AnotherSeason

I decided to give this drama a start after 4 years of anticipating that it would be a disappointment. It didn’t let me down in. Coupled with seeing Ha Ji Won playing the same character for the umpteenth time, I had to put up with the gender bender stereotypes, the cliches of kick ass heroine and her abominable actions passed off as on par with the guys, and the everybody loves me syndrome. This historical accuracy is so distorted on the main characters it’s laughable.

1. The portrayal of black men is abhorrent: words towards the African man on his sexuality and the amount of kids he has, the roughhousing in the factory, the self-deprecating demeanour and language of the assistant (same African man).
2. The nonchalant mistreatment of the immigrant workers as comedy is not just not funny. Let’s bring up assistant asking for rightful breaktime. Then let’s sweep it under the rug as a boss gotta do what he gotta do. Still he’s their saviour? So confused.
3. I don’t even have enough words to describe the self-righteous attitude and behaviour of the pregnant girlfriend toward boyfriend’s mother. I feel she’s written as society’s POV telling mother to reign in her desire and decision to fight for herself. Honestly, I get angry and frustrated just thinking of the implications of this character and that for one so self-righteous she’s lived a very pampered life.
4. The horribly sexist portrayal of male characters as comedy is way too WTF. I don’t like sexism in any form whether towards men or women. If this is not the case, the writer is being lazy and just milking the political climate or is making light of the issue of role men play. Still confused.
5. The messy and not very thought out portrayal on women’s issues that the show banks on is really too makjang. That this is not #ownvoice writing says it all.

IKR. I find this drama sends a lot of mixed messages and some very bad ones. In the wake of the #metoomovement and aftermath, I understand the writer wanting to tackle such issues and more, but, wow, so poorly handled. Look below for spoiler:

Congrats My Misterfor being the highest rated show by number of viewers!

I'd be surprised if this gets made at all.

Thanks for the article. I really appreciate reading your thoughts and it got me to thinking. I will have to beg to differ on your ideas though. I think that comparing Tia Mu to Kimura is like comparing apples to oranges.

SPOILER-ISH!!!

Kimura was not never intended to be the hero and was never written to make the choices that you are suggesting. He never had the opportunity to have motivations or choose outside of the character mold. He was never intended to be the hero of the nation (I don't think he was even Korean) but Tia Mu was meant to be the heroine of the nation and a beacon of socialist ideals - not humanist ideals as you are suggesting. I don't think Tia Mu would have made the same choices to save Japanese children as she did the Chinese children. She was written this way and, again, she is the Chinese socialist ideal as a woman. Compare her to Yu Hao who was given more agency than her and who was written to be the real hero of the story. Yan Zhi, our heroine, behaved in self-serving ways and also chose to become a KMT officer whose course needed to be constantly corrected by the ultimate hero Yu Hao.

Tia Mu never had the opportunity to become like Kimura and visa versa. I mean why couldn't Man Na become the type of character as Tia Mu or visa cersa? Because Man Na was another Kimura. They were both written to be betrayers of the nation who were corrupted by money and power (Tia Mu didn't have any at that scale to compare), the Japanese, and ultimately had put love of their family/death of a loved one above the nation. They were both driven to avenge their family (the clan). This was an ideal that would have been praiseworthy if it wasn't superseded the , now, praiseworthy ideals of nationalism during the late 19th early 20th Century.

To be honest, I believe that Kimura demonstrated the same qualities that Tia Mu did. He was smart, brave, made his own decisions and was loyal. I believe that if Tia Mu had her parents around she would have had to have aquiesced to her parents just as much or even more so than Kimura. The writing amps up his "negative" qualities after the the death of his brother and milked his jealousy (Kang To was just as jealous) to portray him as a villian and so downplayed his "positive" qualities.

I think Kimura is a more complex and beautiful character compared to Tia Mu.

I also believe that Gibran wrote on the level of the human experience that transcends national boundaries. I don't feel that we can compare these characters at that level which it appears you are trying to do. If we were to, I feel that Kimura is, in fact, a better character than Tia Mu in this regard. He was willing to reach out to the Korean children and love his wet nurse who was Korean. Kimura really only had a personal vandetta against his friend for the killing of his brother.

