Kdramas, mostly

Winter Sonata Ep. 12

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 15:57:09 GMT

"No, but stay with me here...what if I really was...Jun-sang?"

Recap for episode 12:
( Spoilers for WS ep. 12 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 11

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 19:57:49 GMT

Sang-hyuk smirks, Yu-jin endures, at reminder wedding is nigh.

Recap for episode 11:

( Spoilers for WS ep. 11 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 10

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:56:34 GMT

Min-hyung and Yu-jin come to a new understanding...

Recap for episode 10:
( Spoilers for WS ep. 10 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 9

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 23:27:25 GMT

Yu-jin on stage being ambushed by that rat-bastard Sang-hyuk

Recap for episode 9:

( Spoilers for WS ep. 9 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 8

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:56:00 GMT

Yu-jin sees Sang-hyuk talking on her phone to Min-hyung

Recap for episode 8:
( Spoilers for WS ep. 8 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 7

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 02:45:40 GMT

Yu-jin and Min-hyung walk among the woods of Namiseon, where she and Jun-sang first plighted their troth...

Recap for episode 7:
( Spoilers for WS ep. 7 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 6

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 17:55:14 GMT

Min-hyung fakes going in for the kiss...

Recap for episode 6:

( Spoilers for WS ep. 6 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 5

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 02:06:47 GMT

Chae-rin feigns being upset as Yu-jin falls into her trap...

Recap for episode 5:

( Spoilers for WS ep. 5 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 4

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 20:38:54 GMT

Oh Chae-rin, deep in thought about how to screw over her rivals...

( Winter Sonata Ep. 4 recap and spoilers )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 3

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 00:33:41 GMT

Yu-jin's face when she first sees the new director, who looks just like Jun-Sang!

Recap for episode 3:
( Spoilers for WS ep. 3 )

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Winter Sonata Ep. 2

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 19:32:02 GMT

Recap for episode 2:

( Spoiler for WS ep. 2 )

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Winter Sonata Intro & Ep. 1

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 03:59:46 GMT

So, I've been kind of idly intending to eventually get around to watching Winter Sonata at some point; holding me back has been that 1) it is definitely a retro classic at this point, even though it only came out in 2002, and drama trends, tastes, and fashions have noticeably evolved in the last two decades, and 2) it just hasn't been easily available; to watch it, you basically had to hunt down semi-bootleg versions on sketchy Chinese streaming video sites, or (recently) pay two bucks and episode on Amazon Prime. But then a couple weeks ago, it popped up as a new offering on ol' reliable Viki.com, and hey, there we go!

Why Winter Sonata? Simply put, it was hugely influential in setting off and fueling the Korean Wave (aka "hallyu") of the late 90s and early 2000s. It is part of a seasonally-themed suite of four dramas that came to be known as the "Endless Love" series; although they didn't share any characters or events in common, they all had the same director, some of the same writers, and shared certain themes and topics. The first of the four is Autumn in my Heart ("AimH"), which came out in 2000 and was kind of a forerunner to Winter Sonata, which turned out to be by far the most successful and beloved of the group. (I watched AimH a few months ago, through one of those sketchy websites, alas). WS became massively popular throughout Asia, particularly (outside of Korea) in Japan; the Japanese prime minister famously said that Bae Yon-joon, the male lead, was more popular then he was.

Anyway, I've been doing episode recaps over on The Fangirl Verdict's Patreon page, and I thought for the sake of permanence, I would copy them here. (I am currently up through episode seven (out of twenty), and I have so far successfully avoided spoilers beyond that point, so please no spoilers in comments for later events!) So without further ado, behind the cut is the recap for episode one.

( WS ep. 1 Spoilers )

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Taxi Driver

Sun, 28 Aug 2022 04:02:32 GMT

Taxi Driver. So this is kind of an interesting series, just for what it says about vigilante justice and how it tackles the subject, and although I don’t think it ultimately cuts too deeply or makes the points it presumably wants to with particular force or insight, it is fairly entertaining to watch, in an admittedly somewhat atavistic sort of way. I mean, it’s hard to resist the satisfaction of seeing complete scum getting their comeuppance without all that dry and boring due process of law stuff, right? (Yes, that’s at least somewhat sarcastic, but it also speaks to a real impulse; hence my referring to it as “atavistic.”)