Skip to main content

Yes, Well . . .

I actually tried watching the k-drama Guardian: The Great and Lonely God a couple of years ago, but certain aspects of the story aggravated me, so I stopped around episode four. Since it has been touted as such a great series I decided to go back and give it another try, and at last saw the whole thing.

This is a Korean style paranormal romance, with a somewhat abrasive literary overtone that I really didn't care for much. The fact that a beyond wealthy, pretty omnipotent immortal falls for a poor, abused high school girl while knowing her situation sucks, and really doesn't do much to help her (and even subtly torments her now and then), likewise did not set well with me. I admit, I dislike Cinderella stories; a woman in a bad situation doesn't need a fairy godmother or even a prince to save her -- she just needs to get away from her family and work for herself.

The bromance between the lead male character and his nemesis was cute at times, but got too much focus, and distracted from the main romance. The plotting was unoriginal and misogynistic to a degree I found rather breathtaking, considering the drama's writer is female, and rather tiresome. Finally, the pacing. Goodness. Glaciers move faster.

If you're willing to put up with all that, then Guardian isn't an unwatchable series. Gong Yoo does a fine job of portraying Kim Shin, a general betrayed and basically murdered by the king he served, who is sentenced to immortality for all of the lives he took on the battlefield. That I thought was plausible. That he walks around for nine hundred years with his own sword sticking out of his chest (literally and metaphorically) is a less believable pricetag, but I went along with that, too. He still manages to be convincing, although at times I got the feeling he was rolling his eyes between takes.

The echoes of the past return to haunt him as he meets Ji Eun Tak (very artfully portrayed by Kim Go-eun) the abused high school girl, who becomes his first love. Cinderella isn't helpless, and up to this point does a fine job of dealing with her sucky life, but as soon as Kim Shin steps on stage suddenly she becomes helpless and clingy. That I also found a little offensive to women. This is also the point when the whole series slants to the petty and mean, so I'll stop here. I don't even know if I should recommend this series, but it may be worth a watch for the Cinderella lovers. Available on Viki.com.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts

This is a story that starts out very sadly, so if you're depressed by the holidays you might want to skip the first part. As far back as I can remember I've dreaded the holidays. Being poor, having constant family troubles and belonging to a strict religion made that time of year always pretty unhappy. I just hunkered down and hoped to get through without being yelled at or punished because I didn't do something I was expected to do, like sit in church for hours without moving or making a sound while a priest spoke mass in Latin. Gifts were uniformly disappointing, too. My mother usually gave me dolls or socks or underwear for Christmas. I understand now as an adult that she was doing the best she could, and trying to save money at the same time, but as a kid I'd been told good children got what they wanted for Christmas. I was a pretty good kid, but while my friends received new bikes and cool toys and lots of treats from Santa, I didn't. I thought San
Post a Comment
Read more

We Have Backsplash!

Yesterday my guy and I decided to chose this natural stone as the backsplash tiles for our new kitchen counters (which will be in the same quartz I'm holding at the bottom of the photo.) Since all the bids for installing the backsplash came in very high my guy is going to put it in himself; he's done a bit of tile work in the past, too. I swear there is nothing this guy can't do. :)
Post a Comment
Read more

Detoxing Results

For twenty-four hours I left these five vintage cigar boxes sit with detoxing agents (baking soda, coffee grinds, dryer sheets, vinegar and Febreze) inside them to see which worked best to remove the tobacco/storage odors that came with them. I then removed the agents and did a sniff test. Before we get into the results, a reminder: none of what I do is ever meant to be expert advice, as I am certainly not an expert at anything. Follow my methods at your own risk, and please first consult an actual antique expert conservator or restorer to detox items that have value for you. Okay, let's see how my experiment worked. Baking soda (left) did nothing to remove the odors. I think if I let it sit for a longer period of time it might have done something, but for a 24-hour test it was a complete fail. Coffee grinds (right) removed 100% of the odors, and left behind definite coffee scent. I like that and think it goes very well with wood, but if you don't like the smel
Post a Comment
Read more