March 20 was supposed to have been the first day of spring here where I live, but we were clobbered by a snowstorm yesterday. Just a couple of days ago, crocuses, grape hyacinths, snowdrops and a handful of daffodils were gaily blooming in our front lawn. Now they’re all buried under a foot of snow. Earlier, when I looked out the window, everything was stark white.

But I guess that was one thing I could be thankful for. With an arm in a cast, I was excused from shovel duty. So after quickly finishing my work, I spent the whole afternoon watching kdrama on my ipad.

What did I binge-watch today?

I got hooked on MBC’s “The Great Seducer” (or “Tempted”) starring Joy and this actor named Woo DoHwan. I’ve never heard of WDH before. At first glance, I thought he looked like that second male lead from Cheese in the Trap, Seo Kang Jun. — Except SKJ had prettier eyes, and cleaner bangs.

I can already tell that that this kdrama has all the right fixings for a makjang. lol.

1. All the characters are related to each other. We don’t have a love triangle in this story, but a love polygon where everybody’s relationship is intertwined with somebody else’s liaison.

Take ShiYun’s father. Apparently, there was no love lost between him and Shiyun’s mother. But while he was engaged to be married to SooJi’s mom, he was also emotionally attached to Taehee’s mom. His complicated relationships with these women would have a domino effect on Shiyun’s own personal relationships with the women’s daughters, not to mention his peripheral connections with TaeHee’s friend, KyungJoo, and KyungJoo’s mother, NaYoung. If I included the brotherhood between Shiyun and SeJoo, then we got ourselves a nice love octagon relationship right there.

I sensed this eerie Kevin Bacon-esque six degrees of separation from this kdrama.

2. However, what I find tenuous in the plot is the motivation for Sooji’s revenge. Purportedly, she was more upset that KiYoung insulted her mom than she was angry that she was dumped by him. That was the reason she asked the guys, while they were in the limo, whether they were her on her side or not. However, to me, had she really been angry that KiYoung insulted her mother and refused to come to the legal defense of her father, it would have made better sense for her to directly sabotage KiYoung’s professional career rather than his love life. It’s clearer to me that she wanted payback for her public humiliation by targeting both his first love/daughter of his law professor, TaeHee, and his chosen rich bride-to-be, HyeJung.

Also, at this point, I find SooJi’s actions unscrupulous and reprehensible. Instead of fighting back at KiYoung’s insult in a direct and fair way, she chose to approach things on the sly and to exploit innocent people to get what she wanted: revenge. To me, her actions crossed the threshold of normal and acceptable behavior when she emotionally blackmailed and manipulated her two friends, SeJoo and ShiYun to do what she wanted.

She also showed early signs of erratic and impulsive behaviors, like self-harm and her hysteria in the middle of traffic in Episode 8.

However, I’m holding out hope for her that she’ll sort herself soon.

3. ShiYun appeared to be highly emotionally intelligent. He possessed an uncanny ability to pick up and understand other people’s moods, behaviors and motives. Take for instance, his interaction with the grandmother who thought he was her long lost husband and wanted him to draw forsythias on her plate.

I like that, despite his seeming cold-heartedness, he was attuned to the needs of the more emotionally fragile people like KyungJoo’s mom, Nayoung, and was sensitive to negative or offensive taunts directed at these people who couldn’t defend themselves. He was cruel to Nayoung’s subordinate, for instance, and he parried her insults towards Nayoung very well.

4. But I must admit that I found ShiYun’s attempt to manipulate or seduce TaeHae unsavory. He maneuvered to have those “coincidental” meetings with TH at the bus stops. He schemed to phone her only to hang up after a few rings to tantalize her. He arranged to show up at the library where she worked. He stalked her at the Senior Ladies’ Home. And he paid that bus rider to pester TH so he could stage a “rescue.”

I applaud our girl TH that she mostly saw through his deception and refused to fall for his tricks.

But there were occasional moments of redemption. Like when he drew a caricature of TH on the glass wall or laughed at the sight of her head thumping on the bus window.

5. The flower theme. Perhaps it’s because I’m still mourning the snowy burial of my spring flowers, lol, but I couldn’t help noticing the flowers in the story. There was SeJoo arriving in the floral stretch limo. That was appropriate because he was the stereotypical flower boy. Then, SooJi was the boutonniere flower who would stab the offensive wandering hands. A long time ago when she imagined herself in love with her art tutor, she regarded the rose as a sign of sincerity, but not anymore. I find it interesting that ShiYun offered her and TH a bouquet of red roses (but TH’s roses ended up with Nayoung), similar to KiYoung who gave cupcakes to both TH and HyeJung. To me, this notion that one-gift-fits-both-girls showed a lack of originality – and sincerity. lol.

But the flowers I associate with ShiYun are the gaenari or forsythia. These flowers are a sign of spring, rebirth and renewal, and I think SY was experiencing his own personal spring in the company of TH. For instance, gluing back the forsythia plate. That must have been a first time for him to try to put back together a broken object. Also, cooking ramen. He didn’t know how to make ramen before. Then, making kimchi with the old women…which reminded me of SaeHee in “Because This is My First Life.”

As for TH, I think the poem “Prologue for a Flower” by Kim Chunsu, which ShiYun read in the opening of Episode 1 was meant for her. She was the nameless blossom, the veiled bride.

Prologue for a Flower
by Kim Chunsu
(from dramaload)

I’m a dangerous beast
When my hand touches you
You become the unknown darkness

At the end of a shaking branch
You bloom without a name
Then wither away.

This unknown darkness
Which moves you to tears
Is lit up by the memories
And I cry all night long.

My cry eventually becomes
The whirlwind of a night
And shakes the tower

It will then become a crack
When it permeates the rock.

My dear bride in a veil

6. “Let me live with someone I love.” 

What I like about Joy’s acting is her air of naiveté. This is what actresses like Oh Yeon Seo, Park Bo Young, Yoona, Suzie, and IU can’t convey with their eyes. When Joy looked delighted at the snow flurries on her moving day or expressed a wish to live with somebody she loved, her face showed zero apprehension about her living conditions with a known seducer like ShiYun.  In a way, I felt sorry that Episode 4 ended with this silly petition of hers. It sounded like a lamb bleating that it wouldn’t be eaten by the Big Bad Wolf.

lol.

Have to rest my hand now.