IM YourOnlyOne

Oh, who made efforts to improve things?

The first batches of Koreans who migrated here. They conquered the highest mountains just to get a few improvements here and there, mainly, to get the Korean government involved. And yet it still is not enough. Nonetheless, their own citizens are the ones fed up with the status quo.

There's a documentary about this a few years back.

Under different circumstances, I'll agree with you. But in this one, Korea actually and literally wants to be like the West. They look up to them far so high to the point there's nothing logical with them anymore.

Here's an example, English.

- Who taught them English? The Filipinos.
- Which English variant? Philippine English.
- Where are they sending their kids to study since the Korean War and to this very day? The Philippines.
- What English variaet do they learn in the Philippines? Philippine English.

HOWEVER, they laughed at Koreans who speak Philippine English and look down on them. They see British English as the only true English. Many of their Koreanised English words are written in Hangeul with British English pronunciations.

One example was Sandara Park. She was laughed at in a variety show because her English pronunciation was Philippine English. Sadly for them, Sandara stood her ground.

In fact, many Koreans prefer to stay here in the Philippines because they learned Philippine English. No one laughs at them for speaking in Philippine English.

That's how big they worship Western culture. They never experienced Western colonialisation so they think it's okay to worship Western culture. They absolutely have no idea what Western culture is.

Heck, they don't even teach in Korean education how Asian soldiers, most importantly Filipinos, helped them defend South Korea. The Western forces were losing very badly until the Filipino regiment arrived and pushed back.

Koreans only learn that part of their history if someone tells them about it. LOL. It was Filipino soldiers who first guarded the DMZ!!! Not the Koreans!

And yet, they laugh at anyone who speaks Philippine English.

That's how much they view the West as gods and will do anything to be like the West.

Don't get me wrong, they need to wake up. But as per your feedback, this is the reason, they look at Western culture as if it is the epitome of human Cultural success. 🤦🏽

(One Korean professor even argued that it was K-pop that brought hip-hop/rap in Thailand. That was one big fat lie.)

Are things improving? Yes. But it really is slow.

At least with the PRC, if a PRC National commits a crime here, the PRC no longer cares and leaves everything to us.

Which is, again, geopolitics. It wasn't that way originally. Besides, the PRC will probably, you know, if those nationals are returned. They have better chances of keeping their lives here, in prison though but at least alive and without torture. 😅

If that is not enough, the reason it became that way is because the Korean government is always ignoring Korean criminals abroad. Whenever the Philippines ask for their assistance and permission, they ignore us. We cannot act against Korean nationals unless it was a heinous crime. If it's Koreans scamming Koreans, to mention the most common one, it is a very tricky diplomatic issue.

In the end, Korean criminals are generally safe in the Philippines because the Philippine Police is very limited to what they can do against Korean criminals and operations. One can conclude that the Korean government is turning a blind eyes and deaf ears because less headache for them if Korean criminals are abroad.

How did that stereotype started? Korean government ignoring requests from other countries like the Philippines. And if the Police takes action without them, there is risk it'll be used as a diplomatic violation. Yes, geopolitics.

So, Koreans generally view other countries like the Philippines with a set stereotype. In our case, an escape paradise for Korean criminals and operations.

While I agree wholeheartedly and strongly with you, it's not something to expect from most Korean prods and Koreans in general.

I've worked with Koreans (and mainland Chinese) numerous times, and they almost always see themselves as superior than everyone else, you'll actually get offended when they speak.

But, once you calm down you realise, they think that way because they have far less exposure outside their own because of the language barrier and media.

For example, many Korean clients I've worked with often share the same things:
1. We thought the Philippines is dangerous. Our media always report about crimes and drugs and kidnappings.
2. We thought Filipinos are not techie but you can actually compete with us.
3. We thought the Philippines is very corrupt but it's just like any other country even ours.
4. We thought Filipinos are not approachable or beggars, but you are actually very accommodating and kind. Kinder than us Koreans!

And so on.

The media and their intense hold on traditional culture, as they explained, are the major factors why Koreans have a different view of other countries.

And this is why there was a recent surge in promoting other countries through variety shows, Korea wants to break the stereotypes of old and balance out the news reports.

In fairness to news reports, positive news from abroad rarely sells. I mean, even locally. Positive news are for other shows, not a news show. And Koreans love to watch news. Then the news become the talk of the Nation. Which in turn only makes the negative news abroad even more magnified and often exaggerated.

I am not definding them. It's just… it's going to take them years to change that, and it must come from within.

The Philippines already complained numerous times about how our country is often depicted as the escape paradise for Korean criminals. But pretty much nothing changed. You'll see improvements and then it's back to their stereotype again.

There are a few replicas meant for a more hands-on experience for tourists that prods use regularly.

There are also entire towns as well, and prods can reserve it for filming (thus closing most of the area from tourists on certain days).

Also, usually they use camera tricks to make the place larger than it actually is. They rarely need to close off a large part of the tourist replica set.

