Thorny, messy, engaging plays on the healing romance narratives-tender and warm. The director of Motel California was an assistant to Lee Yoon Jung and you can see in attention to detail, setting and atmosphere.
All in reverse. A kind of what if. The clash of traumas and fatigue under capitalism with waves of nostalgia. Traditional care, family and love as the salve for the acculturated pain.
Secret Forest mirrors much of the work, themes and ideas of the power trilogy by Park Kyung Soo particularly Punch.
What does a “mature” kdrama rom-com look like? Both dramas attempt to answer the question in flawed but interesting ways.
MMH draws upon the long tradition of female wish fulfilment kdramas in particular, it mirrors Scent of a woman heavily
HITTG is very much better but Queen of tears covers similar territory: class politics (in a silly and terrible way), family structures, patriarchy..Both centred around rich upper class families struggling to maintain power in the face of numerous crises and their own ineptitude. But in HITTG, the revolution is desired and welcomed
Yoo Bo-ra in an interview from the time of SLA airing that she was a fan of the show and its writing in particular, a certain scene at the end of Episode 4
Hotels, wealthy arrogant isolated male leads processing family trauma , spunky competent ambitious female leads, two attempts at subverting the Cinderella storyline, one successful attempt, one decent but failed attempt, the power of the Cinderella tale in the modern age, skilful playful directing, both shows end in a similar way
Lee Na Eun the writer in a Cine21 interview talks about using the script of Worlds Within as a reference text and guide when writing.
Obvious shared plot points-The Glory often feels like what if reflection of you was more straight-forward, and simple. also religion, art, forgiveness, marriage and time's failure to heal anything.
The classroom as a space of power, violence and control. One of the few spaces where (poor) women can find power. Moon Dong-eun throughout the glory wants to bring everything back to the classroom, it is where so much begins.
In an interview after Once Again, Yang Hee Seung refers to A Wife's Credentials as her life drama. Both dramas are interested in the endlessly competitive nature of entrance exams and the warlike private education industry.
