Arang and the Magistrate Korean Drama Review

I have been working my way through some of the big dramas of 2012 that I originally missed because I was too busy watching older dramas.  Next up is Gaksital, which I convinced my husband to watch with me. Success!   The downside is that we're on a one-episode-a-week timetable over here, so I could probably teach myself to knit and then knit myself a snowsuit and trek to Alaska and back before I actually manage to review it.

 So far, I've been pretty pleased with the dramas that popped up on last year's "best of" lists, and Arang and the Magistrate holds its own against the pack.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who, like me, isn't really interested in anything set in the Joseon era. (Sungkyunkwan Scandal excepted, of course.  That thing could be set in space 40,000,000 years in the future, and I would still watch the whole thing with absolute glee.)

Overview

The very basic summary of this drama involves a grumpy rich kid who can see ghosts and the sassy ghost who won't leave him alone.  In other words, while there are the political power plays involving wealthy old men chuckling as they grind the faces of the poor that you might expect from any sageuk, there is enough other stuff going on to maintain interest.  Mystery, mysticism, and romance all take precedence over the political intrigue, and the drama is (in my opinion) the better for it.  

The advantage to placing this drama in a historical setting is that it takes full advantage of the sweeping scenes common to historical dramas.  Even mundane scenes have stunning wide-angle shots filled with vibrant colors that you almost never get in Seoul-based workplace dramas.

If you're gonna jog around being sad, you might as well jog through a gorgeous field of flowers.

The quality of the visuals goes downhill in the last few episodes of the drama (probably due to time and/or budgetary constraints), but with so much beauty frontloaded into the show, I can't complain.

Okay, okay, I will make one complaint.  I love the colorful costumes, but seriously, can someone please get Kim Eun Oh some sneakin'-around clothes that aren't bright teal and flowy?  Please.

The Romance

The leads? Love them.  I haven't seen Shin Min Ah in anything other than My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, but for what it's worth, she's fantastic at playing uppity mystical creatures.  She has an effervescence about her that just lights up the screen.  Even though you know she's just playing a role, you still want to become best friends so that you can invite her to parties and braid each other's hair and stuff.

I was already pretty much sold on Shin Min Ah before I watched this drama, but that wasn't the case for Lee Joon Ki.  In fact, I had only seen him in My Girl before this series, and, as we've already established, that didn't end so well.  In the few episodes that I managed to watch, he was probably my least favorite character, which is saying something.  I think it was the pointy shag haircut.  The mid-2000s weren't kind to imaginary Kpop idols, I guess.

It took me a few episodes to even realize that this was the same guy, which was probably for the best.  By the time I discovered who the actor was, it was too late for my previous prejudice to get in the way.  Sure, his role as a typical prickly kdrama lead basically required a bunch of shouting and/or gazing, but even if he had no lines and just sat in a corner, he would still get my vote for the way he whispers "Arang" with his stellar "I'm madly in love with you" face.

Yeah, that's the one.

Some of the dramas that I've been watching of late (*cough*Heirs*cough*) have been a little lazy in the chemistry department, so I think I appreciated the chemistry here even more than usual.  The scene in episode 2 where Eun Ho measures Arang for her new clothes?  Wow.  Just wow.  I mean, it was this totally chaste, practical activity, and yet it was filled with tenderness. 

I--I--woieuroiweurhskjhf.  That's how I feel just thinking about this scene.

The relationship itself was a little interesting to me.  There was a lot of shouting/wrist grabbing in this drama.  I kind of felt like there was a five second lag in every conversation between the time Arang said something and when Eun Ho heard it--just enough time for her to walk away so he would have to run after her and spin her around by the wrist.

While I generally dislike this kind of kdrama dynamic, the show established equality between the characters in other ways.  Visually, these two were partners.  I loved the number of level shots that framed the two lovers together.  Neither one was in charge--instead, they sat side by side on equal footing and worked together.  

Other positives: 

• Bang Wool and Dol Sue made an excellent romantic counterweight to Arang and Eun Ho. 
•  I thought I would hate how they resolved the Joo Wol thing, but it actually worked for me, which is always tricky with villains who develop a conscience. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: not wanting to kill one person doesn't make up for trying to kill all the people.) 
• The fantastical heavenly scenes were a visual delight, and Han Jung Soo's casting as the death angel was absolute perfection.  
• As far as the main villain went, I appreciated how absolutely creepy she was with her crazy eyes.

The Bad

There was some infuriating "selflessness" that had me rolling my eyes towards the end.  I already talked about it here.  Let's just say that if you're trying to catch murderers and/or kill demons, you should probably tell your partner what's going on.  That goes for both leads.

Noble idiocy aside, there was just plain ole regular idiocy at times, as well.  Arang and Eun Ho seemed like decently smart people, and yet they never seemed to figure anything out until someone spelled it out for them.  There were a number of times when Eun Ho would make his shocked face and shout "What do you mean?!?!?" and all I could think was "Didn't you have this information three episodes ago?  How is it humanly possible that you didn't piece it together by now?"  I was genuinely baffled when the plot cycled back to "mysteries" that I thought had been resolved way earlier.

I was mostly swept up in this series until the ending, but the tail end of the series left me kind of deflated.  It wasn't bad and I can't really complain about how they chose to resolve the central conflicts, but I just felt like "Meh, well, I guess it's over." I think part of the problem may have been the fact that the entire last episode felt like it came straight out of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel.  ("You approach the library, and a spirit guard blocks your path.  If you fight him, turn to page 47.  If you talk to him, turn to page 5.")  

Overall

I think this would be an excellent place to start if you're trying to break into historical dramas without actually having to deal with the historical part.  It's also an excellent place to start if you like romance.  Or funny things.  Or charismatic actors.  Or joy.  So just watch it, okay?

Places to watch Arang and the Magistrate:

Dramafever

Viki
Netflix (Thanks to Rachel for letting us know this was added!  We also updated the rest of our Netflix list here.)

Selflessness: You're Doing It Wrong

Ah, noble idiocy: that moment in a kdrama when the music says, "What a sweet sign of true love!" but your brain says, "This is all a terrible idea."  For a while, I felt guilty watching these kinds of scenes. Maybe I'm too cynical! Maybe I'm just not noble enough to get it! After all, this is what the writers INSISTED true love should look like!

Then I realized that kdrama writers ALSO think that bowl cuts are all you need to pass as a man, sooooooo yeah.  After thinking about it some more, I noticed that many of these "selfless" moves were actually kind of selfish.

Don't believe me?  Let's look at some examples, shall we?


WARNING: Some spoilers below!

"Selfless" Move #1: "Something terrible is going to happen to a lot of people if I do this thing for you, but I don't even care--because love."

When a DEMON thinks your sacrifice is a good idea, it's probably time to rethink things.

Illustrative example: Arang and the Magistrate

This is the drama that pushed me over the edge to write this post.  Arang decides to give her body to a demon lady in exchange for letting her love meet up with his momma again.  Sounds sweet, right?  She would die not just for him, but for his mother! So noble!

Why it's actually selfish: Okay, so let's just overlook that fact that making deals with demon ladies is pretty much always going to be a terrible idea.  ALWAYS.  What is her incentive not to lie?  Even if this lady actually held up her end of the bargain, however, Arang has just given her immortal body to a demon who has been killing people for hundreds of years. 

Prioritizing your love over a bunch of other people just because it's your love is a roundabout way of prioritizing yourself.  Okay, so I've read those philosophical dilemmas about the train conductor with his kid on the tracks (Just get off the tracks, ya dumb kid!), so I get the idea that love might take over any other priority.  Still, trading your love's mom for an undefined number of people for the rest of time is selfish.  End of story. 

After watching Arang, I asked my husband if he would prefer that I let a demon lady kill a bunch of people to save his mom (who is very nice, by the way).  Fortunately, he looked at me like I was crazy, so I guess that resolves the dilemma.  Crisis averted!

"Selfless" Move #2: "My powerful mom/dad or your powerful mom/dad has threatened to fire a bunch of people if we're together, so I'm going to pretend to hate you."

Illustrative example: Boys over Flowers and a bunch of other chaebol heir dramas

I guess this is the opposite end of the spectrum from the previous example.  In order to prevent something terrible from happening to a bunch of people, you give up on love.  Surely, surely that's noble, right?

Why it's actually selfish: First of all, don't negotiate with terrorists.  Isn't that a life lesson right up there with the golden rule or something?  But that's not the main problem here.  You've taken the easiest possible way out without even thinking about how the other person will feel.  Guess what?  "It's easier if they just hate me" isn't actually a real thing.  Abandonment hurts, especially if you were supposedly in love five minutes earlier.  While you're patting yourself on the back and soothing your wounded heart with thoughts of how awesome you are, that other person is left with nothing.  Wouldn't it be better to wound your pride a bit and just talk it out?

"Selfless" Move #3: "Something bad happened in my life, so I will pretend to hate you in order to save you from my burden."

Illustrative example: Scent of a Woman, Dream High

You find out that you have cancer.  Or that you're an illegitimate child.  Or that you have an illegitimate child.  In order to protect your love from the shame or pain of this new development, you decide--of course--to break up with them with no explanation.  Better to suffer alone than to drag your love into the fray.

Why it's actually selfish: This move is kind of understandable if you're just starting your crush.  I think it's okay to say, "You know what?  I have my own stuff going on right now, so I'm gonna focus on that instead of this non-relationship that may or may not happen."  What drives me crazy is when drama characters pull this move once they are in a committed, established relationship.  Take the mother in Dream High for example.  In the long run, her pretend affair and subsequent abandonment probably hurt her family more than her death did.  She also robbed them of the chance to properly say goodbye.  Again, you have the comfort of knowing the truth while your loved one suffers the emotional scars of abandonment.

Dream High is an easy example to pick on because we never actually meet the mom in the series, but this type of thing happens pretty frequently in central kdrama couples as well.  This "romantic" gesture might just bother me more than the previous examples because it misses the entire core of what commitment means.  Love isn't just about sharing warm, fuzzy moments.  It's about opening your life and trusting someone else when the crap of life hits the fan--as life crap invariably does.  No matter what, something difficult is going to happen to one of you at some point in any relationship.  Giving up and running the other way every time something craptastic happens because you want to "protect" your love shows that you trust your own strength more than theirs--a self-centered move.

"Selfless" Move #4: "I don't deserve you right now, so I'm going to ignore you until I can be worthy of you."

Illustrative example: The Master's Sun 

I kind of hope that drama writers don't actually believe that this move is selfless.  Most of the time, it's an episode 18 extension kind of move.  Suddenly, the character feels a need to run away from love for a few years to save the company business or discover their "true self" or learn self-discipline in the army or something.  In other words, it's an excuse for a time jump.  The reasoning goes that only a truly selfless person would be willing to pause love to become worthy of that love.

Why it's actually selfish: How come the "selfless" person is always the one who gets to go gallivanting around the world while the other person has to sit at home like a chump?  Also, have you ever heard of a phone?  Email?  If you're really doing this for the other person, don't lead him or her to assume that you broke up somewhere along the way.  Protect the Boss, I'm looking at you!  I real life, people get busy with work all the time, but they don't say "I'm gonna ignore you for a few years--I promise I will come back, okay?" That's nonsense.

While I think the last-minute disappearance is an overused plot device, I don't mind this move when the show is honest about it.  In Coffee Prince, for example, we all knew that Eun Chan was running abroad purely for HERSELF, and that was totally okay.  It was also clear that she had kept an appropriate level of contact with her long-distance boyfriend.  

Solutions

So what options do kdrama characters have?  If they can't protect their love or protect other people without being selfish, isn't that a little unfair?

Actually, there are dramas that find ways around these problems.  I really liked the way that Queen of Reversals flew in the face of noble idiocy, for example.  When the controlling father threatened to fire an entire team of people, Yong Shik was just like "Go ahead and fire them.  I do what I want!"  That sounds kind of terrible at first, but Yong Shik wasn't just gonna let those people suffer for his love!  After he took a stand against his dad, he went ahead and formed his own company to employ all of those people.  To make matters even better, he made sure that the object of his affection was present for his stand-off with his dad.  That way, she would know exactly what was happening.  Sure, towards the end of Queen of Reversals, they stopped communicating, but at least it was a step in the right direction!   That's what I would love to see in more dramas: just a little more communication so that we don't get brain damage from banging our heads against our computers in frustration.  Or maybe I'm not noble enough and should just trust the gooey ballads that say "No, really--this is true loooooove!"

Better Subtitles for Heirs

Guys, I have a confession to make.  Please don't e-punch me to the face or revoke our eternal kdrama-watching friendship, okay?  But I am having a reeeeeeeeally hard time getting through Heirs these days.

I love a good love triangle as much as the next gal, but seriously, this scared-face standoff has happened about forty times.  WE GET IT. 

So, you know how the full title for Heirs is actually Heirs: He Who Wears the Crown Must Endure Its Weight (or one of about forty variations on the same theme)?  Well, to stave off some of the boredom, Coco and I started to brainstorm some more apt subtitles for the show.  Here's what we have so far:

• Heirs: Rich People Are the WORST
• Heirs: He Who Wears the Crown Probably Has Daddy Issues
• Heirs: First World Problems 
• Heirs: He Who Wishes to Get the Girl Must Lurk the Most
• Heirs: Love Is the Moment. And the Moment Is Usually Uncomfortable
• Heirs: No Event Is Too Small for Dramatic Music
• Heirs: There's No Such Thing As an Ugly Sweater
• Heirs: "I Don't Love You" Means "Hug Me Extra Hard"
• Heirs: Poor People with Awesome Phones

And finally, my personal favorite:

• H.E.I.R.S.: Hoping Everything Isn't Repeatedly Sucky

On an unrelated note, this is why I roll my eyes quite a bit less when I watch Marry Him If You Dare:

What alternate titles would you give Heirs?  Am I a crazy person, or is anyone else having a hard time sticking with this drama?  If I AM a crazy person, can we still be kdrama friends?

Told You Kdramas Were The New Twilight!: Interview With Justin Chon

Remember how my very first post on our blog was about how Korean drama is the new Twilight? Well, what's really funny about that is that I was just able to interview Justin Chon, the Korean American actor who played Eric in the Twilight series, yesterday for DramaFever! I feel like my life is finally coming full circle!

Justin is a truly genuine, fun guy, and it was a pleasure to interview him about his upcoming film roles, his experience acting in Twilight, the challenges of being an Asian American actor, and what else? Kdramas!

Isn't he a cutie?

Check out my full interview on DramaFever:
Justin Chon talks Kdramas, Twilight, and being a Korean American actor with DramaFever

And the best part of the interview? He gave me a sneak attack back hug when he left, Kdrama style!

Random Things about Heirs

Coco and I got caught up on Heirs today. A few non-plot-related notes:

1. Is it a bad sign that with all of the major romantic developments, this is the scene that I enjoyed the most?

2. Maybe I couldn't get more into the other romantic moments because I was insanely distracted by Kim Tan's half of a bolo tie:

I don't understand it, but I also can't stop looking at it.

3. That "Love Is the Moment" song needs to be played at someone's wedding. And then never, ever played again.

That's all. Sometimes, these things just need to be said.