This drama filled my cup and it runs over. How beautiful, delicate, hopeful, and human was this ride! My only regret is not knowing Korean well enough to read the script book. This is a drama worth reading and rewatching. If anyone knows of any sites posting episode analyses, please share 😊In the meantime, dramabeans posted recaps (no analysis, just scene play-by-play), they're up to 14 now: https://www.dramabeans.com/shows/human-disqualification/
My Mister had more Korean family and cultural dynamics, I thought, maybe it was more appealing as the characters…
Great point! That closeness to reality is the best aspect of this drama. The fact that themes are explored from so many different angles, through all these different yet so-human perspectives, makes it so there aren't any throwaway characters.
Agreed with the color pallette too, everything just goes so well together here - the talent, their interpretations, the script, the music, the production design, it's all a great package.
My Mister had more Korean family and cultural dynamics, I thought, maybe it was more appealing as the characters…
Definitely, you see the Korean-ness also in the parent-child dynamics in Lost, along with what you mention. What I like, though, is that even tropes like the evil mother-in-law are turned on their heads, where she actually endears herself to the viewer, or the unfaithfulness is not shown as a power, revenge, or uncontrollable lust play, but instead as a catharsis. There are so many colors in the human experience, I love that this one is painting it with a different pallette than usual.
I've noticed a lot of people bringing up My Mister whenever they discuss Lost, but I've never watched My Mister.…
My Mister had more Korean family and cultural dynamics, I thought, maybe it was more appealing as the characters and their environments are more relatable. Lost is more ambiguous, esoteric (philosophically), and universal in its appeal - does that make sense? It's also quietly introspective, whereas My Mister was comparatively loud and in your face, it felt fake and forced to me. I didn't enjoy it, but I'm loving Lost.
Can this drama be more perfect, please? I love every character with their grayness and struggles, their little moments of release and happiness, their will to go on despite the weight of their existence. The fantasy the leads are creating for themselves is fragile and looks like it'll be short-lived. Bring on my heartbreak, this sadness ocean is sooo my jam.
This episode had me alternating between tears and screams of excitement. The leads *smolder*, and seeing their easy smiles today was so pleasing. These last few episodes have been a gift, and I can't wait to see how it wraps up.
Today's episode was a complete meal. I feel so satisfied. His loneliness and unraveling under the surface, juxtaposed with that champagne scene, had me crying for him. Wow. The parallels of the son and daughter taking care of their parents in need, and coming back to the beginning, hauled right back in by their commitments, or they own uncomfortable comfort zones where they can retreat.. Complete meal.
Bring on ep 11, the preview hinting seeking happiness in misery for the 4 leads, can't wait.
They used it for comedic relief which I get isn’t you cup of tea. But the way the villagers all criticized hyejin…
What I found interesting is that the villagers knew about it and they knew why she was abusing him, and they knew their attempts weren't effective at stopping it, but they didn't come out and say something earlier. Actually, they said they intervened to make them miss each other more, not to stop her from injuring him, so there's that. This episode was the last one for me. What amounts to domestic abuse played for laughs isn't actually funny to me. I was expecting that at least 11 episodes in we'd see the FL starting to mature, but I guess my expectations are too high.
We know it Cohen's song, but it wasn't until Jeff's version it reached no 1 in 200 countries. And it wasn't released…
Agreed, as I mentioned, that was for those that didn't know, because otherwise the article doesn't have proper context. And it's nothing to do with its popularity, irrelevant chart ranking, etc., the comment is about the lyrics and the association with the episode title.
In the third verse of “Hallelujah,” Cohen’s deadpan wit returns, offering a rebuttal to the religious challenge…
For all of its elements, the most striking aspect of the original “Hallelujah” recording, beyond the lyrics, is Leonard Cohen’s own vocal performance. Such lines as “I don’t even know the name” or “I did my best; it wasn’t much” are delivered with a wry, weary humor, creating a real tension between the verses and the soaring, one-word chorus. Those who know the song only through the covers that followed, many of which don’t include this section, would be surprised by the additional complexities in the original. The singing creates the sense of struggle, conflict, and resignation that then pays off in the song’s climactic, closing lines.
“This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled,” Cohen has said, “but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’ That regardless of what the impossibility of the situation is, there is a moment when you open your mouth and you throw open your arms and you embrace the thing and you just say, ‘Hallelujah! Blessed is the name.’…
“The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say, ‘Look, I don’t understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!’ That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.”
Ep 8's title had me curious, David and Bathsheba, and Min Jung's comment about Hallelujah being about their story.For…
In the third verse of “Hallelujah,” Cohen’s deadpan wit returns, offering a rebuttal to the religious challenge presented in the previous lines. “You say I took the Name in vain,” he sings. “I don’t even know the name.” He then builds to the song’s central premise – the value, even the necessity of the song of praise in the face of confusion, doubt, or dread. “There’s a blaze of light in every word; / it doesn’t matter which you heard, / the holy, or the broken Hallelujah!”
“A blaze of light in every word.” That’s an amazing line. Every word, holy or broken – this is the fulcrum of the song as Cohen first wrote it. Like our forefathers, and the Bible heroes who formed the foundation of Western ethics and principles, we will be hurt, tested, and challenged. Love will break our hearts, music will offer solace that we may or may not hear, we will be faced with joy and with pain. But Cohen is telling us, without resorting to sentimentality, not to surrender to despair or nihilism. Critics may have fixated on the gloom and doom of his lyrics, but this is his offering of hope and perseverance in the face of a cruel world. Holy or broken, there is still hallelujah.
