East of Eden (the kdrama, not the Steinbeck novel)

[lesbiassparrow]

I am up to episode 10 now and agog at the screenwriter's one track desire to beat the living daylights out of the heroes as much as possible. Their writing strategy for every episode seems to be:

1. Beat up main hero
2. Do something horrible to a girl he or his brother likes
3. Toss in a bit of skullduggery by one of their deadly enemies
4. Beat up secondary hero
5. Have manly weeping or feminine angst
6. Insert small scene with Dennis Oh* for relief
7. Return to main hero for a last stint of beating up, just because you can

Honestly, I am not just astonished that these people aren't crippled for life but that they are still alive. They make 'em tough in Korea.

I am also impressed that where other series like to start off the angst slow, usually throwing in at least one or two episodes of happy childhood, this one doesn't bother at all. Nope, right into angst and misery and violence.


*Finally, an actor who makes Daniel Henney's 'skills' in that department look good.

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I worry for Dennis Oh if he ever comes in contact with a match. He makes me LOL entirely too much.

I have yet to see more than 5 minutes of normalcy (forget happiness) in these people's lives. and 11 and 12 get angstier. Kdramas are so much fun.

I think the protagonist of EoE is the living example of 'toughening up.' Because he's been beaten on since small childhood, now he is so tough he can take a truck full-on and escape with only a small bandage.

Though I have to say that the life of the protagonist of the period one Kingdom of the Winds makes these people's lives seem like a picnic. I finally realized why medieval type period kdramas are so popular as a genre: you can do even worse things to people in the days before proper medical care, laws, restraining orders, or that pesky opposition to having human lab rats. I am watching that one and am 'shouldn't he have died of wounds/blood poisoning/regular poisoning/torture/sepsis' a long time ago?)

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I have yet to see more than 5 minutes of normalcy (forget happiness) in these people's lives. and 11 and 12 get angstier.

How on earth are they going to keep this up for 50 episodes? They're going to have to start hacking off limbs to up the ante.

now he is so tough he can take a truck full-on and escape with only a small bandage.

I am still in awe of how they just didn't bother to explain how he got hit by the truck, flew through the air, and is somehow still alive. They're above such paltry matters as the human body's non-bouncy nature.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They're going to have to start hacking off limbs to up the ante.

Well, if it was a Bollywood movie, I'd say Maa was about due for the chop. They can keep doing what they did with the little kid: introduce a cute munchkin/lady/old person, and then kill them off after making hero(es) care for him/her.

They're above such paltry matters as the human body's non-bouncy nature.

Some people on soompi were speculating that he fell in the water and thus survived, but we all know...does it really matter? He is a kdrama hero, laws of physics do not apply to him.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Well, if it was a Bollywood movie, I'd say Maa was about due for the chop.

Ma is a survivor: she's got enough shriek in her for at least another 30 episodes. I bet she is the last one standing in the general carnage that I suspect the end of this series will be.

RE Hero: even by the improbable standards of Kdramas they might want to give his head a rest for a bit. Have we ever seen him without some scar or bruise on his face?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think his head gets a bit of a rest in 11-12 (though no, I lie, on at least one occasion there is a bash-free-for-all) but they compensate by deciding to really get serious about torturing his younger 'brother' some more. There is even a beat-down montage, as if they have so many beatdowns they don't feel like wasting too much effort on showing them individually.

The hero's revenge plan confuses me. If he couldn't kill Bad Guy once face to face with him, a quiet alley, and a length of pipe, why does he think it would be different in the future? My money is on the bad guy's crazy 'son' to do the deed.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

There is even a beat-down montage, as if they have so many beatdowns they don't feel like wasting too much effort on showing them individually.

Where other kdramas have angsty driving or the emo montage of snow and rain this one has beatings.

I am not sure what revenge plan the hero has; is he just going to become super rich and destroy Bad Guy? I really hope it's not that because that could take a long time. I bet they all kill each other in an angsty orgy of violence and blood.

[outeeyore.livejournal.com]

Remember Dennis Oh? SHE IS MAH QUEEN!!!

ROFL. I seriously laughed and cringed at the same time. Did they kill him off or is he ever appearing in the drama again, I wonder.

Can't wait to see tomorrow's episode where more crying and violence is guaranteed.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

Dennis Oh must be back to amuse us all as he seems to be listed really high in the credits for someone whose sole function is to allow Grace and Hero to speak English in a stilted fashion.

The amount of (justifed) wailing and bleeding in this show is off the charts. I just don't know how they can keep it up for 50 episodes.