You are totally missing Thank You

So glad you brought up the sappy violin music. I’m pretty sure I last heard it in To Be A Better Man and In the Name Of The People. I might be wrong but I remember the last few times I heard that music thinking how “in your face” it was. To use the same music again her and so much I basically FF.

1. The big to do about Shu Che going to jail. We all knew he wouldn’t go. Let’s just show and tell and flash back that Shu Che stand up guy.
2. Money loving Cheng Ran. We all know he won’t Give the company car back so why make a big deal of asking him to give the car to the right person. We all know he won’t divorce his wife so what’s with bringing Lukas parents over for elaborate discussion. Yuan, we know he’s a wastrel.
3. Xiao Qong to leave school and return to her family’s side. This was by far the biggest waste of screen time. I thought she might actually leave but wait What??!!!

I only watched to 23 and as far as I could tell each of the main characters had this weird red herring like focus on them. I recall the two second leads being played out similarly. Honestly, I can’t figure out this storytelling device. Whatever it was to accomplish fell short of the mark for me.

I got to thinking tonight that razy drama did at least 3 false positives that were a huge waste of time (below in spoiler). The drama wasn’t interesting, funny or meaningful in any way except to serve as moral propaganda. The corny violin music seemingly an anthem for filial depression? -that I’ve come to recognize in a number of these modern dramas- was super distracting. The more I think about it the more I dislike this drama.

23 Episodes and the initially conflict is being dragged out. That’s pretty much half of the drama and nothing significant happens.

I skimmed the last couple of episodes but he’s still after his beautiful bride.

Well. That was a whopping waste of time.

Often we focus way too much on the offender and forget about the wellbeing of the victim. Hopefully the girl is healing from that trauma and will get the support she needs. As for the actor, I hope the justice system will let him pay for his crime. As for us, let’s not add to the confusion and hate.

I tried. I can’t handle the leads.

Thanks for the article but I don’t agree with it.

Personally, I didn’t like all three dramas and stopped them at various stages in their run. I can stick through a drama even though it has faults (like Misty a JBTC drama) but I couldn’t finish any of these. I thought the characters and their interactions ridiculous in the first, got tired of the circular plot of the second, and was not impressed with the unrealistic and shallow plot of the third. I get the reasons for the hype of DOTS but I can’t see anything remarkable about the production.

The ratings of cable dramas are relative to those of the main three and the percentage of the market over time. Nowadays, cable dramas are getting greater market share. And JBTC dramas are not usually flops as a general rule. Take, for example, Heartless City, Secret Love Affair, A Wife’s Credentials, etc. Suzy’s acting has improved but I don’t think she is one of the strengths of the drama. So even if people thought it would flop because of her it doesn’t mean she made it the blockbuster (how meaningful is this term?). And, I don’t know about the KBS story, but actors will turn down roles for many reasons (eg. a role might not suit them, busy schedule) and not because they anticipated a drama to be a flop.

Hi Irusu. Just wondering if you could make the distinction, in your next article, with OST (Original Soundtrack) as being the collection of music for drama/film. I noticed from the comments that people are calling individual songs OSTs. Your article gives that impressions since you said that your fave OSTs are the three songs. This is a great topic btw. As you can see from my comments, I’ve been here three times today.

To speak honestly, as a Jamaican born, I don’t know how I feel about the reggae vibes in Dream. The way the reggae groove and island sound is only used at the intro and chorus and toned down during the verses leads me to speculate that the artist only used it as sample for a hook/accompaniment to the particular words and doesn't get the genre itself. I understand the blending of music genres but it doesn’t feel like this is the case here. Whenever I hear music with roots from the black community that is meant as consumer product for Koreans - who have little appreciation for or understanding of the history and intention of the music, it does turn me off.

I just listen to this. I didn’t take note of it during the drama but now I remember the feelings it evoked. You are totally right about the 90’s feel and it’s beautiful!

It’s literally been 5 years since I’ve really enjoyed a song from an OST. My faves have got to be Adult (My Mister), Monochrome (Miracle We Met), and Love Destiny and Oh My Love (Buppe Saniwaat). I can’t believe there are this many and the year isn’t half over.