Finally, the remarkable fourth verse drives this point home, starting with an all-too-human shrug: “I did my best; it wasn’t much.” Cohen reinforces his fallibility, his limits, but also his good intentions, singing, “I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.”
And as he brings the song to a conclusion, Cohen shows that for a composition that has often come to be considered a signifier of sorrowful resistance, “Hallelujah” was in fact inspired by a more positive feeling. “It’s a rather joyous song,” Cohen said when Various Positions was released. “I like very much the last verse – ‘And even though it all went wrong, / I’ll stand before the Lord of Song / with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah!’ ” (While the published lyrics read “nothing on my lips,” Cohen has actually almost always sung “nothing on my tongue” in this line.) Though subsequent interpreters didn’t always retain this verse, its significance to Cohen has never waned: Decades later, when he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he recited this full last verse as the bulk of his acceptance speech.
Ep 8's title had me curious, David and Bathsheba, and Min Jung's comment about Hallelujah being about their story.
For those that don't know, this song was written by Leonard Cohen (when he passed, he was tributed with a performance of this song by Kate McKinnon, with some heavy US politics allusions - this was in 2016... - and it was amazing) and this article from Rolling Stone has some great insights:
I'll paste a few excerpts below, the article is very long. Right when I was starting to feel it was getting a bit overused in the drama, everything clicks and makes this story even better.
Oh that's right! At least there no child in the middle here. Now I'm really looking forward to how they'll end…
Given this has no romance, I don't think I'll go beyond that for the leads. However I wouldn't mind at all if they bring each other back to life, more like a cross between A Man and Woman and Secret Love Affair.
I read somewhere on insta korean's comments on this drama, pretty much criticizing the show (plot) and the leads?…
RJY is an acquired taste, imo, he didn't impress me at first - Gong Yoo didn't either - but their skillful acting sells them. And RJY freaking *smolders* in this drama. And that's a fact 🤣 (jk) - he looks and carries himself like he owns the set. He takes up space! You can't help but pay attention. I love actors that can pull this off.
Nuanced is the key word, and I think it's a lot more, not a little. I know I'm in the minority here, but I couldn't…
I think I was let down by my own expectations. Idk why all the characters are so unlikable to me, except Kim Young Ok's. 😂 I'm still watching hoping it'll suit me better, I do love KSH in emotional scenes and I do look forward to him actually acting, rather than hamming it up for the camera lol. I'm trying to start the new Kim Min Jae one today, to see if it's more to my liking.
Agreed with the color pallette too, everything just goes so well together here - the talent, their interpretations, the script, the music, the production design, it's all a great package.
He: *RUNS*
Me: *dead*
Can this drama be more perfect, please? I love every character with their grayness and struggles, their little moments of release and happiness, their will to go on despite the weight of their existence. The fantasy the leads are creating for themselves is fragile and looks like it'll be short-lived. Bring on my heartbreak, this sadness ocean is sooo my jam.
Bring on ep 11, the preview hinting seeking happiness in misery for the 4 leads, can't wait.
“This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled,” Cohen has said, “but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’ That regardless of what the impossibility of the situation is, there is a moment when you open your mouth and you throw open your arms and you embrace the thing and you just say, ‘Hallelujah! Blessed is the name.’…
“The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say, ‘Look, I don’t understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!’ That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.”
“A blaze of light in every word.” That’s an amazing line. Every word, holy or broken – this is the fulcrum of the song as Cohen first wrote it. Like our forefathers, and the Bible heroes who formed the foundation of Western ethics and principles, we will be hurt, tested, and challenged. Love will break our hearts, music will offer solace that we may or may not hear, we will be faced with joy and with pain. But Cohen is telling us, without resorting to sentimentality, not to surrender to despair or nihilism. Critics may have fixated on the gloom and doom of his lyrics, but this is his offering of hope and perseverance in the face of a cruel world. Holy or broken, there is still hallelujah.
Finally, the remarkable fourth verse drives this point home, starting with an all-too-human shrug: “I did my best; it wasn’t much.” Cohen reinforces his fallibility, his limits, but also his good intentions, singing, “I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.”
And as he brings the song to a conclusion, Cohen shows that for a composition that has often come to be considered a signifier of sorrowful resistance, “Hallelujah” was in fact inspired by a more positive feeling. “It’s a rather joyous song,” Cohen said when Various Positions was released. “I like very much the last verse – ‘And even though it all went wrong, / I’ll stand before the Lord of Song / with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah!’ ” (While the published lyrics read “nothing on my lips,” Cohen has actually almost always sung “nothing on my tongue” in this line.) Though subsequent interpreters didn’t always retain this verse, its significance to Cohen has never waned: Decades later, when he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he recited this full last verse as the bulk of his acceptance speech.
For those that don't know, this song was written by Leonard Cohen (when he passed, he was tributed with a performance of this song by Kate McKinnon, with some heavy US politics allusions - this was in 2016... - and it was amazing) and this article from Rolling Stone has some great insights:
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/how-leonard-cohens-hallelujah-brilliantly-mingled-sex-religion-194516/
I'll paste a few excerpts below, the article is very long. Right when I was starting to feel it was getting a bit overused in the drama, everything clicks and makes this story even better.