amount of collateral damage. Only, with my short attention span, by the time the drama ended, I moved on.
Only now the hurricane is upon us, I checked this out on a whim and am hooked! I had a notion it was going to be a throwback to those old school melos with pure love and saintly heroine (not that there is anything wrong with that), but it's far far from that. In fact, I kinda find myself wishing the drama ditched the terminal illness thing entirely and just followed KRW and SA dealing with everything without that extra twist. Their relationship is equal parts dysfunctional and passionate - they are desperate for each other but also too afraid to commit.
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She is late for their tryst due to missed road signs (uh-oh, I know kdrama disease signs) but despite the anger, of course they end up in bed. I love that they cannot keep their hands (and other body parts) off each other. It adds a twist to have lovemaking interrupted by a call from his (sweet, dim) fiancee - and yet I ship these two fucked-up people like mad.
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The easy intimacy of long-term lovers. For kdramas that tend to be coy about the slightest hint of sex, this is...unusual.
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If Soo Ae is no pure virginal herpine, Kim Rae Won is no kdrama white knight - in fact, when the drama opens, we are already in the middle of their relationship - one with a built-in expiration date. Kim Rae Won is the rich boy arrange-engaged to a rich girl, who is carrying on a passionate and very physical affair with Soo Ae's struggling writer at the same time. Lest you think he is a cad taking an advantage of an unknowing Soo Ae, Soo Ae is fully aware of his status - they have a deal to break up once the date for the wedding is set. Dysfunctional enough yet? If not, how about this - she is the one who rejected marriage. He wanted to marry her, but there would have been a total nightmare of a family fuss and he could have been disowned and she said she didn't want to marry him. Basically, either one is afraid to commit one's soul first, however they commit their body - she said no to marriage, but you get the sense, she wanted him to override her and to try to convince her and push for it. And he wanted to marry her but he accepted her desire to not marry with a certain hidden relief at first (but it's so ambiguous - I think he would have been happy if she said yes to marriage, because then the responsibility for choice would have been in a way out of his hands - but he doesn't have enough self-confidence to push despite her words), only for it to drive him crazy, as he realizes more and more how necessary she is to him and fears how little he might mean to her. Their fight after he tells her the dates have been picked and loses his cool at her calmness and they both go for the jugular - it was even sexier than their make-out scenes.
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Their good-bye. She is so strong in front of him - telling him that if he calls she won't pick up, rejecting his help when she trips, walking straight out of his arms. But by herself, she breaks down. I love how their break-up is intercut with the scenes of their past together - past that was always haunted by the finality of eventual good-bye (even when, earlier, she could laugh about it since it seemed abstract).
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And yes, she is true to her word - she won't pick up his call (and he is true to his - he can't help but call her).
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I love her relationship with her younger brother (who I think is played by Yoochun's younger brother. Likeability must run in the family).
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He asks his mother whether he can break off the engagement because he doesn't love the fiancee and has someone else. This is going to go well. Does his Dad own golf clubs by any chance? (Yes, it's a Bali shout out, I can't help it :P)
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Neither KRW nor SA are particularly praiseworthy people but they are so deeply understandable to me with their flaws, their fears, their push-pull, their anger and defenses. And their passion. It is so rare for a kdrama to actually address the headiness of physical attraction that often underpins love, especially recent love - they are always in each other's space (and mmm, their chemistry) and it fits with the fact that these characters are actually a rare sight in kdrama - they are, with all their many flaws, utterly and completely grown-up.
Have a shippy MV:
(Some gorgeous shippy caps and a bunch of thoughts)
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my newest marathonning obsession - last year's melodrama pa excellence, A Thousand Days Promise, starring Kim Rae Won and Soo Ae as the Universe's most deliciously dysfunctional and doomed lovers. I have just finished the first episode and just had to pause and come and gush. I was interested in this drama from the moment I've heard of it - I like the writer, I love melos, and I am a huge Kim Rae Won fangirl. But no way was I going to watch a drama whose premise was advertised as 'heroine is the world's youngest Alzheimer's suffer or similar' live - I have enough self-preservation. I was going to wait until it aired and I was able to know the amount of collateral damage. Only, with my short attention span, by the time the drama ended, I moved on.
Only now the hurricane is upon us, I checked this out on a whim and am hooked! I had a notion it was going to be a throwback to those old school melos with pure love and saintly heroine (not that there is anything wrong with that), but it's far far from that. In fact, I kinda find myself wishing the drama ditched the terminal illness thing entirely and just followed KRW and SA dealing with everything without that extra twist. Their relationship is equal parts dysfunctional and passionate - they are desperate for each other but also too afraid to commit.
She is late for their tryst due to missed road signs (uh-oh, I know kdrama disease signs) but despite the anger, of course they end up in bed. I love that they cannot keep their hands (and other body parts) off each other. It adds a twist to have lovemaking interrupted by a call from his (sweet, dim) fiancee - and yet I ship these two fucked-up people like mad.
The easy intimacy of long-term lovers. For kdramas that tend to be coy about the slightest hint of sex, this is...unusual.
If Soo Ae is no pure virginal herpine, Kim Rae Won is no kdrama white knight - in fact, when the drama opens, we are already in the middle of their relationship - one with a built-in expiration date. Kim Rae Won is the rich boy arrange-engaged to a rich girl, who is carrying on a passionate and very physical affair with Soo Ae's struggling writer at the same time. Lest you think he is a cad taking an advantage of an unknowing Soo Ae, Soo Ae is fully aware of his status - they have a deal to break up once the date for the wedding is set. Dysfunctional enough yet? If not, how about this - she is the one who rejected marriage. He wanted to marry her, but there would have been a total nightmare of a family fuss and he could have been disowned and she said she didn't want to marry him. Basically, either one is afraid to commit one's soul first, however they commit their body - she said no to marriage, but you get the sense, she wanted him to override her and to try to convince her and push for it. And he wanted to marry her but he accepted her desire to not marry with a certain hidden relief at first (but it's so ambiguous - I think he would have been happy if she said yes to marriage, because then the responsibility for choice would have been in a way out of his hands - but he doesn't have enough self-confidence to push despite her words), only for it to drive him crazy, as he realizes more and more how necessary she is to him and fears how little he might mean to her. Their fight after he tells her the dates have been picked and loses his cool at her calmness and they both go for the jugular - it was even sexier than their make-out scenes.
Their good-bye. She is so strong in front of him - telling him that if he calls she won't pick up, rejecting his help when she trips, walking straight out of his arms. But by herself, she breaks down. I love how their break-up is intercut with the scenes of their past together - past that was always haunted by the finality of eventual good-bye (even when, earlier, she could laugh about it since it seemed abstract).
And yes, she is true to her word - she won't pick up his call (and he is true to his - he can't help but call her).
I love her relationship with her younger brother (who I think is played by Yoochun's younger brother. Likeability must run in the family).
He asks his mother whether he can break off the engagement because he doesn't love the fiancee and has someone else. This is going to go well. Does his Dad own golf clubs by any chance? (Yes, it's a Bali shout out, I can't help it :P)
Neither KRW nor SA are particularly praiseworthy people but they are so deeply understandable to me with their flaws, their fears, their push-pull, their anger and defenses. And their passion. It is so rare for a kdrama to actually address the headiness of physical attraction that often underpins love, especially recent love - they are always in each other's space (and mmm, their chemistry) and it fits with the fact that these characters are actually a rare sight in kdrama - they are, with all their many flaws, utterly and completely grown-up.
Have a shippy MV: