Bladey wrote: My feelings too. Though I'm not from States.
But fact of the matter is there was tight competition, so what can we do. I had the same issue with Jejungwon. Hoenstly The best dramas are sometimes the most overlooked dramas.


I will check out Jejungwon. I haven't seen it. I always love it when people tell me of overlooked dramas. Thanks!!!
I still cant get over Eun Si Kyung. I had to lower my rating of this drama to a 9 instead of my intended 10 just because I didnt like how the writers handled it. While watching the rest of ep 19 and then 20 my mind was not concentrating on the events that too place cause i was just in denial still thinking about it! lol. I thought the ending for the king and queen was well done. Jae Shin got a crappy ending though=(
amrita828 wrote: And Akai Ito it is. :D Can I cancel Yamato etc from the face of... ehm... the list, while I'm at it? LOLOL

This is a public promise, so I can't eat my words nor drop it. I hope for you it's good, lol. ;)


I would never be able to make this kind of bet....LOL
LisNoir wrote: I would never be able to make this kind of bet....LOL


Haha. Well, first, I did it with the best of intentions: bring luck a fantastic character. It didn't work... I guess the writers didn't read of the bet, ;)
Second, Miri could have been a lot meaner and give me to watch... say, Kick through the roof or something which is, what, 200 episodes? LOL

By the way, I never bet in real life. I'd be living under a bridge right now, for I have this habit of always hoping for the part less likely to win.
purplenette wrote: I will check out Jejungwon. I haven't seen it. I always love it when people tell me of overlooked dramas. Thanks!!!


Ahh. Well I hope you will be able to enjoy it :) Jejoongwon is a pretty well wrought story, lso quite "international; as it deals with the introduction of western medicine practices into Korea - it is historical, the hospital jejoongwon was really established by a real figure and it still stands todsy, just under a different name. It was a sweeping story, incorporating a wide variety of issues, but also very focused on the story of the main characters. It was for me a very rich experience at the time I was watching it so I hope people may find enjoyable too.

kdramafan89 wrote: I still cant get over Eun Si Kyung. I had to lower my rating of this drama to a 9 instead of my intended 10 just because I didnt like how the writers handled it. While watching the rest of ep 19 and then 20 my mind was not concentrating on the events that too place cause i was just in denial still thinking about it! lol. I thought the ending for the king and queen was well done. Jae Shin got a crappy ending though=(


I think her ending was a little rushed....but they wanted to show that she would be all right and grow stronger for that experience.

amrita828 wrote:

By the way, I never bet in real life. I'd be living under a bridge right now, for I have this habit of always hoping for the part less likely to win.


Y ou know Rita and Miri, you mayb say that in jest re the best and al but I sometimes really want the drama producers to notice the foreign voice. I think they do not even begin to realise that outside of the USA there is quite a nice international following of these dramas of theirs and if they knew and realised this, they coud use it to their advantage.

That is by the way. What I want to say is also that

Ultimately, I think this tends to be quite catharthic in dramas and I think about what Aristotle said with regards to tragedy - "men are sometimes too much addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too little; tragedy brings them back to a virtuous and happy mean. Poetics was a response to Plato, but what he said strikes me when I think about dramas like this, at the first the underdogs may sometimes go unnoticed until finally their sense of purpose is realsed and consumed in an act shoing their ultimate great heart and the best of values

It is rengenreative both to other character in the drama, in this case mostly the princess, since it allows her to become stronger, and to the viewer, in a sense.

There is the sense of pathos coming from the death of a just man, an elevation and such a death brings the release of pent up emotions. and then an increased love for that character. Though I sometimes fear it sends the wrong message , there is noy denying the sen of beauty it shows us and allows to appreciate and to create a very very fond memory and this sense of yearning - something we want but cannot have has the quality of being out of the ordinary. Moreover it is regerenrative in that it reminds us, I think, of those very values, of a sense of love and of a sense of strengh coming from the memory of what we did love

In other words, in a sense there is a dialogue between what we do not have but which we covet - which makes it dearer to us by virtue of it being unbtainable and what we have lost- memory provides healing and memory in the sense of memory of such a love, for instance, is also very transformative, it allows a character to be stronger. there is THAT one scene in episode 19 which is etherally beautiful, I will never forget that one scene, it was well done and it was meant as a countermeasure for all those strong emotions, to calm them down and try to force more the regernerative potential of what happend. It was an external manifestation of such a regenaritve potential, though all of it was princess coming to terms with all of this.

A character like KyungShik is also regernerative to my drama watching experience because then I really know what I want from a drama, it gives me that moment of clarity. And also because I know that there is beauty in that act and I think his happiness lay in that very fact
Finished !! 8/10 for me I had to deduct at least 2 points for Ha Ji Won's unbearable ayego ....the worst thing is she didn't do it all the time..... the "affect" came & went willy nilly lol if not for that an excellent drama. My fave moment pit of the last 2 episodes was when the Princess watched ESK's video tape (an obsolete/old fashioned medium well suited to his personality lol) I loved the way he was so shy & awkward in trying to express his emotions. I'm glad Bong Gu got his comeuppance although I did have a WTH drama moment when they shot the woman assassin (Bon Bon) after she just pulled her gun (she didn't get to fire it) & she was riddled with bullets, yet Bong Gu actually shoots & kills someone & no one bats an eyelid I thought that was ridiculous in the extreme. Surely someone would have automatically fired at him but then I guess we wouldn't have had episode 20 :p
RainFlower wrote: Finished !!

8/10 for me I had to deduct at least 2 points for Ha Ji Won's unbearable ayego ....the worst thing is she didn't do it all the time..... the "affect" came & went willy nilly lol if not for that an excellent drama.

