I began watching this drama on Friday night, and it just ended (Sunday evening), and now more than ever, I'm convinced that Korean dramas are NOT my cup of tea.
Perhaps it's a good thing that real life could never be as complex, sad, or even masochistically tragic as a Korean drama would have us believe.
Sometimes, it makes me wonder who writes this sh*t, and other times, I wonder if their target audience is REALLY into what they write.
As a Catholic, it bugs me any time that the notion of death or suicide is portrayed as something glamorous or romantic.
Sure, there are folk alive who believe in the fool hearty notion of reincarnation, but isn't it still a sucker's bet to take a chance on getting precisely what you want in the so-called 'next life'?
Question: Did all of the Korean script writers suffer from unspeakable heartache at some point in their lives, and thus the viewer is doomed to have to suffer likewise?
Just curious, because it's the feeling I always end up with after suffering through one of these romantic (??) dramas.
A Love to Kill is about two, little boys that grow up in a dysfunctional family (father is a gangster, mother runs away).
Kim Young Jae is Kang Min Goo, Kang Bok Gu's older, wiser, and more gentle brother.
Mingu is fed up with Bok-gu's temper, so he walks away from his younger brother - but at the end of this 16-episode drama, we discover that Mingu didn't walk away or abandon Bok-gu, but that he sacrificed his life to serve the juvenile detention time that Bok-gu should have served for starting a fire that injured Kim Sa Rang as Han Da Jung.
So, Han Da-jung clings to Bok-gu, even though Bok-gu is only with her out of guilt.
Meanwhile, Mingu falls madly in love with Cha Eun Seok (Shin Min Ah).
She's a movie star and her step-mother doesn't want Mingu to cramp her style, so she pays him to disappear, and our milquetoast do-gooder does as he's told (for love's sake).
Cha Eun-suk has no idea what is going on, and she spends the next, five years begging Mingu to pick up the phone.
Ten years after they part ways, Bok-gu's friend tells him that he's found Mingu, and that evening, the two, estranged brothers meet on the rooftop of Mingu's modest apartment, to crack a few cold one's and to talk about old times.
Cha Eun-suk's image appears on a larger-than-life, HD billboard, announcing her engagement to Lee Ki Woo as Kim Joon Sung.
um ... he didn't look anything like this in the drama, and I didn't, even recognize him as the absent-minded artist from Sad Movie, either.
Anyway, Mingu is entranced by Cha's image on that billboard, so he walks off the roof of the building, trying to reach out to touch her ~ right in front of poor, Bok-gu's eyes yet.
What follows is a long, drawn-out series of the same, monotonous dialogue & storyline.
Bok-gu decides to avenge his brother by getting back at the entirely innocent and totally clueless Cha Eun-suk.
He becomes her bodyguard, teases the hell out of her emotionally & physically, and when she becomes entirely wrapped up in him & not Mingu, Bok-gu reveals his true intentions and Cha Eun-suk is devastated (again).
Enough about A Love to Kill, because I don't want to talk about it anymore.
What I would like to expound on is the fact that Rain Bi can ACT!!
My namesake (in a nick-name kind a way) makes me laugh when it comes to singing & dancing.
Personally, I think it's gay.
But, this dude is awesome on screen!
I think it's even more amazing to me that it's the opposite of the norm.
Singers/dancers usually stink at acting, and actors usually stink at singing/dancing.
I heard recently that he was lambasted big-time for suggestive lyrics on his latest CD.
THIS is why I think that Asian pop artists are gay ... or that their profession is a gay choice.
A stupid, ill-conceived choice when you think about the kind of life they are forced to have to live, and how they must suck-up to their infantile, pre-pubescent fan base.
What a freakin' waste of talent, time, and energy IMHO.
Another thing about Korean dramas is that I feel guilty watching them for free online, and yet am I supposed to spend my hard-earned $$ on something with subtitles as atrocious as the one's online?
Case in point:
I tried my hand at subbing, and though their attempt was commendable, Viikii failed miserably to captivate me or it's target audience, and even Mysoju dumped their submissions.
I'd give anything to be able to clean up the bad grammar, type-o's, and what-not on these videos -- and especially the DVDs that range in price from $29.99 to $250.99
Again, the Japanese have the Korean's beat hands-down when it comes to clean, concise subtitling.
WAKE UP, KOREA!!!
You've got something here, and though a majority of your viewers may not think the way that I do about such things as continuity, story-line credibility, or basic grammar rules, I think that if you paid better heed to this warning, you might have a more lucrative future, who knows.
And now, for some stills from A Love to Kill
And now, for the lighter side of Rain Bi
Now that I'm not afraid of him anymore, I intend to watch him in another drama, but if it looks ANYTHING like A Love to Kill, I will bow out, thank you very much.
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