Bal-li-e-seo Saeng-kin il
Throughout these 20 episodes, I kept asking myself, "What DID happen in Bali?"
I am guessing now that the title has everything to do with the last, two minutes of this drama.
What a dark, miserable show this was! Maybe now that I've seen the whole thing, the seductive sneer that the leading lady, Lee Soo-jung gave to
So Ji Sup's character, Kang In-wook at the very start of the show was not a figment of my imagination!
A brief synopsis of the drama that I watched on Mysoju said that it's supposed to depict the 'real' topic of social distinction and money-grubbing mentality in today's Korean society. What it did for me was make me want less and less to visit that part of the world.
Personally, I'd love to have all the money in the world, go wherever I want to go, and buy whatever the hell I feel like buying. It wouldn't be so bad to have a hot, rich guy after my ass, either! Two would be pushing it, and that's what this drama did as far as I'm concerned.
Interesting too, was the unmitigated gall of
Park Ye Jin's character, Choi Young-joo. Honestly, some of the things that she said throughout this drama had me shaking my head in utter confusion. Perhaps it's a rich way of thinking, but to treat anyone like an object, and then make outrageous demands like, "...we can be lovers after I'm married," and, "I'm only doing this for the money," and, "...what's love got to do with it?" are absolutely groundless. I know that she ended up noting that she behaved quite like the "trash" that she felt ruined her life, but still ... her character was the least believable of them all.
I hope this is one writer's convoluted impression of the "written in stone" caste system in Korea and not, actual fact. Kang In-wook actually made reference to it in the drama, but what he said was incorrect ~ unless the translator screwed it up (as usual). Until the middle ages, Korea had no caste? I beg to differ, and not just in Korea, but all over the world, since time began, there have been the haves and the have-nots. The haves have always looked down upon, spat upon, and treated the have-nots as inferior nothings, to be treated like dirt or "trash". So, I guess I'm supposed to believe that the work-a-day Korean wants the prestige by having a diploma framed and hung on their wall, for the whole world to see and be impressed by. Whatever.
Ironically, a majority of the Koreans that I've met online claim to be Catholic. If this is true, then I am anxious to visit a Korean Cathedral when and if I ever get to that side of the world. I'm curious to know what the priest's say during their sermons, because being the richest, most powerful person alive is NOT a Catholic doctrine, trust me. For a country that hates Japan (and vice versa) they certainly seem to want to keep up with their enemy in this regard, which again does NOT make sense to an outsider looking in.
NOTHING about
Bali made sense to me!
It's drama; I know. It's not supposed to make sense, it's not supposed to make you think, or even to reflect for that matter. It's mindless, paperback novel kitsch meant to take the middle-age housewife away from the everyday and transform her into a world of make-believe. I know this, and yet I can't help but to question just about every aspect of the writer's reasoning. Perhaps that's because I'm a writer too.
So for the nonsense ... I'm sorry, but what woman in her right MIND would choose ANY man over SO-Fine Ji-sup???? I know, I know ... the $$$ was supposed to make all the difference in the world.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Excuse me, but at 25 the ONLY thing on a woman's mind is making babies. If you're born rich, I guess you want to marry rich, but even then, I'm sure the gal hopes for some strapping, six-footer with a dashing smile and bedroom eyes to sweep her off her feet in the boardroom, yes? If the construction guy that moved in after Ji-sup's character moved out, if he had $$$, would our ambivalent
Ms. Lee have wrapped her legs around HIS groin??? I think not.
Shin Yi's Park Mi-hee was the ONLY believable character in the entire show. She was cute, funny, and had a normal sense of values. And, what has being an orphan got to do with being useless or poor? Your parents die, so ... you are expected to crawl inside their graves with them, is that it? Again, I'm shaking my head in utter bewilderment here.
Ok, it starred SO Ji-sup, and that's really all that I cared about. From the moment that he arrived on-screen, my heart raced and I felt all warm inside. He's a stone FOX, and I'm madly in lust with him. I want to see him naked, and thank you, THANK YOU for letting him disrobe a few times during the long, drawn-out drama.
I'm trying to recall a time when I ever saw him smile in anything that he's acted in. I know he can, and when he does, it probably lights up the room! But, he's always playing a down-trodden, life-beaten reject that ends up taking a major beating for no, realistic reason other than he's poor. He drives me wild, and in those clothes that he wore, I went nuts just looking at him. Which, again, makes me wonder how they cast actors for roles in these dramas.
I can't think of a woman alive that could remain unaffected the moment that a guy like him looks at you with them EYES of his!? That's when the knees go weak, the heart starts to pound, and your face heats up with blush. Not EVERY guy is capable of having that affect on women, so what were we supposed to believe about Ms. Lee falling in love with the useless, pathetic waste of life that capped her sorry ass in the end? She's lying in bed, next to a NAKED SO JI-SUP, and she's thinking about HIM instead??? YAH! Totally credible.
Speaking of HIM ...
Jo In-sung is very tall! Ok in the looks department, and a very, good actor! I had no idea how he really felt about Ms. Lee until he cried. And then he cried some more, and then he cried some more! Yes, he was obsessed with the poor girl, but for a reason that STILL escapes me! He said that she was honest and had no pride, which was only half-true. Ms. Lee was the most DIShonest of them all, in my opinion. Ji-sup's character was entirely honest, even when he intended to screw the company out of all that money. I rooted for him the entire time because I knew exactly what he was up to the minute that he moved in next door to the girls.
He He He.
I couldn't figure out, though, how he felt about Ms. Rich-Bitch until more than half-way through the show. And I couldn't figure out why either man fell for our Ms. Lee, either.
As gorgeous as Ji-sup is, and they made sure to express that fact NUMEROUS times during this drama, what the hell did he need with EITHER woman? He could have pulled off the playboy stint MUCH more credibly than our so-called hero, Jo In Sung as Jung Jae-min. Wait a minute. Perhaps even THAT is reserved strictly for the ultra-rich in Korea, is that it? Regular guys can't be playa's unless they 'gangsta'?
Sigh
Every time I watch one of these things, I swear that I'll never watch another ... but then I do. It's the guy's fault, not mine! They make me love them, and they make me want to see them again and again and again, too. I know that's why these things took off the way that they did. I'm not alone in my way of thinking OR feeling about the sexilicious pulchritude running around in that country! I'm trying to think of my own childhood, and if there were EVER as many gorgeous, sex-appealing men alive at one time to drive such a mass of women crazy? I didn't watch television in my youth, so i wouldn't know. I didn't even want to go to the movies back then, and I had no idea about Asian films until after college. It's a strange and wonderful phenomenon that will come to pass, I'm sure. When that day comes, I hope that I'm too old to care anymore. For now, I continue to fan my blushing face and dream about all of the glorious, manly magnificence that is Asian cinema!
