The Problematic of the Unproblematic

I like water a lot. And my shower scenes and swimming pool posts both made me thirsty for more water, so here we go! I could also have put "My Top 5 ... Drowning Scenes" in the title (for that is what most of them are about), but that seemed a bit too morbid? You may have noticed there is a surprising amount of people (almost) drowning in KDrama. When somebody drowns - I am sorry, almost drowns - it is almost always to mark a turning-point in the story. A bit more poetic, you could say it often symbolizes re-birth ... even if it is as an amnesiac. All the almost-drowning scenes I know have the same eerie beauty to them: the blue of the water, usually a light shining from above, a body sinking, sometimes struggling ... Here are five underwater scenes i.e. almost-drowning-scenes from KDrama You’re Beautiful My first cross-dresser drama. Loved it. And I will always fondly remember the days when Jang Geun-suk wasn't yet crazy. In this particular scene from episo...

Cheongdamdong Alice' s finale is upon us ... and I don't even feel like watching the last two episodes. And gifs are out of the question. What is it with you, Korean dramas, and your endings? Yes yes, I do know about the life-shoot-system (and all the pros and especially cons of it), but I do not understand why there cannot be any good endings in KDramaland. What is a good ending? One that doesn't feel rushed. One that doesn't put fan-service first, but the story and its consistency. Therefore, one that stays true to the overall tone of the show: it can be heartbreaking, but don't give us melo at the end of a rom-com (hear me, King of Dramas ???) or fluff at the end of a melodrama (hear me, Nice Guy ???). It is also one that gives a certain amount of closure (since we will not have another season in most cases) but doesn't try to explain and solve every single thing ever. In fact, I like ambiguous, stimulating ones ... the ones that make me think about...

It's been a while since my last Top 5 post. Yes, I was busy with other stuff! With Lee Jun-ki, for example. But now, it's become quiet in KDramaland - and I will have to wait for new episodes of my two current shows. Time to do some deep thinking about ... things. After trees, permed hair, and snow, I want to tackle something serious for a change: Female Characters. Me, myself, and I are totally in agreement with this selection. Yes, it was super easy and very harmonious: We knew within 10 seconds who would go on this list. It's quite obvious what all of these characters have in common: they are atypical, independent, strong, sometimes rebellious women that go against the grain of society. If you want to use the term 'feminist' in relation to KDrama, these characters are as feminist as they come. Though they do not openly fight for a bigger feminist cause, they fight their own micro-battles against men, against women, against conventions that want to shackle them...

This is the last of the Arang vs. Faith comparisons. It is a bit late, since both shows have ended - but the Internets are still abuzz with people getting over this very fact. One of the Faith pages on Facebook has actually started to dedicate each day to a Faith episode: That's some laudable coping strategy! Heck, it was an intense drama summer and not least because of these two shows, which kept us company for so many weeks and made Monday to Thursday drama-expectation days. And if you like the romance aspects of KDramas, both Faith and Arang and the Magistrate made you get your money's worth.   Faith The Imja-couple doesn't exactly start off on the right foot. He kidnaps her from modern Seoul and she is terrified of him for the first few episodes. Well, at least until she stabs him with his sword and almost kills him - not because of the stabbing, but because she operates on him, which causes sepsis. Choi Young has great healing abilities and a strong inner ki...

I have recently noticed that there is not enough Lee Jun-ki-(pretty)ness on this blog. Just because Arang is over doesn't mean it (and thereby, he) shouldn't receive equal treatment. Meaning: if Lee Min-ho gets to show off his clothes in Faith on here, then Lee Jun-ki must get the same chance for his drama .   * I am sorry, but I really can't do a Jun-ki hair thread ... if there is one thing (and it's the only thing) I don't like about Jun-ki, then it's his hair in most of his dramas and movies.   Arang and the Magistrate was visually beautiful also or probably even mostly because of the colorful Hanbok that they used for costumes. As this is one of the best planned and most tightly written shows I've seen in a long time, I'm pretty sure some or even a lot of thought also went into the colors of the costumes. Let me try and second-guess the costume designers. And because this show cannot be reduced to Lee Jun-ki, I will look at the Hanbok worn ...