My fave moment was when the Princess watched ESK's video tape (an obsolete/old fashioned medium well suited to his personality lol) I loved the way he was so shy & awkward in trying to express his emotions.


I loved that scene even though, I cried all through it. LOL
Bladey wrote: Ahh. Well I hope you will be able to enjoy it :) Jejoongwon is a pretty well wrought story, lso quite "international; as it deals with the introduction of western medicine practices into Korea - it is historical, the hospital jejoongwon was really established by a real figure and it still stands todsy, just under a different name. It was a sweeping story, incorporating a wide variety of issues, but also very focused on the story of the main characters. It was for me a very rich experience at the time I was watching it so I hope people may find enjoyable too.


I like dramas like that. Have you ever seen the movie Patch Adams?
Nope, haven;t even heard of it, is it good?
LisNoir wrote: I loved that scene even though, I cried all through it. LOL


lol you watering pot :p
RainFlower wrote: lol you watering pot :p


LOL! It was sad!!! :p
Bladey wrote: Nope, haven;t even heard of it, is it good?


Rather than try to explain it myself...I borrowed this from Wiki. I heard that the man this was based on didn't actually like the movie because it didn't show his activism and just made him a funny doctor, plus his organization did not get any money from the movie. There is an actual Gesundheit Institute though. It was a good movie in my opinion.

Patch Adams is a 1998 comedy-drama film starring Robin Williams. Directed by Tom Shadyac, it is based on the life story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams and the book Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter by Adams and Maureen Mylander. In 1969, Hunter Adams (Robin Williams) is a troubled man who voluntarily commits himself into a mental institution. Once there, he finds that helping his fellow inmates gives him a purpose in life and earns the nickname "Patch". Because of this he aspires to become a medical doctor and two years later enrolls at Virginia Medical University, being the oldest first year student. He questions the school's approach to medical care, and clashes with the school's Dean Walcott (Bob Gunton), who believes that doctors must treat patients and not bond with them as people. Because of this and other incidents, including a prank during a medical conference, he is expelled from the school, although he is later reinstated due to his methods actually improving the health of patients. Adams encourages medical students to cultivate relationships with nurses and learn their interviewing skills early, and argues that death should be treated with dignity and even humor.
Bladey wrote:
Y ou know Rita and Miri, you mayb say that in jest re the best and al but I sometimes really want the drama producers to notice the foreign voice. I think they do not even begin to realise that outside of the USA there is quite a nice international following of these dramas of theirs and if they knew and realised this, they coud use it to their advantage.


Actually, I think they fully realize that there is a big foreign audience. I have heard of many cases of dramas that were at least rumored to actually be targeted more toward a foreign audience than the native Korean one. Korea has very successfully built up a nice little entertainment export industry, and I don't think it is by accident.

And, drama writers actually have been known to change endings due to public opposition. Not foreign in this case, but one of the main characters in Winter Sonata (Bae Yong Jun? Choi Ji Woo? It's been so long I don't remember) was actually supposed to die at the end, but they changed it cause that idea was wildly unpopular. (Or so the rumor goes)

That said, I totally agree with the rest of your post about death in dramas. I loved Eun Shi Kyung, and I hated that poor Jae Shin had to go through yet another tragedy, but in the grander scheme of the drama I thought it worked, and was necessary for the story. They gave him closure in the scenes leading up to his death, and other characters were able to grow because of it. If they hadn't made us like him, no one would have cared that he died. It wasn't out of character, it wasn't totally unexpected, it fit within the story... I also liked the fact that he didn't go intending to die, or be some sort of martyr. Obviously it was incredibly risky, and he was making a great sacrifice, but you can tell from his video that he fully intended to come back.

And at the end of the day, dramas end and all of these characters only live on in our minds and hearts, that is no less true just because he died in the drama.
kurinezumi wrote:
And at the end of the day, dramas end and all of these characters only live on in our minds and hearts, that is no less true just because he died in the drama.


Actually, I loved the whole post, but this last is so true and simple it deserves to be specially quoted. :)
kurinezumi wrote: Actually, I think they fully realize that there is a big foreign audience. I have heard of many cases of dramas that were at least rumored to actually be targeted more toward a foreign audience than the native Korean one. Korea has very successfully built up a nice little entertainment export industry, and I don't think it is by accident.

And, drama writers actually have been known to change endings due to public opposition. Not foreign in this case, but one of the main characters in Winter Sonata (Bae Yong Jun? Choi Ji Woo? It's been so long I don't remember) was actually supposed to die at the end, but they changed it cause that idea was wildly unpopular. (Or so the rumor goes)

That said, I totally agree with the rest of your post about death in dramas. I loved Eun Shi Kyung, and I hated that poor Jae Shin had to go through yet another tragedy, but in the grander scheme of the drama I thought it worked, and was necessary for the story. They gave him closure in the scenes leading up to his death, and other characters were able to grow because of it. If they hadn't made us like him, no one would have cared that he died. It wasn't out of character, it wasn't totally unexpected, it fit within the story... I also liked the fact that he didn't go intending to die, or be some sort of martyr. Obviously it was incredibly risky, and he was making a great sacrifice, but you can tell from his video that he fully intended to come back.

And at the end of the day, dramas end and all of these characters only live on in our minds and hearts, that is no less true just because he died in the drama.


Hmm perhaps so, I am definitely inclined to agree that they change endiongs- it is a race for the ratings after all. But most if the export is targeted at the US. Hence, I think, the growth of such sites as dramafever. And viki has problems licensing dramas to anywhere else but the USA.

I agree with the last sentence as well and it is a big plus for the writers to have created a character who can completely take over the heart of a viewer.