Now I know why eating too much sweets is bad for your teeth. I was grinding my pearly whites for three-quarters of this saccharine show.
I’ve learned not to look for heavy plot; I won’t find any in this episode. I simply feast my eyes on the cuteness of the couple and awesome camera shots.
The sweet part:
1. The lighting.
In the opening scene, Joy (Ggi Bbeum) was sitting by the window, staring into space. She looked like a character from a Vermeer painting and her shabby background the artist’s canvas.
2. The poem spoken by the alcoholic father.
Untitled
Just because I’m poor
Doesn’t mean that I don’t know
What loneliness feels like.
A blue light showers down
I walked through after parting ways with you
With a blue light showering down from the moonbeans
Just because I’m poor
Doesn’t mean that I don’t have fear
Just because I’m poor
Doesn’t mean that I don’t know the hearts of men.
The warmth of your lips on my cheek
Your breath that once whispered
“I love you, I love you.”
You broke out in sobs once I turned my back.
Why wouldn’t I know that
Just because I’m poor?
Must I cast all these aside
Just because I’m poor?
It reminds me of a poem from that awful-kdrama-that-shall-not-be-named. Frankly, this impressed upon me that the poorest of the poor are those who blame their poverty for being unloved.
3. I fell in love with MaSung’s Urban Cultivator for growing hydroponic lettuce. But isn’t this excessive as product placement? Who’d buy a $10K cooler for lettuce and herbs when central air is more practical?
But I’m like MaSung. I can’t grow basil, mint, parsley and cilantro in the kitchen because I graze like a heifer.
4. The textile-and-clothing-bazaar date. But I’m not sure if it constitutes as a real date when the guy is tagging behind her the whole time. MaSung trails behind GgiBbeum like a little tired schoolboy, and he looks out of place in that maze of bargain clothes.
But whatever… we know the actor makes a girl’s heart flutter.
6. Song Ha-Yoon. She’s as cute as a button especially when she haggles.
7. They look like a couple. They banter like a couple. But he objects when he’s identified as a boyfriend. Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.
8. When he noticed that she’d been trying to take leave of him all afternoon while he was restraining her. This is their conversation —
MS: Why do you keep saying bye to me and trying to send me off?
GB: Do you need to prepare yourself for a farewell?
MS: Of course. That’s just basic respect and courtesy. And I’ve been following after you all day but you want me to just leave?
GB: There’s nothing left for us to discuss.
This short conversation demonstrates well the great divide. He doesn’t get HER yet….
She doesn’t want to feel special whenever he seeks her out because she believes that the last time he did that, in Hainan, he abandoned her afterwards without any explanations. And that made her feel so unwanted that even to this day, it hurts.
Things that I disliked:
1. Single-use scenes. What was the purpose of having that accident with the puppy other than to force the meeting MaSung and Joy meet again in the hospital? To me, that scene isn’t organic to the plot; it’s contrived. Same with the scene when he accidentally bumped on a wall and it opened to reveal Joy’s red shoes and recorded tape. SMH. After three years, nobody knew they were left in there??
I think the story could have been improved by treating each episode like separate building blocks ala “Welcome to Waikiki.” Combined together each episode depicted a growth in their relationship and a new understanding.
2. Poor Hoya! What’s he doing here with this kind of flamboyant characterr. He looks like an annoying Kwanghee.
His fellow kpop artists are doing much better with serious roles. Exo’s DO, Astro’s Cha Eun Woo, 2PM’s Ok Taekyon, Beast/Highlight’s Lee Gi-kwang, and Ze:A’s Park Hyung-Sik and Siwan.
3. Choi Jin-Hyuk’s excessive blinking to express bafflement. Check them out.
Take a second look at the scene at 20:40. In 2 seconds, he blinked like 6 seconds.
4. When MaSung described her as a “washed-up, has-been.” How rude!
5. When Joy requested him not to attract the attention of another building resident and he deliberately said in a loud voice, “By the way, Ms. Joo Gi Bbeum” to observe their interaction.
It loved it when she gave him an earful after that incident. I don’t like a doormat pretending to be a heroine.
6. The ice cream scene. She asked him, “How is the ice cream? Isn’t it like a trip down memory lane?” and he replied, “What are you talking about?”
This was supposed to be a sad scene because he couldn’t remember that they’d eaten ice cream on their first date. But it fell flat. Not a lot of viewers saw the link between his forgetting about their first ice cream, and her decision to go on separate ways and take the bus.
She didn’t want to be caught in heady romantic mood again.
7. The booty. Again, the actor looked awkward bumping the bus’ card reader with his hips and booty. He needed rescuing because he didn’t have a farecard and she got her payback by calling him, “Jagiya” in an cloying voice
This scene was obviously a fan-service but if I were the lady getting on the bus after him, I’d hate to swipe my card on that reader after his bum touched it.
Off to sleep now.