Some were originally made as a set but was preserved by the land owner and turned into a tourist hands-on experience. Occasionally, prods film there.

Of course, they also film in actual historical places. But of course, it's more expensive and stricter.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yep.

It appears that there will be many. I guess the E01 competition was a hint. I actually thought it was only an intro but looks like they were setting our expectations.

I am not saying it is perfect. In fact, if you check my review https://kisskh.at/profile/YourOnlyOne/review/491522 I mentioned how they missed a lot of opportunities to tell an even more deeper story within the context of "Love is esquire".

The message and moral lesson is there but they didn't pushed it or explored it deeper. They were on the right track.

It feels like it was meant for a 16-episode series but due to constraints (budget, scheduling, something else) they had to cut it down. This is typical of live-action productions originally written with a set number of episodes and was suddenly asked to cut it down while they were already filming, or threatened it will only be green lit if it's shorter. It's not easy to shorten a story you already outlined. The flow is there and suddenly you have to make it shorter.

At least that's my suspicion.

You have to approach this from the writer's perspective otherwise you'll be disappointed.

It is not about the ML and FL having a romantic relationship or kissing or falling in love.

1. The FL analysed it for the viewers in the finale episode.
2. The ML poetically summarised what she said into: "Love is esquire".

See: https://kisskh.at/780258-esquire#comment-23381472

Haha yep!

When it makes more sense to use a different title in another language, OTT services don't. But when it doesn't make sense, they do. OTT services are illogical. Hahahaha

Another is, when the original production already provided an official English title, OTT services often still changes it, and then everyone else use that "unofficial" English title as base for another translation instead of the official one. 😅

Of course, in fairness, sometimes translators make a better title and it gets adopted and used a lot in Korean, too.

Maybe there's a competition on who can make up most viral title? 😜😁

Ooh! So the reason why JongHyuk had a very Filipino local pronunciation was because he was an exchange student in the Philippines for two years.

There is actually at least one such similar group in-real-life. The group is benevolent, but their methods and systems were used for crimes in fictional dramas/series.

The idea, they only search for genius people. If you pass their extreme tests, you become a member of a secretive organization who tackles certain hard world problems and see if the group can contribute on providing solutions to it.

There are other similar groups, but I only participated in one. I passed multiple tests until I reached a roadblock. 🤣 One such group, there were leakers. LOL.

So, my theory is that those masked kidnappers were probably just another fictionalized version of such benevolent real-life groups who are only looking for geniupaths. 🤪 After all, a benevolent group wouldn't be interesting in storytelling, it's better to make them a crime syndicate.

My theory is:

There's a group of geniupaths who kidnaps children who are geniupaths as well. They find their particular skillset and hone it.

The FL appears to have escaped and is on the revenge mode.

The FL remembers who were the other kids and is forming her own group. Fail that, she will take down those other kids if they are "bad" or still doing the goals of that group.

Meanwhile, that group is probably behind some of the best crimes in world. Some of her targets were probably their clients once. For example, Mr. 50 billion won was probably connected to that group one way or another, as well as to GuHo.

Or, that group probably dissolved, lost its way, or was taken over.

Confidence Man JP

It's only Amazon Prime which titled it to Confidence Queen. The original title in Korean if properly translated is «Confidence Men KR» or «Confidence Man» as shown in the official title card. Western OTT tend to create titles very different from the original title.

Anyway, I'm just surprised with the clean scenes. This is the first time I actually saw a foreign prod maintain their style of filming and level of quality. Usually, the local prod and authorities demand so many things, foreign prods have to settle with local style, quality, and whatever sh*t they demand (inserting their families as extras, making some local actor have a dialogue, and all those "we need some creative control demands).

I'm sorry, but it's true, and I hate that "X deal" system. It's that very system that has kept Philippine prods stuck in the 90s style and quality. Too many people and authorities you need to appease.

Those airport scenes were something. It is not easy to film clean scenes in Philippine airports, especially not during daytime. It tells you the local prod they hired knew how and what to do.

And if the outdoor night street food scenes is a tell, they filmed around October to December with all those Christmas lights. Which means airports are very busy, and street night life are jam-packed.

PMY filming in the Philippines? She has a huge fanbase here. It wouldn't be easy to film those clean shots, it's going to be stressful.

I'm not saying Filipinos are like Koreans, far from it. If it's business, fans do flock. If it is personal, only a few arses are rude, the majority keeps their distance. Filming is business, so yeah, expect fans to flock.

Wnoever they partnered with in the Philippines, they should work with them again. Same crew. They know what to do to make it authentic. And they know how to film clean scenes.

The few Filipino lines were also perfect. It wasn't just perfect, it's the correct way we say it. In some foreign prods, they just translate without actually considering the nuances and context and how it should be delivered, which makes it weird.

But here, the pronunciation were good and the proper words and delivery were very local. So, there's no doubt a local prod was involved, and not just local, high quality local prod who aims for accuracy. Someone who deserves a pay raise for paying attention to the things usually ignored.