ibisfeather

Thanks for a great article, especially when everyone has something to say!

2ML actors sometimes become ML actors and its fun to root for them.

Sometimes the 2ML is wicked handsome (Lee Sang Yi in several shows), -er than the ML.

In real life, in Korea orphans and adoptees are looked down upon, or at least they were in the very very recent past. Even now that a big deal is being made of IVF (resident Playbook e.g.) adoption just doesnt seem to be thought of as an alternative. Weird connection to the utterly scandalous way Korean kids were basically sold to US families not so long ago.

I didnt want to gum up my review with some of the black comedy vs. romedy distinctions, since I really feel that just as zombie shows arent for me, a lot of people really dont get black comedy.

So here it goes. I also really was uncomfortable with Lee Ju Mi's character and her interactions with WDH at first, but if there is enough humor to start with one has to wait for the end to see if the cringe continues -- often in this sort of humor cringe begins and then ends in compassion.

Finally by the end I saw their interaction based in their shared past. WDH's character had a sort of sad patience and weight while the twitteriness of LJM personally was worked with by the director.

It was used in a way that made her like a little bird who trusted WDH to hold her and let her go, even to the point of being hoisted up on his shoulders. What she objected to was not the lift but his interruption of her con, which was in fact one that could put in all kinds of legal jeopardy.

But I really only understood how well this worked in the very last minute of the show.

Using drama reviews as if they were social media -- more points the meaner the reviewer is.
What drives me crazy is the idea that context/genre/form/language and so on, doesnt matter. Only naive opinion. The comment sections are for letting off steam and its fun to yahyah there. But not in reviews.

I agree with Jie Zi. Part of the pleasure is to see what that heavy Tang makeup on women probably really looked like. And absolutely this is not a drama to review without having watched it carefully all the way to the end. Why people post reviews when they havent finished the show is bewildering. The comment pages exist for hasty remarks like these. Let it all out there. They can always downvote without having to write a review. Why dont they?

love in nirvana

Glory

Jang Young Nam and many of these put in fine performances in Find Me in Your Memory.

EP23. I do love sneak attacks, heartwarming victories snatched from the jaws of death. The loyalty of the people of Hedong was moving. The flaming arrows were cool especially by night. Although it is probably impracticable on so many fronts, the horses leaping over a flaming ditch in the dark were great to look at.

The censors require a certain amount of pretty cheesy patriotic statements, but the worst seems to have been during the previous 5 chapters, so this part was enjoyable. Nothing like a good battle to liven things up.

Loved the still-evil Miles. The Emperor has really slowly grown on me, I really appreciated his struglles also in these last few chapters.

I am so glad Kim Do Yeon is getting new opportunities for work in acting. She definitely has fire in her bones. I hope Lee Jong Won lights up in her presence,

Both the life paths of the main leads are ones which in RL would be ones fraught with danger and changing fortunes; a courtier in an unstable court, and an independent merchant -- it took her quite a while to find a client base and pricepoints which matched her abilities and beliefs. Given that both Cdrama and Kdrama dependably separate their characters as often as possible in copmpetely crazy ways, I am pretty tolerant of this one. There is little dramatic tension in the sort of quiet grownup love affair these two are working towards, esp. in a weekly show, so obviously dramatic tension can only be maintained by constant separations.

I think the writers/director were going for the 'tragic' mode. Not cartoonish but truly evil characters who still move you in their pitiable wreck of humanity.

Totally with you here. on overall balance. It must have been an amazing performance given that its depth allowed all these emotions from the viewers to be legitimately in play. I was done with him from the first attempt at rape and wanted him to die forthwith, and I kept wondering why he was hanging around. The drama rubbed my nose in what grand drama is supposed to be like.

I like your analysis. Still, I think the over-the-top way he played was also valuable. There is a careful balance in Cdrama right now between the basic operatic tragic style and some more naturalistic acting. It is very exciting and extremely creative. I will be sad when we only see realism in historical cdrama -- it is coming...

EP22. This is where Yang Zi is demonstrating her chops. Her microexpressions are way improved.

I loved the dream sequences in 21. It is good that both the closeness of the couple and the slight fantastical air of the whole drama was highlighted.

Watching this because of Law and the City, where Moon Ga Young's chirpiness surprised me. I didnt see it in My Dear Nemesis nor in In the Interest of Love. I see it here...used in a different way. The character she is now (2025) playing, Kang Hee Ji (LitC), has a natural bounciness, which she drops when she needs to be more direct. Yeo Ha Jin, here in Find me in your Memory (2020), uses a natural cheerfulness just this edge of ditziness to cover for her problem. It is a complicated role for an actress bec the character already possesses the different intelligence of a dancer, and mysteriously still possesses a good enough working memory as an actress to memorize and deliver lines sincerely. So her ability to navigate while missing a whole chunk of her memory is not an intellectual feat, but a miraculous and hardy survival instinct.

South Korean actresses amaze me -- they have to navigate a forest of bizarre female representations in drama in order to pay the rent, but in order not to lose their minds they have to figure out how to give these characters the authenticity that they themselves possess as real 21st century women. My heart goes out to them, and respect.

EP21. Ok I am trusting in yall. Changyang has not yet risen from the dead but I have faith he is with the army.
The "tang empire respects other nation". I have to groan.

Calmate.........

Thank you for your post. Yes, in the end I think this was a story of a great love.

(I like this list!: physical touch, words of affirmation, gift-giving, acts of service and quality time)

Loved will love in spring. How about Ho Su in Our Unwritten Seoul?

Miles Wei is a revelation. The way his story with the princess continuously runs under the narrative. For an actor the limp is a gift, bec he can express his unhappiness with every move. The disability always reminds me of the cruelty of Prince Ning, who deliberately crushed the leg of Liu Chang.

I hear you on the equation of internal damage with external, which should not be automatically linked in RL, or even in dramas...