Why why why are more people not watching this? It’s a show set in 1930s Korea! And with an awesome cast and crew! And is easily found subbed! I need more people to flail with!
Chi Ho’s penchant for kneeling to Byuri, whether she is a grimy street urchin he rescues from a labor gang, or a gorgeous cleaned-up version clad only in his giant-on-her shirt (and he is about to be dragged away by the cops) is basically killing me. The kneeling is both because he feels he must expiate and to be on her eye level (because he way towers over her) and I am just quietly dying in the corner, here.
Also, you know what really gets me? His career is over, he is probably going to be jailed and he knows he is going be tortured by the cops - and he still manages to smile at her. How do you expect me not to ship them drama, how?
You know, I am getting such wonderful Chuno flashbacks - because in Chuno, PD Kwak gave me Song Tae Ha - another character who we met late, and who suffered a fall from the top of society to the bottom, but maintained his incredible integrity through it all. Woobie issues are sexy. A spine is sexier. But you know what is sexiest, as far as this gal is concerned? Unshakable honor.
I think it’s pretty clear that as of ep 6, my favorite character, by about 20 miles, is Chi Ho. I admire courage, so even if his act of defiance was impulsive, in-the-heat-of-the-moment thing, I’d have still liked him for it. But to deliberately flout the Japanese regime - to not only refuse to bow to the flag/say the pledge, but walk out in front of everyone, fully knowing what that would mean - and to keep to his course, unswerving - that takes such an insane amount of guts, I have no words.
And to me, it’s all the more remarkable is that he has not personally been damaged by the Japanese - it’s not as if he’s Byuri, whose father was killed by their forced labor program, or San who can’t get a proper education due to the system - Chi Ho is a star player rolling in money and prestige - his face is on a million advertisements, and if he wanted to, he could have a different gal every night. But he still walks away. And I love that that. So much.
(Also, I loved the twist that it’s San who buckles down, who pledges and bows to the flag, who is the new face of advertisements and darling of the establishment. Trust PD Kwak to flip everything, including every drama expectation, around).
I wish I could care that Lee Elriya’s character has now seemingly switched her affections to Chi Ho, but other than wishing Chi Ho gets whatever/whoever makes him happy, I am rolling my eyes.
It’s a pity that in a drama with so many interesting and/or nuanced characters, the sole wet blanket is the heroine. My problem with her is not that she is ladylike, but that she seems to have no depth of character or convictions (Un Nyun in Chuno was a consummate lady, but I adored her because despite not knowing how to fight and being concerned with propriety, she managed to get involved in a conspiracy, protect one of the heirs to the throne, and go on the run with a man whom half of Joseon assassins were hunting, without being a hindrance or a complainer. Not to mention she was a former slave so she knew plenty of hardship. You stick heroine of Basketball into Chuno, she would either get killed asap or throw such a fit as to get everyone else killed).
Despite her hasty article in ep 3 (which caused her no consequences and was factually wrong, to boot), the heroine has never struck me as a revolutionary, either, so her sudden penchant for Chi Ho now that he’s been brutalized by the regime, does not scream “she has a yen for him because he is fighting oppression”* but more that she seems to have a penchant for slumming - liking San when he was a broke nobody and Chi Ho a star, and now swapping to Chi Ho when he is an outcast and San is a popular athlete. Not something I find awesome.
* Even that would not put her in too good a light, because she seems to be the type to egg others on to do things detrimental to their well-being, without taking that risk herself. I don’t see her skipping the pledge, or even leaving her father’s super-comfortable house, the comfort bought by cooperation with the Japanese and mistreating his workers.