There's Destiny, or Maybe Not

As long as they make sense I don't mind series with sad endings, but the j-drama You Are My Destiny was a big disappointment for me. I don't watch many Japanese productions because so many are dark, and suicide and bullying are common themes, but I thought from the bright and happy opener that this would be a romantic spin on Cinderella.

Sato Aya (Miori Takimoto) is a modern-day quasi-Cinderella who dreams of meeting a handsome prince, who turns out to be Ichijo Kei (Takumi Kizu), the heir to a large company. By accident and design they are thrown together and spend a night of passion believing the other partner is someone else (I didn't find this comical, by the way.)

When they wake up and discover they've been deceived they set off a chain of events that leads to Aya finding out she's pregnant and Kei being forced to marry her. There are the usual misunderstandings between the couple, and things only get worse when Kei's heartless girlfriend finds out about the secret marriage and decides to break them up by doing something appalling to Aya.

For a series with a happy, romantic opener this show is in reality tragic and depressing. Aya is subjected to all kinds of abuse, and Kei is about as unsympathetic and selfish as he can get. I couldn't believe they ended it the way they did, either, although I was glad Aya made the choice she did. I also wish they had put an emotional trigger warning on it, as it deals with traumas that most women may find difficult to watch. I dislike writing up negative reviews, which is why I try to stick to the positive, but I felt I needed to be honest about this show. My advice is to give it a pass.

Comments

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Journal Find

This is a page from my 2010 poetry journal. My handwriting isn't the best, so I'll transcribe it: If my heart survives to tell all the secrets kept inside it will be an abalone shell in which the beauty did reside. But I think I will always be lost to the tides that rage in me . . . humbling and polishing . . . I don't write many self-portrait poems, but this one isn't too embarrassing. A bit overly dramatic, but the girl I was eleven years ago went through some tough times. I'm in a much more peaceful place today.

Watchable Farce

The k-drama Undercover High School is a series that brings a handsome spy to play a student at an elite private school where a legend about billions of gold hidden there persists. It's more silly slapstick comedy than anything, but has some surprising romantic and dramatic moments, too. Seo Kang-joon is one of my favorite Korean actors, and this is the first series he's made since finishing up his mandatory military service. He plays Jeong Hae-seong/ Jeong Si-hyun, an NIS agent who infiltrates a snobby elitist school to hunt down the gold. There are four urban legends connected to the treasure that he has to figure out, all under the too-watchful eye of his homeroom teacher, Oh Su-Ah (Jin Ki-joo) whom he eventually discovers was his elementary school love Oh Bong-ja (there's a lot of name changing in this series.) The hunt for the treasure is the highlight of this series, but the romance between the leads is cute, too (and not as taboo as you might think, given that...

Rayen

Search This Blog